John, No doubt a pre-amp would help immensely. However, I don't useone when portable since my feedline is less than 10 feet long. Themore important thing is to be able to change your polarity to matchthat of the Satellite. Mismatched polarity can degrade the signal bymore than 20 dB. I seldom have trouble hearing SO-50 as long asI keep up with the tumbling of the bird. 73/GL, Bob K8BL From: John Brier johnbrier@gmail.com To: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2015 11:49 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] What preamp to use for SO-50 and Arrow II antenna?
Since a lot of people are talking about SO-50 right now, let me ask a question:
I did try to work SO-50 once when all I had ever worked before was SO-35, UO-14 and AO-27 and I was horrified by how hard it was to hear and track.
I found a thread on qrz.com where they said it's very helpful to use a preamp for SO-50 since it's so low power, even with the short runs of coax required for an Arrow II satellite antenna. I know almost nothing about preamps. What's the deal? Do they need power to work (active/passive?). What do you recommend?
John Brier, KG4AKV, Raleigh, NC, FM05 _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb