I just got done doing a multi-state road trip using both an Arrow in stock configuration, and using just the 70cm portion to receive and a vertical to uplink. I was using an 857 to uplink, and a Funcube Dongle Pro+ plugged into my laptop to receive. 10 ft of LMR240, a diplexer on the rx to deal with any desense, and that was it. No pre-amps or anything else. It worked flawlessly. I was able to constantly hear the bird at 2°-3° when I was out in the plains away from trees, and tracking the bird was easy. I was just holding the Arrow, because I have never had much luck using a tripod. While FO29 doesn't seem to polarity flop as much as SO50 does, being able to twist it to get the best downlink on the fly has given me the best luck.
Your mileage may vary, and I'm still the newb here, but that's my 2 cents.
-Dave, KG5CCI
On 1/2/2015 10:27 AM, Jim White wrote:
I'd like to hear from anyone who has worked FO29 portable. We are working with a group of guys on an expedition to a small island and I'm hoping to take only an IC910H and an Arrow hand held Yagi mounted on a light camera tripod. Clearly I can work SO50 with that, but how about FO29? Will I be able to hear it with that small antenna and no preamp?
Jim jim@coloradosatellite.com wd0e@amsat.org _______________________________________________ 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://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb