Kuby,
I'm working AO-92 L/V mode with a 1W (on 1.2 GHz) Alinco DJ-G7T and an old 5-element Comet CY-1205 Yagi on the HT's antenna connector (with BNC-to-SMA adapter). The antenna is rated at 11.0 dBi gain, and my ERP is around 7 to 8 watts. I have to be diligent with the orientation of the antenna and the uplink tuning (5 kHz steps on the DJ-G7T), but I have been making contacts on most L/V passes.
If I didn't already have the CY-1205 Yagi (it was also sold in versions with a TNC connector - some of the 1.2 GHz radios in the late 80s and early 90s came with a TNC connector), I'd probably look at building a 6- or 10- element WA5VJB "Cheap Yagi" for 1.2 GHz. Kent Britain wrote about these Yagis in CQ VHF about 10 years ago:
http://www.n5dux.com/ham/files/pdf/D-STAR%20Antennas.pdf
Kent also had measurements for a 4-element Yagi in that article. The article claims 8 dBi gain for the 4-element Yagi, about 10 dBi gain for the 6-element Yagi, and 13 dBi gain for the 10-element Yagi. WA5VJB's web site has a document for 17-element 1.2 GHz Yagis, but these smaller versions may be sufficient for working AO-92.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK
On Tue, Feb 20, 2018 at 8:42 PM, Dale Kubichek via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb@amsat.org> wrote:
What is the minimum directive ERP needed to obtain a solid FM input to AO-92?
Best regards, Dale Kubichek, MS-EET, N6JSX