I used the same setup that I have at the house. I did find one piece of suspect coax once I returned home. According to my 259B, it had a higher loss for a short run than I would have expected. There were several transformers in proximity to where we were located that could have been putting out some noise. The other satellite op could hear the noise I didnt hear that subsided later in the evening. The preamps were located within 10-15 feet of the antennas.
I have ordered replacement LRM400 to use in place of the Mini8/U coax that I was running from the preamps to the antennas. Will see what happens.
Ron
Jim Danehy wrote:
Ron
Did you diagnose what your problem was ? Water in the coax ? Where is your preamp mounted ? If very near (10 feet) the antenna you can use RG8. If you feel intimidated by N connectors (many folks are), Henry Radio and others sell a two (2) piece N connector that is installed much like a PL 259 which you have probably installed many times. Check out Henry Radio on Ebay. If you need more info on this email me direct. I think they get around $4 a connector. A short run (10 ft) of RG8 at 432mhz or 144mhz is not too prohibited, in my opinion. Or you can have somebody put together a jumper as you have noted. Self reliance provides better quality control in my opinion.
Jim W9VNE ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronald Nutter" rnutter@networkref.com To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 8:49 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Best type of coax to use between preamps and antennas
After problems I had on Field Day in trying to operate the satellites, I am looking to upgrade the coax I use between the preamps and the antennas. I am using 9913FX from the IC-910H and the preamps. I had been using RG Mini 8/U for the connection between the preamps and antennas. Should I also use 9913FX between the preamps and the antennas? The run between the radio and the preamp is 50 ft. The run from the preamp to the antennas is about 10 - 15 ft depending on where I set the antennas up. I am concerned about how flexible the 9913FX would be in terms of the antennas rotating back and forth. I was planning on ordering the cables pre-made from CableXperts since working with N connectors isnt my strong point and dont want to worry about my soldering and having a good connection on both ends of the cable.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks, Ron KA4KYI