Sebastian,
I recently put up roughly 200 feet of wire, end-fed, on the east side of my house to get some kind of HF antenna in the air. I haven't had any trouble at all here copying the 10-meter downlink on my 817 and my 857 from about 20 degrees to 20 degrees without any kind of preamp. It's actually been a pleasant surprise - and a nice bonus to the HF work I can do now.
Those who are regulars here on the board have an idea of some of the goofy things I try just to see what will and won't work the satellites. I've also had contacts on both working FM LEO satellites and on AO-16 transmitting through an eFactor 0-gain omni and listening on the longwire. Of course it's nowhere near as effective as using an antenna designed and intended for satellite work, but that doggone hunk o'wire hears OK. :)
Oh ... and I don't have it hung in a straight line. That would be too easy! It runs from the feedpoint northeast about 60 feet, due east about 70 feet, then back west about 70 feet. When I use it as a satellite-receive antenna, I connect it directly to the receive radio I'm using. No tuner - just 200 feet of wire to capture whatever it can.
I don't know how much help this is, but I thought you should know that consistently receiving AO-7 Mode A is possible without a lot of time and money invested.
73 to all,
Tim -------------- Original message from Sebastian w4as@bellsouth.net: --------------
I have a Yaesu FT-847 which is dedicated for satellite work, so I don't have any HF antennas connected to it.
I'd like to know from those on the group who are (were) using AO-7 Mode A (10 meter receive), what type of antenna you are using?
I really don't want to get a directional antenna for several reasons. Also, is it possible to receive Mode A without the use of an external preamp?
73 de W4AS Sebastian
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