At 05:27 PM 5/30/2007, Tony Langdon wrote:
At 10:38 AM 5/31/2007, Michael Tondee wrote:
Due to some money issues, I had to sell all my sat gear including my beloved TS-2000X. I've been going through some of my old gear and rustled up a Radio shack VHF/UHF scanner that covers ham frequencies. Do you think it would be possible to hear the FM sats with it? I have a
Depends on the scanner. You have some possible issues to contend with. Firstly, scanners are likely to be a little deaf, compared to the Kenwood, but with a decent antenna (and possibly preamp) it should have the sensitivity. Secondly, if you're in an RF heavy area, intermods and image responses might cause interference. Suck it and see. :)
homebrew 11 element linearly polarized yagi and I can still track the sats via computer rotator control.
That solves the antenna problem. I'd say your chances are good.
I can make it where I have a short run of cable to the antennas since I don't have preamps anymore. I'm also wondering about using some 75ohm RG6 quad shield satellite TV cable for receiving. Would this be better or worse than 9913 with the scanner? Kind of grabbing at straws here but I'm wondering if anyone thinks it would work before I invest too much time into it.
The 75 ohm cable will probably work fine for receiving. If you already have the cable, suck it and see. The most difficult part will be fitting connectors to it.
Worth a shot I'd say.
73 de VK3JED http://vkradio.com
Good points Tony. If the scanner is mounted near the antenna 5-10 foot then RG-6 is not worse than 9913, but for long runs of 50-feet or more the 9913 wins. I would try to have a preamp as the scanner is probably quite "deaf"! Another issue is whether the scanner can be programmed in 1-KHz steps. If limited to 5-KHz or more then tuning Doppler will be a challenge.
BTW the outside diameter of RG-6 is the same as mini-8 coax and RG-59, so the reducer that works for RG-59 in PL-259 connectors fits. I would not be too concerned about impedance mismatch if a preamp is used. On 2401 MHz I ran RG-6 from the F-connector on my Drake down convertor to my FT-847 where I just used a PL-259 with the UHF connector on the radio. I have about 45-dB gain on 2401 so losses in RG-6 doesn't matter.
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