Hi, 

Down link can be achieved with Verticals. 

Polarization is good if you A) understand it and B) really need it. 

X-Quads have narrowed beam width but good gain. 

I have also mounted Arrow hand heads on a home made Az/El setup. 

Couple real gotchas. 
Get very up to date - 2line Kep files TLEs
And very precise clock/NTP
And make sure you location data with ASL is correct in your software
Ensure you check the ‘birds’ operation status and rules. Like do not use in the dark passes!
Lastly use absolute minimum power from you location.

Oh vertical donut effect will affect stuff. 😊



Sent from my iPhone
G6SGA

On 11 Apr 2022, at 08:22, Francis Colau <fcolau@gmail.com> wrote:


I had a lot of fun with Xquad antennas : https://www.wimo.com/fr/x-quad
73's
Francis F6DED

Le lun. 11 avr. 2022 à 01:16, nathanjwhite <nathanjwhite@frontier.com> a écrit :
+1 to Greg’s comment.
If you can’t get into the birds with 10 watts (5 is more like it for most of them) you should probably take a good hard look at your rig. 
Running a portable setup will help make this point crystal clear.
A directional antenna is the way to go- for the benefit of ALL users.

Nathan
N5LEX

On Sunday, April 10, 2022, 6:52 PM, Greg D <ko6th.greg@gmail.com> wrote:

Agreed.  My first contacts were all done with a copper pipe J-pole and a
whopping 10 watts for the uplink, received by a Radio Shack DX-440
receiver fed by a long wire strung out to a tree in the back yard.

Unfortunately, the wonderful RS "Easy Sats" are long gone now, but folks
do pretty well with a pair of HTs and an Arrow antenna.  One gets a real
sense for antenna patterns and satellite spin when blessing the sky by
waving a hand-held antenna around.  It's something one can never truly
get an appreciation for with an automated Az/El antenna system.

Greg  KO6TH


Zach Metzinger wrote:
> On 4/10/22 11:04, Mark Johns, K0JM wrote:
>> Also, while linear antennas (horizontal or vertical) will provide
>> gain, they will also suffer from polarization fading as the
>> satellites tumble in space. Circular polarization, or the ability to
>> switch quickly between horizontal and vertical polarization, are much
>> preferred.
>
> That said, at least one operator has made solid contacts using only
> two "J-pole" type antennas, one each for VHF and UHF, on the XW and RS
> satellites. :-D
>
> Start out small and cheap, get your feet wet, then incrementally
> improve your setup. It'll be a lot of fun no matter what!
>
> --- Zach
> N0ZGO
>
>
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