Hi Joe,
Our UCI CubeSat team (UCISAT) owns both antennas, and the performance has been excellent. A notable use of our 2m beam was when we activated RAFT's radar transponder in a low EL, longshot pass just 3 days before re-entry (http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/craft/save-raft.html). The combo has worked very well for LEOs, CubeSats, and the ISS. My only gripe is assembly/disassembly of the elements. Each element is secured with lock washers which are difficult (but not impossible) to slide on, and you have to break them off and replace if you need to take the antennas apart for any reason. If you plan to use them for a permanent station, then you just have to worry about the first assembly. If you do pick them up, make sure you take care to line up the elements in the right order before locking down the elements!
Hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
73,
Matt Bennett KF6RTB
--- "Gary "Joe" Mayfield" gary_mayfield@hotmail.com wrote:
Is anyone using these antennas?
Hy-Gain http://www.hy-gain.com/ UB-7030SAT VB-216SAT
What do you think of them?
73, Joe kk0sd Amsat 21357
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
____________________________________________________________________________________ 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time with the Yahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#news