David,
I bought one a couple of years ago and used it while in Colombia with my Arrow, FT-817, and FT-857. It worked well for my FO-29 contacts.
Do heed the warning about transmit protection, in swapping radios/coax I forgot to switch the preamp and the 857 at 10W blew the preamp, fortunately it was at the end of the trip!
My thoughts, if you're going to use something with an Arrow in an easy setup where you don't have remote/automatic switching and you're possibly portable and such, it seems like a good place to start because if you do mess up it's less of a loss dollar-wise. Just be sure to be sure before you transmit. If/when you set up something more permanent, as you said there are much better but more expensive options.
Jerry Buxton, NØJY
On 9/13/2016 19:45, David Mennerich wrote:
I started working some of the LEO SSB satellites again recently and came across a broadband preamp that is sold by AMSAT. Here is the link: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=118
Has anyone here used this before? Perhaps this would help me 'hear' a little better with my Arrow antenna, and I could use it for V/U and U/V modes. For those of you that operate with an Arrow, do you use this preamp or some other preamp? It appears there are other preamps out there that are more expensive, but require one per band (V or U). This one will cover both - seems like a good option, just wanted to get your thoughts.
Thanks! Dave N2TEB _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb