Hi Ed,

Drew's reply covered it well. The 435-IF would be my first recommendation, and his thought about putting a preamp outside, downconverter inside is a fine one.

73!

Mark N8MH

At 10:12 AM 1/11/2011 -0900, Edward R. Cole wrote:

In the process of re-building my wind-damaged satellite antenna array and got thinking about the mode-S sats.

I will be installing a 8dBic (RHCP) patch antenna (bought from L-Com) and have two different Drake downconverters to chose from depending on what the uplink band is. I am guessing that AO-51 is the only S-band sat available, currently. I have 435 and 123 MHz IF's for S-band converters depending on whether the uplink is VHF or UHF, respectively.

So the question is whether mode-US or mode-VS is the norm on AO-51. I can install both downconverters with a coax switch and run two IF coax lines, but it would be simpler to have only one. Especially, since installation is at a current +3F temperature.

I am installing a downsized array from what I had up: using 2/3 of my 436CP42 which I call my "436CP26", a M2-2m7 yagi, and the patch. I am not re-installing the 33-inch S-band dish or the 1268 loop-yagi this winter. The dish was probably what caused the support mast to bend over (65mph winds get some credit).

73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45

BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com EME: 144-1.4kw*, 432-100w*, 1296-testing*, 3400-winter? DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubususa@hotmail.com ====================================== *temp not in service

Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]