Nick,
I also have several of their (ARR) preamps, some with the choke for power-over-coax and some without the choke for power via an independent line. I have been following this thread and it is a little confusing at times as EME requirements get lumped in with the satellite requirements. I do both Sats and EME and I see them as very different animals. With EME you are running many hundreds of watts probably a KW or more. Many EME stations used separate feeds for Tx and Rx. The path loss is on the order of 252 dB which means noise figure is really important. The required relays in an EME preamp system can cost more than the preamp itself. The switching requirements are pretty steep and everyone uses a sequencer. The noise figure of the preamp is everything
For satellite work 20 watts is QRO. Most of us have gotten used to RF switched preamps and that means no sequencer. In satellite work there is most often a single feedline for Tx and Rx. Noise figure while still important is not as strigent as with EME. The one thing a satellite preamp has in common with an EME preamp is the need to be mounted as close to the antenna as possible to be maximally effective.
The challenge I see with many of the cheaper preamps is all you are getting is the preamp. Chances are you need to figure out how to box it up in a weather proof enclosure. With a single feedline you will probably need at least two relays to switch it in and out of line. Either you are going to need to build your own RF sensing circuit or most probably invest in a sequencer.
My point is when shopping around just make sure you are comparing apples to apples A bare bones preamp with no switching circuit may look cheaper until you look at everything else you are going to need to put it into service.
73,
John
On Thu, Nov 7, 2019 at 6:24 PM Nicholas Mahr KE8AKW via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb@amsat.org> wrote:
Thats interesting if thats the case that they arent making preamps anymore. I ordered two of their Mast mounted 160W preamps 5 months ago. It took a month to get them. They told me when I ordered that it would be a good while before I got them because they did not have the parts in stock for them to make them due to their supplier "being back logged". I have them and are very happy with them they work very well but they are not cheap like all other pre amps out there. Maybe someone out their can confirm for sure they dont make them anymore?
- Nick KE8AKW
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