I have previously been active on the birds.. ao-10 ao-13 ao-40 as well as the rs birds infact Ihave qsl cards from ao-7 the first time it was active My question is will I be able to work the leos with the eggbeaters or do I need something more robust I have a ic-9100 and I would mount them at about 60 feet on top of the tower. I will have a excellent path to the east. I would but a preamps in the uhf and vhf lines at the antenna. Doug WD8Z En85gc
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Doug,
Some users do quite well with the eggbeater setup I started out with the UHF & VHF eggbeater setup with preamps and iC910. It worked OK for the FM birds, but I found it lacking when it came to the sideband birds. I didn't go big, I now use a rotor with dual Arrow antennas. The most important part for me was to purchase preamps with built in band filtering.
Michael KC4ZVA Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 4, 2017, at 10:44 AM, doug49707@gmail.com doug49707@gmail.com wrote:
I have previously been active on the birds.. ao-10 ao-13 ao-40 as well as the rs birds infact Ihave qsl cards from ao-7 the first time it was active My question is will I be able to work the leos with the eggbeaters or do I need something more robust I have a ic-9100 and I would mount them at about 60 feet on top of the tower. I will have a excellent path to the east. I would but a preamps in the uhf and vhf lines at the antenna. Doug WD8Z En85gc
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
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
I am in the process of making my own set of DIY eggbeater's, so I am glad to see some people have a little sucess with them. What preamps did you use? Do you know of a good way to add a band-pass filter to the front of a wideband preamp like the LNA4All?
On Sat, Mar 4, 2017 at 1:55 PM, Mike via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Doug,
Some users do quite well with the eggbeater setup I started out with the UHF & VHF eggbeater setup with preamps and iC910. It worked OK for the FM birds, but I found it lacking when it came to the sideband birds. I didn't go big, I now use a rotor with dual Arrow antennas. The most important part for me was to purchase preamps with built in band filtering.
Michael KC4ZVA Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 4, 2017, at 10:44 AM, doug49707@gmail.com doug49707@gmail.com
wrote:
I have previously been active on the birds.. ao-10 ao-13 ao-40 as well
as the rs birds infact Ihave qsl cards from ao-7 the first time it was active My question is will I be able to work the leos with the eggbeaters or do I need something more robust I have a ic-9100 and I would mount them at about 60 feet on top of the tower. I will have a excellent path to the east. I would but a preamps in the uhf and vhf lines at the antenna. Doug WD8Z En85gc
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
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
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
Doug,
I purchased the preamp from SSB-electronic.com. Yes, there are ways to DIY your own filter, maybe someone can chime in with a link.
Michael Vivona Sent from my iPad
On Mar 4, 2017, at 5:19 PM, Mike Thompson zryder94@gmail.com wrote:
I am in the process of making my own set of DIY eggbeater's, so I am glad to see some people have a little sucess with them. What preamps did you use? Do you know of a good way to add a band-pass filter to the front of a wideband preamp like the LNA4All?
On Sat, Mar 4, 2017 at 1:55 PM, Mike via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote: Doug,
Some users do quite well with the eggbeater setup I started out with the UHF & VHF eggbeater setup with preamps and iC910. It worked OK for the FM birds, but I found it lacking when it came to the sideband birds. I didn't go big, I now use a rotor with dual Arrow antennas. The most important part for me was to purchase preamps with built in band filtering.
Michael KC4ZVA Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 4, 2017, at 10:44 AM, doug49707@gmail.com doug49707@gmail.com wrote:
I have previously been active on the birds.. ao-10 ao-13 ao-40 as well as the rs birds infact Ihave qsl cards from ao-7 the first time it was active My question is will I be able to work the leos with the eggbeaters or do I need something more robust I have a ic-9100 and I would mount them at about 60 feet on top of the tower. I will have a excellent path to the east. I would but a preamps in the uhf and vhf lines at the antenna. Doug WD8Z En85gc
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
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
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
You will do just fine with eggbeater antennas for LEOs. You won't get horizon-to-horizon coverage as these are not gain antennas, and they shift to horizontal polarization on the horizon, so are subject to more fading on the horizon. But you will get at least six minutes of a 10 minute pass, and possibly more. If that is adequate depends on your operating criteria: If you want to work all states and get every minute of possible QSO time, you are going to need a pretty fancy steerable antenna array that will set you back 5x the amount of money that the omni antennas will cost.
Putting the eggbeater up at height on a tower will probably buy you nothing but feedline loss unless you need it that high to have a reasonable clear horizon. I mounted mine a couple of feet above the peak of the roof.
Depending on your coax length, putting a mast mounted preamp on them might be useful. With 60 feet of feedline I'd personally install mast mounted preamps, but you might have to turn the gain down a bit.
I installed M2 eggbeaters in 1998. Been working flawlessly for almost two decades and they have survived several hurricanes and New England Winters.
It really comes down to how much complexity you want, how much expense, and how much service time you want to expend vs your operating criteria. I seriously doubt a full set of CP beams and rotor would still be working after 20 years in my environment.
73, Bob, WB4SON
participants (5)
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Bob -
doug49707＠gmail.com -
Mike -
Mike Thompson -
Mvivona