Norm,

I'm assuming you're talking about circularly polarized antennas.

The short answer is yes, you can use a metallic cross boom if you: (1) mount both antennas in an X orientation to the boom, *and* (2) avoid having the cross boom 0.5-wavelength, 1.0-wavelength, etc. away from the driven element.

The full article written by Kent Britain (of cheap-yagi fame) is on Howard Long's (of LVB Tracker and FUNcube dongle fame) web site:

http://www.g6lvb.com/fibermetalboom.htm

Good luck with your project; have a great trip!

73, Steve N9IP -- Steve Belter, seb@wintek.com

On 5/2/13 9:18 PM, "Lizeth Norman" normanlizeth@gmail.com wrote:

Hi all, Am down in Peru working on the club station. The antennas are mounted on a metallic cross boom. The antennas are carbon copies of each other in terms of position. I read on the internet that one should be rotated 45 degrees.

Is this an old wives tale? I can fix the problem as one of the antennas will partially down to rehab it.

Thanks, Norm n3ykf _______________________________________________ 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