Hey Jerry,

Here, at my location and with my radios, the Elk out-performs the Arrow hands-down.

It's also rated for higher transmit power.

It has a single feed point and, so, doesn't need a diplexer if you're just using one dual-band radio, either semi- or full-duplex.

Contrary to posts on this very board from a few years ago, the Elk works wonderfully well in full-duplex. You or anyone who's interested can contact me directly if you'd like to hear a 4+ - minute recording of an AO-51 pass I made using an Icom W32A HT in full-fuplex mode with my Elk. It includes contacts literally from Canada to Mexico.

The Elk costs about one-third less than the Arrow - although you'll have to spend less than a dollar for the PVC necessary to make a handle for it.

Most importantly for me, the Elk hears much, much better than my Arrow ever did. My most recent proof came just this morning when I worked DJ8NY in CW on AO-7 in Mode B - while hand-holding the Elk inside my house on the second floor and pointing it at a windowless wall. Germany is my fourth European country in the past two weeks on AO-7 using the Elk in that fashion.

What might be more important for you, since you're planning to use it only for the FM satellites, is that its elements are all in the same plane. Since two of the three satellites (AO-27 and SO-50) are equipped with 0-gain quarter-wave verticals, you may find them easier to track with the Elk for that reason. I have. And that has been truse without any sacrifice in performance when working AO-51. It actually hears AO-51 better than my Arrow did, too.

ALL of that being said ... the Arrow does, indeed, work. I used one to earn Satellite VUCC, all handheld. However, I have no doubt that the Elk works better - for me, at least. I would have earned VUCC with it if I'd known about it when I started out working the satellites. I didn't, and so bought an Arrow because "everyone else was using one." They were, and many still are. But for me, there is no question that the Elk is the better choice - in performance and in price.

I hope this helps. Best of luck no matter which antenna you decide to go with.

73,

Tim - N3TL Athens, Ga. - EM84ha -------------- Original message from Jerry Felts [email protected]: --------------

I never really had the extra money but now I do. This would mainly be used for the FM birds. Which do you like the best? The Elk or the Arrow antenna? Going to order one in the next couple of days.

-- Jerry - NR5A - South Dakota www.freewebs.com/nr5a

http://nr5abikeblog.blogspot.com/

http://nr5abeaconblog.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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

But has anyone come up with a mechanical design for these that's as easy to assemble, diassemble and pack as the Arrow and the Elk?

If you're not going to take advantage of those features of the two ready-made antennas, then the cheap antennas seem to very good.

73, doug

From: James Duffey [email protected] Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:19:43 -0600

Jerry - Before you buy, try to build:

< http://www.wa5vjb.com/references/Cheap%20Antennas-LEOs.pdf >

These are easy to build from easily available parts. GIve it a try. They work great. - Duffey On Apr 26, 2009, at 1:44 PM, Jerry Felts wrote:

I never really had the extra money but now I do. This would mainly be used for the FM birds. Which do you like the best? The Elk or the Arrow antenna? Going to order one in the next couple of days.

-- Jerry - NR5A - South Dakota www.freewebs.com/nr5a