Question: Diamond D130J for Satellite Use?
*I'd like to thank everyone who has responded to my recent call for advice getting started with satellite operation. Lots of good advice. Appreciated. *
*Specially I asked about the M2 Egg Beater antenna system. No bad words about it, and I now know the M2 Leo Pack is "the" de-facto satellite antenna system. *
*A Ham mentioned an antenna I never thought about, the Diamond D130J Discone. It would seem it too, especially given its low cost, is a viable choice for someone just getting their feet wet without spending a lot up front to get started. I have everything I need, other than the antenna. *
*So, with that in mind, I'd like to hear more about the Diamond D130J, the good, the bad, the ugly, from users or those knowledgeable about that antenna for satellite operations. So far I have only heard the "Good." What's the Bad, the Ugly?*
*I just want to get started, b***efore I go off on the deep end someday, as it has been brought to my attention Satellite Operation can be very addictive Hi Hi. **
*Thanks, 73 Richard AG5M, AMSAT Member #54688195. *
… Specially I asked about the M2 Egg Beater antenna system. No bad words about it, and I now know the M2 Leo Pack is "the" de-facto satellite antenna system.
Huh? My $15 tape measure antenna greatly out-performs my $329 m2 eggbeater for working the FM voice satellites.
Great for general receive. Well, very good for general receive. ESPECIALLY the 2m model. But they almost always mandate thinking of adding pre-amps … adding to the cost.
… the Diamond D130J Discone …
Another no-gain, wide-receove antenna.
We are working satellites 500 miles away that have less than a Watt TX power. You need gain and directionality for best success.
Clint Bradford K6LCS
I have an Elk. I have an Arrow, both work very well. I used to have the Leo Pack, it works very well. I now have the egg beaters, I don’t use pre Amos and I am able to make contacts on most every pass, FM and linear birds. Is it an optimal set up, probably not. Is it a simple way for a guy to enjoy the hobby?Absolutely. Ed KG5UN EM50
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 17, 2021, at 6:21 PM, Clint Bradford via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
>> … Specially I asked about the M2 Egg Beater antenna system. No bad words about it, and I now know the M2 Leo Pack is "the" de-facto satellite antenna system.
Huh? My $15 tape measure antenna greatly out-performs my $329 m2 eggbeater for working the FM voice satellites.
Great for general receive. Well, very good for general receive. ESPECIALLY the 2m model. But they almost always mandate thinking of adding pre-amps … adding to the cost.
… the Diamond D130J Discone …
Another no-gain, wide-receove antenna.
We are working satellites 500 miles away that have less than a Watt TX power. You need gain and directionality for best success.
Clint Bradford K6LCS
Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)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. Acceptable Use and Privacy Policies available at https://www.amsat.org/about-amsat/
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On 10/17/2021 15:32, Richard AG5M via AMSAT-BB wrote:
*Specially I asked about the M2 Egg Beater antenna system. No bad words about it, and I now know the M2 Leo Pack is "the" de-facto satellite antenna system.
I'll give you bad words. ANY omni antenna for satellite will be very marginal at best. I built a Egg Beater clone years for use as a packet downlink gateway station for one of the early packet satellites. In several years, if I got ONE packet to decode per day, it was doing well. * *
**
*A Ham mentioned an antenna I never thought about, the Diamond D130J Discone. It would seem it too, especially given its low cost, is a viable choice for someone just getting their feet wet without spending a lot up front to get started. I have everything I need, other than the antenna.
Same general answer, I would think a discone would not work very well.
Omnis **may** work in specific situations. KB1HY uses eggbeaters quite well. He is on a 1,000ft hill so has good horizons and presumably RF quiet location. Omnis can also work for very strong downlinks, e.g. ISS (particularly their SSTV transmissions). There's at least one rover using a pair of passive Lidenblads (AMSAT published designs), yes he worked RS44; also he prefers CW and was operating from very remote and RF quiet locations. I've successfully monitored brief portions of Fox-1 series passes from my car (1/4 or 5/8 whip omni) but it was marginal at best. My SATNOGs station uses vertically polarized omnis and performance is mediocre. (Speaking of satnogs, perusing those stations that identify antenna types and looking at their captures, or scheduling a few observations of CAS4A/B, the XW birds, JO97,... may be useful to see how well it works or doesn't in the real world. YMMV.) Omnis in my QTH are a waste of time and effort other than "is the bird on?" (maybe).
Since I don't know the OP's situation, I'd experiment. 1/4 wave verticals are cheap and easy to make and mount temporarily on a mast or pole, or at ground level (WB4APR has written about this for capturing ISS packets). Try it and see how good or bad are the results, particularly receiving the downlinks. If PO-101, AO-91, and CAS4A/B are copied well, it may be worth pursuing further. If not, I'd look at driveway/backyard portable with an Arrow or Elk, or fixed elevation with an azimuth rotator; antennas can be tape measure yagis or WA5VJB Cheap Yagi designs. Upgrade to Az/El and CP antennas if the bug bites.
73 Steve KS1G
On Sun, Oct 17, 2021 at 8:46 PM Jim Walls jim@k6ccc.org wrote:
On 10/17/2021 15:32, Richard AG5M via AMSAT-BB wrote:
*Specially I asked about the M2 Egg Beater antenna system. No bad words about it, and I now know the M2 Leo Pack is "the" de-facto satellite antenna system. *
I'll give you bad words. ANY omni antenna for satellite will be very marginal at best. I built a Egg Beater clone years for use as a packet downlink gateway station for one of the early packet satellites. In several years, if I got ONE packet to decode per day, it was doing well.
*A Ham mentioned an antenna I never thought about, the Diamond D130J Discone. It would seem it too, especially given its low cost, is a viable choice for someone just getting their feet wet without spending a lot up front to get started. I have everything I need, other than the antenna. *
Same general answer, I would think a discone would not work very well.
-- 73
Jim Walls - K6CCCjim@k6ccc.org Ofc: 818-548-4804http://members.dslextreme.com/users/k6ccc/ AMSAT Member 32537 - WSWSS Member 395
Discone ,Was designed for the Military because in the battlefield they use many freqs for transmit and receive and sometimes the life the radio guy is short the bad guys want to kill them and stop Communications . The Discone is broad banded so no SWR Problem and unity gain . It is a great overall scanner ant and you can even use nice quad shielded RG-6 Cable at 75 Ohms for receive. Not all discones are made well some are cheap , If outside after a time exposed to the elements will fall apart Example the better ones use stainless parts
Now I will say this in over 45 yrs. I have never found any ant that was not tuned for the Freq it was going to operate on that anything else was better .Example the discone is broadband 25 to 1300 Mhz so if you have high power transmitters within the range you are not trying to use it for that also could be a problem of overloading your receiver ..
Stay Safe and Healthy
Don KA9QJG
From: Jim Walls [mailto:jim@k6ccc.org] Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2021 7:46 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [AMSAT-BB] Re: Question: Diamond D130J for Satellite Use?
On 10/17/2021 15:32, Richard AG5M via AMSAT-BB wrote:
Specially I asked about the M2 Egg Beater antenna system. No bad words about it, and I now know the M2 Leo Pack is "the" de-facto satellite antenna system.
I'll give you bad words. ANY omni antenna for satellite will be very marginal at best. I built a Egg Beater clone years for use as a packet downlink gateway station for one of the early packet satellites. In several years, if I got ONE packet to decode per day, it was doing well.
A Ham mentioned an antenna I never thought about, the Diamond D130J Discone. It would seem it too, especially given its low cost, is a viable choice for someone just getting their feet wet without spending a lot up front to get started. I have everything I need, other than the antenna.
Same general answer, I would think a discone would not work very well.
participants (6)
-
Clint Bradford -
Jim Walls -
KA9QJG -
maikranze＠gmail.com -
Richard AG5M -
Stephan Greene