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Satellite Base Station

Radio Tech said:
Nice going Craig.
You set up is looking nice. I have really enjoyed working the birds over the years. I really miss the days of the old HEO sats. At time you could work ssb for 10 hours straight. Used to run 64 elements on UHF with 200 watts.

What a rush it was.
Click to expand...

AO-7 was pretty active this morning, there were quite a few DX stations on from Europe, have to catch the pass just right for that.
There arent as many birds as there use to be thats for sure, but maybe we will get a few more in the future..(y)

Here are some pictures of the shack now that the IC-7000 is back, I have everything situated the way I want it..

shack1.JPG

shack2.JPG

shack3.JPG
 
Looks really nice.
Be sure to use the AO-7 log page when using the bird:
The AO-7 Log and Resource Site

You may already be. You hear K3SZH on much these days? I used to really enjoy talking with him. I got my feet wet years before I even had a ticket by a good friend of mine. I used to go out on field day to help him. My first setup was a KLM Muliti 2700. 2 meter and 10 meter. I also had a KLM Echo 70 for UHF that was modified by another ham to get all the frequencies. I still have those old rigs btw. Over the past few years I have been using my two Yaesu FT-726's and also my 736. Love that rig. No automated equipment for me. Even my antenna's are manual.

Here is a pic of my homebrew sat antenna's
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Wow nice array, I bet the rx on that thing is amazing ! I didnt know about the AO-7 log page but now that I do I will try to remember to post up my QSO's.

Thanks

Craig
 
w1med said:
Wow nice array, I bet the rx on that thing is amazing ! I didnt know about the AO-7 log page but now that I do I will try to remember to post up my QSO's.

Thanks

Craig
Click to expand...


Yes, it receives great. But if I had to do the VHF over again it would have insulated elements to cut down on noise. Although not to bad it would help. The little antenna in the center is a UHF quagy. Not a bad antenna for the FM birds. The UHF antenna is of my own design. It is all documented in the building here:
homebrew 70cm oscar yagi - GoKarters.Com ___Hobby Forum

Rotators are an alliance mounted on top of an radio shack rotator.

I went years with out logging in to the AO-7 log. Had thousands of qso's on the old bird. I move the shack to the new room in my shop and have not hooked the system up. So need to do that soon. I like to try to work you on one of the ssb sats.
 
Well just when I thought I was happy, I think I am going to add a couple of Preamps to the set up. ARR or Ar square make some nice 160 Watt mast mount preamps. I'll have to do one at a time as money is available but I think they will be worth the $239 price tag, probably do the UHF first and then add the VHF in the spring.
I havent heard anything bad about them, and a friend who keeps giving me ideas ( Dave ) has had great results with them. Pictures to follow as always.

I'll also get some pictures of the new computer interface, ERC ( Easy Rotator Control ) is made in Germany and is a much better solution than the ST-1 but about double the price, I also opted for the add on LCD that shows me the reading from the software and where the rotator is. I need a bigger project box to mount it all in so I'll get pictures when the new box comes in.

The obsession continues....(y)
 
Preamps are nice when they are mast mounted. I run Advance Receiver Research preamps. Although the only time I run them is with AO-7. Rest of the sats are strong enough to hear. Most of the time I have to turn my uplink down to 2 watts to keep from wiping every one out.

You will love them.
 
Well my AR 440 pre amp arrived today, glad I decided to test it before going up the tower as it is DEAD.. Checked the voltage on the coax to power it and its at 13.7v but it doesnt turn the pre amp on, there should be a click from the relay when power is applied and I get nothing, so its on the way back. If it wasnt for bad luck I wouldnt have any, the only good thing is that I didnt mount it up on the tower before testing it, otherwise I would be really Pissed !:cry:
 
w1med said:
Well my AR 440 pre amp arrived today, glad I decided to test it before going up the tower as it is DEAD.. Checked the voltage on the coax to power it and its at 13.7v but it doesnt turn the pre amp on, there should be a click from the relay when power is applied and I get nothing, so its on the way back. If it wasnt for bad luck I wouldnt have any, the only good thing is that I didnt mount it up on the tower before testing it, otherwise I would be really Pissed !:cry:
Click to expand...

Was this a new pre-amp?
Very glad you tested it first.
 
Yup brand new from AR. Its the 160w with auto RF sense, this is the one that most people run and they are suppose to be fantastic so I guess I'll be waiting till next week for a replacement.
 
Just an update, talked with Gina at AR and I should have ordered the PreAmp with a -choke on the end of the part number, there has to be a choke added to power it with the coax. So they are adding the choke and will get it back to me. Hopefully I will have it back on Monday or Tuesday and I can post an update.
Right now without the preamp and in my location I cant work the entire foot print of the Satellite, but I am pretty close. I am hoping with the preamp to get really close to being able to work the entire foot print.
 
Ok the PreAmp is back and working just fine. They added thye choke for powering it up via the coax.

I will be testing it with an AO-27 pass in about 30 minutes, I havent mounted it up on the tower yet, just going to run it from the shack until I get the VHF PreAmp, then I will put them both up at the same time.

I'll add my findings after the pass, they probably wont be stellar with the preamp in the shack, but it should be noticeable.

73
Craig
 
GOOD NEWS?

You DO have GOOD NEWS because I know that AMERITRON 811 is back UP & RUNNING so you DON'T have to stand in line VERY LONG in those HF "PILEUPS" & that is GOOD NEWS my friend.;)

SIX-SHOOTER
 
SIX-SHOOTER said:
You DO have GOOD NEWS because I know that AMERITRON 811 is back UP & RUNNING so you DON'T have to stand in line VERY LONG in those HF "PILEUPS" & that is GOOD NEWS my friend.;)

SIX-SHOOTER
Click to expand...

Yup ya got that right ..

Now on the PreAmp its doing a great job right here in the shack, still dont get a real good RX from the south approaches but I can hit the birds all the way down to 1 or 2 degree's in the North and still hear it fine. I expect when I get it up on the tower it will be even better.
 

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