Xpert Grafix <[email protected]> writes: > I am about to use my Altus Mentrum for the first time this Saturday. I > have bought the Arrow 440-3 antenna. Can you tell me the best way to > hook it up. I'm not sure how long of an extension from the Teledongle > I can use. I thought I read somewhere that the teledongle should be as > close to the antenna as possible. But I can't find that now. Also, > during the launch do you need to be pointing the antenna directly at > the rocket or can you attach it to something and point it in the in a > general direction of the launch. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
My apologies for the delay in responding to your query, but I've been a bit distracted lately. More details at http://gag.com... The short answer is that the shortest connection between the antenna and the TeleDongle that you can achieve is best, because any signal lost before the receiver input is bad. The ideal solution in my opinion is to use an SMA to BNC adapter with the right genders to mount the TeleDongle right at the antenna feedpoint. I was selling those through my web store before the fire, and will have them in stock again soon. As for antenna pointing, the Arrow 3-element antenna isn't too "pointy", so having it aimed anywhere in the generally right area of the sky will work. Fixing it in a single direction isn't great, though... I've found that deputizing a pre-teen on the flight line to "keep this pointed in the general direction of the rocket" is a great solution to the problem! You can actually see the effect of off-pointing the antenna during ground testing, as AltosUI displays the received signal strength for every packet... just move the antenna around and see how the numbers change... it'll help you figure out just how "twitchy" your particular antenna setup is in a hurry! Regards, Bdale
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