Hi Greg, I have used a quad patch Wi-Fi antenna, hand pointed, with great results on AO-51 mode S.
-- John g0orx/n6lyt On 10/18/09 23:12, Greg D. wrote: > Hi folks, > > So I have a pair of 14 dbi flat panel "Wi-Fi" antennas, complete with pigtail > and N connector. I assume they're linearly polarized. Satellite downlinks > really ought to be circular, if possible. > > For satellite use, could I simply mount the two on my Az/El rotor boom, with > one rotated 90-degrees from the other, and with a 1.23 inch shim behind it > (for the 1/4 wave offset, if I did the math right), then combine the two > antennas with a simple "T" connector? The impedance would be wrong, but for > Rx only, probably irrelevant. I'd be feeding it into a Kuhne preamp, and > from there to the Drake downconverter. > > As a receive setup for the likes of AO-40, this probably wouldn't be all that > good. My 30" screened BBQ Grill with helix feed, after all, was barely up to > the job. But for AO-51's V/US mode, I'd think it would be fine, offer a > whole lot less wind resistance, and weigh a whole lot less too. > > Since AO-51's 2.4 ghz antenna is linearly polarized, it probably doesn't > matter whether the result is left-hand or right-hand polarized, so it doesn't > matter that I forget which "hand" rule to use for figuring it out... > > I've also heard that these panel antennas may have great numerical gain, but > also have a lot of loss (cheap PC board materials), so maybe this isn't too > good of an idea. What do you think? > > Greg KO6TH _______________________________________________ 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
