Subj : Satellite Antenna
To   : Kusho
From : Angus Mcleod
Date : Tue Aug 24 2004 10:40 am

  Re: Satellite Antenna
  By: Kusho to Spaceman Spiff on Tue Aug 24 2004 12:17:00

 > I do satellite communications with the
 > military, and it can be rough following some of their geosync sattys.  I
 > wouldn't want to even try on a polar satty.  

You must have very high-gain antennas with a very narrow beamwidth.  For
geosync birds something with a beamwidth wide enough to cover the satellite as
it librates and fixed/clamped seems to work well enough for WX receiving.  As
for polar LEO satellites, something simple like a Turnstile Reflector with a
mast-mounted, low-noise preamp will probably do just fine.  Or get fancy and
build a Lindenblad pair!

    http://www.amsat.org/amsat/articles/w6shp/lindy.html

In fact, you would probably get some imagery with just about *any* omni-
antenna in the band.  But a less-flat pattern and circular polarization can
increase your degree of success.

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