Need small satcom antenna plans

[bglatour001]

I heard satcom pirates for the first time last night on 255.550 FM. Cool stuff to listen to even if I don"t understand what's being said. What surprised me the most is what I was using to listen to it. All I had was my 396XT hooked up to my Workman UV-325 mobile 2M/70cm whip. The antenna is just sitting on my railing that's about 20 feet off the ground. I could hear them well enough to make out that it was either Spanish or Portuguese. Now I've been bitten by the satcom bug. What I'm asking is, does anyone out there has made a small satcom antenna suitable for an apartment building that is willing to share some ideas on how to go about building a satcom antenna?

Thanks in advance.

 

[zguy1243]

Take a look at this site http://www.uhf-satcom.com/, cool stuff to do some reading on if you are getting interested...

 

[mike_gain]

A few months ago Popcomm, I think it was Popcomm, maybe it was MT did a Satcom homebrew. Looked fairly easy. I've heard about the pirates and seen youtube video on pirates getting busted. The video showed homebrew antennas using what looked like Dish/Direct parabolas fitted with plumbing pipe fittings and a helical wire. Maybe you could google it. Last weekend at the Shelby NC hamfest, a guy was selling Milspec Satcom antennas with tripod. He had three. Very cool. When I left I asked about the price, he said $125 each.

 

[mike_gain]

zguy1243 must have been typing at the same time I was. If you go to his link, the ones for sale at Shelby were like the 12th picture down in the middle column under the uhf listing. The one on the tripod with green grass in the background. Also you will see the Dish/Direct helical ones as well. Very cool site zguy1243, I'll peruse it latter. I really need to go to bed.

 

[mancow]

He was selling THOSE for $125 each!!! ???

You should have bought them all. You could have kept one and made enough on ebay from the others to stuff your pockets with at least a grand.

 

[JSTARS03]

Hamfest

Did you get the guys contact information by chance at the Hamfest?

JSTARS03

 

[fourthhorseman]

Bump,,
So are there any plans with specs for the satcom antenna?

ive been looking,and testing,,so far ive chopped up about 75 dollars worth of PVC
and copper pipe,,with no luck to boot...measurements are all off...

 

[prcguy]

See Monitoring Times magazine from earlier this year for a satcom antenna project. Its more of an omni you can set on the roof or ground and it doesn't need pointing. Might be too big for an apartment though.

If the OP gets a small directional antenna he'll need a window that sees the south east to get the Atlantic satellite.
prcguy

Bump,,
So are there any plans with specs for the satcom antenna?

ive been looking,and testing,,so far ive chopped up about 75 dollars worth of PVC
and copper pipe,,with no luck to boot...measurements are all off...

 

[bglatour001]

I'm able to get to the roof of my apartment and there's an old 18" dish up there that I'm gonna use the gooseneck from.... I may just use the dish itself as the reflector....

 

[prcguy]

I think an 18" dish is a bit small for the reflector, especially at the lower end of the satcom downlink band, Something closer to 24" would be better.
prcguy

I'm able to get to the roof of my apartment and there's an old 18" dish up there that I'm gonna use the gooseneck from.... I may just use the dish itself as the reflector....

 

[bglatour001]

I'm just working with what I have and what I'm allowed to install. I can pick them up at S2 with my 2m/70cm whip, once I get it high enough that it shoots over the tree in my back yard.I went up onto my friend's roof with my FT-8800R and the whip and was able to get them perfectly. I'm just amazed that I can get them with just that minimal amount of equipment.