weather

First two antennas are up!

Posted on April 13, 2014 at 6:43 pm

IMG_20140413_164534The first two antennas are on the workshop roof with the help of my little helper Nathan and my big helper Sam. Sam got on the roof yesterday and mounted the antennas for me; I got most of the way up the ladder when my knee told me that going further was a terrible idea. The cables were just sort of dangling afterwards, so Nathan & I got to work today. After some knee stretching last night, I was able to get up and down the ladder reasonably alright today to attach the coax to the wall; it at least wasn’t shaky like it was yesterday. Continue reading First two antennas are up!…

Quatrefoil Helical Antenna Project

Posted on April 5, 2014 at 6:49 pm

qfhSay what? A quatrefoil helical antenna is a type of mostly omni-directional antenna that, in this instance has about 3.6 dB gain to the horizon at 137 MHz. Why would you want one? As it turns out, there are 3 NOAA satellites that transmit images in an analog mode called APT as they orbit the Earth. NOAA-15 on 137.620 MHz, NOAA-18 on 137.9125 MHz, and NOAA-19 on 137.100 MHz. Continue reading Quatrefoil Helical Antenna Project…

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