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Old 11-19-2010, 20:06   #76
Electron
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Fatum

I'm not surprised there are other people making this antenna. I've shown dozens of ppl how to make them. For the plans to filter to Iraq only makes sense. Remember, you will get better gain if your antenna is made out of Romex solid core 12 AWG wire, not a stranded type of wire. Plus, you might want to flatten it out a little bit so the standoff is about 5-6 inches.
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Old 02-19-2011, 07:55   #77
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Advice on the improvised SATCOM antenna

Electron or any SME on this topic,

Can you advise me on how exactly to make this antenna without connectors? I can's readily get the connectors right now, and this antenna fits the profile as far as what i need for a few reasons. Thanks to anyone who can help...
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Old 02-22-2011, 15:44   #78
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Antenna Connections

As you can see by the picture, the inner conductor of the RG-58 or RG-174 is connected to the small (TX) top loop at the solder connection. The shield to ground is connected to the large (RX) loop directly south of it. Both connections should be as close to the bend as you can. Hope this helps. If you have any other guidance please let me know. Also, let us all know how it works out for you...
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File Type: jpg Satcom Ant Connections.jpg (83.3 KB, 357 views)
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Old 02-22-2011, 17:44   #79
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A few last ?'s...

Thanks for the close up pictures, they help greatly! I still have a couple questions for you;

1) When using one continuous wire, do you add additional wire to both the TX/RX loops in order to form the "X"? Or do you subtract the 5 inches of wire needed to form the "X" from the TX/RX loops?

2) Has anyone experienced damages to their radio's when using this antenna? By the nature of its design, it seems that this antenna would be creating a short circuit...Just curious if any SME's are finding that their MBITR's or PSC-5's are getting damaged. Thanks for the help!
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Old 02-25-2011, 15:44   #80
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Wire Length

When using a continuous piece of wire, I calculate the full wave length for the uplink frequency, the full wave length for the downlink frequency, then add 10 inches (5 inches for each leg of the "X" and another 1/4 inch for the overlap of the solder joint.

As for the performance of this antenna, read this thread. One of our members put it to the test in an RF chamber at Quantico (Pages 2 and 3 of this thread). Plus the feedback from the Soldiers who made them and used them.
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Old 03-15-2011, 01:24   #81
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Expedient SATCOM antenna

Thanks to all who helped me in construction of this antenna...it has proved to be useful and effective for my team. One of our team trucks had an X-wing antenna that worked well when it was oriented in the right direction, but was not a 100 percent solution...

So I mounted a HALO expedient SATCOM antenna to the head (Xwing on the back) and can switch between the two depending on the direction of travel/parking. Using a RAMP, I hook the expedient antenna to the LOS side, and it works wonderfully. My base station said I was coming in very clear. Paired up with my SILYNX comms switch, I can easily drive while sending traffic. My other team truck wears two expedient antenna's, so that my Team Sergeant can have SATCOMs as well. Thanks again for all the help Electron and everyone else!
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Old 03-15-2011, 07:31   #82
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Using a RAMP, I hook the expedient antenna to the LOS side, and it works wonderfully.
By RAMP do you mean the RAMP-25 amplifier made by TSE? Or is this a different piece of equipment?
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Old 03-18-2011, 16:23   #83
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69Harley,

Yes, the RAMP from TSE is the one we use.
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Old 04-03-2011, 21:59   #84
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I'm confused, I thought the RAMP-25 and RAMP-75 were designed and mfd by Tricom Research and only distributed by TSE. Can anyone confirm this?
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69Harley,

Yes, the RAMP from TSE is the one we use.
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Old 04-04-2011, 06:58   #85
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The JITC website tells no lies. According to JITC, TSE Inc certified the RAMP-25 and RAMP-75 several years before Tricom came out with what looks like a knockoff of the TSE products.

I have personally used several of the knock off units made by Tricom and everyone of them failed miserably. Even had the engineer/designer/owner of Tricom slam his amp on the bench to get it to work.

The guys at TSE Inc are from this community and build great stuff. Just makes sense that some fly-by-night company would copy them.

Last edited by 69harley; 04-04-2011 at 08:38.
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Old 04-04-2011, 09:25   #86
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I'm confused, I thought...
RG:

You need to re/read the welcome email you received when you registered and follow the instructions contained therein.

Welcome to PS.com.

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Old 04-06-2011, 11:40   #87
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SATCOM antenna optimized

Being a Communications/DSP/Electronics Officer/Engineer/Consultant I took a challenge to find the best design for the antenna and did some Modeling/optimization to get:
a. max wideband within Satcom frequency range
b. maximum gain

One thing that should be added to the antenna - polarizer. The military satellites are using righht-hand circular polarization (RHCP), and we need to add the piece of wire to the TOP LEFT post, about 8 inches. That gives us additional 3dB of gain.

Attached are the files from NEC4 simulation software. The optimum dimensions are:
Top loop - 40", strip 1" on each end, bend 0.5" into the post.
Bottom Loop - 50", strip insulation 1" at the each end, bend 0.5" into the post.
Polarizer wire - 8", strip 0.5" wrap around the LEFT post.

Addidionally, here is the photo of "Pizza Hut" version - worked great!!!

I hope that will be useful to all.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Ant1.jpg (40.8 KB, 205 views)
File Type: jpg Ant2.jpg (61.2 KB, 160 views)
File Type: jpg Ant3.jpg (87.1 KB, 165 views)
File Type: jpg PizzaHut1 Antenna.jpg (136.7 KB, 266 views)
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Old 04-06-2011, 11:55   #88
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Quote:
Originally Posted by olegsher View Post
Being a Communications/DSP/Electronics Officer/Engineer/Consultant I took a challenge to find the best design for the antenna and did some Modeling/optimization to get:
a. max wideband within Satcom frequency range
b. maximum gain

One thing that should be added to the antenna - polarizer. The military satellites are using righht-hand circular polarization (RHCP), and we need to add the piece of wire to the TOP LEFT post, about 8 inches. That gives us additional 3dB of gain.

Attached are the files from NEC4 simulation software. The optimum dimensions are:
Top loop - 40", strip 1" on each end, bend 0.5" into the post.
Bottom Loop - 50", strip insulation 1" at the each end, bend 0.5" into the post.
Polarizer wire - 8", strip 0.5" wrap around the LEFT post.

Addidionally, here is the photo of "Pizza Hut" version - worked great!!!

I hope that will be useful to all.
Nice to see pics...for us knuckle draggers it puts it into perspective.

Are the patterns from a program or a chamber???
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Old 04-06-2011, 12:32   #89
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Nice to see pics...for us knuckle draggers it puts it into perspective.

Are the patterns from a program or a chamber???
The patterns are from a simulation program. I expect that the chamber tests will be within 1-2 dB. NEC4 is usually pretty good at that.

I will be teaching this antenna design to 25 soldiers during next pre-deployment training.
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Old 04-06-2011, 13:04   #90
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Optimizing

Quote:
Originally Posted by olegsher View Post
Being a Communications/DSP/Electronics Officer/Engineer/Consultant I took a challenge to find the best design for the antenna and did some Modeling/optimization to get:
a. max wideband within Satcom frequency range
b. maximum gain

One thing that should be added to the antenna - polarizer. The military satellites are using righht-hand circular polarization (RHCP), and we need to add the piece of wire to the TOP LEFT post, about 8 inches. That gives us additional 3dB of gain.

Attached are the files from NEC4 simulation software. The optimum dimensions are:
Top loop - 40", strip 1" on each end, bend 0.5" into the post.
Bottom Loop - 50", strip insulation 1" at the each end, bend 0.5" into the post.
Polarizer wire - 8", strip 0.5" wrap around the LEFT post.

Addidionally, here is the photo of "Pizza Hut" version - worked great!!!

I hope that will be useful to all.
I noticed that you had a fairly significant variance in your SWR and reflection coefficient in the portion of the band below 260 MHz. As this includes a large chunk of the 243-270 MHz receive (downlink) band, do you think it would be possible to improve the SWR performance across this portion of the band by modifying the design? Perhaps trade some the gain performance in the TX (uplink) band? Did you run a model on the gain in the receive band?
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