(meteorobs) Greetings - Space Radar reciever here

James Beauchamp ok113cmdr at sbcglobal.net
Tue Feb 9 08:55:31 EST 2010


Thanks for the info and compliments, Bob.  Sorry I just found your email.
 
That is the primary model I'm considering.  They also will build one for you with a helical filter tuned to 217 Mhz for about $80, I think.
 
Because I'm in an urban environment and close to the transmitting station, noise is the primary headache.  I found some NICE surplus, dual-cavity filters on Ebay that work great.  Once tuned for 217 Mhz, the noise went down a bit.  I also purchased an EMU 0202 from tigerdirect that also made for a cleaner A/D conversion.  The only thing left is preamplification and it's set.
 
In a few months, when I get time, the plan is to put all this together in a small rack or box instead of spread across the office desk.  Even though I have reign over the man-cave room, the neater the wires are, the happier the house is  :)
 
The ultimate dream is a server feed for the audio and video of the desktop - especially for the Leonids this year.
 
Cheers, 
 
James


--- On Thu, 2/4/10, bob71741 <bob71741 at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: bob71741 <bob71741 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Greetings - Space Radar reciever here
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Date: Thursday, February 4, 2010, 5:14 PM


Jim - Nice info on your photo album. If you are undecided about what preamplifier to use, I can recommend the Down East Microwave LNA, their part#, VHFLNACK. It is a kit and only costs $35 + shipping. It will give you 18 dB more gain w/noise figure < 0.7 dB. Plenty of room inside the LNA assembly so I stuck a ferrite bead in there, so I can run the DC power up the RF cable.
Some details are here: http://www.downeastmicrowave.com/PDF/222lna.PDF

I seem to have enough gain because I only use a three element Yagi or a two element Moxon.

Regards
Bob

--- In meteorobs at yahoogroups.com, James Beauchamp <ok113cmdr at ...> wrote:
>
> Greetings all.  Just wanted to do a quick hello and introduction from a newbie.  I'm a radio engineer and was always intrigued by Stan Nelson's work.  I live about 60 nm NE of the Kickapoo transmitter site and wondered what I would "see" if a staion similar to Mr. Nelson's was set up.  Over the recent holiday break I put together a homebrew 7 element beam and an ICOM PCR-1000 radio for the Geminids, and was amazed at the performance.  A few more nights working with SpectrumLab and it worked like a charm.  The Geminids was a wonderful experience from the radio perspective. 
>  
> I put together a photo album for all my radio FB friends at: 
>  
> http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026604&id=1122357299&l=f49dcbb49c
>  
> There are plots of Gemined "probables", as well as some other interesting things.  Satellites reflect very well, and I can predict them using Orbitron with medium accuracy.  Every now and then something really cool sweeps by.  I think I got the moon one night as well, but am not really sure.
>  
> The main advantage at my location is high return signal strength due to the rather short distance to the station.  Of course, the main disadvantage is the same.  Every high altitude jet between me and Kickapoo will nearly saturate the receiver, so it isn't as clean as Stan's.
>  
> I'm slowly working on "Phase 2" - an addition of a cavity filter and an EMU-0202 soundcard (Both installed last week), a helical filtered preamplifier, and a better antenna.  The filter reduced the noise substantially and the soundcard increased the digitizing performance.  Maybe someday I can get it fed to an audio server.  Maybe I can work that for this year's Leonids.
>  
> I enjoy seeing the posts from the global friends.
>  
> Cheers,
>  
> James Beauchamp  K5YJ
> Oklahoma City
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