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Showing posts with the label SO-50 satellite

Simple Ham Radio Antennas: A $4.00 Ham Radio Satellite Antenna. Post #305..

I admit it. I tend to procrastinate too much these days, always delaying a simple project because something else gets in the way. But not today. I've been looking for a simple, inexpensive hand-held 2 meter/70 cm yagi satellite antenna for working the SO-50 and other FM radio satellites. With the number of microsats, Cubesats, and edu-sats in orbit these days, there is no excuse for not building your own antenna for these "birds". Most modern handhelds can be used to contact these satellites with a decent antenna. So, following some of the advice given by Dave Tadlock in this video, I decided to collect the necessary materials for this ultra simple antenna. Fortunately, I had most of the materials at the QTH and was lucky enough to have a neighborhood True Value store not far from my home. The antenna works quite well when I can time the passes correctly. At times, my arm gets a bit tired, but that issue can be solved with a camera tripod or some other device