NA9D Satellite Station

These pictures are of my amateur satellite antennas. These are located on a 14 foot tall roof mounted tripod. The antennas are the KLM 2M-22C (22 elements circularly polarized) for 2 meters, the KLM 435-40CX (40 elements circularly polarized) for 432 MHz, and a TranSystems 3 foot x 2 foot "BBQ" dish and a modified AIDC 3033 downconverter for 2.4 GHz. Also on this setup is a 220 MHz AEA Isopole.

Here are the atennas pointing southwest just after sunrise.

 

Later the same day, but this time pointing to the south east.

Part of the 55' HF tower is shown in the foreground of the left picture.

 

A close up of the S-band dish and downconverter. The pipe on the back of it is a counterbalance. With that length of pipe, the entire antenna assembly of all 3 antennas is almost perfectly balanced in the rotor.

The right picture is a view of the antennas looking south east.

 

The transceiver equipment is shown on my main hamshack/QTH page. It consists of a Yaesu FT-847 for 2m and 432 MHz. On 2m, I have a Mirage 160 W brick amplifier and on 432, I have an RF Concepts 100 W brick amplifier (which has come in very useful on AO-10!). The IF rig for 2.4 GHz (S band) is a Yaesu FT-817. This allows me to not have to worry about disconnecting and reconnecting my 2 Meter antennas and helps alleviate the accidental transmission into the S-band downconverter. The azimuth rotator is a Ham-M and the elevation rotor is a Yaesu G-500A. I also have a set of tower mounted preamplifiers and a home brew tower mounted relay box for them, but that will be installed in the spring.

The temperature was about 3 degrees F when I took these pictures!

 

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