On Sun, 24 Mar 2013 17:49:03 -0700 (PDT), Amer
wrote:

This question clearly says that RF is not my strong suit.
Can I use an active antenna as a passive antenna simply by not supplying power to it?

No. There isn't enough capacitive coupling through the unpowered
amplifier to provide a useful signal. You'll need to supply power to
get the amplifier inside the antenna to do its job. Even if you could
get enough signal, the purpose of the amplifier is to compensate for
the coaxial cable loss. The loss of RG-175 coax is fairly high at
1.5GHz, so any usable length of coax will require an amplifier in the
antenna in order to function.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558