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Old July 16th 05, 02:50 PM
Frank Bals
 
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I've been able to pick up Military Satellites in the 260 Mhz FM range with
mine, just using a 220 Mhz Ham Rubber Duck antenna! Most milsat listening
you need a beam antenna with a preamp, but not with the PRO-43!

For that reason alone I won't sell mine!

Frank


"Jeff" wrote in message
news:0Y7Ce.158181$_o.145637@attbi_s71...

"Frank Bals" wrote in message
news
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...Name=WDVW&rd=1

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


With the high bidder with the 0 feedback, looks to be a new
member
7/11/05 which is also the day of his first bid..... Looks mighty
suspicious
to me. It aint "that" great of a scanner.



J




  #2   Report Post  
Old July 16th 05, 06:40 PM
Jeff
 
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"Frank Bals" wrote in message
...
I've been able to pick up Military Satellites in the 260 Mhz FM range with
mine, just using a 220 Mhz Ham Rubber Duck antenna! Most milsat listening
you need a beam antenna with a preamp, but not with the PRO-43!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pardon my skepticism but by the time any satellite signal reaches
earth you're talking signals in the nanowatt range. Thats the reason why
you need a beam and preamp, or a dish with a LNA. And you want
us to believe a consumer grade RS handheld can do this feat with
just a rubber duck??????? Come on.



J


  #3   Report Post  
Old July 16th 05, 07:41 PM
Frank Bals
 
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I have no reason to lie...I was surprised to. I've heard military callsigns
and Spanish and Russian 2-way conversations...

Frank



"Jeff" wrote in message
news:2EbCe.159171$_o.111663@attbi_s71...

"Frank Bals" wrote in message
...
I've been able to pick up Military Satellites in the 260 Mhz FM range
with
mine, just using a 220 Mhz Ham Rubber Duck antenna! Most milsat listening
you need a beam antenna with a preamp, but not with the PRO-43!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pardon my skepticism but by the time any satellite signal reaches
earth you're talking signals in the nanowatt range. Thats the reason why
you need a beam and preamp, or a dish with a LNA. And you want
us to believe a consumer grade RS handheld can do this feat with
just a rubber duck??????? Come on.



J




  #4   Report Post  
Old July 16th 05, 09:05 PM
Jeff
 
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"Frank Bals" wrote in message
...
I have no reason to lie...I was surprised to. I've heard military callsigns
and Spanish and Russian 2-way conversations...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok........ I didnt mean to imply you were lieing. I really
did not think this was possible. Can you give some specific freqs.
Id like to try them on my VR 5K on a discone with low loss cable.
I have found discones pretty good at catching signals coming down
from a high angle. Good listening


J


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Old July 16th 05, 08:53 PM
DougSlug
 
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I don't know how the military satellites in question compare, but it is
possible to pick up the amateur LEO satellites and the ISS with a handheld
and decent ducky. Of course a whip or beam works better, but if the pass is
high enough and your antenna is pointed the right direction, it can be done.
The time window is narrow, so you really have to actively chase the signal
and adjust for doppler shift as well.

- Doug


"Jeff" wrote in message
news:2EbCe.159171$_o.111663@attbi_s71...

"Frank Bals" wrote in message
...
I've been able to pick up Military Satellites in the 260 Mhz FM range
with
mine, just using a 220 Mhz Ham Rubber Duck antenna! Most milsat listening
you need a beam antenna with a preamp, but not with the PRO-43!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pardon my skepticism but by the time any satellite signal reaches
earth you're talking signals in the nanowatt range. Thats the reason why
you need a beam and preamp, or a dish with a LNA. And you want
us to believe a consumer grade RS handheld can do this feat with
just a rubber duck??????? Come on.



J






  #6   Report Post  
Old July 17th 05, 12:31 AM
Dave Holford
 
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My ICOM IC-T7 does a great job on the ISS even with the stock rubber duck while it
is hanging on my belt. I can count on a good signal as soon as the ISS comes over
the horizon.

I have also managed to copy some military satellite traffic on my PRO-43, but the
signals were pretty marginal on the rubber duck. Mind you, at 45N, I'm probably on
the edge of the footprint.

Dave

DougSlug wrote:

I don't know how the military satellites in question compare, but it is
possible to pick up the amateur LEO satellites and the ISS with a handheld
and decent ducky. Of course a whip or beam works better, but if the pass is
high enough and your antenna is pointed the right direction, it can be done.
The time window is narrow, so you really have to actively chase the signal
and adjust for doppler shift as well.

- Doug

"Jeff" wrote in message
news:2EbCe.159171$_o.111663@attbi_s71...

"Frank Bals" wrote in message
...
I've been able to pick up Military Satellites in the 260 Mhz FM range
with
mine, just using a 220 Mhz Ham Rubber Duck antenna! Most milsat listening
you need a beam antenna with a preamp, but not with the PRO-43!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pardon my skepticism but by the time any satellite signal reaches
earth you're talking signals in the nanowatt range. Thats the reason why
you need a beam and preamp, or a dish with a LNA. And you want
us to believe a consumer grade RS handheld can do this feat with
just a rubber duck??????? Come on.



J



  #7   Report Post  
Old July 17th 05, 03:39 AM
Mike
 
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I have also picked up UHF mil satellites on my PRO-43 and stock rubber
duck. It was comms between McMurdo, Antarctica and the mainland at
around 261.?MHz This was from one of the new UHF follow on sats, which
is a little hotter than previous series but was loud and clear on the
rubber ant. The signal was first picked up using a military satcom
antenna and then I switched to the rubber ant. I have owned a lot of
scanners, commercial and mil radios and the PRO-43 is the best analog
hand held scanner I have found.
m.


Dave Holford wrote:
My ICOM IC-T7 does a great job on the ISS even with the stock rubber duck while it
is hanging on my belt. I can count on a good signal as soon as the ISS comes over
the horizon.

I have also managed to copy some military satellite traffic on my PRO-43, but the
signals were pretty marginal on the rubber duck. Mind you, at 45N, I'm probably on
the edge of the footprint.

Dave

DougSlug wrote:


I don't know how the military satellites in question compare, but it is
possible to pick up the amateur LEO satellites and the ISS with a handheld
and decent ducky. Of course a whip or beam works better, but if the pass is
high enough and your antenna is pointed the right direction, it can be done.
The time window is narrow, so you really have to actively chase the signal
and adjust for doppler shift as well.

- Doug

"Jeff" wrote in message
news:2EbCe.159171$_o.111663@attbi_s71...

"Frank Bals" wrote in message
...

I've been able to pick up Military Satellites in the 260 Mhz FM range
with
mine, just using a 220 Mhz Ham Rubber Duck antenna! Most milsat listening
you need a beam antenna with a preamp, but not with the PRO-43!


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pardon my skepticism but by the time any satellite signal reaches
earth you're talking signals in the nanowatt range. Thats the reason why
you need a beam and preamp, or a dish with a LNA. And you want
us to believe a consumer grade RS handheld can do this feat with
just a rubber duck??????? Come on.



J




  #8   Report Post  
Old July 17th 05, 09:47 AM
Ralph A. Schmid, DK5RAS
 
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"Jeff" wrote:

Pardon my skepticism but by the time any satellite signal reaches
earth you're talking signals in the nanowatt range. Thats the reason why
you need a beam and preamp, or a dish with a LNA. And you want
us to believe a consumer grade RS handheld can do this feat with
just a rubber duck??????? Come on.


It is definetely possible, BTDT. Why should there any difference to my
satellite handheld phone, which also works just with some flimsy
antenna?!



regards - Ralph

--

Want to get in touch? http://www.radio-link.net/whereisralph.txt
  #9   Report Post  
Old July 17th 05, 01:58 PM
Jeff
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Ralph A. Schmid, DK5RAS" wrote in message
...
"Jeff" wrote:

Pardon my skepticism but by the time any satellite signal reaches
earth you're talking signals in the nanowatt range. Thats the reason why
you need a beam and preamp, or a dish with a LNA. And you want
us to believe a consumer grade RS handheld can do this feat with
just a rubber duck??????? Come on.


It is definetely possible, BTDT. Why should there any difference to my
satellite handheld phone, which also works just with some flimsy
antenna?!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Years ago I bought a Drake TR 270 to do amateur sat. work.
(2mtr. uplink and 440 downlink) when I figured out that I was going
to have to get for an antenna and possibly a dual rotor setup to track
the sat. I dropped the idea. I think at that time you needed a beam
with about 12db of gain for it to work reliably. That translates into
about a 14-15 element dual polarized beam. That is one big antenna.
Plus any mil-sat equipment Ive ever seen invariably use the little
mini dish's to use in conjunction with it. Thats where I got the idea.
I guess things have changed. I know the signals that come down
from space are extremely low power,, with the possible exception
to ISS, I think they may be beaming their signals to earth and running
at a higher power so people can pick them up easily. A geo-synchronous
sat. at 25,000 miles out running on 40-50 watts isnt much power.
The OP gave me some freqs. to try on my VR 5K and Im going to
give it a shot and see what I come up with.. I guess I had a case of
"open mouth and insert foot"

J


  #10   Report Post  
Old July 18th 05, 04:11 PM
Mike
 
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Default

Can be easily done with a PRO-43, its nearly as sensitive as the radios
used for satcom. One of the early satcom radios (PSC-3) used a simple
short whip to receive selective calling signals via the satellite while
the radio was on a G.I.s back. He would then attach the larger CP
antenna to transmit back to the satellite. You can uplink to some the
UHF military satellites with as little as 5w into a CP 5dBi gain
antenna. Normal power is about 20w. A dish for UHF sats?? Maybe you
should read up on typical equipment used for this....

Ralph A. Schmid, DK5RAS wrote:
"Jeff" wrote:


Pardon my skepticism but by the time any satellite signal reaches
earth you're talking signals in the nanowatt range. Thats the reason why
you need a beam and preamp, or a dish with a LNA. And you want
us to believe a consumer grade RS handheld can do this feat with
just a rubber duck??????? Come on.



It is definetely possible, BTDT. Why should there any difference to my
satellite handheld phone, which also works just with some flimsy
antenna?!



regards - Ralph



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