[aklug] Re: Radio antenna help

Thanks Dave and James. What does SMA or HT stand for? There are just so
many options when it comes to choosing an antenna and I'm new to the whole
science of radio that it is difficult to figure out where to start.

I've played around with AM/FM, reading utility meters, capturing my car key
fob, and I'd like to now start capturing satellite transmissions but I'm
wondering if the dinky SMA antenna I'm using needs an upgrade or
repositioning. And then if it needs repositioning, what's the best way to
run the cable out to the antenna. Up to now, I've only needed to run
around with it connected to the usb in my laptop to get good reads.

On Tue, Dec 6, 2016 at 7:37 PM, Dave H <dvhlgrt@gmail.com> wrote:

> I've only played around with my sdr dongle a bit but there's some good
> exercises for gnu radio here: http://greatscottgadgets.com/sdr/
>
> Antenna design will really be driven by your desired use.
>
> -Dave
>
>
> On December 6, 2016 6:37:07 PM AKST, James Zuelow <e5z8652@zuelow.net>
> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> On 12/06/2016 04:31 PM, Hans Thompson wrote:
>>
>>> Hi everyone. I've been a lurker for a couple months now.
>>>
>>> I'm looking for help with optimizing an antenna for software defined
>>> radio. I know this isn't related to linux but I'm sure there are
>>> folks out there with some experience that I can learn from.
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>> Hans Thompson
>>>
>>
>> Hi Hans -
>>
>> I have a beaglebone black with a 7" LCD cape running Debian and gqrx. I
>> plug a FunCube Pro+ into it.
>>
>> For UHF/VHF I just grab an SMA HT antenna and go. Putting gqrx into AM
>> mode and walking around gives you a poor-man's RFI detector.
>>
>> For HF, I have a UHF -> SMA pigtail and I plug it into my HF antenna,
>> but really all you need is wire, and a lot of it. One receiving antenna
>> I've
>> tested is a 90-foot roll of RadioShack 20-gauge black wire. Solder
>> one end to the positive terminal of a UHF adapter, and put the other end
>> into a convenient tree (with a little weight behind it). Thinking about
>> it, I suppose that I could have soldered the wire to a male SMA adapter
>> and dispensed with the pigtail, but aside from that a 90-foot roll of
>> wire isn't "optimized" for much.
>>
>> I've thought about making a small loop for ARDF. The beaglebone could
>> make a pretty decent 80m/2m combo detector just by swapping antennas.
>>
>> But what are you optimizing the antenna for?
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> James
>> KL2ZZ
>>
>>
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> --
> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
>

-- 
Charles Hans Thompson
Alaska Statistical Automation
Chief Data Scientist
(360) 628-3860
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