Amateur Satellites - Building a Dual Band 70cm / 2m Antenna ( SO-50 AO-92 )
I’ve always wanted to have a go at working the satellites but never wanted to pay out on a dual band antenna. I already have a cheap uv5r radio that’s I’ve seen people use and whilst a lot swear by the arrow antenna, I wasn’t prepared to pay £150+ when I expect I won’t be using it that frequently. The only thing that has put me off is finding decent antenna plans. A kind ham enthusiast shared with me plans for this antenna which are also posted on the video. I’m not pretending I am overly technical, but I think I’m right in saying that the 70cm elements are parasitically fed from the 2m. So the feed is actually connected to the 2m driven element which feeds the 70cm as well….the point being, there is no need for a duplexer and a simple antenna can be constructed. I paid £6 for the 8mm antenna for the elements and very little for 1” wood.
The video at the end shows the antenna receiving but I admit I didn’t make a contact on this pass. It took me a good few days to figure out how to programme the radio for tx, which I eventually did on pc using chirp. This allows dual band tx/RX.
Good luck.