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K5GNA   Email:  Bob@K5GNA.COM        Bob Seydler
LINKS TO INFORMATION ON MY AO-40 EQUIPMENT
Just click on the line item:
AIDC 3731AA Instructions...........................Microsoft Word format
Downconverter Modifications....................Microsoft Word format
Price List.......................................................Microsoft Word format
3' PLUG N PLAY DOWNCONVERTER SYSTEM
The 3 ' plug N play system has everything you need to get on AO-40 receive except a 2 meter all mode receiver. Included is a power supply, 50' of RG-59 cable, downconverter, dish, hardware, F to BNC adapter and an attenuator to help maintain proper gain.  With this system, the midband beacon will come in at about 20 dB out of the noise with a good pass of the satellite.

The 2' by 3'  dish is small enough to fit on the boom of a Yaseu 5400 or 5600 positioner along with a 2 meter and a 435 MHZ Yagi. The dish weighs about 7 pounds and has little wind resistance. A solid dish or a larger dish may require the purchase of an additional positioner system.
The downconverter mounts on the dish with two L brackets using one screw and has a built in dipole and reflector.
The AIDC 3731 downconverter is used with the plug N play system and has a typical noise figure of 1 dB.  It has a 2 stage low noise preamp with 4 pole combline filters at the antenna input and at the preamp output and an attached dipole with reflector.  It is electrically the same as the AIDC 3731AA -- see pictures below.  I sell an N adpater that can later replace the dipole if desired.

The IF output is an F connector to utilize the convienence of TV type cable and connectors. Power is fed up the coax line from the power inserter and PS near the receiver.  The downconverter has excess gain at the 2 meter IF and the cable loss and the  50/75 ohm mismatch is of no consequence.  I supply a 6 dB attenuator with the plug N play system to bring the no signal noise level to a reasonable level and it will prevent burnout if you accidentally key up into the downconverter.
AIDC 3731AA DOWNCONVERTER
The 3731AA has a noise figure of 1 dB or better (.90 to 1.0 dB NF) and has a 2 stage low noise preamp and comes with an N connector.  The preamp has a 4 pole TUNABLE combline filter at the antenna input and at the preamp output. This filter provides superior out of band rejection.  A 1269 MHZ transmit  patch antenna can be stacked within a fraction of an inch of the 2401 MHZ receive patch antenna with no desense or burnout using this downconverter. Other downconverter or preamps will desense or burn out.  No additional preamp is needed for excellent performance on AO-40.  It has 37 dB of gain and comes with a 2 meter IF or it can be supplied with the original 123 MHZ IF.

MY CURRENT PROJECT

My present project is the object in picture.

It is an AT&T tower site that I purchased from American Tower in March of 2002. AT&T got out of the Microwave business years ago and went to fiberoptic cable.  The tower and equipment bunker were built for the US Government Autovon telephone system during the Cold War.

The tower is A 330' self supported tower and is located on 2 and 2/3 acres  near the dam at Lake Livingston in East Texas.  The dish near the top is 10' in diameter and there two  "sugar scoop" antennas on the tower also.

The equipment bunker is 35' by 50' and is made from 14" thick reinforced concrete.It has a diesel 60 KW generator inside the generator room.

American Tower bought almost 2000 sites from AT&T a few years ago and many of them are for sale. You don't have to be rich to own one -- most are going at very low prices.  Try their link below and then click on "Sites for Sale". There are no listed prices.



 

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