Hi everyone, can I introduce myself and ask a question about antennas. I'm Simon, a British radio ham living in the beautiful country of Laos for many years and operating with the callsign XW0LP. I'm usually active on HF only because my current location in the town of Luang Prabang has too many high mountains which block the low 3.9 degrees antenna elevation that's needed for a line of sight to the QO-100 bird (I'm right on the edge of the footprint). Also, there are no motorbike paths up to a high point on the mountains.
But soon I will move to the 'party ' town of Vang Vieng. (At my age I'm past partying...). That town also has no LoS but there are nearby mountains with paths accessible for my motorbike up to the top at about 1,400 meters above sea level.
My question is: assuming a clear line of sight over the mountains from my high location, what size of solid parabolic dish would I need to successfully receive/transmit on the narrow band transponder from my location on the edge of the satellite footprint? The receive path is probably the important factor because my receive S/N will be determined by my dish size and LNB noise figure. (I purchased a stable Bullseye 10 GHz LNB from the RTL website sometime ago).
If I need a large (say 2 meter dish), then my 'project' is not easy to implement because I must carry the dish on my motorbike. A 1 meter diameter dish is OK to carry (maybe not in EU, but here in Laos I can carry a dish of this size on my motorbike and the police will not stop me!).
Thanks for your advice - Simon
I was unable to find a nice house to rent in Vang Vieng. So I stay in Luang Prabang and must therefore take my satellite antenna and equipment on my motorbike and up into the hills so that I have a clear view of QO-100. That's not a problem and I have tested my system with a 90cm dish to receive the local Laosat transponders and it's working OK.