[time-nuts] Re: Testing a GPS mag mount antenna

[Dana Whitlow]

I love Dan's idea, with one caveat.  The transmission through a
powered-down LNA
is an unknown, probably even to the manufacturer.  Thus comparing output
signal
levels with power on or off is pretty meaningless.

But his test with power on should be a great way to get some clue that the
antenna
is working, and is clearly simpler to perform than what I was suggesting
yesterday.

Dana

On Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 9:49 AM Daniel Schultz <n8fgv at usa.net> wrote:

> > Should I be able to "see something" on or around the GPS frequency other
> > than what I suspect will be something visual looking like a noise/pulse
> > source/signal?
>
> You could try sweeping a harmonic from a signal generator across the
> antenna
> passband, this would be visible on the spectrum analyzer and might give
> you an
> idea if the preamp is amplifying or attenuating the signal. Try it with the
> preamp power on and off. If your signal generator does not generate
> sufficient
> harmonics at L band you can feed the signal into an overdriven MMIC
> amplifier.
>
> Dan Schultz N8FGV
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