[time-nuts] Active antennas for a Thunderbolt...

[Chris Albertson]

Once, I'd suspect a dead antenna.  But twice?  I wonder if your cable
is bad?  Or something else.  Did you connect the working puck antenna
to the end of the same cable you used  for the bullet antennas?  Are
the bullet antenna designed for 5V (some want a lower voltage.)

I'm using a 26dB bullet ant. mount on a long 1" diameter galvanized
iron plumbing pipe.  It has a 360 degree view of the horizon and works
perfectly.   But I think the location maters the more then the gain.
If you could place your current ant. on a mast it would work better
not only because of the beter view of the sky but reflections are
deduced.

On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:18 AM, Chuck Harris <cfharris at erols.com> wrote:
> Ok, I'm getting a little puzzled.  I have a TB that came from one of
> the early groups sold by John Ackermann and TVB as part of the TAPR buy.
> It works nicely, but like all TB's, it is deaf as a post, and needs a
> high gain antenna.... When I first got the TB, I tried it with a Motorola
> hockey puck antenna, with about 17db gain, and if it is outside in the
> clear, it works nicely... but LH shows the satellites signals are all
> down in the mud.
>
> ...So...
>
> I bought the active antenna that the TB data sheet said belonged with
> the TB, a 24045-10 bullet antenna, and *NO* satellites are visible..
> the antenna is dead.
>
> I'm no stranger to getting cheated on things I buy, so I chalked it up
> to bad luck, and put my Motorola hockey puck antenna back on my TB.
>
> ...Then....
>
> A couple of days ago another active antenna became available, a
> Micro Pulse 1934NW/C 50db antenna from a DATUM INC GPSDO.  I checked
> its data sheet, and it powers off of +5V @ 38ma, so I bought it,
> hooked it up to my TB, and again *NO* satellites are visible... the
> antenna is dead.
>
> I put a "T" in the line, and the voltage heading up to the antenna is
> around +4.5V... The spec sheet says it will work down to +3V.
>
> Am I doing something wrong here?  Or am I just unlucky?
>
> -Chuck Harris
>
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-- 

Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California