[time-nuts] Difference in GPS antennas

Magnus Danielson magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org
Sat Aug 15 22:56:56 UTC 2009


Lux, Jim (337C) wrote:
> 
> 
> On 8/15/09 3:25 PM, "Chuck Harris" <cfharris at erols.com> wrote:
> 
>> Lux, Jim (337C) wrote:
>>>
>>> On 8/15/09 8:27 AM, "Magnus Danielson" <magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>> If you're near a harbor with fishing boats, you'll see plenty of quad
>>>>> helices about a half a meter in overall height, used for VHF Weather
>>>>> satellite reception.  They're also used on spacecraft (Mars Science Lander,
>>>>> Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Phoenix all have UHF quad helix antennas,
>>>>> I
>>>>> think, for about 400 MHz)
>>>> Not used by the fishing vesels near me...
>>> Really?  Practically all the fishing boats (mostly squid) boats going out
>>> from Ventura Harbor (in Southern California) have big ol' quad helix
>>> antennas up on the cross bar (as well as the usual HF SSB and VHF whips and
>>> the radar).  Maybe it's a regional preference thing (or folks are going to
>>> the 1.6 GHz band or something).
>> Haven't all of the VHF weather satellites been decommissioned?
> 
> Could be. I suspect that those antennas have been up on those boats for
> decades.

I think this explains fairly well why I haven't seen them. VHF weather 
satellite reception has not been necessary for most fishing vesels on 
the Baltic sea, especially those doing near coast fishing. National 
weather services have sufficed for many decades, and before that looking 
out the window and a barometer did alot anyway for the fishermens I know.

Cheers,
Magnus



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