[time-nuts] basic question on GPS satellites

[WB6BNQ]

Hi Eugene,

I will presume from your call sign that you are North of the equator.  Thus you
would want to have the best visibility (i.e., clear) pointing to the South.  The
fact that you are at the window, on the inside, does limit the amount of sky you
can see.  Just getting it on the roof will make a reasonable difference.  Getting
above, or reasonably at the same height as, the trees should be the goal.

I would use something better then RG-58 when you put it outside.  Even RG-6 with
quality connectors, the good type used by the cable TV companies, is better than
RG-58 at the GPS frequency.

As for increasing the voltage to the antenna, I would definitely be careful
there.  No doubt a regulator of some sort is used up at the antenna and raising
the voltage would just make that regulator work harder.  If the voltage is well
lower than the specified 5 volts, I would investigate why that is.  Could be your
meter is off ?  The only reason for raising the voltage a TAD would be if you had
a very long run (like over 200 feet) to compensate for I*R losses if they are
significant.  However, such a long run would be counterproductive due to line
loss at the RF frequency of the GPS.

73....Bill....WB6BNQ

W2HX wrote:

> Length is about 12', type is RG-58, antenna is at my window pointing to a
> some blue sky (no splitter). I think from the emails from the folks on the
> list, before anything, I need to find a better location for the antenna.
> Thanks for the reply
>
> 73 Eugene W2HX
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
> Behalf Of Scott Mace
> Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2011 10:07 PM
> To: time-nuts at febo.com
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] basic question on GPS satellites
>
> What type of coax are you using and how long is the run?
>
> I live in the woods and my antenna is partially blocked by
> trees to the north and east and have never had problems.  I have about
> 130ft of LMR-400 between my antenna and splitter.
>
>         Scott
>
> On 05/15/2011 05:30 PM, W2HX wrote:
> > Hi there. Recently acquired my first GPSDO. It is a datum 9390 (thank you,
> > Norm!).  One aspect of its behavior seems strange to me.  Within a matter
> of
> > a few minutes, it seems that satellites are appearing and disappearing.
> Are
> > the satellites moving that quickly?  I might go from 1SV to 3SV or 4SV and
> > then a minute later go to 1SV or none.  The antenna isn't moving and the
> > trees aren't moving too much today.  I have not done anything with regard
> to
> > setting minimum elevation or any other parameters.  I did go through the
> > COLD RESTART procedure to clear out everything and let it start from
> > scratch.
> >
> >
> >
> > Do other GPSDO users experience something like this?
> >
> > 73 Eugene W2HX
> >
> >
> >
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>
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