Winning Antennas and Operators in EME ARI 2021.
Introduction
Dear Ham Radio friends,
We are proud to announce that each passing year our antennas and equipment reach more and more happy Ham Radio operators.
Awards
Last year in 2020, we had Two First Places in A.R.I. Italian E.M.E.
This year, our antennas and Ham Radio operators did even batter. They won in multiple categories in both spring in autumn contest.
They did grate! We are glad to be part of their journey.
Our colleague IK8YSS who won in both spring and autumn contest in his category did a review of our / his PA144-CROSS-22-7AGP antennas. Antenna has been designed by his request so 2 of PA144-CROSS-22-7AGP fit in 6 WL category.
Short e-mail
Hi Goran
As I had anticipated, the Autumn session of the EME ARI Contest also went to my advantage, I am sending you a brief documentation of the assembly of the two antennas and some details of the material you provided me. Thanks for the nice result and I hope to find this model, you built for me, in your catalog and on your website. Thanks Costa
PA144-CROSS-22-7AGP Review by Costa IK8YSS
Requests:
After working EME with two antennas coupled in horizontal polarization with good results I decided to switch to two antennas coupled in H / V polarization to increase the possibility of doing more qso during contests.
The choice of the new antennas takes into account two very important constraints, the first is that I do not have enough space on the roof of the house to mount an array with more than 2 antennas and the second is that their length WL must not exceed 6 WL, 3WL for each antenna to be able to compete at best in the A mix category of the ARI EME Contest.
In the past years, from 2015 to 2020 I have always participated in the ARI EME Contest with good results, winning the annual section several times but it had not yet happened to me to win both the spring and autumn versions and consequently the annual one in the same year.
For these constraints I asked Goran YU1CF of Antennas Amplifiers to design a Cross antenna for me with the maximum possible gain, less than 3 WL with very low rear lobes and that these choices would not penalize the G / T.
Results:
After an intense exchange of e-mails with Goran, one day he wrote to me sending me the plotters of what would become my antennas.
As is evident, the presence of secondary radiation lobes is very low in horizontal polarization both in elevation and in azimuth and furthermore the gain at -3 dB is expressed in an angle of 19 degrees for the elevation and 35 degrees for the azimuth.
These values might seem normal and not particularly performing for EME activity but we must not forget that we are talking about an antenna of only 11 elements that Goran managed to contain in just over 6 meters and which declares 15 dBi of gain, 34 dB of F / B and G / T of -5.1 dB, respecting my requests.
I accepted Goran’s plotters and asked him to make my 6 WL as planned for me. In the following spring just in time for the Spring Session of the ARI EME 2021.
I completed the assembly of the antennas and the entire setup with the antenna couplers, the LNA and a small relay to switch the two polarizations. Some pictures are attached:
PA144-CROSS-22-7AGP antenna label:
Assembling the antennas:
Final result. 2 x PA144-CROSS-22-7AGP antennas:
ARI EME Contest results:
Conclusion:
For the first time, after 7 years I manage to win both sessions and with great detachment from the second classified, thanks to the double polarization with which I made about 30% more connections thanks to the PA-144 Cross-22 7AGP antennas of Antennas Amplifiers by Goran YU1CF.
I thank Goran for this result but above all for having accomplished what I asked him for giving me his willingness to make an out-of-print version of his production.
I had chosen to contact Goran on the advice of many Italian OM who use his antennas in arrays of 4, 6 and even 8 antennas, and up to 24 elements, I have to thank them too because they advised me well. Thanks Goran
Costa IK8YSS