I decided to upgrade my satellite stations antennas to the M2 LEO Pack. This video shows a pass prior to the M2's arrival, a little of the assembly, and a pass after they have been raised to their new permanent home.
It's great to see what's involved with the assembly of this antenna system. I've been thinking about getting it, but I'm currently renting the house I'm in, and will likely move too soon to make this practical. It looks like way too much effort for temporary or portable setups. It also looks like it works amazingly well. Oh well, maybe at the next QTH.
I have seen videos where people set up one of those roof mount tripods and mount the rotor and antenna to it. As long as you have room in the yard, you can set it up. You could always sit out side near the antennas and work sats! :D
Thanks for the video. I had just bought and assembled the Leo pack. Your assembly went very much like mine with two exceptions. I accidentally over tighten feed cable on the 70cm junction block and the nylon connector broke. The metal it butts up to is not connected to anything so it twisted when tightening. Lesson learned is to use a very thin open end wrench to hold metal nut on junction block before tightening down. The second thing I did differently (wrong) was on the 2m junction block I mistakenly swapped one of the balun and phasing cables when connecting to junction block resulting in SWR's hovering between 2-3:1 across 144-148. I will be correcting both this weekend I hope. My Leo pack is mounted on a 10’ EMT pole and challenging for me to service. I’m going to swap in a telescoping pole so I can drop to 6’ for service work. 6’ is a good height for checking SWR since it’s right at a full wavelength for 2m. Great video and thank you for sharing. 73 de AI4Y
Looking at antennas now, but had one questions about your setup. I see you don't have elevation. What angle are satellite operators pointing their antennas at? Seems this works very well. How well does your new setup work with a straight over top pass? What software are you using to control your 9700 and rotor? I believe you said you were running a channel master rotor. I assume you just picked nicer controller for it, so software could control it. Thanks Chris
Thank for the insight. 🙏 Anyone balance the m2 leo pack on the g5500. Have seen many folks say is not required and works fine. Seems if some counter balance was in place , less strain and smoother operation, Thoughts ?
Hey Loon, Your QRZ page is excellent. I see you've moved up to the G5500. I don't see mention of amplifiers though. Is your setup IC-9700, G5500 and M2 Leo pack alone and if so are you happy with your results? This video would suggest you are.
You may not see this but did you have any trouble tuning Did you have any trouble tuning the 446 I Seem to be getting a low signal are you using amplifiers
Going to be assembling mine tomorrow morning! Can’t wait to see that S meter actually rise on my 9700 on the linear birds! Are you just using the internal preamp on your radio?
I think I missed it. Your LEO pack is fixed or on a rotor? Maybe on a azimuth but not elevation rotor? Antennas elevation fixed at 20 degrees? If so any plans on an elevation capable rotor?
What are you using for a rotator motor? And where do you have the array mounted to? Is it on your roof? On a mast? I got an IC-9700 about a year ago and bought a Diamond X6000 with a triplexer for local 2m/70cm/23cm work but am dying to get a satellite setup going. I definitely want the M2 Leo Pack that you bought - I’m also looking at the Yaesu G5500 and a Green Heron controller but man…it’s another $2000+ on top of the IC-9700. This hobby isn’t cheap that’s for sure! 😂
