Ramsey PR40 440Mhz Preamp kit

[TMI]

BTW, did I work you? I don't have a voice recorder so I'm not even trying to keep a log.

Negative. The passes I've been working lately have picked up So. Cal to Alaska. I need to work some lower angle passes to pick up more mid-west and east coast contacts. Farthest to date from western Washington has been Ohio for me.

I'd also like to get up on a hilltop and work a low pass to the west, and see if I can hear any Hawaii stations.

This is just a whole lot of fun with 5 watts

Tom / W3ROK

 

[dudmuck]

Tuning up this preamp could be easier if they included a variable capacitor for the RF input C2.
But for a $15 kit, i doubt that would be practical.

i'm not sure if they use the 2SC2498 or the 2SC2570A, but the latter would be better due to lower noise.

The best of the best preamps use the Agilent ATF10136 gas-fet or similar.
you could google for that and find all kinds of incredible LNA designs.

 

[KB3TQO]

i also purchased this kit. so far the construction has been simple. i have found myself at a standstill with the connection between the board and the bnc connectors. the manual suggests using RG-174 but i dont have any nor do i plan on buying 1ft for 15 cents and spending $6.oo on shipping. i do however have plenty of RG-58 lying around. would this work for this kit? and if so, do i only use the center conductor for both connections on each connector or do i use the shield as well?
im such a newb but trying to learn,
thanks,
kb3tqo
73s

 

[Qwazyone]

i also purchased this kit. so far the construction has been simple. i have found myself at a standstill with the connection between the board and the bnc connectors. the manual suggests using RG-174 but i dont have any nor do i plan on buying 1ft for 15 cents and spending $6.oo on shipping. i do however have plenty of RG-58 lying around. would this work for this kit? and if so, do i only use the center conductor for both connections on each connector or do i use the shield as well?
im such a newb but trying to learn,
thanks,
kb3tqo
73s

If you look at Moleculos pictures on page 1 of the thread, in the pic below "everything installed in box and ready to go" shows where the shielding gets connected to the board(just solder the shielding where the green wires for his BNC connectors are)

 

[n3ibx]

Hello, I saw the Ramsey kits too, and am very interested in them. Please let us know how well yours performs once you have it hooked up and can make some tests with it.

I'm very impressed with the low noise figure they give in it's specs. I'd rather have a preamp that has a little less gain and less noise than something that has a lot of gain with corresponding noise that comes in with it.

Regards,
Joe Cro N3IBX

 

[Moleculo]

It does work well for my intended use. I strap it on the handheld yagi and use it for satellite work. It really helps on the low elevation passes and you also start picking up the bird closer to the horizon. Is it absolutely necessary? No, but every little bit helps when you're doing this with a handheld.

Hello, I saw the Ramsey kits too, and am very interested in them. Please let us know how well yours performs once you have it hooked up and can make some tests with it.

I'm very impressed with the low noise figure they give in it's specs. I'd rather have a preamp that has a little less gain and less noise than something that has a lot of gain with corresponding noise that comes in with it.

Regards,
Joe Cro N3IBX