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EggNOGS

Egg beater antenna kit, LNA, and BCI filters

Click here to download the 2025 EggNOGS flyer.

What is EggNOGS?

EggNOGS is a kit that helps you build an Egg Beater antenna, for working and listening to satellites such as on the SatNOGS network. Hence: EggNOGS.

A typical Egg Beater II antenna, built using EggNOGS.

Why is EggNOGS?

Egg Beater antennas have a roughly hemispherical radiation pattern: they can see the entire sky. They don’t have the deep null straight over head that vertical antennas do. This makes them good for working satellites. They have no moving parts, and since they’re looking up, they don’t need a lot of height.

The difficult part of building an Egg Beater (or any quadrature fed antenna) is the 90 degree phase shift between the two aerial loops. It is best done with 100 ohm, balanced, shielded feed line, which is difficult to come by (understatement.)

EggNOGS uses a PCB to make its own 100 ohm, balanced, shielded transmissions line phasing loop.

What comes with EggNOGS?

EggNOGS comes as a kit with all the “unique” parts, the parts you can’t get at the local hardware store:

  • Circuit boards, including the band-specific phasing board.
  • Pre-drilled 2 inch/50mm PVC cap.
  • Common mode current choke: RG316 and BN-43-3312 ferrite core.
  • Feed point RF connector. SMA by default, BNC and Type-F are available.
  • Stainless steel hardware. (Ok, you can get this at the hardware store. We include it anyway.)
All the parts that come with the EggNOGS kit.
Assembled EggNOGS kit, before inserting into the “see through” PVC cap.

Here’s a quick tour of the parts that come in the EggNOGS kit.

And here’s an amazing video from Bob (Bård) Bjerke Johannessen showing the assembly of an EggNOGS antenna:

What DOESN’T come with EggNOGS?

You supply all the parts you can get at your local hardware store:

  • Aerial loop material, such as solid core copper wire, aluminum strap, etc.
  • 2 inch/50mm PVC pipe as a mast.
  • Feed line, radio, etc.

What ELSE is EggNOGS?

AmpNOGS: A transmit capable Low Noise Amplifier (LNA)

AmpNOGS is designed to attach directly to EggNOGS. When provided with DC bias power, AmpNOGS provides more than 18dB of receive gain to over-come feed line losses. When DC bias power is removed, the LNA is bypassed entirely, allowing transmit power to pass through to the antenna.

BCI Filters: Pass VHF/UHF, blocks AM/FM/Cell

These filters block strong, near-by broadcast signals that can overload simple wide-band receivers, such as inexpensive SDRs.