EggNOGS

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.

The difficult part of an Egg Beater build (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.  Phasing loops are available for the following bands:

• 137.5MHz: Weather Satellites
• 145.9MHz: Amateur Radio 2m Band
• 388.0MHz: Commercial Satellites
• 401.0MHz: Commercial Satellites
• 436.5MHz: Amateur Radio 70cm Band.

If you want a phasing board for a band that is not currently offered, please Contact Us and tell us what frequency.  We might make a new phasing board and add it to our offerings.

EggNOGS can handle a moderate amount of transmit power.  As of 2024-08-09, the upper limit is still being determined, but it’s somewhere between 15W and 50W.  It can definitely handle 5W to 10W without problems.

Check out this amazing video from Bob (Bård) Bjerke Johannessen showing the assembly of an EggNOGS antenna!

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 that route signals to the right places and perform the 90 degree phasing.
• A Common Mode Current Choke, aka a 1:1 Current Balun.
• An optional upgrade to BNC or Type-F feed point connectors. (Default is an SMA.)
• All the stainless steel mounting hardware.
• A pre-drilled 2 inch/50mm PVC cap into which everything mounts.

The builder (that’s you!) provides the following, all available from your local hardware store:

• A section of 2 inch/50mm Schedule 40 PVC pipe as a mast.  Length is your discretion.
• Material for the aerial loops and ground plane.  The details depend heavily on the antenna you choose build.
  • I use 14awg solid core Romex for my UHF antennas, for example.
• Feed line, radio, etc.

Notes:

1. EggNOGS(3) can be used to build any quadrature fed antenna, not just Egg Beaters. It can also feed turnstiles, helicals, or any balanced VHF/UHF antenna you need to feed 90 degrees out of phase from each other.
2. EggNOGS(3) can be used with any radio system, not just SatNOGS.  It will handle moderate transmit power, the upper bound is still being determined (2024-08-09).  It definitely handles 5W without any problems.
3. But the name-pun was too good to pass up.