DA-240
The DA-240 is an all carbon fibre driveaway satellite antenna with a monocoque construction, making it stronger and lighter than any comparable product. With no heavy metal structure to support the reflector and feed arm the antenna has an all up weight of only 180kgs and the tri-fold reflector design means it can be installed, even on relatively compact vehicle such as a Mercedes Sprinter, without having to make structural changes. The light weight also keeps the host vehicle centre of gravity low, minimising affect on the original driving characteristics, a feature particularly important when considering the design of fast SNG vehicles and military communications vehicles.
The DA-240 has a high efficiency offset fed design providing maximum gain from its 2.4m reflector dimensions, while guaranteeing exceptional side lobe performance, comfortably below the limits set by satellite authorities such as Intelsat and Eutelsat.
The unique GigaSat quick release system allows change of frequency band in seconds without the use of tools. Feed cartridges are available for C-band, X-band, Ku-band, DBS band and Ka-band .
When stowed the DA-240 becomes a fully enclosed pod on the roof of the vehicle with an exceptionally low drag co-efficient, again designed not to affect the driving characteristics of the host vehicle and the unobtrusive, very low profile stealth like appearance (hence the name) means it isn’t obvious there is a satellite antenna on the roof.
When deployed, the pod turns about its own axis during azimuth adjustment keeping overall dimensions to a minimum. This is vitally important when considering installation of other roof mounted ancillaries such as generator radiators, air conditioning systems and pneumatic masts.
Inside the pod there is space for a pair of 750W HPA’s with block upconverters, redundancy system and/or phase combiner. Mounting this hardware in the pod provides the obvious advantage of more space inside the vehicle but additionally also provides the less obvious advantages of additionally removes noise and heat from inside and reduces losses between the HPA and antenna.
Alternatively, the antenna can be specified with a rotary joint allowing the HPA’s to be conventionally installed inside the vehicle.
Primary power is a convenient +12VDC and when combined with the GigaSat STC-100 antenna controller the DA-240 can automatically acquire and track, even on inclined orbit satellites. However, in the unlikely event of motorisation failing, the antenna can be easily hand cranked using very accessible drive shafts on all three axis.