Design, Implementation, and Experimental Evaluation of Cross-Yagi Antennas for VHF/UHF Satellite Ground Station Applications

This work presents the design, simulation, fabrication, and practical evaluation of low-cost Cross-Yagi antennas for VHF/UHF satellite ground-station applications. The main contribution lies in the integrated development of a low-cost VHF/UHF antenna solution for a functional amateur satellite ground station, combining electromagnetic design, physical fabrication, and operational validation through real satellite signal reception. Two antennas operating at 145 MHz and 434 MHz were designed using Ansys HFSS, fabricated, and experimentally characterized by means of S11 and Smith chart measurements. Simulated results were used to evaluate gain, radiation characteristics, and circular-polarization behavior through axial-ratio analysis. The fabricated prototypes showed acceptable impedance performance close to the intended operating bands and a substantially lower material cost than representative commercial alternatives. Finally, the antennas were integrated into an amateur satellite ground station for real beacon reception and telemetry decoding, confirming the practical feasibility of the proposed approach for low-cost VHF/UHF satellite communication systems.