Finally been carving out time to get on the relatively "recent" Satellites, AO-91 and AO-92, as well as try SO-50 and AO-85. The latter 2 have both presented challenges and AO-92's schedule hasn't been cooperating with my daytime schedule.
That leaves AO-91, and I'm finally feeling like I am getting a "feel" for the rhythm of good FM "repeater in the sky" QSOs.
Getting confirmations are another thing.
Doing this all with 2 hands is a third thing.
BUT... I'm getting there.
Elk antenna, TH-D72A, pad and pen. ISS detector w/Ham extensions (though the lunchtime pass of SO-50 seemed way screwed up... near LOS the app was showing a 20 deg + elevation which both the downlink signal strenth and common sense told me was nonsense, all other sats have seemed right on target)
So, getting some contacts in the log, if not too many confirmations.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Monday, July 23, 2018
Contact
ok, been a while since I posted.
It was a longer while since I actually tried to make 2 way contacts on the sats. Just too many pans in the fire.
That said, finally got out last week for some AO-91 and AO-92 passes. Great weather (hot), a few breaks from work, and some halfway decent passes.
The rig of choice was the simplest possible arrangement I could come up with:
- Kenwood TH-D72A
- Pryme Radio AL-800 telescoping 2m/70cm antenna
Note that the AL-800 I have came with a BNC connector, so I picked up a SMA-BNC connector that screws flush with the D72A such that it makes a firm mount... not depending on the thinner sma connector but snugged up against the D72A's shell nicely.
So, with that combo I've found some good and bad.
The good is that both AO-91 and AO-92 hear well enough for this to be a viable setup... provided it's not too busy a pass. I use an earbud and am running full duplex, but with a very busy pass you still wind up occasionally stepping on someone else. This antenna does not provide quite enough gain to hit lower angles from my locations, not capture the sat easily when there are a lot of folks *not* running full duplex, but not strong enough themselves to be heard.
All in all made a few contacts, had some fun.
Now back to bringing my elk log periodic yagi along for the ride :D
It was a longer while since I actually tried to make 2 way contacts on the sats. Just too many pans in the fire.
That said, finally got out last week for some AO-91 and AO-92 passes. Great weather (hot), a few breaks from work, and some halfway decent passes.
The rig of choice was the simplest possible arrangement I could come up with:
- Kenwood TH-D72A
- Pryme Radio AL-800 telescoping 2m/70cm antenna
Note that the AL-800 I have came with a BNC connector, so I picked up a SMA-BNC connector that screws flush with the D72A such that it makes a firm mount... not depending on the thinner sma connector but snugged up against the D72A's shell nicely.
So, with that combo I've found some good and bad.
The good is that both AO-91 and AO-92 hear well enough for this to be a viable setup... provided it's not too busy a pass. I use an earbud and am running full duplex, but with a very busy pass you still wind up occasionally stepping on someone else. This antenna does not provide quite enough gain to hit lower angles from my locations, not capture the sat easily when there are a lot of folks *not* running full duplex, but not strong enough themselves to be heard.
All in all made a few contacts, had some fun.
Now back to bringing my elk log periodic yagi along for the ride :D
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