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Author Topic: Satellite attempt  (Read 1857 times)

Matt285

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Satellite attempt
« on: September 27, 2020, 2028 UTC »
I finally had some time and programed my 818 for SO-50 . I was amazed at how quiet the radio was on FM. I kept thinking my squelch was set to high. Eventually after pointing my antenna I was able to hear some stations. I was surprised at how accurately the antenna had to be pointed to hear anything. It was enough to get me excited though. Eventually I'll get some other sat frequencies programmed in and get it all figured out. Thats one of the great things about the hobby, always something new to try. With the weather getting better I plan on spending more time outside trying to catch passes. Any tips on pointing my Elk Lod periodic are welcome!

Offline ThaDood

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Re: Satellite attempt
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2020, 1817 UTC »
Being that you are in FL, that flat land allows most horizon to horizon sky for you. Unlike for me, where valley walls block better than 30% of the sky. So, I'd suggest that to aim straight up. When you hear the various calls coming in, like 8-land, 9-land, 3-land, 4-land, etc., that will give a clue where to point the beam at. Just the other night, I heard the ISS X-band Repeater, 437.800MHz FM, with an indoor 3 ele 440 beam, pointed at our local FUSION repeater. Hearing all those 9-land calls then, lead me to believe that I was RX'ing off the rear of the beam with an S2. 
I was asked, yet another weird question, of how I would like to be buried, when I finally bite the big one. The answer was actually pretty easy. Face-down, like a certain historical figure in the late 1980's, (I will not mention who, but some of you will get it, and that's enough.) Why??? It would be a burial that will satisfy everyone: (1) My enemies will say that it will show me where to go. (2) On the same point, I can have my enemies kiss my butt. (3) It will temporarily give someone a place to park a bicycle. See??? A WIN / WIN for everyone.

Offline cj468

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Re: Satellite attempt
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2020, 1856 UTC »
I have completely unsuccessful trying to get the ISS X-band repeater so far. Probably need a better set up than the stock antenna on HT, although I have got scheduled astronaut /school kids sessions and SSTV images with that in the past. Even tried a couple of local-ish websdrs without success, even with near overhead passes. Oh well patience is a virtue ...

and talking of SSTV not sure what coverage there will be (since it's the "Russian side") there is some SSTV scheduled for the next couple of days (from ariss-sstv.blogspot.com ) ...

Monday, September 28, 2020
MAI SSTV activity on September 30 and October 1

 The Moscow Aviation Institute experiment is scheduled to be active on September 30 and October 1. The experiment will only be active during the following periods:

Sep 30 - Setup and activation 13:05 UTC

Sep 30 - Power off 18:45 UTC

Oct 1 – Power on 12:30 UTC

Oct 1 – Power off 17:45 UTC

Transmissions will occur on 145.80 and are expected to be in the PD120 mode.
QTH: S.E. UK

Offline ThaDood

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Re: Satellite attempt
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2020, 2014 UTC »
Well, try building a 2M dipole Antenna, soldered to an SO-239 connector. The GND element = 51cm, and the main center conductor solder element = 49cm. One thing is for sure, with this Dipole, you should certainly hear 145.800MHz better.   One thing about a Dipole is it's high angle of radiation. Or, you could do what this dude did,    https://everydayready.wordpress.com/2017/02/06/diy-easy-2m-dipole-antenna/amp/
I was asked, yet another weird question, of how I would like to be buried, when I finally bite the big one. The answer was actually pretty easy. Face-down, like a certain historical figure in the late 1980's, (I will not mention who, but some of you will get it, and that's enough.) Why??? It would be a burial that will satisfy everyone: (1) My enemies will say that it will show me where to go. (2) On the same point, I can have my enemies kiss my butt. (3) It will temporarily give someone a place to park a bicycle. See??? A WIN / WIN for everyone.

Matt285

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Re: Satellite attempt
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2020, 1850 UTC »
Still having issues receiving satellite transmissions. I have found my Baofeng HT even with the squelch opened up does not seem to receive at all. Which seems strange to me because I see videos of people using them successfully. I have heard they are hit and miss though. I figured out how to open the squelch all the way up on FM on my Yaesu FT-818 and I have heard some transmissions while using my Elk 2m/440 log periodic. I plan on sticking with the Yaesu and trying to just receive more stations on an omni directional antenna  since I'm not doing well with the directional? Hoping its just a learning curve. I also got the ISS detector app, which is really great. Although I'm still learning to use it for the actual tracking. At least I'm not printing schedules every other day and having to shuffle through them to see where the birds are at. Any more advice would be quite welcomed. Thanks

Matt285

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Re: Satellite attempt
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2020, 1852 UTC »
BTW- I'm currently trying for SO-50, AO-91/AO92 and the ISS repeater. If there are any other 'Easy' sats that cant be worked currently, do tell.

Offline NJQA

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Re: Satellite attempt
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2020, 0943 UTC »
Still having issues receiving satellite transmissions. I have found my Baofeng HT even with the squelch opened up does not seem to receive at all. Which seems strange to me because I see videos of people using them successfully. I have heard they are hit and miss though.

This is a known problem with the Baofeng radios.   See this:

https://www.qsl.net/z33t/baofeng_uv-5r.html

An outboard filter might help.

Matt285

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Re: Satellite attempt
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2020, 1125 UTC »
Yeah. I'm just going to stick with the Yaesu.

Matt285

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Re: Satellite attempt
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2020, 1127 UTC »
Thanks for the link!

Matt285

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Re: Satellite attempt
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2020, 1929 UTC »
So I figured out one of the biggest problems I was having. ISS and AO-92 (The main sats I've been after have not been online very often) Once I realized this I concentrated on AO-91 and SO-50 and have heard activity there. I was going a bit crazy trying to figure out where I had gone wrong. I also heard that AO-27 is active, but haven't had the chance to try it yet. The AMSAT status page is very helpful. I wasted my time not knowing the status. Oh well, lesson learned.