Paul,
I had replied directly to Peter earlier today, and we have had a nice exchange discussing what he reported and what I saw on passes last night. I can expand on what I saw last night on two AO-73 passes...
The pass you referenced was a 58-degree western pass around 0535 UTC. Unfortunately, I was the only one on the transponder (as W1AW/7), so I did more tests with my transmitter power. I was able to cut my power down from 5W to 500mW and still hear myself loudly and clearly through the transponder. And it was nice outside (around 68F/20C at 10.35pm local time). The 145.935 MHz telemetry downlink sounded loud, but I did not copy it with the software (my laptop was not out with me).
At 0401 UTC, an eastern pass with maximum elevation of 11 degrees where I lose the first 3 or 4 degrees in that direction due to mountains, I had a hard time getting through in the first couple of minutes. I heard a QSO on the transponder, and one station was very loud. I was able to finally hear myself at the center of the transponder, and make one QSO (as W1AW/7) with CO6CBF. I didn't move around to find the other station, so my only QSO on that pass was with Hector.
For both passes, I used a pair of FT-817NDs, transmitting at 5W to my Elk handheld 2m/70cm log periodic (except for part of the western pass where I cut my power to 500mW).
The suggestion of trying VO-52 in particular is a good one. If the setup works for VO-52, it should do fine with AO-73. I'll be on at least one AO-73 pass this evening as W1AW/7 (0423 UTC, maximum elevation 19 degrees), and - if anyone will be up for the later pass - I will stick around for the 0559 UTC pass (maximum elevation 33 degrees). Or maybe I will swap antennas on the later pass, going with something other than the log periodic...
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/
On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 3:20 PM, Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net wrote:
Peter,
Not any evidence from Europe, but WD9EWK reported good downlink signals from AO-73 on a westerly pass from his QTH in Arizona while running just 500 mW to an Elk antenna last night.
The AAR29 AO-73 log page also reports several QSOs from Europe today: http://aar29.free.fr/sat/ao73/ao73log.php
Have you checked VO-52 and AO-7 Mode B passes to rule out a problem on your end?
73,
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM Washington, DC