Were you listening in daytime or at night?  Many times I have found after sunset there is little or no activity on satellites.  Mid afternoon, on weekends,  seems to be most active.  If you hear beacon signals well, especially on XWs, your receiver is working.

73, Marshall AA0FO 

On Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 8:13 AM Bob Liddy (K8BL) <k8bl@ameritech.net> wrote:
Carl,

Sorry to hear those results. You should have much better RX than that.

Many folks on the BB have similar setups.

Perhaps, the general AMSAT community can give more advice.

GL/73,    Bob  K8BL



On Saturday, April 17, 2021, 02:41:04 AM EDT, Carl A Estey <carl@esteys.net> wrote:


Bob:

Here are my observations:
Using both the AMSAT predictions and that from MacDoppler I tried hearing SO-50 at 12:59 4/17 on a 13 minute pass.  Both AMSAT and MacDoppler compared favorably.  The D72 and GP-95 could hear only faintly.  The 9700 and the M2 LEO Pack antenna barely copied but when I switched to my long-boom 70-cm yagii fed with 7/8” helix I I got about a S-6 signal and could see it on the scope.  During
the pass I heard no stations calling or in QSO.  Certainly polarizations were not helping but I was really disappointed.  Path losses according to MacDoppler are high - in the area of -150 to -160.

Thoughts?

73
Carl WA0CQG

On Apr 16, 2021, at 1:49 PM, Bob Liddy (K8BL) <k8bl@ameritech.net> wrote:

Carl,

I'm surprised you're not hearing any of the SATs, especially with
your setup. Some of them are quite strong and folks have heard
them with handhelds and worked them from mobiles using vertical
antennas while in motion.

Since moving to a new QTH, I have no home station at the moment.
But when I'm roving and using an Arrow, the SATs are easy to hear
and track. I use either AmsatDroid or Look4Sat on my phone and they
both do a great job.

If I were you and I just wanted to check if I could hear a SAT, here's
what I would do. Pick a common SAT known to be active and well-used
like SO-50. Set your RX VFO to 436.800 MHz FM. Set your antenna
elevation to about 20 degrees. Look up the timing of a pass viewable
from your location. Set the azimuth of your antenna in the direction of
the middle time of that pass. At that time, you should hear SO-50 loud
and clear with several stations making QSOs.

Since you say that your setup works fine for terrestrial QSOs, you will
surely hear SO-50 if you have the pass time correct for your location and
you have the azimuth set properly. If you want to verify that your MAC
software is accurate, check the pass info against the AMSAT prediction
calculation for your QTH on:

AMSAT - AMSAT Online Satellite Pass Predictions

AMSAT is a worldwide group of Amateur Radio Operators who share an active interest in building, launching and th...

GL/73,   Bob  K8BL


On Friday, April 16, 2021, 03:03:38 AM EDT, Carl A Estey <carl@esteys.net> wrote:


Bob - 

Thanks for your input.  Right now I am using a TH-D72 handheld and GP-95 vertical and also the IC-9700 with the M2 LEO Pack.  I hear nothing with either although terrestrial reception with both is fine.

I am using MacDoppler software for tracking and have verified time and location.

73
Carl WA0CQG

On Apr 15, 2021, at 9:08 PM, Bob Liddy (K8BL) <k8bl@ameritech.net> wrote:

Carl,

The FM SATS are pretty easy and can be loads of fun. However, being
so easy, they get quite busy at times which brings about mayhem and
chaos. It takes a while for new users to learn the proper operational
skills for using a single channel repeater available often nationwide.

The Linear SATS are somewhat difficult to master at first, but most folks
catch on in a reasonable timeframe. They have a wide bandwidth which
makes them available for quite a few QSOs to take place simultaneously.
And, they can be actual QSOs as opposed to hello/goodbye types that
are the norm on the FM Birds. Your 9700 is an excellent radio for the
Linear SATs, whereas an HT would have been sufficient for the FM ones.

GL/73,    Bob  K8BL


On Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 10:57 AM Carl A Estey <carl@esteys.net> wrote:
What handful of Amateur Radio satellites should a newcomer focus on?  The Amsat Current Status table lists 15 with current reports but many of those are telemetry only.  

Is there a current “Amateur Satellite Frequency Guide?  My April 2019 is pretty out of date.

I need to know what satellites I should try to hear in an effort to validate my IC-9700 and M2 Leo Pack system.

73
Carl WA0CQG

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