Graeme,
You appear to have the correct frequencies in the radio, and Jean-Marc already supplied the SatPC32 material. Do note two things:
1) this is a linear satellite, so you will be using SSB and TUNING across the passband that is 60 kHz wide. You don't have to stay in the middle of that band! You can -- and should! -- tune around. A lot of stations pile up in the center when we could all be spreading out. It's not like an FM satellite, where there is just one frequency channel.
2) the transponder is INVERTING. That means that you will transmit on Lower Sideband (LSB) on 2 meters, but you will receive on Upper Sideband (USB) on 70 cm. As you tune your receiver UP in frequency, the transmit VFO should go DOWN in frequency, and vice versa. If you put your FT-847 into Satellite mode (see the manual), it will do that reversed tuning for you automatically.
Once you have all of that down, the only trick is the "fine tuning" to match your transmit frequency EXACTLY to the corresponding receive frequency. This is called "Calibration" in SatPC32. See the SatPC32 instructions for that (it's too long for email). Some people try to do this part manually, but it changes constantly, so it makes satellite operation a real pain. Let the computer do the hard work!
Contact me off the list if you need more. -- Mark D. Johns, KØJM AMSAT Ambassador & News Service Editor Brooklyn Park, MN USA EN35hd ----------------------------------------------- "Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in." ---Mark Twain
On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 12:11 PM graeme milne graeme61@googlemail.com wrote:
Hi All
Been reading these emails with interest. Have emailed 2 radio hams for info (1 in USA and 1 in UK) ,no reply yet. As this AMSAT-BB email is getting responses quick,i am putting my question forward .
I have never worked linear before ( or cannot remember). I used to work many many years ago ISS,RS12/13,UO-14 etc etc.
I have been trying to work RS-44 with no success.
A mention of centre freq was center freq...............145.965 435.640 (This is what i set up on the Yaesu FT847) I have a sneaky feeling this is wrong. Should i disengage the cat for the radio and manually tune to work RS-44 or any Linear sats ,using this method ?
Any tips would be gratefully appreciated.
RS-44 – V/u Inverting Analog SSB/CW Uplink (LSB) 145.935 MHz through 145.995 MHz Downlink (USB) 435.610 MHz through 435.670 MHz CW Beacon 435.605 MHz
I do hear the sat but it sounds mickey mouse which suggests to me i am off frequency.
My set up here is as follows.
Yaesu FT847 AZ/EL Rotators Yaesu G5400B Antennas: Crushcraft 22xb Yagi for VHF M2 436CP42UG Yagi for UHF
ERC-M interface for yaesu G5400B to computer. Software Fodtrack and Fodsked to control the AZ/EL G5400B automatically.
Cat cable from Yaesu FT847 to the computer . Fodtrack controls the frequencies automatically on Yaesu FT847.
Kind Regards Graeme mm5iss
On Mon, 4 May 2020 at 16:21, Mark D. Johns via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Yes, Jean Marc. Many of us would be willing and anxious to help -- I don't want to scare newcomers away. But if they don't reach out to us, and if they don't make an email address available on their QRZ page, it isn't possible. Of course, they probably aren't reading here, either! -- Mark D. Johns, KØJM AMSAT Ambassador & News Service Editor Brooklyn Park, MN USA EN35hd
"Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in." ---Mark Twain
On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 11:09 AM Jean Marc Momple jean.marc.momple@gmail.com wrote:
Mark,
Well said “OR IF YOU DON'T HEAR YOURSELF, the problem is on your end. So fix your receiver “.
That said it is incredible that many OM’s do not do a minimum of home work (WEB research etc..) before TXing (not only on the LEO Birds but also on GEO now).
When I was a trainee long ago each time I put to my “Boss" a question which if I was reading the documentation the answer would be obvious, his reply was RTFM, after a few days I asked him what RTFM means and he simply said calmly "Read The F… Manual”.
My observation so far is that if some doing things which are not right is due most probably because they do not RTFM as many infos available on the net, or do not dare (or shy) to ask for help from others (e.g. on this forum). There is no stupid question, not knowing is not a shame, not asking for help when one does not know is, eventually causing issues. So simple.
73
Jean Marc (3B8DU) also AMSAT Ambassador this side of the planet
On May 4, 2020, at 7:29 PM, Mark D. Johns via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Folks, if you can't hear yourself on the downlink, please don't keep calling CQ!
On passes of CAS4-4B and CAS-4A today, there were at least three different stations calling CQ repeatedly, sometimes right on top of other QSOs. They were each answered by multiple stations, but just kept calling CQ, again and again.
I will not post callsigns here, and if email addresses had been available on QRZ.com I would have written to each individually. But these satellites are very active, so if no one is coming back to you, or you don't hear other signals as you tune across the passband, OR IF YOU DON'T HEAR YOURSELF, the problem is on your end. So fix your receiver! -- Mark D. Johns, KØJM AMSAT Ambassador & News Service Editor Brooklyn Park, MN USA EN35hd
"Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in." ---Mark Twain _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb