At 11:07 PM 3/8/2007, Bruce Robertson wrote:
Many of us have been encouraging the newcomers to this list to avoid elevation rotors if they want to begin with a simple, less expensive station. (It is unfortunate that as recently as my 2006 edition, the ARRL Handbook states that az/el rotation is necessary. I wonder if someone should contact them and offer a rewrite.) As evidence of the effectiveness of such a station, I offer the following two QSOs (chosen merely because I was writing up the QSL cards). I also submit them as the first entries in a fixed-elevation DX bragging thread:
VE9QRP (FN75tv) to IW4DVZ (JN54IM) 5600 km " " to OK2UFB (JN99as) 5847 km
Dear friends,
I agree with Bruce, you do not need fancy antennas to work DX on LEO satellites. Here are a few I found in my log that were completed using just omni-directional antennas - NO rotors at all:
AA2TX (FN20) to: PA0TAU (JO22) 5987 Km SM6DJE (JO99) 6411 Km OM3MM (KN09) 7084 Km
The distances were calculated using: http://home.arcor.de/waldemar.kebsch/The_Makrothen_Contest/fmaidenhead.html
Best DX and 73, Tony AA2TX