I worked about 10 stations on a pass of FO29 with a handheld arrow and pair of 817s yesterday from a park bench in Charleston. You'll do better if you can handhold the arrow, or use a mount that allows you to twist it to peak for polarity. Practice ahead of time. Pick a frequency away from the center, announce it ahead of time and stick to it through the operation. The middle is full of QRM and stations with broken VFOs.
Also, I'm sure you know this, but for others sake, limit the uplink to 10 watts or so. It's easy to get an RF burn with 100w that close to you. If you can't be heard with 10 watts, chances are something else is wrong.
That setup will also work AO-7 and AO-73 mode B.
73, Drew KO4MA
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 2, 2015, at 11:27 AM, Jim White jim@coloradosatellite.com wrote:
I'd like to hear from anyone who has worked FO29 portable. We are working with a group of guys on an expedition to a small island and I'm hoping to take only an IC910H and an Arrow hand held Yagi mounted on a light camera tripod. Clearly I can work SO50 with that, but how about FO29? Will I be able to hear it with that small antenna and no preamp?
Jim jim@coloradosatellite.com wd0e@amsat.org _______________________________________________ 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: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb