Keep trying, George!
On this last pass, I saw another station pop up for a second but didn't decode the call cleanly - bet that was you.
20 watts will definitely work depending on the characteristics of your antenna. I experimented w/ 5 watts on my long wire and got into the transponder just fine. However, to get a bit more range I run 35 or so generally. I'm guessing that it helps that my antenna is so low to the ground (~15 ft on average).
I know zero about the 10 meter band, but it never ceases to amaze me that a long wire stretched across a heavily wooded yard can be heard by a satellite only 10-15 degrees above the horizon. I'll bet your antenna & power output will do fine depending on what direction the satellite is coming from.
If I might add, I closely monitor the 'ALC' level on my FT-857d throughout the pass. As the radio heats up, I have to make small adjustments to the TX audio level from the Signalink to keep a bar or two showing on the ALC meter. That's my feedback of what audio level I'm sending out, and there is a CLEAR difference in my PSK31 signal on the downlink when I adjust the TX audio to maintain an appropriate level.
-Scott, K4KDR
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On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 4:19 PM George Henry via AMSAT-BB < [email protected]> wrote:
Not seeming to have any luck with PSK31 on NO-84... I am seeing and decoding the beacon and other stations okay, but don't see my signal in the waterfall. Using DopplerPSK for the uplink and FLdigi for the downlink.
I suspect that my meager 20 watts to a dipole isn't cutting it...
George, KA3HSW