Patrick,
When sending a CQ message, What call sign would you send to? I get how to respond with user phrases or position comments, but how do you get that first CQ out to whoever is listening?
Rick Tejera (K7TEJ) Saguaro Astronomy Club www.saguaroastro.org Thunderbird Radio Club www.w7tbc.org 623-572-0713 623-203-4121 (cell) SaguaroAstro@cox.net
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2016 9:13 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] ISS Beacons
Hi Mark!
You can do a CQ over the ISS digipeater, or just send something like an APRS position packet or a packet with your position and a short comment. If you use APRS messages, you can use them to make QSOs. I just did that tonight for the first time in a few months, working two Texas stations with my TH-D72A HT and Elk log periodic from my driveway. Using the ariss.net wen site, I could see my packets and most of my two QSOs captured by Internet gateways, and a missed QSO with a California station. My TH-D72A will store and display APRS messages, but freeform twxt typed into a terminal program won't be displayed on my HT unless the text is formatted as an APRS message. For example, a station could type this and (if I receive it) have it displayed on my HT's screen and saved as a received APRS message:
WD9EWK-9 :hello from (grid, city/state, etc.)
On my HT, I'd see the call that sent this message, and the text following the space and colon that trail my call. This makes it easy for stations using the APRS-capable radios, as well as software like UISS, to make QSOs and both sides seeing the QSO happen.
It tends to be rapid-fire, since you only have up to 10 minutes in an ISS pass, and there could be a lot of activity coming through the ISS digipeater - especially the further east you go in the continental USA. Passes that only touch the southwestern USA are really easy for the low-power stations (like me) to get through. I do OK on other passes that cover more of the country, even with only 5W.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK
On Wed, Apr 20, 2016 at 1:23 AM, Mark Lunday mlunday@nc.rr.com wrote:
<My first packet on an ISS pass always includes a CQ.>
OK, call me ill-informed, I did not know you could do CQ and keyboard-to-keyboard QSO's. I thought you could only send short messages. Is that how you do it? The ISS pass is so fast...
Mark Lunday, WD4ELG
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