I’m a bit of a nomad, and have always enjoyed taking the roads less travelled. That applies to my hobby as well—those of us who work VHF are a fairly rare bunch. Those who work satellites; not often spotted in the wild.
But apparently, rarer still are those who enjoy making contacts on satellites that are not AO-91, A0-92, SO-50, and FO-29.
Working from home today, so I got on nearly every satellite pass over the United States. Alternated between calling CQ and searching for others to work.
The results of working eight different passes? Four contacts for the day. Two on SO-50, one each on AO-91 and FO-29.
Called CQ on XW-2A at dinner time. High elevation pass. Good strong downlink the entire pass from horizon to horizon. Nada…
It did net me an SWL report from Mark Gluch, KB3CI who heard me loud and clean in EN82 near Detroit. He doesn’t have the transmit side working yet for the linear birds, but will soon.
Ditto on AO-7, a whole pass on FO-29 this morning, and at least three of the XW birds.
Last weekend, I listed to the L band activity on AO-91 and there was a ton more activity there than I heard today. (I’m working on getting the 1296 Yagi up so I can join you folks.)
We’ve got a sky full of great satellites that perform well. Let’s use them.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF 121 Mayfair Park Maylene, AL 35114 EM63nf
Member WTFDA, IRCA, NRC. Former CPC Chairman for NRC & IRCA.
Elad FDM-S2 SDR, AirSpy SDR2, SDRPlay RSP-2 Pro, Sony XDR-F1HD [XDR Guy Modified], Dennon TU-1500RD, Sangean HDT-1X, Ray Dees RDS Decoders, Korner 9.2 Antenna, FM-6 Antenna, Kitz Technologies KT-501 Pre-amps, Quantum Phaser, Wellbrook ALA1530 Loop, Wellbrook Flag, Clifton Labs Active Whip.
“Nothing but blues and Elvis, and somebody else’s favorite song…”