Hi Patrick,
Reading your story I set out this morning in my backyard trying to make a mode V/S QSO on AO-51 using my portable setup. I already tried receiving AO-51 mode S some time ago and that went very well but never tried uplinking.
The first pass this morning at 0805 UTC was not very good as the trajectory of the satellite was blocked several times by houses of neighbors and trees. I managed to copy myself once though. The second pass, 0945 UTC, was much better. I didn't hear many stations but managed my first V/S QSO with ON5SA :)
I used a K5GNA downconverter with a homebrew hybrid quad antenna connected to a Icom IC-R20 all-mode receiver. The hybrid quad antenna with the downconverter were mounted on a tripod. Uplink was a FT817ND (5W) using VOX with a headset with mic. Uplink antenna was an hand-held Arrow.
I think that it's better to mount the Arrow on the tripod and hold the K5GNA in my hand as it is much easier changing polarisation that way. Something for next time ;) Also, my backyard is not ideal for mode V/S experiments as much of the lower elevation sky is blocked by plants/trees or buildings.
Anyway, a great way to start the weekend!
73,
Andre PH7AT www.ph7at.net
Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) wrote:
Hi Alan!
Well done, Patrick! Lots of folks with much fancier stations do not have as much success.
Thanks!
I tried it this morning (1710-1720 UTC, a pass going to the west), and made 3 more contacts. It was a little easier to follow the satellite this time, since it wasn't the first time trying this out. :-) Any time I wasn't transmitting, I had my hand with the speaker-mic going to the VX-2R's VFO knob to adjust the receive frequency and occasionally move the downconverter so I could keep it pointing toward AO-51 (more or less).
Perhaps you could borrow a camera and perhaps write a short article for the AMSAT Journal? Always useful to inspire people to get on when they see how easy it is.
I don't have any "action photos" of me working the satellite, but I brought a small digital camera with me and took photos of my equipment on the roof of my car. I'll download those photos to my computer later tonight or over the weekend. As for writing an article... hmmm..... something to think about.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/