Hi, John.
I'm in Ottawa, and I'm new to satellites.
SO-50 is one of the sats that I am going to try out because all I have is an FM handie-talkie. I've built an (admittedly heavy!) antenna which is a 6 element 70cm beam and a 4 element 2m beam joined together, but I'm not sure if it will have enough gain for SO-50, my H/T will only do about 4W max, and if possible I'd like to run it at 0.5 or 1.5W to extend the battery life.
I noticed your signature line "Satellite QRPer" so I thought you might know if I ought to be able to transmit only 1/2W and have a reliable QSO.
Also:
transcontinental passes on SO-50
What does that mean? I'm looking at a pass for example which is at 00:20 tonight EST, which goes South to North just west of Florida right overhead Ottawa. Is that what you meant by a transcontinental pass?
If you're east of the Mississippi, you'll be especially welcomed on transcontinental SO-50 passes.
Why? I am East of the Mississippi :)
Anyway I've got the radio all programmed up and ready to go. The next reasonable pass that I will be able to try is the one on Saturday morning at 8:20am EST. It comes to me from the West and so it should be very busy by the time it gets to me... anyway I'll have a go!
73 Martin.