Hi Kent,
Congratulations on hearing your downlink on AO-51.
One of the things I would advise you about is improving your receive situation. You should receive AO-51 fairly loud outside. I talked with fellow last night that was receiving it in his living room on a rubber duck antenna. A common problem is those new to satellites is not hearing the satellite well. Optimizing your receive system will help you a great deal. You become a better operator and reduce congestion, because you won't transmit when you hear other stations.
The satellite is transmitting about 900 mW, most ground stations are using 5 or more times that power. I know people in remote areas that have worked AO-51 with 250 mW. Uplink is rarely a problem.
There are a number of stations competing for the uplink, the best way to complete is to have a good receive signal and know when to transmit during the time that others aren't uplinking.
73, Gould, WA4SXM ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kent R. Frazier" k5knt@amsat.org To: "AMSAT-BB" amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 10:46 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] First Attempt
I made my first attempt at working AO51 tonight during the 2008-03-12 02:11UTC pass. My actual attempt was at approximately 02:16UTC. I heard myself on the downlink, but very faintly. I was also having problems hearing anyone during this pass. At least I know I was able to hit the sat. <grin>
I am going to try again, hopefully, on the following passes on Friday 2008-03-14:
1307-1311 1443-1453
Wish me luck.
Kent
-- Kent R. Frazier, K5KNT _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb