Hi!

I worke up early this morning and set up my portable satellite station in the back yard to work VO-52. Since I have written about working the non-FM satellites with two radios, I decided to make a couple of videos showing me working VO-52 on the 1511 UTC pass this morning and a closer look at the equipment I used on that pass. On this pass, I used a Yaesu FT-817ND as my transmitter, a Kenwood TH-F6A as the receiver (it has an all-mode receiver), and my Elk Antennas handheld 2m/70cm log periodic for the antenna.

The video of me working the pass is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpLw3stcxWY

and the close-up view of my station is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Og1P2fjmTs

I have used this FT-817ND/TH-F6A combination at a few hamfests, and for many of the passes I worked in Australia a few months ago. I now have three radios that can serve as the downlink receiver when working SSB/CW via satellite - my second FT-817ND, an Icom IC-R20 handheld all-mode receiver, and the TH-F6A HT.

The TH-F6A is not capable of being controlled by software like SatPC32. The other two radios I use for receiving SSB/CW downlinks can be controlled by software. All of these radios are portable, and can be used almost anywhere I can hear the satellite downlinks.

73!

Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/