I heard lots of new calls on SO-50 today and I really wanted to give them a shout back and say welcome. Unfortunately, that's about all I heard was a bunch of folks throwing their call sign out. Is there some "transmit only" mode that I'm not aware of? ;-)
On a more serious note, try to hear the downlink first before transmitting. It reduces QRM and greatly increases your chances of making a QSO!
Thanks and 73, John W9EN
Also heard over the past few days on SO-50:
-Whistling -"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10" -"CQ satellite" -"November"
You are definitely correct about the primary cause - people need to put some effort into optimizing their receive setup as SO-50 has a weak downlink signal. I was on a 10 degree max eastern pass of SO-50 (mostly over the Atlantic Ocean) around 1400Z this morning and had a nice 4 minute chat with KG4JPL. Signals were S9+20 on my meter at 10 degrees. I am using an Arrow II 146/437-10BP, two FT-817s, and a High Sierra Microwave LNAA432 preamp.
Here are a few tips:
-If it's the middle of the day or the evening and the pass is covering most of the United States, there is someone on. Definitely wait to hear it before transmitting. Only the night owl passes are devoid of activity.
-Be sure you can adjust polarity. I've seen SO-50 signals go from inaudible to S9 with a simple twist of the Arrow/Elk.
-Use good quality coax (I use LMR-240UF at the moment) and the shortest run you can use.
-Operate full-duplex. Baofengs are cheap and have adequate sensitivity to receive SO-50, get one to use as your receive radio if you're trying to use a dual band HT without full-duplex capability. You might even mount the receive radio directly to your antenna if you are using an Arrow to eliminate coax losses.
-Listen to what's going on. If there's a QSO in progress, wait until it's complete. If a station calls someone else, don't call them unless the station called is obviously not responding. If there's a rare grid or other rarely heard entity on the air, let those who need the grid work that station, don't try to make other QSOs. If you key up and have clearly lost the battle with another station, unkey.
-Throwing out your callsign once in a pass is OK, but it's better to call specific stations.
The good news for FM satellite fans: EO-80 and the Fox-1 series are coming! They will be much easier to hear with nice, loud 2m downlinks! EO-80 is even capable of putting out 2 watts (http://www.amsat-f.org/site/spip.php?article82) which would make it a whopping 20 dB louder than SO-50, though it probably won't (and shouldn't) be set to 2 watts output very often.
And remember to donate to the Fox project here: http://www.amsat.org/?p=2957
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Sun, Aug 3, 2014 at 3:18 PM, John Belstner [email protected] wrote:
I heard lots of new calls on SO-50 today and I really wanted to give them a shout back and say welcome. Unfortunately, that's about all I heard was a bunch of folks throwing their call sign out. Is there some "transmit only" mode that I'm not aware of? ;-)
On a more serious note, try to hear the downlink first before transmitting. It reduces QRM and greatly increases your chances of making a QSO!
Thanks and 73, John W9EN
Sent via [email protected]. 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
Paul,
I think you're preaching to the choir.
The offenders are not likely subscribers to the BBS and probably don't even know it exists.
Glenn AA5PK
-----Original Message----- From: Paul Stoetzer Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2014 2:47 PM To: John Belstner Cc: amsat-bb Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] SO-50 QSO's
Also heard over the past few days on SO-50:
-Whistling -"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10" -"CQ satellite" -"November"
You are definitely correct about the primary cause - people need to put some effort into optimizing their receive setup as SO-50 has a weak downlink signal. I was on a 10 degree max eastern pass of SO-50 (mostly over the Atlantic Ocean) around 1400Z this morning and had a nice 4 minute chat with KG4JPL. Signals were S9+20 on my meter at 10 degrees. I am using an Arrow II 146/437-10BP, two FT-817s, and a High Sierra Microwave LNAA432 preamp.
Here are a few tips:
-If it's the middle of the day or the evening and the pass is covering most of the United States, there is someone on. Definitely wait to hear it before transmitting. Only the night owl passes are devoid of activity.
-Be sure you can adjust polarity. I've seen SO-50 signals go from inaudible to S9 with a simple twist of the Arrow/Elk.
-Use good quality coax (I use LMR-240UF at the moment) and the shortest run you can use.
-Operate full-duplex. Baofengs are cheap and have adequate sensitivity to receive SO-50, get one to use as your receive radio if you're trying to use a dual band HT without full-duplex capability. You might even mount the receive radio directly to your antenna if you are using an Arrow to eliminate coax losses.
-Listen to what's going on. If there's a QSO in progress, wait until it's complete. If a station calls someone else, don't call them unless the station called is obviously not responding. If there's a rare grid or other rarely heard entity on the air, let those who need the grid work that station, don't try to make other QSOs. If you key up and have clearly lost the battle with another station, unkey.
-Throwing out your callsign once in a pass is OK, but it's better to call specific stations.
The good news for FM satellite fans: EO-80 and the Fox-1 series are coming! They will be much easier to hear with nice, loud 2m downlinks! EO-80 is even capable of putting out 2 watts (http://www.amsat-f.org/site/spip.php?article82) which would make it a whopping 20 dB louder than SO-50, though it probably won't (and shouldn't) be set to 2 watts output very often.
And remember to donate to the Fox project here: http://www.amsat.org/?p=2957
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Sun, Aug 3, 2014 at 3:18 PM, John Belstner [email protected] wrote:
I heard lots of new calls on SO-50 today and I really wanted to give them a shout back and say welcome. Unfortunately, that's about all I heard was a bunch of folks throwing their call sign out. Is there some "transmit only" mode that I'm not aware of? ;-)
On a more serious note, try to hear the downlink first before transmitting. It reduces QRM and greatly increases your chances of making a QSO!
Thanks and 73, John W9EN
Sent via [email protected]. 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
_______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
Glenn,
You are probably right, though I do think there are a few subscribers out there that could use a reminder.
Also, the BB archives do show up in web searches, so someone searching for SO-50 might come across this thread and learn from it.
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Sun, Aug 3, 2014 at 3:51 PM, Glenn Miller - AA5PK [email protected] wrote:
Paul,
I think you're preaching to the choir.
The offenders are not likely subscribers to the BBS and probably don't even know it exists.
Glenn AA5PK
-----Original Message----- From: Paul Stoetzer Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2014 2:47 PM
To: John Belstner Cc: amsat-bb Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] SO-50 QSO's
Also heard over the past few days on SO-50:
-Whistling -"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10" -"CQ satellite" -"November"
You are definitely correct about the primary cause - people need to put some effort into optimizing their receive setup as SO-50 has a weak downlink signal. I was on a 10 degree max eastern pass of SO-50 (mostly over the Atlantic Ocean) around 1400Z this morning and had a nice 4 minute chat with KG4JPL. Signals were S9+20 on my meter at 10 degrees. I am using an Arrow II 146/437-10BP, two FT-817s, and a High Sierra Microwave LNAA432 preamp.
Here are a few tips:
-If it's the middle of the day or the evening and the pass is covering most of the United States, there is someone on. Definitely wait to hear it before transmitting. Only the night owl passes are devoid of activity.
-Be sure you can adjust polarity. I've seen SO-50 signals go from inaudible to S9 with a simple twist of the Arrow/Elk.
-Use good quality coax (I use LMR-240UF at the moment) and the shortest run you can use.
-Operate full-duplex. Baofengs are cheap and have adequate sensitivity to receive SO-50, get one to use as your receive radio if you're trying to use a dual band HT without full-duplex capability. You might even mount the receive radio directly to your antenna if you are using an Arrow to eliminate coax losses.
-Listen to what's going on. If there's a QSO in progress, wait until it's complete. If a station calls someone else, don't call them unless the station called is obviously not responding. If there's a rare grid or other rarely heard entity on the air, let those who need the grid work that station, don't try to make other QSOs. If you key up and have clearly lost the battle with another station, unkey.
-Throwing out your callsign once in a pass is OK, but it's better to call specific stations.
The good news for FM satellite fans: EO-80 and the Fox-1 series are coming! They will be much easier to hear with nice, loud 2m downlinks! EO-80 is even capable of putting out 2 watts (http://www.amsat-f.org/site/spip.php?article82) which would make it a whopping 20 dB louder than SO-50, though it probably won't (and shouldn't) be set to 2 watts output very often.
And remember to donate to the Fox project here: http://www.amsat.org/?p=2957
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Sun, Aug 3, 2014 at 3:18 PM, John Belstner [email protected] wrote:
I heard lots of new calls on SO-50 today and I really wanted to give them a shout back and say welcome. Unfortunately, that's about all I heard was a bunch of folks throwing their call sign out. Is there some "transmit only" mode that I'm not aware of? ;-)
On a more serious note, try to hear the downlink first before transmitting. It reduces QRM and greatly increases your chances of making a QSO!
Thanks and 73, John W9EN
Sent via [email protected]. 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
Sent via [email protected]. 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
periodically, in the ARRL Audio News, where I have a segment in each week, I try to give some operating tips. especially, if you cannot hear the satellite, do not transmit as you will not hear those coming back to you. maybe it is time to run it again. will see if I air it next Thursday if it helps heal the problem. 73...bruce
Quoting John Belstner who wrote on Sun 2014-08-03 at 12:18:
I heard lots of new calls on SO-50 today and I really wanted to give them a shout back and say welcome. Unfortunately, that's about all I heard was a bunch of folks throwing their call sign out.
I have avoided reporting from the European side of working SO-50 for a while, but this afternoon I heard multiple good QSO's and I could understand at least one callsign (M0SAT). I tried answering that callsign 2 times but no luck.
It was as busy as could be expected on a Sunday afternoon, but to me it sounded like everyone was acting fine and those who got across had nice and short QSOs (callsigns, signal, location).
On a more serious note, try to hear the downlink first before transmitting. It reduces QRM and greatly increases your chances of making a QSO!
You could miss your answer, the SO-50 downlink shift seems to me at the moment bigger than the input width of a normal FM amateur receiver. If I let gpredict do all the tuning from the specified downlink frequency I hear nothing. Tune around a bit and I find it and it's busy.
I just noted http://www.pe0sat.vgnet.nl/satellite/amateur-radio-satellites/so-50/ suggests not correcting for doppler shift on the 2M uplink. Any opinions on that?
Koos van den Hout PD4KH
Doppler shift at 2 meters is only about 3 kHz, well within the satellite receiver's passband. Doppler correction on the uplink really is not needed.
73, George, KA3HSW
----- Original Message ----- From: "Koos van den Hout" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2014 2:59 PM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] SO-50 QSO's
<snip>
I just noted http://www.pe0sat.vgnet.nl/satellite/amateur-radio-satellites/so-50/ suggests not correcting for doppler shift on the 2M uplink. Any opinions on that?
Koos van den Hout PD4KH
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Bruce Paige -
George Henry -
Glenn Miller - AA5PK -
John Belstner -
Koos van den Hout -
Paul Stoetzer