On 2/26/17, Mike Thompson zryder94@gmail.com wrote:

Good morning all. as some of you may remember, I am recently returning to satellites, and I want to make sure I am doing this properly.

I will eventually have a pair of eggbeater antennas on the roof, (no room for yagi's on this rental property) but for now, I am operating only with a collinear vertical.

I have a TS-2000, and SatPC32. Thanks to other ham's, I have the satellite's "nominal" transponder frequencies in my doppler.sqf file, but I have found that I have a hard time hearing myself on the downlink. SatPC32 control's both the uplink and downlink frequencies, and it seems to track perfectly fine with VFO changes on the downlink, and set's the uplink to the appropriate match, but when I use my RIT knob on the TS-2000 to change the uplink frequency offset, SatPC32 overwrites it.

What do you guys find is the quickest and easiest method for finding your uplink?

I start by first setting my radio to the nominal frequency and then adding whatever offset to the downlink may exist. If there's already traffic there, I go elsewhere in the band so that I don't interfere with the QSO.

I then make a test transmission to fine-tune the downlink with my software. I identify myself and why I'm on the air so that anyone listening will know that I'm not ready for a contact. Since I have to set up my station outside and I'm holding my Arrow yagi, it's easier for me to do that by voice rather than transmitting CW.

I adjust the downlink because I figure it's more important that other stations hear my signal and avoid it while I'm tuning. Usually, though, it takes me about a minute to find my signal. After it's all set up, I can start calling CQ.

I use Gpredict for controlling my radio. It allows me to adjust both the uplink and downlink, making it easy to fine-tune my signal or QSY to a different frequency.

73s

Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL