Hi All,
I am pleased to submit my first operation report of AO-16 over West Malaysia.
Uplink: 145.920 MHz +/- Downlink: 437.025 MHz +/- Maximum Elevation: 25 degrees AOS: 1654 Local or 0854 UTC
I did not switch on the PC to perform automatic antenna and doppler tracking, so everything was done manually. Downlink doppler tuning was not as difficult as expected, though it takes some effort to tune the downlink especially approaching TCA. The downlink signal was very strong too, even without the mast head preamp switched on. USB seem to sound slightly better than LSB.
Surprisingly this bird hears very well. About 30 watts of uplink power into 2x10 elements horizontally polarized stacked yagi for 2M was about enough. On the downlink, a 2x15 elements horizontally polarized stacked yagi for 70 CM was used.
No stations were heard except HS1EAX that was coming in 59. Replied his call, but unfortunately, I got no response. I am really looking forward to work more stations via this amazing new bird soon. My thanks to the command team for taking all the effort to put this bird into the VHF FM/UHF SSB voice repeater mode.
73, Sion Chow Q. C., 9W2QC.
Surprisingly this bird hears very well. About 30 watts of uplink power into 2x10 elements horizontally polarized stacked yagi for 2M was about enough.
Hummh... About 2100 Watts EIRP. Yep, it should hear that nicely...
Though in the western pacific, this is understandable to get over all the terestrial QRM from unlicensed operations on 2 meters..
At 01:41 AM 1/30/2008, Robert Bruninga wrote:
Surprisingly this bird hears very well. About 30 watts of uplink power into 2x10 elements horizontally polarized stacked yagi for 2M was about enough.
Hummh... About 2100 Watts EIRP. Yep, it should hear that nicely...
Considering I used to run between 0.1% and 0.01% of that into UO-14... ;)
Though in the western pacific, this is understandable to get over all the terestrial QRM from unlicensed operations on 2 meters..
Indeed. From Malaysia, I'm surprised the bird was useable at all. Usually, when the FM birds are over that part of the world, they're unusable. The main culprit appears to be long range cordless phones in nearby countries, going from the way the conversations sound.
73 de VK3JED http://vkradio.com
At 01:41 AM 1/30/2008, Robert Bruninga wrote:
Surprisingly this bird hears very well. About 30 watts of uplink power into 2x10 elements horizontally polarized stacked yagi for 2M was about enough.
Hummh... About 2100 Watts EIRP. Yep, it should hear that nicely...
Considering I used to run between 0.1% and 0.01% of that into UO-14... ;)
Though in the western pacific, this is understandable to get over all the terestrial QRM from unlicensed operations on 2 meters..
Indeed. From Malaysia, I'm surprised the bird was useable at all. Usually, when the FM birds are over that part of the world, they're unusable. The main culprit appears to be long range cordless phones in nearby countries, going from the way the conversations sound.
Well, with more uplink power on 2M and gain antennas, it is not that bad after all. Judging from the way the conversation sounds, most are terrestrial illegal 2M usage and when the bird goes further north, then you start to hear the so called long range cordless phones dialing and ringing away.
I look forward to a satellite QSO with you one day. :)
73, Sion Chow Q. C., 9W2QC.
73 de VK3JED http://vkradio.com
-----Original Message----- From: Robert Bruninga [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:41 PM To: [email protected]; ams[email protected] Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] AO-16 over West Malaysia
Surprisingly this bird hears very well. About 30 watts of uplink power into 2x10 elements horizontally polarized stacked yagi for 2M was about enough.
Hummh... About 2100 Watts EIRP. Yep, it should hear that nicely...
Not that much... Probably only half of this as the antenna only has a gain of 13.8 dbi.
Though in the western pacific, this is understandable to get over all the terestrial QRM from unlicensed operations on 2 meters..
Exactly to the point. At times, these unlicensed operations simple override our signal, if low TX power is used. Its much more easier on 435 MHz or 1268 MHz here, where some 10-15 watts of TX power is more than sufficient.
73, Sion Chow Q. C., 9W2QC.
At 03:41 AM 2/1/2008, Sion Chow Q. C. (9W2QC) wrote:
Well, with more uplink power on 2M and gain antennas, it is not that bad after all. Judging from the way the conversation sounds, most are terrestrial illegal 2M usage and when the bird goes further north, then you start to hear the so called long range cordless phones dialing and ringing away.
Guess you're also not having to cover nearly 3000km at low elevation either to hit the bird at that time either!
I look forward to a satellite QSO with you one day. :)
Not sure I can muster the ERP to get over the QRM on 2m. Pity theres not another Mode B FM bird, that would be worth a shot between us. SO-35 generally had a clean uplink.
73 de VK3JED http://vkradio.com
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Robert Bruninga -
Sion Chow Q. C. (9W2QC)
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Tony Langdon