SO-50 is one of the sats that I am going to try out because all I have is an FM handie-talkie. I've built an (admittedly heavy!) antenna which is a 6 element 70cm beam and a 4 element 2m beam joined together, but I'm not sure if it will have enough gain for SO-50, my H/T will only do about 4W max, and if possible I'd like to run it at 0.5 or 1.5W to extend the battery life.

Good. That should give you gain comparable to an Arrow, that is, about 10dBi at 70cm and 6dBi at 2m. Be careful how you feed it; as you will probably need a diplexer if you not using different radios for transmit and receive.

I noticed your signature line "Satellite QRPer" so I thought you might know if I ought to be able to transmit only 1/2W and have a reliable QSO.

In the absence of QRM, 1.5W should be enough to work both coasts with your antenna and you will probably do fine with 1/2W. I doubt if you'll need 4W. I rarely run more than 1W myself (and generally only when i'm roving and want to make sure i don't miss anyone).

...

transcontinental passes on SO-50

What does that mean? I'm looking at a pass for example which is at 00:20 tonight EST, which goes South to North just west of Florida right overhead Ottawa. Is that what you meant by a transcontinental pass?

I don't think that pass covers the West Coast, but the next one does:

Thu 09Nov06 07:16:45 07:23:00 07:29:20 00:12:36 256 322 30 21.4 Ottawa Thu 09Nov06 07:10:15 07:16:00 07:21:40 00:11:25 166 109 52 14.6 SFBay SO-50 07:16:45 07:21:40 4.9 min overlap (Thu 02:16 EST/23:10 PST)

Transcontinental are passes on which both the East Coast and West Coast can be heard. On the West Coast, that's an azimuth between about 20 and 160 degrees; on the East Coast, between 200 and 340 degrees. (Over the middle of the US, these would then be overhead passes.) You can also ascertain this information graphically if your satellite prediction program offers a map as well as numeric displays. (The one that i use only does this in real-time, and not for predictions.)

Anyway I've got the radio all programmed up and ready to go. The next reasonable pass that I will be able to try is the one on Saturday morning at 8:20am EST. It comes to me from the West and so it should be very busy by the time it gets to me... anyway I'll have a go!

I looked at that pass and it doesn't quite reach the West Coast, as i have it as being only 7 degrees in Denver, Colorado,

Sat 11Nov06 13:24:09 13:30:56 13:37:55 00:13:46 323 230 147 86.6* Ottawa Sat 11Nov06 13:22:56 13:27:33 13:32:19 00:09:24 348 32 76 7.1 Denver SO-50 13:24:09 13:32:19 8.2 min overlap (Sat 08:24 EST/06:22 MST)

and a bit early at that. So there won't be many people on out west. But if you are able to work that pass, come back in about an hour and a half, as then you should be able to work California if at least part of your western horizon is clear (and there's anyone on to listen -- i'll try for that pass):

Sat 11Nov06 15:05:42 15:10:59 15:16:20 00:10:38 303 252 201 11.2 Ottawa Sat 11Nov06 15:01:49 15:07:02 15:12:19 00:10:30 348 39 90 10.1 SFBay SO-50 15:05:42 15:12:19 6.6 min overlap (Sat 10:05 EST/07:01 PST)

I'll try to be on Thursday morning, albeit that's a more difficult pass and you will need a good western horizon:

Thu 09Nov06 15:47:37 15:52:27 15:57:25 00:09:47 299 254 207 8.8 Ottawa Thu 09Nov06 15:43:17 15:48:50 15:54:23 00:11:06 346 41 95 12.0 SFBay SO-50 15:47:37 15:54:23 6.8 min overlap (Thu 10:47 EST/07:43 PST)

Starting on Monday, AO-51 should be back in mode J-FM, and being in a sun- sychronous orbit, its approximate times don't change more than a couple of hours from day to day. SO-50's schedule drifts alot, and during the first half of November, it's going to be on mostly in the middle of the night.

You can get a graphical display of their schedules for your location by going to:

http://www.qsl.net/kd6pag/GraphSched Don't forget to specify your local time zone. 73's and good luck!

-- KD6PAG