Fellow Satellite Operators,
On the 2nd I was glad to make contact with KP2CT on FO-29 for his first satellite contact and my first contact from the US Virgin Islands. We have been talking for about a month now and on our second attempt we made it. For equipment he has a Icom 706 and an arrow antenna. He is manually tuning for Doppler and still getting the hang of it. I know some other stations reported hearing him on the 1st of August on our first attempt for contact.
He is going to only be on the SSB satellites for now and probably only FO-29 due to the ease of working semi duplex on mode J vs mode B. Though we might try on VO52 at some point. He is still picking up on things that make it easier and need to trouble shoot a few problems we found during our first QSO!
He will try to be QRV on fo29 during the next few week ends and possibly during the week depending on his free time due to his unpredictable work schedule. He also asked that people not try to contact him for skeds. If he knows he can make a Certain pass or passes I will try to make an effort to post to the BB.
Good Dx!
73 Wyatt AC0RA
Hi all- I'm relatively new to sat operations/ but not ham radio(novice in 1987 then general in 1996), and noticed this message. I've been researching alot and now have suitable equipment for working birds. How would I go about finding someone(s) to schedule a few contacts with, as opposed to calling cq to no-one inparticular? Any info/help is greatly appreciated... 73 - Mike - k8mcb
From: wyattdirks@msn.com To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2012 01:58:02 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] US Virgin Islands Satellite Operator
Fellow Satellite Operators,
On the 2nd I was glad to make contact with KP2CT on FO-29 for his first satellite contact and my first contact from the US Virgin Islands. We have been talking for about a month now and on our second attempt we made it. For equipment he has a Icom 706 and an arrow antenna. He is manually tuning for Doppler and still getting the hang of it. I know some other stations reported hearing him on the 1st of August on our first attempt for contact.
He is going to only be on the SSB satellites for now and probably only FO-29 due to the ease of working semi duplex on mode J vs mode B. Though we might try on VO52 at some point. He is still picking up on things that make it easier and need to trouble shoot a few problems we found during our first QSO!
He will try to be QRV on fo29 during the next few week ends and possibly during the week depending on his free time due to his unpredictable work schedule. He also asked that people not try to contact him for skeds. If he knows he can make a Certain pass or passes I will try to make an effort to post to the BB.
Good Dx!
73 Wyatt AC0RA
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Hi Mike,
Generally, Sat operators don't call CQ, at least not like they do on HF. Especially on the FM birds, the general protocol is to throw your call sign in during a pause in the activity, when you can find one. It's more like working through a busy terrestrial FM repeater. The trick is to be able to tell the difference between a break in the traffic, where nobody's keyed up, and a double (or triple, or quadruple), where you'd just be adding to the confusion. If there's someone you want to work specifically, quickly injecting <their call sign> <your call sign> is most likely to fit. Spare the phonetics until you need to be precise; clarity with speed is the objective.
If there's nobody on, or in a quiet part of an SSB/CW bird's bandpass, a brief CQ Satellite de <call sign> is needed to let people know you're there, and so they can get roughly tuned to you. Hopefully you have full duplex capability (being able to listen while you're transmitting), so you can tell if someone else is keying up. Satellite contacts tend to be fairly quick, since the passes are so short. Round-tables are possible on the SSB/CW birds, and even fun, but you need to keep things moving. Because SSB/CW doesn't have the capture effect that FM has, full duplex operation on an SSB/CW bird means you can even talk at the same time and be understood.
As for arranging a scheduled contact, the neat thing about Satellite communication is that you can predict with mathematical certainty when the "band" will be open. Let us know when you'll be on, and on what bird, and I'm sure you'll have lots of company. Good luck, and enjoy!
Greg KO6TH
Michael Bales wrote:
Hi all- I'm relatively new to sat operations/ but not ham radio(novice in 1987 then general in 1996), and noticed this message. I've been researching alot and now have suitable equipment for working birds. How would I go about finding someone(s) to schedule a few contacts with, as opposed to calling cq to no-one inparticular? Any info/help is greatly appreciated... 73 - Mike - k8mcb
participants (3)
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Greg D -
Michael Bales -
Wyatt Dirks