Greetings & Happy Holidays to all,
After a 3yr hiatus, (IC910 sold & packed away G3RUH dish & patch ant & down converter after AO-40 died - plus I moved from ZL-land to VE7-land which was a big distraction), I recently decided to get back into chasing birds. One of the deciding factors was my neighbour lost several big cedar trees in his back yard in last year's wind-storms and I gained 120 deg of unobstructed sky to the SW as a result! Re-joined AMSAT last month & signed up to the BBS to watch & learn now I have a question to ask.
Hope to start with LEOS (i.e. Echo) and other easy-sats, to get my skill level up. Seems to be absence of VE7s on Vancouver Island to ask for help but I'm taking the plunge anyway! Ordered a IC-910 & 23cm module & UHF preamp as my Xmas present to myself, still waiting on Icom Canada to deliver, but soon! Starting out simple with an Arrow 2m/70cm antenna & a 23cm loop yagi at a fixed 40deg angle, on a cheap TV rotor, with some good info from Chip W7AIT who sent me all kinds of emails (thanks Chip!).
My question is, I want to try packet/data on sats once the IC-910 arrives. Have an old AEA PK-900 1200b TNC on the shelf unused. Wondering if its a good idea to spend the $$ to get Timewave upgrades to give it 9600b capability? OR perhaps better to pick up a new KPC-9612PLUS for about the same $$? The brochure I read indicates the 9612 goes up to 34000 baud? Really? Or are there other off-the-shelf options I'm not aware of that are better? Want to give myself maximum flexibility for present & future birds on packet, but not too complex, a radio engineer I'm not.
I've ordered the AMSAT Digital Sat handbook a month ago, along with some other books from the AMSAT store and they haven't arrived yet. But this is more a real-world type question where I'm looking for answers from people who've had experience with working sats and can recommend packet gear to buy or tncs to stay away from? Don't mind putting some time & effort into it, but an off-the-shelf solution would work best for me. Suggestions anyone?
Hoping to be on the air soon from CN88!
Thanks & 73, Kevin VE7OVY
This is a great question, I'm interested in the answer as well. If I can slightly hijack the question and expand it to radio choice as well. What are the best radios for general amateur satellite work?
The IC-910H looks great, but is it overkill for amateur satellites? It seems like a lot of transmit power for most applications. Does you lose anything by going with something like the IC-706MKIIG? I would really appreciate some expertise on choosing the right radio.
jeff
Kevin Hartley wrote:
Greetings & Happy Holidays to all,
After a 3yr hiatus, (IC910 sold & packed away G3RUH dish & patch ant & down converter after AO-40 died - plus I moved from ZL-land to VE7-land which was a big distraction), I recently decided to get back into chasing birds. One of the deciding factors was my neighbour lost several big cedar trees in his back yard in last year's wind-storms and I gained 120 deg of unobstructed sky to the SW as a result! Re-joined AMSAT last month & signed up to the BBS to watch & learn now I have a question to ask.
Hope to start with LEOS (i.e. Echo) and other easy-sats, to get my skill level up. Seems to be absence of VE7s on Vancouver Island to ask for help but I'm taking the plunge anyway! Ordered a IC-910 & 23cm module & UHF preamp as my Xmas present to myself, still waiting on Icom Canada to deliver, but soon! Starting out simple with an Arrow 2m/70cm antenna & a 23cm loop yagi at a fixed 40deg angle, on a cheap TV rotor, with some good info from Chip W7AIT who sent me all kinds of emails (thanks Chip!).
My question is, I want to try packet/data on sats once the IC-910 arrives. Have an old AEA PK-900 1200b TNC on the shelf unused. Wondering if its a good idea to spend the $$ to get Timewave upgrades to give it 9600b capability? OR perhaps better to pick up a new KPC-9612PLUS for about the same $$? The brochure I read indicates the 9612 goes up to 34000 baud? Really? Or are there other off-the-shelf options I'm not aware of that are better? Want to give myself maximum flexibility for present & future birds on packet, but not too complex, a radio engineer I'm not.
I've ordered the AMSAT Digital Sat handbook a month ago, along with some other books from the AMSAT store and they haven't arrived yet. But this is more a real-world type question where I'm looking for answers from people who've had experience with working sats and can recommend packet gear to buy or tncs to stay away from? Don't mind putting some time & effort into it, but an off-the-shelf solution would work best for me. Suggestions anyone?
Hoping to be on the air soon from CN88!
Thanks & 73, Kevin VE7OVY
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
Jeff, The IC-910H is the perfect transceiver for satellite operations. The IC-706MkIIG is only half-duplex and thus won't support satellite operations properly.
I currently use a Yaesu FT-51R and a Kenwood TS-790A for my satellite operations and love them both. Full-duplex is very important, though, to satellite operations.
73s, Eric Christensen, W4OTN AMSAT Area Coordinator - Southeastern Virginia USA AMSAT Member 35360 http://www.ericsatcom.net
Jeff Mock wrote:
This is a great question, I'm interested in the answer as well. If I can slightly hijack the question and expand it to radio choice as well. What are the best radios for general amateur satellite work?
The IC-910H looks great, but is it overkill for amateur satellites? It seems like a lot of transmit power for most applications. Does you lose anything by going with something like the IC-706MKIIG? I would really appreciate some expertise on choosing the right radio.
jeff
Kevin Hartley wrote:
Greetings & Happy Holidays to all,
After a 3yr hiatus, (IC910 sold & packed away G3RUH dish & patch ant & down converter after AO-40 died - plus I moved from ZL-land to VE7-land which was a big distraction), I recently decided to get back into chasing birds. One of the deciding factors was my neighbour lost several big cedar trees in his back yard in last year's wind-storms and I gained 120 deg of unobstructed sky to the SW as a result! Re-joined AMSAT last month & signed up to the BBS to watch & learn now I have a question to ask.
Hope to start with LEOS (i.e. Echo) and other easy-sats, to get my skill level up. Seems to be absence of VE7s on Vancouver Island to ask for help but I'm taking the plunge anyway! Ordered a IC-910 & 23cm module & UHF preamp as my Xmas present to myself, still waiting on Icom Canada to deliver, but soon! Starting out simple with an Arrow 2m/70cm antenna & a 23cm loop yagi at a fixed 40deg angle, on a cheap TV rotor, with some good info from Chip W7AIT who sent me all kinds of emails (thanks Chip!).
My question is, I want to try packet/data on sats once the IC-910 arrives. Have an old AEA PK-900 1200b TNC on the shelf unused. Wondering if its a good idea to spend the $$ to get Timewave upgrades to give it 9600b capability? OR perhaps better to pick up a new KPC-9612PLUS for about the same $$? The brochure I read indicates the 9612 goes up to 34000 baud? Really? Or are there other off-the-shelf options I'm not aware of that are better? Want to give myself maximum flexibility for present & future birds on packet, but not too complex, a radio engineer I'm not.
I've ordered the AMSAT Digital Sat handbook a month ago, along with some other books from the AMSAT store and they haven't arrived yet. But this is more a real-world type question where I'm looking for answers from people who've had experience with working sats and can recommend packet gear to buy or tncs to stay away from? Don't mind putting some time & effort into it, but an off-the-shelf solution would work best for me. Suggestions anyone?
Hoping to be on the air soon from CN88!
Thanks & 73, Kevin VE7OVY
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
Hi Jeff,
I've given my opinion on this before but here goes again.
All of the radios work very well, to begin with.
BUT, the most important part of the equation is in the amount of signal you put on the input/output.
That of course means choice of antenna, and feed line and connectors...Spend your money there to suit the application, with emphasis on receive....A knob will take care of the uplink!! That will get the most bang for the buck!!
Then get the radio.
Our ham club NORTH SHORES AMATEUR RADIO CLUB in San Diego did side by side comparisons, coax switching various antennas on a ham satellite, to get instantaneous comparisons...One can't unscrew coax and switch to another radio...Sometimes the signal change is dramatic...
The ICOM 910 came out on top in comparison to the best that Yaesu or Kenwood had....Kenwood was second....
The power output on the ICOM 910 is continuously variable from about 3 watts to the maximum...Don't have to use the power available unless you need it....Proper operating procedure to use the minimum power necessary is very important on those modes that have band width, and that means minimum power to get a usable return...
This is a great question, I'm interested in the answer as well. If I can slightly hijack the question and expand it to radio choice as well. What are the best radios for general amateur satellite work?
The IC-910H looks great, but is it overkill for amateur satellites? It seems like a lot of transmit power for most applications. Does you lose anything by going with something like the IC-706MKIIG? I would really appreciate some expertise on choosing the right radio.
73, Dave, WB6LLO [email protected]
Disagree: I learn....
Pulling for P3E...
participants (4)
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Dave Guimont -
Eric Christensen -
Jeff Mock -
Kevin Hartley