You had someone direct you to Heavens-above for the passes for your location. They did not answer the question about "seeing" the ISS with naked vision. Usually the ISS has a magnitude of +1, in my viewing experience. It can vary but +1 is about normal for ISS. Viewing, as you may know has many variables. The biggest obstacle is the light pollution from the big city. If you can get to a "dark sky" location you can enjoy the sight. From a light polluted location : good luck. From my experience, it is normally on the horizon in the early evening which is not good. You have a chance from the suburbs when the elevation is over 10 degrees ( 90 degrees being overhead). All of the above is for naked eye viewing. You might want to have a pair of small binoculars handy to enhance your view. It moves quickly . . . . Heavens-Above is a good URL for getting info on ISS. It is fairly large (350' X 225' X 150') and up 200 miles. The sun will illuminate it very well. Good luck.
Jim W9VNE
As Jim says, the light in your area will greatly effect how you see ISS. I have seen it perhaps 50 times over the last couple of years. I live in a very high light suburban area. When it comes over on a clear nite, however, anything above about 45 degrees, it will appear as the brightest thing in the sky. It looks like a very intense landing lite on an airliner--once it gets over 45 degrees.
The times to see it best are in the predawn and just after sunset. If you use one of the general sat tracking programs like Orbitron, Nova, or similar, watch for passes where it is dark for you on the ground--you are on the dark side of the terminator, and the ISS is still illuminated. This will be on passes where it goes over you within 1/2 hour or so of sunrise or sunset, generally.
One of the neatest things I've ever seen in the sky was the 90 degree elevation pass of ISS and the Shuttle in tandem.
Good luck and have fun.
Curt KU8L
FWIW where I live in the Swiss Alps at 1,050masl it's quite easy to see the ISS.
Simon Brown, HB9DRV www.ham-radio-deluxe.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Danehy" [email protected]
You had someone direct you to Heavens-above for the passes for your location.
Curt Nixon wrote:
As Jim says, the light in your area will greatly effect how you see ISS. I have seen it perhaps 50 times over the last couple of years. I live in a very high light suburban area. When it comes over on a clear nite, however, anything above about 45 degrees, it will appear as the brightest thing in the sky. It looks like a very intense landing lite on an airliner--once it gets over 45 degrees.
Bah. This far north it never gets above 35 degrees. I've still seen it though, and on a good clear night with the sun just below the horizon it's easily mag -1 ;-)
The times to see it best are in the predawn and just after sunset. If you use one of the general sat tracking programs like Orbitron, Nova, or similar, watch for passes where it is dark for you on the ground--you are on the dark side of the terminator, and the ISS is still illuminated. This will be on passes where it goes over you within 1/2 hour or so of sunrise or sunset, generally.
One of the neatest things I've ever seen in the sky was the 90 degree elevation pass of ISS and the Shuttle in tandem.
Good luck and have fun.
Now that would be something to see.
Gordon
Yes...I neglected the fact that it depends on where you are on the globe as to your opportunity for high elevation passes.
I just saw one the other nite that came in from about 15 degrrees and was directly in line with the approaching airline pattern landing queue. It was WAY brighter than the headlights on the planes--I was very vocal about how bright it was--even XYL was impressed ;) ( tho she thought we weren't too bright for being out there in the 18 degree night looking up in the sky)
Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ wrote:
Curt Nixon wrote:
As Jim says, the light in your area will greatly effect how you see ISS. I have seen it perhaps 50 times over the last couple of years. I live in a very high light suburban area. When it comes over on a clear nite, however, anything above about 45 degrees, it will appear as the brightest thing in the sky. It looks like a very intense landing lite on an airliner--once it gets over 45 degrees.
Bah. This far north it never gets above 35 degrees. I've still seen it though, and on a good clear night with the sun just below the horizon it's easily mag -1 ;-)
The times to see it best are in the predawn and just after sunset. If you use one of the general sat tracking programs like Orbitron, Nova, or similar, watch for passes where it is dark for you on the ground--you are on the dark side of the terminator, and the ISS is still illuminated. This will be on passes where it goes over you within 1/2 hour or so of sunrise or sunset, generally.
One of the neatest things I've ever seen in the sky was the 90 degree elevation pass of ISS and the Shuttle in tandem.
Good luck and have fun.
Now that would be something to see.
Gordon _______________________________________________ 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
SO...now I have made a few contacts on AO-51 and SO-50. Now I need to get better ears.
I have a very simple mode J setup using a couple of old mobil rigs--the rx unit is an IC 2350H. 10 el cheap yagi through 60ft of LMR400.
I'm considering options for a mast preamp for rx only. I'll be using a diplexer for desense ahead of it, and eventually add coaxial switching so I can use TX.
I'll feed with power through extra wire in rotor cable.
Looking at the Hamtonics, DEMI kit and a hombrew from scratch.
1. Any experiences with the DEMI units as kits?
2. with there relatively high NF, are the MMIC devices like the ERA series, at all appropriate for simple mast preamps for entry level application?
Thanks to all.
Curt KU8L
I have buile ONE demi preamp -- 2.4GHz as I recall. Well designed, OK to put together (doable, but must be patient and careful -- probably less of an issue at 2m).
Performs very well.
You could do worse than a demi kit.
73, Jim [email protected]
Curt Nixon wrote:
SO...now I have made a few contacts on AO-51 and SO-50. Now I need to get better ears.
I have a very simple mode J setup using a couple of old mobil rigs--the rx unit is an IC 2350H. 10 el cheap yagi through 60ft of LMR400.
I'm considering options for a mast preamp for rx only. I'll be using a diplexer for desense ahead of it, and eventually add coaxial switching so I can use TX.
I'll feed with power through extra wire in rotor cable.
Looking at the Hamtonics, DEMI kit and a hombrew from scratch.
Any experiences with the DEMI units as kits?
with there relatively high NF, are the MMIC devices like the ERA
series, at all appropriate for simple mast preamps for entry level application?
Thanks to all.
Curt KU8L _______________________________________________ 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
participants (7)
-
Curt Nixon
-
Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ
-
Jim Danehy
-
Jim Sanford
-
Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF
-
Scott Richardson
-
Simon (HB9DRV)