SO-50 pass over FN42 at 12:25a local / 0525Z
Was anyone working SO-50 during its pass over FN42 at 12:25a Eastern / 05:25 UTC?
I just finished constructing a WA5VJB yagi just a few hours ago. Was listening on the downlink during the pass but heard nothing. (Didn't try transmitting.) Maybe no one was on, maybe the downlink is shifted off frequency slightly (I see a note of reports of this in the AMSAT Status page for the bird), or maybe my setup is just broken (very possible -- it's all new and I don't know what I'm doing!).
In any case, I'll be trying some other passes of FM sats tomorrow.
vy 73 -chris N2YYZ
That's kind of late, though if there's any one out there it nice to have a bit of a chat. Did you transmit the with the 74.4 PL to turn the bird on? At that hour, it may not be on.
I try to work late passes on SO-50 when I can. The pass you tried to work was too far east to work from Phoenix, DM33.
Hope to work you soon, FN42 & MA would be a new grid & State for me.....
Clear Skies
Rick Tejera Editor SACnews, Public Outreach Coordinator Saguaro Astronomy Club Phoenix, Arizona www.saguaroastro.org saguaroastro@cox.net K7TEJ, AMSAT 38452
-----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Chris Danis Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 22:48 To: AMSAT-BB@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] SO-50 pass over FN42 at 12:25a local / 0525Z
Was anyone working SO-50 during its pass over FN42 at 12:25a Eastern / 05:25 UTC?
I just finished constructing a WA5VJB yagi just a few hours ago. Was listening on the downlink during the pass but heard nothing. (Didn't try transmitting.) Maybe no one was on, maybe the downlink is shifted off frequency slightly (I see a note of reports of this in the AMSAT Status page for the bird), or maybe my setup is just broken (very possible -- it's all new and I don't know what I'm doing!).
In any case, I'll be trying some other passes of FM sats tomorrow.
vy 73 -chris N2YYZ _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. 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
I've not had any problems bringing the bird up during the late passes such as the one in question. Between 2200 and 0600 eastern, SO-50 is usually dead and I find myself talking to myself H-I.
If you'd like to make another attempt I'd be willing to work a schedule with you to test your gear and ability to work the bird.
Though I'd find it hard to believe it's your antenna... Truth be told I work the birds on one of two antenna's depending where I am at that particular passing. If I'm at work I'll work birds over 40 degrees on my mobile rig with my dual band vertical mag mount. It works and watching my tracking software on my iPhone I'm able to tell when the bird passes into my blind spots as it passes. If I'm at home I use nothing more than a 2 meter 3 element beam and an HT in my back yard. SWR are low on 144 and 440 bands, though my reception could be better I'm sure. However; to this date it's worked. I've successfully worked AO-51, SO-50, ISS, and HO-68 (Hope-1) with the set ups above with no more than 5 watts (I don't believe in using big guns, conserve resources!).
As Rick said, FN42 and MA would be a new grid and state for me as well.
73 Jeremy KB3DLP / FM19 York, Pennsylvania
PS: I too have read what AMSAT shows for the frequency shifting, however I haven't experienced it yet myself, I still tune on the coordinated frequencies without issue.
On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 12:48 AM, Chris Danis cdanis@gmail.com wrote:
Was anyone working SO-50 during its pass over FN42 at 12:25a Eastern / 05:25 UTC?
I just finished constructing a WA5VJB yagi just a few hours ago. Was listening on the downlink during the pass but heard nothing. (Didn't try transmitting.) Maybe no one was on, maybe the downlink is shifted off frequency slightly (I see a note of reports of this in the AMSAT Status page for the bird), or maybe my setup is just broken (very possible -- it's all new and I don't know what I'm doing!).
In any case, I'll be trying some other passes of FM sats tomorrow.
vy 73 -chris N2YYZ _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. 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
First of all: thanks to everyone who replied, on-list or off, for all the helpful comments, kind welcomes, and offers for skeds. What a great group!
Early yesterday evening I listened for a pass of AO-51 and then another one of the FM birds, forget which. (I had only planned on the first, but the second came overhead almost immediately afterwards while I was still outside.) Again, didn't hear anything. I had to give up on working sats for the day after that; it was time for my weekly poker group.
Tonight I got home from work too late for any passes (well, at least ones
12 degrees of elevation). But I noticed a few things:
* the SWR of the 70cm section was really high. I don't have any absolute measurements -- the only SWR "meter" I have good at 70cm is the one built in to the FT817ND -- but it was practically full scale. * occasionally it jumped down and then back up if I shook the antenna.
So I desoldered the coax. Then I noticed I hadn't gotten the dimensions of the driven element quite right -- I had bent the brass rod into a tighter corner than WA5VJB specifies -- about 3/4" instead of 1". So I bent and un-bent and re-bent things for a while until I wound up much closer to 1".
After I re-soldered, I'm now seeing 0 bars of SWR on the '817 in the vicinity of 435MHz. Hopefully this was the issue, and not just *a* issue...
My full setup is: FT817ND with internal battery poorly-constructed WA5VJB yagi, 2el on 2m, 4el on 70cm, elements made of brass hobby rod and each band mounted perpendicular (Arrow-style) no diplexer, just using both antenna ports on the 817. (May soon try 817+HT for full-duplex.) on an Android phone: HamSatDroid for tracking, Compass app, and Voice Recorder
vy 73! and thanks again! -chris N2YYZ FN42
participants (3)
-
Chris Danis -
Jeremy Kiehner -
Rick Tejera