Thank you, Felix.

As with any email list there will be people who disagree with you.

However, I agree with your conclusion. I have made many contacts on SO-50.

But, based on reading all the problems people are having with AO-85, I have yet to try a contact on that satellite.

I'm sure I will try it at some time, and eventually I will probably come up with a contact, but I do agree that V/U satellites should be easier to work in principle.

Steve AI9IN

On 2015-11-06 06:09, Felix Paez wrote:

Hi everybody from Spain,

first of all, thanks for your patience. I am a new HAM since October 2014 and I have just begun with satellites some months ago...

I want to add the point of view of a newbie to sat operation like me to the list, specially for people that could be beginning like me.

First of all, as a newbie, I only have a Baofeng UV-5R (half duplex) and an Elk Antenna. I think this could be the very first beginning equipment for everybody (this is only 30 eur + 200 eur = 230 eur). I use ISS detector for tracking (it is better for me than Amsat Droid Free because it has a compass, so the track is really easy).

When a SAT is going to pass near my QTH I go down to a park after walking 15 mins and there I connect the Elk to the Baofeng.

With this, it has been very easy for me making contacts in SO-50 including not very high passes. Why? Because when I hear people I know I can work them. When I hear somebody calling, I am sure that when I press the PTT i will be in the SAT. Hearing people gives you a lot of information in SO-50.

This is not the same when I try AO-85. I hear people all the time, but that does not guarantee me they will hear me. Maybe I am 5 Khz down or maybe I am 5 Khz up and because I am working half duplex, I can't check it. I have to wait for silences and try other freq. I haven't been able yet to make a contact in AO-85.

The conclusion for me is that it is easy to work V/U FM satellites in half duplex and it is complicated in U/V at least for people beginning like me.

I tell this because I have read in the AO-85 document all the advantages that U/V mode has but I don't know if that compensates the added difficult it has for people working with modest half duplex equipment. So this does not seem an entry satellite to begin with...

This is a just beginner comment on the SAT. I am sure in next passes I will be able to make some contacts with some luck (I am going to buy a Midland CT-890 full duplex HT too).

I want to congrat the AO-85 team for their work. It is indeed a great sat! :) but I wanted to share my thought about if it is not better to have and V/U repeater than an U/V one.

Thanks everybody. I am learning a lot with this list.

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Hi Felix,

I'm also having a bit of trouble working AO-85. My equipment for FM sats is an arrow antenna, FT-817ND for RX and FT-2DE for TX.

With this I can work SO-50 without any problems. Whenever more that a couple of degree's over the horizon, I can hear it well and I hit the transponder perfectly. In fact, the UHF downlink helps a bit in pointing the antenna, and I would usually point it by ear, having just a mental picture of the pass. If you can hear well the downlink, then you can get in well, because your uplink has wider beam and much more power.

However, with AO-85 it's a bit hit and miss for me. I find it a bit difficult and random to hit the transponder, and I think it would be almost impossible for me to work it half-duplex. I will often retry and tweak things if not hearing myself on the downlink properly. The downlink of AO-85 is very strong, and it can be heard with the antenna all over the place, even pointing into the ground sometimes. So you have to know well where the satellite is before transmitting, and listen yourself and tweak the antenna as you transmit.

Several people report, and my experiences agree with them, that the receiver on AO-85 is a bit deaf for some unknown reason (this has nothing to do with the 70cm band) and that it's 5kHz low in frequency from the published specs. Thus, I will start a pass on 436.165 and work up from that as the pass progresses, being at about 436.175 at midpass and 436.185 at LOS.

Regarding working full-duplex, if you're going to get a single radio to do full-duplex, check very carefully that it won't suffer from desensing. This can be very critical, especially when working V/U. If you already have a UV-5R, I would probably get a second of those, or perhaps another handheld with better sensitivity to use as RX if you want to invest a bit more money. Of course, you'll need a duplexer to use the elk with two radios.

73 and looking forward to working you on the birds,

Dani M0HXM/EA4GPZ.