Before I ask again for assistance, I'd like to say that I've read the "manual" for both the software and the rig, experimented, and tested on my own trying to resolve these issues. This includes staying up well past midnight so that I can run tests on the bird without bothering other users too much.
Here, briefly is a description of my station, and the issues I'm experiencing. Any assistance or advice in resolving the problem would be gratefully accepted:
Running an Icom IC-910H into antennas in the attic. The 432 antenna is an Arrow 7 element Yagi, mounted at a fixed elevation of 25 degrees. The 2 Meter antenna is a 6 element K1FO Yagi, mounted horizontal. Both can be rotated on the stack in azimuth only. Feedline is 75' foot runs of 1/2" hardline with antennas mounted in the attic.
The 432 antenna has an ARR mast mount pre-amp, while the 2 Meter antenna has an SSB Electronics mast mount pre-amp. Performance on FO-29, VO-52 is fair to good. High elevation passes on all satellites seem to give me reception problems, but down nearer the horizon things are good. Hoping to upgrade to AZ/EL in the near future.
I've learned how to deal with Doppler on the other birds, and generally can used the stored corrections in SATPC32, or adjust it on the fly using the software to hear my own downlink well, and work other stations.
SO-50 ISSUES ====================================================== However, on FM I continue to struggle.
A.) Reception is poor. Especially high elevation passes. B.) Successful reception of other stations requires adjusting the RIT control on the rig. Often to "plus" 5 KHz and sometimes to somewhere in between 0 and +5 Khz. C.) Switching the rig to FM Narrow mode helped, but did not resolve the problem. D.) Attempting to adjust for Doppler using the software control doesn't seem to help much. E.) I can only rarely hear my own downlink on this satellite, even in the middle of the night when the bird is empty. F.) Numerous reports of others calling me without success, even though I'm getting into the bird fine.
I realize that polarity is an issue with all satellites. Signals arrive out of phase, and I have no way to compensate. Also having a fixed elevation is a problem, and explains the poor performance at high elevation. But I fail to understand why the system seems to work well on other birds, but not SO-50. What am I missing?
Les,
I believe I am one of the callers that you never got back to on a pass a couple of weeks ago!
SO-50's frequency seems to be shifted down by about 5 kHz from the published downlink. What does your Doppler.sqf say?
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 1:23 PM, Les Rayburn [email protected] wrote:
Before I ask again for assistance, I'd like to say that I've read the "manual" for both the software and the rig, experimented, and tested on my own trying to resolve these issues. This includes staying up well past midnight so that I can run tests on the bird without bothering other users too much.
Here, briefly is a description of my station, and the issues I'm experiencing. Any assistance or advice in resolving the problem would be gratefully accepted:
Running an Icom IC-910H into antennas in the attic. The 432 antenna is an Arrow 7 element Yagi, mounted at a fixed elevation of 25 degrees. The 2 Meter antenna is a 6 element K1FO Yagi, mounted horizontal. Both can be rotated on the stack in azimuth only. Feedline is 75' foot runs of 1/2" hardline with antennas mounted in the attic.
The 432 antenna has an ARR mast mount pre-amp, while the 2 Meter antenna has an SSB Electronics mast mount pre-amp. Performance on FO-29, VO-52 is fair to good. High elevation passes on all satellites seem to give me reception problems, but down nearer the horizon things are good. Hoping to upgrade to AZ/EL in the near future.
I've learned how to deal with Doppler on the other birds, and generally can used the stored corrections in SATPC32, or adjust it on the fly using the software to hear my own downlink well, and work other stations.
SO-50 ISSUES ==============================**======================== However, on FM I continue to struggle.
A.) Reception is poor. Especially high elevation passes. B.) Successful reception of other stations requires adjusting the RIT control on the rig. Often to "plus" 5 KHz and sometimes to somewhere in between 0 and +5 Khz. C.) Switching the rig to FM Narrow mode helped, but did not resolve the problem. D.) Attempting to adjust for Doppler using the software control doesn't seem to help much. E.) I can only rarely hear my own downlink on this satellite, even in the middle of the night when the bird is empty. F.) Numerous reports of others calling me without success, even though I'm getting into the bird fine.
I realize that polarity is an issue with all satellites. Signals arrive out of phase, and I have no way to compensate. Also having a fixed elevation is a problem, and explains the poor performance at high elevation. But I fail to understand why the system seems to work well on other birds, but not SO-50. What am I missing?
--
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF 121 Mayfair Park Maylene, AL 35114 EM63nf
6M VUCC #1712 AMSAT #38965 Grid Bandits #222 Southeastern VHF Society Central States VHF Society Life Member Six Club #2484
Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light
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participants (2)
-
Les Rayburn -
Paul Stoetzer