Tonight I had one of the best times I have ever had on the satellites. I'm not too sure you all would enjoy it for the same reasons, but I thought it was amazing.
I was starting to receive the bird, and I tried TX'ing into it, but for some reason the tone didn't stay programmed into my FT-60. So with one hand I'm trying not to loose the satellite with my arrow antenna, while with the other hand I am trying to program the radio.
Eventually I give up on programming it so it automatically does the split, so I program in 145.99/67hz tone on one channel, and then 437.805-437.790 (in 5khz steps) in the other channels. Once I got it all programmed enough so it will work, the ISS is at the peak, and I was literally recieving it at full strength, where all of the bars in my HT are lit up.
At this point in the pass, it seemed like I was doing pretty well between the 5 different tasks, aiming the antenna, polorization, doppler, switching between TX/RX channels, and making contacts. I really enjoyed this part because it worked, despite the severe improvisions I had to make to get it to work.
Although I only made three contacts (W5KUB, W5VG, WA4NVM), I would still consider this a very successful pass.
Eventually I give up on programming it so it automatically does the split, so I program in 145.99/67hz tone on one channel, and then 437.805-437.790 (in 5khz steps) in the other channels. Once I got it all programmed enough so it will work, the ISS is at the peak, and I was literally recieving it at full strength, where all of the bars in my HT are lit up.
I am trying to figure out the best method to get thru the repeater. From the response above I am trying to decide if the uplink stays stable and the downlink is tuneable, or is it best to tune both to keep on frequency. If tuning for both is required which way is it normal or reverse. I have a IC970 that I am using and can put it either way ....
At one point tonite I could hear my transmit get keyed but soon lost it.......not sure if it was the pile up or my tuning...
Some tips would be nice ...
Bill Booth VE3NXK Sundridge ON, Canada 79.23.37 W x 45.46.18 N FN05ns
Visit my weather WebCam at http://www.almaguin.com/wxcurrent/weather.html
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Bill and all,
My experience in seven months of working the FM satellites and, more recently, the ISS, is to leave the transmit frequency alone. Period.
At AOS, I'm 10 kHz above the receive frequency, and tune in 5 kHz steps through the pass until I'm 10 kHz below the receive frequency at LOS. You'll hear the reception change, and will know when to tune the receive side for Doppler.
Congrats to you Andrew. From here, the ability to multitask during a pass is wonderful experience. It occurs to me (and has since I first started working the satellites) that in a real, true emergency situation, the more resourceful we are, the more effective our communications abilities can be. I continue to do everything here manually - hand-holding my antenna and manually tracking the satellites and manually Doppler tuning - for all of the satellites, not just the FM birds. I enjoy the challenge as much as it sounds like you did earlier this evening.
73 to all,
Tim - N3TL -------------- Original message from "Bill Booth" ve3nxk@gmail.com: --------------
Eventually I give up on programming it so it automatically does the split, so I program in 145.99/67hz tone on one channel, and then 437.805-437.790 (in 5khz steps) in the other channels. Once I got it all programmed enough so it will work, the ISS is at the peak, and I was literally recieving it at full strength, where all of the bars in my HT are lit up.
I am trying to figure out the best method to get thru the repeater. From the response above I am trying to decide if the uplink stays stable and the downlink is tuneable, or is it best to tune both to keep on frequency. If tuning for both is required which way is it normal or reverse. I have a IC970 that I am using and can put it either way ....
At one point tonite I could hear my transmit get keyed but soon lost it.......not sure if it was the pile up or my tuning...
Some tips would be nice ...
Bill Booth VE3NXK Sundridge ON, Canada 79.23.37 W x 45.46.18 N FN05ns
Visit my weather WebCam at http://www.almaguin.com/wxcurrent/weather.html
Organ and Tissue Donation - The Gift of Life Talk to your family. Your decision can make a difference.
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
Hi Tim!
My experience in seven months of working the FM satellites and, more recently, the ISS, is to leave the transmit frequency alone. Period.
Keep in mind that the ISS TM-D700's receiver is that of a ham mobile radio, not the broader receivers we're used to on the FM satellites like AO-51 that are essentially compensating for the small amount of Doppler shift on your 2m transmit frequency. Whether or not you have to vary your 2m transmit frequency for the current ISS crossband repeater will depend on many variables related to your station and the ISS ham gear. What may be needed for one pass might not be needed on others.
On an ISS pass yesterday morning, I had to start the pass transmitting on 145.985 MHz with the PL tone. Once I was ready to tune the receive VFO down from 437.810 to 437.805 MHz, I was able to move my transmit frequency up to 145.990 MHz for the remainder of the pass. Due to the buildings around the hamfest site yesterday, I was not able to work that pass all the way to LOS. If I had, I might have had to move my transmit frequency up to 145.995 for the last minute or so. If I had a 2.5 kHz tuning step on my radio, I would have used that and started talking on 145.9875 MHz before moving up to 145.990 MHz.
With all of that said, it has been fun to have the cross-band repeater to use - both in V/U and (previously) U/V modes. I hope it can be turned on more often in the future.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/
Thanks, Patrick! -------------- Original message from "Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)" amsat-bb@wd9ewk.net: --------------
Hi Tim!
My experience in seven months of working the FM satellites and, more recently, the ISS, is to leave the transmit frequency alone. Period.
Keep in mind that the ISS TM-D700's receiver is that of a ham mobile radio, not the broader receivers we're used to on the FM satellites like AO-51 that are essentially compensating for the small amount of Doppler shift on your 2m transmit frequency. Whether or not you have to vary your 2m transmit frequency for the current ISS crossband repeater will depend on many variables related to your station and the ISS ham gear. What may be needed for one pass might not be needed on others.
On an ISS pass yesterday morning, I had to start the pass transmitting on 145.985 MHz with the PL tone. Once I was ready to tune the receive VFO down from 437.810 to 437.805 MHz, I was able to move my transmit frequency up to 145.990 MHz for the remainder of the pass. Due to the buildings around the hamfest site yesterday, I was not able to work that pass all the way to LOS. If I had, I might have had to move my transmit frequency up to 145.995 for the last minute or so. If I had a 2.5 kHz tuning step on my radio, I would have used that and started talking on 145.9875 MHz before moving up to 145.990 MHz.
With all of that said, it has been fun to have the cross-band repeater to use - both in V/U and (previously) U/V modes. I hope it can be turned on more often in the future.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ _______________________________________________ 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
participants (4)
-
Andrew Koenig -
Bill Booth -
n3tl＠bellsouth.net -
Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)