Nick,

If you want some practice ahead of the ARISS event (really good idea!), it might be a more relevant experience to get a few of the FM birds under your belt. AO-85, AO-91, SO-50. Perhaps track the ISS via Packet (when/if they get the packet station back on the air), to get a feel for that system. Also watch for any ARISS events that you can listen in on (for example, the telebridge contacts through W6SRJ in Santa Rosa).

Some of the ground station operations, either direct or telebridge, have been documented on YouTube. Also worth a watch.

As for AO-7, first look at the status logs on Amsat.org (http://www.amsat.org/status/); seems like it's pretty much been in Mode B (70cm up, 2m down), but that can change as the satellite's eclipse schedule changes over the course of the year. Otherwise, it is definitely a daylight-only bird (as seen by the satellite, not necessarily here on the ground).

Best of luck for your contact,

Greg KO6TH

Nick Hart wrote:

Good afternoon,

KK6ZLF in CM87. I am elmering a radio club at the local middle school, and we have a scheduled ARISS QSO coming up in March.

A week from tomorrow, we're going to try to do a few QSOs on the available birds during the club meeting, 22 to 23:00 zulu. One of the passes is AO-7. I saw on the AMSAT site that it is working strictly on solar power. But, this should be a good daytime pass for us.

Does anyone have any recent experience and advice for AO-7?

Thanks, and 73!

Nick

KK6ZLF

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