Hello all and Happy New Year, I hate to sound like such a Newbie, but I know how hard it was figuring out some of the nuances of FM and SSB voice birds with no experience in Sats. Asking for help would have cut down my learning cure immensely. The learning curve can be tough when doing something new with the assistance of old data. So rather than going through that again, I am going to ask for help. I have just rewired my old Kantronics all mode TNC to my FT-847 and have been watching some local APRS data packets. I think I am ready to see what is available on Sats. What are the Sats that I can hear and TX to in the 2m/440 freqs that, are easy to hit with minimum antenna equipment? N1SDH Marc
I would go to this site: http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php
Click on the satellite names, such as AO-51, etc. That links to the 'home' page of each satellite, and gives you a lot of information.
As far as what sats are easy to hit with minimum antenna equipment - it depends on what you mean by minimum. You have a great radio to start with; however don't expect to get good results if you are using only a vertical. Check the recent posts on this reflector about Arrow and Elk antennas. While those are typically handheld, you can mount them permanently.
Feel free to email me directly if you'd like more information, I'll be listening for you on the birds.
73 de W4AS Sebastian
On Jan 1, 2009, at 10:42 AM, Marc wrote:
Hello all and Happy New Year, I hate to sound like such a Newbie, but I know how hard it was figuring out some of the nuances of FM and SSB voice birds with no experience in Sats. Asking for help would have cut down my learning cure immensely. The learning curve can be tough when doing something new with the assistance of old data. So rather than going through that again, I am going to ask for help. I have just rewired my old Kantronics all mode TNC to my FT-847 and have been watching some local APRS data packets. I think I am ready to see what is available on Sats. What are the Sats that I can hear and TX to in the 2m/440 freqs that, are easy to hit with minimum antenna equipment? N1SDH Marc
I would go to this site: http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php
Click on the satellite names, such as AO-51, etc. That links to the 'home' page of each satellite, and gives you a lot of information.
A lot of those links take you to the old AMSAT webpages, some of which are pretty out of date.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php has more current information, and may not be 100% up to date, but is better than the other links. If you see something in obvious error, send me a note to ko4ma@amsat.org , include the source of the updated information, and I'll update the page.
73, Drew KO4MA
Andrew Glasbrenner wrote:
I would go to this site: http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php
Click on the satellite names, such as AO-51, etc. That links to the 'home' page of each satellite, and gives you a lot of information.
Is that page under active maintenance? It's a great resource and it would make sense to keep it updated.
I'm not sure how often David updates that page. Keep in mind it's not an AMSAT hosted or maintained page. I use it often myself, and wouldn't mind helping to update some of the links to the newer ones. I think there are a few newer cubesats that might ought to be added too.
The older AMSAT pages are from the previous version of the website, which is kept available for reference and other reasons. Rick did recently tag the outdated sat status pages so Google would skip over them. Perhaps it's time to archive them out of plain sight.
73, Drew KO4MA
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ben Jackson" bbj@innismir.net To: "Andrew Glasbrenner" glasbrenner@mindspring.com Cc: "Sebastian" w4as@bellsouth.net; "AMSAT BB" AMSAT-BB@amsat.org Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 4:21 PM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: FM Sat Packet
Andrew Glasbrenner wrote:
I would go to this site: http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php
Click on the satellite names, such as AO-51, etc. That links to the 'home' page of each satellite, and gives you a lot of information.
Is that page under active maintenance? It's a great resource and it would make sense to keep it updated.
-- Ben Jackson - N1WBV - New Bedford, MA bbj <at> innismir.net - http://www.innismir.net/
The "easiest" answer is to set your receiver on 145.825 and wait for ISS or PCSAT to pass by...
ISS is currently tasked otherwise and PCSAT is only partially usable in daylight, but they both will give you the "easiest" reception in the next couple of weeks...
Turn your PASSALL ON for PCSAT as it is only sending partial packets (longer story) and open your received buffer to record daily activity and check it when you get a chance...
UNPROTO is the best way to use these two "easysats" in packet mode.
As for transmitting...see how well you hear them and what their schedule is first...
Happy New Year!
Roger WA1KAT
----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc" hamma@fairpoint.net To: "AMSAT BB" amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 10:42 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] FM Sat Packet
Hello all and Happy New Year, I hate to sound like such a Newbie, but I know how hard it was figuring out some of the nuances of FM and SSB voice birds with no experience in Sats. Asking for help would have cut down my learning cure immensely. The learning curve can be tough when doing something new with the assistance of old data. So rather than going through that again, I am going to ask for help. I have just rewired my old Kantronics all mode TNC to my FT-847 and have been watching some local APRS data packets. I think I am ready to see what is available on Sats. What are the Sats that I can hear and TX to in the 2m/440 freqs that, are easy to hit with minimum antenna equipment? N1SDH Marc _______________________________________________ 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
Hello Marc,
Roger is right ... 145.825 is the easiest spot on 2M to wait for packets from spacecraft. I have some ARISS packet tips on a web page at: http://home.comcast.net/~k9jkm/ARISS_Packet_How_To/
-- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm@amsat.org
-----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Roger Kolakowski Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 21:33 To: Marc; AMSAT BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: FM Sat Packet
The "easiest" answer is to set your receiver on 145.825 and wait for ISS or PCSAT to pass by...
ISS is currently tasked otherwise and PCSAT is only partially usable in daylight, but they both will give you the "easiest" reception in the next couple of weeks...
Turn your PASSALL ON for PCSAT as it is only sending partial packets (longer story) and open your received buffer to record daily activity and check it when you get a chance...
UNPROTO is the best way to use these two "easysats" in packet mode.
As for transmitting...see how well you hear them and what their schedule is first...
Happy New Year!
Roger WA1KAT
----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc" hamma@fairpoint.net To: "AMSAT BB" amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 10:42 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] FM Sat Packet
Hello all and Happy New Year, I hate to sound like such a Newbie, but I know how hard it was figuring out some of the nuances of FM and SSB voice birds with no experience in Sats. Asking for help would have cut down my learning cure immensely. The learning curve can be tough when doing something new with the assistance of old data. So rather than going through that again, I am going to ask for help. I have just rewired my old Kantronics all mode TNC to my FT-847 and have been watching some local APRS data packets. I think I am ready to see what is available on Sats. What are the Sats that I can hear and TX to in the 2m/440 freqs that, are easy to hit with minimum antenna equipment? N1SDH Marc _______________________________________________ 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
_______________________________________________ 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 (6)
-
Andrew Glasbrenner -
Ben Jackson -
JoAnne Maenpaa -
Marc -
Roger Kolakowski -
Sebastian