Hi Paul,

WB8RJY, VE4AMU and I noticed a weak signal on that pass - just in the noise. Was that you?

Good to know you are seeing the nominal frequency being a bit high as well. More testing is needed. Both of my passes were 5-6 degrees at best. I'd like a good 30 degree pass to check tuning and ERP for best quieting on the uplink.

Mike

On 2/4/2018 12:22 PM, Paul Stoetzer wrote:

Mike,

I have noticed being in best 5-10 kHz high too. I only have an HT with questionable frequency accuracy, though.

I had to twist my Comet yagi with 2 meter Arrow elements to get in on that pass and due to the urban noise floor, I lost the downlink, so I wasn’t sure how well/if I was getting in.

73,

Paul, N8HM

On Sun, Feb 4, 2018 at 11:59 Mike Seguin <n1jez@burlingtontelecom.net mailto:n1jez@burlingtontelecom.net> wrote:

I'm wondering what other ops are seeing for Doppler settings on their
L-Band uplink. Here in VT - last pass - It was pretty consistently +10
kHz on my FT-736R.

I plan to change SATPC32 to use 1267.360 and give that a try. I was
using manual VFO mode on the rig, so I had full range tuning - not steps
- and could adjust for best quieting.

L band system here:
FT-736R - 1.2 GHz module
DL2AM 60 watt amp (power is fully adjustable)
D/S 55 el 1269 loop yagi
G5400 rotors

--

73,
Mike, N1JEZ
"A closed mouth gathers no feet"
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Hi!

I was not able to hear that 2-degree pass here in Arizona, but I was at least listening to the two earlier passes. I know I got through on one, and the other I received a message saying I was heard. No QSOs, and my setup may explain a bit...

The first of the two passes was at 1638 UTC. It was a 26-degree pass here in Phoenix, and I went to my favorite city park on the DM33/DM43 grid line. My station for this attempt was:

TX: Alinco DJ-G7T (1W TX), Diamond RH951S 2m/70cm/23cm whip RX: Kenwood TH-D74, Elk Antennas handheld 2m/70cm log periodic

I heard a few stations - N1JEZ, VE4AMU, WA4SCA, WB8RJY, and AA5PK. I was fishing all around, trying to find a combination of radio/antenna orientation and uplink frequency that might actually work. I didn't hear myself, but I received a message after this pass saying that I was heard. Seeing the later pass was lower, and not being successful this time, I went home. Glad I did - I found another 1.2 GHz antenna in my collection, a Comet CY-1205 5-element 1.2 GHz Yagi, with a BNC connector (these were also sold with TNC connectors, years before HTs went to SMA connectors). The BNC connector is on the bottom of the driven element, as this antenna mounts directly on a radio.

For the second pass I tried, 1812 UTC, it was lower - only up to a maximum elevation of 14 degrees. My station this time:

TX: Alinco DJ-G7T (1W TX), Comet CY-1205 5-element 1.2 GHz Yagi RX: Kenwood TH-D74, MFJ-1717 long 2m/70cm duckie

The downlink was off at the start of the pass, and I was able to hear Veronica's voice ID. Tom N6NUG in San Diego was able to turn on the satellite. I was frantically trying different uplink frequencies and radio/antenna orientations, hoping I could get through and make a QSO. I was able to finally get through, but after a couple of transmissions I never heard any more from N6NUG. A directional antenna certainly made a difference, since I could get through on the lower of the two passes this morning.

I posted the recordings from these two passes in my Dropbox space. Go to http://dropbox.wd9ewk.net/ and look in the "Satellite_Audio-2018" folder. I have the original WAV files as recorded by my TH-D74 and a couple of MP3s I made from those WAV files in that folder; just look for the date/time (UTC) of the passes.

For tonight, I have a 6.5-degree pass at 0315 UTC, followed by a 60-degree pass at 0445 UTC. I may try the low pass from a park away from home, but I will definitely be ready for the 0445 UTC pass. Hopefully it isn't too crowded. :-)

73!

Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK

On Sun, Feb 4, 2018 at 8:09 PM, Greg D ko6th.greg@gmail.com wrote:

Just had a very low pass here in CM98 - 2 degrees off to the north-west, over the ocean. I heard Veronica on the downlink, but was not able to get into the bird myself.

I only have 10 watts from my FT-736R into a 32 element horizontally-polarized beam, fed with 60' of mostly hardline, and some RG-213 at the ends. So, I'm guessing no more than a couple of watts at the antenna... But I was basing Doppler on 1267.350; will try .360 tonight on the 20:47 PDT pass. 47 degrees; should be a LOT easier, too.

Greg KO6TH