Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite - (a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation. (b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency. (c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO. (d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone. Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance. 73! Umesh k6vug
Umesh,
If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the correct frequency, then you are doing everything right.
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
(a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
(b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
(c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO.
(d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone.
Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and can hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well. - Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net wrote:
Umesh, If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the correct frequency, then you are doing everything right. 73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite - (a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation. (b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency. (c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO. (d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone. Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance. 73! Umesh k6vug
_______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
If the rate of Doppler change was different based on your physical location (for example, you are at AOS when the other station is at TCA) then unless the computer adjusts for the change in rate of the shift, I could see how the two stations are drifting... -Kevin (KK4YEL)
-----
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.
On Feb 6, 2019, at 13:29, "k6vug@sbcglobal.net" k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and can hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well.
Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net wrote:
Umesh, If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the correct frequency, then you are doing everything right. 73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
(a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
(b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
(c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO.
(d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone.
Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Just my guess: If you’re tuning so that you sound good to yourself, you may sound a little high (or low) to someone else. Also, since most people you’re operating don’t know what you sound like in person (James Earle Jones or Pee Wee Hermon).
You can check your tuning by sending a tone and zero-bearing with the received tone.
Or experiment with adjusting your received signal so that you’re a little low (or high) with what sounds best to you. Then see if you’re still chasing each other up (or down) the band.
73, Steve N9IP -- Steve Belter, seb@wintek.com
On Feb 6, 2019, at 1:31 PM, "k6vug@sbcglobal.net" k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and can hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well.
Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net wrote:
Umesh, If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the correct frequency, then you are doing everything right. 73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
(a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
(b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
(c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO.
(d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone.
Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Excellent idea, will try that, thanks Steve. 73!Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 10:42:49 AM PST, Stephen E. Belter seb@wintek.com wrote:
Just my guess: If you’re tuning so that you sound good to yourself, you may sound a little high (or low) to someone else. Also, since most people you’re operating don’t know what you sound like in person (James Earle Jones or Pee Wee Hermon).
You can check your tuning by sending a tone and zero-bearing with the received tone.
Or experiment with adjusting your received signal so that you’re a little low (or high) with what sounds best to you. Then see if you’re still chasing each other up (or down) the band.
73, Steve N9IP -- Steve Belter, seb@wintek.com
On Feb 6, 2019, at 1:31 PM, "k6vug@sbcglobal.net" k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and can hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well.
- Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net wrote:
Umesh, If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the correct frequency, then you are doing everything right. 73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite - (a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation. (b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency. (c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO. (d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone. Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance. 73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
So just diddle the RIT a little and carry on?
73, Drew KO4MA
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org On Behalf Of Stephen E. Belter Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2019 1:43 PM To: k6vug@sbcglobal.net Cc: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org; Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
Just my guess: If you’re tuning so that you sound good to yourself, you may sound a little high (or low) to someone else. Also, since most people you’re operating don’t know what you sound like in person (James Earle Jones or Pee Wee Hermon).
You can check your tuning by sending a tone and zero-bearing with the received tone.
Or experiment with adjusting your received signal so that you’re a little low (or high) with what sounds best to you. Then see if you’re still chasing each other up (or down) the band.
73, Steve N9IP -- Steve Belter, seb@wintek.com
On Feb 6, 2019, at 1:31 PM, "k6vug@sbcglobal.net" k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and can hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well.
Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net wrote:
Umesh, If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the correct frequency, then you are doing everything right. 73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
(a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
(b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
(c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO.
(d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone.
Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
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Hi Drew, I ended up doing just that, even though I thought we could stay synced for the QSO. After full computer control, I rarely have to touch the radio dials. But thanks for your suggestion. - Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 11:01:21 AM PST, Andrew Glasbrenner glasbrenner@mindspring.com wrote:
So just diddle the RIT a little and carry on?
73, Drew KO4MA
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org On Behalf Of Stephen E. Belter Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2019 1:43 PM To: k6vug@sbcglobal.net Cc: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org; Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
Just my guess: If you’re tuning so that you sound good to yourself, you may sound a little high (or low) to someone else. Also, since most people you’re operating don’t know what you sound like in person (James Earle Jones or Pee Wee Hermon).
You can check your tuning by sending a tone and zero-bearing with the received tone.
Or experiment with adjusting your received signal so that you’re a little low (or high) with what sounds best to you. Then see if you’re still chasing each other up (or down) the band.
73, Steve N9IP -- Steve Belter, seb@wintek.com
On Feb 6, 2019, at 1:31 PM, "k6vug@sbcglobal.net" k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and can hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well.
- Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net wrote:
Umesh, If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the correct frequency, then you are doing everything right. 73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite - (a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation. (b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency. (c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO. (d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone. Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance. 73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
_______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
The thing to keep in mind is that there are lots of out there that are not capable of operating fully computer controlled because of equipment limitations. Although it's been a few years since I've been on the birds, I used an early Yaesu 736 which has one way CAT control. Although theoretically possible to completely contgrol frequency with a PC that way, it is such a pain in the ass to dial around a passband looking for contacts from the computer as compared to grabbing the VFO knob on the radio. I usedd teh computer to control the antennas but not the VFO.
73 ----- Jim Walls - K6CCC jim@k6ccc.org
Hello Jim, I'm sure you know that in a more sophisticated setup one can click directly on the image of a received signal on a Pan Adapter display - no more tuning dials. Unfortunately I do not currently have such a feature in my setup, although I'd like that. The next best thing was to do all the tuning via the software like the SatPC32 or HRD. In both cases, I have been able to work out the kinks and am able to avoid touching the radio almost completely. In fact HRD provides a much richer CAT control functionality. In most cases, it remains to be one-way control but it helps ! 73! Umesh k6vug
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 11:37:55 AM PST, jim@k6ccc.org jim@k6ccc.org wrote:
The thing to keep in mind is that there are lots of out there that are not capable of operating fully computer controlled because of equipment limitations. Although it's been a few years since I've been on the birds, I used an early Yaesu 736 which has one way CAT control. Although theoretically possible to completely contgrol frequency with a PC that way, it is such a pain in the ass to dial around a passband looking for contacts from the computer as compared to grabbing the VFO knob on the radio. I usedd teh computer to control the antennas but not the VFO.
73 ----- Jim Walls - K6CCC jim@k6ccc.org
_______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
I do the opposite. I find it's a lot less of a pain to manually control an azimuth-only rotator than to have to manually tune both VFOs to correct for Doppler and hunt for signals. Having a panadapter display of the downlink passband is incredibly helpful at avoiding the need for the latter. By twirling the mouse wheel, I can control the VFO (with automatic reverse-tracking) at various tuning speeds based on which digit of the Rx frequency in the HDSDR application the mouse pointer is on: 100Hz, 1kHz, 10kHz etc or just click on the signal in the waterfall display.
73, Ryan AI6DO On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 11:38:58 AM PST, jim@k6ccc.org jim@k6ccc.org wrote:
The thing to keep in mind is that there are lots of out there that are not capable of operating fully computer controlled because of equipment limitations. Although it's been a few years since I've been on the birds, I used an early Yaesu 736 which has one way CAT control. Although theoretically possible to completely contgrol frequency with a PC that way, it is such a pain in the ass to dial around a passband looking for contacts from the computer as compared to grabbing the VFO knob on the radio. I usedd teh computer to control the antennas but not the VFO.
73 ----- Jim Walls - K6CCC jim@k6ccc.org
Part of my difference is technology at the time and what was being used. First of all, I was using El & Az tracking and have 40 elements on UHF, 22 on VHF, and a 2 x 3 foot dish for 2.4 GHz, so tracking was fairly critical. The software was moving the antennas every few seconds on LEO passes. Second, apparently the software has improved. What I was using had no mouse scrolling. All there was was an up button and a down button that stepped in something like 10 (or maybe it was 100) Hz steps (non-selectable). That meant to move across the passband required hundreds or thousands of button clicks. You could also type in a specific frequency. It was horrible. Used it about three times and decided that I would never use it ever again. Now, I will point out that if the radio had two way CAT control, you could spin the knob on the radio and it would read the change from the radio - but alas, the early Yaesu 7356 radios did not have two way CAT control. The manual largely assumed that you would normally operate by spinning the knob on the radio and only use the up / down buttons for fine tuning.
Personally I never had any trouble manually tuning the radio.
Jim Walls - K6CCC jim@k6ccc.org
-----Original Message----- From: "Ryan Noguchi via AMSAT-BB" amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2019 13:27 To: "AMSAT BB" amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
I do the opposite. I find it's a lot less of a pain to manually control an azimuth-only rotator than to have to manually tune both VFOs to correct for Doppler and hunt for signals. Having a panadapter display of the downlink passband is incredibly helpful at avoiding the need for the latter. By twirling the mouse wheel, I can control the VFO (with automatic reverse-tracking) at various tuning speeds based on which digit of the Rx frequency in the HDSDR application the mouse pointer is on: 100Hz, 1kHz, 10kHz etc or just click on the signal in the waterfall display.
73, Ryan AI6DO On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 11:38:58 AM PST, jim@k6ccc.org jim@k6ccc.org wrote:
The thing to keep in mind is that there are lots of out there that are not capable of operating fully computer controlled because of equipment limitations. Although it's been a few years since I've been on the birds, I used an early Yaesu 736 which has one way CAT control. Although theoretically possible to completely contgrol frequency with a PC that way, it is such a pain in the ass to dial around a passband looking for contacts from the computer as compared to grabbing the VFO knob on the radio. I usedd teh computer to control the antennas but not the VFO.
73 ----- Jim Walls - K6CCC jim@k6ccc.org
_______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Agreed, I can certainly see how that setup would make computer control of the VFO or manual antenna control painful. The Elk I'm using is definitely more amenable to a laid-back approach to antenna rotation.
73, Ryan AI6DO On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 2:14:14 PM PST, jim@k6ccc.org jim@k6ccc.org wrote:
Part of my difference is technology at the time and what was being used. First of all, I was using El & Az tracking and have 40 elements on UHF, 22 on VHF, and a 2 x 3 foot dish for 2.4 GHz, so tracking was fairly critical. The software was moving the antennas every few seconds on LEO passes. Second, apparently the software has improved. What I was using had no mouse scrolling. All there was was an up button and a down button that stepped in something like 10 (or maybe it was 100) Hz steps (non-selectable). That meant to move across the passband required hundreds or thousands of button clicks. You could also type in a specific frequency. It was horrible. Used it about three times and decided that I would never use it ever again. Now, I will point out that if the radio had two way CAT control, you could spin the knob on the radio and it would read the change from the radio - but alas, the early Yaesu 7356 radios did not have two way CAT control. The manual largely assumed that you would normally operate by spinning the knob on the radio and only use the up / down buttons for fine tuning.
Personally I never had any trouble manually tuning the radio.
Jim Walls - K6CCC jim@k6ccc.org
-----Original Message----- From: "Ryan Noguchi via AMSAT-BB" amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2019 13:27 To: "AMSAT BB" amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
I do the opposite. I find it's a lot less of a pain to manually control an azimuth-only rotator than to have to manually tune both VFOs to correct for Doppler and hunt for signals. Having a panadapter display of the downlink passband is incredibly helpful at avoiding the need for the latter. By twirling the mouse wheel, I can control the VFO (with automatic reverse-tracking) at various tuning speeds based on which digit of the Rx frequency in the HDSDR application the mouse pointer is on: 100Hz, 1kHz, 10kHz etc or just click on the signal in the waterfall display.
73, Ryan AI6DO On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 11:38:58 AM PST, jim@k6ccc.org jim@k6ccc.org wrote:
The thing to keep in mind is that there are lots of out there that are not capable of operating fully computer controlled because of equipment limitations. Although it's been a few years since I've been on the birds, I used an early Yaesu 736 which has one way CAT control. Although theoretically possible to completely contgrol frequency with a PC that way, it is such a pain in the ass to dial around a passband looking for contacts from the computer as compared to grabbing the VFO knob on the radio. I usedd teh computer to control the antennas but not the VFO.
73 ----- Jim Walls - K6CCC jim@k6ccc.org
Great job
Im going to contradict myself. Don’t use the RIT...(then maybe use the RIT)
Hopefully your RIT is off when you adjust your uplink in Satpc32 to line up and match the pitch of your voice.
If I find that I have tuned to someone calling CQ or in QSO - when i call them ——> if they move, yet I can understand, I will accept the pitch difference and NOT touch the main tuning dial for that round of the QSO so things stay constant for the other station
If we go another QSO round and things are still about the same amount of frequency offset, I’ll just compensate slightly with my RIT.
If you’re within 300hz I’d say you’re doing well, and touching up with RIT is well within reason.
Like drew suggests- carry on.
Thanks, Mike
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 6, 2019, at 2:01 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner glasbrenner@mindspring.com wrote:
So just diddle the RIT a little and carry on?
73, Drew KO4MA
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org On Behalf Of Stephen E. Belter Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2019 1:43 PM To: k6vug@sbcglobal.net Cc: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org; Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
Just my guess: If you’re tuning so that you sound good to yourself, you may sound a little high (or low) to someone else. Also, since most people you’re operating don’t know what you sound like in person (James Earle Jones or Pee Wee Hermon).
You can check your tuning by sending a tone and zero-bearing with the received tone.
Or experiment with adjusting your received signal so that you’re a little low (or high) with what sounds best to you. Then see if you’re still chasing each other up (or down) the band.
73, Steve N9IP
Steve Belter, seb@wintek.com
On Feb 6, 2019, at 1:31 PM, "k6vug@sbcglobal.net" k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and can hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well.
Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net wrote:
Umesh, If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the correct frequency, then you are doing everything right. 73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
(a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
(b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
(c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO.
(d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone.
Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Good morning all, One thing that I have noticed with trying to tune in a qso or even tune myself so that I can even find myself on the downlink is not easy some days. If I use the rit then sometimes I loose the other party on there or they can not tune up to me very well. One thing that I have noticed thinking about this if I turn the rit on and use that then turn the RIT off and then try to tune the xmit freq I see that the XIT is also changed to the same amount as the RIT control. So having found this and trying to work with SatPC32 trying to tune using the cat control section I am not having very good luck somedays getting things tuned up. I don't try to do these at the same time, I work with one or the other, just have not found a good happy medium yet for tuning in the different ones. Now I am thinking that I might want to reset all back to square one with the radio again and see what happens with the RIT and XIT if they track together or not if I do a full reset of the radio. The rig is the TS2000X, it took sometime getting it to work with Satpc32 and now I know where I made the mistake on the basic setup so that I can get things to a working point with the software for tracking again. Just seeing that the RIT control and the XIT track together even thou they are not on together that I know of when I try to work things. This I only found this week. So any thoughts on this?
Thank you.
Jim
On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 11:36 PM Mike Sprenger mikesprenger@gmail.com wrote:
Great job
Im going to contradict myself. Don’t use the RIT...(then maybe use the RIT)
Hopefully your RIT is off when you adjust your uplink in Satpc32 to line up and match the pitch of your voice.
If I find that I have tuned to someone calling CQ or in QSO - when i call them ——> if they move, yet I can understand, I will accept the pitch difference and NOT touch the main tuning dial for that round of the QSO so things stay constant for the other station
If we go another QSO round and things are still about the same amount of frequency offset, I’ll just compensate slightly with my RIT.
If you’re within 300hz I’d say you’re doing well, and touching up with RIT is well within reason.
Like drew suggests- carry on.
Thanks, Mike
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 6, 2019, at 2:01 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner <
glasbrenner@mindspring.com> wrote:
So just diddle the RIT a little and carry on?
73, Drew KO4MA
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org On Behalf Of Stephen E.
Belter
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2019 1:43 PM To: k6vug@sbcglobal.net Cc: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org; Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
Just my guess: If you’re tuning so that you sound good to yourself, you
may sound a little high (or low) to someone else. Also, since most people you’re operating don’t know what you sound like in person (James Earle Jones or Pee Wee Hermon).
You can check your tuning by sending a tone and zero-bearing with the
received tone.
Or experiment with adjusting your received signal so that you’re a
little low (or high) with what sounds best to you. Then see if you’re still chasing each other up (or down) the band.
73, Steve N9IP
Steve Belter, seb@wintek.com
On Feb 6, 2019, at 1:31 PM, "k6vug@sbcglobal.net" k6vug@sbcglobal.net
wrote:
That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can
move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and can hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well.
Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer <
n8hm@arrl.net> wrote:
Umesh, If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the correct
frequency, then you are doing everything right.
73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net <
k6vug@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB
birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
(a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear
myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
(b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same
frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
(c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their
downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO.
(d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not
everyone.
Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm
trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect
the official views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect
the official views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
Opinions expressed
are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Good afternoon everyone, I just did a full reset on my rig to take it back to factory settings. As mentioned above about the XIT and the RIT working together. No change after doing a full reset of the radio. So trying to tune with the rit and keep the same TX freq is not possible from what I can tell based on my observation. So I don't know if this is different when using a ICOM rig as compared to the Kenwood? I would think that you would be able to use them separately to adjust either one, however, with this I don't know what to do about trying to keep the correct TX and adjust my RX so that I sound correct or at least working with something that most would be able to hear without alot of tuning. I know that the doppler effects it all, just being able to set it and not have to constantly adjust with todays rigs I would have thought would be better then it is even for the age of the technology of this radio.
Thoughts? Jim
On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 7:40 AM James McIrvin arsn1ipa@gmail.com wrote:
Good morning all, One thing that I have noticed with trying to tune in a qso or even tune myself so that I can even find myself on the downlink is not easy some days. If I use the rit then sometimes I loose the other party on there or they can not tune up to me very well. One thing that I have noticed thinking about this if I turn the rit on and use that then turn the RIT off and then try to tune the xmit freq I see that the XIT is also changed to the same amount as the RIT control. So having found this and trying to work with SatPC32 trying to tune using the cat control section I am not having very good luck somedays getting things tuned up. I don't try to do these at the same time, I work with one or the other, just have not found a good happy medium yet for tuning in the different ones. Now I am thinking that I might want to reset all back to square one with the radio again and see what happens with the RIT and XIT if they track together or not if I do a full reset of the radio. The rig is the TS2000X, it took sometime getting it to work with Satpc32 and now I know where I made the mistake on the basic setup so that I can get things to a working point with the software for tracking again. Just seeing that the RIT control and the XIT track together even thou they are not on together that I know of when I try to work things. This I only found this week. So any thoughts on this?
Thank you.
Jim
On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 11:36 PM Mike Sprenger mikesprenger@gmail.com wrote:
Great job
Im going to contradict myself. Don’t use the RIT...(then maybe use the RIT)
Hopefully your RIT is off when you adjust your uplink in Satpc32 to line up and match the pitch of your voice.
If I find that I have tuned to someone calling CQ or in QSO - when i call them ——> if they move, yet I can understand, I will accept the pitch difference and NOT touch the main tuning dial for that round of the QSO so things stay constant for the other station
If we go another QSO round and things are still about the same amount of frequency offset, I’ll just compensate slightly with my RIT.
If you’re within 300hz I’d say you’re doing well, and touching up with RIT is well within reason.
Like drew suggests- carry on.
Thanks, Mike
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 6, 2019, at 2:01 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner <
glasbrenner@mindspring.com> wrote:
So just diddle the RIT a little and carry on?
73, Drew KO4MA
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org On Behalf Of Stephen E.
Belter
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2019 1:43 PM To: k6vug@sbcglobal.net Cc: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org; Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
Just my guess: If you’re tuning so that you sound good to yourself,
you may sound a little high (or low) to someone else. Also, since most people you’re operating don’t know what you sound like in person (James Earle Jones or Pee Wee Hermon).
You can check your tuning by sending a tone and zero-bearing with the
received tone.
Or experiment with adjusting your received signal so that you’re a
little low (or high) with what sounds best to you. Then see if you’re still chasing each other up (or down) the band.
73, Steve N9IP
Steve Belter, seb@wintek.com
On Feb 6, 2019, at 1:31 PM, "k6vug@sbcglobal.net" k6vug@sbcglobal.net
wrote:
That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can
move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and can hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well.
Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer <
n8hm@arrl.net> wrote:
Umesh, If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the
correct frequency, then you are doing everything right.
73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net <
k6vug@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB
birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
(a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear
myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
(b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same
frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
(c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their
downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO.
(d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not
everyone.
Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm
trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect
the official views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect
the official views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
Opinions expressed
are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views
of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hi Jim and others,
SatPC32 has a very nice feature to adjust the uplink frequency without touching the radio. In the main window on the top (middle) you will see a "Downlink" window that says "0", a field called Corr. (+/-) window that also says "0" and "Uplink" next to it. By using the "+" and/or "-" key of your keyboard you can change the uplink frequency in 10Hz steps which will adjust your offset between uplink and downlink. You see the number change within the window. By using these two keys going positive or negative you can find yourself on the RX downlink frequency for initial setup without ever touching the radio. One you have found yourself in the passband you have a corrected offset for your location and satellite which you can store later (recommended). Now whenever you "chase" someone on the downlink because they are off, this offset will allow you to be right on with your Tx. No need for "RIT"or anything else. You will maintain solid doppler control specific for that linear satellite and you will hear yourself immediately wherever you tune on the downlink. For more details, as always, please refer to the SatPC32 manual :-)
Hope this helps,
Stefan
On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 3:40 PM James McIrvin arsn1ipa@gmail.com wrote:
Good afternoon everyone, I just did a full reset on my rig to take it back to factory settings. As mentioned above about the XIT and the RIT working together. No change after doing a full reset of the radio. So trying to tune with the rit and keep the same TX freq is not possible from what I can tell based on my observation. So I don't know if this is different when using a ICOM rig as compared to the Kenwood? I would think that you would be able to use them separately to adjust either one, however, with this I don't know what to do about trying to keep the correct TX and adjust my RX so that I sound correct or at least working with something that most would be able to hear without alot of tuning. I know that the doppler effects it all, just being able to set it and not have to constantly adjust with todays rigs I would have thought would be better then it is even for the age of the technology of this radio.
Thoughts? Jim
On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 7:40 AM James McIrvin arsn1ipa@gmail.com wrote:
Good morning all, One thing that I have noticed with trying to tune in a qso or even tune myself so that I can even find myself on the downlink is not easy some days. If I use the rit then sometimes I loose the other party on there
or
they can not tune up to me very well. One thing that I have noticed thinking about this if I turn the rit on and use that then turn the RIT
off
and then try to tune the xmit freq I see that the XIT is also changed to the same amount as the RIT control. So having found this and trying to work with SatPC32 trying to tune using the cat control section I am not having very good luck somedays getting things tuned up. I don't try to do these at the same time, I work with
one
or the other, just have not found a good happy medium yet for tuning in
the
different ones. Now I am thinking that I might want to reset all back to square one with the radio again and see what happens with the RIT and XIT if they track together or not if I do a full reset of the radio. The rig is the TS2000X, it took sometime getting it to work with Satpc32 and now I know where I made the mistake on the basic setup so that I can get things to a working point with the software for tracking again. Just seeing that the RIT control and the XIT track together even thou they are not on together that I know of when I try to work things. This I only found this week. So any thoughts on this?
Thank you.
Jim
On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 11:36 PM Mike Sprenger mikesprenger@gmail.com wrote:
Great job
Im going to contradict myself. Don’t use the RIT...(then maybe use the RIT)
Hopefully your RIT is off when you adjust your uplink in Satpc32 to line up and match the pitch of your voice.
If I find that I have tuned to someone calling CQ or in QSO - when i
call
them ——> if they move, yet I can understand, I will accept the pitch difference and NOT touch the main tuning dial for that round of the QSO
so
things stay constant for the other station
If we go another QSO round and things are still about the same amount of frequency offset, I’ll just compensate slightly with my RIT.
If you’re within 300hz I’d say you’re doing well, and touching up with RIT is well within reason.
Like drew suggests- carry on.
Thanks, Mike
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 6, 2019, at 2:01 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner <
glasbrenner@mindspring.com> wrote:
So just diddle the RIT a little and carry on?
73, Drew KO4MA
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org On Behalf Of Stephen E.
Belter
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2019 1:43 PM To: k6vug@sbcglobal.net Cc: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org; Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
Just my guess: If you’re tuning so that you sound good to yourself,
you may sound a little high (or low) to someone else. Also, since most people you’re operating don’t know what you sound like in person (James Earle Jones or Pee Wee Hermon).
You can check your tuning by sending a tone and zero-bearing with the
received tone.
Or experiment with adjusting your received signal so that you’re a
little low (or high) with what sounds best to you. Then see if you’re still chasing each other up (or down) the band.
73, Steve N9IP
Steve Belter, seb@wintek.com
On Feb 6, 2019, at 1:31 PM, "k6vug@sbcglobal.net" <
k6vug@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:
That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can
move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and
can
hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well.
Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer <
n8hm@arrl.net> wrote:
Umesh, If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the
correct frequency, then you are doing everything right.
73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug@sbcglobal.net <
k6vug@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB
birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I
respect
both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
(a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear
myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down
the
pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink.
It
is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
(b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same
frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
(c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their
downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps
happening
throughout the QSO.
(d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and
not
everyone.
Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm
trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate
any
pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
73! Umesh k6vug
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Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum
available
to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect
the official views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings:
http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
Opinions
expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the
official
views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
Opinions expressed
are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views
of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Could this be related to the fact that some radios cannot change the VFO that is being actively transmitted on?
-- Devin L. Ganger (WA7DLG) email: devin@thecabal.org web: Devin on Earth cell: +1 425.239.2575
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org On Behalf Of k6vug@sbcglobal.net Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2019 9:42 AM To: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
(a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
(b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
(c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO.
(d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone.
Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Devin, I assumed that was not the case because the calling station's tone did not change between CQs or during the transmission, but only changed AFTER I had responded. - Umesh
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 10:10:00 AM PST, Devin L. Ganger devin@thecabal.org wrote:
Could this be related to the fact that some radios cannot change the VFO that is being actively transmitted on?
-- Devin L. Ganger (WA7DLG) email: devin@thecabal.org web: Devin on Earth cell: +1 425.239.2575
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org On Behalf Of k6vug@sbcglobal.net Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2019 9:42 AM To: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
(a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
(b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
(c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO.
(d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone.
Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
73! Umesh k6vug
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Umesh, One other thing to consider that I have not heard anybody mention so far, most rovers will be using either a fixed uplink or a fix downlink depending on the satellite and correct for the higher frequency manually per the "One True Rule". Many rovers pre-announce their frequencies. In SatPC you can go to the Mode menu and set which frequency you want Doppler corrected the uplink or the downlink only, instead of both.
As a roving operator there is often a challenge. I typically announce my fixed frequency via Twitter or AMSAT BB and find myself chasing operators who are running full doppler correction during TCA. Then I have to fiddle to get back on frequency. Just something to think about to make life easier for the rovers working the pile ups while minimizing the need to retune and maintain a high response rate.
As was previously mentioned use the RIT too.
73, Adrian AA5UK >> VP5/AA5UK Feb 28-March 8
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 11:43:44 AM CST, k6vug@sbcglobal.net k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite - (a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation. (b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency. (c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO. (d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone. Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance. 73! Umesh k6vug
_______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Shouldn't the CQing station stay put, not try to chase an off-frequency caller, to prevent both stations from chasing each other around?
73, Ryan AI6DO
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 12:02:49 PM PST, Adrian Engele via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote: ... As a roving operator there is often a challenge. I typically announce my fixed frequency via Twitter or AMSAT BB and find myself chasing operators who are running full doppler correction during TCA. Then I have to fiddle to get back on frequency. Just something to think about to make life easier for the rovers working the pile ups while minimizing the need to retune and maintain a high response rate. ...
73, Adrian AA5UK >> VP5/AA5UK Feb 28-March 8
Hello Adrian,
ompletely agree about the rovers and I had excluded manual tuning operators like rovers in my question. I have worked a few and do my best to keep up manually. However the main focus of my post was to understand the drift when both stations were automated.
73! Umesh k6vug On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 12:00:42 PM PST, Adrian Engele aa5uk@yahoo.com wrote:
Umesh, One other thing to consider that I have not heard anybody mention so far, most rovers will be using either a fixed uplink or a fix downlink depending on the satellite and correct for the higher frequency manually per the "One True Rule". Many rovers pre-announce their frequencies. In SatPC you can go to the Mode menu and set which frequency you want Doppler corrected the uplink or the downlink only, instead of both.
As a roving operator there is often a challenge. I typically announce my fixed frequency via Twitter or AMSAT BB and find myself chasing operators who are running full doppler correction during TCA. Then I have to fiddle to get back on frequency. Just something to think about to make life easier for the rovers working the pile ups while minimizing the need to retune and maintain a high response rate.
As was previously mentioned use the RIT too.
73, Adrian AA5UK >> VP5/AA5UK Feb 28-March 8
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 11:43:44 AM CST, k6vug@sbcglobal.net k6vug@sbcglobal.net wrote:
Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite - (a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation. (b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency. (c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO. (d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone. Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance. 73! Umesh k6vug
_______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
participants (12)
-
Adrian Engele -
Andrew Glasbrenner -
Devin L. Ganger -
James McIrvin -
jim＠k6ccc.org -
k6vug＠sbcglobal.net -
Kevin Zari -
Mike Sprenger -
Paul Stoetzer -
Ryan Noguchi -
Stefan Wagener -
Stephen E. Belter