I think Mark was My first 2 way packet contact on ISS and also NO 44 . Thought I had a qsl card from Him but can't find it . He was one of the few that could reach NO-44 when no one else was getting there . Miss You on the birds Mark .
Congrats Kevin , not much traffic on NO-44 ( w3ado-1 ) I guess because it's so hard to reach . Will look for You there.
Jerry WB5LHD
Congrats Kevin , not much traffic on NO-44 ( w3ado-1 ) I guess because it's so hard to reach .
No, it can hear a 5W HT (when close), but the problem is that it's battery is dead. It can save up enough energy during a mid-day pass to maybe support one or two successful packets. But any other packets simply kill it back to zero.
That is what is so sad. There are a few dozen people who operte permanent beacons on the channel just so they can be heard, but in so doing, the unattended beacons are killing the battery that real-live people could actually use.
If we could just get all the UNATTENDED stations on the ISS and PCSAT (w3ado-1) uplink to be silent so that the manned stations wouidl have less congestion (or more power on PCSAT), then maybe 1 or two packets per pass couild be successful via PCSAT (again, though, only during mid-day when the sun is right on its best angle to the best panel).
You can hear the problem on every packet. There is not even enough battery amps to finish a complet4e packet.
Bob, Wb4APR
participants (2)
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Bob Bruninga -
jerry keeton