[ISS Satellite Contact a Few Minutes Ago. Advice?]

On 7/6/2022 at 1:54 AM, marcspaz said:

Hey folks,  I have a quick question.  Tonight I made a 1,700+ mile contact from Virginia to Mexico using the ISS cross-band repeater (VHF/UHF).  I was running my Diamond X300 vertical which has 7 dBd gain (9 dBi) on UHF and my frontend was getting overloaded to the point where a lot of audio was distorted.  I was watching the tracker and I could only hear well when I was on the edges of the coverage area, near the horizons.  However, one person sent me an email saying he could hear me very well in Mississippi... so I know the take-off angle and the doppler effect is accounted for.

 

 

Does anyone here do satellite work?  I'm thinking I have too much gain.  I am considering building an omni-directional horizontal loop and trying again soon.  With the exception of buying a beam on a tripod, do any of you have any advice on what to do for antenna design?  What has worked well for you?

 

Thank! 

Spaz

You really do need a directional antenna to track satellites and adjust for Doppler. I use an Arrow II antenna with built in duplexer(https://www.arrowantennas.com/arrowii/146-437.html) paired with a Yaesu FT530 for FM satellites, and the Arrow II antenna paired with 2 Yaesu FT817's for Linear satellites. Don't use more than 5W to transmit. I typically easily get in to the satellites using only 1 watt. As far as doppler, only adjust the UHF frequency during the pass for FM birds, and really only very minimally.

I do believe FTM300 should be able to work FM satellites in Full Duplex, so it's just a matter of programming the FTM300 with the correct uplink and downlink frequencies for the pass of the satellite adjusting for Doppler.

On this page is an invaluable cheat sheet for all the FM and Linear birds... https://ke0pbr.wordpress.com/2018/12/31/my-frequency-cheat-sheet/    

Here is also a link to a spreadsheet that will show current and past radios capable of Full Duplex  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v3byggtuqw33fkk/AAAamatWbd9657AQfXhM6-wPa/Articles/Full-duplex_radios_for_satellites.xlsx?dl=1

A live satellite tracking app such as GoSatWatch for iOS or Heavens Above for Android will help you track the birds with ease.

Hope this info is useful! Satellites are very addicting and fun and are pretty reliable no matter what the propagation is.

Also watch these short videos on FM satellites

 

 

[Pixie 1 Watt CW radio]

19 hours ago, WRPC505 said:

Finally tried to activate my Pixie this evening after Field Day ended. As I began getting the Pixie and my WRC vertical tuned properly, I encountered one important problem: my pit bull Roxy did not like the sound and pitch of my straight key. She came running off her recliner (it WAS mine but she decided to take it over), put her muzzle on my thigh and started grumbling. So I stopped, began to pet her and got her settled down; Roxy returned to her chair. 

I watched her until I figured she returned to her relaxed state, then hit my straight key again. That dog popped her head up and began to growl at me like she was telling me, "Stop it!" I looked at her and just turned off my battery pack and gave up for at least this evening. The Pixie is now a temporary paperweight until perhaps tomorrow for a little bit when I take the dog outside to let her do her thing. But it's supposed to rain from midday on (and it looks like it will rain in a little bit as I write this), so I'm not sure if I'll get to play with it for a little while. 

At least the SW-3C from Venus should finally arrive tomorrow afternoon, so MAYBE I can finally play a little CW after I get home from work around midnight. If the dog doesn't mind...

If you haven't tried already, use some headphones. 

[Pixie 1 Watt CW radio]

On 6/23/2022 at 12:19 PM, WRPC505 said:

Great! I have my SW-3C coming in on Friday, and there is a USDX USDR radio coming to me as a very belated birthday gift coming to me eventually, so I'll have two more little QRP rigs besides the Pixie to play with. I get to choose between QRP and QRPp, which should be a lot of fun.

Good deal! If you haven't ordered the USDX USDR yet, I would still recommend the Tr USDX. The USDR is actually a Chinese clone of the Tr USDX. If you don't have the ability or the patience to put together the Tr USDX, they are basically the same price fully put together and ready to go. 

 

Todd

[Pixie 1 Watt CW radio]

On 6/11/2022 at 1:39 AM, WRPC505 said:

I just ordered a 40m Pixie 1-watt CW radio (already assembled) with rockbound frequency of 7.023 MHz; I should get it within 2 weeks. Yes I know not to expect very much considering the peashooter signal and such, but I wanted to play with it especially since I have gotten heavy into QRP (and even QRPp) thanks to a very good ham friend of mine from Houston. Oh and it was cheap, too. Have any of you guys used the Pixie and what did you think of it?

Warren, WQ1C / WRPC505

Have fun with the Pixie. I was going to go that route until I found the (Tr)USDX here https://dl2man.de   In my opinion, for budget QRP, this is the best rig out there. I built mine for $83 shipped from Aliexpress. It is truly amazing how good this rig is. I have only had it a month but have worked all over the US on 5W. 
 

Todd, K9TDW/WRFL209