[amsat-bb] Re: SO-50 under-utilized over North America

[Martin Gillen]

Hi, John.

I'm in Ottawa, and I'm new to satellites.

SO-50 is one of the sats that I am going to try out because all I have
is an FM handie-talkie.  I've built an (admittedly heavy!) antenna
which is a 6 element 70cm beam and a 4 element 2m beam joined
together, but I'm not sure if it will have enough gain for SO-50, my
H/T will only do about 4W max, and if possible I'd like to run it at
0.5 or 1.5W to extend the battery life.

I noticed your signature line "Satellite QRPer" so I thought you might
know if I ought to be able to transmit only 1/2W and have a reliable
QSO.

Also:

> transcontinental passes on SO-50

What does that mean?  I'm looking at a pass for example which is at
00:20 tonight EST, which goes South to North just west of Florida
right overhead Ottawa.  Is that what you meant by a transcontinental
pass?

> If you're east of the Mississippi, you'll be especially welcomed on transcontinental SO-50 passes.

Why?  I am East of the Mississippi :)

Anyway I've got the radio all programmed up and ready to go.  The next
reasonable pass that I will be able to try is the one on Saturday
morning at 8:20am EST.  It comes to me from the West and so it should
be very busy by the time it gets to me... anyway I'll have a go!

73
Martin.