[amsat-bb] Re: digital compass / hello to the group

[Andre PH7AT]

Rhett Duke wrote:
> Kenwood HT....I have read a few articles on working AO-51 with your
> HT....seen a couple good videos on UTUBE etc......One guy had what I
> call a marine compass rigged to his Arrow beam/camera tripod that
> worked even with the change in elevation that would cause a regular
> "pocket compass" to go haywire.......I am curious if anyone uses a
> Digital Compass? One that might display the heading in degrees...not
> just North....NE/ East etc.....? even with changes in elevation.....or
> must a digital compass be held parallel to the earth to read correctly
> ?
> 
> 73
> KI4OVO
> 

Having a compass or PDA with real-time prediction software is nice but 
certainly not a must have. At least not while working satellites.
The compass is nice for knowing where the satellite while rise above the 
horizon but once you acquired its signal you just wave your Arrow 
antenna a bit to follow the satellite across the sky.

I use a Icom IC-R20 as receiver which has a built-in voice recorder. I 
find that very useful as I don't have to write down anything ;)
Using VOX on your transmitter is another good thing but watch out when 
outside in high winds which can switch on the transmitter when not wanted!

Good luck!


Andre PH7AT