[amsat-bb] Re: antennas and schedule for AO-7?

[w4upd]

You just answered your own question about antenna and angle of 
radiation. If you have trouble above 25 degrees. this is normal for 
verticals, especially high gain verticals (Ringos, etc.). I use omnis 
here for now as my arrays are still on the ground from the storms of 
'04'. I suspect that the Arrow antennas I hear about would probably work 
well. I have used and need to put new ones up, sloper 1/4 wave ground 
plane antennas. They have worked quite well in the past for me. The 
satellite handbook has examples of the sloped ground plane.

Good luck on the birds. By the way, the mode ('A' or'B') of AO-7 is a 
crap shoot as there is no automatic control and it will come up however 
it feels. It appears to be in mode 'A' more than it has in the past but 
still comes up also in mode 'B'.

Reid, W4UPD

Bill Dzurilla wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Today I listened for the first time for AO-7.  I read
> all the info pages about this bird, but did not see
> anything about a key question: when is the bird in
> mode A and when in mode B?  Is there a schedule, or do
> we have to listen on both 10m and 2m until we hear the
> beacon?
>
> Anyhow, this morning there was a high pass and I heard
> the sat loud and clear in mode A, although it was not
> at all busy.  Just 2 or 3 stations calling CQ on cw,
> no ssb at all.  I was able to hear my own ssb signal
> on the downlink.
>
> Was wondering what is a good antenna for receiving the
> 10m downlink.  I have a vertical that usually performs
> quite well for regular HF work, but I lost the sat
> signal when the bird was still quite high, 25 degrees
> or so.  This surprised me, as the vertical has a low
> angle of radiation.
>
> Is there any SSB activity on this sat?
>
> 73, Bill NZ5N 
>
>
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