[amsat-bb] Re: a cheap LEO tracker for single op

[Matt Patterson]

Good reading material Bob!  Everyone should bookmark this page.  Back 
when I had a sat station I had my antennas fixed at 45 degrees.  The 
reason why is first I didn't know any better and second I built my mast 
out of PVC and 2" 45 degree elbows were all I could find locally.   It 
worked well enough for me to make contacts.  Then I had to move my 
antennas and never got around to putting everything back up again.  If I 
ever do it again, I will cut off the 45 degree elbows and do it right.

73 Matt
W5LL
EM23

On 5/28/2013 3:48 PM, Robert Bruninga wrote:
> I found my old web page with graphics that shows the exact geometry of
> passes and elevations.
>   See http://aprs.org/LEO-tracking.html  70% of all pass times are below 22
> degrees.
>
>
> After the discussion a few weeks ago, I sat down today to begin building a
> web page on the topic and when I went to save it, there was a page already
> there that I had made years ago!  So there it is.
>
> Bob, Wb4aPR
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On
> Behalf Of Rolf Krogstad
> Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 4:17 PM
> To: Bill (W1PA)
> Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org
> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: a cheap LEO tracker for single op
>
> Bill,
>
> You should find something in the reflector archives from 3 or 4 weeks ago
> where there was a discussion of what percentage of passes were overhead.
>   It is an extremely low percentage.  If I recall, most are at a an elevation
> of 33 degrees or less.
>
> Because of  the wide beam width of my antenna, tilting the antenna at an
> angle of 20 to 25 degrees works well for me.  I can copy the satellite
> beacons down to the horizon.  And only on the high angle passes do I have a
> any drop out
>
> And because of the beam width of the antenna I don't need to keep a hand on
> the rotor control all the time.  But it takes some practice to remember to
> look at the azimuth reading on the computer and to adjust the rotor
> accordingly every couple of minutes.
>
>
> The problem comes on the more overhead passes.  Because the bird is closest
> to my location at that time it seems to accelerate as it gets overhead.  On
> those, though, it doesn't seem to be as critical that the rotor be adjusted
> anywhere close to the indicated azimuth.  I can hear the signal starting to
> fade and it is a reminder to check the azimuth.
>
> I would definitely run a number of passes with the setup before Field Day to
> make sure that everything works and that you can remember to do all the
> things that your three hands need to do during a pass!
>
> 73 from another newbie,
>
> Rolf   NR0T
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 11:57 AM, Bill (W1PA)<w1pa at hotmail.com>  wrote:
>
>> Let me ask this another way...
>>
>> Assuming minimal setup prior to each pass, can I track a LEO with a
>> single rotor well enough for QSO’s?  (single rotor control in one
>> hand, VFO/Doppler on my other)
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>