[amsat-bb] Hello de 9H5G

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi John!

It is rare to ever hear SO-50 crowded in that part of the world,
compared to what you'd hear over North America or Europe. Depending
on the passes you are trying, you may not be in the footprints
with the North Island in ZL or eastern Australia, where there are
some regulars working SO-50 and other satellites. Do you have a
memory channel programmed to transmit on 145.850 MHz with the 74.4
Hz PL tone? You may need to turn the satellite on and then make
some calls, in case everyone is listening but not trying to activate
the satellite's 10-minute timer.

Have you tried AO-85 down there? That satellite may be more of a
challenge than SO-50 to work, but give it a try if there are some
passes compatible with your schedule down there.

I was in Australia in 2011, and found that satellite passes were
more laid back than here. On the SO-50 passes I worked from
locations around Melbourne and Sydney, I was lucky if I heard more
than two other stations. This made for nice chats. There was no
interest in exchanging grid locators, even though I had my TH-D72A HT
and a Garmin GPS receiver to know my grid locator whenever I worked
satellite passes (QF22 when around Melbourne, QF56 when in or near
Sydney).

On the AMSAT-VK Yahoo! group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amsatvk/

I have seen reports where there were more stations on some SO-50
passes than just 2 or 3, but for you the footprints will determine
if that is possible. You may want to join that list and mention
you are in the region, as that might drum up some activity.

Good luck, and 73!





Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK (VK/WD9EWK in 2011)
http://www.wd9ewk.net/
Twitter: @WD9EWK



On Sat, Apr 9, 2016 at 5:49 AM, John, 9H5G <kk4oyj at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I'm a recent (read inexperienced hi hi) satellite op working only FM at
> the moment and always /P.
> I'm currently in RE45 (ZL - South Island) but have heard no activity so
> far on SO-50. I'd be interested to know if this is normal down here.
>
> 73 de John, 9H5G
> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions
> expressed
> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
> AMSAT-NA.
> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
>