[amsat-bb] AO-85 hard of hearing?

[John Brier]

Yes it is.

I wrote up a short explanation on my website about it and a trick you can
use to get in if you use an Arrow antenna.

https://spacecomms.wordpress.com/ao-85-twist-trick-and-other-hints/

A lot of people (myself included) use a mobile radio set to 10, or up to 50
watts to get in easily from horizon to horizon. 250 watts ERP is advised
for horizon to horizon coverage.

One thing that isn't on my webpage is that it can be easier to get in on
north to south decending passes from AOS to TCA (max elevation), after that
it gets harder with only five watts. I found recently I didn't even have to
use the above mentioned trick with my Kenwood TH-D72 from AOS-TCA on
descending passes.

73, John Brier KG4AKV

On Sat, Aug 4, 2018, 00:12 Bob Keating <bkeating1954 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have attempted to make the last two passes of AO-85 over the West
> Coast, 8/3/2018 at 01:12 zulu on 8/03/18 and on 08/03/18 at 15:22 zulu.
> I could hear a number of stations but it seemed that the bird was having
> a hard time hearing me. I am running 2 HTs  at 5 W transmit full duplex
> into an Arrow II hand held satellite antenna.
> I had no problem hitting AO-92 at 18:19 today.
> Thanks for your help.
> 73,
> Bob, N6REK
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