[amsat-bb] AO-92 L Band

Sun Feb 4 20:33:06 UTC 2018

Hi!

I was not able to hear that 2-degree pass here in Arizona, but
I was at least listening to the two earlier passes. I know I
got through on one, and the other I received a message saying
I was heard. No QSOs, and my setup may explain a bit...

The first of the two passes was at 1638 UTC. It was a 26-degree
pass here in Phoenix, and I went to my favorite city park on the
DM33/DM43 grid line. My station for this attempt was:

TX: Alinco DJ-G7T (1W TX), Diamond RH951S 2m/70cm/23cm whip
RX: Kenwood TH-D74, Elk Antennas handheld 2m/70cm log periodic

I heard a few stations - N1JEZ, VE4AMU, WA4SCA, WB8RJY, and
AA5PK. I was fishing all around, trying to find a combination
of radio/antenna orientation and uplink frequency that might
actually work. I didn't hear myself, but I received a message
after this pass saying that I was heard. Seeing the later pass
was lower, and not being successful this time, I went home.
Glad I did - I found another 1.2 GHz antenna in my collection,
a Comet CY-1205 5-element 1.2 GHz Yagi, with a BNC connector
(these were also sold with TNC connectors, years before HTs
went to SMA connectors). The BNC connector is on the bottom
of the driven element, as this antenna mounts directly on a
radio.

For the second pass I tried, 1812 UTC, it was lower - only up
to a maximum elevation of 14 degrees. My station this time:

TX: Alinco DJ-G7T (1W TX), Comet CY-1205 5-element 1.2 GHz Yagi
RX: Kenwood TH-D74, MFJ-1717 long 2m/70cm duckie

The downlink was off at the start of the pass, and I was able
to hear Veronica's voice ID. Tom N6NUG in San Diego was able
to turn on the satellite. I was frantically trying different
uplink frequencies and radio/antenna orientations, hoping I
could get through and make a QSO. I was able to finally get
through, but after a couple of transmissions I never heard
any more from N6NUG. A directional antenna certainly made a
difference, since I could get through on the lower of the two
passes this morning.

I posted the recordings from these two passes in my Dropbox
space. Go to http://dropbox.wd9ewk.net/ and look in the
"Satellite_Audio-2018" folder. I have the original WAV files
as recorded by my TH-D74 and a couple of MP3s I made from those
WAV files in that folder; just look for the date/time (UTC) of
the passes.

For tonight, I have a 6.5-degree pass at 0315 UTC, followed by
a 60-degree pass at 0445 UTC. I may try the low pass from a
park away from home, but I will definitely be ready for the 0445
UTC pass. Hopefully it isn't too crowded. :-)

73!

Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/
Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK

On Sun, Feb 4, 2018 at 8:09 PM, Greg D <ko6th.greg at gmail.com> wrote:

> Just had a very low pass here in CM98 - 2 degrees off to the north-west,
> over the ocean.  I heard Veronica on the downlink, but was not able to
> get into the bird myself.
>
> I only have 10 watts from my FT-736R into a 32 element
> horizontally-polarized beam, fed with 60' of mostly hardline, and some
> RG-213 at the ends.  So, I'm guessing no more than a couple of watts at
> the antenna...  But I was basing Doppler on 1267.350; will try .360
> tonight on the 20:47 PDT pass.  47 degrees; should be a LOT easier, too.
>
> Greg  KO6TH
>
>
>