[amsat-bb] Live Amateur Radio Satellite Demo was Conducted for Physics Students at Rajkot (Gujarat) INDIA

[Rajesh Vagadia - VU2EXP]

Dear Amsat Members,

On 4th Dec 2019 I successfully gave Live Amateur Radio Satellite (AO91)
Demo amongst 50 final year B.Sc (Physics) Students.

A special Hands on workshop of Applied Physics was organised by School of
Science RK University Rajkot India from 2nd to 6th Dec 2019.

Myself Rajesh Vagadia VU2EXP (Regional Coordinator, AMSAT-INDIA) was
invited to conduct presentation on Amateur Radio & it's Application along
with Live Satellite Demo.

I carried out detailed presentation on ham radio topics ranging from CW to
Satellites! Many doubts & queries were resolved. Also displayed Radio
stuff, antenna, accessories, CubeSat model, SDR Dongle, Keyer & Paddle, QSL
Cards, ARISS Awards etc. for better understanding for students.

AMSAT functioning & it's motto was explained in detailed. Few amateur
satellites were bring into notice made/supported by various AMSAT
organisations.

'ARISS student outreach program' highlights were also given & played
original audio conversation happened between 13 year Student (Sakshi
Vagadia) and female Astronaut Sunita William aboard ISS, particular ARISS
event was carried out on 14th Nov 2012 at Science City Ahmedabad Gujarat by
we few hams. Below is the link to enjoy conversation:


https://tinyurl.com/sakshi-talks-sunita

Students surprised to see scientific capabilities of ham radio reaches upto
ISS Astronauts & even further to moon with EME experiments!
For our final Live Satellite Demo (AO91) we all incl. group of students &
faculties assembled to terrace. It was good pass with 44° max elevation.
AOS was at 1247 (IST) &  LOS at 1259 (IST)

I made students familiar with important Satellite terms such as AOS, TCA,
LOS, Uplink Freq, Downlink Freq, Doppler shift, Tracking with apps etc. I
used IOio dual band antenna with two separate HTs. Necessary frequency & tx
ctcss tone was set & tested before pass. For Tx Speaker Mic was used for
convenience, and for Rx small PA was connected to HT so whole group can
listen to our possible two way  QSO. I was prepared aiming IOio antenna at
180° (South),  on AOS time at 1247 (IST) I gave few Sat calls... De VU2EXP
on AO91 Satellite... repeat...  soon heard a station replying
me!!!    Cheers!!! It was VU3PENfrom Hyderabad (MK97em) 955 Kms from us.
Students can't stop their excitement and started cheering up!!!

Thereafter we were able to contact with VU3BXS (MM80pd) 1083 Kms,
 A65BP from UAE (LL75qj) 1602 Kms, VU2DGR (MJ89gg) 1576 Kms. Very near to
LOS we heard R9LR but couldn't exchange report.

Students as well as faculties were very excited to learn on ham radio &
just thrilled to witness this live SatDemo.

I thanks to all hams for their valuable support for my demo.

Also thanks to Prof. Harshal Desai, Dr. Savan Katba,  Dr. Ashish Tanna & RK
University to give me wonderful platform to conduct this Ham Session.

Best 73's

Rajesh Vagadia VU2EXP
Rajkot - Gujarat
Regional Coordinator
West India Zone
AMSAT-INDIA
M: 9898283916
E: vu2exp at gmail.com
www.qrz.com/db/vu2exp