[amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats

Fri Feb 8 00:21:13 UTC 2019

Hi Jim and others,

SatPC32 has a very nice feature to adjust the uplink frequency without
touching the radio. In the main window on the top (middle) you will see a
"Downlink" window that says "0", a field called Corr. (+/-) window that
also says "0" and "Uplink" next to it. By using the "+" and/or "-" key of
your keyboard you can change the uplink frequency in 10Hz steps which will
adjust your offset between uplink and downlink. You see the number change
within the window. By using these two keys going positive or negative you
can find yourself on the RX downlink frequency for initial setup without
ever touching the radio. One you have found yourself in the passband you
have a corrected offset for your location and satellite which you can store
later (recommended). Now whenever you "chase" someone on the downlink
because they are off, this offset will allow you to be right on with your
Tx. No need for "RIT"or anything else. You will maintain solid doppler
control specific for that linear satellite and you will hear yourself
immediately wherever you tune on the downlink. For more details, as always,
please refer to the SatPC32 manual :-)

Hope this helps,

Stefan

On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 3:40 PM James McIrvin <arsn1ipa at gmail.com> wrote:

> Good afternoon everyone,
> I just did a full reset on my rig to take it back to factory settings.  As
> mentioned above about the XIT and the RIT working together.  No change
> after doing a full reset of the radio.
> So trying to tune with the rit and keep the same TX freq is not possible
> from what I can tell based on my observation.
> So I don't know if this is different when using a ICOM rig as compared to
> the Kenwood?  I would think that you would be able to use them separately
> to adjust either one, however, with this I don't know what to do about
> trying to keep the correct TX and adjust my RX so that I sound correct or
> at least working with something that most would be able to hear without
> alot of tuning.  I know that the doppler effects it all, just being able to
> set it and not have to constantly adjust with todays rigs I would have
> thought would be better then it is even for the age of the technology of
> this radio.
>
> Thoughts?
> Jim
>
> On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 7:40 AM James McIrvin <arsn1ipa at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Good morning all,
> > One thing that I have noticed with trying to tune in a qso or even tune
> > myself so that I can even find myself on the downlink is not easy some
> > days.  If I use the rit then sometimes I loose the other party on there
> or
> > they can not tune up to me very well.  One thing that I have noticed
> > thinking about this if I turn the rit on and use that then turn the RIT
> off
> > and then try to tune the xmit freq I see that the XIT is also changed to
> > the same amount as the RIT control.
> > So having found this and trying to work with SatPC32 trying to tune using
> > the cat control section I am not having very good luck somedays getting
> > things tuned up.  I don't try to do these at the same time, I work with
> one
> > or the other, just have not found a good happy medium yet for tuning in
> the
> > different ones.
> > Now I am thinking that I might want to reset all back to square one with
> > the radio again and see what happens with the RIT and XIT if they track
> > together or not if I do a full reset of the radio.
> > The rig is the TS2000X, it took sometime getting it to work with Satpc32
> > and now I know where I made the mistake on the basic setup so that I can
> > get things to a working point with the software for tracking again.  Just
> > seeing that the RIT control and the XIT track together even thou they are
> > not on together that I know of when I try to work things.
> > This I only found this week.  So any thoughts on this?
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 11:36 PM Mike Sprenger <mikesprenger at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Great job
> >>
> >> Im going to contradict myself.  Don’t use the RIT...(then maybe use the
> >> RIT)
> >>
> >> Hopefully your RIT is off when you adjust your uplink in Satpc32 to line
> >> up and match the pitch of your voice.
> >>
> >> If I find that I have tuned to someone calling CQ or in QSO - when i
> call
> >> them ——> if they move, yet I can understand, I will accept the pitch
> >> difference and NOT touch the main tuning dial for that round of the QSO
> so
> >> things stay constant for the other station
> >>
> >> If we go another QSO round and things are still about the same amount of
> >> frequency offset, I’ll just compensate slightly with my RIT.
> >>
> >> If you’re within 300hz I’d say you’re doing well, and touching up with
> >> RIT is well within reason.
> >>
> >> Like drew suggests- carry on.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Mike
> >>
> >> Sent from my iPhone
> >>
> >> > On Feb 6, 2019, at 2:01 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner <
> >> glasbrenner at mindspring.com> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > So just diddle the RIT a little and carry on?
> >> >
> >> > 73, Drew KO4MA
> >> >
> >> > -----Original Message-----
> >> > From: AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org> On Behalf Of Stephen E.
> >> Belter
> >> > Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2019 1:43 PM
> >> > To: k6vug at sbcglobal.net
> >> > Cc: AMSAT BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>; Paul Stoetzer <n8hm at arrl.net>
> >> > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Operating SSB sats
> >> >
> >> > Just my guess:  If you’re tuning so that you sound good to yourself,
> >> you may sound a little high (or low) to someone else.  Also, since most
> >> people you’re operating don’t know what you sound like in person (James
> >> Earle Jones or Pee Wee Hermon).
> >> >
> >> > You can check your tuning by sending a tone and zero-bearing with the
> >> received tone.
> >> >
> >> > Or experiment with adjusting your received signal so that you’re a
> >> little low (or high) with what sounds best to you.  Then see if you’re
> >> still chasing each other up (or down) the band.
> >> >
> >> > 73, Steve N9IP
> >> > --
> >> > Steve Belter, seb at wintek.com
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >> On Feb 6, 2019, at 1:31 PM, "k6vug at sbcglobal.net" <
> k6vug at sbcglobal.net>
> >> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> That is exactly right, with the fully computer controlled setup I can
> >> move the downlink (RX) up and down the pass band looking for callers and
> >> not have to touch the TX frequency as it is managed by the software and
> can
> >> hear my own voice with a steady tone quite well.
> >> >> - Umesh
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>   On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:44:56 AM PST, Paul Stoetzer <
> >> n8hm at arrl.net> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> Umesh,
> >> >> If you can tune around and always hear your own downlink on the
> >> correct frequency, then you are doing everything right.
> >> >> 73,
> >> >> Paul, N8HM
> >> >> On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 12:42 PM k6vug at sbcglobal.net <
> >> k6vug at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> Good Morning All,
> >> >> I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB
> >> birds.
> >> >>
> >> >> I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a
> >> >> computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I
> respect
> >> >> both types.  The following observation is about two computer
> >> >> controlled stations working via a SSB satellite -
> >> >>
> >> >> (a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear
> >> myself on the downlink throughout the pass.  I can also go up or down
> the
> >> pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink.
>  It
> >> is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation.
> >> >>
> >> >> (b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same
> >> frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also
> >> computer controlled.  I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency.
> >> >>
> >> >> (c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their
> >> downlink a bit to hear me well.  So when they come back to my response,
> >> they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse,
> >> until I retune the downlink to hear them well again.  This keeps
> happening
> >> throughout the QSO.
> >> >>
> >> >> (d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and
> not
> >> everyone.
> >> >>
> >> >> Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm
> >> trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect.  Learning to
> >> operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate
> any
> >> pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance.
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> 73!
> >> >> Umesh
> >> >> k6vug
> >> >>
> >> >>
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> _______________________________________________
> 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!
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