[amsat-bb] How to digipeat?

[Hans BX2ABT]

On 09/08/2019 02:13 PM, Robert MacHale via AMSAT-BB wrote:
> Hey Hons,
> It seems like there might be a need for a YouTube video explaining the basics of Satellite APRS.
Yes, and one on UISS. There are so many options and being (still) an 
outsider it is daunting.
> Learning APRS on 144.390 MHz is a good place to start. This might be the best way to learn how to work with digipeaters.
Terrestrial APRS I do understand a bit. At least I get that you can send 
a message and it will get digipeated via many digipeaters till it gets 
to its destination. Never done it, but it is suppose to work like that, 
right? When sending out your location it will travel only so far. Sat 
APRS seems not to have this capability of storing a digipeat and then 
rebroadcasting it to the next digipeater, or am I wrong with that 
assumption?
> Satellite APRS has many nuances that make it very different than regular APRS. For example, interference on 145.825 MHz needs to be mitigated when trying to receive faint signals. One thing that helps is lowering the antenna either below a wood fence line or below a wooded tree line or being surrounded by 10 degree hills.
Unfortunately I can't do much about the QRM. It's from a big electronic 
billboard a couple of hundred meters away. Knowing the attitude of the 
local FCC and the government here and being "just" an amateur I doubt 
that they will take action to clean it up. Having a good F/B gain will 
help, so my next step will be in building a better 2m yagi.
> These sites might be helpful:
> http://www.aprsat.com/predict - this shows upcoming Satellite APRS passes for your area.
> http://www.spaceCommunicator.club/aprs - this reports Satellite APRS packets from all satellites combined into one place.
About that last site: are the packets listed there received at the 
location of W7KKE, or are they aggregated from different sources?
> You're ahead of me on Falconsat-3; I haven't got that to work yet on 9600 bps. I mostly work with 1200 bps on 145.825 MHz.
It took me a while to get it working and I'm writing tutorial about the 
setup on my web site. It's not finished yet, though. I am a Linux user 
and the BBS part of FS-3 works like a charm thanks to the PacSat Ground 
software of Chris G0KLA.

Thanks for the reply and 73 de Hans
BX2ABT