[amsat-bb] Just curious XW series

[Zach Metzinger]

On 2020-01-28 18:29, RG via AMSAT-BB wrote:
> I have had trouble hearing XW satellites lately.I have a Kenwood ts 2000 and for some reason don't hearing much if anything.I used to hear the beacon pretty loud at least for a few moments and most of the pass okay but not as much.I was wondering if other Op's. are having the same problem.Maybe I need to set up  my 706 as a receive radio,It worked good.I dont have any problems with the Kenwood working other modes.It would be nice to use one radio.I run  a vertical and realize it's not the best set up but again I haven't had this problem in the past.Just looking for some opinions.Thanks a lot73RichKB1FGC
> marzo7088 at yahoo.com

Hello RG,

Having just gotten a 2m antenna set up, which has been sitting in the 
shed for years, I did hear XW-2E today.

The CW beacon was doing odd things, like stopping mid-key and then 
returning to transmit with an upward-sweeping constant tone before 
resuming the CW beacon.

It might be that they're hitting some sort of low-voltage reset 
condition and coming back online when the load is briefly removed.

All of this was heard with a 2m copper-pipe J-pole at perhaps 15 feet in 
the attic, attached to ~40 feet of RG-8X. The beacon was easily copyable 
from 1-2 degrees to 22 degrees (highest elevation for the pass). A small 
J310 preamp awaits installation on another day.

Ideally, you'll want some sort of directional-gain antenna for receive. 
Ken Britain has a simple DIY antenna that can be assembled on the cheap:

https://www.wa5vjb.com/references/Cheap%20Antennas-LEOs.pdf

--- Zach
N0ZGO