[sarex] Re: [amsat-bb] Congrats on ISS contact

[Alan P. Biddle]

Rick,

Witty conversationalist that I am, it was good to work another station.  :)
Drew came in near his TCA, dropped out for a minute, and then came back just
before my LOS.  In both cases, the limiting factor seemed to be breaking the
squelch.  As the ISS moved away, I had a good shot at the earth facing
antenna, and had to slowly ramp up the TX power as the range increased.  I
could actually get in almost to my LOS due to a clean local horizon here,
but the power to the brick amp was approaching the "Danger Will Robinson!"
level.  

I am wondering if they could experiment with opening the squelch up a bit?
I understand the cooling issues, but expect there may be less spurious
signals on mode L than the normal frequencies.

FWIW, pass was AOS at 295 degrees azimuth, 18 degrees elevation, and LOS at
azimuth 140 degrees, 12 degrees elevation.  I suspect in both cases power
limited.

Alan
WA4SCA


PS  Thanks to all for the receptions reports from listeners.  They have been
highly encouraging and helpful!