Friday, May 02, 2008

Amy’s Van / Satellite Ground Station

I was home a little early from work today and had some time. So I checked the satellite schedule, and there was a good pass of AO-27 just after 4pm today. So I figured I would see how well the radio in Amy’s van worked for that. This is one case where the antenna not being straight up and down probably helped as it was sort of aimed right at the satellite.

I heard a few stations on, and then a break so I made a call. N5AFV from Huston Texas responded, then WA5KBH from Lake Charles Louisiana right after, and finally Leo, W7JPI from Sonoita, Arizona. All of this happened within about a minute. Since FM satellites only have one frequency for uplink that is shared among everyone, so you keep it brief, just exchange call sign and grid square.

I really need a recording device as I have a hard time operating the radio and writing at the same time. I think I have all the call signs right! The radio I was using was the Kenwood TM-D710 with a short dual band antenna on a lip mount.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Joe,

I LOVE my 710 - glad to hear you got one; it's a great true dual band and is the perfect APRS rig. I plan on getting another for my VHF/UHF base station where I'll hook up a Davis Weather Pro to it.

Recently I purchased an ICOM 91AD - when I have a bit of time I'll experiment with D-Star. Tonight (05.05) I'll be taking a Skywarn Basic Spotter class and on 06.11 I'll take the Advanced Class. Hope you are doing well.

73
Earl
w2edv