Anybody here work Amature Radio Satellites? - Page 1

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anybody here work Amature Radio Satellites?

Posted: 7/10/2017 12:23:02 AM EDT

I built a dual band 2 meter / 70 cm Yagi tonight to use with my Yaesu FT-60 for Ham Satellites. I tried it out with SO-50 and made a contact with a fellow in Nebraska! I don't have an antenna analyzer, so I'm not sure where my SWR is, but it seems to work just fine. Now I am anxiously waiting for another pass from AO-85 or SO-50 again!

Anybody here work the FM birds? What is your setup?

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Posted: 7/10/2017 2:36:47 AM EDT

[#1]

Can you post a photo of the setup? I just passed my tech and general exams Saturday, and bought an Ht 60 tp celebrate.

Im just trying to absorb everything i can until my call sign is posted.

Posted: 7/10/2017 6:50:27 AM EDT

[#2]

I don't have a base station but I have made a few handheld contacts and it was awesome.

The AO27 was an awesome bird.

If you want to build a base antenna check out QFH or turnstile antennas. I had a VHF QHF that was a great all around antenna even for repeaters and was fun to build.

Also saw this the other day.

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Posted: 7/10/2017 9:47:14 AM EDT

[#3]

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Quoted:
Can you post a photo of the setup? I just passed my tech and general exams Saturday, and bought an Ht 60 tp celebrate.

Im just trying to absorb everything i can until my call sign is posted.

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Added a pic to original post.

edit- Congrats on getting your ham ticket! My first radios after receiving mine was a pair of FT-60's. They are good radios, however, a good mobile rig is way more useful. In retrospect, I wish I would have purchased a pair of FT-2900r's instead and just bought a couple $20 UV-5r's for HT work.

Posted: 7/10/2017 11:15:19 AM EDT

[#4]

Nice!

Posted: 7/10/2017 11:29:03 AM EDT

[#5]

Good stuff! I've made a lot of contacts on the fm birds and also ssb/cw on the linear sats as well. Most of my contacts have been with an Arrow antenna and a couple ht's, but my first few were with a tape measure beam. For the linears, I use a kenwood ts-2000. Keep up the good work...it can be kind of addicting.

Posted: 7/10/2017 11:43:59 AM EDT

[#6]

I grabbed some 3m double sided tape and added a compass and a iphone belt clip to the boom behind the reflectors today. Yesterday when I tried out the antenna for the first time, I was trying to juggle the antenna, my iphone and the radio while searching for the satellite. Now I can use the antenna boom to hold the necessary accesories and free up the other hand to just hold the radio. I think it will make it a bit easier to use. Maybe I can get my wife to record call signs for me when I try it again. I thought I would remember them and write them down after the pass. But I forgot.

Posted: 7/10/2017 2:31:50 PM EDT

[#7]

I've got my TH-F6A programmed up and ready for an antenna I'm building. It will be a U/V cross polarized foldable so it fits in my car. The Kenwood is a little weird on how to program the non-standard splits for Doppler. I had thought about just using a cheap BaoFeng but they aren't true dual VFO and I think I want that for this application.

I got interested when I read you can reach a digipeater on the ISS. I programmed up the Kenwood, looked up a nearly overhead pass, and even with the ducky I was able to make out the digipeater output when holding the antenna broadsides and the squelch open.

I REALLY want to get a sat antenna made. There's a guy on youtube with a great looking setup that holds his HT, iPhone, and a compass and inclinometer all on the boom with a grip and strap to reduce fatigue. He has a headset and remote PTT on the antenna grip. Really cool setup.

Posted: 7/10/2017 3:58:16 PM EDT

[#8]

Made a classic tape measure 2m antenna out of a freebie from harbor freight. It was good enough for getting aprs packets to the ISS.

Posted: 7/10/2017 10:32:41 PM EDT

[#9]

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Quoted:
I grabbed some 3m double sided tape and added a compass and a iphone belt clip to the boom behind the reflectors today. Yesterday when I tried out the antenna for the first time, I was trying to juggle the antenna, my iphone and the radio while searching for the satellite. Now I can use the antenna boom to hold the necessary accesories and free up the other hand to just hold the radio. I think it will make it a bit easier to use. Maybe I can get my wife to record call signs for me when I try it again. I thought I would remember them and write them down after the pass. But I forgot.

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The belt clip isn't steel is it? Steel or any other magnetic items including wire will affect compass readings.

I've seen people record their QSO's with a smartfone or other device to refer to after the bird is gone.

Posted: 7/11/2017 9:17:46 AM EDT

[#10]

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Quoted:
The belt clip isn't steel is it? Steel or any other magnetic items including wire will affect compass readings.

I've seen people record their QSO's with a smartfone or other device to refer to after the bird is gone.

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Quoted:

Quoted:
I grabbed some 3m double sided tape and added a compass and a iphone belt clip to the boom behind the reflectors today. Yesterday when I tried out the antenna for the first time, I was trying to juggle the antenna, my iphone and the radio while searching for the satellite. Now I can use the antenna boom to hold the necessary accesories and free up the other hand to just hold the radio. I think it will make it a bit easier to use. Maybe I can get my wife to record call signs for me when I try it again. I thought I would remember them and write them down after the pass. But I forgot.

The belt clip isn't steel is it? Steel or any other magnetic items including wire will affect compass readings.

I've seen people record their QSO's with a smartfone or other device to refer to after the bird is gone.

This. I bought a cheap-o digital voice recorder off of amazon for expressly this purpose.

Posted: 7/11/2017 10:11:11 AM EDT

[#11]

Ugh, guess I now need to figure out how to do this. you guys are killing me

Posted: 7/11/2017 11:23:53 AM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:
This. I bought a cheap-o digital voice recorder off of amazon for expressly this purpose.

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
I grabbed some 3m double sided tape and added a compass and a iphone belt clip to the boom behind the reflectors today. Yesterday when I tried out the antenna for the first time, I was trying to juggle the antenna, my iphone and the radio while searching for the satellite. Now I can use the antenna boom to hold the necessary accesories and free up the other hand to just hold the radio. I think it will make it a bit easier to use. Maybe I can get my wife to record call signs for me when I try it again. I thought I would remember them and write them down after the pass. But I forgot.

The belt clip isn't steel is it? Steel or any other magnetic items including wire will affect compass readings.

I've seen people record their QSO's with a smartfone or other device to refer to after the bird is gone.

This. I bought a cheap-o digital voice recorder off of amazon for expressly this purpose.

No, the belt clip is a plastic unit that came with the Otter Box. However, I am finding that the compass isn't real practical. The boom needs to be nice and level for it to work correctly, and the proximity of the smartphone and radio interferes with its operation.

I was using a second smartphone to record the event so that I could go back and write down contact callsigns and grid squares after the pass. Its too difficult to remember that information and I don't have enough free hands to write it down during the contact. I was successful at recording the pass once. The second time, I thought I was recording and found out afterwards that I was not. This is a work in progress to come up with a system that i like and can use reliably.

Posted: 7/11/2017 9:17:01 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
I built a dual band 2 meter / 70 cm Yagi tonight to use with my Yaesu FT-60 for Ham Satellites. I tried it out with SO-50 and made a contact with a fellow in Nebraska! I don't have an antenna analyzer, so I'm not sure where my SWR is, but it seems to work just fine. Now I am anxiously waiting for another pass from AO-85 or SO-50 again!

Anybody here work the FM birds? What is your setup?

https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/53111/Sathbant-250365.JPG

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Literally i use the same antenna with my vx5r.

Posted: 7/12/2017 9:10:19 AM EDT

[#14]

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Literally i use the same antenna with my vx5r.

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It seems to work quite well. I made three contacts last night using the SO-50 satellite. You make yours out of coat hangers too?

Posted: 7/12/2017 2:16:59 PM EDT

[#15]

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Quoted:

It seems to work quite well. I made three contacts last night using the SO-50 satellite. You make yours out of coat hangers too?

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Yup. Its the 4 dollar satcom antenna.

I thought about buying an Arrow antenna for a while, but I just don't work the birds often enough to justify it.