KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Made my first satellite contact!

Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:30 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


Ive been threatening to get on the satellites for years now. Its just been
one of those things that never percolated up to the top of my list. I
finally bit the bullet, though, and actually made my first satellite
contact Tuesday!

Several things finally motivated me to do this. One, Ive been feeling like
Ive been in a rut. Not just with ham radio, but with life in general. Im
sure that Im not the only one feeling this way. I felt like I needed to do
something different to shake things up a bit.

Two, among my followers, and those who I follow on Twitter, there are many
satellite operators, including KI4ASK, KM4LAO, 2M0SQL, KX9X, and many
others. Hearing about their exploits certainly gave me a push in the right
direction.
This recently-installed ham gear on the ISS includes a V/U crossband
repeater.

Third, was the news about the International Space Stations new crossband
repeater. It sounded pretty cool to me to be able to bounce a signal off
the ISS. After reading this news, I programmed my HT to the receive
frequency, 437.800 MHz, and wouldnt you know it, the ISS was passing nearly
overhead at that exact time, and I copied a few callsigns on just the HT
antenna. I took that as an omen.

Next, I had to decide on what kind of antenna to buy or build. I initially
considered building my own antenna. There are lots of web pages and YouTube
videos that show you how to build a satellite antenna. One of the many that
caught my eye wasÂ*Satellite Log Periodic Antenna Project Pt. 1.

In the end, though, I decided that if I tried building one I might get
bogged down in the construction process instead of making contacts. I did
some research on commercial antennas, and the choice seemed to be an
antenna from Arrow Antennas and the Elk Antennas. Both Martin, M1MRB and
Edmund, M0MNG, my co-hosts on the ICQPodcast, have Elk antennas, but when I
asked on Twitter, the nearly unanimous choice was the Arrow antenna. Jeff,
KE9V, settled that dispute when he noted that if I bought an Arrow antenna
through AMSAT, that AMSAT would make a few bucks from the sale. So, I got
the Arrow. I re-joined AMSAT, too.



It took me a few days to put the antenna together, and then discovered that
I didnt have the right adapters to connect it to the radio. After
consulting with the Twitter gods, I purchased some from Amazon
(BNC-SMA,Â*BNC-reverse SMA). In the meantime, I programmed my radio for the
new ISS cross-band repeater. For help in doing so, I found this great blog
post. I thought that this might be the most logical one to try first, but I
didnt take into account how busy it would be. Since its the newest
satellite station on the air, everyone wants to work it.

Next, I had to figure out when when the ISS was going to be overhead. I
went back to the Twitter gods for recommendations for a satellite-tracking
program, and among them was N2YO.Com. I like N2YO.Com. Using it, I was able
to determine that the ISS would be passing nearly over head a little after
0030Z that evening.

I thought that tracking the ISS was going to be easy. At 0000Z, the sky was
clear, and on a 2m net, I was assured by a local ham, who happens to be a
professor emeritus of astronomy at the University of Michigan, that the ISS
would be the brightest object in the sky. Unfortunately, by 0030Z, the sky
had clouded over, and I never actually saw the satellite. I didnt make a
contact, either. I did hear the ISS repeater, but no one heard me.

After that, I refined my approach. I expanded the number of satellites I
now have programmed into my radio and upped the transmit power to 5W. The
satellites that I have now programmed into my radio include:

ISS
DIWATA-2B (PO-101)
FOX-1B
FOX-1CLIFF
SAUDISAT-1C (SO-50)
FOX-1D


My strategy finally paid off. Just before lunch last Tuesday, I stood on my
back porch and had a QSO with ND0C via PO-101! That was quite exciting. I
can see where this might get addicting.

This has been a real learning experience, and isnt that what ham radio is
all about? Ive been thinking about a number of ways to learn more and
enhance my satellite operating experience:

Build a satellite antenna. Like I said earlier, Im a big believer in
building, rather than buy antennas, and, if I build a log-periodic, I can
compare the performance of the log periodic to the Arrow Yagi antenna.
Build a SatNOGS ground station. Ive always thought that this project was
very cool. The SatNOGS website is a wealth of information on how to do this.
Move to higher ground. Im kind of in a hollow here, so I dont hear the
satellites until they get fairly high in the sky, and eventhen, the pass is
fairly short, unless they are going right overhead. Theres a park up at the
top of the hill, which is just about the highest point in Ann Arbor, and I
think trying from there will give me clear shot at many satellites.
Try the linear satellites. One bit of advice I got from Twitter is to try
the linear satellites instead of the FM satellites. Theyre less busy than
the FM satellites, and you can work them with SSB and CW. I think that
would be pretty cool. I may be wrong, but it looks to me like the IC-705
would be the perfect radio to do this. I think that if I sell my KX-3 and
some other stuff Im really not using, I could afford to buy one.


One things for sure. This has gotten me out of my ham radio rut. And, in
times like these, thats a good thing.

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Radio Blog.