At the Hamvention in Xenia, OH I was fortunate enough to see W3ZM/8 make numerous contacts through AO-7. The batteries failed on Oscar 7 in 1981, however the spacecraft is able to run off solar panels. Making contact with Oscar 7 is quite remarkable. See more at: AO-7. Watch how it's done!
nice to see you making contacts but a better video would be of how you set up and what gear used and explaining how you knew when it would be coming etc..etc..more of the how than of the look what I did...
I was lucky to work W3ZM on one of the other satellites, great video!! Thanks! It's cool to see what the other station looks like. I've not been working the linear sats for very long. You do need a full duplex VHF/UHF SSB station. This can be either two radios, or one of the sat rigs like the TS-2000, FT-847 or IC-910. I just use home brew 3 element yagis at a 30 degree up angle on a $20 Radio Shack rotor. I also use the computer program SATPC32 for tuning Doppler frequency shift. It's a little more complicated to initially set up compared to the FM satellite, but much easier to operate as there is lots of room for several conversations at once, so it's not as hectic. Plus there are a lot more satellites to work. "See you on the birds". -Chris VA3ECO
This is not me. I attended the Hamvention and just happened to be there when this young op was making some contacts. I found it interesting and took the video. I thought he was doing a FB job operating and wanted to capture it. For the rest, if I remember right it was an Arrow antenna. I think this one: http://www.arrowantennas.com/arrowii/alaskanarrow.html The rotor looks like this one: http://www.portablerotation.com/product/azel-portable-rotor-system/ He mentioned the software they were using and that it is free. I believe it could have been SAT EXPLORER. http://f6dqm.free.fr/software.htm I hope this helps. Best 73 - Rich, K0PIR
Thanks for commenting. It was very cool. I went back to the booth on several occasions and the last time I was there he was making contacts. At one point he told me he had 60 in the log. It is a lot of fun and I can see doing it someday, hopefully soon.
Great..thanks for all the other info and especially the software used...will be trying this soon I hope... I wasn't knocking the video...hope I didn't give that impression. I was hoping for more info on the set up and execution for a beginner in the sats.....which I did receive...thanks for your help.. W5RJL 73
Unfortunately I arrived at the site around 7:15 am each day and no one was there that early to film setup! The core of the station was two Yaesu FT-817s attached to an Arrow antenna. All voice satellites can be worked with this type of setup with just one trick: when transmitting on 2 meters, the third harmonic wipes out reception on 70 cm. I used an inexpensive MFJ duplexer as a low pass filter to eliminate the third harmonic from the transmitter. The laptop is running SatPC32 for satellite tracking, but it's not controlling the radios for Doppler (though it could be setup to do so). The rotator is a Portable Rotation Systems Az/El rotator on a cheap speaker tripod. The rotator is attached to the laptop for control. AMSAT has an excellent series of Getting Started articles available here: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=1869
Richard, thanks for the re-introduction to Hamsats. I saw one of the Oscar-7 rigs that TenTec made from back in the day (think it was AO-7)..\ Also great to see a very competent younger operator on air working the birds in proper high speed fashion. Newbies including the old timer newbies should pay attention to learn how to operate...not just the equipment but the on air protocol. Fabulous SSB operating through the linear transponders! Only essential info exchanged - call, grid square... Best of all No "first personal" or "seven threes"... (for the newbies scratching their heads.... seven three.... it is and always has been singular).
