First Satellite QSO

Finally, after weeks of on and off again trying, I finally made my first amateur radio satellite contact! It was an afternoon pass of AO-51. I finally figured out some sort of technique to use to accurately track the bird as it passed overhead. It was very busy during the pass, but I was able to get my callsign into WC7V of Livingston, MT. To my pleasant surprise he answered.

Below is a link to audio of his half of the contact.

AO-51 satellite contact

Working Satellites

It's been a tough go at getting my first satellite contact. All the books make it sound easy, but it's more of a challenge than I thought. I've tried numerous passes and each time it seems to take me the entire pass to get tuned in and by that time it's too late to make a contact. Here's hoping I can make some contacts sooner rather than later. I seem to be missing out on too much fun otherwise.

Arrow Satellite Antenna

I got my Arrow Satellite Antenna last week. It was super easy to put together. It's lightweight and works great with my HT for amateur satellite work. It comes with both 2m and 70cm elements. I purchased the optional duplexer that fits into the handle, so I can connect it directly to my handheld.

Thanks to the youtube video of K7AGE, I was able to make a bracket to mount the antenna onto a camera tripod. The bracket also has a holder for my radio and a small recorder. Very convenient to have everything all mounted on one tripod.

Here's a link to K7AGE's youtube video on making the mounting bracket.

Arrow antenna bracket

ARISS

Had a great International Space Station pass this afternoon. I wasn't able to get heard, but I did get to hear Astronaut Doug Wheelock making contacts via the station's amateur radio. To hear the audio click on the link below:

International Space Station Audio September 13, 2010

Uniden Bearcat BCT 15

My current receiver is a Uniden Bearcat 15 Trunk Tracker III. It's a great receiver with lots of features to enable me to listen to lots of Utah radio traffic including the UCAN Motorola II Trunked system.

Here's a great link to lots of information about listening in northern Utah.

http://www.qsl.net/kd7rto/utah/