Linear Birds

I was excited today to receive my new FT-857D to use on the linear birds. I realize the 857 will only provide half-duplex operation, but paired with my other handheld, it will be adequate. I'm looking forward to having additional passes available each day. I need to now work on some satellite antennas. Perhaps a couple of eggbeaters and a mounted yagi.

In a few days I should receive my 70cm preamp. I'm hoping it will allow me to hear birds like SO-50 that have only 500mW or less power output. It will be yet another set of satellite passes to work.

In light of the recent dire forecast of no sunspots for decades, I'll at least have one aspect of ham radio to still enjoy.

Duplex

So after over half a year of working the birds I finally pulled out an handheld receiver and worked AO-51 full duplex this afternoon. It was nice to actually hear my downlink and know that I was getting through. I guess I should've done this a long time ago. I need to figure out how to raise my audio level. I'm wondering if the hand microphone I've been using is very effective. It may be time to look for a replacement.

After finally getting some experience in tracking the satellites, I can focus on other areas of making my setup better. It's also ironic that the recent problems of AO-51 have actually made it easier to work it since the power output has been increased. I've now worked over 40 grid squares and am halfway to VUCC Satellite.

Aging Satellites

The past week there has been a lot of talk about AO-51 being offline. This has been my favorite satellite to work because it's been very easy. It's kind of sad to see it have issues, and just at a time when I have really gotten interested in working the birds as often as schedule allows.

I guess it's good to know now about the problems before I make a big investment in equipment to work satellites. I hope it can be successfully restored. If not, I hope that it's future replacement is launched sooner rather than later. I suppose I need to realize that traveling that high and fast in space put satellites in an extreme enviorment which makes for shorter rather than longer life expectancies.

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