Author Archives: robert

Gotta Love Portable Operation

Posted on August 20, 2016 by robert

My family and I went to Lake George in early August for a week of fun — I’m not as bendy as they are, so while they were parasailing and kayaking, I hung back at our hotel to make a … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, Gear, Operating, QRP | Leave a comment

OSCAR Satellite Communications Achievement Award

Posted on August 5, 2016 by robert

Bruce, KK5DO, processed my application within minutes of it being emailed to him, and I received the award #569 a couple of days later.  This particular award requires twenty 2x satellite QSOs in different states, provinces, or countries.  It doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in AMSAT, Operating, Satellite | Leave a comment

Amazing How Many Satellites Are Active Now

Posted on July 29, 2016 by robert

I can remember back to the days of AO-6 and AO-7.  One satellite in the sky, 4-6 passes in a day, calculations done graphically using the Oscar Locator and weekly elements sent via W1AW bulletin (no PCs or public internet back … Continue reading →

Posted in Satellite | Leave a comment

Add the QRZ.com US Counties Award

Posted on July 27, 2016 by robert

Must be a newish award as I don’t know why I received an email today saying I had qualified for a new award, but when I checked, it turned out to be for working 500 US Counties.

Posted in Operating | Leave a comment

Just Completed Oscar Satellite Communications Achievement Award

Posted on July 27, 2016 by robert

The QSL rate for satellite operators is disappointingly low, even for those using LotW.  This means it takes more time to obtain various operating awards. Today, I finally qualified for the AMSAT Oscar Satellite Communications Achievement Award, which is 20 different … Continue reading →

Posted in AMSAT, Satellite | Leave a comment

“Best” UKUBE-1 Telemetry Frequency

Posted on July 27, 2016 by robert

I have also been monitoring the telemetry from UKUBE-2 (Funcube-2). With a satellite frequency of 145.915.7, I received packets with a frequency of 1627 Hz to 1288 Hz.  This is a shift of 339 Hz (very close to the shift … Continue reading →

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“Best” AO-73 Telemetry Freq?

Posted on July 27, 2016 by robert

I’ve been watching AO-73 telemetry frequencies for the past few weeks.  Today I noted that a satellite frequency of 145.934.8 produced packets captured between 1538 and 1168 Hz, or a drift over that period of 370 Hz.  From this it … Continue reading →

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Don’t know that I’ve ever seen this before…

Posted on July 7, 2016 by robert

Day and night, all HF bands are “Poor”

Posted in Propagation | Leave a comment

Correct Setup to Use a IC-9100 with WSJT-X

Posted on July 7, 2016 by robert

While I don’t generally use my IC-9100 on HF anymore (keeping it mostly for satellite work on VHF/UHF), I do follow the Yahoo IC-9100 Discussion Group, and a great number of people post seeking help using the IC-9100 with digital … Continue reading →

Posted in IC-9100, Operating, WSJT-X | 70 Comments

DXCC Update for June

Posted on July 2, 2016 by robert

Not much of a change in the last month, pretty much matching the sharp decline in solar activity as the cycle fades into history. So in the past month, one new country has been added, bringing the total to 255 … Continue reading →

Posted in DX, Propagation | Leave a comment