Category Archives: Satellite

CAS-4B with a Future Ham

Posted on November 19, 2017 by robert

I’ve been spending a little time with a young neighbor, introducing him to Amateur Radio.  I try to mix a little on-air activity with some theory.  It’s amazing how comfortable he is with solving equations in his head. This past … Continue reading →

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Calibrating the Uplinks for FD

Posted on June 21, 2017 by robert

The satellites are conspiring against me this year, mostly passes in the dark (nothing like stumbling/fumbling around in the dark in a field), but I’m getting the uplink calibrated again on my IC-9100. Anyway, was able to calibrate AO-7 uplink … Continue reading →

Posted in AO-7, AO-73, AO-85, ISS, Satellite, SO-50, XW-2A, XW-2B, XW-2C, XW-2D, XW-2F | Leave a comment

Field Day 2017 Satellite Passes

Posted on June 20, 2017 by robert

As usual, here is the list of decent satellite passes for Field Day 2017.  Times are in EDT, and the station location is set to FN41 (Rhode Island).  Many of them this year are after dark.  Going to have to … Continue reading →

Posted in From the OM, Satellite | Leave a comment

Winter Field Day — Satellite Success

Posted on January 29, 2017 by robert

I joined Newport County Radio Club, W1SYE, for their Winter Field Day again this year. The weather for New England was fantastic — in the low 40s dropping down to the upper 20s at night.  The only downside was a … Continue reading →

Posted in Contests, Satellite, SO-50, WFD | Leave a comment

Getting Ready for Winter Field Day – Satellite

Posted on January 25, 2017 by robert

Well it’s that time of year again, I’m dusting off the portable satellite gear and making sure it’s working.  I had just updated the clock, and TLEs, when I noticed that UKube was above the horizon.  I quickly turned on … Continue reading →

Posted in AO-73, AO-85, BY70-1, FO-29, IC-9100, Satellite, UKUBE-1, XW-2A | Leave a comment

CY9C – St. Paul Island DXpedition – via Satellite

Posted on August 25, 2016 by robert

I was fortunate enough to work CY9C today at 21:08:39 during a pass of AO-7.  Great operator on the other end and great signals too.  Heard him work quite a few prior to me as well. Did the same thing … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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UKube-1 Downlink 1 KHz High?

Posted on June 20, 2016 by robert

For the third day in a row I’ve been monitoring the FUNcube-2/UKube-1 telemetry downlink, and have determined for a detected tone frequency of 1500 Hz according to the Funcube Dashboard software, I need to set the Downlink frequency to 145.916 KHz.  This … Continue reading →

Posted in Satellite, UKUBE-1 | Leave a comment