In checking the satellite predictions for usable ISS passes this weekend
I noticed a nice pass of SO-50 this evening (high enough and at a time not
clashing with other things). So I decided to give it a try with the FT-857
radio and dragged everything out: radio, cat cable, audio cable, laptop,
satellite antenna, headphones, power supply. And looked up how it all
should work together. My last successfull satellite QSO was almost a year
ago in
august 2014
so the skills were a bit rusty. It was good to have an idea of the
data exchanged in a typical amateur radio satellite contact.
I listened, I answered a CQ from
MW0HCC
and he acknowledged me on the second try and we had a full valid QSO.
Right after that happened I felt some rain so I started to stop early.. and
later in the recording I heard that
DL3XAC
also came back to me but I missed that. Better luck next time on getting
back to that callsign!
It's clear 10 watts from the FT-857 works a lot better than 5 watts from the
Wouxun, and someone told me the CTCSS from the Wouxun isn't as strong as
it should be either.
In checking the satellite predictions for usable ISS passes this weekend
I noticed a nice pass of SO-50 this evening (high enough and at a time not
clashing with other things). So I decided to give it a try with the FT-857
radio and dragged everything out: radio, cat cable, audio cable, laptop,
satellite antenna, headphones, power supply. And looked up how it all
should work together. My last successfull satellite QSO was almost a year
ago in