I just realized I have an Icom R-7100 sitting around, so I connected it to my discone with a splitter, and now leave it sit on 50.125.

We'll see how well it works!

Jim

Thanks for the tips.

I'll have to what I can come up with to use.

Jim

Doggone it!

I just shut down my Flex and the PC.

As a 6 Meter rookie, where's a good place to listen?

Should I just park the radio on the calling frequency?

Jim

AO-40 had a plastic cap left on a vent line for the propulsion system.

As a result, the lines could not be purged between engine firings.

During preparations for the second engine firing, this caused the two hypergolic propellants to mix in the lines and explode, resulting in a massive amount of damage to the spacecraft.

It was partially recovered and remained somewhat usable until the main battery failed.

I have no idea where you get your ridiculous notion about "failing to remove rocket covers" and "half the spacecraft going ballistic", as that did NOT happen.

If you're going slam AMSAT for a human error, which I agree should have been caught during close-out procedures (NOT "pre-flight"), then get your facts straight.

Jim

Well put, Drew.

It's been my experience (and I've spent way too much money confirming it!) that omnis are a "bare minimum" satellite station antenna.

I've used ground planes, M2 Eggbeaters, and some home-brew omnis, and they will not give you "armchair copy" on a reliable basis.

Sure, they work, but with a little more cost and effort, you can have an antenna system that works extremely well.

I ran the M2 Eggbeaters, with SSB preamps for two years at Field Day, mostly because they were easy to put up.

Then I went to a Gulf Alpha "Easy Satellite Dual Band" antenna, mounted at a fixed elevation, and we went from 4~5 contacts to 35!

The difference even a small Yagi makes is incredible, as proved by the guys with an Arrow or Elk and their hand held radios.

Every little bit you can do to improve your reception pays bigger and bigger dividends. Good coax, decent preamps, and a small gain antenna will give you an antenna system that works reliably, and makes operating the birds a pleasure.

I'm pretty lucky.

The subdivision I live in has numerous antennas sticking up, mostly "abandoned in place", and one cool guy about 4 blocks away with a 30' tower and a tribander. I met him out walking the dog one day, and he said Long Beach is pretty "Ham Friendly".

The building codes will allow up to 60' without any special permits.

I'm planning on putting up a 30' Universal Aluminum tower with a K4KIO hexbeam on it later this summer.

And yep, the XYL is cool with; she's a ham, too!

Yeah, it's dead as a doornail out here now.

Guess I'm "spoiled" by HF where you can always find a band open to somewhere!

Hi, John

I have a GP-3 that I put up at my girlfriends house before we were married.

I used it to to make some contacts on the FM birds, but forget about it for the linear satellites. At the minimum you'd need a good preamp at the antenna, and even then your results would be marginal.

Any chance you could put a small beam up?

73, Jim

Nice work, Davide!

73, Jim

DUH.....I'm home from work today, and haven't even turned on the radio......

Jim

yuk-yuk!

The Arrow is the only 6 meter antenna I have at the moment, and I've made a few contacts with it. When I lived in my apartment, I had an Antenna Specialists commercial antenna that was tuned for the ham band, and it worked like gangbusters. I think it was 1/4 over 1/2 wavelength. I could only run about 50 Watts on 6 with my FT-847 because I lived over a business, and any more than 50 Watts would get into their burglar alarm and door annuciators and drive them nuts.

Now I can run a full 100 Watts, and I'm using my Flex 5000, so I'll just have to try the contest and see what I come up with.

Jim

I've got an Arrow 1/4-wave ground plane at about 20'.

I'll *listen*, but I'm such a little gun I doubt if I'll make many contacts.

Jim

The original AMSAT website was put together and operated/maintained by volunteers.

Volunteers generally have other more pressing things to do, called "life", that sometimes inhibit their ability to keep a project like that running smoothly, or make it difficult to recover from a major crash.

If you Google for a specific satellite you can generally find it's current status.

We really don't have all that many satellites left to use, so it's not a major deal, like looking up a dozen.

Failing that, you can always use the AMSAT-UK website:

http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/frequencies-of-active-satellites/

Jim

Keep at it, Kevin!

You're  making good progress, and learning a lot.

And that's what counts!

73, Jim