When I discovered that there were amateur radio satellites accessible to me with my current HT and a few hours' work constructing a respectable downlink antenna, I was thrilled. I got up early Saturday morning to climb to the top of a nearby hill to get the best chances of hearing voices from AO-27. Shortly after the projected time, I heard them! What were they saying?
<callsign one> <callsign two> <gridsquare>
<callsign two> <callsign one> <another gridsquare> QSL, thanks
<callsign three> <gridsquare>
<callsign four> static... static... ...thanks...
And that was all, on and on for 10 long minutes.
I couldn't even figure out where these hams were because I didn't have a gridsquare map in front of me (and I haven't memorized it.) It was all I could do to follow the callsigns whipping back and forth, my HT in one hand with two fingers fiddling with the tuning knob, the homemade beam in my other hand twisting around in the sky trying to keep the signal up. I'm sure I looked quite foolish. And I'm glad that my friend, who has recently gotten his call and is becoming interested in ham radio, couldn't make it. It was one big contest in the sky.
And it's been the same any time I've gone out to listen to AO-27. Now, some folks love contesting, and that's fine. But what I want to know is this:
Are there any satellites out there devoted to something other than <callsign> <callsign> <gridsquare>? I was thinking of picking up some used VHF SSB equipment and a downconverter to monitor AO-40, but if it's going to be more of the same, I'm not interested.
Can anyone tell me what operating the other sats is like? There's nothing worse than spending a lot of effort getting somewhere only to find it it's not where you want to be.
Thanks much in advance,
Mike - KF4TEK