Congratulations Les, Great to see youngsters getting into satellites.
73 W9KE Tom Doyle (64 years old) On Sun, Apr 14, 2013 at 1:11 AM, Les Rayburn <l...@highnoonfilm.com> wrote: > I've been a ham well over 40 years, since my childhood. Back then, I could > barely afford the Heathkit transmitter, Halicrafters receiver, knife > switch, and longwire antenna that made up my shack. > > My elmer used to let me borrow his copy of QST and I'd dream about all the > great adventures that I'd have "someday" in ham radio. Being a child of the > Space Age, key among them were anything related to the New Frontier. > > EME (Moonbounce), Meteor Scatter, and satellites all seemed like the stuff > of science fiction---and I longed to experience them all. But they were > exotic, and required equipment far beyond my reach. I resolved to > accomplish them all someday and added them to a sort of ham radio "bucket > list" that I hoped to accomplish before my ham career was over. > > Five years ago, shortly after getting started in weak signal VHF work, I > checked off the first item on that list. Working meteor scatter contacts > with the aid of WSJT software, and during a Perseid shower, even using SSB. > What a thrill to make contacts off the ionized gasses of those tiny rocks. > Thanks Joe Taylor! > > Tonight, I managed to check off a second. I worked Art, K4YYL on FO-29, a > Japanese amateur satellite! > > My journey to the "birds" started about a month ago when I joined AMSAT, > determined that 2013 was going to be "the year" when I finally got active > on satellites. I purchased a copy of SATPC32 software, because I knew that > it could control my IC-910H--hopefully making it easier to get active. > > After listening to a few passes on both the FM and the SSB/CW birds, I > decided to try my luck on the less-crowded FO-29. A brief CQ was quickly > answered by Art. I adjusted the tuning knob just a bit to correct for the > Doppler effect, and voila! there he was clear as a bell. > > We had a brief QSO of perhaps ten minutes or so, and then we signed. I was > quickly called by K4FEG near Memphis in EM55---who just wanted to welcome > me to the birds! > > Man, what a thrill! And it wasn't tough at all. > > I'm using a 7 element 432 antenna tilted up to 15 degrees (fixed) and a 6 > element 2 Meter beam tilted up to about 10 degrees (fixed) both inside my > crowded attic. The SSB Electronics pre-amp helps a ton on 432, and the 1/2" > hardline makes sure that I don't lose too much signal. So far, I've been > able to copy the birds down to about 2 degrees above the horizon using this > setup. > > Now to attempt that EME contact! I've got a 12 element Yagi just waiting > to deploy in the driveway once the weather warms a bit. Hoping to use WSJT > to work one of the monster stations on EME. All this in a deed-restricted > HOA neighborhood. > > I wasted 35+ years on HF----man, all the fun really is in the World Above > 50 MHz! Thanks for helping to make > a boys dreams come true at age 51! > > > > -- > 73, > > Les Rayburn, N1LF > 121 Mayfair Park > Maylene, AL 35114 > EM63nf > > 6M VUCC #1712 > AMSAT #38965 > Grid Bandits #222 > Southeastern VHF Society > Central States VHF Society Life Member > Six Club #2484 > > Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light > > ______________________________**_________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: > http://amsat.org/mailman/**listinfo/amsat-bb<http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb> > -- Sent from my computer. tom ... _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
