[amsat-bb] Re: Trio TR 9300

2011-07-06 Thread Ari Kosonen
> > Does anyone on the bb have an english version of the operators manual for
> a Trio
> > TR9300 6m radio
>


> IIRC the TR9300 is much the same as the TR9000 2m and TR9500 70cm rig.
>  Perhaps the manual from one of these would be "close enough".
>

Here is the manual for TR-9000, it's probably quite relevant for '9300 as
Gordon suggested:
http://www.rigpix.com/kenwood/tr9000_manual.pdf

73 de Ari OH3KAV
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[amsat-bb] Re: never gets old

2011-04-11 Thread Ari Kosonen
2011/4/12 Bob- W7LRD 

>
>
> Ya know this stuff never gets old.  I've been messing around with this
> stuff for about 50 years.  This afternoon I finished installing my FT-8800
> in my truck.



Hi Bob,
congrats on your new mobile setup. I also get excited every time when I
manage to get a sat QSO from my mobile (FT-8900 + mag whip currently). There
is usually one or two good orbits about the time when I try leave my job in
the afternoon so every now and then I try to make few qsos from my car on
the top floor of the parking building of my office. Bit hard to explain my
collagues why I have to be in my car within few minutes time window, to talk
to someone over radio ;)


73 de Ari OH3KAV
Tampere, Finland (grid: KP11)
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[amsat-bb] Re: Gagarin Anniversary

2011-04-08 Thread Ari Kosonen
2011/4/8 i8cvs 

> Just for curiosity. Was Yury Gagarin a licensed radio Ham and what his
> call letter ? Anybody had a QSO with him ?
>
I think K2UBC discussed this aspect here on amsat-bb some years ago and
the outcome was "probably not", i.e. there is no proof Yuri G was UA1LO,
which
has been a common belief based  some QSL with Gagarin's picture on QSL
from UA1LO whose name happened to be Yuri as well.

Anyhow I had yesterday a QSO on HF with U5ARTEK, a clubstation
whose page on qrz.com shows a picture of Yuri Gagarin operating
from the same club station back in 1960's.

So Yuri has probably been at least a "2nd operator" ;)

Anyway there is plenty of anniversary stations on the air at least
on HF (hopefully also on sats), at least the following:

R50YG "Yuri Gagarin"
R50SK "Sergey Korolev"
RG50D
RG50K
RG50F Star City training center
RG50C Landing Site
RG50G
R1961G
U5ARTEK/A
R3K Energija Space Flight Control Center

73 de Ari OH3KAV
Tampere, Finland (grid: KP11)
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[amsat-bb] Re: Bird

2011-04-06 Thread Ari Kosonen
2011/4/6 Kevin Deane summit...@live.com

> A-well-a everybody's heard about the bird
> B-b-b-bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
>
> I do not know the year of that song but I am sure some of you do.

Yes, wikipedia does: 1963
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfin_Bird

Later, in '80's this was popularized by the soundtrack of
Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, from where i remember it
but never thought how suitable this would be as a theme
song for sat ops.

73 de Ari OH3KAV
Tampere, Finland (grid: KP11)
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[amsat-bb] Re: FT-8800R new toy

2011-03-13 Thread Ari Kosonen
2011/3/13 Bob- W7LRD 

> Not wanting to reinvent the wheel.  Anyone using the FT-8800R mobile for
> satellites have any hints or sugestions, antennas etc.  Email direct-thanks.
>
Hi,

I am using FT-8900R (practically same as '8800 plus 6m and 10m) for working
satellites
from my car. My antenna is a Diamond NR770 dualband whip on the trunk lid of
my car.
While this setup is ok for usual mobile FM operation and APRS, it is
probably not optimal
for satellite ops. I have got better results on satellites with a dual band
mag whip on the roof the my car. Especially when the satellite is below ~60
degrees it can be reached easily when
I can hear it (thanks to 50 watts on the uplink). When the sat is higher
than that the whip
is not so good.

I have been working mainly on AO-51 and I have preprogrammed the
uplink/downlink
channel pairs with different doppler values so it is easy to follow the
sweet spot while
the sat first approaches (above the nominal frequency on downlink) and the
starts to fly
away (below the nominal freq). Programming goes easily with FTB8900 software
by
G4HFQ. As same channel pairs are available both on the left and right side
of the
radio, I usually transmit and listen on the left side of the radio and try
to listen my
own signal on downlink with the right side of the rig. With a single mobile
whip
the sensitivity of the downlink rx is usually not good enough during the
transmission.
This might be better with separate antennasa for uplink and downlink.

I have planned to use my Arrow yagi with FT-8900R. As the Arrow's diplexer
is rated only
max 10 watts, I bought 100w rated separate diplexer to be used with '8900
instead.
But I have not tried this combination yet.

73 de Ari OH3KAV / OH7KA
Tampere, Finland (grid: KP11)
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[amsat-bb] Re: Yaesu FT-8800

2011-01-12 Thread Ari Kosonen
2011/1/12 Ernie Howard 

> I have three of the FT-8800 mobiles. They work great for satellite.


I have FT-8900 in my car (which is pretty much the same radio, except with
2 additional bands, 28 and 50 MHz).
I am quite happy with the sensitivity of the radio, no problems hearing
AO-51
and having few QSOs with suitable passes with Diamond NR770 mobile whip
in the tailgate of my vehicle. Usually passes rising not higher than ~60
degs
are quite good but the whip is not that good in higher elevations.

What I particularily like (besides the sat-capability) is that normally I am
using
the left side of the radio for monitoring the local repeaters while right
side acts
as an APRS transmitter (with TinyTrak attached).

What I don't like is the wobbly and fragile feeling of knobs of the radio.

The first FT-8900 I bought was DOA right out of the box, but after it got
replaced with another one, the current unit has served few years flawlessly.

73 de Ari OH3KAV
Tampere, Finland (grid: KP11)
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[amsat-bb] Re: WOUXUN Radio

2010-03-30 Thread Ari Kosonen
Hi,

Joe KK0SD wrote:
> Has anyone bought and played with one of these ultra cheap WOUXUN dual band
> hand helds that are selling on eBay?  Do they hear well enough for satellite 
> operation?

I also recently got a Wouxun KG-UVD1P and today gave it a try on HO-68.
My antenna is a long telescopic whip, Diamond RH-770 (quite similar to
Pryme AL-800).

I was very surprised to hear traffic from HO-68 almost immediatelly it
was over the horizon.
There was many very strong stations and I did not manage to get my 5 W
signal through,
but at least the receiver-side seems to be very sensitive. There is
few quirks in the
usage of Wouxun, but with pre-programmed channels and other settings I probably
can live with it. Anyway Wouxun's felt quality and usability is sheer
improvement
compared to earlier HT offerings from China I've seen.

I have not made comparisons with other radios yet, but to me Wouxun
seems quite promising.
I usually use Yaesu FT-60r with Arrow II yagi for my backyard-portable
FM-satellite QSOs.

The SMA-connector in FT-60 feels quite fragile for long telescopic whips
(Yes, I know KC2BHO's adapters might provide a solution), whereas
Wouxun's casing
provides some support even with standard BNC-SMA(F) adapter, reducing the stress
caused by a long whip.

In Europe, Wouxun's are available in some reputable vendors, with CE
approval (whatever
it's worth..). Mine came from eBay, though...

73 de Ari OH3KAV (grid: KP11)
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