On 10/10/2012 02:19 AM, situs...@bshellz.net wrote:
Hi,
I'm a newbie for amateur satellite stuff, and I want to gain a
deep knowledge and experience in it.
It's very old and hard to find, but The Satellite Experimenters Handbook
by Martin Davidoff K2UBC will give you fundamental knowledge on
satellites, orbits, tracking, antennas, feedlines, etc. The book is
old, but the laws of celestial mechanics haven't changed.
I have a 2-meter band VHF transceiver handheld radio, and has 5
watt for the output power. Can I use the radio to communicate
with any satellites that support VHF?
You will need to operate on two bands, to work satellite. I can't think
of any satellites offhand that operate on a single band. You will use
one band to transmit TO the bird (uplink) and a separate band to receive
sigs FROM the bird (downlink).
Can you get some 70cm gear? If you can transmit/receive both VHF 2M and
UHF 70cm, you can operate Mode-B (70cm UPlink and 2M DOWNlink) or Mode_J
(2M UPlink and 70cm DOWNlink). Some birds operate FM, some use a linear
transponder for use with CW/SSB. It's *possible* to run FM through a
linear transponder but it's frowned upon because it hits the satellite
batteries harder, not to mention bogarts the passband.
Failing this, if you have an HF rig and know CW, you could try AO-7 via
Mode-A (VHF 2M up, HF 10M down). Put a key across the PTT line of an FM
rig, disconnect the mic (no modulation of the carrier) and you have a
poor-man's CW rig on 2M. Listen to your sigs and hopefully a few
replies on your HF rig.
And please direct me to the resource that I need to start building my
first small station. Thank you in advance.
Well, once you have gear for two bands, you will need antennas. A
rubber duckie is workable, but far from ideal. Popular these days are
small, hand-held yagis, of various designs. But you could experiment
with other designs, such as the quadrifilar helix, the turnstile, the
lindenblad, and so forth.
How do you wish to operate? Portable, from all over the place? From
your own back yard? Out of your shack?
--
73, de Gus 8P6SM
The Easternmost Isle
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