{"id":46504,"date":"2020-11-16T08:42:49","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T12:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=46504"},"modified":"2020-11-17T07:46:18","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T11:46:18","slug":"cq-satellite-ariss-fm-repeater-ham-sats-tracking-antennas-and-looking-at-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/cq-satellite-ariss-fm-repeater-ham-sats-tracking-antennas-and-looking-at-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"CQ Satellite: ARISS FM Repeater, Ham Sats, Tracking, Antennas, and Looking At The Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Van Hoy (VR2HF), who shares the following guest post:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

ARISS FM Repeater May Be Back on Early December and a Short Ham Satellite Summary<\/h1>\n

by Dan Van Hoy (VR2HF)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve recently had a lot of fun learning about the current batch of ham satellites and operating through some of them for the past several months with only a Diamond discone<\/strong> (and a short run of RG-213 double-shielded coax), Yaesu FT-817<\/strong> (for SSB\/CW) and TYT TH-9800<\/strong> for FM satellites (more power, Scotty!). This simple set-up has yielded hours and hours of great fun. The last time I did satellite work was in the ’70s making contacts from my car through Oscar 6. If I had a car here in Hong Kong I might try it again!<\/p>\n

Here’s my living room TV tray and sofa shortwave and satellite station (no XYL in house at the moment).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ARISS FM Repeater<\/h1>\n

One of the recent highlights for both newcomers to satellite operations and old-timers was working the International Space Station’s (ISS) new FM repeater which came on the air in early September. It is a specially modified Kenwood D710-GA VHF\/UHF transceiver<\/a>. Unfortunately, it was only operational for about a month. For the past several weeks it has been used mostly in APRS mode.<\/p>\n

The ARISS FM repeater runs five watts and sounds just like a regular terrestrial repeater in many ways. You can work it with any dual-band VHF\/UHF FM rig and the right antenna. Full-duplex is not required, but it helps. Lower power requires some kind of gain antenna, but receiving can be done with simple antennas.<\/p>\n

The ARISS organization just updated the schedule for the ARISS operation with this announcement:<\/p>\n

“Next mode change (cross band repeater) targeting early December.”<\/p>\n

YEAH! What a nice Christmas present!<\/p>\n

Here’s a link to the full ARISS information page:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.ariss.org\/current-status-of-iss-stations.html<\/a><\/p>\n

ARISS QSO with E21EJC<\/h1>\n

Here’s a Youtube video of one of my ARISS contacts with E21EJC. It was right after he came back from his DXpedition hauling microwave gear and dishes out to the Thai countryside to work the QO-100 geosynchronous satellite. I tell him “welcome home and have a good rest.” Kob really is “Mr Satellite!” He has posted hundreds of Youtube videos of satellite contacts.<\/p>\n