Working the SO 50 Satellite Portable from EM70 Lynn Haven, Florida

About 7 AM today, Bob KK4DIV and I worked a SO-50 satellite pass..We both got a couple of contacts. I admit to being a neophyte at this. www.work-sat.com is a great reference. I have a few confirmed contacts at this point. You can get the job done in many ways. The Saudi Oscar 50 bird requires a VHF uplink and a UHF downlink. The downlink receiver needs to change frequency during the pass to adjust for the doppler effect .I have a Yaesu FT-60 HT which allows memories to have VHF/UHF pair. That is convenient but not mandatory. Bob KK4DIV used a FT-8800 mobile rig successfully today. He took advantage of the dual watch feature. I purchased an Elk antenna but Bob used a tape measure yagi he made for fox hunts. So you may already have something usable. I found out today why they recommend duplex. Duplex allows you to hear your own signal returned on the downlink. I forgot to change the channels for the doppler. So when I threw my callsign out they heard me but I did not hear them, That was bad form on my part. I have a duplexer on order. That way I can hook two HTs to the same antenna for duplex. Bob got away without a duplexer with the FT-8800.

Working satellites outdoors portable fits in the style of operating I like. In fact, Eddie ZS6BNE enjoys operating Sats and he put in a Sat bonus for the RaDAR Challenge. Field Day has a Sat Bonus as well. I am going to take credit for my Sat contact at Gulf Islands National Seashore for the Five Star Activator NPOTA bonus. The AMSAT-NA awards are based on working four digit grid squares. I see that moving among the grid squares can be lots of fun and helpful to the other ops. I am using LOTW to log and confirm contacts. I got started with LOTW doing NPOTA. I look forward to learning more about Sat ops and experimenting with equipment. I had a good time operating with Bob today. It was worth getting up early. Enjoy the videos. 

Bob KK4DIV's Yaesu FT 8800 box and tape measure yagi

Greg's Elk Antenna and Yaesu FT 60 HT

Suzy