VE6AB Mobile Ops
Early Morning Satellites In The Rain
Another early morning pass of SO50 just before sunrise, although with a rain/snow mix that was thrown in for good measure, I wouldn't be seeing the sun rise on the horizon anytime soon.
With a decent 45 degree pass, I stopped on a lookout overlooking the Calgary downtown core to work SO50.
If your not familiar with amateur radio satellites orbiting the earth, there are a number of them in orbit.
A typical pass like this pass of SO50 a Saudi bird that I am working in this photo, orbits the earth approximately every 90 minutes.
SO50 is a LEO (low earth orbit satellite) and is in an orbit approximately 800 kilometers above the earth.
So what is happening in the photo, I am uplinking with my Kenwood D710A 2 meter transceiver mounted in my radio stack on the right side of my photo, and attached to a 2 meter antenna mounted on the roof of my mobile.
I am listening on the downlink frequency simultaneously with the Yaesu VX-8R transceiver, part of my satellite module that is positioned on the steering wheel of my mobile, and connected to the 70 cm yagi that I am holding through the open window and pointed at the satellite.
I am able to keep track of the satellite with a pass-prediction app running on my smartphone, and if you look close you can see the screen of my smartphone on the satellite module.
When SO50 appears on my horizon and now is visible on the screen of my smartphone, it is approximately 3000 kilometers away from me, and this is referred to as AOS (acquisition of signal) with the satellite now rapidly rising above the horizon and workable from my mobile.
If no one has set the transmit timer on SO50 initially, then I have to transmit with special a PL tone on the uplink frequency to initiate the timer.
I will know that I have succeeded in initiating the timer, as I will hear myself on the downlink frequency when I switch back to the working frequency with a second different PL tone set.
It is important that I can hear myself when I transmit, as SO50 has a 6000 kilometer footprint, and any other hams within this footprint that are working the satellite will also hear me, so therefore you don't want to be transmitting at the same time that someone else is transmitting or no one will be able to get through.
That is why it is important to operate in full-duplex mode while working the sats.
Click on the photo for a closer look....
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