Goldmine Holiday for VU2SWG

Hi,

Today 1/2 day off from MQTH - gave way to a goldmine on AO51

1st pass @ 1630IST E21EJC, ND9M/MM, HS3ANP. Heard VU2GSM and UP??WFF or EFF
2nd pass @ 1800IST VU2DPE, ND9M/MM,A71CV, VU2MUD, Heard VU2GUR calling ND9MM. Heard UP??WFF or EFF

Today I want to create a record with VO52 + SO50 tonite if time + HQTH QRL permits + outside WX

All QSO today made with Hand held Wouxun with standard rubber ducky single radio only.

73 & gud dx
Shankar VU2SWG

Copied from the email received from Shankar

SATELLITE USERS - STATION SETUP - VU2GUR

Popularly called the “SAT-Guru” – OM Guru has been active on the Satellites for a decade now – starting under the tutelage of OM Bindu – VU2IR (SK) during 2000.

He has at present worked through 8 Satellites with more than 2000 QSO’s and has recorded and reported reception of the Digitalker aboard FO-29. The Impressive list of satellites and the number of stations contacted are :

UO-14 – 35 VU + 5 DX = 1137 QSOs

SO-35 – 13  VU + 7 DX = 90+ QSOs

SO-50 – 4 VU + 1 DX = 15 QSOs

AO-51 – 25 VU + 20 DX = 235 QSOs

VO–52 – 44 VU + 8 DX = 525 QSOs

SO-67 – 3 VU + 2 DX = 7 QSOs

HO-68 – 7 VU + 4 DX = 11 QSOs.

ISS – ARISS – SPACE STATION – 20 VU + 2 DX + 1 DIRECT TO V/V REPEATER = 54 QSOs.

He has contacted the following DX countries:

Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and ND9M both from the International Waters and from Diego Garcia.  

He uses a FT-2600 M VHF Base and a FT – 530 UHF handy for both terrestrial and satellite use.

He has a set of four Antennae – 2 for VHF and 2 for UHF

                    

1  VHF - Slim Jim for Vertical polarisation                   1 VHF - Dipole for Horizontal polarization                       

2 UHF - Slim- jim and Dipole on the same mast - seperate cables.

He has been instrumental in coaxing a lot of us into taking to the BIRD HUNTING – working the OSCARs.

Thanks Guru – “SAT-GURU” for showing us that we too can work the OSCARs with simple setup – a lot of dedication – and a Zeal to learn.

Birthday Luck??????????

Call it Birthday Luck???????

on 5th May, 2010 - the 5th Birthday of our beloved satellite - HAMSAT - VO52, we were lucky to have an overhead pass @ 2113 IST - 85 deg peak elevation. 

My VHF Moxon has become a inverted vee MOXON :( Birds sitting on the horizontal elements have bent the elements downwards when the fly off.  I have not been able to bring down the antenna and rectify it.  In this situation, the only hope of working the satellite was with rubberducky from the roof.  Luckily, it was a clear - non rainy - evening . 

Up on the terrace, (I am lucky to have a near - clear visibility allround) I gave it a shout - and I had a 59+ report QSO with VU2GUR and later on I got reports that I was going through 59 to VU2DPE and VU3STJ.

Thank you HAMSAT - for giving me a real memorable experience on your BIRTHDAY - goes to show no sophesticated setup is really required to work the BIRDS.

Look out for some DX on AO-51

OM Guru - VU2GUR has received an email from OM Jim- ND9M that he will be QRV from Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean (Co-Ordinates - 7°18′48″S / 72°24′40″E) for the next couple of days with the call - VQ9JC

From the 29th April, 2010, he will be signing ND9M/MM from the international waters.

During this period he will be active on AO-51 - ECHO Satellite - especially when the satellite is coming up from the south.

This should be interesting - All the best guys - because on weekdays, AO-51 pass is usually before 1800 IST (1230 UTC)

Satellite Activity - 10th March, 10

Another eventful evening pass for the HAMSAT today @ 2148IST.

Was able to access the Bird as it was coming up at around 15 deg elevation.

Then it was only my signal until the satellite came up to about 40 deg elevation when VU2GUR came thorugh strong with a 59 Sig. Then on the doppler shift, I was able to hear VU2TQC OM Jayant from Mumbai with a 59 signal but am not sure if he heard my report - I could hear him call me and Guru - but not report.

Then for a short burst, I heard VU2ZUB - OM Subu from Bangalore.

In the "AFTER Satellite QSO" on the local repeater, it was reported that OM Daya - VU2DPE was able to copy VU2GUR, me and another stan with the call letters JE in the call sign giving me a call - unfortunately, I did not hear that station. Om Subu was able to hear Guru, but unable to hear me. And Guru was unable to hear VU2TQC and VU2ZUB. The vaguories of Satellite communication. !!!!!!!!

Unfortunately missed the SO-50 Pass at 2035 today - Guru was able to hear his voice on the downlink freq. but no QSOs

By the way, VU3VOC - OM Rajesh Nambiar from Ottapalam, Kerala is listening to the satellites using the "IOio" antenna (above)

More reports to come from him in the near future.

Satellite Activity - AO-51 - 07 Mar 10

Successful Pass for the AO-51@ 1645 IST (1115 UTC).  It was a fairly low angle pass @ 24deg Elevation on the Eastern Hemisphere going from South to North.


At around 1648 IST (1118 UTC), I started hearing E21EJC (OM Kob) along with other Thai stations talking in their local dialect.  Then could hear Guru - VU2GUR calling Kob. Kob came back with a report.  I immediatley called Kob who gave me a 59 report.  Then another Thai station, HS1IWX (OM Amnat ?) was contacted with a 59 both ways QSO - a new station. As the satellite went Nortwards and the signals faded for us - I could feebly hear HS1EAX.

VU2GZ OM Hari also reported having heard Guru and me during the usual "after-pass" QSO on the local repeater.

The set up for this QSO was
Equipment:
TX : Kenwood -TH 255A - 5 W O/P - VHF
RX: Wouxun - KG-UVD1P - UHF

Antenna:
VHF - Moxon Rectangle

 UHF - Centre Fed - Collinear

Now the Moxon has been tested for both Tx and RX - Fully Certified for efficiency even for low angle passes !!!!!!!!!

The other antenna that I use is the bozooka - currently horizontally polarized.  It is mounted on the same boom as the Moxon antenna and fed by a seperate Cable.

Satellite Activity - VO-52 - 28nd Feb, 10 - evening

VO-52 evening Pass @ 2145 IST was a rather unsuccessful experience as generally it was found that the downlink side was rather noisy today.

In-spite of this, the other stations heard on the VO-52 today were VU2GUR, VU2GZ, VU2ZUB, VU2SWG were heard independent of each station i.e, most stations heard most of the other stations - BUT NO 2-WAY QSO REPORTED. I heard VU2GPS for only one call and then nothing heard.

Surprising phenomenon.  Better luck tomorrow.

Satellite Activity - VO-52 - 28nd Feb, 10

The VO-52 Pass at 0930IST at 73Deg elevation wrt to Bangalore once again was a succesful one with lot of activity during almost the entire pass period of about 13 minutes. First signals that I heard was from VU3TYG  -Nitin from Bangalore at around 0931 almost immediately followed by VU2TQC - Jayant from Mumbai and they had a successful 2 way QSO.

Then came in VU2SWG Shankar from Bangalore followed by VU2GUR - Guru also from Bangalore.

I was able to have successful 2 Way QSO with VU2TQC (59/58) and VU2GUR (59/59).  Although I called Nitin and Shankar I was not able to hear any reply.  There was also one other station calling me but did not get the callsign

Another interesting aspect of the activity today, was that Guru was giving a Demo at the SJR Science College, Bangalore for the students from over 100 colleges participating in a Science Exhibition organised there.  Guru was operating from the rooftop of the college and was using a rubberducky initially before switching over to a HB9CV antenna.

Great Show Guru.

Satellite Activity - 26th Feb, 10

There was a favourable HAMSAT (VO-52) pass of 57 deg elevation on the eastern side at 2108 IST today.  Was listening in on 145.900 MHz with the squelch open right from the Access of Satellite (AOS) time of 2108 IST.  I was giving CQ calls on 435.250MHz - the uplink central frequency but was unable to hear my signals on the downlink freq. As the satellite rose to about 13 deg elevation (I was parallely tracking the satellite using Orbitron satellite tracking software), I started hearing VU2GPS and a few seconds later VU2GUR.  I could hear Guru give a report to Partha who did not reply immediately.

As the satellite rose to about 22 Degs, signals from Guru and Partha increased to 59 - receiver quitening and both exchanged 59 reports.  I also was able to contact both of them with similar 59 reports and I was also able to hear myself on the downlink freq. very clearly as the satellite came to the peak elevation of about 57 Deg. 

Later on VU2GZ OM Hari, also put out a call a all three of us heard him and gave him a call.  But unfortunately Hari had not copied us. Probable reason - he was on a rubber ducky antenna from his rooftop !!!! But he made it through the satellite - that is for sure.

Additional information:
Guru was using his horizontal dipole for both VHF and UHF.
I was using a horizontal "Bazooka" for UHF and a Moxon Rectangle antenna for VHF
I am yet to get the Operating setup details of OM Partha VU2GPS

Looking forward to meeting more hams in the near future for two way QSOs.

Satellite Activity - VO-52 - 22nd Feb, 10

Immediately after posting the first writeup, it was time for the VO-52 pass @ 21.30 IST at a good elevation w.r.t. Bangalore @ 61 Deg.

Today we had OM Partha - VU2GPS from Chennai, VU2GZ - Hari, Bangalore, VU2GUR - Guru, Bangalore, and myself who were able to exchange reports.

Later on, as the satellite went northwards, VU2ZUB came in quite clear. OM Daya - VU2DPE was also able to hear the satellite downlink with his handy and rubberducky.

Gud Omen for the New Blog and the first Post.

We have a long way to go. :)