At the Austin Summerfest 2002 Hamfest I saw a demonstration by one of the AMSAT folks of working a satellite with a handheld radio. I found this to be incredibly neat and had to try it out myself.
After reading "Working the Easy Sats" I knew I had the equipment to attempt to work with UO-14, an FM mode voice satellite, and the ISS an APRS packet repeating system (most times, they do voice as astronauts time permits).
First I got myself a satellite pass prediction program. I'm partial to Linux and Open Source stuff, and so I went with Predict as my satellite pass predictor. I set it up to automatically update the orbital data daily, so I've always got good prediction data.
Once I had Predict up and running, I ran it to see when UO-14 or the space shuttle would pass overhead. As it turned out, ISS was the first to have a pass, so I tried it first.
When the time predicted for the ISS pass came I tuned the radio to the appropriate frequency and actually heard data packets at the time Predict said the ISS would come over the horizon, and heard them go away when Predict said it would go over the other horizon. Very neat. I could not sucesfully decode the packets, but at least I could hear them.
I then tried the next pass, which was a higher elevation pass, and was amazed when the radio succesfully decoded 2 and 1/2 packets of the dozens I head come down. I was amazed and delighted -- I'd sucesfully received bits from space!
Upon trying it some more my results were similar for high elevation passes, I could succesfully decode a packet or two, but had no success in sending.
After doing some antenna improvements, I tried for ISS again. On an 80 degree elevation pass, on 27 August 2002 I succeded in sending a packet to the ISS and receiving it on the downlink. The trace of the ISS downlink I received is below:
Tue Aug 27 08:37:49 2002 N5VHO>KEN,RS0ISS*,EL29:=2932.46N/09511.01W/- Friendswood, Texas
Tue Aug 27 08:37:51 2002 K5OE>CQ,RS0ISS*:=2945.80N/09541.98W/- Houston, Texas
Tue Aug 27 08:38:12 2002 K5OE>CQ,RS0ISS*:
Tue Aug 27 08:38:12 2002 Hola Alvaro de Jerry en Houston EL29
Tue Aug 27 08:38:30 2002 XE2UR>CQ,RS0ISS*:73 de CD. MAIZ, SLP.- Interchange QSL. agb_xe2ur@hotmail.com
Tue Aug 27 08:38:53 2002 XE2UR>CQ,RS0ISS*:73 de CD. MAIZ, SLP.- Interchange QSL. agb_xe2ur@hotmail.com
Tue Aug 27 08:39:06 2002 KD5TFD-3>APD214,RS0ISS*,SGATE,WIDE:!3030.50N/09742.11WI aprsd KD5TFD@arrl.net Round Rock, TX
Tue Aug 27 08:39:11 2002 XE2UR>CQ,RS0ISS*:=2224.08N/09936.09Wy, Hola 734 desde CD. DEL MAIZ, SLP. {UISS30}
Tue Aug 27 08:39:29 2002 RS0ISS>CQ:ARISS - INNTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Tue Aug 27 08:39:49 2002 K5OE>CQ,RS0ISS*:
Tue Aug 27 08:39:49 2002 QSL N4ZQ KD5TFD XE2UR
Tue Aug 27 08:40:06 2002 KD5TFD-3>APD214,RS0ISS*,SGATE,WIDE:!3030.50N/09742.11WI aprsd KD5TFD@arrl.net Round Rock, TX
Tue Aug 27 08:40:11 2002 K5OE>CQ,RS0ISS*:=2945.80N/09541.98W/- Houston, Texas
Tue Aug 27 08:41:10 2002 VE3TAZ>BEACON,RS0ISS*:=4343.71N/07929.74W VE3TAZ@QSL.NET. Downsview.
Tue Aug 27 08:41:24 2002 W7JPI>LEO,RS0ISS*:Hi Jerry...
Tue Aug 27 08:41:32 2002 K5OE>CQ,RS0ISS*:
Tue Aug 27 08:41:32 2002 QSL VE3TAZ
Tue Aug 27 08:41:39 2002 WA0D>WA0D,RS0ISS*,EM12KW,RANDY:>Hi from Randy DFW EM-12
Tue Aug 27 08:42:08 2002 N5VHO>KEN,RS0ISS*,EL29:32 states, 67 grids confirmed
Tue Aug 27 08:42:10 2002 K5OE>CQ,RS0ISS*:
Tue Aug 27 08:42:10 2002 playing hooky today and getting some work done around the house :-)
Tue Aug 27 08:42:23 2002 WA0D>WA0D,RS0ISS*,EM12KW,RANDY:>Randy EM-12
Tue Aug 27 08:42:31 2002 K5OE>CQ,RS0ISS*:=2945.80N/09541.98W/- Houston, Texas
Tue Aug 27 08:43:13 2002 N9YUK-3>BEACON,RS0ISS*:>EM57QQ/- OLE YUK's INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION "CHASER" SHACK !!!
EMAIL: oleyuk@shawneelink.com
Tue Aug 27 08:43:16 2002 N4ZQ>QST,RS0ISS*:jerry the boss called and said get to work!!
Tue Aug 27 08:43:19 2002 WA0D>WA0D,RS0ISS*,EM12KW,RANDY:>Hi from Randy DFW EM-12
Tue Aug 27 08:43:21 2002 K5OE>CQ,RS0ISS*:=2945.80N/09541.98W/- Houston, Texas
Tue Aug 27 08:43:24 2002 N4ZQ>QST,RS0ISS*:jerry the boss called and said get to work!!
Tue Aug 27 08:43:29 2002 RS0ISS>CQ:ARISS - INNTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Tue Aug 27 08:43:33 2002 K5OE>CQ,RS0ISS*:
Tue Aug 27 08:43:33 2002 I am working.... !!!!!!
Tue Aug 27 08:43:42 2002 N4ZQ>QST,RS0ISS*:RIGHT !!!
Tue Aug 27 08:43:44 2002 N9OEW>CQ,RS0ISS*,SGATE,WIDE5-1:>231409zSYSTEMS TEST - PSE QSL - n9oew@arrl.net - www.eqsl.cc
Tue Aug 27 08:43:58 2002 W7JPI>LEO,RS0ISS*:Approaching LOS Leaving the Footprint, 73's Bye Bye
Tue Aug 27 08:44:20 2002 KC8LCY-4>CQ,RS0ISS*:=3936.19N/08249.14W-Mike in Stoutsville, OH {UIV23N}
Tue Aug 27 08:44:26 2002 K5OE>CQ,RS0ISS*:
Tue Aug 27 08:44:26 2002 90% of my job is via email and phone anyway :-)
Tue Aug 27 08:44:35 2002 WA0D>WA0D,RS0ISS*,EM12KW,RANDY:=3300.46N/09705.00W-PHG6230
Tue Aug 27 08:44:49 2002 KB9NSK>BEACON,RS0ISS*:>EM57QQ/- RUSTY's SPACE CHASING SHACK <<*>> LETs SWAP QSL CARDS <<<
>>> kb9@shawneelink.com <<<
I found all of this thrilling. I do not know why, but the idea of being able to send bits up to a satellite, and get them sent back so others can receive them with nothing more than a handi talkie and a simple wire antenna is very interesting to me. Since my success with this pass, I've had similar success operating mobile from the truck. I also managed to get a single packet bounced off PCSAT.
UO-14 is a voice mode satellite, that can be worked with a simple handi talkie. Concurrent with my attempts to communicate with the ISS, I've also been working on a contact via UO-14. On this one I've not been quite as succesful. I can reliably here UO-14 traffic, but as yet have not been successful in comminucating with it. This is something I will continue to work on. I may need to build a directional antenna, or perhaps try a radio with a little more power. (Editor's note: audio of a UO-14 pass will be added here as soon as I get my Real encoder up and running again).
Trying to work the satellites is fun! The idea that a bunch of ham radio operators can actually have a fleet of satellites in orbit is pretty astounding. That I can play with them is even better. I will continue to work on UO-14, and once success is obtained there, perhaps I will move on to some of the other satellites.
Comments to: Bill Tracey (kd5tfd@ewjt.com)
Copyright © Bill Tracey 2002