October 7, 2025 • 21 mins
Master the exciting world of ham radio satellites with our step-by-step guide! Learn how to work amateur radio satellites, from choosing the right equipment to tracking and communicating via low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Perfect for beginners and seasoned ham radio enthusiasts, this video covers antenna setup, frequency selection, Doppler shift correction, and tips for successful QSOs. Boost your ham radio skills and connect with operators worldwide! #HamRadio #AmateurRadio #satellitecommunications
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Equipment in this video:
Elk Antenna - https://www.gigaparts.com/2m-440l5-dual-band-directional-yagi-antenna.html
ICOM IC-2730 - https://www.gigaparts.com/icom-ic-2730a-dual-band-mobile-radio.html
Eberlestock MultiPack - https://eberlestock.com/products/multipack-accessory-pouch
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ham-radio-2-0--2042782/support.
Support the ARRL Teachers Institute - https://arrl.org/30days
Follow Rob's Channel for more Satellite Ham Radio videos @digital.rancher
Equipment in this video:
Elk Antenna - https://www.gigaparts.com/2m-440l5-dual-band-directional-yagi-antenna.html
ICOM IC-2730 - https://www.gigaparts.com/icom-ic-2730a-dual-band-mobile-radio.html
Eberlestock MultiPack - https://eberlestock.com/products/multipack-accessory-pouch
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ham-radio-2-0--2042782/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Day twenty eight, twenty eight days. Today, we're gonna be
talking about satellites, working FM satellites from pretty much anywhere
on Earth, from Earth, Earth, Satellite Earth. We're gonna talk
about working some satellites or what they call birds, which
are repeaters orbiting the Earth, and we're gonna do some.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
FM satellite work today.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm driving up here to meet with Robert W five
ITR and those of you who might have watched my
channel in the past, you know that Robert's big into satellites.
He's done a lot with satellites. I've had him on
the channel several times before. When we take trips together,
I usually record him making satellite contacts. And he's actually
(00:45):
working at building a home based satellite system in his yard,
which is not done yet unfortunately, but he still lives
in a good area where it's should be a little
bit easier to work satellite and I just I just
like getting out and going and visiting people. So we're
gonna drive up to his home QTH today and we're
(01:07):
gonna do some satellite where I'm gonna I'm gonna film
him doing some satellite work.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I'm not gonna do it. I've tried satellites once. I
need to.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I need to get a better setup for doing it.
And we're gonna talk to him about his equipment. We're
gonna talk to him about his antennas and uh, and
we're gonna see he's also a goat farmer, a goat rancher,
I should say, he's Uh, he's got goats on his property.
So we're gonna talk to the goats, or talk to
We're gonna talk to the goats. That's what we're gonna do.
(01:35):
We're gonna go out and talk to the goats.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I mean, why not.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Uh, but we're gonna see some goats out here and
check out his setup and see what kind of stuff
we could do with satellites for thirty days of a
Ham radio.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Guys, thanks for sticking around.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
That's telemetry right there.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Now, the key to working s O one four is
because they're broadcasting telemetry on the same frequency that voice
activity is. You need to pick your spot in between
the telemetry.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Okay, So go ahead and work it.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
But I'm gonna get you and explain the audience exactly
what you mean by the word telemetry.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You did a live stream on.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It last week yeah, W five I t R echo
Mike thirteen. X ray echo Mike or X ray echo
one Yankee delta quilo W five I t r em
thirteen got you loud and clear. X tray echo one
(02:48):
Yankee delta quilo W five I t r em thirteen today, IDR,
thanks for the contact. W five it tr echo Mike thirteen.
It's a good full quiet signal there.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That's the guy I just got the same guy. Maybe
there's not a lot of operators in a midday past.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, I think I've heard you work that guy before.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, one is really pretty active active W five it
tr echo Mike thirteen. Yeah, that's it. Okay, all right, well,
hey one was out there.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We got one one contact and that's I mean from Springtown,
Texas to Mexico.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, that's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I don't understand why more people aren't out working satellites
today instead of at work.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
What's up, guy, I mean, come on, because the priorities here.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Right, it is lunchtime.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It is lunchtime.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So we made one satellite contact and that's that's actually
kind of typical though, right, I mean you're not making
dozens or hundreds of contacts on the satellite pass, right,
I mean, yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I mean the most contexts I've made on a pass
is nine.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Nine Okay, yeah, I was going to say five or six, So.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Five or six is much more common. I mean. Pro
tip for folks who are trying satellites for the first time,
don't do it on the weekends. Do it weekday, mid day, right,
because this is when you'll get a chance to practice
hearing yourself. Get into the repeater, right. There's not nearly
(04:29):
as many people working satellites during the week as there
are in the weekends or in the early mornings or
early evenings.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
If you want to listen, that's probably be a good
time to listen. On the weekends, great time to listen
to just kind of get the cadence and nuance of
how everything works.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yeah, yeah, and you know it is it's a really
good point. It's a different cadence.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, And it takes a little bit, right, even even
people who are you know, who've been operators for a
long time, the first time they start working satellites, they
get a little a little bit of mic fright back, right,
just because it's it's you know, it's a different. It's
(05:11):
fast paced and there's a lot going on. Yep, So
I definitely recommend and I did the same thing for
probably two weeks straight before I actually ever hit the PTT.
I just made sure I could get into the bird
every single time I could listen. And then the other
thing is you've got a lot of call signs coming
(05:32):
at you with bridge squares, so it's it's not like
you're at your machine where you're typing in the call
sign and you can look on the screen and repeat
the call sign back. You've got to be able to
memorize that. It's more like being in your vehicle, right,
And that's why that's a different skill.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah, yeah, okay, all right, So start at the beginning.
So a satellite is a repeater that's literally orbiting the Earth,
just like you would expect satellite to do. And there
are FM satellites which are usually crossbands, so they're listening
on two meters and transmitting on four to forty or
vice versa. I don't know if there's one more common
(06:11):
than the other.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah, it's more. It's more common to have the UHF
or seventy centimeters down.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So you're listening to seventy centimeters okay, and.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
So you have to adjust for Doppler on the listening
portion right right, But like AO ninety one is opposite
of that. You're transmitting on seventy centimeters and you're receiving
on two.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Meters okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
And there are such a thing as they call them,
Tom up there KB five FHQ. I think Tom he
calls them linear birds in their sideband.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah. So there's still two meters and seventy centimeters okay,
more often than not, okay. You know there is occasion
where there's some other frequencies, like like ten meters right right,
but that's not very common, okay. Usually it's going to
be two meters seventy centimeters sideband, okay, yeah, okay, okay.
And then those transponders give you a certain amount of bandwidth,
(07:09):
so you can have several conversations going on oh yeah,
on that transponder at the same time, right, So you
you know, sometimes you've got like seventy eighty killer herts,
one hundred killer hurts that you can work and find
an open spot and make contacts that way, and if.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
You're transmitting into it, I mean it's I mean what's
the what's the height of one of these things?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
They're all different, right, but they are.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
So the ISS is about two hundred and fifty miles
above the earth. Okay, yep, that's kind of the lowest.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Okay, Okay, Now, sometimes you can see that at night times.
We've seen it before at night time.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yes, absolutely, you can absolutely see the lights that are
on it, or see a reflection. Sometimes you can just
see reflection. I think more often than not you're seeing reflection.
You're probably not seeing any lights. Yeah, the like so
fifty that can be depending on its orbit, right, it
could be anywhere between three fifty to four hundred and
fifty miles above the earth.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Okay, what kind of Because you worked, we worked North
Texas to Mexico, and that is not unusual. In fact,
I might try to get you to send me the
footage of remember when we were out there in Colorado.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And you worked what was it, Alaska?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Alaska and Mexico, Mexico on the same.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Path in the same past. Okay, yeah, one at the
beginning of the past, right, Alaska at the very beginning
of the past. Huh, and then Mexico at the very
end of the past.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
And we were in Colorado, which is not exactly halfway
between the two, but it is between Mexico and Alaska.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So what what sort of.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Antenna are typically on the s Does it not matter
because they're up just up so high, or is there
like some sort of like array type antenna that's broader
banded that's allowing you to kind of bounce at a
greater angle off of the satellite, or.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
More often than not, they have some sort of dipole antenna. Okay,
that's usually what they're going to have, Okay on the satellite. Right,
you got to think about it's got to be something
that can be uh stowed huh while it's getting transported
and you know, getting to space, and then you've got
to be able to deploy it somehow, right, right, right,
(09:14):
So they're not very sophisticated in terms of their capability.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So I had Steve at the beginning of this, Steve
good Game AWL Teachers Institute, who were doing this for,
well one reason we're doing this for. He reached out
to me at the beginning He's like, are you going
to be doing a video about and I can't remember
the first thing he asked about, but the second thing
was about satellites, and I'm like, yes, I'm actually planning
on doing some doing a satellite video. I'm going to
go out and talk to Robert because he's done a
(09:38):
lot more than I have. And uh, and that's what.
But people that work satellites are there's there's like a
it's like the PoTA crowd, right, there's a group of
people that work satellites that are just die hard satellite.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
They're hardcore and.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And it gets it can It's very interesting to see
all the all the rigs and all the setups and
all the trial and it's like, well, why do you
do this? Oh? Because up one time and this like
you record all your contacts, Yes, so that you can
later go back and log them, because you're not going
to sit there and log them while the satellite is moving.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
So much going on, right exactly. Yeah. And with these
FM birds, right, these these LEO birds, they're typically between
a six and twelve minute pass right right, So everything
happens in that little window and.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
The higher the angle, the quicker it goes over. Yes,
So you want something that's.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Like thirty five thirty to thirty five degrees is like
the sweet spot.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
So it comes from the east and goes to the west.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
It's kind of like going like this and you're into
it longer rather than going straight over, and it's really fat.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
It's just moving faster.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Yeah, just ratio to me, certainly, I can make many
more contacts on a kind of mid level pass versus
a high degree pass.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
All right, Well, everybody's going to ask about your equipment,
so and I know you've done. Oh okay, one last
thing before we show the equipment. Telemetry, Yes, so explain
what you mean by that, right.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So, telemetry is information that is sent usually about the
satellite or about maybe capturing data that the satellite is
capturing via sensors. Okay, So it's data that the satellite
is sending to Earth about its surroundings, either it's operating
(11:23):
condition or its surroundings. So every satellite has some level
of telemetry. A lot of those are publicly provided information.
So they tell you what frequency it's on, and they
tell you the data elements that are in the telemetry package. Right.
So with that you can record that telemetry information and
(11:48):
then there are various programs that let you decode that
information and then you can see everything that the people
that are responsible for and maintaining that satellite can see.
So it might be thing is like your like, like
the battery health, the state of charge on a battery.
It could be the temperature at a particular time. Right.
(12:09):
Each satellite usually has a mission too, right, So there's
either a science project or some sort of mission associated
with the satellite, and oftentimes that telemetry is related to
that mission, so it'll continuously push down information about the
mission in those telemetry in that telemetry stream.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
All right, So this is the Elk antenna, and I
know that because I bought one on your recommendation. The
reason you like it better than the Arrow that the
Elk and the Arrow, or the two handheld antennas that
are most commonly used. There's there's probably some others out there.
Would I would assume this one is this one you
like better because it's all on the same polarization.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Yeah, it's there's a couple of reasons I like this, Okay.
First of all, for somebody just giving into satellites, they're
oftentimes buying a bunch of new kit yeah right, They're
buying a radio just to do it with. They're buying
an antenna just to do it with. They might be
buying some sort of packaging, some sort of bag or
box or something to deal with everything. Right, so there's
(13:09):
a certain amount of expense. These are generally thirty to
forty dollars cheaper than the arrow antennas. Okay, so it's
got a plus there if you're going to be roving
with it. It's a lot easier to deal with. It's
a lot easier to handle here. You can see it's
got elements on a single plane. If this was the
arrow antenna, I would have a hard time finding a
(13:30):
place to sit this, oh, because I would have elements
at ninety degrees to these elements, and so it's just
a little bit more to deal with. This has what
ten elements right where that arrow has many more elements.
So we were in a little bit of a rush
to get things set up here. Right. I can get
(13:53):
this put together way quicker than I can get an
arrow put together. This packs down a little easier, and
it's kind of easier to transport.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
If there's more elements on the arrow, does it have
a greater gain?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
It does?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
It does have a greater game ye okay, all.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Right, yeah, I would say that the that the arrow
performs better. Okay, this is more convenient, gotcha. Okay, So
it's like everything else in ham Radio, right, it depends
and it's a trade off. Right, everything's a compromise for me.
I can make contacts just fine with this antenna. So
(14:28):
because of that, the convenience outweighs the few dB of
gain that I get with the other antenna.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Makes sense? Okay, cool? Well everyone asks about oh.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is a everly stock multi pack.
That's that's the model of the bag. As you can see,
it's available to be set up like a chest rig. Right.
They actually have this this little harness here, which is
a separate purchase. You don't get that with the cha.
(15:00):
This is a separate, separate purchase. But this is a
great platform to build your satellite kit with. Now this
is also separate as well. This is called the Recon
Rangefinder pouch and it is just the perfect size for
holding a bioano three amp hour battery. So perfect size,
(15:22):
fits really well. This whole package fits really well into
a backpack. I take this with me to all the
hand fests. I usually travel via by plane, and so
this fits in my carry on super easy. Now, in
the bag. I've got an icon I see twenty seven thirty.
This is my preference for satellite radio. It's full duplex.
(15:45):
You can go buy one today off the shelf for
right around three hundred dollars. Which one of the most
challenging aspects of getting into satellites is getting a radio
because so many radios in the past we're full duplex,
where today they're not. There's so few full duplex radios
on the market. But this is a great one at
(16:06):
a great price. Right. You could end up buying something
like a D seventy two and pay eight hundred dollar
one thousand dollars. Yeah, for an HT right. I mean,
that's kind of one of those Unicorn radios that everyone
loves for satellites. But it's five watts only. And you know, again,
if you're buying kit just to get into satellites, this
(16:28):
is a really cheap way to do it. I keep
the radio itself in the pack. I've got a little
ninety degree connector on the radio itself that I connect
the coax too. I can wind this coax up and
it fits right in the pack as well. I always
keep an audio cable handy so that when I'm working alone,
(16:52):
I can plug this into the speaker output of the
twenty seven thirty and plug this into my recorder, and
then I plug my headphones into the recorder. That way,
I don't have any ambient noise. I can hear what's
going on just a little bit better. And it's a
little easier to hear yourself in the downlink that.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Way as well, I imagine.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
So yeah, yeah, yeah. Other than that, I created a
little pigtail to get me into the power polls for
the Bioana. I use this kind of as a garage
whenever I'm working the birds, and then on the other
side here I keep my little voice recorder. Right. This
is another kind of essential piece of kit for satellite operators.
(17:34):
This is how you really keep track of the people
you've talked to over the course of a pass. Right,
I'm not able to remember five six call signs with
all that stuff going on, But this and their grid
squares right right, which can change because that's the idea, right,
people rove and collect brid squares. But yeah, that's the kit.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Oh logging, logging, So where do you so, once you
have your con recorded, where do you do? You just
put them in a regular log Is there like a
satellite tracker logbook somewhere out there or how does that work?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Yeah, so I actually a lot of logging programs have
satellite logging capability. Okay, right, So they actually have a
feature in there that you can turn on and say,
I'm logging satellites, okay, and they will then recognize grid squares,
validate that you've input your grid square correctly. They'll also
have a list of satellites, so you're just kind of
(18:28):
picking things off of a drop down and when you
pick that off the drop down, it'll populate your frequencies.
So there are some benefits from using a logger that
recognizes and has a satellite feature to it, but it's
not necessary. Okay, I use one. I put all them
(18:50):
in my regular logger, I work them as satellite and
then I will upload those two logbook of the world
for those folks that are chasing a war trying to
get maybe Gridmaster Award or some of the other satellite awards.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Sweet man, Well, thank you thanks for coming out. Yeah,
that was fun.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
So we're gonna if you guys have watched any of
my videos from the last a dozen hamfests I've been
at Roberts usually set up with a satellite antenna somewhere
doing something. The best one, I still think was when
we were at the brewery outside of Huntsville Hanfest yellow
yellow Hammer.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
We were just we were just sitting there and he's like, oh,
there's a path.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Oh. That was the other thing.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
I was gonna ask you, what what you You're always
looking at your phone, so what what do you?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
What app? Are you using?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
An app called ISS Detector? And the great thing about
it is it's available on both iOS and Android, so
I can make that recommendation and everyone can use it.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Okay, Yeah, he's he's sitting there looking at his phone.
We're drinking a beer at Yellow Hammer. This was two
years ago, I think, and he's like, oh, there's a
pass and he goes out and gets this exact rig
out of his car, comes out and he's standing out
there in the middle of the field and everybody's out
there playing volleyball.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
You're not really close to him, but they're all looking
at their like what.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Is this guy doing?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
That's great?
Speaker 3 (20:04):
It was fun. It was great.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
It was it was fun.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Good stuff.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Well, thanks man, I appreciate your time today.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, you bet. Thanks for coming out.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
You guys get on satellites during the workday, I mean,
why not.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Fifty dollars worth of donations were made yesterday, bringing our
grand total for this thirty day challenge to six ninety
eight dollars as of last night, and once again, we're
not We're not where we wanted to be. I'm very
grateful for the money we have raised, and I'm hoping
several of you waited to the last minute to try
to see how it went. We were trying to raise
(20:41):
thirty thousand dollars for the Aarl Teachers Institute, and we're
about we're not even really a third of the way there.
So we got a few more days left in this challenge,
and then we're going to have a live stream on
the first Sunday in October. So seventy three all thank
you for watching. Be sure to watch all the videos.
All the videos to ten thousand views, and I will
(21:01):
donate one hundred dollars per video where that happens myself,
and we will see you guys tomorrow. Seventy three
Day twenty eight, twenty eight days. Today, we're gonna be
talking about satellites, working FM satellites from pretty much anywhere
on Earth, from Earth, Earth, Satellite Earth. We're gonna talk
about working some satellites or what they call birds, which
are repeaters orbiting the Earth, and we're gonna do some.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
FM satellite work today.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm driving up here to meet with Robert W five
ITR and those of you who might have watched my
channel in the past, you know that Robert's big into satellites.
He's done a lot with satellites. I've had him on
the channel several times before. When we take trips together,
I usually record him making satellite contacts. And he's actually
(00:45):
working at building a home based satellite system in his yard,
which is not done yet unfortunately, but he still lives
in a good area where it's should be a little
bit easier to work satellite and I just I just
like getting out and going and visiting people. So we're
gonna drive up to his home QTH today and we're
(01:07):
gonna do some satellite where I'm gonna I'm gonna film
him doing some satellite work.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I'm not gonna do it. I've tried satellites once. I
need to.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I need to get a better setup for doing it.
And we're gonna talk to him about his equipment. We're
gonna talk to him about his antennas and uh, and
we're gonna see he's also a goat farmer, a goat rancher,
I should say, he's Uh, he's got goats on his property.
So we're gonna talk to the goats, or talk to
We're gonna talk to the goats. That's what we're gonna do.
(01:35):
We're gonna go out and talk to the goats.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I mean, why not.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Uh, but we're gonna see some goats out here and
check out his setup and see what kind of stuff
we could do with satellites for thirty days of a
Ham radio.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Guys, thanks for sticking around.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
That's telemetry right there.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Now, the key to working s O one four is
because they're broadcasting telemetry on the same frequency that voice
activity is. You need to pick your spot in between
the telemetry.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Okay, So go ahead and work it.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
But I'm gonna get you and explain the audience exactly
what you mean by the word telemetry.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You did a live stream on.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It last week yeah, W five I t R echo
Mike thirteen. X ray echo Mike or X ray echo
one Yankee delta quilo W five I t r em
thirteen got you loud and clear. X tray echo one
(02:48):
Yankee delta quilo W five I t r em thirteen today, IDR,
thanks for the contact. W five it tr echo Mike thirteen.
It's a good full quiet signal there.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That's the guy I just got the same guy. Maybe
there's not a lot of operators in a midday past.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, I think I've heard you work that guy before.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, one is really pretty active active W five it
tr echo Mike thirteen. Yeah, that's it. Okay, all right, well,
hey one was out there.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We got one one contact and that's I mean from Springtown,
Texas to Mexico.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, that's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I don't understand why more people aren't out working satellites
today instead of at work.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
What's up, guy, I mean, come on, because the priorities here.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Right, it is lunchtime.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It is lunchtime.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So we made one satellite contact and that's that's actually
kind of typical though, right, I mean you're not making
dozens or hundreds of contacts on the satellite pass, right,
I mean, yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I mean the most contexts I've made on a pass
is nine.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Nine Okay, yeah, I was going to say five or six, So.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Five or six is much more common. I mean. Pro
tip for folks who are trying satellites for the first time,
don't do it on the weekends. Do it weekday, mid day, right,
because this is when you'll get a chance to practice
hearing yourself. Get into the repeater, right. There's not nearly
(04:29):
as many people working satellites during the week as there
are in the weekends or in the early mornings or
early evenings.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
If you want to listen, that's probably be a good
time to listen. On the weekends, great time to listen
to just kind of get the cadence and nuance of
how everything works.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yeah, yeah, and you know it is it's a really
good point. It's a different cadence.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, And it takes a little bit, right, even even
people who are you know, who've been operators for a
long time, the first time they start working satellites, they
get a little a little bit of mic fright back, right,
just because it's it's you know, it's a different. It's
(05:11):
fast paced and there's a lot going on. Yep, So
I definitely recommend and I did the same thing for
probably two weeks straight before I actually ever hit the PTT.
I just made sure I could get into the bird
every single time I could listen. And then the other
thing is you've got a lot of call signs coming
(05:32):
at you with bridge squares, so it's it's not like
you're at your machine where you're typing in the call
sign and you can look on the screen and repeat
the call sign back. You've got to be able to
memorize that. It's more like being in your vehicle, right,
And that's why that's a different skill.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yeah, yeah, okay, all right, So start at the beginning.
So a satellite is a repeater that's literally orbiting the Earth,
just like you would expect satellite to do. And there
are FM satellites which are usually crossbands, so they're listening
on two meters and transmitting on four to forty or
vice versa. I don't know if there's one more common
(06:11):
than the other.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah, it's more. It's more common to have the UHF
or seventy centimeters down.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So you're listening to seventy centimeters okay, and.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
So you have to adjust for Doppler on the listening
portion right right, But like AO ninety one is opposite
of that. You're transmitting on seventy centimeters and you're receiving
on two.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Meters okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
And there are such a thing as they call them,
Tom up there KB five FHQ. I think Tom he
calls them linear birds in their sideband.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah. So there's still two meters and seventy centimeters okay,
more often than not, okay. You know there is occasion
where there's some other frequencies, like like ten meters right right,
but that's not very common, okay. Usually it's going to
be two meters seventy centimeters sideband, okay, yeah, okay, okay.
And then those transponders give you a certain amount of bandwidth,
(07:09):
so you can have several conversations going on oh yeah,
on that transponder at the same time, right, So you
you know, sometimes you've got like seventy eighty killer herts,
one hundred killer hurts that you can work and find
an open spot and make contacts that way, and if.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
You're transmitting into it, I mean it's I mean what's
the what's the height of one of these things?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
They're all different, right, but they are.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
So the ISS is about two hundred and fifty miles
above the earth. Okay, yep, that's kind of the lowest.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Okay, Okay, Now, sometimes you can see that at night times.
We've seen it before at night time.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yes, absolutely, you can absolutely see the lights that are
on it, or see a reflection. Sometimes you can just
see reflection. I think more often than not you're seeing reflection.
You're probably not seeing any lights. Yeah, the like so
fifty that can be depending on its orbit, right, it
could be anywhere between three fifty to four hundred and
fifty miles above the earth.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Okay, what kind of Because you worked, we worked North
Texas to Mexico, and that is not unusual. In fact,
I might try to get you to send me the
footage of remember when we were out there in Colorado.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And you worked what was it, Alaska?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Alaska and Mexico, Mexico on the same.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Path in the same past. Okay, yeah, one at the
beginning of the past, right, Alaska at the very beginning
of the past. Huh, and then Mexico at the very
end of the past.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
And we were in Colorado, which is not exactly halfway
between the two, but it is between Mexico and Alaska.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So what what sort of.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Antenna are typically on the s Does it not matter
because they're up just up so high, or is there
like some sort of like array type antenna that's broader
banded that's allowing you to kind of bounce at a
greater angle off of the satellite, or.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
More often than not, they have some sort of dipole antenna. Okay,
that's usually what they're going to have, Okay on the satellite. Right,
you got to think about it's got to be something
that can be uh stowed huh while it's getting transported
and you know, getting to space, and then you've got
to be able to deploy it somehow, right, right, right,
(09:14):
So they're not very sophisticated in terms of their capability.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So I had Steve at the beginning of this, Steve
good Game AWL Teachers Institute, who were doing this for,
well one reason we're doing this for. He reached out
to me at the beginning He's like, are you going
to be doing a video about and I can't remember
the first thing he asked about, but the second thing
was about satellites, and I'm like, yes, I'm actually planning
on doing some doing a satellite video. I'm going to
go out and talk to Robert because he's done a
(09:38):
lot more than I have. And uh, and that's what.
But people that work satellites are there's there's like a
it's like the PoTA crowd, right, there's a group of
people that work satellites that are just die hard satellite.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
They're hardcore and.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And it gets it can It's very interesting to see
all the all the rigs and all the setups and
all the trial and it's like, well, why do you
do this? Oh? Because up one time and this like
you record all your contacts, Yes, so that you can
later go back and log them, because you're not going
to sit there and log them while the satellite is moving.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
So much going on, right exactly. Yeah. And with these
FM birds, right, these these LEO birds, they're typically between
a six and twelve minute pass right right, So everything
happens in that little window and.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
The higher the angle, the quicker it goes over. Yes,
So you want something that's.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Like thirty five thirty to thirty five degrees is like
the sweet spot.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
So it comes from the east and goes to the west.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
It's kind of like going like this and you're into
it longer rather than going straight over, and it's really fat.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
It's just moving faster.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Yeah, just ratio to me, certainly, I can make many
more contacts on a kind of mid level pass versus
a high degree pass.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
All right, Well, everybody's going to ask about your equipment,
so and I know you've done. Oh okay, one last
thing before we show the equipment. Telemetry, Yes, so explain
what you mean by that, right.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So, telemetry is information that is sent usually about the
satellite or about maybe capturing data that the satellite is
capturing via sensors. Okay, So it's data that the satellite
is sending to Earth about its surroundings, either it's operating
(11:23):
condition or its surroundings. So every satellite has some level
of telemetry. A lot of those are publicly provided information.
So they tell you what frequency it's on, and they
tell you the data elements that are in the telemetry package. Right.
So with that you can record that telemetry information and
(11:48):
then there are various programs that let you decode that
information and then you can see everything that the people
that are responsible for and maintaining that satellite can see.
So it might be thing is like your like, like
the battery health, the state of charge on a battery.
It could be the temperature at a particular time. Right.
(12:09):
Each satellite usually has a mission too, right, So there's
either a science project or some sort of mission associated
with the satellite, and oftentimes that telemetry is related to
that mission, so it'll continuously push down information about the
mission in those telemetry in that telemetry stream.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
All right, So this is the Elk antenna, and I
know that because I bought one on your recommendation. The
reason you like it better than the Arrow that the
Elk and the Arrow, or the two handheld antennas that
are most commonly used. There's there's probably some others out there.
Would I would assume this one is this one you
like better because it's all on the same polarization.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Yeah, it's there's a couple of reasons I like this, Okay.
First of all, for somebody just giving into satellites, they're
oftentimes buying a bunch of new kit yeah right, They're
buying a radio just to do it with. They're buying
an antenna just to do it with. They might be
buying some sort of packaging, some sort of bag or
box or something to deal with everything. Right, so there's
(13:09):
a certain amount of expense. These are generally thirty to
forty dollars cheaper than the arrow antennas. Okay, so it's
got a plus there if you're going to be roving
with it. It's a lot easier to deal with. It's
a lot easier to handle here. You can see it's
got elements on a single plane. If this was the
arrow antenna, I would have a hard time finding a
(13:30):
place to sit this, oh, because I would have elements
at ninety degrees to these elements, and so it's just
a little bit more to deal with. This has what
ten elements right where that arrow has many more elements.
So we were in a little bit of a rush
to get things set up here. Right. I can get
(13:53):
this put together way quicker than I can get an
arrow put together. This packs down a little easier, and
it's kind of easier to transport.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
If there's more elements on the arrow, does it have
a greater gain?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
It does?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
It does have a greater game ye okay, all.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Right, yeah, I would say that the that the arrow
performs better. Okay, this is more convenient, gotcha. Okay, So
it's like everything else in ham Radio, right, it depends
and it's a trade off. Right, everything's a compromise for me.
I can make contacts just fine with this antenna. So
(14:28):
because of that, the convenience outweighs the few dB of
gain that I get with the other antenna.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Makes sense? Okay, cool? Well everyone asks about oh.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is a everly stock multi pack.
That's that's the model of the bag. As you can see,
it's available to be set up like a chest rig. Right.
They actually have this this little harness here, which is
a separate purchase. You don't get that with the cha.
(15:00):
This is a separate, separate purchase. But this is a
great platform to build your satellite kit with. Now this
is also separate as well. This is called the Recon
Rangefinder pouch and it is just the perfect size for
holding a bioano three amp hour battery. So perfect size,
(15:22):
fits really well. This whole package fits really well into
a backpack. I take this with me to all the
hand fests. I usually travel via by plane, and so
this fits in my carry on super easy. Now, in
the bag. I've got an icon I see twenty seven thirty.
This is my preference for satellite radio. It's full duplex.
(15:45):
You can go buy one today off the shelf for
right around three hundred dollars. Which one of the most
challenging aspects of getting into satellites is getting a radio
because so many radios in the past we're full duplex,
where today they're not. There's so few full duplex radios
on the market. But this is a great one at
(16:06):
a great price. Right. You could end up buying something
like a D seventy two and pay eight hundred dollar
one thousand dollars. Yeah, for an HT right. I mean,
that's kind of one of those Unicorn radios that everyone
loves for satellites. But it's five watts only. And you know, again,
if you're buying kit just to get into satellites, this
(16:28):
is a really cheap way to do it. I keep
the radio itself in the pack. I've got a little
ninety degree connector on the radio itself that I connect
the coax too. I can wind this coax up and
it fits right in the pack as well. I always
keep an audio cable handy so that when I'm working alone,
(16:52):
I can plug this into the speaker output of the
twenty seven thirty and plug this into my recorder, and
then I plug my headphones into the recorder. That way,
I don't have any ambient noise. I can hear what's
going on just a little bit better. And it's a
little easier to hear yourself in the downlink that.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Way as well, I imagine.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
So yeah, yeah, yeah. Other than that, I created a
little pigtail to get me into the power polls for
the Bioana. I use this kind of as a garage
whenever I'm working the birds, and then on the other
side here I keep my little voice recorder. Right. This
is another kind of essential piece of kit for satellite operators.
(17:34):
This is how you really keep track of the people
you've talked to over the course of a pass. Right,
I'm not able to remember five six call signs with
all that stuff going on, But this and their grid
squares right right, which can change because that's the idea, right,
people rove and collect brid squares. But yeah, that's the kit.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Oh logging, logging, So where do you so, once you
have your con recorded, where do you do? You just
put them in a regular log Is there like a
satellite tracker logbook somewhere out there or how does that work?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Yeah, so I actually a lot of logging programs have
satellite logging capability. Okay, right, So they actually have a
feature in there that you can turn on and say,
I'm logging satellites, okay, and they will then recognize grid squares,
validate that you've input your grid square correctly. They'll also
have a list of satellites, so you're just kind of
(18:28):
picking things off of a drop down and when you
pick that off the drop down, it'll populate your frequencies.
So there are some benefits from using a logger that
recognizes and has a satellite feature to it, but it's
not necessary. Okay, I use one. I put all them
(18:50):
in my regular logger, I work them as satellite and
then I will upload those two logbook of the world
for those folks that are chasing a war trying to
get maybe Gridmaster Award or some of the other satellite awards.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Sweet man, Well, thank you thanks for coming out. Yeah,
that was fun.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
So we're gonna if you guys have watched any of
my videos from the last a dozen hamfests I've been
at Roberts usually set up with a satellite antenna somewhere
doing something. The best one, I still think was when
we were at the brewery outside of Huntsville Hanfest yellow
yellow Hammer.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
We were just we were just sitting there and he's like, oh,
there's a path.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Oh. That was the other thing.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
I was gonna ask you, what what you You're always
looking at your phone, so what what do you?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
What app? Are you using?
Speaker 3 (19:34):
An app called ISS Detector? And the great thing about
it is it's available on both iOS and Android, so
I can make that recommendation and everyone can use it.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Okay, Yeah, he's he's sitting there looking at his phone.
We're drinking a beer at Yellow Hammer. This was two
years ago, I think, and he's like, oh, there's a
pass and he goes out and gets this exact rig
out of his car, comes out and he's standing out
there in the middle of the field and everybody's out
there playing volleyball.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
You're not really close to him, but they're all looking
at their like what.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Is this guy doing?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
That's great?
Speaker 3 (20:04):
It was fun. It was great.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
It was it was fun.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Good stuff.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Well, thanks man, I appreciate your time today.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, you bet. Thanks for coming out.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
You guys get on satellites during the workday, I mean,
why not.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Fifty dollars worth of donations were made yesterday, bringing our
grand total for this thirty day challenge to six ninety
eight dollars as of last night, and once again, we're
not We're not where we wanted to be. I'm very
grateful for the money we have raised, and I'm hoping
several of you waited to the last minute to try
to see how it went. We were trying to raise
(20:41):
thirty thousand dollars for the Aarl Teachers Institute, and we're
about we're not even really a third of the way there.
So we got a few more days left in this challenge,
and then we're going to have a live stream on
the first Sunday in October. So seventy three all thank
you for watching. Be sure to watch all the videos.
All the videos to ten thousand views, and I will
(21:01):
donate one hundred dollars per video where that happens myself,
and we will see you guys tomorrow. Seventy three
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