Hey There!
It’s been minute since my last poet but here I am with a little update on my amateur radio satellite station. I had a bit of a break from the sats this spring as I was planning travel, then traveling, then recovering from travel, then had a back problem, then recovered from that, and now I am back operating sats again. Whew!
I still use my original two-radio setup consisting of a Yaesu 817ND uplink radio and am iCOM IC-705 as a downlink radio, with no automation. I still love using it and can’t say enough about how much the 705 and it’s pandapter display improves the experience of working full duplex. Being able to see your signal on the downlink and then tune to it makes getting on frequency a breeze. That’s less QRM caused, and more time making contacts.
I thought about this the other day: If I was using two 817/818’s I would make a habit of using my phone to snap images of both displays during the pass. That would let me build a better cheat sheet and save a lot of time. Let me know if you do this, or if you use another method.
The other development is my use of the CSN SAT controller with my IC-9700 in a sling-style camera bag, into the ARROW II antenna. I stopped procrastinating and finally did the easy work of connecting a battery bank to the SAT, and connecting it to the CI-V port on the 9700. I’m using a HEIL headset and I run in VOX mode. I still have a few wrinkles to work out. The connections for the CI-V and the Key, and probably the HEIL headset cables and adapter, may be picking up some RF and I get a popping/click in the RX when transmitting on 2M (RS-44, for example). I will be making sure I have the wiring as neat as possible and throwing a choke or two into the mix in attempt to quiet that down.
Not only am I enjoying the life of automated Doppler compensation, which is a great way to operate, but I get to see how manual tuning stations sound to the automated stations. On several occasions I had been told I was “drifting” and it made the contact difficult. It’s all relative I guess.
In manual tuning I set the lower of the two bands (2m uplink on RS-44) and track the Doppler with the higher of the two bands (70cm RS-44 downlink). An automated station adjust both uplink and downlink to maintain the same frequency at the input of the transponder. Last night I heard a station on RS-44 that was super loud but couldn’t find themselves. It sounded like a lot of power and seemed to be pumping the RS-44 AGC, but who knows. I eventually worked them and had two observations. The apparent drift I was observing was due to differing tuning methods. Also the other station was super loud but often couldn’t hear themselves or the other station. I’m going to make a guess: Manual tuning, no frequency display on the downlink, likely too much power, and probably a mounted linear-polarized antenna and not able to twist it to match the sat’s polarization.
Having a man-portable/wearable, computer controlled IC-9700 opens up a lot of possibilities that would be difficult to wrangle with a manual tuning station. One is quick QSY between satellites since you can use the SAT control app to just pick another sat as it comes into view. Another is eliminating the need to switch antenna connections when switching modes as I need to do on my two-radio setup. Lastly I have started to use CW on RS-44 which is “interesting. I have to secure the paddles well enough to send accurately, and in a position where I can manipulate them in something like a normal hand position. It’s all a compromise. Then there is the challenge of manual tuning while sending with my right hand while pointing and twisting the Arrow with the other is quite a juggling act. With the two-radio setup I have to tune ahead, my signal or the other station drifts past, and then I retune again. The 9700/SAT will allow me to just send and manage the antenna.
The last difference is weight. The 9700 weighs a lot, and using a sling bag does not help as the weight really digs in to one side of my neck. I’m looking for a backpack that I can wear in reverse in order to distribute the load better. Until then I can manage that setup in return for the ease of use.
All of these things are pointing to another round of finding a suitable pack, them modifying it to solve these problems, and trying to keep the weight as low as possible.
That’s all I have for now. Have fun on the air, and Stay tuned.
Pete Brunelli, N1QDQ
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