VO-52 - Favourite Satellite Is Silent Key

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My Google+ account keeps me up to date with all of the things and people that are important to me and it was there where I first received the sad news that my favourite earth orbiting amateur radio satellite VO-52 had become silent key. I had a look on the AMSAT-UK site to see in more detail what had happened to the long serving satellite. It appears to have been down to a problem with the battery unit as I read that during VO-52's 49,675th orbit, the on-board lithium ion batteries finally gave in and are not likely to be recovered.


I first got interested in working the VO-52 satellite when I made my first home brew yagi which I called the" broomstick yagi". Since then I have had hours and hours of fun working hundreds of radio amateurs and making antennas whilst trying my best to improve my satellite station. For many years I have caught lots of daily passes from the superb LEO satellite -VO-52 allowing me the opportunities to practice making qso's and perfecting my amateur satellite operating skills and techniques. It was working through VO-52 that first inspired me to modify my IOIo antenna and make it a IO-10 element as seen in the pictures above. I have had some of the best ham radio fun working through this quality bird and will really miss it as well as some of the guys that I worked solely through this satellite. I am glad that I made plenty of videos of VO-52 for anyone wanting a chance to re-live the magic of the legendary VO-52. Just follow the links below.

VO 52 Amateur Satellite Communication 

CQ VO-52 Satellite 

How To Make A VO-52 SAT QSO 

VO-52 Satellite QSO With ON7EQ & 2E0HTS 

Well I guess that VO-52 will take some beating, lets hope that there will be more like VO-52 for us all to enjoy in the up and coming amateur satellite future. All that is left to say is a big thank you to everyone involved in the VO-52 satellite project. It was a great asset to amateur radio World wide and will be always remembered as the satellite with a solid signal whenever it passed by my horizon. Farewell old buddy, your transponders have served you well!

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