Yaesu G - 250 Rotator

After watching a selection of second hand antenna rotators on eBay, I decided to go for a brand new model which I got through Nevada's eBay shop at a buy it now price.
Nevada have been selling the Yaesu G-250 Rotators at a promotional discounted price so it wasn't to hard to decide to purchase a new item rather than a used one which gave me peace of mind instead of not knowing the life expectancy of a pre owned unit.

I've been using the recently purchased antenna rotator for the last 10 days and have found it to be excellent value for money. I installed the recently mentioned IOIo beam on the GS-250 and have had successfully greatly improved 5/9 exchanges on the LEO Satellites, as well as the DX worked on 2m SSB.

The Rotator is well constructed and assembles easily in minuets, it comes with u-bolts ready to fix to your poles. Its design and choice of material has been well thought out as its shape is pleasant to the eye as well as practical and usable with good water resistance.

The GS-250 is a six pole 24 volt set up and 7-core trailer cable is the cheapest option to feed your rotator. The terminals are good quality and are numbered 1-6 which is repeated at the termination point on the Controller unit. I soldered some small terminal connectors which are normally crimped on to each end of the 6 core cable. The 7th core was cut at the end of the sheath and discarded.

The Controller is retro style simple and basic which may not suit all, but for myself it compliments the rest of my kit- FT-767, MD1, and SP-102 matching speaker, as it is exactly the same colour as the rest of the set up.
I use the Rotator/IoIo with the FT-847 and it already looks like its always been part of the shack. h.i
The dial is definitely retro design and is very basic in display showing N E S W and has marks set at 15 degree increments. The idea of learning my 15 X table all those years ago at first school, now seems all worth while. I have been enjoying using my brain power to calculate the sums, track the 'Birds' and noting Call Signs whilst in QSO. Extremely good fun.

All in all, the complete set up looks well and comes with Yaesu's usual quality build reputation performing smoothly and quietly as well as being accurate.

100% Rating from me and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to use it with a light weight antenna up to 25 kG total weight.
The ROTATOR and IOIo Home Brew Beam

VO-52 Satellite QSO Using The IOIo Antenna

After progressing from my vertical to the broom stick yagi and then experimenting with the IOIo beam, I finally ended up using some 10mm alum bar for the 144-145 Loop and Reflector and 6mm alum bar for the 435-436 Loop and Reflector. Mainly to stand up to the WX and Winter.

The finished model of the IOIo beam was then mounted at 20 degrees elevation on the new Yaesu gS-250 rotator that I have just added to my Shacks equipment list.

With the new antenna and rotator installation I have made many QSOs over the last weekend and found it to be very successful on VO-52 using SSB.

At present I have not experimented fully on the FM SATS such as AO-51 and SO-50. I have made a few QSOs on both of the FM birds and have so far noticed that the horizontal polarisation on the RX 435-436 Loop is not as good as the Vertically polarised previous design. I might consider altering the antenna but it's too early to say at the moment, as you can see in the video it does a good job and is working very well using SSB into VO-52.

Home Made IOIo Antenna Tried and Tested

Using the The IOIo Beam To Work Satellites and also 144MHZ SSB DX During A Contest. /Portable
Hope you enjoy the video.

Working SO-50

Here is another opportunity to see the new Arrow antenna with the the two Hand Held Rigs in action working Amateur SAT SO-50. TNX To all Stations worked during the pass 73.

The IOIo Satellite Antenna by EA4CYQ

After making many successful QSO on AO-51, SO-50 and AO-27 with the Arrow antenna using the two handheld Rigs, I have made a few new Ham friends who gave me some good tips regarding home brew SAT antenna's.

One Station Steve DL1YAL, gave me the link to EA4CYQ Juan's website showing his impressive SAT antenna the IOIo. The site contains detailed home brew construction information, which I followed using some 3mm TIG welding wire and PVC Tubing of Three different Diameters .

I made Three IOIo antenna's in total, the first one (MK I) worked well into VO-52 using SSB on the FT847 in the Shack. I was very impressed and wanted to experiment further, so I decided to try a slight change by changing the polarisation on 435MHz, making the antenna X shape. I gave the completed MK II to Phil M1PAC and as you see in the picture Phil has mounted it to a Tripod. Good luck with your set up Phil, and I hope to work you via one of the 'Birds' soon.

I then knocked up the MK III where I attached some more elements to see what might happen? I installed it on a tubular mast of 5 feet and aimed it N.W, I decided to try 144.300 to see if anyone was about to get a report when I heard a 5/5 signal coming from GM Scotland (150-200 Miles).

I called back on the new IOIo modified Beam and worked GM4CCC/P Chris at the Island of Isla IO65VO, exchanging 5/5 reports. I was extremely pleased with the IOIo beams great performance tested and compared. I tried to receive Chris on the Vertical and could not hear anything. The new beam was looking good, Tnx to EA4CYQ Juan for the design!

I finalised the test when I set the beam at about 15 degrees elevation,and about 200 degrees in a southerly direction, and awaited VO52 on 145.900 USB +/- RX frequency. I set the other VFO to the TX Up link frequency of 435.250 LSB.

It was'nt long before the signals came flooding into my FT-847, I successfully worked three Stations during the Pass.

I worked, DG6IMR, G7BTA, and EB3SA using the MK III IOIo with 5/9 exchanges and no Rotators.
So the result was excellent and I just keep turning the antenna in the the approaching VO-52 Satellite's direction at the moment before the SAT is in range.
Here are some images of the IOIo Satellite antenna's designed by EA4CYQ and built by myself 2E0HTS.

The MK I awaiting the two feeders which are soldered directly to the back of each loop.

The MK I Version in action.

The MK II Version in action at Phil M1PAC QTH in Keighley West Yorkshire.

The MK III Version at my QTH at 1000 ft ASL
I really enjoyed home brewing these antenna's, and it was an inexpensive way of creating a tool to allow SAT Operation. I await my next project whilst playing some more Ham Radio!

73 Tnx for reading. de Simon 2E0HTS

AO-51 Worked Using QRP Equipment

Watch the video to see how M1PAC-Phil and 2E0HTS-Simon Work Multiple Contacts on AO-51 with the new QRP set up. We used 4watts and two handheld radios(FT-470 + TH-7) and the Arrow antenna.

73 thanks for watching.

Portable QRP Satellite Operation

I have recently received the US Imported Arrow LEO 145/435 hand held Satellite antenna which I purchased from The Antenna Warehouse in The US.


I decided I would like to try work a few Satellites with my hand held radios after watching fellow Ham and Youtuber K7AGE Randy, in one of his many excellent Youtube videos.

I particularly enjoyed Randy's video which showed him making a QSO via AO51 with the Arrow Antenna mounted on a tripod using a simple hand held radio.

I also found other Hams on youtube with similar videos, one video with EA1GHW using two hand held radios which made the job of listening to your own transmission via the down link much easier.

So with the inspiration and ideas both taken on board as well as some ideas of my own, I began to set up my own Portable QRP Satellite Station.

The first job was constructing the extension boom which would incorporate two radio mounts as well as providing somewhere to site a compass and my HP Ipaq which runs windows mobile software and sat track.

I used some aluminium sheet which was 3mm in thickness. I cut the sheet using a guillotine and then placed the aluminium in to a bench folder which allowed me to fold the ally into a L shape, similar to angle iron.

Once the extension boom was drilled to fit the pre-drilled and tapped back part of the antenna boom, I assembled the ext boom. Then I began to plan the best way to mount the two hand held rigs I was to use which are Yaseu FT-470, and Kenwood TH-7e.

The next stage was where I fabricated two alloy carry case type radio supports, these were tailor made for each transceiver. I made them from 1.5mm high grade aluminium and mounted them to the L shape boom with 4.8mm diameter rivets.

I fitted the radios to the antenna and used the built in duplexer with a maximum input of 10 watts to practice receiving signals from the LEO(low Earth Orbiting) Satellites.

Both rigs are capable of working VHF & UHF and both have Dual watch(Two VFOs on screen).

After testing during the initial setup, I found the Kenwood worked excellent on VHF and could even be used to receive(RX only) VO52 operating on USB.

However, the Kenwoods performance was so not as good on Receiving AO51, AO27, and SO50 which are all FM UHF down links, the TH7e seemed to be deaf on 435 and 436 MHz.

This was not a great surprise as I have compared the little transceiver/multi mode scanner many times before with my almost antique out performing Yaesu ft-470.

The FT-470 can also be used as a one rig set up as I found out with successful QSOs being made from Germany and the Ukraine on AO51 and SO50.

The FT-470 has a fader that allows for example: AO51 up link 145.920 to TX whilst the down link can still be heard with the balance of the fader set to UHF at the same time as your transmission.

I found the old radios receive capability was outstanding and the only weak spot now was pressing the band select button to RX VFO whilst adjusting the Doppler frequency, then back to the up link band to TX.

So the final stage was to remove the boom fitted duplexer supplied with antenna, and to feed the dual bands directly to the two Hand helds.

I hadn't been to my local Ham radio shop for a while so it was time to visit Steve( M5LAR) at LAR(Leeds Amateur Radio)Centre.

Steve has a good selection of Equipment new and second hand, as well as the other bits and pieces related to radio you may need. Local for myself and the best place to get some quality feeder, fittings and new rechargeable battery's for the old Yaesu.

Me outside LAR.

Once I returned from LAR, I fitted the feeder and began to play.

It was not long before AO-27 became in range, and with the two radios working I was easily able to operate the QRP satellite operational portable station out in the garden and made a successful QSO via the satellite.

The FT-470 was in RX mode whilst the kenwood was used to TX.

Here you can see both rigs and mounts fixed to the EXT L boom.

A close up of the FT-470 and home brew mount.

The Radio's, Ipaq, and Compass.

HP Ipaq running windows mobile software and Sat Track to know when and where to point the antenna when the Satellite is in range.

Technology is great but a trusty compass makes life easier when finding the correct direction.

The Completed project.

Looking upwards

Easily becomes Vertical polarisation and works well on 2m Fm and SSB, good for SOTA work.

I've been running in and out quite a lot the past couple of days working nearly every pass that each satellite provides with the new QRP set up, I am really surprised on how well it is performing.

I am enjoying this interesting way to make radio contacts and hope to hear you all calling CQ Satellite soon. It makes a change to be working the satellites making QSOs from the usual WX monitoring. Which lately the constant rain has told its own story. I would just like to say this type of activity is an exciting, fast paced way to make QSOs that seems very addictive and time consuming as I have worked two satellites since beginning this post and am constantly watching the Satellite Radar waiting anxiously, what good fun I'm having, I love it!

p.s tnx to Louise (M3TLL my YL) for putting up with it all. h.i

73

2E0HTS Homebrew 4 Element Yagi Project

The past few weeks I have been exploring the world of VHF by listening and playing around on 2M SSB as well as VO-52. I have had some success on 144.300 with my vertical and home brew Loop with DX opportunities such as GM4PPT (Richard) located in Scotland near to Ayr and one or two other interesting QSOs.

The rest of the time apart from HF operations, I have been tracking VO-52 and trying my best to put a signal into its Transponder and making some QSOs. I successfully had a QSO with DL6HP via VO-52 and tonight's pass brought signals to my Earth Station once again but this time I received them with my new home brew 2M Yagi. Tonight's contact was with G7BTA (Dave) who was approximately 200 miles south of my QTH down in Hereford.

The Home brew Yagi received well but my TX was still going through my vertical so you guessed it, the next job is a 433/70CM Yagi.

Here is the story so far, I used a broom handle, some 3mm thick aluminium sheet, and some 3mm Brass sheet.

I cut the sheet on a 6mm capacity guillotine with a 3 meter wide bed, which allowed a full 3X2 meter sheet to be cut. The aluminium elements are 15mm wide and the brass driven element was cut at 20mm wide.

The above diagram shows the element sizes and the element spacings.

The Image below shows the finished project assembled to the Broom Stick.
You can see the Three 15mm x 3mm Aluminium elements and the Brass 20mm x 3mm active driven element which is folded at one side creating optimum performance as well as 1.1 SWR across 144-146 MHZ.
The total length is 960mm wide + 480mm (folded element) + 35mm space between top element and bottom folded element. Total size was 1475mm.
Here you can see Me holding the Broom Stick Yagi, with My Dog Dudley assisting the installation.
I used the flat strip rather than round bar mainly because it was at my disposal at the time.

I will probably build the 433- 437 MHz Yagi from welding rods which are round. This Yagi was simple to build using screws and the wooden broom, but now I can no longer sweep out the shack as the broom has now become my Boom. h.i
The next stage is where I fixed some box section to the base of the Broom-Boom, here you see the yagi in its horizontal state.

The next image shows the Coaxial feed line which the braid is taken to the centre of the top part of the Brass Driven Element. Here you can see the Coaxial inner which is connected to the bottom folded part of the Driven Element. I used a plastic spacer to obtain the 35mm clearance from the top part of the Element
Another view of the Feeder which is 50 ohm Coax. And of course as usual ,I like my antennas away from nagging/complaints so once again the Tree provides height a well as stealth. ( I did straighten and line up the elements once I set everything up)
This one is a prototype, Once I have given it a serious testing I may construct a Dual band yagi similar to the LEO (Low Earth Orbiting) Satellite antenna, which should be arriving from Antenna warehouse USA any day soon. I am hoping to use the commercial Arrow antenna which is hand held with my Hand Held Radios and operate via AO-51, more about that in the near future and maybe I'll try to make something similar.

In the meantime thanks for reading and if your thinking about trying a Broom stick Yagi like this one, I hope you have as much fun and enjoyment making it like I just have had.

It does seem to work very well within the short time I have tested it, and I am feeling confident it will be a big improvement especially on SSB.

73 de Simon 2E0HTS

SO-50, AO-51, VO-52 Transponder Frequencies and Rig settings

The best way to work Amateur Satellites is to program your radios memory with the up links, down links and any necessary PL tones required to activate the Transponders.

Here is the result, which if you are new or are just getting in to Satellite Communications, you may find the frequencies shown helpful. The rig seen in the pictures is an FT-847.
SO-50 AMATEUR SATELLITE

TX Up Link 145.850 FM 67HZ Tone. RX Down Link 436.795 FM +/-

AO-51 AMATEUR SATELLITE

TX Up Link 145.920 FM 67HZ Tone. RX Down Link 435.300 FM +/-

VO-52 AMATEUR SATELLITE

TX Up Link 435.250 LSB RX Down Link 145.900 USB+/-
Hello to All at Planet Ham and Tnx for linking to Ham Radio Blogspot

73

NOAA-15, AO-51, VO-52 & ISS In Range With The Latest SATSCAPE At 2E0HTS Earth Station

For those of you that like working satellite or possibly the ISS, have you come across the latest version of SATSCAPE?

SATSCAPE has been around for years and is now written in Java which allows a better graphic display to be used whilst tracking your favourite NOAA Satellites and the ISS as well as other Space Comms such as AO-51 and VO-52.

I use SATSCAPE to assist me when trying to call CQ on the Earth Orbiting Voice repeaters which are FM and SSB, so far success on SSB but still trying to make it on FM.

The new version can be downloaded via the link with support and updates also found at the SATSCAPE Website


AS you can see it looks very nice

Satscape screen shot
click to enlarge

Here you can see the ISS's Orbit and course
click to enlarge

ISS Zoomed closer and over Europe in Range of 2E0HTS Earth station
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FT-847 Yaesu Radio is listening on 145.800 the ISS downlink but no signals are being transmitted by the crew during the overhead pass which is plotted and tracked using my 3800 dual core P.C and SATSCAPE.
click to enlarge

The ISS International Space Station NA1SS

I've heard NA1SS on both voice and packet many times using Satscape to know when to try but have yet to make a QSO!
Satscape is very good for tracking NOAA WX Satellites which provide excellent images of the ever changing weather. Here I am using Radio com 5.2 to decode live transmissions coming from NOOA-15 Low Earth Orbiting Satellites camera equipment.
click to enlarge

Here is the image I received which was quite a long RX covering Africa to the North Arctic which is amazing reception for a home made Vertical (Not Supposed to work well) Antenna. Radio Com 5.2 RX NOAA 15 for 20mins with this TX at my QTH. Some passes only provide short reception openings which can be considered and reviewed using Satscape to ensure optimum RX time.
click to enlarge

The U.K and our stormy Weather front
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Ideas and different dedicated Satellite Antenna
This design of satellite communication antenna is a Double Cross Four Dipole Sat RX ANT by KD6JDJ who actually got in touch and sent me the design. TNX
click to enlarge
Here is another type of antenna known as an Egg Beater which are used in Satellite operations and can be constructed fairly easily.

click to enlarge


FT-857 In Test Mode
The other evening VC1T, Fred operating from Bon Portage (Outer) Islands (IOTA NA-126) in southwest Nova Scotia, came through great whilst I was playing around with my little FT-857.

The FT-857 fed by the home brew 20M Loop, permitted a nice couple of over’s where Fred commented on my nice 5/9 signal produced by just 50 W.

VC1T, Fred's QTH click to enlarge

I also managed QSOs with AD1L James and for the 3rd time this month KP2/AA1BU Joe operating from the U.S Virgin Islands. I was again on the FT-857 running the Loop.

Earlier I had tried the FT-857 on the lower HF band 80m, where I used the same output power, this time with the G5RV.

At a 1000 feet ASL and a severe drop off of 500ft below my antennas, you can imagine they work well up here at Baildon Moor running QRP set ups.

On 80m I made two QSO, first EW1MM, Gary from Minsk city. This was a pleasant surprise as we catch each other regularly on 20 M when I am mobile too and from Work.

The second contact saw a battle of signals through lightning crashes that were loud on the band.

Despite this I was able to have a lengthy QSO with Hans, MM0XAU, from the Shetland Islands with again 5/9 + at times.

I enjoyed the QSO with Hans as he described his spectacular location which I hope to visit one day.

Hans MM0XAU

With good reports especially regarding audio received on the Yaesu FT-857 I will now consider installing this rig in the mobile replacing the FT-100.

The last time I tried it in my mobile I was running the Toyota RAV4 and I had some issues with my audio quality and RFI problems.

This time I have had the option of setting things up as in running now without any processor, to produce a better quality audio level on HF.

The new Toyota also has been RFI combated with a clean new precise installation. Hopefully I will post some info featuring the installation in the not so distant future.

England to France Mobile to Mobile with Local Ham Holidaying

Whilst Driving back from a pleasant walk in the Dales I operated /mobile on 20M when I was Called by local Ham and popular RSGB NEWS NET Controller / News Reader M5AEH, operating F/M5AEH/M.

COLIN from near by Queensbury Yorkshire, was Holidaying and playing radio whilst cooling down in the shade at 32 degrees in the South of France.

Colin f/M5AEH/mobile came through 5/2 to 5/9 whilst I was Mobile near Bolton Abbey in North York’s just as I was signing with Harald, LA9VK from Norway.

Exactly Two Years previous Colin was again 5/9 in F/ France working 20M mobile back to my mobile station 10 miles away from our recent contact which was near by at Malham.

We seem to catch each other each time One or the Other goes off Holidaying h.i

Especially funny as we can virtually shine a light across the Valleys to each other and we rarely catch each other on.

I will try awake slightly earlier on a Sunday morning and make the effort by calling in to Colin's lively little Net. 73 & TNX to the Two Bills, Colin and all the Sunday Morning Crew for a pleasant start to the day!

That’s all for now 73 tnx for passing by!

QRP Portable Contact with C.R.A.G Member M3XLG

This afternoons walk was another chance to make a video and play radio using my little hand held transceiver.

We headed up to Bardon Moor from our QTH of Baildon Moor.

Yes we are Moorland addicts due to the peace and quiet, tranquility and the spectacular views you get in the unspoilt Moorland Country side.

Bardon Moor is even higher than our QTH(1000 ft) with heights of 1600 ft in places which work well for VHF hand held equipment.

I did'nt quite get to the maximum altitude as we only had a couple of hours and one bottle of drink each, which was needed at 23.5 degrees in the shade!

We got to 1165 feet and with a scenic view in all directions I decided to get the little 5watt Kenwood out of the bag and I commenced calling CQ CQ.

As usual on 2m FM there was an abundance of listeners but no takers, until after three or four shout outs were I received a reply.

The Station that had returned to my call was Chris M3XLG who put a 5/9+ signal to the TH-F7 with its Diamond SRH771 Aftermarket antenna I had fitted.

Chris M3XLG reply was well appreciated by myself it was a real pleasure having a nice rag chew with Chris as we have had a few QSOs in the past and it had been a while.

Chris was running 10 watts from an FT-857 and as you can see in the video His audio was excellent with a solid signal.

Chris M3XLG is also a member of the Craven Radio Amateur Group (C.R.A.G) which is a busy group of keen and dedicated radio hams that like to get out and about and also host many special events.

I often work the C.R.A.G operators during there expeditions across the bands and you can usually rely on some one from the group returning to your CQ call unlike other locals and Clubs.

Thanks guys and keep up the good work.

You can find out more at theC.R.A.G website
.

Here is the video I made whilst in QSO with M3XLG high up on Bardon Moor

Now where is my Telescope!

73 thanks for visiting.

Propagation Paradise on HF 20m & 40m

Since my return from EA6 the propagation seems to have improved substantially with terrific openings on 20m, and 40m late at night here at Baildon Moor U.K.
click on log to enlarge


I have had some amazing DX contacts each evening as I have operated into the early hours of the morning with contacts into Martinique and Netherlands Antilles on 40M using the G5RV. The biggest surprise happened whilst in SWL mode as I came across a nice informal Net on 7.185 lsb consisting of a nice group of US Hams. I have worked the US on 40m before during WWCQ Contest but this opportunity was not to be missed. I managed three different stations WA3QPX, K4KOM and W3ZKY with successful reports exchanged, the other guys were just in the noise as I was to them. The US guys were very pleased to be picking up little station 2E0HTS on 50watts and I went on to work more DX as you can see in the above log.

I also got the opportunity to work Ian VK3MO from Oz again as well as the other DX stations confirmed by the log. The propagation has definitely been favorable from around 2200 UTC in my home QTH, I hope things are now finally beginning to stabilise on the HF bands. It is great when you can generate a decent signal fairly QRP (50watts) and work stations like Joe KP2/AA1BU for the third year running in the month of July. I can almost set my calender by Joe's signal each July h.i. Other nice DX contacts include TI8II from Costa Rica which again was made on 20M with the home brew Delta loop antenna.

The next few evenings will be spent listening out SWLing and hopefully there will be more propagation paradise to be had.

Tonight is a beautiful sunny evening so if the sky is clear I shall be experimenting with my telescope catching up with the Astronomy hobbie by viewing the stars and observing some Low Earth Orbiting Satellites.

73 enjoy the Contest for those who are participating, myself I probably will give some points away but only for fun as I have not got my Contest serious head on at the moment.

Ham Radio Blogspot goes on a Tour of EA6 Mallorca

click any image to Enlarge
We had a nice week in EA6-Mallorca and are now re-vitalised and ready to make some noise up on the Amateur Radio Bands from my Licenced Station here in the U.K

During the last week we covered over 350 KM on two motorcycles, Kawasaki KLE 5oo and a Suzuki Marauder whilst touring the Island of Mallorca. We both got a great Sun tan and met some very nice Mallorcan people.

So hopefully I should have some energy and new experiences to try out regarding Radio and get some inspiration to blog here on ham Radio Blogspot. ;-)



There were opportunities to look out for Antennas, I saw quite a few on our travels. One antenna sighting you can see here at the old town of Alcudia. I spotted some interesting Arrays up and down the Island.

There were some very nice locations to operate radio but my Licence allows all bands and modes but only in the U.K so it was just pure holidaying for me!!

Other News
Thanks to Eric PA1TNO for commenting regarding our recent QSO via VO-52, Hope to do it again Eric and anyone else who may be interested in satellite Communications.

Also Thanks to Nash JN4VWH for sending me his lovely QSL card which confirms our contact back in March when we used repeaters and echolink.

Tonight's Radio News

I just made a 5/7 QSO with YV5MSG Werther from Venezuela this evening at 22.19 UTC, which makes our 3rd QSO this year.
picture of YV5MSG Werther.

At 11.08 UTC also on 20M I bumped into VK3MO Ian near Melbourne for the second time this year working long path.

Ian's antenna array from below


Ian and I exchanged 5/8 reports and had good couple of overs each, tonight's DX contacts after a week in EA6 certainly fired the enthusiasm levels! Hooray for Ham Radio!

Hopefully the next few evenings will be interesting on 20M and I will get the chance to make some new contacts and DX? 73 to all and hopefully good DX.

2E0HTS makes QSO with PA1TNO via VO-52 Satellite

Today I successfully managed a contact using my FT-847 and vertical antenna by connecting with Earth orbiting satellite VO-52.

I monitored VO-52s location using satscape and once the satellite was in range I called cq on VFO B which was set at 435.250mhz lsb (uplink frequency)and at the same time I was tuning around VFO A set at 145.900mhz usb +or- 10kilo cycles.

You have to search up and down the receive frequency + or - 10ish quickly whilst transmitting audio, I did this until I heard my self on the downlink signal.

Once my voice was clear on the downlink I was called by PA1TNO-Eric who was located in Amsterdam in the NETHERLANDS.

Eric's signal and my own were constantly shifting frequency in an upward motion due to the speed of the travelling VO-52 satellite creating the Doppler effect.

I maintained continuous adjustment to the downlink RX signal but kept the uplink signal fixed on 435.250mhz lsb.

We both exchanged reports and locator's without any problems, I was excited and pleased with this kind of amateur radio activity, I had finally managed to make a successful DX QSO with Space communications and technology for the first time.

I have listened to many QSOs taking place on V0-52 and AO-51 and other satellites for many years, so at last Patience has paid off and enthusiasm to try more satellite communication has sparked so don't be to surprised if I post more on the subject.

73 and here is some techie stuff regarding VO-52.

VO-52 specs:

The satellite is spin stabilized. It spins at about 4 RPM.

UHF Uplink and VHF Downlink

Uplink transponder frequency: 435.250 MHz

Downlink transponder frequency: 145.900 MHz

Beacon frequencies: 145.860 MHz CW telemetry and 145.936 MHz unmodulated carrier

Transponder bandwidth: 60 kHz

Transmitter output power: 1 watt

Antennas: VHF and UHF turnstiles

Communication modes: CW, SSB, FM

Electrical power: Gallium Arsenide solar panels charging a Lithium Ion battery

Onboard computer: MAR 31750 processor in the spacecraft's electronic bus management

unit for attitude control, telemetry, telecommand for ground control, sensor and actuator functions.

Each transponder is recognized by its beacon.

The Indian transponder has an unmodulated carrier on 145.940 MHz.
The Dutch transponder is modulated with telemetry information on 145.860 MHz.

Both are linear transponders offering the CW, USB and FM modes of amateur radio communication. They operate Mode-B for U-V operation with UHF uplink and VHF downlink.

Amateur Radio Field Day 2008

Great video created by Kevin(stormspotterkwp) which promotes Amateur Radio.

You can also catch me in there somewhere if your quick ;-)

73 have a good weekend.