ISS at 08.53 UTC over France and Spain

This mornings SSTVs transmission whilst passing France and Spains border.

NA1SS Making Multiple Contacts Over Europe

NA1SS Working Multiple Contacts and Sending SSTV Images Of The Earth

We have all been reading about the latest radio activity on board the ISS and many of us have been following the passes of the ISS, whilst waiting in anticipation to see if we can hear any interesting transmissions from the other side of the Ionosphere.

Today I got lucky and managed to not only receive a couple of Earth Shots from space, I also heard Richard Garriot (W5KWQ) working multiple contacts across Europe under the International Space Stations call sign, NA1SS.



Here MMSSTV Software is decoding the received ISS transmission

A closer look at the received image of N.West Europe

An image of the Atlantic

Satscape Screen shot of the position of the ISS as it moves away.

I used Yaesu the FT-847, the home brew IOIo beam, GS 250 rotator and MMSSTV to decode the images whilst tracking the ISS with Satscape. Incidentally I recently un-installed the Java version of Satscape and reverted to the previous version, as I found the Java version slowed down my connection speed an awful lot?
My Computer is now running back at its normal speed (Broadband Connection) with the earlier Satscape program.

I will be listening out for the ISS as well as the usual bands, have a nice weekend.

73

20M PSK31 QSO N3TEE and 2E0HTS On Sched

The past few days have seen some good openings on HF for me especially on 20M, with QSOs being made from my Mobile Station as well as from inside the Shack.

Shawn N3TEE from Newark in the USA and myself 2E0HTS, have been exchanging emails ever since Shawn commented on one of my videos. We have been trying to make QSO on 20 and 40M over the last couple of evenings and tonight using PSK31 we finaly made the QSO!

Shawn N3TEE came through quite loud at times 57-599 running an Icom Rig but there was slight QSB. Nether the less, we managed a 10 min QSO and can now exchange QSL.
N3TEE Shawn

Click to Enlarge, Shawn N3TEE's Lap Top p.c screen in RX with myself 2E0HTS coming through in The USA.

Click to Enlarge,Simon 2E0HTS's Screen with Shawn N3TEE coming in loud and clear. I used my FT-767, Nomic Rigblaster, 3800Dual Core Computer,40-50 Watts through a Full wave Delta LOOP Vertically polarised.


The Actual Transmission received and transmitted at N3TEE's QTH
2E0HTS 2E0HTS 2E0HTS DE N3TEE N3TEE N3TEE K

Callsign> de 2E0HTS 2E0HTS pse k

N3TEE N3TEE de 2E0HTS 2E0HTS pse k Qe |

O

!

2E0HTS DE N3TEE

Hi Simon how are you finally made it.. HI HI

I like this mode your about a 559 559 559

BTU 2E0HTS DE N3TEE BK

N3TEE n3TEE de 2E0HTS 2E0HTS

Hello Shawn, it is great to hear you in psk loud and clea et you about a 55 report at the moment how do you copy BTU N3TEE de 2E0HTS kt ott


I copy 100 %,

Thanks for the come back..

You might want to try WSJT software

It is very good for very weak signals

But not qso's only contacts.

Here is my brag file.

16 Oct 2008 19:14:29z

2E0HTS 2E0HTS DE N3TEE N3TEE

Your RST: 559 559 559 My Name: Shawn Shawn My QTH: Newark, Delaware, USA Grid Locator: FM29do

The equipment is as follows: Rig: ICOM-706MKIIG RF Power: 25 watts Antenna: 40m Homebrew Ground Plane up 10 ft/3m Computer: Laptop/HP Pavilion AMD Turion64 Interface: Buck Rascal Software: Digipan 2.0

Operator:

Created in the Netherlands, born in the USA Age: 39 Year Old Ham Since: September 1997

QSL via Bureau, LOTW or Direct (See www.QRZ.com

2E0HTS 2E0HTS DE N3TEE N3TEE BK

N3TEE N3TEE de 2E0HTS eiE0HTS

Ok Shawn great copy your re7-599

I'm running PSK31 Deluxe vX ou just townloaded it last night it seemyytod so far.

P at autgite to work you I will be pe otinoeblog entry regarding our QuO o

I am using - oeed FT-767 and 50 e Watts into a home brew DEts eop for 20 G NAND moaete.a…IL

Ok Sha eG2 e U

Lx3TEE de 2E0HTS kuh p ER






Ok Simom,

I am starting to loose your signal I send you a screen capture of this qso.

But we made the contact!!

The other day had a contact with north dakoda

I was -24 Db below the noise when he received my signal on JT65

Great software.

BTU 2E0HTS DE N3TEE BK

N3TmQt ose,oawfa bittn ÙSB on tt e

T . But I got most of it e o

O3nd your eiSL cnra

! Please email bour address IIlo

T N3TEE N3TEE de m e9e I S

My sU e-- rA pow r 0, t-a e =PSK31 DelubiV4.0

Ide

E a Loop, 6BTV, G5RV, IOIo, locator = IO93CU and web www.ham=ediooperator.blogspot.compi r ToeiE de 2E0HTS Ke e (be


I am looseing your signal not very good cpy now.

I will email you.

BTU 2E0HTS DE N3TEE BK

N3TEE N3TEE de 2E0HTS 2uTS

Tegrnuewn TNX for th qSO it is a pleasure AI hope we make it agn soon

73 all the best and tnx ag

Ne£TEE d l2E0HTS SC e i.e.,i.e. E



Thanks again Simon I get out your blog.

73 2E0HTS DE N3TEE Have a nice Day and thank you for the nice QSO SK

CWID: de N3TEE

Bye Bye Î wn Good ONE ne3TEE de 2E0HT

Tnx to Shawn and everyone else I have been working using PSK31 Deluxe v4.0 and listen out for 2E0HTS in the very near future on the PSK bands.

Shack Activity

Latest Satellite confirmed QSL cards<As usual the radio's have been in use during the evenings after a days work and I have been working various Bands and Modes making some good QSOs.

I also made a number of QSO's into the USA via Echolink. During one of the QSO's I tried to arrange a PSK sched with N3TEE-Shawn, but with one or two QSB issues we still have to make the QSO. Echolink can be a very useful tool for arranging radio contacts with DX Stations.

I also received two nice QSL Cards sent direct to me confirming Satellite Contacts from AO-51 and VO-52. The Cards were from IK3VZS-Vinicio and EA3AGH-Jose, Thanks Guys my QSL cards have been posted and should be with you soon!

With the propagation offering some reasonable evening openings and my Amateur satellite addiction still maintaining a good hold over my radio operations, I had to get back on HF and give my FT-767 a good airing off.h.i.
So I have tried to do what us Men are not supposed to be able too do which is multi-tasking. I did this in the form of sending PSK on HF via the FT-767, and at the same time I tracked and worked a few Satellites . It worked out well with the one Microphone to work with in my hand, whilst using my Nomic Rig blaster in a semi automatic mode interfaced to my P.C. ( How many of us Hams have tried returning with an over holding the wrong microphone? h.i Me for one!

Here is the Waterfall in full flow as I receive lots of big signals from around the Globe using WinPSKse.
Here My most recent log entry's are showing various methods of making QSOs with some nice DX being worked at the same time.
click on Log to Enlarge WinLog32
Thanks to all of you that have been emailing me telling me about your Satellite antenna's, Home brew projects and general radio news. Please continue to communicate with myself, all emails, information, advice and idea's are appreciated.

73

Ham Radio Poems by M3TLL (Louise)

Ham Radio HF

There's a voice inside the static
And it's calling out CQ
CQ DX is anyone there?
He wants to speak to you

You've set up your antenna
You're receiving loud and clear
You're going to call out to the voice
That you can loudly hear

You shout out your callsign
He says he can hear you fine
Receiving you above the noise
Your signal's 5 and 9

You exchange all of your info
Find out what you want to know
Say 73s and 88s
QSL via the bureau


Ham Radio 2 Metres

There's a voice on 145.500
He's calling out CQ
CQ DX is anyone there?

No.


For more non-radio related poetry and articles visit Louise's Helium site here or maybe if you're lucky you'll catch her on air some day.

New Hardware Installation Gives Improved Performance

Computers have been running many amateur radio programs since the birth of the P.C. I have always tried to keep reasonably up to date with most software and recently decided to give my Intel Dual Core 3800 some new hardware which was to be some more Ram memory and a HD Graphics adaptor.

I compared the required hardware on the net where I got a good insight into the specifications available as well as the costs. Once I new what I wanted, I set off to my local shop and came away with both. 1 gig of ram memory(DDR) this was to compliment the existing memory, now doubling up to give 2 gigabytes of ram memory.
The graphics adaptor is a NVDIA 9600 GT 512 Megabytes HD card, I fitted it and with both items installed correctly the computer should give excellent performance.

With the new hardware installed i decided to back up my logs/data and then I formatted the C: drive completely wiping it clean ready for a fresh install.

The re-installation takes some time but is well worth it once all software/drivers are updated giving fast and reliable performance for a long time, whilst running all my favorite radio programs.

Here the mother board is exposed displaying the dual core processor(3800), the creative sound card used for all radio software and the ram hidden under the harnesses.

The NVIDIA GT 9600 512MB Card before the installation.

Sunshine, Sausages and Satellites

With the new Autumn beginning the WX (weather) is not expected to allow outdoor operations to continue as regularly as the last months Satellite operations here at the 2E0HTS QTH.

With this in mind Louise(M3TLL) and I decided to invite our friends/fellow Radio Hams, Phil-M1PAC and Josh-M0DIT to a last bash of BBQ, Out Door fun and some Radio QSOs using my ARROW LEO set up and Phil's IOIo set up. We also had a play around with the FT-847, GS-250 and IOIo during the busy day.

The WX was great, the sausages, burgers, steak and corn also went down great! We had lots of contacts on the FM SATs outside and a couple of VO-52 passes were worked inside the shack.

We also heard Scotland-GM4PPT from up near AYR on 2M SSB (144.300) and on the FT-767 the US stations were coming through well as were stations from Brazil on 20M HF.

The Sun was on our side, here Louise-M3TLL is busy taking pictures and enjoying the day.

Myself-2E0HTS re-positioning the ARROW.
Operating as BBQ Chef
In Between passes and whilst awaiting some food we got the opportunity to have a rag chew and take in some rays of sunshine.
/Portable, Running to get that Pass!
IOIo and ARROW, M1PAC, M0DIT & 2E0HTS.
In QSO during a Pass.
M0DIT-Josh, QTH Keighley in Yorkshire N.England.
M1PAC-Phil,QTH Keighley in Yorkshire N.England.

It is definitely a lot of fun when a few Hams get together and play radio, tnx for coming up guys and I am looking forward to doing it all again.

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