Ham Radio Satellites! Everything you need to know from theory to tactics! 

Thanks so much for this feedback, I'm so happy that it was helpful. Enjoy the hobby, 73!

I'm happy that it was helpful, good luck! Thanks for your feedback.

Thank you for this beautiful feedback! I appreciate it! Good luck & 73 :)

Thank you for your feedback. I'm happy that the information was interesting and helpful. I hope to hear you on the birds, 73!

Thank you Stephen. I appreciate your feedback. Good luck with the birds, 73.

Thank you, I appreciate your feedback. 73!

Thank you for your feedback. Good luck and I hope to hear you, 73!

Thank you Jonathan for the feedback. I'm so happy it is useful. Good luck with the birds!

I appreciate your feedback and I'm happy it can help. Good luck, 73!

Thank you so much for your feedback. I'm very happy that it was informative. Good luck with the birds! 73!

Thank you for the feedback! 73!

Congrats on getting your license! Welcome to the club! I'm very happy that this video was helpful and I want to thank you for your feedback. Good luck and 73!

Thanks, 73!

Thanks Marty, I'm so happy to hear that it's helpful. Good Luck, Tamir

Great! And I will be happy to answer any question to help you with Sats. Good luck and enjoy! 73!

re: Ham Radio Is it possible to reach the sat with a 1/4 wave whip on an HT? I don’t think my stock antenna can make the trip. I get really good reception, but can’t seem to be heard. Even at 3am when it was slow. I checked the tone and TX freq and they were all correct. I also programmed the Doppler shift into separate channels so I can just switch channels as the bird passes.

@@Texaviator So technically... yes, but it's not easy with 1/4 wave. 1/4 wave is Omni-directional (360 degrees) and not all the HT power is going to a single direction, so your signals are very weak. If you do want to try this kind of antenna, look for a satellite pass at a high angle. With a high angle, it will be the best chance to access the sat with low signal. Also, when you do try it, try to move the antenna in different directions and find the best polarity (it's very important with low signals). And the last thing, It's great that you set the channels in advance to help with the doppler shift, just make sure that you do that for the UHF band. For the VHF is less relevant.

re: Ham Radio Thank you for the tips as yes that was how I had the programming set up. If I’m still having a hard time I’ll be ordering the arrow. Lol

I'm very happy that it's helpful, thanks for your feedback, good luck, 73.

Thank you for your feedback, 73.

If viewing the video gave you the push to start with Satellites... That's a great feedback! Thank you and good luck, 73!

@@reHamRadio It has inspired me. A local ham was selling his satellite gear and I got a really good deal on 2 antennas and an azimuth and elevation rotator. So I'm on my way to satellite working! 73 G6XIB,. Thanks for your inspiration!

So happy to hear that 😊 Thanks for your feedback!

Thank you so much for your feedback, good luck with the birds!

You're welcome! Thank you, too. I'm just in the equipment diy process. Will take some time to the first contact. 73 Marten

I appreciate your feedback. Thank you. Welcome to the Satellites world! 73!

Thank you for your feedback, I'm happy to hear it's helpful. Happy New Year, 73!

Thanks, Karl, good luck.

Thanks for the feedback and for sharing your story Anthony. I totally agree that Satellites are not complicated to work and that's the reason for the creation of this video, so people that are confused or afraid from it, will get the information as simple as it is and try it. Welcome back to the birds :)

Thanks, Jim. 73.

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks, I'm happy to hear that! The main idea of this video is to show that operating satellites is much simple that people think and we just need to learn and understand the basics. From then, you can do anything you want. Thanks for your feedback Jonathan! Good luck, 73!

Thank you, Constantino. Good luck with the birds, it's fun. 73!

Thanks for your comment, Philippe. 73! Good luck.

It's an easy to make with simple tools. And you can do it even before your technician license as you can always listen to the communication. Enjoy, good luck.

Welcome to Ham Radio! That's great! Working satellites during an event with other hams it's even better, super fun. Do some practice before that and then, teach them how to do it :) Good luck, 73.

Thank you for your feedback! Good luck, 73!

Thank you, Jay!

Thanks Walt for your feedback. Good luck, 73.

Thank you for your feedback John. Good luck with the birds 😊 , 73.

Thanks for your feedback. I do have some ideas for videos about receiving telemetry and digital modes. 73!

Thanks for the feedback Sergio, happy to help, 73.

You're welcome, 73!

Thank you and good luck with the birds 😊, 73.

Thanks Chris for you feedback. 73.

Thanks Steve for your feedback and congrats for passing the exam! Welcome to the club! The great benefit to learn while watching videos is that you can pause anytime you want and watch it again and again. Good luck, 73!

Thank you, I have more things that are coming up soon. Please subscribe and feel free to share. 73!

Thanks for your feedback. I really appreciate it. I agree, it's a long video when comparing to other videos, but I wanted to cover all the subjects that are relevant to start with Satellites. Good luck, 73.

re: Ham Radio What do you think about using CW to spot ones own frequency on Linear satellites ? I setup 12 memories for CW and CWR below the UHF center freq and above the UHF center freq rather than rotating the tuning knob. I’m trying to make it easier to spot myself.

Thank you, good luck, 73.

Thank you very much for your feedback and I'm happy it helps to jump into this area in ham radio. You can find another video that I have that demonstrate few QSOs while using a tiny HT, in my case it's a TDXone. It's similar to the Baofeng family. All around $30 to $50.

Thanks for your feedback! It depends on the setup, but mainly, we need to remember that one radio is transmitting on one band, like UHF, and the other radio is receiving on another band, like VHF. And since we don't need to transmit with high power, most of the chances are that there will be no interference between the radios. And again it's on the setup, are the radios separated? Or connected to the same antenna? Etc

​​@@reHamRadioarrow ii antenna on order with a uv-5r for receive connected directly to the UHF driven element feedpoint and f8hp for transmit connected directly to the VHF driven element feedpoint. So both connected to yagis on the same boom but 90 degrees to each other. Later if I get into it I'll get a full duplex radio and a diplexer. But I want to try the cheap option first and being able to hear myself on the downlink would be very rewarding. In Perth Western Australia the repeater isn't exactly bring hammered lol. The footprint on a close to Perth path covers about 1200 hams who are probably not on. But I do hear people occasionally.

For the ISS mostly

Thanks for your feedback, and yeah, if you have the experience with tracking the ISS, it should be very easy for you to try to do QSO using the satellite. As for the QSLs, it's very popular to use the the LoTW. It's easy, fast and free. Most of my Satellites QSOs got approval using LoTW between few hours to few days. You still have the option to use a real card by sending it using your local club. When you see that people sends QSL direct via the mail, it's common to add Self Address Stamped Envelope (SASE), but the main use is for a really special QSL that you need for some award, for example. I hope that I answered your question. Thanks, 73.

I just saw this reply... sorry for the delay. Thanks for your comment and feedback JT. Yeah, it's a real concern as when you are using a single HT, while transmitting on one band, the HT block the other band and keep it safe. But with two HTs, we will need some protection. There are some options. One option is to use some relay switch, the same as the "pre-amp" switch work or a polarization switch. Google it and you will find lots of examples.

Thanks for your feedback! This is the stand: VIVO Dual LED LCD Monitor Free-standing Desk Stand with Optional Bolt-through Grommet Mount | Heavy Duty Fully Adjustable Arms hold Two (2) Screens up www.amazon.com/dp/B00C5H5DN0/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apap_vi1FdC46jwfLQ It's a high quality, strong, and I recommend it. 73.

Thank you, Thor, for your feedback. Welcome to the Ham Radio hobby! Based on your question I can understand that you are taking the hobby seriously and you are learning to be a professional! That's great! This is a GREAT question that sometimes can confuse not just new hams but even hams with experience. The information that you found online and in the video is correct and the same :) I'll explain. It all depends from where you are looking at the shift. From your station? or from the Satellite? When the Satellite is coming to you, your receiving (downlink) frequency will be higher than the Satellite frequency. And as long as the Satellite is getting closer to you, your receiving frequency will go lower and lower. The same is happening when YOU need to transmit TO the satellite (uplink), But... The Satellite will receive your signals in a higher frequency than your transmitting frequency, and since the Satellite is not changing its frequency (the Satellite is not correcting the Doppler shift as we do), we need to transmit in a lower frequency, so the Satellite will receive our signal on the exact frequency. And as long as the Satellite is moving, we will need to change our TX frequency higher and higher. Think about it in a different way... WE are correcting the Doppler shift FOR the Satellite. And in regards to my video, the table that I showed is just an example when WE are transmitting (TX). If I would choose a different example that we are receiving (RX), you would see that the frequency is changing in the opposite direction. The same is true for VHF and UHF!! The only difference between the bands is that in VHF the correction is so tiny that we actually don't need to do anything, but it exists. For more reading, please check this Wiki page, and look for the "Doppler shift" section. There is another explanation and even with formulas that explain the frequency change. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_satellite I hope that my explanation here will make this point more clear. Again, it's a great question! :) Good luck, 73, Tamir N6JJ

re: Ham Radio Thank you for the reply Tamir. It was a very good explanation. I can’t wait to make my first contact! 73! Thor ke0ubi

Hi Neil, the easiest way to start with satellites is by listen to the FM satellites. They are close as they are at the LEO path, and you can listen with any HT that you have with a very simple antenna.

The Arrow antenna built as a two different antennas, just that they are sharing the same boom. The 90 degree allow to separate the phase between the antennas. Without that, all the elements will affect each other. The ELK, is a log periodic antenna, which means that all the elements are active all the time for all spectrum that the antenna designed to. It's a combination of a set of dipoles, the each element is connected in parallel to the other, in an opposite phase.

@@reHamRadio why doesn't the 5 element (x2) elk design follow the online LPDA calculations requiring a minimum of 8 (x2) elements for 130MHz to 450MHz satellite operations? What calcs are they using to achieve that BW using only 5 (x2) elements?

Thanks for your question. The answer is yes, we can use the cubesat during the night as well as the satellite is charging it's battery using the solar panel on the other side of the earth, where the sun exists. The battery can hold the cubesat for a long time, so you have the option to use it day and night. I hope it answers your question.

@@reHamRadioOkay. Thanks. Currently trying to listen few linear satellites over Europe. So far no trace of any signal. My antenna is 1/4 lambda GP on the roof. ISS repeater at 437.800 MHz is strong, NOAA 15, 17 and 19 are strong (137.xxx MHz). Just not sure those small cubesat with maybe 0.25W of power, how strong or weak might be.

Thanks for your feedback Grant. I'm happy to hear that it gave you motivation to take the birds to the next step! Good luck! 73.

@@reHamRadio Just worked the ISS digipeater and sent and received a message from another VK4. Do you know the website where I can see what stations worked through the digipeater.

Yes, Grant! you can easily track your activity with the ISS digipeater in this link: ariss.net/ I think that I will create a short video on that feature. It's cool and easy to do some test QSOs thank to that. Best, 73!

Omni Directional antenna can be used with satellite QSO but it's very hard. Omni directional antenna can be used better for receiving signals, mainly when the satellite is at the horizon, and less when it's above you. For transmitting to the satellite it will be very hard. Even though people sometimes do QSOs like that with LEO satellites, for better chances we need a directional antenna.

You're welcome, Joe. 73.

Thanks, good luck, 73.

Yep. You?