I realize this is probably not what you want to read from the person who designing hardware specifically for the purpose of operating satellites, but I just made my first two Satellite QSOs during the 23:40UTC ISS pass over the South West US today! My first ever satellite QSO, with WA6ARA DM15: You can hear me get a little flustered… Read More »My First Satellite QSO!
UPDATED 2024-06-18: I still love my NanoVNA V2 Plus 4. I use it for HF, VHF, and UHF. It has served me very well for work on EggNOGS (up to around 450MHz.) It is still what I recommend, for all the reasons below. However, the price has gone up to $299. I think it was $199 when I bought it.… Read More »Which NanoVNA Should I Get?
(I blame Alun for the cheesy Queso joke.) The first successful satellite QSOs made with SOAR prototype hardware happened this morning on the ~17:30 UTC pass of AO-91 over South Western US. Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK worked W7JSD in southern Arizona, N6UTC in Long Beach, California, and XE2BHL in Tijuana. I haven’t implemented pass audio recording in SOAR yet (it will… Read More »WE HAVE QUESO– err, i mean QSO!
I’ve had several questions about what additional hardware you’ll need to provide for SOAR. One of those “additional hardware you’ll need to provide” is a headset. Lots of people have very strong opinions on headsets, and that’s ok. There are a lot of good options available, and they all optimize for different variables. One headset may be better for your… Read More »SOAR Headset Connector
(Originally posted to Twitter.) AO-7 (or AMSAT OSCAR 7), an amateur radio satellite we can still (again?) use today, was launched in 1974. I saw this magazine with an article on that launch at a local ham fest and had to buy it. I got it for half price! 😉 AO-7 has an interesting history, covered in detail in its… Read More »AO-7 Appreciation
I got a question today that I realized I haven’t answered well/publicly enough: “What is the CMCC Test Rig? What problem does it solve? How would I use it?” — Mailing list subscriber. Asked in DM so I’ll keep it anonymous. Those weren’t the exact words, but that’s basically what they were asking. The Short Answer: The CMCC Test Rig… Read More »What is the Common Mode Current Choke Test Rig?
We’re getting very close to launching the website. I’m writing this post before it launches, as much to test things as for any other reason. But…
Setting up a new webpage. More will be here later. In the mean time, be good humans. 🙂 73 de N6MTS -Mark