VA3NFA Blog: September 2006

HIT-SAT heard!

Yipee! Today I was able to hear the new amateur radio satellite called "HIT-SAT".

Hit-Sat is a new micro-sat put up by the Hokkaido Institute of Technology. Additional details can also be found on the AMSAT-UK site.

Here is a pic of HIT-SAT (before it was launched ;-) to give you an idea of how small it is:

Here is a pic of a CW transmission I was able to pick up on 437.275 Mhz during the 23:45 UTC pass over my QTH of Ottawa, Ontario.

My station consists of a Yaseu FT-847. The 432 antenna is a horizontal loop called the "E-Factor" that is produced by KU4AB and is on a chimney mount at about 35'. This is certainly not the ideal setup for receiving satilliete signals which explains the weak signal. However considering that HIT-SAT puts out about 200mw of power on the CW beacon I was just happy to hear it!

I was able to determine when HIT-SAT was overhead by using the free software package called "SatScape" which is an excellent program for tracking sats!

Here is a close up of the trace. I was "tuning" around looking for the signal when I finally heard it, which explain why this trace diagram show the signal frequency moving so quickly.

With a "real" satillete station this cw beacon should be very easy to hear and it wil be great once it is fully operational!

It Works!

Those of you who know me understand that I have never been a "handyman" and I would much rather write a COBOL compiler from scratch then try to build anything, especially any thing that requires electricity to operate. This lack of hands on electrical skill/ability has always bothered me so I decided to do something about it.

While visiting Active Electronics here in Ottawa I bought a simple electronic kit to try to build. The kit I picked up is a very simple "Alternating Flasher: 4 LED" from CanaKit. After watching the kit sit on my bench for several days I decided to go for it! After 30 minutes of shaking hands and eye-squinting I yelled out loud "I did it!!" which scared the life out my darling wife who immediately jumped up and ran downstairs to see whatI was up to. Needless to say I was victorious! Check out the short video clip which offers proof of my newly acquired abilities with a soldering iron!

With my new-found confidence with all things electrical I am going to next make a microwave oven from scratch or perhaps re-wire the electronic fuel injection system in my van (just kidding folks!)

Tom

Scouting for Rover locations in FN24

In preperation for future VHF contests I decided to head down towards South Mountain in FN24 to try to find a good operating location in that grid. Local Rovers currently use a Fn24 location in Oxford Mills which is OK, but I was hoping to find a better spot. Ideal location would have year-round access, space for a vehicle, no near-by power lines, good elevation, few trees, and excallent shots to the north and south.

I packed up the FT-817, a MFJ 2m 3-element portable beam, 8' of mast, and my 5 gallon pail mast support (bucket 1/2 filled with cement ;-) and headed down with my 4 year old daughter Anna for this grand adventure.

Unfortunatly "South Mountain" is more like a gully with the elevation ranging from 80m to 90m and no "Mountain" to speak of. Lots of rolling hills, farms, and mixed forest.

We stopped along the side of Route 1 just south of South Mountain proper in FN24gw. With the 3-element beam I was able to work (using 5w) Rick (VE3CVG) in Fn25mh (~60kms), Doug (VE3XK) in FN15wg (About 55kms) and Al (VO1NO/VES ) in FN24cw (about 20kms) with Q5 copy but very weak signals, which makes me believe that the higher bands would be a tough go. As time was limited we were not able to scout for any locations that were off the main road. Several side roads looked promising so we will try it again soon when we have more time to explore.

I was able to copy the VA3SJS CW beacon on 144.290 from the FN24gw location. The beacon was Q5 copy but very weak. That beacon is going to be very handy in the future to help find good operating locations around Eastern Ontario.

Here are a few pics:

Overview map showing approximate locations of stations involved in this test.

FT-817 and 7.5 Ah battery pack with a Heil Traveller headset packed in a PowerPort backpack in the back of the van:

Pic of my 5 gallon pail mast support with the MFJ 3 element beam pointed North.

This outing was not as sussessful as we had hoped, but it was still fun as Anna and I enjoyed fine dinning afterwards in the Kemptville McDonalds ;-)

Tom
VA3NFa