Re: [amsat-bb] FO-20

[tlang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Tony Langdon)]

Hello Jon!

31 Aug 00 22:49, you wrote to All:

 JO> Well, I have seen that unlike AO-27, SO-35 and so forth, the FO birds
 JO> tend to "rotate" a bit in their passes.  Some times the passes are in

Much more than the FM birds.  I fond UO-14 is really inconvenient for me. SO-35
is currently good, but slowly drifting towards "working hours" where it will be
inaccessible for 5 days/week).  I have seen the Fujis and RS-13 come over
during "civilised hours" and worked RS-13 during same. :)

 JO> the middle of the night, but at others they are in the evening when
 JO> it
 JO> is still a reasonable hour.  I've had a lot of good evening QSOs on
 JO> FO-20.  And it is a very easy bird to get into.  RS-13 is sometimes
 JO> MORE difficult because of the noise on 10 meters.

I haven't had the full SSB station up, but I have done CW tests (with FM
receivers!) and found the Fujis are about as easy as UO-14 to access (assuming
no QRM), and way easier than SO-35 in Mode J.  I would be confident of SSB down
to 2 watts and CW to 200 mW on the Fujis on a good pass.

 JO> If you get a good overhead pass, you should be able to work FO-20/29
 JO> with minimal power.  I have mucho elements but I also have about 60
 JO> feet of coax. I've easily gotten SSB into those babies with about a
 JO> watt out of the 847. So it can be done.

Indeed.  My tests come to the same conclusions.

 JO> The problem with the SSB birds is that
 JO>
 JO> a.) Most of the SSB ops mothballed their stations after the demise of
 JO> AO-13. b.) The rest of the ham community thinks their too hard to work
 JO> (I did). c.) FM is the fashionable and politically correct mode to
 JO> promote right now.

it's a pity about a, b is a myth.  I'm confident I'll get a good signal into
the Fujis on the handheld beam.  Might even drag the 2m all mode, 10m HT and 2m
beam outside and put out a few calls on RS-13. :-)

Tony, VK3JED

.. I had to hit him -- he was starting to make sense
--
|Fidonet:  Tony Langdon 3:633/284.18
|Internet: tlang@freeway.apana.org.au
|
| Standard disclaimer: The views of this user are strictly his own.


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