RE: [amsat-bb] Unable to hear PCSat

["Tim Zibrat" <tzibrat@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think I found the problem.  I was in the living room with my HT and heard
PCSat come over.  I went into the other room where the packet station is set
up and heard nothing.  I took my ground plane on my packet station and moved
it around a bit (I only have a 5 foot feedline on it) and depending where I
held it, I could hear PCSat just fine.  It appears that I have a few hot
spots in my room where my packet station is located.  All I have to do is
relocate my antenna and I should be fine.  I may end up making a turnstile
to see if this improves my receiving capability (I could tape this to the
ceiling of my apartment).

Thanks to all of the replies I received, I appreciate it.

Regards,
Tim
K3TZ


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Bruninga [mailto:bruninga@usna.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 8:31 AM
> To: Timothy S. Zibrat
> Cc: Amsat-Bb
> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Unable to hear PCSat
>
>
> On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, Timothy S. Zibrat wrote:
>
> > I've had my two meter radio and tnc on for the past 3 days and I haven't
> > heard a peep from PCSat.... I know my setup works, I tune to 144.39 and
> > I can hear/see a lot of terrestrial APRS packets.  But I
> haven't heard PCSat
> > yet.
>
> It may be your feedline.  The big difference between "hearing"
> terrestrial packets and ones from space is that you cannot have more than
> a few dB  loss in your antenna system and coax.   The terrestrial signals
> can be 100,1000 or even 10,000 times stronger that the weak signal from
> the satellite.
>
> In that sense, tuning to an AX.25 downlink like ISS or PCsat is a good
> "sensitivity" test of your packet station.  If after 12 hours of
> monitoring on either the PCsat or ISS downlinnk you never capture
> anything, then it might be an indicator that something is causing excess
> loss in your feedline maybe... (or the ISS is not on the air.).
>
> But PCsat even if it goes into SAFE mode will still originate at least a
> few packets per minute...
>
> Hope that helps..
> Bob
>
>

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