Re: [amsat-bb] New to Satellite and having problems

[Emily Clarke <w0eec@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Brian,

This is something that confuses a lot of people.  When you look at the 
differences you can see why!

The ISS is usually transmitting 50 watts and is in an orbit that is 
generally 350km above the earth.  AO-51, for example, is transmitting about 
1/2 watt and is over twice that distance.  I won't bore you with the math, 
but the differences in signal strength are huge.  Also, your colinear 
antenna is not designed to go up in altitude - it is really designed to hug 
the earth.

You can try tilting your antenna up by 30 degrees away from the satellite 
and that might help. But in the long run beam antennas, even portable ones 
are much better.

This article may help you...
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/EchoHT.php

73,

Emily




At 10:47 PM 8/3/2004 -0400, kc8zbc wrote:
>I have a Kenwood D-700 and a TRAM 17' colliener VHF/UHF antenna. I receive 
>from the ISS like they were next door. But so far only hear faint voices 
>in the noise when tuning in the Amsat Echo. I have been monitoring 435.300.



---------------------------------
W0EEC - CM87tm
AMSAT Area Coordinator - San Francisco Bay Area
http://www.projectoscar.net    http://www.PlanetEmily.com 
http://www.emilyshouse.com/experthams/ao7/

Help Pay For Echo - http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/echo/index.html
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