Satellite Ops

The club has been involved in some satellite ops for many years mostly because of the mentorship of Keith Pugh W5IU (SK). Having a permanent ground station at the clubhouse was a dream of his and he donated quite a bit of equipment to create it. Unfortunately he left us before the job was completed, but we are forging ahead.

Short term plan is to have a robust permanent 2M/70CM ground station, and a group of club members well versed in it's operation.

Long term plans involve becoming a ground station for ISS telebridge school contacts through ARISS.

Our 'portable' station includes a Yaesu FT-847 radio, Yaesu G-5500 Rotor, circularly polarized 2M and 70CM antennas, and ARR preamps. We deployed this system to our Field Day location and running QRP in a low spot (below buildings and trees) managed about 30 contacts...we could have run more power, but we really needed to stress test the system, and get a feel for SSB operations over satellite.

The permanent station will have an Icom IC-910H (with another FT-847 for backup), SPID RAS Az/El with Green Heron controller, M2 Antennas 2MCP14 and 436CP30 with polarity switchers, and more ARR preamps.

The only items we don't have for this new station is the NPRM (Non-Penetrating Roof Mount) Coax and assorted hardware.