ZW3 Sat Trac droid in action
It’s October 19, 2020, and the ZW3 SAT-Trac droid has had a taste of the elements. First, it was 20 to 50 mph winds, and then a flash snowstorm called a snow squall happened. Here is what that looked like:
Well, how did ZW3 do? Well, the dome got a little frosty and I had to brush it off. Mechanically, it worked fine in the 25-35F range. The SWR for U/V was reasonable. I did try to work the satellites during the snowstorm. The uplinks or downlinks were not successful during the heavy snow. One day later, and the snow was gone.
Now, it’s November 4, 2020, sunny and 75F. I worked 7 stations today on RS-44. It’s my favorite bird. With a big footprint, you can get longer passes at higher elevations. More talk time! My Azimuth, 0-90 & 320-360 is blocked by the house. And to the south, Azimuth 90-315 degrees at elevations ~20 to 90 are workable satellite areas. It’s important to know what is possible. When using the countdown popup with SatPC32 V12.8d, you can select the minimum elevation of the satellites and what’s available to track. Here is ZW3 with U/V/L (2mtr, 70cm, & 23cm) antennas and the new MVV2000Vox masthead 20dB preamp.
Getting busy, here is my latest satellite contacts. Note: Q5 RST and the mode is SSB are linear satellite contacts. On the map below, the Black and purple squares are stations worked via satellite.
As you can see, most stations in North America, Central America, and the north section of South America can be contacted via satellite from my location. So if you can get some directivity (SAT Trac), EIRP (Yagi’s), and some amplification at the masthead on the downlink(MVV2000VOX or DBA270), you will hear and work most satellites. Also, the IC9700 does a nice job of compensating for the doppler effects. Being on the right frequency is important. I’m using approx. 1-8 watts out to uplink to most birds on 2mtrs or 70cm. That will get you an acceptable signal on the downlink. When I’m going through trees, my uplink and downlink signal is attenuated as can be expected. If you are the only one on the bird your downlink will be strong. This is a case to reduce your power. Note your output power and downlink strength. Also, the distance to the bird is a factor. I find it interesting to learn how the system interacts with the satellites. The IC 9700 & ZW3 droid takes the pain out of tracking the birds and adds to the fun. If you have not tried to work a station via satellite, you got to do it… Bet you can’t do it just once!
73,
Mike
KD0ZW