Repeaters in the Sky

A quick update on the satellite projects which members have been pursuing at CARC.

Many people have been building the homebrew dual-band (2m and 70cm) handheld antennas at the club. At the same time several members have updated their handheld DMR radios to the Open GD77 firmware which some excellent satellite operation functions built in.

It can be a bit of a puzzle as to which satellites are overhead, when. Also where the satellites are in the sky at any time.

I found a really nice piece of software called OscarWatch which makes this really easy. The latest version can be downloaded here https://github.com/magicbug/OscarWatch-Tracker/releases

Set your location and the satellites you want to work and look for the passes.

I recalled that the club has a G5500 Azimuth / Elevation rotator in a box under one of the workbenches. Alas, it needed a small repair to get the elevation reading properly on the control box, a simple job which took all day!

Once done the Oscar Watch program happily controlled the rotator and "tracked the International Space Station as it passed overhead. All we need now is a mast to put it on and some antennas.

Watch this space !

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Crawley Amateur Radio Club

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