May 3, 2010
Weekly Ham Radio Update – AMSAT & APRS
I’ve been having fun with my new Arrow dual-band antenna. Mostly trying to work some satellites. I’ve been trying to make contacts on: AO-51, AO-27, HO-68, SO-50 and the ISS. You can find out more about them at AMSAT.
So far I’ve only been able to make 2 half contacts. The first, I didn’t get the callsign but he was in DM04 and the 2nd was WC7V but I didn’t QSL because it was towards the end of that pass.
Those birds are usually very busy and it sounds like quite a few regular voices on them that are very experienced with satellite contacts. I’m sticking in there and will complete a full QSO one of these days.
As for APRS, I’ve finally got my beacon transmitting to a “local” digipeater. Here in North-West Arkansas there are a limited number, all within 80 miles of me. They’re mostly on mountain tops so they can reach a wide area.
Using the same Arrow yagi antenna pointed in the direction of those digipeaters, I could get my beacon heard and re-transmitted back to me. Now I know that feature is totally working on my VX8DR! Plus the rest of the world now knows I’m currently in my backyard, not moving anywhere 
That’s it for now!
73s,
KJ4QIS
P.S. Leave me a comment if you got my APRS beacon or if your another ham, I like hearing from folks!