Readers will remember last week's post about the homebrew rivalry between VU2RM and VU2NR. (Note the bio about VU2RM below). This morning Farhan sent me this article from a 1970s-era Indian ham radio magazine in which VU2RM describes his early efforts to get onto the satellites. I also tried during the mid 1970s, but I didn't have the kind of magic decoder ring provided (via QSL!) by OH2RK. My satellite success had to wait some 20 years, until I was in the Dominican Republic. More on this below the VU2RM article.
This morning I replied to Farhan's email:
Very cool Farhan. I see that Pete may have an Indian rival for "most SSB transceivers built."
I got into the satellites during my 1992-1996 stay in the Dominican Republic. At first, we had no way to get the up-to-date Keplerian elements to predict satellite passes. Then Compuserve opened up. I had to telephone Miami from the DR to get the Keps. I ran up a huge phone bill.
I too built an antenna for these contacts. Mine was the 2 meter portion of a 144/440 MHz project from 73 magazine called "The Ray-Gun". I built mine out of scrap lumber and refrigerator tubing. I still have these elements! I used them in the beam that I built to listen for YOUR satellite! In the DR, elevated the thing by 45 degrees and pointed it in the general direction of the satellite.
RS-11 had a very cool robot aboard. If you called it just right, it would issue you a serial number. I have the QSL.
Here are some articles about our satellite adventures.
BTW, Luis Ernesto HI8LEZ visited me during summer 2024 in the DR!
My hombrew 2 meter beam in the Dominican Republic
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