A number of amateurs have reported that the FM repeater of AO-27 has been active for brief intervals in recent weeks.
When commanded on by control operators, the transponder is active for about two minutes before reverting to telemetry transmissions only.
Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, remarks that AO-27 wasn’t originally intended to be an FM satellite. It lacks the audio filtering normally seen with a n FM receiver, since its uplink receiver was going to be used for data.
With the lack of audio filtering on the uplink receiver, AO-27 was used for tests with D-Star radios.
The Wayback Machine has captures of the former ao27.org web site, detailing how those tests were done. Two radios were used for those D- Star QSOs, one for uplink and the other for downlink).
Many are hopeful that control stations will eventually be able to recover the satellite sufficiently to provide more regular operation.
In the meantime, if you hear the satellite active, make your contacts quickly!
Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK
AMSAT Board Member
Antenna
Another Difficult Antenna Situation
Tim, W4FTP, asks how he can use some tall but skinny trees along the back of his property as part of his antenna system. We take a look, and your comm... Read more
Ham Radio experiment – End fed half wave antenna sloper vs flat horizontal orientation
https://youtu.be/BgEtQOS8mY0 Read more
British Columbia Radio Amateur Copies Signal from Mars-Orbiting Satellite
As reported on Spaceweather.com, Canadian radio amateur Scott Tilley, VE7TIL, has snagged another signal from deep space. His latest conquest has been... Read more
Wideband Desktop Discone Antenna – 25 MHZ – 2000 MHz Coverage
“Here we take a look at the Skyscan Desktop antenna with a rated frequency range of between 25 Mhz up to 2 Ghz. We test the antenna indoor and o... Read more
Where Can I Put My HF Antenna?
Where Can I Put My HF Antenna? Read more
Digital Modes
FT8DMC 3rd Anniversary-Activity Days 2020
To commemorate our 3rd anniversary, special event stations will be on air during the FT8DMC Activity Days from 1. to 31. July 2020. All stations will... Read more
K1JT , JOE TAYLOR HINTS AT POSSIBLE NEW MODE!
In a post to the WSJT-X email group today, Joe Taylor K1JT hinted at some ongoing experimentation of a new digital mode with sub-modes. His post was a... Read more
WWSA GACW Contest Rules.
WWSA GACW I – Dates Second weekend of June of every year. From Saturday 15.00 UTC until Sunday 15.00 UTC. 24 hours period. II – Goal To co... Read more
News
Quantum Receiver Can Detect Huge Swath of the RF Spectrum
US Army researchers have built a so-called “quantum sensor,” which can analyze the full RF spectrum and real-world signals, a report on Physics.org sa... Read more
Approaches to Tackle Noise Problems Vary, Remedies Elusive
RF noise is a frequent discussion topic among radio amateurs. A proliferation of electronics has cluttered and complicated the noise environment; it’s... Read more
ARISS, NASA, and ESA Continue to Probe Amateur Radio Problems on ISS
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, reports that the ARISS team has been working closely... Read more
Yaesu FT-DX10 HF Transceiver – Is it Right for You?
We take a look at one of the most recent HF transceivers to come onto the ham radio market. Could this be the new FT-101E that was one of the best sel... Read more
What is the Base Holding Up My Hexbeam?
William Noble asks about the base used to hold up my MFJ-1846 Hex Beam antenna. The actual base that allows for a fold-over mast was designed by frien... Read more
App - Mobile
SmartSDR for iOS v3.9.12 Now Available
Marcus, DL8MRE announces that release of SmartSDR for iOS v3.9.12 is now available for download or update from the Apple App Store. SmartSDR is a full... Read more
SignalID – Automatic Radio Signal Identification for Android
There’s an incredible amount of radio signals. It’s impossible to know them all, let alone recognize them. So why not get help from Signal... Read more
EchoHam version v2.10 has been released
EchoHam allows Amateur Radio operators to use the Echolink network from their Mac. You must be a licensed Amateur Radio operator to use this software.... Read more
SatSat for IOS version 1.4.11 has been released
SatSat, by Fabrice Aneche is a satellite tracking software, for radio amateurs, scientists or hobbyists. It displays current and next passes for any s... Read more
GNU RADIO CODE FOR ANDROID NOW RELEASED
Supports the most recent version of GNU Radio (v3.8). Supports 32-bit and 64-bit ARM architectures (i.e., armeabi-v7a and arm64-v8a). Supports popular... Read more
