Working UO-14 With "Help" from the BARRA Repeaters
Until recently, working amateur satellites required a fair bit of (often expensive)
equipment and patience. But, no more! If you are within the range of selected BARRA repeaters,
almost anyone can join in on the fun of working an entire continent on VHF, most likely with
the radios and antennas that you already have!
HOW IT IS DONE?
BARRA 444.00 repeater trustee Ted Ertl, WA2HKS, has constructed the Space Link. This
equipment consists of a satellite tracking station under computer control which automatically
tracks and downlinks the UO-14 amateur radio satellite every time it passes the Buffalo area.
The downlink is then sent to various BARRA repeaters (see below for a list)
for retransmission. In order to listen, all you need to do is to set your handheld, mobile
or scanner receiver to a BARRA repeater frequency and sit back and enjoy!
HOW OFTEN DOES UO-14 COME BY EACH DAY?
UO-14 is a Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellite, or "bird." It passes over the Buffalo
area several times each day: there are generally two passes in the late morning, and then there
are two more in the late evening. Because it is a LEO, the passes are rather brief – a
15-minute window would be a long pass!
To find the precise times that the satellite will be overhead on a particular day, you
can look up the information on a web site like
www.heavens-above.com and follow the links to
amateur radio satellites. The AMSAT organization (www.amsat.org)
also has computer programs that you may purchase to run on your home computer.
HOW CAN I CONTACT OTHER STATIONS I HEAR ON THE BIRD?
UO-14's uplink frequency is 145.975 MHz FM. A Technician (or higher) class license,
a good vertical antenna and a few watts are all that you need to join in the fun. Mobile
stations can easily work into the bird, and in fact WA2HKS is sometimes heard doing just that.
Remember, though, that you need to transmit on the 145.975 frequency NOT repeater input
channel!
When you hear the satellite come into view on the repeater, you can attempt a QSO.
Calls on the satellite are very brief, a "CQ" consists of simply giving your call once
phonetically. Remember that there is an entire continent contending for time on the bird, so
give others a chance. When you transmit, you should hear yourself coming back on the receiver
tuned to the BARRA repeater. If you don't, you're not getting in. Also, keep the volume on
your receiver down so as not to create audio feedback.
If a station answers you, or if you answer a station, the QSO is very short: give your
name, city and grid square. The other station will give you his information. Generally there
are too many stations waiting to use the satellite to be able to spend time in a rag
chew.
Remember that since this satellite uses the FM mode, the FM capture effect plays a
role in your QSO. What does this mean? If two stations are transmitting at once the station
with the bigger signal will capture the satellite receiver for that transmission.
WHAT'S THIS GRID SQUARE STUFF?
The world is broken up into 2 degree by 1 degree segments called grid squares. A grid
square is identified with two letters followed by two numbers. Most of the immediate
Buffalo, NY area is in grid square FN02. Northern Erie County and Niagara County are in FN03.
A grid square map for Western New York from the ARRL Grid Locator is shown at right.
WHAT IF I NEED TO USE THE REPEATER WHEN THE SATELLITE IS BEING TRANSMITTED ON THE REPEATER?
The repeater over which you are hearing the satellite can be used normally during a
satellite pass. The audio path set up to re-transmit the satellite is a background or
non-priority path. This means that if a signal comes in on the repeater's normal input channel,
the satellite audio will be replaced by the repeater input.
If you need the repeater for an emergency, then the emergency traffic of course takes
precedence. If your traffic is not critical, please consider waiting until the satellite pass
is completed before making your call. The Space Link is very popular and on any given pass
many people are likely to be listening to the satellite signal on the repeater. Your use of
the repeater during that brief time (remember that satellite passes are 15 minutes or less in
length) will spoil the enjoyment of the satellite for those users.
HOW IS THIS SUPPORTED?
The Space Link project has been a personal project of Ted Ertl, WA2HKS, with additional
support from BARRA, the Buffalo Amateur Radio Repeater Association. Anyone is welcome to use
the Space Link whether a BARRA member or not, but we would ask that you consider membership to
keep projects like this going. A membership application can be downloaded from our
membership page.
Find UO-14 on these BARRA Repeaters:
Primary:
444.00 MHz WA2HKS/R Buffalo
146.91 MHz W2EUP/R Boston
Available when links are up:
224.82 MHz W2EUP/R Boston
145.17 MHz K2ISO/R Wethersfield
442.00 MHz WR2AHL/R Wethersfield
Buffalo Amateur Radio Repeater Association, Inc.
Post Office Box 507
North Tonawanda, NY 14120-0507
