View source for Satellite

== Introduction ==
This page contains information about Ham Radio satellites. It covers repeaters, not beacons, and is biased toward FM voice operations, because that's what I do.

== LEO Pass/Contact Resources ==
*[http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/ AMSAT Pass Prediction Page] AMSAT's orbital pass info page
*[http://www.heavens-above.com/ Heavens Above] is a website I've used to obtain orbital pass information; have account
*[http://www.n2yo.com/ N2YO] has a cool site with real-time maps of LEO Ham Satellites

*[http://oscar.dcarr.org/ OSCAR Satellite Status and Log] Satellite Status - make reports here!

== LEO Satellite Status/Health ==
It's sad, but as humanity has become increasingly obsessed with self-dissipation, noble activities such as launching Amateur Radio satellites have faded into history. Most ham satellites in orbit now are pretty old, particularly those that do FM voice, and so monitoring their health is important prior to attempting to work them.

* [http://www.ao27.org/AO27/ AO27 Official Home Page] - Down as of 5/2013; possibly recoverable
* [http://amsat-uk.org/tag/ao-51/ AO51 - SK] - Died 11/29/2011
* [http://www.amsatindia.org/ AO52] - May be operational, but owned by Indian government which has secrecy issues

to be continued...

== ARISS (Space Station) ==
Here's an [http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ARISS/Contact%20the%20ISS-Ford-Jun10%20QST.pdf ARRL Article] (PDF) about making contacts with the International Space Station (ISS) astronauts.
== Gear ==
=== Arrow Antenna ===
The [http://wa2iac.com/gear/antennas/Arrow/index.php Arrow Antenna] is an inexpensive, hand-held antenna fabricated from aluminum arrows. It has allowed me to make many contacts. It's a pretty popular model, and I've made contacts on BARC field days using the same model but owned by another member.

=== Yaesu VX2 ===
The [http://wa2iac.com/gear/VHFUHF/index.php Yaesu VX-2] became my "radio of choice" after the demise of my VX7R because (a) I have it, (b) it's hand-held, and (c) I programmed common satellite frequencies into it years ago (this circa 2013). The fact that it's so low-power just makes contacts all the more fun.

=== Yaesu FT-817 ===
The [http://wa2iac.com/gear/QRP/FT-817/index.php Yaesu FT-817] radio could be used for satellite contacts, but at present, I'm not doing that.

== WA2IAC Links ==
See links in text above. Additionally...

WA2IAC BLOG [http://wa2iac.com/wordpress/?page_id=19 BARC Field Day 2011]
WA2IAC [http://www.flickr.com/photos/64619722@N07/sets/72157627236700316 Flikr Photos of BARC Field Day 2011
]

== General Links ==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_satellite Wikipedia] Ham Satellite entry page
[http://amsat-uk.org/ AMSAT-UK] - a fun, colourful blog of what's new