SWLing Satellites with No Radio Equipment
With the plethora of new rocket technology these days it seems that someone is launching interesting new satellites every couple of days. Many of these are “microsats” the size of a Rubik’s cube and can be popped off of the top of a rocket or shot out of a slot on the International Space Station a half-dozen satellites at a time. Some are ham communications satellites that will allow FM or SSB communication, or will support APRS or PSK communication, while many others send down telemetry or images such as the recent SSTV transmissions from the ISS. Part of the fun of operating these satellites is the radio part – getting the antennas pointed in the right spot in space, correcting for the Doppler frequency shift in the signals, and tuning in and decoding the signals, but not everyone has the equipment or home space for the multi-element antennas and az-el rotators that we’re fortunate enough to have at the GCARC clubhouse. Luckily for these folks there’s a way for them to have