PCSAT (NO-84) - Successfully Digipeated (Worked)

Guys,

So after setting up the monitoring of the Satellite APRS/Packet @ 145.825 MHz, I hadn't heard anything in almost 24hrs. My reading indicated that ISS  (ARISS) may be non-operational but there were a few other satellites such as NO-44 (PCSAT) and NO-84 (PSAT) that also provide APRS / Packet digipeating.

So last night I was just before shutting down for the night I took a look at the pass predictions for NO-44 and NO-84 satellites and luckily the NO-84 was about to have a great night pass right over head north - south direction @ 10:35pm  so thought lets see if I can beacon NO-84 and see if anyone is listening and can pick up my digipeated beacon.

Items needed for this little experiment:

1. Thermal mug of coffee
2. Android Phone running APRSDroid
3. Handheld (BaoFeng uv-5rtp) using the vehicle antenna Diamond SG7400 
4. Warm Jumper and Socks as in OZ is winter and a Low was making its way up from south so it was a little chilli.

Tune Handheld to 145.825 MHz

Setting up APRSDroid for Satellite Digipeating requires that you set the "path" to:

ARISS,WIDE1-1

Interfacing Android Phone to the BaoFeng can easily be done using the "APRS-K2 TRRS CABLE" which adapts the accessory jack on your BaoFeng (or similar) radio to a 3.5MM TRRS (Tablet, Phone, Computer)".   If you wanted to home brew your own take a look at Will Bradley's blog post "Cable for connecting APRSdroid to a Baofeng UV-82 Radio (APRS via RF)".

However!! since my cable is on order from BTECH, I used the coupling method of placing the phones external speaker on top of the Baofeng's mic port, set APRSDroid to use "Ringtone" output and set the ringtone level to about 3/4 volume (IMPORTANT!! use ringtone as this will provide louder audio as to activate the VOX which is set to level 1). This is not optimal as you now have to listen to the Packet burst, but small price to pay to have a little fun.

So all setup in the car @10:30pm on a cold Brisbane evening and waiting!!  Via tablet I was monitoring the pass via "Satellite Tracking for NO-84" and @ 10:35p started sending out manual beacon bursts every 45-60s. During the pass I did not hear anything from the NO-84.  So once LOS was reached I packed heading back into the warm house.

 Once back in the house went to see all "APRS Traffic Heard by NO-84"  and BAM!!!  there I was "VK4TMZ-9" listed as being heard by "VK3KAW-4"

One very happy Camper!! and my very first deliberate RF traffic to and through a Satellite!!!

That's all Folks!!!

73 de VK4TMZ

PS I've include snapshots of the sites showing my call and the raw decode traffic: