Entering a Satellite contact in an activator entry

Does anyone know how to enter a satellite contact into an activator entry? There is no “Satellite” entry on the band entry drop down menu.
Specifically I worked someone from W3/WE-001 on SO-50 today…

73,
Tom-N2YTF

In reply to N2YTF:
Hi Tom Maybe it is classed as a repeater and repeaters are not valid on SOTA.All The Best Geoff G6MZX

In reply to G6MZX:
I asked someone about it once and they said it was valid…but I cannot find that email exchange in my mailbox…

73,
Tom-N2YTF

In reply to N2YTF:

Extract from general rules

3.7.1 Criteria for a valid Expedition

  1. QSOs via terrestrial repeaters do not count towards the QSO total.

To me this implicitly makes satellite QSOs valid, in fact something I’ve been meaning to try as I’ve done a little from home.

What was your set-up?

Ian.

In reply to GW8OGI:

After checking up on MT discussions that took place a couple of years ago, I can confirm that satellite contacts are indeed valid for SOTA. Its not something I would want to do myself, as it feels too much like an ordinary repeater!

73

Brian G8ADD

Referring back to Tom’s original question, I assume you would simply enter the band/mode used (eg 144MHz FM) for the satellite contact. If you wished to mark the log as “via satellite” you could do so in the comments field at the end.

Tom M1EYP

In reply to N2YTF:

I don’t what they’re like over your side of the pond Tom, but over in Europe the bent-pipe FM sats are often too busy to be usable! Lot’s of QRO uplinks makes life hard.

Andy
M0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:
I have only ever played with AO51, I am sure working a sat from a summit is loads of fun. A few things to keep you busy as well with doppler shift, time and direction of pass etc. Sean M0GIA

In reply to G8ADD:

Its not something I would want to do myself, as it feels too much like
an ordinary repeater!

I tried this once from OH/KU-005 in winter time. It was reasonably cold on the top of this down hill ski station, probably around -10 C. I had programmed my FT817ND channels to correct for the doppler on AO-51. I tracked the satellite pass with a dipole fixed to my ski pole. The same dipole both for 2 m and 70 cm. The signal copy with my rig was ok, but nobody answered my call. I tried this for three passes the same day. Later there was a special mode on AO-51 during a CW activation day. The uplink was CW (or USB) and downlink FM. Finally I managed to make one QSO on CW to LY with the same setup.

Back to the original question, the SOTA QSOs would need a propagation mode field. You can check the Data Type for generally agreed propagations.

73, Jaakko OH7BF/F5VGL

What was your set-up?

Ian.

Setup was very simple. TH-D7AG with kenwood earphone/mic at about 3w to the Diamond whip antenna SRH940. I was in FM09 and worked into FN20, which I believe is not too far from my home near New York City.
This is a great sat/hiking setup as the rig is full duplex and can run my aprs beacon as well after the pass. Also, unlike the yaesu aprs HTs, the Kenwood APRS HT will actually derive your grid square from your GPS input…very handy.

FYI I saw Kenwood’s replacement for the TH-D7AG at Hamvention. The new HT can digipeat and has most of the functions of the D710 mobile (so I was told). The new HT is also full duplex and has a built in GPS. The new HT is forecast to be out this year.

73,
Tom

In reply to MM0FMF:

In reply to N2YTF:

I don’t what they’re like over your side of the pond Tom, but over in
Europe the bent-pipe FM sats are often too busy to be usable! Lot’s of
QRO uplinks makes life hard.

Andy
M0FMF

Yes, I have experienced that first hand operating from Sweden & Finland. Was esp. frustrating operating maritime mobile from rare grid squares between Sweden and Finland only to find some stations just txing right on top of me.

Things can get pretty crowded here in the States lately…there seems to be some sort of resurgence in sat activity here after years of decline. I tried getting on the bird from a peak in the Catskills (New York State) recently with a beam and did not make it. I have to say though, I was a bit surprised to find just how difficult passes were in Europe due to what I thought was a lack of full duplex radios & less then perfect operating technique. I guess before my trips to Europe and elsewhere I always figured the worst sat operating was in the US…
That being said, I basically had the sat to myself in Iceland, Hong Kong (but nasty intermod), & Singapore. Charlie, EI8JB actually wrote an article about working the birds and me from Iceland to Ireland. He was one of only a handful of stations I heard on the bird from Iceland. In Singapore and Hong Kong I basicaly only worked Thailand on the birds.

73,
Tom-N2YTF

In reply to M1EYP:

Referring back to Tom’s original question, I assume you would simply
enter the band/mode used (eg 144MHz FM) for the satellite contact. If
you wished to mark the log as “via satellite” you could do
so in the comments field at the end.

Tom M1EYP

SO-50 is cross band, my tx was on 144 FM and my RX was on 436 FM…
Should we have a convention as to whether it is logged as the uplink or donwlink freq?

73,
Tom-N2YTF

I would assume that if it was an activator contact, you would log the uplink frequency, but on a chaser contact it would be the downlink. Thoughts?

Tom M1EYP

Last satellite I used was OSCAR 7 back in 1981 - brings back a few memories !..

Never tried since.

Keith G8HXE.

In reply to M1EYP:

I would assume that if it was an activator contact, you would log the
uplink frequency, but on a chaser contact it would be the downlink.
Thoughts?

Tom M1EYP

I think that sounds good, however having just entered a bunch of satellite contacts, I noticed that in the mode section drop down menu there is an “other” selection. Perhaps it is best to select other and then explain in the description section? That way we avoid having to remember the convention one way or the other, and we highlight that satellites have been worked from a summit when looking at the summit summary page…
I guess the bad part about using other is that it might be time consuming to type in the explanation again and again for several sat contacts in a row…but of course you could just paste it in…

What do you think?

73,
Tom-N2YTF

In reply to G8HXE:
Last satellite I used was OSCAR 7 back in 1981 - brings back a few memories. The last time I had a go was Oscar 10 middle 80s and the RS series.They had downlinks on 10 metres.Atb Geoff G6MZX