Conditions good for transatlantic FO-29 contacts

Conditions are now good for Transatlantic satellite contacts on the FO-29 satellite. Passes at around 2200 UTC see the satellite only a few degrees above the horizon at azimuth 270-320.

The East coast of the USA and Canada are in range and there are several North American stations looking to work into the British Isles and Europe.

John G7HIA recently completed QSO's with Fred W1FC on Martha's Vineyard Island (IOTA NA 046), and Joe K3SZH in Harrisburg Pennsylvania.

Elevation rotators not required, however a 10 element or larger beam for 70cms is needed to get good signals from the satellite.

The CW beacon can be heard on 435.795 and SSB QSO's are centred around 435.850 USB. Note that the transponder is inverting so you need to transmit LSB around 145.950 MHz.
The web page
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php gives full information on the frequencies.

To find out when FO-29 is in range go to
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/
and enter "FO-29" in the "Show Predictions for" box and either your IARU QTH locator or latitude and longitude.

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