The new Icom IC-9700 transceiver has begun shipping and we’ve recently added one to our Satellite Station. The addition of the new radio completes a key part of our Satellite Station 4.0 upgrade plans.
IC-9700 Display and Waterfall – Working FO-29
The new Transceiver features a Spectrum Scope and several useful satellite features….
We received our new IC-9700 Transceiver and have it set up and working with our Satellite Station. The integration of the new radio with our software and other elements of our Satellite Station went smoothly and we expect to use the new radio with our portable satellite station at Field Day and our upcoming License Classes. You can read more about our early experiences with the new radio via the link above.
We have received several requests to share the image and construction details for the Raspberry Pi Satellite Tracker Interface. We use the Sat Tracker interface with MacDoppler as part our Portable Satellite Stations. The Sat Tracker described in the article uses a Raspberry Pi Computer with a touch screen interface to interface MacDoppler to Green Heron Engineering RT-21 Rotator Controller(s). You can read about how to build your own Sat Tracker Interface via the link above.
Our 4.0 Satellite Antenna Array and new our 6 m Yagi are up on the tower and working with our Portable Satellite Station 3.0.
We had some early life problems to work through to get to this stage in our project. Initial testing revealed a defect in some of the equipment and a wiring error at one of the antennas. We rented a 50 ft Boom Lift to take the antennas back down to correct the problems.
The antennas are back up and all of the controls systems and feed lines are complete and connected to the station. The new station is performing quite well. You can read about the project and the initial performance testing via the link above.
