While this pass was not overhead, it was good enough. I think it was about 45° to the west. I forgot to note it.
No worries.
Telescoping 2m antenna in my backyard: (Not bad plus trees with leaves and neighbors house 35' away)
- Reasonably good enough result once I got the correct antenna angle. Which happened to be 90° on this particular pass.
- The initial part of the image result would be a bit wonky as you move the antenna about to find the correct angle (static). Still, the audio was pretty solid after finding the sweet spot.
Log periodic antenna inside the house: (Terrible and this antenna has directional gain, like a Yagi)
- Not too good with a wall in the way ( plus a tree with leaves and a neighbors house about 35' away )
- Very poor and then total loss with two walls in the way ( plus a tree with leaves and a neighbors house about 35' away )
Okay, your post came up as I wrote this...
1. There is an update in bold on that AMSAT page that notes transmissions commenced on October 3. (To the left of the picture) Trust me, it's sending images.
2. They note on that page to adjust for doppler shift. Avoid messing with changing the frequency until you're an old hand at this. It's like anything, the more your practice. For now, you will be busy moving the radio/antenna angle. I have never adjusted for that myself.
3. I didn't have a chance to try a stock rubber duck, or even an improved rubber duck. The damn BNC connector was too tight on the 2m antenna and I had to fish one off of another radio which only left the second image for the log periodic testing. Still, you should experiment. Even if you're at a window with a rubber duck, angle the radio side to side or even upside down. Angle it toward and away as well. Leave the squelch open and move it about at different angles until you hear it the strongest to find the sweet spot.
* This important point is for you and anyone else interested. You noted the ISS spotter app advised there will be 7
visible passes in your area. With radio we don't care about
visible passes we would see
with our eyes. That is for people who want to
see the ISS when they go outside and look up at the sky.
Here is what you need to do:
1. Go to
https://n2yo.com It will bring up the path for the ISS by default and it should automatically figure out where you area, based on your IP address. If it is incorrect, or not, you can create an account and set your exact location.
2. The next thing to do is click on the blue button on the right that says "
10-Day predictions for Space Station".
3. On that page there is a blue button that will have the text "
All Passes", click on that.
4. You will now see all of the passes the ISS will make that are reasonably near your location. This means whatever time of the day. Pick one that works for you, unless you don't mind getting up at/staying away until 11:47 UTC.
That page displays the start, maximum and end time. Even better, to the right you can click on "
Map and details" which will tell you even more, like which window of the house you should be near as the map will display the path of the ISS.
