Satellite contact between Cuba and Alaska

After many attempts, Hector Martinez CO6CBF in Cuba and Dale Pelzer KL7R in Alaska have achieved a contact between Grid Squares EL92sd and BP54xt using the amateur radio satellite FO-29. Hector CO6CBF posted this report on the AMSAT Bulletin Board Cubans cannot … Continue reading →

Hector Martinez CO6CBF
After many attempts, Hector Martinez CO6CBF in Cuba and Dale Pelzer KL7R in Alaska have achieved a contact between Grid Squares EL92sd and BP54xt using the amateur radio satellite FO-29.
Hector CO6CBF posted this report on the AMSAT Bulletin Board
Cubans cannot operate on AO-7 mode B, So FO-29 is our only opportunity for long contacts.
I cannot say how much time we tried but I am sure that it was more than 10 attempts. Dale did all the hard work, he drove around 4 miles from his home to a nearby hill. Majority of times he drove very late in the night.
All the SSB attempts failed. Today [Sunday, July 8] at 1920z was our first attempt on CW and it was successful!
Dale’s working conditions are a Yaesu FT-817 (only 5W semi-duplex) and ARROW antenna with preamplifier. My working conditions are a majority homebrew setup, 10 elements Yagi on ...