OBSERVATIONS FROM NORWAY

SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS FROM FREI ISLAND.
15.April-2007.

I have often mentioned the difficulty of operating satellite communications from my QTH on the north side of Frei Island. This used to present no problem on LEO's like FO-20 or AO-7 coming up over Russia but it was nigh on impossible to work MIR or the current ISS near the equator since these satellites had a maximum elevation of about 4 degrees seen from my QTH.

They say a picture is worth 1001 words so the following photos ought to illustrate the difficulties I have to contend with.

I can and do work into The east coast of The USA and I used to have regular skeds with Alaska by using knife edged propagation ... (See "Knife edge propagation" elsewhere on this site).

As can be imagined, I have quite a lot of fun doing the math to successfully bounce signals off the mountain ... but sometimes, it can be a pain in the bum! when the satellite disappears behind the mountain in the middle of a QSO.
 

The mountain, from LA2QAA's QTH.

The rock face in the centre of the mountain ... and yes! ... the ship you can see is a real one, not a model.

The southern end of the mountain about a couple of kilometers from my QTH.

Picture 3 is an actual photo of picture 4 ... (the Google one) ... I was sitting at ... 63.04.42.57 N and 7.44.28.97 E on the Google map ... (centre of picture 4) ... about 1/3rd of the way up the mountain on the northern slope. Note the ocean going tug sailing into the fjord. It can also be seen on the Google map just off the southern tip of the west Island of Kristiansund.

As can be imagined ... operating LEO satellites to my west or south is quite a challenge. Together with the regular aurorae and the reflections from the mountain it makes for "interesting" satellite communications.

Horizontal on 2M, Slant on 70Cms.

Next time you feel like "whinging" about a couple of trees or a building blocking your view ... spare a thought for LA2QAA.

73 John.   <la2qaa@amsat.org>