Ham Radio Satellite RS-44, with the Icom Ic-9700 and Mini 70 preamp.
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Welcome back!
Today I demonstrate the SHF-Elektronic Mini 70 preamp on RS-44. This little preamp paired with the radio preamp is an unbelievable combo!
As you will see in the video, with no preamps the signal is at best S2. With the SHF-Elektronic Mini 70 the signal jumps to S9, and paired with the onboard it brings the signal into the +10 range😳
The audio quality is absolutely amazing with this upgrade. If you are considering getting one, DO IT!!!
I have the Mini 2 on order and will demonstrate it in a few weeks.
Let me know what you think of the performance!
Catch you next time
73
Hi, sorry to bother you, what is the name of the software at the top left? The satellite management system. Thank you. Marco in3ufw
Hello Marco! No worries I haven’t been very busy with UA-cam Lately. The control software is the CSN Technologies SAT controller. It is an all in one unit that controls everything through your web browser. It is without doubt the best money spent on my entire setup.
Thank you vy much 4 the info i look the sistem. Have nice evening. 73 tu Marco in3ufw
Rob, this setup is very exciting and fun to watch in action. I had no idea you could have a real QSO on linear satellites. Great video showing all the action and moving parts on this pass. Robert, K4PYA
Hey Robert! It’s been fun hearing you on the satellites! Yeah the linear sats are a completely different world. The hectic pace of FM is fun, but on RS-44 you can have up to 20 minutes of talk time and since there’s so much pass band you have almost the same space as 17m to hold QSO’s. A couple Chinese satellites have reactivated recently and are sounding great! I will be getting some footage of them soon so everyone can see and hear them.
Rob, your setup is awesome. It makes it look very easy. The preamp does a great job as well as your antennas and the S.A.T. Killer setup! Hope to catch you on the sat one of these days. 73 de N3CMZ (Carlos)
Hey Carlos, thanks for watching! I appreciate the kind words! This setup really does make it super easy. The secret weapon is the CSN Technologies SAT controller. Without it everything would be manual. Those guys deserve all the credit they can get and best customer support for ANY COMPANY I have ever seen in any industry. It was a long road to get where I am, with a lot of failures along the way. But that makes it all the more enjoyable now! I hope to catch you on a pass soon, 73!!
Wow....that sounds fantastic. Major increase, and very little noise. I have considered one for 70cm but the Q5 transverters are so hot on RX, I have heard that all it would do is to swamp the front end. But it would be nice for when I use the IC-820 which isn't so sensitive. Very impressed in the RX with that preamp. 73 de Charlie
Thanks Charlie! It is truly amazing to say the least. The combo of the Mini 70 and the onboard preamp only netted an S3 noise level on SSB which is remarkable in my book. I guarantee it would wake the IC-820/821 up and you’d probably never turn it off! I will have videos of it on FM in the coming days. Obviously the noise floor is higher on FM, but wait until you see the S9+10-20db signals!
Nice set up ROB. can i ask what antennas you are using and is that some type of phasing cable? I have the 9700 also and an looking to get more involved in satellite operation. Thanks
Thank you!! They are the WiMo X Quads with Phase harnesses. I bought it all through DX Engineering a couple years ago. I have an assembly video on the channel if you’d like to see them close up.
You're really got me rethinking the LEO pack with those X-quads. I've heard they're popular in Europe but seems like you don't see many US operators running them. Are you using the Wimo phasing lines for RHCP?
Hello! I bought them because they were much more compact, easier to assemble, and pretty robustly built. They work great! Obviously I haven’t done a side by side with the M2, but I regularly get into sats as low as 1 degree. I do have both phasing harnesses for RHCP. I have an assembly video on the channel if you are interested. 73!
Nice tracking!! Which kind of program can simulate the view angle from the of satellite as on left side screen? de WJ2I /BV2DQ Ran
Thanks for watching! That is the control interface from the CSN Technologies SAT Controller. That was the best money spent on the entire satellite system! 73,Rob
I like the looks of the Mini 70. Did you buy it in the US? If so, where?
It works great! Very clear signal with very little noise. I bought direct from SHF Elektronic in Germany. It was $200usd including shipping and was here in a week. I saw it advertised at a couple US stores but none had it in stock it was all back order that’s why I just went straight to the source.
Nice video, Rob; thank you. Regarding the IC-9700 external pre-amp phantom power: Does the IC-9700 automatically switch off the phantom power as soon as you transmit? Or would I need to run a separate TX/RX command-wire to the external pre-amp?
Thank you! The 9700 automatically shuts power off to the preamp when you hit transmit. There are two preamp controls on the 9700, the internal is activated by the button on the faceplate. The external power has to be turned on in the menu settings then activated/deactivated through the Menu button under the screen.
@@W0CYC-HamRadioEndeavors Great! That's useful to know; the manuals seem not to mention that. :-) What sort of erp, on 2 metres, do I need to get into RS-44 when it is on the horizon?
At the horizon, shooting through trees, I will run 60 watts ssb ONLY if I can hear myself back. I have around 2db of system loss and 10.5 db of antenna gain so the ERP on that would be about 380 watts. I have made contact with Spain at 2 degrees with this setup on RS44.
@@W0CYC-HamRadioEndeavors Great stuff! That's very useful info; thank you. I think I can muster that erp. Hope to catch you on the bird! Does it reach to England, from the USA, when at apogee?
You can get into western Europe with it for sure. I am just west of the Mississippi center US and can get Europe and deep into South America. If you are much west of me though it gets tough to impossible pretty quickly. Of course it’s at low angles and a perfect pass across the Atlantic so you have to find the right pass. If you are lucky enough to be on the East Coast of the US you can get passes pretty deep into Europe.
Rob, do you need RF filtering external to the IC-9700, or does the radio cope OK in duplex mode?
I am running a dual LMR-400 feedline setup to the two antennas. Teh radio handles everything fine itself. The only time I had any RF issues was when I was trying to get the antennas setup. At first I used a metal cross boom, and I had the antennas both end mounted. The metal boom caused some reflection, but the big one was the driven elements were not lined up parallel. Now they are set on the boom so the driven elements are perfectly side by side, instead of one facing into the back of the other. Once I set them up with a fiberglass rod and the elements parallel, ZERO RF.
@@W0CYC-HamRadioEndeavors That's really useful info, thanx again Rob. I managed some USA contacts on RS44 yesterday using separate radios and a high-pass filter on the RX radio without any problems :-D Now considering an antenna for circular polarisation :-D Do you know whether most amateur satellites use linearly-polarised antennas?
That’s great!! I believe most are and RHC Polarization seems to work the best at countering the spin of the satellite to balance out the polarization.
@@W0CYC-HamRadioEndeavors Sweet, thanks Rob. 🙂 Maybe catch you on RS44 soon 😀
Fingers crossed!!
So are you bouncing off satellite using simplex or it repeaters off satellite?
Hello! This is using an onboard VHF/UHF crossband repeater. I transmit a VHF LSB signal to the satellite and it converts it to a UHF USB downlink signal. The FM satellites use a VHF/UHF crossband repeater. With the sideband Linear satellites you get a certain amount of passband that multiple stations can use all at once, which is demonstrated in this video.
@@W0CYC-HamRadioEndeavorsthank you for the channel, so very interested in satellites.
So it's going up 2m/ mode = LSB. What is the reason up and down are not both using USB. To separate further?
Thanks again I subscribed 🤙
@@LCSRacingThanks for watching! It is lsb up and usb down to help reduce the Doppler effect. I have read it’s easier to build the transponder this way as well and makes it more efficient.
Anyone aware of a domestic reseller of the SHF mini 70?
I believe DX Engineering has them. I bought my WiMo Quads through them
@@W0CYC-HamRadioEndeavors thank you sir, hope I could forego the international shipping.
Thanks again, will poke around on DX. Have a cart of stuff need to cash out anyway. 🤙
I know the feeling with the cart😂it never seems to end with satellite stuff.
@@W0CYC-HamRadioEndeavors good day, ordered from Wimo Mini 70,🤙 any beta or gotchas you can share with the install on the IC-9700 (Power, etc )
No it was super simple. Basically plug and play. Mounted them up, ran the coax, turned the preamp setting on in the radio and bam done.
Rag-chewing on a satellite. Great. DE J68HZ starting @ 17:44.
Yeah this was a fun pass. I missed Grace (J68HZ) due to the pileup and the other station calling CQ RIGHT OVER HER...............