Portable Equipment
Choosing a Radio
Picking a suitable radio for satellite work is probably one of the hardest things you will have to decide. its always recommended to operate duplex, this means you can transmit and receive at the same time, to achieve this you will either need a radio that supports it or two separate radios.
At the moment there is no suitable duplex FM handheld radio on the market, which is a shame, however if you can find a Kenwood TH-D72E these are well suited for FM satellites, due to the fact this is the case, picking two low cost FM handhelds is usually a good decision.
A popular solution is to use two of the Yeasu FT81* family of radios, the FT-817 FT-817ND or FT-818. These HF to UHF radios provide full coverage with adequate power and can be combined with commercial handheld atennas.
Todo: Needs text on using linear satellites, Dual FT-818s or carrying a more fixed station radio.
Antennas
Homebrew Options
- George M1GEO has a simple design which can be built cheaply on his website https://www.george-smart.co.uk/antennas/dual_band_satellite_yagi/
Commerical
Rotator
- Portable Arduino based rotator https://www.sarcnet.org/rotator-mk1.html