Reality Me

Month: May 2025

  • The rules are simple

    You must be perfect all the time. Anything less is unacceptable.

  • Radio heads…help me work the SO-50 satellite

    Contacting the ISS and working satellites is a personal goal. I read SO-50 is a good satellite to try first. I’m a little confused. “operating on 145.850 MHz uplink and 436.795 MHz downlink. The repeater is available to amateurs worldwide as power permits, using a 67.0 Hertz PL tone on the uplink, for on-demand activation. SO-50 also has a 10 minute timer that must be armed before use. Transmit a 2 second carrier with a PL tone of 74.4 to arm the timer.” Do I need to program my radio with 7 memories? 1. 145.850 with PL tone 74.4 for activation

    2. 145.850 with PL tone 67 for transmitting

    3. 435.785 (for doplar shift)

    4. 435.790 (for doplar shift)

    5. 436.795 for receive

    6. 436.800 (for doplar shift)

    7. 436.805 (for doplar shift) I’m using a Yaesu FTM-500DR. Is there another way to send the 2 second carrier? I have RT-Systems programmer and it shows Tone Mode options as None, Tone, T Sql, DCS, Rev CTCSS, User CTCSS, Pager, D Code, T DCS, and D Tone. I’m reading manuals but still don’t know what half these tones mean. Is my 1-7 correct? Or am I completely misunderstanding how to work sats? Thank you!

  • Premature hearing loss

    I slept with earplugs in last night. Woke several times thinking I’d lost my hearing.