karn@mouton.UUCP (06/05/84)
First HT-to-HT QSO Scored Thru OSCAR 10 An important milestone was reached May 28th when amateurs in West Virginia and California apparently became the first ever to QSO using handheld transceivers (HT) through an amateur radio satellite. KD6DDQ in Los Angeles and KD8GL in Wheeling, WV, each using only a 2-m FM HT first established contact at 1458 UTC. The historic event was facilitated by so-called "gateway" stations which served to connect local terrestrial repeater systems to the high-flying AMSAT OSCAR 10 (AO-10) satellite. Although in the past CW QSOs have been reported where one of the stations keyed the transmit switch of his HT for a crude key, it is believed the May 28th QSO comprised the first occasion on which both QSO participants used HTs. In West Virginia, KD8GL used his 2-m HT to talk through the Triple States Radio Amateur Club repeater, KD8GL/R. Signals from the repeater were picked up by the local gateway station WB8ZTV which converted them from FM to SSB while converting them to the 435 MHz OSCAR 10 uplink frequency. Signals were then beamed by WB8ZTV to OSCAR 10 positioned high over the Western Hemisphere. Meanwhile in L.A., gateway station N6JFD tuned to the AO-10 downlink and converted the SSB back to FM and forwarded the signals to the WA6OBT repeater to which KD6DDQ was tuned. The reverse path to Wheeling was the mirror image of this path. Both repeaters and gateway stations operated full duplex and the QSOs were two-way. Signals in both directions were excellent according to monitors. Later, the W7LWE repeater/gateway in Lake Havasu City, AZ joined in the fun. This made it the first three-way gateway operation and effectively linked amateurs in three states using OSCAR 10's trunking capabilities. According to an AMSAT official, "This historic event marks the vanguard of easy-access satellite communications for utility use by minimally equipped amateurs." Particpating in the May 28th linkups also were KR3V, K8AN, K2QWD, N6IAW, W7MCF and numerous others. Further dramatizing the significance of gateway operations, an event on the preceding day, May 27, vividly showed another aspect of the new, long duration coverage OSCAR: endurance. On May 27th the Wheeling gateway was linked to expert satellite station ZL1AOX in Christchurch, New Zealand for three hours continuously. AMSAT is suggesting that demonstrations of satellite communications by using gateway interconnects may be just the vehicle to exhibit the new OSCAR 10 capabilities while reducing new-user costs to zero. According to AMSAT's WA2LQQ, "Nothing can beat the flexibility of your own OSCAR station, but for those just starting out, this seems a good way to taste the wine before one buys the bottle!" A free information kit is available from AMSAT (for an SASE) at P.O. Box 27, Dept GW, Washington D.C. 20044.