ISS 79° pass 13:42:07 CST 18:42:07 UTC

I decided to take one radio out into the field for today’s pass, my ICOM ID-52A. It is a dual band radio and has the option to record. Usually I have been using two radios, one for transmit and one for receive. I had the squelch turned off for both the TX and RX and I think that maybe this was the reason I was not able to hear the pass clearly. On the receiving end the pass sounded terrible, like I was not able to get the polarization correct – I had this issue throughout the entire pass.

When I returned home I listened to the recording and to my surprise the entire pass was very clear.

I am excited to report that I was able to make a contact, my only contact and it was Michael – KO4PDI. He is located in Florida. Michael is very well known on YouTube for recording his satellite passes live for others to watch. So today was my lucky day.

Below is a segment of the recorded audio from today.

You can also watch Michael’s YouTube video if you follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km7o4rTrqrU

I announce my call sign and grid location 16:19 into the video.

Due to rain this morning I was not able to catch this satellite.

This would have been my first pass of the RS95S. Below are the frequencies for this bird. This is an FM satellite.

Uplink: 145.920 MHz (67Hz CTCSS)

Downlink: 436.950 MHz

Decent pass on the ISS this afternoon. I thought I made 2 contacts however John – KE9FF is operating under an expired license, and the K15IP station does not exist.

Great pass this morning for SO-50. Made a few new contacts before the storm rolled in, Steve – W15D and Ralph – KA0JMK. It sounded like Ralph – KA0JMK did not have his receive frequency correct.

Sorry Jason, W3ALT for getting your name wrong, it was good to hear you though, QSL my friend.

Great pass today on the ISS, a lot of static though. I did not begin to receive any audio until the ISS was approaching max elevation. However I did receive one contact with James- WD5GRW from Allen, Texas – thanks James.

Below is a recording of the full pass taken on 2016-05-21.

I was able to make a contact with Douglas – AA0DW, his QTH is in Loveland, Colorado. You can hear the contact at 2 minutes, 42 seconds into the recording.

SO-50 is a widely used amateur radio satellite that has FM transponders that use a 67 Hz PL tone for access. It operates as a repeater and was designed and built as part of a Saudi Arabian amateur radio program.

Uplink FM (67 Hz CTCSS) 145.850 MHz

Downlink FM 436.765 MHz

Below is my first recording of SO-50, it is a very short recording. I was able to make contact with Juan Gil Aguilar from Mexico – XE1YDK.

Below is the recording from yesterday’s pass of the ISS, 2026-5-18. AOS was at 16:52 CST. The duration of the pass was 6m 38s.

I was able to make 3 contacts, Jason – W3ALT, Paul – W5CIP and Joe – WD5RIG. Jason, W3ALT has confirmed. As of today I am still waiting for the final 2 to confirm.

This is my first contact via the ISS, it was made yesterday 2026-5-17.

At 14 seconds into the recording you will hear me respond to Andy, KE7RTB, finalizing my first contact.

This recording was from yesterday, 2026-5-15.

Yesterday’s pass was at 17:39, it was a good pass, just over 30 degrees elevation. I decided to try and make a contact this time but was not able to. You will here me say my call sign and grid square location at 19 seconds into the recording.