Ham Radio Satellite SO-121 Hades-D on the Icom Ic-9700

Welcome back!
Join me for a pass of SO-121 Hades-D. This is an extremely difficult satellite to work. It only transmits around 40MW or 0.04 Watts! It is also extremely small at 5x5x7.5 Centimeters!
Each time I have worked it, I get maybe one or two contacts on the pass. This is another great example of the new Mini 70 Preamp setup, without it I could not hear the satellite hardly at all.
Equipment used;
Icom IC-9700
CSN Technologies S.A.T. Controller
Yaesu G-5500 Rotor
WiMo X-Quads for VHF & UHF
SHF-Elektronic Mini 70 Preamp
Thanks for another contact Gary (K2PLL)!

[@nickjh1968]

Nice pass, interesting sat too👍

[@W0CYC-HamRadioEndeavors]

Thank you! It is the toughest FM sat to work due to the transmit timer and the ultra low power. In fact I don’t know of a more difficult satellite to work that’s still operational. 73!

[@aarongriffin81]

I thought I was the only one that had trouble getting into SO-121. You hear better than I do, I get 1 QSO if I'm lucky. I see my signal when I TX so I know I get in but the signal is very weak for me. I thought for awhile I was using the wrong mode or something, what is up with the 2 narrow modulation lines together on the waterfall? 2:25 I have the exact thing happen on my ic-9700. But it does that for most of the pass until its overhead for me.

[@W0CYC-HamRadioEndeavors]

Hey Aaron! No it’s just ultra low power. I think it’s putting out .040 watt on the repeater on narrow FM. I was the same as you until I got a mast mounted preamp. That greatly extended my range. If others can hear it I can make up to 3-4 contacts on a pass. But it’s all up to if they can hear. I wonder myself what that transmission is because it’s much stronger than the repeater. It also sets a timer shut down. It’s somewhere around 10-15 seconds after that transmission that it comes back online. I haven’t caught any sort of data from it but maybe it’s digital telemetry?