First transatlantic LEO satellite QSO!

Before I upgraded my LEO SAT station, I was only able to work satellite passes with a certain elevation. Since my antennas were mounted too low, my own house, other houses and trees were blocking the clear view of the sky. Now that the antennas are mounted about 5 meters higher on the roof, a whole new range of possibilities has opened up.

To test what’s actually possible with the new setup, I asked Joe KE9AJ for a sked. He immediately planned the following suitable RS-44 pass for us, set his alarm early in the morning, and drove to his spot to make a QSO with me:

At 10:58z, the moment finally arrived, and I could hear Joe calling CQ. Incredibly, we were actually able to make a short QSO between EN50 (Illinois, USA) and JN49 (southwestern Germany), which he even recorded:

This QSO also sets a new personal distance record of 7287 km. It certainly looks like the upgrade was worth it!