GRBAlpha - How to use digipeater or DNxD - 05. My antenna, transceiver, and tracking system

For an example, I will introduce my antenna and tranceiver.

My antenna is 15 ele yagi horizontal polarized antenna. 15 ele is more than adequate. I somtimes saw my rig's S meter up to 5. Too strong signal sometimes causes misdecode of software TNC. I will explain about the PC's input and output level later. The reason why I set my antenna as horizontal polarized is that I want to avoid effects from some ground stations like mobile. Of course, the frequency for satellites is not permitted for grounds, but, as you know, some ignore this rule. 

I normally use Yeasu FT-847. It has the output line for 9600bps named as "RX9600" at the "PKT" connector in the rear panel. And I set "PKT RATE" as "9600" in the menu No.23 of FT-847. I sometimes use Icom IC-821 while my FT-847 has some trouble. It also has the output line for 9600bps named "DISK" at the "Accessory" socket in its rea panel. Of course, I set "9600 bps mode" on in the "Set mode with [M/S]".

I use the "Gpredict" for my tracking because I use Linux PC. But I do not control automatically the rotator or rig frequency. I manually control both. I memorize 5 sets of frequencies with 5kHz step for transmitting and receiving just like when you use repeaters. The frequency pairs are like as :(uplink/downlink) 437.015/437.035, 437.020/437.030, 437.025/437.025, 437.030/437.020, 437.035/437.015. According to checking the frequency and direction with Gpredict, I change the memory channel starting from the pair of "437.015/437.035(uplink/downlink)", and I control my rotetor manually. If you control the frequency automatically with your PC, you can perhaps control only downlink frequency. In this case, you can make uplink only around the TCA.