Hi Richard.

Well, there isn't much SSB activity on 2 meters in this part of the world, 
but if you have a good sized beam, point it over towards Rochester on 
Monday evenings at 9:00 p.m.  There is a net that meets there made up of 
members of the Rochester VHF Group and whoever else shows up on 
frequency.  I think they meet on 144.200.  I've also had some luck pointing 
the beam up to the north shore of Lake Ontario and working some of the 
Canadian operators.

As for packet, not much activity there anymore, unless you are using it to 
check the DX Cluster.  Most of the BBS stations have pulled the plug.

I've never done satellite so I can't help you there.

In general, I like the TS2000S.  Once you understand the front panel 
layout, it's probably one of the friendlier radios, but the learning curve 
is a little steep--not because the radio is laid out in an unfriendly 
manner, but rather because the radio does so much and there are so many 
controls that it takes several readings of the manual to digest it all.

I bought the hand mike that has the four PF keys on the front of it.  The 
PF keys are programmable function keys and one can do some really nice 
things with them.  On my radio, I set PF1 to read the frequency through the 
voice synthesizer, PF2 to read the S meter through the voice synthesizer, 
PF3 to open the squelch, and PF4 to listen on the transmit frequency (i.e. 
the repeater input).  Bringing those four functions out on the mike made 
that radio a real pleasure to use with the repeaters, because you don't 
have to fumble around on the front of the radio for those functions.

73, de Lou K2LKK



At 09:34 PM 8/1/2006 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi everyone;
>In considering the ts2000 I was wondering how much activity folks have found
>on uhf or vhf side band?  True it would work for satellite work but is there
>much else going on?  I understand this can vary radically from one part of
>the country to another.
>
>As for packet, Haven't thought about it in a very long time.  Is there much
>left and what type of activity?  I think someone said a few months ago that
>it was primarily message boards in their part of the country.
>
>Finally, has anyone tried satellite work and what type of antenna system
>have you used?  I never considered the idea much because at one time you
>essentially needed a beam and two rotators one for the direction and a
>second for the pitch or tilt of the antenna.  That was quite some time ago
>and a friend suggested that things are much easier now but didn't have any
>details.
>Richard

Louis Kim Kline
A.R.S. K2LKK
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Work Telephone:  (585) 697-5753