Early Activation of IO 86 Satellite Gave Good DX Contacts!

Usually LAPAN A-2 or IO-86 Amateur Radio Satellite gets activated only towards the end of its pass in our region. This weekend there are three activations which gives me 7-8 minutes of pass time. Listened to the first pass with activation at 10:16 am IST (UTC+5.30). I had pointed my Moxon Yagi South East for the best possible results on the trans equatorial pass of IO-86, which had almost 40 degree elevation at the time of closest approach or TCA. Started hearing stations right from the beginning of the activation, though it was a bit faint as my antenna was not pointed at TCA which would be straight South for me. Still I could hear several VU and DX stations from Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Here is the curated recording of the audio pass, recorded using my mobile phone kept over my IC 2730 radio.

Thanks a lot to the LAPAN team for early activation of IO-86 which gave me and my VU freinds as well as 4S7NDR a good opportunity to work the satellite FM repeater. Next one today is an SSTV event. Looking forward to receiving an SSTV image, though time window is not that favourable as the activation is a bit away from the TCA in my region.