My First Attempt to Hear GreenCube Failed, Why?

My First Attempt to Hear GreenCube Failed, Why?

I have been able to listen to the digipeater signals from International Space Station during its pass overhead even though I do not have the specific software and hardware to communicate on the digipeater. The signals would be heard as bursts of activity on 145.825 MHz FM when the space station passes overhead. Recently I found a website which would tell me the time when GreenCube, Italy Oscar 117 or IO 117 passes overhead: https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=53106. IO 117 is designated as MT-CUBE-2 on the search page. I was trying to listen to the digipeater on Green Cube at 435.310 MHz, but could not hear anything! They say failures are stepping stones to success, so this could be my first step!

Then I thought of several possible reasons for my initial failure. One was that GreenCube is in Medium Earth Orbit, which is at around 5800 km while International Space Station is in a Low Earth Orbit at around 420 km. The antenna which I was using was a CP22E VHF antenna which would tune to the International Space Station digipeater signal on 145.825 MHz, while the GreenCube signal comes on 435.310 MHz. My online friend from the US told me that GreenCube is not an easy bird to hear. I have to track the Doppler shift to improve the odds of hearing it. A sound modem has to be setup for decoding the signal and connected to the computer with appropriate software. Another important downside was that I was using an FM radio while GreenCube has a simplex USB digipeater receiving and transmitting on USB!