{"id":14470,"date":"2025-06-16T12:33:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T07:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/?p=14470"},"modified":"2025-06-16T12:38:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T07:08:20","slug":"what-are-the-challenges-in-amateur-radio-satellite-operation-from-a-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/what-are-the-challenges-in-amateur-radio-satellite-operation-from-a-ship\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the challenges in amateur radio satellite operation from a ship?"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8C3PFj99xhc?si=c-Z_26x6cEfc_HTF\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My amateur radio friend VU2TUM <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/vu2tum\/status\/1934441596961132597\">posted a video on X<\/a> depicting LEO satellite operations from cruise ship.   I thought of checking out the challenges of amateur radio satellite operations from a moving ship. VU2TUM had additional challenges as he was at a high North latitude. In case of Low Earth Satellite operations using a handheld antenna from a moving ship, it is going to be quite tough to track the satellite moving across the sky with spinning and tumbling. Movement of the ship due to waves would make it extremely difficult. Stabilization of the antenna on a tripod can reduce the strain on the arm, but will not do away with the movement of the ship by the waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Add to it, space limitation on the deck, especially for smaller ships, may hinder satellite communications needing pointing to the sky from horizon to horizon. Structures like masts and other superstructures could either block the satellite signals or cause multipath interference. Precise knowledge of the ship&#8217;s position is quite important for satellite tracking software. Errors or delays in updating position data by GPS software can affect the accuracy. Storms, high winds or heavy rain can make operations from the deck impossible. Rain can also affect signals at the high end of the radio spectrum. Engine vibrations and electrical systems of the ship can cause radio frequency interference in the receiver and degrade signal quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Limited internet access may affect updating of TLE by satellite tracking software like Gpredict. Scheduling contacts with other operators and uploading logs to online platforms like LoTW may also be affected by poor internet connectivity. Add to it, the need for obtaining the needed permissions from the ship masters, arranging power supply for extended operations and the risk of corrosion in operations over prolonged time periods. Additional license conditions may apply from the ship&#8217;s flag state and territorial waters. Overall, it is a challenging, but interesting aspect of amateur radio operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My amateur radio friend VU2TUM posted a video on X depicting LEO satellite operations from cruise ship. I thought of checking out the challenges of amateur radio satellite operations from a moving ship. VU2TUM had additional challenges as he was at a high North latitude. In case of Low Earth Satellite operations using a handheld [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amateur-radio-ham-radio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What are the challenges in amateur radio satellite operation from a ship? - Johnson&#039;s Techworld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/what-are-the-challenges-in-amateur-radio-satellite-operation-from-a-ship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What are the challenges in amateur radio satellite operation from a ship? - Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My amateur radio friend VU2TUM posted a video on X depicting LEO satellite operations from cruise ship. I thought of checking out the challenges of amateur radio satellite operations from a moving ship. VU2TUM had additional challenges as he was at a high North latitude. 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