For most of her 30 years as a ham, Erica (W7WXR) assumed amateur satellites were the domain of giant stations with huge antennas, something she would only ever read about in QST. That changed at the 2024 Northstar Conference, where a talk and a parking-lot demonstration showed her the sats were far more accessible than she had believed, inspiring her to get active on the linear ham satellites. This talk covers her journey from that moment to making contacts: setting up her initial station on modest gear, the lessons she learned, the upgrades she made along the way, and how you can get on the sats too.
Presenter Bio
Erica Zavaleta, W7WXR, has been a licensed amateur for 30 years and holds an Extra class license. She lives in Fargo, North Dakota. A software developer by profession, she is drawn to the weak-signal end of the hobby: digital modes, CW, and, more recently, the linear transponder satellites. She also enjoys retro computers, astronomy, meteorology, and hiking when it’s not too cold! She posts her projects at https://ericaslab.dev