Tom,

                I have to ask. Did you hear anything back from anyone (other than saying don’t use AO-91 in eclipse)? I wish they would have replied publicly. I am in the same boat and would be interested in where to concentrate my efforts. I’ve made thousands of satellite contacts in the past, but not much in a while. It would be good to know what is active and available.

73,

Joe kk0sd

From: tjschuessler--- via AMSAT-BB <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, June 18, 2021 7:09 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [AMSAT-BB] status of a few satellites for FD

Hi all,

It  has been a few months since I last was on Linear satellite passes.  With FD coming up, I need a little catch up on some status issues.  The AMSAT Satellite Status page is helpful, but does have some limitations.  Ray Hoad, WA5QGD and I were talking about this last Sunday, and I said I would ask.  SO….

AO-73;  Is it in full time transponder mode, or switching at eclipse, or data mode only?

EO-88;  Is it still on Eclipse passes for transponder?  I think so.

AO-7;  I believe it is experiencing eclipses so should be in mode B, unless an operator with too much power flips it.

XW-2C and XW-2D;  Are these still working in the 2 second on, 5 second off mode, or has there been some improvement to one of them or the other?

CAS 6/TO-108; I know our Linear transponder chart says it is intermittent (Like the two XW’s above), but did I not read that it’s transponder is staying on for longer now?

JO-97, FO-99;  Any operational status yet?

And who knows about Lilacsat-2’s schedule?????

My read of activation times for FO-29 seemed to indicate that for FD weekend, the controllers would try and activate it on northward (Ascending) passes over Japan, which might make it available for us as it comes descending over the pole in our overnight passes.  Does that sound right?

OF COURSE, NO USING AO-91 ON ELCIPSE PASSES (OUR OVERNIGHT PASSES). 

Any other interesting status updates?

Thanks for your comments.  They will be helpful to all.

73, Tom, N5HYP