Hi Phil,
The transponder is on in low-power mode while the telemetry beacon is on. You only get 30-40 seconds at a time but if you are quick, you should be able to make a short contact.
The BPSK seems to be working very well - Thank you for all your work!
73, Tony AA2TX --- On 8/4/2011 2:27 AM, Phil Karn wrote:
On 8/3/11 9:28 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner wrote:
I was able to hear myself with as little as 1 watt on the 0425Z pass. Antennas are a M2 CP42 on RHCP up, and a 10 element horizontal yagi down. Sounded VERY good, and cycled on and off with the telemetry. I also managed to grab 2 frames of tlm right after AOS. I have a wav file of the transponder test.
Now *THIS* is the best news I've heard all day since the deployment and initial reception reports!!
Perhaps the transponder is disabled in low-power mode during night passes?
Remember this spacecraft is carrying a silver-zinc battery. While nominally rechargeable, this type of battery has a very short cycle life usually specified in the single digits. This is the reason for the conservatism in eclipse operation. Without that battery, the computer will regularly reset in eclipse and the spacecraft won't behave nearly as well as we'd like.
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