The latest schedule has not been posted to the -BB yet, nor on the CAMSAT website. However, the beacon will tell you whether the transponder is on, and in which mode (although I have observed 2 instances where the beacon indicated a mode different than what the satellite was actually operating in). Just listen to the first part of the beacon transmission: after sending the callsign BJ1SA, the beacon will transmit XW twice. The next 2 CW groupings will tell you the mode:
AAA TTT means beacon only.
TTT TAT means that the linear transponder is on.
TTT TTA means that the FM transponder is on.
The rest of the beacon consists of telemetry data, and ends with XW XW.
Hope this helps!
George, KA3HSW
----- Original Message ----- From: "John Neeley" w6zkh@att.net To: "Richard Lawn" rjlawn@gmail.com; amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 11:48 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Working HO-68
Rick.....HO-68 is not turned on every pass. At that 2130 utc time, it was off, even though it flew over the US, and the beacon is always on no matter what. HO-68 usually has morning passes, coming from the north down to the south. Check the Amsat-bb here for latest schedule and mode, think it was just the other day infact.
John W6ZKH
From: Richard Lawn rjlawn@gmail.com To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sat, December 18, 2010 6:43:26 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Working HO-68
Doing what I try to do every vacation which is try to spend a little time back on the birds. I've yet to have a QSO on HO-68. I hear the beacon just fine. But I just finished my 2nd pass from NJ and was unable to hear any signals let alone myself coming back on any mode. Did I misread the operating schedule or am I doing something wrong? MacDoppler told me there was a good pass to this part of the world are around 21:30 my time. Great beacon strength but nobody else was home.
Rick W2JAZ