PCSAT-1 recovered!
PCSAT-1 responded to all RESTORE commands on the 1320Z pass this morning.
On the next pass (now in full sun), she remembered it all and was fully operational (though the transmitters were again cross connected meaning that relay had dropped out in the dark over Europe. But we set the relay again and she should be fine. PLEASE limit all operations to DAYLIGHT hours only, and PCSAT-1 should be good for the next few weeks. Also, on the same 145.825, you should also hear ANDE and ARISS. That's 18 passes a day!
Please see downlink packets on http://pcsat.aprs.org As long as the callsign "PCSAT-1" is appearing, then she is holding up. If W3ADO-1 appears, then she has lost it again...
PCSAT-11 downlink is on 144.39 over North America so all mobiles on the normal APRS channel can be alerted when it is in view...
And full details on http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/pcsat.html
Bob, WB4APR
-----Original Message----- Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 10:58 AM
November should be a great Mobile Satellite Month.
There are 7 satellites you can work from your mobile FM rig, including PCSAT-1 which should fully recover by this weekend
and
last for 2 or more weeks. So now is the time to get going
with
live satellite contacts via these easy FM satellites, or
setting
up a SATGATE (Igate).
DOWNLINK SATELLITE
145.825 ISS APRS digipeater 145.825 PCSAT-1 (recovery expected 3 Nov) 145.825 ANDE-1 (re-entry expected next month) 435.225 GO-32 +/- 10 KHz and 9600 baud
435.300 AO-51 *FM Voice* +/- 10 KHz 436.795 SO-50 *FM Voice* +/- 10 KHz 436.795 AO-27 *FM Voice* +/- 10 KHz
As you can see, there will be over 40 passes per day with 18
for
the 1200 baud satellites, 6 per day for the 9600 baud GO32 and 18 for the voice birds. All 1200 baud pass times are between about 6 AM to 1800 local sun time in the Northern Hemisphere. GO-32 and AO-51 voice birds are in the morning and evening, AO-27 is in the afternoon. It is trivial to know when to operate these birds WITHOUT A PC. Please see the manual-tracking page: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/MobileLEOtracking.html
The packet path on 145.825 is VIA ARISS for all three satellites. The path for GO-32 is VIA 4XTECH and uses two different uplinks: 145.85 for APRS software and messages. 145.93 for all Mic-E, D7 and D700 radios.
That's more than one pass per hour on 145.825. Lots of
contact
potential from your mobile...
For APRS birds: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/pcsat.html http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/iss-faq.html http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/ande-ops.html http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/GO32-ops.html
For AMSAT birds: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php
For many of these satellites, you don't even need a tracking program. Just a slip of paper on the dashboard... See: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/MobileLEOtracking.html
The best antenna is a 19.5" whip in the center of your roof.
5
dBi gain on the 2m uplink and almost 8 dBi gain for the very weak UHF downlink (above 25 degrees)...
Watch for special event info.
WB4APR, Bob
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: