The original email from David, reprinted below noted the "Stopping of the 435 downlink carrier and Bob WB4APR came back and said that the transponder is in an "Auto" mode which waits for a PSK signal and then turns on. My experience the other morning was that this was true, but as David says below, he was surprised by it turning off periodically. My surprise was that I was able to repeatedly turn it on when I started transmitting on 28.120 +1Khz, but before my CQ ended, the carier would quit. I repeatedly brought it up and also saw other not so copyable psk carriers on the waterfall but the transponder seemed not to stay on long enough to keep a full QSO going. I know for a fact because I duplicated at least three times turning on the FM carrier about 2-3 seconds after I started to uplink. I personally have yet in my several feeble efforts, been able to make a full QSO although I have been emailed by several to say that they did indeed hear me. This morning, 5-27 1207Z pass I was bad and had my RX radio to the wrong frequency but will give another shot at the 114xZ pass on 5-28 to see if I can make progress on making a Q.
Tom Schuessler
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Date: Wed, 27 May 2015 09:54:23 -0400 From: David G0MRF [email protected] To: [email protected], [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] PSAT- transmission sequence Message-ID: [email protected] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Congratulations Bob and USNA on another successful spacecraft.
I listened for the first time this morning and could hear the beacon and transponded PSK31 without any trouble.
But I was not expecting the 435.350 carrier to stop every now and again.
What determines if the carrier is on or off. - Beacon timing.- OK, but is the transmitter also PSK activated in someway? Or is it a timer. Very nice for saving power.
Thanks
David G0MRF