Please use the ALIAS of APRSAT on your uplinks instead of ARISS so that you only hit QIKCOM-1 for these first few passes with your test uplinks (once a minute).
*Sent:* Thursday, October 26, 2017 4:01 PM *To:* 'AMSAT-BB' *Subject:* APRS Satellites (QIKCOM-1 a GO for this Friday AM)
QIKCOM-1 should deploy from the ISS Friday at 0920 UTC or so attached to the SIMPL spacecraft. It is an APRS digipeater just like the ISS but responds to the APRSAT path (and also to ARISS). So use the APRSAT path for these early tests to only trigger QIKCOM-1 to digipeat. At 4 Watts, it will be 10 dB stronger than PSAT(84) and about the same power level as ISS and should be easy to receive on the 145.825 downlink.
We ask all potential IGates to check your ground stations and make sure they are ready to IGate packets during those initial orbits from all over the globe. If you do not have an IGate, just capture packets and email them to [email protected] until we see that everything is making it to the APRS-IS.
The downlink should be available on the original http://pcsat.findu.com and also on http://59.167.159.165/satreporter/index2.html
Being released from ISS, QIKCOM-1 will of course have the same Elements and tracking info as ISS until they begin to separate. This means passes over the USA every 90 minutes beginning at 0630 EDT in the Southeast and ending after 1440 PDT in Southern California.
Web page: http://aprs.org/qikcom-1.html
As usual, QIKCOM-1 is not intended for UNATTENDED BEACONS. It is designed for Live Operations and experiments only.
For the initial passes, do not attempt 2-way contacts. Just set your STATUS text to indicate your TX power and antenna type and transmit at 1m intervals ATTENDED as described on the web page during these first few orbits. So we can get sttistices on uplink quality.
Bob, WB4APR
Student Satellite Mentor
US Naval Academy