It is my understanding that the transit system is inactive. This was a Navy navigation system that used the approx 150 MHz and 400 MHZ signals for determination of location. I used this system while active duty in the USN submarine service. I listened to the 149.985 MHz signal at home for many years, but, have not heard it for at least 10 years. The birds were known as OSCAR (for operational) by the Navy. Here are some links to some information indicating that at least one bird was transmitting in 1996. http://space.skyrocket.de/index_frame.htm?http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat...
http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/Transit/
http://techdigest.jhuapl.edu/td/td1901/index.htm
If you do hear a Transit satellite, and the satellite is operating properly, you will hear a data burst, known as a Barker word. This data burst occurs at every even 2 minute mark. It can be used as an accurate time hack. The assumption was that the unit using the system would have time that was at least accurate to a minute and this could be used as a time hack.
Hope this helps
73 Glenn WB4UIV
At 06:49 PM 8/30/2010, Dave Marthouse wrote:
With all this talk of the Transit satellites on 149.985MHZ, how are they listed in the keps. I checked for other satellites of interest on the kelso webpage and found navy navigation satellites. There are a few named transit. What Transit birds are we talking about. I want to see how strong their signals are on my scanner. Any information would be appreciated.
Dave Marthouse N2AAM dmarthouse@gmail.com _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb