" (and)...correspondence with N1JEZ Mike Seguin (AO-7 control operator)"
It is possible that Mike has some control over modes on this satellite...
Roger WA1KAT
----- Original Message ----- From: "John Hackett" [email protected] To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 4:03 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: [eu-amsat] AO-7 report.
Drew, It is my understanding from recent correspondance with
W3GEY/VK3GEY
Jan King ... (Jan 'built' AO-7) ... and earlier correspondence with N1JEZ Mike Seguin (AO-7 control operator) when I first posted the mail re: the timer last
year
.... that the timer is completely random when the satellite comes out of eclipse and since there are no imminent occurances of eclipse as far as I can see, I assume the mode will not change unless anything 'ontoward'
occurs
to upset the electronics.
High power *can* affect how the control systems behave ... (obviously, I'm not going to mention the command parameters or the power required).
If my assumption is wrong, I stand corrected. In either case, listening to the regular operators will confirm the mode.
The mode changes can be viewed at ... http://www.planetemily.com/ao7/stats2.php
The predected eclipse chart at ... http://www.planetemily.com/ao7/Eclipse.php
Perhaps other operators will obtain different conclusions from the above predictions.
Opinions are are invited.
That is, after all, precisely why we started the EU-Amsat reflector.
I CC'd this mail to the amsat-bb since the number of Stateside users has increased in the last 2 months and this information may be of interest to them too.
73 John. [email protected]
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From: Andrew Glasbrenner [email protected] Reply-To: [email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected] Subject: Re: [eu-amsat] AO-7 report. Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:18:04 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
Every time this has happened in the past, several times over the past few years, the 24hr timer has >activated, switching between A and B. There is no reason to expect it won't again.
73, Drew KO4MA
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From LA2QAA.
A study of the AO-7 eclipse charts for the last 3 years shows a
progression
toward non-elipse orbits in late 2007 - 2008.
In effect, this means that AO-7 in all probability will not change mode unless anything untoward happens.
It also means that we appear to have a permanent mode-B LEO linear transponder for the forseeable future ... providing operators follow the recommended operating proceedure.
Please *do* decrease your power as the satellite approaches TCA to avaoid FM'ing.
This not only helps the satellite, it helps the other operators in the passband.
Don't be fooled by propagation anomolies. The mode-B transponder is
working
well and will continue to do so providing the alligators go and play somewhere else. Under normal circumstances you do NOT !! need a lot of power. Please use only the necessary to maintain adequate communications. If you can't copy people adequately, you should improve your receiving capabilities rather than increasing your uplink power ... remember, aluminium is cheap and it's a lot more user friendly to everyone
concerned
.... with perhaps the exception of your neighbours.
For all intents and purposes, AO-7 is a QRP satellite. Please treat it as such.
73 John. [email protected]
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