Dear Folks:
I just got off from a pass of XW-2D. The pass started at around 23:48UTC here in my grid square of DM-79. It was a pretty good pass over my QTH with the highest point being at an elevation of about 50 degrees.
I observed that the satellite appeared to be operating intermittently, i.e., it would cut in and out. I would transmit, and suddenly, my signal would appear on the downlink at about S6 or S7, and after a few syllables, it would cut out completely. A couple of times, I could hear someone else coming in on the downlink but I could only hear a few syllables as well and then they would cut out much like me. Occasionally, I would hear an intermittent buzzing noise.
I then turned my receive frequency to the beacon. The beacon wasn't audible most of the time. Every now and then, I'd hear what appeared to be a solitary dash, but nothing else on the beacon frequency. I did vary my receive frequency to account for doppler and heard nothing else but that occasional solitary dash.
For the record, immediately before the pass, I had worked an RS-44 pass without difficulty or anomaly. After the pass, I switched to some local repeaters and my equipment worked normally. Thus, I don't think my setup was the reason why XW-2D appeared to be operating intermittently.
Anyone have any ideas what is going on?
Thanks and 73 de Bernie, KF0QS