Well, I just finished the 03:00z pass, setting due North through the trees. I did manage to make one contact (thanks WA6FWF!), but man, I've got work to do.
S-band downlink was pretty crummy. Lots of QSB - more than I remember on other modes, and more than I would have expected given my AO-40-capable, circular polarized 24x30 inch grill with preamp and all that. I know I've had better results in VS before. But the big surprise is that my shiny new 18 turn helix seems to perform much worse than the thrown-together 9-element quagi I had up for LU on field day. No full quieting, and real spotty when I did get in. I guess the only good news is that I was able to work the bird a lot lower in elevation than on LU for some reason. Go figure.
Next pass in about an hour, out to the west. Will give it another shot.
Greg KO6TH
----Original Message Follows---- From: "Dave Aitch" dave@g1ocn.com To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-51 (2158Z) Mid Atlantic pass. Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:10:46 +0100
Good downlink but no other stations heard on the last pass (2154Z - 2202Z) of AO-51 as it passed south to north up the middle of the Atlantic at max elevation of 3 degrees.
10w from IC910H to 4 x 9 turn (WIMO) Helix. BBQ dish and K5GNA downconverter.
Cheers,
Dave G1OCN AMSAT UK 5766 IO80SM Portland, Dorset.
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