Thanks Burns for the explanations and others for the questions/answers.  Here's another way to look into the future---AO91 is operational what looks to be every day during daylight hours (when the bird is illuminated, basically).  On the other hand, AO-92 is a step ahead, so to speak, and evidently has a failure of one of the cells.  AO-92 "sometimes" wakes up and is operational, but most of the time it isn't...it's hit and mostly miss at this point.  

So---Operating AO-91 only while the satellite is illuminated is a good way to slow down the pathway to where AO-92 is now!    Let's make it last...

73,

Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]
AMSAT Director and Command Station



On Wed, Feb 16, 2022 at 12:10 PM Burns Fisher <wb1fj-bb@fisher.cc> wrote:
Larry, we appreciate you asking.  It's good that the power seems good at night, but the capacity of the battery is still very limited.  In fact, 91 has its computer turned off so it sends no telemetry and does not send every 2 minutes if not being used, all to save the battery.  If you heard it at night, someone must be using it without paying attention to our request.

The reason for all this is that If the battery gets drawn down too far too many times, it will fail totally--often shorted--and that would mean no transponder in the daytime either. 

Burns, WB1FJ
AMSAT Flight Software Lead

On Tue, Feb 15, 2022 at 11:34 PM Zach Metzinger <zmetzing@pobox.com> wrote:
On 2/15/22 22:26, z man wrote:
> I am curious if we are still not supposed to be using the transponder
> during eclipse? I've been away from sats for a bit, and the downlink
> sounds strong here in FN41 during the late night passes.

Hello Larry,

On this page:

https://www.amsat.org/two-way-satellites/

you'll find notes for each satellite. AO-91 (and -92) has a note beside
it that says "Do not attempt to access in eclipse".

--- Zach
N0ZGO

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