I've been reporting my observations on the AMSAT Live OSCAR Satellite Status page. For the FM and linear satellites, it's a no-brainer: if I hear live traffic on the bird, or if I hear myself being transponded, then clearly "Uplink and Downlink Active" is appropriate.
However, for the packet satellites, what's the criteria for reporting the uplink as active? The past two days, I've received continuous streams of non-APRS packets from FalconSat-3 on two passes, but despite manually sending my beacons many times on each pass, I don't get digipeated (at least no iGate seems to be picking up the traffic) and I don't receive any APRS packets from anyone else. My TH-D72A is properly configured per Patrick WD9EWK's excellent tutorial, and I've made QSOs earlier in the week with the radio in the same configuration it's in now. The only difference seems to be that I'm working FS-3 much earlier in the day, on a weekday, than I have in the past. I'm just using a TH-D72A, so for all I know, a dozen ops are having a grand ol' time on the BBS.
I've been reporting these passes as "Downlink Only." Is that appropriate? I seem to be the only one this week who reported FalconSat-3 as anything but open for business. I'm planning to try one or more passes later today.
73, Ryan AI6DO