We need PSAT IGates in Hawaii, India, China and anywhere in the Southern Hempsiphere.
We did a look at the IGates that are successfully injecting PSAT packets and did a map of them on the PSAT page:
Notice that this map of stations are not all of the IGATES on 145.825 which includes the ISS, but this is because the ISS is 14 dB stronger than PSAT. So a station with an omni terrestrial antenna that picks up the ISS just fine may not hear PSAT at all.
So if you have ever thought about being a satellite IGate, now is the time. And the ideal OMNI antenna for PSAT is a simple 19.5” vertical whip over a large metal ground plane. An even better one (+2 dB) is a ¾ wave vertical whip (58”) over a large metal ground plane. And it is OK to keep this antenna lower to the ground since it will not hear anything below 25 degrees anyway and in fact, the lower it is, with surroundings blocking it, the less interference it will have.
IGATES that hear weak signal PSAT show on http://pcsat.aprs.org
All 145.825 IGATES show on the http://ariss.net page but they may not hear PSAT.
Another reason to keep your Space IGATE antenna low is because they create DONUT Hole Data NULLS. Anyone who transmits a packet on the UPLINK TO one of these sateliltes and is heard by an IGATE direct, will be ignored on the downlink, since the packet has already been heard. Therefere the digipeat will not be recorded by the above FINDU.COM pages…
Bob, WB4APR
*From:* Robert Bruninga [mailto:[email protected]] *Sent:* Thursday, June 18, 2015 7:34 AM *To:* [email protected] *Cc:* [email protected] *Subject:* PSAT digipeating and Position Knowledge
PSAT continues to work well, both APRS and PSK31. The downlink capture on the PCSAT.APRS.ORG page captures most PSAT packets, but does not capture any digipeated users if they use the ARISS path. Although PSAT supports the VIA ARISS alias so that users can use both ISS and PSAT without changing parameters the FINDU page does not recognize it.
At this point it is unclear what paths that FINDU recognizes.
These paths are supposed to be digipeated by PSAT:
VIA ARISS
VIA APRSAT
VIA PSAT
VIA WIDEn-N
Here is what we know:
ARISS is not recognized by FINDU.
We are not sure if FINDU recognizes APRSAT
We are not sure if PSAT recognizes PSAT
We have seen VIA WIDEn-N work on FINDU
We have been busy with deadlines on our next satellite, but yesterday we figured a workaround on the PSAT ORBIT and MA clock. This morning we sent the commands and will be watching to see if they work. If they did, then PSAT will be able to know where it is, and then we can activate its APRS POSITION packets plus individual beacons over individual continents.
Although the S#OOOMM… telemetry was supposed to be ORBIT number and MINUTE of that orbit, the clock is totally off. SO instead of going from 0 to 95 minutes per orbit, the actual count is more like 0-61 minutes per orbit. So, if this works, then MM is not real minutes, but is a number between 00 to 61 on every orbit. And 0 should be when the satellite crosses the equator (actually 5 South latitude) on every orbit northbound.
Once we get that under control, then PSAT will know where it is, and it will be able to report its own position. And we can activate its attitude control, and we can activate different bulletins over each continent.
Bob, WB4APR