Hi All.
Hope those of you back from cruising across the Gulf of Mexico had a good time.
Over the past few days I've been trying to determine the transponder frequencies for EO-79 as there are some differences between published sources and those appearing on the BB
From AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NA
Uplink: 435.047-435.077 MHz LSB Downlink: 145.935-145.965 MHz USB
However, from observations, there seems to be no downlink below 145.946. By taking readings at TCA on low elevation passes, which for me is about 20 minutes into the 25 minute schedule. The transponder appears as follows:
Downlink. Lower limit is quite well defined at 145.946. Upper limit roles off slowly above 970. But 145.971 seems a reasonable limit. Very strong signals are visible to 973 but are heavily attenuated.
Uplink Upper limit (for 145.946) = 435.0723 Lower limit (for 145.971) = 435.0473
This suggests the transponder has a nominal bandwidth of 25kHz. My best guess at a translation frequency is 581.0183MHz
If anyone with some fancy computer control would care to refine these a bit further....I'm sure we would all be grateful.
Many thanks to Ken GW1FKY for providing 'known' signals in the transponder. and Juan LU2DPW for observations from Argentina (when the satellite is much colder)
Regards
David G0MRF