Re: [amsat-bb] Mode K (fact and fiction?)
The late John Branegan, GM4IHJ (CDR, Royal Navy) did a lot of good research on Mode K using the RS birds. ... an effective way of... satellite DX despite today's low orbits.
Thanks! Ill research it. The over the horizon DX aspect is what everyone remembers.
And that is what I want to study. My theory is that with the variability of the ionosphere, that just as much as there is enhanced beyond-the-horizon relay some times, there is also times of no-path because the ionosphere at low elevations is bending the path away from the bird.
My theory is that hams like DX and remember the GOOD DX, but then conveniently forget all the times when the link was dead. So I think what I hear from "the good ole days" has to be taken with a grain of salt since the dead band days are not as memorable as that rare double bounce hop to timbuktoo.
So far, no one has described how often they could not even hear the bird or get into it even though it was in range. I think that is the data that is missing?
Bob, WB4APR HFSAT in 2018?
Hi Bob,
A single data point, partial answer to your question... Of course it depends on where you are in the sunspot cycle, and I didn't work mode K very often (preferred Mode A with RS-10), but I don't recall many (any?) times when I should have heard the bird and didn't. Lots of times that I heard conversations on the 10m downlink of folks who were working simplex in the uplink passband and didn't know it. But as you note, we often dismiss and forget missing things due to bad propagation, since that's the norm on HF.
Greg KO6TH
Robert Bruninga wrote:
So far, no one has described how often they could not even hear the bird or get into it even though it was in range. I think that is the data that is missing?
Gents (et.al) I used to love those RS birds! "Easy-Sats" was an understatement. I think RS-15 is still up there but only the beacon is active. My favorites were RS-12/13 which I think were on the same rocket. I don't know how many grids/cards I got on CW and SSB with those two. If I remember right there was Mode K which was 2 Up and 10 Down and Mode T which was 15 Up and 2 Down. I could hit those using 10 watts and a J-Pole on 2M and a dipole for 10M. I believe that 12/13 was somewhere around 250 miles up and RS-15 was around 1200 miles but I might be mistaken about RS-15.
I did find these: http://www.issfanclub.com/node/2463 http://www.qsl.net/kd4cga/howtos.htm http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/sat_summary/rs15.php
Kevin Muenzler, WB5RUE EL09uf http://www.eaglecreekobservatory.org I was going to take over the world but then I saw something shiny!
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Robert Bruninga Sent: Friday, July 01, 2016 8:16 AM To: AMSAT-BB Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Mode K (fact and fiction?)
The late John Branegan, GM4IHJ (CDR, Royal Navy) did a lot of good research on Mode K using the RS birds. ... an effective way of... satellite DX despite today's low orbits.
Thanks! Ill research it. The over the horizon DX aspect is what everyone remembers.
And that is what I want to study. My theory is that with the variability of the ionosphere, that just as much as there is enhanced beyond-the-horizon relay some times, there is also times of no-path because the ionosphere at low elevations is bending the path away from the bird.
My theory is that hams like DX and remember the GOOD DX, but then conveniently forget all the times when the link was dead. So I think what I hear from "the good ole days" has to be taken with a grain of salt since the dead band days are not as memorable as that rare double bounce hop to timbuktoo.
So far, no one has described how often they could not even hear the bird or get into it even though it was in range. I think that is the data that is missing?
Bob, WB4APR HFSAT in 2018? _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
participants (3)
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Greg D -
Kevin Muenzler, WB5RUE -
Robert Bruninga