I have noticed many using different names for the various satellites in the CAMSAT constellation. For consistency purposes and to avoid confusion, I think it's best to stick with the current names of the satellites as designated by CAMSAT: XW-2A through XW-2F.
Since these satellites will likely not receive OSCAR numbers (only D and E meet the established criteria), this consistency will especially be important for logging and LoTW purposes.
73,
Paul, N8HM
All,
I just worked several stations on XW-2E, and all sounded nice and strong. Well done to the CAMSAT team.
I ALSO on a whim swapped over to the Lilac-Sat2 frequencies around 2340z to see what I could hear. To my surprise I heard what sounded like a good ol' fashion rag chew going on with S7 reception levels. I keyed up and tried to get in to no avail at first, but after tweaking with polarity and doppler.. and cranking the power to 40W, I was able to break thru and hear myself on the downlink. I called CQ a few times, but as soon as I would let up on the key, the old men and their rag chew came back clear as a bell, and I didn't hear any other satellite operators. I was only able to capture the bird for a few minutes, before it sunk low enough in the sky I could no longer overwhelm the other transmitters with my low power.
Good news is the downlink was exceptionally strong.. I've only ever had the pleasure of working SO50 on FM, so I was quite surprised at how clear and strong the downlink was. Bad news is I fear with the lack of PL tone, interference will be extreme from other hams using the 144.30-144.50 section of the 'New OSCAR subband' section of 2 meters as their personal rag chewing frequencies. Also the downlink seemed to be a little lower in doppler than I figured it would be, published downlink is 437.225 (+/-) but by the end of the pass I was all the way down to 437.190 for clear reception, which seemed a smidge extreme.
The next pass for me is only 8° but I may run up on a mountain and give it another shot. West coast operators should definitely try and hear what they can hear.
73!
-Dave, KG5CCI
participants (2)
-
Dave Swanson -
Paul Stoetzer