Tonight (1/12) while getting set up for an FO-29 pass I tuned down to the Beacon Frequency 435.795 MHz. In spite of it being more than 5 minutes before AOS, I heard a strong CW signal at around 435.790 MHz. It was about 0214Z and there was a series of longish dashes and some short pauses and finally a CW "XW", then quiet. The Doppler was quite fast compared to what I hear from FO-29 and the signal was much stronger. The signal had moved down to 435.788 MHz in a little more than a minute and went quiet. I don't recall hearing a Beacon move frequency that fast, so whatever was sending it must have been much lower than the Satellites that we expect to be operational at this time. At 0221Z when I began to hear FO-29's Beacon, it was significantly weaker and the CW contained a lot of numbers. It never became anywhere near as strong as the unknown Beacon. When I did an Internet Search of Amateur Satellite Beacons, the only one that I found near that frequency was FO-20. I couldn't find FO-20 listed in SATPC-32 to run an Orbit Prediction to see if it could have been passing overhead at that time. So, I'm curious what Satellite that could have been which was so strong and moving so fast above my QTH at EN91hq. Could FO-20 have come back to life? Anyone have comments/thoughts/guesses about this? TNX, Bob K8BL
On 1/12/13, R.T.Liddy k8bl@ameritech.net wrote:
Tonight (1/12) while getting set up for an FO-29 pass I tuned down to the Beacon Frequency 435.795 MHz. In spite of it being more than 5 minutes before AOS, I heard a strong CW signal at around 435.790 MHz.
It was about 0214Z and there was a series of longish dashes and some short pauses and finally a CW "XW", then quiet. The Doppler was quite fast compared to what I hear from FO-29 and the signal was much stronger. The signal had moved down to 435.788 MHz in a little more than a minute and went quiet. I don't recall hearing a Beacon move frequency that fast, so whatever was sending it must have been much lower than the Satellites that we expect to be operational at this time.
At 0221Z when I began to hear FO-29's Beacon, it was significantly weaker and the CW contained a lot of numbers. It never became anywhere near as strong as the unknown Beacon.
When I did an Internet Search of Amateur Satellite Beacons, the only one that I found near that frequency was FO-20. I couldn't find FO-20 listed in SATPC-32 to run an Orbit Prediction to see if it could have been passing overhead at that time.
So, I'm curious what Satellite that could have been which was so strong and moving so fast above my QTH at EN91hq. Could FO-20 have come back to life?
You might have heard HO-68's telemetry beacon. Its official name is Xi Wang-1, which would explain the "XW" at the end of the CW sequence. I recall that each beacon transmission began with an identification--its callsign, I think.
There's more information at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php
73s
Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL
Yup. That is the HO-68 beacon.
I use it at my school for demonstrating / measuring doppler and calculating the velocity and altitude of the satellite.
Thanks
David
-----Original Message----- From: B J va6bmj@gmail.com To: R.T.Liddy k8bl@ameritech.net CC: amsat-bb amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 5:17 Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Beacon?
On 1/12/13, R.T.Liddy k8bl@ameritech.net wrote:
Tonight (1/12) while getting set up for an FO-29 pass I tuned down to
the
Beacon Frequency 435.795 MHz. In spite of it being more than 5 minutes before AOS, I heard a strong CW signal at around 435.790 MHz.
It was about 0214Z and there was a series of longish dashes and some short pauses and finally a CW "XW", then quiet. The Doppler was quite fast compared to what I hear from FO-29 and the signal was much
stronger.
The signal had moved down to 435.788 MHz in a little more than a
minute
and went quiet. I don't recall hearing a Beacon move frequency that
fast,
so whatever was sending it must have been much lower than the
Satellites
that we expect to be operational at this time.
At 0221Z when I began to hear FO-29's Beacon, it was significantly
weaker
and the CW contained a lot of numbers. It never became anywhere near as strong as the unknown Beacon.
When I did an Internet Search of Amateur Satellite Beacons, the only
one
that I found near that frequency was FO-20. I couldn't find FO-20
listed in
SATPC-32 to run an Orbit Prediction to see if it could have been
passing
overhead at that time.
So, I'm curious what Satellite that could have been which was so
strong and
moving so fast above my QTH at EN91hq. Could FO-20 have come back to life?
You might have heard HO-68's telemetry beacon. Its official name is Xi Wang-1, which would explain the "XW" at the end of the CW sequence. I recall that each beacon transmission began with an identification--its callsign, I think.
There's more information at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php
73s
Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Bernhard, That would explain it since it was right around 435.790 when I first heard it. It really must move quickly based on the rate of the Doppler change. Too bad it's not working now since it is so strong. Thanks for the info. 73, Bob K8BL
--- On Sat, 1/12/13, B J va6bmj@gmail.com wrote:
From: B J va6bmj@gmail.com Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Beacon? To: "R.T.Liddy" k8bl@ameritech.net Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Date: Saturday, January 12, 2013, 12:03 AM
On 1/12/13, R.T.Liddy k8bl@ameritech.net wrote:
Tonight (1/12) while getting set up for an FO-29 pass I tuned down to the Beacon Frequency 435.795 MHz. In spite of it being more than 5 minutes before AOS, I heard a strong CW signal at around 435.790 MHz.
It was about 0214Z and there was a series of longish dashes and some short pauses and finally a CW "XW", then quiet. The Doppler was quite fast compared to what I hear from FO-29 and the signal was much stronger. The signal had moved down to 435.788 MHz in a little more than a minute and went quiet. I don't recall hearing a Beacon move frequency that fast, so whatever was sending it must have been much lower than the Satellites that we expect to be operational at this time.
At 0221Z when I began to hear FO-29's Beacon, it was significantly weaker and the CW contained a lot of numbers. It never became anywhere near as strong as the unknown Beacon.
When I did an Internet Search of Amateur Satellite Beacons, the only one that I found near that frequency was FO-20. I couldn't find FO-20 listed in SATPC-32 to run an Orbit Prediction to see if it could have been passing overhead at that time.
So, I'm curious what Satellite that could have been which was so strong and moving so fast above my QTH at EN91hq. Could FO-20 have come back to life?
You might have heard HO-68's telemetry beacon. Its official name is Xi Wang-1, which would explain the "XW" at the end of the CW sequence. I recall that each beacon transmission began with an identification--its callsign, I think.
There's more information at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php
73s
Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL
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