I am expecting, because of the fantastic thermal job done on AO-16 and the tuning of the BCR/set point to conditions, that the batteries are in good condition. I cannot see any major harm that can be caused by a depletion cycle and some potential for this to help. I suggest we plan this after you gather some data on the batteries.

Congratulations to all on this "new" voice bird.

Bob N4HY

Mark L. Hammond wrote:

Hello All,

AO-16 has been in its "voice mode" continuously for nearly a month now. Many thanks to all the users of this "new" bird!

It is time to pause voice operations long to receive some MBL telemetry (limited as it is, it's all we have). Around 0920 UTC on 17FEB08 I plan to return AO-16 to digital mode in order to receive some telemetry. If all goes as planned, it should be back to "voice mode" during the same pass. If not, I'll try to catch it on the 1056 UTC pass. Most of you will be asleep, so I don't think it will interfere with too many contacts.

Looking to the future, we can see that after several months of continuous illumination, AO-16 will begin to experience eclipse periods at the end of March. The eclipse periods will increase and extend through the summer. This may impact AO-16's power budget such that the transmitter output will have to be reduced in order to protect its 18 year old batteries. We'll know more after the eclipse periods begin in late March and early April.

In the meanwhile, enjoy AO-16 and her strong signals!

73 on behalf of the command team,

Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]