OSCAR-11 REPORT 01 September 2011

This report covers the period from 27 April to 01 September 2011. The satellite has continued to operate in a very predictable way since the last report, and no changes have been observed. During this time the satellite has been heard reliably during its ten-day transmission periods. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames.

The easiest way to check whether OSCAR-11 is operational is to look at the General Satellite Status website http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php . You can also calculate the operating schedule from the last switch-off time, which was 26 August 2011 at 08:00 UTC (approx), using 10.35 days off followed by 10.35 days on.

Reception reports have been received from David VE3SB, Jerry WB5LHD, Toby MM0TOB, Colin VK5HI and Lee M0HOK. Many thanks to all and those who posted to the status website.

Although eclipses occur during every orbit, the evening passes over the UK were mostly clear of eclipses, owing to the longer hours of daylight during the Summer months. This resulted in stronger signals during the evening passes. However, as winter approaches eclipses will now start to affect the evening passes.

The on-board clock continues to gain, 26 seconds during the current reporting period, and 83 seconds since regular transmissions started at the end of August 2010. There is however a large accumulated error of 308.54339 days slow. This was caused mainly by the clock stopping during eclipses, when there was also an unknown drain on the power supply. The units of the least significant digit correspond approximately to seconds (0.86 seconds actually).

The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry. The satellite is operating in the default mode, with a cycle time of 20.7 days. 10.35 days on followed by 10.35 days off.

At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports or files by e-mail. However, could all listeners continue to enter their reports on the general satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest, especially for times 12:00 - 17:00 and 22:00 - 07:00 UTC, when the satellite is out-of-range in the UK . The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php

A longer version of this report report is available on my website, and new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for further information. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm . This page contains a links to the longer report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and a file of the last telemetry received. The website also contains an archive of news & telemetry data which is updated from time to time, and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry.

If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT156.CWV, to prevent duplication.

73 Clive G3CWV xxxxx@amsat.org (please replace the x's by g3cwv)