ARISSat Today--low power, I would guess
Hi,
I had two passes of ARISSat today over New Hampshire. The first one, I only caught the tail end and got a Kursk frame or 2, but no satellite telemetry. The second one I had nice and strong as soon as it appeared above the horizon, but it must have been in low power mode. The transmission cut off cleanly (no fade). Then shortly afterwards it came on again and cut off again. I should have timed them but did not. I had 3 periods of reception during the pass. Unfortunately, none was long enough to let the telemetry decoder get a frame.
Farrell, were you sending SSTV to the transponder around 1630Z? It did look like SSTV on the spectrum diagram but it was not doppler synchronized, so it was drifting even when I synchronized. It also disappeared long before my pass was over, as I would have expected if the source were way west of me.
Burns, W2BFJ
And the latest as of moments ago: As ARISSat was going over NH (actually well north of NH) it appears to have switched from low power to high power. As it rose above the horizon, it was in low (the carrier cut off shortly after AOS), but then when the carrier came back on, it stayed on.
Despite a fairly strong signal that sounded good, I decoded 2 Kursk frames, but no satellite data. This has happened before, and I don't know quite what gives. Someone in the general vicinity did get satellite data, since it appeared on the telemetry web page.
I wonder if one cell is getting a little wonky, so if that is the one facing the sun, we don't get quite enough power. Or maybe the side that is shaded by the handles etc.
Keep going, little friend! It's nice to hear your voice a couple times per day...
Burns, W2BFJ
participants (1)
-
Burns Fisher