XW-1 was again heard over western North America
with an excellent signal. The new keps provided
by Nigel G8IFF/W8IFF were used for Object A and
found to be spot on. I set SatPC32 for automatic
operation with the TS2000 in the CW mode and the
computer clock synchronized with NIST. I never
touched the radio dial or the antennas during the
entire pass and as you will hear on the recording,
the CW tone never changed. The TS2000 was updating
the frequency every second.
Again I found polarization shifts but the bird did best
on Left Hand during most of the pass. This was a 22 degree
pass for me to the west.
One of the three letter code groups changes on every string of CW
starting with BJ1SA XW XW etc and ending with XW XW. For example,
the 3 letter groups for some successive transmissions were:
TNE TDT AAE ATE 4VE A6E TBT 4VE T6E ATE. Every other code group
in the string stayed the same, at least during this pass.
I started the recording late. It is much better than my first
recording with the older keps on the amsat webpge.
http://www.papays.com/XW-1_15Dec2009_170842z.mp3
Let's hope we can start using the v/u transponders for voice/cw
soon.
Thanks again to all who were involved with this satellite.
It is operating very well.
73,
John K8YSE EN91dh
The XW-1 CW Beacon was heard over North America
this morning with an excellent signal and tone
quality. It sends a long string which changes
a bit on every transmission.
The keps are a bit off since the bird went over
the horizon prior to the prediction. I lost it
when it was still at 2.7 degrees according to
SatPC32. The doppler correction is off as well
indicating changing keps. Hopefully we will get
some better keps soon.
A recording of XW-1 is on my webserver:
http://www.papays.com/XW-1_15Dec2009_1517z.mp3
At one point the antenna had to turn around. I had some
copy on this bird while the antennas came around 180 degrees
indicating a strong signal. I noted that there were polarity
shifts between right and left hand circular. At one point
I tuned to the packet frequency to see if there was any activity.
I heard none but only listened for a short time before returning
to the beacon frequency.
Congratulations to the Chinese Team that designed, built and
launched this satellite. It is off to an excellent start. We
look forward to having it operational soon and for many years
to come.
73,
John K8YSE EN91dh
John Papay
john(a)papays.com
To all AMSAT-Florida net participants:
Recently, the KG4YZY repeater that provided the Echolink connection into
the wide area NI4CE repeater system was permanently disconnected from
the network, and temporarily removed from service. As the AMSAT-Florida
net relied on that Echolink connection as the hub for all our
participating repeaters from Miami to Gainesville, as well as worldwide
individual participants, we are left in quite a jam until we reestablish
a hub system.
Further complicating the situation is that the three active net control
stations rely on being able to use a real RF connection to run the net,
assisted by Echolink in the background.
For tonight's net I propose that Echolink users connect to K4ZPZ-R 44310
in Orlando, 443.100 on RF. Our Orlando NCS is unavailable tonight, so
depending on conditions I will attempt to be NCS either via RF or
Echolink. This might get very "interesting", and the net will likely be
more informal than usual. We can reevaluate and reintegrate NI4CE when
they restore Echolink connectivity. What I do not think should happen is
the net splitting into two entities. That, IMO, is a recipe for failure
and burnout.
So, please join us on K4ZPZ-R tonight for the AMSAT-Florida net,
Echolink node # 44310, RF 443.100 MHz.
73, Drew KO4MA
