[amsat-bb] Re: Baa ba little lamb.

[Jan A. King]

John,
Are you sure it's not because there is now some eclipse time that is taking
the bird down?  It only takes a few seconds without a battery and the timer
will be reset or come up random (I think it resets, as I recall).  The way
the orbit of the Earth around the sun works, the minimum eclipse duration
for sun sync orbits should be on about February 10 and the maximum eclipse
should be on about June 1.  The orbit has drifted so far in the sunward
direction (toward a 6 AM - 6 PM ascending node) that there may be no eclipse
at all now (which is good) but, you would expect to have this problem you
are describing more like in June than in September if it is due to eclipse.
Curious!  I suppose the timer could have failed but, it's funny to think
that it would fail after 31 years and other stuff would not have.  There is
nothing special about those two CMOS gates that would make that circuit any
more prone to failure than any other that is still working.  I'd rather
suspect something with the power system driven by orbit changes.  One power
glitch would reset the timer.
Jan
 
  _____  

From: John Hackett [mailto:archie.hackett at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, 6 September 2007 9:00 AM
To: Eu-amsat at yahoogroups.com
Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org; allan_gm1sxx at hotmail.com;
jking at eclipticenterprises.com; sv1bsx at yahoo.gr; k3szh at netzero.net
Subject: Baa ba little lamb.
 
So much for the (convenient) 24 hours timer theory proffered in response to
my previous mails regarding the timing of AO-7.
 
This is the 3rd consequtive day the 24 hour timer is *NOT* playing ball.
 
05/06 Septembert 2007.

TIME.  ORBIT.  MODE.

23:46  50133    B
23:51  50133    A
01:35  50135    A
01:36  50134    B
01:44  40135    A

I have received confirmation mails from AJ9K and K3SZH that 
their log entries *ARE* correct.

As you Gentlemen on that side of the pond are wont to say ... 
"go figure!".

Incidentally, the mode changes spell "baa ba" ... it couldn't be that AO-t
thinks we're a veritable bunch (flock) of sheep?.

Just a thought.  

73 John.   <la2qaa at amsat.org>