[amsat-bb] AO-16 over West Malaysia

[9w2qc@9w2qc.net]

Hi All,

I am pleased to submit my first operation report of AO-16 over West Malaysia.

Uplink: 145.920 MHz +/-
Downlink: 437.025 MHz +/-
Maximum Elevation: 25 degrees
AOS: 1654 Local or 0854 UTC

I did not switch on the PC to perform automatic antenna and doppler  
tracking, so everything was done manually.  Downlink doppler tuning  
was not as difficult as expected, though it takes some effort to tune  
the downlink especially approaching TCA.  The downlink signal was very  
strong too, even without the mast head preamp switched on.  USB seem  
to sound slightly better than LSB.

Surprisingly this bird hears very well.  About 30 watts of uplink  
power into 2x10 elements horizontally polarized stacked yagi for 2M  
was about enough.  On the downlink, a 2x15 elements horizontally  
polarized stacked yagi for 70 CM was used.

No stations were heard except HS1EAX that was coming in 59.  Replied  
his call, but unfortunately, I got no response.  I am really looking  
forward to work more stations via this amazing new bird soon.  My  
thanks to the command team for taking all the effort to put this bird  
into the VHF FM/UHF SSB voice repeater mode.

73,
Sion Chow Q. C.,
9W2QC.