[amsat-bb] Re: NO-44 Question

[JoAnne Maenpaa]

Hi Curt,

> I've been trying, unsucessfully, to get an APRS report thru NO-44.  I 
> can hear it faintly ...

It appears as if NO-44 was still trying to wake up on its first pass over
USA on Saturday morning.  I would see occasional partial bursts, but not
entire packets from the satellite.

> How long does NO-44 need to be in sun before it begins to 
> operate normally?

This seems to vary.  You can get a feel for successful activity through
NO-44 from the http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/pcsat.cgi web page.  It appears
that the last successful digipeat was around 22 hours ago.

> Its probably my weak antenna set-up but its too cold out to play with 
> that end yet!

For ARISS and PCSAT 145.825 MHz packet I'm using a 3-element 2 meter beam,
about 30 fixed elevation with azimuth provided by a $30 TV antenna rotor.  A
small beam or vertical are just about all you need for ARISS, but PCSAT may
be pretty low in signal strength when it emerges from eclipse.

--
73 de JoAnne K9JKM
k9jkm at amsat.org