[amsat-bb] Re: AO-51 magnet reversal tonight

[Andrew Glasbrenner]

David Wing wrote:
> I have to agree with John...significant increase in the polarity switching
> noticed both on the US west coast pass last night (02-Dec-09 0158) and this
> morning (03-Dec-09 1417).  This morning's pass required a lot of
> switching...some of it back-to-back (10 seconds between switching).  Also,
> it took a long time to acquire the bird and I lost it early as well.
>
>   
We are still sifting through the telemetry, but as Tom suggested in his 
email, the satellite is precessing (wobbling) quite severely. This will 
calm down as the hysteresis rods do their job. Initial reports from 
Australia and New Zealand indicate stronger signals, and about the same 
from South Africa. There are some peculiar things about the magnetic 
field near South Africa, so that doesn't surprise me too much, but is 
worth digging into once we get the telemetry down.

73, Drew KO4MA
AMSAT-NA VP Operations