[amsat-bb] Re: AO-51 reception report

[Colin Hurst]

Reid,
I refer you to ANS-340 posted recently to the -bb.
The FLIP experiment has been a success.
Additionally,
A number of positives and negatives have resulted from the experiment.
Positives.
AO-51 has increased its spin rate.
Reception in the Southern Hemisphere is much improved.
Negatives
The antennae are not favouring the Northern Hemisphere, hence signals are
down.
The flip  has introduced a significant precession component that is
affecting reception in the Northern Hemisphere, through fading and
polarisation changes.

The Command Team are waiting for AO-51 to stabilise, prior to executing
another FLIP, to return AO-51 to its normal attitude.

73
Colin VK5HI.
Member - AO51 Control Team.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org]On
> Behalf Of w4upd
> Sent: Sunday, 6 December 2009 09:11
> To: amsat-bb
> Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-51 reception report
>
>
> Since the changes made to AO-51 the other day, it appears I am having
> more difficulty in copying the bird than others on this list server.
> Tonight during the 22:22UTC pass which was at an maximum elevation of 60
> degress I was not able to hear the bird as well as I have in the past.
> The signals had more fade and were about 1/3 of what they use to be.
> Again, my present antennas have a lot to be desired as I am using a 2
> meter homebrew ground plane for the 435.300 reception. Before the
> changes, this worked reasonable well, now it appears I'll need to do
> something different and improve the reception antenna. I am assuming the
> downlink power is still reasonable.
>
> Just a report of how I seem to fair (or not) with the recent orientation
> changes of AO-51.
>
> Reid, W4UPD
>
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