[amsat-bb] Re: All Satellites

[Trevor .]

--- On Fri, 25/9/09, John W Lee <k6yk at juno.com> wrote:
> I wonder how many of those 50 are able to handle 
> ham radio 2-way contacts ? 

Granted most of them haven't been able to handle "UR 599 OM QSL via buro" style contacts, the bulk have "just" been for self-training and technical investigations. 

But there again these "self-training and technical investigation" Amateur Radio satellites have been launched into very low orbits (< 1000 km) which means short pass time and short range - next to useless for two-way Amateur DX contacts. 

It is worth noting that Amateurs may well wax lyrical about Oscar 7 or 6 but they never mention Oscar 8, which had both Mode A and J. Why is this ? Simply the orbital height, nothing else. 

The fundamental problem we need to address is how to get a satellite from a readily available orbit below 1000 km to one whose apogee is 1400 km or greater. 

73 Trevor M5AKA