[amsat-bb] Re: Working HO-68

[George Henry]

The latest schedule has not been posted to the -BB yet, nor on the CAMSAT 
website.  However, the beacon will tell you whether the transponder is on, 
and in which mode (although I have observed 2 instances where the beacon 
indicated a mode different than what the satellite was actually operating 
in).  Just listen to the first part of the beacon transmission:  after 
sending the callsign BJ1SA, the beacon will transmit XW  twice.  The next 2 
CW groupings will tell you the mode:

AAA TTT  means beacon only.

TTT TAT  means that the linear transponder is on.

TTT TTA  means that the FM transponder is on.

The rest of the beacon consists of telemetry data, and ends with XW XW.

Hope this helps!


George, KA3HSW



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Neeley" <w6zkh at att.net>
To: "Richard Lawn" <rjlawn at gmail.com>; <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 11:48 PM
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Working HO-68


> Rick.....HO-68 is not turned on every pass.  At that 2130 utc time, it was 
> off,
> even though it flew over the US, and the beacon is always on no matter 
> what.
> HO-68 usually has morning passes, coming from the north down to the south.
> Check the Amsat-bb here for latest schedule and mode, think it was just 
> the
> other day infact.
>
> John W6ZKH
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Richard Lawn <rjlawn at gmail.com>
> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org
> Sent: Sat, December 18, 2010 6:43:26 PM
> Subject: [amsat-bb]  Working HO-68
>
> Doing what I try to do every vacation which is try to spend a little time
> back on the birds. I've yet to have a QSO on HO-68. I hear the beacon just
> fine. But I just finished my 2nd pass from NJ and was unable to hear any
> signals let alone myself coming back on any mode. Did I misread the
> operating schedule or am I doing something wrong? MacDoppler told me there
> was a good pass to this part of the world are around 21:30 my time. Great
> beacon strength but nobody else was home.
>
> Rick
> W2JAZ