[amsat-bb] AO-51 update 15 March 2011

[Mark L. Hammond]

Hi All,

This is a quick note to let you know that eclipses are back for AO-51,
and the length is increasing every day.  Eclipses are now ;asting
about 1-2 mins per pass, and it goes up pretty fast, gaining a minute
every day or two.  They will become rather long in the coming
weeks/months (as long as 20 mins or more as I recall).  Interested
people should download and run DK3WN's Illum program to see what lies
ahead for AO-51.

We are still running power management; that means the transmitters
will be OFF during eclipses (and probably right before, and soon
after).   The 435.300 transmitter is currently around 420 mW.    The
balancing (juggling??) act between sunlight, transmitter power,
spacecraft temperature, and aging batteries continues...

73 on behalf of the command team,

-- 
Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]