[amsat-bb] Re: KH2?

[Bill Dzurilla]

Americans don't appreciate the vastness of the Pacific.  I remember when a colleague was leaving my firm in New Orleans to move to Guam.  She said the flight would take 24 hours.  I said, "Why 24 hours?  My flight to Hawaii was only 11 hours, and Guam is right next to Hawaii."  However, Guam is not "right next" to Hawaii.  The distance between Hawaii and Guam is further than the distance between Guam and New Orleans.

Steve, hope you can find some folks to work from Guam, should be fun.

73, Bill NZ5N


Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: KH2?
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A couple of people have responded to me, but it's not clear that the geography and geometry is obvious to everyone.


>From
 all I've read, the maximum distance anyone has worked AO-27 is about 
3300 miles. This distance is limited by the altitude of the satellite. 
(My calculation of the AO-27 footprint diameter at apogee is 3775 miles,
 but that would imply a zero-duration window with a satellite at the 
exact midpoint. 3300 miles seems reasonable to allow time for a short 
QSO.)


Guam is about 3800 miles WSW of Honolulu, so even that 
path is not possible, let alone anything on North America. Possibilities
 within a 3000 mile range appear to be places like Japan, China, Taiwan,
 Philippines, maybe Australia, etc.  


Steve Melachrinos
W3HF/KH2 (for the next 12 days)