[amsat-bb] Re: Beacon?

[R.T.Liddy]

Bernhard,
 
That would explain it since it was right around 435.790 when
I first heard it. It really must move quickly based on the rate
of the Doppler change. Too bad it's not working now since
it is so strong.
 
Thanks for the info.
 
73,  Bob K8BL


--- On Sat, 1/12/13, B J <va6bmj at gmail.com> wrote:


From: B J <va6bmj at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Beacon?
To: "R.T.Liddy" <k8bl at ameritech.net>
Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org
Date: Saturday, January 12, 2013, 12:03 AM


On 1/12/13, R.T.Liddy <k8bl at ameritech.net> wrote:
> Tonight (1/12) while getting set up for an FO-29 pass I tuned down to the
> Beacon Frequency 435.795 MHz. In spite of it being more than 5 minutes
> before AOS, I heard a strong CW signal at around 435.790 MHz.
>
> It was about 0214Z and there was a series of longish dashes and some
> short pauses and finally a CW "XW", then quiet. The Doppler was quite
> fast compared to what I hear from FO-29 and the signal was much stronger.
> The signal had moved down to 435.788 MHz in a little more than a minute
> and went quiet. I don't recall hearing a Beacon move frequency that fast,
> so whatever was sending it must have been much lower than the Satellites
> that we expect to be operational at this time.
>
> At 0221Z when I began to hear FO-29's Beacon, it was significantly weaker
> and the CW contained a lot of numbers. It never became anywhere near
> as strong as the unknown Beacon.
>
> When I did an Internet Search of Amateur Satellite Beacons, the only one
> that I found near that frequency was FO-20. I couldn't find FO-20 listed in
> SATPC-32 to run an Orbit Prediction to see if it could have been passing
> overhead at that time.
>
> So, I'm curious what Satellite that could have been which was so strong and
> moving so fast above my QTH at EN91hq. Could FO-20 have come back to
> life?

You might have heard HO-68's telemetry beacon.  Its official name is
Xi Wang-1, which would explain the "XW" at the end of the CW sequence.
I recall that each beacon transmission began with an
identification--its callsign, I think.

There's more information at:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php

73s

Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL