[amsat-bb] LO-78 passes.

[Tom Schuessler]

It is unpredictable, but I suspect  that LituanicaSat-1, LO 78 will be on
for the morning decending (NW to SE passes on Satruday morning 7-26.  In EM
12 I have a 26 degree pass starting at 1229Z.  LO-78 was up for these
morning passes on Wednesday and Thursday mornings but not up on any passes
on Thursday late night (US time) or the Friday 124X Z pass for me this
morning but was on for my 0442Z here on the 26th.  On Wednesday and Thursday
the only station besides myself was K8YSE/7.  We never quite made it on
Wednesday but completed a QSO on Thursday morning.  No one else was on the
bird.  My 07-26 0442 pass saw no one else on the bird but myself.

My observations as a purely handheld (Sometimes tripod) operator are these.
	The satellite is a challenge to work but provides quite nice audio
when you can.
	As it decays, the pass times continue to shorten.  They are now only
7 minutes.  For us handheld guys, maybe 5 minutes of usable pass.
	Mid pass it really trucks across the sky.  Doppler shift is quite
fast as well on the 435 downlink.
	Published downlink is 435.1755.  I start at 435.1755 so I start at
435.185 and down.
	67 Hz PL and Narrow FM at 145.95 or else keep your modulation quite
to avoid over-deviating.  Doing so will cause the PL receive on the
satellite to squelch out.
     Again low modulation bandwidth or talk quietly.
     Repeater on board has a tail so if you hit it you will hear the tone
after you unkey.
     There is even a voice and CW ID so that makes it interesting.
     Satellite has hefty spin fades so that adds to the challenges.
       
Hope to see a few additional folks to try this before it goes away.

Tom Schuessler
2713 Lake Gardens Drive
Irving, Texas  75060
972-986-7456
214-403-1464 (Cell)
n5hyp at arrl.net