[amsat-bb] AO-73 TLM Signal Changed?

[Hasan al-Basri]

I've been decoding/uploading AO-73 TLM for a few months. The signal has
always had a charactertic "look":

(Using the SDR, so each signal has a specific and easily identified
'signature'

Small center hump, with two large horns spiking every couple seconds. Very
distinctive.

Today, I see the signal now has a 100% duty cycle spike dead center on top
of the small hump. I don't recall every seeing it before. Am I
hallucinating...again?  EO-88 and JO-97 have identical signatures, but I
don't recall them having the center spike, either.

The last two passes here, b4 sunrise the signal was waaaay weak. Much
weaker than normal, even for this time of day. I thought it might relate to
AO-73 being in eclipse...and decodes were terrible, again, compared to
normal for me.

After > 18,000 uploaded frames from me, one would think I couldn't have
missed that center spike all these months...but ...

Has something changed? 1044 software doesn't look like it has been updated.

73, N0AN
Hasan