[amsat-bb] S band satellite

[Zach Leffke]

Hi Jim,

I've used the Sirius Satellites to calibrate my pointing for S-Band, but 
its a bit higher around 2340 MHz.  Sirius FM-5 was pretty active, from 
some old notes I have strong tones (beacons?) documented at 2341.481 MHz 
and 2341.495 MHz (#s are 'ish', may need to tune a bit).

For the 2200-2300 band I've had some luck with the GOES satellites.  I 
have a narrowband signal documented at 2209.086 MHz off GOES-15.

For LEO, the active NOAA birds usually have S-Band telemetry as well.  
NOAA-15, NOAA-18, and NOAA-19 should all work (NOAA-18/19 for sure, 15 
might not always be on).  Sometimes the 'telemetry' is un-modulated so 
just a nice clean tone that you can easily see following the Doppler 
S-curve.

You can also try pointing at the moon and see if you can pick up the 
Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter.  Thats probably more for 'funnsies' though.


My usual procedure is to calibrate pointing against a GEO bird to peak 
up and fine tune the pointing angles, then autotrack a LEO bird to make 
sure everything is behaving.


My notes are a couple years old, so things may have changed.  So below 
are some links that you can use to maybe hunt something down.

https://www.wmo-sat.info/oscar/satellitefrequencies

https://uhf-satcom.com/satellite-reception/s-band

http://wiki.oz9aec.net/index.php/Receiving_LRO_and_LCROSS  (for the LRO 
attempt)



Hope this helps, good hunting!

73s,

Zach, KJ4QLP


Research Associate
Aerospace Systems Lab
Ted & Karyn Hume Center for National Security & Technology
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Work Phone: 540-231-4174
Cell Phone: 540-808-6305

On 10/30/2018 12:06 PM, Jim White wrote:
> I'm working with a university that has a new 4 meter S band dish they 
> are trying to test out.  Can anyone recommend a satellite they know is 
> transmitting in the 2200 to 2300Mhz band?  Geo or LEO as long as it's 
> transmitting. Any modulation; we are using a spectrum analyzer to 
> detect the signals.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
> jim.white at coloradosatellite.com
> wd0e at amsat.org
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