[amsat-bb] Turned the corner on AISAT-1 APRS digipeats

[Scott]

That’s been a goal of mine for quite a while, Robert.  It’s a long-shot, but 
that’s what makes it a nice challenge.

My technique is to always transmit using the digipeater path “ARISS, ARISS”.

Please note the result of that when digipeated via the ISS, for example:

---------------------------
20190703145345 : K4KDR-6]CQ,RS0ISS*,ARISS,qAR,KK4NAM::N1RCN :Heard you via 
ISS in Montpelier, VA FM17es
---------------------------

... the ISS accepts "ARISS" as a valid path and digipeats it back down as 
evidenced by the "RS0ISS*" address.  But you'll notice that my second 
"ARISS" stays on the packet.  So, if ANOTHER satellite hears that 
transmission from the ISS and sees "ARISS" in the path, it should happily 
digipeat it as well.

So, I have no idea if I'll ever get a double-hop, but at least with more 
APRS-capable satellites going into orbit, the odds improve bit-by-bit.

-Scott,  K4KDR

============================





From: Robert MacHale
Sent: Wednesday, July 03, 2019 11:50 PM
To: amsat-bb at amsat.org ; Scott
Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Turned the corner on AISAT-1 APRS digipeats

Random Though -- when two satellites are in range, can you bounce your APRS 
packet from Sat1 to Sat2 then finally to an iGate?

KE6BLR>APRS,AISAT-1,ARISS:HELLO WORLD!

Could this produce:

KE6BLR>APRS,AISAT-1*,ARISS:HELLO WORLD!

Then:

KE6BLR>APRS,AISAT-1*,ARISS*:HELLO WORLD!

Next:

KE6BLR>APRS,AISAT-1*,ARISS*,qAR,N6DAN-1:HELLO WORLD!

73

Robert MacHale
. KE6BLR Ham Radio License
. http://spaceCommunicator.club/igates
. Supporting Boy Scout Merit Badges in Radio, Robotics, and Space 
Exploration



On Wednesday, July 3, 2019, 8:27:20 PM PDT, Scott via AMSAT-BB 
<amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:


Greetings!

Being smart would be cool, but sometimes it's just easier to be lucky.

Since the launch of AISAT-1, I have really struggled to get digipeated thru
that satellite.  At best, I could get in a single digipeat but only at the
exact moment of closest approach on a high pass.  Armed with seeing that
repeatedly, I thought doppler tracking the 145.825 FM uplink might help,
but it did not.

So tonight (4-July UTC), by pure coincidence, there was a high pass of
AISAT-1 immediately following a pass of PSAT-2.  Following Bob's (WB4APR)
recommendation to use NARROW-FM on PSAT-2 (worked well), I thought "what
the heck", I'll leave my radio set on NARROW-FM for the pass of AISAT-1 as
well.  I'll even doppler track the AISAT-1 uplink while I'm at it.

Boom.  Got digipeated left and right.  Well before and after closest
approach, I got digipeated.  I didn't go crazy since I'm always so afraid
of blocking out other people on a simplex satellite, but I hit it enough to
see the night & day difference from what I'd been experiencing since
deployment.

If it's in the docs somewhere I missed it, but is sure seems to me that,
like PSAT-2, AISAT-1 might very well be equipped with a NARROW-FM radio.

It would be great to see if others find as much improvement as I did, so I
hope some folks will try AISAT-1 using NARROW-FM on the 145.825 APRS
digipeater.

73,

-Scott,  K4KDR