[amsat-bb] AO-85 report from the 2019-06-16 - 0028 UTC pass

[Alan]

John,

Interesting report.  One of the widely reported anomalies is that the
carrier is not timing out as it should.  

73,

Alan
WA4SCA


<-----Original Message-----
<From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of John
<Brier via AMSAT-BB
<Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 21:45 PM
<To: AMSAT BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
<Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-85 report from the 2019-06-16 - 0028 UTC pass
<
<Hi,
<
<I made five QSOs on this 47 degree pass from FM05. I was using my
<Kenwood TM-V71 radio at 50 watts and an Alaskan Arrow II antenna with
<the last third boom section removed.
<
<I didn't hear the bird for the first couple minutes of the pass and
<couldn't get it to come on myself. Eventually it came on and I heard
<Clayton W5PFG not long after that so I assume he turned the
<transponder on. In the first half of the pass it was difficult to get
<a solid signal into the sat. Other stations had the same problems.
<Audio was sometimes really low, great other times, and distorted at
<times as well.
<
<The last part of the pass was not bad though. I was able to
<consistently get a signal into the bird, even at 10 or 5 watts. I had
<a conversation with Roy K3RLD about this as we were both having the
<same good luck. This reminded me of past AO-85 behavior where it is
<easier to get in in the last part of the pass. I was actually on top
<of a landfill park in my town so I had a perfect view of the horizon
<and was able to get in all the way to LOS, albeit with some picket
<fencing effects on the downlink.
<
<Stations contacted:
<
<W5PFG
<W5HRH
<N9XCO *
<N0RC
<K3RLD
<Also heard ???PML
<
<* This was Richard N9XCO's first sat QSO. He just finished setting up
<a IC-9700/G-5500/SatPC32 station
<
<One odd thing I noticed is at the end of the pass I believe I was at
<145.970 MHz, 10 KHz down from the center frequency of 145.980. It
<looked so weird I did a double take and doubted I was really at that
<frequency. I don't know if the bird was off frequency or if it was
<something on my end.
<
<My audio recording is here:
<
<https://www.dropbox.com/s/j1xduj3had9gicm/2019-06-16_0028_UTC_AO-
<85_KG4AKV_FM05.WAV?dl=0
<
<73, John Brier KG4AKV
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