[amsat-bb] Just curious XW series

[Bob]

Hi Zach & Rich,

According to the https://www.amsat.org/two-way-satellites/ communication
satellite page, XW-2A, -2B, and -2F are the operable XW sats.  The others
are inoperable and do odd things, like what Zach reports.

2A, 2B and 2F have been pretty successful for me in the past week, but they
aren't always very active.

73, Bob, WB4SON




On Sun, Feb 9, 2020 at 12:51 PM Zach Metzinger via AMSAT-BB <
amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:

> On 2020-01-28 18:29, RG via AMSAT-BB wrote:
> > I have had trouble hearing XW satellites lately.I have a Kenwood ts 2000
> and for some reason don't hearing much if anything.I used to hear the
> beacon pretty loud at least for a few moments and most of the pass okay but
> not as much.I was wondering if other Op's. are having the same
> problem.Maybe I need to set up  my 706 as a receive radio,It worked good.I
> dont have any problems with the Kenwood working other modes.It would be
> nice to use one radio.I run  a vertical and realize it's not the best set
> up but again I haven't had this problem in the past.Just looking for some
> opinions.Thanks a lot73RichKB1FGC
> > marzo7088 at yahoo.com
>
> Hello RG,
>
> Having just gotten a 2m antenna set up, which has been sitting in the
> shed for years, I did hear XW-2E today.
>
> The CW beacon was doing odd things, like stopping mid-key and then
> returning to transmit with an upward-sweeping constant tone before
> resuming the CW beacon.
>
> It might be that they're hitting some sort of low-voltage reset
> condition and coming back online when the load is briefly removed.
>
> All of this was heard with a 2m copper-pipe J-pole at perhaps 15 feet in
> the attic, attached to ~40 feet of RG-8X. The beacon was easily copyable
> from 1-2 degrees to 22 degrees (highest elevation for the pass). A small
> J310 preamp awaits installation on another day.
>
> Ideally, you'll want some sort of directional-gain antenna for receive.
> Ken Britain has a simple DIY antenna that can be assembled on the cheap:
>
> https://www.wa5vjb.com/references/Cheap%20Antennas-LEOs.pdf
>
> --- Zach
> N0ZGO
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