Tag: Oscar 40

Lite rapporter frn Stacey och AMSAT-UK frn de senaste testerna p Oscar-40:

Post-launch info 1930 GMT 02 March
From Stacey:
We are continuing to move ALON forward to keep the solar angle within range. The current ALON / ALAT = 15/0 (nominal), and we are slowly moving to ALON =20, but this will take about 6 more orbits. To compensate for the change in squint the K-window has been moved. Further passband shifts will come when we reach ALON=20.

Here is a provisional schedule of things to come:
We will continue slowly moving ALON forward toward 45 degrees during the month of March. In early April we will begin raising ALAT toward 20 degs. By mid-April we should be at ~ ALON/ALAT = 45/20. Passband activities will be turned off at that time. We will drift for approximately one month, arriving at ALON/ALAT = 315/20 in mid-May. We will then lower ALAT to 0, restart passband activities (shifted to the early part of the orbit), and begin moving back toward ALON = 0, chasing the sun at the rate of about 1 deg/day. We should return to ALON/ALAT = 0/0 about June 20th. We can stay at ALON/ALAT = 0/0 until early October, when the cycle starts over. Thus, expect the passbands to be off from about mid-April to mid-May, but active at varying phases of the orbit, the rest of the time. We should be in good position for field day, just getting back to 0/0.

Post-launch info 2155 GMT 24 February
Stacey reports: Two tests were performed on AO-40 yesterday.

The first was a long shot and involved listening for the S1 transmitter exciter stage using Gnter Wertich s EME dish. Nothing was heard during a 20 MA window of testing in which the S1 Tx was connected to the middle beacon.

The second test involving the S-band receivers was completely successful. Extremely strong downlink signals were possible using S-band uplink to K-band downlink. Charlie (G3WDG) phoned me and I heard beautiful downlink signals from his ~5 watt uplink to S1. S2 was also active, but because of its higher, less common frequency (2446 MHz), it may not have been tested. The S1 Rx uses the S1 Tx high-gain dish, and the S2 Rx uses the 5 turn helix used by the S2 Tx, so signals would not be as strong through S2 at low squint. More information will undoubtedly be posted on this by the participants, but special thanks to Charlie (G3WDG), Mike (N1JEZ), and Dom (I8CVS), and any others who participated in this successful test.

The S1 Rx can certainly be listed as fully functional. We will await further testing/info. on the S2 Rx.

Charlie, G3WDG, has also produced a how I did it report, see it at: http://www.g3wdg.free-online.co.uk/s_ktest.htm
—

Klla: AMSAT-UK

ndringar i ALON gr att det nu finns ett nytt schema.

Klla: ANS 054

The AO-40 team plans to test the S1 and S2 receivers with the K-band downlink on Sunday, February 23rd from MA 162 to 170 ( UTC ~19:26 to ~20:01.

This will necessitate switching OFF the S2 Tx during this time.

As is currently scheduled each orbit, the S2 Tx will be on, beacon only, along with the K-Tx during the 160 to 162
window.

However from 162 to 170, the S2 Tx will be off and only the S1 and S2 receivers, plus beacon, will be connected to the K-Tx. Stations with K-band reception are invited tomonitor the tests. Normal passband operation should resume after MA 170.

If weather or technicalproblems are prohibitive, we will
reschedule. Because this is a single event test, the N-blk will not be modified to reflect this test.

– –W4SM for the AO-40 Command Team.

Klla: amsat

Ett QSO-party gr av stapeln mellan den 24 – 27 januari. Hr r bulletinen frn ANS:

The operating period for the first AO-40 QSO Party has been extended to 4 days in order to give more operating windows to Amateur stations world wide.
The QSO Party will begin at 0000 UTC on 24 Jan 2003 and conclude at 2400z on 27 Jan 2003. Currently stations from over 30 countries have indicated their intention to participate in the AO-40 QSO Party.

1. Objective:
To encourage more and more Amateur Radio Station to have two way communication via AO-40, especially during the good condition of the satellite.

2. Rule Of Operation:
* All Rules from Local / International Organization is take precedence of this rule.
* Any station can participate, as long as, it has its own facility (both uplink and downlink). No relay / repeater use in any kind is permitted.
* One station is only valid for one entry.
* Station can be a single operator with his/her own call, or a group of operator with a club station call, providing only use ONE set of radio is used (multi op with single radio).
* Use only electronic Log-Sheet (A Software called Logger is available as freeware and downloadable for free at: http://www.qsl.net/kc4elo ).
* Avoid LEILA, keep the power as low as possible, below threshold (if you hear slightly de-sensing when transmit, reduce the transmit power).
* To lock-up the TX and RX frequency, it is suggested to fix the TX and find it by sweeping your RX and call with your call-sign like this YB0KTQ on AO-40 . Never use a continuous tone. And never sweep your TX. (A software for calculating the TX-RX frequency is available on:
http://www.isibrno.cz/~kasal/AO-40Fqcalc.htm )
* If you can not hear your return signal, do not call.

3. Suggested Frequency:
Downlink: S-band, USB
Uplink: U-band LSB OR L-band LSB (only one band per station is allowed during the event)
Mode: SSB Only

Keep +/- 10 kHz from MB always clear.

4. Venue:
Event will be commenced in January 24, 25, 26 and 27 2003 UTC. Starting and ending MA is in accordance with the availability of pass-band.

5. Award
* Special Certificate will be issued, for those who have minimum 20 QSO with different station, and sending their electronic log sheet via email, also sending SASE and US$ 5 via post office.
* Special award will be given to the station with the biggest number of DXCC Countries and number of QSO (DXCC countries is take precedence), provided that they send their electronic log sheet via email.

6. email address:
For receiving the above mentioned award, electronic worksheet in the following format: ASCII text, ADIF, Microsoft Excel, should be sent to:
ReinhardSual@TheTempoGroup.Net

The closing date for electronic log-sheet submission is 31 January 2003.

7. Post Office Address:
To get Special Certificate as per point 5 above, SASE and US$ 5 should be sent to:

Reinhard Sual – YB0KTQ
Pulo Gebang Permai G1/9
Jakarta Timur 13950
Indonesia

8. Website:
All information on this AO-40 QSO Party is available on Internet with this URL address:
http://202.158.39.236/AO40QSOParty2003.asp

9. Acknowledgement:
This event is coordinated by YB0KTQ, and by no means related to any organization, locally or internationally. However, I have discussed most of this matter with friends especially with AO-40 enthusiast from more than 15 countries, which support this event to happen.

[ANS thanks Reinhard, YB0KTQ, for the above information]

Klla: ANS 019

Hr kommer nyhetssammanfattning frn ANS:

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-005.03
AO-40 OPERATING SCHEDULE UPDATE

Stacey Mill, W4SM, provided the following update on AO-40 s operating schedule. The power budget allows us to extend the passband time by 10 MA s on each end and we have activated the 24 GHz K-band transmitter.
From MA 126 to 128 both the S2 and K middle beacons only will be active. From MA 128 to 132 both the S2 & K transmitters will be active on the U/L uplink passbands. Stacey said. He continues, The last time the K-Tx was active, it was noted to have suffered a partial power loss suggesting that one of the output transistors may have failed. We will monitor its function to see if this condition has changed. Stacey also requested that K-band successes and failures be reported to the AMSAT-BB.

Stacey also noted that, We are holding ALON/ALAT at nominal 0/0, but ALAT has been drifting slightly positive (~1 deg), which will slightly favor northern hemisphere users.

[ANS thanks Stacey, W4SM, for the above information]

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-005.04
AO-40 RUDAK OPERATIONS

During the week of Christmas the RUDAK team has concentrated on getting software loaded after the long period of quite time when there was inadequate power to run RUDAK and the experiments.

A task to record all activity on the CAN bus was loaded and run on the B processor while the CAN server and CEDEX task were run on the A. The CAN logging task files and the CEDEX task files were downloaded and are being analyzed to diagnose the problem that has prevented collection and logging of CEDEX data since December, 2001.

During the Christmas eve and day windows it was determined both RUDAK processors had crashed back to the boot loader and reloading was begun. An initial attempt to reload A failed and the short window prevented further diagnosis.

Some testing on the new windows based command software was accomplished and a few changes have been made. This is an important activity because it forms the basis for telemetry and command software for future AMSAT-NA satellites including ECHO and Eagle. Again, however, the short RUDAK window prevented complete testing.

Further load and diagnosis activities will be undertaken during the next available window.

[ANS thanks Jim, WD0E, for the above information]

Klla: ANS-005

Information frn AMSAT-UK och AMSAT-DL:

Schedule updated. The power budget allows an extention of passband time by 10 MA s on each end.

Stacey reports: The AO-40 schedule has been modified to activate the 24 GHz K-band transmitter. From MA 126 to 128 both the S2 and K middle beacons only will be active. From MA 128 to 132 both the S2 & K transmitters will be active on the U/L uplink passbands. The last time the K-Tx was active, it was noted to have suffered a partial power loss suggesting that one of the output transistors may have failed. We will monitor its function to see if this condition has changed. Please report your successes/failures to the amsat-bb. We are holding ALON/ALAT at nominal 0/0, but ALAT has been drifting slightly positive (~1 deg), which will slightly favor northern hemisphere users.

Klla: AMSAT-DL, AMSAT-UK