Hi All, For now, it looks like the PL tone management (and changes to other settings) has helped to keep AO-51 running and supporting normal operations. We are now running around 475 mW of power out on 435.300 MHz.
Over the last few days, some of you on the east coast of the U.S. have probably heard command stations downloading telemetry files on the 435.300 frequency. You can expect this to happen every few days; sometimes in the AM, sometimes in the PM. Because it's 9600 baud packet, it sounds like a carrier or open squelch with a "SSSSSHHHHHHHHHH" sound to it. If you hear that sound, there isn't much use in trying to uplink; it means we're collecting telemetry and the voice repeater is off for the moment. Wait for the "SSSHHHHHHH" sound to go away, and you'll know the voice repeater is active again. The current power budget makes it very hard to run both transmitters at the same time. Also, we are trying to keep the amount of commanding to a minimum, so using the single transmitter for both voice and telemetry is our current approach. We'll see how it goes. It does mean that it eats into voice operations a little, but the trade off is worth it-both for the short and long terms. In the meantime, keeping using our old bird when it's active! We don't want to take it for granted... 73 on behalf of the Command Team, Mark L. Hammond [N8MH] _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
