On 1/12/13, R.T.Liddy <[email protected]> wrote: > Tonight (1/12) while getting set up for an FO-29 pass I tuned down to the > Beacon Frequency 435.795 MHz. In spite of it being more than 5 minutes > before AOS, I heard a strong CW signal at around 435.790 MHz. > > It was about 0214Z and there was a series of longish dashes and some > short pauses and finally a CW "XW", then quiet. The Doppler was quite > fast compared to what I hear from FO-29 and the signal was much stronger. > The signal had moved down to 435.788 MHz in a little more than a minute > and went quiet. I don't recall hearing a Beacon move frequency that fast, > so whatever was sending it must have been much lower than the Satellites > that we expect to be operational at this time. > > At 0221Z when I began to hear FO-29's Beacon, it was significantly weaker > and the CW contained a lot of numbers. It never became anywhere near > as strong as the unknown Beacon. > > When I did an Internet Search of Amateur Satellite Beacons, the only one > that I found near that frequency was FO-20. I couldn't find FO-20 listed in > SATPC-32 to run an Orbit Prediction to see if it could have been passing > overhead at that time. > > So, I'm curious what Satellite that could have been which was so strong and > moving so fast above my QTH at EN91hq. Could FO-20 have come back to > life?
You might have heard HO-68's telemetry beacon. Its official name is Xi Wang-1, which would explain the "XW" at the end of the CW sequence. I recall that each beacon transmission began with an identification--its callsign, I think. There's more information at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL _______________________________________________ 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
