Clive, G3CWV, säger att detta kan ev. vara den sista OSCAR 11-rapporten:
Clive, G3CWV sent the 144th monthly report for OSCAR-11. Clive says, "Unless there is an unexpected change of status (such as occured with OSCAR-7), I’m expecting this to be my last report."
This report covers the period from 17 March to 21 April 2008. During this period the satellite has not been heard and no reports of reception have been received.
Transmissions were expected to resume on 24 March, after the beacon switched-off on 14 March. However, permanent eclipses started a few days beforehand, which probably caused the transmission period to be terminated prematurely. It is now unlikely that the satellite will support any sustained period of operation, and will only transmit for a short time, possibly less than a single orbit, every 21 days.
In the years ahead, it is possible that you may hear OSCAR-11, by accident, when tuning around the frequency. If you are able to record the satellite on audio tape or as a WAV file (not MP3), please do so, as it is unlikely that it will be heard on the next pass!
Please send reception reports to xxxxx@amsat.org (replace xxxxx by
g3cwv) or post to amsat-bb. If you have a file, please let Clive know what you have, before sending it!
If you need to hear what the satellite sounds like, please visit his website at http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ The satellite transmits on 145.826 MHz.
Clive concludes, "I am indebted to all those who sent reception reports during the last 12 years. Initially there was much interest in hearing the mode-S beacon, which was very weak. Recently, interest has changed to hearing when the two metre beacon switched on/off. Special thanks must go to Jeff KB2M who recorded telemetry during my holidays, and Peter ZL3TC, who has monitored the beacon daily, during recent months.
Many thanks to everyone."
OSCAR-11 was the second satellite from the University of Surrey, http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/SSC. It was designed, built and launched, within a time scale of six months, by a team headed by Martin Sweeting G3YJO. Amateur radio groups working at various locations in the world, Also contributed to the project. It used commercially available ‘off the shelf’ components (COTS). Following the success of these satellites, in 1985 Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (http://www.sstl.co.uk) was formed, as a commercial venture. This grew into a major company which has produced over 27 small satellite projects for a global market.
[ANS thanks Clive G3CWV for the above information]