Category: Ham Satellite news

AO-40 Update, 2003-04-07

ALON/ALAT is now 45/3 degs. We are beginning to raise ALAT to 20 degs. This will take about a week. Once we are at ALON/ALAT = 45/20 and have verified this position, we will turn off the passband and magnetorquer, and begin drifting past the sun, toward ALON/ALAT ~ 315/20.

Depending on final spin rate, the drift should take approximately a month. Once we reach this ALON, we will lower ALAT to 0 and passband will be restored, moved to the early portion of the orbit. We will then begin chasing the sun back to ALON/ALAT = 0/0.

W4SM for the AO-40 Command Team

Klla: amsat

Nytt schema 25 mars, annars ingen mera info frn AMSAT-DL eller AMSAT-UK.

Klla: AMSAT-DL

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 075.01 From AMSAT HQ
Silver Spring, MD. March 16, 2003
To All Radio Amateurs
BID: $ANS-075.01

AO-40 nominal ALON/ALAT is now 20 / 0. LON/ALAT will be slowly moved to 30/0 in the next week.

Given the worsening squints as we move ALON/ALAT, we have terminated the -Tx sessions until early summer when conditions improve.

Because of the poor squint angles early in the orbit the passband window ow starts at MA =80. It still ends at MA = 230 to allow time for battery harging before perigee eclipse.

The complete schedule is shown in the table below:

The command team also reminds all Users to maintain a clear area 25 kHz above and below the Middle Beacon.

S-band -> K Tx test conducted on Saturday, 15 March 2003, was a success. Report to follow from participants.

CORRECTION:
Several weeks ago, during the testing of the S1 receiver, It was indicated that the S2 receiver was connected to the 5-turn helix. This is not correct. Both S-band receivers are connected to the dish antenna. Only the S2 transmitter is connected to the 5-turn helix.

[ANS thanks Stacey, W4SM and Colin, VK5HI, for the above information]

Klla: ANS 075