AO-10 Status

["Stacey E. Mills, M.D." <w4sm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

AO-10 downlink signals have improved considerably in the last two weeks.
QSO's are now taking place again and the solar illumination should continue
to improve.  I had no problem hearing my own downlink at 30,000 km
distance.  This bodes well for this year's field day activities on AO-10.
The satellite will also be orbitally well positioned for field day use this
year.

The low point of this illumination cycle appears to have been around
1998/4/24, although the beacon could still be barely heard with deep QSB at
that time.  I've revised my questimated ALON/ALAT to approximately 100/25
based on these observations. A bit more information is available at:

http://www.cstone.net/~w4sm/AO-10.html

...further updates to the Web page in the next few days as time permits.

Best wishes.

-- 
  ________________________________________________
 | Stacey E. Mills, M.D.                          | 
 | E-Mail: sem2r@virginia.edu or: w4sm@cstone.net |
 | Office Phone: 804-982-4406  Fax: 804-924-8767  |
 |________________________________________________|