[amsat-bb] AO-40 Update, Orbit 350

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

RUDAK testing continued longer than expected on Orbit 349, but was very 
successful.  An update on the status of RUDAK and associated experiments 
will be posted on the RUDAK web pages in the near future:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/ao40/rudak/

ALON/ALAT was recently re-adjusted to the edge of the solar sensor "wall" 
and the orientation is currently approximately 338/3, with ALON slowly 
decreasing due to the ME.  When the ALON decrease begins to affect downlink 
signals, it will be again adjusted.  As the sun moves out of the way over 
the next few weeks, we will be able to move closer and closer to 0/0.

Given the relatively favorable ALON/ALAT, we will be testing/activating the 
U/L1 passbands on the S1 transmitter very shortly.  Watch the message 
blocks in AO-40's telemetry.  When the S1 transmitter is active, the S2 
transmitter will be off.  Therefore, if you cannot hear a signal on S2 
(middle beacon or RUDAK), check S1.  The S1 Tx may be using either the 
middle beacon or the Engineering Beacon.  Because the S1 Tx uses a higher 
gain dish antenna, signals should be better than from S2 at low squint 
angles, but worse than S2 at higher squint angles.  We will attempt to 
adjust the schedule to use the best transmitter during a given portion of 
the orbit.  However, because squint angles vary considerably depending on 
whether the satellite is to your west or east, there is compromise involved 
in this calculation. S1 transmitter testing and operation may begin as soon 
as Orbit 350, MA 44-80.



-- 
  ________________________________________________________________________
  Stacey E. Mills, W4SM    WWW:    http://www.cstone.net/~w4sm/ham1.html
    Charlottesville, VA     PGP key: http://www.cstone.net/~w4sm/key
  ________________________________________________________________________

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