Re: [amsat-bb] AO-40 Questions

[Al Lawler <alawler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

  Bill,  at midnight last nigth (california time),
the satellite was 52000 (or so) km away from you,
and the squint angle was terrible (180 degrees
from me in NH.)

  You'll never hear the satellite except at good 
squint angles.  (Squint means the angle that
the satellite is pointing in relation to you.  
At squints of more than 10 degrees, you won't 
hear much.)

  Might I suggest a good "easy" way to get squint
info?

  Send email to 'igor@highrf.com' with your callsign
in the subject.

  In the body, enter the following command.

predict ao-40 fresno,_ca pdt 4 longpr


  This will return via email a table of the next 4 days
of satellite passes for your location.  The right hand
column includes  squint value.  Pick a day that the
satellite is in a good point in your sky, and the squint
is less than 10 degrees.    (Igor says Saturday night
around 7pm your time should work at 130 degrees azimuth,
and 43 degrees elevation.)

  Also, don't forget to account for any magnetic
variation in your area.  (Igor's output is based on true
north.)

 -al
  WB1BQE

  P.s.  looks like a nice construction job on the helix!



william washburn wrote:
> 
> Folks,
> 
> Although I have been building and testing S-band receive
> equipment for several months now, I had not tried to use
> the equipment to hear AO-40 until last night.
> 
> The antenna and converter are shown in this link:
> http://people.we.mediaone.net/billwashburn/helix_&_drake.htm
> 
> The 144MHz receiver is a DSP-10 & Toshiba Laptop:
> http://people.we.mediaone.net/billwashburn/dsp-10.htm
> 
> My QTH is Fresno, California, USA @ 36.74N, 119.77W.
> 
> At 2400hr local time AO-40 was supposed to be at 180 degrees
> azimuth and 50 degrees elevation.  This is the direction in which
> I had pointed the helix.  I have a restricted view to the east
> because of a large 2-story house at about 160 degrees azimuth.
> 
> I listened on S2 GB, MB and EB along with the S2 analog passband
> and heard absolutely nothing.  I could see nothing on the waterfall
> display either.
> 
> However, from inside the house at about thirty feet from the helix
> and downconverter I could hear my test signal source clearly:
> http://people.we.mediaone.net/billwashburn/2_4_ghz_source.htm
> 
> I know nothing about ALON/ALAT, squint, etc.
> 
> But I know one thing for sure:
> 
> Either the satellite signals were not there to hear or my receive
> setup is totally deaf or both.
> 
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks, Bill, WA6QGR
> 
> 
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