[amsat-bb] Bahn Coordinates

[Estes Wayne-W10191 <W10191@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Albert Ozias wrote:

I have seen the question asked before but I don't recall the answer.  Where
can look up current (or latest) Bahn coordinates (Alat and Alon) for analog
birds?

Wayne replies:

AO40 is the only analog satellite that has functional active stabilization.
You can see the current AO40 ALON/ALAT at the AMSAT-DL web site:

http://www.dj1km.de/amsat-dl/journal/adlj-p3d.htm
<http://www.dj1km.de/amsat-dl/journal/adlj-p3d.htm> 

When I checked just now it reports ALON/ALAT = ~356/03.  Because of the
"mystery effect", the ALON drifts to a slightly lower value each day and is
corrected once every few days by magnetorqueing.  It seems to stay in a
range from 355 to 360 most of the time.

The other analog satellites do not have active stabilization, so there is no
need to worry about off-pointing angle.  There is no ALON/ALAT value to
enter into your tracking program.  AO10 and AO13 once had active
stabilization, but AO10 is no longer controllable and AO13 re-entered the
atmosphere in 1996.

Wayne Estes W9AE
off the air in Beijing, China
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