Re: [amsat-bb] Small Satellite Tracker Project?

["Robert Bruninga" <bruninga@xxxxxxxx>]

The moon is crossing the radar fence for the next two weeks!

OJ said:
>Australians  have detected US UHF TV VIA the moon. 
>Digipan works well!

Starting today, the Moon will cross the fence twice a day
for the next two weeks.
Just tune to 216.98 MHz when the moon passes through 
the azimuth of 91.5 or 271.5 degrees from the main 
transmitter at  33 deg 34m N and 98 deg 46m W.
Get the exact coordinates from the web site below...

I ran the approximate times below.

The transmitter is 750 Kw  (+28 dB of a HAM EME xmtr)
with an antenna gain of about 30 dB?  Thus the return
will be about 36 dB greater than EME so  you should be
able to hear it on a dipole?

        91de      271 deg
Day  time EL  time  EL
*-----  *------ *---  *------ *---
18  1230  9  2335  10
19  1345 19  2330  22
20  1410  30  2350  32
21  1630  40  0000  40
22  1750  48  0015  48
23  1910  54  0043  53
24  2015  59  0120  55
25  2100  57  0220  53
26  2130  53  0335  48
27 2150  46  0500  40
28 2205  37  0620  30
29  2215  27  0755  18
30 2220  15  0915  08
31 2230   05

Times are UTC.
These numbers ARE NOT ACCURATE!  They are
just an approximation within 15 minutes based on a quick 
look at Instantrack between breakfast and church.  I would
hope someone might want to refine them based on
more accurate tracking of the moon than Instantrackj.

The Moon should be in the fan beam for about
2 minutes.  You are listening for a carrier so use a CW
receiver and to pull out the very weak signal use
digipan.    Where to tune?  Best I konw is that the
transmitter is 216.980 MHz, but I think there is an
EAST transmitter in Alabama and Arizona that are
10 KHz above and below (I dont know which way).

The above table starts on 18 April because that is
the first day the moon crosses the fence above
the horizon from the central transmitter site in Texas.
But because of the auxilliary transmitters in AL and
AZ, the fence actually goes further out over the atlantic
and pacific and so on days before the 18th and after
the 30th, EAST or WEST stations will get other
opportunities.

For an amateur link on info about NAVSPASUR site (now
named NSSS) see:
http://www.jump.net/~crossley/NAVSPASUR/

For some recordings of pings of meteors and satellites
crossing the fence (you will need to live closer to the
fence line across Ala, TX and AZ) see:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast22dec98_1.htm

de WB4APR



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