[amsat-bb] AO-51 interference

[Andrew Glasbrenner <glasbrenner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It has come to light that there is at least one and possibly more 
long range cordless telephones operating in the 145 Mhz satellite 
band somewhere in the eastern US. One of these phones was heard 
tonight on AO-51's 145.920 uplink while the PL access was off. 
These phones operate with several watts of power and are enough 
to block the lower power users of the FM satellites. These signals 
are also obvious on the upper end of FO-29's passband with constant
FM carriers.

What do we do? The easiest thing is to listen in your area for these 
interlopers and report them to the ARRL and the FCC. Make recordings
noting date and time, and direction if possible. The best thing that 
can happen is to record a DTMF dialing sequence or other identifying 
information. DO NOT approach the user or make contact with them, 
leave that to the FCC and US Marshals who sometimes accompany them 
on such matters. Document and report is the best way.

I'm going to program the VHF side of both my mobile and home rigs 
scan 145.8 to 146.00 and see what I can find locally.

73, Drew KO4MA
Echo Ops Group
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