[amsat-bb] Fwd: Received RS-15 beacon (29.532 MHz)

[Emily Clarke <emily@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One of the new hams in my area mentioned on our weekly net last night 
that he had received the RS-15 beacon very strong, so I thought I 
would pass this along to the BB and the WSR.

Just a note - someone who reads Shawn's entire report will probably 
wonder why a new ham would have a 160m loop and I thought I would 
take the time to mention that Shawn is a new ham, but went from tech 
to extra class in a matter of weeks.  It is always thrilling to meet 
new hams of Shawn's calibre and now that the bug has bitten him I 
hope we will get him hooked on AMSAT activities.

73,

Emily


>From: "Shawn Morford" <ShawnMorford@msn.com>
>To: <w0eec@amsat.org>
>Subject: Received RS-15 beacon (29.532 MHz)
>Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 23:33:31 -0700
>
>Emily,
>
>I received the subject beacon this morning during an RS-15 pass but 
>I was not meticulous in taking notes.  Fortunately, there was 
>another excellent RS-15 pass just now and the beacon came through 
>again quite clearly.  Details are outlined below:
>
>My call sign & address
>---------------------
>KG6ZHC
>Shawn Morford
>755 Sharon Park Drive
>Menlo Park, CA  94025
>
>My location (home QTH)
>-----------------------
>Grid: CM87vk
>Latitude: 37 degrees, 26 minutes, 15 seconds, North
>Longitude: 122 degrees, 12 minutes, 28 seconds, West
>
>RS-15 Pass
>-----------
>UTC 01-OCT-2005
>AOS:  05:11  (UTC)
>LOS:  05:40  (UTC)
>This was a nice, long, close pass.  Maximum elevation angle was 60 
>degrees (looking west over the Pacific).  Minimum range was 2,289 km 
>(occurred at the maximum elevation angle).
>
>Frequency and nature of received signal
>--------------------------------------
>I expected the RS-15 beacon on 29.532 MHz, therefore I set my 
>receiver to 29.351 MHZ USB and waited for a 1KHz tone.  My satellite 
>tracking software automatically calculated the necessary doppler 
>shifts and applied them to my receiver.
>
>Theoretical AOS:  05:09:34 (UTC, 01-OCT-2005)
>Actual AOS:  05:11
>
>Theoretical LOS:  05:41:17
>Actual LOS:  05:40
>
>With both 746PRO preamps turned on, signal strength varied anywhere 
>from noise level to 4 S-units above the noise level.  Average signal 
>strength was about 2 S-units above the noise.  With my receiver 
>tuned as mentioned above, I heard a 1 KHz tone as follows:
>1 second on, 3 seconds off, 1 second on, 3 seconds off, etc.
>The "off" period was not always 3 seconds.  The "off" period was 
>sometimes 4, 5, 8, or even 10 seconds.
>
>My equipment
>-------------
>Transceiver:  ICOM 746PRO
>Tuner:  Palstar AT4K
>Antenna:  160m horizontal loop fed with ladder line from the Palstar tuner
>Radio Control and Satellite Tracking software: Ham Radio Deluxe (version 3.2)
>
>Let me know if you have any questions.
>Best Regards (73),
>Shawn  KG6ZHC
----
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