Re: [amsat-bb] AO-16 questions

[Paul Williamson <kb5mu@xxxxxxxxx>]

At 1:44 PM -0600 3/14/06, George Henry wrote:
>According to the AMSAT Satellite Status page, the S-Band beacon is 
>not operational, nor is the BBS.  Whatever took them out (15+ years 
>of radiation?) may also have taken out the command receiver or 
>computer, leaving the satellite in it's current mode.  You could try 
>searching the archives for any articles announcing loss of command...

There has been no loss of command function on AO-16.

The BBS is down because of localized memory failures in the mass 
memory used for message (file) storage, caused presumably by 
radiation. It would be possible to modify the on-board BBS software 
to work around these memory failures, and the command team did 
request that this be done, but it has not been aggressively followed 
up due to the apparent lack of interest in 1200 bps capabilities.

The S-band beacon isn't broken to the best of my knowledge, it's just 
turned off. The power budget doesn't allow the S-band beacon to be 
run continuously without reducing the main downlink to flea power. I 
can't explain VK5DG's observation of telemetry indicating 700mw of 
output from the S-band transmitter, but perhaps someone who has paid 
more attention to the telemetry could explain it.

There hasn't been much communication within the AO-16 command team in 
a long time, since the satellite is pretty much self-sufficient in 
its current mode and we haven't been working on any projects to 
change things. At least a few of us are still standing by in case 
anything comes up.

73  -Paul
kb5mu@amsat.org
----
Sent via amsat-bb@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe amsat-bb" to Majordomo@amsat.org