Re: [amsat-bb] RE: AO-7 - keeps on going...

[Emily Clarke <emily@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:25 AM 6/15/2006, you wrote:
>Emily and others,
>
>When you say you got into AO-7 with 2-watts at a low
>elevation what exactly does that mean?

For me the satellite was about 3 degrees above the horizon (according 
to Nova, which is about at my horizon.)  AO-7 had already been out of 
eclipse, and I picked up the mode B beacon right away.  Listened for 
about 10 seconds, then tuned down about 25KHz.  So it was probably at 
4 degrees when I sent CQ and heard it strongly.

>What kind of
>horizon do you have?

About 3 degrees in that direction(SSW).  I live in the SF Bay Area, 
and the hills (about 1500 feet ASL) to the SSW of me are are about 
10-12 kilometers away, and just about 3 degrees above 
horizontal.  They are covered in pine trees, not that it would matter 
at that distance.

>I suspect most of us have trees
>at least at those kinds of elevations so 2-watts will
>not cut it.  Are you talking EIRP out of the antenna
>or 2-watts out of the rig with a few dB cable loss and
>25-dB gain at the antenna?

I can only dream of 25 db gain antennas :-) (I live in a townhouse 
with CC&Rs).  My antennas are small and set at a fixed elevation (no rotators.)

In my case it's 2 watts at the radio, about 2-3db of cable loss at 
70cm including connectors, switches and pre-amps, and about 9db of TX 
antenna gain.  So guessing off the top of my head the EIRP is what - 
about 8-10 watts?  However I've had similar experiences with an 
Arrow, with probably less than 1db cable loss but only what - 7db of 
gain?  So I would guess 8-10 watts EIRP is about right.

>  Has anyone done a link
>budget on AO-7 recently that has been published or put
>on the web?

No, not that I'm aware of.

73,

Emily
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