[sarex] ISS TEST... who was successful?

["Stan Vandiver" <Stan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

I have my ISS test results at the bottom... but something else struck me as 
I was reviewing my log. And I just read some other posts about automated 
versus keyboard use of the bandwidth... this may apply.  My observations 
are strictly my own... what I copied here in Indiana, with 9-10 minutes each 
pass.  I will share the full log if asked.  You may find this interesting.  

I copied all 5 passes, transmitting once per pass with 105 watts to a 6dB 
ground plane.  I timed each tranmission for a low elevation, 6-8 degrees) 
hoping to increase my chances... I have not had much luck with that 
antenna when the ISS is high overhead.  I was successful one time but I did 
not get posted to the ariss.net map... a 20% success ratio.

The biggest success story of the ISS test was W3ADO.  I copied 26 
transmissions from W3ADO... clearly above the rest of the crowd. Here are 
some stats that I have before going on to the rest.  I copied an *average* of 
about 1 transmission per minute (one significantly better pass, one 
significantly worse, the other 3 passes average). I once copied a 4 second 
interval.  Twice I copied 5 sec intervals.  And twice I copied 6 second 
intervals.

I am guessing that W3ADO was automated overnight for this test, but I 
wonder if APRS "typically" transmits as often as that?  Or are they using 
special settings that a typical APRS user would not employ?  I thought the 
whole idea of this test was to *REDUCE* the transmit rates in conjunction 
with the ERP of the station.

I will hazard a guess, however, that a fine station that I imagine there to be 
at the Naval Academy, probably possesses a satellite tracking array and a 
little more than HT power.  Perhaps Bob or another club member will 
enlighten us as to what kind of power and antennas were used by the club 
station... I didn't see that information transmitted by them in any packet, 
unless it was "hidden" the way that APRS conserves(?) bandwith.

OK, here's how the rest of us fared:

A distant 2nd was Miles, WF1F, who was keyboarding on the last pass  I 
copied 13 transmissions.  13 may seem like a lot in one pass, but no doubt 
W3ADO could do that too if they were actively keyboarding and talking to 
people instead of being automated.  I think that everyone knows that Miles 
is very active and friendly on the "ISS chat room."  

I have a tie for 3rd place with 12 transmissions.  AB2CJ, although running 
APRS, was keyboarding.  I suspect that test participant KB2WQM was 
using 2 separate stations... I show 8 packets with a -4 SSID, and 4 packets 
with a -3 SSID.  Perhaps I should not rank him this high?

>From this point and down it was a pretty even mix of keyboarders and test 
participants.  A reminder that these totals below represent all 5 passes.

7 successful packets: XE2ARF (kybd), N3ZLL (test), KF9WW (kybd)
6 successful packets: KB3BRT (both kybd & test in same pass), N2LZH
4 successful packets: KQ2V, VE3EYR. KC8OTI
3 successful packets: XE2MZS, WA6YET, VE3UIN, N5VFF, K4TOM,W2KQ
2 successful packets: KI0LS, N8WDN, K5HV, W3BL
1 successful packet: N5UGI, N5CWM, N7ZEV, KF7E, W5GGW, K5OE, 
N9YUK, ND6PLI, KB0CY, K3LTM, WB6EHV, K2RQA, W4SV

OK, that's everybody. I apologize if I accidentally omitted anyone.


Here's my tally for 5 passes this morning:

0615Z:  10 stations heard, 3 seemed to participate
    Heard: XE2MZS, N5UGI, N5CWM, WA6YET, W3ADO,
               XE2ARF, KI0LS, KB2WQM, VE3UIN, AB2CJ
    Participating: W3ADO, KB2WQM, VE3UIN

0750Z:  11 stations heard, 4 seemed to participate
    Heard: XE2ARF, N7ZEV, KF7E, W5GGW, N2LZH, AB2CJ,
               K5OE, W3ADO, N3ZLL, KB2WQM, N9YUK
    Participating: W5GGW, W3ADO, N3ZLL, KB2WQM

0930z:  7 stations heard, 4 seemed to participate
    Heard: ND6PLI, KB0CY, W3ADO, N3ZLL, N2LZH,
               K3LTM, KB2WQM
    Participating: W3ADO, N3ZLL, K3LTM, KB2WQM

1105Z:  8 stations heard, 4 seemed to participate
    Heard: KF9WW, W3ADO, N2LZH, KB3BRT, N3ZLL,
               N8WDN, KB2WQM, VE3EYR
    Participating: W3ADO, KB3BRT, N3ZLL, KB2WQM

1240Z:  16 stations heard, 3 seemed to participate
    Heard: KF9WW, WB6EHV, N5VFF, W4SV, KC8OTI,
               W3ADO, WF1F, K5HV, KB3BRT, K4TOM, KQ2V,
               K2RQA, VE3EYR, W2KQ, W3BL, KB2WQM
    Participating: W4SV, W3ADO, KB2WQM

Hope you all had a good time... but I'd rather be keyboarding!  My "off by 
one day" report of this test left another question thusfar unanswered... shall 
we conduct an experiment to LISTEN TO THE UPLINK?  This has been an 
interesting experiment in throughput, but I don't think it speaks to the 
question of congestion on the uplink frequency.  I'm willing.  Imagine how 
quiet it might be on the downlink if all of us got off for 8 hours!

73 de Stan/W4SV
Hanna, Indiana

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