Satgen 24   A new intruder, Packsat reception , Mir in evening.

A new satellite intruder is being heard regularly on 70 cms - Someone
must be breeding them. G4CUO who first reported it, calls it UFO 432.
Its centre frequency is 432.881 MHz + or - 9KHz of doppler,and it is
very loud. Its orbit period is approx 112.3 minutes and it is in a
retrograde orbit with an inclination somewhere between 92 and 98 degrees.
Its mean height is 1330 kms , so it sees UK on 10 of its 12 orbits per 
day. Its retrograde motion , circling the opposite way to the direction in
which the Earth spins, suggests it may be an American Defence Dept launch
from Vandenberg AFB in California. This is not certain, but it is a fact
that the Russians only very rarely launch into fuel expensive retrograde
orbits.
Unfortunately this very strong signal is going right across a large slice
of the 70cm DX beacon band. So terrestrial DX beacon watchers could well
be upset by it.Please assure them it is not an Oscar satellite. Its 
constant carrier signal suggests it could be an ionospheric probe and in
this case it may also be transmitting on subharmonics of 432.881 MHz.

Getting ready for Packsat.  Reception tests so far have included, crossed
dipoles with and without a reflector, quarter wave and ground plane, 
hairpin quarter wave loop and ground plane , all of which have at least
one deep null in their polar diagrams. Recently I was lent a 70cm Slim
Jim. So far I can find no fault with it. Have tested it from all angles 
using both Polar Bear 435.974 and G4CUO's UFO 432.881 MHz, so that may
well be the answer although I also plan to test a co linear. With this
good signal I am working on the wiring connections so that I can use the
available Auto Frequency Control built into G3RUH's Fuji modem. The Modem
sends up or down pulses to any receiver with UP/Down 100 Hz max or 10 Hz
min steps.

Mir orbits bring it past UK between 2000 ut and 0300 ut during week 
commencing 16th Sep, and, roughly 1712 to 0012 ut during week begining 23
rd Sep. So you may catch one voice transmission on 143.625 MHz south east
of UK before they turn in around 2100 ut. After that listen for 165.87 and
166.121 MHz remote control sigs. 73 de John GM4IHJ@GB7SNE on 13th Sept 89.