Satgen 195 1992 - A Good Year for Satellites by GM4IHJ 19th Dec 92 The BID of this msg is SGEN195 Please use it if you retransmit this msg The brief summary of the highlights of 1992 , which follows , is offered with grateful thanks to all concerned. If I missed your favourite project - I apologise. Space ( bulletin length variety ) , is limited. Digital Gateway Traffic . The construction and management of the superb 9600 bps ground station gateway network, under the direction of KI6QE is a marvelous addition to Amateur Radio. RUDAK telemetry on RM1 Oscar 21 , receivable on any ground station AFSK standard 1200 bps packet station on 145.987 MHz, has helped to fill an enormous hole in the Education and Experiment opportunities, left by the demise of Dove on 2m . Listen for Rudak on 145.987 MHz . RS14 Oscar 21 with its innovative FM repeater 435.016 up 145.987 down, may not be for the purists, but it gets more votes in my satgen mail , than all other topics combined. More please . RS3A Congratulations to the Command Team for RS10/11 and RS12/13. Your satellites are clearly what the majority want. With the present MUF , access to, and reception of RS12 mode K is possible on orbits up to 20 degrees below the UK horizon towards USA and the Caribbean. I also hear reports that the one and only , original Russian 1978 bird RS1 is coming up on 29.401 MHz with its endless repeats of 55 551 551 etc ( see RSGB Space Radio Handbook p118 for details). NASA publish Keps describing RS1 as Object 1978 100A . Reports to RK3KPK @ RK3KP please . COMET S-T . Thanks for all the packet mail regarding Comet Swift - Tuttle and the Perseids meteor shower. This has been a fascinating story which I hope to tell in a forth coming Satgen. Meanwhile do not forget the Quadrantids shower on 3rd January . It usually last about 4 hours starting in the forenoon period. No sensational comets are forecast for 93 - but you never know. We are long overdue for another first time around the Sun big Comet. Radio Astronomy . Thanks for reports from EMErs who check their gear against Cassiopeia and Cygnus A. Although all recent Radio literature quotes Cass as stronger than Cygnus , this is clearly no longer the case. Cassiopeia is an old supernova remnant thought to have exploded about 300 years ago ( as seen from earth - it actually exploded about 10,000 years ago but light from its position far out on the edge of our Milky Way Galaxy takes 10000 years to get here ). Radio astromers monitoring the decay in emission levels for Cass, report it is now decreasing at about 1% per year. So IHJ needs to revise his software ( p197 fig 10.13 in RSGB Space Radio HB ). Cygnus A is though to be possibly the collision of two very remote galaxies . So while the earths ionosphere may interfere with its signal now and again, it is usually pretty steady , and must now be considered stronger than Cassiopeia at 2m. Personal . My grateful thanks to ZL2BS , G3RUH , GM4JJJ , RK3KPK , UA3CR , 7J1ALF , HB9SKA , GB7LAN , 4X1RU , 4Z5BS , G3IOR , G3ZCZ/W3 , LZ1DP , ZL1AAN , NM7M and others who have kept me up to date in 1992. All the best for New Year 1993 from Scotland . de John GM4IHJ @ GB7SAN