Satgen 45  7th February 90  Pacsat progress, Jasat launch

Am now getting consistent results on 9 orbits per day on both Lusat and
Pacsat. Webersat has a curious keying echo whether using primary or
secondary frequency, and it does not print as consistently as the other
two. Comparison of Pacsat and Lusat signals at this 56N latitude station 
confirmed the view that Lusat is stronger. Pacsat on 437.025 MHz was weak
on 27/28 Jan but was much stronger by 1st Feb. Both signals print
consistent packets with Lusat giving 93% on some passes.

Have resolved the problem of why some orbits with strong signals refuse 
to print. The problem is hardware, not propagation. Constantly changing
the computer RS232 lead from the terrestrial TNC to the Pacsat TNC can set
up a situation where the Pacsat TNC hangs up. Always reset power OFF/ON or
use Control Q before a pacsat pass,to avoid this hidden trap.

Do you run your printer as you monitor Pacsat ? Be careful , most printers
are so slow you will find your printer and screen lag well behind real
time by several minutes in a long pass. Such that you hear signal fade but
take no action because screen continues to print good packets . Then a
minute later you realise you have missed a lot of traffic. I use the
software Capture mode to record all down link packets to disc. That way my
screen shows real time activity , and after pass I transfer ASCII disc to
Word Processor Doc transfer and then scroll through the data at my
leisure, line by line.At 30k data per Lusat pass it also saves paper , Hi.

Have been noticing a bump in the AFC tuning of my Rx every 10 KHz. I found
on examination that my Rx Hi band 100Hz steps were only about 85 Hz . So
every so often there was a bump as the synthesizer reset to align display
frequency and actual frequency.Have reset the appropriate pot on ICOM 451.

Separation between the Pacsats is now quite noticable . Lusat is leading,
with Webersat maybe one and a half minutes behind, followed by Pacsat 3
minutes behind Lusat , then Dove three and a half minutes and Uosat D 6
minutes after Lusat. All these gaps are increasing quite quickly.

Now my good signal but no print problem is solved, I have been taking more
notice of the disturbed Polar orbits. As predicted by theory, BPSK seems
to be affected very little, by even quite serious fast flutter ( typically
5Hz or so ). I did lose quite a lot in two recent Auroras but even there ,
not all the pass was lost.

Jas 1-B came above the Scottish horizon at 0652 ut 7th Feb sending morse
telemetry on 435.795 MHz. It reappeared next at 0841 to 0902 ut. So while
it is following the general track predicted in Satgen42, it would appear
to have had the benefit of more spare fuel than expected. So good old
Japanese reliability has put it quite a bit higher than the 1200 kms of
the original forecast. Hence the long 21 minutes in range Scotland this
morning. Many Congratulations to Jamsat. I look forward to lots of fun on
this latest in a strong line of Japanese mode J satellites.73 de GM4IHJ