Satgen74  Dove Telemetry Anomalies and Julian Day Buffalo Manure

Have you faithful Dove watchers really been checking the telemetry ?
Do you believe telemetry box 1B which shows battery number 6 at about 1.84
volts when all the other batteries are at about 1.55 volts.
Have you noticed the Infra Red trying to go off scale high at hex FF =255
numerical maximum on the reporting scale?
What about the +Z array volts showing about 23.94 volts. Is that correct?
Comparing with Lusat and Pacsat , the +Z array volts is about the same on
them, but their number 6 batteries are near 1.55v the same as the other 7
battery reports. Equally interesting when I went back and checked launch
day, telemetry from Dove ,number 6 battery was then showing the same
reading as the rest. So I think I will watch the number 6 battery a little
more closely.

INCORRECT USE OF THE TERM JULIAN DAY LEADS TO CHAOS. Two chaps who tried
to follow the Japanese Lunar orbiter found they got nowhere when they used
what several misguided Amsat experts ? keep calling Julian Day. NASA 2
LINE ELEMENT EPOCH DAY OF THE YEAR STATEMENTS ARE NOT GIVEN AS JULIAN DAY.
But Julian Day is used for giving a Lunar Ephemeris. What is Julian Day ?

In about 1581 Julius Scalinger invented a calendar which combined Lunar ,
Solar and Earth orbit cycles. He picked a date when these where all
temporarily in step. 1200 noon on 1st January 4713 BC. Yes Before Christ.
Though never intended as such this Julian Day calendar ( quite distinct
from the old Roman Julian calendar ) provides the perfect vehicle for
Astronomers who want to follow the Moon and the Planets through orbits
lasting many years. Because, the Julian Day system just counts days from
Jan1 4713 BC easily accomodating leap years etc and Sidereal time, by
having approx 365.25 days per year.

Julian Day calculations exist in all modern tracking software even for low
earth orbit sats because it provides an easy way to calculate Sidereal =
Space Time which satellites and space vehicles keep. So please be aware if
you insist on following Amsat Keps which describe Day of the year  1990
001.00 Jan 1st as Julian Day 1 ,for your lunar or planetary tracking, you
will be out 12 hours because Julian days start at noon and you will also
be in error by about 2,500,000 additional days because the Julian Day
system starts long before the birth of Christ. No ordinary Radio Amateur
need presently worry about Julian Day, because it is buried in the
algorithms of both our earth orbit and solar system orbit software. Anyone
who needs the algorithms can get them from me or if your local library has
"SKY and TELESCOPE" read the April 81 issue at page 310 for an excellent
mathematical and historical account of the Julian Day system . 

If you are coming to Glasgow ( Cardonald College ) for the Scottish
Amateur Radio Convention on Saturday 15 Sept at 1100, please look me up
and have a chat. I will be talking about Amateur Satellite Developements
at 1315 to 1415, and will be on GM4JJJ's PACK-AGE stall at other times.
73 de John GM4IHJ @ GB7MAC