SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-182.01
ECHO First Day Summary

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 182.01 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. June 30, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-182.01

First contact with Echo was during the pass 1452-1500 UTC on 29 June 2004.
The first look at ECHO's telemetry shows things are looking good.  The
battery, solar panels and temperatures were all as expected.

Initially the transmitter power output was set to approximately 2.2 Watts
during commanding sessions. Based on a very good looking power system, the
transmitter has been able to be left turned on with the power turned down.

During the second set of passes approximately twelve hours later, the
command team finished loading the housekeeping software.  The housekeeping
task is up and running as of 30 June 2004 at 0525 UTC.  With more data
available on the power systems performance the transmitter has now been left
at about 1.2W.

The morning passes on 30 June will concentrate on gathering telemetry.  The
evening passes then will continue with checkout activities.

A telemetry decode program, TLMEcho, is available for those who would like
to view and report data from Echo.  It may be downloaded from AMSAT.ORG in
the Echo project area, http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/

If you record telemetry data please send the CSV files to ke4azn@amsat.org.

Please do not transmit to Echo until checkout and commissioning has been
completed and the satellite is made available for general use.  Unexpected
uplinks may cause delays in verifying the proper operation of ECHO and delay
the opening of the transponders to general use.

[ANS thanks Jim, WD0E, for the above information]

/EX