All: Believe suitsat is alive but alive does not mean performing as expected. Sat Jan 4 2006 09:02 UTC pass over East PA in USA had max elev of 75 deg. On this pass I monitored 145.990 by using my kit for NOAA WX sat reception (Icom R-7000 receiver, turnstile cut for 137 mhz and mounted 6 feet above ground, 50 feet of RG-8) - I added an ARR SP144 2 mtr preamp for suitsat reception. The R7000 was set for CW reception because news and chatter indicates that suitsat signal, if it exists, is very weak. This setup with a 220mhz preamp replacing the 144mhz preamp and FFT post processing of the audio is capable of detecting the moon passing through the NAVSPASUR radar fence (which the moon is currently doing do twice a day through Feb 15). Recorded 145.99 audio from R-7000 receiver on laptop starting at 08:55Z and ending at 09:06Z. Definitely heard a brief (about 30 sec) but very weak signal by virtue of CW mode beat note on 145.990mhz. Post processed audio using baudline (FFT utility) in a Linux environment. Spectrogram shows a doppler shifted signal - approximate visual signal on the spectrogram begins at 09:00:26Z and ends at about 09:02:05. Clock on Linux box is synced to NTP pool (via dial up connection) - the resulting clock accuracy is usually +- 5sec or better. Based on this I suspect that suitsat is transmitting a rather weak signal on 145.99 and that someone with some antenna gain and tracking capability should be able to hear suitsat and gather telem data. Not so sure that looking at a spectrogram counts as visual detection but I doubt that I'll be able to see suitsat with my binoculars... FYI Joe K3FMA 20060204-10:20Z ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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