From: dave@eram.esi.COM.AU (Dave Horsfall)
Newsgroups: aus.radio.amsat
Subject: CURRENT OSCAR STATUS REPORT
Date: 21 Dec 92 00:26:57 GMT
Distribution: aus
Organization: Pacific ESI, Sydney, AUSTRALIA

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 354.05 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 19, 1992   BID: $ANS-354.05
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT

Current OSCAR Status Report: 12/19/92

FO-20: Date: 12/19/92: FO-20 is in Mode JA SSB mode on Wednesdays UTC.  At
all other times the Mode JD BBS will be in operation.  Mode JA Uplink pass-
band is 145.900-146.000 MHz.  Downlink passband is 435.900-435.800 MHz.
Mode JA is an inverting transponder.  The Mode JA beacon can be heard at
435.795 MHz.  [WD0HHU]

AO-21: Date: 12/19/92: FM Transponder in operation for 6 minutes, a voice
transmission for 3 minutes, and 1200 baud AFSK telemetry transmission
for 1 minute.  This cycle repeats every hour of everyday.  Uplink frequency
is 435.016 MHz and downlink frequency is 145.987 MHz FM.  Use your standard
terrestrial packet 2M VHF TNC to decode the telemetry. [DB2OS]

AO-13: Date: 12/19/92: PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE FROM VK5AGR:
L de VK5AGR 19-DEC-92 05:00 UTC - The next session of magnetorquing
to change AO-13's attitude from 210/0 to 130/0 will commence on 19-DEC-92
at 15:41 UTC i.e. Orbit #3458, MA count 224.  This move will take about 9
days and be carried out in two stages.  The first stage will be to change
the attitude to approximately to 155/15 over the next 6 perigees finishing
on 22-DEC-92 at 03:43 UTC.  After checking the attitude over the next few
days the second stage will be to change the attitude from 155/15 to 130/0.
During the reorientation from 210/0 to 130/0 the SA (Sun Angle) will
approach -45 degrees.  From previous experience when the |SA| > 45 degrees,
the spacecraft will not support more than 55 MA units of continuous Mode B
transponder operation.  Therefore, if the |SA| approaches 45 degrees the
Mode B transponder will only be switched ON from MA 90 to MA 145.  The move
to 130/0 should be completed by 28-DEC-92.  Don't rely on gossip and rumor!
Continuous up-to-date information about AO-13 operations is always available
on the beacons, 145.812 MHz, 435.658 MHz and 2400.646 MHz in CW, RTTY and 400
bps PSK.

DO-17: Date: 12/19/92: S/W reload continuing.  S-Band transmitter in use.
An intense effort is underway to get the 2M packet beacon running again.
[WD0E]

AO-16: Date: 12/19/92: The Raised Cosine (RC) transponder is in use.  The
downlink frequency is 437.050 MHz.  AO-16 appears to be operating normally
with the new PB.EXE software. [WH6I]

UO-22: Date: 12/19/92: Operating normally, after a series of on-board
computer crashes and several S/W reloads last week.  Uplink on 145.975 &
145.900 MHz FM and receive on the downlink frequency of 435.120 MHz FM.
[WH6I]

WO-18: Date 12/19/92: WO-18's on-board computer crashed as of about 48 hrs
ago.  No serious cause has been found but the speculation is that it was a
Single Event Upset (SEU) in a critical RAM memory location.  The trans-
mitter has been turned on and there doesn't appear to be any danger to the
batteries.  WO-18 ground controllers have begun the S/W reloading process
but will not be including the picture taking task S/W.  Ground controllers
will probably stop short of any thing beyond housekeeping software because
it is necessary for WA3PSD to present in order to assist in the reload and he
will be out of town next Wednesday and and there won't be time to reload the
on-board computer before the holidays.  WO-18 users can expect telemetry again
in a few days.  Once WA3PSD returns on Sunday, 27-Dec-92, the rest of the WO-18
imaging software will be reloaded. [WA3PSD]

LO-19: Date: 12/19/92: The Raised Cosine Transponder is in use with the
downlink frequency of 437.1255 MHz.  For broadcast downloads use PB.EXE
version 910509m, and for directory and file uploads, use PG.EXE version
910207r.  On Mondays, look for broadcast bulletin experiments. [LU8DYF]

KO-23: Date: 12/19/92: Operating normally with a number of good pictures.
KO23 had some problem at one of two trasmitter chains a few days after
launch.  The TX0 transmitter's frequency synthesizer became unlocked for some
reason so it was necessary to switch to TX1 and it has been in use since
30-Nov-92.  The TX1 consumes more power than TX0 and this has affected the
whole eclipse operation plan.  In November, due to lack of power during
eclpise period, only one payload was able to be turned and it discharged the
batteries too much.  This caused ground controllers to postpone opening up
the BBS on KO23.  Today, however, KO23 is currently using TX0 and healthy.
Since KO-23 is using TX0, your downlink frequency should be adjusted to
435.175MHz. [WH6I & G7LAZ]

RS-10/11: Date: 12/19/92: The morning passes are sparsely populated one or
two phone stations and about the same on CW. In the evenings a lot more
activity with the Transponder almost fully loaded.  As others have
mentioned before, this is a very "easy-bird" to get started on and with as
little as 10-25 watts ERP you can work lots of stations.  Here is this
week's CW telemetry bulletin: "CQ DE RS3A/MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW
YEAR/PSE SEND UR QSL TO ADDRESS RUSSIA MOSCOW 141000 STATION PERLOVSKAYA.
UL VVOLOSHINOJ. D11. KV72. MIRONOV ANDREY/MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW
YEAR/" [WC9C @ N9HSI.IL.USA.NA]

RS-12/13: Date: 12/19/92: NO RECEIVED STATUS REPORT THIS WEEK!

UO-11: Date: 12/19/92: G0/KO5I has uploaded new and current information con-
cering UO-11.  Monitor its telementry beacon on 145.820 MHz. [G3IOR]

ARSENE: Date: 12/19/92: G3IOR reports that the launch of this new OSCAR is
scheduled for 20-April-93.  Telementry formats will be published soon.  [G3IOR] 

The AMSAT NEWS Service (ANS) is looking for volunteers to contribute weekly
OSCAR status reports.  If you have a favorite OSCAR which you work
regularly and would like to contribute to this bulletin, please send in
your observations to WD0HHU at his CompuServe address of 70524,2272, on
INTERNET at wd0hhu@amsat.org, or to his local packet BBS in the Denver, CO
area, WD0HHU @ W0LJF.#NECO.CO.USA.NOAM.  Also, if you find that the current
set of orbital elements are not generating the correct AOS/LOS times at
your QTH, PLEASE INCLUDE THAT INFORMATION AS WELL.  The information you
provide will be of value to all OSCAR enthusiasts.

-- 
Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU)         VK2KFU @ VK2RWI.NSW.AUS.OC
dave@esi.COM.AU                ...munnari!esi.COM.AU!dave