HO-68 operating schedule July 24-30

Alan Kung, BA1DU has released the amateur radio satellite HO-68 operating schedule for the AS-138 Pingtan Island IOTA-pedition week

The communication payload includes a CW beacon and transponders for SSB/CW, FM and digital AX.25 packet operation. The linear transponder, used for SSB and CW working, has a bandwidth of 50 kHz which allows about 10-15 simultaneous contacts to take place and can sound like the 20 metre band.

Due to Doppler shift the CW beacon can appear to be up to +/- 9 kHz from its nominal frequency of 435.790 MHz and you need to tune your receiver to follow it during the pass. The beacon has been received on simple antennas such as a ¼ wave ground plane but for best results try a small Yagi with about 8 elements.

To reduce the effects of Doppler the SSB transponder is inverting. This means that a LSB signal on the uplink becomes a USB signal on the downlink. You don’t need much power to work through the satellite, many contacts have been made using 5 watts output. Always use the lowest power possible and ensure your downlink signal is never stronger than the beacon.

Pingtan Island operation on Satellite
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/july2010/
pingtan_island.htm

Operating Schedule July 24-30

Date       
   Time (UTC)  Mode                            Contact Area
2010-7-24 Sat. 
01:32---01:46 FM/Pacsat      Northeast Asia, South Asia, Oceania
11:50---12:05 FM/Pacsat      Oceania, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia

2010-7-25 Sun. 
01:13---01:32 FM/Pacsat      Northeast Asia, South Asia, Oceania

2010-7-26 Mon. 
00:56---01:14 CW/SSB         Alaska, North East Asia, South Asia, Oceania
02:46---03:02 CW/SSB         Northeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Oceania
04:36---04:46 CW/SSB         South Asia, Central Asia, North Asia
13:06---13:21 FM/Pacsat      South Asia, Central Asia, North Asia
14:58---15:13 FM/Pacsat      South Asia, Central Asia, North Asia

2010-7-27 Tues.
00:40---00:57 CW/SSB        Alaska, North East Asia, South Asia, Oceania
02:27---02:41 CW/SSB        East Asia, South Asia, North Asia
04:18---04:26 CW/SSB        South Asia, Central Asia, North Asia
11:04---11:14 CW/SSB        Alaska, North East Asia, South Asia, Oceania
12:50---13:03 FM/Pacsat    South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, North Asia
22:41---22:56 FM/Pacsat    South Asia, Central Asia, North Asia, East Asia, Europe

2010-7-28 Wed.
02:10---02:21 CW/SSB        East Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia
04:00---04:10 CW/SSB        East Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia
10:50---10:56 CW/SSB        Alaska, North East Asia, South Asia
12:33---12:47 FM/Pacsat     East Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia
14:17---14:32 FM/Pacsat     East Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia, Oceania

2010-7-29 Thu.
01:51---02:04 CW/SSB        Alaska, East Asia, South Asia, North Asia
03:44---03:58 CW/SSB        East Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia, Oceania
12:17---12:30 FM/Pacsat    East Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia, Oceania
14:00---14:15 FM/Pacsat    East Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia, Oceania

2010-7-30 Fri. 
01:35---01:49 CW/SSB        East Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia, Oceania
03:26---03:42 CW/SSB        East Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia, Oceania

China AMSAT (CAMSAT)
http://www.camsat.cn/

HO-68 video by PA3GUO : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6oDgUTHCwg

HO-68 Real Time Tracking (tick draw footprint): http://www.n2yo.com/?s=36122

AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB)
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

Getting started on Amateur Radio Satellites PDF
http://www.uk.amsat.org/content/view/408/168/

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