[aprssig] ISS/ PCSAT joint operations announcement

[Robert Bruninga]

Joint digipeating ops between ISS and PCsat 2-10 Feb

This was posted over on the SAREX list and I know
I am not supposed to cross post, but in case anyone
missed it.

The point here is that we will have two satellites both
supporting the identical alias of WIDE and so  you will get 
not the usual 6 passes a day, but 12 or more  passes a day 
on 145.825 to do a DIGIpeat QSO.  But of course success 
depends on everyone SHARING the asset and NOT 
transmitting too oftern.

NO OPERATIONS AFTER DARK

Also there may be a rare opportunity to do dual hops.
But again, imagine the chance of the ISS or PCsat
hearing the other one, 3000 miles away when the
145.825 channel is totally saturated with inconsiderate
stations transmitting so often that the channel is 100%
full.   a dual hop success will NEVER HAPPEN.

NO OPERATIONS AFTER DARK

THus, I hope that most of you will do like I will
do, and that is just WATCH.  See what others are
doing and get your joys by analyzing what you see
on the downlink.  Remember, HAM radio is also
fun to just monitor!  If everyone is transimtting
no one will hear anything.

Please do not send packets too often and for newcommers 
NEVER ATTEMPT ANY KIND of connection.  that is the 
worst possible thing to do via PCSAT or ISS.  It just jams
 the frequency with useless CONNECT, BUSY, REJECT, 
and ACK packets for no good.

Both spacecraft will digipeat UI packets with the digipeater
path of WIDE.  See the downlink via K4HG's web page on:

http://pcsat.aprs.net 

Of course, it would be best if any ARISS satgates QSY-ed
to 145.825 for the duration of this tes so that we get better 
reliability on packets getting to the WEB page above...

After 5 Feb, all it takes is ONE OVERLOAD in the
evening and it will Kill PCsat and we probably wont
get it back till next winter!  So PLEASE do not
overload her, and NO OPERAITONS AFTER DARK.

de Wb4APR, Bob

>>> "RANSOM, KENNETH G. (JSC-OC) (BAR)"
<kenneth.g.ransom1 at jsc.nasa.gov> 1/31/05 11:42:43 AM >>>
The International Space Station's amateur radio equipment is scheduled
to
temporarily change frequency to 145.825 simplex on Feb 2. The change
will
occur after the 12:54 UTC school contact with the Air Training Corps
in
Norfolk, England. This brief change will allow operators to take
advantage
of  the recent return of PCSAT to operational status and the orbital
dynamics between the two satellites being optimal for numerous relay
opportunities. It will also be a chance to test the ability of the
Kenwood
to interact with another satellite digital system since the previous
joint
test utilized the Phase 1 Ericsson radio. Several long mutual passes
are
expected during this brief operation between the two satellites.

As a reminder, Bob Bruninga has stipulated NO unattended operations to
minimize impact to the power budget on PCSAT and recommends the
following
path for attempting double hops. UNPROTO CQ VIA WIDE,WIDE. More info
about
PCSAT is available at www.ew.usna.edu/pcsat <www.ew.usna.edu/pcsat> .

The chance to try and digipeat through both systems is scheduled to
conclude
Feb 10 when ISS is scheduled to make the next school contact. After
that
contact, the radio will return to the default packet operating
frequency of
145.99 up and 145.80 down. 

Enjoy!

Kenneth - N5VHO