[aprssig] PCSAT2 Downlink/General Satellite Receive Question

[John Ronan]

Afternoon,

I recently put a Eggbeater on the roof (actually its on a bracket off  
the cap of the chimney) of the QTH here, doing my best not to be seen  
by the neighbours when it was going up (long story).   My plan is to  
use it for a doppler corrected PCSAT2 downlink (Previously I was just  
using an omni).

Now it seems to have made quite a difference for the 1200 baud side  
as I seem to be getting far more consistent signal readings and  
packet decodes, but I'm not getting anything from 9k6.  I suppose I  
shouldn't be surprised, but I am slightly disappointed (I was getting  
the odd packet or so using the omni).

  I've got a SSB UHF Pre-Amp mounted just underneath the antenna, and  
I'm using Westflex 103 (http://www.whwestlake.co.uk/) coax coming  
down from the pre-amp to the radio (at a guess its about 24-30 feet  
of coax.  I'm getting S5-S7 on the S meter of the FT-847 (0 signal  
without the pre-amp).

Before I start pulling things apart, firstly should I be able to  
decode 9k6 packets at S5-S7 signal levels?  My doppler correction  
script only runs once a second, should I increase the frequency of  
that to maybe 0.5/0.25 a second?

Any other comments/suggestions appreciated.

Unfortunately, I'm not living in a very Radio Friendly Neighbourhood,  
and everything I do attracts attention and questions (My last excuse  
was I was fixing my satellite dish).

Regards
de John
EI7IG

--
John Ronan <jronan at tssg.org>, +353-51-302938
Telecommunications Software &  Systems Group,  http://www.tssg.org