[AReU] AO40 Info and Contest

[w4tas]

The following is some information about AO40 and some URL's that 
might be of interest. 


AO-40 AMSAT OSCAR 40
Launched: November 16, 2000 aboard an Ariane 5 launcher
from Kourou, French Guiana.
Status: Currently, the U/V/L-1/L-2 to S-2/K passband is active
at various times.
Uplink          V-band    145.840 - 145.990 MHz CW/LSB
            U-band    435.550 - 435.800 MHz CW/LSB
            L1-band  1269.250 - 1269.500 MHz CW/LSB
            L2-band  1268.325 - 1268.575 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink:       S-band   2401.225 - 2401.475 MHz CW/USB
            K-band 24,048.010 - 24,048.060 MHz CW/USB

AO-40 experimental transponder operation started on May 05, 2001 at
approximately 08:00 UTC when the U-band and L1-band uplinks were
connected to the S-2 transmitter passband downlink via the Matrix
switch.

The passband times have been extended to MA 40 to 210.
ALON/ALAT is nominally 0/0 with station keeping.
RUDAK will be on for 72 minutes (16 MA units) from MA 110 to 126 on
selected orbits over RUDAK command stations. Note that the middle
beacon and passbands will be off during RUDAK sessions.

The beacon is also off during perigee eclipse periods. Currently,
MA 244 to 2.

K-TX is active from MA 126 to 132.

Wednesday V-Rx sessions are terminated at this time.

Reinhard Sual,YB0KTQ announces the first "AO-40 QSO Party" scheduled
to take place on January 24-27, 2003. The objective is to encourage
more amateurs to enjoy AO-40, especially when conditions are good.
Information on the "AO-40 QSO Party" is available at:
http://202.158.39.236/AO40QSOParty2003.asp

Gene, W3PM has an Excel spreadsheet that will help evaluate your
AO-40 groundstation. Download it at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/software/spreadsheet/w3pm-ao40-v2.1.zip

Scott, NX7U has a program that automatically calculates Uplink S/N
against a supplied Nova for Windows orbital listing. Download it at:
http://members.cox.net/nx7u/ao40/ao40v20_AutoSNR.zip

The "AO-40 FAQ", compiled by Steve, VK5ASF is now available at:
http://www.amsat.org

Ground stations capturing telemetry from AO-40 are asked to send a
copy of the data to the AO-40 archive at: ao40-archive@amsat.org.

For the current transponder-operating schedule visit:
http://www.amsat-dl.org/journal/adlj-p3d.htm

73

Tony