FO-29

FO-29 Solar Array Current Graph #3

 03 Dec 2010
 06 Dec 2010
 23 Dec 2010

 
Re: FO-29 solar 12-3-10
From: Frank Wiesenmeyer
To: Mineo Wakita
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 09:00:43 -0600

Hello Mineo:

As you know, FO-29 has been going into eclipse recently. I made a graph
of one of it's early morning terminator crossings this morning.
The crossing time matches my computer predictions almost perfectly.

Frank K9CIS







 
Re: FO-29 solar & Bat 12-6-10 K9CIS
From: Frank Wiesenmeyer
To: Mineo Wakita
Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2010 19:22:22 -0600

Enclosed are 2 Telemetry plots.  One is the usual solar array current vs. time
showing a 10.8 minute spin period and very healthy solar array output of well
over 1 Ampere. The second is a graph with both solar array current and battery
charging current plotted together.  It is interesting how the battery is charging
at a high rate early in the pass, just 5 minutes after leaving eclipse and then
leveling off to approximately 100 mA later in the pass as the battery recovers.
The battery seems to be handling the 20 minute eclipses very well at the present
time. The recovery seems normal.

FO-29 is working very well indeed for a 14 year old bird.  I hope JAMSAT will
launch a replacement satellite when this one reaches the end of it's life.
Have you heard of any new FO sats being developed?







 
Re: FO-29 solar 12-23-10
From: Frank Wiesenmeyer
To: Mineo Wakita
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 21:19:20 -0600

Hello from Illinois.  I am sending you my latest telemetry plot for FO-29 and
everything looks very good.  The data is very interesting in its variety of patterns.

Any news of a new JA satellite?  FO-29 continues to amaze me.  When the transponder
is lightly loaded, I can easily access it with 175 mW into the coax feed line.
Line loss is about 2dB and the uplink antenna is a M^2 yagi 7 x 7  Elements with
Right / Left Circularity switch.  Received signal strength is 579 to 589 with 175mW.