[net.ham-radio] unknown satellite

hardie@sask.UUCP ( the Born Again Programmer) (01/08/85)

I heard a CW signal apparently from a satellite (i.e. doppler shifted)
this evening between 1807 and 1815 local time (8th dec 0007-0015Z)
on 29.401Mhz. It was transmitting the number 5015   7 times followed by the 
number 55 and then repeated this whole sequence all the time. I could not stay
to listen to it to get its time of LOS. Although its frequency is the HF
beacon for RS-3, none of the RS birds were above the horizon at the time.
Can anyone identify it?
tnx + 73
pete ve5bel
ihnp4!sask!hardie

karn@petrus.UUCP (01/10/85)

I just ran a check on the reported time for Pete's observations and found
that RS-8 was just setting (at 00:07 UTC) (I assume you meant the 8th
of January, not December, Pete!)

One possibility is that you were hearing below-the-horizon signals from
a bird, probably RS-5, since I heard a report last night that it is
failing and the telemetry is sending garbage. (After all, 10 meters
*is* supposed to be a DX band, at least once in a while).

This has been reported numerous times with 10 meter satellite beacons, and
the phenomenon seems to occur most often when the satellite is near the
antipode. At that time, RS-5 was at an elevation of -65 degrees to your QTH.

Phil Karn, KA9Q