Tuesday, December 21, 2010

SO-67 FM Suspended

Slow day for me today. Getting ready for the Christmas Holiday. The kids are home from school and the DX bands are already showing some congestion.

Got this in the E-Mail box this morning

Johann Lochner, ZR1CBC, reports that the FM Amateur Radio transponder on SO-67 is being temporarily suspended due to a probable radiation event.

On the AMSAT bulletin board he writes:

Last week the flash boot memory of a CAN controller on Sumbandila was corrupted by a probable radiation event. It does not affect satellite health but prevents activation of the amateur radio repeater, as the particular script detects an anomaly and aborts.

The same problem also occurred in October of 2009 and was corrected. However, the fix requires time consuming effort, which cannot be exerted immediately.

SO-67 repeater activations are therefore suspended. We apologize for any disappointment and hope to return to normal operations somewhere in January.

73 de ZR1CBC, Johann.

AMSAT Bulletin Board AMSAT-BB
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

Southern African Amateur Radio Satellite Association (SA AMSAT)
http://www.amsatsa.org.za/


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Counter Added January 1, 2011

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HOW TO READ PROPAGATION NUMBERS

The A index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 1 to 6 is BEST
  • 7 to 9 is OK
  • 11 or more is BAD

Represents the overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Ap" if averaged from the Kp-Index) (an average of the eight 3-hour K-Indices) ('A' referring to amplitude) over a given 24 hour period, ranging (linearly) typically from 1-100 but theoretically up to 400.

A lower A-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Ap-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

SFI index [ HIGH is GOOD ]

  • 70 NOT GOOD
  • 80 GOOD
  • 90 BETTER
  • 100+ BEST

The measure of total radio emissions from the sun at 10.7cm (2800 MHz), on a scale of 60 (no sunspots) to 300, generally corresponding to the sunspot level, but being too low in energy to cause ionization, not related to the ionization level of the Ionosphere.

Higher Solar Flux generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; Solar Flux rarely affects the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

K index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 0 or 1 is BEST
  • 2 is OK
  • 3 or more is BAD
  • 5 is VERY VERY BAD

The overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Kp" if averaged over the planet) over the past 3 hours, measured by 13 magnetometers between 46 & 63 degrees of latitude, and ranging quasi-logarithmically from 0-9. Designed to detect solar particle radiation by its magnetic effect. A higher K-index generally means worse HF conditions.

A lower K-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Kp-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

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