[amsat-bb] Whence satgates?

["Steve Fraser" <sfraser@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

In the weekly satellite report Chris Jackson writes:

"It seems that after around 60000 charge/discharge cycles the Nicad
batteries are starting to show their age (!!) and it's probable that the
power system will no longer
be able to support operations when UO-22 enters a period of eclipse in a few
months time (although we'll do all we can to try and keep it operational).
..........and.........
Enjoy the bird while you can! At 11 1/2 years it's doing well, but it may
not be available for a lot longer."

This led me to wonder - what's going to happen to the packet satgates
when/if this happens? Even with an AO-10 or AO-7 style operation
(uncontrolled/sunlight only) I wouldnt have thought satgate ops are
feasible.
And as far as I know there are no other operational 9600 baud BBS
satellites now that KO-23 and KO-25 are defunct. (MO-46 is 38.4K)

Looking forward to hearing the plans.........

73

Steve



----
Via the amsat-bb mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA.
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe amsat-bb" to Majordomo@amsat.org