Hi All,

Here is a quick AO-16 update. On Sunday I turned AO-16 long enough to get some telemetry packets. The satellite would remain on for less than one minute after being commanded on. A quick test of the “bent pipe” voice mode repeater was successful. . The “hardware watchdog timer problem” is still evident; as expected, spacecraft temperatures are insufficient to keep the transmitter ON (needs to be above 15 deg C).

Orbit projections suggest that satellite illumination conditions will not result in increased temperatures for nearly 10 years.
Command stations do periodically turn AO-16 “ON” to check on its condition and see if the hardware timer problem has “automagically” fixed itself (which in not anticipated, but who knows…).

AO-16 telemetry 3 Oct 2010 1838 utc

PACSAT MBL Telemetry Decoder Ver. 1.3     (c) Mike Rupprecht, DK3WN
===============================================================================
(average values)

+10V Battery Bus   : 0.00 V
Battery Charge Reg : 0.55 mA
Base Temp          : 9.07 °C
PSK RF Out         : 1.90 W
+5V RX Bus         : 4.87 V
+8.5V RX Bus       : 8.49 V
+10V RX Bus        : 11.24 V

Here is another teaser :) Several months ago I commanded the AO-16 S-band transmitter ON; it too remains functional (albeit weak), and was received by me, Drew KO4MA, and Alan WA4SCA.

73,
—
Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

Fresh AO-27 telemetry

Telemetry collected from AO-16, celebrating its 20 years since being launched.

PACSAT MBL Telemetry Decoder Ver. 1.3     (c) Mike Rupprecht, DK3WN
===============================================================================
(average values)

+10V Battery Bus   : 0.00 V
Battery Charge Reg : 0.71 mA
Base Temp          : 13.43 °C
PSK RF Out         : 2.34 W
+5V RX Bus         : 4.84 V
+8.5V RX Bus       : 8.41 V
+10V RX Bus        : 10.99 V

AO-51 Telemetry Decoder (c) Mike Rupprecht, DK3WN
===================================================

Satellite Time: 2009 September 08, 22:35:47

TX A Power 0.45 Watts
TX B Power 0.65 Watts
Torqr Cap V 998.48 V
Bat V 8.00 V
Cell 5 V 6.72 V
Cell 4 V 5.33 V
Cell 3 V 3.98 V
Cell 2 V 2.68 V
Cell 1 V 1.38 V
4.6V Exp I 35.14 mA
4.6V Exp V 4.59 V
3.3V I 71.48 mA
3.3V V 3.34 V
Total Array I 984.73 mA
Total Array V 15.18 V
+X I 52.70 mA
-X I 574.62 mA
+Y I 34.60 mA
-Y I 418.47 mA
+Z I 60.82 mA
-Z I 154.12 mA
+X V 12.98 V
-X V 15.54 V
+Y V 7.65 V
-Y V 15.54 V
+Z V 11.04 V
-Z V 15.41 V
Low V I 98 Counts
Bat I 473.49 mA
Tx I 1.05 Amps
Bat sign 50 Counts
SQRX RSSI 191 Counts
SQRX Spkr 216 Counts
Torqr 1.2V ref 0.00 V
Torqr Sense 4095 Counts
Not Used 2041 Counts
S Osc Temp 26.00 Deg C
TX B Temp -46.03 Deg C
Not Used 2047 Counts
S PA Temp 26.23 Deg C
Temp +Z 13.82 Deg C
Not Used 2047.00 Counts
Temp +Y 22.42 Deg C
Temp -Y 30.50 Deg C
Temp +X 26.42 Deg C
Temp -X 22.84 Deg C
Bat 1 Temp 30.64 Deg C
Bat 2 Temp 27.08 Deg C
Main Reg Temp 39.69 Deg C
TX V Reg Temp 33.14 Deg C
+4V #1 V 4.03 V
+4V #2 V 4.03 V
PHT time 10.00 Secs
Digipeat 0 On/Off
Txt bcd ratio 6.00 Ratio
Bat Mgmt 0.00 State
WOD State 2.00 State
EDAC Errors 155 Counts
TXHang 0 Counts
CmdTmrLen 14976.00 Secs
CmdTmrEnd1 31191 Counts
CmdTmrEnd2 19119 Counts
WODTimeLeft 3374.00 Mins
Last Mode 0 Counts
spare 0 Counts
EDAC A0 123.00 Adr
EDAC A1 228.00 Adr
EDAC A2 4.00 Adr
EDAC A3 195.00 Byte
EDAC A4 195.00 Byte
EDAC A5 131.00 Byte
EDAC A6 155 Counts
Auto TX Pwr 0 Counts
BatMgmt State 1 Counts
reserved 0 Counts
reserved 0 Counts
reserved 0 Counts
reserved 0 Counts

I turned AO-16 ON for a short bit to check internal temps. Still too low for sustained operations, and AO-16 went OFF several times during the pass. I was able to collect a few frames: