OBSERVATIONS FROM NORWAY.   (April 2006).

PASSIVE REFLECTORS.

Residing on an Island with a large mountain in front of my beak ... (nose!, to you) ... while operating AO-7 and pointing the array towards America I have no other option than to use knife-edge propagation which works whenever the propagation decides to play ball. After having had some success with this mode with K3SZH, K8DID and N2JH I decided to go one step further.

It's a well documented fact that at 145Mhz mountains can be used as passive reflectors so the last surviving LA2QAA braincell decided that "logically" a 432Mhz signal would reflect a lot easier than one at 145Mhz so I decided to put the theory to the test.

On the next AO-7 pass I pointed the array at the *LARGE* mountain here on the Island with 25 degrees of elevation with the satellite at 90 degrees (in azimuth) from the mountain.

Lo' and behold!, there was PH7PCF *BOOMING* in ... but could he hear me?. PH7PCF de LA2QAA QRK k?.
The LA2QAA de PH7PCF "hello John" answered that question.

Dimensions of the LA2QAA passive reflector are 1200m wide x 865m high. All I need to do now is figure out how to elevate my reflector ... and if you think that's an unusual thought picture PH7PCF with his full size Dutch windmill "elevation rotor".

SUN PANELS.

GM1SXX and myself have been investigating the anomalies found on AO-7 since it's return to "this life". These include natural and seasonal propagation anomalies as well as the possibility of being *ZAPPED* by the BMEWS (Ballistic Missile Early Warning System) radars in the northern hemisphere.
(Yes, we were quite B'mused by this).

However, Al has come up with another possibility. He's been using sun panels to power his station for "yonks" (Yonks = Manchester vernacular for "years"). He'd noticed that the power output had been gradually dropping of late.

So ... armed with a few pieces of technical equipment ... (a wet rag and some Fairy Liquid) ... he went to investigate. A quick wipe with the wet rag and full power was restored to the solar power system. Now ... imagine how much space dust must have collected on the solar panels of AO-7 in 32 years!. Logically it must! have some effect on AO-7's solar array ... even when out of eclipse.

To the best of my knowledge, model T Ford type windscreen wipers were *NOT* part of the AO-7 installation for the sun panels.

73 John.   <la2qaa@amsat.org>