Tonight the amateur satellite AO-51 made an evening pass that was almost directly overhead, and was sending a congratulatory message for Apollo 11, along with a slow scan TV image. I managed to record it, although not the greatest quality, using my little Yaesu VX-3R and my Arrow antenna. Here are links to the recording as well as the four tries at the SSTV image:
July 20th, 6:40PM recording of AO-51 over CM87
Here was the pass as predicted by my Python code (times are in UTC):
01:39:06 +0.0° 165.4° ? 12.8°N 115.9°W - AOS 696.4 01:40:00 +3.6° 165.4° ? 16.1°N 116.6°W - 695.9 01:41:00 +8.3° 165.5° ? 19.7°N 117.4°W - 695.6 01:42:00 +14.2° 165.4° ? 23.3°N 118.3°W - 695.6 01:43:00 +22.4° 165.3° ? 27.0°N 119.1°W - 695.8 01:44:00 +34.9° 165.0° ? 30.6°N 120.1°W - 696.2 01:45:00 +55.9° 163.8° ? 34.2°N 121.0°W - 696.9 01:46:00 +88.1° 99.1° ? 37.8°N 122.1°W - 697.8 01:46:01 +88.2° 80.1° ? 37.8°N 122.1°W - MAX 697.8 01:47:00 +57.1° 349.6° ? 41.4°N 123.2°W - 698.9 01:48:00 +35.9° 348.3° ? 45.0°N 124.4°W - 700.3 01:49:00 +23.3° 348.0° ? 48.5°N 125.7°W - 701.9 01:50:00 +15.1° 348.0° ? 52.1°N 127.2°W - 703.7 01:51:00 +9.1° 348.0° ? 55.7°N 129.0°W - 705.8 01:52:00 +4.4° 348.1° ? 59.2°N 131.0°W - 708.0 01:53:00 +0.4° 348.3° ? 62.7°N 133.4°W - 710.4 01:53:06 +0.0° 348.3° ? 63.0°N 133.7°W - LOS 710.7
And here are the resulting SSTV images as decoded with Multiscan under Mac OS X:
Addendum: I played back the recording with some adjusted settings, and got this picture (somewhat better):
http://jo73gp.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/amsat-na-will-mark-the-40th-anniversary-of-the-first-manned-lunar-landing/
Great audio, Mark!
Thanks for posting.
John KB2HSH