[aprssig] RAFT is coming down tonight! Grab telemetry

[Robert Bruninga]

RAFT is de-orbiting within the next 12 hours or so. 

- Who will get the last telemetry?
- How hot will it get before telemetry dies?

It will arrive much earlier than any prediction based on
Keplarian Elements because they are always too old.  For APRS
stations without tracking software, here are some best
estimates.  All passes are from SW to NE shown here:
- Miami    930 PM EDT
- Atlanta 1100 PM EDT
- Texas   1130 PM CDT
- Calif   1100 PM PDT

Anywhere else, just imagine it going NE from those locations
within the next few minutes. That is just the first pass of the
evening.  There are 4 more passes after that, but only one more
good one for each area.
Just leave your rig on 145.825 overnight and see what you
capture.  Also, please Igate all packets!

Best bet is to start maybe 15 minutes early on 145.825 MHz and
point your beam (if you have one) SW towards AOS and up about 15
degrees.

We need worldwide operators collecting telemetry packets if they
want to capture the last packet.

See the live temperature plot on the RAFT-RE_ENTRY WEB PAGE...
http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/craft/save-raft.html

We particularly need data from the southern hemisphere where the
passes are in the sun and will show the highest temps...

TUINING IT IN:
Tune in 145.825 1200 baud AX.25 packet.  And even with a small
antenna, on the two overhead passes per day, you should get at
least one telemetry packet.  They are every 10 seconds..  Each
one begins with a unique serial T#nnn and so we can merge
different captures from different folks.

Bob, WB4APR