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{
    "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/PL6SZA6SRZLJ26BSGFGAAQOB6KFZNXAB/?format=api",
    "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/?format=api",
    "message_id": "CAN6TEUcuF_5M=q7carJNBTbn0BzV02GiFntEXyXnA-DUhC1jtQ@mail.gmail.com",
    "message_id_hash": "PL6SZA6SRZLJ26BSGFGAAQOB6KFZNXAB",
    "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/PL6SZA6SRZLJ26BSGFGAAQOB6KFZNXAB/?format=api",
    "sender": {
        "address": "amsat-bb (a) wd9ewk.net",
        "mailman_id": "21664df01bef4757931b7cdb42a9e768",
        "emails": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/sender/21664df01bef4757931b7cdb42a9e768/emails/?format=api"
    },
    "sender_name": "Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)",
    "subject": "[amsat-bb] Sunday afternoon AMSAT demonstration in Phoenix,\tincluding new satellites!",
    "date": "2015-10-12T05:53:36Z",
    "parent": null,
    "children": [],
    "votes": {
        "likes": 0,
        "dislikes": 0,
        "status": "neutral"
    },
    "content": "Hi!\n\nI received an e-mail asking about a demonstration of satellite operating,\npossibly this afternoon if I had the time. It is still warm here in the\nPhoenix area, but not over 100F/38C today, so I went to a city park in the\nsoutheast corner of Phoenix in grid DM43ah. I was out here a couple of\nmonths ago, and this time the plan was to try focusing on the satellites\nfrom AMSAT and China that had been recently launched. I worked SO-50,\nFO-29, the ISS, XW-2E, and AO-85 from the park. While working AO-85,\nXW-2F was passing by at the same time. I was able to hear both of these\nsatellites, as I focused on working AO-85.\n\nThe demonstration started in the mid-afternoon, with an SO-50 pass just\nafter 2pm/2100 UTC. I did a simple demonstration, using my Kenwood TH-D72A\nHT and Elk log periodic, working a few stations. Around 2140 UTC, there\nwas a very nice FO-29 pass, and I worked it using one of my FT-817NDs and\nthe Elk log periodic. This was only the second time I tried working FO-29\nhalf-duplex, and I was able to chat with Tom WA0POD for a couple of minutes\nfor my only QSO on that satellite.\n\nThe ISS passed by around 2200 UTC, and I was unsuccessful in sending my\npackets through the digipeater. When I got home tonight, I think I figured\nout the issue - wrong packet path on 145.825 MHz. Oops. We heard a bit of\nactivity from around the western USA, including KG7NXH (not far to the\neast of this park, in another Phoenix-area suburb). Then a break for lunch,\nand talking about the new satellites and other topics like using SDR\nreceivers, before the fun really started...\n\nFor passes of XW-2E, XW-2F, and AO-85 around 0100 UTC, I went back to that\ncity park and set up a couple of stations. One I used for my operating:\n\nYaesu FT-817ND for SSB transmit\nIcom IC-2820H for FM transmit\nSDRplay SDR receiver\n8-inch HP Windows 10 tablet with HDSDR (making RF recordings of the passes)\nElk 2m/70cm log periodic antenna\n\nand another station for receiving:\n\nFUNcube Dongle Pro+\n10-inch Winbook Windows 10 tablet with HDSDR\nAMSAT-UK (Winkler) VHF crossed dipole\n\nXW-2E came first. I heard a couple of stations on, tried to get a clear\nspot to call CQ, and ended up making 4 QSOs while keeping an eye on the\nclock. I saw that XW-2F and AO-85 were passing by our location around the\nsame time. I had worked XW-2E in SSB, so I suggested I try AO-85 in FM.\nThis was an interesting experience...\n\nFor the first few minutes of the pass, I saw - and occasionally heard -\nthe XW-2F CW beacon that was just below the AO-85 FM/data downlink. I was\nusing narrow FM, about 14 kHz in HDSDR, and I raised the audio filter for\nthe low side of the audio passband to eliminate any part of the slow-speed\ndata from reaching my ears. Did I mention I am really enjoying SDR for my\nsatellite work? :-) This is something that made the audio more pleasing to\nhear. Not stereo quality, of course, but no buzzing from remnants of the\ntelemetry making it into the audio we hear on our radios when working the\nFM repeater.\n\nAbout 10 kHz or so above the AO-85 downlink, I saw an SSB signal pop up in\nthe XW-2F transponder. When I played the HDSDR RF recording back at home, I\nfound it was Leo W7JPI calling CQ on the XW-2F transponder. Not much on\nthat transponder, but a larger crowd on AO-85. I was able to make 5 QSOs on\nAO-85, and - later - upload some data to the AMSAT server.\n\nThe second station had some issues I will need to investigate, especially\nwith the XW-2E pass. It is possible I should have brought out my second Elk\nlog periodic, instead of relying on the crossed dipole. Even with the\nreceive issues at the second station, it was still a good illustration of\nusing SDR receivers for satellite work, and showing that the inexpensive\nWindows tablets are capable of running HDSDR and the Fox telemetry software\npackages.\n\nAs I write this e-mail, my uploads to Dropbox have completed. I put the RF\nrecordings from the XW-2E and AO-85/XW-2F passes, along with some photos of\nmy setup for the later passes and other screengrabs in separate folders\nthere. You can go to http://dropbox.wd9ewk.net/ (hit F5 a few times, if the\nfolder/file listing doesn't immediately show in your browser) to see those\nfiles. I didn't make a separate MP3 recording of the AO-85 pass, relying on\nthe RF recording for my logging when I returned home this evening.\n\nI really don't have many new observations for AO-85 tonight. I worked it on\nthe premise that the uplink frequency is 10 kHz below what was originally\npublished. That worked again tonight. I used narrow FM on the uplink radio,\nand narrowed the receive bandwidth and adjusted the audio filtering in\nHDSDR so I wouldn't hear any buzzing or other noises from the telemetry on\nthe downlink. Normally HDSDR's AFC works very well with AO-85's downlink,\nbut for several minutes the AFC kept sliding my receive frequency down to\nthe XW-2F CW beacon just below the AO-85 downlink. I had to turn off the\nAFC until the two signals had more separation between them. Once the XW-2F\nCW beacon went lower in frequency, away from the AO-85 downlink, I resumed\nusing AFC. I had no AFC-related problems for the remainder of the pass.\n\nThe nominal frequency of the AO-85 downlink seemed to be closer to 145.978\nMHz tonight. This may complicate working this satellite for some, who may\nnot want to adjust the downlink frequency. The Chinese-made HTs I have used\nwould definitely need to have the downlink frequency adjusted during AO-85\npasses. Some non-Chinese radios may be able to start passes on 145.980 MHz,\nbut have to be adjusted down to 145.975 MHz for the last part of the pass.\nThis may not be a hard-and-fast rule for all non-Chinese radios, depending\non how sharp or forgiving the front-end filtering happens to be on these\nradios. When I worked earlier AO-85 passes with the Wouxun HTs, and the\nIcom IC-2820H last night, I just use the VFOs. No memory channels. I set\nboth VFOs for narrow FM, set the 67.0 Hz CTCSS tone in the transmit VFO,\n5 kHz tuning step in the transmit VFO, and the smallest possible FM tuning\nstep in the receive VFO (5 kHz for the IC-2820H, 2.5 kHz for the Wouxun\nHTs).\n\nSince I was not home for these passes, I did not try a different radio (or\nradio combination) for AO-85. If time permits in the next couple of days,\nand if the transponder is on in the evenings for western US passes, I might\nbe able to try another radio or two before leaving for the AMSAT Symposium.\nOtherwise, trying different radios on AO-85 will resume after I return from\nDayton, later this month.\n\nAgain, thanks to AMSAT for making the AO-85 transponder available over this\nweekend! It has been fun to work a satellite that's only been in orbit now\nfor just over 3 days. I hope the telemetry and other tests are showing the\nsatellite in good working order. And thanks to all of the stations that\ncalled or worked WD9EWK during this afternoon and early evening. :-)\n\n73!\n\n\n\n\nPatrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK\nhttp://www.wd9ewk.net/\nTwitter: @WD9EWK\n",
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