AMSAT-BB November 2006

162 participants
191 discussions

Symposium Information - BOFS
by Emily Clarke 18 Jan '07

18 Jan '07

For those of you who are attending the Symposium there is a new feature we are going to try this year called BOFS - Birds Of a Feather Sessions. BOFS are generally free-form meetings that are held after-hours and may be called by anyone wishing to start a discussion group. They have been common at software conferences I've gone to in the past and were very popular. An example of a BOF for the AMSAT Symposium might be to start a discussion about groundstation antennas. I have set aside two rooms (one holding 12 people, another holding 20) beginning at 6pm on Friday evening. The procedure is pretty straightforward: 1) Develop a title for your BOF - say "Homebrew Groundstation Antennas" 2) Estimate the amount of time you would like for your BOF - BOFS usually last 30 minutes or an hour 3) Go to the registration desk and tell someone there that you want to start a BOF. They will give you a flip-chart sized (2 foot by 3 foot) Post-It note and assign you a room and time. 4) Write your title, time and room on the large Post-It note and tack it on the wall outside of the Symposium meeting room. And that's it! 73, Emily --------------------------------- N1DID formerly W0EEC - CM87tm Support Project OSCAR - http://www.projectoscar.net

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HITSAT 1654 UTC
by Mike Rupprecht 08 Jan '07

08 Jan '07

AOS 1654 UTC Oct, 11 (JN49lr) Hit4 c1dd.1b8 Hit1 jr8yjt Hit2 a1201535734 Hit3 0d4c4f494f484949 Hit4 c1ddd1e1 Hit1 jr8yjt Hit2 a120157532f Hit3 2c4b4b494b4a4848 LOS 1703 UTC 73, Mike DK3WN

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Eagle Decisions
by ANTHONY JAPHA 02 Jan '07

02 Jan '07

Just wanted to add my congratulations to the Board and the Eagle managers and design team for the decisions on what to put into the bird. They look like excellent choices that will provide much fun for many. 73, Tony, N2UN LM 183

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Help - Alliance U-110 as an elevation rotator
by Emily Clarke 24 Dec '06

24 Dec '06

I'm mounting an old Alliance U-110 rotator horizontally to use as an elevation rotator, and I have noticed that if it is sitting with the mast clamp on the top everything works very well. If it's flipped with the mast clamps on the bottom (so it can connect to the azimuth mast) it seem stall and jam. I'm not sure if this is normal or just a sign of age but I traced the problem to a small gear under the shaft that "drops" when the rotator is in the clamp-bottom position and then slips over the top of the gear it is supposed to drive. Since many people have used this rotator for elevation in the past, has anyone run into this problem before? If so, did you find a solution for it? 73, Emily --------------------------------- N1DID formerly W0EEC - CM87tm Support Project OSCAR - http://www.projectoscar.net

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IF-100 kit schematics
by sergej kindsvater 30 Nov '06

30 Nov '06

Can anybody help with the schematics for the IF-100 rotator interface please? I have got a used one recently on the eBay, alais no schematics. The serail/parallel connectors need to re-wired though... There is a document from Ricofunk on the amsat-dl.org site but it refers to a ready-made device, whereas mine apparently is a kit version. Appreciate any help, 73 -- Sergej Kindsvater DF6MU, W6MHZ Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.

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Blockhouse photo at SLC-2A ?
by G. Beat 30 Nov '06

30 Nov '06

This photo inside blockhouse at SLC-2A ? (Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc, California). http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/2053086/1/105530958 w9gb

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AO-7 launch picture
by Bob McGwier 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

If you want Tom's favorite in a little higher resolution: http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/2053086/1/105531086 and be sure an check "O" for original size. What a great photo. Bob N4HY -- Robert W. McGwier, Ph.D. Center for Communications Research 805 Bunn Drive Princeton, NJ 08540 (609)-924-4600 (sig required by employer)

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Dates for AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2007
by Jim Heck 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

Hi Folks, Please make a note in your diaries, etc The dates for the 2007 AMSAT-UK Colloquium are 20 through 22 July 2007. We are holding it a week earlier than normal to avoid clashing with the Central States VHF Event. Venue is to be the University of Surrey, as per previous years. I hope that lots of you from the other side of the Pond will be able to make it! 73 Jim G3WGM Hon Sec AMSAT-UK

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Re: AO-07 Healthy CW]
by Tom Clark, K3IO 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

W9GB noted > > I can identify the lab equipment on the bench (looks like my high > school & college labs - 1970s) with the NiCad battery pak, EXCEPT for > the rectangular box with metal handles to the right of the NiCads. > > NiCad battery charger? Homwbrew power supply? Greg -- the high-priced hardware (HP+Tek) show NASA Goddard property labels. The cheaper power supplies in the back are Heathkits with AMSAT stickers. The box you are asking about has a yellow Goddard tag. I'm trying to recognize it, and to the best of my recollection it is a Coulomb-meter that measured (on the mechanical counter you see on its panel) the integrated charge/discharge current. Also my fuzzy memory tells me that the heatsink device on clip leads was a prototype BCR. Sil asked: > I guess there's a special "satellite design" reason that double wires > are used (instead of one thicker one) for the current carrying battery > leads? The twin wires go to a pair of pins on the DA-9 connector, with two pins providing greater current handling ability and redundancy. It also appears that the V/2 telemetry tap has a pair of whit wires even though it provided zero current. BTW -- the V/2 telemetry would be on 3B. > Leaving aside Geoff's (vk2tfg) point that the telemetry may be > irrelevant because of the doggy value in channel 6D, it would seem that > the five top cells (between half volt point and +12V - numbers 2,3,4,5,6 > counting clockwise) are being charged with a current of 80mA and have > reached a terminal voltage of 6.4 volts (8.8 - 2.4). This represents a > voltage of 1.28 per cell (6.4/5) and is thoroughly reasonable. This idea > is supported by the temperature of cell number 5 at 60.28 C. The top 5 cells are fed by the black wire and are the LOW voltage side. The 5 "high side" batteries terminate in the orange wire on the bottom, The thermistor on cell #5 is on the low voltage side. The thermal design of the s/c ended up with internal temps ~20°-30°C range (i.e. TLM values in the 40-50 range). I find it hard to believe that a valid interior temperature would ever be in the 60°C range. Regarding all the telemetry speculation -- AFAIK, there is no indication that the A/D converter is showing ANY valid data at all -- see also Jan's comments at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/n7hpr/ao7_tlm.html. FYI -- the TLM and its associate Morse encoder system was built with discrete CMOS logic by John Goode, W5CAY in Texas. Memory fails me, but I believe that the TLM/Morse board is on the "back wall" in the photograph at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/ao7/slideset/slide09.html even thought the photo only identifies the module as the command encoder. All the white IC's a early RCA ceramic 4000-series parts. AFAIK, Oscar-6 & -7 were the first CMOS users in space. AO-7, with much of this logic still functioning after 32 years and 2 weeks, certainly holds the longevity record! [In case you forgot, Nov.15th was AO=7's 32nd birthday -- my favorite picture of the launch is the "7-UP" contrail left by the Delta booster http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/ao7/slideset/slide18.html] 73, Tom

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Re: Offset Correction in SatPC32
by Alan P. Biddle 29 Nov '06

29 Nov '06

Michael, I have had that happen myself a couple of times myself, where I thought I was storing the correction, but instead it completely trashed the data, or lost it entirely. I just assumed operator error, and being the paranoid type just restored my most recent backup. It hasn't happened in some time, but I am always looking at the exact circumstances, offsets, transverters, etc, so if it happens again I can reproduce it. Alan WA4SCA

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AMSAT-BB November 2006