November 2006 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

New Item at the AMSAT Online Store
by Bruce 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

For those that were unable to attend the 24th AMSAT-NA Space Symposium in San Francisco, California this year, the proceedings are now available online at the AMSAT Store. You can purchase your copy and with a credit card conveniently online and have it sent to your door. It is full of interesting topics. In fact, 284 pages and almost two pounds of interesting stuff. Order yours today at the AMSAT Online Store http://www.amsat.org 73...bruce AMSAT Store Manager -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on W0KIE Intelsat Americas, T1, 6.2/6.8Mhz Also streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org

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IT time
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

Hello Running IT on a P4 computer with XP. The time gets really messed up. I have to reload IT very often to be accurate. Any ideas? 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle

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Amateur Radio in ITV1 Pride of Britain TV Program
by Trevor 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

Amateur Radio in ITV1 Pride of Britain TV Program On Tuesday 7th November ITV1 showed the Pride of Britain Awards in which the Teacher of the Year award was given to Head Teacher, Linda Davies who has made going to school an out-of-this world experience for pupils at Wiltshire's Neston Primary School. They were the first school in Britain to speak to an astronaut in space using Amateur Radio during a ten-minute question and answer session from their moonbase-themed classroom. Head Teacher Linda Davies was awarded for her work in promoting Science at Neston Primary School in which Amateur Radio played a vital role. The Amateur Radio contact with the International Space Station (ISS) helped inspire the young people at the school to take an interest in science. ARISS and members of AMSAT-UK arranged the contact. The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) provided the GB4FUN radio communications van. The Radio Amateurs that took part in the ISS contact were Charles Riley G4JQX (on the mic), Howard Long G6LVB and Carlos Eavis G0AKI who manages the RSGB GB4FUN van. Of these only Charles G4JQX actually appeared in the video clip shown in the programme. For those that missed the programme the video can be seen at http://www.g6lvb.com/Neston/NestonPOB.mpg (41.6Mb) http://www.g6lvb.com/Neston/NestonPOBLo.mpg (12.7Mb) Additional information on the Neston ISS contact can be found at AMSAT-UK - ARISS - Contact with Neston School http://www.uk.amsat.org:8080/ariss/Recent_QSOs/Neston/default.php AMSAT-UK - ARISS - Neston School Audio, Video and Press Cuttings http://www.g6lvb.com/Neston/index.htm Information on how a contact with the Astronauts on the ISS can be arranged for your school, college or university can be found at http://www.uk.amsat.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid… RSGB GB4FUN Radio Communications Van http://www.gb4fun.org/ Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS-EU) http://www.ariss-eu.org/ AMSAT-UK produces a newsletter Oscar News packed full of Amateur Satellite information. For membership details contact the secretary Jim Heck G3WGM Tel: +44 (0)1258 453959 Email: g3wgm(a)amsat.org Web: http://www.uk.amsat.org/ 73 Trevor M5AKA --------------- Daily Amateur Radio RSS News: http://www.southgatearc.org/ Email your news items to: editor at southgatearc.org News On Your Website: http://www.southgatearc.org/rss/index.htm News On Your PC: http://www.southgatearc.org/rss/newsreader.htm Upload Your News: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/your_news.htm --------------- Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

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Re: SO-50 under-utilized over North America
by John Mock KD6PAG 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

> SO-50 is one of the sats that I am going to try out because all I have > is an FM handie-talkie. I've built an (admittedly heavy!) antenna > which is a 6 element 70cm beam and a 4 element 2m beam joined > together, but I'm not sure if it will have enough gain for SO-50, my > H/T will only do about 4W max, and if possible I'd like to run it at > 0.5 or 1.5W to extend the battery life. Good. That should give you gain comparable to an Arrow, that is, about 10dBi at 70cm and 6dBi at 2m. Be careful how you feed it; as you will probably need a diplexer if you not using different radios for transmit and receive. > I noticed your signature line "Satellite QRPer" so I thought you might > know if I ought to be able to transmit only 1/2W and have a reliable > QSO. In the absence of QRM, 1.5W should be enough to work both coasts with your antenna and you will probably do fine with 1/2W. I doubt if you'll need 4W. I rarely run more than 1W myself (and generally only when i'm roving and want to make sure i don't miss anyone). >> transcontinental passes on SO-50 > What does that mean? I'm looking at a pass for example which is at > 00:20 tonight EST, which goes South to North just west of Florida > right overhead Ottawa. Is that what you meant by a transcontinental > pass? I don't think that pass covers the West Coast, but the next one does: Thu 09Nov06 07:16:45 07:23:00 07:29:20 00:12:36 256 322 30 21.4 Ottawa Thu 09Nov06 07:10:15 07:16:00 07:21:40 00:11:25 166 109 52 14.6 SFBay SO-50 07:16:45 07:21:40 4.9 min overlap (Thu 02:16 EST/23:10 PST) Transcontinental are passes on which both the East Coast and West Coast can be heard. On the West Coast, that's an azimuth between about 20 and 160 degrees; on the East Coast, between 200 and 340 degrees. (Over the middle of the US, these would then be overhead passes.) You can also ascertain this information graphically if your satellite prediction program offers a map as well as numeric displays. (The one that i use only does this in real-time, and not for predictions.) > Anyway I've got the radio all programmed up and ready to go. The next > reasonable pass that I will be able to try is the one on Saturday > morning at 8:20am EST. It comes to me from the West and so it should > be very busy by the time it gets to me... anyway I'll have a go! I looked at that pass and it doesn't quite reach the West Coast, as i have it as being only 7 degrees in Denver, Colorado, Sat 11Nov06 13:24:09 13:30:56 13:37:55 00:13:46 323 230 147 86.6* Ottawa Sat 11Nov06 13:22:56 13:27:33 13:32:19 00:09:24 348 32 76 7.1 Denver SO-50 13:24:09 13:32:19 8.2 min overlap (Sat 08:24 EST/06:22 MST) and a bit early at that. So there won't be many people on out west. But if you are able to work that pass, come back in about an hour and a half, as then you should be able to work California if at least part of your western horizon is clear (and there's anyone on to listen -- i'll try for that pass): Sat 11Nov06 15:05:42 15:10:59 15:16:20 00:10:38 303 252 201 11.2 Ottawa Sat 11Nov06 15:01:49 15:07:02 15:12:19 00:10:30 348 39 90 10.1 SFBay SO-50 15:05:42 15:12:19 6.6 min overlap (Sat 10:05 EST/07:01 PST) I'll try to be on Thursday morning, albeit that's a more difficult pass and you will need a good western horizon: Thu 09Nov06 15:47:37 15:52:27 15:57:25 00:09:47 299 254 207 8.8 Ottawa Thu 09Nov06 15:43:17 15:48:50 15:54:23 00:11:06 346 41 95 12.0 SFBay SO-50 15:47:37 15:54:23 6.8 min overlap (Thu 10:47 EST/07:43 PST) Starting on Monday, AO-51 should be back in mode J-FM, and being in a sun- sychronous orbit, its approximate times don't change more than a couple of hours from day to day. SO-50's schedule drifts alot, and during the first half of November, it's going to be on mostly in the middle of the night. You can get a graphical display of their schedules for your location by going to: http://www.qsl.net/kd6pag/GraphSched Don't forget to specify your local time zone. 73's and good luck! -- KD6PAG

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seting sprint/symec tnc
by nader omer 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

Hello all (My first post to Amsat-bb with two questions) 1- I need a help to setup the sprint2 TNC (satellite version) for satellite work (ao-51 go-32) I got confuse from the manual and the jumpers 2- My symek tnc3s refuses to upload any message to go-32 but it is ok to down load any message or update the directory .it is ok with ao-51 73 de Nader st2nh --------------------------------- Sponsored Link Mortgage rates near historic lows: $150,000 loan as low as $579/mo. Intro-*Terms

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AO-40/P3D galleries
by Robert McGwier 09 Nov '06

09 Nov '06

I have begun the large upload of AO-40 galleries. More will follow. Thanks again to the MANY people who have contributed these photos for our widespread distribution. http://n4hy.smugmug.com/AMSAT/250592 Bob N4HY -- AMSAT Director and VP Engineering. Member: ARRL, AMSAT-DL, TAPR, Packrats, NJQRP, QRP ARCI, QCWA, FRC. ARRL SDR WG Chair "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." - Einstein

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Re: SO-50 under-utilized over North America
by Tony Langdon 08 Nov '06

08 Nov '06

At 09:24 AM 11/9/2006, Martin Gillen wrote: >Hi, John. > >I'm in Ottawa, and I'm new to satellites. > >SO-50 is one of the sats that I am going to try out because all I have >is an FM handie-talkie. I've built an (admittedly heavy!) antenna >which is a 6 element 70cm beam and a 4 element 2m beam joined >together, but I'm not sure if it will have enough gain for SO-50, my >H/T will only do about 4W max, and if possible I'd like to run it at >0.5 or 1.5W to extend the battery life. > >I noticed your signature line "Satellite QRPer" so I thought you might >know if I ought to be able to transmit only 1/2W and have a reliable >QSO. Well, I have worked satellites in the past (specifically UO-14, when it was active) with 0.25W and a 2 element Yagi. When the uplink is quiet, your 0.5W will work fine. However, both contention from hams and foreign QRM will increase the uplink requirements considerably. In any case, give it a whirl! :-) 73 de VK3JED http://vkradio.com

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Re: SO-50 under-utilized over North America
by Martin Gillen 08 Nov '06

08 Nov '06

Hi, John. I'm in Ottawa, and I'm new to satellites. SO-50 is one of the sats that I am going to try out because all I have is an FM handie-talkie. I've built an (admittedly heavy!) antenna which is a 6 element 70cm beam and a 4 element 2m beam joined together, but I'm not sure if it will have enough gain for SO-50, my H/T will only do about 4W max, and if possible I'd like to run it at 0.5 or 1.5W to extend the battery life. I noticed your signature line "Satellite QRPer" so I thought you might know if I ought to be able to transmit only 1/2W and have a reliable QSO. Also: > transcontinental passes on SO-50 What does that mean? I'm looking at a pass for example which is at 00:20 tonight EST, which goes South to North just west of Florida right overhead Ottawa. Is that what you meant by a transcontinental pass? > If you're east of the Mississippi, you'll be especially welcomed on transcontinental SO-50 passes. Why? I am East of the Mississippi :) Anyway I've got the radio all programmed up and ready to go. The next reasonable pass that I will be able to try is the one on Saturday morning at 8:20am EST. It comes to me from the West and so it should be very busy by the time it gets to me... anyway I'll have a go! 73 Martin.

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Trakbox and Parking Frequency
by Vincenzo Mone 08 Nov '06

08 Nov '06

Hi to the list, it is a while that I've noticed that my trakbox when it terminated to track the satellites it should put my radio in parking frequency which should be: RX_Freq : 1296.500 TX_freq :144.800 But I always get: RX_Freq: 1296.499.9 TX_freq: 144.800 How you can see, the RX_Freq is 1 Hz down. I've tried to set the RX_Freq to 1296.501 But when it parks, it goes to: 1296.500.9 Can anybody explain me what happens? Thanks in advance. 73 de Enzo IK8OZV EasyLog 5 BetaTester EasyLog PDA BetaTester WinBollet BetaTester D.C.I. CheckPoint Regione Campania Skype: ik8ozv8520 *************************************** ***** GSM +39 338 9749786 ***** ***** SMS +39 338 9749786 ***** ***** FAX +39 328 7244294 ***** *** 2nd e-mail: vimone(a)tin.it *** ***************************************

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Office Closed
by MARTHA SARAGOVITZ 08 Nov '06

08 Nov '06

The AMSAT Office will be closed on Friday, November 10th in observance of Veteran's Day. Martha Saragovitz AMSAT Manager

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