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

Crozet Island active on VO-52
by Jean-L. RAULT 20 Nov '06

20 Nov '06

Hi all Please note that Nicolas FT1WM is QRV on VO-52 from Crozet Island, South Indian Ocean (QRA locator: LE53WN) till the 5th of december. He is running an IC-910H + simple dipoles in SSB mode From the middle of nowhere, he succeeded in contacting ZS1TX, FR1JB, FR5DN,and would like to hear more peoples :o) ZS, 5R8, FR5, 3B8, and VK stations, Nicolas is waiting for you :o) 73 de Jean-Louis F6AGR ex FB8XC

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Trackbox interfernces
by Vincenzo Mone 20 Nov '06

20 Nov '06

Hi to the list, I am having interference problems when I work Phones satellites while the Trackbox is tracking. Every time I work a satellite on phone mode I can hear on the downlinks frequencies the tic tic sound Clock of the CPU of the Trakbox which interferes on the rx frequencies of the satellite. This happens on all the satellites but it is more amplified when I am on ssb mode. Anybody had the same experience and has solved it? If yes how to solve it. Any help will be appreciated. 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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Alliant rotor U100
by Norman W Osborne VE3CJE 20 Nov '06

20 Nov '06

Anyone use the Alliant rotors for tracking? Where would I look for information to interface these rotors, hardware and software? Presently have Nova tracking software. Norman

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OSCAR-11 Report
by Clive Wallis 20 Nov '06

20 Nov '06

OSCAR-11 REPORT 20 November 2006 During the period 30 October to 20 November, the satellite was heard from 07 to 17 November. Good signals steady signals have beeen heard on all passes, and excellent copy of telemetry obtained. The date/time stamp has been of interest. Since the satellite was heard on 18 October the on-board clock has maintained accurate time, to within two seconds over a period of 30 days. This compares with the average gain of five seconds per month, recorded when the satellite was fully operational. The date counter appears to be incrementing correctly, but the day of the month is not reset to one, at the end of each month, and is not incrementing the month counter correctly. During the OFF period the month counter changed from '0=' to '10'. On 17 November the date was shown as 51 October. However, the day of the week counter appears to be incrementing correctly. If the satellite watchdog timer continues to operate normally, the beacon should switch ON around 29 November. If the satellite is not heard around this time, it may be worth listening around 09 December. I am indebted to Peter ZL3TC, for his reports, which helped me determine when the satellite last switched ON. Many thanks. The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 were still working. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed. When telemetry was last received it showed that one of the solar arrays had failed, and there was a large unexplained current drain on the main 14 volt bus. After 22 years in orbit the battery has undergone around 100,000 partial charge/discharge cycles, and observations suggest that it cannot power the satellite during eclipses, or sometimes during periods of poor solar attitude. The watchdog timer now operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations show this to be 20.7 days, ie. 10.3 days ON followed by 10.4 days OFF. However, poor solar attitude may result may result in a low 14 volt line supply, which may cause the beacon to switch OFF prematurely, and reset the watchdog timer cycle. When this occurs, the beacon is OFF for 20.7 days. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to hear. The website contains an archive of news & telemetry data. It also contains details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. The URL is www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT127.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xxxxx(a)amsat.org (please replace xxxxx by g3cwv)

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Trackbox interference
by 3389749786＠tim.it 20 Nov '06

20 Nov '06

Hi to the list, I'm experiencing interferencing problems when I work phone satellites while I'm using the trackbox. I always hear the tic tic sound of the clock on the downlink frequencies. Anybody knows a way to eliminate the interference? Thanks. Enzo. IK8OZV.

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Unitrac reinstall problem
by James C. Hall, MD 19 Nov '06

19 Nov '06

Hello All: I recently had to reinstall WinXP and all software on my computer and I'm at the point of getting Unitrac working again. Hardware-wise I have an add-in parallel port PCI card for my metal-boxed LPT-version of Unitrac interface. I quickly discovered that my old Epson 740 desires LPT1 and only 1. I have the Unitrac connected to the onboard port assigned to LPT3 and set to Normal, not ECP or EPP, in the BIOS. Installation of the software (UT3) went smoothly and I applied the 113 update. I applied fresh keps and fired it up. After the initial configuration (Com/LPT=3) all appeared to be well. I set up AO-51 as an initial bird, and then tried it out. It was here that I discovered that the G-5500 controller was not talking to the Unitrac. All I got was zero's and "rotators free" in the control panel. I tried the calibration routine but could not get the 0's to change at all. Manually, there was no problem moving the rotator(s). DLPortIO is installed (of course). Can somebody point me in the right direction on this ? Thanks. 73, Jamie WB4YDL

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Boy Scout demo on 50/51
by Nick Pugh 19 Nov '06

19 Nov '06

Hi All I will be on 50 and 51 Sunday ,Monday and Tuesday mornings demo sats to the boy scouts please listen for me K5QXJ thanks nick

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GPS oncore
by SV1BSX 19 Nov '06

19 Nov '06

Hi all, sorry for "off topics", I'm looking for operational details about Motorola ONCORE Gps module. If somobody has experience, pse contact me "off-list". Thanks in advance 73, Mak SV1BSX sv1bsx(a)yahoo.gr http://www.qsl.net/sv1bsx LANProxy eMail-Server: This Email has been checked by NAV 2006 Virus Free

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Fwd: [Moon-net] FS: ICOM IC-1275 1.2 Ghz All-Mode Price Reduced
by Edward R. Cole 19 Nov '06

19 Nov '06

In case anyone is interested, I am forwarding Steve's posting from MoonNet. Do not contact me; e-mail Steve directly (below): >From: Steve Tolley <radio(a)matnet.com> >I have an extra ICOM IC-1275 1.2 ghz all-mode rig available for sale. >It is a DC model (no internal AC supply, but does have a space for >one) and in excellent condition. Power out is approx 15 watts. Better >than specs. Only issues: fan makes a buzzing noise and one of the >dial lights is out. Nothing to interfere with operation. With mike, >power cable, and manual. I do NOT have the original box but shipping >will be double boxed and well packaged. > Price is $1800 shipped US. International sale will incur >additional shipping charges. > Don't want to see it leave Alaska but no one up here seems to want it. > Steve KL7FZ > Wasilla, Alaska > Ph: 907-376-6467 > > > >-- >No virus found in this outgoing message. >Checked by AVG Free Edition. >Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.14.6/536 - Release Date: 11/16/2006 > > >_______________________________________________ >Moon-Net posting and subscription instructions are at http://www.nlsa.com/nets/moon-net-help.html >

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SatPC32 Version 12.6 Upgrade
by Charlie Schlieper 18 Nov '06

18 Nov '06

It is always confusing-- when you run into an upgrade for a software program, and after installing it, it still says it's the older version. I first just unzipped all the new files for my version 12.5 SatPC32, thinking this alone was the UPGRADE. It wasn't. I then realized that I hadn't then actually "installed" the new Setup.exe file for version 12.6. To make sure I wasn't getting confused, I unzipped "ddesatsetup_124.zip" into a separate folder, to be sure I was using the correct Setup.exe for 12.6 and install files. After doing all of this, my SatPC32 program still says it is version 12.5. I guess I've updated it, but how can you be sure? Thanks, Charlie, N5TD Temple, Tx

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