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

qsl go 32 last usa pass
by Mr Jeffrey Ross 21 Sep '06

21 Sep '06

Hi all qsl go 32 last usa pass. I have my old rig hooked up, having trouble with new rig, must be the cables. kc8gkf west michigan usa

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Other sources of L band QRM
by jules＠g0nzo.co.uk 21 Sep '06

21 Sep '06

Here's a couple of snippets from this evenings AMSAT-BB digest. Looks like these wireless cameras are going to cause problems to the Galileo E5 service. Especially as a 200mW version is available on ebay for £15 (Yes, they do actually generate that level of RF power!), there are going to be a lot of them about! Jules snip ------------------------------------------------- Wireless 1.2 GHz cameras I just picked up one of these little $60 cameras and am glad to report that they are not in the Amateur Allocation. They are 40 MHz wide each (4 channels) starting at 1060-1100, 1100-1140, 1140-1180, 1180-1220. But I was impressed with their range. An easy 1000' with the supplied receiver. My guess is about 5 milliwatts ERP. The energy at the edges was more than 60 dB down... ------------------------------------------------- snip ------------------------------------------------- Current publicly available Galileo documentation indicates that "Safety of Life" services will be provided on E5a/E5b (1164 to 1215 MHz) downlink and the E2/L1/E1 (1559 to 1591 MHz) downlink. The E6 (1260 to 1300 MHz) downlink is designated for 'commercial services' and not the aviation. Thus, I am VERY curious why the interference to aircraft navigation receivers is constantly brought up in this discussion as it appears a non-player. -------------------------------------------------

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space tourist
by Perry Yantis 21 Sep '06

21 Sep '06

I heard the space tourist talking on ISS frequency on last pass 1809 GMT 9/21/06 Perry WB8OTH Perry Yantis pyantis(a)earthlink.net

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"PR" of PcSat2 during spacewalks this week
by Nate Duehr 21 Sep '06

21 Sep '06

Bob will probably have some comment on this, but I wondered if anyone else noticed it. I've been listening to/watching NASA TV most of the week with the Shuttle mission going on, and was obviously interested to watch/listen during the spacewalks. What I found especially interesting (or disturbing?) during the spacewalks was the announcers descriptions of the external payload boxes being worked on, like PCSat2. When they worked on removing PCSat2 there was this (almost mumbled) dumb description of what is was -- something like "radio experimentation equipment". And that's about it. No mention of its name. No mention that it was built by students at the Naval Academy. No mention of Amateur Radio. Yet, the next day when they were removing the other science experiments, there were long gushing words about all the peace, love, and worldwide joy that a box with 20 different pieces of metal stuck to the outside would bring as the scientists of the world, as they would be able to see the effects of being outside in space had on different metalurgical alloys. Sorry - ok yes, I'm exaggerating. But my curiosity is still piqued. Why was PCSat2 given such a "boring" billing during the announcer's time to speak about what the Astronauts were doing, versus all the glowing/gushing descriptions of the other scientific experiments? Is radio science or the word "Amateur" in Amateur Radio a source of some kind of embarasment for NASA PR people these days? Or, was there simply no good typed up description for the announcers to read from, so they skipped it? (I'm hoping here...) In other words, was there a PR opportunity for Amateur Radio missed because no one had time to send a good description and make sure it got into the correct hands for reading during the spacewalks? Was there anything anyone could have done to make the description of PCSat2 at least sound more interesting than a mumbled comment about a radio black-box the announcer seemed clueless about? Or at least even have its NAME mentioned so people with a web browser and Google could find the rest of the story? Somehow I want to give the announcers more credit than that they were just "dumb" about it -- they all seem to be VERY well versed in what's going on in almost all aspects of Shuttle operations. Along those lines, is there any reason they would be told NOT to say what it was, perhaps? (Hey, it's a possibility, right? I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but you have to consider all possibilities.) I'm very curious. Probably more than I should be. :-) Anyone else notice this? Nate WY0X

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Re: Galileo interference on L band
by jules＠g0nzo.co.uk 21 Sep '06

21 Sep '06

I don't know what the situation is where you are, but in Europe 23cms is not 'Our band'. it is allocated for aeronautical navigation. We are, and have always been, secondary users. So any confrontation with the primary users would be counterproductive. Recently there was an incident where an ATC radar had developed a fault, which the authorities were unaware. UK amateurs characterised the fault and DF'ed it to a particular installation. This has undoubtedly earned us brownie points. We have been coexisting with CAA radar for many years, I'm sure we will continue to do so when Galileo comes on line. The L band signals are for the commercial service of Galileo. There are currently no fixed plans as to what this form this service will take and who the customers would be. But, I would have thought that any aviation system would use the public service, probably in conjunction with existing GPS. Even if our signals do block the commercial services, I am sure that the receivers employed will default to taking location data from the public Galileo and GPS service. So I would doubt that the users would even be aware that there is an issue. Fingers crossed. Jules G0NZO sco(a)sco-inc.com wrote >If we just give up whole freq bands because we are scared of the big >bad europeans who are drowning in socialist social program debt, then >we deserve to lose our bands if we give up without a fight. If a >country tries to take away our bad because of this "bad science" then >we should fight them in court and in the public relations area.

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SO-50 1900 pass
by Tim Tapio 21 Sep '06

21 Sep '06

All, Tried with a handheld with a whip, heard a couple calls but couldn't make them out. Anyone have success with a like setup? 73 de Tim, K4SHF FM04

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Florida AMSAT Net
by David J 20 Sep '06

20 Sep '06

The Florida AMSAT Net will meet this Thursday evening at the usual time of 19:30 ET, 23:30 UTC on the West Florida Group Ni4CE repeater system, the Orlando N4HHA repeater at 443.1 MHz, 103.5Hz tone, the N4LEM Cocoa repeater, 147.36 MHz +107.2 PL or connect by echolink to KG4YZY-R. The net's purpose is to provide a platform for hams with amateur satellite interest to meet and discuss topics of interest. All amateurs are invited to check in. Dave, AA4KN

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Spare cycles for SETI
by Ellis family 20 Sep '06

20 Sep '06

Hi, colleagues. Please consider making your spare computer cycles available to various "social engineering" efforts through BOINC http://boinc.berkeley.edu/ , notably SETI http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ . (instructions there to download the screensaver.) And if you are going to do that you might want to join the SETI Group called AMSAT led by Tom Clark W3IWI. http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_display.php?teamid=30247 (instructions there to join.) Best wishes, Peter VK1KEP

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off topic: Shuttle IRLP/Freqs
by Brad, K1GTo 20 Sep '06

20 Sep '06

Does anybody Have a IRLP node number on which NASA will broadcast the shuttle re-entry tomorrow morning?

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Re: Galileo / US GPS
by joseph Murray 20 Sep '06

20 Sep '06

Hi Bob You said" What will happen if the Galileo goes up is that no European airport will allow a commercial jetliner to land without the Galileo system. This will inevitably lead to this basic system being in world wide use for navigational purposes ------- Does this imply that all airliners going to and from EU and US will have to have both Global positioning system ? ( Galileo and the US GPS) It would appear that the country to which an aircraft is approaching could demand a specific space navigetion syetem to be used. As I understand the current Galileo event : It is in test phase. No actual system funding has been established. No list of users have been verified to be real supporters. The use of the US GPS system does not cost the EU anything. All EU users of the current US GPS system will need both if there is no global support for a single system Without a Amateur satellite using a mode L up link that uses narrow analog and/or wide band digital modulation ( which could change over time ) the Galileo testing is not really testing for amateur interference. Thanks Joe K0VTY Joe K0VTY .

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