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

IMPORTANT - Symposium spouse tours
by Emily Clarke 14 Sep '06

14 Sep '06

I wanted to make one more announcement about Symposium group tours for wives/husbands who will not be attending the Symposium. Currently we don't have very many signed up for the tours. We have approximately 5 days to arrange for a tour, and the current level of interest doesn't warrant a private tour from the hotel. However if you or your spouse does want to sign up please do so in the next 5 days at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2006GroupTours.php If we are unable to get enough people to arrange a tour there are still other options though the hotel. It would require taking an early (6:45am) shuttle to the Crowne Plaza at the Airport. 73, Emily --------------------------------- N1DID formerly W0EEC - CM87tm Support Project OSCAR - http://www.projectoscar.net

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L'ers equipment
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 14 Sep '06

14 Sep '06

Hello I would like an informal survey regarding what you are using for Mode L. I am working on my system and do not want reinvent the wheel. The format of radio-power-transmission line-antenna/gain. I use a IC-1271A-10 watts-50 feet LMR400-12T helix about 12 db gain (or so). I need to improve my system and as usual your advice is invauable. Perhaps several on the list could benifit from this. The current AO-51 in L/S is an excellent chance to fine tune my system. 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle

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hardline
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 14 Sep '06

14 Sep '06

Hello I have some hardline all I can find on it is GCC AL500P. Does anyone know what I have? 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle

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CQ magazine, September 2006 sat article
by Diane Bruce 13 Sep '06

13 Sep '06

Hi, Our very own Drew, KO4MA appears in the article on page 55 of September 2006 CQ magazine. "Discover Ham Satellites with a Cheap Yagi" by Kent Britain, WA5VJB. He also has a very simple diplexer that you can build yourself. Very nice! I don't normally read CQ magazine but I happened to see this. Good work by all! - 73 Diane VA3DB (Amsat area coordinator) -- - db(a)db.net http://www.db.net/~db

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Re: L'ers equipment
by Edward R. Cole 13 Sep '06

13 Sep '06

At 04:51 PM 9/12/2006 +0000, w7lrd(a)comcast.net wrote: > >Hello >I would like an informal survey regarding what you are using for Mode L. I am working on my system and do not want reinvent the wheel. The format of radio-power-transmission line-antenna/gain. I use a IC-1271A-10 watts-50 feet LMR400-12T helix about 12 db gain (or so). I need to improve my system and as usual your advice is invauable. Perhaps several on the list could benifit from this. The current AO-51 in L/S is an excellent chance to fine tune my system. >73 Bob W7LRD >Seattle Bob, Your feedline loss is 2.4 dB so that approx. 5.8 w are getting to the helix. Your ERP is slightly below 100w. That would be very low if this were AO-40. I ran 10w at antenna with 20-dBi gain for ERP 0f 1000w for AO-40 amd way marginal (one s-unit above noise floor). I have no info re: AO-51, so will have to wait for that. 73's Ed PS: When I get tower back up, I will be able to run 20w to two lloop-yagis 23-dBi for ERP of ~4000w! 73's, Ed - KL7UW ========================================= http://www.qsl.net/al7eb - BP40iq 144-EME: FT-847, mgf-1801/1402, 4xM2-xpol-20, 170w 432-EME: FT-847, mgf-1402, 1x21-ele (18.6 dBi), 60w =========================================

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S-Band and Eagle
by ANTHONY JAPHA 13 Sep '06

13 Sep '06

There have been so many thoughtful comments on the S band question that it's been fun to follow the thread. I'd like to chime in. I bought S band gear just before AO40 went south. Not a lot of equipment, just a W7LRD dish with helix, a K5GNA converter, and a few odds and ends. Unfortunately, I never got to put them on the air. Now I try out the converter on AO-51when the mode is right. I live in Manhattan, operate portable, and have a fairly decent QTH to get maybe a 100 degree window. Mode V/U on AO-51 is a breeze with an HT, and FO-29 provides the occasional DX QSO using a pair of FT817s and an old 20 watt 2 mtr. amp. S-band here is nearly hopeless. I live in a census tract that contains 10 city blocks. There are 15,000 people in 9,000 households. I would not be surprised to find that 75% of those households had some sort of 2.4 Ghz device! The bird can be directly overhead, but only the rare station pops up out of the noise for a few syllables at a time. Using an Arrow ant. for 435 Mhz., by contrast, much is heard on both FO-29 and AO-51. That is my experience. It is an anecdote, to be added to the many others that have been shared. I would be shocked if a satellite designer paid much attention to it if he had some more aggregate data on which to base a design decision. It's a shred of evidence, no more, no less. Even a cub reporter shouldn't write about it without doing some research into what others are experiencing and whether my experience squares with what informed people and the data suggest. For one thing, my QTH probably isn't typical, to say the least. The designers of Eagle probably aren't hung up on making sure that users in my position should be able to use all the bird's modes. They probably don't design for the superstations either. The job is to make the bird useful to the greatest number of possible users given the budgets they face (money, power, size, etc.). The evidence I've seen in these exchanges seems to favor the designers by a large margin. They have cited their evaluation of the available data regarding the present and future use of S band. Are there data to the contrary? The fact that some stations can make it through a tough QRM situation isn't very convincing. It is the great majority of stations that should be able to use the bird. I have a couple of concerns. Is the emphasis on making the bird accessible to very modestly equipped stations (like mine?!) going too far? The bird's potential use in emergencies sounds farfetched to me. Maybe if we're down to a choice between the bird and a semaphore! I'd also like to know much more about the ground equipment required for S/C mode. How will it interface with existing equipment in the shack? Are these new pieces of gear add-ons to existing transceivers or do they stand alone? What functions to they perform? Sorry, but I'm not up on digital SSB and CW as you can see. Finally, is enough known about U/V to tell us now what ERP and receive capability will be needed? That is, how big will the antennas need to be? Thanks for all the work being put into this by the design team. If Eagle is going to fly any time soon, we've got to let them get on with it. 73, Tony, N2UN LM 183

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DXpedition
by Reicher, James 13 Sep '06

13 Sep '06

I got this through another reflector. It looks like there will be satellite operations, courtesy of Rafael, XE1GRR 73 de N8AU, Jim in Raymore, MO __________________________________________ Dear OM, you may already be aware of the DXpediton to Revillagigedo we are planning in the time frame of Oct 16 to Nov 3, 2006. Except weather conditions like Hurricanes or other limitations out of our control might cause changes of that time schedule we expect to operate for about 2 weeks under the call XF4DL from Socorro Island (IOTA NA-030) and - at the end of the operation - for several hours under the call XF4K from Clarion (IOTA NA-115). The German participants are DF7TH, DJ5IW, DK2WV, DL1YFF, DL3DXX and me, DL8LE. All participants have a solid background of several successful dxpeditions. The Mexican participants are XE2K, XE1GRR, XE1AY, XE1HBU, XE1FRF, XE1UN, XE1FXM, XE1MMB, XE1XFX and XE1FXZ of which the majority has a high level of expertise on IOTA operations in general and four were active from XF4 before between two and four times. We are planning to operate with up to 5 stations with 3 of those 5 for 24 hours/day. Equipment to be used is mainly ICOM and YAESU for transceivers, ALPHA 99 for amplifiers plus two FL2100B and transistor amps as spare. Antennas to be installed are Titanex Verticals for the low-bands, Spider-Beams and Cushcraft A3S as well as Phased Arrays for all others. K9AY loops and / or beverages are planned as low-band receiving antennas. Besides our low-band activity the main focus will be on RTTY (digital modes) and WARC bands. The planned operation site near the air strip will be optimum for North- and South - America, Europe and Japan and will provide an excellent chance to have a XF4-qso for low and medium power stations as well as compensate the difficult propagation a little bit which is affected by the present low SSN. QSL'ing will be done via N6AWD for North-America, DL9NDS for the rest of the world. Direct inquiries will be sent directly if SASE and sufficient funds to cover the postage will be provided. All others, i.e bureau cards as well as e-mail requests, will be sent via bureau, including those arrived without adequate funds. As of today the landing and transportation permit of the Mexican Navy has already been sent to us (departure date from Manzanillo will be either Oct 14 or 15, 2006). The COFETEL has already assigned the calls XF4DL and XF4K, the permits of the environmental agency and the immigration authority are ok as well. To cover the high costs of nearly 10.000 USD for this operation in addition to the air fares of the participants, air freight fees and the equipment we have to buy we are depending on the donation of clubs, companies, organisations and private persons like you and yours. Therefore we would be very glad if you could review the possibility to support our activity. If you could decide to do so we would put your logo on our web site www.xf4dl.xedx.org as well as on the XF4DL qsl. Due to the large number of qso's we expect because of the planned duration of the operation an equivalent large number of qsl's are planned to be distributed. We would be very glad about a positive response. If you have any questions please respond via e-mail to dl8le(a)darc.de as well as jsturhahn(a)vogt-electronic.com , or just phone +49 8591 937110 (office) or +49 8546 973783 (home). 73 and thanks for reading! Juergen Sturhahn, DL8LE Manager XF4DL Neuhofen 3 94575 Windorf Germany --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by the mail server]

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Re: PCSAT2 Special Ops on 12 Sept
by Armour, Randy (ITS) 13 Sep '06

13 Sep '06

Is PCSAT2 off until removal from the ISS? Understanding that it must be silent during EVA, I was wondering if it might be turned on for a while after EVA #2. Randy - KI4LMR -----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Robert Bruninga Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 8:51 PM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] PCSAT2 Special Ops on 12 Sept PCSAT2 on ISS continues to operate its FM voice downlink on 437.975 on most passes during waking hours. Since the Shuttle has been delayed for several days, and passes are 20+ minutes earlier each day, this results in passes during the Naval Academy's morning classroom hours in the USA area next week. For EASTERN USA stations, we want to make a special FM voice contact with other schools. The 0903 EDT and 1036 EDT passes on Tuesday the 12th will occur during our students satellite lab period and we hope to contact other schools or VIP ARISS stations. If you want to set up a station during that class time, let us know so we can coordinate. Thanks, WB4APR, Bob USNA Satellite Lab _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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Re: AO-51 Mode L/S.
by Dave G1OCN 13 Sep '06

13 Sep '06

Hi Clare. Thank you for your reply. The pass was fine but no other takers. It was good to give the new WIMO 4 x 9 turn helix a whirl at such low elevation, (3degrees) Next job is to change the BBQ dish vertical to a 19 turn helix, to get over the fading. Sept the 16th is a possible, but it's my only day off, so might have to be out doing other things, but the late one on the 17th is a much better one for me. We have worked before, on the 27th May at 2235 UTC on AO-51. My place of work is GB1CPB on QRZ.COM. I do get on to a few sat passes from there if I don't have any visitors at the time of the pass. Perhaps chat on the 17th. Cheers, Dave. AMSAT 5766 cc AMSAT BB

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(no subject)
by Colorbinsmith＠wmconnect.com 13 Sep '06

13 Sep '06

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