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

Two Sats
by sco＠sco-inc.com 11 Sep '06

11 Sep '06

If two sats like Hamsat (or Echo) were in orbit at the same time and could see each other ... Could User#1 uplink to Sat-A and then Sat-A would link to Sat-B (probably on one of the higher microwave bands) then Sat-B would downlink to User#2 and User#2 would uplink to Sat-B and be relayed to Sat-A and down to User#1 ?? If this could be done there would be a much larger footprint and launch costs would be far less expensive, correct? Les W4SCO

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Mode L/S on AO-51 is alive
by Stefan Wagener 11 Sep '06

11 Sep '06

Beautiful!!!!!! What a blast. Using a 2' Dish and downconverter from K5GNA for downlink on 2m with a TS2000X and a 23CM22EZ (vertical polarization) from M2 for uplink, the signal is just beautiful. Nice chat with N5UXT on the last AO-51 pass. L/S mode is viable, is alive and working and that's the fact! If you don't believe it, just listen. 73, Stefan VE4NSA

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5Ghz WiFi
by sco＠sco-inc.com 11 Sep '06

11 Sep '06

QVC is advertising the SMC WMRAG EZ Stream 2.4GHz/5GHz Wireless Multimedia Receiver for $199. If the wifi devices start going to the 5Ghz band how would that affect Eagle in the future? Les W4SCO

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Re: S band, experience from UK
by jules＠g0nzo.co.uk 11 Sep '06

11 Sep '06

All My station is in a built up area in the UK, which I would assume has a level of S band licence exempt traffic that is typical of most areas. I can see 5 video senders on my ATV receiver and a 4 WLAN networks on my PDA with built in antenna. When I listened to AO40, I only had problems below 10 degrees elevation. This represents a small percentage of a pass, that it did not worry me. (I am aware that the orbit of Eagle may not be quite so favourable). Also, AO40 signals WERE rock crushing for me. With a 5ft dish, very non optimal linear feed and pretty average NF, I could hear VK stations as armchair copy in ssb, even at apogee. Often they were still copyable at LOS, unless I was pointing straight at the WLAN. I will try and make some quantive measurements and submit them, but my gut feeling is that S band is still a viable downlink in my location. My 2 penneth worth.... I am not an AMSAT-NA member. Any donations I make go indirectly through my local AMSAT group. So I am not going to get into the politics of this. But... I expect that the decision to drop S-band was not taken lightly. The people who take on these satellite projects, do so at great personal and sometimes financial expense. Given the great commitment that these people make, it seems a little discourteous to moan about not being able to use a small part of our stations. Our S-band capability will still be useable for P3E. Also, by building an S-band station, you have already reaped the greatest reward, which is the experience of doing it, isn't that what Amateur Radio is all about. In all hobbies, it seems that there is so much in-fighting, that people loose sight of the bigger picture. There are people in authority who are out to get us. In this case it is the commercial pressure on our spectrum. The old adage, 'Use it or loose it', is very true here. So if the bit that we are able to use doesn't happen to match the box that we have on our mast, then we must adapt. Who knows, you may learn something on the way. Jules G0NZO

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AO-51 now in L/S
by Andrew Glasbrenner 11 Sep '06

11 Sep '06

AO-51 is now in L/S for the next week. Uplink is 1268.700, downlink 2401.200, FM. If you enjoy L/S please get active this week. The AO-51 Operations Group would like to hear as many users as possible. The level of traffic helps determine how often we run this mode, as well as other modes. 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT LM 2332

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S band: Too early, as I said
by Robert McGwier 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

As I said previous to this note, our analysis and all of this hoopla is released too early. We have not fully prepared for the onslaught and we have only done a <<technical analysis>> that resulted from the assumption that Galileo was going to cause loss of L band. It is not in our political interests frankly for this understanding to be widespread but now that it is, we might as well go ahead and do all of our "worst case scenario" analysis in public. It is my understanding that Argentina and the Netherlands have LOST 2400-2450 for use by terrestrial radio amateurs because of interference from amateur radio operators (primarily BLOODY ATV) to 802.11 services. Amateurs have been told to stop transmitting in those bands. I need much more information. DO NOT SEND YOUR ANECDOTE HERE. Please send to me DIRECTLY your personal, first hand knowledge of loss of 2400-2450 IN YOUR COUNTRY or any other country FOR WHICH YOU CAN PROVIDE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE. I have no interest whatsoever in rumor. I need facts. If this phenomenon is widespread, then the use of S band as an uplink is a useless argument to be having and the whining can stop. ALL that was done in San Diego was a technical analysis. No legal or political analysis has been done at all. We are not prepared to say "This is what we are doing". We are prepared to say "This is what the technical folks came up with given the assumption of the loss of L band and the assumption that 9 cm would be politically unacceptable". NOTHING ELSE should be assumed now. But let me repeat (ad infinitum?), I am personally interested in managing the design and building of an instrument that accomplishes the AMSAT vision statement. If I find that we have essentially lost all microwave bands we have in the amateur satellite service that can be used effectively to support the vision statement (given engineering computation and "circuit practicalities"), I will lose interest in managing this whether it be an AMSAT political decision or an international frequency disaster which we have allowed to go unanswered in any substantive way. AMSAT-DL is the perfect vehicle to produce P3 spacecraft with our help where needed. We do not need to duplicate their efforts. DO NOT send your anecdote to this list. Send your FACTS to me, with supporting evidence, so I can summarize what I believe the impact of this to be for the AMSAT BOD. Bob N4HY -- AMSAT VP Engineering. Member: ARRL, AMSAT-DL, TAPR, Packrats, NJQRP/AMQRP, QRP ARCI, QCWA, FRC. ARRL SDR Wrk Grp Chairman "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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S-Band Not 2.4 but 2.3
by Matt 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

Ok granted 2.40 GHz to 2.45 GHz has a high noise floor and will get worse. So this will be a good band for uplinking. I know it's not a satellite allocation but what about a downlink around 2310 ~ 2390? Or maybe 2300 ~ 2302? I also know that some countries have lost access to 2.302 GHz to 2.4 GHz (VK is one) but as a downlink no one is stopping us from listening there. Or must a satellite transmitters be compliant with all international allocations? Or maybe 2300 ~ 2302 would upset to many other users?

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S band downlink on P3E
by Joseph Trombino Jr 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

Disappointed to find out that there will not be an S band downlink on Eagle Will there be an S band downlink on the P3E bird??? Sure hate having to fork over more money each time a new satellite goes up because previous up/downlinks are not being used anymore....makes me wish for more mode A LEO birds (grin) 73, Joe W2KJ

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Re: Eagle Satellite Design
by George Henry 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

So, how much to rent one of the TSFR spaces? Maybe all of us who still believe in S-Band could pool our funds to fly our own transponder..... fund the mode instead of the bird? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick Hambly (W2GPS)" <w2gps(a)cnssys.com> To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 5:21 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Eagle Satellite Design <snip> > > c) There are at least two TSFR (This-Space-For-Rent) packages that could > possibly contain other RF or other payloads, conditioned on the > availability > of power, antenna space and compatibility with the primary payloads.

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STS-115 TLE
by jean-claude.aveni 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

Hello the gang TLE for STS-115 Atlantis STS-115 1 29391U 06036A 06253.64554025 -.00237466 00000-0 -11855-2 0 67 2 29391 051.6337 107.2487 0019979 239.6919 163.3114 15.81316756 163 From Space Track USAF 73 jc tk5gh -- *Jean-Claude Aveni* Tel portable : *06 80 92 38 79* Courriel prime : jean-claude.aveni(a)wanadoo.fr '' alternate : aveni(a)lma.cnrs-mrs.fr Site web à l'URL : http://astro-notes.org Call radio amateur : TK5GH

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