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

Primestar L Band
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 27 Sep '06

27 Sep '06

Hello How much gain can I expect to get from a 36x30 inch primestar dish. Also a 54X48 ps dish? I plan to use a 5-6 turn helix feed. I've been googleling around and I can't find out. I have some 7/8 hardline I'll use from my IC-1271A running 10 watts. 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle

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L Band Uplink Ant
by Wayne Estes 27 Sep '06

27 Sep '06

Les W4SCO What do most folks use for a L Band uplink antenna? Wayne W9AE replies: The Teksharp 4-foot mesh dish kit was popular in the final months of AO-40 operation. Most people used it with a dual band patch feed, so one dish is used for L-band uplink AND S-band downlink. The TranSystem AIDC downconverter from K5GNA worked well in this setup because it doesn't require extra filtering to reject strong L-band TX signals. The 4-foot mesh dish has less wind load than a solid 3-foot dish and more gain than the biggest yagi or loop antenna. Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik

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Re: Arrow Antennas
by Tony Langdon 27 Sep '06

27 Sep '06

At 07:03 AM 9/28/2006, Fabio Roccatagliata wrote: >Dear OMs, > >I was wondering if arrow antennas are the only portable antennas >available on ham shops or other similar products are/were available. > >Any other suggestion for a simple V/U portable antenna to use for >handheld or portable operations ? Plenty of home brew designs that can be built cheaply for a couple of hours work. That's the approach I ended up using. 73 de VK3JED http://vkradio.com

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Florida AMSAT Net
by David J 27 Sep '06

27 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. K04MA will be the net control for this session. Dave, AA4KN

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Re: L Band Uplink Ant
by Wayne Estes 27 Sep '06

27 Sep '06

John Wilcox / NS1Z wrote: > I don't think this statement is true. For very low wind speeds you > might be right. However, once the wind reaches a certain speed (one > which would exert moderate force) the mesh dish no longer will pass > the wind thru the small openings of the mesh. Due to surface > turbulance etc the mesh dish would appear to be solid and no air would > be passing thru it. Wayne replies: I built my Teksharp 4-foot dish kit with 1/4 inch hardware cloth which is 80-90% holes. Other people estimated that it has about half the windload of a solid dish in a very high wind, which would be slightly less than the wind load of a 3-foot dish. Anecdotally, people have reported that it's still extremely windy when they stand downwind of the dish in a gale force wind. The dish would behave more "solid" in high winds if it was built with window screen or perforated metal instead of hardware cloth. > If the surface holes are larger (than the typical C/Ku dish) then the > air once again can pass thru at a higher wind speed. However, this > limits the dish usefulness since increased diameter surface holes > lower the useable frequency of the dish, something about a waveguide > beyond cutoff. The Teksharp dish isn't intended for higher microwave frequencies because of the 8-petal design isn't a precise parabola. And of course at higher frequencies you would need a finer mesh than 1/4 inch hardware cloth. I wonder if the 4-foot Teksharp 8-petal dish can match the gain of a perfectly shaped 2-foot dish at 5 or 10 GHz? That would still be a lot of gain. Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik

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HITSAT- latest info prior to launch 22Sep06 21:36UT
by Ralph Wallio, W0RPK 27 Sep '06

27 Sep '06

Hokkaido Institute of Technology HITSAT is scheduled for launch 22Sep06 21:36UT with Solar-B on M-V-7. See http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/countdown/index.shtml for real-time launch information. See http://www.hit.ac.jp/~satori/hitsat/index-e.html and http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/CubeSat.htm for more HITSAT information. HITSAT call sign: JR8YJT 437.275 CW 100mW 437.425 FM/AFSK 1200bps AX.25 (initially only with HITSAT GS access) See http://www.hit.ac.jp/~satori/hitsat/system/hitcom-e.htm for CW telemetry format. HITSAT telemetry reception reports go to http://www.hit.ac.jp/~satori/hitsat/report.html via the embedded form. HITSAT RSS service will carry latest near real-time launch, separation and operation information. See http://www.hit.ac.jp/~satori/hitsat/index-e.html to download HITSAT RSS READER. Preliminary TLEs are not yet available but I have estimated first orbit AOS based on M-V-8 Cute1.7 experience: Australia T0+14min (power up?) South America T0+44min East Coast USA T0+64min Midwest USA (W0RPK) T0+67min Alaska USA T0+82min HITSAT CGS T0+95min TNX es 73 de Ralph Wallio, WØRPK W0RPK(a)netINS.net http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/ Hubbert's Peak - The Mother of all Perfect Storms

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HITSAT 1716 UTC
by Mike Rupprecht 27 Sep '06

27 Sep '06

AOS 1716 UTC Sep 27 (JN49lr) Hit2 9280213472d Hit3 de4a4d4b4d494848 Hit4 c1d8d1e1 Hit1 jr8yjt Hit2 9280217412b Hit3 284b4f4c4d484a4b Hit4 c1d8d1e2 Hit1 jr8yjt Hit2 9280221372a LOS 1725 UTC 73, Mike DK3WN

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Anousheh Ansari on 2 meters
by Bill Greene 27 Sep '06

27 Sep '06

Good Morning Everyone, Just got a chance to say hello to Anousheh Ansari as she was operating on 2 meters. She is getting better on getting call signs. Great fun to work her and it is great to get a chance to work the latest space tourist. Keep listening she appears to be pretty active. Best of 73, -- Bill Greene VE7WFG Armstrong, BC DOoojk

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(no subject)
by Scott Millick 27 Sep '06

27 Sep '06

This last pass she was calling an Arizona station and they were out of the footprint. Tried to call her after the school to no avail.

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HITSAT 1543 UTC
by Mike Rupprecht 27 Sep '06

27 Sep '06

AOS 1543 UTC Sep 27 (JN49lr) Hit1 jr8yjt Hit2 92800424647 Hit3 474a4e494d494b49 Hit4 c1d8d1e2 Hit1 jr8yjt Hit2 9280046422c Hit3 2e4a4a4a4c494a48 LOS 1552 UTC 73, Mike DK3WN

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