January 2007 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Re: PEHEUNSAT-1 heard on 2 metres.
by Mike Rupprecht 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

Hi Sil, On http://www.amsat.org.ar/pehuene.html# you can read: Messages Telemetry will be broadcasted in two languages, one of them Spanish. The messages will be recorded on Earth in order to maximize memory. The messages will be, satellite identification, natural numbers, sign, decimal point and the name of the measured variable. AX25: Telemeter AX25 on the same microcontroller (HC11 family) controlling the ISD to allow telemetry in packet with Ham radio protocol (1200 Bauds). A typical message will require 35 seconds. The information broadcasted will be: i) Announcement (ID) and basic telemetry in two languages (English, Spanish). So, Pehuensat is sending 1k2 AFSK, not 9k6. 73, Mike DK3WN ----- original Nachricht -------- Betreff: [amsat-bb] PEHEUNSAT-1 heard on 2 metres. Gesendet: Di, 16. Jan 2007 Von: Sil - ZL2CIA<zl2cia(a)amsat.org> > Hi, > > This may be old news, but PEHEUNSAT-1 seems to be > transmitting.I believe that I heard PEHEUNSAT-1 > this evening. > > Pass ended at 1000 UT (2300 local). Signals seemed > to consist of a voice broadcast in Spanish > followed by a short burst of carrier. I could not > hear any modulation of this carrier and did not > decode anything. > > I have since googled and see that the downlink in > the 2 metre band is at 9k6 b/s. I was still setup > for NO-44 at 1200 b/s and of course 9k6 sounds > much like noise to the human ear. The satellite > may well have been transmitting data. > > On hearing the signal, I retuned the rig and > tracked the frequency by watching the > discriminator output meter. The frequency > decreased in a way consistent with Doppler shift. > > I caught the last few minutes of the pass by > chance, and only because the radio was still tuned > to 145.8235 MHz (FM) after an earlier pass of NO-44. > > I have another pass at 1129 UT (0029 local time) > and I will try to be ready for that one. > > Sil - ZL2CIA > > Antenna: 6 ele hori - homebuilt. > Rig: FT736R > Parallel decoding of AX.25 using home built > interface and AGWPE/UISS, and Heath Packkit 232 > _______________________________________________ > 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 > --- original Nachricht Ende ----

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Re: AO-40 EQUIPMENT
by Achim Vollhardt 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

Dear John, I really would recommend so! Not only that I personally have all my equipment as well waiting to be used, but also as P3-E will have as well Mode-UV and Mode-LS to provide the operational modes to the users, which are most requested and missed since AO-40. 73s Achim, DH2VA > Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 06:46:53 -0600 > From: John Becker <w0jab(a)big-river.net> > Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-40 EQUIPMENT > To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org > Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.2.20070116064357.025f6fd8(a)big-river.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Forgive a stupid question. > > Should I keep the AO-40 equipment that I have?

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Re: AO-27
by Graham Shirville 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

There is a good website for AO27 current operations here http://www.umbrasi.com/AO27/index.shtml it also tells you a lot about the trials and tribulations of commanding her! good luck to the command stations and users... 73 Graham

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PeheunSat-1 heard and decoded
by Edward Chuang 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

Hi all, PeheunSat-1 heard during the pass from 13:25 UTC, Jan.16. I heard female voice messages and packets, I used MixW to decode it, and got the following message: LU1YUC>BEACON>I00,C,F0 (1210 baud): {{M National University of Comahue Research Project PEHUENSAT1 Satellite in orbit since Jan- 2007. Please send this full packet to pehuensat(a)uncoma.edu.ar the next bytes are telemetry data:0011251242927183016162011122 73 Edward / BX1AD -----

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AO-27
by Isao SEKI 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

AO-27 has just come back. Today, I worked with JE2WYA/6 at 0508z via AO-27. His signal was very strong, +30dB, using 2 x 20el horizontal polarity Yagi for RX. Welcome back! Isao / JM1WBB

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ACLog, LoTW, and Satellites
by Eric Christensen 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

Is anyone using N3FJP's ACLog for satellite contacts and uploading to LoTW? I'm trying to figure out what I need to change in the log so I can properly import my satellite contacts and then upload them to LoTW. 73s, Eric KF4OTN AMSAT Member 35360 AMSAT Area Coordinator Please donate to the Eagle project! http://www.amsat-na.com/donation.php?donate=eagle

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PEHEUNSAT-1 heard on 2 metres.
by Sil - ZL2CIA 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

Hi, This may be old news, but PEHEUNSAT-1 seems to be transmitting.I believe that I heard PEHEUNSAT-1 this evening. Pass ended at 1000 UT (2300 local). Signals seemed to consist of a voice broadcast in Spanish followed by a short burst of carrier. I could not hear any modulation of this carrier and did not decode anything. I have since googled and see that the downlink in the 2 metre band is at 9k6 b/s. I was still setup for NO-44 at 1200 b/s and of course 9k6 sounds much like noise to the human ear. The satellite may well have been transmitting data. On hearing the signal, I retuned the rig and tracked the frequency by watching the discriminator output meter. The frequency decreased in a way consistent with Doppler shift. I caught the last few minutes of the pass by chance, and only because the radio was still tuned to 145.8235 MHz (FM) after an earlier pass of NO-44. I have another pass at 1129 UT (0029 local time) and I will try to be ready for that one. Sil - ZL2CIA Antenna: 6 ele hori - homebuilt. Rig: FT736R Parallel decoding of AX.25 using home built interface and AGWPE/UISS, and Heath Packkit 232

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W7W via satellite, "Westfest" hamfest in Glendale AZ, 13 January 2007
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

After my first time working at an AMSAT hamfest table last month, I was looking forward to this hamfest on the west side of the Phoenix area. Gerry VE4GTB/KD7MDB and I took care of the table, and we answered lots of questions and had 4 passes (2 on SO-50, 2 on AO-51) for demonstrations that attracted the interest of the hamfest crowd. We had a good time despite the bitter cold and small turnout, and also sold a fair amount of AMSAT items to hams looking to try the satellites themselves. The hamfest organizers, the Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club (W7TBC): http://www.w7tbc.org/ had requested the special callsign W7W for use by their HF special-event station. Gerry had asked them if we could also use the W7W call during our satellite demonstrations, and we were told, "Sure." I posted an announcement on the AMSAT-BB mailing list and on a few other lists of the upcoming satellite activity, and we were ready to go. Saturday morning started early... I arrived at the hamfest site at 0530 local (1230 UTC), and Gerry was already there. We were told by the organizers to set up next to their HF station, and one of the Thunderbird club members made sure we had a covered spot in case of rain. We set up our tables with the AMSAT merchandise and my equipment (IC-2720H mobile radio, 12V/20Ah gel-cell batteries, Arrow Antennas handheld Yagi, Sony digital voice recorder, external speaker, laptop with Nova running during the demonstrations to show where the satellites were). Our first pass was on SO-50 at 1317 UTC, and we were ready for that. The first SO-50 pass went from south to east, and since it was an early pass we were not sure there would be many stations showing up. We made 2 contacts during the pass, with Angelo N5UXT as our first satellite contact as W7W (thanks for being up early, Angelo!). One other contact before the end of the pass with a VE3, and then back to answering questions until 1500-1520 UTC and an SO-50 pass followed immediately by an AO-51 pass. The SO-50 pass around 1500 UTC went to the west, and being early for those in western North America I did not expect much activity. We were happy to make 3 contacts, two Mexican stations plus Zach KM7I in Seattle before we moved over to AO-51. We heard the announcements from Gould WA4SXM that there was testing in progress, so we kept listening and hoping the satellite would be available for part of the pass since it would cover most of North America. The testing ended, leaving a couple of minutes to make 2 quick contacts before the satellite went out of range. The final AO-51 pass, around 1647-1702 UTC, started out with a surprise. The crowd and I heard a couple of hams chatting on 435.310 MHz, which was where I ready to hear AO-51 at the start of the pass. I quickly went onto that frequency and asked those hams to move to another frequency, which they did, and then we made 10 contacts with stations in the western USA, Alaska, and Mexico to conclude our satellite demonstrations. Larry WA6DIR in California was the last station in the W7W satellite log. At the end of the morning, we had a total of 17 contacts in our satellite log. We made 12 contacts on AO-51 and 5 on SO-50 with stations in 8 US states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington state), one Canadian province (Ontario), and two Mexican states (Baja California and Zacatecas). The hamfest organizers now have a copy of the satellite log, to combine with their HF log for their records and to be able to answer any QSL requests from the satellite demonstrations. Gerry and I will have the AMSAT table at the next Phoenix-area hamfest, the Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club's "Springfest" on 10 March. I will come back to the Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club for their meeting on 15 March, to do a presentation on amateur satellites and AMSAT. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table, and for those we made contact with on the satellites. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Re: ideas
by Bruce Robertson 15 Jan '07

15 Jan '07

Quoting Anthony Monteiro <aa2tx(a)comcast.net>: > At 06:44 PM 1/13/2007, Bruce Robertson wrote: > > >Quoting Anthony Monteiro <aa2tx(a)comcast.net>: > > > > > Here is a wild idea for you. The Nintendo DS Lite > > > video game has a built-in wireless Instant Messaging (IM) > > > capability that runs at 2.4GHz using standard WiFi. It would > > > be really cool for kids to be able to chat with other kids via > > > satellite using their Nintendo game. > > > > ... > >That's a great wild idea, Tony! How would WiFi's modulation scheme > react to > >the doppler shift? > > Hi Bruce, > > A Nintendo game wouldn't be able to directly hit > a satellite but I was thinking that some kind of > hack using a cheap Linksys WiFi box could be used as a > groundstation and it would include whatever > was needed to talk to the satellite. > > The sat links do not even need to be on 2.4GHz as you > could just send the IM text up and back via a low-speed link > and translate back to WiFi for the Nintendo in the Linksys. > > > 73, > Tony AA2TX > I see. These are interesting ideas. I wonder if a cubesat project such as this would provide a workable test-bed for one or more layers of the proposed Eagle text-messaging service, which then could be bridged in software to the ground-based messaging you propose. I'm not sure if this is what you have in mind, but some Linksys WiFi boxes have enough RAM to run a stripped-down version of Linux. The trick would be to get the data into them. The WRTSL54GS has a USB port, reputedly for network storage, but it might be hackable in order to get serial data from a TNC or other demodulator using a USB-to-serial bridge. It might be in AMSAT's interest to partner with a Cubesat project to explore this. I understand the processing power onboard a cubesat would be much less; but just as Suitsat II will test the SDX, a flying testbed for SMS would be great. It would make for an excellent sales-pitch at conventions, etc.: imagine a table with a radio, demodulator and hacked WiFi box, and a couple of laptops. When the bird is in range, a Jabber-based messaging program comes alive with contacts across N. America. for 8 minutes or so. Then the pitch: you can help make this system work for hours-on-end across a large part of the globe with your donation to Eagle. 73, Bruce VE9QRP

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Tripod and G-5500
by Michael Wolthuis 15 Jan '07

15 Jan '07

I am trying to determine the best way to get a Tripod up on my roof with a G-5500 for AZ/EL. I would appreciate any info the board has on what type of tripod works best and where I can get that. Also, pictures would be VERY helpful. I am trying to decide to split the AZ/EL functions or not, so any insite into how to best make this whole setup work is appreciated. I look forward the great pictures! Mike kb8zgl

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