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

Next ISS Space Participant
by Trevor 25 Jan '07

25 Jan '07

I only recently realised that the next ISS Space participant Charles Simonyi is now a licenced Amateur KE7KDP. http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2007/next_space_tourist.htm Where did he get his ticket was it via Johnson Space Center Amateur Radio Club ? 73 Trevor M5AKA ___________________________________________________________ Inbox full of unwanted email? Get leading protection and 1GB storage with All New Yahoo! Mail. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html

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Re: Ham radio in Films & TV ?
by Doug Faunt N6TQS +1-510-655-8604 25 Jan '07

25 Jan '07

In May of 2006, the set for the TV version of Tony Hancock's sketch "The Radio Ham" was on display at Gunnersby Park Museum, near London (Acton Town tube). I have a fuzzy photo of myself next to the display. Check with the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society for more information. And in the movie of "Contact", Ellie is a ham; but in the book, the only reference is a passing one to _The Radio Amateurs Handbook_. I'm on my way home from VU7, so forgive the late information. 73, doug we really need a DX satellite.

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AO-7 running like a champ
by Andrew Glasbrenner 24 Jan '07

24 Jan '07

Yesterday afternoon I had the distinct pleasure of working some DX on AO-7 mode B from here in subtropical Florida. I caught a 4 degree max pass to the northeast that eventually covered a good bit of northwestern Europe, and had the pleasure to catch G1WPR in IO93 finishing up with K3SZH. Signals were 55 with some QSB on my uplink, probably due to all the energy wasted in heating the neighborhood palm trees. My QTH does not have what anyone could consider a clear horizon! As I was going LOS I also heard I believe W3JZ working G1WPR. At the time the footprint extended across the US from Idaho to Central Florida, and just about all of Canada, so the opportunity to work some satellite DX is there for many. The 24 hour timer continues to change modes while the satellite is in continuous illumination, with the mode change occurring around 1130 UTC. Eclipses return April 3rd, 2007, and we expect the timer to be interrupted near this date.A good website to check to quickly find out what mode it is in can be found at: http://oscar.dcarr.org/ . Good Luck and enjoy! 73, Drew KO4MA

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Mail alias outage
by Paul Williamson 24 Jan '07

24 Jan '07

All callsign(a)amsat.org mail aliases (and other anything(a)amsat.org addresses) were broken from 0930z to 1852z today. It was apparently caused by a software bug in the automatic mail alias update scripts I wrote. Service has been restored and no updates were lost. Messages sent to your mail aliases during the outage will have been bounced back to the sender with a "User unknown" error message. You may see some residual error messages still working their way through the worldwide email system, but service at amsat.org should be back to normal now. If you see any ongoing problems with the mail alias system, please notify mail-alias-service(a)amsat.org and I will investigate. 73 -Paul kb5mu(a)amsat.org

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LEGO bricks vs. Wash Pins
by Henk, PA3GUO 24 Jan '07

24 Jan '07

Dear all, Frans, PE1RXJ, and myself have been building DL6WU based (portable) beams for 145 and 435 MHz. We mainly used them for portable satellite operations. Using 4 elements for 145 MHz and 7 elements for 435 MHz we can operate AO51 "noise free". On my website I have described how we built them, and also the two alternative methods for mounting the elements onto the boom: - using LEGO bricks (the PE1RXJ method) vs. - using Wash Pins (the PA3GUO method) For those interested: http://www.qsl.net/pa3guo A construction summary: click on "ANTENNA", then on "DL6WU beams" Field reports: click on "Other Stuff", then on "Summer Holidays 2006" click on "Other Stuff", then on "Fieldday 2005" Henk, PA3GUO

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Satpc32 - HRD & Prime Sat Controller.
by Dave Aitch 24 Jan '07

24 Jan '07

Whilst waiting patiently for the next software/hardware upgrade for the PSC, (the last upgrade lost comms with the radio) I thought to try SATPC32 to see if I could regain frequency control of my IC910, & rotator control (YAESU G5600B). Whilst reading the SatPC help file, I can no reference to PSC at all ! Is anyone using the 910, G5600B and WiSP (for 9K6 data from GO32) and SatPC32 or even Ham Radio Deluxe successfully ? Cheers, Dave.

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AO-27 active
by Patrick McGrane 24 Jan '07

24 Jan '07

greetings from long island Not sure if its been mentioned but according to website ao-27 is running again 73, pat

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email test, please excuse
by Patrick McGrane 24 Jan '07

24 Jan '07

greetings to the group Please excuse this email test: rich text 73, pat

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GTI Electronics Micro Track Orbital Tracking Unit
by sacco 24 Jan '07

24 Jan '07

All, Im seeking information on a tracking interface made by GTI Electronics ( a commercial maker of GOES, HRPT, LRIT satellite systems). I've tried the vendor who despite being still in business and mentioning on their website that their products are supported for life, gave me a rather curt.."the units out of production so youre on your own". The unit looks to have been a good quality commercial product and I would like to utilize it as the I/F for a tracking system. ANY info, soft copy of user manuals, i/f blocks etc. would be most gratefully received! Daniel

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Request for Ham Class Satellite Contacts Wednesday Night
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 23 Jan '07

23 Jan '07

Hi! I received this earlier today from Craig KL4E, who is going to have a satellite demonstration Wednesday evening (Thursday, on the UTC clock) on two AO-51 passes. Here's a good way to help him, and - if you need it - an Alaskan contact via satellite. Good luck and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ ********** Hello Everyone >>> The Anchorage Amateur Radio Club (AARC) is hosting General Class upgrade training at the American Red Cross building on Wednesday evenings during most of January. This Wednesday evening, January 24th, we would like to present the excitement of amateur radio space communications to the many students present. Would you please consider coming up on AO-51 in standard VHF-UHF FM voice mode on either or both of the passes beginning at 1830L and 2008L Alaska Standard Time (0330 and 0508 UTC Thursday, 25 January)? Thank you very much for your support of our amateur radio satellite communications program. Please e-mail or call me anytime at (907) 694-4730 for additional information or to schedule Alaskan satellite contacts. Best 73, Craig Bledsoe, KL4E E-Mail: craig_bledsoe @ ak-prepared.com Website: http://www.ak-prepared.com/asdf/ **********

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