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

Re: AMSAT-NA totally metric?
by Wayne Estes 21 Jan '07

21 Jan '07

I'm amazed to learn that NASA is still uses stone age measurements after working on the INTERNATIONAL Space Station for so many years. American technology companies have used SI measurements for decades, especially now that design, suppliers, manufacturing, and markets are global. Good for NASA for FINALLY adopting SI measurements. Hopefully they know to use the word Celsius, not Centigrade. ;-) Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik

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AO-27 need a little asstiance
by sraas＠optonline.net 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

Hello everyone, Im a little unclear of how to determine what mode AO-27 is in, I would like to try and see if I can hear / work this sat. The amsat-na web site dosent seem to have any schedual up yet. Thanx -Steve Raas N2JDQ FN20vg

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AO-27
by DOBarrows＠aol.com 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

Made my first contact on AO-27 in months with Angelo, N5UXT. Congratulations to the control team! I think that AO-27 may now be added to the "operational satellite only" page on the Amsat Web site. Dave W8IJ Camp Hill, PA

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German Translator Needed
by Ed Long 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

Hi everyone, I have a highly interesting technical article for the Journal on oscillator stability but it is written in German. Unfortunately I cannot make the translation and need some help. Is anyone out there able to translate German that could help? John Bubbers used to do that for us but he has retired so I need some assistance. It is several pages long. You'll get credit in the Journal for the translation. Thanks very much!! Ed Long WA4SWJ Editor, The AMSAT Journal

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G-5500 spotted on E-Bay
by George Henry 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

Just spotted on E-Bay.... Item title: YAESU G-5500 Antenna Rotor. Never Used Item URL: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190074449960&ssPageName=… Current bid: $125.00(0 Bids) Buy It Now price: $499.99 Shipping: Not Specified End time: Jan-26-07 09:47 PST 73 de KA3HSW

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help with UNI_TRAC needed
by John Becker 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

I have a problem with the thing talking with the rotor. equipment is FT 847 G 5500 both new. If the rotors moves at all it goes all 450 deg's to east. Elevation moves the full 180 deg's. If I click on the calibrate the readout is ZERO.

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FCAL packet reception
by mcguire＠stensat.org 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

I just decoded a packet from FCAL: 1:Fm KD4HBO To TELEM Via TELEM <UI pid=F0 Len=56 >[11:24:55] 00278C230B60048000601E8002A035000240248000A0008000B0238 1:Fm KD4HBO To TELEM Via TELEM <UI pid=F0 Len=57 >[11:38:57] Analog 0003000C000900DC00AB000D00DD0009 N 0000001E I'm tickled, because I'm one of the guys who built the radio system onboard. Note that the timestamps on the packet decodes are bogus. I'm recording the received audio, then doing the packet processing off-line. The receiver is a Yaesu 8900 with a K5OE Eggbeater II at the end of 40' of RG-58/U. Yay ! (I've been struggling for weeks to decode packets.) Jim McGuire, KB3MPL

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PehuenSat-1 still silent?
by Jari Koivurinne 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

Hello! Monitored Pehuensat-1 19:35 UTC and still complete silence. Nothing was detected. Is it possible that when the satellite is not illuminated is remains silent and battery discharged? Have to listen again tomorrow when the satellite is in full sunlight and I have whole weekend free from work. -Jari OH3UW

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G5500 Arived Today.. need a smidge of help
by sraas＠optonline.net 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

Hello and good evening, In putting together the g5500, I have only one issue that I could fix on my own, but rather than do it my way, I'd e rather do it the right way. Question is.. In the Elevation rotor, on the OPPOSITE side of the mounting hardware ( the connector side ) there are 2 threaded holes. Now, The rotor came with 2 hex blots with plastic washers, that had to be removed to attach the separation kit. I would imagine that the holes were for installation of the 'U' bracket in a NON-Separation configuration. So, I don't want to assume here.. so I as the question.. do the 2 threaded holes now become populated with a small hex bolt / washer / lock washer ? FYI any one interested in Buying one.. the cheapest price I found was 589.00 @ R&L & Shipping was under $20 (UPS Ground), I had it in 2 days. ( As I know eagerly await my Rotor cable and some jumpers for connecting my Bird to check SWR.. I am almost properly QRV for sat/terrestrial work.... tapping toes....biting nails ) -Steve Raas N2JDQ FN20vg

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Translation Needed For Pehuensat Note
by Keith N4ZQ 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

My Spanish is nil and Babel Fish Translation does seem to do a very good job of it, would someone translate this message for me. http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr El ing. jorge lassig director del proyecto pehuensat de la uncoma, informo que el satelite demora entre 48 y 72 horas en cargar sus baterias, debido a la posicion inadecuada del cono donde esta sujeto el sat respecto del sol. recuperadas las baterias, el satelite emite durante varias orbitas hasta la descarga de las mismas. en ese momento, la computadora de a bordo pone al sistema en modo seguro y solo deja encendido el oscilador. en uncoma estan evaluando cuando el cono cambiara su posicion en el espacio, para beneficiar la carga de baterias del pehuensat (el cono no tiene control de atitud). mas info en breve. saludos ignacio mazzitelli (lu1esy) >From what little I could extract from Babel Fish it appears that Pehuensat is still attached to the cone? And the cone does not have any attitude control so Pehuensat only gets sun on it's solar panel when the cone rotates around to the correct position? Is this correct? If so, it would explain a lot of questions as to the design and why it's not being heard more. It's interesting to note that 9W2QC and BX1AD reports both occurred when the satellite was in eclipse. 9W2QC copy came 4 minutes after entering eclipse. Probably Pehuensat got enough sun before eclipse to charge up the batteries for a few bust of voice messages and data. Appreciate a translation to help understand why I'm not hearing Pehuensat and the SWL reports seem to be few and far between. Keith N4ZQ

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