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

FW: Corrected URL!
by John Hackett 15 Oct '07

15 Oct '07

From: allan_gm1sxx(a)hotmail.com To: archie.hackett(a)hotmail.com Subject: Corrected URL! Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 13:49:11 +0000 http://www.observations.biz/Joint_Observations/Observations_14_10_2007.htm Cheers, Al. Play Movie Mash-up and win BIG prizes!

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Possibly !!!.
by John Hackett 15 Oct '07

15 Oct '07

When I first lanced my greyline "theory" last week to try to explain some of the anomolies we're experiencing on AO-7 mode-B lately while it dragged itself along ther greyline, I was fully expecting to be publicly flogged at the very least, possibly lined up against the nearest wall and shot but at the very least ridiculed and hung out to dry. Imagine my surprise therefore when several stations actually agreed that this "theory" was a possibility ... my main point ... (in the original mail) ... was that the greyline is actually *NOT* a flat line on the globe to make HF software look good. (For the "stick-in-the muds", these ovservations are, like the originals that were published in Oscar News and The Amsat Journal, very much "tongue-in-cheek" ... with attempt at making an otherwise boring subject paletable to the potential newcomer ... or ... to alleviate some of the pomposity sometimes found in 'technical' organisations ... yes, I know, the regulars have heard asll this before ... but hopefully, Amsat can still pull in an odd recruit or three. Long time readers of the original 'Observations from Norway' ... (pre-internet) ... will recall that I always professed to having two (2) activer braincells and that my partner-in-crime, the illustrious GM1SXX ... (hereafter known as "The twisted Pair" ... had three. However, judging by his latest missive ... (below) ... he now only has two but hey! that's still 1200% more than me since my two have deteriorated to one. This makes sed GM1SXX 300% ... (you work it out) ... more coherent than I .,.. therefore, I invite ya'll to read GM1SXX's ramblings rather than my own ... (see below). Anyone being a "sucker" for punishment may peruse our webpage at <http://www.observations.bix> I hope this will appease those gentlemen ... (old timers all) ... who requested more of the same. To the stick-in-the-muds, I profoundly apologise ... though I believe I'm *NOT* treading on anyones toes since the bb professes to be in the land of the free. I can thoroughly recommend that newcomers read Commander John Brennegan's 'SATGEN' bulletins, archived on our *Observations* site, curtesy of GM1SXX. With respect. 73 John. <http://www.observations.biz/Joint_Observations/Observations_14_10_2007.htm> <http://www.observations.biz/>

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Gray vis-a-vis Grey
by Ronald Long 15 Oct '07

15 Oct '07

Famous Book: Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body by Henry Gray, 1918. USA TV Show: Grey's Anatomy (perhaps they didn't know any better) Radio: Grayline Propagation Color Palette: Gray Bad Spelling on this web site and probably many others: http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/greyline.html ron w8gus

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Re: [hpsdr] Allen Array goes online today (Thursday Oct 11)
by Robert McGwier 14 Oct '07

14 Oct '07

Philip Covington wrote: > ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List ***** > > <http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/8209> > > <http://www.seti.org/> > > 73 Phil N8VB > _______________________________________________ http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/3634776 and a great time was had by all. 73's Bob N4HY -- AMSAT Director and VP Engineering. Member: ARRL, AMSAT-DL, TAPR, Packrats, NJQRP, QRP ARCI, QCWA, FRC. ARRL SDR WG Chair “An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?” Descartes

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Re: LEO in Europe
by Wayne Estes 14 Oct '07

14 Oct '07

Bob Stewart wrote: I'll make one or two and then I'm done. Wayne W9AE replies: On FM birds I usually initiate only one contact. But afterwards 4 or 5 people call ME because I'm in a "rare" grid. It's kind of fun to be the pursued instead of the pursuer. Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik

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Using the D700 on GO-32 mobile
by Bob Bruninga 14 Oct '07

14 Oct '07

D700 Operating tips on GO-32: The D7 and D710 APRS radios have a menu setting for IGNORE DCD which is needed to both TX and RX on GO-32 while it is beeing heard. The D700 does not. So the D700 will not TX while it can hear the GO-32 downlink. This is not too much of a problem, becuse it can only hear 1 out of every 3 passes anyway. And if you are just making a periodic report, then your UPLINK packets even on the main high pass will be successful for the first and last 5 minues of the pass while your receiver still cannot hear the downlink. But if you are sitting there watching all the packets fly by on the PMON display, and want to TX, then it is easy to do. Just set TX MODE to PTT instead of AUTO. Then you can force a POSITION report by kerchunking the PTT button for an instant. TIP NUMBER 2: Remember, if you send a MESSAGE from any of these radios, you must QSY the uplink to 145.85. If you are only sending up your POSTION/STATUS then you must be on 145.93. I forgot this this morning and wondered why my message never got diigipeated... TIP NUMBER-3A: So you can read all the mail, add the wildcard * to your message list. But then clear out old messsages or you will fill up fast. TIP-3B: If you send a message, do not send it to an individual call, send it to ALL. Then everyone can see it no matter what their setting of their message list. You can mention somoeone else's call in your message to ALL. The D710 is much easier to QSO with messages. The MSG menu has an EDIT button. So you can call up an old message and just edit it. A GREAT application for this is QSL's. Just watch the downllink, and eveyrone you want to QSL, you can just edit their new call onto the end of a previous message to ALL that lists all the calls you are QSL'ing in one message. I think each new edited message becomes a new one, so be sure to CLEAR the older ones. Bob Wb4APR Bob, Wb4APR

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Re: LEO in Europe
by Bob Bruninga 14 Oct '07

14 Oct '07

If you are fed up with LEO FM repeaters, then try something new. You have eveyrthing you need. Just change freqeucnies! > the use of LEO's... is more frustration than satisfaction. > I feel like willing to dive into the deep abysm. > Crash my Arrow antenna and my TH-D7 and say goodbye. > I quit. The D7 is 100% ready to go for two-way LEO Packet satellite QSO. The arrow will make it work very well. See how: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/GO32-ops.html No congestion, lots of room. Good luck.

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ANDE Voice today (Sunday) ON 15:50 UTC/17:50 CET
by Henk, PA3GUO 14 Oct '07

14 Oct '07

Due to the success of yesterday we will repeat the ANDE Packet to Voice mode event today (Sunday Oct 14) during the 15:50 UTC / 17:50 CET pass. Wait until you hear ANDE saying "Welcome to Textspeech", then: 1) Set in your TNC U APRS VIA ARISS 2) Get your TNC in CONV mode and type :TALK :Hello and you should hear ANDE saying "XYZ says Hello" Henk, PA3GUO

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More on the Greyline theory.
by John Hackett 13 Oct '07

13 Oct '07

Gents, Don't give up on my "hare-brained" Greyline theory just yet. Remember ... it's not just a "flat" line on the globe we're talking discussing here. For all intents and purposes "space" is 3 dimensional. Thomas's point is IMPORTANT ... regarding illumination. Half of the satellite may be illuminated while the other half isn't, much depends on the attitude in relation to the sun ... but some tracking software doesn't always predict these parameters and those that do hardly ever agree with eachother. So which is correct? ... don't ask me !!!. As long as the signals have been "booming" in nobody has bothered much about minor details and possible small perbutations. Now may be the time for a bit more study. The following is a mail from Ken GW1FKY, with a *VERY* good suggestion for a beacon. I think we should support it ... coupled with my previous suggestion for a redundancy back-up system for a beacon ... it's a great idea. We are now seeing now just how important the beacon is. Interestingly, IMHO, AO-7 has taught more people more things about satellite operating than AO-51 ever will. 73 John. <la2qaa(a)amsat.org> From: GW1FKY(a)aol.com Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:10:38 -0400 Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] The laws of physics. To: la2qaa(a)amsat.org Hi John, Many thanks for your interesting observations and experiences with the operation of AO-7. I was wondering whether what you stated about the "Footprint " & the "Greyline" information is perhaps the key factor. As we are using software to predict the relative position against what might be the real point that the satellite sees illumination, is it perhaps a factor of error in the modelling that is used? Just a thought and it would be useful if could confirm the accuracy with future satellites if they had a beacon which did switch on as a result of solar illumination and not as a function of software or a timer. Regards Ken Eaton GW1FKY Amsat- UK Amsat -NA

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ANDE Voice results still good !
by Henk, PA3GUO 13 Oct '07

13 Oct '07

ANDE works still good in VOICE mode ! A test on October 12th showed that on side A (ANDE-1) signals are still good. Notice that (on purpose) the audio downlink is weaker as the digital downlink: http://home.vianetworks.nl/users/hamoen/pa3guo/voice_ande_pa3guo_12oct07.mp3 A test on October 13th showed that on side A (ANDE-1) users can easily use voice mode. Mike, DK3WN, created six (!) voice messages which were loud & clear: http://home.vianetworks.nl/users/hamoen/pa3guo/voice_ande_dk3wn_13102007_15… More details on: http://home.vianetworks.nl/users/hamoen/pa3guo/voice.html Let me know if you want me to enable it again over Europe. Henk, PA3GUO http://www.qsl.net/pa3guo

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