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

Re: From where???
by Dave Guimont 17 Oct '07

17 Oct '07

>Hello Dave, > I was born within spitting distance of the JODRELL > BANK ... (University of Manchester) ... Radio telescope, in the > county of Cheshire, England 1n 1946. > >Served in Her Majesty's Service ... (British Army Signals) ... UN >service ... (around the world) ... NATO Norway from 1970 until >retirement, been here ever since. Very good, John, that explains the "English".. I'm 85, and still trying to act like a kid, but really not accomplishing it now!! I'm a retired US Navy fighter pilot, retired in 1967 after WWII, Korea and Vietnam...25years total service... Sounds as tho you have control of the heart thing... I had a small stroke about six weeks ago, still feel some of the downers from it, but gradually adapting.. Am sure we both thank the Good Lord for what we have remaining... I've worked them all since 07, hope we get P3E pretty soon...Good we have ESA.....NASA does nothing for AMSAT, except use us to advertise themselves!! Oh well, got to have something to complain about!! Nice to hear from you... 73, Dave wb6llo(a)amsat.org Disagree: I learn.... Pulling for P3E...

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AMSAT Awards
by Bruce 17 Oct '07

17 Oct '07

Awards this week are: We would like to welcome the following to the satellite community. They have made their first satellite contact and are now members of the AMSAT Satellite Communicators Club. John Marranca, Jr., KB2HSH South Africa AMSAT Communication Achievement Award Fernando Martins, CT2ISG, #US114 To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on W0KIE Intelsat Americas, T1, 6.2/6.8Mhz Also streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org

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Where's the lightning?.
by John Hackett 17 Oct '07

17 Oct '07

Hello All, AO-7's mode-B transponder absolutely *THUNDERING* !!! in this morning at 08:20 UTC. (Okay !!! ... S5 ... alright?). 73 John. <la2qaa(a)amsat.org>

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AO-7 report.
by John Hackett 17 Oct '07

17 Oct '07

Regular users will have noted that the AO-7 mode-B transponder has begun to "behave" again. We're still not sure 'exactly' what happened, several "theories" have been bandied about ... what is certain !!! is that it was a power related problem so let us concentrate on *NOT* belting her with excessive power. When you can't hear yourself adequately ... IMPROVE YOUR RECEIVE CAPABILITIES. Cranking up your transmit power to compensate for an inadequate receiving system is *NOT* the way to go. Remember ... AO-7 is running at less than optimum in all 4 modes. Let's not accelerate her second demise by screwing up the power budget anymore than it already is. Excessive power *WILL* shorten the satellite's life. If, through lack of experience you don't understand why ... please take the trouble to find out. I read on the Internet yesterday one prominent satellite operator, a PA station, list part of his equipment as 100w and 2 x 10 element beams. He specify whether this was 100w EIRP or 100w fed to the aerials ... I most certainly hope it was *NOT* the latter since assuming a line loss of 3dB that would give an EIRP of well over 500 watts with today's compact 10 element beams ... enough to melt the plastic holding AO-7's solar panels on the spaceframe. (Yes, I'm kidding ... but 500w EIRP is 450 too many for AO-7). Please remember, 31 years ago not all the "bits n' pieces" were space-rated. Three things you should improve for better AO-7 operating. 1) Receive capability. 2) Receive capability. 3) Receive capability. At 06:27 UTC this morning I noticed something I havn't heard for two years ... that which I presume was echos of the BMEWS radar, I was rather "bemused" (pun intentional). It sounded like a rapid machine-gun like auroral woodpecker ... or if you've never experienced aurora propagation, like blowing through your nose into the neck of a glass bottle ... "keying" it at about 65 wpm. GM1SXX and myself suspected the Fyllingsdale BMEWS radar situated on the north Yorkshire moors in the UK ... BMEWS = ballistic missile early warning system. For a detailed description see ... <http://www.observations.biz/Joint_Observations/BMEWS_ed.htm> 73 John. <la2qaa(a)amsat.org>

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AO-7 & Weggies.
by John Hackett 16 Oct '07

16 Oct '07

Mak, When the power from the solar panels is less than optimum, the satellite's control system starts to send random code from the memory, which will turn the transponders on or off in a predetermined sequence assuming there is enough voltage to control the circuits properly ... BUT !!! ... several factors can and do change the system parameters. This is what I've been babbling on about all along for several weeks now. At first, everybody assumed I'd gone round the bend ... (mad) ... with my 'Greyline' theory but now, a few people are actually considering the possibility. Unfortunately, I'm not very coherent so I leave the "explaining" to GM1SXX ... where he can do all the work and I can take all the credit ... a 50/50 division of labour. We have to distinguish between actual fact, that which is wishful thinking and probability. We can safely assume that the Old Girl's behaviour and mode selection/power output is (indirectly) determined by the solar array ... (read: amount of sunlight) ... and directly by the onboard electronics. (That was mistake Nr: 1 ... calling a female !!! an "Old Girl"). Your solar panel and my blue weggie theory (*)... (thanks to GM1SXX for providing the "space" name for the Greyline) ... do seem to fit the facts ... even if we can't prove it. <http://www.observations.biz/Joint_Observations/Observations_14_10_2007.htm> The onboard electroncs *MAY* be explained after GM1SXX and I have got our thieving little fingers on the original schematics ... (which are still in Washington "as we speak") (*) Any self-respecting American knows what a "weggie" is but in this case it's Manchester vernacular for "wedge" and has nowt to do with "cheeks" of any kind. 73 John. <la2qaa(a)amsat.org> ..................................................................................... >From SV1BSX. Well John, definitely the "Old-girl" is back again very Loud the last 2 days. Last evening I was QRV on Mode/A, the signals was SUPER also on this Mode. Never I heard it too much strong. So, I wondering why this "drop down" the last days. Have you any idea about the spin of this Satellite? I was thinking that, the AO-7 is octagonal. So, the Solar panels are numbered No1, No2, No3.... No 8 (each one on each side of octagonal). If we have ie the No2, No3 & No4 Panels with limited Power output and the Spin is Low, may be here we have the following scenario: a) when these "limited power Panels"(No2,3,4) are forward to Sun, the Satellite is very weak due to poor Power budget. b) when the rest-good Panels are forward to Sun, the Satellite is stronger. .................................................................................. That explain partially the mystery, why the Satellite is a bit stronger when the Satellite is approaching to the Daylight. Simply, the rest "good" Panels help a bit the (low) Power bugdet even if not straight-forward to the Sunlight.

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Agenda for AMSAT Space Symposium
by Martha 16 Oct '07

16 Oct '07

The agenda for the 2007 AMSAT Space Symposium has been posted on the AMSAT website. -- 73- Martha

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PrimeSat Controller for sale - Price amendment.
by Dave Aitch 16 Oct '07

16 Oct '07

"The PrimeSat Controller is a complete and automatic controller for Satellite Communication Stations. When there is the need to communicate by voice or data through a circular or elliptical, low or high orbit satellite, it is absolutely essential to have a continuous adjustment of the antennas and station operating frequencies, in order to guarantee the best alignment and RF signal, as also the correct frequency compensation due to Doppler effect." http://www.primetec.pt/products.php?sec=2&cat=3&prod=12&lang=en Mail direct for any questions. Prefer to sell in the U.K. For sale @ £120:00p Cheers, Dave.

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TNC-to-HT Cables
by Clint Bradford 16 Oct '07

16 Oct '07

Ed - Associated Radio makes your needed cable. http://www.associatedradio.com Clint Bradford, K6LCS 909-241-7666

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Re: RS-22 Loud and Clear
by Henk, PA3GUO 16 Oct '07

16 Oct '07

Yes, indeed a nice sat to listen to. Same holds for CO55/CO57/CO58/HO59. And RS15 ! On my website I have mp3's available. Observing these satellites: - keeps you trained on CW - tests your automated doppler (eg with HRD) - notice that sat's need ~1 character before their freq is stable - look in an mp3 editor at the waves: you see signal strenght variations - those variations are repeatable & each sat is unique - overhead doesnt mean max link: antenna of sat may point somewhere else ... lot of fun ! Henk http://www.qsl.net/pa3guo

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Need help with TNC cable
by Ed Tump 16 Oct '07

16 Oct '07

Folks, I am trying to buy or make a cable for my Kantronics KPC3 to go from the TNC to my Yaesu FT60 which uses the 4 conductor single plug. Any ideas? Thank you, Ed

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