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

Re: A Fantastic Monday Morning Sky Show...or Tuesday's wasn't so bad, either.
by John Marranca, Jr 06 Nov '07

06 Nov '07

Good Morning, Everyone. OK...so as I woke up this morning at 6 am, I was greeted by the beep from the Orbitron program letting me know that the ISS was close. This morning...overhead...it was perfectly clear. I could see the Moon and Venus (I think). To the south were Lake Effect Snow clouds...and in the early dawn sky they appeared JET BLACK. At approximately 6:15, the ISS flew past and was absolutely glowing from the sun rising and the black background. Again, truly an awesome sight. John KB2HSH -- _______________________________ John Marranca, Jr PBX Technician/Shop Steward CWA Local 1122 BN Systems, Inc Orchard Park, NY (716)972-2006

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Email via Satellite Simulated Emergency Test
by Robert Bruninga 06 Nov '07

06 Nov '07

The value of sending an Email via APRS Satellite in an emergency is that it is a set-and-forget outward bound communcations mode. Perfect for real emergencies. You don't need anything but a 2m radio and a TNC. No special software. No special hardware, no satellite predictions, and no time consuming operating. Just set the Email message in your TNC beacon, turn it on, and then return to all the emergency tasks at hand. Think Katrina. You wanted to report your status, but had no time for the tedium of "operating" to find a means to get your traffic out. There was just too much else to do... In real emergencies, those affected have far too much else to do than to try to make a satellite contact to report back their location and status. But using an APRS beacon allows you to set up your outgoing message (or email), with no knowledge required about satellite pass times. Sooner or later an APRS satellite will pass over your location and your beacon and EMAIL will get in without any effort on your part. Your emergency health and welfare email will not only get relayed by the satellite to a SATgate, but should then be automatically emailed to the intended recepient. You did not need any special software, no satellite predictions, no special hardware other than a TNC and 2m radio. This is the ideal first-response health-and-welfare-status reporting mechanism. Put your beacon on the air and then do all the rest of the emregency work you have to do, and do not get burdened with having to sit and "operate" to try to get your message out. The Satellite Simulated Emergency Test web page shows you how to use any TNC to set up your outgoing EMAIL... http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/sset.html Try it with your old TNC. Anyone can do it. But the format must be correct for the packet that you place in your BECONTEXT: BT :EMAIL :email@address.com your_message_goes_here... Where 4 spaces are required after the word EMAIL and then the "email(a)address.com" must be the intended recepient. Its only one line. But in an emergency, ONE LINE is exceptionally valuable, and has a great chance of getting through. Not only will it get delivered (if the infrastructure works) but you can also just check the downlink yourself to see if it got through on: http://pcsat.aprs.org Try it this week while PCSAT is working! Bob, WB4APR

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PCSAT-1 & THD7 ?
by Henk, PA3GUO 06 Nov '07

06 Nov '07

> I just wonder how successful digi'ing via PCSAT using a TH-D7 has been? Hi Chris, I tried Sunday during a 60 degrees pass with - THD7 full battery (=2.5W) - 4 elements DL6WU hand held beam With this setup I can work AO51 always noise-free. But I could not get a single packet over PCSAT. I think this is not so much due to PCSAT, but more due to the fact that it sees 10..20 stations transmitting at the same time... only the strongest one wins :-( Sunday I also saw MAILBOX traffic, that can also reduce the APRS success rate ! Would be interesting to read more reports. The good news is of course that Europe is a big PCSAT user group ! Henk, PA3GUO http://www.qsl.net/pa3guo

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looking for I8CVS'e-mail
by Vincenzo Mone 06 Nov '07

06 Nov '07

Hit o the list, i am looking for the I8CVS's e-mail address . Pse anybody has it? Thanks in advance 73 de Enzo IK8OZV EasyLog 5 BetaTester EasyLog PDA BetaTester WinBollet BetaTester D.C.I. CheckPoint Regione Campania Skype: ik8ozv8520 *************************************** ***** GSM +39 338 9749786 ***** ***** SMS +39 338 9749786 ***** ***** FAX +39 328 7244294 ***** *** 2nd e-mail: vimone(a)tin.it *** ***************************************

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Re: Email via Satellite Simulated Emergency Test
by Bob Stewart 06 Nov '07

06 Nov '07

George, No problem. :) I managed to get the ax25 stuff installed and working on my linux box; at least in receive. Now that I know that works, I'll have to build an interface for the transmit side. Thanks for your offer of help, and to everyone else that responded! Bob - AE6RV --- George Henry <ka3hsw(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > Oops... Missed that you were looking for something for Linux. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bob Stewart" <bob(a)evoria.net> > To: "Amsat-BB" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 4:26 PM > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Email via Satellite Simulated Emergency Test > > > > --- Robert Bruninga <bruninga(a)usna.edu> wrote: > > > >> You don't need anything but a 2m radio and a TNC. No special > >> software. No special hardware, no satellite predictions, and no > >> time consuming operating. > > > > Bob can you or anyone tell me if there are software TNCs for > > soundcards out there? I know almost nothing about APRS or > > even where to turn to get useful information. Unfortunately, > > buying a TNC is simply not going to happen at this time. I am > > a Linux user. > > > > Bob - AE6RV > >

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Icom IC-PCR1500 and Doppler ????
by CE3SOC Raul Romero 05 Nov '07

05 Nov '07

hi iam have icom ic-pcr1500 need software doppler for my rig tnx Raul CE3SOC --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you still wasting your time with spam?... There is a solution!" Protected by GIANT Company's Spam Inspector The most powerful anti-spam software available. http://mail.spaminspector.com

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Re: [sarex] Re: A Fantastic Monday Morning Sky Show
by David J 05 Nov '07

05 Nov '07

Tim, I took these shots this morning from my front yard here in Orlando. Not great, but interesting. I believe on photo 3, you can see the two individual spacecraft. Just used my Olympus C750UZ. No zooming used. I like photo 1 a lot since you can view the Big Dipper and polaris in relation to the spacecrafts. The direction of travel is top left angling down to lower right. Dave, AA4KN -----Original Message----- From: sarex-bounces(a)AMSAT.Org [mailto:sarex-bounces@AMSAT.Org] On Behalf Of Tim Bosma Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 9:07 AM To: Arthur Rowe; SAREX(a)AMSAT.Org Subject: [sarex] Re: A Fantastic Monday Morning Sky Show Quite a sight this morning - the moon, Venus, and the ISS and the Shuttle several degrees apart going from SW to NE almost straight overhead. WOW! perfect viewing conditions. 73 Tim w6mu ---- Sent via sarex(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/sarex

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Re: Off-Topic: 10 MHz Amateur Radio balloon to cross the Atlantic
by Trevor 05 Nov '07

05 Nov '07

--- Garie Halstead K8KFJ <khyberpass65(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > It's odd they didn't announce the launch location. Tennessee? A coastline > location? Or did I just miss it. Their website gives a Google Earth link to the launch site so you can see exactly where it is http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=35%C2%B…'+43.51%22N++83%C2%B0+52'+24.50W&ie=UTF8&ll=35.962062,-83.873631&spn=0.001455,0.002489&t=h&z=19&om=1 73 Trevor M5AKA ___________________________________________________________ Want ideas for reducing your carbon footprint? Visit Yahoo! For Good http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/environment.html

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Re: Wind Turbine Interference?
by Trevor 05 Nov '07

05 Nov '07

--- Trevor <m5aka(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > The BBC document is still on their website but it's moved to this URL: > http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/pdf/buildings_factsheet.pdf This document is a year later than the one I originally mentioned and has changed in some areas. It references a Wind Farm RF planning tool http://windfarms.kw.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/rd/windfarms/windfarm.cgi The site says: "This tool is provided for the guidance of Wind Farm developers. The results of a query are a rough estimate of populations that may suffer interference from wind farms built at the locations specified, ..." 73 Trevor M5AKA ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the answer. Try it now. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/

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Re: geo stationary bird
by G0MRF＠aol.com 05 Nov '07

05 Nov '07

In a message dated 04/11/2007 15:41:26 GMT Standard Time, richard(a)g3rwl.demon.co.uk writes: Does anyone know if retired birds are switched ON or OFF once they get boosted into a retirement orbit ? Could still be useful to us even from there. 73 Richard Limebear G3RWL Hi Richard. After the 15 year (ish) period, the satellite is normally switched off as it can no longer point its high gain antennas at the correct point on the earth after the station keeping fuel has run out. For us it just means we need switchable antennas that can be swapped 15 years after launch. In every day use I suspect there could well be some loss of service during eclipse. On GEO sats the DC power required to run the transponders normally is a little less than the power from the solar array. However, when the satellite enters eclipse, the TV etc transponders are run from the batteries. I suspect that at this point, AMSAT would be switched off or into some low power mode until the eclipse has passed. The extra battery power needed for operation of AMSAT and the commercial transponder during eclipse would require a significant mass increase of the on-board batteries. 73 David

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