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

plethora of birds
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 16 Dec '07

16 Dec '07

Hello With the plethora of commercial satellites whizzing around, specifically the ones that are approaching their "end of life", and being replaced. Is it at all feasable they could be "reconfigured" to accomodate "us". We hams are pretty good at "making due" with just about anything. Just pondering the thought. 73 Bob W7LRD AMSAT 28498 Seattle

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ANDE 1 and 2 Report Dec 16 2007: still all is working fine !
by Henk, PA3GUO 16 Dec '07

16 Dec '07

ANDE 1 and 2 Report Dec 16 2007: still all working fine ! ========================================================= - ANDE now getting to only 210 km height - Footprint getting smaller - AND: still more and more stations make contacts !! ========================================================= 14:35 CET / 50 degrees elevation pass: Was able to logon to ANDE-2 at 20 degrees elevation and set TE 1 (twice, to get value confirmed). Result: ANDE-2 works fine, TE 1 was set to 10 seconds successfully ! 20071216144007 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAO,OE1VKW: T#013,002,015,014,007,006,01000000,746 20071216143956 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAO,OE1VKW: T#012,122,154,153,152,155,10101110,746 20071216143947 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAO,PE1ITR: T#011,135,048,051,048,213,11100001,746 20071216143947 : PA3GUO-8]APRS,ANDE-2*,qAO,PE1ITR::ANDE 2 OK ! 20071216143926 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAO,OE1VKW: T#009,002,050,038,028,024,01000000,746 20071216143916 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAO,PE1ITR: T#008,122,155,154,153,155,10101110,746 20071216143906 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAO,OE1VKW: T#007,135,048,051,048,213,11100001,746 20071216143856 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAO,OE1VKW: T#006,122,168,117,001,029,00000010,746 20071216143846 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAo,DL8DR: T#005,002,015,014,007,006,01000000,746 <-- as of here 10 seconds interval 20071216143821 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAo,DL8DR: T#003,122,170,117,001,029,00000010,617 <-- just before this TE 1 was set ... 14:38:13 !TELEMTRY was 1 WAIT <-- confirmation: period was already 10 seconds 14:38:11 !prompt:TE 1 <-- re-issue of TE 1 to get confirmation 14:38:04 !prompt:TELEMTRY was 5 WAIT <-- confirmation of ANDE-2 14:38:02 !TE 1 <-- set telemetry rate to 10 seconds ... 20071216143729 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAo,DK3WN-1:T#002,002,062,047,036,031,01000000,000 <-- beacon because side B is awake 20071216143657 : PA3GUO-8]APRS,ANDE-2*,qAo,DK3WN-1:waking up side B ... 20071216143641 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAO,PE1ITR: T#001,122,158,158,156,157,10101110,000 <-- beacon due to the wake up of side B 20071216143559 : PA3GUO-8]APRS,ANDE-2*,qAO,PE1ITR:waking up side B ... <-- waking up side B 13:05 CET pass: ANDE is now flying faster, so less and less time is available each pass. Tried to logon to ANDE-2 during the 78 degrees elevation pass,but only after 2 attempts I got logged on. However, I was not able to submit the TE 1 command on time. My link got broken as can be seen below: 20071216130702 : PA3GUO-8]APRS,ANDE-2*,qAO,PE1ITR::ALL : Hello 20071216130657 : ANDE-2]BEACON,qAO,PA3GUO:T#002,002,015,014,008,007,01000000,696 20071216130628 : PA3GUO-8]APRS,ANDE-2*,qAO,PE1ITR:C DISC2 20071216130615 : PA3GUO-8]APRS,ANDE-2*,qAO,PA3GUO:TE 1 20071216130410 : ANDE-2]APRS1,SGATE,qAO,PA3GUO::BLN1ANDE :ANDE-1 only wakes up 1 of evry 15s for users. Pse conserve. 20071216130356 : PA3GUO-8]APRS,ANDE-2*,qAO,PA3GUO:waking up ANDE 2 APRS users: OK1DNT, OE1VKW, PA3GUO, F9XG, DL8DR, SP8RSL, F1IKD-6, F1SRC, SQ2RH APRS QSO: 20071216130748 : PA3GUO-8]APRS,ANDE-1*,qAO,SP7THR-3::OK1DNT : QSL 20071216130711 : OK1DNT]CQ,ANDE-1*,qAO,SM7WSJ::PA3GUO-8 :ok1dnt@seznam.cz good afternoon OM op. Denis Hello frm Teplice 73! ANDE-1 downlink: 20071216130732 : PA3GUO-8]APRS,ANDE-1*,qAo,DK3WN-1::ALL : http://www.qsl.net/pa3guo 20071216130723 : ANDE-1]BEACON,qAO,PA3GUO:T#004,135,048,051,048,214,11100001,000 20071216130453 : ANDE-1]BEACON,qAO,PA3GUO:T#001,121,141,139,138,137,10101110,000 73 - Henk, PA3GUO http://www.qsl.net/pa3guo

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FO-29 schedule Dec.-Jan.
by Mineo Wakita 16 Dec '07

16 Dec '07

Time UTC 2007 Dec. 18 3:06 - 19 3:56 - 20 3:00 - 21 3:51 - 22 2:56 -, 4:45 - 23 3:46 - 24 2:52 -, 4:38 - 25 None 26 2:47 - 27 3:37 - 28 2:43 - 29 3:33 - 30 2:40 -, 4:25 - 31 1:45 -, 3:28 - 2008 Jan. 1 2:33 -, 4:20 - 2 1:38 -, 3:25 - 3 2:30 -, 4:15 - 4 None 5 2:25 -, 4:10 - 6 3:15 -, 5:00 - 7 None de JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita

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KJ6KO L-band amps
by Andrew Glasbrenner 15 Dec '07

15 Dec '07

I'm curious how these are working out for folks. I have had mine for several weeks but haven't used it yet. Has anyone come up with a source for a good relay to use it on 1296, or a nifty design to switch the amp on and off? 73, Drew KO4MA

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Re: Phase 4 versus Eagle
by Tom Clark, K3IO 15 Dec '07

15 Dec '07

Ed, KL7UW said: > Have to agree with Drew even if this reduces signal levels at extreme > latitudes. I would assume that the P4 centered on the NA&SA would > boresight the equator with a beam chosen to match the earth's > apparent angular size = arcsin (8000/23500) = 19.9 deg. which > corresponds with an antenna with 19.5 dB. At 2.4 GHz an 18-inch dish > has about 19.7 dB gain. Such a footprint would only be 3 dB down at the poles. Ed -- I think you calculated for the gain over a dipole and not dBi. The Isotropic would be ~2 dB higher (22.4 dBi for a beam that is about 3.5 dB down at the edge of the earth). I derived the number in my paper on phased arrays presented at the last (Pittsburgh) AMSAT Space Symposium; see pages 1&2 and Table 1 in http://mysite.verizon.net/w3iwi/electronic_scanning_antennas.pdf. In my EAGLE paper, I made the calculation for the altitude of a GEO satellite, since that approximates the altitude we would get with EAGLE with a rocket boost from GTO. Also, strictly speaking, your number is the directivity. Directivity refers to the beam size without considering any ohmic or scattering losses in a real antenna. The real "gain" of an antenna is always poorer than the directivity by a factor of typically 50% or so. To divert any incoming questions: Yes, my symposium paper describes my thoughts on antennas for EAGLE in an elliptical HEO orbit, where we have to expend some effort on pointing the antenna from a spinning spacecraft. My phased array ideas are based on the notion that (a) we will want to point at the earth even when we are away from apogee, and (b) trying to mechanically point an antenna (or the spacecraft itself) is wayyyyy! beyond the limits of amateur technology. Item (b) points to one of the big advantages of the piggyback-to-GEO P4 possibility -- the "parent" bus will provide a platform, stabilized to a degree or better, so we can use "simple" antennas (probably dishes) for the microwave frequencies [saving me the hassle of designing a "real world" electronically steered phased array]. To get a feeling for the "antenna farm" we might have for P4, Google yielded a few interesting photos: 1. http://space.skyrocket.de/index_frame.htm?http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sda… shows the DoD IRIS payload riding in the space we might occupy 2. http://www.cnes.fr/web/print-6086-intelsat-11-optus-d2.php shows an Intelsat satellite being mated to an Ariane 5 3. Intelsat 10, launched on 2004: http://www.astrium.eads.net/families/daily-life-benefits/communications/int… 4. The 2005 Sealaunch of IA-8: http://www.dailywireless.org/2005/06/23/intelsat-spotbeam-launched <http://www.dailywireless.org/2005/06/23/intelsat-spotbeam-launched/> 73 & Season's Greetings de Tom, K3IO

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Robert Mcqwier
by Fred A Parker 15 Dec '07

15 Dec '07

Hello, First: I want to thank every one that supported me through some very trying times. Second: Some members of Amsat have suggested to me that they plan on holding out membership renewal and donations. I do not condone that action as of yet. 75% of the members, volunteers and officers of Amsat are a great bunch of dedicated people who want only to please the members and are great to work with. With the goal of getting some birds in the sky for Amsat members and the general ham community at large. To punish them would do no service to them and the Amsat members and ham radio at large. As any corporation Amsat does from time to time need to clean house and through out the trash. In my opinion the first and worse case is that of Robert McQwier. As vice president of engineering Bob has been a total failure. In example he allowed Dick Jansen to spend hundreds if not thousands of hours designing Eagle and then coming up with a new design so every thing has to start from day one. In my case he had me spend in the neighborhood of three hundred hours on a very difficult module design to manufacture. To truly manufacture these parts they should have been done with custom forming dies costing upwards off $20.000.00 each. I did manage to do the job by designing and building a custom sheet metal brake. Only to have Bob decide they will not work. When in the very beginning I suggested the design that he now has on the drawing board. I could go on and on but think this is enough. To work for him, just read the email I have included with this post and let your imagination go to work for you. No wonder Amsat has trouble finding volunteers and donors. As it stands now Eagle is behind from when I started. Amsat has lost the full services of Dick Jansen over this fiasco and as present I do not know of any one who has replaced him. Bob Davis is doing some of the work but does not have enough time devote to get it done promptly. The final straw is his slandering and degrading of senior citizens members of Amstat. No organization can tolerate such an attitude and expect to survive. I suggest all members of Amsat to contact the board of directors concerning this matter and giving them your opinion. Then we volunteers and others can get together and get some birds in the sky in any form that is decided on. Myself I am chomping at the bit to get to work. Thanks Again Fred KF0AK ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert McGwier" <rwmcgwier(a)gmail.com> To: "Fred A Parker" <fparker(a)paulbunyan.net> Cc: "'AMSAT BoD'" <bod(a)amsat.org>; "senior-officers" <Senior-officers(a)amsat.org> Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 1:14 PM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: Phase 4 versus Eagle > Fred A Parker wrote: >> Just a suggestion, Has Amsat explored the idea of hiring a professional >> to help in some of the day to management and fund raising? When Amsat >> has a potential consumer base of 700,000 hams. If things were done >> right money should be no problem. Amsat needs to do a better job of >> selling itself. Then money should be no problem. >> Fred > > > Not only have we considered it Fred but you continue to demonstrate your > ignorance and hostility by not knowing that we have done exactly that. > You do not know that all sorts of efforts have been made at raising > funds. We are told at every step what basic axioms there are in fund > raising. You have to have something to sell to the interested party. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > No one is interesting in funding a private repeater for 20 guys to talk > to each other about their brand new scars and brand new meds and we > would be FOOLS to kowtow to people who will be dead or uninterested > before we get into orbit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We have a professional fund raiser hired and > contracted. We have a professional manager who is doing a DAMN GOOD > job, better than when I was a director 15 years ago. > > It really is time for you to basically shut up and go do some > investigation before you make a further complete fool of yourself. > Barry asked me if I was shooting the messenger on an unpleasant message. > I have made a very successful career out of promoting and working with > unpleasant messengers. I have never promoted a single one who fired all > cannons in a public forum with wrong facts, open hostility, and just > plain dumb ignorance. > > Really Fred, you are well over the line. This is personal, ad hominem, > and of no utility to the organization you ostensibly support. > > Bob > > -- > 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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Explain Photo?
by jkelly＠home 15 Dec '07

15 Dec '07

Can someone explain to me what actually is happening in this photo? http://www.eanet.com/kodama/astro/2007/1110a/7.htm Jeff KT2K

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2007 AMSAT President's Report Posted
by JoAnne Maenpaa 15 Dec '07

15 Dec '07

Hello everyone, The AMSAT web page at http://www.amsat.org has been updated with a summary of the 2007 President's Report which Rick W2GPS presented in person during the Annual General Meeting segment of the Symposium. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

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Orators and Engineers...
by Bob Bruninga 15 Dec '07

15 Dec '07

Hey, no one's perfect. >> No one is interesting in funding a private >> repeater for 20 guys to talk to each other ... > Did you *really* say that? ... > Diplomacy is called for.. I wish evryone would back off. Bob is one heck of an engineer and technical leader, and that is his job. He is not the silver tongued BS manager. He is not a diplomat and he says what the thinks. We all have rough edges, but as again, I have leared over my 45 years in ham radio... Let those people with ideas and know how, and initiative and interest PROCEED forward. Get out of the way. Support them where they can. Trying to complain and convince someone else to do what *you* want done in a volunteer progam like ham radio ALWAYS FAILS to make progress and even worse, usually causes those that are leading the charge to give up in disgust over all the ankle biting and nit-pickers... When I first met Bob I was a little surprised at his frankness and some things that he said, but over the last few years as I have watched him proceed with his ideas and great techincal competance, and I now chuckle at it and leared to take his comments with a grain of salt, to appreciate his initiative and to hang on for the ride! Let the orators and BS masters hone their craft. And let the engineers get on with building us a fantastic new capabiliity and a new -position- of responsibility within the EmCom organizations that will assure our continued future success. Bob Bruninga WB4APR

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AO-7 Mode A 10m Rx ant.?
by Joe Krepps 15 Dec '07

15 Dec '07

Just how big/complicated of an antenna do I need to get the 10m downlink from AO-7's Mode A? I'm looking for something that's portable. I'd be incredibly pleased if the 10m element stuck in my Diamond MV3A, magmounted to my Outback's roof would do it. (I could stick the 10m element in the side holder if need be - the antenna can accomodate 2 elements at once.) Tnx & 73 Joe WB3CFN

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