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

Re: CubeSat launch 27Mar07 6:46:35UT
by KA2AEV＠aol.com 22 Mar '07

22 Mar '07

Would kind of be really nice even if they could do 70cm & 2m Mike KA2AEV Staten Island, NY In a message dated 3/21/2007 7:57:03 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, w7lrd(a)comcast.net writes: Hello Can any of these cubesat' that are constantly being shot up be configured to a linear transponder? This way the non digi types can use them. 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

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Re: Antenna aluminum rod source?
by Alan P. Biddle 21 Mar '07

21 Mar '07

My thanks for all the sources! I have them all collected, and am going to put in an order with Texas Towers. Again, thanks, and very 73s, Alan WA4SCA

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Hamsat Question
by john heath 21 Mar '07

21 Mar '07

Hi TO Fred and the list, A good place to get operational updates on most of the Oscars is http://oscar.dcarr.org you can post your own reports on the site. 73 John G7HIA

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Hamsat Question
by W1FC＠aol.com 21 Mar '07

21 Mar '07

Good Morning, I just listened for Hamsat, orbit 10,144 coming down over North Atlantic, didn't hear anything here in Florida. Can some tell me if it is working? Thanks Fred W1FC/4 ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

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UI-View32 V2.03 for SatGate
by Mineo Wakita 21 Mar '07

21 Mar '07

I posted it to the following URL. http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/uiview32.htm --------------------------------------------- Name: Mineo Wakita / JE9PEL, JAMSAT member Mail: ei7m-wkt(a)asahi-net.or.jp URL : http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/ QTH : Yokohama Japan, GL:pm95tj Date: Mar 21, 2007 ---------------------------------------------

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Antenna aluminum rod source?
by Alan P. Biddle 21 Mar '07

21 Mar '07

Hi, I have already done the Google, but was wondering if anyone can recommend a good source of aluminum rods in small quantities for use in antennas? In particular, 3/16" round stock, made of what is usually referred to as aircraft T-5 or T-6 aluminum. The local sources so far have turned out to be rather soft alloys rather than the springy stuff used in beams, etc. And of course any firm with the word "aircraft" in the name wants 10-20X times the price. Alan WA4SCA

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AMSAT at the 2007 Dayton Hamvention
by Gould Smith 21 Mar '07

21 Mar '07

AMSAT will have a great deal to offer the amateur satellite enthusiast at the 2007 Dayton Hamvention. The dates for Dayton are Friday May 18 - Sun May 20, 2007. The AMSAT Forum will be on Friday afternoon this year from 11:15am to 2:00pm in Forum Room 1. Speakers and topics during the forum are: Moderator: Barry Baines, WD4ASW, AMSAT-NA Corporate Secretary Rick Hambly, W2GPS, President, AMSAT-NA "Summary of AMSAT-NA Activities in 2007" Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, AMSAT-DL President and Bob McGwier, N4HY, AMSAT-NA VP - Engineering, "Phase 3-Express: An Update" Jim Sanford, WB4GCS, EAGLE Project Manager "Eagle Status Update" Andrew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT-NA VP-Operations and Gould Smith, WA4SXM, AO-51 Command Station, "AMSAT-NA Satellite Operations and AO-51 Update" Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Director-Human Space Flight, "ARISS and Future SuitSat Missions" Friday night will usher in the first AMSAT/TAPR Banquet, to be held at the Air Force Museum. "Dinner Under the Wings" will be served in the Cold War area of the museum beginning at 6:45pm. The museum will be open until 10:00pm for viewing. Join us Friday night for an enjoyable dinner and experience. The price of the Banquet is $35, tickets must be purchased online at the AMSAT Store or by calling Martha at the AMSAT Office (301) 589-6062. There will no Banquet tickets sales at the AMSAT booth this year, as we have to give the museum a final count on Tuesday before the banquet. For additional information see the AMSAT website front page or the AMSAT at Dayton pages at http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/hamvention/Dayton2007.php See you there! Gould, WA4SXM

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Sapphire NO-45
by john heath 20 Mar '07

20 Mar '07

Listened for Sapphire on the 22:50 pass in range UK. Nothing heard. 73 John G7HIA

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SatPC32 with Windows Vista
by Wayne Estes 20 Mar '07

20 Mar '07

Erich Eichmann DK1TB tested the SatPC32 12.6 I/O functions with a new PC that runs Windows Vista 32. The results are encouraging. Generally, everything seems to be compatible. Below are the details (mostly Erich's words, not mine). A. Installshield setup program: Works on Vista 32. A new installer is required for Vista 64. B. Keplerian data Internet download: Gould Smith and Graham Ratcliff confirmed that it works. C. Speech function: Works on Vista 32. D. Rotor steering via parallel port: I tested the IOPort.SYS driver successfully with the IF-100 on a parallel port. The driver is also used with the FODTrack, the KCT and the RifPC. The latter 2 can't be used with Vista PCs as they require ISA slots. But rotor steering with the FODTrack parallel port interface will work. E. Rotor steering via serial port: Rotor steering via COM 1 works. I tested that with the W0LMD Tracker Mini. So, all serial port rotor controllers (GS-232 and Easycomm1 compatible and EGIS devices) will work. Rotor steering with the Labjack U12 works (the U12 will also work on Vista 64). The Labjack U3 doesn't work at present. I received an error msg when I tested the U3. Labjack says they have no Vista driver for the U3 as yet. F. Rotor steering via USB port: Today I tested the HalloRotor USB controller and it works. I could not get the WinRotor software to install. Maybe I need updated software. I have no experience with other USB controllers such as G6LVB's tracker. G. CAT control via serial port: CAT steering via COM 1 works flawlessly (Graham Ratcliff confirmed the same for Vista 64). H. USB-to-serial adapters: Control of serial devices via a USB-to-Serial adapter will also work, provided the adapter's driver is Vista compatible. CAT steering with my 4-Port Keyspan USB-to-serial adapter didn't work. I have a 3 year old USB 1.1 model, USA-49WLC. This model has been replaced with the USB 2.0 USA-49WG. Keyspan has a Vista compatible driver for the new model, but the driver doesn't work with the older model. I contacted Keyspan and they confirmed that they don't have a Vista driver for the older USA-49WLC. I have no experience with other USB-to-Serial adapters. Summary: There are no problems with SatPC32 12.6 itself under Vista 32. But there are problems with some 3rd party hardware drivers which can only be fixed by their manufacturers. Windows Vista 64 I have created a 12.6 test version for Vista 64. Graham, VK5AGR, has tested it and noticed no problems. It doesn't support parallel port rotor controllers (IF-100, FODTrack), because the IOPort.sys driver is not compatible with Vista 64. All other functions seem to work like they do with the normal SatPC32 under Vista 32, provided Vista 64 compatible hardware drivers are available. Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik

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Re: Strong sigs
by Dave Johnson 20 Mar '07

20 Mar '07

I've had several instances of squelch being broken while scanning, usually from my car using an external mag-mount antenna. In fact, my first (and so far only) QSO on AO-27 was done just this way - I was on my way to work and scanning the channels I have programmed in my HT, when the channel I have programmed for SO-50 broke squelch with a contact occurring. I was able to jump in after going to VFO mode (I can't save V/U or U/V frequency pairs in memory), and at first thought it was SO-50 until I ran pass prediction for the time of the contact. I've had the squelch break on AO-51 passes, as well as many times with ISS passes, mainly during packet transmissions. Dave KC9GHA. On 3/20/07, amsat-bb-request(a)amsat.org <amsat-bb-request(a)amsat.org> wrote: > > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:10:55 -0400 > From: "Tim Tapio" <tim(a)timtapio.com> > Subject: [amsat-bb] Strong sigs > To: <AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org> > Message-ID: <000001c76a94$ff0dd870$4101a8c0@D6Z67P91> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > While on the way home from our ham meeting tonight, listening to the > repeater traffic, I was amazed to hear an EM64 as AO-51 broke squelch, > through a rubber duck, sitting in the console of my car on the UHF side of > my IC-W32A > > High pass....muast have been around 1:42Z..... > > 73 de Tim, K4SHF FM04....heard in FM05 > >

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