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

Boy scout Camporee
by David J 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

Tomorrow, Saturday March 17th, is the date of the Manatee Co. FL Boy Scout Camporee. This year's campout is centered around experiencing amateur radio. There will be several stations setup covering several bands. AMSAT will also have a station operating as many satellites and passes as possible on Saturday. The calls being used will be KU4OS and AA4KN. We would appreciate contacts with as many stations as possible. We invited you to listen out for us and be a part of this event. Dave, AA4KN

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SO50 contact
by Robert C. Rice 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

On Thursday afternoon about 3:45pm (USA Central time) I made contact via SO50 with Chris KG2??? in Idaho (?) possibly grid DM22(?). I was operating HT portable with a long whip from the beach near Corpus Christi, Texas. This was my first satellite contact, and I was so surprised that it all worked I neglected to get it all down. Perhaps Chris lurks here, or someone happened to hear our brief contact and can put me straight on his callsign. Since this was my first satellite contact, I would like to send him a QSL card. Robert Rice WB5PKN

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Successful demo @ 0334-0348 UTC via AO-51, 16 March!
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

Hi! My presentation and demonstration for the ThunderBird Amateur Radio Club (W7TBC) last night was a success. This was the radio club that allowed me to use their special callsign W7W during their hamfest in January, and the club invited me to do a presentation and demonstration at this month's meeting. It was a good presentation with various questions, then the AO-51 demonstration during the pass at 0334-0348 UTC, followed by more questions after the pass. In my presentation, I had put in a mention that the club members could attempt to listen to the AO-51 pass while I was doing the demonstration. Several did exactly that. A few with HTs and long antennas (duckies or telescoping whips), along with one member who went to his car and used his mobile station, were able to follow along with their own radios. Other than having an extended question-and-answer session after the pass, I finished my presentation in time to go outside. Several members helped me take my equipment outside and set it up. For the demonstration, I used an Icom IC-2720H mobile radio at 15W (two contacts toward the end of the pass were made at 5W, to show that lower power could work) into an Arrow Antennas handheld 2m/70cm Yagi. Power was from a 12V/20Ah gel-cell battery, and the radio is OK with the battery (4.5A draw when transmitting at 15W on 2m, and about 2.5A draw for 5W TX on 2m). I had a small folding table I put the radio on, and connected three items to one of the IC-2720H's speaker jacks (external speaker for the crowd to listen on, an earphone for me to hear with, and my small Sony digital audio recorder). My location, on the campus of the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale (west-side suburb of Phoenix), was in grid DM33vo. Within a couple of minutes, Don KD6IRE in northern California was calling me and was the first contact I made with my audience watching and listening. Then Manuel XE2BHL called from Tijuana, followed by my only contact from eastern North America - George WA5KBH in Louisiana. I proceeded to make 6 more contacts after that with stations in California, Washington state, Alberta, British Columbia, and - at the end of the pass - Craig KL4E from Alaska showed up for the 9th and final contact of my demonstration. The club members were impressed with the fact they could hear the satellite with their own equipment. It was a high pass (67 degrees maximum elevation for us), which helped with that, but still an impressive sight. They were also impressed with how well the satellite sounded as it was going out of range at the end of the pass. Along with the contacts, we heard two other stations that I was not able to make contact with - N6ADR in California, WA7SDI in Oregon. I tried not to monopolize the pass, especially with George WA5KBH trying to work some of the western stations on this late (for him) pass. Lots of people need to be thanked for the successes last night. First, Gould WA4SXM - one of the AO-51 command stations - for ensuring the satellite would be in the normal FM repeater configuration last night. The ThunderBird Amateur Radio Club, for inviting me to do this - in particular Bob K7UNL (president) and Roger W9NCQ (treasurer - he invited me to do this event), plus the other members whose names escape me that helped me haul stuff to and from my car for the demo. And the 9 stations in the USA, Canada, and Mexico who made contacts with me (Don KD6IRE, John KD6PAG, James KE7KQA, Craig KL4E, Ron VE6RVT, John VE7CBZ, George WA5KBH, Bob WA7HYD, and Manuel XE2BHL). Being able to make contacts with stations spread out in western North America - plus WA5KBH in Louisiana - helped show that the satellite's footprint covers a large area. If anyone wishes to see the slideshow I presented before the on-air demonstration, along with copies of flyers I have distributed at the meeting last night plus the recent Phoenix-area hamfests, I have all of them on my web page in PDF format. Follow the link on the home page, and get them there. My web pages are on free web space at Geocities, so there are bandwidth limits enforced. If anyone has problems in downloading those files, please e-mail me directly and I will send them to you. I can also provide an MP3 with the audio from this pass, for anyone that is interested in hearing what we heard last night (MP3 won't be posted on a web page, but available via e-mail). Thanks again, and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - Phoenix, Arizona USA http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Re: Ofcom Update: Award of available spectrum: 10 GHz, 28 GHz, 32 GHz and 40 GHz - discussion document on 10 GHz and the London 2012Olympic Games and Paralympic Games
by Trevor 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

The consultation document is concerned with the Auction Segments that are affected - 10.125-10.225 GHz and 10.475-10.575 GHz (para 3.4) The implication from para 3.3 is that the whole of 10.00-10.68 GHz could be used (with preferred sub-bands of 10.30-10.45). It wouldn't suprise me to see S-Band (2+ GHz) also being requiring on a temporary basis and some of the 112 MHz of UHF spectrum freec by digital TV switchover. 73 Trevor M5AKA ___________________________________________________________ Inbox full of unwanted email? Get leading protection and 1GB storage with All New Yahoo! Mail. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html

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UO-11 telemetry Mar.16
by Mineo Wakita 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

145.826MHz FM http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/70316u11.wav PCM 8000kHz 8bit monaural samples, 819KB Decoded by uo11dem.exe UOSAT-2 070247104 000000010001020002030003010004050005060006070007080008090009 100001110000120003130002140005150004160007170006180009190008 20000221000322000022000124000625000726...................... 30000131000232000133000030000735000636000537000438000....... 400004410005420006430007440000450001460002470003800C49000D.. 50000551000452000753000654000155000056000357000258000D59000C 60800E615FC162010563330564 002658E0C662AC467000168000E69.... --------------------------------------------- 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 16, 2007 ---------------------------------------------

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Trasantlantic QSO on FO-29
by Luc Leblanc 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

For DXers eyes only. There is actually very good mutual window pass between eastern europe north east africa coast and eastern north and south america when FO-29 travel over mid atlantic. I just made one QSO at 0629Z 03-16 with Walt ON5NY both side report 57 and the whole passband remain empty for the rest of the pass. If some EU or African stations wants to planned sked just e-mail me off list. Pretty boring to hear only his own voice spread over the Atlantic in the middle of the night here. The bad part of the story you have to set your alarm clock in a way to not disturb the whole sleeping house. "-" "It is not the class of license the amateur holds, but the class of the amateur that holds the license." Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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Re: SO50 NOT HEARD???
by David Bird 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

HI AMSATS, SO50 NOT HEARD ON 3/15/07 UTC PASS 03;11 OR PASS 0453. HOPE SO50 WILL BE BACK ON SOON. DE KC7USS. _________________________________________________________________ The average US Credit Score is 675. The cost to see yours: $0 by Experian. http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=660600&bcd=EMAILFOOTERAV…

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AO-51 demonstration tonight (0334-0348 UTC Friday, 16 March)
by Don Ferguson 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

Patrick, You did an outstanding job with the satellite demo tonight. I don't believe I have heard anyone make as many contacts from Mexico to Alaska and you were extremely readable for the entire pass. Your audience must have been very impressed. Way to go. Don Kd6ire

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Re: SO50 NOT HEARD???
by John Mock KD6PAG 15 Mar '07

15 Mar '07

Luc Leblanc VE2DWE wrote: > I was on it on the 2 evening passes and signal was s6 to s9 make a couple of > QSO on it on one pass sigan was very low but on the other all was normal Thanks for the report! I tried SO-50 today on a 6.8 degree transcontinental pass but i only heard a couple of stations and was not able to hear my own downlink (or work anyone). By contrast, i worked several stations on AO-27 on a 3.7 degree pass (including Maryland) and heard my own downlink clearly. Later, when SO-50 on an essentially overhead pass (88 degrees to the east), i was able to work a couple of stations but with difficulty. So it seems to be working but not well. I've noticed that SO-50 has bad days from time to time, and hopefully that's all this is. -- KD6PAG (Networking Old-Timer, Satellite QRPer) [Note: If i'm in your address book, please replace 'qsl.net' with 'amsat.org'.]

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Project Oscar Pioneer
by john heath 15 Mar '07

15 Mar '07

Hi Tim, Thanks for sharing Dick Esneault's memories with the list. First time I had heard that Oscar 1 had presidential blessing. 73 John G7HIA

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