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

Re: Kiron Sat Trak IV
by mi magic 07 Apr '07

07 Apr '07

I must have really messed up entering keps ( I guess copy /cut /paste doesn't alwasy work!) I re-entered keps and now seem to be just fine with 07 for 2007. I also replaced the AA battery holder as the batteries in the unit were corroded and the back up memory wasn't holding anything. One last comment, thanks to all who replied, I appreciate the advice. I also noticed that the range on the Sat Trak IV is in kilometers, not miles. I don't see a way to change that, but I really don't care at this point. Its right on with other tracking programs. VO-52, AO-51 and FO-29 here I come!!! Thank you all again, hope to work you on the birds!!! vy 73 Dave N8HUL ____________________________________________________________________________________ No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started. http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail

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RAFT and ANDE operational
by Robert Bruninga 06 Apr '07

06 Apr '07

RAFT and ANDE are now coming over in the prime eveining hours. In fact, if you look at RAFT you will see it is nearly sun synchronous, in that it is coming over nearly the same time every evening. That is about 7:45, 9:15 and 10:45 PM local sun daylight time at mid (40 deg) N latitudes. PA3GUO reloaded RAFT settings and the packet-to-voice synthesizer is enabled. Anyone can turn it on, and then anyone can send APRS messages to "TALK" and it will speak the message. See how on the page below: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/ande-raft-ops.html Also, we need stations with good beams in the southern USA states from AZ to Georgia as volunteer command stations so that we can check out RAFT's radar receiver too. RAFT is halfway through its life and will de-orbit by late July. Also, RAFT is only useable in the dark, so we don't have many more operating periods to operate this unique transponder. Also, if anyone has lots of power on 10 meters and will use it to TX CW, we would llike to activate the PSK-31 transponder and try again at hearing some signals. WB4APR, Bob

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Banquet
by MARTHA SARAGOVITZ 06 Apr '07

06 Apr '07

Just a reminder to sign up for the AMSAT-TAPR banquet at Dayton. Details are on the AMSAT website. To date, 80 people have registered with AMSAT. 73- Martha - AMSAT Manager

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Flex-5000
by Robert McGwier 06 Apr '07

06 Apr '07

An announcement of a new radio was made by Flex Radio today. It is a completely full duplex radio. With transverter, it will be a wonderful satellite radio. No sound cards, etc. will be required. Again, it is completely full duplex. FlexRadio Systems New FLEX-5000(TM) Software Defined Radio Product Line FlexRadio Systems introduces the FLEX-5000 line of open source Software Defined Radio (SDR) transceivers. The FLEX-5000 family follows the very popular SDR-1000(TM), and now integrates all sound card functions and control over a single FireWire (IEEE-1394) cable connection to a user provided computer. A separate sound card is not required. There are two additional versions of the FLEX-5000 (models C and D) that provide higher levels of integration. The FLEX-5000C(TM) model has a built in Intel Core2 Duo processor and comes with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, wireless keyboard and mouse. The FLEX-5000D(TM) includes everything above and adds a 9" LCD display with touch screen and large tuning knob. For more information and pricing on the FLEX-5000, please see the copy of our ad linked below: http://support.flex-radio.com/Downloads.aspx?id=148 You may also click on the "Contact Us" link on our home page at www.flex-radio.com. Frequently Asked Questions How do I place an order? A. We will begin taking orders for the FLEX-5000 (base model) and the FLEX-5000C on or before Monday, April 9th. Orders can be placed on our website at http://www.flex-radio.com or by phone/fax (see the Contact Us link on our webpage footer). Note that all online orders are prepaid (balance is charged immediately). When will I get my FLEX-5000? A. We expect to begin delivery of the base model on or before the end of June, the C-model on or before the end of Q3, and the D-model on or before the end of Q4. Pre-paid orders will be shipped first followed by unpaid advanced orders in the order that they are received. How can I ensure that I get one quickly? A. Order now and pre-pay. Pre-paid orders will be shipped first followed by unpaid advanced orders in the order that they are received. Will the SDR-1000 still be available? A. We have a limited inventory of SDR-1000s available. The SDR-1000 continues to be a high performance / low cost transceiver. The PowerSDR(TM) software will continue to support the SDR-1000 and will continue to receive new features and performance enhancements over time. Many improvements to the software developed in correlation with new hardware, such as the recent improvement in TR transition time and accurate power control from 1-100W, will apply to the SDR-1000. How long can I expect FlexRadio Systems to support the SDR-1000? A. We plan to support the SDR-1000 far into the foreseeable future. Can I use an external sound card with the FLEX-5000? A. No. The built-in "soundcard" is the equivalent of a comparable $1000 pro-audio card. Will there be a low power or receive-only version of the FLEX-5000? A. We are considering coming out with such models sometime in the future. What happened to the SDR-XT? A. The SDR-X project is alive and well. The goal of the SDR-X project is to build a supremely high performance multi-channel receiver. The target market has shifted to commercial and government applications. The work on the SDR-X resulted in the development of the FLEX-5000 family. We recognize that the introduction of the FLEX-5000 will continue to raise questions. We will post these and other popular questions on the FLEX-5000 FAQ page on our website (coming soon). The SDR-1000 set new performance standards for radio communications. The Flex-5000 will continue to raise the bar. Thank you for your support. Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR President FlexRadio Systems -- AMSAT Director and VP Engineering. Member: ARRL, AMSAT-DL, TAPR, Packrats, NJQRP, QRP ARCI, QCWA, FRC. ARRL SDR WG Chair "Taking fun as simply fun and earnestness in earnest shows how thoroughly thou none of the two discernest." - Piet Hine

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Lots of XE stations on AO-51 this morning!
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 06 Apr '07

06 Apr '07

Hi! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I thought I heard more XE stations on AO-51's 1513-1527 UTC pass than on any other pass in the past year or so. I just completed my logging from my recording of the pass, and I heard 10 different XE calls: XE1HON (Michoacan, DL80) XE1KW (Colima, DK89) XE2AT XE2BHL (Tijuana, DM12) XE2JTS (Chihuahua, DL68) XE2PHH XE2PWF (Sinaloa, DL55) XE2YBG (EL13) XE2YWB (DL83) XE3ISS (Cancun, EL61) Fernando XE3ISS was also on an SO-50 pass at 1450-1500 UTC, just before the busy AO-51 pass. Stations from all over Mexico, all 3 mainland call areas, as well as a good assortment of stations from across the continental USA. Hopefully XE2YW and XE2HWB show up from some other grids as had been reported earlier this week, which would make me (and my logbook) happy. After just over 15 months of working the satellites, my satellite logbook is now up to 2101 QSOs. And I'm still having fun! Have a great weekend, and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - Phoenix, Arizona USA http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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KE7KDP Charles Simonyi to fix ISS rig
by andy thomas 06 Apr '07

06 Apr '07

Hi gang, I've just checked the website of Charles Simonyi KE7KDP http://www.charlesinspace.com and sent him an email encouraging ham radio activities. On his Press section there's a Press Release dated March 23rd: "In further support of the ARISS program, Dr. Simonyi additionally will perform maintenance on various pieces of ham radio equipment on the ISS. This work will include testing one radio set to isolate an antenna problem with the equipment and reprogramming the default settings on a second unit to correct a configuration problem. " BTW April 7th (launch day) is my birthday so that'll be one helluva present! 73 de andy G0SFJ ___________________________________________________________ New Yahoo! Mail is the ultimate force in competitive emailing. Find out more at the Yahoo! Mail Championships. Plus: play games and win prizes. http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=44106/*http://mail.yahoo.net/uk

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EL13 !!!
by Alvaro de Leon Romo 06 Apr '07

06 Apr '07

The Friday 6th Beny XE2YBG will try to be in EL13, is a very rare grid. He will be only on 15?? pass in AO51.. GL to all What a weekend :-) Al XE2AT _________________________________________________________________ El mejor destino, con los mejores contenidos http://www.prodigy.msn.com

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Kiron Sat Trak IV
by mi magic 06 Apr '07

06 Apr '07

Hello! I have a Kiron Sat Trak IV and am wondering if this device is working properly. I enter in Keps and set the date and time, but the year is only available to be entered as a 2 digit year, 2007 is 07. I was using STS-PLUS for comparison and nothing seems to be in sync between the two tracking programs. Is it possible to "fake" out the Sat Trak IV with a different year? I'm guessing no. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I am just about ready to put up a complete tracking setup with AZ/EL rotators and I am really hoping I can use this box. Thank you in advance vy 73 Dave N8HUL ____________________________________________________________________________________ Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545367

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portable thoughts.
by Steve Attfield 06 Apr '07

06 Apr '07

I'm working on a portable setup currently a dual radio setup with tripod mounted V and U band antennas...and I've got a few questions for the group: should I take the expense to make the coax runs out of lmr 400 or will rg 213 be effective enough? and my second question is about uhf receive preamps are they worth the time and money to put one into the system. oh and btw I plan on using this for both linear transponder birds and fm birds -Steve VA3SAX

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Re: DSP Speaker
by Lowell White 05 Apr '07

05 Apr '07

Heil Sound in / near St. Louis, MO. may have what you are after. They bought out a DSP speaker maker and revamped the design a year or two ago. 73 de Lowell K9LDW ------ Original Message ------ Received: Thu, 05 Apr 2007 01:52:50 PM CDT From: n3wwn(a)futuretek.cx To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: DSP Speaker > > This doesn't ring a bell with anyone? > > Maybe I dreamed it! hi hi > > 73 de Rich N3WWN > > On Thu, 29 Mar 2007, n3wwn(a)futuretek.cx wrote: > > > > > Hi! > > > > I recall reading about a speaker that you can plug into any radio so you > > can keep the squelch open all the time and a DSP will only let audio with > > signals through. > > > > It was intended to be used to listen for beacons on satellites as well as > > listen for band openings without driving the XYL crazy with static being > > blasted through the house. > > > > Does anyone else recall this speaker (or inline module)? I've searched > > and found DSPs that will attenuate white noise, but I haven't seen any > > that turn off the speaker completely in the presence of white noise alone. > > > > 73 de Rich N3WWN > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >

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