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

Re: ISS Time
by Greg Kail 18 Jul '07

18 Jul '07

Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:14:15 -0500 From: "George" Subject: [amsat-bb] ISS Time Amsat'ers, please advise me if the ISS is scheduled for AOS at 3:44:49. I am using Nova tracking software and it is not acting right. George KA5DEN George You can check all passes at Heavens Above http://www.heavens-above.com/ Just plug in your long. & Lat. ..... or find a close community Good Luck 73's Greg Kail KC2DWF http://www.geocities.com/gkail/KC2DWF.html Elizabeth , NJ, USA --------------------------------- Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos & more.

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ISS Time
by George 18 Jul '07

18 Jul '07

Amsat'ers, please advise me if the ISS is scheduled for AOS at 3:44:49. I am using Nova tracking software and it is not acting right. George KA5DEN No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.4/897 - Release Date: 7/11/2007 9:57 PM

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This weekend
by Chris Bloy 18 Jul '07

18 Jul '07

Hi All, First of all, thanks you to all the members that sent me private and via list messages of support! Unfortunately I will be unable to attend the event on Saturday due various reasons and me not acting quickly enough on booking a place :( Anyway, I will hopefully become a full member of amsat-uk shortly and maybe if any of you are visiting Portsmouth to Bournemouth you could give me a demo! A bit cheeky I know, but I am so willing to learn and perhaps teach our local radio club too.. All the best and may thanks again to you all. Chris, M0DQO

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FW: [PNWVHFS] Free Dish
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

any takers? 73 Bob W7LRD -------------- Forwarded Message: -------------- From: "W7BA" <w7ba(a)comcast.net> To: <PNWVHFS(a)googlegroups.com> Subject: [PNWVHFS] Free Dish Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:29:20 +0000 http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/zip/375508192.html --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ ~The Voice of the Pacific NorthWest VHF Society~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PNWVHFS" group. To post to this group, send email to PNWVHFS(a)googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to PNWVHFS-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/PNWVHFS -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

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New VHF amplifier
by Patrick McGrane 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

Greetings from Patrick N2OEQ I just wanted to state.... BRAVO! on the new 87 percent efficient VHF amplifier design. Now maybe something similar could happen with converting solar panel power into amplifier output. If amsat remains with Batteries on Eagle, perhaps they could add one or two extra sets of batteries for redundancy and extended satellite life. Otherwise I would like to see batteries a thing of the past. I wonder what the efficiency of batteries are anyway. I'm still waiting for an update on the new ECHO power software. Did it work or was it abandond? Thanks for the forum, 73, pat

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Re: ANDE-1
by andy thomas 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

Thanks to all who have posted. We've had severe rain here in I092NL (personally I think the North Atlantic storm track has moved South - Gulf Stream next?) and water shorted my dipoles, and after draining it I have now (while at work) automatically received ANDE-1 and indeed W3ADO-1. 73 de andy G0SFJ ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the answer. Try it now. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/

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AMSAT Field Day 2007
by Bruce 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

i have finished entering field day results into my computer. here are some of the statistics. look for the complete article with pictures and comments in the upcoming issue of the AMSAT journal. 73...bruce 13 entries 5 satellites operated 207 total qso's scored 2 stations operating commercial power 11 stations operating emergency power 1 emergency station was operating battery 2 stations operating from home 11 stations operating from the field the least reported score was 3 qso's and the most reported score was the winner. qso's per satellite ao-27 8 so-50 11 ao-51 14 (includes both l/u and v/u) vo-52 30 ao-07 69 phone ao-07 21 cw vo-52 4 cw -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on W0KIE Intelsat Americas, T1, 6.2/6.8Mhz Also streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org

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Low Cost Launchers
by Trevor 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

The following paragraph caught my eye in an article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6901835.stm "The [United Kingdom] Ministry of Defence (MOD) has said it is exploring a dialogue with industry and others on developing a low-cost launcher for small satellites." Lets hope something comes of it as the more competition in the launch business the better as far as Amateurs Radio launch opportunities are concerned. 73 Trevor M5AKA --------------- Daily Amateur Radio RSS News: http://www.southgatearc.org/ Email your news items to: editor at southgatearc.org News On Your Website: http://www.southgatearc.org/rss/index.htm News On Your PC: http://www.southgatearc.org/rss/newsreader.htm Upload Your News: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/your_news.htm --------------- ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Mail is the world's favourite email. Don't settle for less, sign up for your free account today http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=44106/*http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/mail/winter07.ht…

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Labjack u2 to steer g-5500 in SatPC32
by Charles Reiche 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

Has anyone gotten this working?? Im using the Circuit suggested by DK1TB that looks to be hand drawn and is similar to the labjack u12 schematic. I set my rotor full scale voltages at 3.30v. At first I was not finding a file called ljackuw.dll when setting up my u3 in the rotoe setup boxes for satpc32. I figured out that this file actually belongs to the u12 driver files so I installed the u12 drivers too. after loading those drivers, I wasnt getting any error messages on startup but was unable to control the rotor manually (in the labjack u3 server program sprouted by satpc32. At the time also, the feedback numbers in the u3 server program was showing 1.7 something but not following the rotor box. I tried manually entering some numbers in there but it cuased a cascadeing crashing error message boxes that ran down my screen. I closed out everything and rebooted. I tried to restart satpc32 and now all i can manage to get is a divide by zero error in german on startup. Using the LJ control panel program that came with my u3, I can see when i set FIO4 and 5 to AIN (analog in) i can see the rotors output when i turn it by hand using the control box. I can also used digital outputs 0,1,2, and 3 to manually command the box to steer. My circuit is working but something on the software level is broken.... possibly with the drivers? It got worse after I rebooted. Any ideas??? Thanks. Charles Reiche N3CRT

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Re: [Nova-Net] Kep update procedure
by Dale Kubichek 16 Jul '07

16 Jul '07

Don, I just tried to download the latest Keps and found "NO" Keps to be download ed per NOVA program from Space-Track.org. In the past month I've seen a number of messages relating to Space-Track.org not having valid Keps or Keps available on the site. Since Space-Track.org is run by the government I can only imagine a normal snafu is happening and Space-Track.org has bigger fish to fry. It's just to bad that Space-Track.org cannot indicate the operations of their site on their home page - to eliminate our guessing as to where the Kep problem resides. Kuby, N6JSX /8 Don Richards <donsay2(a)cox.net> wrote: I have not updated Keps for my Nova for Windows for quite some time and my "auto" update procedure does not seem to work...is there a problem with using Space-Track.org? W7UPF _______________________________________________ Nova-Net posting and subscription instructions are at http://www.nlsa.com/nets/nova-net-help.html

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OSCAR-11 Report
by Clive Wallis 16 Jul '07

16 Jul '07

OSCAR-11 REPORT 16 July 2007 I have now updated the telemetry archive on my website to include all the telemetry received in 2007. The news archive has also been updated. The URL is www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew During the period 15 June to 15 July 2007, no signals have been received from the satellite's 145.826 MHz. beacon. I have not received any reception reports. The satellite is currently subject to solar eclipses, which will continue until 20 August. The duration of the eclipses is now decreasing and will reach a time of 10 minutes, around 10 August. At that level the satellite may be able to sustain continuous operation, however it is not possible to predict when the satellite will switch ON. If there was failed attempt to switch ON just before 10 August, then it could be the end of August before the satellite resumed continuous transmissions. The battery can no longer power the satellite during the eclipse season. When the battery voltage decreases to a preset level, the watchdog timer resets, and the beacon is turned off for approximately 21 days. When the satellite restarts, eclipses could cause the beacon to switch OFF, after a short time, probably less than one orbit. This short transmission could occur any where over the world, and could be repeated at 20.7 day intervals. Owing to the lack of accurate timings, it is impossible to predict when and where the satellite will be heard during these short transmission periods. It is just possible that someone tuning around 145.826 MHz. may hear the satellite, by chance. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. The current monthly bulletin contains further details of the satellite's status. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to hear. The website contains an archive of news & telemetry data. It also contains details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. The URL is www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT135.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xxxxx(a)amsat.org (please replace xxxxx by g3cwv)

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Re: AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 2, Issue 463
by Geoff Clark 15 Jul '07

15 Jul '07

Yep, definitely alive, I too heard and decoded her sigs yesterday. 73 Geoff ZL3GA amsat-bb-request(a)amsat.org wrote: > > Message: 2 > Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 09:58:50 +0100 > From: "Chris Bloy" <chris(a)photofuture.co.uk> > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: ANDE-1 silent? > To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > Message-ID: <009701c7c6be$5d159590$1740c0b0$(a)co.uk> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1250" > > Hi Andy, > > Yes, ANDE-1 is awake as I heard her on the 09:43 pass yesterday and decoded > the beacon and message packet from her direct, and also a station in POLAND? > > As for findu, there has to be a SATGATE open at the time of the pass and > this isn?t always the case so they won't get passed. > > Hope this helps.. although I couldn't hit it on this pass, but I am only > using 5watts into a 4 element handheld beam. > > Chris > M0DQO

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ANDE-1 silent?
by andy thomas 15 Jul '07

15 Jul '07

Is ANDE-1 still functioning? Could neither hear her nor wake her up yesterday (14th) a.m; same on previous weekend 7, 8th , and I see the ANDE-1 reports on Fundu stop at 4/7 17:28. andy g0sfj ___________________________________________________________ The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html

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Field Day Submissions
by Bruce 14 Jul '07

14 Jul '07

Time is running out. If you would like your entry counted towards AMSAT Field Day, remember to email it this weekend. Might not be enough time for the U.S. Mail if it is not already in the mail. You do not have to have a score of 500 to submit. In years past, there were many that submitted one contact or three contacts. Also remember, I will send you a return email indicating that I have received your entry. If not, it did not make it to me for what ever reason. Do not assume I got it simply because you pressed send. The Satellite Summary Sheet should be used for submission of the AMSAT Field Day competition and be received by KK5DO (email or postal mail) by 11:59 P.M. CDT, Monday, July 16, 2007. The preferred method for submitting your log is via e-mail to kk5do(a)amsat.org or kk5do(a)arrl.net. 73...bruce -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on W0KIE Intelsat Americas, T1, 6.2/6.8Mhz Also streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org

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SOLD! 2.4 GHz dual IF low noise downconverter
by Mark L. Hammond 13 Jul '07

13 Jul '07

Thanks for the great interest in this downconverter--it's been sold. 73, Mark N8MH >>Hello all, >> >>In digging through my box of satellite goodies, I found a spare dual IF 2.4GHz downconverter that I have decided to sell. It's the KEPS 13LNC72 - DB unit. The unit is new in the box (I have visually inspected it). The output is switchable between the 2M and 70cm bands. >> >>The price (firm and fair) is $150 plus shipping. >> >>http://www.keps.it/download/13lnc72db.PDF >> >>http://www.keps.it/en/sat_products/downconverter/downconverter.html >> >>Please contact me offlist with any queries. Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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recording soft
by Nick Pugh 13 Jul '07

13 Jul '07

Hi Group I am looking for a shareware program to record audio that is controlled by time. Or maybe a script that would call a program to recorder and exit that program set by time. thanks nick

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Additional g-5500 mounting question
by Michael Wolthuis 13 Jul '07

13 Jul '07

If anyone has pictures of a "correct" split AZ/EL setup for a g-5500 I would love to see some up close ones. Questions that have been raised: 1) I bought used, but believe I have the seperation kit. It has one piece that screws into the Az rotor to allow the mast pole to go into it and be secured. However, I do not have a similar piece for the El rotor to have screwed into it to sit above the Thrust bearing on the pole. Is there supposed to be two of these? I do have what appear to be a set of clamps, but I can not figure out how to attach it to the pole at the top. 2) What all should be included in the seperation kit, maybe I am missing a part, but can not find a good pic anywhere or a parts list. Thanks, I appreciate the "noob" help! Mike kb8zgl

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Mod to disable AGC in FT-847
by Alan P. Biddle 13 Jul '07

13 Jul '07

Hi, A couple of times over the years, there have been requests for a way to disable the AGC in the FT-847 for things like noise measurements. I came across a modification here http://www.frenning.dk/OZ1PIF_HOMEPAGE/FT-847%20AGC-Off%20Mod.htm which is reported to do that. Alan WA4SCA ----------------------------------- It's always nice to have friends. Sometimes, though, it's more honorable to have enemies.

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Need Mirage B1016 manual+schematic
by Koencoro Oemaryadi 13 Jul '07

13 Jul '07

need a manual+schematic for a Mirage B1016 144MHz amplifier. If you can help, please email me privately. Thanks, joko -yd1deq ---- _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live Spaces is here! It’s easy to create your own personal Web site. http://spaces.live.com/?mkt=en-id

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Newest list of all satellites known to the Union of Concerned Scientists
by Roger Kolakowski 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

For your perusing pleasure... Roger WA1KAT ----- Original Message ----- From: "SatelliteData Mailbox" <SatelliteData(a)ucsusa.org> To: "SatelliteData Mailbox" <SatelliteData(a)ucsusa.org> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 6:07 PM Subject: Satellite Database Update 7-12-2007 Union of ConcernedScientists > A new version of the UCS Satellite Database, which includes launches > through July 1, 2007, has been posted at > http://ucsusa.org/satellite_database. > > The new Excel format file is called > *UCS_Satellite_Database_7-12-07.xls* and the tab-delimited text > version is called *UCS_Satellite_Database_7-12-07.txt*. > The tab-delimited text version in which the *Name* column contains > only the official name of the satellite in the case of government and > military satellites, and the most commonly used name in the case of > commercial and civil satellites is called > *UCS_Satellite_Database_officialname_7-12-07.txt*. > > The changes to this version of the database include: > The addition of 32 satellites > The deletion of 22 inactive satellites > The addition of and corrections to some satellite data > > We have incorporated your corrections and suggestions as we were able, > and continue to welcome your comments. > > The UCS Satellite Database Manager > SatelliteData(a)ucsusa.org > > > >

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FS: 2.4 GHz dual IF low noise downconverter
by Mark L. Hammond 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

Hello all, In digging through my box of satellite goodies, I found a spare dual IF 2.4GHz downconverter that I have decided to sell. It's the KEPS 13LNC72 - DB unit. The unit is new in the box (I have visually inspected it). The output is switchable between the 2M and 70cm bands. The price (firm and fair) is $150 plus shipping. http://www.keps.it/download/13lnc72db.PDF http://www.keps.it/en/sat_products/downconverter/downconverter.html Please contact me offlist with any queries. Thanks and 73, Mark Hammond, N8MH Specs of the unit follow: Input frequency 2400 - 2402 MHz Output frequency VHF 144 - 146 MHz Output frequency UHF 434 - 436 MHz Gain 27 dB Noise Figure typ. 0.9 dB Image rejection > 50 dB Operating Voltage 11 - 15 V Current consumption 180 mA Input Connector N female Output Connector BNC female Dimension 135 x 50 x 30 mm

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KCT Tracker - Sold
by Thomas M. Webb 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

The Kansas City Tracker has been sold. Thanks for the inquiries. Tom, WA9AFM/5

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AMSAT Journal
by Ed Long 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

Everyone, Due to the lateness of the last issue (for a variety of reasons), the time is already upon us to begin submitting articles for the next issue (July/August). I have a couple of articles already (I haven't started editing yet) but, as always, need more to fill out the issue. All you authors please send me your submissions by July 27th so I can get this issue out closer to on time. Thanks very much to all the fine writers we have in AMSAT that have contributed to the Journal. You really make the Journal what it is. 73, Ed Long WA4SWJ Editor, The AMSAT Journal

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Gyro stabilization on the cheap
by Margaret Leber 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

Great YouTube video of a demo of homebrew gyro stabilization hack aboard ISS http://tinyurl.com/2bldm5 -- 73 de Maggie K3XS Editor, Phil-Mont Mobile Radio Club Blurb - http://www.phil-mont.org Elecraft K2 #1641 -- AOPA 925383 -- ARRL 39280

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AO-51 (2158Z) Mid Atlantic pass.
by Dave Aitch 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Good downlink but no other stations heard on the last pass (2154Z - 2202Z) of AO-51 as it passed south to north up the middle of the Atlantic at max elevation of 3 degrees. 10w from IC910H to 4 x 9 turn (WIMO) Helix. BBQ dish and K5GNA downconverter. Cheers, Dave G1OCN AMSAT UK 5766 IO80SM Portland, Dorset.

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