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

VO52
by John Geiger 30 Jul '07

30 Jul '07

Is VO52 still up and going, and on the same frequencies? I have listened on several passes, and have heard nothing, including the beacon. I seem to remember that it had a very strong downlink signal. 73s John AA5JG (ex: W5TD, NE0P, N0EEN, KA0IFG) Confirmed 6M addict: 6M WAS #1275, 6m VUCC #1260

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EN67 ON AO-51
by Doug Kuitula 30 Jul '07

30 Jul '07

Hi All, I'm going to try some QSO's on AO-51 at EN67 (the northern tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula) on 31 July around 1320 and 1458 UTC. Not sure if this is a rare grid square, but thought I'd give it a try. I'm new at this and am only using an Arrow antenna and a Kenwood handheld. So please be patient. So if you hear KA8QCU. That's me 73 de Doug KA8QCU

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Re: Amateur Satellite VHF Allocation
by Tony Langdon 30 Jul '07

30 Jul '07

At 07:37 PM 7/30/2007, Trevor wrote: >There has been some discussion over the past year about the need for >an Amateur >Satellite allocation at 50-51 MHz. Which I can't see happening for some time, as there are still TV broadcast stations populating that band around the world. We in eastern VK are limited to the top 2 MHz of the 6m band (52 - 54 MHz), as well as a DX window between 50 and 50.3 MHz, due to a small number of TV stations still occupying channel 0 (45 - 52 MHz). >With yesterday's news about Amateur Operation in the form of experimental >beacons at 40 MHz perhaps in 5-10 years time we may be able to get a few >hundred kHz for Amateur Satellite at 40 MHz as well ? It certainly >would be low >doppler shift and low path loss. Interesting developments there. 73 de VK3JED http://vkradio.com

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AO-7 log.
by John Hackett 30 Jul '07

30 Jul '07

Hello Group, Regarding the AO-7 Resource Page log. I was asked what I meant by my earlier remark of "sloppy". Please allow me to explain. I think we all agree that for 'data' to be valid and meaningful it has to be 'entered' correctly. If not, the results will give a false picture. An example: 30th-July-07 at 09:05 on orbit 49661 station ****** worked station ****** AO-7 on orbit 49661 at 09:05 was in fact over Antarctica so neither ****** nor ****** were in the footprint of AO-7. Therefore, the actual QSO would be valid but the timing would be way off ... thereby giving a false overall impression. It is not expected that one logs the 'exact' time of each contact since it is possible to work several stations on the same pass ... each to be entered on the same line ... but it would be advantagous if stations would log their contacts with the correct data. It's perfectly OK to log the contacts 'later' if you're busy ... but please do enter the data correctly. If you make a mistake, you can edit your entry by clicking on the hourglass to edit it. Thank you. 73 John. <la2qaa(a)ansat.org> AO-7 Resource Page Admin:

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RS-22 beacon is very strong
by Henk, PA3GUO 30 Jul '07

30 Jul '07

Dear all, Encouraged by the RS-15 results earlier today I also wanted to try to receive RS-22. I downloaded the lastest keps and tuned a few KHz above 435.352 MHz. Already a few seconds before AOS I could hear the FM data signal. Signals became very strong - stronger as the AO51 435.3MHz downlink. During the middle of the pass I switched to 145.818 but did not hear anything. At the time NOVA calculated max elevation, frequency was exactly 435.352MHz (in line with web documentation). Almost the entire pass an FM data signal was present (documentation says this is typically done while flying in range of Russian command). Only at the end of the pass the beacon switched to CW telemetry, but at a much lower rate as earlier samples I found on the internet. Distance between each packet (packet lengths varied from 5..7 seconds in length) was quite large (13 seconds). MP3 recordings are available at: http://www.qsl.net/pa3guo (click on LOG in the top-menu, then on RS-22 in the left-menu) Equipment used: 7 elements beam, no pre-amp, TS2000. Henk, PA3GUO

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RS12/13 Robot QSL?
by Tony 30 Jul '07

30 Jul '07

All: Have a few questions about the RS-12/13 robot QSL. I made contact with the robot a while back and have a recording of the "QSO" with contact number and all. Problem is, I can't find the paper log I was using at the time. Is it possble to obtain a card with just the QSO number? Are they still issuing robot cards? Thanks, Tony K2MO

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satellite software engineer
by Jim White 30 Jul '07

30 Jul '07

Software Engineer Needed The US Air Force Academy has an opening for a software engineer to work on satellite and ground station software. This is an unofficial announcement of this opening. A formal announcement should be out shortly. I’ve just retired from 10 years in this position and can say it is without question the most fun I’ve had in 40 years in the software and space business. This is a full time contract position in the Space Systems Research Center and is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This engineer is involved in every aspect of satellite design and construction including working with students, writing software, testing, launch campaigns and on orbit operations. The USAFA small satellite program is one of the most successful in the world having launched and operated three satellites (one more was lost to a launch failure). Falconsat-3 is currently on orbit and undergoing commissioning. Two more of the Falconsat series are under design and construction. This position also works with the sounding rocket program on the avionics and telemetry packages and with the Eyassat classroom satellite (www.eyassat.com) in the Astronautics Department. Existing systems include ANSI-C, Visual Basic, and real time operating systems. Future work may include embedded Linux, Visual C, Java, and LabView. Experience in all these areas is not required but the ability to learn quickly is essential. This is an opportunity to work in the exciting small satellite field and with motivated and dynamic faculty and students. And Colorado Springs is on the doorstep of the wonderful recreation opportunities of the Rocky Mountain region. Interested parties should contact LtCol Tim Lawrence at timothy.lawrence(a)usafa.af.mil. Jim White WD0E jim(a)coloradosatellite.com

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Packet info
by Richard -WA6ES 29 Jul '07

29 Jul '07

Since I am new to Satellites, lest than a month, I want to try Packet. How hard is it and what are others using for the TNC and what software. I only have a KPC3(old) and want to upgrade. Thanks Rick/WA6ES ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! FareChase. http://farechase.yahoo.com/

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Columbus Module
by Stan 29 Jul '07

29 Jul '07

Hello The Net: Any idea what the freqs are for the Subject module on uplink and downlink ? 1268, 1269, 2400,2401 ?? Thanks Stan, W1LE FN41sr Cape Cod

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ANDE status July 29
by Henk, PA3GUO 29 Jul '07

29 Jul '07

ANDE Status Report PA3GUO July 29: ANDE-1 / Side A: - Using 100W uplink + 10 elements beam, no preamp - 23 degrees max. elevation pass - worked OK, but my TNC decoded some packets wrong ANDE-2 / Side B: - 23 degrees max. elevation pass - worked OK, but my TNC decoded some packets wrong For telemetry details see: http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/pcsat.cgi Henk, PA3GUO

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