January 2008 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

AO-16 6:35 utc Active
by EB3SA - Carles 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Hi to all AO-16 Now is active, good signals, pass 0633 utc over Europe. But no stations, actives...... nice ¡¡¡ 73´s. -- Carles Roy eb3sa(a)eb3sa.com www.eb3sa.com

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Re: AO-16 Insight ?
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

How do you spell high altitude mode "A", as in RS-15 (sobsob). I could work Europe from Seattle with an old two meter all mode radio. Simple, cheap gear hours and hours of enjoyment. 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle -- "if this were easy, everyone would be doing it" -------------- Original message -------------- From: "John Henderson" <jah(a)ec.rr.com> > All, > > > > With the re-birth of A0-16, it is really wonderful to see the reaction of > all the folks who have worked the bird. Even with the odd configuration, > fading signals and tuning problems ,every message posted has reflected an > air of excitement and a sense of accomplishment. > > > > Maybe, there are some things AMSAT leadership and us members can garner from > this event. > > > > - LEOS aren't all bad > > - Simple frequency plans are good > > - No specialized amateur equipment is needed for a sat contact > > - Push/advertise the use of your existing gear to a prospective > member > > > > With all the talk and plans going on right now relative to new sats with > 1.2g/2.4g and sophisticated modes ( I understand the technical advantages > from the satellite point of view) that require expensive equipment and > antenna setups, maybe what we need to excite the membership ( and attract > new members) is to re-think where we should be heading. > > > > I am not suggesting HEO/GEO's are not needed because I want to work all > states myself and would love a larger footprint. > > > > The major issue at hand is attracting ,building and retaining a membership > base that will allow us to financially move forward with such products. We > can't do that by requiring high dollar outlays by prospective members for > new gear and antenna setups. That said, there is an argument for HEO/GEO's > on that ground in that you don't need a lot more gear, etc. but you do need > down converters and uplink transmitters for the higher freqs not normally > found in the 2/70 rigs the majority of hams have in the shacks. > > > > The need for increasing the membership base is critical, not only in AMSAT, > but in ham radio as a whole. We will not survive if ham radio in a broader > sense does not do well. We are but a small percentage of that decreasing > total. Ever wonder why Yaesu dropped the FT-847 and Icom hasn't built a > IC910H Pro version? > > > > Maybe our number one priority, instead of human space missions and building > facilities at a college, should be growing our membership base with a keep > it simple approach in the near future. > > > > Certainly, my view is limited as compared to AMSAT leadership. They have a > much broader and deeper view of the situation, but as an Area Coordinator > who goes to ham fests and schools in our area, what I always hear is " the > high cost of satellite setups". Once you get beyond the hand held they are > correct, particularly if we move away from technology present in most ham > shacks. > > > > I just re-read the Mission Statement on the AMSAT website and could not find > much about new members. I did find a lot about human space flight, > educational programs, HEO's and yes LEO's. > > > > If the stated objectives and mission statement reflects our members wants > and desires, I must assume I am not in tune with the average AMSAT member > when I read these statements and scratch my head and wonder if this reflects > the correct direction. It all sounds very good, technically intriguing, and > challenging but it also sounds expensive. > > > > Please understand this is not a condemnation of our officers and please do > not let this start a thread like we had a month a so ago, but if you chose > to reply be thoughtful and purposeful in your comments. I am willing to > stand corrected. > > > > With regards, > > > > John > > John Henderson N4NAB > > Area Coordinator- Eastern NC > > 212 Bayside Drive > > Cape Carteret, NC 28584 > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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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FW: [PNWVHFS] 10' dish available - FREE
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

This came across my inbox. Location is somewhere in Western Wa. 73 Bob W7LRD -- "if this were easy, everyone would be doing it" -------------- Forwarded Message: -------------- From: "W7CE" <w7ce(a)curtiss.net> To: <pnwvhfs(a)googlegroups.com> Subject: [PNWVHFS] 10' dish available - FREE Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:11:59 +0000 I company that I used to consult for is going out of business and has a 10' (approximate) dish that they need to get rid of. I'll be helping to disassemble it tomorrow and it needs to be hauled away no later than next Thursday. The dish is a Channel Master 3040740-01, and is free for the taking. If anyone is interested, contact me as soon as possible and I'll let them know. Otherwise, it will probably end up at the landfill. 73, Clay W7CE --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ ~The Voice of the Pacific NorthWest VHF Society~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups < BR>"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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Kansas City Tracker unknown parts...
by Larry 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Hello everyone! I use the KCT to control my rotor, which works fine. However... I was looking through the junk drawer tonight, and found the original anti-static bag which has two 14 pin IC-style jumper boards inside. One of them has only 2 jumpers - one between pins 1 & 3, the other jumper between pins 4 & 6. These are both made with blue wire. The other IC block has a solder bridge between pins 2 & 3 and 5 & 6. Did these come with the board in its early stages of design? Does it even belong with the KCT? Just curious what these are for. I don't recall reading in the manual about them, either (tracker OR tuner). TIA... Larry N1MIW FN41

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C-Band receiver for P3E completed
by Peter Guelzow 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Hi, the C-Band receiver for P3E is completed and currently under testing. More information can be found here: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amsat-dl.org%2F%2F… original: http://www.amsat-dl.org//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=156&Item… 73s Peter DB2OS

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AO7
by k3szh＠netzero.net 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Steve N3TE Congratulation on you 1000 qso on AO7, and you did it your way all on cw with a great first.And yes tnx for the many contacts with you. 73 Joe K3SZH Amsat 3788 _____________________________________________________________ Need cash? Click to get a cash advance. http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2221/fc/Ioyw6i4tF3DIBbdv4muFwm9kNhuj…

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Re: UO-11 up and running
by Clive Wallis 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Hi, Many thanks for all the reports. Douglas KA2UPW/5 wrote - >Last month the clock was about 74 days slow, but it is now >about 81 days off. I suspect it probably stops during eclipses. It's lost about seven days in 63. That's probably around the total eclipse times. At the present time it's very stable at 81.36403 days slow. In the past UO-11 also used to send stored ASCII bulletins as well, but I think that capability of the satellite ended when the spacecraft computer turned off. Anyone know for sure? AFAIK, the computer was used to control the diary schedule, which enabled the satellite to capture and transmit many types of data, including a text bulletin. Before the computer switched off, it became difficult to command the satellite to upload the bulletins. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK.

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QSL Cards with AMSAT Logo
by John Marranca, Jr 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

CheapQSLs. They are excellent, and have made a custom re-print of my grandfather's card from 1938...but with my call and the AMSAT logo. http://www.cheapqsls.com John KB2HSH -- _______________________________ John Marranca, Jr PBX Technician/Shop Steward CWA Local 1122 BN Systems, Inc Orchard Park, NY (716)972-2006

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Re: AO-16 Report
by John Marranca, Jr 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Butler" <rbutler at tsss.org> > > So, now that AO-16 is in this mode, is it possible to put the other > PACSAT's that are in MBL mode into voice repeater mode such as IO-26 and > LO-19? > > Ryan, NF0T I think that that would be incredible...if these satellites could all find a use again in the "bent-pipe" mode. It's almost funny, since these birds have been orbiting Earth doing not much of anything but sending telemetry. Good Luck Ground Team on this possibilty! John KB2HSH -- _______________________________ John Marranca, Jr PBX Technician/Shop Steward CWA Local 1122 BN Systems, Inc Orchard Park, NY (716)972-2006

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Ao-16 thrill
by Don Blachura 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Hello Folks, I normally don't put much on the BB. But yesterday afternoon I worked Ao-16 here in the afternoon(46 deg pass). Not only was it great to work the bird but to meet an old friend that I used to work regularly on AO-40. Art Jenson of North Dakota. Had a great qso with Art and at signing I asked his age. His reply was 97, thats 1910! He was telling me that he has Doppler tacking now and a new Pc. Amazing at that age, and I sure hope to work he many times with his new setup. :-)) Don....w2xb

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Further indoor, ultra-cheap antenna success
by Bruce Robertson 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Following my experiment reading AO-16 last night with an indoor 1/4wave magmount, I'd hoped to try today with a basic antenna attached to my FT-817. this antenna is a BNC connector with three stiff copper wires attached, two to the ground, one to the pin, in the classic 120 degree arrangement. Alas, by the time I made it home, the bird was only at about 2 deg, over the N. pole (its silence quite possibly due to inactivity) so I switched to CO-55's nominal 100mW CW signal. Again, indoors through about three walls and perhaps the roof of this wood-frame home I was able to hear CW. I engaged the narrow CW filter, which then made it intelligible, and then walked toward the other end of the house so that a single outer wall was between me and the bird. At about 2 deg. elevation to the North, I could no longer copy the CW. It was about a 559 until then. Granted, my house is surrounded by a 6 acre field and on slight hill. I have very little noise on 435MHz that I can tell. Nevertheless, there was enough of a signal above the noise that I think this could be reproduced easily in many locations. It strikes me as a very simple experiment, ideal for in-class or for a demo to a ham club. In fact, the constancy of the cubesat telemetry makes the demonstration easier to understand and conduct. One could get the sat tuned in then hand the knob over to someone else so that they can 'feel' the doppler as they catch up with the bird. 73, Bruce VE9QRP

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AO16 over South America
by Fabio Teixeira Magalhaes 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

AO16 passed at 19:50 utc orbit nr 94026. Signal was very good. Contacts with PY4ZBZ, PY5LF and PY2BBS. 73 es DX Fabio - PY4AJ Amsat nr 19748

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Re: AO-16 report
by Andrew Glasbrenner 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Hi Ray, Thanks for the report, and I hope you don't mind that I have included part of it in this email to -bb in response to a few comments I've seen. As Ray and others have noticed, there is indeed some carrier on the downlink. It isn't what we might have designed for a voice system, but given how this came about, it's tolerable. The tuning of the downlink is indeed more rapid than a V/U linear transponder such as FO-29. Recall that an inverting transponder uses the Doppler on the uplink to cancel out part of the Doppler on the downlink. On this configuration we do not have that benefit. Thank you to everyone who has sent in reports, especially those who have described their stations. I'm particularly interested in reports of minimal and/or portable stations used successfully on AO-16. 73, Drew KO4MA ----- Original Message ----- From: RaySoifer(a)cs.com The uplink is very sensitive indeed, and the downlink is as expected given the power level. I would add, though, that in addition to the DSB audio, there is a carrier output which helps to tune in the downlink signal. It's not really DSBSC (suppressed carrier) but more like DSBRC (reduced carrier, relative to what it would be on AM).

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NA-EU on AO16
by Robert Turlington 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Hi All on the 1828 mid atlantic pass of AO16 this evening I managed to work CU2JX followed by VE3NPC the uplink is very very sensitive. I was running less than 5w to a horizontally polarized 6 element Quad at the time and could even hear myself Q5 with the power turned right down on my FT847(1-2w)Regards Robert G8ATE _________________________________________________________________ Free games, great prizes - get gaming at Gamesbox. http://www.searchgamesbox.com

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N3TE / AO-7 Log
by SV1BSX 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Congrat's to Steve, N3TE ! He is the 3rd US-station and the 9th WorldWide which reached the "1000 points" on AO-7's Online LogBook. http://www.planetemily.com/ao7/userStats.php Well done ! 73, Mak SV1BSX Email: sv1bsx "AT" yahoo .gr URL : http://sv1bsx.50webs.com --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 080123-2, 01/23/2008 Tested on: 1/24/2008 19:11:23 avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2008 ALWIL Software. http://www.avast.com

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AO-16 second try
by francesco messineo 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

Hello, AO-16 just passed on a 89 degrees pass, the doppler shift is quite severe, not like you hear on linear trasponders. Signal was very good with usual fades and also getting heard by the sat was easier. Had only one contact, QRM over europe is heavy as always, it's good to have another sat to use. Not many new stations though. best 73 de IZ8DWF

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Orbital Classroom - Future????
by Stefan Wagener 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

Hi folks, As a follow-up to my email in December (see below) I would like to thank all of you that responded. Your feedback was very much appreciated and also very encouraging! Interestingly, the overall response in terms of numbers was minimal. I assume that some did not read the previous email and others were not able or willing to respond for various reasons. At the same time, I also assume that the biggest majority is not interested in this approach since they don't attend the annual AMSAT meeting either. Consequently, I will not pursue this idea any longer at this time and focus on other activities. However, I am still interested in working within a team to develop some sort of educational program within AMSAT if that is of interest. Thanks again. It was an eye opener. 73, Stefan VE4NSA ................. Thanks everyone. The comments (primarily offline) to my first post on the existence of the "Orbital Classroom" just pointed to the perceived sad state of education within AMSAT. Now, we can whine and do nothing or maybe put our heads together and see what there is to do. The first thing is to gauge the level of interest. I and others will NOT engage in this without some significant feedback from the members and those that are interested in amateur radio and satellites and education. Here are a few questions and I would kindly request your thoughts on these. 1. Would you be interested in attending pre-conference courses and workshops as part of the annual meeting or at other venues? 2. Would you be willing to pay a registration fee that would cover course material, instructor cost etc.? 3. Would you be interested in receiving a certificate for ongoing education as it relates to amateur radio and satellites? 4. What topics would you like to see taught at such courses? 5. Would you be willing in helping to organize and facilitate courses (you don't have to teach for this one, just help the instructor and take care of registration, etc)? 6. Would you be willing to teach a course and if yes, on which topics? That's a start and hopefully it sparks your interest as a participant, facilitator or instructor. Please email me your responses offline (don't hit the reply all button) and I will compile the answers in a response to the board and this mailing list. FYI, I have been asked to organize and coordinate these efforts. First of all, I will NOT assist, organize and/or coordinate these efforts unless I have equal partners in assisting and helping. Secondly, AMSAT has an official "Director of Education" who needs to be involved and work on this (with our help if necessary). This person serves at the discretion of the AMSAT president and I have no intention to do his work. Hope this helps to clarify positions and responsibilities! For now, it is time for the members to voice their needs for education and define if this is relevant or not. Folks, here is your opportunity! Some of us are listening and working on this. Let us know if you want this or not by answering the questions above. As always, your opinion counts and even more your help is greatly appreciated. Have a Merry Christmas, a wonderful holiday season and an even better 2008. My best wishes to you and your families. 73, Stefan VE4NSA

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ao-16 data?
by Mr Jeffrey L Ross 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

hi all, any data signals to be picked up off this alive sat? ready to listen on 1200/9600 baud packet kc8gkf

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AO-16 Insight ?
by John Henderson 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

All, With the re-birth of A0-16, it is really wonderful to see the reaction of all the folks who have worked the bird. Even with the odd configuration, fading signals and tuning problems ,every message posted has reflected an air of excitement and a sense of accomplishment. Maybe, there are some things AMSAT leadership and us members can garner from this event. - LEOS aren't all bad - Simple frequency plans are good - No specialized amateur equipment is needed for a sat contact - Push/advertise the use of your existing gear to a prospective member With all the talk and plans going on right now relative to new sats with 1.2g/2.4g and sophisticated modes ( I understand the technical advantages from the satellite point of view) that require expensive equipment and antenna setups, maybe what we need to excite the membership ( and attract new members) is to re-think where we should be heading. I am not suggesting HEO/GEO's are not needed because I want to work all states myself and would love a larger footprint. The major issue at hand is attracting ,building and retaining a membership base that will allow us to financially move forward with such products. We can't do that by requiring high dollar outlays by prospective members for new gear and antenna setups. That said, there is an argument for HEO/GEO's on that ground in that you don't need a lot more gear, etc. but you do need down converters and uplink transmitters for the higher freqs not normally found in the 2/70 rigs the majority of hams have in the shacks. The need for increasing the membership base is critical, not only in AMSAT, but in ham radio as a whole. We will not survive if ham radio in a broader sense does not do well. We are but a small percentage of that decreasing total. Ever wonder why Yaesu dropped the FT-847 and Icom hasn't built a IC910H Pro version? Maybe our number one priority, instead of human space missions and building facilities at a college, should be growing our membership base with a keep it simple approach in the near future. Certainly, my view is limited as compared to AMSAT leadership. They have a much broader and deeper view of the situation, but as an Area Coordinator who goes to ham fests and schools in our area, what I always hear is " the high cost of satellite setups". Once you get beyond the hand held they are correct, particularly if we move away from technology present in most ham shacks. I just re-read the Mission Statement on the AMSAT website and could not find much about new members. I did find a lot about human space flight, educational programs, HEO's and yes LEO's. If the stated objectives and mission statement reflects our members wants and desires, I must assume I am not in tune with the average AMSAT member when I read these statements and scratch my head and wonder if this reflects the correct direction. It all sounds very good, technically intriguing, and challenging but it also sounds expensive. Please understand this is not a condemnation of our officers and please do not let this start a thread like we had a month a so ago, but if you chose to reply be thoughtful and purposeful in your comments. I am willing to stand corrected. With regards, John John Henderson N4NAB Area Coordinator- Eastern NC 212 Bayside Drive Cape Carteret, NC 28584

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Orlando Hamcation and AMSAT
by Bob McGwier 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

AMSAT will have a large presence at the Orlando Hamcation. It will remind some people of Dayton. The Orlando Hamcation has grown in size and prominence in the U.S. After all, it is in a horrible place for Winter in the U.S.! http://www.hamcation.com/ The following AMSAT board members and officers will be there: AMSAT President Rick Hambly, W2GPS AMSAT President Emeritus, Tom Clark, K3IO (ex-W3IWI) AMSAT Executive V.P. Lee McLamb, KU4OS AMSAT V.P. Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA AMSAT V.P. Field Ops, Gould Smith, WA4SXM AMSAT V.P. Engineering Bob McGwier, N4HY and others. Some of the above are board members. Additionally, board members Lou McFadid, W5DID and Barry Baines, WD4ASW will be in attendance. Barry Baines is our new Eagle/Intelsat project manager. AMSAT has been granted prominent times and rooms for presentations. AMSAT is bringing the operational SDX and will soon thereafter put an SDX based linear transponder on the air covering much of the state of Florida and in a prominent place in Maryland. Additionally, one of the SDX will be in use in Europe thanks to a generous offer and help from Viktor Kudielka. AMSAT will hold engineering planning meetings here for engineering management. This was decided because so many of these people were going to be in attendance anyway. Please come hear about Eagle and Phase 3 E in Orlando. I hope to see you there Feb. 8-10! Bob McGwier N4HY

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AO-16 report from Copenhagen
by OZ1MY 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

Hi all, Tried it out this late afternoon. As someone remarked the downlink is strong - but the noise level it very high, at least here over Europe. Made a couple of QSO's on two passes. My doppler file in SatPC32 is a little different from Drews after testing the satellite: AO-16,437024.87,145920,USB,FM,NOR,0,0 It is just the downlink that is different. I am using full doppler control in the program. The downlink antenna is RHCP on this frequency - but sometimes it was better with LHCP. Have fun :-) 73 OZ1MY Ib

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AO-16 Test Over Europe
by EB3SA - Carles 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

Hi to all The 0535 utc pass over Europe, any difficulty......... but nice ¡¡¡¡ This is my first QSO in AO-16 ¡¡ with IZ1ERR, Gracias Piero. Happy Birthday AO-16! Congratulations from Catalonia. Carles EB3SA -- Carles Roy eb3sa(a)eb3sa.com www.eb3sa.com

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RFI identification
by Tony 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

All, I have an RFI problem that I'm trying to identify. It's a continuous pulse noise that pops on every 1/2 second. The timing between each pulse is perfect (about 0.533 seconds) and doesn't seem to change. The noise is spread accross all HF bands and on some days it seems to creep up into the 100MHz range; it's also stronger on the lower frequencies. The signal is directional and goes from almost nothing to S-8 with the antennas pointed south. The noise appeard suddenly in December and has not stopped. I have a recording and would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks, Tony -K2MO

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Indoor reception of AO-16
by Bruce Robertson 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

We should get the word out to all those folks with all-mode, all-band radios: AO-16 may be the easiest voice-repeating satellite they'll ever hear. I've just finished listening to the 20:40UTC pass on a *really* crummy 144/440 mag-mount antenna. Fed with 6' of RG-174! Without a low noise preamp! Indoors! With the bird setting on the other side of the house!! Granted, it wasn't perfect copy, but I could have easily made many QSOs. You can hear an mp3 of this at http://heml.mta.ca/Amsat/ao16_cheap_vertical_indoors_30deg_to_10deg_23_01_2… I undertook the experiment because of half-broken outdoor equipment. My 435MHz antenna has an intermittent fault: it works properly when flipped over by the elevation rotor, but when under 90 deg. elevation, it is open. I don't dare drop the wooden mast I'm using until the weather improves (read, May), so I'm stuck. As the rotor flipped to track this bird, strangely I could still hear it. Either the antenna situation was improved, or the bird booms. SWR still awful: its the bird! That's basically just a piece of open coax with a preamp that's outside. So I quickly disconnected it, and connected the mini mag-mount that was at my station. I could hear QSOs even better. Amazing. If I have a chance, tomorrow I'm going to go outside with a FT-817 and see how we do with Crummy Antennas for Satellites :-) 73, Bruce VE9QRP

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Re: AO-16 reconfigured
by Tom Clark, K3IO 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

Whoops -- In my first try, I accidentally hit the SEND key before I posted the message! Then, after composing this message, it got lost in the big stellar bit bucket & didn't get posted to AMSAT-BB. So I try a 3rd time -- --------------------------------------------- The news from Drew and the AO-16 command team came as a most pleasant surprise to me. As Drew, KO4MA said : > After the conclusion that the spacecraft computer system was damaged and as > discussions about decommissioning were taking place, Jim recalled a series > of low level commands included in the spacecraft design by Tom Clark, K3IO > during construction. One of these commands allows an uplink receiver to be > directly tied to a downlink transmitter. It is now Jan.22 and it is, to the day, the 18th anniversary of the Jan.22,1990 launch (for details, see http://128.54.16.15/amsat-new/satellites/satInfo.php?satID=11&retURL=/satel… <http://128.54.16.15/amsat-new/satellites/satInfo.php?satID=11&retURL=/satel…> and http://www.spacetoday.org/Satellites/Hamsats/Hamsats1990s/Hamsats90sMicrosa…) when the Ariane-4 carried the first 4 Microsats (AO-16, DO-17, LO-18 and WO-19) and 2 UoSATs (UO-14 and UO-15)into orbit. The success that Drew reported came about because of three engineering decisions we made 20 years ago while designing the Microsats (a fascinating narrative translated from Chinese can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2r82dv and also see KB5MU's report from the 1989 TAPR meeting at http://www.qrz.com/download/packet/tapr89.txt): 1. Hugh Pett, VE3FLL designed the MBL bootloader as a finite state machine, independent of the computer. In addition to providing a way to reload the computer, the MBL has the ability to load commands into the AARTs in each module. 2. I developed (with a LOT!! of help from Bob Stricklin, N5BRG) the new concept which I called the AART (Addressable Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter) using the Motorola MC14469 chip. The AART board allowed two wire bus to send configuration commands to each module. . This was AMSAT's first spacecraft LAN (although it was only 6 inches long). Each AART board receives 2 byte packets (one for address, one for data) and returns a one byte response when it is addressed. The data byte is heavily multiplexed and sets up digital states and an analog telemetry multiplexer. The last time I heard, the AART on AO-16 had handled well over a billion packets. This is relevant because Hugh 's MBL allows a command station to send commands directly to each module even if the computer is brain dead. 3. In designing the Microsat receiver (with much engineering help from Eric Gustavson, N7CL & Jim Vogeler, WA7CJO, and construction help from Dick Daniels, W4PUJ and component scrounging by Lyle Johnson, KK7P), I implemented a bypass mode that allowed the AART to pass raw "audio" output from each receiver directly into the PSK xmtr. This was done mainly to facilitate testing after the module stack was assembled. I'll tell you that I am very proud that my boards are still working and the RX sensitivity is so good. Given 4 original Microsats with 5 individual receivers (except Dove with only 2 RX channels) and 4 AART boards running for 18 years (plus IO-26, AO-27 & MO-31) with plastic ICs and a lot of consumer grade components, AMSAT's "design them well and use industrial grade parts" philosophy seems to vindicated with a total of hundreds of years of on-orbit experience. Bob McGwier (N4HY) has collected a lot of Microsat photos on his website at http://n4hy.smugmug.com/AMSAT/245761. A few I spotted that might be interesting: * http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/2052687#105508793 -- This page shows several pix of my RX and AART boards . There are 5 RX channels, 4 for the users and one for command. The pictures of bare copper PCB were mechanical mockups for vibration testing. In each shield area, the long chip is the Motorola MC3362 single channel FM RX chip. The large silver can just to the left of the 3362 (a dummy in mass model) in the middle of each RX channel is the 10.7 MHz 15 kHz wide xtal filter that Lyle Johnson found for us. The 2M front-end has a 3 section TOKO helical resonator following the MOSFET LNA. * At the bottom left of http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/2052687#105508798 you see a resonant line that served as a 70 cm TX trap and part of the 2M input circuit. * http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/2052709#105511134 -- shows eye patterns showing that the RX works @ 9600 Baud (i.e. 4800 Hz maximum audio frequency * http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/2052709#105510099 -- the DOVE RX is on the left -- note that only 2 of 5 RX channels have been populated. * http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/2052709#105511041 -- Bob still has SOME hair. * http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/2052709#105511088 & http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/2052709#105511116 -- Bob still gives me a hard time about having a mustache! Thanks to Drew, Gould, Doug, Jim, Mark & Bruce for this 18th Birthday present for AO-16. 73, Tom

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