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

echo
by andy thomas 20 Jan '08

20 Jan '08

This morning I recorded Spectrum Labs screen dumps showing pulses received at around 0632-6 utc on 6.7925 MHz CW. It was my first intstallation of Spectrum Labs and I wasn't centred on the signal, so I lost some intital longer bursts that I briefly saw. On measurement against the 5 second marker intervals set by my radio clock the recorded pulses seem to be around 3 seconds long peaking in the middle of the fourth/fifth/first seconds (of a sequence of 5). Rig is a ICOM IC728 transceiver and the antenna is actually a trap dipole for 14/21/28 MHz but loaded onto 7MHz with an ATU. The Dipole is oriented N/S and the Moon was predicted (in Starry Night)to be dropping rapidly below my horizon from say, 50% visible at 0630,to my NW off full beam. At later times there was predicted to be no moon and in signal terms there was nothing there on either frequency as sked after 0638. I have reported this observation to Haarp and to the uk radio astronomy group. 73 de Andy, G0SFJ ___________________________________________________________ Support the World Aids Awareness campaign this month with Yahoo! For Good http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/

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EA4TX RCI-SE Interface and G-5500 Yaesu Rotor
by N0EZH 20 Jan '08

20 Jan '08

Hi Is anyone using the EA4TX RCI-SE Interface Board with a Yaesu G-5500 AZ/EL Rotor? If so, please advise. I would like to notes and configuration settings, as I am having problems getting the Elevation rotor to move off 0 degrees and track a target. Azimuth rotor works, but displays a lot of fluctuation +/- 20 showing within the ARSWIN calibration window. ! am using the ARSWIN interface software and NOVA for Windows tracking software. I may need to compare your ars.ini file settings found in the Windows directory with mine. My G-5500 rotor is okay, after several months aggravation with Yaesu service people. What tracking software are you using? I am new to satellite communications and anxious to bring my system on line. I use FT-847 rig. Thank You. Gary Chesapeake VA N0EZH

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Re: Need some help with predict
by Bent Bagger 20 Jan '08

20 Jan '08

Hi Andrew Andrew Rich wrote: > ... > I have looked at the permissions on /root/.predict and set to 777 > > It is not enough to set the permissions on /root/.predict. I assume that you run Predict as an 'ordinary' user and in that case you will also have to give that user access permissions on /root (chmod o+x /root). I don't like this, since it is a security risk. What I have done is this: I setup Predict to run under my ordinary user account, meaning that the .predict directory will be /home/bent/.predict. I sometimes also run predict as root and in order not to have two sets of predict data, I create links in /root/.predict to /home/bent/.predict, e.g.: ln -s /home/bent/.predict/predict.qth /root/.predict/predict.qth. > It is almost like it is having trouble writting or reading and bombing out > > Ideas ? > > I hope this helps. Best 73 de Bent/OZ6BL

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Need some help with predict
by Andrew Rich 20 Jan '08

20 Jan '08

I am trying to get predict going on an eeepc. I have it installed, but every time I run it, it keeps asking for QTH and lat lon and height. It then drops back to a command prompt. I have looked at the permissions on /root/.predict and set to 777 It is almost like it is having trouble writting or reading and bombing out Ideas ? I have gpredict running. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Rich VK4TEC

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Re: [SPAM] Re: eeepc
by Paul Paradigm 20 Jan '08

20 Jan '08

Hi Andrew. Yes, that's right, I did use an external USB DVD drive. Just follow the instructions in the manual. Another good resource is www.eeeuser.com I installed XP on to the C: drive, then moved the windows temp folders, and others to my D: drive. My d: is a 8GB SD card. I have also installed satpc32, Orbintron, Office etc to the SD card to save space on the main drive. I hope this helps Regards Paul - vk2txt

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ANS-020 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne Maenpaa 20 Jan '08

20 Jan '08

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-020 ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor(a)amsat.org In this edition: * AO-51 Recovered * AMSAT Maryland Lab Update * P3E C-Band Receiver Construction Completed, Testing Begins * Six CubeSats to Launch From India * Opportunity to Help With AMSAT's EaglePedia * ARISS Status Report for the Week of January 14, 2008 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.01 AO-51 Recovered AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 20, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-020.01 The AO-51 Command Team successfully recovered the satellite this week after its software crashed. Gould, WA4SXM along with Kevin, WA6FWF uploaded and re-started the code. AO-51 is operational in normal mode: V/U analog 145.920/435.300 on TXB & command station digital on TXA. Heating is the Command Team's main concern during this no eclipse period. Two different strageties have been studied to prevent over- heating from too much solar exposure. The first alternative includes turning the transmitter off to not generate additional heat. The second alternative involves turning the transmitter to as high as power setting as possible to use the sunlight that is converted to electricity which is then radiated out the antenna. The Command Team decided that the best approach was to use as much energy as possible. When the satellite software crashed Sunday all transmitters stopped operation. They found Battery 1 had a temperature of 41-42 C, which is too hot. Keeping high TX power (2.28W) on TXA for one orbit as soon as command was recovered resulted in the temperature of battery 1 reducing down to 36C. Gould summarized, "Everything is looking well so far and we are getting consistent data, with the FM repeater transmitter power setting of at 1.12 W". The telemetry link is operating L/U BB mode at 500 mW. Joe, K3SZH says he was able to contact David, G1OCN via AO-51. It was a short contact since the satellite was only 1 degree above Joe's horizon. [ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM and the AO-51 Command Team for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.02 AMSAT Maryland Lab Update AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.02 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 20, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-020.02 Bob, KF4KSS, AMSAT Lab Manager provided an update on the work to bring the new Pocomoke City, MD facility shared with the Hawk Institute of Space Sciences on-line. + January will close the cleanroom construction activities. + February will begin the tower and all the RF for the satellite control station including U, V, L, S and HF bands. Details will be published as they are completed. + After the tower installation, we will begin work on the engineering unit of the structure for the AMSAT Eagle amateur radio satellite. We plan on having parts of it complete in time for the Dayton Hamvention in May. + An on-line gallery of Lab pictures can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/bob2leo [ANS thanks Bob, KF4KSS for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.03 P3E C-Band Receiver Construction Completed, Testing Begins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.03 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 20, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-020.03 Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, wrote from Marburg, Germany reporting that the AMSAT-DL C-Band receiver for P3E is completed and currently under testing. The receiver was developed by Volker Winterscheid, DF7IT. The 5.6 GHz receiver is housed in a 74x74x30 mm module Which contains a pre-amp, mixer to 10.7 MHz IF, passband filters, and AGC system. Except for the setting of the AGC time constant, all electrical work is completed on the module. Testing is also being done for selectivity and rejection of adjacent weather radar signals in this band. More detailed information on the C-band RX for P3-E will appear after completion of the tests in AMSAT-DL Journal. [ANS thanks Peter Gülzow, DB2OS for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.04 Six CubeSats to Launch From India AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.04 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 20, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-020.04 Six University Cubesat/Amateur Radio satellites are planned for launch in early March, 2008 from India. Full satellite information for each is too lengthy for complete coverage here. Below is a summary of the satellites and their frequencies and operating modes (if known). Links to the University CubeSat Team's web pages with many additional mission details can be found at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/ http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/CubeSat.htm (W0RPK CubeSat Page) CANX-2 University of Toronto (Canada) 2m CW TLM plus 70cm uplink/13cm downlink (Not AX.25) AAUSAT-II Aalborg University (Denmark) 437.425 AFSK & FSK up/downlink 1200-9600bps AX.25 FM CW TLM COMPASS-1 University of Applied Sciences (Germany) Primary telemetry downlink: 437.405 9600bps FSK AX.25 Beacon downlink: 437.275 CW DELFI-C3 Technical University of Delft (Netherlands) Primary telemetry downlink: 145.870 MHz 1200 Baud BPSK AX.25 400mW Backup telemetry downlink: 145.930 MHz 1200 Baud BPSK AX.25 400mW The satellite will be in telemetry only mode for approximately the first three months of the mission, after which it is switched to linear transponder mode. Downlink: 145.880 - 145.920 MHz (inverting) 400mW PEP Uplink: 435.570 - 435.530 MHz Transponder mode beacon: 145.870 MHz CW (10dB below transponder PEP) CUTE 1.7+APD II Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan) SRLL protocol SEEDS Nihon University (Japan) 437.485MHz AX.25 (450mW) CW (90mW) [ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA, and Ralph, W0RPK for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.05 Opportunity to Help With AMSAT's EaglePedia AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.05 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 20, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-020.05 AMSAT is looking for two to three motivated individuals interested in helping with AMSAT's EaglePedia. EaglePedia is a Wiki and is the central repository for all information on AMSAT's upcoming Eagle spacecraft and possible future missions. AMSAT engineers and the general public will be accessing EaglePedia. Volunteers will be responsible for re-organizing the current Wiki layout, adding new content, and supporting the AMSAT Engineers as they design, build and organize the project's documentation. Ideal candidates will have technical writing, web development, HTML and Wiki experience, possibly with technical backgrounds (hopefully you all have this already!). Knowledge of WikiMedia, MySQL, UNIX and spacecraft engineering and project management is a plus (but not required). This is a fantastic oppurtunity to support one of AMSAT's most ambitious projects! Please contact Dave, N0TGD (hartzell -at- gmail.com) directly for more information or to communicate your interest in helping AMSAT-NA! Please put "EaglePedia" somewhere in the subject line. [ANS thanks Dave, N0TGD for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.06 ARISS Status Report for the Week of January 14, 2008 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.06 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 20, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-020.06 1. ARISS School Contacts Status Due crew schedules onboard the ISS, no ARISS contacts are planned at this time. The ARISS team expects contacts to resume once STS-122 launches in early February. 2. Astronaut Training Status Timothy Creamer, KC5WKI, received training on the ARISS basic radio operations and school contacts on Tuesday, January 8. Creamer is a backup crew member for the Expedition 18 mission. Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA, and Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP, will be scheduled for training on ARISS radio operations and school contacts in the near future. Wakata is scheduled to fly on Expedition 18; Noguchi is slated as his backup. Two training sessions have also been scheduled for Russian crew members on January 16 and 24. 3. ARISS International Team Meeting Held Minutes of the December ARISS teleconference have been posted. See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel20071218.htm The next ARISS teleconference will be held on January 22. 4. South Korean will Participate in ARISS Contact South Korean spaceflight participant Ko San holds a South Korean amateur radio license. San plans to participate in an ARISS contact while aboard the ISS. He will fly on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 17 crew members Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko slated to launch on April 8, 2008. [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM K9JKM at amsat dot org

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ux-910 is sold
by John Henderson 20 Jan '08

20 Jan '08

Unit has been sold, thanks . John John Henderson N4NAB 212 Bayside Drive Cape Carteret, NC 28584 252-725-2744 <mailto:[email protected]> n4nab(a)amsat.org <http://www.amsat.org/> http://www.amsat.org/

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Re: eeepc
by Paul Paradigm 20 Jan '08

20 Jan '08

Hello Bruce. I have installed XP pro on the Black 701 AG model.I have also upgrade the RAM to 1GB. I have also upgraded the bios to support running the machine at 900MHz instead of the stock 630MHz. The PC is connected to my radio via a serial to USB dongle. All works great. All the Best Paul - VK2TXT Ozsatgroup www.amsat-vk.org

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FS: Kenwood TS-790A + IFD board + TNC31S
by Francisco Costa, CT1EAT 19 Jan '08

19 Jan '08

Dear AMSAT friends My pacsat station is for sale: Kenwood TS-790A 144/432/1200 MHz transciever ============================================ with the following extras: * UT-10 1200 MHz module * Symek IFD-B board (for speed up to 76000 bd) and mods: * extended rx (on 3 bands) * 9600 baud tx/rx * 100ms mute disabled * IFD-B board (38400 baud rx) plus: * Hand microphone * DC cable * Instruction Manual (in english) include schematics * External Control Instruction Manual (in english) * Modifications documentation (in english) All mods were performed by me and no holes were done. This equipment was bought new (1997), and until now there was not a single problem! It was kept on a non smoking environment. Cosmetic is a 8/10 (one minor dent, sort of paint bubble and 4 rotator control box feet "stain", all on top cover) Unfortunatly I don't have the original box anymore. Sorry TNC Symek TNC31S ================ * Tx 9600/Rx 38400 baud card * 128kb RAM * 512kb Flash-EPROM * English mailbox * Kiss autostart including: * RS232 cable plus adapter (DB9) * DC cable * Diskette with software * Original Manuals (english and german) This TNC was bought new (2000), and was used on UO-36 and Tiungsat-1 with great sucess. I did't use it since a long time ago, but I belive it's 100% operational. Cosmetic is 9/10. I will only sale the 2 items together. Price: 1500 Euro Buyer pays shipping. Payment methods: Euro countries: Bank money transfer only! Elsewhere: Western Union or PayPal. Photos: please visit http://ct1eatsale.no.sapo.pt/ Thanks for your attention. See you on P3E or Eagle. 73 F.Costa, CT1EAT www.qsl.net/ct1eat

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For Sale: UX-910 1.2G Board for IC-910H
by John Henderson 19 Jan '08

19 Jan '08

I have a new, but opened box, UX-910 from a local Silent Key's equipment. Selling for his wife. $400 plus Priority Mail Shipping. John John Henderson N4NAB AMSAT Area Coordinator- Eastern NC 212 Bayside Drive Cape Carteret, NC 28584 252-725-2744 <mailto:[email protected]> n4nab(a)amsat.org <http://www.amsat.org/> http://www.amsat.org/

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