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

Trasatlantic QSO on AO-51
by Luc Leblanc 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

Transatlantic QSO is actually possible on AO-51 from my grid FN36 i copy a station in grid JO and make a QSO with EA8CEI Alberto on Canary Island when the satellite was at 3 degrees of elevation (4 deg max on that early morning pass). Feel quite alone on this over the Atlantic pass no one show up in North America? "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Nice video http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3wrzo_fabrication-dune-lampe-triode_tech WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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1 watt pa
by Nick Pugh 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

Hi All The cubesat team at UL is looking for a power amp design 144 and 435 MHz 1 watt amplifier that has about 30 db gain and works on 3 volts with > 70% efficiency. Any ideas. thanks nick

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RS-22 telemetry Jan 12, 2008
by Mike Rupprecht 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

Date: Jan 12, 2008 0918 UTC UBS 139 IBS 20 USUN 147 ISUN 65 ITXA 0 ITXB 0 TTXA 110 TTXB 108 TNAP 108 TCTR 109 TSBA 108 TSBB 105 MODB 129 MODC 6 MTX 35 MRX 32 OnBoard Voltage: 13,9 V OnBoard Current: 0,2 mA Charge Voltage from Solar Batterie: 14,7 V Charge current from solar battery 0,65 mA D.C. current of the 435 MHz TX: 0 mA D.C. current of the 145 MHz TX: 0 mA Temperature of the 435 MHz TX: 10 °C Temperature of the 145 MHz TX: 8 °C Temperature of the Navigation Unit: 8 °C Temperature of the Controller: 9 °C Temperature of the inner case: 8 °C Temperature of the outer case: 5 °C Housekeeping info: 129 Housekeeping info: 6 Housekeeping info: 35 Housekeeping info: 32 73, Mike DK3WN

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Re: [eu-amsat] "Top" of AO-7's LOG
by John Hackett 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

Note also JH3XCU/1 still climbing up the list ... with no QSO's whatsoever. 10th most active operator on AO-7 ??? ... err, I don't think so. 73 John. <la2qaa(a)amsat.org> To: eu-amsat(a)yahoogroups.com From: sv1bsx(a)yahoo.gr Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:03:56 +0200 Subject: [eu-amsat] "Top" of AO-7's LOG Congrat's to Mika, OH8MBN ! He is the 5th European station above 1000 points in to Emily's OnLine LogBook for AO-7 . Good one Mika ! I wish you good luck for the next step, at... 2000 points ! 73, Mak SV1BSX Email: sv1bsx "AT" yahoo .gr URL : http://sv1bsx.50webs.com avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 080110-0, 01/10/2008 Tested on: 1/11/2008 19:20:13 avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2008 ALWIL Software. __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Database | Polls | Members | Calendar MARKETPLACE Earn your degree in as few as 2 years - Advance your career with an AS, BS, MS degree - College-Finder.net. Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity 2 New Members 1 New Files Visit Your Group Moderator Central Yahoo! Groups Join and receive produce updates. Sell Online Start selling with our award-winning e-commerce tools. Cat Groups on Yahoo! Groups discuss everything related to cats. . __,_._,___

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Demos at Fort Worth Hamfest 11-12 Jan 2008
by Pughkeithd＠cs.com 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

Satellite Operators, It looks like a busy weekend for Hamfest Demos. We also plan to be on the Birds from the Fort Worth Hamfest. We will try for the following passes (UTC): 01/11/08 2357 AO-07 01/12/08 0017 AO-51 0154 AO-51 1406 AO-51 1546 AO-51 1554 VO-52 1730 VO-52 2003 SO-50 2100 AO-27 2144 SO-50 We plan to use the Lockheed Martin Amateur Radio Club call - W5SJZ; however, the individuals staffing the operation may elect to use their own calls: W5IU, WA5QGD, KA2UPW, and WA0D. The SSB/CW Birds are a little "iffy" at the moment, but we should be on the FM Birds for sure. See you then! 73 - Keith, W5IU

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Recollections of OSCAR-9 & Salyut Decay Competitions
by Clive Wallis 11 Jan '08

11 Jan '08

Hi, Here is some information about the OSCAR-9 & Salyut-7 decay competitions. I've compiled this from OSCAR News (the magazine of AMSAT-UK), and from my own records and memory. I would be most interested in any additional information about these activities, which may have been remembered or published. The decay competition was first suggested by Craig Underwood, G1WTW of the University of Surrey (UoS), in February 1989. In a text bulletin broadcast on OSCAR-11, he anounced the rules of the competition which was to predict the day on which UoSat-1 will decay completely. the entry to be sent at least one month before the prediction. The prize for the winning entry was a UoSAT sweatshirt. Craig also posted a table of satellite height and mean motion, showing the orbital decay between mid 1988 and end of January 1989. The task of running the competition was then passed to AMSAT-UK, who added additional prizes, any item of AMSAT software and two AMSAT-UK T shirts. Five entries were allowed per person, to be precicted one month before the event. OSCAR-9 decayed at 07:51:49 UTC on Friday 13 October 1989. The results of the competition were anounced by Ron G3AAJ on the AMSAT-UK eighty metre net the following Sunday. The winner was Geoff Roberts G3ENY (15 October). My entry was second or second equals (October 11), Unfortunately I can't remember the other runners up. In his monthly news bulletin, broadcast at the end of October, Richard G3RWL reported - "Max White at the Royal Greenwich Observatory reports that UoSAT-OSCAR-9 (UoSAT-1) decayed on Friday 13th October at 0751.49 GMT on Rev 44761. Two possible locations for the final decay are given by different agencies: 49.2S 220.9E and 46.4S 220.0E These locations are over the South Pacific and were probably out of range of any receiving stations. The last report of telemetry we have so far is from K9CIS at the Richmond Community College in the USA. They heard the satellite between 03:43 and 03:49 on 13th October, and reported good signal strength and nominal telemetry. Any telemetry or reports from the last 6 hours of UO-9's life would be appreciated by the UoS." The following announcement appeared in the news bulletin on OSCAR-11 - "UoSAT-1 decayed on 131089 at 0751.49 GMT on Rev 44761 around 49.2S 220.9E and 46.4S 220.0E. Any telemetry or reports from the last 6 hours of UO-9's life would be appreciated by UoS - thanks to all those who have already submitted reports." The winner of the competition was also mentioned in the next OSCAR News, December 1989, but no mention of the runners up! I never received a prize, (I didn't like to ask!). Interestingly, there was also an item in the same issue of Oscar News from 'The Westlink Report' saying that UO-9 was last heard on 435.025 MHz. by ZS6CCD at 12:00 UTC. I last heard OSCAR-9 on 12 October at 20:31 UTC (TCA) transmitting telemetry & WOD. Here is one of the last frames I received - UOSAT-1 8910120203424 COMPUTER GENERATED TELEMETRY 00100101020302645503000304000405591806275607397A08450909557E 10100011010112000313000214024315832D163545176303184508195418 20150621020122615223000124009F25412026425727334128450B295608 30000331020032666733244234011735306336354737392C38457D39541A 40110441080D42743643000744140545001046003147447448463D494898 50110551080C52272053156454463055361456444757447558461E59471E Examination of this telemetry, shows that the 435 MHz. beacon is OFF. There had been some interest in the decay of OSCAT-9's orbit well before the competition was suggested. At the 1987 AMSAT-UK Colloquium, Peter Cleal G8AFN presented a paper describing factors affecting the decay of the satellite. He queried why the satellite was still in orbit when the expected orbital life was five years from 1981, and why the orbital calendars for UO-9 were often incorrect. Peter precicted that the satellite would decay in March 1990, plus or minus three months. Excellent for such a long term prediction. This paper was published in OSCAR News April 1988. There were no Colloquium proceedings in those days. At the 1989 AMSAT-UK Data Space Collloquium, Peter presented another paper detailing how he related the decay of the satellite to variations in solar activity and other factors. Geoff G3ENY was a worthy winner of the competition, as his entry dated 30 June was published in August's OSCAR News. It showed graph of height against time. His predictions (all guesses he said) varied from 06 August to 10 November, with the winning entry 15 October nicely in the middle of the range. Geoff also wrote two articles in OSCAR News about solar activity, and mentioned that a burst of solar activity in March had doubled the rate of UO-9's decay. Regarding my own predictions, after some initial unsuccessful attempts at curve fitting, I decided a scientific approach was needed. The density of the exosphere appeared to be the most likely factor determining the rate of decay, which could be integrated to give change in height. The density is a function of height and exospheric temperature, and was determined by using a simple look-up table. The temperature was determined by solar radiation, and some periodic time related factors. The method I used was to statistically analyse the historic data. This produced results which were then used with solar predictions, to do a day by day calculation of decay rate & height until the critical re-entry height was reached. I used a floppy disk based BBC-B Micro computer programmed in BASIC, for all the calculations. My source of the daily 10.7GHz. solar information was the weekly printed bulletins from the U.S Solar Observation Centre at Boulder, Colorado. The values of 3-monthly flux were obtained from tables published in the Wireless Engineer magazine. Those were the days before the Internet! The method only yielded partial success, and I tended to get different results every time the software was run. My five predictions dated between 27 August and 10 September, were October 11, 17, 20. 24 & 31 One problem in 1989 was getting Keplerian elements. AMSAT-UK usually downloaded them from a bulletin board in North America via an expensive transalantic telephone call. These were then read out on the AMSAT-UK 80 metre net. Often there was a burst of interference just as the vital mean motion was being read out! Keplers were also available on the packet radio system and on OSCAR-11. Peter G8AFN and I often used to meet at Stevenage railway station, where we changed trains on our way to work, in the mornings. We exchanged the latest Keplers, and details of our observations. To obtain updated values of mean motion I developed a method of using the observed values of the time of closest approach (TCA), ie zero Doppler. The error between actual TCA and predicted TCA could then be used to correct the mean motion. Thus daily values of mean motion and decay rate were calculated. One interesting outcome of this study was that I found that the measured decay rate was usually twice the 'Drag' value in the Keplerian elements. The units of drag are often wrongly described as revs/day/day. They should be double-revs/day/day. This may have accounted for errors in the orbital calandar for OSCAR-9. The Salyut-7 decay competition was organised by Pat Gowen G3IOR and AMSAT-UK. Details were published in OSCAR News December 1990. The time and date of re-entry was required, which had to be received at least one week before the event. Three entries were allowed. The prize was a handsome set of commemorative Soviet space stamps. Salyut-7 crashed to earth in Chile at 03:44 UTC on 07 February 1991. Details were published on the amateur packet/satellite network and in OSCAR News April 1991. There were over 100 entries, from all over the world. The winner of the competition was Mike Billow N1BEE, who predicted 03:30, just 17 minutes early. Second was Hazel, XYL of G3FMQ at 04:19. I came third at 08:24. Other close contenders included LA4XC, G4ODC, G4BDW, W3/G3ZCZ, G3LDI, G3FMQ, G4CUO, G4FKC, PA0DLO, G0BAF, G4ULS, VE3EFX and WB6LLO, who all came up with predictions superior to the estimates produced by the professional agencies. I received a magnificient certificate, designed and hand painted by Norma, G3IOR's XYL. Duplicates of the space stamps were also included. A similar method was used for the calculations, which used files of mean motion, solar flux, and historic three month solar flux data. Trust this is of interest, and looking forward to any comments. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK.

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moonbounce on 40 meters
by Daniel Schultz 11 Jan '08

11 Jan '08

Scientists Detect Lowest Frequency Radar Echo From The Moon Washington DC (SPX) Jan 09, 2008 A team of scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory, the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL's) Research Vehicles Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and the University of New Mexico (UNM) has detected the lowest frequency radar echo from the moon ever seen with earth-based receivers. In the lunar echo experiment (more properly called a lunar bistatic radar experiment), the Air Force/Navy High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) high power transmitter, located near Gakona, Alaska, launched high power radio waves toward the moon. The reflected signal, weakened because of the long distance to the moon and back, was detected by receiving antennas in New Mexico. NRL consultant scientist Dr. Paul Rodriguez, of NRL's Information Technology Division, who conceived and proposed the experiment explains, "Analysis of the echo gives information on the properties of the lunar sub-surface topography, because the low frequency radar waves propagate to varying depths below the visible surface of the moon. It is somewhat like sonar, except that we are using electromagnetic waves rather than sound waves. The experiment also allows us to study the interaction of the echo signal with the earth's ionosphere along its return path, because the ionosphere is only partially transparent at low frequencies." During the experiment, which was carried out on Oct. 28 and 29, 2007, the radar signals from HAARP were at 7.4075 MHz and 9.4075 MHz. Both the transmitted signal and the echo from the moon were detected by NRL Remote Sensing Division scientist, Dr. Kenneth Stewart, and NRL engineer Brian Hicks with antennas built for the Long Wavelength Array (LWA). LWA is a radio interferometer being built in the desert west of Socorro, N.M., by UNM, NRL, the Applied Research Laboratories at the University of Texas at Austin, Virginia Tech, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, for studies of space physics and astrophysics. The LWA is intended to work below the 88 MHz edge of the FM band, but to get down to the HAARP signal frequencies, the antennas were equipped with digital receivers and specially designed matching networks developed by Stewart, Hicks, and engineer Nagini Paravastu at NRL. "Detecting the very weak radio signals after their round trip to the moon and back was challenging and required careful modification of the LWA antennas to improve their performance at these frequencies," says Stewart. NRL LWA Project Scientist Dr. Namir Kassim notes, "One of the successful goals of this experiment was to demonstrate that the LWA can work with instruments like HAARP at lower frequencies than its nominal design." The HAARP radar antenna array was "phased" to point about 45 degrees away from the zenith, in order to track and directly illuminate the moon. Its full total power capability, about 3.6 MW, was used to transmit pulses two seconds in length every five seconds over a period of two hours each day, one hour at each frequency. Using such a pulse pattern makes the echo, which arrives back from the moon 2.4 seconds later, immediately recognizable, allowing the scientists to distinguish the moon's echo signal from the HAARP signal. The HAARP signal reached the receiving antennas in New Mexico by reflecting off the underside of the ionosphere, the region of the Earth's atmosphere from 50 to 400 km in altitude that is partially ionized by solar radiation. The lunar echo measurements at 7.4075 MHZ are believed to be the lowest frequency (longest wavelength) at which bistatic radar measurements have been conducted. "Even though lunar echoes have been detected before at higher frequencies, it was really exciting to see them arrive in real time out under the full moon in the New Mexico desert," says NRL's Hicks. http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Scientists_Detect_Lowest_Frequency_Radar_E…

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MacWorld San Francisco
by Clint Bradford 11 Jan '08

11 Jan '08

Who else will be attending MacWorld next week in San Francisco? May I suggest 442.050+ CTCSS 127.3 as a local repeater, and, say, 146.550 as local simplex for monitoring??? Clint Bradford, K6LCS / KAF3359 909-241-7666

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1000, congatulations ao-7 contact's.
by TERRY BROMLEY 11 Jan '08

11 Jan '08

mika OH8MBN well done Mika. I'm glad to be in your 1000 contacts. 73 Terry G1WPR.

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Sat station coverage map
by Andrew Rich 11 Jan '08

11 Jan '08

I had an idea 1. When ISS is heard direct 2. Ask predict for the lat and lon and alt of ISS 3. Ask the radio for signal strength 4. Place the data into a mysql table 5. Plot on google earth positions where ISS is heard 6. Draw lines from my qth to where ISS was heard in 3D 3D coverage maps ? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Rich VK4TEC vk4tec(a)people.net.au http://www.tech-software.net

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