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

TH-D7 Event Scoring and Messaging
by Robert Bruninga 29 Jan '08

29 Jan '08

Reason for this cross-post is due to the large number of AMSAT folks who have TH-D7's and TM-D700 radios and are maybe not using them to their full potential for HAM radio... Especially in light of our New interest in EmComm... POST: Had another great Scout Event using TH-D7's for troop score reporting. There were 17 event stations and 50 scout troops. We were able to field over half of the stations with D7's for score data entry (10). In an afterthought, we could have done at least 3 more stations for a total of 13 with data entry if we had thought about the D700's also parked nearby. Using the D7's for score entry substantially reduced voice traffic and transcription errors, and repeats, while providing error free Troop scores to the HQ tent. See http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprsevent.html The 2008 photos are at the end. Too many people ignore the message and data distribution aspect of these radios. Not only did the D7 data entry stations not have to busy up the 146.43 voice net, but we operated on 445.925 with our data to avoid any QRM to the 2m voice traffic -AND- we could also chat on the same UHF channel for data coordination. Further, every D7 operator could be tracked on the main APRS map back at HQ as operators moved around the event -BUT- without the encumberance of any GPS's, wires, laptops or fussy cables. We prepared a LAT/LON grid on the event map, and every location in the entire square mile venue could be entered on the D7 by just pressing the POS key and dialing in the last 2 hundredths digit of LAT or LONG. These were "scouts" and dads by the way, who should know how to look at a map and estimate their position from the grid. To make that even easier, we prepared the four XX/YY digits for each of the 17 event stations in advance, so that if an operator changed locations, he only had to adjust those 4 digits to update his position. RESULTS: It worked great! Net control could leisurely look at the incoming scores on the D700 control panel mounted to his clipboard, and pass them to the score keepers. The contrast with Voice reporting is that each voice report, interrupts the netcon's chain of thought and the voice net everywhere, and demands immediate attention, while with the data messages, they arrive in the background, and can be viewed by Netcon at HIS convenience. Even the newly trained D7 HT operators said it was great (after they got the hang of it). Of the 10 D7 operators, only 4 had ever used a D7 before. Training was 5 minutes on the spot when they were handed a D7 and a gouge sheet. LESSONS LEARNED: 1) Don't plan on the NETCON with the D700 on his clipboard at HQ trying to use it also as his voice rig... Everytime he might decide to read some messages, a voice call might come in, and the PTT bumps him off the message screen. 2) Don't assume the battery on your 10 year old D7 is any good. Yours truely showed up with 5 overnight-charged D7's, but two of them were dead in the first 15 minutes. 3) The few other ops that had D7's also had D700's in their cars. We should have realized that the D700's could just as easily been used for data entry at those stations, thus freeing up their D7's for use elsewhere. Score reporting is only a one-time event every 45 minutes. Easy enough to walk over to the car and enter the data on the Mic Keys. 4) The D7 is ideal for this application. Operating dual band, it was able to do both the 146.43 voice net and the 445 APRS data net at the same time. But to save power, either band could be toggled off when not needed with one press of the DUAL key. Or both could be on for voice but the TNC toggled off between entries. 5) Too many owners of D700's and D7's I fear are not practiced and ready to send, receive and edit messages and data. These radios (and APRS) are much more than just vehicle tracking! END POST. Sorry for the cross post, but we have had the D7 radio now for 10 years and it is the hottest selling Kenwood HT, yet I continuously find operators that are not prepared to use it to send messages, email, objects, alerts, bulletins and announcements locally and anywhere in the world from the palm of their hand. If AMSAT is going to take on an EmComm responsibility, we need to practice with what we have now... Along that vein, also see the Satellite Simulated Emergeny Test web page: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/sset.html Bob, WB4APR

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A considerate operating practice on FM (one channel) satellites, Europe
by OZ1MY 28 Jan '08

28 Jan '08

Hi all, This is a short version of an article I wrote in 2000 about using FM (single channel) satellites. The reason for using bandwidth for it is that I listened to AO-16 at the pass with AOS at 1621 UTC here from Copenhagen. It was awful - but unfortunately just a repetition of what has been going on for the last couple of month on other FM satellites. I do not think anyone made a real QSO. One particular radio amateur counted 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 over most of the pass ?? Short version: The golden rule - do not transmit if you can not hear the downlink. Calling "CQ satellite" 3 - 4 or more times and give the call and the full locator at the same time is non-productive. It simply takes too long time. Experienced operators easily pick out new stations using a short CQ call. It is not really necessary to call CQ - just give your call. Considerate operating practice allows a QSO to finish. Many operators on the FM satellites do not adhere to this. You very often find a station calling on top of a running QSO, which makes the QSO take much longer time than necessary. Often it is because the QSO takes a long time, which leads to the next "rule". Make the QSO short when the satellite is busy. Valid QSO's just need to exchange calls and signal report. That is it. You do not need locator or operator name. If there is very little traffic OK go ahead and talk about anything - but not when the satellite is busy. Here in Europe we also have the habit of asking for the full lokator. I have tried to avoid that, but I have failed in this respect. For a terrestrial QSO or in a contest you need the full lokator - but not for a satellite QSO. A considerate operator will make one QSO per pass. If you are an experienced operator, who has made a lot of contacts before - limit your contacts to new stations. Do not use the FM satellites to elaborate on the weather situation in your local area, when the satellite is busy. Give priority to portable and mobile stations if they can hear the satellite. Give DX stations (rare calls) a chance to get through. I have witnessed JW stations being "drowned" by local QSO's. Look at your satellite tracking program in order to avoid calling stations that are out of the footprint. If someone is really annoying - don't try to block their signal - try to send them an e-mail especially if they are from your own country. Also respect if people want to use their own native language. It is perfectly OK to talk Danish, German or any other language, as long as they do not carry on for many minutes. AND no - I do not want to be a policeman on the satellites :-) AND please no flames. 73 OZ1MY Ib

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College Satellite night
by Dr. Jay Garlitz 28 Jan '08

28 Jan '08

AMSAT Friends: Look for club and student member stations from the Universities of Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, and Kentucky Tuesday Jan. 29th from 23:30 UTC to 04:00 UTC (Jan 29th USA time). We will be active on AO51, SO50, AO7, and VO52. Listen for us, say hello, get a QSO and QSL. If you know others who are interested at your area college have them contact me as more satellite college nights are planned and we would like their participation. jgarlitz(a)ufl.edu Dr. Jay Garlitz, AA4FL Gator Amateur Radio Faculty Advisor at UF

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2.4 GHz downconverter on Ebay
by K & R Yoksh 28 Jan '08

28 Jan '08

Hello, I've put a generic 2.4 GHz downconverter on EBay. It's surplus to my needs. Have used it to hears AO-51, among others. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170189178318&ssPage… Thanks, Kyle Yoksh K0KN Olathe, Kansas

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Spy satellite out of control
by GU6EFB 28 Jan '08

28 Jan '08

Hi all BBC News is reporting that large US spy satellite has gone out of control and is expected to crash to earth next month and should impact the ground. Get ready to duck. 73 Keith GU6EFB . This message was checked by MailScan for WorkgroupMail. www.workgroupmail.com

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satellite chatroom
by pcalvi＠bluewin.ch 28 Jan '08

28 Jan '08

Hello everybody. Some of you may remember that the satellite chatroom on ON4KST.info enjoyed some popularity during LEO evening passes in Europe. "Some" was not enough for the SysOp, though, and the chat was closed for alleged lack of activity. It was a shame, because I remember a small but very friendly group gathering there. Now I stumbled on another similar thing - perhaps less cutting-edge that KST - but apparently very functional, run by a group of Brazilian enthusiasts. The address is http://www.satfm.org/chat/ Hope to see you there at some stage. 73 Piero HB9DSU

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Re: satellite chatroom
by matwood＠sover.net 27 Jan '08

27 Jan '08

I do not post much to the BB, but there is another satellite chat room online as well, www.Sat-Chat.net, a project of mine related to the other sites that I developed. I just completed the work on it last weekend (it is a pretty simple site). Another resource for us to use. Thanks es 73, Matt, WE1H

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Joe K3SZH - 5,000 in AO7 Log
by dlittel＠tds.net 27 Jan '08

27 Jan '08

Joe, Congratulations for reaching the 5,000 mark on the AO7 log. I'm proud to count you as a friend, and I look forward to many more contacts with you. Dan AJ9K

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AO-51 V/U V/S , new combined mode.
by EB3SA - Carles 27 Jan '08

27 Jan '08

Hello Today in the pass AO-51 2021 utc ,Over Europe, the satellite AO-51 was on the new "dual mode" V/U V/S. Good signals on the downlink 2,4 Ghz, QSO with G4VWI with only 3º, nice ¡¡¡ What is most interesting is that many stations do not know they dowlink in 2.4 Ghz, hi, hi¡ Enjoy -- Carles Roy eb3sa(a)eb3sa.com www.eb3sa.com

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Re: USA Spy satellite - out of control?
by Greg Beat 27 Jan '08

27 Jan '08

>From what I have been able to read on the Internet , so far -- USA-193/NROL-21, supposedly an Experimental radar reconsat with a similar orbit to that of Lacrosse satellites (but lower altitude), passing over the same area of Earth every two days. Supposedly the initial orbital elements were to be 354 x 376 km x 58.5 deg. USA 193 5.0 2.5 0.0 4.3 v 1 29651U 06057A 08022.26928906 .00106843 00000-0 21608-3 0 00 2 29651 58.4898 160.3690 0008009 84.4119 275.7892 15.98955224 06 Arc 2008 Jan 20.22 - 22.28, WRMS residuals = 0.016 deg Early estimates being posted across Internet that it will decay around March 24, 2008 (+/- 2 weeks). I will probbaly enter into my copy of Nova for Windows -- so I can get orbital elemnt updates -- to where where it is passing over. Greg w9gb Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:33:26 -0000 From: "GU6EFB" <gu6efb(a)cwgsy.net> Subject: [amsat-bb] Spy satellite out of control To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Hi all BBC News is reporting that large US spy satellite has gone out of control and is expected to crash to earth next month and should impact the ground. Get ready to duck. 73 Keith GU6EFB

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