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

SSTV on 11:52 pass over IO75 square
by Gordon J. C. Pearce MM3YEQ 20 Oct '08

20 Oct '08

http://www.gjcp.net/~gordonjcp/na1ss-2010081154.jpg You can see how the higher pass has given me a clearer signal ;-) On this pass the ISS was nearly at 31 degrees elevation, about as high as it gets this far north. Gordon

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ISS UK Pass 09.15UTC
by David Barber 20 Oct '08

20 Oct '08

SSTV on again. 3 Pictures.

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WB9L cross-satellite again
by n3tl＠bellsouth.net 19 Oct '08

19 Oct '08

Hey folks, Mike, WB9L, and I worked cross-satellite at 22:50 UTC. Mike was on AO-51 to the northeast, while I was working AO-16 to the southwest. I heard some other stations that I know were working AO-51, but didn't get any other contacts. Both satellites were low elevation to me here in north Georgia. 73, Tim - N3TL AMSAT Member No. 36820 Athens, Ga. - EM84ha

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(no subject)
by Tom Clark, K3IO 19 Oct '08

19 Oct '08

Doug, KA8QCY asked: > Hi all, > Would this have been the date for the old time change back standard time in the > U.S.? Seems like my sat passe are off by a bunch using Instant Track. > I presume that by "old time" you mean to ask "When does Daylight Savings Time revert to Standard time?" To understand the way you change the clock, the old adage says "Spring Ahead, Fall Back" Here are two references on the subject: The US Naval Observatory (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/daylight_time.php <http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/daylight_time.ph>) or The California State Energy Commission (http://www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html) Both sources give the epoch as 02:00 EDT/CDT/MDT/PDT on Sunday, Nov.2, at which time you set your clock back to 01:00 EST/CST/MST/PST (except in Indiana and Arizona). Here on the East Coast, my offest between UTC and local times changes from 4 to 5 hours. In Europe, the EU (http://www.worldtimezone.com/daylight.html) makes the change one week earlier, on Oct.26. So if you are flying to/from Europe in the next couple of weeks, you can expect airline timetables to be screwed up. In the Southern hemisphere the pattern is swapped as the sun moves south of the equator. See the worldtime <http://www.worldtimezone.com/daylight.html> web site for details. 73, Tom

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ISS uplink
by WCP 19 Oct '08

19 Oct '08

Voice 145.200 or 144.490 US should be 145.200 right

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Re: WB9L cross-satellite again
by Wayne Estes 19 Oct '08

19 Oct '08

Jeff WB2SYK wrote: How about "an inadvertent QSO'?? Wayne W9AE replies: Kind of like when RS-12 was in Mode K (15m up, 10m down). It was common to hear a CQ where it was obvious that the station calling CQ didn't know his 15m transmit signal was being repeated by RS-12. I would answer the CQ and inform the other guy that I'm hearing him on the 10m downlink of a satellite. The other station, of course, was listening to my 15m signal, not the satellite's 10m downlink. I don't know what you would call this, but it's not a valid 2-way satellite contact or a valid 2-way HF contact. Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik

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Re: beginner question re: uplink power
by corner5 19 Oct '08

19 Oct '08

Thanks for replys (Re: beginner question re: uplink power) In response to two points contained in replys from helpful others... > Ed - KL7UW: I wonder if the Ramsey preamps allow for "hard" switching. That is by separate control line that the radio PTT controls. Then You have no issue with RF power and would run the units with the RF sense disabled. I should state that "many" (dare I say most) experienced VHFers that run high power (>100w) use hard-wired switching. I know of NO eme stations that use RF sense control lines. A: Ed, yes this is a good suggestion. In fact these preamps are very simple units. No, they do not have any switching that would allow for external PPT communication from the TS2000 (0-100w@2m, 0-50w@70cm). That said, I certainly could add my own mast mount external relay to do the switching. I also could simply install a DPDT or TPDT switch at the shack end and manually do the switching. This last approach could lead to smoking the preamp the one time I forget to toggle it out of line. So, in the end I chose to go with the RF sense remote switch. I hope the need to contain my uplink RF withing a chosen range (0-10 or 10-30 or 30-100 watts) will not be too limiting. > Tim - N3TL: I would be curious to hear from anyone currently using verticals with preamps as their primary receive antennas. A: Tim, I think technically you would not call my antennas vertical, but here is what I will start using: I have now completed the 2m / 70cm pair of double moxon (co-phased) fixed omnis. Each antenna has two moxons that are 90 deg to each other. I used the plans as published in QST, August 2001, author = L.B. Cebik. I chose these antennas do to wishing to avoid the expense and tracking logistics of a beam (for my first setup). I suspect I will go to this upgrade later as I learn more. Some prefer the more conventional turn-style design, Lindenblad, Quadrafillar Helix but I thought I would try this out and see. > Roger,WA1KAT: I think I would contact Ramsey and see what the resistor selection limitations are, unless you have a schematic and can determine it from the design. A: In fact I already have both the schematic as well as the resistor values that achieve the specific power windows. I verified with Ramsey that if I wanted I could replace the resistor with a pot for a full range. Unfortunately this does not really address the fact that I will still be restricted to a given range (although with the pot I would have more flexibility as to choosing my range). Also a more wacky thought I had was to have the resistors (or pots) located in the shack and toggle them as needed. > Roger,WA1KAT: Hard wiring, as has been suggested, is your safest choice. As the switch has the relay in it, maybe Ramsey can tell you where to tap in to directly switch the sensor. A: This is a very interesting approach. If I understand your idea here, you suggest to use the relay that is on the RF switch board and toggle this relay with a PPT signal from the TS2000 (and not make use of the RF sense at all. Yes? I do not know about the details of using the PPT signal in this way. I guess I need to hope that the PPT signal is compatible with the relay (voltage). And then if I need to abandon the RF switch all together, are there suggestions as to what is a good (not too expensive) remote relay design? thanks all! .paul AC0z

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Icom ic-820H Problems
by Chad Wasinger 19 Oct '08

19 Oct '08

Hi, I have an Icom 820H that is having some issues with transmit/receive. The radio just acts funny, receive audio level very low, but at the same time the key tones are normal audio level. The display won't keep a freq on it, when powered on the frequency appears, then disappears after a few seconds. The radio won't transmit and when I tune to a local 2 meter beacon, nothing is heard. I've double checked power supply voltage, checked that all ribbon cables are properly seated, and done a factory reset without any luck. If anyone has any troubleshooting tips for me, please send me an email. Radio was stored for a while and just turned on for use. Thanks in Advance, Chad N0YK

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ISS this afternoon
by santanaamt＠aol.com 19 Oct '08

19 Oct '08

Hi again: Between 1955 and 1959 UTC got 2 images of good quality; then at 2130 heard maybe Richard in QSO with a YV station? . . . the pass was 3 degrees maximum so let's see tomorrow. Angel - WP3GW

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ISS SSTV over PY Land
by Fabio Teixeira Magalhaes 19 Oct '08

19 Oct '08

Got a good sstv pics from inside the space station over Brazil, SA....... Orbt nr 56814 AOS: 22:02 LOS: 22:12 Max Elev.: 28º 73 es DX Fabio - PY4AJ AMSAT 19748

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