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

Grid Expeditions
by Jim Danehy 23 Nov '08

23 Nov '08

Patrick, WD9EWK Your statement about reality is correct. I do hear folks getting on top of a rare grid operator and : "CQ CQ CQ" . . . . reality is one thing . . . . . . attempting to persuade others to a better way is something else . . . maybe we can make reality better, I hope so. Maybe by identifying yourself as a "Grid Expedition" during your transmissions will get a subtle message out there . . . well maybe not so subtle . . . .that was my point . . . I do not see a down side . . . sometimes people need a reminder . . . again, improvement is a j o u r n e y not a d e s t i n a t i o n. Patrick, thanks for all of your contribution to the Grid Hunting it is appreciated. Jim W9VNE

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TALKING FAST
by Jim Danehy 23 Nov '08

23 Nov '08

I worked KU8L and I don't know if I was his first satellite QSO but glad to welcome him. See his post on being new to the birds. . . . he indicated we talk FAST . . . well Sebastian, W4AS covered why we do . . . nice comment Sebastian . . . . it is very nice to see newcomers post with comments . . . we need more of that . . . . we also need to lead by example by using intelligent operating procedures . . . AO51 is a great satellite . . . as Sebastian has pointed out , you can rag chew for 10 minutes on AO 7, VO 52 or FO 29 on SSB . . . AO 16 although not with us much longer, also has some "group discussions" on it . . . . Keep up the good work . . . . when an expedition to a Grid Square is in operation PLEASE defer to that station who has put in a lot of time, effort and probably expense to give folks a new one . . . the operator of that new GRID should probably try to announce in some manner that he is operating a Grid Expedition so some who might not know will get the message . GRID EXPEDITION GRID EXPEDITION 73 Jim W9VNE

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AO-51
by Peter Gibson 23 Nov '08

23 Nov '08

Been trying to work on the 9k6 digital side using Wisp Have had no data from AO-51. Can anyone help to get me to be able to use the sat Was able to work GO-32 thanks Pete

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[ans] ANS-328 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins
by Dee 23 Nov '08

23 Nov '08

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-328 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: * New publication start up announced * Popular Magazine Acquired * PCSAT Recovery Successful * Nominations Due * AO-16 Groundstation Predicts Last Days of Operation * ARISS Status - 10 November 2008 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-328.01 New publication start up announced AMSAT News Service Bulletin 328.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-328.01 After the great success of ham-mag (french ham "E-magazine"), we have decided to make it in ENGLISH ! But to make this challenge we need the help of a lot of O.M's Everybody can send us informations, technical, homebrew, support, DX, expedition, sat infos, etc. The claim is to share all informations about radio. You can have a look on : http://www.ham-mag.com Best 73's Vincent F5SLD [ANS Thanks Vincent, F5SLD, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-328.02 Popular Magazine Aquired AMSAT News Service Bulletin 328.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-328.02 CQ COMMUNICATIONS ACQUIRES WORLDRADIO MAGAZINE (Hicksville, NY and Sacramento, CA, November 12, 2008) -- CQ Communications, Inc. has acquired WorldRadio magazine, CQ Publisher Dick Ross, K2MGA and WorldRadio Publisher Armond Noble, N6WR, announced jointly today. CQ, based in Hicksville, New York, currently publishes CQ Amateur Radio, CQ VHF and Popular Communications magazines. WorldRadio, based in Sacramento, California, has been published monthly since July, 1971, with a primary focus on the human side of ham radio. CQ, a general-interest ham radio magazine best known for its support of DXing and contesting, has been in print since January, 1945. Armond Noble, N6WR, Publisher of WorldRadio, said that at the age of 74 the time had come for him to retire. "I wanted to be sure that WorldRadio found a good home, and that our readers would continue to be served by an independent voice in amateur radio," Noble said. CQ Publisher Dick Ross, K2MGA, said, "WorldRadio has filled an important niche in our hobby for nearly four decades. We welcome WorldRadio's readers to the CQ family, and we look forward to meeting their needs for many years to come." Current plans call for WorldRadio to continue to be published online as part of the CQ family of magazines, with Editor Nancy Kott, WZ8C, continuing in that position. WorldRadio subscribers will also have their subscriptions transferred to CQ magazine. Readers will be notified of details as plans are finalized. [ANS thanks Rich, W2VU, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-328.03 PCSAT Recovery Successful AMSAT News Service Bulletin 328.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-328.03 PCSAT Recovery Successful, Full Sun Operations Begin December 9 Bob, WB4APR reports from the US Naval Academy Satellite Lab that PCSAT-1 should return to full operations on 9 Dec 08 when this sunlight-only veteran bird once again receives solar illumination for two weeks. Bob says "This should give a few weeks for some good 2 meter packet contacts and the opportunity to run a Satellite Simulated Emergency Test (SSET)". If the ISS is also operational on 145.825, there is the possibility for some lucky 2-hop DX contacts via both birds. Combined PCSAT and ISS 1200 baud packet operation on 145.825 MHz will give 12 opportunities per day for contacts without any change in your radio. Operating PCSAT-1 is just like any 1200 baud 2 meter packet repeater. Uplink and downlink are on 145.825 and the path is VIA ARISS. This path is identical to the ISS path so that you do not have to change anything between the two spacecraft. (Until PCSAT-1 is reloaded, however, its digipeating alias is its FCC call W3ADO-1.) You can hear it every day right now, but its packets die before completion because of poor power budget. Refer to: http://home.comcast.net/~k9jkm/ARISS_Packet_How_To/ for additional information to configure your TNC for 1200 baud satellite operation. Bob continues, "I just commanded PCSAT-1 this week and all functions are normal. All we need is the first full-sun orbit on the 9th of Dec to be able to do a full recovery, and then it should last for 2 weeks or more". Amateur Radio operators can make two-way contacts, send beacons and bulletins and send your position so you will show up on the PCSAT web page at: http://pcsat.aprs.org. Bob recommends everyone plan on testing their emergency E-mail capability during the time window of 12 to 15 December for everyone to try to send an E-mail via the PCSAT or ISS digipeater. Please see the Satellite Simulated Emergency Test information at: http://www.aprs.org/sset.html. You can use any packet system and no special software is required. [ANS thanks Bob, WB4APR for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-328.04 Nominations Due AMSAT News Service Bulletin 328.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-328.04 The Dayton Hamvention® now is accepting nominations for its 2009 Amateur of the Year, Special Achievement, and Technical Excellence awards. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 18, 2009. All amateur radio operators are eligible. The winners will be recognized at the 2009 Hamvention®, which runs May 15-17. The Amateur of the Year Award goes to an individual who has made a long-term, outstanding commitment to the advancement of Amateur Radio. The Technical Excellence Award is for the person who has made an outstanding technical advancement in the field of Amateur Radio. The Special Achievement Award honors someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of Amateur Radio, usually someone who has spearheaded a significant project. The Hamvention® Awards Committee makes the decision on all awards based in part upon the information it receives--and not on the number of nominations submitted. Documentation that informs the Awards Committee of a candidate's accomplishments may include magazine articles, newsletters, newspaper clippings, and even videos (these materials become the property of Hamvention® and will not be returned). Additional details on these awards and a nomination form are available on the Dayton Hamvention® Web site. Nominations also are accepted via US mail to Dayton Hamvention® Awards, PO Box 964, Dayton, OH 45401. [ANS thanks Henry Ruminski for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-328.05 AO-16 Groundstation Predicts Last Days of Operation AMSAT News Service Bulletin 328.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-328.05 AO-16 Groundstation Predicts Last Days of Operation AO-16 Groundstation controller, Mark, N8MH reminds amateur satellite stations that the time for contacts via AO-16 may be drawing short! AO-16 has been in continuous voice operations since commanded back ON and configured in voice mail on 15 Sept 2008 at 10:58 UTC. The control team's predictions regarding sustained activities seem have been right on the mark. Recording your observations about AO-16 at: http://oscar.dcarr.org has been, and will continue to be, very helpful to the AO-16 control team. Please keep this up, especially over the upcoming 4 weeks. Many of you will recall that the "best guess current model" is that a hardware timer in AO-16 is firing when the craft is at a certain temp- erature, currently around 15 deg C or cooler. When the space craft temperature is over 15 deg C, the hardware timer behaves and continuous operations are sustained. The craft temperature is dependent upon solar illumination. It appears that around 85% illumination is the "magic number." If the orbit puts AO-16 with less than 85% illumination, the watchdog timer restarts the satellite, and the transmitter shuts down. Illumination projections (and subsequent temperature predictions) suggest that we might be able to sustain operations until sometime in the window of November 22 until December 4, 2008. So, if you want to make some AO-16 contacts, you had better get them as soon as possible!!! Long term orbital projections suggest that if the satellite hardware remains fundamentally unchanged (i.e., no deterioration of components on-board), it will be nearly 10 years before AO-16 receives sufficient illumination to warm up the spacecraft enough to again support sus- tained operations! You can be sure that we'll continue to probe the craft with commands, in hopes that we something will change in a good way that will allow us to use the bird for operations of some sort. It is possible that the transmitter on AO-16 will turn OFF sometime in the next few days/weeks; this requires some commanding to get it running again, which means a pass over the Eastern US coast is required for a change in operational status. We expect that as the spacecraft cools down, transmitter shutdowns will become more frequent. Enjoy this grand old bird while you can! Current operational mode for AO-16: Mode FM Voice Repeater ( Downlink is DSB) Uplink : 145.9200 MHz FM Downlink 437.0260 MHz SSB [ANS thanks Mark, N8MH for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-328.06 ARISS Status - 17 November 2008 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 328.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-328.06 Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report November 17, 2008 1. Upcoming School Contacts Planning continues for Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school contacts. New approvals are expected this week. 2. Australian School Contact Successful On Monday, November 10, Anderson's Creek Primary School in Warrandyte, Victoria, Australia experienced a very successful Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact via telebridge station VK5ZAI in Kingston, South Australia. Ten students asked two questions each of astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT. An audience of over 230 witnessed the event including the mayor, sergeant, representative from Rotary, Bendigo Bank and the Warrandyte High School principal. There were also many representatives including the president from the local Wireless Institute. The majority of the teaching staff also joined in. The Herald Sun sent a photographer before and during the event and published an article in the paper and online. The Education Times, the Victorian Teacher newspaper, also conducted an interview and will publish a story in its next edition. The Victorian Space Science Education Centre published an account of the event in their emailed newsletter to teachers, and! a student was also interviewed on ABC 774 Melbourne radio station. The audio, which was fed into the Internet Linking Project (IRLP) Discovery Reflector 9010, received 6 connections. EchoLink received 16 connections from Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, England and the U.S. To view The Herald Sun article, see: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,24632605-2862,00.html The Wireless Institute of Australia published a story covering the contact: http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2008/20081110-1/index.php The Victorian Space Science Education Centre also ran a short summary: http://www.vssec.vic.edu.au/resources/download/capcom/capcom30-1108.pdf 3. International Education Week - ARISS Contact Successful Students from Maryland, North Carolina and Ecuador participated in a joint Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, November 14 as part of International Education Week (IEW). The contact was facilitated by telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii. The students asked 17 questions of Mike Fincke, KE5AIT. Enloe Magnet School had three television stations on site and had interviews with radio stations and the district PR personnel. NASA distributed a press release on this contact. See: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/releases/08-072.html On Tuesday, November 18, the schools will tie in to a videoconference for another IEW session with an expert panel. Former astronaut Don Thomas will talk about space exploration and ARISS Chairman Frank Bauer will give an ARISS overview. Amateur radio operators from around the world will also participate, giving talks about amateur radio and their countries. 4. Japanese Club Talks to ISS Astronaut Members of the Newcomers Club in Saitama, Japan participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, November 15. Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, answered all twenty questions posed to him by the 16 students, giving some answers in Japanese. Approximately 100 parents and guests attended the event. Media coverage included 3 newspapers, one television station and one radio station. To view the contact video, see: http://www.ariss.jp/Newcomers/video/Newcomers_contact.wmv 5. ARRL Publishes ARISS News The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) printed three Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) news items in its December issue of QST. The "Happenings" column (page 54) had a story with a photo about the first few days of Richard Garriott's mission as the magazine went to press. "This Just In -- In Brief" section (page 12) had a paragraph about Richard Garriott's mission. A paragraph and photo were printed (page 100) about a revolving display that is circulating in the San Diego Public libraries. The display is about ham radio and includes the topics of satellites, ARISS, packet, moonbounce, and other ham radio modes. 6. NASA Birthday Celebration Includes ARISS Students The Naples Daily News ran an article about a Florida school that was invited to participate in NASA's Digital Learning Network presentation of its 50th anniversary. Pine Ridge Middle, a NASA Explorer School, was one of ten schools to join in the celebration. Pine Ridge students took part in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, in February 2006. The story may be found at: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/nov/13/local-students-have-blast-celebr… 7. NASA Cites Article on ARISS Students NASA Headquarters News Service picked up on an article about four students attending Humber College in Toronto who are building two communications systems to make contact with the space station. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Delegate Daniel Lamoureux was interviewed for the article. See: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jiaytfIhmwAy6LAnx0ey42_unrlg [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, Dee Interdonato, NB2F nb2f at amsat dot org

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WD9EWK @ DM22, Saturday afternoon/evening
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 23 Nov '08

23 Nov '08

Hi! Thanks to John K8YSE for the Friday evening activity via AO-51 from DM51 in southeastern Arizona. A new grid for my logbook, and I'm sure for several others. I was down in that part of Arizona in May 2008, and except that time and tonight I haven't heard DM51 on the satellites in the almost 3 years I've been on. John's trip earlier this week to DM31 in another part of southern Arizona was also a good time to put another rare Arizona grid into satellite logs. Nice to see others trying to activate unusual grids, allowing everyone a chance to put them in our logs. Tomorrow (Saturday, 22 November) afternoon and evening, into Sunday (23 November) on the UTC clock, I will be out in another corner of Arizona. I will go out to southwestern Arizona for grid DM22. My plans are still to work several passes there. I am planning to work one AO-16 pass, then two passes each on AO-51 and SO-50, hoping to put many stations in my log and a new grid (or, if I am on a grid boundary, possibly 2 new grids) in satellite logs across North America. DM22 has been on over the past few years. There were a couple of stations on from Yuma, Arizona, about a year ago working the FM satellites. Over the years, there has been some activity from Mexicali on the Mexican side of the border fence, across from Calexico and El Centro in California. Apparently DM22 has not been on enough for many to work, or to get confirmations for that grid, via satellite. As with many of my recent trips, it will not be necessary to send me a QSL card to get one of mine for DM22. Just e-mail me the details of our QSO(s) so I can check that against my log and audio recordings. If you are in the log, you'll get a card. And, after all my travels in 2008 up to now - at least 3000 miles/5000km by road plus a recent trip to Canada - portable satellite operating is still fun. :-) 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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First week as a satellite newbie
by Bryan Green 23 Nov '08

23 Nov '08

Greetings, all: Bryan KL7CN/W6 here in CM98fn. A week ago, the used IC-W32A and Arrow 146/437-10WBP I purchased from N3PKC via QRZ.com arrived. Hurray! The very first night I stood in the back yard and waved the antenna above my head in one hand and held the IC-W32A in the other. I heard K6LCS on SO-50, but couldn't quite manage to get things aligned to get them to work. The next night I brought the gear to our local Sacramento Java Users Group meeting. It might seem like a funny association, but there have been a couple members of the group who very recently got their radio licenses and I wanted to share the satellite experience with them. So, later that night, Marnie KI6SXU and I stood on a darkened street corner between buildings in a business park in Rancho Cordova, and scanned the sky for SO-50 with the Arrow. Late-leaving workers and security guards made double-takes at us as they drove by, but then we heard him! Chris, KG7EZ in DN32! I stuttered through calling him back, and we made contact! Chris was very gracious and encouraging as we elatedly told him that he was our very first satellite contact! After the thrill of first contact was done, we packed up the gear and went inside to look up the call sign and grid square -- sure enough, there he was! We spent the next hour looking at Google Maps, AMSAT.org, and QRZ.com. We completely skipped the rest of the meeting! Marnie, who's had her license all of two months, concluded that this was actually fun and that she could imagine herself chasing satellites with her retired grandfather at his middle-of-nowhere cabin in Arizona. Since then, I've made 10 more contacts on both AO-51 and SO-50. It took a while to discover the mode schedule for AO-51; it sure started working better after the 17th when mode VU was turned on. I added an old tripod to the mix after watching K7AGE's excellent video tutorials which helps quite a bit. I've heard the ISS on 145.825 Packet but haven't heard anything else from them. This is fun. It's inspiring! I keep imagining the science curriculum that could be written around this! I want to show it to my high-school age cousins! Of course, I aspire to a lovely ground station with a wonderful computer-controlled high-power VHF/UHF transceiver and a fabulous antenna array mounted on rotors on a tower. But this manual operation makes it fun! I walk around outside on the sidewalk, moving the tripod so it has the best view of the pass. I make a complete fool of myself as I juggle the HT, the notebook with coordinates, the flashlight, and my cellphone to check the time. (Note to self: petition Icom to put a clock chip in their HTs -- obvious?) What a hoot! Thanks for listening; I'll hear you on the birds -- I'll be the fellow that sounds like a noob. -- bag

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Re: First week as a satellite newbie
by Alan Sieg WB5RMG 23 Nov '08

23 Nov '08

Way to go Bryan (& Marnie) !!! Great narrative ! Congratulations - and keep after the dream. It takes time, but it happens. Don't forget to submit contact info for your certificate : http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/awards/ You now qualify for the "Satellite Communicators' Club" . . . Enjoy /;^) -- <- WB5RMG is Alan Sieg * http://wb5rmg.somenet.net ->

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Graphical Satellite Pass Schedule Graphics?
by DeYoung James 23 Nov '08

23 Nov '08

Greetings, Does anyone know of a pass scheduler program that produces satellite pass times graphically for multiple satelites over say at least a day? A ficticous 1/2-day example of what I am looking for appears below. I know Bob's aprsdos does it but I don't run dos level programs anymore in Vista if I can help it. I built an Excel spreadsheet to kind of produce a graphical pass schedule but it is a painfully manual process to generate. Thanks. 0h 03h 06h 09h 12h AO-7 --- ---- FO-29 --- ---- --- AO-16 --- ---- VO-52 -- --- -- AO-51 --- ------ -- SO-50 --- ----- --- etc, etc. Jim, N8OQ

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Confusion over VUCC criteria
by Mark Lunday, WD4ELG 23 Nov '08

23 Nov '08

I checked the web page for VUCC, and it says no active satellites or repeaters can be used for the award. Whoops, maybe I misunderstood but I thought these SAT QSO's, once confirmed, would count towards VUCC. Mark Lunday WD4ELG wd4elg(a)arrl.net http://wd4elg.net

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Predict Voice Announcements?
by Scott Schmautz 22 Nov '08

22 Nov '08

Hi All: Anyone have any problems with the voice announcements with the Predict program? If I understand correctly, if you use an uppercase "T" command, you will get voice announcements periodically. Doesn't seem to want to work here, am I missing something? No big deal, just curious! Scott/WB2UZR -- Yogi Berra - "I never said most of the things I said."

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