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

SSTV Fun on AO-51
by Michael J. Wolthuis 12 Nov '08

12 Nov '08

What a bunch of fun balancing my arrow antenna, thd7a(g) and VC-H1 all while monitoring AO-51 for SSTV! I struggled at the beginning pushing the RX button on the VC-H1 when the Robot36 started, but got the hang of it about half way through. Good copy of pic from VE3VBA CQ SSTV via AO51. This appears to be the call of the Canadian Coast Guard! Very cool shot and turned out perfect with text and all on the VC-H1 screen. Then I sent a pic of myself, I know... it was all I had in the VC-H1, not even sure I TXed the radio correctly. Then copied CQ AO51 de VA??? unable to read this one well. Then copied an AWESOME pic of some VW vehicles from VA7VW. I can make out the Canadian flag on the pic, the call and the vehicles, but not the text. Is there such a thing as a QSL card for SSTV or no such thing because it is one way comms? This was a great first SSTV experience. Now to get a real picture on the VC-H1 for next pass. Thanks to all who make this possible! It is a TON of fun! See you all in 1:20mins here in Michigan for the low 12deg pass and again tomorrow. If you copied my pic, please let me know! Mike kb8zgl

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SSTV on AO-51
by Luc Leblanc 12 Nov '08

12 Nov '08

On the 2249 UTC 74 deg elevation pass i try one SSTV transmission but only hear a very weak audio on the downlink on a S9 plus 30 carrier. There is a problem with the audio level setting probably? I also hear someone speaking with a child it look like a telephone conversation a bit off the uplink frequency. A couple of also weak SSTV tone where transmitted but to weak to be decoded "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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Kenwood PG-4V Cable
by Allen Vinegar 11 Nov '08

11 Nov '08

Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the PG-4V cable that connects between a VC-H1 and TH-D7AG? Thank you. 73 Al W8KHP

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AO-7 observation
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 11 Nov '08

11 Nov '08

Hello all >From my QTH CN87wk (near Seattle Wa.), once in awhile I have a good link into N. Europe. The only one available is Mika OH8MBN. Check your tracking computer, I'm sure there are other gents over there willing to try to stretch the footprint. Another observation- I noticed there is a significant difference in downlink signal strength between 145.950 and 145.958. Where .958 is stronger. Just curious, why? Also can we use 145.958 +/- a little for designated DX (footprint stretching). I have tried to push this before, with no bites. With time short, a designated frequency would eliminate one variable. See you on AO-7! -- 73 Bob W7LRD AMSAT member 28498 Seattle

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Re: COMPASS-1 support at the West Coast (i8cvs)
by Bob DeVarney W1ICW 11 Nov '08

11 Nov '08

I think Domenico's comments show poor Amateur Spirit. But each are entitled to their own opinion. As for myself, I have been very glad and proud to provide support to the Compass-1 project by collecting telemetry and helping with command of the spacecraft. I know Mike must have devoted countless volunteer hours in his support to this project; I know he has emailed me for specific requests at what must be some very long hours in EU. I wonder if the same can be said for.... well, I'll leave it there. I will continue to support Compass-1, and any other satellite, Amateur or otherwise, whose staff have the courage to ask for my help. 73 de Bob W1ICW AMSAT Life Member 2149 ARRL Life Member

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AO-51 Sighting...Possible Explaination
by Armando Mercado 11 Nov '08

11 Nov '08

Hello All, Last week, there was a flurry of postings about sighting AO-51. The initial report was from Riverside, CA, USA, 34.0 N 117.4 W, Elevation 250 meters. After much checking, I believe what was actually seen was an upper stage of Soyuz booster that launched COSMOS 1184 on June 4, 1980. In the original post, the observer reported the object "directly overhead" at 6:10pm PST (0210 UTC 06 November 2008). The SL-3 rocket body was 80 degs high at 6:10:39pm PST. AO-51 on the other hand was 83 degs high a minute and a half later at 6:12pm PST, so the timing is a better fit for the SL-3 R/B. The SL-3 R/B is about 12 ft. long and 8 ft. in diameter. It orbits about 140 miles lower than AO-51. In the summer of 2006, I made a visual sighting of AO-7 using a 70mm "goto" telescope at 25 powers of magnification It took many tries, but finally on a near perfect 88 deg pass I spotted it. It was about 7th magnitude at is brightest and very tiny. Since then I have made a couple of serious attempts to spot AO-51 using 11x80 binoculars, and a 70mm telescope and have not succeeded. My next attempt will be with my 8 inch telescope, but not until the weather gets warmer. >From my personal experience, I do not think AO-51 would be visible to a casual observer. One must also keep in mind AO-51 is in a polar sun synchronous orbit. This is a very popular orbit for satellites to be launched into and consequently there is a lot of stuff up there. It's kind of like watching US-101 during the rush hour and expecting to see a white car at 4:30 PM. You'll see one. Enter the lat/long for Riverside, CA, ( 34.0 N 117.4 W, Elevation 250 meters), plug in the follow keps, set your clock to 0200UTC, 06 NOV 2008, and see what you think.... SL-3 R/B 1 11822U 80044B 08311.47990140 .00000945 00000-0 44143-4 0 1751 2 11822 081.2402 315.5175 0023019 261.6853 098.1731 15.18617526552470 AMSAT ECHO 1 28375U 04025K 08311.64072703 .00000014 00000-0 16651-4 0 2382 2 28375 098.0621 328.1455 0085038 080.2834 280.7950 14.40623296228910 73, Armando, N8IGJ

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Re: COMPASS-1 support at the West Coast
by Mike Rupprecht 11 Nov '08

11 Nov '08

Domenico, ...never-ceasing. I am very glad (and proud) that I have learned a different kind of ham-spirit, even in the last months. 73, Mike DK3WN PS: I will not paid for my work... -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: i8cvs [mailto:domenico.i8cvs@tin.it] Gesendet: Dienstag, 11. November 2008 16:29 An: Mike Rupprecht; 'amsat-bb' Betreff: Re: [amsat-bb] COMPASS-1 support at the West Coast ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Rupprecht" <mail(a)mike-rupprecht.de> To: "'amsat-bb'" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 7:33 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] COMPASS-1 support at the West Coast > Dear all, > > we are looking for someone to assist us in commanding of our cubesat > COMPASS-1 at the West Coast. > > If someone (or more) is interested in, please contact me. Thanks! > > > 73, on behalf of the COMPASS team, > > Mike > > DK3WN Hi Mike, DK3WN COMPASS-1 is not an amateur satellite http://www.raumfahrt.fh-aachen.de/ If the COMPASS team is looking for someone (or more) radioamateurs all around the world in assisting with command and telemetry using our amateur ground stations built using our amateur money in my opinion the COMPASS-1 scientific organization should donate contributions to AMSAT in order to buid our communication satellites. Is the COMPASS-1 scientific organization in Germany donating contributions to AMSAT-DL to build P3-E or not ? Tank you for you answere 73" de i8CVS Domenico

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working ao-51 (finding the bird)
by Eric Fort 11 Nov '08

11 Nov '08

I think I finally heard the ao-51 downlink sending some form of digital data (likely sstv) this evening from DM14GK at 0218 GMT near the very end of the pass. I had much trouble finding the bird and it took most of the pass to find. What can everyone suggest for making it progressively easier? Antenna is an arrow with duplexer feeding a vx-6 ht. Eric PS I'm curious, who's uplink was that?

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java satellite tracker
by Michael Heim 11 Nov '08

11 Nov '08

That was quick. I was thinking of Satscape. Its good... give it a try. It is available cross platform, and as i recall, it has a script on the site that checks to see if you have a good version of java installed. the URL is http://www.satscape.co.uk/iweb/Satscape/Front_page.html Hope that helps. Michael Heim Chief Engineer, Forever Broadcasting New Castle PA WKST WJST WWGY 814-671-0666 Chapter Chair, SBE-122 ARS KD0AR

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AO-16 update 11 November 2008
by Mark L. Hammond 11 Nov '08

11 Nov '08

Hello All, An update on AO-16 is long overdue, so please accept my apologies for the tardiness of the post. (Life is good, but busy!) 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. Our predictions regarding sustained activities seem to be 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 us. Please keep this up, especially over the 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 temperature, 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 sustained 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 On behalf of the command team, -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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