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

AMSAT-UK website
by John Heaton 12 Dec '08

12 Dec '08

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Greetings, Over the weekend the AMSAT-UK website will be going offline for a while. The reason is that this side of the building has been undergoing a lot of changes with some of the older offices revamped for their new occupants. The offices have been rewired, and the mains are being switched off to most of this part of the building whilst the new offices are connected. The work is planned for this weekend but I don't know exactly when and for how long. Hopefully the system that the AMSAT-UK website is on will reboot itself, if not will it have to wait till I get in on Monday. I'f its down, don't bother trying to send me email as my email system will be off as well. Bye for now, John John Heaton, G1YYH AMSAT-UK #5701 http://www.phers.co.uk/ Skype: g1yyh-mac or g1yyh-ppc -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (Darwin) iEYEARECAAYFAkk5V3EACgkQDwhbGQHPUt2/OACgmNKONhQXfEH2FNvegjmcZMF7 wT4AmwR/E9v0GfUy8NYDPcQj2TExTsSI =6Zx5 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 1

A great day in the Satellite Lab!
by Robert Bruninga 12 Dec '08

12 Dec '08

A great day in the Satelliite Lab! Not only did we hear ISS, and Command up PCSAT, but also on today's last day of class, we distributed 5 LABsats throught the campus in undisclosed locations hanging on strings so that the students had to use Telemetry, and Command, and then the imager and sun/magnetometer sensors to align the comm links and then activate the on-board cameras to see where they were. They were scored on how well they could align their best solar panel to the sun, and how well they could change attitude to use the camera. The first link on this LABsat web page has this final 4 page lab (a word doc): www.aprs.org/labsats.html that summarizes the experiments. Just a lot of fun on the last day of class. Over the semester they incrementally assemble various components of these TNC based satellites going through 33 lab periods and exercises culminating in this final operations scenario. The icing on the cake was that today was also the first day of PCSAT return to full sun, and also hearing the ISS crew on voice all during the same lab. But PCSAT did not hold, and died on the next orbit for the next class. We will resume restoration attempts tomorrow. These LABsats use nothing more than a KPC-3 TNC for all telemetry, command and control, and an $88 Alinco HT for comms. They use $75 2.4 GHz TV cameras for their imaging experiments. Bob, WB4APR USNA Satellite Lab

3 2

de ND9M Maritime Mobile / grids MK21 & MJ39
by vq9jc＠gimail.af.mil 11 Dec '08

11 Dec '08

Hi Nader, The 11/1528Z pass was not available to me at my QTH in MK14. The only pass I could use last night was at 11/1348Z and faced to the east. (No sigs then either!) Today, I should be in grid MK21 for the SO-50 pass at 12/0647Z. This pass looks to your direction so we may have a chance. Tonight, my ship should be in MJ39 for the AO-51 pass at 11/1447Z which also favors your area. ------- Original Message ------- >From : nader omer[mailto:st2nh@yahoo.com] Sent : 12/11/2008 6:29:25 PM To : vq9jc(a)gimail.af.mil Cc : Subject : RE: Re: de ND9M Maritime Mobile / grid MK16 HI Jim I was on ao-51 15:28 z with hz1am waiting for you may you had a busy day anyhow i wll looking for you tomorrow best 73 st2nh

1 0

DO-64 telemetry - Primary server down ?
by Tim Tuck 11 Dec '08

11 Dec '08

Hi all, Is anyone experiencing difficulty connecting to the primary repository server at IP address 83.138.144.157 ? I just noticed my RASCAL program has over 700 packets queued up for it! the secondary seems fine. thanks Tim -- VK2XTT :: QF56if :: BMARC :: WIA :: AMSAT-VK :: AMSAT

2 1

ARISS and PCSAT status
by Robert Bruninga 11 Dec '08

11 Dec '08

At about 2015z, here is what I am seeing on ISS and PCSAT: ISS is doing well on 9600 baud on 145.825. A nice amount of activity. Looking at the live downlink on www.ariss.net it is easy to see that we do have some good 9600 baud Igates passing the 9600 baud data into the APRS system. Over the last 4 hours I see these IGates: qAS,KD8CAO-7 qAR,K7MT-1: qAR,K7OFT-10: qAS,PA3GUO: qAR,ST2NH: qAS,DF9CP: qAR,PD0RKC: After 7 years, PCSAT is not waking up as bright and chipper as before. For the third day, we got control, but this time, she did make it through a full orbit. Last telemetry packet was T#212 or 212 minutes of uptime. We have DIGI OFF while it recharges. BUT, as of this writing, we have not seen anything on its web page downlink for over 4 hours. Either we do not have enough Igates on 145.825 1200 baud, or it has crashed again. It is easy to see on http://pcsat.aprs.org. If the telemetry number is above 90 then it has run a full orbit since the last re-start. When we change the callsign from NODIGI back to PCSAT-1, then it will be open for digipeating. Details on www.aprs.org/pcsat.html When PCSAT returns to user service, please review the user-service-agreement on www.aprs.org/pcsat/contract.txt particularly we do not want to see any unattended beacons cluttering up the ISS/PCSAT channel on 145.825. Let the live users communicate. If any dual-hop opportunities arise, the best PATH to use is VIA ARISS,ARISS since both satellites support that alias, and both satellites will do their callsign-substitution if successful. The normal APRS path of WIDE2-2 will also work, but last time I tried it, the RS0ISS did not insert it's callsign, so you had no proof that it went via ISS. SO use ARISS,ARISS for possible two hops. Best place to look is at AOS on the west coast (if the one person in Hawaii is actually transmitting) and at LOS on the east coast if the geometery of a conjunction will get to Europe. Bob, WB4APR

2 1

OLPC XO wireless connectivity
by Robert Bruninga 11 Dec '08

11 Dec '08

Some of you have the One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) XO laptop. Since this laptop is designed to be wireless, Jack Zielke, KG4GJY has written a small client app for it that will link it into the global APRS network whenever it is in range of WIFI. See the web page: http://aprs.org/APRS-OLPC.html This is just part of the Universal Amateur Radio Text Messaging initiative that suggests that all wireless devices, cell phones, palm devices and laptops, (basically any communications device in the hands of a ham radio operator), can be used for call-sign-to-callsign universal text messaging. See the www.aprs.org/aprs-messaging.html web page. This way any ham can text message any other ham anywhere, anytime using any device. A great way to provide connectivity when Hams need to communicate. We hope other authors will write other applications for other devices.. Sorry for the cross post, but I know hams on both lists that purchased the XO's and are wondering what to do with them. Bob, WB4APR

1 0

VRS 2008
by Gunther Meisse 11 Dec '08

11 Dec '08

The Audit firm is going to start the 2008 Audit January 15, 2009 in an attempt to get it out in a more timely manner. To that end, I need to ask all of you to submit your VRS volunteer time reports to the web site prior to December 31 of this year. I have work to do on that data and need the first couple weeks in 2009 to get that done.. SO, PLEASE SUBMIT ANY UNREPORTED VOLUNTEER TIME SPENT FOR AMSAT ASAP... Thanks and have a great holiday season. Regards, Gunther Meisse AMSAT Treasurer.

1 0

Re: AO-51 2300z pass
by Allen Vinegar 11 Dec '08

11 Dec '08

I picked up the Fire Dept as well. It is on my recording of the pass. Al W8KHP

1 0

UK Moon mission gets green light + Sat Freqs
by Trevor 11 Dec '08

11 Dec '08

UK Moon mission gets green light http://www.southgatearc.org/news/december2008/uk_moon_mission_go_ahead.htm Cavtat 08 decisions on the Amateur Satellite Service http://www.southgatearc.org/news/december2008/satellite_service_cavtat_deci… 73 Trevor M5AKA --------------- Daily Amateur Radio RSS News: http://www.southgatearc.org/ Email your news items to: editor at southgatearc.org News On Your Website: http://www.southgatearc.org/rss/index.htm News On Your PC: http://www.southgatearc.org/rss/newsreader.htm Upload Your News: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/your_news.htm ---------------

1 0

AO-51 uplink changed to 145.880 MHz
by Gould Smith 11 Dec '08

11 Dec '08

As of 2340Z, 9 Dec 2008 the 145.92 uplink to the main FM repeater on AO-51, has been changed. This change was due to interference on uplink frequency. V/U FM Repeater Uplink 145.880 MHz Downlink 435.300 MHz 73, Gould, WA4SXM for the AO-51 command team

4 3