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

AO-51 Telemetry
by Peter 25 Dec '08

25 Dec '08

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all, I will be using a PK-96 to decode AO-51 TLM using TLM echo, what terminal program are you using and what are the TNC commands that you use, thank you. 73, Pete, WB2OQQ

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Earthrise - add
by Clint Bradford 25 Dec '08

25 Dec '08

That first, incredibly wonderful black-and-white Earthrise photo almost didn't happen. From NASA transcripts: 075:47:30 Borman (onboard): Oh, my God! Look at that picture over there! Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty! 075:47:37 Anders (onboard): Hey, don't take that, it's not scheduled. There was limited film available for the Hasselblad ... and what was in it at that moment was a black-and-white magazine. Clint Bradford, K6LCS / KAF3359 909-241-7666

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Happy Holidays from FN02
by John Marranca, Jr 25 Dec '08

25 Dec '08

Good Morning to all of my friends around the world... Peace, security, and prosperity this holiday season and in 2009 to all. John KB2HSH -- _______________________________ John Marranca, Jr PBX Technician/Shop Steward CWA Local 1122 BN Systems, Inc Orchard Park, NY (716)972-2006

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A politically correct Christmas greeting
by Alan P. Biddle 25 Dec '08

25 Dec '08

>From a lawyer: >From us ("the wishors") to you ("hereinafter called the wishee"): Please accept without obligation, explicit or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion or secular practice of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions. Please also accept, under aforesaid waiver of obligation on your part, our best wishes for a financially successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of this calendar year of the Common Era, but with due respect for the calendars of all cultures or sects, and for the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform or dietary preference of the wishee. By accepting this greeting you acknowledge that: This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal at the wishor's discretion. This greeting is freely transferable provided that no alteration shall be made to the original greeting and that the proprietary rights of the wishor are acknowledged. This greeting implies no warranty on the part of the wishors to fulfill these wishes, nor any ability of the wishors to do so, merely a beneficent hope on the part of the wishors that they in fact occur. This greeting may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions and/or the restrictions herein may not be binding upon certain wishees in certain jurisdictions and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wishors. This greeting is warranted to perform as reasonably may be expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first. The wishor warrants this greeting only for the limited replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wishor. Any references in this greeting to "the Lord", "Father Christmas", "Our Savior", or any other festive figures, whether actual or fictitious, dead or alive, shall not imply any endorsement by or from them in respect of this greeting, and all proprietary rights in any referenced third party names and images are hereby acknowledged. Sincerely, Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe Attorneys at Law ==================================================== And a sincere, unreserved Christmas greeting from WA4SCA!

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A Quantum Mechanical Analysis of the Santa Claus problem
by Daniel Schultz 25 Dec '08

25 Dec '08

Every year about this time, various analyses go out over the net purporting to show that Santa Claus cannot possibly exist, because of the extremely high speeds and accelerations required for him to make his rounds, absence of chimneys or other means of ingress, etc. The analysis about the death of Santa Claus, based on classical physics, is seriously flawed owing to its neglect of quantum phenomena that become significant in his particular case. An application of Quantum Mechanics to the Santa Claus problem shows that the situation is not nearly so hopeless as a classical analysis would have you believe: Consider the following: * Santa is never directly observed, but indirect evidence of him abounds. * If direct observation is attempted (say, by staying up all night with the lights on), not only is Santa not observed, but the indirect evidence of his presence does not appear either--only if no attempt is made to observe Santa do the stockings get filled. * Evidence of Santa appears in multiple locations simultaneously throughout the world. (The multiplicity of time zones does not substantially alter this argument, and will therefore be ignored.) * Evidence of Santa appears even in rooms that are separated from the rest of the universe by barriers (small or non-existent chimneys) that Santa cannot classically pass through. It is obvious, then, that Santa can best be described by a quantum-mechanical wavefunction SC, which is nonzero at midnight on Christmas eve throughout the world. Like other quantum-mechanical wavefunctions, it is not confined to one spatial location, and can "tunnel" through classical barriers (house walls and roof), producing a potentially nonzero expectation value in (classically forbidden) living rooms and apartments. Children expect Santa to arrive; therefore, in living spaces with the child operator (closely related to the annihilation operator), the expectation value is small but finite, and a small but finite fraction of Santa's presents are deposited. However, if an attempt is made to observe Santa, the observation finds the Santa wavefunction in either a "not-Santa" (OC|SC> = |SC->) or "Santa" (OC|SC> = |SC+>) eigenstate. Because of the very small expectation value of the Santa function (approximately the reciprocal of the number of houses Santa visits, adjusted by local "naughty" and "nice" operators), the eigenstate is extremely likely to be "not-Santa" (|SC->)--no presents appear. One cannot really blame these intrepid experimentalists, however: if one of them did succeed in finding Santa in the "Santa" (|SC+>) state, he or she would not only have unprecedented direct evidence of Santa Claus, but would find Santa's entire load of presents deposited in his or her living room. (The foregoing analysis attributed to R. Carey Woodward, Jr., Ph.D.) Another, less mathematical, analysis (gotta love Google) is that: As it happens, the terminal velocity of a reindeer in dry December air over the Northern Hemisphere (for example) is known with tremendous precision. The mass of Santa and his sleigh (since the number of children and their gifts is also known precisely, ahead of time, and the reindeer must weigh in minutes before the flight) is also known with tremendous precision. His direction of flight is, as you say, essentially east to west. All of that, when taken together, means that the momentum vector of Mr Claus and his cargo is known with incredible precision. An elementary application of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle yields the result that Santa's location, at any given moment on Christmas Eve, is highly imprecise. In other words, he is "smeared out" over the surface of the earth, analogous to the manner in which an electron is "smeared out" within a certain distance from the nucleus in an atom. Thus he can, quite literally, be everywhere at any given moment. (Author unknown) Merry Christmas. Get to bed tonight and maybe Santa will bring Amsat a launch vehicle in 2009. Dan Schultz N8FGV

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AO-7 Log screw-up
by N3TL＠bellsouth.net 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

My apologies to all who use the AO-7 log. You'll see that,according to my last entry, I worked K1VZI an hour after he worked me. My CW is slow, but it's really not that slow.... Merry Christmas to all, Tim - N3TL

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ESEO Project latest news!
by Graham Shirville 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

Hi All, For the latest update on the ESEO mission visit the AMSAT-UK website http://www.uk.amsat.org/ Season's Greetings and wishing you great success with your satellite activities in 2009 73 Graham G3VZV

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Happy Holidays
by Bill Greene 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

I just wanted to take a second to wish my friends all over the world a very Happy and Safe Holiday Season from my family to their's. For a New Years resolution you can expect Station VE7WFG to be back on the satellites. Kindest Regards, Merry Christmas, and a very Happy New Year. Bill Greene VE7WFG Amsat# 29777 DO00jk, Armstrong British Columbia, Canada

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Happy Birthday Earthrise
by Clint Bradford 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

It was 40 years ago tonight that we all were glued to our TV sets, watching the first Earthrise... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7797439.stm Clint Bradford, K6LCS / KAF3359 909-241-7666

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Re: 2008 was fantastic - and: a Happy New Year !
by GW1FKY＠aol.com 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

Hi Hank, A very well put together summary of the hobby and this years amateur satellite events etc. May I also ( I am sure on behalf of many ) also say thank you to you for your very valuable contribution in passing on your feedback and information via your web page. Seeing your success and your time and effort bringing success with the satellites, has I am sure, also contributed to helping many others pursue the same aims.. Thanks again. Best wishes to you and all, I trust that the new year brings good luck to stir on success and rewards. Ken Eaton GW1FKY Amsat - UK Amsat NA

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