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

Happy Holidays To All
by Bill Ress 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

Hello to all, As Henk, PA3GUO pointed out so well, we have many operational satellites to be thankful for. But, we're always anxious for even more and better satellites and as a new member of the AMSAT-NA management team I can tell you that the organization is working very hard to redefine itself along it's revised Mission Vision, with the sincere desire to bring even more exciting satellites to the Amateur satellite community. So, as we head into an uncertain New Year on many fronts, be certain that AMSAT-NA is working hard to deserve you support and membership. To all of you, my best wishes for a happy Holiday season and a much better New Year. Regards...Bill - N6GHz

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Re: Amateur Satellites mentioned on BBC News
by Clint Bradford 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

Someone in England should send a "thank you" to the BBC ... either via their online "BBC News website feedback" page or to their postal address ... BBC News Web Site Room 7540 BBC Television Centre Wood Lane London W12 7RJ This media contact can prove to be very useful in the future! Clint Bradford

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2008 was fantastic - and: a Happy New Year !
by Henk, PA3GUO 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

Dear satellite radio friends, With the end of the year approaching, I feel the need share how much I appreciate and enjoy all the fun we have on this amsat-bb. Where we discuss, help, ask, and challenge eachother with our shared love: amateur radio satellites. 2008 has again been a truly fantastic year; just to name a few things I recall (at the risk to overlook all those others); Delfi-C3: 2008 brought us a new, well working satellite with a transponder! A brand new satellite where industry, university and radio-amateurs worked together in defining, building and operating a spacecraft. A big project where various objectives got successfully merged into a small Cubesat. Many aspects on the behaviour of the sat to observe and validate, at least it kept me very excited back in May: http://www.pa3guo.com/dc3_12may08_2045utc_pa3guo_spin_145.930.jpg Delfi-C3 also brought to my attention that my PC cannot share its line-input over more than one program at the time, something to fix in 2009 ! AO51 My favorite FM satellite to operate portable during the summer holidays. This year I operated as OK/PA3GUO and had despite all the QRM many fun contacts around Europe. Always a good exercise ! http://www.pa3guo.com/holiday_2008.html Its the 23cm up / 70 down modes were new for me, now I had the (from Rob, PE1ITR borrowed) 35 elements TONNA for 23cm. I made my first QSOs in L/U mode. For this I first needed to get 435.150 downlink working, and I built with good help of Domenico, I8CVS a polarization switch for the old Cushcraft 70 cm antenna. http://www.pa3guo.com/cushcraft_416tb.html Finally, the SSTV 'mode' as preparation for the ISS experiments was also new fun. Yes, often AO51 is a lot of chaos, but next to that it has very interesting modes to use and explore. Thanks to the AO51 team for keeping us busy ! Cute1.7+APD-II As I wanted to help the project team to collect as much as possible CW telemetry, I did set up my remote access using the www.logmein.com software. Now I could remotely gather & forward the telemetry, from QRL but also while enjoying the good summer evenings in my backyard: http://www.pa3guo.com/cute_ops_pa3guo.jpg. PE1ITR was so kind to loan me his 23cm beam, to prepare myself for the 23cm packet uplink of this new satellite.... it showed that while our Japanse friends can digipeat over it I can't (yet), so I need to review if my antenna cable is good enough ... some day in 2009. SEEDS A new satellite, that provides an SSTV beacon in space, great for demonstration purposes. While I have a very clumsy set-up; holding a microphone in front of my loudspeaker, the picture is cool to receive. Also it transmits a 'secret' code in VOICE. I have listened to it a thousand times, but one character I still cannot really 'hear'. Has anyone gotten this confirmed from the project team ? Anyway: thanks for a new satellite to experiment with ! http://www.pa3guo.com/seeds.html ISS Especially in the last months a lot of new things to experiment (and this is what amateur radio is all about right ?). SSTV operations brought the ISS crew very close to us, remarkable how appealing receiving pictures with this old technology still is. Also the voice operations by Richard were a through inspiration. I was there to hear him talking for the first time with his dad while he was flying over Europe, and his dad in Moscow ground control. Also new packet modes: 9k6 worked SO good. A good back-up communication system for Emergency Communication (or SSET as Bob would call this :-)) The last few days of the year also promise new tests with the repeater mode in 23cm uplink configuration: let's see how the D700 receives at 1.2GHz ! PCSAT The old lady is running out of batteries, but is today still the only APRS satellite that we have flying around 24/7 in this mode. Even though we slowly lose control due to the automatic resets, we still LEARN a lot regarding how to operate in bad conditions (looking at angle of the sun for optimum power, radio channel clearance etc). PCSAT is also still a good test vehicle for anyone to set-up a fully automated tracking station (read: have a receiver listening 24/7 to 145.825 and Igate all received traffic to the internet). Having this available NOW is a good way to be prepared for anything unexpected (eg. emergencies). On one hand very easy, on the other hand it looks simpler as it is (keep a PC running 24/7 un-attended and not to loose the internet link). Good stuff... ! http://www.pa3guo.com/pcsat_cmd_dec2008.jpg AO7: Always fascinating to hear the 10mtr signals travelling all the way from space into my small wire antenna, amazing how clear CW sounds ! Yubileiny Haven't really figured out yet what its use for me will be, but it sure is another strong signal that can serve as a testvehicle for stuff like automated antenna tracking, doppler correction, telemetry decoding and storage. http://www.pa3guo.com/yubileiny_24may08_pa3guo_435.315_cw_short.jpg Compass: Have seen great support from the amateur community: first of all Mike, DK3WN, who is clearly in the lead helping out the university controlling the satellite. Great that when Mike asked for help, many HAMs around the world stepped in and tried to 'save' Compass. For me: to be able to decode the MSK downlink of Compass I need to connect the radio's audio to my PC. Missing for that is a proper (optical) audio interface, this is now my holiday project in the next 2 weeks... will keep me busy for while :-) AO27 ... you won't believe it, but only this year I made my first contact via AO-27. Folks QRV here you don't hear on the other FM sat's. Great bird ! AO16 After 18 years in space, I finally made my first QSO via this satellite. Fantastic idea of the AO16 team to have the satellite configured as FM/SSB transponder ! http://www.pa3guo.com/ao16.html Looking back 2008 was a truly exciting year with many new satellites, as well as new modes of operations of existing satellites. Most important; a year of a lot of new satellite radio-friends via this AMSAT-BB ! HAM radio remains for me both a source of inspiration, as well as a hobby shared with many good friends around the world. I wish all of you a Healthy & Happy New Year ! Warm regards, Henk, PA3GUO http://www.pa3guo.com

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AO-51 Mode L/U 9K6 uplink frequency ?
by Dave Aitch 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

Can someone confirm the uplink as 1268.700 for 9K6 for the coming week please ? 73, Dave.

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Out of Office
by Martha 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

I will be out of the office from Dec 25th - January 2nd. I will be back in the office on Monday, January 5th. -- 73- Martha

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Amateur Satellites mentioned on BBC News
by Trevor 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

The OSCAR satellites get a brief mention in a story carried by the BBC news service. See the bottom of BBC News - Christmas messages from far away http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7797779.stm A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. 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 ---------------

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Santa-llite Tracking
by David Barber 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

And one for Christmas: http://www.noradsanta.org/ Enjoy the festive season and thanks to all that make the ARISS project and the various Satellites possible. Regards David G8OQW

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Happy Holidays and Thanks!
by Frank H. Bauer 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

All, This e-mail was sent to the ARISS volunteer team. On behalf of the ARISS International Team I wish you all a very happy holiday season. 73, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS Team Members, I want to wish each of you a very happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous New Year. This past year has been incredible for ARISS, filled with outstanding new opportunities and a lifetime of memories for all--> school children, educators, the general public, ham radio operators and the on-orbit crews. As we look back on this past year, we continue to be thankful for the support of the on-orbit crew members who volunteer their precious personal time to operate the ham radio system for us. And we thank each one of you---the ARISS volunteers---for your outstanding support to the program. This program would not be possible without the phenomenal hardware development and operations support provided by this internationally-based ARISS team of volunteers. While we are called radio Amateurs, you are definitely PROFESSIONALS in my book. Let's continue our efforts to instill inspiration and interest in space exploration and ham radio..through the excellence we bring to our efforts and our interactions with ham radio operators and the general public. Thank you all. 73, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO ARISS International Chairman

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ISS - All Quiet
by vk5alx＠amsat.org 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

they always seem to forget to turn things back on after space walk etc.

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ISS - All Quiet
by David Barber 24 Dec '08

24 Dec '08

No activity on any passes over UK / Europe today, 24 December 2008. David G8OQW

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