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

ISS 9600 succeeded in digipeat
by Mineo Wakita 07 Dec '08

07 Dec '08

I succeeded in digipeat via ISS 145.825MHz simplex 9600bps G3RUH, at 07:43:10 UTC (16:43:10 JST) 7Dec2008. I noticed that there is no [*] via ARISS. JE9PEL>CQ,ARISS [12/07/08 16:43:10] <UI R>:Hello

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K5OE antenna projects
by Alan Sieg WB5RMG 07 Dec '08

07 Dec '08

For those unable to locate the original K5OE web pages (thanks AOL)... I found this site today, apparently a sanctioned mirror. http://www.observations.biz/K5OE/ I have built and currently use both the 2m and the 70cm version of the Texas Eggbeater II. These are great omni antennae, suitable for use from the attic. They exhibit horizontal polarization on the horizon and become circular as elevation increases. Makes them useful for the VHF contests as well. Also easy to take and setup at Field Day. Even without a preamp, these are good enough for most LEO satellites. Thanks Jerry, I really like these ... /;^) -- <- Licensed in 1976, WB5RMG = Alan Sieg * AMSAT#20554 -> <- http://www.somenet.net * http://wb5rmg.somenet.net ->

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Amsat-BB Elliptical Orbit Satellites & the ISS
by ki6rrq 07 Dec '08

07 Dec '08

I'm a fairly new ham and been working AO-51 and the ISS, so far. Can anyone tell me which (if any) satellites, that we can work, have elliptical orbits that would give us prolonged passes for longer talk times? Lastly, I can hear lots of traffic on the ISS cross band but my 5 watt HT cant seem to compete. I have not been able to get a QSO on the ISS, in a dozen attempts. (Arrow antenna, got a bunch of SSTV pics from Richard Garriott but no voice) So I hope someone can respond to my call on the pass that begins about 2:01 UTC over Southern California, father away the better. (DM-13) Thanks! Rich KI6RRQ

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Re: K5OE antenna projects
by Bob Bruninga 06 Dec '08

06 Dec '08

> I have built and currently use both > the 2m and the 70cm version of > the Texas Eggbeater II.... > Even without a preamp, these are good > enough for most LEO satellites. I am very inerested in performance reports from omni leo antennas, so could you clarify "good enough" for us? Even a 1/4 whip is "good enough" for the middle 2 minutes when any satellite is above 30 deg.. But that is only 20% or less of all access times. And of course anything is good enough horizon-to-horizon for the ISS.. thanks Bob, Wb4APR

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Re: K5OE antenna projects
by Bob Bruninga 06 Dec '08

06 Dec '08

> Perhaps in the mean time I can come > up with some more meaningful methods > to measure the EggbeaterII performance. > Any suggestions or recommendations welcome. A very simple method for OMNI anennas is to simply monitor what you hear relative to elevation angle. Done. To gauge how well an omni antenna performs on a given satellite, you only need one number... that is, you can say a given satellite is generally "useable above elevation angle X on my antenna Y". That is all one needs to compare for any LEO. If you look at the plot of elevation angles and path-loss, shown on www.aprs.org/rotator1.html, you will see a table that shows how LOSS compares to elevation angle. EL CUM-% RANGE PATH-GAIN --- ----- ----- --------- 10 32 3030 0 20 67 2440 2 30 84 1827 5 40 92 1460 6 50 96 1190 7 60 98 1020 9 This shows that you get almost 9 dB of gain on an omni antenna depending on how close the satellite is, and that is simply proportional to elevation angle. The cumulative percent column shows the total access time BELOW that angle. Notice that signals above 30 degrees are 5 or more dB stronger, but you miss 84% of total access times. Above 45 degrees most LEO's are 6 or more dB stronger and can be heard on just about any antenna, but this only occurs less than 5% of the time. But anyway, it gives a universal single number comparison of omni antenna performance. Now of couse, what does "useable" mean is debatable as well. But most people can agree approximately. Of course there are nulls and fades, but I am not counting that. I am counting "mostly" useable as my criteria. Said another way, you can -never- hear some LEO's below some angle on an omni because there are very few things that can "enhance" a signal, though there are lots that can deminish it. So again, lowest-workable-elevation-angle is a pretty good discriminant for a given OMNI installation. Of course vertical gain-omni's can put more gain on the horizon (typical base-station antennas), but then at the expense of higher angle coverage. And since even a vertical gain omni antenna that is great for base station use might just barely hear some satellites low on the horizon, their nulls and poor performance at higher angles (where the satellite is MUCH stronger) is giving up the best part of the omni link to a spaceccraft, and why no one would use one for satelltie work. So as everyone is getting tired of hearing me say... my preferred antenna is a 19" whip over a ground plane (like the roof of my car) with short coax, that has 5 dBi gain on 2m and almost 7 dBi gain at UHF as a 3/4 wave vertical above 25 degrees or so. This combined with the 6dB of range improvement above 30 degrees for a LEO gives you almost 13 dBi gain performance (like a beam) for a simple omni (but only for the best overhead passes). But hey, it sure is simple, consistent and always works for high passes! An no moving parts, or tracking required, and usually, no doppler. I usually tune 5 KHz high for UHF birds so that I hear them the soonest that they get high-enough (and close enough) to be heard. But just fixed tuning at the center freq also works since you only hear the center few minutes of a pass anyway. Just something to consider. Bob, Wb4APR

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LOTW Satellite name for ISS ?
by Bruce Semple 06 Dec '08

06 Dec '08

Does one log contacts through the ISS repeater as a SAT contact? If so -- ISS does not appear to be one of the accepted names. tonights 23:49 UTC pass over East Coast -- the downlink was very choppy -- as if someone was keying their microphone on and off randomly but not saying anything -- was anyone else hearing the same?

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Compatible Radios
by RFI-EMI-GUY 06 Dec '08

06 Dec '08

You might check with Piexx to see if this module will add CI-V capability to your IC-471. http://www.piexx.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=19 -- Joe Leikhim K4SAT "The RFI-EMI-GUY"© "Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason." "Follow The Money" ;-P

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ANS-342 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 06 Dec '08

06 Dec '08

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-342 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: * AO-16 Requires Several Restarts * ARISS 25th Commemorative Event to Feature 9K6 Packet This Week * Sumbandilasat to be Launch from Baikonur * ARISS Status - 01 December 2008 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-342.01 AO-16 Requires Several Restarts AMSAT News Service Bulletin 342.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 7, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-342.01 AO-16 Command Station, Mark N8MH reported this week, "As expected, over the last few days AO-16 has started to again experience 'shutdowns'. So far I've restarted the bird three times, and each time it appears to stay up for a day or more. We can expect the situation to worsen, as the eclipse periods get longer and the satellite temperatures continue to go down. We've been warning you, get those AO-16 contacts in now!" Mark says he will try to restart AO-16 as long as possible when his schedule allows him. Satellite operator reports to the OSCAR Satellite Status page by KD5QGR at http://oscar.dcarr.org/ are very helpful. Mark continues, "If the birds is operational in voice mode, you should clearly hear the "not-so-repressed carrier" on the downlink. I have a special request - if you do not hear the carrier, please do not transmit to AO-16, as your transmissions make it difficult to command the satellite. And, if you hear the "hummmming" of the PSK transmitting, again please do not attempt to transmit to the bird; it's likely that I have restarted the bird and need to collect tele- metry before configuring it into voice mode. Thanks to all you faith- ful AO-16 operators!" Current operational mode for AO-16 (as available!): 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-342.02 ARISS 25th Commemorative Event to Feature 9K6 Packet This Week AMSAT News Service Bulletin 342.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 7, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-342.02 As promised by ARISS, the 25th Anniversary Commemorative radio event started operations from the ISS amateur radio station this week. Early in the week several amateur stations around the world were able to copy the slow-scan television (SSTV) pictures trans- mitted from the ISS. On Friday, December 5 the ARISS crossband FM repeater was enabled with several stations reporting excellent signals. When the crossband repeater is operational its uplink is on 437.800 MHz FM with its downlink on 145.800 MHz FM. Remember to adjust for doppler shift when operating in this mode. For the week of December 7-12 ARISS will run a test of 9600 baud packet operations on the simplex frequency 145.825 MHz. To celebrate our 25 years of amateur radio operations from space, the ARISS team has planned a set of special event opportunities during the month of December and part of January. A special certi- ficate is being developed for those who communicate with the ISS, either 2-way direct (with the ISS crew,the digipeater, or cross band repeater), or 1-way reception of SSTV or voice downlink. Several "surprises" planned over the month-long celebration. The surprises will be announced once ARISS is pre-positioned to accomplish them. ARISS reminds everyone that ISS flight requirements related to EVA and vehicle activity may require the radio to be off for some portion of this schedule. And school contacts and general QSO opportunities by the crew will also preempt this schedule for short periods of time. But remember that if you hear these, you still qualify for a commemor- ative certificate. [ANS thanks Frank, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs and ARISS International Chairman for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-342.03 Sumbandilasat to be Launch from Baikonur AMSAT News Service Bulletin 342.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 7, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-342.03 It is official! South Africa's second satellite, SumbandilaSat, will be launched from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in the December to March time frame. SumbandilaSat has been unpacked and is undergoing testing at SunSpace in Stellenbosch before it will be shipped to Russia for integration with the launch vehicle. Engineers at the launch site are preparing a special adapter ring to accommodate the Sumbandila structure on the rocket. "Sumbandila" means showing or pointing the way. Freely translated into English "Pathfinder" The Amateur Radio Payload will be operating in conjunction with the University of Stellenbosch Software Defined Receiver project as it will share the VHF receiver and UHF transmitter used by the SDR project. SA AMSAT has designed and built a control system to facilitate the following operations: * V/U voice transponder with an uplink in the 2 metre band and a downlink in the 70cm band. * A parrot repeater (voice digipeater) * A voice beacon The control unit will command the various function of the transponder and handle the parrot and beacon messaging. On receipt of a tone from the VUCU VHF receiver, the CTCSS tone will be decoded and depending on the tone received the unit will command the VU transponder operation or the parrot repeater. In the transponder mode the satellite will act like a cross-band FM repeater and allow two way communications with other stations on the ground. If the tone received indicates parrot operation, the interface unit will record 20 seconds of audio on its VHF uplink receiver and replay the recorded audio on the UHF downlink. Should, for a predetermined period, there be no tones received, the controller will initiate a voice beacon, transmitting a pre-recorded message at regular intervals. This facility will offer many opportunities for educational projects. [ANS thanks SA AMSAT for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-342.04 ARISS Status - 01 December 2008 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 342.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 7, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-342.04 1. Upcoming School Contacts An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled with Ellis School in Belleville, Illinois on Monday, December 8 at 16:54 UTC. Space studies have been integrated into the school curriculum. Students have created solar system models, written reports and given presentations to their classes. They have designed rockets and given talks to the class about where the rockets will go and what they will do in space. They have planned space colonies and determined how the astronauts will travel, how they will obtain food and where they will live. They have also sampled space food. Students have learned about Expedition 18, the Space Shuttle, the international partners and the ISS and amateur radio. The class is currently growing seeds that were flown in space. An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Stephen F. Austin Elementary School in Richmond, Texas on Tuesday, December 9 at 15:43 UTC. Students have studied space and the identifying characteristics of objects in our solar system including the sun, planets, and moon. Each year the 5th grade students participate in a simulated space shuttle mission, performing tasks that would happen on a regular shuttle flight. Each grade level is involved in some manner with the various missions that occur throughout the day. The school has integrated the ARISS contact as part of this activity. The Istituto Comprensivo "Marco Polo," in Grado, Italy has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, December 10 at 10:08 UTC. An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled with 2 Circolo Didattico San Giuseppe in Mola di Bari, Bari, Italy on Friday, December 12 at 14:14 UTC. Lesson plans have been developed for students that cover amateur radio and space missions. Newspapers, radio and television, both local and regional, will report on the event. 2. New Zealand Homeschoolers Experience ARISS Contact Wairarapa Home School Association students from Carterton, Wairarapa, New Zealand participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, November 26 via telebridge stations VK5ZAI and VK4KHZ, both in Australia. Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, answered all 15 questions asked. The audio was available on EchoLink and Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP). This was the second ARISS contact performed with New Zealand students. 3. Video of ARISS - International Education Week Contact Students from Poolesville, Maryland, Raleigh, North Carolina and Quito, Ecuador experienced a joint Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, November 14 as part of International Education Week (IEW). A video of the participating students from North Carolina and Ecuador has been posted to YouTube. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d3D66DbBEo 4. CQ VHF Article on ARISS Meetings Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) member Keith Pugh, W5IU, wrote an article for the Fall 2008 issue of CQ VHF which covered the ARISS meetings held in Moscow during July 2008. An excerpt from the article may be viewed here: http://www.cq-vhf.com/Fall08Sat.html 5. ARISS Commemorative Event Twenty-five years ago, Owen Garriott, W5LFL, became the first amateur radio operator to talk to hams from space on the STS-9 Space Shuttle Columbia mission which was launched on November 28 and landed on December 8, 1983. To celebrate this event, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) commemorative event will be held during the month of December through early January. A special certificate is being developed for those who communicate with the ISS, either 2-way direct (with the ISS crew, the digipeater, or cross band repeater), or 1-way reception of SSTV or voice downlink. For more details, see: http://www.ariss-eu.org/2008_11_30.htm [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, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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Re: Nothing heard from NO-44 (PCSat-1) Dec 6 23:27 UTC pass
by Bob Bruninga 06 Dec '08

06 Dec '08

> I heard absolutely no packets from NO-44... Day or night? PCSAT is always dead in the dark. BUT will return to full service in about 3 days when it returns to full sun. And it should be a fun time, if ISS is also doing APRS packets at the same time on the same freq while both support the same ARISS digi callsign. That will be 12 passes per day per location for making contacts on 145.825! If you are an old packet-pounder, get out that old TNC and make some contacts. (NOT CONNECTIONS) Communicate in UI CONVERSE mode only. People with APRS radios (D7, D700, D710 and the new VX-8R) are ready to go. I request that users do NOT use PCSAT over the next few weeks via its default W3ADO-1 callsign because that means it is not fully restored. When it is ready for user load, the callsign will be changed to PCSAT-1 and the usual generic APRS digipeating callsigns will be activated: PCSAT-1, ARISS, WIDEn-N Since it can support additinoal ones, the future callsigns of APRSAT and SATn-N will also be supported, but until there are more APRSat's or SATn-N digipeaters in space, its a moot point. If you ever see the callsign NODIGI, this means we have turned off the digi completely while allowing for the batteries to get fully charged. All it takes is one full orbit in the sun to be restorable, and then a few orbits before we will turn it over to users. Going green. PCSAT-1 is 100% solar powerd! Bob, Wb4APR

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Nothing heard from NO-44 (PCSat-1) Dec 6 23:27 UTC pass
by DeYoung James 06 Dec '08

06 Dec '08

Greetings, I heard absolutely no packets from NO-44, somewhat unexpectedly, as I heard lots of packets on November 29th. N8OQ, Jim

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