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

Call for Papers--2007 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference
by Ford, Steve, WB8IMY 16 Jul '12

16 Jul '12

Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 26th Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September 28-30, 2007 in Hartford, Connecticut. These papers will also be published in the Conference Proceedings (you do NOT need to attend the conference to have your paper included in the Proceedings). The submission deadline is July 31, 2007. Please send papers to: Maty Weinberg ARRL 225 Main St Newington, CT 06111 or you can make your submission via e-mail to: maty(a)arrl.org Papers will be published exactly as submitted and authors will retain all rights. 73 . . . Steve, WB8IMY ARRL

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AO-16 Update and brief mode change
by Mark L. Hammond 02 Sep '08

02 Sep '08

Hello All, AO-16 has been in its "voice mode" continuously for nearly a month now. Many thanks to all the users of this "new" bird! It is time to pause voice operations long to receive some MBL telemetry (limited as it is, it's all we have). Around 0920 UTC on 17FEB08 I plan to return AO-16 to digital mode in order to receive some telemetry. If all goes as planned, it should be back to "voice mode" during the same pass. If not, I'll try to catch it on the 1056 UTC pass. Most of you will be asleep, so I don't think it will interfere with too many contacts. Looking to the future, we can see that after several months of continuous illumination, AO-16 will begin to experience eclipse periods at the end of March. The eclipse periods will increase and extend through the summer. This may impact AO-16's power budget such that the transmitter output will have to be reduced in order to protect its 18 year old batteries. We'll know more after the eclipse periods begin in late March and early April. In the meanwhile, enjoy AO-16 and her strong signals! 73 on behalf of the command team, Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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Santa docks at the ISS
by Ed Tump 25 Aug '08

25 Aug '08

Happy holidays! I got a kick out of this video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_Di8mZLu0VE <http://youtube.com/watch?v=_Di8mZLu0VE&feature=PlayList&p=26B9B2ACB4AAC849& index=7> &feature=PlayList&p=26B9B2ACB4AAC849&index=7 Maybe he dropped off some more amateur radio gifts. 73, Ed KC9GWK Grid EN52 AmSat Member

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Re: OLPC ... Neat!
by Bob Bruninga 19 Apr '08

19 Apr '08

> I think the XO is a... ground breaking device. > Did I get one? No, I realized that it is does > not meet my needs and would end up in the > closet or given away to a child... Mine have done just that since Xmas, until today. ... I couldn't find my shoulder bag big laptop and so on my way out the door, I grabbed one of the kids XO's so I could try it out for the 5 hours I would be sitting at the kids swim meet. Sitting in the stands, I fired it up, and to my amazement wireless! bingo up came my favorite web pages, and then email. After reading email I went to edit some of my web pages. Flipped the screen around to tablet/book style so that the pages were long and I could read like a book. Holding the device in one hand with the nice finger holes provided. Wow, what a neat way to access wireless, email, web pages, and live mobile APRS. Less than 1/2 the bulk of my big laptop, and only $200 at risk instead of the $1200 labtop. I can't wait for the ham software to start working with it. Talk about portability... The ease of use, will assure that I will now probbly have the ham radio laptop apps with me more often than before since I will be more apt to carry the small XO at low risk then lug the big laptop. I'm sold! And now that my kids see how easy the itnernet access was, I now have to buy my own XO, since now their inteerest has been re kindled and they do want to take them both back to school... Bob, WB4APR

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Re: (no subject)
by Bob Bruninga 09 Mar '08

09 Mar '08

Its a poor question. Both B and C are correct if you make some assumptions that they are talking about a linear satellite. B is what causes C... > E2A08 What is the primary reason for satellite > users to limit their transmit ERP? > A. For RF exposure safety > B. Because the satellite transmitter output power > is limited > C. To avoid limiting the signal of the other users > D. To avoid interfering with terrestrial QSOs Bob, WB4APR

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Ft-736 problem
by randy 01 Mar '08

01 Mar '08

When i key the mike the needle does not move forward to indicate the power output level but instead moves to the left and bottoms out. I have set the drive output to various levels but it still fails to indicate power. I know it's putting out power because i can hit repeaters but it won't indicate it by the needle going forward. It goes in the opposite direction to the left. Any help will be appreciated., Thanks, Randy

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Re: Newbie Here AO-51 Questions.
by Bill Dzurilla 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

Kent, I was on this morning for the pass you noted and made 3 contacts around 1350 UTC, there was plenty of activity and the signal from the bird was strong. So if you were listening at 435.3 mhz, plus or minus 10 for the doppler, and if your clock was correct, something must be wrong somewhere. Your antenna is not blocked by trees or anything, is it? And you are hearing local 70cm repeaters with no problem? 73, Bill NZ5N Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:40:19 -0600 From: "Kent R. Frazier" <k5knt(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Newbie Here AO-51 Questions. To: AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Message-ID: <7caa889a0802290640q4cec83a3qf5570ed3c8b27191(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 OOPS!! I listed the pass prediction for ISS, not AO-51. Here is the correct AMSAT Online Satellite Pass Prediction for AO-51 this morning: 29 Feb 08 13:58:51 00:13:47 20 44 110 179 14:12:38 I was trying to listen to both. I wanted to see if I could hear the ISS APRS digipeater. AO-51 was tuned on one band and ISS on the other. Nothing but noise from either. I'll concentrate on AO-51 now until I get a better understanding of what is going on. Kent ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

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Newbie Here AO-51 Questions.
by Kent R. Frazier 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

Hello all, my name is Kent Frazier, K5KNT. I am just getting interested in working amateur satellites. I just joined AMSAT on Tuesday, 26 February 2008. My current hardware is an Icom IC2720 dual band in my personal vehicle with a Comet C767 dual band antenna. I also have an Icom IC-T22A 2-meter hand held with a Diamond RH77CA antenna. I've been trying to listen to passes of AO-51 over the last week. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to hear anything since Monday, 25 February at approx 01:04 UTC (Saturday 24 FEB 19:04 CST). At that time, I thought I heard the call W9CPV. I'm currently using Satscape as my tracking software. My Gridsquare location is DM91sk. Are there other satellites I could monitor with the above equipment? Any suggestions for making my first contact? 73, Kent R. Frazier, K5KNT -- This electronic message transmission contains information which may be Confidential and/or Privileged. The information is intended to be for the use of the individual or entity named above. Any unauthorized disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies of the original message.

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Re: Newbie Here AO-51 Questions.
by GW1FKY＠aol.com 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

Hi John, Glad that you mentioned it - I was surprised that no one came up with this comment which of course is the key player at the root of any tracking programme. I use "Atom Time Pro" - a free version (unregistered use ) is available for those interested - - Yes I know that many other options are available for this function. Cheers Ken Eaton GW1FKY Amsat - UK Amsat NA

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Re: Configuring LUSAT-19 like AO-16???
by Mark L. Hammond 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

Hello John, Thanks for your query about LO-19. Thanks to the good efferts of our AMSAT Operations VP, Drew KO4MA and his establishment of the right contacts, a few weeks ago I spent some time corresponding with the LUSAT/LO-19 team. They are a great bunch of hams, and they are (rightfully so) very proud of their "old" bird. We came to the conclusion that the failure mode of LO-19 is quite different from that of AO-16, and that any change from its current state of CW telemetry would either be impossible, or sufficiently risky that it was best to "leave well enough alone." So, I think we can expect that LO-19 will continue to report CW telemetry for a long time. It's a great bird and its 18 years of continous operations is an amazing feat. Drew KO4MA has been attempting contact with the WO-18 folks. DO-17 isn't such a likely candidate for doing much of anything... Other thoughts...you can include IO-26 as being "nearly the same" as the original microsats, Oscars 16/17/18/19. In fact, I have started some preliminary testing of IO-26. The testing is especially slow, and it will take some time to sort out its current state (what works and what doesn't). Once we know that, we can begin to consider what function(s) IO-26 might serve. While we have no idea at the moment if it's feasible, in theory its hardware could permit being reconfigured like AO-16. We just don't know what our options are for now. Rest assured, we're working on it :) 73, Mark Hammond N8MH _______ Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:20:07 -0500 From: "John Marranca, Jr" < KB2HSH(a)amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] Configuring LUSAT-19 like AO-16??? To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Message-ID: < 8edcdb130802281420y10ef567djdb8f9f9fb7a8a466(a)mail.gmail.com > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Good Afternoon, Everyone. Last month, a question was posed about the possibility of reconfiguring LUSAT/Oscar 19 in the "bent pipe" style that AO-16 is currently in. As I am writing this, both AO-16 and LU-19 are overhead...and both have stellar signals. Is there any news/update as to whether or not this can be accomplished?? Upon reading the Satellite Handbook, it appears as though 16, 17, 18, and 19 were pretty much similar. If I am wrong, then I will stand as corrected, but if 16 could be converted in such a fashion, what prevents 19? Wishing for Spring! John KB2HSH -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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