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

Very few passes
by Fred (VE3FAL) 03 Mar '08

03 Mar '08

Guess we have to wait for the batteries to charge on the birds. Only weak signals from PCSat and nothing from ISS. Fred VE3FAL --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 080301-0, 01/03/2008 Tested on: 01/03/2008 6:50:46 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2008 ALWIL Software. http://www.avast.com

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Re: recent AO-40 efforts?
by "John Becker, WØJAB" 03 Mar '08

03 Mar '08

Got to tell you this one. I listen for the middle beacon from time to time. The other evening while cleaning and oiling the ol 28 RTTY machine the wife's cat got in here and onto the desk. Must have hit just the right keys while walking across the keyboard and started a WAV file of the MB. My heart missed more then one beat. John, W0JAB if there is a fork in the road - take it ! At 03:10 PM 3/2/2008, you wrote: >Just dreaming-It's the year 2035 and 90 year old W7LRD, heard AO-40 for the first time in over thirty years. Using very antique equipment, that was not controled by mental telepathy. >73 Bob

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Re: recent AO-40 efforts?
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 03 Mar '08

03 Mar '08

Just dreaming-It's the year 2035 and 90 year old W7LRD, heard AO-40 for the first time in over thirty years. Using very antique equipment, that was not controled by mental telepathy. 73 Bob -- "if this were easy, everyone would be doing it" -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Don Ferguson" <kd6ire(a)sbcglobal.net> > Auke de Jong, > > I believe AO-40 was designed by AMSAT to not allow both sets of batteries to > be disconnected. We should have learned with AO-7 that every satellite > should be able to work on solar power alone as eventually all batteries will > fail. It is my understanding that the only chance we have is if the > batteries burn open some day in the future. > > Someone else my be able to correct my understanding if I have misunderstood > the AO-40 design. Hopefully those who designed the power system have moved > on and we now have some better insight. > > Don > -----Original Message----- > From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Auke de Jong, VE6PWN > Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 7:53 PM > To: AMSAT-BB > Subject: [amsat-bb] recent AO-40 efforts? > > I noticed that during the last period of documented efforts to recover AO-40 > 4 years ago, there were promising results about hearing faint signals. By > my interpretation of those old reports, they basically confirmed that the > command receiver was working but could not get much else done with it. Now > that it has been officially silent for several years, has anyone tried to > send commands to it in order to disconnect the (shorted) battery banks via > the relays onboard? Given the changing sun-angles on the arrays and the > passage of time, as well as possible heating of certain onboard components > due to the constant supply of solar power to the shorted batteries, could > there be any possibility of (energizing) the battery-disconnect relays? I > presum e that they are in a fail-close arrangement, because if they were > fail-open, they should have already done-so due to the shunted power system. > Also, could the solar panels have fuses that have opened? could such fuses > be re-settable? > > I would be interested to hear what knowledge there exists about the present > status of AO-40, especially what "google" couldn't fetch. > > Auke de Jong > VE6PWN > DO33go > Edmonton, AB > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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AO-7 Web Logging
by Alan 03 Mar '08

03 Mar '08

Well I've seen the mess on the AO-7 log I can appreciate where John is coming from. I'm a regular user of the log, but, have never placed an entry on it until tonight. As an infrequent and intermittent sat user I can never remember AO-7 's mode. I don't have an HF downlink so it is an excellent reference for me to check to see if it is in mode B, or, as tonight, to see that it would switch to mode B while over me. So I decided to fill in an entry. Yikes! How hard is that? My 2 cents... ps Roger VA7MG in beautiful Gibson's Landing - sorry I missed you tonight. I tried, I heard you and Clare VE3NPC, but she sure was noisy tonight as she flew well east of the terminator.

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recent AO-40 efforts?
by Auke de Jong, VE6PWN 02 Mar '08

02 Mar '08

I noticed that during the last period of documented efforts to recover AO-40 4 years ago, there were promising results about hearing faint signals. By my interpretation of those old reports, they basically confirmed that the command receiver was working but could not get much else done with it. Now that it has been officially silent for several years, has anyone tried to send commands to it in order to disconnect the (shorted) battery banks via the relays onboard? Given the changing sun-angles on the arrays and the passage of time, as well as possible heating of certain onboard components due to the constant supply of solar power to the shorted batteries, could there be any possibility of (energizing) the battery-disconnect relays? I presume that they are in a fail-close arrangement, because if they were fail-open, they should have already done-so due to the shunted power system. Also, could the solar panels have fuses that have opened? could such fuses be re-settable? I would be interested to hear what knowledge there exists about the present status of AO-40, especially what "google" couldn't fetch. Auke de Jong VE6PWN DO33go Edmonton, AB

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AO-7
by Fred (VE3FAL) 02 Mar '08

02 Mar '08

I have 2 frequencies listed for this bird, one at 432 and 436...What is the correct frequency? Fred VE3FAL --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 080302-0, 02/03/2008 Tested on: 02/03/2008 2:06:17 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2008 ALWIL Software. http://www.avast.com

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Cables and relays for KJ6KO amps
by Andrew Glasbrenner 02 Mar '08

02 Mar '08

Like many of you that bought one of these amps, I've been looking for an inexpensive relay to use with the amp on transmit AND receive. While new relays are available from several sources, I found these this morning on QTH.com along with some nice surplus cables that will work well. I don't know the seller, but he seems like a good guy from the email we've exchanged. Here are the links: http://swap.qth.com/view_ad.php?counter=650565 http://swap.qth.com/view_ad.php?counter=650124 73, Drew KO4MA

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March Schedule for AO-51
by Andrew Glasbrenner 02 Mar '08

02 Mar '08

Copied from: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/CTNews.php Update: March 1, 2008 Last month we concentrated on L uplinks and S downlinks. This month we'd like to concentrate on U band downlinks. In response to recent discussions on amsat-bb, we are going to try two separate weeks of dual repeaters. Unlike the QRP restrictions we have had in the past, this time the only special restrictions are that regular users yield for university stations that will be active on March 4th and 27th. Please limit contacts those dates to QSOs involving at least one university station. If the second repeater is not utilized, we may revert to digital operations. The 435.150 repeater and 2401.200 downlinks may be temporarily suspended for WOD telemetry download without notice. Generally this will only be for one pass per day. Regarding the graphic schedule...the software that does the schedule will not allow for the proper display of some of the current modes or any detailed information on special purposes. Please refer to this page for mode change information. March 2008 AO-51 (AMSAT Echo) Schedule March 1 until March 31, subject to modification March 1 - March 2 FM Repeater, V/US Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM, NO PL Tone Downlinks: 435.300 and 2401.200 MHz FM March 3 - March 9 FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM, NO PL Tone Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM FM Repeater, V/U (March 4th please yield to university stations) Uplink: 145.880 MHz FM, NO PL Tone Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM March 10 - March 16 FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM, NO PL Tone Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM 9k6 Digital L/U BBS and Telemetry Uplink: 1268.700 MHz FM Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM March 17 - March 23 FM Repeater, V/US Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM, NO PL Tone Downlinks: 435.300 and 2401.200 MHz FM March 24 - March 31 FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM, NO PL Tone Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM FM Repeater, V/U (March 27th please yield to university stations) Uplink: 145.880 MHz FM, NO PL Tone Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-NA VP Ops

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Incorrect log entries.
by John Hackett 02 Mar '08

02 Mar '08

Gentlemen, PLEASE !!!!! refrain from putting 'CQ' in the QSO pane of the AO-7 log ... it just makes the statistics page incorrect. If you have an actual QSO - by all means log it - but please *DON'T* put CQ there. 99.9% of the operators can do it correctly - (the instructions are clear enough) - with a little bit of 'extra' effort even *YOU* could do it too. Please don't be a sheep and put CQ because some other clown did it first. SV1BSX asked politely, and was ignored - the actual QSO's determine the statistics ... which is the whole point of the log. We *DON'T* need to know you called CQ on a particular date and time. Thank you. 73 John. <la2qaa(a)amsat.org>

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Re: Iowa / Louisiana cubesat
by G0MRF＠aol.com 02 Mar '08

02 Mar '08

If you join the GENSO network, you'll be able to remotely access the satellite from many Universities and amateur stations in different continents. _http://www.esa.int/esaED/SEMQM953R8F_index_0.html_ (http://www.esa.int/esaED/SEMQM953R8F_index_0.html) _www.genso.org_ (http://www.genso.org) Thanks David In a message dated 02/03/2008 10:13:52 GMT Standard Time, quadpugh(a)bellsouth.net writes: Hi Amsaters The Universities at Auburn, Iowa and Louisiana are apply for a grant to build a cubesat and we need some one to host a ground station in the southern hemisphere at latitudes > 55 deg S. The orbit will be a polar orbit and locations in the higher latitudes will be in the foot print more time per day that us in the middle latitudes. We supply the hard ware for a fully automated station I.E. Icon 910, M2 antennas, rotator and a computer and we need a volunteer to get it in operation for us and connected it to the internet. We expect the life of the sat to be a year or two. If you have a interest please contact me off line thanks nick

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