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

Re: EggBeater II antennas
by Oscar Diez 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

Hi Jeff, I would not swap your 6 el. Yagi for any eggbeater (neither the original M2 one nor the homebrewed eggbeater II design). I've build an Eggbeater II and it was very "nully" due to the many lobes of the antenna. I had it mounted about 20ft over the ground on the roof top and connected to a low noise GAsFET preamp. I removed it again after only one week of operation and was quite disappointed and went back to my homebrew ground plane. Furthermore the antenna is only circular overhead and horizontally polarized towards the horizon. Even the simple 1/4 wave groundplane + preamp gave me a better reception of 70cm LEO birds at low elevation angles and much less nulls. Generally I found vertical polarisation to work better most of the times with most kind of satellites (although by theory when receiving circular signals this shouldn't be the case - but you can centrainly confirm that with your yagi) If you look for an omnidirectional antenna I would give the parasitic lindenbald antenna a try as described by Tony AA2TX in the AMSAT proceedings 2006 and 2007. I haven't tried it yet, but I expect it to work even better than any Eggbeater design (maybe someone ever compared such antenna types and could report here?) Best 73, Oscar DJ0MY

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Swan Island Dxpedition announcement
by David J 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

_____ HQ8R SWAN ISLAND DXPEDITON SATELLITE COMMUNICATION Florida AMSAT Net, on the 443.1 MHz N4HHA repeater, On the NI4CE system of repeaters and over Echolink at KG4YZY-R, node# 4429, on Thursday April 10th at 19:30 ET. Following a Preamble and announcements, Bill Dzurrila, NZ5N, http://www.qrz.com/nz5n will present his adventures to, during and from the recent Swan Island Dxpedition which ended about March 27. Web site: http://www.hondurasdx.com/ Please email questions you would like to ask Bill to: David Jordan, AA4KN, at: aa4kn(a)amsat.org Dave is only accepting questions sent PRIOR to net time. Additional questions will be allowed as time permits. This will allow reduction of duplicate questions and also allow David to be heard by everyone via the repeater. Please include your Name and Call Sign. Credit of the Name and Call Sign will be given over the repeater for those questions sent to David. During prior events, many mobile units were unable to present a consistent r.f. signal into the repeater. Also a more smoothly run net will occur by reducing the number of "overs" etc. AMSAT, The Radio Satellite Corporation, web site is: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php Prepared by Carl Zelich, AA4MI, aa4mi(a)arrl.net SENT BY DAVID JORDAN, AA4KN _____ Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL <http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016> Travel Guides.

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145.840 signal
by Andrew Glasbrenner 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

I received a report this morning from someone that heard a data signal on 145.840 and assumed it was BO-47. If I recall correctly that package was battery-only, so while I don't expect that is the right satellite maybe it's worth some folks listening to that frequency? 73, Drew KO4MA

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Field Hell via Satellite
by Robert Turlington 08 Apr '08

08 Apr '08

Hi All I have been experimenting with Field Hell via Satellite recently and have had good results on VO52,AO16 & AO7(b) at times if there is anyone out there also interested in this mode please let me know .I will be posting some results on my web site:- www.turlington.supanet.com in the next few days Regards Robert G8ATE _________________________________________________________________ The next generation of Windows Live is here http://www.windowslive.co.uk/get-live

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Cosmonautics Day 12th April 2008
by Robert Turlington 08 Apr '08

08 Apr '08

Hi All please have a look at my Web Site for details of GB0CD ops on the 12th April 2008 [email protected] Regards Robert G8ATE _________________________________________________________________ Win 100’s of Virgin Experience days with BigSnapSearch.com http://www.bigsnapsearch.com

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Re: ITAR
by RFI-EMI-GUY 08 Apr '08

08 Apr '08

I had an inquiry from overseas for a piece of test gear I have for sale (HP3586B frequency selective level-meter). After reading the convoluted and very general wording of the ITAR rules, I concluded that an overzealous customs agent could make this out (in his head) to be export of "wiretapping" equipment so I _didn't _make the sale. -- 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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ITAR
by Trevor 08 Apr '08

08 Apr '08

U.S. eyes removing some satellite components from munitions list http://www.southgatearc.org/news/april2008/itar.htm ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! For Good helps you make a difference http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/

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Anyone looking for Grid Squares in Nevada like DM25 ?
by Ronald Nutter 08 Apr '08

08 Apr '08

I will be making a trip to Las Vegas to see some vendors in a couple of weeks and am thinking about taking an ultra-lite station with me to work the FM birds the first day while I am out there. The best day I can hope to work the birds will be 4/28. Satscape indicates the following passes will be available - SO-50 [+] 28 APR 2008 09:42:48 337 26 (AZ 046) AO-51 [+] 28 APR 2008 09:49:28 001 30 (AZ 293) SO-50 [+] 28 APR 2008 11:23:29 322 43 (AZ 249) AO-27 [+] 28 APR 2008 15:21:09 155 59 (AZ 073) AO-27 [+] 28 APR 2008 17:02:11 210 15 (AZ 269) AO-51 [+] 28 APR 2008 19:22:53 143 36 (AZ 066) AO-51 [+] 28 APR 2008 21:02:02 197 25 (AZ 269) The times listed are in CDT, I didnt get the conversion made for PDT when I ran these calculations. I am planning on taking 2 handhelds - one for uplink and one for downlink so I can run full duplex. Planning on using 1/4 wave 2 mtr mag mount and 5/8 wave 70cm mag mount for antennas. I used DM25 as a beginning reference for the pass calcs. Will be within 2 to 3 hours of Las Vegas and North during most of the passes. I havent flown with ham gear since before 9/11. Anything I need to know to be prepared to deal with TSA ? I plan on putting the mag antennas in the check-in luggage and will put the handhelds in a Pelican case that will have some recording gear I will be using to record some interviews for a radio show that I do. No promises that I will get to appear on any or all of the passes but I will do my best. Thanks, Ron KA4KYI

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DELFI-C3 Launch
by GW1FKY＠aol.com 08 Apr '08

08 Apr '08

Hi Wouter, "Big Hello to you and the team" - Glad to see that things are once again in motion and Delfi-C3 has come out of hibernation after a very frustrating wait for all of you and prospective users. My thoughts are very much with you all especially after having the opportunity of meeting many of you at the Amsat- UK Colloquium. For those that have not met the team, let me just what wonderful guys they are and it is credit to see so many of the younger generation working together with such dedication. I hope that all of your efforts will now be appreciated and the rewards for your project can go ahead as planned. The week following the launch I am giving a presentation here in Wales on "Working Satellites". I intend to also include your presentation on Delfi-C3 with my work and hopefully also add the satellite to one of possible live demonstrations. Meanwhile "Good Luck and Best wishes to all of the Team " - Take Care. Remember that " AMATEUR RADIO SATELLITES - " ARE REALLY OUT OF THIS WORLD" Regards Ken Eaton GW1FKY AMSAT-UK AMSAT NA

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Re: Free Ham Satellite!
by Wouter Jan Ubbels 08 Apr '08

08 Apr '08

Hi Alan, Warbler does indeed not have soundcard selection capability, but RASCAL has. (When I have time, it will be incorporated in Warbler as well but that will probably be after Delfi-C3 is safely in orbit hi:) Bruce, thanks for the kudos:) It's been really rewarding to be able to build a satellite, it has been a true team effort with over 60 people involved! It's great to finally have our baby so close to launch. A life changing experience. As I type this mail, our mechanical guys are applying the final pieces of glue and thermal tape next to me, all is still ok. 73 Wouter Jan Ubbels VU/PE4WJ

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