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

GO-32, APRS mobile, and wasted D7's...
by Robert Bruninga 04 May '08

04 May '08

> Well, 4XTECH showed up on the display of my > mobile D710 a couple of times, but I didn't get a > MY POSITION. I wasn't able to find anyone local to > listen out for me. The good news is that it is easier to see one's self via GO32 than via the ECHO satellite, because GO32 has a PTT delay some of the time. So your radio will have turned around in time to hear your packet come back... But being in the mobile, you probably only get a good -downlink- for the center 3 minutes of a good high pass. But you can get in on the uplink from horizon to horizon if you are running your typical 50 watts mobile. That is why we need LOTS more people Igating the downlink. The best way to do this is to encourage all D7 owners that do not use their D7 routinely, to not just set it in the closet, but leave it hooked to an Igate all the time they are not using it. Connect this through a SHORT coax to a 19" vertical whip. This station will receive GO-32 downlink packets for the center 3 to 5 minutes of the best two passess per day... And if we have enough people doing this (say a dozen over the USA), then at least one of them will always have a good chance of hearing each packet and feeding the APRS-IS... Thus giving mobiles all over the continant the ability to get out a positon, messsage, or email from anywhere. And since coax loss is the big bugga... The better way is to put the D7 up near the antenna and run only the 3 wire RS-232 down to the shack... Then you don't need a pre-amp... Shucks, you can even use the same RS-232 to remotely control the radio, and use it for other weak-signal reception work as needed too... Bob, WB4APR

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SEEDS she's talking and more
by Luc Leblanc 04 May '08

04 May '08

SEEDS is in digi/talker/SSTV mode over eastern NA the voice makes's me remember some old submarine WW 2 film where the radio man listen "The Tokyo Rose" broadcast. Nice recording with an FM signal peaking at S8 at TCA 18 degrees elevation. SSTV is also good but as usual i will have to fiddle with the slant correction parameters. This MMSTV version i got seems to have an auto slant correction algorythm but as usual i found that at LOS... :( I will check for the next pass over here at 0320Z it will be an higher one. P.S. If someone is fluent in japanease what HARU HARU HARU means? could be (haro haro haro too) "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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Seeds over Brasil South America
by Fabio Teixeira Magalhaes 04 May '08

04 May '08

Hello All, This morning I have copied voice and SSTV signals from SEEDS at 12:31 UTC, max elevation 57º. Fabio - PY4AJ GH70un Amsat 19748

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AMSAT Web Page Update
by JoAnne Maenpaa 04 May '08

04 May '08

Hello everyone, The http://www.amsat.org web page has been updated to discuss the latest AO-16 Operations status. This is the bottom story on the main page. The article also includes links to download the Warbler software for AO-16 telemetry monitoring and e-mail links to the AO-16 command team. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

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FT 847 and Doppler for Delfi
by john heath 04 May '08

04 May '08

Hi, Having fun here with Delfi and RASCAL. Keeping on tune and in sync is quite tricky though. Using computer control via the CAT port the Yaesu FT847 seems to limited to 10Hz steps. When manual tuning the available steps are Normal 0.1, 1, 10 Hz. Default 1Hz ( page 23 in the manual) Does anyone on the bb know if the CAT frequency step can be modified, perhaps by a hidden menu or similar. BTW this 10Hz limitation seems to apply to the FT817 as well. A posting from YAESU on this subject would I am sure be of interest as there are a lot of FT847 users on this bb. 73 John G7HIA PS/ thanks to the Delfi team, and especially Wouter PE4WJ for his neat telemetry program.

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Yaesu G-800 to replace G-5500 Azimuth rotor
by Sion Chow Q. C. (9W2QC) 04 May '08

04 May '08

Dear All, I have a Yaesu G-5500 rotator set with the azimuth rotor being faulty. I have not got the time to open up and check that yet. However, it appears that the azimuth rotor of the G-5500 is similar (or the same?) as that of the Yaesu G-800. I would be glad if anyone could kindly advice if the G-800 rotor will replace the G-5500 azimuth rotor well? And will the G-5500 control box be able to control it? Thank you very much in advance. 73, Sion Chow Q. C., 9W2QC.

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FCAL still alive
by Armando Mercado 04 May '08

04 May '08

Greetings, Just copied ANDE FCAL (cat. #29667) on 437.385 during the 1140 UTC pass over EN62. Space-Track has predicted re-entry of May 2. It is amazing how low this "cannon ball" is. This last pass was a near over head pass and the range was 162 miles at closest approach. Height is 138 miles. Even so, reception is difficult. There seems to be many deep nulls in the antenna pattern of this bird. Some packets from yesterday and today. All time UTC: 03-May-08 10:28:31 KD4HBO>TELEM,TELEM:02932EB80014F88FFFEFEC8002CFC00001FFE88FFFEFD30FFFFFCA8 03-May-08 10:28:38 KD4HBO>TELEM,TELEM:Analog 0008000000F400DB00A4000900DE0004 N 0000001E 03-May-08 10:29:16 KD4HBO>TELEM,TELEM:02932EE5005FEC0000FEC00190FC78001EFED8FFFEFD300000FC50 03-May-08 10:29:23 KD4HBO>TELEM,TELEM:Analog 000400FC00F400DD00A900FA00DE0004 N 0000001E 04-May-08 10:11:15 KD4HBO>TELEM,TELEM:02947D0E003FB98FFFFFDF80099FEA8FFFFFD280003FF80FFFEFD58 04-May-08 10:12:44 KD4HBO>TELEM,TELEM:02947D80E5FC980004FDB8000BFF680010FD20FFFEFF300000FD10 04-May-08 10:12:52 KD4HBO>TELEM,TELEM:Analog 0012000000EC00DC00AD00FB00DD0011 N 0000001E 04-May-08 10:13:29 KD4HBO>TELEM,TELEM:02947D9501F1FD8000EFDB80002FF78001EFD38FFFEFED00003FCF0 04-May-08 10:13:37 KD4HBO>TELEM,TELEM:Analog 001100F500ED00DC00AC00FB00DE0008 N 0000001E 04-May-08 11:43:15 KD4HBO>TELEM,TELEM:029492AD000FA10006FF900003FC10000E0000FFFEFB9801CF0218 73, Armando, N8IGJ

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DELFI-C3 and SEEDS over West Malaysia
by Sion Chow Q. C. (9W2QC) 04 May '08

04 May '08

Dear All, This morning I was very happy to have copied very great and interesting signals from both DELFI-C3 and SEEDS. Pass details are as below: Time: 1035 Local or 0235 UTC Date: 04 May 2008 Max Elevation: 76 degrees Tracking: Object E The first half of the pass was used to track Delfi-C3 with 180 packet frames decoded. Just after TCA, Delfi-C3 stopped TX suddenly and appeared briefly again shortly. Can anyone explain this phenomenon? After that it was no longer heard even on 145.870 MHz +/- so I QSYed to SEEDS. To my surprise, SEEDS was in Digitalker mode. Also manage to decode 3 SSTV pictures (they are the same). Below are some interesting screenshot, images and recordings. RASCAL decoding Delfi-C3 telemetry -> http://www.9w2qc.net/amsatbb/delfi04may1035.JPG RAW Delfi-C3 frames -> http://www.9w2qc.net/amsatbb/delfi04may1035.txt SEEDS SSTV #1 -> http://www.9w2qc.net/amsatbb/seed04may1035-1.jpg SEEDS SSTV #2 -> http://www.9w2qc.net/amsatbb/seed04may1035-2.jpg SEEDS SSTV #3 -> http://www.9w2qc.net/amsatbb/seed04may1035-3.jpg For those who like to hear how Delfi-C3 sounded, http://www.9w2qc.net/amsatbb/delfi04may1035.mp3 I understand that SEEDS's digitalker contains a secret message that has to be copied for those intending to collect their special QSL card. Therefore I will not publish the full recording but only a fraction of it. This is just the English ID portion. http://www.9w2qc.net/amsatbb/seeds04may1035.mp3 If the command team will like a full recording, I am more then pleased to provide one. It is truly amazing how well 0.485 Watts signals of SEEDS on 70 CM travelling some 1500 KM is picked up on earth. Equipment used: Rig: IC-910H Antenna: 2M - 2x10 element Hor Yagi & 70CM - 2x15 Hor Yagi Preamp: SSB SP-2000 & SSB SP-7000 73, Sion Chow Q. C., 9W2QC.

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Re: VO52 questions.... Fri, 2 May 2008 21:29:26 -0700 (PDT)
by John Kopala 04 May '08

04 May '08

I think that crazy tuning pattern boils down to this: If the station you hear is not using doppler they will appear to be going up the band. Then a station that is using doppler control may appear stationary or moving up the band depending upon how fast your doppler AND their doppler are updating. More frequent updates are better and eliminate a bunch of tuning. I think the default is around 100 hz. I use 20 hz. For your own signal, I'm assuming that your are hearing yourself. I often have to tune either the uplink or the downlink as much as 1500 Hz to match the uplink to the downlink. You are right on the LSB up and the USB down. Don't give up, you are almost there. Don't worry about the other stations. Pick a open spot and tune yourself first using the CAT Tuning window. I believe I usually have to tune the Uplink UP. Once you do it the first time, you'll get the hand of it. Also, sometimes when I first select an SSB bird, the Downlink and Uplink frequencies will be a ways off from the frequencies shown in the CAT Tuning window. If this happens, go to the up and down buttons just to the right of the Downlink and Uplink display, click the 20 up and then the 20 down. The Downlink and Uplink should jump to the proper frequency. This may have been caused by my CAT delay not being high enough, but I haven't observed whether changing that fixed it. John N7JK From: asd asd <sunsetdialpad(a)yahoo.com> Subject: [amsat-bb] VO52 questions.... I have been trying for a week to get into the VO52 satellite and have some questions... I can hear people talking and have to constantly manually tune them in in crazy patterns. One persons doppler will go up and another will go down. It is like I am chasing people that are constantly changing their transmit frequency and does not fit a normal doppler change. Another thing is that I cannot tune myself in at all. It is like I am transmitting in the wrong sideband. I am recieving the downlink in USB and it is my understanding that the uplink is supposed to be LSB. The program I am using is SatPC32 that CAT tunes an IC910H into a M2 2MCP14 - M2436CP30 both with right hand polarization. Just trying to get away from the FM Birds and try some new ones and looking for some help to figure out what I may be overlooking or doing wrong. Thanks...

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More Mp3 and Pic from SEED
by Raul Romero CA3SOC 03 May '08

03 May '08

In my Pc Server http://ce3soc.no-ip.org for more pic and audio 73 tnk for look Raul CA3SOC --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you still wasting your time with spam?... There is a solution!" Protected by GIANT Company's Spam Inspector The most powerful anti-spam software available. http://mail.spaminspector.com

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