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

If you use QRZ.COM to lookup call info - Please read this !
by Ronald Nutter 03 Jun '08

03 Jun '08

The data center that QRZ has the servers has had a fire and they are without power and have had to shut down the generators at the request of the Houston FD. Please check the following URL for up to date info - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/01/the_planet_houston_data_center_fire/ Ron KA4KYI AMSAT Area Coordinator - Missouri

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WD9EWK from DM34, DM34/DM35, and DM25/DM25 on 31 May (long)
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 02 Jun '08

02 Jun '08

Hi! Now that I've been back in Phoenix for a couple of days, I can scribble a little about my Saturday activities. From a hamfest in central Arizona in the morning to more satellite operating at two other locations in the state, it was a fun day. Saturday morning at the Prescott (AZ) Hamfest (grid DM34sn): http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=34+34.429+n+112+29.790+w&i… I had an AMSAT table at the 2nd annual Prescott Hamfest, presented by the Yavapai Amateur Radio Club and the Verde Valley Amateur Radio Association (two central Arizona radio clubs). This hamfest was in an area with a few basketball courts surrounded by buildings and a small hill. My table was at the entrance to the hamfest area, so anyone walking into the hamfest area saw it. The hamfest was officially going to run from 8am to 2pm local time (1500-2100 UTC), but people were milling around the area just before the official opening time and by 2030 UTC all of the sellers had left or were packing up. A small event, but a nice way to avoid the heat in the desert back home in Phoenix. I worked stations on the two morning AO-51 passes (1439 and 1619 UTC) using the normal 145.920/435.300 MHz transponder. The first station in the log on the 1439 UTC pass was another hamfest - Richard N2SPI at the Rochester (New York) hamfest. Thanks for the contact, to start out my day! I was able to make 11 more contacts with stations across the USA and Mexico. On the later pass at 1619 UTC, the low elevation (maximum elevation of 14 degrees) and local surroundings (school gymnasium and hills) made this one tough. I only made 2 QSOs near the middle of the pass. Along with the AO-51 passes, I did attempt the VO-52 pass at 1754- 1807 UTC - a western pass, with maximum elevation of 70 degrees. I could hear myself, but unfortunately made no QSOs. I think my AOR AR8200Mk2B receiver has sharp SSB filtering, and not enough options for tuning steps without using extremely small steps to help tune the downlink signals. My FT-817ND is more than enough to be heard by that satellite. I'm still working on this, and may try another receiver or possibly another FT-817 as a portable all-mode full-duplex satellite station. Once the hamfest's raffle prizes were awarded after 2015 UTC, I went to get lunch and drive north toward the DM34/DM35 grid boundary for several passes. Saturday afternoon on the DM34/DM35 grid boundary (specifically, grids DM34tx and DM35ta): http://www.geocities.com/va7ewk/ao51/20080419-DM34tx_DM35ta_GPS_readout.jpg http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=35+0.00+n+112+23.132+w&jsv… This spot, off a state highway, is about 15 miles/24km south of the I-40 freeway just inside the Prescott National Forest and about 35 miles/56km north of the hamfest site. I was at the same location on 19 April after another event in Prescott, so I knew what to expect in terms of working the satellites. I was able to work 2 AO-27 and 2 SO-50 passes from here, one pass for each satellite in each direction, before I drove to Kingman for the evening AO-51 passes. The first passes to the east (AO-27 at 2128-2135 UTC, SO-50 at 2136- 2148 UTC) had the typical activity from all over the USA and Mexico. I heard - and worked - Allen N5AFV on Enchanted Rock in Texas (grid EM00), along with 8 others (2 Mexican and 6 US stations) on AO-27. For the SO-50 pass, I worked N5AFV again, along with 4 other US stations and 1 Mexican station. After updating my logbook with all the contacts I had made to this point, I stuck around this location for the western passes - AO-27 at 2308-2315 UTC, SO-50 at 2315-2329 UTC. In keeping with what appeared to be the trend for the day, I only worked 3 stations on each of those passes. When SO-50 went out of range, I quickly secured my gear and made the 110-mile/177km drive to Kingman so I could find a spot on the DM25/DM35 boundary in time for the evening AO-51 passes. Saturday evening in Kingman, Arizona, near the I-40 freeway and old route 66 on the DM25/DM35 grid boundary (specifically, grids DM25xf and DM35af): http://www.geocities.com/va7ewk/ao51/20080531-DM25xf_DM35af_GPS_readout.jpg http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=35+13.437+n+114+0.00+w&ie=… This location is on the east end of Kingman, north of the I-40 freeway and at the west end of the longest remaining stretch of the old US route 66 that once went from Chicago to Los Angeles. There are lots of mountains around Kingman, and this location was in the area where they would bother me the least for satellite passes while on the DM25/DM35 boundary. I found an empty lot east of Route 66 near railroad tracks, where I parked and took a picture of my GPS receiver's display on the rear bumper of my truck before setting up my equipment. I waited for the first AO-51 pass at 0149-0204 UTC, an eastern pass with maximum elevation of 45 degrees. A very nice pass. I planned to use the second AO-51 transponder (145.880/435.150 MHz) up here, and that worked well for this pass. During that 15-minute pass, I worked 11 stations - 8 in the USA, 3 in Mexico. I was told there was more activity on the normal 145.920/435.300 MHz transponder while I stayed on the second transponder, but the activity was steady and I had no need to move over to the normal transponder. When AO-51 returned for the 0329-0342 UTC pass, a lower pass to the west (maximum elevation of 19 degrees), I talked to myself for several minutes on the second transponder. When it was becoming apparent nobody else was going to show up, I moved over to the normal transponder and made 3 contacts during the remaining time. I logged contacts with two California stations and Gerry VE4GTB in Winnipeg - the last contact, and only Canadian contact, this day. Hearing Gerry call me was a huge surprise, as I did not realize the footprint went that far east on that late pass. After the pass, I packed up my gear, stopped for a quick dinner, and made the 3.5- hour drive back home to finish this busy day. I made a total of 49 contacts from these 3 locations - 14 from the hamfest, 21 from the DM34/DM35 grid boundary, and 14 more from the DM25/DM35 grid boundary. DM25 is the 12th different Arizona grid I have operated from since March. If anyone who worked me from these locations wants to receive a QSL card, please e-mail me with the QSO details. I'll drop a card in the mail if you're in the log. Including the drive from Phoenix to Prescott on Friday evening and looking around Prescott and Kingman, I drove a total of 530.6 miles (853.7km). Thanks to Terry KB7TRE with the Yavapai Amateur Radio Club for inviting me to the hamfest, Ray W1OTH (a YARC and AMSAT member) for helping me at the table during the hamfest, and to all stations making contacts with WD9EWK during the day and evening. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Call info available
by w0dxz＠aol.com 02 Jun '08

02 Jun '08

You can get the same info from www.arrl.org...... they have a call sign database Bob W0DXZ

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Re: Yubileiny downlink spectrum overlaps AO-51 downlink
by G0MRF＠aol.com 02 Jun '08

02 Jun '08

In a message dated 02/06/2008 16:25:21 GMT Standard Time, oz1my(a)privat.dk writes: Hi all, Please this is just a technical matter :-) Here this afternoon with Yubileiny AOS at 1430 UTC and AO-51 with AOS at 1441 UTC in Copenhagen, the downlink spectrum of Yubileiny was strong when listening to the AO-51 frequency. Hello Ib. Oh dear, no frequency co-ordination! A week or so ago I looked at the transmission from Yubileiny and it was almost constant amplitude over a 4800Hz bandwidth slowly reducing beyond that. If you allow for the practical width of our IF filters and the fact doppler can shift the frequencies by +/- 10kHz, at 435MHz, then Yubileiny and AO-51 will encounter each other from time to time. Thankfully the orbits are very different so it's a minor (but avoidable) inconvenience. Thanks David

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IARU Region 1 Cavtat VHF/UHF/uW papers
by Trevor 02 Jun '08

02 Jun '08

There are a number of papers of interest to the satellite community that will be discussed aat the IARU Region 1 (Europe/Africa) conference at Cavtat in November, see IARU-R1 Cavtat papers available http://www.southgatearc.org/news/may2008/cavtat_papers.htm 73 Trevor M5AKA __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail. A Smarter Email http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html

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RHCP or LHCP for FM birds
by ww3s＠zoominternet.net 02 Jun '08

02 Jun '08

Thanks to Dom, I now have the phasing harness instructions for the cushcraft, now, shoudl I set ot for RH or LH polarization? What birds will be the best choice for field day?

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Yubileiny downlink spectrum overlaps AO-51 downlink
by OZ1MY 02 Jun '08

02 Jun '08

Hi all, Please this is just a technical matter :-) Here this afternoon with Yubileiny AOS at 1430 UTC and AO-51 with AOS at 1441 UTC in Copenhagen, the downlink spectrum of Yubileiny was strong when listening to the AO-51 frequency. Yubileiny is on 435.315 MHz and AO-51 on 435.300 MHz. During some of the pass they were at the same Az. angle. Since their orbit is much different it will change over the year. The spectrum from Yubileiny is very broad when transmitting the APT like modulation. Also the signal is very strong. It helped to use FM Narrow on the IC-910. I still hope they have included a transponder in Yubileiny. 73 OZ1MY Ib

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phasing harness for A144-20
by WW3S 02 Jun '08

02 Jun '08

Anyone know how to assemble the three pieces of the Cushcraft A144-20 beam? Wanting to try a satellite station for field day.

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Re: JUBILEE and other frustrations,
by i8cvs 02 Jun '08

02 Jun '08

----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Bruninga" <bruninga(a)usna.edu> To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 4:00 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: JUBILEE and other frustrations > > There seems to be a proliferation of satellites > > using the Amateur bands as cheap down links, > > and using Radio Amateurs as a cheap way of > > collecting their data. It is MY personal belief > > that a satellite should only use our hard-earned > > and much coveted frequencies if they REALLY do > > carry an Amateur Radio payload... I.E. > > a Transponder! > > While I too like to see transponders, I do not like to see all > the negativizim, hate and rabble-rousing against those who > actually get something into space. The self-richeous nay-saying > comments are about as practical as these: > > "Those HF contesters should not be using the Amateur Bands, they > should be passing useful communications or traffic!" > > "Those Traffic passers are not real amateur operators, because > they will not respond with QSL's!" > > "Those old fud rag chewers on HF think they own the frequency. > They should let others use the frequency for more useful > communications" > > "Those FM commuters are just wasting air time, saying the same > old thing every day. Why don't they just use a cell phone!" > > "Those AM guys are just wasting 6 KHz of spectrum, they should > be made illegal on the amateur bands" > > "Who wants to look at all those SSTV pictures, Its just the > same old post-card! They should not be using 3 KHz of bandwidth > for such stupid applications"... > > "Those Winlink guys are killing amateur radio by turning the > bands into an automatic communications system." > > "Those Echolink and IRLP links are bad for ham radio. Why don't > they just use HF or a phone if they want to talk to someone far > away." > > "Those Radio control Airplanes operating on the Amateur band > should never be there, they are not communications". > > "Those experimental Balloons just transmit pictures and > telemetry, without a transponder, they have no purpose in > Amateur Radio" > > And on and on... > > Face, it.. Ham radio is as rich in applications as there are > innovative and resourceful people. If you want something done, > then go do it. If you don't like what others are doing with > their hobby, then get out of the way. > > Public negativizim and constant complaining never accomplishes > anything except darken our collective hobby. Save that for the > politicians who are supposed to respond to their constituents. > For a hobby that is just the collective "us" with each licensed > individual having the same equal opportunities as everyone else, > complaining about what others do is just pointless. > > Bob, WB4APR > Hi Bob, WB4APR You cannot get out of the way those Amateur Radio users actually requesting OSCAR's Satellites with on board transponders because the Amateur Satellite Service started when in 1972 OSCAR-6 was launched and thousand's of the above maltreated and by you offended HF users decided to abandone the Amateur Service to enter into a more bright and promising Amateur Satellite Service. The above thousand's HF users invested worldwide a lot of money and a lot of efforts to convert their HF stations into VHF/UHF/SHF Satellite Stations with the purpose to get a more communication efficiency against the problems due of propagation using short waves. Without the above prerequisite the Amateur Satellite Service never would had spring up. Read please this "Brief History" written into page-1 of the AMSAT-UK OSCAR-13 Operations and Technical Handbook 1989 "Amateur radio satellites have gone through three phases; phase 1: experimentation to find the possible; phase 2: long life, low orbit satellites to gain experience; and phase 3: high altitude orbits with complex transponding and control systems. Phase 1 started when OSCAR-1 was launched on 12 December 1961 and phase 2 was led by OSCAR-6 in October 1972. Amsat's first attemp for phase 3 (the satellite known only as phase 3A ) failed when the experimental Ariane rocked plunged into the South Atlantic in May 1980 . Amsat second attemp for phase 3 partially succeeded in June 1993 when OSCAR-10 was released into space . The world's radio amateurs after more than 10 years of low orbit satellites and associated short visibility periods, at last tasted Amsat's policy of equivalence to a permantly open 14 MHz band with practically world wide communications. OSCAR stands for Orbital Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio and a satellite is a package equipped with solar cells, batteries, receivers, and transmitters, aerials and control electronics. The batteries are charged by the solar cells whenever the satellite is in sunlight. Signal received in part of one amateur band are retransmitted in part of another amateur band. Unlike terrestrial, single frequency, analog repeaters ,the satellite relay system (called a transponder ) will translate linearly any type of narrow-band signal such as CW, SSB, RTTY, NBFM, or AM although only the first four are recommended, being power-efficient and RF low duty cycle -------------------- Bob, This is why the above thousands Satellite Experimenter's and User's mostly coming from the HF are actually waiting for P3-E and her transponders. Read again please: ".................when OSCAR-10 was released into space . The world's radio amateurs after more than 10 years of low orbit satellites and associated short visibility periods, at last tasted Amsat's policy of equivalence to a permanently open 14 MHz band with practically world wide communications." I hope that the original unchanged AMSAT's policy will be now clear for you. 73" de i8CVS Domenico Past President AMSAT-Italia

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Re: JUBILEE and other frustrations,
by Edward Cole 02 Jun '08

02 Jun '08

Without getting into the issue too much. I would remind the project managers that their constituency (and contributors or potenitial contributors) rely on periodic progress reports on developing satellite projects. This complaint is not new to amsat-bb (we heard it for AO-40), so it should not be news to project managers. We all realize that the builders and creators are working hard and puting in many volunteer hours, but for the greater satellite community to keep interested and supporting they need to hear what is happening (fairly frequently). That does take some time and effort away from direct project work but is very neccessary for a volunteer run organization. When looking for news on P3E I can find little on-line that is recent (most dates two years old), or is only in german language (which I do not read/speak). Even if things are at a full standstill the supporting membership is owed an occassional update. That may generate a few "grousing remarks" from a few but that goes with the task. Amsat Journal does attempt this to a degree, but I think the summary remarks should be given either on Amsat-bb or ANS which is available to all. Regular news tells the general satellite community that the leadership cares about their support. It would be good if P3E were to share on Amsat-bb or at least post more regular reports to Amsat-DL website. As an Amsat-NA field op I get questions that I am not able to answer...that should not happen very often. Certainly the basic stuff like how are the new satellite projects coming and when can we expect them to be launched. Since AO-10/13 there has been a long wait for the next full HEO sat. AO-40 did not last long enough and it has been a few years since then! A lot of folks are trying to be patient and need some words to help them keep the faith. ***************************************************** 73, Ed - KL7UW BP40iq, 6m - 3cm 144-EME: FT-847, mgf-1801, 4x-xp20, 185w http://www.kl7uw.com AK VHF-Up Group NA Rep. for DUBUS: dubususa(a)hotmail.com *****************************************************

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