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

SEEDS-II at 1 degree elevation
by Henk, PA3GUO 07 Jul '08

07 Jul '08

Keeps impressing me somehow ... Yesterday I monitored a pass of SEEDS-II (max 89 degree elevation) Most remarkable to me is that these little satellites can be heared at very low elevation with very good S/N figures. Receiving their CW telemetry can be done down to 0.5 degree elevation. Just using an old 2x8 elements antenna without pre-amp. For what it's worth: this is how the S/N spectrum looks like when I hold a microphone on front of the speaker: http://www.pa3guo.com/seeds_06jul08_elevation_01_degree_cw_437.485.gif Henk, PA3GUO http://www.pa3guo.com

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Special call sign VC3C
by Luc Leblanc 07 Jul '08

07 Jul '08

To commemorate the 400th anniversary of Quebec city foundation by Samuel de Champlain on the third of July 1608 marking the continuous french presence in North America a special call sign has been issued "VC3C" I will activate this very special call sign on all available amateur satellite from July 7 to July 13. On July 13 the mobile communication unit "On the Champlain Road" who travel the same route along the St-Lawrence as Champlain does in 1608 400 years ago will be in Sorel-Tracy where Champlain enters in the Richelieu river (see below the ****) and was the first to european to discover the Lake Champlain. The station will be located at the Governors House in Sorel http://grandquebec.com/monteregie/maison-des-gouverneurs/ (The tower in the back ground is located on the roof of the Sorel-Tracy ARC HQ.) People of French descent across North America can trace their history back to Québec City, recognized today as the cradle of French civilization in the New World. At one point, Québec City was at the center of New France, an empire that covered all of Eastern Canada and almost half of the current US territory. French North America extended from the Gulf of St Lawrence to the Great Lakes and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. Although this empire was not to last, Québec City, as the capital of Lower Canada and later, of Québec, has continued to grow and thrive. A Timeline for Champlain Around 1570: Champlain is born in Brouage to a seafaring family. He studies navigation and cartography. 1595-1598: He serves in the royal army of Brittany 1599-1601: He travels to Mexico and reports to King Henri IV 1603: First voyage to Canada. He explores the St. Lawrence River as far as the site of today´s Montreal. He publishes his first book, Des Sauvages. 1604-1607: First French foothold in Canada on the Acadian shore. He explores the coast as far as the site of today´s Boston. 1606: He meets with Marc Lescarbot, who returns to the Acadian colony, and writes Histoire de la Nouvelle-France (published in 1609). 1608: Champlain founds Québec. 1609: He discovers the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain. He allies with the Hurons against the Iroquois.****************** 1610-1613: He sends Étienne Brûlé to the Montagnais. 1613: He explores the Ottawa River (the Outaouais). He publishes an account of his Voyages since 1604. 1614-1616: He discovers Lake Huron and Huronia. 1619: He publishes an account of his Voyages since 1613. As of 1620, he remains almost continuously in Québec. 1627: The Compagnie des Cent-Associés administers Canada. July 19,1629: The British take Québec. March 29,1632: The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye restores Québec and Canada to France. 1632: Champlain publishes a chronicle of all his Voyages since 1604. December 25,1635: Champlain dies in Québec. http://monquebec2008.sympatico.msn.ca/MonQuebec2008/?lang=en-ca "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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Re: best antenna array?
by Henk, PA3GUO 06 Jul '08

06 Jul '08

Hi Gus ! I would be jalous ! Here's my set-up: 145 Mhz, 2x6 elements DK7ZB, RHCP/LHCP >>> perfect for the job 435 Mhz, 2x8 elements Cushcraft, fixed RHCP: do not hear AO51 on 435.150 (is LHCP) >>> need switchable RHCP/LHPC/H/V, but for the rest: fine 23cm, 1x33 elements Tonna, I borrow it from PE1ITR for a year, >>> need first more experience 13cm, nothing yet >>> your dish sounds so good ! Henk, PA3GUO http://www.pa3guo.com (scroll down, you see me and the antenna's)

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re best antenna array?
by Angus 06 Jul '08

06 Jul '08

Thanks for info on your thoughts on the best transceiver for the satellites, what about the best array? Here is my example: 2 mtrs 7 ele (3.5mtr boom) X yagi with switchable H, V, RHCP and LHCP and homebrew preamp. 70cms x 12 (3.0mtr boom) X yagi with switchable H, V, RHCP and LHCP and homebrew preamp. 23cm and 13cm 1.5 mtr homebrew dish with helical feeds. The unit has elevation thanks to my neighbour donating a sat dish acctuator! This will be the only array I am allowed on the house by the XYL and neighbours (more by the XYL hi). I shall also use it for local chin wagging on repeaters and little bits of SSB work during tropo etc. So what do you think, OK, hmmm not so good or fine for the job? Is there something I have missed, I will only get one chance of putting the unit up, so I have to get it almost perfect first time. Any thoughts please let me know. regards Gus M0IKB -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed 972 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len

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AO-51 L-Band Packet Uplink
by Rob Hardenberg PE1ITR 06 Jul '08

06 Jul '08

Hi All, I'am trying to access AO-51 9600Bd packet uplink on 1268.700MHz but had no succes so far. Maybe someone on the amsat bb group has some experience on this? I see on the downlink the message "Frames heard from PACB-1". I think it means the receiver is getting some signal but can't decode it. I believe my 23cm transmitter is working ok with 10w output into 26el yagi. Also the 9600bd is working OK because I can connect to local stations. I see no other traffic on the sat so it seems to me the L band receiver of ao-51 is not to sensitive. 73 Rob PE1ITR http://www.pe1itr.com

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Free Items-you pick up
by Charles Pennington 06 Jul '08

06 Jul '08

FEE FREE FREE 2 Rolls 1000 feet each, RG62 coaxial cable. 2 pieces of 1/2 inch hardline, each about 100 feet, also some other misc lenght pieces, some miss hardline connectors, some new in boxes. you pick up at my qth, suburban philly, zip 19018. contact off bb. Bud K3NMF (1849) chrlsp(a)verizon.net Thanks Bud K3NMF

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ANS-188 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne Maenpaa 06 Jul '08

06 Jul '08

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-188 ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor(a)amsat.org *************************************************************** *** 2008 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting *** *** October 24-26 in Atlanta, Georgia *** *** http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2008/index.php *** *************************************************************** In this edition: * P3E Update From Friedrichshafen Ham Radio 2008 * AMSAT Field Day Logs Are Due by July 14 * New Earth Photos Received From Cute-1.7 * AMSAT 2008 Space Symposium Call For Papers * ARISS Status Report for the Week of June 30, 2008 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-188.01 P3E Update From Friedrichshafen Ham Radio 2008 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 188.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 6, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-188.01 AMSAT-DL provided P3E updates at the HAM RADIO 2008 Convention - the international amateur radio exhibition held June 27-29 in Friedrich- shafen near Lake Constance in Germany. This year HAM RADIO was focused on the topic "Satellites and Space Activities in Hamradio", giving AMSAT-DL, in cooperation with DARC, an opportunity to offer a special show highlighting amateur radio in space. This included flight hardware at the AMSAT-DL booth. Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, AMSAT-DL gave a presentation discussing the current status of activities for the construction and launch of the new satellite AMSAT P3-E. The P3E team reported that the mechanical work on the satellite has been completed but it doesn't yet have the Internal Housekeeping Unit (IHU). There has been good progress on the transponder payloads with the 435 to 145 MHz software defined linear transponder (SDX) being demonstrated at the event by Howard, G6LVB. Peter reported that the cost quoted by Arianespace for the launch of P3E is beyond the budget of AMSAT-DL, however, AMSAT-F has offered its support in any further negotiations. The possibility of using launch sites operated by India, Russia or Japan is being investigated. Dr. Achim Vollhardt, DH2VA, AMSAT-DL spoke on the status of the inter- planetary Mars mission AMSAT P5-A. P3E is closely linked to the P5E Mars Orbiter also being built by AMSAT-DL. This will be the first pri- vate venture spacecraft to go to Mars and will use the 2.4 GHz and 10 GHz Amateur Satellite Service frequency allocations. The exhibition also included live reception of interplanetary space probes by Freddy de Guchteneire, ON6UG. Professor Dr. Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC gave the opening address. Thilo Kootz, DL9KCE moderated a panel discussion, "Amateur radio satellite - Where have they gone?", with key participation by AMSAT-DL officers. The new SDX (Software Defined Transponder) for P3E, was available for live experimentation at the booth and throughout the fairgrounds during the exhibition. [ANS thanks Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, AMSAT-DL, and the news service at the Southgate Amateur Radio Club for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-188.02 AMSAT Field Day Logs Are Due by July 14 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 188.02 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 6, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-188.02 AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards Bruce Paige, KK5DO, says, "Now that Field Day is over for 2008, there is one more thing that you have to take care of. You still need to submit your contacts for scoring under the AMSAT rules." You can download the rules from: http://www.amsatnet.com/2008fd.pdf -or- http://www.amsatnet.com/2008fd.doc Bruce reminds participants that the Satellite Summary Sheet should be used for submission of the AMSAT Field Day competition and be re- ceived by KK5DO (email or postal mail) by 11:59 P.M. CDT, Monday, July 14, 2008. The preferred method for submitting your log is via e-mail to kk5do(a)amsat.org or kk5do(a)arrl.net. You may also use the postal service but give plenty of time for your results to arrive by the submission date. Add photographs or other interesting information so that can be used an article for the Journal. You will receive an email back (within one or two days) from Bruce when he receives your email submission. If you do not receive a con- firmation message, try sending it again or send it to his other e-mail address. If you are mailing your submission, the address is: Bruce Paige, KK5DO Director of Awards and Contests PO Box 310 Alief, TX 77411-0310 [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-188.03 New Earth Photos Received From Cute-1.7 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 188.03 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 6, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-188.03 Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL reported this week that more pictures have been received from the CMOS camera aboard the Cute-1.7 + APD II satellite. The pictures may be viewed on-line at: http://lss.mes.titech.ac.jp/ssp/cute1.7/blog/01-04.jpg http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/cut17ap2.htm The CMOS camera aboard Cute-1.7 + APD II is controlled by a PDA which also performs the JPEG format conversion and compression prior to transmission via FM packet on the satellite's UHF downlink. [ANS thanks Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-188.04 AMSAT 2008 Space Symposium Call For Papers AMSAT News Service Bulletin 188.04 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 6, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-188.04 2008 AMSAT North America Space Symposium 24-26 October 2008, Atlanta, Georgia Call for Papers: This is the first call for papers for the 2008 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting to be held October 24-26, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia. Proposals for papers, symposium presentations, and poster presentations are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite program. An emphasis for this year is an educational outreach to middle and high school students. Another topic if interest is using amateur satellite tracking systems to monitor deep space network objects. In particular, papers on the following topics are solicited: * Students & Education * ARISS * AO-51 * P3E * Eagle * Deep Space Network monitoring * Any additional satellite-related topics. We request a one-page abstract as soon as possible. Camera ready copy on paper or in electronic form will be due by September 1, 2008 for inclusion in the printed symposium proceedings. Papers received after this date may not be included in the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to n8fgv(a)amsat.org [ANS thanks the 2008 Space Symposium Committe for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-188.05 ARISS Status Report for the Week of June 30, 2008 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 188.05 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 6, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-188.05 1. School Contacts Two simulated ARISS contacts were held on Thursday, July 3. These training sessions are terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS-equivalent equipment. The first simulated contact was with Frank De Winne, ON1DWN, and the ESC (Euro Space Camp) in Belgium. Ottawa South United Soccer Club in Canada will also take part in a simulated contact with astronaut Bob Thirsk, W5/VA3CSA. Round Rock Texas Scout Pack #304 and Blackland Prairie Elementary School in Round Rock, Texas had an ARISS contact on Friday, July 4. This event introduced scouts to the concepts required for their radio merit badges, giving them a practical example of amateur radio in action. It also provided an activity for the scientist badge. The entire Pack (50-60 boys of various ranks) will be involved, as well as select Blackland Prairie Elementary School staff and students. Pack 304 will participate in a contest to determine the best questions to ask the astronaut. Media (newspaper, radio, television) coverage is planned and the governor will be invited. An ARISS contact has been scheduled with the National Agriculture Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on Wednesday, July 9 at 15:14 UTC. Telebridge station W6SRJ in Santa Rosa, California will assist with the contact. The museum is a large research facility in the City of Ottawa covering over 1000 years of major contributions to agricultural progress. A public camp is part of the overall operation of the farm. 2. Successful Russian Contact Kursk State University students participated in an ARISS contact during the Slavic Commonwealth Forum (formerly the International Congress of Slavic States conference) in Sochi, Russia (on the Black Sea). The students spoke with Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX, on June 22. 3. Robinson Elementary School Contact Successful On Wednesday, June 25, students from Robinson Elementary School in Robinson, Texas experienced an ARISS contact via the telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii. Eleven students were able to ask one question each of astronaut Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ, as an audience of nearly 300 looked on. After the contact, the bridge connection was kept up to answer the stu- dents' remaining questions. The audio was available via IRLP. 4. Astronaut Training Status Astronauts Joe Acaba, KE5DAR, and Ricky Arnold, KE5DAU, participated in an ARISS basic operations training session on Thursday, June 26 at JSC. Both crew members are assigned to the STS-119 mission, which will bring Koichi Wakata to the ISS and return Sandy Magnus. Nicole Stott, KE5GJN, Sandy Magnus, KE5FYE, and JAXA astronauts Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA, and Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP, received training on the ARISS ham radio equipment. Photos of the Energia training session are available on the following Web site: http://www.energia.ru/eng/news/news-2008/photo_06-20.html 5. Under the Hood Posts SuitSat Article and Video SuitSat appears on the cover of the June issue of Under the Hood, a supplemental issue of the EE Times. A link to the digital issue may be found here: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cmp/uth062308/ A video of ARISS member Steve Bible's talk on SuitSat given at the Embedded Systems Conference (EMS) in April 2008 has also been posted on the Under the Hood Web site. See: http://cmptv.net/teardown/SuitSat 6. ARISS International Team Meeting Held The ARISS monthly teleconference was held on Tuesday, June 17. Agenda items covered included the upcoming Moscow meeting, Amateur Radio on the Columbus module (ARCOL) and the status of SuitSat-2. Minutes have been posted to the ARISS Web site. See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel2008-06-17.htm 7. ARISS Delegate Recognized at Ham Fair ARISS delegate Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, was recognized at the Ham Fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany for his many contributions to amateur radio including his ARISS work, his efforts on the Columbus antennas, and his selection for the CQ Hall of Fame. Ham Fair is the largest amateur radio convention in Europe and was held over the weekend of June 27-29. 8. Amateur Radio Video Posted The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) held its annual Field Day over the June 28-29 weekend. A Field Day video has been posted on YouTube. It features the International Space Station and/or ARISS program several times. To view this, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=varHL752Odk [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM K9JKM at amsat dot org

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TR-751
by Szegedy 05 Jul '08

05 Jul '08

Dear friend! I like to ask you: If my Kenwood TR-751 is in scanning mode I hear impulse noise(about in every 0.1 second) from speaker if I near the speaker(5cm) or use a headphone if volume is 12clock position. Can you check it with other TR-751? What cause this problem? Other people doesnt have this problem with TR-751. I realised that if I rotate the main dial I hear also this sound .Why? Thanks Zoli/HG5AZR

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Logbook Software
by John Henderson N4NAB 05 Jul '08

05 Jul '08

Thanks to all who shared their info on logbook sw. I have settled on N3FJP's product which is quite easy to use and customize. Only need a way to get paper logs transferred, hihi/ John John Henderson N4NAB 212 Bayside Drive Cape Carteret, NC 28584

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GS-232 & SatPC32 12.8
by myoung 05 Jul '08

05 Jul '08

Anyone else having trouble getting the GS-232 interface to work on ver 12.8? The rotor setup "Search" takes me to the KEPS folder, then I select the SDX folder. When the program is re-run a pop-up window indicates "SDXParem.exe is missing. I can't find it either using XP Search. I've tried this on a laptop that has never seen any other version of SatPC32 to avoid any conflicts. Went back to 12.7 which works fine. 73's Mike, WB8CXO

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