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

DIY: Parabolic mirror
by ka2pbt 17 Aug '08

17 Aug '08

This looked clever .... needs work ... but a good start .... http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/08/diy_parabolic_mirror.html?CMP=OTC-… --> Rob

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PCSat
by Fred VE3FAL 17 Aug '08

17 Aug '08

Seen a few folks during the last week have made it into PCSat.I have heard signals coming down but very weak for my vertical. Have tried shot gunning to see if I get in but no luck so far. VE3FFR has made it over the last week. Fred VE3FAL

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G-5500 7806 regulator question
by Mark L. Hammond 17 Aug '08

17 Aug '08

Hello All, It appears that the 7806 voltage regulator in my Yaesu G-5500 control box has gone bad; the output is measuring more like 10.8 Volts (!). This explains why both position indicators were off by a factor of 2 (e.g., elevation meter showing 90 deg, array pointing 45; azimuth meter showing 180 deg, but array pointing 90 deg., and so on). Question---has anybody used a 7805 to replace the 7806 regulator in this control box? I don't have a 7806....so this brings the next question--anybody have a 7806 (or 2) that they want to sell?) Thanks, Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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Compass-1 16:05 pass
by Bob DeVarney W1ICW 17 Aug '08

17 Aug '08

Nothing heard on this pass, sent the commands blindly a number of times but received no confirmation this time. Bob W1ICW --

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Rusty AO-40
by w7lrd＠comcast.net 17 Aug '08

17 Aug '08

Hello My AO-40 (sobsob) techniques are really rusty. I am trying to find AO-51 S band downlink. I forget the conversion frequency on a 3731aa downconverter to the two meter band. With the pass duration I don't have a lot of time to look, which I did. Anyone aim me to the correct frequency? 73 Bob W7LRD -- "if this were easy, everyone would be doing it"

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Compass-1
by Cox 17 Aug '08

17 Aug '08

BB No CW D/L heard at 16:18 UTC from grid FM16vt during 43 deg elv pass other then a steady carrier signal at 437.275 73 Bruce KG4YEV

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Compass-1 recovery efforts
by Bob DeVarney W1ICW 17 Aug '08

17 Aug '08

Mike and team, I was able to send the commands as well this morning on the 14:30 pass over the Eastern US, and received a "chirpy" confirmation tone after each command ( basically after each second # ) I sent the commands a total of five times to make sure they "stuck". Downlink beep was a good solid S-5 using M2 436CP30 and SSB preamp at the antenna. I monitored the satellite for the entire pass and heard nothing else out of it. 73 and VY GUD LUCK de Bob W1ICW And congrats to Alan, ZL2BX! --

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Re: COMPASS-1 needs your help
by Henk, PA3GUO 17 Aug '08

17 Aug '08

Mike & rest of the COMPASS team, I have set-up my station for COMPASS up/downlink. 20:15UTC pass over Europe I will try to upload the commands. Others: please monitor the downlink (437.275 / CW). Henk, PA3GUO http://www.pa3guo.com Please give me a phone call, Mike has my phone number in his inbox

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Re: [eu-amsat] AMSAT UK P3E Lecture Available
by Luc Leblanc 16 Aug '08

16 Aug '08

Very nice presentations. One attract my attention was made by Peter Guelzow DB2OS one one of his slide we can read: ATTRACTIVENESS OF AMATEUR RADIO HAS DROPPED SIGNIFICANTLY FUNDING A SATELLITE FROM AMATEUR RESSOURCES ALONE NEVER WORKED BEFORE AND WILL NOT WORK NOW. I don't how to explain how all the wisdom and reality knowledge seems to be concentrated in Europe when speaking about amateur satellite? Could be we are too stupid here and we swallow anything "the official" says but with the figures given 3.5$ millions can be reached in 3 years by 6000 supporters at a contribution rate of 200$ per year. I know figures was given in pounds but it is achievable if one day or another the AMSAT'S regroup under an unique satellite funding structures any goals will be achievable. It's true that "FUNDING A SATELLITE FROM AMATEUR RESSOURCES ALONE NEVER WORKED BEFORE" but the context never evolved the same AMSAT'S pattern remain as if it was the only one TRUE solution...It's not. OPINION POLL AND SURVEYS I start one "unscientific" couple years ago AMSAT-NA make one more scientific...too and the last one show up the very same results the amateur community want's by a very strong margin HEO'S. The cube sat concept is already very well served by all the cube sats group. It will be logical NOW that the NON CUBE amsat's refocused their goals on HEO'S. It should be their primary goals not making cube sats as they are cheaper to construct and launch but making or financially/technically supporting the most viable actual HEO'S project eg: P3E. Again after a small period of darkness someone light up the candle at the end of the tunnel and the tunnel is under the Atlantic with the exit at +- 4000 KM from here. Still hope when there is still life! "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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ANS-230 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne Maenpaa 16 Aug '08

16 Aug '08

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-230 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: * 2008 AMSAT North America Space Symposium and BoD Meeting * Volunteers Needed for AMSAT Booth at ARRL New England Convention * COMPASS-1 CubeSat in Emergency Mode - Telemetry Reports Needed * NASA Amateur Radio Digital Learning Network Lesson Plans Available * AMSAT Leadership Meeting * WA3GOV SK * ARISS Status Report for the Week of August 11, 2008 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-230.01 2008 AMSAT North America Space Symposium and BoD Meeting AMSAT News Service Bulletin 230.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 17, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-230.01 2008 AMSAT North America Space Symposium 24-26 October 2008, Atlanta, Georgia - Call for Papers This is the second 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: o Students & Education o ARISS o AO-51 o P3E o Eagle o Deep Space Network monitoring o 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 Gould, WA4SXM also said this week, "Just as a reminder to all, the AMSAT Board meetings at the Symposium are an open meeting, other than a short segment that is a performance review. You can attend and listen to the entire meeting. This year's meeting in Atlanta will begin Thursday morning 23 Oct and go into the evening (and sometimes after dinner), then resume Friday morning 24 Oct and go until around noon. The Board would welcome your interest." [ANS thanks the 2008 Symposium Committe and Gould, WA4SXM for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-230.02 Volunteers Needed for AMSAT Booth at ARRL New England Convention AMSAT News Service Bulletin 230.02 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 17, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-230.02 Volunteers are needed to man the booth at the 2008 ARRL New England Convention in Boxboro, Friday August 22 through Sunday August 24. If you plan on attenting and have some spare time, please consider vol- unteering to work the AMSAT booth. Full information about the convention can be found at: http://www.boxboro.org/ Please drop Steve, N1JFU an email (smeuse(a)mara.org) with your avail- ability for either Saturday or Sunday. There will be an AMSAT presen- tation from 10am-12noon on Saturday organized by Barry Baines, WD4ASW. [ANS thanks Steve, N1JFU for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-230.03 COMPASS-1 CubeSat in Emergency Mode - Telemetry Reports Needed AMSAT News Service Bulletin 230.03 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 17, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-230.03 Since Sunday, the COMPASS-1 CubeSat has been in emergency mode. The battery voltage is very low and the satellite is rebooting every pass. The CW beacon is on in sunlight - but it only transmits on 8 minute intervals. A hard-reset of the satellite has occurred, which brought the satel- lite back into a vicious circle: Once the heater is being switched on, the battery power drops drastically, which causes another hard-reset. This goes on and on. The only chance to recover the satellite is to avoid the activation of the heater. This can be done by adjusting threshold values. The COMPASS team needs as much telemetry as possible. Amateur radio stations around the world are asked to listen to the COMPASS down- link on 437.275 MHz. Any reports will be appreciated. You can find a simple CW telemetry decoder at: http://www.dk3wn.info/software.shtml. MP3 or WAV files would also provide useful information. Please send your reports to compass1cubesat(a)googlemail.com. The latest Keplerian tracking data is: COMPASS-1 1 32787U 08021E 08226.19180743 .00000095 00000-0 19031-4 0 1184 2 32787 097.9841 285.9110 0015365 316.5637 043.4362 14.81444724 15843 [ANS thanks Mike, DK3WN for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-230.04 NASA Amateur Radio Digital Learning Network Lesson Plans Available AMSAT News Service Bulletin 230.04 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 17, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-230.04 To help prepare the students for an ARISS experience, NASA has generated a series of teaching modules for the students. They have three different packages available suitable for students in K-4, 5-8 and 9-12 grades (for folks outside the US, "K" is Kindergarten at age ~5, and Grades 1-12 are for ages ~6-18). The lesson plan packages are described and available from NASA's Digital Learning Network (DLN) at: http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/content/catalog/details/?cid=634. [ANS thanks Tom, K3IO for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-230.05 AMSAT Leadership Meeting AMSAT News Service Bulletin 230.05 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 17, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-230.05 The AMSAT board members (current and future) and AMSAT senior officers participated in an AMSAT strategy meeting at a BWI airport hotel, Saturday and Sunday August 9 & 10, 2008. The purpose was to discuss the future direction of AMSAT and things we want to accomplish as an organization during the next 16 months and beyond. Drew, KO4MA is writing an article about the meeting for the July/August 2008 AMSAT Journal. Action plans will be developed at the 2008 AMSAT Board meeting Oct 23-24, 2008 which precedes the AMSAT Symposium in Atlanta, Oct 24-25, 2008. An outline of the items discussed will be available from the front page of the AMSAT web site. [ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-230.06 WA3GOV SK AMSAT News Service Bulletin 230.06 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 17, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-230.06 AMSAT Headquarters received the news below. Martha said, "It is with great sadness that I report the death of Howard Ziserman, WA3GOV at the age of 55." For many years, Howard served as the Area Coordinator for MD & VA. He volunteered for EVERY hamfest in this area, sometimes traveling over 100 miles away. He had a love for the Space Program working at the NASA Bioprocessing and Pharmaceutical Research Center in Philadelphia in the early 80's. When he moved to MD in 1989,he combined his love of education and space working on Space Shuttle Mission STS-94 and later on the ARISS program. Howard had a B.A. from Cornell, a B.E. in EE from Johns Hopkins, an M.S. in Chemistry from U of MD. His dream was to get his PhD and so he left MD in 2001 for Kansas City. There he received his PhD in December of 2006 [ANS thanks Martha at AMSAT HQ for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-230.07 ARISS Status Report for the Week of August 11, 2008 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 230.07 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 17, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-230.07 1. School Contacts An ARISS contact was held the with Town of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, Summer Playground Camp on Wednesday, August 13. The New Providence Amateur Radio Club has been involved with this camp for the last four years. It has provided an introduction to ham radio on the air by setting up HF and VHF stations and having the campers communicate with hams around the world. The ARISS contact will be an extension of this activity. An ARISS contact has been slated for Thursday, August 21 at 14:55 UTC with Los Padres Council Troop 105 in Santa Barbara, California. Boy Scouts, ages 12-17 will work on their Astronomy, Space Exploration and Radio Merit Badges. Cub Scout units will have materials available to work on the Astronomy and Science belt loops and Astronomy and Science academic pins. The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Physics Department will make available its astronomy observation deck for the contact and will provide faculty members to instruct the Scouts. The Scouts will be presented with information on the ISS and its crew to prepare them for this activity and the media will be notified. 2. Training Session Contact Scheduled A simulated ARISS contact has been scheduled for Tuesday, August 12 at approximately 14:00 UTC between ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers, PI9ISS, and youth attending the European Space Camp (ESC) in Belgium. This training session is a terrestrial-based amateur radio contact using ARISS-equivalent equipment. EchoLink and IRLP coverage is expected. 3. Terrestrial Contacts Successful Two simulated ARISS contacts were scheduled for Tuesday, August 5 between U.S. deployed soldier dependents visiting the European Space Center (ESC) in Belgium and astronauts Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA and Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP. The NASA Johnson Space Center was closed due to tropical storm Eduardo which caused the training sessions to be cancelled. Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, stepped in to speak with the youth and answered one question from each of the thirty students. Audio will be posted on the ARISS-Europe Web site when available. [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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