January 2009 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Re: Guess who turns 19 tomorrow??
by Mark Hammond 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

Hi Alan, Yes, those were the days :) My first satellite station was a kit-built 435 downconverter feeding an IC-735, a homebrew helix for 70cm, 2M FM Heathkit Xtal radio into a homebrew amp, a TAPR PSK modem/PK-232 combo. That was so awesome exchanging emails via satellite before the "Internet" existed :) I remember the first time I copied the microsats---I was standing on the roof, hand pointing the ugly helix, with the window open and the volume cranked up really loud so I could hear it....hi. Gene KC4SA was my elmer when I became a ham (in graduate school in S.C. at the time, held the call of KC4EBR for many years). He and I spent many evenings chasing the parade of birds. For us the fun was the challenge of making it all work...then moving toward automation of the station, including various homebrew tracking boxes. Working the digital satellites was the project we picked to keep us active and working together when I moved to N.M. for a postdoctoral stint at Los Alamos. Living at 7000' elevation was AWESOME for satellite work. I remember being able to pick up the bird before Gene could, even when the pass was to his EAST ;) Yes, lots of QSOs and message exchanges with folks during those days. Glad to be in your log book! It's been a real privilege getting to command AO-16 for the last year+, given those early days of operations. I'm glad your have extraordinary soldering skills :) 73, Mark N8MH (formerly KC4EBR) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Guess who turns 19 tomorrow?? From: "Alan Sieg WB5RMG" <wb5rmg@xxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:50:42 -0600 (CST) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'll have to dig out some of the pictures I took in the Microsat Lab in Boulder Colorado, as they were under construction . . . - some of the test images from WO-18 (hard to call those pictures now) - a flowchart I made for TLMDC ... Sounds like a new webpage.!. I'll let yall know when it's ready. I've been so proud of the ol' AO-16 bird, I made solder connections for batteries, solar panels & regulators (BCR) on all four spacecraft. Who'd have ever thought it would enjoy such a 2nd life as a voice repeater. Speakin of the Microsat launch of 1990 - does anyone know the whereabouts of Dave Cowdin - WD0HHU ? He was there in Kourou for the launch campaign, but I've not heard anything from/about him for years and years now... He used to conduct AMSAT HF nets, and our local nets in Denver. * Mark, of course didn't recognize your N8MH - but your name looked more and more familiar as I wrote this. I looked back in my log sheets for 1990, and found AO-16 contacts with KB5MU, WD0E, KC4EBR, KC4SA, WJ9F, WA4SXM ... all on the same page. It says you were in WhiteRock NM at the time. Just readin those callsigns now, I can hear that raspy PB on PSK downlink... and hear the FT-736 beepin crazy trying to keep up with the 437 doppler. Seems you and Gene were on there most every night. You were my 4th AO-16 contact logged at 1904 on 30 Sept 1990. I guess that was via the digi, as I didn't log messages sent via PB/PG. We must have spent months collecting telemetry with Jim - WD0E, before we indulged in QSOs. Then I took down my tower and moved. My goodness - how time flies, nearly 20 years since I left Colorado . . . and you're in NC now... and I'm in Huntsville. Who'da thunkit. My my my ~ ~ ~ ~ * Thanks for the memory jog Mark 73 for now /;^) -- <- Licensed in 1976, WB5RMG = Alan Sieg * AMSAT#20554 -> <- http://www.somenet.net * http://wb5rmg.somenet.net -> <- http://www.linkedin.com/in/alansieg * My 'Day Job' -> -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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PRISM beacon
by Mike Rupprecht 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

. here are the beacons from our last european pass at 13:41 UTC pr2 00 01 10 0d 0c 00 00 00 pr3 00 08 00 00 00 8b 00 02 pr4 00 37 6d 00 30 2a 05 00 pr5 00 5c 00 00 87 87 8b 75 pr6 00 5e 5e 65 56 61 67 00 pr7 00 72 74 73 6e 63 62 00 pr8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 pr9 3f 3f 40 3f 40 40 .. .. 73, Mike DK3WN

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Re: KKS-1 beacon heard at 13:44, IO75 square
by GW1FKY＠aol.com 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

Hi Gordon & all. Yes also just heard KKS-1 beacon in south Wales (UK) on the high over head pass at 1345 GMT. It was quite strong, even though I was using a "loft" mounted vertical aerial. The rig is the trusty Kenwood TS 2000 that has served me so well. I did not get a chance to listen for the other satellites. Hopefully they will have the same success. Congratulations to all concerned in the Team. Ken Eaton GW1FKY Amsat- UK Amast NA

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KKS-1 beacon heard at 13:44, IO75 square
by Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

Just about able to copy "KKS 1" on 437., I was standing outside in torrential rain so didn't really hang about. Gordon

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ICOM PCR-100
by Michael J. Wolthuis 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

I now have an S-Band antenna, downconverter and feed line working. I don't have a good radio to tune 123mhz though. Can I use an ICOM PCR-100? If so, can that be computer controlled with any of the sat tracking programs (ie. HRD, Nova, SatPC, etc) for the 123mhz S-Band downconverted signal? Thanks, Mike Kb8zgl

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KKS-1 heard
by Mike Rupprecht 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

1208 UTC 437.386 MHz (+/- tuned manually) ..........m tokyo metropolitan college of industrial technology 3 toky kks-1 project tokyo metropolitan college of industrial technn 5 jq1yyy 5 yq1yyy 5 yq1yyy 5 jq1yyy 5 yq1yyy 73, Mike DK3WN

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Re: JAXA launch
by Mineo Wakita 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

New TLE in Space-Track: OBJECT A 1 33492U 09002A 09023.20899257 -.00000047 00000-0 00000+0 0 13 2 33492 098.0206 134.8903 0001910 186.6038 173.5141 14.66926140 00 OBJECT B 1 33493U 09002B 09023.27685651 .99999999 00000-0 13748+2 0 28 2 33493 098.0574 134.9855 0014047 111.7624 250.5163 14.89993450 26 OBJECT C 1 33494U 09002C 09023.20896736 -.00000048 00000-0 00000+0 0 15 2 33494 098.0273 134.8954 0003288 072.5199 287.6373 14.68800858 17 OBJECT D 1 33495U 09002D 09023.34509477 -.00000049 00000-0 00000+0 0 15 2 33495 098.0042 135.0113 0008999 042.6977 317.4911 14.70224259 05 OBJECT E 1 33496U 09002E 09023.34522746 -.00000049 00000-0 00000+0 0 10 2 33496 098.0459 135.0455 0001713 311.5032 048.6026 14.69715473 05 OBJECT F 1 33497U 09002F 09023.34535281 -.00000048 00000-0 00000+0 0 18 2 33497 098.0324 135.0332 0005461 194.6988 165.4059 14.68624124 00 JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita

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Heard CW BCN
by Mani VU2WMY 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

Hi all, just heard the CW beacon 0n 437.387 with usaul 6 K/cs doppler during 08:56 pass over India from one of the objects launched this morning. The predictions were based the keps provided by Edward BX1AD and DK3WN. 73 de Mani, VU2WMY Secretary & Station-In-Charge Upagrah Amateur Radio Club VU2URC ISRO Satellite Centre Airport Road, Bangalore-560 017. Phone:(O)91-80-2508 2054/2192/2537 Mobile: 91-80-98803 41456 E-mail ID: wmy(a)isac.gov.in vu2wmy_mani(a)yahoo.com isrohams(a)yahoo.com

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Heard KKS-1 CW BCN
by Edward Chuang 23 Jan '09

23 Jan '09

Hi all, Heard KKS-1 CW beacon at 437.387 MHz +-doppler during the pass from 05:36-05:47 UTC, RST was 545 with periodical fading. Also monitored 437.250 for PRISM but nothing heard. I was using TLE for PRISM: 1 00001U 09000A 09023.19677083 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 08 2 00001 98.0360 134.8707 0039000 93.7900 202.2108 14.75450091 11 I have the recoded file in .wav format (about 5 MB), if anyone is interesting please email me. Best 73 Edward / BX1AD -----

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JAXA launch
by Andrew Glasbrenner 22 Jan '09

22 Jan '09

Based on this graphic, http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f15/overview/sequence_e.html , and some comparisons with satellites in similar orbits, I'm going to guess about 12:00 Midnight EST for AOS in Florida. Congratulations to JAXA and all the satellite teams. 73, Drew KO4MA

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