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

ISS Digital Mode !!
by nader omer 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

Hi,All Why not thinking of upgrade the digital packet mode on ISS to more interesting and attractive mode! Like a Pacsat protocol mode! ISS has a more room than 25cm cubic LEO satellite, isn't it? 73's Nader, st2nh www.st2nh.com

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FT-8800 as FM satellite radio?
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

Hi! Has anyone used a Yaesu FT-8800 2m/70cm FM mobile radio to work the FM satellites? It appears to have everything an operator would want for those birds - separate VFO knobs, the ability to function as a cross- band repeater, various power levels (for 2m, 5/10/20/50W), and the control head can be permanently connected to the rest of the radio. The power requirements, according to the manual (maximum 8.5A on 2m), would work well with the "jumpstart" battery packs (mine are 12V/20Ah gel-cell packs) I use to power my gear in the field. From a quick reading of the instruction manual PDF, it seems like it could be a good radio for this. I'm looking at an alternative to my IC-2720H mobile radio I typically use for my portable operating, which is in current production and has a control head that was designed to mount on the radio. The TM-D710's control head does not hook up to the radio, and radios like the TM-V71 and DR-635 only have one VFO knob. I'd like to be able to directly control each VFO, without having to change bands in order to do this. The IC-2820H could meet my requirements, but its retail price is too much for me. The FT-8900 could also work for this, but I really don't need another radio for 6m and 10m FM. I would pair this radio with an Elk Antennas 2m/70cm log periodic and a homebrew PVC handle for the antenna, so I don't have to deal with a duplexer/diplexer for a satellite station I can pack into a small bag for travel. Thanks in advance, and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Office Closed
by Martha 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

The AMSAT Office will be closed on Monday, January 19th and Tuesday, January 20th. I will be back in the office on Wednesday, 10:00 AM ET. -- 73- Martha

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APRS tracking on 145.825
by Bob Bruninga 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

Answered on the AMSAT BB in case others have similar concerns. > ...am still trying to get out with vy > little success, my station is the only > 24/7 station within 200sq miles! > [in Europe]. > > I have set SmartBeaconing (ideal for > conserving band space) and am on ARISS > on 145.825 simplex how can i ensure > that my sigs are picked up and reported > to APRS-IS. First of all, Smart Beaconing is not really a bandspace conservation mechanism, but is more like an exact-track-assurence algorithm. It tries to make sure that your position reports reflect all turns throughout your travels and then a lower rate on straight stretches. Yes, it is better than transmitting every 30 seconds forever (to get a good track) but when one is maneuvering around in the city and mall parking lot, it can be a network hog due to all the turns. It makes no sense via an occasional satellite to be using an algorithm designed for optimum track-history. APRS was never designed or intended to be a TRACKING system, and certainly does not have the bandwidth to give everyone a precise track. On the contrary, APRS is a communication network between amateur radio operators, not a vehicle tracking system. THe purpose of your position beacon on APRS is to let fellow net participants know approximately where you are for the purpose of COMMUNICATIONS. One report every several minutes is fine. Via satellite, only one report per pass is expected, maybe two for reliability, to assure you are indicated as active. Hence, a fixed rate just updating your approximate location periodically is all that is required. For terrestrial APRS netowrk the best algorithm then is PROPORTIONAL PATHING. It maintains a low, but fixed rate, direct, and sends packets via 1 hop only half the time, via 2 hops only 25% of the time thus maintaining good network accountabilty to other users close in, while reducing netowrk load at a distance. Ths algorithm is built into the new D710 APRS radio. For reporting in from the wilderness via satllite (say PCSAT-1), the only path that works when PCSAT-1 is in default mode is VIA W3ADO. The path via WIDE1-1 will not work via PCSAT-1, W3ADO-1 or the ISS. Well, it will work via ISS, but the www.ariss.net web page will not capture it, because the ISS does not do callsing substitution when that path is used. Therefore the APRS-IS system will not recognize it has having been digipeated via the ISS, though it will show up on other FINDU pages. For attended uplink on 145.825 from wilderness areas, for mobiles, a rate of once every 2 minutes is receommended. For mobiles in-motion, actively operating a pass, a rate of 1 minute is acceptible. Good luck Bob, Wb4APR > As wide1-1 is an alias to ariss i see no point in > path alteration, just change of qrg. How does that > sound to you? > -- > -- > Best wishes/Meilleurs sentiments/51/73

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Yaesu G-5400 Questions
by William Liporace - WC2L 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

Good Morning I am in need of a couple of the terminal boards that are on the back of a G-5400 rotor. Are they the same on the 5500? Are the parts available?? The only other option is, does any one have a spare they want to part with? TNX Will WC2L

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demo help thanks
by Nick Pugh 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

Yesterday I demo ham radio to about 50 middle school kids in Lafayette ,La. The demo went very well thanks to those who help out. What did not go so well is that our Echolink did not allow multi connects so not all of you could get in. Echolink is a good way to demo ham radio in a class room despite the fact is not a pure radio circuit. Thanks again Nick k5qxj

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GO-32 status
by Mineo Wakita 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

GO-32 KISS beacon [2009/01/14 11:02:22z] TechSat-V4.2 ... [2009/01/14 11:02:52z] TechSat-V4.2 ... [2009/01/14 11:03:22z] TechSat-V4.2 ... [2009/01/16 10:10:35z] TechRam1V9.87 ... [2009/01/16 10:11:05z] TechRam1V9.87 ... [2009/01/16 10:11:35z] TechRam1V9.87 ... JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita

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Re: QSO through ISS
by andy thomas 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

Hi Gordon, many thanks for the qso. Your handheld effort was significantly better than mine and I appreciate your qso discussion and signal report. I'll be delighted to exchange cards if you would like to - and of course you can now claim the 25th anniversary ARISS certificate as CONTACT (REPEATER) with the ISS! Not bad at all for 5 watts handheld! The reason I asked you about the audio was this. I was using a doppler corrected system using Ham Radio Deluxe which depends on accurate and up to date kepler elements. This was producing really bad audio on the receive side and after talking to you I realised that the problem was that the ISS had reboosted its orbit - but this had not been refelected in the keplers used, even though I had forced a reconnection to the celestrak server. (Incidentally the AMSAT on line predictor had earlier given the same times for AOS and LOS) So the ISS was "late" in terms of the predicted and my doppler system was not tuning correctly to the downlink, hence my receive audio problem. After talking to you I retuned manually up in receive frequency but alas! too late to make another qso. My friend Colin G1IVG had the same problem and when I reported it on the amsat bulletin board Sebastian W4AS reported the same thing. Because you were manually correcting for doppler, you beat the machine! you were tuning by ear in 5khz steps on the Kenwood and it worked properly. So many thanks for the qso, it allowed us to figure out what was going wrong and to alert stateside via the amsat bulletin board. and the iss fan club site. I hope you don't mind but I'm copying this whole correspondence to the amsat-bb to celebrate the contact and what we learnt from it. 73 de andy G0SFJ --- On Thu, 15/1/09, Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ <gordonjcp(a)gjcp.net> wrote: > From: Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ <gordonjcp(a)gjcp.net> > Subject: QSO through ISS > To: g0sfj(a)amsat.org > Date: Thursday, 15 January, 2009, 11:58 PM > Hello, > Thank you for the brief QSO through the ISS repeater. > It's the first > time I've ever had much confirmation that I've > actually got into it. I > can hear it quite well even with a rubber-duck antenna on > my handheld - > even my el-cheapo Jingtong JT308 - but so far I haven't > seemed to get > any contacts through it. > > I'm in IO75tv square, Glasgow. The ISS is pretty low > on the horizon > here for most passes, at best around 35 degrees. I'm > running 5W from a > Kenwood TH-F7E handie into a homebrew dual-band cross > dipole, with three > elements on 2m and five on 70cm. For something that took > an hour to > build, it works fairly well ;-) The whole thing is > entirely handheld in > my back garden. It feels like a bit of a cheat to say > "portable" when > I'm literally standing outside my house, but it really > is a portable > setup. > > Your audio was very good through the ISS - better than my > local 70cm > repeater usually is. I think I may need a bigger 2m > antenna, or a bit > more power - I've got a 2m 6-element quad which I might > press into > service. > > Anyway, maybe I'll catch you on another pass > > 73, > > Gordon MM3YEQ

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Orbit boost to ISS?
by andy thomas 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

The V/U repeater is strong but HRD is tracking it late although I have forced an update to celestrak keps. I suggest this means an unexpected orbital boost. andy g0sfj

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Re: [jamsat-news:2601] ANS-004 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins
by Dee 16 Jan '09

16 Jan '09

Mikio_Mouri wrote: > Dear Dee-san > Thank you for your hard work preparing ANS. > > As for UNITEC-1, Yes, we have contacted the project members, > but in actually, not so much involved yet. > We are interested in this project, but I don't think JAMSAT announced > this mission, and how you received our commitment ; ) > They want to rely on amateur-radio networks, so we are trrying to > get more details (Frequency/Antenna/Power/Orbit/DSP...) > > We will let you know when we receive more details. > DB2OS, Peter-san shows interest in it to work with Bochum 20m > dish! > > We appreciate your continuous support. > > Best regards, 73, > JA3GEP. Mikio Mouri, JAMSAT > > > Dee wrote: > >> AMSAT NEWS SERVICE >> ANS-004 >> >> 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 >> >> >> In this edition: >> * SKN Nominations Due >> * UNITEC-1 >> * ESEO Project News >> * ISS Ops >> * ARISS Report >> * Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report >> December 29, 2008 >> >> >> SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-004.02 >> UNITEC-1 >> >> AMSAT News Service Bulletin 004.02 >> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. >> January 4, 2009 >> To All RADIO AMATEURS >> BID: $ANS-004.02 >> >> JAMSAT Announces Amateur Satellite to Venus >> >> AMSAT has received news from Japan that JARL/JAMSAT are collaborating >> with the Japanese University Space Engineering Consortium (UNISEC) to >> send an amateur radio payload into a Venus transfer orbit with the pri- >> mary JAXA Planet-C Venus Orbiter mission planned for May, 2010. >> >> UNITEC-1, developed by the teams who have already launched cubesats >> such as University of Tokyo's XI-IV, XI-V, and Tokyo Institute of Tech- >> nology's CUTE-1, CUTE-1.7+APD has the following engineering missions: >> >> 1. Onboard computers developed by several universities will be tested >> in the harsh space environment in the form of a competition; i.e., >> the computer which can survive to the last in the radiation-rich >> deep space environment will win the competition. >> >> 2. Technologies to receive and decode very weak and low bit rate >> signal coming from deep space will be developed and tested. >> >> 3. Technologies to estimate orbit and signal Doppler shift of the >> satellite based on the received RF signal will be developed and >> tested. These technologies are essential for tracking and receiv- >> ing signals from a satellite in deep space. >> >> The UNITEC-1 team invites the support of amateur radio amateurs all >> around the world to participate in the receiving and data capture ex- >> periments in objectives 2 and 3, above. They note that amateur radio >> operators working as individuals or in groups develop stations and >> techniques to relay their received signal reports and data to the >> UNITEC-1 control station. This is also a unique opportunity to pro- >> pose amateur experiments or competitions to the satellite team. >> >> UNITEC-1 will transmit a signal consisting of a CW beacon of about >> 1 bps speed. One experiment requiring the participation of several >> amateur radio earth stations would include the development of infer- >> eometric techniques to combine the received signals from several >> antennae to improve the received S/N ratio from the spacecraft out- >> bound from earth. >> >> The UNITEC-1 website provides the latest mission information (such as >> orbit parameters, data formats and current status). UNITEC-1 will be >> the first university developed interplanetary satellite as well as the >> first amateur interplanetary satellite. The team sincerely hopes that >> UNITEC-1 will provide unique and exciting opportunity for the radio >> amateurs all over the world to enjoy reception of signals from deep >> space. >> >> The UNITEC-1 website can be seen at: >> http://unitec-1.cc.u-tokai.ac.jp/en/news_en >> >> [ANS thanks Graham Shirville, G3VZV for the above information] >> >> /EX >> > > > > Mikio, Our news service is a service to all that are interested in amateur radio satellite activities. We must always be united with an adventurous spirit. As the world shrinks, we all become closer to learn and assist with our goals. 73, Dee, NB2F

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