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

Announcing a AMSAT's LCROSS "Lunar Bash" live event during 2009 AMSAT Space Symposium on Friday 0630 to 0900
by Samudra Haque 06 Oct '09

06 Oct '09

[I am requesting all to circulate this notice to a wide variety of attendees, students, teachers - 73 de N3RDX/S21X] Announcing AMSAT’s LCROSS “Lunar Bash” Live Special Event * 2009 AMSAT Space Symposium Celebrating 40 Years in Space Date: Friday October 9, 2009 Location/Time: 0600-0900 Crane A/B, Four Points Sheraton Hotel at BWI Airport Hosted by Samudra Haque, N3RDX, N3RDX(a)amsat.org Open to All 2009 AMSAT Space Symposium Attendees Let’s Kick Up Some Moon Dust ! Join us in the Crane A/B rooms between at 0630 with other early bird AMSAT attendees for a Presentation and Live Simulcast of NASA’s Return to the Moon – and an once-in-a-lifetime event of the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) impact into the Cabeus crater on the Lunar Surface estimated at 0730 EDT. The event will showcase NASA documentaries on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and LCROSS missions, the Music Video “Water on the Moon” by NASA Deputy Project Manager John Marmie and will shift to the live video stream with commentary from NASA TV shortly before the actual impact event. As the best viewing of the impact site from Earth will be available to ground based telescope located in the Mid-West and points towards the West Coast we hope to see pre-recorded images/video clips well after the impact event as it is relayed from observing communities. If such images are available, we will post them during our open session. Educators and Students can obtain digital copies of the presentation materials from the host and can review “On the Moon” Educators guide which contains learning activities for Students. *In collaboration with NASA

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LLCROSS spacecraft
by Davidoff, Martin 06 Oct '09

06 Oct '09

QST Anyone reading the agenda for the AMSAT conference next weekend may have noticed the LLCROSS event scheduled for Friday Morning 6:30-9 am LCROSS "Lunar Bash", LCROSS spacecraft crashes into a South Pole Lunar Crater This is a real-time live event. Impact is scheduled for 7:31:30 a.m. EDT More info at http://www.spaceflightnow.com/lcross/091005preview/ K2ubc

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Re: Understanding ITAR
by G0MRF＠aol.com 06 Oct '09

06 Oct '09

In a message dated 06/10/2009 04:49:14 GMT Standard Time, orbitjet(a)hotmail.com writes: Bob...why dont you give us an example of where ITAR has been disadvantageous to the Amateur Satellite community Robert WB5MZO Troll Alert

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AMSAT Symposium and Alinco DJ-G7 firmware upgrade
by Douglas Quagliana 06 Oct '09

06 Oct '09

Is anyone coming to the AMSAT Symposium that can bring the Alinco software and the special-magic cable for firmware upgrades for the DJ-G7? Douglas KA2UPW

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Different ways to do mobile ham radio operation...
by Mark VandeWettering 06 Oct '09

06 Oct '09

There has been a lot of discussion about using PDAs and the like to do satellite orbit prediction. Indeed, I've thought about writing my own satellite prediction stuff for the iphone, but haven't bothered yet, mostly because i find that having another electronic device that I am staring at while I am pointing an antenna with one hand and playing with the HT in the other isn't at all helpful. Here's how I work a pass: 1. Early in the day (hours ahead of time) I run a prediction for the satellite of interest. Minimally, you need to know the time of the AOS and LOS, the maximum altitude of pass, and azimuth at which these events occur. 2. Make sure you know where north is. From your home QTH, it probably is easy, but I carry a compass for mobile operation just in case. 3. You need to know what time it is. Accuracy to 30 seconds is probably reasonable for hand held operation, where you might not work down to the horizons anyway. 4. At AOS, aim your antenna near the horizon at the AOS azimuth. Don't bother sweeping left and right all that much if you are pretty sure of your directions: the sat will come up on target. For 70cm downlinks, start 10khz high for the LEO sats we currently have up. 5. Work the pass. If you know the azimuth and altitude and time for the max elevation, you can with a glance at your watch "interpolate" the satellite pass pretty reasonably. It may help to have a couple of other times/locations along the path, but isn't strictly necessary, particularly if you have full duplex, since you'll be able to hear how you are doing in working the pass. Honestly, having an interactive display wouldn't be all that useful during the pass. For one thing, I don't have another hand to hold it. Additionally, it's not like the satellite is going to do anything unexpected: it will be coming up exactly as expected, and setting exactly as expected. One thing I am working at is a script to create Google Calendar events that are automatically synched to my iphone. That way, I can get the details of each pass automatically a day in advance. Just having that static data on my phone (which I am seldom without) suffices for 95 percent of all my operating needs. I should thank WB4APR and K7AGE for their satellite operation tips. Bob points out that satellite orbits are regular, and hence can be easily predicted ahead of time, and a simple printout will show you within a minute or so when the pass will occur... http://www.aprs.org/sset.html Randy, K7AGE used a printout of the pass taped to his HT in one of his videos, which I did when I started, but later I realized that if I just "rehearsed" the pass in my head and had a watch, it wasn't necessary. 73, Mark K6HX

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Road Trip to EM00 and DM90.
by w6zkh＠comcast.net 06 Oct '09

06 Oct '09

This morning I am in EM00 and worked the 1244z AO51 pass. John K8YSE wants me to pack my bags and go West to DM90, so this afternoon on the 2351z pass I will try and be in DM90 for those that need it. I am here 2 days, and plan on working all 3 FM birds one time or another. John W6ZKH

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SatPC32 Not Tuning
by Joel Black 06 Oct '09

06 Oct '09

I am trying to get SatPC32 v12.8 to automatically tune my FT847. When the program first comes up, the radio is initialized as indicated by the "CAT" display and when I click on a satellite, the radio tunes to the correct satellite. That's where it stops; it no longer changes the frequency of the radio. If I turn off and turn back on CAT control, it will update once and will then quit again. I have the same problem with my FT-857. I have read the help and .SQF files, but I cannot seem to find the right combination. I have changed the baud rate of the radio and the program to 4800, 9600, and 57.6k and made the corresponding changes with the CAT delay value as recommended by the manual. I have not yet tried uninstalling and re-installing the app. I am running Vista 32bit and using a USB-to-serial converter which works with everything else. The same converter works with the HRD 5.0 Satellite Tracker. Problem is, I cannot get HRD to accept sub-audible tones so I can work AO-51. I don't know if it's a limitation of the program or cockpit error. Any suggestions, known issues, or anyone else having the same problem(s)? Thanks, Joel, W4JBB No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.420 / Virus Database: 270.14.4/2416 - Release Date: 10/05/09 18:23:00

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Satpc and LVB tracker
by joe barkley 06 Oct '09

06 Oct '09

Hi All, I cannot seem to get the LVB working with SAT PC. I have followed all of the suggestion from Erich and just wondered if anyone else had the same setup and had any additional tips maybe, Thanks Joe KI4TZ

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Re: SatPC32 Not Tuning
by Rodney Waln 05 Oct '09

05 Oct '09

hi i can help, i have reason to believe the SatPC32 does not like some usb converters, i "had" some with the FT-857d and things like you described happed to me also changed to a straight usb cable for the radio and the problem went away (FT-817nd also) auto tune worked, your second problem no need for tones for AO-51, SO-50 yes (typo??) i just set the tone in the TX radio and not the software and works good with both programs at least for me,i use satpc32 just my preference. hope that helps Rodney kc0zhf

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Reminder
by Martha 05 Oct '09

05 Oct '09

Just a reminder that I will be out of the office from Wednesday, October 7 - Monday, October 12th. I will be back on Tuesday the 13th. Office hours are 10:00 am - 6:00 pm ET. -- 73- Martha

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