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

Re: Ari TF3ARI Iceland on AO-51
by Bob- W7LRD 21 Nov '09

21 Nov '09

Hello John et al. To follow up on this information. In the past I have tried to email several TF hams about satellites. Thanks John for this information. AO-51 is out the footprint for the W. coast. However AO-7 can cover it. Perhaps we can encourage our TF friends to give it a try 73 Bob W7LRD Washington State AMSAT area coordinator ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Papay" <john(a)papays.com> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 9:53:19 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [amsat-bb] Ari TF3ARI Iceland on AO-51 Ari, TF3ARI, has been worked on AO-51! Ari first appeared on AO-51 on 24 October. He almost had a qso with KC9ELU. An email to Ari revealed that he was using a TS2000 and a vertical antenna. After not hearing Ari for two weeks I emailed him for a schedule on 15 November. He was there and we had a good qso. Since then he has installed a UHF preamp. He was on AO-51 at 1030z and 1208z today. VA7VW reported working Ari later. Ari also worked several others this morning. Since North America is always near the horizon for him, his vertical antenna and preamp work well. Not many trees in Iceland! Watch for Ari on early morning weekend passes of AO-51. My guess is that he will be on again Sunday morning 22Nov at 0951z and 1129z. 73, John K8YSE _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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Ari TF3ARI Iceland on AO-51
by John Papay 21 Nov '09

21 Nov '09

Ari, TF3ARI, has been worked on AO-51! Ari first appeared on AO-51 on 24 October. He almost had a qso with KC9ELU. An email to Ari revealed that he was using a TS2000 and a vertical antenna. After not hearing Ari for two weeks I emailed him for a schedule on 15 November. He was there and we had a good qso. Since then he has installed a UHF preamp. He was on AO-51 at 1030z and 1208z today. VA7VW reported working Ari later. Ari also worked several others this morning. Since North America is always near the horizon for him, his vertical antenna and preamp work well. Not many trees in Iceland! Watch for Ari on early morning weekend passes of AO-51. My guess is that he will be on again Sunday morning 22Nov at 0951z and 1129z. 73, John K8YSE

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SO-67 21Nov2009 1604z Audio
by John Papay 21 Nov '09

21 Nov '09

The audio for the Central USA pass of SO-67 on 21Nov2009 at 1604z is on my webserver: http://www.papays.com/SO-67_21Nov2009_160547z.mp3 Lots of competition on this 8 degree (from this qth) pass . The three second tail timer was doing it's job. Some tried to get their response to a call into that three second window by talking fast. It did work for some. There was also probably some carriers that did not have the proper PL tone and that was having an impact as well. There certainly was no lack of interest in working this bird! The western pass is not visible here so I hope that someone else will record that one. 73, John K8YSE

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SO-67 21Nov09 1430z USA Eastern
by John Papay 21 Nov '09

21 Nov '09

Audio for the SO-67 eastern USA pass on 21Nov09 is on my webserver: http://www.papays.com/SO-67_21Nov2009_143116z.mp3 Now that it is understood that there is a 3 second tail after each transmission and audio will cut off after that time has expired, ways to get around the problem can be devised. I found that when called by another station, if you start transmitting before that station releases their transmitter, you will be able to answer and not be cut off after 3 seconds. This is because the "tail" never started. However, if this continuous transmission goes on for 30(?) seconds, the next timer will shut down the transmitter. Waiting for the tail to expire, when the bird is over the USA with many stations trying to get in, will not work. There will always be someone who keys up during the 3 second tail. Signals were loud as usual right down to the horizon. The extra transmitter power will enable many new users to get on this bird. Thanks to all of those who had a part in launching this satellite! 73, John K8YSE

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New ariss antenna: question
by andy thomas 21 Nov '09

21 Nov '09

fascinating watching the installation of the dual band antenna. many thanks to all concereed. it prompts me to ask: 1. what wasthe location of the antenna were they using before? 2. I thought I heard that the new ARISS antenna is on the starboard side - I assume that is relative to the direction of travel - whereas the AIS antenna is on the earth facing side. What will be the effect of the location of the ARISS antenna on those of us at latitudes with values above the ISS orbital inclination (of 51.7)? ie bearing in mind the attitude and direction of the station when at these high latitudes, will the architecture of the ISS shadow the antenna? Or are there so many reflections it doesn't matter? 73 de andy G0SFJ

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ISS nice visible pass over Europe
by OZ1MY 21 Nov '09

21 Nov '09

Hi all, ISS has some very nice visible passes over us during these days. Just looked at the pass with AOS at 1540 UTC here from Copenhagen. No clouds for a change :-) Max. elevation for this pass for me was 36 degrees. Have a nice weekend all. 73 OZ1MY Ib

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Mexican Baloon...
by Rafael Valdez G. 21 Nov '09

21 Nov '09

Hi all, we recently released a baloon with a cross repeater, camera and cross repeater. here is the interview of team leaders XE1BRX and XE1CQ in the local TV NEWS. http://bit.ly/Sarsem3 it is in spanish but might be interesting for some of you.. 73's Rafael Valdez Jr. XE2RV @ DM41mh 10-10 52716 VUCC Sat #164 http://sat-xe.blogspot.com EX-XE2PWF P Before printing, please think about your responsibility and commitment with the ENVIRONMENT. Antes de Imprimir, piensa entu responsabilidad y compromiso con el MEDIO AMBIENTE _________________________________________________________________

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Tonight's Presentation
by Clint Bradford 21 Nov '09

21 Nov '09

A couple notes surrounding my AMSAT presentation in Torrance, CA this evening. 1. THANK YOU to whichever AO-51 commander flipped AO-51 to V/U today. It was scheduled to go to V/U at 00:00GMT on the 20th - which was 4:00PM on the 19th my local time. And the pass I wanted to work was just 42 minutes later. And it was ON! 2. Don't know exactly how to explain it, but the pass today at 4:42PM Pacific Standard Time didn't exhibit the "normal" silencing, then faint voices, then stronger voices. It plainly BLASTED into discernible conversations, and we we were able to work it much sooner than "normal." We were not hidden behind foothills. It was a pretty clear shot South to AOS. It really floored me - in a most positive way. It was dramatic. 3. Thanks to KI6VBY Tim for showing up for the pass. He isn't a member of the club I was speaking to. But he follows AMSAT-BB, and has cruised my sat Web site, and wanted to meet me and work the bird together. Glad he got to meet Carl Gardenias, too. Tim's no "newbie amateur" - he has built several portable HF antennas for events, and has a great, analytical mind. He's also served our country in the military, and is working on advanced degrees in college. He had to leave right after the pass today, in order to get some school study time completed. When he has time, he'll be a valuable asset to whichever club he joins. 4. Another thanks to ARRL Orange Section guru Carl Gardenias, who helped me carry my bags to/from the meeting room. "I wanted to see your show in person," Carl advised. He said he only cringed once at my humor during the presentation ... That's it for in-person presentations this year. I still have two Internet shows lined up (EchoLink) in December. And a date in January already made. Thanks for a great year, AMSAT-BB folks! Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com

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SO-67 schedule: 21/22 Nov 2009
by Jan-Albert Koekemoer 21 Nov '09

21 Nov '09

Hi All Since last week, we have learnt a couple of things re the behaviour of the FM payload, most notibly that the drop-out problem can be avoided as follows: directly after an over, the Tx tail will be "active" for 3 seconds. If, during this time, somebody starts to Tx, that person will be cut off when the tail stops. For the time being, the cut-outs can therefore be avoided by waiting out the 3s tail before transmitting. This is obviously an irritation that we're still working on. Also note that an over has a maximum permitted duration of 30s. After this, the transmission will be terminated. The schedule for this weekend is as follows (all times in UTC; all activations are 15 min long): 20 Nov 23:00 Australia 21 Nov 00:19 Japan 00:36 Australia 03:33 India 06:55 RSA 09:45 Europe 11:35 Brazil 13:07 Brazil 14:30 Canada/USA 16:05 Canada/USA 17:38 Canada/USA 21:11 New Zealand 23:57 Japan 22 Nov 00:14 Australia 06:34 RSA 07:49 Europe 08:10 RSA 11:13 Brazil 12:46 Brazil 14:10 Canada/USA 15:43 Canada/USA 17:17 Canada/USA Regards Jan-Albert ZR1JAK E-mail Disclaimer http://www.sunspace.co.za/emaildisclaimer.htm

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Thanks to everyone for outdoor box suggestions.
by Michael Tondee 21 Nov '09

21 Nov '09

I want to thank everyone who made suggestions and alerted me to cautions to take into consideration in choosing an outdoor box to house my new preamp. In the end I got to my local Lowes and got the one Drew suggested. It's a very nice quality box and it has loads of room, much more than I actually need right now but I have no idea what else I may decide to mount up there in the future so the extra room is a good thing. I'm slowly but surely plodding along on getting my station going. I was so tired I slept away most of a vacation day today and my XYL insist on dragging me to a church softball game tomorrow even though I have a nagging arm injury and can't swing a bat. She says we can "just watch". To make things worse, rain will move in late tomorrow afternoon. Oh well, Michael, W4HIJ

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