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

W6FOG/MM :-(
by Alvaro de Leon Romo 02 Nov '09

02 Nov '09

Hi guys 3 days looking for W6FOG/MM on all satellites and nothing heard :-( I will appreciate some info Thanks in advance Al XE2AT _________________________________________________________________ Actualiza y gana con Windows Live http://www.actualizatuperfil.com.mx/

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College Satellite night Thursday November 5th
by Dr. Jay Garlitz 02 Nov '09

02 Nov '09

It's time for another College Satellite night! Expect to hear many Oscar capable NA college club stations on the air Thursday evening Nov.5th-6th (NA local times) from 22:00 UTC to 0500 UTC for this special event. College clubs are getting priority on the QRP AO-51 repeater that night (uplink: 145.880 MHz FM. downlink: 435.150 MHz FM). Please work each college station but afford them the ability to take calls and make as many QSOs as possible. We do want you to speak to each other as well, but give priority to college stations. Club stations will also be on other birds so make as many contacts if you can, on each bird. We have encouraged college stations to QSL all the stations they work during the event as we (either through AMSAT or a college group) are planning on creating an award for working college club stations on satellite. Make sure to e-mail or call as many hams that you know associated with college ham radio clubs so that they will know about this special event and get on the air.usage and NA-wide involvement is important. While we are focusing on North American activity let me know of interest and participation from other parts of the globe, e-mail me off-list at <mailto:[email protected]> jgarlitz(a)ufl.edu. 73, Dr. Jay Garlitz, AA4FL Gator ARC Faculty Advisor at UF <http://www.gatorradio.org/> www.gatorradio.org

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Re: w32a won't transmit
by Gary Lockhart 01 Nov '09

01 Nov '09

Thanks David, Tim, Patrick and Ted, Moving main band to VHF did the trick, Now I will be able to activate FM25 in Hatteras, NC on the FM birds this week, maybe even SO-50 when I get tones working for me. 73 all, Gary AB3ID

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w32a won't transmit
by Gary Lockhart 01 Nov '09

01 Nov '09

W32A Owners, I have a new to me radio that I can receive on and I beleive is set-up correctly. Full crossband duplex is turned on, autorepeater is turned off, squelch is open and receive band is set as main. What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance, Gary AB3ID

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FW: [ans] ANS-305 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins
by Dee 01 Nov '09

01 Nov '09

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-305 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: * Ares I-X Completes a Successful Flight Test * Call for Papers * 500th School Contact * LUSAT-1 Silent * ARISS Status SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.01 Ares I-X Completes a Successful Flight Test AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 1, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.01 Ares I-X Completes a Successful Flight Test NASA's Ares I-X test rocket lifted off Oct. 28, 2009, at 11:30 a.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a two-minute powered flight. The flight test lasted about six minutes from its launch from the newly modified Launch Complex 39B until splashdown of the rocket's booster stage nearly 150 miles downrange. The 327-foot-tall Ares I-X test vehicle produced 2.6 million pounds of thrust to accelerate the rocket to nearly 3 g's and Mach 4.76, just shy of hypersonic speed. It capped its easterly flight at a suborbital altitude of 150,000 feet after the separation of its first stage, a four-segment solid rocket booster. Parachutes deployed for recovery of the booster and the solid rocket motor, which were recovered at sea and will be towed back to Florida by the booster recovery ship, Freedom Star, for later inspection. The simulated upper stage and Orion crew module, and the launch abort system will not be recovered. The flight test is expected to provide NASA with an enormous amount of data that will be used to improve the design and safety of the next generation of American spaceflight vehicles, which could again take humans beyond low Earth orbit. [ANS thanks NASA for this info] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.02 Call for Papers AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 1, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.02 Call for Papers 14th Annual Southeastern VHF Society Conference April 23rd and 24th, 2010 Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky. The Southeastern VHF Society is calling for the submission of papers and presentations for the upcoming 14th Annual Southeastern VHF Society Conference to be held at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY on April 23rd and 24th, 2010. Papers and presentations are solicited on both the technical and operational aspects of VHF, UHF and Microwave weak signal amateur radio. The deadline for the submission of papers and presentations is February 5, 2010. All submissions for the proceedings should be in Microsoft Word (.doc). Submissions for presentation at the conference should be in PowerPoint (.ppt) format, and delivered on either a USB memory stick or CDROM or posted for download on a web site of your choice. For further information about the conference please go to http://www.svhfs.org Thank you, Robin Midgett K4IDC 2010 Program Chair, SVHFS [ANS thanks SVHFS for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.03 500th School Contact AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 1, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.03 ARISS celebrates 500th school space contact ARISS Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF noted that on Tuesday, 27 October 2009, ISS Commander Frank De Winne, ON1DWN answered questions from students participating to a venue at the brand new Copernic Science Center in Warsaw, Poland. This was the 500th School Contact since ARISS began operations in the year 2000. Schools in all continents benefit from ARISS educative School Contacts. This telebridge contact was operated by ARISS ground station VK4KHZ located in Glenden, Queensland, Australia. At the end of the contact, Frank thanked Shane Lynd VK4KHZ - for the many ARISS telebridge contacts he'd already performed. Shane shares these thanks with his colleagues of the 11 ARISS telebridge ground stations which cover all five continents. October 15, 2009 students in Gao, Mali talked with UNICEF good will ambassador Frank De Winne onboard the ISS and 23 October, students in Mbour, Senegal got answers to their questions, direct from space. During the same orbit, Frank De Winne also talked with students in Ieper, Belgium. Audio recordings of the Warsaw and Ieper school contacts are available at http://www.ariss-eu.org/archive.htm. ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries. ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers onboard the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, technology and learning. [ANS thanks ARISS Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF and SouthGate for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.04 LUSAT-1 Silent AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 1, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.04 LUSAT-1 Silent AMSAT-Argentina reported LUSAT-1, LO-19 stopped transmitting CW telemetry on 437.125 MHz around October 20. Ignacio, LU1ESY reported he last re- ceived a signal on October 11 after which he noted a drift in the down- link frequency beyond the expected doppler shift. AMSAT-Argentina says, "We hope to re-live LUSAT to allow him to cele- brate its 20 years in space next January 23. We welcome any reception reports!" [ANS thanks AMSAT-Argentina for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-305.05 ARISS Status AMSAT News Service Bulletin 305.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 26, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-305.05 1. Recent & Upcoming School Contacts An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been completed with Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, Poland on Tuesday, October 27 at 09:33 UTC via telebridge station VK4KHZ in Australia. The centre organized a student competition for naming the asteroids, using rules of the science naming process. This month the winners travelled to Warsaw for the competition finale and will take part in the ARISS event. Sherbrooke Community School in Sassafras, Victoria, Australia has been completed for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, October 28 at 07:13 UTC. This will be a telebridge contact with station W6SRJ in California. The school fosters student participation and the advancement of amateur radio in the community. It operates Sherbrooke Community Club station, VK3KID. The school invited representatives from neighboring schools to pose questions to the astronauts and asked its sister schools in China and Bhutan to also submit questions for students to ask the ISS crew. David Thompson Middle School (DTMS) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada has been completed for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, October 30 at 21:12 UTC via station LU8YY in Argentina. DTMS and the University of Calgary's science department will collaborate on this event. 2. Italian Students Contact Astronaut Frank De Winne via ARISS On Tuesday, October 20, students attending Istituto Comprensivo "Romualdo TRIFONE" in Montecorvino Rovella, Salerno, Italy participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Frank DeWinne, ON1DWN on the ISS. To prepare for the contact, teachers partnered with astrophysicists of the Astronomical Observatory "Giancamillo Glorious" in M. Rovella and the local amateur radio group ARI Salerno. Assistance was provided by the amateur radio station in "Alighieri Trevigi" School, located in Casale Monferrato, Italy. The school used a combination of a direct and telebridge contact to avoid local obscurations. An audience of more than 40 (Casale Monferrato) and 450 ( Montecorvino Rovella) students, teachers and visitors gathered for the event and the webcast received over 500 connections. Regional television, local media and newspapers covered the news. 3. ARISS Contact with Senegal Students On Friday, October 23, C. E. M. IV in Mbour, Senegal experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Frank De Winne, ON1DWN on the ISS. Students asked twenty questions of the astronaut. Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, HB9CN also participated in a videoconference with the youth. C. E. M. IV is a technical college and has formed a scientific club at the school based on new technologies. 4. De Winne has ARISS Contact with Ieper Students Students from VTI Ieper in Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium spoke with Frank DeWinne, ON1DWN via an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, October 23. Telebridge station VK4KHZ in Australia provided the connection. Twenty questions were asked and answered in front of a large audience including several reporters. The school recently built a replica of the plane, 'Mourane Parasol' which Guynemer (a French pilot) flew during World War I and incorporated the ARISS contact as a feature event in their celebration of 100 years of aviation. 5. Astronaut Jeff Williams has ARISS Contact with Arctic School On Friday, October 23, students from Samuel Hearne Secondary School in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Expedition 21 astronaut Jeffrey Williams, KD5TVQ. This was a telebridge contact via ground station W6SRJ in California. At the school's request, ARISS representatives visited the school and classrooms prior to the contact to talk about amateur radio and the ISS. Six hundred people attended the event and watched as the students asked Williams 22 questions about life and work in space. CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio and the local and area press covered the event. The school is located very near the Arctic Ocean which makes this the most northerly ARISS contact to date. 6. Canadian Bel Ayr Pathfinders Speak with Robert Thirsk via ARISS An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact took place on Saturday, October 24 between Bel Ayr Pathfinders in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada and Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA on the ISS via telebridge station W6SRJ in California. Thirsk answered 17 questions posed to him by the students as an audience of 160 gathered for the event, including the media (CBC, CTV, a community television station, a radio station and a local newspaper). The Pathfinders that participated in the ARISS contact earned Galactic Adventures badges and will share this experience with other Girl Guides of all ages. 7. ARISSat-1 Meeting Held The ARISSat-1 Team met in Phoenix, Arizona over the October 23 -25 weekend to assemble and test the integration of the various satellite components. The team has also been compiling voice messages to be included on ARISSat and has been preparing for the Safety Review meeting to be held on Thursday, October 29. 8. ARISS International Meeting Held An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Team meeting was held on Tuesday, October 20. Topics of discussions included a status on the Columbus module antennas and an ARISSat-1 update. See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel2009-10-20.htm [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information] /EX 73, This week's ANS Editor, Dee Interdonato, NB2F nb2f at amsat dot org

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AO-7 telemetry request: Pre-1981 and 2009
by DeYoung James 01 Nov '09

01 Nov '09

Greetings, I am looking to obtain good quality telemetry from AO-7's 435.1-MHz RTTY telemetry event during February and March 2009. I woud appreciate receiving good quality raw RTTY telemetry. I am especially interested in the time period before 2009 March 3 and after 2009 March 6. Telemetry collected between about 0 hours UTC and 12 hours UTC would be especially useful from any of the 2009 February/March time period. Good quality telemetry is defined as being collected continuosly for at least 4 minutes during a pass. If you have already "published" your telemetry to the AMSAT-BB or to DK3WN's web blog I already have your data so there is no need to resend. Please send any unpublished RTTY telemetry here to the AMSAT-BB. If anyone has any AO-7 RTTY telemetry from the "early days", before 1981 I would really love to get that data! If you only have it in paper form or on punched cards I would like to get it. I would be glad to put it in machine readable form and return the originals and the data to you. Thank you very much for your efforts and interest. Jim, N8OQ

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Searching AMSAT-bb archives
by Dave Taylor 31 Oct '09

31 Oct '09

Hi, Just thought I'd remind everyone that all AMSAT mailing lists are archived and past messages are available for search in two ways: 1. Use the Subscription settings link at the end of each message to go to a web page that has a link to the archives for that mailing list. 2. Search using Google, with the search string <search keywords> site:amsat.org/pipermail/<list name> The <list name> part is what appears at the start of a mailing list subject line; for example, "amsat-bb". If you leave off the "/<list name>" part, you will search all public AMSAT mailing lists. (Other search engines can probably do something similar.) Dave, W8AAS AMSAT #8974

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LVB Tracker Help
by Joel Black 31 Oct '09

31 Oct '09

I have resurrected my LVB Tracker project from several years back. Using WinXP, I was finally able to go through the first part of programming the tracker I think. I get the following: Press RESET button. Hit any key to continue. Identifying device... Chip ID=09E6 16F876 identified Beginning bulk erase... Bulk erase finished. Press reset button. Hit any key to continue. Programming device... Programming: <Some HEX value> at this point it counts up from 0000 to 1FE0 (I think the last value is correct, it went by so quickly, I'm not sure) Verifying device... Configuring device... Verifying configuration... Switch OFF device. Hit any key to continue. Remove HDR3. Hit any key to continue. Place HDR1 into RUN mode. Hit any key to continue. Device programmed. Hit any key to continue. Then I get a C:\ prompt. At this point, the device is powered down. I take out the RS232 chip and put in the FTDI chip and connect to the LVB Tracker with Tera Term. When I hit "C," I get: +0546 F, A, S: Az Offset=1023 F, E, S: El Offset=1023 At this point, I'm supposed to turn the rotor CW to 360°. Well, I cannot. As soon as I plug the LVB into the G5400 controller (at the very beginning of programming), everything turned to max (EL at 180° and AZ at 180° Right). I cannot change any setting manually with the rotor controller. I can commit values to memory, but nothing else. When I type F, A, E, I get: Az mul=0000.0000 For F, E, E, I get: El mul=0000.0000 When I commit all this to memory and hit RESET, I still get no movement from the rotor using the controller. Only after disconnecting the LVB from the controller am I able to move the rotor. Any help or suggestions? 73, Joel, W4JBB

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