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

First Trans-Atlantic QSO XO-68- WB2OQQ
by Peter 24 Dec '09

24 Dec '09

Henk, I would like to correct you, on 18 December 2009, 12:43 UTC,WB2OQQ made the first FM/FM Trans Atlantic QSO with OZ1MY on HO-68, thank you. 73, Pete, WB2OQQ

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another fun pass on HO-68/XW-1
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 24 Dec '09

24 Dec '09

Hi! The HO-68 (XW-1) transponder was full of activity once again this evening over North America. For me, this was a better pass with maximum elevation of 25 degrees compared to Saturday's pass at 13 degrees maximum elevation. The pass cut through center of the USA, a nice pass for the entire continent. I saw K8YSE has made available his recording from tonight's pass, and I'll listen to that tomorrow to see what else was on that I may not have heard. Out in the (dark, cool, quiet) city park at DM33xp/DM43ap here in Phoenix, I made another 3 QSOs during the pass. Thanks to Glenn AA5PK, Tim N3TL, and Jeff K7WIN for hearing me and the nice signal reports for my portable all-mode station (two FT-817NDs, Elk Antennas handheld 2m/70cm log periodic, 5W transmit power). Many other stations were on when I tuned through the passband. Compared to the relatively few QSOs made when the satellite was in the FM/packet configuration earlier this week (none were logged by WD9EWK), SSB seems to be a huge success! Before HO-68 passed by this evening, I worked a pair of AO-7 passes with this same setup. When I'm on HO-68 or AO-7 in SSB or other satellites like VO-52 and (when operational) FO-29, this is the station I'm using. I can't turn up the power any more than 5W, and - until we get satellites with orbits much higher than AO-7 - this power level seems to work fine. I'm looking forward to more HO-68 passes with the linear transponder. :-) Thanks again to Alan BA1DU and CAMSAT for a great new satellite! Merry Christmas, Happy 2010, and 73 to all from the desert! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - Phoenix, Arizona USA http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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An Anniversary QSO
by Hal Lund ZS6WB 24 Dec '09

24 Dec '09

Last evening I had been up on several earlier satellite passes and knowing Dean, ZD8DC was planning to come up on a later AO-7 pass I sat down in front of the TV to pass a bit of time. As I do all too often these days, I fell asleep in front of the TV but was awakened by a phone call from ZS2BK to alert me that Dean was booming in on AO-7. Everything was set up for AO-7 so the contact was quickly made with 59 signals both ways. Dean does extremely well over the 5000 km path with his portable FT-817 and Arrow antenna. It was not the first QSO with Dean but I was very pleased to have the opportunity to pass holiday greetings to Dean and to thank him for the excellent job he has done on the satellites during his work assignments on Ascension. The QSO also brought back some great memories. On this date in 1964, exactly forty-five years ago I was ZD8HL on Ascension Island. I was working for the RCA Missile Test Project assigned as a technician on a C-band radar and our mission was to track the launch vehicles and payloads coming downrange from Cape Canaveral. Those were exciting times as we moved through Projects Mercury and Gemini with Apollo and the final goal of putting a man on the moon drawing closer. Just a few days earlier I had been offered and accepted a transfer to Pretoria, South Africa which was the next tracking station down the line from Ascension. As I had less than ten days before the next monthly military flight to South Africa came through I had little time to decide what to take with me and what to send back to Cocoa Beach for storage. Unfortunately there was no reciprocal ham license agreement with South Africa so the Collins S-Line and other ham equipment was packed for Cocoa Beach. A huge disappointment that I could expect to be off the air for a while. The transfer would lead to a career change in later years and the lovely weather down here made the decision to retire here in South Africa an easy one to make. Christmas on Ascension in 1964 was quiet with no launches scheduled. The FPS-16 radar was on a hill overlooking the base and we had asked and received permission to decorate the radar dish with Christmas lights. It was visible from much of the island and our "Christmas Tree" on the hill did a lot to raise the spirits of those who had been unable to go home on Christmas leave. The cooks in the mess hall really put on a Christmas feast for us, turkey and all the trimmings and no one went away hungry. I want to thank Dean, ZD8DC for helping me bring back some of these memories with his operations from Ascension and I hope some of those great cooks are still staffing the mess hall for him this Christmas. Holiday greetings to the satellite community throughout the world. Thanks for all your efforts in keeping interest in space alive and I hope that future years may see a revival of the spirit that existed when we were trying to put a man on the moon. Those were great times! Hal ZS6WB

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HO-68 Beacon Heard In DO33
by B J 24 Dec '09

24 Dec '09

I listened for HO-68 for the first time last night and again during two passes today. The S meter on my FT-817ND didn't budge but the signal was steady and clear and I was able to copy most of the characters that were transmitted. I'll be in CO96 tomorrow and Friday and I'll try to listen for it there as well. I think we're going to have a lot of fun with this bird. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL __________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com.

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HO-68 24Dec2009 0305Z Audio North America
by John Papay 24 Dec '09

24 Dec '09

A new audio file of the HO-68 linear transponder pass over North America, 24 December 2009 at 0305z is on my webserver: http://www.papays.com/HO-68_24Dec2009_030312z.mp3 Another good pass with lots of stations on ssb and cw. 73, John K8YSE

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Thanks
by Bob Herrell 24 Dec '09

24 Dec '09

Thanks to all those who set me straight on the CAT files. Still learning all this stuff. Hope to work you soon. Happy Holidays. 73, Bob AJ5C __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4713 (20091223) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com

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SO-67 CAT data
by Bob Herrell 23 Dec '09

23 Dec '09

I am using SatPC32 with my IC-910H. The radio will do Narrow FM. Is there any way to program the Doppler file to make the radio go to FMN automatically? This sure would be handy for SO-67. I have tried both NFM and FMN to no avail. 73 Bob Herrell AJ5C __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4713 (20091223) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com

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AO-07 ALIVE
by Louis House 23 Dec '09

23 Dec '09

All concerned: After reading on the BBS about the possibility of AO-07 being down, I thought I would give a listen. A nice sounding bird and WOW 35 years old too. I did hear her on pass 60648 at 2250z December, 23 with a max el of 12 degrees de EL29kq. I was using the U/V mode. there were other stations working her and I could hear my own signals coming back as well. 73z Louis, KD5GM CW ;-) The Original Digital

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XW-1 CW Beacon very stable
by Henk, PA3GUO 23 Dec '09

23 Dec '09

Hi Alan, XW-1 is extra-ordinary stable with its CW Beacon. Using the current kepler set, I can set the filter of my Kenwood TS2000 to 50Hz, and XW-1 stays nicely within during the entire pass (15..20 minutes). Well done ! This is just 55 seconds: http://www.pa3guo.com/ho68_cw_beacon_21dec09_1008utc_pa3guo.mp3 Best regards Henk, PA3GUO The Netherlands (Europe) http://www.pa3guo.com

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XW-1 linear transponder frequencies here
by OZ1MY 23 Dec '09

23 Dec '09

Hi all, Tried it for the first time this evening. I only had to change the downlink setting +200 Hz to hit the correct frequencies. You may experience differently with other radios. I use an IC-910. ICOM seems to display frequencies differently from the professional standard so that you have to be like 600 Hz to 800 Hz off the nominal carrier frequency in USB and LSB on the display. As far as I know the carrier frequency is used for professional radios. Great satellite. May it have a long life :-) 73 OZ1MY Ib

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