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

XW-1 Linear Mode over North America Audio 20Dec2009
by John Papay 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

The first linear mode pass over North America was really active. The recording can be heard on my webserver: http://www.papays.com/XW-1_20Dec2009_022218z.mp3 A recording of the FM pass will be uploaded later. The link will be on a future posting. Congratulations to the Chinese Team for this very nice satellite. 73, John K8YSE

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2009 AMSAT Volinteer Reporting System call for hours
by Gunther Meisse 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

Attention AMSAT Volunteers ! It is that time again when we gather volunteer hours donated to the AMSAT Program of Work to include within our yearly Audit. These important donations of personal time help us illustrate to the outside world the involvement of our members. We welcome reporting in all areas of service from Managing a booth at a Hamfest, to engineering of new AMSAT projects, to day to day operational activities. If you are not already signed up for the on line Web site "VRS" (Volunteer Reporting System) program, please go to amsat.org and select "Become a Volunteer" from the link on the left side of the main page. Select #2 in order to create an account for your reporting. You will be given a confidential account into which you can report your volunteer hours. Select # 3 to actually report your 2009 efforts. We total up the efforts and total value while we keep confidential the actual dollar amount of each volunteer. With the year drawing to a close, this is a great time to submit those hours. After January 1, 2010 we'll download the file and report these numbers to our Auditor. Your efforts are important, so please take the time to report. If you have any questions feel free to email me at: w8gsm(a)amsat.org. Regards, Gunther Meisse AMSAT Treasurer W8GSM

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Christmas
by ps8rf Piraja 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

Hello Friends and AMSAT That this Christmas, all fraternize for a better world That all establish a new force of humanity. And that nothing is stronger than the union. What all of you who are reading this message, make each day is a Christmas, valuing friendship, love and all the good feelings that exist within each one. Greet the neighbor, calling a friend who long time you do not talk. And When you wake up, greet life with a good day. You all have a blessed Christmas, and a wonderful New Year full of achievements, full of peace and harmony with all your family and friends. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Piraja and family - PS8RF _________________________________________________________________ Navegue com segurança com o Novo Internet Explorer 8. Baixe agora, é gratis! http://brasil.microsoft.com.br/IE8/mergulhe/?utm_source=MSN%3BHotmail&utm_m…

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AMSAT Newsletters
by Phil Karn 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

Thanks to Bob, NA2X, I have put up a few more early AMSAT Newsletters from the 1969-1974 era. See http://www.ka9q.net/newsletters.html 73, Phil

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I: XW-1 Schedule on Dec 20-21
by Francesco Grappi 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

Hi Alan, Thank you very much for this wonderful Christmas gift !! Thank you to Amsat China for this "really" easy sat ! Well done !! We are waiting for linear Transponder in Europe also ! 73" Frank IW4DVZ -----Messaggio originale----- Da: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:[email protected]] Per conto di Alan Kung Inviato: sabato 19 dicembre 2009 16.21 A: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Oggetto: [amsat-bb] XW-1 Schedule on Dec 20-21 XW-1 Linear Tansponder Sun 20 Dec 2009 Turn On: 02:22...South America,South East NA 02:30...Nouth America 02:40...Nouth America, Nouth Pole 02:46...Turn Off Turn On: 13:14...Australia,South Asia 13:22...East Asia,South Asia 13:30...East Asia,South Asia,Central Asia 13:33...Turn Off ================================================== XW-1 FM and digital store-forward transponder Mon 21 Dec 2009 Turn On: 01:53...South America 02:02...South America,South East NA 02:10...East NA,South America 02:20...Nouth America,Nouth Pole 02:28...Turn Off Turn On: 13:01...Nouth Australia,South Asia 13:10...East Asia,South Asia 13:15...East Asia,Central Asia 13:16...Turn Off Turn On: 18:27...South East Africa,East Asia 18:35...Nouth East Africa,East Asia,South Europe 18:40...Europe,East Asia,Nouth Africa 18:50...Europe,Canada,Nouth Pole 18:52...Turn Off 73 Alan Kung, BA1DU XW-1 Project Manager www.camsat.cn _______________________________________________ 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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Congratulations XW-1 team!
by Mark L. Hammond 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

There is much to celebrate with the successful launch and early commissioning of the XW-1 satellite! Congratulations to Alan, Michael, and the entire team---from construction, to launch, to commissioning. Your hard work is evident and appreciated by ham operators around the world. I had the priviledg of working N3TL on that first linear transponder US pass, and the bird performed and sounded wonderful! (thanks, Tim :) ) I hope to be around to attempt the PBBS when it becomes active over the US tody as well. Best 73 to the XW-1/Hope-1 team! -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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Keplerian data via e-mail
by Erich Eichmann 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

Hello During the past couple of days (before we had Keps files with data for XW-1) several users had problems to get their tracking program working with XW-1. In some cases the problem was caused by the fact that they could receive Keplerian data only via e-mail, I think. The Keps files (amateur.txt, nasa.all etc.) require text in Ascii format (plain text). The e-mails, however, usually don't contain plain text. If one copies a data set directly from an e-mail into an existing Keps file the data set will loose it's format and no longer fit the NASA-2-Line format. The data lines are shorter than the lines of other satellites and the parameters, for example the epoch time, are not at the right position. So, the data set can not be read by the tracking program and may cause wrong results or error messages. To fix that issue the e-mail must first be saved with "Save as...." as text file (option ".txt"). Then this file can be opened and with "copy and paste" the data set can be inserted into an existing Keps file. 73s, Erich, DK1TB

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First XW-1 transponder pass over the US
by Andrew Glasbrenner 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

That was some really exciting stuff! I recorded the pass on my SDR-IQ/R7000, and had the receive antenna split off to my normal station as well. Right after turn on, K8YSE responded to my CQ, and we had a few brief exchanges. About that time I realized the middle of the pass band was going to be a bad place to be and moved up to the high end of the passband. After moving up out of the mess, I worked W4DFU at the University of Florida, with Jay and Jimmy at the helm, then HK4MKE, Andrew in Columbia. Signals were good until the end of the pass when I think I was having some polarity fades on my fixed LHCP antenna. 1 to 5 watts was PLENTY on the uplink, even when crowded. I use a 10 element horizontal only yagi for the uplink. http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q305/glasbrenner/radio/?action=view&curr… is a screenshot of from Spectravue before TCA. Notice the lost ditter almost twice as strong as everyone else. There are also at least 9 separate SSB signals in that screengrab, and the beacon is at the far right. The whole file is about 680 Mb. If anyone wants it, please contact me. We can exchange it over Skype, or I'll burn it to your CD/DVD with an SASE. Spectravue is a free download, and well worth trying even if you don't have an SDR. 73, Drew KO4MA

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Road Trip
by claryco＠aol.com 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

I'll be QRV from the mostly wet grid square EL86 during the AO27 pass starting tomorrow at 20/1846Z; VOX starts at 1852Z. From there, I'll overnight in EL96 and then head for two or three days in the Keys where I'll put out EL94 and EL95 on the FM birds. Since my XYL is with me, I may not be on during every pass, but I'll be on when possible. While we're at Key West, I'll also be looking into the boats that make daily tourist runs to Fort Jefferson in EL84. We won't go there during this visit, but we're thinking about doing a short camping trip that would of course include the sat gear. Afterward, we'll be heading up to Georgia for a few days where I'll be on from EM81, EM82, EM90, EM91, and EM92. CU on the birds. 73, Jim, ND9M

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xw 1 satellite
by Perry Yantis 20 Dec '09

20 Dec '09

Just worked the new xw-1 satellite. It is nice to have a new ssb/cw satellite and it sounded great on the past a short time ago. Then that was followed by a VO-52 pass that was even louder (of course it is higher). I hope this new bird stays in the ssb/cw transponder mode most of the time. Great satellite times ahead. This gives me more of a chance to reach 6,000 qso's by satellite (still need 38) Perry WB8OTH

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