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

Loosing the north!!!
by Luc Leblanc 12 Dec '09

12 Dec '09

Again my Alfa Spid AZ rotor act again yesterday evening it loose his north setting as it is electronicly set with the control box. Very easy to reset but in the middle of a snow storm (25cm) i was unable to find something to point the beam physically to the north. At the same time there was an AO-51 pass i adjust the rotor to an estimated north and i follow the whole pass manually writing down the real calculated azimuth and the one i got from a maximum signal swinging the rotor back an forth. I make another pass doing the same operation to fined tuned my pointing and today on the 1549 EDT pass i was able to get the satelllite at 1 degrees AOS ans LOS!! signal was S7 most of the time and reaching S9 near TCA? I don't know if AO-51 is still pointing towards the southern hemisphere but i notice only one deep fade and signal was much better than the first attitude change days and i think he never was so strong? I'm guessing my "scientific" previous north pointing was bad or my UHF beam is shooting not towards he point? I'm always using automatic AZ tracking could be i was shooting aside of the target for a while... Just try this on a pass could be you will be astonish too? If AO-51 was returned back to his normal attitude i will have to reavaluate all of what i wrote above. "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe DSTAR urcall VE2DWE WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

2 4

XW-1?
by herr＠ridgenet.net 11 Dec '09

11 Dec '09

Wondering if XW-1 was launched. I saw that China has just launched the Yaogan 7 Remote-Sensing Satellite. The launcher, orbit, etc looks right and is pretty close to the previously stated 20Dec data. Any updates out there? 73 Mike WA6ARA

2 1

AO-51 trasatlantic QSO possible now
by Luc Leblanc 11 Dec '09

11 Dec '09

Each 3 days AO-51 footprint reach eastern NA and Europe. This "very early" morning pass here at 0855 UTC put in range of the east of North America (me...at least): Northern Europe and most of Scandinavia. The next similar pass will be on Monday December 14 at 0837 UTC. This pass will cover from a line starting at the South of Spain to the north border of Italy covering near the whole western European continent UK as well Scandinavia will also be in range. Signal on this morning low pass about 7 deg here was Q5 S6 to S7. If there is any takers i can set my alarm clock to be QRV next Monday morning but i know it is a working day could be not the best pass to have a lot of stations but it is not a too bad thing considering the limitation of a one channel sat. Best time to have a look over the Atlantic from FN36KA. "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe DSTAR urcall VE2DWE WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

2 2

G-5500 problem
by Paul Baldock 11 Dec '09

11 Dec '09

I have a G-5500 that sometimes will not turn clock wise(CW) but will turn counter clockwise (CCW) OK. When it is working OK in both directions each winding (CW and CCW) measures about 4.4 Ohms in the shack. When it will not turn CW that winding measures about 2.2 ohms (The CCW winding still measures 4.4 ohms). The Controller is fine, so the problem is in the motor. Does this motor have brushes? Any thoughts on what the problem might be? Thanks - Paul KW7Y

3 5

New Kenwood HT
by Clint Bradford 10 Dec '09

10 Dec '09

Kenwood USA has no idea exactly when their new HF/6M and new HT will be available for sale in the US. The new handheld (informally "replacing" the TH-D7AG) is expected to be intro'd in 2010. It will have APRS / Kenwood Sky Command / TNC / DX Packet Cluster / GPS. Kenwood USA has no further information at this time - neither features nor ETA. SOURCE: Customer Service Manager of Kenwood USA Clint

2 1

NZ5N on this weekend from Jamaica FK18
by Bill Dzurilla 10 Dec '09

10 Dec '09

In case anyone missed me last year, I'll again be taking by HT and Arrow antenna to Jamaica this weekend. It's a business trip so I can't predict when I'll be on, but arriving Friday afternoon and leaving Monday noon. Please send s.a.s.e. if you work me and want a QSL, or use LOTW/eQSL. 73, Bill NZ5N

1 0

SatPC32 rotor steering via COM1 and G6LVB interface
by Jan Lind 10 Dec '09

10 Dec '09

Hello SAT-friends. Has anyone managed to run the rotor steering from SatPC32 via the normal COM1 port. Setup here: WinXP, SatPC32, G6LVB interface, G-5500 Yaesu rotor and IC-910H. G6LVB interface programmed and calibrated via COM1 as instructed, all works fine; buttons on G6LVB interface for rotor control works fine, so cabling should be ok. Starting up SatPC32, SDX starts as well, and Az/El is passed to SDX, as it should, but nothing happens on the G-5500; the same result if Az/El is manually input'ed via SDX. On a SerialMonitor, all commands looks fine, and correct. Closes down SatPC32 and starts a TerminalSimulator (Putty) on COM1; types in a command like w100 45, and voila, the rotor acts as it should; command syntax seen on the SerialMonitor matches the commands, sent from SatPC32. But... there is one difference: RTS on the serial port is low when SatPC32 starts, but high when the TerminalSimulator (Putty) starts; I believe thats the reason commands are not transferred to the rotor (reply >?) I know in the end, that I have to control the rotor via the FTDI USB interface (virtuel COM-port), but haven't had the time to build it yet, and then CAT-control the IC-910H via the COM1 port; I have tested it, and it works fine (with RTS 12V set in the program). And what would the situation have been, if I only had 2 COM-ports, and no available USB-port. If my problem really is, that RTS is low, can I then solve my problem, just by pulling-up the RTS pin, or should I just finish that FTDI USB interface, and forget all about it. Vy 73 de OZ5JR Jan E-mail: oz5jr(a)mail.dk

1 0

Re: RS-22 fail - no
by David Giles 10 Dec '09

10 Dec '09

Hello All, RS-22 is ok - just hearing it go over now (2009/12/10 12:23 UTC). CW on 435.352 MHz. 73 de David VK5DG

3 2

UO-11 Is Back
by Armando Mercado 10 Dec '09

10 Dec '09

At 1547 UTC 12/10/2009 UO-11 is back on the air. 73, Armando N8IGJ

1 0

Re: chinese satellite
by andy thomas 10 Dec '09

10 Dec '09

I know Yaogan-7 is supposed be an earth observation satellite but there is more than one way to skin a cat - remember the RS- series of satellites piggybacking on a common power supply bus - and the fact that the HF commemmorative station is suddenly activated may well mean something. If you go to celestrak and look at the last 30 days' launches you will see that there are a number of items identified as rocket debris with a 97 degree inclination obviosuly part of the launch sequence for Yaogan-7's 98 degree inclination. So she might well be up there. 73 de andy g0sfj

2 1