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

AO-7 telemetry hint of the day!
by Mark L. Hammond 07 Mar '09

07 Mar '09

Hi All, So you know--you can copy the AO-7 telemetry beacon MUCH better with the "automatic beat cancel" feature of your spiffy radio turned OFF! :D Ahaha...I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I couldn't print that thing...and it doesn't help with copying IO-26 or AO-16, either.... Anyhow, it's a nice signal. Bird is to my EAST, heading from SOUTH to NORTH and seems much better on LHCP.... Using fldigi, custom RTTY settings: 85 carrier shift 45 baud rate 5 bits per character None parity 1.5 Stop bits FAST AGC And click REVERSE (the Rv button down to the bottom/right). You can turn on the logs and record the thing too...slick. 73, Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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ARISS crap sandwich
by Gordon JC Pearce 07 Mar '09

07 Mar '09

Well, yet another lovely display of abso-bloody-lutely first class operating on ISS :-/ Thanks in particular to the person sending "CQ CQ CQDX CQ CQ CQDX" in ragged morse with their 1750Hz toneburst. Yes, we could all hear you. We couldn't hear anything else. Aren't you clever? ON7EQ had a lovely signal into the ISS but I doubt he'd hear anything back in the soup of noise. Gordon

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A027 Sounded Great
by Cotejaune2＠aol.com 07 Mar '09

07 Mar '09

I worked A027 today and made two contacts. It sounded great . Glad this bird is up again. Hope to hear you on the birds. **************Need a job? Find employment help in your area. (http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=employment_agencies&ncid=emlcntusye…)

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LVB Tracker
by Jeff Thomas 07 Mar '09

07 Mar '09

I have been receiving errors: "Warning Bad EEPROM Data" when I apply power to the LVB Tracker rotor controller. I have received this error 4 or 5 times now and it forces me to re-calibrate the rotor controller. Anyone have any idea while this happens over and over? Thanks, Jeff - K7WIN

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Please use the report page
by OZ1MY 06 Mar '09

06 Mar '09

Hi all, It would be nice if more people used the report page: http://oscar.dcarr.org If you hear or make contacts just report it on the page. It takes just a few seconds to do it. I think it is a great advantage to have the most resent news this way. Thanks in advance and have a nice weekend. 73 OZ1MY Ib

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ISS QSOs
by Jeff Yanko 06 Mar '09

06 Mar '09

Hi all! I know this might not be proper procedure but I finally found the time to get on one of the birds tonight, ISS. I managed to work two stations. One in San Francisco and the other was an "8" call around 0650z. My problem...no place to write anything down and standing out in the backyard with a TH-D7A(G) in in one hand and an Arrow antenna in the other! I know, a tripod is on the agenda. :) Please drop me a note! 73, Jeff WB3JFS

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Thanks for all the contacts
by Rick - WA4NVM 06 Mar '09

06 Mar '09

Hi All, I would like to thank all the stations from IN to TX and GA to CA and all in between for the contacts last night during my demo at the MARA club meeting in Memphis. 73 from Memphis, Rick - WA4NVM

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SK: Mario Acuña, LU9HBG
by Tom Clark, K3IO 06 Mar '09

06 Mar '09

It is with great sadness that I learned today of the passing of a long-term friend of AMSAT, Mario Acuña, LU9HBG. Mario was a very senior scientist/engineer at NASA Goddard where he made his name by providing magnetometers for nearly every deep-space and planetary mission since the 1970's. His vitae can be viewed at http://ssed.gsfc.nasa.gov/vitae/acuna.html, and a nice writeup on him can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/jan/HQ_05022_acuna.html. Mario never bothered to get a US call, although he often had HF schedules with his relatives & friends in Argentina. In years past, Mario and I were contemporaries at Goddard, and we often commiserated about NASA's problems of "getting old"/"mature government bureaucracy" and about the dearth of young innovative scientists who enjoyed inventing new instruments. His loss hits me especially hard. When a young Martin Sweeting wanted to fly magnetometers for navigation on the earliest UoSAT's, Mario was the "go to" guy that put Martin on the right track. Since magnetometers are biased by metal and electrical currents in a spacecraft, Mario arranged for testing of the early UoSATs. When Jan, Karl and I were trying to minimize radiation damage in critical Phase-3 components (like the IHU and CMOS logic), Mario was our mentor in helping to figure out the best way to minimize damage and teaching us how to apply tantalum to the top and bottom of ICs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- GSFC Director Rob Strain posted this note earlier today: > From: On Behalf Of GSFC-PAO > Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 3:05 PM > To: gsfc_all(a)listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov > <mailto:gsfc_all@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov> > Subject: Center Director Mourns Passing of GSFC Employees > > Colleagues: > > It with profound sadness to inform you that Goddard has tragically > lost several members of its family in the past few days. > > Dr. Mario Acuña, a Senior Astrophysicist in the Planetary > Magnetospheres Lab, passed away last night, in the comfort of his > home, surrounded by his family and loved ones. Dr. Acuña was world > renown for his work in magnetic fields and plasmas in the solar > system, and is one of most prolific and accomplished scientists to > ever work at Goddard. He has been an Instrument Scientist, > Co-Investigator or Principal Investigator in multiple NASA and ESA > missions such as Pioneer, Voyager, Mariner, Giotto, Tether, ISPM, and > many others, and the Principal Investigator or Lead Scientist for the > magnetometer investigations on the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous > Mission, Mars Global Surveyor, Lunar Prospector, Messenger and STEREO. > He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2007 and was > honored by NASA with numerous prestigious awards including the GSFC > John C. Lindsay and Moe I. Schneebaum Memorial Awards, the Medal for > Exceptional Scientific Achievement, the Distinguished Service Medal > and a Presidential Meritorious Rank Award. His death follows a valiant > fight against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood. He leaves a > devoted wife, Barbara; sons Jamie, Andrew, and Daniel; daughter Marta, > and five grandchildren.

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A0-51 V usb/U fm
by Gary Lockhart 06 Mar '09

06 Mar '09

Thanks Tim (N3TL) for QSO on AO-51 in V (USB) / U (FM) mode. You and a few others were coming in 59 but there were still other strong unintelligible stations out there. Cute trick for the satellite repeater to take USB uplink and transmit an FM downlink. 73, de Gary AB3ID

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AMSAT-TAPR Banquet at Hamvention 2009 - Online Orders Now Accepted
by Bruce 05 Mar '09

05 Mar '09

I have quickly added a link to the AMSAT online store under Hamvention for tickets to the Banquet. The menu will be added as soon as I get it as well as the date/time. But for those that would like to order, you can do so online. 73...bruce Online Store Manager -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0200z on SkyScanner Satellite Radio Network on Galaxy-25 @97° West, Transponder 23 (12115 Vert), Symbol Rate: 22425, APID: 1794 (DVB Free To Air) Also streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org

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