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

QSL Discrepancies
by Kent Frazier 12 Mar '09

12 Mar '09

Hi all, I just received a QSL card today from KB0RZD but the date and time don't match what I have in my log. I've looked for an email address but have been unable to locate one. How do members usually handle a situation like this? My log shows the QSO as being on 8 March 2009 between 13:29 and 13:30 UTC on AO-51. His QSL indicates the QSO was 7 March 2009 at 14:11UTC. I have no record of any contacts made during that pass. Other stations contacted during this pass were W7JPI, N5ZNL and K8YSE. If any of these stations would contact me off list to help me verify my log entries it would be greatly appreciated. I mailed out my own QSLs to those I had not made previous contacts with yesterday. Thanks. 73, Kent K5KNT AMSAT #36765 ARRL

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iss packet
by Mr Jeffrey L Ross 12 Mar '09

12 Mar '09

hi folks, just want to check in and find out the latest on the iss packet. Is is up running? what freq? 145.800/145.825? back on 1200 baud? thank you much. kc8gkf p.s. running uiss now and want to get mycall on the map.

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ISS Temporarily Evacuated
by Andrew Koenig 12 Mar '09

12 Mar '09

I heard about this in school today when my English teacher got a text message from her Boy Friend, who works in mission control. The article is below. Astronauts safe after debris passes space station Crew evacuated to Soyuz lifeboat as a precautionBy MARK CARREAU Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle March 12, 2009, 12:03PM The three American and Russian astronauts aboard the international space station took shelter in their Soyuz escape capsule briefly today to wait out the close approach of debris from an old U.S. commercial rocket stage, NASA said today. The debris, about 4 inches long, whizzed within three miles of the orbital outpost at 11:39 a.m., CDT, causing no damage. However —just in case — Americans Mike Fincke and Sandy Magnus and Russian Yury Lonchakov climbed aboard their Soyuz lifeboat between 11:35 and 11:45 a.m., said NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries. “We are all very happy the debris did not impact,” NASA’s Mission Control told the astronauts. The U. S. Strategy Command, the branch of the Department of Defense that tracks the thousands of active and inactive spacecraft and other man-made debris circling Earth, notified Mission Control of the close approach late Wednesday. The notice left too little time to maneuver the space station well away from the PAM-D rocket upper-stage debris, Humphries said. The astronauts train for an escape aboard the Soyuz in case of a fire, chemical leak, debris impact or medical emergency. So far, an evacuation to Earth has not been necessary. (Copied and pasted from http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6307525.html) -- Andrew Koenig KE5GDB

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TH-D7(G)
by Jeff Yanko 12 Mar '09

12 Mar '09

Hi all! I've been looking over the TH-D7(G) manual on setting up the HT for data and can't seem to kind anything on setting the TNC to the KISS mode. Has anybody tried it or is it possible? 73, Jeff WB3JFS

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ISS Packet 13.44utc UK Pass
by David Barber 12 Mar '09

12 Mar '09

Accessible again this pass (1200bps) but something up there has changed. Very quiet today (few stations) and very difficult to get through in comparison to recent days. David G8OQW

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Re: Need AG-35 schematic
by Nader Omer 12 Mar '09

12 Mar '09

HI George, KA3HSW The schematic for the Icom AG-35 preamp is avalable at MoDS.dk website http://www.mods.dk/manual.php?brand=icom I just downladed a copy of it. good luck Nader . st2nh www.st2nh.com

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Re: NASA predix program
by Alan Sieg WB5RMG 11 Mar '09

11 Mar '09

G8IFF/W8IFF said: > Which satellite prediction program do we see on the big screen > on the NASA TV broadcasts from mission control in Houston? There are several different views you may see, but the main thing that we "see" is the background map. Several "free" programs now utilize the map made from composite satellite images that looks natural and cloud-free. A good example someone pointed out is the default image in Orbitron. What sets the NASA maps apart is that they also usually show the coverage area of the three primary TDRS relay satellites, and marks on the future ground tracks to indicate orbital sunrise and sunsets. As the shuttle (or ISS) moves about the orbit, those coverage circles help visualize the "TDRSS handovers" where communications will drop out for a minute or a few. You may also notice on the ISS map view, the range circles about the Russian ground stations. During de-orbit and re-entry the background goes black and you'll see blue range circles about the various US radar tracking sites. During Joint-Ops with both Shuttle and ISS, they show Lat/Lon/Alt stats in the upper corners of the display. Lots of things they can turn on/off. The other display (my personal favorite) provides a multi-view in 3D space. I've heard it refered to as 'Birds Eye View' or BEV. I've seen similar applications running on SGI computers, with a 3 pane window... the top one a side view parallel to the velocity vector, with gravity down. The lower panes showing 1) a view from above sighting down along gravity, and 2) a view from slightly above looking forward along the velocity vector. These views are fed by live telemetry data that will include the vehicles orientation respective to those vectors. I really like watching those during orientation adjustments. If you can watch before docking, you can see how the ISS is rotated around to place the docking port 'in back' so that the Shuttle's TPS is better protcted from any orbital debris. If you see this display before re-entry you can see how they turn tail-forward in preparation for the de-orbit burn... I really enjoy watching this stuff. Still tho, it is hard to beat the 3D view in InstantTrack, especially on one of those Molniya orbits like AO-13, whippin around perigee - whoosh ! Enjoy /;^) -- <- Licensed in 1976, WB5RMG = Alan Sieg * AMSAT#20554 -> <- http://www.somenet.net * http://wb5rmg.somenet.net -> <- http://www.linkedin.com/in/alansieg * My 'Day Job' ->

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Need AG-35 schematic
by George Henry 11 Mar '09

11 Mar '09

Anybody on the list have a schematic for the Icom AG-35 preamp? I suspect that mine is not performing up to par.... only about a 3 dB increase in signal strength on S-meter when switched on. My AG-25, OTOH, shows about a 20 dB increase... George, KA3HSW

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Welcome KC2ULM
by Sebastian 11 Mar '09

11 Mar '09

It seems we have a few new hams on the satellites in the last few days. Today I had the pleasure of making a QSO (his first) with KC2ULM. He's working with 2 radios and a vertical, but his signal was loud and clear on the newly resurrected AO-27. Congrats to Earl, and if you hear him, say hello. 73 de W4AS Sebastian

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AO-7 S-band beacon?
by Peter Guelzow 11 Mar '09

11 Mar '09

Hi All, accoding to http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/satInfo.php?satID=9&retURL=/satel… the* Mode S Beacon of AO-7 is declared as Non-Operational, while the rest is declared as "Semi-Operational" ? Does it makes sense to try to listen to the S band beacon on *2304.1 MHz ? Some sources say, that this beacon was never turned on when AO-7 was operational? We could use or 20m dish in Bochum to listen to it, as we are going to do some tests on S-band soon.. 73s Peter, DB2OS

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