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

Re: Egg Beater
by Mike Ryan 11 Apr '09

11 Apr '09

True enough. You don't absolutely need sophisticated or expensive. You just tend to move more and more in that direction as you get engrossed, bitten by the SAT bug, or start pushing for a little more signal, a little lower to the horizon, etc.. My first was also a pair of ground planes. I've used a Jetstream vertical. A pair of Cushcraft ringos (non the ranger model) and they worked pretty well. Tried a home brew Eggbeater (original not with reflector or potato masher), Put up a pair of turnstiles and built a crossed Moxon. They all had their merits and it was a learning experience trying them all out. At the time I was determined to do the best I can with omnis. It was deadly obvious that a preamp was needed. I also worked with The Arrow, the Elk, and the WA5VJB (3 el vhf and 8 el uhf) "cheap yagis". I had planned for the QFH and have all the materials. Just didn't dig into building it yet. Where am I now? Using a pair of cheap yagis on an old tv rotor at fixed 20% elevation plus a ARR preamp. Working AO51, AO27, SO50, FO29, VO52 all reliably. Also ISS (when up) and even a couple contacts on AO7. I still use the turnstiles for when I'm too lazy to point the rotor, for high passes, or when looking to collect SSTV from the ISS or AO51 automatically. Mike Original Message: --------------------- Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 15:54:28 -0300 From: Bruce Robertson <ve9qrp(a)gmail.com> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Egg Beater To: Steve Bluemel <stevebluemel(a)gmail.com> Cc: AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org Message-ID: <49657a760904111154r4389bc68j3d261fe7186ce849(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Steve (and the list): I can add another data-point for you, as I'm playing with minimal antennas while rebuilding my station. My latest toy is a simple three-wire groundplane for 70cm made of #10 electrical wire soldered directly to a male N-connector. This connector is plugged into one side of an all-weather switching low-noise preamp, and both are in the hay-loft of a barn, up about 12' from ground, but with wood, roofing and hay all around. The preamp is connected to the radio by 100' of LMR-400 coax. This has been in place for only 24h or so, but I've listened to a 33 deg. pass of FO-29 and some cubesats with quite decent success. The telemetry of FO-29 (100mw) was audible always; after about 15 deg. I could comfortably hear a SSB conversation on that bird. SO-50 was not quite as successful, but I have a TS-2000 so it's sometimes hard to get a bead on that bird. Of course, without the preamp, nada, nothing. Sometimes I worry that we purchase complex and expensive antennas with preamps and never fully explore the potential of preamps with very simple, and inexpensive, antennas. This isn't to say that I'm leaving this g/p as my only antenna, but it provides a simple, cheap and effective first step and helpful baseline from which to compare improvements. I also think it might be a good way to get people into this branch of the ham hobby. And in that spirit, about a year ago, I posted a video of a FT-817 receiving a cubesat beacon with a directly-attached 1/4w groundplane: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1251407580465862002 73, Bruce VE9QRP On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 1:30 PM, Alan P. Biddle <APBIDDLE(a)united.net> wrote: > Steve, > >>>Once i know i can hear, i will build the uplink > > Would that everybody else followed your wise approach! ?;) > > Alan > WA4SCA >

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Egg Beater
by Steve Bluemel 11 Apr '09

11 Apr '09

I want to thank you all for your support and input. I am building my downlink now and should be testing it on sunday. Once i know i can hear, i will build the uplink....now all i need is a sat ready radio. I am only able to work fm at the moment. This is a great group of users and i am very glad to have found you. Cheers! Steve KI6OQU

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Re: Ham Radio Deluxe Queries
by Mike Ryan 11 Apr '09

11 Apr '09

With respect, I can think of one good reason. Education. For instance, I'd like to know what works well for folks regardles of what program they use and some dialog about the up or down of a tool is valuable information to me. Now maybe if the disucussion was tweaks to HRD, FAQs, or wish lists, then maybe better suited for a more focused forum. And I also learned by the replies that there was a Yahooo group! I knew about the BBS/forum on the HRD website but observe it to be pretty quiet. I will check out the Yahoo group. Someone also mentioned a listserv. Can anyone provide a pointer to that? I can find "HRD" in Google easily but many hits arent about Ham radio. Mike WB1AAT -----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 8:03 AM To: amsat Subject: [amsat-bb] Ham Radio Deluxe Queries Wouldn't the numerous HRD queries here be better sent to the (preferably) HRD Forum or HRD Yahoo e-group? -- Nigel A. Gunn, 1865 El Camino Drive, Xenia, OH 45385-1115, USA. tel +1 937 825 5032 Amateur Radio G8IFF W8IFF (was KC8NHF), e-mail nigel(a)ngunn.net www http://www.ngunn.net Member of ARRL, GQRP #11396, QRPARCI #11644, SOC #548, Flying Pigs QRP Club International #385, Dayton ARA #2128, AMSAT-NA LM-1691, AMSAT-UK, MKARS, ALC, GCARES, XWARN

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FS: Icom IC-910H w/1.2ghz, AG-1200, 25, 35 Mast Pre's, Kenwood TM-D710 APRS, More!
by Les Rayburn 11 Apr '09

11 Apr '09

Maybe with the IRS bill this year, so I need to sacrifice some great gear. Wanted to offer these direct to the VHF/UHF & Satellite community before placing them on Ebay. Can accept Paypal (first choice), or money orders. My ebay feedback rating is over 380 (all positive) and I've been a member since 1997, so you can buy with confidence. Also, have no fear, I'm not getting out of VHF/UHF, I'll just be working with some of my older radios. I will be off 1.2ghz until I can afford a replacement unit. ICOM IC-910H VHF/UHF/SHF Transceiver --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Used one year. Non-Smoker. Original box, instructions, hand mic, etc. Has 1.2ghz 10 watt unit installed and working great. UT-106 DSP unit is included in original box but not installed yet. Clean, and ready for action. $1,250 AG-25, AG-35, & (RARE) AG-1200 Mast Mounted Pre-Amps ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Designed to work with the IC-910H. These have never been mounted outside (I have attic mounted antenna array) so they're super clean. Connect to the feedline from the IC-910H, powered and switched by the rig, no sequencer needed. The AG-1200 is no longer made, and very hard to fine. $500 for the set of three Kenwood TM-D710A Transceiver ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is Kenwood's new APRS dual band rig. It features dual band receive/TX, with complete APRS functionality. This is the perfect rig for rovers as it displays your exact grid square location in real time. No more guessing as to where you're at. Unit comes complete with GPS antenna, and call cabling. Original box, instructions, etc. Latest firmware is already installed too. It's literally "plug and play". Never used mobile other than a brief test. I was waiting to install it in the new truck. Extension kit is included. Original box, instructions, etc. $500 MFJ 269-PRO Antenna Analyzer (HF, VHF, UHF) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perfect for tuning those Yagis, this unit has never been used outdoors. Includes leather carrying case, slug kit, rechargeable batteries, and AC power supply. Covers HF, 6 Meters, 2 Meters, and 432mhz. Also can be used for public service frequencies, etc. since it's the "Pro" unit. Includes "no tip" stand which makes it much easier to work with than other MFJ tuners. Instructions included. $250 Please reply directly to: Les Rayburn, N1LF (n1lf(a)arrl.net) Thanks, & 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF EM63nf 121 Mayfair Park Maylene, AL 35114

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Ham Radio Deluxe satellite control
by William Liporace - WC2L 11 Apr '09

11 Apr '09

Just from the little bit of reading. I am pretty sure Simon has/will be working a lot on the satellite side of things. I have been pretty busy and have lost track where his is at. http://forums.ham-radio.ch/ is the best place for information, ask questions and etc. If there are problems, place the information on the forum. If there is a critical item Simon is great about responding to these issues. Glad to see so much interest in the program. I am looking forward to Simon's Linux version ;-) 73 Will WC2L

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Re: HRD Sat Tracking program - slow?
by Bill Dzurilla 11 Apr '09

11 Apr '09

Tim, Is your cable something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380115790739 I have the same thing, except it's the one for ICOM rigs. Also tried an ICOM serial CAT interface with a separate USB-serial adapter, same result. In Device Manager under Ports, is yours showing as "Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port"? The Prolific chipset seems to be the most popular, but I'm wondering if something else might work better. My setup works fine with the Basic Ham Radio Deluxe, DM-780, and other ham software, only the Sat Tracking is problematic. But if your set-up is working with Sat Track, I should be able to get it to work somehow. 73, Bill --- On Sat, 4/11/09, n3tl(a)bellsouth.net <n3tl(a)bellsouth.net> wrote: > From: n3tl(a)bellsouth.net <n3tl(a)bellsouth.net> > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: HRD Sat Tracking program - slow? > To: billdz.geo(a)yahoo.com > Date: Saturday, April 11, 2009, 11:03 AM > Hey Bill, > > > Nice to hear from you. Here, I havbe picked up three used > Yaesu radios over the past year for the linear satellites > and, in one case, for HF. Specifically, I have an FT-857D > that I use for HF and the satellites, and two FT 817NDs > which are mostly for the satellites. In my shack, such as it > is, I use the 857 for transmit and one of the 817s for > receive. > > > I'm beginning to feel as though I have it really easy > because I'm using a simple USB cable that connects the > Acer to the accessory inputs on the Yaesu radios. I > didn't have to install any kind of drivers or other > software. I truly have it plug and play here. > > > I don't know whether that helps, but I hope it does. I > also should mention that I have full - and fully working - > Doppler control usiong HRD, SatPC 32 and Orbitron - the > latter with the WispDDE plug in. From an elmering > standpoint, I thought it wise to learn about setting up all > three for Doppler control. > > Talk to you soon, > > Tim -

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Re: HRD Sat Tracking program - slow?
by Mike Ryan 11 Apr '09

11 Apr '09

Also have negative experience with Vista and HRD satellite, but not the luxury of going back to XP. In my case it works, but if I try and control two radios (as it does easily on XP), one updates frequencies for doppler nicely, and the other either not at all, or only once a minute or so. All I have to do to catch things up is uncheck one or the other radio. Not a programmer but perhaps some overhead in controlling the ports? I have serial ports as well as USB converters. Doesnt seem to matter which I use. SATPC32, by comparison, seems to work fine, but I really like some of the Sat features of HRD and am sad I cant use them anymore. Mike WB1AAT On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 9:38 AM, Bill Dzurilla <billdz.geo(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > Hi, > > Anyone using the Sat Tracking feature on Ham Radio Deluxe? > > When I click on New Satellite, CPU usage shoots to 100% and it takes over a minute to display the track of the new sat. Also very slow on several other functions. This can't be normal, is it my computer or is it Vista? Running a new Lenovo desktop with Windows Vista. > > I tried it with my Windows XP laptop and it worked fine. Darn Vista. Any way to get it working properly with Vista (32 bit version)? > > Any cure? > > 73, Bill NZ5N >

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HRD transponder setup help?
by andy thomas 11 Apr '09

11 Apr '09

I'm totally bemused and confused by this. I can't control my up and downlinks (happens to be on on VO-52) with my HRD setup/ IC-910H. It's in sat mode. I set the centre frequencies in the tx box to 435.250 and rx box for 145.900 and tick the transponder box, and tune manually, but can't hear myself coming back on cw and can't find the sig using the RIT function (+/- 1 KHz). So keeping the transponder box ticked, I tick the vfo tx to 435.226 and rx to 145.924, can't hear myself, no change with rit, and HRD say I have a 24kHz RX off set. if I click the up icon the vfo freqs change to the freqs set in the transponder box. There must be something very simple I'm doing wrong here!! Grateful for any support. 73 de andy g0sfj

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famous astronaut
by andy thomas 11 Apr '09

11 Apr '09

Re : We talked way back in 1998 when you were onboard MIR ..... Just for the record, again, I got my name before the famous astronaut did, and he's a VK not a G! 73 de andy G0SFJ

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Cutting feed lines to 1/2 wavelength
by Bob Bruninga 11 Apr '09

11 Apr '09

> What i want to do is the to have each > length adjusted "CUT" for 1/2 wave length > at a specific frequency. Yes, but remember that the accuracy of the cut for 1/2 wavelenth lets say at 435 MHz probably has to be within say 1/2 inch to not introduce more loss than it would gain in the first place. But for two 1/2 wavelenghts, the accuracy has to be 1/4 inch. For 10 feet (about 10 half waves) you have to make the cut within about 0.05 inches. Make that 50 feet, an dnow your exact length has to be within about 0.01 inches. Now lets say that you somehow get extremely lucky and get the exact length just perfect. That was only at one temperature. I t would not seem unreasonable to me for a big change in temperature to make more than a 1% chane in velocity factor and then the cable will be out of phase and worse. Oh, and if you change frequency by even a few Hz, then the length changes again, so... the mutiple-halv-wave feed line only is practical at HF. Nothing above say 6 meters is even worth considering because of too many varaibleas beyond your control.. SOmething like that. Bob, Wb4APR I'm guessing it will not be too >hard on HF but could be a bit tricky on 1.2ghz? eg: How far from each cut frequency the cable will retain this 52 ohms matching? > >I have about more that 500 feets coming from my and neighbourgs back yards when the CATV installers wants to put theses old lines in their >scrap container. > >Debate is open! > >P.S. If you see them around your back yards just ask them and offer them to rolled up the line they are just cutting. They will be more >than happy to let you take them it is some work they will not have to do. You can have some other extra roll already made by them if you >have the right timing as they change them at 10 years intervall or when the technology evolution demands it. > > >"-" > > >Luc Leblanc VE2DWE >Skype VE2DWE >www.qsl.net/ve2dwe >WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE > > > >_______________________________________________ >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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