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

17 May '09

Joe, K3SZH Another outstanding milestone, I know you always say it's just a number, but behind those terrific numbers are many grateful satellite operators for all the help you have given to them including this writer, thank you and keep setting records. 73, Pete, WB2OQQ

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AO7
by malcolm Hall 17 May '09

17 May '09

Hey Joe ...what do you you do in your spare time!!! Congratulations on 9000+ Malc G7NFO

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Re: SatPC32 with 2 Transceivers
by Howard Kowall 17 May '09

17 May '09

----- Original Message ----- From: Howard Kowall To: AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 10:25 AM Subject: SatPC32 with 2 Transceivers Hello to all Well it has been resolved,got my FT897D and FT817ND working with Satpc32 and I am now able to run 1 as downlink the other as uplink and the freq. calibration working. I would like to thank all who replied to my problem and a very special thanks to Erich DK1TB who was able to supply me with a fix,providing me with a new Satpc32 exe file which did the trick,and another thanks to Tim N3TL for his help and input. Hope to be able to have a QSO with a few of you on the Sat's Thaks to all once again Howard VE4ISP

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SatPC32 with 2 Transceivers
by Howard Kowall 17 May '09

17 May '09

Hello to all Well it has been resolved,got my FT897D and FT817ND working with Satpc32 and I am now able to run 1 as downlink the other as uplink and the freq. calibration working. I would like to thank all who replied to my problem and a very special thanks to Erich DK1TB who was able to supply me with a fix,providing me with a new Satpc32 exe file which did the trick,and another thanks to Tim N3TL for his help and input. Hope to be able to have a QSO with a few of you on the Sat's Thaks to all once again Howard VE4ISP

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Re: Satellite computer/software crashes
by Eric Fort 17 May '09

17 May '09

Do we know what causes these periodic crashes? While it's great these things seem to be usually recoverable, what can be done in future designs to minimize or avoid this kind of downtime. What are the design tradeoffs that may be considered? Eric AF6EP On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 6:44 AM, Andrew Glasbrenner < glasbrenner(a)mindspring.com> wrote: > AO-51 crashed sometime yesterday, and reloading has already been initiated. > Please stand by until myself or one of the other command stations releases > the bird back to normal use. > > 73, Drew KO4MA/8 > > _______________________________________________ > 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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AO-51 down...reloading now
by Andrew Glasbrenner 17 May '09

17 May '09

AO-51 crashed sometime yesterday, and reloading has already been initiated. Please stand by until myself or one of the other command stations releases the bird back to normal use. 73, Drew KO4MA/8

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Re: Tracking Friends at Dayton..
by Bob Bruninga 16 May '09

16 May '09

>> In this case the best application was not sending >> POSITION, but would be sending FREQUENCY. >> This way, you dont need to know where they were >>(or find them on the map), but just look at their >> data and CALL them by voice. > my first thought was: "THAT'S COOL!" > Finding what FREQUENCY someone is on is something > that's amazingly empowering to Amateurs attempting > to make contacts of any sort. Yes, And it is amazing that we did not realize that back when we invented APRS. But we did add it later and after the Katrina Hurricane, we formalized CONTACT frequency as a formal part of the APRS spec. So now as you drive down the road, people can not only see where you are, but what freq you are monitoring. That was the main enhancement to the new Kenwood APRS radio, the D710, to include your voice freq in every position packet. Automatically, and in real time, since it knows what freq the other side of the radio is tuned to. And as a companion to that, when the D710 sees someone's freq in their packet, it can tune the radio there with th e press of a single button (TUNE). Thus facilitating voice contact. With APRStt, we hope to bring that capability to everyone with a DTMF key pad. With just two buttons, they can alert the world where they are and what freq they are monitoring. One button calls up their CALLSIGN from DTMF memory, and the other button calls up their favorite FREQ from another memory. Another AMSAT application for APRStt in the local area is to have something like "AO51" programmed into a DTMF memory. Then when you happen to hear AO51 in view, you just press two buttons on the APRStt channel, one for your call, the other for the AO51 text, and then every mobile in the area can see on their mobile display "AO51" and know it is in view right then, right there. Even since 1998 or so, there have been automatic progrms that put out satellite-in-view alerts to the front panels of APRS radios to show not only the locatoin of the moving satellite, but also, its range, bearing, and frequency AND doppler! The kenwood can even SPEAK these alerts to the driver who is not concentrating on his APRS display. So, APRS was never a tracking system, it was a single common INFO channel to distribute local information of immediate interest in the local area. There are as many applications as there are ham radio applications. Its not about ttracking. Its about one-to-all-local distribution of info of immediate interest. Thanks Bob, WB4APR > >So far, the hobby has been stunted in this regard -- we have what? The >hunt and pounce/spin the dial... we have dedicated frequency >infrastructure either via the technology or via "agreements" (like 'this >HF Net meets here'), and we have DX Cluster/Spotting type networks, and >that's about it... and even on those, it's somewhat "improper" for >cultural reasons to "self-spot"... > >So a mechanism to tell others, "Hey I'm at a radio and I'm listening to >X frequency"... is WAY cool. > >Sorry to tie up AMSAT-BB one more time with a reply -- but maybe to TRY >to keep it on-topic I'd say, "Imagine if people could say in real >time... XXX, YYY, and ZZZ are all listening to this bird because they've >sent a notification that they are, and if they're able to hear me, >they'll respond!" > >It won't replace the wonder and amazement of a "raw" CQ call that gets >answered by a new Amateur voice halfway around the world, and the >contesting world would be in an uproar about that "self-spotting" if >anyone used it to help others find them during an operating "skills" >event... but for day-to-day "get 'er done" types of contacts, it's >really got some interesting potential. "I'm in the car, and I'm >listening to X" info, when you've been trying to catch up with an old >friend on the air, etc... would be invaluable. > >Nate WY0X >-- > Nate Duehr > nate(a)natetech.com >

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Re: Satpc32 with 2 Transceivers
by Bill Dzurilla 16 May '09

16 May '09

For the benefit of anyone who may experience a similar problem in the future, Erich, Howard, and I had a discussion of this issue via private email. The method I described in my prior post apparently does not work with Yaesu rigs, because they do not allow variation of the transmit frequency while transmitting. So Yaesu owners should do the following, per Erich, the author of SatPC32: "While the satellite, say FO-29, is in range for you choose that satellite and open menu "CAT". Transmit and whistle or say "Test" etc. With the "Downl. Corr." controls tune the RX radio until you hear your own signal with the correct audio pitch. Then stop transmitting. You will see the correction value in the "Downl. Corr." window. For certain reasons this correction can't be stored automatically, however. Therefore with the "Upl.Calibr." controls set the same correction value, but in the opposite direction. If, i.e., you corrected the downlink by +1450 Hz correct the uplink by -1450 Hz. Click on "Change/Store Data File" and save the uplink calibration. In the frequency list of menu CAT you will see that only the uplink entry changes. When you restart the program it will start with the calibrated uplink frequency and no downlink correction." --- On Fri, 5/15/09, Bill Dzurilla <billdz.geo(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > From: Bill Dzurilla <billdz.geo(a)yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: Satpc32 with 2 Transceivers > To: amsat-bb(a)AMSAT.Org > Date: Friday, May 15, 2009, 4:22 PM > Howard, > > With Erich's kind help, I was able to get SatPC32 working > last week with 2 transceivers. > > I had a similar problem with the SSB sats at first. I > could not hear my downlink while the program was controlling > the frequencies on the 2 rigs. It turned out that the > issue was that the default settings for some of the birds > was off (either because my rigs are off calibration or > because the frequency on the sat's transponder drifted since > Erich wrote Doppler.SQF). > > The fix is not difficult. With the program > controlling the rigs, and with the satellite near to its > maximum elevation on a pass, tune to a clear downlink > frequency and click CAT on the program. Then start > transmitting (say testing, testing, count to 10, anything) > while clicking on the up and down arrows under "Upl. Calibr. > (Hz)". When you hear your voice on the downlink in a > natural sounding tone, click "Change/Store Data File" and > then click save, which automatically changes the Doppler.SQF > file. Once set correctly for each bird, your uplink > and downlink will track perfectly. > > I couldn't get it right at first because I kept clicking on > the 10 hz arrows. This was insufficient, as some of > the sats were over 500 hz off. But it was easy after I > started clicking the 100 hz arrows. > > You can also manually review and edit the Doppler.SQF file > by clicking ? and then Auxiliary Files, but this should not > be necessary. > > 73, Bill NZ5N > > Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 11:22:53 -0500 > From: "Howard Kowall" <hkowall(a)shaw.ca> > Subject: [amsat-bb] Satpc32 with 2 Transceivers > To: "AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org" > <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > Message-ID: > <000a01c9d579$65dbc2f0$6701a8c0@sysoffice> > Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" > > Good morning everyone > Trying to run Satpc32 with a FT897d and FT817nd > The ft897nd is on the uhf antenna and the ft817nd is on the > vhf antenna > it all seems to work on the FM sats but having some > problems with ssb sats AO7,VO52,FO29 > The trouble I am having is on the calibration of the freq. > and doppler adjument > has anyone run into this > hopefully someone has a few pointers and tricks > Thanks to all who reply > Howard > VE4ISP > > > >

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Re: Tracking Friends at Dayton..
by Bob Bruninga 16 May '09

16 May '09

>>>> This year you can use your DTMF HT to >>>> report where you are hanging out at >>>> the Hamvention to about 120 feet just >>>> by sending two digits for your XY coordinate. Well, maybe Dayton was not the best place to introduce this "special event" capability <grin>... Even at the 0.25 mile scale, of the 290+ stations heard, at least 190 of them were all within the square city block of the Hamvention fences. That-is, Wall to wall stations on the map so cluttered you couldnt find anyone unless you used a search function to find their call on the map! . So position reporting was not the best application. In this case the best application was not sending POSITION, but would be sending FREQUENCY. This way, you dont need to know where they were (or find them on the map), but just look at their data and CALL them by voice. Again, APRS was not designed for "tracking", but just as a national data channel for exchanging valuable information in the surrounding area. Exchanging operating frequency is just as important in Ham radio as position in many cases. We can kill this thread here on the AMSAT-bb, now, since everyone either found each other at the AMSAT booth or excellent banquet! Thanks Bob, WB4APR

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Re: Atlantis and Hubble Photo
by GW1FKY＠aol.com 16 May '09

16 May '09

Hi Clint, Thanks for another of your very interesting pointers on space topics. I think that many will also find another web site mentioned on the page shown will find it a very useful and interesting tool. _www.calsky.com_ (http://www.calsky.com) will give you all sorts of information on space related objects including pass times of amateur satellites for your location. Registration is not essential but will of course prove useful for news and perhaps other essentials. Enjoy this site, and as is common practice, do not forget to enter your own location or co-ordinates to get such a large amount of useful and valuable information. Ken Eaton GW1FKY Amsat -UK Amsat NA

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