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

Falcon-1 Launch - webcast ?
by Trevor . 14 Jul '09

14 Jul '09

Does anyone know if there's a live webcast of tomorrows Falcon-1 launch of CubeSAT and InnoSAT ? http://atsbgs.blogspot.com/ 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Polarity Switching box
by Michael Wolthuis 14 Jul '09

14 Jul '09

I know I could make my own, but I was just wondering if someone makes a box that can be easily connected to the polarity switches on a set of UHF/VHF KLM antennas? I have the red/black leads run down to my shack on some simple Cat5e, but was hoping for a nice box that would look good sitting with my rotor control. I thought KLM used to make one, but can¹t find it. Thanks, Mike kb8zgl

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For Sale - Assorted Satellite Related Items
by A.J. Farmer 14 Jul '09

14 Jul '09

Yaesu G-5500 Az/El Rotator Includes control box, cables, and manual Works fine - no problems $400 or best offer Labjack Piggyback Combined with the Labjack U12 (below), allows computer control of the G-5500 rotator by Nova Satellite Tracking software http://www.nlsa.com/labjack/labjack_piggyback.html $20 Labjack U12 http://www.nlsa.com/labjack/labjack_u12.html $100 or best offer M2 2MCP22 Circ. Pol. Antenna http://www.m2inc.com/products/vhf/2m/2mcp22.html All parts are in excellent condition except some of the element retaining clips must be broken to disassemble the antenna. These clips are "one way" only and are impossible to remove once the antenna is assembled. A bag of 50 replacement clips is available from M2 for $13, or you can use other techniques instead of the clips. $200 or best offer Pickup available from Hollywood, MD or will ship anywhere via UPS at cost. No reasonable offers refused! If interested, contact me at farmer.aj(a)gmail.com Thanks! A.J. Farmer, AJ3U

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G5500 Rotor Drift Issue
by Mark Spencer 14 Jul '09

14 Jul '09

There have been a couple of recent posts about a G5500 voltage drift issue and some solutions. I'd like to thank those gentlemen for the posts and the solutions. I am in a unique position to be able to work with nine G5500 rotors side-by-side in preparation for the Teachers Institute II that I will hold at the end of the week. I noticed the same warm-up/calibration issue mentioned in the posts. I discovered that it took on average 10 minutes of warm up time for the voltage to stabilize, and this voltage is the reference on which the antenna position indications are based. The difference between the cold start and warm up position was around 10 degrees for AZ and 4 degrees for EL. Minor but irritating. I thought I'd try the easiest solution suggested first (changing the output cap on the regulator to .1uF) before I tried the more dramatic solution of changing out the voltage regulator. I simply tack soldered the .1uF cap on the exposed leads of the existing .01uF cap, and it worked like a charm. All nine rotor controllers fire up at 6.12 volts and hold that voltage throughout the operation of the rotor. This sure will make instruction of rotor setup and calibration a heck of a lot easier. Thanks for the suggests. Mark Spencer, WA8SME ARRL-The national association for Amateur Radio Education and Technology Program Coordinator mspencer(a)arrl.org http://www.arrl.org/FandES/tbp/ 530-495-9150

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Oscar 5 in SatMagazine
by Trevor . 14 Jul '09

14 Jul '09

The Oscar 5 satellite built by Australian Radio Amateurs at the end of the 60's is mentioned in the latest issue of SatMagazine The July/August issue of SatMagazine covers the Australian space program and mentions the work of Australian Radio Amateurs who built Oscar 5. The article on page 59 includes a picture of Oscar 5 which carried transmitters on 29.450 MHz and 144.050 MHz and was launched on January 23, 1970, into an orbit of 1435 x 1481 km with an inclination of 102.0 degrees. Ther July/Aug 2009 issue of SatMagazine is at http://www.satmagazine.com/2009/SatMag_JulAug09.pdf SatMagazine http://www.satmagazine.com/ ---- 73 Trevor M5AKA RSS Daily Radio News: http://www.southgatearc.org/ Daily News via Email: http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=2783644&loc=en_US Submit your news: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/your_news_1.htm or email editor at southgatearc.org ----

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Amsat-UK Oscar News
by john heath 13 Jul '09

13 Jul '09

My copy of O.N. 186 arrived today, Thanks to Dave Johnson G4DPZ, Graham Shirville G3VZV and all contributors for a much improved ON. I well remember how Ron Broadbent used to hustle everyone for contribution articles, on the basis that as the editor he couldn't produce a good magazine with out material to work with. Lets see what we can do to support Dave and Graham in keeping O.N full and interesting 73 John G7HIA

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Delaware Operation FM29ft
by John Papay 13 Jul '09

13 Jul '09

Our mini WAS-pedition to Wilmington Delaware FM29 ended with the 7/12/2009 1305-1316z AO51 pass which was only 11 degrees in Delaware. In just two days approximately 85 different callsigns were logged (including 4 with KD4ZGW who operated from his 18 wheeler in DN90, EM38, EM29 and EM65). If you were thinking that there are only a few regulars operating the FM birds, this should make you rethink that notion. For those that are chasing grids, there are plenty of new people showing up in grids that have not been very active. Many of the "regulars" were not on during this period, but if they were the total could have easily gone over 100 different callsigns worked. My operation took place from the Days Inn tree lawn on Concord Pike just south of Naamans Rd for western passes and the Concord Mall parking lot, about 1000' south for eastern passes. I was able to make qso's to the west down to about 5 degrees or less. The AO27 pass on 7/11 at 2041-2051z was only 7 degrees but it did net 4 stations. The QRM was heavy and my signal was not strong enough to get through the many stations that were operating. KI6YAA was heard but could not be worked. But on Sunday morning, Larry was up at 6am for the AO51 pass (11 degrees for me) and a qso was easily completed. The early bird still does get the worm. Several stations including K7WIN and VE6AB mentioned that Delaware was the last state they needed. It was great to be able to give them Delaware. Between Jim's (ND9M) operation and this one, Delaware should be very low on the most wanted State list. There will be a special QSL card for this operation. Cards will be sent to every station that was worked. There is no need to send a card or an SASE to me although you can if you want to. I'll put an announcement on the BB and my QRZ.com page when the cards are mailed. If you don't get one and think you worked me, please email me. All passes have been recorded and can be checked. Thanks to everyone who worked me. If you want to have some fun on the birds, try operating from a grid away from home. And thanks to all of you who do activate these grids and help us with our VUCC! 73, John K8YSE

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Paccomm information
by johne tds.net 13 Jul '09

13 Jul '09

Hi I was wondering if some one has any manuals for the DFM TNC and the PSK-1 or the the PSK-1+? To get me going can some one please send the pin out for the radio 8 pin DIN for the DFM TNC. Thanks de John K0CQW

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40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing
by Darin Cowan 13 Jul '09

13 Jul '09

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing, the special event callsign VE3MOON will be operating from 14-27 July. We will be operating satellites from the Canada Museum of Science and Technology during much of this period, usually between 1400 UTC and 2000 UTC. We will also be working HF from various locations throughout the duration of the event. We do not have a set schedule, but we do have multiple radios and operators. Popular satellites among our operators are AO-51, SO-50, VO-52, FO-29, and the ISS. There will be a QSL card for this special call. QSL management is through VE3OIJ. 73 de VE3OIJ -Darin

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Packet Operator needed - TN / NC / VA
by Bob Bruninga 13 Jul '09

13 Jul '09

AMSAT out-doors operators: We need a field packet operator on a mountain top near the corner of TN, NC, VA on the weekend of 26 July. This is off topic for AMSAT, but we are running out of options to find a packet operator to drive to the top of Roan Mountain, and operate a portable D700 packet radio for 4 hours. This is a critical link in our first attempt on 26 July to digipeat the first 2000 mile golden packet from Georgia to Maine (all RF). We have volunteers for the other 14 mountain tops (most are drive-up). See the event web pages starting with the summary: www.aprs.org/at-golden-packet.html But due to a fluke with the buraucracy our existing volunteer may need a backup. See details specifically on Roan Mountain: www.aprs.org/hamtrails/roan.html If you have access to a D700 and a 8 amp-hour battery and some kind of portable 16' mast, and have that Sunday Afternoon free, please let me know. Sorry for the off topic post, but many AMSAT folks use D700 radios so we need to ask. They are desired because of consistent performance with packet down to -117 dBm and are all factory aligned so this eliminates all the problems with external TNC's on random radios... We only get one shot, and so we need all 14 portable digipeater sites to work with predictible performance! Bob, WB4APR

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