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

K5E - The 40th Anniversary Apollo 11 Satellite Special Event
by n3tl＠bellsouth.net 11 Jul '09

11 Jul '09

Hey everyone, The special call sign K5E will go active on AO-7 at 13:32 UTC on July 16, 2009, and will remain active on the FM and CW/SSB satellites, NO-44 (if operational) and the ISS in packet or voice (if either system is active) through 16:50 UTC on July 24, 2009. Those dates and times coincide with the duration of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, which began 40 years ago next Thursday (July 16). K5E seemed the perfect choice for a special event call sign to celebrate the 40th anniversary of “one small step for man … one giant leap for mankind.” K - the 11th letter of the alphabet. 5 - the call district of Houston, location of Apollo 11 Mission Control. E - Eagle, the Apollo 11 lunar module. On passes I work using the special call sign, I will ID as “Kilo 5 Eagle.” Glade Schroeter, WA3MVQ, is donating high-quality full-color QSL cards, which will be used to confirm all contacts with K5E. Stations wishing to confirm will send their request to me with an SASE. The card will be standard QSL size. I encourage any of you who need QSL cards now or in the future to visit Glade’s Web site at www.gggraphicsstore.com. I custom-designed the card, which features the Apollo 11 crew patch and a collage of photos representing highlights of the full mission, from liftoff to splashdown. I will have a lo-res copy of the card front posted to my QRZ.com page no later than Monday. Work K5E one time to claim a special QSL card. There will be no endorsements of any kind, and only one QSL will be issued per valid amateur call sign. Remember, WA3MVQ is donating these high-quality cards. This special event and operation will occur ONLY on the amateur satellites. Another group has organized the Echoes of Apollo program and will have a number of HF stations on the air during the weekend of July 20th, the date of the lunar landing. They also held a special EME event over Field Day weekend. I have no interest in creating any animosity with the Echoes of Apollo group. I’m just interested in giving us satellite operators the chance to celebrate the Apollo 11 mission and its 40th Anniversary. I hope as many of you as possible will join me. I may contact some other operators around the U.S. and ask them to work a pass or two over the 9-day operation using K5E so we can cover as much ground as possible. Also, please note that the Canada Museum of Science and Technology will operate as VE3MOON from July 14-27, per a post earlier today to the AMSAT-BB Thanks in advance to all. 73, Tim – N3TL K5E – The 40th Anniversary Apollo 11 Satellite Special Event

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Re: Paccomm information for PSK-1T
by Mark L. Hammond 11 Jul '09

11 Jul '09

Hello John and Greg-- John--I think he means the 8pin DIN, not the mini-DIN.... Greg--contact me off-list and I'll try to help you with the PSK-1T (even though you apparently outbid me for these items, assuming you recently obtained them ;-) ) I've been using it to command AO-16... I don't know about the DFM unit, other than I think it is probably 1200 and 9600 baud capable. The PSK-1T can, as a stand alone unit, be used for 1200 baud PSK packet (like AO-16, IO-26, DO-64) and 1200 AFSK packet (like CalPoly-6). The DFM TNC doesn't need to be connected to the PSK-1T for it operate. If, however, you have a PSK-1 (without the "T"), it requires another TNC to be interfaced to it (like the DFM, an MFJ, etc.). My hunch is that the pair was used to add 9600 baud capability to somebody's satellite station... 73, Mark N8MH _______ John - That is the easy question. When Gywn Reedy, W1BEL (sk) and others set the specifications for the external contractor build of the PacComm PSK-1, they elected to use a common pin assignment/cable (late 1980s/early 1990s) for the 8-pin mini-DIN (rear panel of PSK-1) to the RS-232 (DB-9) on your computer. The cable for usage between an Apple computer and an Apple LaserWriter (serial port). I picked up a PacComm PSK-1 in May, replaced a blown capacitor on the 7805 regulator input and built this serial cable for connection to my personal computer's serial port. IF PacComm no longer sells this cable (you have to send an e-mail request to Linda), then any good Apple dealer or cable supplier should have this cable in their inventory for less than $25. Greg w9gb ==================== From: "johne tds.net" Subject: [amsat-bb] Paccomm information 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 -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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Re: Paccomm information
by Greg Beat 11 Jul '09

11 Jul '09

John - That is the easy question. When Gywn Reedy, W1BEL (sk) and others set the specifications for the external contractor build of the PacComm PSK-1, they elected to use a common pin assignment/cable (late 1980s/early 1990s) for the 8-pin mini-DIN (rear panel of PSK-1) to the RS-232 (DB-9) on your computer. The cable for usage between an Apple computer and an Apple LaserWriter (serial port). I picked up a PacComm PSK-1 in May, replaced a blown capacitor on the 7805 regulator input and built this serial cable for connection to my personal computer's serial port. IF PacComm no longer sells this cable (you have to send an e-mail request to Linda), then any good Apple dealer or cable supplier should have this cable in their inventory for less than $25. Greg w9gb ==================== From: "johne tds.net" Subject: [amsat-bb] Paccomm information 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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Re: NASA Kills Ulysses, and future Amsat missions
by Daniel Schultz 11 Jul '09

11 Jul '09

Ulysses was switched off because it exhausted its fuel supply. Without attitude control fuel it cannot keep its antenna pointed to Earth. Exactly what are we amateurs supposed to do with this bird when its own flight controllers cannot communicate with it anymore? We hams do have a long tradition of making use of other people's useless junk, whether it was the wavelengths shorter than 200 meters back in the 1920's, a big pile of war surplus radios in the 1940's, old TV power supplies and sweep tubes in the 1950's, unused launch vehicle capacity in the 1960's, and test flights of new launch vehicles in the 1980's. However there are limits to the "use other people's junk" business model and we have run up against those limits. Even amateur radio communications is sufficiently complex to require a purpose-built payload for our communications mission. Commercial communications satellites are kept in revenue service until they run out of fuel, and their commercial payloads are specific to commercial missions and cannot easily be retuned to ham radio bands at the end of their commercial life. The amateur satellite movement started in 1961 when some unknown Air Force general allowed Project Oscar to attach a secondary payload to a classified Corona imaging satellite. In doing so he took a big chance on us. If Oscar-1 had vibrated loose from its clamp band and rattled around inside the payload shroud to bang up the very expensive spy satellite it probably would have been the end of his career. Following that beginning we went on to launch Phase 3A with a solid fuel kick motor, and three more Phase 3 birds with highly toxic and corrosive hypergolic liquid fuel systems. If we had screwed up any of those missions we had the capacity to destroy the primary payload or cause the loss of a very expensive test mission with great loss of revenue to the launch vehicle owners. We were allowed to do these things because of a very generous and trusting relationship by officials of the launch vehicle authority, who were also willing to absorb substantial costs of paperwork certifications by their own engineers that our secondary payloads would not pose a risk to their primary missions. Our business model of the past 45 years seems to be no longer viable. In this modern era the beancounters are fully in charge and insist on full recovery of any additional costs that are imposed by our presence on the mission. It is simply no longer possible for a friendly Air Force General or civilian project manager to allow us to sneak our little payload in under the radar. Our success in the small satellite area has created a thriving market for small satellites, and launch vehicle owners now understand that they can sell the excess capacity that they once gave away for free. With dozens of universities, small companies and government agencies clamoring for secondary launch vehicle space, we hams can no longer sneak our little satellites in as "ballast" like we did in the past. We did have a deal with Intelsat to carry ham gear onboard one of their geosynchronous satellites and we would not even need to wait 15 to 20 years for the satellite to complete its commercial mission before using our payload. They quoted us a price tag of about $10 million to cover their integration costs in installing our equipment into their satellite. They probably would not be making money off of us at that price, merely recovering their costs. Since we have not yet been able to raise $10 million it looks like this project is not going to happen. My guess is that the US Government is not going to fork over $10 million for a disaster communications system unless they set the specifications and control its use. It would be a classic case of "Not Invented Here" syndrome. What can we do to keep Amsat alive in the future? 1. Team up with other space organizations. The Planetary Society is interested in building a solar sail demonstration mission. Like us, they must find a secondary launch. Amsat could provide a communications package for the sail mission. There are other private groups trying to reach the moon. Offer them our expertise in space radio communications systems, which no other space interest group can match, in return for a ride on their spacecraft. Amsat has historically marketed itself as a ham radio organization, but we are also a space interest group. We should have a presence at the Space Development Conferences. Few private membership funded space organizations have our historic track record of success. 2. Offer RF equipment to the student Cubesat groups. Many of them simply package commercial HT's into their Cubesats, they do not have enough RF knowledge or experience to do any better. Develop a drop-in RF command and telemetry system, include a simple transponder capability, and offer it to the Cubesat groups for inclusion into their satellites. Design and fund an Amsat Cubesat mission to show them how it should be done. Cultivate relationships with schools and universities. The aerospace industry is throwing millions of dollars into development of a new generation of aerospace engineers to replace the aging and expensive baby boomers who they plan to forcibly retire in the next few years. A student-built satellite can attract industry funding that no Amsat mission can ever hope to receive. 3. Cultivate our relationship with NASA, the Department of Defense and Foreign space agencies. Our presence on the ISS is very costly but NASA thinks that our value in providing school group contacts through ARISS justifies their cost to carry us along on this mission. If we are ever going to get to the moon it will have to be done in the same way. We need to cultivate relationships with people who can give the green light to future projects like ARISS. We should try to invite these people to the Amsat Symposium in Baltimore this October. The private sector is probably not going to help us unless we can pay cash up front, but always keep your eyes and ears open in case there is an exception to this rule. 4. Develop our own propulsion technology, possibly electric propulsion, possibly an old-fashioned solid fuel kick motor. Launch our satellites to LEO on the Russian missiles, then raise their orbit to a higher altitude. I am hopeful that the recently announced arms reduction agreement between the US and Russia might free up additional missiles for launching satellites, however the Russians have also learned the true value of their missile launches so even these may be beyond our means without teaming with other organizations. 5. Recognize that the real work happens behind the scenes. Stop whining on Amsat-BB about what "you guys at Amsat" should be doing. Each of us can take one of three roles, 1. Lead, 2. Follow, or 3. Get out of the way. Dan Schultz N8FGV

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for sale
by w3vvp 11 Jul '09

11 Jul '09

WB3IGR at goeaston.net has an SSB-UEK 2304 down convertor for sale for $275 shipped.Phone 410-820-0552. George/w3vvp

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OT: ILN Faces Delay
by Armando Mercado 11 Jul '09

11 Jul '09

Greetings, NASA's next rover to Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), is running over budget again, and now NASA is looking to borrow money from other planetary programs, including the International Lunar Network, to make up the difference. If this occurs, the ILN will be delayed from its original 2012- 2014 launch date. 73 Armando, N8IGJ

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Re: AO-51 tlmECHO software... supported TNC
by Mark L. Hammond 10 Jul '09

10 Jul '09

Hello Jean-François, TLMEcho requires a TNC in KISS mode (or, software emulation of KISS mode). Any TNC that can run in KISS mode should work with TLMEcho. If the SCS PTC-IIe can run KISS mode (or emulate it), it should work with TLMEcho. People can also use MixW and a sound card, since MixW can emulate a TNC in KISS mode. Another sound card option is to use Willow/Sabins by Douglas KA2UPW. I can't find the links--it was convered in a recent very good article in the AMSAT Journal. There is a bit of information in this Presentation, near the end: http://www.norcalqrp.org/files%5CIntroduction_to_Amateur_Radio_Satellites_P… Douglas--can you please post the links to your software? :) Can't find it via Google... 73, Mark N8MH _____________ AO-51 tlmECHO software... supported TNC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-51 tlmECHO software... supported TNC From: Jean-François Ménard <jf.va2ss@xxxxxxxxx> Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:24:13 -0400 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma;h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:subject:content-type:content-transfer-encoding;bh=UURVcSi1Stowa1PCzrL1AxU3Nvi7JvvHPFe/4m7W2P8=;b=Hq4lMjcvd7PmHsgEoFm3t+Xe8A8oyzad7SQ6SkYRabf/saIyJ8c9NGJW+Na3u/6QIlVCyHSo790e4DXagUo/oCcxCPNWhv1qr0raCeiESbDgtpH2nzaydEAfZL+slAP7NFB0gTmJlcFnzHzSPADBVUcDTeXzs7GpS+EtlDHZN8o= -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, Does anybody know if a SCS PTC-IIe TNC could be compatible with tlmECHO software requirements ? I know that my TNC can decode at 9600 baud, but is there any special concern to know when using such TNC ? Thanks. -- Jean-François Ménard VA2SS =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= AMSAT www.amsat.org / Member #37102 ARRL www.arrl.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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Re: Satellite prediction software
by Jean-François Ménard 10 Jul '09

10 Jul '09

Thank Patrick for this precious information. I will try it for sure !! The E71 has a real GPS in it. When I mean real, it uses satellite to find the location... you can also see the satellite status in the phone... when no satelites are available, it uses the assisted gps from the cellular network provider. I let you know.. Best 73 J-F VA2SS Patrick STODDARD a écrit : > Bonjour, Jean-Francois! > >> Anybody know a "pocket satellite" prediction software, like pSatellite >> for Palm OS..... but I need it running on my Nokia E71 using Symbian OS >> S60 3rd series plateform. >> >> Can't fin anything at this moment, but could be very useful. Since this >> phone has a "real" GPS build in, the time clock could be accurate for >> such "mobile" prediction. Hi! > > I have a Nokia N85 with the same version of the Symbian S60 OS. If > your phone has Java, you can try the SATme program from: > > http://www.k0sm.com/_mgxroot/page_10732.html > > Without registering the program, you would have to enter your QTH > and manually load a keps file on your phone whenever you run the > program. With registration, the program can access the Internet to > update the keps and keep your QTH. There is a function in the > program that is supposed to get your location from the phone's GPS. > Otherwise, you can manually enter a location (or two locations, to > calculate mutual visibility for a given satellite) and use that. > > My phone has a GPS, but it is considered an "assisted" GPS, since > it has to access the Internet in order to work properly. When it works, > it can be very accurate - Google Maps is great with this phone. If I > need a real GPS, I can use a Garmin GPS instead of trying to mess > with the phone. > > Good luck and 73! > > > > > Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - Phoenix AZ > http://www.wd9ewk.net/ -- Jean-François Ménard VA2SS =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= AMSAT www.amsat.org / Member #37102 ARRL www.arrl.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

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TLMECHO Bonus
by Luc Leblanc 10 Jul '09

10 Jul '09

When i upload my TLM capture by tlm echo i was able to get 3 graph that i put on my web page www.qsl.net/ve2dwe. I remember couple of years ago having going on this page quick but without going further. The graph are showing Power over time, solar panel voltages over time and solar panel array currents over time. You can even choose on this page wich one you want tp be put on graph. look at: http://echo.coloradosatellite.net/echo/index.php It is a good tool as i'm always asking at what power the satellite is transmitting now i can get my answers without having to yell in the crowd. "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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Re: DO-64 software support for PSK-1(T) hardware?
by Clive Wallis 10 Jul '09

10 Jul '09

Hi, I too am very interested using a TNC dor captuting DO-64 telemetry. Earlier in the year, I had some success using my PK-88 TNC in KISS mode, with a G3RUH PSK modem. Results were better than with the soundcard software. I had hoped to develop a simple TLM decoding program, based on my OSCAR-11 software. However, at the time I was unable to obtain full details of the telemetry format and decoding equations. Can any one on this group provide this essential information? Any help would be much appreciated. Please reply ONLY to this group, as I'm currently having major problems with receiving e-mails at my usual address. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK.

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