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

TekSharp dish antennas?
by Mark L. Hammond 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

Does anybody on the list have any hands-on experiene with a TekSharp dish and tri-band patch feed? http://www.plumdragon.com/teksharp/hr_AO-40_products.htm http://www.plumdragon.com/teksharp/hr_details_AO_40_SLU.htm I'm curious about the 1.8M dish in particular...performance, product longevity, wind load, and ability to use it on a G-5500, etc. If anybody has one of these setups for sale at a bargain price, let me know that, too :) Thanks for any info! -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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Re: ANS-189 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - SuitSat-2Transforms Into a Satellite
by Ken Ernandes 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

The forward direction is correct if one wishes to maximize semi-major axis (and likewise, altitude). Throwing the suit vertically will just create higher eccentricity without any additional semi-major axis -- i.e., perigee will be lower than the ISS and apogee would be higher. They deliberately throw the suits in the rearward direction so they will have a slightly lower altitiude to reduce the collision hazard and have it burn in more quickly. If you throw the suit forward, it will have a higher semi-major axis with perigee altitude at the release point. (Assuming the ISS's orbit were perfectly circular, which it naturally is not.) The increased collision hazard is because the suit would be crossing the ISS's orbital path occasionally for a variety of reasons. The orbital crossings are reduced, if not eliminated, by throwing the suit rearward. I hope this helps. 73, Ken N2WWD -----Original Message----- >From: g0mrf(a)aol.com >Sent: Jul 8, 2009 2:20 PM >To: rogerkola(a)aol.com, amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: ANS-189 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - SuitSat-2Transforms Into a Satellite > >Now, that is an intriguing thought Roger ! > >I think to get maximum altitude you would need to 'throw' the satellite forward. i.e. in the direction of movement of the ISS. >This would give you an elliptical orbit with the lowest point at the starting altitude and the apogee or highest point determined by the amount of delta V applied when the satellite was thrown. > >So.....1) What orbit do you get if the original direction of travel is "vertical" or 90 degrees to the direction of travel? >???????? 2) How to convert the ability to throw a 1kg brick 25 feet into the air on earth, into a figure of Newton seconds to calculate thrust and delta V for orbital change. > >Thanks > >David > > > >Just for grins...with the reduced gravity at 200 miles up..how much force >would need to be applied "vertically" (in reality 'away from the earth") for >a cubesat to arrive in an orbit which would last significantly longer >without additional propulsion? > >Background...I was a business major so such calculations ARE rocket science >to me... > >Roger >WA1KAT > > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Roger Kolakowski <rogerkola(a)aol.com> >To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >Sent: Wed, 8 Jul 2009 18:50 >Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: ANS-189 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - SuitSat-2Transforms Into a Satellite > > > >Just for grins...with the reduced gravity at 200 miles up..how much force >would need to be applied "vertically" (in reality 'away from the earth") for >a cubesat to arrive in an orbit which would last significantly longer >without additional propulsion? > >Background...I was a business major so such calculations ARE rocket science >to me... > >Roger >WA1KAT >----- Original Message ----- >From: "JoAnne Maenpaa" <k9jkm(a)comcast.net> >To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> >Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:08 PM >Subject: [amsat-bb] ANS-189 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - >SuitSat-2Transforms Into a Satellite > > >> SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-189.01 >> SuitSat-2 Transforms Into a Satellite >> >> AMSAT News Service Bulletin 189.01 >> >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. >> July 8, 2009 >> To All RADIO AMATEURS >> BID: $ANS-189.01 >> >> Due to storage considerations on the International Space Station, >> the two surplus Orlan space suits in storage on the International >> Space Station were discarded via the Progress Cargo Vessel. One of >> these suits was to be used to house the electronics for the upcoming >> SuitSat-2 mission ... ;-( > >_______________________________________________ >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 > > >________________________________________________________________________ >AOL Email goes Mobile! You can now read your AOL Emails whilst on the move. Sign up for a free AOL Email account with unlimited storage today. >_______________________________________________ >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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ANS-189 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - SuitSat-2 Transforms Into a Satellite
by JoAnne Maenpaa 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-189.01 SuitSat-2 Transforms Into a Satellite AMSAT News Service Bulletin 189.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 8, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-189.01 Due to storage considerations on the International Space Station, the two surplus Orlan space suits in storage on the International Space Station were discarded via the Progress Cargo Vessel. One of these suits was to be used to house the electronics for the upcoming SuitSat-2 mission where the batteries were to be mounted inside the suit, solar panels attached to the extremities with the electronics, video cameras and antenna mounted on the helmet by the ISS crew prior to deployment during an EVA. The Progress, with the suits included, was undocked from ISS this past week. The ARISS International Team has been informed that there is still space available for shipment of the SuitSat-2 electronics on the projected cargo flight to the Space Station in January 2010 and the EVA scheduled for April 2010 still has a 'SuitSat-2' deployment scheduled. Consequently, the AMSAT team developing SuitSat-2 electronics on behalf of ARISS International is focusing on completing development in anticipation that deployment will still take place in Spring 2010 using a new structure to house it. In addition, the experiment being developed by Russia's Kursk State University is still expected to be integrated into the electronics once the US produced equipment is delivered to Russia this fall. Discussions are currently taking place between Russian ARISS members and the AMSAT project managers concerning the design of the new structure and where it will be constructed with these decisions to be made in the next few weeks. The AMSAT team building the electronics is meeting July 10-12 in Phoenix to initiate integration testing of all of the components built in the US with subsequent testing to continue through the remainder of the summer in anticipation of shipping equipment to Russia in the fall. The removal of the Orlan space suits from ISS removes the 'Suit' component of this deployment and at some point a new project name will be used to reflect the change in configuration. However, the significant importance of this project to both ARISS and AMSAT is not diminished. ARISS sees this mission as an important component of education out- reach as it will provide an opportunity for students around the world to listen for recorded greetings from space as well as learn about tracking spacecraft in orbit. Meanwhile, the deployment of SDX (Software Defined Transponder), the associated receiver and transmitter modules, and control electronics is a critical milestone for AMSAT as this upcoming flight provides an opportunity to flight test the next generation of spacecraft hardware. Lessons learned from this deployment will be applied to future flight opportunities as AMSAT moves towards a 'modularization approach' to spacecraft development with the expectation the future spacecraft missions will utilize a derivative of SDX and the associated hardware. [ANS thanks AMSAT VP-Manned Spaceflight Will Marchant, KC6ROL for the above information] /EX

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Re: qsl card
by Scott Smith 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

Hi folks, i received my qsl card from Richard Garriott in the mail today. Thanks to all who were involved in getting those cards in the mail. It sure looks nice. 73 de VE6ITV Scott

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Host http://www.amsat.org.uk/
by Thomas Frey 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

Hello and Thanks for the bandwith If I click on http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/ I get the message "Bad Request (Invalid Hostname)". I think the host is misconfigured. If you are the webmaster, please correct it, Thank you. Best Regards, 73 Thomas Frey, HB9SKA ______________________________________________________________________ Thomas Frey, Holzgasse 2, CH-5242 Birr, Tel. + Fax: 056 444 93 41 http://home.datacomm.ch/th.frey/

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Re: OT: Universal Text Messaging and Pagers (WAS Re:Re:dream)
by laura halliday 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

A number of groups have played with mixing POCSAG and ham radio, but I've never heard of any actually making it work. Rather than worrying too much about whether it was legal or not, they assumed that since it was amateurs doing amateur things with it, i.e. playing with and learning about radio, it was OK. Industry Canada generally trust us to behave ourselves. Can't say the same for other countries. The 2-way stuff paging I work with (ReFLEX 2.7) is much cooler than POCSAG, but Motorola could teach Apple a thing or two about closed, proprietary systems... :-( Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..." ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte _________________________________________________________________ Créez un personnage à votre image pour votre WL Messenger http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9656622

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Re: OT: Universal Text Messaging and Pagers (WAS Re: Re: dream)
by Bob Bruninga 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

>> Using paging devices on Amateur Radio is perfectly >> legal like any other radio. It all boils down to >> use. If you use it for setting up a one-way >> systemm for a pizza delivery service, it is >> clearly illegal. If you use it as part of your >> overall local communications network of amateur >> radio volunters it is just one more tool in the >> tool box. > > Unfortunately, the way Part 97 currently reads is > that most pager transmissions to an individual are > illegal under §97.111(b), as it is a "one way" > transmission that, in most cases, would not > qualify under the "legal" list. Sorry, one can also claim that every transmission is one-way because only under full duplex conditions is a system truely two-way. There are all kinds of applications in amateur radio where one side of the link uses different hardware than the other return side, and once can make all kinds of arguments as to how much delay is involved between the transmission and the receiption.. 3 seconds? 10 seconds, a minute? 10 minutes? A day? When you make a call to a party TO ESTABLISH commmunications it is one way, until the person gets his system going and responds. In my mind a pager is just another way of making the call. THe intent is NOT ONE WAY, it is to provide a call-up or a message as part of a CLEARLY TWO-WAY amateur network. There is no reason to nit pick rules. When one is broadcasting (one way) to the general public or using amateur radio inappropriately, I think everyone can tell when it is blatanly illegal. I just don't see the FCC cares one nit about some of these debates when any one can see that hams are taking initiative to better their use of the radio art. >> You just have to ignore the curmudgeons who >> have nothing better to do than nit-pick ways >> to prevent other hams from developing useful >> applications of technology. A pager is simply >> the text-to-user device integrated into the >> normal local 2-way amateur radio communications >> system. > > The issue is that, according to Part 97, it can't > be used beyond QSTs, telemetry, or "necessary" > emergency communications. Could I get away with > setting up such a system? Likely. Do I foot to > stand on when my local OO comes knocking? > Not so much. Some OO's are part of the problem, not the solution... >> An amateur satellite would make a great downlink >> to these pagers. Again, the goal should simply >> be, any message, any time, anywhere >> using any device to any user by callsign alone. Bob, WB4APR

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Re: OT: Universal Text Messaging and Pagers (WAS Re: Re:dream)
by Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

No we don't. The FCC are obviously happy to allow us to do what we do now. If you stir up trouble and get things banned, there are going to be an awful lot of pissed amameurs after your arse. kd8bxp(a)aol.com wrote: > Ben, I agree we need a ruling on this I think part 97 is vauge and vauge for a reason > > What we need is to setup a confrance call or something so we can get a well written letter together and get it off to someone who can make a ruleing at the FCC

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Book your flight to the Amsat Symposium today, airline fare sale for next 24 hours
by Daniel Schultz 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

Southwest Airlines is having a fare sale today only for fall travel, sale fares are valid every day except Fridays & Sundays. Must purchase tickets online by July 8, 11:59 pm Pacific Time (about 24 hours from now). Other airlines may be matching these fares. Now might be a good time to book your flight to the Amsat Symposium at the Baltimore (BWI) airport, October 9 to 11. (Even if you decide to return home on Sunday, you can still save a bit on the outbound flight if you come on Thursday.) Dan Schultz N8FGV

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2009 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium - Call for papers
by Daniel Schultz 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

This is the second call for papers for the 2009 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium to be held October 9 - 11 at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Baltimore Washington Airport. Proposals for papers, symposium presentations and poster presentations are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite community. We request a tentative title of your presentation as soon as possible, with final copy submitted by September 1, 2009 for inclusion in the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan Schultz, N8FGV, at n8fgv(a)amsat.org.

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