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

ZD8DC Active on FO-29
by Hal Lund ZS6WB 22 Aug '09

22 Aug '09

Dean, ZD8DC is currently active from Ascension Island on FO-29 and possibly also AO-51 and SO-50. So far he has been worked in South Africa on FO-29 by ZS1LS and ZS6WB. In both cases the contact has been on a weekend morning ascending pass when he was heard calling CQ around 435.843 MHz SSB. His activity will probably be mostly on weekends as he works during the week but he could have some good common windows on FO-29 into Africa, South America and Western Europe. If you are in these areas watch for him especially on 23-29-30 August. He will complete his work assignment on Ascension and return to the U.S. on 02 September. Hal ZS6WB

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Re: Piraja's You Tube video
by Dr. Jay Garlitz 22 Aug '09

22 Aug '09

If you have not watched (PS8RF) Piraja's video of the audio received from ZS2ACP on AO-7 do not miss it. It is an excellent presentation and hopefully will encourage others to work AO-7 DX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meMa0zz5v4k 73, Jay, AA4FL __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4357 (20090821) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com

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Suitsat-2 costs
by Andrew Glasbrenner 22 Aug '09

22 Aug '09

According to Martha, in 2009 we have spent a grand total of $12,361 on Suitsat-2. The 2008 files are not right at hand, but the expense was even less. In comparison we've spent more on ITAR legal help trying to free our volunteers to resume work on P3E. The launch cost for Suitsat-2 will be zero for AMSAT. Nothing paid by AMSAT to Russia, nothing paid by AMSAT to NASA. Nothing. Launch cost for cubesats to LEO (600-800 km) is ~$70,000/kg. Suitsat-2 is over 20kg. I'll let each individual decide whether they think that's a deal or not. It's painfully obvious to me. 73, Drew KO4MA

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Re: Don't Fly SuitSat2 to ISS
by Armando Mercado 21 Aug '09

21 Aug '09

Greetings, Two things to keep in mind. NASA (USA) is one of 20 plus countries that have a direct interest in the ISS. Second, the MIR space station was orginally intended to have a 5 year life span. It ended up flying for 15 years. 73 Armando N8IGJ >Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:39:40 -0700 (PDT) >From: MM <ka1rrw(a)yahoo.com> >Subject: [amsat-bb] Don't Fly SuitSat2 to ISS >To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >Message-ID: <273358.20471.qm(a)web56404.mail.re3.yahoo.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 >The International Space Station will be retired in 20015-2016. >We do not have much time left, before NASA pulls the plug!

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Re: SO-50
by Bill Dzurilla 21 Aug '09

21 Aug '09

One other important thing to remember about SO-50. Unlike AO-51 and AO-27, it does not transmit a carrier. You won't hear any noise unless someone is transmitting. You can't just wave your antenna around and peak for maximum on a carrier. So unless you are running full duplex and can hear your own signal, in times of low activity you don't know if you are getting into the bird. Although SO-50 is not as strong as the other birds, you can work it easily with an HT and an Elk or Arrow handheld antenna. 73, Bill NZ5N > SO-50 is difficult to work for two reasons, in my opinion: > > > 1 - Its power level is a nominal 250 milliwatts (.25 watt). > > > 2 - It is transmitting that quarter-watt into a 0-gain > quarter-wave vertical mounted on one corner of the > satellite. > > This truly is the QRPp space-radio station! There is a very > good chance that you are doing nothing wrong. I encourage > you, however, to try working a pass without Doppler control. > Let your ears guide you for the Doppler tuning, based on the > relative noise level as the pass unfolds, and park your > uplink at 145.850. > > The very best of luck. Please let us know how you progress. > > > 73, > > Tim - N3Tl > Athens, Ga. - EM84ha

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FT897
by Randy 21 Aug '09

21 Aug '09

What do you all think of using a Yaesu FT-897 for satellite work? Randy - N2CUA

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Andre, ZS2ACP heard 7695 km via AO-7 Mode B
by ps8rf ps8 21 Aug '09

21 Aug '09

Hello, Today in the orbit of number 59094 of AO-7 ( MODE B - 20:14:21 UTC - 21/08/2009). Could hear the Andre, ZS2ACP calling CQ and reporting signal to another station here in Brazil (PY5LF). Unfortunately I could not find the uplink, was prepared, but I missed the time to call it. Despite the weather have been enough I could not hear me. That's it friends, the AO-7 in spite of 35 years continues to bring surprises to the Community of users of satellite. I Posted the video/audio in two links: see here: http://spacesat.blogspot.com/2009/08/zs2acp-escutado-7695-km-via-ao-7.html or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meMa0zz5v4k 73 Piraja, PS8RF _________________________________________________________________ Deixe suas conversas mais divertidas. Baixe agora mesmo novos emoticons. É grátis! http://specials.br.msn.com/ilovemessenger/pacotes.aspx

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Re: Semi-remoting the controller for a Yaesu G5400
by bpn518＠aol.com 21 Aug '09

21 Aug '09

Hi Lowell, I think you need only 3 wires for one rotor, and 2 wires for the other (because you'd use the common hot from the first rotor). However, you wouldn't know meter reading for end of travel of the motor, and could damage the rotor. If you are using the remote tracker interface (such as LVB that has front panel control as well as PC control), you could maybe run long cable from the tracker interface (in your shack) to the controller (in your garage), and you would have both control and digital readout of the position, and the LVB would know end of travel of each motor. Other ideas? Regards, Bennett ko2ok

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Re: Difference between Yaesu G5400, G5600 and G5500
by bpn518＠aol.com 21 Aug '09

21 Aug '09

Jan, Yes, add the C in the 5600 controller, and your old motors will work. I did that with mine, and I now also use the LVB tracker. Regards, Bennett ko2ok

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Fwd: PARACHUTE MOBILE 1.2 GHz FM this Sunday 1280.225
by Fabiano Moser 21 Aug '09

21 Aug '09

Re-sending... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: boeing377 <BOEING377(a)gmail.com> Date: 2009/8/20 Subject: [AlincoDJ-G7] PARACHUTE MOBILE 1.2 GHz FM this Sunday 1280.225 To: AlincoDJ-G7(a)yahoogroups.com Mark AF6IM and Michael KF6WRW will be skydiving at Byron CA this Sunday and will do some HAHO (high altitude high opening) jumps to give us enough time to do ham radio comms. Jump altitudes will be approx 14,000 ft. We will not be using oxygen gear. These are practice jumps for the big event planned for October, HF radio HAHO jumps at an altitude of 18,000 to 24,000 feet depending on FAA clearances and conflicting air traffic. We are using these practice jumps to work out kinks in mounting, mics, noise cancellation, headphones etc. and just getting used to flying our ram air ("square") chutes and communicating simultaneously. I plan to operate on the 1282.225 MHz repeater for at least one jump. I will announce about a half hour pre jump as I can reach ths repeater from the ground in Byron. Jon, K6OJ, our crew chief, will be on the ground at Byron and will coordinate some 2 meter simplex comms for me. Details to follow. I will call Michael KI6QNZ by phone from Byron to give him an ETA on jump times Sunday. He has volunteered to put out the info on the N6NFI repeater 145.230 which we cannot reach from the ground in Byron. We would like to use APRS for more than just position reporting on our later jumps. Relatively cheap pulse oximeters now have USB output. We'd like to have APRS report our blood oxygen levels and pulse rates to our ground crew. If we have oxygen system failures we may not be able to recognize them ourselves due to hypoxia. Ground controllers could detect it and try to inform us by radio. Even if we did not hear or understand the radio warnings, the ground crew could at least see our altitude, heading and speed and dead reckon where we might be landing in an impaired state. The ground crew could dispatch resources to our predicted landing area which could be miles away from the DZ. From 24,000 feet in calm air, we can glide about 15 miles horizontally, much more if we are running downwind. Garmin 350s (or the more expensive Kenwood APRS GPS plotters) interfaced to APRS could prove very useful. On these recent practice jumps we had winds up to 20 knots at the higher altitudes and had to fly into the wind to maintain position over the DZ while descending. We'd also like the ground crew to help us calculate winds aloft (speed and direction) during our jumps. If we make a constant rate turn of 360 degrees, our ground track in calm air will be a perfect circle. If there are winds aloft, the circle will be distorted. We should show a peak in groundspeed when running directly downwind during the turns. It is too complicated to do the figuring under canopy, but pretty easy for a trained ground crew. We will need quite a few people because there are so many different tasks to do during the jump. Jon K6OJ will be determining resource needs and allocations. I am sure he will welcome volunteers. The October jumps were originally scheduled for Monterey (Marina airport) but we are considering Byron too. In the event of an oxygen failure, an uncontrolled parachute could head FAR out to sea (over 15 miles) from our planned altitudes if we jumped at Marina. Byron has its own nearby hazards: windmill farms, high voltage towers and lines, canals and lakes, etc. We are balancing the risks and still deciding. Byron is a bit closer to our ham community. Monterey offers incredible aerial scenery. We will carry floatation gear no matter where we jump, but a far offshore ocean landing could prove fatal due to hypothermia even if afloat. if we choose Monterey we may wear anti exposure jumpsuits. I have some surplus ones used by flight crews. VERY uncomfortable (basically a drysuit) but better safe than sorry. Anyone out there have the expertise to interface a pulse oximeter with APRS to report blood oxygen levels? We'd also like to get ATV coverage of the October HF jumps and maybe even some of the practice jumps. I'd be willing to fly a video camera and ATV xmtr, but dont have any gear. Any ideas? My nmail address is below. LOTS to do in advance of our October jumps. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I will also have a portable ADF ready for October for the use of our ground crew. Additional DF resources will be welcomed. I will carry a VHF location beacon, probably on 121.7 MHZ AM and an emergency beacon on 121.5 MHz AM to be activated if in distress. 73, Mark AF6IM af6im(a)arrl.net <af6im%40arrl.net> __._,_.___ Messages in this topic <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/message/82;_ylc=X3oDMTMxZ3I1cWQxB…> (1) Reply (via web post) <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJvZWtvc2xiBF9TAzk…>| Start a new topic <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJmM2R1M2VkBF9TAzk…> Messages<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/messages;_ylc=X3oDMTJmZDZlYWduBF9…>| Files<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/files;_ylc=X3oDMTJnYjlhYWU1BF9TAz…>| Photos<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/photos;_ylc=X3oDMTJmb3Q2anBjBF9TA…>| Links<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/links;_ylc=X3oDMTJndDgzMGVuBF9TAz…>| Database<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/database;_ylc=X3oDMTJkNWI1ZGxhBF9…>| Polls<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/polls;_ylc=X3oDMTJnb2N2M3VsBF9TAz…>| Members<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/members;_ylc=X3oDMTJmNDBlYXA5BF9T…>| Calendar<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlincoDJ-G7/calendar;_ylc=X3oDMTJlcjdwOGxwBF9…> [image: Yahoo! 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Connect with others. . __,_._,___ -- 73 Fabiano Moser CR7/PY5RX ARISS-PORTUGAL (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) Representative at Teleconference and Portugal Telebridge Coordinator. AMRAD/AMSAT-CT http://www.amrad.pt/ariss.php "There is no great talent without great will. (Honoré de Balzac)"

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