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

AMSAT Field Day
by Tim - N3TL 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

Congratulations to John, K8YSE, and Doug, KD8CAO, for their winning effort in the AMSAT Field Day competition - operating as W8DXA. That's their mobile-antenna setup on the cover of the new issue of The AMSAT Journal, which arrived here today. It was nice to see an increase of entries this year. Here's hoping that trend continues well into the future. Thanks to Bruce, KK5DO, for taking the time to coordinate the AMSAT Field Day contest and for providing the article and final results to the Journal. 73 to all, Tim - N3TL

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SumbandilaSat launch postponed!
by Tim - N3TL 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

Hey everyone, I just found the following on the AMSAT-South Africa home page: Due to high winds at the launch site and some telemetry issues on the rocket the launch has been delayed for 24 hours and will now take place on 16 September at around 15:45 UTC 73 to all, Tim - N3TL

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Kenwood TS-2000 Birdies
by Nathaniel S. Parsons 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

Hi all, I am a student on CUSat <http://cusat.cornell.edu>, one of Cornell University's satellite project teams. You may remember me from my previous call for help to resolve our antenna crises. I don't think I sent a follow-up to the bb, but we were able to recover from that crisis in large part due to your help, so thank you. Recently, it has come to my attention that the TS-2000, the transceiver in our ground station, has a birdie at 436.800MHz. To me, this seems very close to the frequency coordinated for our satellite by the IARU, 437.405 MHz. Should we worry about this, or will we be fine with the TS-2000? If the consensus is that it's best to switch radios, what would be best for us? We don't need anything more than VHF/UHF, and computer control. Thanks, Nate Parsons KC2SVI

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AO-7 question
by Randy 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

I , for the first time, tried to work AO-7. I could hear the beacon. The logs indicated it was in Mode A ? And that's what I tried .. But heard nothing. Not my own signal or anyone elses .. Was it active over the US during the 9ish AM pass? Randy - N2CUA

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SatPc32
by WCP 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

Thanks for help with SatPc32.............Must be a better tracking program! Any suggestions?

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Help
by Jack Barbera 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

Being some what new to amsat need a little help. When new SATS are placed in operation how are these loaded into SATPC32 program for tracking such as Sumbandilsat? Is there an easy way to switch from SATPC32 to SATPC32 ISS with out shutting down one to go to the other? Thanks for any help. Jack WA1ZDV

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Re: SumbandilaSat keps
by ps8rf Piraja 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

Hello Kostas, The keps of Sumbandila were not available so far. But the rocket launch is scheduled for 19:55 Moscow time. 73, Pirajá, PS8RF _________________________________________________________________ Acesse seu Hotmail de onde quer que esteja através do celular. Clique aqui. http://www.windowslive.com.br/celular/home.asp?utm_source=MSN_Hotmail&utm_m…

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Sumbandila early operations
by Pieter Kotze 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

Hello all Saw some information being exchanged about Sumbandila. Please note that the Amateur payload will probably not be switched on straight after launch. Commissioning is most likely to be performed from Stellenbosch South Africa only. So telemetry will only be heard whilst in contact with the groundstation and NOT on the amateur frequencies. There are a number of hams involved in the project so rest assured the amateur payload will be supported as soon as practical and safe. Regards Pieter ZS1PK/M0PAK -- This message is subject to the CSIR's copyright terms and conditions, e-mail legal notice, and implemented Open Document Format (ODF) standard. The full disclaimer details can be found at http://www.csir.co.za/disclaimer.html. This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. MailScanner thanks Transtec Computers for their support.

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Re: Sumbandilasat keps
by Mineo Wakita 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

Subject: SumbandilSat TLE From: Mineo Wakita To: saamsat Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:00:37 +0900 Hello, Do you have an early element of SumbandilSat ? Thank you. http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/sumbandi.htm JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita RE: SumbandilSat TLE From: Hans To: Mineo Wakita Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:14:54 +0200 Unfortunately not Hans

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AO-40 (R.I.P.) query
by Samudra Haque 15 Sep '09

15 Sep '09

Hi, I was looking at some information from the 2005 Edition of the ARRL handbook, which referred to AO-40 in some detail... but of course, AO-40 is non-functional at present. The information I was able to gather from web sources imply there is a "chance" the primary battery may become open-circuit, and the secondary battery might become operational if the panels are still charging. Q: Was there any watchdog facility onboard the AO-40 that operated directly off the charging bus prior to the battery ? If so, what was the capability of the watchdog facility ? Q: Is the bird still in orbit, or has it decayed or is decaying ? Q: Under normal lifespan, what was the intention of the designers when time came to have it shutdown ? Where there any deorbit plans ? Q: If the AO-40 satellite is still up there, is anyone listening ? Samudra, N3RDX

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