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

Re: [Bod] Fwd: Volunteering and things!
by David - KG4ZLB 10 Sep '09

10 Sep '09

Excellent, now we all know where we are with all this and further gripes in the bb can cease! (I still think there should be some notes made on the website so that visitors and non-bb participants know what's going on!) David KG4ZLB Gould Smith wrote: > 1) Absolutely not > Anyone can setup a Wiki and it can be used by whatever group wants > to. AMSAT is not switching to a Wiki > > 2) There are a number of options on the table. AMSAT is working on > deciding who will be responsible. > Rick is looking into the amount of work necessary and his available > time to implement including David Carr's site into the page. We expect > to have a link to David's site in the interim. > > 3) The volunteer page - there is a mitigation plan in place, to change > the email address of where the information goes. The change has been > requested. > > 73, > Gould > > > ----- Original Message -----

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Reminder
by Martha 10 Sep '09

10 Sep '09

Please remember that AMSAT has one employee. If your request on email is not answered in a timely manner, please call me at the office (301-589-6062) between 10:00 am - 6:00 pm ET. -- 73- Martha

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Kauai on Ao51
by RONALD CADE 10 Sep '09

10 Sep '09

Today at 4:47 pm local Hawaii time I will work a 9 degree pass with a foot print extending into the state of Arizona. Aloha Ron, W6ZQ/KH6. BL01/02

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Cape Cod FN51
by Dave Webb KB1PVH 10 Sep '09

10 Sep '09

Everyone, Starting Saturday afternoon, and into mid morning, possibly early afternoon Sunday, I will be operating from FN51 on Cape Cod, MA. I will try to be on as many of the passes that are in the footprint on the FM birds. There is a possibility that I will bring my 2 FT-857 radios to work the SSB birds also. If you want a QSL, send me an email with the QSO details, I will check the log and send a card. 73, Dave KB1PVH Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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ARRL/TAPR DCC (Digital Communications Conference) Forum Schedule Announced
by Mark Thompson 10 Sep '09

10 Sep '09

ARRL/TAPR DCC (Digital Communications Conference) Forum Schedule Announced TAPR is the premiere national digital organization covering all digital voice & data technologies and digital techniques such as SDR. More information about TAPR can be found at: www.tapr.org TAPR is active throughout the year. At the Dayton Hamvention TAPR sponsors a digital forum and a joint banquet with AMSAT. TAPR publishes a quarterly journal, the PSR and develops digital techniques such as SDR. TAPR holds in conjuntion with the ARRL an annual national Digital Communication Conference. You can follow TAPR's activities, events & updates regularly on Twitter at: www.twitter.org/taprdigital The ARRL/TAPR DCC (Digital Communications Conference) will be held on September 25 - 27, 2009 again in the northwest suburbs of Chicago at the Elk Grove Village Holiday Inn near O'Hare airport with a free hotel shuttle bus. The DCC has something for everyone from those new to digital modes to those experienced with digital communications. The DCC has 2 full days of Technical forums on Friday & Saturday. On Saturday there is an additional concurrent track of Introductory forums. On Sunday morning there is a 1/2 day technical session which is a deep dive into one or more digital topics, such as SDR. The DCC is well known for introducing new technologies & concepts. This year presentations include: * Two Ham DTV, Digital Television presentations by Art, WA8RMC & Ken, W6HHC. * "Use of Digital Communications at the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C." by Tom, N4ZPT. * "Universal Ham Radio Text Messaging" by Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, creator of APRS. After the Friday night social we plan to have another D-STAR get together. The Saturday night banquet speaker will be Bill Brown, WB8ELK. Bill is a pioneer in flying BalloonSats, balloons with payloads including amateur radio digital communication technologies. You can learn more about the DCC & register on-line at: www.tapr.org/dcc Registration is preferred prior to September 17th for planning purposes, but walk-in registrations will be accepted. If you can't attend the DCC the Proceedings can be purchased at the TAPR web site at: www.tapr.org/pub_dcc.html Starting last year, 2008 and continuing this year DCC presentations are being recorded by Amateur Radio Video News. DVDs of the prresentations are available at: http://www.arvideonews.com If you have any questions you can reach the TAPR Office at: taproffice(a)tapr.org Look foward to seeing many of you at the DCC. 73, Mark, WB9QZB DCC Local Co-Host Chicago, IL The 2009 DCC forum & speaker schedule is attached & is available online at the TAPR web site at: http://www.tapr.org/pdf/DCC_2009_Schedule_Preliminary2009-09-08.pdf

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Re: Help sought - amateur satellite service vs D-star
by Trevor . 10 Sep '09

10 Sep '09

The issue of D-STAR repeaters using the Amateur Satellite segments at 145.8, 435 and 1260 MHz has been of considerable concern in IARU Region 1. This matter is addressed in Edition 52 of the International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 VHF/UHF/uW newsletter. See D-STAR repeater interference http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2009/dstar_repeater_interference.htm direct link to download newsletter PDF http://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=173&func=file… Those in North America may not be aware that in the most of the world there is at best only 430-440 MHz available to the Amateur Services and in many areas only 432-438 MHz or less is available. In those countries I am aware of 430-440 MHz is shared with the Primary user - the Military - who use it for high power Radar, data links and voice communications. Here in ITU Region 1 (Europe) 433.075 to 434.795 MHz is also License Exempt spectrum for short range devices, which means anybody can use it without requiring a license. There are power limitations for license exempt short range devices but equipment that can operate on this band at far higher power levels is readily available. Unauthorised higher power equipment can also operate up to 435.525 MHz. References: Intek DRS-5070 PMR-446 Radio (also 433/434/435) http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2009/intek_drs5070_pmr446_radio.htm Thames Estuary interference on 433.500 MHz http://www.southgatearc.org/news/may2009/thames_estuary_interference..htm Short range devices in the 433 MHz band http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2008/short_range_devices_in_433mhz_b… 73 Trevor M5AKA

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MedaWiki Trial
by David Gendle 09 Sep '09

09 Sep '09

Greetings! I use three different Wikis on a daily basis. One is a customers site where the staff use the Wiki to share ideas and reports. The other two are used as program software support vehicles (DXLab suite of QSO logging software is one). Each is easy to use by everyone (no need to be a computer nerd!) and seems quite effective in allowing the dissemination of ideas and information. A big plus for the Wiki tool is that the search function really works (anyone ever try to use the search function of a Yahoo group?!?!?). I think that this might be a great tool for AMSAT if it can gain support of the BOD and the membership. 73, Dave - K4DLG

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MediaWiki Trial
by John Wright 09 Sep '09

09 Sep '09

At 15:42 09/09/2009, you wrote: >After reading this thread, I figured it'd be worthwhile to set up a >mediawiki instance to let people get familiar with it. I set one up last >night on a node for my own enlightenment. The configuration is not "the >best" by any means. For those interested in timeframe, it took thirty >minutes to configure this instance from a clean arch linux installation. If >you are interested in poking around in the environment to see what it feel >like, go ahead, that's why I set it up. I disabled email registration, so >anyone can just create an account and get a feel for creating pages / >editing / preferences / etc... Tonight, i'm going to hack at creating my >own skin, since it would just be cool :-) I added the amsat logo to the >main page for testing, I hope this doesn't violate any copyright rules.... >If it does, hollar and i'll remove it. > >For the record, I have nothing to do with Amsat right now, outside of being >a first time member this year. I also don't want anyone to think that i'm >pushing for media wiki or anything of the sort. I just like the idea of >having a wiki. I read the email thread and figured it'd be worthwhile to >set an instance up so Amsat folk could get familiar with it. I have managed >two other wiki systems on my own, trac / moinmoin. MediaWiki has quite a >bit to offer and is reasonably easy to configure. > >Here's a link to the playground: > >http://71.43.22.149/ > >Let me know if you have any comments or questions (or if you get any weird >behavior). Thought I'd start this as a new thread. Just been on the Wiki, I think its a great idea. I added my comments in the discussion section just to get a feel for it. I'm not an Amsat-NA member, but non-the-less think I'm allowed to comment. I really hope this expands and becomes as useful as Wikipedia itself! John G4DMF

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TS2000 Bird
by Danny Casier 09 Sep '09

09 Sep '09

He om's; Is there a mod or fix to remove that bad bird on 436800 on my TS2000? 73 Dan ON5UE

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broken links
by acjohn1＠juno.com 09 Sep '09

09 Sep '09

When you first start thinking about playing with the satallites there isn't that much information on the web. Most links are broken or refer to satellites that are long silent. Step back and look at the hobby from someone looking to get into it. You are not going to get home brewers if all the plans use parts no longer made and you are not going to get new satellite people if all of the info is for dead birds. 73 John KG4VHV ____________________________________________________________ Lose up to 20 lbs in one month with a new diet. Click here. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTFoYbqNUytsnOVAfolnUsFf0P…

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