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

Rigblaster TNC?
by John 09 Sep '09

09 Sep '09

All, I'm in the process of setting up a simple 'earth station' for satellite work. One facet I am interested in is digital mode. Thus my question: will a Rigblaster Plus work as a TNC, or must I buy a dedicated TNC? My shack is rather small, and I'd rather have one box that would do two things vs. two that do one thing. Rig is an Icom 706MKIIG, which has the data port for packet. Assuming that the answer to the question I pose in the first paragraph is "no, a rigblaster won't serve as a TNC", are there recommendations for TNC's? From reviewing the literature they all seem to have about the same functionality, so I wonder if the $200 Kantronics unit will give as good service as would the $540 Timewave PK232. Thanks! John KC9IKB

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Help sought - amateur satellite service vs D-star
by Geert Jan de Groot 09 Sep '09

09 Sep '09

Hello, I apologise for the intrusion of my first message on this list - consider me an incidental lurker, incidental AMSAT-UK colloquium visitor, and incidental easysat user. I just don't have the cycles to do more, sorry. I ask your assistance in the following matter. Background In the Netherlands, 436-440 MHz is secondary to the amateur and amateur sat service. The folk experimenting with D-star on 70cms use a fairly large shift of 9.4 Mhz, resulting in a typical setup of 430.400-430.600 in and 439.800-440.000 out. Unattended stations (like D-star repeaters) do require a special license here. Recently, issuing of unattended licenses has come to an extreme halt because the Dutch regulator has started to allocate frequencies around 439.500 and upwards for Differential GPS (DGPS). The Dutch amateur community contests the use of this frequency for DGPS, claiming it is in violation with ITU allocations. Amateur clubs in neighbour countries, *as well as telcom regulators in those countries*, agree on this matter and believe AT-EZ is mistaken. But AT-EZ are also stubbern, and supposedly fear damage claims from systems already deployed. The net result is that currently, no D-star repeater license is issued because the output frequency proposed cannot be licensed for unattended use, according to the regulator. Recently.. The D-star community, having fear of not being able to use their equipment, is now proposing to use a shift of 7.4 MHz shift: input ~430.400-430.600, output 437.800-438.000. The output obviously collides with the amateur radio satellite service, but the proposal does not mention this at all, nor does it mention any remedy for this interference, which the amateur radio service would inflict on itself, on a worldwide (at least European) scale. I don't need to explain what a 'local hole in allocation' does for the worldwide sat service, no? Not to mention, if the Amateur Radio Service doesn't take it's own protection seriously, why would regulators need to take these interference concerns seriously? I believe this plan is very poorly thought-out and should be rejected and complained upon on an International scale. I believe that the amsat community should respond on this matter. I also believe that our IARU-contacts should be used to fix this proposal. Data So far, the only information I found on this, is in Dutch, so you may need to babelfish things: http://www.d-star.nl/ http://zendamateur.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3913&p=29449 There are 2 amateur radio clubs in the Netherlands. One is VERON (IARU representative), the other one is VRZA. While VRZA is not an IARU representative, both VERON and VRZA have bi-annual meetings with the Dutch regulator (which, I must admit, have been in better spirit in the past than they are now, because of the DGPS issue, but I digress) The plan, as described on the URL above, claims that the VRZA "thinks this proposal is a good idea". I kindly ask AMSAT folk, and especially those with IARU contacts, to express their concerns about this proposal. The person championing the proposal is PA0HWB, pa0hwb(a)amsat.org (I realize the irony of Hans using the AMSAT alias to damage the amateur sat service..) For VRZA, I believe the best contact is the chair PG9W, pg9w (at vrza.nl). For VERON, I think PB0AOK (at veron.nl) is probably a good place to send mail to. You probably have better contacts than I have - please use them. I apologise for this lengthy message but hope this crazy proposal can be dealt with appropiately. Thanks in advance, 73 Geert Jan PE1HZG

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amsat.org ao-51 broken links
by Joseph Armbruster 08 Sep '09

08 Sep '09

I was browsing the AO-51 page just now on amsat.org and noticed a few broken links. Here is the list. I listed the main URL and then the links that were broken on that page. http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/ http://bach.as.arizona.edu/gallery/v/chuck/echo - page not found http://home.centurytel.net/ke4aznsatellite/ - no content at this page http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/integration.php http://web.infoave.net/~mkmk518/echo_integration.htm - page not found Joe

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ISS and STS-128
by Greg Beat 08 Sep '09

08 Sep '09

What a beautiful and bright (-3.5) pass of STS-128 and ISS trailing about 2 seconds behind over Chicago tonight! The ISS solar panels were turned "edge on" earlier today before undocking of STS-128 .. and this provided a rare and bright (~ -7) ISS "flash" that was like the Iridium flash observations! Only 6 more shuttle flights, so these visible dual sighting opportunities will soon be part of history! w9gb

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VHF Contest this weekend
by Rick - WA4NVM 08 Sep '09

08 Sep '09

Hi All, I will be traveling to EM35, Mt Nebo, AR on Thursday for the Sept. VHF contest. I will operate using our contest call NE5BO starting with the A0-27 pass at 2005 utc Thursday until Monday morning, Sept. 14. I will be on the FM birds only. Also, I may make a road trip or two to some surrounding grids during the weekend. Also, anyone with 6 meters and above, get on the air this weekend and stir up the bands. Thanks and 73 to all, Rick - WA4NVM

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Re: more amsat.org broken links
by Trevor . 08 Sep '09

08 Sep '09

Broken links are a problem with most websites. I guess in this case it's an indication that AMSAT-NA hasn't been overwhelmed with volunteers willing to give up many hours each and every week to maintain the site. Clearly an opportunity there for somebody. Fortunately the good news is that most of these links can be resolved by using http://www.archive.org/ If you go to archive.org and type in a broken link such as http://www..timewave.com/dsp2232.html You will get a selection of many copies of that page taken between 1997 and 2006 73 Trevor M5AKA

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My first DSTAR satellite transmission.
by Luc Leblanc 08 Sep '09

08 Sep '09

I put the recording of my first DSTAR experience on satellite over the week end. Dave KB1PVH was there too trying this mode but we will have to set another session to have a QSO. With the proper doppler correction it is possible to have an AOS to LOS QSO but the 500khz step of the Icom radio does not give a full doppler correction making the downlink harder to decode at time. At TCA performance are quite good. Radio used are in the first picture. ID-800H and IC-2200H See it on www.qsl.net/ve2dwe "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe DSTAR urcall VE2DWE WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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Re: [Spam] WD9EWK DM31 QSLs mailed today
by Gkcarr 08 Sep '09

08 Sep '09

tnx, Patrick. Look forward to receiving the card. 73 George WA5KBH -----Original message----- From: "Patrick STODDARD $WD9EWK/VA7EWK$" amsat-bb(a)wd9ewk.net Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:17:47 -0500 To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [Spam] [amsat-bb] WD9EWK DM31 QSLs mailed today > Hi! > > I stopped by the post office this morning and mailed the envelopes > with my QSL cards confirming QSOs from DM31 last Saturday. I know > a few were looking to get these cards, so I spent yesterday working > on them. Hopefully they arrive in your mailboxes over the next few > days. > > 73! > > > > > > Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK > http://www.wd9ewk.net/ > > _______________________________________________ > 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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WD9EWK DM31 QSLs mailed today
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 08 Sep '09

08 Sep '09

Hi! I stopped by the post office this morning and mailed the envelopes with my QSL cards confirming QSOs from DM31 last Saturday. I know a few were looking to get these cards, so I spent yesterday working on them. Hopefully they arrive in your mailboxes over the next few days. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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AO-51 schedule posted
by Mark L. Hammond 08 Sep '09

08 Sep '09

Hi all, FYI: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/CTNews.php Some neat things this month: College night, several ham club demo operations, QRP repeater will be running a bit, etc.! _____________ September 2009 AO-51 Schedule All 435.150 repeater downlinks are subject to interuption for telemetry, generally one AM pass/day over the eastern US August 31 - September 7 (~1200Z) FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM FM Repeater, L/U Uplink: 1268.700 MHz FM Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM September 7 - September 13 FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM 9k6 BBS, L/U Uplink: 1268.700 MHz 9k6 FM Downlink: 435.150 MHz 9k6 FM September 14 - September 20 FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM QRP Only FM Repeater, V/U (<10 watts and handheld or omni antennas only) Uplink: 145.880 MHz FM Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM September 21 - September 27 FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM 9k6 BBS, L/U Uplink: 1268.700 MHz 9k6 FM Downlink: 435.150 MHz 9k6 FM September 28 - October 4 FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM QRP Only FM Repeater, V/U and College Radio Night (October 1-2) (<10 watts and handheld or omni antennas only) Uplink: 145.880 MHz FM Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM October 5 - October 11 AMSAT Symposium week FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM 9k6 BBS, L/U Uplink: 1268.700 MHz 9k6 FM Downlink: 435.150 MHz 9k6 FM -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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