October 2010 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

LoTW and HO-68
by John Boudreau 27 Oct '10

27 Oct '10

It seems that ARRL finally brought together a team of crack software engineers to edit the satellite config file in Logbook of the World so it would accept QSO's made on HO-68. Unfortunately, it looks they did not have enough keystrokes available to also add SO-67. Perhaps next year... John - VE8EV

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Wanted: Az/El Rotor
by David Mennerich 26 Oct '10

26 Oct '10

Hi all - if you have an Az/El rotor (e.g., 5400B) that you're not using anymore and would be interested in selling, please let me know. Thanks, Dave N2TEB

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Air Force Lost Comms with 50 ICBMs
by Clint Bradford 26 Oct '10

26 Oct '10

For 45 minutes last Saturday, our Air Force was unable to communicate with nor monitor 50 nuclear missiles. Read Wired.com article at ... http://t.co/zxyTGFV Clint Bradford

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UoSAT article
by Gordon JC Pearce 26 Oct '10

26 Oct '10

Hi all, I recently acquired a large box of electronics and radio magazines from the early 80s. Looking through them I discovered an article on UoSAT in the August 1981 issue of Hobby Electronics, which I've scanned in and uploaded here: http://www.gjcp.net/media/space/uosat.pdf I hope you find it as interesting a glimpse into history as I did. Jeez, I was 7 when I first read that article... ;-) Gordon MM0YEQ

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ND9M/P update
by KERRY LA*DUKE 26 Oct '10

26 Oct '10

All, I spoke with Jim on 20M cw and he said satellite operations form en16 and 17 were off today because of wx. High winds and rain are making operating and driving conditions poor. He indicated satellite operations were possible tomorrow October 27, 2010 wx permitting. 73 WC7V Kerry

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ND9M Road Trip Update #14
by claryco＠aol.com 26 Oct '10

26 Oct '10

Depending on this afternoon's weather, I'll operate from EN17 during the AO27 passes that rise locally at 26/1824Z and 2002Z and hopefully on AO51 at 26/2141Z and 2320Z. We've got rain today and a blizzard warning starting this afternoon. We can hardly complain about the timing of course since we're wrapping up the state. We've been incredibly fortunate that every day of the seven weeks we've been on the road, the daily temps have been in the 60s or higher, and yesterday was the first day we had rain! Sounds like a good time to blow out of North Dakota! A return to EN16 is possible for tomorrow, hopefully from the MN side and away from the blizzard! This will conclude the focus on running grids on this trip. After we leave ND, we'll be taking the interstate (probably I-94 to I-65 with a three-day stop off in EN61) back to Florida. I'll still operate from the grids that we hit when it's pass time, but the ones we'll be in aren't likely to be greatly needed. Feel free to contact me off list if there's something in particular you need along that route. 73, Jim, ND9M / VQ9JC Grand Forks ND / Grand Forks Co. / EN17

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K8YSE QSL Cards
by Zachary Beougher 26 Oct '10

26 Oct '10

Hi All, I wanted to publically thank John, K8YSE, for the incredible job during his Lake Superior grid expedition this past August. I received a very thick envelope in the mail today (always a good sign), and was EXTREMELY happy to find 19 new grids contained within the QSL cards! The cards where great with all the pictures, grids, location info, etc. What an incredible setup - WOW! Thank you again, John, for your hard work, and for activating so many of these grids and making them available to us ops! 73! Zack KD8KSN

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Project Oscar Uk
by Chris Bloy 25 Oct '10

25 Oct '10

Hi All, I have recently launched a new project in the UK call Project Oscar to promote Amateur Satellite service here in the UK. After all the talk of abuse and use of satellite in Europe, I hope to bring something to the market! Its aimed at beginners and we do work with Scouts and local radio clubs to promote better usage and practice! I cannot talk for the rest of Europe, but I will do my best in the UK! Please have a look and make any suggestions. http://www.projectoscar.co.uk Thanks, Chris Project Oscar UK

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Re: AO-51 short experiment
by PA3GUO 25 Oct '10

25 Oct '10

My 2 cents: A. I like to have MORE APRS satellites, like PCSAT, RAFT, ANDE, ISS. To my best knowledge we do not have an alternative for such services. B. We do need to improve the usage / behaviour. >From the RAFT days I recall: - HAMs using 2 second interval beacons ( !! ) - HAMs abusing features in ISS APRS SW (UISS ??) that allows smart beaconing (as soon as satellite is in view launch a salvo of beacons) (cool feature - but it can be abused) Unfortunately, it's just a limited amount of users, whom are difficult to reach. Once I had the idea of a payload / mode in a satellite that would do just what has been done on AO51: on a scheduled time, start a recording on a programmed frequency, store the recording, be able to re-play or donwload. Kind of like a iPOD + wide band scanner into a cubesat (Spy-In-Space). We could use this as a 'debug' tool, and also demonstrate we do pro-active 'maintenance' on our bands and our own usage of those. Just a thought. Most likely technically way-off & incorrect ... Henk, PA3GUO

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QSL cards mailed today, QSLs for DM30 activity on Saturday, DM31?
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 25 Oct '10

25 Oct '10

Hi! On my way to the office this morning, I dropped a few dozen envelopes at the post office. I finished printing and writing out cards covering my trips over the last 3 weekends (7-11 October for the AMSAT Symposium and post-Symposium travel in/around Illinois, 16 October to a hamfest in Tucson AZ followed by a quick trip to DM51/DM52, and Saturday's quick trip to DM32/DM42 south of Phoenix) yesterday. They should start showing up in mailboxes over the next few days. On Saturday, there were a group of Mexican hams operating on HF and satellites from grid DM30 south of the Arizona/Mexico border. I think that most of the satellite operating from there was done by Alex XE2BSS. If you worked XE2BSS and would like a QSL card, I am Alex's QSL manager. Please send those requests to me. I heard three other calls from that group on an SO-50 pass Saturday morning (David XE2DAK, Eliseo XE2TPJ, and Uriel XE2VAS). I don't know how active these 3 were on FM passes later in the day. Of those 3, I am also the QSL manager for XE2VAS. If you need assistance in getting cards from any of these 4, please feel free to e-mail me. I know all 4 of these guys, and may be able to help with the QSL exchange. Over the past 2+ years, I have operated from every grid that covers the state of Arizona. For all of these grids except one, I have made multiple trips to those grids. I have only made one trip to DM31 in southern Arizona in September 2009, and have thought about making a return trip now that the summertime heat is done for the year. Most of DM31 is in Mexico, except for the northeast corner that reaches into the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the border town of Lukeville AZ where I operated from last year. I would probably make a return to Lukeville on a future trip. I don't currently have a Mexican ham permit, and - even if I had a valid XE permit - I'm not interested in crossing the Mexican border at that point. Since there are new operators coming onto the satellites all the time, and some (many?) may have missed my last trip down there. If there is any interest in another trip down to DM31, please e-mail me directly. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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