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

Helix Antenna's Twist
by Spectrum International, Inc 24 Oct '10

24 Oct '10

23rd October 2010 N8MH de S.I., Mark, Your recent message to Tom, K0TW, in respect to the polarization of a helical antennae is not 100% correct. You state, quote: "How do you determine the resulting polarity of the [helical] antenna? My response: when standing at the rear, does the cork-screw go clockwise or counter-clockwise as it spirals away from you? That is the visible difference, if building a helix. " unquote: Implicit in your answer (but not defined) is that a Right-hand helix, when viewed from behind, spirals away from you in a clockwise direction, the same as a standard screw thread. That statement is true for the classical helical antenna, /á la Kraus/. However it is not true for the Quadrifilar Helix design, which twists in the opposite direction to the classical helix. Maybe people who do not know the difference, and unwittingly build one with the twist in the wrong direction, get such very bad performance when attempting to use it and complain bitterly that "the Quad Helix does not work". 73s, de John G3BVU/W1, Spectrum International, Inc.

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AO-51 short experiment
by Andrew Glasbrenner 23 Oct '10

23 Oct '10

>From 2025UTC this afternoon, for 1-2 orbits, the 435.150 downlink on AO-51 is configured as a repeater and being used to monitor 145.825. Please DO NOT attempt to transmit through this downlink! We are taking a look at congestion and unattended operation that may be impacting the use of HO-68 in FM mode. Reception reports are of course welcome. 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-VP Operations

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Send Your Name to Mars!
by Clint Bradford 23 Oct '10

23 Oct '10

NASA microchip project - http://tinyurl.com/yhaphmg Clint, K6LCS

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Sumbandila (SO-67) schedule until 2010-11-01
by Johann Lochner 23 Oct '10

23 Oct '10

Hi folks, Please find below a list of planned Sumbandila (SO-67) ham payload activations for week 4 of the cycle (times in UTC; active for 15 minutes). Visit http://www.amsatsa.org.za for operating hints. 73 de ZR1CBC, Johann. ----- Africa (Mostly unfavourable passes for South Africa, in part to allow for University of Stellenbosch comms payload experiments next week, and due to a recently discovered commanding issue during ham payload activations. We are working to resolve this as soon as possible.) 2010-10-25 07:48 2010-10-25 20:45 2010-10-27 20:06 2010-10-28 08:32 2010-10-29 04:54 2010-10-30 20:59 2010-10-31 20:40 Australasia 2010-10-25 09:55 2010-10-25 22:04 2010-10-26 09:35 2010-10-26 21:45 2010-10-26 23:20 2010-10-27 10:50 2010-10-27 21:25 2010-10-28 10:32 2010-10-28 21:08 2010-10-28 22:42 2010-10-29 10:12 2010-10-29 22:23 2010-10-30 09:55 2010-10-30 22:05 2010-10-31 09:35 2010-10-31 11:10 Eastern Asia 2010-10-24 23:40 2010-10-25 11:48 2010-10-25 23:21 2010-10-26 00:55 2010-10-26 11:29 2010-10-27 00:36 2010-10-27 22:44 2010-10-28 00:17 2010-10-28 23:58 2010-10-29 12:07 2010-10-29 23:39 2010-10-30 11:47 2010-10-30 23:20 2010-10-31 00:54 2010-10-31 23:02 2010-11-01 00:36

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2M1EUB/P OPPS eu09 now qrt
by paul robinson 23 Oct '10

23 Oct '10

HI group im now home after 2weeks break in east and west scotland ,any one working me last few days then i was qrv from eu09 ,io67vj west scotland,great fun but difficult ,with so many mountains,snow,wind and more rain than ive ever seen in a week !qsl is via 2e1eub dirrect or beuro ...73 de paul

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FO-29 Status
by Peter Gayle 23 Oct '10

23 Oct '10

Hello all. I am going through the steps of getting my satellite station back together after a 2 year hiatus due to a lightning strike. Things are progressing well and I see that we few new birds. I have been listening for the old reliable (FO-29) and am not hearing anything on what should be good passes. The AMSAT web page says that she is operational but I cannot find a schedule. Anyone have any insights into what it is that the old bird is up to? Thanks, Peter, VE3PK

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WD9EWK @ DM32/DM42 from 1436 UTC this morning
by Patrick STODDARD 23 Oct '10

23 Oct '10

Hi! I woke up early, and am now at the DM32/DM42 boundary. Along with the VO52 and HO68 passes I previously mentioned, I will work the SO50 pass at 1436 UTC and AO7 at 1514 UTC from here. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Experimental Webradio - Update
by Mike Rupprecht 23 Oct '10

23 Oct '10

All, there are now four of us :-) You can now also listen to the audio stream of Tetsu san JA0CAW. Go to my SatBlog and follow the link Webradio www.dk3wn.info/p or click here http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?page_id=17689. Would be great to listen to the sats from other parts of the world. The setup is very easy. Any takers? Have a great weekend. 73, Mike DK3WN

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Sat Demo Yesterday
by Zachary Beougher 23 Oct '10

23 Oct '10

Hi all, I just wanted to say thanks for the QSOs on SO50 yesterday morning while as was at the CBF Amateur Radio Club. At the time we only had one member and a Sony video camera, but they both really enjoyed it. I tried the 1805z AO27 pass along with my foxhunt teammate, K8QY (I wanted him to get his first satellite QSO), but do to the large amount of stations on he was not able to be successful. The only station worked on that pass was WA4HFN/p with 20 seconds left on the timer. Videos of the SO50 pass and foxhunt will be on YouTube and my QRZ page in a few weeks. 73! Zack KD8KSN

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New User-New Station-Antennas-ADVICE?
by Dean Maluski 23 Oct '10

23 Oct '10

Realizing I need to crawl before I can walk but need to have a goal. I've grown a strong interest in working SATS, have a few bucks and am rebuilding my station for SATS from the ground up. Been reading the G Gould Smith "Getting Started..." book I picked up in Boxboro, MA at a fest a couple months ago. I replaced my Kenwood 440 with a TS-2000 without the 1.2 GHz option, thinking I may add 1.2 GHz next spring. Added a 4 inch conduit to my tower with a 7/8 hard line and a run of Jetstream LMR 400+ tagged RG-8U on jacket but specs are better than LMR 400 figure I'll use the Jetstream for 2 meter, or transmit side of things. Took down my 20 meter monoband beam, Purchased and mounted a Yaesu G-5500 (Separated). Ordered a Gulf-Alpha Gen purpose 2 meter H/V 440 V yagi, yes I also want to work land locked stuff too. LINUX!! Linux!! LINUX if possible ONLY-Seem good to go now with GPREDICT 1.1 and 1.2, 1.2 seems to not update rotor correctly but just got it going this morning. Running 1.1 on another machine over LAN and seems to work better. I have a 40 foot 1943 steel tower for what it's worth, it's a thing of beauty!! My vision is to eventually move the Gulf Alpha antenna to the center mast. Here is where my questions come to play....???? What do I want for bird anteena's? My biggest interest is packet and flying mailboxes/HEO/Eventually EME possibly. Thinking my next antenna purchase would be the Gulf Alpha 440 and 2 meter circular polarity antennas and the phasing assy to switch polarity???? I have ample 4 port switches that can be used to switch at tower but of course less is more as I don't want to go switch crazy and add more attenuation to system than absolutely necessary. I see SSB has some nice pre-amps, NEED I suspect eventually.. I'm getting stir crazy waiting for arrival of Yagi, one more day on tower and I should be complete except for arrival of Gulf Alpha Yagi that he is building. Not really sure what my question is. Reading and reading, trying not to buy too ,many unnecessary components while I impatiently wait for antenna to arrive but forward thinking as I finalize tower today, need to re-mount my WX station and security camera. Also adding a camera behind garage to look up at top of tower so I can see what the heck is going on with rotors-COOL! In mounting WX station, need to stay high as possible but of course can't interefere with back end of Yagi's Antenna advice, any advise if someone has the time? Hope to QSO soon with ya'll on the birds. Been listening on a vertical but question the doppler accuracy so have not attempted to transmit yet.

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