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

HO-68 Schedule 01-07 Nov 2010
by Alan Kung 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

UTC: 31 Oct 2010 ================================ 16:30...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India, Africa, Middle East, Europe,NA 17:15...Turn Off 18:20...Turn On--FM/PACSAT NA,East Asia,Oceania 19:05...Turn Off 22:20...Turn On--FM/PACSAT NA,North Asia,East Asia, Oceania 23:05...Turn Off 01 Nov 2010 ================================ 02:06...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia, East Asia,South Asia 02:21...Turn Off 13:00...Turn On--FM/PACSAT NA, South America 13:45...Turn Off 16:15...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India,Middle East,Europe,NA 17:00...Turn Off 18:00...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India,Middle East,Europe,NA 18:45...Turn Off 22:05...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 22:50...Turn Off 02 Nov 2010 ================================= 01:49...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 02:04...Turn Off 10:45...Turn On--FM/PACSAT NA,East Asia,Oceania 11:30...Turn Off 12:45...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Europe,NA,South America 13:30...Turn Off 16:00...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India, Africa,Europe,NA South America 16:45...Turn Off 17:45...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Middle East,Europe,NA 18:30...Turn Off 19:10...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Middle East,Europe,NA 19:55...Turn Off 03 Nov 2010 ================================= 23:35...Turn On--FM/PACSAT NA,North Asia,East Asia,Oceania 00:20...Turn Off 01:32...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Asia,Oceania 01:43...Turn Off 12:25...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Europe,NA,South America 13:10...Turn Off 17:25...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,India,Middle East Europe,NA 18:10...Turn Off 19:15...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 20:00...Turn Off 20:40...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 21:25...Turn Off 04 Nov 2010 ================================ 23:20...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Oceania,Asia,Europe,NA 00:05...Turn Off 03:03...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 03:18...Turn Off 13:55...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Europe, NA,South America 14:40...Turn Off 17:10...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India,Africa,Europe,NA 17:55...Turn Off 19:00...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India,Africa,Europe,NA 19:45...Turn Off 20:25...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 21:10...Turn Off 23:05...Turn On--FM/PACSAT NA,North Asia, Oceania 23:50...Turn Off 05 Nov 2010 ================================ 02:46...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 03:02...Turn Off 13:40...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Europe, NA,South America 14:25...Turn Off 16:50...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 17:35...Turn Off 18:45...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India,Africa,Europe,NA 19:30...Turn Off 20:10...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 20:55...Turn Off 22:45...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,East Asia, South Asia,Oceania 23:30...Turn Off 06 Nov 2010 ================================ 02:28...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,East Asia,South Asia Oceania 02:43...Turn Off 13:25...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Europe,NA,South America 14:10...Turn Off 16:35...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 17:20...Turn Off 18:25...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India,Africa,Europe,NA 19:10...Turn Off 19:50...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 20:35...Turn Off 22:30...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,East Asia, South Asia,Oceania 23:15...Turn Off 07 Nov 2010 ================================ 02:12...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,East Asia,South Asia Oceania 02:28...Turn Off 13:05...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Europe,NA,South America 13:50...Turn Off 73 Alan Kung, BA1DU HO-68(XW-1) Project Manager www.camsat.cn

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HO-67 SubTone loading
by John Neeley 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

I am having a problem getting the subtone entered into the SatPC32 program for HO-67 on my FT-847. Going to the sqf file, I have entered the sequence as I have for the other satellites, making sure the name is spelled correctly, etc. This is what I have entered: SUMBANDILA(SO-67),233.6,$3F,1 Dont know why it wont transfer over to the CAT system, as had no problem with the others... any ideas?? Right now I have to enter it into the radio manually. John W6ZKH

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OSCAR-11 Report
by Clive Wallis 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

OSCAR-11 REPORT 31 October 2010 This report covers the period from 30 September to 31 October 2010. During this time the satellite has been heard from 09 to 19 October and from 30 October. At the time of writing it is transmitting and is expected to continue until 09 November. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. The satellite is now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery. The on-board clock is now very stable. It gained only ten seconds in 33 days. This is comparable with its accuracy when the satellite was fully operational, when it gained approximately one minute per year. However, there is still an accumulated loss of 309 days, which has occurred during eclipses of the last few years. Operation during eclipses and stability of the on-board clock suggest that some part of the system may have recently failed 'open circuit' thus reducing the overall power drain of the system, and allowing more power to be available during eclipses. There was an unexplained current drain observed when analogue telemetry was last transmitted. This fault might have cleared. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF Reception reports have been received from Jeff N3QO, Rod CX2ABP and Ian KI4HLV/6Y5 (G4JMM) . Many thanks for those and to everyone who posted reports on the satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites. Strongly recommended for future reports! Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest. The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php OSCAR-11 transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. The satellite has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending "di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah" sent over a period of five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency and should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband. Please note that you need a clean noise-free signal to decode the signals, and your receiver must be set to NBFM mode, for a decoder to work. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 sounds like, there is an audio clip on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk/ which may be useful for identification and as a test signal for decoding. The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, but is now incrementing accurately to within a few seconds per month. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed. The watchdog timer operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations have shown this to be 20.7 days, ie. 10.3 day s ON followed by 10.4 days OFF. Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to hear. The last telemetry received from the satellite is available for download. The website contains an archive of news & telemetry data which is updated from time to time. It also contains details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk . If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT150.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xxxxx(a)amsat.org (please replace xxxxx by g3cwv)

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FO-29 status?
by Andrew Glasbrenner 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

I'm really missing FO-29. Do any of our Japanese members have an update as to the situation? 73, Drew KO4MA

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PY1AT
by Andrew Glasbrenner 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

I haven't been able to find your email address. Please email me about our almost-QSO on AO-7 today. 73, Drew KO4MA

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Re: station add help
by PA3GUO 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

Hi Jack I have a Kenwood TS2000, which is very similar to the IC910. For this discussion one important difference, the TS2000 has a build in TNC, which can be used on either bands & sat mode. Many years I simply connected that build-in TNC to my PC and used Alogger under Windows (via RS232) for packet. Mostly ISS APRS, but also to command RAFT, ANDE, etc. Two years ago I bought a 2nd hand PK96, external TNC, which I connect to the TS2000 (ACC plug) and PC (RS232). Works fine. It allows me to use the build in TNC on one band and the PK96 on the other band. Also, when I use the build-in TNC, I cannot use CAT (doppler) access. So to do AND doppler compensation (HRD) AND packet I need the external TNC. Also with the PK96 I use ALogger. Another option is to feed the audio to MixW, and create a virtual link in SW: connect MixW to Alogger, then you can set up an APRS Satgate without hardware TNC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSFVTN2KKog shows how ISS APRS is decoded by MixW. Audio can directly be decoded by MMSSTV for SSTV (both TX/RX). A SW only solution gets you running for SSTV. I did SSTV over HO68 this way: http://www.pa3guo.com/ho68_sstv_dec30_007.jpg One year ago I added an interface between the radio & PC, to decouple them physically (for 20+ years I was 'unsafe'). For this I use a kit from http://www.ezkits.eu/. This is insurance only, it doesn't add anything new. Then, I use HRD for Doppler control, but it can do much more including decoding of many digital modes. When you connect the audio of the IC910 to a PC and run MixW you are operational to receive APRS already ! Maybe start there and extend then step by step. (oh, you then can also decode 9k6 from AO51) Success ! Henk -- Henk, PA3GUO http://www.pa3guo.com ============================== I'm in the process of adding digital mode to my satellite station which consists of IC910 radio using SATPC 32 12.8A. I will be using a Signalink USB & would like to know if this is the way to go. I will be using it for packet, digipeater, SSTV.etc. Two programs that I'm looking into using are MIXW & or mltimode. I would appreciate any suggestions or help about moving foreword with this configuration. Thanks for any input. Jack WA1ZDV

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