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

Fastrac
by Vincenzo Mone 26 Nov '10

26 Nov '10

Hi Folks, Anyone can send me an audio file for this bird? UI still cannot understand what to hear. Thanks 73 de Enzo IK8OZV EasyLog 5 BetaTester EasyLog PDA BetaTester WinBollet BetaTester D.C.I. CheckPoint Regione Campania Skype: ik8ozv8520 ********************************** ******* GSM +39 338 9749786 ******* ****** SMS +39 338 9749786 ****** ***** FAX +39 328 7244294 ***** *** 2nd e-mail: vimone(a)tin.it *** *********************************

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(UPDATE): Odd split setup on TM-D710
by Jeff Yanko 26 Nov '10

26 Nov '10

Hi all, As I promised, I want to update this situation with those who had sent along their suggestions and ideas when I posted my problem here a few weeks ago. I want to thank you all. After looking at the situation and setup, I decided it would be best to use the MCP program provided free from Kenwood. I attempted to load the software but found out I needed to have a .net framework of 2.0 or greater. I went to the Microsoft website and upgraded and it took me to the latest version of 3.5. I was able to load the software without a problem, but immediately found another problem with the hardware. The PC connection on the TM-D710 uses a 8 pin mini DIN connector. I could not find one anywhere near me. I went on ebay and bought a 6 foot cable with both ends capped with male 8 pin mini DIN's for a few dollars and a couple more for shipping. A couple weeks have gone by since I got all of the items I needed to make the connection but didn't work on it until Thanksgiving Day. After eating Thanksgiving dinner, I immediately proceeded to work on the transformation of the cable. No, the Tryptophan in the turkey never seems to make me sleepy. :) I cut the 6 foot cable in half so if I need another cable with a 8 pin mini DIN, I will have it. I checked the pinouts for the connectors, the 8 pin Mini DIN and the DB9, then ohmed the wires to see which one was which. I soldered the connections and completed the DB9 with a shell and connected the TM-D710 to the laptop. The program read the radio and was communicating with it as well. I setup the frequencies and saved them to memory and checked it out. All is working well and will just have to wait for Col. Wheelock to show up. :) Thanks again to all for their inputs. 73, Jeff WB3JFS Las Vegas, NV DM26

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2010 Technical Symposium - photos
by W4ART Arthur Feller 26 Nov '10

26 Nov '10

Hi!! To see a series of photos from the Symposium, go to: http://www.afeller.us/Studio_dArt/Personal_Galleries/Pages/AMSAT_2010.html Enjoy!! 73, art..... W4ART Arlington VA http://afeller.us

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Help urgently needed with FASTRAC reception reports
by Alan P. Biddle 25 Nov '10

25 Nov '10

All, The FASTRAC folks are having problems with communicating with their birds, and can use some help with telemetry submissions. They are looking for either packet decodes or received audio. There is a submission area on the basic web site mentioned below. I suspect that data sent to the project manager, sebastian_munoz(a)mail.utexas.edu would be acceptable as well. Alan WA4SCA ========================== I don't know if you are aware but last Friday Nov. 19, we launched the FASTRAC satellites (Emma and Sara Lily) from Kodiak, Al. At this point we have been able to determine that both of them are beaconing and that they are talking to each other from our own station and with the help of HAMs all over the world. We have been able to decode Emma's communications but unfortunately we have not been able to decode Sara Lily's as her signal seems to be weaker and because of this we have also not been able to command them. I was wondering if you could distribute this information to the roadrunner's microwave group to see if anybody in the group would be willing to help us track them to see if we can decode Sara Lily's signal since it is weeaker and we have had no luck yet. If you are willing to help, we would really appreciate it. To do so I would recommend that you first try to hear FASTRAC-2's (Emma's) beacon which is on 145.825 MHz and then switch to see if you can listen for FASTRAC-1's (Sara Lily's) beacon which is on 437.345. Both beacons will be at 1200 baud and they occur every three minutes. You might also be able to hear the girls talking to each other at 9600 baud. The type of beacon that you should get if you are able to decode it, should look something like this: FAST2>BEACON/1: <UI>: F21001408113319.373080 +6378137.00 , +0.00 +0.00 +0.00000 +0.00000 +0.0000345283286 024 028 026 040 039 If you are not setup to receive packets, then if you could send us an audio file we can try to decode them on our end. This morning (Nov 23), we heard FAST2's (Emma's) beacons at ~5:56:55, ~5:59:55, and ~6:02:55 AM CST which might be useful to you as this might help you hunt her signal down since she beacons every 3 minutes. The most up to date TLE's that we have of them so far are: FASTRAC (Both Emma and Sara Lily, as they are currently stacked together) 1 90025U 0 10326.95261036 -.00000933 +00000-0 -12581-3 0 00099 2 90025 071.9695 133.8796 0018803 303.0010 056.9360 14.76366919000426 But please check our website where we post the most up to date TLEs (http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/for_radio_operators/users/phpBB3/predictedorbi t.php) to make sure you have the most updated version of them. Paul and Ray, I don't know if you are aware but last Friday Nov. 19, we launched the FASTRAC satellites (Emma and Sara Lily) from Kodiak, Al. At this point we have been able to determine that both of them are beaconing and that they are talking to each other from our own station and with the help of HAMs all over the world. We have been able to decode Emma's communications but unfortunately we have not been able to decode Sara Lily's as her signal seems to be weaker and because of this we have also not been able to command them. I was wondering if you could distribute this information to the roadrunner's microwave group to see if anybody in the group would be willing to help us track them to see if we can decode Sara Lily's signal since it is weeaker and we have had no luck yet. If you are willing to help, we would really appreciate it. To do so I would recommend that you first try to hear FASTRAC-2's (Emma's) beacon which is on 145.825 MHz and then switch to see if you can listen for FASTRAC-1's (Sara Lily's) beacon which is on 437.345. Both beacons will be at 1200 baud and they occur every three minutes. You might also be able to hear the girls talking to each other at 9600 baud. The type of beacon that you should get if you are able to decode it, should look something like this: FAST2>BEACON/1: <UI>: F21001408113319.373080 +6378137.00 , +0.00 +0.00 +0.00000 +0.00000 +0.0000345283286 024 028 026 040 039 If you are not setup to receive packets, then if you could send us an audio file we can try to decode them on our end. This morning (Nov 23), we heard FAST2's (Emma's) beacons at ~5:56:55, ~5:59:55, and ~6:02:55 AM CST which might be useful to you as this might help you hunt her signal down since she beacons every 3 minutes. The most up to date TLE's that we have of them so far are: FASTRAC (Both Emma and Sara Lily, as they are currently stacked together) 1 90025U 0 10326.95261036 -.00000933 +00000-0 -12581-3 0 00099 2 90025 071.9695 133.8796 0018803 303.0010 056.9360 14.76366919000426 But please check our website where we post the most up to date TLEs (http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/for_radio_operators/users/phpBB3/predictedorbi t.php) to make sure you have the most updated version of them. If you would like more information on our satellites you can visit (http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/index.php) or you can just let me know and I will be more than happy to reply. We really appreciate your help and if you have any other questions please do not hesitate to let us know. Thanks a lot, 73, Sebastian Muñoz (KE5FKV) FASTRAC Student Program Manager p.s: I have cc'd Dr. Glenn Lightsey, the FASTRAC Principal Investigaor, and Tom Campbell and Shaun Stewart who have been leading the effort to help us contact our satellites from the JSC Amateur Radio Club Station (W5RRR). ________________________________ _______________________________________________ RMG mailing list RMG(a)kkn.net

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Fwd: video of Ham operations on ISS
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 25 Nov '10

25 Nov '10

----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "Tom" <wa5kub(a)gmail.com> To: "Rick - WA4NVM" <wa4nvm(a)comcast.net>, "Damon WA4HFN" <wa4hfn(a)comcast.net>, "AJ4AT" <aj4at(a)comcast.net> Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 10:32:15 PM Subject: video of Ham operations on ISS here is a video Col doug did yesterday. it give a quick tour of the space station and then he demostrates the ham radio and shows how many calls he gets and how hard it is to pick them out. http://buzzroom.nasa.gov/multimedia/videos/696/ -- Check out my website at http://tmedlin.com and my live video site for hamfests at http://wa5kub.com Senior Member of the I.E.E.E

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1st IAA Conference on University Satellites Missions and Cubesat Conference Sponsorships and Accommodation
by Group of Astrodynamics 25 Nov '10

25 Nov '10

Dear all, we are pleased to announce that ESA has kindly offered ten scholarships for students who will present a paper at the 1st IAA Conference on University Satellites Missions and Cubesat Conference next January. You can find the information at the following link: ESA scholarships<http://www.gaussteam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111&I…> <http://www.gaussteam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111&I…>Furthermore, we have reached an agreement with two hotels for the accommodation of the participants. You can find all the information at the following link: Accommodation<http://www.gaussteam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&I…> We hope that this will encourage students in participating to the Conference. Best regard -- Gruppo di Astrodinamica Università degli Studi Sapienza Via Salaria, 851 00138 Roma website: www.gaussteam.com tel. 0039 06 88346436

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Tampabay Hamfest Dec 4, 2010
by Andrew Glasbrenner 25 Nov '10

25 Nov '10

Hi y'all, AMSAT will have a booth at the Tampabay Hamfest coming up on December 4th in Palmetto, Florida. We also will be doing 90 minutes of presentations on satellites and ARISS during a forum on Saturday. Please come by to pick up the latest AMSAT gear, learn about ARISSat-1, FOX, and other projects, make a donation, or join or renew your AMSAT membership. This year I am going to try something new. For each donation of $25 or more, or each membership or renewal, I will personally provide the parts and help assembling an antenna for operating the satellites. We will be building a version of the CJU antenna in the booth, which is a small but very effective antenna to use with an HT to copy the Mode J satellites. Using the CJU and an HT, and the 2m radio in your car, the Mode J satellites are easy to use. Email me ahead of time for details or to RSVP for this offer. Please forward to any interested parties or lists. 73, Drew KO4MA

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Re: New birds
by G0MRF＠aol.com 24 Nov '10

24 Nov '10

Hi Nigel / Mark. The lack of TLEs at celestrak is a little strange. Nanosail-D is due to deploy from FASTSAT 7 days after launch. Its sail is large compared to the 1U cube and the drag at 650km will be high. If I read the info correctly, re-entry is expected in 70 - 120 days, which from 650k is amazingly short and very interesting. (How high can you orbit a satellite and still get it to deorbit in 25 years etc etc) However....back to the lack of TLEs. Nanosail-D has a 70cm beacon which will last about 12 days and NASA invites reports. They also have TLEs and a map on the "Nanosail-D dashboard" so presumably it's not a security issue. Just a shame to do all the searching of sites when celestrack is usually so reliable. TS Kelso has also made a few comments on his twitter pages. David G0MRF _http://twitter.com/TSKelso_ (http://twitter.com/TSKelso) _http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm_ (http://nanosaild.engr.scu.edu/dashboard.htm) In a message dated 24/11/2010 14:30:21 GMT Standard Time, nigel(a)ngunn.net writes: It surpprises me that, 4 days after launch, Space Track appears to not have keps for the bird despite having given it (and the other payload components) int.designators on Sunday. We usually get keps first and designators/names some days later.

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DM07 / mammoth mtn operating
by Matt Wilbur 24 Nov '10

24 Nov '10

Hi all, I'm hoping to catch the SO-50 pass, 11/24, 20:51-21:05 UTC pass from the top of mammoth mtn, grid locator DM07LP. Going to listen for and try to work ISS approx 20min before that. Will then be on the AO-51 pass at 00:00-00:15 UTC from the nearby "flatlands", DM07MP. I haven't worked SO-50 yet so we'll see how it goes :) 73 Matt Wilbur NM6W

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Mini Grid Expedition CQ71
by John Boudreau 24 Nov '10

24 Nov '10

I'll be on Banks Island (IOTA NA-129) all this weekend from grid CQ71 Not sure which satellite passes but I'll try to at least be on all the HO-68 (SSB) and AO-51 passes that favor North America and Europe. Will also be on HF, mostly SSB. 73 John - VE8EV

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