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

ND9M Road Trip Update #8
by claryco＠aol.com 11 Feb '10

11 Feb '10

Today is scheduled as a day off for us while we do tourist stuff locally. But depending on available time later in the afternoon, I may run back out to the DM72 / DM82 line for either or both of the SO50 and AO51 passes; SO50 rises here at 11/2307Z and AO51 pops up at 11/2357Z. We'll head out tomorrow (Friday) and expect to be at the DM71 / DM81 line for the AO27 passes that rise at 12/1950Z (east) and 12/2130Z (west). The ambitious part will be getting to the DL79 / DM70 line for the AO51 pass at 12/2316Z which is quickly followed a few minutes later by SO50. Road conditions permitting, we'll get to the line; otherwise, we'll stop in either DM80 or DM70 for the back-to-back passes. If the latter is what evolves, we'll stop in DL79 or on the DL79 / DM70 line for the AO51 pass at 13/0055Z. But it's only a 20-degree pass for that area, so it won't be all that productive. We need to get down to Big Bend (DL88) the next day, so we'll figure out when we can come back to DL79 to give those who need that grid a reasonable shot at getting it. 73, Jim, ND9M / VQ9JC Carlsbad, NM / DM72

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Re: Soft66 board, etc.- other options, and the STS-130 Launch
by Steven Bienvenu 11 Feb '10

11 Feb '10

I must agree with Johnathan that surface mount is not tough at all with reasonable components...and to recommend considering the SoftRock SDR boards for an IF receiver/display. I've no experience or info concerning the Soft66 boards. I'd had essentially no experience with surface mount before I ordered a SoftRock kit for 10.7 IF (was $12 then, now maybe 15 or so). So I bought a surface mount practice kit for 7 bucks, which came with a number of different kinds of surface mount components one might need to solder to a board, as well as a small working flasher circuit. Turns out, with some bent tweezers, flux in a tube, small solder and small soldering iron tip (mine was already small enough)-all fairly cheap on the net, it was absolutely no sweat, even fun, and maybe actually easier than through-hole stuff. I used magnifier lenses that fit on my bifocals, and an old, cheap magnifier lens/light combo at times, and had a great time. It's easier, in that one need never strip wire, trim leads, or turn the board over to solder the other side-nice. Then I tried the SoftRock board, and had zero problems. A cheap plastic 30x handheld microscope is good for checking questionable joints and connections. I wish someone had told me all this years ago... I turned 60 years old last week, and I shake like everyone else; rest your hand or hands on something and go to it. I'd recommend getting one of these practice boards, then decide (available from sources like Ramsey kits, etc.). The SoftRock worked well, was easy to build, and now provides me with a 96 kHz panadapter display with my old R7000 receiver, and various free software. I use mine to monitor the 10 meter beacon band, and it has provided a great deal of interesting insight into 10 meter propagation, since one can "see" essentially the entire domestic beacon band at once. With a better soundcard, it will provide a 192 KHz display; transponder downlinks await... This is not a project however small, for first-time builders, but excellent instructions are available on the net for it, the board is only 2 1/2 inches by 1 inch or less in size, and only some of the parts are surface mount. The fellow who sells these kits offers them intermittently, and the IF board is actually just a few parts different item from his 40 meter receiver board. I'd be interested in hearing about the SDR66. 'Just my experience. The other experience was watching the Shuttle launch from the Nasa Causeway on Monday morning...it was absolutely awesome, exceeded my expectations, and was well-worth traveling from Louisiana with my family to witness. The amount of light produced by the boosters was just incredible, and seemed to illuminate the entire sky, clouds and earth. The SDO launched this morning...delayed by the shuttle delay, then winds....almost got to see two launches, but I'll never complain! 73, Steve W5ZA Shreveport, La.

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Falcon 9 Hardware Arrives At Cape Canaveral
by B J 11 Feb '10

11 Feb '10

http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20100211 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL __________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com.

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Re: Anybody use a Soft66ADD SDR?
by Owen B. Mehegan 11 Feb '10

11 Feb '10

> Message: 17 > Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:35:19 -0500 > From: "Mark L. Hammond" <marklhammond(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [amsat-bb] Anybody use a Soft66ADD SDR? > To: Amsat - BBs <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > Message-ID: > <5d8cecfe1002101035x35f07d7dpc047e54cf120a4aa(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Found this today, look interesting. Prices are quite reasonable (if > not cheap). Performance is the question.. I suppose the quality of > the system sound card is a big issue. > > Anybody here own one or seen one in use? > > How about piping a 10.7 MHz IF into it for VHF/UHF? > > http://zao.jp/radio/soft66ad/ > > > -- > Mark L. Hammond [N8MH] A friend of mine just bought and assembled one. He said that the instructions were pretty poor... the parts list and schematic didn't always match up and he had to do a fair amount of head-scratching (and I think bang-head-on-desk-ing) to get it built. He was not impressed with that aspect. I haven't yet heard how well it's working as a radio. I'll ask him and let you know. -- Owen B. Mehegan (KJ6AKQ)

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Wanted: Bird "43" wattmeter "slugs"
by jon 11 Feb '10

11 Feb '10

Thought I'd try the list first: I looking for 100-250 Mhz 100 Watt and 2-30Mhz 100 watt elements. Thanks and 73s, Jon Kenneke CBRE K7PGB

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Re: A flight to near space this weekend
by GW1FKY＠aol.com 11 Feb '10

11 Feb '10

Hi Graham, Thanks for posting this information - For others this is part of " PEGASUS -HAB " project , and the planned flight has been put out on a NOTAM. Details can also be found on their web pages: _http://www.pegasushabproject.org.uk/wiki/doku.php_ (http://www.pegasushabproject.org.uk/wiki/doku.php) Cheers Ken de GW1FKY

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A flight to near space this weekend
by Graham Shirville 10 Feb '10

10 Feb '10

Hi all, Check this page for details of a rare balloon flight from the UK this Saturday! http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=01467ce8e3c05447a2d6ee6f01c1… 73 Graham G3VZV

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Re: New Lindy's QRV
by Bill Dzurilla 10 Feb '10

10 Feb '10

Ed, Congrats, it seems like you are in business if you heard the bird down to the horizon. HO-68 is louder, in some cases much louder, than most of the other sats, so check some others. If you can copy SO-50 to the horizon, then leave your antenna alone, it's working great. I measured a maximum of 20w directly at the antenna, and Elk claims a gain of 6.6 dbd on 2m, which would mean an ERP of 90 watts. I do not need full power at high elevations. 73, Bill NZ5N > From: Edward Cole <kl7uw(a)acsalaska.net> > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: New Lindy's QRV > To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > Message-ID: <201002092025.o19KPAPG010369(a)huffman.acsalaska.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; > format=flowed > > One more update: > > I tried pass #744, this morning and copied a big > round-table of > several west-coast stations, but was unable to break > in. My downlink > was as loud as them, so...? I had one call to my CQ > right at LOS and > could not complete, sorry! Bear with me as I am > getting reaquainted > with running my radio on satellites ;-) My sub-VFO > tuning control is > not working which complicates netting with another > station. So I > find my signal with the Rx and then engage tracking. > That tracks for > a little while. > > The interesting thing is that I copied signals to > zero-elevation. I > would say that I am pleased with the new antennas. > > Question: what ERP are most stations using on SSB on > HO-68? I am > running 50w ERP. > > > > 73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45 > ======================================

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HO-68 Telemetry 10-02-2010 18:45 UTC
by PE0SAT 10 Feb '10

10 Feb '10

Decoded the following CW Telemetry from HO-68 BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AUE T6T ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 ABE ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 4VE ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 TDE ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 TBE ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 T6E ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 A6E ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 4VE ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 T6E ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 AEE ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 AAT ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 AUT ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 A4T ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW BJ1SA XW XW AAA TTT AU4 TBE ETT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT XW XW 73 Jan PE0SAT -- With regards PE0SAT Internet web-page http://www.ham.vgnet.nl/

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Anybody use a Soft66ADD SDR?
by Mark L. Hammond 10 Feb '10

10 Feb '10

Found this today, look interesting. Prices are quite reasonable (if not cheap). Performance is the question.. I suppose the quality of the system sound card is a big issue. Anybody here own one or seen one in use? How about piping a 10.7 MHz IF into it for VHF/UHF? http://zao.jp/radio/soft66ad/ -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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