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

Items For Sale
by David - KG4ZLB 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

A few items coming up but first I have the Icom AG-25 (2m) and Icom AG-35 (70cm) mast mounted pre-amps for sale. $99 each or both for $160 to include shipping to the lower 48 only - Paypal fine! Contact me off list, thanks David KG4ZLB

1 0

em24 em34
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

WA4NVM will be portable in EM24 and EM34 Saturday 11 Sept AO27 appx 19:40 utc AO27 " 21:25 utc AO51 " 21:32 utc The group is working the VHF Contest from MT NEBO ARK EM35 using the call NE5BO WA4HFN Damon

1 0

Re: satellite radio for sale
by Steve Niles 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

Interesting radio... Receives on 2m and 70cm but transmits on 2m only. Steve N5EN --- wa4hfn(a)comcast.net wrote: From: wa4hfn(a)comcast.net To: AMSAT <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] satellite radio for sale Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:01:39 +0000 (UTC) Memphis ham KA2BSM has a DRAKE TR 270 FM satellite radio for sale see it at http://sites.google.com/site/tristaterepeaterassociation/club-wiki/sell-tra… WA4HFN Damon _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

2 1

EM24
by Matt Patterson 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

Curious if there's any interest in a possible EM24 activation? I'm new to satellites but I suspect this one may be a semi-rare grid. 73 Matt W5LL

1 0

Re: AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 5, Issue 376
by Newsradio 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

On Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 3:00 PM, <amsat-bb-request(a)amsat.org> wrote: > From: John Papay <john(a)papays.com> > Subject: [amsat-bb] Lake Superior Grid Expedition Wrapup > John; Sounds like you had a great time! Sat DXPeditions to activate remote grids are tons of fun as you know we found out in July activating EN85 and FN06 in Ontario! Now you see why I did my ops from the shoreline of the lake and out in the canoe! Those tall northern Ontario trees can be a problem. Looking forward to the write up about Isle Royal...hope you didnt have any run ins with bear or wolves! To any one else that wants to try this, it can be very rewarding...just check your local map and see where the nearest grid square is..you might find its only an hours drive from home! Grab the HT, fresh batteries and the Arrow and go do it! VA3BL

1 0

satellite radio for sale
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

Memphis ham KA2BSM has a DRAKE TR 270 FM satellite radio for sale see it at http://sites.google.com/site/tristaterepeaterassociation/club-wiki/sell-tra… WA4HFN Damon

1 0

SATme for Blackberry
by Clint Bradford 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

Just has a pleasant conversation with the author - Andy, K0SM/2 - on his satellite tracking program for the Blackberry, SATme. I do not own a Blackberry device, so I asked him what kinds of hurdles users were reporting. "I hear from John, LA2QAA, fairly often. He uses SATme on a Nokia phone for his portable ops, so you may be able to talk to him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind that I passed his name along. "There are two main "issues" that I have come across in the last few years: one is one imposed by the phone carriers, and the others is the non-standard implementations of the Java platform across devices. For example, all the US carriers (except Sprint, and most Blackberry devices) will restrict their low end devices not to allow access to the local file system and/or the Internet without a (sometimes several) thousand dollar certification fee. This is obviously prohibitive for a niche product like this. "The second issue is device fragmentation that can cause it not to run on some platforms. Here the issue becomes a problem of support from my perspective. There's really no way for me to keep up with all of these devices and do comprehensive testing on everything out there." Andy wrote SATme back when he was studying for his comprehensive exams in school as a way to earn some pocket change. The phone technology, though, has moved beyond the CLDC 2.0 spec for which this was designed, though there are several people using SATme on newer Blackberries and other smartphones, so it is still being made available. "It is nice to have a satellite tracking program that runs on my "free" phone ... and we hams are notoriously cheap," Andy chuckles. "The device fragmentation notwithstanding, the software has been stable for more than a year without any new issues cropping up ... I have two children now and only get on the satellites once or twice a year (FD usually), so I really don't have a pulse on the satellite community like I used to ... " Nice guy. If you have a Blackberry device, please try out SATme. Clint Bradford 909-241-7666

2 1

Lake Superior Grid Expedition Wrapup
by John Papay 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

Our month long excursion around Lake Superior and points north came to an end on September 8th. We left on August 3d. The distance traveled was slightly over 5000 miles, working in 32 grids on 168 satellite passes. Northwest Ontario is really beautiful but it was difficult to find places to operate at times. The back roads are cut through forests of tall trees and it makes working the birds difficult to impossible. We tried to find lakes where the road was on the north side so we could see to the south. Usually there was some place to set up but not always. EO20 and EO31 were not planned but it worked out that we could operate from those grids. I doubt that EO20 has ever been activated on the birds. The equipment worked well however the 5 element two meter beam had a lot of vibration, especially on the dirt and gravel roads which caused two elements to break off. They were repaired with copper wire and later brass rod found at the Home Depot in Thunder Bay. The LVB tracker worked flawlessly and never lost its calibration. This was quite surprising considering that the rotor was running on a 500w inverter which was turned on and off hundreds of times. A serial port connection was used rather than the USB since I had an Edgeport 8 port serial to USB converter running the TS2000 and the Garmin V GPS. The antenna setup created conversation wherever we stopped. The locals wanted to know what it was for. Some guessed tracking bear, wolf, moose, etc. Others thought we were storm chasers. Another guessed we were doing Google street view mapping. Several hundred people were introduced to amateur radio satellite technology, and we got to chat with everyone and talk about what to see and where to camp. We spent most every night in a tent except for the very end of the trip when the weather turned very rainy. We had a great time in Isle Royale National Park backpacking in a true wilderness setting. There is a longer story about how we operated satellites there that will be published at a later date. Isle Royale is a very large island in Lake Superior where Moose and Wolves have priority over everybody else. We spent 5 days on the island. The Kenwood V7A, 7AH battery and ArrowII antenna were used for this portable operation. The plan is to enter all of the qso's into a spreadsheet and print labels. Several different qsl cards will be printed to represent the different states, Canada and perhaps Brockway Mountain and Isle Royale. There is no need to send your cards to me although an SASE would be fine. Everyone that worked me will receive cards for every contact whether requested or not. Documentation will be provided for any grid line boundary operation if there are any requests from VUCC card checkers. APRS data is available on www.aprs.fi in areas where there were digi's. I have gps track logs of the entire trip showing date/time/lat/long. I have recordings of most passes and also have recordings of AO-27 and AO-51 made from my home station which operated automatically during the trip. This speaks to the reliability of SatPC32, and the rotor interface and audio recorder designed by my son, KD8CAO. Thanks to everyone who worked me and provided encouragement during the trip. The TS2000 and antenna setup allowed me to work many more stations that could have been worked with an HT and an Arrow. There were many times where it was raining or dark which would have prevented operating outside. Once the antennas were pointed north, it didn't matter as we were inside the truck out of the elements. Finally, special thanks to the control teams of all of the satellites that kept things running smoothly, and to Alan Kung for having HO-68 on during the central North America daylight passes. If you are planning a vacation, consider taking some satellite equipment along. You'll enjoy being sought after and you'll have a new perspective on what it takes to do it. Thanks to all of those that are already operating away from home so that all of us can add to our VUCC totals. 73, John K8YSE John Papay john(a)papays.com

1 0

AO-51 V/S
by Matt Patterson 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

Hi, Thanks to everyone for all of your responses. It looks like I have found a downconverter. Next question... Does anyone have any ideas on a cheap and easy homebrew antenna? Would a "cantenna" work for a small portable setup? I'm trying to do this as cheaply as possible as AO-51 isn't in this mode very often. 73 Matt W5LL

5 6

Re: AO-51 V/S
by David H. Jordan 10 Sep '10

10 Sep '10

Matt, I have been testing the U.S. Antenna Cantenna on my roof for several months now. I think it is an ok antenna. Even with a preamp, I'm not real impressed. If your overriding concern is to be stealth, it is probably a good compromise. Dave, AA4KN ------Original Message------ From: Matt Patterson Sender: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org To: AMSAT-BB Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-51 V/S Sent: Sep 10, 2010 09:13 Hi, Thanks to everyone for all of your responses. It looks like I have found a downconverter. Next question... Does anyone have any ideas on a cheap and easy homebrew antenna? Would a "cantenna" work for a small portable setup? I'm trying to do this as cheaply as possible as AO-51 isn't in this mode very often. 73 Matt W5LL _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

1 0