January 2011 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Fw: Decoding AO-51 Telemetry
by shalesh kumar saini 18 Jan '11

18 Jan '11

----- Forwarded Message ---- From: "mkingery(a)centurytel.net" <mkingery(a)centurytel.net> To: shalesh kumar saini <shaleshanu399(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Mon, 17 January, 2011 10:21:14 PM Subject: Re: Decoding AO-51 Telemetry Hello, I am sorry. I am not active with the project anymore. I would try the command team (ao51-modes(a)amsat.org) or the amsat-bb mailing list (amsat-bb(a)amsat.org) for up-to-date information. Good Luck, Mike Quoting shalesh kumar saini : dear sir > >my self shalesh kumar and myfriend jarek jaroslaw are the students from ISAE >toulouse and want to receive the telemetry from AO51 amsat satellite. we have >downloaded the TLMECHOv1.05 ,TLMECHOv 1.04,TLMECHO user file, TLMECHO latest >coff. file and follow the procedure given in the readmefile. > >we could sucessfully install the software using the SET UP file but we >are getting an "Type error 13" on windows machine with OS XP professional when >we runthe tlmecho exe file . However we r not getting any error on window vista >mahine. we want to know the reason why it is happening like this on machine >with XP professional OS and what is the solution. > >we have to work on XP professional OS machine . > > >waiting for your reply > >thanks > >shalesh

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virtual com ports on wisp client.
by alan bethel 18 Jan '11

18 Jan '11

hi, after a few years of being off line i am rebuilding my station and i am useing wisp client, and i am trying to use prolific usb to serial adapters and i am haveing issues as it will not talk to my radio. it will if i use the com port on the motherboard. is there a fix for this? i would like to use the adapters as i only have one actual com port. can you help? ke6qis(a)yahoo.com

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sat tracking programs on iphone
by Bruce 18 Jan '11

18 Jan '11

i have an iphone 4 and use both pxsat and satellite tracker. i like satellite tracker because it is almist identical to the app that came out years ago for the palm. nice thing about it is the use the gyro built into phone to show you on the screen when the phone is pointing to the satellite elevation. great during demos to correlate 30 degrees elevation to an actual visual... point there. 73...bruce Sent from my iPhone

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Elevation System
by Marco Cardelli 18 Jan '11

18 Jan '11

Hello, I'm Marco, IZ5IOW. I'm searching a good and cheap solution to build an * elevation* system to set up an home satellite station. More specifically I'm looking suggestions for the mechanical part... The loading of the antenna is the follow: 15El UHF Yagi and 9 El VHF Yagi. The mechanical part should not bear too much weight! Can anyone help me? Thank you all. Best 73s. Marco

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New SATCONTROL_FCD
by n1jez＠burlingtontelecom.net 17 Jan '11

17 Jan '11

I just tried out the new SATCONTROL_FCD for the FunCube with 1 Hz steps on FO-29. Worked well! No need to run Howard's control program now. Easy SSB copy on KI6CQ, WB4LHD, WA6DIR and K8RO. I actually heard several AO-51 FM uplinks on the FO-29 downlink as well - K8YSE and KI6CQ. I posted a screen of a station looking for his downlink. You'll see the dits all over the screen. http://www.burlingtontelecom.net/~n1jez@burlingtontelecom.net/whereismydown… 73, Mike, N1JEZ AMSAT 29649 "A closed mouth gathers no feet"

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Re: Funcube dongle results Jan 16th
by PA3GUO 17 Jan '11

17 Jan '11

Dear Howard, >From my initial (out-of-the-box) experiments it is clear that with proper input filtering results are very (very) good. Using my beams I have such filtering in the pre-amps, as you correctly assumed. Also, when using the vertical in my 'tower' I use indeed a triplexer, you are right again, works fine. In such situation I have similar results as with a Kenwood TS2000 (!) Sensitivity of the FCD is indeed outstanding (especially for such a wide frequency range). I can hear satellites until 0.0 degrees elevation. >From Nico PA0DLO I understand that he also experiences on VHF influence by nearby signals. We compared our FCDs here at my station, they are similar. Still Nico has more issues receiving the same stations compared to me, even though we are a few miles apart. This can be local pagers etc (his assumption). But it can indeed also be filtering: we tested the same local beacon at 126 MHz in my station with a triplexer, and as far as I know he uses directly a wide-band discone antenna. Which confirms your assumptions as well. Back to the ISS test. I expected the Kenwood would have received those signals. Even though no filtering from a triplexer or pre-amp. But: a Kenwood (or ICOM 910 or so) has also filtering at the antenna input stage. Which the FCD does not. Which would confirm that prefiltering is important. Indeed I do notice that sometimed the spectrum has changes in noise floor levels. You see that when suddenly the whole spectrum becomes lighter/darker. Unfortunately it will take me until next weekend to do more tests. On the other hand, my reports were ment to encourage others, no scientific measurements. Would be better (more factual) if this would be done with a few signal generators. Then again, I expect the FCD to be sensitive enough. We are now taking it to the extremes and see go low (small) we can go :-) Great stuff - extremely motivation (IMHO the FCD is the most exciting "creation" of the past 10 years) Henk ps: I did use the latest firmware ---- Howard Long <howard(a)howardlong.com> schreef: > Hi Henk > > Particularly regarding your attempt to receive the ISS, do you see a > significant increase in noise floor when you connect the antenna at VHF, > potentially 20dB or more? > > If so, it may be being overloaded from the sum of VHF signals coming into > the radio. When you use a preamp it almost certainly has a bandpass filter > in it. The filtering on the FCD at VHF is rather wide bandpass with 3dB > cutoffs between about 60MHz and 270MHz. Thus if there's significant pager, > band II FM, or Band III DAB etc traffic the front end gets a bit swamped, > and your noise floor rises. > > We're already looking into simple recommended methods of alleviating this. > The first thing is to make sure you're using the 18c firmware as this > implements tighter filtering. I also found that simply using the VHF port of > a V/U di/duplexer worked well in some situations. The best results I found > were with the middle port of a CFX-514 triplexer. If you have close in pager > interference then you'll need something rather tighter. In the UK for > example, we often have pagers at 138 and 153MHz. > > At UHF and above, the FCD uses tighter programmable bandpass filters so we > don't tend to experience this at these frequencies. > > The front end of the FCD is pretty sensitive, with all units measured and > targeted for 0.15uV for 12dB SINAD on NBFM. But if there are fairly strong > out of band signals, this will inevitably raise the noise floor. > > 73, Howard G6LVB > > -----Original Message----- > From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On > Behalf Of PA3GUO > Sent: 16 January 2011 21:10 > To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] Funcube dongle results Jan 16th > > Some more FUNCube dongle results: > > (not much new information, just want to share my few hours > time today to spend on the FCD which I really enjoyed) > > Using 2x6 elements 145 MHz: > - VO52 USB downlink great, with and without preamp > > Using 1x12 elements 435 MHz > - AO51 FM downlink great with preamp, without noisier > - HO68 CW beacon great with preamp, good without > > OK. So with the normal antennas the FCD works great. > Time to try thew absolute minumum: Outside in the garden, laptop > plus a simple vertical for 145 MHz; ISS packet: nothing heared/seen. > Was a surprise to me, as ISS is normally extremely strong. > Also tried AO51 FM with just a dipole outside: nothing heared/seen. > Both passes were >80 degrees elevation. > So for now I guess you need either a beam or a preamp. > > Then again, the unit is the size of a USB memory stick and > has a range 60MHz -1.7 GHz - no complaints ! > > Overal I am still very impressed. The dongle connected to my > normal antenna system (beams + pre-amps) gives great results. > > Just listened twice to a VO52 pass, and listening in USB was very > comfortable, audio sounds very nice until 0 degrees elevation > (using WRplus). > > Amazing to be able to watch the entire downlink spectrum, and > see a few QSOs in parallel, seeing multiple stations tuning (their > signals going from left ro right and back until they hear themselves). > > Of course everyone else had SDR for satellites already :-) For me > this is just amazing. Great work by the FUNCube Dongle team. > > We often see discussions on how to get SSB for a few $'s and start > to compare various conventional transceivers. Well, the FCD is surely > an option to reduce cost on the downlink: all mode / all bands. > > Henk, PA3GUO > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFZGlqKPPQo > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > -- Henk, PA3GUO

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Looks like another opportunity for the famous AMSAT-DL dish repair team!
by Graham Shirville 17 Jan '11

17 Jan '11

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/goonhilly-to-rejoin-deep-space-communicat… Also note the comment about EME possibilities from the CEO of the company:) 73 Graham G3VZV

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Yaesu FT-736R
by Clint Bradford 17 Jan '11

17 Jan '11

Any FT-736R gurus out there? If so, would you please directly contact Lee ... LeeR <kb3qhb(a)yahoo.com> >From an email sent to me ... "Had satellite knob set to receive bird flew in zone but no recieve. What is the key to understanding the mode and fuction buttons?" Clint

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SATCONTROL_FCD
by Mike Rupprecht 17 Jan '11

17 Jan '11

All, I uploaded a new version of SATCONTROL_FCD (V. 0.8.1). The software is using Mike's ExtIO_FCD.dll (must be in the same directory). You can now correct the doppler frequency in Hz steps - so you can also track satellite CW beacons :-) download zip file here: http://www.dk3wn.info/files/SatControl_FCD.zip 73, Mike DK3WN

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Funcube dongle results Jan 16th
by PA3GUO 17 Jan '11

17 Jan '11

Some more FUNCube dongle results: (not much new information, just want to share my few hours time today to spend on the FCD which I really enjoyed) Using 2x6 elements 145 MHz: - VO52 USB downlink great, with and without preamp Using 1x12 elements 435 MHz - AO51 FM downlink great with preamp, without noisier - HO68 CW beacon great with preamp, good without OK. So with the normal antennas the FCD works great. Time to try thew absolute minumum: Outside in the garden, laptop plus a simple vertical for 145 MHz; ISS packet: nothing heared/seen. Was a surprise to me, as ISS is normally extremely strong. Also tried AO51 FM with just a dipole outside: nothing heared/seen. Both passes were >80 degrees elevation. So for now I guess you need either a beam or a preamp. Then again, the unit is the size of a USB memory stick and has a range 60MHz -1.7 GHz - no complaints ! Overal I am still very impressed. The dongle connected to my normal antenna system (beams + pre-amps) gives great results. Just listened twice to a VO52 pass, and listening in USB was very comfortable, audio sounds very nice until 0 degrees elevation (using WRplus). Amazing to be able to watch the entire downlink spectrum, and see a few QSOs in parallel, seeing multiple stations tuning (their signals going from left ro right and back until they hear themselves). Of course everyone else had SDR for satellites already :-) For me this is just amazing. Great work by the FUNCube Dongle team. We often see discussions on how to get SSB for a few $'s and start to compare various conventional transceivers. Well, the FCD is surely an option to reduce cost on the downlink: all mode / all bands. Henk, PA3GUO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFZGlqKPPQo

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