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

SoCal to East Texas
by Eric Fort 05 Nov '11

05 Nov '11

A Technician class friend of mine and I would like to ragchew between His QTH in Lindale, TX (32.495164 N, 95.513233 W) and My QTH in Phelan, CA (34.436400 N, 117.468649 W) with the exception of oscar 0 is anything flying that would enable this on a frequency above 50MHZ? Thanks, Eric AF6EP

2 1

DK78.. thanks..
by Omar Alvarez 05 Nov '11

05 Nov '11

Hello Some changes let me work only the AO-51 22:50 UTC pass. I want to thanks: XE1AY 22:50 UTC K5OE 22:52 UTC K4FEG 22:53 UTC K7MDH 22:54 UTC XE1BEP 22:57 UTC AC0RA 22:57 UTC K6VUG 22:58 UTC K7MYK 22:58 UTC K8YSE 22:59 UTC KO7R 22:59 UTC Some Rx problems but you have DK78 in th bag. Thanks to be there... Tomorrow I will upload to LoTW the QSO´s, fi someone need the QSL just send me an email, no SASE :) Omar XE1AO DK89df ******************************** M.C. Omar Alvarez Cárdenas Facultad de Telematica, U de C 316 1075 xe1aom(a)ucol.mx omar_ac(a)hotmail.com ********************************

1 0

Mast-mounted preamp recommendation?
by James Cutler 04 Nov '11

04 Nov '11

All, Does anyone have any recommendations on high quality mast-mounted preamps for UHF? We're using the Icom AG-35 and not happy with the noise figure. We're going to try an adjustment described here http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6116. We are looking at the amps from ARR and SSB. Any other recommendations? http://www.ssbusa.com/gaasfet.html http://www.advancedreceiver.com/page10.html Thanks, --Jamie

5 4

This is how Aubiesat-1 sound like (CW)
by PA3GUO 04 Nov '11

04 Nov '11

Just as FYI, for those interested, this is how Aubiesat-1 sound like (CW): http://www.pa3guo.com/aubiesat1_03nov2011_0214utc_pa3guo.mp3 -- Henk, PA3GUO

1 0

Re: Kansas City Tracker
by Edward R. Cole 04 Nov '11

04 Nov '11

I have my original PacardBell P100 desktop with win95 which has been gathering dust on a shelf. It has ISA slots and parallel port which would probably be ideal for running KC Tracker. I offer it for sale for $50-OBO (as-is with keyboard and mouse but no monitor) plus shipping (best to go parcel-post from my zip 99635). I kept it since these old machines have little or no residual value in case I wanted to run some old legacy sw. But I also have a IBM P90 Thinkpad with win95 for this purpose (I also use it for packet and a DOS cw keyboard program). 73, Ed - KL7UW At 12:35 PM 11/3/2011, Robert McGwier wrote: >Since it has been a while since these have been up on the list, I want to >remind folks that this requires an early early early generation slot, >called an ISA slot. The drivers for the card are STRICTLY DOS 6.2 and >earlier interrupt handlers and are zero likely to work on a modern windows >machine. > >If you have an old machine with ISA slots, running DOS, this board was one >of the engineering marvels of its time and should still work beautifully on >Yaesu rotators today. You will need Quiktrak or IT to run it (again, DOS >computer programs). > >Bob >N4HY > >On Thu, Nov 3, 2011 at 4:09 PM, Al Ozias <alozias(a)copper.net> wrote: > > > Surplus KCT > > > > > > > > I have at my QTH a Kansas City Tracker board with a printed manual and a > > copy of the KCT.ZIP file. The owner of the board, George-WA5KBH, would > > like to find it a home. To acquire it contact me (Al-N7EQF) directly by > > email. The cost of acquiring the item is to pay for the shipping cost > > (flat rate priority mail envelope), commit a donation to AMSAT and promise > > not to ask me any questions concerning how to install, configure, or > > operate it (I do not know). The board is un-tested and may or may not > > work, no known reason to suspect it's condition. > > > > > > > > Thanks - Al - N7EQF > > > > ______________________________**_________________ > > 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<http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb> > > > > > >-- >Bob McGwier >Facebook: N4HYBob >ARS: N4HY >_______________________________________________ >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 73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45 ====================================== BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com EME: 50-1.1kw?, 144-1.4kw, 432-QRT, 1296-?, 3400-? DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubususa(a)gmail.com ======================================

2 1

Kansas City Tracker
by Al Ozias 03 Nov '11

03 Nov '11

Surplus KCT I have at my QTH a Kansas City Tracker board with a printed manual and a copy of the KCT.ZIP file. The owner of the board, George-WA5KBH, would like to find it a home. To acquire it contact me (Al-N7EQF) directly by email. The cost of acquiring the item is to pay for the shipping cost (flat rate priority mail envelope), commit a donation to AMSAT and promise not to ask me any questions concerning how to install, configure, or operate it (I do not know). The board is un-tested and may or may not work, no known reason to suspect it's condition. Thanks - Al - N7EQF

4 4

Some Elmering requested for uplinking to ARISSAT-1
by Burns Fisher 03 Nov '11

03 Nov '11

Hi everyone, A few months ago I asked for help receiving the beacon on ARISSAT-1 and got a lot of helpful suggestions. It turns out that my biggest problem was trying to listen from inside the house. Moving the antenna outside was the key. Heaven only knows what my shingles are made of...I never expected a problem! So now that I got pretty comfortable with receiving, it was time to step up from my little HT and get a somewhat more flexible and powerful rig. The only satellite rigs still on the market are the ICOM 9100 and the Kenwood TS-2000 family. I know about the birdies in the TS-2000, but I could not really afford the ICOM...maybe should have gone for a used 910 or something, but I did end up with a TS-2000. I still have the Eggbeater omni/circularly polarized 2m antenna for the downlink, and it is working great! I get a nice strong signal from the FM beacon, and I'm able to hear people on the transponder. I also either picked up the CW beacon or someone using CW on the transponder. So anyway, the downlink is working fine. Now for the uplink: I built myself a 70cm Parasitic Lindenblad per the plans of Tony, AA2TX. I have it outside about 10 feet up, and an SWR meter shows something reasonable (1.3ish) so I guess I did not totally mess it up. I can also hit the local repeater 5 miles away on fairly low power, etc. The Lindenblad should be circularly polarized with kind of a donut-shaped pattern (more gain toward the horizon where the bird is further away, less overhead where it is closer). But so far I have not been able to hear myself trying to contact ARISSAT. Here is what I tried: I set the TS2000 to satellite mode, and set it up so I was transmitting in the middle of the transponder uplink band on USB. Then I started scanning through the downlink passband while transmitting ("W2BFJ, tuning") using the "RIT" control so that transmit frequency was not changing. I was listening with LSB. I heard another station weakly, but not myself. Can someone comment on my method, both in terms of technical goodness and good operating practice? A couple specific questions: 1) Xmitting in the middle of the passband and just scanning, I should be able to at least briefly find myself without messing with doppler, right? I was planning to lock the receive and transmit frequencies (constant sum) once I found myself and follow the doppler by hand, but I never got to that step. 2) I'm right that the sidebands are inverted from receive to xmit, right? I think I would hear something even if that was wrong. 3) Finally, what about power? How much have you required for success on ARRISAT? I was running around 25W. I could boost up to as high as 50, but I can only diddle so many knobs in 5 or 10 minutes :-) 3) I know a beam would be better, but trying to reduce variables, and pointing is one of them. Besides, I'm inside in my shack! But has anyone successfully uplinked with an omni/circular? I can always remove the parasitic elements and end up with a center-fed dipole to remove the circularity. (Not sure how that would affect the impedance match...) Thanks! Burns, W2BFJ

3 3

ARISSat-1 Nov 3, 2011
by Farrell Winder 03 Nov '11

03 Nov '11

Did anyone hear signals from ARISSat-1 on the last pass, (16:53 Z Cincinnati) ? I did not hear anything on 2 m or the transponder. Will listen and try both 2 m and also Tx thru the transponder ,Rx approx 145.930 +/- doppler. Farrell Winder, W8ZCF

3 3

Re: Satellite Tracking?
by Armando Mercado 03 Nov '11

03 Nov '11

Hello Geoff, The doppler method was used in the early days of the space age, (and maybe still is). It's a neat bit of detective work. Monitor the frequency of the satellite, and determine the time of closest approach. From that you can determine the speed and altitude. Build up enough data points and you can figure out the orbit. Like you said, the target doesn't need to cooperate, just transmit. As with the latest cubesat launch, when there are many objects, it takes several weeks to figure out who's who. This could be way around that problem. 73 Armando N8IGJ >Hi Armando et al, >I don't know about the methods written up by Karl & James. For a long time >I've had a project using Doppler shift curves in the back of my mind >(the "target" doesn't need to cooperate). I have most of the hardware based >around my HPSDR box and a t'bolt frequency reference. The software hasn't >even progressed beyond ideas and algorithms. I haven't even picked a language >or development environment (one day). >I can see a very accurate Doppler shift curve being useful in the early days >after a multiple cubesat launch. How accurate would you need to be to >pick "your" cubesat from the crowd? One pass? multiple passes? >Anyway that's this morning's breakfast coffee ideas from me. Have fun >y'all :-). >73 de Geoff vk2tfg (/3).

1 0

Re: Charge for Satellite Tracking?
by Armando Mercado 03 Nov '11

03 Nov '11

Greetings, Well, in all seriousness, Who would like to post a set of keps for one (or all) of the amateur satellites now flying using the methods pioneered by Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC and James Miller, G3RUH? I recall a few weeks ago someone decrying the lack technical discussion on the board. ...Well, here go you folks! Best 73's Armando N8IGJ >Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2011 19:49:11 +0100 >From: "i8cvs" <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it> >To: "Armando Mercado" <am25544(a)triton.net>, "Amsat - BBs" ><amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> >Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Charge for Satellite Tracking? >Message-ID: <002201cc98c6$f2950220$0401a8c0@b3o7f1> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >Hi Armando, N8IGJ >If unlikely AMSAT will be oblijed to derive by itself >keps for the OSCAR satellites carrying a transponder >using the following method: >http://www.amsat.org/amsat/articles/g3ruh/123.html >or the GPS method: >ftp://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/chesters/goesref/Moreau_GPS.pdf >the keps will be posted here for free in the hope to get more >satellite users and AMSAT members. >73" de >i8CVS Domenico

3 2