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

LVB Tracker USB serial port driver for Windows 7 x64?
by Bill Bordy, NJ1H 22 Dec '16

22 Dec '16

Has anyone located a driver for the LVB Tracker internal USB to serial port adapter on Windows 7 x64? If not, has anyone reverted to the serial port connection on LVB Tracker and used an external USB to serial port adapter successfully with SatPC32 on Windows 7 x64? I have an Edgeport multiple USB to serial port that has drivers for Windows 7 x64 that I will use if I have to. I would prefer using the LVB Tracker with its USB to serial adapter if someone has another solution. 73, Bill NJ1H

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AO-16 telemetry 3 Oct 2010
by Mark L. Hammond 01 Jul '16

01 Jul '16

Hi All, Here is a quick AO-16 update. On Sunday I turned AO-16 long enough to get some telemetry packets. The satellite would remain on for less than one minute after being commanded on. A quick test of the "bent pipe" voice mode repeater was successful. . The "hardware watchdog timer problem" is still evident; as expected, spacecraft temperatures are insufficient to keep the transmitter ON (needs to be above 15 deg C). Orbit projections suggest that satellite illumination conditions will not result in increased temperatures for nearly 10 years. Command stations do periodically turn AO-16 "ON" to check on its condition and see if the hardware timer problem has "automagically" fixed itself (which in not anticipated, but who knows...). AO-16 telemetry 3 Oct 2010 1838 utc PACSAT MBL Telemetry Decoder Ver. 1.3 (c) Mike Rupprecht, DK3WN =============================================================================== (average values) +10V Battery Bus : 0.00 V Battery Charge Reg : 0.55 mA Base Temp : 9.07 °C PSK RF Out : 1.90 W +5V RX Bus : 4.87 V +8.5V RX Bus : 8.49 V +10V RX Bus : 11.24 V Here is another teaser :) Several months ago I commanded the AO-16 S-band transmitter ON; it too remains functional (albeit weak), and was received by me, Drew KO4MA, and Alan WA4SCA. 73, -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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Call for Papers--2007 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference
by Ford, Steve, WB8IMY 16 Jul '12

16 Jul '12

Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 26th Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September 28-30, 2007 in Hartford, Connecticut. These papers will also be published in the Conference Proceedings (you do NOT need to attend the conference to have your paper included in the Proceedings). The submission deadline is July 31, 2007. Please send papers to: Maty Weinberg ARRL 225 Main St Newington, CT 06111 or you can make your submission via e-mail to: maty(a)arrl.org Papers will be published exactly as submitted and authors will retain all rights. 73 . . . Steve, WB8IMY ARRL

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Re: EggBeater
by Bill Dzurilla 29 May '12

29 May '12

Steve, I have both a commercial and a homebrew Eggbeater and am disappointed with both, especially in light of its rather high price. Connected to my IC-7000 via an ARR mast-mounted preamp, performance is far less than with an HT and an Arrow. Guess an omni can't cut it, at least not from my QTH. Maybe if I could get it up higher, clear of all roofs, it would do better. I can make contacts at relatively high sat elevations, but can do just as well with a $10 dual band ground plane. My friend has an Eggbeater and the same preamp at a clearer QTH, and he hears substantially better, down to 10 degrees elevation in some directions. Good luck and 73, Bill NZ5N > > Hi Steve, > > > > It is surprising to read that you are not hearing > anything. I have > > repeatedly used a 2m and 70cm Eggbeater for the sats > and have had no > > problem hearing things. No pre-amp. > > > > I was using a short cable (e.g. less than 10 meters). > The rigs I > > used were a FT-736r (deaf) and a FT-847 (so-so). > > > > 73, > > > > Dave

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Increasing Icom 910H deviation on 9600 setting?
by James Cutler 25 Jan '12

25 Jan '12

Dear AMSAT, Has anyone successfully increased the maximum FM deviation of the 910H when using the 9600 setting on the radio? We have not been able to. We have two units, and one is maxed at 2.5 KHz and the other at 3.2 KHz deviation. We've used the service manual to adjust the deviation to max higher values (>7KHz). But, this doesn't affect the 9600 input path. Looking through the service manual, on page 10-1 lower left corner, it shows that the gain control we just set doesn't affect the 9600 path. So, I'm thinking of modifying the over modulation detection circuitry to allow for a larger peak to peak voltage signal to be input. The components that see that voltage appear to be able to handle it. Has anyone tried this, or know of another way to increase the deviation? 73, --James

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Re: ARISSat-1 (37772) decay
by Fabio Azzarello 04 Jan '12

04 Jan '12

Hello Everybody, I totally agree with you James... the process is a continuous evolution. I did my prediction on October 6th for the "Chicken Little Competition" and my date was January 23rd 2012. It surprisingly agrees with your prediction done almost one month later, this make me think that my assumptions were right, up to now at least. 73s Fabio IW8QKU/5 Hi Jim, Thanks for the update on your AMSAT Journal article. There are several people on the bb who are following this topic and are busy plotting data. Any futher thoughts you have, as we move towards January would, I am sure be of interest. 73 John G7HIA ________________________________ From: DeYoung James <deyoung_james(a)yahoo.com> To: amsat-bb <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Tuesday, 15 November, 2011 17:29:31 Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISSat-1 (37772) decay Greetings, First, thank you Mineo for reading the AMSAT Journal and making several of my papers available on your web site. My AMSAT Journal paper published in the March/April 2011 issue is actually still fairly valid for the scenarios shown in the paper. The solar flux has turned out to be somewhat higher than was used/predicted in the paper. This has caused the atmospheric densities to be higher which results in higher decay rates. When I wrote the paper I had this nagging feeling that stopping the release height scenarios at 370-km was not going to be high enough. We are very fortunate that the ISS was boosted to such a height before release of ARISSat-1 and not after release! There is a valuable lesson, I think, to be made with respect to predicting satellite decay dates far into the future. The future state of the atmosphere, i.e. the atmospheric density that the satellite will pass through is poorly predictable in the long-term, say starting greater than a week or two into the future. Predictions of satellite decay dates months in the future should be evaluated with the understanding that your date of prediction errors may be large. The errors are due to the future uncertainties of the orbital path which grow quickly with time in a prediction. The atmospheric density is not the only source of error. Your orbit model, the integrator, and the accounting of the gravitational and drag forces among others will affect your results. Predictions of satellite decay dates are not do-and-forget. The general process is to make a prediction, get new measured observations of the height in the future, and at some point re-do your prediction when the errors become significant to you. With that all said here is my current prediction using the same tools used in the AMSAT J. paper and produced as of 2011 November 13th. The decay of ARISSat-1 (37772) will happen nominally on 2012 January 30th with a 10% rule-of-thumb error allowance of 18 days around this date. The errors may be larger than the rule-of-thumb indicates! Jim, N8OQ _______________________________________________ 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

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FO29
by K4FEG 04 Jan '12

04 Jan '12

Good to hear FO29 back operating over the US! Lets not forget that our flying friends are fragile and we need to keep looking to the future and the need for replacements. We may get another miracle and have one of the crippled birds come back to life in the future, but do we really want to depend on chance? This is a hobby and we will always be considered "second banana" when it comes to getting help to fund a launch. Write someone, call someone, offer to help or heaven forbid try and find an extra dollar or two to donate. I don't know where best to use anyone's talents or their monies but I do know this, if we do nothing there won't be someone come along and say, " we need an amateur satellite, lets launch one!" We need to take the initiative and get another satellite on the launch pad and then beg, borrow or steal a ride into space. A very Happy New Year to everyone and lets get behind some of these satellites and find a way to get them launched! 73's Frank K4FEG

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MMSSTV and ARRISat-1
by kp hpjr 01 Jan '12

01 Jan '12

GA, All the talk about SSTV from this bird got me thinking I'd like to try! I downloaded MMSSTV and installed. What are the best settings to use in the setup page for decent copy of photos from ARRISAT-1? I did copy pix on 14.230 after setup as a test run...but on last pass of ARRISAT, had wonderful copy of voice beacon but no pictures decoded. So wonder what I might be doing wrong. Any help appreciated. Kirk, N0KK

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FO-29 loud and clear!!
by Perry Yantis 31 Dec '11

31 Dec '11

Just worked K3SZH, KG7EZ, and N9AMW on FO-29 orbit #75918 starting at 1749z. This was a high elevation pass for me and signals were very strong with only slight qsb. Perry WB8OTH py41(a)att.net sent from my Apple IMac

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Re: FO-29 heard by several European stations
by Andrew Glasbrenner 31 Dec '11

31 Dec '11

Nice and strong on the 1812 pass here in EL88. It looks like the batts are good enough to get through eclipse. Maybe we ought to limit use when it's not illuminated? 73, Drew KO4MA -----Original Message----- >From: Ib Christoffersen <oz1my(a)privat.dk> >Sent: Dec 31, 2011 11:35 AM >To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >Subject: [amsat-bb] FO-29 heard by several European stations > >Hi all, >At the report page several European stations report FO-29 on. > >http://oscar.dcarr.org/ > >She worked very well. Any comment from our Japanese friends ? > >Happy New Year to all. > >73 OZ1MY >Ib > > >_______________________________________________ >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

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