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

How to get started on SSB birds
by Jeremy Widner 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

I have been doing FM birds for a couple of years now with HTs and Arrow antennas. I am ready to start messing with the other birds. I have a Kenwood TS-2000 for a rig. I do NOT currently have a tower up. I was wondering antenna suggestions you guys might have to jump into the ssb birds without using a tower. My preference is to build something as money is always an issue (insert wife). -- 73 Jeremy Widner K0PDX http://k0pdx.us Secretary Raytown Amateur Radio Club - K0GQ http://k0gq.com/

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Mailing List
by David Barber 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

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Field Day
by jerry keeton 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

My take on the field day sats: Why not some one on the East Coast and some one on the West Coast volunteer to operate as a net . That way there would not be the 2 way confusion . A net control could confirm the contacts much faster and get many more contacts. Just a thought. Jerry WB5LHD

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Re: FD Mess
by Dee 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

Wow, This certainly brought about heavy criticism from the satellite community. I for one encourage this discussion. It seems to break down to having a satellite that is a linear bird and wide enough to let everyone find a good spot and communicate- something like the HF bands provided this past weekend. It seems that the Field day ops would like to see another HEO or MEO linear since most of them came armed for this type of bird usage. The FM birds are not a useful item for the one QSO that is needed for these 100 points. I had an ARROW that was split up on a Yaesu rotor with LVB tracker controlling the antenna and rig. This was a great conversation demo while waiting for a pass. Many interested operators and satellite user wanabees came to look at the neat stuff. Unfortunately, In order to get another HEO or MEO bird the class of OSCAR 10, 13, and/or 40 will take a campaign that will ask us operators to dig deep into our pockets to produce such a satellite. With ITAR in recent memory as a roadblock to international co-operation, collaboration between AMSAT organizations is at an impasse. Yes, the smaller more compact cubesats are filled with the newest technology and I believe that this is the way to go. ARRISat is due to be dropped off in orbit in July and has this type of electronics. Another LEO. I will be monitoring and keeping track of people that are reminiscing about the linear birds we used in the past and were able to satisfy the needs of all that wanted to have a QSO via Satellites. If you feel like me about a new campaign, it is going to have a big price tag. This is why we assist the higher learning institutions to assemble a linear bird along with their experiments since they have the money to put them together along with a "launch opportunity." This saves the satellite community very hard to find funding. Dee Interdonato, NB2F Dee Interdonato 118 Westervelt Place Lodi, NJ 07644 973-772-8229

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Re: FD Mess
by Reicher, James 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

The ARRL doesn't care! According to them, "Field Day is not a contest; no certificates are awarded" and "ARRL Field Day is not a fully adjudicated contest, which explains much of its popularity" So, no awards, no disqualifications. Just posting your scores on the wall with nothing to back it up. In other words, it's one giant fish story. The biggest liar wins. 73 de W0HV, Jim in Raymore, MO Light travels faster than sound... This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:51:42 -0500 From: Floyd Rodgers <kc5qbc(a)swbell.net> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: FD Mess Cc: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Message-ID: <4E08B51E.4090902(a)swbell.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Guys, this seems simple to fix. The arrl gets the logs of everyone. How hard is it to build a table of the sat contacts and check who gets more than the allowed one contact?

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Linear Transponder on the ISS.
by Douglas Phelps 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

This is such an obvious question that I think there must be a reason it has not been done. I would like someone to explain why it is not possible or probable. I am not seeking to start a flame war. Why can't we put a SSB/CW linear transponder on the ISS? It could run whenever the ISS FM station is not being used. It could use the same antennas. It would seem to be an easy way to put up another linear transponder with a good signal favoring stations without large antennas. Could this be a way to bring SSB/CW activity to a larger audience. I would appreciate hearing from anyone that could shed some light on this. Thanks, Doug K9DLP

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Field Day Dual-Hop!
by Greg D. 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

Well, one-way, and I didn't have the presence of mind to try to make a cross satellite contact. The end of the last AO-07 pass (which sounded very much like 20 meters!) crossed with the beginning of FO-29's, so the two satellites passed within a couple of hundred miles of each other. Since the downlink for AO-07 is in the middle of the uplink passband for FO-29, I switched over to FO-29 to take a listen. Sure enough, the bottom of FO-29's passband sounded like 20 meters for a few moments. Then it went away. Fleeting chaos. Sweet. Greg KO6TH

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FD- 2011
by Peter Portanova 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

Hello All, I too was disappointed by the pileups on all the satellites, our FD location, W2GSB,is part of our Town Hall facility, it is a great location for the public to experience what we do as amateur radio operators. However it is a very poor location for satellite activity, too much RF leakage from the cell towers buildings and large trees. I was using a hand-held antenna and low power and didn't have a chance. It was the type of chaos we see for a rare DX station or in one of the popular contests, having a mix of CW and SSB in the same space on the linear satellites was an additional challenge. I had visitors during all my passes, we had groups from the Scouts, the Explorers etc., unfortunately they heard what I heard and it was not a good demonstration of what Field Day should be. I really don't know what the solutions if any, to fix it for us. What we do is a challenge during the best of times when you add the FD fuel, with less structure that terrestrial radio has, chaos ensues. I wonder if it's feasible to have a few satellite stations, around the country, that have a good FD location, act as "the DX stations" and set up a call in by numbers for a few designated passes, to demonstrate to the public why we love what we do and maybe interest them enough to join AMSAT and become a satellite operator. 73's Pete WB2OQQ www.massapequanyweather.com

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Satellite Contacts During Field Day
by Carl Rimmer W8KRF 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

I have a comment regarding FD satellite contacts. If I remember correctly, it has been established that a station only make one (1) satellite contact during the FD period so everyone can have a chance. Making a contact or contacts on each of the available satellites during each of their passes is improper and not according to my understanding of the rules. -- *Carl W8KRF *

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Multiple FM satellite QSOs in Field Day (was Re: Re: Field Day Dual-Hop!)
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

Hi! I've seen comments like this from several on the list regarding Field Day: > REALLY disappointed at the number of stations making multiple contacts on > the FM birds... what these people don't seem to realize is that every extra > contact they make deprives another station of the opportunity to make their > one FD contact. This is not necessarily true. Yes, there are some stations that treat FM satellites just like a station on 20m SSB - work as many as possible. I did not attempt to work any of the FM passes east of me, figuring my 5W station would not be able to get through. Based on the comments I've read from those in that part of the country, I did better by working HF or 6m during those eastern passes. The "minimum transmitter power necessary to carry out the desired communications" (from FCC part 97.313a) would have been many times more than the 5W I used. I confined my FM satellite activity to west-coast passes, and - as K6LCS and KO6TH previously mentioned - the AO-51 pass late Saturday afternoon was a pleasant surprise in how easy it was to get through. Much easier for me than the SSB birds! On the west-coast AO-27 and AO-51 passes Saturday afternoon, I logged more than one QSO on each pass. I was not a "big gun" station, working in the forest 20 miles/32km west of Flagstaff AZ as a 1B/1-op/battery station at 5W as I typically do for Field Day. I will post a short video clip showing my station, along with some photos, in the next day or so. Unfortunately, my one SO-50 QSO didn't help for Field Day, as that QSO was with a station that only gave his grid locator instead of a Field Day exchange. As for the extra AO-27 and AO-51 QSOs I logged, they fell into one of two categories - either helping another station get their satellite QSO (and 100-point bonus), or responding to calls from other stations. After making my point-scoring AO-27 QSO, I heard John W9EN on as N6SD. We had chatted on VO-52 Saturday morning before the start of Field Day, and I knew he would be on as N6SD instead of his own call. After some time passed, I never heard anyone call or work N6SD. I called N6SD, and we made a very quick QSO. It was N6SD's first satellite QSO, giving them the 100-point bonus under ARRL Field Day rules. For me, I logged the QSO, but will not score it when I file my log with both ARRL and AMSAT. I was not operating in violation of *FCC* rules in making this contact, and - based on how I have filed my logs in previous Field Days where I had more than one QSO on an FM satellite - not scoring the additional QSO is acceptable with both groups. I'm sure it also helped that both John and I are experienced satellite operators, able to adapt to the conditions and make a very quick QSO despite the crowd. After the QSO with N6SD on that AO-27 pass, and also on the later AO-51 pass, other stations called me. I recognized some of the voices as experienced satellite operators working under other call signs. I responded, made the Field Day exchanges, and logged a few more non-scoring QSOs. I don't try to remember if I heard the other stations make QSOs earlier in the pass. I work them, and log the QSOs accordingly. Things were so good on the Saturday afternoon AO-51 pass that one station was making normal non-Field Day QSOs among the others who were making Field Day QSOs. I worked that station, giving him my grid locator instead of my Field Day exchange. To paint everyone who logged additional FM satellite QSOs during Field Day as denying others from making a Field Day satellite QSO is not accurate. It may be the only way some stations were able to log a Field Day satellite QSO, and - in some cases - get the 100-point ARRL bonus. Since the crowded conditions continue on the FM birds despite the one-QSO limit in both ARRL and AMSAT rules, things probably won't change unless something else is done. For example, take away the 100-point bonus in the ARRL Field Day rules for completing a satellite QSO. I'm not advocating that ARRL do that, but that bonus is why many groups will take the time and effort to get on the satellites for Field Day. Otherwise, satellite operating would be like trying to make terrestrial 2m, 222 MHz, 70cm, etc. Field Day QSOs in much of North America - a lot of work for a few QSOs. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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