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

Re: ARISSat-1 3 first pass
by Luc Leblanc 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

If an antenna is damaged i think it could be the UHF. I was able to hear myself in the short linear transponder window but at this level no sustain QSO is possible. The DATA/CW and the FM signal where booming here near S9. I can hear the transponder noise but are just over the noise level I will check and try some recording of the FM messages. "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe DSTAR urcall VE2DWE WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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ONE ARISSAT ANTENNA MISSING, Reports Novosti
by andy thomas 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

02:28 04/08/2011MISSION CONTROL, August 4 (RIA Novosti) Related News Two Russian cosmonauts leave ISS for spacewalk ISS crew to launch mini-satellite on August 3 Multimedia Spacewalk Humans in space: results of the past 50 years International Space Station Two Russian cosmonauts, Alexander Samokutyayev and Sergei Volkov, completed their 6-hour spacewalk on Thursday with a 40-minute delay and returned to the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS). They carried out a manual launch of a mini-satellite and installed new stream video equipment on the station's outer surface. This was the first spacewalk for Samokutyayev and the third for his colleague Volkov. The launch of the Kedr mini-satellite, designed to transmit greeting messages in 17 languages, Earth photos and telemetry data from its service systems, was delayed after the cosmonauts discovered that one of its two antennas was missing, but they nevertheless launched the satellite with only one antenna. The cosmonauts also installed three containers with microorganisms and mushroom spores on the Pirs docking compartment to study their influence on materials used in spacecraft construction. At the end of their spacewalk, the Russians took pictures holding photos of the first cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, spacecraft designer Sergei Korolyov and Soviet astronautic theory pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky with Earth in the background. http://en.rian.ru/science/20110804/165547335.html 73 de andy g0sfj

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Arissat-1 sstv received
by andy thomas 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

Robot-36 picture received but vey noisy on 145950, 0436 is the timestamp. I am confused by the -bb reports of FM signals - I think 145825 and 437550 are relays from the ISS and therefore I'd expect them to be far stronger. ?? 73 de andy g0SFJ

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ARISSat-1 test signal saved
by Mineo Wakita 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

00:49-00:58UTC, 31 Jul 2011, Ele 17 West, 437.550MHz VOICE/SSTV/BPSK SSTV image, http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/10731ari.png Voice of the England girl, http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/10731ar1.mp3 Voice of the Robot, http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/10731ar2.mp3 JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita

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ARISSat-1 Report
by GW1FKY＠aol.com 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

Hi all, Listened for ARISSat-1 at 0605 hrs GMT here in Wales -UK. This pass was a low angle but I had no problems in hearing the transmissions on 145.825 Mhz, the satellite sounded very healthy and the voice and SSTV very clear indeed. "My sincere congratulations" to all concerned and of course to all whom gave the support to enable the project to proceed. "Amateur Radio " is well spoken for in its voice announcement. Regards Ken Eaton GW1FKY Amasat-UK Amsat NA

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Heard ARISSat-1 during 0555 UTC pass over Washington, DC
by Dinesh Cyanam 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

Heard the FM transmission of ARISSat -1 during the 0555 UTC (0155 EST) pass over Washington, DC. It was very loud and clear with my Wouxun handheld and 3-el tape measure Yagi. I am pretty sure a rubber duck antenna is more than enough. 73, Dinesh Cyanam KC2YQJ

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ARISSat-1 reception report
by Maurizio IV3RYQ 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

Hi, here telemetry data heard over Europe 04 aug at 03.00-06.20 utc. ' 73 Maurizio IV3RYQ maurizio_iv3ryq(a)alice.it

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THE ROUGH TREATMENT OF ARISSAT-1
by John Marranca, Jr 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

I don't quite understand the "high-fiving" going on in regards to "Congrats on the deployment of Arissat-1". Bullshit. Someone's ASS should be on the line for the rough treatment of this "project" (as NASA TV kept referring to it as). As far as I'M concerned...they sent out INEXPERIENCED rookies to deploy something that, while minor in the grand scheme of projects undertaken by ISS/NASA, was still important to US and the university that built the pressure experiment onboard. What if these cosmonauts DID destroy it? What if it had to be brought back to Earth? Who would have paid for it? Or would it have been a loss for the contributors involved? My 2 cents!' John KB2HSH -- _______________________________ John Marranca, Jr -PBX Technician- BN Systems, Incorporated Orchard Park, NY (716)406-7130

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Re: ARISSat-1 - Photos from NASA TV
by Burns Fisher 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

Thanks to everyone who posted pictures. I think Phil Karn's picture number 9204 is particularly interesting. It almost looks like something coming out of the collar and bending back and down away from the camera. Any chance that is an antenna stuck somewhere? But I'd also like to make a couple comments which are, of course, just as much speculations as the comments that I'm trying to refute. First, let's talk about "breaking" the antenna. Well, we don't really know that. Isn't it flexible like the 2m antenna? I think it was mentioned in CDR slides. And surely we would want it to be flexible. After all there is one of these sticking out on each of the two largest flat surfaces. Chances are good it's going to run into something sometime. Second, suppose it was simply not installed. I see lots of comments about "duh, how could you miss it not being there?". I've looked at a lot of pictures of this bird both pre- and post-launch and a huge percentage of them are taken at an angle where you can only see one antenna. How would anyone inherently know what this was supposed to look like? I would also add that these guys who are on the station for 6 months at a time don't get to practice procedures in a tank up till a few days before the EVA. As to the Apollo 13 mentality: This was not life or death. The guys inside the station were limited as to where they could go. Surely they could not pass something out through the airlock even if they could move around. And does anyone remember on Apollo 12 (I think), one of the astronauts kicked a TV camera cable so we had no live TV after the first few hours. Should I mention a certain cap not removed from a certain Oscar on the pad at KSC? That was not the Russians. Working in space is HARD. Mistakes are EASY. Here's my completely speculative hypothesis: You'll recall that the AMSAT rep who went to Russia (Lou?) with the bird had to return before it was at Star City because of a combo of a short visa and long customs hold. Thus he never got to work in person with bird AND the Russian guy working up procedures, tests, etc. On top of that, the various tests from within the ISS were added. All that could add up to procedures being written and changed somewhat blindly. I'll bet some checklist somewhere neglected to mention the 70cm, and in the process of stowing and unstowing and connecting to and disconnecting from the external antenna the 70cm was never (re) attached. Yes, I'm disappointed. Yes there should be a root cause analysis. But as before, we have to wait till the details are in. Speculations are fun; throwing blame around is not (to me at least). 73, Burns W2BFJ

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ARISSat-1/Kedr Heard in Florida 2nd time
by Mike Schaffer 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

ARISSat-1/Kedr heard female voice telemetry at 0557 UTC with antenna azimuth at northwest and elevation 15 degrees while over western Tennessee. Mike Schaffer/KA3JAW

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