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

PACIFICON 2011 Sat Shows
by Clint Bradford 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

A case of "Watch what you ask for - it may occur ... " (grin) At last year's PACIFICON Convention in San Ramon, 54 attendees crammed into a room that was set up for 44 for my "How to Work the Sats With Your HT" presentation. In an after-convention wrap-up session, I tossed out the idea of doing the presentation twice, back-to-back, in order to accommodate more folks ... Well, PACIFICON took me up on that. Heck, I didn't even think they were listening ... (grin) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - AMSAT area coordinator Clint Bradford, K6LCS, will be presenting "How to Work the FM Ham Satellites With Your HT" presentation - twice - at PACIFICON 2011 in Santa Clara on Saturday, October 15. We had a great time last year - with a full conference room and several passes that we worked. I'll be making my presentation from 11AM-noon and 1-2PM. We have tentative passes of AO-27, AO-51, and ARISSat-1 (hopefully!) - Watch for posters near the check-in area for exact times. Download the tutorial and programming charts from ... http://www.work-sat.com And I always encourage pre-presentation inquiries. Send email to clint(a)clintbradford.com - or call me at 909-241-7666. See you in Santa Clara! PACIFICON's Web site is http://www.pacificon.org . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Clint Bradford, K6LCS

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Anchorage HamFest
by Clint Bradford 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

AMSAT area coordinator Clint Bradford, K6LCS, will be presenting his ‘Working Amateur Satellites With Your HT’ session at the Anchorage Amateur Radio Club annual hamfest on September 17, 2011. ALL are welcome to attend! Saturday, September 17, 2011 - 2PM ADT Kincaid Park - Modern Chalet building 9401 Raspberry Anchorage, AK 99502 Attendees should download Clint’s four-page tutorial and radio programming data from … http://www.work-sat.com … and Clint welcomes pre-presentation questions. Call him at 909-241-7666, or send email to … clint(a)clintbradford.com Clint Bradford, K6LCS /end/

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Successful Radio Merit Badge class and Satellite demo, National Scouting Museum
by Tom Schuessler 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

Many thanks to K8YSE, KX9X, WA4HFN, NE5BO, ND9M, K4FEG, KT3L, N9AMW, AA0SV, K5OE, N8MS, N2VYT and VE2RCN for making the AO-51 2108Z pass of AO-51 a memorable one for the Scouts and parents who participated. I got them to yell out our EM12 grid square for most of the contacts. It was a great topper to a great day. For those of you who worked it and those who did not, catch K8YSE's recording at http://www.papays.com/sat/general.html. Look for K2BSA/5 near the top of the list . near the top of the recordings listing. I had a non-licensed guy tracking the satellite via smart phone as I was tracking it with the arrow and afterwards some really excited parents. Hoping some of them come back to the Museum on October 15th for our participation in Jamboree On the Air. Again, thanks for the calls. Work some Scouts when you hear them. It is a great investment in the future. K2BSA/5 will again be active on October 15th for JOTA so see you then. Tom Schuessler 2713 Lake Gardens Drive Irving, Texas 75060 972-986-7456 214-403-1464 (Cell) n5hyp(a)arrl.net

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ARISSat-1 KURSK frames all zeros
by Ronald G. Parsons 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

On the just concluded pass of ARISSat, all the KURSK frames I copied were all zeros (except for the header). Is there a problem or a change? Ron W5RKN

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NW2C 911- SPECIAL EVENT STATION
by Peter Portanova 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

Good Afternoon, I have been invited, WB2OQQ, to operate a portable satellite station on September 11th, using the call NW2C, at Historic Fort Totten, located in Bayside New York, only a few miles from ground zero. Fort Totten was one of many placed used in recovery and healing during 911. I will operate all FM satellite passes from 12 noon to 6pm EDT, 1600, -2200z. For those that make a confirmed satellite contact and wish to receive a Certificate of Confirmation, visit http://www.nw2c.org/911.html, for all the details, NW2C will also be operating on the general bands, check clusters for frequency updates. I look forward to demonstrating how our amateur satellites, can be utilized as another communications possibility in a crisis, let's put on a good show for the very special people that will be invited to this 911 event, thank you. 73's Pete WB2OQQ www.massapequanyweather.com

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Re: AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 6, Issue 517
by Edwin M. "EMike" McCardel, KC8YLD 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

I would like to announce and congratulate, AMSAT member, Zack Beougher, KD8KSN (EN80) for being honored as ARRL Great Lakes' Division, Young Radio Amateur of the Year. This is great honor for Zack, and it speaks well for the future of AMSAT, having such a fine young man in our midst, Congratulations Zach! E. Michael McCardel, KC8YLD Ohio Section Affiliated Club Coordinator, ARRL NO CODE REQUIRED When All Else Fails... There's Amateur Radio Learn more via www.ARRL.org

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Yin and Yang
by Clint Bradford 11 Sep '11

11 Sep '11

I stayed up all night Friday preparing printouts and stuff for the ARRL SW Division Convention. Left the house at 6:30am - to get there for our first of five sat passes at 7:47am. Worked five passes in front of folks. Performed my sat show for 90 minutes in front of a standing-room-only group of eighty-two. It was a non-stop flurry of activity. Had a GREAT time. Voice gone ... "convention legs" (you know, those muscles behind your shins get really sore - muscles that you usually never know are there ... (grin)). Got home about 10pm. Checked email. Six messages from show attendees, thanking me for everything. I quickly scanned the AMSAT-BB, QRZ.com, and eHam.net - and found a reply to a message I had written in a thread last week that really set me off. Someone mentioned that ARISSat-1 was "crippled" and of no use ... I replied by listing its intended modes, and the fact that all is working pretty darned as expected. We've even taxed a battery that was only rated at 5 discharge-charge cycles ... "But it is all working," I wrote. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Not really...it has become a piece of space junk very quickly. Deploying without the correct antenna and a crappy battery is an example of where our space program has gone. A sat that is in faliure mode only days after deployment. Donate more to AMSAT, we might get another piece or two of space junk in orbit before the ISS falls out of orbit. /s/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Well, I THOUGHT I was going to bed quickly. No way was I going to let that go unanswered overnight: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >> ... it has become a piece of space junk very quickly ... I'll tell that to the 45 folks who witnessed/heard it this afternoon at the ARRL SW Division Convention in Torrance, CA. They will be so glad to be enlightened by your comment. They THOUGHT it was exciting hearing that 250mW signal and getting amped up about amateur sat comms this morning. But according to you, they are all wrong ... >> ... Deploying without the correct antenna ... Yet working marvelously - a true testament to those who built the satellite. >> ... and a crappy battery ... The battery is exactly what was planned for - and anyone knowledgeable with the project knew its limitations. It was subjected to a very different charging regimen - as opposed to its expected rating of "five" discharge-charge cycles. If anyone calls the battery aspect of this project a "failure" then they have no clue as to what they are talking about. The battery was designed for Russian spacesuits and EVAs - seemed OK for that type of work to those who are responsible for the lives of their Cosmonauts. >> ... is an example of where our space program has gone ... Uh, this is an amateur radio project - with a Russian educational project on board. Where does NASA - "our space program" fail? We deployed an experiment over a month ago that is to this hour working well. This was never meant to be a long-term project. I am responsible for AMSAT receiving $1175 so far for this project. I do not remember seeing your name on the list of donors. Please correct me if I am wrong. And if you are truly interested n the future of amateur satellites, I'd like to see you include AMSAT in your will next week, and donate a little toward the future projects that are in the works. OR, of course, you can just moan and complain mindlessly in public forums like this one. It's your choice. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I wasn't livid ... just irritated at the ignorance. Yes, I know that the battery started to deteriorate a little sooner than expected. But no one had subjected such a battery to what ARISSat-1 engineers were doing to it: MANY shallow charges daily. Just couple the YIN of excitedly working ARISSat-1 in front of a live audience and hearing people applaud the project - versus the YANG of this moronic post ... It was quite a day. And so it goes ... Clint Bradford, K6LCS 909-241-7666

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Finally
by Kevin Deane 11 Sep '11

11 Sep '11

Sorry about all the posts I was wondering what was going on. Looks like the one post finally went through about NEXT weekend. My little Werker batteries seem to be holding up great and will be testing Solar input/radio draw today. Is there something like more points for solar/portable stations? Or is that only for contests or somethin? I didnt think it would but I took some test pictures of the GPS and portable station came out good so that will be great for verifacation if needed for the DN Grids for next week. Its an older Garmin but I think it shows all the needed info. I bought a duplexer for the Yaesu 857 but am not sure which way the frequencies go for the SSB birds. Must not be transmitting on the right freq cause no one is responding to my calls on AO-7...:( Kevin KF7MYK

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SPECIAL 911 EVENT
by Peter Portanova 11 Sep '11

11 Sep '11

Good Morning, I have been invited, WB2OQQ, to operate a portable satellite station today September 11th, using the call NW2C, at Historic Fort Totten, located in Bayside New York, only a few miles from ground zero. Fort Totten was one of many placed used in recovery and healing during 911. I will operate all FM satellite passes from 12 noon to 6pm EDT, 1600, -2200z. For those that make a confirmed satellite contact and wish to receive a Certificate of Confirmation, visit http://www.nw2c.org/911.html, for all the details, NW2C will also be operating on the general bands, check clusters for frequency updates. I look forward to demonstrating the enjoyment amateur operators have using the satellites and it's potential as another communications possibility in a crisis, so let's put on a good show for the very special people that will be invited to this 911 event, thank you. 73's Pete WB2OQQ www.massapequanyweather.com

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AMCON in Torrance, CA
by Clint Bradford 11 Sep '11

11 Sep '11

What a great day at the ARRL Southwestern Division Convention. We had five "tentative" passes of '27, 50, '51, and ARISSat-1. The first of two SO-50 passes (early in our morning) didn't materialize .. but it was before the convention really got sarted. EVERY OTHER PASS was magnificent - including about FOUR MINUTES SOLID of ARISSat-1 transmissions on its 2M downlink during a morning pass. AND - quite unexpectedly - ARISSat-1 was heard alongside us working AO-51 in the afternoon - they were both in the same "cone" area as we hardly needed to move our antennas from'51 to hear ARISSat-1. I had 82 attendees for my sat presentation. And many of the folks who worked the passes outside were not at the presentation. So "mini-presentations" were given all day. My voice is darned near gone ... But a great time was had by all. Clint, K6LCS

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