October 2012 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Bad news.... Cuban Satellite Group First Meeting postponed
by Raidel Abreu Espinet 31 Oct '12

31 Oct '12

Due to the severe impact caused by Hurricane Sandy last week to the eastern provinces of Cuba we were asked to postpone the "GROS National Meeting" we had scheduled for November 8th to 11th. The Meeting location at Camagüey did not receive any damage but the provinces of "Santiago de Cuba", "Holguín" and "Guantánamo" were badly affected and many houses, schools and factories loss their roofs or were damaged by fallen trees. Several ham radio operators lost their houses. Most of the state resources are now been prioritized to assist to the people of this three provinces that lost their houses. Under this circumstances we were asked to reschedule the National Meeting and the Coordination Board agreed with the request as a solidarity to our colleagues. Many other activities the National Amateur Radio Federation (F.R.C.) had scheduled were also postponed included its National Council. We are working on possible dates not sooner than January. We sorry all the inconvenience and the G.R.O.S. Coordination Board (Grupo de Radioaficionados para Operaciones Satelitales) will announce the new date when possible. We still have great hopes with this First Meeting and during this extra months we will work harder to improve our work and make it better. 73, G.R.O.S. Coordination Board --- Este mensaje ha sido enviado mediante el servicio de correo electronico que ofrece la Federacion de Radioaficionados de Cuba a sus miembros para respaldar el cumplimiento de los objetivos de la organizacion y su politica informativa. La persona que envia este correo asume el compromiso de usar el servicio a tales fines y cumplir con las regulaciones establecidas.

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Functioning satellites and their frequencies.
by K5VOU 30 Oct '12

30 Oct '12

While in the process of compiling a chart for transverter control to work through transponders, the following was the result. This does not include beacons. I invite corrections and additions to both the satellite list and the mode name list. Mode TX Band Rx Band Sats in the mode Emission Type A 144-146 MHz 29-30 MHz AO-07 (A) SSB B 432-434 MHz 144-146 MHz AO-07 (B) SSB J 144-146 MHz 434-436 MHz FO-29 SSB FM 144-146 MHz 436-438 MHz AO-27,SO-50 FM V/U 434-436 MHz 144-146 MHz VO-52 SSB 73, Tom K5VOU

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Re: WSJT - A Bit Off Topic
by wyattdirks 30 Oct '12

30 Oct '12

Hey Rick You have to build a custom cable and you have add a capacitor and resistor to the inside. Instruction are at the very bottom of this url. http://www.tigertronics.com/sl_wirebm.htm Hope this helps. 73 Wyatt AC0RARichard Lawn <rjlawn(a)gmail.com> wrote: I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who is using WSJT with an FT-847 and Signalink USB interface. I'm having no luck getting PTT to work. Rick W2JAZ _______________________________________________ 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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Re: AMSAT at Orlando
by Nick Pugh 30 Oct '12

30 Oct '12

George New Orleans would be a better venue but there are only 4 of us active in AMSAT Angelo what do you think? nick From: gkcarr(a)go-express.net [mailto:gkcarr@go-express.net] Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 9:01 AM To: Nick Pugh Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] AMSAT at Orlando Nick, since Lafayette was cancelled due to the hurricane seven years ago, maybe LAF is a contender? 73 George WA5KBH -----Original Message----- From: "Nick Pugh" <quadpugh(a)bellsouth.net> Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 02:44 To: Amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] AMSAT at Orlando Hi All I attended the AMSAT conference in Orlando and it was fantastic. The presentation were excellent and the high school students were inspiring. So a big thanks to Lou and his crew and the AMSAT leadership for a great conference. Thanks nick ars k5qxj EM30xa 30.1 n 90.1 w cell 337 2582527 office 337 593 8700 _______________________________________________ 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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Polarization for ISS and Weather Satellites
by Graham Dillabough 30 Oct '12

30 Oct '12

I haven't posted here in a very long time. I hope this works. I am building two Quadrifilar Helix antennas (from QST, August 1996); one for weather satellite experimentation, and one as a backup antenna for an upcoming ARISS contact. I haven't found anything in the ARRL antenna book, or on the web, that specifically says that one mode (RHCP or LHCP) of circular polarization is better than the other for either of the two applications noted above. Any insight or experience with polarization issues with the ISS and weather satellites are appreciated. The last time I did an ARISS contact, I was plagued with very deep fades, and want to do better this time. Thanks, Graham Graham Dillabough, VE6KJ, VO1DZA Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio, replied: "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

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ARISS Project Wins Public Relations Award
by Clint Bradford 29 Oct '12

29 Oct '12

Special event with astronaut wins public relations award - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As Clint Bradford of Jurupa Valley said, “It was 13 months of planning for 10 minutes of conversation, but, oh!, what a conversation!” “‘LIVE! … from outer space!’ Students speak to an astronaut in the orbiting International Space Station” was the special event on April 19, 2012 that earned an award for Karen and Clint Bradford in annual competition by the Public Relations Society of America. The event was planned for the 120 students of Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy and more than 80 parents, community leaders, media representatives and interested persons. Clint initiated the event because of his hobby in ham radio and volunteer position with NASA through Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS): He provides school technical support for students in North America to talk to astronauts aboard the orbiting space station. NASA’s “Teaching from Space” program is available to any school that applies, but the typical wait-time from application to event is three years. He approached Kathy Rohm, vice president and director of community relations at Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy, which is supported by the Tom Wathen Center. She was enthusiastic to sponsor the literally out-of-this-world, once-in-a-lifetime special event to inspire students. More than 2,900 emails flew between Clint, Kathy, NASA, Flabob staffer Nina Bentham and ARISS volunteers to produce the event. NASA-Houston flight director Phil Engelauf, who grew up in Rubidoux and whose mother, Beverly, still lives here, was invited to the event. His duties prevented him from attending, but he sent warm regards to the students in a special message that is posted at the event's Web site - http://iss-flabob.com (on the blog). The event went according to plan, except for a momentary glitch with audio quality, despite having tested the system for three days preceding the event. Clint quickly figured out a solution, although he later said that he was only 90 seconds from NASA terminating the call if he had not succeeded. “When we looked around the hangar at the conclusion of the contact, hearing the students’ whoops of happiness, we saw more than a few adults wiping at their eyes … us included,” Karen said. “We felt intensely rewarded to think how our students may feel throughout their lives when they look up in the sky and remember the thrilling day when Flight Engineer Don Pettit answered their questions.” Student Brittany Cain had asked, “Besides missing your family and friends, what is the biggest adjustment you have made for this mission?” The assembled group laughed when Pettit replied he missed not being able to take a bath for six months! The mission of Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy is to use aviation as a tool to motivate students to achieve their personal, academic, and career goals. Current statistics reveal that American students severely lag behind their foreign peers: In a study of 31 countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked Americans 21st in science and 25th in math. Consequently, President Obama launched the Educate to Innovate Campaign in 2009 to unite teachers, parents, businesses and students toward excellence in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) studies. Karen is a current member and past president of PRSA’s California Inland Empire Chapter. There are more than 80 local members. ###

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WSJT - A Bit Off Topic
by Richard Lawn 29 Oct '12

29 Oct '12

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who is using WSJT with an FT-847 and Signalink USB interface. I'm having no luck getting PTT to work. Rick W2JAZ

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orbitron question thanks
by John Heath 29 Oct '12

29 Oct '12

Thanks to everyone who replied. There were two solutions, Pre filter the download from Celestrak so that only the wanted sats go into the TLE file. Edit the TLE file in Orbitron to remove the unwanted sats. Both good solutions. 73 John G7HIA

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AMSAT at Orlando
by Nick Pugh 29 Oct '12

29 Oct '12

Hi All I attended the AMSAT conference in Orlando and it was fantastic. The presentation were excellent and the high school students were inspiring. So a big thanks to Lou and his crew and the AMSAT leadership for a great conference. Thanks nick ars k5qxj EM30xa 30.1 n 90.1 w cell 337 2582527 office 337 593 8700

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Orbitron help please
by John Heath 28 Oct '12

28 Oct '12

Hi All, Just updated keps for noaa weather satellites from Celestrak and find the the file contains mostltly birds that are no longer operational. How can I delete the unwanted birds. Thanks John G7HIA

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