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

[amsat-bb] 2nd IAA Conference on University Satellite Missions abstract submission reminder
by conference 11 Dec '12

11 Dec '12

Dear all,this is a reminder of the deadline of the abstract submission for the 2nd IAA Conference on University Satellites Missions and Cubesat Workshop which will be held in Roma on February 3-9, 2013. Submissions are due by December 17th. We remember you that early registration closes on January, 15th. Those who register before this date will have a discount on the quote.The conference is organized by GAUSS Srl under the sponsorship of IAA, ESA, ASI, Italian Air Force, Sapienza University of Roma, Morehead State University (Kentucky), Von Karman Institute, FILAS, BCC Roma.Topics of the conference will focus in particular the area of University Satellites and during the conference three days are completely dedicated to Cubesat community.All the details about the conference program, accomodation and registration procedure, exhibition stands, call for papers, are available at the Conference website.For any special needs, please do not hesitate to contact us at conference(a)gaussteam.com.ESA scholarships for students who will present a work are available. For those interested, please follow the instructions on the website:ESA scholarshipsWe hope to see you in Roma in February!The 2nd IAA Conference on University Satellite Missions and Cubesat Workshop organizing committee

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9A1Z Looking for NA Skeds
by John Papay 11 Dec '12

11 Dec '12

Luci, 9A1Z, is looking to work North America on AO-7 Mode B on CW. If you are interested in working him, please send an email to his qrz.com address for a sked. He is in JN86. 73, John K8YSE

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WA8SME wins YASME Excellence Award
by John Papay 10 Dec '12

10 Dec '12

Mark Spencer, WA8SME, has just received the Excellence Award from the YASME Foundation (yasme.org). The following is an excerpt from the OPDX Bulletin 1090, December 10th, 2012: "The Yasme Excellence Award is awarded to individuals who through their own service, creativity, effort and dedication have made a significant contribution to amateur radio. The contribution may be in recognition of technical, operating or organizational achievement, as all three are necessary for amateur radio to grow and prosper. The Yasme Excellence Award is in the form of a cash grant and an individually-engraved crystal globe. The Board of Directors of The Yasme Foundation is pleased to announce the award of the Yasme Excellence Award to the following individuals: - Mark Spencer, WA8SME, for his instrumental work in the ARRL Teachers Institute and other training efforts, development of PIC microcontroller projects and books for amateurs, and work with leaders in student and scientific teams applying amateur radio to scientific projects and experiments." Mark has been instrumental in working with the Teachers Institute, introducing teachers to Amateur Radio Satellites. This has led to students getting involved in our part of amateur radio and the creation of school amateur radio clubs. Many of you have made contacts with these club stations and know how excited students are to be able to make contacts through amateur radio satellites. Mark's most recent contribution is the FT817 computer interface which allows this HF simplex radio to be used with linear satellites. If you own an FT817, you'll want to check it out. See the October 2012 issue of QST for details. Mark Hammond, N8MH, had these kits for sale at the AMSAT Symposium. Hector, CO6CBF, took one back to Cuba and is building it for use with his newly acquired FT817. Congratulations to Mark Spencer WA8SME, recipient of the YASME Foundation Excellence Award! 73, John K8YSE

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6D0LM in VO-52 and FO-29
by Omar Alvarez 10 Dec '12

10 Dec '12

Hello my friends, The Federacion Mexicana de Radioexperimentadores (FMRE) is celebrating their 80th Aniversary this year using the special call 6D0LM. I will be woking VO-52 and FO-29 using 6D0LM from DK89df: December 15th OPERADOR SATÉLITE HORARIO XE XE1AO FO-29 03:25 UTC, 05:05 UTC December 16th OPERADOR SATÉLITE HORARIO XE XE1AO VO-52 01:42 UTC XE1AO FO-29 04:12 UTC December 17th OPERADOR SATÉLITE HORARIO XE XE1AO VO-52 01:58 UTC XE1AO FO-29 05:00 UTC I hope contact you this weekend, QSL via XE1LM. Regards Omar XE1AO DK89df ******************************** M.C. Omar Alvarez Cárdenas Facultad de Telematica, U de C 316 1075 xe1aom(a)ucol.mx omar_ac(a)hotmail.com ********************************

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London Olympics QSLs
by Dave Webb KB1PVH 10 Dec '12

10 Dec '12

Has anyone received a QSL from the Olympics special event? According to the 2O12W QRZ page, replies to direct cards were going to be sent out in early September. Dave-KB1PVH Sent from my Verizon Wireless Droid RAZR

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Astronomer Patrick Moore dead
by andy thomas 09 Dec '12

09 Dec '12

Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, who presented many British TV programmes reporting the space programmes of the 1960s and later, died today aged 89, according to reports. 73 de andy g0sfj

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New broadband preamp available through AMSAT Store!
by Mark L. Hammond 09 Dec '12

09 Dec '12

FYI--in case you missed the ANS announcement! V/U/Wx receive Amplifier available through AMSAT store AMSAT-NA is pleased to announce an inexpensive, broadband VHF/UHF/WX satellite receive-only preamplifier. Key features: Ready to operate--not a kit! Fully assembled, tested, and installed in a metal enclosure with female BNC connectors on input and output. It is based on the MAR 7 device, and covers 100 MHz to 500 MHz. This includes the137 MHz WX, 2M, and 70cm satellite bands. Operates from +9-15V DC (a fresh 9V battery works great!). Perfect for portable operations using dual band hand-held Yagis like the ARROW, Cheap Yagi, etc. Just put it inline on the correct receive band for operations in either mode U/V or V/U. You won't believe what you've been missing! Includes low power (about 5W) protection diode on the input for accidental transmissions into the input. (This preamp is not RF switched. It must be protected from inadvertent repeated or high power transmission RF using a relay or diplexer.) Full details and schematic can be found in the November/December 2012 AMSAT Journal article by Mark Spencer, WA8SME, or downloaded from the item in the Hardware section of the AMSAT Store: <http://store.amsat.org/catalog/>http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ The assembled and tested kit is priced at $50 USD plus shipping. Proceeds from the sale of this item will help fund the AMSAT Fox Family of satellites! This equipment was developed as part of the ARRL Education and Technology Program. Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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LO-19 carrier
by Mark L. Hammond 09 Dec '12

09 Dec '12

Hi All, This weekend I listened again for LO-19. Years ago, when the CW beacon went silent, I could always hear a very weak continuos carrier (actually, first saw it using audio FFT software). Yesterday (12/9/12) on a high 50-ish degree elevation pass, it was there. It's right on frequency, right on time with AOS/LOS, the Doppler correction from SatPC32 is right on target. The bird was in daylight, but I expect its batteries are still good so I bet you can hear it in eclipse as well. Thanks to Mark WA8SME for confirming what I was hearing; he heard it this weekend, too. You might have fun listening for it, as a weak signal source. If you can hear LO-19's carrier, your system is pretty up to snuff. Or, use some audio spectrum software and you can "see" the carrier even if you can't hear it on your speaker. From SatPC32: LO-19,437125,145840,USB,FM,NOR,0,0 73, Mark L. Hammond [N8MH0-

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ISS Tracking info on your APRS Radio
by Robert Bruninga 09 Dec '12

09 Dec '12

KJ4ERJ's satserver will send you live tracking data to your APRS radio anywhere, anytime. Just send an APRS message to ISS from any APRS radio (on the national APRS channel) and if you are in range of the global APRS network (an IGate nearby), then it will respond with the time to AOS and the direction of AOS, max elevation and LOS. This also works for all satellites. For example, send a message to FO29 and get its prediciton for your location. (Of course, you have to have sent your current APRS position if it is different from when you last used that radio and callsign). You can see the types of responses as collected by APRS.FI messages page: http://aprs.fi/?c=message&limit=25&call=ISS So, if you find yourself outdoors in the mobile, with nothing to do while the wife is in the mall, just send the above message and see if anything is coming up soon. Of course, to actually work APRS via ISS, you will have to QSY to the ISS channel 145.825 and change your path to via ARISS for the pass (*instead of the usual WIDE2-2 for terrestrial APRS) For a full dscription, see: http://aprsisce.wikidot.com/doc:satsrv When I send a query, I like to use the text "pass?" this is so that others seeing the message will know what you are tyring to do. The text of the message can be anything actually... THink of APRS as your ham radio smartphone... access to data anywhere, anytime. Bob, WB4APR * Note, that the ISS will ALSO digipeat the WIDE2-2 path, but it will not insert its RS4ISS* callsign in the path for proof that you were digipeated via the ISS. So it will "work" without changing from the standard WIDE2-2 path, but you will have no proof. Also, as soon as you use that radio even a few minutes later back on the national APRS channel, the sucessfull packet via ISS will be overwritten by the next terrestrial packet in most APRS Web interfaces. SO if you want to make an APRS contact via ISS and preserve it, you should use a unique callsign SSID only for your satellite operations. Good luck. Bob Bob

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FITSAT-1 to Flash LEDs on Dec 12-13
by Trevor . 09 Dec '12

09 Dec '12

See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=11815 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK http://www.amsat-uk.org/ ----

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