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

MaSat-1 TLE
by Dave Webb KB1PVH 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

I just noticed that in the list of TLEs from Celestrak, there is a group called "vega launch" which has the satellites by name. The vega launch set has MaSat as object F, which is about 4 minutes ahead of object D that people seem to be using for MaSat-1. I haven't had a chance to check it out compared to actual aos times. I might also be experiencing a "before coffee" moment. Dave - KB1PVH Sent from my Verizon Wireless DROID X

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ARISSat-1 Orbit / Telemetry Correlation
by Joseph Armbruster 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

I did some more work tonight on the telemetry data. http://libjoe.blogspot.com/2012/02/arissat-1-analysis-correlated-telemetry.… Joseph Armbruster, KJ4JIO

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Re : ARISSAT and such presentation material ?
by Nitin Muttin 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

Hi Andreas, You can find one such presentation created by the AMSAT INDIA Team for HAMFEST India 2011 and the PFD can be downloaded from http://amsatindia.org//presentations/HFI-2011/ . This contains information on the below topics. 1. Update on AI projects 2. Real time tracking of satellites and space objects 3. Working with LEO satellites 4. Telemetry decoding from Amateur Radio Satellites Let me know if this helps and I can forward you the PPT in which you can make changes as required. 73 Nitin [VU3TYG] Secretary, AMSAT INDIA

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K7UGA update - Thursday evening
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

Hi! Today was a productive day on the radio. I worked two VO-52 passes in the morning, then SO-50 and AO-27 at midday (one pass on each FM satellite). K7UGA has now logged 69 satellite QSOs, not bad considering I could not be on for many daylight passes due to my day job earlier in the week. I have made at least one QSO on every pass I have attempted as K7UGA, and one FM pass had 12 QSOs. I will be at the hamfest in Yuma AZ tomorrow morning. From this point, I won't be able to post definite schedules for the passes I plan to work from there. I have printed out the pass times for the next couple of days, and will plan to work as many as possible if I have assistance to cover the AMSAT table inside the main hall at the hamfest. I will take a small table, my radio(s), antenna, and battery outside whenever I plan to do demonstrations. If I have enough help, I plan on having someone make a video of the demonstration passes. The hamfest officially opens at noon (1900 UTC) Friday, and at 8am (1500 UTC) on Saturday, running until 5pm (0000 UTC) each day. If you hear K7UGA on a pass, please give us a call. If it is an SSB pass, I will try to start out 10 kHz +/- above the center of the transponder. The hamfest site is in grid DM22qq. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - Calexico, California http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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ARISSAT and such presentation material ?
by Andy Kellner 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

All, I have been asked to do a presentation at a high-school about satellite telemetry and LEO amateur satellites and such. I wonder if there is any material I could use out there such as power points or so with pretty diagrams and pictures ? Maybe even something about the latest batch of cubesats ? Thanks, Andreas - VK4HHH

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MASAT-1 Telemetry Recieved
by Nitin Muttin 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

All, Recieved and decoded the telemetry during the 01:15 UTC pass on Feb 17th. The signals were very strong as it was a decending pass (Altitude 390 Kms). The tips provided by DK3WN on the TLE lottery helped :-) . I was using a eight element Yagi with only Azimuth Rotation. The screen shot of the decoded data can be found at http://www.vu3tyg.addr.com/Telemetry/MASAT-1/Screenshot/ 73 Nitin [VU3TYG]

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MASAT packet uploads working
by John Heath 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

Hi, Just had an e-mail from the Masat team confirming receipt of my telemetry packets via their masat client software. Before I started I installed the latest version of Java as recomeneded ( I already had an earlier version on the PC). Running on an oldish PC under XP and the standard Windows anti virus and firewall + Malwarbytes anti Malware. Everything worked fine, no error messages or firewall issues. Hope this helps. 73 John G7HIA

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Re: Masat website update - 'packets received' now working.
by Mark L. Hammond 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

Well, I still don't have it forwarding packets, according to their webpage. What is the delay from time of packets submitted to posted on the web? Seconds/minutes/hours? Looking harder here, but it sure looks like Windows firewall is set to allow JAVA to do it's thing... Bruce, how did you tell Win7 firewall to use JAVA? Did it pop up a security window for you to enable traffice? I don't remember seeing that, but this isn't the first JAVA thing I've done...Win7 firewall settings show java.exe and javaw.exe enabled for both TCP and UDP traffic. Bleh. Mark N8MH At 08:20 AM 2/16/2012 -0400, Bruce Robertson wrote: >I sent packets yesterday with this email address, and then registered >in the evening. This morning I see that it has retrospectively counted >those packets to my new account! The only authorization I had to do >with the software was to tell my Win7 firewall that java could connect >to the internet on my behalf. > >So the system seems quite robust (not to mention pleasing to the eye). > >73, Bruce >VE9QRP > > > >On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 10:36 PM, Mark L. Hammond ><marklhammond(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> Okay, I had a brain failure here (least I think so...) >> >> I used my gmail address to register my station on the webpage, but used my amsat address when the program started. I registered online weeks ago, so when the registration page came up, I didn't even consider that it was supposed to "match" to the website registration page. >> >> Will know tomorrow, but that has to be my problem. >> >> Makes sense...another "duh" moment :) >> >> 73, >> >> Mark N8MH >> >> At 05:13 PM 2/15/2012 -0500, Mark L. Hammond wrote: >>>FYI: I have sent a couple hundred packets in, and they don't show... >>> >>>Mark N8MH >>> >>>On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 4:54 PM, Andy Kellner <hawat1(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >>>> Looks like the Masat team updated / fixed their website, too. >>>> Now when you go to the 'track our satellite' section, it actually shows the position >>>> of the satellite and - more importantly - the 'Packets Received' from each registered >>>> >>>> Amateur station ! So now you can check if the packet upload is actually working. >>>> >>>> http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/ >>>> >>>> >>>> Good stuff. Nicely Done, Masat team. >>>> >>>> Andreas - VK4HHH >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> 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 >>> >>> >>> >>>-- >>>Mark L. Hammond [N8MH] >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 > > > >-- >http://ve9qrp.blogspot.com

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Re: AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 7, Issue 79
by Matty Cunningham 16 Feb '12

16 Feb '12

Hi folks, Regarding the 10m balloon tracking: There's some interesting vertical 'Moxon' antenna designs here:- http://www.moxonantennaproject.com/ If you can get hold of a fibreglass pole then it wouldn't be so difficult to build a vertical - possibly even use wood, There's even a very handy 'Moxon Generator', link here:- http://www.moxonantennaproject.com/design.htm Some of the builders report great DX if used near sea level, however I guess this wouldn't be so good for tracking balloons as they have a low radiation angle, you would probably get a better angle for the balloon if you were away from the sea. The antennas have a good F/B ratio, but a wide beamwidth, so again this may make it more difficult for 'accurate' direction finding, but I'm sure would give a general idea of the direction. What could be awesome is a series of GPS locked SDR receivers at known locations, on the RX frequency (with vertical antennas) - if you could pull all the data together from the different RX's, this might be able to get a good fix on the balloon. Regards Matty MD0MAN -----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-request(a)amsat.org Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 8:00 PM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 7, Issue 79 Send AMSAT-BB mailing list submissions to amsat-bb(a)amsat.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to amsat-bb-request(a)amsat.org You can reach the person managing the list at amsat-bb-owner(a)amsat.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of AMSAT-BB digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Dick Daniels (Martha) 2. Re: TransAtlantic Balloon on 28 MHz ? (Roger) 3. Re: TransAtlantic Balloon on 28 MHz ? (John Magliacane) 4. Re: TransAtlantic Balloon on 28 MHz ? (Bob Bruninga) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:02:11 -0500 From: Martha <martha(a)amsat.org> To: AMSAT BB <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org>, Board of Directors <bod(a)amsat.org>, AMSAT Officers <officers(a)amsat.org>, Jan King <jking(a)eclipticenterprises.com> Cc: amsat-dc(a)amsat.org, Mark Kanawati <mark(a)spacequest.com>, Tak Okamoto <ja2pki(a)jamsat.or.jp> Subject: [amsat-bb] Dick Daniels Message-ID: <CAPk0USwORY5LmbSsyuLfZJeY8Cm=3nK1mntNcut+4Wv-Zvoo_A(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 A memorial service will be held for Dick Daniels, W4PUJ on Saturday, February 25th at 1:00PM . The location is the Little River Presbyterian Church, 6025 Little Falls Rd, Arlington VA 22207. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a contribution to: Capital Caring, 950 N Glebe Rd #500, Arlington VA 22203. This is the organization that provided hospice care for Dick. -- 73- Martha ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:39:48 -0500 From: Roger <Rogerkola(a)aol.com> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: TransAtlantic Balloon on 28 MHz ? Message-ID: <4F3D3154.5030403(a)aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed CB uses vertical beams...the difficulty is that they have to have a non metallic mounting pole extending into the beam or be end mounted (think torque) With enough planning I'm sure enough hams could chase something up and use empty Stationmaster radomes, fiberglass poles or even schedule 80 pipe to get something up. Roger WA1KAT On 2/16/2012 12:18 AM, Bob Bruninga wrote: > Do you have a 10 meter (28 MHz) vertically polarized beam? > > We are working on a 28 MHz transatlantic Balloon with a CW transmitter on > 10m using (of course) a vertical dipole. > > It will have no GPS, so tracking will be entirely by beam headings and > some signal-strength assessment. > > Just wondering if anyone has a vertical beam. > > A horizontal beam will be useless for direction finding. All it will do > is point to whatever is reflecting the energy into the strongest > horizontal component... > > Hummh... > Bob, WB4APR > _______________________________________________ > 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 ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:37:43 -0800 (PST) From: John Magliacane <kd2bd(a)yahoo.com> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: TransAtlantic Balloon on 28 MHz ? Message-ID: <1329421063.8122.YahooMailClassic(a)web161402.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii --- On Thu, 2/16/12, Roger <Rogerkola(a)aol.com> wrote: > CB uses vertical beams...the difficulty is that they have to have > a non metallic mounting pole extending into the beam or be end > mounted (think torque) The mounting pole may contribute some capacitive or inductive loading effects on the elements adjacent to it, but a smart antenna designer can modify the antenna's element lengths to compensate for these effects. The pole itself will have a negligible effect on antenna performance, unless it happens to be resonant (or very close to resonant) at the operating frequency. Otherwise, it's essentially transparent. > On 2/16/2012 12:18 AM, Bob Bruninga wrote: > > Just wondering if anyone has a vertical beam. If the signal is strong enough (and/or the receiver sensitive enough), an electrically small loop antenna can be used for 28 MHz radio direction finding purposes. A vertically oriented loop will respond to vertically polarized RF. (In reality, it's responding to the horizontally polarized H-field). The ARRL Handbooks and Antenna Books have carried designs regarding 28 MHz RDF antenna for many decades. 73, de John, KD2BD ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:51:06 -0500 From: "Bob Bruninga" <bruninga(a)usna.edu> To: "'Joe'" <nss(a)mwt.net>, <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: TransAtlantic Balloon on 28 MHz ? Message-ID: <050b01ccece4$52829550$f787bff0$@edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >> Just wondering if anyone has a vertical beam. >> A horizontal beam [for this vertical balloon signal] will be >> useless for direction finding.... > That is only true when receiving the signal > via direct line of sight propagation. The transmitter is only 10 milliwatts, so we only expect line-of-sight contact. So that is why I was assuming we'd need a reasonable polarization match. But who knows... maybe we will get some good OTH signals.? The altitude will not be super high though, (like in the ionosphere).. Bob, WB4APR ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat-bb(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb End of AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 7, Issue 79 ***************************************

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Any interest in a auto Doppler PC board?
by Peter Sils 16 Feb '12

16 Feb '12

Is anyone interested in receiving an unpopulated PC board for automatic Doppler correction for FSK/FM satellites? I have the unpopulated (bare) PC board and documentation from Mike G6GEJ (of muTek). This was made for the FT736R but will work with any receiver with a logic up/down frequency control input. This is free for the asking, all I ask is you cover the postage. Any interest please email me. TNX & 73 Peter KD0AA

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