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

Getting started on the easy sats, mircsats
by Alan Beck 08 May '12

08 May '12

Thank you all for the offers to help. My goals are as follows. Track and monitor the satellites, I already do this with a manual radio on VHF. I can digipeat on the ISS, but not right now due to antenna restrictions. (No bread man) I want to build a couple of eggbeaters and have question on them because I want the UHF on the top of my tower but well built so that any water ingress will not trash the things. I am getting a High Sierra 432M7 block down converter that I intend to use with my TS-50 up/down buttons. I have Instanttrack now and I looking to interface Instanttune with it. I am about to build the circuitry for the AA2TX interface with the ON6WG upgrade but I think someone may have one and could be willing to part with. I am an electronics tech by trade and able to build the circuit to isolate the keypresses, but, if I find someone with an interface already built and willing to sell it, less work. It is getting harder and harder to find parts. Thankfully Mouser is now active in Canada. Now I am asking for a Spirit2 controller for my birthday. Is there another way can do this? sound card perhaps? OK, so, I want to use the analog satelittes and the pacsats. I have been fascinated about chasing satellites and now that I know I can do a fair bit with eggbeater antennas, then so be it. I am looking forward Elmering. Best 73, Alan

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Video - FM Interference to Linear Transponder Satellites
by Trevor . 08 May '12

08 May '12

A good video by OZ9AEC highlights the problem of people who do not understand the bandplan and hold local FM contacts in the satellite segments. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/7260 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Re: experience
by Andrew Glasbrenner 08 May '12

08 May '12

Why not use the CAT control as Mark suggested? Not hasving to set the frequency manually at the beginning of the pass has huge advantages. 73, Drew KO4MA -----Original Message----- >From: Alan Beck <becka(a)eastlink.ca> >Sent: May 8, 2012 9:33 AM >To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >Subject: [amsat-bb] experience > >Is there anyone out there with experience actually building and implementing the Push Button interface? > >It seems so simple to me and it can be used across different radioes. > >I just thought I may be able to use my Tentec Pegasus as the downlink if I simply run wire to the numeric pushbutton on the Tuning pod and create a closure on the button assigned to "tune up" etc. > >Now, to prove myself wrong. > >Alan >_______________________________________________ >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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experience
by Alan Beck 08 May '12

08 May '12

Is there anyone out there with experience actually building and implementing the Push Button interface? It seems so simple to me and it can be used across different radioes. I just thought I may be able to use my Tentec Pegasus as the downlink if I simply run wire to the numeric pushbutton on the Tuning pod and create a closure on the button assigned to "tune up" etc. Now, to prove myself wrong. Alan

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push button interface
by Alan Beck 08 May '12

08 May '12

I don't remember if anyone said they had a pushbutton interface they did not need anymore. Everyone was very kind to offer me very helpful into. I have decided to build a AA2TX sp? pushbutton interface if I can't find one. I also will looking at a Paccom Spirit 2 Satellite version. I want to do some Data stuff with the sats. Cheers, Alan

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Re: Fold Away Antenna in OSSI Ground Station
by K5OE 07 May '12

07 May '12

Pretty darn ingeneous packaging! Hams, unlike university students, all have fat fingers and would struggle to extract that 3-part antenna boom. I like the fabric roll-up concept, but wonder if it would present wind-load problems in a real-world field application? 73, Jerry, K5OE ---- original message ---- I liked the fold away yagi antenna in this video of the OSSI ground station. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/7218 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Vacation trip
by Raydel Abreu Espinet (CM2ESP) 07 May '12

07 May '12

Hello all, >From Tuesday 8th to Tuesday 15th I will be (probably, i hope...) operating Portable from EL83we in "Playa de Guanabo" as my family will be on a vacation trip to the beach of Guanabo, located a little more than 20 kilometers at the east of Havana, during that week when able i will try to catch the AO-27, unfortunatelly this resort is located in the same Grid EL83 that my Home QTH, so no new Grid activation will be posible... If you still needed the EL83 you have a wide window of posibilities, i usually work only on weekends because my work, but during this trip I hope to be active almost every day. 73, Raydel, CM2ESP Havana, EL83sc 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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Orbitron Warning
by K4FEG 07 May '12

07 May '12

WARNING ORBITRON USERS! It may be something that I did, I am not sure, But I run Windows 7 operating system and I downloaded my TLE files from the stoff.pl web site and there is no data in the file, it wiped out my existing data and the other TLE file sources (celestrak) do not sync properly with Windows 7. Orbitron is now not functioning on my Windows 7 based computer. If one of you nice folks have a solution for me email me direct no need to clutter the bulletin board. Myself and another local ham have verified that it is the combination of Windows 7 and the stoff.pl TLE file. I am going to also email stoff to tell him about this problem. Be careful out there! K4FEG

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AMSAT TLE Question
by Thomas Doyle 07 May '12

07 May '12

I notice that the AMSAT TLE data file (http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasabare.txt) uses what appears to be a "non-standard" format for the BSTAR drag value in some of the satellites (currently RS-30 HO-68 and SRMSAT). When the drag value is 0 the entry in the AMSAT files is 00000 0 rather than the more "standard" 00000+0. A drag value of 0 is certainly a curiosity in itself. I realize that we live in a world where a "standard" 8 foot 2 x 4 is 8 feet long but not 2 inches by 4 inches so there are possibly many "standards" for TLE data. I solved the problem I was having by switching to (http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/amateur.txt). I am still curious as to why the AMSAT file is different. Does AMSAT get their data from a different source or did AMSAT create their own standard for presenting the data. thanks, W9KE tom ...

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pushbutton isolator
by Alan Beck 07 May '12

07 May '12

Hi, Does anyone have a pushbutton isolator for use with an hf radio downconverted to from UHF and used with Instanttune? 73, Alan VY2WU

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