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

pa5rwe / chris
by Robert Coppock 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

"hams never die, they just go to ground" rest in peace, Chris my neighbors and i listened to this at full volume via my stereo, celebrate life ! =(it's and upside down I) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ouPGGLI6Q

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Icom Power Socket
by Fred Kennedy 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

Hi Guys, Can anyone point me to a supplier for the (Molex?) plug and socket that is used to connect the DC Power into the back of the IC-821. I want to produce a (decent!) break out box to switch the output of an IC- 821's DC PSU ( (Icom PS-85) to alternative switchable circuits - both Icom and others.. (Suspect Icoms price can be bettered and its probably a 'standard'!!) Thanks Fred Kennedy ZL1BYP

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ANS-155 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne Maenpaa 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-155 ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org ******************************************************************* * Nominating petitions for the election of upcoming open seats on * * the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors must be received at the AMSAT * * Office by June 15, 2012. The details of the nominating process * * are posted on the AMSAT front page news at http://www.amsat.org * ******************************************************************* In this edition: * STEM Education Identified as Critical for Continued Rides to Space * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations * AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2012 Second Call for Speakers * Successful ARISS Contact as Northland Preparatory Academy Calls ISS * Multiple CubeSats Autonomously Docking May Build Large Satellites * LVB Tracker Boxes in Stock at the AMSAT Office * 13cm Band Rules Expanded to Allow MedRadio Adjacent to Satellites * Funding Availability Key to Final Acceptance in QB50 Project * AMSAT at Ham-Com, 8-9 June, Plano, TX, Special Event K5P * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-155.01 ANS-155 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 155.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. June 3, 2012 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-155.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- STEM Education Identified as Critical for Continued Rides to Space The AMSAT Forum at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention featured news of the educational opportunities for AMSAT to contribute to the innovation in attracting and retaining students in science, technology, engin- eering and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines. Educators have identi- fied STEM programs as a priority in strengthening the Nation's future workforce. "Education is important to us", said AMSAT Vice-President Educational Relations Mark Hammond N8MH, "It's a part of our mission and vision." Mark noted several key points of AMSAT's support for STEM education: + AMSAT is a non-profit volunteer organization which designs, builds and operates experimental satellites and promotes space education. + AMSAT works in partnership with government, industry, educational institutions and fellow amateur radio societies. + AMSAT encourages technical and scientific innovation, and promotes the training and development of skilled satellite and ground sys- tem designers and operators. As evidenced by this year's acceptance of AMSAT's Project Fox cubesat in the NASA "Educational Launch of NanoSat", the ELaNa program, we were selected on our merit in support of NASA strategic and educa- tional goals. Education is quickly becoming critical for our ride to space. The recently formed Educational Partnership between AMSAT and ARRL, including NASA is looking for help. We need to develop an education program on the ground starting now. We have resources already avail- able for STEM education in both the K-12 classroom and at the Uni- versity level while our satellite builders work on the next flight. For example, the huge collection of telemetry data collected during the recent ARISSat-1 flight is available on our FTP server. This data presents an opportunity for the utilization of satellite data in the classroom (through plotting, graphing, analyzing). An immediate need is for volunteers to collect and organize existing STEM related lesson plans and ideas from the web, useful to K-12 edu- cators and relevant to amateur radio and satellite. Critical steps such as this will allow ARISSat-1 telemetry data to be used in the classroom. Similar lesson plans and ideas can be used for educational purposes in future satellite missions, such as Fox-1 and Fox-2. To support this effort specific tasks have been identified and now volunteers are needed to support: + Educators: We need lesson plans/ideas related to satellites and amateur radio. ARISSat-1 telemetry data needs to be used in the classroom! + Educators: sign up for ARRL Teacher's Institute program! + Web content person for AMSAT's education web pages. o Also to maintain a calendar of amateur radio youth events. + Archivist/publicist of satellite educational activities (photos, stories for AMSAT Journal, press, videos). + Mentors and ground station operators (with equipment!) for ARISS contacts. + Look for opportunities to engage youth, and document it (photos, articles, AMSAT Journal, press). To volunteer contact Mark directly at n8mh at amsat.org. The AMSAT-EDU mailing list is the place to exchange education project ideas and to learn how to help with our educational outreach. Information on how to join the AMSAT-EDU list can be found on the AMSAT web at: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo AMSAT's vision is to deploy satellite systems with the goal of pro- viding wide area and continuous coverage. AMSAT will continue active participation in human space missions and support a stream of LEO satellites developed in cooperation with the educational community and other amateur satellite groups. This is a path to getting Fox-1 in orbit, and our future Fox-2, ARISSat-2, -3, -? Again, the key contact is AMSAT Vice-President Educational Relations Mark Hammond N8MH - n8mh at amsat.org. [ANS thanks Mark Hammond, N8MH for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. A valid nomination requires either one current Member Society, or five current individual members in good standing, to nominate an AMSAT-NA member for the position. Three directors and two alternate directors have terms expiring this year. The director seats open for election are held by Tom Clark, K3IO; Lou McFadin, W5DID; and Gould Smith, WA4SXM. The alternate dir- ector seats open for election are held by Mark Hammond, N8MH and Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK. The three nominees receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as regular board members with two year terms. The two nom- inees receiving the next highest number of votes will be seated as alternate directors for one year. Written nominations, consisting of names, calls and individual signa- tures, should be mailed to: AMSAT-NA, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring, MD, 20910. They must be received no later than June 15th. No other action is required. Nominations may also be made by electronic means including e-mail, FAX, or electronic image of a petition. Electronic petitions should be sent to MARTHA(a)AMSAT.ORG or faxed to 301-608-3410, and also must be received by June 15th. If using any electronic submission, there is a second, verifying step: ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXISTING AMSAT-NA BYLAWS. A verifying traditional written petition MUST be received at the AMSAT-NA office at the above address within 7 days following the close of nominations. [ANS Thanks AMSAT Secretary Alan Biddle, WA4SCA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2012 Second Call for Speakers This is the second call for speakers for the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium 2012 which, due to the Olympic & Paralympic Games, will be held the weekend of September 15-16, 2012 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, United Kingdom. AMSAT-UK has posted details of the 2012 Colloquium at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve AMSAT-UK invites speakers, to cover topics about micro-satellites, CubeSats, nano-sats, space and associated activities, for this event. They are also invited to submit papers for subsequent publishing on the AMSAT-UK web site. We normally prefer authors to present talks themselves rather than having someone else give them in the authors' absence. We also welcome "unpresented" papers for the web site. We appreciate that it is not always possible to give a firm indica- tion of attendance at this stage but expressions of interest would be appreciated. Submissions should be sent *ONLY* to G4DPZ, via the following routes: + e-mail: david dot johnson at blackpepper dot co dot uk + Postal address at http://www.qrz.com/db/G4DPZ AMSAT-UK also invite anyone with requests for Program Topics to sub- mit them as soon as possible to G4DPZ. Invitations for any papers on specific subjects will be included in the future call. Likewise if anyone knows of a good speaker, please send contact and other infor- mation to G4DPZ. AMSAT-UK http://www.uk.amsat.org/ [ANS thanks Dave Johnson, G4DPZ and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Successful ARISS Contact as Northland Preparatory Academy Calls ISS On Thursday, May 24, students from Northland Preparatory Academy in Flagstaff, Arizona participated in an Amateur Radio on the Interna- tional Space Station (ARISS) contact with Joe Acaba, KE5DAR on the ISS. Approximately 550 students, staff and administrators, as well as Dr. Jeffrey Hall, director of the Lowell Observatory, and the mayor were in attendance. The contact complemented a Science, Technology, Engin- eering and Math (STEM) curriculum. Video of the event, including Dr. Hall's presentation, has been posted on-line. See: http://spacescienceteaching.blogspot.com/ The Arizona Daily Sun ran an article on the event which may be found here: http://tinyurl.com/ISS-AZDailySun (azdailysun.com) [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, and the ARISS Status Report for the Week of May 29, 2012 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Multiple CubeSats Autonomously Docking May Build Large Satellites This week AMSAT-UK, SpaceRef.com, and SSTL have announced plans to develop the 'STRaND-2' mission at the University of Surrey and Sur- ey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL). This mission will test a novel in-orbit docking system based upon XBOX Kinect technology that could change the way space assets are built, maintained and decommissioned. STRaND-2 (Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator) programme, following on from the smartphone-powered STRaND-1 satel- lite that is near completion. Similar in design to STRaND-1, the identical twin STRaND-2 satellites will each be a 3 unit Cubesat. Components from the XBOX Kinect games controller to scan the local area and provide the satellites with spatial awareness on all three axes. SSTL says on their web site, "The STRaND-2 twins will be separated after launch. After the initial phase of system checks, the two sat- ellites will be commanded to perform the docking procedure and, when in close proximity, the Kinect-based docking system will provide the satellites with 3D spatial awareness to align and dock. Other appli- cations for STRaND-2 include the safe removal of space debris and spacecraft maintenance, with a low cost "snap-on" nanosatellite pro- viding backup power, propulsion or additional on-board computing capability." SSTL Project Lead Shaun Kenyon says, "We were really impressed by what MIT had done flying an autonomous model helicopter that used Kinect and asked ourselves: Why has no-one used this in space? Once you can launch low cost nanosatellites that dock together, the pos- sibilities are endless, like space building blocks." Dr. Chris Bridges, Surrey Space Centre Project Lead says, "It may seem far-fetched, but our low cost nanosatellites could dock to build large and sophisticated modular structures such as space telescopes. Unlike today's big space missions, these could be re- configured as mission objectives change, and upgraded in-orbit with the latest available technologies." Referenced web sites: http://www.uk.amsat.org/7851 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=37215 http://tinyurl.com/Strand2-News (www.sstl.co.uk) [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK, SpaceRef.com, and SSTL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- LVB Tracker Boxes in Stock at the AMSAT Office Martha says she now has LVB Tracker boxes in stock at the AMSAT Office. The cost is $200 plus $20 shipping. The AMSAT Store Website is currently down due to technical issues so you can place your order via these routes: + Call Martha at the AMSAT Office (301-589-6062) 10:00 AM-6:00 PM EDT + Fax - 301-608-3410 + Mail - AMSAT, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring MD 20910 The LVB Tracker is a rotator interface designed to to be used as an interface between tracking software and the Yaesu 4500/5500 series of Az/El rotators. Here's why you want one: + Several physical interface options including RS-232, USB and TCP/IP over 10/100 Ethernet (tested by not implemented) + Uses standard EasyComm and Yaesu GS-232 protocols + Cross-platform compatibility - Windows, Linux, BSD, Mac + Compatible with existing real-time prediction programs such as SatPC32 and Nova + Open source + Integrated firmware programmer for easy installation and upgrade Watch a demo of the LVB Track Interface with Yaesu G-5500 rotator at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePw-ReMRwA (does not use the AMSAT enclosure) [ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Ofice for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 13cm Band Rules Expanded to Allow MedRadio Adjacent to Satellites The ARRL is reporting in a First Report and Order and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ET 08-59) released on May 24, the FCC decided to expand the Part 95 Personal Radio Service rules to allow medical devices to operate on a secondary basis in the 2360- 2400 MHz band. International amateur satellite operations are allo- cated between 2400-2450 MHz, adjacent to the new devices. The new allocation is Medical Body Area Networks (MBAN) which pro- vide a way for health care facilities to monitor their patients via wireless networks. Because use of these frequencies will be on a secondary basis, MBAN stations will not be allowed to cause inter- ference to, and must accept interference from, primary services, including radio amateurs who operate on a terrestrial primary basis in the 2390-2395 MHz and 2395-2400 MHz bands. The ARRL has posted their full analysis and report at: http://tinyurl.com/13cm-Medical-Allocation (arrl.org) [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Funding Availability Key to Final Acceptance in QB50 Project The QB50 Project, funded by the European Commission, plans to orbit 50 CubeSats separated by a few hundred kilometers and carrying iden- tical sensors to study Earth's lower layers of the thermosphere/ion- osphere and study effects of satellite re-entry. All 50 CubeSats will be launched out of Murmansk, Russia, into a circular orbit with 79 degree inclination at 320 km altitude in the first half of 2015. Full details are published at: https://www.qb50.eu. The project is run by an international consortium under the leader- ship of the von Karman Institute (VKI) near Brussels. The Call for Proposals for CubeSats carrying the standard sensor package which may also include additional experiments closed on April 30, 2012. VKI reports the response to this Call resulted in proposals for 70 CubeSats from 38 countries in the following categories: + 53 standard 2U CubeSats for atmospheric science. + 7 proposals for In-Orbit-Demonstration (IOD) 3U CubeSats for test- ing new technologies or minitaurised science sensors which also include the standard science sensors. + 5 proposals for IOD 3U CubeSats which do not include the standard science sensors. + 1 proposal for IOD 2U CubeSats which also include the standard science sensors. + 4 proposals for IOD 2U CubeSats which do not include the standard science sensors. + 2 proposals for interdisciplinary science. VKI, with the help of external reviewers, is now in the process of evaluating the 70 proposals, aimed towards a selection of 50 Cube- Sats to be flown on QB50. VKI wrote in the 31 May 2012 issue of the QB50 Newsletter, "The availability of funding for developing a CubeSat will be a critical issue in the selection process. At this stage, it is not known which proposals will actually be able to obtain the required funding. The final selection of 50 CubeSats can only be made once the availability of funding is established. CubeSat teams who submitted a proposal should now contact their national funding agencies and/or industrial sponsors to obtain the funding. The process of securing this funding should be completed by 1 October 2012 with the signing of a 'Contrac- tual Agreement' between the university and VKI." In the coming months, VKI will support the CubeSat teams in their efforts to obtain the funding, e.g. by sending a 'Letter of Support'. It is not expected that all 70 CubeSat teams will be able to sign the Contractual Agreement by 1 October, therefore, the de facto down- selection from 70 to 50 CubeSats will be made based on securing the funding by each team. In some cases, funding agencies will only be able to provide a part of the funding. Teams who only received approval for part of the fund- ing should consider the possibility of collaboration with another team that also received only a part of the requested funding. [ANS thanks The QB50 Project and von Karman Institute for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at Ham-Com, 8-9 June, Plano, TX, Special Event K5P AMSAT will have an AMSAT Booth, Satellite Demonstrations, and two Satellite Talks at Ham-Com in Plano, TX, on 8-9 June 2012. The talks will be given by Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW/5, and Keith Pugh, W5IU. This year there will be a Special Event activity (sponsored by the Plano Amateur Radio Klub) associated with Ham-Com and the call sign will be K5P. AMSAT's Satellite Demonstrations will be conducted us- ing K5P as part of the Special Event. Additional details about Ham- Com are available at: http://www.hamcom.org/ If you attend Ham-Com, drop by and see us. In addition, if you can spare an hour or two, we could use the help in the AMSAT Booth and doing the Demos. We plan to work as many of the following Satellite Passes as possible: Ham-Com 2012 Demos Grid EM13pb Min El = 10 deg Time Zone UTC WinAos QTH: -96.7/33.1 T#: 12577 Sat.: 7 [Standard] ---------------------------------------------------------- Day Object AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ ---------------------------------------------------------- 08.06.2012 VO-52 13:53 14:00 07 39 031 - 172 08.06.2012 VO-52 15:30 15:34 04 14 319 - 259 08.06.2012 HO-68 15:41 15:54 13 48 029 - 176 08.06.2012 HO-68 17:29 17:40 11 28 350 - 238 08.06.2012 FO-29 18:43 18:56 13 64 020 - 184 08.06.2012 AO-27 18:44 18:51 07 22 118 - 018 08.06.2012 SO-50 20:08 20:15 07 19 008 - 100 08.06.2012 AO-27 20:23 20:32 09 35 196 - 331 08.06.2012 FO-29 20:30 20:38 08 18 332 - 248 08.06.2012 SO-50 21:48 21:56 08 43 317 - 174 WinAos QTH: -96.7/33.1 T#: 12578 Sat.: 7 [Standard] ---------------------------------------------------------- Day Object AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ ---------------------------------------------------------- 09.06.2012 VO-52 14:10 14:17 07 66 019 - 184 09.06.2012 AO-07 14:11 14:19 08 16 336 - 268 09.06.2012 HO-68 15:24 15:36 12 35 034 - 164 09.06.2012 HO-68 17:12 17:24 12 36 355 - 227 09.06.2012 FO-29 17:50 17:59 09 23 048 - 148 09.06.2012 AO-27 18:18 18:22 04 12 084 - 036 09.06.2012 FO-29 19:34 19:46 12 51 359 - 213 09.06.2012 AO-27 19:54 20:04 10 66 174 - 343 09.06.2012 SO-50 20:36 20:44 08 47 345 - 134 09.06.2012 AO-07 21:21 21:30 09 17 091 - 015 Come see us or talk to the AMSAT Team! [ANS thanks Keith Pugh, W5IU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Venus will pass in front of the sun on 6 June 2012. Bob Bruninga, WB4APR will be in Japan to observe the event. He has created a web page, "The 2012 Transit of Venus using HAM Radio" including a list of selected calling frequencies, see: http://aprs.org/VenusTransit2012.html + The 2012 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Symposium will be held at the Holiday Inn, Orlando (Florida) Airport on October 26-28, 2012. The First Call for Papers has been issued. The Symposium Team requests a tentative title of your presentation as soon as poss- ible, with final copy to be submitted by October 1 for inclusion in the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan Schultz, N8FGV, at n8fgv(a)amsat.org. Watch for the latest 2012 Symposium information to be posted on the AMSAT web at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2012/index.php + The UK Space Agency has released a YouTube video celebrating the UK's 50 years in space: http://tinyurl.com/UK-50-In-Space (Southgate) + Eric Knaps, ON4HF built an arrow antenna for working the FM sat- ellites. Photos posted at: https://picasaweb.google.com/ON4HF.Eric/PortableSatAntenna + ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers published a photo gallery during the arrival and docking at the ISS of the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship. See: http://tinyurl.com/Dragon-Photo-Gallery (UniverseToday.com) + A 50 minute interview with Neil Armstrong made this year is now available. The video is split into 4 parts which can be seen at: http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/ (Trevor, M5AKA) + The May 20 annular eclipse was photographed by NASA's Lunar Recon- naissance Orbiter as it turned its camera to look back home. Images of the Earth with the Moon's fuzzy shadow are posted on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/LROC-Eclipse (UniverseToday.com) For eclipse photos from Earth check out: http://www.universetoday.com/95469/annular-eclipse-redux/ + There are two new Hamvention 2012 music videos on YouTube produced by Joe Eisenberg, K0NEB. One is called Hamvention 2012 "Band On The Run" and the other is titled Hamvention 2012 "Gimme Dat Ding." To find them just put the word joehusker into the search YouTube search line. [ANS thanks everyone for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. And with that please keep in mind the tidal forces of the Moon (and the Sun) don't only act on the oceans, they act on the land as well. If you stand on the equator, the land beneath you will go up and down by as much as 21 inches (55 centimeters) over the course of a day. 73, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM K9JKM at amsat dot org

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European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations of Interest
by Stefan Wagener 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

ESA has posted a very unique opportunity: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/HSF_Research/SEMGUMZWD2H_2.html Wouldn't it be great if the key AMSAT organizations put a proposal together to put a ham radio transponder on the moon. It can have all the cool educational outreach and training opportunities associated with it. Let's encourage the AMSAT leadership teams to move quickly. We can do it, don't you think? Stefan VE4NSA

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Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations
by i8cvs 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob- W7LRD" <w7lrd(a)comcast.net> To: "STeve Andre'" <andres(a)msu.edu> Cc: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2012 7:16 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations Just for the "fun" of it I'd like to see an accurate link budget written up. It is a little bit out of my comfort zone. Maybe Domenico or one of you who has this knowledge could do it. I may even learn something. 73 Bob W7LRD Hi Bob, W7LRD Suppose to have a L/S linear transponder on the moon with the antennas perfectly oriented toward the Earth. L band is for the uplink from the Earth and S band is for downlink from the Moon. The L/S antenna gain has been selected the maximum as possible to have the antennas main lobe pointing at the Earth despite the relative movement of the Moon in respect of the Earth due of Libration and a fixed 20 dBi antenna on the Moon into L/S bands could easily cover the inclination X libration window with no need of the lunar antennas pointing correction for most of the time into a month. DATA FOR the 23 cm (1268 MHz) LUNAR receiving system.(UPLINK) Noise Figure of the 23 cm lunar receiver NF = 1 dB equivalent to ( 75 kelvin ) Equivalent total Noise Temperature Te as seen by the lunar 23 cm receiver with the antenna connected and looking at the earth..........Te = 100 kelvin Linear Transponder 23 cm receiver Band Width................BW =150 KHz BW: Same as in Mode-B on OSCAR-10 and in OSCAR-13 23 cm RX Noise Floor into 2.4 KHz BW and Te = 100 kelvin: KTB = -175 dBW 23 cm RX lunar transponder RHCP Helix Antenna Gain..................G = 16 dBic 23 cm TX terrestrial RHCP Helix Antenna Gain...............................G = 20 dBic 1268 MHz free space attenuation earth-moon at 380.000 Km............-206 dB EARTH-MOON LINK BADGED CALCULATION FOR THE 23 cm UPLINK 23 cm terrestrial power =100 watt pep equivalent to...............+20 dBW 23 cm terrestrial RHCP antenna Gain........................................+20 dBic ------------- 23 cm EIRP transmitted from the earth.....................................+40 dBW 23 cm free space attenuation earth-moon 380.000 Km..........-206 dB ------------- 23 cm received power in to a 23 cm isotropic antenna on the moon...............................................................................-166 dBW 23 cm antenna gain connected to 23 cm lunar receiver........... +16 dBi ------------- 23 cm available power at the input of the 23 cm lunar RX ....-150 dBW (*) 23 cm lunar receiver Noise Floor in to a 2400 Hz SSB Band Width and Equivalent Noise Temp. = 100 K ................-175 dBW --------------- S+N/N ratio available at the lunar 23 cm receiver output......+25 dB Now suppose that the S band 2400 MHz downlink of the lunar transponder is 20 watt pep and that 10 earth stations are putting the same signal level of S+N/N = +25 dB into the input of the 23 cm lunar receiver. In this conditions the S transponder will deliver the same power to each of the users i.e. 20 W / 10 = 2 watt pep to each user. Now suppose that the 2400 MHz antenna of the lunar transponder is a RHCP Helix with 20 dBic gain. The free space attenuation of the path Moon-Earth of 380.000 km at 2400 MHz is -212 dB Suppose that your receiving system on the ground station is similar to that you have used for AO40 i.e. a 120 cm parabolic dish with gain G = 27 dBic and a 2400 MHz downconverter with NF = 1 dB equivalent to 75 kelvin and performe a Downlink Budged Calculation as follows: MOON-EARTH LINK BADGED CALCULATION FOR 2400 MHz DOWNLINK Power delivered for each user = 2 watt pep equivalent to .....................+ 3 dBW 2400 MHz lunar TX RHCP antenna Gain..................................................+ 20 dBic ---------------- 2400 MHz EIRP transmitted from the Moon to each user.......................+ 23 dBW 2400 MHz free space attenuation Moon-Earth 380.000 Km...................-212 dB --------------- Received power in to a 2400 MHz isotropic antenna on Earth ..............- 189 dBW 2400 MHz 120 cm parabolic antenna gain on Earth................................+ 27 dBic -------------- 2400 MHz available power at the input of terrestrial receiver..............- 162 dBW (*) 2400 MHz Earth receiver Noise Floor in to a 2400 Hz SSB Band Width and Equivalent Noise Temp. = 85 Kelvin (75 kelvin for RX plus 5 kelvin for Cold Sky of the Moon = 85 kelvin )................ -175.5 dBW --------------- S+N/N ratio available at the output of 2400 MHz ground receiver + 13.5 dB CONCLUSION: The above results are very close from those obtined using the calculator suggested by jari oh3uw at the following url provided you convert my data signed (*) from dBW to dBm http://www.changpuak.ch/electronics/calc_10.php A good L/S ground station of the class used for AO40 made with a 16 dBi gain antenna on 1268 MHz with 100 watt pep at the antenna and receiving at 2400 MHz using a 120 cm parabolic dish (27 dBi) with a Low Noise downconverter ( NF = 1 dB ) can receive from the Moon a signal with a S+N/N ratio of + 13,5 dB provided that the transponder on the Moon has a 23 cm receiving RHCP antenna with gain G = 16 dBi connected to a receiver of NF = 1 dB (75 kelvin ) and a 2400 MHz TX with 20 watt pep supplying an RHCP antenna with gain G = 20 dBic The above characteristics are far away from those of a conventional EME CW and SSB station and having the opportunity of a launch from ESA a transponder on the Moon is viable in theory by all who were users of AO40 BTW the environmental conditions to get survive a transponder on the Moon are not easy to manage particularly because of the very high change in temperature. I hope this helps. 73" de i8CVS Domenico

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Uni_Trac 2000 and Windows 7 64-bit
by Bob DeVarney W1ICW 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

Hi All, I am getting back QRV after a long hiatus, and recently upgraded the shack computer to Windows 7 64-bit.. now I am trying to install the software and drivers for my parallel port version ( metal box ) Uni_Trac 2000 rotor interface, and I can't even get the installed to run no matter what compatibility mode I run it in. It doesn't even open up.. Anybody have any suggestions? All advice will be cheerfully accepted. 73, Bob W1ICW

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PA5RWE passed away
by Andre 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

It saddens me to report that a very active and positive sattelite opperator has passed away. Chris Heijzelaar PA5RWE has died in his sleep last night at the age of 51 just meters below his beloved loopyagies. condolances can be left on http://www.het-bar.net on behalf of his radiofriends I request that everyone that has known him remembers him for what he has done and celibrate his life. ps. please respect his wish and don't refer to him as OM. -- 73 Andre PE1RDW

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Fwd: AMSAT BB
by Bob- W7LRD 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

fowarding this email to the bb for a local ham 73 Bob W7LRD ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "James Denneny" <57jndenneny(a)comcast.net> To: "Bob- W7LRD" <w7lrd(a)comcast.net> Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2012 1:19:32 PM Subject: AMSAT BB Bob Please add this item to the BB: AEA DSP2232 Multi-Mode Digital signal Processor Modem. Used for decoding Satellite telemetry. Works all digital modes. Rare item. Manual included $300 plus shipping. Jim K7EG 253-939-6107. Thanks Jim K7EG

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AMSAT at Ham-Com, 8-9 June, Plano, TX, Special Event K5P
by Keith Pugh 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

AMSAT will have an AMSAT Booth, Satellite Demonstrations, and two Satellite Talks at Ham-Com in Plano, TX, on 8-9 June 2012. The talks will be given by Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW/5, and Keith Pugh, W5IU. This year there will be a Special Event activity (sponsored by the Plano Amateur Radio Klub) associated with Ham-Com and the call sign will be K5P. AMSAT's Satellite Demonstrations will be conducted using K5P as part of the Special Event. Additional details about Ham-Com are available at: http://www.hamcom.org/ If you attend Ham-Com, drop by and see us. In addition, if you can spare an hour or two, we could use the help in the AMSAT Booth and doing the Demos. We plan to work as many of the following Satellite Passes as possible: Ham-Com 2012 Demos Grid EM13pb Min El = 10 deg Time Zone UTC WinAos QTH: -96.7/33.1 T#: 12577 Sat.: 7 [Standard] ---------------------------------------------------------- Day Object AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ ---------------------------------------------------------- 08.06.2012 VO-52 13:53 14:00 07 39 031 - 172 08.06.2012 VO-52 15:30 15:34 04 14 319 - 259 08.06.2012 HO-68 15:41 15:54 13 48 029 - 176 08.06.2012 HO-68 17:29 17:40 11 28 350 - 238 08.06.2012 FO-29 18:43 18:56 13 64 020 - 184 08.06.2012 AO-27 18:44 18:51 07 22 118 - 018 08.06.2012 SO-50 20:08 20:15 07 19 008 - 100 08.06.2012 AO-27 20:23 20:32 09 35 196 - 331 08.06.2012 FO-29 20:30 20:38 08 18 332 - 248 08.06.2012 SO-50 21:48 21:56 08 43 317 - 174 WinAos QTH: -96.7/33.1 T#: 12578 Sat.: 7 [Standard] ---------------------------------------------------------- Day Object AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ ---------------------------------------------------------- 09.06.2012 VO-52 14:10 14:17 07 66 019 - 184 09.06.2012 AO-07 14:11 14:19 08 16 336 - 268 09.06.2012 HO-68 15:24 15:36 12 35 034 - 164 09.06.2012 HO-68 17:12 17:24 12 36 355 - 227 09.06.2012 FO-29 17:50 17:59 09 23 048 - 148 09.06.2012 AO-27 18:18 18:22 04 12 084 - 036 09.06.2012 FO-29 19:34 19:46 12 51 359 - 213 09.06.2012 AO-27 19:54 20:04 10 66 174 - 343 09.06.2012 SO-50 20:36 20:44 08 47 345 - 134 09.06.2012 AO-07 21:21 21:30 09 17 091 - 015 Come see us or talk to us! 73 - Keith, W5IU

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thanks for the help / info
by Robert Coppock 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

ahoy, thank you to Bruce-kk5do , Rick-wa4nvm , Dave-kb1vph , Greg-ko6th , Eric-on4hf , Scott-n1aia for the replies and help. i was looking at the comet cf-4160 (must be the new version), if i need it, and will be on the air from grid cn81 soon. i have a new LiIon battery on order, so i can run full power, 5W, from my th-f6a. thanks very much ! Robert k f 0 g

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