AMSAT-BB September 2012

150 participants
206 discussions

Bill Tynsn, W3XO, Wins 2012 Barry Goldwater Award
by Rsoifer＠aol.com 21 Sep '12

21 Sep '12

The Radio Club of America announced this week that William A. Tynan, W3XO, is the recipient of its 2012 Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio Award. The award recognizes Bill's lifelong service to the public through amateur radio. It will be presented at the club's annual awards banquet in New York on November 16th. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, like Bill a club Fellow, will be the keynote speaker. Bill, one of AMSAT's charter members, is a past President and Chairman of the Board. For many years, he conducted QST's monthly column, "The World Above 50 MHz." He is also a past President of the Central States VHF Society. Bill played a key role in the origination of amateur radio from the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. The Radio Club of America, founded in 1909, is the world''s oldest radio comunications association. For more information, see www.radioclubofamerica.org. Congratulations, Bill! 73 Ray W2RS (Fellow, RCA)

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The chicken and the egg.syndrome.
by Tom Gentry 21 Sep '12

21 Sep '12

My name is Tom and my call is K5VOU. I am a life-member of AMSAT and the ARRL as well as an Extra Class license holder. I have observed both organizations at work from the inside both as a volunteer and a vendor. My satellite ground station is an old Yaesu FT-726 and the antennas are circularly polarized versions of Kent Britain's 'controlled impedance' VHF and UHF on a back yard tripod with the original KR-5400 prototype AZ-El rotor and the AMSAT tracker box connected to an X machine. I am adding an SDR receiver/panadpter asap. BTW: The opinions expressed in this email are mine alone and you are not required to agree with them or condemn them. They are just my opinions and observations. Here are a few observations in brief; 1) AMSAT is a meaningful organization filled with talented and well intentioned people interested in building, operating and communicating through space based radio systems via amateur radio. 2) AMSAT is composed of two special interest groups, the creators of the radio/satellites and the communicators using the satellites. 3) The creators depend on funding from the communicators. 4) The communicators depend on the creators for space based radios through which to communicate. 5) There is 'no free ride' to HEO and the communicators can not raise enough money to purchase a launch at market price. 6) There is no government funding available to AMSAT. 7) The regulatory climate is hostile to amateur radio satellites (ITAR). Opinion; The AMSAT paradigm needs to change to allow the creators to get more radios into space for the communicators. Well funded organizations are building satellites with radios for telemetry and perhaps communication. One possible solution to the observations is to get out of the launch business completely and for the creators to build radios for other organizations creating satellites. These radios would include the capabilities desired by the organization and also include the desired functionality for the communicators in order to get a ride to space. In essence trade radios for rides. This would allow AMSAT to use their knowledge and resources for building space based radios.

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Date Set For Next SpaceX Launch
by B J 20 Sep '12

20 Sep '12

http://www.onorbit.com/node/4968 http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/09/20/first-spacex-cargo-resupply-flight-t… 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Decoding Keps
by David A. Rush 20 Sep '12

20 Sep '12

I've been working on some code to decode the two-line Keplerian data like the ARRL sends out weekly (with a thank-you to AMSAT-NA). A couple of the values are in a somewhat cryptic format, the "BSTAR" and "second derivative of the mean motion". The strings tend to be either a space or a + sign, five digits, usually a minus sign (but seen at least once as a plus sign) and finally another digit, such as: +00000-0 +11682-3 00000-0 30767-3 00000-0 00000+0 +00000-0 +89689-4 What I have found about this format is that it is "decimal assumed", and examples suggest that +89689-4 = 0.89689 * 10 ^-4 or 0.000089689, if I converted that correctly. I'm guessing that the first character is the sign (+ or -) of the number, where a space is assumed positive. I've only seen one example of the 7th character being a plus (and all the digits were zero), so I assume that + or - are valid values for the exponent. I guess the format is fundamentally limited to an exponent between +9 and -9. Am I interpreting it correctly? Any other insight? David, ky7dr

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Re: AC0RA/m
by wyattdirks 20 Sep '12

20 Sep '12

wyattdirks <wyattdirks(a)msn.com> wrote: Sorry the second fo29 pass is at 1943 not 1843. 73 WyattWyatt Dirks <wyattdirks(a)msn.com> wrote: Well it appears there are quite a few folks that need en23 and some that need en33 so here is the plan. Saturday September 22nd I will work these satellite passes. AO-27 1806utc 1944utc FO-29 1757utc 1843utc Now these passes overlap a little so I will do my best to work both birds. If you don't hear me right away on either I may switch back and forth. Hope to work as many of you as I can. 73 Wyatt AC0RA > Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 01:10:37 -0500 > From: wyattdirks(a)msn.com > To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] AC0RA/m > > Soon I will be going near the grids of en23 and en33 and was wondering how much interest there is in those grids? > > Drop me an email if you need either of those so I know how much effort I should put into from working those grids. > > Thanks > > Wyatt > AC0RA > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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: AC0RA/m
by wyattdirks 20 Sep '12

20 Sep '12

Sorry the second fo29 pass is at 1943 not 1843. 73 WyattWyatt Dirks <wyattdirks(a)msn.com> wrote: Well it appears there are quite a few folks that need en23 and some that need en33 so here is the plan. Saturday September 22nd I will work these satellite passes. AO-27 1806utc 1944utc FO-29 1757utc 1843utc Now these passes overlap a little so I will do my best to work both birds. If you don't hear me right away on either I may switch back and forth. Hope to work as many of you as I can. 73 Wyatt AC0RA > Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 01:10:37 -0500 > From: wyattdirks(a)msn.com > To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] AC0RA/m > > Soon I will be going near the grids of en23 and en33 and was wondering how much interest there is in those grids? > > Drop me an email if you need either of those so I know how much effort I should put into from working those grids. > > Thanks > > Wyatt > AC0RA > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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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AC0RA/m
by wyattdirks 20 Sep '12

20 Sep '12

Soon I will be going near the grids of en23 and en33 and was wondering how much interest there is in those grids? Drop me an email if you need either of those so I know how much effort I should put into from working those grids. Thanks Wyatt AC0RA

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back on
by Bob- W7LRD 20 Sep '12

20 Sep '12

to my many sat friends...Bob is finally back on satellites after a ridiculous four months, over the top, make xyl happy, antenna/tower rebuild. The details of which would take too long for this post. Finally got computer controlling antennas/910. Frank (FEG) I just heard you on FO-29. 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle

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ISS_KIBO CubeSats Release Time
by Mineo Wakita 20 Sep '12

20 Sep '12

The release time of ISS_KIBO CubeSats was set on as follows. The afternoon of 27 Sep 2012, First, 15:10-15:20 UTC: Order of WE-WISH, RAIKO by Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide Second, 16:30-16:40 UTC: Order of TechEdSat, NanoRack/F-1, FITSAT-1 by JAXA GS Satellite Downlink Beacon Mode --------- ---------------- ------- ----- FITSAT-1 437.445, 5.84GHz 437.250 FM,CW WE WISH 437.505 437.505 SSTV,CW RAIKO 2.2GHz, 13GHz 13GHz 38.4 - 500kbps TechEdSat 437.465 437.465 CW F-1 145.980 437.485 1200bps AFSK,FM,CW --------- ---------------- ------- ------------------ http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/htv3cube.htm http://tinyurl.com/7x79o6p http://kibo.jaxa.jp/en/about/kibo/rms/ http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?cat=98 http://www.uk.amsat.org/10119 JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita

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Satellite location prediction weeks away and JOTA
by James Luhn 20 Sep '12

20 Sep '12

Everyone has been so terrific helping me understand every aspect of Satellite communications. I have another question that may really show my ignorance of this part of the hobby. Hopefully I will not be banned from ever asking another dumb question. I will be working with a Boy Scout troop on October 20 participating with JOTA (Jamboree On The Air). Is there an easy way to predict when the various satellites and ISS will be passing overhead on October 20? It would be nice to know the times and locations for October 20 weeks ahead. I wonder if others will be participating in JOTA by demonstrating the use of satellites. Thanks and 73, -james W5AOO

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AMSAT-BB September 2012