November 2013 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

too many satellites
by Bob- W7LRD 24 Nov '13

24 Nov '13

I never thought I'd even think this, but with the plethora of recently launched satellites, a few with transponders and some with other functions, there are just too many. Trying to keep track of all the events is giving me a headache! Is there or can there be a single place, web page etc where there is a concise depository of information? Now it is just all over the place. I suppose I should just focus on a few. 73 Bob W7LRD

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sat equip sale
by Jeff KB2M 24 Nov '13

24 Nov '13

First I would like to say thanks for all the replies about my move, and sale of equipment. What a great group on this SIG. I did make it down here to my shore home today to try and work AO-73, by the time I got here I could just make the last pass of the day. Unfortunately it was a .6 degree pass that lasted about 2 minutes. So no joy. I did get everything configured in SatPC32 and will be ready next time I make it down here. I also want to thank everyone for their concerns, but this is a happy time in my life, I recently re-married and we're planning to move to Florida. I'm looking for a home near the beach, but still antenna friendly, this is proving to be difficult . Just in case, I'm going to keep the Cushcraft AOP's, and the 9100. I see the satellite aspect of this hobby getting better . When I get back home tonite I will update the for sale list and send it out to all who requested it. 73 Jeff kb2m

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Fun juggling and water cooling a rotor!
by James Luhn 24 Nov '13

24 Nov '13

OMG, it is so much fun trying to get the keps, doppler, antenna pointing all playing together. Seriously! The term "one armed paper hanger" comes to mind. A big Thank You to all who have given us this wonderful opportunity to hear something new, to seriously get to know SatPC32, and to have another satellite to make new friends and renew friendships. This is so exciting!! I may have to water cool my Yaesu rotor!! I am enjoying every minute of lost sleep! OMG, I'm late for a pass........................... 73, -james W5AOO

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Listening to Funcube with RTL-SDR
by Jason Charles 24 Nov '13

24 Nov '13

All, I posted an inexpensive way to listen and decode the Funcube telemetry with the cheap RTL-SDR dongle. This can apply to almost any satellite too. What makes this setup unique is the ability for SDR-Radio (v2) to listen to Wide Upper Side Band and the Funcube dongle to Autotune. Between the two you don't need to worry about doppler correction for telemetry decode. I also have the I/Q file and the audio of the transponder pass from last night on there. I hope you find it useful. It has has been great fun for me! 73 de Jason, N4JTC

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AO-73 telemetry over Portugal 1st time
by Fabiano Moser 24 Nov '13

24 Nov '13

Hello, I just heard for the first time the AO-73 over Portugal and decode few telemetry packets. Any place where I can share the file if is interesting? Congratulations all the team that worked on the project and support. Strong signals over here! 73 Fabiano Moser CT7ABD

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heard FUNcube-1/AO-73 from soggy patio tonight
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 24 Nov '13

24 Nov '13

Hi! Here in central Arizona, I'm supposed to have over 300 days of clear and sunny weather every year. Today was not one of those days, and it has been wet into the evening. I did not get all of my gear out to work the FUNcube pass that just went over the continental USA around 0440 UTC, but I had no problems copying it with an FT-817ND hanging around my neck and holding my Elk antenna sticking out from the patio to the satellite. I heard K9QHO in CW and a few others in SSB (K4FEG, KD8CAO, W5PFG, and one or two others whose calls I did not remember in the walk from the patio to my computer). I didn't think to bring my audio recorder out; my mistake. I wasn't using a preamp, and had a 10-foot coax run between the antenna and radio. I hope the FUNcube crew keeps this mode going, as I am hoping to get a chance to work it myself in a couple of nights. This should be fun, even with the limited availability for amateur use at present. Congratulations to everyone connected with this project! 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Re: Too Many Sats?AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 8, Issue 416
by Clint Bradford 24 Nov '13

24 Nov '13

>> ... too many ... what to do??? ... First, know what you want to work and are capable of working. Of the 64 or so birds deployed last week, only a relative handful are ham radio-related. There is plenty of opportunity to "hone" your tracking talents - with some of the birds that send telemetry. Even if you cannot decode the info, it is fun to be able to track it! And if you do have decoding software that some sites provide, all the better: Your reception reports and received data can help the control teams! The Triton will be turned to a U/V crossband machine after its 90-day project is completed. Watch AMSAT-NA for details and freqs. I am excited. Although I am not set up to decode the data from most of the new birds, I will at least have SEVERAL MORE PASSES A WEEK to be able to show off to others - to pique curiosity! Yes, 64 sats all in a week can lead to info overload. Just look at the ham sats, and see if their modes are workable for you. It is a very exciting time for amateur radio satellite monitors! One thing that these launches do for many is get you to know how to upload Keplerian data from sources other than the "east, pre-programmed" sources for your apps and software! It makes us learn how to import a plain textfile of these new two-line elements ... (grin) Clint K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com

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Funcube-1 - Ao-73
by Andre' v Deventer 24 Nov '13

24 Nov '13

Just had my 1st 2way SSB qso via Ao-73 with Keith ZS6TW. Strong s7-9 without p/amp and excellent SSB audio. Congrats to the team ! 73 - andre ZS2BK

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PicoDragon CW heard again !
by Mineo Wakita 23 Nov '13

23 Nov '13

I heard again PicoDragon CW. It was a very strong signal. Now done, (1) Tracking by Calsat32: calsat32.exe (2) Saved as wav_file using Pocket Recoder: prec.exe (3) Edited using Sound Recorder: sndrec32.exe (4) Changed to mp3_file using Converter SCMPX: scmpx.exe PicoDragon 39412U 98067DA ArduSat-1 39413U 98067DB ArduSat-X 39414U 98067DC TechEdSat3 39415U 98067DD PicoDragon 1 39412U 98067DA 13327.09479895 .00067329 00000-0 11154-2 0 167 2 39412 051.6488 041.0125 0003745 031.6158 039.0755 15.51525481 533 07:33-07:43 JST, 24 Nov 2013 22:33-22:43 UTC, 23 Nov 2013, Ele 89 WN-Z-ES, 437.250MHz CW http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/31124pi1.jpg http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/31124pi4.jpg http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/31124pi4.mp3 JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita

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ISS and Funcube :-)
by Stefan Wagener 23 Nov '13

23 Nov '13

If Funcube had a camera they could take a pic of the ISS right now (only 200 km below) :-)

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