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

CO-55 UHF beacon stuck?
by Bernard Van Haecke 22 Feb '13

22 Feb '13

Hello, This is to report that CO-55 seems to be stuck with a 100% duty cycle carrier on 436.825 MHz. The CW beacon was not operational during the 2013-02-22 02:07z pass over Northern California, instead a constant carrier was heard during the entire pass, maximum signal S8. Receiving station: FT-817ND, AD6IW 25dB 0.3NF preamp, Arrow antenna, Arduino-controlled rotator, Orbitron tracking/doppler software Not sure if this is a recent issue or not on this satellite. Is anyone from Tokyo Institute of Technology on this list? 73 de Bernard KI6TSF ki6tsf at amsat.org

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Personal Best on AO7-b
by K4FEG 21 Feb '13

21 Feb '13

Today at 18:59UTC myself, (K4FEG EM55aj) and Jari, OH2FQV (KP20mf), had a successful 2way CW contact on AO7-b both signals were 559 with approximately 1 degree (or less) of elevation on both sides of the pass. The calculated distance on this QSO is approximately 7862Km based on a couple of calculation programs. Jari has an excellent station for low elevation operations and can hear to LOS with ease. THANK YOU JARI FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND PERSISTENCE! Frank E. Griffin; K4FEG EM55aj

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FRETS1 Ion Motor Powered Satellite at Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire
by Trevor . 21 Feb '13

21 Feb '13

See http://www.amsat-uk.org/?p=12853 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Orbitron on Windows 7
by Håkan H 21 Feb '13

21 Feb '13

Hello! I run Orbitron on a XP machine with very good result. Problem is when i try to run it on a Win 7 laptop it rejects to close down. I remember last year there where some writing about problem with this combination. Any good result out there? 73 Hakan SM7WSJ

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DANDE launch
by Ronald Cox 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Hi All, On Feb18th I visited 4 Labs at UC Boulder as a part of Lockheed-Martin's Engineering Explorer Post program (www.engpost.org) that meets every other Tuesday evening from September to May each year. I am sponsoring two young men without fathers as members of this Post. What was interesting to me and potentially other AMSAT members was that they are getting ready to launch a satellite named DANDE that will transmit in the 430 MHz Amateur Radio band using a "modified AX.25" packet radio protocol for the beacon and data. In the control room I saw the TS-2000 they are using for communications. The control room and all other activites for this satellite are located in the Colorado Space Grant Labs on the University of Colorado's Bolder Campus in the Discovery Learning Center. It is my understanding that a launch of this satellite could be as early as next month (March) as the hardware is now through testing and being prepared for launch on an experimental Orbital-Science vehicle. I was told that the orbit would be very elliptical and that the DANDE was designed for low earth orbit, but this orbit will take it through the Van Allen belts, so the DANDE could have a more limited life as a result. For more info on DANDE I recommend the following sites: http://dande.colorado.edu/files/DANDE_AGU_POSTER.PNG http://dande.colorado.edu/files/pilinski_CEDAR_poster_2008_v4pr2.pdf http://spacegrant.colorado.edu http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/boulderstudents/boulderprojects/dande http://www.ofcm.gov/nswp-sp/pdf/NSWP-SP-1995-scan.pdf http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/dande-mission Ron, W9KFB AMSAT LM-0185 Greenwood Village, CO

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Re: Close encounters of the Asteroidal Kind
by Vince Fiscus, KB7ADL 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-063 NASA Releases Radar Movie of Asteroid 2012 DA14 Jet Propulsion Laboratory February 19, 2013 [Image] This collage of 72 individual radar-generated images of asteroid 2012 DA14 was created using data from NASA's 230-foot (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech An initial sequence of radar images of asteroid 2012 DA14 was obtained on the night of Feb. 15/16, 2013, by NASA scientists using the 230-foot (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif. Each of the 72 frames required 320 seconds of data collection by the Goldstone radar. The observations were made as the asteroid was moving away from Earth. The asteroid's distance from the radar dish increased from 74,000 miles (120,000 kilometers) to 195,000 miles (314,000 kilometers). The resolution is 13 feet (four meters) per pixel. The images span close to eight hours and clearly show an elongated object undergoing roughly one full rotation. The images suggest that the asteroid has a long axis of about 130 feet (40 meters). The radar observations were led by scientists Lance Benner and Marina Brozovic of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Additional Goldstone radar observations are scheduled on February 18, 19 and 20. Radar is a powerful technique for studying an asteroid's size, shape, rotation state, surface features and surface roughness, and for improving calculations of its orbit. Radar measurements of asteroid distances and velocities often enable computation of asteroid orbits much further into the future than if radar observations weren't available. NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them, and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet. JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch . More information about asteroid radar research is at: http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/ . More information about the Deep Space Network is at: http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn . DC Agle 818-393-9011 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. agle(a)jpl.nasa.gov

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Walter Maxwell, W2DU (SK):
by i8cvs 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Hi All, Walter Maxwell, W2DU (SK): from The ARRL Letter on July 12, 2012 Walter Maxwell, W2DU (SK): M. Walter Maxwell, W2DU, died July 3 at his home in DeLand, Florida, of natural causes. He was 93. Maxwell was best known in the Amateur Radio realm for his ground-breaking series of articles, "Another Look at Reflections." Published in QST in seven parts from 1973-1976, the series explained in plain English concepts such as line loss, SWR, baluns and antenna tuners. The articles were later compiled into a book, Reflections: Transmission Lines and Antennas, which included additional material on matching networks, antennas and the Smith Chart. It was first published by the ARRL in 1990 and went through several editions. Later editions were published by CQ Communications. Source: The ARRL Letter ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional note from i8CVS Hi All It is very sad for me to know that Walter Maxell, W2DU died. I was in touch with him by email for many years and he was very friendly and plenty of explanations to me about my transmission lines problems. I missed a gread friend. The material published into the W2DU book " Reflections, Transmission Lines and Antennas ", is actually downloadble from the following source: http://web.archive.org/web/20090412045404/http://w2du.com/Reflections2.html To know more about the W2DU technical life read also: http://www.qcwa.org/w2du-sk.htm 73" de i8CVS Domenico

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ISS communications glitch
by Ian MacFarquhar 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

I believe the current Commander of the Space Station is a Canadian, Col Chris Hatfield. He has been doing a large number of school contacts during his mission . Regards and 73, Ian MacFarquhar VE9IM AMSAT LM1970 1st Vice President Radio Amateurs of Canada

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Re: ARISS contact planned February 19, 2013 with school in Greece
by jeffk13057＠yahoo.com 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

Interesting. There was a communications failure inboard after a software upgrade today. 73, Jeff WB2SYK Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPhone

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ISS communications glitch
by Alan 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

>From CNN: NASA lost regular communication with the International Space Station on Tuesday and has since established only limited connections. The space agency said it was doing a routine update of computer software when communications were lost, leaving the craft able to communicate only every 90 minutes when it passes over ground stations in Russia. "This is the same way they used to do it in the 1960s, with Gemini and Apollo," NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said. "The crew is working on this, and they'll get it back up and running." The station, which is carrying one American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts, does not appear to be in danger. "It's not a panicked mood that takes over mission control," Byerly said. "Anybody's who's been here has seen that." Aboard the station, Commander Kevin Ford told mission control during a pass over a Russian ground station that the craft is "still flying straight" and that "everybody's in good shape." The loss in communications is not considered unprecedented, though it is thought to be a cause for concern, officials said. The station is the product of a partnership among 16 nations and carries six laboratories for space research. Alan WA4SCA ----------------------------------- Asteroids are Nature's way of asking: "How's that space program coming along?" Aaron Williams

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