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

Windows 8
by John Price 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

I am about to attempt to migrate my satellite station to Windows 8 operating system on my new HP Pavilion. Has anyone experience with this. Will Satpc32 run under windows 8 64 bit? How about the USB driver for the LVB tracker? I doubt the old one I used for XP will work. Nothing else I used that required a driver worked even with the Windows 7 drivers I used on the laptop. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. -- N4QWF Amateur Radio Operator Email N4QWF(a)AMSAT.ORG Formerly KC4AHW VK3FEZ DXCC #33,478 VUCC SAT #135 WAS SAT #296 51 on AO-51 #13 LON -79.256 LAT 37.459 Grid FM07il >From the Foothills of the Blueridge *Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming - "WOW, What a ride!"

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First Cuba to EI contact on FO-29
by M5AKA 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

Hector is looking for more trans-Atlantic contacts, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/04/6955-km-contact-on-fo-29/ 73 Trevor M5AKA

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G100RSGB active on the satellites now
by M5AKA 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

Special event station G100RSGB is active on the satellites today, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/04/g100rsgb-on-the-satellites/ 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Satellite contact between Cuba and Ireland
by Hector, CO6CBF 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

Hello to all I am pleased to report that today I had my first contact on satellites with Ireland. Joe, EI5EV and I completed it successfully on FO-29. We had just a 66 seconds window but there was enough time to exchange reports and greetings. I believe that it is the first contact between Ireland and Cuba on FO-29! It is a 4321.7 mi (6955.1 km) contact! Our first attempt was yesterday but Joe couldn't find me on the passband. We made a schedule again and we tried to be more accurate on frequencies calculation. Doppler is always in play! We did the calculations based on the great feature implemented on SatPC32 V12.8b. There is an option of seeing the frequency you are at the satellite receiver. This was our common reference point. I was very satisfied when I heard Joe exactly on the frequency I was expecting! I was operating portable from a tall building `s roof which allows me a great horizon visibility forwarding Europe. I was running my new FT-817nd, a 30W power amplifier and a homebrew ARROW antenna with a homebrew mast mounted preamplifier. Everything was supplied by two 12V 7A Gel batteries. Right Now, FO-29 has a big footprint. Please, if you are into the footprint and want to try a long distance contact, just drop me an email. I will try until complete a contact with you. Thanks very much to Joe for this great contact! 73! Hector, CO6CBF El92sd

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Interfacing SATPC-32 with ICOM 706 MKIIG
by wa7eth＠frontier.com 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

I am looking for someone who has successfully interfaced SATPC32 with an ICOM 706 MKIIG. I have several questions and would like to discuss over the phone. I am happy to make the call from my end. Please email me at wa7eth(a)frontier.com if you can help. Thanks. . Hugh "Ed" Empey WA7ETH AMSAT# 16226

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STRaND-1 reports wanted
by Graham Shirville 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

Dr Chris Bridges, M0GGK from the Surrey Space Centre has advised that signals from their STRaND-1 3U cubesat became intermittent over the weekend and Mike DK3WN also reports that he ahs heard no signals since Sunday. It would be really good if amateurs, especially those outside Europe, could have a careful listen for STRaND-1 over the next few days and report any positive results to C.P.Bridges at surrey.ac.uk . Listen for 9k6 signals around 437.568 MHz. many thanks Graham G3VZV

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Kenneth Pulfer VE3PU (SK)
by Stefan Wagener 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

Please see: http://www.arrl.org/news/j-kenneth-pulfer-ve3pu-sk Stefan, VE4NSA

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STRaND-1
by Rick Walter 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

-- Sent from Rick's gmail account No signal from STRaND-1 here at FN10tb for the 23:29Z pass (April 3, 2013). Rick WB3CSY

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STRaND-1
by Roland Zurmely 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

Hi Graham G3VZV, Nothing heard from Strand-1 today over Brazil... 73 de Roland PY4ZBZ.

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Re: Update: OSCAR 7 Close Approach Notification
by Andrew Glasbrenner 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

I dunno. V'ger seemed to have a pretty good downlink as I recall. :-) W7LRD reports AO-7 is still there post-near miss, so all is well. 73, Drew KO4MA -----Original Message----- >From: Gregory Beat <gregory.beat(a)comcast.net> >Sent: Apr 3, 2013 1:53 PM >To: "amsat-bb(a)amsat.org" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> >Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Update: OSCAR 7 Close Approach Notification > >As long as the beacon does not change to V'GER, >probably be OK. > >w9gb >== >Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 11:02:57 -0400 (GMT-04:00) >From: Andrew Glasbrenner >To: amsat-bb >Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: Update: OSCAR 7 Close Approach Notification > > >This was a little close...I'm interested in reports of AO-7 after 14:13Z today. > >73, Drew KO4MA > >> The United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) has updated a >> predicted conjunction between OSCAR 7 (SCC# 7530) and SCC# 10306. >> >> Primary Object: OSCAR 7 (SCC# 7530) >> Secondary Object: SCC# 10306 >> Time of Closest Approach: 03 APR 2013 14:13 UTC > >_______________________________________________ >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: Update: OSCAR 7 Close Approach Notification
by Gregory Beat 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

As long as the beacon does not change to V'GER, probably be OK. w9gb == Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 11:02:57 -0400 (GMT-04:00) From: Andrew Glasbrenner To: amsat-bb Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: Update: OSCAR 7 Close Approach Notification This was a little close...I'm interested in reports of AO-7 after 14:13Z today. 73, Drew KO4MA > The United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) has updated a > predicted conjunction between OSCAR 7 (SCC# 7530) and SCC# 10306. > > Primary Object: OSCAR 7 (SCC# 7530) > Secondary Object: SCC# 10306 > Time of Closest Approach: 03 APR 2013 14:13 UTC

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Fw: Update: OSCAR 7 Close Approach Notification
by Andrew Glasbrenner 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

This was a little close...I'm interested in reports of AO-7 after 14:13Z today. 73, Drew KO4MA >The United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) has updated a >predicted conjunction between OSCAR 7 (SCC# 7530) and SCC# 10306. > >Primary Object: OSCAR 7 (SCC# 7530) >Secondary Object: SCC# 10306 >Time of Closest Approach: 03 APR 2013 14:13 UTC > >Overall miss distance: 119 meters >Radial (dU) miss distance: 118 meters >In-Track (dV) miss distance: 12 meters >Cross-track (dW) miss distance: 13 meters > >Primary Radial Error (U): 8 meters >Primary In-Track Error (U): 23 meters >Primary Cross-track Error (U): 14 meters > >Secondary Radial Error (U): 256 meters >Secondary In-Track Error (U): 4140 meters >Secondary Cross-Track Error (U): 858 meters >

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AMSAT Awards
by Bruce 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

Awards have been very slow this year. Might be due to the lack of satellites. The following have entered into the Satellite Communicators Club for making their first satellite QSO. Christopher Friesen, VE4CWF Michael Haman, KB7SNQ Ron Rappel, W1RPR The following have earned the AMSAT Communications Achievement Award. Glyn Dodwell, GM4CFS, #554 The following have earned the South Africa Satellite Communications Achievement Award. Glyn Dodwell, GM4CFS, #US184 The following have earned the AMSAT Century Club Award. This award is not that easy to earn. Wyatt Dirks, AC0RA, #42 Until the amsat.org website is fully restored, you can see all the awards at my website. To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0200z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes

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AMSAT/TAPR Joint Hamvention Banquet, Friday, May 17th @ 6:30 pm
by Mark Thompson 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

AMSAT/TAPR Joint Hamvention Banquet Friday, May 17th Bruce Perens, K6BP Presents "The Evangelist's Dilemma: Driving New Ideas With Nothing But Words". Kohler Presidential Banquet Center, 4548 Presidential Way, Kettering, OH Doors open at 1830 for a cash bar with buffet dinner served at 1915. Orders must be placed in advance at AMSAT's web site http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=88 or through the AMSAT Office. Tickets will not be sold at Dayton, but tickets purchased online may be collected at the AMSAT booth at Hamvention. Orders must be placed by Tuesday, May 14th. Cost is $30 per person.

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Yaesu 5400b rotor control box wanted
by Lizeth Norman 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

Title says it all. Other Az-El boxes considered. Have been playing with the beepsats over the last few days. Box got a workout and decided to die. The rotators are good as far as I can tell. A bit of trivia. The m2 az/el replacement option is 4k. Thanks Norm

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Final IARU-R1 Vienna 2013 VHF/UHF/uW Papers Released
by M5AKA 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

They include a number of papers related to Amateur-Satellite Service allocations, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/02/final-iaru-r1-vienna-2013-papers-released/ Have you let the delegates from your national society know your opinion on these papers ? 73 Trevor M5AKA ----

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FW: [Bod] Re: FCC Experimental Licensing-What is AMSAT's Strategy
by Nick Pugh 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

The FCC allows teachers to use ham radio in their class and collect a salary. I believe this also applies to professors at university and the ground station students that are licensed. Nick k5qxj From: Rsoifer(a)aol.com [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, April 01, 2013 7:19 PM To: jan.king(a)concepts.aero; quadpugh(a)bellsouth.net; aa2tx(a)comcast.net; bod(a)amsat.org; Senior-officers(a)amsat.org Cc: afeller(a)ieee.org; jking(a)concepts.aero; ku4os(a)cfl.rr.com; r.twiggs(a)moreheadstate.edu; jfoley(a)calpoly.edu Subject: Re: [Bod] Re: FCC Experimental Licensing-What is AMSAT's Strategy Jan and all, The late Michael Owen, who wrote most of the present RR Article 25 at WRC 03, said that even if the "technical investigation" does not relate to "radio technique," radio transmissions related to it may still be considered "self training" and thus permissible for amateur stations if the other requirements (e.g. "without pecuniary interest") are meti. 73 Ray In a message dated 4/1/2013 8:33:13 P.M. GMT Standard Time, jan.king(a)concepts.aero writes: And, Nick and Tony, The Cubesatters aren't going away any time soon. We can share our spectrum with them or they will take it all, sooner or later. That is the reality. They already think of it as their spectrum, by the way. Jan, W3GEY -----Original Message----- From: Nick Pugh [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, 29 March 2013 2:34 AM To: 'Anthony Monteiro'; bod(a)amsat.org; Senior-officers(a)amsat.org Cc: 'Arthur Feller'; Rsoifer(a)aol.com; jking(a)concepts.aero; ku4os(a)cfl.rr.com; 'Robert Twiggs'; Justin Foley Subject: RE: [Bod] Re: FCC Experimental Licensing-What is AMSAT's Strategy Tony well stated and this should become official AMSAT policy. Reality the cube sats are here and they are good for our hobby Nick k5qxj -----Original Message----- From: Anthony Monteiro [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 10:26 AM To: bod(a)amsat.org; Senior-officers(a)amsat.org Cc: Arthur Feller; Rsoifer(a)aol.com; jking(a)concepts.aero; ku4os(a)cfl.rr.com; nick pugh; Robert Twiggs Subject: Re: [Bod] Re: FCC Experimental Licensing-What is AMSAT's Strategy Dear Friends, These are MY opinions, not an official AMSAT position, but I think it is important to recognize the significant benefits that AMSAT and the entire ham radio community gets from having non-commercial, university CubeSats licensed as amateur radio satellites: 1. It introduces hundreds/thousands of students to ham radio who would never have heard of it. Large numbers of students and professors have gotten ham tickets as a result and are now part of the ranks of ham radio operators. 2. It introduces students and professors to AMSAT. We have many people work on AMSAT projects because they learned about us from a university CubeSat program. 3. It enables direct cooperation between AMSAT and universities in developing satellite projects that benefit all hams who are interested in amateur satellite operating activities. 4. Non-commercial, university CubeSats that are licensed as amateur radio satellites help PROTECT our ham bands! The operating activity from these satellites helps show that we (hams) are actually USING these bands for something. 5. Many AMSAT members thoroughly ENJOY collecting telemetry and data from university CubeSats. Just because it doesn't have a 2-way transponder does not mean it isn't ham radio or it isn't a fun part of the hobby. 6. Grad students who have learned about operating a ham station and who control a (non-commercial) satellite are doing so only incidentally to their paid "job" of getting a PhD. They are obviously not getting paid to operate the ham station; they are getting paid for teaching or for their technical work. This is no different than a teacher in the classroom who is getting paid and using ham radio to teach students. These are GOOD uses of ham radio! 7. Many hams and especially AMSAT members thoroughly ENJOY working with students and their teachers, helping them improve their knowledge of radio communications and radio technology. I certainly hope that AMSAT and AMSAT members can continue to work with universities on amateur-radio CubeSats and promote amateur radio to a new generation of scientists and engineers. These are our future AMSAT members. 73, Tony AA2TX AMSAT, VP Engineering

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2M1EUB/P OPPS SCOTLAND 6/4/13
by paul robinson 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

Hi guys i will be qrv from io87nc scotland from 6/4/13 for 7 days on all sats as 2M1EUB/P more info on http://www.qrz.com/ under 2m1eub 73 de paul 2E1EUB

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Re: CW Decoding Software
by Mike Farkas 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

I use FLDIGI myself as I suffer from Parkinson's like tremors that keep me from using a straight key or bug to send. Works great for decoding. 73's Mike/N8GBU

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European Interparliamentary Space Conference Video
by M5AKA 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

Jan Poppeliers ON7UX has released a video of the European Interparliamentary Space Conference (EISC) workshop which includes FUNcube-1, European Student Earth Orbiter ESEO satellite, ALMASat-1, and the QB50 project. See http://amsat-uk.org/?p=16196 ---- Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK http://www.amsat-uk.org/ Join or Renew your AMSAT-UK membership at http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/category_7/Membership-of-AMSAT-UK.html ----

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cw decoding software
by Lizeth Norman 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

Hi all, My cw is pretty poor. Not up to snuff to copy the hex character groups of most telemetry streams. Am looking to use the sound card in a computer to decode cw telemetry. What are people using? Thanks, Norm n3ykf

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pre-amps on amsat store ?
by Robert Coppock 31 Mar '13

31 Mar '13

ahoy, the pre-amps for sale on the web site; are they the mar-7 for sure, or mar-6 amp ? i operate out in the sticks, and also in the RF noisy s.f. bay area. thanks, 73, robert k f Ø g cn81 / cm97-98

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