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

AO7 Eclipse Period
by K4FEG 20 May '13

20 May '13

Are there any of the New Zealand satellite operators that could listen to /*AO7 on May 21, 2013 during the 13:45:50UTC pass?*/ If I am correct this will be the beginning of the satellite eclipse period that will run until August 2, 2013. I am not using any fancy software to track the eclipse periods so I cannot determine if the times are accurate or not, nor if the satellite tracking software is taking full account of all variables involved in tracking an eclipse period on AO7. My understanding from others is that the design of the satellite is such that it will come up as the "first state on start-up" in Mode B. I do not know these things to be true but the information comes from what I consider to be reliable sources. I am just interested in any type of satellite report from the operators that will first access to AO7 after it has been in an eclipse period no matter how brief. Any information will be of interest to me. /The current mode switches on AO7 are occurring at approximately 1047UTC everyday, I suspect that if we get any type of a total voltage loss on the satellite that this time will change(just my opinion)./ From the projections I have been running the eclipse periods will quickly increase in duration and they will vary during the day with respect to the time of day over the Southern Hemisphere. One of my goals is to try and determine, with the software available to me, what duration of eclipse is needed to cause a "Zero Voltage Reset", which should result in the satellite reverting to Mode B. Any help is appreciated! Happy "Bird" watching! 73 Frank K4FEG EM55aj84ta

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wish to source (used) TNC for amsat ops
by Samudra Haque 20 May '13

20 May '13

I am seeking to buy TNC hardware for the new K3GWU station (Foggy Bottom Campus - George Washington University). I'm limited to a small budget at this moment, and do appreciate those kind hams that have donated racks, radios, antennas, cables, and so forth. But now, I need a packet radio modem/TNC for digital communication needs! We have an Icom 706 (original) and a FT-857 (original) in working condition now, and a few midland commercial radios reprogrammed for ham radio fixed frequencies. I've read about Signalink USB and also see the various Kamtronics and Timewave products. Any tips for for AMSAT packet use? for ISS packet use? TNC-X ? //Samudra N3RDX

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Trouble found, help no longer required
by Robert C. Campbell 20 May '13

20 May '13

I spent the morning replacing the cable from the G-5500 up the mast and that was probably a good thing but it did not solve the problem. After pulling the G-5500 and GS-232b out of the computer rack I found the blue wire that is in the AZ connector, a part of the factory harness that goes to the G-5500 had never been crimped to the pin insert. Only the wire insulation was crimped where it should have been and finally gave way. Pulled the connector out of the connector body and installed it properly and then reinstalled it. The system is working better then ever and no more intermittent rotor to SatPC32 communications problems. I am now working on my celebratory bean and spinach soup that my wife made for lunch that was ready 2 hours ago. Long story short, I have read some of the threads recently posted regarding SatPc......and recommend not counting it out until all options are checked. I would not speak to this if I had not experienced this myself. Bob KB3PMR .

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UK Astronaut to fly in 2015
by M5AKA 19 May '13

19 May '13

On the 22nd anniversary of the first space flight by a UK astronaut, Helen Sharman GB1MIR, the Guardian newspaper reported that Major Tim Peake has been selected to fly on a five-month mission on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/05/19/uk-astronaut-to-fly-to-iss/ Also on the AMSAT-UK site: 2013 UK Space Conference Glasgow July 16-17 http://amsat-uk.org/2013/05/18/2013-uk-space-conference-glasgow-july-16-17/ MAREA: Ham Radio Robotics http://amsat-uk.org/2013/05/15/marea-ham-radio-robotics/ ---- 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK website http://amsat-uk.org/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSAT-UK/208113275898396 Twitter https://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ----

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Better/best operating system for SatPC32?
by Philip Jenkins 19 May '13

19 May '13

I'm in the process of buying a very low-end refurbished PC for use at Field Day and at a 10 day local fair this Fall to demonstrate satellite operating. All that this PC will be used for is running packet software and SatPC32 in the field. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to use the PC to control the antenna. (I may use this PC as for packet/APRS at home; I have another Win XP shack desktop already dedicated to ham radio/SatPC32/rig control/antenna steering.) Which is a better OS for this, Win 7 Home Premium 32-bit (which most of the PCs that I'm looking at) or Win 7 Home Premium (64-bit)? I had heard there were some compatibility problems (not necessarily with any ham radio software) with the 32-bit version when Win 7 first came out. Most of the machines with either version come with 1 GB RAM - should I choose one with 2GB or more (or install more RAM myself), or will 1 GB be sufficient for the light use I'm intending for this machine? (I noticed in the WIN 7 specifications that 1 GB is the minimum.) Most of the PCs I'm looking at with have a serial port as well (which is one of my criterion for considering these units) - that will make my life much easier with the old TNCs I have :-) To sum up, which OS should I choose, Win 7 Home Premium 32-bit, or Home Premium (64-bit)? Tnx es 73 Philip N4HF

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Help call for a Yeasu GS-232B
by Robert C. Campbell 19 May '13

19 May '13

Today while working the sats with Satpc32 the G-5500 would rotate east to west but not return with a call from PSTrotator. It seemed to get progressively worse and I would have to return the rotator to east manualy using the manual box. I checked for broken wires from the rotator to the manual box and everything wrings out fine. The rotator works fine in manual mode...push the switches for az/el and the rotator turns and returns the proper position indication on the needles. By the end of the day the GS-232 is not communicating with the G-5500 at all and will not command or return a rotator position to the computer via satPC32. My thoughts are...the serial board in the dell laptop, bad serial cable, or bad GS-232. Baud rates, com. ports and general set up for SatPC32 remain unchanged and have worked for the last 3 plus years. I can afford and new serial cable. Thoughts welcome here or contact me off page at kb3pmr(a)gmail.com Thanks Bob

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Re: Better/best operating system for SatPC32?
by James Luhn 19 May '13

19 May '13

I had numerous crashes with satPC32 until I followed the suggestion of several here on this list. What solved my crash issues was the replacement of the internal serial to USB adapter with a serial IC and then use an external USB to serial adapter. Since I have made this simple mod I have not had one problem. Before I made the change, my computer would lock up in less than an hour. This is probably a driver issue. Since everything works now, I probably will not pursue this issue. 73, James W5AOO Sent from my iPad On May 18, 2013, at 1:30 PM, amsat-bb-request(a)amsat.org wrote: > Better/best operating system for SatPC32?

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Re: Better/best operating system for SatPC32?
by Hector, CO6CBF 18 May '13

18 May '13

Hello to all! I have an old desktop PC dedicated to ham radio ( 1 GHz Pentium CPU, 256 MB of RAM and Win XP). I have had SatPC32 running 24x7 since December and I have never had a SatPC32 crash. 73! Hector, CO6CBF -----Mensaje original----- De: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] En nombre de Jim Jerzycke Enviado el: sábado, 18 de mayo de 2013 1:13 Para: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Asunto: [amsat-bb] Re: Better/best operating system for SatPC32? Same here. I've had it running on XP and Win 7 64-bit for WEEKS at a time and _never_ had a crash. Jim KQ6EA On 05/18/2013 04:26 AM, George Henry wrote: > Interesting. I have NEVER had a SatPC32 crash, under XP or Win7, and > I have left it running continuously for several days at a time. > > > George, KA3HSW > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lizeth Norman" > <normanlizeth(a)gmail.com> > To: "Philip Jenkins" <n4hf.philip(a)gmail.com> > Cc: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 10:55 PM > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Better/best operating system for SatPC32? > > >> None. Pick you poison. Satpc32 crashes using all operating systems. Good >> for an hour or so. Then you get an OLE FEHER error. Tried this over all >> operating systems (xp, win7, win8) >> Grab a pc from the kerb and load up xp. cheap and simple. >> As many problems as satpc32 has, it's far and away better than the >> competition. >> > > _______________________________________________ > 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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Satellite telemetry decoding
by Mike Sprenger 18 May '13

18 May '13

Hi, So I've got satpc32 running rotors and radios automatically. Radio is ic-910h. I have Interest to record and decode CW satellite telemetry to text and then use the DK3WN tools to decode. Any suggestion for two things: 1. what to use to record the audio from the radio automatically ? 2. what software to decode the CW to text from the CW beacons ? Thanks Mike W4UOO

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Better/best operating system for SatPC32?
by Werner, HB9BNK 18 May '13

18 May '13

I use SatPC32 since many years - now, since about 3 months on Windows 8 (both 32bit and 64 bit) and no complaints ! I have however learned to run the program as Administrator (set the corresponding flag (properties / compatibilty / )) , so that SatPC32 can control my rotor interface (Winrotor) which is a separate program 73, Werner, HB9BNK

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