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

Norm on FO-29 and VUCC/DXCC Credit
by Les Rayburn 24 May '13

24 May '13

I should have spelled out in my earlier e-mail that I'm not even going to think about QSLing Norm, N3YKF/OA4 in FM18 for VUCC or DXCC credit unless I'm fortunate enough to work him again before he leaves Peru. I prefer to earn 'em fair and square or not at all. Just thought it was a funny story that other operators might enjoy. And I wanted to note his callsign in case I heard him on the birds again. It seems a lot of operators use a digital audio recorder for logging, especially those who operate handheld. Lesson learned, check all connections before the pass begins! Ha, Ha. Thanks for helping to solve the mystery and sorry for any confusion. -- -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF 121 Mayfair Park Maylene, AL 35114 EM63nf 6M VUCC #1712 AMSAT #38965 Grid Bandits #222 Southeastern VHF Society Central States VHF Society Life Member Six Club #2484 Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light

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"Norm" on FO-29
by Les Rayburn 24 May '13

24 May '13

Have you ever had one of those days? We're at T -10 days and counting to the wedding of my only daughter, Samantha, and the stress is starting to get to me. Tonight, I had a delivery at the house, just as the pass for FO-29 started. I could hear the driver honking his horn outside the garage door, just as I heard a station calling CQ on the bird. I went back to the station, "M3Y slash something"...hmm...strange callsign. Didn't quite catch it. But no worries, I always use a small digital recorder to catch all the audio from passes. Haven't quite mastered adjusting the rotor, twisting the RIT knob, keying the mic, and logging all at the same time. Certain that the recorder would capture the details, I proceeded with the contact. "QRZ, QRZ this is N1LF EM63 QRZ". Hey wait, he's coming back to me. What's that he's saying, "Try it again, N1LF". I repeated my call and grid square. The station came right back again, "Try it one more time. Are you on the right sideband?", A wave of panic set in. I glanced at the knobs on the IC-910. Was I on the right sideband? What was that callsign again? Where the heck is that? South America, maybe!!?? I repeated my callsign---he came right back. "OK, now I got you". He sent his grid square too, but the bird rotated, and I missed it. I doubted the recorder had it either--so I asked for repeat. I noticed other stations were quickly calling the DX too. He calmly repeated his grid square and I sent a quick "73". The horn outside honked again--breaking me from my euphoria. I scribbled a quick note of the time; 04:05 UTC. No problem, I'll get the rest from the recorder when I'm done with the delivery. I yanked the headphones, and listened as other stations worked "Norm". They all seemed excited to log a rare grid. I was proud of myself for finding him early in the pass, before the pileup had started. "Maybe this rookie can show these space jockey's a thing or two" I thought, in my self-assured inner voice. I greeted the driver with a big smile and firm handshake. An hour later, I plugged the recorder into my computer's USB port, and opened the file in Sound Forge, ready to play back the pass, and fill in my log. Alas, you can guess the ending to my sad tale of woe. I had neglected to plug in the splitter cable!!! The entire file was completely BLANK! NO!!!! So, I hate to ask, but I decided to swallow my pride and see if the gang could help me solve this mystery. Who did I work, and where the heck was he? Gotta get automatic rotor control working and start writing stuff down. Serves me right for being cocky. Despite the setback, I'm still having fun learning the birds. -- -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF 121 Mayfair Park Maylene, AL 35114 EM63nf 6M VUCC #1712 AMSAT #38965 Grid Bandits #222 Southeastern VHF Society Central States VHF Society Life Member Six Club #2484 Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light

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rx Sirius sat beacons with AIDC3733 converter
by f6htj＠aol.com 24 May '13

24 May '13

In addition: Good reception of sat carriers (+/- 2320.190 MHz) with AIDC3733 2400>144 converter (was modified for AO40 rx): receiver set at +/- 64.190 MHz (instead of 144.190) 73 de Michel F6HTJ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hello all; for information here in south west Europe we use 2320,100 to 2320,300 cw/ssb portion of 13cm band for tropospheric , AS , RS, traffic. I have been told by Piero I5CTE there is permanent continuous carrier beacon around 2320.190 MHz (+/- doppler) by 1 of the 3 Sirius elliptic NA satellites. It appears reception is very good here with small 20 turn helix antenna (in spite of 12m heliax coax) peaking 539. Apogee (50000km ) around 325deg with 27deg elevation. F5BOF reports same signal with small hand held 25 elements f9ft yagi. So these are for us very interesting beacons. Depending hours we can receive 1 o 2 sats. Real time positions (Sirius-1 / Sirius-2 / Sirius-3) here: http://www.n2yo.com/satellites/?c=33 Any info about beacon sat polarisation and eirp ? 73 de Michel F6HTJ Amsat #7409

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ESTCube-1 + Apps-in-Space Hackathon June 8-9
by M5AKA 24 May '13

24 May '13

First picture taken by ESTCube-1 CubeSat ES5E http://amsat-uk.org/2013/05/21/estcube-1-first-picture/ Harwell - Apps-in-Space Hackathon June 8-9 free event http://amsat-uk.org/2013/05/23/apps-in-space-hackathon/ ---- 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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AO7
by k4feg 24 May '13

24 May '13

Hello All AO7 Operators; During the Eclipse Cycle over Antarctica, AO7 continues to come out of eclipse in Mode B. Even better news is that I tracked down Jan A. King the designer of AO7 and he has graciously offered to answer some of my questions about the basic design of the Grand Old Lady of satellites. I will be speaking with him next week after the Memorial Day Weekend and I hope to gather some insight into the operations of AO7. I am very lucky to get access to him for his knowledge of this great satellite. 73 All FRM, Frank E. Griffin K4FEG STARCOM BB EM55aj84ta

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HRD 6.0 and Satellite Tracker
by Les Rayburn 23 May '13

23 May '13

New to the birds, and using SATPC32 to control my Icom IC-910H. Also use Nova to help me better visualize the path that satellites will take. Rotor is still controlled manually, though I may move to change that once the family budget will allow. Haven't noticed much traffic or discussion on the air with anyone using Ham Radio Deluxe's "Satellite Tracker" software. I'm wondering if other operators have used the software, and what your impressions were. -- -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF 121 Mayfair Park Maylene, AL 35114 EM63nf 6M VUCC #1712 AMSAT #38965 Grid Bandits #222 Southeastern VHF Society Central States VHF Society Life Member Six Club #2484 Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light

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Question about HamTV
by Raydel Abreu Espinet 23 May '13

23 May '13

Hello, About the future HamTV experiment, is it possible to use a cheap RTL DVB-T dongles used or RTLSDR to receive such signals with proper LNA and downconverter. If the downconversion fits the signal on a proper channel does it device is capable of decode the transmitted format??? Thanks, Raydel ---

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SL2 and VU visa with a DXpedition
by R Oler 23 May '13

23 May '13

I will be starting an assignment with soverign groups in both India and Bangladesh concerning flight operations...this is a commute contract but I will have a substantial presence in both countries...and both countries have granted me an E Visa and my family residency visas and SL2 has informed me that upon arrival in country I will have a amateur radio ticket. It will take me sometime to spool up as the work on both contracts is pretty extensive...but at somepoint I will have a presence on the bands in both countries. Not that it matters with LEO's to hams in the states, but amateur satellite equipment will be included in my operation Robert WB5MZO

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Sat for emergency use
by Robert C. Campbell 23 May '13

23 May '13

I am not sure that I would count any Satellite out when it comes to emergency use... especially if I lived in some remote part of India. Or any where else that was remote. I think Gilligan and the Skipper would agree with me. That this resource may not have been used for this purpose at this point does not mean that it won"t in the future. Me, I will sleep better tonight knowing I have the option. kb3pmr

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Office Closed
by Martha 23 May '13

23 May '13

The AMSAT office will be closed on Friday, May 24th and Monday, May 27th. I will be going to the Jersey shore with my family. I'll see the damage from Sandy that hit Long Beach Island where my nephew has a house. -- 73- Martha

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