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

Re: HRD 6.0 and Satellite Tracker
by Wayne Estes 23 May '13

23 May '13

N1LF wrote: 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. W9AE replies: How is Nova's ground track display better than the one in SatPC32, which displays the ground track of the next orbit? Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA,CN83ik

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storm emergencies
by jerry keeton 23 May '13

23 May '13

Actually I can see where a store and forward mailbox could benefit storm related messaging from a satellite . My 2 cents . Jerry WB5LHD

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HamTV
by Fabio A. IZ5XRC 23 May '13

23 May '13

Hello everybody, HamTV countdown counter is available on Amsat-Italia web site: www.amsat.it More info related to HTV-4 on: http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2013/05/20130521_h2bf4_e.html HamTV has got also a Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/Hamtvproject 73s Fabio iz5xrc ------------------------------------ https://twitter.com/iz5xrc

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Re: AO7 2013 Eclipse Cycle
by Bill W1PA 23 May '13

23 May '13

>>> I hope I am not boring everyone with these AO7 reports. As someone who hopes to work AO7 for the first time at FD, it’s all good. Bill W1PA (FD: W1BIM)

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AO7 2013 Eclipse Cycle
by K4FEG 23 May '13

23 May '13

Good Day everyone; hopefully by now everyone is aware that AO7 is going into an eclipse as it passes over Antarctica and with the loss of sunlight on the solar panels the satellite is going into a Zero Voltage System Reset, and when the satellite comes back into the sun it is starting up in Mode B every time. Information from others have said that that is by design, but some of the reading I have been doing, suggests that the mode is random. The observations made so far indicate that it appears to be by design and NOT random. I have noticed a slight variation in the Doppler adjustment from my previous program settings and there have been some reports of slight audio distortion. I am currently leaning towards the frequency variations and audio to being caused by temperature variations due to the lack of solar heating as the satellite passes over Antarctica, once again these are just my opinions. Software predictions indicate that the eclipse periods will get up to about a maximum of a 3 minute period at the longest and it will be interesting to watch for any variations in satellite behavior at that time. /*For now we have Mode B repeating, enjoy it Mode B users and Mode A will be back in a few weeks if everything stays like it is.*//* */ I hope I am not boring everyone with these AO7 reports. Thanks to Alan; ZL2BX and Ib, OZ1MY for their updates and observations. 73 ALL FRM K4FEG STAR-COM bb EM55aj84ta

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BBC News: NEE-01 Pegasus CubeSat - Soviet debris fear
by M5AKA 23 May '13

23 May '13

BBC News reports on fears that the 910 MHz NEE-01 Pegasus 1U CubeSat may have hit Soviet space debris. BBC News Report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22635671 NEE-01 Pegasus 910 MHz TV Camera in Action http://amsat-uk.org/2013/05/20/nee-01-pegasus-910-mhz-tv-camera-in-action/ ---- 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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Programming a Pic 16f876a ?
by sfritchie＠cox.net 22 May '13

22 May '13

I understand that if you have a serial port on the ST-2 you can program the Pic 16f876a directly. I have an ST-2 with usb. Can I program Pic 16f876a through the usb port ? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks and 73 Spencer KC2TX

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Amateur Satellites and the emergency on tornado in Oklahoma and Texas
by i8cvs 22 May '13

22 May '13

Hi All, I am interested to know if someone in BB has used or is using the actual Amateur Satellites during the emergency occurred in Oklahoma and Texas because of the actual tornado's. We know from TV that almost 50 peoples died and if the Amateur Satellites were used with success that will be a useful opportunity to demonstrate worldwide to the autorities that our satellites are useful and necessary during the emergency. The call letters of the Amateurs partecipating as well the FM and linear Amateur Satellites used to help into the emergency will be appreciated. Thanks for any info. 73" de i8CVS Domenico

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Doppler correction on RT-SDR dongle
by Roland Zurmely 22 May '13

22 May '13

Please see here a video about automatic Doppler correction on RTL-SDR dongle with Orbitron as server and SDR# as client with Sattelite Tracking Plugin. QSOs on SO-50 on orbit #56000: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0iw7kpv0Zo About Doppler and SDR#, see here: http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/rtldop.htm 73 de Roland PY4ZBZ

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Fw: Amateur Satellites and the emergency
by i8cvs 22 May '13

22 May '13

----- Original Message ----- From: "Raydel Abreu Espinet" <cm2esp(a)frcuba.co.cu> To: "Jeff Griffin" <kb2m(a)comcast.net> Cc: "'i8cvs'" <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it>; "'AMSAT-BB'" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org>; "'M5AKA'" <m5aka(a)yahoo.co.uk> Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 4:17 PM Subject: Re: Amateur Satellites and the emergency > Hello, > > About the topic of satellites and emergencies I think satellites are an option very important to consider when there is no more available. In case of HF propagation blackouts or poor conditions and when local VHF and UHF repeaters fails, satellites can bring help, specially from light weight battery run portable stations. > > Here in Cuba we do every year an emergency rehearsal exercise named "Meteoro" which is organized by Cuba's Civil Defense to simulate catastrophes and other actions relevant to the upcoming hurricane season. > > This weekend (May 18th and 19th) was held the 2013 Exercise, like always Cuban Ham Radio Operators are invited to participate as an important asset during emergencies. But by first time ever on the Civil Defense National Headquarters were is installed amateur station CO9DCN we do a short and simple satellite demonstration to the Civil Defense authorities. > > The short demo was just a simple "hello" exchanged between CO6CBF (Hector) in Cienfuegos Province and CM2ESP/Portable (Raydel) in the Headquarter's backyard. Hector had done previous years demos for his province's civil defense authorities, but this was the first time a demo was done at the National Civil Defense Headquarters. As HF propagation was terribly bad that day due to the recent solar flares the Civil Defense Authorities were very pleased with our short demo proving that satellites can be an alternative when ground and ionospheric propagation are disrupted. > > The Press publish a short report about the amateur radio importance on emergencies and there is also a short mention in paragraph three of the very first satellite contact. > > The news report can be found here: > http://www.ain.cu/2013/mayo/19ya-meteoro_reduccion_desastres.htm > > It is in spanish only, but google translator works fine: > http://translate.google.com.cu/translate?hl=es&sl=es&tl=en&u=www.ain.cu%2F20 13%2Fmayo%2F19ya-meteoro_reduccion_desastres.htm > > On the picture featured on the news report from the Cuban News Agency you can see CO9DCN Club Station (Defensa Civil Nacional - National Civil Defense) being operated by CO2OT in digital modes and CO2JC in voice communications. The satellite demo was done portable on the backyard on Sunday at 14:10 UTC during a SO-50 pass, the press arrived one hour after the satellite pass so unfortunately there is no photo available. > > 73, > > Raydel, CM2ESP > GROS Coordinator > > --- > PS: GROS is the Cuban Satellite Group. > > ----- Mensaje original ----- > De: Jeff Griffin <kb2m(a)comcast.net> > Para: 'i8cvs' <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it>, 'AMSAT-BB' <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org>, 'M5AKA' <m5aka(a)yahoo.co.uk> > Enviado: Wed, 22 May 2013 08:36:36 -0400 (CDT) > Asunto: [amsat-bb] Re: Amateur Satellites and the emergency on tornado in Oklahoma and Texas > > I remember at least two times the LEO's were used for emergencies, on one > occasion, I actually transferred some health and welfare traffic. The one I > participated in was during the bad ice storms along the northeast coast > during the winter of (1998 ?). I personally forwarded health and welfare > traffic from two Canadian satellite stations who were in an area where there > was no electricity for over a month. As poor HF propagation and marginal > portable antennas weren't getting out the only way to communicate was via > the LEO FM birds. I remember passing information via AO-27 at least twice. I > also remember the difficulty of getting out the information that the > satellite was being used for an emergency :-) . The second occasion(as > noted, in another post) was during the Pacific Tsunami disaster (around > 2004?) it was proposed that the store and forward digital PACSAT's were to > be used to pass health and welfare traffic out of some islands in the > Pacific Ocean that were devastated by the Tsunami. If one was to search the > AMSAT archives there were threads started both times. > > 73 Jeff kb2m > > -----Original Message----- > From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of i8cvs > Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 8:02 PM > To: AMSAT-BB; M5AKA > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Amateur Satellites and the emergency on tornado in > Oklahoma and Texas > > Hi Trevor, M5AKA > > I agree with you. > > I remember that only the HEO satellites OSCAR-10,OSCAR-13 and AO40 were used > during the emergency when necessary. > > My opinion is that we satellite operators we are not actually organized to > use the LEO Amateur Satellites during the emergencies so that we only > collect grids and QSL's with them as well we receive only telemetry. > > I'm also not aware of any LEO amateur satellite having ever been used for > Emergency Communications but read please the following address of AMSAT and > you will surprised to read that even the LEO Amateur Satellites are built by > AMSAT to provide communications during emergencies and calamities. > > http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/sat_summary/hamsat.php > > VO-52 is India's contribution to the international community of Amateur > Radio Operators. > This satellite will play a valuable role in the national and international > scenario by providing a low cost readily accessible and reliable means of > communications during emergencies and calamities like floods , earthquakes > etc. > > 73" de > > i8CVS Domenico > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "M5AKA" <m5aka(a)yahoo.co.uk> > To: "i8cvs" <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it> > Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 10:14 AM > Subject: Re: Amateur Satellites and the emergency on tornado in Oklahoma and > Texas > > > Hi Dominic, > > An interesting question. I'm not aware of any amateur satellite having ever > been used for Emergency Communications, do you know of any ? > > Yes announcements were made that amateur satellites were available for > emergency communications in both the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and the 2011 > Japanese Tsunami but as far as I'm aware they were never actually used. > > I think the problem is two fold: > 1) The lack of satellite operators, only one to two thousand world-wide > 2) The initial complexity of satellite operating e.g. Doppler, Tracking, > which means those without satellite experience cannot rapidly pick it up > when an emergency strikes. > > A 100 watt HF station with a dipole on 40m is far easier to set up in an > emergency and will give you a range comparable with satellites and freedom > from the restriction of a 15 minute pass time. > > 73 Trevor M5AKA > > --- On Tue, 21/5/13, i8cvs <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it> wrote: > > Date: Tuesday, 21 May, 2013, 4:35 > > Hi All, > > > > I am interested to know if someone in BB has used or is using the > > actual Amateur Satellites during the emergency occurred in Oklahoma > > and Texas because of the actual tornado's. > > > > We know from TV that almost 50 peoples died and if the Amateur > > Satellites were used with success that will be a useful opportunity to > > demonstrate worldwide to the autorities that our satellites are useful > > and necessary during the emergency. > > > > The call letters of the Amateurs partecipating as well the FM and > > linear Amateur Satellites used to help into the emergency will be > > appreciated. > > > > Thanks for any info. > > > > 73" de > > > > i8CVS Domenico > > _______________________________________________ > > 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 > > _______________________________________________ > 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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