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

AMSAT Awards
by Bruce 13 Jun '13

13 Jun '13

Here is our latest induction into some of the AMSAT awards community. There is a pretty good batch since my last report in April. The following have entered into the Satellite Communicators Club for making their first satellite QSO. Jim Whitfield, K5JAW The following have earned the AMSAT Communications Achievement Award. Alessio Vacondio, IK4IDY, #555 The following have earned the South Africa Satellite Communications Achievement Award. Joseph Fouquet, N5JF, #US185 The following have earned the AMSAT Sexagesimal Award. George Carr, WA5KBH, #163 Zeljko Ulip, 9A2EY, #164 Alessio Vacondio, IK4IDY, #165 The following have earned the AMSAT W4AMI Award. Alessio Vacondio, IK4IDY, #80 The following have earned the AMSAT W4AMI 5000 Award. John Papay, KD8CAO, #30 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/awards.html Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z 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 Awards oops
by Bruce 13 Jun '13

13 Jun '13

The award is for Doug Papay, KD8CAO. AMSAT W4AMI 5000 Award #30 -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also live streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org AMSAT on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/amsat

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Mystery Spacecraft Identified.
by Joe 13 Jun '13

13 Jun '13

This was a very interesting journey. To Summarize, A buddy of mine is a very active Amateur Astronomer. His telescopes and other equipment would equal to one of the best Amateur Radio stations in the country. Anyway while he was observing Saturn the other evening, he saw a object pass nearby very slowly. Far too slowly compared to most Satellites we have ever seen, and Far too fast to be an asteroid too. So it was an interesting Mystery. He made a posting on a local club message system about it, and that's when I came here to this list looking for help to identify it. Someone, (Sorry do not remember who) suggested I go to the seesat-l(a)satobs.org E-Mail list and ask. Very interesting group. Of course there was at first no answer to it, but no fault to them, but a fault of the original date of the observation, a typo had it on Jun 1 instead of when it really happened Jun11. After the correct date was posted it was no time when an identification was made. It was TERRESTAR-1. It's a Geosynchronous communications satellite. Thats what somewhat fooled us, an Illusion. His scope of course has drives to make it follow the objects in the sky. So In his scope Saturn appears motionless. And thats where we also got messed up, the Geo bird is more or less Stationary in the sky. It has a pretty good amount of vertical drift tho. it's orbital period makes it Geo Stationary. but it has a pretty high inclination so it drifts up and down in declination some. But thats even slower motion. What we saw as the object moving slowly, was not that but Saturn moving past the Bird! DUH? Anyway Now for the other reason for this E Mail today... In this Mystery chase I learned a lot. And that seesat group helped out a lot and sent me to a cool program that displays the birds, all of them. Now this totally amazed me. And it makes me wonder even more, why we can not get a ride to space. Everyone is familiar seeing a image that shows an average daily air traffic congestion say above the USA like this. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/212/481648154_61472fbe50_o.jpg But what amazed me is when using that Satellite viewing program is how many Birds are actually up there! look at this hemisphere shot! http://i44.tinypic.com/120o7kg.jpg It's CRAZY!! Then a more detailed view looking south right now13:30 zulu, http://i39.tinypic.com/2m6ubrs.jpg It's NUTS! Now what I can't understand is why, out of literally THOUSANDS of launches why we can't get a ride. I can understand in like the 60's when launches were not very often. But even then we were getting rides every couple years. Now with litterally Thousands of birds getting launched by the looks of stuff in this program, why in what decades? we havent been able to get a ride to a HEO type of orit? or even a LEO transponder type of bird. Like WOW! Joe WB9SBD -- Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com

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Possible Mystery Spacecraft?
by Joe 13 Jun '13

13 Jun '13

Howdy All, I have no ideas as to where to possibly look for an answer to this. But of course we have all seen satellites, crosing the night sky. and seen them in binoculars. and even ever more rarely while using a telescope viewing something in the sky happen to have one of these things go zipping past. But a buddy of mine was viewing Saturn the other night, and he spied something moving. very small and faint. It was almost like a moon of Saturn itself, but of course these do not move so fast you can see them move. This was moving in the same plane and directions of the moons. at a estimated speed of about 0.02 degrees a minute. It was passing right through the field with Saturn. Saturn was located at. celestial location 14H, 17m, 50s -11 deg 00 min,,20 sec az 196 deg 16 min el 34 deg 04min Viewing location near Dodgeville, WI. +42.96103 W 90.12580 anyone have a way to try to learn what this interloper may have been? Joe WB9SBD -- Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com

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ISS Packet via UISS and "Dire Wolf"
by Les Rayburn 12 Jun '13

12 Jun '13

JoAnne, I'm sure we've all heard the phrase, "You're the Man!"---well clearly that does not apply in your case, but for your extraordinary help in my ventures to make contacts through the ISS, you're the woman! Coming over from the weak signal side of the world above 50 MHz, it's great to meet so many nice VHF Men (and VHF Women) so willing to share their expertise with a newcomer. Everyone on this list, and on the air has been wonderful. I'll give all this a try tomorrow if I can ever get home from work at a decent hour. -- -- 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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Non-amateur frequency Cubesats
by Thomas F Davis 12 Jun '13

12 Jun '13

Hello, Do anyone know of any satellite ground stations that have downloaded scientific data from Cubesats on non-amateur frequencies? If so please reply to me off-reflector at w1tfd(a)snet.net - thanks! Tom Davis W1TFD http://discoverymuseum.org/ed/programs/nasa.html http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013/feb/HQ_13-064_CubeSat_4.html

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AMSAT-UK OSCAR News magazine available for download
by M5AKA 12 Jun '13

12 Jun '13

The Summer issue of OSCAR News is now available for download by AMSAT-UK members. It contains a very informative article - D-STAR digital amateur communications in space with OUFTI-1 CubeSat. See http://amsat-uk.org/2013/06/12/summer-issue-of-oscar-news/ 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Re: IC-910H Vs. FunCube Dongle Pro
by Burns Fisher 12 Jun '13

12 Jun '13

Hi Les, I have an FCD (not Pro) that I use pretty often for satellites and a TS2000 for the main rig Given that the T and R bands are always different, and given that the TS2000 has separate inputs for U and V bands, I use a coax switch on each antenna (type N for UHF). One output of each coax switch goes to the matching antenna of the TS2000. The other goes to a U/V diplexer (again with N-type connectors). Then this goes into the FCD. Of course there is some loss, but I have RF-switched preamps out on the antennas so that is less critical. 73, Burns W2BFJ Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:26:39 -0500 > From: Les Rayburn <les(a)highnoonfilm.com> > To: AMSAT Mailing List <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-910H Vs. FunCube Dongle Pro > Message-ID: <51B8851F.3060000(a)highnoonfilm.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > I just received my FunCube Dongle Pro in the mails, and am interested in > incorporating it into my station for both weak-signal VHF/UHF reception > and satellite work. I'd be > interested in hearing from others who have already used this nifty device. > > My questions are as follows: > > 1.) What would be the best method for T/R switching with the device and > the IC-910H that I'd be using for transmission? Loss with switches and > connectors needs to be avoided, but I really don't > want to run separate feedlines, etc. > > 2.) How does the performance of the Dongle Pro compare to that of the > IC-910H receiver, especially for satellite work? > > 3.) Any other caveats that I'm not considering? > > I currently use a Flexradio 1500 as my primary IF rig for transverters > on 222, 902, and 1296, so I'm familiar with SDR technology. Have also > owned an SDR-IQ for several years now. But this will be my > first attempt with using an SDR for direct reception of signals above 30 > MHz. > > > -- > -- > 73, > > Les Rayburn, N1LF > 121 Mayfair Park > Maylene, AL 35114 > EM63nf >

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Re: Improving performance of packet communications through the ISS
by JoAnne Maenpaa 12 Jun '13

12 Jun '13

Hi Les, Here is a quick follow up to your earlier question: > ... SignaLink interface, through Packet Engine Pro and UISS ... > ... provide other suggestions on how to improve my ability to > communicate through the ISS? Replies from others to your question offered alternatives to using AGWPE and UISS for software packet application on the ISS digipeater. These included substituting either 'Dire Wolf' or the UZ7HO AX.25 modem in place of AGWPE. Yesterday I had a chance to try substituting 'Dire Wolf' for AGWPE. Here is a quick summary of my set up and results. 1. Download Dire Wolf from http://home.comcast.net/~wb2osz/site/ 2. The setup guide and user guide are easy to follow. 3. The out-of-the-box application for Dire Wolf is for APRS. I tuned to 144.390 for a quick test and immediately received raw and decoded APRS data just like the user guide says. 4. Next I tested with UISS. a. Start Dire Wolf first. b. You need to change the setup of UISS between running with AGWPE or Dire Wolf. c. In UISS top menu select Setup -> UISS -> LAN d. In LAN setup click on 'Enable LAN Mode' Host 127.0.0.1 Port 8000 e. UISS may ask you to restart, go ahead and restart UISS. The Dire Wolf is only a software emulation of a hardware TNC. You still need a user interface for you to communicate via packet. That is what UISS or UI-View will do for you. There is no place to enter the PASSALL command but the error correction in Dire Wolf visibly improved performance. I saw more packets than previously with AGWPE (AGWPE just rejects the whole message if there a checksum error). One glitch for me is Dire Wolf displays an error message when I transmit from UISS. It says something about a packet header error. But it transmits my UI packet OK. I saw myself successfully digipeat several times via 145.825 ARISS packet on last evening's passes. I think the error message is related to how UISS talks with Dire Wolf. I noted seamless integration with Dire Wolf and APRS applications such as UI-View. I haven't had time to dig much further at this point. When time permits I'll try the UZ7HO software with UISS but I gotta get back to the July/August AMSAT Journal project. Links to dozens of ham radio digital mode software packages, including Dire Wolf and UZ7HO, can be found at this starting point: http://www.qsl.net/rv3apm/ -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

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IC-910H Vs. FunCube Dongle Pro
by Les Rayburn 12 Jun '13

12 Jun '13

I just received my FunCube Dongle Pro in the mails, and am interested in incorporating it into my station for both weak-signal VHF/UHF reception and satellite work. I'd be interested in hearing from others who have already used this nifty device. My questions are as follows: 1.) What would be the best method for T/R switching with the device and the IC-910H that I'd be using for transmission? Loss with switches and connectors needs to be avoided, but I really don't want to run separate feedlines, etc. 2.) How does the performance of the Dongle Pro compare to that of the IC-910H receiver, especially for satellite work? 3.) Any other caveats that I'm not considering? I currently use a Flexradio 1500 as my primary IF rig for transverters on 222, 902, and 1296, so I'm familiar with SDR technology. Have also owned an SDR-IQ for several years now. But this will be my first attempt with using an SDR for direct reception of signals above 30 MHz. -- -- 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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