January 2014 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

2M1EUB/P QRV IO87NC grid SCOTLAND
by paul robinson 05 Jan '14

05 Jan '14

Snow and high winds but now abt on the birds ,high mountains in the way but able to be qrv on some passes...ill be abt all week de paul 2E1EUB/2M1EUB/P

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Cape-2
by Roland Zurmely 05 Jan '14

05 Jan '14

CW beacon orbit #696 at 18:05 UTC: W5UL CAPE2 OR V5096 73 de Roland PY4ZBZ

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Almost There
by Joel Black 04 Jan '14

04 Jan '14

After a rocky start to my Christmas Vacation (I fell off a ladder while pruning limbs from a tree - nothing broken, just banged up and bruised), I almost have my satellite station back on the air. After doing some selling and horse-trading, I am back in possession of my FT-847 that I sold to my dad. After cleaning out my storage building, I found a couple of fairly long runs of LMR400UF. I need to measure them, but I think it is more than enough to get me outside and up the mast. I also have a U-100 control box thanks to someone on the list. I operate an iMac with Mac OS X 10.9.1 so, for now, I am using SatPC32 on my virtual machine. I have played around with MacDopplerPro, but it locks up on my computer continuously. I don't know if it has something to do with the USB-to-serial converter (I *do* have a null modem cable between the USB-to-serial converter and the FT-847), or if MDP is just limited in the unregistered version. The USB adapter works fine with my K3. Let me ask a question about the Arrow Antenna. Someone mentioned Elk Antennas and, while I'm sure it's a fine product, I am already in possession of the Arrow. I've done a lot of reading and without getting into the arguments about Arrow vs. Elk and length of elements, etc., element isolation, and published vs. unpublished gain amounts let me tell you what I'm thinking: First, I'm going to eliminate the diplexer. I will not need it for one thing. For another, it's limited to 10 W max input. From what I have read, my gain will be increased quite a bit. I don't remember the exact amount, but it's quite dramatic. Second, the feed on the Arrow is a gamma match. From my reading, and I'm no engineer, for a gamma match to work properly the element(s) (at least the driven element) needs to be grounded. That's fine and, again, I don't want to get into the "why's" I just want to make sure I'm correct. Therefore, my question is: Is there any reason I cannot turn the driven element 90 degrees to allow for a better connection to the BNC connector? Maybe not even 90 degrees, but enough to get to the BNC connector without the male connector on the cable touching the boom. I want to weatherproof those connections. What I'd like to do after I turn the gamma match is feed it with a very short length of LMR240 and then into a preamp. After the preamp, I'll have the LMR400UF to run to the FT-847. Most gamma matches I see on commercial antennas are on the side of the antenna - if horizontal, they're below (or above) the boom; if vertical, it's off to one side. The Arrow is the only antenna I've seen with a gamma match on which the gamma match is not to one side or the other of the boom. I hope I'm making sense. Anyway, I wanted to let those folks who helped out know that I appreciate it and that I'm much closer to being back on the birds than I was a few weeks ago. 73, Joel - W4JBB

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WEATHER EFFECT ON SATELLITE SIGNALS
by Peter Wilson 04 Jan '14

04 Jan '14

Hi everyone, Firstly, thank you to the many people who have helped me over the last few days with getting started on the sats, you have all been very helpful. I have now worked all the current satellites, including AO-07 and managed to get the doppler shift sorted out with Satpc32. However, today I had a problem hearing both FO-29 and AO-52 - both were good passes. We had some very bad weather here in the UK so I was wondering if the cloud cover can affect the up/downlink. Peter G8KEK

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Hillbilly Tracking for Low Earth Orbit Satellites
by M5AKA 04 Jan '14

04 Jan '14

Hillbilly Tracking for Low Earth Orbit Satellites http://amsat-uk.org/2013/12/29/hillbilly-tracking-for-low-earth-orbit-satel… High Resolution Data available on FUNcube Data Warehouse http://amsat-uk.org/2014/01/03/high-resolution-data-available-on-funcube-da… Winter Issue of OSCAR News http://amsat-uk.org/2014/01/03/winter-issue-of-oscar-news-2/ UK ‘DIY space kit shop’ on Yahoo News http://amsat-uk.org/2014/01/02/uk-diy-space-kit-shop-on-yahoo-news/ Lithuanian CubeSats may launch Next Week http://amsat-uk.org/2013/12/28/lithuanian-cubesats-launch-next-month/ ---- 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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Re: SATPC32 and SDR Sharp connect?
by PA3GUO 04 Jan '14

04 Jan '14

Problem fixed after talking with Jan PE0SAT (thanks Jan!) Need to use a newer version of SDR Sharp: - version 'stable' (v1.0.0.1000) does not work well with the DDE - version 'dev' (rev 1173) does work ! Henk, PA3GUO -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: PA3GUO [mailto:pa3guo@upcmail.nl] Verzonden: zaterdag 4 januari 2014 13:06 Aan: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Onderwerp: SATPC32 and SDR Sharp connect? When I use the DDE tracker plug-in from Ian Gilmour (MM6DOS) as described also here: http://www.pe0sat.vgnet.nl/tag/sdrsharp/ I do indeed see in SDR Sharp the DDE Client. I also can see when I connect it the realtime output of SATPC32 correctly displayed (sat name, freq, ..). However, when I hit PLAY to start the FCD to become active, the DDE information freezes (no updates anymore) and the FCD also does not go to the freq from the DDE. Who can tell me what I do wrong ? Henk, PA3GUO

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SATPC32 and SDR Sharp connect?
by PA3GUO 04 Jan '14

04 Jan '14

When I use the DDE tracker plug-in from Ian Gilmour (MM6DOS) as described also here: http://www.pe0sat.vgnet.nl/tag/sdrsharp/ I do indeed see in SDR Sharp the DDE Client. I also can see when I connect it the realtime output of SATPC32 correctly displayed (sat name, freq, ..). However, when I hit PLAY to start the FCD to become active, the DDE information freezes (no updates anymore) and the FCD also does not go to the freq from the DDE. Who can tell me what I do wrong ? Henk, PA3GUO

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Mirage KP-2-2M preamp performance
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 03 Jan '14

03 Jan '14

If anyone out there has any experience with the Mirage KP-2-2M receive pre-amp for amateur satellites, I would welcome any comments on it's performance. I'm mentoring a school that is considering using it for an ARISS contact. Thanks, Dave, AA4KN --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com

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SATPC32 will Flex radios
by Alan 03 Jan '14

03 Jan '14

Hi, Dave, W0DHB has been working on a program to make the Flex PowerSDR look more like a Kenwood TS-2000 for use with SatPC32. I have it running on mine, and it is a real please to see everything working as SatPC32 intended! He has been having problems getting his message posted here, so I am forwarding it. Be certain to contact Dave directly. 73s, Alan WA4SCA ======================================== From: David W0DHB [mailto:dave@w0dhb.net] Sent: Thursday, January 2, 2014 11:22 AM To: 'AMSAT-BB' Subject: SATPC32 will Flex radios If anyone is interested I've written a program that intercepts CAT commands from SATPC32 configured as a TS-2000, massages them into Flex PowerSDR CAT and Passes them on to the Flex Radio. It was developed primarily for my own use with a Flex-5000 with V/U option and really streamlines SAT operations. Please contact me offline if you are interested in giving it a try. Thanks Dave W0DHB

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High Resolution Data available for download from the FUNcube Data Warehouse
by David Johnson 03 Jan '14

03 Jan '14

**Hi, As promised, we are making the High Resolution Data available for download on the Data Warehouse: https://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/highres.html?satelliteId=2 It contains Hi-Res data generated every hour, on the hour for the 60 minutes preceding the extract. Please note that unlike the Whole Orbit Data, the Hi-Res data may be incomplete (have significant gaps) because of a lack of ground stations on the ground track. Now that we have the WOD and Hi-Res extracts working, we are going to move on to the RealTime extract. 73 Dave, G4DPZ

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