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

ISS audio
by Frank Bauer 21 Dec '14

21 Dec '14

John, The "new" radio is actually a Kenwood D710 which is located in the Russian Service module. The Service Module is where the ARISS team performed most of its contacts in the past as it was near the table where all the crew had dinner. Since the first contacts with ARISS in 2000, the ISS has significantly expanded, both in size and in crew size. ARISS has expanded too, with an additional station location in the Columbus module, which is on the other end of ISS (about football field in length). This is where the US, Europe, Japan and Canada conducts most of its experiments and where they spend most of their time. Right now we are using a lower power radio, an Ericsson handheld, in the Columbus module, as it was already on-board ISS (launched in 2000). Our near term plans is to upgrade the Columbus station to a higher power radio (mobile radio class). Keep an eye out for these plans to mature. Note that we are unable to move radios from the Russian segment (Service Module) to the US segment (where the Columbus module is located) as the power systems are different (28V vs 120 V) and certification for the Kenwood radios was only performed for the Russian segment. At the last ARISS International meeting, the delegates agreed with a plan to make sure all future equipment is interoperable and certified across the ISS. This will cost more money and take more time, but should provide more equipment flexibility for ARISS. For now, APRS is using the lower power radio in the Columbus module. I hope this helps explain things. 73, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO ARISS International Chair & AMSAT-NA V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 21:32:00 -0600 From: John Fickes <kc0bmf(a)gmail.com> To: amsat-bb <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] ISS audio Message-ID: <CAG-+cOaWcWPnR6uMLwQcf+h6-WNRNexGxQ6Lf=3WDNsoynhBHA(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 So what is to become of the new D 700, Is everything moving back to it or is APRS going to stay with the backup radio? Really like what I hear so far from the new Kenwood. 73 John KC0BMF On Sat, Dec 20, 2014 at 2:39 PM, andy thomas <andythomasmail(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > The voice-over from the tracking program is no longer present, and > RS0ISS is transmitted in fast CW in between the pictures. > 73 de andy g0sfj > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect > the official views of AMSAT-NA. > 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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ISS audio
by andy thomas 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

The voice-over from the tracking program is no longer present, and RS0ISS is transmitted in fast CW in between the pictures. 73 de andy g0sfj

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ANS-355 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-355 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Worked All USA Grids Via Satellite - #488 for Doug Papay, KD8CAO * Opportunities to Help at AMSAT User Services * 73 on 73 Award #4 - EA5TT * Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, Reflects on Her First ARISS Contact * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-355.01 ANS-355 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 355.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE December 21, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-355.01 Worked All USA Grids Via Satellite - #488 for Doug Papay, KD8CAO Congratulations to Doug Papay, KD8CAO for working grid #488 of the 488 USA grids. Doug worked N2COP/p, in FM13, for his final grid. The contact was via SO-50 and was logged on 15/Dec/2014 @ 1252Z. For his efforts he has been granted GRID MASTER award # 2. In a recent AMSAT-BB email exchange with Damon Runion WA4HFN, Doug said of his accomplishment, "...it certainly would not have been possible without the help of the many individuals that went to extra effort to activate so many rare grids. These include those who recently helped put the last 30 or so girds in the log: my father K8YSE, Tom KA6SIP, Denny WB8K, Bill N2COP, Ron N8RO, Craig KL4E, Ed WA7ETH, Steven KF7SLV, Wyatt AC0RA, and Clayton W5PFG. Special recognition goes to my father K8YSE, Jim ND9M, Patrick WD9EWK, and Ted AA5CK for having been major contributors over the years to this accomplishment. I'm sure there are may more that I have not mentioned, and so I'm thankful for every effort, every contact is appreciated! "I also want to thank Rick WA4NVM for the heads-up via text from my father K8YSE about FM13 on Sunday morning--while I missed Bill N2COP that day, this head's-up gave the motivation to be at the radio on Monday morning, and sure enough Bill was there and the contact was logged. Without these guys watching out for me I would have missed the grid yet again. (Thanks Rick!)." The Star Comm Group sponsors the Grid Master Award. To qualify for this award you must make a satellite contact with all 488 grids in the U.S. and get confirmation. Send your information to Ricky, WA4NVM or Damon, WA4HFN. All Star Comm Group awards are free, they only ask that you make a donation to AMSAT NA. Grid Master Award #1 was awarded to Doug's father, John Papay, K8YSE. More information on the Grid Master and other Star Comm Group awards can be found at: http://www.starcommgroup.org/ [ANS thanks the Star Comm Group and Doug KD8CAO for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Opportunities to Help at AMSAT User Services AMSAT's User Services Department is recruiting for several volunteer positions to augment our dedicated and elite staff! The User Services Department provides support in several areas including: + AMSAT News Service + The AMSAT Journal magazine + AMSAT's web presence at www.amsat.org The AMSAT News Service ----------------------- We need two or more volunteers to step forward who can dedicate time on a rotating shift of news editors. The AMSAT News Service (ANS) sends out a weekly news bulletin of everything of interest to amateur radio in space. The entire ANS crew (currently 3 editors) helps round up the news and each ANS editor takes a week as editor to compile the week's ANS bulletins. We'll get you into the bulletin rotation and you'll take your turn as the ANS editor this week. The AMSAT Journal Magazine -------------------------- We need two or more volunteers who can help compile one of AMSAT's key membership benefits ... The AMSAT Journal Magazine. An assistant editor is needed to help our existing team of editors (currently 3) to locate articles and establish contact with potential authors. All you need is an eye for articles of interest to amateur radio in space. You'll compile input from AMSAT HQ, volunteer authors, and amateur radio news sources into articles for publication in our bi- monthly magazine. We also need one volunteer who is capable of assuming the position of editor-in-chief of the AMSAT Journal. You'll help develop article sources and using AMSAT provided software and templates compile the 32-page magazine for six issues per year. Our publishing system is the Adobe InDesign CS6 package. This can be learned quickly by any computer literate ham. InDesign is MS-Word on steroids. AMSAT's Web Presence -------------------- Help is needed on the front to locate and publish up to date content for the AMSAT web. We publish late breaking news of amateur radio in space. We also publish reference information to help operate on the satellites ... software, radios, antennas, operating techniques. Web content containing late-breaking operating news and reliable operator tips currently has several gaps needing to be filled. Our WordPress environment makes the web display easy but you'll be spending your volunteer time on the content. This is a job for 5 or more volunteers and needs to be filled immediately! AMSAT also is looking for a webmaster who will assume responsibility for the display of all content in a WordPress environment. The basic framework is in place but can definitely stand to be fine tuned and made into a world class display of amateur radio in space. For most hams on-line www.amsat.org is our "front door" and we are looking for the most capable help on this important user interface! Our team is the "voice of AMSAT". News, operator tips, and membership benefits are important products for AMSAT User Services. For questions or to volunteer please contact AMSAT's Vice President of User Services, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM at k9jkm(a)amsat.org [ANS thanks AMSAT Vice President of User Services, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 73 on 73 Award #4 - EA5TT Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, who is sponsoring the award for contacts made via the AO-73 (FUNcube-1) amateur radio satellite, recently recognized Manuel D. Ruiz Carrasco, EA5TT, for becoming the fourth recipient of the 73 on 73 Award. He submitted a list of 73 stations worked via AO-73 between September 1, 2014 and December 8, 2014. The award aims to promote activity on AO-73. The requirements are straight-forward: 1. Work 73 unique stations on AO-73. 2. Contacts must be made on or after September 1, 2014. 3. There are no geographic restrictions on your operating location. There will be no cost for this award (donations to AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NA's Fox program are encouraged though). No QSL cards are required. When you complete the requirements, email your log extract including the callsign of each station worked, time GMT, and date to n8hm(a)arrl.net as well as the address where you'd like the award certificate sent. Congratulations Manuel! [ANS thanks Paul N8HM for the above information]] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, Reflects on Her First ARISS Contact In her blog shared 16 Dec 2014, Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, reflects on her first ever ARISS school contact with twenty students from Elena di Savoia in Bari and "Alessandro Volta" in Bitonto. In her comments she thanks the "army of volunteers in many countires" who make the contacts possible and how impressed she was with the quality of all the questions that "showed a great interest and knowledge in science and technology..." "Yesterday I had my first HAM radio contact with school pupils. A big hello to the students of the schools 'Elena di Savoia' in Bari and 'Alessandro Volta' in Bitonto! It was fun talking to you and thanks for the great questions! Amateur radio contacts between astronauts and school kids have a long tradition on ISS, thanks to a little army of volunteers in many countries who work with the local schools not only on the day of contact, but also in the weeks and months leading up to the event: they teach students about radio technology and about space, to get them ready and hopefully excited about the event. >From my side, I only needed to be ready on the proper channel at the proper time: it is very important, because we need direct line-of- sight with the amateur radio station on the ground and the pass is only about ten minutes long. A couple of minutes before the expected acquisition-of-signal time, I started making calls to check if someone was already picking me up. Eventually I picked up a call from the ground station and sure enough, we started our conversation. I heard them loud and clear, which positively surprised me: somehow I expected signal quality not to be as good. I hope they had the same quality on the other side. On such contacts, there's no time for small talk and formalities: in less than ten minutes, we had to make sure that the 20 students who were lined up to ask their question got their chance. So here I was, ready to go. And here came the first question - are you ready? Here's it is: 'It is known that people become taller when they are in space. What happens to bio-molecules? Is there any alteration in the tertiary structure of proteins?' I almost fell off my chair... well, if I had had a chair. (Wonder what a good equivalent of this expression would be in weightlessness... any suggestions?) Where are the good old question about space food and the space toilet? Jokes apart, I was really impressed with all the questions: they showed a great interest and knowledge in science and technology and gave me great hope for our future generations of scientists and engineers. Keep up the great work, girls and boys!" Cristoforetti's adventures in space can be followed at https://plus.google.com/+SamanthaCristoforetti/posts [ANS thanks Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between ELENA DI SAVOIA, BARI AND ALESSANDRO VOLTA, BITONTO, Italy and Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF using callsign IR0ISS. The contact began Monday 15 December 2014 at 1518 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via IZ7EVR. ARISS Mentor was IKØWGF. The Alessandro Volta school teaches communications, social-history, mathematics, science and technology in different contexts: life, study, job. In addition it fosters useful competence, allowing students to access continuous innovations through 3 specializations: Mechanics and Mechatronics, IT and Telecommunications, Electronics and Electro-technics. ARISS mentor Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF proposed to Radio Contact Coordinator Mr. Michele Mallardi IZ7EVR to set up a direct contact, with the support by IK1SLD back-up ground station, and this was accepted. The event took place in Elena di Savoia school, where an audience of more than 200 students, visitors (including some Italian Air Force officers) and Media (2 TV, 2 newspapers) participated at contact site, and about 200 at both schools. Total of more than 400 people. Before the contact, Mrs. Rosa Tagliamonte by ASI (Italian Space Agency) presented the Cristoforetti mission and the Italian contribution to the International Space Station. Mr. Michele Mallardi IZ7EVR presented ARISS and explained how a contact with the ISS is performed via Ham Radio. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Yekaterinburg, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS Contact is a go for Sun 2014-12-21 11:55 UTC (primary) or Sun 2014- 12-21 13:00 UTC (backup) Kursk, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS Contact is a go for Thu 2014-12-24 TBD UTC Kursk, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS Contact is a go for Fri 2014-12-25 TBD UTC [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Revised Tracking Utilites for DESAPTCH and Shin-en2 The spacecrafts, DESAPTCH and Shin-en2 are still alive. Masahiro Sanada JI1IZR has recently revised the predict tracking utilites for the extension of the data range. The new versions can be obtained from: http://ji1izr.air-nifty.com/ham_satellite/2014/12/artsat2-desp-11.html [ANS thanks Masahiro,JI1IZR for the above information] + Radio ham helps ESA with tracking widget Thanks to radio amateur Chip Sufitchi N2YO the European Space Agency's new satellite tracking widgets are live The tracking widgets are fed with the latest orbital tracks for ESA missions, or missions with significant ESA participation. The default track shows the ISS. Track ESA missions http://blogs.esa.int/rocketscience/track-esa-missions/ ESA tracking widgets are powered by http://www.n2yo.com/ [ANS thanks Southgate ARN for the above information] + In Liue of the recent SSTV transmissions from the International Space Station, everyone is reminded that information is available by visiting the ARISS SSTV Blogspot. http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/ Also, the full set of archived SSTV images are located at: http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php Those that receive images can upload to the above link. The best of the best uploads may make it to the blog. --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, EMike McCardel, KC8YLD kc8yld at amsat dot org

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w1aw/kh6
by Tom Worthington 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

I will be on the (for me) 0147z pass of FO-29 12/20/2014 De w1aw/kh6 from NH6Y from BL10ts

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Western Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas - 12/25 thru 1-2
by Dave Swanson 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

Good afternoon all, I will be traveling for the holidays away from my QTH in Arkansas to Western Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas to see family, friends, and attend to some business from 12/25/14 thru 1/2/15. Definite grids I'll be operating from include EN20, EN30, EN21, EN11 and EM17. I will most likely try to spend a day out in central and western Nebraska and Kansas operating from some of the rarer grids including EN10, and may even attempt some short trips to the EM18/EM19 lines in KS and EN00/EN01 line in NE. Kansas and Nebraska don't seem to have a whole lot of satellite activity, and the grids I'm shooting for seem to be rarely heard, so I'm hoping that I can help some folks fill in their maps. I will be having family staying at the QTH upload contacts for me into LOTW as I go, but will also send out cards if requested when I return. I will be updating my twitter account (@KG5CCI - https://www.twitter.com/KG5CCI) as I travel, and will provide specifics as to which passes I'll be working on which birds from where. If anyone has any questions, or is just absolutely dying to get a grid near where I'll be, shoot me an email and I'll be happy to answer. 73! -Dave, KG5CCI

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Northern Michigan Grids (EN74/75/84/85/76/86) - 12/29 - 1/3
by Paul Stoetzer 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

Good evening, I will be staying south of Gaylord, Michigan in EN74 from Monday. December 29th through Saturday, January 3rd. This is very near the EN74/EN75 line. I will be on many passes from EN74 and make several trips to the EN74/EN75 line. I will have a special QSL card for my operations from this line as it's the 45th parallel north. I also plan to operate at least one pass from EN84 and EN85. I hope to get to the Upper Peninsula to operate from the EN76/EN86 line as well. I don't think I'll get to EN83, but if it is possible and there is demand, I may be able to do so. I will post updates about specific passes on my Twitter account (@PRStoetzer - http://www.twitter.com/PRStoetzer). If anyone really needs EN82, I'll be there from December 21st - December 28th. 73, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM

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ISS audio with CW beacon.
by Cor PDØRKC 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

Andy wrote he have heard a CW beacon. I also heard a short and fast CW beacon in an empty space of ISS SSTV pictures transmission! So than we can asume it came from above! 73s Cor PD0RKC Andy Thomas wrote: Earlier pass - I timed 5 minutes between end of transmission and then start. Definitely heard the cw but on the last pass only. I suppose a ground station might have set up mmstv wrongly, and accidentaly beaconed? Can't think of any other rcplanation. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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ISS TX in SSTV over CHILE
by Raul Romero CA3SOC 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

Nice and Strong Signal Raul CA3SOC

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ISS TX on SSTV
by Raul Romero 20 Dec '14

20 Dec '14

Over CHILE Strong Signal Raul CA3SOC

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Has anyone heard the 9600 baud signals from Spinsat? Anyone have recordings?
by Douglas Quagliana 19 Dec '14

19 Dec '14

Has anyone heard the 9600 baud signals from Spinsat? If it is transmitting, I would like to get recordings of the 9600 baud signal to test against a new 9600 baud DSP modem that I've written. Thanks and 73, Douglas KA2UPW/5

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