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

Re: Another Great Tech Tuesday Net
by Clint Bradford 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

Wow - you have no idea what you are talking about. That is NOT how I was dismissed from AMSAT-NA. And if someone told you that was how it all went down, then they are misrepresenting the truth. Clint Bradford ---------------------------------- Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.clintbradford.com

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Re: Another Great Tech Tuesday Net
by Dino Papas 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

I am so out of here….someone please let me know when to turn this reflector back on when we start talking about satellites again. Dino KL0S On Feb132014, at 1122 AM, Clint Bradford <clintbrad4d(a)earthlink.net> wrote: >>> As a board member, I am well aware of what transpired. > > By reading your public message, NO, you were not told accurately what occurred. > You were not told of all the content of an hour-plus phone interrogation by an > AMSAT-NA appointee and what was discussed. And I did not see you CC'd in > those email messages from the board president. > > Your current board president has no clue as to the value of what many volunteers > were doing on behalf of AMSAT-NA. There are at least four devoted, fervent, > dedicated advocates of AMSAT-NA that have been turned off and dismissed by > this "criteria" that has popped up. Some have been told to alter their presentations. > > You have a board president who wrote, after being advised that AMSAT-NA was > cited in CQ magazine a couple of times in my articles, that " ... AMSAT-NA's mention > in magazine articles is the relative value of published articles diminishes over time ... " > > Those are words of someone who has no clue as to the power of the Internet. You > cannot BUY the type of marketing and positive exposure that I have given AMSAT-NA > the past eight years. > > As I wrote in January at ... http://www.work-sat.com/2014.html ... > > I doubt that any AMSAT-NA leaders could name ANY OTHER volunteer who has > promoted the organization as often and as fervently as have I ... yet this > well-documented history of promotion - worth many thousands of dollars in ANY > public-relations professional’s portfolio - through my time and efforts has been > judged as “lacking” by the current leadership of AMSAT-NA. > > Clint Bradford K6LCS > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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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D STAR Amsat users net
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

Hi All DSTAR AMSAT users net tonight on REF 60B 0200 utc. Hope you can checkin and share some useful satellite news. DX stations welcomed. If you have radio equipment for sale or if you maybe looking for some, please feel free to list. Check www.starcommgroup.org we have a tab for sale or trade, KA2BSM runs it, send items to list to Rick Thanks again to Frank K4FEG for the great job he is doing on the Star Com BB Lots of great grid info has been shared there for USA and DX. Thanks WA4HFN em55 Damon

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Re: Another Great Tech Tuesday Net
by Kevin M 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

Tony, I believe you are a bit mistaken... I could be wrong, but it's my understanding that Clint WAS an AMSAT Area Coordinator and he was recently asked to step down from the position. Or informed he was stepping down involuntarily... whatever way you want to say it. As for comments about negativity on the board... ham radio is a part of life and negativity in life exists. Sometimes that negativity is veiled behind smiles, snarky comments and orchestrated presentations and the negativity that is obvious & easily observed is merely the reaction to the veiled form. Also, try to remember that with the written word, intent is not always clear and humor does not always come across. A number of the people that post here have a dry sense of humor and use it to combat what they perceive as narcissistic ramblings. In other words, a lot of people write like they speak but you can't hear the sarcasm in their voice. I also don't believe all contributions are always welcome. When the motives of an individual are self-serving and/or contrary to the motives of the greater organization, it's usually time to cut ties and have all parties go their separate ways. A lot of the time when this happens, the leadership of an organization has it's reasons, but doesn't want to be 'negative' and publicize the details. - Q.E.D. 73 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey Clint, I know you think this is just a funny inside joke but the negativity and cheap shot at Barry is uncalled for. We both know that you were ASKED to be an Area Coordinator and you DECLINED because you did not want to take on the full responsibilities of an Area Coordinator. That is perfectly fine, not everyone wants to take on that level of commitment. But, you were also told, by Barry, that AMSAT would still appreciate any marketing and publicity activities that you cared to do on your own to benefit AMSAT. So, you may think it is just your little inside joke since you were the one to reject the position but poking fun at someone else is not acceptable behavior on the BB and certainly not in the spirit of amateur radio fellowship. You owe Barry an apology. Tony AA2TX ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Control is the need of the fearful mind. Trust is the need of the courageous heart."

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CNN report amateurs receiving lunar radio signals
by M5AKA 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

CNN report amateurs receiving lunar radio signals http://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/13/cnn-report-amateurs-receiving-lunar-radio-si… Also on AMSAT-UK website Brown University LED CubeSat http://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/12/brown-university-led-cubesat/ FUNcube satellite talk at Sutton and Cheam http://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/12/funcube-satellite-talk-at-sutton-and-cheam/ FUNcube Data Warehouse Min-Max Values http://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/13/funcube-data-warehouse-min-max-values/ $50SAT PocketQube Update http://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/12/50sat-pocketqube-update/ CubeSats deployed from International Space Station http://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/11/cubesats-deployed-from-international-space-s… ---- 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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Another Great Tech Tuesday Net
by Clint Bradford 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

LIVE from 8805 feet of elevation of the Big Bear (CA) amateur repeater this evening - we conducted our weekly "Tech Tuesday" net - with my ten-minute "Satellites" segment. We discussed today's deployments from the ISS - and what else is scheduled for the rest of the week from the Expedition 38 crew. We also leaned how to pronounce "LituanicaSAT-1" (grin) and learn where its home country is on the planet. We discussed the modes and frequencies for the four new ham satellites that astronaut Koichi Wakata KC5ZTA will be deploying - CubeSats that were launched from the Wallops Flight Facility, VA to the International Space Station (ISS) in the Cygnus freighter on January 9. We conduct this satellite session every Tuesday night at 7PM Pacific time. The Big Bear Amateur Radio Club club was established in 1975, and this "Tech Tuesday Net" is right in alignment with their stated mission to educate and stimulate interest in amateur radio. The BBARC is an affiliated club member of the American Radio Relay League, and its prestigious, high-level two meter repeater on 147.330 +.600 131.8 is heard from Mexico to Ventura, and from Catalina Island to Western Arizona. Tech Tuesday will be taking a two-week hiatus - come join us on Tuesday, March 4, 2014 for another installment! SITES CITED THIS EVENING: http://www.bbarc.org/ http://www.amsat-uk.org http://funcube.org.uk/ http://www.work-sat.com https://www.facebook.com/Lituanicasat1 https://twitter.com/Astro_Wakata http://amsat-uk.org/2014/01/31/video-deploying-cubesats-from-the-space-stat… http://m.ustream.tv/channel/live-iss-stream Clint Bradford K6LCS k6lcs(a)ham-sat.info

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Re: SimpleSat
by Clint Bradford 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

His program requires .Net 4 so you will have to install it if you do not have it installed already. Not sure ? Try running the program - if it runs you have it - if you do not have it you will see a message box telling you that you do not have it. Unlike most ham radio programs this program uses most all of the new bells and whistles of .Net 4 and WPF. Unfortunately this means that it may not run on a few computers even thought most all the other ham programs run just fine. http://www.microsoft.com/net/download The program runs well on Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista or XP. How well the program runs depends on a couple of things: Your computer speed - if you have an old computer that does not run very well this program will probably not run well. Your internet connection - if you have a poor internet connection the Tracking Map scroll will not be very smooth. If the vertical screen resolution on your computer is less that 768 pixels you will have some problems. Many netbooks have only 600 pixels of vertical screen resolution so they may not be entirely satisfactory. I have run the program on a old netbook running XP that has a 768 pixel vertical resolution emulation mode for its 600 pixel screen and it works great. -from Tom's FAQ

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Re: Another Great Tech Tuesday Net
by Clint Bradford 13 Feb '14

13 Feb '14

Detractors used to bother me. I wondered, "What did I do incorrectly?" But I have learned that some are just never pleased with others' success. I have literally scores and scores of messages like this one" ================================================= "I attended a presentation that you were giving, via Skype, at the Chattanooga, Tennessee Amateur Radio Club. I really enjoyed this presentation and I can literally say that it brought my Satellite operation to life. "Before Work-Sat, ZERO. After Work-Sat, I haven’t been able to keep up with the amount of contacts I have made." ================================================= And so it goes ... Clint K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com ---------------------------------- Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.clintbradford.com

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FUNcube Data Warehouse Realtime Min Max Values
by David Johnson 12 Feb '14

12 Feb '14

Hi, Since deployment, we have been capturing the minimum and maximum Realtime values for each channel when they have been uploaded by a groundstation. This has given us a good overview for the early operation and initial commisioning. We have now moved into a steady state of operation and need to check for long-term trends. To achieve this, we have changed the min-max data collection such that it resets every 7 days and we capture the values each time it does so. At reset you will see the reference date change on the page and the min/max values converge. They will diverge again within an orbit. We did think about a rolling 7 day period but that is quite a heavywieght process on the server as it has to be run each time we get an upload! As always, many thanks to all those who are uploading data to the warehouse. Any feedback to the forum as usual please: http://forum.funcube.org.uk 73 Dave, G4DPZ FUNcube Team Member

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Re: 150 cubesats to provide global WIFI multicasting
by Howie DeFelice 12 Feb '14

12 Feb '14

Just in case anyone was curious about the practicality of actually transmitting WiFi from a cubesat, I did a quick link budget. Based on typical 802.11 specs, the MDS of a receiver is about -90 dBm. The path loss at 2.4GHz between a ground station and a satellite overhead in a 600Km orbit is a little over 155 dB. Assuming a zero gain antenna on the typical WiFi client radio, the required EIRP from the cubesat is in the neighborhood of 4KW. I don't think we are quite there yet with current solar cell technology.... not to mention the difficulty keeping the PA cool :) - Howie AB2S

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