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

FT 847 help
by Ted 29 Jun '14

29 Jun '14

Did a full reset on the radio but must have lost a setting. I am able to CAT connect w/HRD. Set the baud rate to match radio/HRD/Satpc32. In HRD, I can trigger SAT but the radio is not reading the frequencies (check boxes are checked). In SATPC32, I am not able to trigger the SAT function. (baud rate matches radio) All was well in the past. I think I am missing something on the radio side. Cable connections all tight Any help appreciated Ted K7TRK

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Re: [amsat-bb] Just Spoke to the ISS
by Daniel Schultz 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

The Goddard Space Flight Center club station WA3NAN just completed a voice contact with NA1SS on the space station on the 21:36 UTC pass. Bob McCown N3IYI was the control operator. Reid Wiseman said "Goddard, that's just down the road from where I grew up.". Dan Schultz N8FGV

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Fw: Field Day 2014
by Peter Portanova 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

Hello, I’m hoping to be writing an article about FD and the activity on the Amateur Satellites. It would be helpful, to the story, if the stations operating provided me with the call sign you will be using along with your operating class and ARRL section. I will be on all the available satellites using the call W2GSB, 5A, NLI and W2TOB for the GOTA contacts. Good Luck, Have Fun and talk up AMSAT, thank you. 73’s Peter W2JV

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Just Spoke to the ISS
by Clint Bradford 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

Two Watts … handheld radio … tape measure Yagi … Just spoke to the ISS 11:16AM PDT! Clint K6LCS ---------------------------------- Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.clintbradford.com

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SATPC32
by wb4gcs＠wb4gcs.org 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

All: Trying to make this work on a new install of Windows7, 64 bit. According to the help file, this should work, but every time I start SATPC32, it wants IOPORT.SYS in WINNT/SYSTEM32/DRIVERS. Which I created, but still doesn't start without complaining. Any suggestions? Thanks & 73, Jim wb4gcs(a)amsat.org

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SATPC32 - ISS portion
by Ted 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

Been awhile since I used the program with my FT 847. Should changing the C to C+ be putting the radio in CAT mode? It is not Also looking for the red TX and RX buttons Thanks, Ted K7TRK

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Fwd: W5KUB Live Webcast of Field Day
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "W5KUB Broadcast" <wa5kub.video5(a)gmail.com> To: "Tom Medlin" <wa5kub.video5(a)gmail.com> Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2014 4:41:37 PM Subject: W5KUB Live Webcast of Field Day Please join W5KUB.com during our live Field Day webcast this Saturday and Sunday, June 28 th & 29 th , rain or shine. To join the webcast go to http://W5KUB.com where the fun begins! This year we will provide live video of four Field Day operations in the Mid-South. See what it takes to set up emergency communications and watch amateur radio operators compete for highest score. We will also have a segment showing satellite contacts. You will see the fierce competition side of some amateurs, while you will see others just enjoying the outing and having fun. You can communicate real time with hams at these events and other hams around the world via our chat room Below is our tentative schedule: Saturday June 28 th 12:00 PM CT (1800 UTC) – Memphis, Tennessee Field Day This is a joint event with the Delta Amateur Radio Club, the Mid-South Amateur Radio Association, and the Tri-State Repeater Club. There will be HF, VHF, UHF operations, including satellite contacts. According to ARRL, the International Space Station may participate in Field Day. Unknown time - K4BFT, Huntsville Amateur Radio Club from the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Sunday, June 29 th 8:00 AM CT (1400 UTC) - Olive Branch Amateur Radio Club from Olive Branch, Mississippi. 1:00 PM CT (1900 UTC) - Northeast Mississippi Radio Amateurs club in Fulton, Mississippi. In addition, we will interview our friend Ray Novak from Icom as he is operating from the Fulton location. Unknown time - K4BFT, Huntsville Amateur Radio Club from the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. During our drive time between events, we will tentatively webcast the Huntsville Field Day. Please help spread the word by posting this announcement in Facebook and forwarding this message to your ham radio friends that may not have received this message! Join our group on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/w5kub/ to keep up with us year-round. We'll 'see' you at Field Day! 73, Tom Medlin, W5KUB http://w5kub.com If you would like to be removed from these mailings, please click Reply and type 'Remove' in the subject line.

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Nova for Windows
by Jim Sanford 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

All: Two problems with Nova after the move from Windows 7: 1. It doesn't run. Throws Exception ERegistryException in module Nfw32.exe at 00079BEE. Failed to set data for ". Can Nova run on Win7 (32bit??) 2. Can't find my registration number or activation code or whatever? Any way to recover this? Thanks, and good luck at FD! 73, Jim wb4gcs(a)amsat.oorg --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com

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To Flip or Not to Flip
by Daniel Cussen 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

To Flip or Not to Flip Ok, my setup has flip capability. It also has azimuth of 1.5 turns (540 degrees), So flip is not essential for end stops as the rotator neither stops at North nor South The rotator controller software only works in WiSPDDE but this can use many different tracking software types. Currently using Orbitron. Orbitron only outputs Elevation 0-90 and Az 0-360 The WiSPDDE rotator driver has been modified to automatically flip if elevation goes above 70 degrees and starts to drop again. As soon as it starts to drop Elevation, Azimuth value has 180 degrees added and Elevation is now suddenly >90 The software has the option to enable or disable flip on each pass. What I need to know is 1) What is the best way to predict if I should flip or instead just move the azimuth without flipping? 2) Is there any software to automatically decide if Flip is best, and output Elevation values >180 to WiSPDDE during the middle of a pass? For Example worst case would be a satellite coming from due west (270) heading east (90). I this case it would be best to flip antenna, otherwise azimuth would need to rotate 180 degrees suddenly during a pass. In another case, ISS coming from south west across to south and then south east, but with elevation approaching 85 degrees. In this case it would be best to not flip, but our current software flips once the box is ticked and if the elevation rises above 70 degrees. At the moment it is not possible to do this in WiSPDDE as it does not know where the ISS is going to be at the end of the pass as that info is not sent over the DDE interface. Specific System Setup The system will be used to track the ISS for 2.4Ghz HAMTV downlink. The beamwidth of dish is 4 to 8 degrees, but signal is very strong at high elevations. Video is used live so continous accurate tracking is needed The azimuth can be any value 0-540 degrees (1.5 turns). Currently the software can do 2 things. 1) Not flip but instead move to an azimuth position where flip is not essential, but sometimes the azimuth is too slow to get to the new position. 2) Flip the dish, but on some passes it would be better to not flip the dish, if say elevation went to 73 elevation but azimuth could cope with tracking. The decision is currently a tick box. Orbitron only outputs 0-90 Elevation so WiSPDDE is not being told by Orbitron to flip, the decision is not based on the pass prediction. I believe some of these problems may be solved with SatPC32 but we would possibly need to modify our custom driver to just accept these values. If using SatPC32 would it solve all these issues? Can it decide to flip or not flip based on azimuth speed and pass prediction in the middle of a pass? Does SatPC32 only ever flip at the start of a pass and never in the middle of a pass? Will it pick the best option for every pass and output values via DDE to WiSPDDE? The rotator WiSPDDE is specifically written for this task, It is a modified version specially modified by Amasat Itallia. The rotator we are using is prosistel Azimuth and Elevation rotator. This is quite new and so a specific driver was written. The azimuth can achieve 1.5 turns (540 degrees) and Elevation 180. The manufacturer only specifies Az 360 and Elev 90 but we have special modified hardware and software to allow movement above normal range. We have been using Orbitron up to now as it allows sun tracking which is handy for dish calibration, In reality the setup may not be used too often for school contacts and we could perform a manual pre-test or simulation to see if flip is best. Another option is to just not use passes for school contacts that require flip or that will result in a signal loss in the middle of a pass. What I would like to happen is the software to calculate which option is best, to flip on the fly or not to flip The decision would be based on the speed of the motors and which mode is fastest to keep a signal locked. For example Time in seconds 1 AZ 260 El 45 Time in seconds 2 Az 90 El 80 Assuming both Elevation and Azimuth can move a 5 degrees per second Difference without Flip Az 170 El 35 Max Time to correct position 34 seconds Difference with Flip AZ 10 El 50 Max time to correct position 10 seconds So is there any program that does this and can output to WiSPDDE? Dan EI9FHB

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Fwd: Re: ARTSAT1: INVADER will try to send Cosmic Poem
by Jean-L. RAULT 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

Akihiro San A translation in english of the ArtSat1 Cosmic Poem would be very appreciated :o) Kind regards Jean-Louis F6AGR ex- AMSAT-France Le 28/06/2014 09:42, Akihiro Kubota a écrit : > Dear PE0SAT-san and all > > Thank you very much for your report! > We are glad that you can hear the Cosmic Poem! > > We are going to try to send it over US next morning (in Japan). > > All the best, > > Akihiro Kubota > >

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