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

Space postage Stamps
by Rich/wa4bue 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

Stamp collection has fizzled out. Currently downsizing and I am getting rid of most of my stamp collection. I have quite a few US Space un cancelled. Is anyone interested at face value plus shipping and postage. (Sheets and plate blocks) R W4BUE

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Re: [amsat-bb] SO-50 Recordings
by Bill (W1PA) 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

Juan, I was on that pass but was unable to work you; I was hoping for N8RO (FN51) as well, but no joy. I recorded the entire pass and can send you the sound file. I need to download it from my recorder. Maybe on another pass?... :-) Bill W1PA

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SO-50 Recordings
by TG9AJR Juan Munoz 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

Hello, I just made a few QSOs on a recent SO-50 from EK44 between 1749-1802z so while trying to handle the HT FT-60 in one hand and the Arrow antenna in the other hand I let my iPhone do the Voice Memos (Audio Recordings) for the callsings, grid logging purpose, but it turns out that it did only record a very limited time. So I have only CO6CBF and N2PPL in my logs, I know I worked a couple of more a W1 in EL95 and a N9... Please send me me information for the log so you will in my log, or will just try in another pass. Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience. 73 Juan TG9AJR EK44sl

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some videos from Hartford trip
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

Hi! After being home for a couple of days, I am starting to go through the hundreds of photos, some video clips, and audio recordings I accumulated from my trip to the ARRL Centennial Convention in Hartford (and post-convention road trip to Maine) last weekend. We have no videos or audio recordings from AMSAT's training seminar last Thursday (17 July) or the forums on Friday (18 July) afternoon, due to a Connecticut state law forbidding the audio or video recording of those events. ARRL officials read a statement at the start of each forum when introducing the forum and presenter, with the reference to that state law. You are welcome to download the slideshows used during Thursday's training seminar (in PDF or PowerPoint formats) from: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2914 I have posted one video of a demonstration from the plaza outside the Connecticut Convention Center in downtown Hartford - AO-7 at 2021 UTC last Saturday (19 July): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHd91H_t88o During this short video, WD9EWK completed QSOs with 3 stations - PV8DX in Brazil, AA1UE in Massachusetts (he also worked me on the other AO-7 demo last Thursday, and visited the convention on Friday 18 July), and N5JF in Louisiana just before the satellite either switched off or switched to mode A. Thanks to Peter Portanova W2JV for working the camera during this demonstration, which occurred just after the end of the convention. I have three other videos from the trip. These are not showing satellite operating, but are from either takeoffs or landings at airports. The aviation authorities in the USA now permit the use of small electronic devices that are in "airplane mode" throughout the flight, and the airline I flew on (Southwest Airlines) also permits the use of these devices, so I used my iPod Touch to make these videos. First, landing at Bradley International Airport (BDL) north of Hartford last Wednesday (16 July): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llShEdMy85o Next, taking off from McCarran International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas last Monday (21 July) afternoon, and looking across the Las Vegas area as the plane turned toward Phoenix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk1-WgIqlFM Finally, for now, my flight from Las Vegas approaching the Phoenix area, touching down at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) about an hour after leaving Las Vegas, and taxiing to the terminal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaDogSSz-G0 This video shows parts of the north, east, and south sides of the Phoenix metropolitan area as the plane approached the airport. Other videos will be coming in the next few days - slideshows with audio from the other AO-7 demonstration at the convention on 17 July, our ISS QSO on 19 July, and some of the passes I worked from grids FN56 and FN66 in Maine on 20 July. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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AMSAT Internet administrivia
by Joe Fitzgerald 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

Our server and network vendor will be doing "planned maintenance on ... July 27th, 2014, beginning at 2:00AM (EDT) ... [This] work will likely lead to momentary interruptions in service. The maintenance window, predicted to span from 2-4 hours, will ultimately improve network stability and restore the ability to maintain backups." Echolink service is now restored after an outage caused by a misconfigured firewall. 73 de KM1P Joe

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Message from INVADER
by Akihiro Kubota 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

Dear all, Hello, INVADER(CO-77) will send the following digi-talker message over Gaza Strip and Ukraine: “WAR IS OVER from INVADER”. @2014-07-24 05:32:00 UTC https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1336163/ScrSav045.jpg @2014-07-25 05:41:00 UTC https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1336163/ScrSav044.jpg @2014-07-26 05:51:00 UTC https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1336163/ScrSav046.jpg @2014-07-27 04:27:00 UTC https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1336163/ScrSav047.jpg All the best, ARTSAT Team

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Re: [amsat-bb] going digital
by Ross Whenmouth 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

Hi, For a digital bird with a 10 GHz downlink, would it make sense to use DVB-S for the downlink? If you did, I think that most specialised part of a ground station would be an appropriate LNB that will mix 10.0 to 10.5 GHz down to IF. Demodulation could then be performed with ordinary consumer grade DVB-S set top boxes and PC based DVB-S interfaces. Out of the box, a consumer DVB-S STB (Set Top Box) can handle both audio channels and video channels. The DVB-S protocol can also multiplex data (PBBS message forwarding? APRS?) along with multiple audio and video channels on the one carrier. The satellite could have multiple uplinks on multiple bands, eg FM voice uplink(s) on 2m, 9k6 data uplink on 70cm, and video/high speed data on shorter wavelengths. So, with say a 2m mobile rig, and a consumer DVB-S setup (with a 10 GHz LNB) you could QSO via the bird. If you want to get into data, video or digital voice, the bird would do that do. 73, ZL2WRW Ross Whenmouth

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SO-50 from Guatemala
by TG9AJR Juan Munoz 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

Hello, There is a pass later tonight 0530z on SO-50 that will come from the north west to Guatemala and I will try to be there on that pass using my Arrow Antenna and my Yaesu FT-60 handheld, hope to hear and work anyone. 73 Juan TG9AJR EK44SL

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BATC to Webstream Space Colloquium
by M5AKA 23 Jul '14

23 Jul '14

BATC to Webstream AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium http://amsat-uk.org/2014/07/23/batc-to-webstream-space-colloquium/ ---- Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK Website http://amsat-uk.org/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/amsatuk Twitter https://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ----

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SO-50 from Guatemala
by TG9AJR Juan Munoz 23 Jul '14

23 Jul '14

Hello everyone and greetings from Guatemala, I will try to be more active on the SO-50 passes around Guatemala EK44SL so please look for me, I will try tonight a pass that is around 0530z and tomorrow around 1800z. Current setup is an Arrow VHF/UHF antenna and the Yaesu FT-60 5W handheld, also from my home base an FT-7900 with 50W but with a VHF/UHF vertical antenna (I know is not the ideal antenna but I can try). Any comments, suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks and 73 Juan TG9AJR EK44SL

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