AMSAT-BB September 2014

104 participants
163 discussions

Re: [amsat-bb] has the bbs moved?
by Tom Clark 01 Sep '14

01 Sep '14

Hi Perry -- Let be make a guess -- you were relying on the daily digest of AMSAT-BB messages rather than having all the individual messages come to you as they are entered. I used the daily digest for my convenience and I had that service go away a few months ago. It turns out that minor changes to the mailer were made a few months ago and the daily digest delivery was an unplanned casualty. However, I found a similar service is available on the web by going to http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/ where you will find a monthly digest. What I do is to click on the date sort [ Thread ] <http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2014-September/thread.html>[ Subject ] <http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2014-September/subject.html>[ Author ] <http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2014-September/author.html>[ Date ] <http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2014-September/date.html> and I see all the traffic in the order it was posted. Hope this solves the problem --- 73, Tom

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Re: [amsat-bb] Fun Cube Dongle
by Steve May 01 Sep '14

01 Sep '14

Patrick and Lizeth, Thank you both very much. I appreciate the suggestions, and I guess I will just plan on buying a FCD Pro+ this Friday. I will say that I am enjoying the RTL-SDR for some other non-satellite projects. It is great for monitoring my local repeaters and listening to the commercial stations in my area, so it is certainly not a complete loss, and even if it was it was only ~$20. I have not been able to get HDSDR to work with the dongle, though, but I was able to add the plugin to SDR# to interface with SATPC32 last night. Perhaps I will have better luck with the FCD Pro+. In the end the FCD Pro+ is probably something I will use with some other radio projects on HF, so I am sure that I will get plenty of use out of it no matter what, but I am excited to find out all of the satellite uses I will have for it. Thank you again for the information. I'll catch you guys on the linear satellites in the near future. -- Steve May, W5IEM Amateur Extra - Georgetown, KY (520) 261-7847 - Cell Skype: USHorseman Steve.W5IEM(a)gmail.com *This message is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any retention, dissemination, distribution, or copying the communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the email along with any and all attachments from your system* On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 12:17 PM, Patrick STODDARD <patrick(a)wd9ewk.net> wrote: > Hi Steve! > > My answer to your Million Dollar Question would be - YES! The FUNcube > Dongle Pro Plus, at around US$ 200 depending on the exchange rate with > the British pound, is a good value. I also have an RTL-SDR dongle, and > previously had the original FUNcube Dongle Pro. The RTL-SDR dongles are > OK, but lack some of the things I like with the FCD Pro+. The FCD Pro+ > is more sensitive, and has better front-end filtering. Where the RTL-SDR > dongles are intended for digital television reception, needing a much > wider front-end on its receiver, the FCD Pro+ has filtering that helps > it perform very well in the amateur 2m and 70cm bands. It still works > fine in other parts of the RF spectrum it receives. > > The RTL-SDR dongles, as well as the original FUNcube Dongle Pro, were not > usable as my downlink receiver when working AO-73 or any other satellite. > Whenever I would transmit with my FT-817, even at 500mW, the RF from the > 817 would shut down the dongles. The FCD Pro+, on the other hand, works > very well with my FT-817 for working satellites. Between the dongle and > the software you run on a computer, there is a slight lag in hearing the > audio from the downlink, something you don't hear when using a radio to > receive the downlink. If you use software with the FCD Pro+ like HDSDR, > that software can be controlled by SatPC32 just like another radio - one > way to deal with the lag in hearing the downlink signals on the computer. > > For my satellite station, I normally use two FT-817s, connected through > a diplexer to my Elk handheld log periodic. If I had an Arrow Yagi, I > could skip the diplexer and run coax from each radio to the appropriate > feedpoints on the antenna. At 5 watts, and with the diplexer in the > coax feedline out to the antenna, I have taken steps that should protect > the dongle from stray RF. If I had an Arrow Yagi, I would consider using > a diplexer in line to the dongle, with the appropriate band port connected > to the dongle to prevent other RF from coming down the coax line to the > dongle. > > Good luck, and 73! > > > > > Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK > http://www.wd9ewk.net/ > > > > On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 8:51 AM, Steve May <steve.w5iem(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> So the Million Dollar Question (actually, I guess it is the "$180-higher >> cost + shipping" question) is whether the Funcube Dongle is significantly >> better than one of the cheap $20 RLT-SDR tuners? I have been experimenting >> with the cheapo version the last couple of days, and so far I have been >> able to pick up my local repeaters fairly well with a mag-mount antenna. I >> tried to pull in AO-73 late last night with an Arrow and a preamp but had >> some issues with SATPC32 that I have since resolved. I am pretty sure I >> heard something but I am still getting used to using SDR#. I need to do >> some more tuning. >> >> I am going to keep on working with this, at least for the next few days, >> but should I just plan on shelling out the money for the Funcube Dongle if >> using the computer to receive the linear satellites is my long-term plan? >> >

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W1AW/7 on passes this evening & Monday afternoon/evening
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 01 Sep '14

01 Sep '14

Hi! W1AW/7 will be on FO-29 for the western pass at 0200 UTC, followed by AO-73 passes at 0400 and 0534 UTC. It looks like Hawaii should be in the footprint for a few minutes, starting around 0204 UTC, if anyone out there is interested in getting on FO-29. I plan on having W1AW/7 on the air Monday afternoon from the DM33/DM43 grid boundary for the 1845 and 2027 UTC passes. The earlier pass around 1705-1713 UTC has maximum elevation of only 4 degrees, not really a workable pass from the Phoenix area with the mountains around the city, so I will focus on the two later passes. After these passes from the grid boundary, W1AW/7 will be on FO-29 and AO-73 passes in the late afternoon and early evening to wrap up the W1AW/7 satellite activity from Arizona as part of the ARRL Centennial QSO Party. As a reminder, QSL cards for all W1AW/x operations will be handled by the ARRL. As ARRL receives logs from the W1AW/x operations, those logs are uploaded to Logbook of the World - including the grid locator(s) for each QSO. QSOs with W1AW/7 on the AO-73 passes tonight and tomorrow night also count for N8HM's new 73 on 73 award, if you are looking to get unique calls in your log. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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AMSAT-BB September 2014