October 2015 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

AO-85
by W3MAT . 26 Oct '15

26 Oct '15

AO-85 passes sounded good over the east coast this weekend. However, I set up for the 04:06 pass and only heard what sounded like the satellite back in test mode (female voice announcing this is Fox-1). What is the status for this week, as there is a very good overhead pass today at 20:06 UTC? On a side note, I like others I believe, have found that getting into AO-85 with your HT and handheld Arrow or Elk antenna to be almost impossible. Last evening I set up the Icom and used 20 watts, that was the first time I actually made more than one contact. Thanks Loon

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Upcoming ARISS contact with Dearborn Public Schools, Dearborn, Michigan
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 25 Oct '15

25 Oct '15

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Dearborn Public Schools, Dearborn, Michigan on 27 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:01 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time.The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and K8UTT. The contact should be audible the eastern U.S, and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. School Story not available at this time Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. How do you brush your teeth? 2. What do you do if you get ill or hurt? 3. What is the official language on board the International Space Station? 4. How would you describe the feeling of being in space? 5. What do you eat in space? 6. Do you see the earth, sun, and moon rotate? 7. What was it like when the Super Moon Lunar Eclipse came into your view? 8. What is your most recent, successful experiment you have done at the International Space Station? 9. How do you sleep when there's no gravity holding you to a bed? 10. How do you stay fit in space? 11. When you were about to take off, how did you feel? 12. Do you have any side effects when you return to earth? 13. How do astronauts cope with the psychological stress of being away from their families and friends for a long time? 14. How does our digestive system work in space with no gravity? How does the food go down the throat and stomach? 15. How long can an astronaut stay in space before having to come back to earth? 16. Is there a way that the space rocket ships could reduce the amount of energy they use? 17. How does not having a normal day/night cycle affect your sleeping and waking hours? 18. Why do you lose bone mass when you come from space? 19. Because of the fact that up in space there is zero gravity, how does it feel when you come down from space and back to earth? 20. if there was something you could change about your space environment, what would it be? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. Daggett Montessori School K-8, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, direct via K5COW The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for Thu, Oct 29, 2015 14:12 UTC ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the volunteer support and leadership from AMSAT and IARU societies around the world with the ISS space agencies partners: NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA. ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers on-board the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, technology, and learning. Further information on the ARISS program is available on the website http://www.ariss.org/ Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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AO-85 telemetry discrepencies
by Dave Remnant 25 Oct '15

25 Oct '15

I have been keeping a record of telemetry frames received (as per the total shown in bottom right of software vs totals appearing in AMSAT Fox Leaderboard Statistics. My findings are shown below which show some large differences. I have tried to understand where/why/how etc but can't find much to read about the subject. I am wondering if the server is not receiving all the packets then are the experiments affected by this? Can anyone explain why there are differences and what it means? According to the software zero frames are queued so I am puzzled. Has anyone else noticed this or am I the only person documenting this. The table is below (I hope it comes out OK on the BB, if not please PM me and I'll forward to whoever would like it to review) Pass total Decoded total in software Server Pass total Difference Difference between PC & Server totals 1304 936 368 78 1382 989 53 25 393 95 1477 1048 59 36 429 19 1496 1060 12 7 436 95 1591 1135 75 20 456 26 1617 1159 24 2 458 93 1710 1206 47 46 504 94 1804 1255 49 45 549 122 1926 1326 71 51 600 Total diff 232 Great job to all involved. 73 Dave (M0SAT)

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Anyone in eastern Florida that can listen for a mylar balloon carrying APRS today?
by wb8elk＠aol.com 25 Oct '15

25 Oct '15

Launched from Huntsville, AL on Friday, a 36" Mylar party balloon carrying an APRS transmitter (WB8ELK-3) is now about 300 miles east of Florida and managed one digipeater hit from that position this morning. If anyone in eastern Florida can point a gain antenna east they might be able to copy the APRS packets which I also transmit on 144.340 MHz once a minute. It is currently 300 miles east of Melbourne FL slowly heading south towards the eastern Bahamas. It is solar-powered only so will only operate during the day today. - Bill

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FUNcube datawarehouse outage notice
by David Johnson 25 Oct '15

25 Oct '15

Hi, We are doing some updates to the warehouse today in preparation for Najif-1. There maybe some short outages in upload capabilities, the dashboard will back off until it see the warehouse again and upload any outstanding packets. Any problems please contact me directly. 73 Dave, G4DPZ

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A073
by jeffory broughton 25 Oct '15

25 Oct '15

The ao73 has problems. First of all the uplink could be as much as 5-10 kHz off from the published numbers.so send a series of dits from your cw key while you sweep around with ur uplink vfo to find yourself. Once you find yourself, you have to adjust your uplink frequency about 200 hz per 30 min to keep up a drifting oscillator on the bird while monitoring your downlink.once u get the hang of it, It's not so bas.its a very very good with a great receiver ! P.S IT'S ONLY AVAILABLE AFTER DARK ON WEEK DAYS AND ALL WEEKEND FOR AMATEUR USE. 73 Jeff WB8RJY jeff broughton

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Re: [amsat-bb] How to Know When Your AO-85 Telemetry Has Been Uploaded?
by Scott 25 Oct '15

25 Oct '15

Yes, after trying everything that I could think of with no luck, it occurred to me that I could dump the data that had been received previously (when "upload" was turned off) and replay my I/Q file once again into the Fox Telem software with "upload" turned on. That worked, but only 4 packets uploaded even though the software indicated 10 decodes. Not sure why, but I was satisfied... I don't consider it a competition; I really just wanted to get completely through the process and actually have some data upload to the site. I do have some observations that I'll share on the chance that it helps someone else. While several bit rates are available in the Fox Telem software on a drop-down menu, the documentation recommends 48,000. So, before replaying my I/Q file that last time, I reconfigured SDR# as well as the VB-Cable audio link to both work at 48,000. Sure enough, I decoded many more packets than I had previously. Going forward I'll capture the data with those settings. Last night's pass might have been unique in that it was a minute of slow-speed data but then transitioned to high-speed. So, I had to replay my I/Q file twice... once with the Fox Telem software set to slow data and again with it set to high. However, I realize now that I could have easily paused the playback in SDR#, stopped the Fox Telem input, switched to high speed, and resumed the playback. Since I'm not going to have an internet connection during the initial data capture, it would appear that the correct sequence of events for my configuration will be to only use the Fox Telem software during a fly-over to give me some feedback as to how well I'm receiving. I'll then dump the resulting payload and replay the recorded I/Q file with an active internet connection and the Fox Telem software set to upload. It would be wonderful if the software would "store & forward" the packets once online, but this might be a blessing in disguise as there is every chance that I'll have a better result decoding under controlled conditions where I'm don't have my hands full with an antenna, etc. Also, I see that many people with more advanced setups are able to play their recorded I/Q .wav files directly in the Fox Telem software. I did not have any success with that and I actually liked replaying my recordings in SDR# so that I could verify that I was centered on the carrier and make minor frequency adjustments. I was also tweaking output levels on replay. I didn't really know if there was any benefit in that, but I told myself that I was keeping the waveforms on the Fox Telem software as "clean" as possible in hopes of more decodes. Similar apps give some level feedback so you'll know if you are feeding it at the right volume, but it's still a really nice app. At any rate, I was pretty tickled with any success at all and VERY appreciative of the information that others have shared. In summary, my setup is: -Arrow dual-band antenna (will test some future passes with omni QFH when elevation is high) -$20 RTL-SDR dongle -SDR# on Windows-7, FM-narrow @ 32k bandwidth with audio set to 48,000, doppler tracking from Orbitron -VB Cable set to 48,000 -Fox Telem software with AF input set to VB-Cable @ 48,000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: David G0MRF To: scott23192(a)gmail.com Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2015 03:28 Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] How to Know When Your AO-85 Telemetry Has Been Uploaded? Hi. There is a K4KDR-FM17 in the list with 4 somethings (frames payloads packets or whatever) Thanks David -----Original Message----- From: Scott <scott23192(a)gmail.com> To: amsat-bb <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Sat, 10 Oct 2015 2:45 Subject: [amsat-bb] How to Know When Your AO-85 Telemetry Has Been Uploaded? My Fox 1 Telemetry Analysis Tool is showing "Decoded: 8" and "Queued: 0" at the bottom of the screen. I have my station details complete and the box to "Upload to Server" is checked. Not seeing my call sign on the Leaderboard Statistics page, but I have no idea how long to wait before I should expect some feedback from an upload to be reflected on that page. Is there some way to know when the Windows App has completed an upload successfully? I have logging enabled and see a line as follows: ===== Trying Primary Server: tlm.amsat.org:41041 ===== ... but no indication of a successful -or- failed upload. I do have an active internet connection. Many thanks. -Scott, K4KDR Montpelier, VA USA _______________________________________________ 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://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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Anyone for 0840 UTC AO-85 pass on/near west coast?
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 25 Oct '15

25 Oct '15

Hi! I am about to go to my yard for one more AO-85 pass, around 0840 UTC (0140 PDT) tonight. It is nice outside, and I am still awake. If anyone is on, please feel free to call me. Otherwise, I plan on trying different transmit power levels, narrow vs. wide FM, & various power levels, all while making an RF recording from my SDRplay and HDSDR receive setup. After the pass, a telemetry upload before calling it a (late) night, and another upload to Logbook of the World for my QSOs during the day and this evening. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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ANS-298 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 24 Oct '15

24 Oct '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-298 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: * FoxTelem 1.01 Released * ARISS-US Proposal Deadline Approaching * 2016 CubeSat Launch Initiative Opportunity * SAREX Reflector to be Closed 1 November 2015 * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule * Astro Pi Launch Changed SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-298.01 ANS-298 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 298.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. October 25, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-298.01 FoxTelem 1.01 Released Version 1.01 of FoxTelem is being released. You can download it from: http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/windows http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/mac http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/linux This is a patch release. If you already have 1.00 installed then download the file FoxTelem_1.01_patch.zip Only two files have changed (plus the manual). Copy these files into your install directory - FoxTelem.jar - spacecraft/FOX1A_radtelemetry2.csv You can also download the whole install file and install it in a new directory. You can use the settings menu to continue using your existing log files. Ask if you need assistance. Lots has changed in this release and many bugs have been fixed. Please report any issues that you see. Release notes: * Send the frames to both primary and secondary server, if required * Set the default fcd frequency to 145930 so that Fox-1A, Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D will be in the passband * Allow user to select UDP or TCP for upload to the server (but use UDP for now please) * Shorten the period between passes so that graphs look continuous * Ignore duplicate high speed radiation frames - needed for processing data from the server * Do not change the FCD LNA or Mixer Gain. Leave unchanged. * Do not open the FCD unless the start button is pressed * Allow graphs to be hidden so that average or deriv is easier to see * Fixed a bug where the last 2 bytes of the radiation telemetry were not decoded correctly * Allow Vanderbilt radiation experiment to be graphed * Allow the gain to be set on the FCD (rather than hard coded) * Notify the user when a new release is available * Astro Pi Launch Changed [ANS thanks Chris, G0KLA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS-US Proposal Deadline Approaching The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between July 1 and December 31, 2016. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The deadline to submit a proposal is November 1, 2015. The last of the information sessions will be offered Wednesday, September 30, at 2300 UTC. Advance registration is necessary. E-mail ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up. More Information Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss- contact. Please direct any questions to ariss(a)arrl.org [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 CubeSat Launch Initiative Opportunity NASA has opened the next round of its CubeSat Launch Initiative to engage the growing community of space enthusiasts that can contribute to NASA's space exploration goals. The CubeSat Launch Initiative gives students, teachers and faculty a chance to get hands-on flight hardware development experience in the process of designing, building and operating small research satellites. The initiative also provides a low-cost pathway to space for research in the areas of science, exploration, technology development, education or operations consistent with NASA's Strategic Plan. Applicants must submit their proposals electronically by 4:30 p.m. EST, Nov. 24, 2015. NASA plans to select the payloads by Feb. 19, 2016, but selection does not guarantee a launch opportunity. Selected experiments will fly as auxiliary payloads on agency rocket launches or be deployed from the International Space Station beginning in 2016 and running through 2019. NASA does not provide funding for the development of the small satellites, and this opportunity is open only to U.S. nonpro?t organizations and accredited educational organizations. For additional information about this opportunity and NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative, visit http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-opens-new-cubesat-opportunities-for-… cost-space-exploration and http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiative.html. Questions about this opportunity should be directed to Jason Crusan at Jason.Crusan(a)nasa.gov. [ANS thanks NASA Education Express Message -- Oct. 22, 2015 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- SAREX Reflector to be Closed 1 November 2015 At the request of the ARISS US Team, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Spaceflight Frank Bauer, KA3HDO has announced that the SAREX reflector will be closed 1 November 2015, and its functions folded into the AMSAT-BB list. Frank explained that at one time operations from the Space Shuttle and the ISS were considered as sufficiently different from other satellite operations as to need separate forums for their respective interest communities. More recently, changes in the human spaceflight operations, the new generation of satellites, and the interests of the general AMSAT community have removed the reasons for this distinction. What does this mean to the current subscribers? If you are subscribed to both SAREX and AMSAT-BB, there is no need to take any action. You will cease to receive new postings on the SAREX list 1 November 2015, which will now be made on AMSAT-BB. The SAREX archives will continue to be available for historical purposes. If you are not subscribed to AMSAT-BB and wish to continue to receive human spaceflight announcements, please go to http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo and subscribe to AMSAT-BB. Your existing SAREX subscription will not be automatically carried over since not everyone will wish to do so. [ANS thanks Alan WA4SCA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Dearborn Public Schools, Dearborn, Michigan, USA, direct via K8UTT The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for Option #3: Tue 2015-10-27 16:01:59 UTC 57 deg Daggett Montessori School K-8, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, direct via K5COW The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for Option #4: Thu 2015-10-29 14:12:56 UTC 31 deg A listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live is available at the following link. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf [ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Astro Pi Launch Changed Two specially augmented Raspberry Pi’s called Astro Pi‘s were planned to fly with UK astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 15. On the ISS the Astro Pi’s are planned to run experimental Python programs written by school-age students; the results will be downloaded back to Earth and made available online for all to see. It is hoped that subsequently one of them will be used to provide a video source for the amateur radio HamTV transmitter in the ISS Columbus module. It appears the amount of cargo on Tim’s Soyuz flight was overbooked so the Astro Pi’s will instead fly to the ISS on an Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo freighter. The launch is currently planned for December 3 at 22:48 UT on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral AFS in Florida. Read the full story on the Raspberry Pi site https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/astro-pi-mission-update-7-launch-vehicle- changed/ HamTV http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/hamtv-on-the-iss/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] /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, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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More LilacSat-2 Telemetry
by Scott 24 Oct '15

24 Oct '15

Managed to get 4 more telemetry packets from LilacSat-2 tonight. Location was not good (trees, etc.) so even though 4 isn't a lot, I was happy to get anything at all. Having all kinds of fun with that little Arrow antenna. Should have bought one of those a long time ago. If there was any voice traffic, I was not able to copy it. The pre-configured software made available by the Chinese project team does feed audio to the speaker, but my guess is that they have optimized it for data. The last time I was able to coordinate my schedule with a fly-over, I did hear the audio more clearly but my location was also much better. There are not a lot of "contributor" names on their website (http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/lilac_en/pages/allCon.html), so I'll bet they would appreciate more help. Not that more conventional cubesat telemetry with Windows apps is necessarily the easiest thing in the world to do, but if you want a fun challenge, get a copy of the bootable system that the LilacSat team has put online. I'm one of those people who said I would NEVER venture into GNU Radio, but heck... if someone wants to completely pre-configure it for me, I can't think of a better way to learn. The original download link had issues; you can get a copy from one of the better links that they list here: http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/?page_id=257 ... I believe I used the DropBox link. If you are not comfortable creating a bootable flash drive from an image, I'll bet you know someone who is familiar with the process. Of course there is always help online & I'm glad to help since I have it up and running. (be sure to create the "persistent" type of drive so that your settings are saved) -Scott, K4KDR Montpelier, VA USA ========= Here are tonight's packets: ========= 2015-10-24 23:02:13 K4KDR -77.6097 37.779042 A6 54 35 00 13 A1 39 02 0A 1A CC 09 A2 19 E8 03 C0 08 74 01 00 00 01 03 77 00 00 00 00 00 0A 05 B4 33 39 00 00 67 00 00 00 55 54 00 61 00 0D 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 00 01 AB B4 00 00 1E 00 00 00 00 F5 59 2F 18 2015-10-24 23:02:43 K4KDR -77.6097 37.779042 A6 54 39 00 13 A1 3A 02 0A 1A DE 09 A2 19 E8 03 C0 08 77 01 00 00 01 03 78 00 00 00 00 00 10 05 C3 A9 39 00 00 67 00 00 00 55 54 00 61 00 0D 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 00 01 8D B4 00 00 1E 00 00 00 00 E8 2A 2A 7B 2015-10-24 23:03:13 K4KDR -77.6097 37.779042 A6 54 3D 00 13 A1 38 02 0A 1A DE 09 A2 19 E5 03 C0 08 7A 01 00 00 01 03 79 00 00 00 00 00 19 05 D2 1F 3A 00 00 67 00 00 00 55 54 00 61 00 0D 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 00 01 6E B4 00 00 1D 00 00 00 00 65 8A 4D AD 2015-10-24 23:03:44 K4KDR -77.6097 37.779042 A6 54 21 00 13 A1 3C 02 0A 1A C9 09 A2 19 E8 03 C0 08 7D 01 00 00 01 03 7A 00 00 00 00 00 11 05 E1 95 3A 00 00 67 00 00 00 55 54 00 61 00 0D 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 00 01 50 B4 00 00 1E 00 00 00 00 2C 6A AF 80 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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