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 26 Oct '15

26 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 25 Oct '15

25 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 25 Oct '15

25 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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AO-85 Uplinks
by Loon - 25 Oct '15

25 Oct '15

Am I correct in understanding the Uplink frequency shifted to 435.170? I just followed a low angle pass on Orbitron and used 435.170 as the Uplink frequency. With that data entered, the transmit doppler started around 435.162 and ended at 435.175782. So, basically the following three frequencies should do it for getting in; 435.165, 435.170, and 435.175. Thoughts? Loon

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News story on ARISS contact
by Michael Wolthuis 24 Oct '15

24 Oct '15

http://www.wzzm13.com/videos/news/local/2015/10/23/students-talk-to-astrona… Mike Kb8zgl Sent from my iPhone

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dn55/56
by KERRY LA*DUKE 24 Oct '15

24 Oct '15

all, I will plan to be on the 1815Z pass of SO-50 and the following pass from dn55/56. 73 WC7V Kerry

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FQD control
by Nick Pugh K5QXJ 24 Oct '15

24 Oct '15

Is there a way to control a FQD from either SAT PC32 or HRD? Thanks nick Office 337 593 8700 Cell 337 258 2527 Helping UL become a world Class Engineering and Educational School Disagree I Learn

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KLM polarity switching harness' complete
by kb2m＠arrl.net 24 Oct '15

24 Oct '15

These polarity switching harness' are in excellent condition and complete for the KLM 2M-22C a 22 element 2 meter circularly polarized crossed-yagi, and a 435-40CX a 40 element 435 MHz circularly polarized crossed-yagi. Had purchased them several years ago as a spare to the ones that were deteriorating on my KLM's. I sold the KLM's, but forgot about the extra polarity switching harness'. They are in very good shape. I would like to get $100 plus shipping for them. 20% of the $100 will be donated to AMSAT. Let me know if you want them as I'm not taking them with me to Florida and I'm leaving in 4 days. If interested I can send pics. 73 Jeff kb2m

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-24 06:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 24 Oct '15

24 Oct '15

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-24 06:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, MI, direct via W8ISS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Contact was successful: Fri 2015-10-23 17:58:48 UTC 49 deg (***) Note that this is a new day and time! Possible Russian contact with Kursk Tue 2015-10-27 11:35 UTC 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 **************************************************************************** ** Interested in hosting an ARISS contact? The window is now open from 2015-09-01 to 2015-11-01. These proposals will be for school contacts during the second half of 2016. Go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact or http://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html for full details. To help organizations in preparing their proposals, the ARISS Program Coordinator will offer hour-long online information sessions. These are designed to provide more information regarding US ARISS contacts and the proposal process and offer an opportunity to ask questions. While attending an online information session is not required, it is strongly encouraged. These will be offered Thursday, September 17, at 2000 UTC; Tuesday, September 22, at 2000 UTC, and Wednesday, September 30, at 2300 UTC. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. * ***************************************************************************** >From 2015-12-20 to 2016-01-04, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. So any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. **************************************************************************** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke(a)sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Francesco IKØWGF with 114 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 112 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2015-10-24 06:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find 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. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1001. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 966. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2015-10-24 06:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 44 on orbit Oleg Kononenko RN3DX Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Audio Recording with Questions Spliced In of West Michigan Aviation Academy Contact
by John Brier 24 Oct '15

24 Oct '15

I only missed the first and last question with some fading towards the end. Not bad for an 11 degree pass. I'm not sure when I'll have time to edit the video so I just did the audio and narrated the questions myself. https://soundcloud.com/johnbrier/iss-west-michigan-aviation-academy-contact… 73, John, KG4AKV, Raleigh North Carolina

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AO-85 Update
by Jerry Buxton 23 Oct '15

23 Oct '15

At the 21:57 UTC U.S. pass of AO-85 tonight October 23 we will conduct a test with the transponder. Please do not uplink during that pass over the U.S. We encourage you to copy telemetry with FoxTelem during this pass and have it sent to the server, to aid in analyzing the test results. Thanks! -- Jerry Buxton, NØJY

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AO-85 Test
by Clint Bradford 23 Oct '15

23 Oct '15

At the top of the hour, definitely ON and just dead air (3PM PDT). Then four mins into the pass, "One two, one two" male voice was heard. Then a minute later, wonderfully dead air - no background noise whatsoever - but no telemetry or anything else was heard. Clint K6LCS DM13fx

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UN 70th Anniversary
by dnkucij＠myfairpoint.net 23 Oct '15

23 Oct '15

Reminder from the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1237 Operators Zachary/K1ZK, Henry/KT1J, Mike/N1JEZ, Doug/KR2Q, Ed/NT2X, Mats/SM6LRR, Dmitry/RA9USU and Yevgeniy/UN7TER are expected to activate 4U70UN during the hours of 1400-2130 UTC (10:00–17:30 local time) each day (October 24-25th). There will be NO overnight operations allowed. The operators will do their best to cover as many bands and modes as possible. A special QSL will be available. QSL via HB9BOU or LoTW. Good Luck All! 73, Nick, KB1RVT

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FUNcube -1 status
by Graham Shirville 23 Oct '15

23 Oct '15

Hi All, Just to report that FUNcube-1 is now in manual amateur mode for the weekend with the transponder operational continuously. Please enjoy it and have fun 73 Graham G3VZV

5 5

Big tracking UHF pocket income?
by Robert Bruninga 23 Oct '15

23 Oct '15

Anyone with an EME UHF antenna want to earn some maintenance money for their Ham radio addiction? I just became aware of (unverified yet) that there are small satellites being built with UHF downlinks but that need EME size ground stations to bring down their 3 MHz wide science data. The most expensive part of their missions is the $$$ sent to the big NASA tracking networks. During EME contests we see lists of hundreds of Amateurs with huge EME antenna capability… I wonder if there is an opportunity here for some individuals? The UHF is not in the amateur segment but they thought it was overlapping the 450-470 MHz LMR spectrum. This makes sense, because a 1W transmitter spreading its energy over 3 MHz from 500 miles away from the ground is not going to interfere with anything in the LMR services. But also this is probably too far from the normal narrowband ham EME activity at 432 to have any gain up at 460 MHz. But for those EME hams with dishes, a simple feed change might give them a source of income. Note, this is nothing to do with amateur radio, or rules, or anything. Just a thought, that if you have a big dish in your backyard, you might be able to make use of it for reception… Is anyone subscribed to an EME email reflector that is aware of the number of very large EME dishes ? Just another crazy thought… Bob, WB4APR

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N2YO
by Loon - 23 Oct '15

23 Oct '15

Does anyone use the N2YO website for satellitenotifications? If so, have you noticed if youselect SO-50, for example, for a text notificationit is defaulting the "Object" or satellites name tothe Space Station? Loon

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KG5CCI/P October 21st thru 26th
by Dave Swanson 23 Oct '15

23 Oct '15

Hello Satellite Friends and Colleagues, I'll be traveling in few weeks to some spots off the beaten path, and wanted to give everyone a heads up on the tentative plans. On Wednesday, October 21st I'll depart Little Rock, AR (EM34) for Wichita, KS (EM17) via EM25, EM26 & EM16, likely stopping in several of the grids along the way. After a night in Wichita I'll be heading west out in the great wheat fields of western Kansas and eastern Colorado, which will include grids EM08, EM07, DM98, DM97, DM88, and DM87... the last 4 of those being pretty rarely heard. I'll likely be out there until Sunday the 25th, when I'll return to Wichita, and then back to Little Rock on the 26th. Like most of my trips, this is multi-purpose business and personal, in addition to working satellites, so I don't have precise times of which passes I'll be on and where I'll be yet. I will be working any and all linear and FM birds (including all the new ones) from all locations, weather and time permitting, so be ready with your all-mode gear and I'll try and get as many 'new-ones' handed out as I can. If there is a large change my in plans, I'll post a new email, but as always the absolute best way to get an idea of where I'll be and at what time is to watch my Twitter account at https://twitter.com/KG5CCI 73! -Dave, KG5CCI

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AO-85
by Nicholas Mahr KE8AKW 23 Oct '15

23 Oct '15

Been listening to AO-85's transponder today, I personally cannot get into it, But I do collect ALOT of frames when someone activates the transponder. This last pass I got 45 packets in a 5 degree pass and average about 50+ packets a pass (When Transponder Is On) so I have been collecting packets like crazy and lead the 90 minute leaderboard on the tlm website! Other than that I do not notice anyone having low audio now unless the people are using narrow FM. I am listening to every nightly AO-85 pass (Even If Its Late Hi Hi). Sounds great Jerry we just need to work those few bugs out! 73's KE8AKW Nick

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Colorado Amateur Satellite net Begins in 1 hour
by Skyler F 23 Oct '15

23 Oct '15

This is a reminder that the Colorado Amateur Satellite net will begin in 1 hour from now (7PM mountain time Thursday). 6PM Pacific 7PM Mountain 8PM Central 9PM Eastern Please visit us on *AMSATNET.INFO <http://amsatnet.info/>* *IRLP* 9870, the Denver Reflector *ALLSTAR LINK* 40764, direct hookup to the repeater here. 41715, KC9ZHV hub at a data center if I am out of bandwidth. More info on AllStar - amsatnet.info/#node *ECHOLINK* *AMSAT* unless there is an ARISS contact, then go direct to KD0WHB-L *LOCAL RF* 449.875 (-) 103.5 (the Rocky Mountain Radio League repeater on Eldorado Mountain) 447.225 (-) 141.3 (The STEM school repeater we set up) 447.850 (-) 141.3 (ACØKQ's repeater where he lives on TOP of saddleback mountain) 449.625 (-) 141.3 ( WØKU Lookout Mountain) Possibly here, not for sure yet 147.450 SIMPLEX (Aurora, CO) 446.275 (-) 100.0 Galena St. Local repeater at my house, giving a whoppin 5 blocks of great coverage *REMOTE RF* Your Repeater here!, Email me if you want to link in or me to link your echolink or allstar repeater in automatically (no automatic IRLP linking supported) Skyler Fennell amsatnet.info KDØWHB electricity440(a)gmail.com

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-22 23:30 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 22 Oct '15

22 Oct '15

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-22 23:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Saku Children’s Science Dome for the Future, Saku City, Japan, direct via 8NØSDF The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Contact was successful: Thu 2015-10-22 09:52:21 UTC 54 deg (***) West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, MI, direct via W8ISS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Contact is a go for: Fri 2015-10-23 17:58:48 UTC 49 deg Note that this is a new day and time! Possible Russian contact with Kursk (***) Tue 2015-10-27 11:35 UTC (***) 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 **************************************************************************** ** Interested in hosting an ARISS contact? The window is now open from 2015-09-01 to 2015-11-01. These proposals will be for school contacts during the second half of 2016. Go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact or http://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html for full details. To help organizations in preparing their proposals, the ARISS Program Coordinator will offer hour-long online information sessions. These are designed to provide more information regarding US ARISS contacts and the proposal process and offer an opportunity to ask questions. While attending an online information session is not required, it is strongly encouraged. These will be offered Thursday, September 17, at 2000 UTC; Tuesday, September 22, at 2000 UTC, and Wednesday, September 30, at 2300 UTC. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. **************************************************************************** ** >From 2015-12-20 to 2016-01-04, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. So any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. **************************************************************************** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke(a)sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Francesco IKØWGF with 114 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 112 (***) **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2015-10-22 23:30 UTC. (***) Here you will find 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. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1000. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 965. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2015-10-22 23:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 44 on orbit Oleg Kononenko RN3DX Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Re: [amsat-bb] Monday evening & Tuesday, trip wrap-up...
by J. Boyd (JR2TTS) 22 Oct '15

22 Oct '15

On Thu, 22 Oct 2015 10:22:55 -0700, "Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)" <amsat-bb(a)wd9ewk.net> wrote: > Only once was I encouraged to go somewhere else, although > I was told at the same time I was not breaking any laws or > regulations where I happened to be operating (in the hotel > parking lot, outside the site of the 2014 AMSAT Symposium, > near BWI airport in Baltimore). All right, I can kind of understand this one. With all the reported incidents of people with laser pointers aimed with aircraft, and the constant fear of someone maliciously interfering with aviation radio traffic (a potentially life-threatening situation), I could imagine someone getting nervous if they saw some dude near the airport with an antenna tracking something in the sky. Most of the time when I'm in public with a yagi it's in the middle of a deserted rice field or in a public park away from crowds. Luckily I have never been confronted by anyone (yet). But given the extremely short time of a typical satellite pass, such an occasion would ruin the whole thing, wouldn't it? "Sure, I'll go somewhere else now -- the whole session lasts twelve minutes, and you've been talking to me for five." -- J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B the2belo(a)msd.biglobe.ne.jp http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS Twitter: @Minus2_C

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Possible delay of the ARISS pass
by Michael J. Wolthuis 22 Oct '15

22 Oct '15

Just so everyone is aware, we have been informed that the ISS pass with the Michigan school may be delayed until Friday, but going ahead as planned for now. On the Ops call tonight I was informed of a possible slip in our contact. Earlier in the day the astronauts will be involved in an EVA (space walk). If all goes well Kjell should be out of his space suit and on the radio at the scheduled time on Thursday. If things go south, however, the EVA could bleed into our event. NASA Planning has already booked our Option #3 as the backup. This is a 54 deg pass on Friday 2015-10-23 at 17:53:51 UTC. We are asked to proceed as if our event will occur as scheduled. Mike kb8zgl

3 2

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-22 17:30 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 22 Oct '15

22 Oct '15

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-22 17:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Saku Children’s Science Dome for the Future, Saku City, Japan, direct via 8NØSDF The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Contact is a go for: Thu 2015-10-22 09:52:21 UTC 54 deg West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, MI, direct via W8ISS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kimiya Yui KG5BPH (***) Contact is a go for: Fri 2015-10-23 17:58:48 UTC 49 deg (***) Note that this is a new day and time! (***) 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 **************************************************************************** ** Interested in hosting an ARISS contact? The window is now open from 2015-09-01 to 2015-11-01. These proposals will be for school contacts during the second half of 2016. Go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact or http://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html for full details. To help organizations in preparing their proposals, the ARISS Program Coordinator will offer hour-long online information sessions. These are designed to provide more information regarding US ARISS contacts and the proposal process and offer an opportunity to ask questions. While attending an online information session is not required, it is strongly encouraged. These will be offered Thursday, September 17, at 2000 UTC; Tuesday, September 22, at 2000 UTC, and Wednesday, September 30, at 2300 UTC. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. **************************************************************************** ** >From 2015-12-20 to 2016-01-04, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. So any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. **************************************************************************** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke(a)sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Francesco IKØWGF with 114 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 111 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2015-10-22 17:30 UTC. (***) Here you will find 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. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 999. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 964. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2015-10-15 07:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 44 on orbit Oleg Kononenko RN3DX Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, Michigan postponed
by Kenneth Ransom 22 Oct '15

22 Oct '15

The event with West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, Michigan for today has been postponed due to the EVA suit fit check activity running long. The event has been rescheduled for Fri 2015-10-23 17:58 UTC and a change of crew member to Yui. -- Kenneth - N5VHO

1 0

Comet CF-416A
by W3MAT . 22 Oct '15

22 Oct '15

Just ordered a Comet CF-416A 2M/440 duplexer for use with my Elk antenna. Does anyone else use this duplexer? Reviews? Loon W3MAT

2 1

Sats at IARU-R3 + Astro Pi Launch + DeLorean
by M5AKA 22 Oct '15

22 Oct '15

IARU Region 3 Conference report and CRSA/CRAC Amateur Satellite Guide paper http://amsat-uk.org/2015/10/21/iaru-region-3-conference/ New version of Fox-1A Telemetry Decoder http://amsat-uk.org/2015/10/21/new-version-of-fox-1a-telemetry-decoder/ Astro Pi launch changed http://amsat-uk.org/2015/10/20/astro-pi-launch-changed/ Amateur radio high altitude balloon enthusiast N6ARA helped restore BTTF DeLorean time machine http://amsat-uk.org/2015/10/22/amateur-radio-balloon-enthusiast-restored-bt… 73 Trevor M5AKA ---- AMSAT-UK http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ----

1 0

AO-85
by Red Willoughby 22 Oct '15

22 Oct '15

I am listening to the AO-85 passes during this important week of testing (LISTENING, not transmitting as requested by the engineering team) and clearly hear Veronica announce "Fox-1 Safe Mode." Even on low elevation, the signal has been full quieting - strong and clear. I hope the operational mode sounds this good after testing is completed.

4 4

LilacSat-2
by W3MAT . 22 Oct '15

22 Oct '15

FM wide or FM Narrow?

3 2

Thursday's ARISS contact
by Steve Kristoff 22 Oct '15

22 Oct '15

Anyone know why the upcoming ARISS contact in Michigan is not listed on the ARISS.org website? I was trying to tell a friend about and I suggested he check out the website. The website is not up-to-date. Kind of embarrassing, I would think. Is the contact going to be streamed live on any websites? Steve Kristoff AI9IN EM79ji Oldenburg, IN skristof(a)etczone.com

5 6

Re: [amsat-bb] Monday evening & Tuesday, trip wrap-up...
by Rick Tejera 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

When I activate Summits for SOTA, I have a small plaque about a foot square that I put near my operating position near where passersby will be. It says: What is this nut doing? Hello My name is Rick and I am an amateur radio operator or as most know us; a ham radio operator. My Call sign is K7TEJ. I am operating in a program hams call SOTA: Summits on the Air. the idea is to hike up to the Summit of certified peaks, set up a portable station and try to contact as many other hams as we can. My Station is capable of making contacts around the world. Please feel free to watch and ask question during breaks in the action. Just beware, hams like to talk about our hobby! I find this helps alleve any concerns passersby may have about me being in league with the forces of evil. Rick Tejera (K7TEJ) Saguaro Astronomy Club www.saguaroastro.org Thunderbird Radio Club www.w7tbc.org 623-572-0713 623-203-4121 (cell) SaguaroaAstro(a)cox.net -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of J. Boyd (JR2TTS) Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2015 4:21 PM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Monday evening & Tuesday, trip wrap-up... On Wed, 21 Oct 2015 22:54:12 +0000, "Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)" <amsat-bb(a)wd9ewk.net> wrote: > In between these two passes, I had an interesting - and quick - meeting > with a pair of Port Huron police officers. As soon as I explained what I > was doing, they mentioned that I was not on the Wendy's property, that it > would close in a few minutes, and I was OK to be out there. They also said > the Wendy's manager made the call to the police, seeing me outside with my > gear and "waving an antenna around". I wonder if it would be a good idea to do what some contest rovers here in Japan do when they set up at a scenic overlook or a park with huge stacked yagis on top of their vans, to avoid misunderstandings -- they put up little flags next to their vehicles that read "Amateur Radio In Progress". -- J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B the2belo(a)msd.biglobe.ne.jp http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS Twitter: @Minus2_C _______________________________________________ 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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Re: [amsat-bb] Possible ISS School Contact Experiment idea? (Thurs)
by Robert Bruninga 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

> An ISS school contact… in Michigan on 22 Oct. > … to begin at approximately 17:14 UTC. This is a great time for those skilled portable "arrow" operators to get data on using fixed vertical arrow beam antennas for ISS voice at or near the horizon. The test will show if well placed fixed tripod "arrow class" antennas at AOS and LOS and a central turnstyle could possibly make it easier than a full AZ/EL Oscar class antenna at the school. Testers, Please read the concept paper at http://aprs.org/aos-los-test.html If your QTH is west of Michigan, then you should test your LOS horizon. If your QTH is east of Michigan, then you should test your AOS horizon. This is because we want to make sure we are getting voice quality data AT the horizon while the ISS crew is actually speaking. The desired data is a minute-by-minute log throughout the pass of ISS signal quality (noting nulls or fades) without moving or adjusting the antenna. Your receiver must be right near the antenna (no coax loss). Just orient the beam vertically with an up tilt of 15 degrees. Then aim it at a fixed Azimuth that is half way between AOS (or LOS) and when the ISS rises above (or drops below) 30 degrees elevation to cover the first (or last) portions of the pass. Leave your antenna fixed throughout the pass. We need to know how well the squelch on your radio eliminates the weak signal when the ISS is outside your particular fixed beam too. In a real scenario of this full technique, above 30 degrees the ISS is 3 times closer and 10 dB stronger and would be heard fine on a central omni antenna. But that is not part of your horizon performance test. So be sure to choose a good low horizon *and* the horizon you share with the School contact in Michigan so that there is ISS audio during your particular horizon crossing (AOS or LOS). An audio recording would make it easier to prepare the log after the pass or you can just make checks or X's every 5 seconds on a piece of paper and summarize it later. Do NOT run open squelch. Set the squelch for normal ham radio operation to silence the radio when the signal would be unintelligible anyway, since we would not want unintelligible noise from one receiver to distract from good audio from the possible others.. If this concept works, then the idea would be to bring in all three receiver speakers (left-to-right) into the auditorium operating position to give equal weight to each receiver but also give a sense of the passage of the ISS. If this test shows any promise, it could not only eliminate all the complexities of long crossed yagis, AZ/EL rotators, big masts and active tracking, but also completely eliminate the problem of long runs of coax from the school gymnasium to the antennas. The coax is eliminated by placing 50W mobile rigs (capable of cross band repeat) at each of the possible three antennas and operating them remotely via 3 UHF HT's indoors on-stage (coupled into the sound system). So, if you are in range of this Michigan ISS school contact, and you have an arrow on a tripod at your QTH, you could collect data on a horizon transition to see if this idea is a possibility. Again, YOU ARE RECEIVE ONLY. Your test is *independent* of the actual school contact, you are just taking your own receive data wherever you are of how well a FIXED arrow on a tripod can hear the ISS at low elevations. Be sure to find a place with a good horizon at AOS(or LOS) to set your antenna. If we learn that there will be any significant fades or loss of signal, then this idea fails... But if it works, then the two arrows, tripods, three crossband-repeating mobile rigs and three UHF HT's could be made into a suitcase GOKIT to standardize some school contacts with a lot less work. Just an idea Bob, WB4APR US Naval Academy

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Monday evening & Tuesday, trip wrap-up...
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

Hi! I'm relaxing on my flight back to Arizona, after a week of all things AMSAT and satellite operating. The Symposium was great, and I mixed in a lot of operating from many different locations in 9 different grids (EM79, EN's: 70-71, 82-83, 92-94) in 3 states (IN, MI, OH) and the province of Ontario. My rental car had 1395 miles from my driving, when I returned it at the Indianapolis airport earlier this afternoon - including a 6-hour, 400-mile drive to get back to that airport, which came after a similar drive from Dayton to Port Huron Monday afternoon/evening. I had written about my earlier radio operating, so I'll focus on Monday evening after the end of the Symposium and Tuesday in Ontario, along with a wrap-up for the trip. Before crossing the border Tuesday morning, I worked two passes Monday evening from a parking lot near my motel in Port Huron, which was a new grid locator for my rover log (EN83). A handful of QSOs on two passes, one each on AO-73 and SO-50 - and a ton of noise when working the SO-50 pass. AO-73 worked well with the FT-817ND/SDRplay combination, once again. Since I was planning to be up early for the 2-hour drive from Port Huron to the EN93/EN94 grid boundary, I did not stay out to work later passes. In between these two passes, I had an interesting - and quick - meeting with a pair of Port Huron police officers. As soon as I explained what I was doing, they mentioned that I was not on the Wendy's property, that it would close in a few minutes, and I was OK to be out there. They also said the Wendy's manager made the call to the police, seeing me outside with my gear and "waving an antenna around". After a short night's sleep, I got up early Tuesday morning and prepared for my day-trip across the border. My motel was 2 minutes away from the crossing, at the Blue Water Bridge. After a 20-minute delay at the Canadian border checkpoint in Sarnia, I made some quick stops before starting the 2- hour drive. Among other quick stops, I saw the Sarnia Chris Hadfield Airport, and took some pictures. I met Chris at a book signing event in Phoenix a few months ago, and knew Sarnia was his hometown. I saw some snow on the ground as I drove north, left over from a storm that passed through a couple of days earlier. The drive was uneventful, and I was able to line up on the grid boundary for the obligatory photos of my gear and GPS receiver. After that, an SO-50 pass for a few QSOs. There were a total of 3 FO-29 passes and 4 SO-50 passes during Tuesday afternoon. If I stayed later, I could have had a few more SO-50 passes, where I could have worked all polar bears, seeing how the passes looked on my tracking app. With AO-7 in mode A, I wanted to work a bunch of passes in FM and SSB from there on SO-50 and FO-29. I think someone else was up in this area not too long ago, but I still had lots of callers on most passes. A couple of passes saw only one other operator on, but at least I worked someone on each of the 7 passes I worked from the grid boundary. I worked a total of 42 QSOs from the EN93/EN94 grid boundary. When I was done at EN93/EN94, I thought about where else I could work from, before crossing back into the USA at Port Huron. Four grids come together at a point east of Sarnia, near the 402 freeway - EN82, EN83, EN92, EN93. I covered EN93 earlier in the day, worked briefly from EN83 the night before, and looked at maps to see where I could go to operate. The four-grid intersection was off-limits, but I could easily park somewhere to be in any two of those four grids. I decided to go with the EN82/EN92 boundary, which was close to an interchange for the 402 freeway, and the road had a large dirt shoulder where I could safely park and use my radios. I parked, found the right spot for the photos of my radios and GPS receiver on the grid boundary, and worked two passes - one each, on XW-2E and XW-2F, with a gap of a few minutes between these passes. Eight QSOs on the XW-2E pass, and 7 more on the XW-2F pass. Not too bad, for only mentioning this on Twitter due to time constraints on making additional posts in places like this mailing list. I had originally pulled out my two FT-817NDs, seeing that it had been raining during much of the afternoon. The rain did not start up while I was at EN82/EN92, so I swapped out one FT-817ND for my SDRplay SDR receiver and 8-inch tablet. I did not make one long RF recording, but stopped it when XW-2E went away, and started a new recording as XW-2F came up. Many of the same stations I worked up at EN93/EN94 were calling me at EN82/EN92, and I logged a total of 15 QSOs - 8 on XW-2E, 7 on XW-2F. After a dinner in Sarnia, I crossed the border, went back to my motel room, and had another short night's sleep before today's drive from Port Huron to Indianapolis for my flight home. Even with a stop at a post office in northern Indiana to ship books home, I made the drive in about 6 hours. Especially with the Symposium Proceedings book, my suitcase would have gone over the 50-pound free allowance, and Priority Mail was cheaper than the excess-weight fee I would have paid in Indianapolis. The books will be home on Friday, so that is not a problem. This was the first time I had to ship anything home after an event like this. I had additional radio gear in my radio bag and computer backpack (more room with tablets instead of a laptop in the backpack), since I had planned on making the run up to EN93/EN94, so I didn't have room to carry the books with me. I heard a lot of noise when I worked SO-50 from Port Huron on Monday evening. I chalked that up to the power lines and all the lighting in the area. I heard the same noise on SO-50 at EN93/EN94 Tuesday, and there were only the power lines. When I'm in Arizona, I have never heard so much noise from power lines. I was able to deal with it by using an HT as my downlink receiver for the SO-50 passes, still transmitting with the IC-2820H. I was concerned that the IC-2820H's receiver may have been going out on me, but it seems like it is working OK - other than being very sensitive to that noise. I'll check it out further at home, to confirm it is still in good working order. All of my QSOs from the past week in 3 states (Indiana, Ohio, Michigan) and Ontario, covering 8 grids - EM79; EN's 70, 71, 82, 83, 92, 93, 94 - are now in Logbook of the World. I operated from many different locations, including the Indiana/Michigan/Ohio border tripoint last Thursday (15 October) and the Indiana/Ohio border west of Dayton on Friday (16 October) evening, along with the EN82/EN92 and EN93/EN94 grid boundaries in Ontario. This also included AO-85 passes late last week, which was a nice bonus, along with the uploads of data from the telemetry in the AO-85 downlink. If you would like to receive a QSL card for any of your QSOs with WD9EWK or VA7EWK/3, please e-mail me with the QSO details. If you are in the log, I will be happy to send a card - or cards - as confirmation. Except for the XW-2E and XW-2F passes I worked from EN82/EN92 Tuesday evening, I have posted all of the RF recordings I made from various passes in my Dropbox space accessible at http://dropbox.wd9ewk.net/ (refresh your browser or press F5 if the folder/file listing doesn't pop up immediately). All were made using the SDRplay receiver, my 8-inch HP tablet, and HDSDR. Telemetry uploads were done after the passes, using the RF recording and playing that from HDSDR into the FoxTelem program. I hope to have the RF recordings from the Tuesday evening XW-2E and XW-2F passes posted in a couple of days. I'm not going to tempt fate and my Internet access by trying to do a Dropbox upload on inflight WiFi. :-) Thanks for all the QSOs! It was fun to work so many passes, from many different locations. I also had the pleasure to meet some of the voices I regularly hear on the different birds in Dayton over last weekend - always a good thing... 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK (at 38000 feet above New Mexico, on the way to Phoenix)

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LOTW reminder for WD9EWK & VA7EWK/3 over the past week...
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

Hi! Some reminders about my call signs, and Logbook of the World... 1. If you worked WD9EWK at the Indiana/Michigan/Ohio border tripoint last Thursday (15 October), you would need to upload 3 QSO records to Logbook of the World, to represent this QSO in each of the states I stood in at that point. Each QSO record will need its QSO time to be at least 1 minute different than each of the others. Otherwise, QSO records with time differences of less than 1 minute will overwrite an existing QSO record you previously uploaded. Logbook of the World can handle contacts with one QSO record for a location in 2 or 4 grids, but cannot handle a similar situation with a single QSO record for QSOs on other boundaries (states, provinces, counties, or even countries). 2. Just like with point 1, an upload of 2 QSO records is needed to get confirmation with WD9EWK in both Indiana and Ohio last Saturday evening, again with the QSO times differing by at least one minute. As long as these QSO times are different, and are within 30 minutes +/- of the times I had in my QSO records for these locations, you should see QSLs appearing in LOTW. 3. Although I was slipping a little in the evening, I tried to correct myself on the air, and keep with using VA7EWK/3 as my call sign yesterday from Ontario. I used VA7EWK/3 on the air, and the Logbook of the World uploads I just did for those QSOs will show VA7EWK/3. Please do not ask me to make another QSO upload if you are looking for a confirmation with VA7EWK without the "/3". The only time I may use VA7EWK without any additional indicators in Canada outside of British Columbia may be on packet/APRS. For APRS on Tuesday, I used WD9EWK-9 on both sides of the border as I drove around, but included both of my calls in the text sent with each of my position packets. This is what I did for my trip east of Windsor last year, and I put VK/WD9EWK in that text when I ran APRS in Australia a few years ago to ensured my station identified in accordance with Australian regulations. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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70cm Quadrifilar-Helix Antenna For Sale
by Richard Lawn 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

I have the following antenna that is nearly new and excess to my needs. Anyone interested please contact me off list. Antennas.US http://www.antennas.us/store/p/229-UC-4364-328-UHF-Amateur-Satellite-Antenn… UC-4364-328 is a compact Quadrifilar Helix antenna Rated at 50 watts CW Lightly used and only outside briefly Asking $75 plus $10 shipping 73 Rick, W2JAZ

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Re: [amsat-bb] Orbitron and Celestrak TLE's
by kg5axf 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

I've been using the amsat.org tle data. It has AO58 Fox1 in it. Sent via the Samsung GALAXY S®4 Active™, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Daron Wilson <daron(a)wilson.org> Date: 10/21/2015 13:06 (GMT-06:00) To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Orbitron and Celestrak TLE's I've been downloading the TLE's from Celestrak/NORAD/amateur but the FOX-1 TLE's are not in that list (yet). Does it typically take a couple weeks for things to shake out and get added to this list or am I missing something else? Daron N7HQR _______________________________________________ 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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satellite gear for sale
by Kevin M 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

I do not know the seller, just passing on the ad as I know several people have been looking for LVB controllers. http://swap.qth.com/view_ad.php?counter=1226740

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Orbitron and Celestrak TLE's
by Daron Wilson 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

I've been downloading the TLE's from Celestrak/NORAD/amateur but the FOX-1 TLE's are not in that list (yet). Does it typically take a couple weeks for things to shake out and get added to this list or am I missing something else? Daron N7HQR

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APRS High Altitude Balloon Kickstarter
by Stefan Wagener 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

For those of you that like to be involved in HAB. Here is an interesting Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1250163085/tracksoar -aprs?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter 73, Stefan, VE4NSA

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Re: [amsat-bb] Thursday's ARISS contact
by Michael J. Wolthuis 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

Everyone, I have permission to connect the MICHIGAN Echolink conference to the AMSAT Echolink conference. If all goes as planned the audio should also be available on the AMSAT conference direct from the school. Mike kb8zgl ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Spasojevich" <johnag9d at gmail.com> Cc: "AMSAT BB" <amsat-bb at amsat.org>; "Steve Kristoff" <skristof at etczone.net> Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2015 10:23 PM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Thursday's ARISS contact > Steve, > > Typically the audio from a telebridge contact is carried on the AMSAT > Echolink server and on the web. Direct contacts in the US are a little > more tricky to get the audio out from the school via phone patch or skype. > Also it's felt to add more to the stress level of the ground crew, we'd > rather have them make a good contact for their local use. I've generally > added that capability to the directs I've done personally and I'll tell > you > its a good half a days work to do it. At one school I has 150 feet of Cat5 > strung around the gym to get to the stage and on another we tried the > Iphone app. Never got any reports so I don;t know how well that worked. we > were lucky to get a signal in that school. The gear we used was the same > from school to school, which is not the norm. > > > 73, > John - AG9D

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FoxTelem not reaching AMSAT
by Bob Beatty 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

Hi, When I initially setup the FoxTelem program, I opened the "Settings" screen, selected the checkbox labeled "Upload to Server", and entered my call sign (WB4SON) as my "Ground Station Name". Finally I entered my six digit grid square (FN41fn) to calculated the Lat/Lon from that, and saved the settings. I left the two AMSAT server names alone, so they retained their default values. Over a couple of nights, I managed to receive and decode a couple dozen telemetry frames, and assumed that they were making it to AMSAT. However, when I checked at http://amsat.org/tlm/ my call sign does not appear. Does anyone have an idea why my decoded frames might not be making it to AMSAT? (The PC that is running FoxTelem has an working internet connection) 73, Bob, WB4SON

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FoxTelem Release 1.01
by Chris Thompson 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

I wanted to announce the release of FoxTelem Version 1.01. If possible, everyone should upgrade to this new version. In addition to some new functionality it fixes some bugs and issue that mean more data will be uploaded to the server. This is a patch release. If you already have 1.00 installed then download the file FoxTelem_1.01_patch.zip You can download it from: http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/windows http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/mac http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/linux 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: * Allow the user to view and set the "track" attribute for each spacecraft (and other parameters) * Better doppler tracking in IQ mode and more stable estimate of the received frequency * Better Find Signal algorithm with tuning paramaters for experts * Read Time Zero from the server for each reset and use to plot graphs in UTC * Set the default fcd frequency to 145930 so that Fox-1A, Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D will be in the passband * Allow the gain to be set on the FCD (rather than hard coded) * Do not change the FCD LNA or Mixer Gain. Leave unchanged. * Do not open the FCD unless the start button is pressed * Fixed a bug where the last 2 bytes of the radiation telemetry were not decoded correctly * Allow Vanderbilt radiation experiment to be graphed * 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 * Allow graphs to be hidden so that average or derivative is easier to see * Notify the user when a new release is available * Cleaned up the FFT trace with some averaging * If showRawValues is checked then save CSV files as raw values * Several updates to the manual -- Chris E. Thompson chrisethompson(a)gmail.com g0kla(a)arrl.net

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Elk Antenna Question
by W3MAT . 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

Is it possible to work duplex with an Elk 2M/440EL antenna and two HT's, one programmed with VHF up link and the other programmed with UHF down link .... SO-50 for example? Since the Elk 2M/440EL is designed for two bands, but only one coax connection, how would this be done? Thanks Loon

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-21 05:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-21 05:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Saku Children’s Science Dome for the Future, Saku City, Japan, direct via 8NØSDF The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Contact is a go for: Thu 2015-10-22 09:52:21 UTC 54 deg West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, MI, direct via W8ISS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for: Thu 2015-10-22 17:14:55 UTC 40 deg 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 (***) **************************************************************************** ** Interested in hosting an ARISS contact? The window is now open from 2015-09-01 to 2015-11-01. These proposals will be for school contacts during the second half of 2016. Go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact or http://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html for full details. To help organizations in preparing their proposals, the ARISS Program Coordinator will offer hour-long online information sessions. These are designed to provide more information regarding US ARISS contacts and the proposal process and offer an opportunity to ask questions. While attending an online information session is not required, it is strongly encouraged. These will be offered Thursday, September 17, at 2000 UTC; Tuesday, September 22, at 2000 UTC, and Wednesday, September 30, at 2300 UTC. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. **************************************************************************** ** >From 2015-12-20 to 2016-01-04, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. So any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. **************************************************************************** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke(a)sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Francesco IKØWGF with 114 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 111 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2015-10-21 05:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find 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. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 999. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 964. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2015-10-15 07:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 44 on orbit Oleg Kononenko RN3DX Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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