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

Duchifat1 is picking up packets!
by Herzliya Science Center 13 Oct '15

13 Oct '15

Hi all, We have almost reached 20 stations already picked up by Duchifat1 that are displayed on the world map at our web site. You are all invited to experiment sending a compressed APRS packet with your location and registration code to the satellite. These packets can be generated either with a small software converter from LAT/LON ("APRS Encoder") at our web site or with a Byonics TinyTrak4 for mobile use or base station. When using the "APRS Encoder" you also need a conventional TNC, either external or software to convert the 14 characters long text string to 1200bd AFSK audio for transmission. The satellite stores the packets and we get to download them from the satellite at least 3 times a week. The new stations are then added to the map automatically. More information and operational tips are in the downloadable files at the web site. Good luck & 73! Herzliya Science Center ground station team www.H-SPACE-LAB.org <http://www.h-space-lab.org/>

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Office Closed
by Martha 13 Oct '15

13 Oct '15

The AMSAT Office will be closed from Wednesday, October 14th - Monday, October 19th. Hope to see you at the Space Symposium -- 73- Martha

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First Contact
by John LeVous 13 Oct '15

13 Oct '15

Hello All, My thanks to K4AMG Memorial Amateur Radio Club for allowing me to rework the club's OSCAR station. It provided me with the opportunity to make my first satellite contacts today while testing the hardware and software systems. My thanks also to N8IUP, K8YSE/7, and N3PZZ for answering my calls on FO-29. Now for the stupid question of the day: I've found the ARRL instructions for editing ADIF files to enable logging OSCAR contacts via LoTW. I am running Debian stable and using CQRLOG as my primary logging software. I also use CQRLOG to upload my contacts to LoTW and eQSL. I export my CQRLOG to upload to QRZ as well. Is there any consensus regarding electronic logging of OSCAR contacts? What, if any suggestions can you all make to aid a new operator trying to log satellite qso's? 73, John, KW4CR

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AMSAT-OSCAR 85 TLEs
by Nico Janssen 13 Oct '15

13 Oct '15

All, Hours after the launch of AO-85 (ex FOX-1A) the first TLEs for 8 of the 13 launched Cubesates were published under GRACE 1 through 8. I have not seen any updates since launch day. Today around 18:00 UTC AO-85 was 29 s early compared to the TLE set for GRACE 8, which is currently leading the group. AO-85 is 41 s early compared to the TLE set for GRACE 2, that most people will be using now. So either the early TLEs were not very accurate yet, or the TLEs for AO-85 were not yet determined and therefore not available in the initially measured batch. Let's hope we get updated TLEs for all 13 Cubesats soon. BTW, there appears to be a small temperature drift on the downlink signal frequency of AO-85 that may be noticable when using automatic doppler correction. 73, Nico PA0DLO

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LEARNING & POSSIBLE MEMBERSHIP
by b 13 Oct '15

13 Oct '15

Please send me information concerning amateur satellite monitoring at the simplest level as I am new to the field. I intend to purchase Boefeng uv n-srt as that is all that I can afford at this time. As I am disabled and homebound, I am confident that the microwave signals can reach me. Thank you, Rick (Richard DePersio)

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Monday evening AO-85 passes at WD9EWK...
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 13 Oct '15

13 Oct '15

Hi! No QSOs went in the log on either AO-85 pass I worked this evening, but I was able to collect 32 data frames on these passes, and unsuccessfully tried a different HT on these passes (Anytone TERMN-8R). I'll come back to this radio after I return from Dayton. I used the same two setups on both passes: Station 1: AnyTone TERMN-8R 2m/70cm HT, Elk handheld 2m/70cm log periodic Station 2: SDRplay RSP receiver, 8-inch Windows 10 tablet, HDSDR, connected to AMSAT-UK (Winkler) VHF crossed dipole on 8-foot mast and tripod The first pass came by around 0130 UTC. This was a very high pass, up to almost 72 degrees elevation. Lots of stations on from coast to coast. I tried to get through with the TERMN-8R/Elk combination. I think I heard myself early in this pass, but was covered up by a stronger station. Other than that one instance, I never heard myself through the satellite on this pass, and didn't hear myself on the HDSDR recording from my other station. Even though I made no QSOs, I was able to upload 30 data frames from this pass. Not bad for a portable station with an omnidirectional antenna on an 8-foot mast and tripod (probably closer to 10 feet/3m high, including the height of both mast and tripod). For the later pass around 0311 UTC, I moved my station to my driveway, so I had a better view to the west and northwest. It was a lower pass, with maximum elevation of 15 degrees. I didn't hear myself get through on this pass, but not from a lack of trying. A nice bit of voice activity from stations along the west coast, and up to VE6WK in Calgary before my LOS. The SDR receive setup was able to upload 2 data frames from this pass. If I had my Elk connected to the SDRplay, I am sure I could have pulled a few more frames from this pass. The HT I used on this pass is the AnyTone TERMN-8R 2m/70cm FM HT. It was briefly sold in the US earlier this year, but was pulled from the market. I bought it earlier this year, used it with SO-50 previously (half-duplex - lots of desense, like with other Chinese-made dual-band HTs), and have been waiting for AO-85 to arrive. Its receiver is similar in performance to the Wouxun KG-UV8D when working this satellite, and not as good as the KG-UV9D. It is very important to have the best possible signal in the receiver with this radio, as its performance drops off quickly as the signals weaken. The TERMN-8R is not as sensitive as most Icom/Kenwood/Yaesu dual-band HTs, and not as sensitive as the KG-UV9D. I was able to copy the downlink OK, but due to a variety of issues I only heard part of one transmission early in the first pass I worked. I will come back to this radio after the AMSAT Symposium, and hopefully have a better chance to get through on AO-85 at that time. I have been asked why I am doing this - using different radios or combinations of radios to work this satellite. Since we have not had a U/V FM satellite since SO-35's demise in 2001 (a satellite I worked one time, in 2000, using two HTs with long duckies), and not counting the ISS U/V crossband repeater that was on in the mid- to late-2000s (its downlink was much easier to hear than even AO-85), this is the first time we have been able to actually test radios against an actual U/V FM satellite. I attend lots of events around the southwestern USA representing AMSAT, where I field questions from hams who are either thinking about satellite operating, and others who may be coming back to this part of our hobby. I also get e-mails from all over, with questions that I have enjoyed trying to answer. If I'm able to disprove some incorrect statements that have been floating around in relation to some of these radios, all the better! It is better to have more options available for hams to work this satellite, not fewer. Some of the traditional options for radios that work with SO-50 and previous V/U FM satellites are not good options for AO-85 and future U/V FM satellites. Not working SO-50 and other V/U FM satellites full-duplex may be a viable option for those satellites, but it is a very poor option. Find a second HT, or even an SDR receiver, if you are trying to set up a station capable of working satellites - including AO-85 - full-duplex. I could just use my IC-2820H mobile radio at 50W to log lots of stations on every possible AO-85 pass I can work. I know this is a great radio for FM satellites, whether working V/U or U/V. Where's the challenge in doing that? And there's the SDR stuff that has been fun to use. Having the RF recordings from HDSDR, which I can use to upload telemetry to AMSAT and update my logbook, is a powerful tool to help improve my station and my operating. An SDR receiver with a small tablet is a capable - and less expensive - way to help build an all-mode satellite station that is capable of full-duplex operation. The two RF recordings I made from the AO-85 passes I worked, and other photos and screengrabs, are now up in my Dropbox space at: http://dropbox.wd9ewk.net/ (hit F5 until the folder/file listing appears in your browser window, if it doesn't appear immediately) My @WD9EWK Twitter feed usually has photos either before or after the AO-85 passes I work, along with other comments and observations I can put into 140-character chunks. This is readable in a browser window without having to join Twitter, at https://twitter.com/WD9EWK 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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Upcoming ARISS contact with Bay View Elementary School, Burlington, WA
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Bay View Elementary School, Burlington, WA on 14 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 19:41 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 a telebridge between OR4ISS and IK1SLD. The contact should be audible over Italy 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. Bay View School in Burlington, Washington has been serving kindergarten through eighth grade students in the Burlington-Edison School District for 22 years. Named after the small community of Bayview, which was later incorporated by the town of Burlington, it serves mainly in-district neighborhood students. This year 562 students are enrolled. The town of Burlington is 66 miles north of Seattle, Washington. Located at the intersection of two major highways, Burlington serves as a retail and commercial hub for the region. Industry is mainly agricultural, retail, and commercial. Over the past three years, Bay View has committed to becoming a school of inquiry. Through inquiry and collaboration, Bay View's purpose is to nurture compassionate, creative, knowledgeable growth-minded world citizens, who pursue dreams and positively impact the future. Bay View continually inquires to understand one essential question. What do we need to understand, commit to and implement to prepare students to be career, college, and/or world ready for the 21st century? This journey has led them to begin creating concept-based units of inquiry at each grade level. Multi-disciplinary and intra-disciplinary units support school-wide connections through inquiry. The opportunity to ask questions of astronauts on the ISS was pursued as an experience that could spark students' interest in space, engineering, technology, mathematics, and support a school-wide inquiry. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. How do astronauts walk in space? 2. How do you exercise in space? 3. What can you see from the ISS? 4. Are you allowed to have pets in space? 5. Is time different in space if so by how much? 6. How do the astronauts use technological devices like iPads in space if there is no Wifi? 7. Which planets do you study most and why? 8. What is the daily schedule like in space? 9. Is there a way to grow plants in space? 10. How does zero gravity affect bone mass? 11. What do you do for fun? 12. What does the sun look like in space? 13. How do you take a shower or bath in space without water going everywhere? 14. How do astronauts go to the bathroom? 15. Why did you want to go to outerspace? 16. What are you researching to help people on Earth and why? 17. When you break a bone, will it heal faster or slower in space? 18. What happens if you get sick in space? 19. What is the weather like in space? 20. What is a weirder feeling, going from gravity to zero gravity or from zero gravity to gravity? 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): TBD 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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Decoding AO-85 from IC-910H 9600 data socket - any success anyone?
by Bob Mattaliano 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

Hi, Congrats to the AO-85 team! Trying to decode telemetry using the 9600 output of the sub data (while radio is in Sat mode) from my IC-910H. Has anyone been able to do this? High elevation passes only? 9600 output is connected directly to mic input. No isolation transformers, etc. Seems like those making progress have gone the SDR route with IQ data? Sound card input - 2 channel (L-R channels connected on cable), 24 bit, 48000 Hz radio - cable to sub band data socket. 9600 bps transmission on. (Is this for TX only, does not change output and can be left of?) AO-85 software Source - mic input, 4800 start --> no joy, Suggestions welcome. Thanks, es 73 Bob N6RFM n6rfm1(a)gmail.com

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Just Checking... (AO-85)
by Burns Fisher 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

I'm sorry you did not like some of the replies on FB, but I would truly say that this is a new bird, and the suggestion that you try multiple things was not in jest, especially the bandwidth. At some point as the bandwidth you are transmitting gets wider, I'd guess that the voltage incoming from the Rx to the A/D converter in the satellite exceeds its capabilities and it clips. But on the other hand if the B/W is too narrow, the gain will be low. I used 'narrow' in pre-flight testing from my HT but there is not guarantee that the flight board will work exactly the same way. A few other thoughts but no certain answers: 1) You said you heard other stations. How much power do you have? You said HT, so I assume 5W or less. Remember that FM is only single-channel and usually the strongest signal wins. (But also remember the standard rule to use as little power as you can successfully use). Some people have managed with 5W HTs. Others have not. 2) The bird seems to be tumbling quite a lot now. The 70cm Rx antenna may be even more subject to fading than the Tx antenna since the Rx is only on one side, while the Tx uses both sides and the satellite itself to radiate from. (The thought about fading is somewhat informed speculation). 3) The 67Hz tone may take a second to kick on the transmitter but once it is on it will stay on for the duration of the hang timer, which is one minute. So if you have have to kick the hang timer with low power it will be harder due to fades. 4) When the hang timer is hanging (during that 60 seconds) if there is nothing being received, the transponder is going to resend the noise that it hears from the Rx. When listening, I can tell the difference between "no carrier from the satellite" and "satellite is transmitting the output of a receiver that is receiving nothing". The latter has fewer high frequencies and fewer low frequencies, i.e. it is duller. If you can hear that difference, the latter case would be a good time to try to get in. No one is blocking you, and the hang timer is already running. Seriously, detailed reports you make of both success and failure will be helpful to others! 73, Burns W2BFJ Fox-1 Flight Software

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FM xpndr up again? (10/13 0913Z)
by Jeff A. Boyd 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

I tracked a pass off the east coast of Japan monitoring the FM downlink just in case it was up, and lo and behold, it was. https://soundcloud.com/minus2c/ao-85-pass-oct-12-2015-1813-jst I didn't expect it to be up, only to hear the test recording. Was this an unannounced activation, or were there just people hitting it unscheduled? J. Boyd (JR2TTS) -- 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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EM15 and EM48
by Glenn Miller - AA5PK 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

En route to the AMSAT Symposium in Dayton, I plan to operate from EM15 on Wednesday and EM48 on Thursday. If I can get to it easily, I'll operate from the EM48/EM58 grid line Thursday evening. I'll be on the evening passes (around 0000Z) of XW-2E and -2F as well as AO-85 and LilacSat-2 (if they're on). 73 Glenn AA5PK

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AO-85 Center frequency
by David G0MRF 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

Hi all. I've just looked at the FOX1 TLM graph for frequency for 6 passes of AO-85 which included illuminated and eclipsed orbits. The graph shows the frequency ranging from nominal +1 kHz to nominal -5kHz which suggests that the frequency of the telemetry is around 2k low at 145.978 MHz. Is that the general consensus or have I made an error? - I did check the FC dongle, it's 82Hz off when used with a calibrated source and foxtlm 73 David

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Sunday afternoon AMSAT demonstration in Phoenix, including new satellites!
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

Hi! I received an e-mail asking about a demonstration of satellite operating, possibly this afternoon if I had the time. It is still warm here in the Phoenix area, but not over 100F/38C today, so I went to a city park in the southeast corner of Phoenix in grid DM43ah. I was out here a couple of months ago, and this time the plan was to try focusing on the satellites from AMSAT and China that had been recently launched. I worked SO-50, FO-29, the ISS, XW-2E, and AO-85 from the park. While working AO-85, XW-2F was passing by at the same time. I was able to hear both of these satellites, as I focused on working AO-85. The demonstration started in the mid-afternoon, with an SO-50 pass just after 2pm/2100 UTC. I did a simple demonstration, using my Kenwood TH-D72A HT and Elk log periodic, working a few stations. Around 2140 UTC, there was a very nice FO-29 pass, and I worked it using one of my FT-817NDs and the Elk log periodic. This was only the second time I tried working FO-29 half-duplex, and I was able to chat with Tom WA0POD for a couple of minutes for my only QSO on that satellite. The ISS passed by around 2200 UTC, and I was unsuccessful in sending my packets through the digipeater. When I got home tonight, I think I figured out the issue - wrong packet path on 145.825 MHz. Oops. We heard a bit of activity from around the western USA, including KG7NXH (not far to the east of this park, in another Phoenix-area suburb). Then a break for lunch, and talking about the new satellites and other topics like using SDR receivers, before the fun really started... For passes of XW-2E, XW-2F, and AO-85 around 0100 UTC, I went back to that city park and set up a couple of stations. One I used for my operating: Yaesu FT-817ND for SSB transmit Icom IC-2820H for FM transmit SDRplay SDR receiver 8-inch HP Windows 10 tablet with HDSDR (making RF recordings of the passes) Elk 2m/70cm log periodic antenna and another station for receiving: FUNcube Dongle Pro+ 10-inch Winbook Windows 10 tablet with HDSDR AMSAT-UK (Winkler) VHF crossed dipole XW-2E came first. I heard a couple of stations on, tried to get a clear spot to call CQ, and ended up making 4 QSOs while keeping an eye on the clock. I saw that XW-2F and AO-85 were passing by our location around the same time. I had worked XW-2E in SSB, so I suggested I try AO-85 in FM. This was an interesting experience... For the first few minutes of the pass, I saw - and occasionally heard - the XW-2F CW beacon that was just below the AO-85 FM/data downlink. I was using narrow FM, about 14 kHz in HDSDR, and I raised the audio filter for the low side of the audio passband to eliminate any part of the slow-speed data from reaching my ears. Did I mention I am really enjoying SDR for my satellite work? :-) This is something that made the audio more pleasing to hear. Not stereo quality, of course, but no buzzing from remnants of the telemetry making it into the audio we hear on our radios when working the FM repeater. About 10 kHz or so above the AO-85 downlink, I saw an SSB signal pop up in the XW-2F transponder. When I played the HDSDR RF recording back at home, I found it was Leo W7JPI calling CQ on the XW-2F transponder. Not much on that transponder, but a larger crowd on AO-85. I was able to make 5 QSOs on AO-85, and - later - upload some data to the AMSAT server. The second station had some issues I will need to investigate, especially with the XW-2E pass. It is possible I should have brought out my second Elk log periodic, instead of relying on the crossed dipole. Even with the receive issues at the second station, it was still a good illustration of using SDR receivers for satellite work, and showing that the inexpensive Windows tablets are capable of running HDSDR and the Fox telemetry software packages. As I write this e-mail, my uploads to Dropbox have completed. I put the RF recordings from the XW-2E and AO-85/XW-2F passes, along with some photos of my setup for the later passes and other screengrabs in separate folders there. You can go to http://dropbox.wd9ewk.net/ (hit F5 a few times, if the folder/file listing doesn't immediately show in your browser) to see those files. I didn't make a separate MP3 recording of the AO-85 pass, relying on the RF recording for my logging when I returned home this evening. I really don't have many new observations for AO-85 tonight. I worked it on the premise that the uplink frequency is 10 kHz below what was originally published. That worked again tonight. I used narrow FM on the uplink radio, and narrowed the receive bandwidth and adjusted the audio filtering in HDSDR so I wouldn't hear any buzzing or other noises from the telemetry on the downlink. Normally HDSDR's AFC works very well with AO-85's downlink, but for several minutes the AFC kept sliding my receive frequency down to the XW-2F CW beacon just below the AO-85 downlink. I had to turn off the AFC until the two signals had more separation between them. Once the XW-2F CW beacon went lower in frequency, away from the AO-85 downlink, I resumed using AFC. I had no AFC-related problems for the remainder of the pass. The nominal frequency of the AO-85 downlink seemed to be closer to 145.978 MHz tonight. This may complicate working this satellite for some, who may not want to adjust the downlink frequency. The Chinese-made HTs I have used would definitely need to have the downlink frequency adjusted during AO-85 passes. Some non-Chinese radios may be able to start passes on 145.980 MHz, but have to be adjusted down to 145.975 MHz for the last part of the pass. This may not be a hard-and-fast rule for all non-Chinese radios, depending on how sharp or forgiving the front-end filtering happens to be on these radios. When I worked earlier AO-85 passes with the Wouxun HTs, and the Icom IC-2820H last night, I just use the VFOs. No memory channels. I set both VFOs for narrow FM, set the 67.0 Hz CTCSS tone in the transmit VFO, 5 kHz tuning step in the transmit VFO, and the smallest possible FM tuning step in the receive VFO (5 kHz for the IC-2820H, 2.5 kHz for the Wouxun HTs). Since I was not home for these passes, I did not try a different radio (or radio combination) for AO-85. If time permits in the next couple of days, and if the transponder is on in the evenings for western US passes, I might be able to try another radio or two before leaving for the AMSAT Symposium. Otherwise, trying different radios on AO-85 will resume after I return from Dayton, later this month. Again, thanks to AMSAT for making the AO-85 transponder available over this weekend! It has been fun to work a satellite that's only been in orbit now for just over 3 days. I hope the telemetry and other tests are showing the satellite in good working order. And thanks to all of the stations that called or worked WD9EWK during this afternoon and early evening. :-) 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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Murphy
by Jerry Buxton 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

Well, the launch and deploy went without an apparent hitch and given the presence of Murphy throughout the Fox-1A project up through delivery I thought that was pretty amazing if not downright spooky. My qualms were settled tonight when Murphy was back, this time on the first pass that I have had an opportunity to copy AO-85 on my own. I set up at home to do just telemetry, and when she rose the signal was horrible to say the least. It did get a little better as things went on and pretty good at 30+ degrees of elevation but still pretty weak. Having read reports that ranged from "outstanding" to "disappointed" I thought I was finally finding out for sure what we had done. So I tried manually moving the antennas thinking that if the keps are a little off that might help. That's when I noticed that the antennas weren't moving. Still pointed southwest, maybe 45 degrees elevation, even though the satellite was passing up high to the west. I ran up to the attic and lo, the very dual band Diamond vertical antenna that I had borrowed from the Hood County Club and placed in the attic for testing Fox-1Cliff/D on the air, was caught in the elements of my 70 cm antenna! The antenna was pointed north-northeast at 45 degrees elevation and the rotator had been turning the mast within the tripod so it thought it was pointing southwest/west. I guess I've been off the birds long enough that it never occurred to me that where I placed it was duh, not a good location when you start swinging long beams around. How's that for comedy? Fox-1D (current configuration in the Labs running on that Diamond antenna) takes down my Fox-1A pass out of sheer jealousy! :-D The good news was, I was copying telemetry even though the satellite was generally off the back or 90 degrees above the beam of the antenna. And when it came into the beam, it was loud and clear as I had expected, although it faded as it set and I could not track it but lowering the elevation since azimuth was hosed. It's good to be back in the realm of ham radio where anything that can go wrong, will! -- Jerry Buxton, NØJY

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Saturday evening @ WD9EWK - two AO-85 passes...
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

Hi! Because I had to be awake for a 5am/1200 UTC conference call with my office this morning, I only worked two passes last (Saturday) evening. Both were AO-85 passes, with different radios for each of the passes. It is amazing that we have access to this satellite's FM transponder, so soon after its launch. The first pass I attempted was around 0215 UTC. This pass was an overhead pass, so I took advantage of that to try another one of my Chinese-made dual-band HTs (Wouxun KG-UV8D) with this U/V FM satellite. The KG-UV8D was connected to my Elk log periodic. I had my SDRplay receiver out in the yard for this pass, connected to the VHF crossed dipole sold by AMSAT-UK, with HDSDR running on my 8-inch Windows 10 tablet to make an RF recording of this pass. After the pass, I would play the RF recording from HDSDR into the FoxTelem software, so the telemetry I captured would be uploaded to the AMSAT server. I had previously written a lot about the KG-UV8D in a thread on the QRZ.com satellite forum last year. I had tested it against the Fox-1A engineering model at two events in 2014, and it was able to work the transponder on the engineering model without suffering from receiver desense when transmitting on 70cm. I was working the transponder at the low-power setting (1W), and would move the HT around to shield the radio from the model, all in attempts to simulate working an actual satellite in orbit. Not hearing any desense, I was hopeful this HT would be one that could work Fox-1A (now AO-85) full- duplex. The answer... YES There are issues with the KG-UV8D's receiver, where you'll occasionally hear what might be more static coming through on the receiver. The noise level increases, even when receiving a stronger signal like from a local 2m or 70cm repeater, or other non-amateur transmitters. I had to be more diligent in orienting my Elk log periodic, so I could hear the AO-85 downlink clearly. When I was able to get through the transponder, I could clearly hear my voice in the earpiece I plugged into the HT. I also heard myself in the RF recording written by HDSDR on my tablet. It helped that I changed both the receive and transmit VFOs to use narrow FM, instead of "wide" FM. My transmitted audio seemed better, when I heard myself on the RF recording from HDSDR, and I could hear the downlink better on the HT during the pass. I worked K8YSE/7 here in the Phoenix area and KO6TZ in southern California just before the satellite was directly over my head. This is in line with my previous test with the KG-UV9D, where lower power levels were not sufficient to get through AO-85 until the satellite was up from the horizon a bit. For the uplink, I was able to get through using 435.165 MHz for my two QSOs with the KG-UV8D. Downlink... I started on 145.9825 MHz, then tuned down to 145.980 MHz, and later I tuned down to 145.9775 MHz. Just like I saw when I used my KG-UV9D Friday evening, the sharper receive filters in the Chinese-made radios made using the smaller tuning step (2.5 kHz) useful. After this pass, I played the HDSDR RF recording into FoxTelem, and uploaded 9 packets to the AMSAT server. Had I used the Elk with the SDR setup, I am sure I would have collected many more packets from that pass. The second pass I worked, around 0400 UTC, was a shallow pass. AO-85 was only up to a maximum elevation of just over 11 degrees. I used only my Icom IC-2820H for this pass. I had used the IC-2820H as the uplink radio for a pass I worked Friday evening with my SDRplay receiver and HDSDR handling the downlink, but wanted to try the mobile radio by itself this time. it had no problems hearing the downlink, once AO-85 rose above the nearby mountains and houses. I started the radio on 435.160 MHz for the uplink (with 67.0 Hz tone activated for this VFO), and 145.980 MHz for the downlink. Both with narrow FM, a suggestion that had been tweeted earlier by Peter 2E0SQL. I was not able to get through using 435.160 MHz, but was able to when I tuned my uplink to 435.165 MHz. Later in the pass, I could get through when transmitting on 435.170 and 435.175 MHz. I had to use 15W, and at times 50W, to get through. The pass was too shallow for me to get through at 5W. Around the midpoint of the pass, possibly just after that, I had to tune my receive VFO down to 145.975 MHz to hear the rest of the pass. I mostly heard stations in California, along with W7JPI in southern Arizona and WQ3U in Oregon, and logging a total of 5 QSOs (working all I heard, except for WQ3U). The later pass was more orderly, probably a function of the footprint covering more of the Pacific Ocean. All stations allowed time for others to make (or complete) their calls. Fading is still an issue, and we all experienced the fades while trying to complete QSOs. Some observations... Now that I have a KG-UV9D HT, I probably won't use the KG-UV8D much. The KG-UV9D's receiver is probably the best receiver for satellite work from any of the Chinese-made HTs I have tried. The KG-UV8D *is* capable of full- duplex operation on AO-85, something that I had been told last year would not be possible with this radio (and before we had a U/V FM satellite to test radios against). While working the earlier pass with the HT, I kept an eye on HDSDR on my tablet. Once again, with AO-85's downlink, the AFC function tracked the downlink from start to finish. I would not have had to make any manual adjustments to the downlink frequency, had I used the SDR setup as my downlink receiver. After installing a virtual audio cable on my laptop, I was able to feed the RF recording I made with HDSDR into the FoxTelem software. I think this is how I will send telemetry to the AMSAT server, unless I have an occasion to use the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ and FoxTelem to send telemetry to the server automatically. When I am able to work the passes, I will use the SDRplay, which appears to work a little better for working satellites, and in making a RF recording that FoxTelem is able to extract more data packets from. As I have been doing recently, I uploaded files related to last night's AO-85 passes to my Dropbox space. You can get to that using this link: http://dropbox.wd9ewk.net/ (press F5 if the folder/file listing doesn't appear immediately) I have only one RF recording from last night, since I didn't use an SDR receive setup for the later pass. I have MP3 files from each pass, to show what I heard on the KG-UV8D and IC-2820H as I worked each pass. Photos and screengrabs, too. Thanks again to AMSAT for allowing us to use the FM transponder on AO-85 so soon after the launch! I have a few radios, and combinations of radios, I want to try with this U/V FM satellite. I have used different setups for each AO-85 pass I have worked, and hope to continue this for a while. This effort may take a pause while I attend the upcoming AMSAT Symposium, but I will certainly continue this after the Symposium. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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Fox @ ISS
by Nader Omer 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

1:Fm RS0ISS-1 To HZ1NH [23:58:12R] CMD(B/H/J/K/KM/L/M/R/S/SB/SP/ST/SR/V/?)> s amsat Subject: congratulation fox-1a Message: thank amsat na for new satellite /ex 1:Fm RS0ISS-1 To HZ1NH [23:59:13R] Message saved as Msg # 238 Pse avoid working BBS at continents with APRS Traffic . 73's Nader omer

1 0

Just Checking... (AO-85)
by Loon - 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

This is how I have both of my FT-60's programmed... (Mem.1) 435.170 MHz 145.980 MHz (AOS)(Mem.2) 435.175 MHz 145.980 MHz (Approach)(Mem.3) 435.180 MHz 145.980 MHz (Max El)(Mem.4) 435.185 MHz 145.980 MHz (Depart)(Mem.5) 435.190 MHz 145.980 MHz (LOS) I work two FT-60's on an Arrow Antenna where the Duplexer has been removed and RG-8X cables. VHF to thereceive HT, and the UHF cable to the transmit HT. I've noticed that when AO-85 comes above the horizon andI can hear it on RX, I am not hearing myself through the receive HT. I've tried switching between Mem 1 and Mem 2 on the approach and nothing. What I am doing wrong? Do I need to start at a higher input, say 437.180,or do I need lower inputs at the start, i.e. 437.160 or 437.165. On the passes I have heard AO-85, there seem toalways be three of four real strong stations, but yet I seem to be having difficulty reaching the bird. Any help wouldbe greatly appreciated. Oh, I am transmitting in FM Narrow if that has anything to do with it. PLEASE.... I posted something similar, seeking assistance, to the Facebook AMSAT group and basically received no help,but rather immature replies with the exception of one or two. I certainly hope that is not the result here. Thanks, Loon W3MAT

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ANS-284 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-284 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: * Fox-1A Launched at 0549 PDT on October 8, 2015 * AMSAT-NA VP-Engineering on NASA TV * AMSAT's Fox-1A Receives AO-85 Designation * Fox-1A Launch Commemorative Issue of the AMSAT Journal - Free Download * Lapan ORARI (LAPAN-A2) Receives OSCAR Number IO-86 * ISS CubeSats Deployed Monday, October 5 * LQSat Launched on Monday, October 5 * AMSAT at Pacificon 2015 * AO-85 (Fox-1A) FM Voice Transponder Activated * AO-85 Update * New OSCAR Status Page * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-284.01 ANS-284 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 284.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE October 11, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-284.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox-1A Launched at 0549 PDT on October 8, 2015 Launch and Deployment was Successful! PE0SAT, ON4HF, and R2ANF heard signals on the first pass! Video of liftoff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drTsIV7nR3w&feature=youtu.be Keplerian elements: GRACE2 1 99992U 15281.53437500 .00015007 00000-0 15580-2 0 00009 2 99992 064.7657 291.6734 0216442 282.3705 182.7702 14.73904028000019 AMSAT’s Fox-1A launched as part of the GRACE (Government Rideshare Advanced Concepts Experiment) auxillary payload on the NROL-55 mission October 8, 2015 from Vandenburg AFB on an Atlas V vehicle. The launch occurred at 5:49 AM PDT, with the NASA TV webcast starting at 5:29 AM PDT. NRO has released this factsheet about the mission: http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/GRACE_CubeSat_ FactSheet.pdf General information on Fox-1A is available in the downloadable http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FoxOperatingGuide_ May2015_Hi.pdf FoxTelem software for decoding and submitting telemetry has been made available for download at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=4532 Keplerian Elements: We will provide the Keplerian elements (aka Keps or TLEs) to enable you to track Fox-1a as soon after launch as we get them (and are cleared to release them). The information will be placed on http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasabare.txt . INITIAL COMMISSIONING PERIOD: Initially the transponder will not be on and will not respond to uplinks. Please do not attempt to uplink while we check out the satellite and commission it. We will publicize when we have opened the transponder to general use. You should expect the checkout phase to last for a minimum of several days and possibly for several weeks. What To Listen For: During the initial checkout period and when the satellite is in range, every two minutes you will generally hear about 5 seconds of data followed by a few seconds of a voice ID (and possibly a second data packet). You may occasionally hear ‘data’ mode which Chris, G0KLA, has famously described as sounding like an old-fashioned telephone modem. If you should happen to hear what appear to be QSOs, please resist the temptation to join in before the commissioning period is over. Please Send Telemetry Reports and Data: We would love to have you collect and upload as much data as you can, and to give any other kind of report on the amsat-bb mailing list (which some of the Fox team will monitor). You can also report hearing or not hearing it on http://www.amsat.org/status/ You can upload data using the FoxTelem telemetry program that we recently released. (Check the “upload to server” box in the properties/preference page). More data will help us do the checkout faster! Remember if you hear the “telephone modem” sound, you must switch FoxTelem to high-speed mode manually. Similarly FoxTelem must be in low-speed mode at other times. We are planning a special award to the person who submits the first data from the satellite (by which we mean the earliest downlinked mission elapsed time), so get your rigs ready! As part of the preparations for the launch and activation of this new satellite, AMSAT is making our “Getting Started With The Amateur Satellites” book available for a limited time as a download with any paid new or renewal membership purchased via the AMSAT Store. This offer is only available with purchases completed online, and for only a limited time. A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite operation. The 132 page book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite. Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store and selecting any membership option. While there, check out our other items, including the M2 LEOpack antenna system, AMSAT shirts, hats, and other swag. Thank you, and see you soon on Fox-1A! [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA VP-Engineering on NASA TV Radio amateurs Jerry Buxton, N0JY and Courtney Duncan, N5BF were on the panel at a NASA prelaunch briefing on Wednesday, October 7. Participants in the news briefing discussed several of the specific CubeSats aboard the National Reconnaissance Office’s NRO-L55 mission. Four of the CubeSats are NASA-sponsored and nine are NRO-sponsored, one of which was developed with NASA funding. The mission is scheduled to launch Oct. 8 from California’s Vandenburg Air Force Base. The panel comprised: • Richard Welle, director, Microsatellite Systems department at The Aerospace Corporation • Tim Olson, principal investigator for BisonSat, Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Montana • Morgan Johnson, team lead for the ARC CubeSat, University of Alaska, Fairbanks • Jerry Buxton, N0JY Vice President, Engineering, for AMSAT Fox-1 • Courtney Duncan, N5BF, principal investigator for LMRST-Sat, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=b6duPV3BwcY Jerry described the Fox-1A mission and science, and answered questions. [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-85 OSCAR Number Assigned for Fox-1A William (Bill) Tynan, W3XO, AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Administrator has issued the following release: I have been informed of the successful launch today, October 8, 2015 of the AMSAT-NA-built Fox-1A CubeSat. I am also informed that the satellite has been heard by several amateurs in various countries. This successful launch comes after years of diligent and dedicated work on the part of AMSAT-NA volunteers including Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, who became a silent key in March, 2014. It was Tony who spearheaded and guided the work on all AMSAT-NA CubeSats until his untimely passing. Thus, it is only fitting that this spacecraft be dedicated to his memory. Following Tony’s death, the work of completing and preparing for launch fell to Jerry Buxton, N0JY, who took over Tony’s post of AMSAT-NA’s Vice President for Engineering and saw to Fox-1A’s successful completion and its preparation for launch. All of those who had a part in designing, constructing and testing Fox-1A and its various subsystems are to be congratulated for jobs well done. Since Fox-1A was properly coordinated through IARU as an Amateur Radio satellite, has been successfully launched and its signals have been received; I, under the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA President, do hereby issue to Fox-1A the designation AMSAT-OSCAR-85, or AO-85. May AO-85 serve the radio amateurs of world for many years to come. [ANS thanks Bill, W3XO, and AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox-1A Launch Commemorative Issue of the AMSAT Journal - Free Download Congratulations to AMSAT's Fox-1A team on their successful launch, orbital deployment, and activation of the Fox-1A satellite. (Now to be known as AO-85.) AMSAT has produced a free, commemorative issue of the AMSAT Journal highlighting the Fox-1A launch success. This full color PDF issue can be downloaded from our current top news story, "Fox-1A launch 5:49 AM PDT on October 8, 2015" at http://www.amsat.org. A direct link to this news item is http://www.amsat.org/?p=4591 If you aren't already a member of AMSAT this issue of our magazine will give you an inside look at the best ham radio club in the world. You'll read and see the dedicated efforts of the Fox-1A team that got us to October 8. Please consider joining AMSAT to support our series of launches coming in 2016 and beyond. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Lapan ORARI (LAPAN-A2) Receives OSCAR Number IO-86 William (Bill) Tynan, W3XO, AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Administrator has issued the following release: AMSAT-NA has received information from YE0EEE of the successful launch, September 28, 2015 of an Indonesian Amateur Radio satellite, Lapan ORARI (LAPAN-A2). According to the information I have, this satellite meets all of the requirements to receive an OSCAR number, including IARU coordination. Accordingly, by the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA President, I hereby confer on this spacecraft the designation Indonesia OSCAR- 86. or IO-86. Dirgan, YE0EEE, and all who had a part in the design, construction, test and launch of IO-86 are to be congratulated. May this Amateur Radio spacecraft have a long and useful life serving the amateurs of the world. The following response was received from Dirgantara, YE0EEE from AMSAT-ID: Many thanks for good news. I, the AMSAT-ID Team, and LAPAN are all very happy about the new Oscar number. By today, I will have informed all the ORARI members. Link to AMSAT-UK article on LAPAN-A2 launch http://amsat-uk.org/2015/09/28/lapan-a2-fm-and-aprs-satellite-launched/ [ANS thanks Bill, W3XO, and AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISS CubeSats Deployed Monday, October 5 Two Danish CubeSats carrying amateur radio payloads were successfully deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, October 5 at 1405 UT. Originally launched to the ISS on August 19, 2015, the two CubeSats, AAUSat-5 and GomX-3, were deployed from the ISS Japanese Kibo module airlock using the Kibo robotic arm. After deployment the CubeSats stated transmitting signals to Earth that can be picked up by anyone with common amateur radio equipment. The frequencies to listen on are: • AAUSat-5 – 437.425 MHz with 30 WPM CW beacon every 3 minutes and 9600 bps GMSK packet every 30 seconds • GomX-3 – 437.250 MHz with 1200-9600 bps GMSK data using CSP protocol AAUsat-5 is a 1-Unit CubeSat built by students at Aalborg University. The primary mission is to test an improved receiver for detecting Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals emitted by ships. Down on the ground, these signals are short-range, operating mainly on a ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship basis, leaving large spans of the world’s oceans uncovered. But signals also travel up to orbital altitude, opening up the prospect of worldwide monitoring. GomX-3 is a 3-Unit CubeSat which aims to demonstrate new radio technology. A reconfigurable software-defined radio receiver will intercept L-band spot beams from telecom satellites in geostationary orbit, to provide independent measurements of their signal strength and quality. This receiver can also be re-purposed to receive any other L-band signal, such as navigation satellite signals or radar beams. A receiver will pick up Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) signals automatically broadcast by civilian aircraft, to build up an overview of regional air traffic. Additionally there is a high data rate X-band transmitter developed by Syrlinks. The CNES X-band ground station in Kourou, South America, will be used to demonstrate the link. The GomX-3 amateur radio payload uses a NanoCom AX100 UHF transceiver and ANT430 antenna. Mineo Wakita JE9PEL in Japan reported receiving the GomX-3 beacon in Japan from 1505-1510 UT on October 5 and Luciano Fabricio PY5LF reported hearing GomX-3 in Brazil at 1605 UT. Jan van Gills PE0SAT in the Netherlands received AAUSat-5 at 1800 UT. The two spacecraft may have a lifetime of around 7 months before they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. GomX-3 telemetry beacon https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4mipoz9gmqhlib/GOMX3_Beacon.pdf AAUSat-5 telemetry beacon http://www.space.aau.dk/aausat5/index.php?n=Main.HamInfo ESA article CubeSats set for Monday Release (with video) http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/ESA_CubeSats… _for_Monday_release ESA invites radio amateurs to listen for AAUSat-5 CubeSat http://amsat-uk.org/2015/09/24/esa-listen-for-aausat-5/ [ANS thanks ESA and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- LQSat Launched Monday, October 5 LQSat was launched into a 656 km sun synchronous orbit at 0413 UT on Wednesday, October 7 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in Inner Mongolia on a Chang Zheng 2D (CZ-2D) rocket. The satellite was developed by researchers and students at the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) and carries an amateur radio payload. LQSat is technology demonstrator measuring 40x40x60 cm with a mass of 50 kg and carries a 2 m resolution camera as the main payload. The IARU coordinated downlink frequencies are • 437.650 MHz at 0.5 watts (27 dBm) with either 25 WPM CW or 4800 bps MSK CSP packet data • 2404 MHz at 1 watt (30 dBm) using 1 Mbps QPSK Launch report http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/10/china-launches-jilin-1-mission-long- march-2d/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at Pacificon 2015 AMSAT will participate at Pacificon on October 17, 2015 in San Ramon, California. The ARRL Pacific Division's Conference, Pacificon 2015 will be held in the Marriott, 2600 Bishop Drive in San Ramon. The host for Pacificon is the Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club (MDARC). Alan, WA6DNR will be representing AMSAT with a table and Michael, WA6ARA will be giving a forum presentation titled, “Satellites - Amateur Radio's Future.” Micheal's forum presentation will be at 1100 PDT, October 17 in the San Ramon Marriott's Pleasanton Room. Say Hi Hi to both! If you're on the west coast and cannot make it to Dayton for the AMSAT Space Symposium, Pacificon is always a fun alternative with swap meet, forums, dinner, events, and Gordo West. Further details on Pacificon are at: https://sites.google.com/a/mdarc.org/pacificon2015/home [ANS thanks Alan Bowker, WA6DNR for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-85 (Fox-1A) FM Voice Transponder Activated The 435 to 145 MHz FM voice transponder on AO-85 was activated during Friday, October 9 allowing many contacts to be made. Among those active on the satellite was 9-year-old Hope KM4IPF. Hope is the daughter of Michelle N8ZQZ and James WX4TV, other radio amateurs in the family are Hope’s elder sister Faith WA4BBC and brother Zechariah, WX4TVJ. Her younger sister is studying for her license. In this video Hope KM4IPF describes her first AO-85 (Fox-1A) contact https://vimeo.com/141916942 Fox-1A Real-time track and Orbital Predictions (click on Draw Footprint to show coverage area) http://www.n2yo.com/?s=40967 Read the Fox Operating Guide to find out how to set up your handheld radio to work the satellite http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FoxOperatingGuide_ May2015_Hi.pdf Note: If your rig has selectable FM filters use the wider filter for 5 kHz deviation 25 kHz channel spacing. See http://amsat-uk.org/2015/10/09/fox-1a-fm-transponder-activated/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-85 Update AO-85 is still being tested. Please note that while AO-85 is in Transponder Mode right now, we have not officially commissioned her and testing is still underway. Part of the testing involves observations in Transponder and Data Modes. We may switch out of Transponder Mode at any time without notice, until we are done testing. If AO-85 is in Safe Mode or Data Mode when it passes and you were expecting Transponder Mode, don't be surprised or angry! [ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President for Engineering Jerry, N0JY for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New OSCAR Status Page Thanks to the efforts of Joe KM1P and Pete 2E0SQL, and with the permission of David, KD5QGR, we have set up a copy of the OSCAR satellite status page at http://www.amsat.org/status This page will be maintained by multiple volunteers, including myself, and we will be able to add and delete satellites as required, as well as keep information links current. It will take a few days to populate the database, but please begin using this page as soon as possible. In the near future the old page will point to this one for a while, until people get used to the new address. There are still some satellites to add and delete, so this will be a work in progress for a bit. First and foremost we will delete the reentered sats, and add Fox-1A for next Thursday! [ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). *Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16-18 2015, AMSAT Symposium in Dayton OH (Dayton Crown Plaza) *Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16-18 2015, ARRL Pacific Division Convention (Pacificon), San Ramon, California *Saturday, 7 November 2015 – Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Marana AZ *Saturday and Sunday, 7-8 November 2015 – Stone Mountain Hamfest and ARRL Georgia Section Convention in Lawrenceville GA *Monday, 16 November 2015 – Tri-City Amateur Radio Association meeting in Goodyear AZ *Saturday, 5 December 2015 – Superstition Superfest 2015 in Mesa AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts October 6, 2015 * A telebridge contact via LU1CGB with students at Corpus Christi Catholic School, Chambersburg, PA, USA was successful Tue 2015-10-06 16:29:32 UTC 33 deg. Students received answers to 18 questions from astronaut Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS. Listen to a recording of the contact: http://www.ariss.org/news.html School Information Corpus Christi Catholic School is a K - 8 Roman Catholic Elementary School, located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. With an enrollment of 215 students and 17 full-time and 3 part-time faculty members, Corpus Christi School is committed to the pursuit of excellence in Catholic education. The school strives to be on the cutting edge of technology with Smartboards in every classroom, two computer labs, iPads, and Chromebooks. Students in the primary grades participate in weekly swim lessons at the local YMCA. Intermediate grades place a strong emphasis on STEM related concepts and careers. Grades four through eight have background knowledge of NASA starting with Gemini and continuing onto Mars. In 2013, three teachers were selected to be on the Reduced Gravity Flight through NASA Explorer Schools. This experience increased the entire students’ awareness of space flight and experiments being conducted in microgravity on the International Space Station. Middle school students are able to expand their curriculum by traveling to major cities such as Pittsburgh, Washington DC, and Williamsburg, VA. Scores on standardized tests are above the national average. School pride runs deep with the students, faculty, staff and parents. * A direct contact via 9M2RPN with students at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Tun Dr Ismail (1), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was successful Fri 2015-10-09 08:00:04 UTC 47 deg. The scheduled astronaut was Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS. Video Link of Contact https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCMo_BkXOaI School Information Our first ARISS contact was made in 2007 when, Malaysia's first Astronaut Shiekh Muzapher went on board the ISS. We made 5 direct contacts when, some 80 school children talked to him and asked questions. Since then it has become a highly sought after yearly event which is tied up with the Prime Minister's Space Challenge Trophy. This year we will be making our 8th yearly contact. Since the schools do not have ground stations, they make use of Satellite Ground Station at the National Planetarium established in 1995 under the call sign of 9M2RPN. The schools are the nurseries to produce future astronauts and space scientists. The forthcoming contact in October 2015 provides the hands on experience and the seeding operation for tomorrow's space scientists. Upcoming Contacts * A telebridge contact via IK1SLD with students at Bay View Elementary School in Burlington, Washington, USA is scheduled for Wed 2015-10-14 19:41:44 UTC 59 deg. School Information Bay View School in Burlington, Washington has been serving kindergarten through eighth grade students in the Burlington-Edison School District for 22 years. Named after the small community of Bayview, which was later incorporated by the town of Burlington, it serves mainly in-district neighborhood students. This year 562 students are enrolled. The town of Burlington is 66 miles north of Seattle, Washington. Located at the intersection of two major highways, Burlington serves as a retail and commercial hub for the region. Industry is mainly agricultural, retail, and commercial. Over the past three years, Bay View has committed to becoming a school of inquiry. Through inquiry and collaboration, Bay View’s purpose is to nurture compassionate, creative, knowledgeable growth-minded world citizens, who pursue dreams and positively impact the future. Bay View continually inquires to understand one essential question. What do we need to understand, commit to and implement to prepare students to be career, college, and/or world ready for the 21st century? This journey has led them to begin creating concept-based units of inquiry at each grade level. Multi-disciplinary and intra-disciplinary units support school-wide connections through inquiry. The opportunity to ask questions of astronauts on the ISS was pursued as an experience that could spark students’ interest in space, engineering, technology, mathematics, and support a school-wide inquiry. Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over AMSAT Highlighted in This Week at NASA Fox, amateur radio, and AMSAT are briefing featured this week in the short weekly news update “This Week at NASA.” See: https://youtu.be/tWOiU2oJMSA [ANS thanks Frank, KA3HDO for the above information] Magazine Archive Free (hams like free!) access to electronics and radio magazines from the past. Something to read while waiting for that next AO-85 pass ... See http://americanradiohistory.com/ Hover mouse over Broadcast & Consumer for a menu Hover mouse over Consumer Electronics then Popular Electronics & Similar The old issues download as PDF files. Gotta try it on my tablet to see if it works in the little room down the hall ... [ANS thanks JoAnne, K9JKM for the above information] AMSAT Symposium / VUCC/WAS QSL Card Checking Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards reports that if you have any cards you would like checked for VUCC/WAS, I will be at the Symposium. I will give preference to satellite contacts first before I check other bands/modes. If you are going to have cards checked, I prefer the list be in Grid Square order using an Excel spreadsheet or Word doc with the second column being the call sign worked. Place all your cards in the same grid square order as the list with any cards that contain multiple grids at the end of the stack. If you have lists (from Yuri, etc), I can go through them as well. [ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information] NASA to Announce Selections for Small Satellite Launch Contract October 07, 2015 MEDIA ADVISORY M15-150 NASA to Announce Selections for Small Satellite Launch ContractNASA will host a news conference at 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to announce the outcome of the Venture Class Launch Service (VCLS) competition. The news conference will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website. The participants are: • Garrett Skrobot, Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission lead for the Launch Services Program (LSP) at Kennedy • Eric Ianson, associate director of NASA’s Earth Sciences Division in the Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington • Mark Wiese, flight projects office chief, NASA Launch Services Program, Kennedy Space Center • Representatives from the selected launch service providers [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] See you in Dayton! - Joe, K6WAO --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org

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Any luck decoding AO-85 Telem with Icom IC-9100 USB Interface?
by Bob 12 Oct '15

12 Oct '15

Hi all, I've tried my IC-9100 a couple of times for DUV decoding and I've had no luck. My first concern is that the USB interface may include filtering that restricts the bandwidth of the receive audio. Still hoping it mostly due to using an EggBeater with preamp vs a tracking beam, but I thought I would ask. Signals are generally pretty good -- fully quiteing for 4-5 minutes around the point of closest approach. 73, Bob, WB4SON

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SATpc 32 failed
by James Brown 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

SATpc32 failed . Error window states"error while loading file STANDARD.SAT" I am using win 10 for a couple months with this program. Any ideas on How I can fix this? thanksJim KI6WJ

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LilacSat Telemetry Capture for Later Upload?
by Scott 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

Against all odds, I was able to download the ISO image and created a bootable USB flash drive to run the pre-packaged software for receiving telemetry from LilacSat-2. Certainly never thought I'd see GNU Radio running in this house! My question is, it "appears" that the software is designed for real-time capture and simultaneous real-time upload of the telemetry to the servers in China. Does anyone know if it's possible to capture the telemetry offline (no internet connection) and then have it upload to the database once the computer is back on an internet connection? Thanks! -Scott, K4KDR Montpelier, VA USA

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Demo from DM43ah this afternoon...
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

Hi! I will be doing a demonstration of satellite operating from a city park in the Phoenix neighborhood of Ahwatukee, southeast of the Phoenix city center in grid DM43ah, starting with SO-50 around 2100 UTC, and possibly until 0100 or 0130 UTC this evening. If you hear me on, please call and join in. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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FOX1-A
by PY5LF 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

Hi FOX1-A has just passed here and looks 10 degrees earlier than the actual keps , signal very good . 73 PY5LF Luciano Fabricio Curitiba-PR-BR GG54jm http://www.qrz.com/db/PY5LF

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LUSAT lives!
by Robert McGwier 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

https://youtu.be/GbkVGRBf06s

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Eimac Moonbounce Notes collection
by Phil Karn 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

Way back in 1980 when I first got interested in amateur satellites and AMSAT, I wrote off to Eimac Corporation for their "Moonbounce Notes" collection. While on a household paper eradication campaign I came across them and scanned them. I thought others might enjoy a look back at some bleeding-edge ham activities from the mid-late 1970s. It's particularly amusing to see how much effort was spent just tracking the moon with the technology then available. http://www.ka9q.net/moonbounce-notes This is a raw collection of pdf files, but the file names are pretty descriptive. Collect the entire set! If anybody has any notes missing from my collection, please let me know. Phil

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Download link issue for "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites"
by John Brier 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

Hi, As a heads up to anyone trying to download this after getting a new membership, the link (at least for me on Firefox on Windows 7) does not provide the full file name, only "Getting". Importantly, it doesn't have pdf as the extension. If you just add that to the file after downloading it, it will open fine. Thanks everyone for all your work. John, KG4AKV

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AO-85 IQ recording
by Daniel Estévez 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

Hi all, Here is a recording I made last night on one of the passes of AO-85 over Europe with a Funcube Dongle Pro+: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2pPGQkeEAfdaEVXSFluTGVIaUk/view?usp=shari… The centre frequency is 145.950MHz and the file can be opened directly with FoxTelem, which decodes about a dozen payloads. There is also a bit of AO-73 transponder and some other satellite downlinking BPSK telemetry at the beginning of the pass. 73, Dani M0HXM/EA4GPZ.

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-11 06:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-11 06:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Tun Dr Ismail (1), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, direct via 9M2RPN The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact was successful: Fri 2015-10-09 08:00:04 UTC 47 deg (***) Bay View Elementary School, Burlington, WA, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for: Wed 2015-10-14 19:41:44 UTC 59 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 2015-10-11 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 998. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 963. (***) 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 2015-10-11 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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QB50 Kep location?
by Ken Swaggart 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

I had been copying telemetry from QB-50P1, but now I can’t find the keps on Celestrak. Anyone have an idea of where they are? Tnx, Ken, W7KKE

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Kenwood TM-V71A Test AO-85 Telemetry Decode
by Brad Schumacher 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

I set my TM-V71a (which has the same RF deck at the D710 series) to 9600 baud mode and attempted to decode the AO-85 telemetry without success. The radio was clearly putting out the unfiltered audio on the data port that is needed for 9600 baud operation but it wasn't good enough for FoxTelem. Basically the same results I had with the TS-2000 Brad, KG7NXH

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Magazine Archive
by JoAnne Maenpaa 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

Free (hams like free!) access to electronics and radio magazines from the past. Something to read while waiting for that next AO-85 pass ... http://americanradiohistory.com/ Hover mouse over Broadcast & Consumer for a menu Hover mouse over Consumer Electronics then Popular Electronics & Similar The old issues download as PDF files. Gotta try it on my tablet to see if it works in the little room down the hall ... -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

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Another FCDPP AO-85 telemetry observation
by Mark L. Hammond 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

Quick share-- For the FCDPP (Funcube dongle pro plus)---This morning I looked closely at the baseline noise level in Foxtelem. It was quite high, around -50 or so. Since I can't adjust LNA or Mixer (both forced ON in Foxtelem), I went to the Recording Devices Control panel, and adjusted the audio level there---from about 25 (used in all my other SDR programs)---down to 4, so my baseline is about -75. That seems to have helped a good bit, and even unattended on the first pass tonight I see it grabbed 35 or so frames. That's good, since this morning it got ONE. Anyhow, those of you running FCDPP might check that out... 73, Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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AO-85. Finally did it!
by Mvivona 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

I GOT ONE PACKET DECODED.. I GOT ONE PACKET DECODED!!! I'm so excited I'm about to pee myself. One last try with the FCD+ and the telemetry program set for IQ on a 35° pass. Got my first packet, woo hoo! Michael KC4ZVA Sent from my iPad

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Re: [amsat-bb] AO-85 Verry bummed out
by Burns Fisher 11 Oct '15

11 Oct '15

Your description sounds like you caught Fox-1a in high speed data mode. We are still doing some commissioning so expect mode switches without necessarily hearing any warning. If it sounds like "an old fashioned acoustic coupler" (and if you are old enough to know what that sounds like :-) try switching FoxTlm to high speed mode. For high speed mode you have to be especially careful that there is no LOW PASS filter in the path. You need 10KHz or more audio band pass. (For low speed you need to be able to hear down to 20-ish Hz.) 73, Burns W2BFJ On 10/9/2015 19:56, Mvivona via AMSAT-BB wrote: > Very bummed out. > So, just has a direct overhead pass. Still not able to decode any data. > What was that wide banded high-pitched tone? The tone lasted almost a > whole pass without a break. At first I did hear what sounded like a QSO, > but almost impossible to understand. Anyone else having the same experience? > > Michael - KC4ZVA > AMSAT member > Sent from my iPad > >

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Re: [amsat-bb] Fox-1A Telemetry Results using TS-2000
by Brad Schumacher 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

To follow up on this, I tried more telemetry decodes on two passes last night using the TS-2000 and no combination of settings (1200/9600, FM audio filters, 48K, 96K, 192K input rates) resulted in decodable data using either the RigBlaster Advantage or laptop's built in sound card (Mic input). I'm going to call the audio out of the TS-2000 unusable for this. Apparently, some low frequencies are being filtered regardless of the settings. Thanks, Brad Schumacher 307-631-6436

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FOX-1A / AO-85 FM Voice Ops
by Clint Bradford 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

The world has NOT changed overnight with the new AMSAT-NA Fox-1A / AO-85 satellite: When it is announced that it is in FM transponder mode, we do NOT call "CQ"on the satellite, as I have read elsewhere. Best source for operating sample techniques? How about from those who built and were responsible for the bird: AMSAT-NA ... http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FoxOperatingGuide… Clint K6LCS

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IC 910 sold
by Keith McDonnell 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

Thank you everyone, but someone bought the rig. 73, Keith

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Ic 910h for sale
by Keith McDonnell 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

If anyone is interested, I have a 910h on ebay item # 301761238855. Congrats to the Fox Team! Thank you , 73 to all, Keith.

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uptime 119439 fox telem
by Bob KD7YZ 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

seems there was a lot more deep-fades. Made decoding a bit more lengthily. Is she spinning? The "Eye" sometimes had a difficult time holding the proper, what I believe is, proper form to make a decode. A previous pass was the high-speed and got nothing off that with my Funcube That "FOX-1A Computer RT Battery 12c "FAIL "" is that an issue up there? This pass I fooled around with the Win-7 sound device settings for the FCDP+ .. I thought I might be seeing some flat-topping on the Sample view of the first tab. It was set at 100. I was able to get down around 15 and still decode. Left it about 90 . For unattended operation, should I set "Find Signal" ? I have frequency set to 145960 . track doppler (x) was Find Signal but I am not sure if this is desirable. W/O it, will program center on a 4 to 7 SNR peak all by itself? -- 73, Bob KD7YZ www.qrz.com/db/kd7yz AmSat LM#901

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Re: [amsat-bb] Friday evening - LilacSat-2, AO-85 (yes!!!), and SO-50...
by Brad Schumacher 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

Patrick, This is what I use on my Windows 7 and Windows 10 machines: http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/ About 1/3 of the way down the page is the downlink. This will create new audio Playback and Record devices named "Cable Input - VB-Audio Virtual Cable" or "Cable Output - VB-Audio Virtual Cable" Cable INPUT is for PLAYBACK and Cable OUTPUT is for RECORDING. Thanks, Brad Schumacher

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Re: [amsat-bb] Friday evening - LilacSat-2, AO-85 (yes!!!), and SO-50...
by Brad Schumacher 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

Patrick, This is what I use on my Windows 7 and Windows 10 machines: http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/ About 1/3 of the way down the page is the downlink. This will create new audio Playback and Record devices named "Cable Input - VB-Audio Virtual Cable" or "Cable Output - VB-Audio Virtual Cable" Cable INPUT is for PLAYBACK and Cable OUTPUT is for RECORDING. Thanks, Brad Schumacher

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Friday evening - LilacSat-2, AO-85 (yes!!!), and SO-50...
by Brad Schumacher 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

Patrick, I downloaded your RF recordings and was able to decode 41 telemetry payloads from your 0130 UTC pass by playing your recording out from HDSDR at 96000 output bandwidth and piping the audio to FoxTelem. That's a LOT more than I was able to decode on my own downlink at home. Since you were using the Elk antenna and able to twist for polarity fades, your receive signal was much better than mine hence more decodes. I would think that for anybody using an SDR other than the FunCUbe Dongle that recording the RF then playing back as audio into FoxTelem would provide a solution to the incompatible .wave file sample rates (192K vs 200K). Thanks, Brad Schumacher 307-631-6436

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Friday evening - LilacSat-2, AO-85 (yes!!!), and SO-50...
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

Hi! A lot of satellite work tonight, starting with a LilacSat-2 pass, then a couple of AO-85 passes, and wrapping up with an SO-50 pass approaching midnight (0700 UTC). Fun stuff, and a lot to scribble about... The LilacSat-2 pass around 0130 UTC this evening was a nice and high (almost 49 degrees maximum elevation) pass. One slight problem - the repeater was off. Regardless of that issue, I listened to the pass with my SDRplay receiver and Elk log periodic, copying the transmissions using the HDSDR software on my 8-inch tablet. This also let me prepare for the AO-85 pass a few minutes later, the first of two AO-85 passes tonight. My first AO-85 pass tonight, starting around 0150 UTC, went up the center of the continental USA. As I expected, there was a lot of activity on the new satellite. Glenn AA5PK was my first AO-85 QSO this evening, and I logged 8 more QSOs over the next 10 minutes I was in the footprint. I was using my Icom IC-2820H 2m/70cm mobile radio for the uplink, at 15 or 50 watts transmitter power (I could not get through with the 5-watt low power setting during this pass). My SDRplay receiver along with HDSDR on an 8-inch Windows 10 tablet for the downlink. I made an RF recording of the pass using the SDRplay at 200 kHz IF bandwidth, hoping I could sneak it through the Fox telemetry software and upload some data packets after the pass. The telemetry program appeared to accept my RF recording, even though it was at 200 kHz and the software was designed to accept 192 kHz RF recordings from a FUNcube Dongle Pro+. Although the RF recording played in the program, no data packets were decoded. The SDRplay did a good job hearing the satellite; I think a little better than the FUNcube Dongle Pro+. I had to twist my Elk log periodic almost constantly throughout this pass. It was a nice pass to work, with a maximum elevation out here at 37 degrees. The later AO-85 pass around 0330 UTC wasn't as high in the western sky, at a maximum elevation for me at just over 24 degrees. This turned out to be the first pass I tried one of my Chinese-made HTs, seeing if I could work this satellite full-duplex. I actually set up two stations in my driveway for this pass - Wouxun KG-UV9D and Elk log periodic I used to talk through the satellite; and the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ and AMSAT-UK (Winkler) VHF crossed dipole, connected to my 8-inch Windows 10 tablet and HDSDR to write an RF recording of this pass that I could use with the Fox telemetry software for a data upload after the pass. Even though the KG-UV9D can tune in 2.5 kHz steps, I stuck with 5 kHz steps for the uplink tuning. Being able to tune in 2.5 kHz steps did not appear to help me work AO-85. With the sharper receive filtering in the KG-UV9D, I set my downlink frequency at 145.9825 for the first minute or so of the pass, and then moved it down to 145.980 for the next several minutes. Near the end of the pass, I had to put the HT on 145.9775 MHz to hear the downlink without the voices sounding off-frequency. It seemed like I had to twist my Elk more often this pass. I also saw and heard the fading on my SDR receive setup during the pass. A few minutes into the pass, I was able to make my only QSO during this pass, a quick QSO with Tom KA6SIP in northern California. The best part of this QSO, besides being the first AO-85 QSO I made using a 5-watt HT... I was able to complete this QSO full-duplex with the KG-UV9D! I could hear in the receiver when I pushed the PTT, but unlike using this HT on SO-50, there was no receiver desense as I transmitted to AO-85 on 70cm! This is a very good sign, and I hope to repeat this using a couple of my other Chinese- made dual-band HTs on upcoming AO-85 passes (Wouxun KG-UV8D, AnyTone TERMN-8R). I was not able to get through AO-85 with the HT early or late in the pass, but near the midpoint when the satellite was around 20 degrees elevation or higher. I'll see if this is something that will be an issue going forward, or if the commissioning process will lead to some tweaks on the AO-85 uplink receiver, to make it a little more sensitive to lower- power uplink signals. After this pass, I took my HDSDR RF recording and played it in the Fox telemetry software on my 8-inch Windows 10 tablet. I successfully copied, and uploaded, 4 data packets from the 0330 UTC pass! This is one more than the number of packets I received during two passes last night. Since I used the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ as my SDR receiver, I knew HDSDR's RF recordings - at the dongle's maximum input bandwidth of 192 kHz - would work fine with the Fox telemetry software. Not a bad way to wrap up the second of the two AO-85 passes - a full-duplex QSO on that HT, and helping AMSAT with some data uploaded to the telemetry server. To wrap up the evening, I worked an SO-50 pass from the back yard around 0625 UTC. A very nice late-evening pass, using the KG-UV9D as my uplink radio and the SDRplay receiver with my 8-inch Windows 10 tablet and HDSDR as my receiver. Only a few stations on, including Tom WA0POD, Tom KA6SIP, and Frank K6FW - all who were on the 0330 UTC AO-85 pass a few hours earlier. A few observations, in no particular order... During the 0330 UTC AO-85 pass, there was a 45-second period where the downlink simply disappeared. Nothing was heard from the satellite. I could clearly see this on my RF recording with my FUNcube dongle and HDSDR, and a local friend of mine (Brad KG7NXH) also observed this at his station in another part of the Phoenix area. When the downlink transmitter came back on, it appeared that the downlink frequency ramped up to the nominal 145.980 MHz frequency - just like I saw when the voice announcements were transmitted on the passes Thursday evening. I tweeted screengrabs from my RF recording in HDSDR the moments when the downlink shut off and then restarted: https://twitter.com/WD9EWK/status/652715204287946752 This is also visible in the RF recording I made from this pass. KG7NXH posted his screengrabs in a thread on the QRZ.com satellite forum: https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/ao-85.496019/#post-3621413 It seems like my SDRplay receiver is more sensitive than the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ on these passes. I wish the Fox telemetry software had a little bit of a "fudge factor" in the WAV files it can process. Since the SDRplay's smallest bandwidth is 200 kHz, 8 kHz more than the FUNcube dongle's maximum 192 kHz bandwidth, I wonder if there is a way that the Fox telemetry software could be tweaked to accept WAV files at either 192 or 200 kHz RF bandwidth. This wouldn't mean the Fox software could directly work with the SDRplay receiver, but certainly opens up the SDRplay as an option for working the passes and having a usable RF recording that can be processed by the Fox telemetry software. Now if I could use the SDRplay and the Fox software to copy and upload data packets in real time during passes... Even though the KG-UV9D and probably a few other Chinese-made dual-band HTs can't work SO-50 full-duplex, they are probably going to be viable options for a dual-band HT capable of full-duplex operation on AO-85 and other Fox-1 U/V satellites. For many who have Icom IC-W32As that would suffer from receiver desense on V/U satellites including SO-50, it is time to dust them off - these should also be good for full-duplex operation on the Fox-1 satellites, free of any receiver desense. The time has come to prove - or, hopefully, disprove - statements about these HTs and their ability to work Fox-1 satellites full-duplex. :-) For all of the passes I worked and monitored this evening, I have uploaded my audio and RF recordings, along with photos and screengrabs, to my Dropbox space. You can get to those files at: http://dropbox.wd9ewk.net/ Press F5 if the Dropbox page doesn't immediately appear in your browser window. This is easier than pasting the long string of gibberish that makes up a link to a public Dropbox folder. All of my files from this evening are in folders with name starting with 20151010. It is approaching the 48-hour mark since the launch of AO-85. Being able to actually use this satellite, so soon after the launch, is hopefully a sign that the satellite is in good working order. I know that AMSAT personnel are still checking over the telemetry being downloaded from the satellite and uploaded to the AMSAT telemetry server. I hope the 45 seconds of silence heard this evening was a one-off incident. Add in the LilacSat-2 pass I heard early this evening, to the SO-50 pass just before midnight, it has been another fun day to work satellites. :-) Good night, and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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ao 85 telem help
by Nick Pugh K5QXJ 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

My set up is flex 5000 virtual audio cables I get good eye pattern when signal is not if a fade. But have not been able to decode telemetry. I also have no audio out on the monitor. Any suggestions? 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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AO-85 is still being tested
by Jerry Buxton 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

Please note that while AO-85 is in Transponder Mode right now, we have not officially commissioned her and testing is still underway. Part of the testing involves observations in Transponder and Data Modes. We may switch out of Transponder Mode at any time without notice, until we are done testing. If AO-85 is in Safe Mode or Data Mode when it passes and you were expecting Transponder Mode, don't be surprised or angry! -- Jerry Buxton, NØJY

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big thanks to fox team
by Nick Pugh K5QXJ 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

Big thanks to the fox team We have a new fantastic bird on orbit. 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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Fox 1A 2015 OCT 9 23UTC Pass Over Thailand
by Karn Suwanrat 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

Hi, Fox 1A (AO-85) 2015 OCT 9 23UTC Pass Over Thailand Strong Voice Beacon Signal received https://youtu.be/Wso2J--dntg 73, Karn, E20ZFD

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Assembly volunteer?
by George Henry 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

Who do I contact to offer my services assembling preamps, LVB Trackers, etc.? George, KA3HSW --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Lilacsat 2 Barely Audible Over DO33
by B J 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

During the last pass, which began locally around 0135 UTC, I could barely hear my signal. It was well down in the background noise. The maximum elevation was about 35 degrees and, for most of the time, there were no obstructions which would block the downlink. I was using 5 W into a dual-band Arrow yagi. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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How to Know When Your AO-85 Telemetry Has Been Uploaded?
by Scott 10 Oct '15

10 Oct '15

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

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