AMSAT-BB October 2015

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Re: [amsat-bb] Satellite Sex?
by Clint Bradford 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

I thought the mission was being dedicated to the memory of Tony ... so that is why I was inquiring ... Clint

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Satellite Sex?
by Clint Bradford 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

Do satellites have sex? Er, I mean, well ... nautical ships are referred to as being female - "she." Does Fox-1A have a gender? When I called it "her" in a recent post, I was asked if it really had a gender. Clint Bradford http://www.work-sat.com

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SatPC32 V 12.8C help
by KE6PPE＠aol.com 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

Need some help on two thing dealing wit Satpc32 V12.8c. 1. How do you change the size of the window for satellites sub available window size so you can see all of information on the list information? 2. How do you down load new satellite information on new satellites. Thank for the help. Larry KE6PPE

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Upcoming ARISS contact with West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, MI
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at West Michigan Aviation Academy, Grand Rapids, MI on 22 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 17:14 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and W8ISS. The contact should be audible over portions of the eastern U.S. and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. The West Michigan Aviation Academy is a tuition-free public charter high school founded by Dick DeVos upon encouragement from wife, Betsy. Stemming from their passion for both education and aviation, the school opened its doors in the fall of 2010 and is located on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. Like other high schools, our curriculum includes core subjects. But as an aviation-themed high school the curriculum at WMAA is designed for students who have a passion for aviation and/or an interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. (STEM) The Aviation program includes training for the Private Pilot certificate in the student's senior year. The school owns our own Cessna 172 that is provided at direct operating costs to the students. Although they must pay for the flight training the total cost is much lower than renting at the local flight school and ground instruction is provided for as part of their elective classes. Currently we have 11 students in the program and hope to have 18 by the time of the contact. We also try to get the kids out around the airport to experience the many different job opportunities available in aviation. The Robotics program includes FIRST robotics programs and many of our competitors are taking both engineering and aviation classes. Our engineering program provides for instruction in aerospace, robotics and electronic fields. We try to closely alley the Aviation and Engineering departments. We currently have about 500 students were everyone knows each other. We have students from all walks of life from the suburbs to the inner city all working together and enjoying the diversity this environment offers. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. What courses did you take in high school that you find most relevant to your work at the International Space Station? 2. Are you planning on expanding the size of the ISS, if so then when do you plan on starting the constructing? 3. So far during the twin study, what research has been recorded since Scott Kelly was sent up to the station? 4. What do you think of the liquid water on Mars? Do you think it would make it possible to colonize it earlier? 5. Waking up in space every day and seeing earth out your window, how has seeing this and having this opportunity changed your perspective on life? 6. Concerning the twin study, in order to remove variables from the research on gut organisms, will the twins have the exact same diet during the space mission? 7. Could you use a gyroscopic space station to simulate gravity so the astronauts can still maintain balance and bone strength? 8. What are the ways you blend your culture with the other cultures surrounding you at the station? 9. Do you always have enough food? If not, how is more food sent to you? 10. Being confined in that small area so far away from others, do you guys ever feel lonely? How are the group dynamics? 11. How does space positively or negatively affect your health? 12. What is the daily checklist for astronauts, in terms of safety inspections, instrument tuning, and/or incoming information? 13. What types of plants do you grow to study and what are the main differences between their growth in space and on earth? 14. What kind of emotional impact do you feel being selected out of thousands of scientists to be one of the few humans to venture into outer space? 15. Does zero gravity affect your dreams? 16. I understand most astronauts stay in space for approximately six months, do you feel that astronauts should be kept in space for this long or should it be longer such as Russian astronauts who have been known to stay for a year? 17. In your opinion, do you think that commercial rocket companies such as SpaceX will help the space industry by exploring new realms of our solar system, or will the cheaper, reusable rockets hurt the industry by causing a fatal accident? 18. Does Scott Kelly have to do anything different while in space to gather data for the identical twin/effects of space study? 19. What does a lunar eclipse look like up at the space station? 20. How does having women on the ISS impact the mission? 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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Bob Farquhar SK
by Peter Guelzow 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

Robert W. Farquhar, PhD (1932-2015) It is with great sadness to inform you that Robert W. Farquhar, former flight director of the ISEE-3 mission passed away on Sept 18th, 2015. Bob’s dissertation was key to halo orbits around libration points, which are now used by many science missions. After redirecting the ISEE-3 mission to comet Giacobini-Ziner in 1985 he developed the trajectory with eventually returned ISEE-3 to earth’s vicinity in 2014, where with his assistance an international team successfully regained control of the aging spacecraft. Our heart goes out to his family and friends and all those who were close to him. Peter Guelzow, DB2OS AMSAT-DL

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FO-29 and AO-73 Antenna Patterns and Crosslinks
by Zach Leffke 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

Hello!, First off, I'd like to say I had a blast at the 2015 AMSAT Symposium. It was a lot of fun and I know that the rest of the VT team really appreciated the warm welcome from everyone. Drew and I got to talking at one point after the Banquet and he re-kindled an interest in something for me. He posted a while back about how the downlink for AO-73 is in the passband of FO-29's uplink, and that the PSK can be heard at times when monitoring FO-29's downlink. I'd like to do a bit more analysis using STK to predict when an 'accidental crosslink' might occur allowing a telemetry decode of AO-73 via FO-29. Right now I'm using a simple model for all of this where I'm treating each satellite as a single point in the sky. The first question I'm asking (via STK simulation profiles) is when can the two "points in the sky" see each other when not blocked by the curvature of the earth. The next question I will ask of the great and glorious STK is when can the two "points in the sky" see each other AND when can the point in the sky that is FO-29 see the point on the ground that is the VT Ground Station. When the second question yields accesses in time when the two spacecraft can see each other and FO-29 can see the VTGS, then I have a window to schedule the VTGS for this experiment. The next trick will be accounting for doppler between the two spacecraft (via range rate info from STK for the two points) to determine where exactly in FO-29's uplink passband the AO-73 signal will fall. Then account for the Linear inverting transponder offsets, then account for doppler between FO-29 and VTGS. Also, the signal spectrum will be inverted due to the transponder, but we can "re-invert" in our GNU-Radio flowgraph to account for that. End result should be an access window at VTGS along with a predicted doppler curve for tuning at VTGS, ultimately getting us to an AO-73 tlm decode via FO-29. My question for the group concerns the antenna patterns for FO-29 and AO-73. I'm trying to plan ahead for refining the access windows for when to actually conduct this experiment by doing a bit more than treat each satellite as a "point in the sky." Does anyone have any info on the actual antenna pattern for FO-29? Along with this, I remember reading somewhere that FO-29 has an attitude control system. Is this system still operational and if so, what is the "target attitude." I'm trying to get a sense of the antenna patterns for the two spacecraft and their orientations to identify "sweet spots" where antenna patterns might align positively. On the other hand it will be good to know when we have an access window but one of the spacecraft is in the null of the antenna pattern of the other spacecraft. For AO-73 I'm assuming simple whip antennas. I know it doesn't have a positive attitude control system, but if memory serves I think it has a bar magnet and the spin from the anodized bars imparted on it that should give me a sense of its orientation at particular times. Thanks in advance! -Zach, KJ4QLP -- Research Associate Ted & Karyn Hume Center for National Security & Technology Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University Work Phone: 540-231-4174 Cell Phone: 540-808-6305

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PSK31 Satellite Transponder works!
by Robert Bruninga 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

> ON4HTI... will be participating in the... SCR, > and we always do a lot of PSK... on 10-15-20m Don't forget to listen to the PSK31 downlink on PSAT (NO84). Its FM downlink is the audio copy of everything the satellite hears on the normal 28.120 MHz ten meter PSK31 terrestrial hangout. And of course since the downlink (FM) adds no doppler, most signals come in just fine and can be decoded by any PSK31 clients. AND of course, being full duplex, it is fun to be transmitting to EVERYONE in the passband at the same time you are seeing EVERYTHING everyone is saying. Try it... http://aprs.org/psat.html Bob, WB4aPR

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VA7EWK/3 @ EN93/EN94 today
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 20 Oct '15

20 Oct '15

Hi! After an early start, and a slight delay at the border, I am now about 20 miles or so north of Goderich, Ontario, and ready to work various passes from the EN93dx/EN94da boundary along Ontario route 21, just east of Lake Huron. I already worked an SO-50 pass from here, and will work the next SO-50 pass followed by an FO-29 pass around 1700 UTC that may cover out to England. I am operating as VA7EWK/3, and this is how I will upload QSOs to Logbook of the World. I think I have a receive issue in my IC-2820H mobile radio, so I will work any further SO-50 passes with an HT or SDR receiver for the downlink, through a duplexer to my Elk log periodic. I have 3 HTs and two SDR receivers here, so that should not be an issue. I hear APRS out here, but I can't reach the digipeaters up here. When I move away from here, maybe my track will reappear there. More information will be on my @WD9EWK Twitter feed, viewable at https://twitter.com/WD9EWK for those not on Twitter. Some rain off and on up here, and I saw snow about halfway between Sarnia and this area. No snow is falling, just the occasional rain. A nice day now, at 59F/15C outside. 73! Patrick VA7EWK/WD9EWK - near Goderich, Ontario http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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WD9EWK @ EN83, now
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 19 Oct '15

19 Oct '15

Hi! Late notice, but I will be on the upcoming AO73 & SO50 passes from EN83sa in a few minutes. Just got all set here. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK Port Huron MI

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Re: [amsat-bb] A tip for Gqrx users and report of the copy of FIREBIRD-II FU3/4 19k2 FSK.
by M.Sc. Pavel Milanes Costa 19 Oct '15

19 Oct '15

This is the bookmark file I have talked about. [attached four you use, feel free to use it...] I have made a request to Alexandru Csete the author of Gqrx and it has modified the source code of gqrx on github, now gqrx support up to 10 visual levels before fold and rewrite... it's only in the source yet, so wait for it on the official PPA soon, if you know how to compile from the source give it a try, it's working great here... Thanks to Alex Csete for Gqrx... 73 El 19/10/15 a las 10:47, John Grant escribió: > Hi Pavel, > > I wonder if you could send through the bookmarks file for me to have a > try with, I'm just about to put up a rhcp 70cm antenna and use gqrx > frequently so this would be a good test. > > Thanks, > > John > GI7UGV > > On 15/10/2015 04:24, M.Sc. Pavel Milanes Costa wrote: >> I'm playing this night with my linux box and rtl-dsr + Gqrx + >> Gpredict to see the 70cm satellite sub-band... >> >> And found a way to identify the sat from the spectrum at a glance in >> 70cm using the bookmarks of gqrx... very handy feature of this >> software... just linux here, not know if windows sdr soft has this >> feature... >> >> After playing with satlist.csv (from >> http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/satslist.htm) and parsing it >> to make it work with gqrx... I fire the Gqrx software, put up the >> antenna and watch for any suspicious signal... and the bookmarks on >> top of the signals are there, nice.... >> >> ... (a few minutes after) ... haja !!!! >> >> A packet like signal around 437.4 Mhz, zoom it.... wow, to wide for >> normal packet... let's widen the filter to fit... ~25 Khz is enough, >> hum... it's bigger than 9600 bauds... lets see what the bookmarks on >> the screenm says... FIREBIRD-II FU4 19k2 FSK within the +/- 10khz of >> doppler... bingo !!! >> >> Let's run Gpredict to check.... right on the spot... and also >> FIREBIRD-II FU3 incoming on range... let's check... right... >> >> So if you use linux and some SDR hardware with Gqrx, you can use the >> bookmark function to this purpose, you can actually click & zoom and >> then read of the screen to approximate which is the satellite who tx >> that signal... all at a glance... >> >> If any of you want to play with this I can send you my bookmark file >> of the entire 70cm satellite sub-band, updated with the last info >> from http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/satslist.htm just email >> me a private msg. >> >> I was not trying to decode, just to prove the usefulness of this >> feature, I use the latest gqrx & gpredict from ubuntu PPA. >> >> BTW, none of the FIREBIRD satellites are in the >> http://www.amsat.org/status/ page, so I can't update it's state. >> >> 73 from Cuba, CO7WT >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views >> of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite >> program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> > >

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AMSAT-BB October 2015