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

what's a good start freq for PSAT using DopplerPSK?
by Bob KD7YZ 10 Nov '15

10 Nov '15

I made the last pass but was maybe 2KC higher. Also, I only see myself when the Robot-Beacon comes on. Saw two other guys calling CQ .. Looks like they too were using DopplerPSK One was KC4LS btw -- 73, Bob KD7YZ www.qrz.com/db/kd7yz AmSat LM#901

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High School High Altitude Balloon Launch
by Skyler F 10 Nov '15

10 Nov '15

Hi, its Skyler Fennell KD0WHB, I am a Senior in High School, and started the Colorado Amateur Satellite net (amsatnet.info). This year, I have started an Amateur Radio club at my School (Denver School of the Arts Amateur Radio Club , KE0FXH) , and we have decided we want to build a payload for the Edge of Space Sciences launch in *February of 2016.* We plan on performing an Amateur Radio experiment to either test RF propagation at the elevation or send data packets of live information or both. Although I have plenty of parts laying around for transmitting and receiving RF signals, and processors like the Arudino or raspberry pi, for the live data, the trip will cost us $350 to get a payload on the 100,000 foot balloon launch. This Amateur Radio club is almost entirely student funded, and I have already brought in stuff for a Fox Hunt, the construction of an AllStar/ EchoLink repeater, and now we are building a Morse code transceiver. The next project will be the Balloon payload, given that we get the funds for the Launch. I would greatly appreciate if anybody would be willing to donate a bit to the club for support of the High Altitude Balloon Launch. I believe this launch will inspire many students to learn about Science and Technology, and inspire them to get a ham license. Here is a donation link. The video shows a payload, which I helped design for the STEM school in highlands ranch, Colorado, a sound propagation experiment: https://www.gofundme.com/eu985jy4 Our club contains 5 Licensed amateurs so far, and we are recruiting more. We meet during lunch hour in one of the Science rooms. 73, and Thanks from Skyler Fennell KD0WHB - President, Founder, Trusty of the club Call Jordan Walters KD0MLV - Co-founder Ian Tompkins KE0GET Christopher Banchero - KE0DTG Dong Lee - KD0ZOE Other Students in the club, who plan on soon getting their ham license.

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AO-85 COR mode
by Nicholas Mahr KE8AKW 10 Nov '15

10 Nov '15

Hello all, I listened to both the November 8th 17:15 UTC pass and the November 9th 0:00 UTC pass, both of which I was using my 17el beam with HDSDR recording IF files and piping it into Foxtlm, decoding telemetry, Both recording are in my dropbox file here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bhzpp4aer0i3j0m/AABiTWdkA_zj2OGMbnNP6H7Ia?dl=0 . On the November 8th 17:15 UTC pass I hear Jerry N0JY testing with someone else, testing out power levels on the satellite with I believe telemetry on. On the recent November 9th 0:00 UTC pass I hear no telemetry on the beginning of AOS and hear Jerry and Mark and Drew testing the bird, than mid way through the pass the telemetry comes back on, Interestingly enough I see in HDSDR the downlink jumps up in frequency slightly when the bird switches between COR mode and Repeater/Telemetry mode. As far as I can tell, COR mode on AO-85 slightly sounds better on the downlink, the audio sounds somewhat better, But I dont think its going to affect receiver sensitivity. The passes with the COR mode on, the downlink sounds much stronger and has better audio. I have yet to work in fully in COR mode to see how good the receiver sensitivity is. 73's KE8AKW Nick (Go Fox)

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Fo29 fm signals
by jeffory broughton 10 Nov '15

10 Nov '15

Sounds like the same crew I heard loading trucks with dirt etc.when I heard it all that was in the footprint was canada,north dakota,michigan etc Jeff Wb8rjy jeff broughton

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Ao85 audio
by jeffory broughton 10 Nov '15

10 Nov '15

Wholly smokes,just worked AC0RA on AO85 which he informs me was in carrier mode,the downlink audio was outstanding.it was every bit as good as what I experience on SO50 and Lilacsat-2. What fun! jeff broughton WB8RJY

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Re: [amsat-bb] AO-85 Testing November 8 and 9
by Mark L. Hammond 09 Nov '15

09 Nov '15

Thanks for the report, Alan. The Command Team really appreciates reports like this during our testing....keep the reports coming! 73, Mark N8MH _____________ Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 19:16:42 -0000 From: <alancresswell(a)xtra.co.nz> To: "AMSAT-BB" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] AO-85 Testing November 8 and 9 Message-ID: <5E2C7101606047E89E91998406543C94@SATELLITE2> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="utf-8"; reply-type=original AO-85 Orbit 461 No telemetry, No tone required for access. Excellent signal from the transponder on the 1855 UT 15 deg pass over ZL this morning. Alan ZL2BX

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FO-29 FM
by Bob- W7LRD 09 Nov '15

09 Nov '15

This last pass I copied a non-ham FM signal starting at 435.897. Talking about a tractor and construction of "something". Went LOS after only the West coast was in the foot print. How do we find these clowns? 73 Bob W7LRD

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FM signal on FO-29?
by Rick Walter 09 Nov '15

09 Nov '15

I was just on the 18:44 Z pass of FO-29 and was certain I heard an FM signal around 435.869. There was a loud squeal and it sounded like an alien was talking! Should I get my hearing checked or did anyone else notice? Thanks. Rick - WB3CSY in FN10 -- Sent from Rick's gmail account

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EO-79 Update
by Wouter Weggelaar 09 Nov '15

09 Nov '15

Hi All, With this message I would like to inform you of the status and plans for QB50p1 - EO-79. Earlier testing campaigns indicate that the AMSAT-UK/AMSAT-NL transponder on board of this spacecraft is in good health. We have activated the transponder on various occasions for testing purposes. At the moment we believe the power system is capable of sustaining transponder operations indefinitely. ISIS (the satellite designer and operator) still needs to write and apply a software patch that would keep the transponder running. The current logic in the satellite will switch off the transponder if a reset occurs of the On Board Computer or power system. Efforts are being made to allow usage of the transponder in the mean time and also allow select command stations to take the satellite out of safe mode if it does reset. ISIS will continue to monitor all telemetry and the satellites health. The precursor satellites have gathered valuable data about the sensor payloads, and the lessons learnt are being implemented in the flight units for the QB50 main mission. We will still have to wait until procedures are in place and the activation is cleared by the operator and owners of the satellite, but we are nearly ready for the activation of another transponder! Transponder activations will be announced on this BB. On behalf of AMSAT-NL and the ISIS operations team I would like to thank the community for supporting our mission and thank you for your patience. 73s, Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG AMSAT-NL

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AO-85 Testing November 8 and 9
by Jerry Buxton 09 Nov '15

09 Nov '15

*Summary of AO-85 testing:* *Please do not try to uplink to AO-85 during the following times (all of* *which occur while AO-85 is over North America) even though the* *transponder will be active and you may hear activity.* *Sunday November 8, 15:35 through 15:55 UTC* *Sunday November 8, 17:15 through 17:35 UTC* *Monday November 9, 00:05 through 00:25 UTC* *Monday November 9, 01:45 through 02:10 UTC* All dates and times are UTC, all passes are Sunday local time in North America. Stations in North, Central, and northern South America are asked to comply. You are encouraged to copy telemetry with FoxTelem during these times to forward to the server to help us analyze the test results. *Details of this AO-85 testing:* Sunday, November 8 and into early Monday, November 9 (UTC) the Fox-1 Engineering Team will be testing the COR (carrier operated relay) mode of AO-85. COR is the backup to the IHU failing, if IHU fails AO-85 should continue operating as a simple COR repeater with no CTCSS necessary as long as there is power. In COR mode no telemetry or voice ID is present because those are generated by the IHU. Orbit 443 ascending, at approximately 15:35 UTC over North America we will test a telemetry high/low reset command. Following the command look for Ground Resets = 2 in the Computer window of FoxTelem. Once that is confirmed, we will command the IHU OFF on the same pass. Please keep the uplink clear in order to help us test and monitor the telemetry. Orbit 444 ascending, at approximately 17:15 UTC over North America AMSAT command and engineering stations will test the COR mode on the air to observe performance. Please keep the uplink clear so that we may test without interference, to expedite the testing and allow for good measurements. We may command IHU ON during the pass in order to observe battery voltage in the telemetry. Please have FoxTelem running even if there is no telemetry seen, it may turn on at any time during this pass. Orbit 448 descending, at approximately 00:05 UTC Monday over North America we will command AO-85 IHU ON. Please keep the uplink clear in order to help us test and monitor the telemetry after the IHU is turned on. Orbit 449 descending, at approximately 01:45 UTC Monday over North America if we were unable to command IHU ON on orbit 448, we will attempt to command again. Please keep the uplink clear in order to help us test and monitor the telemetry after the IHU is turned on. During the testing stations outside North, Central and northern South America are invited to use the COR repeater mode and share your assessment of AO-85 receive sensitivity and audio on amsat-bb. Stations in North, Central, and northern South America may use the COR repeater on orbits 445 through 447 and are also invited to share your assessment of AO-85 receive sensitivity and audio on amsat-bb. Please share this widely to help reach everyone who may be operating AO-85. Thank you for your support. -- Jerry Buxton, NØJY

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