AMSAT-BB December 2015

157 participants
241 discussions

Cold
by Ed Cunningham 27 Dec '15

27 Dec '15

Good morning, Got up this morning, got my coffee and turned on the computer to check satellite passes. As the computer was loading the weather came up, 34 degrees with 18 to 20 MPH wind. I didn't even bother checking the birds, living in Phoenix AZ I don't have warm enough clothes to go out in that weather for any length of time. Oh well, I'll check later for the afternoon passes. Hope you all had a great Christmas. Ed, N7EC, DM33wu

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ANS-361 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 27 Dec '15

27 Dec '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-361 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-1Cliff and -1D Matching Contribution Offer * AMSAT SKN on OSCAR 2016 This Week * ARISS Celebrates 15 Years of School Contact * AMSAT Awards * EO-79 Transponder Activation * NASA Commercial Crew Program 2016 Children's Artwork Calendar SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.01 ANS-340 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. December 27, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.01 Fox-1Cliff and -1D Matching Contribution Offer Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to AMSAT members and satellite enthusiasts everywhere! In this season of giving, we’ve had a generous offer for matching funds up to $1,000 for those that contribute to the Fox-1Cliff and -1D crowdsourcing campaign at https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/6pz92/ab/561Zd between now and December 31st. Make your donation twice as valuable by taking advantage of this opportunity and contributing before the end of the year, and help AMSAT fund the launch of the next two satellites in the Fox-1 series. Slated for launch in 2016 on the inaugural Spaceflight SHERPA mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, Fox-1Cliff and -1D carry university experiments from Pennsylvania State-Erie, Vanderbilt, University of Iowa, cameras provided by Virginia Tech, as well as amateur radio voice repeaters capable of U/V or L/V operation. Donations of $100 or more are eligible for a special AMSAT Fox challenge coin, and $1,000 or more qualifies for a plaque with an actual solar panel cover from Fox-1Cliff or -1D. (We’ve nearly exhausted our coin supply and are waiting on resupply from the mint. Plaques will be distributed sometime after spacecraft integration. Please be patient for delivery of either premium.) AMSAT is a 501-(c)-(3) not-for-profit educational and scientific organization of amateur radio operators whose purpose is to design, construct, launch, and operate satellites in space and to provide the support needed to encourage amateurs to utilize these resources. Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to AMSAT to help underwrite the development and launch expenses of our Fox satellite program. Donors wishing to provide additional matching funds please contact Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA at ko4ma(a)amsat.org. [ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT SKN on OSCAR 2016 This Week You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2016, sponsored by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the world. Operate CW through any amateur satellite from 0001 through 2400 UTC on 1 January 2016, using a manual, non-electronic key. Note that bugs are now allowed, as they are in similar ARRL and SKCC events. There is no need to send in a log, but please nominate someone you worked for Best Fist. Your nominee need not have the best fist of those you heard, just of those you worked. Send your nomination to w2rs(a)amsat.org.. A list of those nominated will be published in early February. This year’s event is being held in memory of Ben Stevenson, W2BXA (1914-2011). Licensed since 1929, Ben was one of the world’s top DXers on both HF and satellites. He led the DXCC Honor Roll for many years, and among his many awards were Satellite DXCC No. 1 and post-war Worked All Zones No. 1. Founding president of the North Jersey DX Association, Ben shared his knowledge and enthusiasm with one and all. [ANS thanks Ray, W2RS, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS Celebrates 15 Years of School Contacts 15 years ago today, on December 21, 2000, students at Burbank School in Burbank Illinois, U.S.A. lined us and readied themselves for a very historic event---the first school contact with the crew on the International Space Station. ARISS mentor and radio operator Charlie Sufana, AJ9N and his team of volunteers had aptly prepared the students, teachers and the public in attendance for their historic contact. As AOS approached, Charlie began calling NA1SS. Soon, Expedition 1 Commander Bill "Shep" Shepherd, KD5CDL answered back and the students immediately began asking Shep their questions. The rest is history. Burbank school teacher, Rita Wright, who later became KC9CDL, continues to be active in ARISS as a volunteer. Rita's 2004 AMSAT Symposium paper, "Remember, We're Pioneers!" chronicles the Burbank school's journey to the first ARISS contact and beyond. You are invited to download the paper at https://www.dropbox.com/s/q8cmd0eu9y0imsz/REMEMBER--Burbank%20School.pdf?dl… With this historic event in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our volunteers from the ARISS operations team for their outstanding, long term support to ARISS. These folks---our mentors, telebridge operators and operations leaders---are the foundation of ARISS. They have made nearly 1000 ARISS contacts successful since Burbank, 15 years ago. Without them, the goals of ARISS: inspiration, exploration, education and experimentation, could not be achieved. Their guidance, mentoring and presentations, before, during and after the contact were crucial in achieving these goals. Thank you all!! As the ARISS team prepares for 2016, with many schools in the queue, prepared, ready and waiting for their upcoming contacts, ARISS is gearing up for another historic event---our 1000th school contact. Wow! 1000 ARISS contacts!! To celebrate this historic event, I would ask those that know of an ARISS student that has graduated and is now in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) field to please have them share their story with us. Please pass this along to others and have them send their stories to me at ka3hdo at verizon.net or to our web master at ariss at arrl.org. We would like to compile these for our space agency customers and to share the stories with the amateur radio community. [ANS thanks Frank, KA3HDO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Awards Here are our newest award recipients and end of the year finale. Happy Holidays and Good DX to all AMSAT Satellite Communicators Award Adrian Liggins, VA3NNA John Pate, W1XQ Mission Bay ARC, KM3RKI Jim Leahy, N0VVV ------ AMSAT Communication Achievement Award Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer, NP4JV #568 ------ AMSAT Sexagesimal Award Clayton Coleman, W5PFG #172 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award Frank Westphal, K6FW #84 1,000 contacts John Papay, K8YSE/7 #85 1,000 contacts ------ AMSAT South Africa Communication Achievement Award Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer, NP4JV #US196 To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards [ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- EO-79 Transponder Activation On December 21, 2015 at 1038 UT, the EO-79 transponder was turned on for a prolonged period. The FUNcube transponder subsystem on QB50p1 (EO-79) had been provided by AMSAT- UK and AMSAT-NL and is a similar subsystem as on FUNcube-1, but without the telemetry downlink circuitry. The current software running on EO-79 does experience occasional reboots. When these reboots happen, the transponder is automatically turned off and will have to be turned back on by a command station. The FUNcube team has selected a few command stations to do so, but be advised the transponder may be off. TLEs: AMSAT keps name: EO-79 Celestrak keps Name: QB50P1 Celestrak file: cubesat.txt NORAD # 40025 COSPAR designator 2014-033-R Frequencies: *Uplink:* 435.035-435.065 MHz LSB [See note below] *Downlink:* 145.935-145.965 MHz USB EO-79 has been set to only beacon the normal AX.25 beacon every 30 seconds instead of 10 seconds. The beacon frequency is 145.815 MHz and consists of AX.25 frames on BPSK. More details about the downlink can be found on the ISIS Ham Radio page at http://isispace.nl/HAM/qb50p.html We kindly request you to share your experiences with the AMSAT Bulletin Board so everyone can benefit from operating tips and tricks, as well as being up-to-date on the status. We would also welcome any observation related to the transponder behaviour when the AX.25 beacon comes on. Just like FUNcube-1, the crystal oscillator circuits exhibit drift with temperature. This means manual tuning will probably work best. Mike Seguin N1JEZ notes: I found my downlink after setting my uplink +12 kHz from published spec SatPC32 tracking software Doppler SQF information used by Peter VK4NBL: EO-79,145950,435063,USB,LSB,REV,0,0 EO-79,145814.8,435070,CW,TELEMETRY,0,0 Lastly, the commanding team will not be available over Christmas, so the current activations are planned from today until Thursday 24th and from Monday 28th until Thursday 31st [ANS thanks Wouter, PA3WEG, and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA Commercial Crew Program 2016 Children's Artwork Calendar Some of the best works of art come from children who are only limited by their imaginations, like the more than 150 young explorers from across the country who submitted artwork depicting human spaceflight as they see it. Sixteen masterpieces were chosen to be included in the NASA Commercial Crew Program 2016 Children's Artwork Calendar, which is now available for download in PDF format, at http://go.nasa.gov/1NVTww4. We offer a huge "thank you!" to all the explorers, ranging in age from four to 12, who submitted their work and hope that everyone will enjoy and use this calendar next year. [ANS thanks the NASA Commercial Crew Program for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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Re: [amsat-bb] What on earth (or in space...) is going on?
by Pete Parisetti 26 Dec '15

26 Dec '15

You see, Dave, this is way more information that I have managed to gather in the whole of 2015. Thank you so much for that! Fair enough, I didn't go to the symposium, but a whole lot of other people didn't go, and we have no way to know otherwise, which I find a shame. All your points are well understood. I only and very dearly hope that what's possibly flying on the HEO is NOT the digital voice thing they are talking about for the geostationary one. Fine on the 5/10 frequency combination. That'll be a nice challenge! One thing I don't understand: if they remove the engine, how does the HEO bird get into high orbit? Thanks again and 73. Pete MM0TWX On Sat, Dec 26, 2015 at 4:14 PM, David G0MRF <g0mrf(a)aol.com> wrote: > Hi Pete. > > So, it's a lot of changes from the old P3E but then the plans for that are > 15 years old.....So pretty much dead. > > The spaceframe for P3E is tested for flight (same as AO-13) > Virginia tech are proposing to remove the engine and add a commercial > payload but keep the general concept of an amateur radio satellite. > All the transponder designs are 20 years out of date...So dustbin for them > In their place goes a set of 10G transmitters and 5GHz receivers as the > basis of a digital transponder. > > Not all new. A-NA are also using the same transponder technology on a > hosted payload going to geosync orbit to cover the Americas. > > So that's one geosync hosted payload and another high earth orbit sat > built around the P3E spaceframe. Both are 5G up and 10G down > > (Don't hold your breath though....these things have a habit of not quite > working out as planned...but we all hope they will) > > 73 > > David G0MRF > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Pete Parisetti <peteparisetti(a)gmail.com> > To: amsat-bb <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > Sent: Sat, 26 Dec 2015 15:32 > Subject: [amsat-bb] What on earth (or in space...) is going on? > > I have been sucked into a discussion that makes me feel like I have spent > the last six months in a coma... > > In a nutshell: > > QUOTE > > Now, let me remind you of the latest developments, as seen from a casual > but highly interested observer like myself, and you will tell me if this is > a sad joke or what. > > 1) From the AMSAT newsfeed, on July 25 we learn that "AMSAT-NA, AMSAT-DL, > and Virginia Tech Announce Potential Phase-3E Opportunity". > > 2) In the following months there has been absolutely NO FOLLOW-UP, no > information whatsoever on this potentially crucial piece of information. > > 3) A couple of days ago, completely out of the blue, we learn that "AMSAT > Ground Terminal Development Expands to Texas". > > Hello? WTF is going on here? The P3E launch opportunity has morphed into a > geostationary satellite (never heard a thing about that). The projct has > morphed from a P3E "old school" satellite into this digital monster (never > heard a thing about that). Things have developed to such an extent that now > "ground terminals are being expanded"... > > UNQUOTE > > Here's a link to the thread: > > > http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/first-amateur-radio-in-geosynchrono… > > 73 HNY Pete MM0TWX > _______________________________________________ > 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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Podcast On Satellite RFI
by B J 26 Dec '15

26 Dec '15

https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com/2015/12/17/swf-space-show-webinar-friday… Amateur radio isn't specifically covered but the discussion covers many of the same issues concerning interference and spectrum management that has been mentioned on this mailing list from time to time. Video is at: https://vimeo.com/channels/thespaceshow Audio only: http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/2607-BWB-2015-12-18.mp3 It runs just over 2 hours. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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EM01
by Glenn Miller - AA5PK 26 Dec '15

26 Dec '15

Must postpone my planned trip to EM01 today. Weather is not cooperating--thunderstorms this afternoon, snow tomorrow. Glenn / AA5PK DM91

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CNCTRK Kits Available
by Bob Freeman 26 Dec '15

26 Dec '15

Hello, For the builders out there I am offering the following kits. CNCTRK Modular Antenna Positioner and Tracking System Kits for Small to Moderate Sized Antenna Tracking of LEO Satellites, Sun, and Moon 1. RAZO Kit -- DIY Azimuth-Only Positioner $200 US, shipped Includes: gearbox components, mounting plate, stepper motor, and assembled motor driver electronics. Mechanical assembly reqd. 2. RAZEL Kit -- DIY AZ/EL Positioner $400 US, shipped Includes: gearbox components (2 ea), stepper motors (2 ea) and assembled motor driver electronics (2 ea), plus Antenna Mounting Kit for Two Antennas. Mechanical assembly reqd. 3. RASPI Kit -- Raspberry Pi-Based Tracking System $60 US, shipped Includes: Raspberry Pi Model B+, MicroSD Card with working CNCTRK Image (using PREDICT), DC-DC Converter (12V-to-5V), RTC Module w/batt, Interface PCB and components (some SMD type), including pre-programmed PIC microcontroller, needed to build the control interface. PCB assembly is required. (NOTE: Available for sale only with RAZO or RAZEL items above.) The RAZO and RAZEL units can be controlled using the LinuxCNC on a suitable computer, or RASPI, the Raspberry Pi based tracking system running Predict. Or, use your own controller with STEP and DIRECTION outputs. All Items operate on 12 VDC for portable use. Instructions and details at http://ki4sbl.dodropin.org/CNCTRK along with links to YouTube videos that describe and demonstrate the system. (These are my first videos, ever; please be kind!) You bring RF gear, antennas, parallel cable, monitor, keyboard, and power supply (battery) to talk to the birds. Good project for winter, tutoring kids & grandkids, satellites, and learning CNC! View the web page and videos, please, before ordering. A limited quantity of kits are available. Ships to Lower 48 only (for now). Thanks for reading and have fun! Bob KI4SBL

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Athenoxat-1
by Roland Zurmely 25 Dec '15

25 Dec '15

CW signal received in FM, from this near equatorial orbit satellite: <http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/athenoxat.htm#b> 73 de Roland.

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DeoxIT
by Vince Fiscus, KB7ADL 25 Dec '15

25 Dec '15

Hi All A while back I asked about potentiometer cleaner, deoxit was recommended. I see they have have a number of series for cleaners and lubricates. Which series would I want for scratchy potentiometers and switch contacts? ie. D G F or X series? Tnx, KB7ADL

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AO-85 Finalllllyyyy
by Kevin Deane 25 Dec '15

25 Dec '15

Honestly that one and only contact I did not get your call so no QSL. However I finally heard myself loud as hell had to turn the volume down. I know I did not have the headset on my bad... BUT YAAAAEEEE I finally got through with full duplex. That thing acts like a linear bird which I do not have all the right gear for. It is all over the place.... Anyway whom ever that was please let me know, we can not log it but it was pretty dam close...! :) It still makes me crazy flip out just like the first time. Something to be said for a citizen to track a satellite in space talk on it with someone else... Just great I tell you. Merry Christmas to me!!! Kevin KF7MYK

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Colorado Amateur Satellite net Begins in 1 hour
by Skyler F 25 Dec '15

25 Dec '15

This is a reminder that the Colorado Amateur Satellite net will begin in 1 hour from now (7PM mountain time Thursday). 6PM Pacific 7PM Mountain 8PM Central 9PM Eastern Please visit us on *AMSATNET.INFO <http://amsatnet.info/>* *IRLP* 9870, the Denver Reflector *ALLSTAR LINK* 40764, direct hookup to the repeater here. 41715, KC9ZHV hub at a data center if I am out of bandwidth. More info on AllStar - amsatnet.info/#node *ECHOLINK* *AMSAT* unless there is an ARISS contact, then go direct to KD0WHB-L *LOCAL RF* 449.625 (-) 141.3 ( WØKU Lookout Mountain) 447.225 (-) 141.3 (The STEM school repeater we set up) 447.850 (-) 141.3 (ACØKQ's repeater where he lives on TOP of saddleback mountain) 147.450 SIMPLEX (Aurora, CO) 446.275 (-) 100.0 Galena St. Local repeater at my house, giving a whopping 5 blocks of great coverage *REMOTE RF* Your Repeater here!, Email me if you want to link in or me to link your echolink or allstar repeater in automatically (no automatic IRLP linking supported) Skyler Fennell amsatnet.info KDØWHB electricity440(a)gmail.com

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AMSAT-BB December 2015