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

EQUiSat Optical Beacon CubeSat
by Trevor . 17 Oct '18

17 Oct '18

Students at the Ivy League Brown University are developing an amateur radio satellite EQUiSat that will carry a Xenon Flash Tube (XFT) subsystem to act as an Optical Beacon that should be visible to the unaided eye of observers on Earth. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=10635 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAK-UK http://www.amsat-uk.org/ ----

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LVB Tracker USB serial port driver for Windows 7 x64?
by Bill Bordy, NJ1H 22 Dec '16

22 Dec '16

Has anyone located a driver for the LVB Tracker internal USB to serial port adapter on Windows 7 x64? If not, has anyone reverted to the serial port connection on LVB Tracker and used an external USB to serial port adapter successfully with SatPC32 on Windows 7 x64? I have an Edgeport multiple USB to serial port that has drivers for Windows 7 x64 that I will use if I have to. I would prefer using the LVB Tracker with its USB to serial adapter if someone has another solution. 73, Bill NJ1H

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AO-16 telemetry 3 Oct 2010
by Mark L. Hammond 01 Jul '16

01 Jul '16

Hi All, Here is a quick AO-16 update. On Sunday I turned AO-16 long enough to get some telemetry packets. The satellite would remain on for less than one minute after being commanded on. A quick test of the "bent pipe" voice mode repeater was successful. . The "hardware watchdog timer problem" is still evident; as expected, spacecraft temperatures are insufficient to keep the transmitter ON (needs to be above 15 deg C). Orbit projections suggest that satellite illumination conditions will not result in increased temperatures for nearly 10 years. Command stations do periodically turn AO-16 "ON" to check on its condition and see if the hardware timer problem has "automagically" fixed itself (which in not anticipated, but who knows...). AO-16 telemetry 3 Oct 2010 1838 utc PACSAT MBL Telemetry Decoder Ver. 1.3 (c) Mike Rupprecht, DK3WN =============================================================================== (average values) +10V Battery Bus : 0.00 V Battery Charge Reg : 0.55 mA Base Temp : 9.07 °C PSK RF Out : 1.90 W +5V RX Bus : 4.87 V +8.5V RX Bus : 8.49 V +10V RX Bus : 11.24 V Here is another teaser :) Several months ago I commanded the AO-16 S-band transmitter ON; it too remains functional (albeit weak), and was received by me, Drew KO4MA, and Alan WA4SCA. 73, -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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CAPE-2 heard in France
by Jean-Pierre Godet 25 Sep '15

25 Sep '15

Dear friends from University of loisiana in Lafayette, Your bird was heard in the North of France when flying over Oran (Algeria), orbit number 204, especially the CW beacon (on 145.823 MHz +- Doppler) between 12:12:52 and 12:13:06 UTC, content was "EUL CAPE 2 OR UF231". The signal was somewhat chirpy, but it's exactly the sound which the real lover of CW like above all. Really ! :-) http://f5yg.pagesperso-orange.fr/forum/CAPE-2_orb204_03dec2013.mp3 The signal to noise ratio is not too good because I'm using an old AM/FM scanner from the 80s heterodyned by my medium wave homebrew transmitter fitted with a 456.9 Xtal. The antenna was a vertical half-wave inside the attic. The next orbit, number 205, was heard too, with the CW beacon affected at that time by a hoarse voice and suffering from a strong fadding. So I'm not absolutly sure, poor lonesome telegraphist, of my human decoding, "M5UL CAPE 2 ÜR 5045", something like that. It was over the East coast of Spain, between 12:12:52 and 12:13:06 : http://f5yg.pagesperso-orange.fr/forum/CAPE-2_orb205_03dec2013.mp3 Congratulation to the Cajun Advanced Picosat Experiment team from France ! Jean-Pierre F5YG -- Powered by Linux (Slackware 10.0 - kernel 2.4.26)

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Re: [amsat-bb] Handheld for LEO satellites?
by Steve Kristoff 11 Jul '15

11 Jul '15

The Alinco DJ-G7 claims to be full-duplex capable. Anybody have thoughts on that radio? Steve AI9IN skristof(a)etczone.com On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 1:11 PM, D. Craig Fox <DFox(a)rwglaw.com> wrote: > All of the foregoing responses express valid approaches. One thing to keep > in mind if going the HT approach, is the long term reliability of the > radio. The fact that there are still so many Icoms, Kenwoods, Yaesus out > there is evidence of their long term reliability. Perhaps the inexpensive > Chinese radios will stand the test of time- maybe not. But for very little > more than the cost of two of the new cheap radios, you can have a full > duplex HT. As others have said, there is no real substitute for hearing > your downlink. I happen to like my full duplex Kenwood D7 because of its > on board TNC giving me the ability to communicate through the ISS > digipeater as I point my elk antenna while watching it go by. Way cool > experience. > > If you get really bitten by the sat bug like most of us, you will > eventually want a full duplex, all function transceiver to enable you to > work the linear (rd: low stress, high fun) satellites. Consider saving up > for that instead. > > Just my $.02 > > Craig > N6RSX > > > > NOTICE: This communication may contain privileged or other confidential > information. If you are not the intended recipient of this communication, > or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this communication to > the intended recipient, please advise the sender by reply email and > immediately delete the message and any attachments without copying or > disclosing the contents. Thank you. > _______________________________________________ > 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://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >

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Re: [amsat-bb] Has anyone heard the 9600 baud signals from Spinsat?
by Armando Mercado 24 Apr '15

24 Apr '15

Hi, I've listened for Spinsat on 437.230 several times with no results. There have been no reception reports from Spinsat to the best of my knowledge. It is still near the ISS. Latest keps can be found at: http://www.celestrak.com/cgi-bin/TLE.pl?CATNR=40314 73, Armando N8IGJ

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LVBTracker issue and minor SatPC32 glitch
by kb2m＠arrl.net 01 Apr '15

01 Apr '15

Does anyone have this issue, I have to turn my sat system on in a certain sequence. 1. Turn on the LVBTracker. 2. Turn on the 9100. 3. Start SatPC32. Today I had a visitor in my shack who turned the Yaesu 5500 on first causing the LVB issue, so don't just say 'don't do that' J. If I turn on the 9100 before the LVBTracker I get a memory error on the LVBTracker and have to do a re-calibrate, a real pain if you're trying to work a bird that's already up. If I run SatPC32 before I turn on the radio I get a SatPC32 error that could be a little easier to resolve then it is. I would like to see a de-select, select sequence of the cat control to acquire the radio instead of a SatPC32 reboot, sometimes with a task manager assist in Win7 to halt the rotor serverSDX. I have no idea what would cause the LVB to behave in this manner. Anyone have the LVB issue? Any solutions? 73 Jeff kb2m

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K1N FO-29 Confirmed
by K3SV 31 Mar '15

31 Mar '15

Whoop whoop! Sent from my iPad

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Fwd: Amateur Radio Roundtable
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 31 Mar '15

31 Mar '15

----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "W5KUB Broadcast" <wa5kub.video9(a)gmail.com> To: "Tom Medlin" <wa5kub.video9(a)gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2015 11:38:14 AM Subject: Amateur Radio Roundtable Reminder - Amateur Radio Roundtable, a live weekly ham radio webcast can be seen at W5KUB. <http://w5kub.com/>*com* every Tuesday night at 8:00 PM CDT (0100 UTC Wednesday). The show covers all aspects of ham radio; such as, balloon launches, Satellite, go-kits, emergency communications, SDR, digital modes, DXing, home brewing, and much more. This week’s guests include: Russ Woodman, K5TUX, discussing Linux and open source for ham radio Brian Schell, KD8OTD, author, discussing D-star and Echolink for beginners Glen Popiel, KW5GP, author of the book “Arduino for Ham Radio” To watch Amateur Radio Roundtable go to W5KUB.com, click on Live Events and sign in with your existing User Name and Password. If you don’t have a user name and password, just enter your call or name, leave the password blank and hit sign in. We need your help with topics. If you have a specific subject that you would like to present in a future show, send an email to tom(a)W5KUB.com. Join us for fun and interesting ham radio discussions. We’ll see you on the webcast! Tom Medlin, W5KUB To follow our webcasts and to discuss ham radio, please join our Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/w5kub/. You are receiving this message because you joined W5KUB.com. If you would like to be removed from these mailings, please click Reply and type ' *Remove*' in the subject line.

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Icom IC-471A repairs
by James Hickox 31 Mar '15

31 Mar '15

Hello,I have a -471a that is deaf and dumb. memories work, sound comes from speaker, squelch works, but will only hear HT signal when placed close to printed circuit board wen case is off. Will go into transmit mode, but no power output noted. Please let me know what might be the possible fixes, and is there is anyone within a couple of hundred miles of Abilene, Texas who will be willing to assist with repairs or who do it for a fee. Thanks, James, AA5AO

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