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

Office Closed
by Martha 01 Apr '15

01 Apr '15

The AMSAT office will be closed until April 14th. I will not have access to email or phone. Please contact me on April 14th -- 73- Martha (AMSAT's only employee)

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New RS sat?
by Andrew Glasbrenner 01 Apr '15

01 Apr '15

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/kosmos-2491.htm There may be a new RS sat up there after the most recent Rokot launch. I doubt it has anything close to a transponder, but it might be a good beacon.... 73, Drew KO4MA

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WD9EWK road trip, Friday through Sunday (3-5 April)
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 01 Apr '15

01 Apr '15

Hi! I just posted a message about a presentation I will give in southern California on Friday evening. In addition to that presentation, I am planning a road trip that will cover a total of almost 1000 miles in 3 days - including my drive to that presentation. Since I have operated from some of the rarely-heard grids along the I-10 freeway between Phoenix and Los Angeles recently, I'm not planning to stop and work passes on Friday morning and early afternoon. If there are grids along that route that someone needs, I might be able to make a stop - if there are satellites passing by during that time. The presentation I'm giving will be in Signal Hill CA, near Long Beach in grid DM03, where I will be on the air for two passes that evening. After the presentation, sometime on Saturday, I will head up the I-15 freeway to Las Vegas. I don't know exactly when I will start driving up there. I-15 passes through grids DM14, DM15, DM25, and DM26 on the way up there. I will keep track of passes, and try to work them during this drive. While in Las Vegas, I plan on operating from the DM25/DM26 grid boundary, which passes through the south end of the Las Vegas area. I did this on a couple of road trips back in 2008 and 2009, and - according to the satellite view from Google Maps - the spot I used then is still available. I may operate from this spot Saturday night and/or Sunday morning. Depending on when I leave Las Vegas Sunday morning, I may be able to stop at the DM25/DM35 grid boundary in Kingman, Arizona. I may not try to work every possible pass on Sunday, since I need to get back home and then get ready for another workweek, but I will keep track of the available passes. As with my other road trips, I make use of APRS and Twitter to show where I'm located and for updates. For APRS, I use WD9EWK-9 as my call sign, and that would be visible at (among other sites): http://aprs.fi/WD9EWK-9 My @WD9EWK Twitter feed will have updates, and occasional photos, of my activities. If you don't use Twitter, you can still see my tweets in a web browser at: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK QSOs made during this road trip - including those from the demonstrations on Friday evening - will be uploaded to Logbook of the World. In addition to that, I am happy to confirm QSOs by QSL card. Since I'm operating away from home, I don't normally ask for cards or an SASE when I confirm these QSOs. Just e-mail me with the QSO details, and I'll send you a card if the QSO is in my log. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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AMSAT/satellite presentation in Long Beach CA, Friday (3 April) evening
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 01 Apr '15

01 Apr '15

Hi! On Friday, I will be in Long Beach to give a presentation about amateur satellites and AMSAT for the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach, during their regular monthly meeting at 7pm. I thank Endaf Buckley KG6FIY and the club for inviting me to give this presentation. Information about the club, and the meeting site, is at: http://www.aralb.org/ Before the meeting, I am planning to do demonstrations during FO-29 and SO-50 passes. There is an FO-29 pass around 6.06pm (0106 UTC), followed by an SO-50 pass around 6.20pm (0120 UTC). The footprint during the FO-29 pass covers the west coast, and for the SO-50 pass the satellite will swing around from the southwest to the north. If you hear WD9EWK on either of these passes, please call and join in the fun. The meeting site is in grid DM03. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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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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