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

TAPR/AMSAT Banquet Tickets Must be Purchased by 1800 EDT Tuesday, May 12th
by Alan 08 May '15

08 May '15

All, The speaker at the 2015 TAPR/AMSAT Banquet will be Michael Ossmann, AD0NR, on "Adventures of a Hacker Turned Ham." Tickets ($35 each) MUST be purchased online in advance at the AMSAT Store http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=38&products_id=88 no later than 1800 EDT (2300 UTC) Tuesday, May 12th. Tickets will not be sold at the Hamvention or at the banquet door. Tickets purchased online may be picked up at the AMSAT booth (433-435, 444-446) by Friday afternoon. More information on the speaker, menu, and location may be found at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=190. 73s, Alan WA4SCA

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Orbitron Prediction Output - More than three lines?
by John Brier 08 May '15

08 May '15

You can select Brief or 3 lines (AOS, MET, LOS) but what I would like is a line for every minute or two during the pass, maybe selectable. Also, can I get directions instead of AZM? I haven't gotten used to that yet. All this would be very helpful to me instead of having to bring my laptop, which will be hard to see outside anyway. Something I can just print out, and look at my watch to know where it is, and where to point, would be more convenient, I think. PS, I got into SO-50 this morning and this evening, meaning I could hear myself clearly on the downlink. someone in a Delta grid square came back to me this morning, but I didn't have the bird well enough to receive very well and had to apologize for that. This evening I heard myself multiple times but everyone was trying to work W4T. I got a good audio recording of the evening pass too. If someone wants it, let me know. My next attempt at SO-50 will be the Thursday morning pass and the evening pass too perhaps if I don't get anything in the morning. I must say, working this bird is very hard with such a low power signal. It is still very fun, but I am definitely thinking about a preamp! Hah! 73, KG4AKV, Raleigh, NC, FM05

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Probably FO-29 world distance record; QSO between US and UK
by Hector W5CBF/CO6CBF 08 May '15

08 May '15

Hello to all I am pleased to report that Peter G4DOL and I had another extreme QSO on FO-29. It is my furthest contact on the birds! Back on October 2013, Peter and I had a very nice contact between EL92sd, Cienfuegos, Cuba and IO80so, Weymouth area, UK. It was a 7286 km contact and probably the first contact between UK and Cuba on FO-29! Peter and I desired to try again on FO-29, this time between EM21hs, Texas, US and his habitual spot in IO80so. We were able to complete a very nice CW contact on the 92319 orbit of FO-29. Peter had just 0.1 degree as maxim elevation while I had 0.8 during the 80 seconds mutual window. As before, Peter did all the hard work by driving until his habitual spot at a cliff-top and setting up his "portable satellite station" (19 elements Yagi for 435MHz and 10 elements Yagi for 2m both with horizontal polarization). FO-29 was sounding really good on these orbits. It was a solid 559 satellite contact, we were very impressed. We made the calculations using our 10 digit grid squares at http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html The distance between the stations was 7537.799 km (4683.77 mi). To my knowledge, the longest distance archived on FO-29 until now had been 7,533.685 km between Frank, K4FEG and Erich, DK1TB. http://www.qrz.com/db/k4feg It appears that an even longer distance is achievable. It has been reported that FO-29 has a "theoretical maximum range" of 7502 km, but I guess that at least 7600km is doable. We will try to break our own record! This contact was possible thanks to the great feature implemented on SatPC32 V12.8b. There is an option of seeing the frequency you are at the satellite receiver at any time during a pass. It allows the operators to tune the right frequencies and attempt a contact without having to search for each other. We have some pictures, recording and GPS screen shoots. I will try to post everything online. I will be happy to email everything, also. Thanks very much to Peter for his persistence, effort and all the fun! 73! Hector, W5CBF/CO6CBF

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Probably FO-29 world distance record; QSO between US and UK ---follow-up
by Hector W5CBF/CO6CBF 08 May '15

08 May '15

Hi to all Just a quick follow-up on my earlier message about my QSO with Peter, G4DOL on FO-29. I received an email from Frank, K4FEG; He let me know He misprinted the distance of his contact in his QRZ web page. The correct distance of his contact is 7,538.685 km. He already fixed it in his web page. My contact with Peter is 886 m down their mark. You can see a couple of pictures and listen to the recording at http://amsat-uk.org/2015/05/06/uk-texas-extreme-dx-contact/ 73! Hector, W5CBF/CO6CBF -----Mensaje original----- De: Hector W5CBF/CO6CBF [mailto:[email protected]] Enviado el: Wednesday, May 06, 2015 9:51 AM Para: 'amsat-bb(a)amsat.org' CC: 'Peter Atkins' Asunto: Probably FO-29 world distance record; QSO between US and UK Importancia: Alta Hello to all I am pleased to report that Peter G4DOL and I had another extreme QSO on FO-29. It is my furthest contact on the birds! Back on October 2013, Peter and I had a very nice contact between EL92sd, Cienfuegos, Cuba and IO80so, Weymouth area, UK. It was a 7286 km contact and probably the first contact between UK and Cuba on FO-29! Peter and I desired to try again on FO-29, this time between EM21hs, Texas, US and his habitual spot in IO80so. We were able to complete a very nice CW contact on the 92319 orbit of FO-29. Peter had just 0.1 degree as maxim elevation while I had 0.8 during the 80 seconds mutual window. As before, Peter did all the hard work by driving until his habitual spot at a cliff-top and setting up his "portable satellite station" (19 elements Yagi for 435MHz and 10 elements Yagi for 2m both with horizontal polarization). FO-29 was sounding really good on these orbits. It was a solid 559 satellite contact, we were very impressed. We made the calculations using our 10 digit grid squares at http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html The distance between the stations was 7537.799 km (4683.77 mi). To my knowledge, the longest distance archived on FO-29 until now had been 7,533.685 km between Frank, K4FEG and Erich, DK1TB. http://www.qrz.com/db/k4feg It appears that an even longer distance is achievable. It has been reported that FO-29 has a "theoretical maximum range" of 7502 km, but I guess that at least 7600km is doable. We will try to break our own record! This contact was possible thanks to the great feature implemented on SatPC32 V12.8b. There is an option of seeing the frequency you are at the satellite receiver at any time during a pass. It allows the operators to tune the right frequencies and attempt a contact without having to search for each other. We have some pictures, recording and GPS screen shoots. I will try to post everything online. I will be happy to email everything, also. Thanks very much to Peter for his persistence, effort and all the fun! 73! Hector, W5CBF/CO6CBF

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Montserrat expedition announcement
by Jim White 07 May '15

07 May '15

N0KV, W0ZA, W0ETT, and WD0E will be operating from Gingerbread Hill, St. Peters, Montserrat (VP2M) (grid square FK86) from June 10^th to June 19^th .Operation will be on 80-6 meters (SSB/CW/RTTY) with participation in the June VHF contest on 6 and 2 meters and some satellite operation by WD0E. The two primary radios will be Elecraft K3’s with 500 watt amplifiers.Antennas include a Mosley Classic 33 on 10/15/20, a folding hexbeam by Folding Antennas (Germany) on 20-10 meters, verticals on 30 and 40 meters, a dipole on 75-80 meters, and an M2 5 element 6 meter beam.We will run 500 watts on 6M SSB/CW and FSK441.A 6 meter beacon is planned and will be on 50.102 when the station is not manned, and receive will be active between beacon transmissions to listen for calls. The primary call sign for the operation will be VP2MKV, and VP2MTT will probably be used on 6 meters.Near 24 hour operation is planned.Logs will be uploaded to LOTW soon after the group returns to the US.Paper QSL’s via N0KV, direct or via the bureau.US addressees send SASE; addressees outside the US send SASE plus $2 US for return postage. Use of Club Log has not been finalized at this time.Additional information will be posted under VP2MKV on QRZ.com. Satellite operation: VP2MKV will operate FO-29 only on selected passes.We will attempt the long hops to the edges of coverage if the equipment performs well at low elevations and obstructions allow.We will attempt to post passes we plan to work 24 hours in advance on amsat-bb.The uplink frequency will be 145.925 and we will tune our downlink for stations calling. The location is 16.776924N 62.214474W in grid FK86vs.Equipment is an ICOM 910H and Arrow antenna.Uplink power will be about 20W.Stations are asked to work us only once on the satellite.If we respond with your call you are in the log.

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Kenpro rotors question
by Jerry Ehlers 07 May '15

07 May '15

Hi: I have a rotor motor for Azimuth that looks like a 5400B . The model number on it says 7501-002 When I went to Google it wouldn,t cross. It looks like a KR 400 or 600 control might work on it Is anyone familiar with this model or seen one ?????? This looks like the rotors I have used like the 800 and 1000 Yaesu and 5400B. Jerry w0sat

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Satellite Demonstration Passes for Dayton Hamvention
by Keith Pugh 07 May '15

07 May '15

An Amateur Radio Satellite Demonstration Station will again be active at Dayton Hamvention this year on 15-17 May. I have included the planned schedule of passes below. Times are in UTC - you can convert it to your own time zone. I have also included this as a text file in case there are formatting problems. We plan to work as many of these passes as possible. Our station is outdoors so weather can give us problems and we only have a limited number of operators so - we will work as many as possible. I might also note that we do have obstructions due to vehicles in the parking lot and parts of the Hara Arena buildings from about 300 deg. through North and on around to about 70 deg. The plan only includes passes with peak elevations above 10 deg. Lower elevations of any of the passes may be obstructed - be patient. 73 - Keith, W5IU AMSAT DAYTON HAMVENTION DEMOS - 2015 TZ = UTC N 39.820328 W 84.255224 ELEV. 296 M MIN PEAK ELEV. = 10 DEG GRID = EM79ut * = Listen Only Pass - Telemetry, Doppler, Ant. Perf, etc. WinAos QTH: -84.3/39.8 T#: 13648 Sat.: 7 [Standard] ---------------------------------------------------------- Day Objects AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ ---------------------------------------------------------- 15.05.2015 ISS 12:15 12:22 07 11 308 - 056 15.05.2015 AO-07 12:41 12:55 14 11 359 - 271 15.05.2015 SO-50 13:31 13:40 09 10 280 - 018 15.05.2015 ISS 13:52 14:00 08 15 319 - 084 15.05.2015 HO-68 * 14:01 14:20 19 52 020 - 182 15.05.2015 AO-73 14:27 14:36 09 13 039 - 147 15.05.2015 ISS 15:28 15:37 09 66 309 - 123 15.05.2015 HO-68 * 15:50 16:07 17 30 003 - 230 15.05.2015 MO-76 * 15:58 16:08 10 32 026 - 174 15.05.2015 AO-73 16:02 16:14 12 54 007 - 205 15.05.2015 ISS 17:05 17:12 07 12 283 - 174 15.05.2015 MO-76 * 17:33 17:42 09 17 349 - 229 15.05.2015 AO-07 18:05 18:19 14 10 084 - 357 15.05.2015 SO-50 18:39 18:51 12 17 340 - 104 15.05.2015 FO-29 19:52 20:09 17 41 141 - 355 15.05.2015 AO-07 19:53 20:12 19 46 137 - 349 15.05.2015 SO-50 20:20 20:33 13 77 326 - 153 16.05.2015 SO-50 12:14 12:26 12 26 245 - 024 16.05.2015 ISS 12:58 13:06 08 13 312 - 071 16.05.2015 HO-68 * 13:45 14:03 18 40 024 - 175 16.05.2015 ISS 14:35 14:44 09 37 313 - 110 16.05.2015 AO-73 14:46 14:57 11 21 028 - 161 16.05.2015 HO-68 * 15:33 15:50 17 39 005 - 223 16.05.2015 MO-76 * 15:54 16:04 10 29 027 - 172 16.05.2015 ISS 16:12 16:20 08 23 292 - 156 16.05.2015 AO-73 16:22 16:34 12 32 002 - 216 16.05.2015 MO-76 * 17:28 17:38 10 19 355 - 227 16.05.2015 AO-07 18:55 19:13 18 21 110 - 352 16.05.2015 FO-29 18:59 19:13 14 17 114 - 005 16.05.2015 SO-50 19:05 19:18 13 33 336 - 125 16.05.2015 FO-29 20:41 21:00 19 84 165 - 347 16.05.2015 AO-07 20:45 21:06 21 87 161 - 344 16.05.2015 SO-50 20:46 20:58 12 31 316 - 175 17.05.2015 ISS 12:06 12:13 07 11 313 - 062 17.05.2015 AO-07 12:34 12:49 15 12 360 - 266 17.05.2015 SO-50 12:41 12:52 11 13 266 - 021 17.05.2015 HO-68 * 13:28 13:46 18 30 027 - 168 17.05.2015 ISS 13:43 13:51 08 23 318 - 097 17.05.2015 AO-73 15:06 15:18 12 34 022 - 174 17.05.2015 HO-68 * 15:15 15:34 19 50 010 - 215 17.05.2015 ISS 15:19 15:28 09 46 302 - 142 17.05.2015 MO-76 * 15:49 16:00 11 26 025 - 170

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Upcoming ARISS contact with Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale "Enrico Fermi", Lucca, Italy and Studi di Firenze - Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 06 May '15

06 May '15

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale "Enrico Fermi", Lucca, Italy, direct via IQ5LU and Studi di Firenze - Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy on 09 May. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 09:52 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 event will be direct between the ISS using call sign IR0ISS and ground stations IQ5PO (who will initiate the contact) and IQ5LU (who will end the contact). The contact should be audible over Italy and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in Italian. Presentation Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale "Enrico Fermi": State Technical Industrial Institute is named to Enrico Fermi and is located in Lucca, Northern Tuscany. 5 years courses in Mechanics, Electrotechnology, Electronics, Information and Communication Technology with several laboratories. About 700 students aged 15-19. They had an Amateur Radio Club with the callsign IK5YOI (license expired). Presentation Università degli Studi di Firenze - Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia: In the Scientific Campus ("Polo Scientifico") of the University of Florence activities for secondary school's students are organized by OpenLab. OpenLab, which has been active since 2002, is the service of education and communication of the University of Florence and it is dedicated to science popularization in different areas (physics, chemistry, biology .). OpenLab includes interactive laboratories, conferences, stages, visits to research laboratories. For Physics we have more than 1000 students every year (primary and secondary school). Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: I = Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale "Enrico Fermi" U = Università degli Studi di Firenze 1U. Quali sensazioni si provano durante la fase di lancio? 2I. Quale sistema operativo è utilizzato sui computer della ISS? Perché questa scelta? 3U. Dopo quanto tempo si è abituata all' assenza di gravità? 4I. Ci sono mai state collisioni con detriti orbitali? 5U. Come reagiscono le piante alla vita sulla stazione? Come vengono curate? 6I. Quando hai deciso di fare l'astronauta? Perché? 7U. In che modo ti curi quando ti ammali? 8I. in cosa consiste la manutenzione della stazione? 9U. Sulla Stazione Spaziale Internazionale sono presenti dispositivi che sfruttano le correzioni relativistiche dello spazio e del tempo, simili ai nostri GPS? 10I. quando dormi sogni? 11U. Qual è stato il momento più difficile o la paura più grande affrontata durante l'addestramento? 12I. E' difficile per una donna diventare astronauta? 13U. Sulla ISS ci sono correnti parassite indotte dalle variazioni del campo magnetico terrestre sulla stazione stessa? 14I. Chi e che cosa ti manca di più della tua vita quotidiana? 15U. Che tipo di esperimenti fate? Qual è il loro fine? 16I. Quali studi ti hanno condotto alla carriera di astronauta? 17U. Come avviene l'ossigenazione della stazione spaziale? 18I: Da astronauta, pensi ci possano essere forme di vita extraterrestri? 19U. Qual è la sua paura più grande sull' ISS? 20I. cosa comporta dal punto di vista fisico e mentale vivere sulla ISS? 21U. In cosa consiste il vostro lavoro? Qual è la tua funzione all'interno della stazione spaziale? 22I. Qual è la tua giornata tipo come astronauta? 23U. Cosa si prova a vedere la terra, l'alba, il tramonto e l'universo dallo spazio? 24I. Come si vedono i pianeti del sistema solare dalla ISS? 25U. Credi che sia giusto spendere tanti soldi per le missioni spaziali nonostante tutte le situazioni di povertà presenti sul nostro pianeta? 26I. Quali effetti ha l'assenza di forza di gravità sul corpo umano? Translation: 1) How do you feel during the launch? 2) Which operating system is used on the computers of the iss? Why this choice? 3) How soon you got used to the absence of gravity? 4) Have collisions with orbital debris ever happened? 5) How plants react to the station life conditions? How are they cared? 6) When did you decide to be an astronaut? Why? 7) How do you take care of yourself when you get sick? 8) How is made the maintenance of the station? 9) Are there, on the ISS, devices that use the relativistic corrections of space and time, like our GPS devices do? 10) when sleeping, do you dream? 11) Which was the hardest time or the biggest fear faced during training? 12) Is it difficult for a woman to be an astronaut? 13) Are there, on the ISS, eddy currents induced by changes in the Earth's magnetic field on the station itself? 14) Who and what do you miss more about your daily life? 15) What kind of experiments are you doing? What is their purpose? 16) Which schools did you attend to become an astronaut? 17) How is carried out the oxygenation of the space station? 18) As an astronaut, do you think extraterrestrial life forms exist? 19) What is your deepest fear on the ISS? 20) What entails in terms of physical and mental life on the ISS ? 21) In what consists the crew job? What is your role inside the space station? 22) How is your typical day as an astronaut? 23) How it feels to see the earth, sunrise, sunset and the universe from space? 24) How do you see our solar system's planets from the ISS? 25) Do you think it is right to spend so much money for space missions despite all situations of poverty on our planet? 26) Which effects has the absence of gravity on human body? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Sign up for the SAREX maillist at http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/sarex 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. http://www.avast.com

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Re: [amsat-bb] Psat, BRICKsat, USS Langley Launch Announcement (correction)
by Robert Bruninga 06 May '15

06 May '15

Corrections (year and Freqs): Subj: Amateur Satellite Launch Notice: On (or about) 20 May 2015, the next US Naval Academy satellites and Brno University transponders will be launched on the AFSPC ULA Atlas-5 mission from the Cape into a 50 something degree orbit. We welcome radio amateurs worldwide to tune into the downlinks and either IGate packets into the global APRS-IS system or email to Bruninga(a)usna.edu. After launch, the next several orbits will be over USA and Europe. Operations via PSAT or PSK31 are not authorized until on-orbit checkout is complete (may take many,many days). Downlinks (one or more packets per minute): PSAT: 145.825 MHz 1200 baud AX.25 APRS – http://aprs.org/psat.html BRICsat: 437.975 MHz 9600 baud AX.25 packet telemetry USS Langley: 437.475 MHz 9600 baud AX.25 packet telemetry PSK31: 435.350 MHz FM PSK31 telemetry Further info will be posted when available on the PSAT page above. Enjoy, Bob Bruninga, WB4APR - USNA Jin Kang, KB3UKS – USNA Mirek Kasal, OK2AQ - Brno University Tomas Urbanec, OK2PNQ - Brno University Petr Vagner, OK2CPV - Brno University

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Psat, BRICKsat,USS Langley Launch Announcement
by Robert Bruninga 05 May '15

05 May '15

Subj: Amateur Satellite Launch Notice: On (or about) 20 May 2014, the next US Naval Academy satellites and Brno University transponders will be launched on the AFSPC ULA Atlas-5 mission from the Cape into a 50 something degree orbit. We welcome radio amateurs worldwide to tune into the downlinks and either IGate packets into the global APRS-IS system or email to Bruninga(a)usna.edu. After launch, the next several orbits will be over USA and Europe. Operations via PSAT or PSK31 are not authorized until on-orbit checkout is complete (may take many,many days). Downlinks (one or more packets per minute): PSAT: 145.825 MHz 1200 baud AX.25 APRS – http://aprs.org/psat.html BRICsat: 435.975 MHz 9600 baud AX.25 packet telemetry USS Langley: 435.475 MHz 9600 baud AX.25 packet telemetry PSK31: 435.350 MHz FM PSK31 telemetry Further info will be posted when available on the PSAT page above. Enjoy, Bob Bruninga, WB4APR - USNA Jin Kang, KB3UKS – USNA Mirek Kasal, OK2AQ - Brno University Tomas Urbanec, OK2PNQ - Brno University Petr Vagner, OK2CPV - Brno University

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