AMSAT-BB July 2015

159 participants
265 discussions

CN76 in a couple of days
by Bob- W7LRD 31 Jul '15

31 Jul '15

There is a good possibility I will be in CN76 on 8/2 & 8/3. Will bring radio/arrow, FO29 most productive. More to follow when I know for sure. 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle

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Colorado moto-roving Friday
by Douglas B Tabor 31 Jul '15

31 Jul '15

Plan is to motorcycle to DM69 for the 1550 pass of SO-50 tomorrow morning, near Silverthorne, CO. Then hit DN60 on the next pass on the return home from Kremmling. 73, Doug, N6UA/mm (the land-based mm) Douglas Tabor - Sent from my iPad

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Yeah Seriously
by Kevin Deane 30 Jul '15

30 Jul '15

What Bob said.

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AO-7 a bit tempermental
by Bob- W7LRD 30 Jul '15

30 Jul '15

Just got off AO-7 and it's a bit temperamental. Ran min power and lot of freq shift and qsb. Did Work W5BK ssb, AA5PK ssb and K9CIS cw (of course). Will not complain too loudly it's the highest bird we have (right now). 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle

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Re: [amsat-bb] APRS signal "W3ADO-1" being heard in the UK
by Robert Bruninga 30 Jul '15

30 Jul '15

We need to be careful not to blame PCSAT (which identifies itself in each of its occasional 1 second packets) for every unknown signal heard on 144.39 in the UK. Maybe someone could record the unknown interference being heard so we can be sure to separate the known few PCSAT packets from all the other possible sources of weak emissions that could possibly be heard by sensitive receivers… Then we will know what is and what is not emitted from PCSAT. Thanks Bob, WB4APR *From:* M5AKA [mailto:[email protected]] *Sent:* Thursday, July 30, 2015 3:34 PM *To:* Robert Bruninga; AMSAT BB *Subject:* Re: [amsat-bb] APRS signal "W3ADO-1" interfering with Meteor Scatter in England Thank you for explanation Bob. The MS community in Europe has been suffering this interference for several weeks. I have not seen any notifications on this list that there was a problem with NO-44. When did you first become aware of the problem ? > We learned our lesson! That was our FIRST amateur satellite and we sure > learned NOT to use a "connected-packet-command link" May I suggest that the lesson to be learned is NOT to use frequencies like 144.390 MHz which have not been agreed Internationally for satellite use across all three IARU Regions. 73 Trevor M5AKA On Thursday, 30 July 2015, 20:08, Robert Bruninga <bruninga(a)usna.edu> wrote: > An FM APRS signal has been received in England on 144.390 MHz. > Does anyone know if 144.390 APRS is installed on any current orbiting satellite... So sorry, but yes. "Houston, we have a small problem..." I hate to say it, but that beacon was IARU coordinated 15 years ago for operation only when PCSAT is over North America, but after 14 years on orbit, we have lost the ability to turn that backup beacon off. PCSAT (now 14 years old) had a backup fail-safe beacon on 144.39 that would activate after any unknown spacecraft reset to give us a backup comm link in case the primary 145.825 channel died. Being on the North American APRS frequency with hundreds of IGates there would always be at least one that would hear this "emergency call home" from PCSAT even though the channel is generally saturated. And it worked. The problem is, that now PCSAT resets on every orbit due to negative power budget and so, on every orbit that beacon comes back on. Even if we did get a command up to reset it, that setting would last only 15 minutes to the next eclipse. We learned our lesson! That was our FIRST amateur satellite and we sure learned NOT to use a "connected-packet-command link" that needs ACKS and Retries and logon passwords just to LOGON before you can even send a SHUTUP command. All our satellites since, operate without the multiple Send, connect, ACK, retry, ACK, command, ACK overhead.... just to get one command understood. Now, only the receiver on the spacecraft has to be functional to command it to silence in a single packet. But too late for PCSAT. We are sorry that we have no good answers. But we hope we can mitigate this instance of "friendly fire" collateral damage so that we don't cause an overall black-eye to amateur radio overall friendly operations? What you may hear will be 2 one-second packets per minute, one at 1200 baud and one at 9600 baud, trying to "call home". Bob, WB4APR Naval Academy _______________________________________________ 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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Re: [amsat-bb] APRS signal "W3ADO-1" interfering with Meteor Scatter in England
by Robert Bruninga 30 Jul '15

30 Jul '15

> An FM APRS signal has been received in England on 144.390 MHz. > Does anyone know if 144.390 APRS is installed on any current orbiting satellite... So sorry, but yes. "Houston, we have a small problem..." I hate to say it, but that beacon was IARU coordinated 15 years ago for operation only when PCSAT is over North America, but after 14 years on orbit, we have lost the ability to turn that backup beacon off. PCSAT (now 14 years old) had a backup fail-safe beacon on 144.39 that would activate after any unknown spacecraft reset to give us a backup comm link in case the primary 145.825 channel died. Being on the North American APRS frequency with hundreds of IGates there would always be at least one that would hear this "emergency call home" from PCSAT even though the channel is generally saturated. And it worked. The problem is, that now PCSAT resets on every orbit due to negative power budget and so, on every orbit that beacon comes back on. Even if we did get a command up to reset it, that setting would last only 15 minutes to the next eclipse. We learned our lesson! That was our FIRST amateur satellite and we sure learned NOT to use a "connected-packet-command link" that needs ACKS and Retries and logon passwords just to LOGON before you can even send a SHUTUP command. All our satellites since, operate without the multiple Send, connect, ACK, retry, ACK, command, ACK overhead.... just to get one command understood. Now, only the receiver on the spacecraft has to be functional to command it to silence in a single packet. But too late for PCSAT. We are sorry that we have no good answers. But we hope we can mitigate this instance of "friendly fire" collateral damage so that we don't cause an overall black-eye to amateur radio overall friendly operations? What you may hear will be 2 one-second packets per minute, one at 1200 baud and one at 9600 baud, trying to "call home". Bob, WB4APR Naval Academy

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APRS signal "W3ADO-1" interfering with Meteor Scatter in England
by M5AKA 30 Jul '15

30 Jul '15

An FM APRS signal has been received in England causing interference to the MGM frequency and weak-signal Meteor Scatter operation which is just below 144.390 MHz. A MS DXpedition was disrupted by such activity earlier in the month and interference has been occurring at various times since. The APRS frequency in Europe and Africa is 144.800 MHz. Today (July 30) a signal on 144.390 MHz has been decoded as 15:17:27$ fm W3ADO-1 to BEACON-0 via SGATE-0 UI PID=F0 T#004,161,161,042,210,215,11111111,0011,1 Now I know nothing about Sat Gates and how they operate but I presume that is what the SGATE-0 is referring to ? I have seen a reference to W3ADO-1 at http://www.db0anf.de/app/aprs/stations/basic-W3ADO-1 Does anyone know if 144.390 APRS is installed on any current orbiting satellite or is anyone aware of a terrestrial network that may be relaying APRS traffic on 144.390 in the British Isles or Europe ? 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Re: [amsat-bb] Packet on MixW
by skristof＠etczone.com 30 Jul '15

30 Jul '15

I forgot (or didn't know) about the downlink being BPSK/USB. At the moment I don't know how to do an uplink in one mode and the downlink in another. I have an eggbeater, so tracking is not an issue. (I acknowledge that a rotor and a yagi would be better, but I'm working with what I got). Anyway, on this pass I heard nothing, but I was listening in FM. I have heard the CW ID a few times in the past. Guess I was listening on USB those times. Steve AI9IN On 2015-07-30 12:17, Bob KD7YZ wrote: > On 30-Jul-15 1213, skristof(a)etczone.com wrote: > >> I'm going to try using the Text macro on UISS. If it works I'll let you know. > > roger-roger. looks like I have a couple mins to set that text box up > before the pass. > > last night I set SatPC32 on auto and hadd all the Duchifat windows open. > This is the second itme I decoded nothing. three nites ago though I got > a long string of decodes at 1 or 2 AM. > > The dang Doppler on downlonk is crucial to get centered since it's BPSK > on USB. I find it hard to do with the CAT function on SatPC32. > > what u using to track? > > 73,

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Packet on MixW
by skristof＠etczone.com 30 Jul '15

30 Jul '15

I have my compressed APRS packet from the Duchifat folks, but I can't figure out how to get MixW to send it correctly. It sends the compressed packet, then sends the directions, then sends a Carriage Return, then sends the packet again. I think I want the directions "AI9IN>4X4HSL" first and then the compressed packet, don't I? Can anyone help me get this set up. The Duchifat pass is in about 40 minutes. Thanks! Steve AI9IN EM79ji

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FS: ICOM IC-275A and IC-475H Tranceivers
by Frank Westphal 29 Jul '15

29 Jul '15

After recently acquiring an ICOM IC-9100 Transceiver to upgrade my station, my previous satellite radios are for sale. ICOM IC-475H All mode UHF transceiver. 75 watts out. DC power cord, hand microphone and manual included. ICOM IC-275A All mode VHF transceiver. 25 Watts out. Some panel lights burnt out. Does not affect operation of radio. I have a couple of spare bulbs which will be included if you want to open the radio and replace them. AC power cord, hand microphone and manual included/ I have used the radios on the satellites since the AO-13 days and was using them on the LEO birds until earlier this month when when I purchased the IC-9100. The radios are in very good shape. I can provide pictures and answer questions off line. I am asking $600 for each radio which includes shipping and insurance to the lower 48 states. Please contact me at k6fw1 at verizon.net. Thank you for reading this listing. Frank K6FW

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AMSAT-BB July 2015