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

report rx NO-84
by LW8EXS 24 Aug '15

24 Aug '15

22:18 UTC 1:Fm PSAT-1 To APOFF Via ARISS <UI R Pid=F0 Len=34> [19:18:19R] T#565,869,074,525,848,820,00011100 1:Fm PSAT-1 To APOFF Via ARISS <UI R Pid=F0 Len=50> [19:18:56R] !54 . N\111 . ES090/999/W3ADO s#013924,0z290 1:Fm PSAT-1 To APOFF Via ARISS <UI R Pid=F0 Len=34> [19:20:21R] T#567,867,073,523,852,818,00011100 73s LW8EXS Mercedes ( Buenos Aires ) Argentina --- El software de antivirus Avast ha analizado este correo electrónico en busca de virus. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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July/August AMSAT Journal
by Rick Walter 24 Aug '15

24 Aug '15

Just received the very nice July/August AMSAT journal in the mail today at Lancaster, PA. Lots of great pictures and large content. Congratulations to all involved that create this fine publication for us! Rick - WB3CSY Sent from Rick's iPhone 5 "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds" - Albert Einstein

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report RX NO-84
by LW8EXS 24 Aug '15

24 Aug '15

15:42 UTC 1:Fm PSAT-1 To APOFF Via ARISS <UI R Pid=F0 Len=50> [12:38:07R] !05 . S\078 . WS120/999/W3ADO s#013652,0z290 1:Fm PSAT-1 To APOFF Via ARISS <UI R Pid=F0 Len=52> [12:38:07R] s#013652,0z290,efGhaadHAEDIcgGgceeI0AEJchGgdgeIbbFJ 1:Fm PSAT-1 To APOFF Via ARISS <UI R Pid=F0 Len=34> [12:39:24R] T#172,896,073,615,789,834,00011100 1:Fm PSAT-1 To APOFF Via ARISS <UI R Pid=F0 Len=50> [12:39:41R] !08 . S\072 . WS120/999/W3ADO s#013653,0z290 1:Fm PSAT-1 To APOFF Via ARISS <UI R Pid=F0 Len=52> [12:39:41R] s#013653,0z290,aeHehEfbgeIAaDJdhFgdgfJacEKdiGfehfJc 1:Fm PSAT-1 To APOFF Via ARISS <UI R Pid=F0 Len=34> [12:41:26R] T#174,894,071,628,768,832,00011100 1:Fm PSAT-1 To APOFF Via ARISS <UI R Pid=F0 Len=34> [12:42:27R] T#175,902,074,633,763,830,00011100 73s LW8EXS Mercedes ( Buenos Aires ) Argentina --- El software de antivirus Avast ha analizado este correo electrónico en busca de virus. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Making Reservations
by Martha 24 Aug '15

24 Aug '15

I have been in contact with the Crowne Plaza in Dayton. Our original Sales Manager is gone! Information she gave us turns out to be incorrect. To make reservations for the AMSAT Space Symposium call 1-800-689-5586 and ask for the AMSAT block. I have been assured by Nicole (our new Sales Manager) that this will work. -- 73- Martha

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EM97 Activation
by James Lea - WX4TV 24 Aug '15

24 Aug '15

I will be working in West Virginia in EM97 on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of this week and will work as many SO-50 passes as I can. If anyone needs that grid, let me know and I will let you know when I will be on the satellite. 73, James

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NO-84?
by Steve Kristoff 24 Aug '15

24 Aug '15

I'm making no claim to be the expert on this, but it looks like the voltage on NO-84 has stabilized. Haven't seen anything below 7 volts for a while. Can we anticipate that it will be open for digipeating in the near (or semi-near) future? Steve Kristoff AI9IN skristof(a)etczone.com

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AO73 2m passband
by John Geiger 23 Aug '15

23 Aug '15

What are the downlink passband frequencies for AO73. They seem to be different than I was saw on the Amsat website. 73 John AF5CC

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FUNcube-1 now in autonomous mode
by Graham Shirville 23 Aug '15

23 Aug '15

Just to advise that FUNcube-1 is now operating in autonomous mode. 73 Graham G3VZV

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PR8ZX (GI64gl) QRV this afternoon
by Paul Stoetzer 23 Aug '15

23 Aug '15

Good afternoon, Pedro, PR8ZX, tells me he will be on FO-29 and AO-7 this afternoon from his home QTH - GI64 - looking for North American stations. If you need it and you have a window, look for him. 73, Paul, N8HM

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ANS-235 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 23 Aug '15

23 Aug '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-235 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: * Launch Date for AMSAT Fox-1A * Satellite Antennas and the Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 * CubeSat Developers' Workshop Presentations Online * JAXA H-II Transport Vehicle to Deliver Two ESA Cubesats * IARU Coordination of Satellite Frequencies * IARU Region 3 Act on Band Plan Satellite Allocations * AMSAT Satellite Communications Awards * Send Your Name to Mars on NASA's Next Red Planet Mission SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-235.01 ANS-235 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 235.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. August 23, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-214.01 Launch Date for AMSAT Fox-1A Jeru Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT Vice President of Engineering advises that AMSAT has been informed that the launch of Fox-1A is now scheduled for October 8. No other details are available at this time. [ANS thanks Jerry, N0JY, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Antennas and the Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 AMSAT members are encouraged to contact their congressional representatives and senators, asking them to sign on to The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 as a co-sponsor. Passage of the Act (currently consisting of bills in both the House and Senate) will directly benefit AMSAT members and likely help us grow our membership numbers. Putting satellites in orbit is only half the challenge of "working the birds." Reaching them with an appropriate ground station is the other half. Many of us living in housing developments, condos or apartments would love to have a fixed station antenna system but are severely limited by restrictive CC&Rs that forbid outside antennas. We are relegated to working ISS, SO-50 and future LEO satellites with Arrows, Elks and HTs. The Radio Amateur Parity Act of 2015 would not give Amateurs "carte blanche" to do whatever they wished in terms of erecting radio antennas where they now are prohibited. But it would eliminate blanket prohibitions, requiring HOAs and other private land use regulators to extend reasonable accommodation to Amateurs who want to erect antennas. The ARRL is leading on this issue for the larger Amateur Radio community. Sample letters for the U.S. House and Senate, along with instructions for their use. can be found at this link: http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-parity-act [ANS thanks Joe Neil Kornowski, KB6IGK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- CubeSat Developers' Workshop Presentations Online The 12th Annual Summer CubeSat Developers’ Workshop was a great success!! The Workshop feedback has been amazing, and truly underscores the efforts of all who participated, from the engaging, entertaining, and provocative technical presentations to the incredible networking opportunities. Thank you to all Presenters, Attendees, Sponsors, Live Stream Viewers, and Organizers! Your contribution was invaluable to the success of the Workshop and greatly appreciated! For those of you who could not make it, or for those of you who want to review what you saw, all presentations can be found online on cubesat.org with a link to the video of the presentation. Please join us at the 13th Annual Spring Developers’ Workshop at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA from April 20-22, 2016. [ANS thanks The CubeSat Workshop Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- JAXA H-II Transport Vehicle to Deliver Two ESA Cubesats Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) launch of its H-II Transport Vehicle (HTV)-5 to the International Space Station on Wednesday, Aug. 19 included two cubesats. These satellites will then be deployed together into space in the first half of September, with the involvement of Danish ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen. Both CubeSats originated from Denmark. GOMX-3 is a 3U Cubesat. The mission and its payloads will be used for story telling and teaching. It will include an ADS-B receiver, magnetometer data, solar cells and green energy and radio operation. An experimental X Band transmitter plus an SDR receiver will also be carried. GOMX-3 downlink: 437.250 MHz with 1k2-9k6 GMSK data from a NanoCom AX100 using CSP protocol. AAUSAT-5 is a 1 unit cubesat. The primary mission is to receive AIS beacons from ships with a new design based on AAUSAT-3. In addition to that a educational payload for high school outreach was designed by engineering students. The AIS receiver payload is based on SDR principles. Once deployed from the ISS it is expected to remain in orbit for approx 6 months. AAUSAT-5 downlink: 437.425 MHz, GMSK telemetry. Danish Ministry of Science and Education, House of Natural Sciences http://nvhus.dk/house-of-natural-sceinces.aspx ESA Cubesat launch announcement: http://tinyurl.com/ESA-Gomx SpaceRef.com article about AAUSAT-5: http://tinyurl.com/AAUSAT-Article [ANS thanks ESA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- IARU Coordination of Satellite Frequencies The IARU have announced they are committed to only coordinate satellite frequencies within the internationally aligned IARU band plans. The two metre amateur band is one of the most popular and populated bands in all the spectrum allocated to the amateur and amateur satellite services. This recently led to a request by satellite builders for coordination outside the spectrum reserved for satellites in the IARU band plans (145.800 – 146.000 MHz) as not enough channels are available to satisfy their requirements. The IARU Satellite Adviser, Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV and his advisory panel are mandated to coordinate frequencies within the IARU band plans for amateur satellites. Coordinated frequencies must comply with band plans that are common to all three IARU Regions Satellites coordinated outside these plans could cause interference to terrestrial amateur operations in other regions. In theory satellites could be programmed so that they only operate over their country of origin. Because satellite orbits make it difficult to pinpoint operations, spill over to other Regions may occur during parts of the orbit. Accordingly, IARU will not coordinate frequencies for satellites which are planned to operate outside the internationally aligned IARU band plans for amateur satellites. The IARU offers frequency coordination in an effort to maximise spectrum utilisation and avoid possible interference to other satellites and ground stations. The IARU requests that satellite groups work on a sharing plan or use other parts of the amateur service spectrum designated for satellite operation. When a large group of satellite sharing the same band are launched, they will soon drift apart which enhances the opportunity to share the same frequencies. For example, during the initial phase, just after launch, a time sharing system could be used to monitor the payloads before initialising transponders and other systems. For instance, the 10 metre band, once popular with satellite builders, is today not significantly used. The band segment 29.300-29.510 MHz has been used for amateur-satellite downlinks for more than 40 years, beginning with Australis- OSCAR 5 in 1970 and AMSAT-OSCAR 6, AMSAT’s first communications satellite, in 1972. The band segment was very popular for downlinks in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, only one amateur satellite actively uses a 29 MHz downlink: AMSAT-OSCAR 7, launched in 1974 [and RS-15 on 29.3525 MHz – Editor]. While a 29 MHz downlink would not be practical for today’s very small satellites, owing to the size of the antenna required, the band could be used very practically for uplinks even with small receiving antennas, because transmitting power at the earth station is easy to obtain. The IARU Satellite Adviser and his panel believe that the 10 metre band offers a good alternative to 2 metre uplinks Currently the IARU team also coordinates frequencies for satellites built by universities and educational groups in an effort to maximise spectrum utilisation and mitigate any possible interference to Amateur Radio operations. The IARU is committed to work with these groups and with the ITU to find other spectrum for these satellites. Rod Stafford W6ROD Secretary International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) [ANS thanks Rod, W6ROD, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- IARU Region 3 Act on Band Plan Satellite Allocations The IARU Region 3 (Asia/Pacific) Directors have submitted a band plan paper concerning amateur satellite allocations for consideration at the IARU Region 3 Conference which takes place October 12-16 in Bali, Indonesia. This is the 16th Conference and it will be hosted by the Amateur Radio Organisation of Indonesia (ORARI). 60 Premier and 12 Suite hotel rooms have been booked at the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel which is described as being situated in Sanur, the secretly sophisticated side of Bali. ORARI plans to run a special event station YB16IARU from October 11-16 from the conference and the delegates will be taken on a tour of Bali. The President of ORARI, Sutiyoso YB0ST, says: “It’s an exciting time for us as we continue to grow and thrive, remaining always adaptable, motivated and responsive. The world of amateur radio is an exciting area in which to work and play, and we’ll continue to meet and bring inspired people together in forums like this, to ensure IARU Region 3 remains at the cutting edge.” The changes proposed by IARU Region 3 Directors would appear to prohibit the use of the Amateur Satellite Service channel 144.490 MHz as an uplink for crewed space missions. Use of this channel was agreed by IARU Region 3 some 20 years ago but the new paper says: “Note 2: The other portion of the band 144.035-145.8 MHz is exclusively identified for the amateur service.” At the same time IARU Region 3 had agreed the crewed space mission downlink channel would be 145.800 MHz using 5 kHz deviation FM with a Doppler shift of +/- 3.75 kHz. The paper does not record this. Read the IARU R3 Directors amateur satellite band plan paper at http://www.iaru- r3.org/16r3c/docs/022%20Modification%20to%20R3%20Band%20Plan.docx The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) have presented a satellite band plan paper, see http://www.iaru-r3.org/16r3c/docs/023%20Changes%20to%20R3%20Bandplan.docx Other papers submitted for the conference may be seen at http://iaru-r3.org/16th-triennial-conference-of-the-iaru-r3-documents/ 16th IARU R3 Conference http://www.iarur3conf2015.org/ IARU Coordination of Satellite Frequencies http://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/20/iaru-coordination-of-satellite-frequencies/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Satellite Communications Awards Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards provided the following corrected list of AMSAT Satellite Communications Award recipients as an update to the list previously published in ANS-228. Steve Kristoff, AI9IN #564 Frank Westphal, K6FW #565 Fraser Bonnett, W3UTD #566 Carlton Noll, KA4H #567 (also a new member to AMSAT) [ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Send Your Name to Mars on NASA's Next Red Planet Mission Mars enthusiasts around the world can participate in NASA’s journey to Mars by adding their names to a silicon microchip headed to the Red Planet aboard NASA's InSight Mars lander, scheduled to launch next year. "Our next step in the journey to Mars is another fantastic mission to the surface," said Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "By participating in this opportunity to send your name aboard InSight to the Red Planet, you're showing that you're part of that journey and the future of space exploration." Submissions will be accepted until Sept. 8. To send your name to Mars aboard InSight, go to: http://go.usa.gov/3Aj3G The fly-your-name opportunity comes with “frequent flier” points to reflect an individual's personal participation in NASA’s journey to Mars, which will span multiple missions and multiple decades. The InSight mission offers the second such opportunity for space exploration fans to collect points by flying their names aboard a NASA mission, with more opportunities to follow. Last December, the names of 1.38 million people flew on a chip aboard the first flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft, which will carry astronauts to deep space destinations including Mars and an asteroid. After InSight, the next opportunity to earn frequent flier points will be NASA's Exploration Mission-1, the first planned test flight bringing together the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule in preparation for human missions to Mars and beyond. InSight will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California in March 2016 and land on Mars Sept. 28, 2016. The mission is the first dedicated to the investigation of the deep interior of the planet. It will place the first seismometer directly on the surface of Mars to measure Martian quakes and use seismic waves to learn about the planet's interior. It also will deploy a self- hammering heat probe that will burrow deeper into the ground than any previous device on the Red Planet. These and other InSight investigations will improve our understanding about the formation and evolution of all rocky planets, including Earth. For additional information about the InSight mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/insight/main/index.html You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: https://www.facebook.com/NASAInSight and https://twitter.com/nasainsight [ANS thanks NASA 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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Maybe Activating Blueridge parkway in North Carolina
by John Brier 22 Aug '15

22 Aug '15

I'm headed to the parkway mainly to get closer to the Arizona ARISS contact happening this afternoon but I'll have my gear to get on SO-50 for perhaps both Sat and Sun depending on when I decide to come back home to Raleigh. Looks like grids EM96, EM95 and EM85. No promises as I haven't even looked up if there are passes but if you need those grids look out for me! John, KG4AKV

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Servo Based Rotator for $375
by Bill Attwood 21 Aug '15

21 Aug '15

After fielding a number of questions about my light-duty rotator I finally got around to making a bit of a parts list, etc. I've posted it at https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=118737 for anyone interested. I do hope to clean up the instructions and add some photos as time permits! 73, Bill VE6WK --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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how can I decode packet thru a Funcube?
by Bob KD7YZ 21 Aug '15

21 Aug '15

I want to monitor a few satellites by using my Funcube Dongle Pro Plus on a different computer. I have a spare antenna, an M2 2m440XP ? I've tried setting the FCDP+ to a frequency with their own controlling device then letting MixW or UISS/Soundmodem listen ... but nothing gets decoded. Is this even possible? 73, -- Bob KD7YZ http://www.qrz.com/db/kd7yz AMSAT LM#901

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HH8/KD8CAO Haiti
by John Papay 21 Aug '15

21 Aug '15

The last satellite operation by Doug, HH8/KD8CAO, will be on the Friday afternoon passes of FO-29 and SO-50. He is still working on the radio station there and hopes to have everything completed before they leave the island on Saturday. He has also been working HF pileups on 14251 in the evenings with the 5W FT817 and a dipole antenna. Conditions have been good to the US and many satellite op's have made an HF contact with him. No operation is planned for tonight. 73, John K8YSE

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KX9X/m this weekend
by Sean Kutzko 21 Aug '15

21 Aug '15

Hi all- I'll be heading back to CT beginning Saturday morning. Will take a couple days to pass through the following grids on my way home: EN92 FN02 FN03 FN13 FN23 Will be on SO50 and FO29. for FO29, I'm half-duplex, transmitting on 145.930. Hope to work you. Sent from Sean's iPad

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FN53
by Andrew Glasbrenner 20 Aug '15

20 Aug '15

I will be on FO29 and probably SO50 on the early morning passes tomorrow from Bath, Maine. There have been some other ops up higher in the passband where I normally go, plus I will be paying attention for Europe early in the pass, so I may be in the middle or slightly below the middle of the passband. I'm only running 5watts from a pair of 817s and an Arrow antenna, so listen closely :-). Thanks, and 73, Drew KO4MA/1 Sent from my iPhone

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Ariane 5 Launch Webcast Today
by JoAnne Maenpaa 20 Aug '15

20 Aug '15

Not an amateur radio payload today, but if you enjoy the rumble in the Amazon Jungle of an Ariane launch tune into http://arianespace.tv/ at 19:56 UTC. Ariane 5 will orbit 2 satellites: EUTELSAT 8 West for EUTELSAT, and Intelsat 34 for INTELSAT. It will be launched from the Ariane 5 launch complex N° 3 (ELA3), in Kourou, French Guiana. Webcast begins at 19:56 UTC. Launch is planned for a window between 20:10 to 21:56 UTC. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

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ISS and H-II Transfer Vehicle Both Eyeball Visible
by JoAnne Maenpaa 20 Aug '15

20 Aug '15

http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ is a cool tool to find the times that the ISS and the H-II transfer vehicle are eyeball visible for the next few days. H-II and ISS are about 10 minutes apart (with H-II flying by first) from an earthling's point of view. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

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KX9X/m grid update
by Sean Kutzko 20 Aug '15

20 Aug '15

Hi all- I'll be on SO 50 today from the EN60/EM69 line in rural Illinois today from 1616-1950z today. Will also try FO29 half duplex passes, but in having trouble getting that to work. I will transmit on 145.930 and trying to listen as I can. I also need suggestions for Sunday activations. I'll be staying Saturday night in Erie, PA, EN92. Won't get there in time for Saturday's SO50 afternoon passes. What else in that neck of the woods do people need? FN23 is as far north as I can go. Be sure to log me as KX9X/x for LOTW uploads, this includes KX9X/9 for today's activation. Sean KX9X Sent from Sean's iPad

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IARU Coordination of Satellite Frequencies
by M5AKA 20 Aug '15

20 Aug '15

The IARU have announced they are committed to only coordinate satellite frequencies within the internationally aligned IARU band plans http://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/20/iaru-coordination-of-satellite-frequencies/ Rad1o 50-4000 MHz SDR Transceiver video features AMSAT-TAPR Banquet speaker Michael Ossmann AD0NR http://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/13/michael-ossmann-chaos-computer-camp/ Amateur Radio Allocations Discussed http://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/13/amateur-radio-allocations-discussed/ 73 Trevor M5AKA ---- AMSAT-UK http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ----

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Re: [amsat-bb] ST2 Fox Delta vs lightning
by Kevin M 20 Aug '15

20 Aug '15

Thinking more about the possible 'mechanism of damage', I removed the RS-232 driver chip and the current draw dropped down below 100 mA where I'm sure it belongs. So I am (still) manually adjusting rotors until I can get that replaced. Of course, I'll need to check and make sure the serial board in the computer is working okay as well. 73 all, Kevin N4UFO

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Hawaii on FO-29?
by Mark Johns 19 Aug '15

19 Aug '15

My tracking software shows a brief FO-29 mutual window with Hawaii and much of the Midwest and Western mainland U.S. in about an hour. Anyone in the aloha state on SSB satellite? -- Mark D. Johns, KØMDJ Decorah, Iowa USA EN43 ----------------------------------------------- "Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in." ---Mark Twain

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Danish CubeSats head to ISS + other news links
by M5AKA 19 Aug '15

19 Aug '15

Danish CubeSats head for ISS. They are expected to be deployed in September by Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen KG5GCZ who attended the 2009 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium http://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/19/danish-cubesats-head-for-iss/ Newspaper story - School students decode ISS images http://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/19/school-students-decode-iss-images/ UKHAS Conference on Saturday http://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/17/ukhas-conference-on-saturday/ RSGB Letter to PC Pro Magazine mentions satellites and FUNcube http://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/15/rsgb-pc-pro-letter/ 73 Trevor M5AKA ---- AMSAT-UK http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ----

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ST2 Fox Delta vs lightning
by Kevin M 19 Aug '15

19 Aug '15

Hello all! I had a lightning storm roll through today... radios and gear were powered down but the computer was not. Not sure what the mechanism was, but either my Yaesu rotor controller or my Fox Delta ST2 has suffered a failure. I tried hooking up a 12V wall wart to the ST-2 and I can get the standard display, albeit the brightness is off (due to voltage being off, I now know)... the buttons work, readings are within the ball park, etc. Simply put, it's still working, just something is off somewhere. - So with the ST2 connected and checking voltages I can see that the ST2 is dragging down the voltages from the Yaesu controller considerably... The 12v line (actually measuring ~15.8v when unconnected) drops to 5.5 volts and when I check the current draw it's around 350-400 mA. Hooking up the wall wart and checking again, I find the 12v wall wart (measuring 12.1V when open) drops to 5.7v when connected and shows a current draw of around 600 mA. The wall wart is rated at 420mA and since I am using a 10A scale to measure, sounds about right... it's pulling max current. And clearly the wall wart is capable of supplying more current than the Yaesu controller. -So what I don't know, are normals... Does anyone know the normal current draw of the ST2? (serial RS-232 version, if it matters). I can't imagine it being that high since it is mounted without heatsink! But I wanted to make sure before I go tearing into the ST-2 to diagnose it. I suspect the 7805 has gone wonky, but still functioning... although it could be something else has shorted. - Thanks in advance for saving me some time and headache! 73, Kevin N4UFO

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HH8/KD8CAO
by John Papay 19 Aug '15

19 Aug '15

Doug just emailed that he will try to be on the next FO-29 at 2105utc. He has been very busy working on the radio station in Jacmel and hasn't been able to get on the afternoon passes. Several satellite ops including N8MH, W5PFG, N8RO and KE8AKW worked him on 14251 last night after 0000z. He might be on again tonight. Conditions to the US were very good and his 5W FT817 and dipole were doing an amazing job. He worked 3 ZL's that I heard as well. Hopefully he will be more active Thursday and Friday on the birds. They leave Saturday. 73, John K8YSE

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