February 2016 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

We need more report of ChubuSat-2 and -3
by Yasutaka Naru sawa (JR2XEA) 19 Feb '16

19 Feb '16

Dear all; Thank you for your reports after the launch. But ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 are still in critical phase. So, we still need your beacon or 9k6 report so that we know status of both satellites. Best Regards, Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA)

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Yaesu G-500A Bulb Replacement Pics
by Tony 19 Feb '16

19 Feb '16

All: I'm in the process of replacing the bulb inside a Yaesu G-500A elevation controller so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures that show the bulbs location and type - see attached. The bulb (28v 40mA) is available from Radio Shack. See: https://www.radioshack.com/products/radioshack-28v-40ma-incandescent-flashl… 73, Tony -K2MO

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Colorado Amateur Satellite net Begins in 1 hour
by Skyler F 19 Feb '16

19 Feb '16

This is a reminder that the Colorado Amateur Satellite net will begin in 1 hour from now (7PM mountain time Thursday). 6PM Pacific 7PM Mountain 8PM Central 9PM Eastern Please visit us on *AMSATNET.INFO <http://amsatnet.info/>* *IRLP* 9870, the Denver Reflector *ALLSTAR LINK* 40764, direct hookup to the repeater here. 41715, KC9ZHV hub at a data center if I am out of bandwidth. More info on AllStar - amsatnet.info/#node *ECHOLINK* *AMSAT* unless there is an ARISS contact, then go direct to KD0WHB-L *LOCAL RF* 449.625 (-) 141.3 ( WØKU Lookout Mountain) 447.225 (-) 141.3 (The STEM school repeater we set up) 447.850 (-) 141.3 (ACØKQ's repeater where he lives on TOP of saddleback mountain) 147.450 SIMPLEX (Aurora, CO) 446.275 (-) 100.0 Galena St. Local repeater at my house, giving a whopping 5 blocks of great coverage *REMOTE RF* Your Repeater here!, Email me if you want to link in or me to link your echolink or allstar repeater in automatically (no automatic IRLP linking supported) Skyler Fennell amsatnet.info KDØWHB electricity440(a)gmail.com

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Still trying to repair a Mirage KP-2 2 meter preamp
by Larry Ryan 19 Feb '16

19 Feb '16

I am trying to repair a Mirage KP-2 series mast-mount 2M preamp. It is quite old. Also, I have the companion bias-tee or Control Box as Mirage calls it. It comes in a black plastic box with the hardware to mount it on a mast. Testing indicates the relay works and some transistors have a voltage. Unfortunately testing also indicates its an attenuator. I think it has a blown gasfet. The small round gasfet has 4 leads and has the following markings on top: K183 R 43 The PCB is marked KP1&2 Rev B. The Have any of you repaired a KP-2 2M preamp? Do any of you have a schematic diagram of this preamp? Do any of you know the part number of the gasfet transistor? (I'm thinking its the problem) Any help would be appreciated. Thanks & 73, Larry W7DGP

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Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???)
by Robert Bruninga 18 Feb '16

18 Feb '16

Argh!... These testimonials of when people heard the satellite and what it took to hit and where it was in their pass are -meaningless- unless you say where you are relative to the millions of square miles of the country! Someone on the west coast will have more than 10 dB better chance with any satelillite RISING from over the pacific, and someone on the EAST coast will have more than a 10 dB better change of a SETTING satellite over the Atlantic. But unless people say where they are relative to the 3D geometry of the pass, and the rest of the mass of users and RFI from 350 million other people and their part-15 emissions, any such reports make no sense to anyone else. The guys in the Midwest in most of a pass will have a hard time ALWAYS. People need to think in terms of WHERE the satellite is with respect to the other 700,000 hams in the country before any comments on link quality can make much sense. The satellite on one's horizon and 1500 miles away is only 500 miles above SOMEONE ELSE. That's 10 dB right there... Soap box off. Bob, WB4APR -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Howie DeFelice Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 10:42 AM To: Paul Stoetzer; Clayton W5PFG Cc: AMSAT-BB Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations For what it's worth, I worked AO-85 for the first time this Saturday morning while sitting in the car using a 19" whip and Yeasu 857. I could hear the satellite almost at AOS but waited to transmit until sat was above 30 deg elevation since the 19" whip was 3/4 wavelength at the uplink freq. Got in the first time and made contact with N1JEZ. I never bothered to check SWR on this antenna and from the radio display power is down considerably. I did notice fading as well. - Howie AB2S > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:13:40 -0500 > From: n8hm(a)arrl.net > To: w5pfg(a)amsat.org > CC: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations > > Clayton, > > I have observed the same. Over the past couple of months, on directly > overhead or ascending passes to the east, I could never get in until > about TCA using about 20 watts to an Arrow antenna. On overhead > descending passes or to the west, I could not get in after TCA. > > Now, over the past few days, it's been much easier to work horizon to > horizon, but the fading is much worse throughout the pass and I am > constantly twisting to try to regain the downlink. Some times, neither > polarity works. > > According to DK3WN's Illum program, AO-85 will be in constant sunlight > until 2/25. We'll see if it returns to it's previous patterns after > that. > > 73, > > Paul, N8HM > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Clayton W5PFG <w5pfg(a)amsat.org> wrote: > > For the past several days, I have observed the following: > > > > - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very easily. > > Either polarity V or H works. > > > > - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes to > > activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge > > getting in always went away and I could get into the transponder easily. > > > > - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could access > > the transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low as 0.1 > > degrees elevation. > > > > - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be > > equal at times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not > > RHCP or LHCP.) > > > > - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with it > > now in constant sun. > > > > - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with > > handheld transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 > > days who emailed me directly after the pass stating they were seeing some success with an HT. > > > > Thoughts/comments? > > > > 73 > > Clayton > > W5PFG > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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 > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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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Recent AO-85 Observations
by Clayton W5PFG 17 Feb '16

17 Feb '16

For the past several days, I have observed the following: - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very easily. Either polarity V or H works. - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes to activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge getting in always went away and I could get into the transponder easily. - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could access the transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low as 0.1 degrees elevation. - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be equal at times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not RHCP or LHCP.) - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with it now in constant sun. - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with handheld transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 days who emailed me directly after the pass stating they were seeing some success with an HT. Thoughts/comments? 73 Clayton W5PFG

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ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 launched right now!
by Yasutaka Naru sawa (JR2XEA) 17 Feb '16

17 Feb '16

Dear all; Feb. 17 17:45JST(08:45UTC), ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 has been launched on the H-IIA F30 launch vehicle. After separation, both satellites start transmitting beacon message. I hope you receive our message and report to us, thank you. https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.ht… https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite3.ht… Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA)

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New AO7 Distance Record
by Dave Swanson 17 Feb '16

17 Feb '16

Satellite Friends and Colleagues, I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from 'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we just needed a little luck. Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the contact. It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. That said, wow.. what a rush Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until then, catch you on the birds! 73! -Dave, KG5CCI

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NP24 and DM28/DM29
by Lee Ernstrom 17 Feb '16

17 Feb '16

I will be on SO-50 and FO-29 beginning February 21 from a fairly rare grid square within the Great Basin National Park and set up right on the grid line. For times please see my QRZ.com page. WA7HQD Lee (Doc) Ernstrom Sent from my iPad

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Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker
by W2JV 17 Feb '16

17 Feb '16

The Great South Bay, Amateur Radio Club, of which I’m a member wants to put together a satellite station. They have an existing home made AZ EL power unit which works. They are looking into interfacing an LVB tracker with it. and need to know what voltage level input is required for the feedback loop. The unit currently puts out 0-6.25vdc corresponding to 0-360 AZ and 0-180 EL. Looking at the G5500 schematic they go through an opamp arrangement but do not provide any voltage levels. If anyone can the club with some info I'd sure appreciate it. Thanks, W2JV Peter

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