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

W6RO on 2235 UTC AO-7 pass today
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 05 Mar '16

05 Mar '16

Hi! I am on the Queen Mary right now, and hope to work the 2235 UTC AO-7 pass from the wireless room as W6RO. Please see my @WD9EWK Twitter feed for photos of the W6RO satellite station. One pass only, and QSLs go to W6RO - not me. Sorry for the last minute notice... 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK

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Re: [amsat-bb] Frequency Doubler?
by Ross Whenmouth 05 Mar '16

05 Mar '16

Hi Bob, The 1N4005 diode will probably be far to slow for a 451 -> 902 MHz doubler as the intended use of the 1N4005 is as a line-frequency rectifier. The 1N4148 or 1N914 high speed signal diode should a better choice for UHF frequencies. A full wave rectifier is a good way to produce 2nd harmonic content - Charles Wenzel has authored a PDF on this subject that you may find helpful: http://www.techlib.com/files/diodedbl.pdf 73 ZL2WRW Ross Whenmouth

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ARISS Contact Tuesday - Audio Available
by John Spasojevich 05 Mar '16

05 Mar '16

Please join us in listening to the ISS contact with participants at the Atlanta Science Festival, Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday March 8th. AOS is anticipated at 1611 UTC The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and K6DUE in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Audio from this contact will be fed into the: EchoLink *AMSAT* (101377) IRLP Node 9010 Discovery Reflector Streaming Audio at: https://sites.google.com/site/arissaudio/ Audio on Echolink & web stream is generally transmitted around 20 minutes prior to the contact taking place so that you can hear some of the preparation that occurs. IRLP will begin just prior to the ground station call to the ISS. Please note that on Echolink there are automatic breaks of 1.5 seconds in the audio transmission. These occur every 2.5 minutes during the event. Breaks on IRLP are manual and occur approximately after every third question. Connected repeaters may time out. ** Contact times are approximate. If the ISS executes a reboost or other manoeuvre, the AOS (Acquisition Of Signal) time may alter by a few minutes ** 73, John AG9D ARISS Audio Distribution

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-03-05 20:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 05 Mar '16

05 Mar '16

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-03-05 20:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact was successful: Sat 2016-03-05 10:53:39 UTC 60 deg (***) Slovanské Gymnázium Olomouc, Olomouc, Moravia, Czech Republic, direct via OK2KYJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-08 08:22:43 UTC 82 deg Atlanta Science Festival, Atlanta, Georgia, telebridge via K6DUE The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-08 16:11:05 UTC 53 deg Watch for live stream at http://atlantasciencefestival.org/ariss North Dakota Space Grant Consortium (NDSGC), Grand Forks, North Dakota, telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-03-10 19:08:55 UTC 56 deg **************************************************************************** ** The next window to submit a proposal for an upcoming contact is now open. The window is open from 2016-02-15 to 2016-04-15 and would be for contacts between 2017-01-01 and 2017-06-30. Check out the ARISS website http://www.ariss.org/ or the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact for full details. ********************************** ******************************************** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. **************************************************************************** *** All ARISS contacts are made via the Ericsson radio unless otherwise noted. **************************************************************************** *** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke(a)sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IKØWGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-03-05 20:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1032. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 997. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 47. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-03-05 20:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Heard the ARISS contact this morning
by Koos van den Hout 05 Mar '16

05 Mar '16

I listened to the ARISS contact with England (Wales, to be precise) this morning. I followed the preparations via the principia live stream but I went outside with my arrow antenna for the contact itself. Elevation at my location was not too high (maximum of 46 degrees) which was a bit of a problem between the houses. I held up my arrow above my head for maximum reception but that got tiring real quick. So I heard the answers to about 3 or 4 questions. But it is still quite special to hear an astronaut talk live. On the principia live stream I followed the rest of the event. It's good to see the contact is much, much more than just 10 minutes of Q and A. There was a lot of explanation about the ISS, the work Tim Peake does, the influence of space on the human body. Including bits where the scientists say "we don't know why this happens, we're still researching it". The ARISS program and the Tim Peake mission must be a boost for STEM education and amateur radio. Koos PD4KH -- Camp Wireless, the site about wireless Internet | Koos van den Hout access at campsites http://www.camp-wireless.org/ | http://idefix.net/ PGP keyid 0xF0D7C263 | IPv6 enabled!

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Re: [amsat-bb] DSA Amateur Radio Club Balloon Launch
by Richard Tejera 05 Mar '16

05 Mar '16

Cool, always good to have three beacons. My group, Arizona Near Space Research uses three beacons as well. How high did you get? Our last flight at the Yuma hamfest reached 99,600 feet. Good luck on your next flight. Please share your telemetry results once you finish reducing the data. Rick Tejera K7TEJ Saguaro Astronomy Club www.SaguaroAstro.org Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.w7tbc.org On March 5, 2016, at 11:02, Skyler F <electricity440(a)gmail.com> wrote: We used the other aprs beacon on board, the Edge of Space sciences had one too. On Saturday, March 5, 2016, Richard Tejera <Saguaroastro(a)cox.net> wrote: Congratulations on a successful flight. If your APRS beacon failed, how were you able to track and recover the payload? Rick Tejera K7TEJ Saguaro Astronomy Club www.SaguaroAstro.org Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.w7tbc.org On March 4, 2016, at 19:28, Skyler F <electricity440(a)gmail.com> wrote: Hi everyone again, Here is the follow up on my High School's Balloon launch, it was a success, and we had a lot of fun with the launch. Unfortunately APRS did not ever obtain a GPS lock. It only transmitted temperature, humidity, and pressure, with location at (0.000, 0,000), however we were asked to fly just our APRS on the next EOSS launch as part of the STEM outreach, so we will get the GPS portion of the APRS payload fixed up by then. Our other two payloads worked great, however. I created a webpage with all of the details of the launch right here amsatnet.info/#balloon Here is a youtube video of the launch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adDF-m4ecnA I am still analyzing the crazy amounts of data for our Field Mill payload, so that information is not up yet. I would like to thank the people who donated! This launch would not have been possible without their support. 73, Skyler KD0WHB _______________________________________________ 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 -- Skyler Fennell amsatnet.info KDØWHB electricity440(a)gmail.com

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Re: [amsat-bb] DSA Amateur Radio Club Balloon Launch
by Richard Tejera 05 Mar '16

05 Mar '16

Congratulations on a successful flight. If your APRS beacon failed, how were you able to track and recover the payload? Rick Tejera K7TEJ Saguaro Astronomy Club www.SaguaroAstro.org Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.w7tbc.org On March 4, 2016, at 19:28, Skyler F <electricity440(a)gmail.com> wrote: Hi everyone again, Here is the follow up on my High School's Balloon launch, it was a success, and we had a lot of fun with the launch. Unfortunately APRS did not ever obtain a GPS lock. It only transmitted temperature, humidity, and pressure, with location at (0.000, 0,000), however we were asked to fly just our APRS on the next EOSS launch as part of the STEM outreach, so we will get the GPS portion of the APRS payload fixed up by then. Our other two payloads worked great, however. I created a webpage with all of the details of the launch right here amsatnet.info/#balloon Here is a youtube video of the launch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adDF-m4ecnA I am still analyzing the crazy amounts of data for our Field Mill payload, so that information is not up yet. I would like to thank the people who donated! This launch would not have been possible without their support. 73, Skyler KD0WHB _______________________________________________ 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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DSA Amateur Radio Club Balloon Launch
by Skyler F 05 Mar '16

05 Mar '16

Hi everyone again, Here is the follow up on my High School's Balloon launch, it was a success, and we had a lot of fun with the launch. Unfortunately APRS did not ever obtain a GPS lock. It only transmitted temperature, humidity, and pressure, with location at (0.000, 0,000), however we were asked to fly just our APRS on the next EOSS launch as part of the STEM outreach, so we will get the GPS portion of the APRS payload fixed up by then. Our other two payloads worked great, however. I created a webpage with all of the details of the launch right here amsatnet.info/#balloon Here is a youtube video of the launch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adDF-m4ecnA I am still analyzing the crazy amounts of data for our Field Mill payload, so that information is not up yet. I would like to thank the people who donated! This launch would not have been possible without their support. 73, Skyler KD0WHB

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de N8WAC
by natewac＠aol.com 05 Mar '16

05 Mar '16

I just rx'd CAMSAT . I wasn't aware of what it was so I Googled it. I saw that I was asked to send a report. So here it is. Copied via Fldigi. a:.hzbwzexpabeEI*RE EH<AA>HHE<VE>UR RMR RUV RK6 R6V R U RRK UU4 RNU TI HS*N TTT TTI TTT TTT FRK VTT CAMSAT CAMSAT E EE*H*J1SB DEH XW2 XW2 AAA RTR RUN RMH RUV RK6 R6V RM4 RRK UU4 RNV TKV 6CR TTT TTT TFT TTT TTI TTT TTT TRK VTT CAMSAT CAMSAT T<AS>J1SB DFH XW2 XW<HM> AAA RTR RUR RE RUV RKN R6V Rx'd on 3/4/2016 UTC about 00:15 N8WAC

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Quadrifilar Antenna at Orlando Hamcation
by John Papay 04 Mar '16

04 Mar '16

Salvatore Bologna of Helical Technologies in Rockledge Florida had his new quadrifilar uhf antenna at Orlando Hamcation. Sal wanted to test it on my satellite demo station to see how it performed against the Arrow antenna we were using. We set up an A/B switch on the UHF port of the IC910H so we could switch between their quadrifilar and the Arrow on a tripod. We tried it on FO-29 and SO-50 during two passes. The results were not surprising. The Arrow always did better but the quad did hear stations. They were just down a few db depending on the elevation. Their quad is housed in a pvc tube and was on a 10' pvc mast. It is very stealthy and that's a nice characteristic of the antenna. If you live in antenna restricted area, this antenna will pass for a vent pipe or as part of a flagpole. But there is no way this antenna can perform as well as a 7 el beam adjusted for proper polarity. But it does work and you can hear stations on FO-29. SO-50 is a much weaker bird and signals were weak on the quad. But you could hear stations and you could make contacts. There is a video of my demo station at Hamcation on youtube.com You can see Sal sitting in back of the radio, flipping the A/B antenna switch during the passes. The audio is not perfect so it may be hard to hear the difference between the antennas. They are working on a vhf version. Their website is helicomtech.com Antenna selection depends on many different factors. You write down your objectives and then consider your constraints when making your decision to purchase. Every case may be a little different. 73, John K8YSE

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