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

Upcoming ARISS contact with Hirano Junior High School, Kobe, Japan
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 26 Mar '16

26 Mar '16

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Hirano Junior High School, Kobe, Japan on 28 Mar. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 11:07 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and 8N370H. The contact should be audible over Japan and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. The Hirano Junior High School which is located in the western port of Kobe-city has 564 students now. It was founded in 1947, and was transferred to Kasugadai of the Seishin new town at the present in 1983. We can see the Awaji Island and Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge from our school. Mr. Genki Roderick Dean who graduated from this school took part in the London Olympic Games in 2012. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. What is the distance between the earth and ISS? 2. What is the most memorable thing you saw from the ISS? 3. Is it true that you are doing research to find new medicines for disease at the ISS? 4. What is the mental aptitude required to stay in space for 6 months? 5. Is the ISS big or small compared to where you live? 6. What sort of research are you doing in space? 7. Did you find that things were different from your expectations when you first got to the ISS? 8. What is the most amazing thing about going to space between leaving the earth and returning and how do you feel about it? 9. Have you ever experienced any dangerous things while in the ISS? 10. Have you ever been sick in the ISS because of living in space? 11. When did you think that you wanted to be an astronaut? 12. What kind of jobs do you do around the ISS? 13. What is the most amazing thing in space unrelated to earth? 14. What makes you want to become an astronaut? 15. What is the most enjoyable thing when you are in the space station? 16. What is the worst trouble you have had when you were in the space station? 17. What is the average temperature in the ISS? 18. If ordinary people could travel to space, what would you recommend that they do? 19. What did you think about space when you first got to the ISS? 20. Do the moon and stars look the same from space as they do from the earth? 21. Do you find anything more convenient than living on the earth? 22. What is the first thing you want to do when you return to the earth? 23. Did you make any mistakes in training before you flew to space? 24. What kind of things have you done so far, and what was the best thing? 25. What is the feeling of living in space every day? What do you normally think while you stay there? 26. How many nations are represented in the ISS right now? 27. What is the most important thing for you when you work? 28. How long have you stayed in the ISS? 29. Without morning noon and night, how do you maintain your body clock? 30. How do you feel when you sleep in space? 31. What is the most important thing that astronauts need to do? 32. What is the most inconvenient thing about living without gravity? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: 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): 1. National Soaring Museum, Elmira, New York, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri, 4-1-2016, 18:34:03 UTC ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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FUNcube-1 transponder now continuously active
by Graham Shirville 26 Mar '16

26 Mar '16

Hi All, FC1 is now in continuous transponder mode for the holiday period. Normal autonomous operation will recommence from late MONDAY evening. As reported earlier today, the transponder payload on EO-79 has also been switched on and, so long as the on board bus voltage stays up above its safe mode setting, then this should also be active. Have a great FUN weekend and enjoy the birds. 73 Graham G3VZV

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ARRL NPOTA Activation - National Mall (DZ06) - FO-29 at 1724Z 26-Mar
by Paul Stoetzer 26 Mar '16

26 Mar '16

Good morning, Tomorrow I will activate the National Mall (DZ06) on the FO-29 pass at 1724Z tomorrow. Unfortunately I can't stay for more than the one pass, but will return several times in the future. The National Mall is about three quarters of a mile north of my apartment, so I will walk there with my normal satellite gear (2 Yaesu FT-817s and a Microset VUR-30 amplifier) and Elk antenna. Since I am carrying everything on me, not setting anything up, and have a relatively discrete location in mind, I do not anticipate any problem with the authorities, but one can never tell! Check my Twitter @PRStoetzer for real time updates. I will be around 435.865 MHz +/- Doppler. I will try to activate as many of the feasible NPOTA sites in the District of Columbia as possible on satellite during the rest of the year. 73, Paul, N8HM

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EO-79 transponder ACTIVE
by Wouter Weggelaar 26 Mar '16

26 Mar '16

Hi All, Today, 25th of March 2016, the EO-79 transponder has been turned on for a prolonged period. The FUNcube transponder subsystem on QB50p1 (EO-79) had been provided by AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL and is a similar subsystem as on FUNcube-1, but without the telemetry downlink circuitry. The current software running on EO-79 does experience occasional reboots. When these reboots happen, the transponder is automatically turned off and will have to be turned back on by a command station. The FUNcube team has selected a few command stations to do so, but be advised the transponder may be off. TLEs: AMSAT keps name: EO-79 Celestrak keps Name: QB50P1 Celestrak file: cubesat.txt NORAD # 40025 COSPAR designator 2014-033-R Frequencies: Uplink: 435.035-435.065 MHz LSB Downlink: 145.935-145.965 MHz USB EO-79 has been set to only beacon the normal AX.25 beacon every 30 seconds instead of 10 seconds. The beacon frequency is 145.815MHz and consists of AX.25 frames on BPSK. more details about the downlink can be found on the ISIS HAM page at http://isispace.nl/HAM/qb50p.html Just like FUNcube-1, the crystal oscillator circuits exhibit drift with temperature. This means manual tuning will probably work best. Lastly, the commanding team availability will be limited over Easter, so please report the transponder being on or off on the status page of AMSAT: http://www.amsat.org/status/ It does not appear in the table, but it does in the reporting drop-down. 73 and have FUN Wouter Weggelaar, PA3WEG AMSAT-NL AMSAT-UK

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Re: [amsat-bb] Magazines
by Clint Bradford 25 Mar '16

25 Mar '16

I will pay you to ship them to your local public library - if they all accept them! Clint K6LCS 1-909-999-SATS

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Walter Jackson Elementary School - ARISS contact
by Tim N8DEU 25 Mar '16

25 Mar '16

Walter Jackson Elementary School in Decatur, Alabama had a successful ARISS radio contact this past Friday morning. All 20 students received an answer to their questions with full quieting reception for 90-95% of the pass. Many thanks to the ARISS team for making these contacts a reality in Amateur Radio and in the development of the minds of young students growing to be our future leaders. Here is a link to a short article with some video of the event by our local newspaper: http://www.decaturdaily.com/news/local/walter-jackson-students-speak-to-spa… We are looking for some video from space during the Walter Jackson Elementary School contact if there is anything with Timothy Peake. It would also be nice to find pictures or video on things he talked about like performing experiments, drawing blood, floating around the ISS, lighting on Earth, the aurora viewed from ISS, and the exterior view of the ISS with Earth in background. This would be really meaningful in assembling a video for those students and the school. If you know where any of these things can be found or obtained we would like to hear from you. We had members from several groups participating in the event from AMSAT, the Decatur Amateur Radio Club, the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club, and the Marshall Space Flight Center Amateur Radio Club. At the Huntsville ARC club meeting on Friday night, one of the members played an 8 minute recording captured on the downlink from the ISS using only an HT and a hand held beam antenna. The signal quality was very good on this simple setup demonstrating what can be accomplished. This has really turned out to be a fantastic event to promote interest in Amateur Radio Satellite Communications. Several hams throughout the state have made inquiries about our equipment setup. What a great way to promote interest in Amateur Radio and satellite communications. 73's, Tim - N8DEU

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Fox high speed?
by Ed K9EK 25 Mar '16

25 Mar '16

About mid-pass on the ~9:42AM pass this morning, FOX appeared to switch from the DUV mode to what I believe was high speed. The screen pattern changed from the usual 2 parallel line pattern (good eye pattern and decoding) to a multi-parallel-line pattern with brief stops. My tlm program 1.03f was set on auto. Nothing decoded; no eye pattern. I manually switched to high speed; same results. What did I do wrong? Thanks, Ed K9EK EL98

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ISS operation
by Bob- W7LRD 25 Mar '16

25 Mar '16

Do any of the "hams" in orbit just like to play radio in their spare time? You know that "drive" to work WAS, VUCC, DXCC. etc. Obviously they would be classified as a "rover". The school contacts are a good demonstration for the non ham public. Then there's the rest of us. They all have at least tech license, but appear not to be "real hams". Shields up. 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle

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Mast - non-conductive
by Dale Kubichek 25 Mar '16

25 Mar '16

This method works well and many of us making VHF Quads/Quagis have been doing this since the 80's. But why go to the expense of Fiberglass tubes - we use thick wall UV-PVC with a wooden down inside to stiffen giving it much strength. I use PVC w/wood for the Quad boom and vehicle Mast for "T" hunting. Trust me, high vehicle speeds and low tree limb grabbers we find during a southern California T-Hunt is very stressful to any vehicle antenna/mast above the hole in our vehicle roof. Some of us use Gorilla-Glue as a filler between the dowel and PVC (as Gorilla-glue expands making a solid fit). I use 1.25" PVC sched-80 w/wood for my SAT antenna cross-member boom - keeping it non-conduction/metal free to insure no skewing of the directional lobes within the field pattern. Best regards, Dale Kubichek, MS-EET, N6JSX Sidney, OH 45365 EN70vh http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HAM-SATs http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RDF-USA Message: 3 Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2016 06:04:55 -0500 From: Alan <wa4sca(a)gmail.com> To: "'AMSAT -BB'" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Fiberglass Poles for Antenna Mounting? Message-ID: <000301d18686$29ef18d0$7dcd4a70$(a)GMAIL.COM> Another trick for strengthening fiberglass tubing is to get wood round stock at Lowes or Home Depot that will just fit inside the tubing. Years ago I found something which was a perfect friction fit, though obviously it depends on the tubing. Cut the wood about 2" shorter than the tubing, and center it leaving a 1" space at each end. I stood the tubing on end, and filled the top with RTV. After it hardened, I reversed the tubing and repeated the process. The result was lighter than a solid fiberglass rod, waterproof, and lasted for 15 years until the whole thing came down in a windstorm. 73s, Alan WA4SCA

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EO-79 transponder ACTIVE
by Nicholas Mahr KE8AKW 25 Mar '16

25 Mar '16

Just worked the 16:15 UTC overhead Pass of EO-79, Working 3 Stations N8HM NS3L W5PFG down to AOS. The bird faded alot so alot of polarity switching was required on the downlink and uplink but signal strength wise it sounds like AO-73. Was a rush working that pass, alot of stations were on! KE8AKW, Nick

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