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

HAMSCI web site opens up
by Robert McGwier 24 May '16

24 May '16

Let's study propagation during the upcoming solar eclipse in the US! http://hamsci.org/article/hamsci-eclipse-team-meets-dayton 73s N4HY -- Bob McGwier Founder, Federated Wireless, Inc Founder and Technical Advisor, HawkEye 360, Inc Research Professor Virginia Tech Chief Scientist: The Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology Senior Member IEEE, Facebook: N4HYBob, ARS: N4HY Faculty Advisor Virginia Tech Amateur Radio Assn. (K4KDJ) Director of AMSAT

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Re: [amsat-bb] Cuscraft 416-TB and 22XB phasing harneses???
by Richard Tejera 24 May '16

24 May '16

Tom, I have a copy of the manual for this antenna. I'd be happy to scan it and send it to you. It may be of some help. Rick Tejera K7TEJ Saguaro Astronomy Club www.SaguaroAstro.org Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.w7tbc.org On May 23, 2016, at 20:32, Tom Schuessler <tjschuessler(a)verizon.net> wrote: Hello all, I recently acquired a pair of Cushcraft Satellite antennas, the 22XB and the 416-TB. Both are Cross fed dual polarity Yagis. What did not come with either of these antennas was the phasing harnesses that were a part of the original contents. The two meter 22XB is fed with crossed driven elements in the same location on the boom and SO239 connectors in place on the antenna. The 416-TB has direct connections from coax to the driven elements and also to the coax balun on each of the driven elements. The driven elements are offset fed so as to provide the natural delay in the one direction. Cushcraft did sell a PS-4 which I believe was a relay controlled switch for the 435Mhz 416-TB but if they sold a 2 meter version, I cannot tell. I do have a contact at Cushcraft I was given that I will be reaching out to for more information The "Satellite handbook" does have some description on how to configure a fixed harness for the two types of feed orientations. I am though confused to understand how to understand the direction of rotation but that is for another post. Anyway, does anyone who used to have these antennas or something similar have phasing harnesses, either fixed or switchable that would work with them lying around? I would be interested in acquiring them from you. Thanks and 73. Tom Schuessler, N5HYP N5HYP(a)arrl.net PS. I just picked up a used FT-847 so am looking forward to getting these antennas up in the air and seeing how they perform. _______________________________________________ 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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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-05-24 03:30 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 24 May '16

24 May '16

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-05-24 03:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center, Garden City, New York, telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Jeff Williams KD5TVQ Contact was successful: Mon 2016-05-23 12:57:05 UTC 43 deg (***) Venta School, Carp, ON, Canada, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Jeff Williams KD5TVQ (***) Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-05-30 19:01:25 UTC 32 deg(***) Bouze Island Elementary and Junior High School, Homeji, Japan, direct via 8N3B The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-06-04 08:31:09 UTC 74 deg (***) **************************************************************************** ** 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 118 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 2016-05-24 03:30 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 1059. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1024. (***) 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,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 2016-05-24 03:30 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 Exp. 47 on orbit Jeff Williams KD5TVQ Oleg Skripochka RN3FU Aleksey Ovchinin **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Cuscraft 416-TB and 22XB phasing harneses???
by Tom Schuessler 24 May '16

24 May '16

Hello all, I recently acquired a pair of Cushcraft Satellite antennas, the 22XB and the 416-TB. Both are Cross fed dual polarity Yagis. What did not come with either of these antennas was the phasing harnesses that were a part of the original contents. The two meter 22XB is fed with crossed driven elements in the same location on the boom and SO239 connectors in place on the antenna. The 416-TB has direct connections from coax to the driven elements and also to the coax balun on each of the driven elements. The driven elements are offset fed so as to provide the natural delay in the one direction. Cushcraft did sell a PS-4 which I believe was a relay controlled switch for the 435Mhz 416-TB but if they sold a 2 meter version, I cannot tell. I do have a contact at Cushcraft I was given that I will be reaching out to for more information The "Satellite handbook" does have some description on how to configure a fixed harness for the two types of feed orientations. I am though confused to understand how to understand the direction of rotation but that is for another post. Anyway, does anyone who used to have these antennas or something similar have phasing harnesses, either fixed or switchable that would work with them lying around? I would be interested in acquiring them from you. Thanks and 73. Tom Schuessler, N5HYP N5HYP(a)arrl.net PS. I just picked up a used FT-847 so am looking forward to getting these antennas up in the air and seeing how they perform.

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Which rotor to buy?
by PA3GUO 24 May '16

24 May '16

This is my current antenna setup: http://www.pa3guo.com/a7.jpg Basically, 6 ele for 145, 17 ele for 440, 23 ele for 1200, small quad for 23, and a multiband vertical. I am planning revise and clean this. AZI rotor kr400, 30 years old, 20 years by me, and 20 years in use. ELE rotor kr500, also 20 years in service. I know how to clean these rotors, but consider to replace the AZI rotor with a new one. Any advice? G450, seems less strong as the kr400. G650? G1000sdx or dxc? G5500? I do control these for sat tracking. Is variable speed in that case a disadvantage? Other thoughts? Here is a comparison table: http://kur02.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23&Itemid=… I tend towards a G650 which costs around 425 dollar here, the G1000 dxc is 600 dollar. -- Henk, PA3GUO

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Fwd: Solar Impulse Flight (shaggy dog story)(amsat)
by Robert Bruninga 24 May '16

24 May '16

Solar Impulse 'round-the-world flight shaggy dog story... Having stayed through Sunday here in Dayton for the first time in decades, I was soon bored! Having not bought ANYthing the whole weekend, the piles of bricks and abandoned gear by the trash piles by noon Sunday were just too tempting, and by the time I left at 1 PM, every nook and cranny of the solar prius was crammed with old commercial gear thinking they will come in handy with our plan for an East Coast 9600 baud backbone ( http://www.aprs.org/ec9600net.html). The real deal was a stack of 25 rock solid "UHF" 45W data radios with built in GPS. Clearly designed for dispatch vehicles that I got for $2 each. The great news is that they had 3 serial ports combined into a 14.4 kbps stream. Spent the evening getting the covers off to reveal the bad news. They are 800 MHz! totally useless unless they can be pulled a whole 100 MHz (not likely). Photos and details later... Anyway, After 3 days in the Prius Inn (http://aprs.org/APRS-SPHEV.html) I was ready for a real shower and with all you guys gone, I finally got a room downtown. Then I heard someone say that the Solar Impulse was landing in Dayton that night, and rushed to the TV to find some local news as to when it would land. Not having cable at home and being clueless, I searched all 250 channels on the hotel TV and the only thing I found was FOX. And they had a panel of experts probably claiming something about Obama causing the rain in the flea market this weekend. Nothing on CNN, NBC, HLN, MSNBC about the Solar Impulse either. Not even news! Just fluff pieces on feel-good stuff. I finally realized I could google it. Found the Solar Impulse web page and the last post was "landing in 45 minutes" and it was posted 20 minutes ago! Grabbed the keys and made a beeline to the airport only to see a crowd of about 6 people near a police car. I stopped in the red zone and the policeman was explaining that it landed 5 minutes ago. He then turned on his flashing lights and drove use into a restricted area where he pointed to some tiny dim lights all the way across the tarmac where it was parked (if you could see it at all).. Stuck in Dayton till a Tuesday meeting on cubesats at WrightPat AFB, I just had zero motivation to go do anything Monday other than catch up on email. No one anywhere knew anything about the Solar Impulse so I finally forgot about it. Forced myself to get out of the room and decided to just go over to the WP aviation museum to grab lunch. Nice museum if you ever have the time. Its Monday and the place was virtually empty. Wandering through alone I did stumble into two guys in flight suits discussing one of the early flight exhibits. It sounded like they were speaking French so I took a stab... "You guys know anything about the Solar Impulse?" The tall one answered, "yes, it landed last night". I ask, "Well are they going to have any tours or open house? I cant find out anything". He said, "Not really, its leaving at 5 AM tomorrow"... Now having gained some info I needed, I wandered away... Then I began to wonder... and wandered back. "You guys aren't the pilots are you?" and one said, "yes, I'm Andre." After picking myself up off the floor, I stumbled through something about how admiring I am of their solar initiative and how great their mission is, etc. Gushing along I said something about being 100% solar myself at home and driving an EV. He lit up and asked "That's not your red Tesla in the parking lot is it?" I said, no, mine is the beat-up Solar Prius about 10 cars down. He responded "Wow, I saw that one and we took pictures of it!" I gushed some more and then slinked away so as to not sound like too much of a solar groupie... Floating on air, I decided I'd had the highlight of my day and could not stay focused to finish the museum. Headed out to the car, and ran into a couple in the 3rd EV in the parking lot sitting there in the hot sun with the AC running and enjoying the silent coolness of EV AC while studying the Dayton tourist guide as to where to go next. Then I began to realize that if Andre saw my car on the way in, then he would be passing it on the way out. I moved it around and parked right next to the copper colored I3, and second red Tesla (N7TES tags) and both still charging. (1st red Tesla I had seen was N4HHE back at Hara)... Then waited... and waited.... then went back inside the museum and staying out of sight, stalked them until they finally met up with the astonished Museum Director who did not know they were coming. After another hour or so of touring the museum they headed out and I was able to sneak around and get back to the EV's first. I asked Andre for a photo, and he was happy to oblige saying something like "solar Impulse... solar car... good idea"... His camera man asked me some details about my car and as he and Andre walked off to their van, I could see the camera man passing along the details to him. And that's the rest of the story. Photo and web page to follow when I get back to the office at the end of the week! Another day in the bumbling bubble... Bob, WB4APR

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Re: [amsat-bb] Which rotor to buy?
by J. Boyd (JR2TTS) 24 May '16

24 May '16

On Mon, 23 May 2016 21:26:47 -0400, Mvivona via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> wrote: > I have a little USB to 232 cable from my laptop to my LVB tracker. No > extra programs running, just SatPC32. Works like a champ. Took me about > 10 minutes to make it go. Related question: where does one purchase an LVB tracker box nowadays? It is not listed on the AMSAT site ("There are no products available in this category.") and I cannot seem to find another location that carries information on it. -- J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B the2belo(a)msd.biglobe.ne.jp http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS Twitter: @Minus2_C

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Re: [amsat-bb] FT-736R
by Gregory Beat 23 May '16

23 May '16

Ed - You could use the FTDI 5V TTL/UART to USB cable (FT232RQ chip). Sparkfun sells a version of this cable ($17.95) that has RTS and CTS brought out. When Sparkfun has "sales" this cable is often discounted further ($11.95). https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9718 I use this cable for interfacing computers with the Kenwood 6-pin DIN UART (inverted serial TTL) for remote computer control (CAT) of frequency, etc. This specific FTDI chipset (FT232L and FT232Q) and its Utility software (FT_PROG) permits INVERTING the serial lines (required for Kenwood usage). http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Utilities.htm#FT_Prog ===== The "other approach" was posted here on amsat-bb back in 2010/2011. That is a hardware emulation solution by Dave Dowler, KA6BFB (2010) and Chuck Jones, N6BIL for using the Yaesu FT-736R with Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD). DIY Project write-up. http://tinkyr.altervista.org/radio/projects/736/N6BIL%20Hardware%20Emulator… An OSH-Park PCB board was developed for this solution (above). https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/Ae6IJiqx greg w9gb Sent from iPad Air

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-05-23 04:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 23 May '16

23 May '16

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-05-23 04:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center, Garden City, New York, telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Jeff Williams KD5TVQ Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-05-23 12:57:05 UTC 43 deg **************************************************************************** ** 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 118 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 2016-05-23 04:00 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 1058. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1023. 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,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 2016-05-22 06:00 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 Exp. 47 on orbit Jeff Williams KD5TVQ Oleg Skripochka RN3FU Aleksey Ovchinin **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Last passes for GN05/06
by Ken Alexander 22 May '16

22 May '16

Hi All, Tomorrow is my last day in the area, and unfortunately I have to make a change to my schedule as follows - the 13:50 pass will be done from GN05 instead of GN06. I can't drive to GN06, operate and get to the airport in time to catch my return flight to Toronto. Therefore, I'll be on from GN05 instead. It's been an interesting few days. I have only completed 2 QSOs, one from each grid. I had hoped to do many more, but my beginner status has gotten in the way, and I'm embarrassed to say I spent way too much time calling on the downlink frequency! Schedule for Monday (times in UTC) 23.05.2016 SO-50 05:21 05:34 13 70 208 - 039 *GN05* 23.05.2016 SO-50 07:02 07:14 12 23 258 - 033 *GN05* 23.05.2016 SO-50 12:10 12:21 11 24 332 - 106 *GN06* 23.05.2016 SO-50 13:50 14:03 13 63 320 - 154 _*GN05*_ 73 and thanks for your patience! Ken Alexander VE3HLS

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