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

SWAYAM received in Brazil
by Roland Zurmely 22 Jun '16

22 Jun '16

Strong CW signal : <http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/swayam.htm> 73 de Roland PY4ZBZ

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Swayam Satellite Launching on 22 June 2016 by ISRO
by Rupesh Lad 22 Jun '16

22 Jun '16

Dear All, Greetings from India! DE VU2LRD, Rupesh Lad from College of Engineering Pune. We are extremely glad to inform you that COEP's first satellite SWAYAM developed by the students of the COEP Satellite Team shall be launched by ISRO on 22 June, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), Sriharikota at 9am. Swayam has a mass of 990 grams and dimensions of 10cm x 10cm x 11.35cm. It will be launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C34. After being launched into its orbit, Swayam shall stabilize itself passively i.e. without consumption of electric power. This concept of stabilization is the first of its kind in India. It also provides a messaging service for the Ground Stations in the HAM band. A functional Ground station is also developed by team to communicate with Swayam and have sucvessfully received data from 40+ satellites. Swayam will downlink analog CW Morse beacon at frequency of 437.025 MHz with a gap of 90 secs between successive beacons. I request you all to receive the beacon data and report your reception details on our website - www.coep.org.in/csat Swayam TLEs will be uploaded post launch on our website mentioned above. Cheers! Thanks 73, VU2LRD / VU2COE Rupesh Lad, COEP CSAT Team

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Post-hamfest road trip on 11-12 June - report (long)
by Patrick STODDARD 21 Jun '16

21 Jun '16

Hi again! After the Prescott Hamfest on 11 June, I planned on making a loop through northern Arizona before returning home the following evening (12 June). I ended up making stops in 3 grids (this included a grid boundary), three national monuments, and making an official ARRL National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) activation in the process. And, of course, having fun while doing all of this... When I packed up my stuff at the Prescott Hamfest on Saturday (11 June) afternoon, and after making a quick stop for dinner as I left Prescott, I drove north on AZ-89 toward the I-40 freeway. On the way up to I-40 is the DM34/DM35 grid boundary, and a spot I have operated from in the past. There is a county road that runs parallel to AZ-89 in that area, near a cement plant, and this was the spot I looked to operate from. I parked on the grid boundary, used my GPS receiver to confirm my location, and took pictures of my setup. I had an XW-2F pass coming by about 45 minutes after I arrived, and worked that pass with my FT-817ND/SDRplay combination. Only one station was heard, K0NW in California, but one contact was a nice start to my efforts at this location. The pass I had targeted as the best for handing out contacts with these two grids was an SO-50 pass around 7pm (0200 UTC). I was worried about how I would be working this pass, after a quick and heavy rain storm passed through the area after the XW-2F pass. The rain quickly went away, and I didn't have to put my radios in the car or under some sort of cover to shield them from the rain. Short of seeing lightning in the area, I wanted to work this pass, and I did. Twelve QSOs went in the log on this pass, with stations from coast to coast and also in Canada. I had over an hour until the next pass I worked at DM34/DM35, a western SO-50 pass. Between passes, I updated my logbook with the QSOs from the 0200 UTC SO-50 pass, and even uploaded them to Logbook of the World. I had good coverage on the mobile phone network, so I took advantage of that and also tried to quickly get at least a few of these QSOs turned into QSLs in LOTW. By the time the 0340 UTC SO-50 pass came, there was virtually no light left in the western sky. Out with a flashlight, and back on the radio for the west-coast pass. I worked 8 more stations, in Canada and mostly on the west coast. I did work W5CBF in Louisiana, the furthest east I worked on this mostly western pass. During this SO-50 pass, it was mentioned that AO-73 was coming by in a few minutes (at 9pm, 0400 UTC). I had not planned to work that pass, but knew I could set up quickly for it. Using my FT-817ND/SDRplay combination again, I worked two stations on AO-73 to wrap up my stay at the DM34/DM35 grid line. I knew there was an ISS pass coming by around 10pm (0500 UTC), and I had mentioned this on Twitter earlier in the day. I had one taker for a QSO attempt on that pass, and hoped to make it from the DM34/DM35 line over to grid DM45 near Flagstaff in time for this pass. I made the 50-mile drive in about 40 minutes to the first I-40 freeway exit inside DM45, only leaving me a couple of minutes to set up for the ISS pass. As I have been doing lately, I use only my TH-D72A HT and Elk antenna to work these passes using APRS messages. I logged two QSOs, with KK6QMS in California and NP4JV in southern Arizona, to wrap up my operating for Saturday evening. I then drove the last 20 miles to Flagstaff, checked into a motel, and called it a night. Sunday (12 June) morning came, and my plans for this day were simple - work some passes from a couple of the national monuments around Flagstaff, then head home. All of these monuments were in grid DM45, and I hoped I might be able to make one or two official NPOTA activations up in this area. I had planned to start my day at the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument north of Flagstaff. I went there, and found that this was a tough spot for satellite operating. The volcano rises above the forest surrounding it, and the only clearing that I could use to work satellites had no parking area. I'd have to hike about a mile to work from that clearing. I decided to move down the road to the Wupatki National Monument next door, and try from there. Wupatki National Monument is away from the trees, on the edge of a large plateau covering much of this part of Arizona. Other than some hills to the west, this was a great location to operate. The only drawback was that I had no access to APRS or the mobile phone network in most of this national monument, without driving back toward Flagstaff or the US-89 highway along the western edge of this national monument, almost 20 miles west of where I operated from. The lack of APRS or mobile phone coverage was not going to stop me. The first of the 5 passes I worked was a very low western SO-50 pass just before 7am (1400 UTC). I hoped someone would be on, to get my day started with something for the log at Wupatki. Christy KB6LTY was up early like me, and was my only contact on this pass. One QSO is better than none, and I felt like this was going to be a good morning. I had over an hour and a half until a pair of eastern passes, on AO-73 and AO-85. I worked only WN9Q on the AO-73 pass just before 9am (1600 UTC), followed by 7 other stations on the AO-85 pass a few minutes later. These QSOs brought me to 9 different stations worked from this national monument, and the next new call sign in my log would make this an official NPOTA activation. Between these two passes and the next pair of AO-73/AO-85 passes, I went to the visitor center for the Wupatki monument to get my passport stamps for this national monument. I did some sightseeing before returning to where I worked the early passes, to try the AO-73 and AO-85 passes between 10am and 11am (1700-1800 UTC). The western AO-73 pass was quiet, with no QSOs made. The AO-85 pass passed almost directly over my head, and this was better. Seven QSOs, five of which were new calls for my log at Wupatki, were made. This completed my NPOTA activation, and I drove back to Flagstaff and the third of the three national monuments around this area, Walnut Canyon National Monument. Walnut Canyon National Monument is only a few miles east of Flagstaff along I-40 and old US-66, still in grid DM45 like the other two national monuments. The national monument is in a forest, and a national forest surrounds the monument. For the afternoon, I did not have any other FM satellite passes available. I had passes on FO-29, AO-7, and the ISS. After visiting the visitor center to get more passport stamps to show I visited Walnut Canyon, I parked along the roadway between the visitor center and I-40, which was within the national monument's boundaries, for the 5 passes I attempted. FO-29 was first, around 12.30pm (1930 UTC). There was a lot of activity on there, and I was able to work 5 different stations. This was a good start to the afternoon. The ISS pass that followed about 20 minutes after the FO-29 pass wasn't so good. I heard the station's packet digipeater well, but made no QSOs. Around the 2-3pm hour (2100-2200 UTC), I had FO-29 and AO-7 passes. The FO-29 pass was quieter, and I worked KO6TZ and KI6WJ to add to my log. The AO-7 pass after that was completely quiet. No QSOs logged. Seeing that I was now at 7 QSOs for my stop at Walnut Canyon, and hoping to get to the magic number of 10 different stations worked for an official NPOTA activation, I stuck around for one last AO-7 pass near 4.30pm (2330 UTC). This was a complete bust. Although I heard a couple of stations on, AO-7 appeared to make a switch from mode B to mode A. Since the monument was closing at 5pm (0000 UTC), and I still had a drive of over 2 hours to get back home, I wrapped up my radio activities for the day and weekend. Although I was disappointed in not making my stop at Walnut Canyon an NPOTA activation, I was able to put that monument into a few logs. Between the Prescott Hamfest and the post-hamfest road trip, I covered over 500 miles in about a day and a half. This was fun, and I hope to be able to make a return trip to Walnut Canyon to add that to my list of activations for the NPOTA activity in 2016. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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Prescott Hamfest on 11 June - report
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 21 Jun '16

21 Jun '16

Hi! I'm a little tardy in posting this report, but better late than never... Back on 11 June, I had an AMSAT booth at the Prescott Hamfest, on the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus in Prescott. There have been hamfests in and around Prescott over the years, but this was the first time attending a hamfest at Embry-Riddle. In fact, I had never been on the campus until this morning. The university's Eagle Amateur Radio Club was the co-sponsor of the event, along with the Yavapai Amateur Radio Club. The hamfest actually started the day before at noon, but I was not able to make it up there for that day. The Saturday portion of the hamfest was scheduled to run from 8am (1500 UTC) until 5pm (0000 UTC). Most had packed up and left before 5pm, but it was still a good day. The university's Student Union building was the site of the AMSAT booth. Nice, air-conditioned, and with electricity to power one of my tablets. I alternated between running SatPC32, HDSDR with my SDRplay receiver for general listening, and ADS-B software with the SDRplay to watch the planes flying around northern Arizona. SDR has been a popular topic whenever I have one of my receivers on display, or when I use an SDR receiver during a demonstration. This was no exception. It was too bright, and a little too warm, to run the SDR receiver and tablet outside for my demonstrations. Having that set up at my booth was more than sufficient to start conversations about that and extending into satellite operating. Having copies of the new 2016 edition of the AMSAT "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" book on hand was big. In the past, I'd still have copies of the previous edition of this book for hamfests I visited in June. Thanks to Steve Belter N9IP, I received a couple of boxes with these new books, and they were popular at the hamfest. During the day, I had demonstrations on 5 different passes. In the morning, I worked an AO-85 and an FO-29 pass from outside the building. The AO-85 pass was a nice cross-country pass, with stations heard from coast to coast. I used my Icom IC-2730A mobile radio and Elk log periodic to make a few contacts. Some Embry-Riddle students were watching me work this pass, which was a nice bonus. In the late morning and mid-afternoon, a couple of FO-29 passes came by. I used one of my FT-817s with the Elk, working half-duplex, to show that it really doesn't take a lot to get on this SSB satellite. I made a few contacts on each of those passes. And there were a pair of ISS passes that led to a couple of contacts, including one with XE3ISS in Cancun at a distance of just over 2900km - a personal best for an ISS QSO, packet or voice. I used only my Kenwood TH-D72A HT and Elk log periodic to make the ISS packet QSOs via APRS messages. No computer or tablet was needed, and I have relearned the fine art of quickly tapping messages out on a DTMF keypad, as was done in the past with the non-smart mobile phones. :-) At the end of the hamfest, the organizers said they felt it was a success, and are hoping the 2017 Prescott Hamfest could be held at Embry-Riddle. AMSAT thanks both the Eagle Amateur Radio Club at Embry-Riddle and the Yavapai Amateur Radio Club for providing a booth and helping promote the satellite demonstrations throughout the day. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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NO-84 PSK31 on Field Day
by Paul Stoetzer 21 Jun '16

21 Jun '16

Is anyone planning to work the NO-84 PSK31 transponder during Field Day? Even if you don't have two way capability from your Field Day satellite station, it would be fun to team up with your digital op and have them uplink while you receive and then shout back and forth the details for the QSOs. If you aren't in shouting distance, you could always coordinate via HTs. Remember that for AMSAT Field Day, digital contacts are worth three points each, but you're only allowed one QSO on each active digipeater. You can make as many QSOs as you want on the NO-84 PSK31 transponder. 73, Paul, N8HM

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-06-21 08:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 21 Jun '16

21 Jun '16

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-06-21 08:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Gagarin From Space, "Slavic Commonwealth" Sochi, Russia, direct via R2Ø16SS (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Skripochka RN3FU (***) Contact was successful Sun 2016-06-19 09:30 UTC (***) Ufa, Russia, direct via TBD (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Skripochka RN3FU (***) Contact is a go for Thu 2016-06-30 07:55 UTC (***) Justus-Knecht-Gymnasium, Bruchsal, Germany, direct via DN1JKG The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Jeff Williams KD5TVQ (***) Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-07-01 08:31:23 UTC 74 deg (***) Exp. 46 back on earth. Congratulations on a job well done! (***) Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** ** 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 119 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 2016-06-21 08:00 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 1064. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1029. (***) 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 2016-06-14 04:30 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 back on earth. Congratulations on a job well done! (***) 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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Office Closed
by Martha 20 Jun '16

20 Jun '16

The office will be closed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week. I will be back in on Friday, June 24th -- 73- Martha

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Amsat at Friecrichshafen
by Rupert Hamblin 20 Jun '16

20 Jun '16

Hi All, I'm planning on attending the Hamfest at Friedrichshafen end of this week - was wondering what Amsat representation there'll be there, either on stands or presentations / talks...? Cheers RH / G0TKZ

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Doppler.sqf
by Keith McDonnell 20 Jun '16

20 Jun '16

Thank you to all who helped me out so fast! I now have a few copies of files. Thank you all so much. Best of health and happiness to all . 73, Keith

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Satpc32 Doppler.sqf
by Keith McDonnell 20 Jun '16

20 Jun '16

Hello to all. I messed up my Doppler.sqf file. I went my looking to download a copy, and the newest one is from 2015, which I found on the -uk website. Would someone be able to email me , off reflector , an up to date copy, with values that work for them? If Ao-85 is in there , that would be great too. I am using a ts-2000, in case there is a difference in frequency values amount rigs. (Which I assume there shouldn't be). Thank you everyone! 73, Keith Kg2ix(a)optonline.net

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