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

DOD and FEMA Hams?
by Robert Bruninga 30 Jun '16

30 Jun '16

I'd like to build a list of HAMS that work for FEMA or DOD or other federal agencies as a resource to refer to when trying to show the value of Amateur Radio. We are all very much aware of the huge number of volunteers. That list would be "huuuge" and unmanageable... but in this case I'm wanting to build a list of only those actually employed there. (or so influential that their inclusion is demanded). Please respond directly to bruninga(a)usna.edu No, I am NOT militarizing the hobby, just trying to reach out to others in similar work environments. Its always nice to have friends in the right places. Bob, WB4APR -----Original Message----- > ... our next student experimental satellite will be a bent-pipe > HF linear transponder... with uplink on 15m and downlink on 10m.

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AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2016 Information
by Jim Heck 30 Jun '16

30 Jun '16

Hi Folks, Pls see below for details of our Colloquium this year 73s Jim G3WGM Hon Sec AMSAT-UK AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2016 This year’s Colloquium is now only a few weeks away. The event, taking place as usual at the Holiday Inn in Guildford, will be held over the weekend of the 29/31st July. A full programme of presentations, covering all aspects of the amateur satellite world, has been developed for the Saturday and Sunday and a “Beginners Session” is scheduled for the Friday afternoon. Sessions will include updates on the many new satellites that are expected to be launched over the next few months. This includes Eshail-2 which will carry the first ever geostationary amateur radio transponder and provide more than 8MHz of new intercontinental spectrum - it will provide coverage to five continents. Additionally we will have a session on how to develop software receivers using GNU radio, reviews of the Tim Peake ARISS contacts and the STEM results achieved, information about a new 76GHz satellite project, a review of how to operate “in the field” and lots more. As well as the presentations during the day, Libby Jackson, from the UK Space Agency, with whom the ARISS UK team worked closely during the Tim Peake mission, will be speaking during the Gala Dinner on the Saturday evening. Other highlights will include visits to the SSTL facilities (Friday evening and Saturday morning) and the opportunity to see the special ground station equipment that was used for all the ARISS contacts. This will be available for use for contacts during passes of all the available satellite transponders. Visitors can either turn up on the day, book day passes on the website or, if planning an overnight stay, now is the last week to make their hotel bookings at the preferential rate and which have been block-booked by AMSAT-UK. The URL for the AMSAT-UK shop to book day passes is http://shop.amsat-uk.org. If you wish to book overnight accommodation, please contact the hotel direct on 01483 784413. Please note that due to problems with their booking system THE HOTEL WILL KEEP OUR RESERVED ROOMS UNTIL 6 JUL. Day passes cost £10 per day (incl tea/coffee, etc) , please pay at the AMSAT-UK shop (not hotel reception). If you wish to attend the Gala dinner on Saturday, please book at least 7 days in advance, either with the hotel (by booking dinner, bed, and breakfast), or at the AMSAT-UK shop. As well at the AMSAT-UK shop, there will be a number of specialist suppliers present, and we are hoping that the RSGB bookshop will also be present Members and non-members will be made very welcome and booking info can be found here https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/ The Colloquium team are looking forward to meeting many old friends and making many new acquaintances during the event.

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My first video from the July 2015 ISS SSTV event (and thank you to Dog Park Software)
by John Brier 30 Jun '16

30 Jun '16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PJJixog12A "One ISS SSTV Image @ 1 A.M. @ 1 Degree" This is the first video uploaded where I used the full version of MacDoppler for satellite tracking screen captures. Before that I was using the trial version, and before that I was using Orbitron on Windows. I found that MacDoppler has a better looking map than Orbitron. Thank you to Don Agro, VE3VRW of Dog Park Software for providing the full license for me to use in Space Comms videos. https://www.dogparksoftware.com https://www.dogparksoftware.com/MacDoppler.htm If you liked this video please subscribe to me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpaceComms1?sub_confirmation=1 Filmed on July 19th, 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina. 73, John Brier KG4AKV

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Re: [amsat-bb] AO-85 on AMSATDroid
by skristof＠etczone.com 29 Jun '16

29 Jun '16

A big THANK YOU! for all the quick replies. "Update Keps" --> "Amateur" took care of it. Steve AI9IN On 2016-06-29 20:34, Dave Webb KB1PVH wrote: > Hit MENU then select Update Keps and choose Amateur (amsat.org [1]) > > Dave-KB1PVH Links: ------ [1] http://amsat.org

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AO-85 on AMSATDroid
by skristof＠etczone.com 29 Jun '16

29 Jun '16

I put the AMSATDroid free app on my Samsung smartphone (I'm new at this high tech stuff), but I can't find AO-85 listed on the app. Does AO-85 have an alternate designation or is it just not covered by AMSATDroid? Steve AI9IN

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Re: [amsat-bb] US barriers to orbit (Re: Amateur communication satellites)
by Robert Bruninga 29 Jun '16

29 Jun '16

>> Within the US, when someone like Bob, WB4APR, tries to build amateur >> communication sats, he runs into needless obstacles from FCC and NTIA. > Expand, please. The FCC had held up our Advance Notice (API) filing on the Naval Academy's last 5 Amateur Satellites (2 in orbit!) in a disagreement over whether Amateur Satellites built by students at the Service Academies can be amateur or must operate under NTIA rules in Federal Bands. Since the 5 satellites all had 2-way ham-user transponders on them on 2m and 70cm, the NTIA disagreed and said it was an FCC part 97 operation. FCC said it had to be Federal (and back and forth). Note, we CANNOT get an "Experimental license" from the FCC, because it is true, that our institution is Federal. But when our students build an Amateur Satellite, it does not matter who built it, what matters is how it is OPERATED. Finally, I think the paperwork was accepted by the FCC for OPERATION in support of users in the Amateur Satellite Service and we have our fingers crossed that they will forward the API Notices to the ITU. To avoid any recurrence of this debate, our next student experimental satellite will be a bent-pipe HF linear transponder like the early AMSATS with uplink on 15m and downlink on 10m. We walk a fine line... In order for DOD to launch it, the experiment has to have some educational value to DOD. In order for us to be able to build something useful and economical at the undergraduate level, it needs to be amateur. So by proposing an HF transponder for our next project, we NAILED-IT! The Feds have NO SATELLITE allocations in HF, but the Amateur Satellite Service does. Therefore if they want to let us learn anything about HF satellites, then they have to let us operate it in the Amateur Satellite Service where there will be plenty of "users" to exercise it. So it will be a 100% amateur radio satellite for all hams worldwide and what we learn from it will have value to understaning HF satellites. Again, fingers crossed. This would be a 2018 satellite at the earliest. LESSON LEARNED: Don't let anyone but the Amateur Satellite Control operator get involved in the paper work. He files the paperwork and he takes the responsibility for ON/OFF command as required by the FCC. Bob, WB4APR

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Re: [amsat-bb] US barriers to orbit (Re: Amateur communication satellites)
by Bryan KL7CN 29 Jun '16

29 Jun '16

Mode K is awesome! But, it seems more "old style ham radio-y" than using VHF/UHF gear -- big-ish gear, big antennas. I was thinking about how someone with a Raspberry Pi and a VHF/UHF module would use Mode K -- my HackerLab crowd. Like I said: Yay. More satellites. But I sure would like to see something more modern-feeling that would appeal to the Maker/DIY/Rasperry Pi crowd. But, see #1. :) -- bag Bryan KL7CN/W6 bryan(a)kl7cn.net On Jun 29, 2016, at 13:00, Paul Stoetzer <n8hm(a)arrl.net> wrote: Mode K was pretty popular back with RS-12/13! The Doppler shift is minimal enough at those frequencies that any normal HF transceiver in split mode will work fine. The neat thing is the potential for subhorizon access to the satellite. 73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Jun 29, 2016 at 3:33 PM, Bryan Green <bryan(a)kl7cn.net> wrote: > 1. Yay. More satellites. > > 2. HF? Really? Huh. > > 3. Net-net: see 1. > > -- bag > > Bryan KL7CN/W6 > bryan(a)kl7cn.net > > On Jun 29, 2016, at 12:28, Robert Bruninga <bruninga(a)usna.edu> wrote: > >>>> Within the US, when someone like Bob, WB4APR, tries to build amateur >>>> communication sats, he runs into needless obstacles from FCC and NTIA. >> >>> Expand, please. >> >> The FCC had held up our Advance Notice (API) filing on the Naval Academy's >> last 5 Amateur Satellites (2 in orbit!) in a disagreement over whether >> Amateur Satellites built by students at the Service Academies can be >> amateur or must operate under NTIA rules in Federal Bands. >> >> Since the 5 satellites all had 2-way ham-user transponders on them on 2m >> and 70cm, the NTIA disagreed and said it was an FCC part 97 operation. >> FCC said it had to be Federal (and back and forth). Note, we CANNOT get >> an "Experimental license" from the FCC, because it is true, that our >> institution is Federal. But when our students build an Amateur >> Satellite, it does not matter who built it, what matters is how it is >> OPERATED. >> >> Finally, I think the paperwork was accepted by the FCC for OPERATION in >> support of users in the Amateur Satellite Service and we have our fingers >> crossed that they will forward the API Notices to the ITU. >> >> To avoid any recurrence of this debate, our next student experimental >> satellite will be a bent-pipe HF linear transponder like the early AMSATS >> with uplink on 15m and downlink on 10m. >> >> We walk a fine line... In order for DOD to launch it, the experiment has >> to have some educational value to DOD. In order for us to be able to >> build something useful and economical at the undergraduate level, it needs >> to be amateur. So by proposing an HF transponder for our next project, >> we NAILED-IT! >> >> The Feds have NO SATELLITE allocations in HF, but the Amateur Satellite >> Service does. Therefore if they want to let us learn anything about HF >> satellites, then they have to let us operate it in the Amateur Satellite >> Service where there will be plenty of "users" to exercise it. >> >> So it will be a 100% amateur radio satellite for all hams worldwide and >> what we learn from it will have value to understaning HF satellites. >> >> Again, fingers crossed. This would be a 2018 satellite at the earliest. >> >> LESSON LEARNED: Don't let anyone but the Amateur Satellite Control >> operator get involved in the paper work. He files the paperwork and he >> takes the responsibility for ON/OFF command as required by the FCC. >> >> Bob, WB4APR >> _______________________________________________ >> 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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Re: [amsat-bb] Financial arguments about full duplex
by Ronald G. Parsons 29 Jun '16

29 Jun '16

After looking through Hector's slideshow below, I was left with great awe. This slideshow should be seen by every high school radio club. High school students can be very resourceful when a high goal is in front of them, even though funds are tight, as they almost always are. I think three of my favorite events in my ham radio "career" have been with three ARISS satellite events -- a middle school with MIR, an elementary school with ISS, and a high school when Richard Garriott W5KWQ, was on the ISS. Kodos to Hector and to all who helped him. Again, I am in awe. Ron W5RKN ------------------------------ Message: 12 Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2016 20:58:23 +0000 From: "Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)" <amsat-bb(a)wd9ewk.net> To: "amsat-bb(a)amsat.org" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Financial arguments about full duplex Message-ID: <CAN6TEUckkTaw5ii04QUeEJ_1noDsaCdW+tEfzeOJmckGJD4jAg(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Hi! When it comes to being creative in the face of little or no access to equipment, one example to remember is how Hector - CO6CBF at the time in 2012 and 2013, now also W5CBF - scrounged to get equipment and parts together to work satellites. For Hector in 2012 living in Cuba, even a $30 Baofeng radio was out of reach - nobody sells them in Cuba, and with a monthly income for most Cubans around US$20 to US$25/month even that radio is a luxury. If you'd like to see what Hector did to put together his station, he gave a presentation at the 2012 AMSAT Symposium in Orlando. The video of his presentation is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eocmIubIBQ4 The slideshow that was displayed on the screen during Hector's 2012 talk is available at: http://mstl.atl.calpoly.edu/~bklofas/Presentations/AMSAT -NA_Symposium2012/Martinez_Cuban_Homebrew.pdf This is ingenuity and creativity taken to a high level, out of necessity. Hector gave another presentation at the 2013 AMSAT Symposium in Houston on a slightly different topic. You can see that video at: ?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH5Gb_dmuGs and the slideshow is at: http://mstl.atl.calpoly.edu/~bklofas/Presentations/AMSAT -NA_Symposium2013/Martinez_FUNcube_School_Support.pdf I am sensitive to hams who say that costs are an issue when trying to get on the satellites. I also remind myself, and other hams, that there are ways to get on the air when someone wants to make it happen. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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Subject: Re: Financial arguments about full duplex
by Edward R Cole 29 Jun '16

29 Jun '16

Having read Michael W4HIJ e-mail is humbling - but certainly a testament to his dedication to getting on hamsats. I've been fortunate to own equipment able to work AO-10 (TS-180+432 transverter plus IC-211), AO-40 (FT-847 plus stuff) and AO-27 with my FT-817/Arrow (not duplex). Having extensive experience with the Heo's before using the FT-817 was certainly useful for working simplex. It's doable with care, but so much nicer if one has duplex to monitor the downlink. Using two Baefeng or equivalent brings the cost within range for most on FM-Leo's which predominate at present. I have been retired six years on only social security income so sympathetic on the subject of costs. Recently this has improved for us so easier, now. I recently considered radios for duplex-sat 144/432 operation and was considering a FM dual-band mobile radio (new) but the cost after acquiring a couple accessories ran to $350. That seemed a bit excessive for "just FM". So I did a little looking around and found a used FT-736R for $550. That gets me back into being able to run all the sats (again). I already have my AO-40 antennas and rotator so not having to spend on that makes is easier, for sure. Also at nearly 72 years I'm not so interested in waving an Arrow outside (but still have the Arrow). I have accumulated a lot of ham gear over the last 25-years (so cost has been spread out) but have more invested than most. Fortunate to do that in my last years of employment (could not do it in the early years). Michael is a real inspiration - you'll get there! Lately in discussions with P4 group on designing the "new sat station". 73, Ed - KL7UW http://www.kl7uw.com "Kits made by KL7UW" Dubus Mag business: dubususa(a)gmail.com

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US barriers to orbit (now: Cameras)
by Robert Bruninga 29 Jun '16

29 Jun '16

If anyone (non Federal) has successfully gotten a license for their Satellite CAMERA through the US process (NOAA) , please contact me. Thanks Bob, WB4APR

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