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

Put your portable AMSAT Field Day Solar panels to work!
by Robert Bruninga 24 Aug '16

24 Aug '16

If you have spare solar panels, put them on the air! I finally connected the extra solar panels on my junk hauling Van not only for the very rare (1%) use in providing power at Ham Field events, but more importantly for capturing the extra 500W (99% of the time) into my house. http://aprs.org/Energy/solar/boat/VanPanels509xX.jpg Once you have a Solar NET-METER account, then every solar panel you have lying around can contribute to your daily energy needs. This includes panels on my van (shown), or on an RV if you have one. In the photo above, you can see my 6’ cube Ham radio Comm shelter (trailer) overgrown with vines, but it is operational and ready to go. The other panel you see is going on its roof. See shelter photo on: http://aprs.org/FD-Prius-Power.html This way, you can justify buying large panels for these other vehicles because now they are contributing 100% 0f the time, not just the 1% of the time you might be using the actual vehicle. Large 250W panels are now under $200 from sunelec.com (sales) Connect them to a 500W or so Chinese grid-tie inverter (under $150 on Ebay). But again, this only works if you have a net meter account OR if you generate less power than the absolute minimum that your house draws at ANY TIME during the day. If your meter goes backwards (without a net meter) it will still count UPWARDS and you will pay the utility for the excess you gave them. The economics of solar comes from net metering and 24/7/365 production. If you have to store your energy in a battery, the battery costs will be 2/3rds of your investment. Just using solar panels to trickle charge backup batteries has no economic value. The solar panels are producing nothing when the batteries are full. And you are wasting your solar investment. But hooked to grid tie, you get full retail value for every watt you produce. Thus, my recommendation (if you haven’t gone solar already) is to contract for the SMALLEST Solar system you can get estimates for. When they are done, you are official, permitted, inspected and certified and have a net meter. From then on, ANY extra solar you feed to your grid-tie gets retail value to you 24/7/365. Solar is here to stay and amortized, costs less than half the utility. See http://aprs.org/solar-now.html Its perfect for Ham Radio support. Bob, WB4APR

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[Video] Jogging while Listening to the ISS! (Kopernik reception)
by John Brier 24 Aug '16

24 Aug '16

https://youtu.be/vpnCQ3-Xai0 I wasn't really able to listen to the ISS while jogging, but this video does include both jogging and the ISS. Please Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpaceComms1?sub_confirmation=1 This was inspired by Casey Neistat's vlogging style. If you haven't watched any of his videos, check em out. This is my reception of Astronaut Jeff Williams talking with summer camp students at the Kopernik Observatory and Science Center in Vestal, New York on Thursday, August 18th, 2016. I received this in Raleigh, North Carolina on top of an old landfill turned into a park. Last week’s video (My First SO-50 Contact! And 18 QSL Cards from 2000!): https://youtu.be/S2lHDKqTYXg Questions: 1. We are building robots here at camp, what sort of robots do you use and how do they help you? 2. Has anything broken on the Space Station and how did you fix it? 3. What interest or activities did you have when you were young that helped you in qualifying for your current position? 4. How long have you been at the space station? 5. How long did it take you to get used to being in microgravity and what are some effects from microgravity you have noticed? 6. Do you have Internet up in the space? 7. What's the weather like in space? 8. How do you sleep without floating all over? 9. What did you have to study in school to become an astronaut? 10. Do you have children? If so how do you communicate with them when you are away? 11. Are you working on any research or science projects on the Space Station? 12. I heard training to be an astronaut can be very difficult. What was the toughest aspect of training in your opinion? 13. Have you ever seen a UFO? 14. What do you eat when you are in space? How do you pack food to take into space? Does it all need to be freeze dried like astronaut ice cream? 15. What do you and the other astronauts do for fun during your downtime? 16. At what age did you first become interested in space? 17. What languages do you speak? 18. What is your day like in space? 19. (Something about the upcoming space walk) 73, John Brier KG4AKV

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-08-24 02:30 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 24 Aug '16

24 Aug '16

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-08-24 02:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis IN, direct via N9DR The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact was successful: Tue 2016-08-23 15:09:15 UTC 42 deg (***) Lewis and Clark National Historic Park, Astoria, OR, direct via KF7TCG The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Takuya Onishi KF5LKS (***) Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-09-03 18:21:03 UTC 42 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. Listen for the ISS on the downlink of 145.8Ø MHz. **************************************************************************** *** 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 121 Francesco IKØWGF with 117 **************************************************************************** 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 8601 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-08-24 02:30 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 1081. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1046. (***) 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 2016-08-24 02:30 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. 47 on orbit Jeff Williams KD5TVQ Oleg Skripochka RN3FU Aleksey Ovchinin Exp. 48 on orbit Anatoly Ivanishin Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Takuya Onishi KF5LKS **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Upcoming ARISS contact with The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis IN
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 23 Aug '16

23 Aug '16

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis IN on 23 Aug. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 15:09 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and N9DR. The contact should be audible over portions of the mid U.S. 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. Founded in 1925, the Children's Museum of Indianapolis creates immersive, interdisciplinary experiences that promote inquiry-based family learning across the arts, sciences, and humanities. The museum is a 473,000 square foot, five-level facility that houses 11 permanent exhibit galleries, two traveling exhibit spaces, a children's theater, a planetarium, a public library, a preschool, and a collection of more than 115,000 artifacts and objects. Most recently, the Children's Museum opened Beyond Spaceship Earth, and immersive exhibit focused on human space travel. Beyond Spaceship Earth features three components: a recreation of portions of the inside of the International Space Station (ISS); a one-of-a-kind, immersive space object experience called the Schaefer Planetarium & Space Object Theater; and an Astronaut Wall of Fame, which will pay tribute to more than 30 astronauts with ties to Indiana. Hosting more than one million visitors each year, the museum has received numerous accolades, including being named one of the top 3 science centers in the country by Family Fun magazine. The museum has been ranked as the number one children's museum by Forbes.com. Through a variety of free and discounted admission programs for underserved populations, as well as its community outreach efforts targeting local neighborhood residents and urban public schools, the Museum ensures that its visitor population is diverse. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. How do astronauts get the water they need? 2. What experiments are you conducting on the ISS? 3. Do you have any free time while on the ISS and if so, what do you do? 4. How many personal items do you bring with you to outer space and what types of items do you bring? 5. Do you have plants on the ISS and if so, how do you grow them. What type of food do you eat? 6. How does lack of gravity affect the body? 7. I know you have astronauts from different countries. How do you communicate with each other? 8. What do you do with all of your trash while you are in space? 9. How long do you train before you are ready for a mission? 10. What is it like to sleep in space? 11. What is it like to do an EVA? 12. What is the most difficult task for you to do in space? 13. What happens if you need spare parts to fix something on the space station. 14. What happens to your body while you are in space? 15. What is the biggest lesson you have learned while being in space? 16. Without the ability to get fresh air into the space station, what does the ISS smell like? 17. What advice would you give to kids who want to be an astronaut? 18. What is your least favorite thing to do in space and why? 19. What is your favorite part of being an astronaut on the ISS? 20. What is your favorite food on the ISS? 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): TBD 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), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and 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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Upcoming Foxes (Re: RadFxSat Launch Vehicle Assembly
by Peter Laws 23 Aug '16

23 Aug '16

On Wed, Jul 13, 2016 at 11:59 AM, Jerry Buxton <n0jy(a)amsat.org> wrote: > Officially (per launch manifests) vs. Internally: > Fox-1 | (Fox-1A) > Fox-1C | (Fox-1Cliff, it was named Cliff after the launch was secured) > Fox-1D | (Fox-1D) > RadFxSat | (Fox-1B) > RadFxSat-2 | (Fox-1E) Some of the stuff I dug up on amsat.org is a few years old, so see if what I gathered is correct (only Fox names/OSCAR numbers used): AO-85 - U/v (FM) - active Fox-1B - U/v (FM) - 2017Q1 Fox-1Cliff - U/v|L/v (FM) - 2016Q4 Fox-1D - U/v|L/v (FM) - 2016Q4 Fox-1E - V/u (linear) - ??? Is this accurate? -- Peter Laws | N5UWY | plaws plaws net | Travel by Train!

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CY9C Update - Planned to be QRV tomorrow (8/24)
by Paul Stoetzer 23 Aug '16

23 Aug '16

>From @WW2DX on Twitter: "Sats will be tomorrow, wind is too fierce currently. Antennas built today." 73, Paul, N8HM

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NF measurements
by Zach Metzinger 23 Aug '16

23 Aug '16

Hello all, I'd like to find someone in the DFW area who has access to or know someone who has a HP 8970? I lack the facilities to do NF measurements on a 2m LNA I've built, and I'd like to see how close I got to predicted. (A spectrum analyzer + ENR head + NF personality would also work) Thanks, --- Zach N0ZGO

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special call TM38CDXC
by f5gva-1＠wanadoo.fr 23 Aug '16

23 Aug '16

Hi all >From 3 to 25 September 2016, I activate the special call TM38CDXC for 38 th Convention of Clipperton DX Club. QRV AO-07 in mode B, FO-29, SO-50, AO-73, AO-85, and satellites XW The activation will be done on my free time. Activation will take place since my QRA (JN18IT) and the club radio F6KOP (JN18PN) I hope to contact you The QSL will be sent automatically by the bureau. 73, good DX Claude F5GVA Satellite amateur radio station http://f5gva.pagesperso-orange.fr/

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-08-23 07:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 23 Aug '16

23 Aug '16

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-08-23 07:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis IN, direct via N9DR The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-08-23 15:09:15 UTC 42 deg Lewis and Clark National Historic Park, Astoria, OR, direct via KF7TCG The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FYJ (***) Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-09-03 18:21:03 UTC 42 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. Listen for the ISS on the downlink of 145.8Ø MHz. **************************************************************************** *** 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 121 Francesco IKØWGF with 117 **************************************************************************** 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 8601 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-08-23 07:00 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 1080. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1045. 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 2016-08-21 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. 47 on orbit Jeff Williams KD5TVQ Oleg Skripochka RN3FU Aleksey Ovchinin Exp. 48 on orbit Anatoly Ivanishin Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Takuya Onishi KF5LKS **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Grid Expedition to EO91 (Moosonee, ON)
by Ken Alexander 22 Aug '16

22 Aug '16

I'm happy to announce a grid expedition to Moosonee, ON, which is in EO91. I will be arriving early afternoon on Friday September 23rd and leaving late afternoon Monday September 26th. That gives me four days to put EO91 on the air via satellite. Moosonee is a Cree village located on the Moose River, which empties into James Bay, about 15 km downstream. It's someplace I have always wanted to visit and when I'm not on the air I will be wandering through the town, photographing things of interest. By land, Moosonee is only accessible by train; The Polar Bear Express that runs from Cochrane, ON. It's also accessible by air at much greater expense. I will be driving to Cochrane and taking a few days to get there, which will enable me to activate other grids along the way, such as FN06, FN07, FN08, EN98 and EN99. Why not EO90? There's nothing there! There appear to be two roads into EO90 from the south, but I'm not taking my Volkswagen on them. Cochrane is at the bottom edge of EN99, so it would be a very long day's drive on unknown roads to even set foot in EO90 and return to Cochrane. Plus, as far as I can tell, there are no gas stations, food stops, accommodations or cellphone service along the way. If you break down you are well and truly screwed until someone finds you. Maybe some other time. The Polar Bear Express has "flag stops" in EO90, where by prearrangement they will drop you off at the side of the track at one of several predetermined locations. Some of them are at power dams on the Abitibi River, where they are not set up to accommodate unexpected guests. Other flag stops are in the middle of nowhere, and have probably been set up decades ago to pick up and drop off prospectors and trappers. The only part of the trip that is carved in stone at the moment are the days in Moosonee (EO91) itself. I'll start working out an on-air schedule based on what SatPC32 can tell me. Times will change slightly as we get closer to the date. Things are more fluid regarding the days before the train trip to Moosonee, but I have allowed about 3 or 4 days to get to Cochrane, which ought to be sufficient to operate a little from most of the grids I mentioned. Updates will appear on Twitter. More verbose notifications will appear here. Regards, Ken VE3HLS

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