AMSAT-BB September 2016

141 participants
192 discussions

EQUiSat Optical Beacon CubeSat
by Trevor . 17 Oct '18

17 Oct '18

Students at the Ivy League Brown University are developing an amateur radio satellite EQUiSat that will carry a Xenon Flash Tube (XFT) subsystem to act as an Optical Beacon that should be visible to the unaided eye of observers on Earth. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=10635 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAK-UK http://www.amsat-uk.org/ ----

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-26 23:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 22 Sep '17

22 Sep '17

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2015-10-26 23:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Possible Russian contact with Kursk Tue 2015-10-27 11:35 UTC Dearborn Public Schools, Dearborn, Michigan, USA, direct via K8UTT The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for Option #3: Tue 2015-10-27 16:01:59 UTC 57 deg Watch for a live video stream that should start about 15:00 UTC: (***) http://www.dearbornschools.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbhrQiZ62LE Daggett Montessori School K-8, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, direct via K5COW The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Contact is a go for Option #4: Thu 2015-10-29 14:12:56 UTC 31 deg **************************************************************************** ** Interested in hosting an ARISS contact? The window is now open from 2015-09-01 to 2015-11-01. These proposals will be for school contacts during the second half of 2016. Go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact or http://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html for full details. To help organizations in preparing their proposals, the ARISS Program Coordinator will offer hour-long online information sessions. These are designed to provide more information regarding US ARISS contacts and the proposal process and offer an opportunity to ask questions. While attending an online information session is not required, it is strongly encouraged. These will be offered Thursday, September 17, at 2000 UTC; Tuesday, September 22, at 2000 UTC, and Wednesday, September 30, at 2300 UTC. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. **************************************************************************** ** >From 2015-12-20 to 2016-01-04, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. So any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. **************************************************************************** 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. **************************************************************************** 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 Francesco IKØWGF with 114 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 112 **************************************************************************** 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 2015-10-24 06:00 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 1001. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 966. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. 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, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, 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 2015-10-24 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. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 44 on orbit Oleg Kononenko RN3DX Kimiya Yui KG5BPH Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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LVB Tracker USB serial port driver for Windows 7 x64?
by Bill Bordy, NJ1H 22 Dec '16

22 Dec '16

Has anyone located a driver for the LVB Tracker internal USB to serial port adapter on Windows 7 x64? If not, has anyone reverted to the serial port connection on LVB Tracker and used an external USB to serial port adapter successfully with SatPC32 on Windows 7 x64? I have an Edgeport multiple USB to serial port that has drivers for Windows 7 x64 that I will use if I have to. I would prefer using the LVB Tracker with its USB to serial adapter if someone has another solution. 73, Bill NJ1H

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Re: [amsat-bb] Free content from six satellites via Outernet (APRS?)
by Robert Bruninga 29 Oct '16

29 Oct '16

Global Ham channel? We should find someone to work with the OUTERNET folks to add an amateur radio channel to their downlink. Their satellites could provide connectivity to 99% of amateur radio operators on earth. In addition, Ham Radio can bring to OUTERNET an uplink capability that they currently don't have. And the uplink can be from the same remote areas where there is no service... How? Like this. They simply take the APRS packet data stream from the global APRS Internet System (APRS-IS) and stream it in their downlink for hams. Then hams anywhere on earth can transmit traffic via HF back into the system. Since the APRS-IS is one of the world's largest HF receiver-diversity receiver networks in the world, then a packet transmitted from almost anywhere on earth has a reasonable chance of being heard at least once at least somewhere and interjected back into the network, where it gets to the OUTERNET and then in the downlink. The only question, is the atrophy of our HF IGates? Years ago, the HF channel on 10,147.2 MHz had receivers all over the world. I have not listened much recently, but maybe there is still a viable network there. And if not, maybe we could re-invigorate it if it meant global APRS connectivity for ham travelers and hams in remote areas. An HF packet transmitter can be as small as a cigar box and solar powered. Has anyone tuned in the OUTERNET downlink? I have heard anyone with OUTERNET's free ORxPi software and a Raspberry Pi can get the OUTERNET content when plugged into a DVB-S tuner. Then there is of course the arm-chair-lawyers concern of rebroadcast of amateur radio content on a non-ham network? Bob, WB4APR -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thane Richard Sent: Friday, November 13, 2015 1:22 PM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Free content from six satellites via Outernet Hello everyone, My name is Thane and I lead content and business development at Outernet. Some of you may be aware of us but I suspect most are not. I am writing this email to introduce Outernet to AMSAT. Outernet broadcasts a DVB-S signal <https://wiki.outernet.is/wiki/Coverage_and_transponder_settings> from six different satellites covering 99% of humans on Earth. We created this information service to reach the 4.3 billion people who do not have Internet access and designed it to overcome the problems the Internet presents, namely download speed and recurring cost. Our datacast is completely free to receive, our bitrate is 90 Kbps (~1 GB/day of content), and you can even build your own receiver with a Raspberry Pi <http://store.outernet.is/>. Right now, the content we send is curated by us and a group of editors but we are working on a Reddit/Wikipedia/YouTube mashup where the contents of our broadcast can be decided publicly. Currently, we broadcast Wikipedia, 30,000+ ebooks, PLOS One journal articles, Khan Academy, CK12 textbooks, music from SoundCloud, and more. I want to invite this community to be involved in Outernet and help us build this project. Our current focus is on developing channels to get devices into schools and generally into countries/areas where Internet penetration is very low. Our forum <http://discuss.outernet.is> is very active with users and Outernet staff. Please stop by! Avidly, Thane -- Thane Richard <https://twitter.com/thanerichard> Content and Business Development Lead Outernet <http://outernet.is/> *Outernet in the press:* WIRED <http://www.wired.com/2015/07/plan-beam-web-3-billion-unconnected-humans/> , Inc.com <http://www.inc.com/dev-aujla/a-library-for-all.html>, TechCrunch <http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/13/outernet-joins-the-space-race-for-intern et-accessibility/> , Gizmodo <http://gizmodo.com/what-is-the-outernet-and-is-it-the-future-of-the-inter n-1659647614> , BBC <http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29593734>, CNN <http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/tech/internet-for-everyone/>, Fast Company <http://www.fastcolabs.com/3027663/all-about-google-loons-low-cost-space-b ased-competitor-outernet> , LA Times <http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-g-outernet-explained-201 40808-htmlstory.html> , Motherboard <http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-the-outernet-plans-to-broadcast-free -internet-from-space> Our receiver, Lighthouse, is now available! To show how revolutionary Lighthouse is, we installed one in a remote school in Uganda. Watch the video here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlQFoGK1aWQ>. _______________________________________________ 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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LilacSat-2 is ON!!!!!
by Perry Yantis 23 Oct '16

23 Oct '16

LilacSat-2 is on today!!!!!! Perry WB8OTH py41(a)att.net sent from my Apple Macbook Pro

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DIY Projects
by Gerald Payton 12 Oct '16

12 Oct '16

This may be OLD stuff to many of you experienced ops., but new to me. I was wondering if there had been any individual DIY projects in the past for building an AZ/EL or Pan/Tilt using robotics? Of course, for our purposes weight and wind load would be a factor. I am not interested in "toy size", as many of the Arduino projects are. If anyone knows of a site or PDF, please send it to me; either here or to my personal email: gp_ab5r(a)outlook.com. I am also good via ARRL and AMSAT using [email protected] Thanks, Jerry

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Pratham identified
by Nico Janssen 04 Oct '16

04 Oct '16

All, Detailed doppler measurements show that Pratham is object 41791, 2016-059J. This is based on the most recent TLE sets, that were published by the JSpOC. Unfortunately the collection of TLE sets for the PSLV-C35 launch is not stable yet. The JSpOC continues to cross-tag TLE sets and to make major changes to some of the TLE sets. So some further changes may be expected in the coming days. The JSpOC has not yet identified any of the objects from the PSLV-C35 launch. It seems quite obvious however that ScatSat is object 41790, 2016-059H. 73, Nico PA0DLO

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so-50 hint
by John Papay 30 Sep '16

30 Sep '16

Matt KK4FEM just tweeted about something that happens on SO-50 when you start talking before the satellite gets into the repeat mode. SO-50 is a CTCSS Squelch repeater. You need 67Hz tone to make it repeat your signal. The satellite must decode your signal before it will turn on the transitter. If you start talking immediately, the first letter or two of your callsign will not be heard. If you are not known, others may get your callsign wrong. Those that are full duplex have the advantage of hearing what gets transmitted. Those that are not, don't realize what is happening. So just key up and pause a half-second before giving your callsign. You will have much better results. This does not apply to FM satellites like AO-85 which are constantly transmitting once activated. 73, John K8YSE --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Office Closed
by Martha 30 Sep '16

30 Sep '16

The AMSAT Office will be closed on Monday, October 3rd. 73- Martha

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AO-7 Mode A
by Paul Stoetzer 30 Sep '16

30 Sep '16

It appears that AO-7 switched to Mode A between 0400 and 0600 UTC today. That suggests that the satellite is now in constant sunlight and receiving enough power from the solar cells for the 24 hour timer to stay on throughout it's entire orbit. Expect daily mode switches between A and B to occur for the next three months or so. As AO-7's orbit precesses and the periods of constant sunlight become fewer and fewer, there will be less of an opportunity to use Mode A on a yearly basis, so enjoy it while it lasts! If you don't have a 10 meter antenna up to receive the downlink, try whatever you can. I have used my AlexLoop Walkham Portable Magnetic Loop with adequate results. 73, Paul, N8HM

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AMSAT-BB September 2016