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

70cm Landwehr preamp
by Jeff Griffin 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

Does anyone have a working 70cm Landwehr preamp that they might want to sell? 73 Jeff kb2m

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Pratham: IITB Student Satellite
by Aayush Yadav 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

Greetings everyone, We, students of IIT Bombay, are glad to inform you that our project, Pratham, is ready and expected to launch with PSLV-C35 in the last week of September. We would be really happy if you all joined us in receiving our satellite's beacon, details given below: Beacon: Mode: CW wpm: 35 words Frequency: 145.980 MHz Downlink: Mode: FSK Baudrate: 1200 bps Frequency: 437.455 MHz (To be switched on over France and India only) We will update the information as soon as TLE's will be available. Kind Regards. Team Pratham

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Re: [amsat-bb] K6R Countdown
by Ted 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

Hi Dave, I may have missed it on the QRZ page, but what modes on HF/6? Any digital? JT65 on 6M might be pretty productive Anyway, Good Luck and safe travels 73, Ted K7TRK -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of David Swanson Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2016 2:20 PM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] K6R Coundtdown 9 days from now, Wyatt, AC0RA, and myself will be getting on the boat in Ventura, CA with our destination set on CM93. We've been training all summer, finalizing equipment, setting skeds, and generally getting all the loose ends tied up, and we look to be ready to go. We have posted our Final pass schedule on the K6R QRZ page at https://www.qrz.com/lookup/K6R - so feel free to find a pass that is to your liking. We have tried hard to include everyone in our distance range on at least 1 or 2 passes. Of course all passes are dependent on weather, schedule, and other factors - and there's a very good chance we'll show up on passes that AREN'T on our list as well.. find a window, and see if we're around. We're also happy to announce that Jimmy, KK6FAH will be serving as our pilot relay station for the expedition. He's a fellow AMSAT operator, and has a QTH right in Ventura, and we should be in local repeater range of each other while we're on the Island. We have agreed to meet up each evening and report our logs to him, and he will then pass our report on to the BB. Please do not email him with questions about busted calls or the like, he's simply going to be passing on our reports. He's also been awesome in helping us with some local arrangements, and we appreciate his assistance with this project greatly. I'd also like to make a brief request for folks to use some good situational awareness while we're out there. We know this is a rare grid and there's tons of interest, but remember that the birds and pass time are a scarce resource. We're hoping with lots of scheduled passes there should be more than enough air time to get everyone worked that wants it, but use some common sense. If you have linear capability, find us on one of those birds, and leave SO-50 for the FM only operators. If you're on the West coast and can work us on a higher pass where the east coast doesn't have a footprint, consider delaying to give them a chance. If you can handle taking a night off from using SO-50 as your ragchew repeater in the sky, that'd be great too... and please try to keep the dupes to a minimum - you never know when someone is just sliding into the footprint and only has 30 seconds to make that precious QSO. Thanks in advance. Finally, we're planning to do a very informal round table on 20 meters Saturday night at 8:00 PDT. Clayton, W5PFG has agreed to find us a frequency (probably the upper portion of 20m) and send out a tweet on where we will be. We'd love to have you stop by on HF and chat about Satellite stuff, the expedition, or "Am I in the log?" that night. It's expedition go time. Hope to catch everyone from CM93! 73! Dave, KG5CCI _______________________________________________ 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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Best Connectors?
by Joe 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

Hi All, I till last night thought I found the "Holy Grail" of a connector and connector source. But maybe was blown down by a "Professional" That does all this "Radio Stuff" for a living. I always LOVED the old "N" connectors. With the big rubber clamping thing inside for the shield. And always wished that method was available on other connectors, even the old PL-259. A few weeks ago I found them, Like this, http://dxavenue.com/131-465-thickbox/pl-259-clamp-connector-uhf-male.jpg and I found a source, that is not only CHEAP, but in any combination you could even dream of. So No losses from adapters. Like from LMR-400 to Male BNC, or even LMR-400 to female SMA. I bought three connectors. (2) LMR-400 to Male BNC (1) Male BNC to Female SMA Total cost only 9 bucks and 3 days shipping time! OK, I was sooo happy I had to bring them to the club meeting last night to let everyone else know of this find. And a guy that works for a land mobile company. They do all the radio work around here for the police, FD etc. And he said he wished he knew I wanted them. They got a box of a hundred in the storage room. A lot of equipment comes with the connectors like these but they refuse to use them. He said they are not reliable and the ground connection fails. I never heard of this before. What is everyones thoughts here? Joe WB9SBD -- Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com

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K6R Coundtdown
by David Swanson 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

9 days from now, Wyatt, AC0RA, and myself will be getting on the boat in Ventura, CA with our destination set on CM93. We've been training all summer, finalizing equipment, setting skeds, and generally getting all the loose ends tied up, and we look to be ready to go. We have posted our Final pass schedule on the K6R QRZ page at https://www.qrz.com/lookup/K6R - so feel free to find a pass that is to your liking. We have tried hard to include everyone in our distance range on at least 1 or 2 passes. Of course all passes are dependent on weather, schedule, and other factors - and there's a very good chance we'll show up on passes that AREN'T on our list as well.. find a window, and see if we're around. We're also happy to announce that Jimmy, KK6FAH will be serving as our pilot relay station for the expedition. He's a fellow AMSAT operator, and has a QTH right in Ventura, and we should be in local repeater range of each other while we're on the Island. We have agreed to meet up each evening and report our logs to him, and he will then pass our report on to the BB. Please do not email him with questions about busted calls or the like, he's simply going to be passing on our reports. He's also been awesome in helping us with some local arrangements, and we appreciate his assistance with this project greatly. I'd also like to make a brief request for folks to use some good situational awareness while we're out there. We know this is a rare grid and there's tons of interest, but remember that the birds and pass time are a scarce resource. We're hoping with lots of scheduled passes there should be more than enough air time to get everyone worked that wants it, but use some common sense. If you have linear capability, find us on one of those birds, and leave SO-50 for the FM only operators. If you're on the West coast and can work us on a higher pass where the east coast doesn't have a footprint, consider delaying to give them a chance. If you can handle taking a night off from using SO-50 as your ragchew repeater in the sky, that'd be great too... and please try to keep the dupes to a minimum - you never know when someone is just sliding into the footprint and only has 30 seconds to make that precious QSO. Thanks in advance. Finally, we're planning to do a very informal round table on 20 meters Saturday night at 8:00 PDT. Clayton, W5PFG has agreed to find us a frequency (probably the upper portion of 20m) and send out a tweet on where we will be. We'd love to have you stop by on HF and chat about Satellite stuff, the expedition, or "Am I in the log?" that night. It's expedition go time. Hope to catch everyone from CM93! 73! Dave, KG5CCI

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UK CubeSat Forum: Lunar CubeSats + BATC Convention Sat Talks
by M5AKA 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

UK CubeSat Forum – Lunar opportunity https://amsat-uk.org/2016/09/03/uk-cubesat-forum-lunar-opportunity/ 5 GHz to 10 GHz Lunar Transponder https://amsat-uk.org/2016/09/07/5-ghz-to-10-ghz-lunar-transponder-mission/ Pratham student satellite launches last week of September 2016 https://amsat-uk.org/2016/09/07/pratham-student-satellite/ Video of Portable Satellite Operation Talk by Peter Goodhall 2E0SQL https://amsat-uk.org/2016/09/07/video-of-portable-satellite-operation-talk/ UK student balloon crosses Pacific https://amsat-uk.org/2016/09/02/uk-student-balloon-crosses-pacific/ Amateur Satellites at BATC Convention Sept 24-25 https://amsat-uk.org/2016/09/01/batc-convention-sept-24-25/ 73 Trevor M5AKA---- AMSAT-UK http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ----

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edX Introduction to Aerospace Engineering Course
by Stewart Todd Morgan 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

MIT is conducting an online introductory aerospace engineering course through edX. The course began yesterday. If you want to know more about the physics and mathematics that underlies the 2-line Keplerian element sets that amateurs use to track satellites, the course includes a segment on orbital mechanics. If you have been listening to the ARISS contacts between ISS crew and ground stations, you may have heard astronauts/cosmonauts make reference to spacewalks and the effects of microgravity. Dr. Kate Rubins indicated in her recent ARISS contact with The Children's Museum in Indianapolis that the spacewalk was the most difficult aspect of time on the station. These topics and other are covered in the course which is taught by former NASA astronaut Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman. More information is available here: https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-aerospace-engineering-mitx-16-00x-0#! Todd AL0I

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FT-736R for sale
by Glenn Miller - AA5PK 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

Estate sale. Just passing this along. YAESU FT-736R VHF/UHF ALL MODE TRANSCEIVER SSB/CW/FM THE RADIO HAS 2 METER, 440, 220, 6 METER AND THE ELEMENT FOR 1.2 GHZ. INCLUDES MANUALS AND SERVICE MANUALS. ASKING $1600. PURCHASED NEW BY THE OWNER. IT HAS NEVER BEEN IN A SMOKING ENVIRONMENT. HAS SEEN VERY LITTLE USE AND IS IN EXCELLENT TO LIKE NEW CONDITION. CONTACT: ALAN WALRAVEN, N5MSE, 940-872-0484

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Re: [amsat-bb] For Sale Yaesu FT-847 Satellite Rig
by Mike Sprenger 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

Greetings, Posted this a few weeks ago, following up: Would much rather see this radio go to a fellow AMSAT enthusiast and let this radio be enjoyed on satellite, let me know if you have interest in this FT-847 at $795 to start the discussion, I'm willing to negotiate to make someone happy working the birds. Contact me off list if interested and we can talk. Thanks, Mike W4UOO On Sat, Aug 13, 2016 at 12:53 PM, Mike Sprenger <mikesprenger(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > Cleaning out some things, would rather see a fellow amsat-er enjoy this > radio on the Satellites > > I have a Yaesu FT-847 which is an all mode (FM/CW/SSB) HF through 70cm > (less 220) Rig. Its not had a lot of use since I got it, which means its > got little wear. > > Asking $950 plus shipping to your QTH. I have the original box for this > radio. There's a scratch on the top next to the speaker, but even so, it > looks nice, given this, its not museum quality, but it sure will get you on > the air if you like working the satellites and look nice in your station. > > Also, it has RS-232 and is a late enough model that the RS-232 is > bi-directional, which means it works fine with SatPC32, where for instance, > you tune the receive dial on the radio, and SATPC then reads the downlink, > calculates doppler, then sets the uplink for you. Works nicely, with 100w > on 6m and HF (plus Mode A on AO-7 = uplink on 2m down on 10M) and will > power mast mount preamps on 2m/70cm via the coax. > > No Paypal - Cashiers Check or Money Order, then I'm glad to ship. The > Radio Works - Selling As-Is because I'm not interested in being scammed and > have someone send me a carcass back....expecting a refund, sorry I even > have to say that... For serious enquiries, I'm more than willing to > provide pictures. (I don't think pictures go through the amsat-bb, I can > send pictures direct) > > Here's the info from Yaesu's website about the radio: > http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts& > ProdCatID=102&encProdID=1F9F41E47B926F9590C43C638C5EFD00 > > 73 > Mike > W4UOO > -- Thanks, Mike Sprenger (37.9167N 81.1244W is the Summit)

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Upcoming ARISS contact with Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence, KS
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence, KS on 09 Sept. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:25 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and KC0NFL. The contact should be audible over the state of Kansas, USA 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. Lawrence Public Library (LPL) is located in the vibrant community of Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence has a population of around 87,000 people and is home to the University of Kansas. LPL provides free access to a wide range of informational, intellectual, and cultural resources for our community. We seek to create an environment in which all members of the community feel welcome, and to act as a community living room where all types of important topics can be discussed and examined. Through participation in the ARISS program, we hope to provide all members of our community with the opportunity to learn more about space exploration, the international space station, and radio in general. We most especially are hoping to encourage 6-12th graders in our community to expand their horizons and consider STEM careers. In the months leading up to our contact with the International Space Station LPL has provided a number of programs in partnership with the Douglas County Amateur Radio Club ranging from building crystal radios and preparing for and taking the radio technician exam, to star gazing and learning about the science of rocketry and what life is like in space. Space-themed story hours for the smallest kids, and book displays for teens and adults also sought to educate and excite as many community members as possible about the upcoming contact. Our full community was encouraged to become involved in the contact by submitting potential questions to ask the astronauts, and then by voting for their favorite questions in order to narrow the list down to our community's top 20. A lucky group of 6-12th graders will get to ask these questions as we all listen in to the radio contact. In the hours surrounding our contact LPL and a number of local organizations will provide activities and informational booths on everything from what it takes to become an astronaut, to activities such as launching paper rockets on the library lawn. It will be an event for the whole community to enjoy and an opportunity for our teens to look beyond the everyday and imagine a future with STEM. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. Have you seen any examples of your crew developing its own space culture? 2. What kinds of bacteria are in the space station? 3. What does the international space station smell like? 4. Are space headaches worse than headaches you've had on earth? 5. How do you deal with mental health issues in space? 6. Can you see space junk outside the space station and does it look like litter? 7. Would you go to Mars if you were given the opportunity? 8. How frequently do you see meteors/objects entering atmospheres, how is it different from seeing them on Earth? 9. Do you have a favorite experiment? 10. While in space, do you prefer books/music about space, or something more terrestrial, and why? 11. What are you reading? And how do you get new materials (ebooks, physical books etc.)? 12. Have your experiences in space changed your outlook on life, and if so, how? 13. What happens when there is a solar flare? 14. Do you ever get claustrophobic in the space station? 15. Have you had an experience in space where your preparation didn't really prepare you for the event and why? 16. What inspired you to become an astronaut? 17. What is the most exciting thing on the horizon for the ISS? 18. Do you ever fear that when you come back to Earth everything will be different? 19. What are your thoughts on the international cooperation necessary to make a project like the international space station possible? 20. What is the most difficult part of your current journey? 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): 1. C.E.PR. Almadén, Jaén, Spain, direct via EA7URJ or TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-09-15 08:14 UTC 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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