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

Portable in DM90
by Glenn Miller - AA5PK 04 Sep '16

04 Sep '16

I'll operate portable tomorrow (5 Sept) from DM90. SO-50 pass starting at ~1230Z, then XW-2A starting at ~1311Z. Glenn AA5PK

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ANS-248 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 03 Sep '16

03 Sep '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-248 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D Schedule Under Review * ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Presentations * AMSAT Area Coordinators List On-Line * Aves Island update * Canadian Satellite Grid Expedition * Multiple Satellite Grid Activations SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-248.01 ANS-248 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 248.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. September 4, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-248.01 Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D Schedule Under Review As a consequence of the anomaly during the static fire test of the SpaceX Falcon 9 on September 1, 2016, the planned integration of Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D on the Spaceflight SHERPA has been postponed. AMSAT will provide updates regarding the schedule for Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D activities when further information is available. [ANS thanks Jerry, N0JY, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Presentations The ARRL/TAPR DCC (Digital Communications Conference) will be held in St. Petersburg, FL September 16 - 18, 2016. Saturday Night Banquet Speaker will be Brennan Price, N4QX, ARRL CTO (Chief Technology Officer) speaking on the topic "New Frontiers in Wireless: Challenges to and Opportunities for Amateur Radio" Sunday Seminar will be conducted by Michelle Thompson, W5NYV with Bob McGwier, N4HY, Chief Scientist, Hume Center for National Security and Technology as a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as Aerospace and Ocean Engineering. Sunday's Seminar topic will be, "Spectrum (It's the frequency crunch for real)" The DCC Technical Forum Schedule is being finalized, however a couple times slots may be available. If you would like to present a Technical Topic at the DCC, but haven't submitted a technical paper in advance please email the TAPR Office at: taproffice(a)tapr.org with the topic of your presentation. More information is available at http://www.tapr.org/dcc [ANS thanks TAPR and ARRL for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Area Coordinators List On-Line Are you an AMSAT Area Coordinator? Are you looking for an AMSAT Area Coordinator? Would you like to become an AMSAT Area Coordinator? If you answered yes any of these questions, then we are ready to help you. I have just placed (with the list maintained by Patrick, WD9EWK) the current list of AMSAT Area Coordinators on the amsat.org webpage. You can peruse it at your leisure and if you find someone close to you that you would like to get some help from, you can drop that Area Coordinator an email at his callsign @ amsat.org If you see a need for a correction or addition, please drop an email to Patrick, WD9EWK, at his amsat.org email address. Oh, where can you actually find the list? http://www.amsat.org then click on AMSAT in the menu bar and you will see Area Coordinators. [ANS thanks AMSAT Director of Field Operations Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, and Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Aves Island update Steve, W4DTA/YV5DTA, sent out the following 'Official Press-Release' on August 24th: The Amateur Radio Association of Venezuela, Sectional "Santiago de Leon de Caracas" regrets to inform the entire amateur radio community of Venezuela and the world, that the Bolivarian Armada of Venezuela has notified us that for reasons outside of the DXpedition team control that the expedition to Aves Island to be held in commemoration of Navy Day 2016, by the end of this August and early September has been put on hold until further notice. Then later in the day Steve sent out: "YX0V is very thankful for all of the donations, emails, and calls received regarding the operation. They are still working hard, and the team is ready to go when the Navy says go. At the moment weather is a big factor at the moment with two tropical storms near YV0. [ANS thanks Steve, W4DTA/YV5DTA and Southgate ARN for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Canadian Satellite Grid Expedition GRID EXPEDITION TO EO91 (Moosonee, ON). Ken, VE3HLS, announced a Grid EX- pedition to Moosonee, ON, Canada, which is in EO91. He will be arriving early afternoon on Friday, September 23rd, and leaving late afternoon Monday, September 26th. That gives him four days to put EO91 on the air via the Satellite. Moosonee is a Cree village located on the Moose River, which empties into James Bay, about 15 km downstream. 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. He will be driving to Cochrane and taking a few days to get there which will enable him to activate other grids along the way, such as FN06, FN07, FN08, EN98 and EN99. Look for updates on his Twitter page at: https://twitter.com/@VE3HLS [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1280 for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Multiple Satellite Grid Activations Between 5 September and 11 September Bob Liddy, K8BL, travel from Ohio north to Sault St. Marie and make a loop through the following Grids: EN76/86/87/88/98/99/89/79/78/77 Operation will be on FO29, SO50 and AO7. Bob reports that he may check out a couple XW's before he leaves to see if he can work them as well. On linear satellites Bob can usually be found about 15 KHz up from center. [ANS thanks Bob, K8BL, for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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7L3AEO on Fuji-29
by AL7JK John 03 Sep '16

03 Sep '16

Got lucky, Fuji-29 was grazing my western horizon which is blocked partially by the Alaska range up to 10 deg. 7L3AEO pounced on my cw downlink during the brief mutual window. Orbit # 99016 max elev 7 deg, I'm doin the happy dance, between the numerous trees, neighbors roofs, sheds and who know's what else worked Japan again. 73 & Good DX to all de AL7JK, John BP51

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DM23/24 trip canxelled
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 03 Sep '16

03 Sep '16

Hi! Due to a family issue, I have to cancel my plans to go out to the DM23/DM24 grid boundary on Saturday. I apologize to those who were hoping to work me out there. I may be able to go out there next weekend, and will post more when I have a new plan to go out there. 73. Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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Off-topic, But Related To Amateur Radio
by B J 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Amateur radio was part of this week's episode of AMC's "Halt and Catch Fire". In the opening part, the character Gordon had set up his ham shack in a closet in his house and he was fiddling with his transceiver. He says it was home-brew, but it was really an FT-101B, which I found rather amusing. I thought I recognized the radio and, when I looked closely during the replay of that episode, the model number could be clearly seen. I'm sure his on-air manner would have branded him as a lid, unless such behaviour was permitted 30 years ago when the episode is supposed to be set. One thing I found odd was that it sounded like he was operating AM as I think he was on HF. I remember when AM was common on those bands where I grew up but that was during the mid-1960s. I thought that by the 1980s, SSB was the main voice mode. He was having problems making contacts, and his wife suggested that maybe a lot of hams were possibly on-line. In the mid-'80s? I'm not so sure about that, even though there were dial-in services and bulletin boards available back then (I was active on a CompuServe space board at the time). Even the use of the term "on-line" seems a bit suspicious, as I don't recall it ever being used in those days. Anyway, I thought it was interesting that amateur radio was part of this week's story, despite some questionable details. Unfortunately, nothing about satellites. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Star Trek fans- off topic- but cool
by D. Craig Fox 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Just a heads up to my sat ops friends who are also Star Trek fans. USPS has just issued Star Trek commemorative forever stamps. https://store.usps.com/store/browse/productDetailSingleSku.jsp?categoryNav=… Thanks for indulging a Trekkie 73s Craig N6RSX

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PCSAT NO-44 packet Active during daylight?
by sean fay 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Hello all, I just got gifted a long holiday weekend and I plan to celebrate my free time by trying to make some QSOs on the ISS digipeater and I was wondering if NO-44 PCSAT was still active for AX.25 packet work during the daylight hours? Could someone give me the scoop on its activation status and if it is active , if there is regular use of it during active times? Thanks and at least keep a look out for me on the ISS and try to QSO if you do see my packet being sent Sean AA0AN/EM29

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Re: [amsat-bb] PCSAT NO-44 packet Active during daylight?
by Richard Tejera 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Sean Not sure about NO-44, but NO-84 is functional on APRS packet. Depending on errands and honeyco's, I will try to work as many ISs & NO-44 Passes as I can. Look for K7TEJ-7 from DM33 (Phoenix area) 73 Rick Tejera K7TEJ Saguaro Astronomy Club www.SaguaroAstro.org Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.w7tbc.org On September 2, 2016, at 17:22, sean fay <spatrickfay(a)gmail.com> wrote: Hello all, I just got gifted a long holiday weekend and I plan to celebrate my free time by trying to make some QSOs on the ISS digipeater and I was wondering if NO-44 PCSAT was still active for AX.25 packet work during the daylight hours? Could someone give me the scoop on its activation status and if it is active , if there is regular use of it during active times? Thanks and at least keep a look out for me on the ISS and try to QSO if you do see my packet being sent Sean AA0AN/EM29 _______________________________________________ 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] Satellite Radios
by PA3GUO 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

https://youtu.be/xFZGlqKPPQo Gives an impression how such a small device performs (quite well!). Henk PA3GUO

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FUNcube-1
by Graham Shirville 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Hi All, The transponder on AO73 is now on for the weekend! 73 Graham G3VZV

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