January 2017 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Re: [amsat-bb] Friendship 7 details?
by Daniel Schultz 10 Jan '17

10 Jan '17

Bob, According to my coffee table book "The History of Manned Space Flight" by David Baker (1982), the Mercury capsule was initially designed to support only a three orbit mission, and both John Glenn and Scott Carpenter's flights were planned to last only that long. Page 137 of this book describes extensive modifications that were made to Wally Schirra's Sigma-7 spacecraft to allow it to fly a six orbit mission. This leads to the interesting question of why Glenn was told that he was "Go for at least seven orbits" by his capcom (page 118) when there was absolutely no possibility of his flight lasting that long. The Navy had 24 ships including three aircraft carriers spread out across the Atlantic to cover possible launch aborts and reentry after one, two or three orbits (page 113). There was no mention of any recovery plans for more than three orbits. The book also describes the flight of Enos the Chimp (page 105) in which ground control was responsible for firing the retros (since the chimp had not been trained on retrofire procedures). I don't know if that remote firing capability was also carried on the manned flights. During Enos' flight the telephone line between mission control at the Cape and the Point Arguello tracking station was cut when a farmer in Arizona plowed up a telephone cable, but Chis Kraft was able to reestablish voice contact to order Point Arguello to transmit the retrofire command just seconds before the deadline. This very excellent book is marred only by the fact that it describes rocket thrust in kilograms (one of my pet peeves), no doubt caused by English majors in the publisher's editorial department who never took a physics course. Dan Schultz N8FGV -------Original Message------- Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2017 15:24:51 -0500 From: Robert Bruninga <bruninga(a)usna.edu> Subject: [amsat-bb] Friendship 7 details? After seeing the great movie ?hidden figures? last night, I had lots of questions from my faded memory of the time (it was the same year I got my ham license and was 14 years old). This Wiki page has a lot? but the questions lingering in my mind were: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mercury 1) Was his mission planned at 3 orbits? (I thought it was more and then cut to three). 2) If #1, then they must have had to have recovery ships at a different spot for every potential orbit since he could not maneuver anything other than when to fire the retros. If it was 7 cut to three, then I guess they only needed two ship areas? 3) What frequency was CAPCOM? Was it the 108 MHz? I think the tracking stations all relayed the voice via HF? 4) Also related to #1, if something happened to the pilot, I assume ground control could fire the retros.

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Icom AND HAM RADIO DELUXE-Sat Control
by Ted 09 Jan '17

09 Jan '17

This information was just posted on the IC-9100 Group. I thought it might be useful for anyone here struggling with an ICOM (other than an IC-9100) and HRD. Apparently, the IC-9100 does not have any problem with SatPC32 73, Ted K7TRK From: ic9100(a)yahoogroups.com [mailto:ic9100@yahoogroups.com] Sent: Sunday, January 8, 2017 6:09 AM To: ic9100(a)yahoogroups.com Subject: [ic9100] Re: IC 9100 AND HAM RADIO DELUXE Ron, Last year I had the same problem! Look for the HRD answer: " Dear Julio, With RX and TX checked, the frequencies for uplink and downlink should be adjusted for Doppler effect, however, with the Icom radios there is a major issue which is due to the design of the radio itself. All rigs use a set of commands to control their functions. The command set is usually included in the operating manual for the rig. Any software needs to use these commands to control the various functions of your rig. Icom, has elected NOT to include commands in all their rigs to directly address VFO B or the Sub VFO. This makes it difficult to impossible to display or control VFO B. Some software authors have decided to use a kluge of sorts to work around this issue. They do this by sending the command to swap VFO's - that is, the frequency in VFO A becomes the frequency in VFO B and vice versa. The rig control program then reads the data from VFO A and stores it as VFO B. It then swaps the VFOs back to the initial frequencies. This takes a few microsecond to seconds depending on your Rig/Computer/Link speed and what data is being shared on the control bus (remember Icom CI-V is a shared serial data bus). This is an important consideration as it will interrupt the signal being received on VFO A for that period of time it is swapping back and forth as well as getting the data from the rig. It would make copying data or CW signals impossible as they would be constantly interrupted for an update of the frequency in VFO B. While that update may be a very short period of time, it would not be consistent or predictable. HRD has elected NOT to place this kludge in it's software because of this reason with the exception of the IC-9100. The IC-9100 in Satellite Mode (ONLY) will perform this swapping of VFOs as it is necessary for satellite work and the IC-9100 has individual audio outputs for the two VFOs. It's important to realize this is a shortcoming on the part of Icom by not including these commands. All attempts to work with Icom to address the issue have met with denial of a problem from Icom. The system no longer accepts replies to emails. Please click here <http://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30719821/tickets.hrdsoftwarellc.com?p=ey…> to view or update the status of your ticket. NOTE: Our support staff is available to respond Monday through Friday 6am to 5pm EST. Support Staff HRD Software, LLC

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IC 910H issues
by James Brown 09 Jan '17

09 Jan '17

Hello All I recently swapped from FT847 to IC910H. I am using SAT 32 with little success. Some of the issues are: It appears that after a bit of idle monitoring( waiting for the next sat pass) the 910 looses communications with SAT 32. When a sat pass is activated the uplink and downlink and associated modes are reversed from what is displayed in SAT 32. can anyone relay their settings for sat 32 and the 910. maybe I can find what is configured incorrectly! ThanksJim KI6WJ DM09

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AO-85
by skristof＠etczone.com 09 Jan '17

09 Jan '17

I just tried to get telemetry from AO-85. The pass had max elevation of 76 degrees here. In the past I would get lots of data on a pass like this, but lately I've been getting nothing. I can see the signal on the "waterfall" (using SDR#) but the signal is too weak to decode. Is anyone else having this problem? Is the signal normally low when the northern hemisphere is dark? What's happening? I've asked this before and didn't get any responses. Please send a couple of responses so I have some idea if there is some problem in my set up here. Thanks! Steve AI9IN

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: Re: BY70-1 not heard
by N6RFM1 gmail 09 Jan '17

09 Jan '17

Hi Paul and AMSAT friends, It's really great to hear BY70-1 getting lots of use. Lots of familiar calls and some new ones. Perfect. Indeed, Scott K4KDR and I have recently made several coordinated attempts to collect BY70-1 telemetry and camera pictures. This would not have been even possible without the support of Mingchuan BG2BHC (as a project team representative, for GNU radio support and example wav format command files), Dani EA4GPZ (for authoring open source GNU radio blocks, and hosting a fantastic blog which describes how much of this works), and the BY70-1 project team. We have made several attempts over the past few days during favorable passes for us. So far, we have received some good telemetry, been able to command the satellite to take a picture and then download a few pieces of the JPG. Unfortunately, so far we have only fragments of JPG data. If more than a few packets in the JPG file data stream are lost, the JPG image cannot be reconstructed. For reasons we do not understand, either the downlink data stream stops, is disrupted or BY70-1 resets. It may even be our ground station hardware limitations. We don't quite know. We do hope however that some of our experiences will guide future developments. For example, as Dani suggests SSDV which has error detection and correction capability. For those interested and key point, BY70-1 will only accept a camera command after 30 seconds of transponder non-use. Given the popularity of BY70-1, which is great and what we all want, Scott and I have had a few chances to send camera commands during such "quiet times" or > 30 periods on non-use. But again, we are delighted BY70-1 is popular and being used. What you may have heard was the satellite re-transmitting my request to "take and send" a picture. These uplink commands are in FM and last a few seconds. If successful, the satellite switches modes and starts picture transmissions in SSB mode on the downlink. These last for ~10 - 15 seconds. Then we hear the transponder come right back on. You might not even notice between sips of coffee (or whatever!) Once a related camera mode has been activated, there is a 10 minute countdown before another such request will be accepted. As a practical matter, with the 10 minute camera watchdog, those interested in getting a picture really have one shot/pass and only if the transponder is quiet for the >30 second period. It's really great to hear everyone using BY70-1. That's what it's all about. And thanks to Scott K4KDR for being a great partner on this little project! Of course, I've made few Qs myself! I must say the audio quality is amazing to my ears. One last thing Paul. I need to work you on BY70-1! :-) 73, Bob

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AO-73/FUNcube
by Jim Heck G3WGM 09 Jan '17

09 Jan '17

Hi Folks, I have just switched the sat into Educational Mode, ie transponder plus low power beacon when in darkness, transponder off and full power beacon when in daylight. 73s Jim G3WGM AO-73 FUNcube-1 The transponder is normally operational only when the satellite is in eclipse, ie the solar panels are NOT being illuminated. During weekends (from pm Fridays UTC to PM Sundays UTC) the transponder is operational 24/7. When the transponder is switched off, the telemetry beacon is on full power, when the transponder is on the beacon it is on low power. During holidays, eg Christmas, New Year, Easter, etc, the transponder maybe activated for extended periods. Watch AMSAT-BB for announcements which are usually made on Friday evenings (UTC) The nominal transponder frequencies are: Uplink: 435.150 - 435.130 MHz LSB (Inverting) Downlink: 145.950 - 145.970 MHz USB Telemetry Tx: 145.935 MHz BPSK (The passband may be up to 15kHz higher depending on on-board temps. Low temperatures give higher freqs!) FUNcube-2 aka FUNcube on UKube The FUNcube-2 sub-system continues to operate autonomously and, almost continuously, in amateur mode. The transponder is operational and the telemetry downlink is functioning with about 70mW output. The FUNcube-1 Dashboard does not correctly display the telemetry but it does correctly decode the data and uploads it to the FUNcube Data Warehouse from where it can be examined. Most of the real time data channels are operational and these include battery voltages, temperatures and ADCS data coming via the main On Board Computer (OBC). The transponder is interrupted for a few seconds every 2 minutes when the other transmitter sends its CW beacon and, occasionally, for a few seconds when the main OBC reboots (approx seven times each orbit). The nominal transponder frequencies are: Uplink: 435.080 - 435.060 MHz LSB (Inverting) Downlink: 145.930 - 145.950 MHz USB Telemetry Tx: 145.915 MHz BPSK (The passband may be up to 10kHz higher depending on on-board temps. Low temperatures give higher freqs!) EO79 FUNcube-3 Due to power budget constraints the transponder cannot be operational 24/7 and an orbit specific schedule has been developed. The transponder will commence operation 27 minutes after the spacecraft enters sunlight and will stay on for a period of 25 minutes. This schedule may be modified in future months as a result of experience. The nominal transponder frequencies are: Uplink: 435.0723-435.0473 MHz LSB (Inverting) Downlink: 145.946-145.971 MHz USB Further detailed info on EO79 transponder frequencies is at: https://amsat-uk.org/2016/11/10/eo79-funcube-3-transponder-commences-regula… All FUNcube transponders are sponsored by AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL. We are very grateful for the assistance given by Innovative Solution In Space Bv, The Netherlands.

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AMSAT CW Activity Day reports
by Ray Soifer 09 Jan '17

09 Jan '17

As of today, 8 January, only two of the participants in AMSAT CW Activity Day have posted reports to amsat-bb. While there is no requirement to do so, if you participated, please consider posting one while it's still fresh in your mind. You can post a list of stations worked, satellites used, "Soapbox" comments, suggestions for next year's event, or what have you. 73 Ray W2RS

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ANS-008 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 08 Jan '17

08 Jan '17

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-008 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: * The Hidden World of Space Junk * AMSAT at the Cowtown Hamfest * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-Jan-05 * Tips for Posting to AMSAT-BB SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-008.01 ANS-008 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 008.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE January 8, 2017 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-008.01 The Hidden World of Space Junk Adrift is a short documentary that explores the hidden world of space junk. The film reveals an issue that is troubling and beautiful, dangerous and fascinating. It begins with the tale of astronaut Piers Sellers, who dropped his spatula in space in 2006, which became the most deadly kitchen instrument soon after, traveling at 27,000 km/h. The film then journeys across the remote deserts of Chile with astronomers of Collowara Observatory, into the skies, where threats to the International Space Station take place, and through to Thailand, where a man watches space debris burn. The film includes a narration by Vanguard, the oldest piece of space junk, voiced by Sally Potter (Dir Orlando). As featured on BBC Arts Online bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3sjd1wnYD47WLzhT9dV02YH/lost-in-space-turning- cosmic-junk-into-art [ANS thanks Stephen, G7VFY, and Southgate ARN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at the Cowtown Hamfest Keith Pugh, W5IU, reports that there will be an AMSAT Forum, a Booth, and Demonstrations at the Cowtown Hamfest, 20-21 January 2017. The Hamfest takes place in Forrest Hills, TX. A suburb of Fort Worth, TX. [ANS thanks Keith, W5IU, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-Jan-05 Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: World Genesis Foundation (WGF), Goodyear AZ, direct via W6FOG The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Contact is a go for: Wed 2017-01-11 16:10:15 UTC 46 deg Collège Saint-Guibert, Gembloux, Belgium and Euro Space Center, Transinne, Belgium; Combined telebridge via K6DUE The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Contact is a go for Thu 2017-01-12 13:46:51 UTC 36 deg [ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tips for Posting to AMSAT-BB People sometimes post time-sensitive messages to AMSAT-BB. Examples are last minute grid activities, unexpected satellite mode changes, requests for critically important telemetry, etc. These normally go through promptly, but occasionally get held for two primary reasons: While AMSAT-BB is an open list, that means it is open for membership, not posting. In order to post to the list, it normally must be from the same account you originally registered. For instance, if you registered from your home account, and post from your office account, it will normally be held for release by a moderator. Likewise, some people have all their email forwarded to a single account from which they reply. We can create a filter to pass the second address, but that is not automatically done on the first instance, and does require moderator action. AMSAT-BB receives many pieces of spam for each legitimate message. As part of the filtering process, emails larger than 50 kB are blocked. This usually happens to legitimate email when someone attempts to attach a large file. Also, there is a limit to the number of addresses before an email is held as potential spam. I have seen legitimate email sent to 30+ addresses. We have a team of volunteer moderators, but they are not available 24/7. The result is that a message sent in the evening or on a holiday, US time, may well be held for several hours before being released. So, if it absolutely, positively needs to be distributed promptly: 1. Post from the same account you registered, or one which from past experience you know has been flagged as acceptable. 2. Do not use attachments. (Pictures and other files should be included by a link.) They will be blocked to the list, and if the total size of the message plus attachments exceeds 50 kB, the mail will be held. 3. Send it to AMSAT-BB and a few other addresses at most. If you must send to a large distribution list, send to them, and another copy to AMSAT-BB. (A trick which seems to work well is to place most of the addresses in the BCC rather than CC line.) 4. Consider also posting to the AMSAT Twitter and Facebook accounts. There is overlap in membership, though at present it is far from 100%. 5. Do not send large commercial press releases, or things which look like them. They will be caught by heuristic spam filters. A simple posting of an event or activity will normally go through. Note that there are existing exemptions for official channels such as ANS, ARISS, other AMSAT organizations, etc. 6. New accounts are automatically flagged for moderation. This flag will normally be cleared on the first or second posting, but do allow for and expect an initial delay if you establish a dedicated account for your satellite organization. [ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, 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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Today's Roving
by Gabriel Zeifman 07 Jan '17

07 Jan '17

Good morning fellow people of the birds, For today's Roving I have planned a run of the eastern Mexico/Texas border. I will be leaving Austin (EM10) shortly and venturing down the I-35 into the EL0x grids to the border, then cutting east into the EL1x grids and turning back north. As usual I will be on APRS (NJ7H-9) and iridium (share.delorme.com/gz). Will try to keep current on twitter @NJ7H_Radio with pass and grid details as I know them. Tomorrow I will be returning to Oklahoma City via EM10-15, so if anyone need anything in there let me know. A jaunt into EM2x is possible as well. 73, Gabe NJ7H

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ICOM 9100 es SatPC32
by Rafael Pena 07 Jan '17

07 Jan '17

Is the Icom 9100 fully supported by SatPC32...I see it as one of the rigs that can be selected. I am planning on a swap from FT847 to Icom. Any input is appreciated. Rafael / NN3RP

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BY70-1 Alive and Well
by CEE 07 Jan '17

07 Jan '17

Good pass and signals over northwestern US from BY70-1

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Re: [amsat-bb] YES! BY70-1 heard
by Andy 06 Jan '17

06 Jan '17

Worked John K8YSE/7 on the 0550Z pass out to the west. Nice signals for a max 1-deg el pass! Orbit is falling, but the satellite sounds great. 73 de Andy W5ACM EL29eq -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Andy Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2017 9:37 PM To: 'PY5LF' <py5lf(a)falautomation.com.br>; amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] YES! RE: BY70-1 not heard Lighting the filaments now! I will be listening for the next pass that can see HOUSTON. Thanks for the report! Andy W5ACM -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of PY5LF Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2017 8:50 PM To: Bill Attwood <whattwood(a)gmail.com>; AMSAT-BB <AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] BY70-1 not heard Hi Bill Last pass of BY70-1 at 2:30UTC over here , the repeater was on and signal strong as usual. 73 2017-01-05 21:15 GMT-02:00 Bill Attwood <whattwood(a)gmail.com>: > Maybe has something to do with the "camera mode": > > "For BY70-1, an open telecommand is designed to allow radio amateurs > to send commands to take and download an image. The following article > provides some details about it: http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/?p=542" > > Cheers, > Bill VE6WK > > > On 2017-01-05 1:58 PM, PY5LF wrote: > > Hi > Some reports of "not heard' to BY70 on the recent passes at *AMSAT > Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page* ... > So , the bird already burn ? :-( > 73 > _______________________________________________ > 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 > > > > > ------------------------------ > [image: Avast logo] > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_ > campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> > > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > www.avast.com > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_ > campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> > > _______________________________________________ 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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YES! RE: BY70-1 not heard
by Andy 06 Jan '17

06 Jan '17

Lighting the filaments now! I will be listening for the next pass that can see HOUSTON. Thanks for the report! Andy W5ACM -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of PY5LF Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2017 8:50 PM To: Bill Attwood <whattwood(a)gmail.com>; AMSAT-BB <AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] BY70-1 not heard Hi Bill Last pass of BY70-1 at 2:30UTC over here , the repeater was on and signal strong as usual. 73 2017-01-05 21:15 GMT-02:00 Bill Attwood <whattwood(a)gmail.com>: > Maybe has something to do with the "camera mode": > > "For BY70-1, an open telecommand is designed to allow radio amateurs > to send commands to take and download an image. The following article > provides some details about it: http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/?p=542" > > Cheers, > Bill VE6WK > > > On 2017-01-05 1:58 PM, PY5LF wrote: > > Hi > Some reports of "not heard' to BY70 on the recent passes at *AMSAT > Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page* ... > So , the bird already burn ? :-( > 73 > _______________________________________________ > 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 > > > > > ------------------------------ > [image: Avast logo] > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_ > campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> > > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > www.avast.com > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_ > campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> > > _______________________________________________ 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] BY70-1 not heard
by PY5LF 06 Jan '17

06 Jan '17

Hi Bill Last pass of BY70-1 at 2:30UTC over here , the repeater was on and signal strong as usual. 73 2017-01-05 21:15 GMT-02:00 Bill Attwood <whattwood(a)gmail.com>: > Maybe has something to do with the "camera mode": > > "For BY70-1, an open telecommand is designed to allow radio amateurs to > send commands to take and download an image. The following article provides > some details about it: http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/?p=542" > > Cheers, > Bill VE6WK > > > On 2017-01-05 1:58 PM, PY5LF wrote: > > Hi > Some reports of "not heard' to BY70 on the recent passes at *AMSAT Live > OSCAR Satellite Status Page* ... > So , the bird already burn ? :-( > 73 > _______________________________________________ > 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 > > > > > ------------------------------ > [image: Avast logo] > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> > > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > www.avast.com > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> > >

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Kenwood THD-72A
by Bruce 06 Jan '17

06 Jan '17

Just listed my Kenwood THD-72A on ebay in the event someone is looking for one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/112259930339? 73...bruce -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards AMSAT Board Member 2016-2018 ARRL Awards Field Checker (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also live streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org AMSAT on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/amsat

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BY70-1 not heard
by PY5LF 06 Jan '17

06 Jan '17

Hi Some reports of "not heard' to BY70 on the recent passes at *AMSAT Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page* ... So , the bird already burn ? :-( 73

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BY-70-1 Data Transmissions
by Stewart Todd Morgan 06 Jan '17

06 Jan '17

For the following BY-70-1 pass (per Orbitron and Celestrack data acquired just before the pass): Location : Boone,NC (81.7083° W, 36.2292° N) Time zone : UTC Search period : 2017-01-05 16:18:00 - 7 days 2017-01-12 16:18:00 Conditions : Maximum sun elevation = None Minimum sat elevation = 0 deg Illumination NOT required Time Satellite Azm Elv Mag Range S.Azm S.Elv -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2017-01-05 16:29:09 BY70-1 7.2 0.0 ? 2569 163.2 29.4 2017-01-05 16:34:52 BY70-1 284.4 59.1 ? 565 164.7 29.7 2017-01-05 16:40:40 BY70-1 200.8 0.0 ? 2602 166.2 30.0 Using an Alinco DJ-X11T receiver in SDR mode and a handheld Arrow antenna, Doppler-shifted data transmissions were noted at the following UTC times in the waterfall centered on 436.2 MHz: 16:34:10 16:34:40 16:35:10 16:35:40 16:36:10 Transmissions were approximately 1 second in duration and 10 kHz in bandwidth. I assume these transmissions are the 9600bps BPSK (haven't tried to decode). I saw no evidence of voice or other activity during the pass. Todd AL0I

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BY70-1 last night pass NA/Caribbean.
by Pavel Milanes Costa 06 Jan '17

06 Jan '17

Hi, I was listening last night in the pass over NA and Caribbean (I'm in FL11/Cuba) and get a great signal of the packet downlink on the repeater output in 70cm but no audio... I tried to get into the sat repeater with no joy, is the repeater turned on full time or it has a schedule or other trick beside the PL tone? Gear here: * 70cm: 1 turn QFHA + LNA + 10m AH LDF4 +Vcc Tap for LNA with HPF + RTL-SDR (CAT controlled via GQRX in linux) * 2m: 1 turn QFHA or J-pole + 20m AH LDF4 + Alinco DR-130 (5W) / Baofeng (2.5 Khz step 5W) Note: with this setup I'm able to work SO-50 successfully (QSO with HP2BWY) just minutes before this pass of BY70-1, so the hardware is working great. -- 73 Pavel CO7WT.

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-01-05 08:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 05 Jan '17

05 Jan '17

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-01-05 08:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Collège Mathilde Marthe Faucher, Allassac, France, direct via F1IMF The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be FXØISS The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Contact was successful: Wed 2017-01-04 11:16:26 UTC 30 deg (***) Rainbow Middle School, Rainbow City, AL, direct via K4JMC The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Contact was successful: Wed 2017-01-04 17:29:40 UTC 80 deg (***) World Genesis Foundation (WGF), Goodyear AZ, direct via W6FOG The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Contact is a go for: Wed 2017-01-11 16:10:15 UTC 46 deg Collège Saint-Guibert, Gembloux, Belgium and Euro Space Center, Transinne, Belgium; Combined telebridge via K6DUE The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Contact is a go for Option #5: Thu 2017-01-12 13:46:51 UTC 36 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 Kenwood 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: Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 123 Gaston ON4WF with 121 Francesco IKØWGF with 119 **************************************************************************** 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 2017-01-05 08:00 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 http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1105. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1070. (***) 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 2017-01-05 08:00 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. 49 on orbit Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Andrei Borisenko Sergey Ryzhikov Exp. 50 on orbit Peggy Whitson Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Oleg Novitskiy **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Re: [amsat-bb] Rainbow Middle School Successful
by AJ9N＠aol.com 05 Jan '17

05 Jan '17

Congrats John but I think there were a tad more than 000 students. 73, Charlie In a message dated 1/4/2017 10:01:40 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, johnnykludt(a)earthlink.net writes: All, Rainbow Middle School was successful. Three schools were present for a total of approximately 000 students involved. There were three TV stations in attendance as well as two newspapers. The station operator was a student so a total of 19 students were directly involved with all questions answered. The control operator asked an additional question for a total of 19 questions, A very successful contact indeed. John K4SQC

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BY70-1 Observations
by John Papay 05 Jan '17

05 Jan '17

I had a chance to run some tests on BY70-1 this evening from my Arizona Station since there was no one on the pass. It was only a 15 degree pass for me but the satellite did very well. BY70-1 is much stronger than SO-50. The morning passes are around 500KM and the evening passes are only 250KM. But the signal is quite strong on both. If you are having trouble hearing SO-50, try BY70-1. You should hear it much better. At first I thought the sensitivity might not be very good, but upon further testing it was possible to hold the satellite at 1 watt provided that you were on the right polarity at the moment. I was changing between horizontal and vertical frequently. The wrong polarity produced noise, but a switch to the opposite polarity yielded a full quieting signal consistently. Many have experienced dropout when attempting to talk through the satellite. Sometimes it is due to the many signals present on the input frequency including those that are not coming from satellite users. It's the same situation on SO-50. But there are also dropouts that occur when there is no one else on the input. It seems that if you are fairly wide in deviation, certain speech will cause the satellite to stop transmitting. This may be a receiver bandwidth issue or perhaps the PL decoder responding to voice frequencies etc. At any rate I think the dropouts are due to the PL decoder not decoding the PL tone for the above reasons. BY70-1 seems to be less sensitive to dropouts if you use narrow band FM on the transmit. I found very little difference in the repeated audio level when using wide or narrow. So there is signal processing in play which keeps the audio output level constant. AO-85 audio levels do change quite a bit between wideband and narrow. So do use narrow FM on this bird for best results. The signal processing also apparently causes a significant delay in the repeated audio. It can cause some discomfort but keep the rx level low so you are able to ignore the delay and converse normally. Audio quality is quite good. Some have thought there is some sort of VOX on the bird but a dead carrier seems to hold the transmitter keyed with no audio present. Again, the PL Decoder is likely responsible for the dropouts. Be sure to download the latest keps from Celestrak or apace-track. The keps on the amsat site may not always be current. The orbit is changing daily so get the new keps every 24 hours. The catalog number is 41909. http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt The amsat nasa.all file can be edited with Wordpad and the new keps can replace the ones in the file if different. Set your PL to 67Hz just like SO-50. doppler.sqf: BY70-1,436200,145920,FM,FM,NOR,0,0,FM Voice BY70-1,436200,145920,FM,FMN,NOR,0,0,Narrow FM Voice The coordinated frequencies seen to be close enough. I have asked KX9X to facilitate adding BY70-1 to the list of satellites in LOTW. Don't be reluctant to try this satellite. You will find it much easier to access than SO-50 or AO-85. It does have a short window but you can hear it down low if you don't have any obstructions. 73, John K8YSE/7 --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Area Coordinators
by Gary "Joe" Mayfield 05 Jan '17

05 Jan '17

Greetings, I would like to update my location on the Area Coordinator page as I now live in Blue Springs, MO - who is the best person to contact for this. Thanks and 73, Joe kk0sd

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-01-04 08:30 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 04 Jan '17

04 Jan '17

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-01-04 08:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Collège Mathilde Marthe Faucher, Allassac, France, direct via F1IMF The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be FXØISS The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Contact is a go for: Wed 2017-01-04 11:16:26 UTC 30 deg Rainbow Middle School, Rainbow City, AL, direct via K4JMC The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Contact is a go for: Wed 2017-01-04 17:29:40 UTC 80 deg World Genesis Foundation (WGF), Goodyear AZ, direct via W6FOG The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Contact is a go for: Wed 2017-01-11 16:10:15 UTC 46 deg (***) Collège Saint-Guibert, Gembloux, Belgium and Euro Space Center, Transinne, Belgium; Combined telebridge via K6DUE (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Contact is a go for Option #5: Thu 2017-01-12 13:46:51 UTC 36 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 Kenwood 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: Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 123 Gaston ON4WF with 121 Francesco IKØWGF with 119 **************************************************************************** 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 2017-01-04 08:30 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 http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1103. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1068. 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 2017-01-01 04:00 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. 49 on orbit Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Andrei Borisenko Sergey Ryzhikov Exp. 50 on orbit Peggy Whitson Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Oleg Novitskiy **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Re: [amsat-bb] Kenwood D710 firmware ?
by PA3GUO 04 Jan '17

04 Jan '17

Dave (W8AAS) and Arno (PE1RDP) gave some valuable suggestions.... which made me check the procedures again. ... where I found out you actually have to push the READ button twice (!) before the MCP software starts reading from the radio :-) Solved ! Henk - PA3GUO .. I am a bit in trouble :-) For APRS (ISS, PSAT, ..) I have recently put a Kenwood D710 in my car. Worked fine. I used the MCP2 program to program memories & settings. Until I decided today to update the firmware: from 2.01 --> 2.10. After that I could not use the MCP2 software anymore. Doesn't read any data from the radio any longer, it sticks at 0%. Re-did the firmware update, same result, still doesn't read. Doesn't write either btw. ('model / market code does not match') Tried to also update the Panel Firmware (maybe this was a combo ?). Doesn't work either: says cannot find Panel. ..but the panel is connected and works fine ! Cannot find anything on Google reporting the same (apart from G4ILO, but the poor man is SK). Any clue anyone - there must be plenty of D710's installed for satellite operations. Or else: does someone have a previous version of the firmware, such that I can try if a downgrade would work ? Thanks Henk Pa3GUO

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BY70-1 Observation & Question
by Scott 04 Jan '17

04 Jan '17

Happy New Year to everyone. So for the second evening in a row, as I monitored BY70-1 for telemetry packets, I noticed performance on the FM voice transponder that prompts me to ask a question. Specifically, I hear K8YSE getting into the satellite with a crystal clearness that you would expect from a simplex QSO with someone in your front yard. Unfortunately, he’s been by himself for the most part... a station or two might try to get in but you just get fragments or a lot of static. As a novice, should that make me think that this satellite requires a lot of ERP to get into cleanly? Or maybe with the TLE’s changing so rapidly, is this sat just more difficult to track than the others? One other variable tonight is the weather; I suppose anyone using a hand-held antenna who normally works outside might be off the air because of all the rain in parts of the country right now. Maybe it’s just a lot of football on TV! I know that any answer might be speculation, but when I hear something happen on the air repeatedly it makes me want to see if I can learn the cause (or possible causes). Thanks! -Scott, K4KDR Montpelier, VA twitter: @scott23192

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