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

Falconsat3
by Andrew Rich 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

I have had good success with Preamp Airspy mini Orbitron Sdr# Virtual audio Direwolf Doppler corrected Sent from my iPhone

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-10-24 04:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-10-24 04:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Chiddix Junior High School, Normal, IL, direct via W9AM The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Joe Acaba KE5DAR Contact was successful: Mon 2017-10-23 15:31:15 UTC 27 deg (***) Beaconsfield State School, Mackay, Queensland, Australia, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact is a go for: Thu 2017-10-26 08:23:02 UTC 40 deg Glanmire Community College, Cork, Ireland, direct via EI5CRC and Colegiul National Calistrat Hogas Piatra Neamt, Piatra Neamt, Romania, telebridge via EI5CRC The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Joe Acaba KE5DAR Contact is a go for: Thu 2017-10-26 09:55:45 UTC 68 deg Watch for live stream at http://www.tog.ie (***) Istituto Tecnico Tecnologico “Enzo Ferrari”, Borgo A Mozzano, Italy and Liceo Statale “G. D. Cassini”, Sanremo, Italy direct via IQ5LU and IQ1SM The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact is a go for: Sat 2017-10-28 08:13:31 UTC 24 deg Watch for Ham TV Primaria e Secondaria di primo grado Istituto comprensivo Via XVI settembre, Civitavecchia, Italy direct via IKØWGF (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact is a go for: Mon 2017-10-30 11:20:34 UTC 65 deg (***) Watch for HamTV (***) Asociación Civil Instituto Maria Montessori, San Cristóbel, Venezuela, direct via YY2CMR (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Joe Acaba KE5DAR (***) Contact is a go for: Tue 2017-10-31 18:23:28 UTC 35 deg (***) Liceo Scientifico ‘Francesco Cecioni”, Livorno, Italy and Liceo Artistico Melotti, Lomazzo, Italy, direct via IQ5LI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact is a go for: Fri 2017-11-03 09:27:26 UTC 87 deg (***) Watch for HamTV (***) Istituto di Istruzione Superiore “Leonardo Da Vinci”, Lanusei, Italy, direct via ISØBWM The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA (***) Contact is a go for: Sat 2017-11-04 10:12:16 UTC 34 deg (***) Watch for HamTV (***) **************************************************************************** ** International Space Station Astronauts are Calling CQ Students – ARISS-US program education proposal deadline is November 15, 2017 September 18, 2017: The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program is seeking proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations to host radio contacts with an orbiting crew member aboard the International Space Station (ISS) between July 1 and December 31, 2018. Each year, ARISS provides tens of thousands of students with oppor- tunities to learn about space technologies and space communications through the exploration of Amateur Radio. The program provides learning opportunities by connecting students to astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) through a partnership between NASA, the American Radio Relay League, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation and other Amateur Radio organizations and worldwide space agencies. The program’s goal is to inspire students worldwide, to pursue interests and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through Amateur Radio. Educators overwhelmingly report that student participation in the ARISS program inspires an interest in STEM subjects and in STEM careers. Ninety-two percent of educators who have participated in the program have indicated that ARISS provided ideas for encourag- ing student exploration, discussion, and participation, and 78 percent said that ARISS was effective in stimulating student interest in STEM. ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Students can learn about satellite communications, wireless technology, science research conducted on the space station, what it is like to work in space, radio science, and any related STEM subject. Students learn to use Amateur Radio to talk directly to an astronaut and ask their STEM-related questions. ARISS will help educational organizations locate Amateur Radio groups who can assist with equipment for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students. The proposal deadline for 2018 contacts is November 15, 2017. The ARISS website has additional details on expectations, proposal guidelines, and the proposal form. See: http://www.ariss.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact-in-the-us.html **************************************************************************** ** 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 124 Gaston ON4WF with 123 Francesco IKØWGF with 123 Sergey RV3DR with 100 **************************************************************************** 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 2017-10-24 04:00 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 1172. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1128. (***) 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 2017-10-24 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. 52 on orbit Randy Bresnik Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Sergey Ryazanskiy Exp. 53 on orbit Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP Alexander Misurkin Joe Acaba KE5DAR **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Fathers' station
by Douglas Tabor 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

Although not necessarily satellite stuff (although I’m sure a clever ham could use transverter in/out to make it so), my father, KB7QG has moved into a senior apartment and is giving up his ham station. I have his 3 Kenwood TS-520s (one is a 520S) and miscellaneous Kenwood accessories that I’d like to sell for him. I even have a 2 tube International Crystal 6 meter converter he used back in the late 50’s. Appreciate amsat-bb for listing this. Contact me, if interested. BTW, he’s been the reason for all the rover trips (DN71 to DN31 and DN32 to DN62 with an occasional DN20 to DN70) the past couple of years. 73, Douglas Tabor, N6UA dtabor(a)estesvalley.net

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Re: [amsat-bb] End of an Era, NJ7H Final Rove
by george.carrii15 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

Wait....dint quit now ..I only have 77 more to go!!!Good luck ..be safe. .God speed.73GeorgeWA5KBH Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone -------- Original message --------From: Gabriel Zeifman <gabrielzeifman(a)gmail.com> Date: 10/23/17 16:57 (GMT-06:00) To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] End of an Era, NJ7H Final Rove Hello fellow bird chaser, sky talkers, and and antenna pointers, I am very glad to announce that I have passed the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City! Tomorrow morning (Oct 24th) I will leave Oklahoma for the final time heading far west. As hoped, I have been assigned to Alaska! Specifically, Juneau in CO28. My destination for tomorrow is Prescott, AZ. I don’t expect many stops for sats except maybe if there’s something around Amarillo I pass through that I don’t have for /r, except I can make an effort to get on reasonable passes in NM for WAS chasers by request. I am planning to be in Reno for Symposium from Fri-Sun morning. On the way there my goals are to activate the Operation Faultless nuclear test site in the NV desert near Warm Springs and then the line of DM19/29 for our 488 lunatics. After Symposium looks like I’ll be making a quick jaunt to the Bay Area, probably just a quick night. Heading north along the coast for a few hours (use your imaginations to think of the possible grid(s), likely one pass only from the craziest one). After a little coastal action, I’m hoping to cut back into no-mans-land to do the DN03/04 line. From there my last point in the US will be Seattle to get some snow tires out on before I venture into Canada. This will be my last ever use of NJ7H (NJ7H/retired). Fittingly enough, my final use of NJ7H will be in 7 Land. After crossing the border into Canada I’ll be putting in an application in the US for a new sequential Alaskan call, AL6something probably. Now the Canadian stuff. Weather permitting, I’m pondering taking the Cassiar Highway on the west side. This would also allow me to make a quick stop in Hyder, Alaska doe my first activation of KL7. If the weather is sketch I’ll stick to the Alcan though. If the weather is super sketch I’ll take the boat... But for now the plan is the Cassiar, and that means many ultra-rare grids. One way or another I’ll be in Yukon for awhile. If I take the Alcan a quick jaunt up to the Northwest Territories is possible depending on times (would just be Fort Liard). I’m planning on at least one night in Whitehorse, with option for more time in the Yukon depending on conditions and speed getting there. I will be due in Juneau Nov, 8th and will need to get on the ferry in Skagway or Haines on the 5th or 7th. On the way to either of those towns, I’m hoping to activate the border line between KL7 and VE7. I’ll probably do Skagway, the border line is in a pretty remote spot. So I will end up signing AL6? and VE6NJH on the same pass, and the credit will count for both. I’m planning to use VE6NJH the whole time in Canada. Maybe I’ll get a Yukon call eventually. It’s been great fun roving the 488 and beyond as NJ7H for the past year! I’m glad I could make such an impact on the 488 for many chasers. I activated over 300 grids as NJ7H or some DX prefixed/suffixed form of that call. I’m very excited to be heading to Alaska as an air traffic controller and look forward to seeing many of you at Symposium in a few days! 73, Gabe NJ7Harambe/retired _______________________________________________ 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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Thanks to Paul, N8HM
by Douglas Tabor 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

Appreciate the help to get GoSatWatch to see the new CAS-4s. (With a pointer from Matthew, NJ4Y). My default TLE source was celestrak, but their new data still doesn’t have CAS-4. Created a new elements group and pointed it to pe0sat’s data, checked the 2 CAS sats and am good to go. Hope to hear you on soon. Will be road tripping with the lovely K0ZXZ to Reno later this week on I-80 and “stretching” when a good pass is visible. Should be linear, FM & packet. If you’re going, hope to see you there. If not, then hope to work you. Doug, N6UA

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End of an Era, NJ7H Final Rove
by Gabriel Zeifman 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

Hello fellow bird chaser, sky talkers, and and antenna pointers, I am very glad to announce that I have passed the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City! Tomorrow morning (Oct 24th) I will leave Oklahoma for the final time heading far west. As hoped, I have been assigned to Alaska! Specifically, Juneau in CO28. My destination for tomorrow is Prescott, AZ. I don’t expect many stops for sats except maybe if there’s something around Amarillo I pass through that I don’t have for /r, except I can make an effort to get on reasonable passes in NM for WAS chasers by request. I am planning to be in Reno for Symposium from Fri-Sun morning. On the way there my goals are to activate the Operation Faultless nuclear test site in the NV desert near Warm Springs and then the line of DM19/29 for our 488 lunatics. After Symposium looks like I’ll be making a quick jaunt to the Bay Area, probably just a quick night. Heading north along the coast for a few hours (use your imaginations to think of the possible grid(s), likely one pass only from the craziest one). After a little coastal action, I’m hoping to cut back into no-mans-land to do the DN03/04 line. From there my last point in the US will be Seattle to get some snow tires out on before I venture into Canada. This will be my last ever use of NJ7H (NJ7H/retired). Fittingly enough, my final use of NJ7H will be in 7 Land. After crossing the border into Canada I’ll be putting in an application in the US for a new sequential Alaskan call, AL6something probably. Now the Canadian stuff. Weather permitting, I’m pondering taking the Cassiar Highway on the west side. This would also allow me to make a quick stop in Hyder, Alaska doe my first activation of KL7. If the weather is sketch I’ll stick to the Alcan though. If the weather is super sketch I’ll take the boat... But for now the plan is the Cassiar, and that means many ultra-rare grids. One way or another I’ll be in Yukon for awhile. If I take the Alcan a quick jaunt up to the Northwest Territories is possible depending on times (would just be Fort Liard). I’m planning on at least one night in Whitehorse, with option for more time in the Yukon depending on conditions and speed getting there. I will be due in Juneau Nov, 8th and will need to get on the ferry in Skagway or Haines on the 5th or 7th. On the way to either of those towns, I’m hoping to activate the border line between KL7 and VE7. I’ll probably do Skagway, the border line is in a pretty remote spot. So I will end up signing AL6? and VE6NJH on the same pass, and the credit will count for both. I’m planning to use VE6NJH the whole time in Canada. Maybe I’ll get a Yukon call eventually. It’s been great fun roving the 488 and beyond as NJ7H for the past year! I’m glad I could make such an impact on the 488 for many chasers. I activated over 300 grids as NJ7H or some DX prefixed/suffixed form of that call. I’m very excited to be heading to Alaska as an air traffic controller and look forward to seeing many of you at Symposium in a few days! 73, Gabe NJ7Harambe/retired

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Not an ISS Packet
by Andrew Rich 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

LU8YY-9>GPSLV,LU8YY,RS0ISS-4,LU2HT-10,WIDE1*,WIDE2-1,qAS,LU8YY:$GPGGA,222413,3220.434,S,06511.411,W,1,08,0.9,612.3,M,23.1,M,,*49 RS0ISS-4 is not a valid digi Andrew

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Re: [amsat-bb] FunCube dongle DC offset
by David G0MRF 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

Hi Andrew and group. The FUNcube dongle has the DC spike in the center of it's passband. That is the frequency of it's oscillator. The software you use when running the dongle, in my case SDR sharp, has a couple of tick boxes for "Correct IQ" and "Swap I & Q" Correct IQ should reduce the DC spike to a minimum, while Swap I&Q allows you to swap audio channels in the software rather than changing the left and right audio by moving cables etc. A frequent but understandable mistake is to set the dongle's oscillator to the frequency that you wish to monitor. Performance wise this is the worse thing you can do....As I discovered when I first listened to AO-85. AO-85 transmits on 145.980 (ish) If you set the dongle to that frequency the DC spike and the phase noise around it will degrade receive performance. You will get much better performance on the dongle and other QSD type SDRs (like the softrock) if you set the oscillator at least 10kHz away from the frequency you are interested in. Here I have the dongle running at 145.955 and reception of AO-85 telemetry greatly improved. 73 David G0MRF Has anyone managed to reduce the DC offset on the FCD ? It appears as a spike right where I don't want it Andrew

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APRS Satellite Update (PSAT digi OFF, and QIKCOM-1 this Friday)
by Robert Bruninga 23 Oct '17

23 Oct '17

PSAT has entered safe mode with the digipeater OFF. It will show the PSAT-1 callsign until sun angles improve.. QIKCOM-1 might deploy from the ISS this coming Friday. It will simply digipeat just like the ISS using the same ARISS alias as the ISS digipeater. It will be 10 dB stronger than PSAT and about the same power level as ISS and should be easy to receive. All are on the 145.825 downlink. It should also digipeat on its own callsign QIKCOM-1 if you want to hit it specifically. We ask all potential IGates to check your ground stations and make sure they are ready to IGate packets during those initial orbits from all over the globe. If you do not have an IGate, just capture packets and hold them until we see if any are missing from the APRS-IS. Downlinks should be available on the original http://pcsat.findu.com and also on http://59.167.159.165/satreporter/index2.html QIKCOM-1 being released from ISS will of course have the same tracking info as ISS until they begin to separate. http://aprs.org/qikcom-1.html As usual, QIKCOM-1 is not intended for UNATTENDED BEACONS. It is designed for Live Operations and experiments only. Bob, WB4APR

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AirSpy Mini VS Funcube Dongle
by vk4tec＠tech-software.net 23 Oct '17

23 Oct '17

Signal Comparison of AirSpy Mini vs Funcube Dongle PRO+ 432.440 MHz AirSpy Mini SDR 3/6 MHz IF = 9 Mixer = Max 15 LNA = Max 15 Noise Floor -80 db Signal Peak -50 db S/N = 30dB Funcube Dongle Pro + 192 KHz LNA = Yes Mixer = Yes IF Gain = 11 Noise Floor -80 dB Signal Peak = -35 dB S/N = 45 db RTL-SDR Dongle 2 MHz Did not compare at all - Noise Floor -50 dB / Bad S/N HackRF Did not compare - was more a GNUradio Tool The Funcube Dongle was 15 dB better than the AirSpy Mini But remember Fincude SBR is 192 kHz and AirSpy Mini is 3 or 6 MHz Best: Funcube Dongle Pro + Andrew

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