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

FalconSat-3: UZ7HO's Soundmodem Full Duplex Mode?
by Tony 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

All: Regarding Falconsat-3: I have two 9600 baud rigs connected to 2 separate sound cards. Each sound card is connected to a separate instances of UZ7HO's Soundmodem so each rig has it's own independent modem. This setup works perfectly in the shack, but I quickly found out that I can't get each instances of Soundmodem to talk to the terminal program at the same time. I tried using one instance of Soundmodem with one sound card on the output and the other for the input, but the input card mutes when you transmit on the output so it doesn't appear to work in full-duplex mode. Maybe I'm missing something? Any way to work around this? Tony -K2MO

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Office Closed
by Martha 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

The AMSAT office will be closed on Monday, October 9th in observance of Columbus Day -- 73- Martha

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Mystery Satellite donwlink 145.84 9600 baud
by Robert Bruninga 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

Just listened to a long pass of a downlink on 145.840 MHz at 9600 baud full scale on my radio. Did not decode a single packet. But it did track Doppler from starting at 145.840+ and ending at 145.335 or so and it went from west, across north to East… At first I thought it might have been someone uplinking to PFS3, but it was solid, never dropped until it faded to the east. Bob

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FS: Yaesu FT100D-$300
by John Geiger 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

I have for sale a Yaesu FT100D HF/6m/2m/70cm all mode mobile sized radio. This is the model that does 100 watts on HF and 6m, 50 watts on 2m, and 20 watts on 70cm. It has the 500hz CW filter and TCXO as standard, as well as tone encode and decode. It also has a built in CW memory keyer, DSP noise reduction, an autonotch, a DSP based Audio Peak Filter that is wonderful for CW, speech processor, a meter that shows power out and SWR at the same time, and quite a few more features. It would make the nice half of a satellite station, using it to transmit on 2m or 70cm. The case is in overall very good condition with 1 ding on the bottom corner. I bought this back in March from Ham Radio Outlet so they checked it all out then also. The rig took a little tumble and it still works fine, but the volume shaft is bent slight, so when you adjust the volume the squelch moves right along with it. You can hold the squelch control with one hand so it stays in place, and move the volume knob with your other hand. It comes with a hand mic, power cord, and original box. This is a great way to get on HF/VHF/UHF at the same time, and the receiver and noise blanker in this rig are very good for the mobile class of rigs. I am asking $300 shipped for it and can take paypal/check/MO. 73 John AF5CC

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Re: [amsat-bb] Great Lakes HamCon Satellite Demo!
by Doug Andrews 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

Hi Ruth, I'll try for the SO-50 pass if you wsnt a CN88 grid. I have worked that area before. 73, Doug .- ..-. --... --.. --.- -------- Original message -------- From: Ruth <ruthwillet(a)att.net> Date: 10/5/17 6:32 PM (GMT-08:00) To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Great Lakes HamCon Satellite Demo! Hello satellite operators, Listen up for K8MIS on the air on Saturday October 7th! I have been asked to give a satellite demo on Saturday at the Great Lakes HamCon and will be operating under the Great Lakes Amateur Radio Association Special Event callsign, K8MIS. Assuming the weather cooperates, I plan to be on the 15:57z SO-50 pass. I may also be on the 14:18z SO-50 pass depending on the timing of the activities there. I’ll be operating from the grid square EN72 and hope to hear you on Saturday! 73, Ruth KM4LAO _______________________________________________ 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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Great Lakes HamCon Satellite Demo!
by Ruth 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

Hello satellite operators, Listen up for K8MIS on the air on Saturday October 7th! I have been asked to give a satellite demo on Saturday at the Great Lakes HamCon and will be operating under the Great Lakes Amateur Radio Association Special Event callsign, K8MIS. Assuming the weather cooperates, I plan to be on the 15:57z SO-50 pass. I may also be on the 14:18z SO-50 pass depending on the timing of the activities there. I’ll be operating from the grid square EN72 and hope to hear you on Saturday! 73, Ruth KM4LAO

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QIKCOM?
by Roy Dean 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

Is there any update on when this APRS sat will be deployed from the ISS? I know it was supposed to be during the eclipse, but was pushed out. --Roy K3RLD

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Re: [amsat-bb] YBOX-1
by Rick Tejera 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

Yono, Congratulations on a successful 2 years in orbit. Sent from my iPod > On Oct 4, 2017, at 19:29, Suryono Adisoemarta via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> wrote: > > That is the APRS payload on IO-86 (LAPAN A2/ORARI) Satellite. > > The other amateur payload is FM Repeater. > > We just had a big event celebrating the 2nd anniversary of this satellite last week. > > https://youtu.be/azPyX_XT5TM > > #2yearsIO86 > > > 73 de Yono - YD0NXX > AMSAT-ID > > Sent from my mobile device > >> On Oct 5, 2017, at 4:10 AM, Andrew Rich <vk4tec(a)tech-software.net> wrote: >> >> What is YBOX-1 I am seeing it in my logs >> >> Andrew >> _______________________________________________ >> 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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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-10-05 06:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-10-05 06:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Elementary School “21st of May”, Podgorica, Montenegro, direct via 4OØISS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Joe Acaba KE5DAR (***) Contact is a go: Wed 2017-10-11 11:48:02 UTC 50 deg (***) The Alice Smith School Primary Campus, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, direct via 9M2RPN The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP (***) Contact is a go: Wed 2017-10-11 15:24:05 UTC 79 deg (***) Fleet Science Center, BE WISE Program, San Diego, CA, direct via KJ6KDZ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA (***) Contact is a go for: Sat 2017-10-14 18:26:17 UTC 33 deg (***) **************************************************************************** ** 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 119 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 2017-10-05 06:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1162. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1121. 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 2017-10-04 06:00 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 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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YBOX-1
by Andrew Rich 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

What is YBOX-1 I am seeing it in my logs Andrew

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Sat Reporter Update - Addition of stats and IO86 ( YB0X-1) and ARISS DIGI and PSAT DIGI
by Andrew Rich 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

Enjoy http://59.167.159.165 Andrew Rich VK4TEC

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9600 Capable Dual-Band Radio?
by Scott 04 Oct '17

04 Oct '17

Greetings! With the arrival of FalconSat-3's 9k6 packet capability, I've been looking at radio options. Perhaps others have, too. While the Kenwood HT option is great, I would prefer to use my computer. So, if I understand correctly I need a radio with a data port that is capable of handling 9600 data. And, while FalconSat-3 needs me to transmit on 2m, I'm only considering dual-band radios in anticipation of wanting to transmit 9600 data on 70cm in the future. The Yaesu FT-7900R is one of the lowest cost dual-band radios that I've seen (new) that has a data port that the manual indicates can handle both 1200 & 9600 packets. By chance has anyone used this radio for 9600 data at any point? Or if you don't have first-hand experience w/ the FT-7900R, am I correct that it's a radio that I can transmit a 9600 data stream through from my computer? Thanks! -Scott, K4KDR Montpelier, VA USA

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Sputnik
by B J 04 Oct '17

04 Oct '17

It's now 60 years since its launch. Here's a great article on its history: http://thespacereview.com/article/3341/1 The second part will be available later. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-10-04 06:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 04 Oct '17

04 Oct '17

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-10-04 06:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Kugluktuk High School, Kugluktuk Nunavut, Canada, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact was successful: Tue 2017-10-03 15:32:57 UTC 30 deg (***) **************************************************************************** ** 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 119 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 2017-10-04 06:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1162. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1121. (***) 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 2017-10-04 06:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 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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Weekend Rove - Full Schedule
by Ken Alexander 04 Oct '17

04 Oct '17

Hi All, Following is the full schedule for this weekend. Pretty ambitious, so don't be too upset if I have miscalculated travel times and show up late. Precision is not one of my specialties! Some passes start minutes after the previously listed pass. I find I usually run through everyone in the first few minutes, so if an equally favourable (or better) pass happens soon after then I'll move on to the next one. Note that I added FN65 early Sunday morning. I received a request for FN68, which is about the same distance out of my way. However, FN65 is an easy drive down the Trans Canada Highway, where FN68 is a drive across new Brunswick (moose country) on a secondary road. In addition, that part of the province is mountainous and I could spend hours just trying to find a place to set up. I went for FN65. I'm tired. I hope I got my dates and times right. I've been know to mess this up before! Please have a look to make sure that I have included you and your region and if not then please let me know and we'll try to work something else out. == Friday Oct 6 in FN35/36 == 2100 AO-85 2130 XW-2C 2224 SO-50 2305 XW-2C 2349 FO-29 CQ Europe! 0007 XW-2F CQ West Coast! 0038 XW-2A 0127 AO-73 == Saturday Oct 7 in FN56/57 == 1308 XW-2F 1311 AO-73 1329 XW-2A 1334 FO-29 1421 SO-50 1426 AO-7 CQ Europe! 1448 AO-73 1526 FO-29 CQ West Coast! 1602 SO-50 1612 AO-7 CQ Europe! == Saturday Oct 7 in FN57/67 == 2111 UKUBE-1 CQ West Coast! 2125 AO-85 2151 AO-7 CQ West Coast! 2215 XW-2F 2249 SO-50 2307 AO-85 CQ West Coast! == Sunday Oct 8 in FN65/66 == 0009 AO-73 0030 SO-50 CQ West Coast! 0037 FO-29 CQ Europe! 0147 AO-73 CQ West Coast! 0222 FO-29 == Sunday Oct 8 in FN47 == 1426 FO-29 1446 SO-50 1507 AO-73 CQ West Coast! 73! Hope to work you this weekend! Ken VE3HLS

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Re: [amsat-bb] Falconsat-3 and APRS HT's? (reflector ant)
by Robert Bruninga 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

The June 2004 QST cover photo shows a few of us holding a piece of rabbit fence bent into a parabola about 2' wide by 1' high with the HT held at the focal point. It makes a great gain antenna and is trivial to build. The HT's rubber duck is at the focal point so there is no coax. This is fine for voice satellites, but not so practical for data satelites which need a laptop and TNC and cables. https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.qrz.com/h/kb9sxh/cover_shot_QST_bmp.jpg Bob -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Zach Metzinger Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2017 2:16 PM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Falconsat-3 and APRS HT's? On 10/03/17 07:07, Roy Dean wrote: > Greg, > > You are going to have a very hard time copying Falconsat with > omni/whip antenna's. Yes, it's a strong downlink, but "strong" for > amateur satellites is misleading... It's nowhere near as strong as the > ISS voice radio, for example, which is easily picked up on my scanner > duckie. > > It's supposed to be over one watt, but I can pick up AO-85 with a > stronger signal, if that gives you any idea. Also, Falconsat has > some really serious polarity fade, so there's another issue. I can > go from roughly S7 to 'nuttin by rotating my arrow 10°. While polarization is still an issue, you might try a square-corner reflector as a starter antenna: http://www.qsl.net/ve3rgw/corner.html Of course, you'll want to upgrade it with a rotator to track the satellite, but aiming it by hand should work fine. Keep the coax loss low, or, for both NF improvement and to make up for coax loss, add a LNA right at the antenna. If you want some historical background on this type of antenna, take a look at this oldie: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/History/History%20of%20QST%20Volume%201%20-%… --- Zach N0ZGO _______________________________________________ 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] Falconsat-3 and APRS HT's?
by Roy Dean 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

Greg, You are going to have a very hard time copying Falconsat with omni/whip antenna's. Yes, it's a strong downlink, but "strong" for amateur satellites is misleading... It's nowhere near as strong as the ISS voice radio, for example, which is easily picked up on my scanner duckie. It's supposed to be over one watt, but I can pick up AO-85 with a stronger signal, if that gives you any idea. Also, Falconsat has some really serious polarity fade, so there's another issue. I can go from roughly S7 to 'nuttin by rotating my arrow 10°. --Roy K3RLD > Ok, so I must be doing something wrong. I have an RTL-SDR dongle hooked > to a deep-fringe TV antenna in the attic which is my all-purpose scanner > setup. I can barely make out the 9600 baud downlink from FalconSat-3 in > the GQRX Waterfall, seeing a good bit of fading during the pass. At > best it's a faint bar; mostly not there at all. My D74 hand-held, with > a Diamond RH-77B whip antenna decodes nothing, assuming there was > something to decode. Tried this on 3 passes this afternoon. Nada. > APRS traffic on 145.39, by comparison, shows up really well. > I thought I read that the satellite had a nice strong downlink. > 435.103, plus or minus. I've not done much of anything with 9600 baud > packet, so don't have much experience to draw from. What's wrong? > Equipment, operating, or expectations? > Greg KO6TH

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Alternative to M2 LEO Pack
by Lou Michaels 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

Greetings, After an 18 month hiatus, I got the bug to put the satellite station back up. I have all the equipment in house (g5500 rotor, antennas, radio, interface, and cables) and can have this up and running in an afternoon - possibly this weekend. Now as most of you are probably aware, the LEO pack contains a 4x4 on VHF and an 8x8 on UHF. What if I wanted a bit more, meaning what might be the next step up in terms of a VHF and UHF circular polarized yagi? I'm also working with a 3ele 6m yagi under the elevation rotor, but I'm not opposed to pulling that down to make room for center-mounted booms. I'm asking because, while I'm leaning back towards satellites, I'd like to retain at least some ability to work terrestrial. The 4x4 CP on 2m ssb certainly seems like a step down from what I'm working with now (7x7 xPol yagi) - I'm not looking for parity, just a slight improvement over a 4x4. As always thanks for your insights and wisdom in advance. See on you on the birds real soon. Cheers, Lou W2LMM <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

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FalconSat 3 iGate using rPi and pymultimonaprs?
by Mike Thompson 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

I am running a terrestrial APRS iGate from my house using a Comet GP-15 tri-band vertical. RF is fed into an RTL-SDR, connected to my raspberry pi. I am currently using pymultimonaprs to make this all happen, and in Marco Kubon's tutorial (http://www.kubonweb.de/?tag=rtl-sdr) he says it's possible to catch the ISS APRS frames by changing the RTL section of the config file. Does anyone know if I can add in a 3rd frequency to capture FalconSat3 packets? Does this look reasonable? proc_src = subprocess.Popen( ['rtl_fm', '-f', str(int(self.config['rtl']['freq'] * 1e6)), '-f', '145825000', '-f', '435103000', '-s', '22050', '-p%s' % str(self.config['rtl']['ppm']), '-g', str(self.config['rtl']['gain']), '-l', '10', '-E', 'offset' if self.config['rtl'].get('offset_tuning', False) else 'none', '-d', str(self.config['rtl'].get('device_index', 0)), '-'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=open('/dev/null') Thanks!

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FalconSat 3 added to Sat Reporter
by Andrew Rich 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

Falcon Sat has been added to Sat Reporter http://59.167.159.165/ <http://59.167.159.165/> Andrew VK4TEC

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AO-85 Experimenter's Wednesday
by Andrew Glasbrenner 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

Just a reminder that Experimenter's Wednesday begins at 0000UTC tonight on AO-85. Please participate by sending and receiving slow scan television (SSTV) images via the Robot 36 mode. More information at: https://www.amsat.org/return-of-experimenters-wednesday-to-ao-85/ 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT VP Operations

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Falcon sat
by Andrew Rich 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

Anyone igating falconsat ? Can you please provide me some sample packets. Andrew Sent from my iPhone

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Roving Again This Weekend
by Ken Alexander 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

Well, the "VE3HLS All-Hit Request Line" has been overloaded lately, so it's time to get out and do something a little bigger! *The Plan* ...is to fill in some gaps in some of your grid maps. Thus, I will be leaving Friday morning for Quebec. Night 1 will be spent in Joliette, QC, where I hope to activate FN35/36 late Friday afternoon and early Friday evening. Saturday morning, I will head further east and hope to activate FN56/57 beginning around 1430 UTC. I'll stay there for a few hours, then move on to activate FN57/67 beginning around 2130 - 2200. FN57/67 is my last stop of the day, so I can afford to stay there a little longer. Sunday and Monday are reserved for driving back home. However, I'll be making two brief stops to fulfill some requests, namely FN47 and FN45. I'll try my best to do at least one of these activations on the boundary with FN46 to provide "added value"! I'll likely spend Sunday night in FN24. If anybody needs it then let me know. Otherwise I'll just crash in front of the TV! Potentially 10 grids, if everything goes according to plan. *The Weather** * As of earlier today the weather forecast for the entire destination area sucks. The forecast for Saint Leonard, NB currently says 30% chance of showers on Saturday and worsening on Sunday. I'll go anyway, provided the forecast doesn't get any worse. Standing out in pouring rain and letting my gear get soaked is another matter; I won't do it. I'd rather it snowed. Rain may also slow my travel progress and make me late. *Other Caveats* Traffic could also be a problem. It was miserable on Labour Day weekend. This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving and the highways tend to be busy and slow. Put all this together and it makes it a little tougher to come up with a precise schedule. What I'm going to do is put together a schedule that includes passes that happen up to an hour or so either side of my planned arrival times. It doesn't mean I'll make every pass, so watch Twitter for updates. And if all my plans go down the toilet then I'll do some landscape photography, another passion of mine! 73, Ken VE3HLS **

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Special ARISS News Release no. 17-01
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 02 Oct '17

02 Oct '17

Special ARISS News Release no. 17-01 Date: Oct. 2, 2017 For Immediate Release ARISS One Step Closer to Flying New Equipment to ISS On behalf of the ARISS International team, I am proud to announce that on Friday September 29th the ARISS team submitted the InterOperable Radio System (IORS) Safety Data Package to NASA for review! Our next step in this process is the Safety Review, which is planned for November 2. Submitting this was a phenomenal accomplishment!! Particularly since the entire Safety Data Package was developed exclusively by our ARISS volunteers---something we have never done before. Prior to this submittal, all safety packages---from Owen Garriott's in the early 1980s to today--were developed with contractors from NASA, ESA or Energia. And might I say at substantial expense. I am pleased that the ARISS team did it ourselves! Why is this important? Two reasons: 1) This is a very major IORS milestone. We cannot get to orbit without successfully completing the safety review process and getting our hardware certified for flight. 2) Developing the safety package exclusively with volunteers is an innovative and gutsy approach to keep costs down and get the hardware flown sooner. Otherwise we probably would have to slip launch 1-2 years while we acquired additional funding to get this done. NASA Human Spaceflight Safety Certification is a four-step process---Phase 0, Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3. The material we submitted covers the first three of the four phases. As part of Phases 0, 1 and 2, we need to make sure NASA understands our design. And we need to show NASA that we understand all the potential hazards that our hardware systems could introduce to ISS and how we have mitigated (or prevented) these hazards. One example is to demonstrate to NASA that our IORS was designed with electrical wiring and circuit breakers that possess adequate features and sufficient margin to prevent an electrical shock or fire on-board the ISS. Critically important stuff! The final phase (Phase 3) will be complete when we have completed all testing and NASA inspection of our flight hardware and NASA deems it flight worthy. At that point the IORS will be flight certificated and we can fly! Currently we are looking to March-May 2018 for flight readiness. For those not following ARISS hardware development very closely, we are developing the IORS to replace most of the on-board radio hardware. It is called "interoperable" because it is being designed to be operated anywhere on ISS. But specifically, it will be used in the two areas with ISS Ham legacy antennas: the Columbus Module and the Russian Service Module. Interoperability allows us to leverage existing ISS power cables, it can be moved between modules in the event of on-orbit failures, and it supports common training and operations. The IORS is the most complex in-cabin hardware system we have ever designed, built, tested and flown as a volunteer team. We will remove the 3 watt Ericsson handheld radio system, initially certified for flight in 1999, and the Packet module--both of which have recently had issues-and install a brand-new, specially modified 25 watt JVC Kenwood D710GA radio to enable a multitude of new or improved capabilities on ISS, including voice repeater and better APRS operations. A key development is the Multi-Voltage Power Supply (MVPS), which interfaces with multiple electric outlet connection types on ISS and provides a multitude of power output capabilities for our current and future ARISS operations and amateur radio experimentation. It will also allow our Ham Video system to have a dedicated power outlet, eliminating the outlet sharing we have now, which shuts down Ham Video at times. This effort would not be possible without the dedication and persistence of our IORS development team of volunteers. They have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to provide an outstanding amateur radio experience for all. Our IORS development team includes: Lou McFadin, W5DID, our Chief Engineer; Kerry Banke, N6IZW, the MVPS lead designer; Bob Davis, KF4KSS, the MVPS Mechanical enclosure designer; Ed Krome, K9EK, supporting IORS thermal control and cabin noise dissipation; Dave Taylor, W8AAS, our JVC Kenwood D-710 development liaison; Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, our APRS and D-710 operations expert; Shin Aota, JL1IBD, and Phil Parton, N4DRO for all their phenomenal support from JVC Kenwood; Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, our operations lead; and our safety package team-Ken Ernandes, N2WWD, and Gordon Scannell, KD8COJ. Kudos to all on a fantastic effort! Designing, building and testing the IORS is a huge undertaking and *very* expensive. We need to build ten (10!) units to support flight hardware, flight spares, testing, and training across the international team. Hardware parts, development tools, fabrication, testing, and expenses to certify the IORS are expected to cost approximately $150,000. And the hard part (i.e. most expensive part) is just now starting. So please consider making a donation to ARISS to take our hardware system from dream to reality. You can donate to ARISS directly through the AMSAT web site at: http://www.ariss.org/donate.html. ALL donations go directly to ARISS. Thank you for all your support to inspire, engage and educate our youth to consider wireless communications and amateur radio, and to pursue STEAM careers through our exciting human space exploration and amateur radio endeavor! Ad Astra! To the Stars! Sincerely, Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO ARISS International Chair and ISS Ham Radio Principal Investigator ------------------------ 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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Falconsat-3 and APRS HT's?
by Robert Bruninga 02 Oct '17

02 Oct '17

I was confused. I thought FALCONSAT-3 was a PACSAT protocol store and forward system because I thought I saw people trying to get the old PB and BG code, But the AMSAT web page says it is 9600 baud GMSK up and down. https://www.amsat.org/falconsat-3/ 435.103 MHz down and 145.840 up DIGI call of PFS3-1. While of course setting 5 memores to chase the Doppler the full 20 KHz during the pass. So I am surrprised that I havent heard of anyone making contacts with any ole' APRS HT or Mobile... All of these radios can do 9600 baud and APRS natively.. Im under Kitchen arrest until 1st grandkid arrives soon and cannot play. If I missed something, ignore me. Ill go back under my domestic rock... Bob, WB4APR

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