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

Upcoming ARISS contact with Huntley Centennial Public School, Carp, ON, Canada
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Huntley Centennial Public School, Carp, ON, Canada on 28 Nov. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:46 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time.The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between IR0ISS and IK1SLD. The contact should be audible over Italy and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The language is expected to be English. Story about the school not available at this time. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. What is the most interesting research you are doing? 2. How do you talk to your family and friends in outer space? 3. What do you eat and how do you cook in space? 4. How long does it take to get to space station? 5. What do you do to prepare for the re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and gravity effects? 6. How is the space station controlled? 7. How long can people stay in space and what is the record? 8. What is the temperature outside of space station and how do you stay warm both on board and when doing a spacewalk? 9. How is air produced on space station and how often do you bring supplies on board? 10. What is the training process to become an astronaut? 11. Have you ever regretted being in space? 12. Since the toilet is made for zero gravity, how do you train to use it on earth? 13. Does your view of the world change after your return from space? 14. What does it feel like returning to earth after being in space? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. S.G.B. De La Salle, Rome, Italy and Istituto Comprensivo Luigi Nono, Mira, Italy, telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact is a go for: Thu 2017-11-30 08:04 UTC 2. Bishop Hendricken High School and its sister school, St. Mary Academy - Bay View, Warwick, RI, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli Contact is a go for: Thu 2017-11-30 17:02 UTC About ARISS: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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"Reverse" bias-tee ??
by Scott 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

Hi everyone. The schematic makes me think "yes", but I wanted to check before making a purchase. Normally a bias-tee is used to inject a DC voltage onto your coax to power a pre-amp. Since some pre-amps aren't powered off the coax, but rather from a separate pair of pins, I was wondering if you can use a bias-tee AT THE PRE-AMP to extract the DC voltage off our coax for connection to those external power pins on the pre-amp? Running a separate cable to power the pre-amp is not the end of the world, but it would be convenient if I could turn on the bias voltage available on the Airspy or RTL-SDR and then extract it up at the antenna to power a pre-amp. Thanks for any recommendations! -Scott, K4KDR

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Unofficial AMSAT D-STAR net.
by Endaf Buckley 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

The Unofficial AMSAT D-STAR net Monday at 03:30 UTC on Reflector 9C. This is not affiliated with AMSAT and is just an informal round table type net discussing all things satellite and more. 73 de N6UTC.

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TNC3S High-Speed dual port Packet-Controller - FS -
by Stefan Wagener 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

Have a very nice TNC3S high speed dual port packet-controller for sale. Unit has the 1200 and 9600 boards built in. See: http://www.symek.com/g/tnc3s.html for more information and user manuals. Asking $100 shipped within US and Canada or best offer. Photos on request. If interested, contact me off the BB. My callsign @ gmail.com Thanks, Stefan VE4NSA

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11/25 AO-91 recording
by Mike Thompson 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

My audio recorder stopped working mid way through this afternoon’s AO-91 pass over the US. By any chance, did anyone happen to record my contacts? AE0MT in EN34 with a VE7? station, and I think a N2 station. Thanks for your help everyone.

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AO73/FUNcube-1 Operations
by Graham Shirville 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

Hi All, Just to advise that AO73/FUNcube-1 is now in autonomous mode. For operational reasons the switch back to amateur mode for next weekend may not take place until “first thing” (UTC) on Saturday 3rd Dec. Have a great FUN week! 73 Graham G3VZV

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SatPC32 12.8c help!
by Ted 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

Hi, I had not started the program in over a year, and yesterday when I decided to get it functioning again, I get a constant error screen that says: "Ungultige Gleitkommaoperation" the screen just keeps repeating..and the tabs are greyed out I'd rather not delete and reinstall if possible Any help appreciated 73, Ted K7TRK

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AO 91 Pass over India and South east asis
by Nitin Muttin 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

Worked 9V1SV at Singapore and vu2pep during the 1815 UTC pass . Great signals from the satellite. I was using a ICOM W32 with a rubber duck antenna. Many stations in India were able to hear the downlink on handheld radios. Thanks AMSAT NA for such a great satellite. 73 Nitin [VU3TYG]

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Observations on AO-91 AFC
by Matthew Stevens 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

I’ve done a bit of study on the Fox series AFC. I never really knew much about it up until this point, but with all the discussion on the amsat-bb about AO-91’s AFC function, and the alleged lack of uplink Doppler tuning needed – I figured I should educate myself a bit more. I also wanted to test it out some. My observations (which I’ve outlined in another BB post http://www.amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2017-November/065569.html), making hundreds of QSOs on AO-85 using various antennas, radios, and power settings have been that there is definite need to tune the uplink frequency for Doppler shift. My initial experiences working passes on AO-91 from a few minutes after commissioning, using an HT and whip, then an HT and Elk, then and HT and arrow, did nothing to change my mind about tuning for the AO-91 uplink. However, even though I already made a bunch of QSOs on AO91, I didn’t really have enough data to make any kind of real conclusion about the AFC on AO-91. So, I figured I’d try some experiments and post them here! >> Today was the first pass I had worked on AO-91 with anything other than a 0.05-5w Kenwood D72 HT for a radio. I broke out my Icom 821H for a 90 degree lunchtime pass, turned up the power to the full ~35w, and used my handheld arrow II antenna. Having already heard the absolute zoo that has been daytime AO-91 passes, I was curious first to hear how it went using more power (as far as being able to get in over the dead carriers and multiple hetrodyning uplinks), and second, how the AFC functioned with a lot of high-power users. What I found: The AFC *does* seem to work! However, there are some usage caveats that I have to note. When there is a single signal coming into the bird, it seems to compensate fine for being off frequency (within reason). I didn’t try too wide of a tuning range, since compared to some stations I heard today I didn’t have enough power to be way off (more on that in a minute). But I did try +/- about 5khz, and it seemed to compensate just fine if I was the only signal coming in. That’s the rub however. There was virtually no time today where I was the only signal coming into the bird! And when there was a bunch of different signals, basically, the strongest uplink was the one that determined the AFC tuning. You can hear that happening in the recording which I’ll link to below. There was more than one instance where I began to transmit over a carrier or other signal that I was hearing (being careful not to transmit over any actual audible callers or QSOs in progress). You can hear my audio go from poor to crystal clear as the AFC (apparently) adjusted to my carrier – and I did not adjust my transmit frequency at the time. I assume that my signal was stronger than the others, and the AFC “picked” mine. You can also hear a signal from XE3ARV, who had by far the strongest signal I heard during the pass. Because his uplink signal was so much stronger than anyone or anything else, it sounded like the AFC adjusted to whatever his uplink frequency was. If I, or anyone else was transmitting at the time, you can hear it IMMEDIATELY go from the other clear (or scratchy) signal (depending on what state the AFC tuning was in at the time), to a crystal clear downlink from XE3ARV. Another observation of note was the downlink signal from 5K0T. At the beginning of the pass you can hear a very clear signal from their obviously strong uplink. As the pass progressed, the audio quality on their downlink deteriorated a lot. The only reason I can see for this is that they may have not been adjusting for Doppler during the pass, and were possibly 10khz or more from the correct uplink frequency (perhaps transmitting at 435.240 the entire pass?). I can’t confirm this as I wasn’t there to see what was happening on their end, but that is one possible explanation to why their signal sounded like it did at the end of the pass. This hypothesis also is supported by having heard another station on a much quieter, early morning pass the other day who I know was transmitting 30khz off frequency. His audio sounded very similar to 5K0T at the time. Yet another observation is that when there are a lot of users on the pass, it seems to be beneficial to adjust for Doppler. There were several times during today’s pass where I did tune my radio to the correct, Doppler adjusted uplink frequency. If there was a high level of QRM, tuning for Doppler seemed to help my signal be received by the satellite, as opposed to tuning +/- 5khz from the Doppler adjusted value. Here is my recording: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1c8XYCoxFCKCyR4dtfwJCyM9tjfo1mLKd TL;DR observations: 1. AFC does work within some limitations. 2. With multiple strong signals into the bird, the strongest “wins” as far as determining the AFC adjustment. This makes other signals tuned to other frequencies sound “staticky” 3. Transmitting very far off frequency makes your downlink audio sound bad. 4. Adjusting for Doppler seems to help your signal capture the sats receiver better than other users who are operating at a similar power level to you. Conclusion so far: In practice, AFC is good for correcting minor Doppler tuning errors. However, unless there is only one user transmitting into the sat at a point in time, it does not eliminate the need to tune your uplink for Doppler. I would be curious to hear other observations and interpretations from AO-91 passes. I think it’s helpful to support observations with recordings, so others can listen and draw their own conclusions about your interpretation of what has occurred. Also, these are just my initial impressions from operating passes…and these are subject to change over time :-) 73, Matthew nj4y

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Upcoming ARISS contact with Ashbury College, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 25 Nov '17

25 Nov '17

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Ashbury College, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on 27 Nov. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:39 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and VK4KHZ. The contact should be audible over Australia and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Ashbury College is an independent academic institution in the heart of Canada's Capital. From grades 4 to 12, students are prepared for post-secondary education, all while cultivating a strong sense of community engagement, and independent learning. We are part of the International Baccalaureate program and have a deep involvement in the Round Square initiative as well as additional science and math programs. We as a school believe that our participation in the ARISS communication session with the International Space Station would provide valuable and relevant information to our students, as well as reflect our roots in Internationalism, and STEM. The students attending the broadcast will be all of the grade 9 and 10 students, as well as students in the Space and Science course and Kinesiology course. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1) Microgravity has shown to cause a decrease in muscle mass which can impact muscle strength, endurance, contraction, and other key muscular activities. What are some ways that you prevent muscular atrophy in zero gravity and how do you prepare for this prior to space flight? 2) How do you adjust to a sleep cycle on the ISS (the sun sets 16 times)? How do you re-adjust to a sleep cycle when you return to Earth? 3) What do you miss most about Earth while on the ISS? 4) Funding excepted, what are the obstacles to adding an artificial gravity module to the ISS, considering the potential benefits astronauts could receive from it during long-term space missions? 5) What was the application process like to become an astronaut? What set you apart from your peers? 6) How do the plants grown on the ISS differ from those on Earth? Are there any sustaining food sources? 7) What type of projects/research do you do in outer space and what is your favourite experiment to work on the ISS? 8) In space, the loss of bone mass is found to be up to 10x the amount of osteoporosis. On earth, one of the ways we prevent bone loss is by increasing resistance training, however, there is no resistance in zero gravity. How do you prepare for and cope with this bone loss in a micro- gravitational environment before, during and after space flight, especially when you are up there for longer periods of time (i.e. 6 months)? Does this affect things like healing bone fractures? 9) What do you do for fun? 10) What is the most frustrating/exciting part of being an astronaut? 11) What were your first thoughts when arriving at the ISS? Any fear or just excitement? 12) How will things be different with the new space station planned to orbit the moon compared to the International Space Station? 13) How do you bathe? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. Huntley Centennial Public School, Carp, ON, Canada, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli Contact is a go for: Tue 2017-11-28 18:46 UTC 2. S.G.B. De La Salle, Rome, Italy and Istituto Comprensivo Luigi Nono, Mira, Italy, telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact is a go for: Thu 2017-11-30 08:04 UTC 3. Bishop Hendricken High School and its sister school, St. Mary Academy - Bay View, Warwick, RI, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli Contact is a go for: Thu 2017-11-30 17:02 UTC About ARISS: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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