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

WH6XM Hawaii
by alex weimer 22 Dec '17

22 Dec '17

Bob, WH6XM in grid BK29 Hilo HI was on FO29 at 1729 Z .. Great signal although I only had a 7 degree max pass. Bob is looking for Stateside contacts and is usually on FO29 JACK KC7MG DM42 AZ.

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Satellite DXCC
by rsoifer1＠aol.com 22 Dec '17

22 Dec '17

Hi Kevin, Yes, I was going hot and heavy back then, along with fellow members of NJDXA, all of us trying to work Satellite DXCC. Indeed, the whole idea of Satellite DXCC originated with Hayden Evans, K2BZT (SK), our club's man on the ARRL DXAC and in his professional life Director of Satellite Communications at Bell Labs. Unfortunately, Hayden passed away before he could get his SDXCC. If anyone actually worked DXCC on RS-12/13, it probably would have been Pat, G3IOR. As you said, Pat already had Satellite DXCC and was notoriously lax about collecting QSL cards. I know he was quite active on RS-12/13, but don't know for a fact how many he worked. As regular readers of AMSAT-BB know, we're going to get another Mode K satellite (15 up, 10 down), courtesy of Bob Bruninga's team at USNA. Maybe more DXCCs will be earned! 73 Ray W2RS

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Acknowledgment
by Stefan Wagener 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

I like to thank AMSAT, the board and the huge number of volunteers for a very successful, enjoyable, and enriching 2017. This organization has done a tremendous job in keeping "satellites in space". It allows us in enjoying a tremendous hobby and connecting with each other via satellites. Without leadership, satellites, and volunteers (and yes $$) this would not be possible. Thank you all! Have a Merry Christmas, a great holiday season and a successful 2018 to all of you! 73, Stefan, VE4NSA

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Office Closed
by Martha 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

The AMSAT Office is closed from Friday, Dec 22 - Friday, Jan 5th. Please check the website (amsat.org) for information. HAPPY HOLIDAYS and a VERY HAPPY HEALTHY NEW YEAR. -- 73- Martha

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GAUSS - Season's Greetings
by GAUSS TEAM 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

*We wish you Happy Holidays and a Magnificent 2018, filled with prosperity! * *GAUSS Personnel* ----- *This email and any attachments to it are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed.* *If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone.* *Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in error.* *GAUSS Srl* *Group of Astrodynamics for the Use of Space Systems* Via Sambuca Pistoiese 70 00138 Roma - ITALY +390697881440 website <http://www.gaussteam.com/> facebook <https://www.facebook.com/GaussSrl?fref=ts> twitter <https://twitter.com/gaussteam> linkedin <https://www.linkedin.com/company/gauss-srl>

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Satellite DXCC
by rsoifer1＠aol.com 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

Not quite, Paul. At least eight Satellite DXCCs were earned without using HEO or Mode K. They were made using AO-6, AO-7 and the RS birds, some of which were slightly higher than AO-6/7. In the order they were issued, here are the first seven: W2BXA, W2LV, W1NU, G3IOR, WA2CBB, G6RH and W2YY. All are now SK except for CBB. The 8th one was mine, although I was slow to collect QSL cards and my certificate is No. 13. Congrats to John on being the next one! 73 Ray W2RS

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AO73 / FUNcube-1 Happy Holiday Mode
by Graham Shirville 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

Hi All, Just to report that AO73/FUNcube-1 is now operating in full time transponder mode and will continue in this mode until the evening of Wednesday 3rd January 2018. Please enjoy the transponder during this happy holiday period! Season's greetings from the whole FUNcube team. 73 Graham G3VZV General Info: 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. 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. Lower 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 Dec 2017 Update – As a result of on-board operational issues this transponder is NOT currently active. 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 EO88/Nayif-1/FUNcube-5 EO88 is presently operating in autonomous mode. The transponder is operational when the satellite is in eclipse, ie the solar panels are NOT being illuminated. 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. The transponder frequencies are: Uplink: 435.045 – 435.015 MHz LSB (inverting) Downlink: 145.960-145.990 MHz USB Telemetry Tx: 145.940MHz

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more serial-USB adapter wars
by D. Craig Fox 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

First, congrats John, K8YSE on a remarkable accomplishment. Well done. I always enjoy connecting with you via space. I just finished a close to 2 week frustrating ordeal after my serial/usb adapter suddenly failed and SATPC stopped doing its magic. Im running a TS2K, SATPC and W7 pro on a Dell XPS with an I5 processor. Device manager showed a faulty Prolific driver. Many driver downloads later of the Prolific chip driver and the same for the driver in another Chinese chipped adapter, still no joy. I even ran other versions of SATPC. There has been much discussion in this forum about which are the best serial/usb adapters/chipsets. Some do well with prolific, others not so much. However, no one seems to have difficulty with the FTDI chipset. So I found a highly rated adapter with the FTDI chip on Amazon, loaded the drivers from the included disc, and.... no joy. I was ready to begin testing the serial port on my TS2K when I ran across a post on the TS2K yahoo group forum recommending use of the FTDI chip, but, most importantly, the writer recommended dumping the disc and downloading the most recent driver from www.ftdichip.com<http://www.ftdichip.com>. There it was. After re-booting everything, CAT kicked in and I was back in business. I write this because I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying different adapters, downloading drivers, rebooting in different order, and so forth until getting the right combination of FTDI chip and current driver for W7 pro. This issue has been discussed a lot here and on the TS2K yahoo group, but it bears repeating. If you are having similar issues, perhaps you can benefit from my time spent chasing this down. 73s and happy holidays to my many sat friends! Craig N6RSX Ps- I had the pleasure of being one of the contacts with NA1SS (Col. Doug Wheelock) in that NASA vid posted by KA2UPW/5

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Re: [amsat-bb] Has anyone made a satellite QSO with an orbiting ISS astronaut?
by Vince Fiscus, KB7ADL 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

At 08:35 AM 12/21/2017 -0600, you wrote: >Has anyone ever had a successful two-way QSO with an orbiting ISS >astronaut through an amateur radio satellite transponder? > >Regards, >Douglas KA2UPW/5 I mis-read the question. Sorry,

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Satellite DXCC Awarded to K8YSE
by Paul Stoetzer 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

Congratulations to John Papay, K8YSE, who has been awarded satellite DXCC with 101 entities verified. The satellite DXCC standings are available at http://www.arrl.org/dxcc-standings While there is no way to be certain, John's satellite DXCC is likely the first to be obtained without the use of either HEO satellites or sub-horizon Mode K propagation since prior to the launch of AO-10 in 1983. Starting on satellites in 2006, John did not even enjoy the advantage of FO-20's higher LEO apogee or RS-15's high LEO orbit in his quest to work and confirm 100 DXCCs via satellite.This is certainly a noteworthy achievement! 73, Paul, N8HM (77 satellite DXCCs worked and counting!)

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