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

Nayif-1 contact using 5 watts with eggbeaters
by Rick Walter 24 Feb '17

24 Feb '17

Thanks to Jeff, WB8RJY for providing the correct Doppler.SQF file for NAYIF-1 to me via email last night. Was hoping to work Jeff tonight. Worked Perry, WB8OTH instead. I am running a Kenwood TS-2000 X into a pair of eggbeaters with a pre-amp on the 70 cm side. Perry and I played with our output power and could work each other at 5 watts when the bird was near 10 degrees for me and below that for Perry. As reported already, a very strong signal with NO drift. I set the dial once with SatPC32 and did not touch it the rest of the pass. Sorry you were not on the bird Jeff. Hope to work you soon. Congrats to all on the Nayif-1 team. A great new satellite. #42017 is the correct keplerian elements for this bird. Thank you Nico. Rick - WB3CSY in FN10 -- Sent from Rick's gmail account

1 0

Re: [amsat-bb] Helical Antenna for 2-meters
by Edward R Cole 24 Feb '17

24 Feb '17

Dave, I've built helical beams, before. Latest was 6-turn feed for an offset feed dish to receive AO-40 on 2401 MHz. But back in 1996 I built a 14-turn 437 MHz helical beam to try to hear MGS at 10M km from Earth. Did not finish the 437 converter in time but did try out the helical beam on uplink and found it not near as good as my M2 436CP42UG (not surprisingly). I used flat brass strip to match 140 natural impedance of a helix to 50-ohms. The length was 1/4 wavelength and spacing from the ground plane reflector varied from direct connection to the flange-mount N-connector to about 3 times further at the connection to the starting turn of the helix. Easy to tune by varying that distance for best match. I think 2m is the lowest frequency I would make a helical beam. That 20-MHz monster that MIchael links to - well I think I would rather make a x-yagi (which would permit using either RHCP or LHCP). Most amateur Jupiter radio astronomers only use a crossed dipole antenna. 73, Ed - KL7UW Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2017 12:21:32 +0200 From: Michael Fletcher <oh2aue(a)kolumbus.fi> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Helical Antenna for 2-meters > I just did some calculations from the ARRL Antenna Handbook. > I came up with a 6-turn helical with a diameter of 25.826" and > a length of 121.65". My first thought was "whoa, dude, like OMG!" > (I'm a high school teacher, ok?) I rechecked my calculations and > came up with same, plus an impedance of 150 ohms. > > Years ago I used a Fritzel Helical for 2m when I was DA1BB and VP2EHF > (during Hurricane Luis in 1994 it ended up someplace out in the > Anagada Straights between Anguilla and Sombrero Island). > > What say, you all? Advice, comments welcomed > > 73 > Dave, N4CVX Nah Dave, that's not big, just a scaled down version of e.g. this one (for ~22 MHz, reception of Jovian storms, built by OH8PX, SK): http://www.rfshamaanit.fi/hf_helix_1.jpg Your impedance is about right too, but there are several neat ways of getting this matched to 50 ohms in a fairly broadband manner, easily googled. 73 Michael OH2AUE 73, Ed - KL7UW http://www.kl7uw.com Dubus-NA Business mail: dubususa(a)gmail.com

1 0

ARISS packet not head
by Richard Lawn 24 Feb '17

24 Feb '17

Just tried to digipeat with the ARISS station on a good pass here and nothing was heard. Are they possibly working on something and tool the station off line? Rick, W2JAZ -- Sent from Gmail Mobile

5 4

Nayif1 Warehouse Update
by David Johnson 24 Feb '17

24 Feb '17

Hi, For those that have been following the WOD you may have noticed that the PA Temperature has been displaying some strange numbers. These were an artefact of the data handling in the warehouse. Now fixed and were getting sensible data displayed. Many thanks as always to people who have been sending us data. It has been a great help in finding the problem. My apologies for some short outages over the past few days as I've been applying fixes. Now that we are storing sensible data I'll move on to generating csv files for download. 73 Dave, G4DPZ

1 0

TLE UP-Dater In Orbitron
by Joe 24 Feb '17

24 Feb '17

I have a question, In Orbiitron, I get when I start the program the pop-up that tells me to UP-Date the TLE's With a YES / NO set of buttons. Now someone a few weeks ago showed me with Teamviewer How to do this manually, and it has worked greatly ever since. But to do that I have to tell this pop-up "NO" and then do it manually. Thing is if I say "YES" it messes up the whole program, and takes a while to get the TLE's working correctly again. Any idea why this should be? Joe WB9SBD -- Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com

2 2

KX9X/1 in FN34 - Vermont
by Sean K. 24 Feb '17

24 Feb '17

Hi all- Listen for KX9X/1 between 1800z today and 2200z tomorrow, as I am QRV on various sats from FN32, 33 and 34. Weather permitting, I'll be on FO29 Saturday on the 1400z and 1540z passes from FN34 in Vermont, giving a satellite demo from the HAM-CON convention. Listen for me around 435.830. FN34 is a new grid for me on the slow path to reverse VUCC, too. Sean Kutzko Amateur Radio KX9X

1 0

Re: [amsat-bb] Helical Antenna for 2-meters
by Michael Fletcher 24 Feb '17

24 Feb '17

> I just did some calculations from the ARRL Antenna Handbook. > I came up with a 6-turn helical with a diameter of 25.826" and > a length of 121.65". My first thought was "whoa, dude, like OMG!" > (I'm a high school teacher, ok?) I rechecked my calculations and > came up with same, plus an impedance of 150 ohms. > > Years ago I used a Fritzel Helical for 2m when I was DA1BB and VP2EHF > (during Hurricane Luis in 1994 it ended up someplace out in the > Anagada Straights between Anguilla and Sombrero Island). > > What say, you all? Advice, comments welcomed > > 73 > Dave, N4CVX Nah Dave, that's not big, just a scaled down version of e.g. this one (for ~22 MHz, reception of Jovian storms, built by OH8PX, SK): http://www.rfshamaanit.fi/hf_helix_1.jpg Your impedance is about right too, but there are several neat ways of getting this matched to 50 ohms in a fairly broadband manner, easily googled. 73 Michael OH2AUE

1 0

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-02-24 09:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 24 Feb '17

24 Feb '17

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-02-24 09:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: ABOUT GAGARIN FROM SPACE, Space Odyssey Project, Krasnoyarsk, Russia, direct via RVØADW (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Andrei Borisenko (***) Contact is a go for Sat 2017-02-25 08:36 UTC (***) Ecole primaire Elie Desplan, Boissières, France and Marie Castang, Saint Dionisy, France, direct via F4HHV The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be FXØISS The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Contact is a go for: Sat 2017-02-25 13:14:15 UTC 58 deg (***) ABOUT GAGARIN FROM SPACE, Raduga Space Communication Center of St. Petersburg, Russia, direct via RA1AJN (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Sergey Ryzhikov (***) Contact is a go for Sun 2017-02-26 09:15 UTC (***) Ecole Albert Camus, Rueil-Malmaison, France, College Marcel Pagnol, Rueil-Malmaison, France, and Ecole “Robespierre B.”, Rueil-Malmaison, France, direct via F6KFA The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be FXØISS The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Contact is a go for: Wed 2017-03-01 08:04:44 UTC 77 deg Student Space Technology Association, Knoxville, TN, direct via AA4UT The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Contact is a go for: Wed 2017-03-01 19:08:03 UTC 49 deg **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. **************************************************************************** *** Message to US Educators Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals Proposal Window February 15 – April 15, 2017 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between January 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The deadline to submit a proposal is April 15, 2017. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. The Opportunity Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session. An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in dates and times of the radio contact. Amateur Radio organizations around the world, NASA, and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing the equipment and operational support to enable direct communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world via Amateur Radio. In the US, the program is managed by AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) and ARRL (American Radio Relay League) in partnership with NASA and CASIS (Center for the Advancement of Science in Space). More Information Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. Please direct any questions to ariss(a)arrl.org. **************************************************************************** *** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. Listen for the ISS on the downlink of 145.8Ø MHz. **************************************************************************** *** All ARISS contacts are made via the Kenwood radio unless otherwise noted. **************************************************************************** *** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke(a)sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 123 Gaston ON4WF with 123 Francesco IKØWGF with 119 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8601 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2017-02-24 09:00 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 1116. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1080. 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 2017-02-23 05:00 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 49 on orbit Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Andrei Borisenko Sergey Ryzhikov Exp. 50 on orbit Peggy Whitson Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Oleg Novitskiy **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

1 0

spam to [email protected]
by Phil Karn 23 Feb '17

23 Feb '17

I've deleted my ka9q(a)amsat.org alias. It accounted for much of my incoming spam, and after I re-subscribed my AMSAT mailing lists to use my primary address karn(a)ka9q.net a few years ago, hardly anybody used it for legit non-spam emails. So if anyone wants to reach me, please use my primary address karn(a)ka9q.net. ka9q(a)amsat.org no longer works. A lot of us have accumulated many of these convenience aliases over the years. Many membership organizations (e.g., AMSAT, ARRL) provide them, as do universities to their alumni. You might look to see how much spam you get on the ones you're not using. (See amsat-bb discussion back in 2014 on this same topic.) 73, Phil

1 0

NO-84
by KO6TZ Bob 23 Feb '17

23 Feb '17

I have noticed that with "beacon B" it takes from 3-10 seconds of PSK31 on the up-link for the for the FM transmitter to turn on. It does not turn on immediately. That is why I always suggest never stop transmitting during the pass. Just select a different macro button as needed for the contact. KO6TZ Bob

1 0