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

Ten things I did not know about cube sats. From AMSAT Journal...
by Phillip Lontz 03 Mar '17

03 Mar '17

It's amazing they ever get into orbit and work! Phil K5SSR Santa Feel Sent from my iPad

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AO-73/FUNcube Mode change
by Jim Heck 03 Mar '17

03 Mar '17

Hi folks, I have just changed the sat into amateur (continuous transponder) mode. Plan is to switch back to auto mode on Sunday 26 Feb 2017 pm UTC as usual. See https://funcube.org.uk/news/ for details of new FUNcube launched last week, and Pls see below for other FUNcube transponder info Have FUN with the transponder. 73s Jim G3WGM and the FUNcube team. 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. During holidays, eg Christmas, New Year, Easter, etc, the transponder maybe activated for extended periods. Watch AMSAT-BB for announcements which are usually made on Friday evenings (UTC) 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. Low 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 FUNcube-3 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 Further detailed info on EO79 transponder frequencies is at: https://amsat-uk.org/2016/11/10/eo79-funcube-3-transponder-commences-regula… All FUNcube transponders are sponsored by AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL. We are very grateful for the assistance given by Innovative Solution In Space Bv, The Netherlands.

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[Video] LIVE French Astronaut and Translator!
by John Brier 03 Mar '17

03 Mar '17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gS-PiVt7bU Thank you Arrow Antenna for just becoming a sponsor of Space Comms! I still have my original Arrow II satellite antenna from 2000 and I highly recommend them. Thanks to Dog Park Software for the usage of MacDoppler and MacLoggerDX, sorry for forgetting to include you in the end credits. Thank you of course to Victor for doing the translation. It was a lot of fun working with you. Thank you to Phillip Zucchino at The Wine Feed for hooking me up with SKEMA, and Marie Claire at SKEMA for hooking me up with Victor. Thanks to Max, K2MAX for recently becoming a patron. Good luck working satellites from the San Francisco bay area where you won't have many obstructions on the horizon. Thanks to Frank for the drone footage. And thanks to you for watching! 73, John Brier KG4AKV

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Berry Islands Bahamas on Sats + SHERPA SpaceX
by M5AKA 03 Mar '17

03 Mar '17

Amateur radio satellite activation of Berry Islands, Bahamas, March 4-10 FM and SSB satellites https://amsat-uk.org/2017/02/18/berry-islands-bahamas/ GeekWire report: Citing schedule slips, Spaceflight rebooks 89 satellites on SpaceX’s launch list #SHERPA http://www.geekwire.com/2017/spaceflight-sherpa-89-satellites-spacex/ Amateur Radio CubeSat Nayif-1 transmits Vice President’s message https://amsat-uk.org/2017/02/25/nayif-1-uae-vice-president-message/ Nayif-1 is now EO-88 https://amsat-uk.org/2017/02/27/oscar-number-for-nayif-1/ AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Milton Keynes October 14-15, 2017 https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/ Call for speakers https://amsat-uk.org/2017/02/03/international-space-colloquium-first-call-f… Trevor M5AKA ---- AMSAT-UK http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ----

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Shack re-wiring: RTL-SDR options?
by Greg D 03 Mar '17

03 Mar '17

Hi folks, Has anyone used an RTL-SDR dongle on the 10.7 MHz IF output from another receiver? Is that better than going direct? My cable TV provider is forcing us to go all-digital. With the new "cable box" comes the opportunity to re-wire the shack and simplify the many layers of cables, splitters, and lash-ups that have accumulated over the years. The proverbial camel is crying out for help. What this has to do with Ham Radio is that part of the lash-up mess is an old pre-CATV deep fringe TV antenna that I have in the attic, aimed to the southern horizon. We are well outside the range of any of the digital OTA stations, and never one to leave a perfectly good piece of RF equipment go to waste, I currently have it fed to an old Icom R-7000 scanning receiver (previously used as the AO-40 downlink IF) and to an RTL-SDR dongle by way of a TV 2:1 splitter. I've tried hooking the dongle directly to my 2m ham antenna for satellite use, but for some reason that was less than satisfactory. Never really did hear much of anything, and never could figure out why. At least with the TV antenna, I can copy some stuff with the dongle, though the Icom is generally better. But the Icom doesn't do the various digital modes that are better suited for SDR. Looking at the back of the Icom, I see that it has a 10.7 MHz IF output, so the thought is that the SDR dongle might perform better hooked there (with a DC bias block) instead of to the antenna itself through the splitter. Both receivers have similar frequency coverage, but perhaps the Icom, while somewhat deaf by modern standards, might still make for a better front-end to the dongle? I think the down-side is that the Icom's IF bandpass is narrower than the Dongle's, so I'd lose some flexibility there. I would also lose the ability to software-control the frequency of the receive chain, outside of the IF bandpass. What do you think? Would this be a net win or loss for the RTL-SDR? Thanks, Greg KO6TH

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Still trying to decode NO-84
by Mark Lunday 02 Mar '17

02 Mar '17

The signal looks like a bear claw, 6 parallel signals in the passband. What causes that? Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg(a)arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com SKCC #16439 FISTS #17972

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Re: [amsat-bb] Nayif-1
by Richard Tejera 02 Mar '17

02 Mar '17

When will it show as EO-88 the keps? I'm still seeing Nayif-1.. Rick Tejera K7TEJ Saguaro Astronomy Club www.SaguaroAstro.org Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.w7tbc.org On March 2, 2017, at 08:00, Alan <wa4sca(a)gmail.com> wrote: The satellite formerly known as Nayif-1 is now EO-88. 73s, Alan WA4SCA <-----Original Message----- <From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Red <Willoughby <Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2017 08:48 AM <To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org <Subject: [amsat-bb] Nayif-1 < <I see it listed at the top of the colorful matrix on amsat.org/status, <but it does not seem to appear in the Select Satellite dropdown box for <posting reports. Am I just missing it or does it have another name? <_______________________________________________ <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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EL89 tomorrow
by Matthew Stevens 02 Mar '17

02 Mar '17

I'll be in EL89 tomorrow morning on the ~1700z FO29 pass if anyone needs it, fixed uplink around 145.930. Afterwards, I'll try the 1° AO-7 pass towards EU, at 145.938. 73, - Matthew KK4FEM Sent from my iPhone

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Re: [amsat-bb] Nayif-1
by Rick Tejera 02 Mar '17

02 Mar '17

OK, thanks, now for the next question. I have added the Doppler file, which I know is correct, I'm try to add the Sat to the AMSATNAMEs file. I tried to add the info from that Since I use the Nasabare element set, but it's not working and the frequency is not showing. Can someone post the proper edit for both names? Thanks in advance Rick Tejera (K7TEJ) Saguaro Astronomy Club www.saguaroastro.org <http://www.saguaroastro.org> Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.W7TBC.org <http://www.W7TBC.org> -----Original Message----- From: prstoetzer(a)gmail.com [mailto:prstoetzer@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Paul Stoetzer Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2017 4:16 PM To: Richard Tejera <Saguaroastro(a)cox.net> Cc: APBIDDLE(a)mailaps.org; Red Willoughby <red(a)redwilloughby.com>; AMSAT <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Nayif-1 Celestrak has it as Nayif-1 (EO-88) now. AMSAT should have as EO-88 with tonight's release. 73, Paul, N8HM On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 6:10 PM, Richard Tejera < <mailto:Saguaroastro@cox.net> Saguaroastro(a)cox.net> wrote: > When will it show as EO-88 the keps? I'm still seeing Nayif-1.. > > Rick Tejera K7TEJ > Saguaro Astronomy Club > <http://www.SaguaroAstro.org> www.SaguaroAstro.org > Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club > andwww.w7tbc.orgle <http://www.w7tbc.orgle> > > On March 2, 2017, at 08:00, Alan < <mailto:wa4sca@gmail.com> wa4sca(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > The satellite formerly known as Nayif-1 is now EO-88. > > 73s, > > Alan > WA4SCA > > > <-----Original Message----- > <From: AMSAT-BB [ <mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org> mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Red > <Willoughby > <Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2017 08:48 AM > <To: <mailto:amsat-bb@amsat.org> amsat-bb(a)amsat.org > <Subject: [amsat-bb] Nayif-1 > < > <I see it listed at the top of the colorful matrix on > amsat.org/status, <but it does not seem to appear in the Select > Satellite dropdown box for <posting reports. Am I just missing it or does it have another name? > <_______________________________________________ > <Sent via <mailto:AMSAT-BB@amsat.org> 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> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via <mailto:AMSAT-BB@amsat.org> 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> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via <mailto:AMSAT-BB@amsat.org> 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> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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EO-88 keps now on Celestrak
by Perry Yantis 02 Mar '17

02 Mar '17

The keps for Nayif-1 (EO-88) are now on Celestrak bbs in amateur.txt, cubesat.txt, and last 30 day launches. Perry WB8OTH py41(a)att.net sent from my Apple Macbook Pro

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