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

Sat demo at 1626 UTC today (2017-06-02) on AO-85 - call me
by John Brier 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

I'm doing a demo at work. Give me a call if you can. 73, John Brier KG4AKV

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K6G/MM DM02
by Paul Stoetzer 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

AI6GS has worked quite a few stations so far this morning as K6G/MM from DM02. He'll be there until around 17:00 UTC today. Don't miss it! This is the rarest of the 488 continental US grids as the only land in the grid is San Clemente Island, which is owned by the U. S. Navy. 73, Paul, N8HM

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Request for assistance to revive AU02 and AU03 QB50 Cubesats
by Joon Wayn Cheong 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

I'm part of the AU02 (UNSW-EC0) and AU03 (i-INSPIRE 2) Australian team of QB50 cubesats, and I'm writing here to request for assistance from the experienced and well-equipped foreign HAM amateurs experts here. Our satellite was deployed last week and we have been unable to hear any beacons coming from it. We had several brainstorm sessions to identify possible configurations that could be changed to optimise the occurrence antenna redeployment sequence. Based on this, we devised a set of commands that reflect these changes in configurations that needs to be uplinked to the satellite. We have attempted to uplink these commands at 50W transmit power, but there's no response so far. We strongly believe the satellite is still alive but has an undeployed antenna. As such, we require sufficient transmit gain in both transmit power and antenna gain to achieve positive uplink margin. Our problem is that we do not have the equipment to achieve the required transmit power to overcome the losses due to an unstowed configuration. We have a recorded *.wav file that you can play through radio in FM mode to perform the uplink. Relevant technical info: - The sat uses Nanocom ANT430 antenna that is still stowed. The stowed antenna is exposed on the outside of the spacecraft. - The sat uses Nanocom U482C transceiver. - The OBC might be trickling between on and off states and hence a daytime or dusk zenith pass is optimal for the uplink. Our ground station: - 21 el H and 21el V yagi configured in RHCP - Kenwood TS-2000 in FM mode with 50W transmit power. Hope you have a good weekend, and do not hesitate to contact me at cjwayn(a)unsw.edu.au<mailto:[email protected]> if you would be willing to help. Your attention has been much appreciated.. Cheers, Joon Wayn

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Lilacsat-1 QSO - Could be first over US?
by Robert Mattaliano 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

Just completed QSO with Scott K4KDR in VA (FM17) from RI (FM41) on Lilacsat-1. This may very well be the first digital amateur downlink QSO over the US. Thanks Scott! DK3WIN and GI7UGV were also successful across the pond a few days ago. Congrats guys! Recall that Lilacsat-1 is among the QB50 constellation recently launched from the ISS. This bird is has a Codec2 1300bps digital downlink. Setting up the decoder requires an SDR for RX on a Linux platform. A few hints - run low power (5-10 watts), keep mic gain down for better audio clarity, watch out for desense since 2M up and 436 down with the SDR More information at http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/?page_id=257. Tks BG2BHC and the Harbin team. Also, a lower latency decoder from EA4GPZ at http://destevez.net/2017/05/low-latency-decoder-for-lilacsat-1/#more-2671. M6SIG also has an updated ISO here https://t.co/vmARZqIBoU Hope to hear you on, Bob N6RFM

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K4GCC 146.940 NASA Repeater Problems?
by Joe Leikhim 01 Jun '17

01 Jun '17

I was out at the KSC today to watch the aborted SpaceX launch today. We parked in a vacant lot ~ 2 miles south of the Max Brewer Bridge (SR406/402) off US1 and I tuned into 146.940 to hear the NASA feed. Received signal was very spotty there using my portable. Is there a problem with the repeater or that location? -- Joe Leikhim Leikhim and Associates Communications Consultants Oviedo, Florida JLeikhim(a)Leikhim.com 407-982-0446 WWW.LEIKHIM.COM

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Looking for 8.8125 MHz xtal
by Zach Metzinger 01 Jun '17

01 Jun '17

Hello all, I'm slowly working through my backlog of projects, and I found the MMDS LNB that I'd planned to use for AO-40. I'm hopeful that we'll eventually have another 13cm transponder and I'd like to find the requisite 8.8125 MHz crystal for the LO conversion. ICM did respond to my inquiry, so they're not totally out of business yet, but they don't have it anymore. Does anyone have a spare crystal they'd care to part with for a nominal price? Specs from one of the webpages: > Crystal Update Information > > The original crystal has been analyzed by International Crystal. A +replacement crystal should have the following characteristics: > > The crystal is in a HC-49U holder > 33 pF load capacitance > Accuracy of 10ppm at room temp and 10ppm -30 to 60 celsius. > Frequency = 8.8125 MHz for a 145 MHz IF output > > The specification number at Internaltional Crystal Mfg. is > EX49AF320119. Their catalog number is #525345, 8.8125 MHz Thanks, --- Zach N0ZGO

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VUCC Awards/Endorsements for May 2017
by John Papay 01 Jun '17

01 Jun '17

Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period May 1, 2017 through June 1, 2017. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! CALL GRIDS KO4MA 1539 KB1RVT 1524 AC0RA 1143 W5PFG 1046 N8RO 959 N8HM 951 K8TL 901 XE1AO 584 KK4FEM 404 N6UK 400 WD9EWK 350 K5ND 301 AI6GS 230 K8BL 220 N1AIA 216 PV8DX 201 N9EAT 135 (NEW VUCC) VR2XMT 111 (NEW VUCC) K7TAB 100 (NEW VUCC) KA9P 100 (NEW VUCC) This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for May 1st and June 1st, 2017. It's a visual comparison so omissions are possible. Apologies if your call was not mentioned. Thanks to all those who are roving to grids that are rarely on the birds. They are doing most of the work! 73, John K8YSE --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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AO-7 broadband noise in passband.
by Bill Bordy, NJ1H 01 Jun '17

01 Jun '17

I have been observing AO-7 quite a bit lately and I have noticed three broadband humps in my panadapter display. I also see these in W5RKN panadapter captures at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-Jez46MB5RaMzV0RlhmWHNWcjg/view?usp=shari… This confirms these are being transmitted from AO-7. They disappear immediately after the mode switch in his captures. I also observed this today at 31 MAY 2017 about 19:03 UTC during a mode switch. Does anyone have an explanation of why these occur? The obvious might be some sort of signals on the uplink. Has anyone identified if these signals occur throughout the world or just in specific areas. If you look at these, a large part of AO-7's power output is being used to transmit the broadband humps. 73, Bill NJ1H

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-06-01 08:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 01 Jun '17

01 Jun '17

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-06-01 08:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: About Gagarin From The Space. Implementation Of The Session Of Radio-Love Communication With The Participants Of The Children's Festival "Strong Oresh", Orekhovo, Russia, Direct Via R1AJT (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Fyodor Yurchikhin Contact was successful Sat 2017-05-27 18:55 UTC (***) Australian Air League South Australia Wing, Elizabeth, South Australia, Australia, telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Contact was successful: Wed 2017-05-31 09:35:31 UTC 38 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. 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 2017-06-01 08:00 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 1142. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1101. (***) 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 2017-06-01 08:00 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. 50 on orbit Peggy Whitson Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Oleg Novitskiy Exp. 51 on orbit Jack Fischer K2FSH Fyodor Yurchikhin RN3FI **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Re: [amsat-bb] Be kind to our old lady AO-7
by Ryan Noguchi 31 May '17

31 May '17

>Lately, AO-7 has spontaneously switched out of Mode B during passes over the US and probably other places. >... My understanding is that this is not uncommon. The first question that comes to my mind: Are there stations that consistently work AO-7 on Mode A shortly after the satellite resets? 73, Ryan AI6DO

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