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

July/August 2017 Apogee View posted
by Paul Stoetzer 19 Aug '17

19 Aug '17

The July/August 2017 edition of Apogee View has been posted on the AMSAT website at https://www.amsat.org/apogeeview/ 73, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM Secretary Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT-NA)

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W5PFG/VE9 - Sunday, August 20
by Clayton Coleman 19 Aug '17

19 Aug '17

I plan to operate the following passes tomorrow from Campabello Island in New Brunswick, Canada on Sunday, August 20: 13:19 SO-50 13:44 FO-29 14:17 AO-73 Grid FN64 I have quite a bit of travel to do tomorrow, so I cannot honor any other specific pass requests for this location. I'll work other passes but the ones listed are specific to the VE9 operation. 73 Clayton W5PFG

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FW: APRS, AM radio and the solar Eclipse (Cloud Reporting)
by Robert Bruninga 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

Reminder for AMSAT operators out in remote locations doing Eclipse stuff on Monday: 0) The QIKCOM-1 Digipeater satellite will NOT be deployed as earlier mentioned. It is TBD. 1) Set your radio’s SYMBOL to the SUNNY symbol (\U). (for easy ID) 2) Once on location, maintain your STATUS to report your WX. Something like: “Clouds 25% at 1015 EDT” 3) See where everyone is on FINDU.COM. http://findu.com/cgi-bin/symbol.cgi?icon=\U&limit=200 4) Watch for Balloons on 144.39 or 144.34, and on http://findu.com/cgi-bin/symbol.cgi?icon=/O&limit=200 5) Tune the HF bands, there is an ECLIPSE CONTEST going on… Google it? 6) There are numerous other Ham experiments. see: http://HamSCI.org 7) Do the AM radio experiment listed there by listening for the 13 clear channel AM radio stations below near the path of totality. 8) CQ to others by sending a CQ via the CQSRVR. Send message to CQSRVR and begin text with CQ ECLIPSE… and your report. Update your CQ MSG every 30 mins (that’s the limit). The ANSRVR des the same thing but has no time limit. Once you see other calls from their CQSRVR or ANSRVR messages, then you can message one-on-one to them by callsign. [LIST OF AM CLEAR CHANNEL STATIONS] kHz CALL Location Eclipse UTC ------ ------- ---------------- -------------- 650 WSM Nashville, TN 18:28 670 KBOI Boise, ID 17:27 750 WSB Atlanta, GA 18:36 840 WHAS Louisville, KY 18:27 880 KRVN Lexington, NE 17:57 1030 KTWO Casper, WY 17:43 1040 WHO DesMoines, IA 18:08 1110 KFAB Omaha, NE 18:04 1110 WBT Charlotte, NC 18:41 1120 KPNW Eugene, OR 17:17 1120 KMOX St. Louis, MO 18:18 1190 KEX Portland, OR 17:19 1510 WLAC Nashville, TN 18:28 Bob Bruninga, WB4APR(a)amsat.org

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EVA
by Andrew Rich 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

Heard stron carrier and voice in Russian on 143.625 and 130.167 Mhz FM at 1359 UTC Sent from my iPhone

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EVA Audio 143.625 & 130.167 Mhz
by Dave Ryan 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

Hi all Recording of EVA Audio heard over UK on 143.625 Mhz and 130.167 Mhz FM https://youtu.be/BW8PPu1dwj0 Dave EI4HT / M0GIW | | Virus-free. www.avast.com |

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Fw: Lighthouse Lightship Weekend
by W2JV 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

Correction on website, thank you- W2JV International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend 00.01 UTC 19 August to 2400 UTC 20 August 2017 (48 hours) Hello All, Since 1998, amateur radio operators around the world have been participating in ILLW. W2JV, will be doing satellite forums and live demonstrations during the weekend. I will be operating on all available passes from the Fire Island Lighthouse,FN30IV, US0019, as W2GSB from 1400 U Saturday thru 1900 U Sunday. A colorful QSL card is available, visit www.gsbarc.org for more information. It is likely that other satellite operations from other Lighthouses in the US and other countries will be on the air. If you cant find any new grids this weekend, you can start a new goal of collecting Lighthouse/Lightship contacts, have fun. 73’s W2JV Peter --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _______________________________________________ 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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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-08-18 19:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-08-18 19:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Fleet Science Center, BE WISE Program, San Diego, CA, direct via KJ6KDZ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact cancelled due to conflict with Russian Experiment: Sat 2017-08-19 16:44:41 UTC 32 deg (***) Montreal Childrens Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada, telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact on hold due to conflict with Russian experiment: Tue 2017-08-22 17:20:25 UTC 58 deg via W6SRJ (***) **************************************************************************** ** 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 124 Gaston ON4WF with 123 Francesco IKØWGF with 119 Sergey RV3DR with 100 **************************************************************************** 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 2017-08-18 19:00 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 1154. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1113. 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 2017-08-16 05:30 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 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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Lighthouse Lightship Weekend
by W2JV 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend 00.01 UTC 19 August to 2400 UTC 20 August 2017 (48 hours) Hello All, Since 1998, amateur radio operators around the world have been participating in ILLW. W2JV, will be doing satellite forums and live demonstrations during the weekend. I will be operating on all available passes from the Fire Island Lighthouse,FN30IV, US0019, as W2GSB from 1400 U Saturday thru 1900 U Sunday. A colorful QSL card is available, visit www.w2gsb.org for more information. It is likely that other satellite operations from other Lighthouses in the US and other countries will be on the air. If you cant find any new grids this weekend, you can start a new goal of collecting Lighthouse/Lightship contacts, have fun. 73’s W2JV Peter --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Article on How to use RTL-SDR for FUNcube Telemetry Reception
by Wendy and Terry Osborne 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

Hi RTL-SDR users, I’ve written an article for my local club newsletter on “How to use RTL-SDR for FUNcube Telemetry Reception” If anyone else would like a copy, I’ve put if here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsmslnjd9t5mbpq/SDR%23_FUNcubeDashboard_Pic.doc?d… For John KG4AKV, I’ve quoted your tutorial on “How to use Heavens-above. com”. 73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC

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Eclipse Project Info
by Greg 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

Hello all, A non-profit youth group is have an eclipse party during the eclipse. A science teacher will explain to the children about the eclipse etc and the group had bought the glasses that are recommended on the NASA site. Here’s where I come in…Several years ago, I use to listen to LF, ULF for lightning, atmospheric noises , etc., on an active receiver. Is there any site, articles, info etc on frequency’s to listen to the sun during the eclipse on VHF, UHF +, etc. Also does anyone know if the radio signals from the sun will be “interrupted” as the moon passes. Any info for a radio project would be appreciated. Greg N3MVF

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Best SDR for satellite reception
by Andrew Rich 17 Aug '17

17 Aug '17

With the proliferation of software defined radios on the market I am interested to hear what people think is the best for 137 / 144 / 440 / 1296 MHz use. I have selected the airspy mini based on the fact It's 12 bits It's got tracking filters It works with sdr sharp, hdsdr, gnuradio, gqrx Has anyone bought out a satellite specific SDR ? The funcube dongle is probably the best ? I have a hack rf as well as rtl sdr and sdr play Andrew Sent from my iPhone

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PSK31 birds
by Andrew Rich 17 Aug '17

17 Aug '17

Just awaiting a power supply Are there any birds that send PSK reliably I can look out for ? Maybe someone has a list of favourite satellites that are always on ? I think uo-11 was always a player I have NOAA birds ISS PSAT FM birds , do they have beacons ? I have mac doppler hooked up to an icom 910 now This does doppler corrections Got software defined radios as well Looking to set my system running and seeing if I can snag some signals in an automated setup After some frequencies u guys frequent Cheers Andrew Sent from my iPhone

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SO-50
by Andrew Rich 17 Aug '17

17 Aug '17

Has anyone emailed AB5XS about his jamming SO-50? Sent from my iPhone

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LVB Tracker and W`10
by James Jipping 16 Aug '17

16 Aug '17

A big thanks to all who responded relative to my com port/river problem. I found the driver I needed and discovered the sequence in which computer and peripherals need to be turned on and accessed. Everything working fine! Thanks, again Jim Jipping, W8MRR P.S. to John Papay ----- I'm in Holland, MI next to Zeeland, MI Small world!

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Re: [amsat-bb] Hand deployed satellites
by Tom Schuessler 16 Aug '17

16 Aug '17

The Google translate of the article in Russian on these two satellites is here; https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=U TF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.swsu.ru%2F%3FELEMENT_ID%3D41611&edit-text=&act=url Tom, N5HYP ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2017 17:51:00 +0000 (UTC) From: M5AKA <m5aka(a)yahoo.co.uk> To: "amsat-bb(a)amsat.org" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Hand deployed satellites Message-ID: <2115315875.3960716.1502905860674(a)mail.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 I believe they are Tanyusha-SWSU 1 & 2 which are also referred variously as Tanyusha-YuZGU 1 & 2, or???????-???? 1 & 2, or Radioskaf 6 & 7 (RS6S, RS7S).https://amsat-uk.org/2017/06/30/russian-tanusha-1-and-2-satellites/ Also Tomsk-TPU-120 ??https://amsat-uk.org/2016/12/29/tomsk-tpu-120-eva-deployment/ 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Hand deployed satellites
by Peter Pauly 16 Aug '17

16 Aug '17

This twitter post says that several small satellites will be hand-deployed during the Russian EVA tomorrow: https://twitter.com/RF2Space/status/897841299377709057 Anyone know the details? I assume they would want to release them "towards earth" and not in the other direction so that they would have a lower orbit than the station and not run into them at some point. Do they just toss them out?

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Sat Reporter Email Report
by vk4tec＠internode.on.net 16 Aug '17

16 Aug '17

Anyone interested in a daily ISS report via the AMSAT-BB email Or would it be too annoying ? Andrew

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Making LVB Tracker USB work on W10
by James Jipping 16 Aug '17

16 Aug '17

I have a LVB Tracker /usb version. My HP8100 computer operating W10 finds the DLP-USB232M device but has no driver. Where can I get the proper driver? When I interface the tracker to the computer via RS232 comport the Satpc32 rotor control program cannot get elevation and azimuth values from the tracker. Likewise, when I use a USB to RS232 convertor, my computer finds the device, installs a driver, but the control program cannot get values. I have setup the rotor in SATPC32 to the correct com port and do not get the error message when the com port is not properly set. HELP! Jim Jipping, W8MRR, AMSAT 5512 (old geezer)

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-08-16 05:30 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 15 Aug '17

15 Aug '17

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-08-16 05:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Takaishi City Central Public Hall, Takaishi City, Japan, direct via 8N3TA The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Jack Fischer K2FSH Contact was successful: Mon 2017-08-14 10:37:04 UTC 57 deg (***) Fleet Science Center, BE WISE Program, San Diego, CA, direct via KJ6KDZ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact is a go for: Sat 2017-08-19 16:44:41 UTC 32 deg Montreal Childrens Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada, telebridge via W6SRJ (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact is a go for: Tue 2017-08-22 17:20:25 UTC 58 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 124 (***) Gaston ON4WF with 123 Francesco IKØWGF with 119 Sergey RV3DR with 100 **************************************************************************** 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 2017-08-16 05:30 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 1154. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1113. (***) 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 2017-08-16 05:30 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 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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Upcoming ARISS contact with Fleet Science Center, BE WISE Program in San Diego, CA
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 15 Aug '17

15 Aug '17

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Fleet Science Center, BE WISE Program in San Diego, CA, on 19 Aug. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:44 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and KJ6KDZ. The contact should be audible over the state of California 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. The Fleet Science Center connects people of all ages to the possibilities and power of science to create a better future. Established in 1973, it was the first science museum to combine interactive science exhibits with a planetarium and an IMAX Dome (OMNIMAX) theater, setting the standard that most major science museums follow today. The Fleet is home to many programs that engage girls in science, one of them is BE WiSE (Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering). BE WiSE BE WiSE engages young women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning experiences in collaboration with the region's research, industry and academic institutions. BE WiSE goals are to: stimulate young women's interest in STEM through interactions with professionals, increase participants' opportunities and knowledge of STEM fields of study, develop a community of young women (grades 7-12) engaged in science learning through out-of-school activities, and sustain interest and involvement through alumnae and ongoing participation for women in science at all levels. BE WiSE selects girls from all across San Diego County and has sustained contact with over five hundred girls over the past 14 years. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. How does being on board the ISS for long periods of time affect your overall health? 2. When deciding to be an astronaut, did you have any doubts? If so, how did you overcome them? 3. What is the most interesting experiment you are doing on the ISS right now? 4. Have you ever dealt with malfunctions on board the ISS? If so, how did you solve it? 5. What do you like most about the ISS? 6. Is it hard to sleep? What do you dream about? 7. If you get sick on the ISS how do you receive treatment? 8. What does weightlessness feel like? 9. What is a typical day like for you? 10. Do you miss "real" food? What kinds of food do you like on the ISS? 11. Do you get heartburn/acid reflux? How do you deal with that? 12. What is the most interesting thing you have seen aboard the ISS? 13. How much does microgravity affect the experiments that you conduct on the ISS? 14. What does the orbital sunrise look like? 15. What kind of medical testing do you go through before/after being in space? 16. Are they currently working on lighter, more flexible space suits? 17. Do scientists from different countries collaborate on projects? If so, what kind? 18. How much time do you spend practicing in zero gravity before going into space? 19. How do you think private space travel will affect the ISS? 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): TBD 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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SSTV via AO-85 on Experimenter's Wednesday
by Paul Stoetzer 15 Aug '17

15 Aug '17

A reminder that Experimenter's Wednesday begins at 0000 UTC. Stations are encouraged to exchange Robot36 SSTV images via AO-85. See https://www.amsat.org/return-of-experimenters-wednesday-to-ao-85/ for guidelines. 73, Paul, N8HM

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best tripod for the arrow II handheld antenna
by Laura Tunnell 15 Aug '17

15 Aug '17

What is best tripod for the arrow II handheld antenna ?

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Re: [amsat-bb] best tripod for the arrow II handheld antenna
by Doug Andrews 15 Aug '17

15 Aug '17

The one time I used a tripod it collapsed causing the coax to act like a whip launching the radio to the ground. That said, a regular camera tripod should work. 73 .- ..-. --... --.. --.- -------- Original message -------- From: Laura Tunnell <drlnt(a)cox.net> Date: 8/14/17 1:55 PM (GMT-08:00) To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] best tripod for the arrow II handheld antenna What is best tripod for the arrow II handheld antenna ? _______________________________________________ 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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Re: [amsat-bb] Modulation levels on AO-85
by Tom Schuessler 14 Aug '17

14 Aug '17

The issue with quieting vs. Modulation level is that if a station has enough power to do full quieting FM into the AO-85 bent pipe, than even if he is a weak talker, or his radio has low modulation gain, he will be heard because the background noise is minimal. Having enough power to get to that point is a good thing, but there are many stations, like myself sometimes, that are using HTs for uplink and downlink. 5 watts, not the right transmit polarization and a slightly deaf RX on AO-85 due to an antenna not quite what it should've been (Documented shortly after AO-85 launch) and you have a number of things lined up against you. This presents a situation where this combination results with a station barely coming through the noise and thus being hard to hear. Again remember that AO-85 is a bent pipe after it is tuned on via hearing a station transmitting a 67 Hz tone so that is why you can hear FM noise through it when no RX of uplink signal is present. It has no squelch to prevent weak signals from getting through. I have a little Chinese radio that definitely even on "Wide" mode, is quieter than another radio I own. Most HT's give no option to adjust this value. Yelling into these radios does not help as they seem to have some level of high signal limiting or compression, as simple as plane old peak clipping. I know that Yaesu does allow for mic gain adjustments on some of their Fusion radios but most FM only handhelds have no option for fine tuning. My suggestion to little pistols like myself (When learning to work FM satellites like AO-85), is to just not try during a busy pass but wait for a lesser trafficked pass so you can learn how best to manipulate your transmitting circumstances to hear yourself and be heard. Jerry Buxton, the Fox series daddy, assures us that the newer iterations of the AMSAT Fox birds will have a little better ears and hopefully that will help immensely. Have patience with the little guys. You probably were one once yourself. Tom Schuessler n5hyp(a)arrl.net ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2017 19:27:29 +0200 (CEST) From: jerry.tuyls(a)telenet.be To: amsat-bb <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Modulation levels on AO-85 Message-ID: <1165542169.90891698.1502731649191.JavaMail.zimbra(a)telenet.be> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Spending some time here by telling several times on AO-85 passes about bad modulation to the same stations, but they DON'T listen. Just ignoring them, because i cannot understand them on my TS-790/FT-847.No narrow FM and no PL tone. Never got a problem. And please...why do some stations upload logs with DWNlink freq on sat qso's instead of the UPlink freq? Always having some rejected qsl's because qso's don't match due to wrong band. I log with VQlog, uplink and dwnlink freq etc, so i think the TX-freq is most important for logging sat'qso's and not the RX-freq? 73's Jerry,ON4CJQ

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Modulation levels on AO-85
by Ronald G. Parsons 14 Aug '17

14 Aug '17

I’ve noticed lately that many stations on AO-85 have barely audible modulation. Yet other stations have clear audio with good quieting. I have heard the some manufacturers of hand-held and mobile rigs are setting their maximum deviation to 5 kHz or even less. I have noticed the same effect on local repeaters. Has anyone done any tests of the deviation required for reasonable quieting on AO-85? Or are more stations using lower power than in the past? Ron W5RKN

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