February 2019 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Remove hard stop in G5400B?
by Roy Dean 13 Feb '19

13 Feb '19

Has anybody considered (or actually gone through with) removing the hard stop in a G5400B azimuth rotator, and setting it up as a 450° rotator (or whatever the G5500B is)? I'm wondering if this might be a novel way of getting more utility out of it. I think it may even be possible in the Fox-Delta and G-Predict to increase these limits more. Obviously coax management must be considered. ---Roy K3RLD

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The Space Race is On--and We're Behind...
by Nicholas Mahr KE8AKW 13 Feb '19

13 Feb '19

You guys do know AMSAT NA is going to be putting up our own geostationary satellite at some point right? From amsat.org about P4B: Virginia Tech continues to investigate opportunities to fly an amateur payload aboard a geostationary or geosynchronous satellite. A Payload Accommodation Study showed that an amateur payload could be carried on a U. S. Government satellite, but that satellite has been delayed indefinitely. Virginia Tech expects to have a further status update by summer 2018. So I'd say it's a matter of time before that happens. Be patient and I'm sure it will happen soon as well. As for P3E (Molyina orbit sat like AO-10/13) In July 2015, Virginia Tech approached the U. S. Government with a proposal to fly AMSAT-DL’s Phase 3E satellite spaceframe with both a scientific payload for the Government and an amateur radio payload to a Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO). Under this proposal, AMSAT would have operated the amateur radio payload on the mission. Although the U. S. Government approved the proposal to fly Phase 3E on a classified flight, the Government required Virginia Tech to partner with a contractor in order to ensure on-time integration of the payload. Fulfilling this requirement would have caused the project to exceed the allocated budget by several million dollars which resulted in its cancellation. The Phase 3E satellite spaceframe remains in storage in Germany. Hopefully soon we get more information on P4B status, possibly at Dayton this year? At the end of the day we are held at the mercy of launch costs/payload providers. Nick, KE8AKE

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SatPC32
by NA1SA Loon ?? 13 Feb '19

13 Feb '19

Setting up SatPC32 .... Under the CAT menu, what interval settings are you running on SSB/CW and FM/PKT? Thanks Loon NA1SA

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2019-02-13 00:00 UTC
by aj9n＠aol.com 13 Feb '19

13 Feb '19

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2019-02-13 00:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: College Park School, Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada, direct via VA5ISS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is David St-Jacques KG5FYI Contact is go for: Wed 2019-02-13 20:10:09 UTC 64 deg Faith Christian Academy, Orlando, FL, direct via W9DWJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is David St-Jacques KG5FYI Contact is go for: Thu 2019-02-14 14:30:29 UTC 42 deg Watch for live stream at https://live.faithassembly.org/ (***) 2019-02-08 to 2019-02-10 Possible ARISS requested SSTV. ARISS Contact Applications (United States) The ARISS-US program’s education proposal window open Oct. 1 - Nov. 30, 2018 has now closed. The next window should go open in the spring of 2019. The ARISS webpage is at http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. ARISS Contact Applications (Europe, Africa and the Middle East) Schools and Youth organizations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East interested in setting up an ARISS radio contact with an astronaut on board the International Space Station are invited to submit an application from September to October and from February to April. Please refer to details and the application form at www.ariss-eu.org/school-contacts. Applications should be addressed by email to: school.selection.manager(a)ariss-eu.org ARISS Contact Applications (Canada, Central and South America, Asia and Australia and Russia) Organizations outside the United States can apply for an ARISS contact by filling out an application. Please direct questions to the appropriate regional representative listed below. If your country is not specifically listed, send your questions to the nearest ARISS Region listed. If you are unsure which address to use, please send your question to the ARISS-Canada representative; they will forward your question to the appropriate coordinator. For the application, click here. ARISS-Canada and the Americas, except USA: Steve McFarlane, VE3TBD ARISS-Japan, Asia, Pacific and Australia: Keigo Komuro, JA1KAB, Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) ARISS-Russia: Soyuz Radioljubitelei Rossii (SRR) ****************************************************************************** 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 135 Francesco IKØWGF with 132 Gaston ON4WF with 123 Sergey RV3DR with 112 (***) **************************************************************************** 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 2019-02-13 00:00 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 1290. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1233. 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: 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 2019-02-07 04:00 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. 58 on orbit Oleg Konenenko David St-Jacques KG5FYI Anne McClain **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Delaware
by BeetleJerald Oliver 12 Feb '19

12 Feb '19

Is Delaware still in the U.S.? Need the state for WAS.....Be willing to sked with someone for contact.....It is the only state I have not confirmed..... KJ4EU Jerry

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ISS reception
by k6vug＠sbcglobal.net 12 Feb '19

12 Feb '19

Wanted to try to capture a few pics via ISS SSTV instead heard the following via the ISS Digipeater - 1:Fm VE7JMN-1 To U0RYVT Via RS0ISS* <UI R Pid=F0 Len=32> [16:24:34R] [+++] '0Lkl -/]LOGAN LAKE,BC CO90ol= 1:Fm VE7JMN-1 To U0RYVT Via RS0ISS* <UI R Pid=F0 Len=32> [16:25:39R] [+++] '0Lkl -/]LOGAN LAKE,BC CO90ol= 1:Fm VE7JMN-1 To U0RYVT Via RS0ISS* <UI R Pid=F0 Len=32> [16:25:47R] [+++] '0Lkl -/]LOGAN LAKE,BC CO90ol= 1:Fm RS0ISS To CQ <UI R Pid=F0 Len=36> [16:25:51R] [+++] >ARISS - International Space Station 1:Fm K7III To T7TUZZ Via RS0ISS* <UI R Pid=F0 Len=19> [16:26:40R] [+++] `2.{l![/>"5A}73 ^ 1:Fm BIRDBT To APTT4 Via WIDE1-1 <UI R Pid=F0 Len=50> [16:28:38R] [-++] HELLO! THIS IS APRS-DIGIPEATER OF BHUTAN-1 CUBESAT ISS Pass: NW to SE, about 15% degree max elevation, on Feb 10 2019, 00:25 UTC in CM97an Fremont California, However, I'm not sure how BHUTAN-1 CUBESAT appears in this set. Did both ISS and Bhutan-1 CubeSat passed around the same AOS and used the same frequency ?! 73! Umesh k6vug

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DXCC Via Oscar-100
by Les Rayburn 12 Feb '19

12 Feb '19

Listening to the WebSDR link all morning. Very interesting to hear so many QSO’s, and in a variety of languages. I’m curious if DXCC will be a possibility using only this satellite? Looks like its footprint covers enough countries to qualify, but I’m not sure how many of those have amateur allocations that will allow operation on the bird. I’m sure it won’t be long until operators are “working the edges” of the footprint, and also mounting DX-expeditions to areas with few operators. Exciting stuff. I’d love to see a similar bird launched in this hemisphere. Opens up so many possibilities. Congratulations to all involved. One hundred amateur satellites, quite an achievement. And fitting that it should occur during the 50th anniversary of AMSAT. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member

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Grid square entries
by Dr. Robert Keating 12 Feb '19

12 Feb '19

In light of the roving expeditions to rare grid squares this past weekend, I wanted to verify how these grid squares are entered into our logs on LoTW. >From what I remember, when setting up a station in TQSL you have the opportunity to create different station locations along with the grid square for each location. Is this correct? I want to be sure I have this right because I am heading out to Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef National Parks in April and I will be operating on the FM birds from there. Thanks. 73, Bob N6REK

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CW timings for amateur radio satellite beacons
by Douglas Quagliana 12 Feb '19

12 Feb '19

Friends, I am looking for exact dit time, dah time, intra-letter timings, inter-letter timings and inter-word timings for CW beacons from amateur radio satellites. For example, AO-999, dit time 52 milliseconds, dah time 156 milliseconds... and so on. Is there a comprehensive list that gives precise timing information for the CW beacons sent by various amateur radio satellites? Thanks and 73, Douglas KA2UPW/5

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Upcoming ARISS contact with Faith Christian Academy, Orlando, FL
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 12 Feb '19

12 Feb '19

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Faith Christian Academy, Orlando, FL on 14 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 14:30 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and W9DWJ. The contact should be audible over Florida and portions of the eastern U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Story: Faith Christian Academy is a private school located in Orange County in Orlando, FL. With a student body population of nearly 700, we teach grades K-12. We offer an array of subjects and electives during and after school hours. In addition to traditional athletic activities, we have an emphasis in the arts and have intentionally developed our STEM program in recent years. FCA leadership understands the diversity of the students that attend and therefore strives to prepare them for any future endeavors that suit their individual goals, personalities, and learning styles. Over 50 teachers instruct our students to understand their purpose and to work toward it from an early age. We believe in equipping children to become well rounded adults that are educated, caring, and ambitious. In preparation for the upcoming ARISS event, our school has done many things to bolster excitement about the ISS and space exploration in general. The students received credit for spotting and videoing the ISS as it passed overhead at night. In addition, they filled out ISS activity books provided on the NASA website, did Math projects on the distances between planets, painted pictures of the themselves with galactic themes in Art, took field trips to Kennedy Space Center, and were taught from curriculum that emphasized the International Space Station and the anticipated mission to Mars. In the weeks to come, we will have a team from a nearby amateur radio Club come to teach the students about Ham radio and Morse code. Also, FCA will hold after school classes for students to create a Raspberry Pi device in order to track the ISS and keep up with the current crew. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. What advice would you give new astronauts preparing to join the ISS? 2. What are the mental and physical effects of going from Earth to space and back to Earth? 3. What is your favorite exercise to do in space and why? 4. Do all of you rotate jobs on the ISS? 5. How do you shave or cut your hair on the ISS without the hair floating away? 6. Do you have a certain pre-flight ritual? 7. Can you see any constellations while on the ISS and do you have a favorite one? 8. Have you ever experienced a major malfunction on the ISS? 9. Do your ears pop like they would when you fly in a plane? 10. Does everything in your body work the same in a microgravity environment, for instance, does your heart work harder to pump blood through the body? 11. Are you recognized as an astronaut on the streets? 12. Are you allowed to request certain things to be delivered by the cargo missions? 13. Describe the escape system on the ISS in case of an emergency. 14. What would you say has been your most important or meaningful experience in space? 15. What is the temperature inside the ISS vs outside the ISS? 16. Is there wi-fi on the space station? 17. Where is the garbage stored on the ISS? 18. What experiment are you currently working on and is it going well? 19. Is there ever a time when you feel a sense of panic on the ISS? 20. What did you feel the first time you saw Earth from the ISS? 21. How long does it take for your body to feel "normal" once you are in space? 22. What time zone do you work with on the ISS? 23. How many gallons of rocket fuel does it take to get to the International Space Station? 24. How do you keep up with current events happening on Earth? 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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