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

Re: [amsat-bb] FM Birds, New Grids, and Chaos
by Scott Medbury 22 Feb '19

22 Feb '19

Having begun working LEOs over the past 20 years. All of my over 4000 qsos have been made using an ht on either half or full duplex. I have chased grids but get as much pleasure from activating rare grids and counties. I like many others have encountered the LIDS and ragchewers who hog the pass or cannot hear the downlink so I feel your pain. If everyone is courteous and uses the minimum power necessary to complete a contact, then there should be room for everyone. Don't forget that activation of rare grids, POTA and counties do not occur with every pass or every bird. There is paper to chase that doesn't interest everyone, just like not everyone can have an earth station with a tracking array that takes the challenge out of the contact. 73... Scott KD5FBA Scott Medbury Sent from my Verizon Motorola Droid On Feb 21, 2019 8:42 PM, Matthew Stevens <matthew(a)mrstevens.net> wrote: > > When I first started out on sats a couple years ago, I had a single half > duplex HT and a borrowed arrow. I listened to two or three passes of so50 > and ao85 (the only fm sats available at the time), before ever even trying > to work anyone. The passes were pretty hectic, with NPOTA stations and > rovers, and callsigns getting thrown around. My first contact was a few > days later with Fernando, NP4JV who knew I was going to be on and answered > my call when I finally got brave enough to throw it out there. I've had my > share of irritating passes, missed contacts, getting up at three in the > morning to work a 2 deg pass and getting stomped out by somebody calling cq > who couldn't hear the sat well enough to even tell people were calling > him... And - getting up at 2 in the morning for a different pass and not > making a contact with station in Spain because I thought I knew what I was > doing, but really didn't... that's good motivation to practice and learn :-) > > It was all fun, part of the challenge of learning a new skill. The coolness > of talking to people through a thing that's flying around 400km over my > head with an HT or an 817 is still incredible. > > So I personally don't understand the idea of people getting scared away > from sats because of crazy passes. Sure, it can get hectic. Sure, we all > complain when somebody transmits a carrier over the entire pass and nobody > makes any contacts. But, that's all just going to be part of the ham radio > experience! The same thing happens on HF, during CQWW it gets crazy but > I've never heard anyone say that "scares new ops away." Sometimes its a > zoo, other times it's not. Seems to me that people who are really > interested and want to learn, grow, and enjoy operating stick with it. The > ones who get spooked and never come back, more than likely would have > eventually lost interest for some other reason (in my observation.) If I am > personally helpful to new ops; and exhibit good operating practice myself, > then there is no reason for me to get upset by what some other lid does on > (or off) the air. Let's try to encourage good operating practice, rather > than just complaining about all the perceived problems on the sats. > > - Matthew nj4y > > On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 10:15 AM Clayton Coleman W5PFG <tasmac(a)w5pfg.us> > wrote: > > > I support a laissez-faire approach when it comes to FM transponder use. > > Not everyone chases grids. Not everyone chases DX. There are busy passes > > and there are slow passes. It balances out. > > > > When I am out roving, I don't sit and call every station on the pass. I > > normally give my callsign once and wait for others to call me. On > > average, if I'm in a desired grid square, I might receive 20 direct > > calls. If most stations are hearing adequately and adhering to > > generally-accepted operating norms, there is plenty of room in a 11-13 > > minute pass for twice that number of QSO's. > > > > Last week, while I was operating from a remote grid in West Texas, > > another station was operating from desired grids further northwest. > > Between us there were nearly 40 clean QSO's, with the potential for > > more. It was amazingly orderly for an FM transponder - on a weekend! > > > > Any transponder is a shared, multi-user resource. Except for emergency > > communications I don't believe consensus exists to prioritize use for > > particular groups (backyard/handheld warriors, rovers, home stations, > > club demo's, hamfests.) Who would make that determination? It would > > likely be unpopular. I try to prioritize the young people, Scouts, > > demos, and new calls but that is MY personal preference. HEARING the > > satellite is critical but LISTENING(comprehension) to the cadence of the > > pass is equally important. > > > > Often I listen to transponders and hear very few stations. Time of day > > and footprint coverage are key elements to determine when a transponder > > will have activity. If someone new is expecting to make their first-ever > > QSO on a Saturday afternoon pass covering an entire continent, their > > expectation might not be met. > > > > 73 > > Clayton > > W5PFG > > > > > On Wednesday, February 20, 2019, 11:30:09 AM EST, Jerry Buxton < > > > n0jy at amsat.org> wrote: > > > > > > Not to deter grid chasing and awards, does every FM bird have to be > > that > > > way? I do miss my start with "portable stuff" a decade or so ago, and > > > just having quick QSOs with new contacts on SO-50 from the pizzeria > > > parking lot when I visited Mom and Dad... > > > > > > Jerry Buxton, NØJY > > > > > > On 2/19/2019 21:02, Bob wrote: > > > > I can tell you from personal experience as a satellite mentor, giving > > > > presentations which always excite potential new satellite users, then > > > > having them go into the field to experience the bedlam of a FM > > Satellite, > > > > that they too often become discouraged and give up. Easysat is a very > > > > deceptive name, especially on weekends. > > > > > > > > 73, Bob, WB4SON > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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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ERC M rotor interface?
by James Brown 21 Feb '19

21 Feb '19

I am using the ERC M interface. works fine with SAT 32. What settings besides comport and baud and gs232b format do I need for HRD sat tracking. I can click on rotator heading and rotor follows but can not make it track on a satellite. Jim KI6WJ

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QO-100 Wide Band Transponder Beacon
by Wendy and Terry Osborne 21 Feb '19

21 Feb '19

Hi, I’ve been having a look at the QO-100 Wide band Transponder on the web sdr. See: https://eshail.batc.org.uk/wb/ For those of us that don’t live in the footprint, does anyone have a screen shot of what the beacon picture is? 73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC

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Re: [amsat-bb] Tesla Field Day mode (taxpayers)
by Robert Bruninga 21 Feb '19

21 Feb '19

> True, Zach....the difference is, the taxpayers don't pay for your setup !! An apparent complaint about clean air EV incentives, while ignoring the petroleum subsidies of about $3300 per dirty-air gas car. Which is now about the same as the $3750 Tesla incentive. But, the Tesla incentive will decrease by half in the next six months and then zero. While the dirty gas car continues to get subsidized by tax payers for decades... We should end this thread as off topic, but need to correct any misinformation. Bob -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Zach Metzinger Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Tesla Field Day mode On 2/20/19 1:28 PM, Robert Bruninga wrote: >> Very nice! Wish I could afford [a Tesla]... > > A Chevy Volt can run a Field Day (or a house under minimum power) for > about 8 hours before it has to start the engine to recharge the battery. > These 3 year-old off-lease Volts go for only about $12k. Seems a bit overkill when a marine deep-cycle and a solar panel will run you about $500, no? ;-) --- Zach N0ZGO _______________________________________________ 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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Falconsat-3 - The APRS satellite for Mobiles
by Robert Bruninga 21 Feb '19

21 Feb '19

Work a satellite from your APRS mobile, 5 times a day: For APRS folks just sittin in their mobile with nothing to do, you can work FALCONSAT from any APRS Mobile… Just confirm passes using Heavens-above.com (be sure to enter your location). Though passes now are from about midnight to 6 AM, that pattern moves earlier about 36 minutes a day so it will be in the evenings in a few days. The Falconsat digipeater operates APRS at 9600 baud and works fine from a 50W APRS mobile with mobile antenna. Just turn on your rig, set the internal TNC to 9600 baud and monitor the downlink. You should see packets from PFS3-1 and or other stations. Tune 435.110 MHz at start of pass, then clicking down steps of 5 Khz towards the middle of the pass and then ending at 435.095 by the end ten minutes later. If you are just going to monitor overnight, set to 435.105 for the early middle of the pass and check your LIST in the morning. Uplink takes a bit more settings. Set your PATH to go via PFS3-1 and set TNC to TX A and RX B and set uplink on band A to 145.84 (no need to step doppler). Set beacon to once a minute (and turn off decay and Proportioinal pathing). You will NOT see your own digipeats. Although the satellite and D710 are operating full duplex, the D710 TNC is not. By the time the TNC TX/RX turns around, you will already have missed it. So don’t just keep TXing until success, You WONT see it. But when you DO see someone else doing APRS, then by all means send them a message. If he ACKS, then success! I just did the math. You don’t even need no stinkin computer. Once you hear a pass, then just remember that passes are 36 minutes earlier each day and the next pass on any given day is 98 minutes later (unless that was the last pass of the day). During a western trip, just jotting down the time of a pass heard, then I could predict pass times therest of the day and every day for weeks. Always just adding 98 minuets to the next pass and listening 36 minutes earlier each day. See this manual technique: http://aprs.org/MobileLEOtracking.html Here is how WD9EWK describes working FALCONSAT: https://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FalconSAT-Stodda… Anyway, it’s a great satellite while mobile that needs no special antennas. Just keep up with when it is generally coming over and have the frequencies already programmed into a channel in your radio. Actually, program four frequencies to make it easy to shift for doppler. We will try to remind everyone when passes enter more favorable evening or morning commute hours… And here is a note I got form himpatrick(a)wd9ewk.net today: Bob, WB4APR *From:* Patrick STODDARD wd9ewk *Subject:* Re: [amsat-bb] D72 to Falconsat-3 APRS FalconSAT-3 uplink sensitivity is good. I regularly work it with 5W from my TH-D72 with a handheld beam… I have used a TM-D710G at its various power levels, and 5W from the mobile radio works fine. Downlink power... it is strong. I can hear it a few degrees above the horizon. I have used a TH-D72, TM-D710G, a pair of TH-D74s (The TH-D74 cannot operate APRS crossband) I wrote about using these different radios, and combinations of radios, for the AMSAT Journal in late 2017: https://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FalconSAT-Stodda… 73! Patrick

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Tesla Field Day mode
by Robert Bruninga 21 Feb '19

21 Feb '19

Tesla is releasing Field-Day mode (er, "party mode") in its models to allow the vehicle to continue with AC/Heating, Temperature control, airflow, selective lights and music for up to 48 hours or more while in Park. The feature will also allow users to power other electric devices using the electric car's battery. When you think about it, the 75 kWh battery in the model 3 or the 60 kWh of the Chevy Bolt can run the average American home at normal loads for about 3 days, or a week under power saving conditions. With about $1000 or more of solar panels , you can have transportation and also maintain that Field Day forever. ;-) Just sayin... Bob, Wb4APR

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Falconsat-3 - The APRS satellite for Mobiles (h-dux TNC)
by Robert Bruninga 21 Feb '19

21 Feb '19

Yes, all of kenwood TNC’s do not operate full duplex even though the radio does full duplex crossband… In other words, it cannot decode a packet while it is transmitting one. But the Falconsat downlink is fulldupelex and it can begin including a downlink packet in the downlink stream even before the uplink is finished. (or at least, there is no TXD delay, and so the user TNC on receive does not hear the start of the packet in most cases, unless the downlink packet happens to be delayed in the stream due to other Falconsat BBS data. I hope I got that right... Bob, WB4APR > regarding the TNC NOT operating full duplex... > is this true in, say, the TH-D72A as well? > that explains a LOT about the behavior I've seen using it, > and guess I'd need to go to a full 2 radio solution > to see my packets digipeated? On Wednesday, February 20, 2019, 2:10:03 PM EST, Robert Bruninga <mailto:[email protected]> wrote: Work a satellite from your APRS mobile, 5 times a day: For APRS folks just sittin in their mobile with nothing to do, you can work FALCONSAT from any APRS Mobile… Just confirm passes using Heavens-above.com (be sure to enter your location). Though passes now are from about midnight to 6 AM, that pattern moves earlier about 36 minutes a day so it will be in the evenings in a few days. The Falconsat digipeater operates APRS at 9600 baud and works fine from a 50W APRS mobile with mobile antenna. Just turn on your rig, set the internal TNC to 9600 baud and monitor the downlink. You should see packets from PFS3-1 and or other stations. Tune 435.110 MHz at start of pass, then clicking down steps of 5 Khz towards the middle of the pass and then ending at 435.095 by the end ten minutes later. If you are just going to monitor overnight, set to 435.105 for the early middle of the pass and check your LIST in the morning. Uplink takes a bit more settings. Set your PATH to go via PFS3-1 and set TNC to TX A and RX B and set uplink on band A to 145.84 (no need to step doppler). Set beacon to once a minute (and turn off decay and Proportioinal pathing). You will NOT see your own digipeats. Although the satellite and D710 are operating full duplex, the D710 TNC is not. By the time the TNC TX/RX turns around, you will already have missed it. So don’t just keep TXing until success, You WONT see it. But when you DO see someone else doing APRS, then by all means send them a message. If he ACKS, then success! I just did the math. You don’t even need no stinkin computer. Once you hear a pass, then just remember that passes are 36 minutes earlier each day and the next pass on any given day is 98 minutes later (unless that was the last pass of the day). During a western trip, just jotting down the time of a pass heard, then I could predict pass times therest of the day and every day for weeks. Always just adding 98 minuets to the next pass and listening 36 minutes earlier each day. See this manual technique: http://aprs.org/MobileLEOtracking.html Here is how WD9EWK describes working FALCONSAT: https://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FalconSAT-Stodda… Anyway, it’s a great satellite while mobile that needs no special antennas. Just keep up with when it is generally coming over and have the frequencies already programmed into a channel in your radio. Actually, program four frequencies to make it easy to shift for doppler. We will try to remind everyone when passes enter more favorable evening or morning commute hours… And here is a note I got form mailto:[email protected] today: Bob, WB4APR *From:* Patrick STODDARD wd9ewk *Subject:* Re: [amsat-bb] D72 to Falconsat-3 APRS FalconSAT-3 uplink sensitivity is good. I regularly work it with 5W from my TH-D72 with a handheld beam… I have used a TM-D710G at its various power levels, and 5W from the mobile radio works fine. Downlink power... it is strong. I can hear it a few degrees above the horizon. I have used a TH-D72, TM-D710G, a pair of TH-D74s (The TH-D74 cannot operate APRS crossband) I wrote about using these different radios, and combinations of radios, for the AMSAT Journal in late 2017: https://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FalconSAT-Stodda… 73! Patrick

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Re: [amsat-bb] SO-50 and AO-91 trials and tribulations
by Andrew Glasbrenner 20 Feb '19

20 Feb '19

>The one thing I’ve not messed with is the Audio Balance -it’s still at the default 50/50 setting. Could this be why I’ve not been able to hear myself? >Is it that critical? Yes, critical. 100% to the downlink band. 73, Drew KO4MA

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Bare UHF QFH antenna as TX antenna for AO-91/92 ?
by Pavel Milanes Costa 20 Feb '19

20 Feb '19

Hi to all... Does any of you have a reference of the use of a 1/2 turn QFH antenna for TX to AO-91/92... I have picked up an old UHF commercial radio (Kenwood TK-860, 5 / 25W) after being a few years off the sats because of not having an UHF radio (I have a KG-UV8E on the way... Last weekend I rescued my homebrew cross yagui hand-held antenna and found that the storage time was bad on the 70cm part, the 2m part is usable... The other UHF antenna at hand is a 1/2 turn QFH antenna So I was wondering to use the QFH as uplink and the yagui (or a cross dipole + LNA) for the downlink. Any experience/advance on this? 73 CO7WT Pavel.

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FM Birds, New Grids, and Chaos
by Les Rayburn 20 Feb '19

20 Feb '19

Since getting back into satellites a few months ago, I set my first goal to be completing VUCC. 76 grids confirmed, and hoping to possibly finish up this week. I’m meeting with the VUCC card checker this week to sign off on my 2 Meter VUCC. That took over five years, since I’m limited to a single 6 element Yagi in the attic. At least half of those contacts came via WJST meteor scatter. Thought it would be nice to get both 2 Meter and Satellite at the same time. Most of my contacts have come on the linear birds, with over 2/3 of them on FO-29. I realize that there is a lot more activity and grid activation on the FM birds—so I need to spend more time there. But the chaos of that type of operation just doesn’t appeal to me. Plus the noise levels in the attic make it difficult for me to hear the FM birds very well. SO-50 comes in “pretty well” but the AO birds are often covered with noise and difficult to hear. Any tips to improve my success rate on FM? Other than completely avoiding weekend operation! :-) 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member

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