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

Hawaii APRS Satellite Operations?
by Matt Hornsby 22 Apr '19

22 Apr '19

Hi Bob, I’m on Oahu this week and will see if I can get any aprs packets to one of the birds. Anecdotally I don’t see much terrestrial APRS activity in the times I’ve visited this island, so I’m skeptical that there will be many igates listening on 145.825. 73, Matt KS9O

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AISAT Downlink Issues -- Defined
by KE6BLR Robert 21 Apr '19

21 Apr '19

Hello Satellite APRS Operators, I am new to this SIG. And, this is my first post. So, I hope it arrives as intended. As you know, AISAT became available recently for Satellite APRS. One of the nice things about having an APRS Digipeater mounted to the Stage 4 Rocket platform is this equipment inherits solar panels, batteries, and antennas. Unfortunately, the design team was given only 6 days to build and deliver the satellite. Apparently, end to end testing of the Digipeater was not possible. So, I believe they deserve a lot of slack. Now, there are many (4ish) quirks in the downlink. NOTE: the AISAT uplink appears nominal. To explain the downlink issue we need to examine a sample packet. For this we can thank K4KDR for transmitting the packet and KG4PID for receiving the packet. If I remember this correctly, KG4PID is running PI-TNC and APRX while K4KDR is running Direwolf and UISS. The main thing to note here is that displaying packets may require more flexible software. Sample packet from the APRX error log via KG4PID: 2019-04-11 02:06:38.961 ax25_to_tnc2(KG4PID-14,len=112) rejected the message: 00 86 a2 40 40 40 40 60|96 68 96 88 a4 40 6c 82|92 a6 82 a8 54 60 40 40|40 40 40 40 61 03 f0 3a|43 51 2d 30 20 20 20 20|20 3a 3d 33 37 34 37 2e|36 36 4e 2f 30 37 37 33|36 2e 36 37 57 60 64 65|20 4b 34 4b 44 52 20 73|63 6f 74 74 32 33 31 39|32 40 67 6d 61 69 6c 2e|63 6f 6d 20 56 69 72 67|69 6e 69 61 20 20 46 4d|31 37 65 73 7b 31 39 35| = .CQ 0|K4KDR 6A|ISAT*0 | a..:|CQ-0 | :=3747.|66N/0773|6.67W`de| K4KDR s|cott2319|2(a)gmail.|com Virg|inia FM|17es{195| This same packet after byte by byte parsing with a simple Python script on my Mac laptop: @@@ robertmachale@ucrwpa-2-1-10-25-34-138 ~/Documents/SCC/AISAT-EXPLAIN $ python explainAisat.py Space Communcator Club Las Flores, California 92688 http://www.spaceCommunicator.club/igates/ 1: byteAsHex: 00, byteAsText: 0, byteAsAScii: 0, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 1: SSID: 0, Digipeated: 0 2: byteAsHex: 86, byteAsText: 134, byteAsAScii: 67, byteAsChar: C, endOfDigipath: 0 3: byteAsHex: a2, byteAsText: 162, byteAsAScii: 81, byteAsChar: Q, endOfDigipath: 0 4: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 5: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 6: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 7: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 8: byteAsHex: 60, byteAsText: 96, byteAsAScii: 48, byteAsChar: 0, endOfDigipath: 0 8: SSID: 0, Digipeated: 0 9: byteAsHex: 96, byteAsText: 150, byteAsAScii: 75, byteAsChar: K, endOfDigipath: 0 10: byteAsHex: 68, byteAsText: 104, byteAsAScii: 52, byteAsChar: 4, endOfDigipath: 0 11: byteAsHex: 96, byteAsText: 150, byteAsAScii: 75, byteAsChar: K, endOfDigipath: 0 12: byteAsHex: 88, byteAsText: 136, byteAsAScii: 68, byteAsChar: D, endOfDigipath: 0 13: byteAsHex: a4, byteAsText: 164, byteAsAScii: 82, byteAsChar: R, endOfDigipath: 0 14: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 15: byteAsHex: 6c, byteAsText: 108, byteAsAScii: 54, byteAsChar: 6, endOfDigipath: 0 15: SSID: 12, Digipeated: 0 16: byteAsHex: 82, byteAsText: 130, byteAsAScii: 65, byteAsChar: A, endOfDigipath: 0 17: byteAsHex: 92, byteAsText: 146, byteAsAScii: 73, byteAsChar: I, endOfDigipath: 0 18: byteAsHex: a6, byteAsText: 166, byteAsAScii: 83, byteAsChar: S, endOfDigipath: 0 19: byteAsHex: 82, byteAsText: 130, byteAsAScii: 65, byteAsChar: A, endOfDigipath: 0 20: byteAsHex: a8, byteAsText: 168, byteAsAScii: 84, byteAsChar: T, endOfDigipath: 0 21: byteAsHex: 54, byteAsText: 84, byteAsAScii: 42, byteAsChar: *, endOfDigipath: 0 22: byteAsHex: 60, byteAsText: 96, byteAsAScii: 48, byteAsChar: 0, endOfDigipath: 0 22: SSID: 0, Digipeated: 0 23: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 24: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 25: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 26: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 27: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 28: byteAsHex: 40, byteAsText: 64, byteAsAScii: 32, byteAsChar: , endOfDigipath: 0 29: byteAsHex: 61, byteAsText: 97, byteAsAScii: 48, byteAsChar: 0, endOfDigipath: 1 29: SSID: 0, Digipeated: 0 robertmachale@ucrwpa-2-1-10-25-34-138 ~/Documents/SCC/AISAT-EXPLAIN $ @@@ Notice 3 issues with the Digipath: 1) SSIDs arrive as ASCII rather than 4 bits in the AX.25 subfield 2) The Digipeated flag arrives as * rather than 1 bit in the AX.25 subfield 3) One extra (blank) callsign field exists at the end of the Digipath Although the Kenwood will pickup the packet we may need to tap into the TNC raw output to decipher the packet manually. I can only imagine the Kenwood display will reject the packets as malformed. So, this leaves us with APRSDroid, UISS, and custom APRS software for displaying packets received. Feel free to follow APRS packets from AISAT on our iGate report: http://www.spaceCommunicator.club/igates/ Also, you will find a note on this AISAT issue including helpful screen shots here: http://www.spaceCommunicator.club Let me know your feedback and how I can help. Happy Easter + Passover + Holiday! 73s Robert MacHale KE6BLR (949) 371-6319 robert.machale(a)yahoo.com

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Re: [amsat-bb] AISAT-1 no showing on PCSAT.FINDU.COM
by Roy Dean 21 Apr '19

21 Apr '19

Has anybody that has successfully decoded a packet from Aisat been using a Kenwood aprs-ready transceiver with a built in TNC (such as a D700, D710, D7, D72, or D74)? I just attempted to work a 20 degree pass, and the packets were very strong (full "s meter" - D710 doesn't actually have an S meter), full quieting - however the radio couldn't decode any of the packets. Even using the "packet monitor" function yielded nothing. I know people have had success using pc software based systems, but haven't heard any first hand accounts of using a Kenwood TNC. --Roy K3RLD

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OrigamiSat-1 5.84 GHz tests
by Mike Seguin 21 Apr '19

21 Apr '19

OrigamiSat-1's 5.84 GHz downlink will be tested over Japan over the next month according to their schedule posted on Twitter. I wish them success and look forward to trying to detect the 5.84 GHz downlink over the eastern US in the future. Twitter @OrigamiSat1 -- 73, Mike, N1JEZ "A closed mouth gathers no feet"

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DM58/48 rove
by Bob Keating 20 Apr '19

20 Apr '19

Thanks to all that responded to my calls this past week. I am sorry that I didn’t make the passes yesterday that I posted on the BB. At least I did have 2 good western passes on AO-91 and SO-50 a little later. All qsos from our trip will be posted to LoTW as N6REK/7 by Monday. 73, Bob N6REK Sent from my iPhone

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Satellite Demo in Deming, NM
by Dan Eggert 19 Apr '19

19 Apr '19

I will be doing satellite demo at a ham fest in Deming, NM on Saturday in grid DM62. I will work the AO-91, AO-92 and SO-50 passes. Dan - AC9E Sent from my iPad

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Lunar Oscarbox J
by David Fine 19 Apr '19

19 Apr '19

I'm looking for information (possibly a schematic) for a Lunar Electronics Oscarbox J that I picked up from an estate sale. I'm not sure exactly what it is and haven't been able to find any information on it. Looks like it might be a 432-436 mHz converter? Any help please? Dave, W0DF

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Hawaii APRS Satellite Operations?
by Robert Bruninga 19 Apr '19

19 Apr '19

Are there any APRS satellite operators in Hawaii? I never see anything from them on the downlinks. http://ariss.net and http://pcsat.findu.com Curious. Bob WB4AAPR

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KX9X & W1PY From FN56-57-66-67 Grid Intersection April 27
by Sean K. 19 Apr '19

19 Apr '19

Hi gang- On Saturday April 27, W1PY and I will be on satellite from the intersection of grids FN 56-57-66-67 from 1200z - 0200z April 28. We will be on as many FM and SSB passes as we can during that time period. We'll be looking for Europe and the US West coast at these times: Europe: AO7: 1605z, 1753z FO29: 1928z USA West Coast: AO7: 1946z, 2144z FO29: 2259z FO29 Transmit freq: 145.970AO7 Transmit freq: 432.160 The last anticipated pass from the intersection will be AO92 0144z April 28.Will also be on sats Friday 4/26 and Sunday, 4/28 from FN 43/53/54/55/65 as we travel to and from Caribou, ME. We have no set schedule for specific grids on Friday and Sunday. If you need one of these grids, please contact me and let me know; we will do our best to get you in the log. We will also transmit on HF from state parks in Maine, any roadside attractions we find interesting, as well as HF mobile. We have no set schedule for HF. Complete info on our shenanegans is on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/805477656486634 Follow me on Twitter at @seankutzko or Matt at @Whiskey1PY for real-time info during our trip. We will tweet any activity plans there. Thanks to Clayton W5PFG for pass info and support. Sean Kutzko Amateur Radio KX9X

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Mystery sat --> sat lists
by Hans BX2ABT 19 Apr '19

19 Apr '19

Was testing my new LNA today and saw digital signals for a few minutes on 437.492 MHz (http://bx2abt.com/main/data/_uploaded/image/20190418_1344-mystery.png). I usually use amsat.ar page to see what's floating above me, otherwise check sat info on DK3WN's site. At 5:44 UTC there was nothing in my sky that was using a frequency around 437.492. On DK3WN's site I also couldn't find anything. So my question: what other sources of sat info or frequency lists are you using that could be helpful in my case? Also, are there other sites that show what spacecrafts are located above you, right now, but can also show you that for a date/time in the past? Cheers, Hans BX2ABT

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