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

Waving An Antenna
by Brad Smith 02 Aug '19

02 Aug '19

<I don't mean to suggest there's anything wrong with easy. I just think, as a selling point, it's run it's course is all. How many times are you going to watch a guy at a hamfest with an HT and a handheld? antenna exchange grid squares? I would think sooner or later people just walk on by.? "Seen it already, where's the new rigs?" > There is room in this hobby for all types of radio/satellite contact. I have recently introduced two other hams to satellites by "waving an antenna." They both bought Arrow 2 antennas and now are having great fun with the birds. If I had a rotor system on a tripod, these people would have passed it up as too complicated. Our ham club is going to build our own stressed moxon antennas so everyone can work the birds. Depending if one is trying to get people into the satellite hobby or dazzle them with technology, one has to tailor the display to the crowd. Yes, I belong to the KISS club. (Keep It Simple Stupid) But on the other hand, I do work the SSB birds, receive SSTV images from the ISS and am learning to send packets. I welcome the new ideas. If I have to buy a new radio, so be it. If I have to pay for some air time, so be it. If I have a learning curve, so be it. But I still will be the low life out there waving an Arrow 2 antenna because it is fun, gets the job done, and still gives me a thrill. And all my neighbors think I should have a tin foil hat as I stand in my yard with my antenna in the air. Brad KC9UQR

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VUCC Awards-Endorsements for July 2019
by Ronald G. Parsons 02 Aug '19

02 Aug '19

Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period July 1, 2019 through August 1, 2019. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! CALL 01Jul 01Aug AA8CH 550 584 WD9EWK 567 575 NS3L 475 505 JOHN C DYER ??? 442 K9UO 400 425 W5TD 381 384 KE8FZT 325 350 K5IX 300 325 PS8ET 211 275 WW8W 201 228 AB1OC 184 215 KJ4EU 151 206 AA4QE 102 204 N7EGY 169 200 ND0C 153 200 PR8KW New 200 LW2DAF 125 130 KC9VGG 102 127 KC9UQR New 113 XE2YWH New 102 K5ZM New 101 N4QX New 100 If you are “John C Dyer”, please contact ARRL Awards Desk to correct your record.QRZ.COM has no listing for that name. If you find errors or omissions. please contact me off-list at <mycall>@<mycall>.com and I'll revise the announcement. This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for the two months. 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! Ron W5RKN

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W3XO
by Ray Soifer 02 Aug '19

02 Aug '19

You probably knew this already, but I just learned that Bill Tynan's call sign, W3XO, has been issued to the Hill Country Amateur Radio Club of Kerrville, Texas, as a memorial. Bill was a leading member and past president of the club, to which I belonged when I lived in nearby Fredericksburg, TX. 73 Ray W2RS

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Very interesting podcast about satcom security.
by KC9SGV 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

Hi All, I came upon this very interesting podcast about communications satellite security since the 1980's. It runs for about 19 minutes, is fairly recent, and is very informative. Surely today, these communications satellites are more security protected than what is described in the podcast ? Let's all be careful with the design of such a ham radio system. Security has to be integrated. Listen to "Satcom crackdown. After the show." https://toppodcast.com/podcast_feeds/signals-everywhere-after-the-show/ Bernard, KC9SGV Sent from my iPad

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ARISS SSTV event commemorating Owen Garriott achievements
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

I just received two images commemorating Owen Garriott's achievements in space from the scheduled SSTV event. Audio was good and strong!! Dave, AA4KN ARISS PR --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Transponders For Rent???
by Brad Smith 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

Yes, I would rent in a minute. This would be my solution for working the sats. in the Wisconsin Winter! Brad Smith KC9UQR <So, like "FM Tower for Rent", signs as seen all over the U.S., could we soon see "GEO TV Satellite transponder for rent" as well ?Maybe this could be an answer to a ham GEO transponder ?>

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VUCC Awards-Endorsements for July 2019 -- Reformatted
by Ronald G. Parsons 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period July 1, 2019 through August 1, 2019. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! CALL 01Jul 01Aug AA8CH 550 584 WD9EWK 567 575 NS3L 475 505 JOHN C DYER ??? 442 K9UO 400 425 W5TD 381 384 KE8FZT 325 350 K5IX 300 325 PS8ET 211 275 WW8W 201 228 AB1OC 184 215 KJ4EU 151 206 AA4QE 102 204 N7EGY 169 200 ND0C 153 200 PR8KW New 200 LW2DAF 125 130 KC9VGG 102 127 KC9UQR New 113 XE2YWH New 102 K5ZM New 101 N4QX New 100 If you are “John C Dyer”, please contact ARRL Awards Desk to correct your record.QRZ.COM has no listing for that name. If you find errors or omissions. please contact me off-list at <mycall>@<mycall>.com and I'll revise the announcement. This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for the two months. 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! Ron W5RKN

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Just expanding on my previous thoughts about AMSAT perception....
by Michael 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

Expanding on my previous thoughts pasted at bottom... It seems to me that the 'easy" thing has run it's course. Again, just one mans opinion but I think if you had some sort of setup outside a hamfest with a card table and a folding chair, a sat rig and an Arduino based rotator controller running off a laptop or I-pad and antennas on a "WRAPS" ( I think?) type tripod tracking both Azimuth and Elevation, you'd attract the more technically savvy hams. Probably more youth too. I know in my model railroading hobby that the fact we can now run trains with a smart phone is a big draw. Back in the day, on the not so great passes, I would sometimes fire up the shack computer and my BASIC STAMP based Sabretrack homebrew rotor controller and walk outside and watch my old surplus OR-360 TV rotators moving my homebrew antennas to track the sat across the sky. To me there was a certain "coolness factor" in that which can't be matched by the guy holding the antenna in his hand and waving it about. In fact, my whole idea in buying the beat up telescope tripod was to sit outside at a table with a couple of HT's and my old notebook computer driving the thing with a couple of light weight antennas on board. Yes, I know that I don't necessarily need to track elevation with an LEO but watching the antennas track both is awesome to me. I think we miss the boat sometimes by constantly harping on and touting the "easy" aspect of it. Sometimes complex and high tech is more attractive. Digital modes, SDR and computers have made HF radio hi tech and cool again, at least for me, yet the sat hobby seems to be bending over backwards to over simplify and make things BORRRING! Even model railroads are computer controlled these days! It doesn't have to be super expensive either. An Arduino and some DC motors and gears can be had for less than the cost of a meal for four at Mickey D's. All my OR-360's were was Mabuchi style hobby motors hooked to a gear train. You controlled direction by switching polarity of 12VDC sent up the line and they had position pot feedback. EasyComm format for AZ/EL. But hey, what do I know, I've only been in this hobby forty one years. Just my opinion anyway. That and five bucks will get you a "Venti" designer coffee at Starbucks. 73, Michael, W4HIJ Just from the outside looking in... AMSAT APPEARS only to be interested in hoisting flying repeaters and PACSAT/APRS and showing the average ham how "easy" it is to work sats with a handheld and a simple antenna. I guess that's all well and good but I didn't get in the sat end of the hobby for "easy". I wanted a new challenge. I was too late for A0-40 because of lack of funds for a station but I did have fun for awhile chasing AO-51, FO-29, AO-7 etc. with a TS-2000X and a homebrew rotator and antenna system. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I needed family funds so the Kenwood hit Ebay and I'm inactive on the birds now. I sometimes consider buying a couple of Baofengs (you should ALWAYS operate full duplex but that's another thread) and getting back in on the cheap, I even recently bought a beat up old telescope with a computer tracking tripod system I spotted at Goodwill, but honestly, the challenge isn't there to give me motivation. Before everyone flames me, as I said, this is from the outside looking in and just one man's opinion. I really wish AMSAT would do something, anything, to change my perception. Seems to me I saw something about a YL running for the board who's interested in open sourcing stuff. Her candidate statement was IMHO, a much needed breath of fresh air but I'm no longer a member and don't keep up so no idea if she got elected. If AMSAT wants my membership and donation dollars back, they need to change perception and I suspect there are many out here in the community who feel the way I do.

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Satellite Challenge
by ka3hdo＠gmail.com 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

All, Many of you probably were not at Hamvention when we announced this at the ARISS forum and the AMSAT forum, but if you want a *real* challenge, AMSAT and ARISS are working on the design of a ham radio system for the Lunar Gateway. To make this happen we are leveraging the work and expertise of the world-wide AMSAT organizations and the international ARISS community in this endeavor. We have an international team working this and are meeting 2x a month to mature the concept. In May we presented our solid concept to NASA and got great, positive feedback. This was followed up a few weeks later at the ARISS-I meeting at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in Montreal where we received great feedback from the CSA Gateway Program Manager after he saw our presentation. The AREx (Amateur Radio Exploration) team have done some really good work. The challenge for each of you will be on the order of a 30 dB signal path loss as compared to LEO. But the link margins on our design seem to close. I just wanted you all to know that AMSAT NA, UK & DL and ARISS-together--are working this phenomenal ham radio challenge. Come to the AMSAT-NA Symposium in DC to hear more. 73, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO ARISS International Chair AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs ----------------- From: Michael <mat_62(a)charter.net <mailto:mat_62@charter.net> > To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org <mailto:amsat-bb@amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 14, Issue 292 (HEO's, AMSAT perception) Message-ID: <a285ca79-e3af-048c-9d8b-85d8345cb2e9(a)charter.net <mailto:a285ca79-e3af-048c-9d8b-85d8345cb2e9@charter.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Just from the outside looking in... AMSAT APPEARS only to be interested in hoisting flying repeaters and PACSAT/APRS and showing the average ham how "easy" it is to work sats with a handheld and a simple antenna. I guess that's all well and good but I didn't get in the sat end of the hobby for "easy".? I wanted a new challenge. I was too late for A0-40 because of lack of funds for a station but I did have fun for awhile chasing AO-51, FO-29, AO-7 etc. with a TS-2000X and a homebrew rotator and antenna system. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I needed family funds so the Kenwood hit Ebay and I'm inactive on the birds now. I sometimes consider buying a couple of Baofengs (you should ALWAYS operate full duplex but that's another thread) and getting back in on the cheap, I even recently bought a beat up old telescope with a computer tracking tripod system I spotted at Goodwill, but honestly, the challenge isn't there to give me motivation. Before everyone flames me, as I said, this is from the outside looking in and just one man's opinion. I really wish AMSAT would do something, anything, to change my perception. Seems to me I saw something about a YL running for the board who's interested in open sourcing stuff.? Her candidate statement was IMHO, a much needed breath of fresh air but I'm no longer a member and don't keep up so no idea if she got elected. If AMSAT wants my membership and donation dollars back, they need to change perception and I suspect there are many out here in the community who feel the way I do. 73, Michael, W4HIJ -------------------------------------------- Frank H. Bauer FBauer Aerospace Consulting Services (FB-ACS) Phone: 301-804-0173 Cell: 301-873-0890 NASA E-mail: <mailto:Frank.Bauer@nasa.gov> Frank.Bauer(a)nasa.gov FB-ACS E-mail: <mailto:fhbauer@verizon.net> fbaueraerospace(a)gmail.com

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Radio chest pack
by Roger - W7TZ 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

Recently someone asked about radio packs. I just discovered these on Amazon reg $23 on sale for $18.69 and free shipping with Prime. Tactical Chest Rig, Heavy Duty Radio Chest Harness 73, Roger W7TZ CN83ia Grid Busters w7tz.webs.com

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