January 2020 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

WB4APR off line till march
by VK4NBL 26 Jan '20

26 Jan '20

Best Wishes Bob from Down Under Cheers -- Pete - vk4nbl

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EN77 on Monday 27-Jan
by aa8ch 26 Jan '20

26 Jan '20

Hi!So if the wx holds fair, I shall endeavour to be on the following passes 27-Jan from EN77: AO91 1530UTC US East, XW2A 1556UTC US West, AO7 1606UTC EU, AO92 1620UTC US central, AO7 1752UTC EU. AO91 at 1843UTC may be from there or from EN76. QSL to LOTW, logging as AA8CH/VE3. Hope to hear you if you need it. 73, Chris AA8CH

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Satellite station at Winter Field Day in Fremont CA (CM97)
by k6vug＠sbcglobal.net 25 Jan '20

25 Jan '20

Greetings, Portable and hand-held satellite operation is planned for the Winter Field Day in CM97 between 10am and 2pm PST today (ref http://www.sbara.org). A couple of operators may try their hand at working the FM birds AO-91 and AO-92. I expect the passes today to be pretty busy, but would appreciate a come back if you hear the club call KU6S. Many thanks and 73! Umesh k6vug

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DirecTV races to decommission broken Boeing satellite before it explodes
by Zach Metzinger 24 Jan '20

24 Jan '20

Here's an interesting article from the newsfeed: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/01/directv-races-to-dec… --- Zach N0ZGO

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Upcoming ARISS contact with Agrupamento de Escolas Serafim Leite, São João da Madeira, Portugal
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 24 Jan '20

24 Jan '20

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Agrupamento de Escolas Serafim Leite, São João da Madeira, Portugal on 27 Jan. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:33 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between OR4ISS and CS2ASL. The contact should be audible over Portugal 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. Story: The Serafim Leite Schools is located in the north of Portugal in the city of São João da madeira. It was born in 1957, and during this 60 years of existence it has been growing. It started by being a school with only the grammar and today has all levels of education: First cycle, Second cycle, Third cycle and Secondary. Currently it has more than 1200 students and 110 teachers that are distributed in three buildings that make up the Serafim Leite schools cluster. Its identity is closely linked to vocational education that is a national reference in vocational education. The training offer includes Electronics, Computer, Mechanical, Audiovisual, Markting, Science and Technology, Socioeconomic Sciences, Visual Arts and recurrent adult education. It is a school where children arrive still small in their parents' arms and leave the school like men and women who are already graduated with a high degree of knowledge. It is in this educational environment where human and social values are privileged that our students grow with the notion that humanity is urgently required to take action to reverse the global warming of the earth, making their own school an Eco-School.The astronaut could be our eyes helping us to look the Earth in another way. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. What is your daily routine like on board? 2. When you have a health problem what do you do? Are there any doctors on board? 3. When astronauts go to space for how long do they stay there? 4. Do you miss family? 5. Do you remember the very first moment that you look outside de ISS and saw the planet earth? What did you felt and did you think of someone special? 6. How do you bath in a ship? 7. How can you get water in space? 8. What is it like to live in the ISS? 9. What kind of experiences take place from the ISS and what are the advantages of making them from there? 10. How is it possible to create an atmosphere within the ISS? 11. Is the perception of time on board of the ISS different from the one you have on Earth? 12. How many hours of exercise should an astronaut do each day? 13. What effects does space flight have on the human body, and what do you feel? 14. When you are not working what do you do? 15. Being a different profession how old did you realize you wanted to be an astronaut? 16. What do you miss the most about Earth? 17. How can weightlessness influence the health of astronauts? 18. Tell us about your adventure in space? 19. How can you communicate with your family? 20. Do you feel scared when you are in space? 21. How and where do they sleep? 22. How long do astronauts train to perform space missions? 23. Do you have any specific food when you are on missions? 24. In an emergency situation can you all return to 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): 1. Primary School "Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj", Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia, direct via YU7BPQ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano KF5KDP Contact is go for: Tue 2020-01-28 15:51 UTC 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 ISS National Lab 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 public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN

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Any chance AO-92 will remain in mode UV this weekend (WFD)?
by Bob 24 Jan '20

24 Jan '20

It is Winter Field Day weekend... Is there any chance that AO-92 will remain in Mode UV from Sat 19:00UTC to Sun 19:00UTC? 73, Bob, WB4SON

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Warning Label, One Antenna To Do It All
by Wes Baden 24 Jan '20

24 Jan '20

Newbie here--using satellites only for three weeks. I'd appreciate Elmers offering answers to my second question. The first is asked in jest. 1. Shouldn't there be a warning label on AMSAT web sites and publications, to the effect, "WARNING: Satellite operation is highly addictive"? I've been on the air for 63 years, and the fun I'm having is matched only by my first year operating with a Heathkit AT-1 and Hallicrafters S38D on 40 meter CW. 2. More seriously, I currently am using 70cm and 144 MHz small yagis mounted separately on tripods on my snow and ice covered deck, fixed at 230 degrees, which however has enabled me to make many contacts (and 16 states so far). I'm looking to put up "real" antennas in the spring, on a 40 foot tower. I've always been a "one antenna to do it all" guy on HF, and I wonder if that also would be possible for both SAT and terrestrial VHF/UHF QSOs, on CW, SSB and FM. Needless to say, I realize that any such antenna would represent a compromise, getting the job done ideally but certainly not be the best performer on one particular band or mode. Comments about the M2 LEO Package? Great for SAT, and only losing 3 dB, I believe, for terrestrial communications. And what about somewhat longer linear yagis (not phased) on the same cross arm but slanted 90 degrees in relation to each other? So far, in my SAT work, I'm not seeing much in the way of difference between vertical and horizontal polarization. Presumably slant polarization works fine on SAT too, and it also would still do the job on both CW/SSB and FM where you definitely don't want to be 100% vertical (CW/SSB) or 100% horizontal (FM) and therefor lose 20-30 dB of gain. Many thanks for your collective wisdom and experience. Wes NA1ME FN54

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Google Summer of Code - mentorship application update!
by Michelle Thompson 22 Jan '20

22 Jan '20

Google Summer of Code application is complete! We are not guaranteed to be accepted, but it will be great if we are. Applying is a big step forward in representing amateur radio software, raising awareness of amateur satellite, and involving new audiences. It puts a positive light on AMSAT and ORI. I am looking for additional ideas for achievable summer software projects to add to the list of proposals. We have until 5 February to finalize this list. What do you think needs attention? All organizations will be notified of their status on February 20, 2020. The projects need to be open source. They must support something in or related to the amateur satellite service. They must be appropriate for motivated university students to complete over a summer. The list will be good to have regardless of GSoC acceptance because it can be used to increase involvement and to produce needed software for the community. Ideas too ambitious or open-ended for GSoC will be included in a different list for community reference. Thank you very much to those that have volunteered to mentor! If you are on the fence about it or concerned about the level of commitment, then please know there is a wide range involved. Providing backup support, encouragement, code review, or document review is a welcome and appreciated part of the process. My goal is to make it easy to participate at all levels. -Michelle W5NYV

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Taurus-1 Status
by Vincenzo Mone 22 Jan '20

22 Jan '20

Hi folks, Please anybody can tell me the status of Taurus-1? Is it still alive? Thanks Enzo 73 de Enzo IK8OZV EasyLog 5 BetaTester EasyLog PDA BetaTester WinBollet BetaTester D.C.I. CheckPoint Regione Campania Skype: ik8ozv8520 ********************************* ****** GSM +39 328 7110193 ****** ***** SMS +39 328 7110193 ***** *********************************

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70cm loop on satellites
by John Geiger 21 Jan '20

21 Jan '20

My dualband yagi is having a little trouble with full duplex, and I am wondering if anyone has used a M squared or other 70cm loop for the uplink antenna on the SSB satellites? Does it work well at getting a good signal into the satellites? 73 John W5TD

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