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

Re: [amsat-bb] LH or RH polarization
by MICHAEL WILLIAMS 24 Mar '20

24 Mar '20

LH for AO7 GL Mike (K9QHO)

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Next Rocket Lab Launch postponed
by Wendy and Terry Osborne 24 Mar '20

24 Mar '20

Since New Zealand is going into lockdown at Midnight tonight the next Rocket Lab Launched has been postponed. See: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/news/updates/covid-19-update-rocket-lab-has-po… If we are lucky the country should start up again in about 4 weeks. See also: https://covid19.govt.nz/ 73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC

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Pcsat32
by Joe KD2NFC 24 Mar '20

24 Mar '20

Hi, I just paid for AMSAT membership and purchased a license to pcsat32. As I’m learning we need to make entries in the Doppler.SQF and possible AmsatNames.txt. I was able to find DK3WN’s blog that had a comprehensive listing of the satellites and their frequencies. Is there a good resource I can go to go that will give me a current list of all AMSAT satellites and others with their frequencies. I think with what I found is pretty details but I do see that there various files floating around crates by different hams. I know AMSAT offices are now closed so I don’t know the ETA of my license key, but no rush under the circumstances. Joe KD2NFC Sent from my iPhone

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LH or RH polarization
by Dave J 24 Mar '20

24 Mar '20

Hello All My 2 meter M2 polarization switch died (water-logged) but I still have the old fixed polarization element. I now have the option of setting it up fixed either LH or RH. Which would be the better way to go given the current crop of birds? Thanks Dave WB9YIG

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Premature announcement
by Ray Soifer 24 Mar '20

24 Mar '20

Sorry that my last email was sent out prematurely. May QST won't be out for two more weeks or so. 73 Ray W2RS

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.The First Satellite Contact (May QST)
by Ray Soifer 24 Mar '20

24 Mar '20

Those of you who are ARRL members may be interested in my Technical Correspondence article in May 2020 QST, entitled "The 60th Anniversary of the First Satellite Contact." The contact to which it refers took place on February 6, 1960, six months before NASA's Project Echo, between myself and K3JTE (now W3PK), making use of a propagation mode first reported by W8JK (SK), which he called "the satellite ionization phenomenon." My May 2020 QST article describes what we did and what has been learned since then about the ionosphere and how W8JK's mechanism works. For further reading about our contact, see my article in Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, September 1961. For more about the satellite ionization phenomenon, see the chapter by W8JK in S.F. Singer, ed., Interactions of Space Vehicles With an Ionized Atmosphere, Pergamon Press, 1965. 73 Ray W2RS

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Poor Operators
by Brad Smith 24 Mar '20

24 Mar '20

I am a minimalist because I want to be a minimalist. I understand that the FM bird is nothing more than a repeater and the strongest signal takes the bird, even if someone else is talking. "Someone else is talking" is the rude part. Last weekend, I was chasing a rover and got "KC9" out and into the bird (I work full duplux, so know that I was in) and someone took over by stepping on me. Luckily, I got him anyway, but someone was high power and more important than me. That's the way contesters work. But, I don't want to plaster someone's call on the board. I just hope that the person is a member and thinks about it. Getting into a peeing contest with someone is not beneficial to anybody, including the hobby. It used to be that if one said "handheld" or "portable" guys would give them a break, but that doesn't happen anymore. The birds are too crowded for that. There are several people in my ham clubs that want to try satellite operation and myself and my friend Rick (WA9JBQ) loves to mentor them and teach them the proper way to operate. Not everyone has this benefit. I don't know what the answer is. Last Spring one ham was an extremely poor operator on the birds, but is now a better operator. So, something works. But there is always the tendency to crank up the power to get the station that you want, if you have the power available. It is like guys who I know that run 1,500 watts on FT8 to get what they want. I guess it is going to happen and we have to live with that fact. As soon as I solve my equipment problem with my 847 and the weather turns warmer, I will be back on the linear birds. I sure do miss FO-29. Brad KC9UQR

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ANS-083.02 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - AMSAT Office Closed Until Further Notice
by Paul Stoetzer 23 Mar '20

23 Mar '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-083.02 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * AMSAT Office Closed Until Further Notice SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-083.02 ANS-083.02 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 083.02 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE March 23, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-083.02 AMSAT Office Closed Until Further Notice Due to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's order closing all non-essential businesses in the State of Maryland in response to the COVID-19 pan- demic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice, effective to- day at 5:00pm EDT. While the office is closed, AMSAT will continue to accept new and renewal memberships. However, membership packets will not be mailed until the office reopens. T-shirts, hats, and other items stocked in the office will also not be available until the office reopens. Dig- ital downloadable content, including SatPC32 and MacDoppler will re- main available from the AMSAT store. Antenna, name badge, and awards orders will be forwarded for processing. The March/April issue of The AMSAT Journal will be produced on time. However, it may only be possible to publish it in digital format. Stay tuned for further updates. Any questions about memberships, orders, or office operations can be sent to info at amsat.org. Please note that no mail or phone service will be available until the office reopens. Vendors billing AMSAT for goods or services may email the above address to arrange payment. [ANS thanks the AMSAT office for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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PSK on NO-84, no joy
by George Henry 23 Mar '20

23 Mar '20

Not seeming to have any luck with PSK31 on NO-84... I am seeing and decoding the beacon and other stations okay, but don't see my signal in the waterfall. Using DopplerPSK for the uplink and FLdigi for the downlink. I suspect that my meager 20 watts to a dipole isn't cutting it... George, KA3HSW

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2020-03-23 19:30 UTC
by aj9n＠aol.com 23 Mar '20

23 Mar '20

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2020-03-23 19:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: SPDW Voortrekker Movement, Oranjeville, South Africa, direct via ZS9SPD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan KI5AAA Contact is go for: Fri 2020-03-27 09:47:49 UTC 36 deg Watch for live stream at: (***) Die Voortrekkers: SPD Water Werk - De Bank https://www.facebook.com/groups/1750900235133434/ Die Voortrekkers https://www.facebook.com/groups2354763991/ You Tube Die Voortrekkers https://www.youtube.com/user/dievoortrekkers Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia, direct via RKØJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Skripochka Possible contact on Tue 2020-03-31 08:50 UTC ARISS is very aware of the impact that COVID-19 is having on schools and the public in general. As such, we may have last minute cancellations or postponements of school contacts. As always, I will try to provide everyone with near-real-time updates. The ARISS webpage is at https://www.ariss.org/ Watch for future COVID-19 related announcements here also. Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. The main page for Applying to Host a Scheduled Contact may be found at https://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html ARISS Contact Applications (United States) 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 2020-03-23 19:30 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. https://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf https://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt The successful school list has been updated as of 2020-03-21 00:00 UTC. https://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf The ARISS webpage is at https://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. The main page for Applying to Host a Scheduled Contact may be found at https://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html ARISS Contact Applications (United States) The ARISS webpage is at https://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. Message to US Educators Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals Upcoming Proposal Window is February 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS is happy to announce a proposal window will open February 1, 2020 for contacts that would be held between January 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The proposal window for contacts between January 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021 will open on February 1, 2020 and close on March 31, 2020. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.ariss.org. Two ARISS Introductory Webinar sessions will be held on November 7, 2019. The first is at 6:00 PM ET and the second is at 9:00 PM ET. The same material will be covered during both sessions, so choose the session that best fits your schedule. The Eventbrite link to sign up is https://ariss-introductory-webinar-fall-2019.eventbrite.com . The Opportunity Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session. An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in dates and times of the radio contact. Amateur Radio organizations around the world with the support of NASA and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe present educational organizations with this opportunity. The ham radio organizations' volunteer efforts provide the equipment and operational support to enable communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world using Amateur Radio. More Information For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Webinars, go to www.ariss.org. Please direct any questions to ariss.us.education(a)gmail.com. 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 (STEAM) 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. ******************************************************************************** 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, go to: https://www.ariss.org/ariss-application.html. ARISS-Canada and the Americas, except USA: Steve McFarlane, VE3TBD email to: ve3tbd(a)gmail.com ARISS-Japan, Asia, Pacific and Australia: Satoshi Yasuda, 7M3TJZ email to: ariss(a)iaru-r3.org, Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) https://www.jarl.org/ ARISS-Russia: Soyuz Radioljubitelei Rossii (SRR) https://srr.ru/ ****************************************************************************** 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 https://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? Please note that the HamTV system has been brought back to earth for troubleshooting. Please monitor ARISS-EU or ARISS-ON for the very latest news on the troubleshooting efforts. 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 The HamTV webpage: https://www.amsat-on.be/hamtv-summary/ **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Francesco IKØWGF with 140 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 138 Sergey RV3DR with 133 Gaston ON4WF with 123 **************************************************************************** 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. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1387. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1320. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 48. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. https://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: https://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS **************************************************************************** Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC https://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correcti… Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 60 on orbit Drew Morgan KI5AAA Exp. 61 on orbit Oleg Skripochka Jessica Meir **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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