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

New to Satellites
by Brad Smith 17 May '20

17 May '20

< I am new to satellites, less than a month. And having a blast! > Paul AC9O, you are doing such a fantastic job with your equipment. You are clear and distinct, with no fading. We have worked several times already. Whatever you are doing, keep it up as you sound fantastic. Brad KC9UQR

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AMSAT Awards Update
by Bruce 17 May '20

17 May '20

This is my first update on the awards for 2020. They used to slowly trickle in. However, over the last two months, there have been a lot of submissions. AMSAT Satellite Communicators Award for making their first satellite QSO Frank Karnauskas, N1UW Hiroto Miura, JI8UCI Jason Davis, N8PDX Andrew Stamp, N2YQO Cameron Zotter, K4DCA Angus Alexander, KJ7KOJ Gustavo Schwartz, PR8KW Richard Cutrer, KF5TQT Kurt Melden, K1SEA William McDermott, KM6MCH Robert Smith, KO4CCD Bernd Scholer, DL6IAN ------ AMSAT Communications Achievement Award Russel Kinner, WA8ZID #624 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #625 EM30 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #626 EM21 Stephan Greene, KS1G #627 ------ AMSAT Sexagesimal Satellite Communications Achievement Award Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #185 EM30 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #186 EM21 Stephan Greene, KS1G #187 ------ AMSAT Century Club Award Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #55 EM30 ------ AMSAT South Africa Satellite Communications Achievement Award Russel Kinner, WA8ZID #US225 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #US226 EM30 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #US227 EM21 Wade Stuart, N0TEL #US228 Stephan Greene, KS1G #US229 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award (1,000-4,000) John Stone, KC9VGG #98 Christy Hunter, KB6LTY, #99 (4,000) Mitchell Ahrenstorff, AD0HJ #100 (2,000) Dave Chasey, N9FN #101 Paul Overn, KE0PBR #102 (3,000) Robert Sours, K9UO #103 (2,000) Kell Bodholt, KI7UXT #104 (2,000) Wade Stuart, N0TEL #105 (2,000) Michael Frazier, KJ5Z #106 Nicholas Mahr, KE8AKW #107 Jerod Speck, W4ZXT #108 Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ #109 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award 5,000 Adrian Liggins, VA3NNA #35 Christy Hunter, KB6LTY #37 ------ AMSAT Rover Award Rover Call ===== ======== #051 PR8KW #052 LW2DAF #053 N0TEL To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org and click on Services then Awards. 73...bruce -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards AMSAT Board Member 2016-2020 ARRL Awards Field Checker (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also live streaming MP3 athttp://www.amsatnet.com Podcast athttp://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org AMSAT on Twitterhttp://www.twitter.com/amsat

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repair of SSB preamps
by Jim White 17 May '20

17 May '20

I'd appreciate a pointer to where to get an SSB preamp repaired. Failed connector. Their web page does not seem to have an option for support or repair. Jim, WD0E

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Re: [amsat-bb] Two way SSTV exchanges using PSAT2
by Brad Smith 16 May '20

16 May '20

Is there a way that we handheld guys can receive the SSTV signals from PSAT2? Brad KC9UQR

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PO-101 uplink
by John Geiger 16 May '20

16 May '20

I was hearing PO-101 just fine a few minutes ago, but had no luck getting into it. Is the uplink frequency 437.500mhz with a CTCSS of 141.3hz? 73 John AF5CC

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Icom IC-9700 external preamp
by BeetleJerald Oliver 16 May '20

16 May '20

I am under the assumption that the radio has internal preamps for all 3 bands that are engaged by the button on front panel. I know how to turn on my mast mounted preamps, but not sure if you have to use the preamp button on radio to engage them or not, or if that is only for the internal preamps..... There is nothing in the manual that addresses this.....that I could find. The filters in my SSB preamps at the antenna should help with desense….. Jerry KJ4EU

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Re: [amsat-bb] help with PACSAT and Kenwood TM-D710GA
by Roy Dean 15 May '20

15 May '20

Kevin, I can't remember how I did it, but you can absolutely use AC2CZ's Pacsat groundstation with the D710, as I have successfully done it with mine. I cannot remember for the life of me how I did it, however, as we only get 35deg max passes up here, and my house blocks my antenna's view to the south - so I am only able to use the highest 10 degrees of the "high" passes, and even then getting into the bird is tough. One main thing to remember is that you have the TNC speed (9600), and you also have the serial port speed. Make sure that your serial port is making a good connection with the D710. I ended up practicing the connection on 144.39 with Direwolf (standard APRS). When i was finally able to view the packets via the serial port on Direwolf, I changed all the necessary radio settings over to 9600 packet and then the pacsat groundstation worked. If you can't get it going, I can mess around with it this weekend and see if I can replicate my earlier success. --Roy K3RLD

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help with PACSAT and Kenwood TM-D710GA
by Kevin Zari 15 May '20

15 May '20

I have been trying to get PACSAT Ground Station working with my Kenwood TM-D710GA, in TNC mode (PACKET96). I was able to set the Packet speed to be 9600 baud by going into Putty and issuing the command HBAUD 9600 (and the PACKET12 changed to PACKET96 on the front panel of the TM-D710GA) then I exited putty. then I entered PACSAT, made sure the serial port was correct, and waited for a nice high pass of FalconSat-3. I manually adjusted for Doppler (just trying to RX on the first pass), but nothing. Then, just to test, I hit the DIR button and the unit TX, but nothing is RX. I know the radio and antenna system are capable of FalconSat-3 because when I place it in APRS96 mode I am able to make QSOs on that satellite (and in fact, there are a lot of packets getting in the way of my APRS attempts, so that was why I was interested in learning about this mode of the bird). If I am unable to use the onboard TNC, then I have a few questions about the connection from the radio to the computer for use with hs_soundmodem. Do I need to tap into the lines of the 9600 in/out on the D710 Data Terminal and bring them into the computer how ? I vaguely remember something about the filters on a Signalink USB not passing the 9600 baud data through due to cutoff. Any advice you could give would be much appreciated. 73 and thank you -Kevin (KK4YEL)

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Changing HuskySat-1 keps name in FoxTelem
by Burns Fisher 15 May '20

15 May '20

Instructions for updating FoxTelem (including Fox-in-a-box) so that HuskySat-1 keps are now downloaded as HO-107. Go to the Spacecraft menu and select Husky (or something else if you have changed the name). In the upper left is a section that says "Name (for Keps)" and the box to the right should say "HuskySat-1". Just change that to HO-107. Done. Note that HuskySat-1 is no longer in the downloaded keps, so the one you have will get older and more out-of-date until you change the name. Don't forget you will need to do something similar with MacDoppler or SatPC32 or any other tracking program you have. 73, Burns WB1FJ

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New AMSAT Satellite Frequency Guide
by Robert Bankston 15 May '20

15 May '20

AMSAT just released their updated Amateur Satellite Frequency Guide. It is currently available only to AMSAT Members, under Member Resources, on the new online member portal. Archives of The AMSAT Journal are also available under Journal. Currently, 2018 and 2019 are available with more years soon. If you are an AMSAT Member and have not signed up on the new AMSAT Member Portal, you are missing out. If your not an AMSAT Member, there's no better time to join! Visit launch.amsat.org today. 73, Robert Bankston, KE4AL Vice-President, User Services Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT)

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