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

Re: [amsat-bb] Moderation and personal attacks
by Fernando Ramirez 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Well, then you shouldn't have a problem with publishing that evidence. KF7R On Fri, Jul 17, 2020, 11:06 AM Clint Bradford <clintbradford(a)me.com> wrote: > I have three independent sources - including GoDaddy - for that truth. > > Notice how WE4B hasn’t make a peep about it? And Patrick stating > he wasn’t involved in CREATING it - but he sure contributed to it. > > With a third party. > > DO you, too, have some sort of “personal vendetta” against me? Any > questions or concerns? I am available by phone, email, Skype, Zoom … > > Clint Bradford K6LCS > 951-533-4984

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Mount Carmel HS ARC marine buoy deployed and transmitting
by Phil Karn 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Over the past year, Randy, KQ6RS and I have mentored the MCHSARC in designing and constructing a simple marine buoy that was deployed from the R/V Sally Ride this morning about 700 km off the coast of southern California. It is up and transmitting WSPR on 20m using the callsign KQ6RS, and is being received all over the US and into Canada and Brazil. The electronics is the 20m WSPR version of the WB8ELK "pico tracker" that has been flown quite a few times (including by us) on long duration balloons. We removed the solar panels and substituted 21 ordinary alkaline D-cells wired to supply 4.5V. We estimate battery lifetime will be 6 months. The basic design was inspired by Bob, WB4APR, at the US Naval Academy. Physically, the buoy is just a 5' section of 4" PVC pipe, ballasted at one end to float vertically in the water. The top is closed by a sewer pressure test plug I found at Home Depot; it has a bolt in the center that acts as a convenient feed-through and mounting point for the antenna, a stainless steel CB whip with a matching network designed, tested and carefully tuned by Randy. We use the sea as a counterpoise, but to avoid direct metal/seawater contact we lined the inside of the pipe with copper tape to form a capacitive connection. We probably spent too much time on this; Randy even modeled the electrical fields in the seawater with a professional RF analysis package. In our first flotation tests in Randy's swimming pool we found that the ballasted pipe, by itself, was remarkably stable in pitch, roll, sway and surge but oscillated a lot in heave (up and down). To damp this Randy added cross arms at the water line to add drag in the vertical direction. (It wasn't our intent to mimic a religious icon but that's where the physics went.) Tuning the antenna required sea water, so Randy did it from a dock on Mission Bay here in San Diego. We tried to make this thing as rugged as we could. (My favorite saying to the students was that the sea *always* wins in the end, but we can delay that long enough to be useful.) Everything inside is held in place with epoxy or polyurethane foam. Randy reinforced the sewer plug with a PVC end cap with a hole cut in the center. Although the antenna is stainless steel, Randy covered it with a type of heatshrink with a waterproofing compound inside. Activation was by removing an external magnet placed over a parallel pair of normally closed magnetic reed switches. (Using two instead of one was my idea.) We even argued how to guard against the crew forgetting to remove the magnet before deployment. Randy found some adhesive that would dissolve and let the magnet fall away; I suggested a big REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT tag and a float that would pull it away if it was tossed into the water. That left the problem of deployment. We couldn't just drop it close to the coast because it would quickly wash back up on the beach. We needed a boat ride. We were originally going on a NOAA vessel in April, but that trip was cancelled due to the pandemic. Randy secured a trip on the R/V Sally Ride, a research ship operated by Scripps Institute of Oceanography and home ported here in San Diego. This map shows the "lawn mowing" pattern they follow to measure and sample sea water off southern California. We were deployed early this morning at the most southwestern point shown here: https://calcofi.org/cruises/2020-cruises/calcofi-2007sr.html First report was at 12:52:30 UTC this morning from 29 51.25N, 123 37.50W. That's grid square CL89eu, which I figure is pretty rare for grid hunters. The current carried us east into CL89fu at 20:32:30. This is a little surprising since we thought the currents in that area are to the southwest. But that's why you do science! You can track us on aprs.fi here: https://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FKQ6RS-1&others=1&timerange=604800&tail=3600 We also show up on wsprnet.org http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/map Because of the funky way Bill encodes position in WSPR (which was never designed for this), you'll see some weird-looking callsigns (like 0W7NFU) in addition to KQ6RS. This was our first buoy, just to get our feet wet (ha ha). Now to think about what we want to put in our *second* buoy. Two-way links, satellite tracking, sensors, the works. But remember the "second system" effect... 73, Phil

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RS-44 Transponder Turned off 09:35z
by Peter Goodhall (2M0SQL) 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Hi All, I've just been using RS-44 was fine as it passed over North America, Canada, however, once it went over Russia at around 09:35z the RS-44 transponder turned off. I hope it will be back! Peter, 2M0SQL

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WE4B - A Question
by Clint Bradford 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Since the original question has been hijacked and might be un-seen by its intended recipient, I again ask: Candidate WE4B - please list for us the projects you have volunteered for for AMSAT-NA. Specifically for AMSAT-NA - and not just general satellite contacts. Say, for the past 10 years. Many thanks. Clint Bradford K6LCS Please respect the original title of the thread. Got a problem with me? Please initiate a new thread, send me email, or call me at 909-999-SATS. Please act decently. Clint Bradford K6LCS

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Re: [amsat-bb] Candidte WE4B Inquiry
by Clint Bradford 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

> On Jul 17, 2020, at 6:15 AM, Rick Wyrwas <rwyrwas48(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > No I know you do things for AMSAT but my question to you Sir is it just to benefit you financially > 73 Rick WA9JBQ Fifty dollars. And a few coffee mugs. One Fisher Space pen, engraved. Two books donated to a local library, in which I inscribed the bookplate. I gave away a Kenwood TH-D72a, software, Arrow Antenna, and RT Systems’ software to one club. The $50 was totally unexpected and NOT solicited. While packing up my car after a presentation, the club prez handed my wife that check for $50. I was flabbergasted. Never asked for What is your problem? Whomever you re getting your information from is, well to put it mildly - a misrepresenter of the truth. Clint Bradford K6LCS

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Candidate Statement - Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
by Paul Stoetzer 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Thank you to all the members that nominated me for the AMSAT Board of Directors. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Paul Stoetzer, N8HM. An AMSAT Life Member, I served as AMSAT’s Secretary from 2015-2017 and as Executive Vice President since 2017. There have been suggestions made that AMSAT is "stagnant," "in hibernation," or "sitting on our thumbs." Nothing could be further from the truth. By any objective measurement, the past five years have been incredibly successful for AMSAT. Membership and satellite activity has grown. We have launched four satellites and placed a transponder on a fifth. One satellite (RadFxSat-2 / Fox-1E) is completed and awaiting launch no earlier than the third quarter of this year, and we have launch opportunities for the first two satellites of our GOLF series. Additionally, we completed the Multi-Voltage Power Supply for ARISS, have engaged in more partnerships to fly our linear transponder module, and begun work on the Amateur Radio EXploration (AREx) program to place an amateur communications system on the Lunar Gateway. The work done by our engineering team leads us well-poised for the future. I believe that within the next few years, we will be in a position to place a CubeSat in HEO and provide the worldwide amateur community with a resource they have not enjoyed since AO-40. This will not be an easy task. It is critical that the engineering team continues their work on the GOLF project perfecting the systems that will enable us to operate a CubeSat in a HEO environment. The first GOLF satellite, GOLF-TEE, will serve as a testbed for these technologies in LEO. Data gained from that mission will further inform our engineering team's efforts. While our engineering team continues their hard work building the satellites, the rest of the leadership team must work equally as hard fundraising for a HEO launch opportunity. It will not be an easy task, but I know we can do it. Please vote for me, Mark, N8MH, and Bruce, KK5DO. Together we will return amateur radio to HEO. I encourage you to read my candidate statement at https://www.upwardtoheo.com/biographies/paul-stoetzer-n8hm I've also written some more information about why I'm running for the Board at https://www.upwardtoheo.com/updates/why-im-running-n8hm Former AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW, explains why Mark, N8MH, Bruce, KK5DO, and I are the best choices in this election at https://www.upwardtoheo.com/updates/former-amsat-president-barry-baines-wd4… 73, Paul, N8HM

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What?
by Clint Bradford 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

What? I have NEVER charged to put on a presentation. Well. I take that back: I ask for an endless cup of coffee sometimes. Whomever told you that is clueless - watch out for any “facts” you receive from them in the future. Clint Bradford K6LCS PS When I performed at Pacifico’s two years in a row (so many in attendance they asked me to perform TWICE the second year, THEY offered a hotel room and has money. >> Clint. I understand that you charge for your presentations thus I would venture to say you financially benefit for your “association “ with AMSAT. Is that correct 73 Sent from my iPhone

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Field Day submissions due today
by Bruce 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Time is drawing near. If you have not submitted your field day report, you still have the rest of today to get them in. They are due to me at kk5do at arrl.net or kk5do at amsat.org by Friday, July 17, 2020 at 11:59 PM Central Time. Even if you only made one contact, you can still submit. 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 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org AMSAT on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/amsat

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SpaceX to launch Spanish ham radio satellites
by M5AKA 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Unauthorized transmissions in 144 MHz satellite allocation https://amsat-uk.org/2020/07/17/unauthorized-transmissions-in-144-mhz-satel… SpaceX to launch AMSAT-EA EASAT-2 and Hades satellites https://amsat-uk.org/2020/07/16/spacex-to-launch-amsat-ea-easat-2-and-hades… 1240-1300 MHz discussed at CEPT SE 40 meeting https://amsat-uk.org/2020/07/14/1240-1300-mhz-discussed-at-cept-se-40-meeti… LunART- Lunar Amateur Radio Transponder https://amsat-uk.org/2020/07/10/lunart-lunar-amateur-radio-transponder/ Nature carries an article about the spacecraft Longjiang-2 / Lunar-OSCAR 94 (LO-94), built by students at the Harbin Institute of Technology, that carried the first Amateur Radio communication system to operate in lunar orbit https://amsat-uk.org/2020/07/09/lo94-amateur-radio-in-lunar-orbit/ Trevor M5AKA---- AMSAT-UK http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ----

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New satellite operator - M7OJA
by Oscar Acton 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Hello, My callsign is M7OJA. I was tracking the Fox-1D satellite and I called out into a handheld radio with 8 watts into a collinear omnidirectional antenna on my roof when the satellite passed. I heard a station come back very clearly with "Juliet Alpha again". Unfortunately, the satellite had passed by then, but I am impressed that I managed to get in with my minimal station setup. I would like to try to maximise the time I have to use the satellite. My handheld radio (Anytone 868) doesn't have an auto doppler shift, so I am wondering how to calculate the doppler frequencies? For example, on this link https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/how-to-work-fm-satellites/, all of the frequencies are listed to be programmed into a handheld (accounting for doppler shift). I would like a similar list of frequencies for the Fox-1D (or know how to calculate them). Many Thanks, Oscar M7OJA (IO94HT)

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