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

Re: [amsat-bb] huskysat-1
by Nick 12 Jul '20

12 Jul '20

Jerry, Very nice to hear a update on HO-107. We appreciate you and the engineering teams hard work on the LTM module projects. Do we know why HO-107 got to 80c other then the full illumination period? Would there be a way to mitigate that in the future or is it just something that has to be dealt with? I know AO-85 suffered a similar fate of heat stroke but lasted many years. Looking foward to seeing AMSAT partner with many others to get the LTM module into orbit. Regardless of it only working 3 months, it is still a rousing sucess that will lead to many more launches with other partners. Thanks, Nick KE8AKW

1 0

Modeling the AA2TX Parasitic Lindenblad
by Zach Metzinger 11 Jul '20

11 Jul '20

Hello folks, I've been intrigued by Tony's Parasitic Lindenblad ever since I first read about it. I have a center section in CAD, suitable for 3D printing in PET-G, which eliminates the messy gluing, etc. and gives me a chance to use my printer. :-) However, I'd like to eliminate the requirement for the 0.750" OD aluminum mast and replace it with 0.650" OD (name: 1/2") copper water pipe, which can be readily found in any hardware store. Given the appropriate paint coating, copper pipe has held up well over many years at my QTH when exposed to the elements. I am using Xnec2c on FreeBSD, but any NEC program should be able to use the deck, to model the antenna. However, my dimensions don't seem to match what Tony came up with. Are there any NEC gurus in the audience? Here's my sophomore stab at the antenna deck: CM --- NEC2 Input File created or edited by xnec2c 3.4 --- CM AA2TX Parasitic Lindenblad -- All distances in meters CM Goal is to use 1/2" copper water pipe for dipole element (0.650" OD) instead of 3/4" OD aluminum pole CE --- End Comments --- GW 1 15 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 -1.39000E-01 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1.39000E-01 1.58750E-02 GW 2 15 2.58000E-01 8.50000E-02 1.49000E-01 -2.58000E-01 8.50000E-02 -1.49000E-01 1.50000E-03 GW 3 15 -2.58000E-01 -8.50000E-02 1.49000E-01 2.58000E-01 -8.50000E-02 -1.49000E-01 1.50000E-03 GW 4 15 8.50000E-02 2.58000E-01 -1.49000E-01 8.50000E-02 -2.58000E-01 1.49000E-01 1.50000E-03 GW 5 15 -8.50000E-02 2.58000E-01 1.49000E-01 -8.50000E-02 -2.58000E-01 -1.49000E-01 1.50000E-03 GE 0 0 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 EX 0 1 8 0 1.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 FR 0 20 0 0 4.30000E+02 1.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 NH 0 0 0 0 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 NE 0 10 1 10 -1.35000E+00 0.00000E+00 -1.35000E+00 3.00000E-01 0.00000E+00 3.00000E-01 RP 0 19 37 1000 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 1.00000E+01 1.00000E+01 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 EN 0 0 0 0 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 0.00000E+00 Questions that arise from an afternoon of fiddling with this: 1) Should I model the driven element as two wires with the 1/4" gap between them? If so, how would I do this? 2) Will the 0.100" difference in OD make enough of a difference to even go through this exercise? Any and all comments, especially from NEC gurus, appreciated! --- Zach N0ZGO

3 5

Elect New, Honorable, Board Members
by Brad Smith 11 Jul '20

11 Jul '20

<Amen. Let's get this off the list and back to playing with radio.> We need a board that we can trust and this board is not trustworthy to led,nor spend the finances in aan ethical manor. I have received emails from members, on both sides of the issue. One asked me how I know the moneys spent were donations. So, I now ask the Board, where did the funds ($18 k) come from that you spent to bury Patrick and Michelle? 73 Brad KC9UQR

1 0

Re: [amsat-bb] The Explanition Has Come
by Vince Fiscus, KB7ADL 11 Jul '20

11 Jul '20

At 05:45 PM 7/10/2020 -0700, Michelle Thompson wrote: >I've confronted the board about unauthorized spending. I brought receipts. > >Patrick deserves the majority of the credit for stopping this obscenely >wasteful practice of hiring lawyers on the sly. I side with the President and the decision of the BoD. Spending the funds to address the issue for which these funds were expended, to develop policies and procedures to help handle and prevent such problems like this from ever happening again in the future is money well spent. You and Patrick are the ones that need to reimburse the membership for the expenses. KB7ADL

1 0

The Explanition Has Come
by Brad Smith 11 Jul '20

11 Jul '20

The email, "AMSAT Leadership Explains 2018-2020 Legal Expenses," which I assume all members received, made me think of the words of an oldie song that has the words, "I wish that i could be the president, so I could show you how your money's spent." In this case, it appears that the money was spent to, at the advice of hired layers, keep two duly elected directors from assuming their rightful role. So, the legal answer must have been to segregate them, into a second class status. Is this really legal, and in keeping with the bylaws of AMSAT? Why would the board do this? What are they hiding and from whom? I may be just a dumb, retired, Midwestern engineer, but even I can see thru this one. Talk about smoke and mirrors. I am going to assume that it was legal for the board to select a new president, and that the membership has nothing to do with that. This whole situation has the appearance of a game where people have been trying to find a way to legally block other people from assuming their duties. Sounds like Washington politics to me. Some members have resigned their membership over this. I am here to say that I do not condone this form of reaction. In my humble opinion, (and some of you know how humble I am) if you are on the birds, you should financially support the organization. Exception would be if one couldn't afford it, of course. Respectfully,Brad KC9UQR

8 10

Life Membership
by Bob Hammond 11 Jul '20

11 Jul '20

How does one change one's yearly membership to Life Membership? I cannot find any method to do so on the launch.amsat.org web pages. And I cannot rejoin as such either. Bob W7OTJ

2 1

constructive suggestion
by andy thomas 11 Jul '20

11 Jul '20

Suggest you take the -bb offline for a week while everyone cools down. 73 de andy g0sfj

1 0

Can't Control IC-910 Using Gpredict/Hamlib On Raspberry Pi
by Roy Dean 11 Jul '20

11 Jul '20

Bernhard, Have you tried the GPredict Forum? Thats where I learned about the 910/9700 patch (but I don't own either so don't have experience). I think the patch author or Alex Csete would be happy to describe the process. https://community.libre.space/c/gpredict/17 --Roy K3RLD

3 2

Re: [amsat-bb] The Explanition Has Come
by Daniel Schultz 11 Jul '20

11 Jul '20

We have recently discussed in this forum the reasons why there are no more ham radio satellites in HEO. We have reviewed the various external factors such as a saturated and highly commercial secondary launch market, new government regulations that did not exist 25 years ago, commercial and government interests that might simply prefer that amateur radio and amateur satellites "go away" in order to make life easier for them, and other factors all external to AMSAT. What we did not consider was the possibility of internal squabbles threatening the organization. I have seen more than one organization fall apart because of such in-fighting. Please be aware that this internal threat can be deadlier than any of the external factors that are preventing us from launching new satellites. I don't know which side is right. Perhaps both sides, perhaps neither side. I just know that it would be a god-awful shame if AMSAT's remarkable 50 year adventure should come to an end because of this. It is time to sit down like ladies and gentlemen and calmly discuss these various differences without bringing the legal profession into the equation. Perhaps the board candidates could make calm and rational statements to the membership on how they plan to accomplish this, so that the members can make rational choices in the upcoming election. If this cannot be done then we should probably all just sell our radio gear and find some other hobby that we can pursue on our own without the need to form or govern any organization. 73, Dan Schultz N8FGV

1 0

Re: [amsat-bb] WA9JBQ Request
by Brad Smith 11 Jul '20

11 Jul '20

I will second Rick's request. The past actions against the new board members showed the poorest leadership that I have ever seen. The ethics of this action eroded away any confidence that I had in this board. 73 Brad KC9UQR

2 1