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

Getting on Jan satellites
by Russ Kinner 17 Aug '20

17 Aug '20

I've used what I had on hand, a FT7900 and a dual band mobile Diamond antenna, both items I've had to operate from my car for 10 years. I have built an eggbeater for both bands and the fading on high passes went away but it just wasn't very efficient and I went back to the mobile antenna. The 1/2 wave design doesn't need a ground plane, it works about the same with or without radials. One thing I'm contemplating is a easy to adjust angle mount so I can be close to a right angle on different elevation passes. Not sure exactly how I'll do that but it may help and I would not need to point a beam. A tripod if you use a directional antenna can help. Even a light weight antenna can get heavy for 15 minutes and if it's windy.... There is a zoom presentation available on this topic, a link is provided in other amsat-bb messages. In general, get the frequencies and pl tone set in your rig and listen. Late night passes are often easier to start operating with less competition. I've had pass with only 2 other stations and then others where no one hears me at all. Don't get discouraged, there will be a pass where everyone calls you one after another. I've had a pass with 6 contacts - once in a while you find several stations that need your grid and you knock them off in short order. Rusty, WA8ZID

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AMSAT GridMaster Award Application Process
by George Sakai 17 Aug '20

17 Aug '20

Bruce, I sent you two e-emails regarding AMSAT GridMaster Award process (first one on July 24 and second one on August 10). I have not received any response from you. Are you having problems receiving e-mails ? George Sakai, N3GS

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2020-08-17 22:30 UTC
by aj9n＠aol.com 17 Aug '20

17 Aug '20

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2020-08-17 22:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Kopernik Observatory & Science Center, Vestal, NY, direct via K2ZRO The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Chris Cassidy KF5KDR Contact is go for: Wed 2020-08-19 18:21:55 UTC 85 deg Rescheduled again due to ISS hatch closures for leak detection activity. Watch for live stream starting about 20 to 30 minutes ahead of AOS at: https://youtu.be/1Pwcc2rilz0 Information and Technologies Branch, Department of Education-Queensland Government, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, telebridge via ON4ISS (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Chris Cassidy KF5KDR Contact is go for: Mon 2020-08-24 08:09:22 UTC 80 deg (***) Greenwood Primary School, Greenwood, Western Australia, Australia, telebridge via AB1OC (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Chris Cassidy KF5KDR Contact is go for: Mon 2020-08-24 09:32:57 UTC 34 deg (***) ######################################################################################################################################## A multi-point telebridge contact means that each student will be on the telebridge from their own home. ************************************************* 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 following schools have now been postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19: Postponed: No new schools Cancelled: No new schools 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 2020-08-17 22:30 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 2020-08-11 16:30 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 ARISS Contact Applications (United States) The Proposal Window of February 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020 has now closed. For future 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 135 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 1394. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1327. 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. 62 now on orbit Chris Cassidy KF5KDR Anatoli Ivanishin Ivan Vagner **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Ballot return date is September 15
by Brennan Price 17 Aug '20

17 Aug '20

All, Please indulge an election procedure post--with four weeks of balloting remaining, I think a reminder of procedures is warranted. Ballots for the AMSAT board of directors election must be received by 5 p.m. US Eastern Time on Tuesday, September 15. If you have received your ballot and wish to vote, please mail your ballot with sufficient time to arrive by this time. If you have not received your ballot and were a member of AMSAT on July 1, please email me at brennanprice(a)verizon.net to request a replacement ballot. All such requests that were made by today (Monday, August 17) have been fulfilled no later than today. A note to non-US based members: The printed return envelope does not specify that the return address is in the United States. The design of the envelope (my effort alone) may be fairly criticized on this basis. Several non-US members have added USA to the printed return address and successfully returned the ballot. This is my recommended remedy, but if for whatever reason it's too late for that (and I know of one such case), I will gladly send a replacement (as I have in said case). I am verifying envelopes against the voter list and keeping them unopened until the time of counting, when they will be opened face down and separated from the ballot without immediate counting to maintain secrecy. This is a key part of verifying that each ballot going out generates no more than one ballot coming back in. Presumably out of an understandable but self-defeating desire to ensure the secrecy of the ballot beyond this procedure, about ten members have sought to obscure the return address or use a different envelope, either with no return address or a different return address. In all but one of those cases, the printed address was insufficiently obscured, or the alternate address was traceable to a member who had not yet voted. The attention required to verify the nonconforming envelope in each case substantially exceeded the attention normally necessary, and actually increased the possibility of me inadvertently discerning the contents without opening the envelope through inspection I would ordinarily forego. Nevertheless, these envelopes have been accepted for eventual accounting. In the remaining case, postmarked last week in Grand Junction, Colorado, there is no indication on the outside the envelope to permit me to conclude that the ballot is not cumulative of one already returned. As it stands, this is the only envelope out of the several hundred returned thus far that I cannot accept. If you are that voter mailing from or near Grand Junction, please be in touch so we can remedy. All others, please use the provided return envelope. I welcome questions. 73, Brennan Price, N4QX Secretary Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation

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Android App for AMSAT Status
by Loren M. Lang 16 Aug '20

16 Aug '20

It seems like my earlier email attempt might have been blocked due to an inline image it included. I've been toying with the idea of implementing an Android App to view and submit updates to the AMSAT Status page. I've put together a quick mock-up of what the interface will be for submitting updates will be like. I wanted to get some preliminary feedback and also get in touch with anyone at AMSAT to make sure I'm working with the correct acceptable-use policy and API. Here's a screen shot of the App so far: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d24egqeuiu17ds1/Screenshot_20200816-153642.png?dl… If you want to check out the mock interface, it doesn't actually submit anything yet, but all the fields are present. http://www.north-winds.org/amsat-status.apk -Loren K7IW ReplyForward

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Helping a totally blind ham get started working the birds?
by Sean Paul 16 Aug '20

16 Aug '20

Hello all: subject line pretty much says it all. I am in Chattanooga TN & want to get started working the satellites. Anyone interested in helping me. Please reach on out. Thanks N4SPK Sean Paul informs y'all from my iPhone

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FW: Fox Delta ST2 issue- SOLVED at least so far
by D. Craig Fox 16 Aug '20

16 Aug '20

For Bruce KK5DO, and others who expressed interest in re-programming their Fox Delta ST2 tracker running a G5400/5500: This first link is for configuring HyperTerminal emulator to talk to the ST2 once HT is downloaded from any number of websites (I didn’t know an emulator from an escalator when I started to troubleshoot my issue this morning). Apparently if you still have an XP machine it can be found under Windows “Accessories, Communications”. I only have W10 now so had to start from scratch. http://www.foxdelta.com/products/minitnc/hyperterminal.pdf This link is to the actual programming procedure and basic commands once you have Hyper Terminal up and running and connected to the ST2 http://www.foxdelta.com/products/ST2-0417/st2-setup-guide.pdf Like the author in the second link said, “it just worked…” 73, Craig N6RSX

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Re: [amsat-bb] Fox Delta ST2 issue- SOLVED at least so far
by D. Craig Fox 16 Aug '20

16 Aug '20

Thank you for the prompt replies. As I suspected, re-programming the eprom did the trick. But how to re-program? The critical directions were actually on the FD website for another product. After some research I figured out how to install “hyper terminal” to be able to communicate directly with the ST2. Apparently this was a utility last included with Windows XP. Several hours later, I had things talking to one another, followed the calibration instructions under the ST2 page, flashed the eprom, and now it’s working as it should on several passes. Wowsers, that was annoying but very educational. Thanks again. 73, Craig N6RSX From: Charles Reiche <charlieray(a)gmail.com> Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2020 1:30 PM To: D. Craig Fox <DCFox(a)rwglaw.com>; AMSAT BB <Amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Fox Delta ST2 issue Hi Craig, Do the readings on your yaesu control box AZ meter read correctly or are they also wacky? Looking at the circuit diagram, the AZ pot and the output to the plug that runs to the ST-2 goes through different circuitry to the plug than to the meter in the control box. If the control box meter reads correctly, then the problem is probably in the circuitry that connects to the external plug that goes to the ST-2. Measure your 5v bus on the interface is actually running at 5v. I had problem with my voltage regulator (I soldered it in backwards) and did not have 5v where it needed to be. Thanks, Charles Reiche On Sun, Aug 16, 2020 at 3:37 PM D. Craig Fox via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Greetings all. I searched the amsat BB archive but found no answer so posting this. For no apparent reason, my FD st2 connected to my G5400 has just started misbehaving after working great for months. Using W10. It is displaying incorrect AZ, while EL is correct. It parks the G5400 at 225 deg instead of default 300. It will show EL in excess of 500+ deg when manually turning the G5400 clockwise. I have the most current driver for my usb-serial cable. Im thinking I need to reset the EPROM but an find no directions on the FD website or internet on how to do this after initial setup. I will email Dinesh at FD if no answers. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you and 73 from OC DM13 Craig N6RSX _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org<mailto:[email protected]>. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb Click here<https://www.mailcontrol.com/sr/i91QiYtPM6vGX2PQPOmvUsk03K5IhN5dQQUUlVnR-nxP…> to report this email as spam.

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Fox Delta ST2 issue
by D. Craig Fox 16 Aug '20

16 Aug '20

Greetings all. I searched the amsat BB archive but found no answer so posting this. For no apparent reason, my FD st2 connected to my G5400 has just started misbehaving after working great for months. Using W10. It is displaying incorrect AZ, while EL is correct. It parks the G5400 at 225 deg instead of default 300. It will show EL in excess of 500+ deg when manually turning the G5400 clockwise. I have the most current driver for my usb-serial cable. Im thinking I need to reset the EPROM but an find no directions on the FD website or internet on how to do this after initial setup. I will email Dinesh at FD if no answers. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you and 73 from OC DM13 Craig N6RSX

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Upcoming Presentations - K6LCS
by Clint Bradford 15 Aug '20

15 Aug '20

Clint Bradford K6LCS has booked his “Work the FM Voice Satellites With Minimal Equipment” presentation for the clubs = 09/02/2020 - Garden State ARA, New Jersey 09/14/2020 - North Agusta Belevedere Radio Club 10/27/2020 - Cherryland ARC / Traverse Bay ARC TBD - Antelope Valley (CA) ARC TBD - A private presentation fo a Boy Scout troop inDanville, Pennsylvania These will be Zoom presentations. Everyone is asked to update their copies of the Zoom application - by directly visiting Zoom.us <http://zoom.us/>. Clint Bradford K6LCS 951-533-4984 - cell /end/

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