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

Phase 4 Ground
by Robert McGwier 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

ARDC awarded ORI $500,000 to do major development on the phase 4 ground digital communications terminal. ORI has assembled a tremendous engineering team to do this work. Congratulations to ORI. I was informed the check is in the mail. This is the largest grant ARDC has given to date. ORI was previously awarded large grants by the ARRL foundation and the Yasme foundation to support the work. 73s Bob N4HY

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AMSAT-DL online symposium 2020
by Matthias Bopp 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

AMSAT-DL Online Symposium on September 26th 2020 Unfortunately, the AMSAT-DL Symposium planned for September 26th and 27th, 2020 cannot take place this year in the usual manner. Since the health of everyone is very close to our hearts and the legal framework currently leaves no other option, we have decided not to hold a meeting on site in Bochum this year. We regret this very much, but the premises only allow an occupancy of less than 20 persons. A "social" meeting with dinner is unfortunately not possible either, nor is a flea market and other activities, such as the QO-100 User Meeting, which happened for the first time during the HAM Radio Fair in Friedrichshafen in 2019. Instead, we will broadcast the symposium as an "online" meeting in DATV via the broadband transponder of QO-100 and on the Internet on the YouTube channel of AMSAT-DL (https://www.youtube.com/user/amsatdl). Enclosed is the preliminary schedule for September 26th 2020 (all times in CEST=UTC+2): Start Topic Who 09:00 Welcome, Introduction, Agenda Matthias DD1US 09:10 Interview with the AMSAT-DL Board of Directors: Peter DB2OS (Chairman), Michael DD5ER, Thilo DJ5YM Matthias DD1US 09:45 Introduction to Bochum Observatory and its Ham Radio activities Thilo DJ5YM 10:10 The AMSAT-DL LunART project proposal to ESA Peter DB2OS 10:35 The ADALM Pluto as part of the AMSAT-DL QO-100 control station in Bochum Mario DL5MLO 11:10 Portable station for QO-100 based on the modules of AMSAT-DL Matthias DD1US 12:00 Lunch break 12:45 QO-100 DX-pedition to Namibia/South Africa/Botswana Charly DK3ZL 13:45 Digital Narrowband Operation via QO-100 Florian DF2ET 14:20 School contacts via QO-100 with DP0GVN in Antarctica Heiner DD0KP 14:55 Update of ARISS and AREx activities Oliver DG6BCE 15:45 Coffee break 16:00 Reception of the recently launched probes to Mars Daniel EA4GPZ, Paul M0EYT, Achim DH2VA 16:50 Final interview with the AMSAT-DL BOD and conclusions: Peter DB2OS (Chairman), Michael DD5ER, Thilo DJ5YM Matthias DD1US 17:10 Introduction to the virtual QO-100 user meeting Matthias DD1US 17:20 Virtual QO-100 user meeting via the QO-100 NB transponder Florian DF2ET 17:50 Closing of the symposium and virtual QO-100 user meeting Matthias DD1US Due to the international audience, most of the lectures will be held in English. The current schedule can be found on the AMSAT-DL homepage at https://amsat-dl.org. We would like to invite you all, also on behalf of the AMSAT-DL board, to this year's AMSAT-DL online conference and the virtual QO-100 user meeting. Jens DH6BB, Lenz DL8RDL, Florian DF2ET and Matthias DD1US Please send any queries to Matthias DD1US

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Two VU Hams successfully did QSOs via Six different FM Satellites in single day
by Rajesh Vagadia - VU2EXP 10 Sep '20

10 Sep '20

Dear hams, We are enjoying AMSAT-UK OSCAR QSO Party from VU Land. 9th September 2020 proved memorable day for myself Rajesh VU2EXP & Lucky VU2LBW from India. We successfully worked via Six different FM Satellites in single day from VU Land. It's personal record for us for such satellite activities in region. Some satellite were 18 year (SO-50) to 27 year (AO-27) old, which all favoured us. The list of satellite we worked through were AO-91 (0650Z), PO-101 (0830Z), AO-27 (1305Z), SO-50 (1514Z), AO-92 (1712Z) & ARISS - ISS (1714Z). That's all the satellites I am getting from my region (ML52jh) & have capabilities to work with my portable setup consisting pair of HT & Homebrew IOio Antenna! There were bit challenges like uncertainty of AO-92 switching to L mode or turning into safe mode during eclipse, some passes (AO-92 & ISS) were at the same time and in different directions, low elevation of 3° ISS pass at VU2LBW's end, power failure at partners end for some moments, possibility of raining which could have interrupted my portable operation etc! We did our best and continued chasing via each satellite & exchanged 59 reports from all 6 birds. So exciting experience for us. I am very thankful to VU2LBW for cooperating with lots of patience. I was on my portable setup operating from my terrace whereas I was benefited with decent setup of VU2LBW located at MK82tv. What a great memorable day! 73's Rajesh Vagadia VU2EXP Regional Coordinator West India Zone AMSAT-INDIA Rajkot (Gujarat) INDIA E: vu2exp(a)gmail.com

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AmicalSat2 updated TLEs?
by christy hunter 10 Sep '20

10 Sep '20

are there updated TLEs for AmicalSat-2? the ones I have issued right after launch day seem to be out of date. thanks 73 Christy KB6LTY

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RS-44 Thursday
by Mike Seguin 10 Sep '20

10 Sep '20

I plan to be on RS-44 tomorrow 9/10/2020 around 1425Z to hopefully work John, AA2HJ from FN34im here in Vermont. Anyone needing VT, this looks like a good CONUS pass. -- 73, Mike, N1JEZ "A closed mouth gathers no feet"

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LOTW with HRD is Easy
by Brad Smith 10 Sep '20

10 Sep '20

I have used HRD for years and love it. Here is how I log satellite and ISS on HRD. HRD FOR SATELLITE You have to have your location (QTH) set up. Click the Ant/Sat tab, type in the satellite name in the box. Click the Propagation tab, the Prop Mode must be “Satellite” from the pull down menu. Freq. is the uplink Freq. and is not part of what LOTW looks at. If the Locator box defaults to FM19, click the QRZ tab to get his actual grid. When you do a correction, this happens, his grid changes to FM19, which is the center of the US. Upload to LOTW as normal ROVING After roving, you have to go into TQSL and set up a new location (grid square, state) Name it the grid square from which you worked. (Or you could name it a location, like “Home,” “Rochelle.”) When you upload those QSO’s to LOTW, type in the grid square or squares from which you operated, in the” Station Location” box. For a grid line type it this way: “EN52,62” with no spaces. If you have an error, it will show you. Make sure you change back to “Home” for the next QTH upload. LOTW INSTRUCTIONS Log into ARRL site, Logbook of The World site, or ARRL site and click LOTW on left, or go to LOTW.ARRL.org and log in. You can click Your QSO’s and do a search for any QSO’s that you want to find, by call. Click “Most Recent QSL’s” to see confirmed QSL’s. Click “Most Recent QSO’s to see what QSO’s are confirmed. A blue “United States” or country name means the QSO has been confirmed. You can download from HRD. You can click “Your Account” and then “Your Activity” and see your last uploads. Click “Result” to see the details of the upload. Click AWARDS to see your grids for VUCC, etc. Brad KC9UQR

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2020-09-10 14:00 UTC
by aj9n＠aol.com 10 Sep '20

10 Sep '20

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2020-09-10 14:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: College Raymond Sirot, Gueux, France, telebridge via VK5ZAI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Chris Cassidy KF5KDR Contact was successful: Thu 2020-09-10 08:17:01 UTC 57 deg (***) Watch for live stream at: https://videodiff.phm.education.gouv.fr/live/liaison-iss-bis Avellaneda Ikastetxea, Sodupe, Spain, telebridge via ZS6JON The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Chris Cassidy KF5KDR Contact is go for: Fri 2020-09-18 12:56:34 UTC 65 deg ************************************************************************************************************* Here are a few websites that are space related that you might want to check out. (***) The Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL, has on-line free presentations. Check out: Adler Astronomy Live takes place every other Thursday at 12:00 pm CT (17:00 UTC) and lasts around 45 minutes. The September 10 topic is The Aquarius Project. https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/event/adler-astronomy-live/. I was the control operator and mentor for an ARISS contact that was held from Adler back on 2002-12-29. If you ever get to Chicago, check out the museum. If you are looking for space memorabilia to buy, then check out The American Space Museum and Space Walk of Fame in Titusville, FL. They are holding an on-line auction of space stuff. If you ever come to watch a launch at KSC, be sure to check this museum out. It looks small from the outside but it is anything but on the inside. They tell you they have Friends in Low Places as much of their displays come from the KSC workers. http://spacewalkoffame.org/ ************************************************************************************************************* There is a new radio on board the ISS. The Kenwood D710GA is now in use. The crossband repeater is now available when the radio is not being used for ARISS school contacts. The frequencies are 145.99 MHz up (67 tone) and 437.800 MHz down. Watch the Doppler on the downlink. ######################################################################################################################################## 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 2020-09-10 14:00 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 2020-09-10 14:00 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 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 1398. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1331. (***) 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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ISS Crossband Repeater - 9k6 APRS?
by Mark Jessop 09 Sep '20

09 Sep '20

After noticing that a SatNOGS station (through a fluke of configuration) had decoded a packet [1] on the new repeater downlink frequency, I investigated a bit more and found that all the passes observed recently had 9k6 FSK packet traffic on the downlink. An example packet: [0.4] NA1SS>0P0PS4,APRSAT:'v&<0x1c>l <0x1c>SI]ARISS-ISS PM2=<0x0d> ------ U frame UI: p/f=0, No layer 3 protocol implemented., length = 48 dest 0P0PS4 0 c/r=0 res=3 last=0 source NA1SS 0 c/r=1 res=3 last=0 digi 1 APRSAT 0 h=0 res=3 last=1 000: 60 a0 60 a0 a6 68 60 9c 82 62 a6 a6 40 e0 82 a0 `.`..h`..b..@... 010: a4 a6 82 a8 61 03 f0 27 76 26 1c 6c 20 1c 53 49 ....a..'v&.l .SI 020: 5d 41 52 49 53 53 2d 49 53 53 20 50 4d 32 3d 0d ]ARISS-ISS PM2=. ------ Is this being generated within the new Kenwood radio, or somewhere else? What does the packet contain? (It looks like there might be some telemetry in there?) 73 Mark VK5QI [1] https://network.satnogs.org/observations/2780486/

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Logging Sat Qso's
by BeetleJerald Oliver 09 Sep '20

09 Sep '20

Does anyone use HRD Logbook for logging sat contacts? There does not seem to be a seamless way to upload to loTW from that logging program.I personally use AC Log and modify the program for sat contacts by setting up the required fields per LoTW specifications. It works great and have had no problems at all with it. HRD Logbook does not seem to have a way to modify the required fields for LoTW upload that will satisfy LoTW requirements. I have a friend using HRD for this and he cannot upload his contacts, except by manually uploading them from the LoTW "create adif file" in TQSL. Any info would be helpful. Jerry KJ4EU

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Rt 66 OTA 2020 - W6D
by christy hunter 09 Sep '20

09 Sep '20

Hello All, COVID19 will not stop Route 66 on the Air! For this year it starts Sept 12 goes thru the 20th. If you will be hunting for the W6 stations for this event, I will be representing W6D on the Sats, FM, and SSB birds. only paper QSL cards will be issued for W6D contacts. (no LoTW) for the mailing address go to QRZ.com for W6D. This page also has link for more info on the event. I will be operating from my home QTH, in DM14. (not far from Rt 66) good hunting! 73 Christy KB6LTY

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ISS Crossband Repeater
by BeetleJerald Oliver 09 Sep '20

09 Sep '20

For LoTW purposes, is the crossband repeater logged as ISS-FM, or just ISS. Just made my 1st contact thru the repeater this morning.... Jerry KJ4EU

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ICOM CR-293 HIGH STABILITY CRYSTAL UNIT
by W0JW John 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

Hello to the group I am wondering if anyone has a ICOM CR-293 HIGH STABILITY CRYSTAL UNIT in excess of their needs ? If so please drop me a line at W0JW@ARRLNET Thanks John W0JW

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AMSAT BoD Election... Please Vote!
by Jeff Moore 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

There can't be anything going on in "board meetings" when they aren't having any! Jeff Moore -- KE7ACY On Tue, Sep 8, 2020 at 4:01 AM Joseph Armbruster via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> wrote: > I would like to see regular updates again, in an environment that is free > of legal intimidation and rich of engineering activity, like it use to > be... That's why I voted for: Hammond, Paige, Stoetzer. > > AMSAT should be voting for people who speak well about AMSAT, work for > AMSAT and want it to continue to evolve and grow. I have seen some board > members speak up now and then, but it seems limited now and focused on > answering specific engineering questions. > > I'm not on the board of AMSAT, or involved with the board in any way, but > from all observations i've been able to make from the -bb traffic, it seems > like many on the BOD are being forced to walk on eggshells with their words > and are being stifled due to legal threats. Reference the -bb email > "[Reply to W5PFG's letter of 10 July 2020", and all it's majesty. With an > email like this being sent publically to the -bb, who knows what else has > gone on behind the scenes or in board meetings. Not sure if the email was > sent just-for-show or not (you know how some people can be these days...), > but that's the work of Patrick and Michelle (ref the email), whom appear to > be part of the root cause of the deafening silence we are experiencing from > the board. If you want to do AMSAT a service, sift through the -bb and > vote-away the friends-and-family of ORI. Otherwise, it feels like it will > be the last year, ad-infinitum, minus any engineering activity. > > Joseph Armbruster > KJ4JIO > > >

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ARISS News Release No. 20-15
by David Jordan 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

ARISS News Release No. 20-15 Dave Jordan, AA4KN ARISS PR aa4kn(a)amsat.org FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE ARISS Contact Scheduled for Students at College Raymond Sirot, Gueux, France September 8, 2020—AmateurRadio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received scheduleconfirmation for an ARISS radio contact with astronauts. ARISS is the groupthat puts together special amateur radio contacts between students around theglobe and crew members with ham radio licenses on the International Space Station (ISS). This will be a telebridge contact via amateur radio and students will take turnsasking their questions of ISS Commander Chris Cassidy, amateur radio call sign KF5KDR. ARISS telebridge operator Tony Hutchison, call sign VK5ZAI, will relaythe ARISS contact via his ham radio ground station in Pinks Beach, Australia. The ARISS radio contact is scheduled forSeptember 10, 2020 at 10:17 pm CEST (Gueux) (08:17 UTC, 4:17 amEDT, 3:17 am CDT, 2:17 am MDT and 1:17 am PDT). The schoolselected for the telebridge ARISS school contact is College Raymond Sirot orRaymond Sirot Middle School (with about 600 students ages 11 to 15) in thesmall town of Gueux. It is a rural school located in the northeastern area ofFrance, about 100 miles northeast of Paris. The school teachesstudents a wide range of subjects including technology, physics, biology,chemistry, mathematics, and the arts. _____________________________ Astime allows, students will ask these questions: 1. Why did you choosethis job? 2. How long did ittake to get ready for this mission? 3. What were yourfeelings when you left the Earth? 4. What was the firstthing you did when you got on board the ISS? 5. What are the mainobjectives of your mission? 6. What are the goalsof the experiments made in the ISS? 7. How are yousupplied during your mission? 8. How do you getenough water? Do you recycle it? 9. What do you do ifan astronaut gets sick on the ISS? 10. How does it feelto witness 16 sunsets and sunrises in one day and therefore, how do you makethe difference between night and day? 11. What is the mostdifficult task of daily life to achieve in weightlessness? 12. Is it difficultto wash yourself? To go to the toilet? 13. What do you dowhen you have some free time? 14. What is the mostdifficult thing you have to deal with in the ISS? Being far from your family?Fearing a technical problem? Living close to each other? 15. Do you think thathumankind will be able to colonize other planets one day? 16. Since your veryfirst mission, have you noticed any changes on the Earth? 17. What is your bestmemory in space? 18. What is yourworst memory in space? 19. Have you everbeen afraid for your life during a space mission? 20. Have you everobserved strange phenomena from the ISS? ARISS – Celebrating 20 Years of Amateur Radio Continuous Operations onthe ISS About ARISS: Amateur Radio on the InternationalSpace Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radiosocieties and the space agencies that support the International Space Station(ISS). In the United States, sponsorsare the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio RelayLeague (ARRL), the ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, and NASA’s SpaceCommunications and Navigation program. The primary goal of ARISS is to promoteexploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematicstopics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew membersaboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students,educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, andamateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org . MediaContact: DaveJordan, AA4KN ARISSPR Likeus on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Search on Amateur Radio on the ISS and@ARISS_status.

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Help with recordings of UPMSAT-2
by Felix Paez EA4GQS 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

Dear friends, UPMSAT-2 team would appreciate a lot if some of you could send some recordings of their satellite. They are very interested in recordings made outside Spain. Please be aware that UPMSAT-2 should be received in 437.405 MHz using USB, not FM. Any transmissions can be send to contacto(a)amsat-ea.org Thanks a lot, Felix EA4GQS

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ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Virtual Conference (DCC), September 11 - 12 (THIS WEEK)
by Mark Thompson 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

39th Annual ARRL / TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) THIS WEEK - Friday, September 11th & Saturday, 12th DCC will be a virtual conference using Zoom video communications and YouTube video-sharing platforms. DCC information, Technical Papers, Presentation Schedule & Registration Available at: DCC Information DCC Technical Papers DCC Presentation Schedule DCC Registration Registered DCC attendees participating via Zoom will be able to interact with presenters and other attendees via a chat room as well as raise a virtual hand to ask questions. (you don’t need a Zoom account to register). Non-registered DCC attendees can watch the live stream for free on YouTube, however non-registered DCC attendees will not be able to ask questions or chat. No registration is required for YouTube access. The YouTube URL will be announced and posted on this webpage preceding the DCC. DCC registration is free for TAPR members and $30 for non-members. Members receive a 100% discount at checkout. Non-members who would like to join TAPR and receive the free DCC pass can simply add TAPR membership and DCC registration to their shopping carts. After checkout, they will receive the free DCC pass when their membership is processed.

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Request for a couple Fox telemetry files? (to practice decoding)
by Curt Laumann 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

Hello, I downloaded and installed the Fox 1 Telemetry tool. A group of us are going to discuss using this tool during our weekly net tonight, and It thought it would be helpful to have a couple of audio files to practice decoding. If you have one or two telemetry audio files that you could send to k7zoo(a)arrl.net it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Curt / K7ZOO

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Re: [amsat-bb] AMSAT BoD Election... Please Vote!
by Burns Fisher 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

It seems perfectly clear that the root problem with AO-92 is that the batteries are no longer holding a charge as well as they did when new. I am not a battery expert, and unfortunately, we had no battery expert volunteers when the Foxes were being built (although we do now). Fox was designed for AMSAT engineering and ops to learn about cubesats. This is one of the things we learned. All the Foxes are complete--there is nothing we can do about that except work for better results on Golf. Another issue is that AO-92 sometimes stays in safe mode after the voltage rises again as it exits eclipse and requires a command station to start the repeater again. That is not the design. I'll take responsibility for that behavior since I wrote that software. And believe me I *am* analysing it to ensure future birds that I work on don't have that bug (which is subtle to the extent that I have not yet found it, or even been able to reproduce it on the ground). I'd add that these problems are most likely based on volunteer engineers with limited time butting up against fixed launch schedules set by large for-profit corporations with big payrolls. It's hard for me to imagine blaming the board of a volunteer, non-profit corporation for this situation. 73, Burns Fisher, WB1FJ AMSAT Flight Software Volunteer

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Re: [amsat-bb] Request for a couple Fox telemetry files? (to practice decoding)
by Roy Dean 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

> > Hello, I downloaded and installed the Fox 1 Telemetry tool. A group of us > are > going to discuss using this tool during our weekly net tonight, and It > thought it would be helpful to have a couple of audio files to practice > decoding. If you have one or two telemetry audio files that you could send > to > k7zoo at arrl.net <https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb> it > would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Curt / K7ZOO Curt, I actually plan on listening in this evening, and have an audio file from a pass yesterday, however it is over 100 mb. Do you have a way of accepting this via something other than email? --Roy K3RLD

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2020-09-08 12:30 UTC
by aj9n＠aol.com 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2020-09-08 12:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: College Raymond Sirot, Gueux, France, telebridge via VK5ZAI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Chris Cassidy KF5KDR Contact is go for: Thu 2020-09-10 08:17:01 UTC 57 deg Avellaneda Ikastetxea, Sodupe, Spain, telebridge via ZS6JON (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Chris Cassidy KF5KDR Contact is go for: Fri 2020-09-18 12:56:34 UTC 65 deg (***) There is a new radio on board the ISS. The Kenwood D710GA is now in use. The crossband repeater is now available when the radio is not being used for ARISS school contacts. The frequencies are 145.99 MHz up (67 tone) and 437.800 MHz down. Watch the Doppler on the downlink. ######################################################################################################################################## 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 2020-09-08 12:30 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 2020-09-02 20:00 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 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 1397. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1330. 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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Re: [amsat-bb] AMSAT BoD Election... Please Vote!
by E.Mike McCardel 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

Jeff stated “ A few days ago, one of the BoDs and the VP of Engineering stated on that he couldn’t be bothered with the failure of AO-92 and that if anyone wanted to know what happened to it, they could look at the data but he was too busy to do so. ” This is incredibly misleading and distorted. The VP of engineering said no such thing. In fact if you take the time to actually read his statement he offered to share information if someone wanted to dig deeper. He did say that current engineering priorities were “focused on Golf”. This is a far cry from saying he couldn’t be bothered with the failure of AO-92. You can look it up and read it for Yourself. People, please, do your fact checking and don’t be mislead by distortions of the truth. EMike McCardel, AA8EM Past Senior Editor AMSAT News Service Past AMSAT-NA VP Educational Relations Former ARRL, Ohio Section, Affiliated Club Coordinator > On Sep 7, 2020, at 9:01 PM, Jeff Johns via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> wrote: > > A few days ago, one of the BoDs and the VP of Engineering stated on QRZ.com that he couldn’t be bothered with the failure of AO-92 and that if anyone wanted to know what happened to it, they could look at the data but he was too busy to do so.

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New AMSAT net for Dallas/ Ft. Worth, Texas
by tjschuessler＠verizon.net 07 Sep '20

07 Sep '20

The DFW Metroplex has had a local AMSAT net for at least 35 years on the Arlington ARC repeater each Wednesday evening. It continues to be a great home for the net. I am a regular net control and have taken over the organization of the net following the passing of our late friend, Keith Pugh, W5IU. The metro area has grown so much to the North and East however, that most likely, folks up in that area have no way to get into the Arlington machine which is in the southwest quadrant, which in some cases is over 60 miles away. I tried to engage a linked repeater group in the area but they were not willing to host a "Non-Affiliated net" on their system. The Arlington machine has no Internet connectivity for modes like Wires-X or other of the digital voice modes. Thus I proposed to the Dallas Amateur Radio Club, of which I am a member, to let me host an AMSAT net-EAST. Dates will be every Tuesday at 8PM CT except the first Tuesday of the month. DARC does have an Echolink node on W5FC-R so it will allow for folks who can't hit it by RF, a chance still to get in with a local group of satellite enthusiasts. Oh yes, we will continue to host the West net on the Arlington machine as will. Yup, this is the same time as the Houston AMSAT net, which has an Echolink presence at the same time, but no intentional competition is intended. That is the slot DARC could give me. Our first DFW AMSAT East net is tomorrow, September 8th. I am posting this here, because I am hoping to do something unique with this net. I want to have a 20 minute "Expert" section where satellite chasers, designers, rovers, data downloaders, antenna builders and more, can share their passion for certain aspects of the hobby. Having an Echolink connection to the repeater means it will be easy to draw from the larger AMSAT community, both here and abroad. If you would be interested in being a part of this one week, please do drop me a note off list and we can discuss and set up a week for you to present. Hope yo can be a part of this new outreach venture. Tom Schuessler, N5HYP EM12ms

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Re: [amsat-bb] Icom IC-9700 and Kantronics TNC
by Yono Adisoemarta 06 Sep '20

06 Sep '20

What is the setup to decode ? I’ll try to replicate the problem as I have a 9612 somewhere in the storage. 73 de Yono - YD0NXX Sent from my iPhone

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Manual Tracking ISS pass times
by Robert Bruninga 05 Sep '20

05 Sep '20

For those who dont keep an up-to-date ISS tracking program always handy, I find it easy to remember that in general ISS passes are about 23 minutes later each day, but overall ,moving Earlier by 51 minutes every other day. See the plot about 40% down this page: http://aprs.org/MobileLEOtracking.html Nice to remember when you dont have access to heavens-above.com Again the actual orbit is moving earlier each day, but almost repeats every other day. Bob

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SatPC32 vs. HRD
by Rafael Pena 05 Sep '20

05 Sep '20

Mr. Payton, thanks for the many Qs in sat mod. I have used HRD with 9100 but it was caos....never / will not work, they claim is the Icom 9100 problem :( ...but since we are in the Icom 9700 once you talk to the radio which is not that difficult to do and setup the rotator. The display of the sats is awesome. One can track the sats via Elevation, World Map, or Radar. ....then....I have found that in many instances I have to enter the sat frequency, mode, etc., which can happen with any other software....logging now....kind of cumbersome to log a Sat qso...too many steps just to do one Sat log ...the software does not detect automatically the sat name...or maybe I don't know how to use it..... doppler works ok... Then I also used / tested Log40M...great software which allows just about anything, log, uploads, doppler, sat updates, rotor control, etc. Display of sats is neat. Very easy to setup...My issues were with uploading to eQSL...the contacts were not being uploaded properly...rejected by the other operator because of the wrong mode or something like that. LotW, QRZ was ok...just eQSL had this issue...maybe is fix with newer version. It was many months ago and I could not be manually uploding to eQSL. Now comes SatPC32. In conjunction with DXLab suite of apps, the Icom 9700 can be used in both, non-sat and sat mode as the software knows SatPC32 movements. DXKeeper automatically knows the name of satellite, mode, freq, time, etc. Loggin is a breeze....and properly setup it will tell you all of the needed information from the other operator; grid, name, qth, etc. Uploads to LotW, eQSL, QRZ are possible. My $.05 .... NN3RP / Rafael ******************************************** Message: 7 Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2020 21:36:10 +0000 From: Gerald Payton <gp_ab5r(a)outlook.com> To: "amsat-bb(a)amsat.org" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] SatPC32 vs. HRD Message-ID: <SN6PR11MB275287724C1FF25CAC78E3C7D02D0(a)SN6PR11MB2752.namprd11.prod.outlook.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" As I have previously stated, I am new and in the planning stages of my satellite station. I have SatPC32 installed and impressed with its abilities. Also, I am receiving encouragement from a friend to try HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) which I also own. I was wondering if and how many satellite operators are using HRD or have tried it. I suspect that SatPC32 of used primarily by most everyone. Many thanks for the help being received here and off the BB. 73, Jerry AB5R ------------------------------

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