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Jim Heck G3WGM talks to TX Factor about Transponder Test
by M5AKA 11 Apr '14

11 Apr '14

FUNcube-1 Transponder Test April 5-6: Jim Heck G3WGM talks to TX Factor - MP3 http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/04/transponder-test-jim-heck-g3wgm-talks-to-txf… ---- Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK Website http://amsat-uk.org/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSAT-UK/208113275898396 Twitter https://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK----

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I-20 Hamfest (Longview, TX) Satellite Demo - 12 April 2014
by Clayton Coleman 09 Apr '14

09 Apr '14

I'll be demonstrating satellites and flying the AMSAT banner at the I-20 Hamfest (http://i20hamfest.com/) on April 12. The site of the hamfest is in Longview, Texas (grid EM22pl.) The hamfest is scheduled to run from 7:30-11:30am local time. I plan to operate the following passes: VO-52 @ 13:33z FO-29 @ 13:40z <- Most favorable to us FO-29 @ 15:27z AO-73 @ 15:45z (if transponder turned on) If you hear W5PFG on these passes, please give us a call. I will QSL via normal means (card+SASE or Logbook of the World) if you need this grid confirmed for award purposes. 73 Clayton W5PFG

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Re: Balloon lost near Shrewsbury, PA (FOUND!)
by Robert Bruninga 09 Apr '14

09 Apr '14

Balloon found. We returned to site on 8 April with post-flight analysis and better estimate of where to look. We were only about 100 yards off. Details: http://aprs.org/balloons.html Final student lesson learned: Turn the Highdef video camera on before release. Since the students have the payload intact, we may try again in the next weeks or so. Bob, WB4APR *From:* Robert Bruninga [mailto:[email protected]] *Sent:* Monday, April 07, 2014 10:48 AM *To:* aprssig(a)tapr.org; aprs(a)yahoogroups.com *Cc:* amsat-bb(a)amsat.org; kang(a)usna.edu *Subject:* Balloon lost near Shrewsbury, PA Short Story. The balloon is lost near Shrewsbury, PA. But we are sure (now after post processing) that we know where it is within about an acre. See: http://aprs.org/balloons.html Premature burst (or separation) caused the payload to descend at over 5000 feet per minute slowing to 4000'/min (nearly 50 MPH straight down)at last posit. We did not know this at the time, and wasted our time searching the track 1/2 mile beyond the last data point assuming the much slower parachute design rate of 600'/min. When we got home, post processing revealed the high descent rate and the more likely spot much closer to the last known position. Also the high impact is why it probably ceased transmitting. Also we were looking for a balloon and parachute in the trees, not (as it turns out) for the football sized Styrofoam box (mostly covered in black duct tape!) somewhere on the ground in the underburush. We would not have noticed that between other occasional trash in the area. Contact info is on the balloon. Bob, WB4APR 410-293-6417

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Re: ? sat is on 145.850 +/-
by Richard Tejera 09 Apr '14

09 Apr '14

Has the FM transponder been activated yet? On April 8, 2014, at 04:03, Nick Pugh K5QXJ <quadpugh(a)bellsouth.net> wrote: Tnx Mike nick From: Mike Rupprecht [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2014 5:30 AM To: 'AMSAT'; Nick Pugh K5QXJ Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] ? sat is on 145.850 +/- Hi Nick, thats LituanicaSat-1 - # 39569 at 145.850 MHz 73 Mike DK3WN > Nick Pugh K5QXJ <quadpugh(a)bellsouth.net> hat am 8. April 2014 um 12:10 geschrieben: > > > I see a sat on 145.850 MHz +/- Doppler with probably 9.6 kbs can someone > on the list tell me what sat this is and it cat # > > > > > > > > > > Thanks > > > > nick > > Office 337 593 8700 > > Cell 337 258 2527 > > > > Helping UL become a world Class Engineering and Educational School > > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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? sat is on 145.850 +/-
by Nick Pugh K5QXJ 08 Apr '14

08 Apr '14

I see a sat on 145.850 MHz +/- Doppler with probably 9.6 kbs can someone on the list tell me what sat this is and it cat # Thanks nick Office 337 593 8700 Cell 337 258 2527 Helping UL become a world Class Engineering and Educational School

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Re :FS:146/437-10WBP With bag SOLD
by Rodney Waln 08 Apr '14

08 Apr '14

the item has sold thanks to eveyone for there intest, i don't do this very often so thanks for the webmaster and amsat.org for letting me do this. Rodney kc0zhf

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Not sure if others have seen this, I had not
by Chris Thompson 07 Apr '14

07 Apr '14

http://makezine.com/2014/04/07/interplanetary-makers-nasa-needs-your-input/ Many makers dream of building their own spacecraft to explore the cosmos. NASA is gearing up to help makers fulfill these dreams by first asking the community the fundamentals: *What are the best incentives for makers to build, fly, and communicate with small satellites in deep space?* This isn't the first time private citizens have been offered a chance to compete this far from home. Since 2007, the Google Lunar X-Prize has inspired contestants to try landing the first private rover on the moon. However, early criticisms that the GLXP is too much of a technical challenge<http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/4222146?page=5> to be winnable may be ringing true in light of the diminishing number of participants <http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2164/1>. Not surprising given that the well-funded, Chinese government-backed "Yutu" rover experienced difficulties shortly after its first harsh lunar night <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yutu_(rover)#Activities>. However, NASA's approach to engage makers seems to be more pragmatic in that it separately tackles two of the biggest problems with deep space exploration: communications and propulsion systems. According to the Agency's recently released "Request for Information <http://go.usa.gov/BBSj> :" NASA is considering initiating two challenges to incentivize development of deep space science and exploration capabilities for small spacecraft, including CubeSats, with the intention of broadening the national capability to support future exploration architectures. The first challenge will focus on finding innovative solutions to deep space communications with small spacecraft, while the second focuses on primary propulsion for small spacecraft. Together, these challenges are expected to contribute to opening deep space exploration to non-government spacecraft for the first time. Some of the proposed prizes would include monetary awards for demonstrating the following milestones for long-range communications systems: - *Communication Subsystem - Ground Demonstration and Selection for Launch* - *Largest Amount of Data Transmitted from Distance of Lunar Orbit* - *Last CubeSat Standing (Farthest CubeSat Transmission to Earth)* and for propulsion systems: - *Propulsion Subsystem Ground Demonstration and Selection for Launch* - *First CubeSat to Achieve Lunar Orbit* Initial timeframes for these challenges start with an anticipated draft release of rules in late April, with possible review of competitors' submissions by the end of 2014. CubeSat launches could be scheduled as early as the December 2017 as secondary payloads aboard NASA's Orion <http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/> and Space Launch System <http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/> vehicles. Although the official comment period ends has ended, program manager Dr. Larry Cooper is still very interested in hearing from you. Read the details in the RFI at http://go.usa.gov/BBSj and send Dr. Cooper an email at HQ-STMD-CentennialChallenges(a)mail.nasa.gov<HQ-STMD-CentennialChallenges(a)mail.nasa.gov?subject=Deep%20Space%20Spacecraft%20Challenges%20via%20Make>; use *Deep Space Spacecraft Challenges*on the Subject line. -- Chris E. Thompson chrisethompson(a)gmail.com g0kla(a)arrl.net

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CubeSat Workshop Recommendations + FCC 5 GHz
by M5AKA 07 Apr '14

07 Apr '14

UKSA 2013 CubeSat Workshop Recommendations Available http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/06/uksa-2013-cubesat-workshop-recommendations-a… FCC proposes giving more 5 GHz Spectrum to unlicensed devices http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/06/fcc-proposes-giving-more-5-ghz-spectrum-to-u… FUNcube-1 transponder to be active weekends http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/07/funcube-1-transponder-to-be-active-weekends/ Thai Amateur Radio Delegation Visit DARC http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/07/thai-amateur-radio-delegation-visit-darc/ ISS HamTV moves to 2369 MHz http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/07/iss-hamtv-moves-to-2369-mhz/ ---- Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK Website http://amsat-uk.org/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSAT-UK/208113275898396 Twitter https://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK----

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Hqm Video
by Gaston Bertels 07 Apr '14

07 Apr '14

HamTV Bulletin #11 April 7, 2014 Ham Video BlankTransmissions Presently, Ham Video is transmitting permanently a "blank" image and no audio in configuration 5: * ARISS antenna 43 * Frequency 2369 MHz * Symbol rate 1.3 Ms/s Reports on reception of blank transmissions are very welcome. Reports can be filed via this webpage: <http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_FSTV/submit.php>http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_FSTV/submit.php Participants using the Tutioune receiving software can record as well as stream detailed parameters of the received signal. Please see: <http://www.vivadatv.org/>http://www.vivadatv.org/ Reports are available at <http://www.vivadatv.org/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=294&p=785#p785>http://www.vivadatv.org/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=294&p=785#p785 Thank you for your participation to the Ham Video testing campaign. 73, Gaston Bertels, ON4WF ARISS Europe chairman

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Balloon lost near Shrewsbury, PA
by Robert Bruninga 07 Apr '14

07 Apr '14

Short Story. The balloon is lost near Shrewsbury, PA. But we are sure (now after post processing) that we know where it is within about an acre. See: http://aprs.org/balloons.html Premature burst (or separation) caused the payload to descend at over 5000 feet per minute slowing to 4000'/min (nearly 50 MPH straight down)at last posit. We did not know this at the time, and wasted our time searching the track 1/2 mile beyond the last data point assuming the much slower parachute design rate of 600'/min. When we got home, post processing revealed the high descent rate and the more likely spot much closer to the last known position. Also the high impact is why it probably ceased transmitting. Also we were looking for a balloon and parachute in the trees, not (as it turns out) for the football sized Styrofoam box (mostly covered in black duct tape!) somewhere on the ground in the underburush. We would not have noticed that between other occasional trash in the area. Contact info is on the balloon. Bob, WB4APR 410-293-6417

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OFCOM Update on 2.3GHz & 3.4GHz
by David Barber 07 Apr '14

07 Apr '14

OFCOM Update on 2.3GHz & 3.4GHz bands. http://tinyurl.com/ofhvh2z David Barber G8OQW ********

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FS:146/437-10WBP With bag
by Rodney Waln 07 Apr '14

07 Apr '14

Amsat'r special hi, i have up for sale a 146/437-10wbp satellite with purple roll up bag. origianal price for antenna $149.00 and bag $48.00. i must be crazy but it i an going to let both go for $70 with free shipping it is not needed any more and is in good working condition. i will accept paypal or usps money order only, us residence only! please e-mail me off list if intersted kc0zhf-----yahoo.com

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AO-73 Doppler
by Chris Thompson 06 Apr '14

06 Apr '14

I notice that the frequency calculated by MacDoppler is slightly off from the frequency that I hear the telemetry at. It's off by up to half a kHz. It's not a fixed offset (as I would expect if my Radio was not calibrated on the right frequency), so I can't just offset the frequency slightly in the software. Is this expected (within experimental error), or is likely that I have something wrong with my setup? It's hard to tell if I have the same offset for other satellites, because a CW beacon is present even if the tuning is off just slightly. When using a radio to receive AO-73 (vs the dongle) the tuning needs to be quite accurate. 73 Chris ac2cz -- Chris E. Thompson chrisethompson(a)gmail.com g0kla(a)arrl.net

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CO6CBF/p EL93, 82, 81, 72 and 71
by Hector, CO6CBF 06 Apr '14

06 Apr '14

Hello guys! I will be in a quick grid trip vacation to the Western part of my country. I plan to operate from some rare grids, as last year. All my efforts will be focused in EL81. Last year, I was not able to reach the coast to operate from EL81ax. It is the only portion of that grid which is on the big island. We have a tentative plan but it is not sure, everything depends of transportation. If everything is OK, We will be leaving Cienfuegos (EL92) very early on April 3rd ; we hope to be in EL93 for the evening passes. On Friday 4th , we will continue trip to EL82, 81, 72 and 71. We plan to be on that area until Monday morning. It is our plan but it may change. We won't have email capabilities during the trip. I will try to do some updates on the air. Operation will be on all Sat except AO-7. See you on the birds! 73! Hector, CO6CBF / KF5YXV

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ANS-096 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 06 Apr '14

06 Apr '14

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-096 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Memorial Service for Anthony "Tony" J. Monteiro, AA2TX (SK) Scheduled * W1AW/4 VA Young Operator Award * Dayton Hotel Reservations * Jerry Buxton, N0JY selected as AMSAT's VP-Engineering * Steve Coy, K8UD joins the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors * ARTSAT Project INVADER satellite Receives an OSCAR Number * AMSAT Awards SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-096.01 ANS-082 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 096.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. April 6, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-096.01 Memorial Service for Anthony "Tony" J. Monteiro, AA2TX (SK) Scheduled AMSAT has been received word from the family of Tony Monteiro, AA2TX that a service for Tony will be held on Saturday, April 26th at 4:00 PM at the North Parish of North Andover Unitarian Universalist Church, 190 Academy Road, North Andover, MA 01845. During the service there will be an opportunities for people to share their "Tony stories". For individuals wishing to share their stories via e-mail, they should be sent to remembertony2014(a)gmail.com They will be read at the service. AMSAT VP-Engineering and BoD member Tony Monteiro of North Andover, MA passed away on March 26, 2014 at age 55 from cancer. A special ANS Bulletin was released on March 28th which alerted amateurs around the world of Tony's passing. [ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- W1AW/4 VA Young Operator Award When the W1AW/4 VA operates the birds on April 8, 10. and 11, K4AMG will offer a special certificate four young ham radio operators 19 and under. This certificate will be free. To qualify for this certificate just send your QSL card to: W1AW/4 VA / K4AMG Memorial Amateur Radio Club 721 Wood Duck Lane Chesapeake, VA 23323 Contact info will be W1AW/4 VA K4AMG. If you want you may email your picture operating your SAT station for the K4AMG.org home page This is a free bonus for young hams. We will be honored to send you this free certificate prepared by our WEB MASTER WA9KFB. To receive your W1AW/4 VA credit in the ARRL 100th Celebration follow the standard ARRL procedures. [ANS thanks Rich, W4BUE, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dayton Hotel Reservations This year, AMSAT has reserved a block of rooms for the Dayton Hamvention at the Fairborn Country Inns and Suites at a special group rate. These rooms will be handled through the AMSAT office, rather then directly with the hotel. Preference will be given to those volunteering for a significant time for the AMSAT Booth operations. While the cutoff date for group rate reservations is April 24th, 2014, most of the rooms in our block have already been taken. If you want a room at the special AMSAT rate, call Martha ASAP (As Soon As Possible)! The hotel is conveniently located, with a good light breakfast. Many of the AMSAT officers and others who are active in AMSAT will be staying there. You can catch up on old friendships, and bend people's ear. It is also a great place to catch a ride to and from the Hara Arena and other venues from those who have driven or rented vehicles. Please CALL the office to give Martha your name and credit card number. From the US call toll free at (888) 322-6728. From all other locations call (301) 589-6062. [ANS thanks Steve, N9IP, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Jerry Buxton, N0JY selected as AMSAT's VP-Engineering In a special AMSAT Board of Directors meeting held via GoToMeeting on Tuesday, April 1st, the board unanimously approved the selection of Jerry Buxton, N0JY of Granbury, TX as AMSAT VP-Engineering. Jerry replaces Tony Monteiro, AA2TX who passed away on March 26th. Given the significance of completing Fox-1 for delivery on time later this year, the Board recognized that the Fox Program must continue under leadership that is focused on completing AMSAT's latest satellite. Selecting a new VP-Engineering is an important step towards maintaining the momentum that was developed under Tony's leadership and to avoid creating an engineering leadership vacuum as work continues on the satellite. The Engineering Team deserves to have the new leadership identified in order to be in position to make the appropriate engineering decisions. AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW notes, "Jerry is well qualified to become our new VP-Engineering. His overall knowledge of the Fox-1 program as Systems Engineer under Tony Monteiro coupled with his professional experience in managing complex technical projects will put AMSAT's engineering programs in good hands. Just as important, his management experience and ability to lead engineering teams is critical as our volunteers work hard to deliver the satellite to Cal Poly later this year." Jerry has been involved with the AMSAT Fox-1 Project as Systems Engineer since September 2011. Recently retired following a 39 year career with Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway, he spent the last 13 years of his career working with the railroad's train dispatching systems. These systems are used to control train traffic over approximately 32,000 miles of track, in a manner similar to air traffic control. Jerry served as project manager as well as participating in the design and development of safety-critical train routing and movement instruction systems, and positive train separation technology. He successfully implemented several mission critical systems in his role as Senior Manager, Network Control Systems and was awarded "Employee of the Year" along with others involved in the Train Management and Dispatch System Project, in 2006. Jerry became involved in amateur radio satellites with AO-7 and joined AMSAT in April 1983. He currently holds an Extra Class License and is also licensed in Colombia, S.A. as HK5JY. An active amateur, Jerry was number 3 in the world for the number of telemetry frames copied from ARISSat-1. He is also active on terrestrial HF through 1.2 GHz. "My promotion to Vice President, Engineering is both a humbling honor and a great challenge", notes Jerry. "Tony did much of the work and built an excellent Team of hard working volunteers to design and build AMSAT-NA's first CubeSat. I have every confidence that the Fox-1 Team will complete and deliver a reliable satellite that will reflect well on Tony's legacy." The March/April issue of AMSAT JOURNAL will have more information concerning AMSAT's new VP-Engineering. [ANS thanks AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Coy, K8UD joins the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Steve Coy, K8UD of Beavercreek, OH has assumed the seat on the AMSAT Board of Directors formerly held by Tony Monteiro, AA2TX. Steve was originally elected by the AMSAT membership as a Board 'alternate' in the 2013 BoD election and will hold a voting seat through the next BoD election that takes place later this summer. [ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARTSAT Project INVADER satellite Receives an OSCAR Number The following was received from Bill Tynan, W3XO, AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Administrator. The ARTSAT Project, INVADER satellite meets all of the qualifications necessary to receive an OSCAR number. I therefore designate the ARTSAT Project INVADER satellite, Cubesat OSCAR-77 or CO-77. Thus CO-77 joins the earlier Japanese cubesats such as XI-IX(CO-57), XI-V(CO-58), Cute-I(CO-55), SEEDS-II(CO-66). Congratulations to you and the entire ARTSAT team for the launch and operation of Amateur Radio satellite, CO-77. May its mission be a successful one. [ANS thanks Bill, W3XO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Awards The following have entered into the Satellite Communicators Club for making their first satellite QSO. Alan Ehrenberg, N9EDV Benjamin Gaston, KV4RH Scott Medbury, KD5FBA Doug Birky, KB8M Richard Manderski, W2SKI Eric Stapleton, VA7TU The following have earned the AMSAT Communications Achievement Award. Richard Manderski, W2SKI, #562 The following have earned the South Africa Satellite Communications Achievement Award. Richard Manderski, W2SKI, #US190 To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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Balloon launch SUnday Southern PA
by Robert Bruninga 05 Apr '14

05 Apr '14

Balloon chase Sunday morning, Southern PA: Should hear it over all Midatantic states! Our balloon will be launched near Chambersburg, PA 9 AM? and will fly across southern PA landing somehwehre near Newark, DE. It will fly faster than the launch team, so we hope other hams will get to the recovery site before we do and catch it on the way down. But when you find it, leave it be, so our students can recvover it. Balloon is W3ADO-11 and will switch to CRASH symbol when near the ground and using WIDE1-1 path. Will use no path at higher altitudes. Will be on 144.39 Our repeater list is as follows: 100 Chambersburg 443.700+ tone 131 101 Haggerstown 442.650+ tone 79 102 Gettysburg 443.100+ tone 103 103 Frederick 442.800+ tone 97 104 Lancaster 449.275- tone 114 105 449.575- tone 114 106 York 447.275- tone 123 107 Parksburg 442.000+ tone 94 108 Newark DE 449.025- tone 131 109 simplex 446.000 110 Annapolis 444.400+ tone 107 APRS 144.39 (on left side of radio) Bob, WB4APR

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AMSAT pass prediction page.
by Tom Schuessler 05 Apr '14

05 Apr '14

I asked this question maybe a year ago at a point after the rehab of the hacked AMSAT web site but now that sufficient time has elapsed I feel as one who wants to promote AMSAT and Amateur Radio Satellite activities, I have to bring up again. There are still, this far down the path issues with the AMSAT Pass prediction page that need to be addressed. First one should be easy. The pass prediction page was resurrected by reusing old code and linking to it from the new WordPress main page all well and good. Problem is that all the links on the pass prediction page that should link back other parts of the site, including clicking on the banner picture at the top are broken and should be restored. Another concern is the actual satellite drop down list. The contents of which have not bee updated in a while save for the inclusion of AO-73 at the top. Ray Hoad, WA5QGD does a yeoman's job of keeping up with the orbital elements from various sources each week and sending out a great composit listing. Since I believe this distribution is the source for the data that does the predictions for web users, it should be fairly easy to parse the list of two line elements and regenerate the drop down list on a weekly basis. As a newbie back in 2010 to the world of Amateur Radio satellites, I used the on-line prediction tool quite often and think that it needs to be considered as an important part of our promotion efforts. Thus it needs to be current. Lest you all think I am just ragging at our AMSAT NA web guys for not being current. I found it interesting to find that on the AMSAT-UK web site, they have a page that is a listing of dopler.SQF values for use in SatPC32. Cool I thought, guidance from the source on FunCube frequencies for use in this wonderful tracking program. Go to http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/doppler-sqf-2/ and see if I am mistaken but I bet you will not find either AO-73 or FunCube-1 listed in the file. 73 to all Tom Schuessler 2713 Lake Gardens Drive Irving, Texas 75060 972-986-7456 214-403-1464 (Cell) n5hyp(a)arrl.net

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VUCC Satellite #248
by Paul Stoetzer 05 Apr '14

05 Apr '14

Good afternoon, Today I received VUCC Satellite certificate #248, dated March 26, 2014. Thanks to all for the QSOs and QSLs. Special thanks to those I've worked in multiple grid squares. Although I had made a handful of QSOs previously, my serious satellite operating started on August 21st of last year. On January 23rd, I received the QSL card for my 100th grid and my cards were checked on February 24th. All of my satellite operating is done portable in the courtyard and parking lot area of my apartment building about a mile southwest of the U. S. Capitol. My uplink transmitter is a FT-817ND and I've used a Kenwood TH-F6A HT, a Icom IC-R10 handheld receiver, and now use a FT-817 with blown finals as the downlink receiver. I've used both Arrow and Elk antennas and have now settled on the Elk. Operating portable through this brutal winter has been fun! I've been outside early in the morning to work OH2FQV on FO-29 with negative wind chills and I remember going out for a 3:30am pass of AO-7 to work UT1FG/MM out in the Atlantic where it was 25 degrees with 25 mph winds. I look forward to continuing the chase and increasing my totals. As of this morning, I am at 233 grids worked and 128 confirmed. Thanks again, 73, and see you on the birds! Paul Stoetzer, N8HM Washington, DC (FM18lv)

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CO6CBF news...
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 05 Apr '14

05 Apr '14

Hi! Hector CO6CBF is traveling around western Cuba, and called to advise of his plans for tonight and tomorrow. He will be on the upcoming FO29 pass around 0149 UTC from EL72/EL82 - he has already worked some passes from this area. For Saturday morning around 1200 UTC, he plans to be on from EL81. Good luck, and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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FUNcubes 2, 3 and 4 in Spring issue of OSCAR News
by M5AKA 04 Apr '14

04 Apr '14

The Spring edition of the AMSAT-UK publication OSCAR News,now available for download by E-members, features a report on the FUNcube-2, 3 and 4 payloads to be carried on three new satellites http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/04/spring-issue-of-oscar-news-2/ MO-76 $50sat is Revolution Education project of the month http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/03/mo-76-50sat-is-rev-ed-project-of-the-month/ The final edition of the ARTSAT1:INVADER (CO-77) promotional video has now been added to http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/03/artsat1invader-designated-oscar-77/ NASA - Roscosmos co-operation http://spacekate.com/2014/is-us-russian-space-co-operation-at-risk/ ---- Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK Website http://amsat-uk.org/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSAT-UK/208113275898396 Twitter https://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK----

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TG9ADQ
by Wyatt Dirks 04 Apr '14

04 Apr '14

Just worked TG9ADQ on fo29. Also heard TG9ANF. They were both cqing on the same freq and neither could hear very well. Listen for them and hopefully get them in the log. I believe they are both using Omni antennas which is the limiting factor I believe. 73 Wyatt AC0RA

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13 colonies special event
by Jeff Griffin 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

It has been decided by the 13 colonies special event group that there will be no satellite precipitation in the event this year. I will look at this again next year to see if would be doable. It just doesn't make sense to do a 13 colonies event with only 8 states on the air. 73 Jeff kb2m

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Re: Arrow and ELK antennas
by Clint Bradford 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

I just had someone privately email me, berating me for making him click a link for background info on this topic, instead of simple posting it here. OK, here we go ... The Great Antenna Debate - Now that you have the basic information on the Arrow II and Elk Hand Held Satellite Antennas, you'll likely become part of the great debate as to which antenna is better than the other. The fact is, they're both great antennas! You'll have to decide for yourself as it all comes down to personal taste. Read the article by K6LCS - Clint Bradford as he attempts to put a final word on the debate! Every few months a thread starts somewhere on the 'Net - demeaning Arrow Antennas for whatever reason. Or the "Elk vs. Arrow" silliness - where one will tell all that one or the other is vastly superior to the other ... There's plenty of "Elk vs. Arrow" debate on the `Net. A lot of it pure rubbish - and not written by people who have actually purchased and own both units as they make their uneducated allegations. A couple of the re-occurring themes ... "Arrow doesn't publish gain numbers for their antennas." This is true. Maybe a little "arrogant" of Arrow, too (grin). But reliable test data is out there - and thousands of owners will attest that their Arrow Antennas are performing magnificently for what they were designed to do. "The Arrow is hard to transport." Well, I devote my entire Ford Ranger's covered pickup bed to my Arrow when I take it places. Rarely has it been disassembled. But to make it absolutely flat, all one needs to do is unscrew the three 2M element pairs, and you have a flat plane of an antenna. "Arrows are all engineered wrong - they cannot possibly work." A little story for you. While working for HRO-Anaheim a few years ago, I sold an Arrow to a client for working the satellites. I had first-hand experiences with the Arrow, and therefore could wholeheartedly recommend them to others. The gentleman was waiting for me to open up the shop the next morning, with his Arrow in hand. "I know antenna theory, and this antenna cannot possibly work - it is engineered all wrong - I want a refund!" - he demanded. Hmmm. Part of me wanted to discover if he assembled it correctly, and whether or not he actually tested it. But the other part of me was thinking, "Well, I can purchase it myself as an open-box item ... " Which I did. And it is the SAME antenna that I have used the past 6+ years for EVERY demo and presentation I have given. Moral of the story: The Arrow Antenna may not please some engineers. But it sure pleases those who desire to work the FM satellites. "The Arrow Antenna is much heavier ... " I have brand-new, un-opened Elk and brand-new, un-opened Arrow in my hands. The Elk package weighs 35.6 ounces. The Arrow weight 33.6 ounces. Any "weight difference issue" is, well, NOT an issue. And on and on ... EITHER antenna is a great investment. Most of the anti-Arrow nonsense on the `Net remind me of while my wife was proudly carrying her Nikon F in the 1970s (arguably the most significant SLR in 35mm history), others would comment, "Oh, my Pentax / Minolta / Canon is as good as that ... " --- But you never heard any Nikon owner state any such comparison ... (grin) How do the Elk and Arrow compare? Both work the FM birds very well. Either make working the FM sats feel like "cheating" - the gain is that dramatic over any HT whip improvements you might make. But from someone who has purchased both and has used them both, the Arrow "senses" the initial capturing of a sat's signal more definitively than the Elk does. I mean, in front of darned near every audience, I'll declare, "There it is!" - when those close to me don't hear anything of note. But that slight "dip" in the background noise ... no SWR meter can detect it ... you can just hear the beginning of capturing the signal better with the Arrow than with the Elk. This is NOT a scientific conclusion - just my personal observation after working the sats for several years with both antennas. ** And although it takes more patience and finesse to work with "lesser" antennas, remember this: One of the first 2M reception reports from the 250mW transmitter aboard the new ARISSat-1 satellite was from a gentleman using a STOCK DUCK on his Yaesu VX-8 HT! SO ... simple HT antenna improvements (Smiley 270A ... Diamond SHR-320A) are certainly viable options! Antenna suggestions - and DIY projects - on the ANTENNAS page at ... http://www.work-sat.com Clint Bradford - K6LCS (**Editor's Note: I have experienced this phenomenon myself! This really does happen.) /end/

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Re: Arrow and ELK antennas
by Clint Bradford 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

A discussion on the "Arrow vs. Elk" issue is posted here ... http://work-sat.com/My_Gear.html And I just saw an Arrow Sat antenna go up on eBay ... the ULTIMATE model, with diplexer ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/331169185629 Clint K6LCS

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PCSAT Spin rate still 0.6 RPM
by Robert Bruninga 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

For what it's worth: PCSAT is still maintaining a 0.6 RPM spin about the Z axis. Today for fun, we commanded PCSAT and got 4 minutes of 10 second data. During 100 seconds it completed 1 revolution which equates to 0.6 RPM, the same rate as 13 years ago. >From that we conclude that our (black/white) solar radiation differential pressure spin system is still working fine. AND that the white paint has not changed in 13 years in space (it was very expensive unobtainium two-part white space paint begged from a government launch agency). Only the equatorial antennas are painted black and white on the front and back to give us the Z spin. The others were "Stanley yellow". See the original photo on http://aprs.org/pcsat.html As a refresher, in addition to this 0.6 RPM around the Z axis, there is also the 0.02 RPM tumble about the Z axis since Z has a bar magnet to follow the Earth's magnetic field which then tumbles once over each pole. Users: Routine Digipeating via PCSAT is not encouraged, since every now and then (very rare) we do take a stab at commanding it, and invariably, just when we are getting lucky, someone hits it with a packet for digipeating and robs us of the ONE-PACKET chance we have of getting in. But then we so rarely command it, that it does not make sense to insist that no one use it either. Just glad it is still working (sort of)... Bob, WB4APR

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Arrow and ELK antennas
by Douglas Phelps 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

Is the UHF gain the same on both the Arrow and ELK antennas? I think I read that field comparisons seemed to indicate the were close to the same but the UHF part has 7 elements and, although I know its a log periodic antenna, the ELK does not appear to have as much UHF gain. Any help or experience would be appreciated. Doug K9DLP

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Oscar 7 and 73 – The old and the new
by M5AKA 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

Oscar 7 and 73 – The old and the new http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/03/oscar-7-and-73-the-old-and-the-new/ Euroluna Ion Motor CubeSat Video http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/02/euroluna-ion-motor-cubesat-video/ FUNcube-1 / AO-73 Transponder April 5-6 http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/02/funcube-1-ao-73-transponder-april-5-6/ Launch date confirmed for UKube-1 which carries a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards providing a 435/145 MHz linear transponder and educational telemetry beacon http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/01/ukube-1-june-19-launch-date/ ---- Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK Website http://amsat-uk.org/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSAT-UK/208113275898396 Twitter https://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ----

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Re: Another theory regarding the Fermi Paradox
by Howie DeFelice 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

> The Fermi Paradox asks, if there are other intelligent civilizations in the > galaxy, why have they not come to visit us? ...They must have intercepted satellite transmissions of C-SPAN and concluded there is no intelligent life on earth. - Howie AB2S

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DSTAR Satellite users net weather permitting
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

Hi All D Star Satellite users net tonight 0100 utc on REF 60 B Thanks WA4HFN em55 Damon

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Re: Ferrite RFI filters and Traps? (yes!)
by Robert Bruninga 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

>> I cut the RFI Ferrite blobs off of all trash Keyboards and stuff. >> These are great Ferrite devices. >> But what are they best for? > Check out this article from Chuck Councilman W1HIS: > http://www.yccc.org/Articles/W1HIS/CommonModeChokesW1HIS2006Apr06.pdf Wow, a long one, but on page 24 of 42 I learned a great technique. He says, simply put a turn or two on any ferrite core and hook it to an antenna analyzer. Then look at the impedance over frequency. At DC (or your lowest frequency) the impedance should be very low (and 90 degrees) Meaning the R is very low and the +jX is very high. Keep going up in frequency to where the R and jX terms are equal. That is where the Q is now 1 and the ferrite is starting to get quite lousy. He also said that as you double frequency, the R part of the impedance should also double. When you get to the frequencies where a doubling of frequency no longer doubles R, then you are starting to get into frequencies where this core is less effective. That is exactly the kind of rule-of-thumb advice I was looking for! Now I know what to do with all these cores! Bob, WB4aPR

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INVADER is "Cubesat OSCAR-77 (CO-77)"
by Akihiro Kubota 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

Please note that ARTSAT1:INVADER (call:ZQ1ZKK, norad:39577U) has got its OSCAR number: Cubesat OSCAR-77 (CO-77) was issued to INVADER on April 2, 2014. We would like to express best thanks to AMSAT-NA and all of you. ARTSAT Web Page: http://artsat.jp ARTSAT Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/artsat Akihiro Kubota ARTSAT Project Leader ===== - Message from Mr. Bill Tynan, W3XO (2014/04/02) Professor Kubota-san: Thank you for your reply. >From what I can determine, the ARTSAT Project, INVADER satellite meets all of the qualifications necessary to receive an OSCAR number. In accordance with your e-mail response, I will use Cubesat in the designation for this satellite. I therefore designate the ARTSAT Project INVADER satellite, Cubesat OSCAR-77 or CO-77. Thus CO-77 joins the earlier Japanese cubesats such as XI-IX(CO-57), XI-V(CO-58), Cute-I(CO-55), SEEDS-II(CO-66). Congratulations to you and the entire ARTSAT team for the launch and operation of Amateur Radio satellite, CO-77. May its mission be a successful one. 73, William (Bill) Tynan, W3XO AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Administrator =====

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OFCOM VHF Consultation Document
by David Barber 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

Link to OFCOM VHF consultation - Includes potential expansion of UK 2m. http://tinyurl.com/o3tdohe David Barber G8OQW ********

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Joe Walsh on Ham Nation Tonight!
by Clint Bradford 02 Apr '14

02 Apr '14

TONIGHT - Wednesday night, Joe Walsh WB6ACU is going to be on the Ham Nation show with us. Will be a blockbuster show with several in- studio guests. Joe will be introducing a new host that is joining the show. That is 6PM PDT / 8PM CDT, Wed April 2, 2014. Go top http://www.twit.tv and click on WATCH LIVE! And join the discussion room! Clint PS Before ANYONE asks, "Why post this here, Clint???" - Well, if anyone has ever heard Joe perform, they'd agree that his work is space-worthy and out of this world ... If that isn't good enough, just know that Ham Nation has been very supportive of "working the satellites" - just view episodes 11 and 46, for starters ...

2 1

Ferrite RFI filters and Traps?
by Robert Bruninga 02 Apr '14

02 Apr '14

I cut the RFI Ferrite blobs off of all trash Keyboards and stuff. These are great Ferrite devices. But what are they best for? IE, 1) are they intentionally lossy or are they High Q? and 2) What is their Optimium Frequency range (all ferrite torroid coil forms come in a variety of materials optimized for different frequency ranges. There is a big difference between the ferrite in a switching power supply (100 kHz) and something usable at VHF or UHF. I assume these ferrite tubes are probably optimized for digital and power supply hash only and so probably only suitable for use at HF, but probably not at VHF and UHF? And what is their Q? Can they be used for making high Q circuits? Today I am using some on the outside of a coax right at the edge of a cubesat to decouple the coax going to the network analyzer from the RF enveolope of the spaceframe for antenna tuning. So today's question had to do with their ability to serve as a high loss filter at UHF. But we may as well list all we know about these ferrites for other applications? p.s. My method for getting them out of the molded rubber is to cut the cable right clean at the ends. Then use a large drill (1/4") to drill out all the internal wires. Then use a hacksaw to cut off one end of the rubber as close as possible to the ferrite but without cutting it. Then pealing back the rubber or nibbling at it with a pair of dikes.... Got a hobby drawer full now. Bob, WB4APR

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Re: Joe Walsh on Ham Nation Tonight!
by Jeff Yanko 02 Apr '14

02 Apr '14

Can't get any better than this. Life's Been Good. Jeff WB3JFS ----- Original Message ----- From: "Clint Bradford" <clintbrad4d(a)earthlink.net> To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2014 2:14 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Joe Walsh on Ham Nation Tonight! > TONIGHT - Wednesday night, Joe Walsh WB6ACU is going to be on the Ham > Nation show with us. > > Will be a blockbuster show with several in- studio guests. Joe will be > introducing a new host > that is joining the show. > > That is 6PM PDT / 8PM CDT, Wed April 2, 2014. > > Go top http://www.twit.tv and click on WATCH LIVE! And join the discussion > room! > > Clint > > PS Before ANYONE asks, "Why post this here, Clint???" - Well, if anyone > has ever heard Joe perform, > they'd agree that his work is space-worthy and out of this world ... If > that isn't good enough, just > know that Ham Nation has been very supportive of "working the > satellites" - just view episodes 11 > and 46, for starters ... > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >

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13 colonies sat ops
by Jeff Griffin 02 Apr '14

02 Apr '14

The yearly 13 colonies event up to now also included a special separate event for satellite operations. http://www.13colonies.info/Satellites.htm This included a 13 colonies sweep satellite certificate. This is one of the few awards still offered to satellite operators that has international recognition. I can vividly remember the last time, 2 years ago giving satellite operators the sweep from DE, most notably our Cuban friend Hector. Last year we only had sat operations from 11 of the 13 states. I just did an informal survey of the states that participated last year and find that only 7 states will be active this year. The consensus among the 13 colonies group is that this isn't going to work. We need to get all 13 colonies involved. The states we need to get operations going from are. CT DE MD NC PA RI If we get the rest I will once again make the trip to DE to assure anyone who wants the sweep. I know there has to be at least one good sat op in all of these states, let's not let this die. Let me know off list if you're interested in getting involved, I will do all I can to assist... 73 Jeff kb2m

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MO-76 wins PICAXE project of the month
by Howie DeFelice 02 Apr '14

02 Apr '14

The MO-76 $50sat team is pleased to announce that $50sat was chosen as Project of the Month by Rev-Ed, the makers of the PICAXE processor used in MO-76. http://www.picaxe.com/Project-Gallery/50SAT/ Howie AB2S

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Another theory regarding the Fermi Paradox
by Daniel Schultz 02 Apr '14

02 Apr '14

The following paper "A Necro-Biological Explanation for the Fermi Paradox" appeared on the physics preprint server this morning: http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.8146 The Fermi Paradox asks, if there are other intelligent civilizations in the galaxy, why have they not come to visit us? I have no comment regarding the date of publication. Dan Schultz

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Re: Tropical Island Radio
by Brenton Salmi 01 Apr '14

01 Apr '14

Bob, That is awesome! I feel like this video is relevant: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uac… - KB1LQD On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 1:45 PM, Bob- W7LRD <w7lrd(a)comcast.net> wrote: > add this and it will work even better > 73 Bob W7LRD > > ------------------------------ > *From: *"Brenton Salmi" <kb1lqd(a)gmail.com> > *To: *"amsat-bb(a)amsat.org BB" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > *Sent: *Tuesday, April 1, 2014 1:29:05 PM > *Subject: *[amsat-bb] Tropical Island Radio > > > I found this neat project documenting a simple radio for emergencies... I > wonder if it can hear a few sat passes as well! > > http://www.planetanalog.com/author.asp?section_id=3065&doc_id=562768& > > - Brent, KB1LQD > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > >

2 2

Tropical Island Radio
by Brenton Salmi 01 Apr '14

01 Apr '14

I found this neat project documenting a simple radio for emergencies... I wonder if it can hear a few sat passes as well! http://www.planetanalog.com/author.asp?section_id=3065&doc_id=562768& - Brent, KB1LQD

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information
by João Fonseca 01 Apr '14

01 Apr '14

Hello, I've read this http://www.google.pt/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=… Can you please tell me how can I use the bird 43 on 23cm band? I need a good precise swr meter for 70cm and 23cm band. However from specs bird 43 can't go to 23cm, only limited to 1000MHz. Thank you. Best regards, João Fonseca

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Re: information
by Dino Papas 01 Apr '14

01 Apr '14

João - the Bird 43 does in fact work at 1296. The “K” series of slugs are for the 1.1-1.8 GHz frequency span. I have the 1/10W slugs and they work FB; there are 25W and 50W elements available as well. The manual lists the specification of the meter up to 2700 MHz with the appropriate slug of course. The biggest problem with the Bird 43 is that the cost of the meter itself is relatively inexpensive in the used market gathering up a suite of slugs for your workbench gets expensive…kind of like eating peanuts though! 73 - Dino KL0S On Mar312014, at 1311 PM, João Fonseca <concorde93(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hello, > > > I've read this > http://www.google.pt/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=… > > Can you please tell me how can I use the bird 43 on 23cm band? I need a > good precise swr meter for 70cm and 23cm band. However from specs bird 43 > can't go to 23cm, only limited to 1000MHz. > > > Thank you. > > > Best regards, > > João Fonseca

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CAPE-2 #2012 over Brazil
by Roland Zurmely 01 Apr '14

01 Apr '14

1:Fm W5UL-15 To W5UL <UI F/C Pid=F0 Len=68> [14:46:01R] +W5UL,CAPE-2,2,GR,201301281942CST,5094mV,01011,2,32C,25C,ulcape.org# 73 de Roland PY4ZBZ

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New CW msg on MO-76
by Howie DeFelice 31 Mar '14

31 Mar '14

A new message has been added to the $50sat CW rotation in memory of Tony AA2TX; "73 AA2TX" - Howie AB2S

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News
by K&R Yoksh 30 Mar '14

30 Mar '14

Hello! http://jacquiang.com/hz/br-news.php K&R Yoksh

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Noob Questions
by Kevin M 30 Mar '14

30 Mar '14

Could someone tell me what the "top 10" SSB/CW (non-FM only) birds are that are operational and most popular these days? Sorry, but it doesn't get to 10.... there are only four operational. FO-29 - JAS 2 Uplink: 145.900 – 146.000 MHz Downlink: 435.800 – 435.900 MHz (inverted) Beacon: 435.795 MHz 12WPM with CW message AO-7 - OSCAR 7 Mode B Uplink: 432.125 - 432.175 MHz Downlink: 145.975 - 145.925 MHz (inverted) Beacon: 145.972 MHz VO-52 - HAMSAT Uplink: 435.225 to 435.275 MHz LSB/CW Downlink: 145.875 to 145.925 MHz USB/CW (inverted) Beacon: 145.860 MHz 12WPM with CW message AO-73 - Funcube-1 Uplink: 435.160 - 435.140 MHz LSB/CW Downlink: 145.950 - 145.970 MHz USB/CW (inverted) Beacon: 145.935 MHz transponder active when in eclipse My recommendation would be to spend less on the beams and more on feedline and preamps. Those are circular polarized antennas... without wiring up relays to switch directions, you are better off just having a single polarity. It's my understanding from ops that DO have switching CP that you won't know from one pass to the next whether the bird will be RHCP or LHCP relative to your location. http://sv1bsx.50webs.com/antenna-pol/polarization.html I am about to put up a couple of used Cushcraft beams and I consider it a bit of overkill myself; an A430-11S and an A144-10S. I plan to mount one vertical and the other horizontal to help with desense separation. I was originally working AO-7, FO-29 and VU-52 with a couple homebrew antennas tilted about 20 degrees on a TV rotor; 7 elements on UHF and a 2m 'IO' antenna... and NO preamps. The extra gain of the Cushcraft antennas will be nice for low horizon passes, but I will definitely need the AZ-EL rotor with that much gain... and with the preamps, I should be able to hear about anything. I would recommend Davis Buryflex 9913F or maybe LMR-400 for feedline... However at 50 feet, if you have preamps, RG-213 would be just fine. I plan to mimic the preamp installation of KB5WIA... I got one of those cases cheap from MCM Electronics and picked up some used ARR preamps like he has. (25 watt transmit limit, but that is PLENTY! In fact, it's probably TOO much.) I also got a couple of MFJ diplexers to add to each feedline before the preamp to filter out the other band. But if you do add preamps, go with Davis Buryflex between the antennas and preamps... that is where you will lose receive signal. http://kb5wia.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html Good luck with the frankenrotor... that looks pretty cool! I was lucky enough to find a used 5400B... I just hope it doesn't have any problems. Feel free to e-mail me for any details like the case, homebrew antenna plans, etc. 73, Kevin N4UFO n4ufo(a)yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Control is the need of the fearful mind. Trust is the need of the courageous heart."

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5 in EM55
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 29 Mar '14

29 Mar '14

Star Comm Group would like to congratulate WA7ETH for Award #48 5 in EM55 good job ED keep working the birds WA4HFN em55 Damon

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N American Satellite Activity UP
by Clayton Coleman 29 Mar '14

29 Mar '14

The past 7 days there has been a noticeable increase in activity on most satellite passes over North America due in part to a grid expedition by AC0RA. Wyatt posted his expedition here on the BB a few weeks ago. Over the course of this past week I understand he has made hundreds of contacts. Some of the grids Wyatt visited have not been activated on the birds in several years. This was evident by the number of people who are leading the ARRL VUCC Satellite standings needing those grids. Fortunately Wyatt put forth an effort that accomodated many working peoples' schedules and whether or not people who needed that grid were in the footprints he worked. One thing that can be done to encourage such activity is by mentoring new stations. I cringe at the "anti-handheld in the backyard mentality" because those operators are our future. Some of them may take on roles in AMSAT engineering, some may focus on operations (grid trips,) and more importantly some may desire to educate the next generation about satellite and space communications. Last night I worked a station who told me I was one of his first contacts. We've exchanged a few emails and now he's looking to operate from a rare, neighboring grid square situated a mere 5 miles from his home. It's been a fun week for many of us chasing these seldom-heard grids. If you have the equipment to operate outside the confines of your shack, I would encourage you to do so. Not only is it an opportunity to refresh your basic skills, it attracts others to do so, and gives a chance for you to activate grid squares absent of any regular satellite operators. 73 Clayton W5PFG

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FUNcube/AO-73 Mode change
by Roland Zurmely 29 Mar '14

29 Mar '14

Video by PY5LF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzfSHmrg76M 73 de Roland PY4ZBZ

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Noob Questions
by Goody K3NG 29 Mar '14

29 Mar '14

Greetings, Could someone tell me what the "top 10" SSB/CW (non-FM only) birds are that are operational and most popular these days? I've been looking at these antennas: *http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/msq-2mcp14 <http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/msq-2mcp14>* *http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/msq-436cp30 <http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/msq-436cp30>* Are these antennas reasonable choices? Should I get preamps right away or hold off for awhile? (I planned on using two runs of RG-213, about 50'.) I'm working on a homebrew az/el rotation system: http://blog.radioartisan.com/frankenrotator/ Thanks in advance for the help. 73 Goody K3NG

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Fwd: AmSat Tony AA2TX FunCube
by Bryce Salmi 29 Mar '14

29 Mar '14

My dad sent me this screenshot with the request to forward it. He caught a recent FUNCube-1 pass and our friends over at AMSAT-UK have a nice message regarding Tony Monteiro in the Fitter message. Bryce KB1LQC ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: *John Salmi* <kb1mgi55(a)gmail.com> Date: Friday, March 28, 2014 Subject: AmSat Tony AA2TX FunCube To: Brent Salmi <kb1lqd(a)gmail.com>, Bryce <bstguitarist(a)gmail.com> Can you sent this attached file from FunCube to the folks at Amsat ? They may like seeing it. Dad

4 3

FUNcube/AO-73 Mode change
by Roland Zurmely 29 Mar '14

29 Mar '14

Good signals on orbits #1770 and #1771 over South America! QSO with PY5LF, PU2RAS, LU2DPW and CX1TH. 73 de Roland PY4ZBZ in GH70un

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Timonium Md hamfest April 5 2014
by Lizeth Norman 29 Mar '14

29 Mar '14

Anyone from Amsat going to attend? I will be in the area and planned on attending, possibly taking the portable gear if there was any interest in a demonstration. Norm n3ykf

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Tony
by Clint Bradford 29 Mar '14

29 Mar '14

Tony's passing causes me to remember David Letterman asking Warren Zevon - after Zevon was diagnosed with termnal lung cancer - if there was anything Zevon understood now, facing his own mortality, that he didn't understand before. Zevon replied, "Just how much you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich." And that sums it all up. Love those around you. Always give a hug when you can. People leave us soon. Some way too soon. Clint Bradford

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Re: phasing two antennas
by Howie DeFelice 28 Mar '14

28 Mar '14

If you are phasing the two antennas to get 3db of gain with the same polarization, then the two cables can be any length as long as they are exactly the same electrical length. It's a good practice to make two cables from the same batch of coax if possible. - Howie

1 0

phasing two antennas
by Lizeth Norman 28 Mar '14

28 Mar '14

HI all! Quick technical question. If I have a two port power divider/combiner and want to phase two alike antennas, do the two pieces of coax that connect the antennas to the power divider have to be 1 wavelength? Can they just be equal? The literature says that the divider must be fed in phase. Norm n3ykf

2 1

Satellite Future
by Clint Bradford 28 Mar '14

28 Mar '14

W5PFG>> ... I cringe at the "anti-handheld in the backyard mentality" because those operators are our future ... Now THERE'S someone with the "right" attitude! Only by education at all levels/ages can this aspect of our hobby grow. Clint Bradford K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com 909-241-7666 - cell

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update on tomorrow's post-hamfest road trip
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 28 Mar '14

28 Mar '14

Hi! After receiving some responses to my e-mail earlier this week regarding my post-hamfest road trip to southeastern Arizona (thank you to all who sent me their comments!), I plan on making the drive to the DM51/DM52 grid boundary for the late-afternoon FO-29 and VO-52 passes starting just after 0000 UTC (8pm Eastern time). There should be sufficient daylight for me to work passes up to 0200 UTC in that area, and I may stick it out through the SO-50 pass around 0223 UTC if things are calm in that area. Between not wanting to stay out there well into the night, and a drive home that will be at least 3 hours, I won't be able to work the SO-50 pass around 0400 UTC or the AO-73 passes later in the evening. I will try to post updates here on the AMSAT-BB, depending on if I can access Internet out in that area. I should be able to post updates on my @WD9EWK Twitter feed via SMS messages, which can be viewed at http://twitter.com/WD9EWK if you do not use Twitter. APRS usually has good coverage in southeastern Arizona, so I should show up on web pages like http://aprs.fi/WD9EWK-9 if you want to see where I will be. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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ANS-086 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - Tony Monteiro, AA2TX SK
by JoAnne Maenpaa 28 Mar '14

28 Mar '14

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.01 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - Tony Monteiro, AA2TX SK AMSAT News Service Bulletin 086.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. March 27, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-086.01 Anthony "Tony" J. Monteiro, AA2TX (SK) AMSAT VP-Engineering and Board Member Anthony J. Monteiro, AA2TX of North Andover, MA died on Wednesday morning, March 26, 2014 while hospitalized in Boston, MA from cancer. He was 55. He is survived by his wife, Mary Lou and daughter, Veronica, a college freshman. Tony was first licensed in 1973 as a Novice and subsequently held an Extra Class Amateur Radio License. An avid operator, he described his first contact in an AMSAT BoD Candidate's Statement in 2011: "I earned my novice ticket in 1973 and made my first ham radio contact with a transmitter made from parts out of an old TV set. A Heathkit HR-10B receiver and a 65-foot piece of wire strung out of a window for an antenna made up the rest of my station, which was pretty modest even by 1973 standards! Even so, I will never forget the thrill of my very first contact." His interest in amateur radio and electronics led him to earn a BS in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University and a MS in Com- puter Science from Stanford University. His professional career started at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey developing network man- agement systems and then consumer products. After working at several startup companies, Tony landed at Cisco Systems where he managed the development of ADSL, voice over packet, and content networking products. He retired from industry in 2002 and focused his efforts working on satellite projects. Tony joined AMSAT in 1994 and started working the satellites. He earned ARRL VHF/UHF Century Club-Satellite #58 and worked 49 states (only Hawaii was not logged) as well. Tony worked a number of stations while he commuted along the I-495 corridor outside Boston. Many will remember working him through AO-40 as he utilized his "cardboard box horn antenna." Tony led a workshop at the 2003 AMSAT Space Symposium where students built similar antennas, demonstrating the ease in which one could build a 2.4 GHz S-band antenna to receive the AO-40 downlink. Additional technical contributions to the amateur satellite com- munity that Tony made included "InstantTune Automatic Radio Tuning" software, "A Simple Desense Filter for Echo", and several extremely low cost projects such as "A $5 Mode V/S Adapter using a Sub-Harmonic Mixer". AMSAT-UK currently offers a 70 CM Parasitic Lindenblad antenna based upon his design. Tony also played a significant role in space-based hardware develop- ment. He collaborated on the NO-60 satellite. As AMSAT's VP-Engineer- ing, he served as the software designer for the SDX (Software Defined Transponder) on ARISSat-1/Kedr that was deployed from the Inter- national Space Station by Russian Cosmonauts during a space walk in August 2011. Tony led the Fox-1 Engineering Team from inception in 2009 and led AMSAT's efforts to apply for acceptance of Fox-1 in the NASA Education Launch of NanoSat (ELaNA) in 2011 and Fox-1B in 2012. He established relationships with several universities to secure scientific payloads for Fox-1 and Fox-1B, including student experiments. A strong proponent of student involvement in satellite projects, Tony served as coordinator of AMSAT Engineering relationships with SUNY-Binghamton, Penn State-Erie, Virginia Tech, and Rochester Institute of Technology where students developed new technologies to be applied in future AMSAT spacecraft as "Capstone" projects. These projects, such as the development of storage capacitors to replace batteries developed by SUNY-Binghamton, provided student experiences that will ultimately be flown in space. The AMSAT JOURNAL in recent years featured several articles concerning these projects. Tony was elected to the AMSAT Board of Directors in 2011 following service for one year as a BoD alternate. Him wise counsel and focus on finding ways to make it affordable for AMSAT to fly amateur radio systems in space resulted in several innovative approaches. It was Tony that convinced the NASA ELaNA program to modify their qualifi- cation criteria to add "not for profits" to those that could apply for launch grants. It was Tony that met with universities that were looking for ways to fly their payloads but didn't have the experience to build satellites, encouraging collaboration that would benefit both AMSAT and the university. Tony's approach to participation in the AMSAT Leadership Team reflect- ed his approach to life. Whenever he had a thought to share with the entire AMSAT Board of Directors and/or Senior Officers via e-mail, he always started with "Dear Friends". As AMSAT VP-Operations Drew Glas- brenner, KO4MA noted, "I always admired how he reminded me we were all friends despite whatever argument was raging." Arrangements for a service for Tony will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (AMSAT), 850 Sligo Avenue, Suite 600, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Barry A. Baines, WD4ASW President-Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (AMSAT) [ANS thanks AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW for the above information] /EX

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sat-com (figured I better change the subject)
by Howie DeFelice 28 Mar '14

28 Mar '14

"I bet (a small bet anyway) my cell phone carrier doesn't save receive frequency data accurate enough to determine what direction I am driving though." You are probably right since the doppler shift is pretty small ( at least I hope it is :) ) on a cellphone. The satellite access is MA-TDMA so the burst timing and frequency offset need to be tracked. This is a useful performance metric when troubleshooting connectivity issues in a big network. - Howie AB2S

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those that use the sateites
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

If you WORK the satellites and would like information about rare grids being activated, hard to find states and new countries on the birds, then you might want to join a new satellite BB Here you will find that kind of information Send Starcom-bb mailing list submissions to starcom-bb(a)star-com.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.star-com.net/listinfo/starcom-bb or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to starcom-bb-request(a)star-com.net You can reach the person managing the list at starcom-bb-owner(a)star-com.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Starcom-bb digest..." QUESTIONS contact Frank k4feg(a)k4feg.com Thanks WA4HFN Damon em55 see ya on the birds

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Re: Malaysian airliner puzzle
by Howie DeFelice 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

I idid some checking on www.satellite-calculations.com and was surprised at what I found. SAT LOCATION INCLINATION 3-F1 64E 1.67 deg 3-F2 15W 0.21 deg 3-F3 178E 1.07 deg 3-F4 54W 3.6 deg 3-F5 24E 0.39 deg 4-F1 143E 2.67 deg 4-F2 24E 2.34 deg 4-F3 98W 3.01 deg 2-F2 142W 9.33 deg I didn't expect some of the older 3rd generation satellites to have lower inclinations than the newer 4th generations sats considering that the newer sats use scanning spot beam technology. It might have something to do with customer lease requirements since INMARSAT will lease excess capacity users, but that's only a guess. As to the question about retaining the data, you can think of it as meta data similar to what the cellphone carriers collect about cellphone calls. They don't record and save you conversations but they do record information about origination, destination,time, duration and type of call. This information is collected and logged automatically in most cases. - Howie

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LituanicaSAT-1: President's greetings message sent from space
by M5AKA 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

President's greetings message sent from space http://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/27/presidents-greetings-message-sent-from-space/ RAG 2014 May 17 UK National Space Center – Demonstrations, Posters and Tickets http://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/27/rag-2014-demonstrations-posters-and-tickets/ Ofcom Consultation: 146-147 MHz for Amateur Radio use in UK http://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/24/ofcom-consultation-146-147-mhz-for-amateur-r… PRN codes for KickSat Sprites released http://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/23/prn-codes-for-kicksat-sprites-released/ KickSat Sprite launch postponed http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/009/140327delay/ ---- Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK Website http://amsat-uk.org/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSAT-UK/208113275898396 Twitter https://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ----

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Got Grids ?
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

Got Grids ? award # 3 goes to Rick WA4NVM .... Congrats to Rick. WA4HFN Damon EM55

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Fwd: W5KUB Live Webcast
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "W5KUB Broadcast" <wa5kub.video(a)gmail.com> To: "Tom Medlin" <wa5kub.video(a)gmail.com> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2014 12:19:36 AM Subject: W5KUB Live Webcast It's time for the W5KUB.COM live webcast of Gigaparts’ Ham Radio Day!! Please join W5KUB.com for our live, online webcast of the Gigaparts Ham Radio Day on Saturday, March 29th in Huntsville, Alabama. Great in-store prizes and online prizes will be awarded. To join the broadcast go to http://W5KUB.com where the fun begins! W5KUB will interview various vendors regarding their latest products, special guests, and attendees. During the live broadcast, online viewers will have the opportunity to meet and chat with other ham radio operators from around the world or chat directly with us at the event and ask questions. You may see some of your friends on the broadcast. Make sure to register at Gigaparts.com for the Icom IC-7100 HF radio. This Gigaparts sweepstakes prize will be announced on our webcast at 2:00 PM CT on Saturday, March 29 th . You will instantly know if you are the winner. You could also win one of many online prizes awarded during the webcast if your name is called from the registered users in the W5KUB chatroom. As always, you must claim your prize within the specified time frame. In the past year over $10,000 in prizes have been awarded! Of course, no purchase is necessary to win an online prize as W5KUB does not sell any products or services. All prizes are donated from vendors or manufacturers. Broadcast schedule (all times are subject to change): · Friday, March 28th 1300 UTC (8:00 AM - 1200 PM CT) Live broadcast of our drive from Collierville, TN to Huntsville, AL. · Saturday, March 29 th 1400 UTC to 2100 UTC (9:00 AM – 4:00 PM CT), Gigaparts Ham Radio Day · Sunday, March 30th: 1400 UTC to 1900 UTC (9:00 AM – 2:00 PM CT), Live broadcast of our drive from Huntsville, AL to Collierville, Tennessee. Join our group on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/w5kub/ to keep up with us year-round. Also, please help spread the word by posting this announcement in Facebook and forwarding this message to your ham radio friends that may not have received this message! We'll 'see' you at Gigaparts! 73, Tom Medlin, W5KUB http://w5kub.com If you would like to be removed from these mailings, please click Reply and type 'Remove' in the subject line.

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Amazon Smile - EXTRA $5
by Clint Bradford 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

Extra $5 donation from AmazonSmile if you buy by March 31, 2014. Normally, when you buy any eligible item at AmazonSmile, your chosen nonprofit gets one-half of one percent of the purchase price. Spend $100, and they get fifty cents. With this bonus, it's the equivalent of you spending $1000! Here are the details: • One donation per customer. • Limited time offer. You must complete a purchase at smile.amazon.com including one or more items eligible for an AmazonSmile donation between 12:00 a.m. (PT) March 24, 2014 and 11:59 p.m. (PT) March 31, 2014. In addition, this promotion will expire after aggregate donations have reached $1 million. • The $5 donation will be made through the AmazonSmile program atsmile.amazon.com under the same terms and at the same time as other donations made through the program, and will be in addition to the 0.5% donation made on the purchase price of your eligible item(s). • Offer valid for customers located and with billing addresses in the United States. • Offer may not be combined with other offers. • Amazon reserves the right to modify or cancel the offer at any time. • Offer is non-transferable and may not be resold. • If any of the products related to this promotion are returned, the donation will not be made. • If you violate any of the Terms and Conditions, the promotion will be invalid. • Void where prohibited. Note that they will stop when they hit $1,000,000...so you'd better get shopping! :) I already bought something, so AMSAT has benefited! Clint K6LCS

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Re: Malaysian airliner puzzle
by Howie DeFelice 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

All Inmarsat satellites though the F-3 series have been in inclined orbits since beginning of life. This gives them extended on orbit lifetime. The beamwidth of the Inmarsat L band ground terminals is large enough that tracking isn't required. The gateway stations operate at C band with large antennas that require continuous step tracking. I don't know for sure if the F-4 satellites are inclined or not. This was a very clever use of available data for an unintended purpose.

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after-hamfest day trip to SE Arizona...
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 26 Mar '14

26 Mar '14

Hi! After the hamfest wraps up in Tucson AZ around midday on Saturday, I plan on heading east on I-10 toward the rarely heard grids DM51, DM52, and DM53. I will also be near New Mexico. For those who are interested in grids, I can stop and work from two of the 3 grids I listed. DM52 will certainly be one grid I can work from out there, and I can get to grid boundaries where I could also be in DM51 or DM53. Is there any preference on which of the other two grids I should go to? Or a QSO with New Mexico, which would still be DM52 but a little further east on I-10? I've worked from this area on many post-hamfest road trips over the past few years, so I know the spots where I can park my car to be on those grid boundaries. Unfortunately, my car won't survive the dirt track to park on the Arizona/New Mexico state line, and I won't stop on the side of the freeway to be on the state line, so a New Mexico QSO will be from a freeway exit about 5 miles/8km east of the state line. It looks like I will have one SO-50 pass I can work at the hamfest Saturday morning. The evening passes appear to be too late for me. I should be able to work VO-52 and FO-29 passes from wherever I end up out there. For those who can only work FM satellites (read "SO-50", for the time being), sorry. I will be back in this area in early May, and SO-50 might have better pass times for an afternoon/early evening swing through this area. As with the satellite demonstrations at the Tucson hamfest, I will upload my post-hamfest log to Logbook of the World. I will also print QSL cards, and be happy to send one your way if you are in my log. Please e-mail me the QSO details, as there's no need to send me a card or SASE to get my card. Thanks, and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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AMSAT table at Tucson AZ hamfest, Saturday (29 March)
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 26 Mar '14

26 Mar '14

Hi! I will have an AMSAT table at the Radio Society of Tucson's 2014 Hamfest in Tucson, Arizona, this Saturday (29 March 2014). The hamfest is at a restaurant east of downtown Tucson. This is a half-day event, and you can read more about it in the PDF file at: http://www.k7rst.org/hamfest_2014.pdf I plan on having demonstrations of satellite operating throughout the morning, probably starting around 6am (1300 UTC). If you hear WD9EWK on the satellites Saturday morning, please call and be part of the demonstrations. The hamfest site is in grid DM42. As usual, I will upload my log to Logbook of the World sometime after the hamfest, and will be happy to send QSL cards out to those who work me during the hamfest. Just send me the QSO details, and I will drop a card in the mail. No need to first send me a card or SASE. In addition to satellites, the Arizona Near Space Research group will launch its ANSR-81 balloon around 9am (1600 UTC) Saturday morning from a site between Tucson and Phoenix in central Arizona. Among the payloads that will be carried aloft, there will be a cross-band repeater that requires a PL tone - basically SO-50, but with more downlink power and no Doppler adjustments needed. I may be on there between satellite passes, for anyone in Arizona or surrounding states that would like to work me at the hamfest. More information about the balloon flight is available at: http://www.ansr.org/ (click on Announcements) You can see coverage maps based on the balloon being over central Arizona at different altitudes at: http://balloon.wd9ewk.net/ 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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ISS Crew - Delayed Arrival
by Clint Bradford 26 Mar '14

26 Mar '14

The next trio of crew members destined for the International Space Station is now looking forward to a Thursday arrival at the orbiting laboratory after their Soyuz spacecraft was unable to complete its third thruster burn to fine-tune its approach. Flight controllers in the Mission Control Center outside Moscow are now reverting to a backup 34-orbit rendezvous, which would result in an arrival and docking at 7:58 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 27. -NASA News

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Got Grids? and 5 in em55
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 26 Mar '14

26 Mar '14

Go to www.starcommgroup.org click on the awards tab to see the awards and the rules. Please note that the 5 in em55 rules have changed, If you work 5 ops that have the award ,then you qualify ,Send in the log of your contacts to WA4HFN or WA4NVM. There is a list of award holders on the page for you to check to see if you have 5 contacts This award if free and any donations are to be sent to AMSAT in the name of the award you qualified for. The Star Comm Group is non profit, we want to support the use of the satellites and Amsat NA We also encourage the use of DSTAR Thank you all and good hunting WA4HFN em55 Damon

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GOT GRIDS ?
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 26 Mar '14

26 Mar '14

Got Grids Award # 2 goes to WA5KBH congrats George. Thank you for your support. WA4HFN em55 Damon

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Geostationary sat.
by Anthony Japha 26 Mar '14

26 Mar '14

Great news! Thank you Peter et. al. How abt a discussion here about how we North Americans might make use of this opportunity? 73, Tony, N2UN LM 183 --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com

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K&R Yoksh
by K&R Yoksh 26 Mar '14

26 Mar '14

http://alltrendskindlestore.com/gtxz/news_fx.php K&R Yoksh

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test msg
by Dale Hershberger 26 Mar '14

26 Mar '14

test.

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Re: Malaysian airliner puzzle
by Howie DeFelice 25 Mar '14

25 Mar '14

INMARSAT has several services for airliners. The Aero-H and Aero-H+ services both accomodate ACARS and other voicec and data services for airline operation. Aero-H service operates on the INMARSAT I-3 constellation that has global and regional beams. Aero-H+ can operate on either I-3 or I-4 satellites. The I-4 satellites have a global beam as well as multiple small overlapping spot beams, similar to a cellular network. INMARSAT can dynamically assign bandwidth (spectrum) to spotbeams as required, allowing a very high level of frequency re-use. The spotbeams are not steered on the satellite. The system also uses a form of uplink power control. The mobile terminal sets initial transmit power based on elevation angle to the satellite. The network control system keeps track of all terminals logged into the network. The power setting, and therefore approximate elevation angle, are reported back to INMARSAT NCS. If there were two transmissions at large enough differences in reported elevation an approximate bearing and speed could be calculated. That would at least focus the search to a single wide line. However, looking at the arc on the map and assuming it is accurate, this looks to be too big to be in an I-4 spotbeam which means they may be operating on the I-3 constellation which doesn't require as much information as the I-4 does. I'm not as familiar with the H and H+ services as I am with the BGAN service so I don't know the details of how an H or H+ terminal behaves on the two different satellite versions. I truly hope they have more information than is being released. Howie, AB2S

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SO-50 Over Europe
by Peter Wilson 25 Mar '14

25 Mar '14

To all in Europe..... We have just had an overhead pass of SO-50 and yet again, not one successful QSO. I heard many stations trying to access the bird but not one station managed a two way contact. Can any experienced European operator explain to me what is happening. I thought the FM birds were supposed to be the easy ones? Peter G8KEK

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satpc32 serial port setup?
by Lizeth Norman 25 Mar '14

25 Mar '14

Hi all! Which version of GS-232 does satpc32 support? There are two flavours, a and b. The web software web page suggests GS-232, unhelpfully. Thanks, Norm n3ykf

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GEO-SAT
by Myrton 24 Mar '14

24 Mar '14

Greetings from Rhode Island. My name is Myrton. My call sign N1GKE. I am spearheading the Broadband Hamnet -RI- with operators from all across the spectrum. We are still in the building stages. The will be a Symposium at the Knight Campus of CCRI. Knight Campus is easily accessed from Route 95 North or South. Symposium start time 10 AM. The date is April 27 th, the last Sunday of April. We can accomadate upwards of 100 people. I for one have already begun with the help of Russ (KB1SYA) to assemble a station from spare parts in the 2.4 Ghz range. I will have at least one dedicated station for this GEO-SAT with plans for NTS, EMCOMM or any other Amateur Radio Service that may be needed to serve the North East United States. The Symposium is open to all, that means everyone, Amateur Radio Operators, Satellite Enthusiasts and anyone interested. There are plans for at least two more Symposiums in the NE over the summer. Please, if you are going to attend, send an email to: N1GKE (AT) (COX) (DOT) (NET) In the subject please put Broadband Hamnet -RI-, so the mail goes to the proper folder and gets printed and sent to the proper file box. Thank you for detail. "I use the original form of social networking, /Amateur Radio." /

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Conflicting Predictions.
by Joe 24 Mar '14

24 Mar '14

I was very active in the 70's and 80's on the Birds. And now am attempting to try to help some new folk get into them. A local Newbie has been trying AO-51 with no luck, So I volunteered to see what he is doing and where he needs help. BUT........ And there always seems to be a "BUT" isnt there? I am getting HUGE discreptencies on Pass times. My location is at, Latitude: *43.61°* Longitude: *-90.08°* Local time zone: GMT -5 And every source I have tried does not give the same time for my next available Pass. Orbitron, Amsat web page, http://www.n2yo.com/passes/?s=28375 And Heavens Above. All three aren't even close to each other. My location is dead on with all of them. So I am confused as to why each source is sooo different from the other. \ Anyone? Joe WB9SBD -- Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com

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Wanted VHF bandpass cavity filter.
by Lizeth Norman 24 Mar '14

24 Mar '14

Title sez it all. Left my other one in Peru for future dx expeditions.

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TEXT TO SPEECH N5ZNL
by Nick Pugh K5QXJ 24 Mar '14

24 Mar '14

Demo of the text to speech by k5znl <http://youtu.be/bZN3mEhHVn0> http://youtu.be/bZN3mEhHVn0 Thanks nick Office 337 593 8700 Cell 337 258 2527 Helping UL become a world Class Engineering and Educational School

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