- AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Winterization project
by Greg D 02 Sep '13

02 Sep '13

Hi all, As I reported on the 20m Amsat Net (14.282mhz Sundays 18:00z - 19:00z) this morning, I noticed that my 2m antenna was listing slightly down-hill. Suspecting that the boom attachment screws had come loose, my project for the day was to go up on the roof and align and tighten them. The screws were a little loose. That's not why the antenna was drooping down. I discovered the real reason: Acorns. Apparently the local squirrels have been preparing for winter, such as it is around here, and had stuffed about a dozen plump acorns into the open end of the antenna boom. Besides their weight climbing out to the end, there was also the remaining weight of the acorns. So, the antenna ends have been taped over, but that's not going to prevent the squirrels from climbing out onto the antenna. Any suggestions on an effective squirrel deterrent? Greg KO6TH

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Another successful CubeSat Kickstarter
by M5AKA 02 Sep '13

02 Sep '13

The LunarSail project has completed a successful Kickstarter. As yet the project has no launch but hopes to be able to get a free one from NASA. They appear to be planning to use a Raspberry Pi computer board, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/09/02/successful-kickstarter-for-raspberry-pi-luna… ---- 73 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: Squirrel Repellant
by Clint Bradford 02 Sep '13

02 Sep '13

Go to your local nursery. They will have solutions (there's a pun there) - including urine of other animals (usually LARGER animals (grin)) or placing a ring of "barbed" wire on the mast - making it un-climb-able. Clint K6LCS

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Re: Winterization project
by Jeff Griffin 02 Sep '13

02 Sep '13

A 12 gauge full choke shotgun ? 73 Jeff kb2m -----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Greg D Sent: Sunday, September 1, 2013 6:52 PM To: Amsat BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Winterization project Hi all, As I reported on the 20m Amsat Net (14.282mhz Sundays 18:00z - 19:00z) this morning, I noticed that my 2m antenna was listing slightly down-hill. Suspecting that the boom attachment screws had come loose, my project for the day was to go up on the roof and align and tighten them. The screws were a little loose. That's not why the antenna was drooping down. I discovered the real reason: Acorns. Apparently the local squirrels have been preparing for winter, such as it is around here, and had stuffed about a dozen plump acorns into the open end of the antenna boom. Besides their weight climbing out to the end, there was also the remaining weight of the acorns. So, the antenna ends have been taped over, but that's not going to prevent the squirrels from climbing out onto the antenna. Any suggestions on an effective squirrel deterrent? Greg KO6TH _______________________________________________ Sent via <mailto:[email protected]> 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> http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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Re: Polar Tracking LEO Satellites ... ?
by Rick Tejera 01 Sep '13

01 Sep '13

Rob, See my article in the April/May issue of the AMSAT Journal. While not motorized, I'm sure it can be easily adapted to be motorized. The basis is a simple Equatorial telescope mount. If you need a copy let me know. Rick Tejera (K7TEJ) Saguaro Astronomy Club www.saguaroastro.org Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.w7tbc.org -----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rob Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2013 3:38 PM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Polar Tracking LEO Satellites ... ? I'm looking to put together a quick an easy portable tracking system for LEO birds .... maybe something for field day use or an ISS school contact .... Basically looking to do polar tracking with one rotor and a manual set declination angle .... Thoughts are: - rotor that can swing 180 degrees (-90,+90) - set the rotor to the half way point (0 degrees) - position the whole apparatus so that it's pointing at the azmith and elevation of the highest point on the pass - position the rotor to -90 for a west to east pass or +90 for a east to west pass - calculate the length of the pass and time the rotation so it sweeps 180 degrees in that period I'v been googling this topic till my eyes cross .... saw some data about folks trying to do polar tracking of Ao-40 a while back ... but that was a tad different considering Ao-40 is (was) in a high elliptical orbit ... Does anyone have advice ... or a link to some data .... calculations ... like how to convert az/el to something like (but not) declination/ra ???? Thanks, --> Rob, KA2PBT _______________________________________________ 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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Polar Tracking LEO Satellites ... ?
by Rob 01 Sep '13

01 Sep '13

I'm looking to put together a quick an easy portable tracking system for LEO birds .... maybe something for field day use or an ISS school contact .... Basically looking to do polar tracking with one rotor and a manual set declination angle .... Thoughts are: - rotor that can swing 180 degrees (-90,+90) - set the rotor to the half way point (0 degrees) - position the whole apparatus so that it's pointing at the azmith and elevation of the highest point on the pass - position the rotor to -90 for a west to east pass or +90 for a east to west pass - calculate the length of the pass and time the rotation so it sweeps 180 degrees in that period I'v been googling this topic till my eyes cross .... saw some data about folks trying to do polar tracking of Ao-40 a while back ... but that was a tad different considering Ao-40 is (was) in a high elliptical orbit ... Does anyone have advice ... or a link to some data .... calculations ... like how to convert az/el to something like (but not) declination/ra ???? Thanks, --> Rob, KA2PBT

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USAF Space Fence Shut Down
by B J 01 Sep '13

01 Sep '13

No signal on a website which carried its audio stream: http://www.spaceweatherradio.com/ According to: http://www.spaceweather.com/ it went silent on 0000 UTC 2013-09-01. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Rolf in EN17
by Les Rayburn 01 Sep '13

01 Sep '13

Worked Rolf last night on FO-29 operating portable from EN17. Nice signal from the mobile set-up! Thanks Rolf for a new grid for me. I'll be uploading the log to LoTW tonight, and putting a card in the mail soon too. If you need EN17, you won't do better than trying for this first class operator. -- -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF 121 Mayfair Park Maylene, AL 35114 EM63nf 6M VUCC #1712 AMSAT #38965 Grid Bandits #222 Southeastern VHF Society Central States VHF Society Life Member Six Club #2484 Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light

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Orbitron and WispDDE - Flipped Mode Issue
by Fabiano Moser 01 Sep '13

01 Sep '13

Hello, I am having trouble to understand how Orbitron and WispDDE works to get right Flipped passes of ISS over my QTH. Some times when ISS come from South América and cross over Europe my rotor need to work flipped, because my stop is North. Some times he do, sometimes not, then after cross 360º my rotor need to make a complete turn while is possible to go till 450º. Here is an example of one pass where rotor is NOT Flipped. http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/2755/cj0l.jpg Anyone had the same problem and/or can help me? Thanks. Best regards, Fabiano Moser CT7ABD

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Re: High orbit satellites?
by Ross Whenmouth 01 Sep '13

01 Sep '13

Hi, I think it takes about 2500m/s delta V to get from from LEO to a GTO. How feasible is it to use some type of an electric thruster (high specific impulse but low net thrust - eg a hall effect thruster or similar device) to slowly crawl up to GTO from LEO? I imagine that such a bird would charge it's batteries from solar power for most of an orbit, and would power the thruster from battery power during each perigee to slowly raise the apogee altitude. This would allow the use of a thruster with an peak electrical demand that is higher than the peak power generating capacity of the PV cells. 73 ZL2WRW Ross Whenmouth

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Portable operation from EN17
by Rolf Krogstad 31 Aug '13

31 Aug '13

For those in North America, I will be portable on FO-29 from EN17xm tonight at 0149z 01-Sept. 73 Rolf NR0T

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Re: High orbit satellites?
by Rick Tejera 31 Aug '13

31 Aug '13

Andrew, I for one do appreciate the work the board and other volunteers do. It's certainly something I'm far from qualified to do and to be honest, I probably would not want to. I came into the hobby long after the HEO era ended, so I can only live vicariously through others recollections and hope "Someday" That being said I also can see there is a new launch paradigm and we have to adjust to it. I commend the board for accepting this and doing what they can to adapt to the new reality. I imagine the engineering obstacles to get a 3u Cubesat that would be viable in HEO are many, which most likely put that well into the future. When I give my talk on Satellite engineering principles to local clubs, the most common question I get asked is "When are we going to get an HEO?" My Answer is Not for a long time. 73 and looking forward to Fox.. Rick Tejera (K7TEJ) Saguaro Astronomy Club www.saguaroastro.org Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.w7tbc.org -----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Andrew Glasbrenner Sent: Friday, August 30, 2013 7:22 AM To: Jeff Moore; amsat-bb Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: High orbit satellites? >On 8/30/2013 1:25 AM, Jeff Moore wrote: >> How about hitting up the new COMMERCIAL launchers like SpaceX?? >> Those guys originated as amateur rocketeers. I would hope that folks have a little more faith in AMSAT leadership as far as exploring opportunities for launches, even if you don't read about every contact or discussion in ANS or QST. SpaceX is Elon Musk's company, who founded PayPal and Tesla Motors as well. He's not an amateur anything; he's one of the most successful businessmen in the world, a real-life Tony Stark. AMSAT-DL has met with Space-X, and this fact has been published in many places (http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2010/000378.html). SpaceX rarely launches pure test flights, they normally have paying customers even on first launches. Secondary payloads are handled through Spaceflight Services, and their rates are published at http://spaceflightservices.com/pricing-plans/ . Fifty kg, or about half of what Eagle would have been, to GTO would cost 3 million dollars. Hey! that's only like $1000 per member! P3E, at 150kg, would be closer to 8 million, IF it could be made to fit the space available, and most likely mounted and launched sideways. Opportunities may still be out there to go to HEO, but it's a fairy tale to think that all we have to do is knock on the door and ask. It is also disheartening to see that so many just assume that we aren't trying. 73, Drew KO4MA _______________________________________________ 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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OT: Dove launch of 28 CubeSats
by M5AKA 31 Aug '13

31 Aug '13

Space.com reports Planet Labs is launching 28 Dove 3U-CubeSats early 2014, presumably like Dove-1/2 using 2400 MHz. http://www.space.com/22622-planet-labs-dove-satellite-photos.html I'd heard a similar number of CubeSats were going to be deployed from the International Space Station in 2014 by NanoRacks. Can anyone confirm the Dove CubeSats are being deployed from the ISS ? 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Re: FUNcube-1 Launch Date Announced
by M5AKA 31 Aug '13

31 Aug '13

The FUNcube information sheets have been revised and are now available via http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/30/funcube-1-launch-date-announced/ or these links • FUNcube_Project Information_aug2013 • FUNcube_Educational_Outreach aug2013 73 Trevor M5AKA

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FUNcube-1 Launch Date Announced
by M5AKA 30 Aug '13

30 Aug '13

FUNcube-1 carrying a 435/145 MHz linear transponder for SSB/CW communications is expected to be launched on November 21, 2013, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/30/funcube-1-launch-date-announced/ ---- 73 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: High orbit satellites?
by Andrew Glasbrenner 30 Aug '13

30 Aug '13

>On 8/30/2013 1:25 AM, Jeff Moore wrote: >> How about hitting up the new COMMERCIAL launchers like SpaceX?? >> Those guys originated as amateur rocketeers. I would hope that folks have a little more faith in AMSAT leadership as far as exploring opportunities for launches, even if you don't read about every contact or discussion in ANS or QST. SpaceX is Elon Musk's company, who founded PayPal and Tesla Motors as well. He's not an amateur anything; he's one of the most successful businessmen in the world, a real-life Tony Stark. AMSAT-DL has met with Space-X, and this fact has been published in many places (http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2010/000378.html). SpaceX rarely launches pure test flights, they normally have paying customers even on first launches. Secondary payloads are handled through Spaceflight Services, and their rates are published at http://spaceflightservices.com/pricing-plans/ . Fifty kg, or about half of what Eagle would have been, to GTO would cost 3 million dollars. Hey! that's only like $1000 per member! P3E, at 150kg, would be closer to 8 million, IF it could be made to fit the space available, and most likely mounted and launched sideways. Opportunities may still be out there to go to HEO, but it's a fairy tale to think that all we have to do is knock on the door and ask. It is also disheartening to see that so many just assume that we aren't trying. 73, Drew KO4MA

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Re: High orbit satellites?
by Daniel Schultz 30 Aug '13

30 Aug '13

In the 1980's era of AO-10 and AO-13, AMSAT was just about the only outfit interested in launching small satellites, there was no commercial market for secondary launches, and we got them free or very cheap. In today's world, every university on Earth is building a Cubesat and commercial and government organizations are developing real missions around Cubesats. If they gave AMSAT a free launch today, they would have to give free launches to everybody. That is the main problem that we have today. The NASA Cubesat launch initiative is accepting applications for up to a 6U Cubesat with proposals due in November, it MIGHT be possible to get a launch to GTO through this program (or it might not be). Can AMSAT design a high altitude satellite in a 6U Cubesat frame with sufficient solar power generation and antenna gain to provide a viable ham radio mission in HEO? It is worth further study over the next two months. Dan Schultz N8FGV >Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 23:58:57 -0700 >From: Peter Klein <pklein(a)threshinc.com> >To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >Subject: [amsat-bb] High orbit satellites? >Message-ID: <521EF131.6080500(a)threshinc.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed >What are the chances that there will be another high-orbit satellite >like AO-10 and AO-13? Does AMSAT have any plans in that direction since >the demise of AO-40? My main satellite interest is live communication >with faraway places, and I really miss those Molnya birds. >--Peter, KD7MW

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Re: High orbit satellites?
by Joe 30 Aug '13

30 Aug '13

And or start working on OK can't get ride to High orbit,,, at least get us to a LEO spot and develop like Ion engines or something so we can eventually work our way to a high orbit, like with an ION engine, so it takes a few years to get there because of the low push level, but hey a few years is decades faster than we are doing now. Joe WB9SBD Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com On 8/30/2013 1:25 AM, Jeff Moore wrote: > How about hitting up the new COMMERCIAL launchers like SpaceX?? > Those guys originated as amateur rocketeers. There's others, we may be > able to wangle a free or donated ride to HEO. The US government isn't > likely to be viable, they can't even get astronauts to the ISS w/o > begging a ride from someone else. > > Of course, we take a much larger risk in going for a test ride, we > might want to have a P3F and P3G ready to go just in case. > > 7 3 > Jeff Moore -- KE7ACY > CN94 > > > > On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 7:34 AM, Joe <nss(a)mwt.net > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > Iknow kinda radical, but how about working with one of the radical > new guys on the orbital block, Like the Chinese? or in a few years > once they get all the bugs worked out, even the North Koreans? > > Hey a ride is a ride if they can do it for cheap I don't care. > > Joe WB9SBD > Sig > The Original Rolling Ball Clock > Idle Tyme > Idle-Tyme.com > http://www.idle-tyme.com > >

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Re: High orbit satellites?
by Joe Leikhim 30 Aug '13

30 Aug '13

Fabiano, You beat me to it! This would be a great idea. The important part would be in the execution. First identify a launch opportunity, satellite and budget that is real BEFORE launching a kickstarter. A review of some of the failed Kickstarter schemes would be important lesson. When AO40 launched, I was amazed just to be able to receive the 2M engineering beacon with a Standard C508 portable sitting on my dashboard WHILE driving! One of the incentives could be an inexpensive SDR kit designed specifically to receive and decode telemetry, SSTV images and other data. This could get the masses interested in the hobby. For bragging rights, contributors at a higher level would get a Vanity QSL card or similar vanity image item (for the unlicensed) stored in the bird and randomly displayed on SSTV or HDTV that could be decoded with the SDR kit. Make the SDR receiver kit portable and IOS and/or Android compatible and you have captured the younger demographic. Maybe some of the radio manufacturers could throw in gear as incentives for larger donations. To mis-quote Frank Zappa, AMSAT is not dead, it just smells bad. Message: 5 Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 18:41:44 +0100 From: Fabiano Moser<fabianomoser(a)gmail.com> Cc: amsat-bb<amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: High orbit satellites? Message-ID: <CAM6o-maX=9KaU6mjALYxUtjk_BMNp=+x5M0fvfZ=Q2JETUKFwA(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 How manny Amateur Radio whole world can join this Challenge? What about: http://www.kickstarter.com ??? -- Joe Leikhim Leikhim and Associates Communications Consultants Oviedo, Florida JLeikhim(a)Leikhim.com 407-982-0446 WWW.LEIKHIM.COM

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Trip to CN98 cancelled
by wa7eth＠frontier.com 29 Aug '13

29 Aug '13

Trip to CN98 is cancelled for today. Will schedule early next week after the holiday. . 73'...Ed WA7ETH

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High orbit satellites?
by Peter Klein 29 Aug '13

29 Aug '13

What are the chances that there will be another high-orbit satellite like AO-10 and AO-13? Does AMSAT have any plans in that direction since the demise of AO-40? My main satellite interest is live communication with faraway places, and I really miss those Molnya birds. --Peter, KD7MW

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CN98
by wa7eth＠frontier.com 29 Aug '13

29 Aug '13

I plan to be in CN98 today between 1910Z and 1927Z. Please be patient as I am new to the SSB mode. . 73'...Ed WA7ETH Amsat # 16226

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CEPT 5840 MHz + New Open Source AX.25 Soundcard Modem
by M5AKA 29 Aug '13

29 Aug '13

CEPT considers use of 5830-5850 MHz satellite band http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/29/cept-considers-use-of-5830-5850-mhz-satellit… AX.25 Open Source Soundcard Modem http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/29/a-ham-radio-ax-25-open-source-soundcard-mode… SpaceUp India 2012 Videos http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/28/spaceup-india-2012-videos/ Giant leap for Pi-powered teddy bear http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/26/giant-leap-for-radio-hams-pi-powered-teddy-b… ---- 73 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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Are you missing ANS issues?
by Alan 29 Aug '13

29 Aug '13

Hi, Several people have reported that they did not receive their ANS mailings recently. It turns out that Gmail decided to flag them as spam. Unfortunately, there is no way to turn off (that I have been able to find) the Gmail filter except by specific exemption. I created a Not Spam filter for [ans] in the subject and the missing ones reappeared. Many email systems subscribe to services which track spam, so if you are missing ANS but use another email provider you may be able to do something similar. The issues are available on AMSAT.ORG under the Services link. 73s, Alan WA4SCA

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D STAR AMSAT users net
by damon runion 29 Aug '13

29 Aug '13

D STAR AMSAT users net tonight at 0100 utc on REF 60B DX stations welcome, Bring any news you would like to share and questions that someone might have an answere for. https://sites.google.com/site/memphisdstar/d-satellite-amsat-net Thanks Damon WA4HFN em55ab

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portable operation from EN-17
by Rolf Krogstad 29 Aug '13

29 Aug '13

For those interested, I will be operating portable from EN-17xm for one pass on FO-29 on the following pass: 01-Sept at 01:48z. If something happens and I don't make that pass, then I will be on FO-29 on 01-Sept at 14:38z. 73 Rolf NR0T

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Re: High orbit satellites?
by Andrew Glasbrenner 29 Aug '13

29 Aug '13

AMSAT-DL has Phase 3E mostly built, but the free launches of the past are gone. I believe the area of 10 million Euros is what they have been quoted for a purchased launch, which is out of the realm of amateur radio fundraising. AMSAT-DL has continued to search for an affordable launch. US participation has been hamstrung by ITAR, a set of laws regarding the export of satellite information. See http://www.amsat-dl.org/ (Google translate works well) for more directly from the organization. 73, Drew KO4MA -----Original Message----- >From: Peter Klein <pklein(a)threshinc.com> >Sent: Aug 29, 2013 2:58 AM >To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >Subject: [amsat-bb] High orbit satellites? > >What are the chances that there will be another high-orbit satellite >like AO-10 and AO-13? Does AMSAT have any plans in that direction since >the demise of AO-40? My main satellite interest is live communication >with faraway places, and I really miss those Molnya birds. > >--Peter, KD7MW >_______________________________________________ >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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N8RO Portable Operations
by Ronald Oldham 28 Aug '13

28 Aug '13

We will start a long road trip on Friday Aug 30th. The trip will head north to OK, KS, NE, SD, ND and SK. We will then head east on the Trans Canadian Highway to MB, ON, QC, NB and NS. From NS we will go to ME and MA and then work our way home to TX. While the trip is primarily a vacation, I will attempt to make satellite contacts, hopefully two a day, one morning and one evening, on SO-50 and FO-29 along the way. I hope to contact many of you during this trip. 73, Ron – N8RO

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[tapr-announce] DCC Updates
by David Bern W2LNX 27 Aug '13

27 Aug '13

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [tapr-announce] DCC Updates Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 09:47:46 -0400 From: Stan Horzepa <stanzepa(a)sbcglobal.net> To: tapr-announce(a)tapr.org *DCC Updates* Time is running out. The DCC is September 20-22 in Seattle and the special DCC room rate at the host hotel, the Cedarbrook Lodge, ends at August 28, 5 PM PDT, so make your reservations ASAP. Here is the link for the hotel: http://www.tapr.org/dcc.html/#hotel *** *Banquet Speaker and Sunday Seminar* Our Saturday evening banquet speaker is Tom Van Baak, whose speech is titled "Passion and Precision: Adventures of a Time Nut." Our Sunday morning seminar will be about programming Androids and will be presented by Ron Frohne, KL7NA. *** *Submitted Papers * Submitted papers for the DCC are, as follows: "(CAB) Controllable Altitude Balloon Proposal" by Pedro Converso, LU7ABF "A Software Defined Radio for Mesh Networks" by John B. Stephensen, KD6OZH "Applications and Infrastructure for Marathon Support" by Erik Westgard, NY9D "DATV-Express -- a Testing Report" by Art Towslee, WA8RMC and Ken Konechy W6HHC "Evaluating OLSR and B.A.T.M.A.N over D-STAR" by John Ronan, EI7IG and Darren Long, GØHWW "Gnuradio Companion module for openHPSDR Hermes / Metis SDR Radio" by Tom McDermott, N5EG "High Performance BPSK31: Ideas for a New Generation" by John A. Gibbs, NN7F "Modulation -- Demodulation Software Radio" by Alex Schwarz, VE7DXW and Guy Roels, ON6MU "Narrowband IP over Amateur Radio Networks (NIPARnets): Next-Generation Networking for Amateur Radio" by Timothy J. Salo, ABØDO "Noise Power Ratio (NPR) Testing of HF Receivers" by Adam Farson, VA7OJ/AB4OJ "Raspberry Pi Applications in Digital Communications: A Mobile Xastir-Based APRS Station" by John A. Hansen, W2FS "Whitebox Handheld Software Radio Kit" by Chris Testa, KD2BMH Our Saturday evening banquet speaker is Tom Van Baak, whose speech is titled "Passion and Precision: Adventures of a Time Nut." Our Sunday morning seminar about programming Androids will be presented by Ron Frohne, KL7NA.

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[tapr-announce] KICKSTARTER for the HamRadioNow Video Coverage of the ARRL/TAPR 2013 DCC
by David Bern W2LNX 27 Aug '13

27 Aug '13

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [tapr-announce] KICKSTARTER for the HamRadioNow Video Coverage of the ARRL/TAPR 2013 DCC Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 10:12:33 -0400 From: Stan Horzepa <stanzepa(a)sbcglobal.net> To: tapr-announce(a)tapr.org Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, produced the Digital Communications Conference (DCC) videos four out of the past five years, two years on DVD, and the last two online. Viewership online was much higher, of course, but financially Gary took a bath. So this year, Gary is looking for funding in advance and to accomplish that, he has set up a KICKSTARTER account to fund the effort. Gary's KICKSTARTER runs through Labor Day, September 2 (just before midnight). To contribute to this worthwhile project, visit the KICKSTARTER page for the HamRadioNow Video Coverage of the ARRL/TAPR 2013 DCC <http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/860504337/hamradionow-video-coverage-of…> ASAP.

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Looking for an Elmer
by wa7eth＠frontier.com 27 Aug '13

27 Aug '13

I am looking for an Elmer who could coach me in interfacing SATPC32 with an Icom IC706 Mark IIG. I have no idea what is needed (cables, etc) plus would appreciate any "helpful hints" in using the software. I would appreciate any and all input. Thanks es 73'.......Ed WA7ETH AMSAT#16226

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Hawaii on AO-7
by Glenn AA5PK 27 Aug '13

27 Aug '13

Just worked Tom / NH6Y (in BL10) again this evening on AO-7 (@ 0108Z). He had a good signal. He plans to be active on AO-7 and FO-29 and occasionally on VO-52. 73 Glenn / AA5PK

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Lunar CubeSat project to go ahead
by M5AKA 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

Michael Johnson M0MJJ gave a presentation on his Pocket Spacecraft: Mission to the Moon project to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium held in July at Guildford. A Kickstarter fund raising campaign has just finished. The team have announced that the project will be going ahead, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/26/uk-radio-hams-lunar-cubesat-to-go-ahead/ ---- 73 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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Preamp Switch
by Mike Hoblinski 25 Aug '13

25 Aug '13

I am purchasing the Amsat preamp and looking for a TX preamp switch to protect it. I am working on a small portable setup and for now will just be using a hand held with about 5W to get started. Would the Ramsey RFS1 for 19.95 work ok or is their a better switch I should look into. If necessary I would rather spend a few extra dollars to protect the preamp or future more expensive preamp setup. Mike N6IMF

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The USA Lower 48 Worked all 488 Grids non-Award
by John Papay 25 Aug '13

25 Aug '13

Some of the active grid chasers on the birds are aware that KA6SIP just gave me my last USA grid when he operated from CN72 in Oregon. And I thought it might be interesting to look at the stats and how one manages to work and confirm all 488 USA lower 48 States grids. Satellite operators come and go and grids come and go with them. A grid might have a very active operator in it and then it is off the air when that person goes away for whatever reason. Interestingly, about half of the 488 grids that were worked were from those operating portable, not in the sense of using a radio with batteries, but in the traditional sense of operating away from their home station location. Once you have experienced being on the other end of a small pileup, you will want to do it again. Just ask W7LRD who tried it recently and is planning another trip. Here is a list of operators who exited the comfort of their home station and put a grid on the air. The callsign is followed by the number of new grids they gave me towards the goal of working all 488. Others may have been worked but these totals represent the first time a new grid was confirmed. ND9M 54 WD9EWK 27 WC7V 19 KD4ZGW 16 KB0RZD 10 KC0YBM 9 AA5CK 8 KA6SIP 8 KD8COQ 8 N5ZNL 7 W6GMT 7 N0JE 6 N2SPI 6 WA4NVM 5 KB5WIA 4 KB9BIT 4 KC0ZHF 4 KK0SD 4 AA5PK 3 K7CWQ 3 UT1FG 3 W6ZKH 3 WA6ARA 3 WA7HQD 3 WA8SME 3 AC0ZA 2 AJ9K 2 K0BAM 2 K7DRA 2 K7TRK 2 KA0RID 2 KC2LRC 2 KE7DOV 2 N3TL 2 N5AFV 2 Jim, ND9M, is a seasoned grid expeditioner. Along with working satellites he is also active on the county hunters nets. Most of his activity was between 2009 and 2011. He was also active from a cargo ship and gave out the very rare DM02. Jim would travel for months at a time and worked from a few hundred grids. Most of that operating was done on FM birds rather than linear ones. It was great to have many daily fm passes when AO-27 and AO-51 were active. HO-68 and SO-67 were in the mix for a while too. 54 new grids came from Jim and he tops the list. Most everyone knows Patrick WD9EWK. He has done a lot of traveling both in the US and Canada and he gave me 27 new grids. He was very active on the birds until recently. He was an alternate on the AMSAT Board of Directors and was recently appointed to oversee the AMSAT Area Coordinator program. He virtually has no home station and most all local contacts were made from a park near his apartment in Phoenix. He knows how to do it and he is a meticulous planner. Next on the list is Kerry WC7V. He lives in sparsely populated Montana and travels around by car and in his light aircraft. He went to many grids at my request and made a lot of us very happy by operating from many rare locations. He is in slot number 3 with 19 grids. Next on the list is Rob KD4ZGW/m. Rob drove an 18 wheeler and we all heard him on a satellite one day. He didn't know his grid square but he knew his milepost on the interstate. From there we had the grid square. Rob went on to improve his mobile station and activated over 100 grid squares. He is no longer driving on long hauls and has not been active for some time. He is fourth on the list with 16 grids. The next three are very special because they all became new operators during the quest to work all 488. Gail KB0RZD is very active today, usually operating with a handie-talkie. He went to 10 grids around him and sent some photo qsl cards that were just outstanding. KC0YBM operated from his home location for a long time before I realized he was very close to other grids. Chris didn't have portable equipment so I suggested he look into an AC inverter for the car. He did just that and soon he was operating portable from some new grids. This speaks to the ham radio culture that you find a way to operate with what you have. Chris continues to be active and hands out grids in the US and Canada. And then there is Ted, AA5CK. He has operated in grids around his home qth as well as some rare ones in New Mexico. He lives in EM04, not far from EM05 where I made my first grid expedition contact with KD8CAO from EM05 in front of the White Dog Ranch on old Route 66. I remember Ted's first sat contact. There are a few very special operators that can't be left out. My son, KD8CAO, provided 8 new grids for his dad. He knows how to operate portable and gives out the grids when he travels. Then there was Richard N2SPI. I asked him about some grids in Maine that hadn't been on and he took the challenge and drove to all of them, getting back to his dad's place during the first snow of the season. Dave KB5WIA made quite the trip by backpacking into CM79. It took two trips to transport the equipment into the grid. He has a video of it on youtube. I started with satellites in June 2006 and only had 47 USA grids by August 2008. From August 2008 till Jan 2009 I worked another 109. In 2009 199 were worked. 2010 was 76 and 2011 was 44. Only 4 new grids were worked in 2012 and 9 were snagged in 2013. Eight of those final 9 grids were handed out by Tom KA6SIP. He heard about the need and decided to make a grid expedition to put them on the air. He did 7 of them in one trip. Then Bob W7LRD went to the beach in CN77, operating away from home for the first time. That left CN72. Tom just got back from Hawaii and quickly made plans to camp out in CN72 and gave me the final grid on AO-7B, 20 August 2013 at 2332z. Then he put CN71 on the air on 22-23August, also a very rare grid square but one that I already had. Many others worked him there. There is no award for working all 488 grids on satellites as there is for six meters (FFMA). The ARRL awards committee has looked at it and will implement it if someone on the Board of Directors brings it up for a vote and it passes. Hopefully that will happen soon. Having that type of award gives everyone something to work for. It promotes grid expeditions and interest in working through the satellites. If we all contact our ARRL Director, it might just happen. There may be others who have already worked all 488 grids on satellites. K6YK might be one of them. I know there are several others who are getting close. It is not any easy thing to accomplish even if you operate every day. It is something you can work towards over the years. I want to thank everyone that made satellite contacts with me that ultimately led to working all 488. Many went out of their way to put on a grid. Over half of the grids worked were from grid expeditions! If you haven't experienced operating away from home, please consider it. With new operators showing up on the birds every day, there is always a need for an uncommon grid. And you will have a lot of fun doing it! Just ask anyone on my list. 73, John K8YSE

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Questions
by Martha 25 Aug '13

25 Aug '13

Would one of you answer this Martha, can you give me an idea of when in the day the Symposium will open? My son in law is in college and we both want to attend but not drive 2 cars to Houston. And about when on Sunday does it close? On another matter, I attach 2 pictures of practice blocks of woodcarvings on basswood. Remember this is a practice run......I would be willing to carve and donate a wooden quilt of 4 squares, framed in basswood for an auction or raffle at the Symposium to raise a few dollars for Fox. Let me know what you think. The piece would be 9 in x 9 in. You will note on the two practice boards one side stained darker than the other. I was practicing to see which I liked. Also, if you want it, how detailed do you think I need to be? (How much room for artistic liberty?) For instance with the lines in the solar cells? That is very difficult to cut in a 3.5 in square. I also carved in the wood for the sides o Oscar 1, not knowing if that was flush or not---and the carving does give it a sense of dimension. I tried to present 4 of our satellites. It might be that AO7 will take up 2 blocks. I intend to do a bit of carving in the frame as well. In my head, it looks good. I hope as well in reality. Please understand that all I have done so far is the practice boards. If you decline, that is ok, too. You likely will want to discuss with others. Please let me know about this project, but more immediately about the tentative Friday schedule so we can plan. After about 24 years of membership this will be my first Symposium here, though when I was G0WEW I attended 2 in the UK and I think was a member of both AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-UK. 73 George Carr WA5KBH -- 73- Martha

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Satellites at Tokyo Ham Fair + Cuba-UK skeds
by M5AKA 25 Aug '13

25 Aug '13

Satellites at Tokyo JARL Ham Fair http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/25/ham-radio-satellites-at-tokyo-ham-fair/ Also on the AMSAT-UK website: Hector CO6CBF is looking for stations in UK to try contacts on the amateur radio satellite FO-29, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/24/uk-stations-wanted-fo-29-cuba/ IARU-R1 release new VHF Handbook http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/23/iaru-r1-release-new-vhf-handbook/ ---- 73 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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ANS-237 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 25 Aug '13

25 Aug '13

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-237 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: * ARISS-EU update on the ISS HamVideo * AMSAT Mentions and Articles of interest in the Press * New Booster: Japan space agency unveils new rocket Epsilon * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due By September 15th * Radio Ham VK3FADO Cited in The Age newspaper * Message In A Bottle * AMSAT Symposium is Only 10 Weeks Away * Ham Radio in Space: Ham Radio Payloads Preparing to Launch * Ham Radio Cubesats Hope for November Launch * The USA Lower 48 Worked all 488 Grids non-Award * Cubebug-1 Good News * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-237.01 ANS-237 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 237.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. DATE August 25, 2013 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-237.01 ARISS-EU update on the ISS HamVideo How a DATV transmitter on S-band is being added to the ARISS equipment onboard the International Space Station has been related in an announcement recently circulated and available at http://www.ariss-eu.org/HamVideo.pdf The ARISS Ham Video transmitter is presently onboard Columbus. The transmitter was delivered by Japanese cargo spacecraft HTV-4, which launched August 4 and docked 5 days later. ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano KF5KDP / IR0ISS reported that the bags are stored in Columbus. There are two bags: one for the transmitter, the other for the power, camera and antenna cables. Installation will be done by US astronaut Michael Hopkins KF5LJG who has been trained for the commissioning of the Ham Video equipment. The commissioning is planned later in the year, possibly the end of October when there are favourable passes over Italy. Indeed, the tests transmissions for the commissioning of the onboard equipment will be received by the ground station of the “Centro di Geodesia Spaziale” of the Italian Space Agency, located in Matera, Southern Italy. We will report in due time on the commissioning procedure which will involve a series of tests to be performed during 3 or 4 ISS passes. Possibly, the Ham Video transmitter will transmit continuously between the commissioning steps offering amateur ground stations the opportunity to test and tune their receiving equipment. The transmissions will be performed in automatic mode, without requiring crew time. The camera, which runs on a battery, will not be used and the ground stations will receive a black image. Meanwhile, commissioning is being prepared steadily. The kick-off meeting took place November 2012 at ESTEC, the European Space Research and Technology Centre, located in Noordwijk the Netherlands. Detailed procedures are examined and finalized during weekly ESA/ARISS teleconferences. A preliminary EST (Experiment Sequence Test) is planned August 28-29. The test will involve the ARISS ground station IK1SLD, located in Casale Monferrato in Northern Italy. IK1SLD, which is an ARISS telebridge station often used for educational ARISS school contacts on VHF, has been upgraded for S- band reception. Ham Video manufacturer Kayser Italia has delivered a 1.2 meter dish, a down converter and precision tracking motors, which are part of the ESA funded equipment. For the EST, the station will receive a DATV signal from a local low power S-band test transmitter. The decoded signal will be webstreamed to the BATC server. The British Amateur Television Club offers ARISS free access to their server. ESA examiners will connect to the BATC server and evaluate the reception. Test transmissions at IK1SLD will cover the different frequencies and symbol rates available on the Ham Video transmitter. Web streaming will take advantage of the special software developed by Jean Pierre Courjaud, F6DZP. References are available in the HamVideo.pdf. When the Ham Video transmitter will become operational, it will be used for ARISS educational school contacts. Video will be for downlink only. Uplink will be VHF FM audio. The Ericsson transceiver onboard Columbus will be used for reception onboard. This cross band and double mode operation is called Ham TV. Ham Video is the name of the DATV transmitter. [ANS thanks Gaston Bertels, ON4WF for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Mentions and Articles of interest in the Press + Amateur Television Quarterly In the September issue of Amateur Television Quarterly, Gaston Betels, ON4WF, ARISS-Europe Chairman contributes "The Columbus Project: A DATV Transmitter for the International Space Station" In addition to his fine description of the DATV project and ground station reception and components he cites AMSAT-NA and its volunteers for funding and building the dual band VHF/UHF antennas on Columbus. While giving a chronology of the development of Amateur TV onboard the ISS he writes "Meanwhile a possibility opened for the installation of VHF/UHF antennas on Columbus. The Europena Space Agency wanted a VHF antenna for a specific payload and was interested in the manner ARISS antennas had been attached to handrails on the Russian service module. A similar system was adopted for Columbus and, at the same time, ESA accepted the installation of a dual band VHF/UHF antenna for ARISS. The antenna project was funded entirely by AMSAT-NA and volunteers who built the antennas for both the ESA experiment and for ARISS. The installation was done per EVA, 21 November 2009. Soon an Ericsson UHF transceiver, which had served in the early ARISS days, migrated from the REussian to the American segment of the Space Station and started Packet Radio operation." The magazine is available via subscription only. Visit their website www.atvquarterly.com for more information. [ANS thanks Amateur Television Quarterly for the above information] + Monitoring Times In September's "On the Ham Bands" column, Kirk A. Kleinschnit, NT0Z, writes "The Highs and Lows of Amateur Satellites". He cites AMSAT on numerous occasions in the article and includes a picture of Keith Baker, KB1SF, working AO-51. He references AMSAT as a source of information as well as describing AMSAT's efforts with the phase 3 birds, Oscar 10 and 13, our current cooperation with Universities and other entities and cites our website http://www.amsat.org. + CQ VHF The Summer edition of CQ VHF holds several articles related to satellite and EME. Of particular note are "Add ISS Packet Operation to Your Satellites Activity" by The AMSAT Journal Editor-in-Chief, Joanne Maenpaa, K9JKM. This article originally appeared in the proceedings of the 2012 AMSAT Symposium. In his "Satellites" column, Keith Pugh, W5IU, writes "Dayton, Ham- Com, Field Day, ARISS Update, and What's New for Working the Birds." Needless to say, the article covers a lot of territory and includes pictures of Tony AA2TX and Wendell W2BFJ, Barry WD4ASW, and Keith W5IU. + QST Check out pages 46-47 of the September QST for an article, "Decibels and dBm Demystified" written by AMSAT member and AMSAT Journal columnist Bob DeVarney, W1ICW. --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Booster: Japan space agency unveils new rocket Epsilon The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Tuesday unveiled its new solid-fuel rocket Epsilon before its launch with a scientific satellite next week. Epsilon, a three-stage rocket with 24.4 meter in length, 2.6 meters in diameter and 91 ton in weight, is to be launched from the state-run agency's Uchinoura Space Center in southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima. The rocket is a successor of the M-5 rocket that was retired in 2006 and is planned to carry a telescope named SPRINT-A, world's first space telescope for remote observation of planets. The agency originally scheduled to launch the rocket Thursday but postponed until next Tuesday due to wrong wiring in communication equipment. The original article can be found on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/New-Japan-Epsilon (Space-Travel.com) [ANS thanks Space-Travel.com, the Xinhua News Agency, and JAXA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due By September 15th A reminder that all members in good standing should have received their ballots. In order for your ballott to be counted, it will need to be RECEIVED at the AMSAT office by September 15th. This year we have 8 candidates for 4 voting Board members and 2 non- voting Alternates. Your vote is especially important this year in selecting those who will help guide AMSAT-NA. If you have not submitted your ballot, please review the candidate biography and position statements you received, as well as the Minutes of the Board Meeting published in the May/June issue of the AMSAT Journal. Then make your voice heard by voting. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Radio Ham VK3FADO Cited in The Age newspaper The Age newspaper reports on Jonathan Oxer VK3FADO who has been developing the ArduSat CubeSats which carry amateur radio payloads The article, by Ben Grubb, says for the past 10 months, Jon VK3FADO has been involved in designing and building two crowd-funded micro- satellites that will allow anyone to conduct their own space experiments. Named ArduSat-1 and ArduSat-X, the low-cost, miniature satellites are aboard the International Space Station ready to be put into orbit between October and March 2014. Read the full article at http://tinyurl.com/m56pj4n ArduSat Open Source Ham Radio CubeSats http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/09/ardusat-open-source-ham-radio-cubesats/ This article was posted at: http://tinyurl.com/k7jjvbt [ANS thanks Southgate for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Message In a Bottle Astronaut Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP, relates his first random amateur radio experience aboard the ISS in his blog entry “Message in a Bottle” This excerpt from the blog demonstrates one of the thrills many of us have or hope to experience. "I set the radio to the ‘random’ contacts frequency, and without knowing what to expect, I put on the headphones. Physically, the International Space Station was still many kilometres away from the coastlines of Europe, but our horizon stretches out beneath us for thousands of kilometres and the various European ground stations could already see us. My ears were immediately overwhelmed by a cacophony of unidentifiable sounds and noises, voices, screeching and white noise. Then suddenly, a voice surfaced above the other sounds; it was a young man, in my mind barely more than a boy. He was calling the ISS American radio call sign (NA1SS) and repeating his own call sign. I was taken aback by the emotion that rose in me as I tried to reply to the call, using the Italian call sign (IR0ISS). But my excitement was nothing compared to the sheer astonishment and disbelief I heard in that voice, thousands of kilometres away. Speaking English with a beautiful Portuguese accent, the radio operator on the other side of the signal only managed to say a few words – “I don’t know what to say… This is a dream come true for me!” Luca finishes by writing, "Men, women, young and old, experts and complete beginners – they have all wrapped me in a warm blanket of friendship and gratitude, oblivious to the fact that I’m the one who should be thanking them for opening up the doors to an experience that began with that young man in Portugal, and that crossing space and time, reaches the heart of each and every amateur radio operator even before it reaches their ears." Read the entire blog entry at http://tinyurl.com/lfuejod The August 19 ARRL news rlease of the blog can be found at http://tinyurl.com/kzpts4c [ANS thanks the ANS Editors for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Symposium is Only 10 Weeks Away The 2013 AMSAT Space Symposium, hosted by the Johnson Space Center Amateur Radio Club, promises to be exciting and informative. This years Symposium will be held in Houston November 1-3 at the The Beautiful Marriott Hobby Airport Hotel. The Space Symposium will feature a full array of talks by knowledgeable AMSAT members and others regarding satellite construction and operation, plus other space-related subjects. The AMSAT Annual Meeting, held in conjunction with the Space Symposium, provides you the opportunity to hear about AMSAT’s future plans and voice your own thoughts and opinions to AMSAT Board of Directors members and other AMSAT officials. For the AMSAT Space Symposium, the Marriott offers: FREE parking (unusual for a large city hotel) $94.00 per night room rate FREE breakfasts, 2 per room per day FREE WiFi throughout the hotel FREE Airport Transportation Make plans NOW to attend the 2013 AMSAT Space Symposium Hotel reservations can be made by calling 713-943-7979. Visit their website at http://tinyurl.com/houhh-houston-hobby-airportmar Ask For The AMSAT Block or Use the Code AMSAMSA when reserving your room. The AMSAT 2013 Symposium Registration Form can be found at http://tinyurl.com/AMSAT-Symposium On line Symposium Registration is expected to be available in late August. [ANS thanks AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ham Radio in Space: Ham Radio Payloads Preparing to Launch Two CubeSats carrying SSB/CW and FM voice transponders are scheduled to be launched into a 600 km orbit during the first half of next year. That news came during the QB50 Project presentation at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium earlier this summer. The QB50 project team has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with AMSAT-UK, AMSAT-Francophone and AMSAT-NL to enable two Amateur Radio payloads to fly on two yet-to-be-named "precursor" CubeSats in advance of the main mission, to deploy about 40 double satellites. The CubeSat launch allows for the testing of key satellite and payload components. In addition, the precursor mission allows for experimentation and validation of the QB50 operational concept. The Amateur Radio payloads will become the primary payload of the spacecraft once all QB50-related experimentation has been concluded. The AMSAT-F payload for one of the satellites will be an FM voice relay with VHF uplink and UHF downlink. It will also transmit FX25 telemetry at 9.6 kbit. The AMSAT-NL payload on the other precursor satellite will incorporate an SDR-based, linear V/U transponder core. It will provide a telemetry downlink at 1.2 kbit. The QB50 spacecraft generally will have downlinks in the 435-438 MHz Amateur Satellite Service allocation, although some are expected to use 2.4 GHz. Meanwhile, the Baltic nation of Lithuania is hoping that its first two satellites will be launched later this year from the International Space Station (ISS). The nanosatellites carrying Amateur Radio payloads could be among the CubeSats sent by payload handler NanoRacks LLC to the ISS on the SpaceX CRS-3 mission this November. The Kaunas University of Technology is developing LituanicaSAT-1, while the Lithuanian Space Association is working on LitSat-1. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the historic flight by Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Gireenas in the Lituanica aircraft. On July 15, 1933, they took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York and flew across the Atlantic, covering a distance of 6,411 kilometers in 37 hours and 11 minutes. Tragically they perished after crashing in Germany, just 650 kilometers from their destination of Kaunas, Lithuania. LituanicaSAT-1 will carry a VGA camera, GPS receiver, 9600 bps AX25 FSK telemetry beacon and a 150 mW V/U FM voice transponder. LitSat-1 is planning a U/V linear transponder for SSB/CW communications. -- AMSAT News Service/AMSAT-UK [ANS thanks AMSAT News Service/AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ham Radio Cubesats Hope for November Launch On Thursday, August 22, 2013 at 14:39 UT Korea’s satellite KOMPSAT-5 launched on a Dnepr from Dombarovsky near Yasny This marked the first flight of the Dnepr launcher since August 2011 and the successful launch should clear the way for the launch in November of another Dnepr from Yasny believed to be carrying up to 23 satellites from 13 nations. Most of the satellites will carry amateur radio payloads and it should be the largest single deployment of amateur radio satellites since the ill-fated Dnepr launch of July 26, 2006. http://www.southgatearc.org/news/july2006/dnepr_failure.htm The launch had originally been planned for September 2012 but was postponed while the future of the Dnepr launch program was discussed. Among the satellites carrying payloads operating in amateur radio bands that may be on the November launch are: • UniSat-5 microsat which will deploy Eagle-1, Eagle-2, QB-Scout, estar-2, Wren and PUCP-SAT-1 which it turn should release a further satellite Pocket-PUCP • Delfi-n3Xt • Triton-1 • Triton-2 • GOMX-1 • FUNcube-1 • UWE-3 • CubeBug-2 • BRITE-PL1 • Humsat-D • CPUT ZAcube-1 • HinCube • BeakerSat • NEE-02 KRYSAOR (910 MHz) [ANS thanks Southgate ARN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- The USA Lower 48 Worked all 488 Grids non-Award John Papay K8YSE, recently announced, on the AMSAT-BB, that he has just completed working all 488 grids in the Lower 48 states. John writes, "Some of the active grid chasers on the birds are aware that KA6SIP just gave me my last USA grid when he operated from CN72 in Oregon. And I thought it might be interesting to look at the stats and how one manages to work and confirm all 488 USA lower 48 States grids. "Satellite operators come and go and grids come and go with them. A grid might have a very active operator in it and then it is off the air when that person goes away for whatever reason. Interestingly, about half of the 488 grids that were worked were from those operating portable, not in the sense of using a radio with batteries, but in the traditional sense of operating away from their home station location. Once you have experienced being on the other end of a small pileup, you will want to do it again. Just ask W7LRD who tried it recently and is planning another trip." In his post John goes on to list operators who exited the comfort of their home station and put a grid on the air. John further reflects, "I started with satellites in June 2006 and only had 47USA grids by August 2008. From August 2008 till Jan 2009 I worked another 109. In 2009 199 were worked. 2010 was 76 and 2011 was 44. Only 4 new grids were worked in 2012 and 9 were snagged in 2013. Eight of those final 9 grids were handed out by Tom KA6SIP. He heard about the need and decided to make a grid expedition to put them on the air. He did 7 of them in one trip. Then Bob W7LRD went to the beach in CN77, operating away from home for the first time. That left CN72. Tom just got back from Hawaii and quickly made plans to camp out in CN72 and gave me the final grid on AO-7B, 20 August 2013 at 2332z. Then he put CN71 on the air on 22-23August, also a very rare grid square but one that I already had. Many others worked him there. "There is no award for working all 488 grids on satellites as there is for six meters (FFMA). The ARRL awards committee has looked at it and will implement it if someone on the Board of Directors brings it up for a vote and it passes. Hopefully that will happen soon. Having that type of award gives everyone something to work for. It promotes grid expeditions and interest in working through the satellites. If we all contact our ARRL Director, it might just happen. "There may be others who have already worked all 488 grids on satellites. K6YK might be one of them. I know there are several others who are getting close. It is not any easy thing to accomplish even if you operate every day. It is something you can work towards over the years. "I want to thank everyone that made satellite contacts with me that ultimately led to working all 488. Many went out of their way to put on a grid. Over half of the grids worked were from grid expeditions! If you haven't experienced operating away from home, please consider it. With new operators showing up on the birds every day, there is always a need for an uncommon grid. And you will have a lot of fun doing it! Just ask anyone on my list." John's original post, including the list of those who worked him portable, can be found in the bulletin board archives http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/48hour/msg98283.html Congratulations on your accomplishment, John! [ANS thanks JohnK8YSE for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Cubebug-1 Good News The satellite launched April this year known as Capitan Beto, is recovering from its balance of energy that caused its transmitter to be turned off for several days. The recovery was achieved after one of the AMSAT-LU stations in coordination and in conjunction with Satellogic team, sent a command to reconfigure onboard software that turned off attitude control circuits feeding magnetorquers this last weekend . Telemetry text mode command taken before change can be seen at http://www.amsat.org.ar/images/cubebug130818.txt . Operation was done using RTL dongle, connected directly to antenna, using HDSDR recording software as IF mode only, that helped not to record big amount of data from Orbitron connected to DDE, also automatically compensating Doppler, see http://www.amsat.org.ar/images/cubebug130818.jpg which at top shows command sent and satellite response below. After reset, Cubebug-1 went to 'mission state', batteries showing adequate level of charge. Good reports were received from several amateurs from different parts of the globe. This activity was performed as part of the agreement of mutual collaboration that Satellogic & Amsat-LU signed in July 2013. The satellite transmits at 1200 bps AFSK, on 437.438 KHz, broadcasting packets every 30 seconds, signal is low requiring directional antenna and preamp for adequate reception. Cubebug-1 telemetry information can be found at http://1.cubebug.org/coms/telemetry It is hoped that the packet radio digipeater, that is onboard Cubebug-1, will be activated for amateur radio use after its primary mission objectives have been met. [ANS thanks AMSAT-LU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts + A Successful contact was made between Epet No. 2, Gral. Pico, Argentina and Astronaut Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP, using callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2013-08-06 11:48 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridged via LU8YY. IKØWGF and IKØUSO served as ARISS mentors. + A Successful contact was made between Ecole Primaire Pasteur, Fleurance, France and Astronaut Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP, using callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2013-08-07 11:01 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridged via LU1CGB. IN3GHZ and F6ICS served as ARISS mentors. + A Successful contact was made between 14th World Scout Moot Canada 2013, Camp Awacamenj Mino, Ottawa-Gatineau, Quebec, Canada and Astronaut Astronaut Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP, using callsign IRØISS. The contact began 2013-08-12 18:46 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridged via IK1SLD. VE3TBD served as ARISS mentor. + A Successful contact was made between Centro Educativo No9 Dr. Juan Lleren, Villa Mercedes, Argentina and Astronaut Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP, using callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2013-08-14 16:42 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via LU8YY/Q. IKØWGF and IKØUSO served as ARISS mentors. + A Successful contact was made between North-Western Regions Obesstvennoj The Cosmonautics Federation Of Russia, Russia and Cosmonuat Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, using callsign RSØISS. The contact began 2013-08-17 16:25 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via RA1AJN. RV3DR served as ARISS mentor. + A Successful contact was made between Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Económico-Sociales, Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Villa Mercedes, Argentina and Astronaut Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP, using callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2013-08-19 14:14:35 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via LU8YY/Q. IKØWGF and IKØUSO served as ARISS mentors. + A Successful contact was made between Festive event Berkan, Ile de La Réunion and Cosmonuat Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, using callsign RSØISS. The contact began 2013-08-19 21:31 and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via FR1GZ. ON4WF and RV3DR served as ARISS mentors. Upcoming ARISS Contacts + Youth Forum near the Black Sea, via TBD Contact is a go for 2013-08-26 15:30 UTC + Amicale Space Camp organized by Sterrenlab for children of the European Patent Office/NL, Leiden, The Netherlands (Summer Space Camp, Noordwijk, Netherlands), Netherlands, via PA3GUO Contact is a go for: Wed 2013-08-28 13:49:07 UTC + Gwalior Glory High School, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India, telebridge via IK1SLD Contact is a go for: Sat 2013-08-31 11:22:58 UTC [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana AJ9N and ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Captain Yuri, UT1FG/mm is back at sea, he picked up his ship in Santos, Brazil, which is very far south in Brazil (GG66) and out of all satellite range for North America and he is headed SOUTH! Next port is in Uruguay, even further SOUTH! He apparently did not have WiFi access while in Santos, Brazil, but friends expect that Captain Yuri will contact one of them as soon as he can to give us some updates on where his next ports will be. (Frank, K4FEG on starcomm-bb) + DUBUS issue 4/2012 is available as free sample in PDF format (16MB) here: http://bit.ly/14tWuOf DUBUS is a quartlery published magazine for technique and DX on VHF/UHF/SHF covering all bands from 6m to light. More information is available on www.DUBUS.org (Southgate) Source: Joe ,DL8HCZ/CT1HZE + Ham Technology: The Radio Documentation Project Manuals for China Built Radio Gear If you own a China built hand-held and have questions that the manual does not answer, there's now a new source of information. Calling itself the Radio Documentation Project, this website plans to provide high quality and in-depth open source documentation user manuals for mainland-China built handheld two-way radios. Its first completed work is a PDF file containing a well documented manual for the popular Baofeng UV-5R dual bander. The instructions are clearand distinct. Best of all it is available as a free download at tinyurl.com/new-uv5r-booklet. (Southgate) Source: Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1879 - August 16 2013 + This past week arising out of Australia's ACMA reason for not continuing the high power trial for radio amateurs was an observed lack of understanding of operator's obligations with regard to Electromagnetic Magnetic Radiation. As part of the emphasis on education regarding Electromagnetic Magnetic Radiation, the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) posted a web page, "Amateur Radio And Electromagnetic Radiation Issues" at: http://www.wia.org.au/members/technical/emr/ Topics on the WIA web include: * What is EMR ? * Understanding Electromagnetic Radiation Compliance for Amateur Radio Stations * Compliance * File For Download - VK3UM EMRCalc Ver 7.07 Where the specifics apply to Australia the information on this web page provide a common sense tutorial for amateur radio operators worldwide. The VK3UM EMRCalc is a fascinating software tool allowing you experiment with transmitted power levels, antenna height, and antenna gain. Source: Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) + APRS has standardized an ID series for amateur Oscar spacecraft. APOxxx. At the request of Juan Carlos, LU9DO, AMSAT-LU wanted a series of APRS designators for uniquely identifying AMSAT APRS applications. He suggested those beginning with the letter O for OSCARS. ALL APRS applications include this identifier in their packets so that the source of APRS data can be known. See the list http://aprs.org/aprs11/tocalls.txt Source: Bob, WB4aPR via AMSAT-BB + Help Requested for Cleaning up Old Mac Applications As part of moving features to the new AMSAT.ORG site, we are cleaning out old programs which are no longer used or useful. Alan, WA4SCA, would appreciate Mac users looking at the old programs and letting him know which ones are still useful, or not. http://tinyurl.com/ANS237-AMSAT-web-archive The old archive WILL be available, but we want to clean out the dead wood for current programs. Hopefully with a refreshed site we will also have new programs available. Source: Alan, WA4SCA, via AMSAT-BB --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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, EMike McCardel, KC8YLD kc8yld at amsat dot org

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Hey !!!
by Kevin Deane 24 Aug '13

24 Aug '13

Does anyone remember the link to the site where there was like dates and times and locations of SPACE STATION PICS/FOTTAGE ........ It was a great site where you could go to your home QTH or where ever and download the days pics whatever and they were very recent... Whoever put out this info please reply to all.... If anyone was listening last week I had my vertical hooked up and was rotating my beams to nothing....Sorry bout any stress... :) Got the plugs in the righ spot and hoping for the east far east for my sat 50... C U on T air!!! Kevin KF7MYK

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Re: The USA Lower 48 Worked all 488 Grids non-Award
by K5OE 24 Aug '13

24 Aug '13

John, What else can one say: COOL! I suspect Bruce may be right: Randy, N7SFI, was the first person (and only other) I ever heard of with the same remarkable achievement. My question is, "what's next"? 73, Jerry, M0GOE

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Re: The USA Lower 48 Worked all 488 Grids non-Award
by Loren 24 Aug '13

24 Aug '13

John, BRAVO ! 73 Loren k7cwq CN94

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RAST Booth (A-12) JARL HAM FAIR 2013
by Tanan Rangseeprom HS1JAN 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

Dear All; Now 24-25 AUGUST 2013 the team JAISAT-1 of TAMSAT group live on RAST Booth (A-12) JARL HAM FAIR 2013. Tanan HS1JAN

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Cubebug-1 Good News
by Amsat Argentina 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

The satellite launched April this year known as Capitan Beto, is recovering from its balance of energy that caused transmitter to be turned off for several days. This was achieved after one of the AMSAT-LU stations in coordination and in conjunction with Satellogic team, send a command to reconfigure onboard software to turn off attitude control circuits feeding magnetorquers this last weekend . Telemetry text mode command taken before change can be seen at http://www.amsat.org.ar/images/cubebug130818.txt . Operation was done using RTL dongle, connected directly to antenna, using HDSDR recording software as IF mode only, that helped not to record big amount of data from Orbitron connected to DDE, also automatically compensating Doppler, see http://www.amsat.org.ar/images/cubebug130818.jpg which at top shows command sent and satellite response below. After reset, Cubebug-1 went to 'mission state', batteries showing adequate level of charge. Good reports were received from several amateurs from different parts of the globe. This activity is performed as part of the agreement of mutual collaboration that Satellogic & Amsat-LU signed on July 2013. We recall that the satellite transmits now at 1200 bps AFSK, on 437.438 KHz, broadcasting packets every 30 seconds, signal is low requiring directional antenna and preamp for adequate reception. Cubebug-1 telemetry information at http://1.cubebug.org/coms/telemetry We appreciate having read this information. 73, LU7AA, Amsat-LU info at amsat.org.ar http://www.cetra.org.ar http://www.amsat.org.ar http://facebook.com/Amsat.LU

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Next Antares Launch Delayed
by B J 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2013/08/23/cots-mission-demo-postponed-2-days/ Further on Proton crash: http://en.rian.ru/science/20130823/182932689/3-Senior-Managers-Fired-Over-P… 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Office Closed
by Martha 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

The AMSAT office is closed due to the vacation of its one employee. It will reopen on September 4th -- 73- Martha

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Houston
by Martha 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

For those in the DC area who are planning to go to the Symposium in Houston, try United Airlines. I got a round trip ticket including taxes and fees for $285! -- 73- Martha

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Need AMSAT Library of Mac programs recommendations
by Alan 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

Hi, As part of moving features to the new AMSAT.ORG site, we are cleaning out old programs which are no longer used or useful. I would appreciate Mac users looking at the old programs and letting me know which ones are still useful, or not. http://web.archive.org/web/20130127214927/http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/to… The old archive WILL be available, but we want to clean out the dead wood for current programs. Hopefully with a refreshed site we will also have new programs available. Thanks, Alan WA4SCA

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APRS Destination Address for satellites
by Robert Bruninga 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

APRS has standardized an ID series for amateur Oscar spacecraft. APOxxx. At the request of Juan Carlos, LU9DO, AMSAT-LUwanted a series of APRS designators for uniquely identifying AMSAT APRS applications. He suggested those beginning with the letter O for OSCARS. ALL APRS applications include this identifier in their packets so that the source of APRS data can be known. See the list http://aprs.org/aprs11/tocalls.txt Bob, WB4aPR

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Re: The USA Lower 48 Worked all 488 Grids non-Award
by Lowell White 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

Congratulations, John, This is an excellent write-up. It should be published in the AMSAT Journal. Cudos to all whom were "on the other end" and to you for your persistence. 73, Lowell White K9LDW EM12sr ------ Original Message ------ Received: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 01:15:29 AM CDT From: John Papay <FL(a)papays.com> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] The USA Lower 48 Worked all 488 Grids non-Award > Some of the active grid chasers on the birds are aware > that KA6SIP just gave me my last USA grid when he operated > from CN72 in Oregon. And I thought it might be interesting > to look at the stats and how one manages to work and confirm > all 488 USA lower 48 States grids. > > Satellite operators come and go and grids come and go with them. > A grid might have a very active operator in it and then it is > off the air when that person goes away for whatever reason. > Interestingly, about half of the 488 grids that were worked were > from those operating portable, not in the sense of using a radio > with batteries, but in the traditional sense of operating away from > their home station location. Once you have experienced being on the > other end of a small pileup, you will want to do it again. Just ask > W7LRD who tried it recently and is planning another trip. Here is > a list of operators who exited the comfort of their home station and > put a grid on the air. The callsign is followed by the number of new > grids they gave me towards the goal of working all 488. Others may have > been worked but these totals represent the first time a new grid was > confirmed. > > ND9M 54 > WD9EWK 27 > WC7V 19 > KD4ZGW 16 > KB0RZD 10 > KC0YBM 9 > AA5CK 8 > KA6SIP 8 > KD8COQ 8 > N5ZNL 7 > W6GMT 7 > N0JE 6 > N2SPI 6 > WA4NVM 5 > KB5WIA 4 > KB9BIT 4 > KC0ZHF 4 > KK0SD 4 > AA5PK 3 > K7CWQ 3 > UT1FG 3 > W6ZKH 3 > WA6ARA 3 > WA7HQD 3 > WA8SME 3 > AC0ZA 2 > AJ9K 2 > K0BAM 2 > K7DRA 2 > K7TRK 2 > KA0RID 2 > KC2LRC 2 > KE7DOV 2 > N3TL 2 > N5AFV 2 > > Jim, ND9M, is a seasoned grid expeditioner. Along with working > satellites he is also active on the county hunters nets. Most of > his activity was between 2009 and 2011. He was also active from a > cargo ship and gave out the very rare DM02. Jim would travel for > months at a time and worked from a few hundred grids. Most of that > operating was done on FM birds rather than linear ones. It was > great to have many daily fm passes when AO-27 and AO-51 were active. > HO-68 and SO-67 were in the mix for a while too. 54 new grids came > from Jim and he tops the list. > > Most everyone knows Patrick WD9EWK. He has done a lot of traveling > both in the US and Canada and he gave me 27 new grids. He was very > active on the birds until recently. He was an alternate on the AMSAT > Board of Directors and was recently appointed to oversee the AMSAT > Area Coordinator program. He virtually has no home station and most > all local contacts were made from a park near his apartment in Phoenix. > He knows how to do it and he is a meticulous planner. > > Next on the list is Kerry WC7V. He lives in sparsely populated Montana > and travels around by car and in his light aircraft. He went to many > grids at my request and made a lot of us very happy by operating from > many rare locations. He is in slot number 3 with 19 grids. > > Next on the list is Rob KD4ZGW/m. Rob drove an 18 wheeler and we all > heard him on a satellite one day. He didn't know his grid square but > he knew his milepost on the interstate. From there we had the grid > square. Rob went on to improve his mobile station and activated over > 100 grid squares. He is no longer driving on long hauls and has not > been active for some time. He is fourth on the list with 16 grids. > > The next three are very special because they all became new operators > during the quest to work all 488. Gail KB0RZD is very active today, > usually operating with a handie-talkie. He went to 10 grids around him > and sent some photo qsl cards that were just outstanding. KC0YBM operated > from his home location for a long time before I realized he was very > close to other grids. Chris didn't have portable equipment so I suggested > he look into an AC inverter for the car. He did just that and soon he > was operating portable from some new grids. This speaks to the ham radio > culture that you find a way to operate with what you have. Chris continues > to be active and hands out grids in the US and Canada. And then there > is Ted, AA5CK. He has operated in grids around his home qth as well as > some rare ones in New Mexico. He lives in EM04, not far from EM05 where > I made my first grid expedition contact with KD8CAO from EM05 in front of > the White Dog Ranch on old Route 66. I remember Ted's first sat contact. > > There are a few very special operators that can't be left out. My son, > KD8CAO, provided 8 new grids for his dad. He knows how to operate > portable and gives out the grids when he travels. Then there was > Richard N2SPI. I asked him about some grids in Maine that hadn't been > on and he took the challenge and drove to all of them, getting back to > his dad's place during the first snow of the season. Dave KB5WIA made > quite the trip by backpacking into CM79. It took two trips to transport > the equipment into the grid. He has a video of it on youtube. > > I started with satellites in June 2006 and only had 47 USA grids by August > 2008. From August 2008 till Jan 2009 I worked another 109. In 2009 199 > were worked. 2010 was 76 and 2011 was 44. Only 4 new grids were worked > in 2012 and 9 were snagged in 2013. Eight of those final 9 grids were > handed out by Tom KA6SIP. He heard about the need and decided to make a > grid expedition to put them on the air. He did 7 of them in one trip. > Then Bob W7LRD went to the beach in CN77, operating away from home for > the first time. That left CN72. Tom just got back from Hawaii and quickly > made plans to camp out in CN72 and gave me the final grid on AO-7B, 20 August > 2013 at 2332z. Then he put CN71 on the air on 22-23August, also a very > rare grid square but one that I already had. Many others worked him there. > > There is no award for working all 488 grids on satellites as there is > for six meters (FFMA). The ARRL awards committee has looked at it and will > implement it if someone on the Board of Directors brings it up for a vote > and it passes. Hopefully that will happen soon. Having that type of award > gives everyone something to work for. It promotes grid expeditions and > interest in working through the satellites. If we all contact our > ARRL Director, it might just happen. > > There may be others who have already worked all 488 grids on satellites. > K6YK might be one of them. I know there are several others who are > getting close. It is not any easy thing to accomplish even if you operate > every day. It is something you can work towards over the years. > > I want to thank everyone that made satellite contacts with me that ultimately > led to working all 488. Many went out of their way to put on a grid. Over > half of the grids worked were from grid expeditions! If you haven't > experienced > operating away from home, please consider it. With new operators showing up > on the birds every day, there is always a need for an uncommon grid. And you > will have a lot of fun doing it! Just ask anyone on my list. > > 73, > John K8YSE > > _______________________________________________ > 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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Ac0ra/p
by wyattdirks 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

Good evening If anyone would like en21/22 please send me an email direct. I am going to be close to the gridline tomorrow. Thanks Wyatt AC0RA

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New Mission For Fermi
by B J 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

http://www.americaspace.com/?p=41211 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Another Test For Dream Catcher
by B J 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2013/august/nasa-partner-completes-second-dream-c… http://spacecoalition.com/blog/dream-chaser-space-plane-takes-flight-at-nas… 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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FL11 again on SO-50
by Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

Hi to all... I plan to be on the next SO-50 pass of today (22 august 2013, 2226z - 2240z) This will be a 75o Elevation pass... CU on the birds

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Successful Dnepr launch from Yasny
by M5AKA 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

Korea's KOMSAT-5 was successful launched today from Dombarovsky near Yasny, the first Dnepr to be launched since August 2011. It is hoped an amateur radio satellite Dnepr launch will follow in November. See http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/22/dnepr-cubesat-launch/ Also on the AMSAT-UK site: CubeSat to Mars http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/22/cubesat-to-mars/ ---- 73 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: Luca's Blog
by Bill (W1PA) 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

His previous post, where he relates working the amateur radio equipment (possibly for the first time?) is good as well. Aug 13: "Message in a Bottle" Bill W1PA

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CN98
by wa7eth＠frontier.com 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

I plan to be in CN98 for the 22:15UTC pass of SO-50. . 73'..Ed WA7ETH Amsat #16226

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Re: space track help
by Erich.Eichmann＠t-online.de 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

Hello Nick, with program version 12.8b or the test version 12.8c run the tool DataBackup (located in the SatPC32 program folder) to restore your data and get the program running again. Then update your Keps files, best with the "Update Keps" feature in menu "Satellites". Download "nasa.all" and/or the Celestrak files you want to use with the different satellite groups (menu Satellites). Also check the option "Use Amsat names if available" in menu Satellites > Sat Names (default setting). The program will run with these Celestrak files and display the Amsat satellite names of most of the satellites. The Celestrak files are updated every day (as far as I know). So, the "Update Keps" function is a comfortable way to get fresh Keps, I think. If you want to use Space Track files directly download them with the TLE Retriever 3 and convert them to Celestrak files that can be used by SatPC32. The TLE Retriever will store the generated Celetrak files in a data folder "My TLEs". To use the files navigate to that folder (SatPC32 menu File > Open) and select a file. When you have configured the program for your equipment you should save the settings with DataBackup. We are on vacation until Aug. 24. 73,s, Erich, DK1TB Von: "nick pugh" <quadpugh(a)bellsouth.net> An: <APBIDDLE(a)MAILAPS.ORG>, <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Cc: "'CC'" <APBIDDLE(a)UNITED.NET> Betreff: [amsat-bb] Re: space track help Datum: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 15:56:56 +0200 Thanks Alan I tried NASA.all same error ungutige gleitkommaperation Google says it is an invalid floating point error. nick -----Original Message----- From: Alan [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 6:47 AM To: 'nick pugh'; amsat-bb(a)amsat.org [1] Cc: CC Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] space track help Nick, Space Track has a new format, but my SatPC32 downloads from CelesTrak, which uses the same file format as always. I just updated all the files, and there were no problems. You could try the NASA.ALL file, which has been unchanged for years. If you could give a list of the error messages, it would help. 73s, Alan WA4SCA -----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [2] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of nick pugh Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 3:51 AM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org [3] Subject: [amsat-bb] space track help I believe Space Track has a new format on the data . When I load the new data into satpc 32 it throws errors and the only to shut satpc 32 down is via a 3 finger solute. Does anyone on the list have a resolution. Thanks nick ARS K5QXJ EM30xa 30.1N 92.1W 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 [4]. 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 [5] _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org [6]. 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 [7] Links: ------ [1] javascript:void(0) [2] javascript:void(0) [3] javascript:void(0) [4] javascript:void(0) [5] ?ctl=dereferer&to=aHR0cDovL2Ftc2F0Lm9yZy9tYWlsbWFuL2xpc3RpbmZvL2Ftc2F0LWJi [6] javascript:void(0) [7] ?ctl=dereferer&to=aHR0cDovL2Ftc2F0Lm9yZy9tYWlsbWFuL2xpc3RpbmZvL2Ftc2F0LWJi

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Ham Video transmitter onboard ISS Columbus module
by M5AKA 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

See http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/22/ham-video-transmitter-onboard-iss-columbus-m… Also on the AMSAT-UK website: VK3FADO in The Age newspaper http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/20/radio-ham-vk3fado-in-the-age-newspaper/ PhoneSat: “Crowd-sourced science” via ham radio http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/19/phonesat-crowd-sourced-science-via-ham-radio/ ---- 73 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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CubeSat Protocol Inquiry
by Clint Bradford 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

I have received an inquiry from a gentleman regarding the use of AFSK telemetry in commanding/controlling CUBESATS. Who should I forward this inquiry to - any takers? Clint Bradford K6LCS

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space track help
by nick pugh 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

I believe Space Track has a new format on the data . When I load the new data into satpc 32 it throws errors and the only to shut satpc 32 down is via a 3 finger solute. Does anyone on the list have a resolution. Thanks nick ARS K5QXJ EM30xa 30.1N 92.1W Office 337 593 8700 Cell 337 258 2527 Helping UL become a world Class Engineering and Educational School

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Re: Luca's Blog
by Mineo Wakita 21 Aug '13

21 Aug '13

Hi Clint, Thanks information for ISS Crew Blog. Reference (Japanese), http://iss.jaxa.jp/iss/crew/doc04.html JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita

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Luca's Blog
by Clint Bradford 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

Here's Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano's blog, where he relates his spacewalk last month ... http://blogs.esa.int/luca-parmitano/ /end/ ---------------------------------- Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.clintbradford.com

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Italian ISS Astronaut DID Nearly Drown
by Clint Bradford 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

Remember the "space suit water leak" that forced an Italian ISS astronaut to cut short a spacewalk last month? Well, watch your normal news sources. He was interviewed overnight, and relates just how critical and horrifying that scenario truly was. Clint K6LCS ---------------------------------- Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.clintbradford.com

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Sat Explorer Pro Updated
by Clint Bradford 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

Thanks to Tom Doyle for Satellite Explorer Pro for iOS devices - and this week's update that just appeared in the Apple store! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/satellite-explorer-pro/id669039200 Clint K6LCS

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grid square rules
by Bob- W7LRD 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

Where can I find grid square rules and requirements regarding grid square boundaries 73 Bob W7LRD

4 3

PBS Newshour Report On NASA Funding
by B J 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCJyhGquABg Funding situation for Orion: http://www.parabolicarc.com/2013/08/16/orion-review/ 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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FUNcube-1 CubeSat Update
by M5AKA 18 Aug '13

18 Aug '13

FUNcube-1 carrying a 435/145 MHz linear transponder is hoping to launch in November, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/18/funcube-1-cubesat-charger/ ---- 73 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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[Sort of Off Topic] Non-Ham Satellites of Interest
by Bryce Salmi 18 Aug '13

18 Aug '13

This is more of a curious question to anyone with some knowledge of non-ham satellites (I know about the NOAA satellites though). Are there any satellites that would be worth tracking at taking a listen to with an Arrow handheld antenna and a Yeasu VX-8R (HT with AM/FM modes). This is simply my curiosity of what's up there. Bryce KB1LQC

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EN67 Scheduled for SO-50 2210UTC Pass
by Mike N8MR 18 Aug '13

18 Aug '13

I will try to be on today's 2210 UTC pass of SO-50. I am scheduled to be in Copper Harbor, Michigan at that time. I realize that is a mainly easterly pass. Maybe I can be on for the following pass as well, though I'm not promising anything yet. 73, Mike, N8MR

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Delpht University Netherlands
by Sundeep Shah 18 Aug '13

18 Aug '13

Do we have any hams around this area near Delpht univ. Pls can I have name call sign n tele..thanks vu3sxe..Sundeep Shah Bangalore..+91 94484 26365.

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new Tablet need Software
by w6gmt＠bak.rr.com 18 Aug '13

18 Aug '13

I just got my new ASUS MeMO Pad. What Satellite tracking software works well and thoughts on a log program ? Just playing with it but the Built in GPS seems to work well and should make roving more fun. -- W6GMT BROCK THOMSEN PO BOX 222 MARCELL MN 56657 EN37EN

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HF Amsat net
by damon runion 17 Aug '13

17 Aug '13

Is there still a net on 20 meters for AMSAT and what would the time , day and freq.? The DSTAR AMSAT net is coming along pretty good,thanks to all I would like to have someone to be a backup net control .If intrested please email me wa4hfn(a)comcast.net Also don,t forget about the 5 in em55 award, look me up at wa4hfn qrz.com for the new rules. We have been tossing around the possiblity of having a 5 in EM55 contest. Comments welcomed Lets all work together to help AMSAT grow. Don't forget board elections . Im thinking about only voting for the people I hear on the birds., Thanks Damon WA4HFN em55

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Lithium-ion Capacitor OPUSAT + Balloon Conference Webstream
by M5AKA 17 Aug '13

17 Aug '13

The OPUSAT CubeSat, due to launch next Spring, has been featured in the Japanese press http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/16/lithium-ion-capacitor-satellite-opusat/ UKHAS conference in London, Saturday, September 7 to the web streamed http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/14/amateur-radio-foundation-exam-and-nb-tv-at-u… FUNcube Dongle Pro+ SDR – Free Shipping Offer http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/16/funcube-dongle-sdr-free-shipping-offer/ Latest IARU amateur satellite frequency coordination information can be seen at http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/ ---- 73 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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FL11 (CO7WT) is a go for next SO-50 Pass (2302Z-2312Z 16-august-2013)
by Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa 17 Aug '13

17 Aug '13

Hi to all, Everything here is a go for the next SO-50 Pass (2302Z-2312Z 16-august-2013) in just about 2 hours... In then recent last days Mother Natura trick me with rain on various SO-50 passes... Today there is a clean sky and a bright sun here now... I will work as many stations I can... 73 de CO7WT in FL11

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Looking for help for a school in Indiana County PA for an upcoming ARISS contact
by AJ9N＠aol.com 17 Aug '13

17 Aug '13

Hi all, I am mentoring a school in Indiana County PA that is going to have an upcoming ARISS contact. We don't have the school scheduled yet but it will probably be in early 2014. If you can provide some help with equipment, then please let me know and I will forward it on to the school. Thanks for the help. 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS mentors

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PBS Newshour Report On Kepler Space Telescope
by B J 17 Aug '13

17 Aug '13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZDGhwWPe8A 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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SPECIAL EVENT
by Peter Portanova 16 Aug '13

16 Aug '13

Hello, This weekend is Lighthouse Lightship weekend, around the world. I will be operating at the Fire Island Lighthouse, from Fire Island, NY, FN30. The host club is the Great South Bay ARC, www.gsbarc.org. I will be using the club call sign, W2GSB/FI. The plan is to work all the amateur satellites, Saturday and Sunday, starting on the 14:23 U pass of FO-29. The operating hours will be until 4 PM, as the Lighthouse is being repaired and we must leave at that hour each day. If you like to collect Lighthouse QSL cards you will enjoy having this one, and can mail your card to my home call. I look forward to working many stations and those of you worked me at Custer Observatory, QSL cards are being printed, thank you. 73 Pete WB2OQQ

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History of EME Website
by Les Rayburn 16 Aug '13

16 Aug '13

Great new web site containing lots of historical information about some of the pioneers of EME. Includes fascinating audio clips too. Learn more about the VHF Men who blazed the trail on "Oscar Zero". http://www.rcallen.com/eme50.htm -- -- 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF 121 Mayfair Park Maylene, AL 35114 EM63nf 6M VUCC #1712 AMSAT #38965 Grid Bandits #222 Southeastern VHF Society Central States VHF Society Life Member Six Club #2484 Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light

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Fwd: Amsat BB
by Bob- W7LRD 16 Aug '13

16 Aug '13

----- Forwarded Message ----- From: wa7eth(a)frontier.com To: "Bob- W7LRD" <w7lrd(a)comcast.net> Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:07:16 PM Subject: Re: Amsat BB Yes, please copy and paste the following: . On Saturday, August 17th, the Snohomish County Hams Club and the Cascade Radio Club will be participating in the annual International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend event. The Mukilteo Washington Lighthouse will be on the air. The call sign W7M will be used for this event. I intend on putting this lighthouse on the SO-50 passes taking place at 16:30 UTC and 18:10 UTC. QSL cards will be routed through the Snohomish Hams Club, P.O. Box 946, Everett WA 98206. This will be my first attempt at a special event station so please be patient in case there is a pile-up. Ed, WA7ETH . Then tell me who I can contact to see why my emails are not showing up on the BB. Thanks, Bob. . 73'...Ed ________________________________ From: Bob- W7LRD <w7lrd(a)comcast.net> To: wa7eth(a)frontier.com Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 5:11 PM Subject: Re: Amsat BB Hi Ed...I should be fairly quick, do you want me to cut and paste to the bb? 73 Bob W7LRD ________________________________ From: wa7eth(a)frontier.com To: "Bob Johnson" <w7lrd(a)comcast.net> Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 3:43:07 PM Subject: Amsat BB Bob, how long does it take for a message posted on the BB to appear. I sent one a about an hour ago and it has not shown up. Just wondering. I did subscribe and did everything right. Thanks. . Ed

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D STAR AMSAT users net
by damon runion 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

D Star Amsat users net tonight at 01;00 UTC on REF 60 B Hope to see you there with news about grid trips new operators and things you may want to sell or buy Satellite news ? https://sites.google.com/site/memphisdstar/d-satellite-amsat-net Damon WA4HFN em55 Memphis, TN

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New items at the online store
by Bruce 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

Please check out the new items added to the AMSAT online store. 2013 Cap (grey) 2013 T-Shirt (black) 2013 Golf Shirt (pale light blue/greyish) 73...bruce -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also live streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org AMSAT on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/amsat

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Next Dragon Flight To Be In 2014
by B J 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/08/nasa-planners-switch-spacex-dragon-m… Meanwhile, testing of Dream Chaser continues: http://www.parabolicarc.com/2013/08/14/watch-dream-chaser-roll-runway/ 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Re: Antenna element and Boom material
by Russ Ramirez 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

>I am wondering about going from 1/4 inch tound elements to about 3/8 inch square >would effect the performance of this antenna. >Mike Hoblinski >N6IMF It definitely will Mike, but not in a positive/negative way per se. Let me explain. If you follow an optimized design that called for 1/4 inch round elements and substitute 3/8 in square tubing, the impedance and SWR bandwidth characteristics will change in the general sense, and these changes may or may not be desirable. I do not have the experience with LP antenna implementations that I do with Yagi or wire antennas, so perhaps there are other issues to consider. I would suspect that the low SWR points across the bands would simply shift. Changes in element diameters generally affects the electrical length, and in your example only a small amount. Russ K0WFS

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Re: AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 8, Issue 264
by Humberto González 14 Aug '13

14 Aug '13

Enviado desde mi Windows Phone ________________________________ De: amsat-bb-request(a)amsat.org Enviado: 14/08/2013 02:17 p.m. Para: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Asunto: AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 8, Issue 264 Send AMSAT-BB mailing list submissions to amsat-bb(a)amsat.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to amsat-bb-request(a)amsat.org You can reach the person managing the list at amsat-bb-owner(a)amsat.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of AMSAT-BB digest..." Today's Topics: 1. NASA Accepting CubeSat Proposals (Clint Bradford) 2. Last four passes from Hawaii on SO-50 & FO-29 (Tom Deeble - KA6SIP) 3. Bad wheather in FL11 (SO-50, CO7WT) (Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa) 4. DL93 :-) (Alvaro de Leon Romo) 5. Astronaut Luca Parmitano KF5KDP talks about ham radio contacts (M5AKA) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 13:34:47 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: Clint Bradford <clintbrad4d(a)earthlink.net> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org, amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] NASA Accepting CubeSat Proposals Message-ID: <8034132.1376426087816.JavaMail.root(a)mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 August 13, 2013 Joshua Buck Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 RELEASE 13-252 NASA Announces Next Opportunity for CubeSat Space Missions NASA is now accepting proposals for the CubeSat Launch Initiative. Proposals must be submitted electronically by 4:30 p.m. EST Nov. 26. >From the submissions, NASA will select the best proposals by Feb. 7. Developers whose proposals are selected may have the opportunity to see their creations launched as an auxiliary payload on a mission between 2014 and 2017. NASA will not provide funding for the development of the small satellites and selection does not guarantee a launch opportunity. CubeSats are a class of cube-shaped research spacecraft called nanosatellites. They are approximately 4 inches long, have a volume of about 1 quart and weigh less than 3 pounds. CubeSat investigations should be consistent with NASA's strategic plan and educational vision and goals. The research should address specific aspects of science, exploration, technology development, education or operations. >From the first four rounds of the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative, 89 payloads from 25 U.S. states made the short list for launch opportunities in 2011 through 2016. Of the selected CubeSats, 12 satellites have already launched. Twenty-one Cubesats are scheduled for launch later this year. For additional information on NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative program, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/13VCBmz -end- ---------------------------------- Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.clintbradford.com ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 18:45:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Tom Deeble - KA6SIP <ka6sip(a)aol.com> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Last four passes from Hawaii on SO-50 & FO-29 Message-ID: <8D0668E02AB2B9C-1860-244CE(a)webmail-d237.sysops.aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Greetings, This trip to Kauai did not quite go as planned and the satellite operation really suffered. It looks like the following four passes will close out this trip from BL02, Kauai : Today - Tues 8/13 SO-50 6:14 PM HST - 0414z 8/14 FO-29 8:01 PM HST - 0601z 8/14 Tomorrow - Wed 8/14 SO-50 8:18 AM HST - 1818z FO-29 9:02 AM HST - 1902z 73's - Tom Tom Deeble - KA6SIP Mt. Diablo Amateur Radio Club Membership Chairman ka6sip(a)aol.com PACIFICON - Oct 11-13, 2013 ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 20:21:02 -0400 From: "Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa" <co7wt(a)frcuba.co.cu> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Bad wheather in FL11 (SO-50, CO7WT) Message-ID: <520ACD6E.5090803(a)frcuba.co.cu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Hi to all, In a few minutes there is a pass of SO-50 over my head... I have promised to be there but there is a bad weather here raining since mid afternoon... If the things remain like this I will not be there... sorry... If there is any las minute chance I will be there... 73 de CO7WT ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 22:51:52 -0500 From: Alvaro de Leon Romo <xe2at(a)hotmail.com> To: "amsat-bb(a)amsat.org" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] DL93 :-) Message-ID: <SNT146-W174DB331402EDA286FF773F5450(a)phx.gbl> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hi guys I will fly tomorrow 14th to DL93, this grid is a very rare so I will try to be on SO50 the 2 morning and 2 night pass IF the pasengers are on time to be at 1502 UTC..... See you on SO50Ps I hope can remember how to use SO50 , I begin to be rusty :-)) GL allSincerely Al XE2AT ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 10:20:43 +0100 (BST) From: M5AKA <m5aka(a)yahoo.co.uk> To: AMSAT BB <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Astronaut Luca Parmitano KF5KDP talks about ham radio contacts Message-ID: <1376472043.82438.YahooMailNeo(a)web172306.mail.ir2.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Luca KF5KDP / IR0ISS has been writing on his blog about his amateur radio contacts, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/14/astronaut-luca-parmitano-kf5kdp-talks-about-… Also on the AMSAT-UK site: UKube-1: Art in Space http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/13/ukube-1-art-in-space/ Ofcom Consultation covers 2.3, 2.4, 3.4 and 5 GHz bands http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/09/ofcom-consultation-covers-2-3-2-4-3-4-and-5-… ---- 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK website http://amsat-uk.org/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSAT-UK/208113275898396 Twitter https://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ---- ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat-bb(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb End of AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 8, Issue 264 ****************************************

1 0

EM26
by Andrew Glasbrenner 14 Aug '13

14 Aug '13

I plan on being on FO29 tonight from EM26 if anyone needs the grid. Look for me high in the passband. 73, Drew KO4MA Sent from my iPhone

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Astronaut Luca Parmitano KF5KDP talks about ham radio contacts
by M5AKA 14 Aug '13

14 Aug '13

Luca KF5KDP / IR0ISS has been writing on his blog about his amateur radio contacts, see http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/14/astronaut-luca-parmitano-kf5kdp-talks-about-… Also on the AMSAT-UK site: UKube-1: Art in Space http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/13/ukube-1-art-in-space/ Ofcom Consultation covers 2.3, 2.4, 3.4 and 5 GHz bands http://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/09/ofcom-consultation-covers-2-3-2-4-3-4-and-5-… ---- 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK website http://amsat-uk.org/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSAT-UK/208113275898396 Twitter https://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ----

1 0

DL93 :-)
by Alvaro de Leon Romo 14 Aug '13

14 Aug '13

Hi guys I will fly tomorrow 14th to DL93, this grid is a very rare so I will try to be on SO50 the 2 morning and 2 night pass IF the pasengers are on time to be at 1502 UTC..... See you on SO50Ps I hope can remember how to use SO50 , I begin to be rusty :-)) GL allSincerely Al XE2AT

1 0

Bad wheather in FL11 (SO-50, CO7WT)
by Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa 14 Aug '13

14 Aug '13

Hi to all, In a few minutes there is a pass of SO-50 over my head... I have promised to be there but there is a bad weather here raining since mid afternoon... If the things remain like this I will not be there... sorry... If there is any las minute chance I will be there... 73 de CO7WT

1 0

Last four passes from Hawaii on SO-50 & FO-29
by Tom Deeble - KA6SIP 13 Aug '13

13 Aug '13

Greetings, This trip to Kauai did not quite go as planned and the satellite operation really suffered. It looks like the following four passes will close out this trip from BL02, Kauai : Today - Tues 8/13 SO-50 6:14 PM HST - 0414z 8/14 FO-29 8:01 PM HST - 0601z 8/14 Tomorrow - Wed 8/14 SO-50 8:18 AM HST - 1818z FO-29 9:02 AM HST - 1902z 73's - Tom Tom Deeble - KA6SIP Mt. Diablo Amateur Radio Club Membership Chairman ka6sip(a)aol.com PACIFICON - Oct 11-13, 2013

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NASA Accepting CubeSat Proposals
by Clint Bradford 13 Aug '13

13 Aug '13

August 13, 2013 Joshua Buck Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 RELEASE 13-252 NASA Announces Next Opportunity for CubeSat Space Missions NASA is now accepting proposals for the CubeSat Launch Initiative. Proposals must be submitted electronically by 4:30 p.m. EST Nov. 26. >From the submissions, NASA will select the best proposals by Feb. 7. Developers whose proposals are selected may have the opportunity to see their creations launched as an auxiliary payload on a mission between 2014 and 2017. NASA will not provide funding for the development of the small satellites and selection does not guarantee a launch opportunity. CubeSats are a class of cube-shaped research spacecraft called nanosatellites. They are approximately 4 inches long, have a volume of about 1 quart and weigh less than 3 pounds. CubeSat investigations should be consistent with NASA's strategic plan and educational vision and goals. The research should address specific aspects of science, exploration, technology development, education or operations. >From the first four rounds of the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative, 89 payloads from 25 U.S. states made the short list for launch opportunities in 2011 through 2016. Of the selected CubeSats, 12 satellites have already launched. Twenty-one Cubesats are scheduled for launch later this year. For additional information on NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative program, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/13VCBmz -end- ---------------------------------- Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.clintbradford.com

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Problems
by Martha 13 Aug '13

13 Aug '13

Due to new postal regulations, our mailer had to buy new software. As some of you know, there was a glitch. The right address but the wrong name appears on your Journal. I have spoken to the mailer and was assured that everyone received a Journal. So disregard the name and enjoy the magazine. -- 73- Martha

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Antenna element and Boom material
by Mike Hoblinski 13 Aug '13

13 Aug '13

I was looking at constructing a Log Periodic antenna and was wondering about useing square material instead of round elements. The plans call out 1/4 round hollow tube for the elements. I ran across some aluminum extrusion material from a company called Microrax http://www.microrax.com/ that sells small aluminum extrusion and brackets plus hardware. Their extrusions are 10mm square and come in legnths up to 35 inches. I was looking at going with some larger extrusion material for the boom. All of the extrusion material has nice channels cut into it that could be used for element spacing adjustment and easy mounting. My other thought was to tap the ends of the elements and add stainless steel screws to adjust the legnths. I am wondering about going from 1/4 inch tound elements to about 3/8 inch square would effect the performance of this antenna. Mike Hoblinski N6IMF

2 1

Audio of SO-50 pass August 11 at around 1150 NY time?
by Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa 12 Aug '13

12 Aug '13

Hi to all, I have my homebrew crossed yaguis working again, prof of that is the pass of the last Sunday august 12 around 1150 Havana/NY time... The cell phone (record device) trick me and did not record anything... so if anyone has the recording of that pass I will appreciate if you share it with me, I make at least 4 QSO... plase email it to me... An in the rest of august I will try to be on every night pass until the 17 and from august 17 to september 1 I will be QRV on as may passes (Vacations!!!) So if you need FL11 write me and I will make a schedule for you. This night there is 2 chances, I will be QRV on the first at the ~2040 Havana/NY time (0040Z) I'm with the yagui in one hand the mic on the other... so be patient and spell your call as slow as you can... 73 de CO7WT.

1 0

LO-19 on again
by Ib Christoffersen 12 Aug '13

12 Aug '13

hello all, This morning at 0828 UTC it was back on with the very strong signal. Dots and Dashes at random. Sorry if this is a double posting. Had some problems. 73 OZ1MY Ib

5 5

Rotator Positioning questions
by Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa 12 Aug '13

12 Aug '13

Ok, I have now a paper design with the goal for my rotor project. This rotor is really a 0-360o, but I have managed (designed) to make it full stop on 0-450o (even 540o if I like... with two contact switches that cuts power to motor when in position) and will use a mixed reference setup, the same for elevation as 0o (horizon) to 90o (cenit) I can attach a plastic overlay to a wheel on the gear reduction for making a 90 shift signal (2 wires for AZ and 2 for EL) an then down in the controller a 74hc74 decoding the 90o to say/count not only the position, but also the real rotation direction, the reduction cuadrature signal outputs ~ 750 pulses for full 450o as per my calculations, this after decoding by 74hc74 will be ~375 pulses for 450o and about 1.2o of accuracy, and the controller knows if the system if de-phased by high winds as it gets extra pulses when no moving was requested... so it can correct this deviation... (this is not possible with "simple" pulse counting or "time" counting as Bob, WB4APR proposed) High winds here normal here, and as I say in a previous email the brake mechanism is working poorly, remember this is for a "small" camera mounted on top the device, not a "sail" of 2 crossed yaguis for 70 and 2 more for 2m The "motor running/motor stop" signal will be a current probe on the AC 24V motor feeding wires down the control, as when the motor reach 0o or 450o it automatically switch's off Now the real question is how to orient the rotor physically, I have ZERO rotor experience here... knowing it can do 0o-450o... 0o is north, and 450o is east, this is the way I see, so I can do E-W north (up) and south (down) ways as well as N-S in east (right) and west (left) ways This is correct? And from the point of view of the controller and PC, lets imagine a ~NNE to NW pass (80o to 300o pass, north way) The PC(software) knows that ZERO will be crossed and send the controller a 450-(real zimuth) to the controller? Or this job must be done IN the controller it self? With Azimuth and Elevation you can flip the direction of the pass an then flip elevation 180o and cover it 100%, but how to do this in azimuth only rotors? Another... in 450o rotors (no elevation) How you cover a 110 to 300 (~SEE to ~NNW) pass if 450o is East and 0o is Noth? Assuming the software can figure the ZERO crossing and can do the math, 110o is beyond the 450o (450 = 360+90)... How to manage this? If I make a 540o rotor: softwares can manage it? (1+1/2 turns against 1+1/4 turns of 450o?) I have the serial comms working on the pic (MCU) but this questions are hammering my head... Can anyone help me with this? 73 the CO7WT

2 2

Update on my Noise problem on 75 Mtrs
by Dave Larsen PhD 12 Aug '13

12 Aug '13

2 Days ago abt 3am I was up and working 20 mtrs when our power went out .. I went outside and noticed some lights down from me , so went to main house breaker and it had triped - Tryed to reset it and would not .. long story short .. it was REAL BAD .. changed the 200 amp breaker out and Qrn is knw back to a S-3 .. here is a pic of it .. cut the breaker so I could see how bad it was http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/850/om69.jpg/ TNX for everyone that sent back trying to help me in this matter .. Dave N6CO

2 1

LO-19 changed to continuous carrier ?
by Ib Christoffersen 11 Aug '13

11 Aug '13

Hi, Here (Copenhagen, Denmark)at the AOS at 1213 UTC it sounds like just a single carrier with no modulation. LHCP seems to be best. It is not very strong like it has been for some time. Anybody else ? 73 OZ1MY Ib

2 1

Cubesat 2013 Summer Workshop live video stream
by Samudra Haque 10 Aug '13

10 Aug '13

FYI, I'm at Cubesat workshop @USU.. Link for live video stream is provided below. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cubesat-summer-workshop-2013?utm_campaign=www… Samudra Haque, Ph.D Student Dept of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering George Washington University

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Non-mechanical feedback follow up
by Zach Leffke 10 Aug '13

10 Aug '13

Hello again everyone, I have received a couple of emails off list asking about details of how I'm planning to use the magnetometer for the azimuth feedback. Instead of individually replying I'm placing my response here so everyone gets the same info (skip to the end of this long winded email for the details). Before I get into that I want to address Bob's (WB4APR) note about the constant rate of these motors. Basically, I like the idea because of its simplicity. That's something I hadn't considered, but will look into. My logic there is run my system through a few dozen trials to really lock down the turn rate baseline. Then all I have to do is keep track of the amount of time and in which direction I'm telling the motors to turn, and voila I should know the azimuth/elevation. As Bob mentioned with the beamwidth of these antennas that should get me close enough. If I were only planning to use the system for tracking LEO birds at VHF/UHF frequencies, I would probably just go with that. However, I was slightly understating my goals when I initially brought up this issue. In addition to LEO birds, I plan to also use this system for UAV tracking and High Altitude Balloon Tracking. I am an EE graduate student at Virginia Tech and each semester I help out with an Undergraduate Lab with Aerospace and EE students that design and fly a high altitude balloon (generally with APRS tracking and some kind of camera/sensor suite payload). One of the professor in charge's (Dr. Dennis Sweeney, WA4LPR, some folks might know him for his filter design work among many other things) goals is to up the data rate in order to attempt a high speed real time data link. So in my own time I want to use this tracking pedestal for LEO tracking (and for my Master's Thesis prototype), but for this HAB project, the elevation can get quite high depending on the geometry of our chase scenario, and beamwidths can get quite small depending on the frequency we finally choose. In the end it might not matter much, but when we get to that point I want to at least have the OPTION for tight control over the pointing. This whole thing will likely get vehicle mounted in the bed of my pickup, and though I haven't completely thought out the details yet, My gut is telling me the use of a magnetometer for azimuth feedback could have a slight advantage because as the vehicle is moving the system could automatically compensate for the turning of the vehicle, where as a potentiometer type solution would not. With position updates from the HAB and a local GPS in the chase vehicle, calculation of Az/El to the target is pretty straight forward. Combine that with magnetometer feedback about the antennas' azimuth and elevation feedback from an accelerometer (which should also be somewhat "self compensating", say if the vehicle were moving up or down a hill), and I should be able to come up with a fairly sexy tracking pedestal that automatically compensates for the vehicle's motion to keep the antennas "on target." All that being said, here is my plan for the magnetometer implementation: I don't really have the details locked down yet, but I can give the overall plans. First I plan to use the HMC5883L from sparkfun. This device is $14.95 + Shipping and handling. It is a 3 axis magnetometer. When dealing with magnetometers it is important to understand whether or not your device is tilt compensated. This particular device is NOT tilt compensated. What that means is that it must be kept oriented parallel with the Earth (within say maybe + or - ten degrees or so). Assuming it remains oriented properly, the device will output (over I2C) the magnetic field strength in the X, Y, and Z directions. The Z direction is essentially pointed straight up at zenith (and should remain near zero since it is orthogonal to the earth's magnetic field). Also assuming no other strong magnetic fields exist near the sensor, it will detect Earth's magnetic field (the sensor just returns the highest magnetic field for a particular direction, so if other magnetic fields exist near the sensor, it can ruin the readings). In order to get the bearing, or azimuth, information one simply has to use the atan2 function with the Y and X axes, here is the code snippet from some examples online: heading = atan2(scaled.YAxis, scaled.XAxis). The rest is just calibration and making sure the heading makes sense (i.e. if the heading is a negative number add 360 to get a 0 - 360 output). One issue too is that most satellite tracking programs return the TRUE heading or azimuth (reference to the North Pole) to the spacecraft. This magnetometer with produce a MAGNETIC azimuth (referenced to the magnetic pole). Thus one must compensate for the magnetic declination of the area of operation. The declination can be found online for each person's individual location and can be hard coded into the code to adjust the magnetic readout to a true readout. Since this device is not tilt compensated I plan to mount it on my azimuth base on a short boom that sticks straight out in front of the antenna assembly. It will be center mounted on a non-conductive extension (maybe two or three feet in front of the azimuth assembly). My logic here is to try to get the sensor as far away from the AC induction motors and other metals as I can. The AC motors will produce a strong magnetic field and if the sensor is near them, it will distort the readings. Thanks again to everyone that provided feedback for me. Below are a few links that should help out those who want more details. Keep in mind too that there is a plethora of information out there on these devices (tutorials and example code) and with the links below and some skillful Googling, anyone can found out everything they need to make one of these work. Sparkfun Link: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10530 Bildr Tutorial: http://bildr.org/2012/02/hmc5883l_arduino/ K3NG's Arduino rotator control project: http://blog.radioartisan.com/yaesu-rotator-computer-serial-interface/ (Thanks to Lizeth, N3YKF for pointing me in this direction) --------------- -Zach, KJ4QLP

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AMSAT Awards
by Bruce 10 Aug '13

10 Aug '13

As the AMSAT server is being rebuilt, I have just rebuilt all the AMSAT award pages. You can reach them by going to amsat.org and clicking on Services. You will find Awards under the drop down. At the bottom of the main page is a link to all the award recipients. This information will be the same information that appears on my website. I will keep them both up to date. 73...bruce -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also live streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org AMSAT on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/amsat

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