- AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Re: ArduSat Arduino CubeSat Update
by Andrew Glasbrenner 15 Jun '12

15 Jun '12

In short, yes, in my opinion, unless they applied for and received an experimental (Part 5 I think) license in the 435 band, which has happened before. Even then I think there is a legal issue with a amateur service station communicating two-way with a part 5 station. I don't think any of them are aware of this from what I can see. THe FAQ on their kickstarter page has the following: How do you communicate with ArduSat? Our current plan is to use GENSO, a network of amateur-band ground stations connected through the internet that allows you to use any of the satellite communication terminals on the network from anywhere else. By connecting our interface to the network, we can communicate with ArduSat whenever it is in range of any of the stations. This means we can access the satellite more often and for longer. As a backup option, we’re also looking discussing with private ground station operators for collaboration. Last updated: Friday Jun 15, 11:55am EDT I'm a big supporter of cubesats, but many of them need some education on the use of amateur frequencies in my opinion. 73, Drew KO4MA -----Original Message----- >From: "Trevor ." <m5aka(a)yahoo.co.uk> >Sent: Jun 15, 2012 2:08 PM >To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >Subject: [amsat-bb] ArduSat Arduino CubeSat Update > >The latest update on the proposed ArduSat. > >See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8284 > >I wonder though about the fund raising idea of renting out time on the various space experiments. > >Not a problem on UHF commercial frequencies but would it fall foul of FCC regs if the 435 MHz band were used ? > >73 Trevor M5AKA > > >_______________________________________________ >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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ArduSat Arduino CubeSat Update
by Trevor . 15 Jun '12

15 Jun '12

The latest update on the proposed ArduSat. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8284 I wonder though about the fund raising idea of renting out time on the various space experiments. Not a problem on UHF commercial frequencies but would it fall foul of FCC regs if the 435 MHz band were used ? 73 Trevor M5AKA

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IC910 Options
by Tom Lubbers K8TL 15 Jun '12

15 Jun '12

Still don't know how to answer direct but: I have the CW filter, It works but I have never needed it! Of course the 1.2 Ghz module hasn't been used since AO-40 died. I turn the 1.2 Ghz module on every once in a while to blow the cob webs out of my 2C39 amp. Also have the UT-106 module, not sure if it does much that is noticeable at this location. Only got the RX options for the main RX, couldn't anticipate needing the enhancements on both receivers at the same time. The CT-17 is real handy for interfacing the frequency tracking systems. In my opinion, if 1.2 GHz gets popular again there are better options than the internal module. Unless you got burnt on the price, the 910 is probable the best buy for satellite work around. You got everything but mode "A" and no bird on the ISS down link. 73 and see you on the birds, Tom K8TL

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Voyager 1 Nearing Interstellar Space
by B J 15 Jun '12

15 Jun '12

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-177 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Re: Yaesu G-5400B
by Bob- W7LRD 15 Jun '12

15 Jun '12

the rotor is sold ----- Original Message ----- From: "D Carlisle" <w0uhf(a)yahoo.com> To: w7lrd(a)comcast.net Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2012 8:38:25 PM Subject: Yaesu G-5400B I'm interested in your az/el rotor. Please let me know if it has been sold yet or not. Thanks and 73, Dan, w0uhf

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Yaesu G-5400B for sale
by Bob- W7LRD 14 Jun '12

14 Jun '12

No I'm not giving up satellites! Up grading to a G-5500. Selling my 5400 az/el, control box, about 50 feet of 8 conductor wire and that solid aluminum shaft that goes through the el rotor. $250 plus shipping ground fedex from 98058. Listing here before ebay. Email direct. 73 Bob W7LRD

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IC-910H options ?
by chuck allen 14 Jun '12

14 Jun '12

Hello folks. I'm totally new to sat operation and VHF/UHF operating (kind of bored with HF). Since I already had a very nice HF and 6 meter rig, after a bit of research on the candidate rigs in my price range (the IC-9100 would have been nice except for the $$) I recently purchased an ICOM IC-910H. The used market for the IC-910H rigs is not exactly cheap at that. The Unit is a very late model in new condition which is why I made a quick decision and hit 'buy'. It is a 'stock' unit with no optional modules; no DSP, no narrow cw filters, no 1.2 GHz module. There doesn't look to be much satellite activity at 1.2 GHz but I'm questioning my purchase now due to the lack of options and my lack of experience. So is the stock unit going to be a problem in working the sats (i'm interested in working FM, SSB, and CW ... perhaps later digital)? Thanks for any advice? chuck AF4XK

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Terrestrial interference
by Lee Maisel 14 Jun '12

14 Jun '12

Who or what exactly uses the same downlink frequencies (or very close to them)? I always hear people talking (FM) when listening for sat beacons... Also, although totally unrelated, someone here may know, on 40m, down around 40.013 I hear what sounds like encrypted/scrambled speech. Who could that be? Thanks 73 W5LMM

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Re: Herringbone Log Periodic
by Clint Bradford 13 Jun '12

13 Jun '12

>> ... Has anyone built Kent's new herring bonehand held antenna? As written up in the Spring, 2012 issue of CQ VHF magazine, the 144mHZ gain was 5.3dBd / 7.4 dVi and 435 mHz gain was 7.6 dBd / 9.7 dBi - so working the FM LEOs would be a breeze with them! Clint Bradford K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com

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Working the birds Heard the bird (AO-27)
by Jimmy KC9PXZ 13 Jun '12

13 Jun '12

Hi, Well today AT 1900 something UTC, AO-27 made a pass. (I don't know if sending a attachment of the recording will work, or if it's allowed) I heard the bird, for the first time. I did not try a contact as the goal was to hear and track the bird, get a idea of how to tune for Doppler effect. I found it's a lot easier to just wave the antenna around and not use a tri pod. The antenna I used was my home brew yagi's (based on the AM SAT easy yagi's) with one tweak. I mounted them 90 degrees to each other one antenna and two radio's (for full duplex) the receive radio was the new UV5R. I will use my HTX 202 to transmit. You have to un .rar the recording. That's the only way I knew to make it small. I will try again tomorrow and maybe try to make a contact. It's a lot to do at once listen for as well as track the bird with your antenna & record the pass (my phone only records like a minute at a time). I will have to get something better. It's on now! 73 KC9PXZ (EN43qt) Jimmy

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Perfect Ground Track Contest
by Thomas Doyle 13 Jun '12

13 Jun '12

Here is my nominee for the 'Perfect Ground Track Contest' in the 'Lower 48 States Sub-Category'. As required by the strictly enforced contest rules it is a real functional satellite not some made up thing. Yes the SatPC32 'Display Ground Track' box is set to G+ (continuously on). Try to resist the urge to be a spoiler and give the new guys a chance to think about it. http://www.tomdoyle.org/perfectgroundtrack.png Need a hint: (common fiberglass pc board material) + 1 Good Luck 73 W9KE Tom Doyle

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NuSTAR Now In Orbit
by B J 13 Jun '12

13 Jun '12

It was successfully launched using a Pegasus booster earlier this morning. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Re: Last chance to send name to space onboard F-1 CubeSat
by Robert Coppock 13 Jun '12

13 Jun '12

from their recent posts listhttp://www.uk.amsat.org/8172 Watch Jay Leno – SAREX Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment 1992 funny video, thanks, 73 de k f zero g

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UO-11
by Gary Mayfield 12 Jun '12

12 Jun '12

Was in the car with the radio on scan. Heard UO-11 Sunday morning local time in southern Oklahoma while driving back from Hamcom. Strong signal it opened and held open the squelch on my mobile rig. I had no way to record or decode. It sounded like UO-11 always sounds. Only heard during one pass. Had radio on scan most of the day. 73,Joe kk0sd P.S Has anyone built Kent's new herring bone hand held antenna?

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MA 13 Colonies satellite station
by Dave Webb KB1PVH 12 Jun '12

12 Jun '12

My G5500 rotor is having problems with the azimuth portion of it, and I won't have the time to get it repaired before the start, so I won't be participating in the 13 Colonies event this year as the MA station. If there is anyone in MA that can fill in, just email me. Dave - KB1PVH Sent from my Verizon Wireless DROID X

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Re: NO-44 status?
by Robert Coppock 12 Jun '12

12 Jun '12

http://pcsat.aprs.org for those who dont know its a bit hard with a D7A and arrow sometimes, but i still like to see mycall on the map. i think it only works in sunlight.seventhree k f zero g robert cn81

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NO-44 status?
by Gordon JC Pearce 12 Jun '12

12 Jun '12

I left my packet gear set on 145.825 after the last ISS pass, and just now (about 23:20 BST) I heard some pretty weak packet. It times in with NO-44 coming past about 35 degrees high and to the north. What sort of state is NO-44 in these days? I didn't actually get any of the packets decoded, but I'll leave it all on and see if anything happens on the next pass. -- Gordonjcp MM0YEQ

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Satpc32 question
by ANTHONY JAPHA 12 Jun '12

12 Jun '12

After a few months of inactivity, SATpc32 is showing a funny but unfortunate feature: out of the 6 sats I have active (no change from previous use), only the linear birds show up on the screen. They are shown in the normal way, with the outline of their footprint always visible. The FM birds don't show up at all until they are clicked on in the A, B, C, etc. list at the bottom of the screen. When they are clicked, the inside of the footprint is shown and illuminated, but without the outline around the footprint. And only 1 of those birds can be shown at any time. The linear birds continue to be shown properly. Any ideas would be appreciated. Tnx and 73, Tony, N2UN LM 183

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ARISS contact
by dutchboy47501＠gmail.com 12 Jun '12

12 Jun '12

Hello, I noticed that there is an ARISS pass over my area tonight and the website shows phone contacts available and the repeater operational. Am I correct in assuming that I might be able to hear some activity during the pass tonight? KC9TTR

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Last chance to send name to space onboard F-1 CubeSat
by Trevor . 12 Jun '12

12 Jun '12

F-1 CubeSat launches to the ISS July 21 and you can send your name into spce on the satellite and get a certificate. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/8215 Also SimpleSat Look Down v1.0 is now available, see videos at http://www.uk.amsat.org/8217 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Sept. 15-16 http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve Booking at http://tinyurl.com/Colloquium2012Booking ----

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NuSTAR Scheduled To Launch Tomorrow
by B J 12 Jun '12

12 Jun '12

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/nustar/main/index.html 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Re: Asymmetric doppler curves?
by g0mrf＠aol.com 12 Jun '12

12 Jun '12

Dear Domenico, Dave, Miguel Trevor and Ivo. Thank you all for your thoughts and references. James Miller's Plan 13 etc is an excellent resource as, I discovered is Ivo's thesis. I have reached the conclusion that extracting more information from Doppler measurements in the limited time available may be considered a little tenuous. A reasonable approximation of satellite velocity and altitude should be straightforward. However I think trying to measure the Earths rotational speed suffers from one major source of error and that is the stability / calibration of the satellite transmitter and the groundstation receiver. To accurately measure the difference or asymmetry in Doppler between AOS and LOS (e.g. AOS may be fc +10,000Hz while LOS could be fc - 10,200) depends entirely on knowing the exact center frequency of transmission. Without that, the valid data becomes lost within the errors. However, hopefully some of the students will find it an inspiring addition to their study of gravitational fields. Regards and thanks David -----Original Message----- From: i8cvs <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it> To: Amsat - BBs <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org>; G0MRF <G0MRF(a)aol.com> Sent: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 3:25 Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Asymetric doppler curves? Hi David, G0MRF If you read the old issues of OSCAR-News from AMSAT-UK you will realize that a serious traking program like PLAN-10 written by James Miller G3RUH take into calculation all perturbations due to inclination and velocity of the satellite due to Earths rotational speed added / subtracted at either end of the pass and so doppler. 73" de i8CVS Domenico ----- Original Message ----- From: <g0mrf(a)aol.com> To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2012 1:20 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Asymetric doppler curves? > Hi all. > > I'm doing a small demonstration for a physics class using Doppler > measurements on the HO-68 beacon. > > Hopefully we'll be able to calculate spacecraft velocity and from that > result, go on to calculate orbit altitude. However, in thinking about > this I realised that there is a potential source of error. We are not > stationary !! - OK, it's obvious really, but I've never seen this > mentioned in topics like Doppler correction programs and I've not seen > it visually in displayed Doppler curves. > > The issue is that while a spacecraft with zero eccentricity will have a > constant velocity, the speed relative to an observer on Earth at AOS > and LOS will be different for each half of the pass depending on the > observers latitude and the inclination of the satellite. > > The worse case would be something travelling East to West or West to > East as the velocity of the satellite would have the Earths rotational > speed added / subtracted at either end of the pass. > > Has anyone seen this effect? Perhaps on the ISS? I think it could be > as much as 7% which may be measurable. - But not on HO-68 which is > polar orbiting.... > > Just want to make the most of my 45 minutes. > > Thanks > > David G0MRF > > _______________________________________________ > 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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LVB Tracker not playing well with others
by David Julian 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

I picked up a LVB Tracker at Dayton last year and am just now getting it set up. No problem calibrating it to the G-5400B. All controlls work as expected. I connected the USB cable and loaded the drivers per the FTDI documentation but am having issues. As soon as I access the port from Hyperterminal or SATPC32 I get a short "bluescreen of death" and the laptop re-starts. Internal inspection doesn't show anything obvious. I have not tried pulling the USB and installing an RS232 chip. I have tried un-installing and re-installing the drivers and get the same results even with a different PC. Any ideas? Thanks Dave Julian WB9YIG

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VK5ZAI on TV + SAREX 1992 Video
by Trevor . 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI On TV Show, I believe from 2008 ? http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8161 Jay Leno - SAREX Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment 1992 Video http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8172 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Sept. 15-16 http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve Booking at http://tinyurl.com/Colloquium2012Booking ----

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Re: a couple tweaks to work AO-27 & SO-50
by Bill W1PA 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

I have to agree with Clint on this... don't overthink it. You only need a compass or a map to give you an idea where North is. If you have the antenna hand-held or on a small tripod, you will use it more with your ears than eyes, like a metal detector, but pointed at the sky --- sweep back and forth, and also rotate the beam around the boom axis for polarization changes, and listen for maximum signal/minimum noise. You will be continually be updating this during the pass... use your ears. I print out the AOS and LOS (acquisition and loss of signal) bearings, and max elevation values to give me approx. start and stop location, and to make sure my location accounts for the tree line and any buildings/obstacles. But I am still sweeping back and forth with the Arrow as the bird pops up over the horizon, and then optimize it when I hear the bird. Spend the money on a good accurate watch and a voice/tape recorder. :-) Bill W1PA

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Re: Orbitron
by Mike 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

Thanks for the help guys! I think your right about the Keps. Everytime I would reopen the program it always wanted to update keps even though they were up dated. I'll stick with Satpc32! Mike / N8GBU --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 120611-0, 06/11/2012 Tested on: 6/11/2012 12:36:28 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2012 AVAST Software. http://www.avast.com

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Transit of Venus event 6 June
by Bob Bruninga 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

Transit of Venus Special Event, 6 June 2012: For the 7th time in Human history and last time this century, Venus will pass in front of the sun on 6 June 2012. We are encouraging hams to join up with astronomers and observers in public places to share in this event. It is observable worldwide except the center of the Atlantic (eastern S.America and western Africa) Everywhere else can see parts of it. It lasts 5+ hours and is fully visible around the Pacific Rim. All previous centuries were before the discovery of radio and so sailing ships were dispatched around the globe to time the event. From these times, the size of the Solar System could be calculated. It took months if not years to get the data back. Now we can do it in 0.05 seconds with Ham radio. See if you can contact hams at other Transit of Venus sites from your public observing site. Here are the suggested calling frequencies. We don't want contest-style pileups nor home stations. We just want a place where similar public setups can contact like minded other public viewing sites via ham radio and make their reports. See the web page: http://aprs.org/VenusTransit2012.html We are suggesting these calling frequencies: 40 Meters - 7180 KHz 20 Meters - 14240 KHz 17 Meters - 18140 KHz 15 Meters - 21240 KHz 12 Meters - 24940 KHz 10 Meters - 28340 KHz VHF - APRS on the local national calling channel. Send APRS messages as noted on the web page. *** TAKE ALL IMPORTANT SAFETY PRECAUTIONS WHEN VIEWING THE SUN!!! *** Google for Techniques. Bob Bruninga, WB4APR (will be observing in Japan with a Japanese (TBD) callsign)

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Orbitron
by Mike 11 Jun '12

11 Jun '12

I was wondering if anyone has been having problems with Orbitron lately. I down loaded it yesterday and the ISS was all over the place on the map! It just kept bouncing around. I uninstalled it and reinstalled and got the same thing! I tried the Weather Sats and it seemed like it was ok. I'm running Windows XP. Mike/N8GBU --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 120610-1, 06/10/2012 Tested on: 6/10/2012 11:16:50 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2012 AVAST Software. http://www.avast.com

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Re: Stupid Italian Repeater is still ON
by Robert Coppock 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

BUONGIORNO, jam it, hack it, call the mafia to blow it up.... 145.850 is cosa nostra "our thing"Jam, hack, chiamare la mafia farlo saltare in aria .... 145,850 è cosa nostra "la nostra cosa",,,JUST JOKING, I HOPE YOU CAN GET THEM TO ANOTHER FREQUENCY. ,,, Solo scherzando, spero che si possono ottenere su un'altra frequenza. ( GOOGLE TRANSLATE WORKS GOOD.)(GOOGLE TRANSLATE funziona bene.) 73, ROBERTO K F ZERO G CN81

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EL86 maybe tomorrow afternoon
by Andrew Glasbrenner 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

I'm in Ft. Myers for work tomorrow, and might have an opportunity to put EL86 on in the late afternoon/early evening. If there is interest, let me know and I can follow up with you directly when I know my schedule better. I'm guessing VO-52 and AO-7 will be the best candidates. 73, Drew KO4MA

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Commanding of AubieSat-1 Successful
by John Klingelhoeffer 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

A short message was received earlier this Saturday evening indicating that uplink commands sent to AubieSat-1 were properly received, decoded, and initiated additional telemetry downlink data. AS-1 has been in orbit for about 9 months. Stations are asked to continue to monitor the downlink and pass any received telemetry to the group here for dissemination. Thanks and 73.

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Re: a couple tweaks to work AO-27 & SO-50
by Wayne Estes 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

To measure elevation you can buy a simple elevation gauge or protractor. "Eyeballing" the elevation should get you within 10 degrees of the actual elevation which is well within the beam width of your antennas. When using headphones it's easy to "peak" the antennas by ear. Simply wave the antennas back and forth and stop when you get the best quieting (on an FM sat). Or stop slightly "ahead" of the best quieting, so you won't have to adjust it again so soon. Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA, Cn83ik

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Asymetric doppler curves?
by g0mrf＠aol.com 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

Hi all. I'm doing a small demonstration for a physics class using Doppler measurements on the HO-68 beacon. Hopefully we'll be able to calculate spacecraft velocity and from that result, go on to calculate orbit altitude. However, in thinking about this I realised that there is a potential source of error. We are not stationary !! - OK, it's obvious really, but I've never seen this mentioned in topics like Doppler correction programs and I've not seen it visually in displayed Doppler curves. The issue is that while a spacecraft with zero eccentricity will have a constant velocity, the speed relative to an observer on Earth at AOS and LOS will be different for each half of the pass depending on the observers latitude and the inclination of the satellite. The worse case would be something travelling East to West or West to East as the velocity of the satellite would have the Earths rotational speed added / subtracted at either end of the pass. Has anyone seen this effect? Perhaps on the ISS? I think it could be as much as 7% which may be measurable. - But not on HO-68 which is polar orbiting.... Just want to make the most of my 45 minutes. Thanks David G0MRF

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Fwd: Re: Stupid Italian Repeater is still ON
by I0ELE - AMSAT Italia 10 Jun '12

10 Jun '12

Dear All, as President of AMSAT Italia I wrote a letter, in February 2011, to the italian Ministry on this issue and the result was just a letter to all the italian Radio Amateur Associations reminding them that, by virtue of the IARU Band Plan, they will avoid to transmitting by terrestrial repeaters in the band 145.800-146.00 MHz. We also asked ARI to join us in this action but we didn't receive any support. The point is that the italian Ministry, to those Radio Club asking to use the band 145.800-146.00 MHz for terrestrial repeaters, has given its agreement. I also remember that in the South Africa IARU Region 1 mtg in August 2011, there was an action given to a radio amateur (OE3MZC) that raised this issue, but I do not know what has been done so far. I hope that with the newly elected CDN of ARI, the national representative of IARU in Italy, we can define a common action towards the italian Ministry. Thanks for your attention to this problem and we accept any kind of suggestions to solve the problem. 73, Emanuele Il 09/06/2012 13.52, Ib Christoffersen ha scritto: > Hi all, > I do not remember when it started with an output frequency of 145.850 MHz. > Right on the uplink of AO-27 and SO-50. > It is probably more than a year ago. > > Please can someone do something serious about it :-) > > Yes - I know it is an other organization than the official IARU national > organization that is behind it. > > I just listened to a pass of AO-27 and the repeater is a solid 59 copy on > the downlink. > Some of the real users had great difficulty using AO-27 :-( > > Have a nice weekend all, > > 73 OZ1MY > Ib > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent viaAMSAT-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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ANS-162 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne Maenpaa 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-162 ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS 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. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org ******************************************************************* * Nominating petitions for the election of upcoming open seats on * * the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors must be received at the AMSAT * * Office by June 15, 2012. The details of the nominating process * * are posted on the AMSAT front page news at http://www.amsat.org * ******************************************************************* In this edition: * Status of ISS Ham Radio Operations * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due This Friday, June 15 * AMSAT 2012 Symposium Announcement and Second Call for Papers * SA AMSAT Update Reports That SumbandilaSat Recovery Work Continues * Amateur Radio Reports Requested for AubieSat-1 * ARRL 9 cm Band Plan Updated * LVB Tracker Boxes in Stock at the AMSAT Office * 13 Original Colonies Special Event Includes Satellite Operations * Field Day - Two Weeks and Counting * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-162.01 ANS-155 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 162.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. June 10, 2012 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-162.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Status of ISS Ham Radio Operations ISS Amateur Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO reports the ARISS digipeater has changed frequency from 145.825 MHz (up/down) to 437.550 MHz (up/down). The same digi alias ARISS is still used. This change was started with the docking of the ESA Automated Trans- fer Vehicle (ATV). The ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply space- craft delivering propellant, water, air, payloads and experimental supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). Packet operations were moved to the Columbus Module UHF radio when the Kenwood D700 radio was recently powered off due to needing an additional air purifier to support the ATV. Normally the air puri- fier is located in the ATV but recent power support issues related to the ATV and ISS necessitated the system be relocated to the Ser- vice Module. The purifier is now using the power outlet that the Kenwood radio normally uses. The Russian team has agreed to briefly power the purifier off for the scheduled ARISS school events but then will re-activate the purifier right afterwards. This appears to be a long term impact as ATV is currently scheduled to depart from ISS in September. [ANS thanks Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due This Friday, June 15 It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. A valid nomination requires either one current Member Society, or five current individual members in good standing, to nominate an AMSAT-NA member for the position. Three directors and two alternate directors have terms expiring this year. The director seats open for election are held by Tom Clark, K3IO; Lou McFadin, W5DID; and Gould Smith, WA4SXM. The alternate dir- ector seats open for election are held by Mark Hammond, N8MH and Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK. The three nominees receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as regular board members with two year terms. The two nom- inees receiving the next highest number of votes will be seated as alternate directors for one year. Written nominations, consisting of names, calls and individual signa- tures, should be mailed to: AMSAT-NA, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring, MD, 20910. They must be received no later than June 15th. No other action is required. Nominations may also be made by electronic means including e-mail, FAX, or electronic image of a petition. Electronic petitions should be sent to MARTHA(a)AMSAT.ORG or faxed to 301-608-3410, and also must be received by June 15th. If using any electronic submission, there is a second, verifying step: ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXISTING AMSAT-NA BYLAWS. A verifying traditional written petition MUST be received at the AMSAT-NA office at the above address within 7 days following the close of nominations. [ANS Thanks AMSAT Secretary Alan Biddle, WA4SCA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT 2012 Symposium Announcement and Second Call for Papers This is the second call for papers for the 2012 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium to be held in Orlando, Florida on the weekend of October 26-28, 2012 at the Holiday Inn, Orlando Airport Hotel. Proposals for papers, symposium presentations and poster presenta- tions are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite community: + Papers for publication in the Proceedings + Symposium Presentations + Poster Presentations + Equipment and Operating Demonstrations We request a tentative title of your presentation as soon as possible, with final copy to be submitted by October 1 for inclusion in the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan Schultz, N8FGV, at n8fgv at amsat.org. The Symposium weekend will feature: + Space Symposium with Amateur Satellite Presentations + Operating Techniques, News, & Plans from the Amateur Satellite World + Board of Directors Meeting open to AMSAT members + Meet Board Members and Officers + Annual General Membership Meeting + Annual Banquet-Keynote Speaker and Door Prizes If you are interested in a Monday Trip (October 29) to the Kennedy Space Center please contact Martha via email: martha at amsat.org. The trip will include a round trip bus from the hotel and entrance to the Space Center. The cost will be about $100. This is a wonderful experience for those that haven't been and for those that have been multiple times. We need to get an idea of how many will participate to select the correct bus. Watch the AMSAT Symposium web pages for the latest updates: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2012/index.php [ANS thanks Dan Schultz, N8FGV for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- SA AMSAT Update Reports That SumbandilaSat Recovery Work Continues SA AMSAT posted a report on their web (http://www.amsatsa.org.za/) there is still a recovery opportunity for SumbandilaSat. The team at SunSpace are still incrementally reading back the pro- gram code from the nine power modules in an effort to determine the extent of the corruption. With SumbandilaSat going through eclipses, the satellite is not as much available as the team would like. Sum- bandilaSat's batteries failed which means that the satellite is only active when the solar panels are illuminated. "We need the information to confirm that the changes we made to stop repeated corruption were effective." Johann Lochner ZR6CBC who spends considerable of his free time on recovery of SumbandilaSat said. "It is our aim to ultimately reprogram one of the power modules to auto- matically switch the amateur radio transponder on and off." Because of the shorter illumination of the solar panels in the South- ern hemisphere and most likely poor orientation of the satellite with respect to the sun, progress is much slower than originally antici- pated. "Where we had three passes to work with in January we current- ly have one", Johann said. In early June 2011 for an unknown reason (but probably related to a major radiation event on 7 June) the primary controller on the power distribution unit (PDU) powering the On-Board Computer (OBC) stopped responding to commands from the ground station. It later appeared that the battery had failed and nothing was heard from the satellite for some time. The ground stations at SANSA Space operations at Hartbeeshoek and the Electronic Systems Laboratory at Stellenbosch University are receiving telemetry when the satellite's solar panels are illuminated by the sun. Johann said with SumbandilaSat responding when it is in full sunlight the team is confident that some operations will be restored even to the point where it may be possible to do some imaging and have the amateur radio transponder back in operation. [ANS thanks SA AMSAT for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Amateur Radio Reports Requested for AubieSat-1 John Klingelhoeffer, WB4LNM, AubieSat-1 Technical Mentor at Auburn University is requesting telemetry reception reports from amateur satellite operators after a new operating mode is commanded aboard the satellite. AubieSat-1 was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California in October, 2011. The cubesat is an undergraduate built satellite developed by Auburn University. Over the weekend of June 9-11 the AubieSat-1 controllers changed the transmission mode of the satellite to in- crease the quantity of telemetry. The increased telemetry rate will provide data to indicate how well solar cell protection is working. It should also provide additional onboard housekeeping information. AubieSat-1 transmits with a power of about 800 milliwatts on a freq- uency of 437.475 MHz. The beacon signal, along with telemetry, is sent using A1A continuous wave Morse code at 20 words per minute. Additional telemetry from the onboard science experiment will use CW transmissions up to 60 WPM. Please post your reception reports on the AMSAT-BB. An example of receiving the AubieSat-1 downlink can be found on the DK3WN SatBlog: http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=23582 [ANS thanks John Klingelhoeffer, WB4LNM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL 9 cm Band Plan Updated Outside of ITU Region 1, the Amateur Satellite Service has a 9cm band allocation of 3.400 GHz - 3.410 GHz on a non-interfering basis. No current satellites are active on this frequency range at present. The new band plan reserves allocations for EME and amateur satellite operation. The detailed graphic of the 9 cm band plan and accompanying article is posted on the ARRL web at: http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-board-of-directors-approves-9-cm-band-plan In ARRL Bulletin 14 ARLB014, released on June 5 the report reads: The ARRL Board of Directors has unanimously voted to approve the 9 cm band plan, as presented by the ARRL UHF/Microwave Band Plan Committee. Earlier this year, the committee asked radio amateurs for comments on a proposed 9 cm band plan, explaining that the purpose of these band plans is to share information about how the amateur bands are being used and to suggest compatible frequency ranges for various types of application. The committee also recognized that local conditions or needs may necessitate deviations from a band plan, and that regional frequency coordinating bodies may recommend alternatives for use in their respective regions. The new 9 cm band plan includes the following notations: * This band plan includes all other emission modes authorized in the 9 cm amateur band whose necessary bandwidth does not exceed the suggested bandwidths listed. * Weak Signal Terrestrial legacy users are encouraged to move to 3400.3-3401.0 MHz, as time and resources permit. * Broadband segments may be used for any combination of high-speed data (e.g. 802.11 protocols), Amateur Television and other high-bandwidth activities. Division into channels and/or separation of uses within these segments may be done regionally, based on need and usage. * Per ITU RR 5.149 from WRC-07, these band segments are also used for Radio Astronomy. Amateur use of these frequencies should be first coordinated with the National Science Foundation. [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- LVB Tracker Boxes in Stock at the AMSAT Office Martha says she now has LVB Tracker boxes in stock at the AMSAT Office. The cost is $200 plus $20 shipping. The AMSAT Store Website is currently down due to technical issues so you can place your order via these routes: + Call Martha at the AMSAT Office (301-589-6062) 10:00 AM-6:00 PM EDT + Fax - 301-608-3410 + Mail - AMSAT, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring MD 20910 The LVB Tracker is a rotator interface designed to to be used as an interface between tracking software and the Yaesu 4500/5500 series of Az/El rotators. Here's why you want one: + Several physical interface options including RS-232, USB and TCP/IP over 10/100 Ethernet (tested by not implemented) + Uses standard EasyComm and Yaesu GS-232 protocols + Cross-platform compatibility - Windows, Linux, BSD, Mac + Compatible with existing real-time prediction programs such as SatPC32 and Nova + Open source + Integrated firmware programmer for easy installation and upgrade Watch a demo of the LVB Track Interface with Yaesu G-5500 rotator at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePw-ReMRwA (does not use the AMSAT enclosure) [ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Ofice for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Original Colonies Special Event Includes Satellite Operations The 2012 13 Colonies Special Event stations will operate from July 1 through July 5. Operators will be on the satellites again this year for the special event. Recognizing that the 4th comes in the middle of the week (Wednesday) and that some operators will be going to their work on the 2nd, 3rd and 5th, we will add a BONUS DAY on Saturday, 30 June 2012. Stations will operate from 09:00 AM Eastern (1300Z) right through until the 5th. Keep in mind that there may be fewer operators available on the work days so, PLEASE BE PATIENT! Please send your QSL requests directly to each operator. STATE SE CALL STATION & OPERATOR ------ -------- ------------------- NY K2A WB2OQQ Pete VA K2B NL7VX Steve RI K2C N1MIW Larry CT K2D WA8SME Mark DE K2E KB2M Jeff (SSB Birds) DE K2E W3FIS Paul (FM Birds) MD K2F WA3SWJ Bruce GA K2G N3TL Tim MA K2H KB1PVH Dave NJ K2I KB2M Jeff (Here when not in DE) NC K2J W4MPS Marc NH K2K NE1H Bob SC K2L K4YYL Art PA K2M KB3WSW Elizabeth Link to the satellite page with the list of operators and additional information: http://www.13colonies.info/Satellites.htm The main page with all the time and date information is: http://www.13colonies.info/ [ANS thanks Dave, KB1PVH for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Field Day - Two Weeks and Counting AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO reminds you that Field Day is now only TWO WEEKS away! Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day as an emergency preparedness exercise. The event takes place during a 24-hour period on the fourth weekend of June. For 2012 the event takes place during a 27-hour period between 1800 UTC on Saturday, June 23, 2012 and 2100 UTC on Sunday June 24, 2012. Those who set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 23 can operate only 24 hours. The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own ver- sion of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held con- currently with the ARRL event. The AMSAT Field Day 2012 event is open to all Amateur Radio operators. Amateurs are to use the exchange as specified in ARRL rules for Field Day. The AMSAT competition is to encourage the use of all amateur sat- ellites, both analog and digital. For the complete listing of the AMSAT Field Day Rules, along with discussion of selecting the satellites to operate, please refer to the documents posted on-line at: http://www.amsatnet.com/fd2012.doc http://www.amsatnet.com/fd2012.pdf Links are also accessible from http://www.amsat.org front page. [ANS thanks AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Congratulations to Jerry Brown, K5OE upon reaching his VUCC award upgrade to 1,008 grids. Jerry said his contacts ranged from 2003 on AO-40 to new grids can be attributed to "modern" rovers, including ND9M, WD9EWK, and W5PFG to new grids are credited to Yuri, UT1FG/MM. + Congratulations to Bob Johnson, W7LRD for earning Satellite Worked All States #326. Congratulations to Ron Oldham, N8RO for earning Satellite Worked All States #328. + Congratulations to Al Ward, W5LUA and Charles Hoover, K0VXM for completing a Florida (EL98) to Texas (EM13) contact on 10 GHz on June 5. This spanned a distance of 1,606.63 km, or998.357 miles (report via Dave, KB0PE) + Watch a NASA promotional video about the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program. A copy is posted on the AMSAT-UK web at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/8001. AMSAT's Fox-1 cubesat is a participant of this program. + Ib, OZ1MY noted AO-7 is once again entering eclipse periods. AO-7 will awaken in either Mode-A or Mode-B randomly upon entering the sunlit portion of its orbit. It is only operational while in sun- light. Watch, and update the status of AO-7 on the OSCAR Status page at: http://oscar.dcarr.org/ + Follow the links at http://www.uk.amsat.org/7990 to download your free copy of SatMagazine. The June issue features the STRaND-2 nanosats on pages 25 and 26; Additionally on page 71 there is a picture of the satellite OSCAR-5 that was built by radio amateurs at the University of Melbourne, Australia. + AMSAT received the sad news of the passing of Chris Heijzelaar, PA5RWE. He was a very active satellite operator. Condolences can be left at: http://www.het-bar.net (via Andre, PE1RDW) + The ARRL posted the video of the Dayton 2012 presentation by AMSAT Vice-President Educational Relations Mark Hammond, N8MH describing the different roles and opportunities for Technical Mentors and Ground Station operators to play in an ARISS contact with the International Space Station. Watch on-line at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7z-4moV8_Xs + While the AMSAT on-line store is closed due to technical issues you can place an order through the AMSAT office. The hours are 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM EDT. The phone number is 301-589-6062. Martha is looking forward to hearing from you! [ANS thanks everyone for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. And with that please keep in mind when a mechanical en- gineer, a chemical engineer and a computer engineer were carpooling to work when the car broke down. The mechanical engineer speculated it might be a problem with the engine. The chemical engineer thought they should check the fluids. The computer engineer suggested they all get out of the car and get back in again, then see if it restarts. 73, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM K9JKM at amsat dot org

1 0

Stupid Italian Repeater is still ON
by Ib Christoffersen 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

Hi all, I do not remember when it started with an output frequency of 145.850 MHz. Right on the uplink of AO-27 and SO-50. It is probably more than a year ago. Please can someone do something serious about it :-) Yes - I know it is an other organization than the official IARU national organization that is behind it. I just listened to a pass of AO-27 and the repeater is a solid 59 copy on the downlink. Some of the real users had great difficulty using AO-27 :-( Have a nice weekend all, 73 OZ1MY Ib

5 5

Curious Ground Track
by Roland Zurmely 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

Curious Ground Track This is really a curious ground track !: http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/satdif.htm Please use Google translator. 73 de Roland.

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a couple tweaks to work AO-27 & SO-50
by Jimmy KC9PXZ 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

Good Morning, First I want to take a moment to say thank you to those that sent me off list E mails with advice. I have a couple tweaks I have been thinking on. One is due to easier set up. setting up my 3 element yagi & my 70CM 6 element yagi @ 90 degrees to each other. Still using two radio's so I can be full duplex. What are peoples thoughts as to setting my antennas up 90 degrees to each other? The other thought is that I have what I call a "ball" compass there is North, South, East & West on the top & the same on the side with degree marks on it. All I need now is something to tell me how many degrees up from the horizon I am. I thought if I could find something to print out with degrees to scale on it and put that on a piece of cardboard, wood or something. Then take a string & put washers on it to act as a counter weight. The string would stay in the same place but the scale would move as I point the tripod up or down. Then I would read it to know how many degrees up or down I am from the horizon. The problem is I don't know what there called so I am not sure what to search on google to find the scale. What is that called? 73 KC9PXZ Jimmy

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Re: a couple tweaks to work AO-27 & SO-50
by Clint Bradford 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

>> ... The other thought is that I have what I call a "ball" compass ... Jimmy - do not over-think this. The AMSAT data page you are using gives you the AOS (acquisition) and LOS (loss of signal) compass points. Just visualize those in your mind, and look at the compass point for the MAX ALT. The MAX EL point will tell you if the sat will be towards the East or the West - and, of course, the MAX ALTITUDE wiill tell you how far off the horizon. So just visualize a "sweep" from AOS to LOS - and the MAX EL point in the center. Yes, I started with an altimeter and compass - but now I just take a compass along to have someone else perform " navigator" tasks at demos. But although this is rocket science, it really isn't (grin). You will get to a point where you won;t even take the printout with you outside: You wiill just realize a N-to-S or S-to-N pass, and where off the horizon it will be at its max. And make sure you program for the Doppler effect on the 440 side of the V/U birds - and switch to the couple of memories ABOVE as you ACQUIRE. Clint K6LCS

1 0

Assistance with a presentation
by Rick Tejera 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

All, I am beginning to prepare a presentation for my Club (The Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club, www.w7tbc.org) on the basic engineering considerations for amateur satellites. My original thought was to briefly discuss the various engineering considerations and then look at how they are applied. I am thinking in addition to tie this in to FOX, by discussing how AMSAT will solve engineering issues on the FOX series of sats. I think this approach will help make the concepts clear, while also serving to promote FOX. With this in mind, I'd like to know if anyone on the FOX team would be willing to field questions from me during as I prepare the presentation, to make sure I get it complete and right. I also wonder if it would be possible to arrange to have the Fox-1 Model made available to me when I give the presentation? What hoops do I need to jump through to make that happen? (The presentation will be given in mid October) Thanks in advance for any assistance offered. 73 Rick Tejera (K7TEJ) Sagauro Astronomy Club www.saguaroastro.org Thunderbird Amatuer Radio Club www.w7tbc.org

1 0

Curious Ground Track - Thanks to DK1TB for explaining it
by Thomas Doyle 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

I am sure most everyone knows all about this and there many articles about it somewhere. Just in case you do not you might take a look at this short video. Be sure to read the description below the video and watch it in full screen HD. Thanks to DK1TB for providing the answer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYmqnKElcCw 73 W9KE Tom Doyle

1 0

AO-07 running into eclipses again
by Ib Christoffersen 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

Hi all, Just saw that AO-07 was in mode-B and checked it as well. Yes - it is. And it means that the order of the day changes. Mode-A and mode-B will not change every day - but at random after an eclipse. Take a look at: http://oscar.dcarr.org/ 73 OZ1MY Ib

1 0

Request for reception reports: AubieSat-1
by John Klingelhoeffer 09 Jun '12

09 Jun '12

Amateur radio control operators will attempt to change the transmission mode of AubieSat-1 this weekend to increase the quantity of telemetry. This increased telemetry will provide data to indicate how well solar cell protection is working. It should also provide additional onboard housekeeping information. Telemetry reception reports would be appreciated. Transmissions are CW and formats and frequencies have been published previously on AMSAT-BB. Downlink is on 70 cm. Reception results posted here to the BB will enable data to be shared with everyone. The orbits when commanding is planned are as follows: 09 June: 20:49-21:00 (MDT) Max Elev 50 deg 10 June: 10:09-10:23 (MDT) Max Elev 83 deg 11 June: 10:29-10:43 (MDT) Max Elev 61 deg Commanding will be attempted from north central United States. Thanks and 73.

2 1

Re: first try @ a SO50 Pass
by Jimmy KC9PXZ 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

Hi, well I did not hear the bird. I did some recording with my phone(just to make sure I understood how to record with it, never used that before now) it works pretty good. But no receive. I can try in the morning on both SO-50 and AO-27. So not sure what I did wrong bet we try again in the morning. I don't think I would heard anything on the night passes other wise I would listen then to. Any one else in my neck of the Woods hear in Wisconsin that enjoys the birds? KC9PXZ Jimmy Norwalk, WI. En43qt

1 0

FO-29 @ 20:25Z
by Joe Batty 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

Hi Folks, Just for my own edification, what the heck was the noise on FO-29 around the 2020UTC pass today? Was that man made stuff or what? Some one playing around, the Sat or? I'm still learning this stuff and I'm just curious. 73 and thank you Joe KT7E CN85

2 1

Re: FO-29 @ 20:25Z
by K5OE 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

I am pretty sure that was someone "keying" FM on and off, sounding a bit like really bad code, or as some folks call "chirpy." I know, because I made a few contacts on FO-20 that way before I got an SSB rig for 2m :-) 73, Jerry, K5OE >Hi Folks, > >Just for my own edification, what the heck was the noise on FO-29 around >the 2020UTC pass today? Was that man made stuff or what? Some one playing >around, the Sat or? I'm still learning this stuff and I'm just curious. > >73 and thank you > >Joe KT7E

1 0

Re: FO-29 @ 20:25Z
by andrew abken 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

Never mind, I was on the westerly 22:15 pass. no wonder I did not hear anything :) Andy KN6ZA

1 0

FO-29 @ 20:25Z
by andrew abken 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

Was my CW that bad ;) I was calling cq on voice then switched to CW until the end of the pass near center of pass band but did not hear any others or strange noises. Andy

1 0

first try @ a SO50 Pass
by Jimmy KC9PXZ 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

Well, I finely got everything done HTX 202 programmed for uplink (three element yagi) and UV5R for the downlink (seven element yagi). Got the antennas on the right heading or about and set the Elevation by my best guess. With my compass I figured out that the bird will pass right to left. So in about 31 minutes SO-50 will make a pass. The goal was to make sure my radio are programmed right and see if I can hear the bird. If I do I post a sound bite if not well I let up know I did not hear the bird and have to figure out what I did wrong. I figure get good at hearing the bird for a few passes then I try to make a contact. Hearing the bird is half the battle. KC9PXZ Jimmy

1 0

Video of HTV-3 and Small Satellite Orbital Deployer
by Trevor . 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

Launches July 21, video shows the JEM-Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD), see http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8078 FITSAT-1 is one of the five satellites that will be carried by the HTV-3 and it will signal in Morse code using LED's see http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=2037 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Sept. 15-16 http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve Booking at http://tinyurl.com/Colloquium2012Booking ----

1 0

Satellite WAS
by Thomas Doyle 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

Not sure everyone realizes what an accomplishment it is that Ron N8RO received his Satellite WAS. I am not boasting but to show what an achievement this is for Ron consider this. In 1982 I received my Sat WAS #63. That is 30 years ago. If my math is correct That works out to less than 9 people per year over the last 30 years receiving a Satellite WAS. Way to go Ron. 73 W9KE Tom Doyle

3 2

PrintSat - 3D Printer CubeSat
by Trevor . 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

Plans to launch next May, see http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8056 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK http://www.uk.amsat.org/ ----

1 0

Satellite WAS # 328
by Ronald Oldham 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

I received my Satellite WAS # 328 today from the ARRL. I would like to thank all of the operators for the many QSOs and all of those that responded with QSL cards. Special thanks goes out to Adrian, AA5UK/P for his contact from Hawaii and to Bruce, KK5DO for his efforts in checking my cards. 73, Ron - N8RO

3 2

Call for Technical Papers at 2012 ARRL/TAPR DCC (Digital Communications Conference), Atlanta, GA
by Mark Thompson 08 Jun '12

08 Jun '12

http://www.arrl.org/news/papers-requested-for-arrl-tapr-digital-communicati… Papers Requested for ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference 06/01/2012 Amateurs are invited to submit technical papers for presentation at the 31st Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September 21-23, 2012 at the Sheraton Gateway Airport Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. These papers will also be published in the Conference Proceedings (you do not need to attend the conference to have your paper included in the Proceedings). The submission deadline is July 31. Please send papers to: Maty Weinberg, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. Or you can make your submission via e-mail to: maty(a)arrl.org. For more information about the conference, see the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio www.tapr.org/dcc, or call 972- 671-8277.

1 0

NASA GEMS Mission Cancelled
by B J 07 Jun '12

07 Jun '12

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/06/nasa-cancels-mission-to-s… 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

1 0

Raspberry Pi + Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop Videos
by Trevor . 07 Jun '12

07 Jun '12

The $35 Raspberry Pi ARM-based computer board has been used to run the GPredict satellite tracking software See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8019 AMSAT-UK FunCube Dongle receiving HORYU-2 Satellite video http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8016 1st Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop presentations and videos available http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8011 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK News on Twitter http://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ----

1 0

Raspberry Pi + Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop Videos
by Trevor . 07 Jun '12

07 Jun '12

The $35 Raspberry Pi ARM-based computer board has been used to run the GPredict satellite tracking software See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8019 AMSAT-UK FunCube Dongle receiving HORYU-2 Satellite video http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8016 1st Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop presentations and videos available http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8011 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK News on Twitter http://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ----

1 0

Paccomm Spirit 2
by Alan Beck 06 Jun '12

06 Jun '12

Hey, I just got my manual for the Spirit-2 packet controller that I was sold for $15.00. As far as I can tell it says nothing about modes of operation. When I called and asked they could tell me what kind of stuff it can do but they did not mention GMSK which is what I am interested in doing. I need help here guys, I at least want to monitor the GMSK stuff and perhaps pacsat when it comes to life again, perhaps. Looks to me like I am going to look for a used radio that interfaces with tracking programs. As far as the cost for this venture, $190.00 + $15.00 was not bad to come up to nothing. 73, Alan

2 1

W5PFG/R grid operations for June
by Clayton Coleman W5PFG 06 Jun '12

06 Jun '12

I will be doing a little grid expedition in late June through numerous grids. These are not all rare but anyone who has worked me previously knows I will QSL via paper and Logbook of the World. Email me directly if there are specific grids in this list you need/want and I will try my best to set a schedule with you. I plan to operate AO-27, SO-50, and FO-29. It is not guaranteed I will operate from all of these grids but they have significant coverage of the roads I'll be running. EM32, EM42, EM52, EM62, EM63, EM74, EM75, EM86, EM96, EM97, FM07 FM08, FM19, FN10, FN20, FN30, FN32, FN41, FN42 73 Clayton W5PFG

1 0

LVB Tracker
by Thomas Doyle 06 Jun '12

06 Jun '12

Looking for someone with the right stuff - an LVB Tracker controlling their rotors - a Computer running Windows 7 - slightly above average computer skills who is willing to take a few minutes to test a piece of software for me. tnx & 73 W9KE Tom Doyle

1 0

Sorry No Grid Expedition to EN-0X today
by Gary "Joe" Mayfield 06 Jun '12

06 Jun '12

Wife gave me a long list of things to be completed before leaving today. No way I will have time for the detour L Maybe next time. 73, Joe kk0sd

1 0

Re: 1K grids
by K5OE 06 Jun '12

06 Jun '12

WhiIle I did have a dozen left over from 2003 on AO-40 (SK). a few new grids can be attributed to "modern" rovers, including ND9M, WD9EWK, and W5PFG. However, most of these new grids are credited to Yuri, UT1FG. Yuri was/is a great op, often on multiple overnight FO-29 passes (ZZZZZZZ) when in range. I worked him sporatically during daylight hours due to work, but was ever so grateful to give up a little sleep for such rare wet grids as he so generoursly provided. Also worthy of a Best Supporting Actor Award is Eugene, UT0FY, who is Yuri's QSL manager. If there was ever a reason to improve your satellite station, it is to get ready for his next trip once his summer vacation is over in Ukraine :-) 73, Jerry, K5OE KK5DO writes: > Congrats to Jerry, K5OE. He just submitted his VUCC upgrade to 1,000 grids > today, actually 1,008 but who';s counting. > > It was an easy set of cards to check. About 30 from a bunch of hams and 100 or > so grids from Yuri. Not a bad haul. and... I have never worked Yuri on > satellite. > >73...bruce

2 1

Watch Venus Transit Online
by Clint Bradford 05 Jun '12

05 Jun '12

Let's see how messed up this attempt to share URLs comes out (grin). Here are a few online sites to watch Venus next week. <a href="http://venustransit.nasa.gov/2012/transit/" target="_blank">NASA</a></li> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/nasaedge/index.html" target="_blank">NASA Edge</a></li> <a href="https://gaia.am.ub.es/serviastro/www/html/venus2012/live/index.html" target="_blank">University of Barcelona</a> (from a telescope in Norway)</li> <a href="http://venustransit.nso.edu/live.html" target="_blank">National Solar Observatory</a></li> San Francisco's <a href="http://www.exploratorium.edu/venus/" target="_blank">Exploratorium</a> (via the Mauna Loa Observatory)</li> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/ntv" target="_blank">NASA TV</a></li> <a href="http://www.ccssc.org/transit2012.html" target="_blank">Coca Cola Space Science Center</a> (from Australia)</li> <a href="http://www.bareket-astro.com/live-astronomical-web-cast/live-free-venus-tra…" target="_blank">Bareket observatory</a> (Israel)</li> <a href="http://skycenter.arizona.edu/annoucement/live" target="_blank">Mt. Lemmon Sky Center</a></li> <a href="http://www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/projects/transit-of-venus/live-web…" target="_blank">Astronomers Without Borders</a> (from Mt. Wilson, California) Clint Bradford, K6LCS 909-241-7666

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STRaND-2 and OSCAR-5 in SatMagazine
by Trevor . 05 Jun '12

05 Jun '12

The STRaND-2 nanosats feature in the June issue of the free publication SatMagazine on pages 25-26. Additionally on page 71 there is a picture of the satellite OSCAR-5 that was built by radio amateurs at the University of Melbourne, Australia. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/7990 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK http://www.uk.amsat.org/ ----

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Re: PA5RWE passed away
by William Leijenaar 05 Jun '12

05 Jun '12

Hi AMSATs, I met Chris only a few times, but he was always very devoted to the ham hobby. We shared the interrest in amateur satellites, and he made records of the satellite downlink from his shack in The Netherlands while Dirk (ON1DLL) and me were travelling around Europe and making satellite contacts. You will not be forgotten. My condolences to his family and friends, William Leijenaar, PE1RAH

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Re: AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 7, Issue 179
by tokens＠myranch.com 04 Jun '12

04 Jun '12

Just checked again and actually I have HI confirmed on 6 and I worked that ZF before on 6, no QSL. KHP -----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-request(a)amsat.org Sent: Monday, June 04, 2012 3:00 PM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 7, Issue 179 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. Re: Icom Power Cord (Clint Bradford) 2. A great suggestion (Thomas Doyle) 3. 1K grids (Bruce) 4. Re: full duplex w/ 2 HT's (Ronald Nutter) 5. Re: full duplex w/ 2 HT's (Greg D) 6. Re: A great suggestion (Clint Bradford) 7. Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations (Stefan Wagener) 8. Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations (i8cvs) 9. Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations (Jari Koivurinne) 10. Re: full duplex w/ 2 HT's (Andrew Glasbrenner) 11. nitinol wire vs steel tape (Nick Pugh) 12. Re: full duplex w/ 2 HT's (Dobarrows) 13. Re: [CubeSat] nitinol wire vs steel tape (chantal cappelletti) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2012 12:57:42 -0700 From: Clint Bradford <clintbrad4d(a)earthlink.net> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Icom Power Cord Message-ID: <095A1B02-67B6-40A6-AE56-2B533CEF27D9(a)earthlink.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I believe the IC-910 also uses the IC-OPC-657A power cord - if that helps in your searching. Clint K6LCS >> ... IC-821 ... ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2012 15:59:58 -0500 From: Thomas Doyle <tomdoyle1948(a)gmail.com> To: AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] A great suggestion Message-ID: <CAHnRQRKmTZgvrezjAEPOu=KW2QQmeD07=sAh_nE5+q+TbhANfQ(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 A great suggestion was made for a simple addition to the program written for demos and education. You can now add your own images to the little slide show that takes place in the lower right hand portion of the screen. This is a good way to personalize your presentation by including images that are of specific interest to your group or add images that for one reason or another are not included in the program. If any group or organization would like an image added to the gallery and/or included with the program distribution just send me your request in an email with the image attached and I will try to include it. If any registered trademark or copyright issues are involved with the image simply add a line or two to your request authorizing use of the image in this application. The updated version of the program, information on how to add your own images and a little gallery of images to try out is on the web site. http://www.tomdoyle.org/simplesatlookdown Have Fun - 73 W9KE Tom Doyle ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2012 14:31:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce <kk5do(a)arrl.net> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] 1K grids Message-ID: <1338759062.77954.YahooMailMobile(a)web180015.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Congrats to Jerry, K5OE. He just submitted his VUCC upgrade to 1,000 grids today, actually 1,008 but who's counting. It was an easy set of cards to check. About 30 from a bunch of hams and 100 or so grids from Yuri. Not a bad haul. and... I have never worked Yuri on satellite. 73...bruce Sent from my iPhone ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2012 16:17:07 -0500 From: Ronald Nutter <ron.nutter(a)networkref.com> To: Robert Coppock <robertinorbit(a)webtv.net> Cc: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: full duplex w/ 2 HT's Message-ID: <4FCBD453.3000401(a)networkref.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Robert: I have used a duplexer on the UHF side of my satellite ops for several years. I find that some radios have more of a desense problem than others. Here is a link to my website where I briefly talk about what I do on portable ops and using what is referred to as a Mode J filter - http://www.ka4kyi.com/satellite_gear/misc_equipment/ Ron Nutter KA4KYI AMSAT Area Coordinator for Missouri On 6/2/12 11:33 AM, Robert Coppock wrote: > > > > hola, i am trying to determine the best way to work full duplex on the > birds with 2 HT's or radios. i cannot find any info so far on the web. > my concern is to keep the transmit power out of the receive radio, i guess > basically the difference between a diplexer and duplexer. since i am > efficient (lazy) i thought i would just look for suggestions here while i > am checking google also. what do i need, di/du/ plexer, and what is the > correct wiring scheme ? i will be using the arrow antenna without the > built in duplexer, from the 2 feeds (vhf/uhf) and 2 HT's for now. my > picture of it so far, is to wire the vhf radio direct to the vhf feed port > on the arrow, and have the uhf port on the arrow come into a duplexer, > with the duplexer uhf port going to the uhf radio, and the duplexer vhf > port terminated into a 50 ohm dummy load. also, any suggestions of > specific duplexers would be appreciated. i think i started on this project > a few years ago, but never got around to get! ti! > ng it all together. grazie mille, Robert k f 0 g cn81 in the > woodwork, literally, > shasta/klamath national forests. > _______________________________________________ > 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 > . > ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2012 19:45:36 -0700 From: Greg D <ko6th.greg(a)gmail.com> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: full duplex w/ 2 HT's Message-ID: <4FCC2150.6050608(a)gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed So, all the on-line information seems to point to this solution - putting a diplexer (filter) on the 70cm side to tap off and absorb the incoming 2m signal. Isn't there also a design where one puts a filter on the 2m side, to tap off and absorb the 70 cm (3rd harmonic of 2m) signal? I would think that any (reasonable) 70cm receiver would have enough rejection for a signal so far out of band, but the in-band 3rd harmonic can only be taken care of at its source. At least, I think that's the logic. Is there anything worthy about the other design, or is the most common problem that our HTs can't possibly deal with a strong 2m signal on the 70cm side because of their "DC to Daylight" receivers? I've been on the mode-J birds without much of a problem with this sort of desense, though I did have a lot of trouble on AO-40 with reflected RF when aiming through a big oak tree behind the house. The 70cm uplink was interfering with the 13cm downlink, and I was pretty sure at the time that it was a 3rd harmonic sort of problem. Just curious, Greg KO6TH Ronald Nutter wrote: > Robert: > > I have used a duplexer on the UHF side of my satellite ops for several > years. I find that some radios have more of a desense problem than > others. Here is a link to my website where I briefly talk about what I > do on portable ops and using what is referred to as a Mode J filter - > http://www.ka4kyi.com/satellite_gear/misc_equipment/ > > Ron Nutter > KA4KYI > AMSAT Area Coordinator for Missouri > > On 6/2/12 11:33 AM, Robert Coppock wrote: >> >> >> >> hola, i am trying to determine the best way to work full duplex on >> the birds with 2 HT's or radios. i cannot find any info so far on the >> web. my concern is to keep the transmit power out of the receive >> radio, i guess basically the difference between a diplexer and >> duplexer. since i am efficient (lazy) i thought i would just look for >> suggestions here while i am checking google also. what do i need, >> di/du/ plexer, and what is the correct wiring scheme ? i will be >> using the arrow antenna without the built in duplexer, from the 2 >> feeds (vhf/uhf) and 2 HT's for now. my picture of it so far, is to >> wire the vhf radio direct to the vhf feed port on the arrow, and have >> the uhf port on the arrow come into a duplexer, with the duplexer uhf >> port going to the uhf radio, and the duplexer vhf port terminated >> into a 50 ohm dummy load. also, any suggestions of specific duplexers >> would be appreciated. i think i started on this project a few years >> ago, but never got around to get! > ti! >> ng it all together. grazie mille, Robert k f 0 g cn81 in the >> woodwork, literally, shasta/klamath national forests. >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite >> program! >> Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> . >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2012 20:27:33 -0700 From: Clint Bradford <clintbradford(a)mac.com> To: AMSAT BB <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: A great suggestion Message-ID: <65DC0D43-E6E0-441C-A8FA-8E9792B44E24(a)mac.com> Content-Type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII Brilliant! Great program ... accurate tracking ... simple and elegant - GREAT work, Tom. Clint Bradford K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 02:26:20 -0500 From: Stefan Wagener <wageners(a)gmail.com> To: i8cvs <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it> Cc: Amsat - BBs <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations Message-ID: <CAKu8kHCN5PQZmbDjYeqWnZcarjVi2g-qRiwueQ=uKYSt-pkPfw(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Thanks folks, That's a very helpful and constructive discussion. It will certainly allow for better assessment of the feasibility, options and limitations. Stefan, VE4NSA On Sat, Jun 2, 2012 at 8:54 PM, i8cvs <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it> wrote: > Hi Peter, DB2OS > > I was reading the document in particular point 2.2.2 > Communication and 2.2.3 but in my opinion the Radio > Hams are off side because everyting has been already > designed and in my opinion there is no room available > on the Lander for a Moon-Earth experimental communication > transponder in our L band and S band because our antennas > are too big. > > Since the main 7.2 and 8.5 GHz X band High Gain Antennas > of the Lander are oriented toward the Earth in a fixed position > to compensate the pointing for libration probably only a 5 watt > pep and a circularly polarized horn on our 10.5 GHz should be > possible. > > 73" de > > i8CVS Domenico > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Peter Guelzow" <peter.guelzow(a)kourou.de> > To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2012 12:57 AM > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations > > Hi together, > > Please also have a look at this document: > > > http://wsn.spaceflight.esa.int/docs/lunarlander/LunarLander_EIDA_CDI_230512. > pdf > > in particular see point 2.2.2 Communication and 2.2.3: > > "Visibility of the Earth from the landing site imposes the following > constraint: > ? communications shall only be possible within a 13.7 day (TBC) window > each month, and shall depend on the availability of the ground station." > > further: > > "the mean power available for an individual payload is expected not to > exceed 20W" > > 73s Peter DB2OS > > On 03.06.2012 00:29, Peter Guelzow wrote: > > > Check also this discussion from James Miller, G3RUH: > > > > http://www.amsat.org/amsat/articles/g3ruh/110.html > > > > > > 73s Peter, DB2OS > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > ------------------------------ Message: 8 Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 10:01:14 +0200 From: "i8cvs" <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it> To: "Stefan Wagener" <wageners(a)gmail.com> Cc: Amsat - BBs <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations Message-ID: <000001cd4228$79df1300$0401a8c0@b3o7f1> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Hi Stefan VE4NSA, Peter DB2OS and folks on BB It should be very nice to have a transponder on the Lunar Lander operating into the X/K band 10,5 GHz Uplink and 24 GHz downlink. As on AO40 the antennas are very small and probably there is room for a transponder. For a good feasibility and assesment with ESA it would be very important to have also a 24 GHz Beacon relaying to us TLM data concerning some primary ESA experiments. Just my idea. 73" de i8CVS Domenico ----- Original Message ----- From: Stefan Wagener To: i8cvs Cc: Peter Guelzow ; Amsat - BBs Sent: Monday, June 04, 2012 9:26 AM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations Thanks folks, That's a very helpful and constructive discussion. It will certainly allow for better assessment of the feasibility, options and limitations. Stefan, VE4NSA On Sat, Jun 2, 2012 at 8:54 PM, i8cvs <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it> wrote: Hi Peter, DB2OS I was reading the document in particular point 2.2.2 Communication and 2.2.3 but in my opinion the Radio Hams are off side because everyting has been already designed and in my opinion there is no room available on the Lander for a Moon-Earth experimental communication transponder in our L band and S band because our antennas are too big. Since the main 7.2 and 8.5 GHz X band High Gain Antennas of the Lander are oriented toward the Earth in a fixed position to compensate the pointing for libration probably only a 5 watt pep and a circularly polarized horn on our 10.5 GHz should be possible. 73" de i8CVS Domenico ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Guelzow" <peter.guelzow(a)kourou.de> To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2012 12:57 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations Hi together, Please also have a look at this document: http://wsn.spaceflight.esa.int/docs/lunarlander/LunarLander_EIDA_CDI_230512. pdf in particular see point 2.2.2 Communication and 2.2.3: "Visibility of the Earth from the landing site imposes the following constraint: ? communications shall only be possible within a 13.7 day (TBC) window each month, and shall depend on the availability of the ground station." further: "the mean power available for an individual payload is expected not to exceed 20W" 73s Peter DB2OS On 03.06.2012 00:29, Peter Guelzow wrote: > Check also this discussion from James Miller, G3RUH: > > http://www.amsat.org/amsat/articles/g3ruh/110.html > > > 73s Peter, DB2OS _______________________________________________ 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 ------------------------------ Message: 9 Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 11:32:38 +0300 From: "Jari Koivurinne" <jari.koivurinne(a)aina.net> To: "i8cvs" <domenico.i8cvs(a)tin.it> Cc: Amsat - BBs <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations Message-ID: <e4cf25caf059daa81574d170077e930e.squirrel(a)webmail.aina.net> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 Hi all There is nothing much to do with 20W mean power. Just a 5W pep beacon... -jari oh3uw > Hi Stefan VE4NSA, Peter DB2OS and folks on BB > > It should be very nice to have a transponder on the Lunar Lander operating > into the X/K band 10,5 GHz Uplink and 24 GHz downlink. As on AO40 the > antennas > are very small and probably there is room for a transponder. > > For a good feasibility and assesment with ESA it would be very important > to > have also a 24 GHz Beacon relaying to us TLM data concerning some primary > ESA > experiments. > > Just my idea. > > 73" de > > i8CVS Domenico > ------------------------------ Message: 10 Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 06:01:21 -0400 From: Andrew Glasbrenner <glasbrenner(a)mindspring.com> To: Greg D <ko6th.greg(a)gmail.com> Cc: "amsat-bb(a)amsat.org" <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: full duplex w/ 2 HT's Message-ID: <75438E63-EE7F-4C7E-A981-E41774EE5A15(a)mindspring.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Usually the diplexer as a filter is only needed to keep the 2m tx from overloading a 70cm preamp. For a two radio setup with no preamp, it usually isn't needed at all. 73, Drew KO4MA Sent from my iPhone On Jun 3, 2012, at 10:45 PM, Greg D <ko6th.greg(a)gmail.com> wrote: > So, all the on-line information seems to point to this solution - putting > a diplexer (filter) on the 70cm side to tap off and absorb the incoming 2m > signal. Isn't there also a design where one puts a filter on the 2m side, > to tap off and absorb the 70 cm (3rd harmonic of 2m) signal? > > I would think that any (reasonable) 70cm receiver would have enough > rejection for a signal so far out of band, but the in-band 3rd harmonic > can only be taken care of at its source. At least, I think that's the > logic. > > Is there anything worthy about the other design, or is the most common > problem that our HTs can't possibly deal with a strong 2m signal on the > 70cm side because of their "DC to Daylight" receivers? > > I've been on the mode-J birds without much of a problem with this sort of > desense, though I did have a lot of trouble on AO-40 with reflected RF > when aiming through a big oak tree behind the house. The 70cm uplink was > interfering with the 13cm downlink, and I was pretty sure at the time that > it was a 3rd harmonic sort of problem. > > Just curious, > > Greg KO6TH > > > Ronald Nutter wrote: >> Robert: >> >> I have used a duplexer on the UHF side of my satellite ops for several >> years. I find that some radios have more of a desense problem than >> others. Here is a link to my website where I briefly talk about what I do >> on portable ops and using what is referred to as a Mode J filter - >> http://www.ka4kyi.com/satellite_gear/misc_equipment/ >> >> Ron Nutter >> KA4KYI >> AMSAT Area Coordinator for Missouri >> >> On 6/2/12 11:33 AM, Robert Coppock wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>> hola, i am trying to determine the best way to work full duplex on the >>> birds with 2 HT's or radios. i cannot find any info so far on the web. >>> my concern is to keep the transmit power out of the receive radio, i >>> guess basically the difference between a diplexer and duplexer. since i >>> am efficient (lazy) i thought i would just look for suggestions here >>> while i am checking google also. what do i need, di/du/ plexer, and what >>> is the correct wiring scheme ? i will be using the arrow antenna without >>> the built in duplexer, from the 2 feeds (vhf/uhf) and 2 HT's for now. my >>> picture of it so far, is to wire the vhf radio direct to the vhf feed >>> port on the arrow, and have the uhf port on the arrow come into a >>> duplexer, with the duplexer uhf port going to the uhf radio, and the >>> duplexer vhf port terminated into a 50 ohm dummy load. also, any >>> suggestions of specific duplexers would be appreciated. i think i >>> started on this project a few years ago, but never got around to get! >> ti! >>> ng it all together. grazie mille, Robert k f 0 g cn81 in the woodwork, >>> literally, shasta/klamath national forests. >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. >>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite >>> program! >>> Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >>> . >>> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite >> program! >> Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > 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 ------------------------------ Message: 11 Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 05:47:29 -0500 From: "Nick Pugh" <quadpugh(a)bellsouth.net> To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org>, <CubeSat(a)cubesat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] nitinol wire vs steel tape Message-ID: <095b01cd423f$70bfe710$523fb530$@net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Does anyone on the list know if there is any trade off using nitinol wire over steel tape for antennas on cube sats? Thanks nick Office 337 593 8700 Cell 337 258 2527 Helping UL become a world Class Engineering and Educational School ------------------------------ Message: 12 Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 11:53:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Dobarrows <dobarrows(a)aol.com> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: full duplex w/ 2 HT's Message-ID: <8CF108141285A4D-134C-12EB6(a)webmail-m052.sysops.aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" My portable setup using an arrow antenna doesn't use a diplexor or duplexor. With the setup for 2m uplink, I connect my VX5R to the two meter driven element with a piece of RG-8X. I connect my Icom IC R10 to the 432 mhz driven element with another piece of RG-8X. Just turn the radios on, adjust the frequencies, and wave the antenna around until you hear the satellite on the receive radio. When I transmit and I can hear my signal in the IC-R10 I know that I may be heard. If I hear someone else in the downlink, I stop transmitting and wait for another chance Now note that my IC R10 is not a second HT, but just a receiver. You should be able to swap in a second HT for the IC R10 with no problem. Most of the time, I use a better setup by inserting a Down East Microwave preamp between the antenna and the IC R10. The preamp improves reception on the downlink considerably. By using a receive only radio with the pre amp, I don't have to worry about accidently transmitting on 432 and burning up the pre amp. I run the preamp with two six volt lantern batteries in series. When working a pass, I start with the receiver in usb mode and tuned about 10 mhz higher than the published downlink frequency. This helps me zero in on the satellite. When the signal gets better (the squawking noise listening to a FM signal with usb setting gets loud) I switch the receiver to FM and gradually tune down frequency to keep up with the doppler. I usually don't touch the transmit frequency on the VX 5R. I just keep it on the published downlink frequency for the whole pass. 73, W8IJ ------------------------------ Message: 13 Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 18:07:32 +0200 From: chantal cappelletti <chantal.cappelletti(a)gmail.com> To: Nick Pugh <quadpugh(a)bellsouth.net> Cc: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org, CubeSat(a)cubesat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: [CubeSat] nitinol wire vs steel tape Message-ID: <CAERGK4esKyX0nVSnQkectrUMc8WzGt5yM=bB+sEwws3yDZaicA(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Dear Nick. we have tried to use the Nitinol for our CubeSat but for our experience it is better to use the steel tape. If you want to have more details please contact us: gauss.group(a)gmail.com Thanks, Chantal 2012/6/4 Nick Pugh <quadpugh(a)bellsouth.net>: > Does anyone on the list know if there is any trade off using nitinol ?wire > over steel tape for antennas on cube sats? > > > > > > > > Thanks > > > > nick > > Office?? 337 593 8700 > > Cell????? 337 258 2527 > > > > Helping UL become a world Class Engineering ?and Educational School > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > CubeSat mailing list > CubeSat(a)cubesat.org > http://lists.cubesat.org/mailman/listinfo/cubesat > -- Chantal Cappelletti, PhD G.A.U.S.S. coordinator ITALY : +39-0688346436 ? ? ? ? ? ? +393336200333 ?(cell) ? ? ? ? ? ? G.A.U.S.S.- Gruppo di Astrodinamica ? ? ? ? ? ? via Salaria 851, ? ? ? ? ? ? 00138 ROMA USA :?? 001-606-783-9597 (office) ? ? ? ? ?? Space Science Center ? ? ? ? ?? Morehead State University ? ? ? ? ?? 200A Martindale Dr. ? ? ? ? ?? Morehead, Kentucky 40351 ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ 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 7, Issue 179 ****************************************

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Hamvention Balloon Launch with SSTV
by Farrell Winder 04 Jun '12

04 Jun '12

ALL, During this years Hamvention, Bill Brown, WB8ELK launched a balloon carrying data packages of APRS on 144.39, other data on 144.34 and SSTV , Scottie S2 on 147.56Mhz.. Did anyone copy the balloon SSTV and record pictures? If any pictures are available please forward to me and I will resend to Bill. I would have tried to copy but missed all of the Hamvention being out of town for a Grandson's graduation. Many thanks for any picture copies or info on anyone who did copy. Farrell Winder, W8ZCF , Cincinnati.

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nitinol wire vs steel tape
by Nick Pugh 04 Jun '12

04 Jun '12

Does anyone on the list know if there is any trade off using nitinol wire over steel tape for antennas on cube sats? Thanks nick Office 337 593 8700 Cell 337 258 2527 Helping UL become a world Class Engineering and Educational School

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Re: full duplex w/ 2 HT's
by Dobarrows 04 Jun '12

04 Jun '12

My portable setup using an arrow antenna doesn't use a diplexor or duplexor. With the setup for 2m uplink, I connect my VX5R to the two meter driven element with a piece of RG-8X. I connect my Icom IC R10 to the 432 mhz driven element with another piece of RG-8X. Just turn the radios on, adjust the frequencies, and wave the antenna around until you hear the satellite on the receive radio. When I transmit and I can hear my signal in the IC-R10 I know that I may be heard. If I hear someone else in the downlink, I stop transmitting and wait for another chance Now note that my IC R10 is not a second HT, but just a receiver. You should be able to swap in a second HT for the IC R10 with no problem. Most of the time, I use a better setup by inserting a Down East Microwave preamp between the antenna and the IC R10. The preamp improves reception on the downlink considerably. By using a receive only radio with the pre amp, I don't have to worry about accidently transmitting on 432 and burning up the pre amp. I run the preamp with two six volt lantern batteries in series. When working a pass, I start with the receiver in usb mode and tuned about 10 mhz higher than the published downlink frequency. This helps me zero in on the satellite. When the signal gets better (the squawking noise listening to a FM signal with usb setting gets loud) I switch the receiver to FM and gradually tune down frequency to keep up with the doppler. I usually don't touch the transmit frequency on the VX 5R. I just keep it on the published downlink frequency for the whole pass. 73, W8IJ

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full duplex w/ 2 HT's
by Robert Coppock 04 Jun '12

04 Jun '12

hola, i am trying to determine the best way to work full duplex on the birds with 2 HT's or radios. i cannot find any info so far on the web. my concern is to keep the transmit power out of the receive radio, i guess basically the difference between a diplexer and duplexer. since i am efficient (lazy) i thought i would just look for suggestions here while i am checking google also. what do i need, di/du/ plexer, and what is the correct wiring scheme ? i will be using the arrow antenna without the built in duplexer, from the 2 feeds (vhf/uhf) and 2 HT's for now. my picture of it so far, is to wire the vhf radio direct to the vhf feed port on the arrow, and have the uhf port on the arrow come into a duplexer, with the duplexer uhf port going to the uhf radio, and the duplexer vhf port terminated into a 50 ohm dummy load. also, any suggestions of specific duplexers would be appreciated. i think i started on this project a few years ago, but never got around to getting it all together. grazie mille, Robert k f 0 g cn81 in the woodwork, literally, shasta/klamath national forests.

7 7

Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations
by Daniel Schultz 04 Jun '12

04 Jun '12

Keep in mind that any ham radio transponder on the moon will not be an "easy sat". You will need an EME class station to work it. If we build a lunar transponder, we can expect to see many, many postings on Amsat-BB about how Amsat only cares about elite hams and is not interested in building satellites for the common ham. I'm not saying it wouldn't be fun to have a transponder on the moon, and we in the USA might even be able to help you build it if they get ITAR fixed in time, but we better put on the flame proof trousers when we announce the project to the masses. Dan Schultz N8FGV

10 13

Re: A great suggestion
by Clint Bradford 04 Jun '12

04 Jun '12

Brilliant! Great program ... accurate tracking ... simple and elegant - GREAT work, Tom. Clint Bradford K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com

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1K grids
by Bruce 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

Congrats to Jerry, K5OE. He just submitted his VUCC upgrade to 1,000 grids today, actually 1,008 but who's counting. It was an easy set of cards to check. About 30 from a bunch of hams and 100 or so grids from Yuri. Not a bad haul. and... I have never worked Yuri on satellite. 73...bruce Sent from my iPhone

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A great suggestion
by Thomas Doyle 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

A great suggestion was made for a simple addition to the program written for demos and education. You can now add your own images to the little slide show that takes place in the lower right hand portion of the screen. This is a good way to personalize your presentation by including images that are of specific interest to your group or add images that for one reason or another are not included in the program. If any group or organization would like an image added to the gallery and/or included with the program distribution just send me your request in an email with the image attached and I will try to include it. If any registered trademark or copyright issues are involved with the image simply add a line or two to your request authorizing use of the image in this application. The updated version of the program, information on how to add your own images and a little gallery of images to try out is on the web site. http://www.tomdoyle.org/simplesatlookdown Have Fun - 73 W9KE Tom Doyle

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Re: Icom Power Cord
by Clint Bradford 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

I believe the IC-910 also uses the IC-OPC-657A power cord - if that helps in your searching. Clint K6LCS >> ... IC-821 ...

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EN-0?
by Gary "Joe" Mayfield 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

Someone was looking to work EN-02 or 03 or one of the low EN numbers.. I'll be headed south Wednesday and should be able to activate something on SO-50 or AO-27. If you need one of those grids please let me know. 73, Joe kk0sd

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pa5rwe / chris
by Robert Coppock 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

"hams never die, they just go to ground" rest in peace, Chris my neighbors and i listened to this at full volume via my stereo, celebrate life ! =(it's and upside down I) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ouPGGLI6Q

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Icom Power Socket
by Fred Kennedy 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

Hi Guys, Can anyone point me to a supplier for the (Molex?) plug and socket that is used to connect the DC Power into the back of the IC-821. I want to produce a (decent!) break out box to switch the output of an IC- 821's DC PSU ( (Icom PS-85) to alternative switchable circuits - both Icom and others.. (Suspect Icoms price can be bettered and its probably a 'standard'!!) Thanks Fred Kennedy ZL1BYP

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ANS-155 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne Maenpaa 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-155 ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS 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. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org ******************************************************************* * Nominating petitions for the election of upcoming open seats on * * the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors must be received at the AMSAT * * Office by June 15, 2012. The details of the nominating process * * are posted on the AMSAT front page news at http://www.amsat.org * ******************************************************************* In this edition: * STEM Education Identified as Critical for Continued Rides to Space * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations * AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2012 Second Call for Speakers * Successful ARISS Contact as Northland Preparatory Academy Calls ISS * Multiple CubeSats Autonomously Docking May Build Large Satellites * LVB Tracker Boxes in Stock at the AMSAT Office * 13cm Band Rules Expanded to Allow MedRadio Adjacent to Satellites * Funding Availability Key to Final Acceptance in QB50 Project * AMSAT at Ham-Com, 8-9 June, Plano, TX, Special Event K5P * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-155.01 ANS-155 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 155.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. June 3, 2012 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-155.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- STEM Education Identified as Critical for Continued Rides to Space The AMSAT Forum at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention featured news of the educational opportunities for AMSAT to contribute to the innovation in attracting and retaining students in science, technology, engin- eering and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines. Educators have identi- fied STEM programs as a priority in strengthening the Nation's future workforce. "Education is important to us", said AMSAT Vice-President Educational Relations Mark Hammond N8MH, "It's a part of our mission and vision." Mark noted several key points of AMSAT's support for STEM education: + AMSAT is a non-profit volunteer organization which designs, builds and operates experimental satellites and promotes space education. + AMSAT works in partnership with government, industry, educational institutions and fellow amateur radio societies. + AMSAT encourages technical and scientific innovation, and promotes the training and development of skilled satellite and ground sys- tem designers and operators. As evidenced by this year's acceptance of AMSAT's Project Fox cubesat in the NASA "Educational Launch of NanoSat", the ELaNa program, we were selected on our merit in support of NASA strategic and educa- tional goals. Education is quickly becoming critical for our ride to space. The recently formed Educational Partnership between AMSAT and ARRL, including NASA is looking for help. We need to develop an education program on the ground starting now. We have resources already avail- able for STEM education in both the K-12 classroom and at the Uni- versity level while our satellite builders work on the next flight. For example, the huge collection of telemetry data collected during the recent ARISSat-1 flight is available on our FTP server. This data presents an opportunity for the utilization of satellite data in the classroom (through plotting, graphing, analyzing). An immediate need is for volunteers to collect and organize existing STEM related lesson plans and ideas from the web, useful to K-12 edu- cators and relevant to amateur radio and satellite. Critical steps such as this will allow ARISSat-1 telemetry data to be used in the classroom. Similar lesson plans and ideas can be used for educational purposes in future satellite missions, such as Fox-1 and Fox-2. To support this effort specific tasks have been identified and now volunteers are needed to support: + Educators: We need lesson plans/ideas related to satellites and amateur radio. ARISSat-1 telemetry data needs to be used in the classroom! + Educators: sign up for ARRL Teacher's Institute program! + Web content person for AMSAT's education web pages. o Also to maintain a calendar of amateur radio youth events. + Archivist/publicist of satellite educational activities (photos, stories for AMSAT Journal, press, videos). + Mentors and ground station operators (with equipment!) for ARISS contacts. + Look for opportunities to engage youth, and document it (photos, articles, AMSAT Journal, press). To volunteer contact Mark directly at n8mh at amsat.org. The AMSAT-EDU mailing list is the place to exchange education project ideas and to learn how to help with our educational outreach. Information on how to join the AMSAT-EDU list can be found on the AMSAT web at: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo AMSAT's vision is to deploy satellite systems with the goal of pro- viding wide area and continuous coverage. AMSAT will continue active participation in human space missions and support a stream of LEO satellites developed in cooperation with the educational community and other amateur satellite groups. This is a path to getting Fox-1 in orbit, and our future Fox-2, ARISSat-2, -3, -? Again, the key contact is AMSAT Vice-President Educational Relations Mark Hammond N8MH - n8mh at amsat.org. [ANS thanks Mark Hammond, N8MH for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. A valid nomination requires either one current Member Society, or five current individual members in good standing, to nominate an AMSAT-NA member for the position. Three directors and two alternate directors have terms expiring this year. The director seats open for election are held by Tom Clark, K3IO; Lou McFadin, W5DID; and Gould Smith, WA4SXM. The alternate dir- ector seats open for election are held by Mark Hammond, N8MH and Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK. The three nominees receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as regular board members with two year terms. The two nom- inees receiving the next highest number of votes will be seated as alternate directors for one year. Written nominations, consisting of names, calls and individual signa- tures, should be mailed to: AMSAT-NA, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring, MD, 20910. They must be received no later than June 15th. No other action is required. Nominations may also be made by electronic means including e-mail, FAX, or electronic image of a petition. Electronic petitions should be sent to MARTHA(a)AMSAT.ORG or faxed to 301-608-3410, and also must be received by June 15th. If using any electronic submission, there is a second, verifying step: ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXISTING AMSAT-NA BYLAWS. A verifying traditional written petition MUST be received at the AMSAT-NA office at the above address within 7 days following the close of nominations. [ANS Thanks AMSAT Secretary Alan Biddle, WA4SCA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2012 Second Call for Speakers This is the second call for speakers for the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium 2012 which, due to the Olympic & Paralympic Games, will be held the weekend of September 15-16, 2012 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, United Kingdom. AMSAT-UK has posted details of the 2012 Colloquium at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve AMSAT-UK invites speakers, to cover topics about micro-satellites, CubeSats, nano-sats, space and associated activities, for this event. They are also invited to submit papers for subsequent publishing on the AMSAT-UK web site. We normally prefer authors to present talks themselves rather than having someone else give them in the authors' absence. We also welcome "unpresented" papers for the web site. We appreciate that it is not always possible to give a firm indica- tion of attendance at this stage but expressions of interest would be appreciated. Submissions should be sent *ONLY* to G4DPZ, via the following routes: + e-mail: david dot johnson at blackpepper dot co dot uk + Postal address at http://www.qrz.com/db/G4DPZ AMSAT-UK also invite anyone with requests for Program Topics to sub- mit them as soon as possible to G4DPZ. Invitations for any papers on specific subjects will be included in the future call. Likewise if anyone knows of a good speaker, please send contact and other infor- mation to G4DPZ. AMSAT-UK http://www.uk.amsat.org/ [ANS thanks Dave Johnson, G4DPZ and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Successful ARISS Contact as Northland Preparatory Academy Calls ISS On Thursday, May 24, students from Northland Preparatory Academy in Flagstaff, Arizona participated in an Amateur Radio on the Interna- tional Space Station (ARISS) contact with Joe Acaba, KE5DAR on the ISS. Approximately 550 students, staff and administrators, as well as Dr. Jeffrey Hall, director of the Lowell Observatory, and the mayor were in attendance. The contact complemented a Science, Technology, Engin- eering and Math (STEM) curriculum. Video of the event, including Dr. Hall's presentation, has been posted on-line. See: http://spacescienceteaching.blogspot.com/ The Arizona Daily Sun ran an article on the event which may be found here: http://tinyurl.com/ISS-AZDailySun (azdailysun.com) [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, and the ARISS Status Report for the Week of May 29, 2012 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Multiple CubeSats Autonomously Docking May Build Large Satellites This week AMSAT-UK, SpaceRef.com, and SSTL have announced plans to develop the 'STRaND-2' mission at the University of Surrey and Sur- ey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL). This mission will test a novel in-orbit docking system based upon XBOX Kinect technology that could change the way space assets are built, maintained and decommissioned. STRaND-2 (Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator) programme, following on from the smartphone-powered STRaND-1 satel- lite that is near completion. Similar in design to STRaND-1, the identical twin STRaND-2 satellites will each be a 3 unit Cubesat. Components from the XBOX Kinect games controller to scan the local area and provide the satellites with spatial awareness on all three axes. SSTL says on their web site, "The STRaND-2 twins will be separated after launch. After the initial phase of system checks, the two sat- ellites will be commanded to perform the docking procedure and, when in close proximity, the Kinect-based docking system will provide the satellites with 3D spatial awareness to align and dock. Other appli- cations for STRaND-2 include the safe removal of space debris and spacecraft maintenance, with a low cost "snap-on" nanosatellite pro- viding backup power, propulsion or additional on-board computing capability." SSTL Project Lead Shaun Kenyon says, "We were really impressed by what MIT had done flying an autonomous model helicopter that used Kinect and asked ourselves: Why has no-one used this in space? Once you can launch low cost nanosatellites that dock together, the pos- sibilities are endless, like space building blocks." Dr. Chris Bridges, Surrey Space Centre Project Lead says, "It may seem far-fetched, but our low cost nanosatellites could dock to build large and sophisticated modular structures such as space telescopes. Unlike today's big space missions, these could be re- configured as mission objectives change, and upgraded in-orbit with the latest available technologies." Referenced web sites: http://www.uk.amsat.org/7851 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=37215 http://tinyurl.com/Strand2-News (www.sstl.co.uk) [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK, SpaceRef.com, and SSTL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- LVB Tracker Boxes in Stock at the AMSAT Office Martha says she now has LVB Tracker boxes in stock at the AMSAT Office. The cost is $200 plus $20 shipping. The AMSAT Store Website is currently down due to technical issues so you can place your order via these routes: + Call Martha at the AMSAT Office (301-589-6062) 10:00 AM-6:00 PM EDT + Fax - 301-608-3410 + Mail - AMSAT, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring MD 20910 The LVB Tracker is a rotator interface designed to to be used as an interface between tracking software and the Yaesu 4500/5500 series of Az/El rotators. Here's why you want one: + Several physical interface options including RS-232, USB and TCP/IP over 10/100 Ethernet (tested by not implemented) + Uses standard EasyComm and Yaesu GS-232 protocols + Cross-platform compatibility - Windows, Linux, BSD, Mac + Compatible with existing real-time prediction programs such as SatPC32 and Nova + Open source + Integrated firmware programmer for easy installation and upgrade Watch a demo of the LVB Track Interface with Yaesu G-5500 rotator at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePw-ReMRwA (does not use the AMSAT enclosure) [ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Ofice for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 13cm Band Rules Expanded to Allow MedRadio Adjacent to Satellites The ARRL is reporting in a First Report and Order and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ET 08-59) released on May 24, the FCC decided to expand the Part 95 Personal Radio Service rules to allow medical devices to operate on a secondary basis in the 2360- 2400 MHz band. International amateur satellite operations are allo- cated between 2400-2450 MHz, adjacent to the new devices. The new allocation is Medical Body Area Networks (MBAN) which pro- vide a way for health care facilities to monitor their patients via wireless networks. Because use of these frequencies will be on a secondary basis, MBAN stations will not be allowed to cause inter- ference to, and must accept interference from, primary services, including radio amateurs who operate on a terrestrial primary basis in the 2390-2395 MHz and 2395-2400 MHz bands. The ARRL has posted their full analysis and report at: http://tinyurl.com/13cm-Medical-Allocation (arrl.org) [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Funding Availability Key to Final Acceptance in QB50 Project The QB50 Project, funded by the European Commission, plans to orbit 50 CubeSats separated by a few hundred kilometers and carrying iden- tical sensors to study Earth's lower layers of the thermosphere/ion- osphere and study effects of satellite re-entry. All 50 CubeSats will be launched out of Murmansk, Russia, into a circular orbit with 79 degree inclination at 320 km altitude in the first half of 2015. Full details are published at: https://www.qb50.eu. The project is run by an international consortium under the leader- ship of the von Karman Institute (VKI) near Brussels. The Call for Proposals for CubeSats carrying the standard sensor package which may also include additional experiments closed on April 30, 2012. VKI reports the response to this Call resulted in proposals for 70 CubeSats from 38 countries in the following categories: + 53 standard 2U CubeSats for atmospheric science. + 7 proposals for In-Orbit-Demonstration (IOD) 3U CubeSats for test- ing new technologies or minitaurised science sensors which also include the standard science sensors. + 5 proposals for IOD 3U CubeSats which do not include the standard science sensors. + 1 proposal for IOD 2U CubeSats which also include the standard science sensors. + 4 proposals for IOD 2U CubeSats which do not include the standard science sensors. + 2 proposals for interdisciplinary science. VKI, with the help of external reviewers, is now in the process of evaluating the 70 proposals, aimed towards a selection of 50 Cube- Sats to be flown on QB50. VKI wrote in the 31 May 2012 issue of the QB50 Newsletter, "The availability of funding for developing a CubeSat will be a critical issue in the selection process. At this stage, it is not known which proposals will actually be able to obtain the required funding. The final selection of 50 CubeSats can only be made once the availability of funding is established. CubeSat teams who submitted a proposal should now contact their national funding agencies and/or industrial sponsors to obtain the funding. The process of securing this funding should be completed by 1 October 2012 with the signing of a 'Contrac- tual Agreement' between the university and VKI." In the coming months, VKI will support the CubeSat teams in their efforts to obtain the funding, e.g. by sending a 'Letter of Support'. It is not expected that all 70 CubeSat teams will be able to sign the Contractual Agreement by 1 October, therefore, the de facto down- selection from 70 to 50 CubeSats will be made based on securing the funding by each team. In some cases, funding agencies will only be able to provide a part of the funding. Teams who only received approval for part of the fund- ing should consider the possibility of collaboration with another team that also received only a part of the requested funding. [ANS thanks The QB50 Project and von Karman Institute for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at Ham-Com, 8-9 June, Plano, TX, Special Event K5P AMSAT will have an AMSAT Booth, Satellite Demonstrations, and two Satellite Talks at Ham-Com in Plano, TX, on 8-9 June 2012. The talks will be given by Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW/5, and Keith Pugh, W5IU. This year there will be a Special Event activity (sponsored by the Plano Amateur Radio Klub) associated with Ham-Com and the call sign will be K5P. AMSAT's Satellite Demonstrations will be conducted us- ing K5P as part of the Special Event. Additional details about Ham- Com are available at: http://www.hamcom.org/ If you attend Ham-Com, drop by and see us. In addition, if you can spare an hour or two, we could use the help in the AMSAT Booth and doing the Demos. We plan to work as many of the following Satellite Passes as possible: Ham-Com 2012 Demos Grid EM13pb Min El = 10 deg Time Zone UTC WinAos QTH: -96.7/33.1 T#: 12577 Sat.: 7 [Standard] ---------------------------------------------------------- Day Object AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ ---------------------------------------------------------- 08.06.2012 VO-52 13:53 14:00 07 39 031 - 172 08.06.2012 VO-52 15:30 15:34 04 14 319 - 259 08.06.2012 HO-68 15:41 15:54 13 48 029 - 176 08.06.2012 HO-68 17:29 17:40 11 28 350 - 238 08.06.2012 FO-29 18:43 18:56 13 64 020 - 184 08.06.2012 AO-27 18:44 18:51 07 22 118 - 018 08.06.2012 SO-50 20:08 20:15 07 19 008 - 100 08.06.2012 AO-27 20:23 20:32 09 35 196 - 331 08.06.2012 FO-29 20:30 20:38 08 18 332 - 248 08.06.2012 SO-50 21:48 21:56 08 43 317 - 174 WinAos QTH: -96.7/33.1 T#: 12578 Sat.: 7 [Standard] ---------------------------------------------------------- Day Object AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ ---------------------------------------------------------- 09.06.2012 VO-52 14:10 14:17 07 66 019 - 184 09.06.2012 AO-07 14:11 14:19 08 16 336 - 268 09.06.2012 HO-68 15:24 15:36 12 35 034 - 164 09.06.2012 HO-68 17:12 17:24 12 36 355 - 227 09.06.2012 FO-29 17:50 17:59 09 23 048 - 148 09.06.2012 AO-27 18:18 18:22 04 12 084 - 036 09.06.2012 FO-29 19:34 19:46 12 51 359 - 213 09.06.2012 AO-27 19:54 20:04 10 66 174 - 343 09.06.2012 SO-50 20:36 20:44 08 47 345 - 134 09.06.2012 AO-07 21:21 21:30 09 17 091 - 015 Come see us or talk to the AMSAT Team! [ANS thanks Keith Pugh, W5IU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Venus will pass in front of the sun on 6 June 2012. Bob Bruninga, WB4APR will be in Japan to observe the event. He has created a web page, "The 2012 Transit of Venus using HAM Radio" including a list of selected calling frequencies, see: http://aprs.org/VenusTransit2012.html + The 2012 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Symposium will be held at the Holiday Inn, Orlando (Florida) Airport on October 26-28, 2012. The First Call for Papers has been issued. The Symposium Team requests a tentative title of your presentation as soon as poss- ible, with final copy to be submitted by October 1 for inclusion in the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan Schultz, N8FGV, at n8fgv(a)amsat.org. Watch for the latest 2012 Symposium information to be posted on the AMSAT web at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2012/index.php + The UK Space Agency has released a YouTube video celebrating the UK's 50 years in space: http://tinyurl.com/UK-50-In-Space (Southgate) + Eric Knaps, ON4HF built an arrow antenna for working the FM sat- ellites. Photos posted at: https://picasaweb.google.com/ON4HF.Eric/PortableSatAntenna + ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers published a photo gallery during the arrival and docking at the ISS of the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship. See: http://tinyurl.com/Dragon-Photo-Gallery (UniverseToday.com) + A 50 minute interview with Neil Armstrong made this year is now available. The video is split into 4 parts which can be seen at: http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/ (Trevor, M5AKA) + The May 20 annular eclipse was photographed by NASA's Lunar Recon- naissance Orbiter as it turned its camera to look back home. Images of the Earth with the Moon's fuzzy shadow are posted on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/LROC-Eclipse (UniverseToday.com) For eclipse photos from Earth check out: http://www.universetoday.com/95469/annular-eclipse-redux/ + There are two new Hamvention 2012 music videos on YouTube produced by Joe Eisenberg, K0NEB. One is called Hamvention 2012 "Band On The Run" and the other is titled Hamvention 2012 "Gimme Dat Ding." To find them just put the word joehusker into the search YouTube search line. [ANS thanks everyone for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. And with that please keep in mind the tidal forces of the Moon (and the Sun) don't only act on the oceans, they act on the land as well. If you stand on the equator, the land beneath you will go up and down by as much as 21 inches (55 centimeters) over the course of a day. 73, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM K9JKM at amsat dot org

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European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations of Interest
by Stefan Wagener 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

ESA has posted a very unique opportunity: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/HSF_Research/SEMGUMZWD2H_2.html Wouldn't it be great if the key AMSAT organizations put a proposal together to put a ham radio transponder on the moon. It can have all the cool educational outreach and training opportunities associated with it. Let's encourage the AMSAT leadership teams to move quickly. We can do it, don't you think? Stefan VE4NSA

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Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations
by i8cvs 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob- W7LRD" <w7lrd(a)comcast.net> To: "STeve Andre'" <andres(a)msu.edu> Cc: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2012 7:16 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: European Lunar Lander - Call for Declarations Just for the "fun" of it I'd like to see an accurate link budget written up. It is a little bit out of my comfort zone. Maybe Domenico or one of you who has this knowledge could do it. I may even learn something. 73 Bob W7LRD Hi Bob, W7LRD Suppose to have a L/S linear transponder on the moon with the antennas perfectly oriented toward the Earth. L band is for the uplink from the Earth and S band is for downlink from the Moon. The L/S antenna gain has been selected the maximum as possible to have the antennas main lobe pointing at the Earth despite the relative movement of the Moon in respect of the Earth due of Libration and a fixed 20 dBi antenna on the Moon into L/S bands could easily cover the inclination X libration window with no need of the lunar antennas pointing correction for most of the time into a month. DATA FOR the 23 cm (1268 MHz) LUNAR receiving system.(UPLINK) Noise Figure of the 23 cm lunar receiver NF = 1 dB equivalent to ( 75 kelvin ) Equivalent total Noise Temperature Te as seen by the lunar 23 cm receiver with the antenna connected and looking at the earth..........Te = 100 kelvin Linear Transponder 23 cm receiver Band Width................BW =150 KHz BW: Same as in Mode-B on OSCAR-10 and in OSCAR-13 23 cm RX Noise Floor into 2.4 KHz BW and Te = 100 kelvin: KTB = -175 dBW 23 cm RX lunar transponder RHCP Helix Antenna Gain..................G = 16 dBic 23 cm TX terrestrial RHCP Helix Antenna Gain...............................G = 20 dBic 1268 MHz free space attenuation earth-moon at 380.000 Km............-206 dB EARTH-MOON LINK BADGED CALCULATION FOR THE 23 cm UPLINK 23 cm terrestrial power =100 watt pep equivalent to...............+20 dBW 23 cm terrestrial RHCP antenna Gain........................................+20 dBic ------------- 23 cm EIRP transmitted from the earth.....................................+40 dBW 23 cm free space attenuation earth-moon 380.000 Km..........-206 dB ------------- 23 cm received power in to a 23 cm isotropic antenna on the moon...............................................................................-166 dBW 23 cm antenna gain connected to 23 cm lunar receiver........... +16 dBi ------------- 23 cm available power at the input of the 23 cm lunar RX ....-150 dBW (*) 23 cm lunar receiver Noise Floor in to a 2400 Hz SSB Band Width and Equivalent Noise Temp. = 100 K ................-175 dBW --------------- S+N/N ratio available at the lunar 23 cm receiver output......+25 dB Now suppose that the S band 2400 MHz downlink of the lunar transponder is 20 watt pep and that 10 earth stations are putting the same signal level of S+N/N = +25 dB into the input of the 23 cm lunar receiver. In this conditions the S transponder will deliver the same power to each of the users i.e. 20 W / 10 = 2 watt pep to each user. Now suppose that the 2400 MHz antenna of the lunar transponder is a RHCP Helix with 20 dBic gain. The free space attenuation of the path Moon-Earth of 380.000 km at 2400 MHz is -212 dB Suppose that your receiving system on the ground station is similar to that you have used for AO40 i.e. a 120 cm parabolic dish with gain G = 27 dBic and a 2400 MHz downconverter with NF = 1 dB equivalent to 75 kelvin and performe a Downlink Budged Calculation as follows: MOON-EARTH LINK BADGED CALCULATION FOR 2400 MHz DOWNLINK Power delivered for each user = 2 watt pep equivalent to .....................+ 3 dBW 2400 MHz lunar TX RHCP antenna Gain..................................................+ 20 dBic ---------------- 2400 MHz EIRP transmitted from the Moon to each user.......................+ 23 dBW 2400 MHz free space attenuation Moon-Earth 380.000 Km...................-212 dB --------------- Received power in to a 2400 MHz isotropic antenna on Earth ..............- 189 dBW 2400 MHz 120 cm parabolic antenna gain on Earth................................+ 27 dBic -------------- 2400 MHz available power at the input of terrestrial receiver..............- 162 dBW (*) 2400 MHz Earth receiver Noise Floor in to a 2400 Hz SSB Band Width and Equivalent Noise Temp. = 85 Kelvin (75 kelvin for RX plus 5 kelvin for Cold Sky of the Moon = 85 kelvin )................ -175.5 dBW --------------- S+N/N ratio available at the output of 2400 MHz ground receiver + 13.5 dB CONCLUSION: The above results are very close from those obtined using the calculator suggested by jari oh3uw at the following url provided you convert my data signed (*) from dBW to dBm http://www.changpuak.ch/electronics/calc_10.php A good L/S ground station of the class used for AO40 made with a 16 dBi gain antenna on 1268 MHz with 100 watt pep at the antenna and receiving at 2400 MHz using a 120 cm parabolic dish (27 dBi) with a Low Noise downconverter ( NF = 1 dB ) can receive from the Moon a signal with a S+N/N ratio of + 13,5 dB provided that the transponder on the Moon has a 23 cm receiving RHCP antenna with gain G = 16 dBi connected to a receiver of NF = 1 dB (75 kelvin ) and a 2400 MHz TX with 20 watt pep supplying an RHCP antenna with gain G = 20 dBic The above characteristics are far away from those of a conventional EME CW and SSB station and having the opportunity of a launch from ESA a transponder on the Moon is viable in theory by all who were users of AO40 BTW the environmental conditions to get survive a transponder on the Moon are not easy to manage particularly because of the very high change in temperature. I hope this helps. 73" de i8CVS Domenico

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Uni_Trac 2000 and Windows 7 64-bit
by Bob DeVarney W1ICW 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

Hi All, I am getting back QRV after a long hiatus, and recently upgraded the shack computer to Windows 7 64-bit.. now I am trying to install the software and drivers for my parallel port version ( metal box ) Uni_Trac 2000 rotor interface, and I can't even get the installed to run no matter what compatibility mode I run it in. It doesn't even open up.. Anybody have any suggestions? All advice will be cheerfully accepted. 73, Bob W1ICW

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PA5RWE passed away
by Andre 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

It saddens me to report that a very active and positive sattelite opperator has passed away. Chris Heijzelaar PA5RWE has died in his sleep last night at the age of 51 just meters below his beloved loopyagies. condolances can be left on http://www.het-bar.net on behalf of his radiofriends I request that everyone that has known him remembers him for what he has done and celibrate his life. ps. please respect his wish and don't refer to him as OM. -- 73 Andre PE1RDW

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Fwd: AMSAT BB
by Bob- W7LRD 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

fowarding this email to the bb for a local ham 73 Bob W7LRD ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "James Denneny" <57jndenneny(a)comcast.net> To: "Bob- W7LRD" <w7lrd(a)comcast.net> Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2012 1:19:32 PM Subject: AMSAT BB Bob Please add this item to the BB: AEA DSP2232 Multi-Mode Digital signal Processor Modem. Used for decoding Satellite telemetry. Works all digital modes. Rare item. Manual included $300 plus shipping. Jim K7EG 253-939-6107. Thanks Jim K7EG

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AMSAT at Ham-Com, 8-9 June, Plano, TX, Special Event K5P
by Keith Pugh 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

AMSAT will have an AMSAT Booth, Satellite Demonstrations, and two Satellite Talks at Ham-Com in Plano, TX, on 8-9 June 2012. The talks will be given by Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW/5, and Keith Pugh, W5IU. This year there will be a Special Event activity (sponsored by the Plano Amateur Radio Klub) associated with Ham-Com and the call sign will be K5P. AMSAT's Satellite Demonstrations will be conducted using K5P as part of the Special Event. Additional details about Ham-Com are available at: http://www.hamcom.org/ If you attend Ham-Com, drop by and see us. In addition, if you can spare an hour or two, we could use the help in the AMSAT Booth and doing the Demos. We plan to work as many of the following Satellite Passes as possible: Ham-Com 2012 Demos Grid EM13pb Min El = 10 deg Time Zone UTC WinAos QTH: -96.7/33.1 T#: 12577 Sat.: 7 [Standard] ---------------------------------------------------------- Day Object AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ ---------------------------------------------------------- 08.06.2012 VO-52 13:53 14:00 07 39 031 - 172 08.06.2012 VO-52 15:30 15:34 04 14 319 - 259 08.06.2012 HO-68 15:41 15:54 13 48 029 - 176 08.06.2012 HO-68 17:29 17:40 11 28 350 - 238 08.06.2012 FO-29 18:43 18:56 13 64 020 - 184 08.06.2012 AO-27 18:44 18:51 07 22 118 - 018 08.06.2012 SO-50 20:08 20:15 07 19 008 - 100 08.06.2012 AO-27 20:23 20:32 09 35 196 - 331 08.06.2012 FO-29 20:30 20:38 08 18 332 - 248 08.06.2012 SO-50 21:48 21:56 08 43 317 - 174 WinAos QTH: -96.7/33.1 T#: 12578 Sat.: 7 [Standard] ---------------------------------------------------------- Day Object AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ ---------------------------------------------------------- 09.06.2012 VO-52 14:10 14:17 07 66 019 - 184 09.06.2012 AO-07 14:11 14:19 08 16 336 - 268 09.06.2012 HO-68 15:24 15:36 12 35 034 - 164 09.06.2012 HO-68 17:12 17:24 12 36 355 - 227 09.06.2012 FO-29 17:50 17:59 09 23 048 - 148 09.06.2012 AO-27 18:18 18:22 04 12 084 - 036 09.06.2012 FO-29 19:34 19:46 12 51 359 - 213 09.06.2012 AO-27 19:54 20:04 10 66 174 - 343 09.06.2012 SO-50 20:36 20:44 08 47 345 - 134 09.06.2012 AO-07 21:21 21:30 09 17 091 - 015 Come see us or talk to us! 73 - Keith, W5IU

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thanks for the help / info
by Robert Coppock 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

ahoy, thank you to Bruce-kk5do , Rick-wa4nvm , Dave-kb1vph , Greg-ko6th , Eric-on4hf , Scott-n1aia for the replies and help. i was looking at the comet cf-4160 (must be the new version), if i need it, and will be on the air from grid cn81 soon. i have a new LiIon battery on order, so i can run full power, 5W, from my th-f6a. thanks very much ! Robert k f 0 g

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Re: Software for Demos and Education
by Clint Bradford 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

Might be the use of the AMSAT-NA logo without asking permission. And if so, it should be easily remedied ... I mean, who would want to hold up the positive promotion of AMSAT-NA to audiences? But I am just guessing ... Clint Bradford, K6LCS 909-241-7666

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Software for Demos and Education
by Thomas Doyle 01 Jun '12

01 Jun '12

Hi, Thanks for all the positive feedback I received on the SimpleSat Look Down program. It is very rewarding to share something with the satellite community and have it well received. I have been informed by the AMSAT administration that my YouTube video and the 'SimpleSat Look Down' program is in violation of one or more of their rule(s). To comply with their requirements I have modified the program and shot and uploaded a new YouTube video. The new version of the program has been uploaded to the web site and the website now links to the new YouTube video. To keep within the Spirit of the AMSAT regulations I think it would be best if all those who downloaded the 'SimpleSat Look Down' program destroy any copies they may have of the program then download and use only the new version. Don't worry, the program has not changed much. I do not want anyone else to get in trouble with the AMSAT administration. The new YouTube video looks great in full screen HD. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYUmiUDr6YA You can download the new AMSAT compliant version of the program on the website. http://www.tomdoyle.org/simplesatlookdown The only remaining problem is the page on the AMSAT-UK web site they so kindly put up has a direct link to the offending YouTube video. Unfortunately YouTube does not allow any changes to a video once it has been uploaded. As a result I had to upload the new video and this resulted in a new link address. Since I had to delete the illegal video there is now a dead link on the AMSAT-UK page. Sorry but there is no other way to do it. http://www.uk.amsat.org/7831 None of this is a big deal. Have fun. 73 de W9KE Tom Doyle

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one last thing
by Alan Beck 01 Jun '12

01 Jun '12

Sorry for generating another email. I am using a 432 to 7 mhz downcoverter at the antenna. Alan

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Re: PWsat and Almasat
by Armando Mercado 01 Jun '12

01 Jun '12

Hi Drew, So far as I know, Almasat went silent about a week after launch. PWsat transmits irregularlly but can usually be heard every daylight pass. For what little I can get from the PWsat web site (in Polish) it seems to have a power problem. It's de-orbit sail has not yet been deployed. No mention on the web site of when or if the AO-16 style repeater would be turned on. 73, Armando N8IGJ --------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 08:55:04 -0400 From: Andrew Glasbrenner <glasbrenner(a)mindspring.com> To: AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] PWsat and Almasat Message-ID: <9C70E935-E286-494D-A9D5-2AA880FD688B(a)mindspring.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Anyone have any news on how these two sats are doing? 73, Drew KO4MA Sent from my iPhone

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Fwd: AMSAT Bulletin Board Posting
by Bob- W7LRD 01 Jun '12

01 Jun '12

I am fowarding this to the AMSAT list for a local ham here in W. Washington. I've seen the gear, nice stuff. 73 Bob W7LRD ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Denneny" <57jndenneny(a)comcast.net> To: "Bob- W7LRD" <w7lrd(a)comcast.net> Sent: Friday, June 1, 2012 11:16:00 AM Subject: AMSAT Bulletin Board Posting Bob Here are items for AMSAT BB: 1. SSB SP2000 GaAsFET 2M Mast mounted Preamp $250 + shipping 2. SSB SP7000 GaAsFET 70cm Mast mounted Preamp $250 + shipping 3. Wimo 2M X-Quad Antenna with phasing kit $110 + shipping 4. Wimo 70cm X-Quad Antenna with phasing kit $110 + shipping 5. SSB2424GD - 2400Mhz Mag Grid Antenna $90 + shipping 6. SSB UEK-3000 - 13-CM Ultra Low Noise S-Band to 144Mhz Mast-Mounted Receive Converter - $400+shipping 7. SSB 33-C - 1.2GHz Helix Antenna - $125 8. SSB RF-DC Voltage Preamp Protector - $60 + shipping Thanks Jim K7EG

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radioes
by Alan Beck 01 Jun '12

01 Jun '12

I have run through all the CAT radioes that I can find. The end result is that they are specific to each radio. It is obvious, there is no backwards compatibility. The radioes the software was written for are listed as radioes. I thought I could re-write something to work with my radioes. As a result of this I am doing step tuning. It will be fussy, but it is my only was. I will step both radios. If I end up really into this, then I will try to get a listed radio. 73, Alan

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bp box
by Alan Beck 01 Jun '12

01 Jun '12

Does anyone have a pushbotton optocoupled tuning box they don't have a use for? Figure asking is easier than building. 73, Alan VY2WU

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AMSAT-NA Board of Director Nominations
by Alan P. Biddle 01 Jun '12

01 Jun '12

A final reminder that nominations for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors elections are due by June 15th. This year there are three regular seats on the Board to be filled, plus up to two alternates to be selected. Regular members will serve for two years, and alternates for one year. If you want to run yourself, or you know someone you feel should run, this is your chance to influence the direction of our organization. You will find the details in this weekend's ANS release, or at WWW.AMSAT.ORG toward the bottom of the front page. Alan WA4SCA AMSAT Corporate Secretary

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Ham Spirit
by Clint Bradford 01 Jun '12

01 Jun '12

Back to Eric's original question: "Where is the "ham spirit" these days?" Well, I ask, WHEN did the true spirit of ham radio CHANGE to the point where we can demean fellow hams in public message groups - WITHOUT simply contacting an "offending" ham privately to see if we could help them with their system? A simple email message to the "offending" station asking if he was able to hear the bird ... If he has had any problems with the FM birds in the past ... and find out if he knew he was accidentally stepping on another ham ... THAT'S what any responsible amateur radio licensee should have done FIRST. And THEN write up the experience here. Something like ... "Hey, guys and gals. Was working SO-50 earlier this week, and booming in with a strong signal was K6LCS. That's the good news. The bad news is that he was stepping on everyone else - as if he could not hear the downlinks from the bird. I called him up (his phone number is all over his Web sites) and we both identified the problem: a shorted earpiece cable forced him to work without his normal receive audio setup. He profusely apologized ... and he is not really a "repeat offender." LESSON LEARNED: Purchase quality audio accessories!" Instead, the original message criticizes a fellow ham ... and two more fellow hams publicly chime in with, "Way to go, Eric!" - before finding out the facts of the matter. Call me "old school," I guess. But I am not changing. Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com

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Re: 13 Original Colonies Special Event
by Robert Coppock 31 May '12

31 May '12

Dave / kb1pvh, thank you very much for this event ! i hope to get some of the east coast stations i need for WAS and get back on the birds a bit. you are doing a fine job for amsat and the satellite community. fine business, and a happy independence day to you and family. hopefully, the ham spirit will allow for maximum benefit to all from your work and those who are in the 13 states.Robert k f 0 g cn81 seven three & peace.

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13 Original Colonies Special Event
by Dave Webb KB1PVH 31 May '12

31 May '12

We will be on the satellites again this year for the special event. The only state not being represented this year is PA, unless someone decides to volunteer. Here is a link to the satellite page with the list of operators. http://www.13colonies.info/Satellites.htm The main page with all the time and date info is here. http://www.13colonies.info/ If there are any questions, just shoot me an email. Dave - KB1PVH Sent from my Verizon Wireless DROID X

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WD9EWK @ White Mountain Hamfest (Show Low AZ), Saturday, 2 June
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 31 May '12

31 May '12

Hi! I will have an AMSAT table at the White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low, Arizona, this Saturday (2 June) morning. The hamfest, like most in Arizona, is a half-day event. During the hamfest, I will have on-air demonstrations using satellites (FM and SSB) that are passing by. Please call WD9EWK if you hear me. It appears that AO-7 should be in mode B Saturday morning, so I hope to be on those passes as well as VO-52 and anything else I can hear. Depending on how long past noon (1900 UTC) there are people still at the hamfest, I might even work an AO-27 pass from there. More information about the White Mountain Hamfest is available at: http://www.kachina-arc.org/Page/Hamfest.html After the hamfest, I may drive to a spot northeast of Show Low on the DM44/DM54 boundary - or just find a spot somewhere in grid DM54 - for any afternoon and early evening passes before driving home. To see where I am traveling, you can follow me as WD9EWK-9 via APRS at http://aprs.fi/wd9ewk-9 (among other ways to look up APRS information). I will also try to post e-mail updates to this list, and also via my Twitter feed @WD9EWK (use http://twitter.com/WD9EWK if you are not subscribed to Twitter). If you work WD9EWK on Saturday and would like to receive a QSL card, please e-mail me with the QSO details. No need to first send a card. I will also upload Saturday's QSOs to the Logbook of the World. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Just found this F2IL
by mm0kjg 31 May '12

31 May '12

* /Subject/: [amsat-bb] AO7 F2IL * /From/: "k3szh@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:[email protected]>" <k3szh@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:[email protected]>> * /Date/: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 22:22:58 GMT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Congratulation Jean on your 4000 plus qsos on AO7. It has been a great satellite since it's return in 2002. Thanks for the many qsos we had together over the years. 73 my friend Joe Amsat 3788 since 1976

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Dragon On Its Way Back
by B J 31 May '12

31 May '12

Splashdown is scheduled for later this morning. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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