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HudsonValleySatcomGroupNet tonight 04/12@8PMEastern on Echolink N2EYH-L Tonight 04/22
by cotejaune2＠aol.com 12 Apr '12

12 Apr '12

Hello all. It is time again for theHVSG Net please join us for the Net and share your satellite experience with us. Hope to hear you there. 73 Gary wa2aqh Tom kc2dtq

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AC0RA/m
by Wyatt Dirks 12 Apr '12

12 Apr '12

On the weekend of the 21st of April I will be headed to a Hamfest In Des Moines Iowa. I have plans of operating on a near by grid line of EN21/22. I might also go to EN20/30 if there are any interested. The hamfest it self is in EN31 and i am going to stay the night in EN32. I have a few requests already for EN21/22 so i will for sure operate there but don't know when yet. If you are interested in any of these grid shoot me an email and I will see what I can do. 73 Wyatt AC0RA

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[amsat-bb] Invader CubeSat – A Student Art Satellite
by Trevor . 12 Apr '12

12 Apr '12

It's good to see members of the artistic community getting involved in amateur radio. This ARTSAT project built by students at the Tama Art University features an FM Digi-Talker and should be launching in 2014. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/6449 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK news on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK AMSAT-UK: http://www.uk.amsat.org/ ----

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ARISS on ARN
by Clint Bradford 12 Apr '12

12 Apr '12

Amateur Radio Newsline will mention our ARISS project on today's edition ... HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ISS CONTACT TO HISTORIC FLABOB AIRPORT A group of students are preparing to talk to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, but not from a traditional classroom setting. According to ARISS Technical Support Volunteer Clint Bradford, K6LCS, the 10 minute live question-and-answer session will take place in hangar 16A at the historic Flabob Airport which is the seventh oldest surviving airport in California. The Flabob Airport to the I-S-S contact opportunity is being coordinated by The Tom Wathen Center's Kathy Rohm with technical support provided by K6LCS. The contact is slated to begin at at 10:03 AM Pacific Daylight time on the morning of April 19th and should last for about the usual 10 minutes. More is on-line at www.iss-flabob.com (ARISS) ** Clint Bradford K6LCS

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Student HRBE Amateur Radio CubeSat in SatMagazine
by Trevor . 12 Apr '12

12 Apr '12

The April issue of SatMagazine is now available for download and the CubeSat HRBE, formerly known as Explorer-1 [PRIME], is featured on page 10. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/6432 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ----

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Celestrack site not up?
by Greg Dolkas 12 Apr '12

12 Apr '12

Anybody know if the Keps site has moved, or is simply (and temporarily) down? Gpredict isn't updating it's keps, and I figured out that www.celestrak.com isn't responding to a ping. Greg KO6TH

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Elon Musk on TV
by Trevor . 11 Apr '12

11 Apr '12

A TV profile on Elon Musk of SpaceX can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/6381 More recently Elon appeared on the Daily Show and can be seen at http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-april-10-2012/elon-musk Viewers in the United Kingdom will find the Dail Show appears blocked, however, use of a proxy server can get around this problem. AMSAT-UK on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK 73 Trevor M5AKA

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North Corea satellite launch
by Luc Leblanc 11 Apr '12

11 Apr '12

Kwangmyongsong-3 rocket launch news http://www.northkoreatech.org/2012/03/20/itu-confirms-dprk-satellite-launch… "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE HTTP://www.qsl.net/ve2dwe DSTAR urcall VE2DWE WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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Typing error IARU foundation year is 1925
by Raidel Abreu Espinet 11 Apr '12

11 Apr '12

Sorry, in previous e-mail the correct IARU foundation year is 1925 not 1961, it was a typing mistake... 73, Raydel Este mensaje ha sido enviado mediante el servicio de correo electronico que ofrece la Federacion de Radioaficionados de Cuba a sus miembros para respaldar el cumplimiento de los objetivos de la organizacion y su politica informativa. La persona que envia este correo asume el compromiso de usar el servicio a tales fines y cumplir con las regulaciones establecidas.

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Busy weekend for Cuba's satellite group
by Raidel Abreu Espinet 11 Apr '12

11 Apr '12

Hello all, This is going to be a busy weekend for Cuba's recently founded "Grupo de Radioaficionados para Operaciones Satelitales" (GROS). Three diferent activities had been schedule so far. * Friday night (20:30 EDT), Hector CO6CBF will be hosting a talk about amateur radio satellite on Pico San Juan 2m repeater (145.130). The topics will include: - The GROS presentation in the province. - Brief history of amateur radio satellites. - Current operational satellites. - Future projects. - Types of satellites and its transmissions methods. - Amateur radio recieving stations requirements and homebrew solutions. - Operating practices. - Amateur Radio Satellite operations in Cuba. - Special Guest: Arnaldo Coro, CO2KK, Cuba's second ham in perform a satellite QSO and Cuba's first in conduct a EME QSO. * Saturday morning (10:00 EDT) at Camagüey, Pavel CO7WT will be hosting a talk at Camagüey City Amateur Radio Club. The topics will include: - The GROS presentation in the province. - Brief history of amateur radio satellites and its operators. - Basics of orbital mechanics. - Operation methods. - Technical requirements for set up a APRS/Beacon Packet station using the ISS digipeater. - Amateur Radio Satellite Fleet Status. - Related examples. * Saturday morning at Havana (10:00 EDT) in Cuba's National Amateur Radio Federation (FRC). Raydel CM2ESP will be hosting the Official Presentation of the recently founded Group. The topics will include: - Origin and background of the Group. - Working profile and prospects. - Brief abstract about the Group's Rules. - Current Board of Directors. - Schedule of future activities and meetings. - Questions and Answers Session. All three events are jointly coordinated between GROS's members and each province radio club. The events will be also in commemoration of the first human manned spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin the April 12, 1961, the inaugural launch of NASA’s Space Shuttle on the same day of 1981 and the celebration of the 87th Anniversary of the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union, IARU, the April 18, 1961. Unfortunately in both saturday's activities we will not be able to perform a satellite demostration because ISS and AO-27 passes are too late and SO-50 is too early instead. We are right know working on more activities coordinations for the next week. 73, Raydel, CM2ESP Este mensaje ha sido enviado mediante el servicio de correo electronico que ofrece la Federacion de Radioaficionados de Cuba a sus miembros para respaldar el cumplimiento de los objetivos de la organizacion y su politica informativa. La persona que envia este correo asume el compromiso de usar el servicio a tales fines y cumplir con las regulaciones establecidas.

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Fwd: Freefest Ham Radio broadcast this weekend
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 11 Apr '12

11 Apr '12

----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "Tom" <wa5kub(a)gmail.com> To: "Tom" <wa5kub(a)gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 9:59:40 PM Subject: Freefest Ham Radio broadcast this weekend Hamfest this weekend live world wide broadcast plus prizes for our viewers (Saturday April 14 from 1400 UTC until 2000 UTC) or 9:00 Am until 3:00 PM W5KUB.Com is broadcasting live streaming webcast of Memphis FreeFest. This is a regional hamfest and it is always at 100% capacity. Tune in and join in on the fun. Check in the chat room and talk to us or other hams around the world. During some of our events, we have had over 50,000 viewers in over 150 countries. This is a one day hamfest but it is a good one. Our next live broadcast will be the Dayton Hamvention and we go live on Wed May 18 and broadcast our 550 mile drive live. We will also be giving out over $7000 in prizes to lucky viewers. Just be present when we call you name from the list of those logged in and you win. You can see a sample of the prizes at http://tmedlin.com/prizesdayton2012.html Thanks, Tom W5KUB the video site is http://w5kub.com and is on 365 days a year. when not live we play recorded ham videos. http://w5kub.com ps please join us on our Ham radio broadcast facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/279273778772594/ -- Check out my website at http://tmedlin.com and my live video site for hamfests at http://w5kub.com Senior Member of the I.E.E.E

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Re: "Dee" Interdonato
by Mark L. Hammond 11 Apr '12

11 Apr '12

What horribly sad news. Dee certainly was a man who responded with "I'll be there." This is increasing rare in our busy world. Dayton won't be the same this year.....I'll miss him indeed. 73 to our SK friend. Prayers to Ginny and the family. Mark N8MH >On Apr 9, 2012 4:07 PM, "Martha" <martha(a)amsat.org> wrote: > >> Dee Interdonato, NB2F died on April 8th. He was a long time Area >> Coordinator for NJ. Not only did he handle the booth at many NJ hamfests >> throughout the year but was also an invaluable help at Dayton. Several >> years ago, we needed help at the Greater Baltimore Hamboree & Computerfest. >> Dee and his wife,Ginny, drove down and worked the booth for 2 days.I could >> always count on him to"elmer " any new ham who had technical questions. >> Before retiring, Dee was the supervisor of the Radio Shop of the Port >> Authority of NY/NJ. He was a member of ANJRPC, BARA, Bergen County CERT, >> AMSAT and the Treasurer of BC FM Association. His funeral will be on Friday >> at 9:00 AM at Santangelo Funeral Home, 300 N Main St, Lodi NJ . In lieu of >> flowers, memorial contribution may be made to the Vietnam Veterans of >> America, 8719 Colesville Rd #100, Silver Spring MD 20910 or AMSAT, 850 >> Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring MD 20910. >> >> 73- Martha >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> >_______________________________________________ >Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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W1AW 4-10
by Mark Spencer 11 Apr '12

11 Apr '12

Thanks to all for your patience. I had a heck of a time hearing the bird.there are some serious downlink issues at the station that need to be address. Having said that, there were a number of successful contacts. If you'd like a QSL for the contact, send me the specifics direct (e-mail below) and I'll make sure you get confirmation. Apologies to the west coast folks, timing didn't work out. I will try to get back to the station within the next two weeks for a pass that favors the west coast. I'll keep you posted. Mark Mark Spencer, WA8SME Education and Technology Program Director ARRL, the national association for Amateur RadioTM 43 Pinelock Dr. Gales Ferry, CT 06335 860-381-5335 860-460-1139 (cell) mspencer(a)arrl.org

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"Dee" Interdonato
by Martha 11 Apr '12

11 Apr '12

Dee Interdonato, NB2F died on April 8th. He was a long time Area Coordinator for NJ. Not only did he handle the booth at many NJ hamfests throughout the year but was also an invaluable help at Dayton. Several years ago, we needed help at the Greater Baltimore Hamboree & Computerfest. Dee and his wife,Ginny, drove down and worked the booth for 2 days.I could always count on him to"elmer " any new ham who had technical questions. Before retiring, Dee was the supervisor of the Radio Shop of the Port Authority of NY/NJ. He was a member of ANJRPC, BARA, Bergen County CERT, AMSAT and the Treasurer of BC FM Association. His funeral will be on Friday at 9:00 AM at Santangelo Funeral Home, 300 N Main St, Lodi NJ . In lieu of flowers, memorial contribution may be made to the Vietnam Veterans of America, 8719 Colesville Rd #100, Silver Spring MD 20910 or AMSAT, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring MD 20910. 73- Martha

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temp qrt
by Bob- W7LRD 11 Apr '12

11 Apr '12

to all my friends on the birds I will be temp qrt while rebuilding all my antenna systems. The details of which would take too long to explain. See you when I'm done. 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle

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Re: DELFI C3 Close Approach Message
by Peter Portanova 10 Apr '12

10 Apr '12

FYI 73 WB2OQQ -----Original Message----- From: JSpOC/Space Correspondence Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 8:58 PM To: Peter Portanova Cc: Dewitt, James L CTR USAF AFSPC 614 AOC/OL-D ; Petruna, Stacey L CTR USAF AFSPC 614 AOC/OL-D ; JSpOC/Space Correspondence Subject: DELFI C3 Close Approach Message Sir/Ma'am, The United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) has identified a predicted conjunction between DELFI C3 (SCC# 32789) and SCC# 31461. Primary Object: DELFI C3 (SCC# 32789) Secondary Object: SCC# 31461 Time of Closest Approach: 13 APR 2012 19:28 UTC Overall miss distance: 883 meters Radial (dU) miss distance: 123 meters In-Track (dV) miss distance: -535 meters Cross-track (dW) miss distance: 693 meters Primary Radial Error (U): 18 meters Primary In-track Error (V): 1205 meters Primary Cross-track Error (W): 6 meters Secondary Radial Error (U): 241 meters Secondary In-track Error (V): 21408 meters Secondary Cross-track Error (W): 81 meters Very Respectfully, JSpOC Orbital Protection Team Joint Space Operations Center Vandenberg Air Force Base, California USA NO WARRANTIES: The United States provides the enclosed Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services or information "as is" and makes no warranty, either express or implied, as to the condition or suitability of the information and services, nor its fitness for a particular purpose. IMMUNITY: The United States, any agencies and instrumentalities thereof, and any individuals, firms, corporations, and other persons acting for the United States, shall be immune from any suit in any court for any cause of action arising from the provision or receipt of SSA services or information, whether or not provided in accordance with 10 USC 2274, or any related action or omission.

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Dee
by Clint Bradford 10 Apr '12

10 Apr '12

Dave Taylor sent me THE email we were waiting for yesterday morning: with word of the exact time NASA set up for our ARISS contact out here in Jurupa Valley, California. On an emotional high, and as I was sending out our updated media alert to several recipients, I received the AMSAT-BB digest of messages - with its several-message-long thread simply entitled, "Dee ... " I couldn't bring myself to read it until late last night. No thread with that simple of a title and so many instant replies could have been good news. I regret never got to personally shake Dee's hand in appreciation. Quietly and "behind the scenes," Dee assisted me with many an inquiry and the explanation of concepts. What a wonderful reference person we have lost. Clint Bradford

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UT1FG/MM Welland Canal
by John Papay 10 Apr '12

10 Apr '12

Yuri, UT1FG/MM, left Thunder Bay Ontario on Lake Superior a few days ago with a cargo of Oats and Wheat destined for San Juan Puerto Rico. He had gone through the Welland Canal which connects Lake Ontario to Lake Erie on the way to Thunder Bay and would come back through on his way out. The Welland Canal is very long, has 8 locks and takes the boat from a water elevation of 572' in Lake Erie to 246' in Lake Ontario. On the way in it took him about 8 hours to go through. My thought was to drive up there and watch him go through and hope we could get within shouting distance of one another. But where you do go to get close and how do you find your way around in unfamiliar territory? You may have heard VE3RCN on the birds, sometimes from different grids and sometimes on the warship Haida. Kevin is in the Royal Canadian Navy (hence the callsign) and makes his home in Welland! After some email exchanges and some research on Kevin's part he offered to host my time in the area. That took all of the stress out of the situation. He knew everything about the canal. Yuri sailed out of the Detroit River on Saturday night and into Lake Erie. I was able to contact him on 144.200 sideband where we chatted for almost an hour, much different than the quick grid square exchange on the birds. He estimated being at Lock 8 in the Welland Canal around 8am. After 4 hours of sleep and a quick shower I was on the road at 3:15am. After a few questions by Canadian Customs (they know what to ask to determine if you are telling the truth), I was in Canada. About 15 minutes out of Port Colborne, the entrance to the canal, Yuri called on 146.52 to say he was about 15 miles out. Fifteen miles later I was at Tim Horton's (the Canadian Starbucks equivalent) where I was to meet Kevin, VE3RCN/VA3OR. He arrived their shortly after me and we were off to the Lake Erie shore to catch a glimpse of the MV Barnacle. And there she was off in the distance. It was all coming together. The Lake was calm, the sun was shining, it was about 32 degrees but there was no wind. The fish were jumping. After the ship started moving closer to the channel we got into position to watch it come in. As it rounded the bend and we could see the bridge, Yuri spotted us immediately and was waving. He seemed as excited as we were. As he got closer we were able to shout back and forth. At Lock 8, the first lock, we were able to talk back and forth; we were very close. There are places on the canal where you can stand on the bank and put your hand on the ship going by. The clearance may only be six inches. After that we went to get some breakfast; then we lost track of where Yuri was. Kevin made a quick call to his xyl Donna, VE3WIZ, and she was able to relay his position so we could catch up with him again. We waited for him to pass over the highway at Thorold. The road actually goes under the canal! Next stop, Lock 7. We were waiting for Yuri at Lock 7 where the Canal Pilot changes. We were standing at the fence when things started to come together. The invitation to come on board was given and before I knew it I was ushered over the lock to the other side of the ship and boarded as the ship lowered to the dock level. A minute later I was on the bridge with Captain Yuri UT1FG. Finally I was able to meet a guy that I've been working on the satellites in hundreds of water grids since April 2009! At that point Kevin went back home to get Donna and they then followed us down the canal, waving and watching us at every highway crossing and vantage point. An experienced Canal Pilot takes command of the ship through the locks. He stands on the port or starboard side of the bridge so he can see the ship's hull with respect to the edge of the canal. There may be only inches to spare so it is a tedious effort. The Pilot calls out the commands (Starboard 20, Port 10, Slow Ahead etc) and the first officer carries out the orders. Yuri is usually with the Pilot and helps relay the commands etc. There is very little time for anything else except when you are actually stopped in the lock. It's one thing to see the ship going through the locks from land but quite another to experience the change of level from inside the lock itself. It truly was an experience of a lifetime. Yuri took me to his cabin one level below the bridge. His quarters are quite nice and private. This is where he operates with his IC706, manually tuning the radio and doing a great job at that! The power supply from HP1CQ sat on the table in the corner and a computer running Orbitron is on the other side. Yuri now has an ELK antenna installed (thanks to the efforts of Rick, WA4NVM). It is mounted on a manually rotatable mast that goes up from the bridge, starboard side, directly above his cabin. The ELK is tilted up at 15 degrees and was just installed on the way back from Thunder Bay. The CJU antenna is mounted on the crossboom next to the ELK. A vertical for 2 meters is on a separate mast above those antennas. Until this season Yuri only used the 2 meter vertical for transmit and receive. It is amazing that he was able to make any contacts with just that antenna. The CJU improved things greatly and the ELK takes it to a new level. He worked PV8DX right at his horizon on FO-29 with it. Yuri has SatPC32 but has not installed it yet due to time constraints. When he is out in the Ocean again, he will install it and get his radio interfaced. This will make it much easier for him to stay on frequency and focus on operating. Yuri also has a 6 meter rotatable dipole and a end fed long wire that goes from the bridge to the top of the first two cranes. The MV Barnacle is a sister ship to the Mottler, the ship that he captained last season. It was also built in 2009 and is owned by a Canadian company based in Montreal. The engine room boasts a 10,000 horsepower plant and is controlled by state of the art electronics. I was able to experience an excellent meal on the ship in addition to touring the ship with the Chief Engineer. Time passes quickly and soon we were at Lock 2 where it was decided I should depart. Kevin and Donna were waiting there for me; we were 30 miles away from where my car was parked. We stopped at McDonald's to demonstrate my remote control setup but the wifi failed so we couldn't do that. After a nice drive and some good conversation we were back at Tim Horton's in Port Colborne. At the US border crossing the agent questioned me as to why I would drive all that way on Easter Sunday just to see a ship go through the canal. After I explained that the captain was a ham radio operator that I had talked with around the world but never met he handed back my passport and said "GO!" I want to thank Kevin VA3OR/VE3RCN and his wife Donna, VE3WIZ, for spending their Easter Sunday hosting my visit to the Canal. I'm sure they had better things to do but they decided to take me all around and make my visit a memorable one. I hope they enjoyed the day as much as I did. And a big thanks to Master Yuri Bodrov and his crew for their hospitality. And also to the Canal Pilot who guided this massive ship through the locks with great precision. It was an experience that very few will ever have. Yuri is headed down the seaway and should be traveling through new water grids on the way to San Juan PR. He is due there on 4/20. He will stay on until at least the end of May. He does not know where he will go after San Juan. He has truly made operating the birds exciting. QSL to his manager UX0FY (on qrz.com). He has ordered 5000 more qsl cards which should arrive shortly. 73, John K8YSE

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NPS CubeSat Video
by Trevor . 10 Apr '12

10 Apr '12

The Naval Postgraduate School will have a CubeSat on the OUTsat mission slated for launch August 2012. It is understood there will be 11 CubeSats on the mission. See the video at http://www.uk.amsat.org/6375 73 Trevor M5AKA

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ISS Visible in Evening Sky (North America)
by JoAnne Maenpaa 10 Apr '12

10 Apr '12

Hello Everyone, This is a quick reminder that there are several ISS eyeball viewing opportunities this week for North American stations. They are evening passes. On a couple passes you may be able to watch the ISS enter eclipse. Use your tracking program or the tracking resources on-line: http://www.heavens-above.com will print you a table of 10-day visible passes if you enter your city data. NASA's SkyWatch Web site at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ allows access to USA and global visible passes, and a downloadable SkyWatch 2.0 applet. http://spaceweather.com/flybys/ may perhaps be using old keplerian elements as it says nothing is visible. Check your keps - there have been a couple of recent ISS reboosts. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

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Tentative EL91, FL01 operation
by Hector, CO6CBF 10 Apr '12

10 Apr '12

Hello Guys Tomorrow afternoon, I will be in a work trip to Trinidad city and I think to be operating from EL91 or maybe from FL01 on the 2014utc AO-27 pass. The operation depend If I find a place with a decent horizon view, it is a only 10 degrees pass for me. 73! Hector, CO6CBF *************************************** Genius is one per cent inspiration, and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. -- Thomas A. Edison *************************************** Este mensaje ha sido enviado mediante el servicio de correo electronico que ofrece la Federacion de Radioaficionados de Cuba a sus miembros para respaldar el cumplimiento de los objetivos de la organizacion y su politica informativa. La persona que envia este correo asume el compromiso de usar el servicio a tales fines y cumplir con las regulaciones establecidas.

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Dee
by Peter Portanova 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

I last spoke with Dee on 3/26/12 asking me, with his trademark enthusiasm, if I was going to Dayton. Martha introduced me to Dee when I started with the Amateur Satellites, helping me with the Linear Transponders. As a NY Area Coordinator Dee taught me how to run an AMSAT booth, always asking me, when is your next Hamfest. He was an outstanding ambassador for AMSAT and Amateur Radio. RIP Dee.... Pete WB2OQQ

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Dayton Hotel Rooms
by Martha 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

The cutoff date to book a room with the AMSAT group is April 20th. The hotel is the Country Inn and the cost of the room (with 2 Queen Beds) is $99. If you are interested in staying with us at Dayton, please call me at 301-589-6062. -- 73- Martha

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Re: "Dee" Interdonato
by Dave Guimont 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

I'm very sorry to hear about Dee. He has always been a great help on any phase of ham satellite radio. May God Bless his Soul. And God Bless his family.. 73 Dave >Dee Interdonato, NB2F died on April 8th. He was a long time Area >Coordinator for NJ. Not only did he handle the booth at many NJ hamfests >throughout the year but was also an invaluable help at Dayton. Several >years ago, we needed help at the Greater Baltimore Hamboree & Computerfest. >Dee and his wife,Ginny, drove down and worked the booth for 2 days.I could >always count on him to"elmer " any new ham who had technical questions. >Before retiring, Dee was the supervisor of the Radio Shop of the Port >Authority of NY/NJ. He was a member of ANJRPC, BARA, Bergen County CERT, >AMSAT and the Treasurer of BC FM Association. His funeral will be on Friday >at 9:00 AM at Santangelo Funeral Home, 300 N Main St, Lodi NJ . In lieu of >flowers, memorial contribution may be made to the Vietnam Veterans of >America, 8719 Colesville Rd #100, Silver Spring MD 20910 or AMSAT, 850 >Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring MD 20910. > >73- Martha >_______________________________________________ >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 73, Dave, WB6LLO dguimon1(a)san.rr.com Disagree: I learn.... Pulling for P3E...

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NASA Sets Date for Flabob Airport ARISS Contact
by Clint Bradford 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

NASA sets the date for our amateur radio contact with the International Space Station: Thursday, April 19 at 10:03AM PDT. Details on our Web site - http://www.iss-flabob.com Clint Bradford K6LCS 909-241-7666 - cell

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Deployment of flexiable solar panels
by Trevor . 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

Flexible Solar Panel Deployment for CubeSat http://www.uk.amsat.org/6365 Integrated Solar Panel Antennas for Cubesats http://www.uk.amsat.org/6367 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Anyone in Cancun?
by Bryan Green (KL7CN) 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

Hello, all: I shall be in Cancun this week, at one of the resorts there. Although I have not arranged for a reciprocal license and will thus not be on the air, I would very much like to connect with any local amateurs. Anyone in the area? Please let me know! E-mail would be best for response. -- bag Bryan Green ARS KL7CN/W6 CM98fn bag(a)mac.com / bryan(a)kl7cn.net 408-836-7279

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KL7CN Caribbean QSLs sent
by Bryan Green (KL7CN) 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

Hello, all: Happy to report that all QSLs have been sent for last year's Caribbean DXpedition. Glad that's done. If you don't receive your card within a week, please e-mail me privately and I will re-send. Thanks for your patience, and see you on the birds! -- bag Bryan Green ARS KL7CN/W6 CM98fn bag(a)mac.com / bryan(a)kl7cn.net 408-836-7279

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Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite
by Gregory Beat 09 Apr '12

09 Apr '12

Photos were released today of the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite, planned to be launched from North Korea later this week. The rectangular box satellite appears to have a ~ 400 MHz 1/4 wave antenna on same side as sensors, and possibly Earth Observation (EO) camera. I have seen no data on frequencies to be used for EO camera. When I saw the first images of the satellite, it reminded me of a Surrey (SSTL) design from a decade ago. IF placed in a polar orbit, it would have a Western hemisphere ascension across eastern Brazil, Western Atlantic, and eastern Canada / Greenland. w9gb Sent from the new iPad

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Prototype Prediction web service
by David A. B. Johnson 08 Apr '12

08 Apr '12

Hi, Further development this afternoon... http://websat.g4dpz.cloudbees.net/api/passes/25544/locator/io82xl/amsl/200/… note the URI change to /passes the value 6 being the number of hours ahead yeilds: <passescatalogueNumber="25544"setNum="327"> <pass> <aosAzimuth>202</aosAzimuth> <endTime>2012-04-08T21:07:41.020Z</endTime> <losAzimuth>81</losAzimuth> <maxEl>14.6</maxEl> <startTime>2012-04-08T20:58:31.020Z</startTime> <tcaTime>2012-04-08T21:03:01.020Z</tcaTime> </pass> </passes> and for swisscube: <passescatalogueNumber="35932"setNum="497"> <pass> <aosAzimuth>7</aosAzimuth> <endTime>2012-04-08T14:35:24.340Z</endTime> <losAzimuth>234</losAzimuth> <maxEl>25.1</maxEl> <startTime>2012-04-08T14:22:19.340Z</startTime> <tcaTime>2012-04-08T14:28:49.340Z</tcaTime> </pass> <pass> <aosAzimuth>356</aosAzimuth> <endTime>2012-04-08T16:09:14.340Z</endTime> <losAzimuth>287</losAzimuth> <maxEl>4.8</maxEl> <startTime>2012-04-08T16:01:19.340Z</startTime> <tcaTime>2012-04-08T16:05:19.340Z</tcaTime> </pass> <pass> <aosAzimuth>67</aosAzimuth> <endTime>2012-04-08T20:54:24.340Z</endTime> <losAzimuth>3</losAzimuth> <maxEl>4.1</maxEl> <startTime>2012-04-08T20:46:59.340Z</startTime> <tcaTime>2012-04-08T20:50:29.340Z</tcaTime> </pass> </passes>

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Prototype Prediction web service
by David A. B. Johnson 08 Apr '12

08 Apr '12

Hi, I'm doing some work with RESTful web services and have thrown together a prediction service that generates XML. For a URL of: http://websat.g4dpz.cloudbees.net/api/position/25544 (the ISS catalogue number) you get: <trackPosition> <altitude>392</altitude> <azimuth>0.0</azimuth> <catalogueNumber>25544</catalogueNumber> <elevation>0.0</elevation> <latitude>8.3</latitude> <longitude>263.4</longitude> <setNumber>327</setNumber> </trackPosition> adding locator and amsl (metres) http://websat.g4dpz.cloudbees.net/api/position/25544/locator/io82xl/amsl/200 you get: <trackPosition> <altitude>392</altitude> <azimuth>278.8</azimuth> <catalogueNumber>25544</catalogueNumber> <elevation>-41.2</elevation> <latitude>8.3</latitude> <longitude>263.4</longitude> <setNumber>327</setNumber> </trackPosition> The keps are collect every 12 hours from AMSAT (nasabare) and CELESTRAK (amateur) and the systems stores the latest keps for the catalogue number. Hitting the refresh key on the browser gives you the latest position. I've got more ideas for it: next N hours AOS/TCA/LOS for single satellite ditto for constellation of satellites satellite name aliases for catalogue number The code is written in Java based on my predict4java library and I'm quite happy to make it Open Source if any project would be interested. If you do try it, it may take a couple of seconds to start up as the server is in the Amazon Cloud and goes to sleep after a period of inactivity. 73 Dave G4DPZ

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ANS-099 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 07 Apr '12

07 Apr '12

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-099 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(a)amsat.org ********************************************************************** * Volunteers are needed to help at the AMSAT booth at Dayton. Gould * * WA4SXM, is looking for volunteers to help man the AMSAT booth dur- * * ing the 2012 Hamvention. People are needed all 3 days for 2 hour * * shifts. Please send the days and times you are available to help * * as well as how many shifts you are willing to work via e-mail to * * wa4sxm at amsat.org. * * Monitor http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/hamvention/2012/Dayton.php * * for the latest AMSAT at Dayton news and developments * ********************************************************************** In this edition: * Fox-1 Project Educational Goals Align With NASA ELaNa Requirements * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations * EPFL Announces Nanosat Ion Drive - To The Moon on 100 mL of Fuel * European ATV-3 Edoardo Amaldi Arrives at ISS & Performs Reboost * California Students Contact ISS Astronaut * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-099.01 ANS-099 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 099.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. April 8, 2012 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-099.01 Fox-1 Project Educational Goals Align With NASA ELaNa Requirements Project ELaNa, NASA's "Educational Launch of NanoSat" managed by the Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center, announced on February 10 that the AMSAT Fox-1 cubesat has been selected to join the program. AMSAT will work with NASA in a collaborative agreement where NASA will cover the integration and launch costs of satellites deemed to have merit in support of their strategic and educational goals. In an article published in the AMSAT Journal, AMSAT Vice-President of Engineering, Tony Monteiro, AA2TX noted that meeting NASA's edu- cational goals for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) was the cornerstone in the successful acceptance of Fox-1 into the ELaNa project. Fox-1 continues AMSAT's long record of success as an all-volunteer organization providing access to space communications for students in a curriculum setting as well the private citizen. The Fox-1 communication package provides a learning and techologi- cal stepping-stone using commonly available amateur radio equipment. Students gain first-hand experience in setting up and operating equip- ment, orbital prediction, communication to distant places, and growth in overall space literacy. In the classroom, Fox-1 will allow schools, teachers, and students to actively participate in space technology with a unique experimental hands-on learning approach that includes communicating through a satellite in orbit. All of the Fox-1 experiment and telemetry data will be collected and stored on our internet server and made publicly available for use in the classroom and shared with the CubeSat community. In addition to mentoring university student cubesat mission teams, AMSAT satellites have also hosted university experiments aboard our spacecraft. In addition to the communications package, Fox-1 will host an experimental payload developed as a capstone project at Penn State University. The Penn State project will have impact on future CubeSat systems as the students design, construct, and orbit an atti- tude experiment based on a 3-axis micro-electro-mechanical gyroscope. Fox-1 Project Reviews --------------------- The Fox-1 Team participated in a Merit Review and Feasibility Review with a panel including education and industry experts at the Doctorate level, a developer of 29 satellites, and directors of research. The results of the Fox-1 Merit Review found: + AMSAT "nailed" the NASA education requirements of the NASA Educa- tion Strategic Coordination Framework and the NASA Education Imple- mentation Framework. In fact, AMSAT has a history of space education that pre-dates most university programs. + The Fox-1 program will be accessible to an entire classroom or school with only the teacher or outside volunteer requiring an amateur radio license. + The archive of telemetry data collected during actual space flight will prove valuable in future educational projects that have yet to be imagined. The results of the Fox-1 Feasibility Review found: + While AMSAT relies on an all-volunteer development team the tre- mendous depth and experience of the Fox-1 team far exceeds the capability of a typical CubeSat team. AMSAT has developed its satellites this way for 40 years and has never missed a launch. + AMSAT does not rely on critical technology for flight and leverages our experience from prior successful missions: o Fox-1 is designed to operate in sunlight without batteries once the battery system fails. This applies lessons learned from AO-51 and ARISSat-1 operations. o In case of IHU failure Fox-1 will continue to operate its FM repeater in a basic, 'zombie sat' mode, so that the repeater remains on-the-air. o Fox-1 is designed as the immediate replacement for AO-51. Its U/V (Mode B) transponder will make it even easier to work with modest equipment. o From the ground user's perspective, the same FM amateur radio equipment used for AO-51 may be used for Fox-1. AMSAT's Fox-1 project timeline is based on targeting a launch in the second half of 2013. NASA will determine on which flight each of the Project ELaNa CubeSats fly. They have updated their CubeSat Launch Initiative web page including AMSAT's participation at: http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiative.html [ANS thanks the Fox-1 Team 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] --------------------------------------------------------------------- EPFL Announces Nanosat Ion Drive - To The Moon on 100 mL of Fuel An article posted on space-travel.com reported the EPFL University in Switzerland announced the first prototype of a new, ultra-compact motor that will allow small satellites to journey beyond Earth's orbit. (See: http://tinyurl.com/EPFL-IonMotor) EPFL said the MicroThrust ion motor will be capable of reaching the Moon using just a tenth of a liter of fuel. The complete thruster weighs just a few hundred grams and is specifically designed to pro- pel small (1-100 kg) satellites, which it enables to change orbit around the Earth and even voyage to more distant destinations - functions typically possible only for large, expensive spacecraft. Instead of a combustible fuel, the new mini motor runs on an "ionic" liquid, in this case the chemical compound EMI-BF4, which is used as a solvent and an electrolyte. It is composed of electrically charged molecules (like ordinary table salt) called ions, except that this compound is liquid at room temperature. The ions are extracted from the liquid and then ejected by means of an electric field to generate thrust. This is the principle behind the ionic motor: fuel is not burned, it is expelled. After six months of acceleration, the microsatellite's speed increases from 24,000 km/h, its launch speed, to 42,000 km/h. The acceleration is only about a tenth of a millimeter per square second, which trans- lates into 0-100 km/h in 77 hours. But in space, where there is no friction to impede motion, gentle but steady acceleration is the way to go. "We calculated that in order to reach lunar orbit, a 1-kg nanosatel- lite with our motor would travel for about six months and consume 100 milliliters of fuel," explains Muriel Richard, a scientist in EPFL's Swiss Space Center. A video about the MicroThrust has been posted at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YJlSI_l5g4M [ANS thanks Space-Travel.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- European ATV-3 Edoardo Amaldi Arrives at ISS & Performs Reboost After a successful launch on March 23, the heaviest cargo ship ever has arrived and docked to the International Space Station. The 20-ton European ATV-3 cargo ship, named "Edoardo Amaldi" after the Italian physicist and spaceflight pioneer, made a "smooth and gentle" docking on March 28. It delivered 7 tons of food, drinking water, clothing, oxygen, spare parts and fuel for the 6-member ISS crew. A video of the docking with ISS can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PorM-1F4jdo On Saturday, March 31 the ATV reboosted the space station's orbit to 389.8 km. The ATV's thrusters ran for 351 seconds, increasing ISS vel- ocity by 1.0 m/s and boosting average altitude by 1.73 km. This is a standard test performed as soon as possible after docking. The successful test burn means that ATV is ready for a series of larger planned reboosts (the first expected on 5 April) and to con- duct debris avoidance manoeuvres when necessary. Read more on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/ISS-ATVBoost1 (space-travel.com) http://tinyurl.com/ISS-ATVBoost2 (space-travel.com) An article posted on spaceflightnow.com on April 2 reports that the huge cargo freighters, weighing more than 20 tons fully loaded, will stop flying in 2014 when the fifth resupply craft delivers equipment to the International Space Station. ESA member states decided to dis- continue the program after briefly considering redesigning the throw away cargo craft to return hardware in a hardened re-entry capsule. Read the full article on-line at: http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1204/02atvfuture/ The ESA published a new video on their youtube channel showing ESA astronaut André Kuipers and cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko opening the hatch to the ATV and begin unloading the cargo. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AORrisDldqM [ANS thanks Space-Travel.com and SpaceFlightNow.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- California Students Contact ISS Astronaut The amateur radio club at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California arranged for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact for elementary school students, 4H-club members and Scouts on Tuesday, March 27. The connection was made by telebridge station AH6NM in Hawaii. Approximately 150 students were in attendance. Local news station KSBY and the Cal Poly newspaper Mustang Daily covered the event; NASA-TV replayed the contact audio on March 28. The ARISS event complemented the science fair held to get students interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). To view the article, see: http://mustangdaily.net/radio-club-makes-contact-with-international-space- station/ and the news clip: http://www.ksby.com/videos/cal-poly-connects-with-outer-space/ [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Education and Technology Program Director Mark Spencer, WA8SME will try to activate W1AW on AO-27 on April 10 for the 1830Z pass. Fastest QSL is via his callbook address. + The 50 MHz and Up Group has issued the first call for papers for the 2012 Microwave Update Conference to be held October 18-21 in Santa Clara, California. For more information on submitting papers as well as all other aspects of the conference please go to: http://www.microwaveupdate.org + The International Space Station Benefits for Humanity brochure is a collection of in-depth descriptions about benefits from research on the space station. The benefits outlined serve as examples of the space station's potential as a ground breaking scientific research facility. This collection was developed collaboratively by the members of the Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency. To view the brochure, visit http://tinyurl.com/NASA-Brochure (nasa.gov) + A NASA Educator's Guide about Rockets is available on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/NASAForEducators (nasa.gov) + Bob, WB4APR noted a need for an Australian Amateur Astronomer and HAM operator in Canberra on 4-6 June 2012. Assistance is needed to support a science team of students from the USA to observe the last transit of Venus this century in Canberra. We want a local Austra- lian Ham to be there to see if we can use ham radio and the speed of light to share observations with our sister team in Japan (and any other observation sites). Interested individuals for this his- toric event, contact WB4APR(a)amsat.org + Tom Medlin, W5KUB, known for his live webcasts from the Dayton Hamvention and Huntsville Hamfest will also broadcast from the Memphis FreeFest on Saturday, April 14 between 0900-1500 CDT (UTC-5). Tom says, "This is a small hamfest but we will have a few prize drawings during the broadcast. All you need to enter the drawing is to be in our chatroom when the drawings are ann- ounced." The internet video feed and the chatroom can be found at: http://w5kub.com. This page streams previously recorded video from Dayton when live broadcasts are not airing. + The next Hudson Valley Satcom net date is Thursday, April 12 at 8:00 PM EDT (UTC -4) on the 146.970 MHz repeater, and also on the N2EYH-L Echolink node. More info: http://www.hvsatcom.org/ (via Stu, WA2BSS) [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. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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San Francisco High School Students Plan Near-Space Balloon Mission
by EMike McCardel 07 Apr '12

07 Apr '12

They following two articles were reported in the April edition of the Mount Vernon (OH) ARC Newsletter "CQ". Barry Butz, N8PPF is the father of Craig Butz, KJ6DYP, one of the teachers involved in the project. I thought I would post in event anyone was interested in following the ballon launch. IKAROS III BALLOON LAUNCH by Barry Butz N8PPF Very soon we will be joining our son Craig KJ6DYP and his students for their third near-space balloon launch. It will be in the Black Rock Desert in northwest Nevada on April 11. Two students and another teacher have recently earned their technician licenses. One of the students has participated in the project for three years and his newly issued call will be used on the ham radio carried by the balloon. You can track the balloon on http://aprs.fi/ by searching for KJ6VFJ-11. This will bring up a Google map showing the position along with speed and altitude data. Two pursuit vehicles will also be sending APRS positions using calls KJ6DYP-7 and N8PPF-1. Real-time updates will be sent over the Internet, as explained in Craigs article. Launch time is estimated as between 9:30 and noon Eastern time. The launch site is in a very remote area and I don't know if cell service or Internet will be available. Nevertheless, anyone interested should email me at n8ppf(a)mvarc.net beforehand and I will try to send last minute updates. San Francisco High School Students Plan Near-Space Balloon Mission Students in the space club at The Bay School of San Francisco have spent this school year planning a third near-space balloon mission. After several all-day meetings spent building the probe, the group plans to launch Ikaros III from the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada on April 11, 2012 to recover images of the earth and the blackness of space along with atmospheric data from 100,000 feet altitude—three times as high as commercial airliners fly. The group is lead by Craig Butz, KJ6DYP (son of Barry Butz, N8PPF, who plans to attend the launch) and Feroze Munshi, KJ6UTH. Two students passed their amateur radio license exams in preparation for the mission: Nolan Van Dine, KJ6UIM and Jesse Greenfield, KJ6VFJ. Live updates on the mission and details about tracking the balloon and ground crew via APRS will be found on the project website: http://ikaros.xrg.us/livestream.html . Its APRS call will be KJ6VFJ-11. Ikaros III will use an all-new Arduino-based flight computer to collect, record, and transmit GPS location and atmospheric pressure and temperature data. Arduino is an open-source microcontroller platform that makes interactive electronic and robotic projects accessible to hobbyists. Both the tracking and data- logging circuit boards were constructed by students. The data board is a kit from Maker Shed that records data to an SD card, with temperature and pressure sensors added by the team. The “Trackuino” APRS tracking board was designed by Javier Martin EA5HAV and Kyle Crockett, KJ6KUV, both of whom have flown their own balloons. If all goes according to plan, Ikaros will also use the services of HAM social networking site 73s.com to send its own tweets with status reports from the edge of space under the handle @ikarosflight. Miniaturizing the equipment will also help the club meet its goal of getting the probe to even higher altitudes than previous missions. Ikaros III will be a follow-up to previous successful missions on May 22, 2010 and April 15, 2011. During a one-hour-thirty-three minute flight, Ikaros II flew from the hills east of the San Francisco Bay Area over the Central Valley, landing 57 miles away. It reached an altitude of 83,772 feet. During the flight, the payload got a taste of the harsh conditions beyond the protection of the Earth's atmosphere. Temperatures dropped as low as 76 degrees below zero and atmospheric pressure was 2% of what it is at sea level. Ikaros I reached 75,774 feet over Pinnacles National Park, and experienced 173 mile-per-hour winds in the jet stream. EMike McCardel, KC8YLD ARRL Ohio Section Affiliated Club Coordinator Associate Director Education, AMSAT-NA AMSAT-Edu Moderator Sent from my iPhone

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Re: Space Week Proclamation
by Clint Bradford 07 Apr '12

07 Apr '12

The City of Jurupa Valley is in California - sorry - that media alert I just sent out was for our local news outlets, and I forgot to "better" detail it for this international audience. Clint K6LCS

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Space Week Proclamation
by Clint Bradford 07 Apr '12

07 Apr '12

The City of Jurupa Vallley will declare the week of April 15-21 "Space Week" at their April 19, 2012 regular city council meeting. Students at Flabob Airport's aviation school will be conducting a ham radio conversation with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station that week. "I am so excited to participate in the radio communications with the Space Station," declared mayor Laura Roughton. "I would like to have the students who are participating in the event come to the council meeting and be recognized, as well as Flabob's Kathy Rohm." The city proclamation acknowledges that space technology is used in the solution and resolution of problems of regional, national, and global significance and the applications of space research are used for economic, social, and cultural development - and also specifically cites the efforts of the students at The Tom Wathen Center's Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy, who have spent months learning about space exploration while preparing for their amateur radio contact with the ISS. More information on the Flabob project may be found on their Web site at - http://www.iss-flabob.com This city council meeting will be held at 7PM on April 19, 2012, at the Jurupa Unified School District Board Chambers located at 4850 Pedley Road, Jurupa Valley, CA 92509. The city's Web site is - http://www.jurupavalley.org /end/ Clint Bradford clintbradford(a)mac.com

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Project PoGo Kickoff Today
by Trevor . 07 Apr '12

07 Apr '12

Hobbyspace reports that the San Diego Space Society is starting a project to develop a CubeSat style payload for reusable suborbital space flights. They are looking for people to join the team. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/6314 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK News on Twitter - http://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ----

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CubeSat TURKSAT-3USAT in the Press
by Trevor . 06 Apr '12

06 Apr '12

See http://www.uk.amsat.org/6288 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Dayton Hamvention
by James Luhn 06 Apr '12

06 Apr '12

I am planning to attend the Dayton Hamfest. I have my Hamfest tickets, airline tickets, payed for the banquet, and I have sent Martha my credit card number for a room. I will be attending all three days and would like to volunteer in the AMSAT booth. Did I miss a signup sheet for volunteering or has one not been started? I am excited as this is my first time to visit Dayton. 73, -james W5AOO

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First-MOVE Vibration Test
by Trevor . 05 Apr '12

05 Apr '12

Students at the Technical University of München have just released a video of the First-MOVE CubeSat Vibration Test. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/6271 73 Trevor M5AKA

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AMSAT Membership
by Douglas Phelps 05 Apr '12

05 Apr '12

I joined AMSAT on their website. Do I get any kind of confirmation or member number? How long should I expect it to process. Thanks. Doug K9DLP

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Yuri UT1FG qsl
by kl 04 Apr '12

04 Apr '12

All, I received an email from Eugene, UX0FY dated 4/4/2012. He is Yuri’s (UT1FG) qsl manager. Looks like qsl confirmation will be coming soon. ”Today, George has received from the most recent log. We must wait a little longer, all communications will be confirmed. Best wishes!” 73! Eugene UX0FY 73 WC7V Kerry

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Registration Open for NASA Social at the SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch
by JoAnne Maenpaa 04 Apr '12

04 Apr '12

Hello everyone, Here is a news item which would have its deadline pass before the next ANS-099 AMSAT News Service Bulletins are sent out on the weekend news cycle. Follow the URL's for more information. Good luck! --- NASA, SpaceX Announce NASA Social for Falcon 9 Launch Attempt http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=36610 Source: NASA HQ Posted Wednesday, April 4, 2012 WASHINGTON -- NASA and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will invite 50 of their social media followers to a two-day NASA Social April 29-30 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The event is expected to culminate in the launch of SpaceX's second Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration flight. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is targeted to lift off at 12:22 p.m. EDT on April 30, in an attempt to become the first commercial company to send a space- craft to the International Space Station. Registration opens at noon EDT Thursday, April 5, and closes at noon Friday, April 6. Fifty participants will be selected from online registrations. For more information on NASA Social and to register, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/social A NASA Social is an event for people who use NASA's social media accounts. For this event, fans and followers on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ are eligible to register. Participants will have unique in-person experiences with SpaceX and NASA, which they are encourag- ed to share with others through their favorite social network. Guests will view the launch, tour NASA facilities at Kennedy, speak with representatives from both organizations, view the SpaceX launch pad, meet fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media, and meet members of SpaceX and NASA's social media teams. SpaceX will launch its Dragon spacecraft atop its Falcon 9 launch ve- hicle to test and prove its systems for a rendezvous with the space station. The flight's objectives include a fly-under of the station to validate operation of sensors and flight systems necessary for a safe rendezvous, berthing to the station and returning the Dragon spacecraft to Earth. Because portions of this event may take place in restricted areas, registration is limited to U.S. citizens. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org Editor, AMSAT News Service

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IARU Announces Coordinated Frequencies for Two New CubeSats
by Trevor . 04 Apr '12

04 Apr '12

See http://www.uk.amsat.org/6208 Trevor M5AKA

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Re: Dallas -FW weather..
by h05ram-k9ldw＠usa.net 03 Apr '12

03 Apr '12

Ted & others, Thanks for your inquiry. Forney (near my QTH but we're fine), Arlington, Lancaster all took hits. Forney had maybe 20-30 homes destroyed. So far no lives lost. Cell tower gone. I don't know the #'s for Arlington or Lancaster. The latter had semi trailers thrown up in the air and back down onto others at a freight terminal. In the DFW metro there are est'd 45,000 without electricity. 73 & Kind regards, Lowell K9LDW EM12sr > > ------ Original Message ------ > Received: Tue, 03 Apr 2012 05:21:18 PM CDT > From: "Ted" <k7trkradio(a)charter.net> > To: "'John Magliacane'" <kd2bd(a)yahoo.com>, <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Dallas -FW weather.. > > > THAT video is amazing...for those of us that don't experience that kind of > > weather, the video sure brings it home. > > > > God Bless all those folks...we will pray for you > > > > Ted, K7TRK > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:[email protected]] On > > Behalf Of John Magliacane > > Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 2:48 PM > > To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org > > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Dallas -FW weather.. > > > > --- On Tue, 4/3/12, Ted <k7trkradio(a)charter.net> wrote: > > > > > Major tornado activity in Dallas - FW area right now. > > > > > > > > > > > > Hopefully all are safe. > > > > > > > Ditto. > > > > Here's a video clip showing tractor trailers being tossed around like > tissue > > paper: > > > > http://www.wfaa.com/video?id=145976065&sec=553117 > > > > I suppose the "packet bursts" in the audio are EAS packets? > > > > > > 73, de John, KD2BD > > > > -- > > Visit John on the Web at: > > > > http://kd2bd.ham.org/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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

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Re: Dallas -FW weather..
by Lowell White 03 Apr '12

03 Apr '12

Ted & others, Thanks for your inquiry. Forney (near my QTH but we're fine), Arlington, Lancaster all took hits. Forney had maybe 20-30 homes destroyed. So far no lives lost. Cell tower gone. I don't know the #'s for Arlington or Lancaster. The latter had semi trailers thrown up in the air and back down onto others at a freight terminal. In the DFW metro there are est'd 45,000 without electricity. 73 & Kind regards, Lowell K9LDW EM12sr ------ Original Message ------ Received: Tue, 03 Apr 2012 05:21:18 PM CDT From: "Ted" <k7trkradio(a)charter.net> To: "'John Magliacane'" <kd2bd(a)yahoo.com>, <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Dallas -FW weather.. > THAT video is amazing...for those of us that don't experience that kind of > weather, the video sure brings it home. > > God Bless all those folks...we will pray for you > > Ted, K7TRK > > -----Original Message----- > From: amsat-bb-bounces(a)amsat.org [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of John Magliacane > Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 2:48 PM > To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Dallas -FW weather.. > > --- On Tue, 4/3/12, Ted <k7trkradio(a)charter.net> wrote: > > > Major tornado activity in Dallas - FW area right now. > > > > > > > > Hopefully all are safe. > > > > Ditto. > > Here's a video clip showing tractor trailers being tossed around like tissue > paper: > > http://www.wfaa.com/video?id=145976065&sec=553117 > > I suppose the "packet bursts" in the audio are EAS packets? > > > 73, de John, KD2BD > > -- > Visit John on the Web at: > > http://kd2bd.ham.org/ > > _______________________________________________ > 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

1 0

Dallas -FW weather..
by Ted 03 Apr '12

03 Apr '12

Major tornado activity in Dallas - FW area right now. Hopefully all are safe. TK, K7TRK 18:40z

4 4

Intelsat V Display Model Needs A Good Home
by Eric Rosenberg 03 Apr '12

03 Apr '12

I have no need the commercially made display model of the Intelsat V spacecraft that I was recently given. It's about 30" tall when put together. The model is partially disassembled,. I believe all the components are included, but there's no guarantee. It;s a freebie to the first person who wants it -- all you need to do is pick it up (I work in downtown DC and live in Northwest DC) contact me off-line, please . 73, Eric W3DQ Washington, DC

1 0

April 2012 Issue of World Radio
by Clayton Coleman W5PFG 03 Apr '12

03 Apr '12

For those who receive World Radio magazine, check out the article beginning on page number 20. It features one of our avid grid chasers and satellite enthusiasts here in North America. 73 Clayton W5PFG

1 0

Typo
by Rsoifer＠aol.com 03 Apr '12

03 Apr '12

Sorry, I meant to type www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict 73 Ray W2RS

1 0

Pass predictions with Amazon Kindle
by Rsoifer＠aol.com 03 Apr '12

03 Apr '12

I recently acquired a Kindle Keyboard 3G, which turns out to be quite a versatile device in addition to its main purpose of reading books. It has an "experimental" Web browser which, while somewhat limited, proviides at least two ways of getting pass predictions over the Intermet. AMSAT's home page, www.amsat.org, is incompatible with the Kindle browser, but the Kindle will go directly to the pass prediction page, www.amsat..org/amsat-new/tools/predict. In the Browser menu, select Enter URL and type that address in. From that point on, the AMSAT pass predictor will work normally, as it does on a "real" PC. If you need a satellite that AMSAT's pass predictor doesn't cover, www.heavens-above.com will work on the Kindle too. 73 Ray W2RS

1 0

Spin rate and orientation for SO-50?
by tjschuessler＠verizon.net 02 Apr '12

02 Apr '12

Hello AMSATers, SO-50 with it's lower ERP and apparent spin make it a more difficult bird for the handheld guys to keep up with but not at all impossible. I have been curious though if anyone has information as to what the spacecraft/antenna orientation is and what is the spin rate if any and how that affects workability? I find myself explaining the quirksof this bird to folks and would like a little more intelligent set of answers. Any thoughts would be appreciated. 73 de Tom, N5HYP, today in DM93

3 2

First-MOVE CubeSat
by Trevor . 02 Apr '12

02 Apr '12

Students at the Technical University of München have released a couple of short videos on their CubeSat First-MOVE, see http://www.uk.amsat.org/6199 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAT-UK News on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK ----

1 0

W1AW on AO27 April 10
by Mark Spencer 02 Apr '12

02 Apr '12

I will try and put W1AW on AO27 April 10 for the 1830Z pass. Fastest QSL is via my call address. Mark Mark Spencer, WA8SME Education and Technology Program Director ARRL, the national association for Amateur RadioTM 43 Pinelock Dr. Gales Ferry, CT 06335 860-381-5335 860-460-1139 (cell) mspencer(a)arrl.org

1 0

Lego™ 1U Cubesat,launch confirmed April 2012
by Rob Styles 02 Apr '12

02 Apr '12

The next generation Cubesat. http://www.uk.amsat.org/6194 Rob

4 3

You think you have it tough here...
by Daniel Schultz 01 Apr '12

01 Apr '12

This comes from F1FRV and F5PBG, with help from the Google translator. The original can be found here: http://f1frv.free.fr/main6_Reglementation.html ********************************************************************************* TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY - DECISION No. 03/31/2011-1952879697a-AMAT - AMATEUR SERVICE Given the Telecommunications Code of the French Republic, the Guidelines 2011/01/52/CE views of the European Parliament dated 20/01/2011, to the European Directive 2010/12/25681a/CE Commission (Telecommunications Division) of 25/03/2011, The TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY DECIDES: S.1: GENERAL - Any holder of a license of the amateur radio service is required to publicize the location thereof, so that neighbors can know the origin of potential interference. S.2: FORM - The information will be made with panels of size and content regulated by this decision (item 5). S.3: PANEL MAIN - A main panel will be affixed outside the building near the main entrance for apartment buildings, and the entrance to the property for single family homes . S.4: SIDE PANELS - Four more panels called secondary, identical in size, are arranged in lines of communication to the north, east, south and west of the station, in an area determined by two concentric circles, minimum radius 20 meters, 60 meters maximum, the center of the circles found to be the main antenna of the station. In case the size of the property would exceed that of the larger circle, the side panels would be placed on the property line, in the four cardinal directions indicated and close channels of communication. S.5: SPECIFICATION - Each panel will have the form of a rectangle, the longest side being horizontal. It must be made of aluminum or stainless steel sheet and background characters in enamel paint, baked. (ISO 6996). The plastics are not accepted. All panel-substrate should withstand winds of 150 km / h for a day. (Rhone Valley, recommended value: 220 km / h). Dimensions: Width: 1 meter (+ or - 1 cm) Height: 0.33 meters. (+ or - 1 cm). The type of characters will be the model, namely "STICK" (NF). Any other type of character is prohibited. Character height: 0.05 meters (+ or - 1 mm). Line width: 0.01 meters (+ or - 1 mm). Character color: dark blue or black. Background: white. S.6: TEXT - Each panel must include, obligatorily capitalized on four lines, the following: 1st line: AREA OF DISTURBANCE - 2nd line: WIRELESS - 3rd line: RISK OF INTERFERENCE - 4th line: ELECTRONIC. It will also include, on the left a pictograph of a transmitting antenna, and a rectangle for displaying the information of the owner of the station. S.7: AMATEUR RADIO LICENSE - Must appear in the space provided for this purpose, in a rectangle 10 centimeter by 7 centimeters, located as shown on the model annexed to this decision, in uppercase characters to upper dimension (1 centimeter or more) that of other indications panel. A photographic document in Annex specifies the layout of text, the symbol, and the rectangle for displaying the information of the owner of the station. S.8: LOCATION OF SIGNS, LIGHTING - Each main panel or secondary, immovably fixed, must be legible, the bottom must be located at least 1.50 m above the ground and up to 2 meters. Night lighting will be installed if the lighting does not allow reading at night. S.9: DISTRIBUTION OF CHARGES - The purchase of signs, their installation, maintenance (including keeping them clean whatever the weather conditions) and their possible replacement is in charge of the holder of the license. S.10: PRESENCE AND MAINTENANCE - Any sign missing, damaged, illegible, ill-disposed may give rise to these minutes and immediate precautionary measures (prohibition of license issue, confiscation of equipment, dismantling of antennas at the expense of the licensee), without prejudice to the penalties provided for in Article 14. S.11: REMEDIES OF THIRD PARTIES, TAX AUDIT - Any resident of the area within a circle of 1 km in diameter whose center is the antenna of the station in question, and alleging an experience of interference, may request to ART, without charge, the cessation of transmissions, pending the technical checks of agents. These checks will take place within a maximum of six months, beyond which the owner of the station will resume transmitting. These checks, whether or not they find interference, will cause the payment of a fee by the holder of the license. The amount of this check is set annually by decree of the Ministry of Finance at € 812.37 including tax in the year 2011. S.12: NOTIFICATION OF ART - Each holder of an amateur license will be required to send by registered mail with return receipt requested, within a period of one month from the date of this Decision, a file containing: - the station's location on a map IGN 25000th - the precise location of the station and five regulatory signs on a detailed plan of his neighborhood, the photo of the main panel in place with its night lights, accompanied by a bailiff stating the exact location of said panel. - A solemn declaration of the establishment of subpanels. S.13: CONTROL - The sworn officers of the Regulatory Authority (ART) and the National Frequencies Agency (ANF), and the police and gendarmerie are responsible for the verification of the installation of the panels and their conformity to the model described in Article 5 and Annex hereto. S.14: SANCTIONS - license bans issued, confiscation of equipment (without VAT refund), fines and prison sentences are those specified in Telecommunications Code, namely from 6000 to 36000 F (915 to 5496 €) for a subsequent offense with imprisonment from eight days to six months, and a lifetime ban on use of transmitters, of whatever nature, including radio remote controls, TV zapper, and mobile phones. S.15: ANNEX, MODEL - A model panel is attached as a photograph to this decision. The required text, layout, the pictogram of the transmitting antenna, as well as the location for the display indicative of the owner of the station are clearly visible. Any sign not complying with this model will be considered non-existent. S.16: APPLICATION PUBLICATION - This decision will be applicable immediately published in the Official Gazette of the French Republic, April 1, 2011. Done at PARIS, 7 Square Max Hymans, April 1, 2011 Signed, The Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications

4 3

*NIX tracking software?
by Alan P. Biddle 01 Apr '12

01 Apr '12

Hi, I have a query from someone in a university research environment, almost exclusively LINUX, about open source tracking/tuning software. Not my OS, so I am not able to give first hand recommendations. I did send some links for PREDICT and GPREDICT. Are there any others someone can recommend from personal experience? They have adequate resources to modify as needed. 73s, Alan WA4SCA

2 1

So67 sumbandila
by mm0kjg 01 Apr '12

01 Apr '12

Hi Guys and Gals An news update for So67. Will it live for our hobby again or is it gone forever. Kev

1 0

AMSAT UK 80m Net, Audio + Major News
by Simon HB9DRV 01 Apr '12

01 Apr '12

Today's recording (poor conditions, no Martin G3YJO) http://www.ham-radio.ch/kits/sdr-radio.com/mp3/01-Apr-2012-1101%203.750MHz.m p3 The major news is the 2013 launch of Bonag-1, a HEO satellite constructed by the Isle of Man ARS (GT3FLH) at their advanced workshop (meetings every Wednesday). Launch is set for April 1st, 2013 using a spare rocket from the now decommissioned nuclear submarine facility at Foxdale (see below). Frequencies are 2m and 70cms AM *only*. AMSAT-IOM have allocated the name AF-01 to this satellite. More information about this secret project later today. "Foxdale shipyard is located approximately 1km west of the town. The yard is owned by STX Europe yet operated by BAE Systems. It began operations in October 1927 and is still active today. The three large Cranes can be seen from across the island. Both of the Oasis class cruise ships are being constructed at the yard as well as the Type 212 submarines for the Italian navy. A contract has recently been won to build the 6 Rinascimento class frigates. The yard opens to the sea through the port of Peel, Isle of Man and navigation up the River Neb. A project is underway to deepen The Neb to accommodate the Astute class submarines which are to be serviced in the yard. The current manager of the yard is Donald 'Don' Brown. The Shipyard will not be affected by cuts to the BAE Systems workforce." Simon Brown, HB9DRV <http://sdr-radio.com> http://sdr-radio.com You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully.

1 0

em43 typo
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 31 Mar '12

31 Mar '12

grid location was 34.0.00N 90.0.00 W WA4HFN

1 0

VE3/UT1FG/MM Toronto Celebrity
by John Papay 31 Mar '12

31 Mar '12

Yuri's (VE3/UT1FG/MM) ship was the first foreign ship to dock in Toronto for the 2012 shipping season. The event is celebrated in a ceremony and the captain is crowned with a 150 year old Beaver Hat on the ship. There is a Youtube Video that documents the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDmo4ZqdHTc Yuri should be in Thunder Bay on April 1st. He expects to be there for several days. The next destination is Puerto Rico. Today he was very active on the birds and worked 15 stations on a FO-29 pass (recording on my website) in EN77! 73, John K8YSE

1 0

em43
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 31 Mar '12

31 Mar '12

Everyone that worked me today in em43 that needs that grid, please send me your log info for that contact and I will QSL My HT showed me at 30.0.00 N 90.0.00 W I think I was also on the grid line of em53 and em43 Thanks Damon WA4HFN wa4hfn(a)comcast.net

1 0

Re: MicroThrust Motor for Nanosats
by Trevor . 31 Mar '12

31 Mar '12

--- On Sat, 31/3/12, g0mrf(a)aol.com <g0mrf(a)aol.com> wrote: > It's technology like that combined with minaturised electronics and > structures that probably represents a future generation of 'HEO' > satelites. But they still have to negotiate the passage through the > radiation belts and that looks to be a slow process. And a damaging process, I wonder if current generation SDX transponders would survive in that environment ? You could put up with it taking a year or two for a 2U or 3U CubeSat to get to HEO as long as it would still have a reasonable lifetime when it got there. With fold-out solar panels you might be able to generate 10 watts peak of solar power when it acheived HEO. The maximum transponder output may only be 3 watts PEP which would be a significant reduction on the 50 watts or so we've had with previous HEO's. One way to get around the reduced power may be to use lower frequecy bands, say 50 MHz uplink and 29 MHz downlink. This may reduce the loss on the downlink by 9 db or so although they may be some mechanical challenges to overcome with respect to the antennas. A MEO (say 8000 by 400 km) instead of an HEO would also reduce path loss - exciting times lie ahead. 73 Trevor M5AKA --- On Sat, 31/3/12, Trevor . <m5aka(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > An interesting Swiss project see http://www.uk.amsat.org/6180 > AMSAT-UK News on Twitter http://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK/

1 0

MicroThrust Motor for Nanosats
by Trevor . 31 Mar '12

31 Mar '12

An interesting Swiss project see http://www.uk.amsat.org/6180 AMSAT-UK News on Twitter http://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK/ 73 Trevor M5AKA

2 1

April 18 World Amateur Radio Day 2012 - 50 Years in Space
by JoAnne Maenpaa 31 Mar '12

31 Mar '12

April 18 World Amateur Radio Day 2012 - 50 Years in Space Every year on April 18 the IARU celebrates World Amateur Radio Day to note its anniversary starting in 1925. This year's theme for the World Amateur Radio Day 2012 is Amateur Radio Satellites: "Celebrating 50 Years in Space" in remembrance the launch of OSCAR 1 on December 12, 1961, and the launch of OSCAR 2 on June 2, 1962. The AMSAT News Service would like to publicize the events your group is planning for April 18, 2012. Just send the information to JoAnne, K9JKM (k9jkm at amsat.org) and we'll get the news out. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org Editor, AMSAT News Service

1 0

DELFI C3 CLOSE APPROACH UPDATE #3
by Peter Portanova 31 Mar '12

31 Mar '12

Update, 73 Pete, WB2OQQ Sir/Ma'am, The United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) has updated a predicted conjunction between DELFI C3 (SCC# 32789) and SCC# 24097. Primary Object: DELFI C3 (SCC# 32789) Secondary Object: SCC# 24097 Time of Closest Approach: 31 MAR 2012 03:24 UTC Overall miss distance: 778 meters Radial (dU) miss distance: -40 meters In-Track (dV) miss distance: -2 meters Cross-track (dW) miss distance: 778 meters Primary Radial Error (U): 9 meters Primary In-track Error (V): 49 meters Primary Cross-track Error (W): 8 meters Secondary Radial Error (U): 9 meters Secondary In-track Error (V): 62 meters Secondary Cross-track Error (W): 8 meters

1 0

Where are the Atantic Sailors?
by Bob Bruninga 31 Mar '12

31 Mar '12

Does anyone know how to track Winlink Ocean sailors so we can find someone to listen for our long duration Balloon out over the atlantic? Without boats, it will not be in range of land until 3 April over the African coast.! See projected track: http://aprs.org/balloons.html Bob, WB4aPR

2 1

Sat Demonstration at the University
by Hector Luis Martinez Sis 30 Mar '12

30 Mar '12

Hello guys! Today, I will do a Sat Demonstration for a Physical class at the University of my city. I will be operating portable from indoor of classroom, maybe on the classroom `s window. A few days ago, I tried and It is possible hear the Sat from there. I hope to be on the 1850UTC AO-27 pass. Please, if you hear me, give me a shout with your name, city, state etc. Thanks & 73! Hector, CO6CBF EL92 *************************************** Genius is one per cent inspiration, and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. -- Thomas A. Edison *************************************** --- Consulte la Enciclopedia Colaborativa Cubana http://www.ecured.cu/

3 2

Call for AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations
by Alan P. Biddle 30 Mar '12

30 Mar '12

All AMSAT-NA members, We are approaching that time of year to submit nominations to serve on the Board of Directors. This year there will be seats for 3 full members, and up to 2 alternates, to be filled. This is your opportunity to influence the leadership, and future, of our organization. The deadline for nominations is June 15th, but that time will creep up remarkably quickly. If you are interested in serving, know someone who is, or who should be, now would be a good time to begin the process. The process details are available through the ANS, WWW.AMSAT.ORG, and the information below. Please contact me if you have any questions. 73s, Alan WA4SCA AMSAT-NA Corporate Secretary ======================================== 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 have terms expiring this year: Tom Clark, K3IO; Lou McFadin, W5DID; and Gould Smith, WA4SXM. The three nominees receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as regular board members with two year terms. The two nominees receiving the next highest number of votes will be seated as alternates for one year. Written nominations, consisting of names, calls and individual signatures, 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. These include 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.

1 0

Party Balloon Long Duration Mission
by Bob Bruninga 30 Mar '12

30 Mar '12

Launch Thurs PM maybe... Tune up those 10m beams. If we are lucky, we hope to launch our 6 party-balloon long duration payload Thursday evening around sunset EST. It has no APRS, just a 10m CW telemetry system. We will have to locate it by signal strength and beam headings only. If you have APRS you can uplink your beam heading via APRS so we can see the DF solution maybe... More tomorrow (again, if we are lucky). It will only be at 15,000 feet or so, vulnerable to weather and not so great winds... The battery could last 10 days.... Bob, WB4APR

5 11

Travel plans OA1
by Lizeth Norman 30 Mar '12

30 Mar '12

Hi All, I'll be in Lima Peru Sun 22 July through Sunday 12 August of this year. Will be taking my satellite gear with me. Still have to apply for the IARP permit, but it's just a formality. 73 es see you on the birds, Norm n3ykf

2 1

DELFI C3 CLOSE APPROACH- UPDATE
by Peter Portanova 30 Mar '12

30 Mar '12

FYI, 73 Pete WB2OQQ Sir/Ma'am, The United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) has updated a predicted conjunction between DELFI C3 (SCC# 32789) and SCC# 24097. Primary Object: DELFI C3 (SCC# 32789) Secondary Object: SCC# 24097 Time of Closest Approach: 31 MAR 2012 03:24 UTC Overall miss distance: 765 meters Radial (dU) miss distance: -58 meters In-Track (dV) miss distance: -7 meters Cross-track (dW) miss distance: 764 meters Primary Radial Error (U): 13 meters Primary In-track Error (V): 298 meters Primary Cross-track Error (W): 10 meters Secondary Radial Error (U): 16 meters Secondary In-track Error (V): 329 meters Secondary Cross-track Error (W): 12 meters

1 0

Party Balloon
by Kevin Deane 30 Mar '12

30 Mar '12

I do not post much on here anymore, mostly because I have not found much that has any interest to me. (and mostly I am starting to mature a little bit) However, the Balloon thing has always caught my eye. I have tracked many that I happened upon off this BB and or word of mouth. I found some pretty killer weather balloons for pretty cheap. Also looked into the parachute's and deployment so as not to kill somebody's loved one... Then looked into the helium, tank rental, plus payload equipment and found that this is most likeley a one way trip...I mean really, this kind of fun can get pretty spendy... My point being that some of these clubs and or people dump quite alot of funds into a one way trip that might or might not even cross the state...or may or may not even be recovered, depending on the budget of course... I PROPOSED to the local club to TETHER such a money pit. See how far we could reel out some nice tuna line and test this baby over a couple few flights with what may have you gadgets on there and bring the babe back in, adjust, modify and or replace what may or may not have failed... Anyone have any thoughts??? I do know about part bla bla bla 97, 6,2 3 345667 kill me mow mow kitty... 200ft tether what a joke. Has anyone ever launched a candle balloon at a wedding with a wish in it? May we not test stuff that we build and deploy them without rules and suspicion??? Is this Not America, Land of The Free??? Would love any REAL opinion's on this subject, from people that DO THINGS not talk about them.... Kevin KF7MYK

1 0

G-5500 Rotator Repair
by David Palmer KB5WIA 30 Mar '12

30 Mar '12

Hi everyone, If anyone is interested in step-by-step photos from my recent repair of the Yaesu G-5500 azimuth rotator motor, here is the link: http://kb5wia.blogspot.com/2012/03/yaesu-g5500-rotator-motor-repair.html The reason I rewound the motor was twofold - Yaesu parts is out of stock, and the motor repair company wanted $360ish for the job. It was pretty straightforward, but it took about two weeks off and on. 73! de Dave KB5WIA

1 0

Hudsonvalleysatcomgroupnet tonight 3/29@8pmeastern on echolink N2EYH-L
by cotejaune2＠aol.com 29 Mar '12

29 Mar '12

Hello all.It is time again for the HVSGN tonight March 29 @ 8PM Eastern on Echolink N2EYH-L or the MtBeacon Repeater 146.970 pl100. Hope to hear you there.73 Gary wa2aqh/ Tom kc2dtq

1 0

satchat
by Vince Waelti 29 Mar '12

29 Mar '12

FYI---just a reminder. The SatChat is now the FIRST & THIRD Saturday ONLY of the month. I am too busy for every week. Again, the SatChat is at the same tim e(8pm Eastern), just it has been reduced to only the first and third Saturday of each month. Held on the AMSAT EchoLink server. THANKS!! 73 Vince Waelti, K9TSU Green County ARES/SKYWARN Winnebago County ARES/SKYWARN (608)312.0138 www.k9tsu.tk

1 0

DELFI C3 CLOSE APPROACH- UPDATE
by Peter Portanova 29 Mar '12

29 Mar '12

Update of yesterdays information 73, Pete WB2OQQ Sir/Ma'am, The United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) has updated a predicted conjunction between DELFI C3 (SCC# 32789) and SCC# 24097. Primary Object: DELFI C3 (SCC# 32789) Secondary Object: SCC# 24097 Time of Closest Approach: 31 MAR 2012 03:24 UTC Overall miss distance: 781 meters Radial (dU) miss distance: -43 meters In-Track (dV) miss distance: -4 meters Cross-track (dW) miss distance: 780 meters Primary Radial Error (U): 17 meters Primary In-track Error (V): 1102 meters Primary Cross-track Error (W): 10 meters Secondary Radial Error (U): 29 meters Secondary In-track Error (V): 1326 meters Secondary Cross-track Error (W): 12 meters

1 0

recording of bpsk
by Nick Pugh 29 Mar '12

29 Mar '12

The CAPE team would like a recording of a BPSK signals at 1200 and 9600 PBS. Thanks nick Office 337 593 8700 Cell 337 258 2527 Helping UL become a world Class Engineering and Educational School

2 1

[amsat-bb] ESA – CubeSats satellite operations update
by Trevor . 29 Mar '12

29 Mar '12

See http://www.uk.amsat.org/6152 73 Trevor M5AKA

2 2

Australian HAM / Astronomer needed
by Bob Bruninga 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

We need an Australian Amateur Astronomer and HAM operator in Canberra on 4-6 June 2012. We have a science team of students from the USA to observe the last transit of Venus this century in Canberra. We want a local Australian Ham to be there to see if we can use ham radio and the speed of light to share observations with our sister team in Japan (and any other obsrevation sites). Interested individuals for this historic event, contact WB4APR(a)amsat.org Bob, WB4APR

1 0

Edoardo Amaldi Docks With ISS
by B J 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ATV/SEMUASGY50H_0.html http://spaceflightnow.com/ariane/va205/status.html 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

1 0

North Korean Polar weather satellite
by andy thomas 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

All I remember those days as an SWL when KCNA messages (amongst others) flowed across the monitor screen in green letters... if you have nostalgia for those days and are also interested in the planned polar orbiter then I've just prdcuced these extracts from the KCNA news flow. They suggest that there will be a launch of a polar-orbiter weather satellite around April 15th and that they have notified the relevant authorities about it. Would someone like to do a FOIA request for a copy of their notification? If there is a bird and she is a polar orbiter transmitting data maybe it'll be in APT format, although I think the recent Russian launches are in a format incomprehensible to anyone else, so would not guarantee it. Press propaganda follows: BEGINS............................................................................................. DPRK to Launch Application Satellite Pyongyang, March 16 (KCNA) -- The DPRK is to launch a working satellite, Kwangmyongsong-3, manufactured by itself with indigenous technology to mark the 100th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung. A spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology said this in a statement Friday. After successfully launching two experimental satellites, DPRK scientists and technicians have steadily conducted scientific researches to develop and utilize working satellites indispensable for the country's economic development in line with the government's policy for space development and peaceful use. Through the researches they have made a drastic progress in the field of space science and technology and laid solid material and technological foundations for working satellite launches and operation. Kwangmyongsong-3, a polar-orbiting earth observation satellite, will be blasted off southward from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province between April 12 and 16, lifted by carrier rocket Unha-3. A safe flight orbit has been chosen so that carrier rocket debris to be generated during the flight would not have any impact on neighboring countries. The DPRK will strictly abide by relevant international regulations and usage concerning the launch of scientific and technological satellites for peaceful purposes and ensure maximum transparency, thereby contributing to promoting international trust and cooperation in the field of space scientific researches and satellite launches. The upcoming launch will greatly encourage the army and people of the DPRK in the building of a thriving nation and will offer an important occasion of putting the country's technology of space use for peaceful purposes on a higher stage. KCNA Reports about Preparations for Satellite Launch Pyongyang, March 17 (KCNA) -- The Korean Central News Agency issued the following report on Saturday: The relevant bodies of the DPRK sent necessary information to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Maritime Organization, the International Telecommunication Union and others according to international regulations and procedures as part of the preparations for the launch of earth observation satellite Kwangmyongsong-3. The Korean Committee for Space Technology will invite experienced foreign experts on space science and technology and journalists to visit the Sohae Satellite Launching Station, the General Satellite Control and Command Centre and other places and observe its launch. Pyongyang, March 26 (KCNA) -- Scientific researches for accurate weather forecast are being intensified in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Pang Sun Nyo, an office head of the Hydro-meteorological Service, told KCNA: The Service is developing varieties of apparatuses conducive to the accurate and prompt weather forecast. Among them is an advanced geostationary meteorological satellite data receiver. This helps put the weather observation on a more scientific basis. The apparatuses also include updated automatic weather survey devices and aerological weather radar. The Service has upgraded the data-receiving and numerical weather forecast system aimed to comprehensively use weather data from GTS run by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The study of devastating weather phenomena such as torrential rain and drought has also been made. In particular, Kwangmyongsong-3, a working satellite to be launched in April, will be greatly helpful to the study of weather forecast needed for agriculture and other economic fields. Meanwhile the Service has stepped up the exchange of weather data and the study into registration of climate changes for coming 100 years in cooperation with the WMO to prevent local climate disasters. The DPRK joined the WMO in Juche 64 (1975). ENDS................................................................. make of it what you will 73 de andy G0SFJ

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IC-910 For Sale
by Howard Stephenson 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

I have an Icom IC-910H for sale. It has the DSP UT- 106 in one receiver I'll also include a CT-17 interface. Asking $1100 plus shipping from CA Howard Stephenson K6IA

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Student CubeSats BEESAT-1 and BEESAT-2
by Trevor . 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

Both planned to launch 4th quarter of 2012 from Baikonour. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/6144 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Re: Transatlantic balloon attempt
by Trevor . 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

--- On Wed, 28/3/12, George Henry <ka3hsw(a)att.net> wrote: > So do they have a control link, or are > they operating with no control? On another list it was mentioned that they use the 10 MHz band for control purposes. They apparently are using a Small Wonder Labs QRP transceiver and the onboard microcomputer decodes CW commands. 73 Trevor M5AKA

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fs: mirage preamps vhf and uhf
by Lizeth Norman 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

Hi, Conx unknown. Make me a reasonable offer plus shipping. 73 de Norm n3ykf

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CTRAL
by PY5LF 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

Many thanks dear Edward Chang BX1AD , BU2AI , BX2AI , BM7FVH , BV2FP for the nice dinner tonight in Taipei where we talk about satellites operation . I hope to make some QSO's via sat next time . If you go to Taiwan , search for these guys , they are fine! 73 PY5LF/BW Luciano Fabricio www.qrz.com/db/py5lf Curitiba-PR-Brazil GG54jm

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muTek GNLA432e info
by Ab4ab＠aol.com 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

Hello, Some time ago I found a muTek GLNA432e at eBay. It was inadvertently advertised as a 144 MHz unit and was also supplied with a SBLA144e schematic. So I'm at a loss how to troubleshoot this nonworking unit. I have searched the net but found nothing useful. If anyone knows anything about this unit, e.g., transistor used or even better the schematic, please let me know. It is a vintage well built 1983 unit with RF sense switching so I really would like to get it up and running. Thanks Ben AB4AB

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HumSAT-D CubeSat
by Trevor . 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

See http://www.uk.amsat.org/6128 73 Trevor M5AKA

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DELFI C3 Close Approach Message
by Peter Portanova 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

For your information, 73, Pete WB2OQQ Sir/Ma'am, The United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) has identified a predicted conjunction between DELFI C3 (SCC# 32789) and SCC# 24097. Primary Object: DELFI C3 (SCC# 32789) Secondary Object: SCC# 24097 Time of Closest Approach: 31 MAR 2012 03:24 UTC Overall miss distance: 789 meters Radial (dU) miss distance: -96 meters In-Track (dV) miss distance: -6 meters Cross-track (dW) miss distance: 783 meters Primary Radial Error (U): 20 meters Primary In-track Error (V): 2050 meters Primary Cross-track Error (W): 11 meters Secondary Radial Error (U): 51 meters Secondary In-track Error (V): 2653 meters Secondary Cross-track Error (W): 13 meters Very Respectfully, JSpOC Orbital Protection Team Joint Space Operations Center Vandenberg Air Force Base, California USA

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Latest QB50 Newsletter - CubeSat Proposals deadline extended until April 30
by Trevor . 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

See http://www.uk.amsat.org/6122 73 Trevor M5AKA

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Transatlantic balloon attempt
by Bob Bruninga 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

I still have not heard of anyone copying the HF beacons on 30 and 40m. (10.147 and 7.102 MHz). I am curiouis about this because our next balloon flight will only have an HF beacon and nothing else. I have been in the 400 mile footprint most of the morning, and have heard nothing, though it is tracking out past Nova Scotia just fine on APRS... http://aprs.fi/KD2AUC-1 Bob, WB4APR ---- Original message ---- >Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:48:18 -0000 >From: aprsisce(a)yahoogroups.com (on behalf of "Steve Daniels" <steve(a)daniels270.eclipse.co.uk>) >Subject: RE: [aprsisce] Transatlantic balloon attempt >To: <aprsisce(a)yahoogroups.com> > > For those interested tracker battery volts are > showing as 9.21V. The volts are transmitted in hex > in the comment field. I have one of these trackers, > and it ran for 46 hours transmitting every minute on > 6 AA cells. The tracker will run down to around 4V > > > > Steve Daniels > > G6UIM > > Torbay Freecycle Moderator > > ---------------------------------------------------- > > From: aprsisce(a)yahoogroups.com > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lynn > W Deffenbaugh (Mr) > Sent: 24 March 2012 17:02 > To: aprsisce(a)yahoogroups.com > Subject: Re: [aprsisce] Transatlantic balloon > attempt > > > > We have no idea if you're receiving KD2AUC-1 > direct. If you're inside the off-center black > circle, then you're within the theoretical RF > footprint of the balloon. > > Do you have an RF interface configured? > > Have you disabled messaging and/or a bunch of other > things? (I tried sending a query message and > received no answer nor ack to a test message) > > Your raw packets at http://aprs.fi/?c=raw&call=VE9MB > seem to indicate that you don't keep your station > up 24x7 or you don't have a very reliable > Internet/APRS-IS connection. > > I'm also not seeing any DX status reports, but I > don't remember if they are on or off in a default > installation. > > Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - Author of APRSISCE for Windows > Mobile and Win32 > > On 3/24/2012 12:46 PM, Murry B wrote: > > Curious about the balloon project guys. > I am, getting KD2AUC-1 direct here is that it? > VE9MB > > On 3/24/2012 11:36 AM, Colin M0XSD wrote: > > > > From the Web Page: > http://www.projectbluehorizon.com/#input > > 30 meter 10.14661 MHz 05, 25, 45 every hour > 40 meter 7.10241 MHz 10, 30, 50 every hour > CW Morse Code with Latitude, Longitude, Altitude and > Battery Voltage > > I agree with you Bob, not the most user friendly > site for finding out specific info. > > 73, > Colin > > On 24/03/2012 13:11, Bob Bruninga wrote: > > > > > The Project Blue Horizon team is attempting to > break > > current Amateur Radio > > high-altitude balloon record for duration > > n > > www.projectbluehorizon.com > > Im surprised at the lack of information on that > site. But glad to see it is up. I am seeing it > here in MD. It is out off the tip of long island > now at 9 AM. > > But I have heard nothing on HF. Are those > published freqs the carrier or dial freqs? Is it > CW or packet? > > Bob, WB4aPR > > > > > > > > __._,_.___ > > Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional > Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) > Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily > Digest | Switch to Fully Featured > Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | > Unsubscribe > __,_._,___

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Comparative report between VO-52 Indian Transponder and VO-52 Dutch Transponder
by i8cvs 27 Mar '12

27 Mar '12

Hi All, To make a comparative report for performance of VO-52 Indian Transponder 28 November 2011 and Dutch Transponder 27 March 2012 please find here the internet links for two QSO made between i8CVS and IW6OVD in two similar ascending orbits http://www.hamradio.selfip.com/iw6ovd/VO-52-INDIAN-TRASPONDER.mp3 http://www.hamradio.selfip.com/iw6ovd/Dutch-trasponder-FULL-QSO.mp3 73" de i8CVS Domenico

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Power Plug for a RFC 2-317
by William Liporace - WC2L 27 Mar '12

27 Mar '12

Does anyone have a spare power plug for a RFC 2-317 AMP? TNX Will WC2L

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VO-52 Frequency Drift
by John Papay 27 Mar '12

27 Mar '12

There were three passes of VO-52 here this morning, 27March2012. I was able to copy the beacon on all three passes. Here are the results: 1200utc 145862.6 1335utc 145861.7 1510utc 145861.9 The frequencies are not exact. My CW offset is 850Hz. There is significant frequency drift and temperature is probably the cause. It would be interesting to hear from the control team regarding this. HO-68 provides an excellent check of your doppler compensation in your tracking program. I find that the beacon is always very strong and the frequency is rock solid. You can save the frequency in your program and a month later find that it is right where it was the month before. If you can listen to the beacon with your CW filter on throughout the entire pass, you have everything set right, keps, computer clock etc. The doppler gets quite severe on a high pass and is a great way to make sure you have everything set right. Since HO-68 is on UHF, everything becomes more critical. 73, John K8YSE

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CM2ESP operation today
by Raydel Abreu Espinet (CM2ESP) 27 Mar '12

27 Mar '12

Hi all, I will be at home today, i hope to work AO-27 on today pass at 18:35 UTC aprox. And probable, but not for sure, may be also on SO-50 at 16:30 UTC aprox. If anyone need EL83 just give me a call. 73, CM2ESP, Havana, EL83sc Este mensaje ha sido enviado mediante el servicio de correo electronico que ofrece la Federacion de Radioaficionados de Cuba a sus miembros para respaldar el cumplimiento de los objetivos de la organizacion y su politica informativa. La persona que envia este correo asume el compromiso de usar el servicio a tales fines y cumplir con las regulaciones establecidas.

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WRAL TV News - ARISS Contact
by Trevor . 26 Mar '12

26 Mar '12

Salem Elementary got some good publicity for their ARISS contct, see http://www.uk.amsat.org/6095 73 Trevor M5AKA

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VO-52 Frequency Drift
by John Papay 26 Mar '12

26 Mar '12

VO-52 has been a very loud and easy to work satellite since the recovery and change to the Dutch Transponder. The CW beacon is very loud and you can usually find an image of it elsewhere in the transponder passband. If you are running full doppler control, you have probably noticed that your settings (uplink calibration) have to be changed from pass to pass. The beacon frequency is not constant either so I suspect that the frequency source is not very stable. Stability is usually a function of temperature so it would appear that the temperature inside the satellite is changing due to internal electronics and/or effects from the sun. This would be something that the control team would be aware of. Any feedback from them would be appreciated. I do not recall that the India Transponder had a similar problem but maybe someone else could comment on that. If it did drift, it was only one or two hundred Hz. Initially the difference between the India and Dutch Transponder was about 2KHz. Now it seems to vary plus or minus 500 Hz or so. Maybe some others can comment on this. 73, John K8YSE

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FO-29 QSO Below the Horizon
by John Papay 26 Mar '12

26 Mar '12

Every now and then someone asks about the possibility of making a satellite QSO when the bird is below the horizon. Once in while it happens as it did with Adrian, AA5UK/KH6, on FO-29 this morning at 0849utc. Adrian has been operating from KH6 and trying to give out WAS to the deserving. Many have made their first Hawaii QSO thanks to his efforts. I had a 0.8 degree pass this morning on FO-29 but when Adrian was at 3 degrees, I was at 0.0 degrees. There was a short window of opportunity after that point. As I was waiting for FO-29 to come up over the horizon I started hearing Adrian at -0.9 degrees. At -0.5 I called him and we had a qso that ended about 2 seconds after my AOS. My recorder is configured to start recording at AOS and it only captured a few seconds of my last transmission. Doug KD8CAO had his recorder running so you can hear my qso that took place below the horizon. I have my ground elevation in the setup so the calculations should be accurate. The best opportunity for a below the horizon contact occurs when the satellite is skimming the horizon rather than going away from you. If it is skimming there is much more time at the critical -1.5 to 0.0 degree elevation and that is what happened this morning. Recordings are on my website. http://www.papays.com/sat/general.html A big thank you to Adrian for making the effort to work the difficult passes and stretch the limits. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. 73, John K8YSE

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KD2AUC-1 in range of Azores
by Lynn W. Deffenbaugh (Mr) 26 Mar '12

26 Mar '12

Just noticed that KD2AUC-1 got a packet through the CU3HY IGate in the Azores! Congratulations to the team! Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - Author of APRSISCE for Windows Mobile and Win32

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KH6 Problem solved. Back in business!
by Adrian Engele 26 Mar '12

26 Mar '12

Aloha friends, It came down to a locked IC-7000 and a bad PL259 to BNC adapter. Luckily I had a couple of spare ones with me. Radio Shack is not around the corner here. I just did a check on the 0026Z FO-29 Pass and all was in order. We are back in business. Aloha, Adrian AA5UK/KH6

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