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Re: check your logs (please)
by John Becker 12 Oct '10

12 Oct '10

Thanks Bob. I would but can't since I did all the logging on a computer (only) at the time and it get hit by the big big lightning. Along with a ton of other stuff..... At 09:17 PM 10/11/2010, you wrote: >I'll check my AO-40 (sobsob) logs and if I can find you in there I'll send you a card > >73 Bob W7LRD

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New PJs on the satellites
by John Geiger 12 Oct '10

12 Oct '10

Does anyone know if the DXpeditions to the "new" PJ entities plan on any satellite operation? I figure they are busy with HF operations right now but getting on for a few satellite passes once they have worked down the pileups on HF would sure be fun for the sat operators. 73s John AA5JG

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Fw: Sumbandila schedule until 2010-10-17
by Andrew Glasbrenner 12 Oct '10

12 Oct '10

The Sumbandilasat and SA-AMSAT team has released their tentative activation times for this weekend, and it looks like North and South America will have many active passes. Keep in mind that many Scouts will be active for JOTA this weekend, so please make an extra effort to contact them and welcome them to amateur satellites. 73, Drew KO4MA PS Thank you to the Sumbandilasat and SA-AMSAT team, and also to Ed, N8BBQ for calculating the pass times. >----- >Sumbandila ham payload activations (times in UTC; active for 15 minutes): > >Africa > >2010-10-12 20:24 >2010-10-13 08:25 >2010-10-14 08:07 >2010-10-15 20:53 >2010-10-16 20:36 >2010-10-17 20:18 > >Europe > >2010-10-12 19:10 >2010-10-12 20:46 >2010-10-13 08:08 >2010-10-13 09:42 >2010-10-13 17:20 >2010-10-13 20:25 >2010-10-14 07:50 >2010-10-14 09:24 >2010-10-14 17:00 >2010-10-14 20:07 >2010-10-15 07:30 >2010-10-15 09:05 >2010-10-15 10:40 >2010-10-15 18:14 >2010-10-16 07:12 >2010-10-16 08:45 >2010-10-16 10:20 >2010-10-16 16:25 >2010-10-17 06:52 >2010-10-17 10:00 >2010-10-17 17:37 >2010-10-17 19:09 > >Americas (JOTA special event) > >2010-10-16 10:39 >2010-10-16 12:12 >2010-10-16 13:37 >2010-10-16 15:09 >2010-10-16 16:42 >2010-10-16 18:14 >2010-10-16 19:47 >2010-10-16 21:20 >2010-10-16 22:38 >2010-10-16 22:54 >2010-10-16 23:55 >2010-10-17 00:14 >2010-10-17 01:28 >2010-10-17 01:44 >2010-10-17 03:00 >2010-10-17 03:19 >2010-10-17 04:55 >2010-10-17 06:35 >2010-10-17 10:20 >2010-10-17 11:53 >2010-10-17 13:15 >2010-10-17 13:32 >2010-10-17 14:50 >2010-10-17 16:23 >2010-10-17 17:56 >2010-10-17 19:29 >2010-10-17 21:01 >2010-10-17 22:35

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YouTube and ad income for AMSAT
by Andrew Glasbrenner 12 Oct '10

12 Oct '10

I've gotten an email from YouTube about adding ads to my AMSAT videos and getting paid for it. This might be a little bit of easy income for AMSAT, but I have a hard time believing it'd be worth it. Has anyone done this, and can you give me an idea of the amount of revenue per view? They don't even pay out until you reach $100. Drop me a line off -bb if you have insight into this. 73, Drew KO4MA

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ND9M Road Trip Update #7
by claryco＠aol.com 12 Oct '10

12 Oct '10

We're looking at DN48 and DN58 during the AO27 passes that rise locally at about 12/2002Z and 12/2142Z (VOX a couple minutes later) and possibly DN57 when AO51 comes up locally at 12/2239Z. 73, Jim, ND9M / VQ9JC Great Falls MT / Cascade Co. / DN47

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LVB Tracker problem
by Bob Herrell 12 Oct '10

12 Oct '10

Hi all, Lately my LVB Tracker (USB) has been stopping in the middle of a pass. It does not happen all the time, but lately it has been happening more often. When this happens I have to turn the G-5500 off/on then restart SatPC32. Has anyone experienced this with their tracker? I wonder if I should remove the USB chip and use the RS-232 port. Thanks. 73, Bob AJ5C

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WD9EWK - Hardest Workin' AMSATter
by Clint Bradford 12 Oct '10

12 Oct '10

We have to create a "Hardest Workin' AMSAT Member" award, and give the first one to Patrick. When I perform my demos, he's ALWAYS out there. When he slides into his car, he is ALWAYS stopping alongside a highway to work a satellite. (Did you see the video he posted yesterday? He is LITERALLY stopped alongside a highway just to work a bird for our benefit.) I have seen him in action at a hamfest in Arizona ... I hope some of his energy and enthusiasm rubs off on us all. I am working on my PACIFICON presentation for this weekend in Sam Ramon, CA. Tentative passes to work while there are ... Friday, October 15 AO-51 4:56PM Pacific Daylight / 11:56 GMT Saturday, October 16 SO-50 9:12AM Pacific Daylight / 16:12 GMT AO-51 4:17PM Pacific Daylight / 2317 GMT Clint, K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com 909-241-7666

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ARISSat-1 Info Added to AMSAT Web
by JoAnne Maenpaa 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

Hello Everyone, Thanks to the ARISSat-1 team for providing a copy of their Symposium presentation materials. Links to the following have been posted at http://www.amsat.org 1. ARISSat-1 color frequency guide 2. PDF copy of ARISSat-1 Overview presentation slides (~3MB) Lots more information will be published in the AMSAT Journal. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org Editor, AMSAT News Service Copy Editor, AMSAT Journal

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check your logs (please)
by John Becker 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

Nothing like being late but, I don't seem to have and QSL's for AO40. Was looking the other day at the cards that I do have and don't seem to have one for AO-40. I did work a good number as well as some DX. my logging computer was lost in the big fire awhile back or I would use that info to try to get one. Tnx John, W0JAB

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Symposium
by Dale Hershberger 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

I just want to say thank you to all that helped with this past weekends AMSAT Symposium. I had a very good time meeting folks and all the presentations were very informative and educational. I Learned a lot and hope to pass this on and spread the word about AMSAT is all about. 73, Dale/KL7XJ AMSAT 30600

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conference
by Nick Pugh K5QXJ 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

Thanks to all who put on a great conference JoAnn and I had a good time. I cannot wait to operate ARRIS nick Office 337 593 8700 Cell 337 258 2527 Helping UL become a world Class Engineering and Educational School

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SO-67 sounds fuzzy?
by Mike Ryan 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

Got my first QSO on this very strong SAT. Signal is at least 3 S units more here than than the average pass of other birds. Very excited about working it. But the audio on it did sound very "fuzzy" to me. Not the usual crisp clear FM I hear on AO-27, SO-50, and AO-51 when tuned in to center. I tried FM and FM narrow on my FT-857 and tried fine tuning with the VFO but it didn't seem to help. Is this the nature of this bird or am I missing something I need to change on my settings? 73's Mike WB1AAT

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AMSAT Banner
by Bob Herrell 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

HI all, Where can I get an AMSAT Banner to use when we do demos? Could not find any in the Amsat Store online. 73, Bob AJ5C

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Re: amsat satellites in use
by PA3GUO 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

A very good resource is the website of Mike, DK3WN, in Germany: http://www.dk3wn.info/satellites.shtml Daily reports on satellite reception are posted here: http://www.dk3wn.info/p/ Here is a video showing a recent satellite, HO-68, which has a CW (morse-code) beacon you can easily receive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&v=o6oDgUTHCwg Success ! Henk, PA3GUO http://www.pa3guo.com =========================================== Dear amsat member. I am a university student and research on getting stated with amsat satellites. could you please tell me what amsat satellites are in use and i can receive beacon and telemetry from them? also How do I can setup a UniTrac 2003 with a G-5500 rotor? Then with Nova? Thanks for your attention. Best Regards. N.Mahdinejad -- Henk, PA3GUO

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trip to NC
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

I will be taking a trip to N.C. this week and will be in FM06 will also actavite FM05 and on Sunday I will TRY to go to FM 13 and 14 for a AO27 and maybe AO51 contact 16 Oct I will be using A kenwood TMD 710A an an elk antenna . I will know more later this week WA4HFN Damon

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NO-44 Pcsat-11 is alive !
by Pedro Converso 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

NO-44 heard and operated from South America. Fm W3ADO-1 To BEACON Via SGATE <UI pid=F0 Len=42 >[06:07:00] T#010,075,095,090,084,214,11111111,0001,1 Fm LU2HAM-7 To APRS Via ARISS,RS0ISS-4,WIDE3-3 <UI pid=F0 Len=60 >[06:07:51] =3120.48S/06418.04W`Sat Gate H-24 Cordoba Argentina {UISS52} You can track & report daily sats operation in http://amsat.org.ar?f=z 73, LU7ABF, Pedro Converso Lu7abf(a)amsat.org.ar www.amsat.org.ar

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AO-51 mode: dual repeaters (to support JOTA)
by Mark L. Hammond 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

Hello All, Thanks to Kevin WA6FAF we are now running dual repeaters on AO-51, as per the schedule below. The 145.880/435.150 repeater is for QRP operations only --unless-- you are contacting a Scout station during the Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) this weekend. The early part of this week is a GREAT time for new and/or inexperienced operators with simple/portable gear to make some contacts on the QRP repeater! Some hams are reluctant to attempt contacts because of the normally fast pace on 435.300, so here is a chance for folks to make some contacts they might otherwise not even attempt... Encourage people to make use of this mode--both for QRP and for JOTA!!! Operators on the East coast can expect some early morning interruptions on 435.150 while we download telemetry. AO-51 Schedule October 10 (late UTC) FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM (no PL tone) Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM QRP (Oct. 10-15) and JOTA (Oct. 16-17) Only FM Repeater, V/U Please give way to JOTA stations or QSO’s with JOTA stations Uplink: 145.880 MHz FM (no PL tone) Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM 73, -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]

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Re: amsat satellites in use
by Andrew Glasbrenner 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

For relatively recent status and frequencies, take a look at http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php . I'm not familiar with the Unitrac interface, but I am familiar enough with Nova to strongly recommend you avoid it in favor of SatPC32 ( http://www.amsat-na.com/store/item.php?id=100020 ). What university are you at, and are you working on a cubesat project? 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT VP Operations -----Original Message----- >From: MAHDINEJAD(a)aut.ac.ir >Sent: Oct 11, 2010 5:36 AM >To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >Subject: [amsat-bb] amsat satellites in use > > >Dear amsat member. >I am a university student and research on getting stated with amsat satellites. >could you please tell me what amsat satellites are in use and i can receive beacon and telemetry from them? >also How do I can setup a UniTrac 2003 with a G-5500 rotor? Then with Nova? >Thanks for your attention. >Best Regards. >N.Mahdinejad > >_______________________________________________ >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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amsat satellites in use
by MAHDINEJAD＠aut.ac.ir 11 Oct '10

11 Oct '10

Dear amsat member. I am a university student and research on getting stated with amsat satellites. could you please tell me what amsat satellites are in use and i can receive beacon and telemetry from them? also How do I can setup a UniTrac 2003 with a G-5500 rotor? Then with Nova? Thanks for your attention. Best Regards. N.Mahdinejad

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G-5500 Orientation
by Dean Maluski 10 Oct '10

10 Oct '10

I am installing a G-5500 Elevation rotor and trying to determine orientation of elevation with reference to software specifically rtrcontrold for Linux but I'd suspect this would be typical to most PC applications. If a sat is 45 degrees above horizon should rotor control read 45 or 135 degrees on the hardware control dial? What I'm asking is when I want to mount antenna where 90 degrees is horizontal or vertical? It seems natural that midway point is horizontal but midway point is 90 degrees. I don't think I ever have a reason to point antenna into the mud so it makes most sense that midway 90 degrees is straight up??

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ND9M Road Trip Update #6
by claryco＠aol.com 10 Oct '10

10 Oct '10

We'll be leaving the Glacier Nat'l Park vicinity around midday tomorrow (11 Oct) and start heading east. The following plans are tentative, and I'll update when I can. Although grid lines are measured linearly, the roads in this area aren't; mountains and foothills will eat up a lot of the afternoon's drive time. We're just a very few miles away from the DN28 / DN38 line, but we probably won't get to DN37 until mid- to late afternoon. The crystal ball puts us on the DN37 / DN47 line for the AO51 passes that rise locally at about 11/2142Z (low easterly) and 11/2318Z (high easterly). On Tuesday (12 Oct), I may still be in DN47 (on US 87) when HO68 comes up, but I'll try to be on the DN48 / DN58 line for the AO27 passes that rise locally at about 12/2002Z and 12/2142Z. We'll probably still be in DN58 when AO51 comes up. Three days is a lot to forecast, but we'll see about DN56 and DN57 for Wednesday. More to come... 73, Jim, ND9M / VQ9JC Columbia Falls MT / Flathead Co. / DN28

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ts790 split programming
by Gary Lockhart 10 Oct '10

10 Oct '10

I have the operating manual and followed the instructions for loading split freqs but I keep getting unexpected 2M freqs., just random changes from what I tried to load. Is it just a weak memory battery? Very little TS790 forum history for this problem or others for that matter. Off list reply is fine since this isn't really the mission of this bb. Gary AB3ID

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WD9EWK @ EN40/EN41, Monday (11 Oct) morning on AO51
by Patrick STODDARD 10 Oct '10

10 Oct '10

Hi! I made it to the EN40/EN41 boundary north of Galesburg IL, but not in time to work the eastern USA on an FM satellite. One very shallow AO51 pass out west, then two higher passes on AO7 and FO29, as the sun set this evening. I will go back to the same spot tomorrow morning for the AO51 passes at 1023 and 1202 UTC. I will look at other passes after these, but will probably start heading back toward Chicago after these passes. I may make a mid-morning detour to Davenport in Iowa (EN41) for a couple of passes, before hitting I-88 back to Chicago. Maybe on SO50, and/or an SSB bird. APRS is spotty in much of the Illinois flatlands, but I will run my VX-8GR with my position for that drive as WD9EWK-7 . You may see me at http://aprs.fi/wd9ewk-7 online. Thanks for all the QSOs today on all 3 FM birds, along with AO7 and FO29. I started my drive at EN51/EN52/EN61/EN62 after I left the Symposium, then an SO50 pass at the Illinois/Wisconsin state line north of Chicago (EN62), and other passes in that grid as well as EN51 and EN41 before reaching the EN40/EN41 boundary. And did I mention I was enjoying all of this? The rental car has over 350 miles (563km) on it so far since arriving in Chicago Thursday, and it will see at least 150 more miles (241km) for the drive back to Chicago. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - Galesburg, Illinois http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Successful Glide Test For Spacecraft
by B J 10 Oct '10

10 Oct '10

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1010/10ss2/ 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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I'd like your shack ideas
by David Giles 10 Oct '10

10 Oct '10

Hello All, The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter as I complete my shack renovations. Soon I will be at the all important stage of figuring out the best way to locate radios, computers, logbooks etc. This brings to mind a couple of questions. 1) Apart from the extra rotator controllers, the computer running a tracking program and the pre-dominance of VHF and UHF radios, are there any other accessories etc that distinguish a satellite operator from a 'normal' operator? 2) Given that you really find out how good you are when the PC crashes halfway during a QSO and you then have to manually operate two radios for Doppler shift and two rotator controllers as well as mic/key, what controls do you operate with each hand? Would a footswitch for PTT be worthwhile? 3) My planned layout is (from left to right): 19" rack holding various bits of equipment that I don't generally need to touch, TS-811 for 70cm, K3 for 2m, rotator control box, and computer. Eventually I will build a switchbox to use one headset between the two radios and place this between them. Though I have a TNC, I rarely do any digital work. Does this seem a logical layout for a right handed person? I will have the luxury of using a larger desk than before and the layout will be more horizontal than vertical. Contesters spend some effort on the ergonomics of their station. Any advice on how I could get mine right would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. 73 de David VK5DG (who is looking forward to getting back on the air).

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WD9EWK @ EN40/EN41 in 25 min
by Patrick STODDARD 10 Oct '10

10 Oct '10

Hi! WD9EWK will work 3 upcoming passes from the EN40/EN41 boundary north of Galesburg IL this evening. The passes.... 2358-0007 AO51 (very low to my west) 0004-0026 AO7 (if in mode B) 0013-0029 FO29 (I will switch over when I stop working anyone on AO7, or the whole pass if AO7 is not on) I should also be on AO51 tomorrow morning from either this boundary or in EN40, before moving back toward Chicago. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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EN51/EN52/EN61/EN62 @ 1501 UTC today, SO50
by Patrick STODDARD 10 Oct '10

10 Oct '10

Hi. One more from the 4-grid intersection in a few minutes, before heading up to Wisconsin. SO50, a nice high pass here. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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HO-68 video from yesterday now posted on YouTube
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 10 Oct '10

10 Oct '10

Hi! I'm still here at the AMSAT Symposium, and posted another video of working a satellite. Thanks to Adrian AA5UK, I just put a short video of me working the last half of an HO-68 pass from yesterday morning (approximately 1750-1756 UTC) on my YouTube channel. The video should be available shortly at: http://youtube.com/va7ewk Adrian and I were outside the hotel for this pass, and we were both listening to it and I was working stations. Then Adrian decided to whip out his camera and run video of me. The video is not of the entire pass, and I apologize that I did not recruit Adrian or someone else to film the full pass. Almost time for breakfast... 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Ideas, challenges (for a world wide network)
by PA3GUO 09 Oct '10

09 Oct '10

Hi Carlos ! Thank you very much for your report. Listening to the recordings at your site, I hear they have the same slight variation in volume as on one of my own PC's. I do not know yet what is causing this, but useful to get confirmed form your audio playback - thanks ! Honestly, we do not know what we want to do with this exactly. We need to develop new ideas and applications over time and from others around the world. Ideas: - remote monitor cubesat telemetry (scientific application) - world-wide broadcast of FM satellites (fun, demo) - live audio feedback of AO7 CW: stretch the footprint tests via internet - follow satellites while they travel around the world (multiple upstream stations needed) ... more ? Challenges: - fixed antenna vs beams (beams cannot aim at 2 at the same time) - fixed antenna give lower SNR - TS2000 (now) or SDR (only a receiver is needed, no full trx) - HW: it would be nice to have 1 SDR, with eg AO51+HO68+ISS all 3 frequencies monitored AND doppler compensated simultanious (PA3FWM like but then for sats - http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/) ... suggestions ? Today universities that launch a sat need to wait a few hours after launch before they can hear their own satellite. We often do this for them (ANDE-2 over Netherlands, Delfi-C3 over US first). Would be nice to have a system in place that solves this. Kind of like the GENSO http://www.genso.org/ project, but that by HAMs. Henk, PA3GUO http://www.pa3guo.com ---- Carlos Paoli <crpaoli(a)yahoo.com.br> schreef: > Hi Mike DK3WN, Henk PA3GUO and guys, Mike, unfortunately can not monitor your audio stream, the next time I'll be there, your site is very cool. Henk, I recorded orbits 3903 and 3916 and put on our website at http://www.sar.satfm.org/ also put a ISS record by the CT1EAT. I hope it is useful and that everyone will enjoy. 73, Carlos Paoli - PY2FFZ -- Henk, PA3GUO

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WD9EWK mini IL/WI/IA (maybe) road trip, Sunday/Monday
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 09 Oct '10

09 Oct '10

Hi! With the AMSAT Symposium wrapping up Sunday morning, and I don't fly back home until Monday afternoon, I am going to make use of the unlimited mileage on my little rental car for a day or so of sightseeing. And, yes, some satellite operating. After working from the 4-grid intersection with John K8YSE the past couple of mornings (EN51/EN52/EN61/EN62) and from outside the Symposium hotel (EN62aa) at other times, I will do some sightseeing in the area where I used to live north of Chicago. I plan on being up to the Wisconsin state line for at least one pass around midday (still in grid EN62, and possibly on the Illinois/Wisconsin state line), before making a hard drive toward grid EN40 in western Illinois. If all goes well, I hope to be on some passes in the late afternoon and early evening from out there. On Monday morning, I plan on working some passes from out that way - grids EN40 and/or EN41, in Illinois or *possibly* a very quick detour into Iowa to work a pass or two - before returning to O'Hare airport for the flight home. So far, around the Symposium site, I have not been able to get an APRS packet heard by the local digipeater network. I will have my VX-8GR squawking away once I start driving away from here, and that should be visible at http://aprs.fi/wd9ewk-7 if all goes well. As with my other trips where I work the satellites around the USA, there will be no need to send me QSL cards for contacts made with WD9EWK while I have been in Chicagoland. Please e-mail me with the QSO details, and I will be happy to send out cards. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - Elk Grove Village, Illinois http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Re: HO-68 audio stream
by Nader Omer 09 Oct '10

09 Oct '10

Gentlemen Mike DK3WN and Henks PA3GUO Thanks you very much Very very enjoyable to listen to the (HO-68) satellite after LOS. I heard myself with a delay of 5 or 6 seconds . If more stations from deferent location streaming the same Satellite we could follow the sat through the globe. This is a very practical teaching method to exchange the technique and skill among satellite fan community. Thanks again gentlemen 73 de Nader www.st2nh.com

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Re: HO-68 FM live audiostream on (Oct 9th)
by PA3GUO 09 Oct '10

09 Oct '10

It is still running, and we have a 10 degrees pass coming that bridges acros the Atlantic (Europe & North America). http://www.pa3guo.com/webradio.html Henk ---- PA3GUO <pa3guo(a)upcmail.nl> schreef: > HO-68 FM live audio stream will be running again the rest of today (Oct 8th): > http://www.pa3guo.com/webradio.html > > You will hear noise when the satellite is not overhead my station > (JO21RJ, Netherlands, Europe). > > Let me know if there would be interest to switch to AO51 or the 70cm > beacon of a Cubesat, for example tomorrow, Saturday Oct 9th. > > -- > Henk, PA3GUO -- Henk, PA3GUO

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Hayabusa Probe May Have Returned With Asteroid Material
by B J 09 Oct '10

09 Oct '10

http://spacecoalition.com/blog/japan%e2%80%99s-hayabusa-probe-tiny-asteroid… Results of further investigations are pending. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @DO33FL

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Any video being offered after the symposium?
by James French 09 Oct '10

09 Oct '10

Was wondering if there is going to be any video offered later on on the AMSAT web site from the Symposium? What I am most interested in is the following: Saturday, October 9 1500 - 1520 Stephen Turner K3HPA, 100 Watt VHF/UHF Amplifier Looks like I will have to get a copy of the proceedings in the next few months to read up on this also. James W8ISS

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HO-68 audio stream
by Mike Rupprecht 09 Oct '10

09 Oct '10

All, according Henks PA3GUO idea I will also stream the HO-68 FM transponder for test purposes this evening. http://www.dk3wn.info/webradio.php The times for my QTH JN49lr are: 09 Oct HO-68 17:24 to 17:39 UTC 17 deg pass 09 Oct HO-68 19:08 to 19:27 UTC 53 deg pass 09 Oct HO-68 20:56 to 21:15 UTC 41 deg pass Any comments are very appreciated. 73, Mike DK3WN

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Ground-based Transmitters Interfere With ESA Satellite
by B J 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMB5USOREG_index_0.html http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1010/07smos/ 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Colorado QSL Cards Update
by Zachary Beougher 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

Hi All, I received the QSL cards from UX5UO Print in the mail today (10/8), and I will get them out to everyone over the next couple days. If you have sent a request, and you do not receive your QSL card(s) within 3-4 weeks, please email me and I will resend it. Also, if you would like a card but have not sent one in yet, please follow the instructions on my QRZ.com page. Thanks again for the contacts! 73! Zack KD8KSN

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Arissat-1 at AMSAT Space Symposium
by Andrew Glasbrenner 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgNM290k7-w Sent from my iPhone

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Re: AO-7 mode A experieces from KP35
by Bob- W7LRD 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

Hello Mika and AO-7 fans I to have made many attempts at AO-7 mode A. These efforts go back to the days of RS-15. I have noticed that my HF antenna for 10M is a 4 element cubical quad. It is cut for a frequency much lower in the band. As a result the reflector seems to act more like a director at 29.45Mhz. Therefore signals are better off the back of my quad than the front. From Seattle Wa. CN87 I have made several attempts at JA contacts. Only one time I was able to copy a partial call from JA. Local U.S contacts are not a problem. When it comes to stretching the footprint that's where the "fun" begins. Mode A I think requires a bit more uplink power. If we ever get more sunspots propagation on the 10 meter gets interesting. I believe it was RS-13 that had a 15M uplink and a 10M downlink. You could work it at times way byond the horizon. Ahhh the "good" old days! Mika, send me note from time to time if you want to try a mode A attempt. We have done it many times on mode B. Good luck. 73 Bob W7LRD CN87wk ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mika Siira" <oh8mbn(a)suomi24.fi> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Sent: Friday, October 8, 2010 2:09:44 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-7 mode A experieces from KP35 Hello folks, I have been mostly mode B user on AO- 7 satellite but today I decided to try mode A from my summer QTH. I have two antennas for downlink (vertical and Spiderbeam with four elements for 28MHz) and no problems for receiving signals from the sat. Of course because of the polarsation change switching between these antennas during the pass gives best results. For the uplink I have used FT-817 (5w power) to 9- element yagi, unfortunately SWR is high above 145MHz. On every pass that I tried today I have heard my own signal on downlink (weak but heard). What is the recommended power level for mode A (if there is one)? From my previous visits to my summer QTH I have heard some japanese stations and satations from stateside, so this mode would be worth to try. On mode B from my city location 5-15 watts is well enough. What kind of antennas people are using on mode A? Mika, OH8MBN _______________________________________________ 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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AO-7 mode A experieces from KP35
by Mika Siira 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

Hello folks, I have been mostly mode B user on AO- 7 satellite but today I decided to try mode A from my summer QTH. I have two antennas for downlink (vertical and Spiderbeam with four elements for 28MHz) and no problems for receiving signals from the sat. Of course because of the polarsation change switching between these antennas during the pass gives best results. For the uplink I have used FT-817 (5w power) to 9- element yagi, unfortunately SWR is high above 145MHz. On every pass that I tried today I have heard my own signal on downlink (weak but heard). What is the recommended power level for mode A (if there is one)? From my previous visits to my summer QTH I have heard some japanese stations and satations from stateside, so this mode would be worth to try. On mode B from my city location 5-15 watts is well enough. What kind of antennas people are using on mode A? Mika, OH8MBN

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Fwd: [Moon-net] 432 EME
by Edward R. Cole 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

>At 10:06 AM 10/8/2010, Sebastian wrote: >>After being on 2 meter EME for about a month, I tuned my rig to 432 >>MHz this morning and copied OK1DFC at -20dB. I posted on the N0UK >>logger and Zdenek asked me to call him. I had nothing to lose so I >>obliged. Much to my surprise, we had a QSO, my first 432 EME contact. >> >>Next, DL7APV, Bernd asked me to look for him on 432. Bernd and I >>had a sked on 432 a few weeks ago, but neither one of us was able >>to be on the air at the time. Today, I copied him at -22dB and >>started to call him, he copied me and sent me my report, but then >>his signal was lost. Bernd said he had a problem with his power >>supply, as smoke was coming out. I do believe that is a >>problem! So we just missed completing the QSO. >> >>Finally, WA4NJP asked me to look for him on 432 as well. I copied >>him at -25dB but lost his trace. >> >>Many might be wondering why I'm posting this. Well it's because I >>didn't think I had any chance of anyone ever hearing me on 432 EME. >> >>My station: Kenwood TS-2000 with 50 watts output, into an M2 >>436CP30 single antenna & mast mounted preamp; this is a circularly >>polarized antenna which I use for satellite >>contacts. Unfortunately I'm in an area of the country where 50 >>watts is the maximum on 432 without special permission. >> >>So don't congratulate me, congrats go to OK1DFC, DL7APV and WA4NJP >>for having fantastic stations that can hear such faint weak signals! >> >>73 de Sebastian, W4AS EL95 > >But I will congratulate you for trying 70cm-eme with a small >station. Sebastian's example should encourage more non-eme'rs with >432 stations to try eme. > >I have only four contacts so far running 24w and 85w. I do have >more gain using my 4.9m dish, which is not exactly optimum at this >frequency, but may have about the gain of four yagis (est. 24-25 >dBi). I would not have tried it on 432 except the challenge of >receiving Arecibo prompted me to look around for a suitable >antenna. I would have used my M2 436CP42 (big brother to >Sebastian's antenna), but could not point it since I burnt out a >circuit in the az-el rotator. The M2 is part of my satellite >antenna system. BTW I copied HB9Q with that antenna a couple years ago. > >I hastily built a two element quad from insulated #12 house wire and >a short section of 1-inch pvc pipe for my feed. I installed my >Mirage D3010 on the back of the dish alongside my 60w 23cm PA. I >get 24w drive from the shack to drive the amp to 85w with about 79w >at the feed. > >But my first two contacts were with DL7APV and UA3PTW running my >FT-847 barefoot (24w at the dish). All my contacts are with larger >stations (as expected), but so what. If you get a few contacts and >like this, then maybe this will encourage building a larger station >for eme. Even if not, you can have some fun and provide new >contacts with the "big guys"! > >432 is currently the only band I am QRV (only temporarily). I have >some issues to work out on my 144 HVPS to be back on 2m-eme. I am >waiting delivery of a new 1296/28 xvtr to complete my station on 23cm. > >73, Ed - KL7UW >Bold face text my emphasis 73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45 ====================================== BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com EME: 144-QRT*, 432-100w, 1296-QRT*, 3400-winter? DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubususa(a)hotmail.com ====================================== *temp

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HO-68 FM live audiostream on (Oct 8th)
by PA3GUO 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

HO-68 FM live audio stream will be running again the rest of today (Oct 8th): http://www.pa3guo.com/webradio.html You will hear noise when the satellite is not overhead my station (JO21RJ, Netherlands, Europe). Let me know if there would be interest to switch to AO51 or the 70cm beacon of a Cubesat, for example tomorrow, Saturday Oct 9th. -- Henk, PA3GUO

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ANS-281 Special Bulletin - 2010 AMSAT Symposium Streaming via Echolink
by JoAnne Maenpaa 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-281.01 ANS-281 Special Bulletin - 2010 AMSAT Symposium Streaming via Echolink AMSAT News Service Bulletin 281.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 8, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-281.01 The 2010 AMSAT Space Symposium will make audio streaming of the presentations and the Annual General Meeting available via the AMSAT Node on Echolink. The full Symposium Schedule is available on-line at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/SymposiumSchedule.php A summary of the planned presentations follows below. The times listed are US Central Daylight Time (UTC - 5). Friday, October 8 1300 - 1315 Symposium Opening Remarks and Introductions 1315 - 1345 Mark Hammond N8MH, AO-51 Battery Capacity & Spin Trends 1345 - 1415 Paul Wiedemeier KE5LKY, GEO-Eagle Data Multicast 1415 - 1445 Keith Pugh W5IU, Amateur Radio on the ISS 1445 - 1500 Break 1500 - 1520 Keith Pugh W5IU, Successful Hamfest Satellite Demos 1520 - 1540 Tony Monteiro AA2TX, AMSAT-FOX Preview 1540 - 1600 Nick Pugh K5QXJ, Univ. of Louisiana Satellite Program 1600 - 1620 Tom Clark K3IO, ElmerSat - A Modest Proposal 1620 - 1640 Bob Bruninga WB4APR/Douglas Quagliana KA2UPW, Psat/APRS 1640 - 1710 Alex Harvilchuck N3NP, NextGen Satellite 1710 - 1715 Closing Remarks Saturday, October 9 0745 - 0800 Opening Remarks/ Tony Monteiro AA2TX, ARISSat-1 Team Introduction 0800 - 0830 Gould Smith WA4SXM, ARISSat-1 Overview 0830 - 0900 Tony Monteiro AA2TX, ARISSat-1 Software Radio Technology 0900 - 0930 Phil Karn KA9Q, BPSK-1000 format for ARISSat-1 0930 - 1000 Douglas Quagliana KA2UPW, ARISSatTLM Software 1000 - 1010 Break 1010 - 1030 Robert Davis KF4KSS, Calculating Available Power 1030 - 1050 Tony Monteiro AA2TX, ARISSat-1 Power System 1050 - 1120 Gould Smith WA4SXM, Assembling ARISSat-1 1120 - 1150 Robert Davis KF4KSS, ARISSat-1 Vibration Testing 1150 - 1200 ARISSat-1 Wrap up 1200 - 1300 Lunch Break Saturday, October 9 1300 - 1330 Awards Presentations 1330 - 1400 Barry Baines WD4ASW, AMSAT and ITAR: Lessons Learned 1400 - 1420 Bruce Perens K6BP, Codec2 Alpha V0.1/LGPL license 1420 - 1440 Mike Stipick KC4RI, Computerized Satellite Tracking 1440 - 1500 Bob McGwier N4HY, Flex Radio V/U Module 1500 - 1520 Stephen Turner K3HPA, 100 Watt VHF/UHF Amplifier 1520 - 1530 Break 1530 - 1700 Annual General Meeting [ANS thanks the 2010 Symposium Committee for the above information] /EX

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WD9EWK & K8YSE @ EN51/EN52/EN61/EN62 in 15 min
by Patrick STODDARD 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

Hi! John K8YSE and I will be on the upcoming SO50 pass at 1402 UTC from the EN51/EN52/EN61/EN62 intersection southwest of the AMSAT Symposium. One pass only, then back to the hotel. Photos for VUCC validation have been taken by both of us. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Corrected passes for demo
by Bob Herrell 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

Hi all, This Saturday Jason (N5NBJ) and I will be conducting a Satellite Demo for the Northwest Arkansas UHF Group in Springdale, AR. EM26 We will be using the callsign N5NBJ. Hope to be able to work the following passes: SO-50 Sat 16:13Z HO-68 Sat 17:44Z SO-50 Sat 17:55Z (Might be too low) AO-27 Sat 18:06Z ( Might be too low) AO-27 Sat 19:43Z We will be using an Arrow & FT-817ND, plus TH- D7A & Elk Will also have the IC-910H on display, hooked to my laptop running Windows 7 and SatPC32. Hope to work you during the demo. 73, Bob Herrell, AJ5C AMSAT # 36645

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2M1EUB/P QRV SCOTLAND
by paul robinson 08 Oct '10

08 Oct '10

Hi group just a reminder im qrv from this weekend for 14 days in scotland,the first 7 days at my normal qth then the last 7 days from the north west coast,should be interesting from the new grid sq,...qrz for latest info 2m1eub........73 de paul 2E1EUB

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Top 100 Photographs
by Clint Bradford 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

The European Southern Observatory is a veritable factory of mind-blowing space photos, and now they've compiled their top 100 images ever all in one place. You could win a trip to the observatory in Chile by finding more treasures in the photo archive. Here are some of Wired Magazine's favorites for inspiration. http://t.co/m6SHxEj

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thanks for AO-51 & FO-29 QSOs today!
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

Hi! Thanks for all the QSOs on AO-51 and FO-29 this afternoon/evening, from the parking lot of the Holiday Inn hosting this year's AMSAT Symposium here in the Chicago area (grid EN62aa). With 15 QSOs on the AO-51 pass at 2235 UTC, and 5 more on the FO-29 pass around 2330 UTC, it was a great way to enjoy the nice weather outside the hotel. Thanks to W4DFU for showing up on both of these passes, as part of the College Satellite Night. For both of these passes, I had audiences - something I had not planned on. I'm not operating as an "official station" for the Symposium, but as an opportunity to work from yet another different location. I had an audience of 1 for the AO-51 pass (Mark N8MH wandered out to see what I was doing), then a larger audience when I was on FO-29. I'm sorry I didn't note the names and calls of everyone who was outside for the later pass. Along with John K8YSE, the rest of the crowd were hams from the Chicago area - most of whom John and I followed to a nearby restaurant for dinner after that pass. Photos were taken, so they may surface at some point. :-) I'm looking forward to the official start of the Symposium tomorrow afternoon. I plan on working a few more passes between now and Sunday morning, and then more activity once the Symposium closes before returning home Monday evening. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - Elk Grove Village, Illinois http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Satellite Demo from NW Arkansas (EM26)
by Bob Herrell 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

Hi all, This Saturday I and Jason (N5NBJ) will be conducting a Satellite Demo for the Northwest Arkansas UHF Group in Springdale, AR. EM26 We will be using the callsign N5NBJ. Hope to be able to work the following passes: HO-68 Sat 15:56 SO-50 Sat 16:13 HO-68 Sat 17:44 SO-50 Sat 17:55 AO-27 Sat 18:06 ( Might be too low) AO-27 Sat 19:43 We will be using an Arrow & FT-817ND, plus TM- D7A & Elk. Will also have the IC-910H on display, hooked to my laptop running Windows 7 and SatPC32. Hope to work you during the demo. 73, Bob Herrell, AJ5C AMSAT # 36645 PS - My OSCAR VUCC is at ARRL along with OSCAR WAS.

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Sebastian Mohr
by Aj9n 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

http://www.japesca.com.br/net.php

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HO-68 Schedule 10-17 Oct 2010
by Alan Kung 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

UTC: 10 Oct 2010 ================================ 17:00...Turn On--CW/SSB India, Africa, Middle East, Europe,NA 17:45...Turn Off 18:50...Turn On--CW/SSB Africa,Europe,Middle East,NA 19:35...Turn Off 20:15...Turn On--CW/SSB Africa,Europe,Middle East,NA 21:00...Turn Off 22:55...Turn On--CW/SSB South America,NA,North Asia 23:40...Turn Off 11 Oct 2010 ================================ 02:35...Turn On--CW/SSB North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 02:50...Turn Off 13:30...Turn On--CW/SSB NA,South America 14:15...Turn Off 16:40...Turn On--CW/SSB India, Africa, Middle East, Europe,NA 17:25...Turn Off 18:35...Turn On--CW/SSB NA,East Asia,Oceania 19:20...Turn Off 22:35...Turn On--CW/SSB NA,North Asia,East Asia, Oceania 23:20...Turn Off 12 Oct 2010 ================================ 02:20...Turn On--CW/SSB North Asia, East Asia,South Asia 02:35...Turn Off 10:35...Turn On--CW/SSB Oceania,Asia,Europe 11:20...Turn Off 13:15...Turn On--CW/SSB NA, South America 14:00...Turn Off 16:25...Turn On--CW/SSB India,Middle East,Europe,NA 17:10...Turn Off 18:15...Turn On--CW/SSB India,Middle East,Europe,NA 19:00...Turn Off 19:40...Turn On--CW/SSB Africa,Europe,NA 20:25...Turn Off 13 Octp 2010 ================================= 00:10...Turn On--CW/SSB North Asia,East Asia,South Asia Oceania 00:55...Turn Off 02:00...Turn On--CW/SSB North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 02:15...Turn Off 13:00...Turn On--CW/SSB Europe,NA,South America 13:45...Turn Off 16:10...Turn On--CW/SSB India, Africa,Europe,NA South America 16:55...Turn Off 18:00...Turn On--CW/SSB Africa,Middle East,Europe,NA 18:45...Turn Off 19:25...Turn On--CW/SSB Africa,Middle East,Europe,NA 20:10...Turn Off 14 Oct 2010 ================================= 23:50...Turn On--CW/SSB NA,North Asia,East Asia,Oceania 00:35...Turn Off 01:45...Turn On--CW/SSB Asia,Oceania 02:00...Turn Off 12:40...Turn On--CW/SSB Europe,NA,South America 13:25...Turn Off 16:00...Turn On--CW/SSB Africa,India,Middle East Europe,NA 16:45...Turn Off 17:45...Turn On--CW/SSB Africa,Europe,NA 18:30...Turn Off 19:10...Turn On--CW/SSB Africa,Europe,NA 19:55...Turn Off 15 Oct 2010 ================================ 23:35...Turn On--CW/SSB Oceania,Asia,Europe,NA 00:20...Turn Off 01:25...Turn On--CW/SSB North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 01:40...Turn Off 12:25...Turn On--CW/SSB Europe, NA,South America 13:10...Turn Off 17:20...Turn On--FM India,Africa,Europe,NA 18:05...Turn Off 19:15...Turn On--FM India,Africa,Europe,NA 20:00...Turn Off 20:40...Turn On--FM Africa,Europe,NA 21:25...Turn Off 23:15...Turn On--FM South America,NA,North Asia 00:00...Turn Off 16 Oct 2010 ================================ 01:10...Turn On--FM North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 01:25...Turn Off 02:55...Turn On--FM North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 03:10...Turn Off 13:55...Turn On--FM Europe, NA,South America 14:40...Turn Off 17:05...Turn On--FM Africa,Europe,NA 17:50...Turn Off 18:55...Turn On--FM India,Africa,Europe,NA 19:40...Turn Off 20:25...Turn On--FM Africa,Europe,NA 21:10...Turn Off 23:00...Turn On--FM North Asia,East Asia, South Asia,Oceania 23:45...Turn Off 17 Oct 2010 ================================ 02:40...Turn On--FM North Asia,East Asia,South Asia Oceania 02:55...Turn Off 13:40...Turn On--FM Europe,NA,South America 14:25...Turn Off 16:50...Turn On--FM Africa,Europe,NA 17:35...Turn Off 18:40...Turn On--FM India,Africa,Europe,NA 19:25...Turn Off 20:05...Turn On--FM Africa,Europe,NA 20:45...Turn Off 22:45...Turn On--FM North Asia,East Asia, South Asia,Oceania 73 Alan Kung, BA1DU HO-68(XW-1) Project Manager www.camsat.cn

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WD9EWK on AO51 & FO29 from Symposium this afternoon
by Patrick STODDARD 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

Hello from Chicagoland! I arrived at the AMSAT Symposium an hour or so ago, and will be here through Sunday morning. Until the Symposium wraps up, I will work selected passes. For this afternoon, WD9EWK will be on the following passes: AO51, 2235-2249 UTC FO29, 2327-2344 UTC The Symposium site is in grid EN62aa. Great weather here, and the AMSAT Board meeting that's going on now has been interesting so far. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - Elk Grove Village, Illinois http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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HO-68 FM live audiostream also on today (Oct 7th)
by PA3GUO 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

Also today (Oct 7) the HO-68 FM live audio stream will be running all day: http://www.pa3guo.com/webradio.html You will hear noise when the satellite is not overhead my station (JO21RJ, Netherlands, Europe). Last night there was quite some (very disciplined) activity with many countries present. Henk, PA3GUO The Netherlands

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Re: I'd like your shack ideas
by Clint Bradford 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

David, the ARRL Map #8804 sure looks cool on one's wall ... -Clint, K6LCS ARRL Amateur Radio Map of the World (Robinson) Full-color laminated prefix map (26 x 34.5 inches). Order No. 8804 - $15.00

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Re: SatPC32 Help Needed
by Wayne Estes 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

David Palmer wrote: I seem to have to adjust ± 100 to 200 Hz at the start of the pass, and periodically during the pass, to keep my return pitch constant. Wayne replies: I have to make similar corrections when SatPC32 tunes my FT-847. One likely cause is that the radio's local oscillator drifts slightly when transmitting due to heat generated by the transmitter. My FT-847 transmit frequency drifts noticeably when I transmit on 435 MHz with high power. It drifts less when I transmit at low power. Unless your radios have high-stability oscillators I think it's normal to need to correct the frequencies by 100-200 Hz. From one pass to another, the local oscillator on the satellite might also drift slightly due to changes in temperature. Wayne Estes W9AE Oakland, Oregon, USA, CN83ik

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ND9M Road Trip Update #5
by claryco＠aol.com 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

Cori and I will be in the Glacier Nat'l Park area for a couple more days. She's under the weather after two weeks of camping in the other parks, so we're done with camping for the time being. Most of our time here is in DN38, but our motel is just across the line in DN28, so I'm putting out both grids depending on where we are when pass time comes. We'll likely start out on the "official" return trip on Saturday. Our plan at that time is to head east along the 47 North latitude across Montana, through North Dakota, and into Minnesota before turning south. FM sats are still the birds of choice, mainly because I've made so few contacts on the various linear sats that I've been on. Setting up and breaking down the portable station takes up to a half hour, and since this is still a vacation trip rather than an actual grid-pedition, I'm inclined to stick to that regimen. That said, if someone needs me to be on one of the linear sats, feel free to contact me off list and I'll do my best to work something out. Depending on where we are at any given time, both e-mail and cell service (850.960.8566) may be intermittent, but let's give it a try anyway. 73, Jim, ND9M / VQ9JC Columbia Falls MT / Flathead Co. / DN28

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Re: Is AO-51 in PBBS mode?
by Mark Hammond 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

Hi Bruce, Yes the 1.2g uplink should work. Colin VK5HI reported recent success accessing the pbbs. Mark Hammond -----Original Message----- From: Bruce Semple <bruce.semple(a)verizon.net> Sent: October 06, 2010 9:20 PM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Is AO-51 in PBBS mode? I see that the schedule calls for it to be in PBBS mode -- but is it really? I was seeing all the telemetry frames -- but no PECHO-11, PECHO-12 .. Bruce WA3SWJ _______________________________________________ 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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Is AO-51 in PBBS mode?
by Bruce Semple 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

I see that the schedule calls for it to be in PBBS mode -- but is it really? I was seeing all the telemetry frames -- but no PECHO-11, PECHO-12 .. Bruce WA3SWJ

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AMSAT Symposium This Weekend Near O'Hare Airport in Elk Grove Village, IL
by Mark Thompson 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Note: More information about the symposium in attached files & at www.amsat.org/amsat-new/2010/index.php Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2010 22:07:40 GMT From: "uco(a)juno.com" <uco(a)juno.com> Subject: MAMSAT SYMPOSIUM THIS WEEK - CHICAGO To: ARISSat-1 will be the presented in detail during the Saturday morning sessions at the AMSAT 2010 Space Symposium and Annual Meeting which will be held on Friday, October 8 through Sunday, October 10. AMSAT Vice-President of Engineering Tony Montiero, AA2TX and ARISSat Project Manager Gould Smith, WA4SXM along with ARISSat team members will host the Saturday ARRISat-1 sessions including: * ARISSat-1 Overview * Software Radio Technology * BPSK-1000 format for ARISSat-1 * ARISSatTLM - Software Demodulator and Telemetry Program * Calculating Available Power (Examples: ARISSat & Fox) * Power System * Assembling ARISSat-1 * ARISSat-1 Vibration Testing The team plans to have a working ARISSat-1 prototype attending the Symposium. ARISSat-1 design and operations are discussed in detail in these papers published in the 2010 Symposium Proceedings book: * ARISSat-1 Overview by Tony Monteiro AA2TX * ARISSat-1 Power System by Tony Monteiro AA2TX * Software Radio Technology on ARISSat-1 by Tony Montiero AA2TX * ARISSatTLM - A Software Demodulator and Telemetry Display Program for the ARISSat-1 Satellite by Douglas Quagliana KA2UPW * BPSK-1000 format for ARISSat-1 by Phil Karn KA9Q An additional feature presentation and paper will introduce you to AMSAT's next satellite ... AMSAT-FOX Preview by Tony Monteiro, AA2TX. The AMSAT 2010 Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting will be held at the Chicago/Elk Grove Holiday Inn which is near O'Hare Airport. On-line registration for the Symposium continues on-line at the AMSAT Store. The registration fee is $45.00 from now through 5 October. Online registration closes 5 October at Midnight. Registration at the door will be $50.00. 73, John - AG9D Symposium Host Committee

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Re: LHCP or RHCP?
by Tom 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Perhaps I should have worded my question differently. I understand the concept of circular polarization and the reasons for it. What I should have asked was "Is one direction preferred over the other for working the satellites?". Thanks for all the excellent info and I think what I've learned is that the ability to switch between directions of polarization is best but RHCP is preferred if only one direction is available. Domenico, thanks for the attachments. Good stuff which I had not seen before! Tom - K0TW > If I'm building an antenna of circular polarization for use with the birds > what determines if it should be LHCP or RHCP? I've read the ARRL Satellite > Handbook and "sort of" searched the AMSAT-BB archives but found nothing > about this question. > >Thanks. >Tom - K0TW

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AMSAT Awards
by Bruce 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Here are the awards that I have processed over the last month or so. The following have entered into the Satellite Communicators Club for making their first satellite QSO. Jay Kendall, N2JK Darek Dabek, SP9TTX Marisuz Kocot, SQ9MES The following have earned the AMSAT Communications Achievement Award. Bob Herrell, AJ5C #517 Jim Adams, K0BAM #518 Leo Hucin, OK2UUJ #519 Jay Kendall, N2JK #520 The following have earned the South Africa AMSAT Communications Achievement Award Jim Adams, K0BAM #US149 Jay Kendall, N2JK #US150 Marisuz Kocot, SQ9MES #US151 The following have earned the AMSAT Century Club Award John Papay, K8YSE #39 The following have earned the W4AMI Satellite Communications Achievement award Bob Herrell, AJ5C, #64 Zachary Beougher, KD8KSN #65 Mariusz Kocot, SQ9MES, #66 (plus 1 endorsement) Darek Dabek, SP9TTX, #67 (plus 3 endorsements) The following have earned the W4AMI 5000 Satellite Communications Achievement award Darek Dabek, SP9TTX #24 To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes

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Re: LHCP or RHCP?
by PA3GUO 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Mak SV1BSX (SK) visualized it nicely here: http://sv1bsx.50webs.com/antenna-pol/polarization.html .. but best is to wait for Domenico to jump in :-) (Domenico, one day you need to publish your excellent lectures on the internet !) -- Henk, PA3GUO

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Re Re: LHCP or RHCP?
by i8cvs 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Hi Henk PA3GUO In a separate email I have sent to you what in my opinion is the best and easy to understand article about the use of circular polarization written by K4KJ "The advantages of circular polarization" If anybody is interested on it please let me know. 73" de i8CVS Domenico ----- Original Message ----- From: "PA3GUO" <pa3guo(a)upcmail.nl> To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 9:25 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: LHCP or RHCP? Mak SV1BSX (SK) visualized it nicely here: http://sv1bsx.50webs.com/antenna-pol/polarization.html .. but best is to wait for Domenico to jump in :-) (Domenico, one day you need to publish your excellent lectures on the internet !) -- Henk, PA3GUO

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LHCP or RHCP?
by Tom 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

On the premise that the only dumb question is the one that goes unasked, here goes. If I'm building an antenna of circular polarization for use with the birds what determines if it should be LHCP or RHCP? I've read the ARRL Satellite Handbook and "sort of" searched the AMSAT-BB archives but found nothing about this question. Thanks. Tom - K0TW

5 5

Help required for KiwiSAT.
by Terry Carrell 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

>From the KiwiSAT team. Can you help us? We require four (4) Cypress CY7C383A-0JC or QuickLogic QL12x16-2PL68C FPGA chips, used & un-programmed. To date we have had 2 lots of 4 from two different sources but all proved to have been compromised and could not be programmed. We had a small stock but they have all been used during our development work and while we can purchase new units, the source requires us to buy a significant number more than our requirement which is proving to be very expensive. We are happy to pay for good units once we have confirmed they are clean. A matter of twice bitten, thrice shy. These chips will fly so it is important we have perfect units. If you help in any way, please let me know. Terry, ZL3QL. – AMSAT-ZL

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Symposium Audio/Video Feed?
by Joseph Armbruster 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Attn: Symposium Coordinators Will there be an audio or video feed coming from the symposium this year? Unfortunately, I am unable to attend in person this year. However, I would love to tune in to hear the latest news and what is planned for the future. Thank you! Joseph Armbruster

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S band
by Jack Barbera 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Need a little help. First I'd like to thank everyone for your answers to my question concerning ISS beacon. I am all set to add L band to my station using my IC910 including Rohn 25 folder over tower to be mounted to the side of my house. While I'm at it I wonder if it would make sense to add S band as well, if so, should I add transmitting as well as receiving capabilitie? Should I use a two meter or a 70 cm radio knowing that two meter would provide less loss? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated & most likley I will have further questions as I get into this project. Thanks for any input. Jack WA1ZDV

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HO-68 FM audiostream via internet
by PA3GUO 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

HO-68 is in FM mode, I will put a live audiostream this evening at: http://www.pa3guo.com/webradio.html There is approx. a 12 seconds delay. 18:10...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Middle East,Europe,NA 18:55...Turn Off 19:35...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Middle East,Europe,NA 20:20...Turn Off Depending on the interest I may leave it on also the next days. Henk, PA3GUO

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Re: SatPC32 Help Needed
by Edward R. Cole 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

David, I'll step in here with a brief comment which you may already have considered: Doppler frequency offset changes throughout a pass, so if you transmit on a fixed frequency on the uplink, the downlink frequency will change due both due to Doppler effects on the uplink and downlink frequencies. If this is mode-UV the amount of Doppler will be more on the uplink due to the higher frequency. Another effect that many do not take into mind is that Doppler changes at a non-linear rate; in other words it changes faster near the point where Doppler goes from positive shift to negative shift in the rest frequency of the satellite. I know it sounds like a lot of math. But as an operator you just need only realize that this will happen resulting in tuning the signal over the duration of the pass (tune faster at mid-point of pass). When one gets up to modes like LS, it gets more challenging because both Doppler and rate of Doppler change are greater. Probably should consider computer tuning of the radio at this point. Note that Leo satellites go thru faster frequency change due to the quicker pass overhead. Heo's taking hours for a pass require retuning less often. Others may provide more definitive help with your question. 73, Ed - KL7UW At 11:35 AM 10/6/2010, David Palmer wrote: >Hi Guy and Amsat-List! > >I'd like to know the answer to this too! I just recently started >using twin FT-817ND's and SatPC32 as well, and notice the exact same >thing -- audio drifts slightly thorughout the pass, even though I have >the dopper correction set pretty close. For me, it only drifts a few >hundred Hz at most, but it's still enough that I have to tweak the >offset on the uplink. I'm new to SSB sats so not sure as well if >there's something I'm doing wrong. I've got the time on the PC clock >set within 1 second, and my lat/long within 0.01 degrees. > >I'm measuring the drift just roughly based on my own audio coming back >over the downlink -- unfortunately as I've called CQ on FO-29 and >VO-52 the last few evening's passes (0100-0500 UTC), no one else has >been on the sats for a direct QSO! My own audio comes back nice and >clear (even out to 5 degrees elevation) so it's not a reception >problem, as far as I know. > >Any help for those of us new to the satellites would be appreciated! > >Thanks, > >Dave KB5WIA CM88 Northern California >2xFT817-ND, Elk Log-Periodic, MH-72 Duplexer, Samsung Netbook running SatPC32. > > > Is anyone else using two Yaesu FT-817 > > / 857 / 897 rigs with SatPC32? If so, what do you think I am doing wrong > > and what are your DOPPLER.SQF data lines for AO-7, VO-52, and > FO-29 (as well > > as any other critical settings)? > >_______________________________________________ >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, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45 ====================================== BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com EME: 144-QRT*, 432-100w, 1296-QRT*, 3400-winter? DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubususa(a)hotmail.com ====================================== *temp

2 1

SatPC32 Help Needed
by Guy Brauning 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Thanks for reading this. I recently installed SatPC32 from an AMSAT purchased CD onto a new WIN 7 laptop with a dual-core Pentium processor. The laptop is interfaced with a Yaesu FT-857D for 144MHZ and a Yaesu FT-897D for 432 MHZ. The interface is via a STAR-TECH Express Card serial adapter which provides 2 COM ports. The program installed properly, I updated the KEPs file, and the program controls the radios. My problem is that I can't fine tune the Doppler shift properly for my set-up. I have tried using the CAT Tuning dialog box to adjust the Downlink in order to hear my own CW signal in the downlink, then reset the downlink adjustment to zero, and then adjust the Uplink by the same frequency amount in the opposite direction, and then save the uplink calibration. I was able to get AO-7 mode B working pretty well using this technique; however, for VO-52 even when I adjust the downlink to hear myself and then change the uplink and store the change, my signal is no longer heard in the downlink... even before saving any changes, I have to continually adjust the downlink in order to hear my own signal as my signal will move out of the downlink ....I can't seem to find the correct Doppler corrected frequency pair... I thought that once I adjusted the downlink so that my signal was peaked that that would be a constant "correction" throughout the pass. Are there other adjustments that I need to try in addition to the uplink calibration? FO-29 is even harder to try and figure out than AO-7 and VO-52. Is anyone else using two Yaesu FT-817 / 857 / 897 rigs with SatPC32? If so, what do you think I am doing wrong and what are your DOPPLER.SQF data lines for AO-7, VO-52, and FO-29 (as well as any other critical settings)? I have been manually adjusting for Doppler shift for about a year on the linear satellites but I never got proficient enough to tune around the passband and answer other calls... I just parked myself on an open frequency and called until someone answered me. I can greatly appreciate the benefits of Full Doppler Tuning, I just can't seem to configure SatPC32 in order to take advantage of it! I live in central Maryland, FM-19. Thanks for the help, Guy Brauning N3SCR guyjeanbraun(a)comcast.net

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Possible ops from rare grids ..
by John D'Ausilio 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

I'm making a trip to the canadian maritimes .. I've borrowed an Arrow antenna, have a number of radios (still trying to find my VX-5 which is missing) .. should be able to do FM and maybe SSB/CW as well .. I'm staying in GN06, will certainly be in FN96/95 .. might be able to do GN05 then on the way home were going to Halifax, if there's a grid there that's near and dear to anyone's heart let me know direct. I'll try and identify specific passes once the route is settled, and I'll post updates here (unless there's a better place to do so?) de w1rt/john

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Re: LHCP or RHCP?
by PA3GUO 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Not sure which to pick, but having both is valuable. For example HO68 is tumbling a lot (looking at my switching between L and RHCP). AO51 has more stable results: 435.300 vs 435.150 ((I always forget which one is what). 73, Henk -- Henk, PA3GUO

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Mini-Grid Expedition CP28
by John Boudreau 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

I'll be travelling tomorrow (Oct 7) to Aklavik, NT and will be active on the following passes as VE8EV/P from CP28 : Time-On Time-Off Satellite Coverage Area 1622z 1637z HO-68 Europe, North America 1645z 1657z SO-50 North America 1810z 1828z HO-68 Europe, North America 1830z 1836z SO-50 North America 1959z 2005z HO-68 Europe, Canada 2051z 2052z AO-27 North America 2108z 2119z AO-51 North America 2245z 2255z AO-51 North America 73 John - VE8EV

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Test
by WCP 05 Oct '10

05 Oct '10

Test

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Office Closed
by Martha 05 Oct '10

05 Oct '10

The AMSAT Office will be closed from Wednesday, October 6 - Monday, October 11th. We will reopen on Tuesday, October 12th. -- 73- Martha

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Iceland on AO-51
by Luc Leblanc 05 Oct '10

05 Oct '10

Ari TF3ARI from Reykjavik Iceland was active this morning on AO51 i just getting him at a very low elevation for him at 1102Z this morning. Temp in Reykjavik 8C here 6C "-" Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe DSTAR urcall VE2DWE WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE

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OSCAR-11 Report
by Clive Wallis 05 Oct '10

05 Oct '10

OSCAR-11 REPORT 30 September 2010 This report covers the period from 30 March to 30 September 2010. During this time the satellite was silent until it was heard by JA0CAW on 29 August. Since then, it was heard until 08 September and from 18 to 29 September. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. There has been a significant change since the previous period of activity which ended in March 2010. The on-board clock is now very stable. It's gained only three seconds in 30 days. This is comparable with its accuracy when the satellite was fully operational. During its first 21 years it gained approximately one minute per year. However, there is still an accumulated loss of 309 days, which has occurred during eclipses of the last few years.! The other change is that it's now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery. These two changes suggest that some part of the system may have recently failed 'open circuit' thus reducing the overall power drain of the system, and allowing more power to be available during eclipses. There was an unexplained current drain observed when analogue telemetry was last transmitted. This fault might have cleared. Interestingly, the status telemetry shows that the Digital Store & Readout experiment has switched off, since the satellite was previously heard in February. The satellite appears to be operating for ten days on, followed by ten days off, so it should start transmitting again around 09 October. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF Reception reports have been received from Bernard FY1LE, Roland DG1EBR, Mike DK3WN, Tetsu JA0CAW, Adam SQ8MFC, MM0DNX, Tony VK3KKP/G8HIM, Martin DC1MAR, John M0BIC, Etienne F1GRR and Carlos KD6GRF. Many thanks to everyone. Many reports have also been added to the live satellite status page, on the website set up by David KD5QGR and Bob WB4APR. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites. Strongly recommended for future reports! The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php For the benefit of new listeners, here is a short history of OSCAR-11. It was lauched in 1984, providing telemetry and other digital services for amateur radio and educational users. During its many years of operation it survived long periods of eclipses and continuous full sunlight. In 2002 the satellite reverted to its default mode of operation, controlled by the watchdog timer. In 2005 all the analogue telemetry channels failed. Solar eclipses also started to cause the watchdog timer cycle to reset, which switched off the satellite for approximately 15 days. In 2008 solar eclipses became a permanent feature of every orbit, causing the satellite to switch off for about 15 days, probably after only one orbit of transmission. Thus the satellite was not expected to be heard again for any continuous period until 2019, when there will be some eclipse free periods. However, the satellite started transmissions unexpectedly in November 2008. These continued until March, when it was followed by silence until until the recent period of activity. OSCAR-11 transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. The satellite has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending "di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah" sent over a period of five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency and should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband. Please note that you need a clean noise-free signal to decode the signals, and your receiver must be set to NBFM mode, for a decoder to work. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 sounds like, there is an audio clip on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk/ which may be useful for identification and as a test signal for decoding. The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, but is now incrementing accurately to within a few seconds per month. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed. The watchdog timer now operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations have shown this to be 20.7 days, ie. 10.3 day s ON followed by 10.4 days OFF. Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to hear. The last telemetry received from the satellite is available for download. The website contains an archive of news & telemetry data which is updated from time to time. It also contains details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk . If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT149.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xxxxx(a)amsat.org (please replace xxxxx by g3cwv)

4 3

RS-15 Beeping
by Armando Mercado 04 Oct '10

04 Oct '10

Hi all, Today is the 53rd anniversary of Sputnik 1. By coincidence, instead of its usual continuous carrier, RS-15 is beeping. 73, Armando, N8IGJ

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ND9M Road Trip #4
by claryco＠aol.com 04 Oct '10

04 Oct '10

Sorry for the late notice, but I'll be heading for the DN46 / DN47 grid line for today's AO51 pass that rises locally at 04/2258Z, allowing for road conditions of course. Cori and I will leave Butte tomorrow and head for the northerly US grids in DN2x and DN3x. 73, Jim, ND9M / VQ9JC Butte MT / Silver Bow Co. / DN35

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Fwd: AMSAT at the NASM (Hispanic Heritage Month) - October 16, 2010, last call for volunteers
by Samudra Haque 04 Oct '10

04 Oct '10

Hello all, please note the upcoming special event on the 16th of October, 2010. I would like to remind AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-DC members I am still taking volunteers for this event. Please contact me directly for details, and any co-ordination for travel to NASM, or if you have any items to contribute for the day, I can arrange for a pickup. Samudra Haque, N3RDX & S21X Alexandria, VA 22310 (202) 812-3325 samudra.haque(a)gmail.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Samudra Haque <samudra.haque(a)gmail.com> Date: Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 3:55 PM Subject: AMSAT at the NASM (Hispanic Heritage Month) - October 16, 2010, First call for volunteers To: Amsat-bb <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> Hello AMSAT-NA and others, if you are interested in volunteering for AMSAT outreach activities, please consider the following event that is being organized by the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. The last event at the NASM was Space Day, which included a live ARISS contact and AMSAT display stands with a variety of equipment and presentations. Event: Hispanic Heritage Month Family day—Argentina in Air and Space Location: National Air and Space Museum Date: Saturday, October 16, 2010 Time: 10 AM – 3 PM I am volunteering to organize AMSAT's participation for the event. Please contact me through e-mail if you are interested and able to participate in any form. I will need to know: * Can you volunteer any exhibition/display resources (pictures, posters, etc.) ? * Can you volunteer your time on October 16, 2010 for any portion? * Can you provide any presentation materials relevant to Argentina in Air and Space? * Will you require transportation? etc. etc. Additional info from NASM: NASM is looking for AMSAT members who would be interested in talking to the visitors about satellites. Because the focus of the day is Argentina, we are particularly interested in people with expertise in Argentinean satellites. Bonus points for members how can discuss Pehuensat-1 because Pablo de Leon, who was the payload manager, will be a featured speaker at the event. Expectations: AMSAT members would set-up tables with equipment, posters, and other items of interest to visitors. These tables would be staffed throughout the day by AMSAT members. You are welcome to volunteer for a couple of hours or the whole day. Free parking will be provided all, and lunch will be provided for people who volunteer the whole day. This event will celebrate both the centennial and bicentennial of Argentina. For the centennial celebration we will focus on Jorge Newberry and lighter than air. For the bicentennial (which is this year) the focus will be on Argentina’s accomplishments in space. The linchpin of this portion of the program will be Pablo de Leon. He has been involved with a number of projects for the NASA and CONAE. Based on his accomplishments a special feature will focus on space suit design, development and production—ILC Dover has agreed to bring some of the people who make the actual suits. I have already outlined some of his involvement in satellites. In addition to that, CONAE is sending a large model of the SAC-D satellite and I am hopeful to have some the Aquarius team involved as well.

1 0

College Satellite this Thursday evening
by Dr. Jay Garlitz 04 Oct '10

04 Oct '10

It's time for another College Satellite night! We hope to see you on the birds Thursday evening October 7th from 22:00 UTC to 0500 UTC. College Satellite nights are a monthly event held the first Thursday of the month. Mark your calendar and spread the word to college hams/club stations that you know! College club stations plan on being on birds AO51, SO50, AO7, VO52, HO-68 and more. Please give these stations a call and work them.they will identify their college club identity along with their call sign. 73, Dr. Jay Garlitz, AA4FL Gator ARC Faculty Advisor at UF, W4DFU trustee www.gatorradio.org <http://www.gatorradio.org/>

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Thanks !
by PA3GUO 03 Oct '10

03 Oct '10

Thanks a lot to all the HAMs that helped me with my 'useless' experiment. Your reports (and especially your many kind words) were really appreciated ! -- Henk, PA3GUO

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Re: Useless experiment running today...
by ryan woods 03 Oct '10

03 Oct '10

VERY!!!!! good audio here in NA of ho68 becon (as I write this).......glad to see it working for you 73 de kd8atf

1 0

Useless experiment running today...FIREFOX enabled
by PA3GUO 03 Oct '10

03 Oct '10

Lesson learned ''number 1": HAMs use Firefox ! So: I fixed my poor HTML just a few minutes ago. Now also Firefox users should be able to listen in. Next are a few HO68 CW beacon passes coming up: 19:02-19:20utc HO68 beacon (41 degrees) 20:49-21:08utc HO68 beacon (56 degrees) See if you can hear the beacon stronger yourself as via my WEB station. A more scientific way of saying the same: "My ground station will in the next few hours download telemetry from an experimental satelliet in space (HO-68) and feed the audio of the beacon live on the internet for further analisys by users." http://www.pa3guo.com/webradio.html Henk, PA3GUO ---- PA3GUO <pa3guo(a)upcmail.nl> schreef: > Mmm. > > Good the inital noise reports in :-) > Makes more sense to list when he sat's are overhead here. > > 12:04-12:20utc HO68 beacon (22 degrees) > 13:41-13:53utc AO51 435.300 (13 degrees) > 15:17-15:32utc AO51 435.300 (64 degrees) > 16:57-17:11utc AO51 435.300 (21 degrees) > 17:18-17:33utc HO68 beacon > 19:02-19:20utc HO68 beacon (41 degrees) > 20:49-21:08utc HO68 beacon (56 degrees) > > Henk > > > > > > ---- PA3GUO <pa3guo(a)upcmail.nl> schreef: > > OK > > > > Today I have a totally useless experiment running: > > live streaming of audio from my receiver on the internet. > > > > http://www.pa3guo.com/webradio.html > > > > Not tested against all platforms (Firefox, Mozilla, ...). > > No clue how many simultanious listeners I can handle. > > > > Anyway, I will monitor HO-68 CW beacon today (435.790). > > Of course you only hear something when it is overhead at my QTZ (Europe). > > > > If you dont mind, I would be interested to hear: > > - if you could connect > > - if you noticed the 12 second delay > > - how much better your own station is (a lot most likely) > > - which browser used > > > > Maybe later I will also monitor AO51/Echo > > > > Henk, PA3GUO > > -- > Henk, PA3GUO -- Henk, PA3GUO

1 0

Good Weather for a Symposium
by JoAnne Maenpaa 03 Oct '10

03 Oct '10

The 2010 AMSAT Symposium Committee has arranged for good weather this week. According to weather.com your flight and driving conditions will be nice ... Oct 6 Wednesday Sunshine. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 50s. Oct 7 Thursday Mainly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 40s. Oct 8 Friday Sunshine. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 50s. Oct 9 Saturday Sunny. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 50s. Oct 10 Sunday More sun than clouds. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the mid 50s. Oct 11 Monday Mainly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the low 50s. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org Editor, AMSAT News Service Copy Editor, AMSAT Journal

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2010 AMSAT Space Symposium Web Links
by JoAnne Maenpaa 03 Oct '10

03 Oct '10

2010 AMSAT Symposium Home Page http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/index.php Symposium Schedule http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/SymposiumSchedule.php List of Presentations http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/Presentations.php Hotel Information http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/Hotel.php Food and Drink information http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/FoodandDrink.php Banquet Speaker http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/BanquetSpeaker.php Board of Directors Agenda http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/BoardofDirectorsAgenda.php (Page under construction) -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org Editor, AMSAT News Service Copy Editor, AMSAT Journal

1 0

Kenwood THD-72A/E Duplex function
by andy thomas 03 Oct '10

03 Oct '10

At the (British) National Hamfest yesterday I had a play with the pre-production model of the THD-72E and asked about full duplex. I couldn't get into full duplex on the menu and had to give the set back but I insisted onthe question in the name of AMSAT and they went to the manuals while some other guys played with it. On the second manual(printed off the cdrom) - which they said was about the packet function - there was the following instruction: "FULL DUPLEX Ths transceiver is also capable of simultaneously transmitting and receiving signals. So it is possible to transmit audio on the current band while receiving packet data on the other band (data band). 1 Set operation band to band B 2.Press [F DUP] to enter Duplex mode ... Notes * When operating on band A you cannot change to full duplex mode. * When in single band mode and Band A/B is set to VHF/VHF or UHF/UHF you cannot change to Full Duplex mode. * When usin the Full Duplex function, connect an earphone to the SP jack. using an earphone will prevent feedback that can cause the transceiver to emit a howling sound." I have photographed these instructions and transcribed from the photo. For some reason I photographed the manual not the radio which is a squat fat two-tone grey thing. It's got a gps built in. Available end 2010, they said. 73 de andy g0sfj

2 1

AMSAT-Italy Videos on ESA website
by Trevor . 03 Oct '10

03 Oct '10

http://www.southgatearc.org/news/october2010/esa_amsat_videos.htm 73 Trevor M5AKA Daily Amateur Radio Email/RSS News: http://www.southgatearc.org/ Email Your News To: editor at southgatearc.org Or Upload At: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/your_news_1.htm ----

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[ans] ANS-276 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins
by Dee 03 Oct '10

03 Oct '10

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-276 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. ******SYMPOSIUM WEEK IN CHICAGO******* ************************************************************************* * Still looking for additional ANS editors- If you feel you can assist * * Please see Gould Smith, WA4SXM, during the Symposium and discuss this.* ************************************************************************* Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor(a)amsat.org In this edition: * Congratulations to the ARISSat-1 Team! * Symposium links for updates * AMSAT Symposium * ARISS ham radio contact planned with IRSEA Institute, Italy * OSCAR-11 Signals Heard * AO-51 Resumes Operation * ARISS Status - 27 September 2010 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-276.01 Congratulations to the ARISSat-1 Team! AMSAT News Service Bulletin 276.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 3, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-276.01 Congratulations to the ARISSat-1 Team! ARISSat-1 will be the presented in detail during the Saturday morning sessions at the AMSAT 2010 Space Symposium and Annual Meeting which will be held on Friday, October 8 through Sunday, October 10. AMSAT Vice-President of Engineering Tony Montiero, AA2TX and ARISSat Project Manager Gould Smith, WA4SXM along with ARISSat team members will host the Saturday ARRISat-1 sessions including: + ARISSat-1 Overview + Software Radio Technology + BPSK-1000 format for ARISSat-1 + ARISSatTLM - Software Demodulator and Telemetry Program Calculating + Available Power (Examples: ARISSat & Fox) Power System Assembling + ARISSat-1 + ARISSat-1 Vibration Testing The team plans to have a working ARISSat-1 prototype attending the Symposium. ARISSat-1 design and operations are discussed in detail in these papers published in the 2010 Symposium Proceedings book: ARISSat-1 Overview Tony Monteiro AA2TX ARISSat-1 Power System Tony Monteiro AA2TX Software Radio Technology on ARISSat-1 Tony Montiero AA2TX ARISSatTLM - A Software Demodulator and Telemetry Display Program for the ARISSat-1 Satellite Douglas Quagliana KA2UPW BPSK-1000 format for ARISSat-1 Phil Karn KA9Q An additional feature presentation and paper will introduce you to AMSAT's next satellite ... AMSAT-FOX Preview by Tony Monteiro, AA2TX The AMSAT 2010 Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting will be held at the Chicago/Elk Grove Holiday Inn which is near O'Hare Airport. On-line registration for the Symposium continues on-line at the AMSAT Store site: http://www.amsat-na.com/store/SymposiumReg.php The registration fee is $45.00 from now through 5 October. Online registration closes 5 October at Midnight. Registration at the door will be $50.00. [ANS thanks JoAnne, K9JKM, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-276.02 Symposium links for updates AMSAT News Service Bulletin 276.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 3, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-276.02 2010 AMSAT Symposium Home Page http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/index.php Symposium Schedule http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/SymposiumSchedule.php List of Presentations http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/Presentations.php Hotel Information http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/Hotel.php Food and Drink information http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/FoodandDrink.php Banquet Speaker http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/BanquetSpeaker.php Board of Directors Agenda http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/BoardofDirectorsAgenda.php -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM [ANS thanks the 2010 Symposium Committee for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-276.03 AMSAT Symposium AMSAT News Service Bulletin 276.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 3, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-276.03 Of course we all know that this week the AMSAT Symposium will be held in Chicago. You will be able to find all the latest details at the AMSAT Website www.AMSAT.org. Information on when certain talks will be presented and full proceedings will be there for the asking. Details for all events, including a tour of the Fermi Lab are there for all to decide on what they would like to see and hear. Take this as an opportunity to get together with your elected officials and discuss with them what is important to you. The full schedule will be updated as they are finalized. The 2010 Symposium Schedule is posted on the amsat.org web at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/SymposiumSchedule.php A few minor tweaks may be necessary over the next 7 days. The final version will be available on-site at the Symposium next week. Authors and presenters will be e-mailed any schedule change affecting the talks. [ANS thanks JoAnne, K9JKM for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-276.04 ARISS ham radio contact planned with IRSEA Institute, Italy AMSAT News Service Bulletin 276.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 3, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-276.04 ARISS ham radio contact planned with IRSEA Institute, Italy An ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) radio contact is planned with IRSEA, a non-profit Institute for Research and Education, located in southern Italy. IRSEA's mission is to provide a bridge between university research and trade unions and corporations in the fields of education, devel- opment and innovative research. The ARISS contact is scheduled Tuesday 5 October 2010 at 15:28 UTC. The contact will be a telebridge, operated by ARISS ground station K6DUE, located in Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland. Stations in North America may be able to directly hear the ISS downlink on 145.800 MHz. The contact will be available on EchoLink AMSAT conference server and IRLP Discovery Reflector 9010. The contact will be webcast on: http://www.cittadellamediterraneadellascienza.it/ ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries. ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers onboard the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, technology and learning. [ANS thanks ARISS Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF and the SouthGate ARC news for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-276.05 OSCAR-11 Signals Heard AMSAT News Service Bulletin 276.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 3, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-276.05 OSCAR-11 Signals Heard Clive G3CWV reported that OSCAR-11 was heard by JA0CAW on August 29 after being silent since March 30, 2010. Since August 29 it contin- ued to be heard until September 8 and then again September 18-29. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. There has been a significant change since the previous period of activity which ended in March 2010. The on-board clock is now very stable. It's gained only three seconds in 30 days. This is comparable with its accuracy when the satellite was fully operational. During its first 21 years it gained approximately one minute per year. However, there is still an accumulated loss of 309 days, which has occurred during eclipses of the last few years! The other change is that it's now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery. These two changes suggest that some part of the system may have recently failed 'open circuit' thus reducing the overall power drain of the system, and allowing more power to be available during eclipses. There was an unexplained current drain observed when analogue telemetry was last transmitted. This fault might have cleared. Interestingly, the status telemetry shows that the Digital Store & Readout experiment has switched off, since the satellite was previously heard in February. The satellite appears to be operating for ten days on, followed by ten days off, so it should start transmitting again around October 9, 2010. Listen for OSCAR-11's VHF AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry beacon on 145.826 MHz. Reception reports have been received from Bernard FY1LE, Roland DG1EBR, Mike DK3WN, Tetsu JA0CAW, Adam SQ8MFC, MM0DNX, Tony VK3KKP/G8HIM, Martin DC1MAR, John M0BIC, Etienne F1GRR and Carlos KD6GRF. Many thanks to everyone. Many reports have also been added to the live satellite status page, on the website set up by David KD5QGR and Bob WB4APR. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites. Strongly recommended for future reports! The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php For the benefit of new listeners, here is a short history of OSCAR-11. It was lauched in 1984, providing telemetry and other digital services for amateur radio and educational users. During its many years of operation it survived long periods of eclipses and continuous full sunlight. In 2002 the satellite reverted to its default mode of operation, controlled by the watchdog timer. In 2005 all the analogue telemetry channels failed. Solar eclipses also started to cause the watchdog timer cycle to reset, which switched off the satellite for approximately 15 days. In 2008 solar eclipses became a permanent feature of every orbit, causing the satellite to switch off for about 15 days, probably after only one orbit of transmission. Thus the satellite was not expected to be heard again for any continuous period until 2019, when there will be some eclipse free periods. However, the satellite started transmissions unexpectedly in November 2008. These continued until March, when it was followed by silence until until the recent period of activity. Clive's webpage at www.g3cwv.co.uk contains sound files of the satellite's beacon, archived news and telemetry, and information about using soundcard and hardware demodulators for data capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. [ANS thanks Clive G3CWV for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-276.06 AO-51 Resumes Operation AMSAT News Service Bulletin 276.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 3, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-276.06 AO-51 Resumes Operation After a software crash on September 26 aboard AO-51 took the satellite off the air Ground Station Mark Hammond, N8MH reported that as of September 29, "The reloading of AO-51 is essentially complete; the bird is in good order." The AO-51 Command Team configured the satellite for simultaneous opera- tion of both the S-band and U-band transmitters. The tradeoff is that U-band will be low in power-around 250 mW or so. Also, please notice the use of the 145.880 MHz uplink! September 29 FM Repeater, V/S-U Uplink: 145.880 MHz FM (no PL tone) Downlinks: 2401.200 MHz FM *and* 435.300 MHz FM (at low power!) Mark said, "This is a great time to work on improving the sensitivity of your receiver setups! The 250 mW will challenge some of you for sure. PLEASE be sure to follow the "if you can't hear it, don't try to uplink" basic rule of satellite operation." If the satellite supports the dual downlink mode OK, controllers may extend the V/S-U mode a few days past the original mode schedule in order to give mode S operators a fair shake at some operations and testing--while at the same time allowing some low power mode V/U operations. Check the Command Team and Operations Group AO-51 News web page for the latest September 2010 AO-51 Schedule: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/CTNews.php [ANS thanks Mark Hammond N8MH for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-276.07 ARISS Status - 27 September 2010 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 276.07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 3, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-276.07 Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report September 27, 2010 1. School Contact English Estates Elementary School in Fern Park, Florida had a scheduled contact on Thursday, September 30 at 18:00 UTC. Through hands on activities, students will learn about space satellite tracking. The school has an established liaison with the Lake Monroe Amateur Radio Club and an on-campus ham radio emergency operations station. 2. Astronaut Doug Wheelock Chats with New York Students On Wednesday, September 22, students from Windsor Central and Owego-Apalachin School Districts in New York participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC. Wheelock, a graduate of Windsor Central High School, fielded 16 questions put to him by the youth during the ISS pass. The school districts collaborated with the area's Kopernik Observatory and Science Center to put together an education program for the students which included topics on space, radio communication, satellites and rocketry. The final outcome of this project will be the purchase of amateur radio equipment for each school and the formation of amateur radio clubs for the youth. 3. ARISS International Team Meeting Held The monthly ARISS-International team meeting was held on Tuesday, September 21. Topics of discussion included the recent ARISS elections, Columbus Module equipment and a status on ARISSat-1. Minutes have been posted. See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel2010-09-21.htm 4. MAI-75 Experiment to be Activated The Russian ISS crew members will activate the MAI-75 (Moscow Aviation Institute) experiment on September 27 - 29. The activity is planned for 2 runs per day over Western Russian between approximately 07:00 - 11:00 UTC. 5. Amateur Radio Newsline Covers ARISS Activities On September 24, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1728 included two ARISS related stories. "Ham Radio in Space: ISS ATV Activated Briefly on September 14th" is about the recently held MAI-75 Slow Scan Television session. The second item, "Ham Radio in Space: ARISSAT 1 Near Completion" covers the final preparations of ARISSat-1 prior to shipping to Russia. Both stories may be found at: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, 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 additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Dee Interdonato, NB2F Nb2f at amsat dot org See you in Chicago

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Re: Useless experiment running today...
by PA3GUO 03 Oct '10

03 Oct '10

Mmm. Good the inital noise reports in :-) Makes more sense to list when he sat's are overhead here. 12:04-12:20utc HO68 beacon (22 degrees) 13:41-13:53utc AO51 435.300 (13 degrees) 15:17-15:32utc AO51 435.300 (64 degrees) 16:57-17:11utc AO51 435.300 (21 degrees) 17:18-17:33utc HO68 beacon 19:02-19:20utc HO68 beacon (41 degrees) 20:49-21:08utc HO68 beacon (56 degrees) Henk ---- PA3GUO <pa3guo(a)upcmail.nl> schreef: > OK > > Today I have a totally useless experiment running: > live streaming of audio from my receiver on the internet. > > http://www.pa3guo.com/webradio.html > > Not tested against all platforms (Firefox, Mozilla, ...). > No clue how many simultanious listeners I can handle. > > Anyway, I will monitor HO-68 CW beacon today (435.790). > Of course you only hear something when it is overhead at my QTZ (Europe). > > If you dont mind, I would be interested to hear: > - if you could connect > - if you noticed the 12 second delay > - how much better your own station is (a lot most likely) > - which browser used > > Maybe later I will also monitor AO51/Echo > > Henk, PA3GUO -- Henk, PA3GUO

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Useless experiment running today...
by PA3GUO 03 Oct '10

03 Oct '10

OK Today I have a totally useless experiment running: live streaming of audio from my receiver on the internet. http://www.pa3guo.com/webradio.html Not tested against all platforms (Firefox, Mozilla, ...). No clue how many simultanious listeners I can handle. Anyway, I will monitor HO-68 CW beacon today (435.790). Of course you only hear something when it is overhead at my QTZ (Europe). If you dont mind, I would be interested to hear: - if you could connect - if you noticed the 12 second delay - how much better your own station is (a lot most likely) - which browser used Maybe later I will also monitor AO51/Echo Henk, PA3GUO

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ARISSat-1 Frequency Plan
by Clint Bradford 01 Oct '10

01 Oct '10

Is the following data still correct for ARISSat-1? 2M Downlink BPSK 145.920 (telemetry, data from experiments) Transponder 145.922 - 145.938 FM 145.950 CW-1 145.939 CW-2 145.921 70CM Uplink Input 435.758 - 435.742 Clint, K6LCS

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launch vehicle while on holiday ??
by Bill Booth 01 Oct '10

01 Oct '10

In a tourism article I see that Verizon is about to do space holidays. In the article it says .... "We are looking at hotels in space. We love the moon," the tycoon said, adding that he was also interested in launching "small satellites into space" for the benefit of schools and universities. Read the full article here .... http://www.tourismexchange.com/exchange/en/newsroom/home/getArticle.jsp?art… Is Richard Branson a ham .... maybe he should be. -- Bill Booth VE3NXK Sundridge ON, Canada 79.23.37 W x 45.46.18 N FN05ns Visit my weather WebCam at http://www.almaguin.com/wxcurrent/weather.html Organ and Tissue Donation - The Gift of Life Talk to your family. Your decision can make a difference.

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Sumbandilasat SO-67 active over North and South America 4OCT-10OCT
by Andrew Glasbrenner 01 Oct '10

01 Oct '10

Sumbandilasat SO-67 is scheduled to be active over North and South America next week. Here is a list of the -planned- activation times, with each time representing the beginning of a 15 minute period with the repeater on. Thanks to Ed N8BBQ for putting the pass times together this month, and of course to the Sumbandilasat team for the use of the satellite. 73, Drew KO4MA UTC times: 2010-10-04 11:18 2010-10-04 14:15 2010-10-04 17:20 2010-10-05 12:30 2010-10-05 15:29 2010-10-05 18:33 2010-10-06 10:40 2010-10-06 13:39 2010-10-06 16:43 2010-10-07 11:55 2010-10-07 14:51 2010-10-07 17:57 2010-10-08 13:04 2010-10-08 16:06 2010-10-08 19:10 2010-10-09 11:18 2010-10-09 14:14 2010-10-09 17:20 2010-10-10 10:58 2010-10-10 13:56 2010-10-10 17:02

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Hawaii AO27 low pass
by Robert Smith 30 Sep '10

30 Sep '10

Aloha All Short notice, I realize. However I thought I'd give the next pass in Hawaii's footprint a try at less than 3.0 deg. at about 2226Z (an hour from now) AO-27 will be at 2.7 deg max. el. I will be at Sandy Beach Park aiming east with Arrow and VX7R. robert, NH7WN BL11, Hawaii

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Chicago-to-Europe satellite QSOs during AMSAT Symposium?
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 30 Sep '10

30 Sep '10

Hi! I will attend next week's AMSAT Symposium in Chicago, and will have my portable satellite station (IC-2820H for FM, two FT-817NDs for SSB, Elk Antennas 2m/70cm log periodic) along for the trip. As I did on my trip to Dayton earlier this year, I am hoping to have an opportunity to work stations in western Europe while I am in the Chicago area. I have made some preliminary pass predictions for those days, using the Symposium site as my starting point (grid EN62aa), and there appear to be some passes on AO-7, FO-29, and even HO-68 that cover both the Chicago area and parts of western Europe. I am prepared to get up a little early, or make time in the late afternoons or early evenings, for this effort. I arrive in Chicago on Thursday (7 October) afternoon, and will be there through Sunday (10 October) for the Symposium. After the Symposium concludes on that Sunday morning, I will go sightseeing around Chicago and possibly drive into Wisconsin and/or Indiana. My rental car has no mileage limit, so I hope to take full advantage of that. Sorry, no road trip to Delaware this year. There will be satellite operating from wherever I end up, although I do not know what grids besides EN62 I will operate from. I will have APRS capabilities as I drive around that area, so my location will be visible for anyone to see online. I will return to Chicago by Monday (11 October) in the late afternoon, so I can catch my flight home that evening. If anyone across the pond is interested in making an attempt at a satellite QSO with WD9EWK while I am in the Chicago area, please e-mail me directly. We can start identifying passes that would support this effort. Thanks in advance, and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/

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Voice bits in with packet
by Andrew Glasbrenner 30 Sep '10

30 Sep '10

Am I crazy, or am I hearing bits of Russian, like one to three syllables, mixed in with the ISS packet today? 73, Drew KO4MA

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Apologies to Dee, N2BF
by Clint Bradford 30 Sep '10

30 Sep '10

Gawd, am I embarrassed. I know three people named "Dee." Two of them I interact with here in CA, and speak with occasionally. But I have never (obviously) spoken with our "AMSAT Dee." I apologize for the gender error misidentifying N2BF last night. Geeze ... we have been interacting for years via email messages. A case of how the 'Net can make one anonymous, I guess ... That, and my ASSumption ... Clint, K6LCS

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Why We Do What We Do ...
by Clint Bradford 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

Dear Dee asked her team of "ARISS Area Coordinators" last week for a brief explanation of "what we were doing on behalf of AMSAT and ARISS. I immediately replied to her, citing the number of presentations I have made ... and the number of demos accomplished - numbers that could have been interpreted as "self-promotional" numbers. But they were submitted to her as not to promote "K6LCS," but to try and show what was happening in Southern California on behalf of ARISS and AMSAT. But today I received two email messages that made me feel great for what all of us who regularly promote ARISS and AMSAT. The first is from a gentleman who walked up to me before my presentation at the ARRL Southwestern Convention in San Diego - to state that he was attending the convention primarily to see my talk. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hi Clint, It was nice seeing you again at Hamcon on Saturday. I am glad to see that you had such a great turnout for your informative presentation. I have a success story to share with you. As you know, I bought an Arrow antenna and duplexer at Hamcon and have been dying to get it on the air. I assembled it the other night and checked for the next few available passes (using the HamSat ap for my Droid X phone). On my commute home from work yesterday evening, I detoured off the freeway and found the nearest, large empty parking lot to try my luck with the next AO-51 pass at 1751 hrs (a 13 minute long, 37 deg pass). I worked one California ham, but cannot honestly call that a completed QSO as I am not entirely certain of his call sign due to the loud traffic noise I had to contend with from a busy highway (probably not the best choice of locations for my first attempt). I did hear him tell me that I was “making it just fine,” so that was very encouraging. My next contact was with a station in Edmonton (Alberta), Canada. That contact I can confidently call my FIRST two-way Oscar contact! Wow, it really can be done using a 5 watt HT and a Tinker Toy looking antenna. I am very excited! Now I get start work my way up the learning curve where it comes to better antenna manipulation, better use of the pre-programmed channel steps in my radio (following your suggestions), and learning the tricks that will enhance my future success. Needless to say, I was a very happy camper after work yesterday! Thanks for reminding me that there is always something new and fun to do in ham radio! 73's, Chris Storey KA6WNK crstorey(a)socal.rr.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And THAT is why I do what I do. My accountant thinks I am nuts to travel hundreds of miles and spend hours of prep time to make a one-hour presentation (but she's not a ham ... I am working on her, though). The second email today is an excerpt from the October, 2010 edition of the Palm Springs' club Desert RATS' (WD6RAT) newsletter. I have presented out there a couple of times, and they have been supporting the ARRL since 1998 as an Affiliate Member. From the "President's Message" this issue ... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ... I attended a few workshops (at the ARRL SW Division Convention in San Diego) ... and was also pleased to see a number of our members attend. Notably, one of our members giving a presentation there as well ... Clint Bradford K6LCS, our ‘Satellite Guy’, was there giving his presentation on handheld satellite contacts and representing AMSAT. He’ll be there at Palm Springs Hamfest 2011 again too. His live demonstration alone is worth the trip ... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SO ... although I feel guilty for not being directly involved in an ARISS/AMSAT contact with the ISS, we measly "AMSAT area coordinators" are making a "mark" on individuals and groups as we make our presentations and demonstrations in our respective regions. Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com

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Re: Q5 on AO-51
by Dale Hershberger 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

On 9/29/2010 4:53 PM, Bob- W7LRD wrote: > > Hi Dale-coppied you solid on AO-51 mode S downlink. Several of us > were calling you. How's your S gear working? Catch you later. > > 73 Bob W7LRD > Hi Bob... I must have problems. I could not hear my down link. I am sorry if I stepped on others while making my calls. I am using a K5GNA 3731AA down converter. It is the same one I used for AO40. I tuned the down link frequencies on 2m and I heard my signal however I think it was a harmonic since I could copy it after the satellite went out of footprint. My 2.4g signal scource is not working so could not check it out. Good to hear I was getting out. Need to make adjustments here. I will be going to the AMSAT Symposium next week. Thanks for letting me know about signal. 73, Dale/kl7xj

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