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Retaining message titles
by G0MRF＠aol.com 18 Sep '06

18 Sep '06

Hi Chaps. Can we try to retain subject titles for our messages please. The interesting thread on S Band reception has been lost to the archives because the subject line was changed from S Band reception to: Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 1, Issue 112 Thanks David

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AO-51 Mode L/S
by Reg Wood 18 Sep '06

18 Sep '06

I had one contact with VK2DAG only enough to swap callsigns but the signal my end was consistently 20db 0ver S9 and could get into the bird with about 6 watts from an IC-910. I am using my AO-40 dish which is a 1.8Metre mesh dish with a L/S patch feed and controlled by Uni_trac. On most passes that I tried I could hear my own signal coming down from AO-51 which was most of the time at S9 with a very slow and deep fade. I was please to be able to check how it was working after it had been unsed since AO-40 ceased operation. Thanks Echo schedule team for chance to blow the cobwebs out of the equipment and looking forward to the day when P3E and Eagle is up there. Regards Reg VK2RW --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Dating: Get busy flirting with your 7-day free pass

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AO-51 S Downlink
by Clare Fowler 18 Sep '06

18 Sep '06

In addition to pointing the antenna directly at the satellite and determining the offset of the downconverter frequency there is a third large variable in being able to receive mode S. I have received full quieting signals with a 6 1/2 turn helix when AO-51 is above approximately 35 degrees elevation. This evening I tried a QSO with Dave G1OCN when we both had a max elevation of 5 degrees. I could hear him and myself for over a 3 minute period but he did not hear himself or me. I was receiving with a 1.2 meter dish which has about 14 db +/- more gain than the 6 1/2 turn helix. With the dish the AO-51 downlink signal is +10 db over S9 when the elevation is above about 15 degrees. The AO-51 signal at 4 degrees elavation was S5 +/- QSB. This is again a difference of about 14 db. (S meter checked with a signal source and step attenuator) This 10 to 15 db loss in signal level at very low elevation can be partially attributed to increased range but primarily due to the off pointing angle of the S band antenna on AO-51 Farther measurements would likely show considerable variations in the S band downlink signal level relative to elevation and azimuth. Clare VE3NPC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 268.12.4/449 - Release Date: 9/15/2006

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where fools die!
by Luc Leblanc VE2DWE 18 Sep '06

18 Sep '06

Hi to all I just reading back my archives and i found if you want to know where to you want to go you have to know where you came from. Here is a what we can read on March 25 2005 Greg Wycoff wrote: > ... > I hope others will share their thought and memory's of AO-40/AO-13/AO-10 > so we can help start the drive for raising money for EAGLE and get > others geared up for P3E. > ... I became QRV on the AO-40 late in its life, on Aug. 20th 2003. I started out in mode U/S with antennas made out of cardboard boxes and aluminum foil, the way Tony, AA2TX described them on p. 57 of QST March 2003, and with a DB6NT S-to-2m downconverter. The rig was an IC-910. I was able to operate very close out to the apogee, with the 50W UHF into the corner uplink antenna. The performance of the downlink S-band horn surprised me. I operated mostly from indoors, through an open window and thus could not make use of every pass, but after my first 5 passes I had reached all 6 continents with the cardboard antennas and I own a WAC-SAT for that. After a while I got a 85cm offset dish with a dualpatch feed for mode L/S, with 10W out from the IC-910. Until the unfortunate early death of the AO-40 in Jan. 2004 I was able to only take advantage of a total of 26 passes, made a total of 110 QSOs, both CW and SSB and reached 39 DXCC entities. I have made a sizable donation toward P3E and hope you all will too. 73 Werner, HB9US, AMSAT-DL # 302508, but since I have no AMSAT-NA #, noone over there will be interested in my comments anyway... This guy was a wise one...;) Never say nobody will be interested in what you have to say...I was and i'm still is! But i just hope Greg is not too disappointed! By his inland engineers... P.S. Someone in a recent past ask for the real number of AMSAT membership could be Emily N1DID ex W0ECC can tell us the answer? as she is on the board. Is AMSAT-NA is transparent? asking the question is the answer... "-" The medium is the message...The content is the audience...;) Luc Leblanc VE2DWE WAC basic,CW,Phone,Satellite Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe

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Eagle
by Jim Sanford 18 Sep '06

18 Sep '06

All: I have just uploaded a reformatted version of the Eagle digital design meeting in San Diego. Hope it's easier to read than before. CHeck out the 70cm pages in EaglePedia. Thanks & 73, Jim wb4gcs(a)amsat.org

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room share nights of oct 5-8
by rafus 18 Sep '06

18 Sep '06

room share available room already booked for oct 5-8, please contact me at kd4frb(a)amsat.org bill rafus kd4frb area coordinator south florida kd4frb(a)amsat.org ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at webunited.com

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AO-51 Mode LS
by Matt 18 Sep '06

18 Sep '06

I had some luck with my AO-40 gear, MMDS downconverter - VK5EME preamp - 3' BBQ grill. But very limited comms. I am at a new location and my antennas and rotators weren't adjusted/calibrated enough for AO-51, and they were only installed last week. Got it sorted by Friday but az is still off by a couple of degrees. I kinda worked VK2RW Reg on the 13SEP06 @ 11:50z, but all we exchanged were call signs and the sat was at it's closest when I heard him/me. Then I lost it. By Friday and the weekend I was getting maybe 50 ~ 60% of the passes to my West, unlike my AO-40 days I have a lot of trees around me up to 30 degrees to my East and 15 degrees to my South. But it still was very tricky to work or find! SatPC32 couldn't get it right for the Doppler so I used my PCR1000 to find the downlink dialed in the 910 with the AFC on and i was ok from then. My uplink was a IC-T81a with a 16 Watt brick amp into 25 ele loop yagi with the memories set at 10 KHz intervals. So I think I was getting in ok I hope I didn't QRM anyone whilst trying. I have made some recordings of my downlink but it's only me calling CQ I forgot to record the QSO with Reg. With AO-40 it was easy to see how much error I had with my rotators and LO of my downconverter and so it made it easy to set up software like Satpc32 to accommodate for the difference. It's very hard to get it right will a LEO. I have started looking at S Band GEO sats so that I can remove all the errors in my setup. But all good ham fun I would like to see AO-51 in LS or VS more often in the future. Can AO-51 run LU? And what is the difference between DOVE's downlink and AO-51? DOVE seemed to be a lot stronger. VK2DAG.

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AMSAT Logo ?
by Dave G1OCN 17 Sep '06

17 Sep '06

Where can I download a jpg/bmp picture of the AMSAT UK logo from please ? I would like to include it on my QSL card. Cheers, Dave. AMSAT UK 5766

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9-17-06 14:50 UTC pass of AO-51
by Kevin J. Smith 17 Sep '06

17 Sep '06

In FN00 I seemed to have the entire pass to myself. I did hear myself on a few occasions as I was sending out my call. I do have quite a few trees to contend with around my property so it is possible I could not hear others. I will be on the 9-18-06 00:25 UTC pass this evening. I hope to contact others as this will be my last opportunity to make an L/S contact before AO-51 switches to V/U. Thanks for the bandwidth. Kevin Smith N3HKQ FN00be

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HITSAT official HP #2
by Mineo Wakita 17 Sep '06

17 Sep '06

http://www.hit.ac.jp/~satori/hitsat/index-e.htm --------------------------------------------- Name: Mineo Wakita / JE9PEL, JAMSAT member Mail: ei7m-wkt(a)asahi-net.or.jp URL : http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/ QTH : Yokohama Japan, GL:pm95tj Date: Sep 17, 2006 ---------------------------------------------

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