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Icom 9700
by Richard Lawn 16 Apr '19

16 Apr '19

I'd love to hear from anyone who already has their hands on the new Icom radio and any early impressions they have of it. 73 Rick, W2JAZ

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W5LFL (SK)
by B J 15 Apr '19

15 Apr '19

Dr. Owen Garriott W5LFL becomes a silent key: http://parabolicarc.com/2019/04/15/nasa-astronaut-owen-garriott-passes-88/ 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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Re: [amsat-bb] ISS SSTV weekend
by sean fay 15 Apr '19

15 Apr '19

Entitled choosing beggars the lot of you On Sun, Apr 14, 2019, 6:03 PM Tom Schuessler <tjschuessler(a)verizon.net> wrote: > The only time I got to listen this weekend was on a 1455z AOS for me this > morning and as reported have the BB all weekend long modulation levels were > down in the dirt. I had my HT volume cranked almost all the way up. That’s > not normal for these activities. Just trying to understand why a whole > weekend can go with that situation and not a solution was to be had. > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Apr 14, 2019, at 15:26, sean fay <spatrickfay(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Sometimes it's the Wizard not the wand... I had no issues decoding > > > > On Sun, Apr 14, 2019, 1:44 PM Tom Schuessler via AMSAT-BB < > amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> wrote: > >> Quoting the news release promoting the transmissions this weekend. >> >> “This event uses a computer in the ISS Russian Segment, which stores >> images that are then transmitted to Earth using the ARISS amateur radio >> station located in the Service Module which employs the Kenwood TM D710E >> transceiver.” >> >> Well while trying fruitlessly this morning to decode cleanly, the images >> from the ISS, I heard the collective scream of hams all over the world, >> “TURN THAT COMPUTER SOUND CARD OUTPUT VOLUME UP PLEASE!” >> >> Next time. >> >> >> Tom, N5HYP >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> >

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PSAT restored to normal operations - Seems OK
by Robert Bruninga 15 Apr '19

15 Apr '19

Mike Rupprecht DK3WN control operator has restored PSAT digipeater operations

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Re: [amsat-bb] AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 14, Issue 146
by ka3hdo＠gmail.com 15 Apr '19

15 Apr '19

Responding to this and other e-mails on the SSTV event this weekend: > The only time I got to listen this weekend was on a 1455z AOS for me > this morning and as reported have the BB all weekend long modulation > levels were down in the dirt. I had my HT volume cranked almost all > the way up. That?s not normal for these activities. Just trying to > understand why a whole weekend can go with that situation and not a solution was to be had. > Please remember that ARISS is not the prime activity on ISS. There are over 300 international experiments currently operational on ISS on this expedition. I just heard in a teleconference last week that that number will go to about 500 experiments in the next 1-2 years. Because of the vast number of experiments going on at the same time, we can only occasionally get suggestions to the crew to make changes to our payload. Any work arounds on any experiment/payload will compete with the crew's already fully booked schedule. Several ARISS team members, particularly our teammate in Russia, were out of pocket this past weekend. Our Russian colleague was informed of the issue early-on and acknowledged the issue. But he also needs to get tied into Mission Control. That is difficult from afar. And even if we ask for a change, it is challenging to get the crew time to make this happen. Especially if it is outside the flight planning stage. Once we have the Interoperable Radio System on ISS, we plan to augment our radio system with a ground commandable capability. We have already developed a concept for this capability. Once in place, we will be able to do many things with our radio without crew intervention, including mode changes to support SSTV, APRS, Voice Repeater, etc.. This capability will also be important if we fly ham radio on the Lunar Gateway, which will not have crew on it 24/7. Please note that to keep ARISS alive and implementing new capabilities requires a great deal of funding. As an example, ARISS currently has two individuals on travel to NASA Johnson running tests for the interoperable radio system. This is one of three travel trips required to get the radio system ready for flight. Each one of these trips will cost ARISS about $3000 in travel---nearly $10,000 for these three testing events. Also, this past week, we spent $1,100 to transport the HamTV that was returned from ISS back to Italy to undergo troubleshooting to potentially repair the anomaly we experienced on ISS. We have a Fundrazr activity right now to prepare the Interoperable Radio System for Launch. We need $150,000 by the end of this year and are well short of our goal right now. If you really want to see improvements in the ISS radio system from where it is today, please strongly consider donating to ARISS. Push the donate button at www.ariss.org. You can donate at several levels and even a little at a time on a monthly basis. At some donation levels, your callsign and name will be included on the interoperable radio system that will fly to ISS! Thanks for all your interest and support to ARISS. I hope this helps explain a little about what is happening on ISS. 73, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO ARISS International Chair AMSAT VP for Human Spaceflight Programs

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(no subject)
by aj9n＠aol.com 15 Apr '19

15 Apr '19

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2019-04-15 20:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Sorry, I didn't post this sooner but we just found out today. (***) About Gagarin From Space. Conducting The Session Of The Radio Loving Communication With SUSU Students (G.Celyabinsk), South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia, direct via RY9AAA (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Aleksey Ovchinin (***) Contact was successful for 2019-04-15 08:06 UTC (***) Congratulations to the SUSU students and Aleksey! (***) Huntington High School, Huntington, TX, direct via KI5AJL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is David St-Jacques KG5FYI Contact was successful: Mon 2019-04-15 15:39:46 UTC 52 deg (***) Park Co. Public Library with Boys & Girls Club of the High Rockies, Fairplay, CO, direct via WØW The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Nick Hague KG5TMV Contact was successful: Mon 2019-04-15 17:15:53 UTC 51 deg (***) École internationale de Saint-Sacrement, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, direct via VE2GHO The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is David St-Jacques KG5FYI Contact is go for: Wed 2019-04-17 18:55:09 UTC 69 deg The ARISS webpage is at http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. The main page for Applying to Host a Scheduled Contact may be found at http://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html ARISS Contact Applications (United States) The ARISS webpage is at http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. International Space Station Astronauts are Calling CQ Students ARISS-US program’s education proposal window is open April 1 - May 15, 2019 March 24, 2019: The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program is seeking proposals beginning April 1, 2019, from US schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations (working individually or together) to host radio contacts with an orbiting crew member aboard the International Space Station (ISS) between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020. Each year, ARISS provides tens of thousands of students with learning opportunities about space technologies, communications, and much more through the exploration of Amateur Radio and space. The ARISS program connects students to astronauts on the ISS through a partnership between NASA, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, the American Radio Relay League, other Amateur Radio global organizations and the worldwide space agencies. The program’s goal is to inspire students to pursue interests and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and in Amateur Radio. Educators report regularly that student participation in the ARISS program stimulates interest in STEM subjects and STEM careers. One educator wrote, “Many of the middle school students who took part in and attended the ARISS contact have selected science courses in high school as a result of that contact.” Educators are setting up ham radio clubs in schools and learning centers because of students’ interest. ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed, exciting education plan. Students can learn about satellite communications, wireless technology, science research conducted on the ISS, radio science, and other STEM subjects. Students learn to use Amateur Radio to talk directly to an astronaut and ask their STEM-related questions. ARISS will help educational organizations locate Amateur Radio groups who can assist with equipment for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students. The proposal window opens April 1, 2019 and the proposal deadline is May 15, 2019. For proposal guidelines and forms and more details, go to: http://ariss-proposal-webinar-spring-2019.eventbrite.com Proposal webinars for guidance and getting questions answered will be offered April 11, 2019 at 7 pm Eastern Time and April 16, 2019 at 9 pm Eastern Time. Advance registration is necessary. To sign up, go to https://ariss-proposal-webinar-spring-2019.eventbrite.com **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** ARISS Contact Applications (Europe, Africa and the Middle East) Schools and Youth organizations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East interested in setting up an ARISS radio contact with an astronaut on board the International Space Station are invited to submit an application from September to October and from February to April. Please refer to details and the application form at www.ariss-eu.org/school-contacts. Applications should be addressed by email to: school.selection.manager(a)ariss-eu.org ARISS Contact Applications (Canada, Central and South America, Asia and Australia and Russia) Organizations outside the United States can apply for an ARISS contact by filling out an application. Please direct questions to the appropriate regional representative listed below. If your country is not specifically listed, send your questions to the nearest ARISS Region listed. If you are unsure which address to use, please send your question to the ARISS-Canada representative; they will forward your question to the appropriate coordinator. For the application, go to: http://www.ariss.org/ariss-application.html. ARISS-Canada and the Americas, except USA: Steve McFarlane, VE3TBD email to: ve3tbd(a)gmail.com ARISS-Japan, Asia, Pacific and Australia: Satoshi Yasuda, 7M3TJZ email to: ariss(a)iaru-r3.org, Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) http://www.jarl.org/ ARISS-Russia: Soyuz Radioljubitelei Rossii (SRR) https://srr.ru/ ****************************************************************************** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. Listen for the ISS on the downlink of 145.8Ø MHz. ******************************************************************************* All ARISS contacts are made via the Kenwood radio unless otherwise noted. ******************************************************************************* Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke(a)sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 135 Francesco IKØWGF with 132 Gaston ON4WF with 123 Sergey RV3DR with 114 (***) **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed, and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8601 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2019-04-15 20:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1302. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1245. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 47. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2019-04-15 20:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 58 on orbit Oleg Konenenko David St-Jacques KG5FYI Anne McClain Exp. 59 on orbit Christina Koch Aleksey Ovchinin Nick Hague KG5TMV **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Tutorial on Working APRS Contacts on Kenwood TM-D710
by Clayton Coleman W5PFG 15 Apr '19

15 Apr '19

Like many topics in the amateur radio world, there is a mix of what is prescribed in protocol versus how it's applied in the real world. Bob's right here. There are excess packets created by using APRS messaging vs a simple "one time" packet being sent as a UI. The weakness in using the built-in APRS functions of Kenwood, Yaesu, or other traditionally-terrestrial messaging systems is the load of 'waste' packets generated vs using a simple UI packet. The APRS messaging functions will often continue to transmit until they receive an acknowledgement. This can be problematic in a short-duration LEO satellite pass, especially when one station tries to message everyone in their HEARD list! Many people who operate solely with a radio such a Kenwood are oblivious to 'waste' packets being digipeated (repeat ACK's, REJ's, etc.) Unless you're sitting at a terminal and viewing all the packets, your view of what is passing by is extremely limited; not just by the tiny display of your radio. For fun, I suggest running a terminal attached to your radio and monitor all packets at Field Day. I've observed passes when 10-15 stations were able to exchange packets and I've observed other passes when 2-3 struggled because one or two other stations were over-beaconing and sending messages repeatedly. It's like the many new stations incorrectly assuming the best way to be digipeated is to keep pressing BCON on their Kenwood radio until the glorious "MY POS" flashes and they hear a beep! OUCH. Those are typically people on omni antennas or in their car that have no idea they've been digipeated every time but their station is not hearing. Not everyone has the luxury of sitting in their shack to operate a packet/APRS-capable satellite. At home, I use UISS. By default UISS does not request acknowledgement or require it. It will only transmit a message or position packet upon pressing the appropriate function key. This helps limit the amount of "rapid-firing" typically employed by many of the folks using transceivers with built-in packet/APRS capabilities. Occasionally I like to make contacts via ISS or other satellites with packet digipeaters using either one of my Kenwood mobile or HT transceivers. Do I use the status text method? No. I use the MSG function like others on this thread have described. I keep it short and sweet. Do you want to strictly adhere to terrestrial protocol rules for acknowledging messages, often resulting in the logjam of packets, or do you want to increase efficiency and send the minimal frames necessary to get a clean exchange via satellite with another station? I leave that up to the operator. Have fun. 73 Clayton W5PFG P.S. I think the unattended beacons remain my favorite nit-pick of packet/APRS satellites' use. :-)

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Roving DM58
by Bob Keating 15 Apr '19

15 Apr '19

Greetings All, I’m going mountain biking this morning. Should be back in time to work the 18:50 UTC pass of AO-91 and 19:00 pass of SO-50 from DM58. Not sure if I’ll make the 1747 pass of AO-92. Hope to hear you. Will be working as N6REK/7. 73, Bob. Sent from my iPhone

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JY1-sat dashboard
by Kevin 15 Apr '19

15 Apr '19

Hi All, Is anyone else noticing any issues with the JY1-sat dashboard? I can start it with the sat present and it will instantly lock and track, next pass it will ignore the signal, kill it and restart it and bam instant lock. 73 Kevin WA7FWF

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(no subject)
by Frank Staffa Jr. 14 Apr '19

14 Apr '19

Greetings everyone. Question.....Since the LVB interface isn't available anylonger, what is everyone using for a computer interface to move their rotators to automatically follow the sats? I have a Yaesu g-5500 Alt/Az and im getting tired of manually nudging it every 15 seconds or so.Thanks and 73 Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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