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Upcoming ARISS contact with Colégio Campo de Flores, Almada, Portugal
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 01 Feb '19

01 Feb '19

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Colégio Campo de Flores, Almada, Portugal on 02 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 15:23 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between OR4ISS and CS5SS. The contact should be audible over Portugal and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Private school build in 1967, which integrates 1.200 students, from Kindergarten until 12th grade. It has a robotics club which enables students to develop telecommunication skills. At Colégio Campo de Flores (www.campodeflores.com) there are two teachers who are ham radio (CT1-BOP and CT1-FGK) lovers and do their best to involve students in the activities promoted by the club. The following students also collaborate in the club: Gonçalo Veríssimo, Diogo Martins, Sara Figueiredo, Sofiya Joosab, Rita Farias, Sarah Joosab, Catarina Candeias, Francisco Ventosa, Manuel Silva, Tiago Penedo, Catarina Castro, Margarida Orrico, Marta Martins, Miguel Baptista, Carolina Martins, Inês Lopes, Inês Marques Lopes, João Igreja, Rafaela Geraldes e Sofia Nóbrega. This club is a tracking satellite station, too, in association with Swiss Cube, a small satellite of the CubeSat class (1kg - 1dm3) which was built by the Space Center at EPFL and many universities and HES of Switzerland. Furthermore, our robotics club has got a personal weather station with the ID ISETBALA7 (underground network). Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. In your opinion, what skills must an astronaut have? 2. What would you advise to someone who hopes to be in your place one day? 3. What effects does space cause on human body? 4. How long did you take to adjust to zero gravity? 5. Can you describe a typical day on ISS? 6. Which daily routine is harder for you? 7. What would be a different day aboard ISS? 8. What do you do not to think about the ones you miss the most? 9. Besides our planet, what else can you see when you look through the window? 10. Have you ever seen a black hole? 11. How do you distinguish day from night? 12. How do you fight illnesses? 13. What dangers do you face? 14. Which technologies allow you to survive? 15. Which energy sources do you use on ISS? 16. What scientific experiments do you perform on ISS? 17. What are the most interesting/exciting scientific discoveries so far? 18. The Earth is becoming overpopulated, do you think that living in space is an alternative? 19. Is space as polluted as Earth? 20. What did you feel when you first saw our planet from space? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. Kantonsschule Musegg, Luzern, Switzerland, direct via HB9HSLU The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is David St-Jacques KG5FYI Contact is go for: Mon 2019-02-04 15:20 UTC 2. Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia, direct via UA6HZ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Konenenko Contact is go for Tue 2019-02-05 08:25 UTC About ARISS: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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They're ALIVE! (AMSATS)
by Robert Bruninga 31 Jan '19

31 Jan '19

Wow, Lots of Sats! During our annual student Lab week where students must go outside and find a bird, I have been AMAZED at the number of birds. Its like a full time job! We are never more than a few minutes from a good TRANSPONDER pass. With the number of birds, I am amazed that we are not so spread out, that there are even enough people on any one bird to make a quorum. Anyone who has not been paying attention (like me), wake up, There are bird transponders everywhere! Bob, WB4APR

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CAS4A & XW Numbers
by Les Rayburn 31 Jan '19

31 Jan '19

Pardon the flood of newbie questions. I’m trying to add CAS-4A and CAS-4B to my list of active satellites in SatPC32. When I add them from the NASA.ALL keeps, the file doesn’t include any frequency information for the CAT radio control. Understand that satellites are renamed (sometimes) when they achieve operational status. For example, XW-2A used to be called CAS-3A. What am I doing wrong? Are both CAS-4A and CAS-4B active and available for amateur use? 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member

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Satellite Packet ?
by Gustavo Carpignano 31 Jan '19

31 Jan '19

Hi, I received the following packet radio header id and destination callsigns in kiss mode POSIX-1>DSTCAL-2 in UHF sat segment. Someone knows whay satellite originates it ? Regards. Gustavo, LW2DTZ

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SatPC32, Countdown, & "zu viele Satelliten!"
by Les Rayburn 31 Jan '19

31 Jan '19

I’m sure this has been covered in the past, but it’s kicking my butt. With the proliferation of LEO satellites in recent years, amateurs are fortunate to have a lot of birds available for use. Like many hams, I use SatPC32 to control my rig, and track upcoming passes. Their sub-program, Countdown does a good job of listing upcoming passes and their AOS/LOS times. However, it’s limited to 12 satellites. If you try to add additional birds, you get the dreaded “zu viele Satelliten!” message. Translation: Too Many Satellites. I’m sure there must be a work-around that involves creating multiple groups, or something, but I haven’t been able to crack this. Does anyone else have a good method? I know Ham Radio Deluxe has been working to improve their satellite program. Is anyone using this currently? Is it a better option? Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member

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FT-217 Battery Replacemnt?
by Robert Bruninga 31 Jan '19

31 Jan '19

Anyone ever replaced the 9.6v NiMh battery in an FT-817 with three Lithium cells? I know this is not a good thing to do, but the 9.6v internal charger should cut out at 10.4v and three Lithiums don't reach full charge until 12.6v so I don't think they will ever get overcharged. Stopping at 10.4v, they would only get to 3.5v per cell... Hummh... not very much charge at all on a Lithium. But at least I'll get through this upcoming class with it. Bob

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Ham Radio Deluxe & satellite related topics
by Michael Carper, Ph.D. 31 Jan '19

31 Jan '19

Folks, As I've said before, we're absolutely committed to resolving all defects in the software and making it the best product available for satellite operators. I just began testing our new beta (6.5.0.188) with our Rotor Control and Satellite Tracking applications. We have just made some changes to these apps and will continue until all reported issues are resolved. We believe that the majority of the 33 Rotor Control issues will be resolved by these changes... which also corrects a number of items in the Satellite Tracking app. My test with a Portable Rotation AZ/EL controller (PR12SAT) and FT-991A worked as expected (with a few known issues we're working on). The rotor correctly tracked the satellite and the rig's downlink was correctly controlled. There's still an issue I want resolved related to the Doppler frequency correction on the uplink. I have also compared the path of several key satellites in Satellite Tracking against the AMSAT tracking website. I don't see any differences in tracking the satellite. (I have found that the term "tracking" can refer to updating the rig's frequency in our Rig Control or Satellite Tracking app, it can refer to the Rotor Control tracking a satellite pass, and it can refer to the software's ability to track the path of a satellite during its pass.) I'm looking for feedback. I've heard of "tracking" problems... but I'm not seeing these problems. I'm happy to listen to and test any reports or explanations you have for this tracking problem. Mike, WA9PIE

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Re: [amsat-bb] Ham Radio Deluxe & satellite related topics
by Roy Dean 31 Jan '19

31 Jan '19

The below sounds correct to me. The speed of the object traveling toward you makes up for the lower frequency from terrestrial origin. --Roy K3RLD > But the uplink frequency has the opposite behavior and is clearly not > correct. That is - as the sat is headed towards you from AOS, the rig is > tuned to a TX frequency LOWER than the TX frequency of the sat and it's > increasing until TCA (where, momentarily the rig is tuned exactly to the > sat's RX/upling frequency)... then begins to increase in frequency as the > sat moves away towards LOS. None of that makes sense to me.

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Psat-2/Bricsat-2 Launch?
by Nicholas Mahr KE8AKW 30 Jan '19

30 Jan '19

I have seen information on Gunters space page saying that PSAT-2 and BricSat-2 (The Successors of NO-84/83) Could be launched on a Falcon Heavy in the month of April on the 3rd launch ever on the Falcon Heavy after the 2nd flight in March (if these flights arent going to be delayed of course.) Nice to see more digital birds possibly going up here soon.

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ARISS News Release No. 19-01
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 30 Jan '19

30 Jan '19

ARISS News Release No. 19-01 Dave Jordan, AA4KN ARISS PR aa4kn(a)amsat.org Jan. 30, 2019 The ARISS Team Thanks You for Your Tremendous Support in 2018! As the ARISS team reviews 2018 successes, it is time to say thank you to our very dedicated supporters. To begin expressing thanks appropriately, ARISS commends 2018 donors who contributed $1,000 or more. The extreme confidence in ARISS by these generous individuals, organizations, and corporations propels ARISS's successes in using Amateur Radio for a thrilling conversation with an orbiting ISS astronaut to introduce youth, educators, and others to science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, space, radio technology and Amateur Radio. They are: Tom Clark, K3IO Dayton Amateur Radio Association John Dean, K0JDD Frank Donovan, W3LPL HamJam, sponsored by North Fulton Amateur Radio League Irving Amateur Radio Club JVC KENWOOD Corporation Joe Lynch, N6CL & Carol Lynch, W6CL MFJ: Martin Jue, K5FLU & Betty Jue Levi Maaia, K6LCM & Daniela Maaia, W6DRM Ren Roderick, K7JB Robert Sherwood, NC0B William Tynan, W3XO (now SK) Yasme Foundation Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Each of these donors is an ARISS honorary team member; we are gratified for their robust backing of ARISS. ARISS wouldn't exist at all without its major sponsors. We cannot extol enough, the continuing and vital support of: NASA Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) We fervently applaud them all. NASA, AMSAT, and ARRL have backed ARISS since 1996 during its infancy when the team first developed ideas for the program! ARISS also pays tribute to the many other donors who firmly stood with ARISS's goals in 2018. Even more important, many of these donors faithfully contribute their dollars year after year. Every donor's support is critical to launching the new ARISS hardware in 2019. The new radio system will improve ARISS educational activities, the packet and SSTV capabilities, and will include other exciting communications features, such as a voice repeater. The new system will ensure that ARISS communications will continue seamlessly for the weekly school and youth group radio contacts with astronauts on the Space Station. ARISS has a ways to go to reach our dollar goal before launches of new equipment can occur, and there is not a lot of time left. 2018 ARISS donors stated that they hoped their generosity would encourage others to become ARISS backers. You can join in the funding challenge by contacting Frank Bauer, ka3hdo(a)gmail.com or Rosalie White, k1sto(a)arrl.org. We hope to hear from you! Contributions can be given directly at http://www.ariss.org/donate.html ARISS saw a very positive 2018. We hope for an even more stupendous 2019 thanks to generous donors like you. Thank you for your support! Media Contact: Dave Jordan, AA4KN ARISS PR aa4kn(a)amsat.org --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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