ISS Packet activity? I'm having problems and getting frustrated
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
Is your radio's squelch on? If it doesn't open fast enough, the beginning of the packet will be cut off and thus it won't decode. It's best to run with open squelch.
Is your RX audio level too low or too high? Is there noise or hum in the audio? Any of these will make decoding any packet signal almost impossible.
Is there QRN on the frequency? Noise from faulty power lines, industrial equipment or consumer electronics, even if unnoticed by ear, can render the downlink undecodable.
-Joe, N8FQ
On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:43:09 -0500 Michael Tondee [email protected] wrote:
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
I don't use squelch at all and I've adjusted the audio level to what I think is acceptable with the built in sound card tuning utility in AGWPE. I can't answer the QRN question completely except to say that I've never noticed a problem with terrestrial packet but it has been awhile since I've done that. My computer is a Pentium IV 2.4 Ghz. with 1 GB of Ram. After I got the small packet that I did decode I haven't heard much else so I'll have to check the suggested sites for activity logs. BTW, hope this isn't a stupid question but what is this... 0130:32T W4HIJ>APU25N Port=1 <UI C LEN=30> Then I see what appears to be my latitude and longtitude afterwards. I t comes up in my UIView terminal window on a pretty regular basis. Tnx for the help guys and 73, Michael, W4HIJ Joe Veldhuis wrote:
Is your radio's squelch on? If it doesn't open fast enough, the beginning of the packet will be cut off and thus it won't decode. It's best to run with open squelch.
Is your RX audio level too low or too high? Is there noise or hum in the audio? Any of these will make decoding any packet signal almost impossible.
Is there QRN on the frequency? Noise from faulty power lines, industrial equipment or consumer electronics, even if unnoticed by ear, can render the downlink undecodable.
-Joe, N8FQ
On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:43:09 -0500 Michael Tondee [email protected] wrote:
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
BTW, hope this isn't a stupid question but what is this... 0130:32T W4HIJ>APU25N Port=1 <UI C LEN=30> Then I see what appears to be my latitude and longtitude afterwards. I t comes up in my UIView terminal window on a pretty regular basis.
++ That is your beacon
Hi Michael...
An easy way to check for QRN or local noise on 145.825 is to just listen to your speaker output with the squelch open and flip through some channels on 2 meters...if they all sound the same (equal amounts of noise) then you are probably OK...but if one channel has some quieting exhibited on it then it might be locally generated interference or a birdie.
If you have one on 145.825, that is a problem (I have one just below 145.800) and you need to find it's source. I'm assuming you are using an FM radio and not a multi mode rig in SSB or CW. ISS can be heard with a handheld and a rubber ducky.
Roger WA1KAT
----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Tondee" [email protected] To: "Jewett Hardwick" [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 1:39 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: ISS Packet activity? I'm having problems and getting frustrated
I don't use squelch at all and I've adjusted the audio level to what I think is acceptable with the built in sound card tuning utility in AGWPE. I can't answer the QRN question completely except to say that I've never noticed a problem with terrestrial packet but it has been awhile since I've done that. My computer is a Pentium IV 2.4 Ghz. with 1 GB of Ram. After I got the small packet that I did decode I haven't heard much else so I'll have to check the suggested sites for activity logs. BTW, hope this isn't a stupid question but what is this... 0130:32T W4HIJ>APU25N Port=1 <UI C LEN=30> Then I see what appears to be my latitude and longtitude afterwards. I t comes up in my UIView terminal window on a pretty regular basis. Tnx for the help guys and 73, Michael, W4HIJ Joe Veldhuis wrote:
Is your radio's squelch on? If it doesn't open fast enough, the
beginning of the packet will be cut off and thus it won't decode. It's best to run with open squelch.
Is your RX audio level too low or too high? Is there noise or hum in the
audio? Any of these will make decoding any packet signal almost impossible.
Is there QRN on the frequency? Noise from faulty power lines, industrial
equipment or consumer electronics, even if unnoticed by ear, can render the downlink undecodable.
-Joe, N8FQ
On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:43:09 -0500 Michael Tondee [email protected] wrote:
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
Sent via [email protected]. 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
Michael...
Another "telling" sign is that you are not showing up in the APRS "system" where, if you were transmitting a packet in the proper form and it was reaching the ISS or ANDE for that matter, you would show up here even if you couldn't hear anything:
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?W4HIJ
At the top of that page would be a copy of your packet along with time received. The information stays here much longer than it stays on the ISS pages cited.
I agree with Ken that you should insure that you are fine terrestrially, before you throw in another variable such as a moving, high use satellite.
Roger WA1KAT
----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Tondee" [email protected] To: "Jewett Hardwick" [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 1:39 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: ISS Packet activity? I'm having problems and getting frustrated
I don't use squelch at all and I've adjusted the audio level to what I think is acceptable with the built in sound card tuning utility in AGWPE. I can't answer the QRN question completely except to say that I've never noticed a problem with terrestrial packet but it has been awhile since I've done that. My computer is a Pentium IV 2.4 Ghz. with 1 GB of Ram. After I got the small packet that I did decode I haven't heard much else so I'll have to check the suggested sites for activity logs. BTW, hope this isn't a stupid question but what is this... 0130:32T W4HIJ>APU25N Port=1 <UI C LEN=30> Then I see what appears to be my latitude and longtitude afterwards. I t comes up in my UIView terminal window on a pretty regular basis. Tnx for the help guys and 73, Michael, W4HIJ Joe Veldhuis wrote:
Is your radio's squelch on? If it doesn't open fast enough, the
beginning of the packet will be cut off and thus it won't decode. It's best to run with open squelch.
Is your RX audio level too low or too high? Is there noise or hum in the
audio? Any of these will make decoding any packet signal almost impossible.
Is there QRN on the frequency? Noise from faulty power lines, industrial
equipment or consumer electronics, even if unnoticed by ear, can render the downlink undecodable.
-Joe, N8FQ
On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:43:09 -0500 Michael Tondee [email protected] wrote:
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
Sent via [email protected]. 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
Thanks Roger, but I'm not transmitting at present. I only have the receive side set up. I thought I'd try to work the bugs out on that side first. While I have operated voice on the LEO's and terrestrial packet before APRS, I'm completely new to digital on sats or the ISS so I don't want to to TX until I know exactly what I'm doing. I'd hate to cause inteference to anyone else while experimenting. I just don't understand why I have completely stopped even hearing packets, much less decoding them. My radio setup seems to be fine, I have no problems copying repeaters. There is not much local terrestrial packet activity I can find out here where I live in the "boonies" to experiment with either. I'll keep at it though, everyone has given me a lot of help and ideas. on things to check. Tnx and 73, Michael, W4HIJ Roger Kolakowski wrote:
Michael...
Another "telling" sign is that you are not showing up in the APRS "system" where, if you were transmitting a packet in the proper form and it was reaching the ISS or ANDE for that matter, you would show up here even if you couldn't hear anything:
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?W4HIJ
At the top of that page would be a copy of your packet along with time received. The information stays here much longer than it stays on the ISS pages cited.
I agree with Ken that you should insure that you are fine terrestrially, before you throw in another variable such as a moving, high use satellite.
Roger WA1KAT
ISS sends as a minimum, a beacon every 2 minutes.
Is your computer up to it ?
Have you got an RF issue ?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Rich VK4TEC [email protected] mailto:[email protected] http://www.tech-software.net
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Michael Tondee Sent: Saturday, 15 December 2007 2:43 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [SPAM] [amsat-bb] ISS Packet activity? I'm having problems and getting frustrated Importance: Low
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
_______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
Check here after or during a pass to see what is really happening that you are not hearing:
Roger WA1KAT
----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Tondee" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 11:43 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] ISS Packet activity? I'm having problems and gettingfrustrated
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
Sent via [email protected]. 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
Or here
http://vk4tec.no-ip.org/cgi-bin/sat_status.cgi
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Rich VK4TEC [email protected] mailto:[email protected] http://www.tech-software.net
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Roger Kolakowski Sent: Saturday, 15 December 2007 4:09 PM To: Michael Tondee; [email protected] Subject: [SPAM] [amsat-bb] Re: ISS Packet activity? I'm having problems and gettingfrustrated Importance: Low
Check here after or during a pass to see what is really happening that you are not hearing:
Roger WA1KAT
----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Tondee" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 11:43 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] ISS Packet activity? I'm having problems and gettingfrustrated
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
_______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
Success!!! I just had a pass and I heard and decoded quite a few packets which showed up in the UIView terminal window. I also had WA4AEJ in Florida show up on the map. On checking the website, he appears to be the only active APRS station that was in the footprint at the same time I was. Now to work on the TX side. Thanks again to Roger, Andrew and everyone else for all of the advice!! 73, Michael W4HIJ Roger Kolakowski wrote:
Check here after or during a pass to see what is really happening that you are not hearing:
Roger WA1KAT
----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Tondee" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 11:43 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] ISS Packet activity? I'm having problems and gettingfrustrated
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
Sent via [email protected]. 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
You might try working out the issues using terrestrial operations. I see several great suggestions but instead of waiting for hours to troubleshoot, you can go to 144.39 and have regular activity then move back to 145.825 once things are ready to go. Then you only have to deal with any potential issues related to the 145.825 frequency.
Kenneth - N5VHO
________________________________
From: [email protected] on behalf of Michael Tondee Sent: Fri 12/14/2007 10:43 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] ISS Packet activity? I'm having problems and gettingfrustrated
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
_______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
Hi Mike Practice on Earth before you try for space. On the Marex web page there are many tips on how to configure your TNC. Try Unproto on a Local System and get the hang of Unproto.
Aprs uses Unproto mode. Learn how to send and recieve text via Unproto mode locally and then change a call sign and you can try a local APRS netwsork.
Once you have mastered Earth Unproto/Aprs they you can try ISS.
good luck
http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/howtouseiss.html
--- Michael Tondee [email protected] wrote:
Since for the moment I am down to just a two meter mobile for ham equipment, I have been trying to get a setup going for packet and APRS. At the moment I have only been experimenting with the receive side of things but I'm not having much luck. I'm using a 4 element beam with Az/El tracking that I used to use when working the LEO's along with SatPC32 for rotor control. I'm setup with AGWPE and UIview32 using a soundcard. I've tried several passes tuned to 145.825 and so far on just one I was able to get one small packet to decode on the UIView32 terminal screen. I'm not seeing any APRS stations appear on the map and on the last three good passes I've tried I've heard little if any packet activity at all. What am I doing wrong here? Is it possible there is no activity on some of the passes? Even when I've heard packets I've only successfully decoded one. Tnx for any advice or pointers someone could give, 73, Michael, W4HIJ AMSAT # 36017
Sent via [email protected]. 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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participants (6)
-
Andrew Rich -
Joe Veldhuis -
Michael Tondee -
MM -
Ransom, Kenneth G. (JSC-OC)[BAR] -
Roger Kolakowski