Yes,

there is (potentially). It requires thinking outside of the box and involving ISS partners outside of NA.

Jaxa has the exposed facility (Terrace) outside of the Kibo module for all kinds of experiments. A fantastic opportunity to maybe, and again I say maybe work with our Japanese friends and see if we can place a payload (even if it is time limited) on the ISS.

Lots of food for thought.

Stefan, VE4NSA

On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 9:04 PM, Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa < co7wt@frcuba.co.cu> wrote:

There is no provision or equipment for the job on board.

There is a FM repeater in U/V mode, but last time on for it back a years from now (2008?)

That time I read in some place of the internet that the FM repeater was a power hungry device onboard, and that's why it was turned off...

They do not want to listen, or no body said to them that just turning the TX Power Down will fix this... or kind of...

I think the repeater function involved the Kenwood radio that now has a malfunction...

so... there is no hope for now...

My 5 cents...

73 de CO7WT

El 29/05/13 21:03, K5VOU escribió:

Just thinkin'

...

Tom K5VOU

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That's not fair, Bob.

Anything going to the ISS is "vetted", for lack of a better word before getting there. Remember SuitSat, and all the preparations for it, including the use of special paint that someone involved (wb4apr?) happened to have?

The people behind the ISS are wary of things brought up, and worry about things like interference, etc. I think that is justified: you can't just go out and fix stuff.

I've always been impressed that ham radio was even up there at all. Sure, *we* see it as great--and it is--but we're another thing to think of and manage. I'm sure somewhere there is a bean counter who has placed a cost on ham stuff on the ISS.

So "real hams" wouldn't be able to do stuff any faster. However, I think that is a slap in the face to a lot of talented people who've gotten licenses, and I think you owe an apology for that.

--STeve Andre' wb8wsf EN72rr

On 05/30/13 00:17, Bob- W7LRD wrote:

if there were a "real" ham on the ISS things would be different. 73 Bob W7LRD ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa" co7wt@frcuba.co.cu To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 7:04:23 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Is there anyway to get a linear transponder on the ISS?

There is no provision or equipment for the job on board.

There is a FM repeater in U/V mode, but last time on for it back a years from now (2008?)

That time I read in some place of the internet that the FM repeater was a power hungry device onboard, and that's why it was turned off...

They do not want to listen, or no body said to them that just turning the TX Power Down will fix this... or kind of...

I think the repeater function involved the Kenwood radio that now has a malfunction...

so... there is no hope for now...

My 5 cents...

73 de CO7WT

El 29/05/13 21:03, K5VOU escribió:

...

Just thinkin' Tom K5VOU

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Hi.

Mode VU suffers from interference at the atellite from illegal use of 2m for taxis etc. Mode VU has a higher path loss on UHF from the satellite to ground

Mode A has issues with higher noise levels and the size of antenna required on the satellite.

But, I agree mode A would get a lot of interest from people with HF + 50MHz equipment. - HF antenna = prototype deorbit system?? or 2 x ferrite rods at 90 degrees on receive

Thanks

David G0MRF

-----Original Message----- From: Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa co7wt@frcuba.co.cu To: Bob- W7LRD w7lrd@comcast.net CC: amsat-bb amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Thu, 30 May 2013 13:26 Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Is there anyway to get a linear transponder on the ISS?

Yeha...

A V/A transponder on the ISS would be a success... ;-)

I confess: I like V/A (2m/10m) because I do not have UHF radios...

BTW: Why is the U/V the choice of almost any sat launched this days...?

Why not V/U or V/A?

73 de CO7WT

El 30/05/13 00:17, Bob- W7LRD escribió:

if there were a "real" ham on the ISS things would be different. 73 Bob W7LRD

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*From: *"Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa" co7wt@frcuba.co.cu *To: *amsat-bb@amsat.org *Sent: *Wednesday, May 29, 2013 7:04:23 PM *Subject: *[amsat-bb] Re: Is there anyway to get a linear transponder

on

the ISS?

There is no provision or equipment for the job on board.

There is a FM repeater in U/V mode, but last time on for it back a

years

from now (2008?)

That time I read in some place of the internet that the FM repeater

was

a power hungry device onboard, and that's why it was turned off...

They do not want to listen, or no body said to them that just turning the TX Power Down will fix this... or kind of...

I think the repeater function involved the Kenwood radio that now has

a

malfunction...

so... there is no hope for now...

My 5 cents...

73 de CO7WT

El 29/05/13 21:03, K5VOU escribió:

...

Just thinkin' Tom K5VOU

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author.

...

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program!

...

Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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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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On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 04:46:30PM +0100, David Barber wrote:

Don't forget they ran L/V (23cm up / 2m down) for a short period in January 2009.

Unfortunately few takers, I think only three of us in the UK.

When they ran U/V I was able to get in quite successfully with my 70cm HT and a simple Yagi, and receive my own signal with the 2m set in the car. Unfortunately, the ISS had been boosted to a slightly higher orbit which put everyone else wrong - the computer-controlled tuning and aerial steering systems were looking in the wrong part of the sky, at the wrong time, and transmitting on the wrong frequency.

Chalk another one up for the Armstrong Rotator then ;-)

The nicest configuration for a system great and easy for everyone, including both small low budget stations and pro stations would be a 2m FM uplink with CTCSS to avoid interference and a SSB 10m downlink. It can be easily done bypassing the audio output of one 2m radio used as receiver to a VOX compatible SSB 10m radio for transmission.

Such configuration can allow stations from all over the world to enjoy satellite comms even from those countries where modern high tech ham radio equipments are scarce (my own country is on this list and it is not alone on it) and yet provide a fun configuration for those pro and modern stations wishing to remember the good old days from the 10m downlink satellites that I have always heard about.

Regarding the "noise" and antenna difficulties of a 10m SSB downlink several fellows hams mention on previous e-mails. I can tell this: I live in a highly RF contaminated city, lots and lots of cheap poor shielded chinese switching power supply units on DVD players and old rusty power electricity aerial transmission lines. And, with a 15m dipole (yes, the wrong antenna for 10m) at just 9 feet above the roof I can easily hear the "moan" from RS-15 in a higher orbit than ISS. So, a SSB 10m downlink with 1 or 2 Watts of output in the ISS could be very nice in deed!!!

Of course, as several other fellows said NASA and other space agencies had other important things on mind. So my little advice is not to get worry about that. Let's just try to build something capable to provide fun to the higher number of hams and wait patiently for a "GO Flight".

This is just my very personal point of view and my little contribution to this rich topic.

73,

Raydel, CM2ESP

----- Mensaje original ----- De: M5AKA m5aka@yahoo.co.uk Para: co7wt@frcuba.co.cu, w7lrd@comcast.net, g0mrf@aol.com CC: amsat-bb@amsat.org Enviado: Fri, 31 May 2013 06:35:31 -0400 (CDT) Asunto: [amsat-bb] Re: Is there anyway to get a linear transponder on the ISS?

David, there is already an HF monopole (15-30 MHz) installed on the ISS has been since the early days.

I gather there are antennas for HF, 144, 435 feeding into the Russian Service Module and antennas for 144, 435, 1260 (2 antennas) and 2400 (two antennas) feeding into the ESA Columbus Module.

Some info on the Russian Service Module antennas at http://www.marexmg.org/hardware/antennas.html

73 Trevor M5AKA

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if there were a "real" ham on the ISS things would be different.

Yep, then nothing would get done. All he would do is float around and complain about all the things that everyone else should be doing.

Bob, WB4APR

On 5/30/2013 12:21 PM, gordonjcp@gjcp.net wrote:

On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 11:02:15AM -0400, Robert Bruninga wrote:

...

...

if there were a "real" ham on the ISS things would be different.

Yep, then nothing would get done. All he would do is float around and complain about all the things that everyone else should be doing.

... and moaning about how astronauts these days have it too easy, and it wasn't like this twenty years ago, and if they had only kept the requirement for astronauts to be fighter pilots we'd be on Mars now.

Don't forget that if they made the astronauts pass the code to get their license it would instantly transform them into better operators. Honestly this thread just points out to me how "self important" some hams are. NASA has better things to do than worry about pleasing the wants and whims of ham radio operators. We are extremely lucky we have anything at all up there and should be thankful we have it rather than whining about guitars and such! 73, Michael, W4HIJ

I think it's outstanding that in such an epic space project, with so much at stake, amateur radio was even considered, let alone made it on board without being descoped in favour of other projects.

The guitar made prime time news across many countries, and promoted the ISS and space exploration to the masses at a time when coverage is on the decline. It was a genious piece of marketing.

Amateur Radio on board has also spread the word in education and promotion over the years, and is great for promoting the hobby, but it's way off the top of NASA's priority list and I think we should be very thankful for what we've got.

Dominic G6NQO

On 30 May 2013, at 06:13, Andy Kellner hawat1@yahoo.com wrote:

Bit of a shame that the people in charge at NASA decide its worth flying an accoustic guitar to the ISS so some astronaut can have his 5 minutes of fame, but dont spend $ 2000 on a tiny FM repeater which 10.000+ hams worldwide would enjoy in many years to come, let alone the educational impact. As it has been said, if that radio would be turned down to .. lets say 5 W .. the impact on the power budget of the ISS, which currently has a power generating capacity of 84 kW (!), would be completely insignificant.

A bit unclear to me why NASA still seems to be keen about school contacts, but wont enable a brick-and-mortar ham to setup a demonstration at _any_ school without any further NASA envolvement, demonstrating the FM repeater .. "look, I am talking to this other guy using the International Space Station which right now passes over our heads ..."

My 2 c.

Andreas - VK4TH

---

From: Ing. Pavel Milanes Costa co7wt@frcuba.co.cu To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Thursday, 30 May 2013 12:04 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Is there anyway to get a linear transponder on the ISS?

There is no provision or equipment for the job on board.

There is a FM repeater in U/V mode, but last time on for it back a years from now (2008?)

That time I read in some place of the internet that the FM repeater was a power hungry device onboard, and that's why it was turned off...

They do not want to listen, or no body said to them that just turning the TX Power Down will fix this... or kind of...

I think the repeater function involved the Kenwood radio that now has a malfunction...

so... there is no hope for now...

My 5 cents...

73 de CO7WT

El 29/05/13 21:03, K5VOU escribió:

...

Just thinkin' Tom K5VOU

---

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On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 08:31:10AM -0500, Joe wrote:

http://www.idle-tyme.com On 5/30/2013 12:13 AM, Andy Kellner wrote:

...

Bit of a shame that the people in charge at NASA decide its worth flying an accoustic guitar to the ISS so some astronaut can have his 5 minutes of fame, but dont spend $ 2000 on a tiny FM repeater which 10.000+ hams worldwide would enjoy in many years to come, let alone the educational impact. As it has been said, if that radio would be turned down to .. lets say 5 W .. the impact on the power budget of the ISS, which currently has a power generating capacity of 84 kW (!), would be completely insignificant.

Oh, don't be so bloody ridiculous. The guitar was flown up about ten years ago!

If you want two grand spent on an FM or for that matter linear transponder, put your hand in your pocket and stop whining. It probably wouldn't even cost as much as that (even allowing for the US dinar being pretty low right now) to build a flight-rated repeater - it's not like it has to live outside, right?