RAFT Packet Operator assistance needed
We need AMSAT operator help with the RAFT satellite Test.
We need somone with a 2m beam and familiarity with packet that lives in the Southern USA from Arizona to Georgia (AZ, NM, TX, OK, MS, ALA, GA).
RAFT is at its mission life time half-way point, and we have not been able to find anyone in the above footprint to help us conduct the primary mission which was for the satellite to detect its own passing through the DOD's radar fence. When it flies through the North American Space-Object fan beam, we should hear about 1 second tone that anyone can hear on the downlink.
Due to its low orbit and small footprint, turning on the Radar Transponder can only be done in the shared footprint between the radar transmitter in North Texas and the command station. The ideal command station has these atributes:
1) Lives in AZ, NM, TX, OK, AK, LA, MS, AL, GA, W.FLA 2) A reasonable 2m beam for ops on 145.825 3) A packet TNC 4) A familiarity with dumb-terminal TNC operations such as A. Connections, Converse, UNPROTO, etc B. Remote sysop logon to a Kantronics TNC
The objective of these southern command stations is to logon, send the command to activate the RAFT Radar receiver for 1 minute in anticipation of passing through the fence. Then hopefully recording any audio heard on the downlink (145.825). Of course, once the radar receiver is on, everyone in the footprint should be able to hear it.
For info, see the ANDE-RAFT operations page: http://eng.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/ande-raft-ops.html
Several AMSAT hams built this tiny Radar receiver as a possible common device for all future HAMsats, and we would like to get feedback on its performance. But they all live up North. If you have a beam and familiarity with TNC's please let us know.
Bob, WB4APR. US Naval Academy Satellite Lab
_______________________________________________ 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 Bob In about a week the CAPE team work load will drop off and we will be able to help. In the mean time we can on a night or two send a few commands to the sats.
nick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Bruninga" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 12:32 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] RAFT Packet Operator assistance needed
We need AMSAT operator help with the RAFT satellite Test.
We need somone with a 2m beam and familiarity with packet that lives in the Southern USA from Arizona to Georgia (AZ, NM, TX, OK, MS, ALA, GA).
RAFT is at its mission life time half-way point, and we have not been able to find anyone in the above footprint to help us conduct the primary mission which was for the satellite to detect its own passing through the DOD's radar fence. When it flies through the North American Space-Object fan beam, we should hear about 1 second tone that anyone can hear on the downlink.
Due to its low orbit and small footprint, turning on the Radar Transponder can only be done in the shared footprint between the radar transmitter in North Texas and the command station. The ideal command station has these atributes:
- Lives in AZ, NM, TX, OK, AK, LA, MS, AL, GA, W.FLA
- A reasonable 2m beam for ops on 145.825
- A packet TNC
- A familiarity with dumb-terminal TNC operations such as
A. Connections, Converse, UNPROTO, etc B. Remote sysop logon to a Kantronics TNC
The objective of these southern command stations is to logon, send the command to activate the RAFT Radar receiver for 1 minute in anticipation of passing through the fence. Then hopefully recording any audio heard on the downlink (145.825). Of course, once the radar receiver is on, everyone in the footprint should be able to hear it.
For info, see the ANDE-RAFT operations page: http://eng.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/ande-raft-ops.html
Several AMSAT hams built this tiny Radar receiver as a possible common device for all future HAMsats, and we would like to get feedback on its performance. But they all live up North. If you have a beam and familiarity with TNC's please let us know.
Bob, WB4APR. US Naval Academy Satellite Lab
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
Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] RAFT Packet Operator assistance needed
In about a week the CAPE team work load will drop off and we will be able to help. In the mean time we can on a night or two send a few commands to the sats.
That would be great. We only have a few days left during this operating period, because RAFT only works well in the DARK and it is getting earlier every day. We have been in orbit for 4 months have not found anyone in the Southern USA to do this simple test. (needs an OSCAR array). You did not mention where you are located..
There is only one viable pass per day per location in the early evening. Not knowing where you are, here are the Times CENTRAL Daylight Time are:
24th 9:57:36 PM West of Texas 25th 8:56:36 PM East of Texas 9:55:24 PM West of Texas 26th 8:22:42 PM East of Texas 9:52:06 PM West of texas 27th 8:19:18 PM East of Texas 9:49:12 PM West of Texas 28th 8:15:42 PM West of Texas 29th 8:11:56 PM West of Texas 30th 8:07:48 PM West of Texas 1st 8:03:36 PM West of Texas
The trick is to command the satellite to turn on its downlink carrier and Radar receiver exactly 30 seconds prior to passing through the fence and then having an audio recorder running to "hear" the tone when we pass through the radar beam.
Commands are a ssimple CONNECT XXXX at the cmd: propt, then an exchange of passwords, and then sending a simpel typed command.
RAFT can he HEARD just fine on ALL passes and 5 of them occur every day before this last one. So you can test your RECEIVE capability on any pass, but can only command in the dark (due to overchargin on batteries makes uplink receier deaf)...
Bob
nick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Bruninga" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 12:32 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] RAFT Packet Operator assistance needed
We need AMSAT operator help with the RAFT satellite Test.
We need somone with a 2m beam and familiarity with packet
that
lives in the Southern USA from Arizona to Georgia (AZ, NM,
TX,
OK, MS, ALA, GA).
RAFT is at its mission life time half-way point, and we have
not
been able to find anyone in the above footprint to help us conduct the primary mission which was for the satellite to detect its own passing through the DOD's radar fence. When
it
flies through the North American Space-Object fan beam, we should hear about 1 second tone that anyone can hear on the downlink.
Due to its low orbit and small footprint, turning on the
Radar
Transponder can only be done in the shared footprint between
the
radar transmitter in North Texas and the command station.
The
ideal command station has these atributes:
- Lives in AZ, NM, TX, OK, AK, LA, MS, AL, GA, W.FLA
- A reasonable 2m beam for ops on 145.825
- A packet TNC
- A familiarity with dumb-terminal TNC operations such as
A. Connections, Converse, UNPROTO, etc B. Remote sysop logon to a Kantronics TNC
The objective of these southern command stations is to
logon,
send the command to activate the RAFT Radar receiver for 1 minute in anticipation of passing through the fence. Then hopefully recording any audio heard on the downlink
(145.825).
Of course, once the radar receiver is on, everyone in the footprint should be able to hear it.
For info, see the ANDE-RAFT operations page: http://eng.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/ande-raft-ops.html
Several AMSAT hams built this tiny Radar receiver as a
possible
common device for all future HAMsats, and we would like to
get
feedback on its performance. But they all live up North.
If
you have a beam and familiarity with TNC's please let us
know.
Bob, WB4APR. US Naval Academy Satellite Lab
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:
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Bob,
This is Jonathan, KE5FSG from the CAPE team. We are in Lafayette, Louisiana (rouphly -92, 30 Lat, Long). We can try the pass tonight at 8:30 and 10:00 CDT and about the same time tomorrow. It looks like it will just barely be out of sun before it passes over the radar fence, but we can try. After tomorrow, you will probably need someone further west.
I will be at our ground station tonight and tomorrow about those times anyway, so send me an email with any details I need to command and I will gladly try to help. Am I correct that the uplink and downlink are both at 145.825 MHz?
We have a TS-2000 with 100 Watts on 2 meters and a M2 element 2MCP22 22 element yagi with mast-mounted pre-amp.
Jonathan Wagner
Robert Bruninga wrote:
Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] RAFT Packet Operator assistance needed
In about a week the CAPE team work load will drop off and we will be able to help. In the mean time we can on a night or two send a few commands to the sats.
That would be great. We only have a few days left during this operating period, because RAFT only works well in the DARK and it is getting earlier every day. We have been in orbit for 4 months have not found anyone in the Southern USA to do this simple test. (needs an OSCAR array). You did not mention where you are located..
There is only one viable pass per day per location in the early evening. Not knowing where you are, here are the Times CENTRAL Daylight Time are:
24th 9:57:36 PM West of Texas 25th 8:56:36 PM East of Texas 9:55:24 PM West of Texas 26th 8:22:42 PM East of Texas 9:52:06 PM West of texas 27th 8:19:18 PM East of Texas 9:49:12 PM West of Texas 28th 8:15:42 PM West of Texas 29th 8:11:56 PM West of Texas 30th 8:07:48 PM West of Texas 1st 8:03:36 PM West of Texas
The trick is to command the satellite to turn on its downlink carrier and Radar receiver exactly 30 seconds prior to passing through the fence and then having an audio recorder running to "hear" the tone when we pass through the radar beam.
Commands are a ssimple CONNECT XXXX at the cmd: propt, then an exchange of passwords, and then sending a simpel typed command.
RAFT can he HEARD just fine on ALL passes and 5 of them occur every day before this last one. So you can test your RECEIVE capability on any pass, but can only command in the dark (due to overchargin on batteries makes uplink receier deaf)...
Bob
nick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Bruninga" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 12:32 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] RAFT Packet Operator assistance needed
We need AMSAT operator help with the RAFT satellite Test.
We need somone with a 2m beam and familiarity with packet
that
lives in the Southern USA from Arizona to Georgia (AZ, NM,
TX,
OK, MS, ALA, GA).
RAFT is at its mission life time half-way point, and we have
not
been able to find anyone in the above footprint to help us conduct the primary mission which was for the satellite to detect its own passing through the DOD's radar fence. When
it
flies through the North American Space-Object fan beam, we should hear about 1 second tone that anyone can hear on the downlink.
Due to its low orbit and small footprint, turning on the
Radar
Transponder can only be done in the shared footprint between
the
radar transmitter in North Texas and the command station.
The
ideal command station has these atributes:
- Lives in AZ, NM, TX, OK, AK, LA, MS, AL, GA, W.FLA
- A reasonable 2m beam for ops on 145.825
- A packet TNC
- A familiarity with dumb-terminal TNC operations such as
A. Connections, Converse, UNPROTO, etc B. Remote sysop logon to a Kantronics TNC
The objective of these southern command stations is to
logon,
send the command to activate the RAFT Radar receiver for 1 minute in anticipation of passing through the fence. Then hopefully recording any audio heard on the downlink
(145.825).
Of course, once the radar receiver is on, everyone in the footprint should be able to hear it.
For info, see the ANDE-RAFT operations page: http://eng.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/ande-raft-ops.html
Several AMSAT hams built this tiny Radar receiver as a
possible
common device for all future HAMsats, and we would like to
get
feedback on its performance. But they all live up North.
If
you have a beam and familiarity with TNC's please let us
know.
Bob, WB4APR. US Naval Academy Satellite Lab
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:
We only have 7 days left in this operating period and really do need a good OSCAR station in the Southern USA in a line from AZ to GA to conduct this test of RAFT flying through the 80 megawatt radar transmitter beam originated in north Texas.
There is only one viable pass per day per command station location in the early evening. Here are the Times CENTRAL Daylight Time are:
24th 9:57:36 PM West of Texas 25th 8:56:36 PM East of Texas 9:55:24 PM West of Texas 26th 8:22:42 PM East of Texas 9:52:06 PM West of texas 27th 8:19:18 PM East of Texas 9:49:12 PM West of Texas 28th 8:15:42 PM West of Texas 29th 8:11:56 PM West of Texas 30th 8:07:48 PM West of Texas 1st 8:03:36 PM West of Texas
The trick is to command the satellite to turn on its downlink carrier and Radar receiver exactly 30 seconds prior to passing through the fence and then having an audio recorder running to "hear" (record) the tone when we pass through the radar beam.
Commands are a simple CONNECT XXXX at the cmd: propt, then an exchange of passwords, and then sending a simple typed command at the right time.
RAFT can he HEARD just fine on ALL FIVE passes leading up to this last pass per day, so you can test your RECEIVE capability on any pass, but can only command in the dark (due to overcharging on batteries makes uplink receier deaf)...
If anyone can conduct this test please let us know. Only one person per pass can attempt this, so we want the best gun at the stick. Fully conversent at the TNC "cmd:" prompt and preerably with experimence with the KPC3+ remote-sysop command mode.
Bob, WB4APR USNA Satelite Lab
----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Bruninga" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 12:32 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] RAFT Packet Operator assistance needed
We need AMSAT operator help with the RAFT satellite Test.
We need somone with a 2m beam and familiarity with packet
that
lives in the Southern USA from Arizona to Georgia (AZ, NM,
TX,
OK, MS, ALA, GA).
RAFT is at its mission life time half-way point, and we have
not
been able to find anyone in the above footprint to help us conduct the primary mission which was for the satellite to detect its own passing through the DOD's radar fence. When
it
flies through the North American Space-Object fan beam, we should hear about 1 second tone that anyone can hear on the downlink.
Due to its low orbit and small footprint, turning on the
Radar
Transponder can only be done in the shared footprint between
the
radar transmitter in North Texas and the command station.
The
ideal command station has these atributes:
- Lives in AZ, NM, TX, OK, AK, LA, MS, AL, GA, W.FLA
- A reasonable 2m beam for ops on 145.825
- A packet TNC
- A familiarity with dumb-terminal TNC operations such as
A. Connections, Converse, UNPROTO, etc B. Remote sysop logon to a Kantronics TNC
The objective of these southern command stations is to
logon,
send the command to activate the RAFT Radar receiver for 1 minute in anticipation of passing through the fence. Then hopefully recording any audio heard on the downlink
(145.825).
Of course, once the radar receiver is on, everyone in the footprint should be able to hear it.
For info, see the ANDE-RAFT operations page: http://eng.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/ande-raft-ops.html
Several AMSAT hams built this tiny Radar receiver as a
possible
common device for all future HAMsats, and we would like to
get
feedback on its performance. But they all live up North.
If
you have a beam and familiarity with TNC's please let us
know.
Bob, WB4APR. US Naval Academy Satellite Lab
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
participants (3)
-
Jonathan Wagner -
Nick Pugh -
Robert Bruninga