Ted It's been a while since I've worked FO-29 but never had any trouble using ft-847 and macdoppler pro software or satpc32. Have you tried using cw first as sometimes that makes it easier to initially find your own signal coming back. If you're not using radio control software though it will be tricky to say the least. I remember those days :) 73 good luck Rick W2JAZ
On Sunday, June 19, 2011, [email protected] wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. FO-29 ? (Ted) 2. SoCal to East Texas (Eric Fort) 3. Re: FO-29 ? (Jim Jerzycke) 4. ANS-170 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins (JoAnne Maenpaa) 5. VUCC # 207 (KE4KOL) 6. Re: VUCC # 207 (Zachary Beougher) 7. Re: SoCal to East Texas ([email protected]) 8. Re: SoCal to East Texas (i8cvs) 9. kc0zhf WAS Satellite #324 (Rodney Waln) 10. Re: kc0zhf WAS Satellite #324 (Zachary Beougher) 11. Re: SoCal to East Texas (Jeffrey Koehler) 12. KC0ZHF WAS #324 & KE4KOL VUCC #207 (John Papay) 13. Working ISS and or other digis (Donald Pittman) 14. Re: Working ISS and or other digis (Dave Taylor) 15. Fwd: ANS-170 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins ([email protected])
Message: 1 Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2011 15:33:59 -0700 From: "Ted" [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] FO-29 ? To: [email protected] Message-ID: AF13278E6E464905AD057D0340D737FE@HamComputer Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Is the frequency info on the amsat page accurate?
Also, are both up/dn USB? Any tone? I just have no luck tuning that sat for some reason..
Thank you,
Ted K7TRK
Message: 2 Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2011 16:05:06 -0700 From: Eric Fort [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] SoCal to East Texas To: Amsat BB [email protected] Message-ID: [email protected] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
A Technician class friend of mine and I would like to ragchew between His QTH in Lindale, TX (32.495164 N, 95.513233 W) and My QTH in Phelan, CA (34.436400 N, 117.468649 W) with the exception of oscar 0 is anything flying that would enable this on a frequency above 50MHZ?
Thanks,
Eric AF6EP
Message: 3 Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:21:41 +0000 From: Jim Jerzycke [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: FO-29 ? To: Ted [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Message-ID: [email protected] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Uplink is LSB, downlink is USB as it's an inverting transponder.
"Tone" is NEVER used on linear birds.
On 06/18/2011 10:33 PM, Ted wrote:
Is the frequency info on the amsat page accurate?
Also, are both up/dn USB? Any tone? I just have no luck tuning that sat for some reason..
Thank you,
Ted K7TRK _______________________________________________ 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
Message: 4 Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:33:12 -0500 From: "JoAnne Maenpaa" [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] ANS-170 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins To: [email protected] Message-ID: 000701cc2e20$dafe6cc0$90fb4640$@net Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-170
ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: [email protected]
In this edition:
- AMSAT-NA Files Formal Comments on Proposed ITAR Changes
- Announcing AMSAT Project FOX Website
- It's Time to Get Ready For ARISSat-1
- ARRISat-1 Team Pointers to Get Ready for SSTV Reception
- North America SO-67 Schedule For Field Day
- Visit the New AMSAT-UK Website
- AMSAT-UK Display at First UK Space Conference
- Satellite Shorts From All Over
- Follow Up to Receiving STEREO-B at 219 Million KM
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.01 AMSAT-NA Files Formal Comments on Proposed ITAR Changes
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-170.01
AMSAT submitted comments to the U.S. Department of State/Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) on June 13, 2011 in response to their proposed rule making on International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which would provide clarification on defense services, noting that public domain material is not subject to ITAR.
AMSAT asked DDTC to not only acknowledge that public domain materials are not subject to ITAR, but to expand the scope of how they view how materials are to be placed in the public domain. AMSAT requested that rather than focus on the method of placement of materials in the public domain (e.g. printed publication), the critical criteria should be the intent of the originator to broadly and freely make such material available to anyone who has the ability to access it via appropriate means, including electronic origination and distribution.
The full copy of AMSAT's comments will be published in an upcoming edition of the AMSAT Journal. An electronic copy of AMSAT's comments can be viewed on the AMSAT web at: http://tinyurl.com/3jtbff2
[ANS thanks AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW for the above Information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.02 Announcing AMSAT Project FOX Website
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-170.02
Alan Biddle, WA4SCA is pleased to announce that AMSAT's Project FOX website has been updated. Titled, "Introducing FOX, AMSAT-NA's Next Satellite!", this page brings you the highlights of:
- "Why do we need Fox?"
- A link to the Project FOX presentation slides from the Dayton
AMSAT Forum
- A Project FOX donation widget
- FOX Project Status
- High level project design goals
- A call for volunteers to join the AMSAT FOX Team
Begin your exploration of the AMSAT FOX project at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/fox/
Here is a summary of AMSAT Project FOX design goals:
Development Phase: Approved by the Board of Directors. Design in progress. Projected Launch: 2013. Space Frame Structure: Standard 1U (One Unit) CubeSat. Space Frame Size: 10 cm X 10 cm X 10 cm. Mass: Approximately 1.33 kg, ~ 3 lbs. Orbit: 600 - 800 km, circular, depending on launcher. RF: 500 mW EIRP, U/V (Mode B). Deployable antennas. Transponder: High density Software Defined Transponder (SDX). Power source: Deployable solar arrays. Lithium Ion or NiCd batteries. Power mangement: Maximum Power Point Trackers.
[ANS thanks Alan Biddle, WA4SCA for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.03 It's Time to Get Ready For ARISSat-1
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-170.03
A few weeks remain before the planned July deployment of ARISSat-1 from the ISS. The AMSAT News Service will bring you more details in the coming weeks. Here are some reminders to help you get your station ready for ARISSat-1 operation.
145.950 MHz FM Downlink:
FM transmissions will cycle between a voice ID as RS01S, select tele- metry values, 24 international greeting messages in 15 languages and SSTV images. One of the messages will be a conversation between Yuri Gagarin and ground control. See the next news item for pointers to get your station ready to receive the SSTV images.
435 MHz - 145 MHz Linear Transponder:
The linear transponder will operate in Mode U/V (70 cm Up, 2m Down). It is an 16 KHz wide inverting passband and the convention will be to TX LSB on the 435 MHz uplink and RX USB on the 145 MHz downlink. This mode is designed to work with low power transmitters and omni antenna.
145.919 MHz/145.939 MHz CW Beacon:
The CW transmissions will be callsign ID RS01S, select telemetry, and callsigns of people actively involved with the ARISS program.
145.920 MHz SSB BPSK-1000 Telemetry:
The BPSK transmissions will feature a new 1kBPSK protocol developed by Phil Karn, KA9Q to be readable in low signal level conditions. The BPSK data will transmit satellite telemetry.
The ARISSat-1 BPSK-1000 downlink is transmitted in SSB mode on 145.920 MHz. When the CW2 beacon on 145.919 MHz is active this indicates that the BPSK-1000 format is being transmitted. If the CW1 beacon on 145.939 MHz is active this indicates the backup of BPSK-400 format is being transmitted.
Transmitting at 100 mW, both BPSK rates include Forward Error Correction (FEC) and it is expected that modest quarter-wave antennas with low-loss coaxial cable will provide sufficient signal strength for decoding and display by the ARISSatTLM software.
An audio feed from an SSB receiver to the computer's soundcard input is needed. An initial "Receive Only" configuration is easily done consisting of an audio patch cable between your radio and the soundcard. Take the speaker or headphone output from the radio and run it into the line (or mic) input on your PC sound card.
BPSK-1000 sounds like a "shusssch" with a higher pitch than the 400 bps growl. It is difficult to tune by ear. The CW2 beacon is used as a tuning signal for BPSK-1000. The PC and Mac ARISSatTLM software display contains a dotted line that you use to tune your receiver until the CW signal bumps lines up with the dotted line on your PC screen. This will allow you to decode the BPSK-1000 signal and you will also be able to copy the CW2 beacon.
Download the Windows ARISSatTLM free ground station soundcard demodulator and display software: http://www.arissattlm.org/download/ARISSatTLM_050_Setup.exe
Download the Mac ARISSatTLM software: http://www.arissattlm.org/download/ARISSATTLM.zip
The ARISSatTLM software user guide is available: http://tinyurl.com/42uhtyf (amsat.org)
Get your color ARISSat-1 Frequency Guide: http://tinyurl.com/4t497t2 (amsat.org)
ARISSat-1 Presentation Slides (~1MB) http://tinyurl.com/4n4pzkm (amsat.org)
[ANS thanks the ARISSat-1 Team for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.04 ARRISat-1 Team Pointers to Get Ready for SSTV Reception
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-170.04
The ARISSat-1 FM downlink on 145.950 MHz includes live SSTV images as part of the cycling voice ID, select spoken telemetry values, and the international greeting messages. Here are some pointers to help you get your station ready to receive and dis- the SSTV pictures transmitted by ARISSat-1.
One fun feature is that there are four SSTV cameras mounted on the spacecraft. On photos of ARISSat-1 you may have noticed black brackets on the outside of the spacecraft. These hold the mirrors that reflect the light onto the lens of the cameras. The software- defined-transponder will use the image data from the cameras to generate the SSTV downlink.
ARISSat's software will sequentially select a new or stored image from one the four cameras. There are two pre-recorded images as part of the sequence. The camera that took the the picture can be identified by the color of the call sign in the upper left of the SSTV image. The SSTV image will be sent down as FM audio SSTV in Robot 36 format on 145.950 MHz about every 140 seconds.
The RF downlink power on the 145.950 MHz FM downlink will be 250mW which is predicted to provide a link margin around 6 dB on an HT with a 'big whip' when the satellite is at 15 degrees elevation. This should be sufficient to receive SSTV pictures although you may need to orient the whip to line up the antenna polarization.
ARISSat-1 is not stabilized so the antenna orientation is unpredict- able and a certain amount of fading will happen. The receiving link margin may be improved with a handheld beam such as an "Arrow", "Elk", or "Cheap Yagi" antenna. (See: http://www.wa5vjb.com/references/Cheap%20Antennas-LEOs.pdf)
General Overview Radio-to-Soundcard Interface
To view the SSTV downlink from ARISSat-1 you'll need a computer running SSTV software for your soundcard and an audio connection between your radio and the computer.
If you are already on the air with other amateur radio soundcard applications chances are you are ready to receive ARISSat's SSTV downlink with little or no modification to your setup.
The audio from the radio to the computer is the key link. An initial "Receive Only" configuration is easily done consisting of an audio patch cable between your radio and the soundcard. Take the speaker or headphone output from the radio and run it into the line (or mic) input on your PC sound card.
Setting the level is simple also as the MMSSTV software has a bar indicator. Just adjust the sound card gain slider and/or radio volume control so that the SSTV signal is within the center part of the bar. MMSSTV will give you an "overflow" indication if the volume is too high.
If your rig has a 'Line Out' connection this can be run to the soundcard 'Line In'. Using the radio 'Line Out' you won't have to deal with the interaction of the radio's volume control with the soundcard levels. But you will still need to use the soundcard 'Volume Control' to set the 'Line In' levels.
SSTV Software Download Sites
There are many amateur radio SSTV software decoding applications available. One of the easiest to use on Windows computers is the MMSSTV program. This can be downloaded from: http://mmhamsoft.amateur-radio.ca/pages/mmsstv.php
The Ham Radio Deluxe software package also includes SSTV operation.
SSTV software for the Mac is available at: http://web.me.com/kd6cji/MacSSTV/MultiScan.html
[ANS thanks the ARISSat-1 Team for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.05 North America SO-67 Schedule For Field Day
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19
FO-29 performs well. Its a shame I often find myself the only one on during the pass. Just me and my downlink.
As stated by others in the past, here are a few hints.
USB always on the downlink (that means LSB on the uplink for inverting transponders).
Use CW to find yourself quickly on the downlink.
When using computer control, unlock your TX and RX VFO's momentarily, listen to your downlink while adjusting your uplink. Match the pitch of the CW downlink to the pitch of your local sidetone (or adjust your uplink to where your own voice sounds natural in SSB). Lock your VFO's again and your ready to make QSO's.
John Belstner W9EN Valley Center, CA DM13le
----- Original Message ----- From: "John M. Belstner" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2011 10:32 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Working FO-29
FO-29 performs well. Its a shame I often find myself the only one on during the pass. Just me and my downlink.
As stated by others in the past, here are a few hints.
USB always on the downlink (that means LSB on the uplink for inverting transponders).
Use CW to find yourself quickly on the downlink.
When using computer control, unlock your TX and RX VFO's momentarily, listen to your downlink while adjusting your uplink. Match the pitch of the CW downlink to the pitch of your local sidetone (or adjust your uplink to where your own voice sounds natural in SSB). Lock your VFO's again and your ready to make QSO's.
John Belstner W9EN Valley Center, CA DM13le
Hi John, W9EN
You are alone on FO-29 because for many years the most part of satellite users were using hand-held FM equipments and arrow antennas to say only call letter and locator on FM single channel LEO satellites to collect grids.
Now the FM satellite situation is critical and probably the satellite community will get up and will remember the existence of linear transponders on VO-52, FO-29, and OSCAR-7 with plenty of bandwidth for many QSO's all at the same time and for long chat.
Here in Europe the most popular satellite is VO-52 but OSCAR-7 and FO-29 are plenty of users.
73" de
i8CVS Domenico
Well I'm doing a dry run in the backyard for field day tomorrow. I'll be on cw and SSB on the 4:38 EDT pass Monday.
On Jun 19, 2011, at 4:32 PM, "John M. Belstner" [email protected] wrote:
FO-29 performs well. Its a shame I often find myself the only one on during the pass. Just me and my downlink.
As stated by others in the past, here are a few hints.
USB always on the downlink (that means LSB on the uplink for inverting transponders).
Use CW to find yourself quickly on the downlink.
When using computer control, unlock your TX and RX VFO's momentarily, listen to your downlink while adjusting your uplink. Match the pitch of the CW downlink to the pitch of your local sidetone (or adjust your uplink to where your own voice sounds natural in SSB). Lock your VFO's again and your ready to make QSO's.
John Belstner W9EN Valley Center, CA DM13le _______________________________________________ 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 (4)
-
i8cvs -
John M. Belstner -
Richard Lawn -
Thomas Schaefer