Hi! Anyone want to experiment with me?
To try a contact through the ARISS cross-
band repeater in L/V mode (see announcement
below), I have an L-band antenna, feedline,
and all the V-band equipment.
But I need someone with a means to transmit
FM voice on 1269.650 MHz.
Shall we team up?
Otherwise, anyone have an L-band transverter
in good working condition to loan or sell
soon?
Cheers,
Pat
N8PK
Sykesville, Md. 21784 (FM19mk) Carroll Co.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ARRL Letter Mailing List
> Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 11:19 AM
> To: pat(a)patkilroy.com
> Subject: The ARRL Letter, Vol 27, No 50 (Friday, December 19, 2008)
>
> ***************
> The ARRL Letter
> Vol. 27, No. 50
> December 19, 2008
> ***************
>
> IN THIS EDITION:
>
[snip]
> * + ARISS Finalizes Plans for Silver Anniversary of Amateur Radio from
> Space
[snip]
>
> +Available on ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>
>
> REMINDER: There will be no ARRL Letter or ARRL Audio News on Friday
> December 26, 2008 or January 2, 2009. Both the Letter and the Audio News
> will return on Friday, January 9, 2009.
>
[snip]
>
> ==> ARISS FINALIZES PLANS FOR SILVER ANNIVERSARY OF AMATEUR RADIO FROM
> SPACE
>
> The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
> <http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm> team is currently celebrating the
> silver anniversary -- 25 years -- of Amateur Radio operations from
> space. According to ARISS International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO,
> the crew on the International Space Station (ISS) has configured the
> radio to support cross-band repeater operations. They have also
> supported some SSTV downlinks and participated in a special test of 9600
> baud packet radio operations on the simplex frequency of 145.825 MHz.
> After December 19, Bauer said he expects the ISS ham radio system to be
> on the 145.825 MHz frequency supporting 1200 baud packet. If PCSAT is
> configured during the week, he said double hop APRS is possible.
>
> "During the week of December 21-26, we plan to support the cross-band
> repeater mode with a twist," Bauer said. "Our intent is to configure the
> radio for 145.99 MHz uplink -- including CTCSS tone of 67.0 and 437.80
> MHz down. This will be performed in low power mode. We should also note
> that an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is planned for that week --
> Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, and Flight Engineer Yury
> Lonchakov, RA3DT, plan to perform a spacewalk on December 22. As per
> standard procedure, the ISS ham radio system will be turned off for the
> EVA."
>
> Bauer said that from December 28-January 3, the cross-band repeater will
> be reconfigured for what he called "a special experiment. This will be a
> test of our L-Band uplink capability, which, to date, has not been
> proven out. Plan for an uplink of 1269.65 MHz and a downlink on the
> standard frequency of 145.80 MHz, using low power," he said. "Given the
> substantial cable losses of the L-band system, we hope some 'big guns'
> are able to penetrate through, keep up with Doppler and make the
> connection."
>
> A special certificate is being developed for those who communicate with
> the ISS from November 30, 2008 to January 15, 2009. This certificate
> will be awarded to those who have had two-way communications with the
> ISS on voice, packet (APRS) or through the voice repeater. Those who
> hear the ISS from space in any of the ARISS operations modes -- voice,
> SSTV, school contact, voice repeater or digital - will also be eligible
> to receive a certificate.
>
> To receive the certificate, Bauer said to note the ARISS mode of
> operation (such as SSTV, voice or school) on your QSL and whether the
> contact was one-way (receive only) or two-way. "You should send your
> self-addressed, stamped envelope to the normal ARISS QSL volunteer
> distributor in your area of the world," he explained. "On the outside of
> the QSL envelope, please include the words '25th Anniversary
> Certificate.' Make sure your envelope is big enough to accept an 8.5 x
> 11 inch certificate and includes the proper postage." If you do not know
> where to send your QSL, check the ARISS Web site
> <http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#ARISS_Update--25th_Anniversary_of_Ha
> m_Radio_in_Space> to find the one that serves your part of the world.
>
> "We will be sending your certificate to the volunteer distributors in
> bulk after the event is over," Bauer said. "This saves workload and
> money. So do not expect to see it until 1-2 months after the event
> closes on January 15."
>
> Bauer reminded hams that due to ISS flight requirements related to
> spacewalks and vehicle activity, the radio onboard the ISS may be off
> for some portion of this schedule. School contacts and general QSO
> opportunities by the crew will also preempt this schedule for short
> periods of time. "But remember that if you hear these," he said, "you
> still qualify for a commemorative certificate. Enjoy the ARISS ops on
> ISS!"
>
> ==
[snip]
=====
>From Weekly Satellite Report WSR-353:
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS) - ARISS
Catalog number: 25544
Launch date: November 20, 1998
Status: Operational
Current Active Modes: FM Repeater - U/v
Voice - V/v
BBS - V/v
APRS - V/v 9k6
SSTV - V/v
Expedition 18 Crew:
Commander: Mike Fincke KE5AIT
Flight Engineer: Yury Lonchakov RA3DT
Flight Engineer: Sandra Magnus KE5FYE
Available Modes and Frequencies:
Digital/APRS:
Worldwide packet uplink: 145.825 MHz FM 9k6
Worldwide packet downlink: 145.825 Mhz FM 9k6
Voice:
Region 1 voice uplink: 145.200 MHz FM
Region 2/3 voice uplink: 144.490 MHz FM
Worldwide downlink: 145.800 MHz FM
Crossband Repeater:
Repeater Uplink: 437.800 MHz FM
Repeater Downlink: 145.800 MHz FM
SSTV Robot 36:
Downlink: 145.800 MHz FM
Mode and Antenna Polarization:
V: Linear
U: Linear
Callsigns:
Belgian: OR4ISS
German: DP0ISS
Russian: RS0ISS
RZ3DZR
United States: NA1SS
Packet Mailbox: RS0ISS-11
Digipeater callsign: ARISS
Official ARISS Webpage: http://www.rac.ca/ariss
ISS Fan Club Webpage: http://www.issfanclub.com
APRS tracking page: http://www.ariss.net/
ISS Daily Crew Schedule: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/timelines
Remember that the crew operates on UTC time. Also, all of the time
line is NOT translated from Russian and posted.
[121812008]
NNNN
/EX
Monday's Goddard Engineering Colloquium will feature Mr. Steve Davis, Lead
Systems Engineer for the Space-X Dragon spacecraft. (Elon Musk apparently had
to cancel and sent Steve instead). If any local Amsat people would like to
attend, (and maybe beg him for a free satellite launch) please get in touch
with me or Pat Kilroy. You will need one of us to escort you through Goddard
security. I will not be at my normal work location on Monday, so call me at
home before Sunday night at 301-879-8377, or call Pat at work on Monday at
301-286-1984. This offer is regrettably limited to US citizens.
Dan Schultz N8FGV
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, December 15, 2008 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
Steve Davis
"Falcons and Dragons: Economical Liftoffs for Science Payloads, Cargo, and
People"
ABSTRACT -- A new vehicle for small payloads, the Falcon, was successfully
launched in September. Designed for cost efficiency and reliability, the
Falcon series of spacecraft can provide an affordable option for science and
engineering researchers to get their payloads to orbit, either LEO or, with
the Falcon 9, geo-synchronous. In addition to describing the Falcon
spacecraft, the speaker will describe the Dragon. The Dragon spacecraft is
made up of a pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used for Earth to LEO
transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members.
Initiated internally by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) in
2005, Dragon will be utilized to fulfill a NASA COTS contract for
demonstration of cargo re-supply of the ISS.
SPEAKER -- Mr. Davis of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
(http://www.spacex.com) is Lead Systems Engineer for Dragon, a free-flying
reusable spacecraft being developed under NASA's Commercial Orbital
Transportation Services (COTS) program for the delivery of cargo and crew to
the International Space Station (ISS). In this role, Davis is responsible for
the technical management of 25 engineers, overall system and mission design,
and interfacing with the ISS program to ensure ISS-Dragon compatibility. Prior
to his role as Lead Systems Engineer on Dragon, Davis designed, analyzed and
tested the guidance system for the SpaceX Falcon 1, the first
privately-developed liquid fuel rocket to achieve Earth orbit.
