November 2008 - Eagle (INACTIVE)

Stack Monitor Chips Without Isolation Concerns To Give Your Electric Car Some Zip
by k3io＠verizon.net 24 Nov '08

24 Nov '08

k3io(a)verizon.net sent this article to you from Electronic Design's Web site. ---------- The LTC6802 looks like a very promising way to monitor all the battery cells in a series string. 73, Tom ---------- Stack Monitor Chips Without Isolation Concerns To Give Your Electric Car Some Zip http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/20026/20026.html ---------- For more articles and engineering resources, visit www.elecdesign.com

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AMSAT's World Class Software Toolkits
by Rick Hambly (W2GPS) 22 Nov '08

22 Nov '08

All, AMSAT has been maintaining a world class set of software tools for RF design, antenna design, schematic capture, PCB layout and auto-route, and FPGA/CPLD/etc. design. There are modules for special purpose applications like high speed signal PCB design, simulation and emulation. The capabilities are beyond want most of us could ever afford to touch if it were not for AMSAT. These tools have been updated with the latest revisions over the past week and new instructions have been prepared to help you find them. The purpose of making these tools available is EDUCATION. This is arguably AMSAT's most important mission. These tools are here for YOU to become better educated by learning and using these tools. The only restriction is that you use them only for AMSAT sponsored projects, one of which is YOUR EDUCATION, so go ahead and use them to design your new Ham Shack antenna, circuit board, or whatever. AMSAT sponsored projects include ARISS, TAPR and HPSDR projects and may include others in the future. The most important limitation is that these tools are not to be used for personal commercial gain or on projects that are not sponsored by AMSAT. So do not share the registration information with non-members unless specifically authorized by the AMSAT President or his delegated authority. Attached are the instructions for getting the tools. The licenses are controlled by a central server so you must be connected to the Internet to use these tools. There are limits on the number of simultaneous users permitted by each license, some as low as two at a time, others as high as 20 at a time. I don't expect that to be a problem. These tools are worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars, so what is the hitch? Any one suite of tools (sometimes called a "flow") is a major personal commitment to learn. For that reason I recommend locating the various Webcasts that are available and teaming up with a partner. Why would AMSAT put you through all this pain? Because AMSAT needs people who know how to use these tools to design the next generation satellites. Rick W2GPS

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Elon Musk will visit Goddard on December 15
by Daniel Schultz 16 Nov '08

16 Nov '08

Elon Musk of SpaceX will visit Goddard and deliver the 3:30 Monday afternoon Engineering Colloquium on December 15. The title is "Falcons and Dragons: Economical Liftoffs for Science Payloads, Cargo, and People". There may be an informal opportunity to talk to him after the colloquium, but if you want a more formal meeting we can talk to the colloquium committee to see if something can be set up ahead of time. Dan Schultz

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Visualizing Geosynchronous Coverage
by JoAnne Maenpaa 15 Nov '08

15 Nov '08

Good morning everyone, This is probably old news for those who have studied the topic. The web page below gives you a chance to visualize your coverage from various geostationary orbital slots: http://www.satsig.net/maps/satellite-maps.htm. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org Editor, AMSAT News Service Copy Editor, AMSAT Journal

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AMSAT's History
by Tom Clark, K3IO 11 Nov '08

11 Nov '08

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National Interoperability Field Operations Guide
by JoAnne Maenpaa 11 Nov '08

11 Nov '08

Hello everyone, Here is a bit of reference material for study and storage in our archive for future access. We've discussed off and on about radio interoperability opportunities that AMSAT may present for amateur radio emergency communications. Below is a link to the National Interoperability Field Operations Guide v1.2 published by US DHS, Office of Emergency Communications. This covers national terrestrial radio planning. http://www.npstc.org/documents/NIFOG%20v1.2%204-14-2008.pdf -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org Editor, AMSAT News Service Copy Editor, AMSAT Journal

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