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Module Drawings
by Dick Jansson-rr 19 Dec '07

19 Dec '07

I have posted to Eaglepedia the complete sets of drawings for the new E05 60 Module and E05 65 HS Module. This later one uses HS to mean Heat Sink, where the module is equipped with a sizable heat sink to handle power devices as would be used in Eagle Mission transmitters, or other module functions with power dissipations greater than ~5W. These drawings are posted for your use and review. '73, Dick Jansson, KD1K <mailto:[email protected]> kd1k(a)amsat.org <mailto:[email protected]> kd1k(a)arrl.net

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updated U receiver info
by John B. Stephensen 17 Dec '07

17 Dec '07

An adjustable matching network removes the ripple in the U receiver passband. I've added information at the end of the U-band receiver page in Eaglepedia. 73, John KD6OZH

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Time Hackers
by Tom Clark, K3IO 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

Many of you know that I (along with others like W2GPS, N4HY, K8RQ, N8UR etc) have long-standing interest in high-accuracy timekeeping (especially involving GPS). You might find this WIRED article interesting (http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/12/time_hackers). Several of you know about Tom Van Baak (no call) and his time/clock exploits; Tom has been a friend ever since he became interested in atomic clocks. The article doesn't mention it, but Tom (who signs his messages TvB) has TWO hydrogen maser clocks in his lab. Photos of the clock labs at TvB and N8UR home QTHs, see the gallery at http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/multimedia/2007/12/gallery_time_ha…. In the article you will also find mention of John Ackerman (N8UR) in Dayton. John has served as TAPR's president and has recently helped TAPR/AMSAT in developing a GNU-like Open Source Hardware license. For those of you interested in the topic, N8UR runs the "Time Nuts" Email listserv. Details can be found at https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts. 73 & Seasons Greetings -- Tom

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THE TALKING DOG
by Dick Jansson-rr 28 Nov '07

28 Nov '07

I'm wondering if we can recruit this dog to help us in the satellite design world. J Dick Jansson, KD1K <mailto:[email protected]> kd1k(a)amsat.org <mailto:[email protected]> kd1k(a)arrl.net -----Original Message----- While driving around the back woods of East Texas, on one back roads I saw a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: "Talking Dog for Sale." Well I needed a break so I stopped to see what the deal was. I went into the backyard and see a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there. "You talk?" I ask. "Yep," the Lab replies. Well after I got over the shock of hearing a dog talk, I asked "So, what's your story?" " Ah shucks there ain't much to tell. Is that a VUU screwdriver antenna on your truck out there?" "How did you know that," I ask? The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I'm a ham radio operator. I got my Ticket when I was a young pup and in no time at all I had my 5 band DXCC in Phone and CW. The CIA heard about me and asked me to do some spy work for them. I would hang around the communications centers and with my keen hearing I could copy the transmissions. Because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping, I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years." Copying high speed CW all day really tired me out and I knew I wasn't getting any younger. So, I decided to settle down. I retired from the CIA (8 dog years is 56 CIA years) and joined a ham radio club. In fact I won first place in the Oklahoma OSO Party two years in a row. Then I had a mess of puppies and got away from Ham Radio for a while. I sure miss my radio. Why don't you buy me and I'll be your CW operator in the Texas QSO Party. I said "let me see what I can do." I went back in and asked the owner what he wants for the dog. "Ten dollars," the guy says. "Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?" "Because he's a liar. He never did any of that stuff. He's just a No Code Technician."

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AMSAT's Power Developments in the news
by Tom Clark, K3IO 21 Nov '07

21 Nov '07

Many of you have heard that Lew McFadin (W5DID), working with Steve Bible (N7HPR) and Steve's colleagues (especially Keith Curtis) at Microchip (the PIC people) have been working on a next generation power conditioning system. The basic idea is to have a power charge/discharge conditioner for each cell of the spacecraft's battery pack. This will allow the use of several different battery technologies (NiCd, NiMH, LiIon, etc) and also some of the new "super capacitors". Some of you who were at Dayton may have seen the breadboard mockup of system that Steve brought and Lew was showing. Lew was also showing some ~2000 Farad(!) 3 volt capacitors (some of us dubbed them "flux gate capacitors"). The SuperCap developments have been exploding of late. One immediate service is for regenerative braking in hybrid and electric vehicles, since the capacitors seem to be able to withstand a (virtually) infinite number of charge/discharge cycles, and then can "soak up" & discharge huge currents -- must faster than any chemical batteries can do. Batteries store watt-hours of energy, while capacitors handle large numbers of watts of power. One German light-rail system employs a total of 600 2600Farad capacitors for regenerative braking. Some US electric buses have capacitor banks with 144 18Farad capacitors that deliver 400 Amps at 360 Volts. Today I received the 11.15.07 edition of Electronic Design magazine, and there is an interesting technology review paper entitled "Get the Lowdown on UltraCapacitors" starting on page 45; the article is available online at http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/17465/17465.html. Starting on page 50 (the 3rd page of the online version) The AMSAT/MicroChip effort is described along with schematics (figure 6, also http://electronicdesign.com/files/29/17465/Figure_06.jpg). The closing paragraph (which doesn't mention the planed use of these concepts on Suitsat2) says: > Microchip worked with AMSAT-NA, the not-for-profit private organization that develops > amateur-radio satellites. AMSAT’s next big project, the Eagle satellite, is slated for > launch in March 2009. To make Eagle function for decades, it will have a power system > based on this work that combines solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, and ultracaps > in an integrated power system that will optimize the use of each of those components. Pretty good publicity! 73, Tom

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Thanksgiving Week
by Robert McGwier 20 Nov '07

20 Nov '07

I hope this note finds everyone on the Eagle and Suitsat teams having a pleasant mid-November. For those in the United States, I hope you have a pleasant Thanksgiving hiatus. For the first time in months, I will have four days in a row at home! Tomorrow I go to the intial meeting at the Laboratory for Telecommunications Sciences at U. Md. for the stand up of my team and the kick off of my project. This has been the most brutal six months of my career in the dealing with bureaucrats and it has played hell with most aspects of my life. I have not stayed with Tom and Elizabeth in weeks. I have foresworn Gin and Tonic for weeks so you know it must be bad! After tomorrow's kick off and following the Thanksgiving break and the GnuRadio Hackfest (next week and now a major activity at my work place) I expect to return to "full time HAM work" with a very large agenda. This past Friday night I spent time talking with Bob Davis and Saturday, I had a very good half a day with him at the Lab. He is just doing a great job but we have been allowing him to carry the load for us while trying to do a full time job of his own. I am hoping that more people will start to go over. AMSAT will support this activity. We are starting some fun things at the Pocomoke facility and with U. Md. E.S. The HASP balloon project has been joined by AMSAT through Hawk/AMSAT in Pocomoke. It will give us an early opportunity to fly our Suitsat 2 payloads and we will be pushing to finish those pieces (all of them) in time to get on the balloon. This will give us the focus we need to finish the RF pieces and the experiment interfaces. We are going to build the frame of Eagle in the lab this year. We hope to stand up an AMSAT Institute, a two week "camp for teachers" at UMES and Hawk in the coming summer. Bob and his volunteers have done a great job getting a lot done in the last few weeks. http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/3841264 Soon the fire systems will be in and a certificate of occupancy granted and work can begin! Hawk has a Cubesat project. It is to be launched from Wallops on the DelMarVa peninsula next summer unless there are slips. Our labs are in the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences offices as seen in the photo's in the gallery above. There is work that needs to be done to help finish this off. I do not have a list of tasks yet but that will be coming soon. I will be doing my best to set a good example by going down there on two Friday's a month and working through most of Saturday starting in December "on my way home" from Maryland to NJ. This will be reasonably straightforward to figure out. N2HPE is off every other weekend and I will work in Md when she is working. We can accomplish a lot in the coming months and I hope you will soon feel the enthusiasm I do for the prospects for the end of the year and also 2008. Have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. friends. Bob -- AMSAT Director and VP Engineering. Member: ARRL, AMSAT-DL, TAPR, Packrats, NJQRP, QRP ARCI, QCWA, FRC. ARRL SDR WG Chair “An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?” Descartes

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[Fwd: Power & Signal Integrity with SIwave - Dec. 12, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. EST]
by Tom Clark 19 Nov '07

19 Nov '07

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[Fwd: HFSS Advanced Antenna Design Class - Dec. 11]
by Tom Clark, K3IO 16 Nov '07

16 Nov '07

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FYI -- ANSOFT HFSS
by Tom Clark, K3IO 12 Nov '07

12 Nov '07

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Re: [amsat-bb] Re: FYI -- One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Opportunity
by Tom Clark, K3IO 11 Nov '07

11 Nov '07

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