- Eagle (INACTIVE) - mailman.amsat.org

AMSAT Goes to the races: Video available Saturday on SPEED Channel
by Tom Clark, K3IO 03 May '08

03 May '08

Just a reminder that the debut of the AMSAT colors flying on the #77 Kodak Doran Dallaria/Ford will be on the cable SPEED channel from 12:00-15:00 EDT (1600-1900 UTC) today (Saturday, May 3rd). 73, Tom

1 0

Re: Project Namaste mailing list invitation - AMSAT ground station
by Michelle 29 Apr '08

29 Apr '08

Thank you Frank, I will invite John to join the effort and the list and I look forward to talking to him more about his ideas and design! More soon,-Michelle W5NYV ----- Original Message ---- From: Frank Brickle <brickle(a)pobox.com> To: Michelle <w5nyv(a)yahoo.com> Cc: eagle(a)amsat.org Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 9:17:19 AM Subject: Re: [eagle] Project Namaste mailing list invitation - AMSAT ground station Excellent. In that case I'd like to suggest inviting John Melton, g0orx/n6lyt to join also, since he has already done a very significant amount of work -- basically, it's done, and has been for about a year -- in bringing up the operating environment and basic application on the likely handheld processor. His email is John.Melton(a)sun.com. He'll be at Dayton, staying in the AMSAT hotel block. 73 Frank AB2KT

1 0

Re: Project Namaste mailing list invitation - AMSAT ground station
by Michelle 29 Apr '08

29 Apr '08

Namaste includes all ground station efforts that serve Eagle and Intelsat ride-along ACP packages. -Michelle W5NYV Potestatem obscuri lateris nescis. ----- Original Message ---- From: Frank Brickle <brickle(a)pobox.com> To: Michelle <w5nyv(a)yahoo.com> Cc: eagle(a)amsat.org Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 9:05:45 AM Subject: Re: [eagle] Project Namaste mailing list invitation - AMSAT ground station Hi Michelle -- Presumably we're talking here about *both* terrestrial stations, the high-bandwidth fixed station and the low-bandwidth handheld one? 73 Frank AB2KT

2 1

Project Namaste mailing list invitation - AMSAT ground station
by Michelle 29 Apr '08

29 Apr '08

Greetings Eagle! Please consider yourself invited to join the mailing list for Project Namaste, the AMSAT ground station effort. http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/namaste-dev This list is for communicating about the development effort to design and build a ground station that will serve Eagle and the Intelsat ride-along opportunity. Your time and efforts are greatly appreciated, and I look forward to working with each of you. -Michelle Thompson W5NYV Sit vis vobiscum

2 1

JAXA Free Ride Announced
by JoAnne Maenpaa 29 Apr '08

29 Apr '08

JAXA is offering a free ride: http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/28/looking-for-a-free-ride-to-venus/ -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

1 0

Re: [suitsat2] RF update
by Bob McGwier 27 Apr '08

27 Apr '08

Ivan: When Meghan was young, she suffered from this. It was almost to the point where we were going to give up emotionally and then AdVair was introduced. Meghan went from suffering to a soccer team star, on the Olympic development team, member of the fifth ranked high school team in the nation, fourth ranked private club in the nation, and second twice in club finals in New Jersey behind the number 1 ranked team in the nation (poor us) twice. When at the end of her Junior season at her private school, playing a "no one" game, she destroyed her ankle, it was the end of soccer for her. She knew by Christmas it was over. In the spring semester, she added AP courses, and took AP all senior passing five courses with 4 and two with 5's. She is now the second ranked student in Neuroscience at NYU. Her SAT's stank (well, 90% percentile) and she confessed that she had trouble with reading speed. I had her tested and she has dyxlexia. These SAT's scores prevented her from getting early admission the school of her choice, late admission to several Ivy's but NYU gave her admission the day after the arrival of her transcript and some scholarship money. She said "I am going where I am wanted and living in NYC would be great" and that was the end of me whining about any of this. She met and fell in love with the son of a senior manager at Merck pharmaceuticals who now is the fastest being promoted new analyst at Black Rock. http://n4hy.smugmug.com/gallery/2308316_ExrWn#120662459_Vf8ec-A-LB NEVER give up on them. Never let them feel sorry for themselves and you don't either. With love and patience, children are just amazingly resilient. You have my best wishes and I am hoping for all the best for you and your daughter. Now ;-) I need my RF. I cannot tell you how happy I am that you and Tom Clark are working together. I am 54. Tom has been my mentor, friend, almost father figure since I was in my early 20's. Every single thing the man ever told me to do, turned into a life. I have led several of them successfully because of his advice. ;-). I have had more than my fair share maybe but I try to use them to the fullest possible extent for good. When I did not seriously consider his advice, it was a disaster. Consider yourself forewarned. I am going to be incommunicado starting Monday, 4/29 until June 5. I will be worthless until June 10. Tom Clark, Barry Baines, and Rick Hambly have agreed to act in my stead on engineering matters. They have my complete confidence. When I return, we will decide if I can continue my duties as the VPE and should it be necessary, we will conduct an orderly transision. I serve at the pleasure of the board, and I will continue to do so until we agree I should go. For the rest of you, I insist that we have meetings to accomplish several tasks: 1) Complete a total plan for build of the ACP and ground terminal prototypes and follow through on the planning of the San Diego experiments. Jan King wishes to support this meeting in person and will fly from Europe if we give him sufficient notice. I suggest an early meeting on ACP while I am gone and the "with Jan and a full team" when I return. 2) Suitsat engineering needs a meeting. That is in the works. It needs to happen ASAP. Tom Clark has been asked by me to represent AMSAT technical to what appears to be an important meeting of the Technology Task Force at Dayton. Please cooperate with him in the preparation for this which is entirely separate from the AMSAT talks. When I return, I want to move out and build out these ACP experiments. They are absolutely key to our success in getting on Intelsat in my opinion. I cannot even get out executive to schedule further meetings with Intelsat. I would have taken a battering ram to the door but such is the lack of confidence in us. We must overcome this to succeed. Those are the stakes. Barry will be given a more detailed list of people, plans, etc. today in writing. My best wishes to all of you while I am gone. Bob N4HY Barr Ivan Galysh wrote: > Hello, > > I am still working on the RF. My 2 year old is finally recovering. We > spent the week going to doctors almost every day to track her progress > and adjust various medications. We had to change the maintenance > medicine and now are backing off of the other medications. > > I finally got the crystals in. I tried putting one into my version of > a collpitts oscillator and get some strange behavior. I was not able > to make John's butler oscillator work but that may be due to how it > was dead bugged. I laid out John's design on a PCB and ordered one to > be delivered by Wednesday. I'll build it up and try to get it working. > > In the mean time, I have the first IF done and going through the 45 > MHz SAW filter. The output is at -30 dBm going into the second mixer. > That is where I am stuck with no second sig gen or working oscillator. > What I plan to do today is build up the final amplifier chain and > temporarily insert a 145,9375 MHz carrier to test up to the final. > > The receiver is ready except for the LO. I can attach a coax with an > SMA to allow for an external LO from a sig gen. If you want, I can > mail it with instruction to whoever wants to at start testing the > receiver side. > > > Ivan > > > > _______________________________________________ > suitsat2 mailing list > suitsat2(a)lists.tapr.org > https://lists.tapr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/suitsat2 >

1 0

AMSAT Goes to the Races -- April 27
by Tom Clark, K3IO 21 Apr '08

21 Apr '08

1 0

WARNING!!! DMHO -- A threat to you and the environment
by Tom Clark, K3IO 01 Apr '08

01 Apr '08

5 4

Required reading
by Bob McGwier 01 Apr '08

01 Apr '08

Phil Karn and I used this series when we were doing some calculation and now Chris Bartram (Mutek front end fame and uwSDR founder) pointed this series out. There appears to have a new section added: SDR in deep space. This is a very very important link for RF communications engineers dealing with space matters. http://descanso.jpl.nasa.gov/Monograph/mono.cfm Bob

2 1

Possible S2 Power Amplifier
by k3io＠verizon.net 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

This Wireless Design Online (http://www.wirelessdesignonline.com) story has been sent to you by Tom Clark, K3IO. ---------------------------------------------------- I thought this was interesting -- Tom ---------------------------------------------------- 45W GaN-on-Si RF Power Transistor For High Peak-To-Average Power Applications Developed To read the entire news article, visit http://www.wirelessdesignonline.com/read/sp20080325/679707

1 0

AB2KT and the opera
by Bob McGwier 11 Mar '08

11 Mar '08

On Saturday evening, Frank Brickle (AB2KT), will have his opera performed by the Cygnus ensemble in the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in NYC. For those nearby, there are tickets available, but they are going fast. http://cygnusensemble.com/cms/2007-2008-season/index.php 73's Bob N4HY -- AMSAT Director and VP Engineering. Member: ARRL, AMSAT-DL, TAPR, Packrats, NJQRP, QRP ARCI, QCWA, FRC. ARRL SDR WG Chair "Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it." - Brian W. Kernighan

2 3

[Fwd: Web Seminar: Rapid and Accurate Simulation of Multi-Gigabit Serial Channels, March 20]
by Tom Clark, K3IO 10 Mar '08

10 Mar '08

1 0

Happy Birthday, Bob
by Tom Clark, K3IO 08 Mar '08

08 Mar '08

FYI -- today is N4HY's birthday (#54 by my calendar). Don't send him any greetings -- it will go to his head and he's already lost so much hair that it would constitute a neuron overload :-P

3 2

Report released on harmful ITAR effects to US space industry
by Daniel Schultz 23 Feb '08

23 Feb '08

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has released a report titled "Health of the U.S. Space Industrial Base and the Impact of Export Controls", available at: http://diig-csis.org/calendar/detail.asp?EVENT_ID=261&MONTH_CHOICE=2&DAY_CH… The Aerospace Industries Association states that the report "provides quantifiable evidence that the U.S. space industrial base has been weakened by U.S. export control policy for commercial satellites and their components. Based on a government survey of more than 200 U.S. companies, the report concludes that second- and third-tier suppliers, the source of much innovation, have been hit especially hard since export sales are vital to help offset their significant investments in research and development. The report identifies practical recommendations to improve controls on commercial satellites and components while still ensuring these technologies are protected appropriately." Some particularly relevant passages: Finding 9: Some elements of the export controls laws are in conflict with US National Space Policy. Finding 6: The current export control policy has not prevented the rise of foreign space capabilities and in some cases has encouraged it. Finding 11: The US is the only country that classifies commercial communications satellites as "munitions". Dan Schultz N8FGV

1 0

Identify yourself
by Robert McGwier 19 Feb '08

19 Feb '08

Please identify yourself directly to me if you have space based experience developing and flying FPGA's. Bob

1 0

[Fwd: HFSS Training, Burlington MA, March 6-7]
by Tom Clark, K3IO 15 Feb '08

15 Feb '08

1 0

Juan Rivera
by Bob McGwier 15 Feb '08

15 Feb '08

I regret to inform the Eagle group that at Juan's request, he is no longer in the Eagle project and is not available to work on AMSAT projects and has even gone so far as to resign, not renew, or not get an AMSAT membership. I really do regret this. I tried, almost at the expense of another friendship, to make this work. But in the end Juan had an agenda that was inconsistent with AMSAT's, and he was VERY critical of AMSAT without being proactive in helping with corrective actions. His agenda moved to taking on the entire development of the Intelsat payload by professionals in the Bay area and with a seven figure number as the cost. It moved steadily from volunteers to employment. When I asked for the CV of the people he wanted to involve, it lead to a an explosion and quitting as the request of CV's from people he wanted me to pay millions was an insult. I was supposed to take his word to come to a meeting where they would tell me what we should do. I just could not go down the path he wanted. I want to remind everyone here of an explosion that Juan mounted last year. I suggested that we might need to begin outsourcing some work. He exploded and said that it was inconsistent with AMSAT work. Now, he leaves because he wanted to do exactly that and views all my attempts to get information as some kind of insult or invasion of territory. I hope you all know that we never like to lose volunteers for any reason if it can be helped and if any of you remember my awards at Pittsburgh, you know I singled Juan out for "MVP" for 2007. This was done in conjunction with Jim Sanford. Juan did us a lot of good in 2007 and I wish this could have worked out. My apologies to the group for this disruption and I accept blame and responsibility for this loss but I just could not go forward. I will directly work with John to work out arrangements for finishing the rework of the 70 cm receiver. As a result of our very successful relationship with Juan, I have many questions that Jan King, Karl Meinzer, and many others in this list completely missed in the review. It would be easy to see looking at the group that did the review how one might get complacent. I have a plan to move the RX forward. I will be asking the individual I wish to involve this week. Bob

2 1

2 meter digital downlink for geostationary satellite
by John B. Stephensen 15 Feb '08

15 Feb '08

I've been thinking about how the use of mode UV might change with a geostationary satellite. It could allow for the use of very simple antennas for mobile operation as was done with AO-16. Since the satellite is stabilized and fairly large, it may be possible for AMSAT to procure space for a broadside array with at least 2 elements on 2 meters with vertical polarization. This would give 8 or 9 dBi of gain and be compatible with 1/4-wavelength whip antennas mounted on automobiles in mid-latitude locations. It would also allow the speed of the currently planned digital uplinks and downlink to be increased. This digital downlink could allow multi-user digital voice operation with fairly low power given that 2400 and 1200 bps MELP vocoders are now available. 50 kHz could allocated for SSB and 50 kHz for a TDM digital downlink. A 24 kBaud QPSK downlink could handle 10-20 users using a rate 1/2 error correcting code. If we assume that the man-made noise level is 6 dB above the thermal noise level, a 1 dB NF LNA, 6 dB SNR and a 32 kHz bandwidth for the downlink signal, -116 dBm is required at the receiver. Path loss is 168 dB, so at least 52 dBm EIRP is required from the satellite which means 20-25 W of transmitter output. This seems feasible for the HELAPS transmiter or there could be a separate transmitter and a high-level power combiner. Both 70-cm analog and digital uplinks could be handled by a common receiver using a short (1 m) yagi antenna or a broadside array. 73, John KD6OZH

1 0

Programming help needed
by Bob McGwier 12 Feb '08

12 Feb '08

AMSAT Engineering needs experienced help programming MPS-430. This processor will be in a Cubesat. It would be my preference for us to use FreeRTOS on it but this is not a decision I will mandate if adequate reasons for not following this path can be provided. Email me directly. Bob

2 3

For Chuck
by Robert McGwier 12 Feb '08

12 Feb '08

Apologies for the private email sent publicly: Chuck I have tried to send you several emails. Please respond to me directly with your new email address. Thanks for the bandwidth. 73's Bob

1 0

[Fwd: Ansoft Training: HFSS Advanced Antenna, Ansoft Designer]
by Tom Clark, K3IO 08 Feb '08

08 Feb '08

1 0

Orlando Trip, Airport transportation
by Rick Hambly (W2GPS) 07 Feb '08

07 Feb '08

All, I arrive at Orlando airport after 4pm today. The hotel is 22 miles away. I rented a 7 passenger van to help with transportation over the weekend. Anyone who wants transportation this afternoon from the airport should call me on my cell phone (see below). So I know to wait for you. I will be waiting for Tom Clark who arrives an hour later so you can call any time before 5pm. Rick W2GPS AMSAT LM2232 Richard M. Hambly, CNS Systems, Inc. 363 Hawick Court, Severna Park, MD 21146 410-987-7835 phone, 410-987-7836 Fax, 410-299-2147 cell <mailto:rick@cnssys.com> rick(a)cnssys.com, <http://www.cnssys.com> www.cnssys.com, <http://www.gpstime.com> www.gpstime.com _____ From: Rick Hambly (W2GPS) [mailto:w2gps@cnssys.com] Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 5:56 PM To: 'John.Klingelhoeffer(a)verizon.net' Cc: Robert McGwier (rwmcgwier(a)gmail.com); 'Tom Clark, K3IO'; 'Martha'; 'Barry A. Baines'; Elaine Hambly (elaine(a)cnssys.com) Subject: Orlando Trip, Flight Itinerary All, Here is my flight itinerary for the Orlando trip. AirTran Airways. February 07, 2008, Flight 472 [Non-Stop] Seat: 22F Departing Baltimore/Washington, MD (BWI) at 02:04 PM Arriving Orlando, FL (MCO) at 04:14 PM February 11, 2008, Flight 470 [Non-Stop] Seat: 22F Departing Orlando, FL (MCO) at 04:51 PM Arriving Baltimore/Washington, MD (BWI) at 06:57 PM Payment Information: Ticket Total 266.00 Rick W2GPS AMSAT LM2232

1 0

TWT needed
by Bob McGwier 03 Feb '08

03 Feb '08

I have a need for a 10 kW TWT for 10.5 GHz for use on a radio telescope. If anyone can help or point me in the right direction, let me know. Bob

1 0

[Fwd: [amsat-bb] Services offered]
by Jim Sanford 02 Feb '08

02 Feb '08

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [amsat-bb] Services offered Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 20:41:22 -0600 From: truckwiz <truckwiz(a)bwig.net> To: <amsat-bb(a)amsat.org> I don't know if this is the right place to post this. I own a fully equipped machine shop and will donate my time to any satellite projects. Brian _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. 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

1 0

ARRL Director's Meeting endorses Geostationary plans
by Tom Clark, K3IO 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

The ARRL Board of Directors held its first 2008 meeting in Houston, Texas on January 18-19. The following paragraph appears in the meeting summary in this week's ARRL eMail Newsletter that was issued this afternoon (Feb.1): > The Board adopted a resolution of support for AMSAT's initiative seeking > access to an Intelsat platform in geostationary orbit. AMSAT is in > consultation with Intelsat regarding an application of an Intelsat > platform carrying amateur satellites into geostationary orbit, with > potential benefits for emergency communications. AMSAT has been the > principal initiator of projects in the Amateur Satellite Service and > continues to play a key role in significantly advancing the state of the > art in space science, space education and space technology. 73, Tom

1 0

Florida AMSAT Net Will Host W2GPS This Thursday
by JoAnne Maenpaa 13 Jan '08

13 Jan '08

AMSAT President, Rick Hambly, W2GPS will join the Florida AMSAT Net, Thursday Jan 17, 2008 from 7:30 - 8:30 pm EST to give a short status report and field questions. This net links repeaters all over Florida and via EchoLink so there is ample opportunity for those that want to listen or ask questions. The EchoLink nodes to connect through are: KG4YZY-R or N4HHA-R. The net's purpose is to provide a platform for hams with amateur satellite interest to meet and discuss topics of interest. All amateurs are invited to check in. Expect other AMSAT Officers and Board members to participate over the next few months. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

1 0

AMSAT Web Page Updated
by JoAnne Maenpaa 12 Jan '08

12 Jan '08

Hello everyone, The http://www.amsat.org web page has been updated with an executive summary of the EAGLE engineering team meeting we held on Tuesday, January 8. Goal is to provide general information via the web and mail lists to the amateur radio community. We plan to publish complete details in the Journal so paid members receive this as a benefit of signing up. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

1 0

Mumble
by Bob McGwier 10 Jan '08

10 Jan '08

FYI, there is absolutely NO comparison between Mumble and Team Speak. Mumble is awesome and Team Speak SUCKS. It allows you to adjust for the lowest latency your computer can tolerate. It is so good you can carry on two way casual conversations as if you were on the telephone. There is latency, but it is in no way as bad as TeamSpeak. If we do the Ham Radio server change over with Eric Ellison, Eric will need to set it up as multiple servers on separate ports, one for each room. But it is very very light weight. The speex speech quality is just fantastic. I am going to run some Flex Radio developer tests, where we get all of the developers on to see how it scales. I would not want to have all of AMSAT Engineering change over and it fail when we have the kind of great turn out we had last week. Bob

1 0

Teamspeak isn't working for me
by Matt Ettus 08 Jan '08

08 Jan '08

If somebody could help me figure out why I am muted in teamspeak and can't send or receive, that would be helpful. There is no unmute option in the menus, but clicking Self/Mute Microphone and Self/Mute Speakers don't unmute me. Otherwise, you're not getting an ACP report... Matt

1 0

Team Speak
by Robert McGwier 08 Jan '08

08 Jan '08

Tonight at 9 P.M. Eastern time engineering will meet on the Amateur Radio Developer's Team Speak server. I didn't realize why Matt hated it so much until I realized the default password for access to the main system is Flex4U. ;-). It was originally started up by owners and users of the SDR-1000 by Flex Radio but it is now the default meeting place for Here are your instructions copied from the password protected EaglePedia page. I am happy to announce that Dave Hartzell has volunteered to take on the reorganization of the EaglePedia content. I am very hopeful that with his leadership and contributions from the individuals involved, it can meet the clear promise it holds. I am sitting in the AMSAT Engineering room with away selected. 73's Bob N4HY Getting Started 1. Download and install the TeamSpeak client. 2. Bring up TeamSpeak client. 3. Click Connection 4. Click Connect 5. Right Click Servers 6. Click Add Server 7. In the Label field, enter AMSAT (could be anything you want.) 8. In the Server Address field, enter "70.84.228.202:9274". Include the colon and port number, but do not include the qoute marks ("). 9. In the Nickname field, put whatever you want. Suggest at a minimum, name and callsign 10. Select Anonymous 11. In the Server Password field, put "Flex4U" as password without the quotes. 12. In default channel, enter "AMSAT Engineering" without the quotes. 13. In channel password, enter "Eagle" as password, again without the quotes. [edit] Connecting to TeamSpeak 1. Click connect. 2. In Settings, select Sound input/output settings. 3. Leave everything at the default, except select Push to talk mode. You'll then be asked to select a key for your PTT switch. I use the right <CTRL> key (the left one on my laptop); some use the spacebar. Whatever you like, but you probably want a key which does NOT go into the keyboard buffer. Note that this is like a PTT switch on a radio, you must _hold it down_ to transmit. 4. Leave everything else at default; select CLOSE. [edit] Once You Connect This should work; I'll be listening. Amazing how WELL it works on my dialup! If by chance, I'm not hearing you but you're hearing me: 1. Open your sound card mixer application (varies with windows version and sound card.) Make sure the microphone is enabled on the INPUT (may be called RECORDING) side. Probably should be disabled on the Playback side. If you have any questions about TeamSpeak please post them to the Eagle Mailing list.

1 0

Proposed agenda for Jan. 8 TS meeting
by Robert McGwier 08 Jan '08

08 Jan '08

This is a proposed agenda for next week's meeting. Poor Howard! If he cannot make it for that meeting, we will get the report from him earlier and deliver it. Please send me your modifications. I will contact each of the proposed presenters directly. http://n4hy.org/AMSAT_Engineering_Meeting_2008_i.pdf Barry Baines is the leader of the meeting and the time enforcer. 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

12 16

SBD Varactor Help
by Tom Clark, K3IO 07 Jan '08

07 Jan '08

Many of you have seen my idea of a voltage tunable phase shifter for Eagle's S2 & C-band arrays. If you haven't, a copy of my paper from the 2007 AMSAT Space Symposium is available for download at http://mysite.verizon.net/w3iwi/electronic_scanning_antennas.pdf. I haven't had time to do much on the project the past few months, but in the initial breadboard I found that conventional varactor diodes simply create to be a discontinuity at the tap. I've done a little testing with a resistor in series with the varactors, but I have no progress to report. Matt Ettus and others have been providing me with a lot of reprints on NLTL (non-linear transmission lines) used to generate picosecond risetime pulses, and it is very interesting. The web has a lot of relevant publications, including the voltage-steerable array described at http://tempest.das.ucdavis.edu/mmwave/NLTL/NLTL.html. At least these publications show me that my idea is not totally screwy. After researching the topic, I have come to realize that what we need are not varactors used for tuning VHF radios, but rather some diodes with MUCH smaller junction capacity. This seems to dictate the use of Schottky Barrier Diodes (SBD) as varactors. Microwave SBDs are used as parametric frequency multipliers and mixers up into sub-mm wavelengths. In doing literature searches, I came across the MACOM 44700 series of diodes (PDF attached) that look pretty good. I wonder if we have some talent here in the EAGLE group who have experience with low-capacity (range 0.1-2 pf or so) varactors who can point the way to some suitable parts we might try. 73 & Happy New Year -- Tom

2 1

[Fwd: Maxwell 3D Training, Burlington MA, January 17-18]
by Tom Clark, K3IO 05 Jan '08

05 Jan '08

1 0

Hello - D. Goncalves
by David Goncalves 04 Jan '08

04 Jan '08

Hello All, I think I was invited here by Robert McGwier. I would like to say hello to all of you, and Happy New Year. I am David Goncalves (W1EUJ), I live in Lexington, MA, have had some experience in working on a satellite project (RAFT), and work by day as an electrical engineer designing hardware for heart support/replacement devices. I work currently with FPGAs (using VHDL) for backup control of pneumatically driven blood pumps. I think my skills might be of use here. In particular, I offered to help with the PWM control, and possibly other tasks. I did get an education in LTI systems, DSP and digital design from Northeastern University, from which I graduated in 2004, so the topics here are not new to me. I understand that the Xilinx Spartan (I hope I have that right) is being used here, and I can start by getting familair with that hardware. Robert, as I came on to help you, I await your 'command'. To anybody and everybody else, if there is documentation that I should go read, point the way, and also good luck in your endeavors. -- David Goncalves

2 1

Re: [Bod] Re: Proposed agenda for Jan. 8 TS meeting
by Robert McGwier 02 Jan '08

02 Jan '08

We will investigate having Eric set up a server. There is no mac distributable but there is source and details on how to make it. For the time being, we are sticking with what works. We have to conduct business and not fight a new system. When we know it works, is stable, doesn't cause us to lose anyone because it doesn't work on their computer (which is what TS did for us), we will give it a test drive. For me, this is off topic as of now. Bob Lou McFadin wrote: > TS seems to work fairly well. I wouldn't wan to switch to anything that > didn't include a Mac OSX version. > > Louis McFadin > 701 Deerwood Ave. Orlando Fl 32825 > 407 658 8179 > w5did(a)amsat.org > -- 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

1 0

Re: [Bod] Re: Proposed agenda for Jan. 8 TS meeting
by Matt Ettus 02 Jan '08

02 Jan '08

Lou McFadin wrote: > TS seems to work fairly well. I wouldn't wan to switch to anything > that didn't include a Mac OSX version. There is a mac version of mumble. http://mumble.sourceforge.net/BuildingMacOsX Matt

1 0

Engineering Management addition
by Robert McGwier 31 Dec '07

31 Dec '07

I have asked Barry Baines to take on a substantial role in engineering project management. He is a perfect fit for the job. He and I will be putting together the agenda for next Tuesday. I have one more in a holding pattern. ;-) Hopefully we are all together by next Jan. 8. Expect a preliminary agenda by THIS Tuesday. I will expect to have all of your requested revisions to the topics to be covered by the weekend so we can have people who will be asked to prepare things for it. I am still asking a few questions about timing. I have gotten a very good response to my call for help. Some new folks showed up and some who have been waiting for action have jumped back in. I am confident we can make a good start to 2008 and BUILD SOMETHING. Happy New Year, 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

1 0

Please welcome
by Robert McGwier 22 Dec '07

22 Dec '07

Please welcome new "recruits" Phil Lanese, Jeff Mock, and Jacob Spencer. Jacob and Jeff have lots of FPGA experience and Phil Lanese, besides being a packrat is interested in helping with RF design and prototype and testing. Again we are going to have a TeamSpeak meeting on January 8. I will send out a proposed agenda and requests for input, as well as instructions for how to get onto TeamSpeak and the server. I am actively working on project management activities now and hope to report more by January 8. 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

1 0

Early 2008
by Robert McGwier 21 Dec '07

21 Dec '07

Greetings! We have several projects right now in engineering and I am looking for some volunteers to take on some individual pieces of this after Jan. 1. Please help me recruit talent that can work on these projects for a short intensive period. The goal will be to demonstrate as much as possible at Dayton and even more by October. This means that beginning in January we have to move out smartly. I hope this group will step up and take on either individual pieces or help recruit volunteers to do some of this work. We are taking on two projects with the Suitsat2 hardware should it ever become available. Suitsat 2 itself, and an on the air demo, to begin with in Florida through the coordination efforts of Drew. The Florida demo is easier than Suitsat2 but still requires work. We have hardware from DEMI (nice, already in Florida!) that will allow us to put an SDX on a tower there at about the 900 foot level which will cover a huge piece of Florida. The other project is the HASP balloon project. This uses the Suitsat 2 hardware, again, assuming availability. We need to have an SBC to talk to and reload this thing as we update and upgrade code for the Florida experiment. I have not vetted the Suitsat 2 IHU for this purpose because I have never seen it, can't size it, or even tell you if it runs. This will be remedied in January. In addition, we need to get ready for the pursuit of a working prototype of the full SDX. I talked to Marc Franco a couple of weeks ago. He and his wife have a beautiful new baby and Marc is working again on the amplifier. Marc Franco has made steady progress on the driver and amplifier. He is working through an oscillation problem in the driver in an attempt to NOT have to solve it by gain reduction (lowering the overall efficiency). John Stephenson appears to have solved the critical matching problem for the SAW filter in the 70 cm RX. The goal for this would be to get it ready for on the air testing in time for Dayton and then deploy to the Florida site to take over from the Suitsat hardware. Here we could arrange some torture tests for the Stella. I have most of the hardware details on Howard Long's version of the SDX. I still need a late version schematic and the latest code but he has shared with me many of his parts selections, reasons, etc. Karl has marked up the P3E transponder in a way that tells Howard how to add SDX to the mix, right down to voltages, current, impedances, etc. I will arrange to get the latest code from Howard. I have two Lyrtech boards which are XC2V3000 Virtex 2's and TMS320C6713 DSP. These boards are to be used to prototype code for the HELAPS modulator and a small channel version of the ACP. We need some FPGA work done on the Virtex 2 for SDX and for ACP. The Virtex 2 is overkill for the SDX. We need it to do rectangular to polar conversion, a PWM for the modulus or envelope channel, and a few other minor tasks. The Virtex 2 is a capable part but it will not support the full ACP. Nevertheless, it will certainly allow us to develop the basic ACP FDM up and TDM down demod, remod cores we need. The difficulty in dealing with this card is that it really does have to have expensive tools. I have them and while Rick has a copy of the Lyrtech, but I am not sure this is optimal if we can find a volunteer with FPGA experience and the time to work. Rick has both real work and institutional difficulties in AMSAT to deal with. Ideally, I would find a different candidate to help with this. This means that I am looking for someone with a) access to Matlab and b) FPGA experience and c) access to TMS320C6713/6726 development tools. This is a tall order but it is the fastest way to a working prototype to "show we can". There is absolutely no reason we cannot begin the prototype development of an upconverter and a downconverter for the ACP. I can test the ACP at IF with the other Lyrtech board being used for ground terminal development. We need to do work on the modulator, demodulator, FEC, decoder, etc. for this. But we need to come up with some preliminary thinking on devices to be used at 3.4 GHz and 5.7 GHz for the generation and reception of hard limited constant envelope signals and some prototyping needs to be done. I would like to call for a meeting as early as possible. I don't care if we have multiple meetings but we need to organize our activities around getting some specific tasks and deliverables into our thinking by not later than mid February. We need to set realistic goals for what can be accomplished by a) Dayton and b) the annual meeting. I will be on TeamSpeak on January 8 for a meeting of anyone who wants to show up and talk about these activities. I hope to report on some definite progress on many things facing us, including a detailed ITAR situation report from Rick. That is moving along but we are at the very hard spot of agreeing on language for the technical assistance agreements. We need to aim for a serious meeting as early as possible in and probably early February. Please think about your availability. This note is an informal heads up to expect a larger and more detailed mailing to come out while I have 5 days at home. Happy holidays, 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

1 0

[Fwd: Maxwell 3D Training, Burlington MA, January 17-18]
by Tom Clark, K3IO 20 Dec '07

20 Dec '07

2 1

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:kd1k@amsat.org> kd1k(a)amsat.org <mailto:kd1k@arrl.net> kd1k(a)arrl.net

1 0

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

1 0

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

1 0

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:kd1k@amsat.org> kd1k(a)amsat.org <mailto:kd1k@arrl.net> 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."

1 0

AMSAT's Power Developments in the news
by Tom Clark, K3IO 22 Nov '07

22 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

2 1

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

2 1

[Fwd: Power & Signal Integrity with SIwave - Dec. 12, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. EST]
by Tom Clark 20 Nov '07

20 Nov '07

1 0

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

16 Nov '07

1 0

FYI -- ANSOFT HFSS
by Tom Clark, K3IO 13 Nov '07

13 Nov '07

1 0

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

11 Nov '07

1 0