[amsat-bb] ISS Not A Satellite WAS: Satellites and the LoTW

[Eric Christensen]

Roger,
I believe there is a misconception here.  Whatever your opinion about
the ISS, I believe the AMSAT Board has felt made a distinction.

When talking to the astronauts on the ISS you aren't making a satellite
contact.  It is a LOS (line of sight) contact.  When you make a contact
with someone else on the ground VIA the ISS then it is a satellite
contact.

I am trying to get the ARRL to recognize the ISS as a satellite when
contacts are made VIA their gear not when you make a contact with the ISS.

Eric KF4OTN


Roger Kolakowski wrote:
> Eric discovered...
> 
> "...and apparently the ISS is not a satellite."
> 
> Hi Eric...
> 
> AMSAT has never considered ISS as a satellite and has always maintained the
> SAREX Board and discouraged crossposting so that no-one gets confused and
> thinks that it has satellite "status."
> 
> This has made for some interesting situations' including the release of
> Suitsat-1 which was SAREX news until it was released and then it became
> AMSAT-BB news. Another example is PCSAT-2, which never left ISS, and was not
> considered a satellite.
> 
> Perhaps ARRL is just taking the lead of AMSAT in LoTW.
> 
> In reality, packet should have nothing to do with it and should be accepted
> as a mode, perhaps titled "Digital" to cover many of the alternative modes
> now available through software.
> 
> Seems silly and sounds like a turf war, but there it is...
> 
> Roger
> WA1KAT
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Eric Christensen" <kf4otn at ericsatcom.net>
> To: <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 7:08 PM
> Subject: [amsat-bb] Satellites and the LoTW
> 
> 
>> If you read my posts a few weeks ago about the ACLog and LoTW not being
>> satellite friendly and you wanted to know more, read on.
>>
>> I've been working with Kathy Allison, KA1RWY, who is the ARRL Contest
>> Assistant & LoTW Specialist.  My biggest concern was that LoTW didn't
>> support all the satellites.  One of my contacts can't be put into the
>> system because my conversation with AJ, AJ3U, was via the ISS using
>> packet and apparently the ISS is not a satellite.
>>
>> The response I received from the ARRL on this was "At this time LoTW
>> won't accept ISS as satellite. From what I was told, you have to put
>> phone or CW and it will accept it." which I got from Kathy.  That
>> doesn't fly with me.  I have asked her to contact the sysadmin for LoTW
>> and that if the admin needs any help with squaring away the satellite
>> portion of the system to please contact me and I'll be happy to help get
>> all the satellites straight in the system.  I'm still waiting to hear
>> back from them.
>>
>> After LoTW is straight, I hope to work with the creators of ACLog to
>> make that log more satellite friendly.
>>
>> Now, does anyone want to help me take an ACLog and turn it into a SQL
>> file???
>>
>> 73s,
>> Eric KF4OTN
>> AMSAT Member 35360
>> AMSAT Area Coordinator
>>
>> Please donate to the Eagle project!
>> http://www.amsat-na.com/donation.php?donate=eagle
>>
>>
>>
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>