From erich.eichmann at t-online.de Mon Feb 1 06:38:38 2016 From: erich.eichmann at t-online.de (Erich Eichmann) Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2016 07:38:38 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] RE; SatPC32 CAT control and HDSDR via VSPE (Tom Schuessler) In-Reply-To: <006b01d15c81$7bf33cd0$73d9b670$@net> References: <006b01d15c81$7bf33cd0$73d9b670$@net> Message-ID: <56AEFD6E.7080001@t-online.de> Hi Tom, the program updates both radio frequencies for Doppler correction as soon as the Doppler shift of the higher band changed by a certain amount of Hz (interval). You can set the interval in menu "CAT", separatedly for FM and SSB. Set the FM interval to - say - 100 Hz and the SSB interval to 50. With SO-50 the program will then update both radio frequencies when the Doppler shift of the UHF downlink changed by 100 Hz or more. 73s, Erich, DK1TB Am 01.02.2016 um 00:45 schrieb Tom Schuessler: > Thanks to the response from the group. The V+ setting worked fine. I knew > I was missing something. > > The CAT control via the Virtual Serial Port Emulation software is a bit > finicky and sometimes may take 5 or 10 seconds to update SatPC32 as Doppler > changes, Then it will seem to catch up and be pretty current. Oh well. I > think though it will work for what I need. > > Thanks to all. > > Tom Schuessler > 2713 Lake Gardens Drive > Irving, Texas 75060 > 972-986-7456 > 214-403-1464 (Cell) > n5hyp at arrl.net > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From afesan at gmail.com Mon Feb 1 11:45:09 2016 From: afesan at gmail.com (afesan at gmail.com) Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2016 12:45:09 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] EUROPEANS SCHEDULES FOR 6W8CK Message-ID: Hi all, I?m making the ***EUROPEAN*** list for possible schedules with 6W8CK, Conrad, in Senegal. So,EUROPEAN stations, can send me an email to see the possibilties. Today, 1th February the first list with ONLY European stations were sent,and checked by 6W8CK to try it. It was accepted. USA stations lists are taken by Frank, K4FEG and I believe, Paul N8HM. I will not take lists for USA stations. Read carefully the paragraph where a simulation pass between your grid and Conrad`s gridsquare IK14MH must be done for you, (the interested statio) and the send me the Satellite-Day-Hour UTC proposal .. Second: If your proposal is approved, I?ll sent back an email confirming it to you.Conrad says YOU MAKE THE CALL..you CALL and he will be listening trying to catch you. You can send me several passes proposals in order to try the QSO ..But when QSO is done.. DON?T TRY AGAIN . Please, understand that there are more stations waiting for scheds and few days. Thanks for your patience. I must attend my daily work and in free time I?m behind the PC writing to all. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conrad, 6W8CK , will be in Senegal until mid-February 2016. He will try to be active on CW near 145.930 on AO-7 and 435.830 on FO-29 during the afternoons, but may also be available on late night / early morning passes for skeds. Conrad is using a Yaesu FT-736R and an Elk antenna mounted up 5 meter above ground. He does occasionally lose power, so keep this in mind if you do not hear him on a particular pass. QSL only via the DARC bureau to his home call, DF7OL. He may also return to Senegal from November 2016 - February 2017. Sometimes , he can take some private schedules .If you want an schedule with him,make a simulation of a satellite pass ( AO-7,FO-29) between your Gridsquare and the Conrad gridsquare : IK14MH . Then choose what you consider is the best one opportunity of QSO. Write the satellite-day-hour UTC you consider it?s the best option for the QSO and send it to me. Send it to: ea1iw at amsat.org ea1iw at ure.es Then I will forward your QSO proposal to Conrad and he can decide if possible. If It?s OK, I?ll send you back again an email confirming the sched with Conrad. That?s all ! 73,s? Antonio (EA1IW) From bombeiro.gustavo at gmail.com Mon Feb 1 13:57:13 2016 From: bombeiro.gustavo at gmail.com (Gustavo Nicolau) Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2016 11:57:13 -0200 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-7 Message-ID: Hello to all, gud window to NA today after 19:40 utc. Look to SA, 73 de PTBM. From johnbrier at gmail.com Mon Feb 1 15:29:07 2016 From: johnbrier at gmail.com (John Brier) Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2016 10:29:07 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Listening to Russian EVAs Message-ID: Anyone going to try and listen to Wednesday's EVA? http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-television-to-air-russian-spacewalk They start at 8:10 a.m. Eastern for a 5.5 hour EVA and the only pass I have is at 16:43 so I won't be able to hear anything, which I've never even tried, but I'm learning about it by reviewing the following URLs: http://issfanclub.com/voice-reports-noham "Good reception in Sweden on 143.625, 130.167, and 121.750 during docking." http://issfanclub.com/node/40396 http://issfanclub.com/frequencies https://soundcloud.com/liamcarbin/russian-eva-37-27-12-13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6qnhrSDjC8 73, John KG4AKV From michel-f6glj at orange.fr Mon Feb 1 17:10:36 2016 From: michel-f6glj at orange.fr ( F6GLJ) Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2016 18:10:36 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] France (IN94) on AO-07 Message-ID: <001a01d15d13$7a0206d0$6e061470$@fr> Hello everybody. I'll be on AO-07 between 17: 55 and 18:06, very good pass for qso France SA and France NA. I hope meet you 73 Qro de F6GLJ https://www.qrz.com/db/F6GLJ From Brandon.Shirley at sdl.usu.edu Mon Feb 1 17:52:21 2016 From: Brandon.Shirley at sdl.usu.edu (Brandon Shirley) Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2016 17:52:21 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Reminder Email for Development Preferences Survey (PhD Research) Message-ID: <7a4774b7a1e84ed895edf51ce11d903f@Ek.usurf.usu.edu> To whom it may concern, I'm Brandon Shirley, I am conducting these surveys for my PhD research at Utah State University. I really need your participation. There is a chance to win some gift cards. Please see below for more information and the link to take the survey. The survey should only take about 10 minutes. Reading this wordy email will probably take more time than actually taking the survey. Thanks. *** This is a reminder email for the Development Preferences Survey. Please note that the Background section of the survey is the same for all surveys, it establishes your background while allowing the results to remain anonymous. *** Dr. Stephen Clyde & Brandon Shirley in the Department of Computer Science at Utah State University are conducting a set of surveys as part of Brandon's PhD research to find out more about software development practices and attitudes in the space industry. You have received this email because of your interest in or involvement with the space industry. We greatly need your participation. We are asking that anyone that has insight into in software development that relates to space industry participate in this survey. The beginning of the survey has background questions that will give context to your responses. The survey set is currently made of six surveys, listed below, that will be distributed over the course of a few months. You have a chance at receiving a gift card for participating in this survey as well as a chance at receiving a gift card for your overall participation in the entire survey set. There will be seven drawings for gift cards: one drawing for each survey and one overall drawing for the survey set. For each survey-specific drawing, two participants in that survey will be selected at random to receive a $25 gift card. For the overall drawing, two participants from the pool of all participants of any survey will be selected to receive a $200 gift card. At the end of this survey, you will be redirected to a webpage that asks for an email address. You must enter a valid email address to be considered for this surveys drawing or the overall survey set drawing. Each survey stands on its own: opting to not participate in one survey does not exclude you in any way from participating in any subsequent surveys. Likewise, participating in one survey does not obligate you to participate in any subsequent surveys. The surveys are as follows and will be distributed in the following order: SISDPA : Core Concepts SISDPA : Development Preferences <========= We are here ========= SISDPA : Open Systems Architecture and Modularity SISDPA : Security SISDPA : Reuse, Interoperability, Portability, Code Complexity SISDPA : Network You can you use the link below to access the Development Preferences survey. We greatly need your participation and your responses to the surveys will make a meaningful contribution to this research while allowing you an opportunity to reflect on you current software development practices and how these practices affect the projects on which you have and will work. This survey set will be used to determine the path of future research, as well as increase the body of knowledge that relates to software development practices and attitudes in the space industry. You can access the Development Preferences survey of the Space Industry Software Development Practices and Attitudes survey set using the following link: https://usu.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3XgKdvBZTEVC7n7 You can also copy and paste the above URL into your address bar if you prefer not to click on the link. We plan to send out one reminder email a week until the survey closes. The duration of the survey will be two to three weeks. You will receive the reminder email regardless of where or not you have participated in a survey. The subject of the email will read "Reminder Email..." for these weekly reminders, and "New Distribution..." at the start of a new survey. See http://brandon.bluezone.usu.edu/Files/LOISpaceSoftwareAttitudes_Final.pdf for the Letter of Intent (LOI) that explains your role as a participant should you choose to participate. If you have questions please direct them to Brandon Shirley, via email b.l.s at aggiemail.usu.edu, the LOI lists additional contact information. Once the survey set is closed, we will analyze the data, and generate results. We will seek publication of these results in a conference or journal. This is a legitimate request for you participation, if you have any questions about the validity of this email you may refer to the Letter of Intent, contact Brandon Shirley, via email b.l.s at aggiemail.usu.edu, or Utah State University's Internal Review Board administrator at (435) 797 - 0567 or email irb at usu.edu. V/R, Brandon Shirley, MS b.l.s at aggiemail.usu.edu Please note that if you are also a member of one of the other mailing lists we are using to distribute these surveys then you may receive multiple notices and reminders about the different surveys. We do not have access to the member listings for the different mailing lists. We appreciate your understanding. From AJ9N at aol.com Mon Feb 1 19:34:52 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2016 14:34:52 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-01 19:30 UTC Message-ID: <43fad3.29e462df.43e10d5c@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-01 19:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Christ The King School, Rutland, Vermont, telebridge via VK4KHZ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-04 18:28:16 UTC 88 deg "Gesmundo Moro Fiore" Secondary School, Terlizzi, Italy, telebridge via LU1CGB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-02-06 09:09:01 UTC 40 deg Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK, direct via GB1RMS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-11 18:11:09 UTC 88 deg (***) **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 115 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-01 19:30 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1020. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 985. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-01-31 04:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From johnag9d at gmail.com Tue Feb 2 01:51:13 2016 From: johnag9d at gmail.com (John Spasojevich) Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2016 19:51:13 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISS Audio for Thursday Contact Message-ID: Please join us in listening to the ISS contact with participants at Christ The King School, Rutland, Vermont, USA on Thursday 4 FEB 2016 AOS is anticipated at 18:28 UTC The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and VK5KHZ in Australia. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Audio from this contact will be fed into the: EchoLink *AMSAT* (101377) Server IRLP Node 9010 Discovery Reflector Streaming Audio at: https://sites.google.com/site/arissaudio/ Audio on Echolink & web stream is generally transmitted around 20 minutes prior to the contact taking place so that you can hear some of the preparation that occurs. IRLP will begin just prior to the ground station call to the ISS. Breaks on Echolink and IRLP are done manually approximately every third question, connected repeaters may time out. ** Contact times are approximate. If the ISS executes a reboost or other manoeuvre, the AOS (Acquisition Of Signal) time may alter by a few minutes ** 73, John - AG9D ARISS Audio Distribution From shakeelj2k at yahoo.com Tue Feb 2 08:04:51 2016 From: shakeelj2k at yahoo.com (shakeel -ur-rehman) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 08:04:51 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] How to Genso Certified Ground Station References: <863554951.234977.1454400291264.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <863554951.234977.1454400291264.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Hi ALL We are in process of development of Student Satellite Ground station for amateur satellite. we come to know that the GENSO standard . the link for GENSO is as follows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Educational_Network_for_Satellite_Operations We tried to find the requirements and know the process how we can make our ground station GENSO complaint. Anyone who know the requirement and process. Please help. how we can proceed. Thanks in advance Shakeel From rwmcgwier at gmail.com Tue Feb 2 08:32:26 2016 From: rwmcgwier at gmail.com (Robert McGwier) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 03:32:26 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] How to Genso Certified Ground Station In-Reply-To: <863554951.234977.1454400291264.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <863554951.234977.1454400291264.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <863554951.234977.1454400291264.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: I think GENSO as a project is just about dead. Good luck to you! On Tuesday, February 2, 2016, shakeel -ur-rehman via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote: > Hi ALL > > We are in process of development of Student Satellite Ground station for > amateur satellite. we come to know that the GENSO standard . the link for > GENSO is as follows > > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Educational_Network_for_Satellite_Operations > > > We tried to find the requirements and know the process how we can make our > ground station GENSO complaint. > > Anyone who know the requirement and process. Please help. how we can > proceed. > > > Thanks in advance > > Shakeel > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org . AMSAT-NA makes this open > forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > -- Bob McGwier Founder, Federated Wireless, Inc Founder and Technical Advisor, HawkEye 360, Inc Research Professor Virginia Tech Dir. Research: The Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology Senior Member IEEE, Facebook: N4HYBob, ARS: N4HY Faculty Advisor Virginia Tech Amateur Radio Assn. (K4KDJ) Director of AMSAT From stormchaser at shaw.ca Tue Feb 2 10:10:52 2016 From: stormchaser at shaw.ca (Jerry Clement) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 11:10:52 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: important message Message-ID: <0000537890d9$b38999d1$85e15958$@shaw.ca> Hello! New message, please read Jerry Clement From ag6ie at wolak.net Tue Feb 2 05:06:23 2016 From: ag6ie at wolak.net (Eric Wolak) Date: Mon, 01 Feb 2016 21:06:23 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] Any experience with low-cost 433MHz transverter from transverters-store? In-Reply-To: References: <1454266016.2355580.507727186.1F1E32A8@webmail.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <1454389583.3562716.509250338.434A207E@webmail.messagingengine.com> Thanks, guys! It looks like the transverter kit includes an attenuator board to interface with a radio, so I'm set on that. These transponders work both ways, right, so if I can TX on 2m and RX on 70cm (through the transverter), then I can hear my own transmissions full-duplex, and I can make contact with someone TX'ing on 70cm? Are there any attributes that might be lacking with such a low-cost option, e.g. frequency stability or harmonics? On Sun, Jan 31, 2016, at 03:12 PM, John Toscano wrote: > The transverter itself can cover the satellite portion of the band. > The specs say it covers 432 - 442 MHz. The issue is that your IF > radio, the Icom IC-706MkII is what I believe you meant to say, can > tune high enough on the 10M band and above for RECEPTION at the > appropriate frequencies, but will not transmit above 30 MHz and > therefore, through this transverter, will not transmit above 435.0000 > MHz. I know this from experience with my 222 MHz transverter. > Fortunately, on that band, 28-30 MHz -> 222-224 MHz, and the portion > of the band above that (224-225 MHz) is mostly FM repeater OUTPUTS, > which the radio will happily receive through my transverter. > > What you would need to do is defeat the 10M band transmit limits on > your IC-706MkII. You can probably find mods to allow that. > > Your other issue, which I also had to overcome with my 222 > transverter, is that the transverter needs (accepts) only a very low > RF power signal on transmit (1-100 milliwatts) and your IC-706MkII is > happy to transmit 1000 times as much power, up to 100 watts. So you > will need to carefully interface the radio to the transverter to > insure that the transmit power is nice and low. In my case, my > transverter interface includes a source of negative voltage to feed > into the ALC input of the radio, which can drop the power low enough. > Interesting (=undesirable) ?things happen if this ALC circuit fails, > or more likely, gets accidentally disconnected. I was fortunate, when > I transmitted 100 watts into my transverter by accident, I only fried > a 50 ohm resistor in the input circuit, and after replacing it, all > was good again, The same may or may not hold with this transverter. > > Good luck in your search for a solution. > > John Toscano, W0JT/5 > > On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 12:46 PM, Eric Wolak wrote: >> Hi folks, >> >> I'm trying to get on the air with the linear transponder satellites, >> and it looks like I need 70cm SSB capability to really get on the >> air. My Icom IC-796MkII can do SSB on 2m, but not 70cm, so I'm trying >> to find an affordable way to get 70cm SSB transmit. >> >> Does anybody have experience with these $100 transverter boards from >> Ukraine? It looks like they're tuned for the weak-signal/SSB end of >> the band and might require a bit of work to get up to 435MHz for >> satellites. Is 3-4W enough to be heard? >> >> http://www.ebay.com/itm/221871269275 >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect >> the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to >> support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: >> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From nss at mwt.net Tue Feb 2 15:49:37 2016 From: nss at mwt.net (Joe) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 09:49:37 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Any experience with low-cost 433MHz transverter from transverters-store? In-Reply-To: <1454389583.3562716.509250338.434A207E@webmail.messagingengine.com> References: <1454266016.2355580.507727186.1F1E32A8@webmail.messagingengine.com> <1454389583.3562716.509250338.434A207E@webmail.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <56B0D011.90204@mwt.net> I'm working on a 2 meter one of those units here. Now the only somewhat negative thing I have heard about the 2 meter version, ( so do not know if it applies to the 70 cm one ) Is if you run it near it's rated max output it gets kind of dirty. https://youtu.be/w8JQ0SIUlI8 Joe WB9SBD Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com On 2/1/2016 11:06 PM, Eric Wolak wrote: > Thanks, guys! It looks like the transverter kit includes an attenuator > board to interface with a radio, so I'm set on that. These transponders > work both ways, right, so if I can TX on 2m and RX on 70cm (through the > transverter), then I can hear my own transmissions full-duplex, and I > can make contact with someone TX'ing on 70cm? > > Are there any attributes that might be lacking with such a low-cost > option, e.g. frequency stability or harmonics? > > On Sun, Jan 31, 2016, at 03:12 PM, John Toscano wrote: >> The transverter itself can cover the satellite portion of the band. >> The specs say it covers 432 - 442 MHz. The issue is that your IF >> radio, the Icom IC-706MkII is what I believe you meant to say, can >> tune high enough on the 10M band and above for RECEPTION at the >> appropriate frequencies, but will not transmit above 30 MHz and >> therefore, through this transverter, will not transmit above 435.0000 >> MHz. I know this from experience with my 222 MHz transverter. >> Fortunately, on that band, 28-30 MHz -> 222-224 MHz, and the portion >> of the band above that (224-225 MHz) is mostly FM repeater OUTPUTS, >> which the radio will happily receive through my transverter. >> >> What you would need to do is defeat the 10M band transmit limits on >> your IC-706MkII. You can probably find mods to allow that. >> >> Your other issue, which I also had to overcome with my 222 >> transverter, is that the transverter needs (accepts) only a very low >> RF power signal on transmit (1-100 milliwatts) and your IC-706MkII is >> happy to transmit 1000 times as much power, up to 100 watts. So you >> will need to carefully interface the radio to the transverter to >> insure that the transmit power is nice and low. In my case, my >> transverter interface includes a source of negative voltage to feed >> into the ALC input of the radio, which can drop the power low enough. >> Interesting (=undesirable) things happen if this ALC circuit fails, >> or more likely, gets accidentally disconnected. I was fortunate, when >> I transmitted 100 watts into my transverter by accident, I only fried >> a 50 ohm resistor in the input circuit, and after replacing it, all >> was good again, The same may or may not hold with this transverter. >> >> Good luck in your search for a solution. >> >> John Toscano, W0JT/5 >> >> On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 12:46 PM, Eric Wolak wrote: >>> Hi folks, >>> >>> I'm trying to get on the air with the linear transponder satellites, >>> and it looks like I need 70cm SSB capability to really get on the >>> air. My Icom IC-796MkII can do SSB on 2m, but not 70cm, so I'm trying >>> to find an affordable way to get 70cm SSB transmit. >>> >>> Does anybody have experience with these $100 transverter boards from >>> Ukraine? It looks like they're tuned for the weak-signal/SSB end of >>> the band and might require a bit of work to get up to 435MHz for >>> satellites. Is 3-4W enough to be heard? >>> >>> http://www.ebay.com/itm/221871269275 >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >>> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >>> Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect >>> the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to >>> support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: >>> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Tue Feb 2 18:22:58 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 13:22:58 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with Christ The King School, Rutland, Vermont Message-ID: An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Christ The King School, Rutland, Vermont on 4 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:28 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and VK4KHZ. The contact should be audible over Australia and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Christ The King School is a PK-8 Catholic school in the city of Rutland, VT. The school has a population of 150 students and 17 teachers. Since 1886, Christ The King School (CKS) has dedicated itself to the principles of Catholic education, with academic excellence and community service being the hallmarks of our school. CKS is committed to incorporating technology in the classroom, with every class now having interactive white boards and internet access, middle school students each having access to a chrome book, and the school having a fully equipped computer lab. In 2015, the school received the Innovations in Catholic Education National Award for its implementation of exemplary, innovation programs to improve the teaching and learning of their students, faculty, and staff. Three of our students were chosen to be participants in the NASA Girls and NASA Boys summer program in 2014 and 2015. One of our retired school volunteers is a former Goddard Spaceflight Center Education Specialist and current Vermont Solar System Ambassador who helps insure that the students are able to take advantage of all the wonderful educational resources and opportunities available to them through the various NASA Education Programs. Our mission is to promote our Catholic faith through instruction, prayer, and service to others, assist our parents in their role as primary educators, and create a student-centered program in a structured academic environment that nurtures the development of the whole child. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. Do stars, sun and moon look different in outer space? 2. What technological benefits have been developed due to work on the I.S.S? 3. How do you mentally prepare for going into space knowing all the risks? 4. What experiments are you currently conducting on the I.S.S.? 5. How were you chosen to be an astronaut? 6. What physical training do you perform to prepare for spaceflight? 7. What were your 1st thoughts when you first boarded the I.S.S.? 8. When did you start getting interested in becoming an astronaut? 9. What are some risks you encounter on the I.S.S.? 10. How long does it take to reach the I.S.S.? 11. Are you currently eating food grown on the I.S.S. Garden Experiment? 12. What advice would you give to a middle school student interested in becoming an astronaut? 13. What motivates astronauts to go into space and what do you hope to learn? 14. Do your sleep patterns change in space? 15. Are there any activities on the ISS you can do that mimic gravity? 16. What is the most exciting experience you have had on the I.S.S.? 17. How do you maintain your physical condition while in space? 18. What kind of things do you do with your free time? 19. Do you worry about space junk hitting the ISS? 20. How many days have you been in space, and do you ever get bored? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. Gesmundo Moro Fiore" Secondary School, Terlizzi, Italy, telebridge via LU1CGB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat Feb. 6, 2016 09:09 UTC 2. Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK, direct via GB1RMS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Thu Feb. 11, 2016 18:11 UTC ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From kc0bmf at gmail.com Tue Feb 2 18:46:08 2016 From: kc0bmf at gmail.com (John Fickes) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 12:46:08 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] How to Genso Certified Ground Station In-Reply-To: <863554951.234977.1454400291264.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <863554951.234977.1454400291264.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <863554951.234977.1454400291264.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Shakeel I don't know about GENSO but take a look at SATNOGS and see if that might help you. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=satnogs Also my all time favorite on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxU1ZhINaHk GL John W0JW On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 2:04 AM, shakeel -ur-rehman via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote: > Hi ALL > > We are in process of development of Student Satellite Ground station for > amateur satellite. we come to know that the GENSO standard . the link for > GENSO is as follows > > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Educational_Network_for_Satellite_Operations > > > We tried to find the requirements and know the process how we can make our > ground station GENSO complaint. > > Anyone who know the requirement and process. Please help. how we can > proceed. > > > Thanks in advance > > Shakeel > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From tosca005 at umn.edu Tue Feb 2 20:19:22 2016 From: tosca005 at umn.edu (John Toscano) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 14:19:22 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Any experience with low-cost 433MHz transverter from transverters-store? In-Reply-To: <1454389583.3562716.509250338.434A207E@webmail.messagingengine.com> References: <1454266016.2355580.507727186.1F1E32A8@webmail.messagingengine.com> <1454389583.3562716.509250338.434A207E@webmail.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: No, if you are using an Icom IC-706MkII as your IF radio, it cannot operate in full duplex mode. It CAN do split-band Tx/Rx, where you receive with the built-in 2M section and transmit on 10 meters into the transverter to get 70 cm output. Or you can receive on 10 meters which becomes 70cm through the transverter, and transmit on the built-in 2M section of the radio. But you can't hear while transmitting. You would need a second radio or a radio that is designed for full-duplex operation. If you could find a deal on another IC-706MkII and add the 70cm transverter to it, you'd then have a full-duplex station. A less expensive choice might be an IC-703, which lacks the 2M band, but you only need 10M to run the transverter anyway, so it would still make a nice matching pair of radios that would work well for satellites. Or if you could find an IC-706MkIIg then you'd have a nicely matching pair that includes 70cm on the new radio and you'd use 2M on the older radio. Kind of pricey, but it's just a couple of suggestions that could be made to work. Another popular choice is a Yaesu FT-817. But then you would not need a transverter since it has both 2M and 70cm bands already. You just might need a PA to output more than 5 watts on mode UV, but no extra PA needed for mode VU since the transmitter is the IC-706MkII in that mode. Choces, choices, choices... And we didn't even get into full-duplex radios like a Yaesu FT-847. (I love mine!) Happy shopping. John, W0JT/5 On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 11:06 PM, Eric Wolak wrote: > Thanks, guys! It looks like the transverter kit includes an attenuator > board to interface with a radio, so I'm set on that. These transponders > work both ways, right, so if I can TX on 2m and RX on 70cm (through the > transverter), then I can hear my own transmissions full-duplex, and I > can make contact with someone TX'ing on 70cm? > > Are there any attributes that might be lacking with such a low-cost > option, e.g. frequency stability or harmonics? > > On Sun, Jan 31, 2016, at 03:12 PM, John Toscano wrote: > > The transverter itself can cover the satellite portion of the band. > > The specs say it covers 432 - 442 MHz. The issue is that your IF > > radio, the Icom IC-706MkII is what I believe you meant to say, can > > tune high enough on the 10M band and above for RECEPTION at the > > appropriate frequencies, but will not transmit above 30 MHz and > > therefore, through this transverter, will not transmit above 435.0000 > > MHz. I know this from experience with my 222 MHz transverter. > > Fortunately, on that band, 28-30 MHz -> 222-224 MHz, and the portion > > of the band above that (224-225 MHz) is mostly FM repeater OUTPUTS, > > which the radio will happily receive through my transverter. > > > > What you would need to do is defeat the 10M band transmit limits on > > your IC-706MkII. You can probably find mods to allow that. > > > > Your other issue, which I also had to overcome with my 222 > > transverter, is that the transverter needs (accepts) only a very low > > RF power signal on transmit (1-100 milliwatts) and your IC-706MkII is > > happy to transmit 1000 times as much power, up to 100 watts. So you > > will need to carefully interface the radio to the transverter to > > insure that the transmit power is nice and low. In my case, my > > transverter interface includes a source of negative voltage to feed > > into the ALC input of the radio, which can drop the power low enough. > > Interesting (=undesirable) things happen if this ALC circuit fails, > > or more likely, gets accidentally disconnected. I was fortunate, when > > I transmitted 100 watts into my transverter by accident, I only fried > > a 50 ohm resistor in the input circuit, and after replacing it, all > > was good again, The same may or may not hold with this transverter. > > > > Good luck in your search for a solution. > > > > John Toscano, W0JT/5 > > > > On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 12:46 PM, Eric Wolak wrote: > >> Hi folks, > >> > >> I'm trying to get on the air with the linear transponder satellites, > >> and it looks like I need 70cm SSB capability to really get on the > >> air. My Icom IC-796MkII can do SSB on 2m, but not 70cm, so I'm trying > >> to find an affordable way to get 70cm SSB transmit. > >> > >> Does anybody have experience with these $100 transverter boards from > >> Ukraine? It looks like they're tuned for the weak-signal/SSB end of > >> the band and might require a bit of work to get up to 435MHz for > >> satellites. Is 3-4W enough to be heard? > >> > >> http://www.ebay.com/itm/221871269275 > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > >> Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect > >> the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to > >> support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: > >> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From rupert.hamblin at gmail.com Tue Feb 2 21:49:35 2016 From: rupert.hamblin at gmail.com (Rupert Hamblin) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 21:49:35 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] SatPC32 Question Message-ID: Hi All, I have quick SatPC32 question.... I have my system almost complete now, SatPC32 is correctly controlling the frequency & rotator positioning - all good..!! However, in the auxiliary file Doppler.sqf, where there are multiple frequency entries for a satellite ie, AO-73, how do I select a different frequency for that satellite, when I select that satellite..? Regards RH / G0TKZ From kb1pvh at gmail.com Tue Feb 2 22:18:25 2016 From: kb1pvh at gmail.com (Dave Webb KB1PVH) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 17:18:25 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] SatPC32 Question In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: After you select the satellite that you want click on the CAT tab at the top of the window and the different frequencies will be listed. Dave-KB1PVH Sent from my Samsung S4 From amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net Tue Feb 2 23:14:06 2016 From: amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net (Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 23:14:06 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Help XE1AO get his satellite WAS award via LOTW! Message-ID: Hi! Omar XE1AO, a long-time satellite operator in central Mexico, tweeted yesterday that he is interested in making contact with stations in 7 states to finally have all 50 states confirmed via Logbook of the World. The last 7 states he needs are: Kansas Maine New Jersey New York Rhode Island Washington West Virginia Omar is in grid DK89df, if that helps in making calculations on possible passes that he can work. His e-mail address on QRZ is good, so you can contact him directly if you are able to help him get his satellite WAS award. He is also on Twitter as @XE1AO, but his Twitter feed is not open to the public. He's received a few suggestions to get a couple of these states taken care of, so hopefully he can finally reach that goal. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK From jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp Wed Feb 3 01:34:51 2016 From: jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp (=?ISO-2022-JP?B?WWFzdXRha2EgTmFydQ==?= =?ISO-2022-JP?B?c2F3YSAoSlIyWEVBKQ==?=) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 10:34:51 +0900 (JST) Subject: [amsat-bb] =?iso-2022-jp?b?Q2h1YnVTYXQtMiBhbmQgQ2h1YnVTYXQtMyBs?= =?iso-2022-jp?b?YXVuY2ggaW5mb3JtYXRpb24=?= Message-ID: <201602030134.u131Yprt008691@ms-omx11.plus.so-net.ne.jp> Dear all AMSAT-BB members, My Name is Yasutaka Narusawa, member of KOMAKI Amateur SATCOM Club. Nagoya University(NU) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries(MHI) developed 50kg microsatellite ChubuSat-2(NU) and ChubuSat-3(MHI). These satellites have amateur VHF receiver and amateur UHF transmitter, and will be launched on Feb. 12 2016 from Tanegashima, Japan. Komaki Amateur SATCOM Club operates these satellites from Komaki, Japan. After the satellite separation, each satellite will transmit UHF CW beacon message including battery voltage etc. which is very important information for our initial and critical operation. So we are very happy if you receive the CW beacon message and report to us (chubusat2 at frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp, chubusat3 at frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp). In following WEB site, we show the information(frequency, format, TLE, etc.) about ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3. If we have your report, we will show your report in this page. https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite3.html Overmore, both satellite will provide the message exchange service. After the on-orbit checkout of the satellite(maybe one month after launch), you can use this service, sending your message with VHF uplink, then your message is written to the on-board memory. By sending inquiry message, anyone can read your message with UHF downlink. The uplink/downlink format will be uploaded in above WEB site. We hope you get interested in our satellites, receive beacon messages, and enjoy the message exchange service. Best regards, Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA) From rjlawn at gmail.com Wed Feb 3 03:19:22 2016 From: rjlawn at gmail.com (Richard Lawn) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 22:19:22 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] FT847 for sale Message-ID: I'm going to be listing my 847 on QTH.COM and thought I'd give my satellite friends a heads up first. I'm the original owner. No extras but in excellent condition. Includes mic, power cord, original manual and box. I'll also throw in a null modem cable for PC connection. I'm now using a Flex 5000 for satellites or ic9100/flex6300 combo so I no longer need this radio. I'd like to get $875 plus the cost of shipping. Photos available on request. If interested contact me off list please. 73 Rick, W2JAZ -- Sent from Gmail Mobile From w7lrd at comcast.net Wed Feb 3 03:32:01 2016 From: w7lrd at comcast.net (Bob- W7LRD) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 03:32:01 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] satpc set up Message-ID: <700280216.2092958.1454470321724.JavaMail.zimbra@comcast.net> I am trying to set up satpc32 on a new lap top. I can not get beyond the "must be administrator" . Vulcan computer win 10. advice please. 73 Bob W7LRD From k4rgk at arrl.net Wed Feb 3 03:38:22 2016 From: k4rgk at arrl.net (Daryl Young) Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 22:38:22 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] satpc set up In-Reply-To: <700280216.2092958.1454470321724.JavaMail.zimbra@comcast.net> References: <700280216.2092958.1454470321724.JavaMail.zimbra@comcast.net> Message-ID: <56B1762E.5070300@arrl.net> Did you right click the setup file and choose run as administrator? * Daryl K4RGK * On 2/2/2016 10:32 PM, Bob- W7LRD wrote: > I am trying to set up satpc32 on a new lap top. I can not get beyond the "must be administrator" . Vulcan computer win 10. advice please. > 73 Bob W7LRD > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > From ei7m-wkt at asahi-net.or.jp Wed Feb 3 11:14:15 2016 From: ei7m-wkt at asahi-net.or.jp (Mineo Wakita) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 20:14:15 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] HORYU-4, ChubuSat-2/3 Frequency and Mode Message-ID: <052ACB6D988044FE9CC4D075F59EC89C@FMAE9DF34D30D3> Launch Date: 12 Feb 2016 Launch Time: 08:45-09:30 UTC Launch Site: JAXA Tanegashima Space Center, Japan Satellite Uplink Downlink Beacon Mode Callsign ---------- ------- ---------------- ------- --------------------------- -------- HORYU-4 . 437.375/2400.300 437.375 1k2 AFSK,9k6 GMSK,S_BPSK,CW ChubuSat-2 145.815 437.100 . 1k2 AFSK,9k6 GMSK,CW JJ2YPN ChubuSat-3 145.840 437.425 . 1k2 AFSK,9k6 GMSK,CW JJ2YPO ---------- ------- ---------------- ------- --------------------------- -------- http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/horyu4WEB/horyu4.html http://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html http://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite3.html http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/hory4c23.htm JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita From sats at pe1rdw.demon.nl Wed Feb 3 11:30:13 2016 From: sats at pe1rdw.demon.nl (Andre) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 12:30:13 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] HORYU-4, ChubuSat-2/3 Frequency and Mode In-Reply-To: <052ACB6D988044FE9CC4D075F59EC89C@FMAE9DF34D30D3> References: <052ACB6D988044FE9CC4D075F59EC89C@FMAE9DF34D30D3> Message-ID: <56B1E4C5.9040904@pe1rdw.demon.nl> Op 03-02-16 om 12:14 schreef Mineo Wakita: > Launch Date: 12 Feb 2016 > Launch Time: 08:45-09:30 UTC > Launch Site: JAXA Tanegashima Space Center, Japan > > Satellite Uplink Downlink Beacon > Mode Callsign > ---------- ------- ---------------- ------- > --------------------------- -------- > HORYU-4 . 437.375/2400.300 437.375 1k2 AFSK,9k6 GMSK,S_BPSK,CW > ChubuSat-2 145.815 437.100 . 1k2 AFSK,9k6 > GMSK,CW JJ2YPN > ChubuSat-3 145.840 437.425 . 1k2 AFSK,9k6 > GMSK,CW JJ2YPO > ---------- ------- ---------------- ------- > --------------------------- -------- > > http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/horyu4WEB/horyu4.html > http://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html > > http://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite3.html > > http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/hory4c23.htm > > JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > it is nice to see store and forward sats making a comeback 73 de Andre PE1RDW From bruninga at usna.edu Wed Feb 3 15:47:39 2016 From: bruninga at usna.edu (Robert Bruninga) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 10:47:39 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Severe UHF Satellite inerference found! Message-ID: <3bb0d5b3c70f073c0403e386fe29262b@mail.gmail.com> Our satellite ground station has been jammed for about a week with 60 dB over pulse (spread spectrum) Looks and sounds just like Wifi but from below 420 to above 460 MHz. Yestereday we built up a portable USB receiver and attenuator and began measurements. Went everywhere in the building and outside. Could be heard 40 dB over everywhere in the building. But darned if the signal wasn?t always just a bit stronger right at the Ground station console. Switched from omni to a hand held beam. Still signal seemed strongest right at the console. Turned off everything one by one. No change. Completely disconnected antenna, attenuator and cable but signal was still S9 into the portable receiver (AOR AR5000) and good enough for sniffing. Still strongest right on the console. BINGO! It was an FRS walkie talkie, not used in years, that someone had pulled out of its charger (it was dead) and re-inserted a few days ago. As the dead FRS slowly attempted to charge up, somehow its processor must have gone wild trying to power up and that was it! Remember, nothing electronics anymore has a real OFF switch. Just a processor that is always ON to sense the switch. When I pulled the radio from the charger, the noise instantly stopped and nothing we can do can recreate that one-in-a-million condition. And the FRS radio is still dead. But we can finally hear the noise floor again on the UHF band. Bob, WB4APR From glasbrenner at mindspring.com Wed Feb 3 15:49:52 2016 From: glasbrenner at mindspring.com (Andrew Glasbrenner) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 10:49:52 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] QST satellite antenna article Message-ID: <2F465E50-2AE2-4412-AC46-3302ABCE79BB@mindspring.com> I'm looking for a very specific set of plans I remember seeing in QST and am having difficulty finding it this morning. The design placed the HT antenna at the location of the driven element, eliminating the need for feedline. I understand this is a compromise antenna, but there is an unusual circumstance requiring it temporarily. Any links would be appreciated. 73, Drew KO4MA Sent from my iPhone From amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net Wed Feb 3 16:10:16 2016 From: amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net (Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 16:10:16 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] QST satellite antenna article In-Reply-To: <2F465E50-2AE2-4412-AC46-3302ABCE79BB@mindspring.com> References: <2F465E50-2AE2-4412-AC46-3302ABCE79BB@mindspring.com> Message-ID: Drew, It was an article from the May 2008 QST, pages 42 and 43, titled "Dual Band Handy Yagi" by Thomas Hart AD1B. It is available in the online QST archive at the ARRL web site, and ARRL members are able to download it. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 3:49 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner < glasbrenner at mindspring.com> wrote: > I'm looking for a very specific set of plans I remember seeing in QST and > am having difficulty finding it this morning. The design placed the HT > antenna at the location of the driven element, eliminating the need for > feedline. > > From k8bl at ameritech.net Wed Feb 3 17:53:27 2016 From: k8bl at ameritech.net (R.T.Liddy) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 17:53:27 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] QST satellite antenna article In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4811562.1195095.1454522007305.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Here's another possibility. -BL | | This email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast. www.avast.com | http://www.ea4cax.com/paginaea4cyq/cju/cjuingles.pdf From: Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) To: "amsat-bb at amsat.org" Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 11:10 AM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] QST satellite antenna article Drew, It was an article from the May 2008 QST, pages 42 and 43, titled "Dual Band Handy Yagi" by Thomas Hart AD1B. It is available in the online QST archive at the ARRL web site, and ARRL members are able to download it. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 3:49 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner < glasbrenner at mindspring.com> wrote: > I'm looking for a very specific set of plans I remember seeing in QST and > am having difficulty finding it this morning. The design placed the HT > antenna at the location of the driven element, eliminating the need for > feedline. > > _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From glasbrenner at mindspring.com Wed Feb 3 19:11:40 2016 From: glasbrenner at mindspring.com (Andrew Glasbrenner) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 14:11:40 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] QST satellite antenna article In-Reply-To: References: <2F465E50-2AE2-4412-AC46-3302ABCE79BB@mindspring.com> Message-ID: <50274E75-6CC1-4A6D-B21B-69C8C0FB0956@mindspring.com> That's the one. Thank you Patrick and the others that helped. 73, Drew KO4MA Sent from my iPhone > On Feb 3, 2016, at 11:10 AM, Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) wrote: > > Drew, > > It was an article from the May 2008 QST, pages 42 and > 43, titled "Dual Band Handy Yagi" by Thomas Hart AD1B. > It is available in the online QST archive at the ARRL > web site, and ARRL members are able to download it. > > 73! > > > > > > Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK > http://www.wd9ewk.net/ > Twitter: @WD9EWK > > > > On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 3:49 PM, Andrew Glasbrenner < > glasbrenner at mindspring.com> wrote: > >> I'm looking for a very specific set of plans I remember seeing in QST and >> am having difficulty finding it this morning. The design placed the HT >> antenna at the location of the driven element, eliminating the need for >> feedline. > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From robert.quinlan1054 at cogeco.ca Thu Feb 4 00:20:25 2016 From: robert.quinlan1054 at cogeco.ca (Rob Quinlan) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 19:20:25 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] XW2 CAMSAT CW Message-ID: <56B29949.2010305@cogeco.ca> Hello, I manage to grab what appears to be the XW-2 CAMSAT CW beacon. Time UTC: 23:07 Date: 2016-02-03 Frequincy: I think it was 146.660 Mhz Mode: CW with AFC enabled Decoded: SEEESE DFH XW2 XW2 AAA RTT RUR RRI RUI TMT R6I RM4 RRI TTT RKI TIT VN N TTT TTT URT TTT TTI TTT TTT U4K VTT CAMSAT IE ES SIIR EIII UI R6I RM4 RRI TTT RKI TIT VDR TTT TTT ANT TTT TTI TTT TTT U4K VTT CAMSAT CAMSAT EJ1SE DFH XW2 XW2 AAA RTT RUR SI*ESIUT CAMSAT IIBJ1SB DFH XW2 NTW? AE I'm guessing that this is the XW2 CAMSAT beacon? Radio: SDRplay Antenna: Diamond D130j discone Location: Beamsville, Ontario, Canada Do you send out some sort of QSL conformation card? I don't know since I never done this before. From wb4gcs at wb4gcs.org Thu Feb 4 01:03:02 2016 From: wb4gcs at wb4gcs.org (Jim Sanford) Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2016 20:03:02 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Where's the "how to contact an area coordinator lin"? Message-ID: <56B2A346.5000503@wb4gcs.org> Thanks! Jim wb4gcs at amsat.org --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From skristof at etczone.com Thu Feb 4 02:09:49 2016 From: skristof at etczone.com (skristof at etczone.com) Date: Wed, 03 Feb 2016 21:09:49 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Easy question Message-ID: <80ca7eca17914f657a6a93360879841d@etczone.com> Sorry for this most basic question, but if I want to receive the telemetry from AO-85, do I listen on FM or USB? Steve AI9IN From amsat at n0jy.org Thu Feb 4 03:32:22 2016 From: amsat at n0jy.org (Jerry Buxton) Date: Wed, 03 Feb 2016 22:32:22 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Easy question In-Reply-To: <80ca7eca17914f657a6a93360879841d@etczone.com> Message-ID: FM. Jerry N0JY On Feb 3, 2016 9:09 PM, skristof at etczone.com wrote: > > > > Sorry for this most basic question, but if I want to receive the > telemetry from AO-85, do I listen on FM or USB? > > Steve AI9IN > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From shakeelj2k at yahoo.com Thu Feb 4 03:45:54 2016 From: shakeelj2k at yahoo.com (shakeel -ur-rehman) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 03:45:54 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Antenna Rotor and yagi Antenna selection References: <764878730.1210089.1454557554634.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <764878730.1210089.1454557554634.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> We are in process of development of Student Satellite Ground station for amateur satellite. we need to select rotor and antenna s for amateur satellite ground station. we initially worked that we need 17db gain for our polarized antennas for this purpose we need to have stacking of antennas in order to achieve the desired gain in UHF and VHF band. can anyone know from where we can purchase antennas having 1.VHF band (144 ? 146 MHz) gain 17 dBi transmit and in for receive 17 dBi in UHF band polarization Circular 2. we narrow down two rotors from yaesu a) G5600 and b) G2800 rotor which will be separately required elevation and azimuth. Now the specific queires are Question 1:we dont know where to find antennas of 17dbs. or we need 3 antenna in stacking mode having accumulated gain of 17db. Question 2: we dont how how to finalize rotor. we have ICOM 9100 and we are currently tracking satellite manually. Question 3: how to calculate that these rotor will be sufficient for the load of our antennas.or the g5600 will be enough for stacking of three antenna's load. any help much appreciated Kind regards shakeel From tjschuessler at verizon.net Thu Feb 4 03:48:35 2016 From: tjschuessler at verizon.net (Tom Schuessler) Date: Wed, 03 Feb 2016 21:48:35 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] K2BSA/5 satellite demo for Scouts this coming Saturday. Message-ID: <008001d15efe$ec83f4b0$c58bde10$@net> Hi all, I will be doing another Radio Merit Badge workshop class at the National Scouting Museum in Irving, TX, EM12 this coming Saturday, February 6th. As is my normal practice, I will be including in the activities, an AMSAT satellite pass. This time around, we will be attempting to use AO-85 on what for us will be a 1713Z AOS, 73 degree Max Elevation pass. We will be using K2BSA/5 so please listen for/call us and lets show these 13 Scouts the fun and excitement of Amateur Radio in space. You can also find us on HF, probably 20 meters around 14.290 especially between 1900Z-2000Z and 2115Z-2230Z. Looking forward to hearing you on the birds/bands. 73 Tom Schuessler 2713 Lake Gardens Drive Irving, Texas 75060 972-986-7456 214-403-1464 (Cell) n5hyp at arrl.net From k8bl at ameritech.net Thu Feb 4 04:09:29 2016 From: k8bl at ameritech.net (R.T.Liddy) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 04:09:29 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Antenna Rotor and yagi Antenna selection In-Reply-To: <764878730.1210089.1454557554634.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <764878730.1210089.1454557554634.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <693069868.1518034.1454558969971.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Please use your Amateur Call when posting so usersknow who you are. TNX/73, ? Bob ?K8BL From: shakeel -ur-rehman via AMSAT-BB To: amsat-bb at amsat.org Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 10:45 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Antenna Rotor and yagi Antenna selection We are in process of development of Student Satellite Ground station for amateur satellite. we need to select rotor and antenna s for amateur satellite ground station. we initially worked that we need 17db gain for our polarized antennas for this purpose we need to have stacking of antennas in order to achieve the desired gain in UHF and VHF band. can anyone know from where we can purchase antennas having 1.VHF band (144 ? 146 MHz) gain 17 dBi transmit and in for receive 17 dBi in UHF band polarization Circular 2. we narrow down two rotors from yaesu a) G5600? and b) G2800 rotor which will be separately required elevation and azimuth. Now the specific queires are Question 1:we dont know where to find antennas of 17dbs. or we need 3 antenna in stacking mode having accumulated gain of 17db. Question 2: we dont how how to finalize rotor. we have ICOM 9100 and we are currently tracking satellite manually. Question 3: how to calculate that these rotor will be sufficient for the load of our antennas.or the g5600 will be enough for stacking of three antenna's load. any help much appreciated Kind regards shakeel _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From quadpugh at bellsouth.net Thu Feb 4 10:45:16 2016 From: quadpugh at bellsouth.net (Nick Pugh) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 04:45:16 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Severe UHF Satellite inerference found! In-Reply-To: <3bb0d5b3c70f073c0403e386fe29262b@mail.gmail.com> References: <3bb0d5b3c70f073c0403e386fe29262b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <000d01d15f39$22ed0bb0$68c72310$@bellsouth.net> I have a similar tale was a wall wart powering a usb hub. Spent day looking outside nick -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Robert Bruninga Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2016 9:48 AM To: amsat-bb at amsat.org Cc: Jameson Pirkel Subject: [amsat-bb] Severe UHF Satellite inerference found! Our satellite ground station has been jammed for about a week with 60 dB over pulse (spread spectrum) Looks and sounds just like Wifi but from below 420 to above 460 MHz. Yestereday we built up a portable USB receiver and attenuator and began measurements. From lucleblanc6 at videotron.ca Thu Feb 4 11:46:47 2016 From: lucleblanc6 at videotron.ca (Luc Leblanc) Date: Thu, 04 Feb 2016 06:46:47 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Severe UHF Satellite inerference found! In-Reply-To: <000d01d15f39$22ed0bb0$68c72310$@bellsouth.net> References: <3bb0d5b3c70f073c0403e386fe29262b@mail.gmail.com> <000d01d15f39$22ed0bb0$68c72310$@bellsouth.net> Message-ID: <56B33A27.31825.518137A@lucleblanc6.videotron.ca> I can add QRN from a lawn mower defective battery charger who remain plugged a whole winter in a back yard shed! S9+10 , a DVD recorder S9+20, nearly all type of dimmer switch. You can surely populate my list. > I have a similar tale was a wall wart powering a usb hub. Spent day looking outside > nick > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Robert Bruninga > Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2016 9:48 AM > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Cc: Jameson Pirkel > Subject: [amsat-bb] Severe UHF Satellite inerference found! > > Our satellite ground station has been jammed for about a week with 60 dB over pulse (spread spectrum) Looks and sounds just like Wifi but from > below 420 to above 460 MHz. Yestereday we built up a portable USB > receiver and attenuator and began measurements. > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb Luc Leblanc VE2DWE From wageners at gmail.com Thu Feb 4 13:14:08 2016 From: wageners at gmail.com (Stefan Wagener) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 07:14:08 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Antenna Rotor and yagi Antenna selection In-Reply-To: <764878730.1210089.1454557554634.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <764878730.1210089.1454557554634.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <764878730.1210089.1454557554634.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Hi Shakeel, Please see: http://www.m2inc.com/categories/amateur/antennas/vhf-uhf-microwave-antennas/satelite-products.html for suitable antennas. and: http://www.rfhamdesign.com for suitable rotors in case you still decide to stack antennas which should not be needed. 73, Stefan, VE4NSA On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 9:45 PM, shakeel -ur-rehman via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote: > We are in process of development of Student Satellite Ground > station for amateur satellite. we need to select rotor and antenna s for > amateur satellite ground station. we initially worked that we need 17db > gain for our polarized antennas for this purpose we need to have stacking > of antennas in order to achieve the desired gain in UHF and VHF band. > > can anyone know from where we can purchase antennas having > > 1.VHF band (144 ? 146 MHz) gain 17 dBi transmit and in for receive 17 dBi > in UHF band polarization Circular > > 2. we narrow down two rotors from yaesu a) G5600 and b) G2800 rotor > which will be separately required elevation and azimuth. > > Now the specific queires are > > Question 1:we dont know where to find antennas of 17dbs. or we need 3 > antenna in stacking mode having accumulated gain of 17db. > > Question 2: we dont how how to finalize rotor. we have ICOM 9100 and we > are currently tracking satellite manually. > > Question 3: how to calculate that these rotor will be sufficient for the > load of our antennas.or the g5600 will be enough for stacking of three > antenna's load. > > any help much appreciated > > Kind regards > > shakeel > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From ewpereira at gmail.com Thu Feb 4 13:52:54 2016 From: ewpereira at gmail.com (Edson W. R. Pereira) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 11:52:54 -0200 Subject: [amsat-bb] AMSAT-BR Commemorative Event Message-ID: Hello AMSATers! AMSAT-BR (AMSAT Brazil) will be celebrating its first anniversary tomorrow February 5th. To commemorate the event we are promoting QSO's over amateur satellites and will be distributing diplomas in electronic format to stations that confirm their QSO's. The rules are as follows: Event Start: 05/02/2016 00:00:00 UTC Event End: 07/02/2016 23:59:59 UTC CQ Format: CQ AMSAT-BR de Example of a QSO: CQ AMSAT-BR de PY2UEP PY2UEP de PW8PM FH99 PW8PM de PY2UEP GG57 PY2UEP de PW8PM QSL 73 Log Format: Date/Time (UTC), Sat, Mode, DX Call, QTH Locator Example: 06/02/2016 15:35, AO-73, USB, PY2UEP, GG57 Email address to send logs: ano1 at amsat-br.org Logs can be send in plain text. 73, Edson PY2SDR LABRE/AMSAT-BR http://amsat-br.org/ --- - We humans have the capability to do amazing things if we work together. - N?s seres humanos temos a capacidade de fazer coisas incr?veis se trabalharmos juntos. From ericrosenberg.dc at gmail.com Thu Feb 4 14:05:40 2016 From: ericrosenberg.dc at gmail.com (Eric Rosenberg) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 09:05:40 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] 13 CubeSats Make the Grade for NASA SLS Mission Message-ID: >From ViaSat Magazine: ----------------- [Via Satellite 02-03-2016] NASA has selected 13 CubeSats to test new technology on the first flight of the agency?s upcoming rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), set to pave the way for deep space exploration. Launching in 2018, the new rocket aims to first propel an unmanned Orion spacecraft beyond the moon and into deep space, with NASA?s sights set on a journey to Mars. The small satellite secondary payloads will fly on SLS? Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) to carry out science and technology investigations in deep space and, hopefully, set the course for future human exploration into deep space. ?Exploration Mission-1 will be a proving ground mission, whose goal is to demonstrate the integrated performance of SLS and Orion before we put crews on it for the first crewed flight. Because of the robust capability of the Space Launch System, we have a unique opportunity to transport small spacecraft and technology experiments onboard the very same mission,? said Todd May, Marshall Space Flight Center director, during a press event held at the center in Huntsville, Ala., to announce the small satellite fleet selection on Feb. 3. According to NASA?s website, the CubeSats will be deployed following the Orion capsule?s separation from the upper stage. Once Orion is a safe distance away, a spring mechanism will eject each payload from dispensers on the Orion stage adapter. Following deployment, the transmitters on the CubeSats will turn on, and ground stations will listen for their beacons to determine the functionality of these small satellites. Bill Hill, deputy associate administrator of Exploration Systems Development at NASA Headquarters, noted that the organization began looking at 11 payloads before deciding that there were sufficient resources to launch 13 CubeSats. Of the 13, NASA announced seven of the missions. NASA?s Science Mission Directorate selected and spoke to the first two publically announced missions, including, CuSP, a mission described by Michael Seablom, chief technologist for NASA?s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, as a ?space weather station? that aims to measure particles and magnetic fields in space, and further understand the particles? roles in geothermal storms. It also looks to test practicality for a network of stations to monitor space weather. The solar activity that causes space weather can impact both space exploration missions and satellites for telecommunications and remote sensing. Seablom also spoke to the LunaH-Map mission, which will map hydrogen that exists within craters, on the plains and in other permanently shadowed regions at the Moon?s south pole. ?Because of the investments we?ve made in technology, this mission, which will carry a neutron spectrometer, and also an imager, will give us unprecedented horizontal resolution of the distribution of hydrogen. Roughly seven-and-a-half kilometers per pixel is what we?re expecting,? said Seablom. The CubeSat will also feature an advanced propulsion system with about 12 miniature thrusters to provide attitude control and enable the CubeSat to make more than 140 orbits over its planned 60-day lifecycle. NASA also selected two payloads through the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP). These two missions include Skyfire, a Lockheed Martin Space Systems-designed CubeSat, to perform a flyby of the Moon and collect infrared sensor data to enhance knowledge of the lunar surface, and the Lunar IceCube mission from Morehead State University, which will search for water ice and other resources at a low orbit of only 62 miles above the surface of the Moon. NASA?s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate selected three payloads for the Orion mission: the Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout mission, built by NASA?s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which will perform reconnaissance of an asteroid, take pictures and observe its position in space; the BioSentinel mission, which plans to use yeast to detect, measure and compare the impact of deep-space radiation on living organisms over long durations in deep space; and Lunar Flashlight, a mission that plans to look for ice deposits and identify locations where resources may be extracted from the lunar surface. Further CubeSats have yet to be chosen, but NASA will determine three additional payloads through the organization?s Cube Quest Challenge, a contest designed to ?foster innovations in small spacecraft propulsion and communications techniques,? NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman explained. As part of the challenge currently taking place, CubeSat builders will compete for a chance to launch their spacecraft on the SLS mission. NASA?s Space Technology Mission Directorate will select and announce the winning payloads in 2017. Furthermore, NASA has reserved room for three payloads from international partners. According to Hill, NASA is in advanced discussions surrounding which international missions will be selected to fly onboard the SLS, and the organization will announce the payloads at a later date. ?All the data from these missions and these experiments will be used to help us on our journey to Mars,? said May. NASA is designing SLS EM-1 to have a minimum lift of 77 tons, powered by twin boosters and four RS-25 engines, which are currently undergoing testing. In 2015 the agency saw the completion of multiple engine tests preparing the SLS for launch, including a major rocket booster test for which the agency is preparing for a follow up in May, according to Hill. ?The space launch system, Orion and the ground systems that support both pre-launch and recovery are making great progress,? he said. From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Thu Feb 4 14:58:35 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 09:58:35 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with "Gesmundo Moro Fiore" Secondary School, Terlizzi, Italy Message-ID: An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at "Gesmundo Moro Fiore" Secondary School, Terlizzi, Italy on 06 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 09:09 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time.The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and LU1CGB. The contact should be audible over Argentina and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. ''Gesmundo - Moro - Fiore '' is a secondary school formed of two different buildings in the suburb area of Terlizzi. The new school was born this school year from the fusion of two schools. What is more, in the last few years some foreign citizens are coming to live in Terlizzi, so the school is having new needs and is facing different realities from the East Europe to the Mediterranean Africa. There are laboratories ICT, Technology, Art, Conference room , Library. Multimedia room and big spaces outside with wonderful gardens. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. How was born your passion in the space exploration? 2. In which module of the space station are you now? What's around you now? 3. How was the space station built? 4. What experiments are you doing on board the ISS? 5. Have you performed a spacewalk? 6. What amusing activities do you do on the ISS? 7. What are the tasks for ISS crew on board the space station? 8. Can you send us a photo of you greetings us from Cupola? 9. Can you see the biggest cities on Earth from the ISS? 10. It's true that the solar energy is the biggest power source on ISS? 11. What's temperature is on board and outside the ISS? 12. What are the benefits to do the experiments in zero gravity? 13. Do you have flowers on ISS? If YES, can you describe it? 14. How do you face medical problems by one ISS crew member? 15. What will you do to re-adapt when you come back to earth? 16. What do you miss of Earth life on board the ISS? 17. Do you like drinking the coffee on ISS? 18. How do you feel after seeing 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets in a very short time? 19. How you perceive on the ISS the astronomical distances of the planets? 20. How do you communicate with your family on earth? 21. How do you spend the free time on ISS? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK, direct via GB1RMS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Thu, Feb 11, 2016 18:11 UTC ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From howied231 at hotmail.com Thu Feb 4 15:08:35 2016 From: howied231 at hotmail.com (Howie DeFelice) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 10:08:35 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] 13 CubeSats Make the Grade for NASA SLS Mission In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Just in case members are not aware, AMSAT is participating in the Cube Quest Challenge as a partner with Ragnarok Industries. Members of the AMSAT - ASCENT team are designing the communications package which will be 5.6 GHz uplink and 10.5 GHz. downlink and will use digital modulation. At the end of the mission, the 6U cubesat will be put into a stable lunar orbit and AMSAT will be able to operate the satellite as a digital regenerative transponder. Many of the details are still in development and the ASCENT team is always looking for U.S. citizen volunteers to help with the design, prototype and testing. There is no guarantee Ragnarok's submission will be accepted by NASA but if it is, this could be an exciting mission for the amateur community that allows amateurs to have an active role in collecting telemetry and range rate data that is crucial to the mission and end up with a satellite that allows EME type communications between relatively small (1-2meter) earth stations. - Howie AB2S From k9jkm at comcast.net Thu Feb 4 16:01:17 2016 From: k9jkm at comcast.net (JoAnne Maenpaa) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 10:01:17 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] 13 CubeSats Make the Grade for NASA SLS Mission In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <005b01d15f65$482401f0$d86c05d0$@net> > ... Members of the AMSAT - ASCENT team are designing the > communications package which will be 5.6 GHz uplink and > 10.5 GHz. downlink and will use digital modulation. Information about the current state of the microwave links and digital modulation is regularly released by the Ground Terminal Team. They post their video links on the AMSAT-NA Facebook group. It is also relayed by the AMSAT News Service. A summary of their messages and links to previously released video updates is posted at: Update on AMSAT Phase 4 Ground Terminal Development http://www.amsat.org/?p=4945 -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm at amsat.org From johnbrier at gmail.com Thu Feb 4 16:11:25 2016 From: johnbrier at gmail.com (John Brier) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 11:11:25 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Who's representing AMSAT at RARSfest in Raleigh, NC? Message-ID: I noticed AMSAT is listed as one of the exhibitors at the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society's hamfest. I'm curious who will be representing and what the plans are, especially if any demos are planned, because I'll probably go. http://www.rars.org/rarsfest/ John, KG4AKV, in Raleigh From howied231 at hotmail.com Thu Feb 4 17:39:48 2016 From: howied231 at hotmail.com (Howie DeFelice) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 12:39:48 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] 13 CubeSats Make the Grade for NASA SLS Mission In-Reply-To: <005b01d15f65$482401f0$d86c05d0$@net> References: , , <005b01d15f65$482401f0$d86c05d0$@net> Message-ID: Yes, Michelle does a great job. I should point out that the Phase 4 Ground Terminal Development is a separate project from the Cube Quest Challenge project. There are many similarities and the two teams are working closely together to develop compatible systems that will allow the hardware from either project to inter-operate in all respects other than possibly dish size. If successful this could set the standard for future high altitude AMSAT satellites. Since the work on the Cube Quest Challenge by the ASCENT team involves space systems, the release of certain information is restricted by U.S. law. This is one of the reasons very little information is released about satellite hardware and transponders as work progress'. The ground terminal will not be used in space so there is no problem talking more freely about it. If you follow what is happening on he ground terminal you can get a pretty good idea of what the transponders will be like. - Howie AB2s > From: k9jkm at comcast.net > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 10:01:17 -0600 > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] 13 CubeSats Make the Grade for NASA SLS Mission > > > ... Members of the AMSAT - ASCENT team are designing the > > communications package which will be 5.6 GHz uplink and > > 10.5 GHz. downlink and will use digital modulation. > > Information about the current state of the microwave links and digital > modulation is regularly released by the Ground Terminal Team. They post > their video links on the AMSAT-NA Facebook group. It is also relayed by the > AMSAT News Service. > > A summary of their messages and links to previously released video updates > is posted at: > > Update on AMSAT Phase 4 Ground Terminal Development > http://www.amsat.org/?p=4945 > > -- > 73 de JoAnne K9JKM > k9jkm at amsat.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From m5aka at yahoo.co.uk Thu Feb 4 19:44:25 2016 From: m5aka at yahoo.co.uk (M5AKA) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 19:44:25 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] All UK ARISS shortlisted schools now scheduled + Tim Peake KG5BVI update References: <1685404548.2919394.1454615065224.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1685404548.2919394.1454615065224.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> All UK ARISS shortlisted schools are now scheduled http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/03/all-uk-ariss-shortlisted-schools-are-now-scheduled/ Primary (Elementary) school students tune in to Tim Peake http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/02/primary-school-students-tune-in-to-tim-peake/ An Unlikely Pair of Satellites http://amsat-uk.org/2016/01/30/an-unlikely-pair-of-satellites/ Sandringham School presentation http://amsat-uk.org/2016/01/28/sandringham-school-presentation/ The 3rd RSGB Tim Peake amateur radio school update is available at http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=acc8d476eba710615541e5667&id=ec64c462e1&e=e130f21451 AMSAT-BR (AMSAT Brazil) is celebrating its first anniversary on Friday, February 5 - Activity session and Diploma https://www.facebook.com/amsatuk/posts/1001504376559278 73 Trevor M5AKA ---- AMSAT-UK?http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter?https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube?https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ---- From AJ9N at aol.com Thu Feb 4 20:20:09 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 15:20:09 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-04 20:30 UTC Message-ID: <67c42e.ef92e5c.43e50c79@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-04 20:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Christ The King School, Rutland, Vermont, telebridge via VK4KHZ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact was successful: Thu 2016-02-04 18:28:16 UTC 88 deg (***) "Gesmundo Moro Fiore" Secondary School, Terlizzi, Italy, telebridge via LU1CGB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-02-06 09:09:01 UTC 40 deg Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK, direct via GB1RMS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-11 18:11:09 UTC 88 deg **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 115 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-04 20:30 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1021. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 986. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-04 20:30 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From tim at k4shf.com Thu Feb 4 20:55:16 2016 From: tim at k4shf.com (Timothy Tapio) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 20:55:16 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Who's representing AMSAT at RARSfest in Raleigh, NC? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Yes...inquiring minds would like to know! 73, Tim K4SHF -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of John Brier Sent: Thursday, February 4, 2016 11:11 AM To: AMSAT BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Who's representing AMSAT at RARSfest in Raleigh, NC? I noticed AMSAT is listed as one of the exhibitors at the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society's hamfest. I'm curious who will be representing and what the plans are, especially if any demos are planned, because I'll probably go. http://www.rars.org/rarsfest/ John, KG4AKV, in Raleigh _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From richard.siff at verizon.net Thu Feb 4 22:13:19 2016 From: richard.siff at verizon.net (Rich/wa4bue) Date: Thu, 04 Feb 2016 17:13:19 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] K4AMG at Richmond Frost Fest In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: K4AMG will have a complete all mode SATCOM station inside at Frost Fest this weekend. NO QSOs the antennas will be inside, but the system will be tracking. God Bless R W4BUE From tjoppen at acc.umu.se Thu Feb 4 22:05:26 2016 From: tjoppen at acc.umu.se (Tomas =?ISO-8859-1?Q?H=E4rdin?=) Date: Thu, 04 Feb 2016 23:05:26 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Suitable transceivers for Earth-Moon communication? And a question about allocations Message-ID: <1454623526.1979.1.camel@acc.umu.se> Hi (attempt #3 at sending this mail. maybe this list doesn't allow attachments?) Tomas SA2TMS here. I am involved in a group that's trying to put together a scientific probe that will hitch a ride to the moon, courtesy of PTscientists (one of the Lunar XPrize teams) [1,2]. One of my major concerns is how get a reliable backup link going for running operations during the lunar night. The lander acts as downlink relay during the lunar day, but is not available during the night (and likely not after the night either). Hence the need for a secondary link. Throughput requirements are quite modest, as little as 10-100 bits/s may be acceptable. There is an average of around 800 mW of electrical power available. The geometry is somewhere between a 4U and 5U CubeSat. I have two questions for this list, assuming it's the right place to ask them: 1) What are some transceivers that may be suitable for this problem? I have found some candidates, but I'm interested in hearing more suggestions. The path loss is obviously quite significant (197 dB on 70cm). Choice of band(s) comes down to possible antenna geometries. 2m is a bit on the low side for a dipole to fit (it'd have to fold). 70cm is OK. At 23cm and above patch antennas start to become feasible (a huge plus). 2) Where do I go to apply for frequency allocations in the amateur satellite bands? Some sources say IARU, some say AMSAT. Others indicate I should talk to my national agencies (PTS, SSA). That's all for now. If you have any questions, ask :) /Tomas [1] http://scube.se [2]?http://ptscientists.com/ From electricity440 at gmail.com Fri Feb 5 01:03:43 2016 From: electricity440 at gmail.com (Skyler F) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 17:03:43 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] Colorado Amateur Satellite net Begins in 1 hour Message-ID: This is a reminder that the Colorado Amateur Satellite net will begin in 1 hour from now (7PM mountain time Thursday). 6PM Pacific 7PM Mountain 8PM Central 9PM Eastern Please visit us on *AMSATNET.INFO * *IRLP* 9870, the Denver Reflector *ALLSTAR LINK* 40764, direct hookup to the repeater here. 41715, KC9ZHV hub at a data center if I am out of bandwidth. More info on AllStar - amsatnet.info/#node *ECHOLINK* *AMSAT* unless there is an ARISS contact, then go direct to KD0WHB-L *LOCAL RF* 449.625 (-) 141.3 ( W?KU Lookout Mountain) 447.225 (-) 141.3 (The STEM school repeater we set up) 447.850 (-) 141.3 (AC?KQ's repeater where he lives on TOP of saddleback mountain) 147.450 SIMPLEX (Aurora, CO) 446.275 (-) 100.0 Galena St. Local repeater at my house, giving a whopping 5 blocks of great coverage *REMOTE RF* Your Repeater here!, Email me if you want to link in or me to link your echolink or allstar repeater in automatically (no automatic IRLP linking supported) Skyler Fennell amsatnet.info KD?WHB electricity440 at gmail.com From kk5do at arrl.net Fri Feb 5 04:46:11 2016 From: kk5do at arrl.net (Bruce) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 22:46:11 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] LVB Trackers Message-ID: <56B42913.1080007@arrl.net> If you are looking for an LVB tracker, now is your time to purchase one at the AMSAT online store. There are 4 that were just placed in inventory. These are the complete units, nothing to build, that is already done for you. Here is the direct link if you are in a hurry http://store.amsat.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=1_25 Want to navigate on your own, http://www.amsat.org 73...bruce -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards AMSAT Board Alternate 2015-2016 ARRL Awards Field Checker (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0200z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also live streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org AMSAT on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/amsat From skristof at etczone.net Fri Feb 5 13:04:48 2016 From: skristof at etczone.net (Steve Kristoff) Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 08:04:48 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-85 Message-ID: <9EBFC686A80F441A8275D0FBC0996EC6@StevePC> I decided to try receiving and decoding the AO-85 Data Under Voice telemetry, but it's not working. I suspect it's because my radio is filtering out the frequencies below 200 HZ. So, what are folks doing to get this telemetry? If you want to just point me to an old thread on the forum or a file on the AMSAT site, I'm OK with that. Steve Kristoff AI9IN skristof at etczone.com From n8hm at arrl.net Fri Feb 5 13:10:53 2016 From: n8hm at arrl.net (Paul Stoetzer) Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 08:10:53 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-85 In-Reply-To: <9EBFC686A80F441A8275D0FBC0996EC6@StevePC> References: <9EBFC686A80F441A8275D0FBC0996EC6@StevePC> Message-ID: An RTL-SDR dongle or other SDR works great. Most HTs don't provide unfiltered FM output unless they are advertised as 9600 baud packet ready. Many mobile radios do, again, if they are advertised as 9600 baud packet ready. 73, Paul, N8HM On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 8:04 AM, Steve Kristoff wrote: > I decided to try receiving and decoding the AO-85 Data Under Voice telemetry, but it's not working. I suspect it's because my radio is filtering out the frequencies below 200 HZ. > So, what are folks doing to get this telemetry? > If you want to just point me to an old thread on the forum or a file on the AMSAT site, I'm OK with that. > > Steve Kristoff AI9IN > skristof at etczone.com > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From skristof at etczone.com Fri Feb 5 14:17:38 2016 From: skristof at etczone.com (skristof at etczone.com) Date: Fri, 05 Feb 2016 09:17:38 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-85 In-Reply-To: References: <9EBFC686A80F441A8275D0FBC0996EC6@StevePC> Message-ID: <4e7358e0ddafa7ff29fd68341a3e37b1@etczone.com> I've been considering getting one of those. That might just be the excuse that I need. Thank you, Paul! Can you recommend a couple or list a couple to avoid? I tend to be cheap (and regretting it a significant amount of the time). Other suggestions and ideas are still welcome. Steve AI9IN On 2016-02-05 08:10, Paul Stoetzer wrote: > An RTL-SDR dongle or other SDR works great. > > Most HTs don't provide unfiltered FM output unless they are advertised > as 9600 baud packet ready. Many mobile radios do, again, if they are > advertised as 9600 baud packet ready. > > 73, > > Paul, N8HM > > On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 8:04 AM, Steve Kristoff wrote: > >> I decided to try receiving and decoding the AO-85 Data Under Voice telemetry, but it's not working. I suspect it's because my radio is filtering out the frequencies below 200 HZ. So, what are folks doing to get this telemetry? If you want to just point me to an old thread on the forum or a file on the AMSAT site, I'm OK with that. Steve Kristoff AI9IN skristof at etczone.com _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb [1] > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb [1] Links: ------ [1] http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net Fri Feb 5 16:16:27 2016 From: amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net (Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)) Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 16:16:27 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-85 In-Reply-To: <4e7358e0ddafa7ff29fd68341a3e37b1@etczone.com> References: <9EBFC686A80F441A8275D0FBC0996EC6@StevePC> <4e7358e0ddafa7ff29fd68341a3e37b1@etczone.com> Message-ID: Steve, The FUNcube Dongle Pro+ is probably the best option if you are wanting to copy telemetry from AO-85 or AO-73. AMSAT's FoxTelem software for AO-85, along with the FUNcube Dashboard for AO-73, are designed to directly control that dongle. The FUNcube Dongle Pro+ is also a good receiver for working other satellites. Another good option would be the SDRplay receiver. This performs well for satellite work, but you would need to use another program to control the SDRplay, along with a virtual audio cable to tie that program to either FoxTelem or the FUNcube Dashboard. The SDRplay can't be controlled directly by FoxTelem or the FUNcube Dashboard. The inexpensive "RTL-SDR" dongles could also be used, but these lack the front-end filtering of the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ and the SDRplay. For receive-only situations, the "RTL-SDR" dongles might be an option. You would have to use a program like HDSDR or SDR Sharp to control the dongle, then a virtual audio cable to tie that program to FoxTelem or the FUNcube Dashboard. But if you have any intentions of using an SDR receiver/dongle as part of a station where you will transmit to satellites, you would probably want to avoid these dongles. The FUNcube Dongle Pro+ is sold by its UK-based manufacturer, through its http://www.funcubedongle.com/ web site. With shipping to the USA via FedEx, these cost around US$ 190 to US$ 200 depending on exchange rates. The SDRplay receivers cost US$ 149 from HRO stores, or they can also be purchased directly from SDRplay in the UK for the same price plus an additional shipping charge. Good luck, and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 2:17 PM, wrote: > > > I've been considering getting one of those. That might just be the > excuse that I need. Thank you, Paul! > > Can you recommend a couple or list a couple to avoid? I tend to be cheap > (and regretting it a significant amount of the time). > > > From g0kla at arrl.net Fri Feb 5 19:00:39 2016 From: g0kla at arrl.net (Chris Thompson) Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 14:00:39 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] FoxTelem Version 1.03 released Message-ID: This version of FoxTelem uses a new datafile format. While we store our data on the server in an SQL database, we use a flat file database for FoxTelem. A flat file format is nearly optimal for a program that mostly adds new data to the end of a growing list. With that said, we need to be able to load sections of the data into memory for efficient analysis. The new data file format allows that. If you have been downloading data from the server for analysis, you will see that this format is much faster. One major change is the ability to automatically switch between low speed and high speed. This will help unattended stations gather as much telemetry as possible. The "auto" mode actually runs both decoders at the same time, so make sure your computer has enough CPU power to cope. Graphing has been updated to support better analysis of the spacecraft by the AMSAT Operations team and amateur scientists everywhere. This version also contains new features that will be required for Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D. You can download it here: http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/windows/foxtelem_1.03_windows.zip http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/mac/FoxTelem_1.03_mac.zip http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/linux/foxtelem_1.03_linux.tar.gz Version 1.03 Changes * Support larger volumes of data with much better speed in a segmented database * Auto detect high speed vs low speed telemetry * Allow the user to swap IQ channels in IQ mode * Allow graphs to be plotted as points (without lines) * Plot more labels on horizontal axis when many resets plotted and fixed some graph formatting issues * Graph formatting parameters are saved to config and reloaded when FoxTelem is restarted * When reset button pressed on graphs the average period is reset too * Swapped min/max values for solar panel temp on 1A * Fox-1A Solar panel voltage was (incorrectly) using the MPPT conversion * Fixed bug where HighSpeed Frames were unnecessarily held in the queue until the pass was finished * Cap max RSSI in the lookup table at -140dB to avoid spurious readings * Interpolate the middle of two samples for first difference calculation, for more accurate TCA calculation * Add SAFE mode bit to the Computer panel so that it can be graphed * Fixed bug where Radiation Graphs did not open at start up * Fixed bug where T0 file could be corrupted if URL returned bogus data * Fixed bug where FoxTelem gave many error messages but did not quit if the log dir was not writable * Skip NULL values for some measurements. Don't plot continuous labels to left of vertical axis. * MEMS diagnostic values are now in dps (vs Volts) * Fixed bug where radiation data could not be saved to CSV files * Fixed bug where FindSignal failed to lock if Track Doppler was not checked It also provides Support for Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D: * Display HERCI High Speed frames on the Herci Tab * Display HERCI Housekeeping frames * Support the Fox-1D low res camera format * Implemented MPPT panel temperature conversion using Cubic fit * Sort camera images by reset and uptime not picture counter * Save position of the HERCI HS tab horizontal divider * Allow the user to specify the number of thumb nails to display on the camera tab * Display converted HERCI Housekeeping data -- Chris E. Thompson chrisethompson at gmail.com g0kla at arrl.net From g0mrf at aol.com Fri Feb 5 19:08:01 2016 From: g0mrf at aol.com (David G0MRF) Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 14:08:01 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] FoxTelem Version 1.03 released In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <152b2d57cdf-213b-162c2@webprd-m37.mail.aol.com> Thanks for the new software. Sounds like a lot of work has been going on in the background. One question..........Will version 1.02 still send data to the server or will it simply stop working as did 1.01 after the last update? Thanks David G0MRF -----Original Message----- From: Chris Thompson To: AMSAT-BB Sent: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 19:01 Subject: [amsat-bb] FoxTelem Version 1.03 released This version of FoxTelem uses a new datafile format. While we store our data on the server in an SQL database, we use a flat file database for FoxTelem. A flat file format is nearly optimal for a program that mostly adds new data to the end of a growing list. With that said, we need to be able to load sections of the data into memory for efficient analysis. The new data file format allows that. If you have been downloading data from the server for analysis, you will see that this format is much faster. One major change is the ability to automatically switch between low speed and high speed. This will help unattended stations gather as much telemetry as possible. The "auto" mode actually runs both decoders at the same time, so make sure your computer has enough CPU power to cope. Graphing has been updated to support better analysis of the spacecraft by the AMSAT Operations team and amateur scientists everywhere. This version also contains new features that will be required for Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D. You can download it here: http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/windows/foxtelem_1.03_windows.zip http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/mac/FoxTelem_1.03_mac.zip http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/linux/foxtelem_1.03_linux.tar.gz Version 1.03 Changes * Support larger volumes of data with much better speed in a segmented database * Auto detect high speed vs low speed telemetry * Allow the user to swap IQ channels in IQ mode * Allow graphs to be plotted as points (without lines) * Plot more labels on horizontal axis when many resets plotted and fixed some graph formatting issues * Graph formatting parameters are saved to config and reloaded when FoxTelem is restarted * When reset button pressed on graphs the average period is reset too * Swapped min/max values for solar panel temp on 1A * Fox-1A Solar panel voltage was (incorrectly) using the MPPT conversion * Fixed bug where HighSpeed Frames were unnecessarily held in the queue until the pass was finished * Cap max RSSI in the lookup table at -140dB to avoid spurious readings * Interpolate the middle of two samples for first difference calculation, for more accurate TCA calculation * Add SAFE mode bit to the Computer panel so that it can be graphed * Fixed bug where Radiation Graphs did not open at start up * Fixed bug where T0 file could be corrupted if URL returned bogus data * Fixed bug where FoxTelem gave many error messages but did not quit if the log dir was not writable * Skip NULL values for some measurements. Don't plot continuous labels to left of vertical axis. * MEMS diagnostic values are now in dps (vs Volts) * Fixed bug where radiation data could not be saved to CSV files * Fixed bug where FindSignal failed to lock if Track Doppler was not checked It also provides Support for Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D: * Display HERCI High Speed frames on the Herci Tab * Display HERCI Housekeeping frames * Support the Fox-1D low res camera format * Implemented MPPT panel temperature conversion using Cubic fit * Sort camera images by reset and uptime not picture counter * Save position of the HERCI HS tab horizontal divider * Allow the user to specify the number of thumb nails to display on the camera tab * Display converted HERCI Housekeeping data -- Chris E. Thompson chrisethompson at gmail.com g0kla at arrl.net _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From g0kla at arrl.net Fri Feb 5 20:00:31 2016 From: g0kla at arrl.net (Chris Thompson) Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 15:00:31 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] FoxTelem Version 1.03 released In-Reply-To: <152b2d57cdf-213b-162c2@webprd-m37.mail.aol.com> References: <152b2d57cdf-213b-162c2@webprd-m37.mail.aol.com> Message-ID: Great question David, and sorry about the mix up as we switched servers. In this case, V1.02 will keep working fine. These are additional features and not required. Chris On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 2:08 PM, David G0MRF wrote: > Thanks for the new software. Sounds like a lot of work has been going on > in the background. > > One question..........Will version 1.02 still send data to the server or > will it simply stop working as did 1.01 after the last update? > > Thanks > > David G0MRF > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Chris Thompson > To: AMSAT-BB > Sent: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 19:01 > Subject: [amsat-bb] FoxTelem Version 1.03 released > > This version of FoxTelem uses a new datafile format. While we store our > data on > the server in an SQL database, we use a flat file database for FoxTelem. A > flat > file format is nearly optimal for a program that mostly adds new data to > the end > of a growing list. With that said, we need to be able to load sections of > the > data into memory for efficient analysis. The new data file format allows > that. > If you have been downloading data from the server for analysis, you will > see > that this format is much faster. > > One major change is the ability to automatically switch between low speed > and > high speed. This will help unattended stations gather as much telemetry as > possible. The "auto" mode actually runs both decoders at the same time, so > make > sure your computer has enough CPU power to cope. > > Graphing has been updated to support better analysis of the spacecraft by > the > AMSAT Operations team and amateur scientists everywhere. > > This version also contains new features that will be required for > Fox-1Cliff > and Fox-1D. > > You can download it here: > http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/windows/foxtelem_1.03_windows.zip > http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/mac/FoxTelem_1.03_mac.zip > http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/linux/foxtelem_1.03_linux.tar.gz > > Version 1.03 Changes > * Support larger volumes of data with much better speed in a segmented > database > * Auto detect high speed vs low speed telemetry > * Allow the user to swap IQ channels in IQ mode > * Allow graphs to be plotted as points (without lines) > * Plot more labels on horizontal axis when many resets plotted and fixed > some graph formatting issues > * Graph formatting parameters are saved to config and reloaded when > FoxTelem is restarted > * When reset button pressed on graphs the average period is reset too > * Swapped min/max values for solar panel temp on 1A > * Fox-1A Solar panel voltage was (incorrectly) using the MPPT conversion > * Fixed bug where HighSpeed Frames were unnecessarily held in the queue > until the pass was finished > * Cap max RSSI in the lookup table at -140dB to avoid spurious readings > * Interpolate the middle of two samples for first difference calculation, > for more accurate TCA calculation > * Add SAFE mode bit to the Computer panel so that it can be graphed > * Fixed bug where Radiation Graphs did not open at start up > * Fixed bug where T0 file could be corrupted if URL returned bogus data > * Fixed bug where FoxTelem gave many error messages but did not quit if > the log dir was not writable > * Skip NULL values for some measurements. Don't plot continuous labels to > left of vertical axis. > * MEMS diagnostic values are now in dps (vs Volts) > * Fixed bug where radiation data could not be saved to CSV files > * Fixed bug where FindSignal failed to lock if Track Doppler was not > checked > > It also provides Support for Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D: > * Display HERCI High Speed frames on the Herci Tab > * Display HERCI Housekeeping frames > * Support the Fox-1D low res camera format > * Implemented MPPT panel temperature conversion using Cubic fit > * Sort camera images by reset and uptime not picture counter > * Save position of the HERCI HS tab horizontal divider > * Allow the user to specify the number of thumb nails to display on the > camera tab > * Display converted HERCI Housekeeping data > > -- > Chris E. Thompson > chrisethompson at gmail.com > g0kla at arrl.net > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > -- Chris E. Thompson chrisethompson at gmail.com g0kla at arrl.net From amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net Sat Feb 6 08:05:56 2016 From: amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net (Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)) Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 08:05:56 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] FoxTelem Version 1.03 released In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Chris, Thanks for the announcement of the new version 1.03 of the FoxTelem software. I downloaded it and put it on one of my Windows 10 tablets this evening, a WinBook TW100 with 2 GB RAM and an Intel Atom Z3735 CPU. This tablet isn't like the Microsoft Surface tablets, but it has worked well with previous versions of your FoxTelem software. The new version, with the auto-detection for the data speed, seems to work well on this tablet. I have another tablet with the same Z3735 CPU, but with just 1 GB RAM, that I will test this on. Since I am using an SDRplay receiver, I also use HDSDR to make my RF recordings. Then I play those recordings back through HDSDR and a virtual audio cable into FoxTelem. After working a couple of AO-85 passes this evening, I ran my RF recording through the previous version of FoxTelem, v1.02, for my uploads to the AMSAT server. I decoded 40 frames from the 0302 UTC pass, and 78 frames from the 0442 UTC pass. After I made those uploads, I disabled uploading data to the server, disconnected from my WiFi network in the house, and ran the same RF recordings through the new v1.03 version. No CPU or memory issues on the tablet, and more frames were decoded - 57 from the 0302 UTC pass, and 80 from the 0442 UTC pass. I didn't expect to see a gain of 17 frames from the 0302 UTC RF recording, so I reran that through the v1.02 version. For whatever reason, I decoded 53 frames the second time I used the older version of FoxTelem. This is still 4 less than what the new v1.03 version decoded, which seemed to be more in line with the improvement I saw from decoding the data from the later pass. For the passes I work over the weekend, I will run my recordings through the v1.03 version. Since the CPU utilization on this tablet appears to be little changed from the v1.02 version, I think this will be fine for my situation (using the inexpensive Windows 10 tablets to decode AO-85 data). I will also try the new version with my FUNcube Dongle Pro+, to see how well it works with another SDR receiver, and so I can just run FoxTelem without the need for HDSDR running at the same time. Thanks again for your great work on FoxTelem. Have a great weekend, and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 7:00 PM, Chris Thompson wrote: > This version of FoxTelem uses a new datafile format. While we store our > data on > the server in an SQL database, we use a flat file database for FoxTelem. A > flat > file format is nearly optimal for a program that mostly adds new data to > the end > of a growing list. With that said, we need to be able to load sections of > the > data into memory for efficient analysis. The new data file format allows > that. > If you have been downloading data from the server for analysis, you will > see > that this format is much faster. > > One major change is the ability to automatically switch between low speed > and > high speed. This will help unattended stations gather as much telemetry as > possible. The "auto" mode actually runs both decoders at the same time, so > make > sure your computer has enough CPU power to cope. > > Graphing has been updated to support better analysis of the spacecraft by > the > AMSAT Operations team and amateur scientists everywhere. > > This version also contains new features that will be required for > Fox-1Cliff > and Fox-1D. > > From m-arai at a.email.ne.jp Sat Feb 6 10:08:51 2016 From: m-arai at a.email.ne.jp (Masahiro Arai) Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 19:08:51 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] H-IIA F30 launch procedure Message-ID: <56B5C633.1010609@a.email.ne.jp> Here is the H-IIA F30 launch procedure from JAXA. Launch date: 12th Feb, 2016 Launch time: 0845-0930z event T altitude location HH:MM:SS km Lat/Lon ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 liftoff 00:00:00 0 2 solid rocket booster burnout 00:01:39 48 3 solid rocket booster separation 00:01:48 56 4 fairing separation 00:04:15 170 5 1st stage main engine cutoff 00:06:38 311 6 1st/2nd stage separation 00:06:46 322 7 2nd stage engine ignition 00:06:52 330 8 2nd stage engine cutoff 00:13:24 579 9 ASTRO-H separation 00:14:14 579 10 ChubuSat-2 separation 00:22:34 575 14N/189E 11 ChubuSat-3 separation 00:27:34 573 4N/204E 12 HORYU-4 separation 00:32:34 571 -5N/219E 13 CubeSats separation start 00:37:34 569 Orbit will be into altitude: 575km inclination: 31.0 period?96min Masa JN1GKZ Tokyo Japan From m-arai at a.email.ne.jp Sat Feb 6 10:11:12 2016 From: m-arai at a.email.ne.jp (Masahiro Arai) Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 19:11:12 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] Horyu-4 digi-singer Message-ID: <56B5C6C0.30001@a.email.ne.jp> You can listen Horyu-4 digi-singer on the facebook. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Horyu-4-Arc-Event-Generator-andInvestigation-Satellite/780188535364868 The music looks like college song of Kyushu Institute of Technology. Masa JN1GKZ From ronnan at gmail.com Sat Feb 6 13:20:39 2016 From: ronnan at gmail.com (Ronnan Werneck) Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 11:20:39 -0200 Subject: [amsat-bb] Grid activation Message-ID: <000201d160e1$2fd2d770$8f788650$@gmail.com> Hi everybody, I'll be active in the rare grid GH52dx (farm QTH) on most satellites from today until next wednesday. Try to find me specially on AO-07 and FO-29. 73 Ron PP2RON P.S. Internet access there is very limited. --- Este email foi escaneado pelo Avast antiv?rus. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From n1jez at burlingtontelecom.net Sat Feb 6 16:08:24 2016 From: n1jez at burlingtontelecom.net (Mike Seguin) Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 11:08:24 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fox telemetry Message-ID: <56B61A78.6060403@burlingtontelecom.net> I just hooked up my FT-847 9k6 output to the Fox Telemetry decoder vers 1.03 There was a decent pass over VT just now and I see 82 decodes. My question is: in the settings screen, I didn't have 'upload to server' checked so nothing uploaded. Is it possible to send that data after the pass? (I now have 'upload to server' checked) Mike -- 73, Mike, N1JEZ "A closed mouth gathers no feet" From g0kla at arrl.net Sat Feb 6 17:29:10 2016 From: g0kla at arrl.net (Chris Thompson) Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 12:29:10 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fox telemetry In-Reply-To: <56B61A78.6060403@burlingtontelecom.net> References: <56B61A78.6060403@burlingtontelecom.net> Message-ID: Hi Mike, yes that should really be a feature, but it isn't. It is somewhere on the to-do list. If you recorded the pass you can replay it through FoxTelem. Even though it will not decode additional Frames, it will queue them for upload. 73 Chris On Sat, Feb 6, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Mike Seguin wrote: > I just hooked up my FT-847 9k6 output to the Fox Telemetry decoder vers > 1.03 > > There was a decent pass over VT just now and I see 82 decodes. > > My question is: in the settings screen, I didn't have 'upload to server' > checked so nothing uploaded. Is it possible to send that data after the > pass? (I now have 'upload to server' checked) > > Mike > -- > > 73, > Mike, N1JEZ > "A closed mouth gathers no feet" > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > -- Chris E. Thompson chrisethompson at gmail.com g0kla at arrl.net From n1jez at burlingtontelecom.net Sat Feb 6 17:48:36 2016 From: n1jez at burlingtontelecom.net (Mike Seguin) Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 12:48:36 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fox telemetry In-Reply-To: References: <56B61A78.6060403@burlingtontelecom.net> Message-ID: <56B631F4.5030203@burlingtontelecom.net> Hi Chris, Got it! I just ran another pass and got an additional 128 decodes and I see that my call is listed on the FOX telemetry page as having received my upload so it's all good. Tnx! Mike On 2/6/2016 12:29 PM, Chris Thompson wrote: > Hi Mike, yes that should really be a feature, but it isn't. It is > somewhere on the to-do list. > > If you recorded the pass you can replay it through FoxTelem. Even > though it will not decode additional Frames, it will queue them for upload. > > 73 > Chris > > On Sat, Feb 6, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Mike Seguin > > wrote: > > I just hooked up my FT-847 9k6 output to the Fox Telemetry decoder > vers 1.03 > > There was a decent pass over VT just now and I see 82 decodes. > > My question is: in the settings screen, I didn't have 'upload to > server' checked so nothing uploaded. Is it possible to send that > data after the pass? (I now have 'upload to server' checked) > > Mike > -- > > 73, > Mike, N1JEZ > "A closed mouth gathers no feet" > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org . AMSAT-NA > makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official > views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > > > -- > Chris E. Thompson > chrisethompson at gmail.com > g0kla at arrl.net -- 73, Mike, N1JEZ "A closed mouth gathers no feet" From AJ9N at aol.com Sat Feb 6 20:08:44 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 15:08:44 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-06 20:00 UTC Message-ID: <310d27.2213d6b2.43e7accc@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-06 20:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: "Gesmundo Moro Fiore" Secondary School, Terlizzi, Italy, telebridge via LU1CGB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact was successful: Sat 2016-02-06 09:09:01 UTC 40 deg (***) Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK, direct via GB1RMS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-11 18:11:09 UTC 88 deg **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 (***) **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-06 20:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1022. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 987. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. (***) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-06 20:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From hill.charles.robert at gmail.com Sun Feb 7 02:19:58 2016 From: hill.charles.robert at gmail.com (Robb Hill) Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 21:19:58 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] DPRK Brilliant Star - TLE / 450 MHz Message-ID: If anyone picks up the what they think could be the DPRK Brilliant Start satellite around 450 MHz or get reports on preliminary TLE's could they please post to the list. Also, any recordings are appreciated. I am in the DC area trying to assess is the launch succeeded and where it was headed. Thanks, Robb KB3RBA From ku4os at cfl.rr.com Sun Feb 7 02:31:49 2016 From: ku4os at cfl.rr.com (Lee McLamb) Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2016 21:31:49 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] ANS-038 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins Message-ID: <56B6AC95.9080208@cfl.rr.com> AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-038 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 Launch Information * AMSAT Dayton Booth Volunteers Needed * Dayton Thursday Dinner and Beverages at Tickets Pub and Eatery * FoxTelem Version 1.03 Released * AMSAT Partners With Ragnorak Industries Cubesat Challenge Team * Announcement of the 8th European CubeSat Symposium, 7-9 Sept 2016 (London) * 2016 NASA Academy SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-038.01 ANS-038 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 038.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. February 7, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-038.01 ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 Launch Information Nagoya University(NU) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries(MHI) developed 50kg microsatellite ChubuSat-2(NU) and ChubuSat-3(MHI). These satellites have amateur VHF receiver and amateur UHF transmitter, and will be launched on Feb. 12 2016 from Tanegashima, Japan. Komaki Amateur SATCOM Club operates these satellites from Komaki, Japan. After the satellite separation, each satellite will transmit UHF CW beacon message including battery voltage etc. which is very important information for our initial and critical operation. So we are very happy if you receive the CW beacon message and report to us chubusat2 at frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp In following WEB site, we show the information(frequency, format, TLE, etc.) about ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3. If we have your report, we will show your report in this page. https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html Both satellite will provide the message exchange service. After the on-orbit checkout of the satellite(maybe one month after launch), you can use this service, sending your message with VHF uplink, then your message is written to the on-board memory. By sending inquiry message, anyone can read your message with UHF downlink. ChubuSat-2 Satellite Uplink: 145.815 MHz FSK 1200bps Downlink: 437.100 MHz GMSK 9600bps ChubuSat-3 Satellite Uplink: 145.840 MHz FSK 1200bps Downlink: 437.425 MHz GMSK 9600bps The uplink/downlink format will be uploaded in above WEB site. We hope you get interested in our satellites, receive beacon messages, and enjoy the message exchange service. Best regards, Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA) [ANS thanks Yasutaka Narusawa, JR2XEA, and the KOMAKI Amateur SATCOM Club for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Dayton Booth Volunteers Needed Call for Volunteers for the AMSAT Booth at Dayton 2016 The 2016 Dayton Hamvention?, sponsored by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association will be held this year on May 20-22. ?Dayton? is the largest hamfest in the United States, and AMSAT will be there again this year. You can assist AMSAT by volunteering to help staff the booth. While there, you will meet other AMSAT members, interact with the satellite designers, builders, and operators, and enjoy all that Dayton has to offer. People are needed to assist with the setup of the booth on Thursday, May 19 (A few people to move the equipment from the storage area leaving the hotel at 9 am, most at the Arena from 11am to 4 pm), to staff the booth Friday (9 am to 6 pm), Saturday (9 am to 5 pm), and Sunday (9 am to 1 pm), and pack up on Sunday (1 pm to 3 pm). If you are leaving late Sunday, or Monday morning, please consider helping transport the display to the storage area on the south side of Dayton. This is normally completed by 5 pm. Most people volunteer for one or more 2 hour shifts in the booth. Please send an e-mail to Steve Belter, N9IP if you are willing to help AMSAT at the Hamvention. Please let Steve know as soon as possible if you?re available to assist. If you missed the Hamvention the last few years, there were some changes in the Ball Arena, and the AMSAT exhibit was part of that change. We now have a 3 X 3 booth arrangement, with the engineering and software display on one side of the aisle, and the sale area on the opposite side. The booth numbers are now 444-446 and 433-435. We will be very near the old exhibit area, within sight of the ARRL exhibit. [ANS thanks Steve, N9IP, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dayton Thursday Dinner and Beverages at Tickets Pub and Eatery Thursday night, 1800-2000. The annual AMSAT ?Dinner at Tickets? party will be held Thursday, May 19, at 1800 EDT at the Tickets Pub & Eatery. Everyone is invited regardless of whether or not they helped with setup or plan to work in the booth. You?ll find a great selection of Greek and American food and excellent company! No program or speaker, just good conversation. Food can be ordered from the menu; drinks (beer, wine, sodas and iced tea) are available at the bar. Come as you are. Bring some friends and have a great time the night before Hamvention?. Tickets Pub and Eatery, 7 W. Main St. Fairborn, OH 45324 (937) 878-9022 [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- FoxTelem Version 1.03 Released This version of FoxTelem uses a new datafile format. While we store our data on the server in an SQL database, we use a flat file database for FoxTelem. A flat file format is nearly optimal for a program that mostly adds new data to the end of a growing list. With that said, we need to be able to load sections of the data into memory for efficient analysis. The new data file format allows that. If you have been downloading data from the server for analysis, you will see that this format is much faster. One major change is the ability to automatically switch between low speed and high speed. This will help unattended stations gather as much telemetry as possible. The "auto" mode actually runs both decoders at the same time, so make sure your computer has enough CPU power to cope. Graphing has been updated to support better analysis of the spacecraft by the AMSAT Operations team and amateur scientists everywhere. This version also contains new features that will be required for Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D. You can download it here: http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/windows/foxtelem_1.03_windows.zip http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/mac/FoxTelem_1.03_mac.zip http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/linux/foxtelem_1.03_linux.tar.gz [ANS thanks Chris, G0KLA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Partners With Ragnorak Industries Cubesat Challenge Team AMSAT is participating in the Cube Quest Challenge as a partner with Ragnarok Industries. Members of the AMSAT - ASCENT team are designing the communications package which will be 5.6 GHz uplink and 10.5 GHz. downlink and will use digital modulation. At the end of the mission, the 6U cubesat will be put into a stable lunar orbit and AMSAT will be able to operate the satellite as a digital regenerative transponder. Many of the details are still in development and the ASCENT team is always looking for U.S. citizen volunteers to help with the design, prototype and testing. There is no guarantee Ragnarok's submission will be accepted by NASA but if it is, this could be an exciting mission for the amateur community that allows amateurs to have an active role in collecting telemetry and range rate data that is crucial to the mission and end up with a satellite that allows EME type communications between relatively small (1-2meter) earth stations. [ANS thanks Howie, AB2S, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Announcement of the 8th European CubeSat Symposium, 7-9 Sept 2016 (London) Dear CubeSat Community, This year the 8th European CubeSat Symposium will take place in the vibrant city of London on September 7th-9th 2016. The Symposium, co-organized by the von Karman Institute (Belgium) and the Knowledge Transfer Network (UK), will be hosted in the premises of the historical buildings of the Imperial College London. In particular the South Kensington Campus is located in the very heart of London only few steps away from Kensington Palace and the Natural History Museum. We have tried to organize this Symposium giving importance to the most relevant topics in the CubeSat world. From Technology Demonstrators and Scientific Missions to the Future Technologies and the Space Exploration with CubeSats. In detail, the Symposium is covering the following topics: - Scientific Instruments/Sensors on CubeSats - Technology Demonstration on CubeSats (e.g. formation flying, IODs) - Micro-g Experiments on CubeSats - Micropropulsion Subsystems - Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem - CubeSat Flight Experience and Lessons Learned - CubeSat Networks and Constellations - Telecommunications, Ground Stations and Ground Station Networks - Orbital Dynamics (e.g. de-orbiting and debris mitigation) - Launchers and Deployers for CubeSats - Future Technologies on CubeSats - Space Exploration Missions with CubeSat (i.e. beyond Earth orbit) Renowned speakers from NASA, ESA and NanoRacks LLC will give an account of their view of the past and future development of CubeSats. If you are interested in contributing to this event, please submit your abstract before May 31st 2016. Registrations and abstract submission will be opened from March 1st 2016. For more information on the venue, registration, deadlines, abstract guidelines, sponsorship and exhibitors, please visit the symposium website www.cubesatsymposium.eu As in the previous years the Symposium is open to the all CubeSat community around the World, so please feel free to disseminate this information further. See you there! Best Regards Davide Masutti on behalf the Organising Committee [ANS thanks Davide Masutti for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 NASA Academy The 2016 NASA Academy is being offered at three locations: NASA's Ames Research Center in California, NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio, and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. Applications are being solicited for this 10-week summer experience for college students with emphasis on immersive and integrated multidisciplinary exposure and training. Activities include laboratory research, a group project, lectures, meetings with experts and administrators, visits to NASA centers and space-related industries, and technical presentations. Students learn how NASA and its centers operate, gain experience in world-class laboratories, and participate in leadership development and team-building activities. Applicants must be U.S. citizens (including citizens of the U.S. territories Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands and Northern Marianas) majoring in a STEM discipline. The applicants must be undergraduate or graduate students enrolled full-time in accredited universities and colleges in the U.S. and its territories. Students may apply to any of the NASA Academy opportunities by following these steps: 1. Log into the NASA One Stop Shopping Initiative, or OSSI, site at https://intern.nasa.gov. 2. Register and set up an account. 3. Select the "Search Opportunities" tab at the top bar. 4. Select "NASA Center(s) of Interest" under "NASA Center/Facility." 5. Enter "Academy" in the "Keywords" block at the bottom of the screen. 6. Click the "Search" button at the very bottom of screen; a list of Academy Opportunities will then be displayed. 7. Click on the "View" icon in the first column under "Action" to read about the Opportunity of interest, followed by comments on additional instructions for completing the application, including two requested essays. The deadline for receipt of NASA Academy application(s) and associated documents is Feb. 16, 2016. Please direct questions about NASA Academy to NASA-Academy-Application at mail.nasa.gov. [ANS thanks the NASA Education Express Message -- Feb. 4, 2016 for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org From va6bmj at gmail.com Sun Feb 7 05:18:04 2016 From: va6bmj at gmail.com (B J) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 05:18:04 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] DPRK Brilliant Star - TLE / 450 MHz In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Here are some details which might help: http://www.parabolicarc.com/2016/02/06/north-korea-launches-rocket/ http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/north-korea-launches-satellite 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL From am25544 at gmail.com Sun Feb 7 06:54:37 2016 From: am25544 at gmail.com (Armando Mercado) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 01:54:37 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] DPRK Brilliant Star - TLE / 450 MHz Message-ID: <5C945A622D024990922FADFBCE3DD1B6@hppav> Hi, This is object 41332, or international # 2016-009A TLE are on Space-Track.org but currently you have to manual search for it. Where did you learn of the downlink frequency? Good luck, Armando, N8IGJ From hamsat at xs4all.nl Sun Feb 7 06:58:43 2016 From: hamsat at xs4all.nl (Nico Janssen) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 07:58:43 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] DPRK Brilliant Star - TLE / 450 MHz In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56B6EB23.4070202@xs4all.nl> Robb, TLEs for Kwangmyongsong 4 (41332, 2016-009A) are available via Space-Track and Celestrak. 73, Nico PA0DLO On 2016-02-07 03:19, Robb Hill wrote: > If anyone picks up the what they think could be the DPRK Brilliant Start > satellite around 450 MHz or get reports on preliminary TLE's could they > please post to the list. > > Also, any recordings are appreciated. > > I am in the DC area trying to assess is the launch succeeded and where it > was headed. > > Thanks, > Robb > KB3RBA > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From g0mrf at aol.com Sun Feb 7 10:48:24 2016 From: g0mrf at aol.com (David G0MRF) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 05:48:24 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] DPRK Brilliant Star - TLE / 450 MHz In-Reply-To: <5C945A622D024990922FADFBCE3DD1B6@hppav> References: <5C945A622D024990922FADFBCE3DD1B6@hppav> Message-ID: <152bb58cb84-19a1-219f@webprd-a70.mail.aol.com> FYI Similar orbit to AO-73 but about 55 minutes ahead of it (today) 1 41332U 16009A 16038.41555690 -.00000079 00000-0 00000+0 0 9998 2 41332 97.5294 86.8108 0026974 337.1594 150.3939 15.27433595 51 -----Original Message----- From: Armando Mercado To: amsat-bb Sent: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 6:54 Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] DPRK Brilliant Star - TLE / 450 MHz Hi, This is object 41332, or international # 2016-009A TLE are on Space-Track.org but currently you have to manual search for it. Where did you learn of the downlink frequency? Good luck, Armando, N8IGJ _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From bombeiro.gustavo at gmail.com Sun Feb 7 14:55:04 2016 From: bombeiro.gustavo at gmail.com (Gustavo Nicolau) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 12:55:04 -0200 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO7 07/02/2106 Message-ID: Hi all, gud condictions today via AO7. I'm QRV. 73 Gustavo Nicolau - Sgt Bombeiro Militar. PT9BM. GH40 From twdeckard at earthlink.net Sun Feb 7 15:05:42 2016 From: twdeckard at earthlink.net (Todd W. Deckard) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 09:05:42 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] HP41 program ORBITII In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <76773BAF-D575-4BE3-868D-0295BEA25CCB@earthlink.net> Greetings, does anyone have a printout of R. Jansson? (WD4FAB) port to the HP41CX of the W0SL program for satellite tracking. i already have the P. Bunnell code from Ham Radio 1981. There are echoes of it on the internet but I cannot find the listing and AMSAT no longer has one. This will not advance the state of the art in space communication but the fact that I can command my arduino antenna rotor project from my 1983 calculator over an IL loop while recording the contacts on a old reel-to-reel would satisfy my hidden luddite tendencies. Todd From planophore at aei.ca Sun Feb 7 15:40:20 2016 From: planophore at aei.ca (Graham) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 15:40:20 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] HP41 program ORBITII In-Reply-To: <76773BAF-D575-4BE3-868D-0295BEA25CCB@earthlink.net> References: <76773BAF-D575-4BE3-868D-0295BEA25CCB@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <56B76564.7090400@aei.ca> Todd, Sorry, can't help with your request but I just had to say what an interesting little project. I will remember many of the early BASIC programs for tracking satellites which appeared in a variety of the amateur radio publications in the 80's. There was one in the AMSAT journal of that era as well (by Tom Clark W3IWI I seem to recall). I spent much time typing in and debugging that program on a several different platforms including the Commodore PET, Radio Shack TRS80 and my Heathkit H8 and H11. I no longer have a HP41CX but I do have several TI calculators including the TI84+ and NSPIRE(s) and a HP48G. The TI84+ and the TI83+ it replaced are programmable in a dialect of BASIC and can interface with through a simple port and have more processing power and ram that those old 8 bit computers that I mentioned above. Now you've got me thinking that I should give something like a try too. Good luck with your project. cheers, Graham ve3gtc On 2016-02-07 15:05, Todd W. Deckard wrote: > Greetings, does anyone have a printout of R. Jansson? (WD4FAB) port to the HP41CX of the W0SL program for satellite tracking. i already have the P. Bunnell code from Ham Radio 1981. > > There are echoes of it on the internet but I cannot find the listing and AMSAT no longer has one. This will not advance the state of the art in space communication but the fact that I can command my arduino antenna rotor project from my 1983 calculator over an IL loop while recording the contacts on a old reel-to-reel would satisfy my hidden luddite tendencies. > > Todd > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From k8bl at ameritech.net Sun Feb 7 16:55:48 2016 From: k8bl at ameritech.net (R.T.Liddy) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 16:55:48 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] EL39 Today References: <243064935.541058.1454864148674.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <243064935.541058.1454864148674.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> SAT Gridders, I'll activate EL39 today on FO29 & SO50. FO29 1918Z ?about 15 KHz up from center. SO50 2116Z? Both are very high passes for me here. C U Later, ? ? ?Bob ?K8BL/5 ?(Near Port Arthur, TX) From hill.charles.robert at gmail.com Sun Feb 7 16:38:36 2016 From: hill.charles.robert at gmail.com (Robb Hill) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 11:38:36 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fwd: DPRK Brilliant Star - TLE / 450 MHz In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanks everyone. Also correction in the freq. I should have said 470 MHz or 27 MHz. I also should have clarified that this is speculation from previous launch downlink frequencies. They did not file freqs with the ITU. https://www.northkoreatech.org/2016/02/07/north-korea-claims-satellite-success-us-confirms-object-in-orbit/ Here are some details which might help: http://www.parabolicarc.com/2016/02/06/north-korea-launches-rocket/ http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/north-korea-launches-satellite 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL From wd4elg at triad.rr.com Sun Feb 7 17:22:29 2016 From: wd4elg at triad.rr.com (Mark Lunday) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 12:22:29 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Chubusat question Message-ID: <004701d161cc$1f8c0df0$5ea429d0$@rr.com> Under the information for Chubusat 2 it says: ChubuSat-2 provides the message exchange service. After the on-orbit checkout of the satellite, you can use the service, sending your message with amateur VHF (145.815MHz FSK 1200bps) then your message is written to the on-board memory. Anyone can read your message with amateur UHF (437.1MHz GMSK 9600bps) by sending inquiry message. The uplink/downlink format will be available in this page. I understand the 145.815 1200 bps FSK - this is the same as for NO-44, NO-84 and ISS. But what is GMSK 9600? How is that decoded? And how does one request a 'message read' on this cubesat? Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg at arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com From ag6ie at wolak.net Sun Feb 7 17:37:58 2016 From: ag6ie at wolak.net (Eric Wolak) Date: Sun, 07 Feb 2016 09:37:58 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] Any experience with low-cost 433MHz transverter from transverters-store? In-Reply-To: References: <1454266016.2355580.507727186.1F1E32A8@webmail.messagingengine.com> <1454389583.3562716.509250338.434A207E@webmail.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <1454866678.2510706.514387450.4F017DF4@webmail.messagingengine.com> Ahhh, right. I still only have one SSB modulator/demodulator, no matter how I slice it. Back to the RTLSDR stick! On Tue, Feb 2, 2016, at 12:19 PM, John Toscano wrote: > No, if you are using an Icom IC-706MkII as your IF radio, it cannot > operate in full duplex mode. It CAN do split-band Tx/Rx, where you > receive with the built-in 2M section and transmit on 10 meters into > the transverter to get 70 cm output. Or you can receive on 10 meters > which becomes 70cm through the transverter, and transmit on the built- > in 2M section of the radio. But you can't hear while transmitting. You > would need a second radio or a radio that is designed for full-duplex > operation. > > If you could find a deal on another IC-706MkII and add the 70cm > transverter to it, you'd then have a full-duplex station. A less > expensive choice might be an IC-703, which lacks the 2M band, but you > only need 10M to run the transverter anyway, so it would still make a > nice matching pair of radios that would work well for satellites. Or > if you could find an IC-706MkIIg then you'd have a nicely matching > pair that includes 70cm on the new radio and you'd use 2M on the older > radio. Kind of pricey, but it's just a couple of suggestions that > could be made to work. > > Another popular choice is a Yaesu FT-817. But then you would not > need a transverter since it has both 2M and 70cm bands already. You > just might need a PA to output more than 5 watts on mode UV, but no > extra PA needed for mode VU since the transmitter is the IC-706MkII > in that mode. > > Choces, choices, choices... And we didn't even get into full-duplex > radios like a Yaesu FT-847. (I love mine!) > > Happy shopping. John, W0JT/5 > > On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 11:06 PM, Eric Wolak wrote: >> Thanks, guys! It looks like the transverter kit includes an >> attenuator >> board to interface with a radio, so I'm set on that. These transponders >> work both ways, right, so if I can TX on 2m and RX on 70cm (through the >> transverter), then I can hear my own transmissions full-duplex, and I >> can make contact with someone TX'ing on 70cm? >> >> Are there any attributes that might be lacking with such a low-cost >> option, e.g. frequency stability or harmonics? >> >> On Sun, Jan 31, 2016, at 03:12 PM, John Toscano wrote: >> > The transverter itself can cover the satellite portion of the band. >> > The specs say it covers 432 - 442 MHz. The issue is that your IF >> > radio, the Icom IC-706MkII is what I believe you meant to say, can >> > tune high enough on the 10M band and above for RECEPTION at the >> > appropriate frequencies, but will not transmit above 30 MHz and >> > therefore, through this transverter, will not transmit above 435.0000 >> > MHz. I know this from experience with my 222 MHz transverter. >> > Fortunately, on that band, 28-30 MHz -> 222-224 MHz, and the portion >> > of the band above that (224-225 MHz) is mostly FM repeater OUTPUTS, >> > which the radio will happily receive through my transverter. >> > >> > What you would need to do is defeat the 10M band transmit limits on >> > your IC-706MkII. You can probably find mods to allow that. >> > >> > Your other issue, which I also had to overcome with my 222 >> > transverter, is that the transverter needs (accepts) only a very low >> > RF power signal on transmit (1-100 milliwatts) and your IC-706MkII is >> > happy to transmit 1000 times as much power, up to 100 watts. So you >> > will need to carefully interface the radio to the transverter to >> > insure that the transmit power is nice and low. In my case, my >> > transverter interface includes a source of negative voltage to feed >> > into the ALC input of the radio, which can drop the power low enough. >> > Interesting (=undesirable) ?things happen if this ALC circuit fails, >> > or more likely, gets accidentally disconnected. I was fortunate, when >> > I transmitted 100 watts into my transverter by accident, I only fried >> > a 50 ohm resistor in the input circuit, and after replacing it, all >> > was good again, The same may or may not hold with this transverter. >> > >> > Good luck in your search for a solution. >> > >> > John Toscano, W0JT/5 >> > >> > On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 12:46 PM, Eric Wolak wrote: >> >> Hi folks, >> >> >> >> I'm trying to get on the air with the linear transponder satellites, >> >> and it looks like I need 70cm SSB capability to really get on the >> >> air. My Icom IC-796MkII can do SSB on 2m, but not 70cm, so I'm trying >> >> to find an affordable way to get 70cm SSB transmit. >> >> >> >> Does anybody have experience with these $100 transverter boards from >> >> Ukraine? It looks like they're tuned for the weak-signal/SSB end of >> >> the band and might require a bit of work to get up to 435MHz for >> >> satellites. Is 3-4W enough to be heard? >> >> >> >> http://www.ebay.com/itm/221871269275 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> >> Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect >> >> the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to >> >> support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: >> >> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From am25544 at gmail.com Sun Feb 7 18:21:22 2016 From: am25544 at gmail.com (Armando Mercado) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 13:21:22 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fwd: DPRK Brilliant Star - TLE / 450 MHz Message-ID: <55CB63C172EA4FC0892AAFFA7C54545A@hppav> Hi, Listened to the morning passes on 450.000MHz and heard nothing. Will listen to 470.000 MHz this evening to see what comes up. 73 Armando, N8IGJ From glasbrenner at mindspring.com Sun Feb 7 18:51:20 2016 From: glasbrenner at mindspring.com (Andrew Glasbrenner) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 13:51:20 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Chubusat question In-Reply-To: <004701d161cc$1f8c0df0$5ea429d0$@rr.com> References: <004701d161cc$1f8c0df0$5ea429d0$@rr.com> Message-ID: <00a801d161d8$890cc240$9b2646c0$@com> Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying...some of the soundcard software will decode it, as will some packet modems. My suggestion is to watch some of the more active JA hams webpages and blogs for the best information on how to use these if and when they are opened for amateur use. JE9PEL is one page I look at often for information on the JA satellites http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/ I sure wish some of these carried Mode J transponders, but I'll probably try the digital payloads when available. It looks like they are using the V/U system for initial checkout, and then to the 8GHz link once it's stabilized and usable. 73, Drew KO4MA -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Mark Lunday Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2016 12:22 PM To: amsat-bb at amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Chubusat question Under the information for Chubusat 2 it says: ChubuSat-2 provides the message exchange service. After the on-orbit checkout of the satellite, you can use the service, sending your message with amateur VHF (145.815MHz FSK 1200bps) then your message is written to the on-board memory. Anyone can read your message with amateur UHF (437.1MHz GMSK 9600bps) by sending inquiry message. The uplink/downlink format will be available in this page. I understand the 145.815 1200 bps FSK - this is the same as for NO-44, NO-84 and ISS. But what is GMSK 9600? How is that decoded? And how does one request a 'message read' on this cubesat? Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg at arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From dan at post.com Sun Feb 7 21:03:36 2016 From: dan at post.com (Daniel Cussen) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 21:03:36 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fwd: DPRK Brilliant Star - TLE / 450 MHz In-Reply-To: <55CB63C172EA4FC0892AAFFA7C54545A@hppav> References: <55CB63C172EA4FC0892AAFFA7C54545A@hppav> Message-ID: Not sure if it has been posted yet, but there is a good technical write up of previous North Korean satellites here: http://38north.org/2012/09/nhansen091212/ Some sites suggest 450 to 470Mhz is likely band. Ideally would need a very high gain setup with a wideband SDR dongle to see any transmissions. If they wanted they could turn all transmitters off unless commanded or else only when the GPS says they are within range of the ground station. Note the article linked is only the older satellites. I don't believe there was any public reception of actual emissions from previous models. It does look likely UHF will be used. In this day and age if it does emit on UHF constantly someone probably will detect it and share. with possibly 6 UHF antennas there may be multiple downlinks. I will buy a pint for whoever decodes the GPS location downlink first! From g.shirville at btinternet.com Sun Feb 7 23:07:18 2016 From: g.shirville at btinternet.com (Graham Shirville) Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 23:07:18 -0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] FUNcube-1 Mode switch Message-ID: Hi All, Just to confirm that FUNcube-1 is now switching modes autonomously for the week. The transponder will be active when the spacecraft is in eclipse. Low power telemetry will also be transmitted during these periods. When the spacecraft is in sunlight then high power telemetry will be transmitted. We expect to revert to continuous transponder activity for the weekend from next Friday evening as usual. 73 Graham G3VZV From ei7m-wkt at asahi-net.or.jp Mon Feb 8 10:02:23 2016 From: ei7m-wkt at asahi-net.or.jp (Mineo Wakita) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 19:02:23 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] ChubuSat-2/3 TLE update Message-ID: ChubuSat-2 1 99999U 99999 16043.38029596 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 00009 2 99999 031.0049 311.5958 0015871 289.3826 223.5942 14.99199091006371 ChubuSat-3 1 99999U 99999 16043.38376818 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 00001 2 99999 031.0074 311.5732 0016462 295.7523 235.9943 14.99608280006385 (C)Nagoya University, Tnx. Launch Date: 12 Feb 2016 Launch Time: 08:45-09:30 UTC Launch Site: JAXA Tanegashima Space Center, Japan Satellite Uplink Downlink Beacon Mode Callsign ---------- ------- ---------------- ------- --------------------------- -------- HORYU-4 . 437.375/2400.300 437.375 1k2 AFSK,9k6 GMSK,S_BPSK,CW JG6YBW ChubuSat-2 145.815 437.100 437.100 1k2 AFSK,9k6 GMSK,CW JJ2YPN ChubuSat-3 145.840 437.425 437.425 1k2 AFSK,9k6 GMSK,CW JJ2YPO ---------- ------- ---------------- ------- --------------------------- -------- http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/hory4c23.htm JE9PEL/1 Mineo Wakita From am25544 at gmail.com Mon Feb 8 11:22:57 2016 From: am25544 at gmail.com (Armando Mercado) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 06:22:57 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fwd: DPRK Brilliant Star - TLE / 450 MHz Message-ID: <8CE64E86311D4829AB263CC5AEFF0F83@hppav> Hi, Heard nothing on 470.000 MHz for the US evening passes 07 Feb., 2016. Will have to broaden the search and break out the 11-meter equipment ;-) 73, Armando, N8IGJ From kayakfishtx at gmail.com Mon Feb 8 13:16:39 2016 From: kayakfishtx at gmail.com (Clayton Coleman) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 07:16:39 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] N9IP/P EL84 NPOTA NP17 Today, 8-Feb-2016 Message-ID: Steve, N9IP, will operate FO-29 today only from EL84, The Dry Tortugas National Park (NPOTA NP17.) AOS at 16:41 UTC & 18:21 UTC. Steve plans to operate about 30 KHz above the FO-29 passband center. He is running a single Yaesu FT-817 with low power, operating semi-duplex. If you transmit while he is transmitting, he will not hear you. 73 Clayton W5PFG From ea4cyq at gmail.com Mon Feb 8 17:28:35 2016 From: ea4cyq at gmail.com (Juan Antonio) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 18:28:35 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-7 Low pass over Spain big sole over USA Message-ID: <003701d16296$24ada030$6e08e090$@gmail.com> Hi!, Today Monday at 18:29 UTC I have 0.5 del elevation pass, less than 4 minutes. I would try some new station, I will receive the SAT over 145.940 if the high ground noise level let me receive this OM SAT. Juan Antonio EA4CYQ IM78cx --- El software de antivirus Avast ha analizado este correo electr?nico en busca de virus. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From jimki6wj at sbcglobal.net Mon Feb 8 18:32:30 2016 From: jimki6wj at sbcglobal.net (James Brown) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 18:32:30 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] sat 32 and windows 10 problem References: <2005059201.1007915.1454956350863.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <2005059201.1007915.1454956350863.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Howdy I made the mistake of upgrading from win 8? to win 10. Sat 32 worked fine fa week and then crashed. I had to completely reload sat32. After that the rotor tracking went nuts! I am using a g5500 and a st2 tracker. Sometimes the rotor goes to park in both AZ and EL another times AZ is EL is ok and AZ tracks with a 40 degree error! How can I calibrate the g5500/ST2 with win 10? I barley understood how to do it back in XP days. Thanks Jim KI6WJ From richard.siff at verizon.net Mon Feb 8 19:53:55 2016 From: richard.siff at verizon.net (Rich/wa4bue) Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2016 14:53:55 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Old Dominion University OPEN HOUSE for local Middle and High Schools Message-ID: Here is an update for the next K4AMG event at ODU: Event: Engineering Open House Dates: Feb 19 & 20 The Open House is a recruiting event for the school of engineering. Students from 40 Middle and High Schools (400 ? 600 students) throughout the Hampton Roads region will be visiting the school to tour the labs and campus, meet the (current ODU) students and faculty, and learn more about education and career opportunities in engineering. K4AMG will be supporting the event by conducting a mini field day event will be on Friday, Feb 19 and by hosting lab stations on Saturday Feb 20th featuring a 15 minute presentation of ham radio topics. The lab topics include: An overview of amateur radio as a learning tool A (light) technical discussion about the science and engineering that support radio communications A youth forum presented by several young radio amateurs KJ4NFL ? Emergency and Public Service Communications WX4TVJ and AE4FH ? Antennas KJ4EYZ ? Cultures and Environmental Considerations for DX-peditions Satellite communications featuring the CUBESAT simulator provided by AMSAT-NA ?KW4CR Society of Broadcast Engineers ? Richard Dyer speaking on Careers in Broadcast Engineering and Electronics and Wireless Communications At the student luncheon 9 year old Hope Lea, KM4IPF, will be the key note speaker - subject OSCAR Satellite Communications We still have some time slots available. 73 Rich W4BUE BOD K4AMG John LeVous, KW4CR blyndskwerl at gmail.com President, K4AMG Memorial Amateur Radio Club __._,_.___ From AJ9N at aol.com Mon Feb 8 20:01:31 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 15:01:31 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-08 20:00 UTC Message-ID: <33309d.2b50cf94.43ea4e1a@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-08 20:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK, direct via GB1RMS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-11 18:11:09 UTC 88 deg Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg (***) UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg (***) **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-08 20:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1022. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 987. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. (***) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-06 20:00 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From m5aka at yahoo.co.uk Mon Feb 8 19:59:29 2016 From: m5aka at yahoo.co.uk (M5AKA) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 19:59:29 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] XW-2 satellites feature in Sat Magazine References: <1071132653.1904891.1454961569244.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1071132653.1904891.1454961569244.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> The XW-2A to XW-2H satellites feature on page 25 of February issue of the free Sat Magazine publication which can be downloaded from http://www.satmagazine.com/ ARISS contact planned for girls? school in UK http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/07/ariss-rms-girls/ The ARISS Principia site is at https://principia.ariss.org/Live/ 73 Trevor M5AKA ---- AMSAT-UK?http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter?https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube?https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ---- From kl7uw at acsalaska.net Mon Feb 8 21:06:14 2016 From: kl7uw at acsalaska.net (Edward R Cole) Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2016 12:06:14 -0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] Any experience with low-cost 433MHz transverter from transverters-store? Message-ID: <201602082106.u18L6FgT032537@mail40c28.carrierzone.com> Don't know if anyone posted this already but I inquired on another reflector of a ham using the 222 version and he tells me the LO is xtal, so you are looking at a new xtal to shift operating freq upward from 432 to 435. Why I like my DEMI L432-28 25w transverter; the A32 PLL synthesizer has both 404 and 407 MHz programmed in memory requiring only a change in 5-bit program code (five tabs which are selected for grounding). I have a mini-toggle switch that simply changes LO for either 432-434 or 435-437; IF 28-30. PS: I build DEMI kits on contract. 73, Ed - KL7UW http://www.kl7uw.com "Kits made by KL7UW" Dubus Mag business: dubususa at gmail.com From k6fw1 at verizon.net Mon Feb 8 21:25:27 2016 From: k6fw1 at verizon.net (Frank Westphal) Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2016 13:25:27 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry Message-ID: <56B907C7.1060607@verizon.net> I have been unable to copy any telemetry from AO-85. I read that a cable from Data2 Port of the IC-9100 to the sound card input on a PC was all that was needed to copy the data. I have wired a cable from pin 4 9600 bps Data Out of the 9100 to the tip of the sound card input and from Pin 2 ground of the 9100 to the sleeve of the sound card input. I have selected the correct sound card from the FOX Telem software and depress the start button. I have not copied one single packet with this setup. Has anyone been successful using a IC-9100 and a sound card to copy the data? Any ideas what I could try? Thanks for any help. 73, Frank K6FW From glasbrenner at mindspring.com Mon Feb 8 21:42:01 2016 From: glasbrenner at mindspring.com (Andrew Glasbrenner) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 16:42:01 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry Message-ID: <25862442.1454967722018.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Have you turned Set menu #57 (9600bps mode) to ON? 73, Drew KO4MA -----Original Message----- >From: Frank Westphal >Sent: Feb 8, 2016 4:25 PM >To: amsat-bb at amsat.org >Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry > >I have been unable to copy any telemetry from AO-85. I read that a >cable from Data2 Port of the IC-9100 to the sound card input on a PC was >all that was needed to copy the data. I have wired a cable from pin 4 >9600 bps Data Out of the 9100 to the tip of the sound card input and >from Pin 2 ground of the 9100 to the sleeve of the sound card input. I >have selected the correct sound card from the FOX Telem software and >depress the start button. I have not copied one single packet with this >setup. > >Has anyone been successful using a IC-9100 and a sound card to copy the >data? Any ideas what I could try? > >Thanks for any help. > >73, >Frank >K6FW >_______________________________________________ >Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed >are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From kb1pvh at gmail.com Mon Feb 8 21:43:42 2016 From: kb1pvh at gmail.com (Dave Webb KB1PVH) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 16:43:42 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry In-Reply-To: <25862442.1454967722018.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> References: <25862442.1454967722018.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: Also put it in FMD mode by long pressing the FM button. Dave-KB1PVH Sent from my Samsung S4 From ea4cyq at gmail.com Mon Feb 8 22:46:25 2016 From: ea4cyq at gmail.com (Juan Antonio) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 23:46:25 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-7 & FO-29 Low passes over Spain, big sole over USA Message-ID: <000001d162c2$8b5c6240$a21526c0$@gmail.com> The return from the SAT was strong until it was in the 90 deg azimuth, with 0.4deg elevation, because of the polarity change, then I could not copy it. I could copy N4IQV calling me, but we could not end the QSO. If some North/Central/South American station can work my grid IM78 in low elevation passes of AO-07 & FO-29, PSE Let me know for a sked. Juan Antonio EA4CYQ _____________________________________________ De: Juan Antonio [mailto:ea4cyq at gmail.com] Enviado el: lunes, 08 de febrero de 2016 18:29 Para: amsat-bb at amsat.org Asunto: AO-7 Low pass over Spain big sole over USA Hi!, Today Monday at 18:29 UTC I have 0.5 del elevation pass, less than 4 minutes. I would try some new station, I will receive the SAT over 145.940 if the high ground noise level let me receive this OM SAT. Juan Antonio EA4CYQ IM78cx --- El software de antivirus Avast ha analizado este correo electr?nico en busca de virus. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From AJ9N at aol.com Tue Feb 9 00:53:25 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 19:53:25 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-09 00:30 UTC Message-ID: <33ab91.6ed0d963.43ea9285@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-09 00:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK, direct via GB1RMS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-11 18:09:02 UTC 89 deg (***) Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-09 00:30 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1022. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 987. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. (***) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-06 20:00 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From wd4elg at triad.rr.com Tue Feb 9 01:29:31 2016 From: wd4elg at triad.rr.com (Mark Lunday) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 20:29:31 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Chubusat question In-Reply-To: <00a801d161d8$890cc240$9b2646c0$@com> References: <004701d161cc$1f8c0df0$5ea429d0$@rr.com> <00a801d161d8$890cc240$9b2646c0$@com> Message-ID: <00ce01d162d9$53c798b0$fb56ca10$@rr.com> Thanks Andrew. How does the "message store and forward" algorithm work in practice? Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg at arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Tue Feb 9 03:02:32 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 22:02:32 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK Message-ID: <8F78146C9D974C5ABD9887B754C6414C@DHJ> An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK on 11 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:09 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between GB1SS and GB1RMS. The contact should be audible over the UK and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. The Royal Masonic School for Girls is an independent girl's day and boarding school in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, with an exceptional, unusual and distinguished history. Founded in 1788 with the purpose of educating the daughters of Freemasons who were unable to support their families, it is one of the oldest girls' schools in the country. We attract girls aged 4-18 from across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and North London and boarders from all over the world. We also have a Pre School for boys and girls aged 2 to 4. Our ethos is both an inspirational and nurturing and our girls strive to be the very best they can be, academically, morally and creatively. Our public examination results are consistently impressive and each year around 90% of girls leave RMS to take up places at University. Life at RMS is centered on much more than "just" academic success and the School is well known for its exceptional pastoral care, and the wealth of extra-curricular opportunities it offers - including Astronomy as we are one of very few schools in the UK to have our own planetarium and observatory! 1. If you have hiccups in space do you bounce around? 2. I watched your video on water and why it turned into a sphere. Would you get the same reaction with a fizzy drink like lemonade? 3. I'm 7 years old - when I am your age, what do you think space travel will look like? 4. We have heard you had to breathe o2 before your brilliant spacewalk. Are there any precautions you had to take after returning inside the ISS? 5. What was the first word that came into your head when you saw the Earth from Space? 6. What was the hardest thing to adjust to when you arrived at the ISS? 7. Which of your muscles has been affected the most by the zero gravity? 8. Who was your biggest inspiration to travel into space? 9. How is being an astronaut different from being an aquanaut, apart from the sea and the air? 10. What is the best advice that you have been given and wish to pass on to future astronauts before travelling to the ISS?? 11. Your blog says that you are doing research into new space age metals using a levitation furnace. Why is zero gravity better for this type of experiment? 12. Aside from plants, how do you produce oxygen on the ISS? 13. What is the difference between flying a helicopter and being in a rocket going to the ISS? 14. Did your training prepare you for the actual experience of space jet lag given you have said you adjusted so quickly? 15. How is the ISS helping us deal with the challenges of deep space voyages? 16. Is there an 'up' on the space station when conducting a spacewalk for navigational /orientating purposes? 17. What is your favourite experiment that you have carried out in space, and why? 18. What has been the most surprising everyday object on the ISS that you did not expect to find? 19. How often do you see Solar wind? 20. When Chris Hadfield recently visited us he said your guitar skills were good but needed more practice Do you have time to practice the guitar in space? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Sign up for the SAREX maillist at http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/sarex Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): TBD ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From ewpereira at gmail.com Tue Feb 9 03:03:25 2016 From: ewpereira at gmail.com (Edson W. R. Pereira) Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 01:03:25 -0200 Subject: [amsat-bb] Chubusat question Message-ID: Some info has become available on their web page: https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite3.html https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/chubusat/Amateur_MSG_REPLY_format.pdf The protocol uses FEC (Hamming code). The source code for the FEC decoder is on this page: https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/source_code_for_HK_telemetry_data.html Some fun times with GnuRadio may lie ahead! 73, Edson PY2SDR --- - We humans have the capability to do amazing things if we work together. - N?s seres humanos temos a capacidade de fazer coisas incr?veis se trabalharmos juntos. On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 11:29 PM, Mark Lunday wrote: > Thanks Andrew. > > How does the "message store and forward" algorithm work in practice? > > Mark Lunday, WD4ELG > Greensboro, NC FM06be > wd4elg at arrl.net > http://wd4elg.blogspot.com > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From k6fw1 at verizon.net Tue Feb 9 06:49:24 2016 From: k6fw1 at verizon.net (Frank Westphal) Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2016 22:49:24 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry In-Reply-To: References: <25862442.1454967722018.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: <56B98BF4.9070809@verizon.net> I turned on menu item #57 (9600bps mode) and put it into FMD mode and tried a 23 degree pass but did not decode any packets. On 2/8/16 1:43 PM, Dave Webb KB1PVH wrote: > > Also put it in FMD mode by long pressing the FM button. > > Dave-KB1PVH > > Sent from my Samsung S4 > From on4hf at telenet.be Tue Feb 9 09:58:45 2016 From: on4hf at telenet.be (=?utf-8?B?RXJpYyBLbmFwcywgT040SEY=?=) Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 09:58:45 GMT Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry Message-ID: <000f4242.22f785f353eb1618@telenet.be> Hello,I had the same problem. Then i used the line input of the soundcard and it worked. If you use the mic input your audio will be filtered on most soundcards.Good luck,Eric ON4HF. Sent with my smartphone... ------ Origineel bericht------Van: Frank WestphalDatum: di, 9 feb. 2016 07:49Naar: Dave Webb KB1PVH;Andrew Glasbrenner;CC: AMSAT -BB;Onderwerp:Re: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry I turned on menu item #57 (9600bps mode) and put it into FMD mode and tried a 23 degree pass but did not decode any packets.On 2/8/16 1:43 PM, Dave Webb KB1PVH wrote:>> Also put it in FMD mode by long pressing the FM button.>> Dave-KB1PVH>> Sent from my Samsung S4>_______________________________________________Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum availableto all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressedare solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From burns at fisher.cc Tue Feb 9 15:07:23 2016 From: burns at fisher.cc (Burns Fisher) Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 10:07:23 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry In-Reply-To: <000f4242.22f785f353eb1618@telenet.be> References: <000f4242.22f785f353eb1618@telenet.be> Message-ID: Just a comment. What AO85 telem needs is no HIGH PASS filtering down to maybe 10 or 20 Hz. Sometimes 9600baud output has no filtering at all (or little) but 9600 baud packet mainly cares about no LOW PASS filtering up in the multiple kHz range. And at least my radio does not even spec the low side. You might try putting the output on a scope and then transmit using the lowest possible CTCSS tone to see if it shows up on the scope. (Just suggesting CTCSS as a source of a fairly low frequency). If you see nothing lows are being filtered. (I think you can also see it on the FoxTelem display. That would be an even better end-to-end test). Obviously be careful not to transmit on the downlink frequency when the satellite is nearby :-) 73, Burns W2BFJ On Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 4:58 AM, Eric Knaps, ON4HF wrote: > > > > > > > Hello,I had the same problem. Then i used the line input of the > soundcard and it worked. If you use the mic input your audio will be > filtered on most soundcards.Good luck,Eric ON4HF. > Sent with my smartphone... > > > > > ------ Origineel bericht------Van: Frank WestphalDatum: di, 9 feb. 2016 > 07:49Naar: Dave Webb KB1PVH;Andrew Glasbrenner;CC: AMSAT -BB;Onderwerp:Re: > [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry > I turned on menu item #57 (9600bps mode) and put it into FMD mode and > tried a 23 degree pass but did not decode any packets.On 2/8/16 1:43 PM, > Dave Webb KB1PVH wrote:>> Also put it in FMD mode by long pressing the FM > button.>> Dave-KB1PVH>> Sent from my Samsung > S4>_______________________________________________Sent via > AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum availableto all > interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressedare solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official > views of AMSAT-NA.Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur > satellite program!Subscription settings: > http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From va6bmj at gmail.com Tue Feb 9 17:05:04 2016 From: va6bmj at gmail.com (B J) Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 17:05:04 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Problems With NK Satellite? Message-ID: http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/asia/north-korea-rocket-launch/ 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL From bruninga at usna.edu Tue Feb 9 23:05:13 2016 From: bruninga at usna.edu (Robert Bruninga) Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 18:05:13 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] QRU WinLNK transmitting every 2 secs to the ISS? Message-ID: Noticed that N3FCX seems to be transmitting every 2 seconds to the ISS?. ?QRU WNLINK? or something. We are demonstrating satellite tracking to the students this week and we see this signal on there at this high data rate on most passes. Is this winlink something automatic? Bob From dxdx at optonline.net Tue Feb 9 23:21:47 2016 From: dxdx at optonline.net (Tony) Date: Tue, 09 Feb 2016 18:21:47 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Chubusat Message Exchange Service? Message-ID: <56BA748B.4030508@optonline.net> All: Does anyone know the details on how Chubusat's Message Exchange Service works? It appears the satellite will receive messages on the 1200 baud VHF uplink while the 9600 baud UHF down link will be used to send (possibly broadcast) said messages. According to the website, ground stations need to "send an inquiry message" to read messages. That said, if this is a full-duplex system, one would obviously need a pair of modems to run both 1200 and 9600 baud i.e., something like a pair of UZ7HO sound modems. Any thoughts? Tony -K2MO From mlunday at nc.rr.com Wed Feb 10 02:18:28 2016 From: mlunday at nc.rr.com (Mark Lunday) Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 21:18:28 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Chubusat Message Exchange Service? In-Reply-To: <56BA748B.4030508@optonline.net> References: <56BA748B.4030508@optonline.net> Message-ID: <018001d163a9$55c60a40$01521ec0$@rr.com> Message Exchange Service Information ChubuSat-3 provides the message exchange service. After the on-orbit checkout of the satellite (about one month after the launch), you can use the service, sending your message with amateur VHF (145.84MHz FSK 1200bps) then your message is written to the on-board memory. Anyone can read your message with amateur UHF (437.425MHz GMSK 9600bps) by sending inquiry message. The uplink/downlink format is available here. https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/chubusat/Amateur_MSG_REPLY_format.p df Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg at arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com From morgan_st at bellsouth.net Wed Feb 10 00:19:58 2016 From: morgan_st at bellsouth.net (Stewart Todd Morgan) Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 19:19:58 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] QRU WinLNK transmitting every 2 secs to the ISS? Message-ID: <56BA822E.2050805@bellsouth.net> I saw your message to the AMSAT board about this, and I think it is documented (somewhat) on your page in the Winlink Text-Messaging section under Message Alerts: http://www.aprs.org/aprs-messaging.html I wasn't sure if you were just trying to be subtle. 73 Todd AL0I From wd4elg at triad.rr.com Wed Feb 10 04:04:13 2016 From: wd4elg at triad.rr.com (Mark Lunday) Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2016 23:04:13 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Question about APRS/UISS Message-ID: <000b01d163b8$1ac119d0$50434d70$@rr.com> I am wondering why my AGW Packet Engine Pro shows decoded signals from the ISS but the UISS does not show any data. When I switch over to 144.39, almost all of the packets don't show up in UISS either. Is there some special setting I need to use? I don't have any filters enabled on UISS. Is there a better interfacing program with AGW Packet Engine than UISS? Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg at arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com From johnbrier at gmail.com Wed Feb 10 05:08:32 2016 From: johnbrier at gmail.com (John Brier) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 00:08:32 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Question about APRS/UISS In-Reply-To: <000b01d163b8$1ac119d0$50434d70$@rr.com> References: <000b01d163b8$1ac119d0$50434d70$@rr.com> Message-ID: Soundmodem is said to be better because it does less checksumming. http://uz7.ho.ua/packetradio.htm On Feb 9, 2016 11:04 PM, "Mark Lunday" wrote: > I am wondering why my AGW Packet Engine Pro shows decoded signals from the > ISS but the UISS does not show any data. > > When I switch over to 144.39, almost all of the packets don't show up in > UISS either. Is there some special setting I need to use? I don't have > any > filters enabled on UISS. > > Is there a better interfacing program with AGW Packet Engine than UISS? > > Mark Lunday, WD4ELG > Greensboro, NC FM06be > wd4elg at arrl.net > http://wd4elg.blogspot.com > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From wd4elg at triad.rr.com Wed Feb 10 05:53:20 2016 From: wd4elg at triad.rr.com (Mark Lunday) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 00:53:20 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Question about APRS/UISS In-Reply-To: References: <000b01d163b8$1ac119d0$50434d70$@rr.com> Message-ID: <001b01d163c7$589dbfb0$09d93f10$@rr.com> Sorry for not being clear. I am looking for a comparable software mapping program like UISS to pair with AGW. AGW is working fine, but UISS is not getting the info from AGW. Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg at arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com From wa4sca at gmail.com Wed Feb 10 12:40:26 2016 From: wa4sca at gmail.com (Alan) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 06:40:26 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Question about APRS/UISS In-Reply-To: <001b01d163c7$589dbfb0$09d93f10$@rr.com> References: <000b01d163b8$1ac119d0$50434d70$@rr.com> <001b01d163c7$589dbfb0$09d93f10$@rr.com> Message-ID: <001001d16400$37a65400$a6f2fc00$@GMAIL.COM> Mark, Almost any APRS mapping program can be used. UI-VIEW32, APRSIS32, and SARTrack are examples. It is just a matter of changing the frequency, and the path. However, UISS normally works very well with the defaults, so it might be worth pursuing why you are having a problem. The UISS_ON6MU Yahoo group is not very active, but worth checking. 73s, Alan WA4SCA <-----Original Message----- References: <000b01d163b8$1ac119d0$50434d70$@rr.com> <001b01d163c7$589dbfb0$09d93f10$@rr.com> Message-ID: Mark, If AGWPE is decoding a packet but it's not showing up in the UISS window, you might have a filter in UISS enabled and it's not allowing it to show. Make sure filter is disabled in UISS and see what happens. Dave-KB1PVH Sent from my Samsung S4 From skristof at etczone.net Wed Feb 10 12:57:53 2016 From: skristof at etczone.net (Steve Kristoff) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 07:57:53 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Question about APRS/UISS In-Reply-To: <000b01d163b8$1ac119d0$50434d70$@rr.com> References: <000b01d163b8$1ac119d0$50434d70$@rr.com> Message-ID: <6ECAE0D8CAB9461E852A1123E6AC4A66@StevePC> Mark, When I was starting on the packet sats, I had similar problems. Maybe you've already done this, but be sure that the "LAN" box is checked on UISS. I use DireWolf for my packet engine, so the set up may be slightly different, but checking the LAN box got the two programs talking to each other very nicely. Steve AI9IN ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Lunday" To: Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2016 11:04 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Question about APRS/UISS >I am wondering why my AGW Packet Engine Pro shows decoded signals from the > ISS but the UISS does not show any data. > > When I switch over to 144.39, almost all of the packets don't show up in > UISS either. Is there some special setting I need to use? I don't have > any > filters enabled on UISS. > > Is there a better interfacing program with AGW Packet Engine than UISS? > > Mark Lunday, WD4ELG > Greensboro, NC FM06be > wd4elg at arrl.net > http://wd4elg.blogspot.com > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > Steve Kristoff skristof at etczone.com From dirkswyatt10 at gmail.com Wed Feb 10 12:59:44 2016 From: dirkswyatt10 at gmail.com (Wyatt Dirks) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 06:59:44 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] FS: M2 436cp30 and ps70cm In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I have for sale a almost brand new 436cp30 and ps70cm. I had the antenna in the air for about a month and everything in good condition. I can disassemble to ship or arrange for pickup around Cedar Rapids, IA. Will sell for 350 dollars obo. Thanks Wyatt Ac0ra From k9jkm at comcast.net Wed Feb 10 13:21:53 2016 From: k9jkm at comcast.net (JoAnne Maenpaa) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 07:21:53 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Question about APRS/UISS In-Reply-To: <6ECAE0D8CAB9461E852A1123E6AC4A66@StevePC> References: <000b01d163b8$1ac119d0$50434d70$@rr.com> <6ECAE0D8CAB9461E852A1123E6AC4A66@StevePC> Message-ID: <000f01d16406$021dbde0$065939a0$@net> > ... but be sure that the "LAN" box is checked on UISS. There is a document at http://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html which includes a step by step method of switching UISS from interfacing to the AGWPE to interfacing with the UZ7HO Soundmodem program. The direct link is as follows to save searching the whole page: www.ariss.org/uploads/1/9/6/8/19681527/k9jkm_2012_symposium_ver2.pdf When the ISS is running the HT there are often many packets that sound "good" but won't pass the checksum. I also test on 144.390 but those signals often are S9+40 while a good downlink from the HT on the ISS is S3 to S5, at best, on my station during closest approach. Often at AOS and LOS it is S0 but audible. When I run a hardware TNC with PASSALL = ON it will display all the packets and there are many with errors but with enough information that you can understand the message. But I see lots of incomplete packets. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm at amsat.org From va6bmj at gmail.com Wed Feb 10 14:58:43 2016 From: va6bmj at gmail.com (B J) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 14:58:43 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] NK Satellite Stable But Apparently Silent Message-ID: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-satellite-orbit-idUSKCN0VI1XN 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL From rjlawn at gmail.com Wed Feb 10 23:49:18 2016 From: rjlawn at gmail.com (Richard Lawn) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 18:49:18 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Seeking Help with FunCube Dongle Pro+, SatPC32 & HDSDR Message-ID: I'm close but not quite there. I'm trying to get the FCDP+ to function with SatPC32 and my IC-9100. From within HDSDR I'm using both Omni Rig connections and DDE client to facilitate connections with SatPC32 and the 9100. It seems like full tuning is working on the FunCUbe but radio control is not functioning properly on the IC-9100. I've looked for websites to help clarify this setup but haven't found anything. I know several of you on this list are using the FNCP+ with another radio for the uplink and I'd love to know how you are setting it up. 73 Rick, W2JAZ From k6fw1 at verizon.net Thu Feb 11 03:52:44 2016 From: k6fw1 at verizon.net (Frank Westphal) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 19:52:44 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry In-Reply-To: References: <000f4242.22f785f353eb1618@telenet.be> Message-ID: <56BC058C.5090909@verizon.net> Thank you to everyone who contributed suggestions on how to setup the radio and software to decode the telemetry. I finally was able to decode a pass this evening and that would not have happened with the help from the AMSAT-BB. Several items needed to be corrected. 1. Turn on menu item 57 (9600 Baud) on IC-9100. 2. Put IC-9100 into FM Digital mode by holding down the FM button. 3. Set the sound card to 48,000 Hz. to match the FOXCOM software. 4. Use line in on the sound card. 73, Frank K6FW From n0jy at amsat.org Thu Feb 11 04:41:10 2016 From: n0jy at amsat.org (Jerry Buxton) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 22:41:10 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry In-Reply-To: <56BC058C.5090909@verizon.net> References: <000f4242.22f785f353eb1618@telenet.be> <56BC058C.5090909@verizon.net> Message-ID: <56BC10E6.7000101@amsat.org> Yay! This makes me happy too Frank, because your contribution of AO-85 telemetry as well as all of those others who do so, helps us learn how to do things better. Thank you for helping! Jerry Buxton, N?JY On 2/10/2016 21:52, Frank Westphal wrote: > Thank you to everyone who contributed suggestions on how to setup the > radio and software to decode the telemetry. I finally was able to > decode a pass this evening and that would not have happened with the > help from the AMSAT-BB. Several items needed to be corrected. > > 1. Turn on menu item 57 (9600 Baud) on IC-9100. > 2. Put IC-9100 into FM Digital mode by holding down the FM button. > 3. Set the sound card to 48,000 Hz. to match the FOXCOM software. > 4. Use line in on the sound card. > > 73, > Frank > K6FW > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views > of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > From wa4sca at gmail.com Thu Feb 11 13:24:19 2016 From: wa4sca at gmail.com (Alan) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 07:24:19 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Windows program to record desktop and audio? Message-ID: <000001d164cf$8381e130$8a85a390$@GMAIL.COM> Hi, I am putting together a satellite presentation for a non-ham group, and want to include some recordings of programs in action such as FoxTelem and SatPC32. The YouTube recordings are good, but I want to do custom ones for the audience. Any recommendations of good software? I have tried VLC, which is recommended, but must not be holding my jaw right. 73s, Alan WA4SCA ----------------------------------- Keep Calm and Carry On From johnbrier at gmail.com Thu Feb 11 13:36:34 2016 From: johnbrier at gmail.com (John Brier) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 08:36:34 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Windows program to record desktop and audio? In-Reply-To: <000001d164cf$8381e130$8a85a390$@GMAIL.COM> References: <000001d164cf$8381e130$8a85a390$@GMAIL.COM> Message-ID: I use Open Broadcaster Classic. It works very well for me: https://obsproject.com/ Fwiw the new version is cross platform. On Feb 11, 2016 8:24 AM, "Alan" wrote: > Hi, > > I am putting together a satellite presentation for a non-ham group, and > want to include some > recordings of programs in action such as FoxTelem and SatPC32. The > YouTube recordings are good, but I > want to do custom ones for the audience. Any recommendations of good > software? I have tried VLC, > which is recommended, but must not be holding my jaw right. > > > 73s, > > Alan > WA4SCA > > ----------------------------------- > > Keep Calm and Carry On > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From h05ram-k9ldw at usa.net Thu Feb 11 14:06:43 2016 From: h05ram-k9ldw at usa.net (h05ram-k9ldw at usa.net) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 08:06:43 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Windows program to record desktop and audio? Message-ID: <270uBkoFr8848S02.1455199603@web02.cms.usa.net> Audacity works well. 73, Lowell K9LDW ------ Original Message ------ Received: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 07:36:48 AM CST From: John Brier To: APBIDDLE at mailaps.orgCc: AMSAT BB Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Windows program to record desktop and audio? > I use Open Broadcaster Classic. It works very well for me: > > https://obsproject.com/ > > Fwiw the new version is cross platform. > On Feb 11, 2016 8:24 AM, "Alan" wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > I am putting together a satellite presentation for a non-ham group, and > > want to include some > > recordings of programs in action such as FoxTelem and SatPC32. The > > YouTube recordings are good, but I > > want to do custom ones for the audience. Any recommendations of good > > software? I have tried VLC, > > which is recommended, but must not be holding my jaw right. > > > > > > 73s, > > > > Alan > > WA4SCA > > > > ----------------------------------- > > > > Keep Calm and Carry On > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > > expressed > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > > AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From rjlawn at gmail.com Thu Feb 11 14:10:38 2016 From: rjlawn at gmail.com (Richard Lawn) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 09:10:38 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Code weaver's crossover Message-ID: Has anyone found success using Crossover to run SatPC32 on a Mac? I'm getting sick of fiddling constantly with Windows OS, a system I never got comfortable with after spending years using Macs. Rick, W2JAZ -- Sent from Gmail Mobile From hill.charles.robert at gmail.com Thu Feb 11 14:44:58 2016 From: hill.charles.robert at gmail.com (Robb Hill) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 09:44:58 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Windows program to record desktop and audio? In-Reply-To: <000001d164cf$8381e130$8a85a390$@GMAIL.COM> References: <000001d164cf$8381e130$8a85a390$@GMAIL.COM> Message-ID: Camasta studio free Greenshot free Captivate not free On Feb 11, 2016 8:24 AM, "Alan" wrote: > Hi, > > I am putting together a satellite presentation for a non-ham group, and > want to include some > recordings of programs in action such as FoxTelem and SatPC32. The > YouTube recordings are good, but I > want to do custom ones for the audience. Any recommendations of good > software? I have tried VLC, > which is recommended, but must not be holding my jaw right. > > > 73s, > > Alan > WA4SCA > > ----------------------------------- > > Keep Calm and Carry On > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From bryan at kl7cn.net Thu Feb 11 16:45:24 2016 From: bryan at kl7cn.net (Bryan Green) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 08:45:24 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] Windows program to record desktop and audio? In-Reply-To: <270uBkoFr8848S02.1455199603@web02.cms.usa.net> References: <270uBkoFr8848S02.1455199603@web02.cms.usa.net> Message-ID: If they are short, Jing is a good place to start: https://www.techsmith.com/jing.html For longer videos, Camtasia is good: https://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html Sent from my iPhone > On Feb 11, 2016, at 06:06, h05ram-k9ldw at usa.net wrote: > > Audacity works well. > > 73, > > Lowell > K9LDW > > > ------ Original Message ------ > Received: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 07:36:48 AM CST > From: John Brier > To: APBIDDLE at mailaps.orgCc: AMSAT BB > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Windows program to record desktop and audio? > >> I use Open Broadcaster Classic. It works very well for me: >> >> https://obsproject.com/ >> >> Fwiw the new version is cross platform. >>> On Feb 11, 2016 8:24 AM, "Alan" wrote: >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> I am putting together a satellite presentation for a non-ham group, and >>> want to include some >>> recordings of programs in action such as FoxTelem and SatPC32. The >>> YouTube recordings are good, but I >>> want to do custom ones for the audience. Any recommendations of good >>> software? I have tried VLC, >>> which is recommended, but must not be holding my jaw right. >>> >>> >>> 73s, >>> >>> Alan >>> WA4SCA >>> >>> ----------------------------------- >>> >>> Keep Calm and Carry On >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >>> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions >>> expressed >>> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >>> AMSAT-NA. >>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! >>> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From w5pfg at amsat.org Thu Feb 11 17:44:34 2016 From: w5pfg at amsat.org (Clayton W5PFG) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 11:44:34 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-9100 AO-85 Telemetry In-Reply-To: <56BC058C.5090909@verizon.net> References: <000f4242.22f785f353eb1618@telenet.be> <56BC058C.5090909@verizon.net> Message-ID: <56BCC882.7080508@amsat.org> I'll add another little trick. I tested this and it works. Make a second DOPPERL.SQF line for AO-85 with the FMD,FM option. You will still be able to decode and work the pass at the same time. 73 Clayton W5PFG On 2/10/2016 21:52, Frank Westphal wrote: > Thank you to everyone who contributed suggestions on how to setup the > radio and software to decode the telemetry. I finally was able to > decode a pass this evening and that would not have happened with the > help from the AMSAT-BB. Several items needed to be corrected. > > 1. Turn on menu item 57 (9600 Baud) on IC-9100. > 2. Put IC-9100 into FM Digital mode by holding down the FM button. > 3. Set the sound card to 48,000 Hz. to match the FOXCOM software. > 4. Use line in on the sound card. > > 73, > Frank > K6FW From w5pfg at amsat.org Thu Feb 11 17:47:07 2016 From: w5pfg at amsat.org (Clayton W5PFG) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 11:47:07 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Seeking Help with FunCube Dongle Pro+, SatPC32 & HDSDR In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56BCC91B.702@amsat.org> The problem is you are using DDE. Switch to CAT instead of DDE and SatPC32 will talk fine with the radio and with HDSDR. DDE has it's place but it doesn't give you the full, bi-directional control functionality that I find is great for tuning around. Check out Tom Doyle's tips at: http://www.tomdoyle.org/FUNcube-SatPC32/FUNcube-SatPC32.html 73 Clayton W5PFG On 2/10/2016 17:49, Richard Lawn wrote: > I'm close but not quite there. I'm trying to get the FCDP+ to function with > SatPC32 and my IC-9100. From within HDSDR I'm using both Omni Rig > connections and DDE client to facilitate connections with SatPC32 and the > 9100. It seems like full tuning is working on the FunCUbe but radio control > is not functioning properly on the IC-9100. > > I've looked for websites to help clarify this setup but haven't found > anything. I know several of you on this list are using the FNCP+ with > another radio for the uplink and I'd love to know how you are setting it > up. > > 73 > Rick, W2JAZ > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From david.xe3dx at gmail.com Thu Feb 11 18:13:25 2016 From: david.xe3dx at gmail.com (David Maciel (XE3DX)) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 12:13:25 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] 6D0F Special Call Message-ID: I will work the special prefix 6D0F, apostolic journey of his holiness pope Francis to Mexico. Thursday 11 February 2016 18:00 UTC Thursday, 18 February 2016 18:59 UTC Will work from EK36, Chiapas, only FM satellites SO-50 and AO-85. Thanks for being there, I need your help for good contact. QSL Manager XE1LM. Visit https://www.qrz.com/lookup/6d0f/ David Maciel XE3DX *http://www.qsl.net/xe3dx/ * *david.xe3dx at gmail.com * From john at papays.com Thu Feb 11 22:36:40 2016 From: john at papays.com (John Papay) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 17:36:40 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Orlando Hamcation Demos Message-ID: <20160211223649.0FC818F50@lansing182.amsat.org> We will have a demo station at Orlando Hamcation on Friday, Saturday and possibly on Sunday, February 12, 13, and 14. We will likely operate on SO-50 and FO-29 on the following passes: 2-12 1813-1832utc FO-29 2-12 1826-1838utc SO-50 2-13 1719-1737utc FO-29 2-13 1851-1904utc SO-50 2-13 1903-1922itc FO-29 2-14 1737-1749utc SO-50 2-14 1808-1827utc FO-29 Sunday is iffy. We may be on other satellites as well. Please give us a call if you hear us and respond with your grid square, city/state and name. This will help the onlookers to have a better idea of where you are. 73, John K8YSE From jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp Thu Feb 11 23:31:50 2016 From: jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp (=?ISO-2022-JP?B?WWFzdXRha2EgTmFydQ==?= =?ISO-2022-JP?B?c2F3YSAoSlIyWEVBKQ==?=) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:31:50 +0900 (JST) Subject: [amsat-bb] =?iso-2022-jp?b?VGhlIGxhdW5jaCBvZiBDaHVidVNhdC0yJkNo?= =?iso-2022-jp?b?dWJ1U2F0LTMgaXMgcG9zdHBvbmVk?= Message-ID: <201602112331.u1BNVo67031102@ms-omx11.plus.so-net.ne.jp> Dear all; The Feb. 12 launch of ChubuSat-2&ChubuSat-3 is postponed. New launch date is not yet decided. Best Regards, Yasutaka Narusawa JR2XEA From the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp Thu Feb 11 23:55:56 2016 From: the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp (J. Boyd (JR2TTS)) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:55:56 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] The launch of ChubuSat-2&ChubuSat-3 is postponed In-Reply-To: <201602112331.u1BNVo67031102@ms-omx11.plus.so-net.ne.jp> References: <201602112331.u1BNVo67031102@ms-omx11.plus.so-net.ne.jp> Message-ID: <20160212085425.25A1.THE2BELO@msd.biglobe.ne.jp> On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:31:50 +0900 (JST), Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA) wrote: > Dear all; > > The Feb. 12 launch of ChubuSat-2&ChubuSat-3 is postponed. > New launch date is not yet decided. ????? Just curious, but do you know why it became necessary to postpone the launch? -- J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS Twitter: @Minus2_C From ja1ogz at jcom.home.ne.jp Fri Feb 12 01:18:44 2016 From: ja1ogz at jcom.home.ne.jp (ja1ogz at jcom.home.ne.jp) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 10:18:44 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] The launch of ChubuSat-2&ChubuSat-3 is postponed Message-ID: <20160212011844689.SYPQ.26039.smtp43.esk.m4.zaq.ne.jp@smtp43.esk.m4.zaq.ne.jp> Dear All, The reason of the launch postponed the weather forecast became a rain . http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/02/11/launch-of-japanese-x-ray-observatory-postponed/ https://twitter.com/JAXA_en?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 73's de JA1OGZ -- ?????ja1ogz at jcom.home.ne.jp ---- "J. Boyd (JR2TTS)" ????????: ============= On Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:31:50 +0900 (JST), Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA) wrote: > Dear all; > > The Feb. 12 launch of ChubuSat-2&ChubuSat-3 is postponed. > New launch date is not yet decided. ????? Just curious, but do you know why it became necessary to postpone the launch? -- J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS Twitter: @Minus2_C _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From skristof at etczone.net Fri Feb 12 01:21:40 2016 From: skristof at etczone.net (Steve Kristoff) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 20:21:40 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Virtual Audio Cable recommendations Message-ID: <0842FF0C1E8F406981A37556DB366696@StevePC> I would like some recommendations on Virtual Audio Cable software that allows Fox Telem to talk to either SDR# or HDSDR, please. Thank you for your thoughts! Steve Kristoff AI9IN skristof at etczone.com From rjlawn at gmail.com Fri Feb 12 01:41:25 2016 From: rjlawn at gmail.com (Richard Lawn) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 20:41:25 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Elecraft for satellites Message-ID: I'm sure I've asked this question if the group in the past, but periodically it's worth asking again. I'm curious if anyone is using these fine radios with transverters in the birds. If so is there compatible tracking software? It's a shame if not as the Elecraft quality and line including the K3 and companion transverters seems to offer great promise for satellite use. Rick, W2JAZ -- Sent from Gmail Mobile From tjschuessler at verizon.net Fri Feb 12 01:42:22 2016 From: tjschuessler at verizon.net (Tom Schuessler) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 19:42:22 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Seeking Help with FunCube Dongle Pro+, SatPC32 Message-ID: <008401d16536$9ed89b10$dc89d130$@net> HDSDR can also work well via CAT control if you use the free Virtual Serial Port Emulator software. There is some issue with that program and 64 bit windows. For me o0n my old XP box, it works fairly well with quirks. I can move HDSDR and SATPC32 moves with it. The key is that VSPE sets up a pair of serial cables and you use either side of the pair configured to the two programs and they talk bi-directionally. I am not a pro at this but it does seem to work. DDE will only allow one way from SatPC32 to radio. Tom Schuessler n5hyp at arrl.net On 2/10/2016 17:49, Richard Lawn wrote: > I'm close but not quite there. I'm trying to get the FCDP+ to function with > SatPC32 and my IC-9100. From within HDSDR I'm using both Omni Rig > connections and DDE client to facilitate connections with SatPC32 and the > 9100. It seems like full tuning is working on the FunCUbe but radio control > is not functioning properly on the IC-9100. > > I've looked for websites to help clarify this setup but haven't found > anything. I know several of you on this list are using the FNCP+ with > another radio for the uplink and I'd love to know how you are setting it > up. > > 73 > Rick, W2JAZ From scott23192 at gmail.com Fri Feb 12 01:43:24 2016 From: scott23192 at gmail.com (Scott) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 20:43:24 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Virtual Audio Cable recommendations In-Reply-To: <0842FF0C1E8F406981A37556DB366696@StevePC> References: <0842FF0C1E8F406981A37556DB366696@StevePC> Message-ID: VB-Cable has worked great for me from day-1. http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cable/index.htm -Scott, K4KDR On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 8:21 PM, Steve Kristoff wrote: > I would like some recommendations on Virtual Audio Cable software that > allows Fox Telem to talk to either SDR# or HDSDR, please. > Thank you for your thoughts! > > Steve Kristoff AI9IN > skristof at etczone.com > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From n8hm at arrl.net Fri Feb 12 01:48:41 2016 From: n8hm at arrl.net (Paul Stoetzer) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 20:48:41 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Elecraft for satellites In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: The CAT protocol is compatible with Kenwood transceivers, so it's possible that SatPC32 would work fine with them. 73, Paul, N8HM On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 8:41 PM, Richard Lawn wrote: > I'm sure I've asked this question if the group in the past, but > periodically it's worth asking again. I'm curious if anyone is using these > fine radios with transverters in the birds. If so is there compatible > tracking software? It's a shame if not as the Elecraft quality and line > including the K3 and companion transverters seems to offer great promise > for satellite use. > > Rick, W2JAZ > > > -- > Sent from Gmail Mobile > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From scott23192 at gmail.com Fri Feb 12 02:32:54 2016 From: scott23192 at gmail.com (Scott) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 21:32:54 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Possible KMS-4 Radio Reception w/ video Message-ID: At approximately 0111 UTC 12-Feb-2016, I was monitoring a wide spectrum in the area of 460 Mhz in hopes of seeing a signal with doppler movement that might correspond to the TLE track of the KMS-4 satellite launched by North Korea. A very strong signal appeared up near 465.985 and tracked as you would expect. Since the signal strength and doppler movement correlated nicely to the track on Orbitron, I suppose there is a decent chance that I was actually receiving KMS-4. Naturally I forgot to record the IF until well through the pass, but I don't really expect to be able to decode the signal anyway. I'm not even sure if there was anything but a carrier, to be honest. On the outside chance that I did see anything on this pass, I was recording the screen and have uploaded the video to YouTube. Orbitron is very small on the right side as I wanted to have as much area as possible to watch for a signal in HDSDR. The max elevation on the pass was 55 degrees. Antenna was a fixed, omni-directional QFH built for 432 Mhz. The radio was the SDRPlay RSP. If anyone would like to see what the signal looked & sounded like, the video is at: https://youtu.be/9JiEyUM-8U4 (please jump to the 4:40 mark where the signal first appears) Oh, and sorry about the manual tuning... not knowing the frequency beforehand, I did not have the software setup to track the doppler automatically. 73! -Scott, K4KDR Montpelier, VA USA From jeff_griffin at comcast.net Fri Feb 12 02:39:14 2016 From: jeff_griffin at comcast.net (jeff_griffin) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 21:39:14 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Elecraft for satellites In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <000f01d1653e$96bef610$c43ce230$@net> The K3 is not fullduplex in any configuration. 73 Jeff kb2m -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Paul Stoetzer Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2016 8:49 PM To: Richard Lawn Cc: Amsat BB Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Elecraft for satellites The CAT protocol is compatible with Kenwood transceivers, so it's possible that SatPC32 would work fine with them. 73, Paul, N8HM On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 8:41 PM, Richard Lawn wrote: > I'm sure I've asked this question if the group in the past, but > periodically it's worth asking again. I'm curious if anyone is using > these fine radios with transverters in the birds. If so is there > compatible tracking software? It's a shame if not as the Elecraft > quality and line including the K3 and companion transverters seems to > offer great promise for satellite use. > > Rick, W2JAZ > > > -- > Sent from Gmail Mobile > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2016.0.7357 / Virus Database: 4522/11580 - Release Date: 02/08/16 From kq6ea at verizon.net Fri Feb 12 02:51:42 2016 From: kq6ea at verizon.net (Jim Jerzycke) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 02:51:42 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Elecraft for satellites In-Reply-To: <000f01d1653e$96bef610$c43ce230$@net> References: <000f01d1653e$96bef610$c43ce230$@net> Message-ID: <56BD48BE.5050502@verizon.net> Very good point, but not having full duplex hasn't stopped a lot of people from doing it! Jim On 02/12/2016 02:39 AM, jeff_griffin wrote: > The K3 is not fullduplex in any configuration. > > 73 Jeff kb2m > > -----Original Message----- > From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Paul > Stoetzer > Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2016 8:49 PM > To: Richard Lawn > Cc: Amsat BB > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Elecraft for satellites > > The CAT protocol is compatible with Kenwood transceivers, so it's possible > that SatPC32 would work fine with them. > > 73, > > Paul, N8HM > > On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 8:41 PM, Richard Lawn wrote: >> I'm sure I've asked this question if the group in the past, but >> periodically it's worth asking again. I'm curious if anyone is using >> these fine radios with transverters in the birds. If so is there >> compatible tracking software? It's a shame if not as the Elecraft >> quality and line including the K3 and companion transverters seems to >> offer great promise for satellite use. >> >> Rick, W2JAZ >> >> >> -- >> Sent from Gmail Mobile >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the > official views of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all > interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official > views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2016.0.7357 / Virus Database: 4522/11580 - Release Date: 02/08/16 > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From settleron at comcast.net Fri Feb 12 03:39:43 2016 From: settleron at comcast.net (Ron Settle) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 21:39:43 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Elecraft for satellites In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <190201d16547$02c47d50$084d77f0$@comcast.net> I have 2 k3's and have not been successful at getting SATPC32 to control them both. The kenwood protocol and selection will work on 1 radio but not 2. 73 Ron WM9Q -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Paul Stoetzer Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2016 7:49 PM To: Richard Lawn Cc: Amsat BB Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Elecraft for satellites The CAT protocol is compatible with Kenwood transceivers, so it's possible that SatPC32 would work fine with them. 73, Paul, N8HM On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 8:41 PM, Richard Lawn wrote: > I'm sure I've asked this question if the group in the past, but > periodically it's worth asking again. I'm curious if anyone is using > these fine radios with transverters in the birds. If so is there > compatible tracking software? It's a shame if not as the Elecraft > quality and line including the K3 and companion transverters seems to > offer great promise for satellite use. > > Rick, W2JAZ > > > -- > Sent from Gmail Mobile > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From n0jy at amsat.org Fri Feb 12 04:57:22 2016 From: n0jy at amsat.org (Jerry Buxton) Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 22:57:22 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Virtual Audio Cable recommendations In-Reply-To: <0842FF0C1E8F406981A37556DB366696@StevePC> References: <0842FF0C1E8F406981A37556DB366696@StevePC> Message-ID: <56BD6632.4070109@amsat.org> Steve, We have a licensed Virtual Audio Cable that the Fox Team has used for testing both Fox-1 (via over the air telemetry) and FoxTelem for about a year and a half. It performs very well, it is our "standard" for testing. Be aware that the demo version of VAC has a low volume audio announcement added to the audio it is transporting, about its name or that it's a demo version (not sure exactly what it says) that plays once in a while and that will mess up your FoxTelem decoding. There are other options available, perhaps at low/no cost, but since you asked specifically about VAC I thought I would let you know our experience. Jerry Buxton, N?JY On 2/11/2016 19:21, Steve Kristoff wrote: > I would like some recommendations on Virtual Audio Cable software that allows Fox Telem to talk to either SDR# or HDSDR, please. > Thank you for your thoughts! > > Steve Kristoff AI9IN > skristof at etczone.com > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > From AJ9N at aol.com Fri Feb 12 05:33:24 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 00:33:24 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-12 05:00 UTC Message-ID: <3867a1.c272bd0.43eec8a4@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-12 05:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK, direct via GB1RMS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact was successful: Thu 2016-02-11 18:09:02 UTC 89 deg (***) Congratulations to the HamTV crew that showed the contact! (***) Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to _aj9n at amsat.org_ (mailto:aj9n at amsat.org) or _aj9n at aol.com_ (mailto:aj9n at aol.com) . **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at _kbanke at sbcglobal.net_ (mailto:kbanke at sbcglobal.net) **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-12 05:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1023. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 988. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. (***) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-12 05:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From wa4sca at gmail.com Fri Feb 12 06:17:04 2016 From: wa4sca at gmail.com (Alan) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 00:17:04 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Virtual Audio Cable recommendations In-Reply-To: <0842FF0C1E8F406981A37556DB366696@StevePC> References: <0842FF0C1E8F406981A37556DB366696@StevePC> Message-ID: <000001d1655c$fe6d0810$fb471830$@GMAIL.COM> Hi Steve, Not sure if you are asking about VAC the specific software, or generically. I have version 4.14 running here, and it is working very well. I use if for several other programs as well. Optimum setup might not be intuitively obvious, but there are some guides out there. VB-Cable is also widely used. I ran it on another machine, and did not find any practical difference. Much less detailed setup, which may or may not be good. :) 73s, Alan WA4SCA <-----Original Message----- References: Message-ID: <56BD915C.5090004@wanadoo.fr> Hi, Scott, Not heard here in western Europe... will try again on the next pass around 0925 UTC. 73 ! J-P F5YG On 12/02/2016 02:32, Scott wrote: > At approximately 0111 UTC 12-Feb-2016, I was monitoring a wide spectrum in > the area of 460 Mhz in hopes of seeing a signal with doppler movement that > might correspond to the TLE track of the KMS-4 satellite launched by North > Korea. > > A very strong signal appeared up near 465.985 and tracked as you would > expect. Since the signal strength and doppler movement correlated nicely > to the track on Orbitron, I suppose there is a decent chance that I was > actually receiving KMS-4. > > Naturally I forgot to record the IF until well through the pass, but I > don't really expect to be able to decode the signal anyway. I'm not even > sure if there was anything but a carrier, to be honest. > > On the outside chance that I did see anything on this pass, I was recording > the screen and have uploaded the video to YouTube. Orbitron is very small > on the right side as I wanted to have as much area as possible to watch for > a signal in HDSDR. > > The max elevation on the pass was 55 degrees. Antenna was a fixed, > omni-directional QFH built for 432 Mhz. The radio was the SDRPlay RSP. > > If anyone would like to see what the signal looked & sounded like, the > video is at: https://youtu.be/9JiEyUM-8U4 (please jump to the 4:40 mark > where the signal first appears) > > Oh, and sorry about the manual tuning... not knowing the frequency > beforehand, I did not have the software setup to track the doppler > automatically. > > 73! > > -Scott, K4KDR > Montpelier, VA USA > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From godetj at wanadoo.fr Fri Feb 12 09:40:02 2016 From: godetj at wanadoo.fr (Jean-Pierre Godet) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 09:40:02 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Possible KMS-4 Radio Reception w/ video In-Reply-To: <56BD915C.5090004@wanadoo.fr> References: <56BD915C.5090004@wanadoo.fr> Message-ID: <56BDA872.9070703@wanadoo.fr> Nor on the next pass, orbit nr 91, around 0930 TU. 73+++ ! J-P F5YG On 12/02/2016 08:01, Jean-Pierre Godet wrote: > Hi, Scott, > > Not heard here in western Europe... will try again on the next pass > around 0925 UTC. > > 73 ! > > J-P F5YG > > On 12/02/2016 02:32, Scott wrote: >> At approximately 0111 UTC 12-Feb-2016, I was monitoring a wide >> spectrum in >> the area of 460 Mhz in hopes of seeing a signal with doppler movement >> that >> might correspond to the TLE track of the KMS-4 satellite launched by >> North >> Korea. >> >> A very strong signal appeared up near 465.985 and tracked as you would >> expect. Since the signal strength and doppler movement correlated nicely >> to the track on Orbitron, I suppose there is a decent chance that I was >> actually receiving KMS-4. >> >> Naturally I forgot to record the IF until well through the pass, but I >> don't really expect to be able to decode the signal anyway. I'm not even >> sure if there was anything but a carrier, to be honest. >> >> On the outside chance that I did see anything on this pass, I was >> recording >> the screen and have uploaded the video to YouTube. Orbitron is very >> small >> on the right side as I wanted to have as much area as possible to >> watch for >> a signal in HDSDR. >> >> The max elevation on the pass was 55 degrees. Antenna was a fixed, >> omni-directional QFH built for 432 Mhz. The radio was the SDRPlay RSP. >> >> If anyone would like to see what the signal looked & sounded like, the >> video is at: https://youtu.be/9JiEyUM-8U4 (please jump to the 4:40 mark >> where the signal first appears) >> >> Oh, and sorry about the manual tuning... not knowing the frequency >> beforehand, I did not have the software setup to track the doppler >> automatically. >> >> 73! >> >> -Scott, K4KDR >> Montpelier, VA USA >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views >> of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite >> program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From hamsat at xs4all.nl Fri Feb 12 10:51:50 2016 From: hamsat at xs4all.nl (Nico Janssen) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 11:51:50 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Possible KMS-4 Radio Reception w/ video In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56BDB946.30308@xs4all.nl> Scott, That signal was the A-DCS service downlink on 465.9875 MHz from Metop-A (object 29499, 2006-044A). See also: http://www.wmo-sat.info/oscar/satellites/view/306 73, Nico PA0DLO On 12-02-16 03:32, Scott wrote: > At approximately 0111 UTC 12-Feb-2016, I was monitoring a wide spectrum in > the area of 460 Mhz in hopes of seeing a signal with doppler movement that > might correspond to the TLE track of the KMS-4 satellite launched by North > Korea. > > A very strong signal appeared up near 465.985 and tracked as you would > expect. Since the signal strength and doppler movement correlated nicely > to the track on Orbitron, I suppose there is a decent chance that I was > actually receiving KMS-4. > > Naturally I forgot to record the IF until well through the pass, but I > don't really expect to be able to decode the signal anyway. I'm not even > sure if there was anything but a carrier, to be honest. > > On the outside chance that I did see anything on this pass, I was recording > the screen and have uploaded the video to YouTube. Orbitron is very small > on the right side as I wanted to have as much area as possible to watch for > a signal in HDSDR. > > The max elevation on the pass was 55 degrees. Antenna was a fixed, > omni-directional QFH built for 432 Mhz. The radio was the SDRPlay RSP. > > If anyone would like to see what the signal looked & sounded like, the > video is at: https://youtu.be/9JiEyUM-8U4 (please jump to the 4:40 mark > where the signal first appears) > > Oh, and sorry about the manual tuning... not knowing the frequency > beforehand, I did not have the software setup to track the doppler > automatically. > > 73! > > -Scott, K4KDR > Montpelier, VA USA > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From rwmcgwier at gmail.com Fri Feb 12 11:26:57 2016 From: rwmcgwier at gmail.com (Robert McGwier) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 06:26:57 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Virtual Audio Cable recommendations In-Reply-To: <0842FF0C1E8F406981A37556DB366696@StevePC> References: <0842FF0C1E8F406981A37556DB366696@StevePC> Message-ID: I introduced much of amateur radio to VAC when I adopted it for use to PowerSDR as the cable free connection to third party software years ago. This has been good for the author, Muzychenko, who refuses to acknowledge my role, probably in fear of me demanding a percentage (he doesn't know me and isn't a ham). It has been good for Flex and good for many amateur radio software applications. I am no fan of Muzychenko personally, but he's a brilliant programmer and this is "the best of the class". He's got a near monopoly, but must restrict the price to alleviate pressure from piracy. He's grumpy, and this is completely understandable. When he gets too grumpy, he stops development for a few months. But for years, he keeps coming back and making it better. I thank him, even if he doesn't thank me. Me: IDC. I'm just glad he's there. Flex included a licensed version that we worked on in PowerSDR. Flex uses it in DAX for SmartSDR under license. Cheers, Bob N4HY On Thursday, February 11, 2016, Steve Kristoff wrote: > I would like some recommendations on Virtual Audio Cable software that > allows Fox Telem to talk to either SDR# or HDSDR, please. > Thank you for your thoughts! > > Steve Kristoff AI9IN > skristof at etczone.com > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org . AMSAT-NA makes this open > forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > -- Bob McGwier Founder, Federated Wireless, Inc Founder and Technical Advisor, HawkEye 360, Inc Research Professor Virginia Tech Dir. Research: The Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology Senior Member IEEE, Facebook: N4HYBob, ARS: N4HY Faculty Advisor Virginia Tech Amateur Radio Assn. (K4KDJ) Director of AMSAT From dirkhaminit at hotmail.com Fri Feb 12 09:36:17 2016 From: dirkhaminit at hotmail.com (Dirk Jarrett) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 09:36:17 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] FS: ICOM IC-275A and IC-475H Tranceivers Message-ID: Hi Frank, a long long shot here. I assume you sold the icom 275,475. LOL i am trying to find a PAIR. Thanks, Dirk Sent from my iPad From m5aka at yahoo.co.uk Fri Feb 12 14:11:32 2016 From: m5aka at yahoo.co.uk (M5AKA) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 14:11:32 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] HamTV ARISS Contact Video References: <650555065.5321851.1455286292640.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <650555065.5321851.1455286292640.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Video of Tim Peake?s first Digital Amateur Television (DATV) HamTV ARISS contact as received direct by Colin Watts G4KLB in Bournemouth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9keVA21DPBc More history made at second amateur radio call http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/12/more-history-made-at-second-amateur-radio-call/ ISS HamTV used for school contact http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/12/iss-hamtv-used-for-school-contact/ 73 Trevor M5AKA ---- AMSAT-UK?http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter?https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube?https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ---- From scott23192 at gmail.com Fri Feb 12 14:24:32 2016 From: scott23192 at gmail.com (Scott) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 09:24:32 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Possible KMS-4 Radio Reception w/ video In-Reply-To: <56BDB946.30308@xs4all.nl> References: <56BDB946.30308@xs4all.nl> Message-ID: THANK YOU!!! Thank God for peer review. Sorry for the false alarm, but I guess if I had not put it out there, I would have always wondered if I had found something cool. =============================================================== On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 5:51 AM, Nico Janssen wrote: > Scott, > > That signal was the A-DCS service downlink on 465.9875 MHz from Metop-A > (object 29499, 2006-044A). > > See also: http://www.wmo-sat.info/oscar/satellites/view/306 > > 73, > Nico PA0DLO > > > On 12-02-16 03:32, Scott wrote: > >> At approximately 0111 UTC 12-Feb-2016, I was monitoring a wide spectrum in >> the area of 460 Mhz in hopes of seeing a signal with doppler movement that >> might correspond to the TLE track of the KMS-4 satellite launched by North >> Korea. >> >> A very strong signal appeared up near 465.985 and tracked as you would >> expect. Since the signal strength and doppler movement correlated nicely >> to the track on Orbitron, I suppose there is a decent chance that I was >> actually receiving KMS-4. >> >> Naturally I forgot to record the IF until well through the pass, but I >> don't really expect to be able to decode the signal anyway. I'm not even >> sure if there was anything but a carrier, to be honest. >> >> On the outside chance that I did see anything on this pass, I was >> recording >> the screen and have uploaded the video to YouTube. Orbitron is very small >> on the right side as I wanted to have as much area as possible to watch >> for >> a signal in HDSDR. >> >> The max elevation on the pass was 55 degrees. Antenna was a fixed, >> omni-directional QFH built for 432 Mhz. The radio was the SDRPlay RSP. >> >> If anyone would like to see what the signal looked & sounded like, the >> video is at: https://youtu.be/9JiEyUM-8U4 (please jump to the 4:40 mark >> where the signal first appears) >> >> Oh, and sorry about the manual tuning... not knowing the frequency >> beforehand, I did not have the software setup to track the doppler >> automatically. >> >> 73! >> >> -Scott, K4KDR >> Montpelier, VA USA >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> > > From dan at post.com Fri Feb 12 13:55:21 2016 From: dan at post.com (Daniel Cussen) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 13:55:21 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] First ever ARISS HAMTV live downlink to a school Message-ID: The first ever live HAMTV school contact took place yesterday, a world first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cosp6W-gqq4 The contact starts at around 55 minutes with live video shortly afterwards. Congratulations to everyone involved. https://principia.org.uk/news/second-amateur-radio-call/ There was live streaming and more info here: https://principia.ariss.org There is always a chance of more live TV on future school contacts. There is one planned for the UK on Friday of next week. Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg HAMTV downlinks on 2395Mhz. More info on HAMTV here: http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus/ham-video More info on dedicated HAMTV mailing list: https://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/HamTV From dan at post.com Fri Feb 12 14:14:03 2016 From: dan at post.com (Daniel Cussen) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 14:14:03 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] First ever ARISS HAMTV live downlink to a school In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sorry the video has been changed to private. I am sure there will be a public video shortly. From lee.ernstrom at rcwilley.com Fri Feb 12 16:39:54 2016 From: lee.ernstrom at rcwilley.com (Lee Ernstrom) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 09:39:54 -0700 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming DM29 and NP24 National Parks Activation Message-ID: I will be operating satellites SO-50 and FO-29 from DM29 in eastern Nevada on February 21-23, 2016. Please check out my QRZ.com page for details. WA7HQD Lee (Doc) Ernstrom From bruninga at usna.edu Fri Feb 12 17:32:10 2016 From: bruninga at usna.edu (Robert Bruninga) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 12:32:10 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] National Parks Activation (beacons) Message-ID: <01c37fe369bff013e381e1cbb461ced8@mail.gmail.com> Everyone, while in a national park, please confirm APRS activity on 144.39 and report if nothing heard. APRS has a goal of assuring APRS coverage in all the national parks. It is so great to see another ham in the park and go meet them because of their APRS beacon. Statistically, there are at least a dozen hams a day in the big parks... yet without a beacon, its dark ships in the night... If no digipeaters cover the park, please report so we can update our databse of all National Parks with APRS coverage. http://aprs.org/aprs-parks.html Bob, WB4APR -----Original Message----- > I will be operating satellites SO-50 and FO-29 from DM29 > in eastern Nevada on February 21-23, 2016. > WA7HQD, Lee (Doc) Ernstrom From m5aka at yahoo.co.uk Fri Feb 12 19:43:24 2016 From: m5aka at yahoo.co.uk (M5AKA) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:43:24 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISS UK release 77 minute video of Tim Peake GB1SS and RMS References: <391519514.5602194.1455306204887.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <391519514.5602194.1455306204887.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> ARISS UK release 77 minute video of Tim Peake GB1SS and Royal Masonic School for Girls GB1RMS amateur radio contact event http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/12/ariss-uk-release-full-video-of-tim-peake-and-rms-contact/ Southampton University students receive Tim Peake http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/12/southampton-university-students-receive-tim-peake/ Radio ham interviewed about Tim Peake on BBC Radio Norfolk http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/12/radio-ham-on-bbc-radio-norfolk/ 73 Trevor M5AKA ---- AMSAT-UK?http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter?https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube?https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ---- From jimlist at zoho.com Fri Feb 12 20:26:50 2016 From: jimlist at zoho.com (Jim Heck G3WGM) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 20:26:50 -0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-73/FUNcube mode switch In-Reply-To: <160781.62abfb43.436008a2@aol.com> References: <160781.62abfb43.436008a2@aol.com> Message-ID: <11373CDD13514DC3850B556347141141@jimPC2> Hi Folks, Just to say that I have just switched AO-73/FUNcube from auto eclipse mode, to Amateur mode so the transponder will be on fulltime, regardless of whether the sat is in darkness or in sunlight. As always, the plan is to switch back to normal mode on Sunday pm (UTC) Enjoy the transponder and have a great and FUN weekend!! 73s Jim G3WGM From godetj at wanadoo.fr Fri Feb 12 21:05:51 2016 From: godetj at wanadoo.fr (Jean-Pierre Godet) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 21:05:51 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Possible KMS-4 Radio Reception w/ video In-Reply-To: References: <56BDB946.30308@xs4all.nl> Message-ID: <56BE492F.7080105@wanadoo.fr> Yes indeed, well received the Metop-A on this frequency orb #48430 around 1950 TU. Many thanks Nico. 73 ! J-P F5YG On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 5:51 AM, Nico Janssen wrote: > Scott, > > That signal was the A-DCS service downlink on 465.9875 MHz from Metop-A > (object 29499, 2006-044A). > > See also: http://www.wmo-sat.info/oscar/satellites/view/306 > > 73, > Nico PA0DLO From martha at amsat.org Fri Feb 12 21:10:14 2016 From: martha at amsat.org (Martha) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 16:10:14 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Office Closed Message-ID: The AMSAT Office will be closed on Monday, February 15th in observance of Presidents' Day -- 73- Martha From k6fw1 at verizon.net Fri Feb 12 23:12:44 2016 From: k6fw1 at verizon.net (Frank Westphal) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 15:12:44 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] FS: ICOM IC-275A and IC-475H Tranceivers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56BE66EC.1040200@verizon.net> Sorry Dirk, both radios are long gone to new homes. Frank On 2/12/16 1:10 PM, amsat-bb-request at amsat.org wrote: > Message: 5 > Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 09:36:17 +0000 > From: Dirk Jarrett > To:"amsat-bb at amsat.org" > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] FS: ICOM IC-275A and IC-475H Tranceivers > Message-ID: > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Hi Frank, a long long shot here. I assume you sold the icom 275,475. LOL i am trying to find a PAIR. Thanks, Dirk > > Sent from my iPad From ray.hoad at mypbmail.com Fri Feb 12 22:47:26 2016 From: ray.hoad at mypbmail.com (Ray Hoad) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 16:47:26 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Updates to AMSAT KEP Distribution - 2-12-2016 Message-ID: <001101d165e7$58b03a10$0a10ae30$@mypbmail.com> The following satellites have been added to this week's KEP Distribution AGGIESAT4 - NORAD ID # 41313 KWANGMYONGSONG4 - NORAD ID # 41332 Per AMSAT-BB the North Korean KWANGMYONGSONG4, NORAD ID # 41332, (also known as DPRK Brilliant Star) has achieved a stable orbit, but has so far remained silent. We will continue to include the TLEs for this satellite for the time being. See http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-satellite-orbit-idUSKCN0VI1XN for more info. Per AMSAT-BB the launch of ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 is postponed due to weather issues. No new launch date has been set. Ray Hoad WA5QGD From AJ9N at aol.com Sat Feb 13 02:03:44 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 21:03:44 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-12 20:00 UTC Message-ID: <39923a.7cb607a9.43efe900@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-12 20:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-12 20:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1023. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 988. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-12 05:00 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From dan at post.com Fri Feb 12 15:20:24 2016 From: dan at post.com (Daniel Cussen) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 15:20:24 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] First ever ARISS HAMTV live downlink to a school In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Same link working now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cosp6W-gqq4 Who can answer the question of what makes us stay in bed at night? On 12/02/2016, Daniel Cussen wrote: > Sorry the video has been changed to private. I am sure there will be a > public video shortly. > From hill.charles.robert at gmail.com Fri Feb 12 19:28:03 2016 From: hill.charles.robert at gmail.com (Robb Hill) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 14:28:03 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Possible KMS-4 Radio Reception w/ video In-Reply-To: References: <56BDB946.30308@xs4all.nl> Message-ID: Excellent approach. If it is transmitting I could see it being detected just this way. Including what you called 'peer review'... Essentially finding a signal with a Doppler profile that cannot be attributed. Do you have more plans to monitor passes? Can you monitor on 26mhz? On previous launches they mentioned that freq as well. -Robb KB3RBA On Feb 12, 2016 9:24 AM, "Scott" wrote: > THANK YOU!!! > > Thank God for peer review. Sorry for the false alarm, but I guess if I had > not put it out there, I would have always wondered if I had found something > cool. > > > =============================================================== > > On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 5:51 AM, Nico Janssen wrote: > > > Scott, > > > > That signal was the A-DCS service downlink on 465.9875 MHz from Metop-A > > (object 29499, 2006-044A). > > > > See also: http://www.wmo-sat.info/oscar/satellites/view/306 > > > > 73, > > Nico PA0DLO > > > > > > On 12-02-16 03:32, Scott wrote: > > > >> At approximately 0111 UTC 12-Feb-2016, I was monitoring a wide spectrum > in > >> the area of 460 Mhz in hopes of seeing a signal with doppler movement > that > >> might correspond to the TLE track of the KMS-4 satellite launched by > North > >> Korea. > >> > >> A very strong signal appeared up near 465.985 and tracked as you would > >> expect. Since the signal strength and doppler movement correlated > nicely > >> to the track on Orbitron, I suppose there is a decent chance that I was > >> actually receiving KMS-4. > >> > >> Naturally I forgot to record the IF until well through the pass, but I > >> don't really expect to be able to decode the signal anyway. I'm not > even > >> sure if there was anything but a carrier, to be honest. > >> > >> On the outside chance that I did see anything on this pass, I was > >> recording > >> the screen and have uploaded the video to YouTube. Orbitron is very > small > >> on the right side as I wanted to have as much area as possible to watch > >> for > >> a signal in HDSDR. > >> > >> The max elevation on the pass was 55 degrees. Antenna was a fixed, > >> omni-directional QFH built for 432 Mhz. The radio was the SDRPlay RSP. > >> > >> If anyone would like to see what the signal looked & sounded like, the > >> video is at: https://youtu.be/9JiEyUM-8U4 (please jump to the 4:40 > mark > >> where the signal first appears) > >> > >> Oh, and sorry about the manual tuning... not knowing the frequency > >> beforehand, I did not have the software setup to track the doppler > >> automatically. > >> > >> 73! > >> > >> -Scott, K4KDR > >> Montpelier, VA USA > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > >> Opinions expressed > >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > >> AMSAT-NA. > >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > >> > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From scott23192 at gmail.com Sat Feb 13 15:52:03 2016 From: scott23192 at gmail.com (Scott) Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 10:52:03 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Possible KMS-4 Radio Reception w/ video In-Reply-To: References: <56BDB946.30308@xs4all.nl> Message-ID: Hi Robb. Yes, I'll continue to monitor - don't have another good pass until tomorrow night and I'll take that opportunity to watch the 26 MHz area. Since my initial (false alarm) post, I had one other pass where nothing was seen around 465 MHz. So, thanks very much for your frequency recommendation! ==================================================================== On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 2:28 PM, Robb Hill wrote: > Excellent approach. If it is transmitting I could see it being detected > just this way. Including what you called 'peer review'... Essentially > finding a signal with a Doppler profile that cannot be attributed. > > Do you have more plans to monitor passes? Can you monitor on 26mhz? On > previous launches they mentioned that freq as well. > > -Robb > KB3RBA > On Feb 12, 2016 9:24 AM, "Scott" wrote: > > > THANK YOU!!! > > > > Thank God for peer review. Sorry for the false alarm, but I guess if I > had > > not put it out there, I would have always wondered if I had found > something > > cool. > > > > > > =============================================================== > > > > On Fri, Feb 12, 2016 at 5:51 AM, Nico Janssen wrote: > > > > > Scott, > > > > > > That signal was the A-DCS service downlink on 465.9875 MHz from Metop-A > > > (object 29499, 2006-044A). > > > > > > See also: http://www.wmo-sat.info/oscar/satellites/view/306 > > > > > > 73, > > > Nico PA0DLO > > > > > > > > > On 12-02-16 03:32, Scott wrote: > > > > > >> At approximately 0111 UTC 12-Feb-2016, I was monitoring a wide > spectrum > > in > > >> the area of 460 Mhz in hopes of seeing a signal with doppler movement > > that > > >> might correspond to the TLE track of the KMS-4 satellite launched by > > North > > >> Korea. > > >> > > >> A very strong signal appeared up near 465.985 and tracked as you would > > >> expect. Since the signal strength and doppler movement correlated > > nicely > > >> to the track on Orbitron, I suppose there is a decent chance that I > was > > >> actually receiving KMS-4. > > >> > > >> Naturally I forgot to record the IF until well through the pass, but I > > >> don't really expect to be able to decode the signal anyway. I'm not > > even > > >> sure if there was anything but a carrier, to be honest. > > >> > > >> On the outside chance that I did see anything on this pass, I was > > >> recording > > >> the screen and have uploaded the video to YouTube. Orbitron is very > > small > > >> on the right side as I wanted to have as much area as possible to > watch > > >> for > > >> a signal in HDSDR. > > >> > > >> The max elevation on the pass was 55 degrees. Antenna was a fixed, > > >> omni-directional QFH built for 432 Mhz. The radio was the SDRPlay > RSP. > > >> > > >> If anyone would like to see what the signal looked & sounded like, the > > >> video is at: https://youtu.be/9JiEyUM-8U4 (please jump to the 4:40 > > mark > > >> where the signal first appears) > > >> > > >> Oh, and sorry about the manual tuning... not knowing the frequency > > >> beforehand, I did not have the software setup to track the doppler > > >> automatically. > > >> > > >> 73! > > >> > > >> -Scott, K4KDR > > >> Montpelier, VA USA > > >> _______________________________________________ > > >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > > >> Opinions expressed > > >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views > of > > >> AMSAT-NA. > > >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > > program! > > >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > >> > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions > > expressed > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > > AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From james at wx4tv.com Sat Feb 13 17:47:59 2016 From: james at wx4tv.com (James Lea - WX4TV) Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 12:47:59 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] W1AW/4 on SO-50 Message-ID: Hope (KM4IPF) will be working as W1AW/4 from the Orlando Hamcation on SO-50 this afternoon from 13:50-14:04 EDT. EL98 James Lea Sent from my iPhone From ronnan at gmail.com Sat Feb 13 18:12:13 2016 From: ronnan at gmail.com (Ronnan Werneck) Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 16:12:13 -0200 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-7 from GH53 Message-ID: Hi, I'll be active on AO-7 next orbit from my QTH grid GH53. Hope to work some of you in a few minutes. 73 Ron PP2RON From hill.charles.robert at gmail.com Sat Feb 13 20:51:43 2016 From: hill.charles.robert at gmail.com (Robb Hill) Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 15:51:43 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] KMS-4 Antennas? Message-ID: Hi, I got a photo of the KMS-4 sat and started wondering about the possible frequencies based on what could be antenna. I think this photo might shed some light on it. I don't want to say what I think they were thinking. Other than they could have been HAMS! Here is the sat: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Byq2L9ccyLZeYTVzNWdFS3NLSnM Here is the nacelle in which it fit. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Byq2L9ccyLZeZ2pQX1ZtcjlSTk0 There are some other gizmos on the sat. What do you guys think is going on here with the visible components and the other sat features? FYI, I know this is somewhat off topic. But as a HAM and space lover, I don't know what better group to take a look at these things. Thanks, Robb KB3RBA From davidahaworth at icloud.com Sat Feb 13 19:53:29 2016 From: davidahaworth at icloud.com (David Haworth) Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 11:53:29 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] ISS APRS Digipeated Verification Message-ID: I am adding the ISS APRS space communications to the Pine Mountain Observatory STEM workshop this summer. Using the Kenwood TM-D710G with a PC I can show that the packet sent to the ISS was digipeated through the ISS. I would like not having to use a PC with the radio. Therefore, not using a PC is there a TM-D710G setting that will show that the beacon was successfully digipeated through the ISS? QST February 2016 review of the Yaesu on page 52 ? Whenever my FTM-100DR transmitted a beacon and detected that it had been relayed by a digipeater, I hear a series of three descending tones." Has anyone used the Yaesu FTM-100DR APRS with the ISS and confirmed that it will tell you that the ISS digipeated the packet? http://aprs.fi and http://ariss.net work fine if another station receives the packet and forwards it to the APRS Internet System. This depends upon another station which fine for a back up verification. 73, Clear and dark skies without RFI, David Haworth, WA9ONY http://www.stargazing.net/david davidahaworth at icloud.com From rjlawn at gmail.com Sat Feb 13 22:19:34 2016 From: rjlawn at gmail.com (Richard Lawn) Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 17:19:34 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Flex 5000A For Sale Message-ID: I'm looking to trade or sell my Flex 5000A that is bundled with ATU, 2nd RX and V/U module. I'd trade for a K3. Contact me off list if you are interested in either a purchase or have a K3 to trade. 73 Rick, W2JAZ From dave.w8aas at verizon.net Sat Feb 13 23:02:23 2016 From: dave.w8aas at verizon.net (Dave Taylor) Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 18:02:23 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] ISS APRS Digipeated Verification In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <946E1D0B-FBAC-4296-8080-84B84EC55131@verizon.net> Use the D710G to send APRS beacons. The radio will display MY PACKET when it hears the digipeated packet and you can verify it is from ISS by pressing the LIST button and looking for RS0ISS. Dave > On Feb 13, 2016, at 2:53 PM, David Haworth wrote: > > I am adding the ISS APRS space communications to the Pine Mountain Observatory STEM workshop this summer. > > Using the Kenwood TM-D710G with a PC I can show that the packet sent to the ISS was digipeated through the ISS. > > I would like not having to use a PC with the radio. > Therefore, not using a PC is there a TM-D710G setting that will show that the beacon was successfully digipeated through the ISS? > > QST February 2016 review of the Yaesu on page 52 > ? Whenever my FTM-100DR transmitted a beacon and detected that it had been relayed by a digipeater, I hear a series of three descending tones." > > Has anyone used the Yaesu FTM-100DR APRS with the ISS and confirmed that it will tell you that the ISS digipeated the packet? > > http://aprs.fi and http://ariss.net work fine if another station receives the packet and forwards it to the APRS Internet System. > This depends upon another station which fine for a back up verification. > > 73, > Clear and dark skies without RFI, > David Haworth, WA9ONY > http://www.stargazing.net/david > davidahaworth at icloud.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From john at papays.com Sun Feb 14 02:10:28 2016 From: john at papays.com (John Papay) Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 21:10:28 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] W1AW/4 Orlando Hamcation Demo Message-ID: <20160214024110.2701B87DD@lansing182.amsat.org> Thanks to everyone who called in to work K8YSE portable at the Orlando Hamcation. We had a great time working everyone on SO-50 and FO-29. The crowds were big and the weather outside was sunny and warm Although there was a lot of interest in seeing our station, 9 year old Hope, KM4IPF operating W1AW/4 on SO-50 definitely stole the show. Before the pass I watched her pull the compass out of a bag and tell her father where to point the antenna at AOS and where it would finish up at LOS. She used two HT's for the operation. Dad held the antenna for her as she made contact after contact. She had a crowd around her and we had the IC910 set up about 40' away and our crowd was listening to her on our setup. Steve, N9IP, was the antenna man at our station. Near the end of the pass I called her on the 910H and got a confirmation from W1AW/4! We had a signal path hundreds of miles long but were only 40' apart! Rick WA4NVM provided a recording of the pass and it is up on my website: http://www.papays.com/sat/general.html Frank K9CIS also sent in some recordings of our FO-29 passes which I'll put on the website later. Anyone needing confirmation of a Hamcation contact with K8YSE on LOTW, just send me the qso details and I'll upload it. I can also do a qsl card on request. There is nothing like a good demo to generate interest in satellites. Just set up a station and the crows starts gathering. Thanks to everyone who helped with the effort. 73, John K8YSE From wao at vfr.net Sun Feb 14 06:41:40 2016 From: wao at vfr.net (Joseph Spier) Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 22:41:40 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] ANS-045 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins Message-ID: <56C021A4.7060003@vfr.net> AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-045 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * AMSAT-NA Office Closed on Monday February 15th for President's Day Holiday * W1AW/4 Orlando Hamcation Demo * Japanese Ham Radio Satellite Launch Postponed * Old Dominion University OPEN HOUSE for local Middle and High Schools * Orlando Hamcation Satellite Demos Scheduled * ARISS UK release full video of Tim Peake and RMS contact * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-045.01 ANS-045 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 045.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE February 14, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-045.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Office Closed on Monday February 15th for President's Day Holiday The AMSAT Office will be closed on Monday, February 15th in observance of Presidents' Day. [ANS thanks Martha for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- W1AW/4 Orlando Hamcation Demo Thanks to everyone who called in to work K8YSE portable at the Orlando Hamcation. We had a great time working everyone on SO-50 and FO-29. The crowds were big and the weather outside was sunny and warm Although there was a lot of interest in seeing our station, 9 year old Hope, KM4IPF operating W1AW/4 on SO-50 definitely stole the show. Before the pass I watched her pull the compass out of a bag and tell her father where to point the antenna at AOS and where it would finish up at LOS. She used two HT's for the operation. Dad held the antenna for her as she made contact after contact. She had a crowd around her and we had the IC910 set up about 40' away and our crowd was listening to her on our setup. Steve, N9IP, was the antenna man at our station. Near the end of the pass I called her on the 910H and got a confirmation from W1AW/4! We had a signal path hundreds of miles long but were only 40' apart! Rick WA4NVM provided a recording of the pass and it is up on my website: http://www.papays.com/sat/general.html Frank K9CIS also sent in some recordings of our FO-29 passes which I'll put on the website later. Anyone needing confirmation of a Hamcation contact with K8YSE on LOTW, just send me the QSO details and I'll upload it. I can also do a QSL card on request. There is nothing like a good demo to generate interest in satellites. Just set up a station and the crows starts gathering. Thanks to everyone who helped with the effort. [ANS thanks John, K8YSE for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Japanese Ham Radio Satellite Launch Postponed ChubuSat-2, ChubuSat-3 and Horyu-4 were expected to launch on Friday, February 12 into a 575 km, 31 degree inclination orbit. This launch has been postponed due to bad weather at the launch site. A rescheduled launch date and time has not yet been announced. http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/02/11/launch-of-japanese-x-ray-observatory- postponed/ https://twitter.com/JAXA_en?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Yasutaka Narusawa JR2XEA provides the following information on ChubuSat-2/3: Nagoya University(NU) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries(MHI) developed 50kg microsatellite ChubuSat-2(NU) and ChubuSat-3(MHI). These satellites have amateur VHF receiver and amateur UHF transmitter, and will be launched on Feb. 12 2016 from Tanegashima, Japan. Komaki Amateur SATCOM Club operates these satellites from Komaki, Japan. After the satellite separation, each satellite will transmit UHF CW beacon message including battery voltage etc. which is very important information for our initial and critical operation. So we are very happy if you receive the CW beacon message and report to us email: chubusat2 at frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp In following web site, we show the information(frequency, format, TLE, etc.) about ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3. If we have your report, we will show your report in this page. https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html Both satellite will provide the message exchange service. After the on-orbit checkout of the satellite(maybe one month after launch), you can use this service, sending your message with VHF uplink, then your message is written to the on-board memory. By sending inquiry message, anyone can read your message with UHF downlink. ChubuSat-2 Satellite Uplink: 145.815 MHz FSK 1200bps Downlink: 437.100 MHz GMSK 9600bps and CW ChubuSat-3 Satellite Uplink: 145.840 MHz FSK 1200bps Downlink: 437.425 MHz GMSK 9600bps and CW The uplink/downlink format will be uploaded in above web site. Horyu-4 downlink 437.375 MHz & 2400.300 MHz 1k2 AFSK,9k6 GMSK, S_BPSK, CW http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/horyu4WEB/horyu4.html http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=434 https://www.facebook.com/Horyu-4-Arc-Event-Generator-and-Investigation- Satellite-780188535364868/ [ANS thanks Yasutaka Narusawa JR2XEA, and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Old Dominion University OPEN HOUSE for local Middle and High Schools The Open House is a recruiting event for the ODU School of Engineering. It is scheduled for February 19 & 20, 2016. Students from 40 Middle and High Schools (400 ? 600 students) throughout the Hampton Roads VA region will be visiting the school to tour the labs and campus, meet the (current ODU) students and faculty, and learn more about education and career opportunities in engineering. K4AMG will be supporting the event by conducting a mini field day event will be on Friday, Feb 19 and by hosting lab stations on Saturday Feb 20th featuring a 15 minute presentation of ham radio topics. The lab topics include: An overview of amateur radio as a learning tool. A (light) technical discussion about the science and engineering that support radio communications. A youth forum presented by several young radio amateurs KJ4NFL ? Emergency and Public Service Communications WX4TVJ and AE4FH ? Antennas KJ4EYZ ? Cultures and Environmental Considerations for DX-peditions Satellite communications featuring the CUBESAT simulator provided by AMSAT-NA ?KW4CR. Society of Broadcast Engineers ? Richard Dyer speaking on Careers in Broadcast Engineering and Electronics and Wireless Communications At the student luncheon 9 year old Hope Lea, KM4IPF, will be the key note speaker - subject OSCAR Satellite Communications [ANS thanks Rich, WA8BUE for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Orlando Hamcation Satellite Demos Scheduled A demo station at Orlando Hamcation has been scheduled on Friday, Saturday and possibly on Sunday, February 12, 13, and 14. Operations will likely be on SO-50 and FO-29 on the following passes: 2-12 1813-1832utc FO-29 2-12 1826-1838utc SO-50 2-13 1719-1737utc FO-29 2-13 1851-1904utc SO-50 2-13 1903-1922itc FO-29 2-14 1737-1749utc SO-50 2-14 1808-1827utc FO-29 Sunday is iffy. We may be on other satellites as well. Please give us a call if you hear us and respond with your grid square, city/state and name. This will help the onlookers to have a better idea of where you are. [ANS thanks John, K8YSE for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS UK release full video of Tim Peake and RMS contact This is the 77 minute video of the ARISS contact between Tim Peake GB1SS and the Royal Masonic School for Girls Rickmansworth GB1RMS. The video starts with the students of Cadogan House, the prep school for girls aged 4 to 11 at the Royal Masonic School for Girls singing a number of songs that have been part of their study into space. The video continues with the senior school presenting an overview of the activities that they have been involved in as part of their study and understanding of space. This section concludes with a panel of experts from the UK space industry fielding questions from the assembled audience. At approximately 33 minutes, Ciaran Morgan M0XTD from ARISS, starts the ARISS program with an introduction of the team, their roles and all the equipment that has been brought to the school to help facilitate the contact. The actual ARISS contact starts at approximately 53 minutes into the video. After the contact has finished, the school?s Head Girl concludes the evening with a short thank you speech and introduces the trainers who prepared some of the girls for the Foundation Amateur Radio License. http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/12/ariss-uk-release-full-video-of-tim-peake-and- rms-contact/ More history made at second amateur radio call http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/12/more-history-made-at-second-amateur-radio-call/ HamTV on the ISS http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/hamtv-on-the-iss/ What is Amateur Radio? http://www.essexham.co.uk/what-is-amateur-radio Find an UK amateur radio training course near you https://thersgb.org/services/coursefinder/ A free booklet is available aimed at introducing newcomers to the hobby that can also be used as a handy reference while getting started, see http://rsgb.org/main/get-started-in-amateur-radio/alex-discovers-amateur-radio -2/ [ANS thanks ARISS-UK and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). *Friday and Saturday, 19-20 February 2016 ? Yuma Hamfest and 2016 ARRL Southwest Division Convention in Yuma AZ *Friday, 4 March 2016 ? presentation for the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach meeting in Signal Hill CA *Saturday and Sunday, 12-13 March 2016 ? ScienceCity science fair, on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson AZ *Saturday, 19 March 2016 ? Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Spring Hamfest 2016 in Scottsdale AZ *Saturday, 26 March 2016 ? Tucson Spring Hamfest in Tucson AZ *Friday through Sunday, 29 April-1 May 2016 - ARRL Nevada State Convention in Las Vegas NV *Saturday, 7 May 2016 ? Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ *Saturday, 4 June 2016 ? White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Proposal Window for Scheduled Contacts in the US Opens February 15 The US partners of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program are seeking formal and informal educational institutions and organizations in the US, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between January 1, 2017 and June 30, 2017. http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ARISS/Proposal%20Window%20Announcement- 2_15_16.pdf Application Window Open for ARISS Europe Region Schools and Youth organizations in the ARISS-Europe Region (Europe, Africa and Middle East) interested in setting up an ARISS radio contact with an astronaut onboard the International Space Station are invited to submit an application and an educational project. The application submission window will be open February 1 to April 30, 2016, for space conversations that will tentatively be scheduled in the period extending from February to June 2017. http://www.ariss-eu.org/school-contacts Successful Contacts Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK, direct via GB1RMS The ISS callsign was scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut was Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact was successful: Thu 2016-02-11 18:09:02 UTC 89 deg Congratulations to the HamTV crew that showed the contact! This was a successful use of HamTV with an ARISS contact. Videos at: https://youtu.be/x3KpilFGQX4 https://youtu.be/ChKNtzYE_HQ The Royal Masonic School for Girls is an independent girl?s day and boarding school in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, with an exceptional, unusual and distinguished history. Founded in 1788 with the purpose of educating the daughters of Freemasons who were unable to support their families, it is one of the oldest girls' schools in the country. We attract girls aged 4-18 from across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and North London and boarders from all over the world. We also have a Pre School for boys and girls aged 2 to 4. Our ethos is both aspirational and nurturing and our girls strive to be the very best they can be, academically, morally and creatively. Our public examination results are consistently impressive and each year around 90% of girls leave RMS to take up places at University. Life at RMS is centered on much more than "just" academic success and the School is well known for its exceptional pastoral care, and the wealth of extra-curricular opportunities it offers - including Astronomy as we are one of very few schools in the UK to have our own planetarium and observatory! Upcoming Contacts Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg The Space Hardware Club at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is an engineering club of students that builds balloon payloads, satellites and rockets outside of their regular classes. The club has been working on this contact for over a year. After deciding to focus on 8th grade students, we reached out to Discovery Middle School, Westlawn Middle School, and the Tennessee Valley Homeschool 4-H group ? all from the northern Alabama area. The students from Westlawn have been part of Project Lead The Way for 2 years now and have been exposed to robotics, modeling, and 3d printing. The students from the homeschool group all have a passion for STEM, a love of learning and being challenged, and are bubbling with excitement for this opportunity of a lifetime. There are two STEM II classes from Discovery Middle School that routinely rise to the expectations of their accelerated STEM focused curriculum. By the time of the contact, the students will have learned about the ISS, the astronauts and some of the experiments aboard, and amateur radio. All of the students and club members involved are passionate about this opportunity, and thank you for your time. Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over Austin, Texas Students to Speak to Space Station Astronaut Students from the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools in Austin, Texas will have the opportunity to speak with a NASA astronaut currently living and working on the International Space Station at 11:55 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 16. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency?s website. The contact is schedule via Skype. [ANS thanks NASA News Service for the above information] Help XE1AO get his satellite WAS award via LOTW! Omar XE1AO, a long-time satellite operator in central Mexico, tweeted yesterday that he is interested in making contact with stations in 7 states to finally have all 50 states confirmed via Logbook of the World. The last 7 states he needs are: Kansas Maine New Jersey New York Rhode Island Washington West Virginia Omar is in grid DK89df, if that helps in making calculations on possible passes that he can work. His e-mail address on QRZ is good, so you can contact him directly if you are able to help him get his satellite WAS award. He is also on Twitter as @XE1AO, but his Twitter feed is not open to the public. He's received a few suggestions to get a couple of these states taken care of, so hopefully he can finally reach that goal. [ANS thanks Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK, AMSAT Director for Field Operations for the above information] 6D0F Special Call David Maciel XE3DX will work the special prefix 6D0F, for the apostolic journey of his holiness pope Francis to Mexico. Times include: Thursday 11 February 2016 18:00 UTC Thursday, 18 February 2016 18:59 UTC David will work from grid EK36, Chiapas, on only FM satellites SO-50 and AO-85. The QSL Manager is XE1LM. Visit https://www.qrz.com/lookup/6d0f/ http://www.qsl.net/xe3dx/ [ANS thanks David Maciel, XE3DX for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org From jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp Sun Feb 14 06:48:03 2016 From: jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp (=?ISO-2022-JP?B?WWFzdXRha2EgTmFydQ==?= =?ISO-2022-JP?B?c2F3YSAoSlIyWEVBKQ==?=) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2016 15:48:03 +0900 (JST) Subject: [amsat-bb] =?iso-2022-jp?b?VGhlIGxhdW5jaCBkYXRlIG9mIENodWJ1U2F0?= =?iso-2022-jp?b?LTImQ2h1YnVTYXQtMyBpcyBzZXQgb24gRmViLiAxNw==?= Message-ID: <201602140648.u1E6m31f023238@ms-omx11.plus.so-net.ne.jp> Dear all; The launch date of ChubuSat-2&ChubuSat-3 is set on Feb. 17 17:45(Japan Standard Time, JST). http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2016/02/20160214_h2af30.html Scheduled date of launch:February 17 (Wed.), 2016 (Japan Standard Time, JST) Launch time:5:45 p.m. (JST) Launch window:5:45 thru 6:30 p.m. (JST) Best Regards, Yasutaka Narusawa JR2XEA From kb2m at arrl.net Sun Feb 14 14:23:17 2016 From: kb2m at arrl.net (kb2m at arrl.net) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2016 09:23:17 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Flex 5000a w/SatPC32 Message-ID: <09b601d16733$43b407c0$cb1c1740$@net> Is anyone using a Flex5000a with second rx and V/U module with SatPC32, or any other sat/rotor control software. I'm in the process of buying one and I'm interested in how anyone set theirs up for sat use. 73 Jeff kb2m From wa4sca at gmail.com Sun Feb 14 16:11:11 2016 From: wa4sca at gmail.com (Alan) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2016 10:11:11 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Flex 5000a w/SatPC32 In-Reply-To: <09b601d16733$43b407c0$cb1c1740$@net> References: <09b601d16733$43b407c0$cb1c1740$@net> Message-ID: <000401d16742$525c05c0$f7141140$@GMAIL.COM> Jeff, The Flex VU5K is almost a TS-2000 from a CAT standpoint, and you can get by with that. SatPC32 tunes the uplink and downlink fine. However, there are several things you need to set manually, such as the PL tone, TX transmitter VFO, modes, etc. You can download a good explanation here: http://www.flexradio.com/downloads/configuring-the-flex-5000-with-satpc32-pdf/ Dave, W0DHB has written a translator program which sits between SatPC32 and the PowerSDR CAT to do the needed translation, making it look like a real TS-2000. He has made it available, and there may be a AMSAT Journal article coming. There are a few other quirks, such as the lack of a digital FM mode, and the need to tweak the sampling rates and buffers to minimize latency, but once done it is a fine satellite rig. 73s, Alan WA4SCA <-----Original Message----- References: <09b601d16733$43b407c0$cb1c1740$@net> <000401d16742$525c05c0$f7141140$@GMAIL.COM> Message-ID: That article is indeed in the January/February AMSAT Journal, which should be appearing in your mailboxes soon! 73, Paul, N8HM On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 11:11 AM, Alan wrote: > Jeff, > > The Flex VU5K is almost a TS-2000 from a CAT standpoint, and you can get by with that. SatPC32 tunes > the uplink and downlink fine. However, there are several things you need to set manually, such as the > PL tone, TX transmitter VFO, modes, etc. You can download a good explanation here: > > http://www.flexradio.com/downloads/configuring-the-flex-5000-with-satpc32-pdf/ > > Dave, W0DHB has written a translator program which sits between SatPC32 and the PowerSDR CAT to do the > needed translation, making it look like a real TS-2000. He has made it available, and there may be a > AMSAT Journal article coming. > > There are a few other quirks, such as the lack of a digital FM mode, and the need to tweak the > sampling rates and buffers to minimize latency, but once done it is a fine satellite rig. > > 73s, > > Alan > WA4SCA > > <-----Original Message----- > > < > < > < > < > <73 Jeff kb2m > < > < > < > < > < > <_______________________________________________ > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From w5pfg at amsat.org Sun Feb 14 18:41:41 2016 From: w5pfg at amsat.org (Clayton W5PFG) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2016 12:41:41 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] QRO your CW, please! (FO-29 / 1810Z / 96281) Message-ID: <56C0CA65.90109@amsat.org> There was one station on FO-29 at 1810 UTC today, orbit 96281, over North America running so much power on CW, you could copy them up and down the entire satellite passband. They had numerous images. 73 Clayton W5PFG From jamesduffey at comcast.net Sun Feb 14 19:20:28 2016 From: jamesduffey at comcast.net (James Duffey) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2016 12:20:28 -0700 Subject: [amsat-bb] QRO your CW, please! (FO-29 / 1810Z / 96281) In-Reply-To: <56C0CA65.90109@amsat.org> References: <56C0CA65.90109@amsat.org> Message-ID: That would Be QRP - please reduce your power, not QRO, please increase your power. - Duffey KK6MC On Feb 14, 2016, at 11:41 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > There was one station on FO-29 at 1810 UTC today, orbit 96281, over North America running so much power on CW, you could copy them up and down the entire satellite passband. They had numerous images. > > 73 > Clayton > W5PFG > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From w5pfg at amsat.org Sun Feb 14 19:49:36 2016 From: w5pfg at amsat.org (Clayton W5PFG) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2016 13:49:36 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] QRO your CW, please! (FO-29 / 1810Z / 96281) In-Reply-To: References: <56C0CA65.90109@amsat.org> Message-ID: <56C0DA50.3030702@amsat.org> LOL, typed in haste. On 2/14/2016 13:20, James Duffey wrote: > That would Be QRP - please reduce your power, not QRO, please increase your power. - Duffey KK6MC > > On Feb 14, 2016, at 11:41 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > >> There was one station on FO-29 at 1810 UTC today, orbit 96281, over North America running so much power on CW, you could copy them up and down the entire satellite passband. They had numerous images. >> >> 73 >> Clayton >> W5PFG >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > From the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp Sun Feb 14 23:53:26 2016 From: the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp (J. Boyd (JR2TTS)) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 08:53:26 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] QRO your CW, please! (FO-29 / 1810Z / 96281) In-Reply-To: <56C0DA50.3030702@amsat.org> References: <56C0DA50.3030702@amsat.org> Message-ID: <20160215085157.8673.THE2BELO@msd.biglobe.ne.jp> On Sun, 14 Feb 2016 13:49:36 -0600, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > LOL, typed in haste. I took it to be a sarcastic statement along the lines of "Gee, maybe you should increase power? I can't hear your CW on OTHER SATELLITES YET!@#}$ {%:!!@}[;" -- J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS Twitter: @Minus2_C From jeff_griffin at comcast.net Mon Feb 15 00:16:30 2016 From: jeff_griffin at comcast.net (Jeff) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2016 19:16:30 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Flex 5000a w/SatPC32 In-Reply-To: References: <09b601d16733$43b407c0$cb1c1740$@net><000401d16742$525c05c0$f7141140$@GMAIL.COM> Message-ID: <9EB61C64DB1746C389E2459A03DFFC9C@kb2m4PC> Thanks Guys, I knew I would get the answer here. I knew it would do Kenwood cat commands, but was worried about the PL, and tx freq. It looks like just what I want it to do. I love you both, relax it's Valentines Day :-) 73 Jeff kb2m -----Original Message----- From: Paul Stoetzer Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2016 11:25 AM To: Alan Biddle Cc: kb2m at arrl.net ; Amsat BB Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Flex 5000a w/SatPC32 That article is indeed in the January/February AMSAT Journal, which should be appearing in your mailboxes soon! 73, Paul, N8HM On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 11:11 AM, Alan wrote: > Jeff, > > The Flex VU5K is almost a TS-2000 from a CAT standpoint, and you can get > by with that. SatPC32 tunes > the uplink and downlink fine. However, there are several things you need > to set manually, such as the > PL tone, TX transmitter VFO, modes, etc. You can download a good > explanation here: > > http://www.flexradio.com/downloads/configuring-the-flex-5000-with-satpc32-pdf/ > > Dave, W0DHB has written a translator program which sits between SatPC32 > and the PowerSDR CAT to do the > needed translation, making it look like a real TS-2000. He has made it > available, and there may be a > AMSAT Journal article coming. > > There are a few other quirks, such as the lack of a digital FM mode, and > the need to tweak the > sampling rates and buffers to minimize latency, but once done it is a fine > satellite rig. > > 73s, > > Alan > WA4SCA > > <-----Original Message----- > kb2m at arrl.net > > < > or > and > < > < > < > <73 Jeff kb2m > < > < > < > < > < > <_______________________________________________ > Opinions expressed > AMSAT-NA. > program! > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From AJ9N at aol.com Mon Feb 15 01:43:17 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2016 20:43:17 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-15 01:30 UTC Message-ID: <3b41e6.52381180.43f28735@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-15 01:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-15 01:30 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1023. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 988. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-12 05:00 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp Mon Feb 15 09:31:59 2016 From: jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp (=?ISO-2022-JP?B?WWFzdXRha2EgTmFydQ==?= =?ISO-2022-JP?B?c2F3YSAoSlIyWEVBKQ==?=) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 18:31:59 +0900 (JST) Subject: [amsat-bb] =?iso-2022-jp?b?VExFIG9mIENodWJ1U2F0LTIgYW5kIENodWJ1?= =?iso-2022-jp?b?U2F0LTMgaXMgdXBkYXRlZA==?= Message-ID: <201602150931.u1F9VxpJ028286@ms-omx12.plus.so-net.ne.jp> Dear all; TLE of ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 is updated based on the launch date Feb. 17, 2016. ChubuSat-2 1 99999U 99999 16048.38029596 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 00004 2 99999 031.0049 316.5240 0015871 289.3826 223.5942 14.99199090007134 ChubuSat-3 1 99999U 99999 16048.38376818 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 00006 2 99999 031.0074 316.5014 0016462 295.7523 235.9944 14.99608279007136 Best Regards, Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA) From dan at post.com Mon Feb 15 10:03:20 2016 From: dan at post.com (Daniel Cussen) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 10:03:20 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] KMS-4 Antennas? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: > I got a photo of the KMS-4 sat and started wondering about the possible > frequencies based on what could be antenna. I wrote an email to the amsat-bb a while ago which I will repeat below. You should note there has been no reported emissions, and the photos linked below may have been from a model made for the press, so may have had fake/non flight hardware. The photos are also from the previous launch a few years ago. Where did you get the photos you linked to and when were they taken/broadcast? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not sure if it has been posted yet, but there is a good technical write up of previous North Korean satellites here: http://38north.org/2012/09/nhansen091212/ Some sites suggest 450 to 470Mhz is likely band. Ideally would need a very high gain setup with a wideband SDR dongle to see any transmissions. If they wanted they could turn all transmitters off unless commanded or else only when the GPS says they are within range of the ground station. Note the article linked is only the older satellites. I don't believe there was any public reception of actual emissions from previous models. It does look likely UHF will be used. In this day and age if it does emit on UHF constantly someone probably will detect it and share. with possibly 6 UHF antennas there may be multiple downlinks. I will buy a pint for whoever decodes the GPS location downlink first! From hill.charles.robert at gmail.com Mon Feb 15 14:59:22 2016 From: hill.charles.robert at gmail.com (Robb Hill) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 09:59:22 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] KMS-4 Antennas? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Got the photos off the air on 2/13 broadcast of Korea Central TV. I noticed though it looked like it could be two 1/4 wave dipoles at 1/4 wave spacing. Def. could be a fake/mockup. On Mon, Feb 15, 2016 at 5:03 AM, Daniel Cussen wrote: > > I got a photo of the KMS-4 sat and started wondering about the possible > > frequencies based on what could be antenna. > > I wrote an email to the amsat-bb a while ago which I will repeat > below. You should note there has been no reported emissions, and the > photos linked below may have been from a model made for the press, so > may have had fake/non flight hardware. The photos are also from the > previous launch a few years ago. > > Where did you get the photos you linked to and when were they > taken/broadcast? > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Not sure if it has been posted yet, but there is a good technical > write up of previous North Korean satellites here: > > http://38north.org/2012/09/nhansen091212/ > > Some sites suggest 450 to 470Mhz is likely band. Ideally would need a > very high gain setup with a wideband SDR dongle to see any > transmissions. If they wanted they could turn all transmitters off > unless commanded or else only when the GPS says they are within range > of the ground station. Note the article linked is only the older > satellites. > > I don't believe there was any public reception of actual emissions > from previous models. It does look likely UHF will be used. In this > day and age if it does emit on UHF constantly someone probably will > detect it and share. with possibly 6 UHF antennas there may be > multiple downlinks. I will buy a pint for whoever decodes the GPS > location downlink first! > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From ns3l at yahoo.com Mon Feb 15 14:00:41 2016 From: ns3l at yahoo.com (Steve Nordahl) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 14:00:41 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Should I "Flip or Not Flip" my m2 Leo_Pack References: <2081350128.3407184.1455544841764.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <2081350128.3407184.1455544841764.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> I have a lingering question.? I installed my recently purchased m2 Leo-Pack per spec. Both antennas are RH per the instructions.I'm very pleased with the performance. However... I have the system installed using a Yaseu G5500 and Green Heron AZ/EL controller. I have the system defaulted and restricted to 90 degrees vertical. I already know this AZ/EL can do the entire flip but have not done so. Satellite reception limitations are driving me to ask this question.. Right now many of the sats I'm able to work in the current RH configuration and only going 90 degrees then doing a AZ to get back on it are good until they pass by me. Once the AZ rotation is completed then I have trouble getting back in or even hearing them. It appears I've fallen out of the correct orientation. Would allowing the flip and having the antennas go upside down be OK? I believe this would make them LH at that point. Does anyone else do this? Is the Leo-Pack the exception for the flip rule? (If one exists) Also, on the Leo-Pack system, I've seen images of others who have angled the antennas x instead of the default + orientation. Take?? What have others observed in performance by changing the angles? Let me know. Steve NS3L FN20hq ?? From dphelps1 at ameritech.net Mon Feb 15 17:51:29 2016 From: dphelps1 at ameritech.net (Douglas Phelps) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 17:51:29 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Should I "Flip or Not Flip" my m2 Leo_Pack In-Reply-To: <2081350128.3407184.1455544841764.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <2081350128.3407184.1455544841764.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <468615298.3591774.1455558689300.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> I am sure others will chime in if I am wrong: Flipping the antenna upside down does not change the circular polarization. The following example will explain the advantage of allowing the EL to move 180 degrees: If your Azimuth rotor stops at North, and the satellite will pass from west of north to southeast, at the 360 degree point, the rotor has to stop tracking and move 360 degrees and reacquire the satellite. ?If, on the other hand, you allow the rotors to move 180 degrees, then the control program will flip the antennas and then will add 180 degrees to the azimuth. ?Now, when the satellite moves from west of North to east of South, the rotor can track the satellite continuously because in reality the rotor is rotating through South and does not have to stop and rotate 90 degrees. From: Steve Nordahl via AMSAT-BB To: "amsat-bb at amsat.org" Sent: Monday, February 15, 2016 8:00 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Should I "Flip or Not Flip" my m2 Leo_Pack I have a lingering question.? I installed my recently purchased m2 Leo-Pack per spec. Both antennas are RH per the instructions.I'm very pleased with the performance. However... I have the system installed using a Yaseu G5500 and Green Heron AZ/EL controller. I have the system defaulted and restricted to 90 degrees vertical. I already know this AZ/EL can do the entire flip but have not done so. Satellite reception limitations are driving me to ask this question.. Right now many of the sats I'm able to work in the current RH configuration and only going 90 degrees then doing a AZ to get back on it are good until they pass by me. Once the AZ rotation is completed then I have trouble getting back in or even hearing them. It appears I've fallen out of the correct orientation. Would allowing the flip and having the antennas go upside down be OK? I believe this would make them LH at that point. Does anyone else do this? Is the Leo-Pack the exception for the flip rule? (If one exists) Also, on the Leo-Pack system, I've seen images of others who have angled the antennas x instead of the default + orientation. Take?? What have others observed in performance by changing the angles? Let me know. Steve NS3L FN20hq ?? _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From ve3nxk at gmail.com Mon Feb 15 18:41:19 2016 From: ve3nxk at gmail.com (Bill Booth) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 13:41:19 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Should I "Flip or Not Flip" my m2 Leo_Pack In-Reply-To: <468615298.3591774.1455558689300.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <2081350128.3407184.1455544841764.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> <468615298.3591774.1455558689300.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <56C21BCF.5090501@gmail.com> On 2016-02-15 12:51 PM, Douglas Phelps wrote: > The following example will explain the advantage of allowing the EL to move 180 degrees: I agree with Doug in his explanation of the 180 flip of the antennas. Ever since the early days I have them configured like that. As for the X to + config, the X was for those of us who used a metal boom instead of the fiberglass one. You can read more about it here http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/200206/msg00896.html -- Bill Booth VE3NXK Sundridge ON, Canada 79.23.37 W x 45.46.18 N FN05ns Visit my weather WebCam at http://www.almaguin.com/wxcurrent/weather.html Organ and Tissue Donation - The Gift of Life Talk to your family. Your decision can make a difference. From ko6th.greg at gmail.com Mon Feb 15 19:13:18 2016 From: ko6th.greg at gmail.com (Greg D) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 11:13:18 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] Should I "Flip or Not Flip" my m2 Leo_Pack In-Reply-To: <468615298.3591774.1455558689300.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <2081350128.3407184.1455544841764.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> <468615298.3591774.1455558689300.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <56C2234E.2020900@gmail.com> Exactly. Adding, the ability to "flip" your antennas is more than just the rotor and software. Be sure that your feed lines are suitably arranged so as not to get snagged on anything when the antennas go through their full arc, at any azimuth. It can be harder than it looks, but definitely worth it. The nearly minute-long outage as the antenna swings back around has cost me more than a couple of lost QSOs, missed packets, and half-received SSTV pictures. As Douglas says, flipping an antenna doesn't change the polarization. Circular is still circular; a circle has no orientation. A CP antenna will work the same when mounted X as +, in theory. But in practice, the phycial mounting of the antennas on the cross arm can be a factor, as the cross-arm runs through the RF field of the antanna, and can affect the resulting radiation pattern. If the cross-arm is conductive (steel), use the X orientation; if it's non-metalic (fiberglass), you can use either orientation. My cross-arm is wooden, but I still use the X orientation. Seemed to look better that way :) All that said, I see that the Leo-Pack antennas are end-mounted in their pictures. If your mounting is that way, then it shouldn't matter which oritentation you use. It is not uncommon for a satellite's perceived polarization to flip as it goes through its pass. I expect this is what you are experiencing when the antenna finally gets back around to track the satellite. Running flipped will help with the minute outage, but you'll still find some passes where the satellite drops out from time to time. So even if all of the satellites you are interested in are RHCP, it's still helpful to have a polarization switch on the antenna to pick up a LHCP signal. If M2 has a polarization switch option, you might try that. Finally, having the ability to pick up both polarizations isn't going to fix everything. Sometimes a satellite tumbles slowly into an orientation where it's signal just isn't headed your direction. No antenna, especially those on spacecraft, are truly omnidirectional. Good luck! Greg KO6TH Douglas Phelps wrote: > I am sure others will chime in if I am wrong: > Flipping the antenna upside down does not change the circular polarization. > The following example will explain the advantage of allowing the EL to move 180 degrees: > If your Azimuth rotor stops at North, and the satellite will pass from west of north to southeast, at the 360 degree point, the rotor has to stop tracking and move 360 degrees and reacquire the satellite. If, on the other hand, you allow the rotors to move 180 degrees, then the control program will flip the antennas and then will add 180 degrees to the azimuth. Now, when the satellite moves from west of North to east of South, the rotor can track the satellite continuously because in reality the rotor is rotating through South and does not have to stop and rotate 90 degrees. > > > From: Steve Nordahl via AMSAT-BB > To: "amsat-bb at amsat.org" > Sent: Monday, February 15, 2016 8:00 AM > Subject: [amsat-bb] Should I "Flip or Not Flip" my m2 Leo_Pack > > I have a lingering question. > I installed my recently purchased m2 Leo-Pack per spec. Both antennas are RH per the instructions.I'm very pleased with the performance. However... > I have the system installed using a Yaseu G5500 and Green Heron AZ/EL controller. I have the system defaulted and restricted to 90 degrees vertical. I already know this AZ/EL can do the entire flip but have not done so. > Satellite reception limitations are driving me to ask this question.. Right now many of the sats I'm able to work in the current RH configuration and only going 90 degrees then doing a AZ to get back on it are good until they pass by me. Once the AZ rotation is completed then I have trouble getting back in or even hearing them. It appears I've fallen out of the correct orientation. > Would allowing the flip and having the antennas go upside down be OK? I believe this would make them LH at that point. Does anyone else do this? Is the Leo-Pack the exception for the flip rule? (If one exists) > Also, on the Leo-Pack system, I've seen images of others who have angled the antennas x instead of the default + orientation. Take?? What have others observed in performance by changing the angles? > Let me know. > Steve NS3L FN20hq > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From johnag9d at gmail.com Mon Feb 15 20:25:00 2016 From: johnag9d at gmail.com (John Spasojevich) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 14:25:00 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISS Contact Friday - Audio Message-ID: Please join us in listening to the ISS contact with participants at the Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, on Friday February 19th. AOS is anticipated at 1423 UTC The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be DIRECT between NA1SS and GB1OAB. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. You can watch the contact at: https://principia.ariss.org/Live/ Their stream starts about an hour or so prior to contact HAMTV from ISS is anticipated Audio from this contact will be fed into the: EchoLink *AMSAT* (101377) IRLP Node 9010 Discovery Reflector Streaming Audio at: https://sites.google.com/site/arissaudio/ Audio on Echolink & web stream is generally transmitted around 20 minutes prior to the contact taking place so that you can hear some of the preparation that occurs. IRLP will begin just prior to the ground station call to the ISS. Audio for this contact is a relay from the principia website and is dependent on their stream. Times breaks are manual and connected repeaters may time out. ** Contact times are approximate. If the ISS executes a reboost or other manoeuvre, the AOS (Acquisition Of Signal) time may alter by a few minutes ** 73, John - AG9D ARISS Audio Distribution From pu2phk at gmail.com Tue Feb 16 00:56:41 2016 From: pu2phk at gmail.com (Paulinho PU2PHK) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 22:56:41 -0200 Subject: [amsat-bb] OFF-TOPIC //// - CONVITE GRUPO DGITAL VOICE Message-ID: <56C273C9.3040206@gmail.com> Pessoal: Quem tiver interesse venha participar com a gente do Grupo Digital Voice Brasil. www.facebook.com/groups/dvbrasil 73 Paulinho PU2PHK --- Este email foi escaneado pelo Avast antiv?rus. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From llryan807 at gmail.com Tue Feb 16 00:17:11 2016 From: llryan807 at gmail.com (Larry Ryan) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 16:17:11 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] Mirage KP-2 2 meter preamp help Message-ID: I am trying to repair a Mirage KP-2 series mast-mount 2M preamp. It is quite old. Also, I have the companion bias-tee or Control Box as Mirage calls it. Also, I have the 70CM Mirage preamp which works really well. I have contacted MFJ for info and they are very agreeable and they "need to check one part numbers, etc." but never return a call. When I call them back, I get the same very polite and agreeable "need to check....". I have done this 3 times without getting any info from them. The problem is not in the Control Box - they both work well with the working KP-2 70CM preamp. Have any of you repaired a KP-2 2M preamp? Do any of you have a schematic diagram of this preamp? Do any of you know the part number of the gasfet transistor? (I'm thinking its the problem) Details: I have cleaned up and tested the preamp. It seems that the internal bias-tee relay is working properly and there are voltages on the transistors that seem to match the working KP-2 70CM preamp. The preamps were mounted on my M2 circularly polarized arrays at a previous QTH. Presently, I'm setting up two much smaller antennas and I want to use these preamps. I'm reasonably sure its the gasfet transistor. I Googled this topic extensively and I find other hams asking this same question without an answer in postings from 2001 to 2012. No schematic and no part number for the gasfet. At $200 each, I want to try to repair it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks & 73, Larry W7DGP From updwrb at bristor-assoc.com Tue Feb 16 02:35:48 2016 From: updwrb at bristor-assoc.com (w4upd) Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 21:35:48 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Mirage KP-2 2 meter preamp help In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56C28B04.2060804@bristor-assoc.com> There are town versions of this preamp. The first and older version is mounted in a cast aluminum box which provides rf shielding. The newer version is mounted in a plastic box with stainless steel angle bracket. Each are slightly different in the components. Reid, W4UPD On 2/15/2016 7:17 PM, Larry Ryan wrote: > I am trying to repair a Mirage KP-2 series mast-mount 2M preamp. It is > quite old. Also, I have the companion bias-tee or Control Box as Mirage > calls it. Also, I have the 70CM Mirage preamp which works really well. > > I have contacted MFJ for info and they are very agreeable and they "need to > check one part numbers, etc." but never return a call. When I call them > back, I get the same very polite and agreeable "need to check....". I have > done this 3 times without getting any info from them. > > The problem is not in the Control Box - they both work well with the > working KP-2 70CM preamp. > > Have any of you repaired a KP-2 2M preamp? > > Do any of you have a schematic diagram of this preamp? > > Do any of you know the part number of the gasfet transistor? (I'm thinking > its the problem) > > Details: I have cleaned up and tested the preamp. It seems that the > internal bias-tee relay is working properly and there are voltages on the > transistors that seem to match the working KP-2 70CM preamp. The preamps > were mounted on my M2 circularly polarized arrays at a previous QTH. > Presently, I'm setting up two much smaller antennas and I want to use these > preamps. I'm reasonably sure its the gasfet transistor. I Googled this > topic extensively and I find other hams asking this same question without > an answer in postings from 2001 to 2012. No schematic and no part number > for the gasfet. At $200 each, I want to try to repair it. > > Any help would be appreciated. > > Thanks & 73, Larry W7DGP > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From jefforybroughton at gmail.com Tue Feb 16 14:32:44 2016 From: jefforybroughton at gmail.com (jeffory broughton) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:32:44 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation Message-ID: I saw the video ,I believe on facebook of Hope making contacts from the hamfest.i can't find it again.Can some send me a link ? jeff broughton From james at wx4tv.com Tue Feb 16 14:47:08 2016 From: james at wx4tv.com (James Lea - WX4TV) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:47:08 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: If it is her on SO-50, I've not seen it and would love to see it. James Lea Sent from my iPhone On Feb 16, 2016, at 09:32, jeffory broughton wrote: I saw the video ,I believe on facebook of Hope making contacts from the hamfest.i can't find it again.Can some send me a link ? jeff broughton _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From richard.siff at verizon.net Tue Feb 16 14:54:25 2016 From: richard.siff at verizon.net (Rich/wa4bue) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:54:25 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I think the link is Ham world . net Hope and family will be speaking this weekend at Old Dominion University Open House for about 400 -600 middle & high school students touring the engineering department. Hope is the key note speaker on Saturday. John KW4CR is coordinating the event. On Fri. 19th K4AMG will be on the air HF and SATS WX permitting God Bless R W4BUE -----Original Message----- From: jeffory broughton Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 9:32 AM To: amsat-bb at amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation I saw the video ,I believe on facebook of Hope making contacts from the hamfest.i can't find it again.Can some send me a link ? jeff broughton _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From richard.siff at verizon.net Tue Feb 16 14:55:26 2016 From: richard.siff at verizon.net (Rich/wa4bue) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:55:26 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <7C43E7C6A7C34EF09C5B79973137EF73@BanjoPC> Maybe on K4AMG Face Book too! -----Original Message----- From: James Lea - WX4TV Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 9:47 AM To: jeffory broughton Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation If it is her on SO-50, I've not seen it and would love to see it. James Lea Sent from my iPhone On Feb 16, 2016, at 09:32, jeffory broughton wrote: I saw the video ,I believe on facebook of Hope making contacts from the hamfest.i can't find it again.Can some send me a link ? jeff broughton _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From michel-f6glj at orange.fr Tue Feb 16 17:32:16 2016 From: michel-f6glj at orange.fr ( F6GLJ) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 18:32:16 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] France (IN94) on AO-07B Message-ID: <001f01d168df$fd2d1180$f7873480$@fr> Hello. I?ll be on AO-07 between 18 :00 to 18 :10, very good pass for qso France <> SA and NA. Only 3? off elevation. I hope meet you. 73 Qro de F6GLJ https://www.qrz.com/db/F6GLJ From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Tue Feb 16 21:41:30 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:41:30 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama Message-ID: <6FF0314C6CC1401098DBAEA39B2480BE@DHJ> An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama on Feb 19 The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 17:20 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and K4UAH. The contact should be audible over the state of Alabama and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. The Space Hardware Club at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is an engineering club of students that builds balloon payloads, satellites and rockets outside of their regular classes. The club has been working on this contact for over a year. After deciding to focus on 8th grade students, we reached out to Discovery Middle School, Westlawn Middle School, and the Tennessee Valley Homeschool 4-H group - all from the northern Alabama area. The students from Westlawn have been part of Project Lead The Way for 2 years now and have been exposed to robotics, modeling, and 3d printing. The students from the homeschool group all have a passion for STEM, a love of learning and being challenged, and are bubbling with excitement for this opportunity of a lifetime. There are two STEM II classes from Discovery Middle School that routinely rise to the expectations of their accelerated STEM focused curriculum. By the time of the contact, the students will have learned about the ISS, the astronauts and some of the experiments aboard, and amateur radio. All of the students and club members involved are passionate about this opportunity, and thank you for your time. 1. What is your favorite experiment that you've done in space? 2. What would you want to add to the ISS? 3. What is your favorite thing about living in space? 4. If someone wants to be an astronaut when they grow up, what should they be doing now as a kid to prepare? 5. Was it hard to adjust to zero gravity? 6. What everyday task on Earth is the hardest in space? 7. Did you put any ranch on the lettuce grown in space? 8. What do the stars look like from up in space? 9. What happens in a case of an emergency? 10. What is your sleep schedule? 11. What do astronauts do for fun on the ISS? 12. Do you ever feel lonely? 13. When you get back on earth, do you feel different? 14. Do you have trouble telling whether it is night or day? 15. Why did you choose to go to space? 16. Do you feel like your background helped you to become an astronaut? 17. Does micogravity make your body tired or sick? 18. What is the hardest thing about being away from earth for so long? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): TBD ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From dave at druidnetworks.com Tue Feb 16 22:14:52 2016 From: dave at druidnetworks.com (Dave Swanson) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:14:52 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record Message-ID: <56C39F5C.2050700@druidnetworks.com> Satellite Friends and Colleagues, I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from 'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we just needed a little luck. Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the contact. It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. That said, wow.. what a rush Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until then, catch you on the birds! 73! -Dave, KG5CCI From wageners at gmail.com Tue Feb 16 22:24:03 2016 From: wageners at gmail.com (Stefan Wagener) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:24:03 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record In-Reply-To: <56C39F5C.2050700@druidnetworks.com> References: <56C39F5C.2050700@druidnetworks.com> Message-ID: Very nice Dave and Eduardo! Congratulations and thank you for the info. 73, Stefan, VE4NSA On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 4:14 PM, Dave Swanson wrote: > Satellite Friends and Colleagues, > > I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made a > scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from 'Shinnal > Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid locator for > the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located at GG66LW77JQ > in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html > website for reference, this equates to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a > new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've been extremely busy this past week, but I > had a few folks request that I share a little background behind the > contact, so here we go. > > Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, PT9BM. > While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km away from > me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with great a great > southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into view, while > scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I tried to > answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and I went ahead > and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything else of it > until later that night when I decided to look up the station I had heard. > To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way beyond the > theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I promptly emailed > Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, even though the math > said it shouldn't be possible. > > At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th > seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th all > to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on February > 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on the 8th, > followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and we prepared > for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us though, as we > successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but strong CW QRM was > hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was low and, more > importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We decided to not count > the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was though, we both heard each > other (the first time that had happened) and our frequency coordination was > spot on. We knew it could be done, we just needed a little luck. > > Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already > determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL > thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed to > simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in the > same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both stations > cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the contact. It was > extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's side of the QSO > turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded a recording of it > to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A > > After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I > think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This was > by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact window > measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. Had I not > heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I doubt I would > have even pursued this as something that was possible. That said, wow.. > what a rush > > Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making ultra > long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we finally > made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) for > persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for acting > as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart we were > from each other. Appreciate it guys. > > If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until > then, catch you on the birds! 73! > > -Dave, KG5CCI > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From PeteW2JV at verizon.net Wed Feb 17 01:30:03 2016 From: PeteW2JV at verizon.net (W2JV) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 20:30:03 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker Message-ID: The Great South Bay, Amateur Radio Club, of which I?m a member wants to put together a satellite station. They have an existing home made AZ EL power unit which works. They are looking into interfacing an LVB tracker with it. and need to know what voltage level input is required for the feedback loop. The unit currently puts out 0-6.25vdc corresponding to 0-360 AZ and 0-180 EL. Looking at the G5500 schematic they go through an opamp arrangement but do not provide any voltage levels. If anyone can the club with some info I'd sure appreciate it. Thanks, W2JV Peter From py2rn at arrl.net Wed Feb 17 01:46:14 2016 From: py2rn at arrl.net (Eduardo PY2RN) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 01:46:14 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record In-Reply-To: <56C39F5C.2050700@druidnetworks.com> References: <56C39F5C.2050700@druidnetworks.com> Message-ID: <871553990.5662074.1455673574782.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Thanks Dave for the QSO and well done with all the persistence. It is always good to double check even when everything is saying that it wouldn't be possible, even the computer shouting "satellite is not visible!" over your signal :o) 73s Eduardo? PY2RN From: Dave Swanson To: amsat-bb at amsat.org Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 8:14 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record Satellite Friends and Colleagues, I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from? 'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas.? My 10 digit grid locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil.? Using the http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we just needed a little luck. Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the contact.? It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear.? Eduardo's side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. That said, wow.. what a rush Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until then, catch you on the birds! 73! -Dave, KG5CCI _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From seb at wintek.com Wed Feb 17 02:44:43 2016 From: seb at wintek.com (Stephen E. Belter) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 02:44:43 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record In-Reply-To: <871553990.5662074.1455673574782.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <56C39F5C.2050700@druidnetworks.com> <871553990.5662074.1455673574782.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Gentlemen: Congratulations! Would you describe your stations? Radios, antennas, coax, preamps, software? Thanks! 73, Steve N9IP -- Steve Belter, seb at wintek.com On 2/16/16, 8:46 PM, "AMSAT-BB on behalf of Eduardo PY2RN" wrote: >Thanks Dave for the QSO and well done with all the persistence. > >It is always good to double check even when everything is saying that it >wouldn't be possible, even the computer shouting "satellite is not >visible!" over your signal :o) >73s >Eduardo PY2RN > > From: Dave Swanson > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 8:14 PM > Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record > >Satellite Friends and Colleagues, > >I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made >a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from >'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid >locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located >at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the >http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates >to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've >been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I >share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. > >Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, >PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km >away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with >great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into >view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I >tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and >I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything >else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station >I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way >beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I >promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, >even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. > >At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th >seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th >all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on >February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on >the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and >we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us >though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but >strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was >low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We >decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was >though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and >our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we >just needed a little luck. > >Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already >determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL >thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed >to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in >the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both >stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the >contact. It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's >side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded >a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A > >After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I >think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This >was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact >window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. >Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I >doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. >That said, wow.. what a rush > >Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making >ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we >finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) >for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for >acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart >we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. > >If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until >then, catch you on the birds! 73! > >-Dave, KG5CCI >_______________________________________________ >Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >Opinions expressed >are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >AMSAT-NA. >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > >_______________________________________________ >Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >Opinions expressed >are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >AMSAT-NA. >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From AJ9N at aol.com Wed Feb 17 03:37:21 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 22:37:21 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-17 03:30 UTC Message-ID: <7043c.6ee4a92e.43f544f1@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-17 03:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10:55 UTC 40 deg (***) Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29 deg (***) **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-17 03:30 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1023. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 988. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-12 05:00 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From howied231 at hotmail.com Wed Feb 17 05:03:49 2016 From: howied231 at hotmail.com (Howie DeFelice) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 00:03:49 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Peter, Looking through the documentation I have on the LVB tracker it looks like it has been designed for 0 to 5 VDC for AZ and EL feedback. Typically rotors have a wirewound "pot" with one end grounded and the other end open. A constant current source is fed to the wiper and the sense voltage is measured at the constant current source. If you can trim the constant current source, you can set the max value to 5 VDC. The LVB tracker has a calibration process to set the range of AZ and EL. Howie AB2S > From: PeteW2JV at verizon.net > To: AMSAT-BB at amsat.org > Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 20:30:03 -0500 > Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker > > > The Great South Bay, Amateur Radio Club, of which I?m a member wants to put together a satellite station. > They have an existing home made AZ EL power unit which works. They are looking into interfacing an LVB tracker with it. > and need to know what voltage level input is required for the feedback loop. The unit currently puts out 0-6.25vdc corresponding to 0-360 AZ and 0-180 EL. Looking at the G5500 schematic they go through an opamp arrangement but do not provide any voltage levels. > > If anyone can the club with some info I'd sure appreciate it. > > Thanks, > > W2JV Peter > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From ea4cyq at gmail.com Wed Feb 17 07:20:15 2016 From: ea4cyq at gmail.com (Juan Antonio Fernandez) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 08:20:15 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? Message-ID: I can?t understand it. My thinking: - Any award needs 6 digits - Time on SATs is limited, Why to waste it trying to understand something useless - Other places, such as USA, only use 4 digits from years - To wrap up, all are advantages Anybody knows some reason why should we follow using 6 digits? If there is not a strong reason, I think we should start using 4 digits Juan Antonio EA4CYQ From roccaf at gmail.com Wed Feb 17 08:01:54 2016 From: roccaf at gmail.com (Fabio) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:01:54 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hello Juan, I agree with you. The 6 digits locator here in Europe comes from the terrestrial communications rules and it has never been changed for satellites. On digital EME modes, for example, the 4 digits is the standard worldwide and on cw EME is often not used. The real question is why do we have to we have to transmit our locator: -locators awards (4 digits are enough) -to beam the station (6 digits are more precise) Considered that we are beaming a satellite or the moon.... I think the second answer has not to be considered 73 Fabio F5VKV > On 17 Feb 2016, at 08:20, Juan Antonio Fernandez wrote: > > I can?t understand it. > My thinking: > - Any award needs 6 digits > > - Time on SATs is limited, Why to waste it trying to understand something > useless > > - Other places, such as USA, only use 4 digits from years > > - To wrap up, all are advantages > > > > Anybody knows some reason why should we follow using 6 digits? > > > > If there is not a strong reason, I think we should start using 4 digits > > > > Juan Antonio > > EA4CYQ > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp Wed Feb 17 08:47:25 2016 From: jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp (=?ISO-2022-JP?B?WWFzdXRha2EgTmFydQ==?= =?ISO-2022-JP?B?c2F3YSAoSlIyWEVBKQ==?=) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:47:25 +0900 (JST) Subject: [amsat-bb] =?iso-2022-jp?b?Q2h1YnVTYXQtMiBhbmQgQ2h1YnVTYXQtMyBs?= =?iso-2022-jp?b?YXVuY2hlZCByaWdodCBub3ch?= Message-ID: <201602170847.u1H8lPZ8017521@ms-omx12.plus.so-net.ne.jp> Dear all; Feb. 17 17:45JST(08:45UTC), ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 has been launched on the H-IIA F30 launch vehicle. After separation, both satellites start transmitting beacon message. I hope you receive our message and report to us, thank you. https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite3.html Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA) From the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp Wed Feb 17 09:01:38 2016 From: the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp (J. Boyd (JR2TTS)) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 18:01:38 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 launched right now! In-Reply-To: <201602170847.u1H8lPZ8017521@ms-omx12.plus.so-net.ne.jp> References: <201602170847.u1H8lPZ8017521@ms-omx12.plus.so-net.ne.jp> Message-ID: <20160217175710.B4BE.THE2BELO@msd.biglobe.ne.jp> On Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:47:25 +0900 (JST), Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA) wrote: > Dear all; > > Feb. 17 17:45JST(08:45UTC), ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 has been launched > on the H-IIA F30 launch vehicle. After separation, both satellites start > transmitting beacon message. I hope you receive our message and report > to us, thank you. > > https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html > https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite3.html ??????????????????? Congratulations on a successful launch! -- J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS Twitter: @Minus2_C From ewpereira at gmail.com Wed Feb 17 09:39:24 2016 From: ewpereira at gmail.com (Edson W. R. Pereira) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 06:39:24 -0300 Subject: [amsat-bb] ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 launched right now! In-Reply-To: <20160217175710.B4BE.THE2BELO@msd.biglobe.ne.jp> References: <201602170847.u1H8lPZ8017521@ms-omx12.plus.so-net.ne.jp> <20160217175710.B4BE.THE2BELO@msd.biglobe.ne.jp> Message-ID: ChubuSat-2 CW signal received at GG56tv. Searching for ChubuSat-3 Details will follow. 73 de Edson PY2SDR --- - We humans have the capability to do amazing things if we work together. - N?s seres humanos temos a capacidade de fazer coisas incr?veis se trabalharmos juntos. On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 6:01 AM, J. Boyd (JR2TTS) < the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp> wrote: > On Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:47:25 +0900 (JST), Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA) < > jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp> wrote: > > > Dear all; > > > > Feb. 17 17:45JST(08:45UTC), ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 has been launched > > on the H-IIA F30 launch vehicle. After separation, both satellites start > > transmitting beacon message. I hope you receive our message and report > > to us, thank you. > > > > > https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html > > > https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite3.html > > ??????????????????? > Congratulations on a successful launch! > > -- > J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B > the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp > http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ > http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS > Twitter: @Minus2_C > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From th.frey at vtxmail.ch Wed Feb 17 11:10:35 2016 From: th.frey at vtxmail.ch (Thomas Frey) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 12:10:35 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Launch Success of H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 30 Message-ID: <56C4552B.2090502@vtxmail.ch> A very quick Press Release: http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2016/02/20160217_h2af30.html HORYU-4, ChubuSat-2 & 3 are in the orbit. Mit freundlichen Gr?ssen, Regards, 73 Thomas Frey, HB9SKA ______________________________________________________________________ Thomas Frey, Holzgasse 2, CH-5242 Birr, Tel.: 056 444 93 41 http://home.datacomm.ch/th.frey/ From py4zbz at yahoo.com Wed Feb 17 11:21:36 2016 From: py4zbz at yahoo.com (Roland Zurmely) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 11:21:36 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] New satellites References: <1602104295.4344445.1455708096287.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1602104295.4344445.1455708096287.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Received Chubusat-2, Chubusat-3 and Horyu-4 in Brazil only 50 minutes after liftoff in Japan ! 73 ?de Roland PY4ZBZ From wa4sca at gmail.com Wed Feb 17 12:26:40 2016 From: wa4sca at gmail.com (Alan) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 06:26:40 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <000401d1697e$74775b30$5d661190$@GMAIL.COM> Peter, It isn't shown on the schematic, but elsewhere in the rotator docs (page 5, External Control) it specifies 0-4.5V DC for the position sensing outputs. Depending on the existing interface, a simple voltage divider would probably do. I don't have an LVB tracker, so I can't comment on that end. 73s, Alan WA4SCA <-----Original Message----- References: Message-ID: <56C46884.80503@gmail.com> Hi guys Yes, it's a bad habit in europe, but when I give all four digits, people again asked by the two last digits and it is worse yet. As the saying goes, "the cure is worse than the disease". Let us try to get used to everybody. 73 Luis El 17/02/2016 a las 9:01, Fabio escribi?: > Hello Juan, > > I agree with you. The 6 digits locator here in Europe comes from the terrestrial communications rules and it has never been changed for satellites. > > On digital EME modes, for example, the 4 digits is the standard worldwide and on cw EME is often not used. > > The real question is why do we have to we have to transmit our locator: > > -locators awards (4 digits are enough) > -to beam the station (6 digits are more precise) > > Considered that we are beaming a satellite or the moon.... I think the second answer has not to be considered > > 73 > Fabio > F5VKV > >> On 17 Feb 2016, at 08:20, Juan Antonio Fernandez wrote: >> >> I can??t understand it. >> My thinking: >> - Any award needs 6 digits >> >> - Time on SATs is limited, Why to waste it trying to understand something >> useless >> >> - Other places, such as USA, only use 4 digits from years >> >> - To wrap up, all are advantages >> >> >> >> Anybody knows some reason why should we follow using 6 digits? >> >> >> >> If there is not a strong reason, I think we should start using 4 digits >> >> >> >> Juan Antonio >> >> EA4CYQ >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From kf1buz at gmail.com Wed Feb 17 04:22:07 2016 From: kf1buz at gmail.com (Buzcut Ranger) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 20:22:07 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 11, Issue 53 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi All so is the issue with the iss packet system a radio or antenna? its as def a stump. had a nice 45 deg pass and it did not pick me up at all, but picked up a few others, 100w should beable to get a hit but nope, then there is the odd person or persons that connect to the BBS and lock out any one else from reporting... oh well.. Dan KF1BUZ On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 7:37 PM, wrote: > Send AMSAT-BB mailing list submissions to > amsat-bb at amsat.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > amsat-bb-request at amsat.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > amsat-bb-owner at amsat.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of AMSAT-BB digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Orlando hamcation (Rich/wa4bue) > 2. Re: Orlando hamcation (Rich/wa4bue) > 3. France (IN94) on AO-07B ( F6GLJ) > 4. Upcoming ARISS contact with UAH Space Hardware Club, > Huntsville, Alabama (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) > 5. New AO7 Distance Record (Dave Swanson) > 6. Re: New AO7 Distance Record (Stefan Wagener) > 7. Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker (W2JV) > 8. Re: New AO7 Distance Record (Eduardo PY2RN) > 9. Re: New AO7 Distance Record (Stephen E. Belter) > 10. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-17 03:30 UTC > (AJ9N at aol.com) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:54:25 -0500 > From: "Rich/wa4bue" > To: > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1; > reply-type=original > > I think the link is Ham world . net > > Hope and family will be speaking this weekend at Old Dominion University > Open House for about 400 -600 middle & high school students touring the > engineering department. > > Hope is the key note speaker on Saturday. > > John KW4CR is coordinating the event. > > On Fri. 19th K4AMG will be on the air HF and SATS WX permitting > > God Bless > > R > W4BUE > > -----Original Message----- > From: jeffory broughton > Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 9:32 AM > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation > > I saw the video ,I believe on facebook of Hope making contacts from the > hamfest.i can't find it again.Can some send me a link ? > > jeff broughton > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:55:26 -0500 > From: "Rich/wa4bue" > To: "James Lea - WX4TV" , "jeffory broughton" > > Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation > Message-ID: <7C43E7C6A7C34EF09C5B79973137EF73 at BanjoPC> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1; > reply-type=original > > Maybe on K4AMG Face Book too! > > -----Original Message----- > From: James Lea - WX4TV > Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 9:47 AM > To: jeffory broughton > Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation > > If it is her on SO-50, I've not seen it and would love to see it. > > James Lea > Sent from my iPhone > > On Feb 16, 2016, at 09:32, jeffory broughton > wrote: > > I saw the video ,I believe on facebook of Hope making contacts from the > hamfest.i can't find it again.Can some send me a link ? > > jeff broughton > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 18:32:16 +0100 > From: " F6GLJ" > To: , "VE1MAM" , > , , > > Subject: [amsat-bb] France (IN94) on AO-07B > Message-ID: <001f01d168df$fd2d1180$f7873480$@fr> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Hello. > > > > I?ll be on AO-07 between 18 :00 to 18 :10, very good pass for qso France <> > SA and NA. Only 3? off elevation. > > > > I hope meet you. > > > > 73 Qro de F6GLJ > https://www.qrz.com/db/F6GLJ > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:41:30 -0500 > From: > To: "Michael Lee" , "Doug Rehman" , > , "amsat-edu" , > > Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with UAH Space Hardware > Club, Huntsville, Alabama > Message-ID: <6FF0314C6CC1401098DBAEA39B2480BE at DHJ> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > An International Space Station school contact has been planned with > participants at UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama on Feb 19 The > event is scheduled to begin at approximately 17:20 UTC. The duration of the > contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be > direct between NA1SS and K4UAH. The contact should be audible over the > state of Alabama and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to > listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be > conducted in English. > > > > > > The Space Hardware Club at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is an > engineering club of students that builds balloon payloads, satellites and > rockets outside of their regular classes. The club has been working on this > contact for over a year. After deciding to focus on 8th grade students, we > reached out to Discovery Middle School, Westlawn Middle School, and the > Tennessee Valley Homeschool 4-H group - all from the northern Alabama area. > The students from Westlawn have been part of Project Lead The Way for 2 > years now and have been exposed to robotics, modeling, and 3d printing. The > students from the homeschool group all have a passion for STEM, a love of > learning and being challenged, and are bubbling with excitement for this > opportunity of a lifetime. There are two STEM II classes from Discovery > Middle School that routinely rise to the expectations of their accelerated > STEM focused curriculum. By the time of the contact, the students will have > learned about the ISS, the > astronauts and some of the experiments aboard, and amateur radio. All > of the students and club members involved are passionate about this > opportunity, and thank you for your time. > > > > > > > > 1. What is your favorite experiment that you've done in space? > > 2. What would you want to add to the ISS? > > 3. What is your favorite thing about living in space? > > 4. If someone wants to be an astronaut when they grow up, what should > they be doing now as a kid to prepare? > > 5. Was it hard to adjust to zero gravity? > > 6. What everyday task on Earth is the hardest in space? > > 7. Did you put any ranch on the lettuce grown in space? > > 8. What do the stars look like from up in space? > > 9. What happens in a case of an emergency? > > 10. What is your sleep schedule? > > 11. What do astronauts do for fun on the ISS? > > 12. Do you ever feel lonely? > > 13. When you get back on earth, do you feel different? > > 14. Do you have trouble telling whether it is night or day? > > 15. Why did you choose to go to space? > > 16. Do you feel like your background helped you to become an astronaut? > > 17. Does micogravity make your body tired or sick? > > 18. What is the hardest thing about being away from earth for so long? > > > > > > > > PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: > > > > Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the > > International Space Station (ARISS). > > > > To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status > > > > > > Next planned event(s): > > > > TBD > > > > ABOUT ARISS > > Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative > venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies > that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, > sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American > Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space > Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration > of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by > organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard > the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the > help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with > large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these > radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about > space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see > www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.a > rrl.org. > > > > Thank you & 73, > > David - AA4KN > > > > > > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:14:52 -0600 > From: Dave Swanson > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record > Message-ID: <56C39F5C.2050700 at druidnetworks.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed > > Satellite Friends and Colleagues, > > I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made > a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from > 'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid > locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located > at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the > http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates > to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've > been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I > share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. > > Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, > PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km > away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with > great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into > view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I > tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and > I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything > else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station > I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way > beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I > promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, > even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. > > At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th > seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th > all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on > February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on > the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and > we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us > though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but > strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was > low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We > decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was > though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and > our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we > just needed a little luck. > > Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already > determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL > thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed > to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in > the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both > stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the > contact. It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's > side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded > a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A > > After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I > think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This > was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact > window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. > Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I > doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. > That said, wow.. what a rush > > Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making > ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we > finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) > for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for > acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart > we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. > > If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until > then, catch you on the birds! 73! > > -Dave, KG5CCI > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 6 > Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:24:03 -0600 > From: Stefan Wagener > To: Dave Swanson > Cc: AMSAT BB > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record > Message-ID: > < > CAKu8kHBqifxc+bEvoxVu6XhtOT8zep4oAWAYFJ4Q09-YOG6iHw at mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Very nice Dave and Eduardo! > > Congratulations and thank you for the info. > > 73, Stefan, VE4NSA > > On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 4:14 PM, Dave Swanson > wrote: > > > Satellite Friends and Colleagues, > > > > I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made > a > > scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from 'Shinnal > > Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid locator > for > > the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located at > GG66LW77JQ > > in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html > > website for reference, this equates to 8030.895 km which we believe to > be a > > new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've been extremely busy this past week, but > I > > had a few folks request that I share a little background behind the > > contact, so here we go. > > > > Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, > PT9BM. > > While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km away > from > > me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with great a great > > southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into view, while > > scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I tried to > > answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and I went > ahead > > and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything else of it > > until later that night when I decided to look up the station I had heard. > > To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way beyond the > > theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I promptly > emailed > > Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, even though the > math > > said it shouldn't be possible. > > > > At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th > > seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th all > > to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on February > > 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on the 8th, > > followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and we > prepared > > for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us though, as we > > successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but strong CW QRM > was > > hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was low and, more > > importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We decided to not count > > the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was though, we both heard > each > > other (the first time that had happened) and our frequency coordination > was > > spot on. We knew it could be done, we just needed a little luck. > > > > Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already > > determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL > > thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed to > > simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in the > > same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both stations > > cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the contact. It was > > extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's side of the QSO > > turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded a recording of > it > > to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A > > > > After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I > > think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This > was > > by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact window > > measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. Had I > not > > heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I doubt I > would > > have even pursued this as something that was possible. That said, wow.. > > what a rush > > > > Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making ultra > > long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we > finally > > made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) for > > persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for acting > > as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart we were > > from each other. Appreciate it guys. > > > > If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until > > then, catch you on the birds! 73! > > > > -Dave, KG5CCI > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions > > expressed > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > > AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 7 > Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 20:30:03 -0500 > From: "W2JV" > To: > Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > > > The Great South Bay, Amateur Radio Club, of which I?m a member wants to > put together a satellite station. > They have an existing home made AZ EL power unit which works. They are > looking into interfacing an LVB tracker with it. > and need to know what voltage level input is required for the feedback > loop. The unit currently puts out 0-6.25vdc corresponding to 0-360 AZ and > 0-180 EL. Looking at the G5500 schematic they go through an opamp > arrangement but do not provide any voltage levels. > > If anyone can the club with some info I'd sure appreciate it. > > Thanks, > > W2JV Peter > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 8 > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 01:46:14 +0000 (UTC) > From: Eduardo PY2RN > To: Dave Swanson , "amsat-bb at amsat.org" > > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record > Message-ID: > <871553990.5662074.1455673574782.JavaMail.yahoo at mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Thanks Dave for the QSO and well done with all the persistence. > > It is always good to double check even when everything is saying that it > wouldn't be possible, even the computer shouting "satellite is not > visible!" over your signal :o) > 73s > Eduardo? PY2RN > > From: Dave Swanson > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 8:14 PM > Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record > > Satellite Friends and Colleagues, > > I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made > a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from? > 'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas.? My 10 digit grid > locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located > at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil.? Using the > http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates > to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've > been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I > share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. > > Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, > PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km > away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with > great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into > view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I > tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and > I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything > else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station > I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way > beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I > promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, > even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. > > At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th > seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th > all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on > February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on > the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and > we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us > though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but > strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was > low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We > decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was > though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and > our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we > just needed a little luck. > > Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already > determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL > thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed > to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in > the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both > stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the > contact.? It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear.? Eduardo's > side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded > a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A > > After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I > think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This > was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact > window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. > Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I > doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. > That said, wow.. what a rush > > Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making > ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we > finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) > for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for > acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart > we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. > > If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until > then, catch you on the birds! 73! > > -Dave, KG5CCI > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 9 > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 02:44:43 +0000 > From: "Stephen E. Belter" > To: Eduardo PY2RN , Dave Swanson > , "amsat-bb at amsat.org" < > amsat-bb at amsat.org> > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Gentlemen: > > Congratulations! > > Would you describe your stations? Radios, antennas, coax, preamps, > software? > > Thanks! > > 73, Steve N9IP > -- > Steve Belter, seb at wintek.com > > > > On 2/16/16, 8:46 PM, "AMSAT-BB on behalf of Eduardo PY2RN" > wrote: > > >Thanks Dave for the QSO and well done with all the persistence. > > > >It is always good to double check even when everything is saying that it > >wouldn't be possible, even the computer shouting "satellite is not > >visible!" over your signal :o) > >73s > >Eduardo PY2RN > > > > From: Dave Swanson > > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > > Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 8:14 PM > > Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record > > > >Satellite Friends and Colleagues, > > > >I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made > >a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from > >'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid > >locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located > >at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the > >http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates > >to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've > >been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I > >share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. > > > >Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, > >PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km > >away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with > >great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into > >view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I > >tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and > >I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything > >else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station > >I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way > >beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I > >promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, > >even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. > > > >At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th > >seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th > >all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on > >February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on > >the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and > >we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us > >though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but > >strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was > >low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We > >decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was > >though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and > >our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we > >just needed a little luck. > > > >Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already > >determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL > >thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed > >to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in > >the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both > >stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the > >contact. It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's > >side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded > >a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A > > > >After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I > >think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This > >was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact > >window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. > >Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I > >doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. > >That said, wow.. what a rush > > > >Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making > >ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we > >finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) > >for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for > >acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart > >we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. > > > >If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until > >then, catch you on the birds! 73! > > > >-Dave, KG5CCI > >_______________________________________________ > >Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > >to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > >Opinions expressed > >are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > >AMSAT-NA. > >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > >Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > >to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > >Opinions expressed > >are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > >AMSAT-NA. > >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > >Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 10 > Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 22:37:21 -0500 > From: AJ9N at aol.com > To: amsat-bb at AMSAT.Org > Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-17 > 03:30 UTC > Message-ID: <7043c.6ee4a92e.43f544f1 at aol.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" > > Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-17 03:30 UTC > > Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: > > Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB > The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS > The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI > Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg > > UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH > The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS > The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN > Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg > > Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD > The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS > The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN > Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10:55 UTC 40 deg (***) > > Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS > The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS > The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI > Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29 deg (***) > > > **************************************************************************** > ** > ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. > ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send > your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. > > > **************************************************************************** > Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and > not being able to get in. That has now been changed to > http://www.ariss.org/ > > Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. > > > **************************************************************************** > Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? > > If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete > details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. > > > http://www.ariss-eu.org/ > > If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to > provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net > > **************************************************************************** > ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 > > schools: > > Gaston ON4WF with 121 > Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 > Francesco IK?WGF with 116 > > > > **************************************************************************** > The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date > webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are > additional > ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. > > Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own > orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed > time. > All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date > and > time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS > > The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-17 03:30 UTC. > (***) > > Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and > questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and > instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. > http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf > > Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1023. > Each school counts as 1 event. > Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 988. > Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. > Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. > > A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the > file. > http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf > > Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. > > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > > The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: > Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, > Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin > Islands. > > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > > QSL information may be found at: > http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html > > ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS > > > **************************************************************************** > The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-12 05:00 UTC. > > http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf > > Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing > Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC > > http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction > .rtf > > Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. > http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf > > Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts > > https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 > > **************************************************************************** > Exp. 43/44 on orbit > Scott Kelly > Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF > > Exp. 45 on orbit > Sergey Volkov RU3DIS > > Exp. 46 on orbit > Tim Kopra KE5UDN > Timothy Peake KG5BVI > Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP > > > **************************************************************************** > > 73, > Charlie Sufana AJ9N > One of the ARISS operation team mentors > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via amsat-bb at amsat.org. > AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons > worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > ------------------------------ > > End of AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 11, Issue 53 > **************************************** > From n8hm at arrl.net Wed Feb 17 13:29:38 2016 From: n8hm at arrl.net (Paul Stoetzer) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 08:29:38 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] ISS Packet Message-ID: It shouldn't take that much. I have gotten in with 5 watts to a whip antenna before. However, the channel has to be clear. What is your setup? Have you tried it with terrestrial APRS to make sure your modulation is OK? 73, Paul, N8HM On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 11:22 PM, Buzcut Ranger wrote: > Hi All > > so is the issue with the iss packet system a radio or antenna? its as def a > stump. had a nice 45 deg pass and it did not pick me up at all, but picked > up a few others, 100w should beable to get a hit but nope, then there is > the odd person or persons that connect to the BBS and lock out any one else > from reporting... > oh well.. > > Dan KF1BUZ > > On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 7:37 PM, wrote: > >> Send AMSAT-BB mailing list submissions to >> amsat-bb at amsat.org >> >> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit >> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to >> amsat-bb-request at amsat.org >> >> You can reach the person managing the list at >> amsat-bb-owner at amsat.org >> >> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific >> than "Re: Contents of AMSAT-BB digest..." >> >> >> Today's Topics: >> >> 1. Re: Orlando hamcation (Rich/wa4bue) >> 2. Re: Orlando hamcation (Rich/wa4bue) >> 3. France (IN94) on AO-07B ( F6GLJ) >> 4. Upcoming ARISS contact with UAH Space Hardware Club, >> Huntsville, Alabama (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) >> 5. New AO7 Distance Record (Dave Swanson) >> 6. Re: New AO7 Distance Record (Stefan Wagener) >> 7. Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker (W2JV) >> 8. Re: New AO7 Distance Record (Eduardo PY2RN) >> 9. Re: New AO7 Distance Record (Stephen E. Belter) >> 10. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-17 03:30 UTC >> (AJ9N at aol.com) >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> Message: 1 >> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:54:25 -0500 >> From: "Rich/wa4bue" >> To: >> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation >> Message-ID: >> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1; >> reply-type=original >> >> I think the link is Ham world . net >> >> Hope and family will be speaking this weekend at Old Dominion University >> Open House for about 400 -600 middle & high school students touring the >> engineering department. >> >> Hope is the key note speaker on Saturday. >> >> John KW4CR is coordinating the event. >> >> On Fri. 19th K4AMG will be on the air HF and SATS WX permitting >> >> God Bless >> >> R >> W4BUE >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: jeffory broughton >> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 9:32 AM >> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org >> Subject: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation >> >> I saw the video ,I believe on facebook of Hope making contacts from the >> hamfest.i can't find it again.Can some send me a link ? >> >> jeff broughton >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions >> expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 2 >> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 09:55:26 -0500 >> From: "Rich/wa4bue" >> To: "James Lea - WX4TV" , "jeffory broughton" >> >> Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org >> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation >> Message-ID: <7C43E7C6A7C34EF09C5B79973137EF73 at BanjoPC> >> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1; >> reply-type=original >> >> Maybe on K4AMG Face Book too! >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: James Lea - WX4TV >> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 9:47 AM >> To: jeffory broughton >> Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org >> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Orlando hamcation >> >> If it is her on SO-50, I've not seen it and would love to see it. >> >> James Lea >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On Feb 16, 2016, at 09:32, jeffory broughton >> wrote: >> >> I saw the video ,I believe on facebook of Hope making contacts from the >> hamfest.i can't find it again.Can some send me a link ? >> >> jeff broughton >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions >> expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions >> expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 3 >> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 18:32:16 +0100 >> From: " F6GLJ" >> To: , "VE1MAM" , >> , , > > >> Subject: [amsat-bb] France (IN94) on AO-07B >> Message-ID: <001f01d168df$fd2d1180$f7873480$@fr> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >> >> Hello. >> >> >> >> I?ll be on AO-07 between 18 :00 to 18 :10, very good pass for qso France <> >> SA and NA. Only 3? off elevation. >> >> >> >> I hope meet you. >> >> >> >> 73 Qro de F6GLJ >> https://www.qrz.com/db/F6GLJ >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 4 >> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:41:30 -0500 >> From: >> To: "Michael Lee" , "Doug Rehman" , >> , "amsat-edu" , >> >> Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with UAH Space Hardware >> Club, Huntsville, Alabama >> Message-ID: <6FF0314C6CC1401098DBAEA39B2480BE at DHJ> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >> >> An International Space Station school contact has been planned with >> participants at UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama on Feb 19 The >> event is scheduled to begin at approximately 17:20 UTC. The duration of the >> contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be >> direct between NA1SS and K4UAH. The contact should be audible over the >> state of Alabama and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to >> listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be >> conducted in English. >> >> >> >> >> >> The Space Hardware Club at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is an >> engineering club of students that builds balloon payloads, satellites and >> rockets outside of their regular classes. The club has been working on this >> contact for over a year. After deciding to focus on 8th grade students, we >> reached out to Discovery Middle School, Westlawn Middle School, and the >> Tennessee Valley Homeschool 4-H group - all from the northern Alabama area. >> The students from Westlawn have been part of Project Lead The Way for 2 >> years now and have been exposed to robotics, modeling, and 3d printing. The >> students from the homeschool group all have a passion for STEM, a love of >> learning and being challenged, and are bubbling with excitement for this >> opportunity of a lifetime. There are two STEM II classes from Discovery >> Middle School that routinely rise to the expectations of their accelerated >> STEM focused curriculum. By the time of the contact, the students will have >> learned about the ISS, the >> astronauts and some of the experiments aboard, and amateur radio. All >> of the students and club members involved are passionate about this >> opportunity, and thank you for your time. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> 1. What is your favorite experiment that you've done in space? >> >> 2. What would you want to add to the ISS? >> >> 3. What is your favorite thing about living in space? >> >> 4. If someone wants to be an astronaut when they grow up, what should >> they be doing now as a kid to prepare? >> >> 5. Was it hard to adjust to zero gravity? >> >> 6. What everyday task on Earth is the hardest in space? >> >> 7. Did you put any ranch on the lettuce grown in space? >> >> 8. What do the stars look like from up in space? >> >> 9. What happens in a case of an emergency? >> >> 10. What is your sleep schedule? >> >> 11. What do astronauts do for fun on the ISS? >> >> 12. Do you ever feel lonely? >> >> 13. When you get back on earth, do you feel different? >> >> 14. Do you have trouble telling whether it is night or day? >> >> 15. Why did you choose to go to space? >> >> 16. Do you feel like your background helped you to become an astronaut? >> >> 17. Does micogravity make your body tired or sick? >> >> 18. What is the hardest thing about being away from earth for so long? >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: >> >> >> >> Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the >> >> International Space Station (ARISS). >> >> >> >> To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status >> >> >> >> >> >> Next planned event(s): >> >> >> >> TBD >> >> >> >> ABOUT ARISS >> >> Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative >> venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies >> that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, >> sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American >> Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space >> Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration >> of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by >> organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard >> the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the >> help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with >> large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these >> radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about >> space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see >> www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.a >> rrl.org. >> >> >> >> Thank you & 73, >> >> David - AA4KN >> >> >> >> >> >> >> --- >> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. >> https://www.avast.com/antivirus >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 5 >> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:14:52 -0600 >> From: Dave Swanson >> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org >> Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record >> Message-ID: <56C39F5C.2050700 at druidnetworks.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed >> >> Satellite Friends and Colleagues, >> >> I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made >> a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from >> 'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid >> locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located >> at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the >> http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates >> to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've >> been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I >> share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. >> >> Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, >> PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km >> away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with >> great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into >> view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I >> tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and >> I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything >> else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station >> I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way >> beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I >> promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, >> even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. >> >> At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th >> seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th >> all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on >> February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on >> the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and >> we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us >> though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but >> strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was >> low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We >> decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was >> though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and >> our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we >> just needed a little luck. >> >> Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already >> determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL >> thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed >> to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in >> the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both >> stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the >> contact. It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's >> side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded >> a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A >> >> After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I >> think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This >> was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact >> window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. >> Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I >> doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. >> That said, wow.. what a rush >> >> Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making >> ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we >> finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) >> for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for >> acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart >> we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. >> >> If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until >> then, catch you on the birds! 73! >> >> -Dave, KG5CCI >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 6 >> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:24:03 -0600 >> From: Stefan Wagener >> To: Dave Swanson >> Cc: AMSAT BB >> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record >> Message-ID: >> < >> CAKu8kHBqifxc+bEvoxVu6XhtOT8zep4oAWAYFJ4Q09-YOG6iHw at mail.gmail.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 >> >> Very nice Dave and Eduardo! >> >> Congratulations and thank you for the info. >> >> 73, Stefan, VE4NSA >> >> On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 4:14 PM, Dave Swanson >> wrote: >> >> > Satellite Friends and Colleagues, >> > >> > I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made >> a >> > scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from 'Shinnal >> > Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid locator >> for >> > the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located at >> GG66LW77JQ >> > in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html >> > website for reference, this equates to 8030.895 km which we believe to >> be a >> > new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've been extremely busy this past week, but >> I >> > had a few folks request that I share a little background behind the >> > contact, so here we go. >> > >> > Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, >> PT9BM. >> > While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km away >> from >> > me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with great a great >> > southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into view, while >> > scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I tried to >> > answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and I went >> ahead >> > and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything else of it >> > until later that night when I decided to look up the station I had heard. >> > To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way beyond the >> > theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I promptly >> emailed >> > Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, even though the >> math >> > said it shouldn't be possible. >> > >> > At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th >> > seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th all >> > to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on February >> > 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on the 8th, >> > followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and we >> prepared >> > for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us though, as we >> > successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but strong CW QRM >> was >> > hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was low and, more >> > importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We decided to not count >> > the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was though, we both heard >> each >> > other (the first time that had happened) and our frequency coordination >> was >> > spot on. We knew it could be done, we just needed a little luck. >> > >> > Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already >> > determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL >> > thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed to >> > simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in the >> > same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both stations >> > cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the contact. It was >> > extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's side of the QSO >> > turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded a recording of >> it >> > to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A >> > >> > After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I >> > think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This >> was >> > by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact window >> > measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. Had I >> not >> > heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I doubt I >> would >> > have even pursued this as something that was possible. That said, wow.. >> > what a rush >> > >> > Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making ultra >> > long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we >> finally >> > made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) for >> > persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for acting >> > as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart we were >> > from each other. Appreciate it guys. >> > >> > If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until >> > then, catch you on the birds! 73! >> > >> > -Dave, KG5CCI >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> Opinions >> > expressed >> > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> > AMSAT-NA. >> > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite >> program! >> > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> > >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 7 >> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 20:30:03 -0500 >> From: "W2JV" >> To: >> Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker >> Message-ID: >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" >> >> >> The Great South Bay, Amateur Radio Club, of which I?m a member wants to >> put together a satellite station. >> They have an existing home made AZ EL power unit which works. They are >> looking into interfacing an LVB tracker with it. >> and need to know what voltage level input is required for the feedback >> loop. The unit currently puts out 0-6.25vdc corresponding to 0-360 AZ and >> 0-180 EL. Looking at the G5500 schematic they go through an opamp >> arrangement but do not provide any voltage levels. >> >> If anyone can the club with some info I'd sure appreciate it. >> >> Thanks, >> >> W2JV Peter >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 8 >> Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 01:46:14 +0000 (UTC) >> From: Eduardo PY2RN >> To: Dave Swanson , "amsat-bb at amsat.org" >> >> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record >> Message-ID: >> <871553990.5662074.1455673574782.JavaMail.yahoo at mail.yahoo.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 >> >> Thanks Dave for the QSO and well done with all the persistence. >> >> It is always good to double check even when everything is saying that it >> wouldn't be possible, even the computer shouting "satellite is not >> visible!" over your signal :o) >> 73s >> Eduardo? PY2RN >> >> From: Dave Swanson >> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org >> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 8:14 PM >> Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record >> >> Satellite Friends and Colleagues, >> >> I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made >> a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from? >> 'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas.? My 10 digit grid >> locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located >> at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil.? Using the >> http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates >> to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've >> been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I >> share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. >> >> Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, >> PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km >> away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with >> great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into >> view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I >> tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and >> I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything >> else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station >> I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way >> beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I >> promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, >> even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. >> >> At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th >> seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th >> all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on >> February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on >> the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and >> we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us >> though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but >> strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was >> low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We >> decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was >> though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and >> our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we >> just needed a little luck. >> >> Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already >> determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL >> thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed >> to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in >> the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both >> stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the >> contact.? It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear.? Eduardo's >> side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded >> a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A >> >> After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I >> think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This >> was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact >> window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. >> Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I >> doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. >> That said, wow.. what a rush >> >> Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making >> ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we >> finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) >> for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for >> acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart >> we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. >> >> If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until >> then, catch you on the birds! 73! >> >> -Dave, KG5CCI >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions >> expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 9 >> Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 02:44:43 +0000 >> From: "Stephen E. Belter" >> To: Eduardo PY2RN , Dave Swanson >> , "amsat-bb at amsat.org" < >> amsat-bb at amsat.org> >> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record >> Message-ID: >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >> >> Gentlemen: >> >> Congratulations! >> >> Would you describe your stations? Radios, antennas, coax, preamps, >> software? >> >> Thanks! >> >> 73, Steve N9IP >> -- >> Steve Belter, seb at wintek.com >> >> >> >> On 2/16/16, 8:46 PM, "AMSAT-BB on behalf of Eduardo PY2RN" >> wrote: >> >> >Thanks Dave for the QSO and well done with all the persistence. >> > >> >It is always good to double check even when everything is saying that it >> >wouldn't be possible, even the computer shouting "satellite is not >> >visible!" over your signal :o) >> >73s >> >Eduardo PY2RN >> > >> > From: Dave Swanson >> > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org >> > Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 8:14 PM >> > Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record >> > >> >Satellite Friends and Colleagues, >> > >> >I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made >> >a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from >> >'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid >> >locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located >> >at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the >> >http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates >> >to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've >> >been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I >> >share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. >> > >> >Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, >> >PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km >> >away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with >> >great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into >> >view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I >> >tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and >> >I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything >> >else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station >> >I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way >> >beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I >> >promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, >> >even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. >> > >> >At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th >> >seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th >> >all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on >> >February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on >> >the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and >> >we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us >> >though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but >> >strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was >> >low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We >> >decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was >> >though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and >> >our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we >> >just needed a little luck. >> > >> >Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already >> >determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL >> >thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed >> >to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in >> >the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both >> >stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the >> >contact. It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's >> >side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded >> >a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A >> > >> >After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I >> >think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This >> >was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact >> >window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. >> >Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I >> >doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. >> >That said, wow.. what a rush >> > >> >Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making >> >ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we >> >finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) >> >for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for >> >acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart >> >we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. >> > >> >If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until >> >then, catch you on the birds! 73! >> > >> >-Dave, KG5CCI >> >_______________________________________________ >> >Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> >to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> >Opinions expressed >> >are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> >AMSAT-NA. >> >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> >Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> > >> > >> > >> >_______________________________________________ >> >Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> >to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> >Opinions expressed >> >are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> >AMSAT-NA. >> >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> >Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 10 >> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2016 22:37:21 -0500 >> From: AJ9N at aol.com >> To: amsat-bb at AMSAT.Org >> Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-17 >> 03:30 UTC >> Message-ID: <7043c.6ee4a92e.43f544f1 at aol.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" >> >> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-17 03:30 UTC >> >> Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: >> >> Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB >> The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS >> The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI >> Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg >> >> UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH >> The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS >> The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN >> Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg >> >> Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD >> The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS >> The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN >> Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10:55 UTC 40 deg (***) >> >> Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS >> The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS >> The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI >> Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29 deg (***) >> >> >> **************************************************************************** >> ** >> ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. >> ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send >> your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. >> >> >> **************************************************************************** >> Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and >> not being able to get in. That has now been changed to >> http://www.ariss.org/ >> >> Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. >> >> >> **************************************************************************** >> Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? >> >> If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete >> details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. >> >> >> http://www.ariss-eu.org/ >> >> If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to >> provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net >> >> **************************************************************************** >> ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 >> >> schools: >> >> Gaston ON4WF with 121 >> Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 >> Francesco IK?WGF with 116 >> >> >> >> **************************************************************************** >> The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date >> webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are >> additional >> ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. >> >> Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own >> orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed >> time. >> All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date >> and >> time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS >> >> The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-17 03:30 UTC. >> (***) >> >> Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and >> questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and >> instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. >> http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf >> >> Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1023. >> Each school counts as 1 event. >> Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 988. >> Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. >> Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. >> >> A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the >> file. >> http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf >> >> Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. >> >> >> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >> >> The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: >> Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, >> Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin >> Islands. >> >> >> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >> >> QSL information may be found at: >> http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html >> >> ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS >> >> >> **************************************************************************** >> The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-12 05:00 UTC. >> >> http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf >> >> Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing >> Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC >> >> http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction >> .rtf >> >> Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. >> http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf >> >> Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts >> >> https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 >> >> **************************************************************************** >> Exp. 43/44 on orbit >> Scott Kelly >> Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF >> >> Exp. 45 on orbit >> Sergey Volkov RU3DIS >> >> Exp. 46 on orbit >> Tim Kopra KE5UDN >> Timothy Peake KG5BVI >> Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP >> >> >> **************************************************************************** >> >> 73, >> Charlie Sufana AJ9N >> One of the ARISS operation team mentors >> >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Subject: Digest Footer >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via amsat-bb at amsat.org. >> AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons >> worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> End of AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 11, Issue 53 >> **************************************** >> > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From ea4cyq at gmail.com Wed Feb 17 13:39:35 2016 From: ea4cyq at gmail.com (Juan Antonio Fernandez) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 14:39:35 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? Message-ID: Perhaps if in the last AO-7 record they were used 6 digits then they could not achive the aim!!! If all of the european operator SATs are agre, we will enjoy more of our SATs time. In HF bands operator even do not send its grid locator. In digital EME communications only send 4 digits. And all of then have more time to make the QSO than a SAT operator. Juan Antonio EA4CYQ From py2rn at arrl.net Wed Feb 17 13:59:17 2016 From: py2rn at arrl.net (Eduardo PY2RN) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 13:59:17 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record In-Reply-To: References: <56C39F5C.2050700@druidnetworks.com> <871553990.5662074.1455673574782.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1248840298.5632116.1455717557886.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Steve, at this side RX: Funcube pro plus + SDR# V.1430 (with great NB capabilities) + Yagi-Uda 11el CP + Mirage KP-2 pre-amp. TX: TS-2000x + Yagi-Uda 20el CPTracked by Satellite Tracking embedded into SDR-RADIO V2 software suite + GS-232/G-5400 Coax: RFS RGC213 15mts longAnd a clear view to my N / NW bound which allows to hear a little after sat LOS most of times. Put together again an old P3 sat setup sitting in storage for many years, just added the SDR fun to it. Tks & 73 Eduardo PY2RN From: Stephen E. Belter To: Eduardo PY2RN ; Dave Swanson ; "amsat-bb at amsat.org" Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 12:44 AM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record Gentlemen: Congratulations!? Would you describe your stations?? Radios, antennas, coax, preamps, software? Thanks! 73, Steve N9IP -- Steve Belter, seb at wintek.com On 2/16/16, 8:46 PM, "AMSAT-BB on behalf of Eduardo PY2RN" wrote: >Thanks Dave for the QSO and well done with all the persistence. > >It is always good to double check even when everything is saying that it >wouldn't be possible, even the computer shouting "satellite is not >visible!" over your signal :o) >73s >Eduardo? PY2RN > >? ? ? From: Dave Swanson > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 8:14 PM > Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record >? >Satellite Friends and Colleagues, > >I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made >a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from >'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas.? My 10 digit grid >locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located >at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil.? Using the >http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates >to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've >been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I >share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. > >Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, >PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km >away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with >great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into >view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I >tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and >I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything >else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station >I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way >beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I >promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, >even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. > >At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th >seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th >all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on >February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on >the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and >we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us >though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but >strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was >low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We >decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was >though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and >our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we >just needed a little luck. > >Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already >determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL >thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed >to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in >the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both >stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the >contact.? It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear.? Eduardo's >side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded >a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A > >After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I >think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This >was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact >window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. >Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I >doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. >That said, wow.. what a rush > >Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making >ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we >finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) >for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for >acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart >we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. > >If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until >then, catch you on the birds! 73! > >-Dave, KG5CCI >_______________________________________________ >Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >Opinions expressed >are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >AMSAT-NA. >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > >? >_______________________________________________ >Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >Opinions expressed >are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >AMSAT-NA. >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From w5pfg at amsat.org Wed Feb 17 14:08:15 2016 From: w5pfg at amsat.org (Clayton W5PFG) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 08:08:15 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations Message-ID: <56C47ECF.1020203@amsat.org> For the past several days, I have observed the following: - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very easily. Either polarity V or H works. - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes to activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge getting in always went away and I could get into the transponder easily. - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could access the transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low as 0.1 degrees elevation. - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be equal at times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not RHCP or LHCP.) - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with it now in constant sun. - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with handheld transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 days who emailed me directly after the pass stating they were seeing some success with an HT. Thoughts/comments? 73 Clayton W5PFG From n8hm at arrl.net Wed Feb 17 14:13:40 2016 From: n8hm at arrl.net (Paul Stoetzer) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:13:40 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations In-Reply-To: <56C47ECF.1020203@amsat.org> References: <56C47ECF.1020203@amsat.org> Message-ID: Clayton, I have observed the same. Over the past couple of months, on directly overhead or ascending passes to the east, I could never get in until about TCA using about 20 watts to an Arrow antenna. On overhead descending passes or to the west, I could not get in after TCA. Now, over the past few days, it's been much easier to work horizon to horizon, but the fading is much worse throughout the pass and I am constantly twisting to try to regain the downlink. Some times, neither polarity works. According to DK3WN's Illum program, AO-85 will be in constant sunlight until 2/25. We'll see if it returns to it's previous patterns after that. 73, Paul, N8HM On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > For the past several days, I have observed the following: > > - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very easily. > Either polarity V or H works. > > - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes to > activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge getting in > always went away and I could get into the transponder easily. > > - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could access the > transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low as 0.1 degrees > elevation. > > - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be equal at > times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not RHCP or LHCP.) > > - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with it now in > constant sun. > > - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with handheld > transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 days who emailed me > directly after the pass stating they were seeing some success with an HT. > > Thoughts/comments? > > 73 > Clayton > W5PFG > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Wed Feb 17 15:28:35 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 10:28:35 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK Message-ID: <33676538F7ED43A78062261224A9C98E@DHJ> An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK on 19 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 14:23 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between GB1SS and GB1OAB. The contact should be audible over portions of the UK and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Oasis Academy Brightstowe is an independent Academy for 11 - 16 year olds, located in Shirehampton, North Bristol. We opened in September 2008 in the state-of-the-art buildings of the former Portway School. Our facilities here are second to none, with an on-site restaurant, great sports facilities and a well-stocked Library. Oasis Academy Brightstowe was given ?1.8 million to develop a 21st century ICT capability, so students here have access to the very latest technology; including a fully equipped Library, access to Wi-Fi throughout the school, and a Virtual Learning Environment, designed to give students access to online learning provision. The Academy has one of the highest computer-per-student ratios of any school in the area (better than one between two students) and we encourage students to be competent with the use of computers and the internet in their lessons. The new technology is embraced by both staff and students and forms a key part of lesson planning and delivery. Interactive whiteboards are a feature of every classroom and teachers can instantly turn any workspace into an ICT suite using one of our eight portable laptop trolleys. 1. From my research, I have found out that you are taking part in 265 experiments. Which one is the most important for us here on Earth? 2. In your opinion, will unmanned missions ever be equal to manned ones? 3. In a microgravity environment, can dust, debris and liquids cause a danger, and if so how do you deal with it? 4. My aim is to be the first female Afghan astronaut. What would be the one most important piece of advice that you have for me? 5. Were you told what experiments you had to do, or did you get to choose? 6. How many days supplies do you have on board should a resupply mission not arrive as scheduled? 7. How did you build the confidence to go into space? 8. Why should we continue to fund expensive space missions when we have more pressing problems on Earth? 9. If the world's leaders could see the earth from your current perspective, do you think there would be a better consensus to sort out the problems of the world? 10. Did anything in your previous career or experiences, prepare you for space? 11. Why did you want to become an astronaut? 12. When you push on the wall of the space station behind you to move forward, does the space station move backwards due to the principle of conservation of momentum? 13. What do you think of NASA's planned one way Mars mission, and would you go if given the opportunity? 14. Can you feel the ISS shake or wobble? 15. Being in a microgravity environment causes a decrease in muscle mass and bone density. Other than exercise, what measures are you taking to protect your health? 16. Considering that in space you are weightless and time has a different value, do you age at a different rate? 17. Astronauts go through such lengthy and intensive training for their journeys. Was there anything that you were not prepared for? 18. How are your experiments helping to save our Earth? 19. What do you miss about being on earth? 20. Other than the earth, can you tweet a picture of your favourite sight in space? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20 UTC 2. Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10 UTC 3. Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43 UTC ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From howied231 at hotmail.com Wed Feb 17 15:29:37 2016 From: howied231 at hotmail.com (Howie DeFelice) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 10:29:37 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker In-Reply-To: <000401d1697e$74775b30$5d661190$@GMAIL.COM> References: , <000401d1697e$74775b30$5d661190$@GMAIL.COM> Message-ID: The input to the AZ and EL A/D's are clamped to +5V by diodes as well so this makes sense. > From: wa4sca at gmail.com > To: PeteW2JV at verizon.net; AMSAT-BB at amsat.org > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 06:26:40 -0600 > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Fw: Fwd: LVB tracker > > Peter, > > It isn't shown on the schematic, but elsewhere in the rotator docs (page 5, External Control) it > specifies 0-4.5V DC for the position sensing outputs. Depending on the existing interface, a simple > voltage divider would probably do. I don't have an LVB tracker, so I can't comment on that end. > > 73s, > > Alan > WA4SCA > > > > > <-----Original Message----- > < > < > < > < > < > <_______________________________________________ > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From howied231 at hotmail.com Wed Feb 17 15:42:03 2016 From: howied231 at hotmail.com (Howie DeFelice) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 10:42:03 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations In-Reply-To: References: <56C47ECF.1020203@amsat.org>, Message-ID: For what it's worth, I worked AO-85 for the first time this Saturday morning while sitting in the car using a 19" whip and Yeasu 857. I could hear the satellite almost at AOS but waited to transmit until sat was above 30 deg elevation since the 19" whip was 3/4 wavelength at the uplink freq. Got in the first time and made contact with N1JEZ. I never bothered to check SWR on this antenna and from the radio display power is down considerably. I did notice fading as well. - Howie AB2S > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:13:40 -0500 > From: n8hm at arrl.net > To: w5pfg at amsat.org > CC: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations > > Clayton, > > I have observed the same. Over the past couple of months, on directly > overhead or ascending passes to the east, I could never get in until > about TCA using about 20 watts to an Arrow antenna. On overhead > descending passes or to the west, I could not get in after TCA. > > Now, over the past few days, it's been much easier to work horizon to > horizon, but the fading is much worse throughout the pass and I am > constantly twisting to try to regain the downlink. Some times, neither > polarity works. > > According to DK3WN's Illum program, AO-85 will be in constant sunlight > until 2/25. We'll see if it returns to it's previous patterns after > that. > > 73, > > Paul, N8HM > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > > For the past several days, I have observed the following: > > > > - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very easily. > > Either polarity V or H works. > > > > - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes to > > activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge getting in > > always went away and I could get into the transponder easily. > > > > - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could access the > > transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low as 0.1 degrees > > elevation. > > > > - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be equal at > > times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not RHCP or LHCP.) > > > > - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with it now in > > constant sun. > > > > - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with handheld > > transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 days who emailed me > > directly after the pass stating they were seeing some success with an HT. > > > > Thoughts/comments? > > > > 73 > > Clayton > > W5PFG > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > > expressed > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > > AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From framirezferrer at gmail.com Wed Feb 17 15:56:04 2016 From: framirezferrer at gmail.com (Fernando Ramirez) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 08:56:04 -0700 Subject: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations In-Reply-To: References: <56C47ECF.1020203@amsat.org> Message-ID: I am experiencing the same. I work the satellite strictly QRP and in the past couple of days I've been able to get in pretty much from AOS to LOS with only 4 watts. Yesterday, I worked 4 stations on a 7? descending pass to the east. Signal was weak at the end but that is expected with low power. The fading is noticeable on the downlink, but I don't need to twist the Arrow antenna a complete 90 degrees to hear my own voice. 73 Fernando, NP4JV On Feb 17, 2016 7:13 AM, "Paul Stoetzer" wrote: > Clayton, > > I have observed the same. Over the past couple of months, on directly > overhead or ascending passes to the east, I could never get in until > about TCA using about 20 watts to an Arrow antenna. On overhead > descending passes or to the west, I could not get in after TCA. > > Now, over the past few days, it's been much easier to work horizon to > horizon, but the fading is much worse throughout the pass and I am > constantly twisting to try to regain the downlink. Some times, neither > polarity works. > > According to DK3WN's Illum program, AO-85 will be in constant sunlight > until 2/25. We'll see if it returns to it's previous patterns after > that. > > 73, > > Paul, N8HM > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > > For the past several days, I have observed the following: > > > > - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very easily. > > Either polarity V or H works. > > > > - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes to > > activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge getting in > > always went away and I could get into the transponder easily. > > > > - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could access the > > transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low as 0.1 degrees > > elevation. > > > > - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be equal > at > > times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not RHCP or LHCP.) > > > > - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with it now > in > > constant sun. > > > > - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with handheld > > transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 days who emailed > me > > directly after the pass stating they were seeing some success with an HT. > > > > Thoughts/comments? > > > > 73 > > Clayton > > W5PFG > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions > > expressed > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > > AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From lee.ernstrom at rcwilley.com Wed Feb 17 16:34:38 2016 From: lee.ernstrom at rcwilley.com (Lee Ernstrom) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:34:38 -0700 Subject: [amsat-bb] NP24 and DM28/DM29 Message-ID: <68F3A331-0110-4124-9E79-BA0C06D89904@rcwilley.com> I will be on SO-50 and FO-29 beginning February 21 from a fairly rare grid square within the Great Basin National Park and set up right on the grid line. For times please see my QRZ.com page. WA7HQD Lee (Doc) Ernstrom Sent from my iPad From dave at druidnetworks.com Wed Feb 17 19:24:42 2016 From: dave at druidnetworks.com (Dave Swanson) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 13:24:42 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record In-Reply-To: <1248840298.5632116.1455717557886.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <56C39F5C.2050700@druidnetworks.com> <871553990.5662074.1455673574782.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> <1248840298.5632116.1455717557886.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <56C4C8FA.8000206@druidnetworks.com> Steve, I'm using my "Alaskan" Arrow ( 4 elements on 2m, 10 elements on 70cm) held by hand running 10' pieces of LMR-240 into an Icom 821h, manually tuned. Everything is run from a LiFePo4 battery, and I pretty much exclusively operate portable mountain-top with unobstructed horizon views in the direction I'm planning to work. 73! Dave, KG5CCI On 2/17/2016 7:59 AM, Eduardo PY2RN wrote: > Steve, at this side > RX: Funcube pro plus + SDR# V.1430 (with great NB capabilities) + Yagi-Uda 11el CP + Mirage KP-2 pre-amp. > TX: TS-2000x + Yagi-Uda 20el CPTracked by Satellite Tracking embedded into SDR-RADIO V2 software suite + GS-232/G-5400 > Coax: RFS RGC213 15mts longAnd a clear view to my N / NW bound which allows to hear a little after sat LOS most of times. > Put together again an old P3 sat setup sitting in storage for many years, just added the SDR fun to it. > > Tks & 73 > Eduardo PY2RN > > > From: Stephen E. Belter > To: Eduardo PY2RN ; Dave Swanson ; "amsat-bb at amsat.org" > Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 12:44 AM > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record > > Gentlemen: > > Congratulations! > > Would you describe your stations? Radios, antennas, coax, preamps, > software? > > Thanks! > > 73, Steve N9IP > -- > Steve Belter, seb at wintek.com > > > > On 2/16/16, 8:46 PM, "AMSAT-BB on behalf of Eduardo PY2RN" > wrote: > >> Thanks Dave for the QSO and well done with all the persistence. >> >> It is always good to double check even when everything is saying that it >> wouldn't be possible, even the computer shouting "satellite is not >> visible!" over your signal :o) >> 73s >> Eduardo PY2RN >> >> From: Dave Swanson >> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org >> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 8:14 PM >> Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record >> >> Satellite Friends and Colleagues, >> >> I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made >> a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from >> 'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid >> locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located >> at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the >> http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates >> to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've >> been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I >> share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. >> >> Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, >> PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km >> away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with >> great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into >> view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I >> tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and >> I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything >> else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station >> I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way >> beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I >> promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, >> even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. >> >> At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th >> seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th >> all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on >> February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on >> the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and >> we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us >> though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but >> strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was >> low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We >> decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was >> though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and >> our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we >> just needed a little luck. >> >> Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already >> determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL >> thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed >> to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in >> the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both >> stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the >> contact. It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's >> side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded >> a recording of it to youtube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A >> >> After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I >> think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This >> was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact >> window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. >> Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I >> doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. >> That said, wow.. what a rush >> >> Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making >> ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we >> finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) >> for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for >> acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart >> we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. >> >> If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until >> then, catch you on the birds! 73! >> >> -Dave, KG5CCI >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >> Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From dxdx at optonline.net Wed Feb 17 21:53:10 2016 From: dxdx at optonline.net (Tony) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 16:53:10 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 Heard In-Reply-To: <201602170847.u1H8lPZ8017521@ms-omx12.plus.so-net.ne.jp> References: <201602170847.u1H8lPZ8017521@ms-omx12.plus.so-net.ne.jp> Message-ID: <56C4EBC6.1070406@optonline.net> All: ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 CW beacons heard over New York - JJ2YPN / JJ2YPO. Tony -K2MO From py5lf at falautomation.com.br Wed Feb 17 22:52:56 2016 From: py5lf at falautomation.com.br (PY5LF) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 20:52:56 -0200 Subject: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations In-Reply-To: References: <56C47ECF.1020203@amsat.org> Message-ID: Hi I agree about the spin rate , but the RX sensibility still are the same for me , I mean , only wit more than 20W to get a good return. The sat has just passed over here and the spin rate is about 5-7 seconds more or less. 73 2016-02-17 12:13 GMT-02:00 Paul Stoetzer : > Clayton, > > I have observed the same. Over the past couple of months, on directly > overhead or ascending passes to the east, I could never get in until > about TCA using about 20 watts to an Arrow antenna. On overhead > descending passes or to the west, I could not get in after TCA. > > Now, over the past few days, it's been much easier to work horizon to > horizon, but the fading is much worse throughout the pass and I am > constantly twisting to try to regain the downlink. Some times, neither > polarity works. > > According to DK3WN's Illum program, AO-85 will be in constant sunlight > until 2/25. We'll see if it returns to it's previous patterns after > that. > > 73, > > Paul, N8HM > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > > For the past several days, I have observed the following: > > > > - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very easily. > > Either polarity V or H works. > > > > - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes to > > activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge getting in > > always went away and I could get into the transponder easily. > > > > - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could access the > > transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low as 0.1 degrees > > elevation. > > > > - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be equal > at > > times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not RHCP or LHCP.) > > > > - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with it now > in > > constant sun. > > > > - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with handheld > > transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 days who emailed > me > > directly after the pass stating they were seeing some success with an HT. > > > > Thoughts/comments? > > > > 73 > > Clayton > > W5PFG > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions > > expressed > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > > AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From daniel at destevez.net Wed Feb 17 23:05:47 2016 From: daniel at destevez.net (Dani EA4GPZ) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 00:05:47 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56C4FCCB.6060009@destevez.net> El 17/02/16 a las 08:20, Juan Antonio Fernandez escribi?: > I can?t understand it. > My thinking: > - Any award needs 6 digits > > - Time on SATs is limited, Why to waste it trying to understand something > useless > > - Other places, such as USA, only use 4 digits from years > > - To wrap up, all are advantages > > Anybody knows some reason why should we follow using 6 digits? > > If there is not a strong reason, I think we should start using 4 digits Dear all, I would like to go even further. A valid contact is defined as one where there has been exchange over the air of: - Both callsigns - The signal report - A confirmation of the reception of these (usually a roger or 73 will do) At least it's written that way in the IARU R1 VHF manager's handbook. An exchange of grid locators is not required to make a contact valid. I don't follow all the awards, but I'm not aware of any awards that actually require grid locators to be exchanged over the air to make the contact count for the award. Sure you need to track grid locators if you are after VUCC, but you can get the grid locators by qrz.com/email/qsl cards/etc. It's not needed that you get them on the air. It bothers me especially on FM sats, where time is shared between all the operators and many times people insist in repeating their 6 digit locators several times because of difficult conditions. This is just a waste of time. Of course I want to put the grid locators on my logbook, but most of the time the locators I get on the air are just the same that are listed on qrz.com, so I could just get them there. In especial conditions, such as if you're operating portable and the satellite is not busy (read as only 3 or less people), then it may make some sense to pass the 4 or 6 digit locator over the air. But please, don't repeat it several times as you struggle to make a contact in difficult conditions. This is less of a problem in linear sats, because time is not shared between all the operators. Still, the same reasons for not passing the locator at all are valid. So, my suggestion is: Please, don't pass the grid locator at all, except in especial conditions. 73, Dani EA4GPZ. From bruninga at usna.edu Thu Feb 18 00:55:52 2016 From: bruninga at usna.edu (Robert Bruninga) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 19:55:52 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) Message-ID: <54c27fd32680968c2c31ab1cc408f361@mail.gmail.com> Argh!... These testimonials of when people heard the satellite and what it took to hit and where it was in their pass are -meaningless- unless you say where you are relative to the millions of square miles of the country! Someone on the west coast will have more than 10 dB better chance with any satelillite RISING from over the pacific, and someone on the EAST coast will have more than a 10 dB better change of a SETTING satellite over the Atlantic. But unless people say where they are relative to the 3D geometry of the pass, and the rest of the mass of users and RFI from 350 million other people and their part-15 emissions, any such reports make no sense to anyone else. The guys in the Midwest in most of a pass will have a hard time ALWAYS. People need to think in terms of WHERE the satellite is with respect to the other 700,000 hams in the country before any comments on link quality can make much sense. The satellite on one's horizon and 1500 miles away is only 500 miles above SOMEONE ELSE. That's 10 dB right there... Soap box off. Bob, WB4APR -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Howie DeFelice Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 10:42 AM To: Paul Stoetzer; Clayton W5PFG Cc: AMSAT-BB Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations For what it's worth, I worked AO-85 for the first time this Saturday morning while sitting in the car using a 19" whip and Yeasu 857. I could hear the satellite almost at AOS but waited to transmit until sat was above 30 deg elevation since the 19" whip was 3/4 wavelength at the uplink freq. Got in the first time and made contact with N1JEZ. I never bothered to check SWR on this antenna and from the radio display power is down considerably. I did notice fading as well. - Howie AB2S > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:13:40 -0500 > From: n8hm at arrl.net > To: w5pfg at amsat.org > CC: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations > > Clayton, > > I have observed the same. Over the past couple of months, on directly > overhead or ascending passes to the east, I could never get in until > about TCA using about 20 watts to an Arrow antenna. On overhead > descending passes or to the west, I could not get in after TCA. > > Now, over the past few days, it's been much easier to work horizon to > horizon, but the fading is much worse throughout the pass and I am > constantly twisting to try to regain the downlink. Some times, neither > polarity works. > > According to DK3WN's Illum program, AO-85 will be in constant sunlight > until 2/25. We'll see if it returns to it's previous patterns after > that. > > 73, > > Paul, N8HM > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > > For the past several days, I have observed the following: > > > > - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very easily. > > Either polarity V or H works. > > > > - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes to > > activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge > > getting in always went away and I could get into the transponder easily. > > > > - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could access > > the transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low as 0.1 > > degrees elevation. > > > > - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be > > equal at times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not > > RHCP or LHCP.) > > > > - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with it > > now in constant sun. > > > > - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with > > handheld transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 > > days who emailed me directly after the pass stating they were seeing some success with an HT. > > > > Thoughts/comments? > > > > 73 > > Clayton > > W5PFG > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum > > available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring > > membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and > > do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > > Subscription settings: > > http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From howied231 at hotmail.com Thu Feb 18 02:20:02 2016 From: howied231 at hotmail.com (Howie DeFelice) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 21:20:02 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) In-Reply-To: <54c27fd32680968c2c31ab1cc408f361@mail.gmail.com> References: <54c27fd32680968c2c31ab1cc408f361@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: OK, fair enough.. In my case this was a morning (10:15 EST) ascending pass on saturday 2/13. I was located at BWI airport and AOS was slightly to the southwest. I worked the satellite when it was west of me just short of mid pass at a little over 30 degrees. The station I worked was in Vermont who commented I had a good signal into the satellite. This is all subjective and not very accurate but I also didn't plan on working the satellite, it was completely opportunistic. - Howie AB2S > From: bruninga at usna.edu > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 19:55:52 -0500 > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) > > Argh!... > > These testimonials of when people heard the satellite and what it took to > hit and where it was in their pass are -meaningless- unless you say where > you are relative to the millions of square miles of the country! > > Someone on the west coast will have more than 10 dB better chance with any > satelillite RISING from over the pacific, and someone on the EAST coast > will have more than a 10 dB better change of a SETTING satellite over the > Atlantic. But unless people say where they are relative to the 3D > geometry of the pass, and the rest of the mass of users and RFI from 350 > million other people and their part-15 emissions, any such reports make no > sense to anyone else. The guys in the Midwest in most of a pass will have > a hard time ALWAYS. > > People need to think in terms of WHERE the satellite is with respect to > the other 700,000 hams in the country before any comments on link quality > can make much sense. > > The satellite on one's horizon and 1500 miles away is only 500 miles above > SOMEONE ELSE. That's 10 dB right there... > > Soap box off. > Bob, WB4APR > > > -----Original Message----- > From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Howie > DeFelice > Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 10:42 AM > To: Paul Stoetzer; Clayton W5PFG > Cc: AMSAT-BB > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations > > For what it's worth, I worked AO-85 for the first time this Saturday > morning while sitting in the car using a 19" whip and Yeasu 857. I could > hear the satellite almost at AOS but waited to transmit until sat was > above 30 deg elevation since the 19" whip was 3/4 wavelength at the uplink > freq. Got in the first time and made contact with N1JEZ. I never bothered > to check SWR on this antenna and from the radio display power is down > considerably. I did notice fading as well. > > - Howie AB2S > > > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:13:40 -0500 > > From: n8hm at arrl.net > > To: w5pfg at amsat.org > > CC: amsat-bb at amsat.org > > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations > > > > Clayton, > > > > I have observed the same. Over the past couple of months, on directly > > overhead or ascending passes to the east, I could never get in until > > about TCA using about 20 watts to an Arrow antenna. On overhead > > descending passes or to the west, I could not get in after TCA. > > > > Now, over the past few days, it's been much easier to work horizon to > > horizon, but the fading is much worse throughout the pass and I am > > constantly twisting to try to regain the downlink. Some times, neither > > polarity works. > > > > According to DK3WN's Illum program, AO-85 will be in constant sunlight > > until 2/25. We'll see if it returns to it's previous patterns after > > that. > > > > 73, > > > > Paul, N8HM > > > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > > > For the past several days, I have observed the following: > > > > > > - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very > easily. > > > Either polarity V or H works. > > > > > > - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes to > > > activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge > > > getting in always went away and I could get into the transponder > easily. > > > > > > - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could access > > > the transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low as 0.1 > > > degrees elevation. > > > > > > - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be > > > equal at times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not > > > RHCP or LHCP.) > > > > > > - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with it > > > now in constant sun. > > > > > > - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with > > > handheld transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 > > > days who emailed me directly after the pass stating they were seeing > some success with an HT. > > > > > > Thoughts/comments? > > > > > > 73 > > > Clayton > > > W5PFG > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum > > > available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring > > > membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and > > > do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > > Subscription settings: > > > http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect > the official views of AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to > all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official > views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From k7trkradio at charter.net Thu Feb 18 02:23:53 2016 From: k7trkradio at charter.net (Ted) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 18:23:53 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) In-Reply-To: References: <54c27fd32680968c2c31ab1cc408f361@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <000301d169f3$6988afb0$3c9a0f10$@charter.net> Yikes...now we have to look up airport codes ! (Bob will not be happy) 73, Ted K7TRK (airport: KMFR) -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Howie DeFelice Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 6:20 PM To: Robert Bruninga; amsat-bb at amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) OK, fair enough.. In my case this was a morning (10:15 EST) ascending pass on saturday 2/13. I was located at BWI airport and AOS was slightly to the southwest. I worked the satellite when it was west of me just short of mid pass at a little over 30 degrees. The station I worked was in Vermont who commented I had a good signal into the satellite. This is all subjective and not very accurate but I also didn't plan on working the satellite, it was completely opportunistic. - Howie AB2S > From: bruninga at usna.edu > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 19:55:52 -0500 > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) > > Argh!... > > These testimonials of when people heard the satellite and what it took > to hit and where it was in their pass are -meaningless- unless you say > where you are relative to the millions of square miles of the country! > > Someone on the west coast will have more than 10 dB better chance with > any satelillite RISING from over the pacific, and someone on the EAST > coast will have more than a 10 dB better change of a SETTING satellite > over the Atlantic. But unless people say where they are relative to > the 3D geometry of the pass, and the rest of the mass of users and RFI > from 350 million other people and their part-15 emissions, any such > reports make no sense to anyone else. The guys in the Midwest in most > of a pass will have a hard time ALWAYS. > > People need to think in terms of WHERE the satellite is with respect > to the other 700,000 hams in the country before any comments on link > quality can make much sense. > > The satellite on one's horizon and 1500 miles away is only 500 miles > above SOMEONE ELSE. That's 10 dB right there... > > Soap box off. > Bob, WB4APR > > > -----Original Message----- > From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Howie > DeFelice > Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 10:42 AM > To: Paul Stoetzer; Clayton W5PFG > Cc: AMSAT-BB > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations > > For what it's worth, I worked AO-85 for the first time this Saturday > morning while sitting in the car using a 19" whip and Yeasu 857. I > could hear the satellite almost at AOS but waited to transmit until > sat was above 30 deg elevation since the 19" whip was 3/4 wavelength > at the uplink freq. Got in the first time and made contact with N1JEZ. > I never bothered to check SWR on this antenna and from the radio > display power is down considerably. I did notice fading as well. > > - Howie AB2S > > > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:13:40 -0500 > > From: n8hm at arrl.net > > To: w5pfg at amsat.org > > CC: amsat-bb at amsat.org > > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations > > > > Clayton, > > > > I have observed the same. Over the past couple of months, on > > directly overhead or ascending passes to the east, I could never get > > in until about TCA using about 20 watts to an Arrow antenna. On > > overhead descending passes or to the west, I could not get in after TCA. > > > > Now, over the past few days, it's been much easier to work horizon > > to horizon, but the fading is much worse throughout the pass and I > > am constantly twisting to try to regain the downlink. Some times, > > neither polarity works. > > > > According to DK3WN's Illum program, AO-85 will be in constant > > sunlight until 2/25. We'll see if it returns to it's previous > > patterns after that. > > > > 73, > > > > Paul, N8HM > > > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > > > For the past several days, I have observed the following: > > > > > > - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very > easily. > > > Either polarity V or H works. > > > > > > - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes > > > to activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge > > > getting in always went away and I could get into the transponder > easily. > > > > > > - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could > > > access the transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low > > > as 0.1 degrees elevation. > > > > > > - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be > > > equal at times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not > > > RHCP or LHCP.) > > > > > > - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with > > > it now in constant sun. > > > > > > - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with > > > handheld transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 > > > days who emailed me directly after the pass stating they were > > > seeing > some success with an HT. > > > > > > Thoughts/comments? > > > > > > 73 > > > Clayton > > > W5PFG > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum > > > available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring > > > membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and > > > do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > > Subscription settings: > > > http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum > > available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not > > reflect > the official views of AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > Subscription settings: > > http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect > the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From howied231 at hotmail.com Thu Feb 18 02:49:09 2016 From: howied231 at hotmail.com (Howie DeFelice) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 21:49:09 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) In-Reply-To: <000301d169f3$6988afb0$3c9a0f10$@charter.net> References: <54c27fd32680968c2c31ab1cc408f361@mail.gmail.com> , <000301d169f3$6988afb0$3c9a0f10$@charter.net> Message-ID: LOL ... I KNOW Bob is very aware of where BWI is otherwise I would not have used that as a reference :) Howie AB2S(airport: IAD) > From: k7trkradio at charter.net > To: howied231 at hotmail.com; bruninga at usna.edu; amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 18:23:53 -0800 > > Yikes...now we have to look up airport codes ! (Bob will not be happy) > 73, Ted > K7TRK > (airport: KMFR) > > -----Original Message----- > From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Howie > DeFelice > Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 6:20 PM > To: Robert Bruninga; amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) > > OK, fair enough.. In my case this was a morning (10:15 EST) ascending pass > on saturday 2/13. I was located at BWI airport and AOS was slightly to the > southwest. I worked the satellite when it was west of me just short of mid > pass at a little over 30 degrees. The station I worked was in Vermont who > commented I had a good signal into the satellite. This is all subjective and > not very accurate but I also didn't plan on working the satellite, it was > completely opportunistic. > - Howie AB2S > > > From: bruninga at usna.edu > > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 19:55:52 -0500 > > To: amsat-bb at amsat.org > > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) > > > > Argh!... > > > > These testimonials of when people heard the satellite and what it took > > to hit and where it was in their pass are -meaningless- unless you say > > where you are relative to the millions of square miles of the country! > > > > Someone on the west coast will have more than 10 dB better chance with > > any satelillite RISING from over the pacific, and someone on the EAST > > coast will have more than a 10 dB better change of a SETTING satellite > > over the Atlantic. But unless people say where they are relative to > > the 3D geometry of the pass, and the rest of the mass of users and RFI > > from 350 million other people and their part-15 emissions, any such > > reports make no sense to anyone else. The guys in the Midwest in most > > of a pass will have a hard time ALWAYS. > > > > People need to think in terms of WHERE the satellite is with respect > > to the other 700,000 hams in the country before any comments on link > > quality can make much sense. > > > > The satellite on one's horizon and 1500 miles away is only 500 miles > > above SOMEONE ELSE. That's 10 dB right there... > > > > Soap box off. > > Bob, WB4APR > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Howie > > DeFelice > > Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 10:42 AM > > To: Paul Stoetzer; Clayton W5PFG > > Cc: AMSAT-BB > > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations > > > > For what it's worth, I worked AO-85 for the first time this Saturday > > morning while sitting in the car using a 19" whip and Yeasu 857. I > > could hear the satellite almost at AOS but waited to transmit until > > sat was above 30 deg elevation since the 19" whip was 3/4 wavelength > > at the uplink freq. Got in the first time and made contact with N1JEZ. > > I never bothered to check SWR on this antenna and from the radio > > display power is down considerably. I did notice fading as well. > > > > - Howie AB2S > > > > > Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:13:40 -0500 > > > From: n8hm at arrl.net > > > To: w5pfg at amsat.org > > > CC: amsat-bb at amsat.org > > > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations > > > > > > Clayton, > > > > > > I have observed the same. Over the past couple of months, on > > > directly overhead or ascending passes to the east, I could never get > > > in until about TCA using about 20 watts to an Arrow antenna. On > > > overhead descending passes or to the west, I could not get in after TCA. > > > > > > Now, over the past few days, it's been much easier to work horizon > > > to horizon, but the fading is much worse throughout the pass and I > > > am constantly twisting to try to regain the downlink. Some times, > > > neither polarity works. > > > > > > According to DK3WN's Illum program, AO-85 will be in constant > > > sunlight until 2/25. We'll see if it returns to it's previous > > > patterns after that. > > > > > > 73, > > > > > > Paul, N8HM > > > > > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > > > > For the past several days, I have observed the following: > > > > > > > > - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very > > easily. > > > > Either polarity V or H works. > > > > > > > > - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes > > > > to activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge > > > > getting in always went away and I could get into the transponder > > easily. > > > > > > > > - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could > > > > access the transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low > > > > as 0.1 degrees elevation. > > > > > > > > - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be > > > > equal at times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not > > > > RHCP or LHCP.) > > > > > > > > - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with > > > > it now in constant sun. > > > > > > > > - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with > > > > handheld transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 > > > > days who emailed me directly after the pass stating they were > > > > seeing > > some success with an HT. > > > > > > > > Thoughts/comments? > > > > > > > > 73 > > > > Clayton > > > > W5PFG > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum > > > > available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring > > > > membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and > > > > do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > > > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > > program! > > > > Subscription settings: > > > > http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum > > > available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring > membership. > > > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not > > > reflect > > the official views of AMSAT-NA. > > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > > program! > > > Subscription settings: > > > http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect > > the official views of AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the > official views of AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all > interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official > views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From n1jez at burlingtontelecom.net Thu Feb 18 12:56:23 2016 From: n1jez at burlingtontelecom.net (Mike Seguin) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 07:56:23 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) In-Reply-To: References: <54c27fd32680968c2c31ab1cc408f361@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <56C5BF77.8080900@burlingtontelecom.net> Hi Howie, Well the bird was ascending at 253 degrees AZ and 26 degrees EL here in FN34im when we made contact. I'm in the middle of Burlington, VT surrounded by trees and houses etc. You had a good signal from the mobile. System here is an Oscar 10/13/40 class station, so the current LEO's are pretty easy to work. Interestingly, I just worked an ascending AO-85 pass to my East and it was full of deep fades. Polarity switching was no help.... I did work NS3L, but missed two other stations that were in the noise. Mike On 2/17/2016 9:20 PM, Howie DeFelice wrote: > OK, fair enough.. In my case this was a morning (10:15 EST) ascending pass on saturday 2/13. I was located at BWI airport and AOS was slightly to the southwest. I worked the satellite when it was west of me just short of mid pass at a little over 30 degrees. The station I worked was in Vermont who commented I had a good signal into the satellite. This is all subjective and not very accurate but I also didn't plan on working the satellite, it was completely opportunistic. > - Howie AB2S > >> From: bruninga at usna.edu >> Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 19:55:52 -0500 >> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org >> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations (where???) >> >> Argh!... >> >> These testimonials of when people heard the satellite and what it took to >> hit and where it was in their pass are -meaningless- unless you say where >> you are relative to the millions of square miles of the country! >> >> Someone on the west coast will have more than 10 dB better chance with any >> satelillite RISING from over the pacific, and someone on the EAST coast >> will have more than a 10 dB better change of a SETTING satellite over the >> Atlantic. But unless people say where they are relative to the 3D >> geometry of the pass, and the rest of the mass of users and RFI from 350 >> million other people and their part-15 emissions, any such reports make no >> sense to anyone else. The guys in the Midwest in most of a pass will have >> a hard time ALWAYS. >> >> People need to think in terms of WHERE the satellite is with respect to >> the other 700,000 hams in the country before any comments on link quality >> can make much sense. >> >> The satellite on one's horizon and 1500 miles away is only 500 miles above >> SOMEONE ELSE. That's 10 dB right there... >> >> Soap box off. >> Bob, WB4APR >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Howie >> DeFelice >> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 10:42 AM >> To: Paul Stoetzer; Clayton W5PFG >> Cc: AMSAT-BB >> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations >> >> For what it's worth, I worked AO-85 for the first time this Saturday >> morning while sitting in the car using a 19" whip and Yeasu 857. I could >> hear the satellite almost at AOS but waited to transmit until sat was >> above 30 deg elevation since the 19" whip was 3/4 wavelength at the uplink >> freq. Got in the first time and made contact with N1JEZ. I never bothered >> to check SWR on this antenna and from the radio display power is down >> considerably. I did notice fading as well. >> >> - Howie AB2S >> >>> Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2016 09:13:40 -0500 >>> From: n8hm at arrl.net >>> To: w5pfg at amsat.org >>> CC: amsat-bb at amsat.org >>> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Recent AO-85 Observations >>> >>> Clayton, >>> >>> I have observed the same. Over the past couple of months, on directly >>> overhead or ascending passes to the east, I could never get in until >>> about TCA using about 20 watts to an Arrow antenna. On overhead >>> descending passes or to the west, I could not get in after TCA. >>> >>> Now, over the past few days, it's been much easier to work horizon to >>> horizon, but the fading is much worse throughout the pass and I am >>> constantly twisting to try to regain the downlink. Some times, neither >>> polarity works. >>> >>> According to DK3WN's Illum program, AO-85 will be in constant sunlight >>> until 2/25. We'll see if it returns to it's previous patterns after >>> that. >>> >>> 73, >>> >>> Paul, N8HM >>> >>> On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: >>>> For the past several days, I have observed the following: >>>> >>>> - On ascending passes, I can activate the transponder at AOS very >> easily. >>>> Either polarity V or H works. >>>> >>>> - Previously, I needed 10-15 degrees at times on ascending passes to >>>> activate the transponder. As I approached TCA, the challenge >>>> getting in always went away and I could get into the transponder >> easily. >>>> >>>> - Descending passes have never been an issue for me. I could access >>>> the transponder at AOS and activate the transponder as low as 0.1 >>>> degrees elevation. >>>> >>>> - Downlink receive polarity seems to flip almost constantly or be >>>> equal at times. I'm running a V or H antenna configuration (not >>>> RHCP or LHCP.) >>>> >>>> - Suspected reason is the spacecraft's spin rate has changed with it >>>> now in constant sun. >>>> >>>> - As a result I'm hearing some newer stations working AO-85 with >>>> handheld transceivers. I've worked 2 new stations in the last 2 >>>> days who emailed me directly after the pass stating they were seeing >> some success with an HT. >>>> >>>> Thoughts/comments? >>>> >>>> 73 >>>> Clayton >>>> W5PFG >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum >>>> available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring >>>> membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and >>>> do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. >>>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite >> program! >>>> Subscription settings: >>>> http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >>> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >>> Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect >> the official views of AMSAT-NA. >>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite >> program! >>> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to >> all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions >> expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official >> views of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > -- 73, Mike, N1JEZ "A closed mouth gathers no feet" From peter at m3php.com Thu Feb 18 14:26:27 2016 From: peter at m3php.com (Peter Goodhall) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:26:27 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? In-Reply-To: <56C4FCCB.6060009@destevez.net> References: <56C4FCCB.6060009@destevez.net> Message-ID: While I appreciate that passing 6 character grid square is slightly more verbose than say 4 I do think it's such a small issue it's not worth worrying about, in-fact you could go as far as saying you don't even need to send the signal report (this is something that's been argued about in HF Contesting for years) after all the logbooks probably pre populated as 59 or 599 depending on the mode. At the same time I don't take the argument of "its on QRZ", while it probably is, I'm not sure it's a reason for not giving a grid square.. whether it's auto populated inside my logbook or not. We can strip down exchange information to just be 2E0SQL EA1JM IO91 or if we don't bother even with that 2E0SQL EA1JM.. I'm not really sure it constitutes a contact by my licence regulations. There's far greater issues like people calling over the top of in progress QSOs, deliberate jamming etc which should be dealt with first, if this was taken care of then more QSOs on FM satellites could take place and that extra two letters wouldn't really make a real difference. Pete, 2E0SQL On 17 February 2016 at 23:05, Dani EA4GPZ wrote: > El 17/02/16 a las 08:20, Juan Antonio Fernandez escribi?: >> I can?t understand it. >> My thinking: >> - Any award needs 6 digits >> >> - Time on SATs is limited, Why to waste it trying to understand something >> useless >> >> - Other places, such as USA, only use 4 digits from years >> >> - To wrap up, all are advantages >> >> Anybody knows some reason why should we follow using 6 digits? >> >> If there is not a strong reason, I think we should start using 4 digits > > Dear all, > > I would like to go even further. A valid contact is defined as one where > there has been exchange over the air of: > > - Both callsigns > - The signal report > - A confirmation of the reception of these (usually a roger or 73 will do) > > At least it's written that way in the IARU R1 VHF manager's handbook. > > An exchange of grid locators is not required to make a contact valid. > > I don't follow all the awards, but I'm not aware of any awards that > actually require grid locators to be exchanged over the air to make the > contact count for the award. Sure you need to track grid locators if you > are after VUCC, but you can get the grid locators by qrz.com/email/qsl > cards/etc. It's not needed that you get them on the air. > > It bothers me especially on FM sats, where time is shared between all > the operators and many times people insist in repeating their 6 digit > locators several times because of difficult conditions. This is just a > waste of time. > > Of course I want to put the grid locators on my logbook, but most of the > time the locators I get on the air are just the same that are listed on > qrz.com, so I could just get them there. > > In especial conditions, such as if you're operating portable and the > satellite is not busy (read as only 3 or less people), then it may make > some sense to pass the 4 or 6 digit locator over the air. But please, > don't repeat it several times as you struggle to make a contact in > difficult conditions. > > This is less of a problem in linear sats, because time is not shared > between all the operators. Still, the same reasons for not passing the > locator at all are valid. > > So, my suggestion is: Please, don't pass the grid locator at all, except > in especial conditions. > > 73, > > Dani EA4GPZ. > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb -- Peter Goodhall, 2E0SQL From w5pfg at amsat.org Thu Feb 18 18:58:09 2016 From: w5pfg at amsat.org (Clayton W5PFG) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 12:58:09 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Remote sensor for antenna array orientation Message-ID: <56C61441.8060209@amsat.org> Has anyone ever mounted a mutli-axis accelerometer or a magnetic compass sensor to their antenna crossboom for making adjustments to point of aim? I'm currently using Hall Effect sensors but experiencing several degrees of drift over a short period of a few days. 73 Clayton W5PFG From zleffke at vt.edu Thu Feb 18 20:50:50 2016 From: zleffke at vt.edu (Zach Leffke) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 15:50:50 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Remote sensor for antenna array orientation In-Reply-To: <56C61441.8060209@amsat.org> References: <56C61441.8060209@amsat.org> Message-ID: <56C62EAA.3050102@vt.edu> Hi Clayton, I used an accelerometer for elevation feedback and a magnetometer for azimuth feedback as part of a system that drove arrow style antennas on a PTZ camera mount that did not have any feedback sensors built in. All purchased at sparkfun (or adafruit can't remember) and driven by an arduino atmega328p using (basically the arduino Uno, there was also reference arduino code for getting the things up and running on the website I bought them from). I wrote up and published the circuit design for that system in the proceedings of the 2013 symposium. If you need a copy of the paper I can probably dig it up from wherever I saved it. My experience with it was that the accelerometer was rock solid for tilt or elevation feedback. The magnetometer on the other hand was shall we say 'finicky.' It did work for my purposes, but required re-calibration frequently, and re-calibration basically every time you moved the set up to a new location. It also had pretty noisy measurement data where the angle reported by the device would 'bounce around' even when the sensor was stationary. So I had to play games with the arduino to keep a running average of the feedback to smooth out the noisy feedback. Also, the accuracy of the magnetometer data was decent but not great. If you have something like an arrow antenna with a fairly broad beam, then it was good enough, but if you need "precision pointing" then the magnetometer is probably not the way to go. All of my experiences were based on a pretty cheap device from spark fun. It could be that cell phone technology has caught up and something that you can get on those websites for cheap is more robust than the sensor I used. Hope this helps, -Zach, KJ4QLP Research Associate Ted & Karyn Hume Center for National Security & Technology Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University Work Phone: 540-231-4174 Cell Phone: 540-808-6305 On 2/18/2016 1:58 PM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > Has anyone ever mounted a mutli-axis accelerometer or a magnetic > compass sensor to their antenna crossboom for making adjustments to > point of aim? > > I'm currently using Hall Effect sensors but experiencing several > degrees of drift over a short period of a few days. > > 73 > Clayton > W5PFG > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views > of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From daniel at destevez.net Thu Feb 18 21:35:12 2016 From: daniel at destevez.net (Dani EA4GPZ) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 22:35:12 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? In-Reply-To: References: <56C4FCCB.6060009@destevez.net> Message-ID: <56C63910.2070405@destevez.net> El 18/02/16 a las 15:26, Peter Goodhall escribi?: > We can strip down exchange information to just be 2E0SQL EA1JM IO91 or > if we don't bother even with that 2E0SQL EA1JM.. I'm not really sure > it constitutes a contact by my licence regulations. I don't think that the licence regulations have any say on what constitutes a contact or actually try say so. That's for the ham community to decide. I can speak only for the Spanish and UK regulations, which are the ones that I've ever read. The EME and meteor scatter communities have a very clear idea of what constitutes a contact for them, because they're only always working under marginal conditions, so they try to send the least information possible. > There's far greater issues like people calling over the top of in > progress QSOs, deliberate jamming etc which should be dealt with > first, if this was taken care of then more QSOs on FM satellites could > take place and that extra two letters wouldn't really make a real > difference. I agree with that. For me, the worst problem in FM satellites is people calling over and over without being able to hear the satellite. It would be fun to record some passes and study how much time gets wasted with such issues and how much time is used to actually make QSOs. I have the impression that more than half of the time gets wasted usually. 73, Dani EA4GPZ. From peter at m3php.com Thu Feb 18 22:06:57 2016 From: peter at m3php.com (Peter Goodhall) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 22:06:57 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? In-Reply-To: <56C63910.2070405@destevez.net> References: <56C4FCCB.6060009@destevez.net> <56C63910.2070405@destevez.net> Message-ID: Ofcoms reasonably relaxed, its main concern is that I identify at the start of a transmission (CQ) every 15mins or again if I change frequency. IARU says that a valid QSO is defined as:- - Mutually identified each other - received a report and - received confirmation of a successful identification & reception of the report Report could easily just be the Gridsquare on its own, after all the signal reports meaningless via a satellite if its FM (probably ssb too) and you're getting into it thats all that matters, remove the signal report and you speed up the QSO and that extra two letters doesn't seem so bad. When you think EA4GPZ 2E0SQL 2E0SQL IN80do EA4GPZ IO91js and a quick Thanks/73 Probably isn't going to take that long. But I honestly don't feel that because on EME or M/S its just 4 characters that it should mean a sudden switch, for EME/MS the 4 letters have been decided based mainly on the digital modes which has moved into HF with JT65 and JT9 before then apart from in a PSK brag file you never really heard QRAs on HF. I'm not sure how long the 6 characters has been a thing on the satellites in Europe, but in the 4 years I've been on it's certainly the norm.. like you say tons of times wasted on for example SO-50 having to wait for someone to stop calling over you or keying you out that its easily 50% of the time lost just to people probably not being able to hear the satellite in the first place. Just my thoughts anyway and many thanks for the squares while you've been on from the UK. Pete, 2E0SQL On 18 February 2016 at 21:35, Dani EA4GPZ wrote: > El 18/02/16 a las 15:26, Peter Goodhall escribi?: > >> We can strip down exchange information to just be 2E0SQL EA1JM IO91 or >> if we don't bother even with that 2E0SQL EA1JM.. I'm not really sure >> it constitutes a contact by my licence regulations. > > I don't think that the licence regulations have any say on what > constitutes a contact or actually try say so. That's for the ham > community to decide. I can speak only for the Spanish and UK > regulations, which are the ones that I've ever read. > > The EME and meteor scatter communities have a very clear idea of what > constitutes a contact for them, because they're only always working > under marginal conditions, so they try to send the least information > possible. > > >> There's far greater issues like people calling over the top of in >> progress QSOs, deliberate jamming etc which should be dealt with >> first, if this was taken care of then more QSOs on FM satellites could >> take place and that extra two letters wouldn't really make a real >> difference. > > I agree with that. For me, the worst problem in FM satellites is people > calling over and over without being able to hear the satellite. It would > be fun to record some passes and study how much time gets wasted with > such issues and how much time is used to actually make QSOs. I have the > impression that more than half of the time gets wasted usually. > > 73, > > Dani EA4GPZ. > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb -- Peter Goodhall, 2E0SQL From electricity440 at gmail.com Fri Feb 19 01:03:51 2016 From: electricity440 at gmail.com (Skyler F) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:03:51 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Colorado Amateur Satellite net Begins in 1 hour Message-ID: This is a reminder that the Colorado Amateur Satellite net will begin in 1 hour from now (7PM mountain time Thursday). 6PM Pacific 7PM Mountain 8PM Central 9PM Eastern Please visit us on *AMSATNET.INFO * *IRLP* 9870, the Denver Reflector *ALLSTAR LINK* 40764, direct hookup to the repeater here. 41715, KC9ZHV hub at a data center if I am out of bandwidth. More info on AllStar - amsatnet.info/#node *ECHOLINK* *AMSAT* unless there is an ARISS contact, then go direct to KD0WHB-L *LOCAL RF* 449.625 (-) 141.3 ( W?KU Lookout Mountain) 447.225 (-) 141.3 (The STEM school repeater we set up) 447.850 (-) 141.3 (AC?KQ's repeater where he lives on TOP of saddleback mountain) 147.450 SIMPLEX (Aurora, CO) 446.275 (-) 100.0 Galena St. Local repeater at my house, giving a whopping 5 blocks of great coverage *REMOTE RF* Your Repeater here!, Email me if you want to link in or me to link your echolink or allstar repeater in automatically (no automatic IRLP linking supported) Skyler Fennell amsatnet.info KD?WHB electricity440 at gmail.com From the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp Fri Feb 19 01:11:11 2016 From: the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp (J. Boyd (JR2TTS)) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 10:11:11 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] Decoding Chubusat1/2 telemetry Message-ID: <20160219095315.D863.THE2BELO@msd.biglobe.ne.jp> I'm of the understanding that the Chubusat-1/2 satellites that were just launched on Feb. 17 will be transmitting telemetry data in 9600 baud GMSK, in KISS protocol. With satellites in the past there have been programs written to decode and save this data in .kss format, but I can't seem to locate any such programs for the Chubusats. Does it require its own program, or is there a general one that would be used for this purpose? I have a brand spanking new FUNCube Dongle Pro+ and want to DECODE ALL THE THINGS! 73 -- J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS Twitter: @Minus2_C From llryan807 at gmail.com Fri Feb 19 00:10:44 2016 From: llryan807 at gmail.com (Larry Ryan) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 16:10:44 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] Still trying to repair a Mirage KP-2 2 meter preamp Message-ID: I am trying to repair a Mirage KP-2 series mast-mount 2M preamp. It is quite old. Also, I have the companion bias-tee or Control Box as Mirage calls it. It comes in a black plastic box with the hardware to mount it on a mast. Testing indicates the relay works and some transistors have a voltage. Unfortunately testing also indicates its an attenuator. I think it has a blown gasfet. The small round gasfet has 4 leads and has the following markings on top: K183 R 43 The PCB is marked KP1&2 Rev B. The Have any of you repaired a KP-2 2M preamp? Do any of you have a schematic diagram of this preamp? Do any of you know the part number of the gasfet transistor? (I'm thinking its the problem) Any help would be appreciated. Thanks & 73, Larry W7DGP From awatts44 at comcast.net Fri Feb 19 02:24:47 2016 From: awatts44 at comcast.net (Alfred Watts) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 19:24:47 -0700 Subject: [amsat-bb] Remote sensor for antenna array orientation In-Reply-To: <56C61441.8060209@amsat.org> References: <56C61441.8060209@amsat.org> Message-ID: <000001d16abc$b43e6940$1cbb3bc0$@comcast.net> Clayton, One issue in using magnetometers for azimuth determination is the fact that the sensitivity to bias and scale factor errors increases when crossed instruments are used to measure the field. In a system I designed in the past we used a single axis magnetometer and rotated it to null out the reading. The angle to the magnetic field was measured by the angle of rotation required. The instrument was mounted on a ~ 1 ft. plastic shaft to isolate it from the rotation motor and other sources of error. You could mount the magnetometer on a simple stepper motor rotator and get better performance as the expense of some complexity. But it might be a fun DIY project. Another thing I could offer is I do have some software which calculates the vector field at any location from the current geomagnetic field model which is available on the internet. But you can do just about as well with any current aeronautical chart. BTW - Thanks for our QSO of earlier today on AO-85. Regards, Al Watts - AF5VH -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Clayton W5PFG Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2016 11:58 AM To: AMSAT-BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Remote sensor for antenna array orientation Has anyone ever mounted a mutli-axis accelerometer or a magnetic compass sensor to their antenna crossboom for making adjustments to point of aim? I'm currently using Hall Effect sensors but experiencing several degrees of drift over a short period of a few days. 73 Clayton W5PFG _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From dxdx at optonline.net Fri Feb 19 03:05:01 2016 From: dxdx at optonline.net (Tony) Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 22:05:01 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Yaesu G-500A Bulb Replacement Pics Message-ID: <56C6865D.2080501@optonline.net> All: I'm in the process of replacing the bulb inside a Yaesu G-500A elevation controller so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures that show the bulbs location and type - see attached. The bulb (28v 40mA) is available from Radio Shack. See: https://www.radioshack.com/products/radioshack-28v-40ma-incandescent-flashlight-bulb-2-pack?variant=5717334149 73, Tony -K2MO From jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp Fri Feb 19 07:30:34 2016 From: jr2xea at nagoya.so-net.jp (=?ISO-2022-JP?B?WWFzdXRha2EgTmFydQ==?= =?ISO-2022-JP?B?c2F3YSAoSlIyWEVBKQ==?=) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 16:30:34 +0900 (JST) Subject: [amsat-bb] =?iso-2022-jp?b?V2UgbmVlZCBtb3JlIHJlcG9ydCBvZiBDaHVi?= =?iso-2022-jp?b?dVNhdC0yIGFuZCAtMw==?= Message-ID: <201602190730.u1J7UYJQ027497@ms-omx12.plus.so-net.ne.jp> Dear all; Thank you for your reports after the launch. But ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 are still in critical phase. So, we still need your beacon or 9k6 report so that we know status of both satellites. Best Regards, Yasutaka Narusawa (JR2XEA) From py5lf at falautomation.com.br Fri Feb 19 11:03:45 2016 From: py5lf at falautomation.com.br (PY5LF) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 09:03:45 -0200 Subject: [amsat-bb] ChubuSat-3 Message-ID: Very good signal of ChubuSat-3 over here . https://youtu.be/1rsLvcvvjCM 73 From jefforybroughton at gmail.com Fri Feb 19 13:12:02 2016 From: jefforybroughton at gmail.com (jeffory broughton) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 08:12:02 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Gaasfet xistor Message-ID: I will bet a mfg1402 will work like a million bucks. Also check the 78l0 5 volt regulator. jeff broughton From mhz4464 at yahoo.com Fri Feb 19 14:59:58 2016 From: mhz4464 at yahoo.com (Fer) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:59:58 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Good HamTv signal from ISS References: <1920356822.5476628.1455893998189.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1920356822.5476628.1455893998189.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Hello despite the low elevation pass ISS HamTv signal at 2395 Mhz was quite good, no audio? https://www.dropbox.com/s/cnhm0d9hwhfaij6/ISS%20hamtv%2019feb16%20Tim_Peake.jpg?dl=0 Preparing now the full video upload on youtube 73 Fer IW1DTU From dan at post.com Fri Feb 19 15:33:34 2016 From: dan at post.com (Daniel Cussen) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 15:33:34 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Good HamTv signal from ISS In-Reply-To: <1920356822.5476628.1455893998189.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <1920356822.5476628.1455893998189.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <1920356822.5476628.1455893998189.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Amazingly live video was detected over Australia today, presumably it was still on over USA!. Here is a link to the video I received today (in Europe) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j183BLrTZd0 No audio was turned on. It is expected there will be two more video downlinks next week: Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10:55 UTC 40 deg (***) Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29 deg (***) >From now on we should expect a video downlink all over the world, before and after any European school contact, and possibly any time. I have posted more information on the dedicated HAMTV mailing list: https://ca.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/HamTV/ It is likely USA Hams should be able to receive video during the setup pre-european contact. There is info on the equipment recommended here: http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus/ham-video Please ask if you have any questions. I managed to receive a signal before with just a dish handheld without any rotator. Ideally we would like a group of 4+ USA ground stations spaced apart to give 10+ minutes of constant video, or if you can get a commercial 2m or 3m tracking dish that would need less ground stations. From mhz4464 at yahoo.com Fri Feb 19 15:46:51 2016 From: mhz4464 at yahoo.com (Fer) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 15:46:51 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Good HamTv signal from ISS In-Reply-To: References: <1920356822.5476628.1455893998189.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <1920356822.5476628.1455893998189.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <288547518.5438577.1455896811972.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Hello? here what I recorded, no audio ISS 19 feb 2016 14:22-14:32 UTC Tim Peake video live - no audio | ? | | ? | | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | | ISS 19 feb 2016 14:22-14:32 UTC Tim Peake video live... | | | | View on www.youtube.com | Preview by Yahoo | | | | ? | 73 Fer IW1DTU On Friday, February 19, 2016 3:34 PM, Daniel Cussen wrote: Amazingly live video was detected over Australia today, presumably it was still on over USA!. Here is a link to the video I received today (in Europe) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j183BLrTZd0 No audio was turned on. It is expected there will be two more video downlinks next week: Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10:55 UTC 40 deg (***) Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29 deg (***) >From now on we should expect a video downlink all over the world, before and after any European school contact, and possibly any time. I have posted more information on the dedicated HAMTV mailing list: https://ca.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/HamTV/ It is likely USA Hams should be able to receive video during the setup pre-european contact. There is info on the equipment recommended here: http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus/ham-video Please ask if you have any questions. I managed to receive a signal before with just a dish handheld without any rotator. Ideally we would like a group of 4+ USA ground stations spaced apart to give 10+ minutes of constant video, or if you can get a commercial 2m or 3m tracking dish that would need less ground stations. _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp Fri Feb 19 15:54:46 2016 From: the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp (Jeff A. Boyd) Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2016 00:54:46 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] Decoding Chubusat2/3 telemetry In-Reply-To: <20160219095315.D863.THE2BELO@msd.biglobe.ne.jp> References: <20160219095315.D863.THE2BELO@msd.biglobe.ne.jp> Message-ID: <20160220005446.F57A.63087B45@msd.biglobe.ne.jp> Of course, I meant Chubusat 2 and 3. Oops. On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 10:11:11 +0900, "J. Boyd (JR2TTS)" wrote: > I'm of the understanding that the Chubusat-2/3 satellites that were just > launched on Feb. 17 will be transmitting telemetry data in 9600 baud > GMSK, in KISS protocol. > > With satellites in the past there have been programs written to decode > and save this data in .kss format, but I can't seem to locate any such > programs for the Chubusats. Does it require its own program, or is there > a general one that would be used for this purpose? > > I have a brand spanking new FUNCube Dongle Pro+ and want to DECODE ALL > THE THINGS! -- J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS Twitter: @Minus2_C From james at wx4tv.com Fri Feb 19 16:38:01 2016 From: james at wx4tv.com (James Lea - WX4TV) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 11:38:01 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] KM4IPF Message-ID: <4237A4D7-A07C-4424-B1E9-37D3025F6AA7@wx4tv.com> Thanks to everyone who worked hope on S0-50 just now. She is at ODU in Norfolk, Virginia doing demonstrations for kids who are coming to tour the engineering school. She will be back on FO 29 in just a little bit probably with the callsign K for AMG. Please forgive any typos Siri is typing this for me! James Lea Sent from my iPhone From n1jez at burlingtontelecom.net Fri Feb 19 16:45:14 2016 From: n1jez at burlingtontelecom.net (Mike Seguin) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 11:45:14 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] KM4IPF In-Reply-To: <4237A4D7-A07C-4424-B1E9-37D3025F6AA7@wx4tv.com> References: <4237A4D7-A07C-4424-B1E9-37D3025F6AA7@wx4tv.com> Message-ID: <56C7469A.4000205@burlingtontelecom.net> James, Can Hope work AO-7? in about 10 mins? I have a sked with OM6DC on about 145.945-950 She might be able to work him as well. Haven't looked at the footprint for you. Mike, N1JEZ On 2/19/2016 11:38 AM, James Lea - WX4TV wrote: > Thanks to everyone who worked hope on S0-50 just now. She is at ODU in Norfolk, Virginia doing demonstrations for kids who are coming to tour the engineering school. She will be back on FO 29 in just a little bit probably with the callsign K for AMG. Please forgive any typos Siri is typing this for me! > > James Lea > Sent from my iPhone > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > -- 73, Mike, N1JEZ "A closed mouth gathers no feet" From daniel at destevez.net Fri Feb 19 17:31:27 2016 From: daniel at destevez.net (Dani EA4GPZ) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:31:27 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? In-Reply-To: References: <56C4FCCB.6060009@destevez.net> <56C63910.2070405@destevez.net> Message-ID: <56C7516F.8090404@destevez.net> El 18/02/16 a las 23:06, Peter Goodhall escribi?: > But I honestly don't feel that because on EME or M/S its just 4 > characters that it should mean a sudden switch, for EME/MS the 4 > letters have been decided based mainly on the digital modes which has > moved into HF with JT65 and JT9 before then apart from in a PSK brag > file you never really heard QRAs on HF. In fact it's not the case that they use 4 digit locators on EME. 4 digit locators are used in many JT modes just because there are some spare bits in the message format. I think that operators EME CW don't send locators ever. They have their own signal report system called TMO, where they send one of the letters T, M or O three times based on the amount of data they could copy. http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/g3sek_op_proc.pdf For MS there is signal report system based on the length an strength of the pings. http://www.g0che.co.uk/ms-procedure.php The thing is that in the US 4 digit locators are normally used for terrestrial VHF and such instead of 6 digit locators. In fact, 6 digit locators are almost unheard of and many operators won't know their 6 digit locator. I read recently a proposal of change to the rules of the IARU R1 50MHz contest regarding this matter. This contest currently requires that 6 digit locators are exchanged over the air. However, there is a problem that US operators will usually pass just 4 digit locators and it's difficult explain and get their 6 digit locator under marginal propagation conditions (the usual conditions in transatlantic 50MHz). > I'm not sure how long the 6 characters has been a thing on the > satellites in Europe, but in the 4 years I've been on it's certainly > the norm.. like you say tons of times wasted on for example SO-50 > having to wait for someone to stop calling over you or keying you out > that its easily 50% of the time lost just to people probably not being > able to hear the satellite in the first place. I don't know either, but it's only the case in Europe. In the US they normally use 4 digit locators on satellites. I think that the difference in use comes from terrestrial VHF. The thing is that perhaps we as a community of satellite operators should decide what do we consider as a signal report or valid contact. As you said, the standard signal report doesn't make much sense for satellites. The report could be the locator, but I don't think this is such a good idea because it is not so easy to copy a 6 digit locator in poor conditions (in Europe the many different accents and languages don't help either). The report should be easier to copy. I agree that in good conditions you can send back and forth 6 digit locators real quick. However, in poor conditions, if you want to get them copied properly, you will probably have to repeat it several times and perhaps request a readback. The problem with any idea about changing the established customs is that the satellite community is quite big and spread out. Most of the operators don't read amsat-bb. By comparison, the EME and MS communities are smaller and the guys there tend to frequent the same mailing lists and webs for skeds. > Just my thoughts anyway and many thanks for the squares while you've > been on from the UK. Could you get IO95? I hear that's quite a rare grid. 73, Dani EA4GPZ. From skristof at etczone.com Fri Feb 19 17:39:53 2016 From: skristof at etczone.com (skristof at etczone.com) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 12:39:53 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISS QSO with Alabama Message-ID: <29b66133a717bcf9bb1a8e4c5b1d27f4@etczone.com> Had good copy on the ISS side of the conversation with the school in Alabama. My location is southeastern Indiana, EM79jg. Steve Kristoff AI9IN From johnbrier at gmail.com Fri Feb 19 17:51:42 2016 From: johnbrier at gmail.com (John Brier) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 12:51:42 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Just received UAH ARISS contact - much harder to rx than normal. Arrow antenna problem? Message-ID: It took much longer into the pass to pick up a solid signal and when I got it, except for the top of the pass I had to aim the antenna perfectly to get the signal. The only thing differently about my setup today was I had the 70 cm elements installed on the boom too because I was using it to work SO-50 recently and didn't have time to take them off. Could this make the antenna less sensitive on 2 meters? Because that's what it felt like. Very dissapointing for me since I normally have no trouble getting the ISS from horizon to horizon. With that said it sounded like they got through all of their questions and Tim Kopra got to say goodbye. In his goodbye he repeated part of his answer to a question, saying one of the most important things to do to get space was to play nice with others. He said it wasn't important just in getting to space but also for life in general. A great message. Congrats to all involved in this succesful contact, but someone please tell me why it was so hard for me to receive! 73, John, KG4AKV in FM05 From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Fri Feb 19 17:51:57 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 12:51:57 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISS QSO with Alabama References: <29b66133a717bcf9bb1a8e4c5b1d27f4@etczone.com> Message-ID: Good copy here in Orlando for about 3 minutes starting after 2 or 3 minutes after AOS in Alabama. Dave, AA4KN ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 12:39 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISS QSO with Alabama > > > Had good copy on the ISS side of the conversation with the school in > Alabama. > > My location is southeastern Indiana, EM79jg. > > Steve Kristoff AI9IN > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From skristof at etczone.com Fri Feb 19 17:57:20 2016 From: skristof at etczone.com (skristof at etczone.com) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 12:57:20 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] =?utf-8?q?Just_received_UAH_ARISS_contact_-_much_harde?= =?utf-8?q?r_to_rx_than_normal=2E_Arrow_antenna_problem=3F?= In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I also used an Arrow antenna with both 2 m and 70 cm elements installed. I had some trouble at first, but I think it's because I was still fiddling with my radio. I thought I had it set up ahead of time, but I didn't. Anyway, the first few minutes were rough, but the rest of the transmission was received just fine. Steve AI9IN On 2016-02-19 12:51, John Brier wrote: > It took much longer into the pass to pick up a solid signal and when I got > it, except for the top of the pass I had to aim the antenna perfectly to > get the signal. > > The only thing differently about my setup today was I had the 70 cm > elements installed on the boom too because I was using it to work SO-50 > recently and didn't have time to take them off. > > Could this make the antenna less sensitive on 2 meters? Because that's what > it felt like. Very dissapointing for me since I normally have no trouble > getting the ISS from horizon to horizon. > > With that said it sounded like they got through all of their questions and > Tim Kopra got to say goodbye. > > In his goodbye he repeated part of his answer to a question, saying one of > the most important things to do to get space was to play nice with others. > He said it wasn't important just in getting to space but also for life in > general. A great message. > > Congrats to all involved in this succesful contact, but someone please tell > me why it was so hard for me to receive! > > 73, John, KG4AKV in FM05 > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb [1] Links: ------ [1] http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From joanne.k9jkm at gmail.com Fri Feb 19 18:10:11 2016 From: joanne.k9jkm at gmail.com (JoAnne K9JKM) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 12:10:11 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Just received UAH ARISS contact - much harder to rx than normal. Arrow antenna problem? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56c75a83.57116b0a.d71d4.ffffeaae@mx.google.com> It sounded to me like the ISS was using the 5 watt Ericsson HT instead of the higher power Kenwood rig. I've noticed that the signal strength varies with the position of the ISS with respect to my station when working packet via their HT. I'm running on a vertical until the weather improves to get my yagi back up. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9jkm at amsat.org > -----Original Message----- > From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of > skristof at etczone.com > Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 11:57 AM > To: AMSAT BB > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Just received UAH ARISS contact - much harder to rx > than normal. Arrow antenna problem? > > > > I also used an Arrow antenna with both 2 m and 70 cm elements installed. > I had some trouble at first, but I think it's because I was still > fiddling with my radio. I thought I had it set up ahead of time, but I > didn't. Anyway, the first few minutes were rough, but the rest of the > transmission was received just fine. > > Steve AI9IN > > On 2016-02-19 12:51, John Brier wrote: > > > It took much longer into the pass to pick up a solid signal and when I > got > > it, except for the top of the pass I had to aim the antenna perfectly to > > get the signal. > > > > The only thing differently about my setup today was I had the 70 cm > > elements installed on the boom too because I was using it to work SO-50 > > recently and didn't have time to take them off. > > > > Could this make the antenna less sensitive on 2 meters? Because that's > what > > it felt like. Very dissapointing for me since I normally have no trouble > > getting the ISS from horizon to horizon. > > > > With that said it sounded like they got through all of their questions > and > > Tim Kopra got to say goodbye. > > > > In his goodbye he repeated part of his answer to a question, saying one > of > > the most important things to do to get space was to play nice with > others. > > He said it wasn't important just in getting to space but also for life in > > general. A great message. > > > > Congrats to all involved in this succesful contact, but someone please > tell > > me why it was so hard for me to receive! > > > > 73, John, KG4AKV in FM05 > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb [1] > > > Links: > ------ > [1] http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From RSoifer1 at aol.com Fri Feb 19 18:13:22 2016 From: RSoifer1 at aol.com (RSoifer1 at aol.com) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 13:13:22 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] New AO7 Distance Record Message-ID: <47c86.5cab8542.43f8b542@aol.com> Congrats, guys! When he was active, Pat, G3IOR, made quite a few Mode B QSOs beyond normal range by using troposcatter into and out of the satellite. As you've proved, it still works! 73 Ray W2RS From dan at post.com Fri Feb 19 18:18:19 2016 From: dan at post.com (Daniel Cussen) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:18:19 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Just received UAH ARISS contact - much harder to rx than normal. Arrow antenna problem? In-Reply-To: <56c75a83.57116b0a.d71d4.ffffeaae@mx.google.com> References: <56c75a83.57116b0a.d71d4.ffffeaae@mx.google.com> Message-ID: The default is to use the handheld from the Columbus module. In some cases a mobile rig from the russian segment is used which is much stronger. The orientation of the ISS and the movements of solar panels also make a difference. So normally the same radio/antenna combination as the packet is used, so coverage/signal should be similar. Which contact are you comparing the signal to (date/time)? What was the max elevation of that contact and what was your max elevation this time? (There is a plan to replace the faulty mobile rig in the colombus module at some stage) On 19/02/2016, JoAnne K9JKM wrote: > It sounded to me like the ISS was using the 5 watt Ericsson HT instead of > the higher power Kenwood rig. I've noticed that the signal strength varies > with the position of the ISS with respect to my station when working packet > via their HT. I'm running on a vertical until the weather improves to get > my > yagi back up. > > -- > 73 de JoAnne K9JKM > k9jkm at amsat.org From johnbrier at gmail.com Fri Feb 19 18:21:51 2016 From: johnbrier at gmail.com (John Brier) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 13:21:51 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Just received UAH ARISS contact - much harder to rx than normal. Arrow antenna problem? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Yeah that kinda sounds like my experience except I had difficulty through most of the first half and the second half. There was a point in the beginning where I realized I was aiming way off. It was actually at max elevation for me and I was still aiming towards where the beginning of the pass was. As soon as I aimed higher and in the right direction it came in very strong and I didn't have to hold the antenna in a sweet spot. But a minute or two later, towards the end of the pass I had to have the antenna rotated for the right polarization and direction. It was interesting in that I could really tell exactly where the ISS was because I had be precisely on target. Faraday rotation was very dramatic too, just slightly off axis on the polarization and I lost the signal entirely. Of course I have video of this all so it will be very interesting to review. One extra bit of trouble-shooting info: I was able to receive and get into a repeater 120 miles away. It's one I've gotten into several times from up here on my landfill park, and the signal and my report was about like normal. So that suggests there might not have been an issue with my antenna. The only other thing I can think of was that I did not adjust for doppler in the beginning. When I finally tried to a minute or two (or three?) into the pass it didn't make a difference. Though I guess at that point you should be on the center.frequency anyway. But I almost never adjust for doppler and it's fine. Even on the last pass I did before this over K6DUE in Maryland, which is even closer to me than Alabama and which made for a higher pass and thus had a more dramatic change in speed relative to me, it made very little difference. 73, KG4AKV On Feb 19, 2016 12:57 PM, wrote: > > > I also used an Arrow antenna with both 2 m and 70 cm elements installed. > I had some trouble at first, but I think it's because I was still > fiddling with my radio. I thought I had it set up ahead of time, but I > didn't. Anyway, the first few minutes were rough, but the rest of the > transmission was received just fine. > > Steve AI9IN > > On 2016-02-19 12:51, John Brier wrote: > > > It took much longer into the pass to pick up a solid signal and when I > got > > it, except for the top of the pass I had to aim the antenna perfectly to > > get the signal. > > > > The only thing differently about my setup today was I had the 70 cm > > elements installed on the boom too because I was using it to work SO-50 > > recently and didn't have time to take them off. > > > > Could this make the antenna less sensitive on 2 meters? Because that's > what > > it felt like. Very dissapointing for me since I normally have no trouble > > getting the ISS from horizon to horizon. > > > > With that said it sounded like they got through all of their questions > and > > Tim Kopra got to say goodbye. > > > > In his goodbye he repeated part of his answer to a question, saying one > of > > the most important things to do to get space was to play nice with > others. > > He said it wasn't important just in getting to space but also for life in > > general. A great message. > > > > Congrats to all involved in this succesful contact, but someone please > tell > > me why it was so hard for me to receive! > > > > 73, John, KG4AKV in FM05 > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > [1] > > > Links: > ------ > [1] http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From johnbrier at gmail.com Fri Feb 19 18:28:57 2016 From: johnbrier at gmail.com (John Brier) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 13:28:57 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Just received UAH ARISS contact - much harder to rx than normal. Arrow antenna problem? In-Reply-To: References: <56c75a83.57116b0a.d71d4.ffffeaae@mx.google.com> Message-ID: I'm not comparing the signal to the 20-25 watt Kenwood in the Russian segment. The Russians haven't done any US contacts since last summer AFAIK, but it is waaayyy stronger, for sure. The idea that it was solar panels or orientation might explain it but I did have difficulty through most of the pass. You.would think signal strength would change through the pass if it were solar panels at least. Hmm. KG4AKV On Feb 19, 2016 1:18 PM, "Daniel Cussen" wrote: > The default is to use the handheld from the Columbus module. In some > cases a mobile rig from the russian segment is used which is much > stronger. The orientation of the ISS and the movements of solar panels > also make a difference. So normally the same radio/antenna combination > as the packet is used, so coverage/signal should be similar. > > Which contact are you comparing the signal to (date/time)? What was > the max elevation of that contact and what was your max elevation this > time? > > (There is a plan to replace the faulty mobile rig in the colombus > module at some stage) > > On 19/02/2016, JoAnne K9JKM wrote: > > It sounded to me like the ISS was using the 5 watt Ericsson HT instead of > > the higher power Kenwood rig. I've noticed that the signal strength > varies > > with the position of the ISS with respect to my station when working > packet > > via their HT. I'm running on a vertical until the weather improves to get > > my > > yagi back up. > > > > -- > > 73 de JoAnne K9JKM > > k9jkm at amsat.org > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From mvivona at yahoo.com Fri Feb 19 19:30:34 2016 From: mvivona at yahoo.com (mvivona at yahoo.com) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 19:30:34 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISS QSO with Alabama In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <564382442.27124.1455910234991.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Dave, I am also in Orlando and was surprised that I could not copy them. I didn't try the entire pass, I split for lunch around 12:25 local. Maybe I should have waited. Michael KC4ZVAEL98 From: "n4csitwo at bellsouth.net" To: skristof at etczone.com; amsat-bb at amsat.org Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 12:51 PM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] ARISS QSO with Alabama Good copy here in Orlando for about 3 minutes starting after 2 or 3 minutes after AOS in Alabama. Dave, AA4KN ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 12:39 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISS QSO with Alabama > > > Had good copy on the ISS side of the conversation with the school in > Alabama. > > My location is southeastern Indiana, EM79jg. > > Steve Kristoff AI9IN > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From johnnykludt at earthlink.net Fri Feb 19 17:38:35 2016 From: johnnykludt at earthlink.net (=?utf-8?B?am9obm55a2x1ZHRAZWFydGhsaW5rLm5ldA==?=) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 17:38:35 GMT Subject: [amsat-bb] UAH SHC Successful Message-ID: <000f4244.467d257b48b66e9c@earthlink.net> All, UAH SHC was successful with 18 questions answered. Very noisy at start but full quieting once beyond question 3. ?73 round completed. ?All are very excited and happy! John K4SQCSent from my Verizon 4G LTE Smartphone. From bill.g.dillon at gmail.com Fri Feb 19 20:53:33 2016 From: bill.g.dillon at gmail.com (Bill Dillon) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:53:33 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Just received UAH ARISS contact - much harder to rx than normal. Arrow antenna problem? In-Reply-To: References: <56c75a83.57116b0a.d71d4.ffffeaae@mx.google.com> Message-ID: I had more trouble than I recall the last time I picked up the ISS, but that was last June, and I think the Russians were making the contact. I caught a few words during the pass, but it was only near the end of the pass (in Houston), with the ISS about ten degrees or so above the horizon that I heard an answer to a question about what stars look like from space. 73, --Bill, KG5FQX PS As a bonus I was able to catch a pass of SO-50 about a half-hour later. :-) On Fri, Feb 19, 2016 at 12:28 PM, John Brier wrote: > I'm not comparing the signal to the 20-25 watt Kenwood in the Russian > segment. The Russians haven't done any US contacts since last summer AFAIK, > but it is waaayyy stronger, for sure. > > The idea that it was solar panels or orientation might explain it but I did > have difficulty through most of the pass. You.would think signal strength > would change through the pass if it were solar panels at least. Hmm. > > KG4AKV > On Feb 19, 2016 1:18 PM, "Daniel Cussen" wrote: > > > The default is to use the handheld from the Columbus module. In some > > cases a mobile rig from the russian segment is used which is much > > stronger. The orientation of the ISS and the movements of solar panels > > also make a difference. So normally the same radio/antenna combination > > as the packet is used, so coverage/signal should be similar. > > > > Which contact are you comparing the signal to (date/time)? What was > > the max elevation of that contact and what was your max elevation this > > time? > > > > (There is a plan to replace the faulty mobile rig in the colombus > > module at some stage) > > > > On 19/02/2016, JoAnne K9JKM wrote: > > > It sounded to me like the ISS was using the 5 watt Ericsson HT instead > of > > > the higher power Kenwood rig. I've noticed that the signal strength > > varies > > > with the position of the ISS with respect to my station when working > > packet > > > via their HT. I'm running on a vertical until the weather improves to > get > > > my > > > yagi back up. > > > > > > -- > > > 73 de JoAnne K9JKM > > > k9jkm at amsat.org > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions > > expressed > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > > AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From jimlist at zoho.com Fri Feb 19 20:57:50 2016 From: jimlist at zoho.com (Jim Heck G3WGM) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:57:50 -0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-73/FUNcube Mode Switch In-Reply-To: <160781.62abfb43.436008a2@aol.com> References: <160781.62abfb43.436008a2@aol.com> Message-ID: <2259187E7F9E46FDBF3AC031D7FA69B8@jimPC2> Hi Folks, I have just switched AO-73/FUNcube from educational mode to amateur made. The transponder will be on 24/7 over the weekend. The plan, as usual, it to switch to normal mode (transponder ON when sat is in eclipse) on Sunday pm (UTC) Enjoy the transponder 73s Jim G3WGM From kl7uw at acsalaska.net Fri Feb 19 22:34:54 2016 From: kl7uw at acsalaska.net (Edward R Cole) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 13:34:54 -0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? Message-ID: <201602192235.u1JMZ9kh014860@mail40c28.carrierzone.com> Note: that I read the digest of amsat-bb and normally only scan it lightly, so coming into this in mid-thread: I primarily work eme (144 since 1998 and 1296 only a couple years). So haven't done much satellite since demise of AO-40 (still getting system restored). I use JT65 on 2m-eme but not on HF so my experience is with on eme. 4-digit grid square was chosen by Joe Taylor-K1JT when writing JT65 as info traded in the contact as signal level is calculated and displayed by the program in dB below SNR=0 for a 2.5 KHz bw (std SSB bw). Therefore a signal report would be duplicative to the sw display. Eme hams do generally exchange signal level received when running digital modes but this manually added into the "73" report or included in QSL's. On CW-eme the TMO system is not used unless signals are very weak; most now just send RST via CW. TMO is used at "432 and up" while a shorter system of O/RO/RRR is used on 222 and down. JT65 is set up to send this report system. For terrestrial VHF contests (US) only 4-digit grid is exchanged. But most eme stations display and exchange 6-digit grids on QSL's and for more precise station location when using eme tracking programs. 73, Ed - KL7UW BP40iq 144-eme: 4x XP-20 + 1300W 1296-eme: 4.9m dish + 125w sat: 7-elem 2m yagi, 26-elem 435 x-yagi, patch for 2.4 GHz. Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:31:27 +0100 From: Dani EA4GPZ To: "amsat-bb at amsat.org" Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? Message-ID: <56C7516F.8090404 at destevez.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 El 18/02/16 a las 23:06, Peter Goodhall escribi?: > But I honestly don't feel that because on EME or M/S its just 4 > characters that it should mean a sudden switch, for EME/MS ... ...snip... >... which has > moved into HF with JT65 and JT9 before then apart from in a PSK brag > file you never really heard QRAs on HF. In fact it's not the case that they use 4 digit locators on EME. 4 digit locators are used in many JT modes just because there are some spare bits in the message format. I think that operators EME CW don't send locators ever. They have their own signal report system called TMO, where they send one of the letters T, M or O three times based on the amount of data they could copy. http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/g3sek_op_proc.pdf For MS there is signal report system based on the length an strength of the pings. http://www.g0che.co.uk/ms-procedure.php The thing is that in the US 4 digit locators are normally used for terrestrial VHF and such instead of 6 digit locators. In fact, 6 digit locators are almost unheard of and many operators won't know their 6 digit locator. I read recently a proposal of change to the rules of the IARU R1 50MHz contest regarding this matter. This contest currently requires that 6 digit locators are exchanged over the air. However, there is a problem that US operators will usually pass just 4 digit locators and it's difficult explain and get their 6 digit locator under marginal propagation conditions (the usual conditions in transatlantic 50MHz). > I'm not sure how long the 6 characters has been a thing on the > satellites in Europe, but in the 4 years I've been on it's certainly ...snip... > that its easily 50% of the time lost just to people probably not being > able to hear the satellite in the first place. I don't know either, but it's only the case in Europe. In the US they normally use 4 digit locators on satellites. I think that the difference in use comes from terrestrial VHF. The thing is that perhaps we as a community of satellite operators should decide what do we consider as a signal report or valid contact. As you said, the standard signal report doesn't make much sense for satellites. The report could be the locator, but I don't think this is such a good idea because it is not so easy to copy a 6 digit locator in poor conditions (in Europe the many different accents and languages don't help either). The report should be easier to copy. I agree that in good conditions you can send back and forth 6 digit locators real quick. However, in poor conditions, if you want to get them copied properly, you will probably have to repeat it several times and perhaps request a readback. The problem with any idea about changing the established customs is that the satellite community is quite big and spread out. Most of the operators don't read amsat-bb. By comparison, the EME and MS communities are smaller and the guys there tend to frequent the same mailing lists and webs for skeds. > Just my thoughts anyway and many thanks for the squares while you've > been on from the UK. Could you get IO95? I hear that's quite a rare grid. 73, Dani EA4GPZ. 73, Ed - KL7UW http://www.kl7uw.com "Kits made by KL7UW" Dubus Mag business: dubususa at gmail.com From tosca005 at umn.edu Sat Feb 20 00:08:38 2016 From: tosca005 at umn.edu (John Toscano) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:08:38 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? In-Reply-To: References: <56C4FCCB.6060009@destevez.net> <56C63910.2070405@destevez.net> Message-ID: In your example: EA4GPZ 2E0SQL 2E0SQL IN80do EA4GPZ IO91js and a quick Thanks/73 I don't consider this to be a complete contact, personally. 1. EA4GPZ calls 2E0SQL and it appears that 2E0SQL replies with his/her grid locator, IN80do, but there is no guarantee (i.e., no CONFIRMATION that 2E0SQL heard EA4GPZ's callsign correctly. Maybe he thought he heard EA4GPC, and since he never repeated the callsign he (thought he) heard, it may go into his log (or a contest log) incorrectly. 2. EA4GPZ apparently heard the grid report of IN80do well enough that he was confident that he heard it correctly, so he sent his grid locator IO91js. But he never repeated the grid locator IN80do so he might have mis-heard it as IN80vo, for example, and so it would go into the log incorrectly. 3. 2E0SQL apparently heard the grid report of IO91js well enough to send his 73's indicating that the contact is complete, but what if he mis-heard it as IIO91as instead? He never repeated it back, so it would go into the log incorrectly. My notion of a complete, verified contact would (unfortunately, for this discussion), be much more verbose, with each side repeating the info they (thought that) they heard so errors could be caught and fixed. Maybe this is just my bias from VHF-through-microwave contesting where I want to be as close to absolutely sure that I got everything exactly right. And even so, I seldom submit an absolutely spotless error-free log. EA4GPZ 2E0SQL 2E0SQL copies EA4GPZ, please copy IN80do EA4GPZ roger IN80do from 2E0SQL, please copy my IO91js 2E0SQL roger your IO91js. 73 EA4GPZ 73 Each operator has heard and repeated back both the other operator's calllsign, and the other operator's report (gridsquare), so both of them have confirmed that they got the information correctly. And both have sent their 73's not only to be polite but also to signify that they each believe the contact is complete and correct. I'll probably get firebombed for proposing such a verbose exchange, particularly if NOT in the context of a contest, but I have already donned my flameproof coveralls. The fact that airtime during an FM satellite pass is so precious and limited is one of the reasons that I tend to shun them in favor of the few linear transponders still flying. And certainly I appreciate that FM reception is usually far easier to copy than weak-signal SSB. 73 de W0JT On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 4:06 PM, Peter Goodhall wrote: > Ofcoms reasonably relaxed, its main concern is that I identify at the > start of a transmission (CQ) every 15mins or again if I change > frequency. IARU says that a valid QSO is defined as:- > > - Mutually identified each other > - received a report and > - received confirmation of a successful identification & reception of the > report > > Report could easily just be the Gridsquare on its own, after all the > signal reports meaningless via a satellite if its FM (probably ssb > too) and you're getting into it thats all that matters, remove the > signal report and you speed up the QSO and that extra two letters > doesn't seem so bad. > > When you think > > EA4GPZ 2E0SQL > 2E0SQL IN80do > EA4GPZ IO91js > and a quick Thanks/73 > > Probably isn't going to take that long. > > But I honestly don't feel that because on EME or M/S its just 4 > characters that it should mean a sudden switch, for EME/MS the 4 > letters have been decided based mainly on the digital modes which has > moved into HF with JT65 and JT9 before then apart from in a PSK brag > file you never really heard QRAs on HF. > > I'm not sure how long the 6 characters has been a thing on the > satellites in Europe, but in the 4 years I've been on it's certainly > the norm.. like you say tons of times wasted on for example SO-50 > having to wait for someone to stop calling over you or keying you out > that its easily 50% of the time lost just to people probably not being > able to hear the satellite in the first place. > > Just my thoughts anyway and many thanks for the squares while you've > been on from the UK. > > Pete, 2E0SQL > > On 18 February 2016 at 21:35, Dani EA4GPZ wrote: > > El 18/02/16 a las 15:26, Peter Goodhall escribi?: > > > >> We can strip down exchange information to just be 2E0SQL EA1JM IO91 or > >> if we don't bother even with that 2E0SQL EA1JM.. I'm not really sure > >> it constitutes a contact by my licence regulations. > > > > I don't think that the licence regulations have any say on what > > constitutes a contact or actually try say so. That's for the ham > > community to decide. I can speak only for the Spanish and UK > > regulations, which are the ones that I've ever read. > > > > The EME and meteor scatter communities have a very clear idea of what > > constitutes a contact for them, because they're only always working > > under marginal conditions, so they try to send the least information > > possible. > > > > > >> There's far greater issues like people calling over the top of in > >> progress QSOs, deliberate jamming etc which should be dealt with > >> first, if this was taken care of then more QSOs on FM satellites could > >> take place and that extra two letters wouldn't really make a real > >> difference. > > > > I agree with that. For me, the worst problem in FM satellites is people > > calling over and over without being able to hear the satellite. It would > > be fun to record some passes and study how much time gets wasted with > > such issues and how much time is used to actually make QSOs. I have the > > impression that more than half of the time gets wasted usually. > > > > 73, > > > > Dani EA4GPZ. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed > > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > program! > > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > > > > -- > Peter Goodhall, 2E0SQL > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From w5pfg at amsat.org Sat Feb 20 01:04:49 2016 From: w5pfg at amsat.org (Clayton W5PFG) Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2016 19:04:49 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe? In-Reply-To: References: <56C4FCCB.6060009@destevez.net> <56C63910.2070405@destevez.net> Message-ID: <56C7BBB1.5010202@amsat.org> With three FM voice transponders and SIX linear transponders in operation today, I think there is plenty of bandwidth to handle a few simple exchanges. The primary reason I care to hear a station's gridsquare is for ARRL VUCC Satellite Award endorsements. Often I will give my name and state when making contacts with a new station in the log. 73 Clayton W5PFG On 2/19/2016 18:08, John Toscano wrote: > I'll probably get firebombed for proposing such a verbose exchange, > particularly if NOT in the context of a contest, but I have already donned > my flameproof coveralls. The fact that airtime during an FM satellite pass > is so precious and limited is one of the reasons that I tend to shun them > in favor of the few linear transponders still flying. And certainly I > appreciate that FM reception is usually far easier to copy than weak-signal > SSB. > > 73 de W0JT From g.shirville at btinternet.com Sat Feb 20 10:01:52 2016 From: g.shirville at btinternet.com (Graham Shirville) Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2016 10:01:52 -0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] OSCAR NEWS edition 213 Message-ID: Hi All, The next edition of OSCAR NEWS the quarterly publication of AMSAT-UK will shortly being going to press. The editors would welcome any input that you may have. We are keen to have reports on your activities and projects ...... there is so much going on in the amateur space world at the moment.... We are also keen to have soapbox articles about subjects of amateur satellite interest. For instance should we drop the two least significant digits of our QRA Locator exchanges.....or how should we bandplan the new 250kHz spectrum that should become available alter this year with the launch of the Geostationary Eshail2 S/X transponder...same question about the 8MHz digital/ATV transponder on the same spacecraft. Photos and short news snippets are also very welcome. Please let us have them at g3vzv at amsat.org and g3wgm at amsat.org many thanks Graham and Jim From ei7m-wkt at asahi-net.or.jp Sat Feb 20 11:55:27 2016 From: ei7m-wkt at asahi-net.or.jp (Mineo Wakita) Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2016 20:55:27 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] HORYU-4 2.4GHz received Message-ID: <8A148BACE3B24500BE9861FDB2C6A91C@FMAE9DF34D30D3> I heard 2.4GHz signal many times in this orbit. The spurious signal will be heard lower than about 56kHz from the nominal frequency, it may sound rather strongly. The followings are the image that I received this real signal and spurious signal. At the 2400.244 MHz, I heard the clear and stable sound of them. Perhaps it might not be a spurious signal. This deviation signal might be the real signal of HORYU-4 2.4GHz. 05:22-05:34 UTC, 20 Feb 2016, Ele 40 WS-S-E, 2400.300MHz 100kbps BPSK 07:03-07:16 UTC, 20 Feb 2016, Ele 45 W-S-SE, 2400.244MHz 100kbps BPSK http://www.dropbox.com/s/yg41q64m69dnitc/60220hr4.wav?dl=0 http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/hor4ch23.htm#ghz http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr1.png http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr2.png http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr3.png http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr4.png JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita From michel-f6glj at orange.fr Sat Feb 20 16:13:38 2016 From: michel-f6glj at orange.fr ( F6GLJ) Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2016 17:13:38 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] France (N94) on A-07B Message-ID: <001201d16bf9$ac639090$052ab1b0$@fr> Hello everybody. I'll be on AO-07B between 17:44 and 17:57 UTC, good footprint for SA and NA. I hope meet you. 73 Qro de F6GLJ https://www.qrz.com/db/F6GLJ From aa5pk at suddenlink.net Sat Feb 20 18:48:56 2016 From: aa5pk at suddenlink.net (Glenn Miller - AA5PK) Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2016 12:48:56 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] TH-D7A for sale Message-ID: <749C6C12E4AD4C59891D6CCAB8BFDB43@AA5PKPC> A friend has a Kenwood TH-D7A for sale for $75 plus shipping. Condition is excellent. If interested, contact me off list. Glenn AA5PK DM91, Texas From AJ9N at aol.com Sat Feb 20 21:42:16 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2016 16:42:16 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-20 21:00 UTC Message-ID: <18598.5218ee06.43fa37b8@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-20 21:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact was successsful: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg (***) UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact was successsful: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg (***) Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10:55 UTC 40 deg Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29 deg **************************************************************************** ** The next window to submit a proposal for an upcoming contact is now open. The window is open from 2016-02-15 to 2016-04-15 and would be for contacts between 2017-01-01 and 2017-06-30. Check out the ARISS website http://www.ariss.org/ or the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact for full details. (***) **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** *** All ARISS contacts are made via the Ericsson radio unless otherwise noted. (***) **************************************************************************** *** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-20 21:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1025. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 990. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-20 21:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From aa5pk at suddenlink.net Sun Feb 21 00:29:56 2016 From: aa5pk at suddenlink.net (Glenn Miller - AA5PK) Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2016 18:29:56 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] TH-D7A sold Message-ID: The owner tells me he has closed the deal on the HT. Glenn AA5PK From philji at mac.com Sat Feb 20 23:52:33 2016 From: philji at mac.com (Phil Townsend Lontz) Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2016 16:52:33 -0700 Subject: [amsat-bb] Newbie Alert... Help needed to find a suitable Radio... In-Reply-To: <001201d16bf9$ac639090$052ab1b0$@fr> References: <001201d16bf9$ac639090$052ab1b0$@fr> Message-ID: <98627B5B-EB7D-400A-A45E-A3E6B0F6F55C@mac.com> I am in the process of putting together a station. I have nailed down the two antennas and the rotators for az and elev? But what I can not come to grips with is the radio? 2m/ 440? What is the best choice? I would like it to be sized like one of the mobil rigs. Some dual bander? But there are soon many to choose from? I have no preference for Yaessu Kenwood or Icom or others for that matter? I want to work the new fun cubes etc. Im at DM75am my call is K5SSR? I?m mostly a cw op but will jump on voice at times? Guys thank you for the help? I look forward to having QSO with you? Phil Santa Fe, NM From wao at vfr.net Sun Feb 21 07:04:51 2016 From: wao at vfr.net (Joseph Spier) Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2016 23:04:51 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] ANS-052 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins Message-ID: <56C96193.6020100@vfr.net> AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-052 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * AMSAT Seeks Volunteers to Support Phase 4 ?Five and Dime? Ground Terminal Effort * JAMSAT Symposium 2016 in Tokyo on March 5 - 6 * Japanese Ham Radio Satellite Launched * HORYU-4 2.4GHz Received * New AO7 Distance Record * ARISS Information Sessions * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-052.01 ANS-052 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 052.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE February 21, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-052.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Seeks Volunteers to Support Phase 4 ?Five and Dime? Ground Terminal Effort Established less than 1 year ago, AMSAT?s all-volunteer Phase 4 Ground Terminal team has made significant strides in developing an ensemble of solutions to support the so-called ?Five and Dime? (5 GHz and 10 GHz) strategy AMSAT has embraced for microwave satellite projects. Prompting the effort is the planned launch of a geosynchronous military satellite in the 2018 timeframe, which could play host to an Amateur Radio payload operating on the two microwave band. The overarching project, which also includes a complementary Phase 4 Space team, is exploring new territory and innovative solutions, and it?s seeking volunteers from among the technically savvy within the Amateur Radio community. ?We?re going to make it as awesome as possible,? Ground Station team lead Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, told ARRL. The project not only would support the Phase 4B geosynchronous launch but provide solutions for the Phase 3E high-Earth orbit satellite, and receiver support for AMSAT?s entry into the NASA Cube Quest Challenge, which would go to the moon. Thompson said the compelling technical reason for using 5 GHz and 10 GHz is the ability to use high-bandwidth modes on those bands. In addition, ?the 5 and 10 GHz bands are popular elsewhere, and other projects are embracing this band complement,? she noted. Another advantage would be to raise Amateur Radio?s profile on the two bands and perhaps ?shake things up? there for terrestrial use. ?The 5 and 10 GHz bands are a compromise that?s working really, really well,? Thompson said. The US Air Force will control the geosynchronous satellite. Virginia Tech, Millennium Space Systems (MSS), FEMA, various clubs as well as AMSAT and ARRL are partners in or are supporting the project. A formal memorandum of understanding is pending. Cognitive Radios ?We?re currently exploring the Amateur Radio implementation of a very advanced and exciting open standard called DVB-S2X for the downlink,? Thompson explained, noting it offers a variety of modulation and coding. Earth stations will use their individual radios, transmitting a digital signal ? probably something called Offset QPSK (O-PSK) ? directly to the satellite, with each getting its own channel in a frequency division, multiple access (FDMA) scheme. ?This is an elegant way to design an efficient and advanced communication system and allows technical volunteers to experiment with the basics of cognitive radio ? radio that can sense the environment and adapt to take full advantage of the capabilities the hardware offers,? she said. Groundsats and a ?Big Honking SDR? Phase 4 radios will be designed to work not just with the impending geosynchronous satellite but through terrestrial microwave ?Groundsats,? which, Thompson said, ?are essentially satellite simulators that let you test and use the radio terrestrially.? Phase 4 radio designs also could be configured to use modulation schemes that are better able to deal with terrestrial multipath. Amateur Radio Access Points (ARAPs) ? essentially signal aggregators ? would allow legacy radios, FM hand-held transceivers, or emergency traffic providers to use the satellite from any point where an ARAP can be deployed, packaging the input for uplink to the satellite. Hams within ARAP range would be able to use the Five and Dime terrestrial network just as if they were operating through a satellite. ?The Groundsat, which is doing the same job as the satellite payload, has a big honking SDR on it,? Thompson said. Groundsat equipment has arrived and is in use in San Diego, North Texas, and at Virginia Tech, and Groundsat development is under way at those sites. A fourth site would be at Morgan State University in Maryland. Doing It on the Cheap ?Five and Dime? also reflects the project?s economics. AMSAT Board Member and Virginia Tech Research Professor Bob McGwier, N4HY, recently explained on the AMSAT-BB that the Ground Team?s work is ?an effort to design an inexpensive ground terminal for amateurs that would cost tens of thousands of dollars commercially, for as much under $1000 as we can get it.? In contrast to the Space Team?s work, which, he said, is taking place ?under the cloak of ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations),? the Ground Team?s SDR is ?completely open source, open specification? and ?easily reprogrammed to do many different kinds of missions just by changing the software.? ?We welcome any interested technical volunteers to apply to the technical volunteer program at AMSAT and become part of the team,? Thompson said. To volunteer for the Phase 4 Ground Team, provide your contact information on AMSAT?s Engineering Team contact form. Thompson?s weekly ?Phase4? engineering updates are available via YouTube. Additional development documentation is posted on GitHub. [ANS thanks the ARRL and Michelle Thompson, W5NYV for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- JAMSAT Symposium 2016 in Tokyo on March 5 - 6 JAMSAT Symposium 2016 will be held on March 5th PM and 6th AM in Tokyo at Conference Room 2(CR2) in Miraikan (The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation). Please see http://www.miraikan.jst.go.jp/en/ for location and access details. Day 1 is mainly for "JAS-1 30 Years Anniversary". Day 2 is mainly for technology development for satellites. If you are interested in it, or want to join the dinner party, please contact madoguchi at jamsat.or.jp Time Title Presenter Call Sign March 5 14:30 - 14:35 "Welcome" Mikio Mouri JA3GEP 14:35 - 16:10 "JAS-1 30 Years Anniversary" Toshiyuki Kondou Eng. Mgr., JARL, JR1NVU 16:20 - 17:30 "Joy of Satellite Communications" Eiji Nakamura, JA1CPA 18:00 - 20:00 Dinner at Sky View Lounge (Restaurant) March 6 9:30 - 10:00 "Report from AMSAT-DL"(by Skype) Peter Guelzow, DB2OS 10:10 - 10:40 "Report on EsHailSat-2/Phase-4A" AMSAT-Qatar Mohamed bin Jabor Althani, A71EY 10:40 - 11:20 "Development of Phase-4 Ground Station" Akira Kaneko, JA1OGZ 11:30 - 12:10 "Development of JAMSAT Mode-J Transponder", Kan Fukai, JH1CEP 12:10 - 12:50 "USB Mini Tuner" Hiroshi Matsumoto, JA1SYK 12:50 - 13:20 "New Regulation on Spurious Emission" Akira Kaneko, JA1OGZ [ANS thanks Mikio Mouri, JA3GEP for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Japanese Ham Radio Satellite Launched Yasutaka Narusawa JR2XEA posted on the AMSAT-BB: Feb. 17 17:45JST(08:45UTC), ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 has been launched on the H-IIA F30 launch vehicle. After separation, both satellites start transmitting beacon message. I hope you receive our message and report to us, thank you. https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite3.html Yasutaka Narusawa JR2XEA provides the following information on ChubuSat-2/3: Nagoya University(NU) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries(MHI) developed 50kg microsatellite ChubuSat-2(NU) and ChubuSat-3(MHI). These satellites have amateur VHF receiver and amateur UHF transmitter, and will be launched on Feb. 12 2016 from Tanegashima, Japan. Komaki Amateur SATCOM Club operates these satellites from Komaki, Japan. After the satellite separation, each satellite will transmit UHF CW beacon message including battery voltage etc. which is very important information for our initial and critical operation. So we are very happy if you receive the CW beacon message and report to us email: chubusat2 at frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp In following web site, we show the information(frequency, format, TLE, etc.) about ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3. If we have your report, we will show your report in this page. https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html Both satellite will provide the message exchange service. After the on-orbit checkout of the satellite(maybe one month after launch), you can use this service, sending your message with VHF uplink, then your message is written to the on-board memory. By sending inquiry message, anyone can read your message with UHF downlink. ChubuSat-2 Satellite Uplink: 145.815 MHz FSK 1200bps Downlink: 437.100 MHz GMSK 9600bps and CW ChubuSat-3 Satellite Uplink: 145.840 MHz FSK 1200bps Downlink: 437.425 MHz GMSK 9600bps and CW The uplink/downlink format will be uploaded in above web site. Horyu-4 downlink 437.375 MHz & 2400.300 MHz 1k2 AFSK,9k6 GMSK, S_BPSK, CW http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/horyu4WEB/horyu4.html http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=434 https://www.facebook.com/Horyu-4-Arc-Event-Generator-and-Investigation- Satellite-780188535364868/ [ANS thanks Yasutaka Narusawa JR2XEA, and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- HORYU-4 2.4GHz received I heard 2.4GHz signal many times in this orbit. The spurious signal will be heard lower than about 56kHz from the nominal frequency, it may sound rather strongly. The followings are the image that I received this real signal and spurious signal. At the 2400.244 MHz, I heard the clear and stable sound of them. Perhaps it might not be a spurious signal. This deviation signal might be the real signal of HORYU-4 2.4GHz. 05:22-05:34 UTC, 20 Feb 2016, Ele 40 WS-S-E, 2400.300MHz 100kbps BPSK 07:03-07:16 UTC, 20 Feb 2016, Ele 45 W-S-SE, 2400.244MHz 100kbps BPSK http://www.dropbox.com/s/yg41q64m69dnitc/60220hr4.wav?dl=0 http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/hor4ch23.htm#ghz http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr1.png http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr2.png http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr3.png http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr4.png [ANS thanks Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New AO7 Distance Record Satellite Friends and Colleagues, I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from 'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we just needed a little luck. Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the contact. It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded a recording of it to YouTube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. That said, wow.. what a rush Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until then, catch you on the birds! 73! Signed, Dave, KG5CCI Dave, KG5CCI also posted on the AMSAT-BB that he was using an "Alaskan" Arrow ( 4 elements on 2m, 10 elements on 70cm) held by hand, running 10' pieces of LMR-240 into an Icom 821h, manually tuned. "Everything is run from a LiFePo4 battery, and I pretty much exclusively operate portable mountain-top with unobstructed horizon views in the direction I'm planning to work", reported Dave. Also on the AMSAT-BB Eduardo, PY2RN wrote that he used: "RX: Funcube pro plus + SDR# V.1430 (with great NB capabilities) + Yagi-Uda 11el CP + Mirage KP-2 pre-amp. TX: TS-2000x + Yagi-Uda 20el CP Tracked by Satellite Tracking embedded into SDR-RADIO V2 software suite + GS-232/G-5400 Coax: RFS RGC213 15m long And a clear view to my N/NW bound which allows to hear a little after sat LOS most of times. Put together again an old P3 sat setup sitting in storage for many years, just added the SDR fun to it." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTGSlaY7K7A&feature=youtu.be http://www.arrl.org/news/arkansas-vhfer-claims-mathematically-impossible-ao-7- mode-b-distance-record http://www.amsat.org/?p=4997 [ANS thanks Dave, KG5CCI, Eduardo, PY2RN, the ARRL, and the AMSAT-BB for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS Information Sessions Host a Real-Time Conversation With Crew Members Aboard the International Space Station ARISS-US is now accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations to host an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, contact between Jan. 1 - June 30, 2017. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS-US is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Proposals are due April 15, 2016. Using amateur radio, students can ask astronauts questions about life in space and other space-related topics. Students fully engage in the ARISS contact by helping set up an amateur radio ground station at the school and then using that station to talk directly with a crew member on the International Space Station for approximately 10 minutes. ARISS provides experienced mentors and relies on local amateur radio volunteers to help organizations obtain the technology required to host this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students. Informational Sessions ---------------------- To help organizations in preparing their proposals, the ARISS program coordinator will offer hourlong online information sessions. These are designed to provide more information regarding U.S. ARISS contacts and the proposal process, and offer an opportunity to ask questions. While attending an online information session is not required, it is strongly encouraged. Informational sessions will be offered Feb. 29, 2016, at 4 p.m. EST and March 10, 2016, at 7 p.m. EST. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss at arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, visit http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. ARISS-US is offered through a partnership between NASA; the American Radio Relay League, or ARRL; and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, or AMSAT. ARISS was created and is managed by an international working group, including several countries in Europe as well as Japan, Russia, Canada, and the USA. Questions about this opportunity should be emailed to ariss at arrl.org. [ANS thanks the NASA Education Express Message -- Feb. 18, 2016 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). *Friday, 4 March 2016 ? presentation for the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach meeting in Signal Hill CA *Saturday and Sunday, 12-13 March 2016 ? ScienceCity science fair, on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson AZ *Saturday, 19 March 2016 ? Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Spring Hamfest 2016 in Scottsdale AZ *Saturday, 26 March 2016 ? Tucson Spring Hamfest in Tucson AZ *Friday through Sunday, 29 April-1 May 2016 - ARRL Nevada State Convention in Las Vegas NV *Saturday, 7 May 2016 ? Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ *Saturday, 4 June 2016 ? White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB The ISS callsign was scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut was Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact was successful: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg Tim answered on the second call and we proceeded to to get 19 complete questions answered. Ham TV came in from Goonhilly and we had over four and a half minutes lock from our mobile 1.2m dish mounted on a Land Rover. Once we had video, I asked Tim to give us a wave, which he did with the biggest grin I seen from him yet. In the room for the contact, we had over 260i people present with somewhere near 500+ in the hall next - numbers will be verified shortly. In terms of media, we had BBC and ITV Bristol TV and radio BBC and ITV for the West Country, TV BBC (National) The One Show - they have recorded a piece that will feature in build ups all next week and the contact will be featured on the show on Friday 26th February. UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign was scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact was successful: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg UAH SHC was successful with 18 questions answered. Very noisy at start but full quieting once beyond question 3. 73 round completed. All are very excited and happy! The Space Hardware Club at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is an engineering club of students that builds balloon payloads, satellites and rockets outside of their regular classes. The club has been working on this contact for over a year. After deciding to focus on 8th grade students, we reached out to Discovery Middle School, Westlawn Middle School, and the Tennessee Valley Homeschool 4-H group ? all from the northern Alabama area. The students from Westlawn have been part of Project Lead The Way for 2 years now and have been exposed to robotics, modeling, and 3d printing. The students from the homeschool group all have a passion for STEM, a love of learning and being challenged, and are bubbling with excitement for this opportunity of a lifetime. There are two STEM II classes from Discovery Middle School that routinely rise to the expectations of their accelerated STEM focused curriculum. By the time of the contact, the students will have learned about the ISS, the astronauts and some of the experiments aboard, and amateur radio. All of the students and club members involved are passionate about this opportunity, and thank you for your time. Upcoming Contacts Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10:55 UTC 40 deg Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29 deg Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over NASA Invites Public to Send Artwork to an Asteroid NASA is calling all space enthusiasts to send their artistic endeavors on a journey aboard NASA?s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft. This will be the first U.S. mission to collect a sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth for study. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in September and travel to the asteroid Bennu. The #WeTheExplorers campaign invites the public to take part in this mission by expressing, through art, how the mission?s spirit of exploration is reflected in their own lives. Submitted works of art will be saved on a chip on the spacecraft. The spacecraft already carries a chip with more than 442,000 names submitted through the 2014 ?Messages to Bennu? campaign. ?The development of the spacecraft and instruments has been a hugely creative process, where ultimately the canvas is the machined metal and composites preparing for launch in September,? said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA?s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. ?It is fitting that this endeavor can inspire the public to express their creativity to be carried by OSIRIS-REx into space.? A submission may take the form of a sketch, photograph, graphic, poem, song, short video or other creative or artistic expression that reflects what it means to be an explorer. Submissions will be accepted via Twitter and Instagram until March 20. For details on how to include your submission on the mission to Bennu, go to: http://www.asteroidmission.org/WeTheExplorers ?Space exploration is an inherently creative activity,? said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson. ?We are inviting the world to join us on this great adventure by placing their art work on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, where it will stay in space for millennia.? The spacecraft will voyage to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) and return it to Earth for study. Scientists expect Bennu may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of the water and organic molecules that may have made their way to Earth. Goddard provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. The University of Arizona, Tucson leads the science team and observation planning and processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is building the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information on OSIRIS-Rex, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org From glasbrenner at mindspring.com Sun Feb 21 16:01:39 2016 From: glasbrenner at mindspring.com (Andrew Glasbrenner) Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 11:01:39 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Newbie Alert... Help needed to find a suitable Radio... In-Reply-To: <98627B5B-EB7D-400A-A45E-A3E6B0F6F55C@mac.com> References: <001201d16bf9$ac639090$052ab1b0$@fr> <98627B5B-EB7D-400A-A45E-A3E6B0F6F55C@mac.com> Message-ID: <00cd01d16cc1$26963080$73c29180$@com> Hi Phil, There is endless discussion on what radio, and has been for years and years. THE answer is never found because it's different based on individual needs. It sounds like you want both SSB and FM, since you mention the FunCubes. You can do this with separate single band used rigs, or combinations of newer all-mode shack in a box rigs like the Yaesu 817/857/897 series, or a single satellite specific rig. If you want HF included, look at something like the TS-2000 (although it has a bad birdie on one FM sat downlink), or a late model FT-847, or newer IC-9100 (very expensive but NICE). If you want the radio to be just for V/U satellite, you could look for an Icom IC-820/821/910. I would not recommend any older satellite rig that doesn't have 2-way CAT control, like the Yaesu 726/736 radios. To further confuse the situation, many ops now use a single radio that will transmit on VHF and UHF (like the Yaesu 8x7 series) and an SDR receiver paired with a tablet or laptop for receive. Each of these have benefits, but it usually boils down to what is available to you, your tolerance for used gear, and how thick your wallet is. I hope that helps some. 73, Drew KO4MA -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Phil Townsend Lontz Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2016 6:53 PM To: F6GLJ Cc: duntryin at hotmail.com; K4FEG at K4FEG.COM; VE1MAM; satdx-bb at star-com.net; pv8dx at arrl.net; amsat-bb at amsat.org; lebelb at nbnet.nb.ca Subject: [amsat-bb] Newbie Alert... Help needed to find a suitable Radio... I am in the process of putting together a station. I have nailed down the two antennas and the rotators for az and elev? But what I can not come to grips with is the radio? 2m/ 440? What is the best choice? I would like it to be sized like one of the mobil rigs. Some dual bander? But there are soon many to choose from? I have no preference for Yaessu Kenwood or Icom or others for that matter? I want to work the new fun cubes etc. Im at DM75am my call is K5SSR? I?m mostly a cw op but will jump on voice at times? Guys thank you for the help? I look forward to having QSO with you? Phil Santa Fe, NM _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From hamsat at xs4all.nl Sun Feb 21 17:48:34 2016 From: hamsat at xs4all.nl (Nico Janssen) Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 18:48:34 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Tolou to be launched in April Message-ID: <56C9F872.8090002@xs4all.nl> All, Iran is planning to launch the satellite Tolou in the first half of April. It is to be launched on the maiden flight of the new launch vehicle Simorgh from the Imam Khomeini Space Center, south-east of Semnan, into a 400 km orbit with an inclination of about 55 degrees. Tolou ('Sunrise') has a mass of 80 kg and has a shape similar to OSCAR 7. It measures 100 cm tall and 70 cm across. Its mission is Earth observation, taking pictures with a resolution of 50 m. Tolou's planned telemetry downlink frequency is in the 435 - 438 MHz band and its data downlink in the 1700 - 1710 MHz band. These downlinks may only be active when the satellite is in range of an Iranian telecommand station. Currently several other satellites are being developed in Iran. Remarkably most of these satellites have their uplink and downlink frequencies planned in amateur radio bands, usually 2 m and 70 cm. 73, Nico PA0DLO From pista01 at gmail.com Sun Feb 21 18:42:02 2016 From: pista01 at gmail.com (Steven Kalmar) Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 13:42:02 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Remote sensor for antenna array orientation In-Reply-To: <56C61441.8060209@amsat.org> References: <56C61441.8060209@amsat.org> Message-ID: Clayton, I've been experimenting with 9-DOF boards for a custom AZ/EL rotator and controller build I'm doing. DOF chips require filtering to reduce the noise levels of the raw data and to calculate a heading. Even with filtering, the values tend to bounce around a lot, by more than a few degrees. They also need to be calibrated by moving them around. Obviously this is an issue when it's mounted to a rotator as you can't easily move it around when powering it up. Some DOF libraries will allow calibration data to be saved and re-applied after restart. The noisy data and processing required for the filters has been the main issues for me. I just received this one from Adafruit - https://www.adafruit.com/products/2472 It has an onboard processor that filters the raw data and returns absolute position in degrees, with no math on the Arduino and no bouncy readings. Once the board is calibrated and the calibration setting saved, it's just a matter of loading the saved calibrations when the board powers up. I haven't had this board long enough to determine how well it will work long term, but so far I've been impressed with it's noiseless and consistent readings over many restarts. It even returns a consistent compass heading when it's pointing north and it's rotated 90 degrees along the E/W axis.. The previous board I tried didn't do so well for compass readings when the board wasn't flat. My plan is to use this to calculate compass and elevation from it's boom mounted position for initial rotator zeroing and as a secondary sensor for sanity checking AZ/EL positions. Steve KD8QWT On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 1:58 PM, Clayton W5PFG wrote: > Has anyone ever mounted a mutli-axis accelerometer or a magnetic compass > sensor to their antenna crossboom for making adjustments to point of aim? > > I'm currently using Hall Effect sensors but experiencing several degrees > of drift over a short period of a few days. > > 73 > Clayton > W5PFG > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > -- "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes an act of rebellion." --George Orwell From k4feg at k4feg.com Sun Feb 21 19:12:20 2016 From: k4feg at k4feg.com (K4FEG) Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 13:12:20 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] WA7HQD/p DM28/DM29 Message-ID: <56CA0C14.9050209@k4feg.com> Hello All: A quick Alert for those looking for _/*WA7HQD/DM28/DM29*/_!! /*"*//*Doc" */just called me on the telephone at 19:00UTC to tell me that he was running behind and was behind schedule & approximately 1 hour away from the Great Basin NP. He is trying hard to make it there for the NEXT FO-29 pass over Western North America. I put out the info a fast as I get it! G/*ood Luck All & Good Sat_DX!_*/ 73 *K4FEG* From wao at vfr.net Sun Feb 21 19:33:05 2016 From: wao at vfr.net (Joseph Spier) Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 11:33:05 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] ANS-052 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins Message-ID: <56CA10F1.4030403@vfr.net> AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-052 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * AMSAT Seeks Volunteers to Support Phase 4 ?Five and Dime? Ground Terminal Effort * JAMSAT Symposium 2016 in Tokyo on March 5 - 6 * Japanese Ham Radio Satellite Launched * HORYU-4 2.4GHz Received * New AO7 Distance Record * ARISS Information Sessions * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-052.01 ANS-052 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 052.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE February 21, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-052.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Seeks Volunteers to Support Phase 4 ?Five and Dime? Ground Terminal Effort Established less than 1 year ago, AMSAT?s all-volunteer Phase 4 Ground Terminal team has made significant strides in developing an ensemble of solutions to support the so-called ?Five and Dime? (5 GHz and 10 GHz) strategy AMSAT has embraced for microwave satellite projects. Prompting the effort is the planned launch of a geosynchronous military satellite in the 2018 timeframe, which could play host to an Amateur Radio payload operating on the two microwave band. The overarching project, which also includes a complementary Phase 4 Space team, is exploring new territory and innovative solutions, and it?s seeking volunteers from among the technically savvy within the Amateur Radio community. ?We?re going to make it as awesome as possible,? Ground Station team lead Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, told ARRL. The project not only would support the Phase 4B geosynchronous launch but provide solutions for the Phase 3E high-Earth orbit satellite, and receiver support for AMSAT?s entry into the NASA Cube Quest Challenge, which would go to the moon. Thompson said the compelling technical reason for using 5 GHz and 10 GHz is the ability to use high-bandwidth modes on those bands. In addition, ?the 5 and 10 GHz bands are popular elsewhere, and other projects are embracing this band complement,? she noted. Another advantage would be to raise Amateur Radio?s profile on the two bands and perhaps ?shake things up? there for terrestrial use. ?The 5 and 10 GHz bands are a compromise that?s working really, really well,? Thompson said. The US Air Force will control the geosynchronous satellite. Virginia Tech, Millennium Space Systems (MSS), FEMA, various clubs as well as AMSAT and ARRL are partners in or are supporting the project. A formal memorandum of understanding is pending. Cognitive Radios ?We?re currently exploring the Amateur Radio implementation of a very advanced and exciting open standard called DVB-S2X for the downlink,? Thompson explained, noting it offers a variety of modulation and coding. Earth stations will use their individual radios, transmitting a digital signal ? probably something called Offset QPSK (O-PSK) ? directly to the satellite, with each getting its own channel in a frequency division, multiple access (FDMA) scheme. ?This is an elegant way to design an efficient and advanced communication system and allows technical volunteers to experiment with the basics of cognitive radio ? radio that can sense the environment and adapt to take full advantage of the capabilities the hardware offers,? she said. Groundsats and a ?Big Honking SDR? Phase 4 radios will be designed to work not just with the impending geosynchronous satellite but through terrestrial microwave ?Groundsats,? which, Thompson said, ?are essentially satellite simulators that let you test and use the radio terrestrially.? Phase 4 radio designs also could be configured to use modulation schemes that are better able to deal with terrestrial multipath. Amateur Radio Access Points (ARAPs) ? essentially signal aggregators ? would allow legacy radios, FM hand-held transceivers, or emergency traffic providers to use the satellite from any point where an ARAP can be deployed, packaging the input for uplink to the satellite. Hams within ARAP range would be able to use the Five and Dime terrestrial network just as if they were operating through a satellite. ?The Groundsat, which is doing the same job as the satellite payload, has a big honking SDR on it,? Thompson said. Groundsat equipment has arrived and is in use in San Diego, North Texas, and at Virginia Tech, and Groundsat development is under way at those sites. A fourth site would be at Morgan State University in Maryland. Doing It on the Cheap ?Five and Dime? also reflects the project?s economics. AMSAT Board Member and Virginia Tech Research Professor Bob McGwier, N4HY, recently explained on the AMSAT-BB that the Ground Team?s work is ?an effort to design an inexpensive ground terminal for amateurs that would cost tens of thousands of dollars commercially, for as much under $1000 as we can get it.? In contrast to the Space Team?s work, which, he said, is taking place ?under the cloak of ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations),? the Ground Team?s SDR is ?completely open source, open specification? and ?easily reprogrammed to do many different kinds of missions just by changing the software.? ?We welcome any interested technical volunteers to apply to the technical volunteer program at AMSAT and become part of the team,? Thompson said. To volunteer for the Phase 4 Ground Team, provide your contact information on AMSAT?s Engineering Team contact form. Thompson?s weekly ?Phase4? engineering updates are available via YouTube. Additional development documentation is posted on GitHub. [ANS thanks the ARRL and Michelle Thompson, W5NYV for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- JAMSAT Symposium 2016 in Tokyo on March 5 - 6 JAMSAT Symposium 2016 will be held on March 5th PM and 6th AM in Tokyo at Conference Room 2(CR2) in Miraikan (The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation). Please see http://www.miraikan.jst.go.jp/en/ for location and access details. Day 1 is mainly for "JAS-1 30 Years Anniversary". Day 2 is mainly for technology development for satellites. If you are interested in it, or want to join the dinner party, please contact madoguchi at jamsat.or.jp Time Title Presenter Call Sign March 5 14:30 - 14:35 "Welcome" Mikio Mouri JA3GEP 14:35 - 16:10 "JAS-1 30 Years Anniversary" Toshiyuki Kondou Eng. Mgr., JARL, JR1NVU 16:20 - 17:30 "Joy of Satellite Communications" Eiji Nakamura, JA1CPA 18:00 - 20:00 Dinner at Sky View Lounge (Restaurant) March 6 9:30 - 10:00 "Report from AMSAT-DL"(by Skype) Peter Guelzow, DB2OS 10:10 - 10:40 "Report on EsHailSat-2/Phase-4A" AMSAT-Qatar Mohamed bin Jabor Althani, A71EY 10:40 - 11:20 "Development of Phase-4 Ground Station" Akira Kaneko, JA1OGZ 11:30 - 12:10 "Development of JAMSAT Mode-J Transponder", Kan Fukai, JH1CEP 12:10 - 12:50 "USB Mini Tuner" Hiroshi Matsumoto, JA1SYK 12:50 - 13:20 "New Regulation on Spurious Emission" Akira Kaneko, JA1OGZ [ANS thanks Mikio Mouri, JA3GEP for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Japanese Ham Radio Satellite Launched Yasutaka Narusawa JR2XEA posted on the AMSAT-BB: Feb. 17 17:45JST(08:45UTC), ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3 has been launched on the H-IIA F30 launch vehicle. After separation, both satellites start transmitting beacon message. I hope you receive our message and report to us, thank you. https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite3.html Yasutaka Narusawa JR2XEA provides the following information on ChubuSat-2/3: Nagoya University(NU) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries(MHI) developed 50kg microsatellite ChubuSat-2(NU) and ChubuSat-3(MHI). These satellites have amateur VHF receiver and amateur UHF transmitter, and will be launched on Feb. 12 2016 from Tanegashima, Japan. Komaki Amateur SATCOM Club operates these satellites from Komaki, Japan. After the satellite separation, each satellite will transmit UHF CW beacon message including battery voltage etc. which is very important information for our initial and critical operation. So we are very happy if you receive the CW beacon message and report to us email: chubusat2 at frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp In following web site, we show the information(frequency, format, TLE, etc.) about ChubuSat-2 and ChubuSat-3. If we have your report, we will show your report in this page. https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html Both satellite will provide the message exchange service. After the on-orbit checkout of the satellite(maybe one month after launch), you can use this service, sending your message with VHF uplink, then your message is written to the on-board memory. By sending inquiry message, anyone can read your message with UHF downlink. ChubuSat-2 Satellite Uplink: 145.815 MHz FSK 1200bps Downlink: 437.100 MHz GMSK 9600bps and CW ChubuSat-3 Satellite Uplink: 145.840 MHz FSK 1200bps Downlink: 437.425 MHz GMSK 9600bps and CW The uplink/downlink format will be uploaded in above web site. Horyu-4 downlink 437.375 MHz & 2400.300 MHz 1k2 AFSK,9k6 GMSK, S_BPSK, CW http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/horyu4WEB/horyu4.html http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=434 https://www.facebook.com/Horyu-4-Arc-Event-Generator-and-Investigation- Satellite-780188535364868/ [ANS thanks Yasutaka Narusawa JR2XEA, and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- HORYU-4 2.4GHz received I heard 2.4GHz signal many times in this orbit. The spurious signal will be heard lower than about 56kHz from the nominal frequency, it may sound rather strongly. The followings are the image that I received this real signal and spurious signal. At the 2400.244 MHz, I heard the clear and stable sound of them. Perhaps it might not be a spurious signal. This deviation signal might be the real signal of HORYU-4 2.4GHz. 05:22-05:34 UTC, 20 Feb 2016, Ele 40 WS-S-E, 2400.300MHz 100kbps BPSK 07:03-07:16 UTC, 20 Feb 2016, Ele 45 W-S-SE, 2400.244MHz 100kbps BPSK http://www.dropbox.com/s/yg41q64m69dnitc/60220hr4.wav?dl=0 http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/hor4ch23.htm#ghz http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr1.png http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr2.png http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr3.png http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/60220hr4.png [ANS thanks Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New AO7 Distance Record Satellite Friends and Colleagues, I wanted to share with everyone that on February 10th, at 2009UTC I made a scheduled contact with Eduardo, PY2RN, using AO-7 Mode B, from 'Shinnal Mountain' just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. My 10 digit grid locator for the contact was EM34ST20SC, and Eduardo's station is located at GG66LW77JQ in Vinhedo/SP, Brazil. Using the http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html website for reference, this equates to 8030.895 km which we believe to be a new record for AO-7 Mode B. I've been extremely busy this past week, but I had a few folks request that I share a little background behind the contact, so here we go. Back on January 24th, I was on an AO-7(B) pass looking for Gustavo, PT9BM. While not a record distance, Gustavo's QTH is just shy of 7500km away from me, so I was up on my mountain, specifically in a spot with great a great southeastern view of the Horizon. As the bird came into view, while scanning the passband, I heard Eduardo, PY2RN, calling CQ. I tried to answer him, but his signal disappeared quickly after that, and I went ahead and had a great QSO with Gustavo, and didn't think anything else of it until later that night when I decided to look up the station I had heard. To my astonishment, Eduardo was 8030km away, which was way beyond the theoretical range AO-7, even with elevation assistance. I promptly emailed Eduardo and we both agreed to try and make a contact, even though the math said it shouldn't be possible. At this point the random luck that had let me hear Eduardo on the 24th seemed to elude us. We attempted contacts on the 26th, 28th, and 30th all to no avail. After recalculating windows, our next shot was on February 8th. WinListen (from Sat32pc) calculated a 3 second window on the 8th, followed by 5 seconds on the 10th. The day of the 8th came, and we prepared for the attempt. Murphy once again seemed to haunt us though, as we successfully heard the calls and grids of each other, but strong CW QRM was hitting the bird so hard that the intelligibility was low and, more importantly, neither of us had a camera running. We decided to not count the QSO due to these reasons. The good news was though, we both heard each other (the first time that had happened) and our frequency coordination was spot on. We knew it could be done, we just needed a little luck. Finally, on February 10th, we got a bit of a break. We had already determined that 5 seconds was simply not enough time to do a proper "QSL thanks for the grid, have a great day" type of chat, so we both agreed to simply repeat 'your call / my call / grid / report' rapidly, much in the same way a digital or contest contact is made. At 2009UTC, both stations cleanly heard the others call and grid, completing the contact. It was extremely rapid, and very weak, but clear. Eduardo's side of the QSO turned out way better than mine did, and he has uploaded a recording of it to YouTube here: https://youtu.be/pTGSlaY7K7A After all my work towards low-elevation contacts from mountain-tops, I think this is approaching the limits of what can be done on AO-7. This was by far the hardest sked I've ever attempted, and with the contact window measured in mere seconds, it leaves absolutely no room for error. Had I not heard Eduardo's call at random on the attempt with Gustavo, I doubt I would have even pursued this as something that was possible. That said, wow.. what a rush Big thanks to Eduardo, PY2RN, for humoring my obsession with making ultra long-distance QSOs on the birds, and for sticking with it until we finally made it work. Good DX my friend. Also thanks to Gustavo (PT9BM) for persuading me to point my arrow to the South, and Drew (KO4MA) for acting as a spotter during one of the passes to see just how far apart we were from each other. Appreciate it guys. If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to field them. Until then, catch you on the birds! 73! Signed, Dave, KG5CCI Dave, KG5CCI also posted on the AMSAT-BB that he was using an "Alaskan" Arrow ( 4 elements on 2m, 10 elements on 70cm) held by hand, running 10' pieces of LMR-240 into an Icom 821h, manually tuned. "Everything is run from a LiFePo4 battery, and I pretty much exclusively operate portable mountain-top with unobstructed horizon views in the direction I'm planning to work", reported Dave. Also on the AMSAT-BB Eduardo, PY2RN wrote that he used: "RX: Funcube pro plus + SDR# V.1430 (with great NB capabilities) + Yagi-Uda 11el CP + Mirage KP-2 pre-amp. TX: TS-2000x + Yagi-Uda 20el CP Tracked by Satellite Tracking embedded into SDR-RADIO V2 software suite + GS-232/G-5400 Coax: RFS RGC213 15m long And a clear view to my N/NW bound which allows to hear a little after sat LOS most of times. Put together again an old P3 sat setup sitting in storage for many years, just added the SDR fun to it." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTGSlaY7K7A&feature=youtu.be http://www.arrl.org/news/arkansas-vhfer-claims-mathematically-impossible-ao-7- mode-b-distance-record http://www.amsat.org/?p=4997 [ANS thanks Dave, KG5CCI, Eduardo, PY2RN, the ARRL, and the AMSAT-BB for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS Information Sessions Host a Real-Time Conversation With Crew Members Aboard the International Space Station ARISS-US is now accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations to host an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, contact between Jan. 1 - June 30, 2017. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS-US is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Proposals are due April 15, 2016. Using amateur radio, students can ask astronauts questions about life in space and other space-related topics. Students fully engage in the ARISS contact by helping set up an amateur radio ground station at the school and then using that station to talk directly with a crew member on the International Space Station for approximately 10 minutes. ARISS provides experienced mentors and relies on local amateur radio volunteers to help organizations obtain the technology required to host this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students. Informational Sessions ---------------------- To help organizations in preparing their proposals, the ARISS program coordinator will offer hourlong online information sessions. These are designed to provide more information regarding U.S. ARISS contacts and the proposal process, and offer an opportunity to ask questions. While attending an online information session is not required, it is strongly encouraged. Informational sessions will be offered Feb. 29, 2016, at 4 p.m. EST and March 10, 2016, at 7 p.m. EST. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss at arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, visit http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. ARISS-US is offered through a partnership between NASA; the American Radio Relay League, or ARRL; and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, or AMSAT. ARISS was created and is managed by an international working group, including several countries in Europe as well as Japan, Russia, Canada, and the USA. Questions about this opportunity should be emailed to ariss at arrl.org. [ANS thanks the NASA Education Express Message -- Feb. 18, 2016 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). *Friday, 4 March 2016 ? presentation for the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach meeting in Signal Hill CA *Saturday and Sunday, 12-13 March 2016 ? ScienceCity science fair, on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson AZ *Saturday, 19 March 2016 ? Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Spring Hamfest 2016 in Scottsdale AZ *Saturday, 26 March 2016 ? Tucson Spring Hamfest in Tucson AZ *Friday through Sunday, 29 April-1 May 2016 - ARRL Nevada State Convention in Las Vegas NV *Saturday, 7 May 2016 ? Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ *Saturday, 4 June 2016 ? White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK, direct via GB1OAB The ISS callsign was scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut was Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact was successful: Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg Tim answered on the second call and we proceeded to to get 19 complete questions answered. Ham TV came in from Goonhilly and we had over four and a half minutes lock from our mobile 1.2m dish mounted on a Land Rover. Once we had video, I asked Tim to give us a wave, which he did with the biggest grin I seen from him yet. In the room for the contact, we had over 260i people present with somewhere near 500+ in the hall next - numbers will be verified shortly. In terms of media, we had BBC and ITV Bristol TV and radio BBC and ITV for the West Country, TV BBC (National) The One Show - they have recorded a piece that will feature in build ups all next week and the contact will be featured on the show on Friday 26th February. UAH Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, direct via K4UAH The ISS callsign was scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact was successful: Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg UAH SHC was successful with 18 questions answered. Very noisy at start but full quieting once beyond question 3. 73 round completed. All are very excited and happy! The Space Hardware Club at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is an engineering club of students that builds balloon payloads, satellites and rockets outside of their regular classes. The club has been working on this contact for over a year. After deciding to focus on 8th grade students, we reached out to Discovery Middle School, Westlawn Middle School, and the Tennessee Valley Homeschool 4-H group ? all from the northern Alabama area. The students from Westlawn have been part of Project Lead The Way for 2 years now and have been exposed to robotics, modeling, and 3d printing. The students from the homeschool group all have a passion for STEM, a love of learning and being challenged, and are bubbling with excitement for this opportunity of a lifetime. There are two STEM II classes from Discovery Middle School that routinely rise to the expectations of their accelerated STEM focused curriculum. By the time of the contact, the students will have learned about the ISS, the astronauts and some of the experiments aboard, and amateur radio. All of the students and club members involved are passionate about this opportunity, and thank you for your time. Upcoming Contacts Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10:55 UTC 40 deg Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29 deg Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over NASA Invites Public to Send Artwork to an Asteroid NASA is calling all space enthusiasts to send their artistic endeavors on a journey aboard NASA?s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft. This will be the first U.S. mission to collect a sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth for study. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in September and travel to the asteroid Bennu. The #WeTheExplorers campaign invites the public to take part in this mission by expressing, through art, how the mission?s spirit of exploration is reflected in their own lives. Submitted works of art will be saved on a chip on the spacecraft. The spacecraft already carries a chip with more than 442,000 names submitted through the 2014 ?Messages to Bennu? campaign. ?The development of the spacecraft and instruments has been a hugely creative process, where ultimately the canvas is the machined metal and composites preparing for launch in September,? said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA?s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. ?It is fitting that this endeavor can inspire the public to express their creativity to be carried by OSIRIS-REx into space.? A submission may take the form of a sketch, photograph, graphic, poem, song, short video or other creative or artistic expression that reflects what it means to be an explorer. Submissions will be accepted via Twitter and Instagram until March 20. For details on how to include your submission on the mission to Bennu, go to: http://www.asteroidmission.org/WeTheExplorers ?Space exploration is an inherently creative activity,? said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, Tucson. ?We are inviting the world to join us on this great adventure by placing their art work on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, where it will stay in space for millennia.? The spacecraft will voyage to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) and return it to Earth for study. Scientists expect Bennu may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of the water and organic molecules that may have made their way to Earth. Goddard provides overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. The University of Arizona, Tucson leads the science team and observation planning and processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is building the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information on OSIRIS-Rex, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org From dobarrows at aol.com Sun Feb 21 23:47:36 2016 From: dobarrows at aol.com (Dobarrows) Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 18:47:36 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Need help with Satscape running on MAC Message-ID: <153063b341b-1ddc-120dd@webprd-a11.mail.aol.com> I have been using Scott Hather?s Satscape program on myMacBook for several years now, but I have yet to solve a minor problemwith it. When I started up Satscape, I went to 2D control. This brought up two more windows. The first new window showed statistics for the satellite I selected. The second new window showed a map with orbits of my favoritesatellites. So far, so good. Next I dragged the map window around using the mouse to geta better look at the map. Then I got out of Satscape then got back in. Now, when I selected 2D control, the second new window (map) waspartially Covering up the first new window instead of being adjacent to the first new window with no overlap. No problem ? I thought. I will just move the map to where I wanted it to be when I restarted Satscape the map window was once againoverlapping with the first new Window (with the stats). Is there any way to make Satscape remember where I placedthe windows when I shut it down? Is there any way to get the initial display positions back? I have reinstalled Satscape a number of times but it shows noinclination To display the windows as it had on my initialinstallation. If I could find where the settings are stored I could replace them, but Ihave no luck so far. I am running MAC OS X 10.6.8 and Satscape12.7.14. Any help would be appreciated. Dave W8IJ dobarrows at aol.com From k9jkm at comcast.net Mon Feb 22 03:37:26 2016 From: k9jkm at comcast.net (JoAnne Maenpaa) Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 21:37:26 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] ANS-052.02 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) Selected for Participation in NASA's CSLI Message-ID: <008301d16d22$5988fac0$0c9af040$@net> AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-052.02 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) Selected for Participation in NASA's CSLI SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-052.02 ANS-052 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 052.02 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE February 21, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-052.02 RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) Selected for Participation in NASA's CSLI On February 18, 2016 NASA announced the selection of RadFxSat-2, the Space Radiation Effects CubeSat, for participation in NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative. RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) is another partnership opportunity between Vanderbilt University ISDE and AMSAT, similar to RadFxSat (Fox-1B) which is scheduled to launch in January 2017. Vanderbilt University, with cooperation from AMSAT, submitted the RadFxSat-2 CSLI proposal in November 2015. Out of 21 proposals, NASA is recommending 20 for participation in the CSLI opportunity. RadFxSat-2 is prioritized #1 out of the 20 selected and has been offered an opportunity for a launch date. The opportunity is being evaluated by Vanderbilt University and AMSAT to determine if it meets our mission and orbital parameters. RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) will carry a radiation effects experiment similar to RadFxSat (Fox-1B) but will study new FinFET technology. The Fox-1E spacecraft bus will be built on the Fox-1 series but will feature a linear V/U (Mode J) transponder "upgrade" to replace the standard FM repeater which Fox-1A through D have carried. The downlink will feature a 1200 bps BPSK telemetry channel to carry the Vanderbilt science in addition to a 30 kHz wide transponder for amateur radio use. Further details of the mission and timeline will be published as they become available and are cleared for public release. [ANS thanks AMSAT's Fox Engineering Team for the above information] /EX From n4ufo at yahoo.com Mon Feb 22 16:34:35 2016 From: n4ufo at yahoo.com (Kevin M) Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2016 16:34:35 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] SO-50 pass on 22FEB2016 ~1600Z References: <1049555346.8218859.1456158875915.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1049555346.8218859.1456158875915.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> For heaven's sake, people... If you hear someone get their call into the bird, TAKE A PAUSE!!! I heard like five or six stations give their calls one after the other, after the other and gave absolutely no friggin' room for him to answer anyone! Give the rare station a chance to work the guy in front of you instead of constantly calling. This is getting to be a real problem... I heard two stations call the same guy one after the other on a pass not long ago a total of 4-5 times each and there was no way the guy they were calling could ever answer!!! It was the proverbial urination contest. - And yes, I got my callsign in there a few times on that pass as well... but I did my best to be brief and wait for an open window. I try to always pause at least a few seconds if someone else manages to get their callsign through the chaos. Simply put, the ME, ME, ME mentality is NOT helping ANYONE. The VUCC gives credit for a successful QSO whether it's the first one during a pass, or the last.? We could have ALL worked him in on that pass, there was more than enough time... This competitive crap is getting out of hand. BE SPORTSMANLIKE... it's the best way for YOU to WIN a QSO.. AS WELL AS everyone else. For anyone that needs a refresher course on the best winning etiquette, I refer you to Stephen Covey's 'Seven Daily Habits of Highly Effective People'... WIN-WIN is MORE effective than WIN-LOSE... if you focus on only yourself to the detriment of others, we lose. But if you try to operate in a way that gets everyone a QSO and not just focus on YOU... we all win? That's what the station who went to all the effort to go set up in a rare grid that we are all trying to work wants, if we cooperate with that sentiment, it just might happen. Ham radio is supposed to be fun... I have a trip planned to Western Nevada later this year to operate from rare grids. It's part of a vacation I am taking with my daughter. I plan to have fun. If I encounter this kind of crap attempting to work passes, I am going to shut off the radios, stuff them in the trunk, tell the daughter to get her camera and go sight seeing. Life is too friggin' short. 73, N4UFO From k4feg at k4feg.com Mon Feb 22 18:31:01 2016 From: k4feg at k4feg.com (K4FEG) Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2016 12:31:01 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] WA7HQD/NP DM29 & DM28 Message-ID: <56CB53E5.5030609@k4feg.com> Hello All: I am trying to help "Doc" WA7HQD with his portable operations while he is at Great Basin National Park. The following is a list of stations he has in his log for the 2 /*SO-50*/ passes this morning: *SO-50 @17:34UTC **/(approximate time)/**AOS* AC0RA KL7CN/W6 WA6OWR AA0CW K4FEG W5PFG WI9I W7JPI K8TL N4UFO NX9B NP4JV KO4MA W7JSD *SO-50 @15:56UTC **/(approximate time)/**AOS *N8IUP K4FEG WI9I These are the stations "Doc" has in his log for the 2 satellite operations so far from _*DM28 & DM29*_, he is trying to give out as many QSO's while in the _*Great Basin National Park*_, as possible and he has asked everyone who he has worked FROM THE NP to _/please limit their contacts to just *one* for the NP identifier/_. He is attempting to be fair to everyone that he can be with his operations. If you look at his QRZ page he has a picture showing him in front of the Great Basin National Park sign, that is his location in DM29 and is where he will operate from while in DM29. /*DM28:*/ "Doc" has stated that he know's that *DM28* is a MUCH NEEDED GRID and has plans to further try operations from there, He *MAY* attempt other operations from DM28 today but _*will concentrate on DM28 on Tuesday's satellite passes.*_ /*LoTW:*/ "Doc" does NOT use /P in his LoTW up-loads and is fairly quick in posting them to LoTW. Congratulations to ALL who made a contact and good luck to those still looking for DM29/DM28 & the NP designator. Good Luck & good SatDX 73 Frank K4FEG * * From AJ9N at aol.com Mon Feb 22 20:03:40 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2016 15:03:40 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-22 19:30 UTC Message-ID: <2fb766.36b89df9.43fcc39c@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-22 19:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10:55 UTC 40 deg Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29 deg Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany, direct via DL?IL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI (***) Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-02-29 12:05:58 UTC 78 deg (***) National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York, telebridge VK5ZAI (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-01 16:45:18 UTC 53 deg (***) Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-03-05 10:55:19 UTC 59 deg (***) **************************************************************************** ** The next window to submit a proposal for an upcoming contact is now open. The window is open from 2016-02-15 to 2016-04-15 and would be for contacts between 2017-01-01 and 2017-06-30. Check out the ARISS website http://www.ariss.org/ or the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact for full details. **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** *** All ARISS contacts are made via the Ericsson radio unless otherwise noted. **************************************************************************** *** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-22 19:30 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1025. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 990. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-20 21:00 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From jeff_griffin at comcast.net Tue Feb 23 14:14:14 2016 From: jeff_griffin at comcast.net (Jeff) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 09:14:14 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Flex 5000a w/SatPC32 Message-ID: Good morning, >Dave, W0DHB has written a translator program which sits between SatPC32 and >the PowerSDR CAT to do the needed translation, making it look like a real >TS-2000 I sent Dave an email the other day and didn't get a reply yet. Do one of you guys have access to a copy of Dave's program that I can try. I'm curious about what issues it might fix. I got the 5000a working fine on HF, both voice and digital. I just started yesterday working on the satellite setup. It is working, except for a few issues. I picked up a used set of the M2 LEO pac at Orlando, along with 3 broken Yaesu 5500 rotor's I'm going to try and get at least two of them working. I hope to get the antennas up in a few weeks, and get back on the sats from down here... 73 Jeff kb2m From k4feg at k4feg.com Tue Feb 23 17:09:53 2016 From: k4feg at k4feg.com (K4FEG) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 11:09:53 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] WA7HQD/p in DM28 Message-ID: <56CC9261.10704@k4feg.com> *UPDATE from "Doc" WA7HQD*: "Doc" lost power on his FT-817 during the pass, that is why he disappeared, he will be on the "car battery" next SO-50 pass to be safe! "Doc" logged the following stations from *DM28 on SO-50*: /*NP4JV*//* *//*NX9B*//* *//*WN9Q*//* *//*N1JEZ*//* *//*KB1RVT*//* *//*KA4H*/ "Doc" wants to remind everyone that /if you are in the/ *LOG, PLEASE STAND_BY FOR OTHERS TO WORK DM28!!* _"Doc" has already uploaded the QSO's listed above to LoTW, CONGRATULATIONS to those who got a "New One"__._ I specifically asked him about FO-29 and he said he will be on the 18:46 & 20:23UTC passes of FO-29 to help get to the Eastern part of North America. his plans are to work the next SO-50 pass and then 2-FO-29 passes and he will wrap up his operations. FO-29 /*Fixed TX Frequency: 145.945*/ /*RX only tune @435.860-70*/ Good Luck to those looking for the grid Good Luck All & Good SatDX 73 K4FEG From n4ufo at yahoo.com Tue Feb 23 17:17:02 2016 From: n4ufo at yahoo.com (Kevin M) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 17:17:02 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Simple logic - STOP CALLING! References: <1127036819.8756722.1456247822427.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1127036819.8756722.1456247822427.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> If a station in a rare grid is on an FM satellite, running 5 watts... and he starts to have a little trouble getting into the bird to answer folks because of some interference, someone keying up, etc... when everyone starts calling him... they all keep keying up and clashing signals... NO ONE is heard and it makes matters WORSE!? Just because you don't hear a signal coming back from the satellite DOES NOT MEAN that the UPLINK FREQUENCY IS CLEAR. With 5-6 stations all trying to key up and call at once, nothing gets through but noise, if that... But one guy finally gets through and you hear him calling the station. Then everyone thinks, "Well, I'm not going to get left out, so I better get right in there!" (And to make matters worse, you give a NIIICCCE LOOOONGGG CALLLL.)? Then everyone else keys up and tries... and again, nothing but noise. Until another signal dominates and gets through and here we go again... and this keeps happening over and over and over and over! In the meantime, the poor rare grid station is trying his damnedest, but he cant get past all the strong stations calling HIM!!! The fact that YOUR station is full duplex doesn't matter... it's the same as a DX pileup on HF. YOU CAN'T HEAR HIM IF YOU KEEP CALLING! Remember he's very likely LOW POWER! PLEASE... let the rare station RUN THE PILEUP... WAIT... LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN!!! It's the key to DX on HF and the same on satellites. Put your competitive, macho egos in park and let the other guy go first and finish his QSO... it's the BEST WAY to clear out the list of callers and GET YOUR CHANCE. And another thing... It's one thing to blind call a rare station, ONCE... ONE SHORT CALL... BEFORE HE APPEARS. A way to let people on the bird know, 'Attention: rare station alert! Listen up!' But it's a completely different matter to just keep calling and calling? so you can get to be the FIRST to work him... THAT'S SELFISH and RUINS it for EVERYONE! And it certainly doesn't make a bit of sense to keep calling and calling ONCE HE HAS ALREADY APPEARED ON THE PASS!!! - The simple logic boils down to this... If you keep calling, he cannot answer. And the harder you try, the more you cut your own throat. Get it?!!! X^(? 73, N4UFO From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Tue Feb 23 17:20:00 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 12:20:00 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy Message-ID: <8A4E94EF68B544AC89158F6A6F5BC1E9@DHJ> An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy on 25 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 09:10 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between OR4ISS and IK1SLD. The contact should be audible over portions of Italy and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. The school is dedicated to Ascanio Sobrero and on October 12, 2012 was celebrated the 200th anniversary of his birthday. Ascanio Sobrero was an Italian chemist, born in our city, Casale Monferrato, and during his research he discovered the "nitroglycerine". Sobrero inspired young Alfred Nobel who received several patents around the world for mixtures, devices and manufacturing methods based on the explosive power of nitroglycerine. Nobel always acknowledged and honored Sobrero as the man who had discovered nitroglycerine. 1. What is the Earth like from space? 2. How do you sleep in absence of gravity? 3. How long does it take to get used to life on the I.S.S? 4. How did you feel when you saw the sunrise for the first time in space? 5. What other problems are there in addition to the absence of gravity? 6. Were you afraid the first time you went into space? 7. What do you usually eat? 8. What was the journey like to get to the I.S.S? 9. What do you do in your free time? 10. How do you feel when you come back from a space mission after a long time? 11. When you were students did you use to dream of doing this job? 12. How is the view from the space station? 13. At what average speed do you travel? 14. How do you use a toilet in space? 15. What kind of emotions did you feel during the count down? 16. How do you have a shower in space? 17. How are people chosen to get to the I.S.S 18. How are you keeping in touch with your family? 19. What kind of researches are you doing on the I.S.S? 20. What program of training did you follow before you going to the I.S.S? 21. How long have you been in space? 22. Which are the things you prefer when you are in the space station? 23. What food do you miss more? 24. What do you usually do in space? 25. If you could turn back time, would you do this work? 26. Do you live better on the ground or in space? 27. What kind of preparation is necessary to do this experience? 28. Is living in space like you expected it to be? 29. Is this venture proving harder than you expected? 30. This experience what impact do you think will have on your next job on the Earth? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43 UTC 2. Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany, direct via DL?IL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-02-29 12:05 UTC 3. National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York, telebridge VK5ZAI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-01 16:45 UTC 4. Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-03-05 10:55 UTC ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From w7lrd at comcast.net Tue Feb 23 18:19:35 2016 From: w7lrd at comcast.net (Bob- W7LRD) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 18:19:35 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] WA7HQD/p in DM28 In-Reply-To: <56CC9261.10704@k4feg.com> References: <56CC9261.10704@k4feg.com> Message-ID: <1776293594.150986.1456251575618.JavaMail.zimbra@comcast.net> good copy in CN87-his rx not working on SO50-next FO29 73 Bob W7LRD ----- Original Message ----- From: "K4FEG" To: starcom-bb at star-com.net, amsat-bb at amsat.org Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 9:09:53 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] WA7HQD/p in DM28 *UPDATE from "Doc" WA7HQD*: "Doc" lost power on his FT-817 during the pass, that is why he disappeared, he will be on the "car battery" next SO-50 pass to be safe! "Doc" logged the following stations from *DM28 on SO-50*: /*NP4JV*//* *//*NX9B*//* *//*WN9Q*//* *//*N1JEZ*//* *//*KB1RVT*//* *//*KA4H*/ "Doc" wants to remind everyone that /if you are in the/ *LOG, PLEASE STAND_BY FOR OTHERS TO WORK DM28!!* _"Doc" has already uploaded the QSO's listed above to LoTW, CONGRATULATIONS to those who got a "New One"__._ I specifically asked him about FO-29 and he said he will be on the 18:46 & 20:23UTC passes of FO-29 to help get to the Eastern part of North America. his plans are to work the next SO-50 pass and then 2-FO-29 passes and he will wrap up his operations. FO-29 /*Fixed TX Frequency: 145.945*/ /*RX only tune @435.860-70*/ Good Luck to those looking for the grid Good Luck All & Good SatDX 73 K4FEG _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From k4feg at k4feg.com Tue Feb 23 18:25:06 2016 From: k4feg at k4feg.com (K4FEG) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 12:25:06 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] WA7HQD SO-50 UPDATE Message-ID: <56CCA402.3000900@k4feg.com> WA7HQD DM28 Update: Here are "Doc's" Confirmations for SO-50: N8RO AC0RA N6NUG N6UK KO4MA W7JPI W7JSD AA0CW /*"Doc" will be on the 18:46z FO-29 pass coming up!*/ *Good Luck All & Good SatDX** **73* K4FEG From k4feg at k4feg.com Tue Feb 23 18:33:48 2016 From: k4feg at k4feg.com (K4FEG) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 12:33:48 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] WA7HQD LoTW Message-ID: <56CCA60C.7060204@k4feg.com> "Doc" has uploaded the SO-50 QSO's to LoTW already! Congratulations again & FO-29 next! 73 All, K4FEG From w5pfg at amsat.org Tue Feb 23 20:02:56 2016 From: w5pfg at amsat.org (Clayton W5PFG) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 14:02:56 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Simple logic - STOP CALLING! In-Reply-To: <1127036819.8756722.1456247822427.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <1127036819.8756722.1456247822427.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <1127036819.8756722.1456247822427.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <56CCBAF0.7000400@amsat.org> A lot of people love to claim FM transponders are the root of all evil. I find that it is operator behaviors that dictate the civility of a particular pass, not the transponder design. Many of my friends who have operated portable have made 10-20+ contacts, in an organized fashion, on a 15 minute pass. It can be done. As the old saying goes "it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch." One of the unfortunate consequences of this bad behavior is the discouragement it gives to our newer operators. I have had people tell me "if satellites are like contesting, I want nothing to do with it." I can usually change their mind by giving examples of more civil exchanges. If it had not been for encouragement and guidance from others with more experience, I might have been one of those frustrated stations that never tried satellites again after hearing the pileup. We learn. We press onward. 73 Clayton W5PFG On 2/23/2016 11:17, Kevin M via AMSAT-BB wrote: > If a station in a rare grid is on an FM satellite, running 5 watts... and he starts to have a little trouble getting into the bird to answer folks because of some interference, someone keying up, etc... when everyone starts calling him... they all keep keying up and clashing signals... NO ONE is heard and it makes matters WORSE! Just because you don't hear a signal coming back from the satellite DOES NOT MEAN that the UPLINK FREQUENCY IS CLEAR. With 5-6 stations all trying to key up and call at once, nothing gets through but noise, if that... > > But one guy finally gets through and you hear him calling the station. Then everyone thinks, "Well, I'm not going to get left out, so I better get right in there!" (And to make matters worse, you give a NIIICCCE LOOOONGGG CALLLL.) Then everyone else keys up and tries... and again, nothing but noise. Until another signal dominates and gets through and here we go again... and this keeps happening over and over and over and over! > > In the meantime, the poor rare grid station is trying his damnedest, but he cant get past all the strong stations calling HIM!!! The fact that YOUR station is full duplex doesn't matter... it's the same as a DX pileup on HF. YOU CAN'T HEAR HIM IF YOU KEEP CALLING! > > Remember he's very likely LOW POWER! PLEASE... let the rare station RUN THE PILEUP... WAIT... LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN!!! It's the key to DX on HF and the same on satellites. Put your competitive, macho egos in park and let the other guy go first and finish his QSO... it's the BEST WAY to clear out the list of callers and GET YOUR CHANCE. > > > And another thing... It's one thing to blind call a rare station, ONCE... ONE SHORT CALL... BEFORE HE APPEARS. A way to let people on the bird know, 'Attention: rare station alert! Listen up!' But it's a completely different matter to just keep calling and calling so you can get to be the FIRST to work him... THAT'S SELFISH and RUINS it for EVERYONE! And it certainly doesn't make a bit of sense to keep calling and calling ONCE HE HAS ALREADY APPEARED ON THE PASS!!! > - > > The simple logic boils down to this... If you keep calling, he cannot answer. And the harder you try, the more you cut your own throat. Get it?!!! > > X^( > > > 73, N4UFO > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From bryan at kl7cn.net Tue Feb 23 20:17:41 2016 From: bryan at kl7cn.net (Bryan KL7CN) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 12:17:41 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] Simple logic - STOP CALLING! In-Reply-To: <56CCBAF0.7000400@amsat.org> References: <1127036819.8756722.1456247822427.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <1127036819.8756722.1456247822427.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> <56CCBAF0.7000400@amsat.org> Message-ID: <8B9BFE16-0D02-437E-87C4-018C892AE6E9@kl7cn.net> Agree, Clayton. To me, the best approach is to be a good example when live on the satellites. There have been times when I have sent a note to an obviously new operator after a pass. The tone of the note is encouragement, with some examples of how things are done most efficiently (no CQ, no signal report, listening for a second or two after talking). That kind of written admonition seems to work best. -- bag Bryan KL7CN/W6 On Feb 23, 2016, at 12:02, Clayton W5PFG wrote: A lot of people love to claim FM transponders are the root of all evil. I find that it is operator behaviors that dictate the civility of a particular pass, not the transponder design. Many of my friends who have operated portable have made 10-20+ contacts, in an organized fashion, on a 15 minute pass. It can be done. As the old saying goes "it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch." One of the unfortunate consequences of this bad behavior is the discouragement it gives to our newer operators. I have had people tell me "if satellites are like contesting, I want nothing to do with it." I can usually change their mind by giving examples of more civil exchanges. If it had not been for encouragement and guidance from others with more experience, I might have been one of those frustrated stations that never tried satellites again after hearing the pileup. We learn. We press onward. 73 Clayton W5PFG On 2/23/2016 11:17, Kevin M via AMSAT-BB wrote: > If a station in a rare grid is on an FM satellite, running 5 watts... and he starts to have a little trouble getting into the bird to answer folks because of some interference, someone keying up, etc... when everyone starts calling him... they all keep keying up and clashing signals... NO ONE is heard and it makes matters WORSE! Just because you don't hear a signal coming back from the satellite DOES NOT MEAN that the UPLINK FREQUENCY IS CLEAR. With 5-6 stations all trying to key up and call at once, nothing gets through but noise, if that... > > But one guy finally gets through and you hear him calling the station. Then everyone thinks, "Well, I'm not going to get left out, so I better get right in there!" (And to make matters worse, you give a NIIICCCE LOOOONGGG CALLLL.) Then everyone else keys up and tries... and again, nothing but noise. Until another signal dominates and gets through and here we go again... and this keeps happening over and over and over and over! > > In the meantime, the poor rare grid station is trying his damnedest, but he cant get past all the strong stations calling HIM!!! The fact that YOUR station is full duplex doesn't matter... it's the same as a DX pileup on HF. YOU CAN'T HEAR HIM IF YOU KEEP CALLING! > > Remember he's very likely LOW POWER! PLEASE... let the rare station RUN THE PILEUP... WAIT... LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN!!! It's the key to DX on HF and the same on satellites. Put your competitive, macho egos in park and let the other guy go first and finish his QSO... it's the BEST WAY to clear out the list of callers and GET YOUR CHANCE. > > > And another thing... It's one thing to blind call a rare station, ONCE... ONE SHORT CALL... BEFORE HE APPEARS. A way to let people on the bird know, 'Attention: rare station alert! Listen up!' But it's a completely different matter to just keep calling and calling so you can get to be the FIRST to work him... THAT'S SELFISH and RUINS it for EVERYONE! And it certainly doesn't make a bit of sense to keep calling and calling ONCE HE HAS ALREADY APPEARED ON THE PASS!!! > - > > The simple logic boils down to this... If you keep calling, he cannot answer. And the harder you try, the more you cut your own throat. Get it?!!! > > X^( > > > 73, N4UFO > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From k8bl at ameritech.net Tue Feb 23 21:56:41 2016 From: k8bl at ameritech.net (R.T.Liddy) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 21:56:41 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Simple logic - STOP CALLING! In-Reply-To: <8B9BFE16-0D02-437E-87C4-018C892AE6E9@kl7cn.net> References: <8B9BFE16-0D02-437E-87C4-018C892AE6E9@kl7cn.net> Message-ID: <1040251585.9056292.1456264601668.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> I've operated many DX-Peditions and very many Grid Expeditionsand I regularly operate Contests from a high-profile Super-Station.Working pileups can get frustrating, but you get used to them anddevelop your own way of handling them. Often, it's difficult as the called/desired Station to pick out a Call oreven a letter or two of a Call. If I clearly copy a Call or a partial Call,I go back to THAT Call. If the pileup continues to cover the Call I wentback to, I go back to THAT Call again. Eventually, if necessary, I'llsay THAT Call "ONLY!". I've had good success doing that over theyears. If newbie Stations hear that enough, they should get the idea how thingsshould work. The watchword is LISTEN-LISTEN-LISTEN. We've allbeen "the New Guy", so we shouldn't be too harsh. You can always tell the experienced Operators. When a pileup dies down,they'll drop their Call in and get through on the first try. Give a listen andyou'll hear who they are. They've polished their technique. Operating an Expedition can be quite costly in time and money. My tripsto rare Grids in Canada can run up into the $6-700 price range and haveme on the road for over a week. With this in mind, I'm NOT going to leta handful of poor/inconsiderate Operators spoil my FUN and the desiresof ?Operators who follow all the "rules" and might only ever have ONEchance to work a certain Grid. I'll never "pull the plug" on an Expeditiononce I've committed to doing it. Everybody loses!!! So, as time goes on, we can only hope things will improve as Operatorshear "how things are done" as several others here have often said. 73 & C U on the Birds!!!! ? ? ?Bob ?K8BL From: Bryan KL7CN To: Clayton W5PFG Cc: AMSAT BB Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 3:17 PM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Simple logic - STOP CALLING! Agree, Clayton. To me, the best approach is to be a good example when live on the satellites. There have been times when I have sent a note to an obviously new operator after a pass. The tone of the note is encouragement, with some examples of how things are done most efficiently (no CQ, no signal report, listening for a second or two after talking). That kind of written admonition seems to work best. -- bag Bryan KL7CN/W6 On Feb 23, 2016, at 12:02, Clayton W5PFG wrote: A lot of people love to claim FM transponders are the root of all evil.? I find that it is operator behaviors that dictate the civility of a particular pass, not the transponder design.? Many of my friends who have operated portable have made 10-20+ contacts, in an organized fashion, on a 15 minute pass.? It can be done.? As the old saying goes "it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch." One of the unfortunate consequences of this bad behavior is the discouragement it gives to our newer operators. I have had people tell me "if satellites are like contesting, I want nothing to do with it." I can usually change their mind by giving examples of more civil exchanges. If it had not been for encouragement and guidance from others with more experience, I might have been one of those frustrated stations that never tried satellites again after hearing the pileup. We learn. We press onward. 73 Clayton W5PFG On 2/23/2016 11:17, Kevin M via AMSAT-BB wrote: > If a station in a rare grid is on an FM satellite, running 5 watts... and he starts to have a little trouble getting into the bird to answer folks because of some interference, someone keying up, etc... when everyone starts calling him... they all keep keying up and clashing signals... NO ONE is heard and it makes matters WORSE!? Just because you don't hear a signal coming back from the satellite DOES NOT MEAN that the UPLINK FREQUENCY IS CLEAR. With 5-6 stations all trying to key up and call at once, nothing gets through but noise, if that... > >? But one guy finally gets through and you hear him calling the station. Then everyone thinks, "Well, I'm not going to get left out, so I better get right in there!" (And to make matters worse, you give a NIIICCCE LOOOONGGG CALLLL.)? Then everyone else keys up and tries... and again, nothing but noise. Until another signal dominates and gets through and here we go again... and this keeps happening over and over and over and over! > > In the meantime, the poor rare grid station is trying his damnedest, but he cant get past all the strong stations calling HIM!!! The fact that YOUR station is full duplex doesn't matter... it's the same as a DX pileup on HF. YOU CAN'T HEAR HIM IF YOU KEEP CALLING! > > Remember he's very likely LOW POWER! PLEASE... let the rare station RUN THE PILEUP... WAIT... LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN!!! It's the key to DX on HF and the same on satellites. Put your competitive, macho egos in park and let the other guy go first and finish his QSO... it's the BEST WAY to clear out the list of callers and GET YOUR CHANCE. > > > And another thing... It's one thing to blind call a rare station, ONCE... ONE SHORT CALL... BEFORE HE APPEARS. A way to let people on the bird know, 'Attention: rare station alert! Listen up!' But it's a completely different matter to just keep calling and calling? so you can get to be the FIRST to work him... THAT'S SELFISH and RUINS it for EVERYONE! And it certainly doesn't make a bit of sense to keep calling and calling ONCE HE HAS ALREADY APPEARED ON THE PASS!!! > - > > The simple logic boils down to this... If you keep calling, he cannot answer. And the harder you try, the more you cut your own throat. Get it?!!! > > X^( > > > 73, N4UFO > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From m5aka at yahoo.co.uk Tue Feb 23 22:24:02 2016 From: m5aka at yahoo.co.uk (M5AKA) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 22:24:02 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Videos: ARISS and Nayif-1 Clean Room + Uni Malta satellite References: <621528032.14104927.1456266242359.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <621528032.14104927.1456266242359.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Video of Tim Peake and Oasis Academy contact http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/23/video-tim-peake-oasis-brightstowe/ UK and Malta University Satellite Collaboration http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/23/uk-and-malta-university-satellite/ Video: Inside a Satellite Clean Room (with Nayif-1 linear transponder satellite) http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/22/inside-a-satellite-clean-room/ ARISS contact planned for school in Norwich, UK February 26 http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/21/tim-peake-city-of-norwich-school/ TV News coverage of Oasis Brightstowe students contact with Tim Peake http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/19/oasis-brightstowe-students-talk-to-tim-peake/ Norwich School Ground Control Day http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/15/norwich-school-ground-control-day/ 73 Trevor M5AKA ---- AMSAT-UK?http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter?https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube?https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ---- From the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp Tue Feb 23 22:40:53 2016 From: the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp (J. Boyd (JR2TTS)) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 07:40:53 +0900 Subject: [amsat-bb] Simple logic - STOP CALLING! In-Reply-To: <8B9BFE16-0D02-437E-87C4-018C892AE6E9@kl7cn.net> References: <56CCBAF0.7000400@amsat.org> <8B9BFE16-0D02-437E-87C4-018C892AE6E9@kl7cn.net> Message-ID: <20160224072300.321B.THE2BELO@msd.biglobe.ne.jp> On Tue, 23 Feb 2016 12:17:41 -0800, Bryan KL7CN wrote: > Agree, Clayton. > > To me, the best approach is to be a good example when live on the satellites. > > There have been times when I have sent a note to an obviously new > operator after a pass. The tone of the note is encouragement, with some > examples of how things are done most efficiently (no CQ, no signal > report, listening for a second or two after talking). That kind of > written admonition seems to work best. If I may add my own still-meager experiences, because they have been significantly different from the prevailing "culture" of satellite operation in the United States. I operate in Japan (PM85jl) and have worked SO-50, AO-85, and FO-29 so far. FO-29 is rather straightforward, being a SSB bird and as such is approached in the same fashion as 2m SSB phone on the ground (find a clear frequency, call/send CQ, exchange RS(T) and QTH). But while I have not yet worked any FM satellite from the US side, operating practices are apparently different from those I have observed over here -- in Japan, China, Korea, and Russia, you will often hear CQs and signal report exchanges (always 59, of course), and nobody gives grid locators. JA domestic contacts will exchange JCC numbers, but I have never obtained a grid locator from anyone, so eventually I stopped giving mine. I also notice that FM sat passes, even SO-50 on a sunny Saturday afternoon, are less hectic than what everybody describes the US experience to be. I end up working the same people over and over, so exchanges turn out to be more of the "oh hi Bob, nice hearing you again" variety. I hope I can shake that mentality the next time I go to the US and take a stab at working SO-50 from there, because it seems an entirely different way of operating. Regardless of which country I'm in, I still can't seem to wrap my head around the concept of right-of-way on an FM bird. I want lots of contacts, but I also don't want to hog the repeater. I throw my callsign out when I can, but if there are a lot of callers I usually shut up to avoid stepping on anyone, and end up with two or three contacts in 12 minutes. It's like walking through a room full of cats -- I'm so concentrated on not stepping on any tails that I get nothing else done. -- J. Boyd, JR2TTS/NI3B the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JR2TTS Twitter: @Minus2_C From johnag9d at gmail.com Wed Feb 24 03:44:27 2016 From: johnag9d at gmail.com (John Spasojevich) Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 21:44:27 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISS Contact Friday- Listener Info Message-ID: Please join us in listening to the ISS contact with participants at the Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, on Friday February 26th. AOS is anticipated at 1443 UTC The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be DIRECT between NA1SS and GB2CNS The contact is expected to be conducted in English. You can watch the contact at: https://principia.ariss.org/Live/ Their stream starts about an hour or so prior to contact HAMTV from ISS is anticipated Audio from this contact will be fed into the: EchoLink *AMSAT* (101377) IRLP Node 9010 Discovery Reflector Streaming Audio at: https://sites.google.com/site/arissaudio/ Audio on Echolink & web stream is generally transmitted around 20 minutes prior to the contact taking place so that you can hear some of the preparation that occurs. IRLP will begin just prior to the ground station call to the ISS. Audio for this contact is a relay from the principia website and is dependent on their stream. Times breaks are manual and connected repeaters may time out. ** Contact times are approximate. If the ISS executes a reboost or other manoeuvre, the AOS (Acquisition Of Signal) time may alter by a few minutes ** 73, John - AG9D ARISS Audio Distribution From AJ9N at aol.com Wed Feb 24 07:40:20 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 02:40:20 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-24 07:30 UTC Message-ID: <47de32.74d931d7.43feb864@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-24 07:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: About Gagarin from space.Of sessions with pupils of amateur radio CHILD collective radio station "Rainbow" and students of South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia, direct via R8AM (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RS?ISS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Sergey Volkov RU3DIS (***) Contact was successful: 2016-02-22 10:20 UTC (***) About Gagarin FROM SPACE Of sessions amateur radio MEMBERS Astronautics Federation and school Saint-Petersburg, direct via RA1AJN (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RS?ISS (***) The scheduled astronaut is Sergey Volkov RU3DIS (***) Contact was successful: 2016-02-20 11:58 UTC (***) Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:10:55 UTC 40 deg Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29 deg Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany, direct via DL?IL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-02-29 12:05:58 UTC 78 deg National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York, telebridge VK5ZAI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-01 16:45:18 UTC 53 deg Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-03-05 10:55:19 UTC 59 deg **************************************************************************** ** The next window to submit a proposal for an upcoming contact is now open. The window is open from 2016-02-15 to 2016-04-15 and would be for contacts between 2017-01-01 and 2017-06-30. Check out the ARISS website http://www.ariss.org/ or the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact for full details. **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** *** All ARISS contacts are made via the Ericsson radio unless otherwise noted. **************************************************************************** *** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-24 07:30 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1027. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 992. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-24 07:30 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From tjschuessler at verizon.net Wed Feb 24 13:47:46 2016 From: tjschuessler at verizon.net (Tom Schuessler) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 07:47:46 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] simple ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <007501d16f09$f1ad72c0$d5085840$@net> Hello all, Several of us AMSATers in North Texas will again be representing AMSAT at the annual "Moon Day" at the frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field this coming July 16. "Moon Day" is a celebration of spaceflight past/present and future and is also a very large STEM fair with exhibits from many different scientific and Engineering organizations. Many young people including Boy and Girl Scouts are in attendance. Since there is such a large youth component to this event, I have been looking for some fun ways to demonstrate satellites and orbital mechanics to the people who drop by the booth/table. There is a special STEM patch that they can earn by visiting different displays and asking questions/filling out a worksheet. I am looking for simple but creative/fun ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics and also how a satellite like our Fox birds work. I plan to build a big poster with images of different types of orbits, and have already been given an idea on how to demonstrate the different between a geostationary/synchronous orbit and a LEO but would like some more ideas. If any of you have done some similar outreaches and would like to share ideas, please reply on list or off. I would appreciate it much. Tom Schuessler, N5HYP From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Wed Feb 24 15:22:02 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 10:22:02 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK Message-ID: An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK on 26 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 14:43 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between GB1SS and GB2CNS. The contact should be audible over the UK and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. This contact is a collaborative project between three schools in Norfolk and their local university, UEA. Norwich School employ an Ogden Trust Teaching Fellow whose job is 50% dedicated to Physics outreach and she has led the project. City of Norwich School (CNS) are hosting the link up. Reepham High School has an observatory on site and are hosting a 'spot the station' event. 36 schools have signed up to be a part of all we have planned and have each received an age-appropriate radio kit for use in lessons and clubs funded by RCUK through the UEA. This map shows the geographical diversity of the schools involved. We expect 21 of these schools to be able to bring students on the day of the link up. 1. What do you do if you cut yourself really badly in space? 2. Are there any protocols or guidance in place if George Clooney comes knocking on the front door as he did in the film Gravity? 3. What experiment would you like to add to the program based on the experiences you have had? 4. Do you notice that you are missing natural sunlight and fresh air and in what ways is this affecting you? 5. How do you get changed in space, won't your clothes go everywhere? 6. One of the experiments you are conducting in space is to measure fluid shifts in the body, how does this help us back on Earth? 7. Do you think there will be a jump in the design of spacecraft as many are now old? 8. How different was the training compared to actually going into space? 9. Do you think the experiments carried out in space will increase in number as the technology improves or will there be technology to recreate this environment on Earth? 10. Which materials being developed with the electromagnetic levitator will have the largest impact on the development of greener living? 11. Since being in space have your dreams been different to those on earth? 12. If everyone in Britain turned their lights on and off at the same time, would you see it? 13. Which part of the Earth do you like orbiting over the most and why? 14. I understand that you experience sunrise and sunset sixteen times a day on board the ISS, are you aware of it and does it affect your body clock? 15. Do you feel insignificant up in space because perhaps there may be life beyond our planet? 16. Is there a song or a piece of art that you think reproduces the feeling of being in a non-gravity zone, if so which one? 17. Do you play any anti-gravity sport up in space? 18. If you could live on or explore any planet, which would it be and why? 19. If you were allowed to change one feature of a planet, which one would it be and why? 20. As a plane ascends in the atmosphere, we are told to blow our noses or swallow to minimise pain. How do you deal with this with the g-force you experience in the rocket? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. About Gagarin from space.Of sessions with pupils of amateur radio CHILD collective radio station "Rainbow" and students of South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia, direct via R8AM The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RS?ISS The scheduled astronaut is Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Contact was successful: 2016-02-22 10:20 UTC 2. About Gagarin FROM SPACE Of sessions amateur radio MEMBERS Astronautics Federation and school Saint-Petersburg, direct via RA1AJN The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RS?ISS The scheduled astronaut is Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Contact was successful: 2016-02-20 11:58 UTC 3. Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany, direct via DL?IL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-02-29 12:05:58 UTC 4. National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York, telebridge VK5ZAI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-01 16:45:18 UTC 5. Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-03-05 10:55:19 UTC ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From wao at vfr.net Wed Feb 24 15:32:01 2016 From: wao at vfr.net (Joseph Spier) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 07:32:01 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] simple ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics. In-Reply-To: <007501d16f09$f1ad72c0$d5085840$@net> References: <007501d16f09$f1ad72c0$d5085840$@net> Message-ID: <56CDCCF1.5060600@vfr.net> Tom, check out the presentation given at the ARRL Centennial at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2914 there may be some things you can use. -73, k6wao On 2/24/2016 5:47 AM, Tom Schuessler wrote: > Hello all, > > Several of us AMSATers in North Texas will again be representing AMSAT at > the annual "Moon Day" at the frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field > this coming July 16. "Moon Day" is a celebration of spaceflight > past/present and future and is also a very large STEM fair with exhibits > from many different scientific and Engineering organizations. Many young > people including Boy and Girl Scouts are in attendance. > > Since there is such a large youth component to this event, I have been > looking for some fun ways to demonstrate satellites and orbital mechanics to > the people who drop by the booth/table. There is a special STEM patch that > they can earn by visiting different displays and asking questions/filling > out a worksheet. I am looking for simple but creative/fun ways to > demonstrate orbital mechanics and also how a satellite like our Fox birds > work. I plan to build a big poster with images of different types of > orbits, and have already been given an idea on how to demonstrate the > different between a geostationary/synchronous orbit and a LEO but would like > some more ideas. > > If any of you have done some similar outreaches and would like to share > ideas, please reply on list or off. I would appreciate it much. > > Tom Schuessler, N5HYP > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb -- -73 k6wao Joe Spier k6wao at amsat.net From k8tl at earthlink.net Wed Feb 24 18:16:22 2016 From: k8tl at earthlink.net (Tom Lubbers K8TL) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 13:16:22 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: [amsat-bb] IC9100 USB Port Message-ID: <1691690.1456337782728.JavaMail.root@mswamui-billy.atl.sa.earthlink.net> While reinsatlling and upgrading PCSAT 32 I ran across a page that gave some detailed instructions and cautions for using the USB port on the 9100 with PCSAT32. I made a mental note to make a copy of it, my mental note book is defective anyone know what article I'm talking about and where it is? Tom Lubbers K8TL From lee.ernstrom at rcwilley.com Wed Feb 24 18:21:55 2016 From: lee.ernstrom at rcwilley.com (Lee Ernstrom) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 11:21:55 -0700 Subject: [amsat-bb] NP24 and grids DM28 DM29 and DM39 Message-ID: <275CFD04-55E9-4C83-AE61-318659EF610F@rcwilley.com> Here are the totals of the grids that I activated on 2/22/2016 and 2/23/2016... DM28 - 36 unique calls DM29 - 14 unique calls (Great Basin National Park) DM39 - 9 unique calls Credit for the national park activation is via LOTW only. I have uploaded all QSOs to LOTW and in the next few days I will be sending all my contacts QSL card unique to the grid that I worked them from. Return QSL is not necessary. Thank you all for the fun, and to Frank K4FEG for your help through texting and on the phone. WA7HQD Lee (Doc) Ernstrom Sent from my iPad From wageners at gmail.com Wed Feb 24 18:49:16 2016 From: wageners at gmail.com (Stefan Wagener) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 19:49:16 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] IC9100 USB Port In-Reply-To: <1691690.1456337782728.JavaMail.root@mswamui-billy.atl.sa.earthlink.net> References: <1691690.1456337782728.JavaMail.root@mswamui-billy.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: You should have no problem; if your USB (Silabs) driver was installed previously and the radio was working via USB; if you have the correct settings for USB (Com port), baud rate and CI-V address. Nothing changes with a SatPC32 if you saved the previous installation files and use them as part of the SatPC32 "upgrade" installation: http://www.dk1tb.de/updateinstructions.htm hope this helps, Stefan On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 7:16 PM, Tom Lubbers K8TL wrote: > While reinsatlling and upgrading PCSAT 32 I ran across a page that gave > some detailed instructions and cautions for using the USB port on the 9100 > with PCSAT32. I made a mental note to make a copy of it, my mental note > book is defective anyone know what article I'm talking about and where it > is? > Tom Lubbers K8TL > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From erich.eichmann at t-online.de Wed Feb 24 19:09:15 2016 From: erich.eichmann at t-online.de (Erich Eichmann) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 20:09:15 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] IC9100 USB Port In-Reply-To: <1691690.1456337782728.JavaMail.root@mswamui-billy.atl.sa.earthlink.net> References: <1691690.1456337782728.JavaMail.root@mswamui-billy.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: <56CDFFDB.4080309@t-online.de> Tom, there are also some hints regaring the IC-9100 in the SatPC32 FAQs file: http://www.dk1tb.de/FAQ_e.htm#IC9100Cat The FAQs file can also be opened from the SatPC32 menu "?". 73s, Erich, DK1TB Am 24.02.2016 um 19:16 schrieb Tom Lubbers K8TL: > While reinsatlling and upgrading PCSAT 32 I ran across a page that gave some detailed instructions and cautions for using the USB port on the 9100 with PCSAT32. I made a mental note to make a copy of it, my mental note book is defective anyone know what article I'm talking about and where it is? > Tom Lubbers K8TL > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net Wed Feb 24 21:17:11 2016 From: amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net (Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 21:17:11 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Yuma Hamfest (19-20 February 2016) - report Message-ID: Hi! Last weekend's Yuma Hamfest in southwestern Arizona was a fun event to be a part of. For the 8th straight year, AMSAT had a booth at the hamfest. This year, as in 2012 previously, the Yuma Hamfest also served as the ARRL Southwestern Division Convention. This brought more people out to Yuma, along with the great weather and the lower fuel prices in most of the southwestern USA outside of California certainly didn't hurt. The hamfest ran across two days - Friday (19 February) afternoon, and all day Saturday (20 February). The hamfest site, the Yuma County Fairgrounds, turns into a mix of hamfest, convention, and campground. Campers are able to park on the fairgrounds for the weekend, meaning there's no travel from camp site to hamfest. For the others attending the hamfest, there are many motels and hotels around Yuma, or other campgrounds in the area - plus the desert, a favorite of many spending the winter in this area. The fairgrounds sits across the street from Yuma International Airport and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. With the military air operations, it was like having a small air show alongside the hamfest with the different types of military aircraft in the sky. AMSAT had its booth in a section with other groups like ARRL and the Civil Air Patrol. Lots of traffic went past the booth over the two days. I set up tablets running videos showing demonstrations of working satellites, tracking software (SatPC32), and SDR (HDSDR, connected to either an SDRplay receiver or a HackRF Blue software-defined transceiver). Demonstrations were done outside the hall, near a parking lot, on 3 different satellites (AO-85, FO-29, SO-50) using different radio configurations: AO-85- TX: IC-2730A, RX: SDRplay with HDSDR on 8-inch Windows 10 tablet FO-29- TX/RX: FT-817ND (half-duplex) SO-50- TX/RX: TH-D72A (also half-duplex) All of my radio configurations used an Elk Antennas handheld 2m/70cm log periodic. For the AO-85 configuration, the antenna was connected through an MFJ diplexer to serve both the IC-2730A and SDRplay. With the hamfest starting at midday (1900 UTC) Friday, and AO-85's pass times not lining up better with the hamfest, Saturday morning was the only chance I had for an AO-85 demonstration during the hamfest. For the other two satellites, I was on at least once a day on each satellite. One of the FO-29 passes on Saturday afternoon was recorded on video, and has since been uploaded to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy-G6rD_xl4 Other pictures were posted on my @WD9EWK Twitter feed over the weekend. If you don't have a Twitter account, you can follow this link and scroll back to see other photos I posted from the hamfest: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK Outside of the hamfest on Friday and Sunday mornings, I worked AO-85 from the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historical Park, northwest of the hamfest near the Colorado River. All of these locations were in the rarely-heard grid DM22. For all of the AO-85 passes I worked at those two locations, I captured and uploaded telemetry to AMSAT. With AO-85 being in orbit for a few months now, and more satellites coming during 2016, it makes it easier to talk about this part of ham radio at an event like the Yuma Hamfest. Instead of "it's coming", I can say "we have one Fox-1 satellite in orbit now, and more on the way". Add in the other projects AMSAT is working on currently, and this is a much better situation compared to a few years ago. A good thing. :-) Thanks to Roger Hunt K7MEX and the Yuma Amateur Radio Hamfest Organization (a not-for-profit corporation whose only purpose is this hamfest!) for allowing AMSAT to be a part of the event. Thanks also to all the stations who called WD9EWK during the demonstrations. Some of them took a little bit of time to describe their location, and even their station setup - things that help the crowds understand how far we can communicate through the satellites, and what others use for their stations. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK From AJ9N at aol.com Wed Feb 24 23:29:59 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 18:29:59 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-24 23:30 UTC Message-ID: <11bc0.5ebb08a.43ff96f7@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-24 23:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-25 09:08:04 UTC 37 deg (***) Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:40:43 UTC 30 deg (***) Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany, direct via DL?IL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-02-29 12:05:58 UTC 78 deg National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York, telebridge VK5ZAI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-01 16:45:18 UTC 53 deg Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-03-05 10:55:19 UTC 59 deg **************************************************************************** ** The next window to submit a proposal for an upcoming contact is now open. The window is open from 2016-02-15 to 2016-04-15 and would be for contacts between 2017-01-01 and 2017-06-30. Check out the ARISS website http://www.ariss.org/ or the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact for full details. **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** *** All ARISS contacts are made via the Ericsson radio unless otherwise noted. **************************************************************************** *** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-24 23:30 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1027. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 992. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-24 07:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From skristof at etczone.com Thu Feb 25 01:47:35 2016 From: skristof at etczone.com (skristof at etczone.com) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 20:47:35 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] RTL-SDR question Message-ID: I purchased an RTL-SDR dongle and now I'm trying to follow the directions for downloading HDSDR software (instructions on the RTL-SDR website). It all goes fine until I get to: "Download ExtIO_RTL2832.DLL from https://app.box.com/s/7tpiy8r6qo2bbhdxtt4k" When I click on the link it takes me to the website, but the ExtIO_RTL2832.dll won't download. Any help would be very much appreciated. I'm running Windows 7 Professional with Service Pack 1. Steve AI9IN From mlunday at nc.rr.com Thu Feb 25 02:52:08 2016 From: mlunday at nc.rr.com (Mark Lunday) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 21:52:08 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] RTL-SDR question In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <00a801d16f77$84fc65a0$8ef530e0$@rr.com> Steve I won't claim to be a guru, but I did follow these instructions and it worked for me. http://hdsdr.de/RTLSDR_with_HDSDR.pdf Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg at arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com From skristof at etczone.com Thu Feb 25 02:57:53 2016 From: skristof at etczone.com (skristof at etczone.com) Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 21:57:53 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] RTL-SDR question In-Reply-To: <00a801d16f77$84fc65a0$8ef530e0$@rr.com> References: <00a801d16f77$84fc65a0$8ef530e0$@rr.com> Message-ID: That's exactly the instructions I'm using. That is where I'm having the problem. The ExtIO...dll won't download. On 2016-02-24 21:52, Mark Lunday wrote: > Steve > > I won't claim to be a guru, but I did follow these instructions and it > worked for me. > > http://hdsdr.de/RTLSDR_with_HDSDR.pdf [1] > > Mark Lunday, WD4ELG > Greensboro, NC FM06be > wd4elg at arrl.net > http://wd4elg.blogspot.com [2] Links: ------ [1] http://hdsdr.de/RTLSDR_with_HDSDR.pdf [2] http://wd4elg.blogspot.com From mlunday at nc.rr.com Thu Feb 25 06:20:57 2016 From: mlunday at nc.rr.com (Mark Lunday) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 01:20:57 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] RTL-SDR question In-Reply-To: References: <00a801d16f77$84fc65a0$8ef530e0$@rr.com> Message-ID: <00af01d16f94$b0bfd560$123f8020$@rr.com> Steve, I am also having issues with the AppBox site. Try this location on GitHub https://github.com/josemariaaraujo/ExtIO_RTL/raw/master/Release/ExtIO_RTL.dll Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg at arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com From: skristof at etczone.com [mailto:skristof at etczone.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 9:58 PM To: Mark Lunday Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] RTL-SDR question That's exactly the instructions I'm using. That is where I'm having the problem. The ExtIO...dll won't download. On 2016-02-24 21:52, Mark Lunday wrote: Steve I won't claim to be a guru, but I did follow these instructions and it worked for me. http://hdsdr.de/RTLSDR_with_HDSDR.pdf Mark Lunday, WD4ELG Greensboro, NC FM06be wd4elg at arrl.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com From richard.siff at verizon.net Thu Feb 25 10:37:06 2016 From: richard.siff at verizon.net (Rich/wa4bue) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 05:37:06 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] simple ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics. In-Reply-To: <56CDCCF1.5060600@vfr.net> References: <007501d16f09$f1ad72c0$d5085840$@net> <56CDCCF1.5060600@vfr.net> Message-ID: <5D3CCA2644A24C8F92D40A222D4A55A3@BanjoPC> At K4AMG we have used small boxes and tossed around with a person in the middle (earth). The kids make the boxes spin and we talk about the height, spin, and speed. We also talk about how they are launched from earth to ISS and from the bay off the ISS. God Bless R W4BUE -----Original Message----- From: Joseph Spier Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 10:32 AM To: amsat-bb at amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] simple ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics. Tom, check out the presentation given at the ARRL Centennial at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2914 there may be some things you can use. -73, k6wao On 2/24/2016 5:47 AM, Tom Schuessler wrote: > Hello all, > > Several of us AMSATers in North Texas will again be representing AMSAT at > the annual "Moon Day" at the frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love > Field > this coming July 16. "Moon Day" is a celebration of spaceflight > past/present and future and is also a very large STEM fair with exhibits > from many different scientific and Engineering organizations. Many young > people including Boy and Girl Scouts are in attendance. > > Since there is such a large youth component to this event, I have been > looking for some fun ways to demonstrate satellites and orbital mechanics > to > the people who drop by the booth/table. There is a special STEM patch > that > they can earn by visiting different displays and asking questions/filling > out a worksheet. I am looking for simple but creative/fun ways to > demonstrate orbital mechanics and also how a satellite like our Fox birds > work. I plan to build a big poster with images of different types of > orbits, and have already been given an idea on how to demonstrate the > different between a geostationary/synchronous orbit and a LEO but would > like > some more ideas. > > If any of you have done some similar outreaches and would like to share > ideas, please reply on list or off. I would appreciate it much. > > Tom Schuessler, N5HYP > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb -- -73 k6wao Joe Spier k6wao at amsat.net _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From jfitzgerald at alum.wpi.edu Thu Feb 25 12:31:31 2016 From: jfitzgerald at alum.wpi.edu (Joe Fitzgerald) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 07:31:31 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Lonely bloke in chem suit reminds me of AO-40 and AO-13 Message-ID: <56CEF423.9090307@alum.wpi.edu> Reminds me of fueling AO-40 and AO-13. Who gets to do this for P3-E? There is a volunteer in Boston! http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/24/exomars_fuelling/ de KM1P Joe From n8hm at arrl.net Thu Feb 25 12:40:35 2016 From: n8hm at arrl.net (Paul Stoetzer) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 07:40:35 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Lonely bloke in chem suit reminds me of AO-40 and AO-13 In-Reply-To: <56CEF423.9090307@alum.wpi.edu> References: <56CEF423.9090307@alum.wpi.edu> Message-ID: Luckily, no one! The plan is for a direct launch to Molniya orbit with no rocket motor on the satellite. 73, Paul, N8HM On Thursday, February 25, 2016, Joe Fitzgerald wrote: > Reminds me of fueling AO-40 and AO-13. Who gets to do this for P3-E? > There is a volunteer in Boston! > > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/24/exomars_fuelling/ > > de KM1P Joe > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org . AMSAT-NA makes this open > forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From skristof at etczone.com Thu Feb 25 14:12:35 2016 From: skristof at etczone.com (skristof at etczone.com) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 09:12:35 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Thank you! Message-ID: <402f7e99a8b0f9ecdc5c9acb5f5fc6c8@etczone.com> Got my first telemetry from AO-85 this morning. If you scroll way down to the bottom of the telemetry leaderboard you will find AI9IN! A very large (can I say "YUGE") thank you to everyone who answered all my questions about dongles, SDR, virtual audio cables, and downloading ExtIO! I couldn't have done it without help from my ham radio satellite colleagues. AMSAT is a great organization to be part of. Steve AI9IN EM79ji skristof at etczone.com From skristof at etczone.com Thu Feb 25 14:17:12 2016 From: skristof at etczone.com (skristof at etczone.com) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 09:17:12 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] simple ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics. In-Reply-To: <007501d16f09$f1ad72c0$d5085840$@net> References: <007501d16f09$f1ad72c0$d5085840$@net> Message-ID: Don't forget that you can download data from AO-73 off of the amsat-uk website. Their data is great for looking at temperature increase and decrease, spin rate, voltage changes in the solar panels as the satellite goes between light and dark, and how the battery discharges during the dark periods. Easy access and good teaching material. Steve AI9IN On 2016-02-24 08:47, Tom Schuessler wrote: > Hello all, > > Several of us AMSATers in North Texas will again be representing AMSAT at > the annual "Moon Day" at the frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field > this coming July 16. "Moon Day" is a celebration of spaceflight > past/present and future and is also a very large STEM fair with exhibits > from many different scientific and Engineering organizations. Many young > people including Boy and Girl Scouts are in attendance. > > Since there is such a large youth component to this event, I have been > looking for some fun ways to demonstrate satellites and orbital mechanics to > the people who drop by the booth/table. There is a special STEM patch that > they can earn by visiting different displays and asking questions/filling > out a worksheet. I am looking for simple but creative/fun ways to > demonstrate orbital mechanics and also how a satellite like our Fox birds > work. I plan to build a big poster with images of different types of > orbits, and have already been given an idea on how to demonstrate the > different between a geostationary/synchronous orbit and a LEO but would like > some more ideas. > > If any of you have done some similar outreaches and would like to share > ideas, please reply on list or off. I would appreciate it much. > > Tom Schuessler, N5HYP > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb [1] Links: ------ [1] http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From wa4sca at gmail.com Thu Feb 25 14:20:16 2016 From: wa4sca at gmail.com (Alan) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 08:20:16 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Thank you! In-Reply-To: <402f7e99a8b0f9ecdc5c9acb5f5fc6c8@etczone.com> References: <402f7e99a8b0f9ecdc5c9acb5f5fc6c8@etczone.com> Message-ID: <000101d16fd7$a6431140$f2c933c0$@GMAIL.COM> Steve, Every little byte counts! One of the things about the AMSAT Shallow Space Network is that you may well be the only person to capture a particular block of information. Our university partners are amazed and impressed at the quality and quantity of data being received. 73s, Alan WA4SCA <-----Original Message----- I have for sale an Icom 821H 2m/70cm all mode satellite radio. This rig is working fine on UHF (35 to 40 watts out) but is putting out lower power on 2m-10 watts on FM/CW and 3 watts or so on SSB. It has the tone encoder built in, built in keyer, and it covers 144-148mhz and 430-450mhz so you can use it on FM repeaters as well as the SSB/CW portions of the band. Not sure why it is putting out low power on 2m, but it is an excellent UHF all mode radio, and you can use it with an amp on 2m if you want also. Does dual receive, and full duplex for satellite operations. It is in good physical condition and comes with a mic and power cord. I am asking $350 shipped for it and can take paypal/check/MO. 73 John AF5CC From bruninga at usna.edu Thu Feb 25 16:06:07 2016 From: bruninga at usna.edu (Robert Bruninga) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 11:06:07 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] simple ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics. (Earth and Ball) Message-ID: Our kid demo of orbits uses a large globe. We hang a small golfball satellite on a string from the ceiling. There are several demos we like: 1) Center the globe under the string and the golf ball sticks to the globe. (gravity) 2) Try to push the ball in a circle. If you get a perfect circle or a big enough one, you will have an orbit and not hit the earth. 3) If you have too much vector "up" in any one direction (not circular) then on the next pass it crashes into earth.. (all orbits are elipses and you don't want part of your ellipse to run into the earth. 4) Now move the earth about a radius or diameter away from under the string. Now try to launch an elliptical orbit where the ball just grazes the earth at perigee and goes way out at apogee. You can get a nice Molnya orbit. 5) For GEO transfer, we had a mark on the floor and a mark out 5 earth radii where we had a little tiny bowling pin on a pedestal. Here the object was to launch the ball from behind the earth so that it would go out and intersect the bowling pin and knock it off. Thus demonstrating a transfer orbit to GEO. No, this is not the same physics of a central force (gravity) driving Keplers laws, but it is a perfect demo of circular and elliptical paths. For example in this case, the orbital speed is the same at perigee and apogee (non Keplerian), but still it is an elliptical path with the earth at one foci... Kids love it. Especially #5 is a real challenge. And even #1 is hard if you are trying to orbit only 1 inch above a 24" diameter earth globe. Do not use an expensive valuable globe (from your wife for example) because there will be LOTS of crashes from bad "orbits"... Bob, WB4APR -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of skristof at etczone.com Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2016 9:17 AM To: Tom Schuessler Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] simple ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics. Don't forget that you can download data from AO-73 off of the amsat-uk website. Their data is great for looking at temperature increase and decrease, spin rate, voltage changes in the solar panels as the satellite goes between light and dark, and how the battery discharges during the dark periods. Easy access and good teaching material. Steve AI9IN On 2016-02-24 08:47, Tom Schuessler wrote: > Hello all, > > Several of us AMSATers in North Texas will again be representing AMSAT > at the annual "Moon Day" at the frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas > Love Field this coming July 16. "Moon Day" is a celebration of > spaceflight past/present and future and is also a very large STEM fair > with exhibits from many different scientific and Engineering > organizations. Many young people including Boy and Girl Scouts are in attendance. > > Since there is such a large youth component to this event, I have been > looking for some fun ways to demonstrate satellites and orbital > mechanics to the people who drop by the booth/table. There is a > special STEM patch that they can earn by visiting different displays > and asking questions/filling out a worksheet. I am looking for simple > but creative/fun ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics and also how a > satellite like our Fox birds work. I plan to build a big poster with > images of different types of orbits, and have already been given an > idea on how to demonstrate the different between a > geostationary/synchronous orbit and a LEO but would like some more ideas. > > If any of you have done some similar outreaches and would like to > share ideas, please reply on list or off. I would appreciate it much. > > Tom Schuessler, N5HYP > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. > Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > [1] Links: ------ [1] http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From skristof at etczone.com Thu Feb 25 16:18:21 2016 From: skristof at etczone.com (skristof at etczone.com) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 11:18:21 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] simple ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics. (Earth and Ball) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <3ce3f06db26c9ba3a4b5fa612858088a@etczone.com> #5 Sounds fun as well as challenging. Like the old saying goes "Space is hard!" (Or something like that.) Steve AI9IN On 2016-02-25 11:06, Robert Bruninga wrote: > Our kid demo of orbits uses a large globe. We hang a small golfball > satellite on a string from the ceiling. There are several demos we like: > > 1) Center the globe under the string and the golf ball sticks to the > globe. (gravity) > > 2) Try to push the ball in a circle. If you get a perfect circle or a big > enough one, you will have an orbit and not hit the earth. > > 3) If you have too much vector "up" in any one direction (not circular) > then on the next pass it crashes into earth.. (all orbits are elipses and > you don't want part of your ellipse to run into the earth. > > 4) Now move the earth about a radius or diameter away from under the > string. Now try to launch an elliptical orbit where the ball just grazes > the earth at perigee and goes way out at apogee. You can get a nice > Molnya orbit. > > 5) For GEO transfer, we had a mark on the floor and a mark out 5 earth > radii where we had a little tiny bowling pin on a pedestal. Here the > object was to launch the ball from behind the earth so that it would go > out and intersect the bowling pin and knock it off. Thus demonstrating a > transfer orbit to GEO. > > No, this is not the same physics of a central force (gravity) driving > Keplers laws, but it is a perfect demo of circular and elliptical paths. > For example in this case, the orbital speed is the same at perigee and > apogee (non Keplerian), but still it is an elliptical path with the earth > at one foci... > > Kids love it. Especially #5 is a real challenge. And even #1 is hard if > you are trying to orbit only 1 inch above a 24" diameter earth globe. > > Do not use an expensive valuable globe (from your wife for example) > because there will be LOTS of crashes from bad "orbits"... > > Bob, WB4APR > > -----Original Message----- > From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of > skristof at etczone.com > Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2016 9:17 AM > To: Tom Schuessler > Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] simple ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics. > > Don't forget that you can download data from AO-73 off of the amsat-uk > website. Their data is great for looking at temperature increase and > decrease, spin rate, voltage changes in the solar panels as the satellite > goes between light and dark, and how the battery discharges during the > dark periods. Easy access and good teaching material. > > Steve AI9IN > > On 2016-02-24 08:47, Tom Schuessler wrote: > >> Hello all, Several of us AMSATers in North Texas will again be representing AMSAT at the annual "Moon Day" at the frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field this coming July 16. "Moon Day" is a celebration of spaceflight past/present and future and is also a very large STEM fair with exhibits from many different scientific and Engineering organizations. Many young people including Boy and Girl Scouts are in > > attendance. > >> Since there is such a large youth component to this event, I have been looking for some fun ways to demonstrate satellites and orbital mechanics to the people who drop by the booth/table. There is a special STEM patch that they can earn by visiting different displays and asking questions/filling out a worksheet. I am looking for simple but creative/fun ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics and also how a satellite like our Fox birds work. I plan to build a big poster with images of different types of orbits, and have already been given an idea on how to demonstrate the different between a geostationary/synchronous orbit and a LEO but would like some more > > ideas. > >> If any of you have done some similar outreaches and would like to share ideas, please reply on list or off. I would appreciate it much. Tom Schuessler, N5HYP _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect > > the official views of AMSAT-NA. > >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite > > program! > >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb [1] [1 [1]] > > Links: > ------ > [1] http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb [1] > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to > all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official > views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb [1] > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb [1] Links: ------ [1] http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From jcolson7 at tampabay.rr.com Thu Feb 25 16:22:17 2016 From: jcolson7 at tampabay.rr.com (Jack Colson) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 11:22:17 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Coupling SatPC32 with FunCube Dongle PP Message-ID: Would someone point me to where I might learn how this is done? 73, Jack, W3TMZ From kk5do at arrl.net Thu Feb 25 16:41:34 2016 From: kk5do at arrl.net (Bruce) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 10:41:34 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] Amazon Smile Message-ID: <56CF2EBE.5080409@arrl.net> Want to put a smile on a satellite? When you make your purchases from Amazon, you can select a charity and Amazon will donate .5% of a qualified purchase towards your selected charity. AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) is registered with Amazon Smile and you can select it as your preferred charity which in turn will put a smile on our satellite efforts :-) Once you have selected your Amazon Smile charity, when you go to amazon.com, it will remind you to go to smile.amazon.com. However, you can put everything you want in your cart at the original amazon.com site, then leave the site and go to smile.amazon.com and all your items will still be in your cart and make the purchase there. Or, just go to smile.amazon.com all the time. Your choice, only thing is if you forgot to pay at smile.amazon.com, AMSAT gets a goose egg instead of help towards a new satellite. Remember, Smile dot amazon.com and select Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation as your charity of choice. 73...bruce -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards AMSAT Board Alternate 2015-2016 ARRL Awards Field Checker (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0200z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also live streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org AMSAT on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/amsat From bruninga at usna.edu Thu Feb 25 18:27:40 2016 From: bruninga at usna.edu (Robert Bruninga) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 13:27:40 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Charging Cubesat 7v NiCds from 4.8v solar panels Message-ID: <77848cd57998aecec6b1b557f588a119@mail.gmail.com> For charging 7v NiCd from 4.8v: We came up with a simple circuit to use the cheap DC/DC boost regulators to boost 4.8v solar panels to 7 volts for our NiCd charging. http://aprs.org/psat/Cubesat-solar-boost-charger-bob-a.doc You cannot just use the DC/DC boost regulator directly because it has a peak-starting-current which cannot be met with a solar panel. So we added a transistor load switch to hold off the load until after the regulator was started? Works like a champ at near 80% efficiency. I?m sure there are lots of circuits and parts, but this little circuit more or less worked the first time, so we are going with it. Bob, WB4APR From py5lf at falautomation.com.br Thu Feb 25 19:24:01 2016 From: py5lf at falautomation.com.br (PY5LF) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 16:24:01 -0300 Subject: [amsat-bb] Horyu-4 Message-ID: Very good signal from Horyu-4 last night ; https://youtu.be/1EUSRfwSdoI Also looks the object D. 73 From dave at g4dpz.me.uk Thu Feb 25 22:10:17 2016 From: dave at g4dpz.me.uk (David Johnson) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 22:10:17 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] simple ways to demonstrate orbital mechanics. In-Reply-To: References: <007501d16f09$f1ad72c0$d5085840$@net> Message-ID: <88AFBEBC-9CD6-4867-BCE4-3BE2A2FB94B6@g4dpz.me.uk> Hi I maintain the AO73 data warehouse at warehouse.funcube.org.uk There are downloadable CSV files available and I would be happy to do larger dumps should they be required. 73 Dave G4DPZ Sent from my iPad > On 25 Feb 2016, at 14:17, skristof at etczone.com wrote: > > > > Don't forget that you can download data from AO-73 off of the amsat-uk > website. Their data is great for looking at temperature increase and > decrease, spin rate, voltage changes in the solar panels as the > satellite goes between light and dark, and how the battery discharges > during the dark periods. Easy access and good teaching material. > > Steve AI9IN > >> On 2016-02-24 08:47, Tom Schuessler wrote: >> >> Hello all, >> >> Several of us AMSATers in North Texas will again be representing AMSAT at >> the annual "Moon Day" at the frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field >> this coming July 16. "Moon Day" is a celebration of spaceflight >> past/present and future and is also a very large STEM fair with exhibits >> from many different scientific and Engineering organizations. Many young >> people including Boy and Girl Scouts are in attendance. >> >> Since there is such a large youth component to this event, I have been >> looking for some fun ways to demonstrate satellites and orbital mechanics to >> the people who drop by the booth/table. There is a special STEM patch that >> they can earn by visiting different displays and asking questions/filling >> out a worksheet. I am looking for simple but creative/fun ways to >> demonstrate orbital mechanics and also how a satellite like our Fox birds >> work. I plan to build a big poster with images of different types of >> orbits, and have already been given an idea on how to demonstrate the >> different between a geostationary/synchronous orbit and a LEO but would like >> some more ideas. >> >> If any of you have done some similar outreaches and would like to share >> ideas, please reply on list or off. I would appreciate it much. >> >> Tom Schuessler, N5HYP >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb [1] > > > Links: > ------ > [1] http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From kk5do at arrl.net Thu Feb 25 23:48:36 2016 From: kk5do at arrl.net (Bruce) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:48:36 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] eBay Donations for AMSAT Message-ID: <56CF92D4.6090905@arrl.net> Are you an eBay seller? One item, ten items, or a full-time business you can donate a percentage of your winning bid to AMSAT. To do so, do not list your item with the basic listing tool, select advanced tools. eBay will give you a warning message that it is for large volume sellers, however this is where the eBay for Charity tool is found. You can 'select another nonprofit you love' and search for either AMSAT or Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. Choose the percentage amount of the sale you would like to donate to AMSAT and boom. When your item sells and the winning bidder pays, eBay will deduct the percentage from your take and forward it to AMSAT. Sometimes we are getting rid of our old equipment, sometimes selling something new. In any case, won't you consider giving a piece of the pie to a new satellite and choose AMSAT for your eBay for Charity. 73...bruce -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards AMSAT Board Alternate 2015-2016 ARRL Awards Field Checker (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0200z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also live streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org AMSAT on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/amsat From kq6ea at verizon.net Fri Feb 26 00:44:15 2016 From: kq6ea at verizon.net (Jim Jerzycke) Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 00:44:15 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] eBay Donations for AMSAT In-Reply-To: <56CF92D4.6090905@arrl.net> References: <56CF92D4.6090905@arrl.net> Message-ID: <56CF9FDF.70004@verizon.net> Thanks, Bruce. I had no idea it was that easy! 73, Jim KQ6EA On 02/25/2016 11:48 PM, Bruce wrote: > Are you an eBay seller? One item, ten items, or a full-time business > you can donate a percentage of your winning bid to AMSAT. To do so, do > not list your item with the basic listing tool, select advanced tools. > eBay will give you a warning message that it is for large volume > sellers, however this is where the eBay for Charity tool is found. > > You can 'select another nonprofit you love' and search for either > AMSAT or Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. Choose the percentage > amount of the sale you would like to donate to AMSAT and boom. When > your item sells and the winning bidder pays, eBay will deduct the > percentage from your take and forward it to AMSAT. > > Sometimes we are getting rid of our old equipment, sometimes selling > something new. In any case, won't you consider giving a piece of the > pie to a new satellite and choose AMSAT for your eBay for Charity. > > 73...bruce > From electricity440 at gmail.com Fri Feb 26 01:04:10 2016 From: electricity440 at gmail.com (Skyler F) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:04:10 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] Colorado Amateur Satellite net Begins in 1 hour Message-ID: This is a reminder that the Colorado Amateur Satellite net will begin in 1 hour from now (7PM mountain time Thursday). 6PM Pacific 7PM Mountain 8PM Central 9PM Eastern Please visit us on *AMSATNET.INFO * *IRLP* 9870, the Denver Reflector *ALLSTAR LINK* 40764, direct hookup to the repeater here. 41715, KC9ZHV hub at a data center if I am out of bandwidth. More info on AllStar - amsatnet.info/#node *ECHOLINK* *AMSAT* unless there is an ARISS contact, then go direct to KD0WHB-L *LOCAL RF* 449.625 (-) 141.3 ( W?KU Lookout Mountain) 447.225 (-) 141.3 (The STEM school repeater we set up) 447.850 (-) 141.3 (AC?KQ's repeater where he lives on TOP of saddleback mountain) 147.450 SIMPLEX (Aurora, CO) 446.275 (-) 100.0 Galena St. Local repeater at my house, giving a whopping 5 blocks of great coverage *REMOTE RF* Your Repeater here!, Email me if you want to link in or me to link your echolink or allstar repeater in automatically (no automatic IRLP linking supported) Skyler Fennell amsatnet.info KD?WHB electricity440 at gmail.com From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Fri Feb 26 05:22:30 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 00:22:30 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany Message-ID: <147852DB1CBB456FB43D8AAF9283FE36@DHJ> An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany on 29 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 12:06 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between OR4ISS and DL0IL The contact should be audible over portions of Germany and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. We at Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch (GLS) promote the development of students to individuals who approach their environment in a curious and responsible way, act functional competent and behave with respect towards others. We value individual, social and cultural multiplicity as a starting point of collective learning processes. We help disadvantaged/social deprived children and adolescents to overcome their personal, social or cultural barriers of learning so that all can develop their skills regardless of their origin. Our shared values, which build the foundation of the school's social life and all educational and curricular activity, are summarized in the preamble (see above). Teaching and educational priorities The aim of teaching and education are the willingness and ability to lifelong learning and the strengthening of confidence in the forces of a self-responsible creation of life. This does not only include the exchange of knowledge and the acquisition of skills for the target-oriented practice of learning methods, of teamwork and control of their own actions and their own work processes. In our school, teaching an education form an entity. At the GLS the lessons are given as specialized teaching and as subject connecting, or rather integral learning area lessons. Further differentiations of the lessons organisation result in educational, with regard to contents and safety aspects. All school career decisions are prepared intensively by counselling of students and parents. For school year 2012/2013 an integrative learning group ( IGL ), beginning in the fifth year , has been introduced at GLS. In this class students with different needs of advancement are taught. In school year 2013/2014 another IGL, beginning in the fifth year, will be established. In both study groups will be two teachers, working as a team. One of them will be a special trained teacher for students that need particular advancement. Both IGL receive the, from class 5 granted, personal resources to the end of class 10. 1. What does ISS stands for? 2. How do you pee in space? 3. For how long do you stay in space? 4. How can you sleep without gravity? 5. What is your mission? 6. How big is the ISS? 7. Is the food edible? 8. What do you do to prepare yourself? 9. Is being astronaut your childhood dream? 10. What?s most beautiful about being in space? 11. What?s the (your) first impression in ISS? 12. What are you thinking of, the moment you are flying into space? 13. What have you always been eager to do in space? 14. Can practicing under water be compared to being in space? 15. How does fire react in weightlessness (zero gravity)? 16 How do you protect from rays in space? 17. What kind of feeling is it to be back to earth? 18. What?s it like to be far away from your family for such a long time? 19 How does it feel to work together with the same people all the time? 20. What?s it like for you to look down to earth? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York, telebridge VK5ZAI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-01 16:45:18 UTC 2, Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-03-05 10:55:19 UTC ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From AJ9N at aol.com Fri Feb 26 08:09:21 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 03:09:21 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-26 08:00 UTC Message-ID: <2d1f2.1a14cc8a.44016230@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-26 08:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Istituto Sobrero, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact was successful: Thu 2016-02-25 09:08:04 UTC 37 deg (***) Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-02-26 14:40:43 UTC 30 deg Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany, direct via DL?IL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-02-29 12:05:58 UTC 78 deg National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York, telebridge VK5ZAI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-01 16:45:18 UTC 53 deg Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-03-05 10:55:19 UTC 59 deg **************************************************************************** ** The next window to submit a proposal for an upcoming contact is now open. The window is open from 2016-02-15 to 2016-04-15 and would be for contacts between 2017-01-01 and 2017-06-30. Check out the ARISS website http://www.ariss.org/ or the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact for full details. **************************************************************************** ** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** *** All ARISS contacts are made via the Ericsson radio unless otherwise noted. **************************************************************************** *** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-26 08:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1028. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 993. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-26 08:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From Brandon.Shirley at sdl.usu.edu Fri Feb 26 17:41:03 2016 From: Brandon.Shirley at sdl.usu.edu (Brandon Shirley) Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 17:41:03 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] Open Systems Architecture and Modularity - New Survey Message-ID: To whom it my concern, *** I tried to send this out last week, and it appears to have bounced because my signature was attached. *** I'm Brandon Shirley, I am conducting a set of surveys about space systems and software development for my PhD research at Utah State University. I really need your participation. There is a chance to win some gift cards. Please see below for more information and the link to take the survey. The survey should only take about 10 minutes. Reading this wordy email will probably take more time than actually taking the survey. Thanks. I sent you this email because I thought you might have relevant experience and greatly need your participation. The second part of the survey has background questions that will give context to your answers. Try to fill the background out the same way if you take more than one of the surveys. You can you use the link below to access the Open Systems Architecture and Modularity Survey. https://usu.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_dao3FksFz2cMho1 Answer as many of the questions as you want, partial surveys may still be very helpful. At the end of this survey, you will be redirected to a webpage that asks for an email address. You must enter a valid email address to be considered for survey? drawings or the overall survey set drawing We are currently on the 3rd survey, Open Systems Architecture and Modularity. You have a chance at receiving a gift card for participating in this survey as well as a chance at receiving a gift card for your overall participation in the entire survey set. There will be 2 winners of $25 gift cards for each survey and 2 winners of $200 gift cards for the survey set.?? ? The surveys are as follows and will be distributed in the following order: (participate as you see fit) SISDPA : Core Concepts????????????????????????????? ? SISDPA : Development Preferences??????????????????????? ? SISDPA : Open Systems Architecture and Modularity?? <========= We are here ========= SISDPA : Security SISDPA : Reuse, Interoperability, Portability, Code Complexity SISDPA : Network V/R, Brandon Shirley, MS b.l.s at aggiemail.usu.edu See http://brandon.bluezone.usu.edu/Files/LOISpaceSoftwareAttitudes_Final.pdf for the Letter of Intent (LOI) that explains your role as a participant should you choose to participate. This is a legitimate request for you participation, if you have any questions about the validity of this email you may refer to the Letter of Intent, contact Brandon Shirley via email at b.l.s at aggiemail.usu.edu, or contact Utah State University's Internal Review Board administrator at (435) 797 - 0567 or email irb at usu.edu. From pconver at gmail.com Fri Feb 26 18:52:10 2016 From: pconver at gmail.com (Pedro Converso) Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 15:52:10 -0300 Subject: [amsat-bb] Argentina Balloon Launch Sat-Feb-27 14:00z Message-ID: On Feb-27 at 14:00z LUSEX Balloon Launch from Pehuajo, Argentina. Launch live video from 13:00z : https://www.youtube.com/c/AMSAT_Argentina/live Future LUSEX satellite UV antenna will be categorized, balloon also carries U/V voice repeater. Can be tracked live from http://aprs.fi?call=lu7aa-11 or http://lu7aa.org.ar/vor.asp Photos and detail (spanish) at http://amsat.org.ar/globo27.htm 73, lu7abf, Pedro From pconver at gmail.com Fri Feb 26 23:09:48 2016 From: pconver at gmail.com (Pedro Converso) Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 20:09:48 -0300 Subject: [amsat-bb] Video streaming test Balloon Launch Message-ID: Hello, There is a test of video streaming of tomorrow's 14:00z balloon launch from Amsat Argentina. Can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/c/AMSAT_Argentina/live 73, lu7abf, Pedro Converso From AJ9N at aol.com Sat Feb 27 01:22:50 2016 From: AJ9N at aol.com (AJ9N at aol.com) Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 20:22:50 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-27 02:00 UTC Message-ID: <3e756.5d13daeb.4402546a@aol.com> Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-02-27 02:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, direct via GB2CNS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact was successful: Fri 2016-02-26 14:40:43 UTC 30 deg (***) Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany, direct via DL?IL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-02-29 12:05:58 UTC 78 deg National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York, telebridge VK5ZAI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-01 16:45:18 UTC 53 deg Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-03-05 10:55:19 UTC 59 deg **************************************************************************** ** The next window to submit a proposal for an upcoming contact is now open. The window is open from 2016-02-15 to 2016-04-15 and would be for contacts between 2017-01-01 and 2017-06-30. Check out the ARISS website http://www.ariss.org/ or the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact for full details. ****************** ************************************************************ ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n at amsat.org or aj9n at aol.com. **************************************************************************** *** All ARISS contacts are made via the Ericsson radio unless otherwise noted. **************************************************************************** *** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke at sbcglobal.net **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Gaston ON4WF with 121 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 116 Francesco IK?WGF with 116 **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8061 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2016-02-27 02:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1029. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 994. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 46. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DP?ISS, IR?ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS?ISS **************************************************************************** The successful school list has been updated as of 2016-02-27 02:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 43/44 on orbit Scott Kelly Mikhail Kornienko RN3BF Exp. 45 on orbit Sergey Volkov RU3DIS Exp. 46 on orbit Tim Kopra KE5UDN Timothy Peake KG5BVI Yuri Malenchenko RK3DUP **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors From pu2phk at gmail.com Sat Feb 27 13:49:14 2016 From: pu2phk at gmail.com (Paulinho PU2PHK) Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2016 10:49:14 -0300 Subject: [amsat-bb] =?utf-8?q?TRANSMISS=C3=83O_AO_VIVO_AGORA?= In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56D1A95A.3020601@gmail.com> PESSOAL TRANSMISS?O AO VIVO AGORA. BAL?O NA ARGENTINA COM REPETIDORA E APRS. 73 Paulinho PU2PHK -------- Mensagem encaminhada -------- Assunto: [amsat-bb] Argentina Balloon Launch Sat-Feb-27 14:00z Data: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 15:52:10 -0300 De: Pedro Converso Para: amsat-bb at amsat.org On Feb-27 at 14:00z LUSEX Balloon Launch from Pehuajo, Argentina. Launch live video from 13:00z : https://www.youtube.com/c/AMSAT_Argentina/live Future LUSEX satellite UV antenna will be categorized, balloon also carries U/V voice repeater. Can be tracked live from http://aprs.fi?call=lu7aa-11 or http://lu7aa.org.ar/vor.asp Photos and detail (spanish) at http://amsat.org.ar/globo27.htm 73, lu7abf, Pedro _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb --- Este email foi escaneado pelo Avast antiv?rus. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From bruninga at usna.edu Sat Feb 27 14:07:01 2016 From: bruninga at usna.edu (Robert Bruninga) Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2016 09:07:01 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Argentina Balloon Launch Sat-Feb-27 14:00z In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I just tuned in at 9:07 EST and launch is any second now! On Fri, Feb 26, 2016 at 1:52 PM, Pedro Converso wrote: > On Feb-27 at 14:00z LUSEX Balloon Launch from Pehuajo, Argentina. > > Launch live video from 13:00z : > https://www.youtube.com/c/AMSAT_Argentina/live > > Future LUSEX satellite UV antenna will be categorized, balloon also > carries U/V voice repeater. > > Can be tracked live from http://aprs.fi?call=lu7aa-11 or > http://lu7aa.org.ar/vor.asp > > Photos and detail (spanish) at http://amsat.org.ar/globo27.htm > > 73, lu7abf, Pedro > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From bruninga at usna.edu Sat Feb 27 14:25:25 2016 From: bruninga at usna.edu (Robert Bruninga) Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2016 09:25:25 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Argentina Balloon Launch Sat-Feb-27 14:00z In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Call is LU7AA-11 and I found it now on APRS.fi near Pehuajo Argentina. Its at 13,000 feet and rising and headed NE at about 60 MPH Bob On Fri, Feb 26, 2016 at 1:52 PM, Pedro Converso wrote: > On Feb-27 at 14:00z LUSEX Balloon Launch from Pehuajo, Argentina. > > Launch live video from 13:00z : > https://www.youtube.com/c/AMSAT_Argentina/live > > Future LUSEX satellite UV antenna will be categorized, balloon also > carries U/V voice repeater. > > Can be tracked live from http://aprs.fi?call=lu7aa-11 or > http://lu7aa.org.ar/vor.asp > > Photos and detail (spanish) at http://amsat.org.ar/globo27.htm > > 73, lu7abf, Pedro > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > From johnag9d at gmail.com Sat Feb 27 17:30:45 2016 From: johnag9d at gmail.com (John Spasojevich) Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2016 11:30:45 -0600 Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISS Audio for Tuesday Contact Message-ID: Please join us in listening to the ISS contact with participants at the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, Syosset, New York,, USA on Tuesday March 1. AOS is anticipated 1645 UTC The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and VK5ZAI in Kingston SE, South Australia. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Audio from this contact will be fed into the: EchoLink *AMSAT* (101377) Conference IRLP Node 9010 Discovery Reflector Streaming Audio at: https://sites.google.com/site/arissaudio/ Audio on Echolink & web stream is generally transmitted around 20 minutes prior to the contact taking place so that you can hear some of the preparation that occurs. IRLP will begin just prior to the ground station call to the ISS. Please note that on Echolink and IRLP there are manual breaks which occur about every 2.5 minutes during the event. Connected repeaters may time out. ** Contact times are approximate. If the ISS executes a reboost or other maneuver, the AOS (Acquisition Of Signal) time may alter by a few minutes ** 73, John AG9D ARISS Audio Distribution From ku4os at cfl.rr.com Sun Feb 28 01:57:26 2016 From: ku4os at cfl.rr.com (Lee McLamb) Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2016 20:57:26 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] ANS-059 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins Message-ID: <56D25406.2080009@cfl.rr.com> AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-059 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * eBay Donations for AMSAT * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule * Satellite DXCC Nearly 20 Years in the Making * 2016 AMSAT Field Day * Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems to Support Atlas V CubeSat Rideshare Initiative * UK and Malta University Satellite Collaboration SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-059.01 ANS-059 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 059.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. February 28, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-059.01 eBay Donations for AMSAT Are you an eBay seller? One item, ten items, or a full-time business you can donate a percentage of your winning bid to AMSAT. To do so, do not list your item with the basic listing tool, select advanced tools. eBay will give you a warning message that it is for large volume sellers, however this is where the eBay for Charity tool is found. You can 'select another nonprofit you love' and search for either AMSAT or Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. Choose the percentage amount of the sale you would like to donate to AMSAT and boom. When your item sells and the winning bidder pays, eBay will deduct the percentage from your take and forward it to AMSAT. Sometimes we are getting rid of our old equipment, sometimes selling something new. In any case, won't you consider giving a piece of the pie to a new satellite and choose AMSAT for your eBay for Charity. [ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany, direct via DL?IL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-02-29 12:05:58 UTC 78 deg National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York, telebridge VK5ZAI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-01 16:45:18 UTC 53 deg Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-03-05 10:55:19 UTC 59 deg ************************************************************************ The next window to submit a proposal for an upcoming contact is now open. The window is open from 2016-02-15 to 2016-04-15 and would be for contacts between 2017-01-01 and 2017-06-30. Check out the ARISS website http://www.ariss.org/ or the ARRL website http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact for full details. [ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite DXCC Nearly 20 Years in the Making It took nearly 20 years, but AMSAT Vice President of Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, finally qualified for Satellite DXCC. Glasbrenner submitted the requisite number of QSLs for checking at the Orlando HamCation February 12-14, and ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, verified KO4MA?s achievement. ?It's been a long process getting to satellite DXCC,? said Glasbrenner, who got into satellite operating around 1993, and was only on RS-12 (Mode K) for a long time. ?This was the Russian satellite payload that used 15 meters up, and 10 meters down,? he explained. His activity stagnated for a long time during and after his college years, but in 1999 he got involved in working the LEO satellites, such as UO-14 and AO-27, ?then FO-20 and FO-29 for a little more distance, and then on the perigee passes of AO-10, when it was still semi-usable,? he added. ?When AO-40 was launched into a high-Earth orbit, I dove into Mode U/S with gusto,? Glasbrenner recounted. During the 3 years that AO-40 was active, he spent many late nights and early mornings looking for the next new one. ?Eventually I was using a 3 foot solid dish with preamp and downconverter for the Mode S downlink, and this is when some of my most exciting contacts came.? Highlights included working VU2MKP at a few degrees of elevation to the east, right after the satellite came up, and working KH2GR in the other direction, ?while the satellite was off-pointing and the spin fades were horrendous, and timing each call during peaks.? When AO-40 went silent, Glasbrenner said he was about a dozen short of DXCC, and he realized that he?d have to be proactive to finish up with just LEO satellites. Many of his new ones came from operators who went the extra mile to operate from places like the Caribbean and Greenland. ?The absence of operational HEO satellites makes satellite DXCC nearly impossible for newer operators,? he said, ?but I'm confident that continued membership and support of AMSAT by any operator interested in satellites will result in the successful return to high orbit by one of the several opportunities currently being pursued by the organization. Strike while the iron is hot!? Bernhard Dobler, DJ5MN, has been at the top of the DXCC-Satellite standings since 2000, and has 274 entities confirmed. {ANS thanks ARRL and Drew, KO4MA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 AMSAT Field Day It's that time of year again; summer and Field Day! Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day as a ?picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!? The event takes place during a 24-hour period on the fourth weekend of June. For 2016 the event takes place during a 27-hour period from 1800 UTC on Saturday June 25, 2016 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 26, 2016. Those who set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 25 can operate only 24 hours. The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own version of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held concurrently with the ARRL event. With the loss of AO-51, VO-52 and SO-67 this year it is going to be as challenging as last year. A few new satellites are up there to take some of the load. If you are considering ONLY the FM voice satellites like SO-50 for your AMSAT Field Day focus. Don't, unless you are simply hoping to make one contact for the ARRL rules bonus points. The congestion on FM LEO satellites is always so intense that we must continue to limit their use to one-QSO-per-FM-satellite. This includes the International Space Station. You will be allowed one QSO if the ISS is operating Voice. You will also be allowed one digital QSO with the ISS or any other digital, non-store-and-forward, packet satellite (if operational). It was suggested during past field days that a control station be allowed to coordinate contacts on the FM satellites. There is nothing in the rules that would prohibit this. This is nothing more than a single station working multiple QSO?s. If a station were to act as a control station and give QSO?s to every other field day station, the control station would still only be allowed to turn in one QSO per FM satellite while the other station would be able to submit one QSO. The format for the message exchange on the ISS or other digital packet satellite is an unproto packet to the other station (3-way exchange required) with all the same information as normally exchanged for ARRL Field Day, e.g.: W6NWG de KK5DO 2A STX KK5DO de W6NWG QSL 5A SDG W6NWG de KK5DO QSL If you have worked the satellites on Field Day in recent years, you may have noticed a lot of good contacts can be made on some of the less-populated, low- earth-orbit satellites like FO-29, AO-7, or AO-73. During Field Day the transponders come alive like 20 meters on a weekend. The good news is that the transponders on these satellites will support multiple simultaneous contacts. The bad news is that you can't use FM, just low duty-cycle modes like SSB and CW. THE 2016 AMSAT FIELD DAY RULES The AMSAT Field Day 2016 event is open to all Amateur Radio operators. Amateurs are to use the exchange as specified in ARRL rules for Field Day. The AMSAT competition is to encourage the use of all amateur satellites, both analog and digital. Note that no points will be credited for any contacts beyond the ONE allowed via each single-channel FM satellite. Operators are encouraged not to make any extra contacts via theses satellites (Ex: SO-50). CW contacts and digital contacts are worth three points as outlined below. 1. Analog Transponders ARRL rules apply, except: - Each phone, CW, and digital segment ON EACH SATELLITE TRANSPONDER is considered to be a separate band. - CW and digital (RTTY, PSK-31, etc.) contacts count THREE points each. - Stations are limited to one (1) completed QSO on any single channel FM satellite. If a satellite has multiple modes such as V/u and L/s modes both turned on, one contact each is allowed. If the PBBS is on - see Pacsats below, ISS (1 phone and 1 digital), Contacts with the ISS crew will count for one contact if they are active. PCSat (I, II, etc.) (1 digital), - The use of more than one transmitter at the same time on a single satellite transponder is prohibited. 2. Digital Transponders For the Pacsats (GO-32, etc.) or ?Store and Forward? hamsats, each satellite is considered a separate band. Do not post "CQ" messages. Simply upload ONE greeting message to each satellite and download as many greeting messages as possible from each satellite. The subject of the uploaded file should be posted as Field Day Greetings, addressed to ALL. The purpose of this portion of the competition is to demonstrate digital satellite communications to other Field Day participants and observers. Do not reply to the Field Day Greetings addressed to ALL. The following uploads and downloads count as three-point digital contacts. (a) Upload of a satellite Field Day Greetings file (one per satellite). (b) Download of Satellite Field Day Greetings files posted by other stations. Downloads of non-Field Day files or messages not addressed to ALL are not to be counted for the event. Save DIR listings and message files for later "proof of contact." Please note AMSAT uploaded messages do not count for QSO points under the ARRL rules. Satellite digipeat QSO's and APRS short-message contacts are worth three points each, but must be complete verified two-way exchanges. Remember, only one digipeat contact is allowed for the ISS and other satellites in this mode. The use of terrestrial gateway stations or internet gateways (i.e. EchoLink, IRLP, etc.) to uplink/downlink is not allowed. Sample Satellite Field Day Greetings File: Greetings from W5MSQ Field Day Satellite station near Katy, Texas, EL-29, with 20 participants, operating class 2A, in the AMSAT-Houston group with the Houston Amateur Television Society and the Houston QRP club. All the best and 73! Note that the message stated the call, name of the group, operating class, where they were located (the grid square would be helpful) and how many operators were in attendance. 3. Operating Class Stations operating portable and using emergency power (as per ARRL Field Day rules) are in a separate operating class from those at home connected to commercial power. On the report form simply check off Emergency or Commercial for the Power Source and be sure to specify your ARRL operating class (2A, 1C, etc.). AND FINALLY... The Satellite Summary Sheet should be used for submission of the AMSAT Field Day competition and be received by KK5DO (email or postal mail) by 11:59 P.M. CDT, Monday, July 11, 2016. The preferred method for submitting your log is via e- mail to kk5do at amsat.org or kk5do at arrl.net. You may also use the postal service but give plenty of time for your results to arrive by the submission date. Add photographs or other interesting information that can be used in an article for the Journal. You will receive an email back (within one or two days) from me when I receive your email submission. If you do not receive a confirmation message, then I have not received your submission. Try sending it again or send it to my other email address. If mailing your submission, the address is: Bruce Paige, KK5DO Director of Awards and Contests PO Box 310 Alief, TX 77411-0310. Certificates will be awarded to the first-place emergency power/portable station at the AMSAT General Meeting and Space Symposium in the fall of 2016. Certificates will also be awarded to the second and third place portable/emergency operation in addition to the first-place home station running on emergency power. A station submitting high, award-winning scores will be requested to send in dupe sheets for analog contacts and message listings for digital downloads. You may have multiple rig difficulties, antenna failures, computer glitches, generator disasters, tropical storms, and there may even be satellite problems, but the goal is to test your ability to operate in an emergency situation. Try different gear. Demonstrate satellite operations to hams that don't even know the HAMSATS exist. Test your equipment. Avoid making more than ONE contact via the FM-only voice HAMSATS or the ISS, and enjoy the event! Complete copies of the rules and recommended submission form can be found on the AMSAT web site. 2016 PDF Field Day Rules http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2016fd.pdf 2016 MS-Word Field Day Rules http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2016fd.docx [ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems to support Atlas V CubeSat Rideshare initiative Tyvak is responsible for identifying, obtaining, and integrating CubeSat customers on the ULA Atlas V launch vehicle system. Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to serve as the primary Auxiliary Payload Customer on CubeSat Rideshare Initiative efforts through Dec. 31, 2019. ULA's CubeSat Rideshare Initiative enables rideshare opportunities on its Atlas V launch vehicle and aims to tap into a growing market of small satellites with applications in education, scientific research, U.S. Government and commercial business. CubeSats are miniaturized satellites originally designed for use in conjunction with university educational projects and quickly becoming a dependable tool for advance missions. CubeSats are made of one or more units, called U's, measuring 10cm x 10cm x 10cm with a mass of 1.33 kilograms. Under this MOU, Tyvak will provide low-cost access to space for both commercial and U.S. Government CubeSat customers, as well as no-cost access to space for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) CubeSat customers for rideshares on ULA's Atlas V launch vehicles. Tyvak is responsible for identifying, obtaining, and integrating CubeSat customers on the ULA Atlas V launch vehicle system. In addition, as part of the agreement with ULA, Tyvak will provide for no cost up to three STEM CubeSat slots for each Atlas V 24U capacity launch opportunity for educational customers. "Tyvak is thrilled to have been selected for this opportunity with a world-class launch Provider like ULA," said Tyvak President and Chief Executive Officer Anthony Previte. "This MOU brings key opportunities to Tyvak and to the entire nanosatellite community." "As America's ride to space, ULA is transforming rideshares so that customers will now have predictable manifest slots for their payloads," said Tory Bruno, ULA president and CEO. "We are driving innovations like this program which will make space more affordable and accessible for all manner and size of payload customers." [ANS thanks SpaceDaily for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- UK and Malta University Satellite Collaboration The UK?s University of Birmingham, the University of Malta, the Malta Amateur Radio League (MARL) and the Italian Astrodynamics company, GAUSS Srl are collaborating on a project to send a PocketQube satellite with an amateur radio payload into space. The Times of Malta newspaper reports: The 5x5x5 cm device, referred to as a PocketQube pico-satellite, will be launched in 2018 into a sun-synchronous low earth orbit (LEO) and will be used to validate on-board equipment that will study the properties the Earth?s ionosphere. This project will pave the way for a swarm of eight such satellites that will spread over a large geographical area and hence gain better coverage of changeable ionospheric conditions which affect radio communications. The collaboration has brought together two Maltese post graduate engineering students ? Darren Cachia in Malta and Jonathan Osairiis Camilleri (Ozzy), a Ph.D. student at the University of Birmingham ? who have joined efforts and are developing the satellite platform and the scientific payload respectively. The mission is expected to last about 18 months and will relay information back to Earth that will be accessible to anyone owning a simple ham radio set. Information will be made available in due course to allow schools and interested individuals to participate using inexpensive equipment. [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Sun Feb 28 07:17:56 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2016 02:17:56 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York Message-ID: An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York on 01 Mar. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:45 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time.The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and VK5ZAI The contact should be audible over Australia and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, the Lancaster ARC, and the SUNY Buffalo State Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium have teamed up to arrange a contact between the International Space Station and PS97 Harvey Austin School in the Buffalo, New York Public School System. Located about ten minutes from downtown, Buffalo PS97 contains three learning communities or "houses" that are organized by grade level: PreK-3, 4-6, and 7-8. The administration consists of Interim Principal Lisa Robinson, Assistant Principal Deanna Schmitt, and Dean of Students Dennis Lesniak. Harvey Austin School serves just over 600 students in grades Pre-K through 8. Average daily attendance is 91%, one percentage point above the district average. Students fall into the following categories: African-American: 89%, European-American: 7%, Multi-racial: 3% , Asian 1%. Students eligible for free/reduced price lunch: 94%. Students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs): 20%. English Language Learners (ELL): 1 student. The teaching staff comprises 62 teachers. Of this total, 42 have had 5-14 years of classroom experience and 20 have had less than five years of experience. Two instructional coaches provide support to teachers. The Mission of PS97 Harvey Austin School states that as a learning community we must focus on math and literacy as the foundational skills necessary to be successful. We will also develop character and a culture of respect, responsibility, and reflection. We share high expectations that our students will apply these skills, not only in school, but in real life situations. Since our founding in 1989 at Columbia University's Teachers College with the College Board, the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA) has provided professional development, advocacy and organizational guidance that transform urban and suburban schools. We are passionate in striving toward a world in which barriers to high levels of learning borne of racism, sexism and economic disadvantage are eliminated for all children. Our approach is guided by the The Pedagogy of Confidence, the fearless expectation and support for the high intellectual performance of all students, especially those who are dependent on the school and community for the skills and support needed to attain high achievement. We uncover strengths of students and teachers and then build on those strengths. The Lancaster Amateur Radio Club (LARC) was founded in March 1987. LARC has grown from the original five founding members to a very active club with over 100 radio operators throughout the WNY region including all of Erie County, Grand Island, Tonawanda, Lockport, Batavia, and Dunkirk. We have members with all classes of licenses as well as activities in all aspects of the hobby. The SUNY Buffalo State Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium, apart of the Earth Sciences and Science Education program, provides students and visitors with viewings of stars, constellations, nebulae, galaxies, and planets all on one 24-foot diameter dome. Located in the Science Building, this 70-seat planetarium offers seasonal shows that are open to the campus community and the general public. The planetarium offers Astronomy and Earth Science programs to schools, scout groups, private groups, and others by presenting exciting, educational programs about astronomy, planetary science, Earth science, biology, chemistry, art, history, and much more. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. When did you receive your amateur radio license and from whom? 2. What are the other space agencies that collaborate on the ISS? 3. How is the ISS tracked by NASA? 4. What types of data collection do you do on yourself while onboard the ISS for human research? 5. Where are all the people right now on the ISS from? 6. What types of radio events are you involved in besides the ARISS events? 7. Do astronauts have training in diversity studies? 8. How does the ISS avoid space debris and other natural satellites while in orbit? 9. What are the biomedical markers NASA researchers are looking for while you are in spaceflight? 10. Do you share food with the other cultures onboard the ISS? If so, what type and what is your favorite? 11. What is the most difficult part and the simplest part of amateur radio operation? 12. What types of partnerships have you formed with people in other nations as a result of your NASA work? 13. How is data transmitted from the ISS to Earth? 14. What types of activities do you do in space to keep yourself healthy? 15. What type of communication challenges do you experience with the other nationalities onboard the ISS? 16. How would you use amateur radio on the ISS in other types of activities besides this one? 17. What is your opinion of the future of space exploration in collaboration with other nations? 18. Who determines the flight path of the ISS? 19. Why does NASA collect human data onboard the ISS? 20. Explain your meals in one day on the ISS. 21. Who controls the amateur radio transmissions from the ISS? 22. What types of space vehicles have you flown in? What nation where they from? 23. Who controls the flight of the ISS? 24. When you come back to Earth, does NASA keep all the human samples? If so, what do they do with them? 25. How does NASA assign your meals? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): 1. Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, direct via GB4PCS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be GB1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-03-05 10:55 UTC ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From vimone at alice.it Sun Feb 28 11:57:25 2016 From: vimone at alice.it (Vincenzo Mone) Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2016 12:57:25 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Balloon Launch Message-ID: Hi to the list, Apologize for the question. I see several times on the AMSAT list about the Launch Balloons. Anybody please can explain me about it? I mean do we have to receive something? If yes please what to hear and on which frequency? Thanks 73's de Enzo IK8OZV EasyLog 5 BetaTester EasyLog PDA BetaTester WinBollet BetaTester D.C.I. CheckPoint Regione Campania Skype: ik8ozv8520 ********************************** ******* GSM +39 328 7110193 ******* ****** SMS +39 328 7110193 ****** ********************************** From k8bl at ameritech.net Sun Feb 28 17:43:29 2016 From: k8bl at ameritech.net (R.T.Liddy) Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2016 17:43:29 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] KO4MA - SAT DXCC!! References: <969639168.588889.1456681409053.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <969639168.588889.1456681409053.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Congrats to Drew KO4MA on achieving SAT DXCC!! http://www.arrl.org/news/view/satellite-dxcc-nearly-20-years-in-the-making Way to go!!! ? ? ? ? ?73, ? ?Bob K8BL From k8bl at ameritech.net Sun Feb 28 17:59:53 2016 From: k8bl at ameritech.net (R.T.Liddy) Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2016 17:59:53 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: KO4MA - SAT DXCC!! In-Reply-To: <1150307090.3407768.1456682056025.JavaMail.zimbra@comcast.net> References: <1150307090.3407768.1456682056025.JavaMail.zimbra@comcast.net> Message-ID: <590930521.584171.1456682393979.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Bob- W7LRD To: R.T.Liddy Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2016 12:54 PM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] KO4MA - SAT DXCC!! ataboy Drew! Sure miss AO-40 (sobsob)73 Bob W7LRD From: "R.T.Liddy" To: "AMSAT BB" , "Starcom-BB" Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2016 9:43:29 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] KO4MA - SAT DXCC!! Congrats to Drew KO4MA on achieving SAT DXCC!! http://www.arrl.org/news/view/satellite-dxcc-nearly-20-years-in-the-making Way to go!!! ? ? ? ? ?73, ? ?Bob K8BL _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From g.shirville at btinternet.com Sun Feb 28 20:52:41 2016 From: g.shirville at btinternet.com (Graham Shirville) Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2016 20:52:41 -0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] FUNcube-1 Mode switched Message-ID: Hi All, Just to confirm that FUNcube-1 is now operating in Autonomous mode and will be switched back to Amateur Mode next Friday evening as usual. Good luck to everyone doing school demonstrations this week 73 Graham G3VZV From dphelps1 at ameritech.net Sun Feb 28 22:31:02 2016 From: dphelps1 at ameritech.net (Douglas Phelps) Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2016 22:31:02 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Help with SatPC32 ans an ICOM 910H References: <262444206.707923.1456698662293.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <262444206.707923.1456698662293.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> I had SatPC32 working just fine on a Windows XP computer. ?The tracking worked, the cat control worked (Yaesu 847). ?The XP computer no longer works and I am trying to migrate to Windows 10 and I cannot get SatPC32 to work with my IC-910H. ?Some things I have tried: Setting the 910H and SatPC32 for address $60. ?When I got the 910H, it was set to address $7C which was not a choice in SatPC32 so I changed it to $60. Both SatPC32 and the 910H are set for 9600 BAUD. On the antenna side, I have an fox Delta st3 which no longer has a manual but I don't think it is talking to SatPC32. ?I have tried both straight and crossover RS232 cacles (which one is correct?) I have spent 2 days trying every combination of everything I can think of. ?When I installed on XP, everything just worked. Any one with a 910H or Fox Delta ST3 have any suggestions? Thanks K9DLPDoug From dphelps1 at ameritech.net Mon Feb 29 00:56:35 2016 From: dphelps1 at ameritech.net (Douglas Phelps) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 00:56:35 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [amsat-bb] Disregard the Help with the IC910H and SatPC32 References: <1606021008.730958.1456707395676.JavaMail.yahoo.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1606021008.730958.1456707395676.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> I changed Laptops, chased down some manuals of obsolete r\equipment and got everything working. ?Wish I hadn;t spent 2 days with the wrong la[top. DougK9DLP From johnbrier at gmail.com Mon Feb 29 01:17:05 2016 From: johnbrier at gmail.com (John Brier) Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2016 20:17:05 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] [Video] Tim Peake's Very First ARISS Contact and My Two Year Reception Anniversary! Message-ID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-Xm-P8KtFY Tim Peake was talking to students at the Frederick W. Hartnett Middle School in Blackstone, Massachusetts. If you liked this video, please subscribe to my YouTube channel Space Comms for more: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpaceComms1 John, KG4AKV in Raleigh, North Carolina FM05 From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Mon Feb 29 04:01:27 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2016 23:01:27 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] Upcoming ARISS contact with National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York - update Message-ID: <7DCC76D16A4F44C3AC8BB011C60EA11E@DHJ> The upcoming ARISS contact with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education in Syosset, NY plans to live stream video of the contact at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FTsuvWdAtY. The streaming is scheduled to begin at 16:00 UTC. Dave, AA4KN ARISS PR --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From pa3guo at upcmail.nl Mon Feb 29 12:26:41 2016 From: pa3guo at upcmail.nl (PA3GUO) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 13:26:41 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] want to have some fun ? Message-ID: <002701d172ec$729c0190$57d404b0$@upcmail.nl> For those that are bored with 1k2 from cubesats .. GRIFEX (437.485) is this week sending data at 19k2 (FM). Quite easy to decode using - 16 element horizontal yagi - SSB preamp + 10 meters Aircell coax - FUNCube dongle (the old one) - SDR# (on Windows 10) - UZ7HO soundmodem (on Windows 10) Remarkable to see how reliable & stable data download can be at higher speeds. With no new investment in equipment ! It may not be for many more days, so give it a try before it switches back to 9k6 (did you try that already?). Henk, PA3GUO From tjoppen at acc.umu.se Mon Feb 29 10:21:17 2016 From: tjoppen at acc.umu.se (Tomas =?ISO-8859-1?Q?H=E4rdin?=) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 11:21:17 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] Charging Cubesat 7v NiCds from 4.8v solar panels In-Reply-To: <77848cd57998aecec6b1b557f588a119@mail.gmail.com> References: <77848cd57998aecec6b1b557f588a119@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <1456741277.26597.7.camel@acc.umu.se> Linear has a whole bunch of useful ICs for these kinds of applications. Probably Analog Devices too. Example:?http://www.linear.com/product/LTC 3105. Their ?Modules look quite useful too It's not entirely clear from your paper how your test rig works. The typical, simplest way of testing PV regulators is to use a constant-current source in parallel with a diode string A good idea though, only turning the charger on if there's enough voltage. That way the rest of the system can work even if there isn't enough light yet to enable charging. It seems too many sats die to these kinds of problems /Tomas, SA2TMS On Thu, 2016-02-25 at 13:27 -0500, Robert Bruninga wrote: > For charging 7v NiCd from 4.8v: > > > > We came up with a simple circuit to use the cheap DC/DC boost > regulators to > boost 4.8v solar panels to 7 volts for our NiCd charging. > > > > http://aprs.org/psat/Cubesat-solar-boost-charger-bob-a.doc > > > > You cannot just use the DC/DC boost regulator directly because it has > a > peak-starting-current which cannot be met with a solar panel.??So we > added > a transistor load switch to hold off the load until after the > regulator was > started???Works like a champ at near 80% efficiency. > > > > I?m sure there are lots of circuits and parts, but this little > circuit more > or less worked the first time, so we are going with it. > > > > Bob, WB4APR From pconver at gmail.com Mon Feb 29 15:06:56 2016 From: pconver at gmail.com (Pedro Converso) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 12:06:56 -0300 Subject: [amsat-bb] First satellite QSO to Antartica Message-ID: On Feb-28 2016, first satellite QSO from Antartica to mainland Argentina thru SO-50. Photos & details (spanish) on https://www.lu4aa.org/wp/historico-primer-qso-desde-la-antartida/ 73, Amsat Argentina http://amsat.org.ar From davidahaworth at icloud.com Mon Feb 29 15:10:34 2016 From: davidahaworth at icloud.com (David Haworth) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 07:10:34 -0800 Subject: [amsat-bb] ISS APRS Digipeated Verification In-Reply-To: <946E1D0B-FBAC-4296-8080-84B84EC55131@verizon.net> References: <946E1D0B-FBAC-4296-8080-84B84EC55131@verizon.net> Message-ID: <1BCEC4ED-2427-4F47-8AE9-5DFBBF2E84DB@icloud.com> Hi Dave, Thank you for your help and the TM-D710G displayed MY PACKET when it heard the digipeated packet from the ISS this weekend. > On Feb 13, 2016, at 3:02 PM, Dave Taylor wrote: > > Use the D710G to send APRS beacons. The radio will display MY PACKET when it hears the digipeated packet and you can verify it is from ISS by pressing the LIST button and looking for RS0ISS. > > Dave > >> On Feb 13, 2016, at 2:53 PM, David Haworth > wrote: >> >> I am adding the ISS APRS space communications to the Pine Mountain Observatory STEM workshop this summer. >> >> Using the Kenwood TM-D710G with a PC I can show that the packet sent to the ISS was digipeated through the ISS. >> >> I would like not having to use a PC with the radio. >> Therefore, not using a PC is there a TM-D710G setting that will show that the beacon was successfully digipeated through the ISS? >> >> QST February 2016 review of the Yaesu on page 52 >> ? Whenever my FTM-100DR transmitted a beacon and detected that it had been relayed by a digipeater, I hear a series of three descending tones." >> >> Has anyone used the Yaesu FTM-100DR APRS with the ISS and confirmed that it will tell you that the ISS digipeated the packet? >> >> http://aprs.fi > and http://ariss.net > work fine if another station receives the packet and forwards it to the APRS Internet System. >> This depends upon another station which fine for a back up verification. >> >> 73, >> Clear and dark skies without RFI, >> David Haworth, WA9ONY >> http://www.stargazing.net/david > >> davidahaworth at icloud.com >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org . AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb 73, Clear and dark skies without RFI, David Haworth, WA9ONY http://www.stargazing.net/david davidahaworth at icloud.com From n4csitwo at bellsouth.net Mon Feb 29 17:13:20 2016 From: n4csitwo at bellsouth.net (n4csitwo at bellsouth.net) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 12:13:20 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] First satellite QSO to Antartica References: Message-ID: <1364B426D808485A9D45935DC8F57F4A@DHJ> Congrats Pedro! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pedro Converso" To: Sent: Monday, February 29, 2016 10:06 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] First satellite QSO to Antartica > On Feb-28 2016, first satellite QSO from Antartica to mainland > Argentina thru SO-50. > > Photos & details (spanish) on > https://www.lu4aa.org/wp/historico-primer-qso-desde-la-antartida/ > > 73, Amsat Argentina > http://amsat.org.ar > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From daniel at destevez.net Mon Feb 29 20:23:03 2016 From: daniel at destevez.net (Dani EA4GPZ) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 21:23:03 +0100 Subject: [amsat-bb] want to have some fun ? In-Reply-To: <002701d172ec$729c0190$57d404b0$@upcmail.nl> References: <002701d172ec$729c0190$57d404b0$@upcmail.nl> Message-ID: <56D4A8A7.3050601@destevez.net> El 29/02/16 a las 13:26, PA3GUO escribi?: > For those that are bored with 1k2 from cubesats .. > > GRIFEX (437.485) is this week sending data at 19k2 (FM). > > Quite easy to decode using > - 16 element horizontal yagi > - SSB preamp + 10 meters Aircell coax > - FUNCube dongle (the old one) > - SDR# (on Windows 10) > - UZ7HO soundmodem (on Windows 10) > > Remarkable to see how reliable & stable data download can be at higher > speeds. > With no new investment in equipment ! > > It may not be for many more days, so give it a try before it switches > back to 9k6 (did you try that already?). Hi, Back when these birds where launched I successfully received several 19k6 packets from FIREBIRD FU-3 and FU-4 with just a handheld Arrow yagi (7 elements on UHF) and a couple meters of coax into a FUNCube Dongle Pro+. I would expect the same to be possible with GRIFEX. Just take a high elevation pass, where path loss is lower. Signals were quite strong with the 7 element yagi, so perhaps even a lower gain antenna can be used. I think the FIREBIRD sats still transmit 19k2, so you may want to try these also. As software, I used direwolf. 73 and good luck decoding GRIFEX in 19k2, Dani EA4GPZ. From rupert.hamblin at gmail.com Mon Feb 29 20:51:42 2016 From: rupert.hamblin at gmail.com (Rupert Hamblin) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 20:51:42 +0000 Subject: [amsat-bb] DXCC & HamSats Message-ID: Hi All, I was interested to read the ARRL article on KO4MA receiving the DXCC award worked on satellites, which got me thinking. So here's my question... Taking into account today's available / workable amateur satellites - is it possible for an operator based in the UK/Europe or US, to work 100 different countries via satellite..? (Obviously taking into account the station setup..) Thanks for your feedback ! Cheers RH / G0TKZ From n8hm at arrl.net Mon Feb 29 21:03:55 2016 From: n8hm at arrl.net (Paul Stoetzer) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 16:03:55 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] DXCC & HamSats In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Theoretically, it is certainly possible for the eastern United States and most of Europe. There are around 130 DXCCs within AO-7's footprint of approximately 7,900 km. DXCC was done a few times solely on LEO in the late 1970s and early 1980s with AO-6, AO-7, and the early RS satellites. However, most of those have no satellite activity. I have worked 54 DXCCs myself, but only 24 of 50 in North America plus 22 in Europe, 6 in South America, and 2 in Africa. The issue is getting activity in many of these other entities! If you know of anyone in or going to any of these places, please get them on the air! See the following breakdown (just an estimate, there are likely small portions of other entities in the footprint as well) Worked: North America (24) 4U CO FG FJ FM FP FS HH J3 J6 J7 J8 K KL KP1 KP2 KP4 PJ5 TG VE VP2M VP2V XE ZF South America (6) 9Y FY HC HK PY YV Africa (2) CT3 EA8 Europe (22) CT CU DL EA EI F G GI GJ GM GW I LA LX OH ON OY OZ PA SM SP TF Not worked, but within footprint: North America (26) 6Y 8P C6 CY0 CY9 FO0 HI HK0 HP HR KG4 KP5 OX PJ7 TI TI9 V2 V3 V4 VP2E VP5 VP9 XF4 YN YS YV0 Africa (14) 3V 3X 5A 5T 5U 6W 7X C5 CN D4 EA9 EL J5 S0 Oceania (1) KH6 Asia (1) UA9 Europe (19) C3 EA6 ES GD GU HB I JW JX LY OH0 OJ0 OK OM TK UA UA2 YL ZB South America (12) 8R CE CP HC8 HK0 OA P4 PJ2 PJ4 PY0F PY0P PZ 73, Paul, N8HM On Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 3:51 PM, Rupert Hamblin wrote: > Hi All, > > I was interested to read the ARRL article on KO4MA receiving the DXCC award > worked on satellites, which got me thinking. So here's my question... > > Taking into account today's available / workable amateur satellites - is it > possible for an operator based in the UK/Europe or US, to work 100 > different countries via satellite..? > (Obviously taking into account the station setup..) > > Thanks for your feedback ! > > Cheers > > RH / G0TKZ > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb From stormchaser at shaw.ca Mon Feb 29 21:39:21 2016 From: stormchaser at shaw.ca (Jerry Clement) Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2016 00:39:21 +0300 Subject: [amsat-bb] Fw: important message Message-ID: <000070d4ca47$e3ac7f0a$9869ed0c$@shaw.ca> Hello! New message, please read Jerry Clement From n1jez at burlingtontelecom.net Mon Feb 29 22:29:22 2016 From: n1jez at burlingtontelecom.net (Mike Seguin) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 17:29:22 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] DXCC & HamSats In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56D4C642.7000403@burlingtontelecom.net> Paul, We need to get you a better shot to the E-NE. In the last two weeks, worked 2 OM's and EW on AO-7 from FN34. Mike On 2/29/2016 4:03 PM, Paul Stoetzer wrote: > Theoretically, it is certainly possible for the eastern United States > and most of Europe. There are around 130 DXCCs within AO-7's footprint > of approximately 7,900 km. DXCC was done a few times solely on LEO in > the late 1970s and early 1980s with AO-6, AO-7, and the early RS > satellites. > > However, most of those have no satellite activity. I have worked 54 > DXCCs myself, but only 24 of 50 in North America plus 22 in Europe, 6 > in South America, and 2 in Africa. > > The issue is getting activity in many of these other entities! If you > know of anyone in or going to any of these places, please get them on > the air! > > See the following breakdown (just an estimate, there are likely small > portions of other entities in the footprint as well) > > Worked: > > North America (24) > 4U > CO > FG > FJ > FM > FP > FS > HH > J3 > J6 > J7 > J8 > K > KL > KP1 > KP2 > KP4 > PJ5 > TG > VE > VP2M > VP2V > XE > ZF > > South America (6) > 9Y > FY > HC > HK > PY > YV > > Africa (2) > CT3 > EA8 > > Europe (22) > CT > CU > DL > EA > EI > F > G > GI > GJ > GM > GW > I > LA > LX > OH > ON > OY > OZ > PA > SM > SP > TF > > Not worked, but within footprint: > > North America (26) > 6Y > 8P > C6 > CY0 > CY9 > FO0 > HI > HK0 > HP > HR > KG4 > KP5 > OX > PJ7 > TI > TI9 > V2 > V3 > V4 > VP2E > VP5 > VP9 > XF4 > YN > YS > YV0 > > Africa (14) > 3V > 3X > 5A > 5T > 5U > 6W > 7X > C5 > CN > D4 > EA9 > EL > J5 > S0 > > Oceania (1) > KH6 > > Asia (1) > UA9 > > Europe (19) > C3 > EA6 > ES > GD > GU > HB > I > JW > JX > LY > OH0 > OJ0 > OK > OM > TK > UA > UA2 > YL > ZB > > South America (12) > 8R > CE > CP > HC8 > HK0 > OA > P4 > PJ2 > PJ4 > PY0F > PY0P > PZ > > 73, > > Paul, N8HM > > On Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 3:51 PM, Rupert Hamblin > wrote: >> Hi All, >> >> I was interested to read the ARRL article on KO4MA receiving the DXCC award >> worked on satellites, which got me thinking. So here's my question... >> >> Taking into account today's available / workable amateur satellites - is it >> possible for an operator based in the UK/Europe or US, to work 100 >> different countries via satellite..? >> (Obviously taking into account the station setup..) >> >> Thanks for your feedback ! >> >> Cheers >> >> RH / G0TKZ >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > -- 73, Mike, N1JEZ "A closed mouth gathers no feet" From n8hm at arrl.net Mon Feb 29 22:45:33 2016 From: n8hm at arrl.net (Paul Stoetzer) Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 17:45:33 -0500 Subject: [amsat-bb] DXCC & HamSats In-Reply-To: <56D4C642.7000403@burlingtontelecom.net> References: <56D4C642.7000403@burlingtontelecom.net> Message-ID: No roof access at my building, but I do have friends with common roof areas and great views northeast. I need to line up a couple of skeds on a low AO-7 pass and go over there! Or move to an apartment on the north side of my building! 73, Paul, N8HM On Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 5:29 PM, Mike Seguin wrote: > Paul, > > We need to get you a better shot to the E-NE. In the last two weeks, worked > 2 OM's and EW on AO-7 from FN34. > > Mike > > On 2/29/2016 4:03 PM, Paul Stoetzer wrote: >> >> Theoretically, it is certainly possible for the eastern United States >> and most of Europe. There are around 130 DXCCs within AO-7's footprint >> of approximately 7,900 km. DXCC was done a few times solely on LEO in >> the late 1970s and early 1980s with AO-6, AO-7, and the early RS >> satellites. >> >> However, most of those have no satellite activity. I have worked 54 >> DXCCs myself, but only 24 of 50 in North America plus 22 in Europe, 6 >> in South America, and 2 in Africa. >> >> The issue is getting activity in many of these other entities! If you >> know of anyone in or going to any of these places, please get them on >> the air! >> >> See the following breakdown (just an estimate, there are likely small >> portions of other entities in the footprint as well) >> >> Worked: >> >> North America (24) >> 4U >> CO >> FG >> FJ >> FM >> FP >> FS >> HH >> J3 >> J6 >> J7 >> J8 >> K >> KL >> KP1 >> KP2 >> KP4 >> PJ5 >> TG >> VE >> VP2M >> VP2V >> XE >> ZF >> >> South America (6) >> 9Y >> FY >> HC >> HK >> PY >> YV >> >> Africa (2) >> CT3 >> EA8 >> >> Europe (22) >> CT >> CU >> DL >> EA >> EI >> F >> G >> GI >> GJ >> GM >> GW >> I >> LA >> LX >> OH >> ON >> OY >> OZ >> PA >> SM >> SP >> TF >> >> Not worked, but within footprint: >> >> North America (26) >> 6Y >> 8P >> C6 >> CY0 >> CY9 >> FO0 >> HI >> HK0 >> HP >> HR >> KG4 >> KP5 >> OX >> PJ7 >> TI >> TI9 >> V2 >> V3 >> V4 >> VP2E >> VP5 >> VP9 >> XF4 >> YN >> YS >> YV0 >> >> Africa (14) >> 3V >> 3X >> 5A >> 5T >> 5U >> 6W >> 7X >> C5 >> CN >> D4 >> EA9 >> EL >> J5 >> S0 >> >> Oceania (1) >> KH6 >> >> Asia (1) >> UA9 >> >> Europe (19) >> C3 >> EA6 >> ES >> GD >> GU >> HB >> I >> JW >> JX >> LY >> OH0 >> OJ0 >> OK >> OM >> TK >> UA >> UA2 >> YL >> ZB >> >> South America (12) >> 8R >> CE >> CP >> HC8 >> HK0 >> OA >> P4 >> PJ2 >> PJ4 >> PY0F >> PY0P >> PZ >> >> 73, >> >> Paul, N8HM >> >> On Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 3:51 PM, Rupert Hamblin >> wrote: >>> >>> Hi All, >>> >>> I was interested to read the ARRL article on KO4MA receiving the DXCC >>> award >>> worked on satellites, which got me thinking. So here's my question... >>> >>> Taking into account today's available / workable amateur satellites - is >>> it >>> possible for an operator based in the UK/Europe or US, to work 100 >>> different countries via satellite..? >>> (Obviously taking into account the station setup..) >>> >>> Thanks for your feedback ! >>> >>> Cheers >>> >>> RH / G0TKZ >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >>> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. >>> Opinions expressed >>> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >>> AMSAT-NA. >>> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite >>> program! >>> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available >> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions >> expressed >> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of >> AMSAT-NA. >> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! >> Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb >> > > -- > > 73, > Mike, N1JEZ > "A closed mouth gathers no feet" > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions > expressed > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of > AMSAT-NA. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb