[amsat-bb] AO-91 - Safe Mode Annoucement

[John Zaruba Jr]

What a wonderful tribute to Tony AA2TX!

73,

John K2ZA
AMSAT #22683

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 20, 2017, at 00:59, Jerry Buxton <n0jy at amsat.org> wrote:
> 
> That is a nice recording, Paul.
> 
> I would like to state for the record that the ID is not actually a
> "child", Veronica Monteiro was just starting in college when we made the
> Fox-1x recordings.  Because of the need to sharply filter the recordings
> with a 350 Hz high pass to eliminate any audio in the DUV telemetry
> frequency range, it does have the effect of making her sound younger. 
> That coupled with whatever your particular SDR or transceiver filtering
> adds creates the rather common misconception that the recordings were of
> a young child.
> 
> Veronica Monteiro is the daughter of the late Tony Monteiro AA2TX, who
> as AMSAT Vice-President of Engineering brought the Fox-1 1U CubeSat
> concept and project to the Board of Directors and "sold" the Fox-1
> Program that has now produced 5 (OK 4 1/2 until Fox-1E is complete)
> Fox-1 CubeSats.  The concept included a Morse Code ID for the beacon of
> the FM repeaters, as stated in the System Requirements:
> 
> 3.9.6 If the downlink transmitter has been un-keyed for a period of 5
> minutes, the satellite shall send " HI THIS IS AMSAT FOX " in Morse code
> via a keyed audio tone on the downlink transmitter.
> 
> When designing the software for the ID back in 2014 after I was
> appointed VPE, the Fox-1 Team thought it would be a nice idea to use a
> voice ID instead of Morse Code given the abilities of the IHU and
> available memory.  In kicking around ideas about who would record the ID
> it came to us that it would be a nice tribute to Tony if Veronica were
> the voice ID.  Fox-1 software engineer Burns Fisher, who lives near
> Tony's family, contacted them.  Veronica graciously agreed, and Burns
> set out with his recorder to capture Veronica to become the voice of the
> Fox-1 FM satellites.
> 
> From their many clips I was able to assemble the various Safe Mode and
> Transponder Mode IDs for each satellite/name, so I guess I'm to blame
> for the processing I did that makes her sound like a child...
> 
> I listened to Veronica's IDs I'll bet hundreds if not a thousand times
> in testing the Fox-1 engineering model and Fox-1A through D, and I still
> get a kick and a smile from it every time I hear her - especially from
> orbit!
> 
> Jerry Buxton, NØJY
> 
>> On 11/19/2017 12:57, Paul Andrews wrote:
>> Satellite Fans,
>> 
>> I pointed my 2 x XP28 moonbounce antenna at AO-91 today.   The AO-91
>> pass was nearly directly overhead in FN20.   The FM signal quality was
>> so high - you can hear the room acoustics in the recording of the
>> child's voice.   Very cool.
>> 
>> Here is a YouTube link -   https://youtu.be/gepcNt2sW2g
>> 
>> 73 - Paul - W2HRO
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>> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed
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> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
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