[sarex] Re: Marex news, ISS radio status

Louis McFadin w5did at mac.com
Thu Apr 5 13:15:49 PDT 2007 

Miles,
It would be good to get your facts correct before sending something  
like this out.
The OS on the D700 is not being reloaded. Only the parameters and  
channels are being reset. We have no evidence of any king of failure  
of the D700. The only problem is that some of the parameters were  
changed during the attempt to use it for SSTV. We do not know what  
changes were made and have no simple way to determine what they were.  
The only practical solution is to completely reload all the  
parameters and channel data to a known set of values. We hope to have  
that done by Charles Simonyi.  He has generously agreed to use some  
of his precious time to do that while onboard ISS. It is not a fully  
approved thing yet since the software must be certified to be safe  
before it can be sent to the ISS. We are in the process of doing that  
at this time.

You imply that there has been a failure of the D700. This is a  
disservice to the folks who built it, donated it to the ISS-HAM  
project and have given us their full support all along. While it is  
possible to see some effects from the radiation environment  
eventually, we haven't seen any yet. This is after all a radio  
designed for use under the protective Earth's atmosphere. Let's not  
make any assumptions without having some facts to support them.

You also state that there is a cable problem with the Ericsson. We do  
not know that for a fact. All we know is that there were some  
problems with a school contact. This problem could have been caused  
by a cable or from ground or onboard interference. Until we can do  
some tests we can only speculate. Speculation is a counterproductive  
exercise. We are also hoping to get a test done on the Ericsson while  
Charles is on ISS. That is also not for sure at this time. We are  
looking forward to him having a great flight.

Lou McFadin
W5DID
ARISS US Hardware manager


On Apr 5, 2007, at 3:26 PM, MM wrote:

>
> ISS Amateur Radio Status: April 5, 2007
>
> By Miles Mann WF1F,
>
> MAREX-MG News	www.marexmg.org
>
> Manned Amateur Radio Experiment
>
> ISS Crew Change April 2007
>
> There will be a crew change taking place on ISS this
> month.
> The existing Expedition #14 currently consists of:
>
> Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria
> Flight Engineer and Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin
> Flight Engineer Sunita Williams.
> Ms. Williams arrived via the Shuttle STS-116 mission
> last fall. She will also stay on ISS after the crew
> change in April and become part of the Crew #15.
> Launch dates, September 18, 2006 through April 20 2007
>
> The new crew #15 will consist of:
> Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, an American
> flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space
> Agency. Charles will return to Earth with Expedition
> 14 on April 20th with Lopez-Algeria and Tyurin.
> Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin
> Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov
>
> Amateur Radio Status:
>
> Voice and Packet:
> The Kenwood D700 celebrated its 3-year of service last
> December.  However after three years of 24/7 usage has
> taken its toll.  Last August the memory channels
> became too corrupted to be reliable.  The procedures
> given to the crew to configure a channel combination
> did not always match the instructions and there were a
> few times when I heard the ISS crew calling for a
> school and ISS was on the wrong uplink frequency.  The
> D700 was removed from Public access last August and is
> only being used for pre-arranged school schedules,
> etc.
>
> The good news is that we may get an opportunity to
> reload the OS on the D700 during the upcoming crew
> change. The D700 on ISS is running a special OS and
> channels setup, created just for the ISS.  If time
> allows, the D700 will get a fresh OS reload to set it
> back to the launch configuration.  The OS reload, also
> includes a very complex channel configuration and
> other unique settings.  The OS reload requires the
> removal of the covers and the installation of a
> special ribbon cable.  See the attached link (bottom
> left Picture).  As a back up plan, if the reload
> fails, a few basic channels may be hand keyed into the
> radio.
>
> http://www.marexmg.org/hardware/kenwood.html
>
> Ericcsons Systems:
> The Erriccson HT systems are not currently being used
> because of an intermittent cable issue.  No date on
> when replacement parts will be flown at this time.
> The PacCom modems attached to the Ericcsons have not
> been activate in 3+ years and the memory batteries are
> probably not functional.
>
> http://www.marexmg.org/hardware/ericcson.html
>
>
> Slow Scan TV:
> The Marex Slow Scan TV project, SpaceCam1 was
> activated for a few weeks last August using a Borrowed
> Laptop.  The amateur radio projects still do not have
> a dedicated laptop for the projects and there are no
> laptops scheduled for flight to be used for Amateur
> Radio usage on ISS in the foreseeable future.
>
> http://www.marexmg.org/imagessstv/SpaceCamImages1.htm
>
>
> Future Projects:
> Marex is working on keeping ISS accessible and
> affordable by keeping it on the air.  We have
> submitted proposals for a new packet system, which has
> been initially approved.  We are also working on other
> proposals, including proposals to replace most of the
> aging hardware with new state-of-the-art hardware.
> The goal is to keep it simple and kept it on the air.
> Your support is always welcome.
>
>
> School Schedules:
> If you want to listen to ISS school schedules on the
> 145.800, then you should check the ARISS web page to
> seen when the next time ISS will be on the air in your
> part of the world.  Listeners are encouraged to tune
> in and listing to the ARISS School down links.
>
> Information about the next scheduled ARISS contact can
> be found at
> http://www.rac.ca/ariss/upcoming.htm#NextContact .
>
>
> Marexmg Web page
> http://www.marexmg.org
>
> ARISS Web page and other great Space projects
> http://www.rac.ca/ariss/
>
> 73 Miles WF1F MAREX-MG
>
> Until we meet again
>
> DOSVIDANIYA Miles WF1F
>
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________ 
> ______________
> No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go
> with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started.
> http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail
> ----
> Sent via sarex at amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
> Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite  
> program!
> Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/sarex

More information about the SAREX mailing list