Dayton Hamvention 2015: Day 1 — Big Crowd, Some Rain, Satellite News
*AARL NEWS
*<http://www.arrl.org/news/search/Tag.name:user>
05/15/2015
http://www.arrl.org/news/dayton-hamvention-2015-day-1-big-crowd-some-rain-satellite-news
The word on the first day of Dayton Hamvention is that the venue is
“extremely crowded for a Friday,” according to ARRL Publications Manager
and QST Editor Steve Ford, WB8IMY. Ford said there have been scattered
showers and it’s on the humid side, “but not terrible.”
Hamvention continues through Sunday afternoon. It is offering *live
coverage* <http://hamvention.org/media-news/live-coverage/> of selected
forums on its website. Several other webcasters, including *Tom Medlin*
<http://www.w5kub.com>, W5KUB, and *Icom*
<http://www.icomamerica.com/en/amateur/dayton2015/default.aspx> America,
also will be making live video streams available.
Ford said traffic at ARRL EXPO has been brisk, and the ARRL Lab’s
spectral purity testing table has been seeing “steady traffic with long
lines at times.” Retired NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, a special
Hamvention guest, stopped by to tour the ARRL EXPO and to chat with
visitors.
Ford also shared some news from *AMSAT* <http://www.amsat.org/>, which
has said the launch of its *Fox-1* <http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=1113>
CubeSat has been delayed until late September.
AMSAT Vice President-Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, said that its
planned geosynchronous satellite will offer uplinks on 5 GHz and
downlinks on 10 GHz.
Buxton explained that the geosynchronous footprint will not be
absolutely fixed; some variation may require some up/down movement of
the user's dish at certain times — although not continuously. He said
AMSAT is working on this issue in terms of what to recommend for ground
stations, but that even in the worst case, a user with a fixed antenna
would still be able to enjoy several hours of access each day.
The transponder for the new satellite will be software defined and
capable of supporting many different modes, including analog SSB.
AMSAT announced in late April that, if all goes according to plan, an
Amateur Radio payload will go into space on a geosynchronous satellite
that’s planned for launch in 2017. The satellite’s potential footprint
could extend over the US from the Mid-Pacific to Africa. AMSAT has
accepted the opportunity to be a “hosted payload” on a spacecraft that
Millennium Space Systems (*MSS* <http://www.millennium-space.com/>) of
El Segundo, California, is under contract to design, launch, and operate
for the US government. The Amateur Radio payload must be delivered for
testing and integration by next spring.
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