[amsat-bb] Re: S and L band suggestions
Hi Reid and those interested- -Getting into L S can be as simple or as complicated as one tries to make it. Many of us are using modified MMDS downconverters http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclientie=UTF-8rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS379US379q=mmds for what means. The downconverter takes the 2.4ghz downlink and usually converts it to the 2M band. However usually for a 2M output the crystal and some minor filter modification is required. Generally if used without modification the output is around 123mhz. A downconverter can be had for as much as about $500 for the UEK-3000 or a Keps for about $225 or a surplus MMDS unit can be found on Ebay for as little as $5 (caveat emptor). For AO-51 in mode S (downlink) reception has been reported with a simple patch antenna connected directly to the DC. Or a simple 5 turn (left hand ci rcular polarization) in front of a 18 inch TV type dish will work well. Or a longer (10 turn +) RHCP helix can work. Again the DC is connected directly to the antenna/feed to reduce losses. Usually power for the DC is feed up the coax (RG6) to the DC from a bais tee(power inserter). A larger dish could be the 36X30 primestar, from that now defunct direct TV system. They are usually free, just watch roof lines around your neighborhood. The bigger the dish the higher the gain and the necessity for accurate pointing. I use a Transystem 3731AA (MMDS) downconverter/5 turn helix feed/Primestar dish which is connected to an old TS-700A transceiver with Tx disabled to avoid that maj or ooops of accidently transmitting into the DC. For 1.2ghz (L band) uplink will usually cost some coin! Many satellite radios, like the IC-910, FT-736 etc. and several others can be had and adding the optional 1.2ghz module. Again not too cheap. Or a transverter. If in your area there is local L band terrestial activity, it can be quite interesti ng. L band antennas can be loopers, yagi's or a helix. I can get into AO51 quite well with 10W from an IC-910 to a 16 turn helix. I have some pictures available which can answer many questions. Good luck with your efforts. There are ma ny on this bb that have been doing this for a long time, and are wealth of information. 73 Bob W7LRD Seattle - Original Message - From: Reid Crowe kc0...@ku.edu To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 4:25:07 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [amsat-bb] S and L band suggestions I am thinking I want to get into S and L band operations. Does anyone have any suggestions on getting started? What equipment is everyone using? 73 Reid, OX/N0RC ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] UNITEC-1 ARRL Announcement
ARRL - Amateur Community Needed to Assist Japanese Amateur Interplanetary Satellite http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-community-needed-to-assist-japanese-amateur-interplanetary-satellite 73 Trevor M5AKA Daily Amateur Radio Email/RSS News: http://www.southgatearc.org/ Email Your News To: editor at southgatearc.org Or Upload Using Form At: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/your_news_1.htm ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Transystem 3731 vs. 3733
Can someone tell me the major difference between the two downconverters? Ten years ago or so, I used a 3733 un-modded at the fed point of an 8ft dish to copy ao-40 tlm. Today I read a lot of references to the 3731, but not much about the 3733. Just wondering if one is preferable to the other. Rich, N8UX ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: S and L band suggestion
Hello Reid: If you don’t mind experimenting, connect one of these 2.4G MMDS grid antennas http://www.amazon.com/2-4GHz-24dBi-Outdoor-Antenna-Cable/dp/B001J1Y7IA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top to the downconverter taken from this antenna http://cgi.ebay.com/Yagi-MMDS-ITFS-AFN-High-Gain-Antenna-Downconverter-Used-/120541331846?cmd=ViewItempt=LH_DefaultDomain_0hash=item1c10d2c186 The downconverter IF output is given at 222-408 MHz. The noise figure which isn’t all that great is listed as 2dBi. I use a grid antenna because it has much less wind load than the solid surface of a TV dish. For my S Band downlink, I use the AIDC 3731 downconverter tuned to the 2M band. For test tuning purposes, I built one of these 2.4GHz source oscillators to locate the 2M IF output from the downconverter. http://ve2zaz.net/SigSourc/SigSourc.htm DC power to the downconverter is explained here for a Bias T. http://www.hamtv.com/pdffiles/biasT.pdf Finally, if you want Doppler frequency control, a program called SATPC32 explains how to write the Doppler.SQF file based on the downconverter Local Oscillator offset frequency. You can expect others with better suggestions. But, the above detail works well for me. Squelch quieting for AO-51 V/S band downlink often pushes the S meter full scale (there are also deep fades with AO-51). 73, Ron n6paa ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Transystem 3731 vs. 3733
Rich: Maybe you've seen these popular links already, here they are again regarding the 3731 and 3733 73, Ron n6paa http://www.k3roj.com/images/AIDC3733downconvtr.txt http://www.jrmiller.demon.co.uk/products/patfot.htm http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/200110/msg00136.html http://128.54.16.15/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/200104/msg00285.html http://www.jrmiller.demon.co.uk/products/patfot.htm ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Transystem 3731 vs. 3733
Thanks for the links, Ron. It's been a while since I've dabbled with 2.4ghz, since AO-40's heyday. Going to get my old toys back out this summer. This info will help stir those brain cells back up. Rich http://www.k3roj.com/images/AIDC3733downconvtr.txt http://www.jrmiller.demon.co.uk/products/patfot.htm http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/200110/msg00136.html http://128.54.16.15/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/200104/msg00285.html http://www.jrmiller.demon.co.uk/products/patfot.htm ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] 'Zombie-sat' and the clever orbital dance
The dead-but-alive telecommunications satellite, Galaxy-15 http://www.orbital.com/SatellitesSpace/Communications/PanAmSat/, has begun to enter the space of neighbouring craft, and their operators are planning evasive action. Zombie-sat has captured the imagination of the internet space forums these past few weeks. It's probably the nickname that's done it. When we sit on the sofa skipping across the smorgasbord of channels with our remote-controls, we don't usually give much thought to the bent pipes that sit 36,000km above our heads, delivering the televisual feast. Intelsat's Galaxy-15 http://www.intelsat.com/resources/galaxy-15/operational-status.asp satellite was put in geostationary orbit five years ago to re-distribute TV services to cable companies across North America, and also to send navigation data to aeroplanes to improve the accuracy of their GPS receivers. But the bird experienced a major hiccup at the beginning of April. It's not known precisely what happened. One possibility is that it was damaged by high-speed particles billowing off the Sun in a solar storm - an ever-present danger for orbiting electronics. The satellite is still operational: it's still on, but Intelsat cannot control it. Any signal it receives, it re-transmits at high power. It's a very unusual situation. What doesn't help is the fact that Galaxy-15, which is supposed to sit at 133 degrees West (over the eastern Pacific), is drifting slowing eastwards by about 0.05 degrees a day. This will take it into the path of other satellites, and first to have an issue is AMC-11 http://www.ses-worldskies.com/worldskies/satellites/01_amc-fleet/amc-11/index.php, another TV services spacecraft operated by SES World Skies http://www.ses-worldskies.com/worldskies/index.php. If SES were to do nothing, Zombie-sat would soon start picking up and retransmitting signals sent to AMC 11. To users on the ground who depend on AMC 11 for their daily dose of MTV, this could lead to a horrendous mash-up. It would be like trying to listen to two people who are shouting the same conversation at you. So, SES World Skies will today begin a delicate orbital dance, in which they will allow AMC 11 to drift in tandem with Galaxy-15 while at the same time sneaking up another satellite behind the pair. The plan is for the SES controllers to then leapfrog many of the services on AMC-11 across to this other satellite, known as SES-1, thereby minimising the disruption to customers. The manoeuvres are unprecedented, says Alan Young, the chief technology officer with SES World Skies. The closest AMC-11 and Galaxy-15 will come is measured in kilometres, and in space terms that's quite close. But the risk here is not one of collision; we're not at all concerned about that. The problem is that they're so close when viewed from Earth that it's not easy to distinguish between the two satellites and seeing as they both operate in the same frequency band, there will be interference if we're not careful. We've gone to a number of measures, including moving customers on AMC-11 on to a very large uplink antenna. This means we can very finely discriminate between the two spacecraft so that we can direct all of the energy into AMC-11 and as little energy as possible into Galaxy-15. If you don't put anything into Galaxy-15, you won't get anything out. AMC-11 will eventually be moved back to its orbital slot to resume normal operations once the zombie has passed through, which should be 7 June. All satellite operators and comms companies will have to work out what Galaxy-15 means to them. Here at the BBC, we've had to consider how some of our international services like the BBC World News channel http://www.bbcworldnews.com might be affected. This channel is fed through Intelsat's Galaxy-13 platform. The most recent calculations suggest everything should be fine. Anyone sitting on their sofa in North America should be oblivious to the space waltz that is about to take place. There are some wider issues, however. For satellite manufacturers, there will be keen interest in understanding exactly what happened to Galaxy-15. Satellites have redundant, or back-up systems http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8458203.stm; and when they have major upsets, there are usually modes that will completely re-boot the spacecraft automatically after a period of time. Galaxy-15 was made by Orbital Sciences http://www.orbital.com/, but Patrick Wood, the chief technical officer for EADS Astrium satellites http://www.astrium.eads.net/, told me the entire industry had an interest in finding out what went wrong: Part of our design review process is to check through the architecture to ensure there isn't a single point that, were it to fail, we'd lose complete control of the spacecraft. Clearly Galaxy-15 has had a major event and most organisations will want to
[amsat-bb] Gordon West's Technician Class 2010-2014 Book
Well, we didn't get the entire text I submitted to Gordon printed in the new exam prep manual. Darn those editors! (grin) But AMSAT did get their Ham Hint box with a plug and Web address on Page 100. And of the URLs I submitted, the following appear as Web Site Resources on Page 104: AMSAT.org Heavens-Above.com RT Systems - cloningsoftware.com ArrowAntennas.com K6LCS' Work-Sat.com site BigFatTail.com software DogParkSoftware.com So we did OK. I'll Shoot for More in 2-0-1-4 for the new book release! Clint, K6LCS http://www.k6lcs.com 909-241-7666 ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: 'Zombie-sat' and the clever orbital dance
The BBC are running the video on their website http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10150614.stm 73 Trevor M5AKA --- On Tue, 25/5/10, David - KG4ZLB kg4...@googlemail.com wrote: The dead-but-alive telecommunications satellite, Galaxy-15 http://www.orbital.com/SatellitesSpace/Communications/PanAmSat/, has begun to enter the space of neighbouring craft, and their operators are planning evasive action. Zombie-sat has captured the imagination of the internet space forums these past few weeks. It's probably the nickname that's done it. When we sit on the sofa skipping across the smorgasbord of channels with our remote-controls, we don't usually give much thought to the bent pipes that sit 36,000km above our heads, delivering the televisual feast. Intelsat's Galaxy-15 http://www.intelsat.com/resources/galaxy-15/operational-status.asp satellite was put in geostationary orbit five years ago to re-distribute TV services to cable companies across North America, and also to send navigation data to aeroplanes to improve the accuracy of their GPS receivers. But the bird experienced a major hiccup at the beginning of April. It's not known precisely what happened. One possibility is that it was damaged by high-speed particles billowing off the Sun in a solar storm - an ever-present danger for orbiting electronics. The satellite is still operational: it's still on, but Intelsat cannot control it. Any signal it receives, it re-transmits at high power. It's a very unusual situation. What doesn't help is the fact that Galaxy-15, which is supposed to sit at 133 degrees West (over the eastern Pacific), is drifting slowing eastwards by about 0.05 degrees a day. This will take it into the path of other satellites, and first to have an issue is AMC-11 http://www.ses-worldskies.com/worldskies/satellites/01_amc-fleet/amc-11/index.php, another TV services spacecraft operated by SES World Skies http://www.ses-worldskies.com/worldskies/index.php. If SES were to do nothing, Zombie-sat would soon start picking up and retransmitting signals sent to AMC 11. To users on the ground who depend on AMC 11 for their daily dose of MTV, this could lead to a horrendous mash-up. It would be like trying to listen to two people who are shouting the same conversation at you. So, SES World Skies will today begin a delicate orbital dance, in which they will allow AMC 11 to drift in tandem with Galaxy-15 while at the same time sneaking up another satellite behind the pair. The plan is for the SES controllers to then leapfrog many of the services on AMC-11 across to this other satellite, known as SES-1, thereby minimising the disruption to customers. The manoeuvres are unprecedented, says Alan Young, the chief technology officer with SES World Skies. The closest AMC-11 and Galaxy-15 will come is measured in kilometres, and in space terms that's quite close. But the risk here is not one of collision; we're not at all concerned about that. The problem is that they're so close when viewed from Earth that it's not easy to distinguish between the two satellites and seeing as they both operate in the same frequency band, there will be interference if we're not careful. We've gone to a number of measures, including moving customers on AMC-11 on to a very large uplink antenna. This means we can very finely discriminate between the two spacecraft so that we can direct all of the energy into AMC-11 and as little energy as possible into Galaxy-15. If you don't put anything into Galaxy-15, you won't get anything out. AMC-11 will eventually be moved back to its orbital slot to resume normal operations once the zombie has passed through, which should be 7 June. All satellite operators and comms companies will have to work out what Galaxy-15 means to them. Here at the BBC, we've had to consider how some of our international services like the BBC World News channel http://www.bbcworldnews.com might be affected. This channel is fed through Intelsat's Galaxy-13 platform. The most recent calculations suggest everything should be fine. Anyone sitting on their sofa in North America should be oblivious to the space waltz that is about to take place. There are some wider issues, however. For satellite manufacturers, there will be keen interest in understanding exactly what happened to Galaxy-15. Satellites have redundant, or back-up systems http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8458203.stm; and when they have major upsets, there are usually modes that will completely re-boot the spacecraft automatically after a period of time. Galaxy-15 was made by Orbital Sciences http://www.orbital.com/, but Patrick Wood, the chief technical officer for EADS Astrium satellites http://www.astrium.eads.net/, told me the entire industry had an interest in finding out what went wrong:
[amsat-bb] Re: 'Zombie-sat' and the clever orbital dance
At 02:03 PM 5/25/2010 -0400, kg4...@gmail.com wrote: The dead-but-alive telecommunications satellite, Galaxy-15 http://www.orbital.com/SatellitesSpace/Communications/PanAmSat/, has begun to enter the space of neighbouring craft, and their operators are planning evasive action. Zombie-sat has captured the imagination of the internet space forums these past few weeks. It's probably the nickname that's done it. When we sit on the sofa skipping across the smorgasbord of channels with our remote-controls, we don't usually give much thought to the bent pipes that sit 36,000km above our heads, delivering the televisual feast. Intelsat's Galaxy-15 http://www.intelsat.com/resources/galaxy-15/operational-status.asp satellite was put in geostationary orbit five years ago to re-distribute TV services to cable companies across North America, and also to send navigation data to aeroplanes to improve the accuracy of their GPS receivers. But the bird experienced a major hiccup at the beginning of April. It's not known precisely what happened. One possibility is that it was damaged by high-speed particles billowing off the Sun in a solar storm - an ever-present danger for orbiting electronics. The satellite is still operational: it's still on, but Intelsat cannot control it. Any signal it receives, it re-transmits at high power. It's a very unusual situation. What doesn't help is the fact that Galaxy-15, which is supposed to sit at 133 degrees West (over the eastern Pacific), is drifting slowing eastwards by about 0.05 degrees a day. This will take it into the path of other satellites, and first to have an issue is AMC-11 http://www.ses-worldskies.com/worldskies/satellites/01_amc-fleet/amc-11/index.php, another TV services spacecraft operated by SES World Skies http://www.ses-worldskies.com/worldskies/index.php. If SES were to do nothing, Zombie-sat would soon start picking up and retransmitting signals sent to AMC 11. To users on the ground who depend on AMC 11 for their daily dose of MTV, this could lead to a horrendous mash-up. It would be like trying to listen to two people who are shouting the same conversation at you. So, SES World Skies will today begin a delicate orbital dance, in which they will allow AMC 11 to drift in tandem with Galaxy-15 while at the same time sneaking up another satellite behind the pair. The plan is for the SES controllers to then leapfrog many of the services on AMC-11 across to this other satellite, known as SES-1, thereby minimising the disruption to customers. The manoeuvres are unprecedented, says Alan Young, the chief technology officer with SES World Skies. The closest AMC-11 and Galaxy-15 will come is measured in kilometres, and in space terms that's quite close. But the risk here is not one of collision; we're not at all concerned about that. The problem is that they're so close when viewed from Earth that it's not easy to distinguish between the two satellites and seeing as they both operate in the same frequency band, there will be interference if we're not careful. We've gone to a number of measures, including moving customers on AMC-11 on to a very large uplink antenna. This means we can very finely discriminate between the two spacecraft so that we can direct all of the energy into AMC-11 and as little energy as possible into Galaxy-15. If you don't put anything into Galaxy-15, you won't get anything out. AMC-11 will eventually be moved back to its orbital slot to resume normal operations once the zombie has passed through, which should be 7 June. All satellite operators and comms companies will have to work out what Galaxy-15 means to them. Here at the BBC, we've had to consider how some of our international services like the BBC World News channel http://www.bbcworldnews.com might be affected. This channel is fed through Intelsat's Galaxy-13 platform. The most recent calculations suggest everything should be fine. Anyone sitting on their sofa in North America should be oblivious to the space waltz that is about to take place. There are some wider issues, however. For satellite manufacturers, there will be keen interest in understanding exactly what happened to Galaxy-15. Satellites have redundant, or back-up systems http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8458203.stm; and when they have major upsets, there are usually modes that will completely re-boot the spacecraft automatically after a period of time. Galaxy-15 was made by Orbital Sciences http://www.orbital.com/, but Patrick Wood, the chief technical officer for EADS Astrium satellites http://www.astrium.eads.net/, told me the entire industry had an interest in finding out what went wrong: Part of our design review process is to check through the architecture to ensure there isn't a single point that, were it to fail, we'd lose complete control of the spacecraft. Clearly Galaxy-15 has had a
[amsat-bb] W1AW/5 for DM73 Wednesday
For those that tried to help with the Teachers Institute demonstration today, thanks, but I had a battery failure and missed the pass. I will attempt again tomorrow first during the AO27 pass at 1922Z and then again if not successful on the 2209Z pass. I'll be using W1AW/5 from Roswell, NM DM73. Thanks again for the support, things happen, and we'll try and recover tomorrow. Mark Mark Spencer, WA8SME Education and Technology Program Coordinator ARRL, the national association for Amateur RadioT mspen...@arrl.org www.arrl.org/education-technology-program www.arrl.org/teachers-institute-on-wireless-technology 530-495-9150 ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: 'Zombie-sat' and the clever orbital dance
I wonder... Has anyone at SES considered just turning off their transmitter, while Galaxy-15 crosses their path, and using it instead? Just a thought, Greg KO6TH If SES were to do nothing, Zombie-sat would soon start picking up and retransmitting signals sent to AMC 11. To users on the ground who depend on AMC 11 for their daily dose of MTV, this could lead to a horrendous mash-up. _ The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_3 ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] sustainable satellite Cube sat
A cube sat sustainable satellite university project of ETS (École de technologie supérieure) in Montreal will be presented at the Québec Provincial Hamfest in Sorel-Tracy on MAY 30 2010 www.hamfest.qc.ca Project details are on the following web site in french an english: http://edds.etsmtl.ca/index.php?option=com_contentview=sectionlayout=blogid=1Itemid=1lang=en - Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe DSTAR urcall VE2DWE WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
