[amsat-bb] Re: ISS School QSO
James, No ham event scheduled for Aug. 18. There was one on Aug 16 over Japan and the next one is Aug 25 with Germany via LU8YY in Argentina. Are you referring to the following educational video downlink posting? http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/10day/msg89701.html Kenneth - N5VHO -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of James Luhn Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 6:58 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] ISS School QSO I am portable in Alabama and do not have access to my past e-mail. A post a day or so ago had information about a school that had a scheduled QSO with the ISS on August 18. I am at a camp in Alabama and would love to at least monitor the conversation coming from the ISS. Would someone repost the info or contact me directly with a copy of the post. 73, James W5AOO l...@wt.net ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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: ARISSat clock and TLM records
Last night I captured my first telemetry frames by holding a digital recorder in front of the speaker on my TH-F6A, then playing the audio back through my soundcard an hour or so later. I was pleasantly surprised to get a few good frames and impressed with how smoothly the software worked. Unfortunately, the timestamps in the CSV file are the playback times, not the capture times. I realized this after auto-submitting the telemetry. Would this bad data have been filtered somehow upon submission? When I use this method, should I manually edit the timestamps and submit the CSV via email while turning off autosubmit? Tnx and 73, Scott N1AIA On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 11:26 PM, Douglas Quagliana dquagli...@aol.comwrote: Hi Richard, Don't worry. All of the telemetry data sent to telemetry.arissattlm.orgis timestamped with the UTC date and time when the receiving station received the telemetry. All received telemetry is saved to a .CSV file (one CSV file per day) with one line per telemetry frame. Each telemetry frame/line in the .CSV file is also timestamped with the UTC date and time when the receiving station received the telemetry. If you received any telemetry, please email your .CSV files to telemetry (at) arissattlm.org 73, Douglas KA2UPW/5 Richard Ferryman wrote: Now that the ARISSat clock seems to be resetting on a regular basis I am wondering how this will affect the TLM and Kursk data which I am capturing and uploading. It seems to me that the only way of collating the data is by the time of upload to telemetry.arissattlm.org Dick G4BBH __**_ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-bbhttp://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb __**_ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-bbhttp://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
[Using attitude control]... We could mount microwave antennas on a nadir-facing surface and provide consistent, predictable, strong, wideband signals to ground stations during a pass. The problem with LEO satellites is that a nadir facing antenna does give great gain directly overhead ground stations, but only for about the center 2 minutes of only the one direct overhead pass a day. The problem with facing antennas down on a LEO satellite is that 90% of the users are not under it, but to the side of it. For example, lets say that we put relatively high gain antennas facing down giving about a 45 degree antenna pattern (say around 10 dB). Now looking at the total time that ARISSat is above 45 degrees, turns out to be about 3 minutes a day or less than 10% of all the time it is in view to any one ground station. But as you say, it is a great advantage if the objective is to provide a 2 minute comm. window to anyone on the planet once a day, then such a design does give as much as 16 dB or so advantage over an omni antenna on a satellite. Anyway, just a thought. Bob, WB4APR ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] ARISSat telemetry and Doppler tuning
Last evening, after having several days experience capturing ARISSat telemetry, I sat at my radio and watched carefully how SatPC32 and ARISSatTLM played together. I had settled on a tuning correction value of –540 HZ to get the CW signal to center around the CW tuning point as the Doppler correction was handled by SatPC32. The approach of the satellite seemed normal. but as the satellite passed by, I noticed the CW signal average “position” to be creeping upward, needing a reduction of the tuning correction by about 40 Hz to –500 Hz. This lasted for a couple minutes and then the CW signal started creeping down and I had to go back to my –540 Hz value. The first explanation I could think of is that the Doppler correction computed by SatPC32 from my position and the keps was in error. But of course, it could have been a change in my radio (unlikely as it had been on for hours) or a change in the frequency of the CW signal from the satellite. I’ll keep watching this and wonder if others have noticed something similar. Ron W5RKN ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: ARISSat telemetry and Doppler tuning
Ron, That behavior is common around TCA, Time of Closest Approach. At that time everything is changing rapidly, and slight errors in QTH position, system clock, and Keps can be magnified. I have seen a few hundred Hz shift at that time with new satellites whose Keps have not fully converged. The same if the system clock is off a bit. As you probably know, the basic Windows internet time calibration facility can be tweaked, but it is better to replace it with one such as Meinberg. Finally, always have the latest Keps. Updating with SATPC32 is easy and only takes a few seconds. It is unlikely to be a factor on 2 meters, with a fast computer, but you can try increasing the update calculations in SATPC32. Look on the CAT page. You will see tick boxes for 1X, 5X and 10X. Try 5X and see if it makes any difference. Note that this setting is not sticky. Actually, your results show you have just about everything nailed. 73s, Alan WA4SCA -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Ronald G. Parsons Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 8:35 AM To: AMSAT-BB Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISSat telemetry and Doppler tuning Last evening, after having several days experience capturing ARISSat telemetry, I sat at my radio and watched carefully how SatPC32 and ARISSatTLM played together. I had settled on a tuning correction value of -540 HZ to get the CW signal to center around the CW tuning point as the Doppler correction was handled by SatPC32. The approach of the satellite seemed normal. but as the satellite passed by, I noticed the CW signal average position to be creeping upward, needing a reduction of the tuning correction by about 40 Hz to -500 Hz. This lasted for a couple minutes and then the CW signal started creeping down and I had to go back to my -540 Hz value. The first explanation I could think of is that the Doppler correction computed by SatPC32 from my position and the keps was in error. But of course, it could have been a change in my radio (unlikely as it had been on for hours) or a change in the frequency of the CW signal from the satellite. I'll keep watching this and wonder if others have noticed something similar. Ron W5RKN ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
From what I have read that is published, the DOD Colony II 3u cubesats are 3 axis controlled and pointable to within a degree or something close to that. As Bob pointed out this isn't a big help for antenna pointing for multiuser LEO sats, but when you read the power production the Colony II sats have, you'll see the application in a HEO orbit. I believe a 3u in HEO with this ability would be an affordable, usuable satellite for AMSAT to launch if we could duplicate the Colony sats abilities. 73, Drew KO4MA/p at the corner of No and Where, Oklahoma Sent from my iPhone On Aug 18, 2011, at 7:47 AM, Bob Bruninga bruni...@usna.edu wrote: [Using attitude control]... We could mount microwave antennas on a nadir-facing surface and provide consistent, predictable, strong, wideband signals to ground stations during a pass. The problem with LEO satellites is that a nadir facing antenna does give great gain directly overhead ground stations, but only for about the center 2 minutes of only the one direct overhead pass a day. The problem with facing antennas down on a LEO satellite is that 90% of the users are not under it, but to the side of it. For example, lets say that we put relatively high gain antennas facing down giving about a 45 degree antenna pattern (say around 10 dB). Now looking at the total time that ARISSat is above 45 degrees, turns out to be about 3 minutes a day or less than 10% of all the time it is in view to any one ground station. But as you say, it is a great advantage if the objective is to provide a 2 minute comm. window to anyone on the planet once a day, then such a design does give as much as 16 dB or so advantage over an omni antenna on a satellite. Anyway, just a thought. Bob, WB4APR ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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] a051 frequencies
I will be trying to work ao-51 during the ILLW this weekend (20-21Aug). I havent operated satellites since ao40, which is a little while ago... I will be using the usual an arrow antenna and ft60r. I am having problems finding the frequencies to tx and rx on. It seems that there have been some changes made and different sites give me different frequencies I should be using. I think the Tx is 145.880. I think the Rx frequency is 435.500. Can anyone please give me a definitive answer? I have only just got the antenna and radio working as a unit in the last 24 hours. I will be operating from Cape Schanck, just south of Melbourne Australia, under the callsign VK3EMF. Thanks Joe VK3BKI ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Edusat and Kentucky
The MSU news report on EduSat can be seen at http://www.moreheadstate.edu/News/2011/August/MSU,_UR_launch_satellite_from_Russia/ 73 Trevor M5AKA --- On Wed, 17/8/11, charlie Cantrill ki4...@yahoo.com wrote: Looks like Edusat will be partially controlled here from the U.S., right down the road in Kentucky. This is Dr. Ben Malphrus KJ4HJV of the Morehead Space Science program.Sounds like they are preparing to test a Femtosat deployment system. I should point out, this is where Bob Twiggs is currently teaching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljnK2LVi9hw Charlie Cantrill KI4RDT ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: a051 frequencies
Currently and for the foreseeable future we are on 145.88 up and 435.150 down. 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-NA VP Operations Sent from my iPhone On Aug 18, 2011, at 9:24 AM, Joe gjma...@optusnet.com.au wrote: I will be trying to work ao-51 during the ILLW this weekend (20-21Aug). I havent operated satellites since ao40, which is a little while ago... I will be using the usual an arrow antenna and ft60r. I am having problems finding the frequencies to tx and rx on. It seems that there have been some changes made and different sites give me different frequencies I should be using. I think the Tx is 145.880. I think the Rx frequency is 435.500. Can anyone please give me a definitive answer? I have only just got the antenna and radio working as a unit in the last 24 hours. I will be operating from Cape Schanck, just south of Melbourne Australia, under the callsign VK3EMF. Thanks Joe VK3BKI ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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] W5KUB.com Huntsville Hamfest Webcast This Weekend
Hello Everyone, This is one item that would be too late if we waited for the weekend ANS news cycle. Tom, W5KUB, famous for his Dayton Hamvention Webcasts, will be on-the-air ... well, on-the-internet with a webcast from the Huntsville Hamfest, live August 20-21. You can tune in at http://www.w5kub.com ... if you sign into the hamradio chat you will be eligible to win the prizes that Tom and his crew periodically draw. Tom usually starts his webcasts with live transmissions during his drive to the hamfest. If you tune in on Friday you'll get the action from the start. -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9...@amsat.org Editor, AMSAT News Service ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Decoding wideband recordings
Am 2011-08-10 00:54, schrieb Phil Karn: It's been suggested that I modify my ARISSat-1 BPSK-1000 telemetry demodulator/decoder to accept wideband quadrature (I Q) recordings like those produced by most of the software defined radios out there. This is fundamentally not that hard, but first I need some information. How many people could actually use this? I guess all people that use SDRs in the style of FCD, like SDR Widget, or generally all DDC receivers that work with soundcard interfaces. What is the format of the recorded files? Is there a standard, or does each make of SDR produce its own? Often the I and Q channel are recorded via Left and Right of a sound interface, either built-in in the computer or via USB. FCD for example is not more than a very powerful DDC chain, an USB audio device with 96kHz bandwidth and a USB HID interface to control all the settings, like filters and gains. So for a recording you'd probaly end up in whatever your recoding program produces, likely WAV, but any format with 16bit and 2 channels would do. For decoding please be aware that I/Q via sound interfaces has a weak spot at the centre frequency. The interfaces all have a high pass characteristic below like 30Hz, which means the resulting spectrum has a notch in the middle. You usually would not like to exactly tune the center frequency to the frequency of your interest, but a little below or above. You can see that notch for example at http://www.oz9aec.net/index.php/funcube-dongle/423-funcube-dongle-on-the-air-tests-at-oz7sat With all oscillators being not perfect this can probably be ignored, as you wouldn't end up at the center frequency anyway. For converting audio files I can recommend sox http://sox.sourceforge.net which is quite common in Linux distributions, but as cross platform tool also available for Windows and Mac OS X. It's also available as library. What I wonder is how good BPSK1000 survives speech encoders, like MP3. Is there any experience already? 73 Patrick -- Engineers motto: cheap, good, fast: choose any two QTH: JN77rb http://sat.mur.at/ Patrick Strasser OE6PSE oe6pse at wirklich priv at ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: ARISSat telemetry and Doppler tuning
Ron, Alan's points are spot on. That being said---I see something similar to what you are seeing and blame the Keps :) In the first few days, the manual freq. correction at TCA was over 1,000Hz (seems like I had to shift it down, so -1,000) as compared to AOS and LOS...which were on frequency. It has gotten much better over time. It was off -500Hz, and now it's under -100Hz at TCA--so my thought is that the Kep elements are to blame, not a drifting satellite transmitter, etc. 73! Mark N8MH On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 9:59 AM, Alan P. Biddle apbid...@united.net wrote: Ron, That behavior is common around TCA, Time of Closest Approach. At that time everything is changing rapidly, and slight errors in QTH position, system clock, and Keps can be magnified. I have seen a few hundred Hz shift at that time with new satellites whose Keps have not fully converged. The same if the system clock is off a bit. As you probably know, the basic Windows internet time calibration facility can be tweaked, but it is better to replace it with one such as Meinberg. Finally, always have the latest Keps. Updating with SATPC32 is easy and only takes a few seconds. It is unlikely to be a factor on 2 meters, with a fast computer, but you can try increasing the update calculations in SATPC32. Look on the CAT page. You will see tick boxes for 1X, 5X and 10X. Try 5X and see if it makes any difference. Note that this setting is not sticky. Actually, your results show you have just about everything nailed. 73s, Alan WA4SCA -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Ronald G. Parsons Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 8:35 AM To: AMSAT-BB Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISSat telemetry and Doppler tuning Last evening, after having several days experience capturing ARISSat telemetry, I sat at my radio and watched carefully how SatPC32 and ARISSatTLM played together. I had settled on a tuning correction value of -540 HZ to get the CW signal to center around the CW tuning point as the Doppler correction was handled by SatPC32. The approach of the satellite seemed normal. but as the satellite passed by, I noticed the CW signal average position to be creeping upward, needing a reduction of the tuning correction by about 40 Hz to -500 Hz. This lasted for a couple minutes and then the CW signal started creeping down and I had to go back to my -540 Hz value. The first explanation I could think of is that the Doppler correction computed by SatPC32 from my position and the keps was in error. But of course, it could have been a change in my radio (unlikely as it had been on for hours) or a change in the frequency of the CW signal from the satellite. I'll keep watching this and wonder if others have noticed something similar. Ron W5RKN ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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 -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH] ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
--- On Thu, 18/8/11, Andrew Glasbrenner glasbren...@mindspring.com wrote: published, the DOD Colony II 3u cubesats are 3 axis controlled and pointable to within a degree or something close to that. UK company Clyde Space also doing work in this area, see CubeSat High Resolution Camera http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2011/cubesat_high_resolution_camera.htm 73 Trevor M5AKA ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
Op 18-8-2011 16:08, Andrew Glasbrenner schreef: From what I have read that is published, the DOD Colony II 3u cubesats are 3 axis controlled and pointable to within a degree or something close to that. As Bob pointed out this isn't a big help for antenna pointing for multiuser LEO sats, but when you read the power production the Colony II sats have, you'll see the application in a HEO orbit. I believe a 3u in HEO with this ability would be an affordable, usuable satellite for AMSAT to launch if we could duplicate the Colony sats abilities. 73, Drew KO4MA/p at the corner of No and Where, Oklahoma Sent from my iPhone On Aug 18, 2011, at 7:47 AM, Bob Bruningabruni...@usna.edu wrote: [Using attitude control]... We could mount microwave antennas on a nadir-facing surface and provide consistent, predictable, strong, wideband signals to ground stations during a pass. The problem with LEO satellites is that a nadir facing antenna does give great gain directly overhead ground stations, but only for about the center 2 minutes of only the one direct overhead pass a day. The problem with facing antennas down on a LEO satellite is that 90% of the users are not under it, but to the side of it. For example, lets say that we put relatively high gain antennas facing down giving about a 45 degree antenna pattern (say around 10 dB). Now looking at the total time that ARISSat is above 45 degrees, turns out to be about 3 minutes a day or less than 10% of all the time it is in view to any one ground station. But as you say, it is a great advantage if the objective is to provide a 2 minute comm. window to anyone on the planet once a day, then such a design does give as much as 16 dB or so advantage over an omni antenna on a satellite. Anyway, just a thought. Bob, WB4APR Has anyone ever considered piggybacking on a geosat in a simular way the rs11 to 13 did? Sure you would need a very good lobbyist to get a ride with a multi milion dollar broadcast sat and it would only see one continent but it will give that continent 24/7 coverage, using 3 cm as downlink it would give pleny bandwith for all kinds of experiments and if you can use the host sat's powerbus there would also be no power restrictions. 73 Andre PE1RDW ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: a051 frequencies
How much power is AO51 currently running? It sure sounded good on the 2200UTC pass yesterday-much more solid receive here than I was getting for AO27 or SO 50. 73s John AA5JG - Original Message - From: Andrew Glasbrenner glasbren...@mindspring.com To: Joe gjma...@optusnet.com.au Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 2:49 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: a051 frequencies Currently and for the foreseeable future we are on 145.88 up and 435.150 down. 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-NA VP Operations Sent from my iPhone On Aug 18, 2011, at 9:24 AM, Joe gjma...@optusnet.com.au wrote: I will be trying to work ao-51 during the ILLW this weekend (20-21Aug). I havent operated satellites since ao40, which is a little while ago... I will be using the usual an arrow antenna and ft60r. I am having problems finding the frequencies to tx and rx on. It seems that there have been some changes made and different sites give me different frequencies I should be using. I think the Tx is 145.880. I think the Rx frequency is 435.500. Can anyone please give me a definitive answer? I have only just got the antenna and radio working as a unit in the last 24 hours. I will be operating from Cape Schanck, just south of Melbourne Australia, under the callsign VK3EMF. Thanks Joe VK3BKI ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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-BB@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: ARISSat telemetry and Doppler tuning
I found it quite noticeable last night too, I'm 150 miles or so North of Ron's QTH. In my experience, the marker on ARISSatTLM was moving down rapidly as the satellite approached. After TCA (which was at about 68 degrees elevation, I believe) it reversed back to normal. I was using the latest keps that I obtained from Space Track yesterday afternoon. I did find my PC clock to be off (ahead) by just less than one second, too. For what it's worth. My thoughts given what you all have written, would be that errors in all three (my location, my clock, and the keps) as Alan mentioned, probably contributed to it. On a typical linear satellite pass with a 2 meter downlink, I have never noticed it. I imagine that the effect is amplified in a perceptive sense, by sitting and watching the signal on a graph with pretty good resolution and not being distracted by copying the CW or working a voice QSO. 73, Jerry N0JY Ron, Alan's points are spot on. That being said---I see something similar to what you are seeing and blame the Keps :) In the first few days, the manual freq. correction at TCA was over 1,000Hz (seems like I had to shift it down, so -1,000) as compared to AOS and LOS...which were on frequency. It has gotten much better over time. It was off -500Hz, and now it's under -100Hz at TCA--so my thought is that the Kep elements are to blame, not a drifting satellite transmitter, etc. 73! Mark N8MH ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] AO-51 updates Re: Re: a051 frequencies
Hi John, Just yesterday I was trying to find time to type out a few AO-51 updates; this will be brief, but hopefully informative to those on the list. AO-51 is currently transmitting on 435.150 FM (LHCP) and using a 145.880 FM uplink. We expect the keep this configuration until futher notice. The power level is just under 1 watt (about 980 mW).The last restart of the satellite was something like 18 days ago!! This stretch of uninterrupted service has been great, and really just good luck. Because of the failure of one cell of the six-cell battery, the bird remains in limp mode. By that I mean we are limited to simple commanding and configurations, because a software upload/execution has proven impossible due to the lower voltages resulting from the one dead cell. At least we can set power levels manually, change uplinks/downlinks, etc. But there is no telemetry collection/storage, no BBS, etc. There is a second cell in the battery that looks sick. We have no idea if it will be the next cell to go (probable though), nor what the result will be (if we lose another cell, limp mode probably will no longer be an option, and the mission might be considered over.). It might last a few days, a few months, or who knows...a few years? (doubtful). The current scenario of AO-51 is one reason we need to keep moving AMSAT and satellite development/building/launching moving forward!! We have learned a lot already with ARISSat-1, and FOX looks promising. AMSAT needs the support of its users now more than ever... A little speculation--recently we have been looked upon kindly by the battery shorting gods. It looks like AO-51's dead cell has failed closed/shorted--which is good for this bird; and it looks like maybe ARISSat-1's battery might be failing/have failed in an open fashion--which is good for this bird! 73! Mark N8MH On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 12:39 PM, John Geiger aa...@fidmail.com wrote: How much power is AO51 currently running? It sure sounded good on the 2200UTC pass yesterday-much more solid receive here than I was getting for AO27 or SO 50. 73s John AA5JG - Original Message - From: Andrew Glasbrenner glasbren...@mindspring.com To: Joe gjma...@optusnet.com.au Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 2:49 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: a051 frequencies Currently and for the foreseeable future we are on 145.88 up and 435.150 down. 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-NA VP Operations Sent from my iPhone On Aug 18, 2011, at 9:24 AM, Joe gjma...@optusnet.com.au wrote: I will be trying to work ao-51 during the ILLW this weekend (20-21Aug). I havent operated satellites since ao40, which is a little while ago... I will be using the usual an arrow antenna and ft60r. I am having problems finding the frequencies to tx and rx on. It seems that there have been some changes made and different sites give me different frequencies I should be using. I think the Tx is 145.880. I think the Rx frequency is 435.500. Can anyone please give me a definitive answer? I have only just got the antenna and radio working as a unit in the last 24 hours. I will be operating from Cape Schanck, just south of Melbourne Australia, under the callsign VK3EMF. Thanks Joe VK3BKI __**_ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-bbhttp://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb __**_ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-bbhttp://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb __**_ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-bbhttp://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb -- Mark L. Hammond [N8MH] ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] Kursk files bug in telemetry software?
It seems that there is a bug in telemetry software, perhaps created by the MET reset on each orbit? Each day, recorded files always have the same names: KURSK-944.1 KURSK-944.2 and so on... So I did the following: Every day end, I'm renaming the folder Kursk as kursk1, kursk2,... So I have a folder per day. Next day, when the software is launched, it creates automaticaly a new Kursk folder, that will contains the files from this day, with the same names of past days, but in a new folder. 73 de Roland. ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
Hello Andre, Has anyone ever considered piggybacking on a geosat in a simular way the rs11 to 13 did? Sure you would need a very good lobbyist to get a ride with a multi milion dollar broadcast sat and it would only see one continent but it will give that continent 24/7 coverage, using 3 cm as downlink it would give pleny bandwith for all kinds of experiments and if you can use the host sat's powerbus there would also be no power restrictions. Yeah, we still have dreams! At various times it had been called AMSAT-Eagle, Phase IV Lite, C-C Rider, and other things. You'll notice from the dates on these papers how long we've had this dream of a millions dollar rideshare with a millions dollar satellite ... http://www.arrl.org/news/amsat-announces-plans-for-2008 http://home.comcast.net/~k9jkm/Education_AMSAT_Eagle.pdf http://home.comcast.net/~k9jkm/CQVHF_Eagle_ACP_Emcomm.pdf Microwave downlinks were initially proposed here ... http://www.cnssys.com/files/amsat/cc_amsat.pdf http://www.cnssys.com/files/amsat/cc-revisited.pdf http://www.cnssys.com/files/amsat/SDX_and_Future_AMSAT_Missions.pdf -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9...@amsat.org ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Official Word for 440 Antenna
Clint, I think you have only stated the facts. This question is about what happened to the antenna? I, for one, am looking for the explanation as he is. Did it get broken? Did it get lost the many times it was unpacked? Did it ever have one? Etc.? We may never have the proverbial exact answer, however, if we populate the next satellite as this one, what do we do to insure an antenna? Presently , all is operational albeit at a degraded level. **Also- to those looking for Certificates of reception--- I am involved with the group trying to answer all the requests. If someone sends a request and a day later says- Oh, I was incorrect on the time or my name spelling etc.-- The first request is honored and others disregarded. Too many requests to keep tabs on and I'm sure once the school year begins in the US, we will be inundated with the requests. Be patient and we will get to all as soon as possible. 73, Dee Gang of Certificate issuers. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Clint Bradford Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 11:05 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Official Word for 440 Antenna ... What is the official AMSAT/ARISSat1 team finding on the ARISSat-1 70cm quarter-wave receive antenna on the bottom of the satellite? Not the official word by any means ... but the 440 whip was not there when deployed. SO ... we are working with a 1.5 antenna instead of a 6.5 antenna. But - All modes of ARISSat-1 are operational - FM Downlink 145.950 - Operational Linear Transponder U/V - Operational CW Beacon 145.919 - Operational VHF SSB BPSK-1000 - Operational Clint, K6LCS http://tinyurl.com/ARISSAT1-STATUS ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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 : Kursk files bug in telemetry software?
Correction. I have to do this on each pass ! not each day. I'm renaming the folder Kursk as kursk1, kursk2,... So I have a new folder per orbit. 73 de Roland PY4ZBZ ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] ARISSat-1 Certificate
Today, I received my ARISSat-1 certificate. Everyone check your email! 73's Mike Schaffer KA3JAW Tampa, Florida EL87 ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: ARISSat-1 Certificate
All, Remember, reports numbering into the thousands, processors well into single digits. ;) Be patient! Alan WA4SCA -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Mike Schaffer Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 4:25 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISSat-1 Certificate Today, I received my ARISSat-1 certificate. Everyone check your email! 73's Mike Schaffer KA3JAW Tampa, Florida EL87 ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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] More Info: W5KUB.com Webcast from Huntsville Hamfest Starting on August 19
Relay for W5KUB ... received last minute update from Tom: Hello to all the viewers of the W5KUB.COM broadcasts. Live Broadcast this weekend! Aug 19-21 Thank you so much for being with us during the Dayton Hamvention. We had over 30,000 unique hams follow us the 5 days and in about 100 countries. We hoped you enjoyed the broadcast. We will be broadcasting the Huntsville, AL hamfest Aug 20-21. This is a large hamfest that pulls many people from not only the S.E. U.S. but also across the country. We will have prizes again for our viewers. This is a great inside facility and we will have perfect connectivity so will be able to stream great quality video. We will also be able to move around and show you everything plus lots of interviews. Watch for us on Aug 19 (Friday) starting around 9:00 am central time 1400 UTC and you may see us drive the 3 hours and then as we set up our equipment on Friday afternoon. Log into the chat room and talk to others around the world or to the W5KUB staff directly. The website is the same http://w5kub.com Please help pass this information around to other hams that you know. Also please register for the chat room if you have not done so. It takes only about 1 minute to register. Just pick your name, and a password, and then enter your email. You will receive an email (instantly) with a verification code. That will complete your new account and register you. By registering it makes you eligible for our prizes. Thanks and 73, Tom W5KUB Some of the prizes that we are giving out on this broadcast are: Grand prize announcement Yaesu FT-950, G5RV antennas, Yaesu Handi-talkie, LDG auto antenna tuner, baluns, Rollable Solar charger, KPC-3 plus packet communicator, ground radial staple pins, ARRL handbook, Communication Speakers, yearly subscriptions to CQ, CQVHF, and Poplar Communications, Tentec Microphone, ferrites, and QSL cards. http://w5kub.com or http://wa5kub.com -- 73 de JoAnne K9JKM k9...@amsat.org Editor, AMSAT News Service ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] AMSAT NE --Southern NY NET
Relayed from Gary WA2AQH--- Please be advised that the Mt Beacon Repeater AMSAT Net will be held at 00:00 hrs UTC and will also be connected via Echo-Link N2EYH-L. Come with all your reports of Arisssat-1 receptions. There is a pass at 23:19 before the Net - Listen on 145.950 +- Doppler It has an elevation of 55degrees and should be easy to listen to. See you on the Net. 73, Dee, NB2F ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] ARISSat 23:15UTC
Well, it appears that the satellite did a reset just as it came in range here (EM12dl). My TLM start at MET 10, which was just after I heard the strange noises I hastily put in an email hoping that others might grab a listen. I have not witnessed a reset while monitoring, so perhaps that's what it sounds like. Some ticks, some strange telemetry tones, CW beacon underneath the tones, then the usual telemetry sound and data. So the reset would have been in full sunlight, not a good sign I would suppose. Unfortunately, the telemetry frame I was hearing right before the reset the bird was not in range long enough to have captured it all, or perhaps it quit in the middle of it anyway. Jerry N0JY __ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 6390 (20110818) __ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] ARISSat-1 Transmissions over North America Thursday PM
During the 2320Z pass of ARISSat-1 over North America this evening a number of changes to the 2m FM transmissions were noted. 1) Male voice for telemetry means that the female voice files on the SD card could not be read 2) No greetings, mean that the greetings stored on the SD card could not be read. 4) MET of 2M while the satellite was still in a long period of sunlight - satellite must have reset during sunlight 4) FM transmissions consisted of voice ID, male telemetry and SSTV image in rotation Please send your BPSK telemetry into the server. 73, Gould, WA4SXM ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: What the heck was that?
I also heard it. And I didn't have my recorder running either. I did get a couple of decent SSTV images, though. 73 Glenn AA5PK N0JY n...@lavabit.com wrote: ARISSat-1 right now, some very strange sounding telemetry. Started out normal, then a ticking sound not unlike a WWV clock tick, then some CW with an unknown telemetry? signal? I don't have a recorder. Jerry N0JY ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] Finally success with hearing Arrisat-1
I used my Arrow II antenna from working the satellites and ran outside with a single HT and my recorder and headphones. I caught a nice pass with 64 degrees at peak and recorded some SSTV and voice telemetry cycles. It was awesome! I know I am late in coming around to this but better late than never since work has me usually all locked up away from home. 73 all! Pat N2VYT FN20un ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: ARISSat-1 Transmissions over North America Thursday PM
Gould, For what it's worth, the linear transponder sounded good. I had a quick QSO with K3SZH. Dave - KB1PVH Sent from my Verizon Wireless DROID X On Aug 18, 2011 7:46 PM, Gould Smith gould...@bellsouth.net wrote: During the 2320Z pass of ARISSat-1 over North America this evening a number of changes to the 2m FM transmissions were noted. 1) Male voice for telemetry means that the female voice files on the SD card could not be read 2) No greetings, mean that the greetings stored on the SD card could not be read. 4) MET of 2M while the satellite was still in a long period of sunlight - satellite must have reset during sunlight 4) FM transmissions consisted of voice ID, male telemetry and SSTV image in rotation Please send your BPSK telemetry into the server. 73, Gould, WA4SXM ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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] QSO on Mode A and Invitation
I Tnx Keith (N4ZQ) for QSO on CW on AO7 Mode A, Orbit 68221 covering 7041 km betewwn our QTHs. I would like to invite other stations from North America willing to attempt a QSO on AO7 on Mode A. My grid locator is FF66TQ. Tnx agn, Best 73 de --luis LU6QI ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Frustrated--not hearing ARRISat
Burns, First of all, I also have an eggbeater on 144 and it does work, however, it is a poor antenna and my preamp for this one is in the shack. I have always advised that anyone that wants to do LEO satellites, needs to put their money into their antenna system- Good coax, good preamp with a directional antenna. Tonites pass at 7:20 local here in NJ was clearly heard by many since it was about 55 degrees. I was just on the local AMSAT net and many heard it. I would take your handheld outside and use the rubber duck to listen Next pass is in about 10 minutes at 22 degrees. Listen on 145.950 +- Doppler and you should hear the voice announcements and the SSTV sigs. Good luck... When it is in eclipse, it is in low power mode. 73, Dee, NB2F -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Burns Fisher Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 8:04 PM To: AMSAT BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Frustrated--not hearing ARRISat Hi everyone, Ok, I'm getting very frustrated and I think I need some Elmering. I have not heard ANYTHING from ARRISat-1, at least nothing intelligible. I'm a pretty new ham, so I'm getting into it one piece of equipment at a time. Figured I'd play a bit with a handheld, and then figure out what I needed next step by step. It's been several steps so far with nothing to show for it except some pretty hardware and a smaller bank account. I know a few more things I can do, but I'd really like to know if I have some major problem here. I'll tell you what I'm trying, and I'd like to know if anyone has had success with anything similar. First, I have an M2 2-meter eggbeater antenna. It is inside the house (my shack is on the 2nd floor, sadly). It has an SSB 2-meter pre-amp, followed immediately by a Diamond 2m/70cm duplexer into a 25-foot feed line. At that point it is connected via an adapter to my Kenwood F6A handheld. I also have an FCD, but with its poor 2-meter filtering, I wanted to eliminate one problem. A few minutes ago, there was a nice pass from ARRISat-1 here in FN42 (southern NH ); it was in sunlight and had been for some time, should have been up over 50 degrees elevation. Turned everything on, (oh, yes including a 13.8V power supply for the preamp, fed separately). My radio tunes in .005MHz increments, so I started out at 145.955 and tweaked around up and down, shifting to 145.950 and 145.945 as the sat reached and passed max elevation. I *may* have heard vaguely down in the static a voice. I *may* have heard vaguely down in the static some data that might have been SSTV. I may have imagined it. I *know* I would get better reception outside; I know I would be better off with a directional antenna that had more gain. I can see improving things that way, but is NOTHING a reasonable expectation with this setup? I can receive the NOAA weather station on 162ish MHz (outside the pre-amp's curve but I still get it); I have received the ISS without the preamp (I know that is a lot more power than the sat). So I don't think something is wildly broken. So my question to you is: Have any of you been able to read the sat with anything similar? An eggbeater? I thought I remembered someone receiving on a handheld with a rubber ducky? BTW, someone previous mentioned that I should try listening to some of the other lower-power sats; many of them are 70cm downlink and I have not gotten a 70cm antenna yet. Thanks for any advice or comparisons. Burns W2BFJ ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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] 5 in EM55
Congrats to Clayton for 5 in em55 award #24 WA4HFN em55 Damon ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] QRZ and email address
If you don't already have your email address on QRZ.com callsign lookup, PLEASE go there and add it (if you have one) This is very helpful in making skeds for satellite contacts and sharing info with new ops. Thanks WA4HFN Damon EM55 ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Frustrated--not hearing ARRISat
Burns, Some things to try: Go portable. Grab a battery for less than 20 bucks. (most people have a charger)Sometimes the location is the enemy. I've been places that require a cavity filter to receive anything in the vhf satellite spectrum. Try getting rid of the duplexer. Where is your preamp peaked? Are your keps updated? You should have no problems with that rig for the Arissat. 73 and keep trying, Norm ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] ARRISsat1 pass
Hi, just had a pass no SSTV this time. bumer! Did get the voice TLM. Speacking of TLM. when you say send TLM to the servier, thats where? I also used scanner recorder to record the pass. It was wierd all I heard in the play back was loud beeps. any thought. I hate not to record the audio, maybe next time i wont record it and see if its better. I have already sent for all three cerf. So I dont need more than one cerf. for each of the three. I dont understand the secret word. Is it just a way to confirm or do we send them in for a drawning or somthing? So If they want Voice TLM I will be glad to send it when I recieve it just not sure were to send it. Also I have the bug, so I am doing to start monitoring TLM on the birds I work when they pass. just not sure were to send it once I have it. 73 KC9PXZ Jimmy ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: 5 in EM55
Special thanks to Rick N5ZNL/M operating this afternoon from EM55. 73, Clayton W5PFG On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 7:48 PM, wa4...@comcast.net wrote: Congrats to Clayton for 5 in em55 award #24 WA4HFN em55 Damon ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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: 5 in EM55
congrats, what is this award and were can i find the info on it? Tx 73 KC9PXZ Jimmy - Original Message - From: wa4...@comcast.netamsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 7:48 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] 5 in EM55 To: AMSAT Congrats to Clayton for 5 in em55 award #24 WA4HFN em55 Damon ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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] Cubesat workshop with Bob Twiggs Nov 11-12
Thought some might be interested in this. Kentucky Space announces the first annual hackerSPACE Workshop...focused on CubeSat class satellites: http://www.kentuckyspace.com/pollydoc/hackerSPACE-2.pdf Charlie KI4RDT ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Decoding wideband recordings
On 8/18/11 8:15 AM, Patrick Strasser OE6PSE wrote: For decoding please be aware that I/Q via sound interfaces has a weak spot at the centre frequency. The interfaces all have a high pass characteristic below like 30Hz, which means the resulting spectrum has a Yes, I'm familiar with this. I will ask users to put this notch in the center of the transponder band (145.938 MHz) so that the BPSK-1000 beacon will appear at about -18 kHz. 0 Hz will correspond to the notch, the transponder will appear between -16 kHz to 0 Hz and the FM signals (voice, sstv) will appear in the positive frequencies centered at +12 kHz. It will be easier if Doppler is *not* corrected for so I can do that in software. This will move the notch +/- 3.3 kHz around the center of the passband, and that might interfere a little with the top of the transponder passband between AOS and closest approach. If for some reason the I/Q channels are swapped or there's a polarity inversion simply flipping the sign on the frequency should take care of it. The BPSK-1000 signal is symmetric so it can tolerate sideband inversion. (USB reception on a conventional SSB receiver is recommended only because the CW beacon is 1 kHz below the BPSK-1000 beacon. This puts the CW beacon at an audio frequency of 500 Hz when the BPSK-1000 suppressed carrier is at its nominal 1500 Hz. It could be received just fine in LSB mode but then the CW beacon would have to be tuned to an uncomfortably high pitch of 2.5 kHz, and it would be harder to tune it accurately by ear.) What I wonder is how good BPSK1000 survives speech encoders, like MP3. Is there any experience already? Much to my amazement, during prelaunch testing I was able to decode BPSK-1000 that had been run through lossy codecs like MP3. But I don't recommend it. If the recording data rate is a problem, reduce the sampling rate while ensuring that the 2 kHz wide BPSK-1000 signal is completely captured within the Nyquist bandwidth of your A/D converter. E.g., 8000 or 9600 Hz should be fine provided the BPSK-1000 signal is centered at 1500 Hz. Although the demodulator assumes an A/D sampling rate of 48 kHz, a recording with a lower sampling rate can be converted back to 48 kHz with a program like 'sox' as long as the information is still there. 73 Phil ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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] AC0RA/m EN22/EN21
Hi all, This Saturday the 20th of August I am planning on heading to the grid line of en22 and en21. I am going to try and be on all passes of SO-50, AO-51, AO-27, and FO29 between 1800z and 2200z. I don't know if I will be able to bring enough equipment to operate FO-29 yet. The main goal of my trip west is to help my sister move into her apartment for college so nothing is set in stone. If we make contact and you need a Qsl cards just sent me a email and the qso information and i will get a card to you as soon as possible. Also if anyone needs a qsl cards for my brief stay in en53 and when i was mobile in en42 just send me a email of the qso info and i will get a card out. 73 AC0RA Wyatt Dirks ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
On 8/18/11 5:47 AM, Bob Bruninga wrote: The problem with LEO satellites is that a nadir facing antenna does give great gain directly overhead ground stations, but only for about the center 2 minutes of only the one direct overhead pass a day. The problem with facing antennas down on a LEO satellite is that 90% of the users are not under it, but to the side of it. You don't have to use a narrow beam antenna with maximum gain on axis. You can always design it with a bowl-shaped pattern that increases gain toward the edges and lowers it in the middle. The GPS L-band transmitting antennas are a good example; even at their much higher altitudes, the earth appears fairly large and a simple lobe would provide uneven illumination across the earth. A stabilized satellite pointing an antenna at a fixed angle to the local vertical would eliminate the deep, slow, periodic fading that we see at present due to constant changes in polarization and/or the antenna lobes sweeping past earth. Without these fades, coherent demodulation would be practical, picking up several dB of performance even before you consider the considerable increase in average signal strength. On a microwave band with sufficient bandwidth, efficient coding would make possible much higher user data rates and/or operate with considerably less DC power. Data rates of several megabits/sec would be entirely practical from a small satellite to a small dish on the ground. That means HDTV in near real time, or a steady stream of high resolution still photographs. -Phil ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Official Word for the 70cm Antenna?
On 8/17/11 5:29 PM, Mike Schaffer wrote: What is the official AMSAT/ARISSat1 team finding on the ARISSat-1 70cm quarter-wave receive antenna on the bottom of the satellite? I have not heard updated news about that since the jettison occurred. As far as I know, and this is *NOT* the official word, the correct antenna was installed but the external section of the element was broken off. There's about 1.5 of antenna blade embedded in the epoxy, which is why the antenna still hears pretty well. Reports of users getting into the transponder with as little as 1W prove it can't be the dummy load. -Phil ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: ARISSat-1 Transmissions over North America Thursday PM
Hmmh, interesting. The 02:30z pass this evening over CM98 sounded like normal low power mode. Female announcement, switched to foreign language (sounded German), SSTV picture (canned), few minutes of silence, then more talking, then silence to LOS. No voice telemetry, and I'm not set up to record the digital stuff. This was a directly overhead pass (on the correct side of vertical for a change!). Next pass is in 27 minutes, 15 degrees up to the North West (my good horizon shot). Will report back what I hear. Greg KO6TH From: gould...@bellsouth.net To: amsat-bb@amsat.org; suits...@tapr.org Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:33:17 -0400 Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISSat-1 Transmissions over North America Thursday PM During the 2320Z pass of ARISSat-1 over North America this evening a number of changes to the 2m FM transmissions were noted. 1) Male voice for telemetry means that the female voice files on the SD card could not be read 2) No greetings, mean that the greetings stored on the SD card could not be read. 4) MET of 2M while the satellite was still in a long period of sunlight - satellite must have reset during sunlight 4) FM transmissions consisted of voice ID, male telemetry and SSTV image in rotation Please send your BPSK telemetry into the server. 73, Gould, WA4SXM ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
On 8/18/11 11:03 AM, JoAnne Maenpaa wrote: Yeah, we still have dreams! At various times it had been called AMSAT-Eagle, Phase IV Lite, C-C Rider, and other things. You'll notice from the dates on these papers how long we've had this dream of a millions dollar rideshare with a millions dollar satellite ... Yes, and the fact that none of these piggyback payloads have ever come to fruition, while we do continue to get the occasional ad-hoc small satellite deployment opportunity, suggests that we need our own attitude determination and control system if at all possible. The most likely opportunity to piggyback a payload on a controlled platform with its own power supply would be the ISS itself. Although they've already got plenty of comm systems, one might pitch this as yet another backup comm system. It wouldn't be terribly hard to network the ground stations so that a conversation could be maintained as the ISS moves from one to the next. To simplify the implementation, provide good voice quality and a backup data capability, the system would have to be completely digital. -Phil ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: ARISSat telemetry and Doppler tuning
On 8/18/11 6:59 AM, Alan P. Biddle wrote: Ron, That behavior is common around TCA, Time of Closest Approach. At that time everything is changing rapidly, and slight errors in QTH position, system clock, and Keps can be magnified. As everybody knows, even tiny errors in the Keplerian mean motion (MM) will accumulate over time and put the satellite ahead of or behind where it really is. That will show up as a large frequency error when Doppler is changing rapidly at closest approach, but a small (or no) error near AOS and LOS when Doppler isn't changing rapidly anyway. So instead of manually tuning the radio to compensate for unpredicted Doppler, why not manually tune the element set? I recommend manually adjusting the mean anomaly (MA) at epoch until the satellite is on frequency. This parameter says where the satellite is within its orbit relative to perigee at the epoch time, so changing it slides the satellite forward and backward along its orbit. If this is indeed the main error in the element set, then correcting it should cause the satellite to track normally even through closest approach. This has the added advantage of correcting your antenna pointing as well as your radio tuning. This is probably better than tuning the mean motion (MM) as it would be difficult to distinguish between the two during a single pass. The MM is the time derivative of MA, so the effect on orbital position from a given change in MM depends on how long it's been since the epoch; the older the eleset, the greater the resulting change in position from a given change in MM. A given change to MA always moves the satellite by the same amount regardless of how long it's been since the epoch. Properly adjusting the MM separately from the MA would require careful Doppler measurements of a number of orbits. -Phil ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: ARISSat-1 Transmissions over North America Thursday PM
Hi Gould, Ok, 04:01z pass over CM98 in Northern Calif... Max elevation 15.6 degrees, to the North North West. Pass started with a foreign voice (Russian, I think). Then there was a USA welcome message (with the USA Secret Word), and an SSTV image. Not sure which one, as there was too much noise and QSB to copy. I think there was some silence, followed by voice telemetry. Signal strength came way up just in time for a clear copy. MET = 53 min IHU Temp = +30c Control Panel Temp = +31c Battery voltage = 35.74v Current = -12ma This was followed by 2 min of silence, and English spoken announcement (not sure which variety of English), some children chanting, and another break for silence. The pass ended with SSTV right at LOS (no copy on the picture - way too much noise). Seems like a normal low power pass... Greg KO6TH From: ko6th_g...@hotmail.com To: gould...@bellsouth.net; amsat-bb@amsat.org; suits...@tapr.org Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] ARISSat-1 Transmissions over North America Thursday PM Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:32:10 -0700 Hmmh, interesting. The 02:30z pass this evening over CM98 sounded like normal low power mode. Female announcement, switched to foreign language (sounded German), SSTV picture (canned), few minutes of silence, then more talking, then silence to LOS. No voice telemetry, and I'm not set up to record the digital stuff. This was a directly overhead pass (on the correct side of vertical for a change!). Next pass is in 27 minutes, 15 degrees up to the North West (my good horizon shot). Will report back what I hear. Greg KO6TH From: gould...@bellsouth.net To: amsat-bb@amsat.org; suits...@tapr.org Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:33:17 -0400 Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISSat-1 Transmissions over North America Thursday PM During the 2320Z pass of ARISSat-1 over North America this evening a number of changes to the 2m FM transmissions were noted. 1) Male voice for telemetry means that the female voice files on the SD card could not be read 2) No greetings, mean that the greetings stored on the SD card could not be read. 4) MET of 2M while the satellite was still in a long period of sunlight - satellite must have reset during sunlight 4) FM transmissions consisted of voice ID, male telemetry and SSTV image in rotation Please send your BPSK telemetry into the server. 73, Gould, WA4SXM ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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-BB@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: ARISSat-1 Transmissions over North America Thursday PM
snip Ok, 04:01z pass over CM98 in Northern Calif... Max elevation 15.6 degrees, to the North North West. snip This was followed by 2 min of silence, and English spoken announcement (not sure which variety of English), some children chanting, and another break for silence. The pass ended with SSTV right at LOS (no copy on the picture - way too much noise). snip I listened during part of the same pass here in DO33. Due to ARISSat's position and my location, I wasn't able to hear more than a few seconds of the transmission. It was up to S8 on my radio's S meter but it was noisy for much of it. I heard part of the children's segment followed by a few seconds of open carrier and then no signal. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
You don't have to use a narrow beam antenna with maximum gain on axis. You can always design it with a bowl-shaped pattern that increases gain toward the edges and lowers it in the middle. That's why the quadrifilars work so well. I measured the pattern some time back, and the beam width is about 140 degrees Point them straight up and be satisfied with that part of a pass, or mount them at 40 degrees, and rotate AZ with a TV rotor for the entire pass. For 50 degree max passes point them at the center of the pass... 73, Dave, WB6LLO dguim...@san.rr.com Disagree: I learn Pulling for P3E... ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
On 8/18/11 10:31 PM, Dave Guimont wrote: That's why the quadrifilars work so well. I measured the pattern some time back, and the beam width is about 140 degrees Yes, something with that kind of beamwidth would be ideal on the nadir-facing surface of a stabilized satellite in low earth orbit. It would be even better if the gain in the straight-down direction could be reduced in favor of gain at the edges. Ideally you'd have a constant power density over the entire visible earth. You could of course use a much more directional antenna on the ground if it can track the satellite. --Phil ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
You don't have to use a narrow beam antenna with maximum gain on axis. You can always design it with a bowl-shaped pattern that increases gain toward the edges and lowers it in the middle. That's why the quadrifilars work so well. I measured the pattern some time back, and the beam width is about 140 degrees Point them straight up and be satisfied with that part of a pass, or mount them at 40 degrees, and rotate AZ with a TV rotor for the entire pass. For 50 degree max passes point them at the center of the pass... 73, Dave, WB6LLO dguim...@san.rr.com Disagree: I learn Pulling for P3E... ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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
