[amsat-bb] Re: Most Hams in Space at one time?
Okay, I have the crew list but could any of these folks have non U.S. call signs beyond the 9 American Licensed Amateurs? ISS Crew Oleg Kotov T.J. Creamer Soichi Noguchi Alexander Skvortsov Tracy Caldwell Dyson Mikhail Kornienko Visiting STS-131 Crew: Alan G. Poindexter James P. Dutton Jr. Clayton C. Anderson Rick Mastracchio Dorothy M. Metcalf-Lindenburger Stephanie D. Wilson Naoko Yamazaki -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of James French W8ISS Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 9:45 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Most Hams in Space at one time? Currently there are 9 licensed American Amateur Radio operators on the ISS currently going by the list that is at the ARISS site on RAC.org. Is this the most hams in space to date or has there been more before this shuttle-ISS mission? James W8ISS ___ 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: Yaesu 5400B Az-EL rotor controller Lamps
http://picasaweb.google.com/ve4yz.alan/RotatorRebuild2009# Near the end of these images is a replacement of the lights. I found LED's with their built in lens too focused and not creating and even illumination across the meter. I went back to incandescent. The Source 13V 60ma with a diode in series to reduce the light and increase its life. If you buy LEDs in a package they usually show a Voltage/Resistance/% illumination curve on the package. If you have an unknown bunch of LEDs you want to use, get a variable pot, set on max, use the voltage supply from the 5400 and reduce resistance until you get the illumination you want. Then replace the pot with an aproximate sized resistor. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Vince Fiscus, KB7ADL Sent: November 13, 2009 10:29 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Yaesu 5400B Az-EL rotor controller Lamps Someone a while back mentioned using LED's as replacements for the meter lamps when they burn out. Can't remember who it was. Anyway, if you're still on the list, what value of resister did you use in series with the LED's? I think the OEM lamps were around 14 or 15 volts. Thanks KB7ADL ___ 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] Re: SatPC32 upgrade
Great Stuff... Downloaded, backed up data, installed, rebooted and restored data in less than 25 minutes. A great bunch of additions worthy of a 12.9 versioning. Thank you Erich -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Erich Eichmann Sent: November 11, 2009 2:54 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] SatPC32 upgrade Hello, I have uploaded an upgrade of SatPC32 (V. 12.8a) on my website www.dk1tb.de The changes can be seen here: www.dk1tb.de/Changes128a.txt (if these links fail to work from this email enter them into the address line of your browser). I hope it works. 73s, Erich, DK1TB ___ 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] Re: SatPC32 upgrade
Erich, after playing with this for a half hour, I think you will eventually have to increase the 4 configurations to maybe 6 or 8. This is very neat to have a laptop switching between configurations where you might run 1 radio on #1 and 2 radios on #2 at the click of a mouse, and, have other configurations for a different QTH (club station, Field Day, EMCOMM etc) where you use different rotator and radio combinations. I unzipped the DATABACKUP.EXE into Program Files/SATPC32 with all the other executables and added it in the Programs menu (edit Programs.SQF) so that personalized configurations can be backed up from within SATPC32 whenever I make a change, test it and confirm it works. Program additions need to be done in each of your 4 configurations if it is an application you routinely launch while running SATPC32, such as a logging program, unless you launch it from your initial configuration before switching or start it outside of SATPC32. When your shut down and restart SATPC32, you restart into the last used configuration. i.e. shut down in Config 3 and you will start in Config 3 next time. So watch the title line for which config you are in at start up if you are a frequent user of Config Switching. A very nice set of enhancements. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Erich Eichmann Sent: November 11, 2009 2:54 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] SatPC32 upgrade Hello, I have uploaded an upgrade of SatPC32 (V. 12.8a) on my website www.dk1tb.de The changes can be seen here: www.dk1tb.de/Changes128a.txt (if these links fail to work from this email enter them into the address line of your browser). I hope it works. 73s, Erich, DK1TB ___ 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] Re: SatPC32 upgrade
Until we get the official reply from Erich, here is what I did to save time doing exactly what you are trying to do primarily because of the time it takes to set up the satellites and groups. If you have a file compare utility such as Beyond Compare you can see which files are in CFGII located in \Documents and Settings\...\UserName\Application Data\SatPC32\CfgII and also in the folder below it. In my case 65 files. Copy them from the SATPC32 folder to ..\CfgII and you will have 2 identical configurations, almost! Copying from CFGII to CFGIII and CFGIV are easier as you just copy the whole folder and overwrite the files. When you start SatPC32 in the new config for the first time you many be missing sats in the bottom right corner. Go into the Satellites menu and do a SHOW OFF and then SHOW ON and they will reappear. This is also the clue to having more than 4 configurations. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Jeff KB2M Sent: November 11, 2009 3:27 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: SatPC32 upgrade Nice update Erich, thank you. One question, how can I copy config1's settings to config2 to use config1 as a base to build config2 from? Is this possible? 73 Jeff kb2m -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Erich Eichmann Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 1:59 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] SatPC32 upgrade Hello, I have uploaded an upgrade of SatPC32 (V. 12.8a) on my website http://www.dk1tb.de The changes can be seen here: http://www.dk1tb.de/Changes128a.txt I hope it works. 73s, Erich, DK1TB ___ 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 ___ 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: Linear transponder versus FM transponder for LEOsatellites
i8CVS Domenico wrote... The problem here with many new and young satellite operators is like to have many young sparrow that don't know how good is the flavour of wheat Joe WB9SBD wrote I still to this day fail to see how hard it is to twist a VFO knob. Have we all become soo much appliance operators that we all have forgot to know how to turn a VFO knob to keep someone in tune? OZ1MY wrote: Why not just be happy to get one more transponder for us to use ? ... It is interesting to note that there are far moreoperators on the FM transponder satellites than on the linear satellites in Low Earth Orbit. ...I think we should say thank you to our friends in SA for a new one. I find it easy to on side with many of these and similar comments. I don't believe they are mutually exclusive. It is easy to agree to all these. And another BIG THANK YOU from EN19 too! So rather than waiting for an expensive and probably impossible ride for an AMSAT built satellite LEO or otherwise, FM vs Linear Transponder, perhaps it is time for AMSAT UK, DL, NA et al to be proactive and DONATE a transponder and antennas to the next university CubeSat or Pico sat project. Something such as PE1RAH William Leijenaar's transponder board. A RFP to all those universities now in the planning stages could be sent, an international AMSAT review committee struck to evaluate the merits of those submissions and then finally an annual ( or more often ) donation of the hardware. And to heck with ITAR. If AMSAT NA is hamstrung then I authorize them to take my life membership and transfer the remaining unused portion to AMSAT DL, UK etc. We buy, they ride and in the spirit of the Delfi Model we all win. And then there is the Genso initiative to assist those universities in near-whole-earth-orbit data acquisition. Wow.. Why wouldn't they buy into that. I've stated it here before and I'll repeat it. I don't believe we will ever see another HEO. We amateurs need to connect with, mentor to and volunteer for cube sat and pico sat efforts that are being initiated at the university level. They have the funding, sweat equity and the rides. And a final reminder, they don't need a ham licence to download telemetry for their science experiments on UHF. They really don't need us. We need them. UHF; we are the secondary user. Well, actually one more final reminder. We cannot on one hand dumb everything down to an FM HT experience and on the other hand with the AO-40 model do CC-Rider, baud rates in excess of 9K6 etc. There is even a smaller installed base of equipment for those modes than the linear transponder SSB on UHF and VHF. So I don't buy into the argument that FM is the only way to go just because there are more handy talkies than SSB base stations. If that was valid then AO-40 with all it's exotic modes should never have got off the drawing board. What would y'all do with a dozen FO-29's or VO-52's or a dozen DO-64's with a working voice transponder or even a dozen SO-67's? They are being planned and built right now all around that world in universities and they will be flying with or without us. We can standby and wait. Then complain after they are launched. Or you can check out what your local university is doing right now and get involved. They all need to set up and learn how to run a ground station and that is an expertise you have and they need. You can train them to get their licences so they can do their command and control. There are lots of ways to contribute other than writing a chegue. We have a political saying up here If you didn't vote, you have no business complaining about your government. There is an analogy for amateur radio. Stepping off the soap box... 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca ___ 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: Test Schedule SO-67
At this time, I would not rely upon the web site for scheduling as it has been in out of date for about a week. When it is updated it is often the next day already. Just monitor every pass you can. On spec I was monitoring on Nov 1, 2009 on the 16:45 UTC pass over NA ( web site still had an October schedule ) and managed a contact with Mark WA8SME ( EN19 Winnipeg to DM08 Lake Tahoe ). We were the only 2 ops on that whole pass until my LOS. I can confirm the excellent quality and strong audio but with occasional cutting out. I had not learned about using FM-N and lower power and mic gain to prevent that from happening. I have yet to try that throttled-back configuration. Enjoy... 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Glenn AA5PK Sent: November 3, 2009 5:29 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Test Schedule SO-67 According to the AMSAT SA site, that was the schedule for 1 November. http://www.amsatsa.org.za/index.htm Anyone hear the bird? Me neither. Glenn AA5PK Chris Bloy ch...@photofuture.co.uk wrote: Posted: 11:30 - 11:41 (Japan) 12:47 - 13:01 (Australia) 15:06 - 15:20 (Canada / USA) 16:43 - 16:55 (Canada / USA) 19:05 - 19:18 (RSA) The CTCSS tone for the transponder is 233.6 Hz. Uplink: 145.875MHz Downlink: 435.345MHz Additional recommendations: Use only narrow FM Switch off compression Speak softly (mic gain down) Satellite characteristics: All antennas are linear vertically polarized (1/4 wavelength) Sat Tx power = 5W Sat Rx sensitivity = -116.5dBm for 12dB SINAD Max antenna gain = 4dBi Thanks, Chris - M0DQO ___ 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 ___ 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: Simple 2.4Ghz helix plans?
I'll come back to my recommendation of the standalone HelixCalc.exe by Jason Hecker or his web app Web http://www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/stuff/Helix.php Standalone http://www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/helix/HelixCalc.zip Why? Most other web apps allow for 2 inputs - frequency and number of turns. You then have to do a lot of measuring on a tube of a diameter dictated to you to wind with the correct pitch and allow for the coil to spring open to a larger diameter. The Hecker program allows for multiple inputs and most important for the DIYer IHMO is the tube diameter you plan to use. PVC pipe, conduit, mailing tube, dowel or whatever - you use what you have or what you can find at Home Depot close to you initial calculations. You can also play with diameter, # of windings etc to see how they effect the theoretical gain. Print out the form, wrap and tape it on your tube and then wrap the wire along the printed lines. No calculations and minimal measuring. After testing your first wire wrap and measuring the amount that the coil springs open you can enter that new diameter in the calculator. i.e. a 2 O.D. PVC pipe will not give you a 2 I.D helix - it will be slightly larger as the coil springs open unless you use standoffs on each loop a la W7LDR helix construction. As to the comments on the Wiki... Until it happens... Google! The AMSAT BB archives are searchable. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Michael Tondee Sent: October 30, 2009 11:03 PM To: Amsat BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Simple 2.4Ghz helix plans? I threw this out there on the eham satellite forum looking for answers but I'll try here too. I'm looking for some fairly simple plans for this antenna. Everything I find either seems to be intended for WiFi or if it is ham related is full of mathematical formulas to figure length, diameter, spacing etc. Math was never my strong suit so I'd prefer to find something with the actual already computed dimensions clearly stated. Preferably in English rather than metric measurements. I found an article in the May/June 2008 AMSAT Journal that looked promising but there are no hard numbers, just the formulas and I don't have a calculator capable of some of the computations, much less being able to work them out in my head. Been a long time since I was in school!.. hi hi... I have a downconverter I'm not sure even works and I don't want to spend a huge amount of time and trouble to be able to test it. Tnx and 73, Michael, W4HIJ ___ 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] Re: Simple 2.4Ghz helix plans?
One I've used several times... http://www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/stuff/Helix.php from http://www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/ and his standalone program http://www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/helix/ HelixCalc.exe to calc and print the form for winding the helix. It works... Did it my self and still using it... below http://picasaweb.google.com/ve4yz.alan/24Ghz#5241092279489872194 -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Michael Tondee Sent: October 30, 2009 11:03 PM To: Amsat BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Simple 2.4Ghz helix plans? I threw this out there on the eham satellite forum looking for answers but I'll try here too. I'm looking for some fairly simple plans for this antenna. Everything I find either seems to be intended for WiFi or if it is ham related is full of mathematical formulas to figure length, diameter, spacing etc. Math was never my strong suit so I'd prefer to find something with the actual already computed dimensions clearly stated. Preferably in English rather than metric measurements. I found an article in the May/June 2008 AMSAT Journal that looked promising but there are no hard numbers, just the formulas and I don't have a calculator capable of some of the computations, much less being able to work them out in my head. Been a long time since I was in school!.. hi hi... I have a downconverter I'm not sure even works and I don't want to spend a huge amount of time and trouble to be able to test it. Tnx and 73, Michael, W4HIJ ___ 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] Re: AO-51 in V/US repeater until November 1
8 turn helix on K5GNA D/C, with 40' run of 9913 to FT736 ( my 2.4 and 1.2 GHz setup ) gave same audio performance at the 435.300 on the FT847 with preamp - excellent signal on both, full quite most of the time when receiving. http://picasaweb.google.com/ve4yz.alan/VE4YZ#5202556475297897490 this is last years photo using RG6 which has been replaced. Ran them side by side on the 22:20 pass... Too busy relearning to do manual Doppler on the 2.4GHz link to note S readings. Got Clare VE4NPC okay but missed completing full QSO with a couple of others do to lack of a 3rd hand. It is 00:02 and I hear it coming up again. Will watch S readings this time. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Clare Fowler Sent: October 26, 2009 5:47 PM To: Andrew Glasbrenner; Amsat-BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: AO-51 in V/US repeater until November 1 On for 20:45 and 22:25 utc passes. Early one was max elevation of 15 degrees next one nearly overhead pass. Receiving with 52 turn helix with cup reflector No signal background noise is S1. Max sig on 15 degree el pass was S6 and on near overhead was S9 + 10db. Had 2 QSOs on low pass and 4 on high pass. S band transmitter sounds good. 2 meter uplink power is as low as it will go on FT-847 (2 watts) into 2 X 6 el linear Quagis. Tnx Drew. Clare VE3NPC - Original Message - From: Andrew Glasbrenner glasbren...@mindspring.com To: Amsat-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 7:34 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-51 in V/US repeater until November 1 FM Repeater, V/US Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM Downlink: 435.300 and 2401.200 MHz FM Reports on the S band transmitter would be appreciated. 73, Drew KO4MA ___ 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 ___ 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: SatPC32, Yaesu FT-736, and KCT
Hi Jim, SATPC32 will run the FT736r directly using a serial port or a USB/Serial adapter to the 6 pin DIN CAT port on the radio. However, the cable must include a TTL/Serial converter. Page 13 of my FT736r manual using GND, S.IN only If you are already running directly from PC to Radio with the proper cable you need to confirm the baud rate on SATPC32 is 4800 as that is the only rate the 736r understands. When I used to run WISP for GO-32, it did NOT run the radio or rotators. It just ran the TNC. SatPC32 did the radio and rotator controller. I made a TTL/Serial adapter and mounted it inside the DB9 connector. See here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ve4yz.alan/RS232TTL# Hope this helps 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Jim Bennett Sent: October 26, 2009 9:09 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] SatPC32, Yaesu FT-736, and KCT Has anyone got this configuration working? My current setup is: Yaesu FT-736, WISP, Kansas City Tracker/Tuner with Yaesu 5400 rotor control box. I have try to use Satpc32 with the KCT and it will interface with the rotor control, but will not tune the radio. Do I need a separate cable for the data link? Or will Satpc32 interface with KTC and tune thru the KTC board? Thanks for any info. Jim KE4KOL ___ 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] Re: volunteering (Mobile Satellite PAPER Predictor)
http://ibcnu.us/ APRS on the iPhone http://www.apptism.com/apps?query=prosat sat tracking on the iPhone -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Steve Daniels Sent: October 20, 2009 2:59 PM To: bruni...@usna.edu Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: volunteering (Mobile Satellite PAPER Predictor) Hi Bob, I think the following site does pretty much what you are asking http://www.heavens-above.com/ If you register there and input your location one of the options is to display a list of Amateur Satellites for a 24 hour period. It does list all passes and not just the best. You can use the next button to select the following days. The site developer Chris Peat is very helpful, I am sure he could tweak the page to better suite our needs Steve G6UIM -Original Message- From: Robert Bruninga [mailto:bruni...@usna.edu] Sent: 20 October 2009 18:06 To: bruni...@usna.edu; 'Steve Daniels'; amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] Re: volunteering (Mobile Satellite PAPER Predictor) Actually, There is another similar WEB page project That does the same thing for ALL mobile operators, Not just those with APRS displays. It is simpler And only has a single TEXT output: Please see the idea on this web page: http://www.aprs.org/MobileLEOtracking.html PROJECT OBJECTIVE: Develop a web page that any amateur radio operator can go to that will print out this very simple PAPER tracking device. It is just a piece of paper with 5 columns for each of 5 days, and on each of those five days, the TIME of the best overhead pass for that users local area (morning and evening). For ECHO (AO51) this simple piece of paper with 10 times on it can be used for SHOWING the pass times of ALL morning and evening passes for the next 2 or 3 months! You don't need no stinkin computer to always know when AO51 is overhead while you are mobile! Just look at the TIME on the paper for today's date. (ECHO's pass times repeat every 5 days)... Each other satellite has similar REPEATABILITY. Just pring one of these slips of papwer for your favorite satellite, and you will never need to do a prediciton again, yet, will always hve what you need in the car to predict each day's pass times. Bob, WB4APR -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Robert Bruninga Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 12:56 PM To: 'Steve Daniels'; amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: volunteering (Mobile Satellite Predictor) I would like to volunteer to help out in whatever capacity I can. I run my own web server built by myself and a few websites. Seeing your message, caused me to stop and think, what is the next thing I think might be valuable to help the general amateur radio operators to better operate the satellites? Again, this might not be at all what you are interested in, but let me have a go at defining a nice project for someone in case this fits anyone's talents. PROBLEM: To play satellites, you need to have a tracking program and to WATCH it all the time or do PLANNING to know when to go play satellites. Actually, this is so... Past decade. OBJECTIVE: What we need is a service that continuously feeds SAT-IN-VIEW information to everyone in the field right there on their radio front panel, whenever any AMSAT is in view. This way, you can be mobile, or hiking, or anywhere on the planet, and right their even without ASKING, the information will be PUSHED to you. SOLUTION: Actually, this capability has existed since about 1997 on the APRS channel, but it only works where a LOCAL individual runs either APRSdata or DIGI_NED in the local region, and maintains it. In this case, mobiles, or anyone monitoring the national APRS channel will receive this INSTANT information not only showing any SAT in view, but also its AZIMUTH, ELEVATION and FREQUENCY of both the uplink and downlink AND DOPPLER! You can see examples of this system on http://www.aprs.org/localinfo.html . Move your slider about 90% down the page and look for the paragraph LOCAL SATELLITE ALERTS. This way you don't need any PC, or anything. But if you are mobile and if a satellite comes above the horizon in your area, and you monitor APRS on your APRS mobile radio, then you will be able to work the satellite (also mobile, since we only output the satellites that are easy to work from a mobile)... The info on the satellite is updated once each minute when it is above the horizon. Also, once each TEN minutes a SCHEDULE of any satellites coming up in the next 80 minutes is transmitted to the DX LIST inside your radio, so you can also check for any future passes. PROJECT: Rather than
[amsat-bb] Re: Why do hamsats?
Because the member countries of the ITU attempt some semblance of uniformity the Canadian preamble to the Amateur Radio Service is similar to the U.S. and I suspect many other countries are similar... Quoting from http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf01188.html#purpose RIC-3 - Information on the Amateur Radio Service Foreword The Radiocommunication Regulations describe the amateur radio service as a radiocommunication service in which radio apparatus are used for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication or technical investigation by individuals who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest. The Department of Industry believes that amateur radio should be readily accessible to Canadians, so that those who are interested in the science and art of radiocommunication may avail themselves of every reasonable opportunity to learn, enjoy, contribute or participate in this service. The necessity for operators to have some technical and operating knowledge before being allowed access to amateur radio bands is a well established and internationally recognized principle. ... However, to refurbish our dwindling ranks in a world of IM, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, smartphones, and The Google and the Internets, you ( at least I ) cannot recruit anyone into the amateur ranks by showing them how neat grid square collecting, DX, talking to the world, amateur satellites are. We have, however, found that education in the form of Space Camps, ARISS, collaborating at the university and high school level with cubesats and near space balloons with student designed science payloads will turn high school students on, get them interested in STEM and engineering studies ( and boy is that a whole topic in itself ) and, oh, by the way, you need an amateur licence to work at the ground station and test payload components and the telemetry from your science payload. Amateur radio as the hidden agenda and the educational goal. The rest of the world of amateur radio then awaits them. ... Alan -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF Sent: October 16, 2009 12:57 PM To: Rocky Jones Cc: Amsat BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Why do hamsats? According to my license, the primary reason for it's issuance is education. Below are the first three sentences of BR68. Conditions of use Purpose 1(1) The Licensee shall use the Station for the purpose of self-training in communication by radio telecommunications, which use (without limiting the generality of the foregoing) includes technical investigations. 1(2) The Licensee may use or permit the use of the Station, as part of his self-training in communication by radio telecommunications, during any operation conducted by a User Service [defined in sub-clause 12(1) (o)] or during any exercise relating to such an operation for the purpose of sending Messages on behalf of the User Service to other licensed amateur stations. It is recommended that the Licensee follows a formal emergency communications training scheme, details of which are available from the Radiocommunications Agency. 1(2A) The Licensee may use or permit the use of the Station, as part of his self-training in communication by radio, during any community event where the Licensee has been requested in writing by a User Service [defined in sub-clause 12(1) (o)] to provide communication without pecuniary gain for the purpose of sending Messages relating to the event to other licensed amateur stations. Rocky Jones wrote: Ham radio is about communicating. If we want to turn its primary task into education then it will look very very different. ___ 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] Re: PIC rotator control
Marc, Andrew and the group... It has always struck me as being odd that we use a PC to run a PC(PIC based tracker box), to run a rotator control box, to run a rotator. Sure it works but the absurdity of this really hits home when you disassemble your shack to take it all out for Field Day or an EmComm exercise. I don't! I leave the PC and LVBtracker at home and take my good old 1990's preprogrammed PIC based TrakBox that does the radio and rotators. http://www.tapr.org/kits_trakbox.html http://picasaweb.google.com/ve4yz.alan/TrakboxRebuild2004# As I read you comments you are both querying the rotator controller, not the rotators, to find out where the AL and EL are. With the power of today's inexpensive netbooks or the OLPC is there not a solution where the embedded system is the netbook? Then, all that would be required between the PC and the rotator is a black box with relays to power the rotators and a small A/D interface to take the data from the pots and pass it onto the PC? A black box easily assembled by most hams. If open source, then others can do whatever is necessary create mods for various rotator systems such as pulse counting for stepper motors instead of A/D etc My 2 cents Alan -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Marc Vermeersch Sent: October 13, 2009 6:45 AM To: 'Andrew Rich'; amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: PIC rotator control Hi Andrew, I have a PIC based solution currently in the prototype stage. It uses a PIC18F4455 and drives a Yeasu AZ/EL rotor without the Yeasy control box. The PC sends information to the PIC (RequestedAZ,RequestedEL) and the PIC sends back status information to the PC (RequestedAZ,RequestedEL,CurrentAZ,CurrentEL,Status). Everything is done by the PIC: - Control of the rotor motors based on either move-every-n-seconds or move-when-error-angle-is-greater-than-n - Measurement of the actual AZ/EL with 10-bit resolution - Parking when no signal has been coming from the PC in x seconds -or- an explicit park command is received - Stall protection - Some horizon protection: EL cannot go below x when AZ is y to avoid pointing into my neighbors' bedroom. - Over the top rotor control (under development) - ... I'm using a PIC18F4455 and it is very well capable of doing all that and more. I have chosen this path for several reasons: - Eventually I want to run a tracking algorithm in the PIC too - To make the control loop shorter - To avoid dependence on the PC part specifically on safety related aspects like stall control and horizon protection. - To explore the capabilities of the PIC18 - (Because it's my job to do embedded HW/SW) BR, -- /\/\arc -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Rich Sent: dinsdag 13 oktober 2009 12:22 To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] PIC rotator control Hello I am re-visting a rotator controller. I am curious, should I push the processing of the compare and make a decision onto the PIC, or pull that function back into the PC ? PC is LINUX I/O is serial PIC is 16F877 Andrew VK4TEC ___ 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 ___ 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: PIC rotator control
Nice idea Gregg. We do a few near space balloons each year and I have been bugging some other folks ( because I don't write code ) to consider 2 projects: 1 - rotator control in a moving vehicle to keep a small yagi such as an Arrow pointed at the APRS signal. 2 - antenna parking based on data from a home WX station such as those commonly beaconing on APRS systems. I will copy the 3 of you, Marc, Andrew and Gregg off list with more details. -Original Message- From: Gregg Wonderly [mailto:w5...@cox.net] Sent: October 13, 2009 11:33 AM To: Alan VE4YZ Cc: 'Marc Vermeersch'; 'Andrew Rich'; amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: PIC rotator control I'd like to suggest that such systems should have a compass input from a GPS too so that as I'm driving mobile, I can have such a rotator strapped in the back of my truck, and be able to have it track the pass so I can hear it, and grab the mic and talk if I need to. I'd also use this for mobile ATV work to keep a beam pointed at our ATV repeater. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW Alan VE4YZ wrote: Marc, Andrew and the group... It has always struck me as being odd that we use a PC to run a PC(PIC based tracker box), to run a rotator control box, to run a rotator. Sure it works but the absurdity of this really hits home when you disassemble your shack to take it all out for Field Day or an EmComm exercise. I don't! I leave the PC and LVBtracker at home and take my good old 1990's preprogrammed PIC based TrakBox that does the radio and rotators. http://www.tapr.org/kits_trakbox.html http://picasaweb.google.com/ve4yz.alan/TrakboxRebuild2004# As I read you comments you are both querying the rotator controller, not the rotators, to find out where the AL and EL are. With the power of today's inexpensive netbooks or the OLPC is there not a solution where the embedded system is the netbook? Then, all that would be required between the PC and the rotator is a black box with relays to power the rotators and a small A/D interface to take the data from the pots and pass it onto the PC? A black box easily assembled by most hams. If open source, then others can do whatever is necessary create mods for various rotator systems such as pulse counting for stepper motors instead of A/D etc My 2 cents Alan -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Marc Vermeersch Sent: October 13, 2009 6:45 AM To: 'Andrew Rich'; amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: PIC rotator control Hi Andrew, I have a PIC based solution currently in the prototype stage. It uses a PIC18F4455 and drives a Yeasu AZ/EL rotor without the Yeasy control box. The PC sends information to the PIC (RequestedAZ,RequestedEL) and the PIC sends back status information to the PC (RequestedAZ,RequestedEL,CurrentAZ,CurrentEL,Status). Everything is done by the PIC: - Control of the rotor motors based on either move-every-n-seconds or move-when-error-angle-is-greater-than-n - Measurement of the actual AZ/EL with 10-bit resolution - Parking when no signal has been coming from the PC in x seconds -or- an explicit park command is received - Stall protection - Some horizon protection: EL cannot go below x when AZ is y to avoid pointing into my neighbors' bedroom. - Over the top rotor control (under development) - ... I'm using a PIC18F4455 and it is very well capable of doing all that and more. I have chosen this path for several reasons: - Eventually I want to run a tracking algorithm in the PIC too - To make the control loop shorter - To avoid dependence on the PC part specifically on safety related aspects like stall control and horizon protection. - To explore the capabilities of the PIC18 - (Because it's my job to do embedded HW/SW) BR, -- /\/\arc -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Rich Sent: dinsdag 13 oktober 2009 12:22 To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] PIC rotator control Hello I am re-visting a rotator controller. I am curious, should I push the processing of the compare and make a decision onto the PIC, or pull that function back into the PC ? PC is LINUX I/O is serial PIC is 16F877 Andrew VK4TEC ___ 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
[amsat-bb] Re: KLM 2M-14C...waterproof the polarity switch?
Domenico I8CVS did it and I copied his method. Pictures here mine: http://picasaweb.google.com/ve4yz.alan/I8CVSWXProofKLM# 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of David Wing Sent: October 13, 2009 2:38 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] KLM 2M-14C...waterproof the polarity switch? Anyone out there with KLM antennas with the polarity switch care to comment on whether you have put a housing on the switch to protect it from the elements? It looks like the relay has silicon around the base but it just grates me the wrong way to have a circuit board with a power connection and components exposed to the elements. Maybe it has not been an issue but I'd care to hear of anyone experiences. If anyone has built up a housing and have pictures or directions, please pass them along 73, David K6CDW ___ 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] Re: satpc32 qrn
If the same Dell with all the old cables ( CAT, USB, etc ) worked without a hiss then you need to check what changed. Start with grounding. One of the cables may have lost the grounded shield. You may have rearranged your desk and the cables run closer together. Maybe you always had this but usually ran SATPC32 with the volume low. The key is What changed since the last time it worked okay for you? Did you change the video resolution - if so put it back temporarily. Did you change external speakers? Is it the same with both internal and external speakers. If the external ones are noisy then your amp and speakers are picking up RF. Is the hiss on the Dell speakers or on the radio speakers? What changed there? Cables, connectors, position. If on the radio, check that CAT cable between the Dell and the Radio. Try it without the CAT cable plugged in, the cable to your rotator controller - you are removing antennas that my be picking up RF from your video. Load other programs, your browser, email client and whatever else you have on there to see if the noise can be duplicated like SATPC32 then you know for sure some RF from your video card if getting into the sound system. It is a matter of removing or changing one item at a time. Don't do 2 or 3 changes at the same time because you won't know which did the fix. Think like Sherlock Holmes and eliminate potential causes. Good luck. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Bob- W7LRD Sent: October 10, 2009 5:59 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] satpc32 qrn Hello-When I start up satpc32 on my Dell computer I get this annoying qrn hiss on 2M. Any simple fixes short of moving the computer further away? It is from the computer not the monitor. 73 Bob W7LRD ___ 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] Re: Worldwide Linking
See www.genso.org -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Clint Bradford Sent: October 9, 2009 1:50 PM To: AMSAT BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Worldwide Linking An inquiry during my EchoLink presentation last night ... Clint, we know the orbit of a specific satellite, we know its projected footprint, and we know its expected time over that footprint. Now if we had X amount of ham stations, RF equipped to talk with this satellite, and these hams were also equipped to communicate via VOIP EchoLink or IRLP and enough of these stations were lined up around the world within the orbital path, we would have continuous 24 hour, 7 day a week coverage around the world with this bird. The EchoLink or IRLP stations would all be tied together via connection to a main conference server such as *SCARS*. This would mean that anyone worldwide could access the satellite day or night by transmitting and listening to the earth station that was in the footprint at that particular time. I would see some things needing to be understood by the users, such as timing in regards to internet latency, repeater and or link delays, and the need to understand a pause would be necessary before transmitting, etc. I have thought of this on a much smaller scale ... I welcome your comments. I do not want to completely discourage this gentleman from thinking globally (grin). Clint Bradford http://www.work-sat.com ___ 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] Re: RG316/U
The loss compared to RG58 is about 2 times greater. But if you are typically runs about 5' or 6' lengths, then the loss is 2 X (next to nothing). Expensive when you have connectors mounted for you. I've only used 174 which is almost the same with DIY SMA connectors to make much shorter WiFi cables. Now you have me thinking more about this. The HT already has SMA and SMA/BNC adapters are readily available to connect to my Arrow... h http://www.on4sh.be/ham/coax/ Or http://www.hamuniverse.com/coaxdata.html -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Amateur Radio Station W4MPS Sent: October 6, 2009 2:16 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] RG316/U I will be traveling to Ireland next week and will be taking my FT60R handheld and an Elk antenna. I purchased a short length of RG316 with appropriate connectors installed to avoid the need for several adapters and bulkier RG58. I was shocked at how small the diameter is for the 316. Manufacturer assures me it will work quite well at 145/435 for the use intended. Has anyone had experience with this cable? Tnx 73 Marc, W4MPS w4...@nc.rr.com ___ 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] Re: Radio Amateurs supporting a mission in space (video)
Magnificent work Henk... I will be add a link to your video today for our Space Camp and CubeSat students. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Henk, PA3GUO Sent: October 6, 2009 4:19 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Radio Amateurs supporting a mission in space (video) Dear all, Very often I find it difficult to explain to 'outsiders' what HAM radio is all about. Therefore I have released a short video on YouTube about the recent ANDE-2 experiments and how radio amateurs world-wide contributed to this mission. When I was young I watched the first Space Shuttle flight on TV. A far away, fantastic scientific event. Many years later we as radio amateurs are given opportunities to engage directly in space-experiments. It's a thrill ! Featured in the video are the launch and deploy from STS-127, as well as reception and decoding of the satellite's radio signals received from space. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGvRnqII0j8 For highest quality ensure you enable HD (it does slow-down the download a bit though) Best regards, Henk, PA3GUO ___ 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] Re: AO-51 L/S?
Bob, I second that! Right now I'm trying to locally sell my 2 K5GNA downconverters and seriously considering getting rid of a FT736r with the 1.2GHZ module because of the inactivity. My FT847 is all that gets used. The last local flea market this year is 2 weekends from now and then I have to think about doing an eBay. A 3 or 4 day session on L/S, U/S or V/S once a month allows for experimenting and tweaking in addition to trying to work 1 or 2 of those days into your other commitments. Thank goodness for baby monitors and older cordless phones so that I can periodically scan the horizon to check out the K5GNA's :-) ... Alan -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Bob- W7LRD Sent: October 4, 2009 1:03 PM To: ao51-mo...@amsat.org; ao51-mo...@amsat.org Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-51 L/S? Hello Gents I would like to request a somewhat consistent L and / or S mode availability on AO- 51. A recent post by John-K8YSE correctly explained that long term L/S availability is almost counter productive. If we define that by the number of operators to pass ratio. There are a few of us L/S holdouts mostly from AO-40 (sobsob). If we could plan that for say three days (or whatever) at a given date we can expect those modes, and be ready. Right now it appears to be a month to month variable decision with nothing definitive. If there were more availabilty and chit-chat about L/S modes it might inspire others to try it. AO-51 is the only testbed for varied L/S modes. The only way I have for tweeking my S band gear is to put a -35Dbm signal source at the end of my driveway and tweeking my equipment and antennas. Real world evaluation is always the proof of success. 73 Bob W7LRD ___ 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] Re: HAM RADIO UNIVERSITY- 2010
Hi Peter, try contacting the ARISS folks. Not for an ARISS contact but they have the liaison with NASA and may be able to assist you. You never know what can be done. We had a 5 day Space Camp in July and through the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) we were able to do a conference call with the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield with all the same prerequisites of a real ARISS contact - i.e. needed to submit questions in advance etc. but we got more than a 10 minute pass with him :-) Not quite the same as a real ARISS contact such as we did at our 2007 Space Camp, but it was impressive just the same. Good luck with your project. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Peter Sent: October 4, 2009 4:35 PM To: AMSAT-BB@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] HAM RADIO UNIVERSITY- 2010 Hello All, I'm looking for an Astronaut as a keynote speaker, I know it's a long-shot, but this Board has solved many problems! The Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club, I'm a member, will be hosting Ham Radio University on January 10, 2010 at Briarcliffe College,1055 Stewart Ave,Bethpage, NY 11714. They plan to have about 300 people in attendance the presenters will be spreading Ham Radio Knowledge and Know How. My talk Jump into Space with an HT will probably be a highlight LOL If anyone has any contacts that may help us please let me know, off line, thank you. 73, Pete, WB2OQQ ___ 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] Re: Portable Tracking
PocketSat freeware or PocketSat+ inexpensive registered and supposed to calculate faster http://www.bigfattail.com/software/pocketsatplus/ On any old Palm that you can pick up for $5 at a flea market of get for free by asking. Millions of these PDA's are sitting in drawers unused because folks have graduated to smart phones, crack berries iphones etc. I use a Palm IIIxe black and white. Color would be nicer. You need Palm One Quick Install and a serial or IR port to update KEPS on the Palm from a PC. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of joe barkley Sent: October 3, 2009 12:28 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Portable Tracking Hi All, I am looking for opinions and idea on a PDA or device and software or application I can take with me to show the satellite pass predictions when I travel. Thanks Joe KI4TZ ___ 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] GENSO First Public Release
The first public release was scheduled for September 2009 Search GENSO.ORG AMSAT UK and Google and there is no recent status changes nor has it been release. Anyone close to this project with an update for us? 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca http://www.wincube.ca/ ___ 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] FM sats from Antartica for VK and ZL landers
Just noticed this on QRZ.COM from Bill K7MT who used to be a regular on the FM sats a few years ago with his antenna on his helmet on the ski slopes in MT... Howdy from Bill K7MT Helena, Mt. I will be deploying back to McMurdo Station Antarctica Nov 15, 2009 - Feb 20, 2010. I will be active from KC4USV Sundays GMT on SSB. I have requests from Europe to come in early around 1800 GMT on Saturdays so they can work Antarctica and I will be there. I am taking a rigblaster for PSK-31 on 14.070 and CW on 14.043 if time permits. I am also taking an Arrow II antenna/Kenwood TH-7 to work the FM satellites to VK and ZL land. Finally, if I get it operational, APRS VHF to HF with a Kam Plus. VK6CO will help me HF 30 meters with their HF APRS parameters. You just might see me driving out on the Ross Ice Sea as K7MT-7 in Ivan the Terra Bus. Pictures and information on my home web page at: http://www.mt.net/~k7mt Qsl is via K1IED Larry who has done a terrific job with the QSL cards from Exel sprea sheet I will be sending to him weekly from McMurdo. See ya on HF in about 45 days from McMurdo Station Antarctica. Cheers Bill Erhardt K7MT ___ 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: Other Computer Controlled Rotator Options
http://www.quickset.com/pages/pan_tilt_positioners/62.php -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Simon (HB9DRV) Sent: September 18, 2009 12:05 PM To: Franklyn A. Ballentine, jr; amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Other Computer Controlled Rotator Options Frank, Do you (or anyone) have a URL for something like this? Simon Brown, HB9DRV www.ham-radio-deluxe.com - Original Message - From: Franklyn A. Ballentine, jr art.ballent...@gmail.com Has anyone tried using a motorized pan\tilt mount for a CCTV as their Az\El rotator? ___ 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] Re: Other Computer Controlled Rotator Options
The opposite of the very expensive QuickSet is a homemade Arrow AZ/EL system published in the March 2009 AMSAT India newsletter. http://www.amsatindia.org/Newsletter/AmsatIndia-News-March.pdf More details here http://ka6puw.tripod.com/azimuth1.html YouTube video of it in action here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEvppIyUXOUfeature=channel -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Alan VE4YZ Sent: September 18, 2009 1:29 PM To: 'Simon (HB9DRV)'; 'Franklyn A. Ballentine, jr'; amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Other Computer Controlled Rotator Options http://www.quickset.com/pages/pan_tilt_positioners/62.php -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Simon (HB9DRV) Sent: September 18, 2009 12:05 PM To: Franklyn A. Ballentine, jr; amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Other Computer Controlled Rotator Options Frank, Do you (or anyone) have a URL for something like this? Simon Brown, HB9DRV www.ham-radio-deluxe.com - Original Message - From: Franklyn A. Ballentine, jr art.ballent...@gmail.com Has anyone tried using a motorized pan\tilt mount for a CCTV as their Az\El rotator? ___ 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 ___ 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: Sunbandilasat launch
From the Tsenki Web Site note times for 2 launches today Live coverage of Soyuz-2 LV Mission. Сosmodrome Baikonur. Start: 18:00 September 17, 2009 (Moscow time, MSKS). End: 21:00 September 17, 2009 (Moscow time, MSKS). Launch time: 19:55:07 September 17, 2009 (Moscow time, MSKS). Live coverage of Proton-M Mission. Сosmodrome Baikonur. Start: 21:20 September 17, 2009 (Moscow time, MSKS). End: 24:00 September 17, 2009 (Moscow time, MSKS). Launch time: 23:19:19 September 17, 2009 (Moscow time, MSKS). ___ 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: Geosyro orbit.
Ah Hen, , you beat me fair and square and got the correct answer the first time too :-) -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Ken Ernandes Sent: September 15, 2009 11:26 AM To: Joe; BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Geosyro orbit. The Earth is approximately 17.4-deg in diameter (8.7-deg radius) from Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). 73, Ken N2WWD -Original Message- From: Joe n...@mwt.net Sent: Sep 15, 2009 12:07 PM To: BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Geosyro orbit. Hi All, I have a couple of questions, How big is the earth from a geosyncronous (sp?) orbit. Like the Moon from Earth is roughly 1/2 a degree. What is the earth from a geo orbit? anyone know? Joe WB9SBD ___ 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 ___ 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: G5400B rotor maintenance
First determine whether it is just a dirty or worn winding in the POT that is causing needle flicker. Run the rotator on the bench with an ohm meter across A2 and A1, then A2 and A3 ( same numbering on the EL - see schematic ) while running full rotation. Don't connect the 1,2, 3 terminals to the controller. If it is smooth and uniform 0-500 ohms there is nothing wrong in the rotators except your noise problem. I've found the AZ always noisier than the EL. Storing the AZ upside down ( or in fact mounting it up side down as I once did in error ) is big trouble as water will run into the ball race and probably rust a few of the ball bearings and compromise the grease. They can be replaced easily and new grease installed. That was probably your stuck rotator. It is probably all you need to do to get the noise problem resolved. It should at least be inspected to see what damage was done by storing upside down exposed to the elements as dirt will have been cared in with the rain. It is not too difficult to get inside and snoop around. You can start my just removing the inspection plate to see the condition of the internal POT. My experience is that the EL rarely needs to be opened up as it doesn't do much travelling - at most 180 degrees but I bet most folks don't flip their EL and so all it does is go up and down 90 degrees most of its life with far fewer jogs than the AZ. Below is a link to a rebuild where I replaced many of the metric screws and did a re-grease for our -40/+40C WX in EN19. The ball bearing were not replaced as they were pristine. Make sure you have a place for metric machine screws before you start to open up. The Home Depots in Canada had all the metric screws I needed. For Canadians contemplating a rebuild, I found Canadian Tire had the largest selection of metric screws followed by Roma and then Home Depot. Auto suppliers will also have them for the foreign cars made in NA. http://picasaweb.google.com/ve4yz.alan/RotatorRebuild2009# Good luck... Alan -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of w6...@comcast.net Sent: September 11, 2009 12:47 PM To: amsat-bb Subject: [amsat-bb] G5400B rotor maintenance I recently picked up a G5400B AZ-EL rotor unit, which had been down on ground for sometime. I recall it had been stored upside down outdoors. When I got it home and hooked it up in the shop, the Azmiuth rotor was stuck, but some manual help, broke whatever was stuck loose and it started to operate, even abit noisy. The Elevation rotor is nice and quiet and works fine. I notice now, after being used for afew weeks, that the noise is getting more pronounced and also the meter indicator flickers, so I suspect water probably got into the unit. Who does repair work on these rotors? I dont dare try it myself, as I know I would end up with extra parts at the end of the day, even working in a tub. So, would appreciate any help in finding a business that repairs these Yaesu rotors.. John W6ZKH ___ 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] Re: broken links
IMHO fixing the existing site is not the answer. If the executives will okay the use of a Wiki format, I am sure that 3 or 4 of us can communicate off list to set up a group to install and administer a Wiki on another server. We can call it The SIG ( Satellite Interest Group ) or whatever for now. Any and All AMSAT members can then be registered to maintain the Wiki. If the members and executive like the results it can be migrated to the AMSAT server. It must include RSS, news feeds, and a forum in addition to all the stuff ( current or otherwise ) on the existing AMSAT site. The cost to this 3 or 4 person ( or more ) steering committee would be the registration of a name and a year on a web hosting service such as GoDaddy what runs a similar server a AMSAT's host. Or, use the AMSAT hosting company. So this small group would have to come up with less than one year's AMSAT membership to start this project. We use an Open Source Wiki, no more customized PHP like the current site that is high maintenance and really hard for anyone to get into the head of any former code whacker to modify or update. We need the AMSAT exec okay because there would be a lot of cut 'n paste of old stuff from the existing site into the pilot project where is would be available for updating a la Wiki. I don't do this for a living, I do maintain a couple of club web sites, but I bet we have a member reading this who is a professional web-whacker who might oversee the team and keep us from making dumb decisions such as choosing the wrong open source wiki to being with. That's my 2 cents and just one warm body being offered for the effort. 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca --- On Tue, 9/8/09, Andrew Glasbrenner glasbren...@mindspring.com wrote: So who among you would like to volunteer to rewrite some of the articles and bring them up to date? ___ 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] Re: broken links
Thanks for your comments Tim. I'm accumulating some responses off-list in addition to what y'all can read here. I don't want to go into solution mode at this early stage. Your concern is valid and worst case is that the secure web e-commerce that AMSAT is now comfortable with would be linked to from any new platform. _ From: Tim - N3TL [mailto:n...@bellsouth.net] Sent: September 8, 2009 7:01 PM To: Alan VE4YZ; amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: broken links Alan and all, Here's my 2 cents' worth - coming from someone who admittedly knows very little about the tools, skills and resources necessary to develop and maintain a Web site. Alan, you write: It must include RSS, news feeds, and a forum in addition to all the stuff ( current or otherwise ) on the existing AMSAT site. How does the AMSAT store fit into this, and is it possible to mix a wiki-style access for all site with one that will include areas for the entry and transfer of secure, private information (e.g., credit card information for purchases)? I ask this because I don't know of another major nonprofit that uses a wiki-style site because of the need to incorporate an ecommerce site as part of the overall Web presence. My initial reaction to a Wiki approach is - no - for those reasons. I hope someone can provide more information here to me and everyone who reads the BB that might help mitigate my concerns. I further hope someone who is truly interested in mitigating the issues seemingly so many here have with the AMSAT Web site will attend the Board meeting in October to continue this kind of dialogue with the Board. 73 to all, Tim - N3TL Athens, Ga. - EM84ha _ From: Alan VE4YZ ve...@mts.net To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2009 7:38:30 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: broken links IMHO fixing the existing site is not the answer. If the executives will okay the use of a Wiki format, I am sure that 3 or 4 of us can communicate off list to set up a group to install and administer a Wiki on another server. We can call it The SIG ( Satellite Interest Group ) or whatever for now. Any and All AMSAT members can then be registered to maintain the Wiki. If the members and executive like the results it can be migrated to the AMSAT server. It must include RSS, news feeds, and a forum in addition to all the stuff ( current or otherwise ) on the existing AMSAT site. The cost to this 3 or 4 person ( or more ) steering committee would be the registration of a name and a year on a web hosting service such as GoDaddy what runs a similar server a AMSAT's host. Or, use the AMSAT hosting company. So this small group would have to come up with less than one year's AMSAT membership to start this project. We use an Open Source Wiki, no more customized PHP like the current site that is high maintenance and really hard for anyone to get into the head of any former code whacker to modify or update. We need the AMSAT exec okay because there would be a lot of cut 'n paste of old stuff from the existing site into the pilot project where is would be available for updating a la Wiki. I don't do this for a living, I do maintain a couple of club web sites, but I bet we have a member reading this who is a professional web-whacker who might oversee the team and keep us from making dumb decisions such as choosing the wrong open source wiki to being with. That's my 2 cents and just one warm body being offered for the effort. 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca --- On Tue, 9/8/09, Andrew Glasbrenner glasbren...@mindspring.com wrote: So who among you would like to volunteer to rewrite some of the articles and bring them up to date? ___ 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 ___ 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: Satellite tracking in google earth
The amateur satellites are included. Once you load Google Earth and it in turn downloads the data you can turn off those satellites you don't want but first go to the bottom of the alphabetic data and un-check the debris, rocket bodies and inactive satellites to reduce the clutter. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Rich (Home) Sent: September 3, 2009 9:08 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Satellite tracking in google earth Is there a ham radio equivalent ? http://agrg.cogs.nscc.ca/node/81 -- Andrew Rich Airways Technical Officer Grade 4 Surveillance - RADAR ADS-B Amateur Radio Callsign VK4TEC email: vk4...@tech-software.net web: www.tech-software.net ___ 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] Re: Trolls on the -bb / Being positive
Wow... AMSAT-Wiki - One of the best suggestions I've seen in a long time. Those who have followed the Wikipedia evolution will be aware of up coming changes where the text will be colour coded by authour to show its reliability. i.e. the less often an authour is edited/corrected the higher the degree of confidence. This will no doubt filter down to the myriad of Wiki's now being authored in the Open Source arena. Also, a Wiki site would remove the need to have this obsolete text only BB as all Wiki inevitably embed forums and discussion groups by topic. No email, no need to read discussions on topics that annoy you, focus on your interests within AMSAT. This must be seriously considered. It also deals with the continuity issues that occur when warm bodies come and go. Jan, a great suggestion! 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of PE0SAT Sent: September 2, 2009 9:30 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Trolls on the -bb / Being positive @All Lets think in solutions and not in problems. If you see a problem, then be the first to come with a possible solution. As an example the AMSAT website: Outdated information: Make a wiki, and let fellow amateurs update the information. This could also solve to problem of language, I also experience the fact that amateurs where english is there native language use a sentence structure that is difficult to understand. (I use for example http://translate.google.com/ to try and find out was is being said. But it would be nice that people that write these sentences keep this in mind. I hope that amsat is not just for the native english speaking amateurs.) It can also ensure that this website supports multiple languages, because this can be done by all fellow amateurs world wide. Come on! lets hear those solutions and not the problems. Lets make it a better place and not worse. 73's Jan - PE0SAT -- With regards PE0SAT Internet web-page http://www.ham.vgnet.nl/ ___ 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] Re: High LEO for cubesat?
Bob, do you really mean a CubeSat or any picosat? Recent CubeSat Spec changes have increase mass to 1.333kg/cube or 4kg for a triple cube which could play nicely into your plans to giving you more water to zap when in orbit. http://cubesat.atl.calpoly.edu/media/CDS_rev12.pdf You have indeed taken on a big challenge of not only the propulsion of a CubeSat but also stabilizing and orienting it for each burn. Please keep us posted on developments. 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Greg D. Sent: August 25, 2009 10:45 PM To: bruni...@usna.edu Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: High LEO for cubesat? On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 12:11 PM, Robert Bruningabruni...@usna.edu wrote: For what it is worth, this semester I will finally get a student to work on the 40 year old AMSAT idea of a water rocket. (Carry water to orbit and use solar power to electrolizie the wate to H2 and O2 and then burn those in a thruster to raise the orbit of a cubesat. Bob -- ___ 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: rotator questions
Hi Joe and the group. IMHO when we get to discussing IGRF for mounting an antenna and rotator for amateur radio use, we are over thinking this issue. Now I must admit that I only have a 3 degree difference in EN19 which I completely ignore. I find there is too much magnetic QRM around here to get a good reading of MN and then correct for TN. The more sensitive the compass the harder to get a bearing. Well you get a bearing, but you know its dead wrong because you get a different reading my moving a few feet in any direction. So, unless you use the super desensitized 1/2 diameter compass on a Captain Canada Decoder Ring I find Google Earth pragmatically good enough. Software such as SatPC32 and others allow you to make permanent corrections for AZ and EL changes or compensation for mounting the antenna a little off horizontal and true north, or changes that occur over time. A little slippage in any of the half dozen U-Bolts between the terra firma and the antenna beam during a windstorm can be corrected - U-bolts on the mast to rotator, rotator to boom, boom to the antenna saddle, the saddle to the beam. It's a wonder anything stays pointing to where you want it. However, to contradict myself, I have been known, on occasion, to sight along the beam of my yagis to the Sun and use any number of the freeware Sun locator applications. Very handy on Field Days in remote locations. I've never found the Sun's RF useful for aligning antennas mainly because I've never heard the difference on UHF/VHF or S band even with preamps, but, maybe that hearing loss due to age :-) 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca Hey everyone at the amtat-bb! I spent a good portion of the day sick in bed yesterday and only naturally got to thinking about quite a few things. I figured i'd pop on here and start asking questions. Here's some background information on my sat experience; my rig consists of a TH-F6A (handheld, not full-duplex) and an arrow antenna. I have been successfull at manually trakcing the ISS and AO-51, but I have been unsuccessful at making a contact. I went out to field day (in Oviedo Florida) and was able to check out the rig the LMARS club uses. This got me wondering about sat tracking software, the internals and what definition of North that is used. I'm familiar with the IGRF (from my day job as a GIS guy) and was wondering if any of these apps use the IGRF for calculating magnetic declination: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/IAGA/vmod/igrf.html I've thought about creating my own rotator and started wondering about the configuration used. When you buy a rotator and put it out in the yard, i'm guessing you have to orient the base 'correctly'. How is the base of a rotator usually aligned? Do you get a compass out and use local magnetic north (without compensating for the declination from the IGRF). I'm still in learning mode and very new to the world of sat, so if these are really dumb questions, my apologies! I am open to any reading materials you can suggest on the matter. Joseph Armrbuster, KJ4JIO ___ 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 ___ 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: Keps
Thanks Nigel. I too use the Space-Track favourites. Both Nova and SatPC32 allow you to rename the satellites so they appear on your computer with their common names in whatever form you want. What I wish, is that software writers would standardize on a way they identify satellites in their application databases. Some use the name and some use the international designator. Using the unique number seems to me to be the way to go. Enough of this Oscar 7, AO-07, AO-7, or 06236 stuff for importing KEPS into applications. Its 06236. And you should be allowed to show it with the name you want. 73, Alan VE4YZ EN19kv AMSAT LM 2352 http://www.wincube.ca -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF Sent: August 4, 2009 12:00 PM To: Amsat-BB Subject: [amsat-bb] Keps For those of you that are desparate to know, here's my complete Space-Track favourites keps file. I just wish everybody would call a sattelite by the same name. OSCAR 6 1 06236U 72082B 09215.97919915 -.0027 +0-0 +1-3 0 02013 2 06236 101.3966 227.4301 0003839 153.1387 206.9886 12.53077928683397 OSCAR 7 1 07530U 74089B 09215.65337332 -.0027 +0-0 +1-3 0 05475 2 07530 101.4245 238.5847 0011701 174.6114 185.5078 12.53576069588666 OSCAR 8 1 10703U 78026B 09215.98109897 +.0217 +0-0 +17953-3 0 05693 2 10703 098.8245 259.4083 0007452 044.1571 316.0190 13.98842767602700 OSCAR 10 1 14129U 83058B 09215.77452686 -.0418 0-0 1-3 0 6819 2 14129 025.8159 143.6292 6028435 244.7593 042.7609 02.05872213168630 OSCAR 11 (UoSAT 2) 1 14781U 84021B 09216.29321420 .0153 0-0 27480-4 0 240 2 14781 098.1049 261.2183 0009006 175.3849 184.7515 14.79727702364942 OSCAR 16 (PACSAT) 1 20439U 90005D 09215.44366107 +.0002 +0-0 +16219-4 0 06688 2 20439 098.2824 181.7044 0011654 034.4816 325.7128 14.31829807019912 OSCAR 19 (LUSAT) 1 20442U 90005G 09215.49290366 .0058 0-0 36734-4 0 5820 2 20442 098.2448 188.8310 0012340 031.2305 328.9629 14.32065191 20083 JAS 1B (FUJI 2) 1 20480U 90013C 09215.81670929 -.0028 0-0 22130-5 0 2094 2 20480 099.0691 127.6633 0540849 062.6193 302.8855 12.83362236913016 INFORMATOR 1 1 21087U 91006A 09215.46931095 +.0045 +0-0 +30320-4 0 03421 2 21087 082.9416 010.9920 0035696 149.9356 210.3853 13.75045071928911 OSCAR 22 (UoSAT 5) 1 21575U 91050B 09215.51316936 -.0033 +0-0 +34799-5 0 06111 2 21575 098.4477 163.7709 0006622 232.9139 127.1446 14.39680162947510 KITSAT B 1 22825U 93061C 09215.60967521 -.0062 +0-0 -78007-5 0 03060 2 22825 098.4391 167.5471 0009314 121.9973 238.2122 14.29270030826683 POSAT 1 1 22826U 93061D 09215.87150048 +.0010 +0-0 +20329-4 0 00351 2 22826 098.4334 168.5288 0009802 116.7206 243.4981 14.29522821826826 ITAMSAT 1 22828U 93061F 09216.45562973 .0012 0-0 21049-4 0 2402 2 22828 098.4256 168.9896 0010862 091.9779 268.2635 14.29822355795187 EYESAT A 1 22829U 93061G 09216.42596100 -.0066 0-0 -93295-5 0 2740 2 22829 098.4204 170.0961 0010718 088.5066 271.7336 14.30220317827195 RADIO ROSTO 1 23439U 94085A 09215.96185098 -.0039 +0-0 +1-3 0 02484 2 23439 064.8132 187.5590 0148860 042.5119 318.7221 11.27553381601503 JAS 2 1 24278U 96046B 09215.70145115 -.0086 +0-0 -49976-4 0 01053 2 24278 098.5470 083.3389 0350111 227.1688 129.9539 13.52943800640178 TMSAT 1 25396U 98043C 09215.85628834 -.0075 0-0 -15116-4 0 4672 2 25396 098.3320 241.3447 0003653 093.7539 266.4054 14.23781140575083 TECHSAT 1B 1 25397U 98043D 09215.74028098 -.0024 +0-0 +75032-5 0 09590 2 25397 098.3255 235.5319 0002250 104.7521 255.3912 14.23161592574891 SEDSAT 1 1 25509U 98061B 09215.86535168 +.0227 +0-0 +35026-4 0 05137 2 25509 031.4310 142.8859 0354031 035.3504 327.0074 14.28260213562654 ISS (ZARYA) 1 25544U 98067A 09215.93642666 +.4535 +0-0 +36257-4 0 03470 2 25544 051.6405 061.6952 0007594 290.2882 208.8372 15.73482639613477 KITSAT 3 1 25756U 99029A 09215.55757030 +.0009 +0-0 +14182-4 0 09734 2 25756 098.6642 049.9047 0014574 031.9992 328.2074 14.52541633540031 TIUNGSAT 1 1 26548U 00057D 09215.70758911 -.0002 0-0 18232-4 0 4585 2 26548 064.5571 293.6539 0052121 266.0082 093.5066 14.83377257479003 PCSAT 1 26931U 01043C 09215.78887099 -.0255 +0-0 -67118-4 0 02323 2 26931 067.0529 301.7088 0006246 275.3180 084.7197 14.29561944409388 SAUDISAT 1C 1 27607U 02058C 09216.44239310 -.0032 0-0 16991-4 0 9504 2 27607 064.5571 238.5318 0062154 194.0230 165.9130 14.71450778355775 CUTE-1 1 27844U 03031E 09215.53256833 .0022 0-0 30716-4 0 6356 2 27844 098.7127 224.0287 0010524 012.0055 348.1369 14.20649158315981 CUBESAT XI-IV 1 27848U 03031J 09215.51672217 -.0004 0-0 18499-4 0 5844 2 27848 098.7160 223.0755 0010309 016.2979 343.8524 14.20449771315943 MOZHAYETS 4 1 27939U 03042A 09215.65311381
[amsat-bb] Re: KEP 09183 PROBLEM
I agree Nigel. Downloading a Favourites file from Space Track keeps a lot of clutter out of the databases. I use Nova to automatically download the favourite file and use that same file for SATPC32. -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF Sent: July 3, 2009 10:29 AM To: Doug Kuitula Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: KEP 09183 PROBLEM You don't say which satellites or where you obtained the keps. I do as you ought to be doing, download just the ones I want from SpaceTrack. They're generally updated twice a day. Doug Kuitula wrote: Hi all, Looks like there may be a problem with the latest 2 line dated for day 183. I tried inputting them and came up with numerous checksum failures. Has anyone else had the same problem?...73 de Doug KA8QCU ___ 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] Re: G-5500 rotor motor intermittent
and the Ele was near 2-3 ohms and the Ele was open. Michael I believe you have a typo and mean the AZ was open? I have not followed this entire thread so I don't specifically know what the intermittent part means. Random failures regardless of the position of the rotator or failures at nearly the same rotator position? Before bringing down the rotators, reseat the connectors at the rotator and inspect for corrosion on the contacts. Also while you are up at the rotators check your loop of cables that they are not stressed as they coil and uncoil during rotation and are not putting strain on the connectors. You can also open and inspect the connector. This is not a solution for your issues but rather just some observations. The beauty of the G5500 is that both EL and AZ rotators have limit switches and the phasing capacitors are in each rotator. So you can swap the cables at the controller from AZ to EL to see if the problem moves with the cables. If it does not, then the issue would be within the controller. If you swapping the connectors at the rotators and see if the problem move to the other rotator it would indicate cable or connector ( male ) problems. For those with the G5400 life is more complicated as the capacitor for the AZ rotator is in the rotator but the EL capacitor is in the controller box. Worse, the EL is the only one with limit switches ( AZ has thermal overload ) and neither of the rotators have that nice quick connector but rather the terminal strip. Ya, and it goes 450 degrees AZ instead of 360. So you CAN NOT SWAP cables to trouble shoot a GB5400B combo! -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Michael Hatzakis Jr MD Sent: June 20, 2009 7:54 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: G-5500 rotor motor intermittent Ok, sorry for the additional post, this is a follow up. After my debugging session today, I am fast-forwarding to what I expect will be the ending to this little fairy tail, that is, I see me climbing up and pulling down this damn rotor to either replace or repair. So, next natural question is, if I am going to repair, what should I repair while I have it open or are there people who do a good job in rebuilding Yaesu rotors, roughly 5 years old?? Michael K3MH -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Michael Hatzakis Jr MD Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2009 5:41 PM To: 'Angelo Glorioso'; glasbren...@mindspring.com Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] G-5500 rotor motor intermittent Andrew and group, Read this post and others about the 5500, and I am trying to figure out what do with my rotor or my controller. My rotor has become more and more intermittent over time, so I opened up my cables and put molex connectors in line so I can debug. I started with impedance of the rotor. My Elevation is working now and my rotation is not. I pulled out the schematic and see that the rotor motor is on 4-5-6 with the common on 6 each and the up/down or left/right on 4-5. I measured the impedance of 4 5 against 6, and the Ele was near 2-3 ohms and the Ele was open. I am wondering if this is an intermittent internal limit switch? Taking my rotor apart is a huge deal, so I want to be sure I am looking at this situation correctly and what else should I be looking for or measuring? Michael K3MH -Original Message- From: owner-amsat...@amsat.org [mailto:owner-amsat...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Angelo Glorioso Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 8:21 AM To: glasbren...@mindspring.com Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] G-5500 rotor motor woes Hi Drew, At least you got 3 years out of yours. I had my G-500 a month before the motor went out and had to send it to Yaesu. Everything was balance as well. What I think happened is one of the buttons on the control box got stuck in one direction and caused the motor to burn up. What I did was change the fuse that Yaesu uses from a 2 amp AGC to a 1 amp slow blow fuse. Just in case this happens again, at least the fuse will blow before causing the motor to go out. 73 de Angelo - If you don't ask, you will never know!! From: Andrew Glasbrenner glasbren...@mindspring.com Reply-To: Andrew Glasbrenner glasbren...@mindspring.com To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] G-5500 rotor motor woes Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 09:20:31 -0500 (GMT-05:00) About 3 weeks ago my azimuth rotor motor bit the dust. The rotor turned left fine, but not right. I tore into the unit and found the windings on the motor to show 4 ohms in one direction, and only 1.5 in the other. Yaesu wanted about $90 and shipping for a replacement, but I found a G-450 locally for about the same money. After swapping the motors (identical) and reassembling it seems to work fine, but I can find no reason for the failure. Anyone been down this
