[amsat-bb] Re: 150 cubesats to provide global WIFI multicasting
As the birds dropped out of the sky above the ground station, there might be some objections. What has to happen for long range, gigabit bandwidth, is a wide frequency range with little time on any particular frequency so that there is no concentrated effects on a single frequency where heating would start to occur. Frequency hopping over large spectrum is not a new thing, but it's something that could alleviate a number of issues with safety. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 2/10/2014 11:46 AM, Howie DeFelice wrote: Just in case anyone was curious about the practicality of actually transmitting WiFi from a cubesat, I did a quick link budget. Based on typical 802.11 specs, the MDS of a receiver is about -90 dBm. The path loss at 2.4GHz between a ground station and a satellite overhead in a 600Km orbit is a little over 155 dB. Assuming a zero gain antenna on the typical WiFi client radio, the required EIRP from the cubesat is in the neighborhood of 4KW. I don't think we are quite there yet with current solar cell technology not to mention the difficulty keeping the PA cool :) - Howie AB2S ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: D STAR
What is most important to consider is that there is only one choice, because of the investment and low return there is because HAM radio operators don't want to spend money. Yet, we buy antennas (isn't there only one source for patented antenna designs that we flock to?), coax, power systems and lots of other things which are largely single sourced by manufacturers that do a great job creating a valuable product. Ultimately, that is the decision to make. Is the money for the product the right value to pay? If you really believe you can't get a chip, I think you are mistaken. Can you get the cheap price in single quantities? No. But, they are available last I had heard. At this point, we are moving into the world of software components. These are things such as micro-controllers, DSPs and Codecs which are all put together to create a useful RF based device. In the end, SDR is what we actually need to be focused on. That would allow everyone to write their own radio and expand our capabilities with digitial emissions well beyond where we are at now. The future is automatic frequency selection, varied modulation techniques combined with embedded FEC to create an instantaneous solution to interference problems. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 11/11/2013 9:22 AM, Gordon JC Pearce wrote: On Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 08:46:24AM -0600, damon runion wrote: Well back in the days of AM and when SSB came out it was the same thinking then BUT what has happened to AM . Same thing with DSTAR it is growing and will grow . Thats what makes ham radio so much fun, there is something for everyone 73,s Damon But the difference there is that *anyone* can make an SSB rig. Only one manufacturer is allowed to make AMBE codecs, and they will only sell to a handful of approved radio manufacturers. It is illegal to make your own DStar radio, without buying the AMBE codec from DVSI. That sort of thing has no place in amateur radio. -- Gordonjcp MM0YEQ ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Spam
Email is the most insecure way of transferring information, and the exploits are easy, because the details are always hidden from you. Use the functions in your email program to show all the headers. In the case of MICHAEL's email, it has a header line: Received-From: from michaelPC ([72.240.150.93]) by BLU0-SMTP162.phx.gbl over TLS secured channel with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675); Thu, 31 Oct 2013 15:20:58 -0700 which tells you where the SMTP client connected from. This is the ultimate source information, for all non-exploited or non-compromised email servers. There will be one of these lines for every server that touched the email. People can craft an email that looks like it came from someone who did not send it. If you don't look at these header lines, you'll only have the visible 'From' and 'To' information that your email client shows you, which can be easily forged since it is just text that your email client crafts and sends to the server. Legitimate ISPs don't accept email with a 'From' address that is not, precisely the 'id' of the user connecting and authenticating to the SMTP server. So, it can be possible for you to receive an email that appears to be from this list, but which is actually, completely NOT from this list, but SPAM crafted by a SPAM bot, and sent to you, because your email address was somehow revealed to it. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 10/31/2013 5:20 PM, MICHAEL wrote: I have been subscribing to this for over three years and have never received any spam from the AMSAT-BB. Had it happened I would not be subscribing to it! Respectfully, Michael /N8GBU ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: J-Pole Antenna
Yes, any 1/2wave or 5/8 wave antenna system doubles the horizontal power by eliminating the power going up. So, it is more like a donut in emission pattern, whereas the 1/4 antenna is a hemispherical (half a ball) emission pattern. With satellites, you clearly need to go up. As has been said many times, most satellite passes are never directly overhead, but rather on some inclination across the sky. A 5 element yagi antenna, at a 35 degree angle from the horizon, with only an asmuth rotator, will let you work far more satellites for the money spent. Gregg Wonderly On 5/12/2013 12:48 PM, Jeff Moore wrote: I wouldn't recommend a J-pole for satellite work unless you expect to only work sats on the horizon. The J-Pole antenna has a low take-off angle and almost NO radiation overhead, an plain 1/4 wave ground plane antenna would work better for the sats. J-poles are great terrestrial communications antennas, not so much for working overhead satellite passes. An Eggbeater or quadrifiliar antenna would be a better choice. 7 3 Jeff Moore -- KE7ACY On 5/12/2013 8:00 AM, Werner, HB9BNK wrote Thank you all for your valuable hints and advices ! I will now build such an antenna and then supply here the results. 73 Werner, HB9BNK ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: J-Pole Antenna
Bob, depending on the antenna pattern and the ground, as you say, 15 degrees might be too low for any additional help toward the horizon. 30 to 35 degrees will give you a little better results for stuff that isn't just right at the horizon, I feel. As with all things in this hobby, experimentation with your equipment will allow you to find the best combination. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 5/13/2013 11:29 AM, Robert Bruninga wrote: As has been said many times, most satellite passes are never directly overhead, but rather on some inclination across the sky. A 5 element yagi antenna, at a 35 degree angle from the horizon, with only an asmuth rotator, will let you work far more satellites for the money spent. Except that the correct angle is 15 degrees not 30 or 35.At 15 degrees, the main gain lobe of the antenna still has excellent gain on the horizon where you need it most and an equal gain all the way up to 30 degrees or so. Below 30 degrees is where satellites spend 80+% of their in-view times. This is where you need the gain most. But when the satellite is above 30 degrees, the satellite is at least 6 to 10 dB closer and so it makes no sense to sacrifice gain on the horizon (where you need it most) by placing it at 30 degrees where you need it least. See http://aprs.org/rotator1.html Ignore the topic of the page but look very carefullyl at the SCALE drawing (Yes, that is drawn to scale) of a LEO satellite pass Notice how 95% of all satellite access times are below 50 degrees and 70% of the time they are below 22 degrees. That is where you need the gain. Do not waste it by tilting the antenna up more than 15 degrees. The only exception is that if your beam antenna cannot see the horizon anyway, then, yes, tilt it up a little more since you wont hear the low stuff anyway... Bob, WB4aPR Gregg Wonderly On 5/12/2013 12:48 PM, Jeff Moore wrote: I wouldn't recommend a J-pole for satellite work unless you expect to only work sats on the horizon. The J-Pole antenna has a low take-off angle and almost NO radiation overhead, an plain 1/4 wave ground plane antenna would work better for the sats. J-poles are great terrestrial communications antennas, not so much for working overhead satellite passes. An Eggbeater or quadrifiliar antenna would be a better choice. 7 3 Jeff Moore -- KE7ACY On 5/12/2013 8:00 AM, Werner, HB9BNK wrote Thank you all for your valuable hints and advices ! I will now build such an antenna and then supply here the results. 73 Werner, HB9BNK ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Please make available for Kindle as wel.
One of the most interesting and perhaps frustrating thing about the Android platform is this my store, your store, no store interplay between all the vendors who have created devices using the open source Android platform from Google. With Google producing devices as well, their ownership of the Google Play store, and demand for paid entry into that marketplace, their competitors, Amazon and BN etc., are reluctant to play together. So, developers are strung out, being forced to participate in multiple economies, which doesn't scale very well for small operations like you'll find in HAM radio software teams. Walmart had a $99 or so deal on a Chinese tablet over Christmas. That tablet had no store available to the purchasers to start with. The only choice was to install the Amazon store and be locked into that economy. There is, always the opportunity to root these devices and spend the time and energy to manage the whole thing yourself. But, without a Store application, you're limited to what you can get, based on what developers are willing to give away. In this day and age, I think we are past the time of free software. I think it is important to understand how that diminishes the worth of people doing good things for HAM radio, to have such expectations. Certainly, many people have limited incomes, so I understand that to be natural pressure on the scale of the software economy in HAM radio, overall. In the end, open source is a great thing, when people have time to give away, or are using the same software to make money elsewhere. But, all of these vertical market applications for HAM radio have some very focused uses, and not very many of them are gold mines in the public markets. Gregg Wonderly On 1/16/2013 2:37 AM, David Johnson wrote: Hi, We will do our best but we cannot target every platform specifically. I already build for four google devices. Nexus 1,S,7 10. The kindle fire and Barnes and Noble devices have to be side loaded and we would have to set up a download site and PayPal payment mechanism for the paid version. 73 Dave Since us Kindle users can not directly access the Google Play site, please consider making the apps available to us Kindle Fire and Fire HD users. I like the functionality and am looking forward to the new features. ** ** *Tom Schuessler* *2713 Lake Gardens Drive* *Irving, Texas 75060* *972-986-7456* *214-403-1464 (Cell)* *n5...@arrl.net* ** ** ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: swr explained
On 9/12/2012 6:23 PM, Vince Fiscus, KB7ADL wrote: At 09:36 PM 9/12/2012 +, kn...@hotmail.com wrote: Nick, Thanks for sharing! Very cool video. I have never seen wave theory demonstrated with such clarity. Andy No No No, Here's SWR Properly explained, Laymans terms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOOihiLLS4Ifeature=related Oh my! Gregg ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: FW: Did you say Full Duplex.?
I bet they are still working on the packaging for the duplexer so that the backpack you'll take with you to carry VHF and UHF cans will have space for food and water you'll need about every 100 yards while you're walking with your portable radio. Gregg W5GGW On 5/2/2012 8:59 AM, Andrew Glasbrenner wrote: Last I heard the ull-duplex ones were not available yet. 73, Drew KO4MA -Original Message- From: andrew.macallis...@emerson.com Sent: May 2, 2012 9:44 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] FW: Did you say Full Duplex.? Anyone have any experience with these? Andy W5ACM - Original Message - To: w5...@amsat.orgmailto:w5...@amsat.org Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 6:42 AM Subject: Did you say Full Duplex.? Chinese Dual Band Full Duplex. http://www.verotelecom.com/Dualband-Two-Way-Radios.htm I like this one the best. http://www.verotelecom.com/Dual-Band-Two-Way-Radio-VR-DB2R.htm -- David M. Gullette W5DMG ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Fw: New version - Masat Ground station Client software
Sometimes, the -jar command line argument seems to not be in place. The registry, on windows, contains the specification of how to run .jar files. The registry key, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\java.exe\shell\open\command is where to look. The default entry, can be edited to put the string -jar between the path the the java.exe executable and the %1 argument specifier. With Java 7, I have C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_02\bin\java.exe -jar %1 as the value in mine. All of the quoting is important to have in place correctly. And, as usual, if you are futzing around in the registry, make sure you know what you are doing. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 2/2/2012 10:42 PM, Nitin Muttin wrote: The new verion has a bug and the below error is shown the bat file is executed. Unable to access jar file2010-gndcclient-java3.jar Java needs to be started manually, double click on the jar file or runjava -jar GNDClient.jar. The final version will be available next week from the MASAT Team. Regards Nitin [VU3TYG] - Original Message From: Tibor Mezeime...@cubesat.bme.hu To: vu3...@amsatindia.orgvu3...@amsatindia.org Subject: Re: Masat Ground station Client software Date: 01/02/12 19:41 Hello,Sorry, we forget to update the bat, and sh file-s.So you have to double click on the jar file or runjava -jar GNDClient.jarWe collect the bugs to release the final version next week. Thanks for your report. Regards, Tibor MezeiAm 2. Februar 2012 17:06 schrieb Nitin Muttin lt;vu3...@amsatindia.orggt;: Hello Tibor, I installed the new version but the software does not execute, attached is the error. I am using Winxp with service pack 3. 73 Nitin [VU3TYG] -Original Message- From: zeme...@gmail.com [mailto:zeme...@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Tibor Mezei Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 6:03 AM To: Nitin Muttin [VU3TYG] Subject: Re: Masat Ground station Client software Dear Nitin, the newest version of the MASAT-1 client software is available on our website: http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/foldi-allomas/kliens-szoftver/ Regards, Tibor ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Radio Pirates
On 1/16/2012 3:13 PM, Gordon JC Pearce wrote: On 16/01/12 00:27, Ted wrote: 'I'd take the cheapie chinese radios any day'. Perhaps that is the mentality that makes the EU economic model the mess that it is today. Also, any, and I mean any economist will tell you that in hard times the average consumer (which includes notoriously cheap hams) will shop price above all else. That is why the chinese have everyone by the fortune cookies... No, it's more to do with the standard of construction, performance and availability of parts and service information. The Chinese are streets ahead here. It's particularly galling when you realise you could buy five cheapy Chinese radios for the cost of one from a major American manufacturer - and still expect to have all five working in two year's time! ANY of these POS non type certified radios have no place in our community. It's CEPT and CE approved, good enough for me. But since the US FCC has turned into nothing more than a bunch of political The FCC is not relevant to my interests. I love breaking FCC regulations. The biggest issue that causes recession and then depression in the economy, is when the value in the economy out strips the cash available to support that value. When everyone buys the cheapest item, and it is a defective item, that then doesn't live long enough in the economy, that can cause people to replace it, in an emergency purchase, with a credit purchase, which then presses the economy with more value, and less cash. In our current economy, things like cheap TVs, cheap PCs, and cheap appliances, in general, can result in the economy needing to inflate faster than the printing of money is occurring in our world banks. There is plenty of reason to pay the more expensive price, especially, if it is for something that will last longer in the economy, especially, if you resale it. Certainly, if our economy inflated faster, we could all just spend money on all kinds of cheap junk, and keep everyone busy, working all day creating as much cheap stuff as we could. But, the economy of the world, is really designed to work that way, and more importantly, all the off shore manufacturing, is moving our cash out of reach of our local economies, and that, in the end, is what creates recession, which is then nearly impossible to correct overnight, because the spending habits and the supply chains are not also being restructured to keep injected cash in the local economy, and thus it doesn't help anyone, except the offshore economies of the producers. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: FW: [aprssig] K6RPT-11 Has Left The US Mainland - Europe Get Ready to Monitor 144.39
I believe Bob meant that from Europe, they need to point their high gain beams to the west, not to the east. Gregg Wonderly On 12/13/2011 9:01 AM, Bob Bruninga wrote: AMSAT/APRS ops needed in Europe to track trans-atlantic balloon! Here is the last position copied on APRS with it 500 miles out to sea headed for Europe.. http://aprs.fi/?call=k6rpt-11mt=roadmapz=7timerange=172800_s=ss_call Its on USA freq of 144.39 so will not be heard in Europe except by people specifically tuning for it. Just point your high gain beam east and monitor 144.39 and capture any of the 1200 baud AX.25 packets! Bob, WB4APR -Original Message- From: aprssig-boun...@tapr.org [mailto:aprssig-boun...@tapr.org] On Behalf Of Steve Noskowicz Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 11:30 PM To: TAPR APRS Mailing List Subject: Re: [aprssig] K6RPT-11 Has Left The US Mainland - Europe Get Ready to Monitor 144.39 I see that VE3LSR-4 gated it recently from about 500 miles, so hopefully we'll be able to 'see' it about that far off the coast. What's the radio range at 107k ft...? My calculations show about 407 miles line-of-sight (over the horizon) to a 30' tower and 470 miles diffraction corrected radio range, it looks reasonable. Anybody know a URL for real-time jet stream maps/plots? Go baby, Go! ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: K6RPT-11 APRS Balloon heard by CU2IE / Sao Miguel - still at 109k - almost across the Atlantic
It still looks like a couple of hours or so till land fall. Once it gets about as far east as Funchai, we'll need someone along the Morocco and/or Portugal border to listen for it. Gregg Wonderly On 12/13/2011 1:51 PM, Douglas Quagliana wrote: All, It looks like the balloon is almost all of the way across the Atlantic! Current course will place it closer to Morocco or slightly south of Portugal. K6RPT-11 APRS Balloon heard by CU2IE / Sao Miguel - still at 109k 2011-12-13 19:30:31 UTC: K6RPT-11APBL10,CU2ARA-1,WIDE2*,qAR,CU2IE,PORTUGAL:!3558.10N/03322.17WO098/145/A=110161V200 CNSP-11 2011-12-13 19:32:31 UTC: K6RPT-11APBL10,CU2ARA-1,WIDE2*,qAR,CU2IE,PORTUGAL:!3557.36N/03316.33WO099/144/A=110040V200 CNSP-11 2011-12-13 19:36:31 UTC: K6RPT-11APBL10,CU2ARA-1,WIDE2*,qAR,CU2IE,PORTUGAL:!3555.86N/03304.76WO098/143/A=109892V200 CNSP-11 2011-12-13 19:42:30 UTC: K6RPT-11APBL10,WIDE2-1,qAR,CU2IE,PORTUGAL:!3553.73N/03247.24WO098/145/A=109951V200 CNSP-11 Douglas KA2UPW/5 ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Lets move forward
On 12/4/2011 11:35 PM, i8cvs wrote: - Original Message - From: Gordon JC Pearcegordon...@gjcp.net To:amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Monday, December 05, 2011 12:33 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Lets move forward Leave SSB to the gallbladder brigade on 80m. -- Gordon JC Pearce MM0YEQgordon...@gjcp.net Hi Gordon, MM0YEQ At the age of 80 (March 15th) I found that comment very very offensive. I think that the gallbladder comment was offensive from the perspective that it was derogatory. I think it's important for all parts of amateur radio to understand how other parts view them. That peer pressure helps to all have conversation (when it gets to be a bad view) which can help us arrive at educating each other about why our views, behavior, equipment, operating practices etc. are different. In addition I see that you technically don't know the advantages of the SSB over FM This is a little on the assumptive side of the conversation. He may in fact completely understand what SSB brings to the table, but also understand, that practically, FM, WiFi, PSK or any other mode doesn't necessarily enable communications through a satellite as much as it facilitates a particular type of operating practice, some of which are easier to use, than others. For very short duration conversations, SSB tuning around diminishes the usable time, because it inhibits communications for the moments that the stations are chasing each other. I.e. you don't know where the other station is at on the dial, and you tune around as they are calling, and then they start tuning away because no one comes back immediately. With FM, you either hear them, or you don't, and the small single frequency sats make it unnecessary to guess. You just need a Doppler tuning capable radio, and either software to do Doppler for you, or some experience to learn how to do it yourself, manually. Listen here please how looks an SSB QSO via VO-52 made day 28 november 2011 between my self and IW6OVD and compare with any FM satellite. http://hamradio.selfip.com/iw6ovd/VO-52.mp3 Listening to this, points out the difference in operating practices required between FM and SSB. It also illustrates a casual conversation on a satellite, which some would argue is something that you should not be using such limited resources for. The fact that you are using your native language, might say to someone who doesn't know the language, that you are trying to ignore or leave out other Amateur operators who you don't want interfering with your QSO. That is the same kind of experience that many newer HF spectrum users find on 80m. There are some decade or longer friends roundtables on that band, and many of those conversations are so specific and/or so small in interest (health issues) that others operators don't feel like they can join the conversation. On most of the other bands, conversations are very different in nature. I'm not trying to be harsh Domenico. Your contributions in the forum here, are always professional and educational. I just want you to have an idea of how someone else might perceive your intent so that you can see how the original derogatory comment can become easy to toss out, in conversation. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW 73 de i8CVS Domenico ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: NASA Video - Coming Back Down to our Fragile Oasis
On 11/23/2011 5:02 PM, Miguel Barreiro wrote: Hi, Perhaps someone on this list knows of a good video capture utility that'll work on the NASA website. Video capture utility? tcpdump is your friend :) Saved to http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5S6R67YH for the benefit of the flashplugin-impaired - download and play with videolan, mplayer or whatever player of your choice. I renamed the .flv file to have the extension .m4v, and then it played readily on everything I needed it to. Thanks for extracting it Miguel. Gregg ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: NASA Video - Coming Back Down to our Fragile Oasis
It's really sad that this is not a downloadable video that could be played on my mobile device for people regardless of being on the network or not. Gregg On 11/23/2011 2:11 PM, Trevor . wrote: I liked this NASA video. The journey home from the International Space Station, Ron Garan KF5GPO, Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko Expedition 27 an 28. http://www.nasa.gov/news/highlights/Peter_Gabriel_Oasis.html A time-lapse video is about as close as we can come to show what astronauts see in space. This time-lapse video is a collaboration between images taken by Ron Garan KF5GPO and Mike Fossum KF5AQG from the International Space Station and music from Peter Gabriel. The music featured in the video is Peter Gabriel's Down to Earth. 73 Trevor M5AKA ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: OFDM Transceivers
This is a truly awesome development... Gregg On 11/1/2011 9:57 AM, Trevor . wrote: Just over a decade ago Peleg 4X1GP gave a good presentation to the annual AMSAT-UK Colloquium in Guildford that pointed out that OFDM was the way ahead for Amateur communications. Well 10 years later the first OFDM Amateur transceivers have been announced. Doodle Labs have announced a range of 64 QAM OFDM Transceivers for the Amateur bands above 420 MHz. The 420 MHz transceivers feature speeds of up to 12 Mbps and bandwidths of 10 MHz or 5 MHz, while data throughput of 48 Mbps is claimed on the 1240 MHz verssion. Details of the 420 MHz version are at http://www.doodlelabs.com/products-and-services/amateur-bands/420-450-mhz-band-dl435.html The others in the range can be seen at http://doodlelabs.com/products-and-services.html#Amateur 73 Trevor M5AKA Daily Amateur Radio Email/RSS News: http://www.southgatearc.org/ Email Your News To: editor at southgatearc.org Or Upload At: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/your_news_1.htm ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: This Is a HOBBY people
On 10/25/2011 4:47 AM, Andre wrote: Op 25-10-2011 1:36, Gregg Wonderly schreef: The Amateur Radio service is the service. All radio users are services. Even CB and FRS are services, heck it is in the acrynom of FRS Family Radio *Service* The word service is not the primary issue Andre. It's the text of the FCC part 97 regulations which describe what the amateur radio service licensee is charged with. The text says that the services of the amateur are important to the communities around them, and to the art and science of radio based communication's evolution. It says that there are things we can do that will be real and valuable and that's why the allocation of the spectrum to our use is viable. I find it really amazing how hard it is to convince people that in this free world, we all need to work together and sometimes that means you need to do something that helps someone else. Why that is so hard for some people I am just not sure. I guess if you want to have more taxes to pay, you could wait for someone from the government to be charged to do everything. Then, I guess, we wouldn't need to have Amateur Radio frequencies for our use. One could imagine that they'd go ahead and usurp all of our spectrum back to make sure we didn't interfere with their ability to do their job, while we are all setting around talking about how great it is that we don't have to help... Gregg Wonderly W5GGW ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: This Is a HOBBY people
On 10/23/2011 11:55 PM, Art McBride wrote: Greg, It is the Amateur Radio Service. It does have 5 purposes as quoted in Part 97.1 If you buy supplies and work on something you enjoy doing it is called a hobby. If you do it to establish a business we call it work. We are Amateurs because we receive no compensation for our efforts, not because we are unprofessional. So where is the conflict? Politicians are famous for finding the facts to support their conclusions. I prefer to have all of the cards on the table. Art, there is no conflict in you using Amateur Radio as a hobby. The conflict is in the exact meaning of each of the words in the subject line. The capitalization of Is a HOBBY, puts the emphasis on is and hobby, which for me says that there is no other part. I enjoy many hobby parts of Amateur Radio. But, I also believe that the service part is very important to my community. I live in Oklahoma where 4 out of 12 months of the year we have tornadoes as a huge threat, and 2 other months out of the year we have a chance for huge ice storms. So, 1/2 of my year is subject to weather events that may require some form of support for the Amateur Radio community. It's a big deal for the local Tulsa NWS office, that we have built a large UHF linked repeater system that covers pretty much all of their responsibility area. They can get direct reports from the local EOC offices from their local spotters on their VHF nets to confirm things they see on radar to be able to get a Tornado Warning out ASAP. Every single extra second saves lives. Thus, in my state, our club and its members can help by keeping equipment and agreements in place so that this system can function. When it's not needed for storm spotting, it works great for wide area bike ride support. We have about 10 different significant bicycle events with 100 mile rides in this area each year. Those people are staying in good health and enjoying the out doors. I like the outdoors too, so going out to help is not a problem for me. I've just had family events with my daughters in Marching Band contests for the past 6 years, and that has kept me from being able to support the 3 big events of the fall (MS-150, Tulsa Tough, Dam Jam) or the others in between. People are safer because we drive the routes and provide transport of food, drink and broken bikes and riders. Sure, someone else could do it for pay, but why not exchange some services, for a T-Shirt that you can wear around the house, and a good time using Amateur Radio to talk to your friends, to boot. Gregg Wonderly ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: This Is a HOBBY people
On 10/25/2011 10:09 AM, Michael Schulz wrote: On Tue, 2011-10-25 at 09:53 -0500, Gregg Wonderly wrote: Art, there is no conflict in you using Amateur Radio as a hobby. The conflict is in the exact meaning of each of the words in the subject line. The capitalization of Is a HOBBY, puts the emphasis on is and hobby, which for me says that there is no other part. I enjoy many hobby parts of Amateur Are you for real? Just checking. You are really spending valuable time of your day to dissect a posting to a mailing list word by word and nitpick about it? WOW! Mike, I do computer software for a living, and every single character, word and symbol is important to the meaning of what I type. I've been using the internet since the 80's when I was in college, reading peoples posts, and in fact understanding a great deal of what people really mean by reading what they type. Its not easy to glean exact meanings from what people type. But, the subject line, for me, is a big indicator of what is going to be in the post. Certainly you can be amazed at my attention to details that are not important to you. And you can decide what value it is to you for me to do that. But in the end, I'm serious about what the amateur radio service really is, and if you don't think that there is any service required, and you can just play about and have fun and not give back in any way, then go for it. No one can stop you... Gregg Wonderly ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: This Is a HOBBY people
97.1 Basis and purpose.- The rules and regulations in this Part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles: (a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications. (b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art. (c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communications and technical phases of the art. (d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts. (e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill. None of these items say this is a hobby nor do they allude to just having fun. I am not trying to say that its just serious in nature, but there is a considerable amount of personal responsibility and focused effort implied by the above points. Think seriously about the phrase This is a HOBBY people. It's not just a hobby, although there are many things that you might do with Amateur Radio that don't focus on the above points. The above points are the reason why the FCC lets you have a license and allows us to use the frequencies. If we don't focus on fulfilling the responsibilities and charter of these points with some effort, we are just riding on the heals of the hard work of others, who do, in fact, have these things at the forefront of their efforts to do good things with Amateur Radio. We need to have discussions and we need to focus on the things that do have meaning related to the 5 points above. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 10/23/2011 3:33 PM, Kevin Deane wrote: As much as I enjoy the banter, animosity and sometimes really brilliant posts, I want to remind everyone that this is a HOBBY! Amateur Radio. Shut up and have fun, some of you take this WAY TO SERIOUSLY. Kevin KF7MYK ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: some exceedingly clever technology
This is exactly the kind of low tech solution that we need to use in amateur sats to have orientation and orbital control. But, I worry that if we did demonstrate control, would we be allowed to be in control since the craft could then become a weapon in the hands of the wrong person. Gregg W5GGW On 8/24/2011 10:11 PM, R Oler wrote: http://onorbit.com/node/3709 Robert G. Oler WB5MZO Life member AMSAT ARRL NARS ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
What kind of codec makes the most sense to you? We have things like D-Star that have existing hardware (the codec exists and is documented). Many really seem to find it unusable since they have to pay for it. I find it odd that their time to reinvent the wheel is somehow free. Are there any other answers, such as the GSM codec? Echolink uses that, and thus a path out of an echolink client to the ISS could be direct. I have a Java version of the echolink client that I wrote quite a few years back that could be used to investigate digital voice with other software codecs. It would seem wise for the RF modulation scheme to have a reasonable FEC to try and minimize retransmission. What kinds of modulation schemes would be easy to put on board the ISS and potentially other craft that could be 100% hardware based to minimize the moving parts? For example are there any existing FPGA kind of device based SDR kits with digital data modulation? I've seen quite a few that are based on complete programs running on Windows or other OSes. We'll need something in hardened hardware I'd think. Thoughts? Gregg Wonderly On 8/20/2011 9:10 PM, Phil Karn wrote: On 8/19/11 7:51 AM, Gregg Wonderly wrote: What kind of digital are you suggesting? Voice and data both? A digital path from anywhere on the planet to the appropriate ground station is easily doable with some documentation of the ground stations. Digital voice would be the easiest to support since the data rate is so modest. Low rate data ( 100 kb/s) wouldn't be much harder. All it takes is a stabilized platform with microwave antennas. Any ground station with an Internet connection could automatically link with the ISS and relay it to a central point (e.g., Houston) and then hand it off to the next ground station. One advantage we hams have always had over NASA itself are our numbers and geographical distribution. We obviously wouldn't be able to cover the large parts of the earth that are entirely water but we could still do a pretty good job with the rest. ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Turn off AGC when receiving BPSK-1000
On 8/18/2011 10:38 PM, Phil Karn wrote: On 8/18/11 11:03 AM, JoAnne Maenpaa wrote: Yeah, we still have dreams! At various times it had been called AMSAT-Eagle, Phase IV Lite, C-C Rider, and other things. You'll notice from the dates on these papers how long we've had this dream of a millions dollar rideshare with a millions dollar satellite ... Yes, and the fact that none of these piggyback payloads have ever come to fruition, while we do continue to get the occasional ad-hoc small satellite deployment opportunity, suggests that we need our own attitude determination and control system if at all possible. The most likely opportunity to piggyback a payload on a controlled platform with its own power supply would be the ISS itself. Although they've already got plenty of comm systems, one might pitch this as yet another backup comm system. It wouldn't be terribly hard to network the ground stations so that a conversation could be maintained as the ISS moves from one to the next. To simplify the implementation, provide good voice quality and a backup data capability, the system would have to be completely digital. What kind of digital are you suggesting? Voice and data both? A digital path from anywhere on the planet to the appropriate ground station is easily doable with some documentation of the ground stations. Gregg Wonderly ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: A rose is a rose... is a rose
Yes Phil, you are correct. Communications and earth observation in orbit are great examples of space applications that have succeeded. But, they are also things that we've already done. I admit that there is probably more to explore and learn here, near to us, but I was really thinking about more distant space exploration. Our planet is pretty boring from the perspective that we are here, and get get around on it to see what's on the surface. Subsurface exploration in the Ocean (I'd like to know a lot more about those now underwater cities that appear to have been buried by catastrophic floods from ICE age ice dams breaking), and other deep earth observations would be a good thing to learn more about what is going on without planet and how we are affecting. Higher orbit or distant communications systems are exciting. A repeater or two on the moon for example would be something that we might try and be ready to provide should a moon mission come up on the horizon. Gregg Wonderly On 8/13/2011 4:46 PM, Phil Karn wrote: On 8/9/11 4:47 PM, Gregg Wonderly wrote: But, if no one who has the money wants to fund space flight, then it won't ever happen privately. I.e. why hasn't the privetization already happened? I think it's because it doesn't make money. There's nothing known to generate value out of space flight. Actually, there's one space application that has proved quite commercially viable: communications. Commercial earth resources satellites are a distant second. I can't think of anything else. Exploration for its own sake is never going to be commercially viable. There has to be some short-term economic payoff. There's a long history of those who have become rich in some other industry funding an earth expedition out of personal interest, but the cost of space flight is still far too high for this to extend to space. It means that the funding of space exploration will have to remain the province of governments for the time being. There's just no payoff for commercial investment, at least not yet. -Phil ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: A rose is a rose... is a rose
that the new person can be paid some money. If more value is created in the economy with new products, then the price of other items have to decline for that other value to be accessible for purchase. If you have to plan your business to continuously reduce prices, how far can you go before you can't? What does that do to initial prices and who can purchase? The Fed controls available money, hoping to manage this appropriately so that printing only should happen when new economic value exists. Getting more of the resource such as mining gold/silver, would be like printing money because once you add it to the economy, there will be more available and the worth of the existing will likely decline unless there is additional value added to the economy to make the gold harder to get. This is why some people believe the Fed is okay as long as it's managed appropriately. It is cheaper to print money then it is to mine gold, and gold and silver are useful resources, where as paper is manufactured from renewable resources. With the Fed in operation, the annual cost of living increase in your pay check was about equalizing your money with the Fed printing rate so that you didn't have to take an effective cut in pay because of the inflation being created. The Fed prints enough new money to take growth into account, based on what it can track. The problem was that too much money was being loaned out and the banks had stacked their own debt at more than 10-to-1 against cash on hand with loans because of lack of regulation. Thus the economy was larger than the Fed could perceive and we didn't have enough cash to cover such risky behavior. And yes, the risky behavior should not of been happening either. It's important to learn how it all works so that we understand that privetization is possible, but there are countless circumstances that don't always make it economically possible. Money, today, is a vehicle that can be used for a lot of things, and the misuse of it, as we've seen, can destroy the economy or damage it severely. The X-Prize, for example had very view participants because there wasn't any real prize except recognition, and ultimately the knowledge gained from participation. Where are all the interests at really? I think there should be lots of interest, but I sure don't see anything that would suggest that there would be 10 space flight companies making regular trips into space by 2020. This is way off topic for this group... Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 8/9/2011 11:08 AM, R Oler wrote: Greg. well all I can say is that anyone who says that the US has virtually abandoned crewed spaceflight is not up on current events. What we are doing is transitioning from a program of the military industrial complex to one which centers on private enterprise...and that will open space access for a lot of things. And that will include amateur radio payloads. In my view the association between amateur radio and human spaceflight has hurt amateur radio more then it has helped. Go read The Revolution in Military Affairs...and you will get the drift Robert G. Oler WB5MZO Life member AMSAT ARRL NARS Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 10:08:01 -0500 From: w5...@cox.net To: orbit...@hotmail.com CC: m5...@yahoo.co.uk; amsat-bb@amsat.org; bruni...@usna.edu Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: A rose is a rose... is a rose When these kinds of comments come up, I often wonder how many people actually understand how the US economy works. I spend some time to put together some view points of how the FED is affecting what's happening and how the basis of the FED as a mechanism is not really working to manage the complexities of our economy. There are things all over youtube.com which are records of senate and congressional committee sessions, historical videos, documentaries etc. If you are not really sure how the FED works and what all the troubles of the economy in the U.S. and the world (because many countries chose to tie themselves to our currency system), visible my Google+ post that I've put up and look around at some of the videos I've linked to. https://plus.google.com/110612293771822302429/posts/eG6QC13kgv8 Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 8/5/2011 5:39 PM, R Oler wrote: Trevor...there is not a chance that is going to happen. The US is on the verge of a revolution in space affairs (to mimic Admiral Bill Owens) and we are about to leave a technowelfare program and go into something truly free enterprise. Watch Robert G. Oler WB5MZO life member AMSAT ARRL NARS Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 23:04:09 +0100 From: m5...@yahoo.co.uk To: amsat-bb@amsat.org; bruni...@usna.edu Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: A rose is a rose... is a rose Bob, Politicians are the same the world over. I note that some of your Politicians seem paranoid about the USA's biggest trading partner, Beijing
[amsat-bb] Re: ARISSat-1 Atenna - Better Link
There is that username we needed to know! So, all of Clint's photos are visible in his gallery at: http://gallery.me.com/clintbradford#100271 Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 8/3/2011 10:37 PM, Jeff Moore wrote: Thanks Clint, That link worked a lot better! Jeff Moore -- KE7ACY - Original Message - From: Clint Bradfordclintbradf...@mac.com To: AMSAT BBamsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 10:26 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISSat-1 Atenna - Better Link I am finding out who has a Mac and who doesn't (grin) ... sorry about the too-long filenames with weird characters. Here's a better more-accessible link to the photo gallery cited earlier. http://web.me.com/clintbradford/k6lcs/EVA29-1.html Clint Bradford 909-241-7666 ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: ARISSat-1 Atenna - Better Link
And, for those with iOS devices, iPhone, iPad, iPod that can download apps, if you will install the Gallery app from apple, you can add a gallery using 'clintbradford' as the username, and have all of those pictures handy on your device to show and talk about. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 8/3/2011 12:26 PM, Clint Bradford wrote: I am finding out who has a Mac and who doesn't (grin) ... sorry about the too-long filenames with weird characters. Here's a better more-accessible link to the photo gallery cited earlier. http://web.me.com/clintbradford/k6lcs/EVA29-1.html Clint Bradford 909-241-7666 ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Good stills on Flickr
These photos need some retouching to fix the details back into view... Gregg On 8/3/2011 4:02 PM, Mark L. Hammond wrote: http://www.flickr.com/photos/valkyries1/6005117203/in/set-72157627223306577/ Thanks to the ARISSat website for the link! http://www.arissat1.org/v3/ ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: ARISSat-1 - Photos from NASA TV
That should be http://gallery.me.com/username/#100271. The username is all that is needed. Gregg On 8/3/2011 1:48 PM, Joe wrote: Can we have your user name and password to look at these photos? Joe WB9SBD The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com On 8/3/2011 10:56 AM, Clint Bradford wrote: Fifty screenshots of ARISSat-1 taken from first 30 minutes of EVA29 ... https://www.me.com/gallery/#100271 Clint Bradford ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Atlantis Now In Orbit
The web accessible (or iPhone etc) Nasa TV feed showed it. What were you watching? Gregg Wonderly On 7/8/2011 11:45 AM, B J wrote: --- On Fri, 7/8/11, saguaroas...@cox.netsaguaroas...@cox.net wrote: snip The glitch was a non confirmation of the gaseous vent arm retract. They turned a camera to it and validated that it had in fact retracted and resumed the count from there. about a 2 minute hold. I heard that being mentioned. I was surprised, however, that the count resumed at T-31 seconds where it was halted. I thought that it would be restarted at a point earlier in the sequence, such as T-9 minutes. I don't ever recall a launch, even as far back as Mercury, in which a countdown was stopped so close to ignition and then continued from where it left off. A nominal launch, good enough to eliminate the OMS-1 Burn. I noticed that. It's too bad that there was no live TV transmission of the ET separation seen from the tank itself. I always liked the view of the orbiter heading off. snip There was a glitch just as control was about to be handed over to the on-board computers but, others than that, it was a good launch. 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: FM satellites
On 7/7/2011 2:57 AM, John Ronan wrote: On 7 Jul 2011, at 01:33, Bob Bruninga wrote: The issue here is not the failure of the cell site, it is the 10 million people that all try to use their cell phones at once. It takes days for people to get their urgent calls through before the load goes down enough to have any hope of getting in. But like in Haiti, even after a few days, the emergency persisted and still everyone needed to use their phones for urgent requirements and so the load on the few hundered cell channels persisted Exactly, It happened in Dunmore East (http://www.waterford-dunmore.com/tourism/web) last Sunday morning. Huge crowds descended on the village to watch the Tall Ships (http://www.waterfordtallshipsrace.ie/) leaving Waterford Harbour in the parade of sail. For several hours it was impossible to send text messages or maintain a voice call (the system suckered you into thinking it was working by ringing, and then the person would answer, the channel lasted long enough to say hello). We brought our communications network with us, so it wasn't a problem for us, but it was an eye opener for the County Council people who were 'coordinating' via mobile phone. The fast majority of people using cellular services don't understand the channelization that occurs and how limiting that is to the total number of people that can use a particular cell at any time. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: FM satellites
On 7/6/2011 4:30 PM, Bob Bruninga wrote: In emergency situation novadays a cell-phone is much much better and reliable. I think there are a lot of people in Haiti that might disagree Unfortunately, we have a lot of people with ham licenses who have never understood or seen the complexity behind cellular networks to understand how fragile they actually are. Sure, the cell site is wireless to you, but it has power and wired telephony requirements that put it several steps on the risk ladder above a ham repeater, and extremely high risk for failure compared to simplex radio comms. Gregg ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: FD Mess
In my several years of being a licensed ham, this is the theme of most contacts about SAT work. The OSCAR class stations always just do whatever they want. It seems that the attitude is, I've spent the time and money to have this kind of station, and I'm entitled to use it at my discretion. I think it is great to see this kind of dedication to operating, but as many are saying here and have said before, it seems a little bit more than unfair that a single resource on the other end, is not shared fairly, especially for equipment which was intended to be shared. Satellites are limited resources. If you put a lot of time and money into your station to use that limited resource, you might also consider putting some time and money into getting additional resources up in the air so that it's easier for you to make good use of your system. Nothing is free in this world... Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 6/27/2011 10:54 AM, wa4...@comcast.net wrote: Field Day to my understanding is to see how ops can get on the with the bare minimum of equipment needed to make the contact.NOT to blast the out of the bird and walk all over the little guy trying to play fair. - Original Message - From: Jeff KB2Mk...@comcast.net To: AMSATamsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 10:35:35 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: FD Mess If it wasn't for the Oscar class stations making HI POWER multi contacts who would help the vast majority of weak portable FD stations make their one FD contact? Certainly not a weak station calling CQ for 5 passes! I've never heard two OCS making contact with each other, it's always with a much weaker station. This is the other side of the same argument heard every year after FD. Anyway I got my contact :) 73 Jeff kb2m 2A SNJ -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of wa4...@comcast.net Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 11:14 AM To: AMSAT Subject: [amsat-bb] FD Mess It took me 5 satellite passes before I could make 1 contact There were too many ops making what sounded like HI POWER multi contacts .This should not have happened. Maybe someone with good writting skills could send the ARRL world above 50 an artical on how to work the birds during FD WA4HFN em55 Damon ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: FD Mess
My club event is usually quite social, but, we use logging software that has the name of the operator in it, and logs over the network. So, it's always visible, who's working and who's not. I sat down on two different bands on two different occasions for about 1.5 hours each, calling CQ using phone with W5OK. I worked nearly 400 stations doing that, and if I wanted to put in more time, I could have more than doubled that by going to other bands. I didn't use a keyer and I didn't use head phones. If you want to contest, and want people around you to learn to contest, field day is a great time to go out and show people how to do 30 sec or less contacts. If the experienced and capable operators hide in the comfort of the house and work as a 1D, then field day will soon just be a contest from the house... Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 6/27/2011 6:34 PM, John Geiger wrote: I wish it was treated like a major contest by my local club-I might attend their FD setup then. 73s John AA5jG - Original Message - From: Joen...@mwt.net To:amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 11:22 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: FD Mess I know the ARRL says it is not a contest. but if you believe that I have a lovely swamp in Arizona to sell you. I know many clubs that it is a MAJOR contest for them and some it's the onluy one they enter in. Joe WB9SBD The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com On 6/27/2011 1:21 PM, Nigel Gunn wrote: A bigger FD problem is that FD is advertised as a chance to demonstrate your emergency comms ability to Joe Public. FD is NOT a contest so why are points and bonuses involved at all? On 27/06/11 19:13, Bill Acito W1PA wrote: I think we have to let go of the mantra that “any use of the bandwidth is good use” with respect to “encouraging more satellite activity”. Wasn’t that the original intent of the “100 point bonus” items? To encourage specific activities – traffic handling, promotion, emergency power, etc. ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Icom D-Star
On 4/29/2011 3:23 AM, don wrote: Hi Greg, Sorry to say this, but your analogy to just another component is plain wrong. The vocoder cannot be replaced by another generic component as far as I can ascertain. I cant' even find the algorithms that would allow me to program a DSPIC or fpga at home in my meager lab to perform any of the functions in the codec. I am not suggesting that you create your own version of that codec Don. I am suggesting that you can put this codec into a design to make it work with D-Star now. Later, if another codec becomes popular, if you've done the design right, you could plug in another codec that would change the form of the coded data and recognize that form for decoding and presto, you swap in the new codec and you don't have to worry about being dependent on D-Star. In a sense, this is exactly the thing that the FM-USB-LSB-Digital knob does on your existing multi-mode rig. You just have to think about D-Star as a mode, and not as a rig or a standard and move on to experimenting with what you can master instead of only what you can make. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Icom D-Star
One of the ways to look at the voice codec is as a capacitor, amplifier or some other component of you circuit design. Sure, it's single source, but if you are careful about how you put it in, you can provide a switched circuit, daughter board or some other path to alternative codecs. It just depends on what your real desire is, and how complicated you want to make your system. I.e; if you are worried about designing a system with a single source codec, don't design it that way. Sure we have open systems, but we also have single source systems, like windows. Many many people are content with saying, if it doesn't run on windows, I'm not interested in it because that's all they've ever used. Or, even worse, I'm not supporting anything but windows because I don't know how to do that on Linux, or Mac or B-OS or... Look at what is happening with Apple. Every quarter they are reporting explosive growth in Mac sales (2x from same period a year ago for this past quarter) and other items. That is completely single source stuff, but you can run windows or linux on a mac. People are finding value in the package they see and are switching horses so to speak. Everywhere in life we get to make choices, measure the good vs bad with our own skills and experiences etc. In the end, our choices and experiences are controlled if not limited by any decision we make. Don't think about this from the single vendor perspective. Think about this from the what can I do with this technology perspective that is that heart of HAM radio experimentation. Clearly ICOM is now understanding that if you can't access a repeater with digital data services, then paying 2x the cost of an analog rig of the same caliber just doesn't make sense to most people. Also, as this discussion has illustrated, some of us have no interest in the whole of digital coded data and voice. Gregg Wonderly On 4/27/2011 9:33 PM, Tony Langdon wrote: At 11:33 AM 4/28/2011, you wrote: I'd like to point out that it's difficult, at best, to participate when you can't roll your own. There are many codecs available out there today that don't require purchasing a license to use. The biggest problem right now is that D-Star isn't backward compatible or you could implement one of those freely-licensed codecs now and let people design their own implementation. Tell that to the likes of G4KLX, KI4LKF, the ircDDB team, PA4YBR, the designers and builders of various GMSK modems, and even AA4RC and Moe, who designed the DV Dongle hardware (not to mention those who are building their own Dongles). Sure, the codec is proprietary, but there are implementations available, from a bare chip (at around $20) to the DV Dongle for people to play with. And there's a LOT of tinkering to be done without even decoding the audio, as many of the above people can attest to first hand. As far as I'm concerned, this argument is a furphy. There are open source implementations for just about everything else - gateways, repeaters, GMSK modem (using a soundcard), routing advertisements (ircDDB), everything except DPlus (though there is an open source functional equivalent - DExtra). 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Icom D-Star
So as every followup seems to have detailed, there is an increase in desired bandwidth with a direct need in required spectrum. If we can reduce spectrum, we increase distance the signal can transit. If we increase bandwidth for a particular size spectrum, we improve the amount of information we send. The problems with current voice compression being understood have to do with remedial compression techniques based on available compute power. I suggested FPGA because of exactly this issue. Sure, people pick the easy route because they can buy those solutions and get into the marketplace faster. What needs to happen is the Apple thing. We need a company that actually cares enough about the quality of what it can ship, worries about power requirements and optimizes performance to create a truly awesome voice CODEC standard. The cell phone market keeps trying to optimize the bandwidth needs to increase their spectrum's available capacity. We are frustrated by the attributes of AM-VSB television characteristics vs ATSC coded VSB television. Because, the minimal available information transitions to no available information in a very short distance and signal level change. Thus we can't hear the TV at least. Either we get everything, or we get nothing. This is where we are at with digital emission standards at this point. It's not the perfect solution because we are not sending enough information to recreate a perfect version of the original audio sample, for audio stuff. But, we are able to use the complete 12.5khz that D-Star is using (down from 20khz wide band FM is at now, and less than half of the old 30khz stuff that the old mobile phone radios were using). That 12.5khz has 2 channels in it. One for voice an done for data. So more information is bandwidth is available. This is one of those experimentation moments. Not everyone is happy with where it is at, but without some more participation, those experimenting now will be the ones setting the standards, and if you are not happy with those results, it will be your fault not theirs, because you chose not to participate. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 4/25/2011 6:10 AM, Ben Jackson wrote: On 4/23/2011 2:42 PM, Gordon JC Pearce wrote: On Sat, 2011-04-23 at 10:42 -0500, Gregg Wonderly wrote: In the end, digital compression of spectrum space is going to happen more and more. AM style broadcast is hugely inefficient even though it is painfully Okay, but *why*? Why are we so obsessed with squeezing bandwidth down and down, at the expense of intelligibility? You unfortunately provided data on why we should get ahead of crunching down bandwidth: Because sooner or later, we're going to get squeezed for bandwidth due to our spectrum being fairly empty and everyone and their brother wanting to push IP to their new wireless toaster service. I'm not a fan of proprietary codecs but our lack of an alternative back in the 2000s caused D-STAR to be used with AMBE. Too bad, so sad. Don't support it, probably not going to use it. My worry is that even though we provided a alternative with Codec2, what cutting edge technology that will be here five years from now are we not developing because we were playing catch up? ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Icom D-Star
In the end, digital compression of spectrum space is going to happen more and more. AM style broadcast is hugely inefficient even though it is painfully simple to do. I don't really believe that D-Star is the right choice for everything because it is single source. But, so is Microsoft windows, MacOS-X, and many other software based systems. If you are an FPGA programmer, perhaps you can build an FPGA based CODEC for amateur radio that would do voice compression etc. But in the end, you also have to have an transmitter with the appropriate bandwidth output to reduce the spectrum used. It's by no means a simple task. Everything in a radio system has to change to do spectrum conservation or provide high speed digital data transmission. The simple fact is that HAM radio emission standards (simple voice modulated with some simple emission standard) are now more than a century old. As capable as they are, the abilities they present seem minimal to some. I think that there are great things about them because they do allow long distance communications which the HAM community regularly uses to support distant operations which provide aid to areas struck by natural disaster. But, we all have to understand that it costs money to do anything new and different. People experimenting with stuff is great, but it minimizes who can participate if you have to build it or pay a lot. That's just life in general. You can't participate in everything unless you have the resources to do that. In the US, any digital communications that is coded in some way only needs to have a publicly visible document detailing how it works for the FCC regulations to be met. Other places in the world may have different requirements and that's nothing new is it? Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 4/23/2011 5:37 AM, Gordon JC Pearce wrote: On Sat, 2011-04-23 at 20:00 +1000, Tony Langdon wrote: At 07:33 PM 4/23/2011, you wrote: The chips are readily available at a few hundred dollars apiece, and if you attempt to implement your own AMBE codec then you're going to have DVSI's lawyers jumping on you. More like $20 apiece in small (possible 1 off) quantities. I'd love to know where you're seeing them for that much in onesy-twoesy quantities Proprietary software has no place in Amateur Radio. It's hardware with firmware. So let's throw out all the other proprietary bits (processors with embedded code, etc) and go back to soldering valves? Yes, throw out the proprietary bits. Write your own, it's easy. The simple fact of the matter was back around 2000 when the D-STAR spec was developed, there weren't a lot of choices for how to compress speech into 2.4kbps and have FEC. AND have it available in a suitable form for implementation into mobile and handheld radios. While the proprietary codec is a minor inconvenience in some situations, it's proved to be no impediment to home brew enhancements to D-STAR. The number of ham developed D-STAR projects is significant, so that one chip hasn't proved to be an impediment to ham experimentation in practice. Yes, back around 2000. It's over ten years old. We have better codecs and better modulation schemes now. Why are we crippling digital comms with a single-source proprietary codec that sounds like an angry duck in a tin outhouse? The commercial world is no better - just look at DMR, which uses the same awful AMBE codec! Gordon MM0YEQ ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: FT-8800R new toy
For sat ops mobile, you will get the most success out of a 1/4 wave antenna on a good ground plane. It will give you a hemispherical emission pattern so that any direction in LOS is equally covered. Gregg W5GGW Sent from my iPhone On Mar 13, 2011, at 4:28 PM, Ari Kosonen ari.koso...@gmail.com wrote: 2011/3/13 Bob- W7LRD w7...@comcast.net Not wanting to reinvent the wheel. Anyone using the FT-8800R mobile for satellites have any hints or sugestions, antennas etc. Email direct-thanks. Hi, I am using FT-8900R (practically same as '8800 plus 6m and 10m) for working satellites from my car. My antenna is a Diamond NR770 dualband whip on the trunk lid of my car. While this setup is ok for usual mobile FM operation and APRS, it is probably not optimal for satellite ops. I have got better results on satellites with a dual band mag whip on the roof the my car. Especially when the satellite is below ~60 degrees it can be reached easily when I can hear it (thanks to 50 watts on the uplink). When the sat is higher than that the whip is not so good. I have been working mainly on AO-51 and I have preprogrammed the uplink/downlink channel pairs with different doppler values so it is easy to follow the sweet spot while the sat first approaches (above the nominal frequency on downlink) and the starts to fly away (below the nominal freq). Programming goes easily with FTB8900 software by G4HFQ. As same channel pairs are available both on the left and right side of the radio, I usually transmit and listen on the left side of the radio and try to listen my own signal on downlink with the right side of the rig. With a single mobile whip the sensitivity of the downlink rx is usually not good enough during the transmission. This might be better with separate antennasa for uplink and downlink. I have planned to use my Arrow yagi with FT-8900R. As the Arrow's diplexer is rated only max 10 watts, I bought 100w rated separate diplexer to be used with '8900 instead. But I have not tried this combination yet. 73 de Ari OH3KAV / OH7KA Tampere, Finland (grid: KP11) ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Is it 100% impossible to work a satellite below thehorizon?
When the RF signal leaves the duct, it doesn't disappear. It keeps radiating in the direction that it was going, and can successfully reach any altitude appropriate for that line of propagation. The hard part, is then getting the return path (the downlink freq) to propagate with the same characteristics so that you can actually hear it. But, it is not impossible at all... Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 3/12/2011 6:53 PM, John Geiger wrote: It might have happened before on some of the Mode K satellites, due to F2, but not sure if the other modes would work below the horizon, as getting the conditions right on both bands would be pretty tough. Tropo wouldn't get high enough into the air to get into the satellite. Has anyone heard AO7 in mode A when it is below your horizon due to F2 skip extending your range of the satelllite? 73s John AA5JG - Original Message - From: Bill Dzurillabilldz@yahoo.com To:amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2011 12:25 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Is it 100% impossible to work a satellite below thehorizon? I was giving a presentation at our club meeting called Working DX on the Satellites and afterwards someone had a good question: is it at all possible that tropo, skip, or other form of enhanced propagation can enable a contact via a satellite below the horizon? It has never happened to me. Has it ever happened? 73, Bill NZ5N ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: CH-19 11 Meters
I guess that this is always an interesting issue. Do you belittle people to make them change or do you give them corrective help by instructive comments? Ted, what do you feel is the best approach? What has been your experience in the past? Do you think that it helps you to feel better when you can make others feel bad about something they are failing at, or do you think it makes you feel better when you help people be successful at something that they seem to have no ability to improve at? I generally find I feel better when I can be helpful because then the people I help, feel better because they are successful, and I feel better because they tell me thank you instead of posting on a list of my peers to tell me and everyone else how unhelpful I've been. Ted, what are your thoughts? Gregg W5GGW On 2/1/2011 9:23 PM, Ted wrote: Well, Kevin complain away...I'm the one that commented about 11 Meters. If you don't have a sense of humor, maybe you need another hobby. After about 2 days of your absolutely terrible 'audio'/CB style feedback, I could not restrain myself. Get over it. Since you were obviously duplex and aware of your condition, you should have stayed off the air until you fixed it! So, with that said, I need your grid and you need mine, so see you on SO-67 in a bit. 73, Ted, K7TRK -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Kevin Deane Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 6:00 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] CH-19 11 Meters Hello alll, I would just like to see if there was anyone that would like to comment on someones childish coments over the air on the AO-51 this weekend. Being new at this I did have some feedback on my transmissions. I corrected the problem with some headphones. I am saying flat out that the CH19 few channels down and 11 Meters check in now and get a real radio were unprofessional and certainly uncalled for. I doubt that the person making these comments will step up now, I just wanted to see if anyone had the guts to comment on this. I know that others heard this. The person guilty of this childish behaviour, at the time stated Hey - So-67 in 4 hours I was on that pass and made a couple contacts, but do to the different audio was unable to identify this child. I did hear some dead keys, may or may not have been directed towards me. This kind of thing is unacceptable to me and if I get the call sign of anyone doing these things I will report it. Kevin S. Deane KF7MYK ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Re RE: Clint
I guess, practically, the outside is how they keep you alive. If that was how you introduced space, as a career, to young kids/adults, the importance of space based careers which you might discuss later, might just go in one ear, and out the other because of the overwhelming fact about this giant elephant, named risk of death, standing in the room. It's much better to let everyone think about the good that they will make happen rather than how often their life will be at risk due to unforeseen circumstances associated with the space environment. We share risk of death on the planet just like off the planet. We just feel the risks are much more controllable on the planet. In reality they really are not that controllable. We hear about many of those uncontrollable moments on the evening news and read about them in the morning. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On 12/15/2010 9:34 AM, Michael wrote: Thanks Rick ! I did have opportunity to see and go through a mock up ISS at Huntsville. I was chaperoning a young astronaughts group. They talked alot about the interior but not the design and the exterior. Mike N8GBU ___ 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: Lithium polymer batteries
The most predominate problem is people using the wrong chargers for them. They think to themselves, This is a rechargable battery, I can just use my expensive NiMh/NiCd charger I already bought. The problem is, of course, that the LiPo cells have a completely different charging profile that is short-high and then long-low, instead of the previous long-high, short-low of the other common cell types. Thus, people end up charging them for too long at High-C and boom, they overheat and catch fire. The Radio Controlled Model industry has already gone through large failure occurrences with the charging problem, burning up multi-hundred dollar/hour investments, catching houses on fire etc. Most people now charge LiPo batteries outside the models, and use a fired-clay pot or other heat tolerant container just to be safe. Using the correct charger goes a long ways towards nearly eliminating all problems. You have to have a temperature monitor to really do it right, but any production battery charging facility needs that. Gregg Wonderly whit...@usa.net wrote: Following up on the Lithium polymer battery mention I Googled them and was disturbed to find: -high fire risk. One seller offers flame retardant bags to put the cells in while charging them... for $25 -(as warned) high prices especially considering the more-unique balanced charger / discharger devices at ~$100 and up being required in addition to the cells themselves -a hazardous materials uplift for FedEx shipment ranging from $25-$45 depending on destination, on top of normal shipping rates All of that tells me they're not ready for prime time though the current capacity vs weight looks very promising. I will wait and watch, hoping the technology matures into something safer and less costly as time goes on. Likely it will, particularly the cheaper part, though it appears some safety issues have to be addressed meaningfully. Thanks for the mention. It is interesting. Lowell K9LDW ___ 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: AMSAT Board of Directors Candidates
The important thing to remember is that radio communications must be hard to do, require extra effort, if not repeated failure as well as persecution by those who have succeeded one time before, and it is most vital that anyone with existing equipment should never be required to change gear. But those with incompatible gear must buy old stuff to meet the approval of those who have spent the past 50 years talking to the same people using the same mode and antennas to prove, repeatedly that they can say 73 and Roger while holding their mic, tuning their transceiver and switching antenna polarization all while eating a donut. It is important to get the facts right and not do anything that would make there be no reason to get another box of donuts for the coming week of Roger-73s. After all amateur radio is about socialization and personal communications. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW On Jun 16, 2010, at 7:28 PM, Dee morse...@optonline.net wrote: To All... I just got off FO-29. It sure sounded very nice and it didn't have any pileups. I made 2 contacts with no one else heard. AMSAT-NA has been doing its best to follow through on original Phase 3 type birds, however, launches For these type birds are not an every day opportunity being presented to us. (yes, we[us] are all part of AMSAT just by being interested in satellites) Withholding donations at the present time is not really in our interests. We need funds to keep up the present offerings for satellite launches. This is the time membership should rise and show support for our future efforts. ARRISsat-1 has a linear transponder and you can Listen to Gould's presentation from Dayton find out more on the RF setup on the website. We just had a DARA matching funds campaign and I hope that Those that realize what funding can accomplish have made that a success and I personally thank those that contributed. We have the expertise to put together a great bird but limitations of actual launches holds us back. Our Engineering team Has assured us that they are ready to be called on to supply us a phase 3 comparable satellite. HEO is not a magic word, just one That is still upfront and waiting for that timely spark. If you look at the BOD candidates, when they present their thoughts and objectives just go down the list and find those fitting Your requirements for a BOD member. This is certainly a member society and exercise your selective powers when the time comes around. If you read the ANS bulletins, members were advised on giving their inputs to BOD nominees. I see a list of volunteers that provide Us with ideas we can all deal with. So as I have pronounced before, let your feelings, ideas comments be heard by those that you Intend on electing. It's your call.Hear you on the birds! 73, Dee, NB2F NJ AMSAT Coordinator Remember-Dee is really a three letter word for HEO -Original Message- From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Dave Guimont Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 7:41 PM To: Vince Fiscus, KB7ADL Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: AMSAT Board of Directors Candidates At 02:58 PM 6/16/2010, you wrote: At 01:22 PM 6/16/2010 -0500, apbid...@mailaps.org wrote: It is my pleasure to announce that the following have been nominated to serve on the AMSAT Board of Directors for two year terms: Tom Clark, K3IO Lou McFadin, W5DID Tony Monteiro, AA2TX Gould Smith, WA4SXM Which of these candidates would support adding a Mode A linear transponder to FOX, or any type of linear transponder for that matter. FOX will already have a 2m receiver all you'd need to add is a 10m downlink transmitter. Use a tape measure tape for the antennas. Why does everything always have to be FM all the time. Vince, I've been asking the same thing for years; as others have. I hope we are getting great financial support from the fm'ers. I assume the reason for fm is the assumed cost of ssw/cw rigs in comparison to fm. I have no idea of member numbers, but assume that graph could be made available I've never been a big donor, but I've stopped my pittances since the FM promotions 73, Dave, WB6LLO dguim...@san.rr.com Disagree: I learn Pulling for P3E... ___ 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-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! 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: MedaWiki Trial
And just as an FYI, google sites is another place to do something that is maintained for you :-) Gregg Wonderly W5GGW David Gendle wrote: Greetings! I use three different Wikis on a daily basis. One is a customers site where the staff use the Wiki to share ideas and reports. The other two are used as program software support vehicles (DXLab suite of QSO logging software is one). Each is easy to use by everyone (no need to be a computer nerd!) and seems quite effective in allowing the dissemination of ideas and information. A big plus for the Wiki tool is that the search function really works (anyone ever try to use the search function of a Yahoo group?!?!?). I think that this might be a great tool for AMSAT if it can gain support of the BOD and the membership. 73, Dave - K4DLG ___ 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: The Moon is our Future
It seems to me that the correct choice is the highest frequency we can get on board for at least 24dB at the longest length of antenna that we would be allowed to send up. Gregg Wonderly W5GGW Robert Bruninga wrote: Why go with the minimal antenna gain? ... any antenna with a 3 db point that exceeds 6.5 degrees is just wasting transmitter power. I think that would be about a 24 dB gain antenna. Pretty big and would take some careful alignment... Kinda like a realy big EME array Just remember what an Oscar 10 station took to have reliable communications, At Apogee it was only 35,000 miles away, the Moon is ...] [250,000 miles] Which is 7 times farther, squared or 50 times more power (about 17 dB). BUT one easy way to get gain is to use just a long coaxial gain cable. I think it takes about 22 feet of coaxial dipole elements at 2 meters to give about 6 dB of gain. So laying down 6 dB gain segments on the rock of the moon is as easy as unrolling a spool of cable. Unrolling 8 of these with the right spacing could yield about 17 dB. Of course this woiuld only point straight up, so it would need to be on a moon base in the middle of the earth facing side. But since there is a lot of interest in moon bases near the poles where there might be water, then a similar array of layed down coaxial cable arrays could be phased horizontally to point at earth. Actually, just about any direction can be obtained with the right spacing. ONLY problem of course is there has to be someone with legs to roll out the cables. Just a thought. Bob, WB4APR ___ 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
