[amsat-bb] iOS Sat Tracking
Looking for recommendations for sat tracking on an iPad. Thanks. Jeff, KE9V ___ 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: iOS Sat Tracking
Thanks to all for the many suggestions for satellite tracking with iOS. Much appreciated! 73, Jeff KE9V On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 5:34 PM, george hinkle gwhin...@msn.com wrote: I'll give GoSatWatch a try it looks promising HamSatHd is not very easy for me. Is GoSatWatch easier in your opinion? george wi9i On Jan 16, 2014, at 3:06 PM, David Johnson wrote: GoSatWatch gets my vote 73 Dave, G4DPZ Author, AmsatDroid On 16 Jan 2014, at 15:56, Jeff Davis stuck...@gmail.com wrote: Looking for recommendations for sat tracking on an iPad. Thanks. Jeff, KE9V ___ 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] Android Sat Control
SSTL using Android handsets to control satellites, conquer the final frontier. http://engt.co/esR2EK 73, Jeff KE9V ___ 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] Another Budget Launch Vehicle
From Deutsche Welle News... Two Danish entrepreneurs are planning to launch a nine-meter high space rocket from a platform in the Baltic Sea on Saturday. They hope it will eventually pave the way for manned space flight in micro-sized spacecraft. http://goo.gl/Mw6z 73, -- Jeff, KE9V ___ 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] New Satellite Concept for Earth-Mars Comms
Direct communication between Earth and Mars can be strongly disturbed and even blocked by the Sun for weeks at a time, cutting off any future human mission to the Red Planet. An ESA engineer working with engineers in the UK may have found a solution using a new type of orbit combined with continuous-thrust ion propulsion. Read the story at PhysOrg.com: http://www.physorg.com/news174907594.html -- Jeff, KE9V ___ 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: Why do hamsats?
On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 12:01:30PM -0500, Rocky Jones wrote: Ham radio is about communicating. If we want to turn its primary task into education then it will look very very different. If you were making this point to a bunch of 40m CW operators then they would quite likely agree with you. I wouldn't respond at all except that there are no doubt a few not thinking clearly who you may have persuaded... Where you are missing the boat with your derision of projects that are more educational is that AMSAT is a very, very special subset of amateur radio. While we have plenty of communicators in our midst, by default there have to be some space engineers or we don't exist. Well, unless you assume we can raise a few million bucks and head on down to the neighborhood satellite store to buy one whenever we need a new one... Designing spacecraft is an entirely different thing that requires a wide variety of engineering skills, some of which have absolutely nothing to do with radio, antennas, or communication. So one reason that we need a steady stream of students who give a flip about what we are doing is that very soon all the folks who designed and built the Phase 3 birds will be gone. Many of them already are. And that says nothing at all about the general overall need for humans to embrace science in order to survive. Your argument is a little like the old folks who always complain about having to pay taxes that support public schools even though they never had any kids... I'll bet they are darned glad that someone got an education when they need that new hip or knee -- or heart. And besides, future projects of things that we sometimes get to play with will come from Universities and while beggars can't be choosers, wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a rosy relationship with an array of students and educators around the globe who are going to space with or without us anyway? -- Jeff, KE9V ___ 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: Let's Go!
On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 3:42 PM, Samudra Haque samudra.ha...@gmail.com wrote: if a gross estimate of $200,000 is needed for a stand-alone cubesat the average per capita support required from these active amsat-na members would be: $200,000 divided by (50% of 3800) = $200,000 / 1900 = $263 or so. Or perhaps a bit more realistically ... we need 1000 people to donate $100 this year, and $100 next year. Far and away the best bargain to come out of *any* AMSAT organization in the 21st century! 73 de Jeff, KE9V ___ 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] Let's Go!
I want to offer 'hearty congratulations' to the BOD for the courageous decisions made at the recent Space Symposium. I can think of no headline more appropriate and welcome for this organization than the declaration, We're going back to space. Perhaps this decision to move forward with what we can do will also be what was needed to get the manufacturers to quit sitting on their hands and INNOVATE! How many threads have been spawned on this BB by someone asking the question what handheld should I buy to use AO-51..? The fact that the pat answer is that there aren't any - you need to check eBay for a 20 year-old model speaks pitifully of the ham radio marketplace in the 21st century. Given the nature of LEO, portable operations are very common and going forward, will be even more so. Who among us wouldn't love a mobile sized transceiver that sported true simultaneous dual-band (VHF/UHF) operation and a continuously tunable VFO on FM in a 'satellite operation mode'? What would it be worth if that radio also could record all pass data - and had a USB port that supported a memory stick so that everything received during a pass could stored on it for offline extraction and study later when you're back in the shack. It wouldn't even require an internal TNC to download telemetry data - the audio file could simply be played back (offline) on a PC and the telemetry decoded there. There are bound to be hundreds of similar ideas and dreams of new gear, antennas, and interesting things to do at LEO - let's populate the BB with these sorts of things and look forward, not back. I'm more than ready to turn to a new chapter and get back to shaping the future of ham radio in space. Aren't you? 73 de Jeff, KE9V AMSAT-NA 28350 ___ 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: Don't Fly SuitSat2 to ISS (rebuttal)
On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 11:51:19AM -0500, Rocky Jones wrote: because if we do satellites for educational purposes then the effort is non sustainable. Your logic is flawed in several places here. First of all, you are making the same mistake as many on this BB that whatever choices that we have are somehow options. Given the option we would build several million dollar satellites and then spend $8 million US a piece to get them into a suitable transfer orbit. Fine. All we need is $25 million US and we can begin that construction tomorrow... Another flaw in your argument is this common thread that somehow it was the sophistication of AO-40 that led to its demise. The notion that such a thing exists as a simple HEO satellite needs desperately to be exorcised from the thinking of all AMSAT members. There ain't no such animal. It continues to fall on deaf ears that the entire P3 program consisted of P3A (blew up on launch), P3B (malfunction on release even though AO-10 gave a lot of people a lot of joy it was not at all a 100% success), P3C was nearly perfect except that its life was terminated much sooner than it should have been due to an orbital miscalculation. And then there was P3D and we all know its story. Four launches; one success and three not so successful launches. That's it. 1-4 is our thirty-year record at HEO. The failures were not for lack of trying, effort, or intelligence on our part, but rather, indicate what a daunting task it is to build a satellite in a garage that includes an onboard propulsion system and some sort of attitude control -- along with a communication package that doesn't piss off half the members because it will require them to invest another $200 in a new transverter... Your point about educational projects being non-sustainable is questionable. By encouraging, mentoring, and working with Universities to produce Cubesat type projects and payloads, we will be exposing amateur radio to a number of students who are presumably studying for a career in science and aerospace. Some of these will go on to become the engineering managers for the spate of commercial launch companies that will very soon arrive on the scene. And maybe, just maybe, one of them will one day have the opportunity to recommend an amateur radio project for one of those spare lifts to GTO that you and others think might some day exist and that we need to be ready to take advantage of... The truth is, we have arrived at a place in history where given the circumstances, we very likely will not be returning to HEO anytime soon, if ever. We can kick and scream and lay down and die, or we can dust ourselves off, take what we have and move forward. Of course its just my opinion, but we've cried in our beer long enough and we need to get over it and get moving. Quite frankly, the future for amateur radio in space for the next twenty-years is at LEO. AMSAT can choose to embrace that and make progress or ignore it and become totally irrelevant. AMSAT can ignore LEO but radio amateurs will not. We will keep playing with whatever assets appear on orbit with or without AMSAT but then given that scenario, who needs AMSAT? -- Jeff, KE9V AMSAT-NA AMSAT-DL ___ 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: ISS future?
On Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 4:22 PM, Trevor .m5...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: Ultimately it's all down to politics in Washington DC. Personally I think ISS will still be there in 2025 and even then they'll be looking to extend its mission. Lost in this conversation is the fact that very soon we (US) will no longer have a way to get to the ISS -- with the retirement of the shuttle fleet... I have no hard data on the structural integrity of a thin steel body that alternates between extreme heat and cold multiples times each day for decades, but it seems highly improbable that the ISS would remain on orbit for so many years and remain a safe place for humans to hang out. Don't forget that on orbit construction began in 1998 -- meaning the primary structure is older than my car and I drive a seriously tired old clunker! :-) 73 de Jeff, KE9V ___ 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] Your Own Personal Satellite
For MUCH less than the price of an IC-7800... Planet Earth has entered the age of the Personal Satellite with the introduction of Interorbital’s TubeSat Personal Satellite (PS) Kit. The new IOS TubeSat PS Kit is the low-cost alternative to the CubeSat. It has three-quarters of the mass (0.75-kg) and volume of a CubeSat, but still offers plenty of room for most experiments or functions. And, best of all, the price of the TubeSat kit actually includes the price of a launch into Low-Earth-Orbit on an IOS NEPTUNE 30 launch vehicle. Since the TubeSats are placed into self-decaying orbits 310 kilometers (192 miles) above the Earth’s surface, they do not contribute to any long-term build-up of orbital debris. After a few weeks of operation, they will safely re-enter the atmosphere and burn- up. TubeSats are designed to be orbit-friendly. Launches are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010. Total Price of the TubeSat Kit including a Launch to Orbit is $8,000! http://spacefellowship.com/2009/08/01/interorbital-syatems-tubesat-personal-satellite-kit/ -- Jeff, KE9V ___ 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] More Future Thoughts
It's interesting to watch how the desperation to have assets in high orbit has driven the ideas ever more grandiose here on the old -BB. We've moved from putting a simple transponder (as if there were such a thing) 35,000 miles over our head to landing a repeater a quarter million miles away on the Moon and using robotic rovers to lay directional antennas along the lunar surface... What's next, a Jovian constellation of amateur satellites? This is almost directly the result of having added the government into the fictional scenario. Whenever a new idea starts with, maybe we can get the government to give us a ride... then what follows can be as ostentatious as we like because of the perception that the government can afford to do really BIG things. And we invariably try to justify that they should want to do this because of emergency communication. It would seem to be more constructive to substitute the words big magical genie in your plans everywhere you use the word government or NASA. That way when you write, if we could just get a big magical genie to give us a ride to the Moon... the reality will sink in and it probably won't seem like such a grand idea before it sees the light of day. We need to disabuse ourselves of the ridiculous notion that the government is anxious and willing to stuff our pockets with cash just because when all else fails. Need we be reminded that we're in the midst of the worst global economic recession since the great depression? Tax revenues are low while debt is unbelievably high. Politicians may be stupid but they're going to easily sniff out the nonsense of spending millions of dollars so a few hundred radio hams can enjoy their high-tech hobby. (And who really wants them to do that anyway? What would be your reaction if you read the news tomorrow that the government was going to spend $20 million tax dollars to help promote Frisbee golf, coin collecting, or some other hobby?) When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. We can't get to HEO, so what can we do? I think our best option is to create a lot more interesting things to do at LEO since we know we can get there; but let's make sure we aren't leaving a stone un-turned. What about other orbits that may not be as desirable as HEO but that offer better coverage than low-earth? I recall reading something from G0RMF about adapting a CubeSat to include some sort of a propulsion system to get to a mid-Earth orbit: http://g0mrf.com/MEOSAT.htm I have no idea if this is viable, but it seems to me that if we want to place assets higher than LEO these are the kinds of ideas we should be kicking around on the BB and perhaps leave the moon base installation ideas for AMSAT members in 2050 to figure out how to make work and to fund. -- 73 de Jeff, KE9V AMSAT-NA AMSAT-DL ___ 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
