[amsat-bb] Re: AMSAT Board of Directors Candidates

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

  Vince asked:
> 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.
Not very practical ides -- sorry.

FOX is a 1U Cubesat, 10cm=4" on a side. Kinda hard to fit 10M dipole 
(which would be ~16 ft long, fed in the middle). You can't do it with a 
monopole because the 4" box doesn't have enough size to feed a monopole 
against. And with a 4" cube (even with deployable panels) we can only 
expect a total of a few watts (orbit average) of power.

The laws of physics and engineering are rather unforgiving!

73, Tom


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[amsat-bb] Re: Space Debris: Predicted near impact for AO-51

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

On 4/11/2010 11:45 PM, Tom Clark, K3IO wrote:
> The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB has reported that 
> AO-51 will have a ~200 meter (i.e. 2 football fields) approach to 
> object #34890 at 08:51Z on April 13th.
The Joint Space Command sent an update -- their latest prediction has 
reduced the 200 meter miss distance to ~135 meters

73, Tom
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[amsat-bb] Space Debris: Predicted near impact for AO-51

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB has reported that 
AO-51 will have a ~200 meter (i.e. 2 football fields) approach to object 
#34890 at 08:51Z on April 13th.

Object #34890 (see http://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=34890 and 
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/iridium-33-debris.txt) is one piece 
of the more than 500 pieces of debris left over after the Iridium-33 -- 
Kosmos-2251 collision on Feb. 10,2009 (see 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_satellite_collision). The total mass 
of the two spacecraft was about 1600 kg (well over one ton).

You can get an HD movie animation of the Iridium/Kosmos collision here 
(warning -- 50 MB ZIP file).

73, Tom


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[amsat-bb] Re: Wish List, The Ideal VHF/UHF Sat Rig

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

There is one US made radio on the market today that will meet >>>ALL<<<
the desires & requirements discussed in this thread -- and it is made by
an AMSAT member (K5SDR)! It was on view at last fall's AMSAT Symposium.
I say "ALL" contingent on the release of one module RSN (Real! Soon! Now!).

I'm talking about the software-defined Flex 5000 (see
http://www.flex-radio.com/). When the new V/U module is released (by
Dayton), the F5K can be used at the 100W level on 160-6M, and 60W on
V=2M & U=70cm. It will operate Full-Duplex in any combination of V/U
(+10 meters). Greg, K5GJ described the new V/U module fully at the AMSAT
Symposium. Flex has offered significant door prizes (like half of a base
5K) at all the recent AMSAT & TAPR meetings (I won a prize that I
converted to a V/U upgrade for my personal F5K; I eagerly expect it in
the next month or so).

For some more info, this is clipped from the Flex advertising describing
the new V/U module:
> The FLEX-5000 V/U module is a fully integrated all-mode, all-band
> (144-148/430-450 MHz) full-duplex VHF/UHF module that adds both 2m and
> 70 cm capabilities to the already outstanding FLEX-5000 family of
> software defined radios.  All of the FLEX-5000 V/U module's
> oscillators are locked to the 500 MHz master oscillator in the
> FLEX-5000, which in turn is locked to the internal 0.5ppm reference or
> it may be connected to an external 10 MHz reference for even greater
> frequency stability.
If want additional HF capability, you can add a second receiver and/or
automatic antenna tuner. You can tie the entire radio to a GPS or
Rubidium frequency reference for accuracy/stability at levels better
than a part per billion.

For any of the microwave bands (23 cm and up), either the V or U channel
can serve as the IF for a transverter. For the wider bandwidth modes
discussed for the "HR-956-Pro", the F5K is capable of supporting
anything up to a few hundred kHz. For these SDRs, new software support
shows up daily, contributed (free) by a significant cadre of amateurs.
If a modem for some different mode, is needed, IOS (It's Only Software! ).

And the price for a fully decked out is less than half of that forecast
for the "fictional  HR-956-Pro" (even including a suitable PC).

SUPPORT THE US MANUFACTURERS! THEY ARE A RARE BREED!

73, Tom


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[amsat-bb] SK: Dave Toth, VE3GYQ

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

I am very sad to relay the following message from Steve Bible, N7HPR.
Dave was a close personal friend of mine for many years. We fought the
battle of the early days of trying to build the HF Packet Radio network
on 14.103.

He was always a friend of AMSAT, giving up personal vacations to help
with the integration of AO-40 in Orlando. For many years, he was the
glue that held TAPR together.

The following information was supplied by Steve Bible, N7HPR:



It is with great sadness that we report the passing of friend Dave Toth on 
February 26, 2010. Dave was President Emeritus of TAPR and also served as its 
President (2005-2009) and as a member of its Board of Directors (1987-1993 and 
2004-2010). VE3GYQ will be best remembered for his dry sense of humor and his 
efforts to make TAPR's participation in the HPSDR project a resounding success. 

Dave's Obituary reads:

Dr. David Bradley Toth, 55, died at 3:10 p.m. Feb. 26, 2010, at his residence.

He was born Aug. 11, 1954, in Windsor, Ontario, to Thomas S. and Magda M. 
Kachler Toth. His mother survives in Windsor. On June 16, 2009, he married 
Ronda S. Nartker, who survives in Spencerville.

Dr. Toth graduated from the University of Western Ontario Medical School in 
1978. He practiced family medicine in London, Ontario. He moved to the U.S. in 
1993 and began a career in emergency medicine. He was a partner of Premier 
Health Care Services, in Dayton, and worked at Lima Memorial Health System and 
St. Rita’s Medical Center until the time of his illness. He was a member of the 
American College of Emergency Physicians, College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
Ontario. He was board certified in Family Medicine of Canada. He was president 
of the Regional Physician Advisory Board of EMS and was also the medical 
director of Ada, Bath and Spencerville EMS.

He was a private pilot for 30 years. He loved to go to the Allen County Airport 
and fly his Twin Comanche as much as possible. He was a member of the Aircraft 
Owners and Pilots Association, EAA and the Comanche Flyers. Besides flying, he 
was an amateur astronomer. Since he was a young boy in school, he enjoyed 
looking at the night sky and reading about space and the stars. He had his own 
observatory that was seen opened up on clear nights. He set up the London, 
Ontario, Astronomy Club and served as its president. He was also a member of 
the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and belonged to the Lima, Dayton and 
Columbus Astronomy Clubs. He traveled for NASA to Chile and Australia to fix 
telescope problems. He worked closely with Software Bisque to make computer 
programs to operate telescopes. You could catch him planning trips to Starfest 
and the Winter Star Party yearly.

He was also a HAM radio operator since the 1970s. He would talk for hours with 
his call sign VE3GYQ. He set up the London, Ontario, towers. He was the Tucson 
Amateur Packet Radio president from 2004 to 2009. In his spare time, he enjoyed 
a round or two of golf with partners or for fundraisers. He also enjoyed 
hitting the slopes if possible to ski.

Survivors also include two sons, Michael Toth, of Bowling Green, and 
Christopher Toth, of London, Ontario; a daughter, Caitlin Toth, of Montreal; a 
stepson, Rusty Nartker, of Spencerville; two brothers, Brian (Susan) Toth, of 
London, Ontario, and Darryl (Helena) Toth, of Lakeshore, Ontario; two sisters, 
Stephanie (Frank) Capizzi, of Shelby Township, Mich., and Sondra (Dana) Woltz, 
of Windsor, Ontario; an aunt, Apollonia “Loni” Noll of Windsor, Ontario; and 
numerous nephews and 
nieces.

Services will begin at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Charles Catholic Church. 
Father Stephen Blum will officiate. Burial of the cremated remains will be at a 
later date.

Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday and 1 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Shawnee 
Chapel of Chiles-Laman Funeral Homes, where a parish wake service will begin at 
8 p.m. Tuesday.



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[amsat-bb] SK: Herbert "Pete" Hoover III, W6ZH

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

It is with much sadness that AMSAT notes the passing on Feb.4 of Herbert
"Pete" Hoover III, W6ZH at his home in San Marino, CA. Pete was the
grandson of former President Herbert Hoover. Pete's W6ZH call was
inherited from his father who served as ARRL President; Pete's original
call was W6APW. He was AMSAT Life Member #65.

In the 1970's, Pete and Bill Eitel (W6UF) saw that AMSAT and amateur
satellites were a significant wave of amateur radio's future. In
addition to making substantial contributions, they worked with the ARRL
to form the ARRL Foundation in 1976. Beginning in 1978 Pete served on
the ARRL Long Range Planning Committee.

I remember the hospitality Pete and his wife Meridith showed to Jan King
(W3GET) and me on several occasions when we dropped by his home in San
Marino to discuss AMSAT's future.

Pete was always very active in the American Red Cross. When the Pacsat
concept was being developed, Harold Price (NK6K) and I called on Pete at
the Hoover Foundation offices to discuss the concept of a
store-and-forward messaging satellite to provide medical communications
to a remote area. At Pete's instigation, we began working with VITA
(Volunteers in Technical Assistance) and our Pacsat concept bore fruit
when UoSAT-3 was re-badged as Healthsat-1 (see
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/healthsat-2.htm).

I last saw Pete at Dayton two years ago. I was in the chow line when I
heard a "Hey Tom" from a nearby table. Pete was spending most of his
time at his retirement home on Maui and he looked very fit and had an
incredible tan! While I was munching on a hamburger we has a great
face-to-face QSO. He told me that he was still on the air, now using an
Elecraft radio.

I'll miss Pete's enthusiasm and friendship. I could always count on his
thoughtful advice.

73 de Tom, K3IO (ex W3IWI


Additional details on Pete can be found on the ARRL web site at
http://www.arrl.org/?artid=9426 and in this week's ARRL newsletter
(http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2010-02-11).
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[amsat-bb] Re: Sats turning 20

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

Thanks to Mark for remembering the Microsat (AO-16 thru 19) Birthday.
For me personally, this project was really a Personal High Point!

We went from "light bulb turns on" concept to flight in just over 2
years. The concept of building a satellite with 5 stacked trays
interconnected with a standardized bus was really an innovation. All 4
satellites shared 4 (nearly) identical trays (TX, RX, Computer & Power)
and a 5th tray housing each group's unique hardware worked out very
well; the 5th module was dubbed "TSFR" (this space for rent!).

My personal contributions were the receiver modules (with help from
W4PUJ), the AART "glue" board that is in every module (with help from
Bob Stricklin, N5BRG) and the TSFR concept.

Bob McGwier (N4HY) has collected a lot of Microsat photos at
http://n4hy.smugmug.com/AMSAT/Microsat. You can see the hardware and the
team.

Happy 20th Birthday!

73 de Tom, K3IO
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[amsat-bb] Re: AO-51 magnet reversal tonight

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

Drew posted
>  On the 2242UTC pass of AO-51 tonight, we will try for the first time to
>  reverse the magnet and "flip" the orientation of the satellite. While we
>  do this, the 435.300 transmitter will be shut off for about 10 minutes.
>  If the reversal is successful, we should see some changes in signal
>  levels and patterns. This particular maneuver has not attempted since
>  launch.
>
>  I'd appreciate any signal reports or observations from this evening and
>  the next few days be emailed to ao51-mo...@amsat.org  or ko...@amsat.org.


I'm really glad we are finally testing this AO-51 experiment! Thanks for
listening to my request. I'm most interested in seeing the results of this test,
but I don't see the ao51-modes reports, so please keep me posted offline.

Since angular momentum must be conserved when you "flip" the s/c. The s/c body
should precess (probably looking like tumbling) until the momentum dampers
absorb the change. Keep an eye on the solar panel currents and I'll bet the spin
rate will change.

Concerning your other note:
>  In related news, as the spacecraft spin inexplicably continues to slow,
>  we are seeing increasingly larger dips in the spacecraft voltage when
>  the panels are poorly aligned to the sun.

My guess is that the momentum loss is due to eddy currents induced in the s/c
body by the earth's magnetic field. Sometime drop a piece of (non-magnetic)
aluminum into the poles of a big magnet -- you'll see the aluminum change speed
noticeably. Back in the antique days of mechanical speedometers in cars, the
speedo cable turned a permanent magnet above an aluminum or brass disk connected
to the indicator. As the magnet spun faster, eddy currents would drag the
disk/pointer to higher values.

There are some good treatments of eddy currents&  angular moment on YouTube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39r8moW_p-w ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ-3pxKdT8Q ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmfKmUq2EI8&feature=related ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3xqH1arESA&NR=1 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brNBVDCeECg&feature=related .

In these clips, note that moving brass or aluminum items (acting just like the
satellite body) "feel" the  static magnetic (like the earth's magnetic field).
For some (boring) physics theory, follow the links at
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_current.

73 de Tom, K3IO

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[amsat-bb] SK -- Den Connors, KD2S

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

It is with much sadness that I report the passing of Den Connors, KD2S
at 2AM this morning. Den passed on after a year+ fight to conquer
lymphoma. This morning, Ralph (KD1SM) reported
"Den checked-in to our weekly Club information net on 70cm
 Monday evening.  As usual, he sounded pretty chipper."

"Very shortly after that he developed a serious infection
 and his non-existent immune system could do nothing."

Den was TAPR's first president, overseeing the transition from a local
Tucson club into the multi-national TAPR. He was a major sponsor of the
adoption of AX.25 as the amateur packet standard. Under his lead, TAPR
introduced the TNC-1 and then later the TNC-2. Den worked with me to
define an amateur store-and-forward packet radio satellite; this morphed
into the Microsats (AO16-16, IO-26. AO-27 & MO-30).

Den moved to Massachusetts about 25 years ago to work at Wang Computers,
and lived in Pepperell, Massachusetts.

73, Den -- you will be missed by all your friends!

Tom Clark, K3IO
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[amsat-bb] SK: Art Goldman. N3OY

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

It is with great sadness that I learned of the recent passing of Art
Goldman, N3OY (formerly WA3CVG). Art was 67 and succumbed to melanoma.
Information is at
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bal-md.ob.ci.goldman05aug05,0,7067848.story.

Art was very active in CARA (Columbia Amateur Radio Association) and was
an AMSAT Life Member. Art often handled the satellite Field Day effort
at W3AO(see http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/?con_id=133&call=W3AO
 for 2006
pictures. W3AO is the 19 xmtr multi-multi joint effort of CARA & PVRC).

Art lived in Columbia which has severe antenna limits. Despite this, he
managed to get on AO-40 using BBQ dish antennas. He show up frequently
in the AMSAT-BB archives. Art was also very active in the packet radio
world in the 80's & 90's. Art (with NG6Q) developed the TCP/IP driver
for the Eagle Computer card (Zilog 8530) for KA9Q's NOS. .

A personal remembrance: Rick Hambly (W2GPS), Bob McGwier (N4HY)& I
remember fondly the 8-hour x 2-way "captive audience" trip to/from
Dayton a few years ago. Despite Art's New York Jewish roots, he knew
every country & western song every made. What with McGwier hailing from
redneck Alabama, the trip was hilarious. I particularly remember the two
singing to Toby Keith's hit C&W song "I ain't as good as I once was, but
I'm as good once as I ever was!" (complete lyrics are at
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/keith-toby/as-good-as-i-once-was-15917.html).

73 Art -- you are missed!

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[amsat-bb] Fantastic photo of ISS+Endeavor in front of the sun!

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

/Thierry Legault/ is a French amateur astronomy who is well-known for
his incredible astronomical photos. Hr has posted a great photo of the
ISS in front of the sun during the recent Endeavor visit:
http://legault.club.fr/iss_endeavour_transit.html

He also grabbed an image of Atlantis + HST in front of the sun:
http://legault.club.fr/atlantis_hst_transit.html. In this posting, he
also describes his technique with photos he made during a recent Florida
visit along with answers to some FAQ.

Enjoy! -- 73, Tom
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[amsat-bb] Jovians -- Taking A Hit

[Tom Clark, K3IO]

For all you Jovial folks -- Two reports from today's news are interesting:

 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/21/jupiter_impact/and
 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17491-jupiter-sports-new-bruise-from-impact.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=space

73, Tom
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