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CX2SA > SATDIG 30.11.11 20:05l 880 Lines 30907 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Sent: 111130/1758Z @:CX2SA.LAV.URY.SA #:41160 [Minas] FBB7.00e $:AMSATBB6649
From: CX2SA@CX2SA.LAV.URY.SA
To : SATDIG@WW
Today's Topics:
1. Re: Satellite Satire (Diane Bruce)
2. Re: AO-51 end of mission ((kp4tr)Ramon Gonzalez)
3. Re: AO27 - Last Man Standing? (Sebastian, W4AS)
4. Re: Satellite Satire (Diane Bruce)
5. TS-2000 birdie (Andrew Glasbrenner)
6. Re: Satellite Satire (Gordon JC Pearce)
7. Re: Satellite Satire (Rick Tejera)
8. It's amazing! (Thomas Laskowski)
9. TS2000 ~436.798 MHz Birdie Solution (John Papay)
10. Re: Satellite Satire (Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK))
11. Re: Satellite Satire (Rick Tejera)
12. Re: TS2000 ~436.798 MHz Birdie Solution (Andrew Glasbrenner)
13. AO-51 MEMORIES (Robert Kovacs)
14. FO29 status (John Geiger)
15. Re: TS2000 ~436.798 MHz Birdie Solution (Mike Miller)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:44:48 -0500
From: Diane Bruce <db@xx.xxx>
To: Tony Langdon <vk3jed@xxxxx.xxx>
Cc: AMSAT <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire
Message-ID: <20111130134448.GA20741@xxxxx.xx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 08:20:11PM +1100, Tony Langdon wrote:
> At 11:57 AM 11/30/2011, Lowell White wrote:
>
> >Please enlighten me if indeed there might be a way to get something up
> >(and to
> >stay up) more economically.
>
> Well, a bit of physics here. To get from the Earth's surface to LEO
> requires 10 km/S of delta-V. Even if you could get a payload to
It is an old old idea .
for one link http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/rockoon.htm
I see WB8ELK has been doing it too
http://hiwaay.net/~bbrown/
Still, getting the right ratio of balloon/rocket is a problem.
Getting the delta V into LEO is still going to be very hard.
>
> 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL
> http://vkradio.com
>
- 73 Diane VA3DB
--
- db@xxxxxxx.xxx db@xx.xxx http://www.db.net/~db
Why leave money to our children if we don't leave them the Earth?
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:52:54 -0500
From: "(kp4tr)Ramon Gonzalez" <kp4tr.ramon@xxxxx.xxx>
To: Gail A Mcdaniel <gmcdanl@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Cc: "amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxxx <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: AO-51 end of mission
Message-ID: <7B5EBF6A-1F64-4F82-90E0-4EE62B66B0D1@xxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Hello
I was a hardcore user of AO-13 back when I was in Puerto Rico, but AO-51 was
my favorite satellite mostly brcause it was easy to work and did it from my
car. Most of my QSO on it was on my drive back home from work. And it was
fun to do.
So sad to see it go, but it was fun and the memories and stories will be
around for many years.
Sent from my Adobe Flash and Java challenged iPhone
On Nov 30, 2011, at 7:35 AM, Gail A Mcdaniel <gmcdanl@xxxxxxxxx.xxx> wrote:
> Made my first satellite contacts to K4DLG (SK), KD8CAO and N3TL in Oct of
2008 on AO-51. I have now logged 6007 contacts with 56.97% on AO-51, 28.9%
on AO-27, 10.4% on SO-50.. the balance on HO-68, SO-67 and ISS. What a
blast!
>
> If you can't find me ... I am probably outside trying to make a contact ...
>
> 73 from KC
> Gail - KB0RZD
> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB@xxxxx.xxx. 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
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:03:36 -0500
From: "Sebastian, W4AS" <w4as@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
To: AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: AO27 - Last Man Standing?
Message-ID: <4EEFB354-DDCA-4DD9-85D2-2CEB27A0F237@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Unfortunately, no. The birdie wipes out the signal once it gets close to
that frequency.
Others have suggested using narrow FM, RIT, etc., but my TS2K with a good
mast mounted preamp and M2 switchable polarization yagi antenna is no match
for it.
The easiest way to get around it, is to use one of the many inexpensive
Chinese handhelds as the UHF receiver.
73 de Sebastian, W4AS
On Nov 30, 2011, at 5:28 AM, <g.shirville@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx>
<g.shirville@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx> wrote:
> How strong is the birdie?...would not a nice 30dB gain preamp raise the
incoming signals and noise level above it?
>
> just a thought:)
>
> 73
>
> Graham
> G3VZV
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Ted
> Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 11:10 PM
> To: amsat-bb@xxxxxx.xxx ; amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: AO27 - Last Man Standing?
>
> Thanks Patrick...I just realized why I was not trying it. The downlink is
> right at my TS2000 birdie...oh well (as is AO27)
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:14:53 -0500
From: Diane Bruce <db@xx.xxx>
To: Gordon JC Pearce <gordonjcp@xxxx.xxx>
Cc: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire
Message-ID: <20111130141453.GB20741@xxxxx.xx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 11:40:44AM +0000, Gordon JC Pearce wrote:
> On 30/11/11 01:46, Andy Kellner wrote:
> >Hmm, unlikely I would say:
> >
> >A typical WX ballon goes up to about 30 km, maybe 50 km if you get a high
> >performance one.
>
> You know, from 50km up you can see a fair chunk of the earth. While it
> might not be as cool as flying a satellite, a balloon-lofted repeater
> could be quite good fun. What next, though? Well, maybe a UAV-lofted
> repeater. I wonder how well a combination of a balloon for the heavy
> lifting with a UAV-based payload for station-keeping would work?
Gordon knows as well as I do, (Hi Gordon!) the military have been doing this
for years. The commercial companies have been exploring this as well for
some uses, why not amateurs? (Do a quick websearch for communications blimps)
Using model aircraft electric motors and solar cells it
might be possible to build something that would stay up a few months at a
time that might be within reach for a club. Anyone here run the numbers
already? I wonder what the civian aviation regs would be like too. ;-)
>
> --
> Gordon JC Pearce MM0YEQ
- 73 Diane VA3DB
--
- db@xxxxxxx.xxx db@xx.xxx http://www.db.net/~db
Why leave money to our children if we don't leave them the Earth?
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:30:57 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: Andrew Glasbrenner <glasbrenner@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx>
To: AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] TS-2000 birdie
Message-ID:
<21444120.1322663458212.JavaMail.root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>The easiest way to get around it, is to use one of the many inexpensive
Chinese handhelds as the UHF receiver.
>
I know at least one station is using a hamtronics 70cm to 10m converter, and
listening via 10m. You can even setup SatPC32 to tune it correctly.
73, Drew KO4MA
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:19:31 +0000
From: Gordon JC Pearce <gordonjcp@xxxx.xxx>
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire
Message-ID: <4ED64983.3030406@xxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
On 30/11/11 13:34, Trevor . wrote:
> Current research is based on platforms between 17 and 22 km high. At that
height they could provide coverage over a radius of up to 500 km.
Roughly equivalent to NVIS HF communications, then.
> In the UK we have the drawback that aeronautical amateur radio systems are
not permitted by our regulator.
Ah, but there you are making the assumption that we'd tell them what we
were going to do! This is the classic mistake when dealing with Ofcom
or anyone else for that matter.
If Ofcom are going to get upset about airborne repeaters, then maybe
before they get too involved in that they should turn their attention to
some of the noisy idiots on the terrestrial ones.
--
Gordon JC Pearce MM0YEQ
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:28:27 -0700
From: "Rick Tejera" <saguaroastro@xxx.xxx>
To: "'Gordon JC Pearce'" <gordonjcp@xxxx.xxx>, <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire
Message-ID:
<20111130153241.KCMC3805.fed1rmfepo102.cox.net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Gordon,
There are at least two groups that know of that launch High altitude
balloons with amateur payloads. I just joined one: Arizona Near Space
Research. http://www.ansr.org/
The other s in Colorado, not sure of the organization's name though.
The balloons typically reach 90-100K feet in altitude and carry a Crossband
repeater and several other payloads, including APRS Digipeaters & SSTV. The
footprint is about 300 Miles at burst altitude.
I made several contacts during ANSR-65 a few weeks back.
Hopefully time will allow me to participate in the next launch.
Clear Skies
Rick Tejera
Saguaro Astronomy Club
Phoenix, Arizona
www.saguaroastro.org
saguaroastro@xxx.xxx
K7TEJ, AMSAT 38452
-----Original Message-----
From: amsat-bb-bounces@xxxxx.xxx [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@xxxxx.xxxx On
Behalf Of Gordon JC Pearce
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 4:41
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire
On 30/11/11 01:46, Andy Kellner wrote:
> Hmm, unlikely I would say:
>
> A typical WX ballon goes up to about 30 km, maybe 50 km if you get a high
performance one.
You know, from 50km up you can see a fair chunk of the earth. While it
might not be as cool as flying a satellite, a balloon-lofted repeater
could be quite good fun. What next, though? Well, maybe a UAV-lofted
repeater. I wonder how well a combination of a balloon for the heavy
lifting with a UAV-based payload for station-keeping would work?
--
Gordon JC Pearce MM0YEQ
_______________________________________________
Sent via AMSAT-BB@xxxxx.xxx. 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
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:33:12 -0800 (PST)
From: Thomas Laskowski <tmlask@xxx.xxx>
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: [amsat-bb] It's amazing!
Message-ID:
<1322667192.59453.yint-ygo-j2me@xxxxxxxx.xxxx.xxx.xxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Check this offer, whenever u get a chance http://pandasnap.com/inf.php Hope
u like it :)
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:49:39 -0500
From: John Papay <john@xxxxxx.xxx>
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: [amsat-bb] TS2000 ~436.798 MHz Birdie Solution
Message-ID: <302225.73698.qm@xxxxxxx.xxx.xxxx.xxx.xxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
As many of you know, my satellite radio is a TS2000X.
If you have visited my satellite webpage, you have seen
many recordings of AO-27 and SO50 from AOS to LOS. Most
of these recordings were made when I was not sitting in
front of the radio.
At first I used a uhf mobile to hear AO-27 and SO-50. The
problem was that those radios were not computer controlled
so you had to tune for the doppler. That worked fine when
I was in the shack, but it didn't work when I was away. The
obvious solution was another radio that didn't have the birdie
problem, or a simple UHF to 10M downconverter which wouldn't
have the birdie problem. Back in the day, UHF and VHF down-
converters were very popular because we didn't have a lot of
DC to Light radios out there. Now these converters are sitting
in junk boxes and are long forgotten by their owners.
One of the more popular manufacturers of these inexpensive
downconverters was Hamtronics. They made all kinds of stuff
for repeaters etc. At first their products were not that great,
but they evolved into some better designs including their
UHF to 10m downconverters. Unfortunately most downconverter
manufacturers stopped making them when the devices they were using
became obsolete and unavailable. The use of current production
devices required a redesign of their PC boards and since the demand
was no longer there, these products were abandoned.
I was fortunate to find a Hamtronics converter on a qrz.com posting
from several years back. It never sold back then and the owner still
had it. I purchased it and ran some tests on it against the receiver
in the TS2000. It turned out that the downconverter had a slightly
better sensitivity than the TS2000!
The big concern when using a converter or preamp is the fear of
transmitting into it and smoking the front end. But the TS2000
has an auxiliary antenna jack which is receive only and perfect for
a downconverter output on HF. As Drew mentioned, SatPC32 can
compensate for a downconverter and tune the TS2000 for doppler
in the 10m band. This allowed me to track AO-27 AO-51 and SO-50
unattended and make all those recordings without any human
intervention.
A coaxial transfer relay was inserted into the uhf antenna line so
that when the converter was in use, the UHF antenna was switched
to the downconverter input (which outputs to the aux antenna jack
on the TS2000) and the UHF antenna jack on the TS2000 is switched
to a dummy load. So if you transmit on UHF, power goes into the
dummy load and all equipment is safe. When I want to transmit on
UHF (VO-52 and AO-7 mode B), the coax relay switches the UHF antenna
back to the UHF antenna port on the TS2000. The downconverter is out
of the antenna circuit at this point. I did not use the downconverter
when operating on FO-29 so the aux antenna jack had to be switched to
normal in the tS2000, menu #18 (FO-29 is a linear bird that outputs on
UHF, currently not working).
Every owner of a TS2000 that operates satellites needs a UHF to 10M
downconverter. Hamtronics is making a VHF to 10M downconverter now.
If everyone emailed them to encourage them to make a UHF model, they
might just do it. The only other solution is to make one yourself,
or find a used downconverter or transverter that is gathering dust on
someone's shelf. I now have an IC910H and am doing comparisons against
the TS2000. My first impression it that I prefer the TS2000 but that
might be because I'm so familiar with it. I use another TS2000 in the
mobile sat truck but don't have a downconverter for it. I simply use
a uhf mobile for receive on AO-27 and SO-50 since I'm in front of the
radio and don't run it unattended. I have a coax switch to switch
the UHF antenna from the TS2000 to the UHF mobile.
Now that AO-51 is silent, all of the FM operation is on SO-50 and AO-27.
If you have a TS2000, you'll want to investigate the use of a downconverter.
73,
John K8YSE
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:55:11 -0700
From: "Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)" <amsat-bb@xxxxxx.xxx>
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire
Message-ID:
<CAN6TEUcU42amc6XRxOv3w6YRM18Bt3wupWF5Gs=acVhGCcnkmg@xxxx.xxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Hi!
> There are at least two groups that ?know of that launch High altitude
> balloons with amateur payloads. I just joined one: Arizona Near Space
> Research. http://www.ansr.org/
>
> The other s in Colorado, not sure of the organization's name though.
Edge of Space Sciences. http://www.eoss.org/
> The balloons typically reach 90-100K feet in altitude and carry a Crossband
> repeater and several other payloads, including APRS Digipeaters & SSTV. The
> footprint is about 300 Miles at burst altitude.
Actually, the footprint has a diameter of several hundred miles. For the
ANSR launches from locations in central Arizona, the footprints easily
cover almost all of Arizona along with portions of several neighboring
states and northwestern Mexico. The following link is a bit old, but the
coverage maps at different altitudes are still good and show this better
than a text description:
http://balloon.wd9ewk.net/
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/
------------------------------
Message: 11
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:03:30 -0700
From: "Rick Tejera" <saguaroastro@xxx.xxx>
To: <amsat-bb@xxxxxx.xxx>, <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire
Message-ID:
<20111130160730.LGHL3805.fed1rmfepo102.cox.net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Thanks for filling in the holes, Patrick. I'll see you Saturday at the
hamfest.
73
Clear Skies
Rick Tejera
Saguaro Astronomy Club
Phoenix, Arizona
www.saguaroastro.org
saguaroastro@xxx.xxx
K7TEJ, AMSAT 38452
-----Original Message-----
From: amsat-bb-bounces@xxxxx.xxx [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@xxxxx.xxxx On
Behalf Of Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 8:55
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Satellite Satire
Hi!
> There are at least two groups that ?know of that launch High altitude
> balloons with amateur payloads. I just joined one: Arizona Near Space
> Research. http://www.ansr.org/
>
> The other s in Colorado, not sure of the organization's name though.
Edge of Space Sciences. http://www.eoss.org/
> The balloons typically reach 90-100K feet in altitude and carry a
Crossband
> repeater and several other payloads, including APRS Digipeaters & SSTV.
The
> footprint is about 300 Miles at burst altitude.
Actually, the footprint has a diameter of several hundred miles. For the
ANSR launches from locations in central Arizona, the footprints easily
cover almost all of Arizona along with portions of several neighboring
states and northwestern Mexico. The following link is a bit old, but the
coverage maps at different altitudes are still good and show this better
than a text description:
http://balloon.wd9ewk.net/
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/
_______________________________________________
Sent via AMSAT-BB@xxxxx.xxx. 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
------------------------------
Message: 12
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:18:04 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: Andrew Glasbrenner <glasbrenner@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx>
To: John Papay <john@xxxxxx.xxx>, amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: TS2000 ~436.798 MHz Birdie Solution
Message-ID:
<3031162.1322669885373.JavaMail.root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Hi John,
Thanks for writing that up. With a simple diagram, it would make an
excellent Journal article (hint hint).
I should also point out that High Sierra Microwave makes a UHF to HF
converter, the 435M7 near the bottom of the page at
http://www.hsmicrowave.com/page12.html . It outputs to 10 to 13 Mhz, but
that should be no different than 10m for newer rigs like the TS-2000. The
noise figure looks really good, and I expect the quality to be much better
than the Hamtronics. The owner is a big AMSAT supporter too.
73, Drew KO4MA
-----Original Message-----
>From: John Papay <john@xxxxxx.xxx>
>Sent: Nov 30, 2011 10:49 AM
>To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
>Subject: [amsat-bb] TS2000 ~436.798 MHz Birdie Solution
>
>As many of you know, my satellite radio is a TS2000X.
>If you have visited my satellite webpage, you have seen
>many recordings of AO-27 and SO50 from AOS to LOS. Most
>of these recordings were made when I was not sitting in
>front of the radio.
>
>At first I used a uhf mobile to hear AO-27 and SO-50. The
>problem was that those radios were not computer controlled
>so you had to tune for the doppler. That worked fine when
>I was in the shack, but it didn't work when I was away. The
>obvious solution was another radio that didn't have the birdie
>problem, or a simple UHF to 10M downconverter which wouldn't
>have the birdie problem. Back in the day, UHF and VHF down-
>converters were very popular because we didn't have a lot of
>DC to Light radios out there. Now these converters are sitting
>in junk boxes and are long forgotten by their owners.
>
>One of the more popular manufacturers of these inexpensive
>downconverters was Hamtronics. They made all kinds of stuff
>for repeaters etc. At first their products were not that great,
>but they evolved into some better designs including their
>UHF to 10m downconverters. Unfortunately most downconverter
>manufacturers stopped making them when the devices they were using
>became obsolete and unavailable. The use of current production
>devices required a redesign of their PC boards and since the demand
>was no longer there, these products were abandoned.
>
>I was fortunate to find a Hamtronics converter on a qrz.com posting
>from several years back. It never sold back then and the owner still
>had it. I purchased it and ran some tests on it against the receiver
>in the TS2000. It turned out that the downconverter had a slightly
>better sensitivity than the TS2000!
>
>The big concern when using a converter or preamp is the fear of
>transmitting into it and smoking the front end. But the TS2000
>has an auxiliary antenna jack which is receive only and perfect for
>a downconverter output on HF. As Drew mentioned, SatPC32 can
>compensate for a downconverter and tune the TS2000 for doppler
>in the 10m band. This allowed me to track AO-27 AO-51 and SO-50
>unattended and make all those recordings without any human
>intervention.
>
>A coaxial transfer relay was inserted into the uhf antenna line so
>that when the converter was in use, the UHF antenna was switched
>to the downconverter input (which outputs to the aux antenna jack
>on the TS2000) and the UHF antenna jack on the TS2000 is switched
>to a dummy load. So if you transmit on UHF, power goes into the
>dummy load and all equipment is safe. When I want to transmit on
>UHF (VO-52 and AO-7 mode B), the coax relay switches the UHF antenna
>back to the UHF antenna port on the TS2000. The downconverter is out
>of the antenna circuit at this point. I did not use the downconverter
>when operating on FO-29 so the aux antenna jack had to be switched to
>normal in the tS2000, menu #18 (FO-29 is a linear bird that outputs on
>UHF, currently not working).
>
>Every owner of a TS2000 that operates satellites needs a UHF to 10M
>downconverter. Hamtronics is making a VHF to 10M downconverter now.
>If everyone emailed them to encourage them to make a UHF model, they
>might just do it. The only other solution is to make one yourself,
>or find a used downconverter or transverter that is gathering dust on
>someone's shelf. I now have an IC910H and am doing comparisons against
>the TS2000. My first impression it that I prefer the TS2000 but that
>might be because I'm so familiar with it. I use another TS2000 in the
>mobile sat truck but don't have a downconverter for it. I simply use
>a uhf mobile for receive on AO-27 and SO-50 since I'm in front of the
>radio and don't run it unattended. I have a coax switch to switch
>the UHF antenna from the TS2000 to the UHF mobile.
>
>Now that AO-51 is silent, all of the FM operation is on SO-50 and AO-27.
>If you have a TS2000, you'll want to investigate the use of a downconverter.
>
>73,
>John K8YSE
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Sent via AMSAT-BB@xxxxx.xxx. 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
------------------------------
Message: 13
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:24:13 +0000
From: Robert Kovacs <robert.kovacs.g4g4@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
To: "AMSAT-BB@xxxxx.xxxx <AMSAT-BB@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-51 MEMORIES
Message-ID:
<3ED628DE96DBD14A9D4AE285CD6D4D6E269C35@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Just to "echo" what others have been saying: AO51, R.I.P. And a hearty
thank-you to the Control Team for giving us so many many happy and proud
hours!
I am a new ham, licensed less than two years, and worked John K8YSE via
AO-51 with my little HT and an Arrow maybe six weeks after passing my Tech.
A few months later after another test my first QSO signing "slash AG" was
again on that bird, with Patrick WD9EWK.
Since that time, mostly from my home QTH driveway, but also at club special
events, on the beach at Cape May, New Jersey, even the shores of Lake
Champlain, I remember working at least some of the other great satellite
operators whose posts are seen here from time to time. The furthest DX I
worked was Ivan YY6IEA in Venezuela. I frequently tried, but never
successfully worked, Drew KO4MA.
And I guess it also emphasizes that, not only do we have to continue to hone
our technical skills to continue with the fleet that we still do have, but
moreover that we really do have to continue to support (i.e., give money to)
AMSAT and Fox. Good luck guys!
Best wishes to all of the community of amateur satellite operators!
73,
Bob.
KC2WYH
------------------------------
Message: 14
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:10:40 -0600
From: John Geiger <aa5jg@xxxxxxx.xxx>
To: AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] FO29 status
Message-ID:
<CAFq43LZgGWHzTrAFQ74O7PEtN5jNY_UTv0Ra+1gg6=fi66p1mg@xxxx.xxxxx.xxx>
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Is there any hope for FO29 to come back to life, or is it dead for good?
It was the only linear Mode J, and would be great to come back to life.
73s John AA5JG
------------------------------
Message: 15
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:55:48 -0600
From: "Mike Miller" <mike.kc9doa@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: TS2000 ~436.798 MHz Birdie Solution
Message-ID: <4ED66E24.23462.3E36A04F@xxxx.xxxxxx.xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Hi John,
I had heard of the down converter solution before and purchased
a used down converter. Unfortunately it seemed to pick up the TS-
2000 bird nearly as well as the TS-2000. I just lashed the setup
together so maybe taking more care to isolate the converter from
the TS-2000 might improve my results. I'll have to give it a try
again.
Mike kc9doa
On 30 Nov 2011 at 10:49, John Papay wrote:
> As many of you know, my satellite radio is a TS2000X.
> If you have visited my satellite webpage, you have seen
> many recordings of AO-27 and SO50 from AOS to LOS. Most
> of these recordings were made when I was not sitting in
> front of the radio.
>
> At first I used a uhf mobile to hear AO-27 and SO-50. The
> problem was that those radios were not computer controlled
> so you had to tune for the doppler. That worked fine when
> I was in the shack, but it didn't work when I was away. The
> obvious solution was another radio that didn't have the
> birdie
> problem, or a simple UHF to 10M downconverter which wouldn't
> have the birdie problem. Back in the day, UHF and VHF down-
> converters were very popular because we didn't have a lot of
> DC to Light radios out there. Now these converters are
> sitting
> in junk boxes and are long forgotten by their owners.
>
> One of the more popular manufacturers of these inexpensive
> downconverters was Hamtronics. They made all kinds of stuff
> for repeaters etc. At first their products were not that
> great,
> but they evolved into some better designs including their
> UHF to 10m downconverters. Unfortunately most downconverter
> manufacturers stopped making them when the devices they were
> using
> became obsolete and unavailable. The use of current
> production
> devices required a redesign of their PC boards and since the
> demand
> was no longer there, these products were abandoned.
>
> I was fortunate to find a Hamtronics converter on a qrz.com
> posting
> from several years back. It never sold back then and the owner
> still
> had it. I purchased it and ran some tests on it against the
> receiver
> in the TS2000. It turned out that the downconverter had a
> slightly
> better sensitivity than the TS2000!
>
> The big concern when using a converter or preamp is the fear
> of
> transmitting into it and smoking the front end. But the
> TS2000
> has an auxiliary antenna jack which is receive only and perfect
> for
> a downconverter output on HF. As Drew mentioned, SatPC32 can
> compensate for a downconverter and tune the TS2000 for
> doppler
> in the 10m band. This allowed me to track AO-27 AO-51 and
> SO-50
> unattended and make all those recordings without any human
> intervention.
>
> A coaxial transfer relay was inserted into the uhf antenna line
> so
> that when the converter was in use, the UHF antenna was
> switched
> to the downconverter input (which outputs to the aux antenna
> jack
> on the TS2000) and the UHF antenna jack on the TS2000 is
> switched
> to a dummy load. So if you transmit on UHF, power goes into
> the
> dummy load and all equipment is safe. When I want to transmit
> on
> UHF (VO-52 and AO-7 mode B), the coax relay switches the UHF
> antenna
> back to the UHF antenna port on the TS2000. The downconverter
> is out
> of the antenna circuit at this point. I did not use the
> downconverter
> when operating on FO-29 so the aux antenna jack had to be
> switched to
> normal in the tS2000, menu #18 (FO-29 is a linear bird that
> outputs on
> UHF, currently not working).
>
> Every owner of a TS2000 that operates satellites needs a UHF to
> 10M
> downconverter. Hamtronics is making a VHF to 10M downconverter
> now.
> If everyone emailed them to encourage them to make a UHF model,
> they
> might just do it. The only other solution is to make one
> yourself,
> or find a used downconverter or transverter that is gathering
> dust on
> someone's shelf. I now have an IC910H and am doing comparisons
> against
> the TS2000. My first impression it that I prefer the TS2000
> but that
> might be because I'm so familiar with it. I use another TS2000
> in the
> mobile sat truck but don't have a downconverter for it. I
> simply use
> a uhf mobile for receive on AO-27 and SO-50 since I'm in front
> of the
> radio and don't run it unattended. I have a coax switch to
> switch
> the UHF antenna from the TS2000 to the UHF mobile.
>
> Now that AO-51 is silent, all of the FM operation is on SO-50
> and AO-27.
> If you have a TS2000, you'll want to investigate the use of a
> downconverter.
>
> 73,
> John K8YSE
>
>
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------------------------------
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End of AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 6, Issue 649
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