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CX2SA > SATDIG 02.08.09 18:09l 1185 Lines 42324 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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To : SATDIG@WW
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: More Telem (Sil - ZL2CIA)
2. Re: USB-to-Serial adapter (Sil - ZL2CIA)
3. Re: ANDES-2 latest keps (Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF)
4. Pollux & Castor Telemetery (Armando Mercado)
5. Re: Pollux & Castor Telemetery (Ivan Galysh)
6. More Pollux TLM (kc8ran@xxx.xxxx
7. ANS-214 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins (Lee McLamb)
8. small sat (Nick)
9. Internet Routers in Space (Timothy J. Salo)
10. Good results with verticals (Thomas McGrane)
11. Re: Good results with verticals (Trevor .)
12. TLM POLLUX-1 (PE0SAT)
13. ANNOUNCE: aprstlm 1.4 Available With Support For Castor And
Pollux (Iain Young, G7III)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 02 Aug 2009 08:45:59 +1200
From: Sil - ZL2CIA <zl2cia@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: More Telem
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Message-ID: <4A74A987.8070008@xxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Came home, went up into the shack, turned the rig on and captured one
packet within seconds.
Time is NZST (UT + 12)
Fm POLLUX-1 To CQ Via TELEM <UI pid=F0 Len=101 >[23:11:07]
SYST 150447 0 0 33 0 fffe 0fd0 fffe 0fc8 fffe 0f80 fffe 0b90 fffe 0b60
ffff ffff 0158 08d6 0fba 003a
Sil
ZL2CIA
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 02 Aug 2009 08:46:58 +1200
From: Sil - ZL2CIA <zl2cia@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: USB-to-Serial adapter
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Message-ID: <4A74A9C2.4040500@xxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Norman,
My experience is that some of the really cheap ones don't have proper
level shifters on the RS232 (V.24) side. Instead, they use "power
stealing" from the RS232 line. This doesn't always work.
It certainly won't work if the TTL <--> RS232 level shifter you use to
connect to the rig also tries to "power steal"
There is another option. I see RS232<-->USB converters sold here that
use 3.3 and zero volt levels, rather that -12 and +12 volt on the RS232
side. Since you are building you own interface, you could use these
instead. From memory, the FT736R uses inverted signals on the TTL side,
so one TTL inverter chip would probably be all you needed (oh, plus a
7805 or similar)
Sil
ZL2CIA
Norman W Osborne VE3CJE wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I am building an interface for a 736r doppler control and I will be needing
>
> a USB-to-Serial adapter.
>
> Looking on ebay I see many choices and prices.
>
> Have any of you bought any of these adapters??
>
>
>
> Any suggestions appreciated.
>
>
>
> 73,
>
> Norman.
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 8.5.392 / Virus Database: 270.13.38/2274 - Release Date: 07/31/09
05:58:00
>
>
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:24:06 +0000
From: Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF <nigel@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: ANDES-2 latest keps
To: Larry Teran <satvader@xxxxxxx.xxx>, Amsat-BB <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Message-ID: <4A74B276.3070309@xxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Hi Larry.
I'm not aware of decode software yet but the crib to help you is here
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Castor.html and here
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Pollux.html
To load the keps into Orbitron, cut the keps from the e-mail and paste into a
text editor (notepad for instance)
Save it as a plain text file.
From Orbitron, click "LOAD TLE" and find your text file.
FX25 interface details don't appear to be available yet.
I'm confused now about which object is which. Either space-Track has muddled
them or they have swapped positions. I
think the Space-Track mis-identification is more likely.
Larry Teran wrote:
> Hi! Niguel, I'm KI6YAA Larry from Calexico, I'm relatively new to
> satellites, and I just started to play with APRS and Packet, so I will
> apreciate your help if you tell me with software I can use to decode
> ANDE telemetry, other question is how to load this Keps on orbitron. it
> also mention on the website of ANDE that you can make or buy the
> interface to work FX.25 do you know the link to that?
>
> Tanks in advace!
> Larry KI6YAA
>
>
>
> > Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 10:48:58 +0000
> > From: nigel@xxxxx.xxx
> > To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
> > Subject: [amsat-bb] ANDES-2 latest keps
> >
> > DRAGONSAT
> > 1 35690U 09038B 09212.91855109 .00018552 00000-0 98913-4 0 36
> > 2 35690 051.6389 077.0804 0005263 092.7131 267.4479 15.80470389 220
> > OBJECT C
> > 1 35691U 09038C 09212.09676612 .00018444 00000-0 10000-3 0 14
> > 2 35691 051.6400 081.3457 0001895 035.5288 324.5627 15.80114764 66
> > OBJECT D
> > 1 35692U 09038D 09212.91896738 .00041959 00000-0 22207-3 0 29
> > 2 35692 051.6403 077.0848 0003027 038.3721 321.7710 15.80132412 194
> > OBJECT E
> > 1 35693U 09038E 09212.91902338 .00010276 00000-0 57669-4 0 23
> > 2 35693 051.6411 077.0860 0003028 046.5336 313.5353 15.80001620 190
> > OBJECT F
> > 1 35694U 09038F 09213.04564151 .00010373 00000-0 58515-4 0 36
> > 2 35694 051.6419 076.4309 0004175 040.6052 319.5130 15.79870602 218
> > OBJECT G
> > 1 35695U 09038G 09212.91916068 .00017644 00000-0 97025-4 0 26
> > 2 35695 051.6424 077.0893 0003817 046.8198 313.2805 15.79836851 196
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Nigel A. Gunn, 1865 El Camino Drive, Xenia, OH 45385-1115, USA. tel
> +1 937 825 5032
> > Amateur Radio G8IFF W8IFF (was KC8NHF), e-mail nigel@xxxxx.xxx www
> http://www.ngunn.net
> > Member of ARRL, GQRP #11396, QRPARCI #11644, SOC #548, Flying Pigs
> QRP Club International #385,
> > Dayton ARA #2128, AMSAT-NA LM-1691, AMSAT-UK 0182, MKARS, ALC,
> GCARES, XWARN.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Get free photo software from Windows Live Click here.
> <http://www.windowslive.com/online/photos?ocid=PID23393::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-
US:SI_PH_software:082009>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 8.5.392 / Virus Database: 270.13.38/2274 - Release Date: 07/31/09
05:58:00
>
--
Nigel A. Gunn, 1865 El Camino Drive, Xenia, OH 45385-1115, USA. tel +1 937
825 5032
Amateur Radio G8IFF W8IFF (was KC8NHF), e-mail nigel@xxxxx.xxx www
http://www.ngunn.net
Member of ARRL, GQRP #11396, QRPARCI #11644, SOC #548, Flying Pigs QRP Club
International #385,
Dayton ARA #2128, AMSAT-NA LM-1691, AMSAT-UK 0182, MKARS, ALC,
GCARES, XWARN.
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 17:39:59 -0400
From: "Armando Mercado" <am25544@xxxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Pollux & Castor Telemetery
To: <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Message-ID: <B5B469892D2E43FFAB59FF2E371A8742@xxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
Hi,
Is there a central depository for ANDE2 telemetry?
I have a couple a days worth stored up.
Also, I noticed very few frames from Castor. Most
telemetery frames posted are from Pollux. Is Castor
running less power?
Thanks,
Armando, N8IGJ
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 17:56:14 -0400
From: Ivan Galysh <igalysh@xxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Pollux & Castor Telemetery
To: "Amsat-Bb@xxxxx. Org" <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Message-ID: <4E5FC715-15B3-4D66-BC5A-F7D883BB7F92@xxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
Castor is running the same power. I think the issue is the instruments
mounted to the shells are interfering with the transmission. I was
given permission to write up a couple articles about the satellites.
I'll start that and push them for release and to the AMSAT journals.
Ivan
On Aug 1, 2009, at 5:39 PM, Armando Mercado wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Is there a central depository for ANDE2 telemetry?
> I have a couple a days worth stored up.
>
> Also, I noticed very few frames from Castor. Most
> telemetery frames posted are from Pollux. Is Castor
> running less power?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Armando, N8IGJ
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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: 6
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 20:39:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: kc8ran@xxx.xxx
Subject: [amsat-bb] More Pollux TLM
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Message-ID: <1380969.2472.1249173555427.JavaMail.kc8ran@xxx.x.x.x>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed; delsp=no
More telemetry (times in EDT: UTC-4)
Fm POLLUX-1 To CQ Via TELEM <UI pid=F0 Len=101 >[17:16:13]
SYST 186747 0 0 33 0 012e 15d0 003b 1450 011d 1478 001f 12c8 0046 1130
ffff ffff 0158 08d2 0fba 0038
Fm POLLUX-1 To CQ Via TELEM <UI pid=F0 Len=101 >[17:17:19]
SYST 186813 0 0 33 0 003e 1638 01ce 14c0 0008 1500 0000 1318 0027 1148
ffff ffff 0158 08ce 0fbe 003a
Fm POLLUX-1 To CQ Via TELEM <UI pid=F0 Len=120 >[17:17:59]
MEMS 186846 2.58 2.58 2.44 15.331 15.662 13.775 -0.553 0.331 -3.09 -7.12
-28.59 -9.79 20.02 20.61 20.02 2.60 18 47 33
Fm POLLUX-1 To CQ Via TELEM <UI pid=F0 Len=117 >[18:50:23]
MEMS 192390 2.58 2.57 2.45 15.115 15.662 13.990 -0.883 -0.220 3.00 -5.83
12.14 12.29 20.04 20.61 20.09 2.60 7 40 1
Fm POLLUX-1 To CQ Via TELEM <UI pid=F0 Len=101 >[18:50:49]
SYST 192423 0 0 33 0 0022 1708 0025 1550 0187 1580 0006 1390 001f 1220
ffff ffff 0158 08d0 0fbc 003c
Fm POLLUX-1 To CQ Via TELEM <UI pid=F0 Len=101 >[18:51:55]
SYST 192489 0 0 33 0 0033 1730 015f 15c0 0008 1600 0032 13c0 0012 1228
ffff ffff 0158 08ce 0fb8 0038
Fm POLLUX-1 To CQ Via TELEM <UI pid=F0 Len=102 >[18:53:40]
MEMS 192588 15.331 15.993 13.990 -0.558 1.00 0.02 -7.09 -9.55 -23.52
20.57 21.08 20.44 2.60 36 8 14
Joe KC8RAN
Parma Hts, OH
EN91
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 2009 20:51:51 -0400
From: Lee McLamb <ku4os@xxx.xx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] ANS-214 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Message-ID: <20090802005151925.CJJF24863@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx.xx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-214
ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America,
The
Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a
worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in
designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital
Amateur Radio satellites.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor@xxxxx.xxx
In this edition:
* North Texas Balloon Launch Number 17
* Castor and Pollox Deployed From STS-127
* Amateur Radio Newsline 2009 "Young Ham of the Year" Announced
* DRAGONSat Deployed From STS-127
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
* ARISS Status - 27 July 2009
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-214.01
North Texas Balloon Launch Number 17
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 214.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 2, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-214.01
AMATEUR RADIO GROUP TO FLY BALLOON FLIGHT FROM HILLSBORO TEXAS AIRPORT
The next mission number 17, named ?Summer Time Blues?, to be held by the North
Texas Balloon Project (NTEXBP) is planned for launch about 8:30 am on August
8,
2009 from the municipal airport in Hillsboro, Texas, just south of Fort Worth
and Dallas. Back up date is August 15, 2009. Two payload packages containing
sensors and amateur radios will be carried to nearly 100,000 feet in about 90
minutes by a helium balloon and return via parachute in about 50 minutes.
Mobile recovery teams will use position reports from the onboard GPS and APRS
transmitter on 144.390 MHz and radio direction
finding techniques to recover the
payloads.
Pre-launch activities will begin about 7:00 am with the HF Launch Net on 7260
+/- 5 kHz, LSB beginning around 8:00 am. A cross band repeater will be
activated soon after launch. Uplink is 445.800
MHz and downlink is 147.560 MHz.
Handheld VHF radios and scanners can receive
the downlink easily. At the peak
altitude ham radio operators from Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas,
Louisiana, and Kansas can contact each other using the cross band repeater.
The radios used normally have a range of about 5 to 10 miles, but that range
will be extended to about 500 miles at the peak altitude. At the peak
altitude,
the curvature of the earth is visible. Digital video is recorded for later
playback. APRS packets transmit the balloon's location about once a minute.
NTEXBP's Tommy Davis said, "In past operations we did the launches for fun and
the enjoyment of flight. It involves many different facets of amateur radio
and
thus a project that many types of amateur radio operators can enjoy together.?
There is also an educational component utilized by scouting groups, because it
involves orienteering and can be counted toward several different merit
badges,
as well as by teachers for science experiments. Davis said, ?Area scout troops
are invited along with all that are interested.?
In the event of unfavorable weather or poor jet stream conditions, the launch
will occur at a later date. Be sure to check www.ntexbp.org or www.w5sjz.net
and other Ham Radio forums and news sources for later information.
The public is invited to come out to the
Hillsboro Municipal Airport, located at
Exit 3 on Interstate Highway 35W, to watch the launch.
North Texas Balloon Project is a group of amateur (HAM) radio operators from
Fort Worth and Dallas and has launched balloons from Cleburne, Clifton, and
Hillsboro airports since 1991. This is the first
launch during this year and is
funded by the amateur radio operators associated with the North Texas Balloon
Project.
Operator?s and Technical Data to follow at www.ntexbp.org or www.w5sjz.net.
Reports, questions, APRS and other data may be sent to NTEXBP by emailing
webmaster@xxxxxx.xxx .
Please forward to interested Hams and ham communities. I would also appreciate
any announcement that could be made on local
repeaters during allotted calls for
announcements. Thanks as always.
[ANS thanks Larry, K5PHD, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-214.02
Castor and Pollox Deployed From STS-127
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 214.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 2, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-214.02
Castor and Pollox, two satellites in the Atmospheric Neutral Density
Experiment
(ANDE) program were successfully deployed from STS-127 after it undocked from
the International Space Station
The ANDE mission consists of two spherical spacecraft fitted with
retro-reflectors for satellite laser ranging (SLR). The constant and
well-determined cross section and surface properties of the ANDE spacecraft
provide an ideal set of objects for monitoring atmospheric drag and the
calibration of space surveillance network (SSN) assets both radar and optical.
Castor
Castor is a 19 inch diameter aluminum sphere with a mass of 63 kg.
The satellite has several different types of sensors. There are two main
sensors, a Neutral particle wind and temperature spectrometer and an ion mass
spectrometer. A group of college students designed and built a MEMS sensor
payload to test
some commercial gyroscopes and a magnetometer. There are also six light
sensors
and six temperature sensors mounted in the satellite hemispheres.
Pollox
The Pollux satellite was originally to be a passive satellite with
retroreflectors for laser ranging. It has been
turned into a high school student
project involving several schools in the Fairfax County, Virginia area.
The electronics is based on cubesat hardware developed at the Naval Research
Laboratory and Stensat Group LLC.
The communications board contains the transmitter and receiver. The
transmitter
operates at 2 meters and can put out up to 1 watt of signal. Power level is
adjustable. The transmitter can operate at 1200
baud AFSK and 9600 baud FSK. The
transmitter uses the AX.25 protocol. An experimental FX.25 protocol will be
tested that adds forward error correction capability to the AX.25 protocol and
still allows typical TNCs to decode the packets.
Both satellites will transmit on 145.825 MHz. Additional details about the
telemetry format, as well as the FX.25 and GMSK experiments can be found at
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Main.html
[ANS thanks Ivan, KD4HBO, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-214.03
Amateur Radio Newsline 2009 "Young Ham of the Year" Announced
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 214.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 2, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-214.03
"Wow! Oh, my God. All my friends here at Seabase are going to be really
impressed. Oh, my God!"
And, that's how it sounded when we caught up with Andrew Koenig, call
letters KE5GDB, by cellphone at the Boy Scouts of America Seabase in Key
West, Florida, where he had just arrived with members of Troop 848 from
Houston for a week of scuba diving adventures.
The Life Scout, who is just shy of his 16th birthday, is working to earn
the Eagle rank and was ecstatic to learn he had been chosen for special
recognition by the Amateur Radio Newsline. Before telling him he had been
selected as the Young Ham of the Year, we asked Andrew how he might feel if
he were to receive such an award. He said it would be a nice honor to share
with his mentors, including his award nominator Nick Lance, call letters
KC5KBO, who has helped several NASA astronauts earn their ham tickets.
"Young Ham of the Year would probably go in the book of things that I've
done in ham radio that they are really impressed with," Andrew said. "It
would just mean a lot to me.
"Nick Lance, he hasn't really been pushing me to do anything. A lot of the
stuff I discover on my own. But, he's one of the big roles, one of the key
aspects in ham radio and it would give him a really good feeling to know
that one of his students went on to get youth ham of the year."
Andrew holds a General class license and passed the test for his first
ticket back in 2005 while a sixth-grader at the Westbrook Intermediate
School in Houston where Lance - who is retiring in August from the Johnson
Space Center - teaches an amateur radio license class.
Andrew is the son of Joe and Lauri Koenig of Houston. Joe holds the call
letters KE5JQA and got licensed as a result of Andrew's interest. Andrew
also has a younger brother, Kyle.
Among the achievements Andrew has accomplished is helping with an Amateur
Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact at the Westbrook
Intermediate School.
"I actually helped test a lot of the equipment for the contact, since it
was a telebridge contact," Andrew recalled. "The station that was actually
contacting the ISS was in California, I believe.
"And, we were in Clear Lake, Texas. So, for some reason the phone patch
wasn't working properly. So, I had to actually go into one of the school
phones and test that - I think about 15 minutes worth of testing before the
contact started. And, finally right on time, we got it going again and
everything was working just fine."
The contact with Astronaut Clay Anderson, who holds the ham radio call sign
KD5PLA, was a success - thanks to Andrew.
Andrew also helped facilitate a terrestrial contact between Astronaut Chris
Hadfield (ham radio call letters KC5RNJ and VA3OOG) and students at two
Canadian schools using an Internet Repeater Linking Project (IRLP) node he
had built and placed in his bedroom closet.
Andrew, who enjoys VHF and UHF operations, tried and tried and was finally
successful in making his own contact with the space station using his
handheld radios and portable directional antenna. He also has participated
in training astronauts at the Johnson Space Center on ARISS contacts with
schools, conducting simulated contacts with them, playing the role of the
school students.
Andrew has also been quite active with public service events through the
Clear Lake Amateur Radio Club in suburban Houston where he is immediate
past vice president. He is also a member of the Seabrook Citizen's
Emergency Response Team.
Among his other achievements is creating his own bicycle mobile setup:
"I had tried putting a handi-talkie on my bike and I wasn't impressed with
the results because the rubber duck just didn't get out as far as I wanted
to," Andrew recalled. "A couple months before, I had ordered my first
mobile rig (radio), the FT-7800.
"And, actually a couple weeks before I decided to put it all together on
the bike, I had bought a brand new gel cell battery. So, I thought, you
know, hey I've got this remote that came free with the radio, I've got the
battery, I've got an antenna, I got everything I need to make it happen.
So, I just mounted it all on the bike with zip ties and I had 50 watts
mobile on a bike for VHF and UHF."
That attracted some attention from CQ magazine, which was looking for photo
ideas for its 2008 calendar. Photographer Larry Mulvehill (WB2ZPI) visited
Houston and Andrew's bicycle mobile became the calendar photo for September
2008. He and his bedroom-closet IRLP node will be featured the cover of the
September 2009 issue of CQ magazine.
Andrew is going into his sophomore year at Clear Lake High School where he
is a member of the school's marching band. He is also into computers and
creating websites and he maintains his own website started when he was in
middle school. Check out www.thathamkid.com. It offers kid-friendly
information about ham radio, along with a jokes page and a lot more about
Andrew's activities in amateur radio - including his working satellites.
His mentor and nominator for this award, Nick Lance, KC5KBO, summed it up
best when he said: "Andrew has truly been an outstanding student of
amateur radio.....He is an inspiration both to his fellow students and to
hams of all ages."
Award Ceremony
The 2009 Amateur Radio Newsline? "Young Ham of the Year Award" will be
presented to Andrew Koenig, KE5GDB, on Saturday, August 15th, 2009 at the
Huntsville Hamfest in Huntsville, Alabama. As the 2009 "Young Ham of the
Year," Andrew will receive -- courtesy of Vertex-Standard -- an
expense-paid trip to the Huntsville Hamfest, along with a gift of Yaesu
brand ham radio equipment. CQ magazine will treat him to an expense-paid
week at Spacecamp Huntsville, and will present Andrew with a variety of CQ
products. Amateur Radio Newsline? will provide Andrew with a
commemorative plaque at the award ceremony. Once again, the cost of year's
plaque has been underwritten by Dave Bell (W6AQ), President of DBA
Entertainment Inc., Hollywood California. Heil Sound Ltd. will also be
presenting Andrew with a ham radio related gift.
The presentation of the award as a regular feature of the Huntsville
Hamfest has been made possible through the generosity and kindness of the
event's Planning Committee and the good offices of Huntsville Hamfest
Association Vice President Charlie Emerson, N4OKL. (See
http://www.hamfest.org)
This year's award ceremony will be hosted by Don Wilbanks (AE5DW) of
Amateur Radio Newsline? along with representatives of corporate
underwriters Vertex-Standard and CQ Communications, Inc.
Award Program Background
The Amateur Radio Newsline? "Young Ham of the Year" award (formerly the
Westlink Report Young Ham of the Year Award ) has been presented annually
since 1986 to a licensed radio amateur (Ham) who is 18 years of age or
younger and who has provided outstanding service to the nation, his/her
community or the betterment of the state of the art in communications
through the Amateur Radio hobby/service. It maintains a website will full
information on the award program and background material located at
http://www.arnewsline.org.
Award Sponsors
The award program is jointly sponsored by the Los Angeles, California-based
Amateur Radio Newsline? with corporate support from Vertex-Standard
Corporation of Cerritos, California and CQ Magazine of Hicksville, NY.
Since 1976, the Southern California-based Amateur Radio Newsline? and its
predecessor, the Westlink Radio Network, have been providing radio amateurs
around the world with up-to-the-minute news at no cost to them. Amateur
Radio Newsline? also co-sponsors with the Quarter Century Wireless
Association the "Roy Neal, K6DUE, Amateur Radio Mentoring Project" that
serves as a clearinghouse to match radio amateurs in need of educational
assistance on the hobby with those able to aid them. (See
http://www.arnewsline.org)
The award's two corporate underwriters are world leaders in their
respective areas of Amateur Radio product support.
Vertex-Standard Corporation is considered the trailblazer in the design,
manufacture and distribution of high quality Vertex-Standard commercial
two-way radio, monitoring and air-band communications equipment along with
its Standard Horizon marine electronics line and Yaesu brand Amateur Radio
equipment. The Yaesu name is known world-wide among ham radio aficionados
and is synonymous with premium quality ham radio gear. (See
http://www.vertexstandard.com)
CQ Magazine and its sister publications, CQ VHF, Popular Communications and
WorldRadio Online, are published by CQ Communications, Inc., and are
considered the trend-setting publications serving today?s modern radio
amateur. (See http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com)
[ANS thanks Newsline for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-214.04
DRAGONSat Deployed From STS-127
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 214.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 2, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-214.04
DRAGONSat, the Dual RF Astrodynamic GPS Orbital Navigator Satellite, was
deployed from from the cargo bay of STS-127 after the shuttle departed from
the
International Space Station. The DRAGONSat mission consists of two satellites,
BEVO-1 and AggieSat-2.
BEVO-1 Downlink Information:
Beacon Mode
Downlink Freq: 437.325 MHz
Modulation: FM, 200mW, Morse Code, ~20 WPM
Data Mode
Downlink Freq: 437.325 MHz
Modulation:
GMSK, 1W, 9600 baud, AX.25 (default)
FM, 1W, Bell 202, AX.25
http://www.utexas.edu/news/2009/06/09/picosatellite/
AggieSat-2
http://aggiesat.org/Home
436.250MHz
AggieSat2 operating mode uses a proprietary modem
protocol as the main radio is a COTS data modem. It appears the only way
to decipher the code is to have a model MHX425 that can speak the
proprietary language. The radio data rate is actually at 19200 bps.
Initial indications are that it appears Bevo and AggieSat are stuck together
right now. We are looking for aliveness confirmation until we can get the
units
in a stable state.
[ANS thanks John, KE5JTG, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-214.05
Satellite Shorts From All Over
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 214.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 2, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-214.05
+ Presentations from the AMSAT-UK Colloquium can be viewed at:
http://www.uk.amsat.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,278/
+ The Gator Amateur Radio Club at University of Florida has posted
a tutorial for Downloading and Decoding CP6 satellite data using
the KPC-9612 Plus TNC, ICOM-910, SatPC32 and CPX Data Decoder Soft-
ware at http://www.gatorradio.org/CP6_tutorial.pdf
(Dr. Jay Garlitz, AA4FL)
+ The Houston AMSAT Net now being heard on Echolink in the conference
AMSAT Wednesday 0100UTC (Tuesday 8PM Central) has moved to a new
IRC Channel (Internet Relay Chat) at:
IRC Server: irc.radiochat.org
PORT: 6667
Group: #amsat
+ A video replay of the ANDE deployment from STS-127 can be seen at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B19rIEZwTJU
+ European and Mediterranean stations may wish to be on the lookout
for Paulo, CT1ETE/P from grid IM57sc betweem August 1-7 on the
VO-52, AO-27, SO-50 and AO-51 satellites. Paulo plans to use a
Yaesu FT-817ND and Arrow Antenna.
+ Scientific American magazine has an article on-line, "Space Aged:
10 Spacecraft from Decades Past That Are Still Ticking". This
slide show includes AO-7: http://preview.tinyurl.com/kuryu9
+ A very nice interactive web site covering the entire Apollo 11
mission can be found at: http://www.wechoosethemoon.org/
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-214.06
ARISS Status - 27 July 2009
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 214.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 2, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-214.06
1. Upcoming School Contacts
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been
scheduled for United Space School in Seabrook, Texas on Wednesday, August 5 at
13:47 UTC via telebridge station ON4ISS. The school is a once a year session
of
high school students that meets annually in the NASA/Clear Lake Area. These
students come from around the world for a two week session, during which they
stay with local host families while being
mentored by astronauts, engineers, and
scientists to design a mission to Mars as their team project. Class sessions
are held at the University of Houston at Clear Lake. The contact will allow
students to learn firsthand what the experience of spaceflight is like. They
may ask questions about the skills needed to be an astronaut, the effects of
weightlessness on the body, the food eaten, leisure activities, etc. They
will
use this knowledge in putting together their team project presentation, which
they will present to the Houston space community at the end of their session.
2. De Winne has ARISS Contact with Portuguese Students
On Tuesday, July 21, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS) contact took place between students
attending Escola E.B.2/3 de S. Rom?o
do Coronado in Trofa, Portugal and Frank De Winne, ON1DWN on the ISS. De
Winne
answered 16 questions put to him by the students. Media coverage included two
television stations and the event was highlighted in the evening news.
3. De Winne Participates in ARISS Contact with Ugo Guidi
On Thursday, July 23, children from Ugo Guidi in Forte dei Marmi, Lucca, Italy
participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
contact. Frank De Winne, ON1DWN answered twenty questions posed to him by the
students. The audio and video were available on: www.ondaforte.tv.
OndaForteTV, local media and newspapers covered the event.
4. ARISS Member Comments on Lunar Landing in EE Times
EE Times published a July 20 special edition that tells the lunar landing
story
from the viewpoint of a number of engineers. Comments were included from a
number of people who felt it was a very personal
event in their lives. Comments
by Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) member Steve
Bible,
N7HPR may be found on page 44. See:
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cmp/eetimes_apollo_20090720/index.php
[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]
/EX
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's
Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project
Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are
available from the AMSAT Office.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 21:42:13 -0500
From: "Nick" <quadpugh@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] small sat
To: <amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx>
Message-ID: <04c901ca131a$d818c5a0$884a50e0$@xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I will be traveling to small sat conference who will join me/?
Nick k5qxj
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:04:57 -0500
From: "Timothy J. Salo" <salo@xxxxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Internet Routers in Space
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Message-ID: <4A751E79.5030604@xxxxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
I found an interesting story about Cisco's Internet Routers in
Space (IRIS) project.
"Cisco's new-market ambitions extend into orbit"
<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/070709-ciscos-new-market-ambitions-
extend-into.html>
Cisco's router will be hosted by Intelsat IS-14. (Is this the
platform on which AMSAT had hoped for a ride?)
In my view, AMSAT has perhaps two good stories that might
warrant cheap or free launches: education (developing the
next generation of space scientists and engineers) and
research (in this case, IP in space).
I believe that the proposed Advanced Communications Package
(ACP) had a strong research story to tell. The ACP, like
Cisco's IRIS project, probably would have been an IP router
in space (a view I articulated in my 2008 AMSAT paper,
although the general idea had been mentioned earlier, I think).
I claim that the ACP project could have provided the basis
for a story about the relevant and cutting-edge research
that the project would have enabled. The story might have
been competitive enough to, for example, win support via
the DoD Space Test Program (I wrote a Symposium paper about
that, too). Or, maybe we could have teamed with Cisco.
(Obviously, we have built a lot more satellites than has
Cisco...) The primary point being that I believe that
organizations with money are more likely to fund a research
project, than our usual alternatives (e.g., emergency
communications [there is a ton of bandwidth in orbit these
days, to mix metaphors], developing skilled radio operators
[who needs them?], contesting ["you want a really expensive
satellite to do what???"], or fostering international
understanding [in the age of the Internet]).
But, to take advantage of these [alleged] opportunities, we
need to get much better at creating and telling a research
story. And, this would require a dramatic (perhaps impossible)
cultural change for AMSAT. Voice communications would no longer
be the primary motivation or justification for a project; it
would merely be a nice side-effect.
I suppose that the real difference between AMSAT's ACP and
Cisco's IRIS is that Cisco has a development team and has
more money to pay launch fees. But, maybe AMSAT could have
been a subcontractor...
-tjs
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 23:51:28 -0700
From: "Thomas McGrane" <n2oeq@xxxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Good results with verticals
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Message-ID: <39706448e8394dc0aee997ebbcd38b66.n2oeq@xxxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Greetings from pat n2oeq
This past week, I installed two seperate magnet mount verticals on two 3.5
foot square galvanized
steel sheets on the roof. For mode J, I use a two meter 3 db mobile antenna
and for 70 cm, I use a
new MFJ 19 inch tall dual band magnet mount antenna on a second sheet of
steel. The MFJ mag mount
19 inch antenna is 3 db on 70 cm. I get great results on recieve and transmit
above 20 degree
satellite elevations. I paid 30 dollars for the small MFJ mag mount and 15
dollars each for the
steel sheets. I recieve on the short magmount along with an ARR recieve
preamp.
I was searching for an alternative to beams and an eggbeater and I remembered
reading good reports
from some operating the satellites mobile so I bought the small vertical and
it works quite well.
For satellite elevations below 20 degrees I use the old 7 element homebrew
yagi canted up at 10
degrees on a cheap radio shack rotator.
For matching the homebrew yagi, I used a delta match which looks like a
triangle of wires on the
driven element and I think it helps with high angle reception on the fixed
angle yagi.
I purchased the custom made galvanized steel sheets from a local heating and
ventilation company.
They make great counterpoises for the magmount antennas.
Performance all the way up to the zenith is fantastic and rivals the signal
strength of the beam.
My great surprise was its performance on FO-29, better than I ever had.
Both verticals are spaced about 10 feet apart and are connected to a diamond
duplexer which is
connected to my yaesu 8800 dual band FM rig.
pat, n2oeq
------------------------------
Message: 11
Date: Sun, 2 Aug 2009 08:16:53 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Trevor ." <m5aka@xxxxx.xx.xx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Good results with verticals
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Message-ID: <718697.59405.qm@xxxxxxxx.xxxx.xxx.xxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
--- On Sun, 2/8/09, Thomas McGrane <n2oeq@xxxxxx.xxx> wrote:
> 19 inch antenna is 3 db on 70 cm. I get great results on
> recieve and transmit above 20 degree
> satellite elevations.
I've also found quarter wave ground plane antennas work really well due to
their higher radiation angle but colinears with their low radiation angle gave
poor results for most of the pass.
73 Trevor M5AKA
------------------------------
Message: 12
Date: Sun, 2 Aug 2009 12:52:43 +0200
From: "PE0SAT" <pe0sat@xxxxx.xx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] TLM POLLUX-1
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Message-ID:
<cbbd0b34bbb610514f9d6fd1b1661d0e.squirrel@xxxxxxx.xxxxx.xx>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
Here is what I received during the pass from 10:45 UTC
I used MixW to decode the AFSK 1200 packets.
The rest of my setup can be found at www.ham.vgnet.nl
10:45 POLLUX-1/TELEM>CQ>UI,?,F0 (1199 baud):
MEMS 235290 2.58 2.57 2.45 15.778 15.662 13.990 -0.998 -0.557 1.226 -8.14
1.27 18.52 20.02 20.69 20.34 2.60 31 15 3
10:45 POLLUX-1/TELEM>CQ>UI,?,F0 (1200 baud):
SYST 235323 0 0 33 0 0013 1288 0000 1160 0174 1140 0008 0e98 005b 0d58
ffff ffff 0158 08d6 0fbe 0036
10:46 POLLUX-1/TELEM>CQ>UI,?,F0 (1200 baud):
SYST 235389 0 0 33 0 002c 12e8 0000 11d0 0022 11a8 0134 0f30 014d 0dc0
ffff ffff 0156 08d6 0fbc 003c
10:47 POLLUX-1/TELEM>CQ>UI,?,F0 (1199 baud):
SYST 235455 0 0 33 0 0007 1358 0000 1220 019c 1200 0023 0f98 002f 0e68
ffff ffff 0158 08d6 0fb8 003a
73's PE0SAT
------------------------------
Message: 13
Date: Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:40:20 +0100
From: "Iain Young, G7III" <g7iii@xxxxx.xxx>
Subject: [amsat-bb] ANNOUNCE: aprstlm 1.4 Available With Support For
Castor And Pollux
To: amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx
Message-ID: <4A757B24.90802@xxxxx.xxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Hi All,
aprstlm (A unix/linux ncurses APRS [& now AX.25] telemetry viewer)
version 1.4 is now available. A Tarball of the source is at:
http://hal.g7iii.net/aprstlm/v1.4/aprstlm-1.4.tar.gz
For those with aprstlm v1.3, there is a patch available at
http://www.xciv.org/aprstlm/v1.4/aprstlm-1.3-1.4.patch.gz.
Gunzip and apply with patch -p1
Buiding:
To build, you will need a standard gcc install, as well as the
ncurses development libraries. Building is simple, just type
make in the aprstlm-1.4 directory. A binary, called aprstlm
is created.
Running:
There are now two modes of running aprstlm. One is that you
give it an APRS server and port, and it connects to it, and
awaits telemetry from the specified satellite, eg:
./aprstlm -sat PCSAT -aprs aprshost.somenet.com 14580
aprstlm however, can now read from stdin. This was needed,
when implementing support for Castor and Pollux, as it was
not certain all IGATEs would pass their telemetry frames,
and indeed, as they are not strictly APRS packets, then some
do not.
How you get the AX25 frames to aprstlm's stdin is up to you.
I don't have any radios up at the moment, but something like
the axlisten command might well be useful, or alternatively,
just an netcat to an APRS server, or a local TNC would suffice.
To run in stdin mode, add the -stdin flag, eg :
nc arprs.somehost.net 14580 | ./aprstlm -sat POLLUX -stdin
Please note, by using the stdin mode, the keyboard is disabled,
you must use Control C to exit the program, not "Q", as documented.
Also, you will only see the Engineering Telemetry values
screen, not the raw values screen. This is due to the way
I "hijacked" the internals of aprstlm to work for castor and
pollux without having to redo most of the code.
Other features remain the same as previous versions, and
a brief (and way out of date, but still relevant)web page
which documents v1.0 is at http://www.xciv.org/~iain/aprstlm
New Features in Version 1.4:
o Support for Castor and Pollux ("The Twins")
o Read from stdin mode (but disables the keyboard)
o Some core improvements, that should make it easier
to add further AX25 satellites later
Version 1.4 is not really very polished at the moment, but it
does display telemetry from castor and pollux. With pollux only
meant to be with us for 6 months, I wanted to get this out
there as soon as possible.
I do intend to release 1.4.1, which should be able to process the
MEMS telemetry packet as well, as soon as Ivan gets the chance
to post the equations and details.
Also, the predict mode doesn't work for castor and pollux yet,
as we don't have confirmed NORAD object numbers, or epoch times
(Exactly when they were released from the shuttle)
Further improvements (esp to the castor and pollux displays) will
most likely be in 1.4.1 as well
73s
Iain
------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Sent via amsat-bb@xxxxx.xxx. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
End of AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 4, Issue 372
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