[amsat-bb] Re: AO-40 status
Hi John, I would say it's pretty much dead. It's just the fact nobody wants to play taps. Many, including myself, would just love to have it magically re-appear and work like nothing ever happened. Unfortunately, I don't see this occuring. I can't seem to recall if there ever was an "official bulletin" indicating that AO-40 is indeed dead. If it hasn't, it should be, so we can focus on current and future projects. 73, Jeff WB3JFS - Original Message - From: ""John Becker, WØJAB"" To: Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 9:32 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-40 status > Is there any thing going on with AO-40 such as a change > in it's status? > > It sure was fun working it. > > John, W0JAB > > > ___ > Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: "Frustration" Solved!
At 06:23 PM 12/2/2009, Greg D. wrote: >Actually, I do that all the time! > > You've never checked the state of a 9V battery with your tongue? ;) I rest my case, and you were right, use all 5 senses. ;) 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com ___ 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] AO-40 status
Is there any thing going on with AO-40 such as a change in it's status? It sure was fun working it. John, W0JAB ___ 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: "Frustration" Solved!
Actually, I do that all the time! Greg KO6TH > Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2009 17:45:50 +1100 > To: ko6th_g...@hotmail.com; kl...@acsalaska.net; rwmcgw...@gmail.com; > amsat-bb@amsat.org > From: vk3...@gmail.com > Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Re: "Frustration" Solved! > > At 05:06 PM 12/2/2009, Greg D. wrote: > > >Amen! We bring our 5 senses with us to our troubleshooting tasks, > >and then ignore them to focus on the 6th sense (guesswork!). Use > >all of them! (Well, maybe not taste...) Take a step back and watch > >the lights and meters. Listen to the sequence of clicks and buzzes > > You've never checked the state of a 9V battery with your tongue? ;) > > 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL > http://vkradio.com > _ Chat with Messenger straight from your Hotmail inbox. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/hotmail_bl1/hotmail_bl1.aspx?ocid=PID23879::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-ww:WM_IMHM_4:092009 ___ 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: Boost To higher Orbits?
> Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2009 11:20:45 +1100 > To: rwmcgw...@gmail.com; n...@mwt.net > From: vk3...@gmail.com > CC: AMSAT-BB@amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Boost To higher Orbits? > > At 11:17 PM 11/30/2009, Bob McGwier wrote: > > >p=hk where p is momentum, k is Planck's constant, and k is an integer. > > > >So when a photon is captured or reflects/scatters, it transfers > >momentum. This equation is used to determine how much momentum is being > >transferred. > > So, the discussion is about the fundamentally different ways to cause force to be applied to the satellite. Most of the time we operate by Newton's 3rd law, throwing parts of the satellite out one end, with the knowledge that doing so will push the remaining parts of the bird in the other direction. We call them rockets. Conservation of Momentum is just another aspect of Newton's 3rd law. Any time you cause something with mass to move differently, there's always a got to be a balancing force. Bouncing photons off a sail is only different from a rocket in that the rocket is shedding parts of itself as it works, while the photons are external. And a they are lot lighter (no pun intended), so it takes a whole lot of them to have the same effect, making it less than practical. Looking at the other laws of physics we have Bernoulli's principle, where the increased velocity of a fluid over a curved surface causes a pressure drop which can push the surface in the direction of the lower pressure. We call them propellers and lanteen sails. Is there any way to use this principle with the solar wind? I think that was answered as a theoretical yes, but a practical no. So what remains? What about magnetic or electrostatic forces? Friction? Anything else I missed? It would sure be nice to be able to propel a satellite without tossing bits of it overboard. Greg KO6TH _ Get gifts for them and cashback for you. Try Bing now. http://www.bing.com/shopping/search?q=xbox+games&scope=cashback&form=MSHYCB&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TEXT_MSHYCB_Shopping_Giftsforthem_cashback_1x1 ___ 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: "Frustration" Solved!
At 05:06 PM 12/2/2009, Greg D. wrote: >Amen! We bring our 5 senses with us to our troubleshooting tasks, >and then ignore them to focus on the 6th sense (guesswork!). Use >all of them! (Well, maybe not taste...) Take a step back and watch >the lights and meters. Listen to the sequence of clicks and buzzes You've never checked the state of a 9V battery with your tongue? ;) 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com ___ 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: "Frustration" Solved!
> I smile (in self recognition). An old mentor, when I was starting in > a career of electronic repair, said "its usually something > simple"! "Do not automatically look for the worst cause". The first > step in troubleshooting is to verify all the inputs are present, then > check the outputs, then back up an look and smell. And by all means > do not "assume". > Amen! We bring our 5 senses with us to our troubleshooting tasks, and then ignore them to focus on the 6th sense (guesswork!). Use all of them! (Well, maybe not taste...) Take a step back and watch the lights and meters. Listen to the sequence of clicks and buzzes (and the lack of them). Feel the temperature of the chips (the back of your hand is a marvelous thermometer at a few inches above a circuit). All are clues as to what is going on. This garden universe vibrates complete. Some may get a sound so sweet. Vibrations reach on up to become light, And then thru gamma, out of sight. Between the eyes and ears there lay, The sounds of colour and the light of a sigh. And to hear the sun, what a thing to believe. But it's all around if we could but perceive. To know ultra-violet, infra-red and X-rays, Beauty to find in so many ways. Two notes of the chord, that's our full scope. But to reach the chord is our life's hope. And to name the chord is important to some. So they give a word, and the word is OM. - The Moody Blues Greg KO6TH _ Chat with Messenger straight from your Hotmail inbox. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/hotmail_bl1/hotmail_bl1.aspx?ocid=PID23879::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-ww:WM_IMHM_4:092009 ___ 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: "Frustration" Solved!
Today I pulled a good one. I decided to go ahead and raise the mast up "temporarily" to see how much it improved the minimum horizon I could start to copy. I raised the mast and tightened the clamping bolt by hand. I had a guy wire a bit tight and as I started down the ladder to adjust it I thought, "You know, I should probably give that clamp bolt a turn with pliers so it doesn't let lose, Nahhh...it will be alright." Sure enough, as I'm standing there adjusting the turnbuckle, the bolt lets lose and antenna, rotators and all telescope back down into the lower mast section at a high rate of speed. Nothing was harmed but I ran out of daylight and wasn't able to free the upper mast section to raise it again. It's jammed at the moment. Should have listened to myself about tightening that bolt! When we get in a hurry we make stupid mistakes. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. 73, Michael W4HIJ Greg Dober wrote: > Michael, > > Looking forward to working you and glad the problem is solved. In pre-gray > hair days, I use to make fun of the TV instructions when the troubleshooting > section noted: Make sure TV is plugged into outlet. Not anymore!! Just > yesterday I spent a half hour wondering why my printer didn't print. When > you remove the wrong ethernet cable earlier in the day and assumed it was > the correct one for another device...well, you know the rest of the story. > > 73 > Greg > N3MVF > > -Original Message- > From: amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-boun...@amsat.org] On > Behalf Of Michael Tondee > Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 6:06 PM > To: AMSAT-BB@amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] "Frustration" Solved! > > Well, just got through listening to a pass of AO-51. As several have > suggested, it was a pointing issue with the antenna. > I can't believe my memory has gotten to the point where I couldn't > remember where North was the last time I had the antennas up. > Thing is, I actually took a compass reading the other day and > compensated for declination but I must have misread something > somewhere. I was only about 20 degrees off! Declination here is only 4 > degrees so it couldn't have been that. That's what I get for working on > stuff at dusk I guess. I'm slightly embarrassed! > BTW, I didn't mean to make anyone think that an 11 element yagi was > too narrow for LEO's. It's fine if you point the dang thing right! > Also, the reason why I went this route with the more complex antenna and > AZ/EL system is that I already had the stuff on hand from my last foray > into satellites. Only the preamp was new and I knew that everything had > worked before. I can certainly appreciate the suggestions on > simplification and I was about to do just that if I didn't have any > success today. > Now I just have to work out some of my cable issues and get something > going for transmit. My 2 meter "cheap yagi" has seen better days. Once I > get that, I'll raise the mast and get the antennas up to their normal > height. > I'm just using HT's right now but I hope to have a new TS-2000X > sometime after the first of the year. I've been quite interested in the > TS-2000 vs. IC910H thread. I know that Icom has discontinued the 910 > because of the 9100 but I was under the impression that Kenwood would > release a new rig at Dayton this year and wonder if that will mean the > demise of the TS-2000. > Thanks everyone for the suggestions and also allowing me to "vent" a > bit last night.I was getting pretty frustrated. > 73, > Michael, W4HIJ > > > > > ___ 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] DN70,DN71 trip
hi, and thank you to all the stations that worked me on my trip to Cheyenne, Wy as said before i got there on the 23rd, but had radio problems...ect. after they were taken care of and the family stuff was done i was able to operate DN71 and DN 70,71 on the US 85 hwy Colorado/Wyoming border all be it a windy day(hope i did not sound to bad). i also had help from a long time friend (N7BAM thank you brian) on the 27th from DN71 and on the 28th i traveled south to give out the combo, it was a long trip at least for me and i would have liked to do more operating from that area in the near future, more info on that later. if you would like a card for contact just e-mail the details and if you send SASE that would be ok too. in total 5 passes were worked on the trip and SO-50, AO-27 and AO-51 were used on the after noon and evening passes. Rodney kc0zhf back in DN94 ___ 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] UO-11 a report
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/uo11mixw.htm JE9PEL, Mineo Wakita ___ 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] XW-1
Hi Great to have such positive news about China's entry into the amateur radio satellite field. Alan Kungs recent posting was most encouraging. Will the space authorities in China will have a similar positve attitude towards amateur radio within their ambitious manned spaceflight program ? I hope so, and wish them well. 73 John G7HIA ___ 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: "Frustration" Solved!
At 05:47 AM 12/1/2009, Bob McGwier wrote: >I wish I had a buck for every time I have done this. I could drink >coffee for a year at Starbuck's. Why does the technical mind (more male >than female but both nevertheless) tend to run to the worst possibility >rather than look for the simplest. I am about the worst offender I know. > >Bob > > > > > > > Just > > yesterday I spent a half hour wondering why my printer didn't print. When > > you remove the wrong ethernet cable earlier in the day and assumed it was > > the correct one for another device...well, you know the rest of the story. > > > > 73 > > Greg > > N3MVF > > > > >___ >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 I smile (in self recognition). An old mentor, when I was starting in a career of electronic repair, said "its usually something simple"! "Do not automatically look for the worst cause". The first step in troubleshooting is to verify all the inputs are present, then check the outputs, then back up an look and smell. And by all means do not "assume". My eme station was not receiving last night when I started it up after a month's idleness. So I check the dc voltages (all there), then noticing the coax is connected differently, I check the outside connection (was to a different feedthru connector...hmm). Only took about 20-min to discover (apparently changed my mind on which connector to use and didn't complete the changeover). Years ago when a satellite-TV dealer, a customer called to say his set quit. I drove 100-miles to work on it to find the ac cord disconnected in back of his large entertainment cabinet. I could only justify taking some gas money from the very apologetic customer (I blew off 5-hours of my time). 73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45 == BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com 500-KHz/CW, 144-MHz EME, 1296-MHz EME DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubus...@hotmail.com == ___ 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] AO-40 status
Is there any thing going on with AO-40 such as a change in it's status? It sure was fun working it. John, W0JAB ___ 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: Interference in Spain
Hi Lino, I know you use SO-50 as well. With the subtone system we just can not hear, what is going on. Powerfull stations without a subtone just makes the transmitter go off. Since they do not use the subtone we can not hear who they are. Thanks for the QSL cards. They arrived from the buro today. There are some on the way for you via the buro. I made them today. 73 OZ1MY Ib - Original Message - From: "Lino IK1SOW" To: Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 5:12 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Interference in Spain > To perhaps resolve the problem of the Spain interference, the audio subtones could be used for the uplink? > > Lino, IK1SOW > > > > ___ > Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 30 November 2009 This report covers the period from 21 April 2008 to 30 November 2009. The satellite unexpectedly resumed transmissions recently. It was first heard by Keith N4ZQ on 19 November 2009 and transmissions continued until it switched OFF on 27 November. It was last heard by Tetsu JA0CAW at 23:59 UTC 26 November 2009. Previously, it was last heard by Peter ZL3TC on 23 April 2008, on a single pass. Study of the satellite's behaviour had suggested that its battery would not sustain operation during solar eclipses, and the watchdog timer would switch the satellite OFF after less than an orbit. Eclipses are now occur during every orbit and will continue for many years. In practice this meant that OSCAR-11 would only be heard occasionally by stations monitoring the frequency while listening for other satellites. During this period of inactivity the satellite achieved 25 years in orbit on 01 March 2009. Congratualtions to Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, his team at the University of Surrey and participating amateur radio groups, for this fine achievment. Good signals have been received by stations located all over the world during this recent period of activity and telemetry has been decoded successfully. However, the satellite has only transmitted when in sunlight. I have been overwhelmed by the number of reports received, too many to list individually! Many thanks to everyone who sent email reports or posted to AMSAT-BB. The telemetry is unchanged from the 2008 downloads. The on-board clock is now 241 days slow. When last received in 2008 it was 83 days slow. The increasing error suggests that the clock may be stopping, when the satellite is in eclipse. The exact date when the satellite started transmitting is not known, so if the watchdog timer was reset, the next transmissions might start around 16 December, however if the timer went through its full operating cycle, transmissions could resume around 06 December. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF The satellite is now subject to eclipses during every orbit. Long term predictions indicate that eclipses will occur until 2019, when there will be some eclipse free periods until 2023. However these very long term predictions should be regarded with caution, as large tracking errors can accumulate over long periods of time. When telemetry was last received it showed that one of the solar arrays had failed, and there was a large unexplained current drain on the main 14 volt bus. After 25 years in orbit the battery has undergone over 100,000 partial charge/discharge cycles, and observations suggest that it cannot power the satellite during eclipses lasting more than about ten minutes, or sometimes even during periods of poor solar attitude. - RECEPTION REPORTS REQUESTED! Please send reception reports to xx...@amsat.org (replace x by g3cwv) or post to amsat-bb. If you have a file, please let me know what you have, before sending it! The satellite transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. OSCAR-11 has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending "di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah" sent over five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency, should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband. Please note that you need a clean noise free signal to decode the signals. There is an audio clip on my OLD website www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ which may be useful for identification and as test signal for decoding. - The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, although over short periods timekeeping is accurate to a few seconds per month. When last heard the clock was 241 days slow. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed. The watchdog timer now operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations show this to be 20.7 days, ie. 10.3 days ON followed by 10.4 days OFF. However, poor solar attitude may result may result in a low 14 volt line supply, which may cause th
[amsat-bb] Re: Interference in Spain
Lino IK1SOW wrote: > To perhaps resolve the problem of the Spain interference, the audio subtones > could be used for the uplink? > > Lino, IK1SOW > > Turning tone access on doesn't get rid of the interference. It only hides it, and only when the satellite users have stronger uplink signals. 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-NA VP Operations ___ 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: video: stand-alone tracking and tuning with Arduino
Quoting Bruce Robertson : > Gang: > > The following one-minute video shows my breadboarded Arduino > (ATMega328) tracking two satellites and tuning an FT-817 in response. > It also shows the chip periodically announcing the location of the > bird in CW, and, as a bonus, you'll see AO-51 being received with a > simple dipole directly connected to a low-noise preamp. > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgNcCGXeRyw > > This is an application of the Arduino FT-817, Plan 13, CW and Tle > EEPROM storage libraries available at: > http://code.google.com/p/qrptracker/ > Hi Bruce, Very nice work, I enjoy following your progress with this project. > ... > Right now, however, the code only tunes the downlink, and I have to > spelunk through the code for Instanttune to see how to deal with the > FT-817 on transmit :-) You should be aware that the FT-817 frequency can not be controlled via CAT during transmission. There are different workarounds implemented in different desktop applications, but AFAIK none of them enable active tuning while PTT is on. On the other hand, you can change the frequency using the dial. The dial is an optical encoder so it might be possible to hack it that way. In my frustration I have actually considered this. 73 Alex OZ9AEC ___ 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: Interference in Spain
To perhaps resolve the problem of the Spain interference, the audio subtones could be used for the uplink? Lino, IK1SOW ___ 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: IC-970 vs. newer rigs
Hi Pete, I will be interested in seeing what kind of answers you get to this, as it is also a question that I have wondered. I remember when the 970 was out-it was definitely a top of the line VHF/UHF radio but I would never have been able to afford one at that time. THere was also an H model that did 45 watts on both bands. Not only did Icom offer a 1.2ghz module for it, they also offered a 2.4ghz module. It was for the satellite portion of 13cm, though, and not the weak signal portion which is 100mhz lower. That brings me to another point, in that I wish Icom would realize that satellite rigs also make good weak signal and VHF contesting rigs. It would be nice if they would have offered a 6m module (or made 6m standard) on the 910. Yaesu seemed to figure this out much earlier with the FT726 and FT736. A 910 with 6m would be awesome-being able to do dualband operation with dual receive on 6m and 2m would be ideal for contesting and big Es openings where you want to work 6m but also want to keep an ear out for that elusive 2m Es opening. Another place that I have heard good things about for Icom is Comtek in Oregon. I think the website is www.w7jv.com. I have also heard good things about www.ham-repair.com and www.landaircom.com. Neither of those specializes in Icom but fixes most brands of gear. 73s John AA5JG --- On Mon, 11/30/09, Peter Jordahl wrote: > From: Peter Jordahl > Subject: [amsat-bb] IC-970 vs. newer rigs > To: amsat-bb@amsat.org > Date: Monday, November 30, 2009, 6:33 PM > Have been following the "910H vs. > TS-2000" thread. Wonder how the older > IC-970A (good in its day) compares with these newer rigs, > acknowledging the lower power (25W) and lack of any DSP in > the receiver. > My 970A is currently in semi-storage waiting for me to > have the > old-style trimmer capacitors replaced; the synthesizer no > longer locks > on 70 cm. Hope to get that done soon. > > Any suggestions as to the best repair site for an older > ICOM rig > welcome; I already know about MTS and absent any > really glowing > alternative suggestions will probably send it there. > > Pete K5GM > AMSAT LM-1618 > Pete Jordahl, K5GM > k...@amsat.org > > ___ > Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. > Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur > satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb > ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] video: stand-alone tracking and tuning with Arduino
Gang: The following one-minute video shows my breadboarded Arduino (ATMega328) tracking two satellites and tuning an FT-817 in response. It also shows the chip periodically announcing the location of the bird in CW, and, as a bonus, you'll see AO-51 being received with a simple dipole directly connected to a low-noise preamp. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgNcCGXeRyw This is an application of the Arduino FT-817, Plan 13, CW and Tle EEPROM storage libraries available at: http://code.google.com/p/qrptracker/ One long-term goal is to port this to the Arduino mini-pro, here http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardProMini, add a clip-on real-time-clock and battery, and make a 10 satellite tracking dongle for the FT-817 and TH-D7A that is not much bigger than a USB key, and suitable for portable use. (In that version, the location will be stored in EEPROM, not derived from the GPS unit.) Long, long term, I hope that demoing this technology will inspire ham radio manufacturers to make stand-alone doppler tuning a built-in feature in rigs like the ones above. Right now, however, the code only tunes the downlink, and I have to spelunk through the code for Instanttune to see how to deal with the FT-817 on transmit :-) (For the many people new to this list and this wonderful corner of ham radio, I should mention that his project is an experimenter's platform, not a fully-functioning trackbox. For the latter, you want the LVBTracker, available from AMSAT-NA's shop.) 73, Bruce -- http://ve9qrp.blogspot.com ___ 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: "Frustration" Solved!
I wish I had a buck for every time I have done this. I could drink coffee for a year at Starbuck's. Why does the technical mind (more male than female but both nevertheless) tend to run to the worst possibility rather than look for the simplest. I am about the worst offender I know. Bob > > Just > yesterday I spent a half hour wondering why my printer didn't print. When > you remove the wrong ethernet cable earlier in the day and assumed it was > the correct one for another device...well, you know the rest of the story. > > 73 > Greg > N3MVF > > ___ 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] FT-736R Help Needed
A South African operator is desperately in need of a component to repair his FT-736R. The part is an IC No. HD63A01YO (Hitachi) The FT-736R manual reference is Yaesu Part Number G1090792, control unit F2891000A diagram item Q1008. Does anyone in the satellite community know of a source for this component, possibly from an old 736R that has been cannibalized for spares? The FT-736R is a great old radio and should be kept in use as long as possible. I wouldn't part with mine for anything! It's worked a lot of VHF DX both through the satellites abd off the moon. Hal ZS6WB ___ 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