Date: Mon, 7 Mar 94 04:30:45 PST From: Ham-Space Mailing List and Newsgroup Errors-To: Ham-Space-Errors@UCSD.Edu Reply-To: Ham-Space@UCSD.Edu Precedence: Bulk Subject: Ham-Space Digest V94 #50 To: Ham-Space Ham-Space Digest Mon, 7 Mar 94 Volume 94 : Issue 50 Today's Topics: * G.R.A.P.S. * ANS-064 BULLETINS GPS information/schematics GPS Receiver Boards Help with FCC Notification fpr SPACE operations ? v2l9331.zip - Hams: Converts raw OSV's to Two-Line Elements Send Replies or notes for publication to: Send subscription requests to: Problems you can't solve otherwise to brian@ucsd.edu. Archives of past issues of the Ham-Space Digest are available (by FTP only) from UCSD.Edu in directory "mailarchives/ham-space". We trust that readers are intelligent enough to realize that all text herein consists of personal comments and does not represent the official policies or positions of any party. Your mileage may vary. So there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 6 Mar 94 23:41:58 GMT From: news-mail-gateway@ucsd.edu Subject: * G.R.A.P.S. * To: ham-space@ucsd.edu SB ALL @ AMSAT < LU3BDH $LU3AGJ20892 * G.R.A.P.S. * I have the pleasure to announce that on March 1st was constituted the "G.R.A.P.S" GRUPO RADIOAFICIONADOS ARGENTINO POR SATELITE. ARGENTINE AMATEURS VIA SATELLITE GROUP. The objectives of this group are strictly technical, in the developmentt, study and construction of satellite experiments, with the logic ambition that our "LUSAT-1" don't get held in history. Unfortunately, our technicians lost the oportunity to applicate their knowhow and ambitions in the multi-national Phase-3D. Our heading is to re-create the experiences of our "LUSAT-1", and others that may come from other countries, sharing the participation and looking forward for the major goal: another satellite! I invite everyone that want to join the group actively. He/she will have a place, being a ham or not, being universities, technicians, engineers, schools, radio clubs, other institutions, etc. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Mar 1994 13:22:35 MST From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!usc!math.ohio-state.edu!cyber2.cyberstore.ca!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!alberta!ve6mgs!usenet@network.ucsd.edu Subject: ANS-064 BULLETINS To: ham-space@ucsd.edu SB SAT UOSAT-2 TURNS 10 YEARS OLD HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 064.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD MARCH 6, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-064.01 UOSAT-2 (UO-11) Celebrates 10 Years Of On-Orbit Service At 17:59 UTC on March 1st, 1984, the second satellite designed and built by the University of Surrey, UoSAT-2 (UO-11) was launched on a Delta rocket from the Western Test Range at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Among its many experiments, UoSAT-2 carried the Digital Communications Experiment, which was one of the first (if not THE first!) non-military use of store-and-forward techniques with Low Earth Orbiting satellites. UoSAT-2 was an early test-bed for many of the technologies that have since been incorporated into a number of other packet radio satellites. For all those who wonder how long these satellites last, it should be noted that UoSAT-2 is still operational, ten years after launch! Happy Birthday UoSAT-2 !!! [The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank Eric Rosenberg (WD3Q) for the information contained in this bulletin item. Eric can be contacted at his INT /EX SB SAT SAMPLE RS-15 KEPS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 064.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD MARCH 6, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-064.02 KE3HP Presents A "Sample" Keplerian Element Set For RS-15 Based on information about RS-15's orbital paramaeters in last week's ANS bulletins, KE3HP has generated a set of predicted elements for this satel- lite. KE3HP assumed that the launch would be from Plesetsk at 12:00 UTC on 01-MAY-94. He generated these elements using OrbiTrack, an excellent MacIntosh shareware program by Bill Bard. Satellite RS-15 predicted Catalog Number 99999 Epoch 94 121.57362967 05/01/94 13:46:02 UTC Drag2 0.00000000 Rev/Day^2 Inclination 67.0000 Deg RAAN 22.8163 Deg Eccentricity 0.0001152 Argument of Perigee 360.0000 Deg Mean Anomaly 0.0000 Deg Mean Motion 10.73887722 Rev/Day Epoch Revolution 0 Semimajor Axis 8678.14 km Precession 1.3232 Deg West/Day Period 134.09 Min Apogee 2301.00 KM 1429.77 SM 1242.44 NM Perigee 2299.00 KM 1428.53 SM 1241.36 NM The only element strongly influenced by the launch date and time will be RAAN. The primary difference is that these predicted elements will show the satellite passing over your QTH at a different time than when the real bird will. If you take these elements and "plug" them into your satellite tracking programs, one of the facinating features that you will discover about this orbit is that even on a low elevation pass (10 degs or less) RS-15 is visable for up to 20 minutes! This will make RS-15 an excellent satellite for Mode A operations. Please stay tuned to the AMSAT News Service (ANS) bulletins for further information about the launch of RS-15. [The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank KE3HP for the information contained in this bulletin item.] /EX SB SAT AO-13 OPERATIONS NET HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 064.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD MARCH 6, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-064.03 Current AMSAT Operations Net Schedule For AO-13 AMSAT Operations Nets are planned for the following times. Mode-B Nets are conducted on AO-13 on a downlink frequency of 145.950 MHz. If, at the start of the OPS Net, the frequency of 145.950 MHz is being used for a QSO, OPS Net enthusiasts are asked to move to the alternate frequency of 145.955 MHz. Date UTC Mode Phs NCS Alt NCS 13-Mar-94 0130 B 075 VE2LVC W9ODI 19-Mar-94 1730 B 073 W5IU WA5ZIB 26-Mar-94 2130 B 084 WA5ZIB W5IU Any stations with information on current events would be most welcome. Also, those interested in discussing technical issues or who have questions about any particular aspect of OSCAR statellite operations, are encouraged to join the OPS Nets. If neither of the Net Control Stations show up, any participant is invited to act as the NCS. AO-13 ZRO Tests For March 1994 The following schedule of Mode "B" tests were chosen for convenient operating times and favorable squint angles. The tests can be heard on 145.840 MHz. Andy McAlister (WA5ZIB) will conduct all the tests. Mode "JL" tests will no longer occur due to the failure of AO-13's 70CM trans- mitter. Day Date (UTC) Time Areas covered Saturday Mar. 19, 1994 1930 UTC NA, SA, Europe, Africa Saturday Mar. 26, 1994 2315 UTC NA, SA Note that the dates and days are shown in "UTC". Any changes will be announced as soon as possible via the AMSAT HF and AO-13 Operations Nets. All listener reports with date of test and numbers copied should be sent to Andy MacAllister (WA5ZIB), AMSAT V.P. User Operations, 14714 Knights Way Drive, Houston, TX 77083-5640. A report will be returned verifying the level of accurate reception. An S.A.S.E. is appreciated but not required. /EX SB SAT WEEKLY OSCAR STATUS REPORTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 064.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD MARCH 6, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-064.04 Weekly OSCAR Status Reports: 06-MAR-94 AO-13: Current Transponder Operating Schedule: L QST Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 90 | Mode-BS : MA 90 to MA 120 | Mode-S : MA 120 to MA 145 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-S : MA 145 to MA 150 |<- S beacon only Mode-BS : MA 150 to MA 180 | Blon/Blat 180/0 Mode-B : MA 180 to MA 256 | Omnis : MA 230 to MA 30 | Move to attitude 240/0, Apr 04 [G3RUH/DB2OS/VK5AGR] FO-20: The following is the current schedule for transponder operations: ANALOG MODE: 09-MAR-94 7:05 -TO- 16-MAR-94 7:30 UTC 23-MAR-94 7:52 -TO- 30-MAR-94 8:15 UTC DIGITAL MODE: Unless otherwise noted above. [Kazu Sakamoto (JJ1WTK) qga02014@niftyserve.or.jp] The AMSAT NEWS Service (ANS) is looking for volunteers to contribute weekly OSCAR status reports. If you have a favorite OSCAR which you work on a regular basis and would like to contribute to this bulletin, please send your observations to WD0HHU at his CompuServe address of 70524,2272, on INTERNET at wd0hhu@amsat.org, or to his local packet BBS in the Denver, CO area, WD0HHU @ W0LJF.#NECO.CO.USA.NOAM. Also, if you find that the current set of orbital elements are not generating the correct AOS/LOS times at your QTH, PLEASE INCLUDE THAT INFORMATION AS WELL. The information you provide will be of value to all OSCAR enthusiasts. /EX ------------------------------ Date: 1 Mar 94 14:56:48 GMT From: agate!howland.reston.ans.net!newsserver.jvnc.net!synapse.bms.com!helix!gopstein@ucbvax.berkeley.edu Subject: GPS information/schematics To: ham-space@ucsd.edu In article <2971474522.0.p00926@psilink.com> p00926@psi.com writes: >Hello netters, > I'm looking for information/schematics on how to make a GPS reciever. > It must be fairly simple to make and cost around $10.00 to build. :-) > Seriously though, I'd like it to be resonable in price. I want to build > one to use for making maps for orienteering and also to track myself > on excursions into the deep woods. There is nothing I can't handle > in the digital world but the world of high frequency analog is kind > of a mystery. Any help would be greatly appreciated. > Forget about building the actual receiver, I don't believe that mere mortals would have much success -- the GPS signal is extremely complicated. You can, however, buy an OEM GPS receiver (mine was a Magellan) and build a handheld case and display around it. That's what I did. I used a Motorola 68HC705 microprocessor and a 16x2 LCD display. The boards use regular asynch serial at normal baud rates for communications, so interfacing is really easy. At the time, however, the price of complete handheld units was much higher than the cost of the receiver boards. That's not really true any more. The board I bought was about $400, which is in the ballpark of what you can get complete GPS units for now. Rich, KD2CQ -- Rich Gopstein gopstein@bms.com rutgers!bms.com!gopstein ------------------------------ Date: 7 Mar 1994 04:47:08 GMT From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!sdd.hp.com!hpscit.sc.hp.com!rkarlqu@network.ucsd.edu Subject: GPS Receiver Boards To: ham-space@ucsd.edu The Motorola GPS receiver is less than $150 in 100's. It has six channels and just about all the features you would ever want. Rick Karlquist N6RK rkarlqu@scd.hp.com ------------------------------ Date: 5 Mar 1994 06:21:07 GMT From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!usc!yeshua.marcam.com!news.kei.com!eff!news.umbc.edu!haven.umd.edu!umd5.umd.edu!w3eax.umd.edu!ceham@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Help with FCC Notification fpr SPACE operations ? To: ham-space@ucsd.edu Hi, I am trying to find out what exaclty is needed in terms of an FCC notification for space operations. We are currently developing an amateur radio experiment / payload to fly for approximately 48 Hours in a low earth orbit (space shuttle). We tried contacting the FCC, but got the run around. any info would be appreciated in terms of the notification and STA (if required). the experiment is basically based on packet radio, and GPS. will use 2m. Maurice ceham@w3eax.umd.edu ------------------------------ Date: 5 Mar 94 18:45:52 GMT From: nprdc!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!convex!news.utdallas.edu!wupost!simtel.coast.net!msdos-ann-request@network.ucsd.edu Subject: v2l9331.zip - Hams: Converts raw OSV's to Two-Line Elements To: ham-space@ucsd.edu I have uploaded to the SimTel Software Repository (available by anonymous ftp from the primary mirror site OAK.Oakland.Edu and its mirrors): pub/msdos/hamradio/ v2l9331.zip Hams: Converts raw OSV's to Two-Line Elements The Vector to Two-line Elements (VEC2TLE) software provides the user with the capability to convert position/velocity/time state vectors of a variety of formats to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Compatible Two-Line Element (TLE) sets. These element sets contain orbit descriptions compatible for propagation with the Simplified General Perturbations (SGP) and SGP Version 4 (SGP4) orbit theories developed for use by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Space Command (USSPACECOM). TLEs have become an increasingly-popular source of orbital data. This is due mainly to the fact that this format of data is available for nearly all Earth-orbiting satellites. As a result, the popular satellite tracking software packages such as STSPLUS and TRAKSAT, use TLEs as their primary sources of input data along with the SGP4 orbit propagator. TLE data is available for most Earth-orbiting satellites from several sources (see Appendix F). VEC2TLE is not intended to replace these as primary sources of TLE data. Rather, its primary purpose is for circumstances in which this data may not be available in a timely fashion. A prime example is the Space Transportation System (STS) where position and velocity state vectors may be the only orbital information available in near real time. In the past, users of the tracking software had little choice but to wait (hours) until the TLE data was available following thruster firings that changed the Shuttle's orbit. It is this situation that resulted in the creation of VEC2TLE. The TLEs computed by VEC2TLE are fully compatible with SGP or SGP4 as true and accurate renditions of the orbit specified by the input state vectors. Uploaded on behalf of the author. Michael Dabrowski KD6KMF astroman@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: (null) From: (null) To date, the group have this members: Engineers: RAUL BON FOSTER, LU5ALG JUAN CARLOS LUCIANI, LU4AGC JULIO BIANCHI, LW1DUA CLAUDIO MARCO ZANELLA, LU4AEY Technicians: NORBERTO PENINNI, LU8DYF (LUSAT-1 Control Station) JUAN CLEMENTE, LU8ENU OMAR CASTRO, LU5EO Inventors: EDUARDO SWEET BIRO, LU7AKC Director: MARIO IBERTIS RIVERA, LU2BDT These ones will manage some experiment teams. You can contact us via Internet, sending a message to or via Packet radio, sending a PERSONAL message to graps@lu7akc.#col.cf.arg.soam or via Fax to (+54-1) 552-1920 (ask for fax) or via Voice phone to (+54-1) 642-1664 NOTE: Please post this message over any net or list. Sincerely yours, Eduardo Sweet Biro. (February 17, 1994) ------------------------------ End of Ham-Space Digest V94 #50 ******************************