Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 04:30:27 PDT 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 #170 To: Ham-Space Ham-Space Digest Tue, 28 Jun 94 Volume 94 : Issue 170 Today's Topics: * SpaceNews 27-Jun-94 * decoding telemetry by telephone modem ? GPS group purchase shutdown Newbie Experience with DOVE Satellite 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: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 12:05:57 MDT From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!alberta!ve6mgs!usenet@network.ucsd.edu Subject: * SpaceNews 27-Jun-94 * To: ham-space@ucsd.edu SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0627 * SpaceNews 27-Jun-94 * BID: $SPC0627 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JUNE 27, 1994 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution. * DOVE TESTING CONTINUES * ========================== At about 6/11/94 05:30 UTC controllers completed a reload of the DOVE software and activated another voice test. The pronunciation of the word 'Hi' is a bit different and the overall amplitude of the voice is higher. Controllers expect to continue the hardware testing process after a period of software development on the ground that will probably last several days to a few weeks. The following packet frames were received from DOVE by KD2BD late last week: DOVE-1>TIME-1 : PHT: uptime is 014/02:11:51. Time is Fri Jun 24 16:11:31 1994 DOVE-1>BRAMST : 0500 utc 14 June 1994 Voice Module now active Software testing continues S-Band transmitter is off 73 DOVE Command Team (WJ9F) Reception reports of how well the voice is heard with simple receiving equipment (like an HT and rubber duck) would be appreciated. Please send reports via the Internet to WJ9F, PY2BJO, WD0E, VK7ZBX, or N5AHD @amsat.org. Telemetry is not needed at this time. [Info via Jim White, WD0E, of the DOVE command team] * STS-65 SAREX INFORMATION * ============================ Shuttle mission STS-65 using orbiter "Columbia" is scheduled for launch on 08-Jul-94 at 17:06 UTC for a 14-day microgravity scientific mission. A SAREX package in configuration 'C' will be carried on Columbia on this mission. Crew members Donald A. Thomas, Mission Specialist, KC5FVF, and Robert D. Cabana, (callsign?) are among the licensed astronauts flying on mission STS-65. The primary payload for STS-65 is the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-02), that includes a complement of international experiments with its main focus on materials and life sciences research in microgravity. The payload crew members will perform the experiments in a "gravity gradient" stabilized attitude (shuttle tail pointed toward Earth) to maintain the best possible laboratory conditions with the least gravitational disturbances in the Spacelab. One of the secondary payloads will be the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment. SAREX configuration C consists of a 2-meter handheld transceiver, I/F module, PGSC, spare battery set, window antenna, packet module, SAREX headset assembly, personal recorder, and required cable assemblies. The packet module contains a power supply and packet TNC. The power supply provides power for the TNC and the handheld transceiver. The TNC interconnects with a radio transceiver so that data to and from the computer is transmitted to and received from other amateur radio stations. Configuration C is capable of operating in either the voice or data mode in communications with amateur stations within LOS of the Orbiter. This configuration can be operated in the attended mode for voice communication and either the attended or automatic mode for data communications. The payload control weight for SAREX configuration C is 45 lb (20.41 kg). SAREX sponsors include the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). SAREX is supported by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The crew will use separate receive and transmit frequencies. PLEASE DO NOT transmit on the Shuttle's downlink frequency. The SAREX frequencies for mission STS-65 are as follows: Voice Downlink: (Worldwide) 145.55 MHz [Receive Only] Voice Uplink: 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97, 144.99 MHz Voice Uplink: (Europe only) 144.70, 144.75, 144.80 MHz Packet Downlink: 145.55 MHz Packet Uplink: 144.49 MHz KC5FVF is the callsign that will be used for making voice contacts. W5RRR-1 will be used for packet radio connections. QSLs and reception (SWL) reports should be sent to the ARRL EAD, STS-65 QSL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111, USA. Include the following information in your QSL or report: STS-65, date, time in UTC, frequency and mode (FM voice or packet). In addition, a large, business sized SASE must be included if you wish to receive a card in return. The Lake County Amateur Radio Club in Munster, Indiana, has generously volunteered to manage the cards for this mission. The following is STS-65 Keplerian element set JSC-003: STS-65 1 00065U 94189.76284929 .00052344 00000-0 15762-3 0 37 2 00065 28.4664 13.0731 0003571 330.7493 29.2906 15.90324781 23 Satellite: STS-65 Catalog number: 00065 Epoch time: 94189.76284929 = (08 JUL 94 18:18:30.18 UTC) Element set: 003 Inclination: 28.4664 deg RA of node: 13.0731 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-65 Eccentricity: .0003571 Prelaunch Element set JSC-003 Arg of perigee: 330.7493 deg Launch: 08 JUL 94 17:06 UTC Mean anomaly: 29.2906 deg Mean motion: 15.90324781 rev/day Gil Carman, WA5NOM Decay rate: 5.2344e-04 rev/day^2 NASA Johnson Space Center Epoch rev: 2 Checksum: 289 [Info via The American Radio Relay League] * InfoEspace * ============== As of 20-Jun-94, VE2TRV, has started translating SpaceNews into French for the francophone VE2-population. Mike has noted a lot of recent interest in astronomy and space-related subjects, and believes the French language version of SpaceNews will become very popular. Mike has been translating some articles from SpaceNews for the Laval Laurentian ARC newsletter, and reports the 360 members really appreciate it. My thanks to VE2TRV for the time and effort of performing the language translation! * RS-14 / RS-10 OBSERVATION * ============================= During a recent pass of RS-10 over the central United States, OSCAR-21's (RS-14) CW beacon (145.822 MHz) was observed through RS-10's ROBOT on 29.403 MHz at 21:36 UTC on 24-Jun-94. Orbital analysis showed RS-10 over southern Oklahoma and heading south, while RS-14/AO-21 was over the east coast of Mexico and heading north when the beacon was heard. Although RS-10's ROBOT input passband (centered on 145.820 MHz) is several kilohertz wide, RS-14's telemetry was heard for only a short period of time because of the high relative motion between the two spacecraft. The Doppler shift this motion produced was well in excess of the ROBOT input passband. The beacon received from RS-14 by RS-10 drifted quicky through the ROBOT passband as the two satellites passed one another over the south central United States. * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all those who sent messages of appreciation to SpaceNews, especially: N1MDZ VE2TRV G3RHP F5OYH * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Mail to SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the following paths: FAX : 1-908-747-7107 PACKET : KD2BD @ N2KZH.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org -or- magliaco@pilot.njin.net MAIL : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Advanced Technology Center Brookdale Community College Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX -- John A. Magliacane, KD2BD * /\/\ * Voice : 1-908-224-2948 Advanced Technology Center |/\/\/\| Packet : KD2BD @ N2KZH.NJ.USA.NA Brookdale Community College |\/\/\/| Internet: magliaco@pilot.njin.net Lincroft, NJ 07738 * \/\/ * Morse : -.- -.. ..--- -... -.. ------------------------------ Date: 27 Jun 1994 13:51:31 GMT From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!xlink.net!fauern!uni-regensburg.de!pcphy2.physik.uni-regensburg.de!juergen.putzger@network.ucsd.edu Subject: decoding telemetry by telephone modem ? To: ham-space@ucsd.edu Hi, I would like to decode the telemetry of DOVE-OSCAR17. Is it possible to do this with an ordinary telephone modem (Hayes compatible, max. 2400 Baud) ? The transmission rate is 1200 Baud AFSK (like packet radio). A circuit will be needed to simulate the telephone line, i suppose a DC-source in series with a transformer would do the job. Has anyone tried this with success? Juergen Putzger (juergen.putzger@physik.uni-regensburg.de) ------------------------------ Date: 27 Jun 1994 17:26:53 GMT From: src.dec.com!crl.dec.com!nntpd.lkg.dec.com!nntpd2.cxo.dec.com!specxn.enet.dec.com!bonomo@decwrl.dec.com Subject: GPS group purchase shutdown To: ham-space@ucsd.edu Greetings, all. As I have not achieved critical mass in the number of orders for the Motorola GPS engines, I am shutting down the group purchase. I am on vacation for the next two weeks. If, upon returning, there has not been enough orders received to reach the magic 100 mark, I will be returning the checks to those who have sent them to me, and discontinuing any efforts in this area. As of now, I have orders for about 35 units. For those of you interested, that's about $13,000 sitting on my desk. Thanks for your time, efforts and wonderful interest in this matter. Regards, Tom Bonomo ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 15:44:29 GMT From: ihnp4.ucsd.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!natinst.com!radian!philr@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Newbie Experience with DOVE Satellite To: ham-space@ucsd.edu Newbie Experience with DOVE Satellite I finally decided to see if I could "catch" my first satellite last week. Since DOVE is supposed to be so easy to hear, I decided that it would be my target. Everything you've heard about it is TRUE. I fired up a tracking program, determined when the next pass would be, and then turned on my ICOM handi-talkie. Right on schedule, there it was saying, "HI, THIS IS DOVE IN SPACE." Would could be easier? I thought I'd share my experience with the net just in case there are any others out there who have been wanting to try and hear a satellite first hand, but haven't ever gotten around to it. There are plenty of other sources that describe the satellite itself in detail. Let me just say here that the frequency you are interested in is 145.825 MHz. The channel alternates between standard packet and digitized voice. The packet sessions are transmit-only (you cannot connect to the satellite) and last for 3 minutes and 10 seconds. I have included what I received during one of the transmissions at the end of this message so you can see what it looks like (anyone know how to decode the telemetry information?). After 3 minutes and 10 seconds of packet traffic, the digitized voice switches on. The voice is male and sounds pretty artificial. It says, "Hi, this is DOVE in space." It repeats this phrase 9 times, for a total of 66 seconds. It then switches back to packet and starts all over again. (I understand that this sequence is highly subject to change, but this is how it has been working for the past several days.) The signal is quite strong. In fact, on close passes, I was able to copy the signal clearly using nothing more than a Bearcat 200XLT scanner with the stock rubber duck antenna. Using a discone antenna *inside* my attic, my ICOM 02AT was able to receive the satellite at less than 5 deg elevation and it broke the squelch at 25 deg elevation. On passes above about 40 deg elevation, it broke the squelch on a Bearcat 200XLT with a duck. I found that leaving the squelch open (off) resulted in much more copy time. (Just turn down the volume a little so the static doesn't drive you nuts!) There isn't much Doppler shift to worry about. In fact, you could just set your radio to 145.825 and not worry about it. But, if you want to squeeze every last little peep out of a pass, I found that starting the radio on 145.830, then switching to 145.825 after about one-third of the pass, then switching to 145.820 for the last third of the pass, extended the copy time a little. I found that generally speaking, you can copy three passes in a block. Usually the first pass is pretty low on the horizon, the second pass is a pretty good one (close to overhead), and then the third one is a pretty low pass again. I was listening to passes around noon local time as the satellite was traveling from north to south. The first pass was to the east, then overhead, and then to the west. The passes are about 90 minutes apart and an overhead pass lasts about 15 minutes. All you need to copy the packet transmissions is a standard VHF TNC. Just remember that you do not connect to the satellite, so you need to make sure that you have your software set to monitor *all* packets the TNC receives. For those of you who don't have a amateur radio license (why not?!) and don't know what packet radio sounds like, scan between 145.010 and 145.100 MHz. That bleeeeep sound is what you are listening for from the satellite. Get a copy of any of the satellite tracking programs and a copy of the latest elements. I used the 2-line NASA format elements that TS Kelso posts to rec.radio.amateur.misc (thanks, Dr. Kelso!). The satellite you are interested in is identified as DO-17. Determine the time of the next pass with an elevation of around 40 deg or more (for your first try), and turn on your radio. Alternatively, if you don't have access to a tracking program, you can just set your radio to 145.825 MHz with the squelch on, and wait for a pass. That's all there is to it! Phil, KA5PVH philr@radian.com XOXOXOX BEGIN DOVE PACKET SESSION XOXOXOX 17-Jun-94 13:04:02 SWITCH*>SWITCH 17-Jun-94 13:04:53 SWITCH*>SWITCH 17-Jun-94 13:05:30 DOVE-1*>BCRXMT : vmax=769249 battop=766771 temp=-118087 17-Jun-94 13:05:30 DOVE-1*>LSTAT : I P:0x1553 o:0 l:6734 f:6947, d:0 st:0 17-Jun-94 13:05:30 SWITCH*>SWITCH 17-Jun-94 13:05:53 DOVE-1*>TIME-1 : PHT: uptime is 007/04:05:20. Time is Fri Jun 17 18:05:00 1994 17-Jun-94 13:05:53 SWITCH*>SWITCH 17-Jun-94 13:05:57 DOVE-1*>TLM : 00:57 01:58 02:86 03:34 04:59 05:58 06:6C 07:56 08:70 09:72 0A:A2 0B:F5 0C:E8 0D:DA 0E:50 0F:25 10:E4 11:AC 12:00 13:D6 14:98 15:B1 16:6C 17:65 18:66 19:5F 1A:66 1B:00 1C:70 1D:68 1E:CA 1F:66 20:D6 17-Jun-94 13:05:58 DOVE-1*>TLM : 21:D3 22:84 23:18 24:16 25:26 26:1E 27:02 28:02 29:1A 2A:06 2B:58 2C:00 2D:64 2E:54 2F:A9 30:D6 31:AA 32:00 33:00 34:B0 35:A4 36:A8 37:AA 38:83 17-Jun-94 13:05:59 DOVE-1*>LSTAT : I P:0x1553 o:0 l:6734 f:6947, d:0 st:0 17-Jun-94 13:05:59 SWITCH*>SWITCH 17-Jun-94 13:06:23 DOVE-1*>TIME-1 : PHT: uptime is 007/04:05:50. Time is Fri Jun 17 18:05:30 1994 17-Jun-94 13:06:23 SWITCH*>SWITCH 17-Jun-94 13:06:27 DOVE-1*>TLM : 00:59 01:59 02:86 03:34 04:58 05:5A 06:70 07:56 08:6D 09:71 0A:A2 0B:F4 0C:E8 0D:DB 0E:38 0F:25 10:E4 11:AC 12:00 13:D9 14:98 15:B0 16:6C 17:63 18:65 19:64 1A:63 1B:01 1C:6C 1D:6C 1E:D0 1F:67 20:D6 17-Jun-94 13:06:28 DOVE-1*>TLM : 21:D3 22:84 23:1B 24:17 25:29 26:45 27:06 28:01 29:1D 2A:02 2B:50 2C:01 2D:7C 2E:5D 2F:AA 30:DA 31:A9 32:00 33:01 34:B1 35:A4 36:A9 37:A6 38:82 17-Jun-94 13:06:28 DOVE-1*>STATUS : 80 00 00 91 01 18 EE 02 00 90 00 01 0D 0F 3C 05 0F 00 00 00 00 17-Jun-94 13:06:29 DOVE-1*>BRAMST : 0500 utc 14 June 1994 Voice Module now active Software testing continues S-Band transmitter is off 73 DOVE Command Team (WJ9F) 17-Jun-94 13:06:30 DOVE-1*>BCRXMT : vmax=769249 battop=766771 temp=-118087 17-Jun-94 13:06:30 DOVE-1*>LSTAT : I P:0x1553 o:0 l:6734 f:6947, d:0 st:0 17-Jun-94 13:06:30 SWITCH*>SWITCH 17-Jun-94 13:06:53 DOVE-1*>TIME-1 : PHT: uptime is 007/04:06:20. Time is Fri Jun 17 18:06:00 1994 17-Jun-94 13:06:53 SWITCH*>SWITCH 17-Jun-94 13:06:58 DOVE-1*>TLM : 21:D4 22:84 23:1E 24:17 25:26 26:64 27:09 28:01 29:1E 2A:02 2B:44 2C:00 2D:86 2E:64 2F:AA 30:DA 31:A9 32:01 33:01 34:AF 35:A4 36:A8 37:AA 38:83 17-Jun-94 13:06:58 SWITCH*>SWITCH XOXOXOX END DOVE PACKET SESSION XOXOXOX ------------------------------ End of Ham-Space Digest V94 #170 ******************************