Författare: SM0TGU

Webmaster and member of the AMSAT-SM steering group.

Kategorier
Teknik och hårdvara

Avoid heading failure for Rot2Prog

The Rot2Prog rotor controller, sold with the popular RAS rotor series, have a nasty bug if using the rotor with a computer. I not sure when it happens, I have not been able to reproduce it on demand, but in some condition the ”Heading adjust” (PP in the setup mode of the controller) seams to be set from the computer to a totally wrong heading….

To avoid this problem I think (but not 100% sure) this is the way to handle the controller:

  • Always turn off the Rot2Prog before shutting down the computer!
  • Turn off the Rot2Prog if you are not using it and the computer is on
  • If you are using the Rot2Prog manually, or using the setup menu, and the computer is on be sure that you do not have any controlling software (like PstRotator) running at the same time

But… If you get this error it is easy to adjust the heading with the PP ”Heading Adjust”, turn the rotor to north and then reset the Rot2Prog with ”On + F”.

Kategorier
Medlemsnyheter

Stöd AMSAT-SM – Donations

English text below!
AMSAT-SM har under många år, både när vi var en förening och nu som en sammanslutning, inte haft några inkomster i form av medlemsavgifter. Vi har klarat oss bra då vi har ett ganska stort kapital på bankkonto och väldigt låga omkostnader. Sedan 2020 sponsras även kostnaden för hemsidan av Lars SM0TGU.
Nu finns dock möjlighet att stödja AMSAT-SM med ett bidrag via Paypal. Stort som litet, alla bidrag är välkomna! Denna länk tar dig till Paypal som du gör själva donationen via.

Tack för ditt stöd!

English info:

Since many years AMSAT-SM has no membership fee – as we are running our group with very small budget. Since 2020 the cost for the website is sponsored by Lars SM0TGU.

Now it is possible to donate a small (or large!) sum to AMSAT-SM to make it possible to run our group into the future. Please use this link to our Paypal donation page.

Thank you for your support!

Kategorier
Satellitnyheter

New DTMF mode on PSAT2

From ANS-122: PSAT2 (NO-104) VHF is alive and new DTMF mode:

Bob Bruninga writes: PSAT2 VHF awoke from an 8 month slumber on 26 Apr 2021. We have no idea why. Its telemetry looks fine. Volts between 6.2 and 7.0 volts (5 NiCds). Exterior temps between -18 and +22 C. See
http://aprs.org/psat2.html

PSAT2 will NOT be in APRS mode but a brand new experimental mode for DTMF uplink and VOICE downlink. So you preload your grid and callsign into a 16 digit DTMF memory in your radio and when the satellite hears this it will assign a QSO number and QSL the grid by voice and then also generate an APRS packet for collection by APRS operators. There is even a way to send back a DTMF QSL so you can make it a 2-way DTMF. contact. Successful DTMF grids and messages will appear on a special URL on the PSAT2 page (above). To QSL, you key in that stations 2 digit QSL number and then dump your pre-loaded QSL DTMF message.
Since this is the first time this transponder is on the air and because a
DTMF uplink takes maybe 4 seconds, we don’t want the uplink saturated by a bunch of newbees initially until we see if it actually works. So read the
docs and be sure you know what you are doing. There is a user operating manual available on the PSAT2 web page:
http://aprs.org/psat2.html

[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR for the above information]

Kategorier
Satellitnyheter

Inactive satellites removed from TLE distribution

The following satellites, marked as inactive, have been removed from this AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution as of April 8 2021. The source is from ANS-101.
A note regarding GRIFEX: according to PE0SAT it is still active.

TISAT – NORAD Cat ID 36799
JUGNU – NORAD Cat ID 37839
AO-71 – NORAD Cat ID 37854
HORYU-2 – NORAD Cat ID 38340
BEESAT-3 – NORAD Cat ID 39135
BEESAT-2 – NORAD Cat ID 39136
TRITON-1 – NORAD Cat ID 39427
DUCHIFAT-1 – NORAD Cat ID 40021
NANOSATCBR1 – NORAD Cat ID 40024
ANTELSAT – NORAD Cat ID 40034
VELOX-1 – NORAD Cat ID 40057
DAURIA DX 1 – NORAD Cat ID 40071
CHUBUSAT-1 – NORAD Cat ID 40300
QSAT-EOS – NORAD Cat ID 40301
GRIFEX – NORAD Cat ID 40379
DEORBITSAIL – NORAD Cat ID 40719
NUDT-PHONESAT – NORAD Cat ID 40900
LQSat – NORAD Cat ID 40958
OUFTI-1 – NORAD Cat ID 41458
Swayam – NORAD Cat ID 41607
AlSat 1N – NORAD Cat ID 41789
ScatSat – NORAD Cat ID 41790
Pegasus-1 – NORAD Cat ID 41846
UCLSat – NORAD Cat ID 42765
LituanicaSAT 2- NORAD Cat ID 42768

Kategorier
SDR och mjukvara

Look4Sat Android tracker with doppler correction

Look4Sat is an Android app for tracking satellites. It uses the database from SatNOGS for frequency info and also presents the frequency with doppler correction. As I know this is the only Android app that display doppler correction. I can highly recommend this app for portable tracking!

Download from Google Play.

Kategorier
Amatörradio från ISS Telemetri

ISS AX.25 2021-04-05

This is my first successful relay via ISS, heard by DO2ZZ. Lots of stations active over EU and very hard to reach ISS with 10 watts. Seen on ARISS.NET:

And direct by myself, Soundmodem:

UISS map:

Hardware and software used:

  • 2*6 el VHF Yagi
  • IC-705 10 watts
  • UISS with Soundmodem, connected to IC-705 via USB