In this edition:
* Firefly Delivers New Amateur Satellites to Orbit
* Ariane 6 Maiden Flight With GENESIS-A Module
* Logbook of The World Returns To Service
* LUSAT, Dead or Alive?
* LEGO Bricks Printed out of Space Dust
* Field Day Submissions Now Due
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* AMSAT Ambassador Activities
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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.
The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org
You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/
ANS-189 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
DATE 2024 July 7
The Firefly Alpha FLTA005/NASA ELaNa 43 mission, nicknamed “Noise of Summer,” launched successfully at 04:04 UTC on July 4 (Wednesday evening, July 3 in the U.S.) and deployed eight new cube satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Five of these cubesats carry amateur radio equipment.
The cubesats were placed into a sun-synchronous Earth orbit, meaning that all locations on earth will see high-elevation passes roughly between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. and between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. local time daily, with lower elevation passes earlier and later.
Among the newly-deployed satellites, the one of greatest interest to the amateur radio community is MESAT1. Built by the University of Maine, in cooperation with AMSAT, this satellite carries a 30 kHz wide V/U Transponder plus a 1k2 BPSK telemetry downlink. Telemetry downlink 435.800 MHz with transponder downlink 435.810-435.840 MHz, and transponder uplink 145.910-145.940 MHz. Amateurs are encouraged to use AMSAT’s FoxTelem software to collect telemetry.
MESAT1 being prepared for integration aboard the Firefly Alpha (Photo credit, University of Maine)
MESAT1 involves three missions designed by high school students in Maine. The science payloads are climate focused and include ALBEDO, IMAGER, and HAB. These will identify urban heat islands, determine concentration of phytoplankton in water bodies, and help predict harmful algal blooms. Four multispectral cameras on board will relay the data down to University of Maine’s ground station for further processing. Amateurs are encouraged to use AMSAT’s FoxTelem software to collect telemetry and assist in these science projects.
Also deployed was CatSat, a technology demonstration of an inflatable antenna for high-speed communications, built by the University of Arizona. CatSat’s deployable antenna consists of a Mylar balloon. The front half of the balloon is transparent, allowing microwaves to pass through. The back half of the balloon is aluminized, creating a reflecting antenna. After reaching low Earth orbit, CatSat’s antenna will deploy and inflate to a diameter of just over one-and-a-half feet CatSat’s demonstration will be to transmit high-definition Earth photos to 10 GHz, X-band ground stations at ~50 megabits per second.
Artist’s rendering of CatSat with 10 GHz balloon antenna deployed. (University of Arizona)
In addition to images, data about the structure of the Earth’s ionosphere will be gathered by listening-in to thousands of beacons from ground-based ham radio stations. CatSat will relay WSPR and FT8 signals from HF. Downlinks on 437.185 MHz and 10470.00 MHz.
Other satellites with IARU-coordinated amateur frequency downlinks include:
Serenity, which uses a 4k8 FM with AX25 downlink on 437.100 MHz. Serenity was built by Teachers in Space, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization in North America that stimulates student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). They provide teachers with real space science experiences, space flight opportunities, and industry connections.
KUbeSat-1, revives small satellite research at the University of Kansas and starts a new KUbeSat program that will offer space access to student research. The main payload on KUbeSat-1 is the Primary Cosmic Ray Detector which will use a new method to measure the energy and species of primary cosmic rays hitting the Earth. The secondary payload is the High-Altitude Calibration, (HiCalK) that builds on decades of research surrounding Very High Frequency signals generated by cosmic ray interactions with the atmosphere. UHF downlink using 9k6 GMSK. A downlink on 437.085 MHz.
SOC-i (Satellite for Optimal Control and Imaging) is a technology demonstration mission of attitude control technology and a camera that serves as an instrument to demonstrate SOC-i’s pointing abilities. Developed at the University of Washington, SOC-i has a UHF downlink using 4k8 GMSK. downlink 437.125 MHz.
[ANS thanks NASA, Firefly Aerospace, and Spacflight Now for the above information]
The 2024 AMSAT President’s Club coins are here now!
Help Support GOLF and Fox Plus
Join the AMSAT President’s Club today and help
Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
The maiden flight of the new European launcher, Ariane 6, is scheduled for July 9, 2024, with a launch window of 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time from the European spaceport in French Guiana (July 9 20:00h to July 10 00:00h CEST). Among many other payloads, it carries our (inside YPSAT) GENESIS-A module, attached to the second stage of the launcher. The module will transmit FT8 and live SSTV images in Robot 36 format.
FT8 transmissions are made every 16 seconds, while SSTV’s are every 5 minutes.
The working frequencies are as follows:
Downlink 144.175 MHz FT8 Mode:
– Callsign AO4ARI HO60 if the antenna has been deployed
– Callsign AO4ARI HO61 if the antenna has not been deployed
Downlink 144.550 MHz SSTV Robot 36 mode with live image and Hades text
A carrier with a frequency of 144.550 MHz (same frequency as SSTV) is left between FT8 tones.
This information is compiled in PDF in the following document on our web:
https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/13458580/AMSAT+EA+-+GENESIS-A+transmissions+description.pdf
The only thing ESA has given us is the trajectory over the ground while flying over Europe, but we don’t have TLEs or anything that we can semi-automate. It is available on our website:
https://www.amsat-ea.org/s/cc_images/cache_19006006.jpg?t=1720182961
It will be very difficult to receive it but we thank you all if you try and if you spread this information to have all possible operators tuned into FT-8 that day. The module will fall into the sea with the second stage after a few hours.
More information about the flight including timings here:
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Ariane/Ariane_6_launch_how_to_watch_and_what_to_look_out_for
[ANS thanks Félix Páez, EA4GQS, AMSAT EA, for the above information]
Effective 12:00pm ET / 16:00 UTC on July 1, Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) has been to service.
As work progressed on the network, some users encountered LoTW opening briefly during which some 6600 logs were uploaded. The logs were not processed until this weekend as we tested that the interfaces to LoTW were functioning properly.
We are taking steps to help manage what will likely be a huge influx of logs. We are requesting that if you have large uploads, perhaps from contests or from a DXpedition, please wait a week or two before uploading to give LoTW a chance to catch up. We have also implemented a process to reject logs with excessive duplicates. Please do not upload your entire log to “ensure” your contacts are in LoTW as they will be rejected. Lastly, please do not call ARRL Headquarters to report issues you are having with LoTW. You can contact support at LoTW-help@arrl.org.
Through the end of the year, you may experience planned times when LoTW will be unavailable. We have been using this time to evaluate operational and infrastructure improvements we would like to make to LoTW. Those times will be announced.
We appreciate your patience as we worked through the challenges keeping LoTW from returning to service. We know the importance of LoTW to our members, and to the tens of thousands of LoTW users who are not ARRL members. LoTW, just behind QST, is our second most popular ARRL benefit.
[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information]
LO-19, co-ordinated by AMSAT Argentina, the LUSAT (named after the LU amateur designation for Argentina) microsatellite was launched on the first ARIANE ASAP flight V35 with SPOT 2, on the 22 January 1990 (01:35:27 GMT) into an 780 km sun-synchronous, 98 degree inclined orbit.
It carried a Digital Store and Forward packet communications transponder similar to AO-16. Downlink was AX.25 at 437.125 MHz SSB 1200 bps RC-BPSK. It is box shaped with dimensions of 213 × 230 × 230 mm, with four solar panels and weighs 13.76 kg.
Long past its expected useful life, in recent years LUSAT has only been transmitting an unmodulated carrier signal.
On June 29, Gustavo Carpignano, LW2DTZ, reported that recent observers had failed to detect the carrier. Gustavo declared LO-19 dead.
However, on July 1, Nico Janssen, PAØDLO, reported receiving the carrier, but at a signal strength much weaker than over previous years. Nico suggested that, perhaps, the onboard power amplifier has failed.
Well-equipped ground stations may wish to give a listen to test what they can hear.
[ANS thanks Gustavo Carpignano, LW2DTZ, Nico Janssen, PAØDLO, and Gunter’s Space Page, for the above information]
Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store.
When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/
There have been many proposals for building structures on the Moon out of lunar regolith. But here’s an idea sure to resonate with creators, mechanical tinkerers, model builders and the kid inside us all.
What about using actual LEGO bricks?
Researchers ground up a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite and used the dust to 3D print LEGO-style space bricks. They actually click together like the plastic variety, with so far only one downside: they only come in one color, grey.
Universe Today
Want to see some of these lunar LEGOs? LEGO will showcase the space bricks at some of its stores.
Creating building materials on the Moon or Mars from the material on hand means construction materials don’t have to be transported from Earth. This would be a huge savings in launch costs because less weight would have to be boosted from Earth.
A group of scientists from ESA (European Space Agency) were inspired by LEGO bricks, and with the advances in 3D printing, had the idea to print space bricks and test how they would work for construction.
The only problem was that except for the Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts – which are highly guarded for scientific study only — there’s not any lunar regolith available on Earth to experiment with.
But meteorite dust is a close cousin to lunar regolith. The ESA team was able to get a meteorite that was discovered in Northwest Africa in 2000 and is about 4.5 billion years old. It is made of metal grains and chondrules, similar to Moon dust.
Inspired by LEGO, ESA scientists have used dust from a meteorite to 3D-print LEGO-style ‘space bricks’
to test out construction ideas for a future Moon base. Credit: The LEGO Group
They mixed the meteorite dust with a some other things, like a polymer called polylactide and regolith simulant and 3D printed bricks that mimic and behave just like LEGO bricks. While they aren’t smooth like regular LEGO bricks, ESA said the space bricks gave ESA’s space engineers the flexibility to build and test a variety of structures using this new material.
“It’s no secret that real-world scientists and engineers sometimes try out ideas with LEGO bricks,” said Emmet Fletcher, Head of ESA’s Branding and Partnerships Office. “ESA’s space bricks are a great way to inspire young people and show them how play and the power of the imagination have an important role in space science, too.”
“Nobody has built a structure on the Moon, so it was great to have the flexibility to try out all kinds of designs and building techniques with our space bricks,” said . ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley. “It was both fun and useful in scientifically understanding the boundaries of these techniques.”
For a list of where the lunar LEGOs will be on display worldwide, see https://www.universetoday.com/167675/lego-bricks-printed-out-of-space-dust/#more-167675
The LEGO website has additional details at https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news/2024/june/lego-bricks-scientists-build-astronaut-shelters-on-the-moon
Hopefully the lunar LEGOs will inspire both children and adults about space and to encourage them to build their own LEGO Moon bases.
[ANS thanks Universe Today for the above information]
Field Day is behind us and it is time to tally your contacts and submit the for AMSAT Field Day.
The Satellite Summary Sheet should be used for submission of the AMSAT Field Day competition and be received by KK5DO (e-mail) by 11:59 P.M. CDT, Monday, July 23, 2024. This year, we are using the same due date as the ARRL. The only method for submitting your log is via e-mail to kk5do@amsat.org or kk5do@arrl.net. I have not had a mail-in entry in a very long time.
If you need to download a summary sheet, it can be found at https://www.amsat.org/field-day/
or directly from my website https://www.amsatnet.com/2024fd.docx
[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, for the above information]
Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear
Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. TLE bulletin files are updated daily in the first hour of the UTC day. New bulletin files will be posted immediately after reliable elements become available for new amateur satellites. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/.
The following satellites from last week’s Firefly Alpha FLTA005/NASA ELaNa 43 launch have been added. They are listed as OBJECT A-H, with the exception of object G which is likely MESAT1. As is the case with most cubesat launches, it will take a while to figure out which object is which.
OBJECT A 60203
OBJECT B 60204
OBJECT C 60205
OBJECT D 60206
OBJECT E 60207
OBJECT F 60208
MESAT1 60209
OBJECT H 60210
OBJECT J 60211
OBJECT K 60212
[ANS thanks AMSAT Orbital Elements page for the above information]
Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.
UPCOMING CONTACTS:
Youth On the Air 2024, Mount Saint Vincent University, NS, Canada, Telebridge via ZS6JON
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled crewmember is Jeanette Epps, KF5QNU
The ARISS mentor is VE3TBD
Contact is go for: Tue 2024-07-09 15:06:38 UTC 65 degrees maximum elevation
Houjoudu Elementary School, Imizu, Japan, direct via JA9YQJ
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS
The scheduled crewmember is Mike Barratt, KD5MIJ
The ARISS mentor is 7M3TJZ
Contact is go for: Thu 2024-07-11 10:48:03 UTC 83 degrees
The crossband repeater continues to be active (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down). If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.
The packet system is also active (145.825 MHz up & down). HamTV (2.395 GHz) and SSTV (145.80 MHz) are both stowed.
As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.
Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.
The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html
The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]
NDØC and family will be on another family camping vacation from 24 June thru 7 July, this time through Wisconsin to Michigan and back thru Illinois and Iowa. No super rare grids but several that may be needed by many. The grids and passes will depend on where/when we happen to be while on the road or camping. This will be all LEO sats: FM & SSB. As always, they will try for EU passes on RS-44 when possible. Randy is looking forward to pushing past the 100 grids-roved milestone.
A growing number of satellite rovers are currently engaged in sharing their grid square activations on https://hams.at. By visiting the website, you gain easy access to comprehensive information about the operators responsible for activating specific grid squares. Additionally, you have the ability to assess the match score between yourself and a particular rover for a given pass, while also being able to identify the upcoming satellite passes that are accessible from your location.
[ANS thanks Ian Parsons, K5ZM, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information]
AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.
July 20, 2024
“Moon Day” Frontiers of Flight Museum
Love Field in Dallas, Texas
AMSAT volunteers needed! Contact tschuessler(at) amsat.org for more information.
August 17-18, 2024
Huntsville Hamfest
Huntsville, AL
AMSAT Booth and Forum
N8DEU and W4FCL
September 7, 2024
Greater Louisville Hamfest
Shepherdsville, KY
AMSAT Forum and Information Table
W4FCL
October 5, 2024
Central Kentucky Hamfest
Lexington, KY
AMSAT and Educational Satellites Forum and Information Table
AI4SR and W4FCL
October 5, 2024
North Star Radio Convention
Hennepin Technical College (North Campus)
Brooklyn Park, Minn.
AMSAT Forum and Information Table
KØJM and ADØHJ
AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, says,
“Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let me know by emailing me at k6lcsclint (at) gmail (dot) com or calling me at 909-999-SATS (7287)!”
Clint has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences.
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Events page for the above information]
+ What GOES up … NOAA’s latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-U, launched on the first Falcon Heavy of the year on June 25 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The mission, the last of the GOES-R series of geostationary weather satellites, continuously monitors weather systems over the Western Hemisphere. Assuming that next week’s planned burn to lift the satellite to geosynchronous orbit is successful, this satellite will be re-designated as GOES-19 and will, in coming months, take over the GOES-East duties from the aging GOES-16. (See ANS 182 last week for more details.)
+ Musk come down … Elon Musk’s SpaceX has won a contract valued at up to $843 million to build a vehicle capable of safely deorbiting the International Space Station once the station is decommissioned in 2030. While many people have suggested raising the ISS’s orbit and turning it into a museum, the amount of fuel needed to move the approximately 420-ton station to a high enough orbit to remain stable for long durations is prohibitive.
+ Blow up … Russian Resurs-P1, an almost-six-ton defunct Earth observation satellite that stopped orbit maintenance in 2017 but continued operations until 2022, unexpectedly exploded last week into hundreds of fragments. Expected to reenter later this year, Resurs-P1 was orbiting at ~350 km, close enough to the ISS’s orbital altitude that the event forced ISS astronauts into shelter for an hour while debris was tracked.
+ Or go up, come down, and blow up (unexpectedly) … during a static fire test of the first stage of China’s close-to-finished Tianlong-3 rocket, the hold-down hardware failed to do its singular job: hold down the rocket. Moments after ignition, the rocket shot 1.5 km into the sky above the city of Gongyi, China. With no guidance system, gravity took over, resulting in a massive fireball on impact. Very fortunately, there were no casualties as the rocket mostly went straight up and straight back down.
(ANS thanks The Orbital Index for all of the above items.)
Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:
* Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
* Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate.
* Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
* Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.
Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.
73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
This week’s ANS Editor, Mark Johns, KØJM
k0jm [at] amsat.org
Ham Radio With K0PIR
In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the intricacies of optimizing power settings for the Elecraft K3S and WSJT-X. From understanding the impact of power levels on signal quality to fine-tuning your setup for maximum efficiency, this guide provides invaluable insights and step-by-step instructions to enhance your digital communication experience.
The post Optimizing Power Settings for Elecraft K3S and WSJT-X: A Comprehensive Guide appeared first on Ham Radio with K0PIR - Icom 7300 and 7610 SDR Transceivers and now Elecraft!.
Due to some family stuff I have to give up on my attempts to reach the Bonus Station GB13COL in the 13 colonies event this year.
I did manage to get all 13 stations in the log along with the PA Bonus station and the French (TM13COL) bonus station. Most were SSB but I did get a few in the log using CW.
I did hear GB13COL on SSB and CW but had no luck breaking the pileups in either mode.
The people who could not understand the concept of “Split” added to the problems and the DX Cops trying to get their point across by adding to the QRM with the words “UP UP” over and over.
That really did not help my popgun station hear what I was trying to listen for.
So with 90 minutes left to go…. Its time to cut my losses and run….but for the most part if was fun. Thanks for a job well do goes out the the Event Organisers along with the station operators of the stations involved in the event.
Happy 4th and lets try again next year….
73bob
After my double activation yesterday (which I’ve yet to write up), I bumped into Fraser, MM0EFI of RadioRover YouTube fame, in Tesco. He was asking when I was going to be doing some higher point summits, as mostly I’ve been doing ones near to the house which don’t score that high. There are quite a few in my region. After browsing sotl.as some more, I was curious as to how long it took Fraser to reach Mountain Goat. This is the award you get when you reach 1,000 points.
You can see his activation list on sotl.as, and it’s clear he’s done a lot of summits and a lot of high pointers. However, the question still remained…how long did it take?
I know the SOTA database has an API, as several other sites use it and I’ve seen it mentioned in the reflector, but I hadn’t come across any documentation. Searching around I find this post which gets me started. I work out MM is associationID 03, and then querying https://api-db.sota.org.uk/admin/activator_roll?associationID=03, I can look up Fraser’s UserID.
In the past I’ve used python to query APIs, put the JSON into a pandas dataframe then calculate and plot things from there. A quick way to get going with this is in Google Colaboratory. It’s a free jupyter notebook in which many python packages are already installed and it’s quick to jump in and get going. Unsurprisingly, it now features a LLM AI assistant, where you can just type in what you want and it generates several options of code for you to run and see what happens.
My first prompt (including spelling mistakes but now corrected) was:
retreive JSON from api url: https://api-db.sota.org.uk/admin/activator_log_by_id?year=all&id and create a plot of “Total”
Option #2 of Gemini spat out some commented code, I tweaked the date column name, as it just guessed it was called Date not ActivatorDate, and tah-dah ✨
Login
import requests
import json
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
url = "https://api-db.sota.org.uk/admin/activator_log_by_id?year=all&id="
# Define the ID you want to retrieve data for
activator_id = "46844"
# Construct the full URL
full_url = url + activator_id
# Send the GET request
response = requests.get(full_url)
# Parse the JSON response
data = json.loads(response.text)
# Create a Pandas DataFrame
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
# Convert the "ActivationDate" column to datetime
df["ActivationDate"] = pd.to_datetime(df["ActivationDate"])
# Plot the cumulative sum of "Total"
df.plot(x="ActivationDate", y="Total", kind="line", figsize=(10, 6))
plt.title("Cumulative Sum of Total for Activator ID: {}".format(activator_id))
plt.xlabel("Date")
plt.ylabel("Total")
plt.show()
Certainly the trend of a mountain goat! Although I’d say once he reached 1,000 the pressure was off and you can see that gradient relax.
But how long did it take?
The actual question that was asked
So I asked Gemini some more questions and we find the answers:
# prompt: duration in activationdate between start and when total=1000
# Find the first row where Total is greater than or equal to 1000
first_1000_row = df.loc[df["Total"] >= 1000].iloc[0]
# Calculate the duration between the first activation date and the date when Total reached 1000
duration = first_1000_row["ActivationDate"] - df["ActivationDate"].iloc[0]
# Print the duration
print("Duration until Total reached 1000:", duration)
Plus question #2:
# prompt: what row of df has total = 1000
# Find the index of the first row where Total is greater than or equal to 1000
first_1000_row_index = df.loc[df["Total"] >= 1000].index[0]
# Print the index
print("Row index with Total equal to 1000:", first_1000_row_index)
I’m at 16 points right now 😅⛰️🐐
Here are a trio of recent announcements from the ARRL:
On July 1, the ARRL returned Logbook of The World (LoTW) to service! They noted that during a brief LOTW opening 6600 logs were uploaded, but not processed until they were sure that the system was functioning properly.
They also ask that you not call ARRL Headquarters to report issues you are having with LoTW. Instead, contact support at LoTW-help@arrl.org.
They conclude the announcement with, “We appreciate your patience as we worked through the challenges keeping LoTW from returning to service. We know the importance of LoTW to our members, and to the tens of thousands of LoTW users who are not ARRL members.”
Personally, I think that they did a pretty good job with getting LOTW back online. It was definitely a difficult task.
The ARRL Foundation Club Grant Program—funded by Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)—is an opportunity for clubs to apply for grants up to $25,000 to fund projects in areas that will motivate and develop active radio amateurs, with an emphasis given to projects that are of a “transformational” nature.
The application period is NOW OPEN and runs through Friday July 26, 2024 at 4:00PM Eastern Time. Clubs across the country are encouraged to apply, even if your club is not an ARRL Affiliated Club or not a 501(c)(3) organization—all are welcome to apply. Grant recipients will be required to share progress reports and updates with ARRL.
It seems like the ARRL should have made this announcement a lot sooner to give clubs a better shot at meeting the deadline, but perhaps those clubs who have been working on big projects have been working on their proposals all along. We’ll see.
Amateur Radio Daily reports that:
The National Traffic System (NTS) will soon be evaluated with new tools to help improve system performance. The ARRL is developing a web-based Performance Analysis Tool (PAT) to ultimately improve speed and accuracy of the traffic system. Additional training materials will also be developed to improve NTS performance. Once the new tools are complete, the ARRL will hold a test exercise to measure their effectiveness.
Source: July 2024 ARRL NTS Letter
I don’t know about this one. Maybe I just haven’t kept up with what’s happening with NTS lately, though.
OpenEMS, an open-source tool for simulating electromagnetic structures, has been a valuable resource for the scientific community for some time. Its capabilities continue to expand, thanks to ongoing contributions that add new functionalities. While...
The post A short tutorial to simulate your Kicad PCBs in openEMS using Gerber2EMS appeared first on Nuclearrambo.
THE W3FF HOMEBREW BUDDIPOLE
A PORTABLE ANTENNA DESIGN FOR AMATEUR RADIO
History of the Buddipole
In January of 2000, Budd W3FF began experimenting with a “walking portable” ham station. Since
then, thousands of stations have been worked on the amateur radio bands, mostly from
10 Meters through 60 Meters.
The radio of choice here is a Yaesu FT-857ND. The new Lithium Ion Nano-phosphate
batteries, the A-123’s are the way to go for power. A two pound A-123 gives me two
hours of SSB operating with 100 watts and the ‘857d. (A-123’s and chargers are under
accessories at Buddipole.com.)
Instructions are on this website for two homebrew HF antennas that are easy to build
and very effective…………the Buddipole and the Buddistick, a vertical antenna that uses
PVC with a variety of whip options.
The mast is important. I have several, but in order to get the feedpoint up high, I use
either a Buddipole commercial mast ( Buddipole.com ) or a painter’s pole with a Center
Tee Adapter. That adapter changes the odd Acme thread to a half inch pipe thread.
That’s the thread used on the homebrew and commercial antennas I will describe.
My son, Chris W6HFP, suggested we go commercial with the Buddipole, and we did that
back in July 2002. You can see the commercial products at Buddipole.com. Chris now
runs the company, and I do the technical support and help the homebrewers with any
questions.
So somehow I have the original Buddipole back to 2003 to the latest BuddiHex and bits and bobs in between (TRSB is a must) along with several masts and a Mastwerks. Do I have 5 zip cases of various Buddipole antennas and tripods? Yes Sir! Total Fan Boy maniac OCD
Heard them…worked them…logged them…
I have made several thousand contacts from 80 to 2m and have always been happy with the excellenet workmanship and proof of concepts actually prototyped for some time before release to market.
I am at the Booth on Friday 9am at Hamvention
pdf available upon request I am Good in QRZ.com
