Pico-Sats, Texas, Dubai, Balloons

Our man in Dubai, Ron Sparks, AG5RS, sent in this very interesting report on the very small satellites. Obviously lots of QRP relevance here:

Hi Bill,

I am attaching some news you may find interesting. If you remember last year I did an echolink => IRLP => 2m linkup to make QSLs on the Balloon Launch (BLT-24). Besides the usual repeater and video gear, we also had an interesting "hitchhiker" on the payload.

It was the functional engineering model of the BEVO-1 picosat. You can see pictures of the model and the balloon payload here:

http://www.w5acm.net/b24.html

This unit sent beacon information during the balloon launch and we tested it environmentally by doing so. Data on the sat itself is at:

http://www.utexas.edu/news/2009/06/09/picosatellite/

A sister satellite was being prepared by my alma mater, Texas A&M, who then docked their sat with the UT sat and put them on the Shuttle mission STS-127. Photos are here:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/dragonst.htm

All of this is part of NASAs DRAGONsat program. This is a new GPS system being developed by NASA.

I know that the satellite stuff is a little "far afield" for Soldersmoke, but you might find the connection to the Houston balloon community interesting. Those of us who get together and annually launch the balloon are without question Soldersmoke-ers with chronic cases of "the knack". It is fun for me to see that actually be useful toward a next generation replacement for GPS satellites.

All the best.
73 from Dubai, Ron AG5RS and A65BQ

Back to WSPRing

Mark, K6HX, and Roger, G3XBM, are responsible for me going back to WSPR mode. Both have been blogging about the fun they are having with this mode. It was too hot in Rome to go out this afternoon, so, after a morning visit to the Trastevere flea market (where I got a US Robotics dial-up modem for my soon-to-be functional Satellite Pro computer (thanks Jeff!), I ensconced myself in the shack, and did the changeover from visual MEPT to WSPR. This mode provides instant gratification: almost immediately I was being picked up and reported by EI7GL.

SolderSmoke (The Book) Reaches the Oregon Coast

Wes, W7ZOI, took the book with him on vacation and sent along this shot from the Oregon coast. I told Wes that I was really nervous when I saw his e-mail in my in-box. The book has sections about my "understandings" of various aspects of electronic theory. I worried that the e-mail would reveal that these were all "MIS-understandings." I was very relieved that wasn't the case! Wes provided an interesting bit of ham radio history/trivia: Around page 169, I have the iconic picture of Wes out in the winter woods somewhere, with a homebrew QRP rig in his hands. I remember seeing this picture as a kid. I found it inspirational: a stoic homebrewer, using his invention to communicate from out in the hostile wilderness. In his e-mail, Wes tells me that in that photo, he was actually in contact with another station. It was Lionel, VE6WG, up near Calgary. This photo was taken by K7IUN. Thanks Wes!

VE7NSD: The Knack, personified

We've occasionally provided photos that seem to capture the essence of "The Knack." Here is another one. This is Stephen, VE7NSD, operating from his trailer out in the wilds of British Columbia. I found Stephen's story to be really inspirational. His first receiver was a Gillette Blue Blade! His first QSO was with Beaverton, Oregon! He took typing in 9th grade (the only boy in the class!) so that he could copy CW faster. Here is an excerpt from his QRZ.com page:

I started playing with radios in Roseburg, Oregon when I was ten. My Dad’s prospecting buddy Cliff, had been a Radioman in the USN and turned me on to building a crystal set using a Gillette Blue Blade for the detector. I built it but had no headphones and ordered some from the Allied Radio catalog. I felt like it took about 6 years for them to arrive, but it was probably more like 6 weeks. When the headphones finally came the xtal set didn’t work and so I started learning troubleshooting. Eventually, it worked fine and I experimented with a hunk of galena my Dad had in his rock collection.

From there Cliff gave me circuits for regenerative receivers and I built a few but none of them ever produced a usable output. All of my SWL listening had to be on the big console radio in our living room.

I can’t remember how I came to have an Arc 5 receiver for 80M, but that was my first real radio. It was probably a gift as I had no money except what I got from my paper route and all of that went to pay for the bike I used to deliver the papers. I started going to local ham club meetings and Bob Reese, W7TUI, became my mentor.

I read a copy of How To Become a Radio Amateur and started collecting parts to build the single 6V6 transmitter on the orange crate slat chassis. All of my parts had to be scrounged from the radios, TV’s and other electronic gear that was given to me. I built the power supply on a home bent chassis. I got it to work on out-of-band xtals but it had a mean chirp. W7TUI showed me how to add a VR to the power supply to feed the screen grid in the 6V6 and that cleaned up the chirp.

I was licensed as WN7VTZ in 1952 at age 12. My first QSO was with Beaverton, Oregon, with less than 10 watts input and feeding a random wire with no ATU. I suspect that there wasn’t much radiated power from that lash-up. Another buddy in Roseburg was licensed at the same time I was and we contented ourselves with cross-town QSOs.

I was the only boy in my grade 9 typing class. But, I was glad I learned to type. I could copy CW quite fast, much faster than I could write. The first time I sat down to my typewriter, put on the headphones, and put my fingers on the keys it was like magic. When my ear heard a di dah, my left little finger pushed a key. Di dah dah dah and my right index finger pushed a key. I could just sit there and watch the message appear on the typewriter paper. No effort required!

Read the full story on his QRZ.com page: http://www.qrz.com/detail/VE7NSD

And check out his Wilderness Workbench site (complete with a real moose skin):

http://www.qrpedia.com/book/200812/wilderness-workbench-ve7nsd

SolderSmoke Podcast 113

http://www.vixen.co.jp/English/info/news_e.html

http://www.soldersmoke.com

August 9, 2009
The Ponticelli Astronomical Observatory and QRP Station
Mystery Sound -- Can you ID?
Even Farhan Fries Transistors
Google marks Tesla's birthday
Adventures with Google Ads
Spotting the Space Station from Rome (and from London)
Arthur C. Clarke's version of MAILBAG
Mystery beeps in SS111?
MAILBAG

Space Hackers Video: IT'S BACK!!!!!

Hope this one doesn't get taken down. Great stuff from Turin, back in the day!

http://www.ch73.net/player.php?id=347&table=1&ln=nl

Tom's Receiver with Hybrid Cascode IF

I really like Tom's videos (and the receivers that are in them). Thanks Tom!

Micro-watt WSPRing by Gene, W3PM

Hi Bill,

As you know by your experience using 20 milliwatts, Weak Signal Propagation Reporting (WSPR) is an excellent mode to experiment with low power. A QRPp experimenter can received near instantaneous automated reports over the internet from hundreds of stations throughout the globe.

During the last few days, I have been experimenting on 30 meters with output powers as low as 20 microwatts. No one has spotted my 0.00002 watt signal yet, but K8CXM has spotted my 50 microwatt signal at a distance of 553 KM at 2332UTC, 05 AUG 09.

I used a 100 mW GPS timed beacon with a step attenuator to an indoor doublet for all the tests. All equipment is homebrew and the output power is verified with a HP-432A Power Meter. If you look in the WSPR on-line database the power is reported as 0.100 watt because it was too difficult to pull out and reprogram the beacon’s PIC controller chip for each change of power. In any case, there are no provisions to report power levels below 1 milliwatt to the WSPR database.

Other noteworthy spots:
100 uW - K8CXM, 2252UTC, 05 AUG 09, 553 KM
200 uW - AI4SA, 0530 UTC, 02 AUG 09, 333 KM
500 uW - NJ0U, multiple spots 31 JUL & 01 AUG 09, 716 KM
500 uW - K1JT, 1440 UTC, 31 JUL 09, 1215 KM
500 uW - W3HH, 1240 UTC, 31 JUL 09, 764 KM
5 mW - VK6DI, 2232 UTC, 05 DEC 08, 17,858 KM

A 6.5 meter auto tuned vertical with 50 ground radials was used for the VK6DI report. The vertical is disguised as a birdhouse support because I live in an antenna restricted neighborhood.

Of course all the credit goes to the receiving stations that no doubt live in a very quiet RF environment. The reports do not represent any records, but they may be of interest to other QRPp experimenters. .

Gene W3PM

Sabina QRP Station and Astronomical Observatory

This year, in an effort to get the kids out of Rome, we rented a summer house out in the Sabine Hills, a beautiful area just one hour north of the city. The picture shows a typical scene from the region. I brought out my HW-8, a gel-cell battery, my VW solar panel, the pi-network antenna tuner I picked up at the Trastevere flea market last winter, and about 50 feet of AC zip cord. I threw the wire into a tree and was able to tune up on 20 and 40. First station worked was near Catania, in Sicily (close to where we stayed last month). Also worked Germany and Bulgaria. I hope to use one of the tall Roman pines (like the one in the picture above) to support a vertical wire.

I also have my telescope out at the summer place, and we used it last weekend to look at Jupiter. I couldn't see the recently discovered scar, but we got great views of the clouds, and the four Galilean moons. More to follow...

Chuck Penson -- Heathkits, Nukes, and QRP

Back in my days as an anchor-ologist (a fan of old, heavy "Boatanchors" radios), I frequently consulted Chuck Penson's wonderful book about Heathkits. I was glad to see that he has developed an interest in QRP and is going to speak at CactusCon. Here is what the AZ Scorpion web site had to say about Chuck:

Chuck has a background in industrial archeology and a passion of the history of science and technology, with a special interest in nuclear weapons. He recently retired from the University of Arizona and now spends his time as the historian for the Titan Missile Museum in Green Valley Arizona. He is the author of two books: "Heathkit--A Guide to the Amateur Radio Products" and more recenty "The Titan II Handbook: A Civilian's Guide to the Most Powerful ICBM America Ever Built."

Penson has been a ham radio operator since 1966 and currently holds an advanced class license. His other interests include renewable energy, astronomy, hiking and pizza. He lives with his wife, Kathryn, at their off-the-grid ranch in the desert west of Tucson.