Space Beacon Success (and failure)

On the Yuri Gagarin anniversary day, I listened for the FM voice beacon from the ARISS-1 satellite on the space shuttle. Nothing heard here. But I was listening near the end of the period scheduled for the transmission, so I may have missed it, or the batteries may have drained.

But this morning I finally got confirmation that at least one of my packets made it through the Space Station's digipeater. The image above is from the "Stations Heard via ISS" web site. Obviously I need to do something to the position (Lat/Long) info in my packet so that I can show up on the APRS maps. Perhaps my symbol should be the SolderSmoke logo...

Homebrew Two Dollar Oscilloscope

This is from a short article in the April 1997 issue of Electric Radio magazine. The author is Bob Dennison, W2HBE. Bob is a real genius, and the author of many inspirational articles in ER.

The Sundt Engineering Company of Chicago was advertising this kind of device in the June 1936 issue of Short Wave Craft Magazine. Only two dollars (but that was big money in 1936). From Bob's article: "When the transmitter is modulated with a single audio tone, the waveform of the modulated carrier will be seen. By varying the motor speed (horizontal scan rate) the pattern can be synchronized or made to stand still. Percentage modulation is readily estimated by simple inspection of the display."

So here we have the perfect minimalist 'scope to go with a minimalist AM transmitter!

EME, Bob Heil, and The Grateful Dead

I really loved the TWiT interview with Bob Heil that I posted yesterday. Today we bring you a truly "must see" video on the History of Heil Sound. Really great stuff. Now I know that it was FATE that caused it to be a Peter Frampton song (using a Heil Talk Box) that helped me solve my RFI problem.

Bob Heil seems a really great guy. I liked the bio that he has on his web site.
http://www.heilsound.com/amateur/aboutus/index.htm

Name: Bob Heil
Bob Heil
Position: CEO/Founder
Started in: 1940
Bio: Bob's life mission is to have fun and bring LOTS of people along for the trip. Bob barely got through grade school and then started making more money than his teachers by playing the (Hammond) organ. Then Bob became a pimp for his high school gym teacher (Sarah can fill you in on the details). Bob had 50+ years of "just OK" life until God sent him a red headed bundle of joy along with her bundle of joy and together they have more fun than a couple of squirrels in a nut forest.

Interview with Bob Heil

W8FG alerted me to this interview with Bob Heil on TWiT. I think you guys will enjoy it (especially all of you rockers out there).

http://www.twit.tv/tri8

WelderSmoke!

FROM STEEL: The Making of a Soulcraft from michael evans on Vimeo.

We need videos like this featuring our kind of smoke!

Beacons from Space! Yuri Gagarin Anniversary

SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS005
ARLS005 ARISSat-1 On the Air for Gagarin Anniversary

ZCZC AS05
QST de W1AW
Space Bulletin 005 ARLS005
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington, CT April 8, 2011
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE ARL ARLS005
ARLS005 ARISSat-1 On the Air for Gagarin Anniversary

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by
cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the ARISSat-1 satellite aboard the
International Space Station will be on the air using the station's
external antenna. Transmissions will begin on Monday, April 11, at
14:30 UTC and continue until 10:30 UTC on April 13.

To preserve the satellite's battery, transmissions will cycle on and
off. ARISSat-1 will transmit for 40 to 60 seconds, and then remain
silent for 2 minutes.

The FM transmissions on 145.950 MHz will alternate between a voice
ID, telemetry values, SSTV images and audio greetings in 15
different languages. One of the transmissions will contain audio of
a conversation between Gagarin and ground controllers that was
recorded during the historic flight.

A CW beacon will be heard on 145.919 MHz cycling between the
ARISSat-1 call sign, telemetry and call signs of individuals
involved in the ARISS program.

BPSK-1000 telemetry transmissions will also take place on 145.920
MHz SSB using the new 1kBPSK protocol developed by Phil Karn, KA9Q.

AMSAT will issue commemorative certificates to listeners who receive
the ARISSat-1 transmissions. Reports can be e-mailed to
Gagarin@arissat1.org or yuri@arrisat1.org. Include your name, call
sign, a description of what you heard and the UTC time you heard it.
Recording the battery voltage telemetry values and the UTC time you
received them will be especially helpful.

You can determine when the International Space Station will be
passing overhead by using the AMSAT-NA online pass prediction tool
at, http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/.
NNNN
/EX

Another QRPoet

I'm a big fan of Ade Weiss, and I often find myself reaching to his "History of QRP" for technical or techno-literary inspiration. Most writing about ham radio is (understandably) done in a very straightforward technical way, without a lot of emotion. But Ade's writing style captures both the technical and the emotional aspects of homebrewing and QRP. There is a definite poetic elements to it. This article was sent to us from the Hobbit Hole by the Poet Laureate of QRP (AA1TJ). Just click on on the image to enlarge. From a 1973 issue of The Milliwatt: