Tag: amsat

LHS Show Notes #034

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Welcome back, Richard!

Contributors:

  • Linux in the Ham Shack showed up on Podcast Sniper.
  • Chris, ZL2CCO, mentions LHS on his blog. Thanks, Chris!
  • Doug, N6LMX, is listening to Episode 31 and recommends the Griffin SmartTalk Headphone Adapter for the iPod Touch. It adds a microphone to your headphones. He bought his at Fry's. (You can also find it at Amazon for a little less money. Click through our Amazon store and support the Black Sparrow Media podcast empire! -Ed.)

Announcements:

  • Texas Linux Fest is Saturday, April 10, 2010 at the Monarch Events Center, Austin, Texas.
  • Southeast Linux Fest is June 12-13, 2010 at the Marriott at Renaissance Park hotel in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
  • We met our fund-raising goal for attending Dayton Hamvention 2010! The next goal is to raise enough money for a noise gate for Richard.
  • Richard expresses his appreciation for everyone's patience and support during the past few weeks.

Links and Notes:

  • Amateur radio satellite operation.
  • Doppler shift
  • Footprint
  • Linear transponder: a broadbanded repeater that operates over a range of frequencies.
  • Satellite tracking: there are programs that will help you find when and where a satellite will appear over your location. This page lists several, including some that run on Linux.
  • You will very likely need an antenna with gain, and probably a means of moving the antenna to match the trajectory of the satellite as it passes by.
  • SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment) has been superceded by ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station).
  • Equipment considerations. A VHF/UHF radio with sideband capability is often required, as is a cross-polarized antenna with gain.
  • More info can be found at the AMSAT site including Keplerian Elements and other tracking tools.
  • The ARRL publishes several books on satellite operation.

Music:

LHS Episode #034: Orbital Decay

Posted on by Russ Woodman

Richard is back and everything is right with the world--except Russ. Plans are in the works for setting up at the Dayton Hamvention. Many thanks to all of our listeners who donated to the cause. Our next donation goal, is $150 to get a noise gate for Richard. We know at least a couple listeners who should be happy about this, and we suspect there may be a few others out there. Of course, we're committed to improving the quality of the program whenever and wherever possible.

This episode is a little heavy on the radio side of things. However, don't be deterred. Richard gives us a lot of great information about satellite technology, concepts such as Doppler shift, transponders, antenna polarization, the science of orbits and much more which will appeal to your inner geek whether you're into ham radio, computers or just science and technology in general. Have a great week, and we look forward to seeing everyone in the chat for the next live recording on Tuesday, March 2nd.

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