WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.759 This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you 00:00:02.759 --> 00:00:06.299 by Tower Electronics. For connectors, cables, 00:00:06.620 --> 00:00:09.900 and more, visit them at a hamfest near you or 00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:18.320 call 920 -435 -2973 or online at pl -259 .com. 00:00:50.829 --> 00:00:54.750 Good evening, everyone. It's HamTalk Live, episode 00:00:54.750 --> 00:01:00.070 number 98, Building Satellites and the Fox D1D 00:01:00.070 --> 00:01:04.670 launch, rather with Jerry in zero JY recorded 00:01:04.670 --> 00:01:09.269 live on Thursday, January 18th, 2018. I'm your 00:01:09.269 --> 00:01:13.450 host, Neal Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in 00:01:13.450 --> 00:01:18.000 to this episode. of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.420 joined by AMSAT Vice President for Engineering 00:01:21.420 --> 00:01:25.599 Jerry Buxton in Zero JY and we'll take your calls 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:29.629 live in just a few minutes. Last week if you 00:01:29.629 --> 00:01:33.409 missed the show Doug grant k1 DG was here to 00:01:33.409 --> 00:01:36.469 talk about the world radio sports team championships 00:01:36.469 --> 00:01:39.489 And if you ever miss a show all you have to do 00:01:39.489 --> 00:01:42.069 is go to ham talk live comm and you can play 00:01:42.069 --> 00:01:46.510 it on The website anytime you like you can also 00:01:46.510 --> 00:01:51.030 catch the podcast version over on your five favorite 00:01:51.030 --> 00:01:56.329 podcast app We upload to Apple podcast stitcher. 00:01:56.530 --> 00:01:59.189 I heart podcast Google Play tune in to SoundCloud 00:01:59.189 --> 00:02:04.030 and we also upload to YouTube and lots of other 00:02:04.030 --> 00:02:08.050 podcast apps get the feeds from there. So be 00:02:08.050 --> 00:02:11.870 sure to check that out and subscribe to us. Well 00:02:11.870 --> 00:02:14.969 get your satellite building questions ready to 00:02:14.969 --> 00:02:18.810 go. After the interview you can give us a call. 00:02:18.909 --> 00:02:21.449 It's not time to call yet but let me give you 00:02:21.449 --> 00:02:24.250 the number so you have your dialing fingers ready. 00:02:24.590 --> 00:02:34.110 It's 812 NET. Ham1, that's 812 -638 -4261. You 00:02:34.110 --> 00:02:37.270 can also Skype us directly at HamTalk Live. You 00:02:37.270 --> 00:02:41.849 can also tweet us. We're at HamTalk Live on Twitter. 00:02:42.430 --> 00:02:45.430 And I know the satellite folks, they love their 00:02:45.430 --> 00:02:48.370 Twitter, so we'll try to keep an eye on that 00:02:48.370 --> 00:02:52.860 tonight. So I will be back with Jerry right after 00:02:52.860 --> 00:02:56.300 this word from Tower Electronics right here on 00:02:56.300 --> 00:02:59.939 HamTalk Live. This episode of HamTalk Live is 00:02:59.939 --> 00:03:02.460 brought to you in part by Tower Electronics. 00:03:02.669 --> 00:03:05.090 Tower Electronics has been the Ham's Dime Store 00:03:05.090 --> 00:03:08.469 since 1978. When you need connectors, mobile 00:03:08.469 --> 00:03:11.750 and handheld antennas, cables, or adapters, visit 00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:15.330 Scott or Jill at a HamFest near you. Or you can 00:03:15.330 --> 00:03:21.530 order online at PL -259 .com or call 920 -435 00:03:21.530 --> 00:03:26.550 -2973. Stock up on those supplies like PL -259 00:03:26.550 --> 00:03:29.810 and end connectors, SMA adapters, audio cables, 00:03:30.090 --> 00:03:33.270 soldering supplies, mobile antennas, and hamsticks. 00:03:33.550 --> 00:03:35.969 Their silver plated in connectors are even used 00:03:35.969 --> 00:03:38.969 on the International Space Station. Tower Electronics 00:03:38.969 --> 00:03:43.430 carries MFJ, Comet, Daiwa, OPEC, Workman, and 00:03:43.430 --> 00:03:47.009 HamPro products. And don't miss their 0 % off 00:03:47.009 --> 00:03:50.590 sale going on now. Tower Electronics online at 00:03:50.590 --> 00:03:54.990 PL -259 .com. Proud to sponsor this episode of 00:03:54.990 --> 00:03:59.590 HamTalk Live. Sorry for the delay your host Neil 00:03:59.590 --> 00:04:02.930 rap is reading a book on anti -gravity and he 00:04:02.930 --> 00:04:06.090 just can't put it down Now here's more ham talk 00:04:06.090 --> 00:04:23.810 live Scott and Jill at tower electronics are 00:04:23.810 --> 00:04:27.220 sponsoring the show yet once again tonight They 00:04:27.220 --> 00:04:29.939 help bring you ham talk live each and every Thursday 00:04:29.939 --> 00:04:33.259 night at 9 p .m. Eastern Time. They're back out 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:36.300 on the road. You can catch them this weekend 00:04:36.300 --> 00:04:39.660 in Fort Myers, Florida. Had the ham fest there 00:04:39.660 --> 00:04:43.420 on Friday and Saturday, the 19th and 20th. And 00:04:43.420 --> 00:04:47.949 then they'll also be. At Wheaton, Illinois on 00:04:47.949 --> 00:04:53.490 Sunday and then on the 27th on Saturday the 27th 00:04:53.490 --> 00:04:57.649 They will be in both Arcadia, Florida and Collinsville, 00:04:57.649 --> 00:05:03.389 Illinois But they're always at PL -259 .com and 00:05:03.389 --> 00:05:11.730 they're by the phone number 920 -435 -2973 Tell 00:05:11.730 --> 00:05:16.860 them you heard it on HamTalk Live Get your adapters 00:05:16.860 --> 00:05:20.360 connectors and whatever you need Well joining 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:24.980 us tonight is Jerry Buxton in zero Jay why he's 00:05:24.980 --> 00:05:29.180 been a ham since 1972 and Jerry says he enjoys 00:05:29.180 --> 00:05:32.579 giving cute to the community by sharing his God 00:05:32.579 --> 00:05:36.620 -given talents to help build ham satellites and 00:05:36.620 --> 00:05:41.189 help out communities with disaster response Jerry 00:05:41.189 --> 00:05:43.649 says there's more things to do in amateur radio 00:05:43.649 --> 00:05:46.750 than he could ever get done, but he likes to 00:05:46.750 --> 00:05:50.990 bounce around between satellites and HF and CW 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:54.610 and voice, digital, you name it. He operates 00:05:54.610 --> 00:05:58.589 his HK5JY from Columbia when visiting his wife's 00:05:58.589 --> 00:06:03.829 family along with his XYL KD5 FCQ. And Jerry 00:06:03.829 --> 00:06:07.269 is the vice president of AMSAT North America 00:06:07.269 --> 00:06:11.029 in charge of engineering and is also the Texas 00:06:11.029 --> 00:06:15.709 District 4 radio officer for RACES. So Jerry, 00:06:15.769 --> 00:06:18.230 thank you for coming on HamTalk Live tonight. 00:06:20.149 --> 00:06:21.810 Good evening, Neil, and thank you for inviting 00:06:21.810 --> 00:06:25.269 me. Good to be here. Yeah, we've been we've been 00:06:25.269 --> 00:06:27.850 wanting to get you on here for a while. And the 00:06:27.850 --> 00:06:32.250 timing just worked out great because Just last 00:06:32.250 --> 00:06:35.649 week in fact just a few hours after this show 00:06:35.649 --> 00:06:40.529 last week Fox 1d was successfully launched and 00:06:40.529 --> 00:06:44.370 been hearing and seeing some of the reports coming 00:06:44.370 --> 00:06:50.930 in on Twitter looks like a Fabulous job by the 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:55.769 team Sean kx9x Mentioned that he heard it with 00:06:55.769 --> 00:07:00.329 an HT and a rubber duck out in Connecticut and 00:07:00.750 --> 00:07:04.189 You know, just, just had it there without really 00:07:04.189 --> 00:07:07.889 aiming or trying. And, um, some of the images 00:07:07.889 --> 00:07:10.790 that have been, uh, downloaded already from it 00:07:10.790 --> 00:07:13.949 have been incredible. So fill us in on the latest, 00:07:13.949 --> 00:07:18.089 uh, happenings on the first week of Fox one D. 00:07:19.689 --> 00:07:24.050 Very well. Fox one D did launch at, uh, free 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:28.129 59 AM UTC last Thursday night for us here. from 00:07:28.129 --> 00:07:33.610 India on a PSLV launch vehicle, and at about 00:07:33.610 --> 00:07:38.750 four, excuse me, make that five, 18 a .m., we 00:07:38.750 --> 00:07:40.569 expected that it came alive, and we did hear 00:07:40.569 --> 00:07:43.769 telemetry shortly thereafter. So once we had 00:07:43.769 --> 00:07:46.350 the telemetry downlink, it could officially become 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:51.029 an AO, and it was designated AO 92 on Friday. 00:07:52.379 --> 00:07:54.560 One of the first things we do after we watch 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:57.899 it run until we get a good pass over the US is 00:07:57.899 --> 00:07:59.959 just look at telemetry that's gathered by all 00:07:59.959 --> 00:08:03.199 of the helpful hams throughout the world. We 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:07.019 distribute Fox telem software, which works with 00:08:07.019 --> 00:08:11.060 all of the Fox satellites. And in capturing the 00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:14.600 telemetry, the user can see what everything that's 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:17.079 going on, but it also relays it to our central 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:19.680 server and gives us the opportunity to check 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:21.639 up on things even when it's not within range 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:25.060 of the US. So when it came around the next day 00:08:25.060 --> 00:08:26.980 we did put it into safe mode and then shortly 00:08:26.980 --> 00:08:30.360 thereafter we put it into transponder mode. Transponder 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:34.179 mode of course is the mode that users are typically 00:08:34.179 --> 00:08:37.179 familiar with and that is when it operates as 00:08:37.179 --> 00:08:39.759 as a repeater essentially a crossband repeater. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:44.379 And when we did that we did we do a little bit 00:08:44.379 --> 00:08:47.279 of voice check out there and one of the command 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:52.639 stations Drew Glassbrenner, K04MA. He sits in 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:56.820 his shack office there and pulls out his HT and 00:08:56.820 --> 00:08:59.139 it has one of the quarter inch aftermarket whips 00:08:59.139 --> 00:09:00.639 on it. I mean, excuse me, quarter inch would 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:05.259 be nice, right? Yeah. Quarter wave. Quarter wave, 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:10.559 how's that? That'd be some high frequency. Well, 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:12.299 we're going there too. I can tell you more about 00:09:12.299 --> 00:09:15.759 that later. So with five watts at 10 degrees 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:19.240 elevation, he said, he got in to AO 92 just fine. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:22.000 So it is nice and sensitive. Of course, when 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:24.320 it's busy, that's probably going to be a lot 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:27.200 harder to make a QSO that way. But nonetheless, 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:30.519 it's working very well. And all the Fox satellites 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:33.840 have 500, 600 milliwatts output, so they're pretty 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:35.539 easy to hear even with a rubber duck, although 00:09:35.539 --> 00:09:38.740 you have to remember to point it around for polarity 00:09:38.740 --> 00:09:40.320 because it's not straightened up and down like 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:45.139 we're used to with our HTs down here. And the 00:09:45.139 --> 00:09:48.139 whole week then, Yeah, we've been running through 00:09:48.139 --> 00:09:50.740 what we call the in orbit checklist and we do 00:09:50.740 --> 00:09:55.500 a number of tests Fox 1D has more experiments 00:09:55.500 --> 00:10:00.139 than Fox 1A or Fox 1B did which are AO 85 and 00:10:00.139 --> 00:10:05.039 AO 91 so we've been Going through steps to test 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:06.940 the experiments The camera was the first one 00:10:06.940 --> 00:10:09.419 that we looked at early on and as you mentioned 00:10:09.419 --> 00:10:11.440 there have been some really nice pictures returned 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:15.480 from that the team at Virginia Tech The team 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:18.419 of students, we partnered with them and they 00:10:18.419 --> 00:10:21.580 built and provided the experiment as our Fox 00:10:21.580 --> 00:10:25.299 One satellites, CubeSats, are designed to be 00:10:25.299 --> 00:10:28.940 able to hold four slots of experiments, whether 00:10:28.940 --> 00:10:32.500 one experiment uses one of them or uses all four 00:10:32.500 --> 00:10:35.539 of them, then we can host experiments in there. 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:38.100 So the Virginia Tech camera takes up one of those 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:41.399 and looks out the top end, if you will, the plus 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:46.820 Z end of the satellite. And the 320 by 240 pictures 00:10:46.820 --> 00:10:50.340 that they're returning are amazing. If you don't 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:52.379 see them with your Fox2Lem software, you can 00:10:52.379 --> 00:10:57.440 see them on the leaderboard AMSAT website. And 00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:59.659 I'll put in a little plug that anybody who does 00:10:59.659 --> 00:11:03.039 copy even a portion of a picture or any telemetry 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:05.840 whatsoever for that matter with Fox2Lem is contributing 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:08.220 because once that all gets sent to the server, 00:11:08.490 --> 00:11:11.590 we will have hopefully enough frames that came 00:11:11.590 --> 00:11:14.009 from enough locations to be able to reassemble 00:11:14.009 --> 00:11:16.830 the entire picture. So that's why you can usually 00:11:16.830 --> 00:11:20.110 catch a full picture on the webpage. And then 00:11:20.110 --> 00:11:24.049 we moved on to testing the Herky mode. Herky 00:11:24.049 --> 00:11:26.870 is an experiment from the University of Iowa 00:11:26.870 --> 00:11:30.929 that is going to measure or map the radiation 00:11:30.929 --> 00:11:35.250 belts. It's kind of a similar or a follow on 00:11:35.250 --> 00:11:39.620 to what Dr. Van Allen Had done back in the late 00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:42.200 1950s and the students put together an experiment 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:46.080 this takes up two bays and it essentially Throughout 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.559 the orbit it's gathering data and then we put 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:51.440 it into a high speed mode To be able to download 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:53.899 that delay to data and that's what we were testing 00:11:53.899 --> 00:11:56.960 today we ran it a little bit last night and then 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:01.000 again today and Once we have confirmation from 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:02.659 University of Iowa that everything's looking 00:12:02.659 --> 00:12:05.779 good with that That we'll check that off the 00:12:05.779 --> 00:12:10.720 list We also have one more experiment that we 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:13.460 created ourselves, MSAT, and we call it Downshifter. 00:12:13.899 --> 00:12:17.179 Downshifter allows us to have an L -band uplink, 00:12:17.340 --> 00:12:22.820 1 .2 GHz, and that means that in addition to 00:12:22.820 --> 00:12:29.299 the typical uplink of 435 MHz with the downlink 00:12:29.299 --> 00:12:31.740 on 2 meters, we also have the option of turning 00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:35.220 on a 1 .2 GHz uplink with the 2 -meter downlink. 00:12:35.309 --> 00:12:37.590 They're mutually exclusive, so it'll be in one 00:12:37.590 --> 00:12:41.190 mode or the other. The L -band, the downshifter, 00:12:41.370 --> 00:12:45.769 as it's so named, is a downconverter. And what 00:12:45.769 --> 00:12:47.610 it'll do is receive the L -band, downconvert 00:12:47.610 --> 00:12:52.669 it to the 435 .350 megahertz input of the stock 00:12:52.669 --> 00:12:57.330 receiver, if you will, on Fox1D. And that will 00:12:57.330 --> 00:12:59.250 give us that opportunity to work with L -band. 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:04.409 We'll find a similar one on Fox1C, too. So we'll 00:13:04.409 --> 00:13:07.509 probably test that out. I'm thinking about Tomorrow 00:13:07.509 --> 00:13:09.730 night to turn it on and give it a give it a little 00:13:09.730 --> 00:13:13.950 try everything that we go through is Laid out 00:13:13.950 --> 00:13:18.409 in a in a script But we depending on what the 00:13:18.409 --> 00:13:20.409 results are and what the opportunities are to 00:13:20.409 --> 00:13:23.009 command the satellite We make a few variations 00:13:23.009 --> 00:13:25.750 on that and I usually don't unless we need help 00:13:25.750 --> 00:13:27.549 with the telemetry or we're gonna do that photos 00:13:27.549 --> 00:13:30.029 or something we don't usually broadcast it because 00:13:30.029 --> 00:13:33.669 it's just a matter of kind of see what happens 00:13:33.669 --> 00:13:37.090 when it comes up sometimes. I expect that by 00:13:37.090 --> 00:13:39.629 a week from today, we will be able to open it 00:13:39.629 --> 00:13:41.889 up for general amateur radio use. So everything's 00:13:41.889 --> 00:13:46.470 looking good so far. All right. Very good. And, 00:13:46.470 --> 00:13:50.970 uh, uh, Robert Fitzpatrick says, uh, we need 00:13:50.970 --> 00:13:56.429 satellite police 92 AO 92 is a busy satellite. 00:13:56.750 --> 00:13:59.730 So need, need some, uh, traffic cops out there, 00:13:59.730 --> 00:14:02.679 I guess. Hopefully, we're the only ones keeping 00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:06.960 it busy right now. Well, yeah, we hope until 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:10.620 everything's checked out. Well, the main reason 00:14:10.620 --> 00:14:13.779 we wanted you to come on tonight was to talk 00:14:13.779 --> 00:14:17.039 about your particular expertise, which is building 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:20.960 these things. So give us an idea of what goes 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:24.179 into building one of these, particularly like 00:14:24.179 --> 00:14:31.059 Fox1D. Quite a bit of work that goes into them 00:14:31.059 --> 00:14:33.779 Let me start kind of at the beginning of the 00:14:33.779 --> 00:14:37.100 design of course and the Fox ones are AMSAT's 00:14:37.100 --> 00:14:40.840 first CubeSat design and it was conceived back 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:44.539 around 2009 by the then prize president of engineering 00:14:44.539 --> 00:14:49.580 Tony Montero AA2TX who's now a silent key and 00:14:49.580 --> 00:14:55.659 because of the Success in what AMSAT helped create 00:14:55.659 --> 00:14:59.059 as you may know we've been building satellites 00:14:59.059 --> 00:15:02.480 for about 45 years and we would hitchhike rides 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:05.960 with them or for them on various launch vehicles 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:09.639 typically as ballast but as it became more and 00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:13.820 more interest in space that forces people to 00:15:13.820 --> 00:15:15.860 become paying customers. The CubeSat became a 00:15:15.860 --> 00:15:17.759 standard because that allows you to make something 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:19.919 that just about any rocket can accommodate in 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:24.600 that sense. So we went after that design and 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:29.710 in the development of the Fox One One of the 00:15:29.710 --> 00:15:32.350 things about building any satellite, of course, 00:15:32.769 --> 00:15:35.629 you got to look at what your goals are. But for 00:15:35.629 --> 00:15:39.429 AMSAT, of course, it's to have a good working 00:15:39.429 --> 00:15:42.929 radio that will last a number of years. It takes 00:15:42.929 --> 00:15:44.769 a lot of time and costs a lot of money to get 00:15:44.769 --> 00:15:47.370 it into space. So while some experiments that 00:15:47.370 --> 00:15:50.450 are done, perhaps by some universities and such, 00:15:51.330 --> 00:15:54.769 are maybe a year's worth of interest, we're interested 00:15:54.769 --> 00:15:57.200 in keeping something up there for. as long as 00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:00.340 the orbit will last at least. So the designs, 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:02.480 you have to consider the radiation of space and 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:05.759 the temperature, the temperature swings and a 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:09.960 number of factors that can influence and degrade 00:16:09.960 --> 00:16:15.179 your electronics. That leads to careful part 00:16:15.179 --> 00:16:18.419 choices, a lot of prototyping and a lot of testing 00:16:18.419 --> 00:16:21.100 to make sure that that goes together right. The 00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:23.840 CubeSat itself being four inches by four inches 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:28.440 is a a pretty tiny box to put all that stuff 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:31.759 into. So the circuit layout and everything is 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:35.039 quite a bit of work as well. We do subject it 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:37.559 to a lot of testing. It has to be able to survive 00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:40.039 the launch vehicle, which can be very violent 00:16:40.039 --> 00:16:42.460 actually, the ride to space, compared to what 00:16:42.460 --> 00:16:46.279 you're used to thinking. It can be quite a few 00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:49.340 Gs of acceleration where the spacecraft are riding. 00:16:49.700 --> 00:16:51.399 So we have to make sure that it doesn't fall 00:16:51.399 --> 00:16:55.269 apart in vibration testing and we test for shock 00:16:55.269 --> 00:16:57.690 and various things depending on the launch vehicle. 00:16:58.029 --> 00:17:01.389 The number of hours that are required to put 00:17:01.389 --> 00:17:03.710 in, you know, to make sure that that all comes 00:17:03.710 --> 00:17:05.710 together are what leads to part of the reason 00:17:05.710 --> 00:17:08.089 that it takes some time to get to orbit. Because 00:17:08.089 --> 00:17:11.410 again, we don't want to put something up that's 00:17:11.410 --> 00:17:14.309 not going to work well. The design of the Fox 00:17:14.309 --> 00:17:16.890 1 satellites then was to build more than one 00:17:16.890 --> 00:17:19.849 because once you're starting to put this effort 00:17:19.849 --> 00:17:23.049 and money into the research and development, 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:26.200 You get much better turn on reverse investment 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:29.660 if you make make more than one of them so there 00:17:29.660 --> 00:17:33.440 are a number of Engineers and everyone who works 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:35.980 on these as a volunteer everyone they're working 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:38.619 on them it's similar to working on any amateur 00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:40.839 radio project you might work on where you build 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:45.960 something and Then but we've got a large group 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:47.839 of people doing it because there are so many 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:50.079 different things that go into it and a lot of 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:54.450 different skills that are involved it Excuse 00:17:54.450 --> 00:17:57.950 me. It requires quite a bit of understanding 00:17:57.950 --> 00:18:01.029 and technique because once you launch it, you 00:18:01.029 --> 00:18:03.509 can't fix it. If you build a project in your 00:18:03.509 --> 00:18:05.569 shack, for example, you might turn it on. It 00:18:05.569 --> 00:18:09.450 doesn't work quite right. You can change things. 00:18:09.990 --> 00:18:11.849 Even though we test it right up until launch, 00:18:12.309 --> 00:18:14.269 if something doesn't go quite right in space, 00:18:14.329 --> 00:18:17.529 of course, we're stuck with what it is. So it 00:18:17.529 --> 00:18:17.950 takes quite a bit of time. I don't know. There 00:18:17.950 --> 00:18:20.869 might be some people out there that... That would 00:18:20.869 --> 00:18:23.890 volunteer to say hey, you know what? I'll just 00:18:23.890 --> 00:18:26.930 go up there and fix that Yeah, that's true. I 00:18:26.930 --> 00:18:31.029 don't think that would go over though Well, it's 00:18:31.029 --> 00:18:33.990 uh, I Actually if it costs as much as it does 00:18:33.990 --> 00:18:36.009 to launch a CubeSat to launch a human to fix 00:18:36.009 --> 00:18:37.569 it You may as well just probably build another 00:18:37.569 --> 00:18:47.500 That's true So the the amount of It is like a 00:18:47.500 --> 00:18:50.180 big project, but it's just got a lot more tricks, 00:18:50.259 --> 00:18:52.180 a lot of different things to think about that 00:18:52.180 --> 00:18:54.480 you don't typically encounter, I guess you'd 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:57.259 say, in a standard radio, more or less, what 00:18:57.259 --> 00:19:00.119 we're used to dealing with as far as ham radios. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:07.000 We designed it to be able to hold the experiments. 00:19:07.099 --> 00:19:10.140 This gives us opportunities for launches because 00:19:10.140 --> 00:19:15.329 of the NASA CubeSat launch in this. where it's 00:19:15.329 --> 00:19:18.549 part of their outreach to further education and 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:21.589 exploration and such. The STEM education that 00:19:21.589 --> 00:19:25.529 comes with students developing and flying an 00:19:25.529 --> 00:19:29.069 experiment board is part of the value that NASA 00:19:29.069 --> 00:19:31.190 is looking for, that they're willing to pay for 00:19:31.190 --> 00:19:33.789 the cost of a launch. And so that helps us to 00:19:33.789 --> 00:19:36.130 put that up there. We're, of course, very great 00:19:36.130 --> 00:19:39.829 with radios, AMSAT is, and therefore, as far 00:19:39.829 --> 00:19:42.359 as bringing telemetry down. It's an excellent 00:19:42.359 --> 00:19:46.519 way to do that. And it benefits education and 00:19:46.519 --> 00:19:48.559 learning for everyone throughout the world, really, 00:19:48.619 --> 00:19:50.319 because they have radio in itself. Of course, 00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:54.259 it's obviously a place to foster education as 00:19:54.259 --> 00:19:57.440 well as goodwill and communication and to learn 00:19:57.440 --> 00:19:59.880 things. So just putting a transponder in space 00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:03.940 is an opportunity for everyone to be able to 00:20:03.940 --> 00:20:08.440 learn something from that. Excellent, excellent 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:15.809 stuff. You've got to also get into some of the 00:20:15.809 --> 00:20:20.430 physics of maintaining that orbit and keeping 00:20:20.430 --> 00:20:26.150 everything going. So how do you make those little 00:20:26.150 --> 00:20:30.529 adjustments and keep those things running for 00:20:30.529 --> 00:20:36.710 years and years? The CubeSats that we're flying 00:20:36.710 --> 00:20:40.869 are passive, they don't have any attitude control, 00:20:41.029 --> 00:20:44.289 the Fox one, they don't have any propulsion. 00:20:45.109 --> 00:20:49.109 So, and that's true of a large number of the 00:20:49.109 --> 00:20:51.710 CubeSats that are launched, especially the size 00:20:51.710 --> 00:20:53.529 that they are, it's difficult to put that in 00:20:53.529 --> 00:20:55.549 there, plus the number of radios and experiments, 00:20:55.549 --> 00:20:58.710 etc, that we do. But so it's launched and it's 00:20:58.710 --> 00:21:01.829 deployed. And essentially, it will just float 00:21:01.829 --> 00:21:03.809 around in that orbit, if you will, until the 00:21:03.809 --> 00:21:07.920 orbit eventually decays. And there is no control 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:10.319 of it. Now we do have control through the sense 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:12.539 that there is a magnet, a bar magnet, in each 00:21:12.539 --> 00:21:15.279 one of these that's along one side. And what 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:20.180 that does is generally keep the plus Z axis, 00:21:20.220 --> 00:21:22.440 or the top end as we tend to think of it here 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:24.480 on Earth, pointed toward the north magnetic pole. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:28.799 So that keeps it stable in that respect. We also 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:33.460 use the photon effect of photons reflecting off 00:21:33.460 --> 00:21:39.119 of different darkness materials through the sides 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:40.700 of it. If you look at a picture of a fox, you'll 00:21:40.700 --> 00:21:42.579 see we have gold and then we have some darker 00:21:42.579 --> 00:21:45.240 colored rails and such. And that imparts a bit 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:47.299 of a spin to it. So that, of course, the spin 00:21:47.299 --> 00:21:49.660 around the axis provides stabilization as well. 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:52.279 But that's the maximum of that. If we have no 00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:55.380 way to control it, to boost it or reenter it 00:21:55.380 --> 00:21:58.160 or anything like that, it takes its own course 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:02.460 and comes down when nature says, nature and physics, 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:06.559 that it's time to do that. With our future satellites, 00:22:06.700 --> 00:22:10.099 we'll get into more of that, but talk about that 00:22:10.099 --> 00:22:15.559 in a bit. Okay, very good. Well, some great information 00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:18.880 and learning a lot about building satellites 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:24.519 here with Jerry Buxton. J .Y. and we'll be back 00:22:24.519 --> 00:22:28.579 to talk some more with him and take your phone 00:22:28.579 --> 00:22:32.480 calls and tweets and whatever else you have. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:35.279 We'd love to have you participate. Again, that 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:41.039 phone number is 812 -NET -HAM -1, 812 -638 -4261 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:44.019 and we'll open up the phone lines right after 00:22:44.019 --> 00:22:47.019 this word from the National Voice of America 00:22:47.019 --> 00:22:50.519 Museum of Broadcasting right here on HamTalk 00:22:50.519 --> 00:22:53.549 Live. The National Voice of America Museum of 00:22:53.549 --> 00:22:57.029 Broadcasting, located in Westchester, Ohio, just 00:22:57.029 --> 00:22:59.829 north of Cincinnati, is only two minutes off 00:22:59.829 --> 00:23:03.809 I -75. The museum is the former home of the Voice 00:23:03.809 --> 00:23:07.450 of America Bethany Relay Station. Tours are now 00:23:07.450 --> 00:23:09.990 available every Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 00:23:09.990 --> 00:23:13.049 4 p .m. Eastern time. You can see the control 00:23:13.049 --> 00:23:17.349 room. a 200 ,000 watt transmitter, and the most 00:23:17.349 --> 00:23:20.269 comprehensive collection of inventions by the 00:23:20.269 --> 00:23:24.369 iconic Powell -Crosley Jr. Also on display is 00:23:24.369 --> 00:23:28.210 a huge antique radio exhibit and R .L. Drake's 00:23:28.210 --> 00:23:31.210 personal collection of most every Drake amateur 00:23:31.210 --> 00:23:35.059 rig ever made. This is a unique opportunity to 00:23:35.059 --> 00:23:38.220 see amateur radio in action and have a chance 00:23:38.220 --> 00:23:43.779 to get on the air from WC8VOA. Admission is only 00:23:43.779 --> 00:23:47.539 $5 a person. The museum is located close to historic 00:23:47.539 --> 00:23:52.220 WLWAM and tons of shopping and restaurants. Take 00:23:52.220 --> 00:23:56.119 a trip to the VOA museum or visit us online at 00:23:56.119 --> 00:24:02.779 voamuseum .org. Join the conversation! Call us 00:24:02.779 --> 00:24:06.079 on voice with Skype at HamTalk Live or give us 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:12.779 a call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:18.079 Now, here's more HamTalk Live! Everyone in the 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:21.119 audience on HamTalk Live today is going to get 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:25.740 one of my favorite things. You get a 5 -9! You 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:40.559 get a 5 -9! Everyone gets a 5 -9! Ham talk lives 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:44.259 on the air every Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern 00:24:44.259 --> 00:24:48.539 time right here at ham talk live .com Be sure 00:24:48.539 --> 00:24:50.900 to check us out on Facebook Twitter and Instagram 00:24:50.900 --> 00:24:54.259 and over on Facebook a while ago I posted some 00:24:54.259 --> 00:24:56.759 pictures from the National Voice of America Museum 00:24:56.759 --> 00:25:00.579 of Broadcasting so check that out and hopefully 00:25:00.579 --> 00:25:05.299 you can visit them at some point I know we'll 00:25:05.299 --> 00:25:08.759 be talking more about that later, but They're 00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:11.400 usually open during Hamvention weekend, so if 00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:14.180 you go to Hamvention maybe you can run down and 00:25:14.180 --> 00:25:17.859 visit the museum. Well, it's time for your calls 00:25:17.859 --> 00:25:22.259 now. If you have a question for Jerry from AMSAT, 00:25:22.500 --> 00:25:26.359 give us a call. The time is now. So let me give 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:29.240 you that phone number again. It's 812 -NET -HAM 00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:35.680 -1 -812 -638 -4261. Or you can Skype us. We're 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:39.420 HamTalk Live on Skype as well as on Twitter. 00:25:39.940 --> 00:25:44.339 And you can tweet your questions. to us. And 00:25:44.339 --> 00:25:47.500 while we're waiting to see if we have some questions, 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:51.240 Jerry, you kind of teased us here a little bit 00:25:51.240 --> 00:25:56.920 with the next project coming up and that may 00:25:56.920 --> 00:26:01.619 have some attitude control to it. So tell us 00:26:01.619 --> 00:26:03.960 about the new project that you're going to be 00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:08.839 working on. Very good. The Fox One being the 00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:11.240 first CubeSat Amsats built, we learned a tremendous 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:15.400 amount from it. And the CubeSat form factor is 00:26:15.400 --> 00:26:20.039 the current way to go to space. So what we're 00:26:20.039 --> 00:26:24.240 looking at with the next project is called GOLF. 00:26:24.700 --> 00:26:28.640 And that's an acronym for greater orbit, larger 00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:31.799 footprint. And the greater orbit, in other words, 00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:34.480 the higher your orbit is, the larger footprint, 00:26:34.599 --> 00:26:37.519 the more area of the Earth the spacecraft can 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:42.410 see. And therefore you have a wider area that 00:26:42.410 --> 00:26:46.730 that you can span with two stations talking to 00:26:46.730 --> 00:26:50.089 each other. So golf is also because we had echo 00:26:50.089 --> 00:26:54.869 was AO 51 and then Fox is the various Fox one 00:26:54.869 --> 00:26:56.569 cubes. That's five of them that we've built. 00:26:56.869 --> 00:27:00.029 And so golf is also the next letter in phonetically. 00:27:00.470 --> 00:27:04.869 Golf is the word golf is golf. T is going to 00:27:04.869 --> 00:27:08.019 be the first one. And what it is is sort of a 00:27:08.019 --> 00:27:10.960 rapid deployment of this technology. We are going 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:13.539 to put attitude, determination, and control, 00:27:14.059 --> 00:27:17.099 and we will have deployable solar panels. It's 00:27:17.099 --> 00:27:20.960 going to be a 3U CubeSat form factor, which is 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:24.720 basically 12 inches tall, if you will, by four 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:28.160 inches by four inches per side. It's like three 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:31.079 1U CubeSats stacked up. This will give us an 00:27:31.079 --> 00:27:34.920 opportunity for more power. more room inside 00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:38.700 for batteries and the ability to deploy the solar 00:27:38.700 --> 00:27:41.140 panels, the attitude determination and control 00:27:41.140 --> 00:27:45.279 allows us to point the satellite for either maximum 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:50.240 power with the solar panels or to point antennas. 00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:52.279 And one of the things that we're moving toward 00:27:52.279 --> 00:27:56.859 is to use microwave bands for a couple of reasons. 00:27:57.400 --> 00:28:00.480 The BHF and UHF are extremely crowded right now. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:04.430 Microwave bands, of course, have megahertz, tens 00:28:04.430 --> 00:28:07.650 of megahertz available that give us the opportunity 00:28:07.650 --> 00:28:10.470 to, you know, spread out, have a lot more signals, 00:28:10.470 --> 00:28:12.430 a lot more going on. And if you add a couple 00:28:12.430 --> 00:28:15.309 of digital type digital techniques with that, 00:28:15.329 --> 00:28:17.450 then you can get quite a bit of interesting stuff 00:28:17.450 --> 00:28:21.009 going on within the microwave bands. So we're 00:28:21.009 --> 00:28:24.369 going to be flying some prototypes or precursors 00:28:24.369 --> 00:28:26.950 of that as we work toward or as we develop our 00:28:26.950 --> 00:28:32.799 five and dime concept. Five and dime is the the 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:36.740 name we coined for the 5 GHz uplink and 10 GHz 00:28:36.740 --> 00:28:39.599 downlink, or C -band and X -band, that we'll 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:43.559 be using. Those are bands that have a lot of 00:28:43.559 --> 00:28:45.519 bandwidth available, as I said, to amateur radio 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.259 for satellites, and they give us, of course, 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.500 with these smaller wavelengths, you don't need 00:28:50.500 --> 00:28:53.299 as big an antenna. You can use horns and patch 00:28:53.299 --> 00:28:56.460 antennas and such, and that's where the satellite 00:28:56.460 --> 00:28:58.079 pointing can come into play, to be able to get 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:01.869 higher gain at higher altitudes. which with, 00:29:02.009 --> 00:29:03.829 of course, if you want to try to get gain with 00:29:03.829 --> 00:29:06.089 a 70 centimeter or two meter antenna, you're 00:29:06.089 --> 00:29:08.329 talking about a pretty large antenna. So we're 00:29:08.329 --> 00:29:10.549 looking, we're pretty excited about that. That's 00:29:10.549 --> 00:29:13.549 going to give us the chance to be able to begin 00:29:13.549 --> 00:29:17.509 using these various things. And the golf program 00:29:17.509 --> 00:29:21.470 in itself is designed to be a stepping stone 00:29:21.470 --> 00:29:25.150 as we learn and develop these technologies to 00:29:25.150 --> 00:29:27.890 get to heel back to the high, highly elliptical 00:29:27.890 --> 00:29:29.680 orbit. which are the ones that would cover a 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:31.819 hemisphere for about 12 hours a day, like AO 00:29:31.819 --> 00:29:37.400 -40, AO -13, and AO -10 in the past. We have 00:29:37.400 --> 00:29:40.119 a program within AMSAT called ASCENT, which is 00:29:40.119 --> 00:29:43.599 an acronym for the Advanced Satellite Communications 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:47.460 and Exploration of New Technology. It's a skunkworks, 00:29:47.619 --> 00:29:52.119 essentially, with a bunch of engineers who just 00:29:52.119 --> 00:29:55.940 go off and do what they will, what they wish, 00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:58.710 and play around. the ideas that they come up 00:29:58.710 --> 00:30:03.549 with some very cool ideas about that we can apply 00:30:03.549 --> 00:30:05.430 to future satellites, you know, like the microwave, 00:30:05.470 --> 00:30:09.190 the digital, various attitude control and thrust. 00:30:09.750 --> 00:30:13.029 And so the golf series gives us gives us an opportunity 00:30:13.029 --> 00:30:15.890 to be able to take these things that they're 00:30:15.890 --> 00:30:17.829 developing. And as a matter of fact, some of 00:30:17.829 --> 00:30:20.410 what were some of the purposes of the golf mission, 00:30:20.670 --> 00:30:22.730 golf team mission were driven by what Ascent 00:30:22.730 --> 00:30:27.279 has created. And test them out in space in a 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:31.140 lower Earth orbit, which is less expensive, so 00:30:31.140 --> 00:30:33.720 to speak, so that we can develop our confidence 00:30:33.720 --> 00:30:36.859 and the capability and the systems to be able 00:30:36.859 --> 00:30:39.140 to put something up into a higher orbit that 00:30:39.140 --> 00:30:41.380 will be reliable. As I said, we want it to stay 00:30:41.380 --> 00:30:44.960 up there as long as we can. So that's all coming 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:47.099 together very well in this sense. We've got a 00:30:47.099 --> 00:30:49.359 lot of people coming up with great ideas. We 00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:51.180 look at the mission opportunities we have, the 00:30:51.180 --> 00:30:54.299 launch opportunities, and we put those together. 00:30:54.519 --> 00:30:58.319 to come up with this opportunity. Golf T won't 00:30:58.319 --> 00:31:01.579 have any, well it will have one experiment on 00:31:01.579 --> 00:31:03.859 it from Vanderbilt University, a radiation experiment, 00:31:03.980 --> 00:31:06.680 which is similar to what was carried by Fox 1A, 00:31:06.740 --> 00:31:12.099 AO -85, and Fox 1B, AO -91. The Golf 1, which 00:31:12.099 --> 00:31:14.119 will be the first official series after we do 00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:17.880 the rapid deployment and development, will carry 00:31:17.880 --> 00:31:21.059 an experiment with a camera, so that'll be another 00:31:21.059 --> 00:31:24.039 interesting one. And the ability to point the 00:31:24.039 --> 00:31:26.700 satellite aids that quite a bit because then 00:31:26.700 --> 00:31:31.759 we're not just seeing random views when the photo 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:34.140 is taken, if you will, but we can actually look 00:31:34.140 --> 00:31:36.359 for particular areas pointing toward the Earth 00:31:36.359 --> 00:31:39.519 or toward the Moon, what have you. It's going 00:31:39.519 --> 00:31:41.680 to be quite an advance. It's going to be very, 00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:45.180 very neat. And I think it will help us rapidly 00:31:45.180 --> 00:31:48.059 get back to the highly elliptical orbit. The 00:31:48.059 --> 00:31:50.099 higher you go, the more expensive it is. So one 00:31:50.099 --> 00:31:53.460 of the things that's that's an obstacle for getting 00:31:53.460 --> 00:31:56.480 to higher amateur radio satellite orbits has 00:31:56.480 --> 00:32:00.640 become pretty, pretty pricey. To put our 1U Fox 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:03.660 satellites up into low Earth orbit, which is 00:32:03.660 --> 00:32:06.779 around 500, 600 kilometers, it costs approximately 00:32:06.779 --> 00:32:09.920 $125 ,000. That's manufacturer's suggested retail 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:13.200 price, if you will, on a launch. But then if 00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:16.019 you triple that into a 3U, you're talking about 00:32:16.019 --> 00:32:23.819 $300 ,000. as you go up with a 3u to a geo transfer 00:32:23.819 --> 00:32:27.160 orbit or gto which is basically a highly elliptical 00:32:27.160 --> 00:32:29.779 at the equator you're talking about nine hundred 00:32:29.779 --> 00:32:33.740 thousand dollars for a 3u satellite so it costs 00:32:33.740 --> 00:32:35.519 a lot of money to get there and especially when 00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:38.119 we do go for that launch we want to make sure 00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:40.160 we have something that isn't going to be a nine 00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:44.039 hundred dollar you know test but we want to have 00:32:44.039 --> 00:32:48.390 some good solid practice and understanding behind 00:32:48.390 --> 00:32:52.089 it. So I expect that over the next five years, 00:32:52.190 --> 00:32:55.029 we will have put up several golf satellites that 00:32:55.029 --> 00:32:58.269 gives us the opportunity to develop these techniques 00:32:58.269 --> 00:33:00.430 and be looking for those launches that'll get 00:33:00.430 --> 00:33:04.589 us even higher. On some exciting stuff coming 00:33:04.589 --> 00:33:11.420 up. I look forward to hearing how How that goes 00:33:11.420 --> 00:33:14.299 with the attitude control and everything that 00:33:14.299 --> 00:33:18.779 that's that's pretty cool So let me give you 00:33:18.779 --> 00:33:23.220 that phone number again. It's 812 -638 -4261. 00:33:23.240 --> 00:33:27.420 It spells out 812 -NET -HAM -1. If you have a 00:33:27.420 --> 00:33:30.640 question for Jerry or you can tweet us, now's 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:33.180 the time to do that. We have a few minutes remaining 00:33:33.180 --> 00:33:36.640 in the show. So if you have something that you 00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:43.440 want to ask, like Tom Crowe here in 5TTI, he 00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:45.960 wants to know, were there any major adjustments 00:33:45.960 --> 00:33:51.990 made? Fox 1A and 1D. The reason he asks is because 00:33:51.990 --> 00:33:57.809 1B seems to be much easier to work than 1A. And 00:33:57.809 --> 00:34:02.430 that's right on. There weren't any design adjustments 00:34:02.430 --> 00:34:07.190 made per se. Fox 1A, the first one up, AO -85, 00:34:08.349 --> 00:34:10.949 it is hard of hearing. In other words, it's not 00:34:10.949 --> 00:34:14.320 as sensitive as we had planned, nor as we would 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:16.840 like to see. The Fox One series was designed 00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:20.159 to be able to be worked with a five watt handheld 00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:22.800 radio and a handheld antenna like an Aero or 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:26.619 an Elk antenna. And AO85 is on the edge of that. 00:34:27.699 --> 00:34:32.760 The problem is that in putting it together when 00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:35.019 we had the flight model together, the antenna 00:34:35.019 --> 00:34:38.539 is soldered onto the solar panel. The antenna 00:34:38.539 --> 00:34:42.769 is a whip made of nitinol wire. So what turned 00:34:42.769 --> 00:34:45.409 out is that the solder basically cocooned around 00:34:45.409 --> 00:34:47.769 the antenna. And we, of course, didn't know that 00:34:47.769 --> 00:34:51.070 until it just came out of the solder, you know, 00:34:51.329 --> 00:34:54.030 like maybe two weeks or so before we were due 00:34:54.030 --> 00:34:56.210 to go to environmental testing and hand it over. 00:34:56.829 --> 00:34:59.849 So at that time, looking at what our options 00:34:59.849 --> 00:35:01.369 were with it, one thing you don't want to do 00:35:01.369 --> 00:35:03.250 is take a satellite apart because then you have 00:35:03.250 --> 00:35:05.269 to retest everything that you've done up to that 00:35:05.269 --> 00:35:09.570 point. It was Opted that it had been tested before 00:35:09.570 --> 00:35:12.190 on earth that if we use this conductive epoxy 00:35:12.190 --> 00:35:15.690 To hold it on but that should satisfy the need 00:35:15.690 --> 00:35:17.710 of getting it on there quickly and the least 00:35:17.710 --> 00:35:21.409 intrusive way of doing it so we did do that and 00:35:21.409 --> 00:35:24.550 We also added some regular epoxy over that just 00:35:24.550 --> 00:35:28.269 for strength It turns out that in in doing that 00:35:28.269 --> 00:35:30.750 some of the epoxy apparently overlapped some 00:35:30.750 --> 00:35:32.210 of the traces You know, it was just a little 00:35:32.210 --> 00:35:34.090 bit outside of where the solder would have gone 00:35:34.090 --> 00:35:37.710 on the circuit board traces and it wound up detuning 00:35:37.710 --> 00:35:40.329 the antenna. And that was our determination once 00:35:40.329 --> 00:35:44.170 it got to orbit that that was the reason that 00:35:44.170 --> 00:35:47.630 Fox 1A is hard of hearing. So with the subsequent 00:35:47.630 --> 00:35:49.650 Fox satellites, especially since the solder didn't 00:35:49.650 --> 00:35:52.210 hold, we came up with a new technique for soldering 00:35:52.210 --> 00:35:54.730 the antennas. So that was the design change, 00:35:55.070 --> 00:35:59.210 if you want to call it that. And Fox 1B, C, D, 00:35:59.769 --> 00:36:02.730 and E will all have that new change. Fox 1B or 00:36:02.730 --> 00:36:06.679 AO -91 proved that the new technique works and 00:36:06.679 --> 00:36:12.960 that the cause for AO85's hearing problems is 00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:16.699 the antenna. So we corrected that. FOX1D seems 00:36:16.699 --> 00:36:19.800 to also demonstrate that it's very sensitive, 00:36:19.800 --> 00:36:22.699 you know, with the HT and a whip type of contact. 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:28.079 And that's what happened there. Okay. Good answer 00:36:28.079 --> 00:36:31.159 there. And Tom, thanks for tweeting into us and 00:36:31.159 --> 00:36:36.429 asking that. Got a few other comments here Robert 00:36:36.429 --> 00:36:39.309 ke4al says if you're stuck at work, nothing beats 00:36:39.309 --> 00:36:44.110 listening to Jerry great info and updates and 00:36:44.110 --> 00:36:49.730 and Jeff we4b says good show so far so thank 00:36:49.730 --> 00:36:51.849 you Jeff and thank you Robert for listening. 00:36:52.050 --> 00:36:56.349 We appreciate that and And Robert Fitzpatrick 00:36:56.349 --> 00:36:59.489 will see what we can do about the satellite cops. 00:37:00.190 --> 00:37:03.869 I don't know if we can get any of those launched 00:37:03.869 --> 00:37:11.489 or not. But Jerry, this is kind of a crazy thing, 00:37:11.489 --> 00:37:14.730 but I'm going to say it anyway because sometimes 00:37:14.730 --> 00:37:19.369 I just say things that come to mind. One of the 00:37:19.369 --> 00:37:23.389 things that I've always joked about, and I'm... 00:37:23.340 --> 00:37:25.500 I have a chemistry degree, I teach chemistry, 00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:29.639 so I'm always interested in the science experiments 00:37:29.639 --> 00:37:33.920 that go up as well as the ham radio. And so one 00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:36.159 of the things that we always have joked about 00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:39.460 over the years was wouldn't it be nice to do 00:37:39.460 --> 00:37:48.539 a radiation study at the Dayton Hamvention and 00:37:48.539 --> 00:37:54.639 just see how much radiation being produced by 00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:59.460 all of those hams all in one place. So you were 00:37:59.460 --> 00:38:02.760 talking about the golf satellite and doing some 00:38:02.760 --> 00:38:06.079 radiation studies and being able to maneuver 00:38:06.079 --> 00:38:09.360 and point the cameras and point everything in 00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:12.119 the direction. So let me throw this out there 00:38:12.119 --> 00:38:17.539 for the team and say can we do a study on the 00:38:18.789 --> 00:38:21.050 electromagnetic radiation coming out of Dayton 00:38:21.050 --> 00:38:26.150 in May? You know that's an interesting thought 00:38:26.150 --> 00:38:29.650 there that you know everybody does an RF exposure 00:38:29.650 --> 00:38:32.869 study or at least considers it. I wonder if they 00:38:32.869 --> 00:38:34.489 take into account what happens when you get a 00:38:34.489 --> 00:38:36.710 whole bunch of hams together. Do you need a massive 00:38:36.710 --> 00:38:40.989 one? The radiation that I referred to of course 00:38:40.989 --> 00:38:45.590 is Your high -energy particles type of stuff 00:38:45.590 --> 00:38:47.409 because in space one of the things that we deal 00:38:47.409 --> 00:38:49.070 with is you've got these high -energy particles 00:38:49.070 --> 00:38:51.489 either trapped in the Van Allen belts and the 00:38:51.489 --> 00:38:53.690 radiation belts around the earth or cosmic rays 00:38:53.690 --> 00:38:57.070 or or Particles coming from the Sun and those 00:38:57.070 --> 00:39:00.389 are heck on electronics. Of course, you can buy 00:39:00.389 --> 00:39:02.389 radiation hardened components, but they're really 00:39:02.389 --> 00:39:07.309 expensive. I mean a $1 or less Typical commercial 00:39:07.309 --> 00:39:10.250 off -the -shelf chip can could cost like for 00:39:10.250 --> 00:39:12.909 example $400 for a radiation hardened version 00:39:12.909 --> 00:39:15.349 And those are slightly made up numbers, so don't 00:39:15.349 --> 00:39:19.489 call me in on that. That's one of the things 00:39:19.489 --> 00:39:22.250 that we're working with. And part of the design 00:39:22.250 --> 00:39:23.969 that we talked about at the beginning is finding 00:39:23.969 --> 00:39:26.309 parts that can withstand the radiation. Sea moss 00:39:26.309 --> 00:39:29.309 is something we generally tend to avoid because 00:39:29.309 --> 00:39:32.269 it can latch up. It's called a single event latch 00:39:32.269 --> 00:39:34.809 up. And what happens is a particle gets into 00:39:34.809 --> 00:39:36.489 the substrata there and it essentially turns 00:39:36.489 --> 00:39:38.650 it on and leaves it stuck that way, creating 00:39:38.650 --> 00:39:41.309 a short, and you wind up with a high current 00:39:41.309 --> 00:39:45.010 flow. But the Vanderbilt University experiments 00:39:45.010 --> 00:39:47.610 that they're flying, they actually put commercial 00:39:47.610 --> 00:39:50.949 off -the -shelf parts such as memory on a board, 00:39:50.969 --> 00:39:53.090 and they fly it up there and they look at the 00:39:53.090 --> 00:39:55.570 amount of radiation exposure it's getting by 00:39:55.570 --> 00:39:58.469 loading a pattern into the memory, if you will, 00:39:58.489 --> 00:40:00.489 ones and zeros, and then watching it change over 00:40:00.489 --> 00:40:04.730 time as low energy. Protons hit it and flip the 00:40:04.730 --> 00:40:08.969 bits and that helps everybody in looking at the 00:40:08.969 --> 00:40:13.269 opportunity for lowering cost by being able to 00:40:13.269 --> 00:40:16.769 Characterize and and select commercial off -the 00:40:16.769 --> 00:40:20.130 -shelf components that'll work as far as RF radiation 00:40:20.130 --> 00:40:22.230 electromagnetic that we're used to dealing with 00:40:22.230 --> 00:40:26.849 as hams the Fox one series gives us an opportunity 00:40:26.849 --> 00:40:29.650 to do some mapping of the earth. I mean, excuse 00:40:29.650 --> 00:40:33.469 me. I'm at the golf and by being able to point, 00:40:33.750 --> 00:40:36.550 we have considered that, you know, looking at 00:40:36.550 --> 00:40:40.369 Earth in various wavelengths as we orbit and 00:40:40.369 --> 00:40:42.829 seeing just generally a signal level, you know, 00:40:42.849 --> 00:40:46.070 as you as you pass over various countries or 00:40:46.070 --> 00:40:48.929 the oceans or what have you. Something like this 00:40:48.929 --> 00:40:53.469 was done with AO 51. And they have they actually 00:40:53.469 --> 00:40:55.849 did some mapping like that to look at what goes 00:40:55.849 --> 00:40:57.809 on on the frequencies that they have, which was 00:40:57.809 --> 00:41:02.119 two meters, 70 centimeters and Yeah, there was 00:41:02.119 --> 00:41:05.360 a receiver on 1 .2 gigahertz the L band So that 00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:07.599 had been done before and we're considering looking 00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:09.699 at the idea of continuing it especially into 00:41:09.699 --> 00:41:12.119 the microwave There's an interesting thought 00:41:12.119 --> 00:41:13.699 because that's where we're gonna want to go. 00:41:13.800 --> 00:41:17.940 So you don't want to be picking up Taxis on microwave 00:41:17.940 --> 00:41:21.500 with our future satellites or something Which 00:41:21.500 --> 00:41:23.260 has happened, you know that two meter band gets 00:41:23.260 --> 00:41:27.719 to be used around the world a lot by non -hams 00:41:27.719 --> 00:41:32.340 Well So maybe I wasn't too far off then. You 00:41:32.340 --> 00:41:34.800 got it. Now, now focusing on Dayton. I don't 00:41:34.800 --> 00:41:36.500 know if we got that resolution yet, but I'll 00:41:36.500 --> 00:41:38.980 tell you what, I'd be able to get a picture. 00:41:39.159 --> 00:41:42.820 How's that? There we go. Now that, that would 00:41:42.820 --> 00:41:46.360 be a picture of a picture of a hamvention from 00:41:46.360 --> 00:41:50.420 outer space. There we go. Hey, we got a tweet 00:41:50.420 --> 00:41:53.960 in, but we are down to about a minute here. And 00:41:53.960 --> 00:41:58.760 before we sign off, sorry, I got to ignore the 00:41:58.760 --> 00:42:02.760 tweet there that came in. But if someone is interested 00:42:02.760 --> 00:42:06.059 in helping out in some way, whether it be building 00:42:06.059 --> 00:42:10.619 or donating to the cause at AMSAT, how do they 00:42:10.619 --> 00:42:17.239 do that? Everybody's welcome. First of all, the 00:42:17.230 --> 00:42:19.769 The way to do that is go to the AMSAT website, 00:42:20.110 --> 00:42:25.690 www .amsat. That's Alpha Mike Sierra Alpha Tango 00:42:25.690 --> 00:42:30.349 .org. And there is a link in the menu bar to 00:42:30.349 --> 00:42:34.750 how to help AMSAT. And volunteers are something 00:42:34.750 --> 00:42:37.030 that we need a lot of because everything that's 00:42:37.030 --> 00:42:39.469 done here is done by people that are just doing 00:42:39.469 --> 00:42:42.420 this for fun, essentially. One, engineering, 00:42:42.559 --> 00:42:43.880 we can always use volunteers because there's 00:42:43.880 --> 00:42:46.159 a lot of work to be done and of course it cuts 00:42:46.159 --> 00:42:49.139 the risk of a mission by being able to have more 00:42:49.139 --> 00:42:51.179 than one volunteer working on something because 00:42:51.179 --> 00:42:53.840 real life often interrupts what we do in our 00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:57.860 hobby, as you well know. If you can't volunteer 00:42:57.860 --> 00:43:02.420 time, then money, if you will, there's more than 00:43:02.420 --> 00:43:04.340 engineering. Check the website, there's a lot 00:43:04.340 --> 00:43:06.699 of other things you can do to help, but also 00:43:06.699 --> 00:43:10.300 money is useful. because that helps to pay for 00:43:10.300 --> 00:43:12.880 these launches. They're getting expensive and 00:43:12.880 --> 00:43:15.280 building the satellites, so anything you can 00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:18.380 do. If you can send in five bucks a week instead 00:43:18.380 --> 00:43:21.099 of buying a fancy coffee, that makes a big difference. 00:43:21.199 --> 00:43:24.280 I mean, over a year, you've bought one of the 00:43:24.280 --> 00:43:28.130 systems on a Fox One satellite. Okay, well there 00:43:28.130 --> 00:43:32.730 you go and Amsat org and the tweet here is from 00:43:32.730 --> 00:43:37.429 Don KB to YSI and he says give Jerry and all 00:43:37.429 --> 00:43:40.570 of hams had a huge Thank you for the most fun. 00:43:40.570 --> 00:43:44.190 He's had in the last 15 years of ham radio. He 00:43:44.190 --> 00:43:48.090 started working the birds after Dayton Last year 00:43:48.090 --> 00:43:50.929 and enjoys the challenges. So we're gonna have 00:43:50.929 --> 00:43:53.309 to end it there. But Jerry, thank you so much 00:43:53.309 --> 00:43:57.130 for coming on and well We may be talking to you 00:43:57.130 --> 00:44:00.210 again soon. Thank you again. Have a good night. 00:44:00.489 --> 00:44:03.050 All right. That's a wrap for this week's HamTalk 00:44:03.050 --> 00:44:06.090 Live. Thanks to Jerry and everybody for listening. 00:44:06.110 --> 00:44:09.050 Next week, Rob Sherwood, NC0B is going to be 00:44:09.050 --> 00:44:12.190 with us. We're going to look at the ICOM 7610 00:44:12.190 --> 00:44:14.670 numbers that he got a hold of. For a list of 00:44:14.670 --> 00:44:17.329 all of our upcoming guests, visit HamTalkLive 00:44:17.329 --> 00:44:21.210 .com. For now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying 00:44:21.210 --> 00:44:24.989 seven three, seven five, and may the good DX. 00:44:25.309 --> 00:44:26.230 Be yours!