YOU can become part of the AMSAT ECHO Satellite Team!!!
Contact Mr. Richard Raitt of AMSAT...
Now is your chance to work on a project that will develop some great experiences and skills,
and provide you with lots to talk about at that next job interview or QSO (contact).
We hope to work with other schools and University amateur clubs in the North Texas area, along
with other engineers and other corporately sponsored amateur radio clubs too.
Learn more about the
Echo Satellite Project (powerpoint slides) and
New LEO Satellite - OSCAR ECHO (pdf). Bob Monaghan (W5VC) has some materials from the 20th
Annual AMSAT conference held in Ft. Worth in early November 2002.
Our goal is to
convert and update some existing C code resources, and develop some of the software modules needed for
these AMSAT projects. If you are
interested in learning more about this program and participating in it, please contact
Mr. Richard Raitt of AMSAT, the Amateur Satellite
corporation!
"Ham radio has proven to be the only reliable communications options
during the recovery effort," said Public Information Officer Tim Lewallen,
KD5ING, of the Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club. "The communications systems
used by other federal and state organizations cannot penetrate 'The Pine
Curtain' as we know it in East Texas," he said. He said even local
authorities were having problems with their radio gear.
Lewallen says federal authorities have requested that every survey team
have at least one Amateur Radio operator along to help keep the recovery
efforts coordinated and organized.
We received and passed on various shuttle
bulletins relating to the call for volunteers in this program. Our
thanks and regards go out to all our brethren who assisted in this
important recovery program!
Sidewalk Sales - Feb. 1 and Feb. 15:
Bob Monaghan reported being awoken by the sound of the Shuttle sonic boom
near SMU, then learning of the disaster upon arriving at the First Saturday sidewalk sale just after 8:30
a.m. As you might imagine, the mood was very somber among so many amateur
radio operators, especially knowing that a number of the astronauts were
also amateur radio operators...
The Third saturday sidewalk sale was well timed, as it preceded our SMU
radio club antenna party (see below). Thanks to our sidewalk sale friends,
we
were able to pick up some more very low cost tools (such as tape measures)
which would be handy with future projects. Another "find" was a connectix
webcam, which Bob Monaghan donated to the amateur radio club.
SMU's Visioneering Program
The highlight of the visioneering program was probably the landing of the
careflight helicopter just south of the fountain in front of Dallas hall.
This program was a great success in promoting engineering as a possible
career to many scores of middle school students who gave up their saturday
to participate in these events. Congratulations to the SMU School of
Engineering and especially Dean Stephen Szygenda and his staff for this
important event. Naturally, the SMU amateur radio club believes that the
American Radio Relay League's "Big Project", aimed at recruiting young
students in elementary and middle school into amateur radio is a closely
related program, with a similar audience and goal promoting technology and
engineering education. We look forward to working with these programs and
promoting amateur radio in education in the future too!
Before this weekend, we were limited to using just the HF shortwave rig
on our temporary 40m inverted vee dipole and 20m-15m-10m on our triband
beam (using the recently recabled rotator control).
Now we have added 80m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, and 10m using the
refurbished G5RV dipole with the loaner antenna transmatch (thanks to Joe
Rodgers!). This antenna fills in the holes in our HF shortwave coverage,
including covering the WARC bands.
We have restored the IC2GAT to use, thanks to building replacement
battery chargers (they're an amazing $50+) and power supply for it.
Thanks to the newly built BNC adapter cable, we can use this 2 meter
VHF FM voice synthesizer transceiver on our 2m/450mhz vertical antenna
(also recabled this weekend). Ultimate plans for this rig are to work
with the IC-PS30 (power supply) as a 7 watt VHF packet radio link with
the Kamtronics plus digital packet modem/TNC.
We have also setup the high gain 12 element 2 meter beam for interim
testing with the Yaesu FT736R. Plans are to mount this antenna, along
with building and mounting the 450mhz beam antenna, on a refurbished
ham rotator. A new or used tower mount will be needed, as the existing
tower mount will be needed for the dual X-Y rotator satellite antenna
under construction.
Although we are still holding on a microphone for the FT736R, we have
gotten the manual for the FT736R (finally!). Now we can use this radio
on 6m (with our 6m beam antenna above the triband antenna on the high
tower) - at least, with CW. Similarly, we can use the FT736R on both
2m and 450Mhz with the dual band vertical antenna, again on CW. As soon as
a microphone is acquired, this rig will be fully usable on FM voice and
single sideband voice too.
We also have the info needed to begin conversion of our Paccomm PSK-1T
digital modem to use it with the FT736R. This future project will enable
us to do FM voice, SSB voice, CW (code), plus digital packet modes
(including AMTOR, RTTY...) on VHF/UHF. Some additional connectors and
software will be needed to complete this digital station upgrade, but we
have the expensive digital modem hardware in hand (again, thanks to Joe
Rodgers on this project!).
Future projects will include setting up the digital packet stations on
both the FT736R (using the Paccomm PSK-1T modem/TNC) and the Icom IC-781
HF rig using the Kamtronics plus modem/TNC. The Kam plus modem can also
work with a second VHF transceiver. Our current plans are to dedicate the
IC2GAT to this task, along with the ICPS30 power supply, to provide a 7
watt 2 meter digital packet station.
Contact us if you would like to make a tax deductible donation of equipment or funds
to help support any of these needs and programs!
Budget Related Events Jan 28th, Feb. 3rd, Feb. 4th, Feb. 7th, Feb.
17th..
Special thanks to Chaitanya Dabke (our current treasurer) and Bob Monaghan
(past treasurer) for collaborating on our budget related requests to the
SMU Student Senate. We refiled our officers and authorized signature forms
on Feb. 3rd for this semester, a new requirement for maintaining
authorized club status (thanks to Dr. Gosney for responding quickly to
this request).
In concert with Tony Klinkert (past president and past treasurer and
author of the 2002 budget), with suggestions from our officers club
meeting (on Jan. 28th) on the budget, we prepared a budget proposal for activities
funding. Our requested funding is a total just over $1,500.
We should know on March 18th how much SMU Student senate funding we
receive for next year.
This SMU Student Senate appropriations committee budget
does not include any funding for long term equipment purchases, which has
to be requested from a separate capital equipment account. Unfortunately,
the capital equipment account is only $10,000 or so (from interest on
student senate funds in SMU's bank accounts). All 100+ clubs and groups on
the SMU campus have only this limited source to look to for any equipment
related purchases. So funding for major items like multi-thousand dollar
transmitters and items of equipment is unlikely from this limited source.
Among the funds requested were monies for a major speaker each semester,
materials for training including a General class license video course
($150) from ARRL, affiliated club dues with ARRL, funds for 2 officers to
attend the DFW national ARRL convention on 20-23rd of June 2003, monies
for promotional signs, posters, ARRL brochures, 1000 QSL cards and some
postage, and funds for participating in the annual Field Day in late june
with a mountain-topping expedition.
Thanks to Dick Raitt and others, this year we raised over $500 in
donations, substantially more than we received from the SMU Student Senate
for club operations ($356). We have only modest funds left for a single
speaker honorarium and visit (hotel room..) and promotional posters.
Our remaining $909 of club generated funds from sale of used equipment
from our old station gear (mainly to buy the new FT736R satellite rig) is
allocated to the cost of a dual rotator X-Y satellite antenna on 2 meters,
450 Mhz, and 1.2 Gig. The latter microwave band is largely being made
possible by the generous donation from Mr. Dick Raitt, AMSAT's coordinator
for North Texas. Thanks!!
If there are any funds leftover from this installation, they will be used
for software, connectors, and resources to put our digital packet modems
into operation this semester. We should end up with a very respectable HF
and VHF/UHF station and with matching antennas. We will have HF and VHF
packet digital communications capability. We will have ATV receiving only
capability (see transmitter budget request below). Finally, we will have
an x-y antenna dual rotator setup for satellite operations, including
not just 2 meters and 450 Mhz but also a microwave band satellite
downconverter for receiving Oscar AO40 satellite microwave signals (thanks
to Dick Raitt on this donation!).
We are putting in a capital budget request on February 17th for $740 to
purchase a 1.2 gigahertz 75 milliwatt (that's 0.075 watts!) ATV video
transmitter (of AB5IG style), a 2 watt ATV 1.2 gigahertz amplifier, a 35
element 1.2 gigahertz antenna, and a color TV camera and VHS
recorder/monitor for ATV work. Thanks to generous past donations of ATV
receiving equipment from Lee Rhoden (AB5IG), Rick Albury, Bill Hughes, and
others, we have amateur television receiving capability. Our
capital budget request would give us the funds to acquire a basic
amateur television 1.2 gigahertz transmitting facility.
Our plans are that in addition to doing ATV work, we might also be able to
use the 1.2 gigahertz antenna with a 1.2 gigahertz module on the FT736R
for weak signal SSB/CW and perhaps FM work. This option would require an
additional antenna rotator, but a relatively modest unit might be usable.
This approach would allow our high gain ATV 1.2 gigahertz antenna to do
double duty on both ATV and SSB/CW/FM on this microwave band.
Congratulations to Shomik Pathak on successfully achieving his amateur
radio technician license on January 11th, using a variety of resources
including our Technician Video Course at CMIT.
Marconi 100th Anniversary Special Event Station KM1CC:
Congratulations also go to Bob Monaghan, W5VC, for working the special
event station KM1CC (for Marconi station, Cape Cod) for W5YF. It was 100
years ago that G. Marconi made the first transatlantic radio transmission,
a message from President Theodore Roosevelt to the King of England.
On January 15, 2003, Princess Marconi visited the Cape Cod National
Seashore club site, coming from Italy to commemorate her father's
achievement. By way of contrast, one of the groups she talked to were the
astronauts aboard the ISS space station, showing how much can change in a
mere hundred years. President Bush issued a presidential proclamation
honoring the event.
Our contacts with KM1CC were on both voice and code on 21 Mhz and 28 Mhz
bands, using our tri-band beam. Despite running only 75 watts, our signals
were 5x9 and 599 into Cape Cod. Their signal was considerably stronger,
reflecting not just more power, but also their excellent site surrounded
by highly reflective salt water! As of Thursday, the KM1CC station was
well past 8,000 QSOs and hoping to pass 10,000 contacts for their week
long efforts.
Third Saturday Sidewalk Sale:
The Third Saturday sidewalk sale in
January 2003 was modest, but then so was the First Saturday sale due to
the cold weather. Sidewalk sale may be a misnomer too; the event takes
place starting around 8 a.m. under the highway overpass by Dallas' West
End. My impression is that splitting the sale into two events per month
has only split the number of dealers. Lighting under the highway is rather
dark, despite some lighting in the parking lot. The obvious big plus is
that the area is protected from rain and bad weather, without the need to
setup tents or rain gear. Still, there are some benefits to being able to
restock on items like cables, computer gear, and CDROMs in mid-month,
without having to wait a month. And with fewer buyers, you may be able to
find more bargains!
SMU Career Fair January 29th:
The SMU Career Fair proved to have few surprises, though this was probably
the smallest such SMU career fair that anyone could remember. Among the
major engineering and technology companies, only Raytheon and Lockheed
Martin were at the fair. A number of companies were taking resumes, but
said they didn't expect to have any positions until the uncertainties
over the pending war in Iraq were resolved and hiring started up again.
In response to VP Lance's query on packet radio station status, we reviewed the potential for digital operations with
the PacComm PSK-1T for digital satellite operations with the Yaesu FT736R. On the shortwave bands, the Kamtronics Plus
TNC with the ICOM IC-781 can be used for RTTY, AMTOR-G, WEFAX, and computerized morse code operations. In addition,
the Kamtronics Plus has a second VHF packet radio port, into which we are considering using a modified IC2GAT (with its 7 watt
output going to a 2m vertical antenna). This setup would use the internal 128/512kb mailbox of the Kamtronics plus as
a packet receiver for W5YF, which could be left on 24 hours a day.
Messages could be read and/or relayed with this VHF packet radio setup,
including emergency traffic. With the right software, we could also setup a digipeater operation, basically a store
and forward packet mailing system using amateur radio frequencies. We have a 25 watt 2 meter amplifier (for the TR-22)
which might be used for this project if more power is needed locally. This packet station setup would also not tie up
our main VHF/UHF station for packet operations.
The challenge with using a straight key is that many of us haven't used one since the last straight key night.
So that makes us quite rusty at hand keying. Now add in a bit of celebrating and New Year's "Cheer", and sending good code
with a straight key can be a fun challenge. Stations send "CQ SKN" in morse code, indicating they are participating in the event.
Participants can tell you aren't using a computerized or electronic keyer, as the morse code has less than perfect
spacing or timing - a sure sign a human is sending it.
You can send in logs of contacts, but this isn't a regular contest where making lots of contacts is important.
The focus is on having fun, revitalizing an old skill of hand keying, and bringing in the New Year in a different
way.
In our case, W5YF was able to work a number of stations on Straight Key Night, and received some very good signal
reports on the new inverted "Vee" 40 meter dipole, up to 599 (the maximum strong signal report using morse code).
Unfortunately, 40 meters also experienced a lot of QSB - rapid fading, due to a solar coronal storm which injected
xrays into Earth's ionosphere (per ARRL PFB propagation forecast bulletins). Oddly, the solar flux and sunspot numbers
are lower now, some 2 years into the new sunspot cycle, than at the official minimums. So these are challenging
conditions on HF/shortwave bands, but Straight Key Night remains interesting and fun!
We also already have several requests to provide a morse code course early in Spring 2003 semester so these
newly licensed Technicians can upgrade and get their general class and amateur extra licenses. Towards this
end, we have Chaitanya testing out the ARRL Code Course CDROMs recently donated by Dr. Gosney. Special thanks
to Joe Rodgers for donating a whole series of code practice tapes and materials, including in particular the
Gordon West Radio School tape from 3 to 15 wpm. Thanks!! We are also downloading code practice software for
use with our W5YF station PC and audio card for "perfect" code practice sessions.
Stay tuned for another Technician no-code licensing class in early Spring 2003 semester, followed by a morse
code class and Q&A sessions for higher licenses. Chaitanya Dabke has already downloaded and powerpoint formatted
the text questions and answers for the General Class and Amateur Extra Class licenses. So we know what his goals
for next semester are! Good luck to one and all...
Mr. Raitt delivered a most interesting review of the amateur satellite program of
AMSAT, using a multimedia presentation which included soundclips and imagery from
various satellites and projects. Following an extended Q&A session, we adjourned to
the top of a nearby parking garage (4 stories up!) for the demo of satellite operations.
A simple handheld beam antenna with dual 2m and 450 Mhz antennas and duplexer were connected
to a handheld radio. A number of contacts were made, and many stations as far away as
Belgium were heard on the satellite. The handheld transceiver used only one (1) watt to
contact the other stations via the satellite. Probably the most impressive aspect of the
demo to most of us was that the satellite is only using about one watt in its transmitter,
but covering a substantial fraction of the earth's surface including most of the continental
United States with that one watt!
This program had a number of positive followup consequences. An enthusiastic group of students
are looking to participate in a software development project
for a telemetry monitoring system. Thanks to a generous donation,
plans are underway for a rapid expansion of our new VHF/UHF
satellite transceiver to work into the 1.2 Gigahertz up/ 2.4 Gigahertz downlink modes (e.g., on AO40).
Joe Rodgers is working on adding satellite digital packet (TNC/PSK-1T) capability to open up
digital satellite operations with the new VHF/UHF station too. As soon as repairs on rotators are completed,
we hope to install the X-Y dual rotator satellite antenna system on a sturdy roof mounting system. Amazing as
it seems, the SMU amateur radio club will shortly find itself with a fully fleshed out satellite communications
installation. So our special thanks to Mr. Richard Raitt for helping to make this possible by his volunteer work
and efforts in our behalf!....
One interesting aspect is that a number of the fathers of incoming students were quite interested in amateur
radio, having wanted to participate in ham radio since they were kids. Several of the students cited their dads
and other family members as being licensed amateurs who pushed them towards a technical interest in science and
engineering. No doubt this is one of the reasons these kids are now going into engineering school, yes?
The program featured a mix of recent engineering school graduates and some entrepreneurs in high technology
areas (e.g., nano-technology) describing how they got to do what they are doing, and what they do as part of
teams at Texas Instruments and other local employers. As one of the faculty coordinators noted, you can always
go on to business school and have an easy time of it after surviving engineering math coursework!
| Inventor of IC "chip", Nobel Prize Winner Jack S. Kilby Credits Amateur Radio for Start |
|---|
| My father worked with amateur radio operators to communicate with areas where customers had lost their power and phone service. My dad's goal was to do whatever it took to run his business and to help people, but I thought that amateur radio was a fascinating subject. It sparked my interest in electronics, and that's when I decided that this field was something I wanted to pursue.... from Nobel Prize Site Biography |
Thanks to Tony, SMU amateur radio club members were offered the opportunity to attend a luncheon
sponsored by Thompson & Knight, L.L.P. at the Radisson Hotel featuring Dr. Jack St. Claire Kilby.
Dr. Kilby is best known as one of the most important electronics inventors in the last century,
for which efforts he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 A.D. Shortly after joining Texas
Instruments in Dallas in 1958, Dr. Kilby invented the "IC" or integrated circuit chip. He led teams
that built the first computers using ICs, coinvented the handheld calculator and the thermal printer
(i.e., the IR LEDs), and many other technologies for which he received over 60 patents. Dr. Kilby
also was awarded the National Medal of Science, the IEEE Medal of Honor, the
Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology and the National Medal of Technology for his groundbreaking work.
Dr. Kilby also founded the Kilby Foundation.
The Kilby foundation recognizes a wide variety of scientific and cultural achievements with a series of
awards to outstanding innovators. One series of awards focused on newly emergent talents in science
and technology. These past Kilby foundation programs have enriched the SMU community by bringing these people to Dallas and SMU.
I have been told that Dr. Kilby
visited SMU and the W5YF station during various past visits to Caruth Engineering Bldg on our SMU campus.
Curiously enough, the Kilby Foundation offices at SMU were housed in a basement office at CMIT that
was previously used by past SMU amateur radio club president Robert Monaghan.
It's a small world!
In addition, we
secured extra lock-able storage facilities in the roof access area, which promptly became
full with all the cabling and materials taken from the old radio station room. We were
amazed that all the stuff crammed into the old small room now fills our five section storage
cabinet and two tall bookcases. Thanks to Dr. Gosney, we were able to secure some surplus
SMU furniture. Lance Fisher, Bob Monaghan, and Tony Klinkert found some ideal long sturdy
tables to support our heaviest equipment. Bob Monaghan tested the weight bearing capacity of
the new long station table by standing on it while trimming cables. Meanwhile, Mont O'Leary and
others helped run the various lines of coax from the roof over the ceiling tiles and
neatly down the corner of the new station.
Tony secured an oversize world map, to provide a stunning centerpiece over the main station.
Another map shows antenna directions from the central USA to the rest of the world on a great
circle projection. ICOM contributed some colorful charts with the latest frequency allocation bands,
as well as satellite grid system charts and lists of DX country calls. Thanks!
Past treasurer Robert Monaghan pointed out to the student governance budget officers (treasurer and comptroller)
that the current funding setup goes very strongly against equipment oriented club groups. Only the interest
monies on SMU student group accounts is available for purchasing capital items (~$10,000). Such capital items would include
radio equipment, as one example. The total amount is only $10,000 for the entire campus community requirements,
or roughly $1 per student (versus $500,000 or so for events and other ephemeral programs). Making things worse,
roughly 80% of these capital budget monies are already promised and allocated at the start of the school year for projects like
LCD overhead projectors for Hughes Trigg, lamination machines for SAC, Kurzweil reading machines, and so on. So
in effect, there is a miserly $2,000 or so of actual monies available for capital purchases among all 125+ student
organizations. Some of these monies go to purchase sporting safety equipment and the like. As a result, as one
student budget officer noted last year, "we might be able to allocate enough money for a microphone or something
for the radio club". This bias against allocating funds for equipment dates back to a temporary budget crunch during
lower student enrollments in SMU President Pye's term of office. It was not meant to be a permanent state of affairs.
But now equipment oriented groups like astronomy or radio clubs must generate their own or departmental funding for
operations, while many other clubs such as photography and SCUBA, no longer exist at SMU due to this funding bias.
As a result, the SMU amateur radio club can only survive and expand by generating donations of equipment from
loyal past members and SMU alumni and other community based support, as well as the help of the Engineering school
and particularly of the efforts of the Club's advisor, Prof. Milton Gosney.
Projects including reworking cables and moving cables for better access to our station.
We added a 40m dipole for shortwave and amateur use, running as a inverted Vee off the triband
antenna tower. Several old antennas, including the old multiband vertical antenna, were taken
down. A new antenna tower position for the satellite antenna dual VHF/UHF beam antenna was setup.
Measurements were taken for matching our antenna rotators, off in repairs for some months now,
to the tower mountings. A smaller TV rotator for a future small 2 meter beam antenna (vertical
polarization) was setup and tested.
A number of students led by Chaitanya Dabke and Bob M. had the chance to put together a 15 element 2 meter beam and move it to
the roof. This antenna will be part of our satellite and VHF DX antenna setup, on an alt-az
dual X-Y rotator system. We also have a multi-element beam antenna for 450 Mhz for construction
when the rotators return from repairs and get mounted on our roof-top antenna mounts.
Special thanks to Mont O'Leary (moleary@rockbottomholdings.com) for serving as our DARC contact and
turning out to help and share his knowledge of antenna operations as an Elmer!
Problems with the 40m dipole and 80m longwire and feedline setup were
analysized. We need to get these ladder line antennas off the roof, which often have standing pools of
water after a good rainstorm. Unfortunately, roof access is now restricted, due to security
concerns following 9/11 threats.
Plans are to have another antenna party in early 2003 to setup the az-el dual X-Y antenna
system and rotators, including completing construction of the 450 Mhz beam. New baluns and
aluminum pipe standoffs will be used on the 40m and 80m dipoles. We also hope to be able
to put up a vertical antenna for the new ham bands (30m, 17m..) at some future point, funds permitting.
The subsequent great news was the allocation of a new and expanded W5YF club station room, thanks to the
efforts of Prof. Milton Gosney (club advisor) Tony K. (interim club president) and the generosity and efforts of
our outstanding Engineering School Dean, Prof. Stephen A. Szygenda. Prof. Milton Gosney did the serious efforts
required to get SMU Physical Plant to install a PVC pipe for roof antenna coax access. A number of surplus chairs
and filing cabinets were secured for use in the club station, along with bookcases and a credenza. Lance, Bob and Chaitanya
visited SMU Physical Plant to find the most sturdy long conference table that would fit in the new club room 304.
Working with Dr. Gosney, Tony helped ensure the walls were painted, carpets cleaned professionally, and even got
the new large wall sized National Geographic map of The World for the new station. Neat!!
One of the fun challenges at this program for Tony and Bob was to find ties between a student's
interests and major and amateur radio. For example, if a student was interested in music, then
perhaps they could use knowledge of microphones and audio in making their own recordings. A theology
student might be interested in the potential of a portable radio station when doing missionary work
at a field site remote from telephones or other communications options. A number
of foreign students were also interested in shortwave listening, and the chance to catch the news
from home. But the key point of this outreach is to let incoming students know we have an active
and involved amateur radio club at Southern Methodist University, and we welcome all to participate!
Thanks to Jerry Hill (KH6HU), the Program Coordinator
ARRL Amateur Radio Education & Technology Program , we were able to
put together a powerpoint presentation in August 2002 on the possible synergy and convergence
between these two programs.
So I was understandably interested to see and meet with some of the Dallas area participants in the ARRL Big
Project from DeGolyer middle school at the 20th annual AMSAT national convention in Fort Worth this year.
There were about a dozen of these enthusiastic students at the AMSAT program, many of whom had their amateur
licenses in hand. Congratulations to them and Jerry Hill and the ARRL program on this educational outreach
program's success.
Mr. Hill notes that "A draft of the
Radio Lab Handbook, with curriculum should be ready for field testing in
Sept. this year. After field testing and updating, A final version should
be ready sometime in June 03. The On-Line Sourcebook should be available
about the same time. I am told, the draft curriculum will be available on
the ARRL web site sometime in Sept. this year also, so look for it on the
ARRL web site."