A very relevant test was done from the ISS by crew members Bill McArthur and Valery Tokarev as they began a six-hour spacewalk. A 'SATSUIT' , makeshift satelite made from discarded Russian Cosmonaut Spacesuit, emitted signals in six languages . .
Just wondering if anyone in 9M2 land picked up any signals?
For more info refer to this add:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4685054.stm
This posting is made possible by the contribution of 9W2AXN .
Picture from www. aj3u.com/blog .please visit this site, great recordings.
Thank you to 9W2QC for information on recordings.
de Martsnews.Blogspot
25 comments:
Hello All,
Yes, I, 9W2QC unfortunately from 9W land instead of 9M land received a very faint but audiable signal on the 7th February 2006 at 0105 Hours Malaysian Standard Time from SuitSat.
The recorded message "This is SuitSat-1 Amateur Radio" was clearly audiable from SuitSat durning that pass.
The signals are very very weak, and it really requires good directional antennas and low noise preamp to dig into the signal.
Equipment used was ICOM IC-910H, 10-Element Vertically Polarized Yagi and SSB SP-2000 0.5 NF 20 DB Preamp.
I have this recording available.
Are you able to place it on this site? If this is not possible, I can arrange to host it somewhere.
Thanks a lot and good luck in receiving SuitSat.
73,
Sion Chow Q. C.,
9W2QC.
Hello All,
I have solved the recording problem. The recording is now available at http://www.aj3u.com/blog/. Scroll all the way down until you find "SuitSat Audio from 9W2QC, Malaysia"
There are 2 files here namely part1.mp3 and part2.mp3. If you listen carefully to part2.mp3 starting at 31 seconds length, you will hear a female's voice saying "This is SuitSat-1 Amateur Radio.........." In part1.mp3 there is a male's voice saying something like "6" but its too brief and i am not sure if this is in English.
The voice is deeply buried in the noise and you may need to play it several times especially if you are not used to listen to such weak signals.
Thank You.
73,
Sion Chow Q. C.,
9W2QC.
thnx sion chow, it would be interesting to c the 'gears' that u use to capture signal from the suitsat, also thnx for the recording, it'll give some of us a chance to hear a sample of the tx.
Hi Sion,
It seems that you are very biased towards the 9Ms from your last few postings.
Like 9w2mct said : quote "no old no new, which by the way, if one realises, old or new does not matter ...just as long as one contributes " unquote, which I respects him for all the time and efford he contributed but he still prefers a low profile.
One can only salivate looking at the list of equipments you own even though you are only a 9W. With your skill and education, I guess that you will have no problem mastering the morse code and why dont you go for the 9M licence exam?
Hello 9W2AXN,
Thank you very much for the compliments. You can hear many more recordings there. I guess a VE6 station has the best recording so far.
However, it is a great dissapointment that its signals are very weak.
I will give a full report soon. Currently, I am dedicating all my amateur radio time to receive SuitSat, and process the audio files trying to dig out any possible telemetry.
Good luck.
73,
Sion Chow Q. C.,
9W2QC.
P. S. As of late there are some stations transmitting on SuitSat's downlink. Please refrain from doing so during the pass as your transmission wipes out the very weak signal from SuitSat.
Understandably there may be some of us who are limited by Class 'discrimination'. I can only encourage a well structured and constructed group to put together their thoughts, and data through careful correspondance and collation, before we put the issue of CW, forward to the powers that be. This can be done if we all come under the umbrella that is the guardian of our interest in this country as recognised by the International body.
Until such a time, I can fully understand the fustration, especially those that come from a true Amateur in heart.
Don't let anything slow you down. Sion.
73's 9W2MCT-Tony
Hello Tautan,
I am not trying to be biased towards the 9Ms but instead, I am trying to prove to the 9Ms that 9Ws are not that stupid too. As of late, I have heard many remarks made by 9Ms condeming the 9Ws especially the new license holders. I would not mention the individuals here however. I must say that I am very angered with this kind of remarks, and therefore am going all out to proof that 9Ws are capable of doing things that 9Ms have not done YET.
Yes, I fully agree with 9W2MCT's statement above. But as he said, "as long as one contributes". What are some of those old timers contributing? I don't think passing bad remarks of the new 9Ws are a form of "contribution", agree? I feel really feel very sad and sorry for them. They are new, trying to learn, and yet when they come on the repeater, they get bad remarks.
Tautan, it is important that you understand what I think about the morse code TEST. It is not a problem of whether I can master the morse code or not. For me, I like morse code, but I HATE MORSE CODE TESTING. Read that again "I like morse code, but I HATE MORSE CODE TESTING". Therefore, I will NEVER go for any morse code tests. If anyone wants to sponser my exam fees i will say "Please donate it to the red cross or the tsunami victims." I feel the money given to them will be more worth spent rather than paying for the morse code test.
To me, morse code testing does not tests that the candidate is capable of handling extra power on the HF or microwave bands. The only difference between a 9M and a 9W is that a 9M knows the morse code. They both take the same standard RAE. This is unlike the General and Extra license in the US that has a simpler and more advance RAE respectively.
Before the opening of the 10M, 6M and 70 CM band for the 9Ws license holders, I have always asked those senior 9Ms, why don't open 70 CM for us when none of you are using it? (Do you know the authorities nearly took back the 70 CM band from us, and that is why RKL was installed?) They answered me "why are you so interested in this band? Its not a good band, cant DX far, etc etc... (too much craps that its not worth remembering)" I answered them "Never mind, hard to explain to you. Just open it to me, and I'll show you." Good enough, 3 days after the band was opened, I made contact with Astronaut Mike Fincke on 437.800 uplink (TX)/145.800 downlink (RX).
Another issue was that, one senior 9M mentioned in an RAE class saying that astronauts shut off their radio due to QRM around this region? He also said, that you can forget trying to contact astronauts because they are not interested in this region. One thing I don't understand is that how come I managed 5 QSOs with astronauts if they are not
interested in this region? If astronauts are not interested in this region, will William McArthur (KC5ACR) call me from space (I have recordings of this made by a ham in Thailand)? and will Kenneth from NASA write to me asking me to listen out for William McArthur? To me, this information is very misleading and discourages new 9Ws to explore new things in amateur radio.
I sincerely apologise if I hurt the feeling of anyone. But what I am writing here is just my sincere opinion on ham radio. I love ham radio a lot. I think of it in my sleep, when I am sitting down doing nothing, etc. During my college days, I even skipped a few classes just to see amateur radio satellite launches and to capture telemetry from newly launch satellites. I remembered when doing my final year project, 5 hours before the project was due, I still took off 30 minutes just to receive PCSAT2's telemetry. I enjoy ham radio very much, and therefore I will do everything within my means for the benefit of ham radio. Morse code is just another mode in ham radio. Why should it deserve a special exam? If morse can deserve a special exam, then why not have a special exam to test one ability to speak on the radio?
My sincere apologies once again. Do remember that I am not refering to 9Ms but am only refering to those small groups that condemn the 9Ws. I must admit that THERE
ARE SOME VERY NICE 9Ms out there.
73,
Sion Chow Q. C.,
9W2QC.
Join No-Code International (NCI) for the healthy benefit of amateur radio!!! http://www.no-code.org/
Hi Tony,
Thank you very much for your understanding. I agree with you too that "a well structured and constructed group" should be organized to put all thoughts
together and forward them to the relevant authorities. The problem is that we cannot speak together in one voice whether or not we want to have CW or
abolish it. Some people go to the authorities saying yes and some say no. Who you expect them to listen to? I guess they had listened to those who
supports morse which unfortunately are senior 9Ms, as they are continuing to have morse tests instead of working on the abolishement.
Yes, definately I feel that frustration. I think about it day and night. I think why can't those seniors give us a chance. Are we 9Ws that bad after all? Of course I can simple pass the morse code test and gain a 9M license. But deep down my heart I SINCERELY HATE THIS TEST VERY MUCH!!! I think of all of you, 9Ws. For me, I rather do something to the best of my ability to push for abolishment rather than just going to pass the test and gain a 9M. If I do that, I personally feel that I am very selfish. I want all the younger generations to enjoy the hobby as much as the older generation and explore further then them. Isin't this what amateur radio is all about? I tell all my family and friends, if the authorities wants to revoke my license in order to abolish morse, I will be very pleased to hand in my license to them and with that, I quit amateur radio. Although I would sadly miss amateur radio a lot, I don't mind for the benefit of my younger generations.
I want to make amateur radio in Malaysia known around the world. I have received acknowledgements and thanks/appreciations from the University of Tokyo, NASA, US Naval Academy, the SSETI Express Team for supporting and giving them telemetry from their satellites. I even obtained a T-Shirt from the University of Tokyo for being one of the first few in the world to receive signals from their CubeSat after launch. This certificates and acknowledgement don't mean much to me, as this is my hobby. I am not doing it just to get the certificates/acknowledgement but out of interest and love for radio and satellites. What I am proud that I have achieved is not the certificates but is that I GOT MALAYSIA KNOWN AROUND THE WORLD!!! and that MALAYSIAN AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS are capable of receiving such data. For PCSAT2, SSETI Express, and University of Tokyo's CubeSat XI-V, there was NO DATA from South East Asia OTHER THAN FROM MALAYSIA... YES MALAYSIA... I AM VERY HAPPY TO SHOW THIS TO THE WORLD!!! THIS IS REAL MALAYSIA BOLEH SPIRIT!!!
To those senior members, please please, i beg that you give us 9Ws a chance. Tying down someone just because of CW will not make a person more interested in ham radio. Instead it will make those who have no interest in morse loose interest in ham radio. 2007 is just a too long time to wait, friends. Some experiments in ham radio, for example SuitSat are not long term experiments.
Take SuitSat as an example. Although it is only a short term experiment, I am very happy that it has gained publicity world wide. How often you see amateur
radio issues reported on CNN, BBC and even Al-Jazerra? I myself was very happy when I saw the astronauts deploying the suit. I was feeling like wow, this
is something new, never done before. It shows how innovatives these hams are. This is what people should do to promote amateur radio. Come up with new
interesting and unique ideas never done before. Showing CW to the younger generations will not work, friends. I told my friends (I am only 21), DON'T GET INTO AMATEUR RADIO UNTIL THEY ABOLISH THE MORSE CODE requirement, else you will suffer as much as me. They are interested in high speed >512k data links, Amateur TV and etc. All these are only possible on frequencies > 1 GHz due to bandwidth requirements.
Again I apologise if I have hurt some parties. I like to thank all those who have setup this blog which allowed us to share our views here. I sincerely hope to see morse code testing be abolished ASAP so that we can futher our experimentation. I stand to be corrected and if you would like to comment or contact me for any reason in private, please do so at 9w2qc@9w2qc.net. Thank you very much everyone.
P.S. Moderator, you are feel to delete any of my posts if you find them inappropriate.
P.S. Tony, I will definately not give up or slow down unless my license is revoked. I put all my effort into amateur radio. Now (4.50 AM), and the day before yesterday, I was listening to statics for nearly 45 minutes just to dig out any possible transmissions from SuitSat. Its not an easy task, I suffer a bit, but hey, for amateur radio, its worth every bit of effort man :)
73,
Sion Chow Q. C.,
9W2QC.
QSL, all copied. Sion
We apologise for the need to remove the comments from Anonymous 1.31pm.
It is unwaranted, and the need to acknowledge Gurus, and Sifus or Mentors, is entirely up the the individual. The comments posted was deemed uncalled, and we seek the anonymous blogger to repost, if he intends to.
Further, If Anonymous needs to contact 9W2QC, his email is cearly stated in the comments posted earlier.
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Hi Sion,
No need to prove who stupid or clever, capable or not, condeming others, you hate me, I hate you, ..etc. Maybe you have experienced some bad remark from other ppl or being condemmed at. It is also unfair for you to vent your frustrations on all the bad apples although only a few are rotten.
Sion, I truly understands your feelings about morse code as I am also in the same predicament as you. But as you said, [quote] To me, morse code testing does not tests that the candidate is capable of handling extra power on the HF or microwave bands. The only difference between a 9M and a 9W is that a 9M knows the morse code. They both take the same standard RAE. This is unlike the General and Extra license in the US that has a simpler and more advance RAE respectively.[unquote] BUT by having an advanced RAE exam for Class A will only be worse. WHY? IT WOULD ONLY BE A HOBBY FOR THE EDUCATED! Imagine ah bengs and ah lians having to take college level subjects just to pass the exam. If they can pass, then I would suggest them to take the City&Guilds exam instead which will secure better jobs. What can the Class A Amateur Radio Licence give them? Better jobs? Better Life?? I think only only makes them poorer having to renew their licence annually! Moreover, a Certificate or a Diploma or a Degree...etc certificate does not need annual fees renewal. Therefore, I feel that it is fair to everyone that morse code testing is the requirement for Class A Licence which is still the best transmission mode in Amateur Radio till today. Everyone can embrace and master it just like learning a second language which is adopted and understood worldwide. Better still, I hope MCMC will open up the band and allow 9Ws to utilise it BUT on a lower power like Japan. Anyway 10W is more than enough power for satellite communicatiions.
Like 9w2mct said : quote "no old no new, which by the way, if one realises, old or new does not matter ...just as long as one contributes " unquote. We have clearly seen your contributions in your forum and here and there is no doubt that many will want to learn more from you, including myself. Just because of a badd apple or remark hopefully will not discourage you from enjoying this hobby. Keep up the SION BOLEH SPIRIT!!!
Just take the bad remarks as lessons and praises as encouragement. Hope I have not offended you in any way with my frank remarks and thousand apologies in advance if I have.
Hi Tautan,
>morse code testing is the requirement for Class A Licence which is still the best transmission mode in Amateur Radio till today.
MORSE CODE IS THE BEST TRANSMISSION IN AMATEUR RADIO TILL TODAY !!! Please go google JT44 and JT65 used frequently for EME and meteor scatter. If my memory serves me right, it can hear 9db weaker than what our ear can hear. So think for yourself which is better.
>Better still, I hope MCMC will open up the band and allow 9Ws to utilise it BUT on a lower power like Japan. Anyway 10W is more than enough power for satellite communicatiions.
10W IS MORE THAN ENOUGH POWER FOR SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS? Yes, but NOT when you have illegal stations running few hundred watts on the uplink frequency.
Having a lower power level again prevents people from advance communications like EME. Even the 400 Watt limit is not enough. For quality EME we are speaking of power levels above 600 watts. Maybe they can come out with a rule to only allow this amount of power solely for EME?
No bad remarks here Tautan... I also apologise in advance if I made any remarks that may have offended some of you.
73,
Sion Chow Q. C.,
9W2QC.
>WHY? IT WOULD ONLY BE A HOBBY FOR THE EDUCATED! Imagine ah bengs and ah lians having to take college level subjects just to pass the exam.
I have no comments on this, and i will leave it up to the relevant people to decide. But maybe this article is worth a look:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/29/1/
Leave the CW matters to the local authority MCMC.
Currently, all the TROUBLES???
You wanted this way he wanted that way. 10WATTS 400WATTS AND EVEN MORE 600WATTS FOR EME???
OK. do you know that a good RF linear of 600watts cost between USD5-6K???
So what if A licence granded will you 9w start spending to get all those high end rigs???
We apologise for the need to remove the comments made by Kopi Ginseng 2.44pm. The comment was deemed unjustified, and involved accusations of certain parties involved in wrong doings. Martsnews.Blogspot will not be held responsible for these actions, and as such has deemed it necesarry to remove this comment.
We seek Kopi Ginseng to raise it in a proper forum, if not going to the authorities.
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I refer to anonymous 1.26 PM.
>Leave the CW matters to the local authority MCMC.
Currently, all the TROUBLES???
Leave it to them? Then what will happen if those group of people pushes for CW testing. Who are we to blame at the end of the day? Ourselves because we did not play a part or at least try to do something about this.
>OK. do you know that a good RF linear of 600watts cost between USD5-6K???
You must be really kidding. Please go use google service. A Challenger Valve 1KW amp for 2M only costs around 2100 Euro. (around RM 9500).
> So what if A licence granded will you 9w start spending to get all those high end rigs???
DEFINATELY!!! I already have most of the equipment, only can't use them just because I refuse to take the CW testing... I think its not right to pick on us 9Ws. Look at those who have A license. How many explore the microwave bands? If they do not, I guess its time to allow us to do so.
73,
Sion Chow Q. C.,
9W2QC.
Sion, clearly, these Anonymous guys are just wasting our time. They want to remain anonymous all the time, and crouch behind this acronym, just to stir us up.
From the comments posted, I can see that these are very frustrated people not being able to fulfill their lifelong fantasies, and just taking it out on us. Did we ever mentioned anywhere about CW being unimportant?? Advocating CW and Making it compulsory, just so that you can use the bandwidth to the optimum are two different arguments.
It is obvious, that these anonymous comments were made without indepth thoughts, and perhaps made by a far more inferior
operator.
I note your comments, and will add that you are for the removal of CW as a comulsory requirement for the upgrade of your AA, and the reason being you would want to use Microwave as your next field of experiment. As referred by 9M2RT, it will ake a better argument if we state our reasons, as well.
I am hoping to meet you in the AGM, as in my last attempt to visit you in your house, sometime ago, there was no reply.
73s de 9W2MCT
Like I said so many times.
Its easy to shoot off at the mouth when you can hide your face.
Guys..... give less credence to those who sign off as anonymous. After all... they dont even take
themselves seriously. I think backstabbers work on the same principle. You want to argue and talk
sense to a backstabber?
No cajones.
I would like to stand up and support Sion here.
But one thing funny. SOmewhere in here.... someone said getting a A license will start us spending huge amounts of money...
HAHAHAHAH..... This fellow is not playing with a full deck of cards.
How many of us bought a BMW when we got our driver's licence. Also...a L or P permit restricts us to Kancils, is it?
If your pocket is so easily dictated by a piece of paper... let me give you a membership to a massage parlour...
haahahah
73s
Evening Gentlemen, (I presume no YLs here, otherwise my apology)
I like what XYZ has said: > Guys..... give less credence to those who sign off as anonymous. After all... they dont even take
themselves seriously.
Speaking about making contacts to Space Station, instead of fighting over some 'dark shadows' why not use the time available to propose to the Council to apply a call station with MCMC for our Malaysian Astronauts who will be in the Russian Spacecraft very soon?
Then our dear Sion can once again demonstrate his ability to QSO with the Malaysian Astronauts or better still help schools to communicate with them just like the SAREX project in 1995 (www.arrl.org/sarex). We may be 10 years behind, but we should make an attempt lah.
So, rather than acting like "Bagai pungguk rindukan Bulan", why not get your acts together for a good cause for the nation.
Any takers for this challenge? Things like this no need to mention in the AGM laa, (SMI - sendiri mau ingat).
Alright OMs, its time to call it a day, 73 and have a good day.
de 9M2RT - c u in Penang.
I refer to 9M2RT's posting.
>Speaking about making contacts to Space Station, instead of fighting over some 'dark shadows' why not use the time available to propose to the Council to apply a call station with MCMC for our Malaysian Astronauts who will be in the Russian Spacecraft very soon?
I support you 100% Razif, and to me, its a very good idea. MARTS should play an active role in this.
>Then our dear Sion can once again demonstrate his ability to QSO with the Malaysian Astronauts or better still help schools to communicate with them just like the SAREX project in 1995 (www.arrl.org/sarex). We may be 10 years behind, but we should make an attempt lah.
Thank you, Razif for your good words. But I like to make some comments about school contacts. In a school contact, basically an amateur operator (the astronaut) will operate the amateur station on board the ISS and then communicate with another amateur on the ground (say myself in this example). The amateur on the ground will then have to allow the students to use his amateur station to communicate with the astronaut. In this case, the amateur ground station (myself) is handling third party traffic, and the astronaut is talking to a third party. In order for this to be done, my country must have a third party agreement with the country that issued the astronaut an amateur license. (Either Russia or US in this case)
Although, many stations operate such as "this is 9W2??? operated by ???" this does not meet the requirement because Malaysia and Russia or US simply do not have any third party agreement. Kenneth, N5VHO, from NASA who is incharge of ARISS gave me a few solutions:
1. Get all students to be licensed hams (This is difficult, even Kenneth admits it)
2. Use ARISS telebridge stations around the world. This means that we do not actually uplink or downlink to ISS, but we route our audio to and from the telebridge station via the internet and that station will perform all the transmission and reception for us. (I personally feel that this method is not good because we are not operating the equipment ourselves)
3. Get MCMC to have a temporary third party agreement with FCC just for this event. (Kenneth told me that this was how Thailand did their school contact).
I hope this clarifies the problems that we will face to perform such a contact. I am personally very keen on this, but have to step back due to these issues. NASA will not approve any contacts if third party agreement is not available. Of course, if the astronaut onboard was a Malaysian Astronaut holding a Malaysian issued license, then this will not be such a big problem, because MCMC will take care of all the licensing issues.
Thank You.
73,
Sion Chow Q. C.,
9W2QC.
SION, Ican say this that we have dentified certain schools that will be 'involvde' in this project through the ANGKASA -MARTS field day. Further, if these schools can partake in this project (we will enrol students above 14 to take part in this project) we can have them transmit as Amateur stations, . . which we will be working on throuhout this program.
I suppose it is easy to speculate now, but if we can identify the target as well as the path. . .then what can be our obstacle?????
I am sure MCMC is behind this if ANGKASA is, of which I can say, I have their initial OK already . . .
Regards, Tony
SION, Ican say this that we have dentified certain schools that will be 'involvde' in this project through the ANGKASA -MARTS field day. Further, if these schools can partake in this project (we will enrol students above 14 to take part in this project) we can have them transmit as Amateur stations, . . which we will be working on throuhout this program.
I suppose it is easy to speculate now, but if we can identify the target as well as the path. . .then what can be our obstacle?????
I am sure MCMC is behind this if ANGKASA is, of which I can say, I have their initial OK already . . .
Regards, Tony
Tony,
> we can have them transmit as Amateur stations
You mean each of them being licensed individuals?
73,
Sion Chow Q. C.,
9W2QC.
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