Juno Needs Radio Amateurs!

An anonymous reader writes "NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter will perform a close 'fly-by' of the Earth in a few hours. To assist with its radio and plasma wave experiment, the mission is asking amateur radio operators to send a 'Morse Code' message to the probe as it passes." The page has all the info you need: "The activity will begin at 18:00 UTC on October 9, 2013 and continue until 20:40 UTC. This page will clearly indicate when you should key up or key down to transmit 'HI' to Juno in Morse Code (see examples below). The Morse code pattern below can also act as a guide. The 'HI' message will be repeated every 10 minutes, beginning at 18:00, 18:10, 18:20, etc. "

Comments

Hi

[Dan East]

.... ..

Re:Hi

[Anonymous Coward]

idiot

Re:Hi

[Anonymous Coward]

nevermind i figured now what you mean

Re:Hi

[Anonymous Coward]

Since TFS couldn't be bothered to tell us, let me point out they're using the 10m band. Sure, we could RTFA, and will have to do so anyway to participate, but for those of us who don't have a 10m rig, it would've saved us some time...

[insert obligatory slashdot-editors rant here]

47 de ab9ul

Re:Hi

[cyfer2000]

Very interesting signature.

Re:Hi

[Anonymous Coward]

A more appropriate place to post this would have been on dashdot,

Re:Hi

[EmagGeek]

Where shall we send your NAL?

97.119

(a) Each amateur station, except a space station or telecommand station, must transmit its assigned call sign on its transmitting channel at the end of each communication, and at least every 10 minutes during a communication, for the purpose of clearly making the source of the transmissions from the station known to those receiving the transmissions. No station may transmit unidentified communications or signals, or transmit as the station call sign, any call sign not authorized to the station.

(b) The call sign must be transmitted with an emission authorized for the transmitting channel in one of the following ways:

(1) By a CW emission. When keyed by an automatic device used only for identification, the speed must not exceed 20 words per minute;

(2) By a phone emission in the English language. Use of a phonetic alphabet as an aid for correct station identification is encouraged;

(3) By a RTTY emission using a specified digital code when all or part of the communications are transmitted by a RTTY or data emission;

(4) By an image emission conforming to the applicable transmission standards, either color or monochrome, of Â73.682(a) of the FCC Rules when all or part of the communications are transmitted in the same image emission (

(c) One or more indicators may be included with the call sign. Each indicator must be separated from the call sign by the slant mark (/) or by any suitable word that denotes the slant mark. If an indicator is self-assigned, it must be included before, after, or both before and after, the call sign. No self-assigned indicator may conflict with any other indicator specified by the FCC Rules or with any prefix assigned to another country.

(d) When transmitting in conjunction with an event of special significance, a station may substitute for its assigned call sign a special event call sign as shown for that station for that period of time on the common data base coordinated, maintained and disseminated by the special event call sign data base coordinators. Additionally, the station must transmit its assigned call sign at least once per hour during such transmissions.

(e) When the operator license class held by the control operator exceeds that of the station licensee, an indicator consisting of the call sign assigned to the control operator's station must be included after the call sign.

(f) When the control operator is a person who is exercising the rights and privileges authorized by Â97.9(b) of this part, an indicator must be included after the call sign as follows:

(1) For a control operator who has requested a license modification from Novice Class to Technical Class: KT;

(2) For a control operator who has requested a license modification from Novice or Technician to General Class: AG;

(3) For a control operator who has requested a license modification from Novice, Technician, General, or Advanced Class to Amateur Extra Class: AE.

(g) When the station is transmitting under the authority of Â97.107 of this part, an indicator consisting of the appropriate letter-numeral designating the station location must be included before the call sign that was issued to the station by the country granting the license. For an amateur service license granted by the Government of Canada, however, the indicator must be included after the call sign. At least once during each intercommunication, the identification announcement must include the geographical location as nearly as possible by city and state, commonwealth or possession.

[54 FR 25857, June 20, 1989, as amended at 54 FR 39535, Sept. 27, 1989; 55 FR 30457, July 26, 1990; 56 FR 28, Jan. 2, 1991; 62 FR 17567, Apr. 10, 1997; 63 FR 68980, Dec. 14, 1998; 64 FR 51471, Sept. 23, 1999; 66 FR 20752, Apr. 25, 2001; 75 FR 78171, Dec. 15, 2010]

Re:Hi

[Fnord666]

Where shall we send your NAL?

From the FAQ:
How do you suggest we ID? US regulations (CFR Sec 97.119) require amateur radio stations to identify themselves at the beginning and end of a transmission and at least once every 10 minutes. If you ID at the beginning of the first "dit" of the HI and at the end of the final one before you go QRT, you will meet the US requirements. Others should verify that this will meet your national requirements.

Special on quotes

[QBasicer]

With these 'fly-bys' and that 'morse code', how else would we know how to correctly parse things?

THEY DIDNT AUTOMATE THIS BECAUSE?

[Anonymous Coward]

...

Re:THEY DIDNT AUTOMATE THIS BECAUSE?

[Anonymous Coward]

Having lower power, not necessarily in perfect working condition equipment to test receiving when the probe is gonna be so far away is probably a good thing?

Good morning, Ham radio operators!

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you for being a Ham
Traveled down the road and back again
Your heart is true you're a pal and a cosmonaut.

And if you threw a party
Invited everyone you ever knew
You would see the biggest gift would be from me
And the card attached would say thank you for being a Ham.

Re:Good morning, Ham radio operators!

[omnichad]

I know I should be annoyed at this. But this just works for once.

Re:Good morning, Ham radio operators!

[K. S. Kyosuke]

And the QSL card attached would say thank you for being a Ham.

FTFY. 73. 88. 99.

Juno... email?

[OakDragon]

Reading the title, I really thought Juno was experimenting with other protocols...

Re:Juno... email?

[csnydermvpsoft]

Given their history, that wouldn't be surprising. I remember having to disconnect my dial-up Internet connection so I could dial in to Juno's servers to retrieve my email...

What's in it for me?

[Anonymous Coward]

As an amateur radio operator, my time is super valuable! Doing a lot of things over here with my radios! Lot of...lot of things...keeping real busy...

(crying)

Re:What's in it for me?

[wooferhound]

What's in it for me?

They will send you a QSL card . . .

WOW

[Isaac-1]

Wow Slashdot posted an announcement about an upcoming event BEFORE it happened, this has to be a first

Re:WOW

[BlacKSacrificE]

And here I am with no points to mod that shit up.

Re:WOW

[lipanitech]

WOW slashdot actually posted a ham radio article that's rare. Thanks slashdot.

Is this the sequel?

[jenningsthecat]

Juno Needs Radio Amateurs!

Mars Needs Women!

Re:Is this the sequel?

[JustOK]

Uranus needs toilet paper.

Re:Is this the sequel?

[gstoddart]

Oblig: However, by 2620, scientists finally got tired of that "stupid joke", so they renamed Uranus to Urectum, believing the revised name to be much less funny.

Re:Is this the sequel?

[mcgrew]

Juno Needs Radio Amateurs!
Mars Needs Women!

Funny you should mention that...

Re:Is this the sequel?

[Anonymous Coward]

Even more oblig: shut up about all the Uranus jokes. It's not funny any more.

Re:Is this the sequel?

[Anonymous Coward]

It sounds like you're sensitive around uranus

Don't do it!

[kuhnto]

The NSA has compromised the Juno probe and will collect all of your metadata.

Re:Don't do it!

[Anonymous Coward]

The only metadata is your callsign. Uh, and they have that already.

Re:Don't do it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but they want to double-check it.

Juno Beach

[rossdee]

I think they needed them on Sword and Omaha too.
(Theres a scene in "the Longest Day" with a couple reporters sending news back by pigeon and it flies the wrong way.
   

Re:Juno Beach

[JustOK]

Wrong way according to who? Not to the pigeon, that's for sure.

E.T.

[cgfsd]

E.T. Phone Home, but only use Morse code please.

Alternative message from Cananda Hams

[A10Mechanic]

dash dot dash dash, dash dot dash dash, dash dash dot dot

Re:Alternative message from Cananda Hams

[Ellis D. Tripp]

Rush fan, huh?

Re:Alternative message from Cananda Hams

[X0563511]

dah dit dah dah, dah dit dah dah, dah dah dit dit

FTFY. Also what the hell is "YYZ?"

Re:Alternative message from Cananda Hams

[Ellis D. Tripp]

The IATA identifier (and VOR beacon) for Pearson intl. airport, Toronto.

And the title of a kick-ass instrumental by the Canadian rock band Rush:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YYZ_(instrumental)

Re:Alternative message from Cananda Hams

[OakDragon]

I send you dittos and mega-dittos.

Due to the US government shutdown...

[ctrl-alt-canc]

...NASA is now using morse code to contact space ships.

Re:Due to the US government shutdown...

[Anonymous Coward]

Due to the shutdown, NASA cannot say with certainty that the sun will come up in the east.

From the .... department

[hankwang]

Slashdot added "from the .... dept." to the article. The lameness filter prevents me from pasting the morse code here, but it seems to translate into: "R T L L S - S E N D - I N V E R T E D - T E S S A N E". But now I am none the wiser, what does that mean?

Re:From the .... department

[Anonymous Coward]

What is Dah-dit-dit-dit-dit-dah? It's not "break" (Dah-dit-dit-dit-dah)

Re:From the .... department

[gstoddart]

But now I am none the wiser, what does that mean?

That either the editor is lousy at Morse code, or that discovering that the Slashdot editors are lazy doesn't make you any wiser.

Possibly both.

Re:From the .... department

[cruff]

??? - S E N D - I N V E R T E D - M E S S A G E perhaps?
Work around the stupid don't yell filter.

Re:From the .... department

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow. I gave up when I sorted out "rtlls", thinking that I had done it wrong.

It's been a long time since I had to decode Morse code. I got my Novice back in 1993 when you had to decode 5 WPM. Two renewals now... still haven't used it (any of it, not just Morse code).

Re:From the .... department

[X0563511]

"Dah dit dit dit dah" is nothing at all either, or we're not talking International Morse.

Re:From the .... department

[msauve]

"Dah dit dit dit dah" is nothing at all either, or we're not talking International Morse.

It's the prosign for double space. It's commonly used to indicate a pause or "hold on a second."

Re:From the .... department

[governorx]

Based on the following assumptions:

1) The morse code message is relevant to Slashdot.
2) The html rendering/interpreting/text storing/(other possibilities) cannot display sequencing dashes:

POLLS SEND INVERTED MESSAGE

Regards,

gx

Re:From the .... department

[governorx]

s/sequencing/sequential

Re:From the .... department

[Anonymous Coward]

RTTY is Radioteletype, so RTLLS could be radio-tele-laughing-like-shit: a proposal for a joke. "Send inverted message" is the joke. While everyone else does key-up you do key-down and vice versa. If enough people do this, the result will be to sabotage the effort by adding up to an always-on transmission. The editor adding the department must have felt somewhat ashamed by proposing the joke, therefore he disguised it by making two mistakes in the word "message." By now the event is almost over, and nobody reads these comments, so little damage will result from this decoding.

Re:From the .... department

[cruff]

I could see the intended Morse encoded message as reading
TROLLS SEND INVERTED MESSAGE
if a leading T was dropped.

Coverage?

[n1ywb]

The Juno site doesn't mention who will have coverage at what time. Seems like the closest approach is over central africa and southern asia; not exactly hotbeds of amateur activity, and pointless for most hams to even bother trying at those times. Now as it passes over North America you might actually get something if they bothered to tell you when it would be over North America.

Re:Coverage?

[jonwil]

From what I can tell, the frequencies they are using bounce of the ionosphere so they get REALLY long propagation meaning if you broadcast at the times they tell you to, you will get picked up by the probe.

Re:Coverage?

[bobbied]

Perhaps not exactly true. I've not been listening to 10 Meters at that time of day, but I would assume that the band would be closed though much of the requested transmit window as the MUF drops below 28Mhz in the evening. So, a signal from North America may not be refracted back to the ground, but it will still be bent as it passes though the ionosphere. This may make it possible for signals to make it to the listening location.

73's

Re:Coverage?

[brindafella]

This image, from the JPL Juno site, gives 30min big ticks and 5min small ticks. Otherwise, the list of major cities, with times, azimuth and headings, may help you interpolate.

Re:Coverage?

[n1ywb]

Too bad this solar cycle is such a dud and 10m hasn't been opening for long haul comms. I remember back in 2000 talking to South Africa on my 25w mobile. Oh well.

Re:Coverage?

[tlhIngan]

Too bad this solar cycle is such a dud and 10m hasn't been opening for long haul comms. I remember back in 2000 talking to South Africa on my 25w mobile. Oh well.

Ironically, this makes it the best at sending a message detectable by Juno's sensors. The band is "bad" because the solar cycle and ionosphere interact - during the peak, the signals hit the ionosphere and bounce back to earth, giving you long range communications with little power.

During "bad" times, the ionosphere doesn't bend the signal back, so it goes out ... into space. And that's exactly where Juno is.

In fact, NASA had to ensure the band was sufficiently "leaky" that they had a signal to detect.

Re:Coverage?

[X0563511]

It's in orbit, you don't need the signal to return to earth, Extreme bending is enough.

Re:Coverage?

[Bucc5062]

can we see that in 3D for it otherwise looks like the strangest flight path I've seen. Is the sharp turn a boost moment?

Re:Coverage?

[Anonymous Coward]

Its not that bad. I'm hitting the Moscow repeaters in the morning pretty consistently.

from the

[tist]

rtlls-send-inverted-tessane dept.
didn't want you to think that effort went to waste.

Re:from the

[camperdave]

rtlls-send-inverted-tessane dept. didn't want you to think that effort went to waste.

Who is Tessane; what is an RTLSS, and what does sending one inverted accomplish?

From the RTLLS-SEND-INVERTED-TESSANE ?

[Anonymous Coward]

What is a Tessane ?

Re:From the RTLLS-SEND-INVERTED-TESSANE ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Could be a miskey of the morse code and could be MESSAGE.

As for RTLLS, maybe it could be DOLLS.

rtlls-send-inverted-tessane dept

[CQDX]

Looks like a typical straight key qso for me... I have a really bad fist FWIW

Re:rtlls-send-inverted-tessane dept

[ColdWetDog]

If you can't memorize "Hi" and your call sign, use a computer keyer. Bonus points if you have to build it in the three hours before the test.

Get your inner McGuyver going.

Re:rtlls-send-inverted-tessane dept

[Anonymous Coward]

At 30 secs per dit, I'm using the 'tune' button on my radio. That way I don't have to hold it down.

No opportunity for me

[brindafella]

Sorry, but this has got to me too late to make the necessary preparations (and be awake and/or available at a sensible time.)

Re:No opportunity for me

[GodfatherofSoul]

Guess they should reroute it and make another pass at Earth then, Mr. Important!

Re:No opportunity for me

[Anonymous Coward]

A few hours advance notice is probably sufficient for their purposes. They'll get some participation. But they could likely have had much more if this were brought to our attention a day or (gasp!) even a week in advance. It's not as if they were unsure of when the spacecraft would be flying by. They've had a couple years since the launch, after all.

I can think of a few reasons we're only now hearing about it at the last minute though.

- They don't want too many people transmitting. The few that happen to be available and interested on short notice will be just the right amount.
- The event isn't really very important at all, just a kind of "might as well" sort of thing.
- It was actually announced much earlier and Slashdot is a little too slow to encourage much participation but maybe this is better timing for generating interest. Presumably those interested in amateur radio operation would hear about it on amateur radio sites which would have provided this information in a more timely manner.

Re:No opportunity for me

[ArbitraryName]

Maybe you shouldn't rely on Slashdot as your sole source of news? This has been on astronomy and ham sites for days.

Re:No opportunity for me

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw this some weeks ago, back before the NASA websites shut down, and determined that I would not have any LOS during the flyby (along with most of North America....) It's not like all hams everywhere could participate in it - you have to be in the right place at the right time during the flyby.

morse code?

[Anonymous Coward]

what year is this? 1940? why not use text messaging? the only time i heard morse code is in the old movies and old documentaries of World War 1 and 2. no offense.

so i guess the radio operators will need a satellite dish to send morse code to the satellite. plus, they need to point it in the right direction

Re:morse code?

[Anonymous Coward]

Morse code is very low bandwidth and will get through noisy conditions...like passing through the ionosphere.

You don't really need a satellite dish, just a directiona antenna(a yagi will do okay). Aiming it at the correct part of the sky is certainly important though. There are a lot of hams already doing communications via purpose built amateur radio sats, see: http://www.amsat.org/

Re:morse code?

[dfsmith]

There's an interesting challenge posed here: how to slow down text messaging to a signalling baud rate of 0.0016Hz. (Low rate needed because of spacecraft spin, and limitations in the broadband receiver used.)

Juno the probe, the city, the ISP?

[macraig]

Seriously, we're supposed to be drawn in by the coy tease?

Other QRSS modulation projects

[leighklotz]

This modulation scheme is called QRSS and can also be used to send very low power (milliwatt and microwatt) signals around the world ionospherically, and on bands such as VLF (very low frequency). Here the open source from a couple of projects by Hans Summers from a book I edited for the ARRL on the Arduino: http://hamradioprojects.com/authors/g0upl/+qrss-attiny/ http://hamradioprojects.com/authors/g0upl/+mm-shield/ and plenty of links about QRSS from there.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Trouble ahead

[anyanka]

Juno's coming home, and if all the usual stories about her are true, she's not going to be particularly amused that Jupiter has been hanging around with his mistresses all this time.

Quite possible the whole mess is due to the US govt's overreaching surveillance, from which not even ancient gods have been spared. I blame Snowden's leaks for Juno's desperate run to the outer reaches of the solar system.

I'm participating!!

[Ozy311]

My radio lets me see all of the HF spectrum at once. Zooming in to the 28 to 28.45mhz area, you can see everyone who is participating. Pretty awesome! http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3729/10175968294_a0143cb3ff_o.png

Indeed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if only we could get them to post things sufficiently in advance that those who only read Slashdot once a day can learn about the event before it happens. Somehow they're under the assumption that we all see every story on the site the moment it is posted, like we're following their twitter account or something.