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    "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/AU2XFVGMZNPAYXGUN4XUM62SVXELUTFG/?format=api",
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    "message_id": "[email protected]",
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    "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/NNIZEOSMD6HZJSGLXWRWM5W7TUV4EX4G/?format=api",
    "sender": {
        "address": "wao (a) vfr.net",
        "mailman_id": "9057def1436c407fa55c4988db05914a",
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    },
    "sender_name": "Joe Spier",
    "subject": "[amsat-bb] ANS-068",
    "date": "2014-03-09T07:30:15Z",
    "parent": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/VPYNRTK4KGAUKMYDH6KIQYQSVBO5RRBY/?format=api",
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        "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/B6ASYH4VVNZW74QBAP5QCNVSRPGK4VIP/?format=api"
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    "votes": {
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    "content": "AMSAT NEWS SERVICE\nANS-068\n\nThe AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor-\nmation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite\nCorporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space\nincluding reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur\nRadio operators who share an active interest in designing, building,\nlaunching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio\nsatellites.\n\nThe news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur\nRadio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.\n\nPlease send any amateur satellite news or reports to:\nans-editor at amsat.org.\n\nIn this edition:\n\n* ISS HamTV Success (3-8-2014)\n* ISS Ham Video now installed and ready for commissioning (3-6-2014)\n* Satellite TLE Object ID’s\n* FUNcube-1 (AO-73) 100+ days in orbit\n* Mass Launch of 437 MHz Satellites\n* Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL)— A 30th Birthday\n   Celebration For UoSAT-2, OSCAR-11\n* Two Close Calls For ZACUBE-1 CubeSat\n* OSCAR DEMO and Youth Forum MAY 3, 2014\n* Upcoming AMSAT Events\n* ARISS News\n* Satellite Shorts from All Over\n\n\n\nSB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-068.01\nANS-068 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins\n\nAMSAT News Service Bulletin 068.01\n   From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.\nMarch 9, 2014\nTo All RADIO AMATEURS\nBID: $ANS-068.01\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nISS HamTV Success (3-8-2014)\n\n\nOn Saturday, March 8 test transmissions were made on 2422.0 MHz\nusing the HamTV equipment on the International Space Station (ISS).\n\nThe Digital TV signal was successfully received and web streamed to\na global audience via the Britsh Amateur Television Club (BATC)\nserver at http://batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=4 There were four live web\nstreams each from different receivers.\n\nThe HamTV transmitter is the culmination of over ten years work by\ndedicated volunteers to establish an amateur radio TV transmitter on\nthe ISS. It uses patch antennas fixed on the Meteorite Debris Panels\n(MDP) protecting the hull of the ISS Columbus module. These antennas\nwere installed while the Columbus module was being constructed. A\nfund-raising campaign took place during 2005-7 to raise over 65,000\nEuros for the antennas. Individual radio amateurs from around the\nworld donated generously as did several organisations including AMSAT-\nUK and the RSGB.\n\nThe main mission of HamTV is to perform contacts between the\nastronauts on the ISS and school students, not only by voice as now,\nbut also by unidirectional video from the ISS to the ground.\n\nHamVideo is the name of the onboard DATV S-band transmitter. HamTV\nis the name of the complete system, comprising DATV downlink and VHF\nvoice uplink. Kaiser Italia SRL was the prime-contractor for the\ndesign and development of the flight and ground segment\nhttp://www.kayser.it/index.php/exploration-2/ham-tv\n\nRead the HamTV overview by Gaston Bertels ON4WF\nhttp://tinyurl.com/HamTVoverview\n\nJoin the ISS HamTV Yahoo Group\nhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/HamTV\n\nWebstream of the TV transmissions\nhttp://batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=4\n\nARISS-EU HamTV Bulletins\nhttp://www.ariss-eu.org/\n\nHamTV on Facebook\nhttps://www.facebook.com/Hamtvproject\n\n\n[ANS thanks the HAM-TV comissioning team, ARISS, and AMSAT-UK for the\nabove information]\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nISS Ham Video now installed and ready for commissioning (3-6-2014)\n\nThe Ham Video transmitter was installed in the Columbus module of\nthe International Space Station (ISS) on March 6, 2014 at\napproximately 10.00 UT.\n\nThe transmitter was powered on briefly and all control LEDs were\nnominal. Ham Video is declared ready for Commissioning.\nThe first Commissioning step is planned March 8, 2014. Using call\nsign OR4ISS, crew will power on the Ham Video transmitter in\nconfiguration 1:\n\n- ARISS antenna 41\n- Frequency 2.422 GHz\n- Symbol rate 1.3 Ms/s\n\nThe transmission will start shortly before the pass of the ISS over\nWestern Europe at approximately 13.27 UT.\n\nAcquisition of signal (AOS) at Matera ground station in south Italy\nwill be at approximately 13.29 UT.\n\nMatera will receive the Ham Video signals with 3 different\nreceivers. The output of each receiver will be web streamed over BATC\nchannels ISS1, ISS2 and ISS3.\n\nThe ARISS ground station IK1SLD, located in Northern Italy, will\nalso receive the Ham Video signals and stream the video over BATC\nchannel ISS4.\n\nThe BATC server is available at http://www.batc.tv/\n\nOn BATC you can do the following:\n\n- select ISS\n- click on one of the ISS channels\n- click on Multi screen selector\n- select the channels you wish to watch\n- click on Watch.\n\nWhen multiscreen appears, volume is turned down by default. Turn the\nvolume up using the volume control slider below the image.\n\nDuring the pass, different configurations will be tested with ARISS\nantenna 41. After the pass, the Ham Video transmitter will stay\npowered on in configuration 1 (see above) till the following\nCommissioning step, which is planned Sunday March 9, 2014 at\napproximately 12.40 UT.\n\nFor about 24 hours, the DATV signal will be transmitted permanently,\nbut the camera will be powered off. The reason is, that the camera\nis battery powered and no provisions are made for frequent battery\nreplacement. This mode is called “blank” transmission.\n\nSunday March 9, the transmission will start shortly before the pass\nof the ISS over Western Europe at approximately 12.39 UT.\nDuring Commissioning step 2, different configurations will again be\ntested, this time with ARISS antenna 43. The Matera ground station\nand IK1SLD will stream the video over the BATC server.\n\nThe plan is to resume blank transmission immediately after the pass\nover Matera and to continue permanent transmission for one week, till\nSunday March 16, 2014. The frequency will remain 2.422 GHz, but\nantenna ARISS 43 will be used.\n\nReports on reception of blank transmissions are very welcome.\nReports can be filed via this webpage:\nhttp://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_FSTV/submit.php\n\nParticipants using the Tutioune receiving software, developed by\nJean Pierre Courjaud F6DZP, can record as well as stream detailed\nparameters of the received signal. Please see:\nhttp://www.vivadatv.org/\n\nWebstream of the TV transmissions\nhttp://batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=4\n\nARISS-EU HamTV Bulletins on Facebook\nhttp://www.ariss-eu.org/\n\nHamTV https://www.facebook.com/Hamtvproject\n\n\n[ANS thanks ARISS's Gaston Bertels, ON4WF and AMSAT-UK for the above\ninformation]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nSatellite TLE Object ID’s\n\nNico Janssen PA0DLO reports the process of producing Object ID’s for\nnewly launch satellites has changed recently.\n\nWriting on the AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB) he says:\n\nIt seems that the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) has changed\nsome of their policies lately. After the launch of multiple small\nsatellites late last year it took a long time to get them all\nidentified. Apparently they don’t want to leave all the TBAs in their\ndatabase for a long time, so now they use a different approach: they\nrandomly assign the names of all satellites of a launch to the\nobserved objects and then wait for reactions from the users of the\nsatellites to see if the assignments are correct.\n\nThis is how e.g. the Cubesats, that recently were launched from the\nISS, got ‘identified’ only a few days after their launch. So of\ncourse now we find that some identifications are wrong.\n\nDoppler measurements clearly show that the following IDs are correct:\nObject 39568, 1998-067EM, is LitSat 1\nObject 39569, 1998-067EN, is LituanicaSat 1.\n\nI am trying to get these corrected.\n\nIn the past the policy was to assign the ‘A’ object to the main\npayload of a launch. Secondary payloads, like Cubesats, would then\nget ‘B’, ‘C’, etc. So if the main payload initially was linked to the\nwrong TLE set, this required some swapping of TLE sets some time\nafter the launch. Now they have decided to prevent this confusion by\nsimply leaving the main payload assigned to another object than ‘A’\nif required. Therefore the GPM satellite now is assigned to 2014-009C\nand this will not change anymore.\n\nSatellite TLE Lottery Begins\nhttp://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/01/satellite-tle-lottery-begins/\n\nSatellite Tracking\nhttp://amsat-uk.org/beginners/satellite-tracking/\n\n\n[ANS thanks AMSAT-BB, AMSAT-UK and Nico Janssen, PA0DLO for the above\ninformation]\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nFUNcube-1 (AO-73) 100+ days in orbit\n\n\nLast weekend FUNcube-1 (AO-73) reached the milestone of having been\nin space for 100 days – actually that should be clarified to mean\n“terrestrial” days as the spacecraft itself has been subjected to\nmore than 1500 day/night cycles during this time.\n\nWe are very grateful to the 500+ stations who have been providing\nFUNcube-1 telemetry data to our Data Warehouse. We now have more than\n1GB of data in the repository – this is an amazing effort and\nachievement from a spacecraft which is only transmitting at 1200bps.\nThanks everyone and please keep it coming:)\n\n From all the telemetry we can see that the spin rate decreased for a\ntime but now is speeding up again. External temperatures span a range\nof 50C between the end of the sunlit phase and the end of the eclipse\nperiod. Even inside the spacecraft the temperatures range over 25C.\n\nAll the subsystems continue to work well and are “well in the green”.\n\nThe increased solar activity is certainly having an effect on the\ndownlinked signal on many occasions. During such disturbances the\nsignal appears to be being affected by ionospheric scintillation\nwhich distorts the BPSK stream and makes decoding much harder for\nsome minutes at a time.  This effect is not just apparent near the\nmagnetic poles as can be seen in this paper:\nhttp://waas.stanford.edu/papers/IWG/sbas_iono_scintillations_white_pap\ner.pdf\n\nUsers in the Northern hemisphere will have noticed that the evening\npasses in amateur mode are becoming shorter as the spacecraft enters\nsunlight again near the pole. This effect will increase as the season\nprogresses and we will be testing a plan to change the operating\nschedule in a few weeks time. This test will involve placing the\nspacecraft into continuous amateur/transponder mode for a number of\norbits – probably over a weekend.\n\nEspecially for educational users of FUNcube, we have placed all our\nschools outreach material on one page for easy reference. It can now\nall be found here:\nhttp://funcube.org.uk/education-outreach/\n\n\n[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above announcement]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nMass Launch of 437 MHz Satellites\n\n\nThe largest ever launch of 437 MHz satellites is planned for March\n16 at 0841 UT when 128 Sprite satellites will fly on the SpaceX\nFalcon 9 CRS 3 mission to be deployed into a 325×315 km 51.5 degree\ninclination orbit. You should be able to watch the launch live on\nNASA TV.\n\nThe project was originally conceived by AMSAT-UK member Michael\nJohnson M0MJJ at Cornell University. Michael was the first project\nmanager who specified many aspects of the project, making it\ntechnically and financially viable. He left the project in 2012 to\nfound PocketSpacecraft.com.\n\nA Sprite is a tiny, 3.5 by 3.5 cm, single-board spacecraft that was\ndeveloped by Zac Manchester KD2BHC.\n\nEach Sprite has a microcontroller, radio, and solar cells and is\ncapable of carrying single-chip sensors, such as thermometers,\nmagnetometers, gyroscopes, and accelerometers.\n\nThe 128 Sprites are carried in a 3U CubeSat called KickSat. They are\nstacked atop a spring-loaded pusher and secured by a nichrome burn\nwire system.\n\nOn reaching orbit KickSat will perform a de-tumble maneuver and\nestablish communication with Cornell University’s ground station.\nAfter check-out, the spacecraft will be put in a sun-pointing\nattitude and spun up to maintain that attitude.\n\nA command signal from the ground station will then trigger the\ndeployment and the Sprites will be released as free-flying\nspacecraft. After deployment, telemetry and sensor measurements from\nthe individual Sprites will be received through Cornell’s ground\nstation in Ithaca, NY, as well as several other amateur ground\nstations around the world.\n\nDue to the low orbit Sprites will have a short lifetime before they\nreenter the atmosphere and burn up. In the best-case scenario the\norbital lifetime could be six weeks but realistically it may be\nconsiderably shorter depending on atmospheric conditions, maybe a\nmatter of days.\n\nAll the Sprites operate on a single frequency of 437.240 MHz and use\nCode Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The transmitter runs 10 mW\noutput of Minimum Shift Keying (MSK) modulated binary data with each\ndata bit modulated as a 511 bit Pseudo-Random Number (PRN) sequence.\nThe ITU emission designator is 50K0G1D.\n\nThe KickSat CubeSat has downlinks on 437.505 MHz and 2401-2436.2 MHz.\n\nKickSat Sprite Ground Station by Andy Thomas G0SFJ\nhttp://kicksat.wordpress.com/support/kicksat-ground-station/\n\nBritish Interplanetary Society: Sprite Technical Summary\nhttp://www.bis-space.com/2013/03/09/9301/kicksat-technical-summary\n\nKickSat project information\nhttp://zacinaction.github.io/kicksat/\n\nBBC Worldwide TV interview with Zak Manchester KD2BHC. Unfortunately\nthis is censored in the UK only overseas viewers can see it. A proxy\nserver may be a way around it.\nhttp://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140128-the-smallest-spacecraft-in-\norbit\n\nCheck this site for the latest CRS 3 launch date\nhttp://spaceflightnow.com/tracking/\n\nPocket Spacecraft\nhttp://www.pocketspacecraft.com/\n\n\n[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above announcement]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nSurrey Satellite Technology Ltd.(SSTL)— A 30th Birthday Celebration\nFor UoSAT-2, OSCAR-11\n\n\nUoSAT-2 was launched on March 1st, 1984, from  Vandenberg Air Force\nBase in the USA and carried some novel payloads, including a\n\"Digitalker\".\n\nToday, UoSAT-2 still transmits its VHF telemetry on a regular 11-day\ncycle, although the satellite’s batteries are exhausted after some\n160,000 charge cycles and transmissions are now detectable only when\nit is in sunlight.  However, the telemetry continues to be tracked by\namateur radio satellite enthusiasts worldwide, using the predictable\ntransmissions to help calibrate their equipment.\n\nFollowing the successful first microsatellite launch of UoSAT-1 from\nthe Surrey team in 1981, NASA again offered a second launch\nopportunity—but with only 6 months warning! Rising to the challenge\nand literally working day-and-night, the Surrey team comprising about\na dozen researchers and AMSAT members designed and built the 70kg\nUoSAT-2 microsatellite just in time for the launch as a ‘piggyback’\npassenger with NASA’s LANDSAT-5. Incorporating many of the lessons\nlearned from their first satellite, UoSAT-2 carried some novel\nexperiments – a “Digitalker” speech synthesizer, specifically\ndesigned for school demonstrations of satellite telemetry and orbital\nphysics, alongside experiments including magnetometers, an early CCD\ncamera, a Geiger tube and a sensitive microphone to detect micro-\nmeteoroid impacts.\n\nIn the days before GPS, UoSAT-2 provided a novel communication\nsystem for the 1988 Canadian-Soviet Ski-trek arctic expedition, a\ngroup of intrepid explorers from Canada and the USSR who crossed the\nArctic Ocean from Siberia to Ward Hunt Island, just off Canada, via\nthe North Pole between March and June 1988. The position of the\nskiers’ emergency beacon was calculated daily by US and Soviet COSPAS-\nSARSAT ground stations, relayed to the Surrey Mission Control\nGroundstation by telex, and uploaded to the UoSAT-2 Digitalker which\nthen ‘spoke’ the latitude and longitude of the ski party via its VHF\nbeacon. In a sun-synchronous, 650km low Earth orbit, UoSAT-2 flew\nover the pole every 98 minutes at which point the group could receive\nthe broadcast from the satellite using their small handheld VHF\nradios that were designed to work at very low temperatures. The\nDigitalker communications system could also serve as an emergency\nchannel in the event that all other radio links failed. Thousands of\namateur radio listeners and schoolchildren also monitored the spoken\nmessages from the Digitalker and plotted the path of the expedition –\nmany using the then state-of-the-art BBC microcomputer! There’s more\nabout the Ski-trek expedition, and a recording of the Digitalker, on\nthe expedition home page at\n\nhttp://www.meerman.fsnet.co.uk/NorthPole/textpan.html\n\nUoSAT-2 was one of the first satellites to prove that commercial\ngrade microprocessors and memory chips, which had only just become\nreadily available, mass produced and cheaper in the early 80s as part\nof the microcomputer revolution, could be used to build small, cost-\neffective yet capable satellites. The idea of taking advantage of\ncommercially available technology and adapting it for space, instead\nof using expensive ‘space-grade’ components, was virtually unheard of\nat the time, but SSTL proved the concept was viable and has gone on\nto build a highly successful business.\n\nToday, UoSAT-2 is the longest-serving of 13 satellites that SSTL and\nthe Surrey Space Centre track from ground stations in Guildford, UK.\n\nSSTL and the Surrey Space Centre have come very long way from those\nearly days of the 1980s!\n\nThe SSTL infosite may be accessed at\n\nhttp://www.sstl.co.uk/\n\n\n[ANS thanks SatNews Daily and AMSAT-UK for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nTwo Close Calls For ZACUBE-1 CubeSat\n\n\nThe amateur radio ZACUBE-1 satellite, launched with FUNcube-1 on\nNovember 21, 2013, recently had two close encounters with space\ndebris. The ZACUBE-1 team have issued this press release:\n\nWeek nine of the year will go down as quite an eventful week for\nZACUBE-1 (TshepisoSat), literally dodging two bullets involving\nspeeds in the kilometres per second range.\n\nThe first close approach notification arrived the morning of 25\nFebruary 2014 from the United States Joint Space Operations Center\n(JSpOC) through the The South African National Space Agency (SANSA)\n(A close approach notification is generated by the JSpOC to warn\nspacecraft operators when their spacecraft will come in close\nproximity to another object). The first order of business was the\nidentification of the other object. In this case “SCC# 21422?. Our\ndance of death would be with the, now defunct, 2000 kg Russian built\nCOSMOS 2151 launched in 1991. As ZACUBE-1 carries no propulsion\nsystem and with the COSMOS 2151 no longer functioning the only course\nof action was to closely monitor the situation.\n\nIt was determined that the close approach event would occur over the\nAntarctic and a search was started for possible ground stations that\ncould listen for signals from ZACUBE-1 directly after the event. Help\narrived in the form of our friends from the California Polytechnic\nState University in San Luis Obispo, California, United States. The\nCal Poly ground station would see ZACUBE-1 approximately 30 minutes\nafter the event and be able to listen for its transmitted telemetry\nbeacon signal. In preparation ZACUBE-1 would be tracked and checked\non the last two passes over South Africa (22:50 SAST 26/02/2014 and\n00:26 SAST 27/02/2014) a few hours before the event to ensure that\neverything was OK and then again by the Cal Poly station.\n\nWith everything checking out and all systems nominal on the last\npass over South Africa all we could do was wait for news from\nCalifornia.\n\nGreat success! With Cal Poly confirming that ZACUBE-1 was alive and\nwell. We were able to further confirm this on the first pass over\nSouth Africa.\n\nThis would have been enough excitement for the week, but soon after\nverifying that ZACUBE-1 was OK we received our second close approach\nnotification! This time involving a piece of debris from a METEOR 2-5\nsatellite. The plan would be much the same, but with the event taking\nplace over Brazil we tried to make contact with some stations in\nBrazil. Unfortunately nothing was heard over Brazil, but we received\nnotification of ZACUBE-1's signal from the University of Florida and\nagain from the California Polytechnic State University.\n\nWe would like to thank everyone that helped out during this time,\nhopefully I did not leave anybody out. The folks from Cal Poly,\nUniversity of Florida, the Brazilian radio amateurs that tried on\nvery short notice and SANSA.\n\nZACUBE-1 carries a UHF beacon on 437.345 MHz and an HF beacon on\n14099 kHz used to characterise the Superdarn antennas at the\nAntarctic which study the ionosphere.\n\nZACUBE-1 information\nhttp://www.cput.ac.za/fsati\nhttp://www.amsatsa.org.za/\n\nFirst image captured by TshepisoSat (ZACUBE-1)\nhttp://amsat-uk.org/2013/12/15/first-image-captured-by-tshepisosat-\nzacube-1/\n\n\n[ANS thanks SatNews Daily and AMSAT-UK for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nOSCAR DEMO and Youth Forum MAY 3, 2014\n\n\nThe K4AMG Memorial Amateur Radio Club, Inc. in Chesapeake, Virginia\nis sponsoring a OSCAR Satellite seminar and OSCAR Demo at the Deep\nCreek Public Library on May 3rd.\nOur portable OSCAR station will be operational from 0900 - at least\n1700 EDT.  An OSCAR and Youth Forum will be held in the main meeting\nroom of the library at 1500 EDT.\n\nWe will feature an amateur radio display inside.\nAMSAT- NA will provide a CUBE SAT simulator.\n\nSATCOMS will be on OSCAR SATs:\nFO 29, VO 52, SO 50, and AO 7 if available.\nWe will listen for AO 73 and the International Space Station.\n\nWe also plan to have a HF \"GOTA\" station on the air.\nPlease Join us, You've \"GOTA\" Get on the AIR\n\n\n[ANS thanks Rich, W4BUE for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nUpcoming AMSAT Events\n\n\nInformation about AMSAT activities at other important events around\nthe country.  Examples of these events are radio club meetings where\nAMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working\namateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with\nAMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations,\nforums, and/or demonstrations).\n\nFriday and Saturday, 14-15 March 2014 – Acadiana Amateur Radio\nAssociation‘s Rayne Hamfest and ARRL Delta Division Convention at the\nRayne Civic Center in Rayne LA.  AMSAT will have a booth at this\nevent, and there may be satellite demonstrations during the event.\n\nSaturday, 15 March 2014 – Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club‘s Springfest\nin Scottsdale AZ (northeast of Phoenix).  AMSAT will have a table at\nthis hamfest, and satellite demonstrations are planned.\nDemonstrations at this hamfest will be done using the call sign\nW1AW/7 as part of the ARRL centennial commemorations, and QSLing will\nbe handled by ARRL.\n\nSaturday, 29 March 2014 – Radio Society of Tucson‘s 2014 Hamfest in\nTucson AZ.  AMSAT will have a table at this hamfest, and satellite\ndemonstrations are planned.\n\nSaturday, 5 April 2014 – The Greater Baltimore Hamboree and\nComputerfest 2014, including the Maryland Emergency Preparedness Expo\n2014, at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium MD.  AMSAT will\nhave a booth at this hamfest, and other AMSAT-related events may be\nplanned.\n\nSaturday, 5 April 2014 – Amateur Radio Club of Parker County‘s\nWeatherford Hamfest at the Central Christian Church in Weatherford TX\n(west of Fort Worth).  AMSAT will have a table at this event, and\nthere may be satellite demonstrations during the hamfest.\n\nMonday, 28 April 2014 – presentation at Franklin County Amateur\nRadio Club meeting in Greenfield MA by Barry Baines WD4ASW (AMSAT\nPresident)\n\nSaturday, 3 May 2014 – Cochise Amateur Radio Association‘s Larry\nWarren Hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ (southeast of Tucson) – AMSAT will\nhave a table at this hamfest, and satellite demonstrations are\nplanned.\n\nSaturday, 7 June 2014 – Kachina Amateur Radio Club‘s White Mountain\nHamfest in Show Low AZ (eastern Arizona, south of US-60/AZ-77/AZ-260)\n– AMSAT will have a table at this hamfest, and satellite\ndemonstrations are planned.\n\nFriday and Saturday, 13-14 June 2014 – Ham-Com in Plano TX (north of\nDallas)\n\nThursday through Sunday, 17-20 July 2014 – ARRL Centennial\nConvention in Hartford CT.  AMSAT will host a day-long Satellite\nWorkshop on Thursday, and have a booth at the convention along with\nan AMSAT Forum and demonstrations throughout the convention.\n\nSaturday and Sunday, 30-31 August 2014 – Shelby Hamfest in Shelby NC\n(west of Gastonia and Charlotte) – Barry Baines WD4ASW (AMSAT\nPresident) will host an AMSAT Forum on Saturday of this weekend\n\nFriday through Sunday, 12-14 September 2014 – ARRL Southwestern\nDivision Convention 2014 in San Diego CA (north of the city center,\nnear Montgomery Field airport & I-805/CA-163 interchange) – AMSAT\nwill have a booth at this convention, there will be on-air\ndemonstrations using satellites throughout the convention, and a\npresentation on amateur satellites and AMSAT\n\nAMSAT maintains and updated list of known upcoming events at\nhttp://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=218\n\n\n[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above announcement]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nARISS News\n\n\nRecent Contacts:\n\nA direct contact between astronaut Mike Hopkins KF5LJG and students\nat Rock Bridge Elementary School, Columbia, MO, USA was successful\nWed 2014-03-05.\n\nA direct contact with students at Central Square Middle School in\nCentral Square, NY, USA was successful Mon 2014-03-03.\n\nA direct contact with students at Musashino Elementary School of\nHamura-shi, Hamura, Japan was successful Sat 2014-03-01.\n\nA direct contact with students at Exploration Place, Wichita, KS, USA\nvia WØSOE was successful Fri 2014-02-28.\n\n\nNext planned event(s):\n\n  1. A direct contact with students at H. J. Cambie Secondary,\nRichmond, British Columbia, Canada, via VE7RAR is a go for:\nThu 2014-03-13 17:04:41 UTC 54 deg.\n\n\nHJ Cambie Secondary is a public school in the Richmond School\nDistrict in British Columbia. We enroll approximately 700 students\nfrom grade 8-12. Cambie is comprised of a diverse cultural population\nof students. The student population of Cambie is composed of many\ndifferent cultures along with thirty different language groups – 67%\nof our student population speaks a language other than English at\nhome.\n\nCambie students are known for being strong leaders in our community.\nWe offer a variety of courses in Mathematics, Sciences, Social\nStudies, the Arts, Business Ed, Athletics, and Modern Languages.\nCambie has a thriving Leadership program that begins in Gr 8 with our\nPathways program. Students in our leadership program give back a\ngreat deal to our community and fundraise for local charities. We\nhave a strong Health Science program with work experience\nopportunities for our students and First responder training. In\naddition, Cambie has a world-class robotics club who competed at the\nWorld Robotics Championships last year in Orlando.\n\nCambie students are comparing the uniqueness of the ARISS contact to\nthe first steps on the moon! This is a once in a lifetime experience\nfor them and big on the \"coolness factor\"!!! We feel like we have won\nthe lottery! This opportunity has brought a new energy to our\nclassrooms. The staff and students are engaging in learning on levels\nthat transcend the classroom walls. Music classes are performing\nspace theme songs, computer CADD classes are designing digital\nmission patches, foods classes are learning about nutrition in space\nand our Health Science students are discussing how physiology is\naffected with space travel! The engagement opportunities the ARISS\ncontact has provided our school are endless. We are celebrating the\nMarch 2014 ARISS contact with a 1.5 hour live show with speakers from\nMDA (makers of the Canadarm) and Urthecast (who’s cameras were just\ninstalled on the ISS), and interactive shows from Science World and\nthe HR MacMillan Science Centre. Our ARISS contact is being video\nsimulcast to a second gym in our school (where many elementary\nstudents are also joining us), and broadcast to the web where other\nschools across the district (and world) will be watching the live\nvideo feed!\n\n\n  2. A direct contact with students at Warren Consolidated Schools,\nWarren, MI, USA via W8HP is a go for: Fri 2014-03-14 16:22:57 UTC 59\ndeg.\n\n\nThe mission of the Warren Consolidated Schools (WCS) district, in\npartnership with families and community, is to achieve a level of\nexcellence in teaching and learning which enables all students to\nbecome knowledgeable, productive, ethical, and successful citizens.\nTo help meet that goal, WCS supports programs in Science, Technology,\nEngineering, and Mathematics (STEM), which give students a real hands-\non experience in education.\n\nThe Middle School Mathematics Science Technology Center [(MS)2TC]\nhas been built on the Warren Consolidated Schools district's\ninternationally successful high school, the Macomb Mathematics\nScience Technology Center (MMSTC). While the high school program\nintegrates seamlessly mathematics, science and technology, the middle\nschool program integrates mathematics, science and informational\nliteracy (reading and writing) with technology infused into each\narea. Both programs provide students with real-world, project-based\nlearning activities that challenge their thinking, broadens their\nunderstanding of the world, and stretches their knowledge base while\nmeeting the developmental needs of the students they serve.\n\nThe (MS)2TC student population consists of students from five\ndifferent middle schools within the WCS district while the MMSTC\nstudent population draws from eleven different school districts\nwithin the county of Macomb in southeastern Michigan. Both schools\nserve a diverse community of students who come from various\nsocioeconomic and ethnic groups.\n\nThe program goals of the MMSTC and (MS)2TC are to research, design,\nimplement, and develop a powerful, unique learning environment and\nexperience for high achieving students at the middle school and high\nschool level that integrates mathematics, science, English language\narts, and technology. To achieve this goal we have created a\ncurriculum framework based upon the Next Generation Science Standards\n(NGSS) which integrates mathematics and literacy standards mirrored\nin the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).\n\nARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering\nthe participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA,\nCNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from\nparticipating countries.\n\nARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the\nexcitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers on-\nboard the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and\ncommunities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS\ncan energize youngsters' interest in science, technology, and\nlearning. Further information on the ARISS program is available on\nthe website\nhttp://www.ariss.org/\n(graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of Canada).\n\n\n[ ANS thanks ARISS for the above update]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nSatellite Shorts from all over\n\n\nN5AFV Upcoming Operation from California DM13\n\nThursday, March 13, 2014 through Sunday March 16, 2014 N5AFV will be\nin southern California DM13. Plans are to operate SO-50 passes when\nthe schedule permits. Operating equipment will be an Icom W32A HT with\na telescoping AL800 antenna. Satellite regulars N6NUG and WA6DIR are\noften active from DM12 and DM14 respectively, but DM13 is not\nactivated as frequently on the satellites.\n\n\nGreat Houston Hamfest Activities\n\nThe Houston AMSAT Group will have an AMSAT booth and satellite\ndemonstrations at the Greater Houston Hamfest on Saturday March 22,\n2014. The satellite demonstrations will take place during the morning\nhours probably on FO-29 and SO-50. Other satellites may also be used\nif conditions permit. The Greater Houston Hamfest continues to grow\nand attendance is approaching one thousand persons.\n\n[ANS thanks Allen Mattis, N5AFV for the above information]\n\n\nHAM TV commissioning, Web-Video Link\n\nVideo from the HAM-TV Control Room in Italy during the commissioning\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_tYmZOoRn4\n\n[ANS thanks ARISS and Francesco, IK0WGF for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n\n/EX\n\n\nIn addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the\nPresident's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining\ndonors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi-\ntional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT\nOffice.\n\nPrimary and secondary school students are eligible for membership\nat one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students\nenrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-\ndent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.\nContact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership\ninformation.\n\n73,\nThis week's ANS Editor,\nJoe Spier, K6WAO\nk6wao at amsat dot org\n",
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