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    "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/ISZETPS2KFD5TQEBDQOR2LDDUNDKUNA6/?format=api",
    "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/?format=api",
    "message_id": "CAM5+sovKCMjiqqoUut7KQR0AyUUszQcTmKeo=rqw-hFTq9FowA@mail.gmail.com",
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    "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/ISZETPS2KFD5TQEBDQOR2LDDUNDKUNA6/?format=api",
    "sender": {
        "address": "mccardelm (a) gmail.com",
        "mailman_id": "147f14b8d896456cbff7f12049b091a2",
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    },
    "sender_name": "E.Mike McCardel",
    "subject": "[ans] ANS-031 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins",
    "date": "2016-01-31T03:26:18Z",
    "parent": null,
    "children": [],
    "votes": {
        "likes": 0,
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    "content": "AMSAT NEWS SERVICE\nANS-031\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* Weekly engineering report for Phase 4 radio project from AMSAT\n* Write About Satellites, Space and Radio!\n* UFO Researcher To Launch CubeSat To Search For E.T. Close To Home\n* Pair of Satellites ejected from ISS for In-Space Navigation Exercise\n* LilacSat-2 FM Transponder\n* 6W8CK on Satellite\n* IARU Paper: APRS Harmonization and removal of OSCAR sub-band\n* ISS Orbit Boosted Ahead of March Crew Swap - Check Your Elements\n* ARISS News\n* Satellite Shorts From All Over\n\n\nSB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-031.01\nANS-031 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins\n\nAMSAT News Service Bulletin 031.01\n>From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.\n[MONTH DAY, YEAR]\nTo All RADIO AMATEURS\nBID: $ANS-031.01\n\n\nWeekly engineering report for Phase 4 radio project from AMSAT\n\nThe Phase 4 Ground weekly report focuses on the current modulation\nschemes. We're looking at DVB-S2X to receive, and OQPSK to transmit.\n\nRepository for documents and software can be found:\nhttps://github.com/phase4ground\n\nWe have nearly 50 volunteers on the mailing list and activity across\nthe country. We're working hard to make a wonderful radio for AMSAT\nand terrestrial microwave, and we appreciate your support, feedback,\ncomments, and critique.\n\nDVB-S2 stands for Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second\nGeneration. There is a recent extension to this standard, called DVB-\nS2X, that has very low SNR capabilities and a lot of other goodies.\nThe geo project, ascent, and eventually the high earth orbit project,\nare expected to transmit using DVB-S2X. This is the foundation of our\ncommon air interface.\n\nDVB-S2X specifies the modulation and coding for our received signal.\nThere are five major landmarks.\nOne, an input stream adapter. Input streams can be packetized or\ncontinuous, from single or multiple sources. This is helpful!\n\nTwo, forward error correction. Our type is low density parity check\ncodes concatenated with BCH codes. What does this mean?\n\nA concatenated code is one that combines two different coding\nschemes. In coding theory, there's a fundamental problem in that\nfinding a really great code that has very low probability of error\nusually means that the block length has to go up, and the decoding is\nmore and more complex. When you use two codes together that each have\nparticular strengths, they balance each other out. You can get\nexponentially decreasing error probabilities, but you only have to\npay a polynomially increasing cost in terms of code block length.\nThis may seem complicated, but just remember concatenation is codes\ndoing teamwork, and the standard that we're using is bad ass.\nOur inner low density parity check code can achieve extremely low\nerror rates near channel capacity. This means, it's about as good as\nyou can get. The outer BCH codes are used to correct sporadic errors\nmade by the LDPC decoder, and to trick it out so that we don't have\nenormous block lengths and stuff like that.\n\nThree, we have a wide range of code rates. The code rate is\nexpressed as a fraction. The top number is how many uncoded bits go\nin. The bottom number is how many coded bits come out. We have four\nconstellations. This is the the type of transformation from bits to\nsymbols. We have great choices here, and DVB-S2X provides additional\nchoices.\n\nFour, there is a variety of spectral shaping available to us in DVB-\nS2. This is a really neat thing. You can change the pulse shape of a\ntransmitted waveform in order to make it better suited for the radio\nenvironment it's expecting to be traveling through. Usually this\nmeans making it fit into a bandwidth better. You don't get something\nfor nothing, though, so being too aggressive with the pulse shaping\nshows up in other aspects. Our particular shaping is different levels\nof raised-cosign filtering. DVB-S2X provides additional levels of\nshaping.\n\nFive, this standard lets us learn and develop with something very\nmuch like cognitive radio. As you can see, there are a lot of choices\nfor coding and modulation. We can specify a fixed coding and\nmodulation. This is called CCM for constant coding and modulation. In\nthe past, people like us looked at a link, designed for the worst\ncase solution, and used coding and modulation that would cover almost\nall the bases. DVB-S2 has CCM, but it also specifies something called\nvariable coding and modulation, or VCM. The coding and modulation can\nbe changed on a frame-by-frame basis in response to different station\ntypes or changes in the channel. In addition to that, there is\nsomething called adaptive coding and modulation, or ACM, where\nmodulation and coding automagically adapts. This can happen on a\nframe by frame basis.\n\nDVB-S2 has things called annexes. In annex M, there's a\nspecification for something we've already talked about wanting to do.\nWe want to map the transmitted services or station streams into time\nslices and then recover information without having to demodulate the\nentire signal.\n\nDVB-S2 follows the usual flow of having input data coded up to\nremove unnecessary redundancy, which is called source coding, and\nthen it is put into one of two different stream types. Because DVB-S2\nis designed for MPEG streams, it has a lot of mechanisms for MPEG\ndata types, and I believe that this is the transport stream path in\nthe drawing. We aren't going to use MPEG, so we fall into the generic\nstream category.\n\nThe functional blocks of DVB-S2 include these things in trapezoids.\nMode adaptation, which starts to build up the data frames by\nconstructing the right header to go with the data. Stream adaptation,\nwhich adds in the right amount of padding and scrambling. Forward\nerror correction, which produces coded frames that are of one of two\nsizes. Mapping to constellations, which is the modulation. Finally,\nthere is physical layer framing. An open question is how minimal of a\nstation can be supported? Driving it down as low as possible is going\nto be fun and challenging.\n\nWhat we are anticipating is that the space teams will obtain an\nimplementation of a DVB-S2X transmitter. Talks are already underway\nfor this. Phase 4 ground is going to engineer the various DVB-S2X\nreceivers. Standards documents are already in the repository and work\nis beginning. Get off the bench and hit the books!\n\nSo let's talk a bit about some changes in the uplink for phase 4\nradios. We were MSK, or minimum shift keying, but we are now OQPSK,\nor offset quadrature phase shift keying. That is what the payload\nteam is currently designing for.\n\nLike MSK, Offset QPSK has no more than a 90 degree phase shift at a\ntime. This is good. In order to create this, you begin with a QPSK\nsignal, where you take two data bits at a time. These two binary data\nbits make four distinct values. Each of these values are mapped onto\nfour transmit phase shifts.\n\nFor offset QPSK, the odd and even bits coming into the modulator\nhave a timing offset, of one bit period. Hence the name. That means\nthe in-phase and quadrature signals, the I and the Q, never change at\nthe same time.\n\nThe power spectral density of QPSK and Offset QPSK is the same. The\nshift in time doesn't effect that.\n\nUplink experiments are beginning. We started putting together Team\nHackRF, which will investigate the use of HackRF SDRs as one of the\nphase 4 radio recipes. Lots of other experiments to work out other\nrecipes for amateurs to experiment need to happen too. If you have a\nset of hardware and you want to work in parallel, then speak up. The\nUSRPs will get into the act ASAP, some people have BladeRFs, and so\non.\n\nReview the weekly report at\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0CMv0pJHgY&feature=share\n\n[ANS thanks Michelle W5NYV for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nWrite About Satellites, Space and Radio!\n\nThe AMSAT Journal is seeking interesting articles about amateur\nradio satellites, space and radio – topics that feed the passion of\nAMSAT members. Whether the focus is working the birds, new products,\nbuilding a new piece of equipment or an entire station, writing\nsoftware, training or doing demos, or anything else related to\namateur radio in space, please consider sharing your experience and\nexpertise with other AMSAT members by writing for the Journal.\n\nDesired article length (rough guidelines):\n  Short articles – 800-1400 words\n  Longer articles – 2000-2500 words\n\nFind out more about writer’s guidelines here.  Photos, diagrams or\nother images always help illustrate your points or projects.\n\nIf you are interested in seeing your byline in The AMSAT Journal and\nsharing what you’ve learned with other members, email us at\[email protected].\n\n[ANS thanks Joseph KB6IGK for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nUFO Researcher To Launch CubeSat To Search For E.T. Close To Home\n\nAn engineer turned UFO researcher is hoping to launch a low-earth\norbit CubeSat to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life.\nCanadian Dave Cote has assembled a seven-person team to design, fund,\nbuild and launch the project that he hopes will provide some answers\nabout the origins of recent unidentified object sightings across the\nglobe.\n\n“We have had astronauts, military personnel, police officers and the\nformer Defence Minister of Canada come forward stating that\nextraterrestrial UFOs are real, and that we are being visited,” says\nCote. “How can this be ignored and brushed off as nonsense?”\nConcerned that the public isn’t getting straight answers, the group\nhas turned to crowdsourcing the project on Kickstarter.\n\nMeasuring roughly the size of a shoebox, CubeSats can pack a lot of\nscience equipment into a small space. They have also made satellite\ndeployment much more affordable, in some cases costing less than the\nprice of a lower-end automobile. Sites like CubeSatShop.com have\ntaken much of the complexity out of ordering needed components.\n\nCote says they’re a “go for launch” already but are looking for more\nfunding so they can pack it with as much science equipment as\npossible. They aim to include image, infrared, electromagnetic, and\nradiation sensors. This would give them the capability of not only\nverifying visual data, but also correlating it with other events such\nas electromagnetic and radioactive fluctuations.\n\nThe team plans to measure ionized radiation with a scintillation\ncounter and two cameras will capture a near 360-degree view around\nthe CubeSat. They plan to remove the infrared filters on the cameras\nto cover more of the visual range.\n\nCote hopes to use amateur radio frequencies to transmit the data\nback to earth and a worldwide network of ham volunteers to receive it.\n\n“We are planning to use the ham frequencies to send data down from\nthe CubeSat to earth in hex or datafax protocol,” says Cote. “From\nwhat we understand, we should be able to send a 100kB packet every\nfew minutes and this will enable us to send image thumbnails from\nspace, along with some basic EM data.”\n\nWhile the details of the transmissions have yet to be determined,\nCote hopes to assemble a worldwide team of hams willing to receive\nand log whatever data the satellite captures.\n\n“We need help from the ham community, in capturing the data and\nrelaying it to our site,” he says. “There will be a 15-minute window\nfor download from the CubeSat, and then another volunteer would be\nneeded for the next 15-minute time window.”\n\nCote is cautiously optimistic that the satellite will provide\ncorroboration of UFO reports from eyewitnesses on Earth. But even if\nthe satellite doesn’t capture evidence of faraway visitors, he’s\nhopeful that it will record interesting natural phenomenon like\nmeteors and solar flares.\n\n“We can only hope that those who would like to know the truth will\nstep forward and help,” he says.\n\nTo learn more about the project or to volunteer, visit their\nKickStarter page.\nhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1889966504/cubesat-for-disclosure\n\n[ANS thanks Matt W1MST and AmateurRadio.com for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nPair of Satellites ejected from ISS for In-Space Navigation Exercise\n\nA package of two satellites was ejected from the International Space\nStation on Friday to begin a mission dedicated to a demonstration of\nautonomous navigation, rendezvous and docking technology. The second\nLONESTAR mission is comprised of two satellites built by two American\nUniversities to undertake a demonstration of communication cross\nlinks, data exchange, GPS-based navigation, relative navigation,\nstationkeeping and data transmission to the ground.\n\nLONESTAR stands for \"Low Earth Orbiting Navigation Experiment for\nSpacecraft Testing Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking\" and includes\nfour missions flown over a period of years in a cost-effective\ntechnology development program with the goal of mastering autonomous\nrendezvous and docking. The second LONESTAR mission consists of the\nAggieSat4 satellite built at Texas A&M and BEVO-2 built by students\nat the University of Texas. The smaller BEVO-2 satellite is\nfacilitated within a deployer on the AggieSat4 spacecraft to be\nreleased once the two have flown well clear of the International\nSpace Station.\n\nThe two satellites, already packaged, were sent to the Space Station\naboard the Cygnus OA-4 mission. Launching satellites to ISS for\ndeployment has the advantage of allowing the satellites to be\nlaunched well-packaged to avoid damage and providing the opportunity\nof an inspection in space to check for any damage encountered during\nlaunch before committing them to flight.\n\nGiven the size of the AggieSat4 satellite, the deployment conducted\non Friday made use of the SSIKLOPS deployment mechanism, going by the\nfull name \"Space Station Integrated Kinetic Launcher for Orbital\nPayload Systems.\" SSIKLOPS can be used to deploy larger satellites of\ndifferent shapes up to a mass of 110 Kilograms. It is a flat\nstructure that includes grapple fixtures for the robotic arms of the\nSpace Station and a single grapple fixture for the satellite that is\nto be deployed. The fixture includes clamps and springs for the\ndeployment of the satellite. Overall, the structure is 127 by 61 by\n7.6 centimeters in size. It also includes interfaces for the slide\ntable of the JEM Airlock.\n\nSSIKLOPS first saw action in 2014 when deploying the SpinSat\nspacecraft and spent most of its time in storage aboard ISS, awaiting\nthe deployment of future satellites. Final preparations for Friday's\ndeployment were made on Wednesday when ISS Astronauts Scott Kelly and\nTim Peake installed the SSIKLOPS deployer on the Slide Table of the\nKibo module's airlock followed by the installation of the Small Fine\nArm (SFA) Plate on the deployer and the attachment of the LONESTAR\nsatellite package. The slide table was then retracted and the airlock\nsealed off for depressurization on Thursday.\n\nThe outer hatch of the airlock was opened and a careful ground-\ncontrolled operation started to retrieve the SSIKLOPS deployer and\nhand it from the Small Fine Arm to the Japanese Robotic Arm that was\nthen positioned for the deployment to ensure the satellite departed\nto the correct direction, ruling out any possibility of re-contact\nwith ISS on subsequent orbits. Release was triggered just before\n16:00 UTC on Friday and the LONESTAR package slowly floated away from\nISS, embarking on its mission that will last as long as the\nsatellites can remain in orbit, typically between six and twelve\nmonths.\n\nDrifting away from the Space Station, LONESTAR showed slight body\nrates on all three axes as it slowly faded into the distance. The\nMission Team confirmed they were happy with the observed body rates\nand declared the deployment a success. Congratulations were exchanged\nbetween the different teams involved in the deployment - NASA's\nMission Control, the JAXA Control Center in Japan, Payload\nControllers in Huntsville and the payload's operators in Texas.\n\nThe spacecraft was programmed to power-up automatically ten minutes\nafter release, perform a health check and start transmitting\ntelemetry. Acquisition of signal was expected later on Friday to\nbegin a multi-day checkout campaign ahead of the satellite conducting\nits de-tumble maneuver to enter a three-axis stabilized attitude\nsetting up for the deployment of BEVO-2.\n\nThe AggieSat4 satellite, developed and manufactured at Texas A&M\nUniversity, has a mass of approximately 55 Kilograms and measures 75\nx 75 x 35 centimeters in size. The satellite hosts body-mounted solar\npanels for power generation and is equipped with a three-axis\nattitude determination and control system with an actuation accuracy\nof two degrees, making use of reaction wheels and magnetic torquers.\nThe Electrical Power System hosts two battery packs delivering an\noperational voltage of 34 V and a capacity of 95 Watt-hours.\n\nAggieSat4 hosts two low-data-rate (LDR) radios, a high-data-rate\n(HDR) radio, a crosslink radio for short-range communication with the\nBevo-2 satellite, and a DRAGON GPS Payload.\n\nAggieSat4 will be tasked with completing a number of mission\nobjectives: demonstrating three-axis stabilization, the collection of\nGPS data, recording video of the release of BEVO-2 with a 2MP camera,\ncomputing and crosslinking relative navigation data based on relative\nGPS measurements and tracking BEVO-2 based on these navigation\nsolutions.\n\nThe 4.2-Kilogram BEVO-2 satellite uses the 3U CubeSat Form Factor,\n10 x 10 x 34 centimeters, employing an ISIPOD for deployment from\nAggieSat4. The satellite features 24 solar cells installed on its\nexternal panels to deliver power to 6 batteries operating at a\nvoltage of 7.4 V.\n\nBEVO-2 has four deployable radio antennas and GPS patch antennas.\nAttitude determination is accomplished with gyroscopes,\nmagnetometers, a star tracker and sun sensor while attitude actuation\nemploys reaction wheels and magnetic torquers. To connect with\nAggieSat4 for the exchange of navigation data, the spacecraft hosts a\ncrosslink radio unit while communications with the ground make use of\na UHF/VHF terminal for data downlink and command uplink.\n\nThe satellite is outfitted with a cold gas thruster module holding\n90 grams of Dupont R-236fa refrigerant stored at pressure to be\nreleased for maneuvers of the satellite for stationkeeping and\nrendezvous exercises with AggieSat4.\n\nAs the second of four LONESTAR missions, AggieSat4 and BEVO-2 build\non the success of the previous mission in 2009 as part of a program\noutlined to make successive progress towards the ultimate goal of\nachieving an autonomous rendezvous and docking of two satellites. The\nautonomy aspect of LONESTAR is of particular importance for future\nmissions to distant targets where communication delays require\nspacecraft to act autonomously.\n\n[ANS thanks spaceflight101.com for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nLilacSat-2 FM Transponder\n\nPaul Stoetzer reports:\n\"I have noticed that LilacSat-2's FM transponder has been on nearly\ncontinuously for the past four days They may be keeping it active\ncontinuously during the holiday period in China.\n\nIt's worth checking out if you haven't worked it yet. It's got a\ngood signal and can be easier to track than SO-50 because the carrier\nstays active for a period when not receiving signals. The downlink\nantenna also uses circular polarization, so there is less fading when\nusing linear antennas than on SO-50.\n\nUplink: 144.350 MHz FM (No PL)\nDownlink: 437.200 MHz FM\n\nKeep in mind that this uplink frequency is not within the normal\n145.800 - 146.000 MHz satellite subband on two meters, though this\nfrequency is within the 144.300 - 144.500 MHz \"New OSCAR subband\" in\nthe ARRL band plan and is allocated to the Amateur Satellite Service\n(as is the entirety of 144 - 146 MHz). On passes over the United\nStates, quite a few packet signals can be heard through the\ntransponder.\n\nIf you use LoTW, the satellite name to use when uploading QSOs is\n'CAS-3H.'\n\n[ANS thanks Paul N8HM for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n6W8CK on Satellite\n\nConrad, 6W8CK, will be active on satellites from IK14 near Mbour,\nSenegal until mid-February. He does not wish to publish his private\nemail, but is interested in skeds with North American stations who are\nin range. If you are interested in setting up a sked, please look up\nyour mutual windows and email me. I will contact Conrad with a list of\noperators and mutual windows.\n\nHe will try to be active on CW near 145.930 on AO-7 and 435.830 on\nFO-29 during the afternoons, but may also be available on late night /\nearly morning passes for skeds.\n\nConrad is using a Yaesu FT-736R and an Elk antenna mounted up 5 meter\nabove ground. He does occasionally lose power, so keep this in mind if\nyou do not hear him on a particular pass.\n\nQSL only via the DARC bureau to his home call, DF7OL. He may also\nreturn to Senegal from November 2016 - February 2017.\n\n[ANS thanks Paul, N8HM for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nIARU Paper: APRS Harmonization and removal of OSCAR sub-band\n\nIARU Region 1 has released the papers for the Interim Meeting to be\nheld in Vienna April 15-17, 2016.\n\nAmong the papers for the C5 VHF/UHF/Microwave Committee is one on\nharmonizing APRS.\n\nVIE16_C5_41_1.pdf – 144 /435 MHz APRS Harmonisation\n\nThe paper covers global band planning considerations and among the\nrecommendations says:\n\nEmphasise that spaceborne APRS must be confined to globally\ncoordinated amateur satellite sub bands. Therefore items that are\nambiguous and generate confusion in national band plans such as\n‘Space communications’ and ‘New Oscar Sub band’ should be removed as\nsoon as possible in all Regions in accordance with IARU-AC and\nSatellite Coordination guidance\n\nIt is believed that ‘New Oscar Sub band’ refers to the USA’s ARRL\n144 MHz band plan and ‘Space communications’  to the Australian WIA\n144 MHz band plan. These band plans, as well as those for some other\ncountries, show 144.300 – 144.500 MHz as being for Amateur Satellite\nuse.\n\nDirect link for C5 VHF/UHF/Microwave Papers\nhttp://tinyurl.com/ANS031-Microwave\n\nLinks for all committee papers and email addresses of Committee\nChairs are at\nhttp://tinyurl.com/ANS031-IARU\n\nARRL 144 MHz Band Plan http://www.arrl.org/band-plan\n\nWIA 144 MHz Band Plan http://tinyurl.com/ANS031-APRS\n\n[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nISS Orbit Boosted Ahead of March Crew Swap - Check Your Elements\n\nThe International Space Station raised its orbit Wednesday afternoon\nbefore a pair of crews swap places and a cargo ship arrives in March.\nOne-year crew members Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of\nRoscosmos are set to return home March 1 along with Russian cosmonaut\nSergey Volkov. Then, Expedition 47 will begin and three new crew\nmembers will arrive March 19. New supplies are scheduled to be\ndelivered to the crew March 31 aboard a Progress 63 cargo craft.\n\nThe orbiting Expedition 46 crew was back at work Tuesday on a series\nof life science and physics experiments to benefit life on Earth and\ncrews living in space. Commander Scott Kelly explored maximizing the\neffects of exercise in space while British astronaut Tim Peake\nstudied how living in space affects using touch-based technologies,\nrepairing sensitive equipment and a variety of other tasks. NASA\nastronaut Tim Kopra researched how materials burn in space.\n\nTwo cosmonauts resized their Russian Orlan spacesuits today, checked\nthem for leaks and set up hardware before next week’s maintenance\nspacewalk. Flight Engineers Sergey Volkov and Yuri Malenchenko will\nwork outside Feb. 3 in their Orlan suits to install hardware and\nscience experiments on the orbital lab’s Russian segment.\n\n[ANS thanks blogs.nasa,gov for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nARISS News\n\n+ A Successful contact was made between Brihaspati Vidyasadan,\nKathmandu, Nepal and Astronaut Timothy Peake KG5BVI using Callsign\nNA1SS. The contact began 2016-01-20 08:37 UTC  and lasted about nine\nand a half minutes. Contact was telebridge via VK5ZAI. ARISS Mentor\nwas 7M3TJZ. This event represents the 984th ARISS contact. A YouTube\nvideo of the evnt can be seen here\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25gCS1JTPxA\n\nUpcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-01-27\n\nChrist The King School,  Rutland, Vermont, telebridge via VK4KHZ)\nThe ISS callsign is presently  scheduled to be NA1SS. The scheduled\nastronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN\nContact is a go for: Thu 2016-02-04 18:28:16 UTC\n\n\"Gesmundo Moro Fiore\" Secondary School, Terlizzi, Italy, telebridge\nvia LU1CGB. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be  NA1SS. The\nscheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI.\nContact is a go for: Sat 2016-02-06 09:09:01 UTC\n\n[ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above\ninformation]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nSatellite Shorts From All Over\n\n+ Congrats to Steve Kristoff, AI9IN, for having worked 5 hams in the\n  EM55 grid.\n  To earn 5 in EM55 award #59, please check out\n  http://www.starcommgroup.org for the awards offered.\n\n  [ANS thanks Damon Runion, WA4HFN, for the above information]\n\n+ The Colorado Amateur Satellite Net is held 7PM mountain time on\n  Thursdays 6PM Pacific. 7PM Mountain, 8PM Central, 9PM Eastern\n\n  For more information visit http://www.amsatnet.info/\n\n  [ANS thanks Skyler KD0WHB for the above information]\n\n+ The Jan/Feb issue of The AMSAT Journal is off to the printer.\n\n  [ANS thanks Joseph KB6IGK for the above information]\n\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n/EX\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,\nEMike McCardel, AA8EM (former KC8YLD)\nkc8yld at amsat dot org\n",
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