AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-180
ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North
America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the
activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an
active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating
through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor(a)amsat.org
**************************************************************
*** 2008 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting ***
*** October 24-26 in Atlanta, Georgia ***
*** See The AMSAT Website for Latest Info on This ***
*** Annual Meeting of Our Group ***
**************************************************************
In this edition:
* ARRL Clarifies ISS Satellite Category
* Final Call for Papers - AMSAT UK Colloquium
* IARU-News Release
* HAM RADIO IN SPACE: CELEBRATING 45 YEARS OF WOMEN IN SPACE
* Stanford Cubesat Ground Station Survey
* Upcoming ISS Scheduled Contacts
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-180.01
ARRL Clarifies ISS Satellite Category
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 180.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 29, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-180.01
Word was received this week from Sean Kutzko, KX9X, the Contest
Branch Manager at the ARRL clarifying the rules in regard to the
ISS amateur radio operations.
Sean wrote, "At the request of several in the satellite community,
I spent some time last evening reviewing data presented to me con-
cerning my ruling that the ISS would not count for satellite QSO
credit during Field Day."
"After reviewing the data last evening, I have come to the conclusion
that my first ruling was incorrect; The ISS is indeed eligible for
satellite QSO credit during Field Day."
I hope everybody had fun this weekend.
[ANS thanks Sean KX9X at the ARRL for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-180.02
Final Call for Papers - AMSAT UK Colloquium
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 180.02
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 29, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-180.02
This is the final call for speakers/papers for the 23rd Amsat-UK
Colloquium which will be held at Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey,
U.K., from Friday 25th July to Sunday 27th July 2008.
Details of this and previous events can be found at:
http://www.uk.amsat.org.
Amsat-UK invite speakers, about amateur radio space and associated
activities, for this event. They are also invited to submit papers
for the "Proceedings" document which will be published at the same
time but printed papers are not mandatory. We normally prefer
authors to present talks themselves rather than having someone else
give them in the authors' absence. We also welcome
"unpresented" papers for the Proceedings document.
Offers of talks should be submitted as soon as possible; the final
date for full documents to be received is July 16th 2008 in order
that the "Proceedings" document be available to participants.
Submissions should be sent *ONLY* to G4DPZ, via the following routes:
Internet e-mail: david dot johnson at blackepper do co dot uk
SnailMail: QTHR from http://www.qrz.com
73
Dave
G4DPZ
[ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-180.03
IARU-News Release
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 180.03
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 29, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-180.03
26 June 2008
For immediate release
IARU Officer Nominations Agreed for 2009-2014 Term
The Administrative Council (AC) of the International Amateur Radio Union
(IARU) held its annual meeting on 24-25 June 2008 in Konstanz, Germany
and took the following actions.
1. The consultative process leading to nominations for IARU President
and Vice President for the five-year term beginning on 9 May 2009 was
completed between the AC and the American Radio Relay League, the IARU
member-society that serves as the International Secretariat. IARU
President Larry Price, W4RA had announced in 2007 that he was not
available to serve an additional term. The AC agreed that Vice President
Tim Ellam, VE6SH and Region 1 President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR are
suitably qualified to serve as IARU President and Vice President,
respectively. Their nominations will be offered to the member-societies
for ratification.
2. A comprehensive review and update of the working document that
defines the additional spectrum requirements of the amateur and
amateur-satellite services was conducted. Requests from the amateur
satellite community for support of additional allocations were
considered and referred to the IARU Satellite Adviser for additional
information.
3. The IARU International Coordinator for Emergency Communications, Hans
Zimmermann, HB9AQS/F5VKP, presented his report in person. He noted the
outstanding performance of radio amateurs in China who responded to the
recent tragic earthquake emergency.
4. Reports of the other IARU international coordinators and advisers
were received. They are International Beacon Project Coordinator Peter
Jennings, AB6WM/VE3SUN; Satellite Adviser Hans van de Groenendaal,
ZS6AKV; EMC Adviser Christian Verholt, OZ8CY; and Interim Monitoring
System International Coordinator Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG.
5. An additional progress report was received from an ad hoc committee
that is investigating the future role and structure of the IARU. Work
since the previous AC meeting has refined the structure and identified
the remaining issues to be resolved.
6. A resolution offered by Region 1 that seeks to improve the operating
standards of radio amateurs was adopted. The AC endorses and recommends
the principles set out in the booklet “Ethics and Operating Procedures
for the Radio Amateur” by John Devoldere, ON4UN and Marc Demeuleneere
, ON4WW, and encourages each IARU Region to consider this booklet, with
a view to adopting it, including any Regional variations that might be
felt appropriate.
7. A study of the international QSL bureau system was commissioned. The
study will seek input from member-societies on the problems they face in
light of escalating postage and other expenses, and the anticipated
impact of electronic confirmation systems such as the ARRL’s Logbook
of the World.
8. The three-year strategic plan for the development of support for
amateur radio frequency allocations was reviewed and renewed for the
period 2008-2011. The principal focus is on preparations for the 2011
World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-11), especially the attainment
of an amateur allocation in the vicinity of 500 kHz.
9. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meetings at which
IARU representation will be required for the coming year were
identified, and plans for representation were reviewed.
10. The plans of Region 3 for the IARU presence at Telecom Asia 2008
(Bangkok, 2-5 September) and of the International Secretariat for
Telecom World 2009 (Geneva, 5-9 October) were reviewed.
11. The budget for 2009-2011 as presented by the International
Secretariat (ARRL) was reviewed. The budget includes provision for
financial contributions from the three regional organizations to defray
a portion of the expenses, in accordance with previously adopted policy.
12. The 29 March 2009 implementation of the worldwide exclusive
allocation of 7100-7200 kHz adopted at the 2003 WRC was noted and the
many contributors to this achievement were recognized.
13. “Amateur Radio: Your Resource in Disaster and Emergency
Communication” was selected as the theme for the next World Amateur
Radio Day, April 18, 2009.
14. Status reports from each of the three IARU regional organizations
were received and discussed. The next regional conference will be that
of Region 1, to be held in Cavtat, Croatia in mid-November.
Attending the Konstanz meeting were IARU President Larry Price, W4RA;
Vice President Tim Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA; Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ;
regional representatives Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, Don Beattie, G3BJ, Hans
Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AMH, Ramon Santoyo,
XE1KK, Rod Stafford, W6ROD, Michael Owen, VK3KI, Gopal Madhavan, VU2GMN,
ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, on behalf of the International
Secretariat, and recording secretary Paul Rinaldo, W4RI. IARU
International Coordinator for Emergency Communications Hans Zimmermann,
HB9AQS/F5VKP attended a portion of the meeting.
The next scheduled meeting of the AC will be held in Christchurch, New
Zealand in October 2009.
[ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-180.04
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: CELEBRATING 45 YEARS OF WOMEN IN SPACE
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 180.04
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 29, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-180.04
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: CELEBRATING 45 YEARS OF WOMEN IN SPACE
In ham radio space related news, word that special event station R45VT
is on the air. This, to commemorate the 45th Anniversary of Valentina
Vladimirovna Tereshkova becoming the first woman in space.
Tereshkova flew to orbit on June 16th 1963 as pilot onboard Vostok 6.
Her call sign during the flight was Chaika. She spent 71 hours in space
orbiting the Earth 48 times.
Since that time women have made a significant contribution to space
exploration and many of them have been licenced Radio Amateurs. A few
of the many notable women space explorers since Valentina Tereshkova
include American Sally Ride and the United Kingdom's Helen Sharman to
mention only a few.
Sharman was also the first UK woman to be issued a ham radio call for
her flight. She operated from the Mir Space Station as GB1MIR
And very apropos for this type of commemorative operation. At least one
UK ham resports that he recently worked R45VT through the VO-52 amateur
radio satellite. (Southgate)
[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-180.05
Stanford Cubesat Ground Station Survey
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 180.05
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 29, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-180.05
James Cutler, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford
University asks for help from amateur radio cubesat ground stations,
"We are conducting a survey on global ground station availability,
and we need your help! If you have a ground station, would you
please fill out our survey? It will ask you about station locations
and the characteristics of the antennas (type and frequency)".
The survey is located at:
URL: http://ssdl.stanford.edu/gs_survey/
User: gs
Password: stanford
Institution - just use your callsign
Please provide input by July 7, 2008 if possible. We will make the
results available later this summer. We will be using the data for
research on improving throughput through networks such as GENSO.
[ANS thanks James Cutler, and Graham G3VZV for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-180.06
Upcoming ISS Scheduled Contacts
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 180.06
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 29, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-180.06
ESC (Euro Space Camp) in Belgium
Simulated contact with Frank De Winne ON1DWN
Contact is a go for: Thu 2008-07-03 1900 UTC at the earliest
Watch for IRLP coverage.
Ottawa South United Soccer Club, Canada
Simulated contact with Bob Thirsk W5/VA3CSA
Contact is a go for: Thu 2008-07-03 20:55 GMT at the earliest
Watch for IRLP coverage.
Round Rock Texas Scout Pack #304 and Blackland Prairie Elementary
School, Round Rock, Texas, direct via W5KA
Contact is a go for: Fri 2008-07-04 16:32 UTC 52 deg
Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 350. (***)
Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 7.
QSL information may be found at:
http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/arissfaq.htmlhttp://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#QSL's
ISS callsigns: DP0ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RS0ISS
*****************************************************************************
The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2008-06-26 04:00 UTC.
Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and
questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and
instructions for any contact that may be streamed live.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt
The successful school list has been updated as of 2008-06-26 04:00 UTC.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf
Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing
Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correctio…
tf
Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf
*****************************************************************************
There have been rumors in the past indicating that the ISS was having
direct contacts on the 40 meter band. There is no HF radio equipment
on board and available yet. The HF antenna is mounted. Sometimes
WA3NAN will retransmit shuttle audio.
*****************************************************************************
Expedition 17 on orbit:
Sergei Volkov
Oleg Kononenko RN3DX
Gregory Chamitoff KD5PKZ
*****************************************************************************
73,
Charlie Sufana AJ9N
One of the ARISS operation team mentors
[ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-180.07
Satellite Shorts From All Over
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 180.07
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 29, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-180.07
+ Paul, 2E1EUB plans to be active on satellites from grid IO87rj near
Aberdeen, Scotland starting June 28 for 7 days. He will be using the
callsign 2M1EUB/P. There may be some low elevation opportunities to
work North America via AO-7. The QRZ.com web page 2M1EUB provides
QSL information.
+ The NanoSail-D satellite mentioned in prior ANS reports was featured
this week in a NASA web release: "This summer, NASA engineers will
try to realize a dream older than the Space Age itself: the deployment
of a working solar sail in Earth orbit. It is scheduled for launch on-
board a SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket as early as July 29, 2008. See:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/26jun_nanosaild.htm?list958901
+ The EE Times ran an article about Suitsat and SuitSat-2. The SDR
transponder aboard SuitSat-2 is based on the High Performance Software
Defined Radio "Odyssey" system. For the article see:
http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml;?articleID=208403999
(Via Graham, KE9H on the HPSDR Discussion List at http://hpsdr.org)
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
/EX
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors
to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits.
Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Dee Interdonato, NB2F
nb2f at amsat dot org
Here is the URL for donations....
I tried several and this one finally did it....
If this does not work put out a general inquiry for AMSAT-DL donations...
Anyone really interested in amateur satellite operations should put
as much as they can afford here.....
>http://www.p3e-satellite.org/index.pl?lang=en_EN
73, Dave, WB6LLO
dguimon1(a)san.rr.com
Disagree: I learn....
Pulling for P3E...
I am putting together a 436CP30. I received it this week from M Square. They sent 12 1/2 inch elements for the first director. After checking with M Square I have cut off 1/4 inch per their antenna dimensions. I just wanted to alert anyone who might also have recently acquired this antenna. Easy enough mistake to remedy.
Jim W9VNE
HI GUYS IM LOOKING FOR FIELD DAY OPPS !! THANKS TO THOSE FD STATIONS IVE WORKED!INFO AT QRZ.COM PAUL //
---------------------------------
Not happy with your email address?
Get the one you really want - millions of new email addresses available now at Yahoo!
Hi,
Just had the first clear FD pass of the ISS, and nothing heard. Anybody
else hear it?
Wouldn't it be funny if after all the hoopla about credit, it isn't on? ;(
Alan
WA4SCA
-----------------------------------
There is something fascinating about science.
One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture
from such a trifling investment of fact.
Mark Twain
The June 23, 2008 issue of "Under The Hood" (a supplement to the
EETimes) has a great article on SuitSat2. I have included the link, but
it shows really nice in the magazine article.
Congratulations to Lou McFadin and the SuitSat/ARISS team!!!
http://www.techonline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208801324&queryText=s…
Regards...Bill - N6GHz
Greetings all
First post, so I hope it works.
Here is reply from NASA (and my original)
<Quote>
Dear Mr. Muir:
Thank you for your note. We are sorry about your disappointment.
Speaking just of NASA TV, we do not carry Ham radio events because of
reliability issues.
We wish we could offer you better news. We appreciate your interest in
the space program.
Thanks,
The JSC PAO Web Team
-----Original Message-----
From: Dexter N Muir [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:24 PM
To: JSC-HSF-Web-Mail
Subject: Opportunity lost!
Greetings from 'Down Under' (KiwiSat land)
A golden opportunity lost!
ARISS had scheduled a contact with Robinson Elementary School,
Robinson,
Texas via telebridge WH6PN in Hawaii on 25 Jun 2008 at 15:45 UTC. At
this
time ISS _was_ over Hawaii, and ISS was scheduled to be in its Live
Commentary period.
There was NO audio from the telebrige WH6PN on either Echolink or the
IRLP
Discovery Reflector, and NASA TV's 'live coverage' segment made
absolutely NO
mention of the event - in fact, no 'on-board' coverage was shown at all!
ISS
was out of range of TDRSS earlier, but would surely have been back in
touch
by then? A camera at the ARISS position should have been easy to
arrange,
even if there is not one already present in that segment.
What happened? Was there some other pressing event that could not be
re-scheduled? A technical fault (though nothing was mentioned of such)?
Did 'dirtside' cancel at the last minute? All Internet links showed the
event would run as advertised right up to time.
Echolink *AMSAT* Conference gives feedback on who is connected, and I
observed 6 other stations on at that time (incidentally 3:45 AM next
morning
here in New Zealand). That is 6 parents or grandparents (like me) keen
to
demonstrate live one-on-one communications with an Astronaut IN SPACE,
who
are now extremely disappointed. For myself, it was my first attempt at
such
a conference, and I am _really_ glad I tried solo without getting 3
grandkids
out of bed.
Despite this disappointment, I will try again (solo), and given at
least
_some_ measure of success am likely to bring said children and perhaps
others
to witness the event some time in the future. THESE are your REAL
audience -
the Astronauts, Scientists and Engineers of the future!
Sincerely
Dexter N Muir, ZL2DEX (Radio Ham since 1969)
Levin, New Zealand
</Quote>
Is this really a reliability issue, or somebody so high they don't smell
very nice (thinking more govt than anything else) deciding that Amateur =
Ham-fisted, and not realising that the 'Hams' involved are mostly
professionals and, because they LOVE what they do (the original meaning, from
Latin), make professional-level efforts to DO IT RIGHT.
Besides, the exercise is NOT 'Carrying Ham radio events', but more an issue
of continuing existing coverage, in similar manner to one of the Astronauts
doing a video-tour of the premises (which they do from time to time). As I
had pointed out, there is probably a camera already there - the 'Ham Shack'
is in or near the 'Kitchen' area, which has been 'vid-casted' before.
Can we do better? Can we pressure someone/somewhere to not let this sort
of opportunity pass again?
BTW - what DID happen? Anyone?
Hi All,
There have been discussions on this BB in the past about the best USB to
serial interface units. I seem to recall that there was one reccommended
unit (not very cheap) which had the advantage of not reallocating COM port
numbers each time the PC was restarted. I think it had 4 serial ports. Can
anyone advise which this unit was
Or alternatively recommend a good unit?
Thanks and 73s
Jim G3WGM
Hi all,
This survey has just been circulated around the cubesat community and it would be valuable to have submissions from all amsat ground stations.
For the name of your "institution" - just use your callsign!
73
Graham G3VZV
----- Original Message -----
From: James Cutler
To: cubesat(a)atl.calpoly.edu
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 1:47 AM
Subject: [CubeSat] Ground station survey
Dear Cubesat Community,
At Stanford, we are conducting a survey on global ground station availability, and we need your help! If you have a ground station, would you please fill out our survey (~5minutes)? It will ask you about station locations and the characteristics of the antennas (type and frequency). The survey is located at:
URL: http://ssdl.stanford.edu/gs_survey/
User: gs
Password: stanford
Please provide input by July 7, 2008 if possible. We will make the results available later this summer. We will be using the data for research on improving throughput through networks such as GENSO.
Thanks for your time. If you have any questions or comments, please send me an email.
Best regards,
--James
--
James Cutler, Ph.D.
Consulting Professor
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Stanford University
http://www.stanford.edu/~jwc/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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