Given the current shortage of launch opportunities it's good to see a new launch vehicle being developed. The first flight of Super Strypi is planned for late in 2013 with a swarm of 10 CubeSats.
See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=12014
73 Trevor M5AKA
Frequencies for KickSat-1 the 200 Sprites
(ELaNa-5 / CRS-3 July 2013 into a 325 x 315km 51.5 degree orbit)
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=12008
KySat-2 (is this also the ELaNa-5 flight ?)
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=11901
Winter Issue of OSCAR News magazine
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=11994
A Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for the New Year - I'm looking forward to the prospect 4 of new linear transponder satellites in 2013.
73 Trevor M5AKA
AMSAT-UK http://www.amsat-uk.org/
----
Hello all; here is an EA5 webSDR with 2320 MHz and 10 GHz reception:
http://maxiplaya.dyndns.org:8901/
Here, direct 2320 MHz reception is ok with AIDC3733 2400/144 converter (ex AO40),
reception on 64 MHz (instead of 144)
73 de Michel F6HTJ
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-358
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
In this edition:
* AMSAT Receives $25,000 Matching Funds Challenge
* AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2013 In Memory of W1BIH/PJ9JT
* AMSAT-UK Introduce Electronic (PDF) Membership
* Track Santa with NORAD and AGI on December 24
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-358.01
ANS-358 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 358.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 23, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-358.01
AMSAT Receives $25,000 Matching Funds Challenge
AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW says that we have received
a matching funds challenge! An anonymous donor will match up to
$25,000.00 for Fox. Now is the time to take advantage of this
opportunity to double your donation.
Barry wrote, "We end 2012 with significant progress made on the
development of Fox-1. A formal proposal to launch Fox-1B was sub-
mitted to the NASA ELaNA (Education Launch of Nanosatellites)
program on November 19, 2012. NASA is expected to announce in
late January or early February 2013 those projects that have been
selected. This is our second ELaNA submission, and we believe the
merits of this proposal are even stronger than our original Fox-1
proposal."
Fox-1B will incorporate the flight spare of Fox-1 and is a joint
project with the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE)
at Vanderbilt University. The official project name is "RadFXSat"
and the ISDE payload is designed to advance the art of understand-
ing the effects of space radiation on electronic components.
We have requested a launch in the second half of 2014 and a 650 km
sun-synchronous orbit that is the same as we requested for Fox-1.
As AMSAT VP-Engineering Tony Monteiro, AA2TX points out, "Fox-1B is
AMSAT's first satellite with science as its PRIMARY mission. This
is very exciting as it potentially opens up new opportunities for
free launches. Of course, the satellite also carries a ham radio
FM transponder and we expect to be able to operate the transponder
and science payload simultaneously." There is significant work to
be done in systems engineering, software development, satellite
construction and testing to prepare Fox-1B for launch.
During the 30th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium, Tony and the Fox En-
gineering team gave a number of presentations on the development of
Fox-1 with extensive documentation of Fox-1 placed in the Proceed-
ings in order to make this material 'public domain' and thus be able
to present it openly. We still expect a launch opportunity in the
second half of 2013. To continue these projects, we need the extra
resources offered by the matching gift. We hope we can count on
your commitment and generosity at this time of giving.
There are several ways you can double your donation to keep Amateur
Radio in Space:
Members have received a form in the mail to fill out and return.
Please do so today!
Go the AMSAT Store and make a donation
Donate via a PayPal donation sent to martha(a)amsat.org or click on
our PayPal widget at http://www.amsat.org.
Your generous contribution to AMSAT to support AMSAT and Project
Fox now will help ensure that our common dream of keeping amateur
radio in space will, indeed, become a reality.
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2013 In Memory of W1BIH/PJ9JT
You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on
OSCAR 2013, conducted by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the
world. This year's event is dedicated to the memory of John Thompson,
W1BIH/PJ9JT, who passed away in 2012, aged 96. Although known
primarily as an HF DXer and contester, John was also active on OSCAR,
mostly on CW.
As always, SKN on OSCAR is simple and informal. Just operate CW
through one or more satellites on 1 January 2013 (0000 to 2400 UTC),
using a straight hand key. There is no need to send in a log, but all
participants are encouraged to nominate someone they worked for Best
Fist. Your nominee need not have the best fist of anyone you heard,
only of those you worked. Send your nomination to w2rs at amsat.org.
A list of those nominated will appear in ANS and the AMSAT Journal.
[ANS thanks Ray Soifer, W2RS, for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT-UK Introduce Electronic (PDF) Membership
AMSAT-UK is pleased to announce that they can now offer Electronic
E-membership at
a reduced rate.
AMSAT-UK initially produced a short bulletin called OSCAR News to give members
advice on amateur satellite communications. Since those early days OSCAR News
has grown in size and the print quality has improved beyond recognition. Today,
OSCAR News is produced as a high-quality quarterly colour A4 magazine
consisting
of up to 40 pages of news, information and comment about amateur radio space
communications.
The new E-membership will provide OSCAR News as a downloadable PDF file and
members will have the freedom to read it on their Tablets or Smartphones
anytime, anyplace, anywhere.
An additional advantage is that the PDF should be available for download about
1-2 weeks before the paper copy is posted.
E-membership should be especially beneficial to Overseas members who have
suffered from high postal charges and long delivery times.
The AMSAT-UK membership year runs from January 1 to December 31. Why not take
the opportunity to renew your 2013 membership as an E-member.
Renew your AMSAT-UK membership as an E-member here
http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/category_8/Existing-Members-Renewal.html
Join as a new E-member here
http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/category_9/Join-Amsat-UK.html
E-members can download their copies of OSCAR News from
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/on
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Track Santa with NORAD and AGI on December 24
'Tis the season for Santa tracking at www.noradsanta.org. The highly popular
NORAD Tracks Santa website will once again follow Santa's annual journey around
the world, updating every three to four minutes and showing new movies captured
by NORAD's special Santa Cams about once an hour.
A long-time supporter of the program, AGI provided NORAD the 2D and 3D Santa
trackers this year. The fun starts at 2.a.m. EST (0700 UTC) on
December 24, when website
visitors can watch Santa make preparations for his flight. Then at 6 a.m. EST,
actual tracking begins. So, fire up the computer, grab your family and friends
this December 24 and spend the day tracking Santa at the NORAD Tracks Santa Web
site.
Happy Santa tracking!
[ANS thanks AGI for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Congratulations to Ken Holland, KC9TTR for attaining his ARRL VUCC
Satellite Award #236. Ken thanks all the operators who helped him
achieve this, especially portable operators in grids away from home.
+ On December 9 the Breeze-M upper stage of Russia's Proton heavy
lift rocket failed, placing Yamal 402 telecommunications satellite
into a too-low orbit. News from Russia indicates the satellite was
rescued by raising its orbit over four firings of its own engine
fuel reserves.
+ The ISS orbit was increased by almost 2.5 kilometers in a test of
the station's new emergency debris avoidance system. The new sys-
tem, known as the Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM),
addresses the situation where dangerous debris is detected with
little advance warning, down to as little as three hours from the
approach. The emergency avoidance maneuver was performed by the
engines aboard the Russian Progress freighter docked at the sta-
tion. The engines can be fired as little as 140 minutes before a
dangerous debris approach.
+ Watch a youtube video as Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Chris
Hadfield trains in the Soyuz Simulator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qL1dfdE_RFI
There are good interior views of the Soyuz.
+ NASA released a 64-frame movie of asteroid Toutatis generated
from data by Goldstone's Solar System Radar on Dec. 12 and 13:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=d7SroliSXuY
[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 addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org
Great to find the Journal in my mailbox this AM!! Also the new column, "Oscar Zero News", that has been in my "bucket list" for some time. I will make an effort to contribute something.
73 Bob W7LRD
Seattle
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Tom" <wa5kub(a)gmail.com>
To: "Tom" <wa5kub(a)gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2012 11:31:40 AM
Subject: live D-Star broadcast
Live D-Star webcast on December 29 th .
W5KUB.COM presents a special interactive live video broadcast, "D-STAR Live", on December 29, 2012 from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM Central time (1600 until 2100 UTC). The live Internet broadcast will feature many D-STAR topics discussed by Ray Novak, N9JA, of Icom, Robin Cutshaw, AA4RC, creator of the DVDongle, DVAP and D-Plus, John Davis, WB4QDX, frequent D-STAR speaker and trainer, and Ed Woodrick, WA4YIH, of DSTARinfo.com and the D-STAR Calculator.
The broadcast will also host live chat for questions and comments and will feature a live D-STAR net on the air. Come early and set up your chat room login. It’s easy and simple and takes less than 1 minute. For more information or to join the broadcast go to http://w5kub.com
.
I would also like to ask for any pictures of your shack or ham operations and I will try to get those pictures up on the broadcast either at the beginning or closing or maybe during any breaks. If you would like to see your pictures on the broadcast, please send them to pictures(a)w5kub.com
.
We also invite you to join our broadcast facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/w5kub/ where you can stay updated on our broadcasts and also interact with other hams around the world.
73,
Tom Medlin W5KUB
--
Please check out our ham radio video broadcast page at http://w5kub.com
and please join our W5KUB video broadcast group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/279273778772594/
Senior Member of the I.E.E.E
Hi folks,
just read about this on the AMSAT website. Had no idea. Did not receive
anything in the mail either, I guess I need to make a point to go to the
website more often or someone can post this here on the BB at the moment
things like this come up.
Anyway, great opportunity to help with FOX as a year-end gift. I used the
little PayPal gizmo on the website.
Merry Christmas,
Stefan VE4NSA
