April 2015 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

AMSAT @ Sierra Vista (Arizona) hamfest, Saturday (2 May 2015)
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 27 Apr '15

27 Apr '15

Hi! I will have an AMSAT table at the Cochise Amateur Radio Association's Cochise Hamfest in Sierra Vista, Arizona, on Saturday, 2 May 2015. The hamfest will be at the club's Green Acres field, along Moson Road south of Arizona route 90, to the east of the center of Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca. The hamfest opens officially at 7am (1400 UTC), but sellers and exibitors are usually allowed in earlier. More information about the hamfest is available at: http://www.k7rdg.org/Flyer.pdf WD9EWK will be on various satellite passes during the morning, demonstrating amateur satellite operating for the hamfest crowd. Demonstrations should also include ISS passes, where I can attempt to complete QSOs via APRS messages. For the ISS passes, I will use WD9EWK-9 as my call. If you hear me on a pass, please call and be a part of the demonstrations. After the hamfest, I will upload my QSOs to Logbook of the World. For those interested in a QSL card to confirm a contact with WD9EWK, please e-mail me directly with the QSO details. If you're in the log, I will send out a QSL card. No need to first send me your QSL card and/or SASE. Throughout the morning, I hope to be able to send photos and other updates via Twitter, using my @WD9EWK feed. If you do not use Twitter, you can still see these photos and updates by pointing your web browser to: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK Thanks, and 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

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ANS Special Bulletin ANS-116.01 AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit
by JoAnne Maenpaa 27 Apr '15

27 Apr '15

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-116.01 ANS-116 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 116.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. April 25, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-116.01 AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit AMSAT is excited to announce that we have accepted an opportunity to participate in a potential rideshare as a hosted payload on a geostationary satellite planned for launch in 2017. An amateur radio payload, operating in the Amateur Satellite Service, will fly on a spacecraft which Millennium Space Systems (MSS) of El Segundo, CA is contracted to design, launch, and operate for the US government based on their Aquila M8 Series Satellite Structure. A meeting to discuss this potential rideshare took place on April 13 at Millennium Space Systems that included Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY; Franklin Antonio, N6NKF, co-founder of Qualcomm; Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT Vice President of Engineering and member of the board for AMSAT-NA; Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO, Director and President Emeritus of AMSAT-NA; Phil Karn, KA9Q; and Michelle Thompson, W5NYV. Hosting the meeting for MSS were Stan Dubyn as founder and chairman of MSS, Vince Deno as president of MSS, Jeff Ward, K8KA, of MSS as VP for Product Development, formerly with SSTL and University of Surrey Space Center, and Ryan Lawrence of MSS as Project Manager on the spacecraft mission. Attending by telephone were Dr. Jonathan Black, Associate Research Director of Hume Center for Aerospace Systems and Associate Professor of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering and Dr. Michael Parker, KT7D, founder of RINCON Research Corp. Following the meeting, Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY, Director of Research at the Hume Center for National Security and Technology of Virginia Tech, and former director and former VP Engineering of AMSAT, described this as an opportunity to go forward with "AMSAT-Eagle" which, in the 2006-2008 timeframe, evolved into a microwave payload to be flown to geostationary orbit as a hosted payload. It would have provided digital communications to small terminals on the ground and a linear bent pipe transponder had it flown. This failed to go forward in part due to lack of an affordable flight opportunity. McGwier outlined the next steps toward developing this mission: 1) To organize an effort at Virginia Tech to make a firm proposal to MSS and its US government sponsor, and organize an effort to raise sufficient funds to pay for development of the mission. 2) Enable Dr. Jonathan Black to lead the construction project at Virginia Tech in the Space@VT Center. Sonya Rowe, KK4NLO, Project Manager at the Hume Center will be the project manager. 3) Work for development of a low-cost microwave ground station for amateur radio still needs to be determined. 4) Dr. Michael Parker, KT7D, will solicit the cooperation of the Rincon Research Corp. for development of the software radio technology for this payload. The AMSAT Board of Directors has accepted the invitation to participate in this potential rideshare payload opportunity. AMSAT expects to be involved in the development of the ground station and the payload RF development, and will serve as the amateur radio (hosted) payload operator once the satellite has been launched. McGwier summarized, "The launch is currently scheduled for 2017 and the payload must be delivered for testing and integration by Spring of 2016. It is an ambitious schedule and all involved will have to gain and maintain a serious level of commitment to that which they agree to undertake." AMSAT President, Barry Baines, WD4ASW, said, "The AMSAT leadership is excited to fly a Phase-IV geostationary amateur satellite payload. This is an evolving development as we collaborate with the VT Hume Center with a project that provides technical challenges to create a new amateur radio capability in space that will provide a variety of benefits not only for amateurs but also for emergency communications and STEM educational outreach." The transponder is expected to support a wide range of voice, digital, and experimental advanced communications technologies. A decision is expected soon specifying the microwave uplink and downlink bands. Additional information on the Aquila M8 Series Satellite can be viewed on-line: http://www.millennium-space.com/ http://www.millennium-space.com/platforms#aquila AMSAT has posted a photo of the GEO opportunity team with the Millennium Aquila satellite at: http://www.amsat.org. [ANS thanks Bob McGwier, N4HY and AMSAT-NA for the above information] /EX

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$50sat update
by Howie DeFelice 27 Apr '15

27 Apr '15

The following status of $50sat/MO-76, one of the first Pocketqubes, was recently posted by Michael Kirkhart,KD8QBA on the 50dollarsat Yahoo group. Here is an excerpt: 17 Months in Space, Still Working, and How Long Will a $10 Camera Battery last Sat Apr 25, 2015 11:56 am (PDT) . Posted by: michael.kirkhart(a)att.net Tuesday, April 21, 2015 marked the 17 month anniversary of the launch of $50SAT/MO-76/Eagle-2, and believe or not, it is still operating. Unfortunately, the battery capacity has degraded to the point where the satellite spends a significant amount of time with the battery voltage below the 3300 mV minimum required for enabling the transmitter. As a result, those of us who live in the northern hemisphere no longer hear any transmissions during the evening passes, and for now, rarely hear any during the daytime passes as well. The last telemetry packet I captured here in EN82 land was April 21, and the last one which was error-free on April 10. Fortunately, I have been able hear it operate over Anton's (ZR6AIC) WebSDR station in South Africa during the evening passes (which occur between 4:00 and 6:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time), and occasionally am able to capture error-free telemetry packets. The last one available is from April 24 at 21:25 UTC. This situation was fully expected; when looking at the battery voltage chart (which, along with all the other telemetry, is available from our Dropbox at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l3919wtfiywk2gf/AABRl4iM5BFqVAcLQGSmdsVga/Teleme…), the readings took a large drop sometime after February 12. Given this was a $10 camera battery that had gone through over 6,000 orbits, each with temperature swings of -30 degrees C to +30 degrees C, it is surprising it has lasted this long! At this point, it is starting to behave more like a large capacitor than a battery. As we get closer to summer here in the northern hemisphere (and after this winter, it cannot come soon enough), $50SAT/MO-76/Eagle-2 will spend more time in the sun before it makes each pass; this means it will be warm enough to enable solar power sooner in the pass, and makes it more likely it we will be able to hear it transmit before it disappears over the southern horizon. Those of you who live in the southern hemisphere, however, should still be able to hear it during both daytime and evening passes. If you could, we would certainly appreciate any telemetry you could gather and post. The orbit continues to decay at an average rate of about 1.5 km/week; apogee is just below 570 km at 569.8 km, and perigee is at 538.2 km. Someday, I will attempt to determine when it might actually de-orbit. If any of you have access to STK or some other fancy software which might be able to do a de-orbit prediction, please feel free to run a simulation and let us all know. Some basic parameters you might need are as follows: TLEs as of 2015-04-24, 23:53:15 UTC: EAGLE 2 1 39436U 13066W 15114.82864817 .00033340 00000-0 23789-2 0 9991 2 39436 97.7463 190.7550 0022811 281.2509 78.6152 15.04244039 77466 Using these, the following can be computed: Semi-major axis = 5743.7488705249 km Apogee = 569.7766621696 km Perigee = 538.1516552847 Average cross-sectional area = 0.014252 m^2 Mass = 210 g Area/mass ratio = 0.06787 m^2/kg In the meantime, I will continue to update the Dropbox with any new telemetry gathered. Please keep it coming, even if it has errors or is incomplete. At this point, we are happy to simply know that it is still operating.

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2015 ARRL/TAPR DCC Announced AND TAPR at Dayton Hamvention
by Mark Thompson 26 Apr '15

26 Apr '15

2015 ARRL/TAPR DCC (Digital Communications Conference) Announced The 2015 DCC will be in Chicago on October 9 - 11 in the northwest suburb of Arlington Heights not far from O'Hare airport.The DCC has two full days of Technical presentations on Friday & Saturday and on Sunday morning a deep dive into a technical subject. On Saturday there is a full day of concurrent Introductory sessions. Be sure to register for the DCC and reserve your hotel room early. DCC information is available at: http://www.tapr.org/dccLook forward to your participation in the DCC. TAPR at Dayton Hamvention TAPR will have booths, forums and a joint banquet with AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention. Details about TAPR activities at the Hamvention are available at: http://www.tapr.org/dayton

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5 in em55 award
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 26 Apr '15

26 Apr '15

Congratulations to WF7L Jeff for 5 in EM55 award # 58 Thanks and good job Justin See all the Star Comm awards at www.starcommgroup.org Damon WA4HFN em55

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Grid Master Award # 3
by wa4hfn＠comcast.net 26 Apr '15

26 Apr '15

Congratulations to WA4NVM Rick for working and confirming all 488 US grids GRID MASTER AWARD #3 4-26-2015 Good job Rick WA4HFN em55 Damon see our awards at www.starcommgroup.org nvm

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Re: [amsat-bb] ANS Special Bulletin ANS-116.01 AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit
by Doug - k4GKJ 26 Apr '15

26 Apr '15

This is great! Love the idea. I would only hope the bird can handle multiple qso's simultaneously..... Something like this will certainly stay busy..... Especially for emergency operations..... A big 'thank you' to those involved here! Doug K4GKJ Doug Bennight - K4GKJ 528-5772 -------- Original message -------- From: JoAnne Maenpaa <k9jkm(a)comcast.net> Date: 04/25/2015 10:10 AM (GMT-05:00) To: AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] ANS Special Bulletin ANS-116.01 AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-116.01 ANS-116 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 116.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. April 25, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-116.01 AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit AMSAT is excited to announce that we have accepted an opportunity to participate in a potential rideshare as a hosted payload on a geostationary satellite planned for launch in 2017. An amateur radio payload, operating in the Amateur Satellite Service, will fly on a spacecraft which Millennium Space Systems (MSS) of El Segundo, CA is contracted to design, launch, and operate for the US government based on their Aquila M8 Series Satellite Structure. A meeting to discuss this potential rideshare took place on April 13 at Millennium Space Systems that included Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY; Franklin Antonio, N6NKF, co-founder of Qualcomm; Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT Vice President of Engineering and member of the board for AMSAT-NA; Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO, Director and President Emeritus of AMSAT-NA; Phil Karn, KA9Q; and Michelle Thompson, W5NYV. Hosting the meeting for MSS were Stan Dubyn as founder and chairman of MSS, Vince Deno as president of MSS, Jeff Ward, K8KA, of MSS as VP for Product Development, formerly with SSTL and University of Surrey Space Center, and Ryan Lawrence of MSS as Project Manager on the spacecraft mission. Attending by telephone were Dr. Jonathan Black, Associate Research Director of Hume Center for Aerospace Systems and Associate Professor of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering and Dr. Michael Parker, KT7D, founder of RINCON Research Corp. Following the meeting, Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY, Director of Research at the Hume Center for National Security and Technology of Virginia Tech, and former director and former VP Engineering of AMSAT, described this as an opportunity to go forward with "AMSAT-Eagle" which, in the 2006-2008 timeframe, evolved into a microwave payload to be flown to geostationary orbit as a hosted payload. It would have provided digital communications to small terminals on the ground and a linear bent pipe transponder had it flown. This failed to go forward in part due to lack of an affordable flight opportunity. McGwier outlined the next steps toward developing this mission: 1) To organize an effort at Virginia Tech to make a firm proposal to MSS and its US government sponsor, and organize an effort to raise sufficient funds to pay for development of the mission. 2) Enable Dr. Jonathan Black to lead the construction project at Virginia Tech in the Space@VT Center. Sonya Rowe, KK4NLO, Project Manager at the Hume Center will be the project manager. 3) Work for development of a low-cost microwave ground station for amateur radio still needs to be determined. 4) Dr. Michael Parker, KT7D, will solicit the cooperation of the Rincon Research Corp. for development of the software radio technology for this payload. The AMSAT Board of Directors has accepted the invitation to participate in this potential rideshare payload opportunity. AMSAT expects to be involved in the development of the ground station and the payload RF development, and will serve as the amateur radio (hosted) payload operator once the satellite has been launched. McGwier summarized, "The launch is currently scheduled for 2017 and the payload must be delivered for testing and integration by Spring of 2016. It is an ambitious schedule and all involved will have to gain and maintain a serious level of commitment to that which they agree to undertake." AMSAT President, Barry Baines, WD4ASW, said, "The AMSAT leadership is excited to fly a Phase-IV geostationary amateur satellite payload. This is an evolving development as we collaborate with the VT Hume Center with a project that provides technical challenges to create a new amateur radio capability in space that will provide a variety of benefits not only for amateurs but also for emergency communications and STEM educational outreach." The transponder is expected to support a wide range of voice, digital, and experimental advanced communications technologies. A decision is expected soon specifying the microwave uplink and downlink bands. Additional information on the Aquila M8 Series Satellite can be viewed on-line: http://www.millennium-space.com/ http://www.millennium-space.com/platforms#aquila AMSAT has posted a photo of the GEO opportunity team with the Millennium Aquila satellite at: http://www.amsat.org. [ANS thanks Bob McGwier, N4HY and AMSAT-NA for the above information] /EX _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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The League publicizes
by Robert McGwier 26 Apr '15

26 Apr '15

http://www.arrl.org/news/amsat-amateur-radio-payload-could-share-space-on-g… -- Bob McGwier Co-Founder and Technical Director, Federated Wireless, LLC Research Professor Virginia Tech Senior Member IEEE, Facebook: N4HYBob, ARS: N4HY Faculty Advisor Virginia Tech Amateur Radio Assn. (K4KDJ)

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ANS-116.02 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 25 Apr '15

25 Apr '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-116.02 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit * Nayif-1 CubeSat mission will have FUNcube transponder * Central States VHF Society Annual Conference, July 23 - 26 * Current and Upcoming Satellite Operations * AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention - Third call for volunteers * Design The Next AMSAT Satellite! - Submission Deadline May 30 * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-116.02 ANS-116.02 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 116.02 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. April 26, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-116.02 AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit AMSAT is excited to announce that we have accepted an opportunity to participate in a potential rideshare as a hosted payload on a geostationary satellite planned for launch in 2017. An amateur radio payload, operating in the Amateur Satellite Service, will fly on a spacecraft which Millennium Space Systems (MSS) of El Segundo, CA is contracted to design, launch, and operate for the US government based on their Aquila M8 Series Satellite Structure. A meeting to discuss this potential rideshare took place on April 13 at Millennium Space Systems that included Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY; Franklin Antonio, N6NKF, co-founder of Qualcomm; Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT Vice President of Engineering and member of the board for AMSAT- NA; Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO, Director and President Emeritus of AMSAT-NA; Phil Karn,KA9Q; and Michelle Thompson, W5NYV. Hosting the meeting for MSS were Stan Dubyn as founder and chairman of MSS, Vince Deno as president of MSS, Jeff Ward, K8KA, of MSS as VP for Product Development, formerly with SSTL and University of Surrey Space Center, and Ryan Lawrence of MSS as Project Manager on the spacecraft mission. Attending by telephone were Dr. Jonathan Black, Associate Research Director of Hume Center for Aerospace Systems and Associate Professor of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering and Dr. Michael Parker, KT7D, founder of RINCON Research Corp. Following the meeting, Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY, Director of Research at the Hume Center for National Security and Technology of Virginia Tech, and former director and former VP Engineering of AMSAT, described this as an opportunity to go forward with "AMSAT-Eagle" which, in the 2006-2008 timeframe, evolved into a microwave payload to be flown to geostationary orbit as a hosted payload. It would have provided digital communications to small terminals on the ground and a linear bent pipe transponder had it flown. This failed to go forward in part due to lack of an affordable flight opportunity. McGwier outlined the next steps toward developing this mission: 1) To organize an effort at Virginia Tech to make a firm proposal to MSS and its US government sponsor, and organize an effort to raise sufficient funds to pay for development of the mission. 2) Enable Dr. Jonathan Black to lead the construction project at Virginia Tech in the Space@VT Center. Sonya Rowe, KK4NLO, Project Manager at the Hume Center will be the project manager. 3) Work for development of a low-cost microwave ground station for amateur radio still needs to be determined. 4) Dr. Michael Parker, KT7D, will solicit the cooperation of the Rincon Research Corp. for development of the software radio technology for this payload. The AMSAT Board of Directors has accepted the invitation to participate in this potential rideshare payload opportunity. AMSAT expects to be involved in the development of the ground station and the payload RF development, and will serve as the amateur radio (hosted) payload operator once the satellite has been launched. McGwier summarized, "The launch is currently scheduled for 2017 and the payload must be delivered for testing and integration by Spring of 2016. It is an ambitious schedule and all involved will have to gain and maintain a serious level of commitment to that which they agree to undertake." AMSAT President, Barry Baines, WD4ASW, said, "The AMSAT leadership is excited to fly a Phase-IV geostationary amateur satellite payload. This is an evolving development as we collaborate with the VT Hume Center with a project that provides technical challenges to create a new amateur radio capability in space that will provide a variety of benefits not only for amateurs but also for emergency communications and STEM educational outreach." The transponder is expected to support a wide range of voice, digital, and experimental advanced communications technologies. A decision is expected soon specifying the microwave uplink and downlink bands. Additional information on the Aquila M8 Series Satellite can be viewed on-line: http://www.millennium-space.com/ http://www.millennium-space.com/platforms#aquila AMSAT has posted a photo of the GEO opportunity team with the Millennium Aquila satellite at: http://www.amsat.org. [ANS thanks Bob McGwier, N4HY and AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nayif-1 CubeSat mission will have FUNcube transponder AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL are delighted to announce that a FUNcube communications package has been selected as a major payload for the Nayif-1 CubeSat mission. This mission is intended to provide Emirati students with a tool to design and test systems in space. It is being developed by the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) in partnership with American University of Sharjah (AUS). It is expected that this payload will provide a large amount of valuable environmental data from space together with a new, enhanced, UHF to VHF linear transponder. The AMSAT team will be working closely with the Emirati students, in collaboration with support partner, ISIS - Innovative Solutions In Space B.V. from the Netherlands, to develop this new system in time for the launch which is scheduled to take place towards the end of 2015. This exciting news was announced on April 25, 2015 during the Dutch "Interessedag Amateursatellieten" or "Satellite Interest Day" event in Apeldoorn. More information, with details of frequencies and planned operating schedules, will be made available as soon as possible. [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Central States VHF Society Annual Conference, July 23 - 26 The Central States VHF Society Annual Conference for 2015 is being held in the Denver Colorado Metro area between Thursday July 23rd and Sunday July 26th. The local sponsor this year is Rocky Mountain Ham Radio. The convention site is the Denver Marriott Westminster; the venue is available for booking at the Society special conference rate of $109 per night. Please plan on booking your vacation around the conference as the special room rate is available from Monday July 20th through Wednesday July 29th. The conference will feature the traditional activities, Banquet, Luncheons and hospitality suites, technical programs, noise figure measurement, antenna range, Rover vehicle show and tell. Speaker for the Saturday evening banquet is Rick Roderick K5UR First Vice President of ARRL and an avid VHFer. There are a wide variety of activities available along the Front Range of Colorado and there will be an offering of a choice of side trips designed to entertain the entire family. Operating opportunities under consideration include operating from the Rocky Mountain Ham Radio remote base station in Pueblo, microwave operating from local mountain tops and the chance to score a microwave VUCC in a weekend! Just bring your own equipment! There will be introductory programs geared to newcomers to weak signal operation on the VHF+ bands that will be promoted locally and designed to encourage younger hams to get involved in DX'ing and contesting. Conference registration, as well as a link to the conference venue for bookings, is now available at http://2015.csvhfs.org/ Please visit the site if you need any other additional information [ANS thanks Doug K2AD for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Current and Upcoming Satellite Operations The following information is from the AMSAT "Upcoming Satellite Operations" page that is maintained by Paul Stoetzer N8HM. The following information was last updated April 25, 2015. The most current information can be viewed anytime by visiting http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=3921 Maritime Mobile - Captain Yuri Bodrov, UT1FG/MM, is heading north from the Panama Canal through the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean en route to the Port of Sept-Îles in Quebec aboard the M/V Greenwing. He is active on all satellites as well as six meters and HF from open water grids. Track his progress on MarineTraffic. Note that Yuri operates half duplex, so do not attempt to call while he is talking. Arkansas (EM23/EM33) - Dave Swanson, KG5CCI, will be active on two passes of FO-29 (2038Z and 2222Z) and one pass of AO-7 (2059Z) from the EM22/EM23 line just north of Texarkana, AR on April 25, 2015. Cuba (FL11) - Pavel, CO7WT, is active on SO-50 from FL11 in eastern Cuba, mostly on evening passes during the week, and all day on weekends. Norway (KQ50) - Erling, LA4FPA, will be active from Vardø, Norway (KQ50ni) with an FT-847 and an Arrow Antenna April 25 - April 30, 2015. Florida / Dry Tortugas Islands (EL84) - Mike, WA0SPG, will be active on FO-29 and SO-50 as WA0SPG/4 from the Dry Tortugas (EL84) May 4 - May 6, 2015. QSL via home call. He will also be active on HF. See the March 2, 2015 edition of the OPDX Bulletin for more details (Thanks to John, K8YSE via the AMSAT-BB for this information). Scotland (IO76) - The Camb Hams will be active on all satellites from the Isle of Mull as GS3PYE/P May 15 - May 21, 2015. For more information, see http://dx.camb-hams.com/ Cayman Islands (EK99) - Bill, NZ5N, will be active from the Cayman Islands as ZF2EM on SO-50 May 20 - May 25, 2015. This is primarily an EME DXpedition and they will only be on SO-50 passes when the moon is not up. Guernsey (IN89) - Peter Goodhall, 2E0SQL, will be active from Guernsey (IN89) as 2U0SQL/P July 22 - July 28, 2015. He will likely be using an FT-817 as the uplink transmitter and a FUNcube Dongle with a laptop as the downlink receiver with an Arrow Antenna. Operation may be sporadic and/or by sked only as the primary purpose of the trip is for the IOTA contest. Please submit any additions or corrections to n8hm at arrl.net Satellite Schedule Notes AO-73 (FUNcube-1) - Currently in full time transponder mode until the evening of April 26, 2015 (UK time). AO-7 - Currently operating in Mode B while in sunlight. As of April 5, 2015, the satellite appears to be losing power upon entering eclipse several times per day and, by design, resets into Mode B when it powers up. Since it is entering eclipse several times per day, the 24 hour timer that switches the satellite into Mode A is reset and never has the opportunity to switch the satellite to Mode A. Note that in the past, the satellite has unexpectedly switched modes. This has often been observed to coincide with the presence of extremely strong signals in the passband. Pleae limit your uplink power to no more than 100 watts ERP. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention - Third call for volunteers The Dayton Hamvention is less than four weeks away! Last year, we had 52 people assist with the AMSAT booth at Dayton. We've had a good response so far to our call for volunteers, but we could really use another 10-15 people. The interaction with AMSAT members, satellite operators, designers, and builders makes the whole experience a lot of fun. Meet or renew acquaintances, exchange operating tips, and find out what antennas, software and equipment other AMSAT members use. We currently expect all of the AMSAT senior officers and 5 of the 7 board members to be there too. The 2015 Hamvention is May 15-17. Would you consider helping AMSAT at Dayton this year? If you're an experienced operator, great! We can use you and your experience. If you've never operated a satellite before, but want to learn more, that's OK. We can use your help too. Whether you're available for only a couple of hours or if you can spend the entire weekend with us, your help would be greatly appreciated. Please send an e-mail to Steve, n9ip(a)amsat.org if you can help. Thank you! [ANS thanks Steve, N9IP, Dayton Team Leader, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Design The Next AMSAT Satellite! - Submission Deadline May 30 At the 2014 AMSAT Space Symposium AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton announced the plan for the next generation of AMSAT satellites. "The door is open for everyone, to submit their ideas. AMSAT Engineering has a long term strategy and this is the first step." The Engineering long term strategy includes the following goals * Advancement of amateur radio satellite technical and communications skills * Enhance international goodwill * Grow and sustain a skilled pool of amateur radio satellite engineers * Establish and maintain partnerships with educational institutions * Develop a means to use hardware common to all opportunities With respect to the last goal Jerry said "Within the bounds of the type of satellite it takes to achieve any of the various orbit opportunities, let's consider in those plans the possibility of developing a platform that can suit any and all orbits. Perhaps a modular CubeSat, using a common bus as we did in Fox-1, which gives great flexibility in building and flying different sizes and configurations of CubeSats with simple common-design hardware changes." Submissions should be thorough and contain the following information. The purpose of the proposal is not just in suggesting an idea; being an all-volunteer team AMSAT needs your help in carrying out the idea. Design Implementation - CubeSat platform Estimated timeline Cost - volunteer resources, commercial (COTS) units Launch - how does it get to orbit Strategy - how it fits into AMSAT's Engineering long term strategy As mentioned above the idea should be based on the CubeSat platform. This is the standard through which we will look for launches in the foreseeable future. In considering your proposal, Jerry encourages you to contact him, (n0jy(a)amsat.org using Subject: Design the Next AMSAT Satelleite), for more details on the criteria. A guidebook to the criteria is now available for download at http://tinyurl.com/ANS032-SatelliteGuide. In particular, if you plan to include a university as a partner to provide experiments or other support and you are not representing that university, please contact Jerry for assistance in working with our existing partners or establishing a new partnership. "Being amateur radio operators, it is easy for us to fall into a particular trap because of our history of communicating with other amateurs throughout the world" says Jerry. "Specifically, most people who are not already involved in the world of satellite technology are unaware of or simply overlook the provisions of the current ITAR and soon to be EAR export rules particularly with regard to deemed exports which requires governmental permission to discuss satellite projects with foreign nationals." While all amateurs are invited to submit ideas, U.S. amateurs must take particular care of they choose to become involved in a collaboration which includes individuals from other countries. It is permissible to receive ideas and proposals from outside the U.S., but it is not permitted for U.S. Persons to export or share design ideas with other countries unless they have taken the proper steps to insure compliance with ITAR and deemed export rules. Additionally, those wishing to work on proposals should use care in presenting themselves in their contacts. While the goal is for AMSAT to build and launch the satellite, it is not an AMSAT project until it is accepted by the AMSAT Board of Directors. It is acceptable to represent yourself as members of a project team that plans to submit a proposal to AMSAT for a future satellite project, as the AMSAT name is well known. "It is not our intention that ideas be submitted to AMSAT-NA which would be more appropriately handled by an AMSAT organization in a country where AMSAT is established. AMSAT-NA is seeking ideas from amateurs in North America and will certainly consider ideas from amateurs in countries which do not have an established AMSAT organization or relationships with an existing AMSAT organization." The deadline for submissions is May 30, 2015. After the submission date the ideas will be screened for completeness and then reviewed by a board consisting of the AMSAT Engineering Team, AMSAT Senior Officer and Board of Directors representatives, and aerospace industry members. The review board may modify or consolidate ideas and will consider which meet the criteria to become a project based on feasibility, cost, and the ability to bring value to the amateur satellite community. The review process is expected to be completed in September 2015. For those ideas selected to become a project which satisfy the requirements for an ELaNa launch, the idea authors will be asked to work with the AMSAT Engineering Team on an ELaNa proposal. The Engineering Team will then work on the details of execution for the selected project(s) and present a proposal to the AMSAT Board of Directors in October 2015 for final approval to begin work. Once approved, any ELaNa proposals will be submitted in November 2015 and the project(s) will move forward. Now is the time for YOU to begin working on the next AMSAT satellite! [ANS thanks AMSAT Engineering for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between East Coast Chapter Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., Youth In Aviation Program (ECCTAI YIAP) and Oxon Hill High School, Oxon Hill, Maryland, USA and Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF using Callsign NAISS. The contact began 2015-04- 24 16:41:27 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via K6DUE. ARISS Mentor was KA3HDO. Contact Audience was about 180-190 VIPs included two documented original Tuskegee Airmen and one WWII Navy Veteran. Over a dozen from the East Coast Chapter Tuskegee Airmen organization attended and wore Red Jackets commemorating the Tuskegee Airmen. The school live-streamed the event on their school newspaper website, and recorded 100+ views the day of the event. Indirect participants is confirmed and expected to increase when more are confirmed. The contact was streamed into all the Price Georges County, Maryland Schools. News organizations: WUSA9 (TV), WRC News4 (TV), Andrews Gazette(Newspaper), CTV Prince George's County News (TV-Local Cable), Prince George's County Public Schools Communication Office. 12 questions were asked and 11 were answered. The last question was barely discernable in the static. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Double School Contact Sol Plaatje Primary School, Mahikeng, South Africa. and South Africa, and Scuola Secondaria di I Grado, Caprino Bergamasco, Italy The contact will be a telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF Contact is a go for: Sat 2015-05-02 14:34:27 UTC School Information Scuola Secondaria di I Grado: Caprino Bergamasco and its school are located atop of hills in between Bergamo and Lecco region. The school facility, recently built, serve the small community of 3000 people, it has pupils from age 3 to 14. Students from 11 to 14 have been involved in the ARISS activity, belonging to classes 1E, 2E, 2F and 3E. Sol Plaatje Primary School: It is a co-ed school having Gr.0-Gr.7. There are 1216 learners in the school, planet Earth and beyond is part of the curriculum and as a school they try to develop the learner's knowledge about space bodies and inculcate a love for the subject within the learners. Sol Plaatje Primary School participated on at the 2014 SAASTA Astronomy Quiz with a team - made by Ebenitha Esterhuizen, Kgotlholela Seagisa, Oratile Selatlhedi and Orefile Morule, prepared by the teacher Ms Micalla Lucas - and resulted the best among more than 1.700 schools. Upcoming Russian Contacts Ryazan, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is a go for Thu 2015-05-07 08:30 UTC The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Mikhail Korniyenko RN3BF Kursk, Russia, WWII veterans, direct via TBD Contact is a go for Sat 2015-05-09 08:20 UTC The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Gennady Padalka RN3DT >From 2015-05-11 to 2015-06-14, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. So any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] ARISS passes along our condolences to the families of recent silent keys: Max IW1CNF who helped with many of the ARISS Italian telebridge contacts. Clive G3CWV who was very active in AMSAT [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Videos of the presentations from The 2015 CubeSat Workshop held April 1 at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are now available on YouTube. http://tinyurl.com/ANS116-CubesatVideos The presentation schedule and slide PDF's are at http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/events/cubesat2015.html [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] + March/April AMSAT Journal - in the Mail Members began receiving their AMSAT Journals in the mail this week. Keep an eye out for yours. Membership in AMSAT is required to receive the Journal. Annual membership is $44.00, Join today! http://tinyurl.com/ANS116-JoinAMSAT --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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, EMike McCardel, KC8YLD kc8yld at amsat dot org

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Re: [amsat-bb] ANS Special Bulletin ANS-116.01 AMSAT-NA Opportunity for GEO
by Gregory Beat 25 Apr '15

25 Apr '15

Bill - Great idea. I had the same thought, but using NASA Goddard's LLCD (laser) that was space tested with LADEE mission in September/October 2013. Even if flight spares (2) were available, likely insufficient time to incorporate into both satellites. Greg, w9gb ------ > Hi Bob, > Nice work to you and your team. Fingers are crossed. > > Question:- Any chance equipment and frequencies can be worked out to > allow a satellite to satellite link to the upcoming Qatar Es?hail 2 > geostationary satellite. Just thinking out loud not knowing the planned > geostationary location. The news release didn't mention (unless I missed > it) what size/volume might be available. > > Regards...Bill - N6GHz

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