December 2017 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

satellite dxcc for K8YSE
by alex weimer 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

Congratulations John ! Great achievement ! JACK KC7MG

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Falconsat-3 software reload
by Andrew Glasbrenner 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

Falconsat-3 will be undergoing a software reload the next several days. The satellite will likely be off except for over the eastern US. Please do not transmit to the BBS or Digipeater until we let you know we've completed the reload. Thanks and 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT VP Operations

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New QSL from Athenoxat-1
by Roland Zurmely 21 Dec '17

21 Dec '17

The transmission was made in two parts ! <http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/athenoxat.htm#h> 73 de Roland PY4ZBZ

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My old Oscar-10 documents
by Phil Karn 20 Dec '17

20 Dec '17

I've been scanning and categorizing my stacks of paper files, and I've been working on old AMSAT documents from the early 1980s. I have a good pile of stuff on Phase 3-B/Oscar-10 that might be of interest to the old-timers among you (and maybe of archeological interest to others). I'll be placing these documents in raw form on my personal website. There's no index or HTML framing at the moment, but hopefully the file names are at least slightly descriptive. Watch http://www.ka9q.net/amsat/Oscar-10 73, Phil

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P3E - progress ???
by Dale Kubichek 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

I read a few months ago that the P3E project has come back to life and it was closer to launching. I cannot find any data on AMSAT-NA web (in this reincarnation). What is the status of P3E (the semi-geosynchronous bird) to in affect replace AO-40? What is the status of FOX1C & D too? Best regards, Dale Kubichek, MS-EET, N6JSX

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Upcoming ARISS contact with Taipei Municipal Ximen Elementary School, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C.
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Taipei Municipal Ximen Elementary School, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C on 21 Dec.. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 08:49 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between OR4ISS and BN0SM. The contact should be audible over Taiwan and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. In 1972, our school was established as branch of Nanmen Elementary School in response to the development of the city; and became an independent school in 1973. Our school is located in the center of the city, with convenient transportation, and is close to the City Hall and District Office. Our school district is home to the Municipal Bureau of Cultural Affairs and many other organizations, which make for surroundings rich in cultural resources. Education Concept Students First: Use Flipped Education to restore students of autonomy in learning and equip them with skills for the future. Teachers First: Use a high-quality education system to give teachers space to put all their talents and passion into play. Reform the education system to upgrade teachers of teaching. Parents First: Amid reforming policies, work with parents to improve education for the children. Turn parents into partners of the teachers on the journey of education. Environments First: Construct action learning, international vision, and independent studying to create a learning environment where students can learn anywhere anytime. Total Number of Pupils: 1445 (Grade 1~Grade 6) Total Number of Classes: 59 Total Number of Teachers & Staffs: 115 Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. Are there aliens in outer space? 2. How much time on earth is one hour in space? 3. If I want to be an astronaut, what do I need to do? 4. We know that the water in ISS is recycled from your urine, do you drink it? How does it taste like? 5. How do you train your body to stay healthy? 6. Which material is a space station made out of? 7. Do you get bored on the ISS? 8. How do you live and sleep in space? 9. What is the most difficult aspect of an astronaut? 10. What is the hardest thing you`ve experienced for the first time in ISS? 11. Does food taste the same in space? 12. Is it comfortable in a spacesuit? 13. What do you fear most in space? Why? 14. What is your daily work when you are in ISS? 15. What do you like to do in space in your leisure time? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status Next planned event(s): TBD About ARISS: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Thank you & 73, David - AA4KN --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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PCSat32 Frequency Calibration.
by Jason Rearick 19 Dec '17

19 Dec '17

Group, I spent most of my weekend working on my little SSB satellite station. I am now up and running using a FT-817 for uplink, SRDPlay with SDR Console software for downlink, Arrow antenna, and PCSat32. It was a little bit of a struggle getting all communicating but I now have it working, and even made some contacts on AO-7, and one of the XW-2 sats. (thanks WU2M for working me on three different sats this weekend) I am having an issue with calibration on using PCSat32. One of the passes this weekend I noticed I was coming down about 800 - 1200 hz above the station I was receiving, another time I was about that same amount below. I read through the help file for PCSat and the next pass I raised my uplink freq. so it would lower my freq. in the downlink bandpass. I also then had to put in a correction for my downlink frequency. After doing this, I was really close to the zero beating the station I worked. The next satellite I tried, I was off again by 1000-1500 k! Hz. Is this something I will have to do every pass, for every satellite, or will this offset be saved in PCSat32 in the future passes. Right now I am running PCSat in Demo mode, and have paid for registration and waiting for my key to be emailed. Will things work better once I get it running as registered copy? Thank for your time and advice. 73 Jason Rearick N3YUG

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ARISS News Release No. 17-11
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ARISS NEWS RELEASE No. 17-10 13 US Schools/Groups Move Into Phase 2 of ARISS Selections December 18, 2017 - The ARISS-US Team (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) is pleased to announce that 13 of the 25 schools or organizations submitting proposals have been selected to advance to the next stage of planning to host amateur radio contacts in July to December 2018. The contacts will be with International Space Station (ISS) crew members using the ARISS equipment on the ISS. A review team of educators from the new ARISS-US Education Committee selected proposals after the recent proposal window closed. The groups will go forward into Phase 2, the submitting of an amateur radio equipment plan to host a scheduled ARISS contact. ARISS's primary goal is to engage young people in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities, and involve them in activities related to space exploration, amateur radio, communications, and areas of associated study and career possibilities. ARISS anticipates that NASA will be able to provide scheduling opportunities for these US host organizations during the second half of 2018. These candidates must now complete an equipment plan that demonstrates their ability to execute the ham radio contact. Once their equipment plan is approved by the ARISS technical team, the final selected schools / organizations will be scheduled as their availability and flexibility match up with the scheduling opportunities. The schools and organizations are: Allen Park Elementary School, Lee County School District Ft. Myers FL Ashford School Ashford CT Bishop O'Connell High School Arlington VA Delcastle Technical High School Wilmington DE Hudson Memorial School Hudson NH Kopernik Observatory & Science Center Vestal NY Mendez Fundamental Intermediate School Santa Ana CA Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School Palmer MA Pearl Technology STEM Academy Peoria Heights IL Pell Elementary School Newport RI St. Catherine of Bologna School Ringwood NJ Tallmadge Community Learning Center Lancaster OH Valley High School Albuquerque NM ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Find more information at www.ariss.org, and also www.amsat.organd www.arrl.org. ### Contact: David Jordan, AA4KN ARISS PR aa4kn(a)amsat.org (321) 662-9486 www.amsat.org --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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Satellite tracking
by Francis Geraci 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

Gentlemen, Scholars and Sky Commanders, I have a rather perplexing issue with tracking AO-91. I have been enjoying Satellites since the RS series, and I earned the Amsat Achievement Award. So, I'm not a "noobee" I have been trying to copy AO-91 since she was launched using HRD sat tracker, with no success. It passes overhead, EL94MS, roughly the same time everyday, and have never heard it. Today, doubting HRD, I ran Amsat satellite tracking Web based tracker alongside HRD and AmsatDroid on my phone. I showed me HRD was "lagging" behind Amsat tracking by a full 3 minutes !! My "keps" are current, clock is "synched". As you all know, 3 minutes is a "lifetime" in satellite tracking. Amsat Web and Amsat Droid were "synched", probably using the same data set. WHO IS RIGHT ? I guess I'll set up another laptop and run SatPC32 and "pull" from some other Web trackers. I'm confined to trying to Listen for now. As You all know "If Ya can't hear Em, Ya can't work Em". Geezee, Am I showing My age. Best to You all "functioning Brains" out there. ESPECIALLY, the "Fox" Team. Thanks for a great Bird. Francis - De.. WB1FXX

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First QSL sent by ATX-1 !
by Roland Zurmely 18 Dec '17

18 Dec '17

Received today the first QSL card sent directly from Athenoxat-1 : <http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/athenoxat.htm#g> 73 de Roland PY4ZBZ

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