September 2019 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

AO-92 L/v and Hurricane Lorenzo
by Andrew Glasbrenner 29 Sep '19

29 Sep '19

Friends, I've received a request from amateurs involved with emergency communications in the Azores, requesting we forego L/v this week. Hurricane Lorenzo is expected to pass through the Azores as a Category 4 storm Tuesday and Wednesday, and they are requesting AO-92 remain in U/v for potential emergency traffic. Please be aware of and yield to any emergency traffic, on any satellite, coming from the area during this time. Passes covering the Azores and Portugal are the most critical. I realize that there have been a few moves and cancellations for this mode recently, and I ask for understanding and cooperation. Emergency use is always first priority, and AMSAT is happy to assist in any way we can. 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT VP Operations

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FS: WRAPS Rotor Board and many parts
by James Austin 29 Sep '19

29 Sep '19

I have a WRAPS Rotor circuit board and many of the parts to complete the project. This project was written up in the Journal around 2014. Realistically, I am not going to finish this anytime soon and am cleaning out the shop. See photos on dropbox. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/be3s07zlhnin9yt/AACJ_LtxUpevgqB5tR6Nm4c9a?dl=0 Please email me off list at <Call Sign> @ gmail . com if you have any questions or interest. Asking $200 via PayPal, includes shipping within CONUS, by USPS priority mail. 73, Jim/KA2RVO

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Qatar OSCAR 100
by Peter Guelzow 29 Sep '19

29 Sep '19

AMSAT-DL and QARS asks the users of the new geostationary QO-100 satellite for radio discipline. During the last weeks some stations have been transmitting with much too much power and sometimes outside of the official band limits. Also permanent carriers are sent without indication of callsign. This was also critically observed in the control center of Es'hailSat in Qatar. Please do not send louder than the CW beacon. Stick to the band plan: No operation is allowed below the CW beacon and above the PSK beacon. The satellite is not a measuring device: To test your power amplifier in continuous operation, please use a dummy load and a suitable measuring device. Check regularly the bandwidth of your transmissions, maximum bandwidth 2.7 kHz, no FM. Qatar has made a great gift to the amateur radio community with the Qatar OSCAR 100 satellite. We should act accordingly. Please kindly point this out to other stations on the transponder. If there are still violations, in the worst case a temporary shutdown could be expected.

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W3ZM/8 - West Virginia
by Robert Bankston 29 Sep '19

29 Sep '19

NEWS FLASH: Bob, K8BL will be operating as W3ZM/8 from WV (EN90) Wednesday noon through Thursday morning (Oct 2-3), on both FM and linear Satellites. A great opportunity for anyone needing WV for WAS-Satellites. Thank you, Bob, and all the other activators to help AMSAT get one step closer to operating from all 50 States, leading up to the 2019 AMSAT 50th Anniversary Space Symposium and General Meeting in Arlington, VA, October 18th-20th. Delaware and Maryland are the last two States that we need. Visit https://www.amsat.org/events/was-w3zm/ for more information. 73, Robert Bankston, KE4ALVice-President, User ServicesRadio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT)

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ANS-272 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne K9JKM 29 Sep '19

29 Sep '19

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-272 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. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * Experimenter Wednesday Announced for AO-92 * The AMSAT Hamfests & Conventions Web Page Updates * 2019 37th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting * 2019 AMSAT Symposium On-line Registration Open Until October 11 * Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne Moves Another Step Closer to Flight * ARISS Activities & Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule * Upcoming Satellite Operations * NASA's International Space Apps Challenge Coming October 18-20 * FO-29 Returns! * AMSAT-DL Memorandum Regarding QO-100 Operation * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-272.01 ANS-272 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 272.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE September 29, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-272.01 Experimenter Wednesday Announced for AO-92 The AO-92 Command Team announces that Experimenter Wednesday will run on UTC Wednesday (begins Tuesday evening in North America) when AO-92 will be commanded to operate in mode L/v for 24 hours. This new schedule will be followed for an as of yet undetermined test period. The frequencies for AO-92 L/V are: Uplink: 1267.359 MHz FM with 67 Hz CTCSS tone for access Downlink: 145.880 MHz FM (including DUV telemetry) The mode change is announced by the command team via Twitter (follow @AMSAT). You can view AMSAT tweets without needing an account with Twitter - go to https://twitter.com/AMSAT The tweets flow through to the AMSAT facebook page and and are plan- ned to include amsat-bb. Also current status can be found on the AO-92 health and telemetry page at: http://www.amsat.org/tlm/health.php?id=4&port= [ANS thanks the AO-92 Command Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- The AMSAT Hamfests & Conventions Web Page Updates Information about AMSAT activities at important events around the country is posted on the AMSAT Hamfests & Conventions web page: https://www.amsat.org/other-events/ Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT repre- sentatives give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence such as a table or booth with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with pre- sentations, forums, and/or demonstrations. A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download from the page (above) - get the "AMSAT Intro Brochure", a color brochure that is designed to be printed double-sided and folded into a tri-fold handout. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office if you need pre-printed copies. To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration, please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Ambassadors for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Don’t miss the 50th Anniversary AMSAT Space Symposium October 18-20 in Arlington, VA. https://www.amsat.org/amsat-symposium/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 2019 37th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Please join us for the 2019 AMSAT 50th Anniversary Symposium, to be held in the Washington, DC Metro Area on October 18, 19, and 20, 2019. The Symposium venue will be the Hilton Arlington, located in the heart of the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington, VA. The Hilton Arlington is located at 950 North Stafford Street, Arlington, Virginia, 22203, USA TEL: +1-703-528-6000 and the reservation code is AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation). Connected to the Ballston Metro Station, the hotel offers easy and effortless access to Washington DC's top tourist destinations like the National Mall, Smithsonian Museums and historic monuments. The hotel is six miles from Reagan National Airport and the National Mall. There are plenty of restaurants nearby. The Symposium will feature OSCAR Park - a display of satellites from throughout the history of amateur radio in space - paper presentations, and a banquet with speakers celebrating AMSAT's long history, and other events. The AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting will be held on October 16th and 17th at the same hotel. Two guided tours are available. On Sunday, October 20th a bus tour to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum is available for $30 (max 35 people) and on Monday, October 21st, AMSAT President Joe Spier will lead a day tour to the National Mall via the Metro. So please plan on attending the 50th Anniversary Symposium - you will be glad you did and keep checking the AMSAT website for further updates and information. The 2019 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting features: + Space Symposium with Amateur Satellite Presentations + Operating Techniques, News, & Plans from the Amateur Satellite World + Board of Directors Meeting open to AMSAT members (October 16-17) + Opportunities to Meet Board Members and Officers + AMSAT Annual General Membership Meeting + Annual Banquet, Speakers and Door Prizes !! The latest news and information is always posted at: https://www.amsat.org/amsat-symposium/ [ANS thanks the 2019 AMSAT Symposium Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2019 AMSAT Symposium On-line Registration Open Until October 11 An on-line registration rate for the 37th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and General Meeting, Friday through Sunday, October 18-20, 2019, in Arlington, Virginia, is available through October 11, 2019 per the following schedule: Registration September 16, 2019 – October 11, 2019 .... $65 (on-line) Registration at the Door .............................. $70 You can complete your registration on-line via the AMSAT Store: https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-symposium/ This year, all registrants will receive a digital copy of the Proceed- ings on a thumb drive. Attendees may purchase a hard copy for $25.00. Non-attendees may put their name on a waiting list for a hard copy, if there are any left over. The digital version of the Proceedings will be made available on the online store shortly after the Symposium concludes. Student Registration is 50% off and does not include the Proceedings. [ANS thanks the 2019 AMSAT Symposium Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne Moves Another Step Closer to Flight Virgin Orbit LauncherOne's progress report this week says that the rocket has been "been fully integrated, tested, checked, re-checked, analyzed, and triple-checked". LauncherOne now is destined for a rig- orous crucible of engineering demonstrations and tests at a test site up in Mojave to begin Virgin Orbit's first proper launch campaign. The orbital test flight rocket is currently being installed into a newly built test stand in Mojave, where in the coming weeks it will run through a number of critical exercises, including loading and fueling with our mobile ground support equipment. The Virgin Orbit team is prepping and practicing, making sure we know how to do every- thing they could conceivably ever need to do. Then, it’s off to the skies — first for a captive carry flight, and then for the launch itself. The second flight of LauncherOne will carry RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E to orbit. Read the Virgin Orbit press release (with photos) posted at: https://virginorbit.com/launcherone-shaping-up-and-shipping-out/ View a video of captive flight testing of LauncherOne https://www.instagram.com/p/BybTdllh_z9/ [ANS thanks Virgin Orbit for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ARISS Activities & Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule + About Gagarin From Space, Meeting of 30 universities, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, direct via LZ1KDP. The contact was successful. + ARISS Contact Colorado University/Northridge Elementary School Suc- cessful. ARISS Mentor Bob, WB4SON reported that the September 24 contact between Astronaut Nick Hague and Northridge Elementary School (Colorado University in Boulder) was a complete success. All 16 student questions were asked and answered. One of the teacher questions was asked and answered before Claudio, IK6SLD, who's team did a fantastic job at the ground station, completed the contact. Thanks also to Charlie, AJ9N. who moderated the contact. Colorado University Aerospace, The Boulder Amateur Radio Club (BARC), and the University of Colorado Amateur Radio Club hosted the event and did a wonderful job. (via WB4SON) + Sonoma County Main Library, Santa Rosa, CA, telebridge via K6DUE* The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Nick Hague KG5TMV Contact is go for: Tue 2019-10-01 19:53:13 UTC * Ed. note - K6DUE is located in Maryland, USA so the contact will be audible over eastern portions of North America. + UAE school #3 with Space Flight participant, direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Hazza Al Mansour Contact is go for Wed 2019-10-02 09:45 UTC + AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Sat 2019-10-12 to Sun 2019-10-13 + Watch for MAI-75 SSTV sessions: Wed 2019-10-09 09:50 to 16:00 UTC Thu 2019-10-10 08:45 to 16:25 UTC AMSAT and ARISS are currently supporting a FundRazr campaign to raise $150,000 for critical radio infrastructure upgrades on ISS. These up- grades are necessary to enable students to continue to talk to astro- nauts in space via Amateur Radio. We have reached a great milestone with $33,830 raised or about 23% towards our goal. This would not have been possible without your outstanding generosity!! For more informa- tion and to DONATE TODAY visit: https://fundrazr.com/arissnextgen?ref=ab_e7Htwa_ab_47IcJ9 [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations [Ed. note - Twitter URLs can be accessed with your web browser even if you do not have a personal Twitter account.] Remember to check out W3ZM On the Road for additional upcoming activations + EM87 Sept 27-30 N4DCW | Twitter: https://twitter.com/MWimages + EL07 Sept 29 K5IX | Twitter: https://twitter.com/K5IXdave + Brennan, N4QX, England (IO-91), October 1-3 Next week, October 1-3, work and facilities permitting: QRV on the FM satellites as M/N4QX from grid square IO91. QSL *exclus- ively* via Logbook of the World. Yeah, I know London isn't rare, but it's where I will be. + #AMSATandAngling (DM15, DM06) October 11-13, 2019 Ed, KN6DBC, is going fishing (literally), but he is bring gear to work FM Satellites. October 11 he’ll be in DM15, and October 12-13 in DM06. Visit Ken’s Twitter feed for specific pass schedule and further updates: https://twitter.com/KN6DBC + Central California (CM95, CM96, DM05, DM06) – October 19, 2019 David AD7DB will re-visit the four grids near Kettleman City CA. AO-91, AO-92, SO-50 will be used, with eastern passes a priority. Maybe PO-101 if it’s on, and AO-85 if it’s not too finicky. Con- tacts will be put on LOTW following the trip. Updates on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ad7db + FP, ST. PIERRE & MIQUELON (GN17) September 24 to October 8, 2019 Eric, KV1J, will once again be operating from the Island of Miquelon (NA-032, DIFO FP-002 WLOTA 1417, Grid GN17) as FP/KV1J between September 24 and October 8. This is his 13th trip to the island. Activity will be on 160-6 meters (no 60M – not authorized) using CW, SSB, RTTY, FT8 (but primarily SSB, RTTY and FT8) and the satellites. He will generally be on the highest frequency band that is open (favoring 12/10m). He will be active in the CQWW DX RTTY Contest (September 28-29). ADDED NOTE: Eric will usually try to be on as many Satellite passes as he can when the WX is good, generally favoring the FO-29, XW-2x, AO-7, and possibly the FM birds. Eric states, “Equipment is two FT-817s and an Arrow dual band yagi. I’ll favor the SSB birds usually higher in the passband, but will also try FM if they do not get too busy. Satellite logging is by paper so may not get loaded to LoTW until the week after I return to the USA.” Weekends may be limited since he will be concentrat- ing on the low(er) bands and contests. QSL via KV1J, direct or by the Bureau. Also eQSL, ClubLog and LoTW. For more details and up- dates, check out his Web page at: http://www.kv1j.com/fp/Sep19.html + D4, CAPE VERDE (Update/Satellite Op). Harald, DF2WO, will once again be active as D44TWO from Praia, Santiago Island (AF-005), between September 29th and October 13th. Activity will be holiday style on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB and mostly the Digital modes. (FT8, PSK31, JT65 and RTTY) and slow CW. Harald has been working hard in the last few months getting his satellite station for QO-100 working and is now confident he will use it from Cabo Verde. He will be using an Icom 7300, 2 Transvert- ers with 3 watts output on EsHail using the QO-100 Geostationary Satellite. He will also have a FT-450D into a homemade HEX BEAM and a dipole for 40 meters. Please DO NOT send your card via the Bureau it WILL NOT be received - To receive a bureau card you MUST request via M0OXO OQRS ONLY! (Via Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1428) + WW0, UNITED STATES (Special Event). Members of the Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club (NCARC), WWV ARC, RMHam, and FCCW along with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will activate special event station WW0WWV between September 28 and October 2 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of WWV, the world's oldest contin- uously operating radio station. The WW0WWV station(s) will be set up adjacent to the WWV transmitter site in Fort Collins, Colorado. Operations will be on various HF bands following typical propagation, and will include 160 meters as well as satellites (SO-50, AO-91, and AO-92) and 6-meter meteor scatter. Modes will be CW, SSB and digital. QSL via ClubLog's OQRS, LoTW, or direct to the WWV Amateur Radio Club, 1713 Ridgewood Rd, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA. For more details, visit the following URLs: http://wwv100.com https://tinyurl.com/ANS-244-NIST-WWV (Via Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1428) Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org [ANS Thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ The digital download version of the 2019 edition of Getting Started with Amateur Satellites is now available as a DRM-free PDF from the AMSAT Store. Get yours today! https://tinyurl.com/ANS-237-Getting-Started +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ NASA's International Space Apps Challenge Coming October 18-20 NASA's International Space Apps Challenge has become the world's largest global hackathon, engaging thousands of citizens across the globe to use NASA's open data to build innovative solutions to challenges we face on Earth and in space. Space Apps inspires local communities to come together, think intensely, and create solutions to important problems. Each year, Space Apps engages thousands of individuals in cities around the world to work with NASA's open source data in a 48-hour sprint. Teams of technologists, scientists, designers, entrepreneurs, artists, and others collaborate to answer some of the most pressing challenges on Earth and in space. Space Apps 2019 will take place on October 18-20, 2019 See: https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/ On one weekend each year, with the help of NASA's Global Organizing Team (fondly known as the GO Team), hundreds of local leads around the world host events in a 48-hour sprint in which their participants hack solutions to challenges that NASA proposes, creating games, smartphone and computer apps, videos, teaching tools, and much more. The challenges change each year within the theme of Earth and space. https://2019.spaceappschallenge.org/challenges/ There are two ways to find a location to participate near you: https://2019.spaceappschallenge.org/locations/ https://2019.spaceappschallenge.org/locations/map Registration information is posted on the Space Apps web page. [ANS thanks NASA's International Space Apps Challenge for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ The Fox-In-A-Box Raspberry Pi SD card for setting up a Raspberry Pi-based telemetry station for the Fox-1 satellites now supports the Raspberry Pi 4. Get yours today on the AMSAT Store! https://amsat.org/product/fox-in-a-box-raspberry-pi-sd-card/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ FO-29 Returns! FO-29 is reported to be back in operation after being off the air since last July: Modes: Analog - CW, SSB voice Telemetry: JA - CW, 100 mW Uplink: 146.000 MHz - 145.900 MHz LSB/CW Downlink: 435.800 MHz - 435.900 MHz USB/CW Telemetry: 435.795 MHz, CW - 100 mW; frame rate of one frame per minute. Each frame begins and ends with the historic 'HI'. The characters are sent at a rate of about 100 characters per minute. Sponsor: JAMSAT, JARL Mineo Wakita JE9PEL offers a nice FO-29 Satellite CW Telemetry Analysis Program for free on his web site. The program is called "fo29cwts". Mineo's web site is: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/fo29cwts.htm [ANS thanks JAMSAT for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-DL Memorandum Regarding QO-100 Operation AMSAT-DL and QARS asks the users of the new geostationary QO-100 satellite for radio discipline. During the last weeks some stations have been transmitting with much too much power and sometimes out- side of the official band limits. Also permanent carriers are sent without indication of callsign. This was also critically observed in the control center of Es'hailSat in Qatar. Please do not send louder than the CW beacon. Stick to the band plan: No operation is allowed below the CW beacon and above the PSK beacon. The satellite is not a measuring device: To test your power ampli- fier in continuous operation, please use a dummy load and a suitable measuring device. Check regularly the bandwidth of your transmissions, maximum band- width 2.7 kHz, no FM. Qatar has made a great gift to the amateur radio community with the Qatar OSCAR 100 satellite. We should act accordingly. Please, kindly point this out to other stations on the transponder. If there are still violations, in the worst case a temporary shutdown could be expected. A video describing the LEILA-2 power detection system aboard QO-100 can be accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AabJGt0vzXU&feature=youtu.be [ANS thanks Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, and AMSAT-DL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + AMSAT-DL reports the sad news of the passing of Hanspeter Kuhlen, DK1YQ, who died suddenly last weekend. Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, wrote on behalf of the Rudak and AMSAT-DL team, "We're going to miss him. Our hearts are with his family." Hanspeter was the Project Manager for RUDAK on OSCAR-13 and on OSCAR-21/RS-14. He was also part of the command station team for OSCAR-10 and OSCAR-13. + AO-73's BPSK telemetry downlink on 145.935 MHz includes text mes- sages, called FITTER messages, for announcements, greetings, and commemorations. Satellite users can have their message uplinked by the FUNcube team so that it can be read globally in the downlink message stream. Simply email: operations(a)funcube.org.uk to request FITTER messages to be uploaded. Please keep them short and give them a couple of weeks notice if you can. As well as being available for download on 2 metres they can be also be seen via the internet at: http://data.amsat-uk.org/ui/fc1-fm/fitter + Fred Kemerer, AB1OC, has documented a satellite station set-up based on the Flex 6000 series radios on his blog at: https://tinyurl.com/ANS-272-AB1OC-Flex + APRS on IO-86 uses aliases of ARISS and YBSAT - APRS operation is active on a schedule alternating with the FM repeater and the other primary payload of LAPAN A2/ORARI. Typically one in the morning and another one in the evening. Please check twitter @lapansat for the weekly schedule. (Yono, YD0NXX, AMSAT-ID Technical Team) + This article covers available SDR hardware, software and configura- tions, but it also teaches a little radio theory and a taste of the mathematics to understand what's going on: https://arachnoid.com/software_defined_radios/ (via nooelec.com on Twitter) + 2019 marks AMSAT’s 50th Anniversary of Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. To help celebrate, AMSAT is sponsoring the AMSAT 50th Anniversary Awards Program. Full details are available at https://www.amsat.org/amsat-50th-anniversary-awards-program/ Bruce Paige, KK5DO, Director of Contests and Awards, reported this week that the awards are being printed and will be sent shortly to all those who have applied. + The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2019 for K-12 students in U.S. public, private and home schools can enter the Mars 2020 Name the Rover essay contest. One grand prize winner will name the rover and be invited to see the spacecraft launch in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Name the Rover contest is part of NASA's efforts to engage students in the STEM enterprise behind Mars exploration and inspire interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. NASA posted all the info at: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/name-the-rover/ + NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has produced a safety guide for approaching a black hole. Watch this video before you blast off to learn more about black holes and (more importantly) how to stay safe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMTwtb3TVIk&feature=youtu.be Brochures, science video clips are available for downloading from: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13322 NASA has produced a visualization model of the appearance of a black hole depending on the observer's angle of approach https://youtu.be/o-Psuz7u5OI (NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center) + AMSAT-SA Space Symposium 2020 in South Africa is planned for July 18, 2020. The theme will be: Amateur Radio in Space – explor- ing VHF, UHF and Microwaves. The latest information will be post- ed at: http://www.amsatsa.org.za/ + AMSAT SA has announced that parallel to its analogue Kletskous CubeSat, the group is working on a digital project featuring a Software defined transponder. Called AfriCUBE, the CubeSat will use the same space frame as KLETSKOUS. Anton Janovsky is current- ly building a prototype transponder. AMSATSA is inviting persons interested in becoming part of the development team to send their details to admin(a)amsatsa.org.za. + Dance like nobody's watching! A Boston Dynamics robot performs its gymnastics floor routine: https://youtu.be/_sBBaNYex3E [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 and remember to behave and to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm at amsat dot org

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Rent-a-GEO update! Draft grant proposal
by Michelle Thompson 28 Sep '19

28 Sep '19

Greetings all! This article also at https://openresearch.institute/2019/09/28/open-research-institute-phase-4-s… Direct link to proposal at https://openresearch.institute/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/09/Rent-a-G… Here is our grant proposal for Rent-a-GEO. The intended audience for this proposal is organizations such as ARDC, ARRL, and FEMA. This project provides a way for amateur radio operators to communicate through a geosynchronous satellite over the continental US, parts of Canada, and parts of Mexico. There are two main purposes served by this communications project. First is enhanced emergency communications support from amateur radio. Second is research and development of open source hardware that implements advanced digital communications functions. Functions include field-configurable polyphase filterbank channelizers, queueing and multiplexing functions, digital signal processing, open source implementations of current communications protocols, and geosynchronous satellite communications best practices. Comment and critique welcome and encouraged! Trying hard to pull this together as quickly as possible since EchoStar 9 ain't getting any younger. -Michelle W5NYV

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Open Research Institute Phase 3 Space grant application overview
by Michelle Thompson 28 Sep '19

28 Sep '19

Greetings! This letter is addressed to the board and the membership of AMSAT-NA. Here is the overview grant document submitted to ARDC, at their invitation, on 22 August 2019 for the Open Research Institute Phase 4 Space project. https://openresearch.institute/2019/09/27/open-research-institute-phase-4-s… Phase 4 Space is an open source GEO payload project. It adopts the Phase 4 Ground air interface. This approach has been presented multiple times at AMSAT events, conferences, and proceedings. Any payload that uses the DVB-S2/X short-frame GSE TDM downlink, and the channelized 4-ary MSK FDMA uplink, can freely use this system. It's current technology and is based on the most widely used downlink in commercial space. Authentication and authorization are optional. This is not a bent pipe, therefore a lot (not all, but a lot) of problems with harmful or intentional interference go away. Adaptive coding and modulation provides maximum bandwidth across a wide variety of stations, payloads, and link conditions. Phase 4 Ground team members have gained enough expertise to contribute cutting-edge advancements to open source in several categories. Along with the technical achievements, they've obtained promotions, jobs, PhD appointments, internships, publication credits, and grown in number to over 200. This is a diverse and productive team using amateur radio to advance the radio arts. All work is open source and published as it is created. The Phase 4 Space project described in this grant overview unites the global amateur radio community with an advanced microwave digital satellite system. Four geosynchronous amateur radio payloads, and four flight spares, are the product of the work potentially funded by this grant. All work is open source and open access and in full compliance with all developer and participant policies. Satellites to be placed 90 degrees apart for global coverage. All amateur satellite and amateur radio organizations will be invited to fully participate. Detailed documentation of the communications payload development process, space hardware, and other breakdowns are all under review and will be published as soon as that review process is complete. All will be submitted to granting institutions. ARDC is an obvious first choice. Phase 4 Ground is successful international project that came from AMSAT-NA. Most of us still consider it an AMSAT-NA project. The team is international and now has connections to many other amateur satellite groups. The organization primarily responsible for Phase 4 Ground and Space work is Open Research Institute. This happened because AMSAT leadership in March of 2018 decided Phase 4 Ground and the just-announced Space segment should get no priority, no funding, and no resources. There's nothing documented in the published minutes about this. I received no direct communications about it. But our email list was deleted, and Bruce Perens said the board told him that they didn't want the project any more. Trouble was, it was just too cool to stop working on! And we were making excellent progress. So, Bruce Perens, myself, and Ben Hilburn (leader of GNU Radio) founded Open Research Institute, a 501(c)(3), expressly to continue the work and be an AMSAT member society. We wanted to offer people from AMSAT-NA that wanted to legally work on open source satellites an option. If the board didn't want Phase 4 Ground to be a directly reporting project, then a member society seemed like a really good solution! At that time, AMSAT-NA ITAR and EAR policies were not compliant with the public domain carve outs in the law. Efforts to get AMSAT-NA policies changed to use the public domain carve outs were rejected. AMSAT ITAR and EAR policies still remain non compliant with the public domain carve outs today. However, setting up an independent 501(c)(3) worked. The technical progress and success in legal international collaboration is clear. Unfortunately, we got no answer to repeated requests to be considered as a member society at that time. Having a member society fully compliant with the public domain and open source regulatory law would achieve one of the goals of my AMSAT-NA board of directors candidacy: Open source engineering at AMSAT-NA. Open Research Institute was founded in order to be a member society of AMSAT-NA. We renew our request for this to the board and look forward to this being considered. Now, there's no process listed in the bylaws for becoming a member society. Open Research Institute membership would welcome either an executive declaration or for the status to appear in published meeting minutes. If you like this project and want AMSAT-NA to support it, let me know! We have a window of opportunity here. The time is right, you have a team willing to do it, and an organization that can clearly benefit. Thank you, -Michelle W5NYV If you are unfamiliar with my background, credentials, and campaign, then information about me can be found here: https://w5nyv.blogspot.com/2019/05/candidate-statement-amsat-na-board-of.ht… https://w5nyv.blogspot.com/2019/06/campaign-statement-21-june-2019-amsat.ht…

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Upcoming ARISS contact with Sonoma County Main Library, Santa Rosa, CA
by n4csitwo＠bellsouth.net 27 Sep '19

27 Sep '19

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Sonoma County Main Library, Santa Rosa, CA on 01 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 19:53 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and K6DUE. The contact should be audible over the east coast of the U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. The Sonoma County Library system serves 495,000 residents in the cities, towns, and communities of Cloverdale, Cotati, Guerneville, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma and Windsor. Through library services and programs at our 14 locations, online, and through targeted outreach, we embrace our mission to bring information, ideas, and people together to build a stronger community. To support our ARISS project, the Sonoma County Library collaborated with the Robert Ferguson Observatory (RFO) to bring two unique programs to the library. Every Saturday in September the library is hosting a Solar Viewing and Space Crafts event where RFO will provide a telescope (with special filter) allowing viewers to look directly at the sun and inside the library, kids can explore space-themed activity stations. Every Monday in September, the library is hosting the Young Astronomers Club with RFO, where kids will study the night sky, learn how to use telescopes, meet other kids who are interested in space, and receive a membership button. In addition to these programs, the library is hosting two speaking engagements with NASA Ames Research Center scientist, Wenonah Vercoutere, Ph.D., sharing the plans NASA has for returning to the Moon. As well as ?S? is for Space Storytime at ten locations, accompanied by a space-themed reading list featuring fiction and nonfiction for grades K-8. Lastly, to encourage countywide participation, the library is holding an art contest for grades K-9 with the prompt, ?You are looking out the window of the International Space Station, what do you see?? Every entry will receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win an Orion SkyQuest XT6 Dobsonian Telescope, donated by the Active 20-30 Club of Santa Rosa and the Robert Ferguson Observatory. The winning artwork will be displayed in the Central Library?s forum room at the ARISS contact. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. Were you scared the first time you went to space? 2. How long have you wanted to be an astronaut? 3. What was it like riding the rocket into space? 4. What is a typical day like on the ISS like for you? 5. When in zero gravity, do you ever get motion sickness? 6. Do you have a clock keeping time from Earth or do you have your own time in space? 7. What happens if there is a leak in the space station? 8. What are the "dos" and "don'ts" in the space station? 9. Does being in space change you mentally? (If "yes", in what ways?) 10. Have you seen any major, visible changes on Earth from space? 11. How long have you lived in the ISS? 12. What job did you have before you went into space? 13. Do you worry about meteors or "space junk" hitting the station? 14. How intensely did you train to become an astronaut? 15. What is the strangest thing you have ever seen while in space? 16. Is it scary to see natural disasters from space? 17. What is it like to take a shower in space? 18. Why are you in space right now (what is your mission)? 19. Does time move more slowly in space? 20. What is the coolest thing you have seen or done on the ISS yet? 21. What should a student do if they want to become an astronaut? 22. What happens if someone in the ISS gets sick or needs an operation? 23. What do you eat if you want a snack between meals? 24. What is the most interesting experiment you are working on? 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): 1. UAE school #1 with Space Flight participant, direct via A68MBR The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Hazza Al Mansour Contact was successful for Fri 2019-09-27 12:10 UTC 2. The Southwest State University of Kursk, Kursk, Russia, direct via UB3WCL.The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Aleksey Ovchinin Contact iwas successful for Fri 2019-09-27 15:25 UTC 3. The Southwest State University of Kursk, Kursk, Russia, direct via UB3WCL.The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Aleksey Ovchinin Contact is go for Sat 2019-09-28 14:35 UTC 4. UAE school #2 with Space Flight participant, direct via A68MBR The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Hazza Al Mansour Contact is go for Sat 2019-09-28 11:20 UTC 5. Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia, direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Aleksey Ovchinin Contact is go for Sat 2019-09-28 14:35 UTC 6. UAE school #3 with Space Flight participant, direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Hazza Al Mansour Contact is go for Wed 2019-10-02 09:45 UTC 7. School in Russia TBD direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is TBD Contact is go for Tue 2019-10-08 06:05 UTC 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 ISS National Lab 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 public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.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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Office Closed
by Martha 27 Sep '19

27 Sep '19

The AMSAT Office will be closed on Monday, Sept 30th. We will reopen on Tuesday. -- 73- Martha

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2019-09-27 17:00 UTC
by aj9n＠aol.com 27 Sep '19

27 Sep '19

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2019-09-27 17:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: UAE school #1 with Space Flight participant, direct via A68MBR The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Hazza Al Mansour Contact was successful for Fri 2019-09-27 12:10 UTC (***) The Southwest State University of Kursk, Kursk, Russia, direct via UB3WCL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Aleksey Ovchinin Contact iwas successful for Fri 2019-09-27 15:25 UTC (***) The Southwest State University of Kursk, Kursk, Russia, direct via UB3WCL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Aleksey Ovchinin Contact is go for Sat 2019-09-28 14:35 UTC UAE school #2 with Space Flight participant, direct via A68MBR The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Hazza Al Mansour Contact is go for Sat 2019-09-28 11:20 UTC Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia, direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Aleksey Ovchinin Contact is go for Sat 2019-09-28 14:35 UTC Sonoma County Main Library, Santa Rosa, CA, telebridge via K6DUE The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Nick Hague KG5TMV Contact is go for: Tue 2019-10-01 19:53:13 UTC 82 deg UAE school #3 with Space Flight participant, direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Hazza Al Mansour Contact is go for Wed 2019-10-02 09:45 UTC School in Russia TBD direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is TBD Contact is go for Tue 2019-10-08 06:05 UTC Watch for MAI-75 SSTV sessions: Wed 2019-10-09 09:50 to 16:00 UTC Thu 2019-10-10 08:45 to 16:25 UTC AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Sat 2019-10-12 to Sun 2019-10-13 The ARISS webpage is at http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. The main page for Applying to Host a Scheduled Contact may be found at http://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html ARISS Contact Applications (United States) For many years I have on purpose not given the actual hyperlinks; I assume the user would do a copy/paste into their favorite browser. I am now thinking that the browsers have all grown up and most should be able to handle the link. Please let me know you experience any issues. So now you should be able to directly click on the link. (***) Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8601 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2019-09-27 17:00 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.rtf http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt The successful school list has been updated as of 2019-09-27 17:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf The ARISS webpage is at http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. The main page for Applying to Host a Scheduled Contact may be found at http://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html ARISS Contact Applications (United States) The ARISS webpage is at http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** ARISS Contact Applications (Europe, Africa and the Middle East) Schools and Youth organizations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East interested in setting up an ARISS radio contact with an astronaut on board the International Space Station are invited to submit an application from September to October and from February to April. Please refer to details and the application form at www.ariss-eu.org/school-contacts. Applications should be addressed by email to: school.selection.manager(a)ariss-eu.org ARISS Contact Applications (Canada, Central and South America, Asia and Australia and Russia) Organizations outside the United States can apply for an ARISS contact by filling out an application. Please direct questions to the appropriate regional representative listed below. If your country is not specifically listed, send your questions to the nearest ARISS Region listed. If you are unsure which address to use, please send your question to the ARISS-Canada representative; they will forward your question to the appropriate coordinator. For the application, go to: http://www.ariss.org/ariss-application.html. ARISS-Canada and the Americas, except USA: Steve McFarlane, VE3TBD email to: ve3tbd(a)gmail.com ARISS-Japan, Asia, Pacific and Australia: Satoshi Yasuda, 7M3TJZ email to: ariss(a)iaru-r3.org, Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) http://www.jarl.org/ ARISS-Russia: Soyuz Radioljubitelei Rossii (SRR) https://srr.ru/ ****************************************************************************** ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. Listen for the ISS on the downlink of 145.8Ø MHz. ******************************************************************************* All ARISS contacts are made via the Kenwood radio unless otherwise noted. ******************************************************************************* Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. **************************************************************************** Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? Please note that the HamTV system has been brought back to earth for troubleshooting. Please monitor ARISS-EU or ARISS-ON for the very latest news on the troubleshooting efforts. If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke(a)sbcglobal.net The HamTV webpage: https://www.amsat-on.be/hamtv-summary/ **************************************************************************** ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 136 Francesco IKØWGF with 132 Gaston ON4WF with 123 Sergey RV3DR with 123 (***) **************************************************************************** The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed, and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1336. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1279. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 47. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS **************************************************************************** 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… Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 59 on orbit Christina Koch Aleksey Ovchinin Nick Hague KG5TMV Exp. 60 on orbit Luca Parmitano KF5KDP Alexander Skvortsov Drew Morgan KI5AAA Exp. 61 on orbit (***) Oleg Skripochka Jessica Meir Hazza Al Mansour (Space Flight Participant) **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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