- AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Using Arrow Antennas
by Richard Lawn 27 Jul '21

27 Jul '21

I’ve made phasing lines for two Arrow antennas. I decided to use my RigExpert to first check SWR on the antennas and found some surprising results. At 435 mhz, which is close to where much of the satellite activity is, I’m seeing 3:1, at 437 mhz it’s 2.4:1 and it’s best reading of 1.3:1 is at 440 mhz. I’ve successfully used a single Arrow from my summer QTH for years and it’s measurements are much better than this brand new 2nd Arrow. I’ve tried adjusting the match and that seems to make no real improvement in terms of lowering the resonant frequency on 70cm. There doesn’t seem to be such a problem on the 2 m side. I really need to get both antennas to have a reasonable and similar SWR readings at 436 mhz before introducing the phasing lines and so far I’m having real trouble making that happen. Any suggestions will be appreciated. And yes I’ve checked to make sure I built the antenna properly with all of the elements in the right places. Rick, W2JAZ -- Sent from Gmail Mobile

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FW: [Club Log] Re: New feature: grid square maps
by Dave Chasey - N9FN 27 Jul '21

27 Jul '21

Michael G7VJR has added some exciting new grid mapping features to Clublog which are very nice for Satellite and VHF/UHF operators. It displays nice maps similar to the Gridmaster spreadsheets, but also shows a worldwide map. Please continue to use the Gridmaster sheets and send Paul updates to assess needs and help the rovers plan their roves, but this is another cool tool as well. If you already use Clublog you need to reupload your log to capture the grid info. If you don’t use Clublog, it’s a great tool and I’d suggest you try it and consider supporting his efforts. See his messages below for details. 73, Dave – N9FN From: clublog(a)googlegroups.com <clublog(a)googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of G7VJR Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2021 7:23 AM To: Club Log <clublog(a)googlegroups.com> Subject: [Club Log] Re: New feature: grid square maps Hi folks, A few small changes: 1) Club Log can now read in extra grids from the VUCC_GRIDS field, allowing more than one grid per QSO. This is to support crossing grids (i.e. QSOs where a station is on the exact boundary of grids). 2) Merging now works. If you upload an ADIF which contains grids etc. then they are merged in. No need to clear your log anymore. 3) Real time logging now returns "Updated" rather than "Dupe" when updates are made to an existing QSO. Thanks to Dave AA6YQ for the tip about VUCC_GRIDS and Dave, N9FN for his (amazing) test log which helped immeasurably with this. 73 Michael G7VJR On Saturday, July 24, 2021 at 10:23:38 PM UTC+1 G7VJR wrote: Hi folks, Back in April when the satellite features of Club Log went live, I started planning the grid square map feature too. This is basically aimed at VHF/UHF and satellite users, but it's available for all QSOs: https://clublog.org/gridsquares.php Please remember that Club Log only started collecting locators in April! The locators provided by Club Log users are used to fill in, but for best results (if have locator squares in your ADIF file) you might like to clear, and upload in full. Have fun! The maps are pretty! vy 73 Michael G7VJR --

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FT-817 For Sale
by Brian Wilkins 26 Jul '21

26 Jul '21

I have an FT-817 for sale with Bioenno battery and accessories. Contact me if interested -- Brian Wilkins KO4AQF

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Presentations for YOUR Club!
by Clint Bradford 26 Jul '21

26 Jul '21

The AMSAT Ambassador program brings the excitement of working amateur radio satellites to YOUR club! https://www.amsat.org/ambassador/ "I really enjoyed Clint’s presentation last night. The fact that he had taken the time to research and know something about his audience and welcomed interaction made it very informative and enjoyable. This was a refreshing change from many canned YouTube presentations I’ve tried to watch, which were poorly done, fuzzy video or muddy audio, or a badly prepared presenter stumbling his way through, with any valuable info lost along the way. Thanks for hooking this one up.” Think a 90-minute informative and FUN Zoom presentation on getting started working the ham satellites would be appropriate for your club? I have dates set for these locales in the next few weeks … New Jersey Central New Hampshire North Carolina Conejo Valley CA Sonoma County CA Massachusetts Antelope Valley CA Let me know if your club may be interested! Clint Bradford K6LCS AMSAT Ambassador; ARRL instructor http://www.work-sat.com Email: clintbradford AT mac DOT com (909) 999-SATS (7287) - voicemail/message

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Re: Presentations for YOUR Club!
by Clint Bradford 26 Jul '21

26 Jul '21

The Blueridge club … wanted August 2 - but that is some AMSAT Ambassador’s birthday evening … We are working for first week in September - not firm yet. Clint K6LCS > On Jul 26, 2021, at 12:32 PM, Bob Koepke <bob(a)koepke.us> wrote: > > Clint: > Which club in North Carolina and when? I am in Corapeake (NE corner of NC). > > Bob AA6TB

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2021-07-26 19:30 UTC
by aj9n＠aol.com 26 Jul '21

26 Jul '21

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2021-07-26 19:30 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Notre Dame Jogakuin Junior and Senior High School, Kyoto, Japan, direct via 8N3ND The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG (***) Contact is go for: Tue 2021-08-03 11:10:15 UTC 77 deg (***) The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html ######################################################################################################################################## A multi-point telebridge contact means that each student will be on the telebridge from their own home. **************************************************************************************************************************************** ARISS is very aware of the impact that COVID-19 is having on schools and the public in general. As such, we may have last minute cancellations or postponements of school contacts. As always, I will try to provide everyone with near-real-time updates. Watch for future COVID-19 related announcements at https://www.ariss.org/ The following schools have now been postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19: Postponed: No new schools Cancelled: No new schools **************************************************************************************************************************************** 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 2021-07-26 19:30 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. https://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf https://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt The successful school list has been updated as of 2021-07-22 16:00 UTC. https://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf The ARISS webpage is at https://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 https://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ARISS Contact Applications (United States) For future proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Webinars, go to www.ariss.org. 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 (STEAM) 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. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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: https://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) https://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 unless otherwise noted. ******************************************************************************* 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 https://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: Sergey RV3DR with 154 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 141 Francesco IKØWGF with 140 Gaston ON4WF 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 1463. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1393. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 48. 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, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ QSL information may be found at: https://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 https://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correcti… Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 **************************************************************************** Exp. 64 on orbit Oleg Novitskiy Pyotr Dubrov Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP SpaceX-Crew 2 on orbit Meghan McArthur (Behnken) Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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FT 817 questions
by Philip Jenkins 26 Jul '21

26 Jul '21

Hi. I acquired my second FT-817ND this past weekend, and I have a couple of questions for those of you who are using 817/818s for portable satellite work. 1) Are you using the internal battery packs (whether NiCd or alkaline) OR an external battery(ies)? If the latter, do you advise using two separate batteries, or just one for both (using the included DC cable:E-DC-6)? (I've heard good things about Bioenna) 2) I'm probably going to use these rigs just for satellites, so are the SSB/CW filters worth getting? I see one difference between the 817 and 818 is that the latter includes a TCXO; is getting the TCXO unit for the 817(s) worth it? (Probably not going to use digital modes on the birds - except possibly telemetry) Any suggestions - or pitfalls to work around - for using the 2 rigs like this? Thanks Philip N4HF

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Using Arrow Antennas
by Bill Acito 26 Jul '21

26 Jul '21

One of my Arrows was resonant high… I added the arrow shaft screw inserts to the driven element, and then inserted some pan head screws to adjust the resonance down in freq… they are 1916 shafts if I remember correctly. Send me an email and I’ll send you pictures--- <my call> at hotmail Bill ACITO | W1PA

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List of Active Satellites?
by rchrdm＠earthlink.net 25 Jul '21

25 Jul '21

I am just starting out with satellite radio. I am using SatPC32 with an ICOM IC-7000 and an az/el rotator. I would like to find a current list of active satellites. It seems many of the satellites I track don't have any downlinked signal. AMSAT shows current OSCAR satellites and JA9PEL seems to have a good list. However, it would be very helpful to know which satellites I can definitely hear a signal from (beacon, voice, etc.) so that I can be sure my setup is working. Thanks. Richard, AE6XO

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ANS-206 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by kd4iz＠frawg.org 24 Jul '21

24 Jul '21

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-206 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, 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(a)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: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/ In this edition: * AMSAT's 39th Annual Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting To Be Held October 29-31 * 2021 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Being Held * 23cm band and Sat-Nav Coexistence: Preliminary Studies considered in ITU-R WP4C * No changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for July 22, 2021 * New operational reports on FO-29 and AO-109 * Operational notes on FO-29 and AO-109 * NEA Scout and solar sails on CUBESAT experiments. * 10th annual NASA Space Apps Challenge * ARISS News * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over ANS-206 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins To: All RADIO AMATEURS From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation 712 H Street NE, Suite 1653 Washington, DC 20002 DATE 2021 July 25 AMSAT's 39th Annual Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting To Be Held October 29-31 The 39th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting will be held Friday through Sunday, October 29-31, 2021, at the Crowne Plaza AiRE in Bloomington, Minnesota. Crowne Plaza AiRE is located at 3 Appletree Square, Bloomington, MN 55425. The Crowne Plaza AiRE is adjacent to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and only steps away from the METRO Blue Lines American Blvd. stop. Nearby shopping and tourist attractions include Mall of America, SEA LIFE at Mall of America, Nickelodeon Universe, and the Minnesota Zoo. The Symposium includes presentations, exhibit space, and the AMSAT Annual General Meeting. The preliminary schedule is presented below. The AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting will be held before the Symposium, October 28-29, at the same hotel. You can make hotel reservations by calling the hotel directly at (952) 854-9000 or (877) 424-4188 (toll free) or online by visiting crowneplazaaire.com. The group name is Amateur Satellite Group. Registration is available on AMSAT's Member Portal at https://launch.amsat.org/Events Preliminary Schedule of Events (subject to change) Thursday, October 28, 2021 0800 1200 AMSAT Board Meeting 1200 1300 AMSAT Board Lunch Break 1300 1700 AMSAT Board Meeting 1600 1900 Registration Friday, October 29, 2021 0800 1900 Registration 0800 2100 Space Exhibit 0800 1200 AMSAT Board Meeting 1200 1300 AMSAT Board Lunch Break 1300 1700 AMSAT Space Symposium presentations 1700 1900 Dinner Break 1900 2130 AMSAT Reception, cash bar available Saturday, October 30, 2021 0800 1600 Registration 0800 2100 Space Exhibit 0800 1200 AMSAT Space Symposium presentations 1200 1300 Lunch Break 1300 1500 AMSAT Space Symposium presentations 1500 1700 AMSAT Annual General Meeting 1800 1900 Attitude Adjustment (reception) 1800 2200 Cash Bar 1900 2200 Banquet Sunday, October 31, 2021 0700 0900 AMSAT Ambassadors Breakfast NOTE: All times are Central Daylight Time (CDT), UTC 5 hours [ANS thanks the 2021 AMSAT Symposium Committee for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Join the 2021 President's Club! Score your 2" 4-Color Accent Commemorative Coin. This gold finished coin comes with Full Color Certificate and Embroidered "Remove Before Flight" Key Tag Donate today at https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/ You won't want to miss it! +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 2021 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Being Held The nomination period for the 2021 Board of Directors Election ended on June 15, 2021. The following candidates have been duly nominated and their candidate statements can be found at link that follows: Joseph Armbruster, KJ4JIO Robert Bankston, KE4AL Jerry Buxton, N0JY Zach Metzinger, N0ZGO In accordance with our Bylaws, AMSAT must hold an election, even though we have four nominations for four open Director positions. As such, we will host electronic voting on our Member Portal this year, at no cost to the organization. Voting is now open and will close on September 15, 2021. When members click on the poll link, they will see their ballot (poll question). After choosing from the possible options, click the Submit button to cast your vote. Unlike many online polls, the results of all votes cast, up to the point of your vote, will not be displayed. AMSAT members can only vote once. If you click the poll link again after already voting, a vote submitted message will be displayed. As four seats on the Board of Directors are up for election this year, all four candidates will be seated on the Board when the voting period concludes on September 15, 2021. To read candidate biographies see: https://launch.amsat.org/2021-BoD-Election AMSAT members may access their ballots at: https://launch.amsat.org/Sys/Poll/25943 [ANS thanks Jeff Davis, KE9V, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 23cm band and Sat-Nav Coexistence: Preliminary Studies considered in ITU-R WP4C During the period 513 July 2021, the preparatory work for WRC-23 agenda item 9.1b continued in ITU-R Working Party 4C (WP4C). (See Region 1 Feb 23rd news item for further background). The IARU member representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, UK and USA, participated in the meeting and delivered additional information on amateur activities in this key microwave band. Preliminary studies came from France based on the ongoing CEPT work to provide initial estimates of separation distances required between RNSS GALILEO receivers and a sample of amateur emissions. The European Commission GALILEO team provided a set of observations pertaining to a RNSS interference event in northern Italy. More information is on the IARU page at: https://bit.ly/3kKEmRq [ANS thanks The IARU and Barry Lewis, G4SJH for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AO-109 (RadFxSat-2/AMSAT Fox-1E) Open For Amateur Use The AMSAT Engineering and Operations Teams are pleased to announce that AO-109 (RadFxSat-2/AMSAT Fox-1E) is now open for amateur use. Users are advised to use efficient modes such as CW or FT4 for making contacts, since issues with the satellite make SSB voice contacts challenging at best. Please see the May/June 2021 issue (Vol. 44, No. 3) of The AMSAT Journal for an article by Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, and Mark Hammond, N8MH, detailing the various attempts to characterize AO-109 and its apparent problems. On behalf of the Engineering and Operations Teams-- 73, Jerry, N0JY and Drew, KO4MA AO-109 Frequencies Inverting Linear Transponder Uplink 145.860 MHz - 145.890 MHz Downlink 435.760 MHz - 435.790 MHz 1k2 BPSK Telemetry 435.750 MHz (non-operational) [ANS thanks AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, and AMSAT Vice President - Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New operational reports on FO-29 and AO-109 In a recent email, Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU has kindly translated the August 2021 operational schedule for FO-29: "FO-29 operation schedule for Aug. 2021 (UTC) 1st 11:48- 7th 01:14- 11:33- 13:16- 8th 00:19- 10:35- 12:22- 14th 00:04- 10:20- 12:07- 23:09- 15th 11:12- 12:56- 17th 00:48- 02:35- 11:06- 12:52- 21st 00:38- 02:25- 10:56- 23:45- 22nd 09:59- 11:45- 27th 23:30- 28th 09:45- 11:30- 22:35- 29th 00:18- 10:35- Source:https://www.jarl.org/Japanese/3_Fuji/fuji3-202107.htm Considerable discussion of AO-109 activity has occured on the AMSAT-NA email reflector. Chris Burns writes: "I guess our friend AO-109 must have been just waiting for us to open it up for amateur use before sending some telemetry :-) Seriously, thanks to SatNogs, we found some telemetry that was recorded on May 10 just after we cranked up the modulator gain. In addition, a SatNogs observation today, July 21, also shows signs of weak telemetry. We'd appreciate it if anyone who has a station that can receive telemetry, especially stations with good gain and tracking ability, could listen for AO-109 telemetry on 435.750. If FoxTelem is all you have that's great, but if you also have some way to capture the signal in a file (say IQ recording in HDSDR) that would be even better. Chances are the signal is weak enough that it might need some teasing by our experts before we can get any info out of it. I'll also schedule some SatNogs observations, and anyone who has a SatNogs station with similar characteristics (gain antenna etc), please schedule some of your own over the next few days!" Chris Thompson, AC2CZ/G0KLA adds: "But, let me remind everyone that the prize and glory for receiving and decoding the first telemetry is still available. I could partially decode the data that Mark supplied by turning off the Forward Error Correction and decoding the bytes between the sync words - errors and all. It is quite a challenge to receive decodable frames but it is surely possible. See if you can be the first to post decoded frames. If you are not set up to decode frames but have a good recording, then send it to me and I will attempt to decode it. The prize will be yours all the same. As an example, the ITR waterfall is just not quite decodable: https://network.satnogs.org/observations/4453728/. But it is close. If you can do better than that then the prize could be yours. Mark Jessop, VK5QI, also provides the following: "I've scheduled more observations on the ITR ground station, which is not usually schedulable by most SatNOGS users (the station is in testing). The ITR station is using a large ZCG-Scalar Cross-Yagi, phased for RHCP. Gain is approx 14 dBd. A picture of the station is here: https://network-satnogs.freetls.fastly.net/media/ground_stations/20170911_14 0358.jpg. Worth noting that only one of those cross-yagis is hooked up at the moment." [ANS thanks Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU of JAMSAT, Burns Fisher WB1FJ AMSAT Flight Software, Chris Thompson, AC2CZ, and Mark Jessop VK5QI for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT's GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all begins with GOLF-TEE a technology demonstrator for deployable solar panels, propulsion, and attitude control, now manifested for launch on NASA's ELaNa 46 mission. Come along for the ride. The journey will be worth it! https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ There are no changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for July 22, 2021 The current Keplerian file is available at: https://www.amsat.org/tle/current/nasa.all [ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition? Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store! 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ NEA Scout and solar sails on CUBESAT experiments. Now tested at scale, first by Japans IKAROS in 2010 (196 m2 sail) and later by The Planetary Societys LightSail 2 (32 m2 sail), solar sails allow for low, continuous thrust without the use of fuel. NASAs Near-Earth Asteroid Scout mission, or NEA Scout, is a 6U CubeSat with an 86 m2 aluminized polymer solar sail planned to launch on Artemis I (e.g. probably very late this year or early next). The entire craft and sail weigh less than 14 kg. The mission will spend two years sailing on solar photon pressure (and adjusting course with cold gas thrusters) to reach 1991 VG, a very small NEA, and will then characterize the asteroids physical properties during a slow flyby (10-20 m/s; paper). If successful, the mission may be extended to another asteroid. Further out, NASA plans to launch Solar Cruiser in 2025 to the Earth-Sun L1 point where it will use the largest solar sail ever flown (1,650 m2, with built-in reflection control devices at the sails corners for attitude adjustments), to explore a novel orbit: Solar Cruiser will fly beyond L1 and use a solar sail to make its own artificial orbit closer to the Sun, but still on a straight line between the Sun and Earth as Earth revolves around the Sun. Only a solar sail can provide the forces necessary to maintain such an otherwise unstable orbit, since doing so requires constant fuel. This is a testbed for future, even more ambitious missions. [ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 10th annual NASA Space Apps Challenge Registration is open for the 10th annual NASA Space Apps Challenge. NASA is inviting coders, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, artists, and technologists to come together in a global, virtual hackathon the weekend of October 2-3, 2021. During a period of 48 hours, participants from around the world will come together to create virtual teams and solve challenges using NASAs open-sourced data. See https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/ for information and registration details. [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS NEWS No ARISS activities are being reported for the coming week. The ARISS status page below explains. The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations Quick Hits: DM23, DM33, DM43 Dave AD7DB will be operating holiday style on FM satellites from July 22-25 2021. DM23 will be on July 22 or 25. The other grids may be activated on any of those days depending on weather and other factors. Confirmations in LOTW. Follow @ad7db on Twitter for updates. FN65/66: Indeed, VY2HF will be in FN65 from Thursday (7/22 7/29) evening this week until the following Thursday morning. As Ill be in Fredericton proper, if there is interest I can position myself on the FN65/FN66 grid line with little trouble. Daytimes will be best, RS44 preferred, FM doable also. And on Thursday the 29th I will be driving into FN76/77 for several more days. Major Roves: WA7AA: July 25-27 DN64 holiday style July 30-31 DN63 holiday style The remaining parts of this trip will be camping in remote areas with little to no internet or Twitter. I will get info out as I can, but I wont be able to setup skeds ahead of time. Lots of POTA activations on Sats and HF as well. I will be operating as F4DXV/P from several different grids over the next 2 weeks of my vacation (holiday's style mode & weather permitting of course) From Jérôme F4DXV: My current plans for NA, look like this: JN14 on July 25th: RS-44 13utc (during the trip therefore not guaranteed with traffic) JN15 on July 26th: AO-7 08:40utc JN05 on July 28th: AO-7 08:35utc IN96 on August 01: FO-29 12:00utc IN96 on August 06: AO-7 18:12utc JN06 on August 09: RS-44 11:42utc (on my return trip so not guaranteed with traffic) IN94 on August 16: RS-44 10:40utc Please look for me ~145.938 for AO-7 , ~435.660 for RS-44 & 435.640 for FO-29 Hope to CU there Tyler Nicolas, WL7T has been busy Tweeting his roves. The latest: "Plan to be in BP42 Friday evening, BP53 Saturday evening, and the big one BP63 (a difficult grid to get to) on Sunday. Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com [ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager, Jérôme LeCuyer,F4DXV and Tyler Nicolas, WL7T for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. No upcoming events currently scheduled. Think a 90-minute lively, informative, and fun How to Work the Easy Satellites Zoom presentation would be appropriate for your convention or club? Always includes are overviews of the ARRL, AMSAT, and ARISS and pre-presentation questions are solicited and welcome. Contact AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, at http://www.work-sat.com or by phone at 909-999-SATS (7287) [ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT Events page manager, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + NASA is also developing its ACS3 mission to test light-weight deployable booms for solar sails using composite materials that are 75% lighter and experience 100x less in-space thermal distortion than those used previously. The ACS3 sail is 9 meters on a side and deploys from a 12U CubeSat. (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information) + Recently announced, joining NEA Scout on Artemis I are two CubeSats from JAXA. EQUULEUS is a 6U CubeSat that will demonstrate low-energy trajectory control technologies at the Earth-Moon L2 point, and OMOTENASHI, which will attempt a sort-of soft landing on the Moon with a small rocket motor and an airbag, all in a 12 kg, 6U spacecraft! (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information) + A Tweet reminder from Mitch Ahrenstorff @AD0HJ: AMSAT-Twitter Meetup Net on DMR BrandMeister Talkgroup #98006 | YSF Reflector #11689 | Echolink *AMSAT* #101377 July 22nd 0200Z (Wednesday Night 9:00 PM CDT). Please stop by with your check-in and comments! Net Control tonight will be Mitch @AD0HJ #amsat #dmr #ysf #echolink (ANS thanks Mitch Ahrenstorff @AD0H for the above information) + A number of interesting announcements and updates to QO-100 operation have been posted by AMSAT-Deutchland. This include a lecture by Dr. K-A Eichorn, DK3ZL about the DP0POL/MM Polarstern voyage, A QO-100 linux SDR, and that contests will be allowed on the upper mixed mode range of QO-100. Details are at: https://amsat-dl.org/en/ (ANS thanks AMSAT-Deutchland for the above information) +MIR-SAT/OSCAR-112 News from Jean Marc Momple(3B8DU): "Dear All, Just to share a great achievement from a local school: MIR-SAT 1 TLM was received and decoded by Forest Side State Secondary School (Girls) team (LG89sq) today thus the 1st school in 3B8 and uploaded to Satnogs. This is great and hopefully inspire these YL to STEM. Great day for me as Radio Amateurs donated the Ground Station and I coached them. Many other schools in 3B8 were provided with Ground station kits to enable them to receive the signals from MIR-SAT 1 and hopefully we will see soon many schools doing so soon." Congratulations Jean Marc! --------------------------------------------------------------------- In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. President's Club donations may be made at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-PresClub or through the AMSAT Store. 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 student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional student membership information. Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/ 73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Editor, Jack Spitznagel, KD4IZ, Associate Editor, AMSAT News Service KD4IZ at arrl dot net

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