- AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Field Day submissions due today
by Bruce 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Time is drawing near. If you have not submitted your field day report, you still have the rest of today to get them in. They are due to me at kk5do at arrl.net or kk5do at amsat.org by Friday, July 17, 2020 at 11:59 PM Central Time. Even if you only made one contact, you can still submit. 73...bruce -- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards AMSAT Board Member 2016-2020 ARRL Awards Field Checker (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on Echolink - Conference *AMSAT* Also live streaming MP3 at http://www.amsatnet.com Podcast at http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml or iTunes Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org AMSAT on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/amsat

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SpaceX to launch Spanish ham radio satellites
by M5AKA 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Unauthorized transmissions in 144 MHz satellite allocation https://amsat-uk.org/2020/07/17/unauthorized-transmissions-in-144-mhz-satel… SpaceX to launch AMSAT-EA EASAT-2 and Hades satellites https://amsat-uk.org/2020/07/16/spacex-to-launch-amsat-ea-easat-2-and-hades… 1240-1300 MHz discussed at CEPT SE 40 meeting https://amsat-uk.org/2020/07/14/1240-1300-mhz-discussed-at-cept-se-40-meeti… LunART- Lunar Amateur Radio Transponder https://amsat-uk.org/2020/07/10/lunart-lunar-amateur-radio-transponder/ Nature carries an article about the spacecraft Longjiang-2 / Lunar-OSCAR 94 (LO-94), built by students at the Harbin Institute of Technology, that carried the first Amateur Radio communication system to operate in lunar orbit https://amsat-uk.org/2020/07/09/lo94-amateur-radio-in-lunar-orbit/ Trevor M5AKA---- AMSAT-UK http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube https://youtube.com/AmsatUK ----

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New satellite operator - M7OJA
by Oscar Acton 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Hello, My callsign is M7OJA. I was tracking the Fox-1D satellite and I called out into a handheld radio with 8 watts into a collinear omnidirectional antenna on my roof when the satellite passed. I heard a station come back very clearly with "Juliet Alpha again". Unfortunately, the satellite had passed by then, but I am impressed that I managed to get in with my minimal station setup. I would like to try to maximise the time I have to use the satellite. My handheld radio (Anytone 868) doesn't have an auto doppler shift, so I am wondering how to calculate the doppler frequencies? For example, on this link https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/how-to-work-fm-satellites/, all of the frequencies are listed to be programmed into a handheld (accounting for doppler shift). I would like a similar list of frequencies for the Fox-1D (or know how to calculate them). Many Thanks, Oscar M7OJA (IO94HT)

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My qualifications to a member of AMSAT board of directors
by Robert McGwier 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

I have been a director before. Many might remember I wrote Quiktrak. There are a few other things I have done. Please take the time to read this. I believe you will find I am a qualified candidate for the board and I hope you support me. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ySCgJn_gLRPHkqUjoHTKWgKzPNVOKBSI/view?usp=… -- Bob McGwier Founder, Federated Wireless, Inc Founder and Technical Advisor, HawkEye 360, Inc Adjunct Professor Virginia Tech Former Chief Scientist: The Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology Senior Member IEEE, Facebook: N4HYBob, ARS: N4HY

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Re: [amsat-bb] Candidte WE4B Inquiry
by Clint Bradford 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Geeze, dude - no reason to get all snarky … YOU asked the question. You just didn’t like the answer … Clint Bradford K6LCS > On Jul 17, 2020, at 5:40 AM, R W <rwyrwas48(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Yeah that’s great Clint, you would get my vote, yeah right > > Rick > WA9JBQ

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AMSAT Board of Directors Candidate Statement
by Jeff Johns 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

Hello. My name is Jeff Johns WE4B and, as you probably know by now, I am a candidate for a BoD position with AMSAT. I am not going to try to blind you with promises of HEO satellites in an attempt to gain your vote. We all want HEO but we need to get our house in order so that we can begin to reach higher in the sky. Until AMSAT can have regular, functional Board meetings we will never be able to have HEO spacecraft in orbit. Professionally, I have been successful in operations management and most specifically, operations management with a concentration in Continuous Improvement. I am a Six Sigma Black Belt and am highly skilled in running Kaizen events. The last Black Belt project I completed will save a Fortune 500 company approximately $1.7mm annually through an improved inbound logistics program. This project involved a cross functional team consisting of everyone from warehouse associates to C-level executives. To be successful in continuous improvement, one must be able to work with and influence all types of people. For me, that means that sometimes I am wearing steel toed boots and on the floor of an operation while later in the day wearing a coat and tie and sitting in a board room. I know that the skills of someone involved in operations management and continuous improvement would be a great benefit for AMSAT. I am well educated having most recently attended Louisiana State University’s MBA program. I am currently rearing two daughters. One is 8 years-old and one is 13 years-old. One is licensed and active in amateur radio and satellites and the other is active operating under my call with me as a control operator. She is only eight but will soon be taking her Technician exam. Amateur radio and satellites have meant a lot to me and my family. There is rarely a day, weather permitting, that either myself, my daughter or both of us are not active on amateur satellites. Odds are, if you are active on FM, SSB or digital satellites that you have had a QSO with one or all of us. Board of Director members oversee Directors and volunteers and set the direction for the organization. Board of Director members need to have a good understanding of how business and business relationships work. We need business minded people, such as myself, on the Board of Directors to help provide crucial guidance for the organization. The incumbents and the Director, that lost his Board seat last year, are appealing to members through a campaign of launching an HEO satellite. That’s a wonderful thought. Let’s be honest. Why did it take an election cycle for them to do so? What have they done before this election cycle? If they couldn’t make it occur while they were in office, what makes someone think they can do it now? Please don’t vote for someone thinking they will provide you an HEO satellite. I will not promise you that but will promise you that I will assist in making it possible if the opportunity presents itself. Until then, AMSAT needs to be honest with members about opportunities and failures. There must be transparency within the organization. If nothing else, this campaign cycle has proven that there is a severe lack of transparency. I would appreciate your vote for a position on the AMSAT Board of Directors and look forward to serving you, the members, in that position. You can view my campaign website at the following URL: http://www.WE4Bravo.com Thank you for your consideration and please also cast a vote for Bob McGwier N4HY and for Howard DeFelice AB2S. Jeff Johns WE4B

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Re: [amsat-bb] Mount Carmel HS ARC marine buoy deployed and transmitting
by Doug Faunt N6TQS +1-510-717-1197 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

Cool. If you want to get an even more remote deployment, get in touch with the Sea Education Association, based in Woods Hole, but the SSV Robert C. Seamans is in San Diego, last I heard, after a transit from NZ. The boat travels through almost deserted parts of the Pacific, doing various science projects with college students on board, as well as professional crew. I sailed as mate on her a couple of years ago, NZ to Tahiti. pbrandon(a)sea.edu is president- tell her I suggested this. 73, doug

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2020-07-17 02:00 UTC
by aj9n＠aol.com 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2020-07-17 02:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: GAGARIN FROM SPACE Performing an amateur radio session with the 9th International Aerospace School. Ufa, U.N. Sultanova Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, direct via RZ9WWB (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Ivan Vagner Contact is go for Fri 2020-07-17 19:08 UTC (***) ######################################################################################################################################## 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. The following schools have now been postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19: Postponed: No new schools Cancelled: No new schools The ARISS webpage is at https://www.ariss.org/ Watch for future COVID-19 related announcements here also. 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) 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 2020-07-17 02:00 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. 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 2020-07-10 16:30 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) The ARISS webpage is at https://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. Message to US Educators ARISS Contact Applications (United States) The Proposal Window of February 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020 has now closed. 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. Please direct any questions to ariss.us.education(a)gmail.com. 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. ******************************************************************************* 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: Francesco IKØWGF with 140 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 138 Sergey RV3DR with 133 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 1391. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1324. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 48. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. https://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: 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. 62 now on orbit Chris Cassidy KF5KDR Anatoli Ivanishin Ivan Vagner SpaceX-Demo2 now on orbit Bob Behnken KE5GGX Doug Hurley **************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Call-to-action about the election
by Bruce Perens 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

I have published this call-to-action about the election. So far Michelle and I are signatories, please tell me if you would like to add your name. http://perens.com/static/AMSAT/Election2020.html Thanks Bruce -- Bruce Perens - CEO at stealth startup. I'll tell you what it is eventually :-)

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Working together
by Burns Fisher 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

Hi, I am Burns Fisher, WB1FJ. I'm a retired software engineer who is currently writing software as a volunteer for AMSAT. In my career, I have written software that is not open source, as well as that which is--I don't have an ax to grind in that fight. I am not going to endorse or recommend against any candidates in this mail, but I do want to bring to light a few items that I don't believe have been discussed and to make a suggestion. One thing that I have not heard in the discussion is that "not fully open-source" is different from "proprietary". I am NOT and never have been an AMSAT director nor a policy decision maker in any form, but in my 10 years writing software for AMSAT satellites, I have had to deal with ITAR. I have been told to talk about things with non-US persons only after they are published, for example. However, I have NEVER seen or been told that it was the intent of anyone in AMSAT to keep any information private forever. We are encouraged to publish work that we are doing in the AMSAT Journal and to talk and write about it for the Symposium (and I have done so). In addition, if you look in the back of your AMSAT Symposium Proceedings for the past 8 or more years, you will find what we called "The ITAR Dump". That is publishing specs and most everything that we could about the satellites we were working on to be openly available in order to take it out from under ITAR. Another point worth making, and that I have personally seen, is that sometimes secrets are necessary. For example: We might be asked by a university partner not to talk about some part of the experiment they want to fly with us, so we do not talk; otherwise we could not fly the experiment (and lose the launch opportunity this experiment afforded us). We are told by our launch provider not to talk about dates and other things regarding the launch, so we don't (or we don't get the launch--or perhaps we find it harder to get the next one). Some contacts that we make may be willing to do really good things for AMSAT, but not if we talk about it before they are ready for us to do so. No one I know (and people I know include all the directors, the officers, and all but one of the candidates) would be unhappy to reduce secretiveness and especially to avoid ITAR, but nearly every choice we make is a tradeoff that requires discussion. Perhaps AMSAT is working under internal procedures relating to ITAR that are outdated, especially given the law change and the many resulting rule changes in the past 5 years. If there is a path to fewer onerous restrictions, that would be great. Working together might lead us to that path. What we CAN NOT do is to ignore our previously-undertaken obligations. NDAs are still in force. Some previous work may still fall under ITAR/EAR. ITAR penalties are sufficiently draconian that we must step carefully. Slow and careful is frustrating. However, no matter who gets elected, infighing only slows things down. I beg the newer directors to back off a bit. I beg the longer term directors to look for a way to work with the newer ones. And above all, I beg ALL of you to calm down, look within yourselves for mistakes you have made in dealing with each other (surely no one is perfect), take ownership for your mistakes, apologize for what you need to and vow TO YOURSELF AND EACH OTHER that you will do better. That is a difficult ask, I understand. Trust has been badly battered. Perhaps you need a professional mediator (and, while no expert myself, I know who to ask for recommendations if you need them). What I *know* is that fighting will not help. Working together does not mean agreeing on everything. It only means finding SOME things you agree on (satellites in HEO?) and agreeing to listen to each other. Maybe calling each other by your first names is a start? I look forward to more light and less heat. Thanks for reading... 73, Burns WB1FJ

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