AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-088
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org.
In this edition:
* AMSAT FieldOps Team SO-50 Operating Guide is Available * AMSAT Hotel Room Reservations for Dayton Hamvention * AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention -- Call for volunteers * ARISS School Proposal Window, for US, Remains Open Through April 15 * Tim Peake and ARISS - GB1SS Listening and Standing By * Mark T. Vande Hei, KG5GNP, New Astronaut Ham * Satellite operation from Isle of Mull * Vote to Name the Next United Launch Alliance Rocket
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-088.01 ANS-088 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 088.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. March 29, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-088.01
AMSAT FieldOps Team SO-50 Operating Guide is Available
AMSAT's Director of Field Operations, Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK says the FieldOps team is working to make how-to-operate-satellites information readily available on the web. Based on a hamfest handout designed and written by Patrick, "Getting Started with the FM Satellites", is available for download. Patrick shows the basic equipment and techniques to learn successful operating on the satellites. This guide also gives specific information on how to operate via SO-50, the only currently available FM satellite at the moment.
Patrick's guide is posted at:
http://www.amsat.org --> Satellite Info --> Station and Operating Hints.
The direct link is http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2144 where you'll find the link "Operating FM Satellites" (and a link to the Spanish version also).
[ANS thanks the AMSAT FieldOps Team for the above information]
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AMSAT Hotel Room Reservations for Dayton Hamvention
Once again, this year, as in previous years AMSAT has reserved a block of rooms for the Dayton Hamvention at the Country Inn & Suites in Fairborn, Ohio. The cost is $109 per night. The cutoff date for reservations is April 12.
First priority will be given to AMSAT members assisting with the booth operations, satellite operating demonstrations, and the AMSAT Forum presentations. Call Martha at the AMSAT office at 301-822-4376 to give her your arrival/departure dates and your credit card information.
[ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Office for the above information]
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AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention -- Call for volunteers
Last year, we had 52 people assist with the AMSAT booth at the Dayton. It was the efforts of those volunteers that made the 2014 Dayton Hamvention a success for AMSAT.
The interaction with AMSAT members, satellite operators, designers, and builders makes the whole experience a lot of fun.
The 2015 Hamvention is May 15-17. Would you consider helping AMSAT at Dayton this year?
Whether you're available for only a couple of hours or if you can spend the entire weekend with us, your help would be greatly appreciated.
Please send an e-mail to Steve, n9ip at amsat.org if you can help.
[ANS thanks AMSAT's Hamvention Chairman Steve Belter, N9IP for the above information]
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ARISS School Proposal Window, for US, Remains Open Through April 15
ARISS is now accepting proposals for U.S. schools wishing to schedule contacts between their students and the International Space Station for the next cycle. Details on submitting proposals can be found below in the attached ARRL News Release.
Message to US Educators
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
Contact Opportunity
Call for Proposals Proposal Window February 15 - April 15, 2015
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between *January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2016*. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan.
The deadline to submit a proposal is April 15, 2015. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact.
The Opportunity
Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students and educators to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session.
An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in contact dates and times.
Amateur Radio organizations around the world, NASA, and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing the equipment and operational support to enable direct communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world via Amateur Radio. In the US, the program is managed by AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) and ARRL (American Radio Relay League) in partnership with NASA.
More Information
Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS.
For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact.
Please direct any questions to ariss at arrl dot org.
[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]
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Tim Peake and ARISS - GB1SS Listening and Standing By
The UK Space Agency has launched a new programme, targeted at students, for the Tim Peake “Principia” mission to the ISS later this year. This is the result of nearly a nearly a years’ worth of effort, working with the UKSA to find a way to bring space to the students and enthuse the next generation of scientists, engineers technicians and mathematicians.
The programme is a joint effort between ARISS, UKSA, RSGB, ESERO in the UK and ESA to raise awareness in Space, Amateur Radio and STEM subjects in general.
The basis behind the programme is that schools/educational establishments offer a two day Space STEM event where space can be explored within the confines of the UK National Curriculum. Schools/establishments that are successful in applying for such a two day event will then also take part in an ARISS scheduled contact with Tim on the ISS as he orbits above the UK.
Many different aspects of Amateur Radio are being promoted from amateur radio in general to the amateur satellite service, data from orbiting spacecraft (FUNcube and with luck the first of the Fox satellites) to the latest equipment on the ISS, the HAMVideo system assuming all goes to plan with the upcoming testing. ARISS UK mentors will assist the schools, provide all the necessary RF equipment and will, with our colleagues in the BATC, live web stream the contacts.
We are also promoting this as an opportunity for a suitably licensed student to be in charge of the transmitter for the actual contact itself and to host the call to the ISS. Our national society, the Radio Society of Great Britain, will be working with the selected schools and interested students to ensure that the students that wish to obtain their own license can do so.
Tim will be making use of the GB1SS call sign that has been granted by Ofcom, the spectrum regulator in the UK.
Tim Peake recently also recorded a short video and you can see this at http://www.amsat-uk.org/ along with the contents of the UKSA press release. Tim is extremely enthusiastic and is looking forward to using the amateur radio equipment whilst he is on orbit.
The Tim Peake ESERO resource page is at http://www.esero.org.uk/timpeake
The announcements with the guide, application form, press releases and a downloadable copy of the video are at http://tinyurl.com/ariss-timpeake
The RSGB announcement is at http://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/headlines/2015/03/20/g3rjv-wins- prestigious-technical-award/
[ANS thanks Ciaran, M0XTD, for the above information]
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Mark T. Vande Hei, KG5GNP, New Astronaut Ham
Mark T. Vande Hei attended license classes on March 11 and 12 and passed the Technician exam on March 13. His callsign, KG5GNP, appeared in the FCC database on March 24.
Vande Hei was selected in June 2009 as a member of the 20th NASA astronaut class. He completed astronaut candidate training in June 2011 and is now qualified for future flight assignment. From June 2012 to May 2013, he served as the Astronaut Office's Director of Operations in Russia. He currently works in the Astronaut Office's CAPCOM Branch.
He reported to the Johnson Space Center in July 2006 to serve as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) in the Mission Control Center, Houston. He served as an International Space Station CAPCOM for Expeditions 15 to 20 and STS-122, 123, 124, 126 and 127.
Vande Hei was a member of the 18th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) expedition that spent nine days living and conducting research 62 feet below the surface in Florida International University's Aquarius Reef Base undersea research habitat off the coast of Key Largo, Fla. They investigated tools, techniques and technologies that will benefit spacefarers aboard future International Space Station and long-duration exploration missions.
"NEEMO 18 was a fantastic opportunity for me to participate in the development of technologies and techniques for future exploration," said Vande Hei. "That by itself would have been plenty, but on top of that I got to experience life in an environment that most of us don't get to experience as well as enjoy the company of some fantastic teammates, both on the crew and in the ground control and support team."
[ANS thanks Kenneth N5VHO , ARISS and NASA for the above information.]
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Satellite operation from Isle of Mull
Ten members of the Camb-Hams are returning to Grasspoint IO76EJ on Mull (IOTA EU-008) from May 15-21, 2015 as GS3PYE/P.
They will be QRV with multiple stations on HF on 3.5-28MHz SSB, CW, RTTY and PSK with dipoles and verticals and up to 400W if necessary.
VHF activity will be on 50MHz, 70MHz and 144MHz, all bands QRO with sizeable antennas.
VHF will be mainly QRV using JT6m or ISCAT on 50MHz, FSK441 on 70MHz and FSK441 and JT65b (for EME) on 144MHz, but SSB and CW is also possible, especially in any sporadic E propagation openings. Other modes by agreement.
Satellite operations on 2m & 70cm will use an Icom IC-910 and X-Quad antennas mounted on a fully automatic AZ/EL tracking system. If internet connectivity allows, the VHF operators will monitor ON4KST Chat for terrestrial activity and N0UK JT65 chat for EME. You can submit your VHF sked requests online here: http://tiny.cc/gs3pyesked
The team will be QRV in the 80m CW CC event on the 21st and in the 144MHz contest on the 16th and 17th. They may do very short side trips to Iona and the Treshnish Islands and will announce these nearer the time on the website.
Please QSL only via OQRS on ClubLog for direct or bureau cards. Do not send any cards direct or via the bureau.
For the latest info see http://dx.camb-hams.com/ http://twitter.com/g3pye http://facebook.com/CambHams http://youtube.com/CambHams
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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Vote to Name the Next United Launch Alliance Rocket
United Launch Alliance (ULA), is asking America to help name its next rocket, calling on citizens to play a role in the future of space launch by voting for the name of the new rocket that will be responsible for the majority of the nation's future space launches.
For the next two weeks, the public can vote for its favorite rocket name - Eagle, Freedom, GalaxyOne, Vulcan or Zeus - with the results being announced on April 13 along with the design and components of ULA's innovative, next- generation rocket. The top three names were selected from more than 400 names submitted by ULA's 3,400 employees and space enthusiasts earlier this year. ULA employees - rocket scientists, engineers and patriots - will design and build this rocket with the first flight expected in 2019.
In order to vote for America's next rocket, voters can visit the website from March 23 to April 6: http://bit.ly/rocketvote.
Voters can also text 22333 to submit a vote for their favorite name. The following key can be used to text a vote: . ULA1 for "Eagle" . ULA2 for "Freedom" . ULA3 for "GalaxyOne" . ULA4 for "Vulcan" . ULA5 for "Zeus" (Text and data rates may apply.)
[ANS thanks the United Launch Alliance 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, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org