AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-064

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:

* Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, 2017 Dayton Hamvention Amateur of the Year * VUCC Awards for February 2017 * On-line Information Sessions for ARISS-US School Contact Proposals * Ham radio satellite activation of Berry Islands, Bahamas * NASA Explores Opportunity for Smaller Experiments to 'Hitch a Ride' to Mars * Belize on Satellite * October Amateur Radio Satellites Activation of Sint Maarten Announced * Nayif-1 Status Report and New Dashboard * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.01 ANS-064 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.01

From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.

March 5, 2017 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-064.01

Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, 2017 Dayton Hamvention Amateur of the Year

The Dayton Hamvention has announced the winners of the 2017 Hamvention Awards. Each year, the Dayton Hamvention honors radio amateurs who have made major contributions to the art and science of amateur radio. AMSAT Vice President for Human Spaceflight Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, was named 2017 Amateur of the Year.

The award citation reads:

“Frank serves as the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) international chairman. In the mid-1990s, Bauer proposed a GPS reception experiment on the AMSAT Phase 3D satellite (AO-40). The experiment was to measure the signal strength of the GPS satellite constellation while Phase 3D was in high-Earth orbit (HEO). The AO-40 experiment subsequently has been cited often in aerospace literature, as it remained the most comprehensive above-the- constellation data source for nearly a decade and led to changes in the system’s specifications and applications. The results of the AO- 40 experiment jump started a game-changing transformation in navigation at HEO/GEO altitudes, enabling new and exciting missions in these orbits.

Bauer holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdue University. His career in aerospace spans 4 decades within NASA and in private industry

Bauer has been licensed since 1974. In 1983, in preparation for the space mission of Owen Garriott, W5LFL, he was responsible for setting up and operating the worldwide retransmission of Space Shuttle air-to- ground communications from Goddard Amateur Radio Club station WA3NAN. This initiative provided a critical conduit of information to hams attempting to contact astronaut-hams in the pre-Internet era.”

The 2017 Dayton Hamvention Award winners are listed at http://hamvention.org/event-details/awards/

[ANS thanks Dayton Hamvention via the ARRL for the above information]

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VUCC Awards for February 2017

Congratulations to the following satellite operators who were awarded endorsements for Satellite VUCC by the ARRL during the period 1Feb2017 thru 1Mar2017:

WA4NVM-1413 KD8CAO-1200 W5PFG-982 N8RO-918 N7SFI-829 K4FEG-711 N8HM-608 N4UFO-601 KG5CCI-452 N9IP-417 K5ND-200 W7QL-180 W4DTA-151 AI6GS-136 N6RFM-107

There were 2 new VUCC awards: WI7P - 829 AK4WQ (EN34) - 106

The ARRL VUCC Award is the most prestigious and sought after award for satellite operators. The award is what inspires all of the roving activity here in the United States and around the world. A special thanks to all rovers who make the effort to operate away from home. The Central States VHF Society sponsors the reverse VUCC award for rovers who operate in 100 or more grids away from home. Some of our current rovers are already eligible or close to being eligible for this award. Recipients so far include N7SFI, N5AFV, ND9M and KD4ZGW. (as of 5July2016 www.csvhfs.org)

[ANS thanks John K8YSE for the above information]

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On-line Information Sessions for ARISS-US School Contact Proposals

ARISS-US is accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations (working individually or together) to host an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, radio contact with an orbiting space station crew member between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2018. Proposals are due April 15, 2017.

Informational Sessions To help organizations learn about ARISS radio contacts and the proposal process, ARISS offers one-hour online information sessions and welcomes all questions. Attending an online session is not required but strongly encouraged.

Informational sessions will be offered March 6, 2017, at 7 p.m. EST and March 16, 2017, at 4 p.m. EDT.

Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss@arrl.org) to sign up for an information session.

For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal forms, visit http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact.

Please email questions about this opportunity to ariss@arrl.org.

ARISS-US is offered through a partnership between NASA, the American Radio Relay League, and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ARISS was created and is managed by an international working group.

[ANS thanks ARISS and NASA Education Express Message -- March 2, 2017 for the above information]

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Ham radio satellite activation of Berry Islands, Bahamas

Steve M1ACB, Rob M0VFC and John M0IDA will be active on the FM and SSB amateur radio satellites from Berry Islands in the Bahamas.

The trio plan to operate from March 4-10 and will be using hand-held antennas. Since the FM satellites will only cover part of the USA they’ll also be using SSB on FO-29 to reach the British Isles and Europe.

They will be operating from Little Harbour Cay in the Berry Islands, IOTA NA-054, Grid Square FL15do.

For further information see https://m1acb.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/1527/

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]

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NASA Explores Opportunity for Smaller Experiments to 'Hitch a Ride' to Mars

NASA's goals for human deep space exploration are complex and ambitious. To maximize resources as it pushes the boundaries of exploration, the agency is exploring opportunities to take advantage of emerging private sector space capabilities.

NASA released a request for information Monday regarding possible commercial sources to fly limited payloads on planned, non-NASA missions to Mars. The agency will use the responses to gather market data on the complete spectrum of commercial plans, and identify any excess capacity that may exist for NASA payloads.

Furthering NASA's human deep space exploration goals will require a significant amount of scientific research, and opportunities to collect data on Mars have been rare. Only seven successful missions to the surface of Mars have taken place in the history of space flight.

Evolving capabilities in the private sector have opened the possibility for NASA to take advantage of commercial opportunities to land scientific payloads on the surface of the Red Planet. Such capability would provide an additional method of acquiring science and engineering data concerning Mars, and would complement NASA's current deep space exploration efforts.

[ANS thanks www.marsdaily.com for the above information]

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Belize on Satellite

Good evening to my fellow people of the birds,

The time has come. I will be venturing to the land of Belize March 11-19 and will be on the satellites with the call V31NJ. I will operate from various grids and possibly some islands (a side trip to Roatan, Honduras is possible with operations from there, not positive yet). This is gonna be a vacation style op (going with my little brother for his spring break), so don't expect me on every pass.

If I can get a permit for Guatemala TG/NJ7H may also be on a few passes, though I'm not sure if from any grids different than in Belize.

QSLing will be via LoTW. If there is a demand, I can get some cards printed when I'm back.

[ANS thanks Gabe V31NJ/NJ7H for the above information]

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October Amateur Radio Satellites Activation of Sint Maarten Announced

PJ7, ST. MAARTEN. Members of Argentinian DXers Group will be active as PJ7T from Sint Maarten (NA-105) between October 24th and November 4th. Operators mentioned are Dan/LU9FHF, Bob/LU4FBU, Andy/LU2JCW, Wally/LU3FMD and Jose/LU1FM. They plan to have three station on the HF bands and one on the Amateur Radio Satellites. QSL via LU1FM direct, LoTW or eQSL. Look for their Web page to be active soon at: http://www.tarjetasqsl.com.ar/pj7t

[ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1307 for the above information]

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Nayif-1 Status Report and New Dashboard

The Nayif-1 (EO-88) CubeSat has now been in orbit for more than two weeks and all systems continue to operate nominally.

The power budget is positive, the spin/tumble rate is acceptably low, on board temperatures are perfectly okay and, importantly, the educational/amateur transponder switching is taking place autonomously as planned.

More than 250 stations around the world have provided telemetry to the Nayif Data Warehouse and the FUNcube Team are extremely grateful to them for their invaluable support.

The experts have now formally allocated Catalog Number 42017 to Nayif-1 (EO88) and the TLEs can now be downloaded from Celestrak – TLEs

New Dashboards

The FUNcube Team have now updated the Dashboards for both Nayif-1 and FUNcube-1 so that they display only the telemetry received from the individual spacecraft that they are designed for. This will help users to display only the correct information and graphs and reduce confusion. Whilst they only display the data from ONE spacecraft, they will, as now, receive and decode the data from all FUNcube payloads currently in orbit and automatically submit it to the relevant Data Warehouse.

The new Dashboard for FUNcube-1 (ver 1044) can be downloaded from here: FUNcube Dashboard Installer 1044

The new Dashboard for Nayif-1 (ver 1040) can be downloaded from here: Nayif-1 Dashboard Installer 1040

Additionally some command line parameters have been added to enable the programmes to auto-start with the desired parameters. These are:

/minimized /autostart /source=dongle or /source=soundcard

Some notes on how to implement these parameters can be found here: funcube-dashboard-autostart

Nayif-1 Data Warehouse http://data.amsat-uk.org/nayif1/

Ham radio satellite transmits Vice President’s message https://amsat-uk.org/2017/02/25/nayif-1-uae-vice-president-message/

Nayif-1 Launched https://amsat-uk.org/2017/02/15/nayif-1-launched/

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]

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ARISS News

+ A Successful contact was made between ABOUT GAGARIN FROM SPACE. Raduga Space Communication Center of St. Petersburg, Russia and Cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov using Callsign RSØISS. The contact began UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Direc via RA1AJN. ARISS Mentor was Sergey RV3DR.

+ A Successful contact was made between Ecole “Robespierre B.”, Rueil-Malmaison, France and Astronaut Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG using Callsign FX0ISS. The contact began 2017-03-01 08:04 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Direct via F6KFA. ARISS Mentor was Joseph F6ICS.

+ A Successful contact was made between College Marcel Pagnol, Rueil- Malmaison, France and Astronaut Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG using Callsign FX0ISS. The contact began 2017-03-01 08:04 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Direct via F6KFA. ARISS Mentor was Joseph F6ICS.

+ A Successful contact was made between Ecole Albert Camus, Rueil- Malmaison, France and Astronaut Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG using Callsign FX0ISS. The contact began 2017-03-01 08:04 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Direct via F6KFA. ARISS Mentor was Joseph F6ICS.

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule

+ Blair Pointe Upper Elementary School, Peru, IN, direct via WD9GIU The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Contact is a go for: Thu 2017-03-09 15:21:33 UTC

+ 3rd Junior High School, Komotini, Greece, direct via SV7APQ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD Contact is a go for: Fri 2017-03-10 08:20:46 UTC

[ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ The AMSAT-NA office was closed Friday March 3 and will remain closed through Monday March 6. Martha will return to office Tuesday March 7.

[ANS thanks Martha for the above information

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/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, EMike McCardel, AA8EM aa8em at amsat dot org