ANS-018 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-018
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:
* Fox-1A Launch Date * Most Current ISS Keps * NASA Cubesat Simulators Intern Opportunities Summer 2015 * AESP-14 CubeSat on ISS awaiting deployment * OGMS-SA CubeSat to provide FM Transponder * Call for Speakers and Papers for the 41st Eastern VHF/UHF/Microwave Conference * Dick Flagg, AH6NM, honored as Yasme Excellence Award Winner * Video of FUNcube-1 demonstration at IARU-R1 conference * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-018.01 ANS-018 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 018.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE January 18, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-018.01
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Fox-1A Launch Date
AMSAT has received a launch date for the Fox-1A satellite. Fox-1A will be launched on August 27, 2015 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on the NROL-55 flight for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The launch time has not been announced.
Fox-1A Operating Frequencies include:
Uplink 435.180 MHz FM Downlink 145.980 MHz FM
The AMSAT Fox series of satellites will include additional opportunities for launch during 2015-2016:
+ Fox-1B will fly with the Vanderbilt University radiation experiments expected in 2016.
+ Fox-1C* will launch on Spaceflight's maiden mission of the SHERPA multi-cubesat deployer during the 3rd quarter of 2015.
+ Fox-1D is a flight spare for Fox-1C. If not needed as a spare it will become available to launch on any open launch slot which becomes available and be submitted in a Cubesat Launch Initiative (CSLI) proposal in 2015.
+ Fox-1E is built as a flight spare for Fox-1B but has been included in a student science proposal as part of the November, 2014 CSLI for an ELaNa flight slot. If selected the Fox-1B spare will fly as Fox-1E.
* The flight for Fox-1C has been purchased by AMSAT. It is not funded by the Cubesat Launch Initiative ELaNa program. Fund raising for the $125,000 launch costs for Fox-1C are underway. We have commissioned a unique challenge coin for donors who have contributed at the $100 level or higher. This challenge coin is shaped as an isometric view of a Fox-1 CubeSat, complete with details such as the stowed UHF antenna, solar cells, and camera lens viewport. Struck in 3mm thick brass, plated with antique silver, and finished in bright enamel, the coin is scaled to be approximately 1:4 scale, or 1 inch along each of the six sides. The reverse has the AMSAT Fox logo.
You may donate at:
+ The AMSAT web site http://www.amsat.org
+ AMSAT's page on the FundRazr crowdsourcing web site http://fnd.us/c/6pz92/sh/561Zd
+ Or Call Martha at the AMSAT Office (888) 322-6728
[ANS thanks the Fox-1 Team for the above information]
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Most Current ISS Keps
AMSAT has been working on updating the keps for the ISS in a more timely manner. Joe Fitzgerald has confirmed that the AMSAT keps download site is now updated with the latest ISS data.
Here is his comment:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasabare.txt is updated daily at 11:18 UTC with TLE's from Spaceflight.nasa.gov http://tinyurl.com/ANS018-ISS-TRAJECTORY-DATA
According to Joe Fitzgerald, "This is a very significant improvement and should be very helpful for this who need accurate keps for school contacts and other ISS activities."
The bulletins remain on a weekly schedule with data from spacetrack.org The ARISS team suggests this information should be share accordingly.
[ANS Thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, and ARISS for the above information.]
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NASA Cubesat Simulators Intern Opportunities Summer 2015
CubeSat Simulator Intern Opportunities in Greenbelt, MD USA The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is offering an internship position for the Summer 2015 semester. Applications are being taken on the NASA One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI) recruiting web site.
To search, go to: https://intern.nasa.gov --> Student Opportunities --> Internships --> and you are brought to a page with tabs. The opening tab HOME describes the main ground rules and schedule. Click the SEARCH OPPORTUNITIES tab and scroll to the very bottom. Enter Keyword in the box: "cubesat" without the quotes, then click the Search and then you will get a growing list of opportunities including the Cubesat Simulator, Cubesat Groundstation, and PICetSat Module & PCB Development. This brings the student to this page:
https://intern.nasa.gov/ossi/web/public/guest/searchOpps/
Again, the Internship Titles are: o CubeSat Simulator Upgrade Plus o CubeSat Ground Station Development o PICetSat Module & PCB Development
The objective of this Opportunity is to allow a university level student to rework, repair and improve a prototype "1-Unit" CubeSat simulator/model on loan from AMSAT and then to share his or her experiences as a result. The model used in this Opportunity is similar to that described in The AMSAT Journal article "Education With a Satellite Simulator: ETP CubeSat Simulator," by Mr. Mark Spencer, ARRL Education and Technology Program Coordinator, Part 1 in the the September/October 2009 issue and Part 2 in the November/ December 2009 issue.
Back copies are available at: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ETP/CubeSat/CubeSat-Pt1-SepOct09.pdfhttp://ww...
A course of study in engineering is required. Electrical/Electronics Engineering (EE) or Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) for university students in their junior class or higher. Experience in hardware is also required.
Open to U.S. citizens.
The immediate skills required of the intern are to be a well-rounded individual, and to have an excellent knowledge of and experience with Windows operating systems, Microsoft Office (especially in using spreadsheets), electrical and electronic circuits (theory and practice), microcontrollers, interfacing, and the use of basic laboratory test equipment and procedures.
Familiarity with the CubeSat community is important.
A proficiency in either C++ or a similar language for microcontrollers and the desire to learn a new one is necessary. A basic understanding of data acquisition, signal processing, or control is required.
Hands-on experience in building something, repairing or upgrading PCs or other electronic gear, or just getting stuff to work is required. Mechanical and electrical construction skills will be used.
Experience in RF or wireless technology (anywhere between 3 and 2400 MHz) is very important. Holding or obtaining an Amateur Radio license from the FCC and practical radio experience is a distinct advantage.
A good attitude, an exceptional willingness to learn and to contribute as a team player are essential qualities. Likewise, excellent communicator skills (verbal, writing and definitely e-mail), reliability, punctuality, having a self-starter work ethic and the ability & desire to work independently for long periods are required.
You may ask questions regarding the tasks and skill requirements with the mentor in advance (Mr. Pat Kilroy, Code 568, Patrick.L.Kilroy@nasa.gov) and telephone interviews will be available.
The student application instructions provide a deadline of March 1 to apply, but mentors will start evaluating applications as soon as next week. The word to the wise is to get one's application in ASAP and certainly within the next three weeks!
Applications must be made via the OSSI web. Please Be sure to enclose your callsign.
https://intern.nasa.gov/ossi/web/public/main/index.cfm?sola rAction= view&subAction=content&contentCode=HOME_PAGE_INTERNSHIPS
[ANS thanks NASA and Pat, N8PK for the above information]
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OGMS-SA CubeSat to provide FM Transponder
The AESP-14 is a 1U CubeSat developed by undergraduate and graduate engineering students at the Technology Institute of Aeronautics (ITA) in Brazil. The satellite’s primary mission is to test the various subsystems in the space environment.
The satellite was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) on January 10 by the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch and it is now awaiting release into space by the JEM orbital deployer (J-SSOD) at the Kibo Japanese module.
The satellite has an amateur radio experiment developed by the Americana Amateur Radio Club (CRAM). The experiment consists of the random transmission of 100 sequences of ASCII characters prefixed with the “CRAM” word that will used as part of a contest among receiving stations. The first 10 amateur radio stations that complete receiving the 100 sequences will be awarded a commemorative diploma. A web site is being developed to collect the sequences. The site address will be announced shortly.
AESP-14 will transmit with an RF power of 500 mW on 437.600 MHz using the 9600 bps G3RUH modulation (GFSK) and AX.25 UI framing. Radio amateurs are encouraged to send any telemetry frames received back to the team. Telemetry format and more information will be published in the project web site http://www.aer.ita.br/~aesp14
An update bulletin will be released as soon as the final launch date is announced by NASA.
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and Edson, PY2SDR for the above information]
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OGMS-SA CubeSat to provide FM Transponder
OGMS-SA is a 3U CubeSat being developed by students at the Paris-Est Creteil University as part of the QB50 constellation. The purposes of this CubeSat include upper atmosphere science; radio communication experiments; technology demonstrator; education, training and outreach. Additionally it will provide an FM voice transponder for amateur use. Planning is to use VHF uplink and UHF downlink with 9k6 FX25 GMSK modulation. A downlink of 437.545 MHz has been coordinated.
OGMS-SA CubeSat http://www.esep.pro/-CubeSat-OGMS-SA-En-construction-.html
Source IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru
QB50 CubeSat Launch Contract Signed http://amsat-uk.org/2014/01/28/qb50-cubesat-launch-contract-signed /
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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Call for Speakers and Papers for the 41st Eastern VHF/UHF/Microwave Conference
Talks and papers, both long and short, are needed for the 41st Eastern VHF/UHF/Microwave Conference on April 17-19 2015 in Manchester, CT.
Please tell us about what you have been working on: Operating, contesting, construction, homebrewing, microwaves.
Please let Paul, W1GHZ, (w1ghz@arrl.net) know if you are considering a presentation or paper. A commitment by the end of February would be appreciated, with a deadline of 18 March.
The conference organizers are also planning another Friday afternoon workshop. One suggestion is for an Antenna Modeling workshop. We could even do two simultaneous workshops - one for Antenna Modeling and something else for those who aren't computer-oriented. Any suggestions, please.
Find additional details at http://www.newsvhf.com/vhfconf.html
[ANS thanks Paul, W1GHZ for the above information]
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Dick Flagg, AH6NM, honored as Yasme Excellence Award Winner
The Yasme Foundation Board of Directors has announced the recipients of several awards. The Foundation named four individuals to receive the Yasme Excellence Award for 2014.
Honored as Yasme Excellence Award winners were:
* Kimo Chun, KH7U, for 20 years of behind-the-scenes support to DXpeditions to Pacific entities -- including logistics, organization, equipment, local contacts, and planning.
* Dick Flagg, AH6NM, for his years of working with the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program and its predecessor Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX), and for supporting NASA's Radio Jove project, both designed to introduce Amateur Radio to students and the general public.
* Florin Cristian Predescu, YO9CNU, and Lisa Leenders, PA2LS, for their work in organizing and promoting Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) and Amateur Radio youth activities.
The Yasme Excellence Award is presented to individuals who, through their own service, creativity, effort, and dedication, have made a significant contribution to Amateur Radio in technical, operating, or organizational achievement.
http://www.yasme.org/news_release/2014-01-07.pdf
[ANS thanks ARRL Letter and YASME Foundation for the above information]
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Video of FUNcube-1 demonstration at IARU-R1 conference
Riaan Greeff ZS4PR has released a video of the demonstration of the FUNcube-1 (AO-73) CubeSat by Graham Shirville G3VZV to delegates at the IARU Region 1 Conference in September 2014.
Mats SM6EAN has posted a brief report on the Swedish Amateur Radio Society (SSA) website about the FUNcube-1 CubeSat presentation at the IARU Region 1 General Conference in Varna-Albena, Bulgaria.
The following is translated from the original Swedish post.
After the session of the VHF, UHF and Microwave C5 Committee had completed the delegates were given two interesting presentations.
Graham Shirville G3VZV did a poolside demonstration of the FUNcube-1 satellite which was launched in November 2013. Using a computer, FUNcube SDR dongle and a turnstile antenna, held by Kjetil Toresen LA8KV, he received FUNcube-1 and displayed the telemetry data on the computer screen. The satellite’s telemetry beacon on 145.935 MHz was also heard using a handheld SSB receiver.
A presentation was also made about Hamnet which is being expanded, especially in Germany. Hamnet is a high-speed multimedia network and it was discussed whether and how IARU Region 1 could support the expansion of this network.
Post by Mats SM6EAN in Swedish http://www.ssa.se/iaru-reg-1-dag-4/
FUNcube http://FUNc ube.org.uk/
FUNcube SDR Dongle http://FUNcubeDongle.com/
FUNcube Yahoo Group http://amsat-uk.org/funcube/yahoo-group/
Dashboard App – Telemetry Decoder http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboa rd/
Data Warehouse – Telemetry Archive http://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/
Hamnet http://hamnetdb .net/
IARU Region 1 Conference documents and pictures http://iarur1con2014.bfra.bg/
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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AMSAT Events
Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations).
* Friday and Saturday, 16-17 January 2015 – Cowtown Hamfest in Forest Hill TX (south of Fort Worth)
* Saturday, 14 February 2015 – presentation for the Greater Los Angeles Mensa Regional Gathering 2015 in Los Angeles CA (Concourse Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport)
* Friday and Saturday, 20-21 February 2015 – Yuma Hamfest in Yuma AZ (Yuma County Fairgrounds, 32nd Street between Pacific Avenue & Avenue 3E, south of I-8 exit 3)
* Saturday, 7 March 2015 – Irving Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Irving TX (west of Dallas)
* Friday and Saturday, 13-14 March 2015 – Green Country Hamfest in Claremore OK (northeast of Tulsa)
* Friday and Saturday, 20-21 March 2015 – Acadiana Hamfest in Rayne LA (west of Lafayette)
* Saturday, 21 March 2015 – Weatherford Hamfest in Weatherford TX (west of Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex)
* Saturday, 21 March 2015 – Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Scottsdale AZ (northeast of Phoenix, near AZ-101/Princess Drive)
* Saturday, 28 March 2015 – Tucson Spring Hamfest in Tucson AZ (22nd Street, east of Columbus Blvd.)
* Friday, 3 April 2015 – presentation for the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach in Signal Hill CA (Signal Hill Community Center)
* Saturday TBD in early May 2015 – Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ
* Saturday TBD in early June 2015 – White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low AZ
* Friday and Saturday, 12-13 June 2015 – HAM-COM in Irving TX (west of Dallas)
* Friday and Saturday, 7-8 August 2015 – Austin Summerfest in Austin TX
[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information]
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ARISS News
+ A direct contact with students at Richmond Heights Middle School and at BioTECH @ Richmond Heights High School in Miami, Florida, USA via W1HQL was successful Thu 2015-01-15 16:09:40 UTC 46 deg. Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF answered 12 questions for an audience of 400 students.
RICHMOND HEIGHTS MIDDLE SCHOOL
Richmond Heights Middle School opened its doors in 1963 in the Richmond Heights community in southwest Miami, Florida. The now 50 year old school, is located in a historic African American Community. An army captain by the name of Frank C. Martin believed it to be a wise investment as well as the right thing to do to establish a housing development in which Black veterans of WWII could purchase their own home. There are currently 636 students and a teaching staff of 41 faculty members. Along with its exemplary athletics program, full time gifted program, and Cambridge program, Richmond Heights Middle School offers a Zoology Magnet program to the students of Miami Dade County Public Schools. This is an extremely unique magnet program that is one of only three in the nation. The zoology magnet is a result of a partnership with Zoo Miami, the Zoological Society of Florida and Richmond Heights Middle School. It has been in existence since 1988. Students have the unique opportunity to visit the zoo to study the animals within their exhibits while engaging in STEM fields of study.
BIOTECH @ RICHMOND HEIGHTS 9-12 HIGH SCHOOL
BioTECH @ Richmond Heights 9-12 High School is the only Conservation Biology public magnet high school is the United States and boasts three campuses: our educational center at Richmond Campus, our Research Station at Zoo Miami, and our Botanical Outpost at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. BioTECH provides students with a challenging and advanced level math and science curriculum focused on Conservation Biology that exposes them to rigorous STEM coursework as well as research opportunities with practicing scientists in state-of- the-art laboratories. In classes taken on-site at Zoo Miami, students study the human impact on biological diversity, making BioTECH the only school in the country to offer a full research and teaching facility within zoo grounds. Research experiences are offered in collaboration with the local zoo and the local research and botanic garden. BioTECH is currently home to 130 students that travel within the boundaries of a 467 square mile area to attend this unique school. The school opened its doors in August 2014 with a total of 8 faculty members, 7 support staff members, and an arsenal of practicing scientists and conservation educators from Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Zoo Miami, Zoological Society of Florida, Everglades National Park, The Dumond Conservancy, and Biscayne National Park.
1. How would astronauts combat disease, say an accidental infection by a Salmonella culture, given the increased virulence of microbes in space?
2. What kind of work is the crew doing in support of the future missions to Mars?
3. We have a 3D printer in our school. What are the future implications of having a 3D printer on-board? What types of prints will you create?
4. Does experiencing a sunrise/sunset every 90 minutes change your sleep/wake cycles?
5. Do you feel physical exhaustion in space at the end of your work day? How long is your work day?
6. Without gravity, how do plants, such as Arabidopsis, determine orientation germination? Geotropism what do roots do? Do plants on the ISS grow in all different directions?
7. Do you feel stressed on the space station? How do you cope with stress on a space station and does it have more or less of an effect on your immune system in space? Measure muscle conditioning?
8. How are astronaut diets altered to accommodate the changes to the digestive system in microgravity?
9. All work and no play can be boring. What do you do for fun up in space?
10. How do you keep from feeling trapped in the space station?
11. What role did your education play in becoming an astronaut?
12. Which teacher influenced you the most in your life and why?
Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule
+ A direct contact with high school students at Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) headquarters in Shibuya, Japan in connection with their “Masakame” event is scheduled for Sat 2015-01-24 14:21:04 UTC 56 deg.
Japan’s NHK is televising a regular science program “Masakame” for young people. ("Masakame" means Good Heavens.) They are planning to offer a special program around the ARISS contact, which will be video recorded, and Amateur Radio satellites on air on February 28.
The following contacts with RSØISS:
+ A direct contact with students in Kursk, Russia scheduled for Wed 2014-12-24 has been postponed until January. + A direct contact with students in Kursk, Russia scheduled for Thu 2014-12-25 has been postponed until January.
No additional information has been provided.
[ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
73 on 73 Award #7 - EA4AYW
Congratulations to Jorge Gallardo Sanchez, EA4AYW, for becoming the seventh recipient of the 73 on 73 Award. He submitted a list of 73 stations worked via AO-73 between September 1, 2014 and January 9, 2015.
For more information on the award see http://amsat-uk.org/funcube/73-on-73-award/
[ANS thanks Paul, N8HM 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, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-039
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-UK Colloquium 2015 – Call For Speakers * Navassa K1N Satellite Operation Supported by AMSAT-NA * Successful Contact For ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZØUDF With Two Schools In Italy * AMSAT-BR Forms in Brazil * AMSAT SKN 2015 BEST FIST WINNERS * AESP-14 CubeSat Team Requesting Receiving Assistance * AMSAT at 2015 Orlando Hamcation * Palm Springs HamFest - March 14 * NASA Announces University CubeSat Space Mission Candidates * 2015 NASA Academy * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-039.01 ANS-039 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 039.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE February 8, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-039.01
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AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2015 – Call For Speakers
This is the first call for speakers for the AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2015 which will be held from Saturday, July 25 to Sunday, July 26 2015 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, United Kingdom.
http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2015/
AMSAT-UK invites speakers, to cover topics about micro-satellites, CubeSats, Nanosats, space and associated activities, for this event.
They are also invited to submit papers for subsequent publishing on the AMSAT-UK web site. We normally prefer authors to present talks themselves rather than having someone else give them in the authors’ absence. We also welcome “unpresented” papers for the web site.
Submissions should be sent *ONLY* to G4DPZ, via the following routes: e-mail: dave at g4dpz dot me dot uk Postal address at http://www.qrz.com/db/G4DPZ
AMSAT-UK also invite anyone with requests for Program Topics to submit them as soon as possible to G4DPZ. Invitations for any papers on specific subjects will be included in the future call. Likewise if anyone knows of a good speaker, please send contact and other information to G4DPZ.
[ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ and AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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Navassa K1N Satellite Operation Supported by AMSAT-NA
AMSAT Vice President Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA reported on his work to enable amateur satellite operation via FO-29 by the K1N Navassa Island DXpedition. To support operation on the linear passband of FO-29, Drew said AMSAT provided a Yaesu FT-817 radio and associated equipment, pass predictions, operational plan, and training. Operation in the linear passband of FO-29 maximizes the number of contacts possible.
The K1N satellite operator is Gregg, W6IZT although others may also participate. Gregg will be operating half-duplex with the Yaesu FT-817 (provided by AMSAT) and an Arrow antenna. Gregg has pass prediction information for FO-29 and SO-50, for all passes that are 20 degrees or higher at the island (thanks to John K8YSE for preparing those). While the focus will be on FO-29, it is possible they may try SO-50 as well. Gregg mentioned to Drew that satellite operations are more likely in the second half of the expedition as opposed to the first half.
Drew described the satellite operating configuration:
+ The radio is programmed with 5 split-band memory channels for SO-50.
+ The VFOs are programmed for FO-29 operation with a fixed uplink of 145.980, for a downlink at 435.813 to 435.827 depending on Doppler shift.
+ IMPORTANT NOTE - Gregg will be tuning his receive for replies, and may not be listening directly on his own downlink. Calling while he is transmitting will not work since he is half-duplex. (This is much the same way other rovers such as KL7R and UT1FG operate. This particular frequency scheme was chosen to reduce QRM (both given and received). This also allows a quick tune to the beacon for antenna pointing when there are not many callers.
+ Two high quality LMR-240UF jumpers to connect directly to the Arrow antenna via the front and back antenna ports.
In conclusion, Drew said, "Gregg has my email and cell phone number. I have asked him to alert me if possible, no matter the hour, when they decide to get on FO-29, which I will pass along to the amsat-bb list and the AMSAT twitter feed immediately."
The team is still in need of financial help for the expedition. Please consider helping them out at: http://69.89.25.185/~trexsoft/t-rexsoftware.com/k1n/donate.htm
The main Navassa DXpedition website can be viewed at: http://www.navassadx.com
FO-29 Frequencies ----------------- Uplink Passband: 146.000 - 145.900 MHz Analog CW/SSB Downlink Passband: 435.800 - 435.900 MHz Analog CW/SSB Beacon: 435.795 MHz
SO-50 Frequencies ----------------- Uplink: 145.850 MHz FM 67.0 Hz CTCSS tone for access Downlink: 436.795 MHz FM
[ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA for the above information]
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Successful Contact For ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZØUDF With Two Schools In Italy
Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 08:39 UTC, 09:39 local time, students at "Istituto Salesiano G. Bearzi” in Udine and Intercultura students at "Centro Giovanno XXIII" in Frascati, Roma, Italy established ARISS contact with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZØUDF onboard the International Space Station. These were telebridge contacts performed by Amateur radio ground stations K6DUE, located in Maryland, USA.
Presentation Istituto Salesiano “G. Bearzi” Brief description of the school and the amateur radio school club (if there is one): The school is a salesian school with 750 students, from 6 to 20 years old. We have also a small hostel for college students.
Presentation of Intercultura Intercultura is the Italian representative of AFS Intercultural Programs (New York, an international, no profit, voluntary based organization that provides intercultural learning opportunities and cultural exchange programs throughout more than 60 different countries in the world, involving every year 13.000 students and an equivalent number of families and schools. In Italy, Intercultura is a no profit organization (Onlus) recognized by the Italian government, under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The professional staff of Intercultura is made by 40 people who work in the headquarter of Colle Val D’Elsa (Siena) or in the PR offices based in Milan and Rome. The 4.000 affiliated volunteers are organized in 150 local chapters and offer voluntary work to promote international school based exchange programs.
Mentor Francesco De Paolis IK0WGF proposed to the radio coordinators Mr. Antonio Baldin IW3QKU and Mr. Emanuele D'Andria IØELE the sharing of event and this was accepted. A phone conference call allowed the full sharing of the event between two contact sites involved, moderated by Mr. Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ. The sequence of questions was made alternately by the students at two contact sites involved.
Contact was established at 08:39 UTC, 09:39 local time with NA1SS via K6DUE. ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF answered 12 questions by students.
Samantha Cristoforetti was really very accurate in giving the answers and full of details. Signals from the ISS were good during both ISS passes, but suffering a few moments of fading.
Regional and Local Televisions and newspapers covered the event. About 500 students, parents, visitors and media attended the events at contact sites.
After the contact, Mrs. Rosa Tagliamonte and Mr. Salvatore Pignataro by ASI (Italian Space Agency) presented Cristoforetti mission and Italian contribution to International Space Station. Mr. Emanule D'Andria IØELE presented ARISS and explained how a contact with the ISS is performed via Ham Radio.
The contact established with NA1SS was live on AMSAT Italia channel: http://www.livestream.com/amsat_italia
The event was announced on ESA Portal - National News: http://www.esa.int/ita/ESA_in_your_country/Italy/Un_saluto_dalla_Terr a_in_tutte_le_lingue_del_mondo._Samantha_Cristoforetti_parla_con_gli_s tudenti_di_Intercultura_e_di_Udine
Congratulations to IW3QKU and IØELE Teams!
[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]
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AMSAT-BR Forms in Brazil
A new AMSAT group, AMSAT-BR, has been formed in Brazil in order to better organize the Brazilian amateur satellite activities, to better represent the amateur radio community to organizations developing cubesat projects, and to attract more amateurs in different regions of the country to join our cause. AMSAT-BR has formed as a special interest group under the Liga de Amadores Brasileiros de Radio Emissão (LABRE), the national organization with the mission to represent the amateur radio community in Brazil. LABRE is registered as a member society of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU).
Orlando Perez Filho, PT2OP, the Executive Director of LABRE sent a letter to AMSAT-NA in which he described the primary mission of AMSAT-BR will be:
+ To foster activities related to development, building, operating, and monitoring amateur radio satellites and high altitude balloons.
+ To foster activities using amateur radio satellites and high altitude balloons in STEM education.
Mr. Filho noted that collaboration with cubesat projects in Brazil gave LABRE the opportunity to learn more about their missions and opened doors to show them that there were some needs for better alignment with the amateur radio service objectives and at the same time demonstrate that there are benefits for them to get involved with the amateur radio community. LABRE volunteered to assist some projects with the IARU frequency coordination applications leading to cubesats with significant amateur radio involvement:
+ AESP-14: A 1U educational cubesat launched to the ISS in January and deployed on February 5, 2015. The AESP-14 primary mission is to test a cubesat structure, power system, and OBC developed locally by space systems engineering students in Brazil. The project includes an amateur radio experiment in the form of reception contest where pre-defined text strings will be stored on board the spacecraft and will be randomly transmitted. The experiment was conceptualized by PY2DGS, PY2ADN, PY2JF, PY2NI, PY2UEP, and PY2SDR.
+ NCBR1: A 1U scientific cubesat using the ISIS structure and electronics. Amateurs have assisted the project with the reception and monitoring. It is being contemplated a closer collaboration with the amateur radio community for the next project (NCBR2). It is hoped that NCBR2 will include an amateur radio experiment. The main collaborators with the project are PV8DX, PY4ZBZ and PY2SDR.
+ ITASAT-1: A 6U educational cubesat being developed by engineering students at the Aeronautics Technology Institute (ITA). The cubesat will include a short text messaging store-and-forward transponder being developed by amateurs. Amateurs are also working with some high schools to use the satellite in STEM education. The experi- ment is being developed by PY2UEP, and PY2SDR.
+ 14BISat: A 2U educational cubesat being developed by engineering students at Fluminense Federal Technology Institute in Rio de Janeiro. PV8DX has been collaborating with the project with the design and implementation of ground stations that will be deployed to other educational institutes around the country.
+ AESP-16: A 1U educational cubesat being considered for 2016. Amateurs have been offered to include an amateur radio payload (TBD).
An additional, welcome outcome of the ongoing collaboration is that some students have already become interested in amateur radio and have obtained their amateur radio license. Some projects are even requiring that students that will operate the station get their amateur radio license as a prerequisite for participating in the project.
[ANS thanks AMSAT-BR and AMSAT-NA for the above information]
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AMSAT SKN 2015 BEST FIST WINNERS
Many thanks to all who participated in AMSAT's Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2015, this year's event held in memory of Captain Charles (Chuck) Dorian, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired), W3JPT.
Activity was good despite the loss of VO-52. Our thanks to Jim Heck, G3WGV, and AMSAT-UK for keeping AO-73 in transponder mode during AMSAT SKN. AO-73 proved to be quite popular.
The following participants each received at least one Best Fist nomination from someone they worked:
AA5PK, JA1VVH, JA3PXH, JL1SAM, JM1LRA, JR0EFE, K9CIS, KT0F, N3TE, N5AFV, WA6ARA, WB5KBH, XE3ARV
Congratulations to all!
We hope you will participate in AMSAT SKN on OSCAR 2016, which will mark the 25th year that AMSAT has sponsored this fun event.
[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS for the above information]
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AESP-14 CubeSat Team Requesting Receiving Assistance
On Thursday, February 5 the Brazilian satellite AESP-14 was deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) but so far no signals have been heard. The AESP-14 telemetry beacon has a power output of 500 mW and uses AX.25 on 437.600 MHz with 9600 bps GMSK modulation (G3RUH standard). It should have started transmitting 30 minutes after deployment but as of Thursday night nothing had been heard. It may be the battery did not survive several months without being recharged or the antenna may have failed to deploy.
The AESP-14 team would like to ask the help of radio amateurs around the world to forward any received telemetry frames back to the team. For this, please save the AX.25 frames in KISS format and forward the file to aesp14@ita.br. The satellite was sent to the ISS as cargo on the SpaceX Falcon 9 mission CRS-5. Launch had been scheduled for December 16, 2014 but was postponed three times and it wasn't until January 10, 2015 that the launch eventually took place. Since arriving at the ISS on January 12 AESP-14 has been awaiting deployment by the JEM Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) which is in the Japanese Kibo module.
The satellite has an amateur radio experiment developed by the Americana Amateur Radio Club (CRAM). The experiment consists of the random transmission of 100 sequences of ASCII characters prefixed with the "CRAM" word that will used as part of a contest among receiving stations. The first 10 amateur radio stations that complete receiving the 100 sequences will be awarded a commemorative diploma. Further details at http://wabicafe.com.br/aesp14/cram.php
AESP-14 website http://www.aer.ita.br/~aesp14
[ANS thanks the AESP-14 Team and the Southgate ARC for the above information]
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AMSAT at 2015 Orlando Hamcation
The 2015 Orlando Hamcation - Orlando, FL is scheduled for Friday, February 13 through Sunday, February 15 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds, 4603 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, Florida 32808.
AMSAT will be represented all three days at two adjacent booths in the Commercial 1 main entrance building. John Papay, K8YSE will be on hand operating the sats via his remote and rover stations along with other satellite demos. The ARISSat-1 working demo satellite will be on display along with the Fox-1 Engineering model.
There will be an AMSAT forum held on Saturday from 12:30 till 1:30 ending with a prize drawing for those attending. Hamcation just gets bigger and better every year, so please join us for a great weekend.
[ANS thanks Dave, AA4KN and the AMSAT Hamcation Team for the above information]
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Palm Springs HamFest - March 14
The 2015 Palm Springs Hamfest will once again be held at the beautiful Palm Springs Pavilion, near the Palm Springs Baseball Stadium, Saturday, March 14 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This year’s hamfest will offer a VE testing session before the opening of the regular event.
Admission: Still just $5 - with free parking available. Where else can you get a day’s worth of entertainment for that?
Forums include ...
• Keynote by Gordon West • Andre Hansen presents on Broadband Hamnet • Dennis Kidder ("Arduino Projects for Amateur Radio") will talk about Maker Faire • Clint Bradford will present “How to Work the Amateur Satellites with your HT” • Bob Brehm, Chief Engineer at Palomar Engineers will present on curing RFI, working more DX and keeping your neighbors happy
Visit the event's Web site at ...
http://www.palmspringshamfest.com
[ANS thanks Clint, K6LCS for the above information]
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NASA Announces University CubeSat Space Mission Candidates
NASA has selected more than dozen small research satellites that each could fit in the palm of your hand to fly in space on future rocket launches.
These cube-shaped nanosatellites, called CubeSats, which measure about four inches on each side and weigh less than three pounds, are small but pack an outsized research punch. They will enable unique technology demonstrations, education research and science missions, and will study topics ranging from how the solar system formed to the demonstration of a new radiation-tolerant computer system.
The 14 CubeSats selected are from 12 states and will fly as auxiliary payloads aboard rockets planned to launch in 2016, 2017 and 2018. They come from universities across the country, non-profit organizations and NASA field centers.
As part of the White House Maker Initiative, NASA is seeking to leverage the growing community of space-enthusiasts to create a nation that contributes to NASA’s space exploration goals. In the first step to broaden this successful initiative to launch 50 small satellites from all 50 states in the next five years, the agency has made a selection from West Virginia, one of the 21 "rookie states" that have not previously been selected by the CubeSat Launch Initiative.
The selections are part of the fifth round of the agency's CubeSat Launch Initiative. The selected spacecraft are eligible for placement on a launch manifest after final negotiations, depending on the availability of a flight opportunity. The organizations sponsoring satellites are:
+ Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Asteroid Origins Satellite is a science laboratory that will be the world’s first CubeSat centrifuge. It will enable a unique set of science and technology experiments to be performed on a CubeSat to answer fundamental questions of how the solar system formed and understand the surface dynamics of asteroids and comets.
+ California State University, Northridge, California The mission of California State University Northridge Satellite is to test an innovative low temperature capable energy storage system in space developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena that will enable future missions, especially those in deep space to do more science while requiring less energy, mass and volume.
+ Capitol Technology University, Laurel, Maryland The Coordinated Applied Capitol Technology University Satellite (CACTUS-1) is a technological demonstration of a cost-saving communications and commanding innovation. The payload will lower investment in communications and ground systems technology by licensing conventional internet satellite providers for low earth orbit use. The CubeSat’s aerogel-based Particle Capture and Measurement instrument is the first CubeSat-based orbital debris detector to be flown in low-Earth orbit.
+ Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado The Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems – Demonstrator (TEMPEST-D) provides risk mitigation for the TEMPEST mission that will provide the first temporal observations of cloud and precipitation processes on a global scale. These observations are important to understand the linkages in and between Earth’s water and energy balance, as well as to improve our understanding of cloud model microphysical processes that are vital to climate change prediction.
+ Cornell University, Ithaca, New York KickSat-2 is a CubeSat technology demonstration mission designed to demonstrate the deployment and operation of prototype Sprite “ChipSats” (femtosatellites). The Sprite is a tiny spacecraft that includes power, sensor and communication systems on a printed circuit board measuring 3.5 by 3.5 centimeters with a thickness of a few millimeters and a mass of a few grams. ChipSats could enable new kinds of science and exploration missions, as well as dramatically lower the cost of access to space.
+ Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana A Satellite Demonstration of a Radiation Tolerant System, RadSat, is a technology demonstration of a new radiation tolerant computer system in a low-Earth orbit satellite mission to demonstrate a technology readiness level 9 of the technology.
+ NASA's Glenn Research Center, Cleveland The Advanced eLectrical Bus (ALBus) CubeSat is a technology demonstration mission of an advanced, digitally controlled electrical power system capability and novel use of shape memory alloy technology for reliable deployable solar array mechanisms. The goals of the mission are to demonstrate efficient battery charging in the orbital environment, 100 Watt distribution to a target electrical load, flexible power system distribution interfaces, adaptation of power system control on orbit and successful deployment of solar arrays and antennas using resettable shape memory alloy mechanisms.
+ NASA's Independent Verification &Validation Program, Fairmont, West Virginia In partnership with the University of West Virginia, the Simulation-to-Flight 1 (STF-1) mission will demonstrate the utility of the NASA Operational Simulator technologies across the CubeSat development cycle, from concept planning to mission operations. It will demonstrate a highly portable simulation and test platform that allows seamless transition of mission development artifacts to flight products.
+ Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio The CubeSat mission to study Solar Particles over the Earth’s Poles (CuSPP) mission is space weather mission that will study the sources and acceleration mechanisms of solar and interplanetary particles near-Earth orbit. It will study magnetospheric ion precipitation in the high-latitude ionosphere. It will increase the technology readiness level of a supra-thermal ion spectrograph concept so that it may fly with reduced risk and cost on future heliophysics missions.
+ University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida (2 CubeSats) The CubeSat Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment (Cu-PACE) will perform a long-duration microgravity experiments in orbit to observe novel low-speed collisions in greater numbers than possible in ground-based, parabolic and suborbital flight experiments.
+ SurfSat is a science investigation that will measure plasma-induced surface charging and electrostatic discharge measurements. It will take in-situ measurements of the ground current waveforms from chosen common spacecraft dielectric material samples, measure the spacecraft and material potentials and will use a Langmuir probe system to measure the ambient plasma environment.
+ University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (2 CubeSats) The Miniature Tether Electrodynamics Experiment (MiTEE) will use CubeSat capabilities to deploy a picosatellite body of approximately 8 cm × 8 cm × 2 cm from a 3U CubeSat to demonstrate and assess an ultra-small satellite electrodynamics tether in the space environment where the fundamental dynamics and plasma electrodynamics. The miniature electrodynamics tethers, which are a few meters long, have the potential to provide propellantless propulsion, passive two-axis attitude stabilization and enhanced communication utility to the next generation of small satellites.
The Tandem Beacon Experiment (TBEx) will consist of a tandem pair of CubeSats, each carrying tri-frequency radio beacons, in near identical, low inclination orbits and a cluster of diagnostic sensors on five islands in the Central Pacific sector. The science objectives and goals of TBEx are to study how the dynamics and processes in the troposphere can act to cause variability in the behavior of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.
+ University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota The Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats (OPEN) mission aims to reduce mission risk and cost for universities, researchers and other spacecraft developers through the creation of an open-hardware/open-source software framework for CubeSat development. The designs use low-cost commercial off-the-shelf parts and easily-to-fabricate printed circuit boards that can be made using the budget of $5,000 in parts for a basic spacecraft.
In the previous five rounds of the CubeSat Launch Initiative, 114 CubeSats from 29 states were selected. To date, 36 CubeSats have launched through the initiative as part of the agency's Launch Services Program's Educational Launch of Nanosatellite (ELaNa) Program. This year, four separate ELaNa missions will carry seven CubeSats.
The full NASA press release can be accessed at: http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-announces-sixth-round-of-cubesat-space-miss ion-candidates/
[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]
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2015 NASA Academy
The NASA Academy offers a 10-week summer experience for college students with emphasis on immersive and integrated multidisciplinary exposure and training. Activities include laboratory research, a group project, lectures, meetings with experts and administrators, visits to NASA centers and space-related industries, and technical presentations. Students learn how NASA and its centers operate, gain experience in world-class laboratories, and participate in leadership development and team-building activities.
The sites for the NASA Academy include the following NASA centers:
-- NASA Space Academy at Ames Research Center, Glenn Research Center and Marshall Space Flight Center, with emphasis on space exploration. -- NASA Aeronautics Academy at Ames Research Center, Armstrong Flight Research Center, and Glenn Research Center, for students with career aspirations in aeronautics. -- NASA Propulsion Academy at Marshall Space Flight Center, for those with interest in propulsion careers. -- NASA Robotics Academy at Ames Research Center and Marshall Space Flight Center, with emphasis on robotics.
To be eligible to apply to any of the NASA Academy opportunities, students must be rising juniors or seniors at the undergraduate level or be at the early graduate level in an accredited U.S. college or university. Applications are due Feb. 15, 2015.
For more information and to apply online, visit https://academy.grc.nasa.gov/application-information/.
Note: Applicants must also create a student profile at http://intern.nasa.gov.
Questions about NASA Academy should be directed to NASA-Academy-Application@mail.nasa.gov.
[ANS thanks the NASA Education Express Message for Feb. 5, 2015 for the above information]
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AMSAT Events
Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations).
*Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 13-15 February 2015 - Orlando HAMCATION at the Central Florida Fairgrounds, 4603 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, Florida
*Saturday, 14 February 2015 – presentation for the Greater Los Angeles Mensa Regional Gathering 2015 in Los Angeles CA (Concourse Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport)
*Friday and Saturday, 20-21 February 2015 – Yuma Hamfest in Yuma AZ (Yuma County Fairgrounds, 32nd Street between Pacific Avenue & Avenue 3E, south of I-8 exit 3)
*Saturday, 7 March 2015 – Irving Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Irving TX (west of Dallas)
*Friday and Saturday, 13-14 March 2015 – Green Country Hamfest in Claremore OK (northeast of Tulsa)
*Saturday, 14 March 2015 – Science City 2015/Tucson Festival of Books in Tucson AZ (on the University of Arizona Main Mall)
*Friday and Saturday, 20-21 March 2015 – Acadiana Hamfest in Rayne LA (west of Lafayette)
*Saturday, 21 March 2015 – Weatherford Hamfest in Weatherford TX (west of Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex)
*Saturday, 21 March 2015 – Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Scottsdale AZ (northeast of Phoenix, near AZ-101/Princess Drive)
*Saturday, 28 March 2015 – Greater Houston Hamfest and 2015 ARRL Texas State Convention in Rosenberg TX (southwest of Houston)
*Saturday, 28 March 2015 – Tucson Spring Hamfest in Tucson AZ (22nd Street, east of Columbus Blvd.)
*Friday, 3 April 2015 – presentation for the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach in Signal Hill CA (Signal Hill Community Center)
*Friday, 17 April 2015 – presentation for the Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club in Tucson AZ
*Friday through Sunday, 1-3 May 2015 – ARRL Nevada State Convention in Reno NV (Boomtown Casino Hotel)
*Saturday, 2 May 2015 – Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ
*Thursday, 14 May 2015 – presentation for the Escondido Amateur Radio Society in Escondido CA
*Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 15-17 2015, Dayton Hamvention in Dayton OH (Hara Arena)
*Saturday, 6 June 2015 – White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low AZ
*Friday and Saturday, 12-13 June 2015 – HAM-COM in Irving TX (west of Dallas)
*Friday and Saturday, 7-8 August 2015 – Austin Summerfest in Austin TX
*Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16-18 2015, AMSAT Symposium in Dayton OH (Dayton Crown Plaza)
[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information]
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ARISS News
* An ARISS contact with schools in Italy was successful on Saturday, January 31, 2015. This was a telebridge contact with Istituto Salesiano “G. Bearzi” in Udine and Intercultura Onlus in Milano, relayed through ground station K6DUE in Greenbelt, Maryland. Contact was established at 08:39 UTC, 09:39 local time with NA1SS.The astronaut was Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, using the ISS callsign NA1SS. Cristoforetti answered a total of 13 questions from the students. The contact was covered by NHK TV with 500 spectators in attendance. (See above article)
Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule
* A contact with students at W.T. Sampson (DoD school), Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,is scheduled for Wed 2015-02-11 15:58:00 UTC 34 deg. The contact will be via telebridge via IK1SLD with astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUD.
WT Sampson Unit School is a K-12 DoDDS (Department of Defense Dependents Schools) school located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Our school provides education opportunities for GTMO’s students from Sure Start through 12th grade. Our students are primarily the children of military and civilian families stationed here at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
We are accredited by the North Central Association, Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI). NCA CASI is part of the unified organization AdvancED whose focus is to help member schools continually improve student performance and school conditions. Our mission is to educate, engage, and empower each student to succeed in a dynamic world. We envision a technologically sophisticated learning environment, supported by our families and community, where all students attain their highest levels of success. Where understanding and appreciating diversity is an integral part of the learning process; thereby, empowering all students to become physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy citizens of the global community.
Although officially designated as a Unit School, WT Sampson is actually located on two separate campuses about 2 miles apart. Currently, there are approximately 130 students at the elementary school (SS through 5th grade) and 90 students (6th through 12th grade) at the secondary campus. Despite our small size, WT Sampson provides all students with the highest quality of education and a safe environment. The dedicated and highly qualified faculty remains focused on the mission, vision, and philosophy of our school.
[ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
New Webcast - Amateur Radio Round Table
All are invited to Amateur Radio Round Table, a new series of W5KUB.com weekly webcasts. The webcast will be Tuesday nights at 8:00 PM Central Time (0200 UTC Wednesdays) at W5KUB.COM
Amateur Radio Round Table will be an informal discussion of all aspects of ham radio with the intent of allowing viewers to watch this live webcast or be a guest via Skype or Google Hangout.
To watch Amateur Radio Round Table: Go to w5kub.com, click on Live Events and sign in. If you have a W5KUB account, use your User Name and Password. If you don’t have a W5KUB account, sign in with a call or name without a password.
To be a guest on Amateur Radio Round Table: Send an email message to tom@w5kub.com. Prior to the show, you will be provided with information needed to join the show.
Join for fun and interesting ham radio programming. See you on the webcast
[ANS thanks Tom Medlin, W5KUB for the above information]
Fajr downlink in 70 cm band
The Iranian satellite Fajr (i.e. 'Dawn') was launched on 2015-02-02 just before 09:00 UTC from Semnan launch center with a Safir rocket. The 50 kg satellite (40387, 2015-006A), Iran's fourth satellite, has a cold gas thruster, so it can change its orbit. It carries a camera for earth observations. It should have a telemetry downlink on 437.538 MHz and a command uplink in the 2 m band.
[ANS thanks Nico, PA0DLO for the above information]
Camera to record doomed ATV's disintegration - from inside
On Monday, February 9, ESA astronaut Samantha Christoforetti will float into Europe’s space ferry to install a special infrared camera, set to capture unique interior views of the spacecraft’s break-up on reentry.
“The battery-powered camera will be trained on the Automated Transfer Vehicle’s forward hatch, and will record the shifting temperatures of the scene before it,” explains Neil Murray, overseeing the project for ESA.
“Recording at 10 frames per second, it should show us the last 10 seconds or so of the ATV. We don’t know exactly what we might see – might there be gradual deformations appearing as the spacecraft comes under strain, or will everything come apart extremely quickly?
“Our Break-Up Camera, or BUC, flying for the first time on this mission, will complement NASA’s Reentry Break-up Recorder.
“Whatever results we get back will be shared by our teams, and should tell us a lot about the eventual reentry of the International Space Station as well as spacecraft reentry in general.”
Every mission of ESA’s ATV ferry ends in the same way – filled with Space Station rubbish then burning up in the atmosphere, aiming at a designated ‘spacecraft graveyard’ in an empty stretch of the South Pacific.
But the reentry of this fifth and final ATV is something special. NASA and ESA are treating it as an opportunity to gather detailed information that will help future spacecraft reentries.
Accordingly, ATV-5 will be steered into a shallow descent compared to the standard deorbit path.
This ATV’s fiery demise will be tracked with a battery of cameras and imagers, on the ground, in the air and even from the Station itself, and this time on the vehicle itself.
ESA’s camera will not survive the reentry, expected to occur some 80–70 km up, but it is linked to the ‘SatCom’ sphere with a ceramic thermal protection system to endure the searing 1500°C.
Once SatCom is falling free, it will transmit its stored data to any Iridium communication satellites in view.
Plunging through the top of the atmosphere at around 7 km/s, it will itself be surrounded by scorching plasma known to block radio signals, but the hope is that its omnidirectional antenna will be able to exploit a gap in its trail.
If not, signalling will continue after the plasma has cleared – somewhere below 40 km altitude.
Japan’s i-Ball camera managed to gather images of its Station supply ferry breaking up in 2012. Another i-Ball was planned to fly with ATV-5, but was lost in the Antares rocket explosion last October.
The full story with photos can be found on the ESA web: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Camera_to_rec ord_doomed_ATV_s_disintegration_from_inside
[ANS thanks the European Space Agency 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, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org
Thank you for including the Palm Springs HamFest in this week's report.
Clint K6LCS http://www.palmspringshamfest.com
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-060
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:
* ISS SSTV in a Brazilian School * Space Station SSTV and Packet Radio via SUWS WebSDR * SSTV From the ISS Completed This Week * CubeSats Offered Deep-space Ride on ESA Asteroid Probe * Live Broadcast of Space Launch System Booster Test Firing * ARISS SSTV Diploma Available * AMSAT at the Yuma Hamfest Wrapup Report * Central States VHF Society Call for Papers * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-060.01 ANS-060 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 060.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE March 8, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-060.01
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ISS SSTV in a Brazilian School
One of the members of the newly formed Brazil's AMSAT-BR group, Paulo, PV8DX, demonstrated amateur radio on Monday, February 23, 2015 at the Gonçalves Dias school when he demonstrated receiving an ISS SSTV picture on 145.800 MHz FM.
The ISS pass he received did not produce a strong signal and only part of the picture was captured but as can be seen from the video the students were enthusiastic and excited to be receiving a signal from space.
Paulo expressed the hope that the ISS will send images on school days more often.
AMSAT-BR https://sites.google.com/site/amsatbr/
Information on receiving ISS SSTV http://amsat-uk.org/2015/02/11/more-iss-slow-scan-tv/
[ANS thanks Paulo, PV8DX and AMSAT-BR for the above information]
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Space Station SSTV and Packet Radio via SUWS WebSDR
Martin Ehrenfried G8JNJ reports excellent SSTV and Packet Radio signals from the International Space Station (ISS) using the online SUWS WebSDR.
The omni-direction helix antennas at the WebSDR were designed with high elevation satellites in mind. Conventional antennas concentrate the radiation pattern towards the horizon resulting in weaker signals when a satellite is above 15 degrees elevation. Comparisons with other WebSDRs show the SUWS antennas provide a 6 to 10dB better signal to noise ratio on similar passes.
Martin says: “I had been experimenting with single turn ‘twisted halo’ design, and decided to try stacking them to see if I could achieve more gain. Modelling suggested that a stretched 3 turn helix with a helix circumference of approx 1/2 wave length and an overall length of 1/2 wave at 70cm, and fed with a gamma match at the centre would offer reasonable gain, an omni-directional pattern and mixed polarisation.”
You can use the free online SUWS Web Software Defined Radio from your PC or Laptop to receive the ISS and the many amateur radio satellites transmitting in the 144-146 MHz or 435-438 MHz bands. It also provides reception of High Altitude Balloons in the 434 MHz band and coverage of the microwave 10368-10370 MHz band.
The SUWS WebSDR is located at Farnham not far from London, 51.3 N 1.15 W, listen to it at http://websdr.suws.org.uk/
Full details of the antennas are available at http://g8jnj.webs.com/currentprojects.htm
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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SSTV From the ISS Completed This Week
Following a short delay in amateur radio operations aboard the ISS due to schedule changes in EVA activity, the Slow Scan Television transmissions were sent on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, February 22-24. The transmissions originated from the Russian segment of the ISS using a modified Kenwood radio and an external antenna on the ISS. The callsign of RS0ISS was used.
SSTV signals received on 145.800 MHz using the PD180 high resolution mode featured 12 different photos of the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Also included was a photo of a commemorative diploma created by the National Polish Amateur Radio Society celebrating the 80th anniversary of Gagarin's birthday.
Images received by radio amateurs world-wide may be viewed on-line at: http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/
AMSAT-UK provides a good reference page to prepare amateur radio operators to set up their stations for future SSTV events from the ISS: http://amsat-uk.org/2015/02/11/more-iss-slow-scan-tv/
Enthusiastic comments posted on amsat-bb indicated world-wide success:
Fer, IW1DTU wrote, "ISS SSTV, strong signal."
Roland, PY4ZBZ wrote, "Picture received in Brazil 22 feb 2015: http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/satelite/Hist33.jpg
Ken, GW1FKY commented, "Received very strong and clear pictures using my Kenwood THD-7 on a pass 1416 hrs plus, at my QTH in Wales UK. This was despite very heavy rain and severe flooding in the area.
Greg, KO6TH wrote, "I've never received a clearer SSTV picture from anywhere, let alone outer space! Using a Yaesu FT-847 and MMSSTV software running under Wine on my OpenSuSE Linux box."
Steve, AI9IN wrote, "Just got a nice download of picture 12/12 Series 1 from ISS. Have a 5/8 wave vertical on the roof going to an old Yaesu 2 m multi-mode used MMSSTV. My first SSTV from the ISS!"
[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]
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CubeSats Offered Deep-Space Ride on ESA Asteroid Probe
Think of it as the ultimate hitchhiking opportunity: ESA is offering CubeSats a ride to a pair of asteroids in deep space. CubeSats are among the smallest types of satellites: formed in standard cubic units of 10 cm per side, they provide affordable access to space for small companies, research institutes and universities. One-, two- or three-unit CubeSats are already being flown.
Teams of researchers and companies from any ESA Member State are free to compete. The selected CubeSats will become Europe's first to travel beyond Earth orbit once the Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) is launched in October 2020.
"AIM has room for a total of six CubeSat units," explains Ian Carnelli, managing the mission for ESA. "So potentially that might mean six different one- unit CubeSats could fly, but in practice it might turn out that two three-unit CubeSats will be needed to produce meaningful scientific return.
"We're looking for innovative ideas for CubeSat-hosted sensors that will boost and complement AIM's own scientific return.
"We also intend to use these CubeSats, together with AIM itself and its asteroid lander, to test out intersatellite communications networking.
"ESA's SysNova initiative will be applied to survey a comparatively large number of alternative solutions, this competition framework giving industry and universities the opportunity to work together on developing their scientific investigations in a field that is the technological cutting edge."
Beginning its preliminary Phase-A/B design work next month, ESA's AIM spacecraft will be humanity's first mission to a binary system - the paired Didymos asteroids, which come a comparatively close 11 million km to Earth in 2022. The 800 m-diameter main body is orbited by a 170 m moon.
AIM will perform high-resolution visual, thermal and radar mapping of the moon. It will also put down a lander - ESA's first touchdown on a small body since Rosetta's Philae landed on a comet last November.
AIM also represents ESA's contribution to a larger international effort, the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission.
The NASA-led Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) probe will impact the smaller body, while AIM will perform detailed before-and-after mapping, including pinpointing any shift in the asteroid's orbit.
"While it will return invaluable science," adds Ian, "AIM is conceived as a technology demonstration mission, testing out various technologies and techniques needed for deep space expeditions in future.
"These include two-way high-bandwidth optical communications - with data being returned via laser beam to ESA's station in Tenerife - as well as intersatellite links in deep space and low-gravity lander operations.
"Once demonstrated, these capabilities will be available to future deep-space endeavours, such as Lagrange-point observatories returning large amounts of data and sample return missions to Phobos - and ultimately Mars - as well as crewed missions far beyond Earth orbit."
The chance to put forward CubeSats is being organised as a SysNova competition, an initiative by ESA's General Studies Programme - which is running the AIM project - to compare innovative solutions to space mission challenges.
Interested teams can get more information from the published announcement of opportunity. As a next step, qualified teams can submit initial 'challenge responses' describing their proposed mission concepts and how they address the defined technical challenges associated with operating such small spacecraft close to an asteroid.
The winning submissions will then be funded by ESA for further study over the next seven months, following up with a final review at ESA's ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The victors will then work with ESA to elaborate their designs, including sessions at ESTEC's Concurrent Design Facility.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/CubeSats_offered_deep_space_ride_on_ESA_ asteroid_probe_999.html
[ANS thanks the Staff Writers at Spacedaily.com for the above information]
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Live Broadcast of Space Launch System Booster Test Firing
Did you know that NASA is building the largest solid propellant rocket booster in the world? NASA will test this booster, designated Qualification Motor-1, or QM-1, on March 11, 2015, at the Orbital ATK test facility in Promontory, Utah. The test is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. EDT.
QM-1 is a five-segment solid propellant booster that will help power the Space Launch System. The two-minute, full-duration static test is a huge milestone for the SLS Program and will qualify the booster design for high-temperature conditions. This type of test typically comes only after multiple years of development and signifies major progress being made on the rocket. Once this test and a second, low-temperature test planned for early 2016 are complete, the hardware is qualified and ready for the first flight of SLS.
NASA's Space Launch System will be used to help send humans to deep space destinations like an asteroid and Mars. SLS is an advanced, heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new capability for science and human exploration beyond Earth's orbit. The SLS will give the nation a means to reach beyond our current limits and open new doors of discovery from the unique vantage point of space.
The test will be streamed at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html and broadcast on NASA TV. Please make plans to watch with your students and colleagues.
To learn more about the Space Launch System, visit http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/
[ANS thanks the NASA Education Express Message -- Feb. 26, 2015 for the above information]
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ARISS SSTV Diploma Available
Radio amateurs from Poland created a diploma commemorating the SSTV activity from the International Space Station on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Juri Gagarin's birthday. This homage to the first man in space coincides with the 85th anniversary of the Polish Amateur Radio Union (PZK), established February 24th, 1930. A photo of the diploma is included in the series of pictures transmitted from the International Space Station.
If you wish to receive a printed version of the individual commemorative diploma with your name, surname and call sign, we cordially invite you to share your images received from the ISS. For this purpose please upload received images to the website
http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php
and e-mail a report to the coordinator (address e-mail is below) with your working conditions, equipment and antennas, used for reception of the signals from, the ISS. Please mention your first and last names, your call sign and your locator. Some published photos will possibly be used in the future for an educational purpose. If you publish pictures on the page above you agree with this.
From Polish stations we expect a complete audio record (containing the SSTV signal and the background noise as well) of the whole ISS pass over the station. It would be great to receive a similar report from all participants, but this is not required. However, if you decide to share audio, please put a time stamp at the end of the recording, with a precision up to 1 second, e g 23:51:54 UTC.
Reports are to be sent to koordynator.ariss@gmail.com. As subject please mention SSTV3ISS [YOUR CALLSIGN] [LOCATOR].
If you capture and post the picture of the Polish diploma, you can ask for a special QSL card commemorating the 85th anniversary of PZK. For this purpose, please send a separate request to koordynator.ariss@gmail.com. As subject please mention QSL1RS0ISS [YOUR CALLSIGN].
QSL cards and certificates will be sent via QSL bureau. If you wish to receive them via traditional mail or if you are not served by a QSL bureau, please send an empty self-addressed envelope and two IRC (international reply coupons) to:
Zespol Szkol Technicznych ARISS ul. Poznanska 43 63-400 Ostrow Wielkopolski Poland
We are looking forward to your reports and requests until March 4th at 23:59 UTC.
[ANS thanks ARISS, and Jurek Jakubowski, SP7CBG, for the above information]
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AMSAT at the Yuma Hamfest Wrapup Report
AMSAT Vice President for Field Operations, Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, writes a little about the two-day Yuma Hamfest that he attended with an AMSAT booth. "This hamfest has become (I think) the largest in Arizona, and I heard that over 1000 hams attended. It draws hams from all over Arizona, California, Nevada, and the "snowbirds" from other parts of the US and Canada. And a few hams came up from northern Mexico to join in the fun.
There was steady traffic past the AMSAT booth on both days. I had Rick, K7TEJ helping me for much of the weekend, and his help was appreciated very much. He left his homebrew dual-band Yagi (2 elements on 2m, 5 on 70cm) on a telescope mount and tripod at the AMSAT booth during the two days, along with my Elk 2m/70cm log periodic. Between the two of us, we had demonstrations on two AO-73 passes, two SO-50 passes, and one pass each on 3 other satellites (AO-7, FO-29, NO-44), with a total of 34 QSOs. Lots of flyers and the Getting Started with Amateur Satellites books were flying off the table, and we had good crowds for the demonstrations outside the main building on the Yuma County Fairgrounds. I posted pictures from the hamfest over the two days on my @WD9EWK Twitter feed. You are welcome to look through my feed and see those photos and other comments at:
if you are not a Twitter user.
The SO-50 passes, as expected, were the busiest of the passes worked from Yuma. Much of the time, those passes were great illustrations of what can be heard on an FM satellite. Even some of the not-so-good operating examples made for excellent teaching moments.
I don't have any videos of the demonstrations this year, but have some videos of the aircraft flying into or out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, the airfield across the street from the hamfest site (the runways at that airfield are shared with Yuma International Airport, with both civilian and military aircraft coming and going throughout the day). Those videos, and others I have uploaded over the years, can be viewed at:
Thanks to everyone who worked WD9EWK during the hamfest. And a special thank-you for those who were standing by to work me, as I tried to complete QSOs with other stations that may have been closer to their LOS times than you. I have uploaded those QSOs to Logbook of the World. Please e-mail me directly (with QSO details) if you'd like to receive a WD9EWK QSL card to confirm those QSOs. You don't have to send me a card or SASE first. The hamfest was in grid DM22.
73!"
[ANS thanks Patrick, WD9EWK/VA7EWK for the above information]
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Central States VHF Society Call for Papers
The Central States VHF Society is calling for the submission of papers, presentations and posters for the upcoming 49th Annual Central States VHF Society Conference slated for July 23rd through the 26th in Denver, Colorado.
Suggested topics include but are not limited to antennas, propagation, satellites, test equipment, digital modes, contesting and the like. Non-weak signal topics, such as FM, Repeaters, packet radio and other utility communications modes are generally not considered acceptable, however, there are always exceptions. Please contact the Proceedings Chair John Maxwell if you have any questions about the suitability of a topic. His e-mail is w0vg@arrl.net .
Registration is online now at www.csvhfs.org.
[ANS thanks the Central States VHF Society for the above information]
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AMSAT Events
Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations).
*Saturday, 7 March 2015 – Irving Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Irving TX (west of Dallas)
*Friday and Saturday, 13-14 March 2015 – Green Country Hamfest in Claremore OK (northeast of Tulsa)
*Saturday, 14 March 2015 – Science City 2015/Tucson Festival of Books in Tucson AZ (on the University of Arizona Main Mall)
* Saturday, 14 March 2015 0900 – 1630 – 2015 Palm Springs Hamfest at the Palm Springs Pavilion
*Friday and Saturday, 20-21 March 2015 – Acadiana Hamfest in Rayne LA (west of Lafayette)
*Saturday, 21 March 2015 – Weatherford Hamfest in Weatherford TX (west of Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex)
*Saturday, 21 March 2015 – Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Scottsdale AZ (northeast of Phoenix, near AZ-101/Princess Drive)
*Saturday, 28 March 2015 – Greater Houston Hamfest and 2015 ARRL Texas State Convention in Rosenberg TX (southwest of Houston)
*Saturday, 28 March 2015 – Tucson Spring Hamfest in Tucson AZ (22nd Street, east of Columbus Blvd.)
*Friday, 3 April 2015 – presentation for the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach in Signal Hill CA (Signal Hill Community Center)
*Friday, 17 April 2015 – presentation for the Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club in Tucson AZ
*Friday through Sunday, 1-3 May 2015 – ARRL Nevada State Convention in Reno NV (Boomtown Casino Hotel)
*Saturday, 2 May 2015 – Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ
*Thursday, 14 May 2015 – presentation for the Escondido Amateur Radio Society in Escondido CA
*Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 15-17 2015, Dayton Hamvention in Dayton OH (Hara Arena)
*Saturday, 6 June 2015 – White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low AZ
*Friday and Saturday, 12-13 June 2015 – HAM-COM in Irving TX (west of Dallas)
*Friday and Saturday, 7-8 August 2015 – Austin Summerfest in Austin TX
*Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16-18 2015, AMSAT Symposium in Dayton OH (Dayton Crown Plaza)
[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information]
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ARISS News
* About Gagarin from space event school in Saint Petersburg, Russia, direct via RA1AJN The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Anton Shkaplerov Contact was successful 2015-02-26 12:27 UTC
* Riversink Elementary School, Crawfordville, FL, direct via K4WAK The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF Contact was successful: Thu 2015-02-26 15:15:56 UTC 77 deg
A report entiled "Thanks" was posted on the AMSAT-BB "Just wanting to give a big 'Thank You' to this group.... I was approached by a local elementary school to host an ARISS Contact about 16 months ago. For more than a year I have been pestering many of you (mostly off the reflector) for information to get a good grip on this facet of the hobby. Yesterday I (with the assistance of a few from my radio club) conducted a great contact. As grateful as I am to the folks in the club for helping with the contact, many of you here deserve just as much recognition. Thank You! ..... Many of you dealt with '20 questions' about the smallest of details sometimes, and those little things made for a great one. As a result I have a grandson that's 'on top of the world' and several club members with permanent smiles..... And a very happy school full of kids & staff.
Thank You!
Doug K4GKJ"
Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule
* Direct contacts with students at G. Salvemini – G. La Pira, Montemurlo, Italy, direct via IQ5VR and at “Dante Alighieri” 1st Grade Secondary (Middle) School, Casale Monferrato, Italy, direct via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS with astronaut is Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF are scheduled for Sat 2015-03-07 10:51:41 UTC 30 deg.
G. Salvemini – G. La Pira “Salvemini – La Pira” is a secondary middle schoo located in Montemurlo, province of Prato, in the Tuscany region. The school has 21 classes with pupils ages 11 to 14 with a total of 520 pupils. The name of the school derives from the fusion of the two schools of the commune. This is the only secondary middle school in the area.
“Dante Alighieri” The "Dante Alighieri" School is situated outside the town center of Casale Monferrato, near the ancient Cittadella, province of Alessandria, in the Piedmont region. It is a modern construction, developed on two main buildings: one for the school's didactical and administrative activities, one for the sport activities (gym and pool). It is surrounded by a wide playground, with a little plantation of poplars, planted by the pupils of the school. There are 12 classrooms (4 on the main floor and 8 on the first floor) and several labs, including a Science Lab, Informatics Lab, Techno Lab, Art Lab, Maths Lab, and a Languages Lab, and a colorful and expansive library. There also a lot of afternoon activities, such as Latin courses, languages courses and sport tournaments (soccer, basket, volleyball). The Dante Secondary I grade School has a current roll of 230 students and a teaching staff of 29. In the last few years the school has been enhanced by the richness of its diverse student population..
[ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
S-band Moonbounce Update
The frequency and schedule has changed slightly.. As before, we're going to aim at Tycho from DSS-24 (34m antenna) We'll radiate at 2115 MHz (not 2401 MHz).. from 0630UTC to 0900 UTC
For the first hour (until 0730UTC) we'll just have a CW carrier, should be easy to see.
For the next hour, we'll be transmitting a JPL ranging code with the chip rate at 2115/2048 MHz (a bit more than 1 MHz).. See the 810-005 handbook for details http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsndocs/810-005/214/214-1.pdf
You can probably see not only the carrier but the +/-1 MHz ranging tones (and probably at +/-2 MHz, too), and also the PN sequence if you've got enough SNR (or post process.. the code period is about 1 second.. it's about a million chips long)
Then, at 0830UTC we'll stop using the PN ranging, and go to Doppler compensating the uplink so that the received signal at JPL will have zero Doppler.
This is all "we hope".. it's experimental and a sort of procedural shake out as well as giving me a chance to test my ground copy of a Software Defined Radio that is flying on ISS.
[ANS thanks Jim Lux, W6RMK 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, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-081
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 Hotel Room Reservations for Dayton Hamvention * AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention -- First call for volunteers * ITU Symposium Endorses Small Satellite Regulation and Communication Systems Declaration * Young Ham’s First Contact is via OSCAR Satellite * Two Million Packets Uploaded to Data Warehouse (AO-73) * Astronaut Issues Challenge for UK Students to Contact ISS * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-081.01 ANS-081 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 081.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE March 22, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-081.01
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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 -- First 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@amsat.org if you can help.
[ANS thanks AMSAT's Hamvention Chairman Steve Belter, N9IP for the above information]
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ITU Symposium Endorses Small Satellite Regulation and Communication Systems Declaration
International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) representatives were in Prague earlier this month to join discussions on the regulatory aspects of orbits and spectrum usage for nanosatellites and picosatellites. On hand for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Symposium and WorkshopMarch 2-4 were IARU Vice President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, and former IARU Region 1 President Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T. In particular, discussions centered on the application of the ITU Radio Regulations. The symposium concluded with the unanimous endorsement of the “Prague Declaration on Small Satellite Regulation and Communication Systems.”
“The symposium provided a unique opportunity for experts to examine the procedures for notifying space networks and consider possible modifications to enable the deployment and operation of small satellites,” said ITU Secretary- General Houlin Zhao. “‘The Prague Declaration’ represents an important step in this direction.”
More than 160 participants from some 40 countries attended the symposium. The gathering is being considered an important step in preparing for the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) in Geneva November 2-27.
Delegates discussed challenges facing small satellite development, including aspects related to national and international legal and regulatory issues, frequency management, and radiocommunication standardization. Participants reiterated the need to ensure the long-term sustainability of small satellites in outer space. They stressed the importance of implementing national regulatory frameworks that clearly define the rights and obligations of all stakeholders, in conformance with international laws, regulations, and procedures established by the UN General Assembly, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and the and ITU.
These regulatory issues relate to the registration of objects launched into outer space, frequency coordination, and the registration of satellite networks, as well as compliance with the space debris mitigation guidelines.
ITU Radiocommunication Bureau Director François Rancy, said the ITU, in partnership with key players, including academe, “is addressing newly emerging requirements by various industry sectors to place small communication satellite systems in orbit. “We are examining the regulatory aspects of the use of radio frequency spectrum and satellite orbits to facilitate the launch and operation of a new generation of small satellites,” he said.
The symposium was organized by ITU in cooperation with ITU Academia Member, the Czech Technical University’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering (CTU FEE).
http://www.arrl.org/news/itu-symposium-endorses-small-satellite-regulation-a... communication-systems-declaration
[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information]
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Young Ham’s First Contact is via OSCAR Satellite
8-year-old radio amateur Hope Lea, KM4IPF made her first contact just 45 minutes after her callsign appeared in the FCC database. The contact with Arthur, K4YYL, via the FO-29 satellite, took place on March 11, 2015 at 2100 UT.
Her elder sister Faith, WA4BBC and brother Zechariah, WX4TVJ got to work K4YYL as well. They had both gained their US Technician licenses in February and upgraded to the US General a couple of weeks later.
Hope’s younger sister is studying for her license.
Video of the contact is posted here: https://vimeo.com/122112807
FO-29 information http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/two-way-comms-satellites/fuji-oscar-29-jas-2/
John Heath G7HIA describes how to work FO-29 in this article http://amsat-uk.org/beginners/radcom-getting-started-on-satellites/
[ANS thanks AMSAT-BB & AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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Two Million Packets Uploaded to Data Warehouse (AO-73)
The FUNcube team are pleased to announce that the Data Warehouse has received two million packets of telemetry data from ground stations around the world.
FUNcube-1 (AO-73) was launched on November 21, 2013 and since then radio amateurs and schools have been receiving the telemetry packets transmitted by the satellite and passing them to the AMSAT-UK Data Warehouse for analysis and storage.
There are normally several people uploading the same packet but for the 2 millionth it was an individual:
• Carlos Eavis, G3VHF
The Data Warehouse statistics as of 09:53 UT on March 15, 2015 were:
Number of registered users: 1529 Number of active users (data received in last two weeks): 193 Number of active users since launch: 818
Number of packets transmitted by satellite since deployment: 8312304 (2.13 GB) Number of packets uploaded by users before de-duplication: 8539662(2.19 GB)
Number of packets stored in warehouse: 2000000 (512 MB)
Number of packets recovered & stored – Time – Coverage • Realtime 2M – 115 days – 25% • HiRes 3.9M – 1085 minutes – 19% • WOD 0.56M – 385.78 days – 80%
As always, many thanks for all those individuals and groups who are sending data to the warehouse.
FUNcube-1 (AO-73) Telemetry: • Dashboard App http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboard/ • Data Warehouse Archive http://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/ • Whole orbit data http://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/wod.html?satelliteId=2
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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Astronaut Issues Challenge for UK Students to Contact ISS
Tim Peake KG5BVI, the first British ESA astronaut, has issued an invitation to UK school pupils to contact him via amateur radio whilst he is in space.
Tim will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in November of this year and will spend 6 months working and living on the ISS. Thanks to a collaboration between Amateur Radio on the International Space Stations (ARISS), the UK Space Agency, the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) and the European Space Agency (ESA), UK school pupils will be able to contact him whilst he is on board the ISS via a scheduled amateur radio link-up.
The selected schools/organisations will host a direct link-up with the International Space Station during a two-day, space related STEM workshop. ARISS UK will provide and set up all necessary radio equipment (for example, low earth orbit satellite tracking antennas and radios) to establishing a fully functional, direct radio link with the International Space Station from their very own premises. In a ten-minute window when the ISS will be over the UK, an amateur radio contact will be established with Tim, and students will be able to ask him questions about his life and work on board the ISS.
During the contact with Tim the students will be able to hear and potentially see his response immediately. Tim will be using the amateur radio callsign GB1SS whilst he is talking to UK based schools.
Schools throughout the United Kingdom are being invited to host one of a limited number of these in-flight calls, which will include space workshops where students can explore space, space related technologies, the relevance of space to our digital lives and even analyse data being sent down from orbiting satellites.
The students taking part in the link-up will have to obtain their full amateur radio licence to be eligible to operate the radio and one lucky student at each of the selected schools will be responsible for making contact with the ISS.
An RSGB team and the ARISS UK Operations team will work with the chosen schools to prepare them for this exceptional opportunity during the mission of the first British ESA Astronaut.
Tim Peake said: “I hope to share as much of my mission as possible and am delighted that I will be able to talk to UK students when the ISS flies over Britain, thanks to the radio amateur equipment on board the International Space Station and the ARISS programme.”
Jeremy Curtis, Head of Education at the UK Space Agency, added: “Both Tim’s space mission and amateur radio have the power to inspire young people and encourage them into STEM subjects. By bringing them together we can boost their reach and give young people around the UK the chance to be involved in a space mission and a hands-on project that will teach them new skills.”
Ciaran Morgan, M0XTD, R.S.G.B. Lead for ARISS and ARISS Operations in the UK, said: “Tim Peake, and his Principia mission to the ISS, offers students a unique insight to space and amateur radio. ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) is delighted to be able to help UK students connect with Tim whilst he is in space, using only amateur radio equipment on the ISS and in schools, to help inspire our future generations of scientists, technicians, engineers and mathematicians.”
John Gould, G3WKL, President of the RSGB said: “The RSGB is delighted to be able to support the UK Space Agency and Tim’s journey into space, and looks forward to working with the selected schools.”
How to Apply The opportunity to be involved in this exciting project opens 20 March 2015. Eligible institutions are invited to apply in order to register their interest.
Stage 1 application forms, available from the European Space Education Resource Office web site at http://tinyurl.com/ariss-timpeake must be returned no later than Friday 24 April 2015. Schools/Institutions that are to be invited to proceed to Stage 2 will be notified in the week commencing 11 May 2015.
Stage 2 applications must be submitted and received by 26 June 2015. There will then be a selection process involving the UK Space Agency, ESA, ARISS and the RSGB. The successful schools will be announced at the UK Space Conference on 14 July 2015.
UK National STEM Centre – Amateur Radio on the International Space Station http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/media/500/ariss
[ANS thanks RSGB and AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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AMSAT Events
Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations).
*Saturday, 28 March 2015 – Greater Houston Hamfest and 2015 ARRL Texas State Convention in Rosenberg TX (southwest of Houston)
*Saturday, 28 March 2015 – Tucson Spring Hamfest in Tucson AZ (22nd Street, east of Columbus Blvd.)
*Friday, 3 April 2015 – presentation for the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach in Signal Hill CA (Signal Hill Community Center)
*Friday, 17 April 2015 – presentation for the Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club in Tucson AZ
*Friday through Sunday, 1-3 May 2015 – ARRL Nevada State Convention in Reno NV (Boomtown Casino Hotel)
*Saturday, 2 May 2015 – Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ
*Thursday, 14 May 2015 – presentation for the Escondido Amateur Radio Society in Escondido CA
*Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 15-17 2015, Dayton Hamvention in Dayton OH (Hara Arena)
*Saturday, 6 June 2015 – White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low AZ
*Friday and Saturday, 12-13 June 2015 – HAM-COM in Irving TX (west of Dallas)
*Friday and Saturday, 7-8 August 2015 – Austin Summerfest in Austin TX
*Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16-18 2015, AMSAT Symposium in Dayton OH (Dayton Crown Plaza)
[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information]
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ARISS News
Recent Contacts
* Direct contacts with students at Collège Paul Langevin, Saint Junien, France, via F8KFZ/P, and at Ecole La Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison, France, via F6KFA/p were successful Thu 2015-03-19 08:17:56 UTC. Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZØUDF answered questions for students at each school from the ISS. French astronaut Claudie Haigneré was on hand at Ecole La Malmaison to answer additional questions.
The event could be seen in this link from Paul Langevin/F8KFZ (Contact starts at 23'15") http://www.f8kfz.org/ariss-87-retransmission-en-direct/
and from this link from La Malmaison (Contact starts at 57'10") http://www.mairie-rueilmalmaison.fr/actualit%C3%A9s/th%C3%A8mes/jeunesse- scolarit%C3%A9/en-direct-avec-lespace
Collège Paul Langevin
The Collège Paul Langevin, situated in the town center of Saint-Junien in the west of the Haute Vienne and the Limousin (400 km south of Paris), is a former primary school that became a general mixed college in 1964. The college follows a general teaching syllabus and a further syllabus for teaching children of special needs. The college is composed of 6 sixth year classes, 5 fifth year classes, 5 fourth year classes, and 4 third year classes. Languages taught are English, German, Spanish, and Latin. The college also has an athletic syllabus.
This school year, 2014–2015, the college has 615 students split over the four years. This includes the special needs children who benefit from inclusion in class life. There are 64 Students in this special needs program. These students have significant and persistent difficulties in terms of academic learning, but do not have intellectual disabilities.
Ecole La Malmaison
The elementary school La Malmaison is located in the department of Hauts-de- Seine in the city of Rueil-Malmaison, about 15 km west of Paris, and 10 km away from the Versailles Palace. The school is surrounded by famous historic places: the Castle of Malmaison, where Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine de Beauharnais lived at the end of the 18th Century; the banks of River Seine, depicted by famous Impressionist painters (Renoir, Manet, and Monet) at the end of the 19th century; Mount Valerien, with its national memorial of 2nd World War French combatants; and the National Archeologic museum in the Castle of St Germain-en-Laye city nearby.
The goal of this ARISS project is to encourage the children to study scientific activities like life aboard the ISS, the solar system, the day and night caused by earth rotation, electricity experiences, the air quality on Earth and on the ISS, the weight on earth and the zero-gravity in space. This ARISS project is an opportunity to visit the Amateur RadioClub Station of Rueil- Malmaison (F6KFA) and discover their experiences on radio waves phenomena, learn the Morse code, and more.
Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule
* Telebridge contacts with students at CEPES, Jodoigne, Belgium, and with students at Mimar Sinan Özel Okullar i, Istanbul,Turkey, via K6DUE are scheduled for Wed 2015-04-01 09:20:45 UTC 49 deg. Students will interview astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZØUDF.
CEPES School
Cepes is situated in Jodoigne, a city in the French speaking region of Belgium. It is a secundary school with 810 students. The students participating in the ARISS project specialize in Sciences, Mathematics, Languages and Human Sciences. They are 15 -20 years old.
During this school year, the curriculum is oriented to the ARISS contact : - Movements of the Earth and planets - Acquisition of scientific vocabulary - Studies of volumes and surfaces - Graphic studies - Use of instruments and techniques in model building - Study of the concept of scale and scaling in model building - Electricity: electrical systems - Read a map, compass rose, latitude, longitude - The effect of weightlessness on the human body - Translation of ARISS contact questions from French into English
Mimar Sinan Collage
Mimar Sinan College is situated in Istanbul, Turkey. The students prepared the questions after they learned about the ISS during science lessons.They also watched videos of astronauts working in the ISS.
[ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie, AJ9N and David, AA4KN for the above information]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
PQ2 Brazil Satellite Operation March 20-22 Delayed
Just a heads up for a DX opportunity that was scheduled to occur 3/20-22/2015. The expedition expects a delay of 30 days before the expedition will occur.
Original Message: Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1206
PQ2, BRAZIL (Satellite/6m Op). Operators Pedro/PR8ZX and Augusto/PU8MET will be active as PQ2ZXT and PQ2/PU8MET, respectively, from Tocantins State (WW Loc. GI64) between March 20-22nd. Activity will be on the satellites and 6 meters. There are very few operators in this state. QSL via LoTW or their home callsign, direct or by the Bureau.
[ANS thanks AMSAT-BB for the above information]
N2IEN in Haiti 4/4-4/6
DXpedition to HH coming April 4-6!! Mostly HF cw, some SSB. And will try to work SO 50 satellite. Hopefully I'll also be QRV RTTY.
Pat has done very well from the rarely heard FJ and VP2V over the past month with his Yaesu VX-8 and Arrow antenna. His QSL manager is NR6M.
[ANS thanks AMSAT-BB and Paul, N8HM 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, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org
participants (2)
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Clint Bradford -
Joseph Spier