AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-145

ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS 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.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor@amsat.org

In this edition:

* AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nomination Announcement * Delfi-C3 DO-64 Tests Linear Transponder * Global Packet Operation Activated on Cute1.7 + APD II * AO-16 Operation Update * China Plans Amateur Radio Satellite Launch * AO-51 To Switch to Dual V/U Repeater Mode * Call For Papers: UNIVERSAT Space Symposium in Moscow * Yubileiny RS-30 Launched on May 23 * ARISS Status Report for the Week of May 19, 2008

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.01 AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nomination Announcement

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.01

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

May 25, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.01

Nominations are open for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors (BOD). The nominations must be in writing and received at the AMSAT office by end of business June 15, 2008.

AMSAT-NA member societies or five current individual members may make nominations of fellow members to serve a 2-year term. Three of the seven seats must be filled this year.

The board members whose terms are expiring are:

Tom Clark, K3IO Lou McFadin, W5DID Bob McGwier, N4HY

Prospective AMSAT-NA BOD members generally attend two meetings each year, usually during the first and third quarters of the year. Attendance at the meetings is mandatory. Travel expenses for BOD meetings are paid for by AMSAT-NA.

Nominations must be in writing and mailed to:

AMSAT-NA Board of Director Nomination 850 Sligo Ave #600 Silver Spring, MD 20910

The nominations with descriptive information about each candidate will be mailed out July 15, 2008. Ballots must be received in Silver Spring,MD by September 15, 2008. Only active members as of July 24, 2008 are eligible to vote.

[ANS thanks AMSAT HQ for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.02 Delfi-C3 DO-64 Tests Linear Transponder

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.02

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

May 25, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.02

During the past week the Delfi-C3 satellite DO-64 has continued its science mission. But, during a pass over the Delfi-C3 ground station on May 15 the amateur band linear transponder was success- fully tested and activated for a short time. The CW beacon was received well and subsequently good signals using SSB were received. An audio file of the test can be found at: http://www.delfic3.nl/photoblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/pe4wj_transponder _test.mp3

The Delfi ground control team is currently performing tests while the spacecraft is over the Netherlands to address the downlink drop- out issue. These tests may require several passes over the ground controllers so the satellite may still experience downlink dropouts over the coming days.

The current operating mode of Delfi can be found on its webpage at: http://www.delfic3.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=93&a... 2 While in science mode Defli has continued operation on a downlink of 145.930 MHz, transmitting 1200 Baud BPSK AX.25 telemetry data. Reminder: Delfi-C3 does not have a battery on-board and will therefore only be active in sunlight. The latest keplerian elements for Delfi can also be found on the operations web page.

The Delfi team reported, "Up to now, we have received over 130000 AX.25 frames from all over the world, thank you very much for your efforts and observations so far!"

[ANS thanks Wouter Jan Ubbels, PE4WJ for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.03 Global Packet Operation Activated on Cute1.7 + APD II

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.03

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

May 25, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.03

Hiroki Ashida, JQ1YCZ reported this week that the Tokyo Institute of Technology enabled continuous packet telemetry on their cubesat, Cute1.7 + APD II. This was to support a 12 hour experiment of the Avalanche Photo Diode APD) as a radiation monitor of low-energy (E > 10 keV) particles trapped in low Earth orbit.

Prior to the activation of this experiment packet telemetry had only been activated when the Cute1.7 + APD II cubesat was within range of the Japanese ground control station.

The FM packets were received on 437.475MHz from amateur radio station around the world. Packet formats and additional satellite information can be found at: http://lss.mes.titech.ac.jp/ssp/cute1.7/fm_mode_apd_e.html

[ANS thanks Hiroki Ashida, JQ1YCZ for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.04 AO-16 Operation Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.04

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

May 25, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.04

Mark Hammond, N8MH, AO-16 Command Station gave an update of testing on the AO-16 satellite. Mark commented, "Indeed, over the last several days you are likely to have found AO-16 silent. There appears to be something in the spacecraft shutting down the transmitter after a short, random period of time. Current speculation on the problem in- cludes a temperature issue that has reared its ugly head now that the eclipse periods are increasing and the spacecraft internal temperatures are decreasing. It may be a hardware timer. It does not appear to be a battery issue."

The ground control station will manually turn the satellite ON and then configure it for voice operations. This is a manual process and command stations are limited to the East coast of the US. As schedules permit, we'll try to turn it ON; for now, it's the best we can do. Time will tell if the current situation will stay the same, improve, or get worse.

[ANS thanks Mark, N8MH for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.05 China Plans Amateur Radio Satellite Launch

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.05

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

May 25, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.05

A report has been received via Michael Chen, BD5RV/4 that a new amateur radio satellite to be launched by China, CAS-1 has completed its IARU frequency coordination and the hardware has been finished.

The payload is planned to include a CW Telemetry Beacon, Linear Trans- ponder, FM repeater and a Digital Store-forward Transponder. The oper- ations will use 70cms downlinks and 2 meter uplinks at 500mW output power. The satellite is expected to have a mass of 30kgs and be launched from China into a sun syncronous orbit with a 670km apogee.

The CAS-1 team is waiting for another payload to be finished before launch which at this point is predicted to happen in early 2009.

[ANS thanks Michael, BD5RV/4 for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.06 AO-51 To Switch to Dual V/U Repeater Mode

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.06

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

May 25, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.06

AO-51 will switch into dual V/U repeater mode UTC May 26, 2008. Take advantage of the secondary repeater for historically easier operation. Information about the AO-51 modes and frequencies can be found on the AMSAT web site.

[ANS thanks the AO-51 Operations Team for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.07 Call For Papers: UNIVERSAT Space Symposium in Moscow

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.07

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

May 25, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.07

Members of EU-Amsat, Amsat-UK, Amsat-NA and anyone else interested in Amateur radio satellites are cordially invited to submit papers on space related subjects - particularly cubesats in education - to The third International Symposium UNIVERSAT-2008, which is organised by the Skobeltsyn Institute Of Nuclear Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University - which will take place on September 1-6, 2008 at the Conference Halls of The Moscow State University Boarding Houses in Zvenigorod, Moscow Region, Russian Federation.

Details can be seen at http://cosmos.msu.ru/universat2008/.

Papers and/or queries should be submitted to Alezander Zeitsev RW3DZ via e-mail: zaitsev@izmiran.ru.

The deadline for papers is May the 31st but extensions may be possible.

This is an excellent forum for satellite interested individuals to take part in an international space symposium as well as discuss the possibility and prospects for future projects and launch opportunities.

[ANS thanks Alezander Zeitsev RW3DZ for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.08 Yubileiny RS-30 Launched on May 23

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.08

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

May 25, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.08

The Russian Federal Space Agency announced the successful launch of the Yubileiny, a 45 kg small satellite, on May 23 from the Plesetsk Launching Site into low earth orbit.

The motive for development of Yubileiny small spacecraft was the 50th anniversary of the first space satellite. One mission goal includes flight qaulification of the new space systems and equipment. Radio amateur operators all over the world will be able to receive the tele- metry downlink utilizing RS-style CW telemetry 435.315 MHz using the callsign RS30.

The satellite transmits a cyclic series of messages lasting for 4 minutes including a call signal and TM-data (10 seconds); a voice message (1 minute); a pause (50 seconds); the first artificial satellite imitated signals (10 seconds); an image (1 minute); with a final pause (50 seconds).

Aerospace Vehicle Laboratory SCC is the primary the satellite con- trol. A similar Satellite Control Center has been established at the Siberian State Aerospace University in Krasnoyarsk to allow students and research engineers can receive and analyze the telemetry in coop- eration with the specialists at JSC Academician M.F. Reshetnev Infor- mation Satellite Systems center.

Details can be found on-line at: http://www.npopm.com/?cid=news_ivent&nid=61

[ANS thanks Ralph W0RPK and the Russian Federal Space Agency for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.09 ARISS Status Report for the Week of May 19, 2008

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.09

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

May 25, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.09

1. Dutch School Contact

Delta Researchers Schools 2008, Space Expo in Noordwijk, the Nether- lands, had an ARISS contact via telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii on Friday, May 23. Twelve Dutch primary schools which participate in the Delta-project were represented at Space Expo. The project is a cooper- ation of the Dutch ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. The schools participating in the project use the themes of space and space exploration to teach science and technology. Three children (ages 7 - 12) from each school were pre- sent. The audio for this event was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW (277 208) servers.

2. Cindy McArthur Receives Silver Snoopy Award

Last week, Teaching From Space Project Lead Cindy McArthur became the recipient of a Silver Snoopy award. Astronaut Barbara Morgan, KD5VNP, presented the award in appreciation for McArthur's work and support of educational activities throughout the STS-118 mission which included an Educational Downlinks videoconference and an ARISS contact.

[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information]

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In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.

73, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM K9JKM at amsat dot org