Would any of us like to donate? FYI, donation example, 50 euros = $67.70 (USD) based on the current exchange rate of about 1.36. See below. -Pat N8PK

*************** The ARRL Letter Vol. 26, No. 18 May 4, 2007 *************** [snip]

==>ARRL FOUNDATION PROVIDES SECOND DONATION TO ARISS COLUMBUS PROJECT

The ARRL Foundation has granted an additional $2000 toward the cost of constructing and installing Amateur Radio antennas and equipment on the International Space Station's Columbus module, set to launch later this year. The ARRL Foundation earlier contributed $5000 to the project.

Columbus will house an additional Amateur Radio station, including the first digital Amateur Radio TV (DATV) station in space as well as a ham radio transponder. Funding to finish and install ham radio antennas on the European Space Agency (ESA)-built laboratory module has been uncertain, however.

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Vice Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, says donations from various sources covered a payment of 9000 Euros -- approximately $12,000 -- in March. A second payment is due this fall. Bertels says the IARU Region 1 Executive Committee also donated 2000 Euro to the project.

The antennas have been manufactured and will be tested for acceptance at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) before delivery to Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, where a silicon dioxide coating will be applied before the antennas are installed on the Columbus module, Bertels explained.

"Their development and manufacturing cost is now nearly covered, but not yet the cost of certification tests," Bertels told ARRL.

Other donations have come from AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-UK, among other organizations, as well as from many individual donors.

The yet-to-be-built Columbus Amateur Radio gear will make it possible for ARISS to establish wideband and video operations for the first time and allow continuous transponder operation.

AMSAT-Belgium has set up a bank account to receive additional donations for the Columbus project. Details are on the ARISS-EU Columbus Web page http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus.htm. Click the "Donate" button in the left column.

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Amateur Radio Station on Columbus http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus.htm

Currency Conversion http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=50&from=EUR&to=USD&...

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PLANS FOR ANTENNA COATINGS.TXT dated March 30, 2007

Mark,

Thank for the email. Antenna manufacturing goes well and we maintain high quality of all manufacturing processes.

Answers to you questions:

1. When will the antennas be at Goddard to be coated? I

understand that the

date might not yet be known given the fabrication issues, but an

estimate is

fine at this point.

The ESA time plan is for shipment antennas on 7th May to Goddard. We will deliver them to ESA soon after Easter (what is only slightly late than in timeplan: Easter). As we have four antennas made, tests can be run in parallel: ESTEC can run thermal-vacuum tests with three antennas and one antenna can be used for other tests, e.g. vibration tests.

2. Will you or someone else be hand-carrying the antennas here, or will you

be shipping them to the US?

We consider it, as it will speed up delivery and it is always helpful to have antenna designer at hand during high-impact technological processes on the final product. The point is to keep excellent electrical contacts in the cable assembly and to keep a proper operation of three sliding foot.

3. How many units will need to be coated?

Three antennas. I think, that three antennas which will pass thermal-vacuum tests and vibration (lower levels) in ESTEC can be shipped immediately for coating, whereas the fourth one will be avaialble some time during May, depending on the completness of vibration tests.

With Kind Regards,

Pawel

Associate Professor Institute of Telecommunications, Teleinformatics and Acoustics Wroclaw University of Technology Wybrzeze Wyspianskiego 27 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland tel: +48-71-320-31-91 fax: +48-71-320-25-30 or 31-89 Pawel.Kabacik@pwr.wroc.pl

================================================================= Patrick L. Kilroy WK Integration & Test (I&T) 301-286-1984 Voice NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 301-286-1673 Fax Building 5, Mail Code 568 Patrick.L.Kilroy@nasa.gov Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 http://lro.gsfc.nasa.gov/ =================================================================

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." -Albert Einstein