AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-172
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(a)amsat.org
In this edition:
* BOD Nominations
* Field Day Rules and SAT status
* More AO-7 DX Reported
* Rooms Filling Up for AMSAT-UK Colloquium
* ARISS Schedule
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-172.1
BOD Nominations
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 172.1
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 21, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-172.1
Per the AMSAT bylaws, those individuals nominated
to serve a 2 year term for the AMSAT Board of Directors are:
Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Alan Biddle, WA4SCA
Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA
Tony Monteiro, AA2TX
Bill Ress, N6GHZ
--
Ballots should be in the mail by July 15th.
------------
ALSO...To All: Please remember that AMSAT
has one paid employee. So, if your order is
not filled immediately, please be patient.
73- Martha
[ANS thanks Martha for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-172.2
Field Day Rules and SAT status
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 172.2
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 21, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-172.2
AMSAT's Satellite Field Day is held concurrently with the
annual ARRL Field Day emergency preparedness exercise.
This year the event will take place between 1800 UTC on
Saturday June 27, 2009 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 28, 2009.
AMSAT encourages stations to prepare for operations on
all of the satellite modes - analog, FM, and digital.
The congestion on FM LEO satellites has become so intense
based on experience in prior years that we request to
limit your use to one-QSO-per-FM-satellite. The ARRL rules
only allow one contact per FM satellite to count. AMSAT
Field Day rules allow one contact per FM repeater to count.
This includes the International Space Station, if operational.
AO-51 will be configured to support Field Day operations.
The Field Day configuration on AO-51 begins on June 21
to allow stations to test their equipment and antennas
at home prior to the event. The satellite will remain
in this mode through June 28.
AO-51 June 21 - June 28 Field Day Configuration
FM Repeater, V/U
Uplink: 145.920 Mhz FM
Downlink: 435.300 Mhz FM
FM Repeater, L/U (Subject to interuption for
telemetry collection)
Uplink: 1268.700 Mhz FM
Downlink: 435.150 Mhz FM
The full text of the AMSAT Satellite Field Day Rules can be
found on-line at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/awards/amsatfd.php
The Satellite Summary Sheet can be found on this web page also.
This format should be used for submission of the AMSAT Field
Day competition and be received by KK5DO (email or postal mail)
by 11:59 P.M. CDT, Monday, July 13, 2009. The preferred method
for submitting your log is via e-mail to kk5do(a)amsat.org or
kk5do(a)arrl.net.
You may also use the postal service but give plenty of time
for your results to arrive by the submission date. Add
photographs or other interesting information so that
can be used an article for the Journal.
If mailing your submission, the address is:
Bruce Paige, KK5DO
Director of Awards and Contests
PO Box 310
Alief, TX 77411-0310.
Certificates will be awarded to the first-place, second,
and third place emergency power/portable stations at the
AMSAT General Meeting and Space Symposium in October,
2009.
[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-172.3
More AO-7 DX Reported
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 172.3
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 21, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-172.3
Piraja, PS8RF is pleased to report additional DX
via AO-7 following on to his successful
Brazil-to-Belgium contact with Jean-Jacques,
ON7EQ as reported in ANS-165. This week Piraja
was able to copy the CW signals of Andre, ZS2BK
showing that a Brazil to South Africa contact is
possible.
This contact is also close to the operational
limits of AO-7. The distance between the two
stations is 4805 miles (7904 KM). Piraja says
he can also copy F2IL on many AO-7 passes. He
has posted two videos on the web recording
these contacts:
PS8RF copy ZS2BK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JUyIIi0s4I
PS8RF - ON7EQ contact:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggNmQqxARWY
[ANS thanks Piraja, PS8RF for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-172.4
Rooms Filling Up for AMSAT-UK Colloquium
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 172.4
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 21, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-172.4
Rooms Filling Up for AMSAT-UK Colloquium
AMSAT-UK Hon Sec Jim Heck, G3WGM posted a
reminder to all plan- ning to the attend
the AMSAT-UK Colloquium, "If you are considering
attending the AMSAT-UK Colloquium at the
Holiday Inn, Guildford, UK on 25/26 July,
you should be booking soon. The hotel will only
hold rooms for us until Fri 3 July, after that
date, you may find that there are no more
rooms available."
Also please note that so far more than 50% of
people attending have booked in for the Friday
Night before the Colloquium, and the hotel
tells me that they are now getting quite full
on this night. So PLEASE BOOK EARLY to avoid
disappointment."
Full booking details, including prices are at:
http://www.uk.amsat.org/content/view/25/49/
The phone number of the hotel is +44 (0) 1483 784444
and their email address is meetings-guildford(a)ihg.com.
Please quote reference R0F (That's R zero F) when booking.
[ANS thanks Jim Heck, G3WGM for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-172.5
ARISS Schedule
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 172.5
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 15, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-172.5
1. ARISS Contact with Tongfu Primary School, China
Youth attending Tongfu Road No. 1 Primary School in Guangzhou,
Quangdong, P.R. China experienced an Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday,
June 11. Astronaut Michael Barratt, KD5MIJ answered 19
questions put to him by the students as an audience of
approximately 465 people looked on. Extensive media coverage
included seven television stations, three radio stations
and ten newspapers.
2. Successful ARISS Contact with Italian School
On Friday, June 12, children from several schools in L'Aquila,
Abruzzo, Italy took part in an Amateur Radio on the International
Space Station (ARISS) contact. Approximately 200 students and
guests, including European Space Agency (ESA) and Agenzia
Spaziale Italiana (ASI) representatives, attended the event.
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti gave presentations on ISS
missions and ESA/ASI activities. Astronaut Frank DeWinne,
ON1DWN answered 13 questions on the first pass and another
7 questions on the following pass. Many television stations,
including CANALE 5 and SKY, radio stations and newspapers
provided media coverage. Internet video streaming had
more than 6,500 connections.
3. Belgian Students Spoke with Frank De Winne
An Amateur Radio operator on the International Space
Station (ARISS) contact took place on Friday,
June 12 between Vrije
Basisschool Terbank-Egenhoven in Heverlee,
Belgium and Frank DeWinne ON1DWN on the ISS.
Telebridge station ON4ISS
in Belgium assisted with the contact.
Twenty-two questions
were answered during the nine minute pass, delighting the
audience of 400 children, parents and guests. Four television
stations and two radio broadcast stations with national
and regional audiences covered the event. During the main
evening news, a detailed report on telebridge ground
station ON4ISS was broadcast by the national television service.
4. Astronaut Training Status
Astronaut Doug Wheelock passed his amateur radio licensing
exam and was issued the callsign KF5BOC. He is scheduled
to be part of Expedition 24 along with Shannon Walker,
KD5DXB and Aleksandr Skvortsov.
On June 9, Wheelock also received Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) training on basic
radio operations.
5. Australia Journalist Takes Interest in ARISS
A local journalist in Kingston, Australia has taken an
interest in Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station (ARISS) and given great publicity to the program
over the past three years. To view her latest article,
see:
http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2009/20090603-2/index.php
6. ARISS on Twitter
The European Space Agency (ESA) is currently promoting
their Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS) school contacts on their Twitter site.
See: http://twitter.com/esa_oasiss.
A U.S. ARISS member has also been posting ISS amateur
radio related items to a Twitter site.
See: http://twitter.com/RF2Space.
7. ESA Press Release on Frank De Winne's ARISS Contacts
The European Space Agency (ESA) put out a press release
on Frank De Winne's Amateur Radio on the International
Space Station (ARISS) contacts. See:
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/OasISS_Mission/SEM6SOQORVF_0.html
8. ARISS International Meeting
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS) International Face to Face Meeting will be held
on Thursday and Friday, June 18 -19 at the European
Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the
Netherlands. The team will come together to give regional
reports as well as status reports from the program's
other committees including education, publicity,
operations and hardware.
[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]
/EX
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Dee Interdonato, NB2F
nb2f at amsat dot org
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-165
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(a)amsat.org
**********************************************************************
* 2009 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting October 9-11 *
* Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Baltimore Washington Airport *
* Details - http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2009/index.php *
**********************************************************************
In this edition:
* AO-51 Special Event: Kid's Day June 20
* AO-51 Field Day Configuration
* Treat Yourself to an Amateur Radio Conference
* 7000 KM Contact Via AO-7 Mode B - Brazil to Belgium
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-165.01
AO-51 Special Event: Kid's Day June 20
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 165.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 14, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-165.01
Amateur Radio Kids Day will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2009,
between 1800 UTC - 2400 UTC. This on-air event encourages young
people (licensed or not) to have fun with Amateur Radio, hopefully
interesting them get a ham radio license of their own. It also
gives us "older hams" [ahem!] a chance to share our love for
amateur radio with the kids.
AMSAT VP Operations, Drew KO4MA announced that one of AO-51's
repeaters will be dedicated to Kid's Day stations during this
period. During the event please limit QSOs to those with youth
participants on the satellite. The frequencies for this event
will be:
AO-51 FM Repeater, V/U
Uplink: 145.880 Mhz FM
Downlink: 435.300 Mhz FM
The suggested exchange includes name, age, location and favorite
color. To draw attention mention "Kids Day" when you call on
the satellite.
All participants are eligible to receive a colorful certificate.
You can download this certificate for free, customized with the
youngster's names, after filling out the Kids Day Survey on the
ARRL Web Site.
Alternatively, you can send a 9" x 12" SASE to Boring Amateur Radio
Club, PO Box 1357, Boring, OR 97009. An email reflector for Kids
Day has been set up. More info about this list can be found at:
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/kids
[ANS thanks the AO-51 Operations Team and the ARRL for the above
information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-165.02
AO-51 Field Day Configuration
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 165.02
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 14, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-165.02
AMSAT's Satellite Field Day is held concurrently with the annual
ARRL Field Day emergency preparedness exercise. This year the event
will take place between 1800 UTC on Saturday June 27, 2009 through
2100 UTC on Sunday June 28, 2009.
AMSAT encourages stations to prepare for operations on all of the
satellite modes - analog, FM, and digital. The congestion on FM LEO
satellites has become so intense based on experience in prior years
that we request to limit your use to one-QSO-per-FM-satellite. The
ARRL rules only allow one contact per FM satellite to count. AMSAT
Field Day rules allow one contact per FM repeater to count. This
includes the International Space Station, if operational.
AO-51 will be configured to support Field Day operations. The Field
Day configuration on AO-51 begins on June 21 to allow stations to
test their equipment and antennas at home prior to the event. The
satellite will remain in this mode through June 28.
AO-51 June 21 - June 28 Field Day Configuration
FM Repeater, V/U
Uplink: 145.920 Mhz FM
Downlink: 435.300 Mhz FM
FM Repeater, L/U (Subject to interuption for telemetry collection)
Uplink: 1268.700 Mhz FM
Downlink: 435.150 Mhz FM
The full text of the AMSAT Satellite Field Day Rules can be found
on-line at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/awards/amsatfd.php
The Satellite Summary Sheet can be found on this web page also. This
format should be used for submission of the AMSAT Field Day competition
and be received by KK5DO (email or postal mail) by 11:59 P.M. CDT,
Monday, July 13, 2009. The preferred method for submitting your log
is via e-mail to kk5do(a)amsat.org or kk5do(a)arrl.net.
You may also use the postal service but give plenty of time for your
results to arrive by the submission date. Add photographs or other
interesting information so that can be used an article for the Journal.
If mailing your submission, the address is:
Bruce Paige, KK5DO
Director of Awards and Contests
PO Box 310
Alief, TX 77411-0310.
Certificates will be awarded to the first-place, second, and third
place emergency power/portable stations at the AMSAT General Meeting
and Space Symposium in October, 2009.
[ANS thanks the AO-51 Operations Team and Bruce, KK5DO for the above
information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-165.03
Treat Yourself to an Amateur Radio Conference
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 165.03
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 14, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-165.03
AMSAT 2009 SPACE SYMPOSIUM AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Now is the time for you to prepare your papers and presentations
for the 2009 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium to be held
October 9 - 11 at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Baltimore
Washington Airport.
Proposals for papers, symposium presentations and poster presenta-
tions are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite
community. We request a tentative title of your presentation as soon
as possible, with final copy submitted by September 1, 2009 for
inclusion in the printed proceedings.
Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan Schultz, N8FGV, at
n8fgv(a)amsat.org.
CENTRAL STATES VHF SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Central States VHF Society (CSVHFS) is soliciting presentations
and poster displays for their 43rd Annual Conference this summer,
July 23-26 at the Holiday Inn in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Find
more information on-line at:
http://www.csvhfs.org/conference/index.html.
Possible presentation topics on all aspects of weak-signal VHF and
above include, but are not limited to, antennas (modeling, design,
arrays and control), equipment construction, propagation, test gear,
regulatory issues, operating, digital signal processing and software
defined radio.
AMSAT-UK 2009 SPACE COLLOQIUM
The AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held July 25 and July 26 at the
the Holiday Inn Hotel in Guildford. This new site is very close
to the Surrey University where the event has been held previously.
The 2009 AMSAT Colloquium will now commence at 10am on Saturday
July 25th and close at approximately 4.30 pm on Sunday.
ARRL AND TAPR DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE
Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 28th Annual
ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September
25-27, 2009 in Chicago, Illinois. These papers will also be published
in the Conference Proceedings (you do NOT need to attend the confer-
ence to have your paper included in the Proceedings). The submission
deadline is July 31, 2009. Please send papers to: Maty Weinberg,
ARRL, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111 - or you can make your sub-
mission via e-mail to: maty(a)arrl.org
MUD - MICROWAVE UPDATE 2009
Microwave Update 2009 will be held on Friday, October 23 through Satur-
day, October 24 in Dallas, Texas. Technical papers are currently being
solicited for publication in the ARRL's Microwave Update 2009 Conference
Proceedings. You do not need to attend the conference nor present your
paper to have it published.
Strong preference will be given to original work and to those papers
that are written and formatted specifically for publication rather
than as a visual presentation aid. As this is a microwave conference
papers must be on topics for frequencies above 900 MHz. Examples of such
topics include microwave theory, construction, communication, deployment,
propagation, antennas, activity, transmitters, receivers, components,
amplifiers, communication modes, LASER, software design tools, and
practical experiences.
If you are interested in submitting a paper please contact Kent Britain,
at wa5vjb (at) flash (dot) net for additional information. The deadline
for papers is Monday, August 31, 2008. More information is available
on-line at: http://www.microwaveupdate.org/
[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA, AMSAT-UK, ARRL, CSVHFS, and MUD for the above
information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-165.04
7000 KM Contact Via AO-7 Mode B - Brazil to Belgium
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 165.04
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 14, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-165.04
ANS-158 carried a brief report of a successful AO-7 Mode B contact
between Piraja, PS8RF in Brazil and Jean-Jacques, ON7EQ in Belgium.
Since last week's report, additional information has been received
on how they accomplished their 4736 mile (7622 KM) contact.
Jean-Jacques wrote, "As the theoretical window between both stations
only lasts about 1 minute, 30 seconds, careful preparation was required
for selection of the optimal window and calculation of doppler shifts
both ways. The effective contact was only possible during about 20 sec-
onds, just enough to exchange reports, while both stations met on the
transponder within an offset of 500 Hz of calculated frequencies."
Well done and congratulations, gents! PS8RF has posted a video of the
Satellite DX event at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggNmQqxARWY.
[ANS thanks Jean-Jacques, ON7EQ and Piraja, PS8RF for the above
information.]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-165.05
Satellite Shorts From All Over
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 165.05
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 14, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-165.05
+ AMSAT received the sad news that Robert Kohli, VU2MKP, well known
to many AO-40 operators and AMSAT-India life member has become a
silent key. Ham radio has lost a great operator who guided many
hams and was a source of inspiration to many of us.
+ The total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts has now
reached 443. The complete listing of all scheduled school con-
tacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echo-
link websites can be found on-line at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf
+ Franco, HB9OAB will activate CN2AB on VO-52 from Morocco between
June 27 through July 20, 2009. Info at: http://www.qrz.com/cn2ab
+ Hams like science ... a BBC produced video of the Four Seasons of
Titan: Weather & Climate Change on Saturn's Largest Moon can be
viewed on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/mroemf
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
/EX
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors
to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits.
Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. And with that
please keep in mind in ancient Rome, deli workers were told that they
could eat anything they wanted during the lunch hour. Anything, that is
except the smoked salmon. Thus were created the world's first anti-lox
breaks.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
K9JKM at amsat dot org
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-152.1
ANS Special Bulletin - Call for Nominations AMSAT Board of Directors
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 152.1
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 1, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-152.1
Pursuant to AMSAT-NA Bylaws, ARTICLE III Meetings and Election of Directors;
Section 2: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/AboutAmsat/documents/bylaws.php
Written nominations of Members for the position of Director, which nominees
shall have agreed to serve if elected, shall be received by the Secretary
on or before June 15 of each year.
The deadline for nominations for the 2009 AMSAT Board of Directors elections
to be received at the AMSAT office is no later than June 15, 2009. A
nomination
requires either one AMSAT Member Society or five current AMSAT members. A
director serves 2 years.
Nominations must be in writing and send via regular mail to:
AMSAT, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
E-mail nominations cannot be accepted.
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Board of Directors for the above information]
/EX
--
73 de JoAnne K9JKM
k9jkm(a)amsat.org
Editor, AMSAT News Service
Copy Editor, AMSAT Journal