AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-177
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:
* Remember to Send Your AMSAT Field Day Results
* 13 Colonies Special Event on Satellites Again
* July 15 Deadline to File ARISS Contact Proposals
* Istanbul students plan 145/435 MHz satellite
* New Horizons Mission Presents New Opportunity for Citizen Scientists
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
* ARISS Status - 20 June 2011
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-177.01
Remember to Send Your AMSAT Field Day Results
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 177.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 26, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-177.01
AMSAT Director of Awards and Contests, Bruce Paige, KK5DO reminds you
to send in your satellite Field Day results. The Satellite Summary
Sheet (on pages 3-4 of the AMSAT Field Rules) should be used for sub-
mission of the AMSAT Field Day competition.
The Rules and the Satellite Summary Sheet can be downloaded from
links at http://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.comhttp://tinyurl.com/3eztlaf (amsat.org)
http://www.amsatnet.com/2011fd.dochttp://www.amsatnet.com/2011fd.pdf
Your entry must be received by KK5DO (email or postal mail) by 11:59
P.M. CDT, Monday, July 11, 2011. 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 that can be used an article for the Journal.
You will receive an email back (within one or two days) from Bruce
when he receives your email submission. If you do not receive a con-
firmation message, try sending it again or send it to his other email
address.
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 emergency power/
portable station at the AMSAT General Meeting and Space Symposium
in November 2011. Certificates will also be awarded to the second
and third place portable/emergency operation in addition to the
first-place home station running on emergency power. Stations sub-
mitting high, award-winning scores will be requested to send in
dupe sheets for analog contacts and message listings for digital
downloads.
[ANS thanks AMSAT Director of Awards and Contests, Bruce Paige,
KK5DO for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-177.02
13 Colonies Special Event on Satellites Again
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 177.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 26, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-177.02
Dave, KB1PVH/K2H says that the Original 13 Colonies Independence
Week Special event begins on July 1 and runs until July 5.
We will be on the satellites again this year!
MA- KB1PVH/K2H, Dave
VA- NL7VX/K2B, Steve
PA- KE3LB/K2M, John
SC- K4YYL/K2L, Art
GA- N3TL/K2G, Tim
NC- W4MPS/K2J, Marc
NY- WB2OQQ/K2A, Pete
CT- KA1TCH/K2D, Al
NH- NE1H/K2K, Bob
RI- N1MIW/K2C, Larry
NJ- KB2M/K2I, Jeff (when available)
DE- KB2M/K2E, Jeff (limited time marine mobile)
MD- WA3SWJ/K2F, Bruce
Please limit yourselves to one contact per state, so that others may
have a chance.
The 4th of July, 2011 lands on a Monday, which means that you can
work us starting Friday through Tuesday. Due to popular demand, we
will run the event all 5 days like in 2010. Times will be: 12:01 AM
Eastern start on July 1st, (That's one minute after midnight, early
Friday morning, July 1st) to 11:59 PM Eastern ending on July 5th
(One minute to midnight, late Tuesday night, July 5th).
Hope everyone get a Clean Sweep
Find more information on-line at:
http://www.13colonies.info/
[ANS thanks Dave, KB1PVH/K2H for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-177.03
July 15 Deadline to File ARISS Contact Proposals
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 177.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 26, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-177.03
NASA is seeking U.S. formal and informal education institutions
and organizations, individually or working together, to host an
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, con-
tact between the dates of Jan. 15 and July 15, 2012.
To maximize these radio contact opportunities, NASA is looking
for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants
and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan.
The deadline to submit a proposal is July 15, 2011.
During the first six months of 2012, crew members aboard the
International Space Station will participate in amateur radio con-
tacts.
ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn
firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space.
Due to the nature of human spaceflight, organizations must demon-
strate the flexibility to accommodate changes in contact dates and
times.
Interested parties should contact Teaching From Space to obtain infor-
mation related to expectations, content, format, audience, proposal
guidelines and forms by sending an e-mail to JSC-TFS-ARISS(a)mail.nasa.gov
or by calling 281-244-2320.
The NASA Teaching From Space web page can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/6fc2lzn (nasa.gov)
[ANS thanks ARISS and NASA for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-177.04
Istanbul students plan 145/435 MHz satellite
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 177.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 26, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-177.04
Students at Istanbul Technical University are working on a 3U
CubeSat that will carry a linear transponder for SSB/CW amateur
radio communications.
TURKSAT-3USAT will carry a 50kHz bandwidth 145/435 (V/U) linear
transponder, beacon and telemetry downlink. It is hoped to have
an early 2012 launch into a Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at around
680km.
Istanbul Technical University's first Communication Satellite
http://tinyurl.com/6hyxh7h
Istanbul Technical University TURKSAT-3USAT
http://tinyurl.com/5vhdnzm
TURKSAT-3USAT on the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination pages
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=213
[ANS thanks the Southgate ARC news site and Istanbul Technical
University for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-177.05
New Horizons Mission Presents New Opportunity for Citizen Scientists
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 177.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 26, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-177.05
The Zooniverse is home to the internet's largest, most popular
and most successful citizen science projects. You can find all
the details of their projects at http://www.zooniverse.org/
Zooniverse has added a project where Citizen Scientists help choose
an additional destination or two for a spacecraft heading to the outer
solar system. Ice Hunters will allow the public to help discover a
potential new, icy follow-on destination for NASA's New Horizons space-
craft, which is currently en route to make the first flyby of the Pluto
system. After it zooms past Pluto, the spacecraft will have the capabil-
ity to explore other Kuiper Belt Objects. The destination has yet to be
chosen. That's where you can help.
With Ice Hunters, the public can help scientists search through deep
telescopic images for currently unknown objects in the Kuiper Belt.
What's cool is that you'll be searching for Kuiper Belt Objects and
potential dwarf planets in much the same way that Clyde Tombaugh found
Pluto: comparing images of the same region of the Kuiper Belt and look-
ing for objects that move or vary in brightness.
You can read all the details on-line at: http://www.icehunters.org/
[ANS thanks UniverseToday.com, Zooniverse, and Ice Hunters for the
above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-177.06
Satellite Shorts From All Over
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 177.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 26, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-177.06
+ iPhone and iPad users may be interested in the free ESA App to
access top news stories, videos, images, facts and figures, ESA's
Twitter feeds, Flickr and Facebook links and other information in
a convenient mobile package. This is now available free of charge
for iPhone and iPad directly from the App Store at Apple.
+ AMSAT-SM has a new website and is active on Facebook and Twitter.
Please visit the new AMSAT-SM (Sweden) website at:
http://www.amsat.se
AMSAT-SM on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/amsat_sm
AMSAT-SM on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSAT-SM/196154360421894
(Lars SM0TGU)
+ UniverseToday.com posted a video from Phil Plait's Discovery
Channel series "Bad Universe" showing the ways the world will end:
http://www.universetoday.com/86680/video-ways-the-world-will-end/
+ A time lapsed video from the Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific
Visualization Studio, uses data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
and compresses one month into 12 seconds and one year into 2.5 minutes.
You'll see how the Moon "wobbles" in its orbit, the changes in libra-
tion, and axis tilt, the Moon's phases. Watch it at:
http://www.universetoday.com/86613/one-year-of-the-moon-in-2-5-minutes/
+ Jim List, G3WGM, Hon Sec AMSAT-UK reminds attendees to the AMSAT-UK
Colloquium, Holiday Inn, Guildford, UK 29-30 July that the hotel is
getting quite booked up already for the Saturday night. To avoid
disappointment, we strongly urge you to book your place asap. Speak to
Rachael Cross on +44 (0) 1483 784418. More details, incl prices, at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium-2011
+ Congratulations to Jim, KE4KOL, for achieving Satellite VUCC #207!
+ Congratulations also to Rodney, KC0ZHF for achieving his WAS Satellite
Award!
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-177.07
ARISS Status - 20 June 2011
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 177.07
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 26, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-177.07
1. Germany Contact to be Rescheduled
The ARISS contact that was scheduled with
Hochtaunusschule in Oberursel, Hessen,
Germany on Tuesday, June 14 was not successful. The ARISS team is trying to
determine what happened and hopes to reschedule the contact sometime in the
future.
2. Astronaut Training Status
Astronaut Mike Hopkins (Expedition 37) passed his amateur radio Technician exam
on Thursday, June 9. He was issued the call sign KF5LJG.
On Monday, June 13, several astronaut candidates
passed their Technician License
exams and were issued the following call signs:
Takuya Onishi, KF5LKS
Gregory Wiseman, KF5LKT
Jeremy Hansen, KF5LKU
In addition, Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS upgraded from
Technician to General. Another
round of tests for the latest class of astronauts may be conducted in the near
future.
A successful ARISS simulated contact was held between Kevin Ford, KF5GPP and
youth from John McCrae Secondary High School,
Ottawa, Canada on Monday, June 13.
The training session was a terrestrial-based amateur radio contact using ARISS
equivalent equipment and helped to prepare Ford for participation in ARISS
contacts when he flies with Expedition 33 in September 2012.
Don Pettit, KD5MDT and André Kuipers, PI9ISS are scheduled for an ARISS
preflight session on June 22. The two astronauts are part of Expedition 30
which will launch in November 2011.
3. Debrief Session Held with Expedition 26/27 Crew Members
On Wednesday, June 15 ARISS members participated in an ISS Ham debrief session
with Expedition 26/27 crew members Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli. The
astronauts provided good feedback on the ARISS program.
[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, 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.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-175.01
FASTRAC-1 Satellite Available for Field Day Digipeating
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 175.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 24, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-175.01
Since it will be ARRL Field Day tomorrow June 25th to June 26th, the FASTRAC
team has decided to open up Sara Lily (FASTRAC-1) so that HAMS are able to
digipeat through her. Good luck this weekend to everybody participating!! Once
field day is over, we will again resume our science mission!
FASTRAC-1
Downlink 437.345 MHz
Uplink 145.825 MHz
Both 1200 and 9600 baud rates are operational however it is expected that
Users will have more success using 1200 baud.
FAST1
1 90025U 0 11174.49370187 +.00000158 +00000-0 +30566-4 0 00617
2 90025 071.9703 025.3633 0018615 269.1116 090.7913 14.76601460010256
More information about the FASTRAC mission is available on their website
http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/
[ANS thanks the UT FASTRAC Team for the above information]
/EX
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-170
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:
* AMSAT-NA Files Formal Comments on Proposed ITAR Changes
* Announcing AMSAT Project FOX Website
* It's Time to Get Ready For ARISSat-1
* ARRISat-1 Team Pointers to Get Ready for SSTV Reception
* North America SO-67 Schedule For Field Day
* Visit the New AMSAT-UK Website
* AMSAT-UK Display at First UK Space Conference
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
* Follow Up to Receiving STEREO-B at 219 Million KM
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.01
AMSAT-NA Files Formal Comments on Proposed ITAR Changes
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.01
AMSAT submitted comments to the U.S. Department of State/Directorate
of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) on June 13, 2011 in response to their
proposed rule making on International Traffic in Arms Regulations
(ITAR), which would provide clarification on defense services, noting
that public domain material is not subject to ITAR.
AMSAT asked DDTC to not only acknowledge that public domain materials
are not subject to ITAR, but to expand the scope of how they view how
materials are to be placed in the public domain. AMSAT requested that
rather than focus on the method of placement of materials in the public
domain (e.g. printed publication), the critical criteria should be the
intent of the originator to broadly and freely make such material
available to anyone who has the ability to access it via appropriate
means, including electronic origination and distribution.
The full copy of AMSAT's comments will be published in an upcoming
edition of the AMSAT Journal. An electronic copy of AMSAT's comments
can be viewed on the AMSAT web at: http://tinyurl.com/3jtbff2
[ANS thanks AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW for the above
Information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.02
Announcing AMSAT Project FOX Website
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.02
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.02
Alan Biddle, WA4SCA is pleased to announce that AMSAT's Project FOX
website has been updated. Titled, "Introducing FOX, AMSAT-NA's Next
Satellite!", this page brings you the highlights of:
+ "Why do we need Fox?"
+ A link to the Project FOX presentation slides from the Dayton
AMSAT Forum
+ A Project FOX donation widget
+ FOX Project Status
+ High level project design goals
+ A call for volunteers to join the AMSAT FOX Team
Begin your exploration of the AMSAT FOX project at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/fox/
Here is a summary of AMSAT Project FOX design goals:
Development Phase: Approved by the Board of Directors.
Design in progress.
Projected Launch: 2013.
Space Frame Structure: Standard 1U (One Unit) CubeSat.
Space Frame Size: 10 cm X 10 cm X 10 cm.
Mass: Approximately 1.33 kg, ~ 3 lbs.
Orbit: 600 - 800 km, circular, depending on launcher.
RF: 500 mW EIRP, U/V (Mode B). Deployable antennas.
Transponder: High density Software Defined Transponder (SDX).
Power source: Deployable solar arrays. Lithium Ion or NiCd
batteries.
Power mangement: Maximum Power Point Trackers.
[ANS thanks Alan Biddle, WA4SCA for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.03
It's Time to Get Ready For ARISSat-1
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.03
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.03
A few weeks remain before the planned July deployment of ARISSat-1
from the ISS. The AMSAT News Service will bring you more details
in the coming weeks. Here are some reminders to help you get your
station ready for ARISSat-1 operation.
145.950 MHz FM Downlink:
------------------------
FM transmissions will cycle between a voice ID as RS01S, select tele-
metry values, 24 international greeting messages in 15 languages and
SSTV images. One of the messages will be a conversation between Yuri
Gagarin and ground control. See the next news item for pointers to get
your station ready to receive the SSTV images.
435 MHz - 145 MHz Linear Transponder:
-------------------------------------
The linear transponder will operate in Mode U/V (70 cm Up, 2m Down).
It is an 16 KHz wide inverting passband and the convention will be to
TX LSB on the 435 MHz uplink and RX USB on the 145 MHz downlink. This
mode is designed to work with low power transmitters and omni antenna.
145.919 MHz/145.939 MHz CW Beacon:
----------------------------------
The CW transmissions will be callsign ID RS01S, select telemetry, and
callsigns of people actively involved with the ARISS program.
145.920 MHz SSB BPSK-1000 Telemetry:
------------------------------------
The BPSK transmissions will feature a new 1kBPSK protocol developed
by Phil Karn, KA9Q to be readable in low signal level conditions.
The BPSK data will transmit satellite telemetry.
The ARISSat-1 BPSK-1000 downlink is transmitted in SSB mode on
145.920 MHz. When the CW2 beacon on 145.919 MHz is active this
indicates that the BPSK-1000 format is being transmitted. If the
CW1 beacon on 145.939 MHz is active this indicates the backup of
BPSK-400 format is being transmitted.
Transmitting at 100 mW, both BPSK rates include Forward Error
Correction (FEC) and it is expected that modest quarter-wave
antennas with low-loss coaxial cable will provide sufficient
signal strength for decoding and display by the ARISSatTLM
software.
An audio feed from an SSB receiver to the computer's soundcard
input is needed. An initial "Receive Only" configuration is easily
done consisting of an audio patch cable between your radio and
the soundcard. Take the speaker or headphone output from the radio
and run it into the line (or mic) input on your PC sound card.
BPSK-1000 sounds like a "shusssch" with a higher pitch than the
400 bps growl. It is difficult to tune by ear. The CW2 beacon is
used as a tuning signal for BPSK-1000. The PC and Mac ARISSatTLM
software display contains a dotted line that you use to tune your
receiver until the CW signal bumps lines up with the dotted line
on your PC screen. This will allow you to decode the BPSK-1000
signal and you will also be able to copy the CW2 beacon.
Download the Windows ARISSatTLM free ground station soundcard
demodulator and display software:
http://www.arissattlm.org/download/ARISSatTLM_050_Setup.exe
Download the Mac ARISSatTLM software:
http://www.arissattlm.org/download/ARISSATTLM.zip
The ARISSatTLM software user guide is available:
http://tinyurl.com/42uhtyf (amsat.org)
Get your color ARISSat-1 Frequency Guide:
http://tinyurl.com/4t497t2 (amsat.org)
ARISSat-1 Presentation Slides (~1MB)
http://tinyurl.com/4n4pzkm (amsat.org)
[ANS thanks the ARISSat-1 Team for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.04
ARRISat-1 Team Pointers to Get Ready for SSTV Reception
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.04
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.04
The ARISSat-1 FM downlink on 145.950 MHz includes live SSTV
images as part of the cycling voice ID, select spoken telemetry
values, and the international greeting messages. Here are some
pointers to help you get your station ready to receive and dis-
the SSTV pictures transmitted by ARISSat-1.
One fun feature is that there are four SSTV cameras mounted on
the spacecraft. On photos of ARISSat-1 you may have noticed black
brackets on the outside of the spacecraft. These hold the mirrors
that reflect the light onto the lens of the cameras. The software-
defined-transponder will use the image data from the cameras to
generate the SSTV downlink.
ARISSat's software will sequentially select a new or stored image
from one the four cameras. There are two pre-recorded images as
part of the sequence. The camera that took the the picture can be
identified by the color of the call sign in the upper left of the
SSTV image. The SSTV image will be sent down as FM audio SSTV in
Robot 36 format on 145.950 MHz about every 140 seconds.
The RF downlink power on the 145.950 MHz FM downlink will be 250mW
which is predicted to provide a link margin around 6 dB on an HT
with a 'big whip' when the satellite is at 15 degrees elevation. This
should be sufficient to receive SSTV pictures although you may need
to orient the whip to line up the antenna polarization.
ARISSat-1 is not stabilized so the antenna orientation is unpredict-
able and a certain amount of fading will happen. The receiving link
margin may be improved with a handheld beam such as an "Arrow", "Elk",
or "Cheap Yagi" antenna.
(See: http://www.wa5vjb.com/references/Cheap%20Antennas-LEOs.pdf)
General Overview Radio-to-Soundcard Interface
---------------------------------------------
To view the SSTV downlink from ARISSat-1 you'll need a computer
running SSTV software for your soundcard and an audio connection
between your radio and the computer.
If you are already on the air with other amateur radio soundcard
applications chances are you are ready to receive ARISSat's SSTV
downlink with little or no modification to your setup.
The audio from the radio to the computer is the key link. An initial
"Receive Only" configuration is easily done consisting of an audio
patch cable between your radio and the soundcard. Take the speaker
or headphone output from the radio and run it into the line (or mic)
input on your PC sound card.
Setting the level is simple also as the MMSSTV software has a bar
indicator. Just adjust the sound card gain slider and/or radio volume
control so that the SSTV signal is within the center part of the bar.
MMSSTV will give you an "overflow" indication if the volume is too
high.
If your rig has a 'Line Out' connection this can be run to the
soundcard 'Line In'. Using the radio 'Line Out' you won't have to
deal with the interaction of the radio's volume control with the
soundcard levels. But you will still need to use the soundcard
'Volume Control' to set the 'Line In' levels.
SSTV Software Download Sites
----------------------------
There are many amateur radio SSTV software decoding applications
available. One of the easiest to use on Windows computers is the
MMSSTV program. This can be downloaded from:
http://mmhamsoft.amateur-radio.ca/pages/mmsstv.php
The Ham Radio Deluxe software package also includes SSTV operation.
SSTV software for the Mac is available at:
http://web.me.com/kd6cji/MacSSTV/MultiScan.html
[ANS thanks the ARISSat-1 Team for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.05
North America SO-67 Schedule For Field Day
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.05
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.05
The SO-67 command station has agreed to set the following start
times for 15 minute activations over North America for Field Day.
Activations are -planned-, and are dependent on scheduling and
battery state:
25 JUN 2011
-----------
1835
2255
26 JUN 2011
-----------
0030
0200
0335
0515
0645
1155
1335
1510
1640
1815
Uplink is 145.875, no tone, and Narrow FM if possible.
Downlink is 435.345, +/- Doppler shift.
Remember both ARRL and AMSAT Field Day rules limit QSOs to one per
FM repeater/satellite. Even if you are not submitting a log, please
adhere to this procedure.
The above information along with additional Field Day information and
links to the FD Rules documents can found on the AMSAT front page at:
http://www.amsat.org.
[ANS thanks AMSAT VP Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA for the
above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.06
Visit the New AMSAT-UK Website
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.06
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.06
AMSAT-UK has a new website developed by Dominic Hawken G6NQO and the
new webmaster is Rob Styles M0TFO.
The site features links to the new AMSAT-UK Online shop run by Ciaran
Morgan, M0XTD. The online shop carries a range of hardware items/pro-
jects and software suitable for Amateur Ratio Satellite activities as
well as the ability to join/renew your membership to AMSAT-UK.
Visit the new site at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/
The AMSAT-UK International Colloquium takes place July 30-31. The event
is open to all and further information can be found at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium-2011
AMSAT-UK publishes a color A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of
Amateur Satellite information. Join online at:
http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK
[ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.07
AMSAT-UK Display at First UK Space Conference
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.07
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.07
AMSAT-UK will have a presence at the first ever UK Space Conference
taking place at the University of Warwick on July 4-5. This is being
organised by the UK Space Agency which was formally commenced in April
this year.
AMSAT-UK has been sponsored by a member to have a small stand "booth"
in the exhibtion area and will be among some very illustrious company.
AMSAT-UK will be displaying FUNcube models and demonstrating the educa-
tional outreach possibilities that we will have with the telemetry and
Fitter message download systems when matched with a simple groundstation
- the FUNcube dongle.
AMSAT-UK members will also be presenting short papers in the educational
and cubesat streams during the event.
Full information of the conference can be read on-line at:
http://tinyurl.com/3hb2y9j (www.intellectuk.org)
[ANS thanks Graham Shirville, G3VZV for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.08
Satellite Shorts From All Over
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.08
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.08
+ AMSAT has received the sad news on the passing of Elizabeth Clark,
wife of AMSAT Board Member Tom Clark, K3IO. A memorial service in
the Washington, DC area will be held in the near future - Martha
will post the details when available. A service will be held in
about one month in Clinton, South Carolina at the family church
where her ashes will be scattered. Donations can be made in Eliza-
beth's name to: The American Cancer Society, Box 22718, Oklahoma
City, OK 73123-1718, The Susan G Komen for the Cure, ATTN: Donor
Services, Box 650309, Dallas TX 75265-0309 or the charity of your
choice. (Martha at the AMSAT office)
+ The AO-51 Command Team notes that over the last couple of days, we
have been seeing some extended operational times after turning AO-51
ON. Your reports from around the world for the next few days will be
especially helpful! Information about when it's ON and when it's OFF
is of great interest right now and for the next few days. The best
place to let everybody know is at: http://oscar.dcarr.org/
(AO-51 Command Station, Mark, N8MH)
+ The AMSAT Office has received notice that the Canadian Postal Strike
may affect delivery of AMSAT mailings to Canada. Canada Post has
currently suspended operations around the country.
+ Congratulations to the following on earning the new 5 in EM55 Award
for working five (5) different hams in the EM55 grid:
CALL AWARD NUMBER ISSUE DATE
------- ------------ ----------
WA4NVM 1 6/4/2011
WA4HFN 2 6/4/2011
KI4OTG 3 6/4/2011
K8YSE 4 6/4/2011
N9AMW 5 6/5/2011
KB0RZD 6 6/14/2011
W5KUB 7 6/17/2011
You do not have to be in your home grid to count the stations
worked. There are several satellite ready hams in EM55. Here is
the current known list: WA4NVM, WA4HFN, WB4LHD, WA4OVO, KI4OTG,
KD4NOQ, KJ4BIX, AND AJ4KF.
Send your log to WA4NVM or WA4HFN for checking, along with your
current mailing address. The award is free and should any
donations be sent, they will be forwarded to AMSAT along with
your call and name.
This award will be effective 1 June 2011, therefore, all contacts
must be on or after this date.
+ Trevor, M5AKA invites you to view these video features on the
Southgate ARC web site:
Video of Astronaut Doug Wheelock KF5BOC at Dayton
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2011/kf5boc_video.htm
ISS contact with students in Enniskillen can be seen at
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2011/college_congratulated.htm
+ Congratulations to AMSAT's Bob McGwier, N4HY on his new postion as
the Director of Research Hume Center for National Security and Tech-
nology and Research Professor, ECE at Virginia Tech. See:
http://tinyurl.com/3cnxop7 (vt.edu)
+ Congratulations to Astronaut Mike Hopkins (Expedition 37) upon
passing his amateur radio Technician License exam on June 9.
His call sign should be issued soon.
+ The Okaw Valley ARC has a very nice web page devoted to their
May 6 ISS contact by the Greenville Elementary School. Video
is included: http://ovarc.net/isscontact.htm
+ If you captured any of the Phonesat UHF beacon data during the NASA
AMES high altitude balloon flight on June 9 please send it to:
mikesafyan(a)gmail.com
+ Congratulations to Chris, KC0YBM, for achieving his Satellite VUCC
Award #215!
+ Paul, 2E1EUB will be operating mobile on AO-7 and other satellites
from the Islands of Harris and Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland
for about 2 weeks between July 2-11. During this trip Paul will also
be mobile in northern Scotland and the Island of Skye. He will also
post information on his QRZ.com callsign lookup for 2E1EUB.
+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom Net is scheduled for June 23 at 8PM EDT
(UTC-4) on the 146.970 MHz repeater, (Pl 100), and also on Echolink
node N2EYH-L. More info: http://www.hvsatcom.org (Stu, WA2BSS)
+ Paul, VP9MU says he has re-activated the AMSAT-BDA (Bermuda) web
pages at: http://www.amsat-bda.org The main function of the site
is hosting the General Astrodynamics Library and will be hosting
additional items in the future.
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.09
Follow Up to Receiving STEREO-B at 219 Million KM
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.09
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.09
James Miller, G3RUH sent an interesting follow up to the ANS news
of AMSAT-DL success in receiving the 8 GHz downlink from the solar
observation STEREO-B satellite. A FUNcube dongle and downconverter
were used in the the demonstration documented in the videos on the
Southgate ARC site (See: http://tinyurl.com/6eukmjv - "AMSAT-DL
break FUNcube Dongle distance record).
James wrote, "Actually, the Stereo-A and Stereo-B spacecraft are
received (more conventionally) every day, and the data automatically
forwarded to NASA. The Bochum Dish, operated by AMSAT-DL is one of
four "Partner Stations" downloading the low speed Beacon telemetry
for NASA/NOAA. The others are DL0SHF at Kiel, CNES in Toulouse,
France, and NICT at Koganei, Japan. And one more station is urgently
needed, especially from North America."
There is a comprehensive article about this work at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/articles/g3ruh/127.html
Data is transmitted from STEREO in one of two modes; (a) high speed
(currently 720 kbps), stored data (up to 1 Gb), intended for the Deep
Space Network (DSN) to collect the high resolution science data some
8 hours/day, and (b) a low speed 633 bps continuous real time subset
of the solar data intended for collection by smaller ground stations.
AMSAT collects low speed data. The ground stations then forward the
data via the Internet to NASA GSFC for processing where it is posted
on the web in near real time for all to use, including the various
world wide organizations monitoring and predicting Space Weather.
The ground network for the low speed data is organized and coordin-
ated by the SWPC in Boulder, Colorado.
The spacecraft transmit 63 watts to a 1.1m dish at 8.4 GHz RHCP, an
e.i.r.p. of approximately 85 dBm.
[ANS thanks James, G3RUH 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 the ham who figured he had some explaining to do
when his young daughter announced, "I'm just like mommy! I put on the
Oil of Old Lady lotion you said she uses!"
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
K9JKM at amsat dot org
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-163
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:
* ARISSat-1 Reception Challenge
* Call for Papers
* AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due by June 15th
* New Items in AMSAT Store
* Grid Trip to Slovakia
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
* 2011 AMSAT Field Day Competition
* ARISS Report
* AMSAT Server Upgrade
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-163.01
ARISSat-1 Reception Challenge
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 163.01
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 12, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-163.01
ARISSat-1 Reception Challenge
ARISSat-1 is scheduled for deployment from the ISS in July. It has a
composite VHF downlink that will easily fit into the FUNcube Dongle
receive spectrum. The telemetry is 1000 bps BPSK and can, of course,
also be received with a normal SSB 2 metre receiver.
The expected signal levels from ARISSat should be similar to those we
expect from FUNcube itself (and also eventually from UKube) and the
team are keen to discover what will be the minimum and best type of
antennas for schools to use with a FCD. Therefore user experience with
the ARISSat signals will be very valuable in making this determination.
To encourage everyone to receive ARISSat signals we are offering a FUN
reward for listeners!
There are a number of categories for this challenge including:
1. The first FCD user, from each continent, who can post a spectrum
recording of the received signal together with evidence of decoding
the data using the ARISSat software and of sending it to the ARISSat
data warehouse.
2. The first non-FCD user, from each continent, who can provide evidence
of having decoded the signals and of sending it to the ARISSat data
warehouse.
3. The listener, using a FCD or not, who can demonstrate satisfactory
reception of the telemetry in the same ways as described above,
using
the "smallest" possible receive antenna. The actual closing date for
this part of the challenge will be announced later.
4. All other entrants who can demonstrate that they have been having
FUN!
Please submit your "entries", including your location, station details
(including FCD serial number where applicable), postal address and
reports
to g0auk<at>amsat.org.
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the Southgate ARC News Site for the above
information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-163.02
Call for papers
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 163.02
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 12, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-163.02
Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 30th Annual ARRL
and TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September 16-18,
2011 in Baltimore, Maryland. These papers will also be published in the
Conference Proceedings (you do NOT need to attend the conference to have
your paper included in the Proceedings). The submission deadline is
July 31, 2011. Please send papers to:
Maty Weinberg
ARRL
225 Main St
Newington, CT 06111
Or... you can make your submission via e-mail to: maty(a)arrl.org
Papers will be published exactly as submitted and authors will
retain all rights.
73 . . . Steve, WB8IMY
ARRL
[ANS thanks Steve, WB8IMY, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-163.03
AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due by June 15th
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 163.03
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 12, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-163.03
It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the
AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. The deadline is June 15th. A valid
nomination requires either one Member Society, or five current
individual members in good standing, to nominate an AMSAT member
for the position.
Four director's terms expire this year:
Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Alan Biddle, WA4SCA
Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA
Tony Monteiro, AA2TX
The four candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be
seated as full Board members for two year terms. The two candidates
receiving the next highest number of votes will be seated as alternate
Board members for one year terms.
Beginning this year, in addition to traditional submissions of written
nominations which remains unchanged and is the preferred method, initial
nominations may be made by electronic means.=A0 These include e-mail,
FAX, or electronic image of a petition. Electronic petitions should be
sent to MARTHA(a)AMSAT.ORG or faxed to 301-608-3410. Written nominations,
consisting of names, calls, and individual signatures, should be mailed
to:
AMSAT-NA
850 Sligo Ave #600
Silver Spring, MD, 20910
No matter what method is used, petitions MUST arrive no later than June
15th at the AMSAT-NA office. If the nomination is a traditional written
nomination, no other action is required. If it is other than this, i.e.
electronic, a verifying traditional written petition MUST be received at
the AMSAT-NA office at the above address within 7 days following the
close of nominations on June 15th. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS
SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXIST- ING AMSAT-NA
BYLAWS.
Alan Biddle
WA4SCA
AMSAT Corporate Secretary
[ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-163.04
New Items in AMSAT Store
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 163.04
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 12, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-163.04
Hot off the presses, you don't want to miss out on these new
additions to the AMSAT online store for 2011.
The latest from Gould, WA4SXM, Getting Started With Amateur
Satellites - 2011. Excellent for the beginner to learn the ins and
outs of the most popular satellites. Also contains information on
ARISSat-1, P3 Express and AMSAT Fox.
There is a new 2011 Frequency chart, updated May, 2011 by Mike, N1JEZ.
Catch a fly ball or keep the sun off your head with the new 2011
Baseball Cap
Show off your support for ARISSat-1 with a handsome red Polo Shirt or
gray T-Shirt
Visit the AMSAT online store and see pictures and pricing to your
door.
http://www.amsat.org click on link in left margin.
73...bruce
(AMSAT online store manager)
[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-163.05
Grid Trip to Slovakia
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 163.05
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 12, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-163.05
OM3BD Looking for North America Satellite Contacts
Bill, NZ5N says he is heading for his annual 7-week trip to Slovakia,
grid locator JN88mf. He has been issued a new Slovak callsign OM3BD.
Bill wrote, "I will be active on the satellites. North American
stations,
please contact me for OSCAR 7 mode B skeds, if we will have any mutual
footprints. Time permitting, there's also a possibility of some portable
operations to different grids, and/or satellite expeditions to Austria
and Hungary Both are less than 20 miles from my Slovakian QTH."
Bill said last year he was able contact Ohio and Virginia via AO-7 from
this location.
[ANS thanks Bill, NZ5N for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-163.06
Satellite Shorts From All Over
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 163.06
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 12, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-163.06
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ NASA has released photos of Endeavour docked at the International
Space Station (ISS). These are the first ever images taken of a
space shuttle while still attached to the orbiting lab complex
from the perspective of a crewed Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The
photos were captured by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli from the
Soyuz TMA-20 vehicle as he and two crewmates were departing the ISS
for their return trip to Earth. See:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/multimedia/e27depart.html
+ NASA's Spirit rover on Mars stopped transmitting in March 2010 when
it went silent at the onset of the cold and dark Martian winter.
Assembled by Dr. Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo from publicly-avail
able NASA imagery, these mosaics show Spirit's final resting place:
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1106/05spirit/
+ NASA Science News posted "A Salute to Spirit" at:
http://tinyurl.com/3ce4zp2 (science.nasa.gov)
+ Video of the June 7 Soyuz launch with NASA astronaut Mike Fossum,
Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa can be viewed at the UniverseToday
web site: http://tinyurl.com/6c2gews
+ A new yahoo group dedicated to Digital Amateur Television has been
created. The purpose of the group is to share knowledge & experiences
using & developing DATV technology for amateur use. You can join the
group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalATV/ (Mark, WB9QZB)
+ Copenhagen Suborbital, a group of amateur rocketeers successfully
launched the world's first amateur-built rocket made for human space
travel. Two videos of the launch can be found at:
http://www.universetoday.com/86306/copenhagen-suborbitals-launch-videos/
+ Send an audio report of your SumbandilaSat contact and you may be one
of 3 lucky winners drawn to receive a first day postal cover of the
SumbandilaSat. Closing date is 30 June 2011. E-Mail to:
saamsat(a)intekom.co.za (http://www.amsatsa.org.za/)
+ Martha at AMSAT Headquarters says she now has 7 Elk Antennas in stock.
The cost is $125 plus shipping. She also has the bag which is $25. If
you are interested, please call the AMSAT Office at 301-589-6062. A
portion of your purchase price benefits AMSAT.
+ Andy, VK3ASI hopes to operate the FM satellites Oscar 50 and 51 from
Spitsbergen next week. Some of the operation may be maritime mobile.
+ The Central States VHF Conference will convene in Irving, TX on
July 29 - 30. Most attendees traveling from a good distance will
arrive on July 28th and checkout on July 31st. Information will be
posted at: http://www.csvhfs.org/
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-163.07
Reminder-2011 AMSAT Field Day Competition
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 163.07
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 12, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-163.07
Field Day is June 25 & 26.
Annual readiness excersize is a great way to demo Satellite Operations.
AMSAT Director of Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO says, "It's that time of
year again: Summer and Field Day!"
Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day
as an emergency preparedness exercise. The event takes place during
a 24-hour period on the fourth weekend of June. For 2011 the event
takes place during a 27-hour period from 1800 UTC on Saturday
June 25, 2011 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 26, 2011.
Those who set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 25 can operate only
24 hours.
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own version
of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held concurrently
with the ARRL event.
Bruce advises, "If you are considering ONLY the FM voice satellites like
AMRAD-OSCAR-27, SaudiSat-Oscar-50, or AMSAT-OSCAR-51 for your AMSAT
Field
Day focus. Don't, unless you are simply hoping to make one contact for
the
ARRL rules bonus points."
The congestion on FM LEO satellites was so intense in prior years that
we
must continue to limit their use to one-QSO-per-FM-satellite. This
includes the International Space Station. You will be allowed one QSO
if the ISS is operating Voice. You will also be allowed one digital QSO
with the ISS or any other digital, non- store-and-forward, packet
satellite
(if operational).
Please refer to these links for the full document of the AMSAT Field
Day rules:
http://www.amsat.org/ (link on AMSAT.org front page to PDF file) And,
an alternative site is:
http://www.amsatnet.com/2011fd.doc (MS-Word Doc File)
http://www.amsatnet.com/2011fd.pdf (PDF File)
These documents also cover the message exchange format, scoring
requirements, reporting requirements, station classes, etc.
[ANS thanks AMSAT Director of Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO for
the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-163.08
ARISS Report
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 163.08
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 12, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-163.08
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report
June 6, 2011
1. Amateur Radio Newsline on ARISS
On June 3, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1764 included a story on
the
new ARISS proposal process for U.S. schools. “Ham Radio in Space: New
US
Only Selection Process Announced for ARISS Contacts” may be found at:
ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt
2. Astronaut Training Status
An ARISS simulated contact is planned with Kevin Ford, KF5GPP on June
13.
Ford is scheduled to fly with Expedition 33 in September 2012.
Don Pettit, KD5MDT and André Kuipers, PI9ISS are scheduled for an ARISS
preflight session on June 22. The two astronauts are part of Expedition
30 which will launch in November 2011.
3. ARISS Presentations at Ham-Com 2011
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) National Convention will be held
at the Ham-Com 2011 in Plano, Texas on Friday and Saturday, June 10 -
11.
Several ARISS presentations will be given during the event:
ARISSat-1 a Satellite for STEM Education and Fun
Presented by Keith Pugh, W5IU
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
Presented by Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO
Introduction to Amateur Radio Satellites
Presented by Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW
For more information, see: http://www.hamcom.org
[ANS thanks Carol Jackson, KB3KLI, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-163.09
AMSAT Server Upgrade
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 163.09
> From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 12, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-163.09
AMSAT Server Upgrade News
AMSAT's network manager Paul Williamson, KB5MU reminded users of the
http://www.amsat.org features and news that, "The AMSAT.ORG computer
has been upgraded and moved to a new location. Although it still re-
mains on the UCSD campus, the new location required that a new IP ad-
dress be assigned. The transition should theoretically be seamless,
but some users may have trouble until their network's DNS servers
take notice of the update."
Unless your network admin has done something unusual, any problems
should clear up by themselves within a few days at most.
Please report any ongoing problems to Paul via kb5mu(a)amsat.org or
paul(a)mustbeart.com if the problem prevents email from getting
through to amsat.org.
[ANS thanks Paul Williamson, KB5MU for the above information]
/EX
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Dee Interdonato, NB2F
nb2f at amsat dot org
nb2f at amsat dot org
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-156
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:
* Eclipses Continue to Affect AO-51 Operation
* Reminder: The DARA Matching Gift Challenge
* AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due by June 15th
* New Satellite Award: 5 in EM55
* AMSAT-DL Break FUNcube Dongle Distance Record
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
* 2011 AMSAT Field Day Competition
* Open Source Hardware List From Dayton TAPR Forum
* US Army Supports Student Launch Program
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-156.01
Eclipses Continue to Affect AO-51 Operation
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 156.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 5, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-156.01
Last week's ANS bulletins reported that the AO-51 Command Team had
successfully restored the satellite to partial operations. AO-51 at
that time required a reload/reboot sequence every time it emerged
from eclipse due to the Integrated Housekeeping (IHU) computer crash-
ing from low battery voltage.
This week AMSAT VP-Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA said, "AO-51's
computer has been running for over 5 hours now. We have left the sat-
ellite in repeater mode 145.88/435.15 for the time being, at over 2
watts. We are very surprised by this development to say the least.
Without Whole Orbit Data we are flying a bit blind, so would really
like to know what the satellite is doing in eclipse. Please send your
reports to me or to the amsat-bb. Southern hemisphere observations
are most very welcome."
+ Robert, NH7WN reported from Honolulu: "AO51 was alive and well as
she came out of eclipse on June 2. I was able to hear myself per-
fectly on the downlink (145.880 up and 435.150 down)."
+ Brett reported: "Heard on AO-51 today pass over Australia/New Zealand
145.880/435.150 Strong signals. Copied VK1AMG, ZL2BX, VK4VDX."
+ Alan, ZL2BX reported: "AO-51 solid signals in ZL. AOS (0459 UT) about
five minutes after it came out of eclipse. Later on June 3, I can
finally confirm that AO-51 is loud and clear over ZL in full eclipse.
with solid signals from the transponder."
+ Dave, KB5WIA reported from California, "AO-51 was in great shape as
it passed south above the Pacific Ocean on June 3. I had a nice S9+
full quieting downlink for the entire pass."
The Command Team has analyzed AO-51 live telemetry when the satellite
is in range of a ground station because Whole Orbit Data is lost when
the IHU Computer crashes. Drew, KO4MA summarized, "Cell 3 is reporting
0.0 volts, so it's clear it has shorted completely."
Donations for Fox and ARISSat-1 are being collected. If you haven't
yet donated, please drop by http://www.amsat.org, or call Martha at
the AMSAT Office at 1-888-322-6728 today and help us get Fox in space.
Keep up with the latest AO-51 Control Team News on-line at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/CTNews.php
[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA VP Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA for the
above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-156.02
Reminder: The DARA Matching Gift Challenge
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 156.02
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 5, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-156.02
The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) has announced a fund
raising challenge for AMSAT whereby they will match on a 1:3 basis
up to $5,000.00 for donations made in 2011. That is, for every $3.00
that AMSAT raises, DARA will provide $1.00 up to a maximum of $5,000
donated by DARA.
AMSAT kicked off the fundraising campaign at the Hamvention, where
donations began count against this goal. Please consider making a
donation to AMSAT at Hamvention or anytime this Spring as we strive
to meet this goal.
We appreciate DARA's support for AMSAT and see this as an opportunity
for donors to increase the impact of their donations by taking advan-
tage of this matching program.
[ANS thanks AMSAT Headquarters for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-156.03
AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due by June 15th
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 156.03
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 5, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-156.03
It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the
AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. The deadline is June 15th. A valid nom-
ination requires either one Member Society, or five current individual
members in good standing, to nominate an AMSAT member for the position.
Four director's terms expire this year:
Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Alan Biddle, WA4SCA
Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA
Tony Monteiro, AA2TX
The four candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be
seated as full Board members for two year terms. The two candidates
receiving the next highest number of votes will be seated as alternate
Board members for one year terms.
Beginning this year, in addition to traditional submissions of written
nominations which remains unchanged and is the preferred method, initial
nominations may be made by electronic means.=A0 These include e-mail,
FAX, or electronic image of a petition. Electronic petitions should be
sent to MARTHA(a)AMSAT.ORG or faxed to 301-608-3410. Written nominations,
consisting of names, calls, and individual signatures, should be mailed
to:
AMSAT-NA
850 Sligo Ave #600
Silver Spring, MD, 20910
No matter what method is used, petitions MUST arrive no later than
June 15th at the AMSAT-NA office. If the nomination is a traditional
written nomination, no other action is required. If it is other than
this, i.e. electronic, a verifying traditional written petition MUST
be received at the AMSAT-NA office at the above address within 7 days
following the close of nominations on June 15th. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS
WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXIST-
ING AMSAT-NA BYLAWS.
Alan Biddle
WA4SCA
AMSAT Corporate Secretary
[ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-156.04
New Satellite Award: 5 in EM55
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 156.04
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 5, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-156.04
Damon, WA4HFN announced this week, "In an effort to help increase
interest in satellites, we have created a new award for working
five (5) different hams in the EM55 grid."
You do not have to be in your home grid to count the stations
worked. There are several satellite ready hams in EM55. Here is
the current list that we know of: WA4NVM, WA4HFN, WB4LHD, WA4OVO,
KI4OTG, KD4NOQ, KJ4BIX, AND AJ4KF.
Send your log to WA4NVM or WA4HFN for checking, along with your
current mailing address. The award is free and should any
donations be sent, they will be forwarded to AMSAT along with
your call and name.
This award will be effective 1 June 2011, therefore, all contacts
must be on or after this date.
[ANS thanks Damon, WA4HFN for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-156.05
AMSAT-DL Break FUNcube Dongle Distance Record
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 156.05
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 5, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-156.05
A story first reported on the Southgate ARC news web site reported
members of AMSAT-DL have received the Stereo B spacecraft at a dis-
tance of 219 million kilometers using an AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle
Software Defined Radio as the I.F. in combination with a downcon-
verter.
Stereo B transmits in the X band around 8 GHz so could not be receiv-
ed by the FUNcube Dongle directly since that covers 64-1700 MHz. A
downconverter was installed at the dish feed and the 1280 MHz output
was fed into the FUNcube Dongle SDR.
The frequency of Stereo B varies due to Doppler shift (of the rotating
Earth) and was calculated by the tracking software.
Watch Mario Lorenz DL5MLO explain how the record was broken Receiving
Stereo B with a FUNcube dongle and the Bochum 20m dish:
http://tinyurl.com/6eukmjv (Southgate)
ANS thanks Southgate ARC news site for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-156.06
Satellite Shorts From All Over
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 156.06
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 5, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-156.06
+ EE Times published an article, "High-performance FPGAs take
flight in microsatellites" featuring the U.K. Space Agency's
UKube1 mission. This satellite will also fly a transponder
based on AMSAT-UK's FUNcube design. The EE Times article is
available on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/6he8n82
A downloadable PDF file of the article can be found at:
http://www.xilinx.com/publications/archives/xcell/Xcell75.pdf
+ Free Book Downloads! National Academies Press offers more than
4,000 titles as free PDF downloads. Begin on their download
site at: http://www.nap.edu/ (Tammy Plotner on June 2, 2011
at UniverseToday.com).
+ SO-67 has been reported to be active this past week. Monitor
the satellite's schedule usually posted at:
http://www.amsatsa.org.za/
+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom Nets are scheduled for June 9 and
June 23, at 8PM EDT (UTC-4) on the 146.970 MHz repeater, (Pl 100),
and also on Echolink node N2EYH-L. More info: http://www.hvsatcom.org
(Stu, WA2BSS)
+ Angel Santana, WP3GW posted a video on YouTube about his live con-
tact with the ISS this past week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdzRWEzKH_M
+ A video based on images captured by the NASA with the Cassini Imaging
Science System team has been posted by Chris Abbas of Digital Kitchen:
http://vimeo.com/24410924 The UniverseToday story can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/6xyp4ph (UniverseToday.com)
+ NASA reveals the excitement of planetary exploration in over 90 images
that can be viewed on their science outreach program called From Earth
to the Solar System (FETTSS) web page:
http://www.fromearthtotheuniverse.org/index.php
+ This high definition short is a fascinating document. Narrated by
NASA's Dr. Justin Wilkinson, it shows a tour of planet Earth as seen
by astronauts, explaining what are the places that they first focus
on while in orbit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj18UQjPpGA
(Clint, K6LCS)
+ Check your ISS Keps! According to Roscosmos, the ISS boosted its orbit
by 3.74 km Friday. This will result in a "slippage" of predicted times
of approximately 70 seconds per day until the Keps catch up. The AMSAT
NASA.ALL Keps will probably not reflect this until next week, so be
certain to update from Celstrak or Space Track.
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-156.07
2011 AMSAT Field Day Competition
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 156.07
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 5, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-156.07
AMSAT Director of Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO says, "It's that time
of year again: Summer and Field Day!"
Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field
Day as an emergency preparedness exercise. The event takes place
during a 24-hour period on the fourth weekend of June. For 2011
the event takes place during a 27-hour period from 1800 UTC on
Saturday June 25, 2011 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 26, 2011.
Those who set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 25 can operate only
24 hours.
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own
version of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites,
held concurrently with the ARRL event.
Bruce advises, "If you are considering ONLY the FM voice satellites
like AMRAD-OSCAR-27, SaudiSat-Oscar-50, or AMSAT-OSCAR-51 for your
AMSAT Field Day focus. Don't, unless you are simply hoping to make
one contact for the ARRL rules bonus points."
The congestion on FM LEO satellites was so intense in prior years
that we must continue to limit their use to one-QSO-per-FM-satel-
lite. This includes the International Space Station. You will be
allowed one QSO if the ISS is operating Voice. You will also be
allowed one digital QSO with the ISS or any other digital, non-
store-and-forward, packet satellite (if operational).
Please refer to these links for the full document of the AMSAT Field
Day rules:
http://www.amsat.org/ (link on AMSAT.org front page to PDF file)
And, an alternative site is:
http://www.amsatnet.com/2011fd.doc (MS-Word Doc File)
http://www.amsatnet.com/2011fd.pdf (PDF File)
These documents also cover the message exchange format, scoring
requirements, reporting requirements, station classes, etc.
[ANS thanks AMSAT Director of Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the
above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-156.08
Open Source Hardware List From Dayton TAPR Forum
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 156.08
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 5, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-156.08
A discussion on the HPSDR-list contained a list from Open Source
evangelist Bruce Peren's talk at the TAPR Forum in Dayton which
provides supplier sources of relatively inexpensive Open Source"
hardware.
Some of the specific hardware projects listed include:
+ OMAP L138. (TI chip with ARM and a DSP both on board)
http://tinyurl.com/5wb8ocz
+ Papilo FPGA
http://tinyurl.com/3xnfne8
Also there is a 32-channel logic analyzer for $50 there.
+ Arduino http://www.arduino.cc/
+ $15 CPLD (you can build things from 74xx series gate equivalent
logic): http://tinyurl.com/6h28olw
+ Bus Pirate
http://tinyurl.com/47as6x9
Subscription information for the HPSDR list can be found at:
http://lists.openhpsdr.org/listinfo.cgi/hpsdr-openhpsdr.org
[ANS thanks George K9TRV and Bruce Perens for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-156.09
US Army Supports Student Launch Program
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 156.09
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 5, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-156.09
(Editor Note: This item originated on the Space-Travel.com web
at http://tinyurl.com/6zsu4ea
White Sands Missile Range NM (SPX) Jun 03, 2011. A scientific rocket
screamed skyward at Spaceport America May 20, 2011, as students from
all over New Mexico, as well as Texas and Arizona came to see their
scientific payloads fly into space during a scientific and educational
mission supported by White Sands Missile Range.
The rocket carried 27 experiments from elementary, middle schools,
high schools and universities into space before returning to earth,
and landing at White Sands Missile Range, or WSMR. Under the New
Mexico Space Grant Student Launch Program, students were able to
assemble their own scientific payloads to be launched over 65 miles
above the earth.
The student payloads, divided into seven different canisters within
the rocket were a varied as the students who built them. Crammed into
the canisters were cameras, radiation monitoring sensors, and other
measurement devices, along with some more advanced systems.
"We had things from roasting green chilies to marshmallows to using
a piezo electric board, tesla coils, and a lot of temperature monitors
and Geiger counters, a bunch of variety, and a lot of magnetic experi-
ments also," said Bruce Lewis with the space grant office and spaceport
office.
The rocket launch represented more than just an educational opportun-
ity for the students, but a cooperative effort between different
organizations and companies. Even though the rockets flight began at
Spaceport America, a state-run spaceport, it ended its flight on White
Sands Missile Range and used range airspace.
"This is White Sands airspace that we're flying in, so White Sand
controls that airspace for us. We have a great relationship with White
Sands and we had a lot of support from (WSMRs) team," said Pat Hynes,
director of the Space Grant Consortium.
The recovery of the rocket, and it's return to the students was con-
ducted by White Sands Missile Range's Army Air. While the rocket was
awaiting recovery White Sands Missile Range Chief of Staff Dan Hicks
spoke with the students about the future of high technology careers
and the kind of opportunities in those fields offered by WSMR and the
Army.
"The majority of the workforce consists of engineers and mathematicians
and other scientific fields. We've got about 4,000 people on the test
center and garrison side that have that type of background. So in order
to be specific to what it takes to get a job out at White Sands one of
the key things would be to continue your education into college and get
a degree," Hicks said.
Hick Also answered questions from the students about spaceflight, how
the range operates and the kind of radar systems used to track rockets
like the one used in the experiment.
Data collected by these various devices had a variety of applications,
with some being educational in nature, giving the students a glimpse
of what it means to send something into space, and other experiments
having more direct applications to the future of space flight.
"Some of it is great data; some of it is fun data. So you're got both
the fun stuff and some things that are collecting real empirical data
that NASA may be able to use in the future," Lewis said.
One experiment bridged the gap between the two. An experiment conducted
by Aztec High School harvested the physical motion of the rocket in
flight and converted it into electricity which was then used to power a
small electric oven and roast a green chili. While roasting green chilies
isn't critical to the future of space flight, the electricity could have
other purposes.
"What we wanted to see is if you could power something in the rocket
just using piezo electrics, just using the own forces of the rocket to
generate it's own electricity while flying up into space," said Braden
Goimarac, from Aztec High School's "Black Ops" science team.
[ANS thanks Space-Travel.com 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 keep
in mind the ham who asked his dog if the name Pavlov rang a bell.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
K9JKM at amsat dot org