AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-365
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:
* Satellites Removed From Munitions List
* AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2013 In Memory of W1BIH/PJ9JT
* Activation of Mawson in Antarctica
* Free CubeSat Workshop in Milton Keynes, England
* SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM - CALL FOR PAPERS
* New Satellite Launch Vehicle To Carry CubeSat Swarm in 2013
* UKube-1 Signs up for Launch and Completes Thermal Vacuum Testing
* Dooms Day Press Release, N0D – Special Event Station
* Reminder -- AMSAT Receives $25,000 Matching Funds Challenge
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-365.01
ANS-365 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 365.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 30, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-365.01
Satellites Removed From Munitions List
Space Export Control Reform Passes House and Senate
by SpaceMart.com Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 27, 2012
Legislation reforming space-related export control has passed the
House and the Senate and is expected to be signed by the President.
The legislation is included in the National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2013, under Sec. 1261, Removal of Satellites
and Related Items from the United States Munitions List (USML).
The legislation contains restrictions, including prohibitions spe-
cific to China, North Korea, and any country that is a state spon-
sor of terrorism.
The passage of this legislation is significant and brings with it
the promise that U.S. universities will be better supported in their
mission to prepare the workforce needed to design and deploy the
space systems of the future and enable the U.S. to remain a leader
in space.
Current law had resulted in unintended, adverse impact on U.S. uni-
versities, from classroom teaching to student-built CubeSats. Dr.
Frederick Tarantino, USRA President, said, "This new legislation
strengthens U.S. national security and helps restore the crucial
role of university research and education."
The legislation is consistent with the recommendation by the Depart-
ments of Defense and State, which, in consultation with the Depart-
ment of Commerce and intelligence community, concluded in the Sec-
tion 1248 Report that "Current law forces the U.S. government to
continue to protect commonly available satellites and related items
on the USML, thus impeding the U.S. ability to work with partners
and putting U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage, but providing no
noticeable benefit to national security."
This action by the Congress follows years of effort by USRA's 105-
member-university Council of Institutions to inform members of Con-
gress and Administration officials on how appropriate reform will
strengthen our national security, better enable U.S. research inno-
vation, and support U.S. workforce development.
USRA joined with industry, including the Satellite Industry Associa-
tion and the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, in strongly endorsing
the Safeguarding United States Satellite Leadership and Security Act
of 2012, sponsored by Sen. Michael Bennet (CO).
USRA also worked with the American Association of Universities (AAU)
in bringing to the attention of the Congress and the Administration
the chilling effect of current space export control on U.S. univers-
ities and U.S. students and the critical need for reform.
Professor Scott Pace, a USRA Trustee and Director of the Space Policy
Institute of The George Washington University, said, "This is a long
overdue change that restores accountability to the Executive Branch
while maintaining Congressional oversight. Both sides of the aisle
are to be congratulated for this successful outcome."
This report was orginally posted at SpaceMart.com:
http://tinyurl.com/Space-Export-Reform
[ANS thanks SpaceMart.com for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2013 In Memory of W1BIH/PJ9JT
You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on
OSCAR 2013, conducted by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the
world. This year's event is dedicated to the memory of John Thompson,
W1BIH/PJ9JT, who passed away in 2012, aged 96. Although known
primarily as an HF DXer and contester, John was also active on OSCAR,
mostly on CW.
As always, SKN on OSCAR is simple and informal. Just operate CW
through one or more satellites on 1 January 2013 (0000 to 2400 UTC),
using a straight hand key. There is no need to send in a log, but all
participants are encouraged to nominate someone they worked for Best
Fist. Your nominee need not have the best fist of anyone you heard,
only of those you worked. Send your nomination to w2rs at amsat.org.
A list of those nominated will appear in ANS and the AMSAT Journal.
[ANS thanks Ray Soifer, W2RS for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Activation of Mawson in Antarctica
Leaving soon on board the ice breaker Aurora Australis for the
Australian Antarctic Territory station at Mawson is Craig Hayhow
VK6JJJ, who will become VK0JJJ.
He lands on February the 10th, planning to soon after install the 6m
beacon VK0RTM and test the propagation on that band.
The main HF rig is a FlexRadio Flex-5000A coupled to an amplifier
and feeding a terminated sloping triangle antenna.
On 6m it will be at 400 watts from Mawson thanks to a power
amplifier from Steve Gregory VK3ZAZ, who is also the QSL manager, and
radiated by a 5-element yagi.
The amateur satellites on 2m and 70cm are to be accessed using a
crossed duo-bander.
During the next 12 months Craig VK0JJJ is in Antarctica to work and
amateur radio is his leisure time activity.
[ANS thanks Jim Linton VK3PC and the Southgate ARC for the above
information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Free CubeSat Workshop in Milton Keynes, England
The UK Space Agency will be running a free CubeSat Community Work-
shop at Milton Keynes on January 22 that will include discussion
on plans for UKube-2.
Registration for the workshop is now open. This is a free event
and is open to all, hosted by the Open University, Milton Keynes,
on 22 January 2013. Please note that space is limited and places
will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.
The event will be an opportunity for the UK Space Agency to pro-
vide the cubesat community with an update on its pilot cubesat
mission UKube-1, due for launch in early 2013, and to discuss the
overall philosophy and timing for the proposed UKube-2 programme.
Attendees will have the opportunity to provide input on the future
direction of a proposed rolling national programme of cubesat mis-
sions.
Parallel breakout sessions will be held as detailed in the download-
able programme. These themes have been selected in response to the
common issues raised by members of the community. The findings from
each session will feed into a concluding discussion in which follow
up actions will be identified.
A copy of the workshop program can be found on-line at:
http://tinyurl.com/UK-Cubesat-Workshop (bis.gov.uk)
UK Space Agency
http://www.bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency
[ANS thanks Southgate for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM - CALL FOR PAPERS
The 2013 SA AMSAT Space Symposium will be held on Saturday,
18 May 2013 at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria. This is the
first call for papers. The theme of the symposium is "Satel-
lites - the new Amateur Radio Frontier". If you are planning
to present a paper, send a brief outline to saamsat(a)sarl.org.za
by 31 January 2013. For full details and the various deadline
dates visit http://www.amsatsa.org.za.
[ANS thanks AMSAT-SA for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
New Satellite Launch Vehicle To Carry CubeSat Swarm in 2013
A report on the AMSAT-UK web says 2013 should see the first flight
of a new satellite launch vehicle.
(See: http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=12014)
Super Strypi, also known as SPARK (Space-borne Payload Assist Rocket
- Kauai), has been developed by Sandia National Laboratories, the
University of Hawaii and Aerojet. The rocket is based on an enlarged
version of Sandia's Strypi sounding rocket.
The all solid fueled vehicle uses a GEM-46 (LEO-46) motor of Delta-2H
heritage as first stage. A Orbus-7S (LEO-7) motor acts as second stage
and a Star-30BP (Spark-30) or an Orbus-1 (LEO-1) as third stage. It
is spin and fin stabilized during fist stage burn and has attitude
control for the two upper stages. The low cost rocket will be launch-
ed from a rail launcher and can put a payload of 250 kg into a 400 km
sun-synchronous orbit.
The Super Strypi vehicle will be launched from a rail-launcher at
Barking Sands, Kauai (Pacific Missile Range Facility) towards the
end of 2013.
Super Strypi will be carrying a swarm of CubeSats, the Edison Demon-
stration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN). The CubeSats are an unusual
size of 10 by 10 by 15 cm (1.5U) and weigh 2 kg. The EDSN swarm will
demonstrate distributed, multipoint space weather measurement and are
expected to operate for at least 60 days and have an orbit life-time
of up to 4 years.
ORS Project - Super Strypi
http://www.govsupport.us/ORSSSEA/Documents/DEA.pdf
Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Project - Super Strypi
http://www.govsupport.us/orsssea/
Gunter's Space Page 2013 http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_chr/lau2013.htm
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
UKube-1 Signs up for Launch and Completes Thermal Vacuum Testing
AMSAT-UK published a report that UKube-1, the UK Space Agency's
(UKSA) first satellite, has 'booked' its journey into space on a
Russian Soyuz-2 rocket. The launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan is
expected to take place in March 2013. UKube-1 has also completed
Thermal Vacuum Testing to verify the spacecraft operation in a
simulated space environment.
UKube-1 will carry a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards to provide a
435/145 MHz linear transponder and a 145.915 MHz BPSK telemetry
beacon for educational outreach.
Payloads in UKube-1 include: the first GPS device aimed at measur-
ing plasmaspheric space weather; a camera that will take images of
the Earth, and test the effect of radiation on space hardware, us-
ing a new generation of imaging sensor; an experiment to demonstrate
the feasibility of using cosmic radiation to improve the security
of communications satellites and to flight test lower cost electron-
ic systems; an advanced mission interface computer to enable serious
number crunching on tiny spacecraft; a high rate S-Band transmitter
and patch antenna; a payload made up of 5 experiments that UK stu-
dents and the public can interact with. There is also an outreach
payload that allows school children to interact with the spacecraft.
Read the full story, including photos on the AMSAT-UK web:
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=11977
[ANS thanks the AMSAT-UK for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dooms Day Press Release
N0D – Special Event Station for the End of the World
Successful OSCAR Satellite Operation!
Houston, Texas December 27, 2012: The N0D team had a very successful
operation celebrating the Mayan Calendar End of the World which some
expected would occur on Dec 21, 2012. In celebration, experienced
satellite operators Allen Mattis, N5AFV, and Andy MacAllister, W5ACM,
operated special event station N0D on the available satellite passes
from December 15th, 2012, through December 22nd, 2012.
A total of 142 satellite contacts were made, and 29 US states,
Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Brazil were worked. A total of
53 contacts were made on FM satellite SO-50. On the linear satellites
AO-07, FO-29 and VO-52 a total of 89 contacts were made using both
SSB and CW. It was especially nice to work Paulo, PV8DX, and Hector,
CO6CBF, with CW. A contact was also made with Mexican special event
station 4A0MAYA also celebrating the Mayan Calendar event. The N0D
team thanks the OSCAR satellite community for their patience and
understanding during occasional periods of congestion on the
satellites related to the N0D operation.
As part of the special event, the South Texas Balloon Launch Team
launched the Doomsday Balloon, BLT-32 “To the End of the World and
Float”, to prepare the world for its demise! The launch occurred at
2310 UTC on Saturday Dec 15th from Covey Trails Airport in Fulshear,
Texas. BLT-32 was designed as a “floater” with hopes that it would
reach Europe. The balloon floated eastward for 450 miles and burst at
an elevation of approximately 106,000 feet when the rising sun on the
morning of Dec 16 th warmed the balloon causing the helium to expand.
The balloon came down approximately 15 miles NNW of Pascagoula, MS
and efforts have been successful to recover the instrument package.
N0D was also very active on the HF bands throughout the event and
over 2,500 amateur radio contacts were made. All 50 US States and 54
DXCC countries were worked on the HF bands. N0D QSLs are available
via KK5W (SASE required).
[ANS thanks Allen Mattis, N5AFV, for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Reminder -- AMSAT Receives $25,000 Matching Funds Challenge
This was announced in last week's ANS-258.
Now is the time to take advantage of this opportunity to double your
donation.
There are several ways you can double your donation to keep Amateur
Radio in Space:
- Members have received a form in the mail to fill out and return.
Please do so today!
- Go the AMSAT Store and make a donation
- Donate via a PayPal donation sent to martha(a)amsat.org or click on
our PayPal widget at http://www.amsat.org.
Your generous contribution to AMSAT to support AMSAT and Project Fox
now will help ensure that our common dream of keeping amateur radio
in space will, indeed, become a reality.
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Listen for Wyatt, AC0RA operating mobile via satellites as he is
on the road between Texas and Iowa this coming week.
+ Hudson Valley Satellite Nets
The next Hudson Valley Satellite Net, #156, will be Thursday January
3rd 2013 at 8PM EST On the KC2DAA Repeater 146.970 -600KHz 100 Hz
PL Echolink: N2EYH-L Node Number 429079 (Echolink is only active for
the duration of the net)
Subsequent nets for January will be held January 17th and 31st.
More information at: http://www.hvsatcom.org
(Stu, WA2BSS)
+ The SDR-Radio V2 software preview has been released. It includes
support for FCD and FCR Pro+.
See: http://v2.sdr-radio.com/Previews.aspx
+ In Series Five Episode Twenty-Six of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio
Podcasts Martin M1MRB reviews the Raspberry Pi for Amateur Radio.
http://tinyurl.com/ICQ-Podcasts-Pi
+ NASA has just released two free beautiful interactive ebooks, one
about the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, and another
about the upcoming replacement for the Hubble, the James Webb Space
Telescope. Each book features not just text, but galleries of
images, videos, and interactive features that help explain the sci-
ence and technology of each telescope. More details are at:
http://www.oneminuteastronomer.com/7184/free-nasa-ebook/
+ Lectures on CubeSat Technology and Applications that will be held
at von Karman Institute (Brussels, Belgium) on 29 Jan - 1 Feb 2013.
There will be close to 20 lectures given by the worldwide experts
of the field.Participation is limited to 100 persons. Please reg-
ister at:
https://www.vki.ac.be/index.php?option=com_mad4joomla&jid=1&Itemid=356
+ Photos showing the arrival of NASA'S TDRS-K Satellite the Kennedy
Space Center have been posted at:
http://www.americaspace.org/?p=28778 TDRS-K is being prepared for
a January launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
+ Photos of the Orion spacecraft crew cabin under construction at
the Operations and Checkout Building (O & C) at the Kennedy Space
Center are posted at: http://tinyurl.com/Orion-at-KSC
(UniverseToday.com)
[ANS thanks the AMSAT-UK for the above information]
+ A multi-purpose portable satellite station
Ivo Klinkert PA1IVO describes his relatively simple setup to work
amateur radio low-earth orbit satellites.
This is an expansion of his talk at the AMSAT-UK Colloquium that
he re-wrote and had translated for the March 2012 AMSAT-DL Journal
Read Ivo's article at
http://ivok.home.xs4all.nl/pa1ivo/portable_satellite_setup.html
[ANS thanks Southgate ARC 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 addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
E.Mike McCardel, KC8YLD
kc8yld at amsat dot org
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-358
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 Receives $25,000 Matching Funds Challenge
* AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2013 In Memory of W1BIH/PJ9JT
* AMSAT-UK Introduce Electronic (PDF) Membership
* Track Santa with NORAD and AGI on December 24
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-358.01
ANS-358 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 358.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 23, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-358.01
AMSAT Receives $25,000 Matching Funds Challenge
AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW says that we have received
a matching funds challenge! An anonymous donor will match up to
$25,000.00 for Fox. Now is the time to take advantage of this
opportunity to double your donation.
Barry wrote, "We end 2012 with significant progress made on the
development of Fox-1. A formal proposal to launch Fox-1B was sub-
mitted to the NASA ELaNA (Education Launch of Nanosatellites)
program on November 19, 2012. NASA is expected to announce in
late January or early February 2013 those projects that have been
selected. This is our second ELaNA submission, and we believe the
merits of this proposal are even stronger than our original Fox-1
proposal."
Fox-1B will incorporate the flight spare of Fox-1 and is a joint
project with the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE)
at Vanderbilt University. The official project name is "RadFXSat"
and the ISDE payload is designed to advance the art of understand-
ing the effects of space radiation on electronic components.
We have requested a launch in the second half of 2014 and a 650 km
sun-synchronous orbit that is the same as we requested for Fox-1.
As AMSAT VP-Engineering Tony Monteiro, AA2TX points out, "Fox-1B is
AMSAT's first satellite with science as its PRIMARY mission. This
is very exciting as it potentially opens up new opportunities for
free launches. Of course, the satellite also carries a ham radio
FM transponder and we expect to be able to operate the transponder
and science payload simultaneously." There is significant work to
be done in systems engineering, software development, satellite
construction and testing to prepare Fox-1B for launch.
During the 30th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium, Tony and the Fox En-
gineering team gave a number of presentations on the development of
Fox-1 with extensive documentation of Fox-1 placed in the Proceed-
ings in order to make this material 'public domain' and thus be able
to present it openly. We still expect a launch opportunity in the
second half of 2013. To continue these projects, we need the extra
resources offered by the matching gift. We hope we can count on
your commitment and generosity at this time of giving.
There are several ways you can double your donation to keep Amateur
Radio in Space:
Members have received a form in the mail to fill out and return.
Please do so today!
Go the AMSAT Store and make a donation
Donate via a PayPal donation sent to martha(a)amsat.org or click on
our PayPal widget at http://www.amsat.org.
Your generous contribution to AMSAT to support AMSAT and Project
Fox now will help ensure that our common dream of keeping amateur
radio in space will, indeed, become a reality.
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2013 In Memory of W1BIH/PJ9JT
You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on
OSCAR 2013, conducted by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the
world. This year's event is dedicated to the memory of John Thompson,
W1BIH/PJ9JT, who passed away in 2012, aged 96. Although known
primarily as an HF DXer and contester, John was also active on OSCAR,
mostly on CW.
As always, SKN on OSCAR is simple and informal. Just operate CW
through one or more satellites on 1 January 2013 (0000 to 2400 UTC),
using a straight hand key. There is no need to send in a log, but all
participants are encouraged to nominate someone they worked for Best
Fist. Your nominee need not have the best fist of anyone you heard,
only of those you worked. Send your nomination to w2rs at amsat.org.
A list of those nominated will appear in ANS and the AMSAT Journal.
[ANS thanks Ray Soifer, W2RS, for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT-UK Introduce Electronic (PDF) Membership
AMSAT-UK is pleased to announce that they can now offer Electronic
E-membership at
a reduced rate.
AMSAT-UK initially produced a short bulletin called OSCAR News to give members
advice on amateur satellite communications. Since those early days OSCAR News
has grown in size and the print quality has improved beyond recognition. Today,
OSCAR News is produced as a high-quality quarterly colour A4 magazine
consisting
of up to 40 pages of news, information and comment about amateur radio space
communications.
The new E-membership will provide OSCAR News as a downloadable PDF file and
members will have the freedom to read it on their Tablets or Smartphones
anytime, anyplace, anywhere.
An additional advantage is that the PDF should be available for download about
1-2 weeks before the paper copy is posted.
E-membership should be especially beneficial to Overseas members who have
suffered from high postal charges and long delivery times.
The AMSAT-UK membership year runs from January 1 to December 31. Why not take
the opportunity to renew your 2013 membership as an E-member.
Renew your AMSAT-UK membership as an E-member here
http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/category_8/Existing-Members-Renewal.html
Join as a new E-member here
http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/category_9/Join-Amsat-UK.html
E-members can download their copies of OSCAR News from
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/on
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Track Santa with NORAD and AGI on December 24
'Tis the season for Santa tracking at www.noradsanta.org. The highly popular
NORAD Tracks Santa website will once again follow Santa's annual journey around
the world, updating every three to four minutes and showing new movies captured
by NORAD's special Santa Cams about once an hour.
A long-time supporter of the program, AGI provided NORAD the 2D and 3D Santa
trackers this year. The fun starts at 2.a.m. EST (0700 UTC) on
December 24, when website
visitors can watch Santa make preparations for his flight. Then at 6 a.m. EST,
actual tracking begins. So, fire up the computer, grab your family and friends
this December 24 and spend the day tracking Santa at the NORAD Tracks Santa Web
site.
Happy Santa tracking!
[ANS thanks AGI for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Congratulations to Ken Holland, KC9TTR for attaining his ARRL VUCC
Satellite Award #236. Ken thanks all the operators who helped him
achieve this, especially portable operators in grids away from home.
+ On December 9 the Breeze-M upper stage of Russia's Proton heavy
lift rocket failed, placing Yamal 402 telecommunications satellite
into a too-low orbit. News from Russia indicates the satellite was
rescued by raising its orbit over four firings of its own engine
fuel reserves.
+ The ISS orbit was increased by almost 2.5 kilometers in a test of
the station's new emergency debris avoidance system. The new sys-
tem, known as the Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM),
addresses the situation where dangerous debris is detected with
little advance warning, down to as little as three hours from the
approach. The emergency avoidance maneuver was performed by the
engines aboard the Russian Progress freighter docked at the sta-
tion. The engines can be fired as little as 140 minutes before a
dangerous debris approach.
+ Watch a youtube video as Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Chris
Hadfield trains in the Soyuz Simulator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qL1dfdE_RFI
There are good interior views of the Soyuz.
+ NASA released a 64-frame movie of asteroid Toutatis generated
from data by Goldstone's Solar System Radar on Dec. 12 and 13:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=d7SroliSXuY
[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 addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-351
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 communicat-
ing through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor at amsat.org
In this edition:
* Kline School "Out of This World Experience" Raises $6500 for AMSAT
Fox
* AMSAT Submits a Second NASA ELaNa Proposal
* AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2013 In Memory of W1BIH/PJ9JT
* FITSAT-1 LED Beacon Seen From Space
* QST October 2012 SatCat Interface for FT-817 For Sale at ARRL
* V/U/Wx Receive Pre-Amplifier Available Through AMSAT Store
* WA8SME Receives YASME Foundation Excellence Award
* NASA TV Coverage Set for December 19 Soyuz Space Station Crew Launch
* Receive Satellite Pass Predictions via Your APRS Radio
* Carrier Detected on LO-19 Beacon Frequency
* December 17 Lunar Impact Final Experiment for GRAIL Probes
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-351.01
ANS-351 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 351.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 16, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-351.01
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kline School "Out of This World Experience" Raises $6500 for AMSAT Fox
Kline School had the distinction of being invited to contact Command-
er Kevin Ford aboard the International Space Station on Thursday,
December 6 via an ARISS contact.
During this live event, students had the opportunity to have their
questions answered by an astronaut living in space. In preparation
for the ARISS contact, students engaged in NASA class lessons on
Building the ISS and What Life is Like Aboard the ISS. They studied
experiments and tasks taking place on the ISS to help formulate expe-
dition related questions. Students also learned about the forms and
sources of energy that help to sustain the station.
Teachers at Kline School wrote, "We think of the ARISS contact as the
real world application of our students' studies of science, technol-
ogy, engineering and math (STEM)".
Reaching beyond content, students launched a Spell-A-Thon and raised
$6,500 dollars to purchase six-sets of solar panels to help AMSAT fly
Fox-1, an amateur radio satellite. The solar panels will provide pow-
er to the satellite while in space. Students are proud of their AMSAT
membership, too.
ARISS is a cooperative venture of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the
Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), and other worldwide ama-
teur radio groups and international space agencies. These ARISS part-
ners organize scheduled 10-minute interactive contacts via amateur
radio with the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers.
More information and a photo will be published in an upcoming issue
of the AMSAT Journal.
For more information about Kline School's ISS contact and related
events visit: http://www.klineschool.comhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Kline-School/153838291839
[ANS thanks the Kline School for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT Submits a Second NASA ELaNa Proposal
The official name of the project is "RadFxSat" and it is a joint
project with the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE)
at Vanderbilt University. AMSAT is providing the satellite bus
(Fox-1B) and ISDE is providing the experiment payload. The primary
mission is to advance the state of the art in understanding the
effects of space radiation on electronic components.
This is the first AMSAT satellite with science as the primary mis-
sion. This is very exciting as it potentially opens up new launch
opportunities. Since the data downlink and power required by the
experiment are modest, we expect to be able to operate the science
payload and the ham radio transponder simultaneously.
The satellite hardware design is the same as Fox-1 but there will
be substantial AMSAT work in systems engineering, project manage-
ment, software development, satellite construction and testing.
We requested a launch in the 2nd half of 2014 to a 650 km sun-synch-
ronous orbit which is the same as we requested for Fox-1. As in our
previous proposal, we also noted that the mission requirements can
be met over a wide range of orbits. The key elements are the need
for a high enough apogee to provide significant exposure to space
radiation and a minimum 10 year orbit lifetime.
While there can be no guarantee that our proposal will be accepted
by NASA, we believe that in its 241 pages (!) we have made a strong
case.
NASA is expected to announce the accepted proposals at the end of
January 2013.
[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President Engineering Tony Monteiro, AA2TX
for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2013 In Memory of W1BIH/PJ9JT
You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on
OSCAR 2013, conducted by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the
world. This year's event is dedicated to the memory of John Thompson,
W1BIH/PJ9JT, who passed away in 2012, aged 96. Although known
primarily as an HF DXer and contester, John was also active on OSCAR,
mostly on CW.
As always, SKN on OSCAR is simple and informal. Just operate CW
through one or more satellites on 1 January 2013 (0000 to 2400 UTC),
using a straight hand key. There is no need to send in a log, but all
participants are encouraged to nominate someone they worked for Best
Fist. Your nominee need not have the best fist of anyone you heard,
only of those you worked. Send your nomination to w2rs at amsat.org.
A list of those nominated will appear in ANS and the AMSAT Journal.
[ANS thanks Ray Soifer for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FITSAT-1 LED Beacon Seen From Space
A test of the FITSAT-1 LED optical beacon that took place on Decem-
ber 11 GMT over Japan was successful.
FITSAT-1 flashed the optical beacon over the USA on December 12 and
on December 13 over the British Isles and Europe. No reports of opti-
cal detection were received from the USA or Europe.
In a clear night sky with no moon the FITSAT-1 optical beacon is vis-
ible using binoculars.
The latest FITSAT-1 satellite news is posted at:
http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml
A photo of the visible beacon is posted at:
http://www.jinkou-eisei.jp/FITSAT/images/121212_watanabe.jpghttp://www.jinkou-eisei.jp/FITSAT/images/121211_m.jpg
FITSAT-1 is a CubeSat developed by students at the Fukuoka Institute
of Technology (FIT) in Japan. As well as the optical LED experiment
the satellite carries an amateur radio payloads: a CW beacon on
437.250 MHz, a telemetry beacon on 437.445 MHz and a high-speed data
downlink on 5840.0 MHz.
[ANS thanks the FITSAT-1 team for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
QST October 2012 SatCat Interface for FT-817 For Sale at ARRL
The satellite computer aided tuning interface described in October,
2012 QST (pp. 40-43) for use with SatPC32 and the Yaesu FT-817 radio
is being offered for sale by the ARRL Education & Technology Program
(ETP).
The interface was developed by Mark Spencer, WA8SME, as part of re-
source development for the ARRL ETP and is priced to recover cost
plus a small increment toward development as well as a cost share
donation to AMSAT. The interface is fully described in the article
published in October 2012 QST on pp. 40-43.
You may order the board and programmed PIC for a cost of $20; to
order the full kit including all of the parts, the cost is $35.
To order please send the following either by mail or email as follows:
+ Your name and shipping address
+ Phone number and email address
+ Item you are requesting
+ Enclose a check for the appropriate amount, payable to ARRL
ETP, sent to attention of ARRL Education Services
Send orders to:
ARRL Education Services, ATTN: Amy Strickland
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
Please contact Amy in ARRL Education Services at astrickland(a)arrl.org
with any questions about ordering.
Please contact Mark Spencer at mspencer(a)arrl.org with questions about
the interface design and specifications.
[ANS thanks Mark Spencer, WA8SME for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
V/U/Wx Receive Pre-Amplifier Available Through AMSAT Store
AMSAT-NA is pleased to announce an inexpensive, broadband VHF/UHF/WX
satellite receive-only preamplifier.
Key features:
Ready to operate--not a kit! Fully assembled, tested, and installed
in a metal enclosure with female BNC connectors on input and output.
It is based on the MAR 7 device, and covers 100 MHz to 500 MHz.
This includes the137 MHz WX, 2M, and 70cm satellite bands.
Operates from +9-15V DC (a fresh 9V battery works great!). Perfect
for portable operations using dual band hand-held Yagis like the
ARROW, Cheap Yagi, etc. Just put it inline on the correct receive
band for operations in either mode U/V or V/U. You won't believe what
you've been missing!
Includes low power (about 5W) protection diode on the input for
accidental transmissions into the input. (This preamp is not RF
switched. It must be protected from inadvertent repeated or high
power transmission RF using a relay or diplexer.)
Full details and schematic can be found in the November/December
2012 AMSAT Journal article by Mark Spencer, WA8SME, or downloaded
from the item in the Hardware section of the AMSAT Store:
http://store.amsat.org/catalog/
The assembled and tested kit is priced at $50 USD plus shipping.
Proceeds from the sale of this item will help fund the AMSAT Fox
Family of satellites!
This equipment was developed as part of the ARRL Education and
Technology Program.
[ANS thanks Mark Hammond, N8MH for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
WA8SME Receives YASME Foundation Excellence Award
Mark Spencer, WA8SME, has received the Excellence Award from the
YASME Foundation (yasme.org). The following is an excerpt from
the OPDX Bulletin 1090, December 10, 2012:
"The Yasme Excellence Award is awarded to individuals who through
their own service, creativity, effort and dedication have made a
significant contribution to amateur radio. The contribution may be
in recognition of technical, operating or organizational achieve-
ment, as all three are necessary for amateur radio to grow and
prosper. The Yasme Excellence Award is in the form of a cash grant
and an individually-engraved crystal globe."
The Board of Directors of The Yasme Foundation announced the award:
Mark Spencer, WA8SME, for his instrumental work in the ARRL
Teachers Institute and other training efforts, development of
PIC microcontroller projects and books for amateurs, and work
with leaders in student and scientific teams applying amateur
radio to scientific projects and experiments.
AMSAT congratulates to Mark Spencer WA8SME, recipient of the YASME
Foundation Excellence Award
[ANS thanks John Papay, K8YSE and YASME Foundation for the above
information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
NASA TV Coverage Set for December 19 Soyuz Space Station Crew Launch
NASA Television will provide live coverage of the December 19 launch
and docking of the next crew members to the International Space Sta-
tion. Two of the crew members have their amateur radio license.
Tom Marshburn, KE5HOC of NASA, Roman Romanenko of the Russian Feder-
al Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Chris Hadfield, KC5RNJ/VA3OOG of the
Canadian Space Agency are scheduled to launch to the space station
in their Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft at 6:12 a.m. CST (6:12 p.m. Baikon-
ur time) Wednesday, Dec. 19, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakh-
stan. NASA TV launch coverage will begin at 5 a.m. and include video
of that day's activities leading to the crew boarding its spacecraft.
The trio will dock the Soyuz spacecraft to the station's Rassvet mod-
ule at 8:10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 21. NASA TV coverage of docking begins
at 7:30 a.m. About three hours later, hatches will open between the
Soyuz and the station. Marshburn, Romanenko and Hadfield will be
greeted by Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford of NASA and flight en-
gineers Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin of Roscosmos, who have
been living and working on the orbiting laboratory since late Octo-
ber. NASA TV's hatch opening coverage begins at 10:15 a.m.
Marshburn, Romanenko and Hadfield will remain aboard the station until
May 2013. Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin will return to Earth March 15,
leaving Hadfield as the first Canadian commander of the space station.
The full schedule of the Soyuz prelaunch, launch and docking coverage
includes (all times Central USA which is UTC-6):
Friday, Dec. 14
1 p.m. -- Video file of Expedition 34/35 crew activities in Baikonur,
Kazakhstan
Monday, Dec. 17
11 a.m. -- Video file of Expedition 34/35 spacecraft encapsulation,
rocket mating and rollout in Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Tuesday, Dec. 18
11 a.m. -- Video file of Expedition 34/35 Russian State Commission
meeting and final pre-launch crew news conference in
Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Wednesday, Dec. 19
5 a.m. -- Expedition 34/35 launch coverage (launch at 6:12 a.m.;
includes video of the crew's pre-launch activities at
5:15 a.m.)
9 a.m. -- Video file of Expedition 34/35 pre-launch, launch and
post-launch interviews
Friday Dec. 21
7:30 a.m. -- Expedition 34/35 docking coverage; docking at 8:10 a.m.
followed by the post-docking news conference from Mis-
sion Control in Korolev, Russia
10:15 a.m. - Expedition 34/35 hatch opening and welcoming ceremony
(hatch opening at 10:45 a.m.)
1 p.m. -- Video file of Expedition 34/35 docking, hatch opening
and welcoming
For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Receive Satellite Pass Predictions via Your APRS Radio
The KJ4ERJ satserver will send live tracking data to your APRS
radio anywhere, anytime.
1. Just send an APRS message to "ISS" (without the quotes) from any
APRS radio (on the national APRS channel).
2. If you are in range of the global APRS network (an IGate nearby)
the satserver will respond with the time to AOS and the direction
of AOS, max elevation and LOS.
3. This also works for other satellites. For example, send a message
to "FO29" (without the quotes) and get its prediciton for your
location.
4. The satserver will use the last APRS position you have transmit-
ted.
5. To actually work APRS via ISS, you will have to QSY to the ISS
channel 145.825 and change your path to via ARISS for the pass
(instead of the usual WIDE2-2 for terrestrial APRS).
Example of the the types of responses as collected by APRS.FI mes-
sages page are posted at:
http://aprs.fi/?c=message&limit=25&call=ISS
For a full description, see: http://aprsisce.wikidot.com/doc:satsrv
[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Carrier Detected on LO-19 Beacon Frequency
Mark Hammond, N8MH reports that LO-19, non-operational for amateur
radio use, is still transmitting a very weak continuous carrier on
its former 437.1250 MHz CW Mode U TLM beacon frequency.
He wrote, "This weekend I listened again for LO-19. I could always
hear a very weak continuous carrier (actually, first saw it using
audio FFT software). Yesterday (12/9/12) on a high 50-ish degree
elevation pass, it was there. It's right on frequency, right on time
with AOS/LOS, the Doppler correction from SatPC32 is right on target.
The bird was in daylight, but I expect its batteries are still good
so I bet you can hear it in eclipse as well. You might have fun lis-
tening for it, as a weak signal source. If you can hear LO-19's car-
rier, your system is pretty up to snuff. Or, use some audio spectrum
software and you can "see" the carrier even if you can't hear it on
your speaker."
Additional LO-19 reception reports are confirmed by WA8SME, K8YSE,
and OZ1MY.
[ANS thanks Mark Hammond, N8MH for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
December 17 Lunar Impact Final Experiment for GRAIL Probes
Twin lunar-orbiting NASA spacecraft that have allowed scientists
to learn more about the internal structure and composition of the
moon are being prepared for their controlled descent and impact
on a mountain near the moon's north pole at about 2:28 p.m. PST
(5:28 p.m. EST) Monday, Dec. 17.
The mountain where the two spacecraft will make contact is located
near a crater named Goldschmidt. Both spacecraft have been flying
in formation around the moon since Jan. 1, 2012. The first probe
will go down, at 2:28:40 p.m. The second probe will about 20 sec-
onds later.
Both spacecraft will hit the surface at 3,760 mph (1.7 kilometers
per second). No imagery of the impact is expected because the
region will be in shadow at the time.
The probes will conduct one final experiment before their mission
ends. They will fire their main engines until their propellant
tanks are empty to determine precisely the amount of fuel remain-
ing in their tanks. This will help NASA engineers validate fuel
consumption computer models to improve predictions of fuel needs
for future missions.
Because the exact amount of fuel remaining aboard each spacecraft
is unknown, mission navigators and engineers designed the depletion
burn to allow the probes to descend gradually for several hours and
skim the surface of the moon until the elevated terrain of the tar-
get mountain gets in their way.
For more information about GRAIL, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grailSpaceRef.com posted this news at:
http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=39537
A video simulation of the impact is posted at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U2OKpf7fo_w
[ANS thanks SpaceRef.com for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ The NASA Small Spacecraft Technology Program open solicitation
from for the Flight Opportunities Program extended the proposal
submission deadline to January 17, 2013 for the next selection
of projects to fly on parabolic aircraft flights, high altitude
balloon flights, and suborbital flights. No funding is provided
for project or payload development, the flight opportunity is
provided at no cost to the research team. For more information
please see: https://flightopportunities.nasa.gov/afo
An article providing examples of recent flight testing is posted
at: http://tinyurl.com/NASA-FlightTest (nasa.gov) - Via N8PK
+ Flex has an interesting article on using two rigs for full duplex
operations using SATPC32:
http://support.flexradio.com/Downloads.aspx?fr=1
Look for: A Full-Duplex VHF-UHF Satellite System using FLEX radios
(via WA4SCA)
+ A recording of the December 9 AMSAT-UK 80M and 40M nets has been
posted at: http://www.ham-radio.ch/kits/sdr-radio.com/mp3/
+ Luci, 9A1Z, is looking to work North America on AO-7 Mode B on CW.
If you are interested in working him, please send an email to his
qrz.com address for a sked. He is in JN86. (via K8YSE)
+ Photos of the new Russian Multi-purpose Laboratory Module (MLM)
or "Nauka" for the International Space Station can be seen at:.
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1691
The Nauka MLM is a modified version of Functional Cargo Block
(FGB-2). It will dock at the Zvezda Service Module's nadir (earth
facing) port and will replace the current PIRS module. PIRS will
be allowed to renter Earth's atmosphere. Launch is planned for
2013 or 2014. Nauka will serve as Russia's primary research mod-
ule but will also have stowage and crew work areas.
+ Last week the Smithsonian issued the following statement regarding
the passing of a unique ISS crewmember: "It is with sadness that
we announce the death of Nefertiti, the "Spidernaut." This morn-
ing (Dec 3), before museum hours, a member of the Insect Zoo staff
discovered Neffi had died of natural causes. Neffi lived for 10
months. She traveled over 40 million miles while living onboard
the International Space Station earlier this year as part of a stu-
dent-initiated experiment sponsored by NASA. After returning to
Earth, Nefertiti went to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natur-
al History's Insect Zoo to live out the remainder of her life.
(via AmericanSpace.org)
+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom net will be Thursday, December 20
at 8 PM EST (UTC-5) on the 146.97 MHz MBARC Repeater (PL 100). An
echolink connection is available on the N2EYH-L node. More infor-
mation at: http://www.hvsatcom.org. (Stu, WA2BSS)
+ The W5KUB live webcasts are preparing for a December 29 "D-Star
Live" show on http://W5KUB.com between 1000-1600 Central US time
(UTC-6). Tom says there will be lots of good stuff and special
guests. You will be able to ask questions of the experts. The
latest news of all W5KUB broadcasts can be found on their Facebook
page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/w5kub/ .
+ UniverseToday.com posted a 19 minute video of the Overview Effect
showing how the view from space has altered our whole Earth per-
spective: http://tinyurl.com/Perspective-Video (UniverseToday.com)
+ NASA released a video and images showing the Earth at night taken
by a new sensor aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting
Partnership (NPP) satellite:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NPP/news/earth-at-night.html
+ The National Air and Space Museum Webcast Archive has several
videos available at: http://airandspace.si.edu/webcasts/archive.cfm
+ The NASA Voyager 1 probe has been spotted by the SETI Institute's
Allen Telescope Array (ATA) on 8419.62 MHz. The signal processing
used to detect this radio signal from the outer edge of our solar
system is quite educational, although the site does plug a commer-
cial product not associated with AMSAT:
http://baudline.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/setiquest-voyager-1-redux.html
+ The "Comet Quest" game for iPhone and iPad from NASA's Jet Propul-
sion Laboratory can be downloaded from the iTunes Apps store at:
http://bit.ly/xXhjI7. The game mimics the real Rosetta mission, and
enables you to control the spacecraft, drop a lander on a comet's
nucleus, then observe and record events. Players must avoid hazards
and successfully transmit data to Earth, earning points for each
accomplishment.
+ You and the kids can talk to Santa on the radio. Santa Claus will
be appearing on 3.916 MHz. There are still a few opportunities to
to tell Santa how good you've been and which rig would delight
you. All net times are 2030 Central US time UTC-6)
Monday, December 17
Wednesday, December 19
Friday, December 21
Saturday, December 22
Sunday, December 23
Monday, December 24
[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 addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information. And with that, please keep in mind the interstellar gas
cloud that comprises Sagittarius B contains a billion billion billion
(yes, that's three orders of billion) liters of alcohol. If you are
doing your mathematics homework please remember to not drink and
derive.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
K9JKM at amsat dot org
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-344
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:
* FITSAT-1 Flashing LED Experiment Scheduled for December 12-13
* V/U/Wx Receive Only Amplifier Available Through AMSAT Store
* AMSAT Office Closed December 6 thru 11
* CO6CBF and EA4CYQ Work Transatlantic via FO-29
* VE to ES DX via AO-7 Mode B
* U.S ARISS Proposal is Live Online
* California K6RPT-12 144.390 FM APRS Balloon Crosses Atlantic
* K6RPT-12 Balloon Lands (ANS Deadline Update!)
* FreeDV Ham Radio Digital Voice Software
* N0D – Special Event Station for the End of the World
* AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2013 IN MEMORY OF W1BIH/PJ9JT
* SkyCube
* Space Station to reposition for science
* Amateur Radio High Altitude Ballooning -- Mission Announcements
* Jose Luis Peña Sanchez EC4TR Seeks North American Contacts
* More Cubesat News
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-344.01
ANS-344 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 344.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 9, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-344.01
FITSAT-1 Flashing LED Experiment Scheduled for December 12-13
On the 26th of November the first experiment of the flashing LEDs on
the FITSAT-1 satellite took place. The LEDs were successfully
observed in Kurashiki, Japan and Daejeon, Korea.
On December 7 Takushi Tanaka, JA6AVG updated the FITSAT-1 web page
with this information, "As Christmas Eve is full moon, we [will]
start flashing LEDs between 12-13 December."
The FITSAT-1 web page can be found at:
http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml
For the USA
-----------
12 December 2012
06:14:30 - 06:16:30 UTC
For Europe
----------
13 December 2012
22:10:30 - 22:14:30 UTC
Please note that the schedule is subject to change. Binoculars may
be necessary to ensure success in viewing the flashing LEDs. Addi-
tional prediction and tracking tools can be accessed at:
http://www.satflare.com/track.php?q=fitsat#MAP
[ANS thanks Takushi Tanaka, JA6AVG for the above information]
V/U/Wx receive Amplifier available through AMSAT store
AMSAT-NA is pleased to announce an inexpensive, broadband VHF/UHF/WX
satellite receive-only preamplifier.
Key features:
Ready to operate--not a kit! Fully assembled, tested, and installed
in a metal enclosure with female BNC connectors on input and output.
It is based on the MAR 7 device, and covers 100 MHz to 500 MHz.
This includes the137 MHz WX, 2M, and 70cm satellite bands.
Operates from +9-15V DC (a fresh 9V battery works great!). Perfect
for portable operations using dual band hand-held Yagis like the
ARROW, Cheap Yagi, etc. Just put it inline on the correct receive
band for operations in either mode U/V or V/U. You won't believe what
you've been missing!
Includes low power (about 5W) protection diode on the input for
accidental transmissions into the input. (This preamp is not RF
switched. It must be protected from inadvertent repeated or high
power transmission RF using a relay or diplexer.)
Full details and schematic can be found in the November/December
2012 AMSAT Journal article by Mark Spencer, WA8SME, or downloaded
from the item in the Hardware section of the AMSAT Store:
http://store.amsat.org/catalog/
The assembled and tested kit is priced at $50 USD plus shipping.
Proceeds from the sale of this item will help fund the AMSAT Fox
Family of satellites!
This equipment was developed as part of the ARRL Education and
Technology Program.
[ANS thanks Mark Hammond, N8MH for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT Office Closed December 6 thru 11
Martha reports that she will be out of the office beginning
Thursday, December 6th, and the office will remain closed on 7th,
10th and 11th.
[ANS thanks Martha for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
CO6CBF and EA4CYQ Work Transatlantic via FO-29
On the morning of December 4, CO6CBF Hector Martinez in EL92sd,
worked EA4CYQ Juan Antonio in IM78cx.
Hector reported on the AMSAT-BB
"I had looked for intercontinental contacts before but it had been
very hard for me. Now, running my new donated satellite gear I am
able to work FO-29 until 0 degree in any direction. It was my third
attempt and was successful!
Cubans cannot operate on AO-7 mode B due to a 432MHz restriction in
our country, so we have only a few chances on FO-29 every five months
when the satellite is getting close to apogee. Juan Antonio and I had
a two minutes window and we had enough time to interchange reports,
grids and greetings.
The contact is included in John Papay's recording of the pass:
http://www.papays.com/sat/FO-29_04Dec2012_140930z.mp3
Thanks very much to Juan Antonio EA4CYQ for the great contact and to
John K8YSE for look for us and record the contact!
Right Now, FO-29 has a big footprint in the morning passes. Please,
if you are into the footprint and want to try a long contact, just
drop me an email directly. I will try until have a contact with you."
[ANS thanks Hector for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
VE to ES DX via AO-7 Mode B
Randy Morden, VE6RGU, reported on the AMSAT-BB December 6,
"I was quite surprised (Tuesday) to work Neil Viskov, ES6DO in
Estonia just before 18:00Z on AO-7 mode B.
I was listening to that pass with the hopes of working a few UK
stations I heard a few days ago, and was just about to shut the rig
down at the end of the pass, when I heard a CW station calling CQ.
At first I though it was an Irish station with an EI prefix, but two
dits turned out to be three - ES rather than EI! With less than one
minute to make the contact on that pass, it all worked out with a new
grid and new DX in my log, and Neil's first VE QSO. Many thanks
Neil!"
[ANS thanks Randy for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S ARISS Proposal is Live Online
NASA is now accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science
centers and community youth organizations, individually or working
together, to host an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
contact between May 1, 2013 and November 1, 2013.
To maximize these radio contact opportunities, NASA is looking for
organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and inte-
grate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Radio con-
tacts are approximately 10 minutes in length. Proposals are due
January 28, 2013.
The NASA ARISS page is live! Spread the word. U.S organizations can
now access the planning guide and proposal form online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/education/tfs/ariss. Dates and times of the on-
line information sessions are also on the website.
Interested parties should visit the website to obtain complete
information including how the technology works, what is expected of
the host organization and how to submit the proposal form.
[ANS thanks Trinesha M. Dixon, Teaching From Space Education
Specialist at the NASA Johnson Space Center for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
California K6RPT-12 144.390 FM APRS Balloon Crosses Atlantic
Amateur radio stations from the UK to the Azores were listening for
the transatlantic balloon K6RPT-12 on 144.390 MHz FM.
As of Tuesday 2230 UT no reports of the balloon had been received
since it left radio range of Newfoundland at 0350 UT. The last APRS
reports indicated it was starting to drift south and slow down. When
it left the USA it was traveling at over 300 km an hour, however, it
may well have slowed considerably since then possibly to as little
as 90 kmh.
The payload is designed for over 60 hours of flight.
The K6RPT-12 144.390 MHz APRS balloon successfully crossed the
Atllantic and landed in Morocco on Wednesday morning.
After its epic journey across the Atlantic the APRS signals were
picked up by Spanish stations. It was last heard at 2012-12-05
09:22:31z descending rapidly, indicating that the balloon had burst.
The last recorded position was 34°25.75' N 3°58.96' W. It is believed
there are less than 150 radio amateurs in Morocco and no known APRS
stations, so the balloon may never be recovered.
See the K6RPT-12 APRS Track at
http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FK6RPT-12&timerange=604800
California Near Space Project
http://www.californianearspaceproject.com/
Twitter http://twitter.com/k6rpt
[ANS thanks Southgate, the California Near Space Project and JoAnne
Maenpaa for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FreeDV Ham Radio Digital Voice Software
FreeDV is an application for Windows and Linux that allows any HF
SSB radio to be used for digital voice mode wita bandwidth of
just 1.1 kHz. Speech is compressed down to 1400 bit/s then modulat-
ed onto a 1100 Hz wide QPSK signal which is sent to the Mic input
of a SSB radio. On receive, the signal is received by the SSB radio,
then demodulated and decoded by FreeDV.
Features:
+ Codec 2 voice coder and FDMDV modem
+ 50 baud 14 QPSK voice data
+ 1 Center BPSK carrier with 2x power for fast and robust synchroni-
zation.
+ 1.125 kHz spectrum bandwidth (half SSB) with 75 Hz carrier spacing
+ 1400 bit/s data rate with 1375 bit/s open source Codec 2 voice
coding and 25 bit/s text for call sign ID
+ No interleaving in time or FEC philosophy resulting in low latency,
fast synchronization and quick recovery from fades.
+ 44.1 or 48kHz sample rate sound card compatible
FreeDV, the new HF digital audio program for Radio Amateurs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfyn0NEcNHs&feature=player_embedded
Watch when it's switched to analog SSB. The SSB bandwidth is about
3 times that of the digital audio. Also note the diagonal black
streaks across the waterfall display. That's fading, probably from
two reflections arriving out of phase. The ID on the bottom is com-
ing in during the silent periods between words.
This software is Open Source, and uses Codec2. This Codec was pre-
sented by Bruce Robertson, VE9QRP at the 2012 AMSAT Space Symposium
in Orlando, Florida.
See http://freedv.org/
[ANS thanks Southgate and FreeDV for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
N0D – Special Event Station for the End of the World
Expands to the Final Frontier!
Houston, Texas December 4, 2012: According to one of the three Mayan
Calendars, the End of the world will occur on Dec 21, 2012. To
celebrate this literally once in a lifetime event, Special Event
Station N0D (Now Zero Days) will be activated for the period December
15, 2012 through December 20, 2012. December 21, the day of
destruction, we will be on the air as long as possible. December 22nd
is a little iffy right now.
After all, it is the end of the world, so why not include the Final
Frontier? In celebration, experienced satellite operators Allen
Mattis, N5AFV, and Andy MacAllister, W5ACM, who are members of the
N0D team, will be working available satellite passes beginning
December 15th, 2012, through the end of the world and possibly beyond
until December 22nd. The team will be using the Official Doomsday
call sign, N0D.
In addition, the South Texas Balloon Launch Team will launch the
Doomsday Balloon, BLT-32 To the End of the World and Float, to
prepare the world for its demise! The launch is scheduled for
Saturday Dec 15th at 4 PM from Covey Trails Airport in Fulshear,
Texas. BLT-32 is designed as a “floater” with hopes that it will
reach Europe before the end of the world. APRS telemetry and beacons
on the balloon will also be using the Official Doomsday call sign,
N0D. Details about the Doomsday balloon are available at
http://www.w5acm.net/b32.html.
N0D will also be active on the HF bands throughout the event.
Further information is available at www.nowzerodays.com. You may
register on the website to become an official Doomsday station. Over
575 stations have already done so. QSL information for N0D is with
SASE via KK5W but better wait untill after Doomsday, if we are still
around.
NO Backup Date – It’s all or NOTHING!
[ANS thanks Allen N5AFV for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2013 IN MEMORY OF W1BIH/PJ9JT
You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on
OSCAR 2013, conducted by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the
world. This year's event is dedicated to the memory of John Thompson,
W1BIH/PJ9JT, who passed away in 2012, aged 96. Although known
primarily as an HF DXer and contester, John was also active on OSCAR,
mostly on CW.
As always, SKN on OSCAR is simple and informal. Just operate CW
through one or more satellites on 1 January 2013 (0000 to 2400 UTC),
using a straight hand key. There is no need to send in a log, but all
participants are encouraged to nominate someone they worked for Best
Fist. Your nominee need not have the best fist of anyone you heard,
only of those you worked. Send your nomination to w2rs at amsat.org. A
list of those nominated will appear in ANS in early February.
[ANS thanks Ray Soifer for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Watch and Listen for the Geminid Meteor Shower This Week
The Geminid Meteor Shower is the grand finale of astronomical events
in 2012 and is usually the most reliable and prolific of the annual
meteor showers.
This year we are in for a special treat as the Moon will be absent
when the Geminids are at their peak on the evening of the 12th/13th
of December. This means that the sky should be at its darkest when
the shower is expected, and many more of the fainter meteors will be
visible.
Meteor pings can be heard via internet streaming as the Air Force
Space Surveillance Radar, scanning the skies above Texas, creates
the "radar fence". When a meteor or satellite passes over the fac-
ility--ping!--there is an echo. This live audio feed can be found
at: http://spaceweatherradio.com/
[ANS thanks UniverseToday.com and SpaceWeatherRadio.com for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
SkyCube: The Satellite
http://www.southernstars.com/skycube/satellite.html
SkyCube: a day in the life
http://tinyurl.com/a8xro6z
SkyCube uses Kickstarter for Funding
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8955
[ANS thanks Southgate ARC for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Space Station to reposition for science
The International Space Station will reposition itself for a better
view of the sun, the first-ever attitude change for scientific
reasons alone, officials say.
http://tinyurl.com/bsw4wg2
[ANS thanks Space Travel for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMATEUR RADIO HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOONING -- MISSION ANNOUNCEMENTS
http://arhab.org/hab_launch_list.php
[ANS thanks AMATEUR RADIO HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOONING for the above
information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Jose Luis Peña Sanchez EC4TR Seeks North American Contacts from
IN80er in Spain
Luis, EC4TR, is looking for North American stations with whom to set
up satellite schedules. His grid in IN80er. Email him at his
qrz.com email address if you would like to contact him. FO-29 is
over 1300km high during morning passes over the Atlantic now. AO-7
is always around 1450km and is in Mode B on odd days during December.
[ANS thanks John Papay K8YSE for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
More CubeSat News
The UK Space Agency will be running a free CubeSat Community Workshop
at Milton Keynes on January 22 that will include discussion of plans
for UKube-2.
See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=11782
Also on the AMSAT-UK site:
Pictures released of UKube-1 CubeSat
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=11786
Australian Radio Ham’s Spacecraft Missions
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=11745
[ANS thanks Trevor M5AKA for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
/EX
Please share you copy with an educator near you.
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining
donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
E.Mike McCardel, KC8YLD
kc8yld at amsat dot org