AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-162
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 at amsat.org
*******************************************************************
* Nominating petitions for the election of upcoming open seats on *
* the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors must be received at the AMSAT *
* Office by June 15, 2012. The details of the nominating process *
* are posted on the AMSAT front page news at http://www.amsat.org *
*******************************************************************
In this edition:
* Status of ISS Ham Radio Operations
* AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due This Friday, June 15
* AMSAT 2012 Symposium Announcement and Second Call for Papers
* SA AMSAT Update Reports That SumbandilaSat Recovery Work Continues
* Amateur Radio Reports Requested for AubieSat-1
* ARRL 9 cm Band Plan Updated
* LVB Tracker Boxes in Stock at the AMSAT Office
* 13 Original Colonies Special Event Includes Satellite Operations
* Field Day - Two Weeks and Counting
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-162.01
ANS-155 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 162.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 10, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-162.01
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Status of ISS Ham Radio Operations
ISS Amateur Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO reports the
ARISS digipeater has changed frequency from 145.825 MHz (up/down) to
437.550 MHz (up/down). The same digi alias ARISS is still used.
This change was started with the docking of the ESA Automated Trans-
fer Vehicle (ATV). The ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply space-
craft delivering propellant, water, air, payloads and experimental
supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).
Packet operations were moved to the Columbus Module UHF radio when
the Kenwood D700 radio was recently powered off due to needing an
additional air purifier to support the ATV. Normally the air puri-
fier is located in the ATV but recent power support issues related
to the ATV and ISS necessitated the system be relocated to the Ser-
vice Module. The purifier is now using the power outlet that the
Kenwood radio normally uses. The Russian team has agreed to briefly
power the purifier off for the scheduled ARISS school events but then
will re-activate the purifier right afterwards. This appears to be a
long term impact as ATV is currently scheduled to depart from ISS in
September.
[ANS thanks Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO for the above information]
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AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due This Friday, June 15
It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the
AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. A valid nomination requires either one
current Member Society, or five current individual members in good
standing, to nominate an AMSAT-NA member for the position.
Three directors and two alternate directors have terms expiring this
year. The director seats open for election are held by Tom Clark,
K3IO; Lou McFadin, W5DID; and Gould Smith, WA4SXM. The alternate dir-
ector seats open for election are held by Mark Hammond, N8MH and
Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK.
The three nominees receiving the highest number of votes will be
seated as regular board members with two year terms. The two nom-
inees receiving the next highest number of votes will be seated as
alternate directors for one year.
Written nominations, consisting of names, calls and individual signa-
tures, should be mailed to: AMSAT-NA, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver
Spring, MD, 20910. They must be received no later than June 15th. No
other action is required.
Nominations may also be made by electronic means including 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, and also must
be received by June 15th. If using any electronic submission, there
is a second, verifying step:
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION
ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXISTING AMSAT-NA BYLAWS. 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.
[ANS Thanks AMSAT Secretary Alan Biddle, WA4SCA for the above
information]
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AMSAT 2012 Symposium Announcement and Second Call for Papers
This is the second call for papers for the 2012 AMSAT Annual Meeting
and Space Symposium to be held in Orlando, Florida on the weekend of
October 26-28, 2012 at the Holiday Inn, Orlando Airport Hotel.
Proposals for papers, symposium presentations and poster presenta-
tions are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite
community:
+ Papers for publication in the Proceedings
+ Symposium Presentations
+ Poster Presentations
+ Equipment and Operating Demonstrations
We request a tentative title of your presentation as soon as possible,
with final copy to be submitted by October 1 for inclusion in the
printed proceedings.
Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan Schultz, N8FGV, at
n8fgv at amsat.org.
The Symposium weekend will feature:
+ Space Symposium with Amateur Satellite Presentations
+ Operating Techniques, News, & Plans from the Amateur Satellite World
+ Board of Directors Meeting open to AMSAT members
+ Meet Board Members and Officers
+ Annual General Membership Meeting
+ Annual Banquet-Keynote Speaker and Door Prizes
If you are interested in a Monday Trip (October 29) to the Kennedy
Space Center please contact Martha via email: martha at amsat.org.
The trip will include a round trip bus from the hotel and entrance
to the Space Center. The cost will be about $100. This is a wonderful
experience for those that haven't been and for those that have been
multiple times. We need to get an idea of how many will participate
to select the correct bus.
Watch the AMSAT Symposium web pages for the latest updates:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2012/index.php
[ANS thanks Dan Schultz, N8FGV for the above information]
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SA AMSAT Update Reports That SumbandilaSat Recovery Work Continues
SA AMSAT posted a report on their web (http://www.amsatsa.org.za/)
there is still a recovery opportunity for SumbandilaSat.
The team at SunSpace are still incrementally reading back the pro-
gram code from the nine power modules in an effort to determine the
extent of the corruption. With SumbandilaSat going through eclipses,
the satellite is not as much available as the team would like. Sum-
bandilaSat's batteries failed which means that the satellite is only
active when the solar panels are illuminated.
"We need the information to confirm that the changes we made to stop
repeated corruption were effective." Johann Lochner ZR6CBC who spends
considerable of his free time on recovery of SumbandilaSat said. "It
is our aim to ultimately reprogram one of the power modules to auto-
matically switch the amateur radio transponder on and off."
Because of the shorter illumination of the solar panels in the South-
ern hemisphere and most likely poor orientation of the satellite with
respect to the sun, progress is much slower than originally antici-
pated. "Where we had three passes to work with in January we current-
ly have one", Johann said.
In early June 2011 for an unknown reason (but probably related to a
major radiation event on 7 June) the primary controller on the power
distribution unit (PDU) powering the On-Board Computer (OBC) stopped
responding to commands from the ground station.
It later appeared that the battery had failed and nothing was heard
from the satellite for some time. The ground stations at SANSA Space
operations at Hartbeeshoek and the Electronic Systems Laboratory at
Stellenbosch University are receiving telemetry when the satellite's
solar panels are illuminated by the sun.
Johann said with SumbandilaSat responding when it is in full sunlight
the team is confident that some operations will be restored even to
the point where it may be possible to do some imaging and have the
amateur radio transponder back in operation.
[ANS thanks SA AMSAT for the above information]
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Amateur Radio Reports Requested for AubieSat-1
John Klingelhoeffer, WB4LNM, AubieSat-1 Technical Mentor at Auburn
University is requesting telemetry reception reports from amateur
satellite operators after a new operating mode is commanded aboard
the satellite.
AubieSat-1 was launched from Vandenberg AFB, California in October,
2011. The cubesat is an undergraduate built satellite developed by
Auburn University. Over the weekend of June 9-11 the AubieSat-1
controllers changed the transmission mode of the satellite to in-
crease the quantity of telemetry. The increased telemetry rate will
provide data to indicate how well solar cell protection is working.
It should also provide additional onboard housekeeping information.
AubieSat-1 transmits with a power of about 800 milliwatts on a freq-
uency of 437.475 MHz. The beacon signal, along with telemetry, is
sent using A1A continuous wave Morse code at 20 words per minute.
Additional telemetry from the onboard science experiment will use
CW transmissions up to 60 WPM.
Please post your reception reports on the AMSAT-BB.
An example of receiving the AubieSat-1 downlink can be found on the
DK3WN SatBlog: http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=23582
[ANS thanks John Klingelhoeffer, WB4LNM for the above information]
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ARRL 9 cm Band Plan Updated
Outside of ITU Region 1, the Amateur Satellite Service has a 9cm band
allocation of 3.400 GHz - 3.410 GHz on a non-interfering basis. No
current satellites are active on this frequency range at present.
The new band plan reserves allocations for EME and amateur satellite
operation.
The detailed graphic of the 9 cm band plan and accompanying article
is posted on the ARRL web at:
http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-board-of-directors-approves-9-cm-band-plan
In ARRL Bulletin 14 ARLB014, released on June 5 the report reads:
The ARRL Board of Directors has unanimously voted to approve the 9
cm band plan, as presented by the ARRL UHF/Microwave Band Plan
Committee. Earlier this year, the committee asked radio amateurs for
comments on a proposed 9 cm band plan, explaining that the purpose
of these band plans is to share information about how the amateur
bands are being used and to suggest compatible frequency ranges for
various types of application. The committee also recognized that
local conditions or needs may necessitate deviations from a band
plan, and that regional frequency coordinating bodies may recommend
alternatives for use in their respective regions.
The new 9 cm band plan includes the following notations:
* This band plan includes all other emission modes authorized in the
9 cm amateur band whose necessary bandwidth does not exceed the
suggested bandwidths listed.
* Weak Signal Terrestrial legacy users are encouraged to move to
3400.3-3401.0 MHz, as time and resources permit.
* Broadband segments may be used for any combination of high-speed
data (e.g. 802.11 protocols), Amateur Television and other
high-bandwidth activities. Division into channels and/or separation
of uses within these segments may be done regionally, based on need
and usage.
* Per ITU RR 5.149 from WRC-07, these band segments are also used
for Radio Astronomy. Amateur use of these frequencies should be
first coordinated with the National Science Foundation.
[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information]
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LVB Tracker Boxes in Stock at the AMSAT Office
Martha says she now has LVB Tracker boxes in stock at the AMSAT
Office. The cost is $200 plus $20 shipping.
The AMSAT Store Website is currently down due to technical issues so
you can place your order via these routes:
+ Call Martha at the AMSAT Office (301-589-6062) 10:00 AM-6:00 PM EDT
+ Fax - 301-608-3410
+ Mail - AMSAT, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring MD 20910
The LVB Tracker is a rotator interface designed to to be used as an
interface between tracking software and the Yaesu 4500/5500 series
of Az/El rotators.
Here's why you want one:
+ Several physical interface options including RS-232, USB and
TCP/IP over 10/100 Ethernet (tested by not implemented)
+ Uses standard EasyComm and Yaesu GS-232 protocols
+ Cross-platform compatibility - Windows, Linux, BSD, Mac
+ Compatible with existing real-time prediction programs such as
SatPC32 and Nova
+ Open source
+ Integrated firmware programmer for easy installation and upgrade
Watch a demo of the LVB Track Interface with Yaesu G-5500 rotator at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePw-ReMRwA (does not use the AMSAT
enclosure)
[ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Ofice for the above information]
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13 Original Colonies Special Event Includes Satellite Operations
The 2012 13 Colonies Special Event stations will operate from July 1
through July 5. Operators will be on the satellites again this year
for the special event.
Recognizing that the 4th comes in the middle of the week (Wednesday)
and that some operators will be going to their work on the 2nd, 3rd
and 5th, we will add a BONUS DAY on Saturday, 30 June 2012. Stations
will operate from 09:00 AM Eastern (1300Z) right through until the
5th. Keep in mind that there may be fewer operators available on the
work days so, PLEASE BE PATIENT!
Please send your QSL requests directly to each operator.
STATE SE CALL STATION & OPERATOR
------ -------- -------------------
NY K2A WB2OQQ Pete
VA K2B NL7VX Steve
RI K2C N1MIW Larry
CT K2D WA8SME Mark
DE K2E KB2M Jeff (SSB Birds)
DE K2E W3FIS Paul (FM Birds)
MD K2F WA3SWJ Bruce
GA K2G N3TL Tim
MA K2H KB1PVH Dave
NJ K2I KB2M Jeff (Here when not in DE)
NC K2J W4MPS Marc
NH K2K NE1H Bob
SC K2L K4YYL Art
PA K2M KB3WSW Elizabeth
Link to the satellite page with the list of operators and additional
information: http://www.13colonies.info/Satellites.htm
The main page with all the time and date information is:
http://www.13colonies.info/
[ANS thanks Dave, KB1PVH for the above information]
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Field Day - Two Weeks and Counting
AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO reminds you
that Field Day is now only TWO WEEKS away!
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 2012 the event
takes place during a 27-hour period between 1800 UTC on Saturday,
June 23, 2012 and 2100 UTC on Sunday June 24, 2012. Those who set up
prior to 1800 UTC on June 23 can operate only 24 hours.
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own ver-
sion of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held con-
currently with the ARRL event.
The AMSAT Field Day 2012 event is open to all Amateur Radio operators.
Amateurs are to use the exchange as specified in ARRL rules for Field
Day. The AMSAT competition is to encourage the use of all amateur sat-
ellites, both analog and digital.
For the complete listing of the AMSAT Field Day Rules, along with
discussion of selecting the satellites to operate, please refer to
the documents posted on-line at:
http://www.amsatnet.com/fd2012.dochttp://www.amsatnet.com/fd2012.pdf
Links are also accessible from http://www.amsat.org front page.
[ANS thanks AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO
for the above information]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Congratulations to Jerry Brown, K5OE upon reaching his VUCC award
upgrade to 1,008 grids. Jerry said his contacts ranged from 2003 on
AO-40 to new grids can be attributed to "modern" rovers, including
ND9M, WD9EWK, and W5PFG to new grids are credited to Yuri, UT1FG/MM.
+ Congratulations to Bob Johnson, W7LRD for earning Satellite Worked
All States #326. Congratulations to Ron Oldham, N8RO for earning
Satellite Worked All States #328.
+ Congratulations to Al Ward, W5LUA and Charles Hoover, K0VXM for
completing a Florida (EL98) to Texas (EM13) contact on 10 GHz on
June 5. This spanned a distance of 1,606.63 km, or998.357 miles
(report via Dave, KB0PE)
+ Watch a NASA promotional video about the Educational Launch of
Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program. A copy is posted on the AMSAT-UK
web at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/8001. AMSAT's Fox-1 cubesat is a
participant of this program.
+ Ib, OZ1MY noted AO-7 is once again entering eclipse periods. AO-7
will awaken in either Mode-A or Mode-B randomly upon entering the
sunlit portion of its orbit. It is only operational while in sun-
light. Watch, and update the status of AO-7 on the OSCAR Status
page at: http://oscar.dcarr.org/
+ Follow the links at http://www.uk.amsat.org/7990 to download your
free copy of SatMagazine. The June issue features the STRaND-2
nanosats on pages 25 and 26; Additionally on page 71 there is a
picture of the satellite OSCAR-5 that was built by radio amateurs
at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
+ AMSAT received the sad news of the passing of Chris Heijzelaar,
PA5RWE. He was a very active satellite operator. Condolences can
be left at: http://www.het-bar.net (via Andre, PE1RDW)
+ The ARRL posted the video of the Dayton 2012 presentation by AMSAT
Vice-President Educational Relations Mark Hammond, N8MH describing
the different roles and opportunities for Technical Mentors and
Ground Station operators to play in an ARISS contact with the
International Space Station. Watch on-line at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7z-4moV8_Xs
+ While the AMSAT on-line store is closed due to technical issues
you can place an order through the AMSAT office. The hours are
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM EDT. The phone number is 301-589-6062. Martha
is looking forward to hearing from you!
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
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/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 when a mechanical en-
gineer, a chemical engineer and a computer engineer were carpooling
to work when the car broke down. The mechanical engineer speculated
it might be a problem with the engine. The chemical engineer thought
they should check the fluids. The computer engineer suggested they
all get out of the car and get back in again, then see if it restarts.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
K9JKM at amsat dot org
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-155
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 at amsat.org
*******************************************************************
* Nominating petitions for the election of upcoming open seats on *
* the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors must be received at the AMSAT *
* Office by June 15, 2012. The details of the nominating process *
* are posted on the AMSAT front page news at http://www.amsat.org *
*******************************************************************
In this edition:
* STEM Education Identified as Critical for Continued Rides to Space
* AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations
* AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2012 Second Call for Speakers
* Successful ARISS Contact as Northland Preparatory Academy Calls ISS
* Multiple CubeSats Autonomously Docking May Build Large Satellites
* LVB Tracker Boxes in Stock at the AMSAT Office
* 13cm Band Rules Expanded to Allow MedRadio Adjacent to Satellites
* Funding Availability Key to Final Acceptance in QB50 Project
* AMSAT at Ham-Com, 8-9 June, Plano, TX, Special Event K5P
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-155.01
ANS-155 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 155.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 3, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-155.01
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STEM Education Identified as Critical for Continued Rides to Space
The AMSAT Forum at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention featured news of the
educational opportunities for AMSAT to contribute to the innovation
in attracting and retaining students in science, technology, engin-
eering and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines. Educators have identi-
fied STEM programs as a priority in strengthening the Nation's future
workforce.
"Education is important to us", said AMSAT Vice-President Educational
Relations Mark Hammond N8MH, "It's a part of our mission and vision."
Mark noted several key points of AMSAT's support for STEM education:
+ AMSAT is a non-profit volunteer organization which designs,
builds and operates experimental satellites and promotes space
education.
+ AMSAT works in partnership with government, industry, educational
institutions and fellow amateur radio societies.
+ AMSAT encourages technical and scientific innovation, and promotes
the training and development of skilled satellite and ground sys-
tem designers and operators.
As evidenced by this year's acceptance of AMSAT's Project Fox cubesat
in the NASA "Educational Launch of NanoSat", the ELaNa program, we
were selected on our merit in support of NASA strategic and educa-
tional goals. Education is quickly becoming critical for our ride
to space.
The recently formed Educational Partnership between AMSAT and ARRL,
including NASA is looking for help. We need to develop an education
program on the ground starting now. We have resources already avail-
able for STEM education in both the K-12 classroom and at the Uni-
versity level while our satellite builders work on the next flight.
For example, the huge collection of telemetry data collected during
the recent ARISSat-1 flight is available on our FTP server. This data
presents an opportunity for the utilization of satellite data in the
classroom (through plotting, graphing, analyzing).
An immediate need is for volunteers to collect and organize existing
STEM related lesson plans and ideas from the web, useful to K-12 edu-
cators and relevant to amateur radio and satellite. Critical steps
such as this will allow ARISSat-1 telemetry data to be used in the
classroom. Similar lesson plans and ideas can be used for educational
purposes in future satellite missions, such as Fox-1 and Fox-2.
To support this effort specific tasks have been identified and now
volunteers are needed to support:
+ Educators: We need lesson plans/ideas related to satellites and
amateur radio. ARISSat-1 telemetry data needs to be used in the
classroom!
+ Educators: sign up for ARRL Teacher's Institute program!
+ Web content person for AMSAT's education web pages.
o Also to maintain a calendar of amateur radio youth events.
+ Archivist/publicist of satellite educational activities (photos,
stories for AMSAT Journal, press, videos).
+ Mentors and ground station operators (with equipment!) for ARISS
contacts.
+ Look for opportunities to engage youth, and document it (photos,
articles, AMSAT Journal, press).
To volunteer contact Mark directly at n8mh at amsat.org. The AMSAT-EDU
mailing list is the place to exchange education project ideas and to
learn how to help with our educational outreach. Information on how
to join the AMSAT-EDU list can be found on the AMSAT web at:
http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo
AMSAT's vision is to deploy satellite systems with the goal of pro-
viding wide area and continuous coverage. AMSAT will continue active
participation in human space missions and support a stream of LEO
satellites developed in cooperation with the educational community
and other amateur satellite groups. This is a path to getting Fox-1
in orbit, and our future Fox-2, ARISSat-2, -3, -?
Again, the key contact is AMSAT Vice-President Educational Relations
Mark Hammond N8MH - n8mh at amsat.org.
[ANS thanks Mark Hammond, N8MH for the above information]
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AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations
It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the
AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. A valid nomination requires either one
current Member Society, or five current individual members in good
standing, to nominate an AMSAT-NA member for the position.
Three directors and two alternate directors have terms expiring this
year. The director seats open for election are held by Tom Clark,
K3IO; Lou McFadin, W5DID; and Gould Smith, WA4SXM. The alternate dir-
ector seats open for election are held by Mark Hammond, N8MH and
Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK.
The three nominees receiving the highest number of votes will be
seated as regular board members with two year terms. The two nom-
inees receiving the next highest number of votes will be seated as
alternate directors for one year.
Written nominations, consisting of names, calls and individual signa-
tures, should be mailed to: AMSAT-NA, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver
Spring, MD, 20910. They must be received no later than June 15th. No
other action is required.
Nominations may also be made by electronic means including 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, and also must
be received by June 15th. If using any electronic submission, there
is a second, verifying step:
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION
ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXISTING AMSAT-NA BYLAWS. 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.
[ANS Thanks AMSAT Secretary Alan Biddle, WA4SCA for the above
information]
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AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2012 Second Call for Speakers
This is the second call for speakers for the AMSAT-UK International
Space Colloquium 2012 which, due to the Olympic & Paralympic Games,
will be held the weekend of September 15-16, 2012 at the Holiday
Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, United Kingdom.
AMSAT-UK has posted details of the 2012 Colloquium at:
http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium/twelve
AMSAT-UK invites speakers, to cover topics about micro-satellites,
CubeSats, nano-sats, space and associated activities, for this event.
They are also invited to submit papers for subsequent publishing on
the AMSAT-UK web site. We normally prefer authors to present talks
themselves rather than having someone else give them in the authors'
absence. We also welcome "unpresented" papers for the web site.
We appreciate that it is not always possible to give a firm indica-
tion of attendance at this stage but expressions of interest would
be appreciated.
Submissions should be sent *ONLY* to G4DPZ, via the following routes:
+ e-mail: david dot johnson at blackpepper dot co dot uk
+ Postal address at http://www.qrz.com/db/G4DPZ
AMSAT-UK also invite anyone with requests for Program Topics to sub-
mit them as soon as possible to G4DPZ. Invitations for any papers on
specific subjects will be included in the future call. Likewise if
anyone knows of a good speaker, please send contact and other infor-
mation to G4DPZ.
AMSAT-UK http://www.uk.amsat.org/
[ANS thanks Dave Johnson, G4DPZ and AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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Successful ARISS Contact as Northland Preparatory Academy Calls ISS
On Thursday, May 24, students from Northland Preparatory Academy in
Flagstaff, Arizona participated in an Amateur Radio on the Interna-
tional Space Station (ARISS) contact with Joe Acaba, KE5DAR on the
ISS.
Approximately 550 students, staff and administrators, as well as Dr.
Jeffrey Hall, director of the Lowell Observatory, and the mayor were
in attendance. The contact complemented a Science, Technology, Engin-
eering and Math (STEM) curriculum. Video of the event, including Dr.
Hall's presentation, has been posted on-line.
See: http://spacescienceteaching.blogspot.com/
The Arizona Daily Sun ran an article on the event which may be found
here: http://tinyurl.com/ISS-AZDailySun (azdailysun.com)
[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, and the ARISS Status Report for the Week
of May 29, 2012 for the above information]
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Multiple CubeSats Autonomously Docking May Build Large Satellites
This week AMSAT-UK, SpaceRef.com, and SSTL have announced plans to
develop the 'STRaND-2' mission at the University of Surrey and Sur-
ey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL). This mission will test a
novel in-orbit docking system based upon XBOX Kinect technology
that could change the way space assets are built, maintained and
decommissioned.
STRaND-2 (Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator)
programme, following on from the smartphone-powered STRaND-1 satel-
lite that is near completion. Similar in design to STRaND-1, the
identical twin STRaND-2 satellites will each be a 3 unit Cubesat.
Components from the XBOX Kinect games controller to scan the local
area and provide the satellites with spatial awareness on all three
axes.
SSTL says on their web site, "The STRaND-2 twins will be separated
after launch. After the initial phase of system checks, the two sat-
ellites will be commanded to perform the docking procedure and, when
in close proximity, the Kinect-based docking system will provide the
satellites with 3D spatial awareness to align and dock. Other appli-
cations for STRaND-2 include the safe removal of space debris and
spacecraft maintenance, with a low cost "snap-on" nanosatellite pro-
viding backup power, propulsion or additional on-board computing
capability."
SSTL Project Lead Shaun Kenyon says, "We were really impressed by
what MIT had done flying an autonomous model helicopter that used
Kinect and asked ourselves: Why has no-one used this in space? Once
you can launch low cost nanosatellites that dock together, the pos-
sibilities are endless, like space building blocks."
Dr. Chris Bridges, Surrey Space Centre Project Lead says, "It may
seem far-fetched, but our low cost nanosatellites could dock to
build large and sophisticated modular structures such as space
telescopes. Unlike today's big space missions, these could be re-
configured as mission objectives change, and upgraded in-orbit with
the latest available technologies."
Referenced web sites:
http://www.uk.amsat.org/7851http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=37215http://tinyurl.com/Strand2-News (www.sstl.co.uk)
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK, SpaceRef.com, and SSTL for the above information]
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LVB Tracker Boxes in Stock at the AMSAT Office
Martha says she now has LVB Tracker boxes in stock at the AMSAT
Office. The cost is $200 plus $20 shipping.
The AMSAT Store Website is currently down due to technical issues so
you can place your order via these routes:
+ Call Martha at the AMSAT Office (301-589-6062) 10:00 AM-6:00 PM EDT
+ Fax - 301-608-3410
+ Mail - AMSAT, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver Spring MD 20910
The LVB Tracker is a rotator interface designed to to be used as an
interface between tracking software and the Yaesu 4500/5500 series
of Az/El rotators.
Here's why you want one:
+ Several physical interface options including RS-232, USB and
TCP/IP over 10/100 Ethernet (tested by not implemented)
+ Uses standard EasyComm and Yaesu GS-232 protocols
+ Cross-platform compatibility - Windows, Linux, BSD, Mac
+ Compatible with existing real-time prediction programs such as
SatPC32 and Nova
+ Open source
+ Integrated firmware programmer for easy installation and upgrade
Watch a demo of the LVB Track Interface with Yaesu G-5500 rotator at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePw-ReMRwA (does not use the AMSAT
enclosure)
[ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Ofice for the above information]
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13cm Band Rules Expanded to Allow MedRadio Adjacent to Satellites
The ARRL is reporting in a First Report and Order and a Further
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ET 08-59) released on May 24, the
FCC decided to expand the Part 95 Personal Radio Service rules to
allow medical devices to operate on a secondary basis in the 2360-
2400 MHz band. International amateur satellite operations are allo-
cated between 2400-2450 MHz, adjacent to the new devices.
The new allocation is Medical Body Area Networks (MBAN) which pro-
vide a way for health care facilities to monitor their patients via
wireless networks. Because use of these frequencies will be on a
secondary basis, MBAN stations will not be allowed to cause inter-
ference to, and must accept interference from, primary services,
including radio amateurs who operate on a terrestrial primary basis
in the 2390-2395 MHz and 2395-2400 MHz bands.
The ARRL has posted their full analysis and report at:
http://tinyurl.com/13cm-Medical-Allocation (arrl.org)
[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information]
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Funding Availability Key to Final Acceptance in QB50 Project
The QB50 Project, funded by the European Commission, plans to orbit
50 CubeSats separated by a few hundred kilometers and carrying iden-
tical sensors to study Earth's lower layers of the thermosphere/ion-
osphere and study effects of satellite re-entry. All 50 CubeSats will
be launched out of Murmansk, Russia, into a circular orbit with 79
degree inclination at 320 km altitude in the first half of 2015.
Full details are published at: https://www.qb50.eu.
The project is run by an international consortium under the leader-
ship of the von Karman Institute (VKI) near Brussels. The Call for
Proposals for CubeSats carrying the standard sensor package which
may also include additional experiments closed on April 30, 2012.
VKI reports the response to this Call resulted in proposals for 70
CubeSats from 38 countries in the following categories:
+ 53 standard 2U CubeSats for atmospheric science.
+ 7 proposals for In-Orbit-Demonstration (IOD) 3U CubeSats for test-
ing new technologies or minitaurised science sensors which also
include the standard science sensors.
+ 5 proposals for IOD 3U CubeSats which do not include the standard
science sensors.
+ 1 proposal for IOD 2U CubeSats which also include the standard
science sensors.
+ 4 proposals for IOD 2U CubeSats which do not include the standard
science sensors.
+ 2 proposals for interdisciplinary science.
VKI, with the help of external reviewers, is now in the process of
evaluating the 70 proposals, aimed towards a selection of 50 Cube-
Sats to be flown on QB50.
VKI wrote in the 31 May 2012 issue of the QB50 Newsletter, "The
availability of funding for developing a CubeSat will be a critical
issue in the selection process. At this stage, it is not known which
proposals will actually be able to obtain the required funding. The
final selection of 50 CubeSats can only be made once the availability
of funding is established. CubeSat teams who submitted a proposal
should now contact their national funding agencies and/or industrial
sponsors to obtain the funding. The process of securing this funding
should be completed by 1 October 2012 with the signing of a 'Contrac-
tual Agreement' between the university and VKI."
In the coming months, VKI will support the CubeSat teams in their
efforts to obtain the funding, e.g. by sending a 'Letter of Support'.
It is not expected that all 70 CubeSat teams will be able to sign
the Contractual Agreement by 1 October, therefore, the de facto down-
selection from 70 to 50 CubeSats will be made based on securing the
funding by each team.
In some cases, funding agencies will only be able to provide a part
of the funding. Teams who only received approval for part of the fund-
ing should consider the possibility of collaboration with another team
that also received only a part of the requested funding.
[ANS thanks The QB50 Project and von Karman Institute for the above
information]
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AMSAT at Ham-Com, 8-9 June, Plano, TX, Special Event K5P
AMSAT will have an AMSAT Booth, Satellite Demonstrations, and two
Satellite Talks at Ham-Com in Plano, TX, on 8-9 June 2012. The talks
will be given by Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW/5, and Keith Pugh, W5IU.
This year there will be a Special Event activity (sponsored by the
Plano Amateur Radio Klub) associated with Ham-Com and the call sign
will be K5P. AMSAT's Satellite Demonstrations will be conducted us-
ing K5P as part of the Special Event. Additional details about Ham-
Com are available at: http://www.hamcom.org/
If you attend Ham-Com, drop by and see us. In addition, if you can
spare an hour or two, we could use the help in the AMSAT Booth and
doing the Demos.
We plan to work as many of the following Satellite Passes as possible:
Ham-Com 2012 Demos
Grid EM13pb
Min El = 10 deg
Time Zone UTC
WinAos QTH: -96.7/33.1 T#: 12577 Sat.: 7 [Standard]
----------------------------------------------------------
Day Object AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ
----------------------------------------------------------
08.06.2012 VO-52 13:53 14:00 07 39 031 - 172
08.06.2012 VO-52 15:30 15:34 04 14 319 - 259
08.06.2012 HO-68 15:41 15:54 13 48 029 - 176
08.06.2012 HO-68 17:29 17:40 11 28 350 - 238
08.06.2012 FO-29 18:43 18:56 13 64 020 - 184
08.06.2012 AO-27 18:44 18:51 07 22 118 - 018
08.06.2012 SO-50 20:08 20:15 07 19 008 - 100
08.06.2012 AO-27 20:23 20:32 09 35 196 - 331
08.06.2012 FO-29 20:30 20:38 08 18 332 - 248
08.06.2012 SO-50 21:48 21:56 08 43 317 - 174
WinAos QTH: -96.7/33.1 T#: 12578 Sat.: 7 [Standard]
----------------------------------------------------------
Day Object AOS (U) LOS Period maxEl AZ
----------------------------------------------------------
09.06.2012 VO-52 14:10 14:17 07 66 019 - 184
09.06.2012 AO-07 14:11 14:19 08 16 336 - 268
09.06.2012 HO-68 15:24 15:36 12 35 034 - 164
09.06.2012 HO-68 17:12 17:24 12 36 355 - 227
09.06.2012 FO-29 17:50 17:59 09 23 048 - 148
09.06.2012 AO-27 18:18 18:22 04 12 084 - 036
09.06.2012 FO-29 19:34 19:46 12 51 359 - 213
09.06.2012 AO-27 19:54 20:04 10 66 174 - 343
09.06.2012 SO-50 20:36 20:44 08 47 345 - 134
09.06.2012 AO-07 21:21 21:30 09 17 091 - 015
Come see us or talk to the AMSAT Team!
[ANS thanks Keith Pugh, W5IU for the above information]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Venus will pass in front of the sun on 6 June 2012. Bob Bruninga,
WB4APR will be in Japan to observe the event. He has created a web
page, "The 2012 Transit of Venus using HAM Radio" including a list
of selected calling frequencies, see:
http://aprs.org/VenusTransit2012.html
+ The 2012 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Symposium will be held at the
Holiday Inn, Orlando (Florida) Airport on October 26-28, 2012.
The First Call for Papers has been issued. The Symposium Team
requests a tentative title of your presentation as soon as poss-
ible, with final copy to be submitted by October 1 for inclusion
in the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to
Dan Schultz, N8FGV, at n8fgv(a)amsat.org. Watch for the latest 2012
Symposium information to be posted on the AMSAT web at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2012/index.php
+ The UK Space Agency has released a YouTube video celebrating the
UK's 50 years in space: http://tinyurl.com/UK-50-In-Space
(Southgate)
+ Eric Knaps, ON4HF built an arrow antenna for working the FM sat-
ellites. Photos posted at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ON4HF.Eric/PortableSatAntenna
+ ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers published a photo gallery during the
arrival and docking at the ISS of the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship.
See: http://tinyurl.com/Dragon-Photo-Gallery (UniverseToday.com)
+ A 50 minute interview with Neil Armstrong made this year is now
available. The video is split into 4 parts which can be seen at:
http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/ (Trevor, M5AKA)
+ The May 20 annular eclipse was photographed by NASA's Lunar Recon-
naissance Orbiter as it turned its camera to look back home. Images
of the Earth with the Moon's fuzzy shadow are posted on-line at:
http://tinyurl.com/LROC-Eclipse (UniverseToday.com) For eclipse
photos from Earth check out:
http://www.universetoday.com/95469/annular-eclipse-redux/
+ There are two new Hamvention 2012 music videos on YouTube produced
by Joe Eisenberg, K0NEB. One is called Hamvention 2012 "Band On The
Run" and the other is titled Hamvention 2012 "Gimme Dat Ding." To
find them just put the word joehusker into the search YouTube search
line.
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
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/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 tidal forces of
the Moon (and the Sun) don't only act on the oceans, they act on the
land as well. If you stand on the equator, the land beneath you will
go up and down by as much as 21 inches (55 centimeters) over the
course of a day.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
K9JKM at amsat dot org