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March 2016

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ANS-087 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 27 Mar '16

27 Mar '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-087 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * EO-79 transponder ACTIVE * Digital Communications Conference Call for Papers * Call for Papers - CSVHFS 50th Anniversary Conference * AMSAT at Scottsdale AZ and Radio Society of Tucson Hamfests * Upcoming AMSAT Events * Proposal Window for Scheduled US Contacts is Still Open * SA AMSAT Gets New Name * 40 Students Learn About Amateur Radio and Satellites * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-087.01 ANS-087 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 087.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. March 27, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-087.01 EO-79 transponder ACTIVE On the 25th of March 2016, the EO-79 transponder was activated for a prolonged period. The FUNcube transponder subsystem on QB50p1 (EO-79) had been provided by AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL and is a similar subsystem as on FUNcube-1, but without the telemetry downlink circuitry. The current software running on EO-79 does experience occasional reboots. When these reboots happen, the transponder is automatically turned off and will have to be turned back on by a command station. The FUNcube team has selected a few command stations to do so, but be advised the transponder may be off. TLEs: AMSAT keps name: EO-79 Celestrak keps Name: QB50P1 Celestrak file: cubesat.txt NORAD # 40025 COSPAR designator 2014-033-R Frequencies: Uplink: 435.035-435.065 MHz LSB Downlink: 145.935-145.965 MHz USB EO-79 has been set to only beacon the normal AX.25 beacon every 30 seconds instead of 10 seconds. The beacon frequency is 145.815MHz and consists of AX.25 frames on BPSK. more details about the downlink can be found on the ISIS HAM page at http://isispace.nl/HAM/qb50p.html Just like FUNcube-1, the crystal oscillator circuits exhibit drift with temperature. This means manual tuning will probably work best. Lastly, the commanding team availability will be limited over Easter, so please report the transponder being on or off on the status page of AMSAT: http://www.amsat.org/status/ It does not appear in the table, but it does in the reporting drop- down. [ANS thanks Wouter PA3WEG AMSAT-NL and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Digital Communications Conference Call for Papers Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 35th Annual ARRL/TAPR<http://www.tapr.org/> Digital Communications Conference (DCC) http://www.tapr.org/dcc.html, to be held September 16-18 in St Petersburg, Florida. Papers will also be published in the Conference Proceedings. Authors do not need to attend the conference to have their papers included in the Proceedings. The submission deadline is July 31, 2016. The ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference is an international forum for technically minded radio amateurs to meet and present new ideas and techniques. Paper/presentation topic areas include -- but are not limited to -- software defined radio (SDR), digital voice, digital satellite communication, digital signal processing (DSP), HF digital modes, adapting IEEE 802.11 systems for Amateur Radio, Global Positioning System (GPS), Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS), Linux in Amateur Radio, AX.25 updates and Internet operability with Amateur Radio networks. Submit papers to via e-mail<mailto:maty@arrl.org> or via post to Maty Weinberg, KB1EIB, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. Papers will be published exactly as submitted, and authors will retain all rights. [ANS thanks Steve WBIMY for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for Papers - CSVHFS 50th Anniversary Conference The Central States VHF Society is soliciting papers, presentations, and Poster displays for the 50th Annual CSVHFS Conference to be held in Rochester, Minnesota on 28 - 31 July, 2016. Papers, presentations, and Posters on all aspects of weak-signal VHF and above amateur radio are requested. You do not need to attend the conference, nor present your paper, to have it published in the Proceedings. Posters will be displayed during the two days of the Conference. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to): * Antennas, including Modeling/Design, Arrays, and Control * Construction of equipment, such as Transmitters, Receivers, and Transverters * RF amplifiers (power amps), including Single-band and Multiband Vacuum Tube and solidstate * Pre-amplifiers (low noise) * Propagation, including Ducting, Sporadic E, and Meteor Scatter, etc. * Test Equipment, including Homebrew, Using, and making measurements * Regulatory topics * Operating, including Contesting, Roving, and DXpeditions * EME * Digital Signal Processing (DSP) * Software-defined Radio (SDR) * Digitial Modes, such as WSJT, JT65, etc. Generally, topics not related to weak signal VHF, such as FM Repeaters and packet radio, are not accepted for presentation or publication. However, there are always exceptions. Please contact either the Technical Program Chairman, or the Proceedings Chairman, at the the e-mail addresses below. DEADLINES FOR SUBMISSIONS: For the Proceedings: SUNDAY, 22 MAY 2016 For Presentations to be delivered at the conference: TUESDAY, 5 JULY 2016 For Posters to be displayed at the conference: THURSDAY, 29 JULY 2016. Further information is available at the CSVHFS web site (www.csvhfs.org), "The 2016 Conference," "Guidance for Proceedings Authors," "Guidance for Presenters," "Guidance for Table-top/Poster Displays." CONTACTS: (Note: (replace '(at)' with the @-sign to use the e-mail addresses) Technical Program Chairman: Barry Malowanchuk, ve4ma (at) shaw.ca Proceedings Chairman: Glen Overby, kc0iyt (at) arrl.net [ANS thanks Donn Baker, WA2VOI for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at Scottsdale AZ and Radio Society of Tucson Hamfests Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) staffed a table at the Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club's "Springfest" hamfest, held in a church parking lot Saturday, 19 March). This hamfest is one of the 3 major hamfests for the Phoenix area in the non-summer season, and the good weather helped to bring the crowds out. Lots of buyers and sellers, and lots of interest in AMSAT and amateur satellites. With the launches of AO-85 and the 9 Chinese amateur satellites in the past 6 months, many hams are taking a closer look at this part of the hobby. For some, the recent launches and projects currently in the pipeline are bringing some back to the satellites. Along with talking about satellites, many copies of AMSAT's "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" flew off my AMSAT table. Demonstrations 6am (1300 UTC) and 11am (1800 UTC), had nice crowds. Patrick reports "It was nice to have AO-85 available during the morning, as SO-50 was not passing by during the morning. I also had 4 other satellites that were used for demonstrations - AO-73, XW-2A, XW- 2C, and XW-2F. The three XW-2 satellites were passing by in the first couple of hours, and AO-73 and AO-85 came by later in the morning. For all of these passes, I used my SDRplay SDR receiver for the downlinks, connected to an 8-inch Windows10 tablet and HDSDR software running on the tablet. As I have seen at other recent events, using an SDR receiver makes for more conversations - and not just in the context of working satellites. With all of these satellites employing a 70cm uplink and 2m downlink, I didn't have to worry so much about the sunlight making the tablet's LCD panel unreadable. Once I set my downlink frequency on the tablet, and for AO-85 activate AFC in HDSDR to track the downlink, I only had to worry about using the wheel on a Bluetooth mouse for fine-tuning. Despite some QRM in the area of the hamfest site, northeast of a nearby airport, the SDRplay did a decent job hearing all of these downlinks. For AO-73 and AO-85, I was able to play back the RF recordings I made with HDSDR later at home, so I could upload telemetry to each satellite's telemetry server from those passes. By the way, HDSDR's recordings do a much better job picking up AO-73 telemetry than I ever saw when I used the FUNcube Dashboard to directly receive the telemetry and then upload the data to the FUNcube data warehouse server. Same thing for copying AO-85 telemetry - HDSDR's RF recordings do better for capturing the data than I saw when using the FoxTelem software to directly control my FUNcube Dongle Pro+." For those who worked WD9EWK during those demonstrations, Patrick thanks you! The demonstrations make a positive impression on this part of the hobby for the crowds. His mockup of the AO-85 satellite - a 4-inch cube of wood, with two whips representing the antennas coming out of two sides, also helped to reinforce that small satellites can do more than "beep" in orbit. AO-73 and AO-85, in particular, are great examples of what we can do with small satellites. Patrick's contacts from these demonstartions were uploaded to his log to Logbook of the World. He will be happy to send QSL cards to anyone who would like one for QSOs during the hamfest (just e-mail Patrick with the QSO details - no need to send him a card or self-addressed stamped envelope). Patrick will have an AMSAT table at the Radio Society of Tucson's annual hamfest on Saturday morning, 26 March 2016. The hamfest will be at the Target store on Old Spanish Trail, near the intersection of 22nd Street and Harrison, in Tucson AZ. The hamfest is scheduled to run from 6am to 11am (1300 to 1800 UTC). More information about the hamfest is available at the club's web site at: http://www.k7rst.org/ Afterwards he plans on making a long drive east to a point along I- 10 on the DM52xf/DM62af grid boundary, west of Deming in New Mexico. He hopes to work a few passes from there in the mid- to late- afternoon, and possibly into the evening. If he is not at the grid boundary in time for FO-29 and/or AO-7 passes, he may stop to work those passes wherever he might be - likely somewhere in grid DM52, in either Arizona or New Mexico. He definitely plans on being at this grid boundary in time for SO-50 passes starting just after 2200 UTC Saturday afternoon. Weather and law enforcement permitting (this area is near the USA/Mexico border), He may try to stick around into the early evening before making the 300-mile/500km drive home from that area. While on the road, his location should be visible via APRS. There is good APRS coverage in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. He will use WD9EWK-9 as his call sign for APRS, which should show up online at (among other sites): http://aprs.fi/WD9EWK-9 He will use my @WD9EWK Twitter feed to post updates during the afternoon and early. For those who don't use Twitter he can be followed using a web browser: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK Contacts will be uploaded to his log to Logbook of the World, and will ensure QSOs from the grid boundary carry both grids. If you would like a QSL card for a QSO with WD9EWK, please e-mail Patrick directly with the QSO details. If you're in the log, he will be happy to mail you a card without you having to send him a QSL card or SASE. [ANS thanks Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming AMSAT Events AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). + Saturday, 26 March 2016 – Tucson Spring Hamfest in Tucson AZ + Friday through Sunday, 29 April-1 May 2016, ARRL Nevada State Convention in Las Vegas NV + Saturday, 7 May 2016 – Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ + Saturday, 14 May 2016 – Matanuska Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Wasilla AK + Friday through Sunday, 20, 21, 22 May 2016 - AMSAT at Dayton Hamvention. There will be the usual activities including a booth in the Ball Arena, demonstrations from an area outside the Ball Arena, and a forum on Saturday (21 May). We will also have a number of both formal and informal social activities including the popular get-together at Tickets Thursday evening, and the TAPR/AMSAT banquet Friday night at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center. + Saturday, 4 June 2016 – White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal Window for Scheduled US Contacts is Still Open Message to US Educators Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals Proposal Window February 15 – April 15, 2016 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between January 1, 2017 and June 30, 2017. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The deadline to submit a proposal is April 15, 2016. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. The Opportunity Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students and educators to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session. An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in contact dates and times. Amateur Radio organizations around the world, NASA, and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing the equipment and operational support to enable direct communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world via Amateur Radio. In the US, the program is managed by AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) and ARRL (American Radio Relay League) in partnership with NASA. More Information Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. Please direct any questions to ariss(a)arrl.org. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- SA AMSAT Gets New Name SA AMSAT has changed the SA in its name around and will now be known as AMSAT SA. The amateur radio satellite group made the decision to line up its name with the organisation's web address. It was confusing having the name and web address different. It now also follows the international trend of other AMSAT organisations. AMSAT SA has also been registered as a non-profit company and is in the process of applying for tax exemption status with SARS. Membership conditions of the organisation remain the same. To get more information visit the www.amsatsa.org.za or down load a free copy of the March 2016 Ezine available from Monday 28 March 2016 [ANS thanks the South African Radio League (SARL) News for Sunday 27 March 2016 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 40 Students Learn About Amateur Radio and Satellites On Wednesday last week 40 leaners from schools around Pretoria attended a morning workshop about amateur radio and satellites. The workshop was part of the Innovation Hub holiday programme during which grade 10 and 11 leaners are exposed to various work and science situations. AMSAT SA was invited to talk about space related activities. The workshop was presented by Nico van Rensburg ZS6QL and Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV. The workshop started with a talk about amateur radio illustrated by short video clips. During practical demonstrations the learners were shown how a transponder works, how satellites orbit around the world and how antennas are used to track satellites including using smartphone applications. [ANS thanks the South African Radio League (SARL) News for Sunday 27 March 2016 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between Booker T. Washington Senior High, Miami, Florida, USA and Astronaut Timothy Peake KG5BVI using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2016-03-14 15:48 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via W4SVI. ARISS Mentors were Steve W1HQL and Ryan W4NTR. + A Successful contact was made between Walter Jackson Elementary, Decatur, Alabama, USA and Astronaut Timothy Peake KG5BVI using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2016-03-18 13:53 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via N8DEU. ARISS Mentor was John K4SQC Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Hirano Junior High School, Kobe, Japan, direct via 8N370H The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-03-28 11:07:49 UTC 56 deg National Soaring Museum, Elmira, New York, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Fri 2016-04-01 18:34:03 UTC [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over International Space Station Panoramic Tour This 360° panorama allows you to explore the International Space Station’s third module, Zvezda. Launched on 12 July 2000, the Russian module supplies life support for the Station and crewquarters. All five of Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicles docked with the module. The images to create this view were taken by ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti during her Futura mission in 2015; the cosmonaut in the picture is Gennady Padalka. http://tinyurl.com/ANS087-Zvezda [ANS thanks the European Space Agency 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, EMike McCardel, KC8YLD kc8yld at amsat dot org

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ANS-080 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 19 Mar '16

19 Mar '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-080 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * AMSAT Forum Speakers at Dayton * Just-Launched ISS Expedition 47/48 Crew Increment Includes Two Radio Amateurs * UK Student Balloon Crosses Pacific SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-080.01 ANS-080 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 080.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. March 20, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-080.01 AMSAT Forum Speakers at Dayton The AMSAT forum will be Saturday morning from 11:15 a.m. through 1:30 p.m. in Forum Room 5. See the commercial vendor layout map in the Hamvention program or the Hamvention website for the location of Forum Room 5 (same as the last few years). The following speakers will be presenting at the AMSAT Forum: Moderator: Mark Hammond, N8MH "AMSAT Status Report" Barry Baines, WD4ASW, AMSAT-NA President, will highlight recent activities within AMSAT and discuss some of our challenges, accomplishments, projects, and any late breaking news. "AMSAT-NA Satellite Program" Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT-NA Engineering Vice President, will review the upcoming launches of four Fox spacecraft and exciting new engineering developments. "AMSAT's HEO and GSO Plans" Bob McGwier, N4HY, AMSAT-NA Director, will discuss AMSAT-NA opportunities for High Earth Orbit and Geo-Synchronous Orbit satellites. "AMSAT Satellite Operations" Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT-NA Operations Vice President, will survey the current operational amateur satellites, as well as those planned for launch in the next year. "ARISS Report 2016" Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Spaceflight, will discuss ARISS developments & operation on the International Space Station. "Teaching STEM Using the Fox Satellites” Joe Spier, K6WAO, AMSAT-NA Educational Relations Vice President, will explain how the Fox MEMS gyroscopes, radiation experiments, and cameras will be used to teach Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). [ANS thanks Steve, N9IP, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Just-Launched ISS Expedition 47/48 Crew Increment Includes Two Radio Amateurs The Expedition 47/48 crew increment of Astronaut Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, and Cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, RN3FU, and Alexey Ovchinin, is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). Their Soyuz TMA-20M launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 18 at 2126 UTC. The trio now is safely in orbit. “During their 6-month mission, the expedition crew members will facilitate approximately 250 research investigations and technology demonstrations not possible on Earth,” NASA said. “Science conducted also will enable future long- duration human and robotic exploration into deep space and on the agency’s journey to Mars.” Williams, Skripochka, and Ovchinin will join Expedition 47 Commander Tim Kopra, KE5UDN, European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI/GB1SS, and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP. Williams will take command of the station on June 4 for Expedition 48. The three will return to Earth in early September. This mission marks Williams’ fourth spaceflight and will be his third long- duration stay on the orbiting laboratory — a first for an American. It’s also his first time back to the ISS since its completion in 2011. By the time his duty tour ends in September, Williams will become the new American record holder for cumulative days in space — 534 — surpassing Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly, who wrapped up his 1-year mission on March 1. [ANS thanks ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- UK Student Balloon Crosses Pacific On Thursday, March 17 the UBSEDS14 balloon, launched by University of Bristol students, had successfully crossed the Pacific and was above Arizona, having traveled over 24,500 km since launch. By March 19 the balloon had crossed the United States and was headed out across the Atlantic Ocean. The University of Bristol Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (UBSEDS) launched their balloon on Monday, March 8. Powered by a single AA Lithium Energiser Battery (LR91) the balloon has been transmitting about 5dBm of Contestia 16/1000 on 434.600 MHz USB at 4 minute intervals as well as APRS during its flight at an altitude of about 11,000m. The balloon uses the error-correcting Contestia 16/1000 mode on 434.6MHz USB. The transmission power on this band was measured to be +5dBm on a similar board, which is well below the +10dBm limit for ISM band operation. Each packet was preceded by 10 seconds of 1Hz pips for manual alignment and a RSID tone for automatic alignment with suitable software (dl-fldigi for example). For many countries the balloon transmits APRS packets on local frequencies. In particular this is 144.8MHz in Europe, 144.66MHz in Japan and 144.39MHz in North America. The balloon has a diameter of 1.5m and the payload weighs just 21.3 grams. Despite the weight constraints the team have managed to employ sophisticated Geofencing technology to prevent the balloon transmitting when over certain countries and also to select different APRS frequencies depending on the territory being overflown. UBSEDS14 information is available at http://www.bristol-seds.co.uk/hab/flight/2016/03/07/ubseds14.html UBSEDS14 balloon launch http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2016/march/ubseds14_balloon_launches_today… One of the students involved in the project is Richard Meadows M0SBU. He took the amateur radio courses run by the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society (CARS) at Danbury in Essex. Further information on the courses is available from the CARS Training Manager Email: training2016 at g0mwt.org.uk Web: http://g0mwt.org.uk/training [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK 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

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ANS-073 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 12 Mar '16

12 Mar '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-073 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * ARISS Celebrates School Contact #1000! * AMSAT/TAPR Banquet at the Dayton Hamvention * Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D Waiting for delivery to Spaceflight Industries * The CBS "This Morning" show reportsa on STMSat-1 * Supporting Disaster Communications from Space * Proposal Window for Scheduled US Contacts is Open * Application Window Open for ARISS Europe Region * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-073.01 ANS-073 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 073.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. March 13, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-073.01 ARISS Celebrates School Contact #1000! March 10, 2016: Today the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station team (ARISS team) proudly celebrated its 1000th school radio contact! The very first ARISS contact took place in 2000, and Astronaut Tim Kopra, amateur call sign KE5UDN, on the International Space Station (ISS) did the honors for today’s 1000th link-up to the University of North Dakota. Kopra spoke in real time to excited scholars in Grand Forks at the event organized by the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium (NDSGC). An additional program milestone—this was the first amateur radio contact with the ISS that has been hosted in North Dakota. During the 10-minute ARISS contact Astronaut Kopra answered questions formulated by 20 different pupils in kindergarten all the way up to graduate school. A member of the winning 10th grade team from the Space Grant’s high altitude balloon competition last fall was awarded one of the slots to interview Kopra. An ARISS event is more than the amateur radio contact, and in this case the NDSGC team that included college student volunteers made multiple visits to pupils in the second through fifth grades at Emerado Elementary (Emerado, ND); Highland Elementary (Crookston, MN); Century Elementary (Grafton, ND); Century Elementary (Grand Forks, ND); and Discover Elementary (Grand Forks, ND). The university teams led the young students in hands-on activities and learning about aerospace, priming the youth for the interview with Kopra. The students, many from smaller rural communities, built and launched rockets, crafted and tested parachutes similar to those on NASA’s Orion capsule, and designed and tested neutral buoyant objects. Students in today’s audience for the 1000th contact numbered 500. TV and newspaper reporters captured the action; the university media team filmed it, and live-streaming was handled by John Spasojevich, amateur radio call sign AG9D. One student asked Tim, “What advice would you give to students, such as myself, who wish to work for NASA one day?” Tim advised: “Study very hard and work hard in school because if you do well in school you'll learn a lot and it's like money in the bank for you and your future career.” A UND staff member said, “Experiential learning has proven to be the most effective method of knowledge retention, so this [ARISS] experience would grant them [students] the skills necessary to be successful individuals in their future careers. The problem-solving, creativity, and perseverance required by radio communications are cross-disciplinary skills that students can utilize as they enter STEM fields and careers, enhancing the NASA- relevant workforce of North Dakota.” Frank Bauer, International Chairman for ARISS congratulated the ARISS team on this noteworthy accomplishment: “With the outstanding support of NASA and the International Space Agencies participating in ISS, the ISS on-orbit crew members encompassing all 48 expeditions and the hundreds of ARISS volunteers world-wide, the ARISS team has reached a tremendous milestone: 1000 ARISS contacts between schools on the ground and the ISS crews on- orbit. Since our first contact in December 2000 to today’s contact in North Dakota, hundreds of thousands of students have participated in hands-on STEM learning that ARISS affords and many millions from the general public have witnessed Human Spaceflight in action through an ARISS contact. My congratulations to the ARISS international team and our ARISS stakeholders and sponsors on this phenomenal accomplishment!” The NASA ISS Program Office produced several videos to celebrate the achievement of ARISS contact #1000, and the first three are online at: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTOiiBd2dCo&feature=em-uploademail ARISS: 1,000 Calls and Counting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwtLkTpgNMM&feature=em-uploademail ARISS: Talking to Astronauts https://youtu.be/Z-yHD9lVbH8 ARISS telebridge station W6SRJ operators Tim Bosma, W6MU, and Don Dalby, KE6UAY, in Santa Rosa, California, skillfully supported the North Dakota ham radio linkup as the ISS passed overhead, relaying astronaut Tim Kopra’s radio signal to the students. Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, the ARISS Mentor from the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) and the lead operator for ARISS Contact #1, guided the UND Dakota Student Amateur Radio Association and the FORX Amateur Radio Club in all aspects of the ARISS contact. Congratulations go to the entire ARISS team on its #1000 successful amateur radio contact with ISS astronauts and cosmonauts! About ARISS: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Join us on Facebook: Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS) Follow us on Twitter: ARISS_status [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT/TAPR Banquet at the Dayton Hamvention The tenth annual joint AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be held on Friday evening, May 20th. This dinner is one of the main AMSAT activities during the Hamvention. Tickets ($35 each) may be purchased from the AMSAT store at www.amsat.org. The banquet ticket purchase deadline is Tuesday, May 17th. The Banquet will take place at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center, 4572 Presidential Way, Kettering, OH 45429 (just south of Dayton). Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a cash bar with the buffet dinner served at 7:00 p.m. AMSAT and TAPR alternate the task of providing a speaker for the banquet. It is AMSAT¹s responsibility this year. Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, will present "It¹s just software, right?" She will survey the AMSAT Ground Terminal: Who, what, when, where, why, and how we¹re designing open source radio solutions for the next generation of AMSAT payloads. Michelle is AMSAT¹s Team Leader for the design and execution of the AMSAT Ground Terminal. The goal is to create a ³5 and Dime² (5 and 10 GHz) digital SDR transceiver that will support both voice and data modes, for both general QSOs and emergency communication, for the Phase 4B satellite and for future AMSAT projects. This is an effort to design an inexpensive ground terminal for amateurs that would cost tens of thousands of dollars commercially, for as much under $1,000 as we can get it. A true renaissance woman, in addition to being an engineer and a licensed amateur radio operator, Michelle has worked for Qualcomm, attends Burning Man, and is a longtime DEFCON participant. She is also the lead for Organ Donor (an AI pipe organ). Her Phase 4B Weekly Ground Engineering Reports are fascinating reading. Seating is limited to the number of meals we reserve with the Kohler caterers based on the number of tickets sold by the deadline. Tickets purchased online may be collected at the Books, Shirts & Memberships corner of the AMSAT booth (445-446). [ANS thanks Steve N9IP and the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D Waiting for delivery to Spaceflight Industries Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D successfully finished environmental testing on February 8 and are now ready and waiting for delivery to Spaceflight Industries for integration into their Sherpa payload dispenser which will be making its maiden flight. Launch is on target to occur in in the first half of 2016 on a SpaceX Falcon 9. The CubeSats will be kept in a clean condition sealed in anti-static bags, opened occasionally to charge the batteries so that they are fully topped off for delivery. Launched into a sun synchronous orbit, Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D will both carry an FM repeater as Fox-1A (AO-85) has, as well as a camera experiment built by students at Virginia Tech which will take images of Earth for downlink in the high speed Data Mode. Fox-1Cliff will also contain a radiation experiment from Vanderbilt University ISDE like that in AO-85, and Fox-1D will host the University of Iowa HERCI (High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument) experiment to map the Van Allen radiation belts. With Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D completed, the Fox Engineering Team is focusing on RadFxSat/Fox-1B which is currently set to launch in January, 2017. [ANS thanks Jerry N0JY for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- The CBS "This Morning" show reports on STMSat-1 The CBS This Morning show reports on an amateur radio SSTV satellite built by elementary students which is to be deployed in space in the coming days Astronauts on the International Space Station have conducted hundreds of experiments and launched many satellites, but now they are set to deploy a satellite that elementary age students at a school in Virginia built. Their satellite hitched a ride on a NASA rocket late last year, and it will be released into space in the next few days. Mark Albert reports. Watch the CBS report at http://tinyurl.com/ANS073-STMSat-on-CBS For the latest deployment date check the STMSat-1 Twitter account https://twitter.com/STMSAT11 Deployment Update In a tweet from STMSAT-1 on Saturday: "Looks like I will be a houseguest just a bit longer. With 4 launches in the next 20 days. astronauts are quite busy! Try again. 3 weeks." [ANS thanks CBS and Southgate ARN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Supporting Disaster Communications from Space Conventional lines of communication can be impacted after a disaster. This we know. Phone lines can go down, cell service can be overrun with calls, texts, and emails and it can be difficult for survivors as well as first responders to get in touch. This isn’t a far-fetched scenario or intellectual exercise. It’s a reality we’ve seen happen over and over during disasters small and large. Enter Amateur Radio—or what those involved in the hobby refer to as "ham radio." Amateur radio enthusiasts—or “hams” as they’re often called—often step in during emergencies to help bridge communication gaps between first responders to keep people safe when smartphones, cell towers, and internet technologies we rely on every day go down. Volunteer hams also serve as a valuable source of information during the initial states of an emergency. Often, hams provide this public service in association with volunteer groups like Community Emergency Response Teams, who are always ready to spring into action quickly and effectively.1 We owe it to these volunteers to do everything we can to support their work to help communities bounce back when disaster strikes. That’s why we’ve partnered with the American Radio Relay League and researchers from Virginia Tech’s Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology in Blacksburg, Virginia—one of the leaders in amateur radio technology—to develop a new communications satellite that will help amateur radio operators transmit radio signals across the United States 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. After all, disasters can happen any place and any time. With this new satellite, scheduled to launch in 2017, Hams involved in supporting disaster communications will have a more reliable connection and a new level of capability in their communications.2 Right now, radio signals used by amateurs must often be bounced off the ionosphere to accommodate communication over long distances. Unfortunately, this type of radio propagation isn’t reliable because signal reach and quality can be impacted or even halted by space weather events like solar flares and geomagnetic storms.2 This satellite is unique because it will provide another layer of support for emergency services by providing a dedicated communications hub for hams orbiting above the U.S. in geosynchronous orbit every day. It will help emergency managers deployed to disasters support long- term communications for first responders on the ground—and become another invaluable tool at their disposal.2 Amateur radio operators have come to the rescue on more than one occasion—like during Hurricane Sandy—when landlines and cell phones were left out of commission throughout New York and New Jersey. Hams also made a difference in 2013, when Colorado was hit with historic flooding. As floodwaters ravaged areas across the state, they threatened a wastewater plant that served over 80,000 people. Volunteers from the Amateur Radio Emergency Service—the American Radio Relay League’s disaster communications arm—leapt into action, creating a network to monitor the situation and collect data. As a result, they were able to take remote control of the facility and helped prevent any wastewater from spilling out with the floods.3 This new partnership with hams will help make our communities more resilient, and we look forward to a successful launch. FEMA Editor’s Note: Jessica Stapf contributed research to this post. Sources: Amateur Radio Relay League Page: Amateur Radio Emergency Communication http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-emergency-communication Virginia Tech Press Release: "First amateur radio in geosynchronous orbit will aid disaster communications." http://tinyurl.com/ANS073-VTGeo Case Study: Amateur Radio Volunteers Protect Community Water Supply http://tinyurl.com/ANS073-CaseStudy [ANS thanks Rafael Lemaitre and FEMA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal Window for Scheduled US Contacts is Open Message to US Educators Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals Proposal Window February 15 – April 15, 2016 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between January 1, 2017 and June 30, 2017. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The deadline to submit a proposal is April 15, 2016. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. The Opportunity Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students and educators to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session. An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in contact dates and times. Amateur Radio organizations around the world, NASA, and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing the equipment and operational support to enable direct communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world via Amateur Radio. In the US, the program is managed by AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) and ARRL (American Radio Relay League) in partnership with NASA. More Information Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. Please direct any questions to ariss(a)arrl.org. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Application Window Open for ARISS Europe Region Schools and Youth organizations in the ARISS-Europe Region (Europe, Africa and Middle East) interested in setting up an ARISS radio contact with an astronaut onboard the International Space Station are invited to submit an application and an educational project. The application submission window will be open February 1 to April 30, 2016, for space conversations that will tentatively be scheduled in the period extending from February to June 2017. Please see http://www.ariss-eu.org/school-contacts for details and an application. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between Slovanské Gymnázium Olomouc, Olomouc, Moravia, Czech Republic and Astronaut Timothy Peake KG5BVI using Callsign OR4ISS. The contact began 2016-03-08 08:22 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via OK2KYJ. ARISS Mentor was Armand SP3QFE. This was the 998th ARISS contact. + A Successful contact was made between Atlanta Science Festival, Atlanta, Georgia and Astronaut Tim Kopra KE5UDN using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2016-03-08 16:11 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridge] via K6DUE. ARISS Mentor was John K4SQC. This was the 999th ARISS contact. + A Successful contact was made between North Dakota Space Grant Consortium (NDSGC), Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA and Astronaut Tim Kopra KE5UDN using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2016-03-10 19:07:08 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridge via W6SRJ. ARISS Mentor was Charlie AJ9N. This was the 1000th ARISS contact. Editor's Note: Last week the Mentors for the successful ARISS contacts were misreported. AA8EM assumes full responsibility for the error. Below are the correct mentors for contacts #995, #996 and #997. The mentor for contact #995 on 2/29/2016 between Tim Kopra KE5UDN and Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany, was Peter IN3GHZ. The Mentor for contact #996 on 3/1/2016 between Tim Kopra KE5UDN and National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York, was Dave AA4KN. The mentor for contact #997 on 3/5/2016 between Timothy Peake KG5BVI and Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK was Ciaran MØXTD. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Booker T. Washington Senior High, Miami, Florida, direct via W4SVI The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Mon 2016-03-14 15:48:48 UTC Walter Jackson Elementary, Decatur, Alabama, direct via N8DEU The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-03-17 14:46:07 UTC [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Patrick Stoodard WD9EWK will be part of the booth for the University of Arizona's radio club (K7UAZ) for this weekend's ScienceCity science fair, on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson AZ. This is a two-day event, on Saturday and Sunday (12 and 13 March 2016). The event will be open from 9.30am to 5.30pm (1630 to 0030 UTC) each day. More information about the ScienceCity event is available at: http://sciencecity.arizona.edu/ [ANS thanks Patrick WD6EWK for the above information] + Space Station 360: Zarya Explore the Space Station’s first module with your mobile phone or virtual-reality headset. http://tinyurl.com/ANS073-SpaceStationTour [ANS thanks the European Space Agency 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, EMike McCardel, AA8EM (Former KC8YLD) kc8yld at amsat dot org

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ANS-066 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 06 Mar '16

06 Mar '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-066 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * One Million Telemetry Packets Received by AO-85 Ground Network * ARISS Countdown to 1000th Contact * School SSTV CubeSat to deploy from ISS * First satellite QSO to Antartica * AMSAT's Fox-1E Likely to Get a Lift from NASA * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-066.01 ANS-066 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 066.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE March 06, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-066.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- One Million Telemetry Packets Received by AO-85 Ground Network At 10:31:06 UTC on March 3rd 2016, the millionth telemetry packet from AO-85 was submitted by PB0AHX to AMSAT's Fox Internet Telemetry System (FITS). Led by Chris Thompson, G0KLA, AMSAT has built a worldwide network of ground stations that can effectively monitor spacecraft health as well as collect experiment data for our university partners. The FITS development team is international in nature, with contributors from the US, Canada and the UK. There is plenty of work to go around, if you are interested in helping please contact volunteer(a)amsat.org [ANS thanks AMSAT/NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS Countdown to 1000th Contact The ARISS contact between Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, with Astronaut Timothy Peake KG5BVI was on Saturday represented the 997th successful ARISS contact in ARISS history. ARISS is posed to celebrate its 1000th contact as early as this week. Below is the list of currently scheduled events for ARISS. Each one will have to be successful for the numbering to be correct. As of right now, the March 10 contact with North Dakota (the first for that state) is in the prime slot to be the 1000th contact. School: Slovanské Gymnázium Olomouc, Olomouc, Moravia, Czech Republic (Kopra) #998 Tue 2016-03-08 08:22:43 UTC 82 deg School: Atlanta Science Festival, Atlanta, Georgia (Peake) #999 Tue 2016-03-08 16:11:05 UTC 53 deg via K6DUE School: North Dakota Space Grant Consortium (NDSGC), Grand Forks, North Dakota (Kopra) #1000 Thu 2016-03-10 19:08:55 UTC 56 deg via W6SRJ As stated above, if all of the above contacts are successful it looks as if the contact between Tim Kopra KE5UDN and North Dakota Space Grant Consortium (NDSGC) in Grand Forks, North Dakota Thursday 2016- 03-10 19:08:55 UTC will be contact 1000. The contact will be telebridged via W6SRJ. Kopra will use the callsign NA1SS. In celebration of the 1000th contact NASA is producing videos touting the importance of amateur radio on the ISS. The first of these to be released can be viewed at https://youtu.be/bTOiiBd2dCo [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- School SSTV CubeSat to deploy from ISS A Slow Scan TV (SSTV) CubeSat developed by students at Saint Thomas More Cathedral School (STM) in Arlington, VA, is set to be deployed from the International Space Station on March 7 between 8-11am EST. STM is thought to be the first Elementary school to build their own satellite, even Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and First Grade students were involved in the project. The satellite, a 1U CubeSat called STMSat-1, will transmit a SSTV signal on 437.800 MHz. Middle School Students took the initiative to begin exploring how to receive data from the CubeSat and formed a Ham Radio Club. There, they learned the basics of operating a ham radio station and explored Slow Scan Television as an option for receiving images once the satellite is deployed. How Did 400 Grade School Students Built A Nano-Satellite? http://jewelbots.tumblr.com/post/134465599599/how-did-400-grade- school-students-built-a STMSat-1 https://twitter.com/STMSAT11 https://www.facebook.com/stmsat1/ http://www.stmsat-1.org/ Be advised that the deployment could be delayed or postponed depending on demands on the crew's time [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK* for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- First satellite QSO to Antartica On Feb-28 2016, first satellite QSO from Antartica to mainland Argentina thru SO-50. Photos & details (spanish) on https://www.lu4aa.org/wp/historico-primer-qso-desde-la-antartida/ [ANS thanks Pedro C0nverso for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT's Fox-1E Likely to Get a Lift from NASA NASA has accepted the Fox-1E cubesat - a joint effort between AMSAT and Vanderbilt University - to be part of its CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) program. The satellite, also known as RadFxSat-2, will carry a radiation effects experiment developed by Vanderbilt as well as a 30-kHz wide amateur radio linear transponder with an uplink on 2 meters and a downlink on 70 centimeters. This will be in place of the FM repeater carried by most amateur cubesats. The project received a #1 priority out of 20 accepted proposals and has been offered a launch date by NASA. This is the second collaboration between AMSAT and Vanderbilt. The first - RadFxSat/Fox-1B - is also part of NASA's CSLI program and is scheduled for launch next January. http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2016/02/amsats-fox-1e-likely-to-get- lift-from.html [ANS thanks the CQ Newsroom for theabove information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). *Saturday and Sunday, 12-13 March 2016 - ScienceCity science fair, on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson AZ *Friday/Saturday, 18-19 March 2016 - presentation for the BVARC Houston Hamfest Fort Bend County Fairground demo on Saturday *Saturday, 19 March 2016 - Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Spring Hamfest 2016 in Scottsdale AZ *Saturday, 26 March 2016 - Tucson Spring Hamfest in Tucson AZ *Friday through Sunday, 29 April-1 May 2016, ARRL Nevada State Convention in Las Vegas NV *Saturday, 7 May 2016 - Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ *Saturday, 14 May 2016 - Matanuska Amateur Radio Association Hamfest in Wasilla AK *Saturday, 4 June 2016 - White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between Gesamtschule Leverkusen Schlebusch, Leverkusen, Germany and Astronaut Timothy Peake KG5BV using Callsign OR4ISS. The contact began 03-01 16:45 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridged via VK5ZAI. ARISS Mentor was AA4KN. This was the 995th ARISS contact. + A Successful contact was made between National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset, New York and Astronaut Tim Kopra KE5UDN using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began [YEAR, Month, Date Time] UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was[direct/telebridge] via K6DUE. ARISS Mentor was KA3HDO. This was the 996th ARISS contact. + A Successful contact was made between Powys Secondary Schools, Mid Wales, UK, and Astronaut Timothy Peake KG5BVI using Callsign GB1SS. The contact began [YEAR, Month, Date Time] UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via GB4PCS. ARISS Mentor was KA3HDO. This was the 997th ARISS contact. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Slovanské Gymnázium Olomouc, Olomouc, Moravia, Czech Republic, direct via OK2KYJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-08 08:22:43 UTC Atlanta Science Festival, Atlanta, Georgia, telebridge via K6DUE The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-03-08 16:11:05 UTC Watch for live stream at http://atlantasciencefestival.org/ariss North Dakota Space Grant Consortium (NDSGC), Grand Forks, North Dakota, telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra KE5UDN Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-03-10 19:08:55 UTC ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. All ARISS contacts are made via the Ericsson radio unless otherwise noted. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over Russian Mayak Satellite Says Bright Enough to Rival Solar System Visible Objects Just something interesting that came across the wires this morning. Russian crowd funded project, apparently testing a solar sail/aerodynamic braking satellite: Once Mayak begins its sun-synchronous orbit above the Earth, the spacecraft will unfold a 16 square meter pyramid of reflectors that will reflect the Sun's rays, creating a man-made star visible from Earth and bright enough to rival any other solar system. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Russian_Crowdfunded_Satellite_Set_t o_Become_the_Night_Skys_Brightest_Star_999.html [ANS thanks JoAnne, K9JKM 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, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org

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