September 2016 - ANS - mailman.amsat.org

ANS-269 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 25 Sep '16

25 Sep '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-269 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: * Planning Satellite Operations During the 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium * Plan Ahead for New Years AMSAT CW Activity Day on the Satellites * Chinese Space Station Visible * Measuring Sky Angles With Your Hand * Falcon 9 Static Fire Anomaly Update * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-269.01 ANS-269 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 269.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE September 25, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-269.01 Planning Satellite Operations During the 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium If you are attending the 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium at Sea, Carnival Cruise Line policy allows amateur radio operation as specified in its corporate policy. Please review the FAQs Restricted Items List. For details see: https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2261 So if you are planning to attend the Symposium and wish to bring radios to operate, please remember that the Carnival Liberty is registered in Panama. US licensed amateur operators wishing to operate at sea must obtain an International Amateur Radio Permit (IARP) from the ARRL. A good rule to apply is a minimum of 30-45 days in advance. Details are available at the following site: http://www.arrl.org/iarp To file the permit you will need to provide the following: 1. Completed and Signed IARP Application Form for US Amateur Radio Operators 2. Photocopy of the applicant's US FCC Amateur license 3. Photocopy of the applicant's legal photo-ID 4. A 1.5x1.5 inch color or black/white Passport size photo of the Applicant 5. Application Fee payable to "ARRL VEC" by check, money order, or credit card Submit applications and supporting documents to: ARRL - VEC Department 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 USA Questions can be directed to: (860)594-0300 (weekdays 8AM to 5PM ET) or to vec(a)arrl.org Of all the application items, #4 seems to be the most difficult to obtain. AMSAT Vice President, Engineering, Jerry Buxton, N0JY provided the suggestion. Did you know that you can use the U.S Department of State website to crop your own photo to use with the application? https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/photos/photos.html Look on the right side of the page under "Already Have a Photo?" It lets you pick a photo you have on your PC, and save it back to your PC. You can then print it to send with the application. (Of course, you'll have to figure out how to get it 1.5 x 1.5 inches, I used Word.) A reminder that you would need a Reciprocal Permit issued by The Republic of Mexico to operate in Mexico and operating from Mexican Islands is strictly controlled. http://www.arrl.org/reciprocal-permit Obtaining can be a time consuming and expensive procedure for the one day in port, see http://www.qsl.net/oh2mcn/xe.htm http://xe-permit.wd9ewk.net/ See you on-board or on the air! (ANS thanks Joe Spier, K6WAO, AMSAT Vice President, Educational Relations for the above information) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Plan Ahead for New Years AMSAT CW Activity Day on the Satellites Thanks to all who participated in AMSAT's Straight Key Night 2016, held in memory of Ben Stevenson, W2BXA. For 25 years, AMSAT has sponsored SKN on OSCAR, and it's been my pleasure to conduct this event. While Morse as a license qualification has gone the way of the spark gap, I am pleased to see that amateur CW activity is as popular as ever. Straight keys and "bugs", however, have found a niche primarily with the boat anchor crowd, and AMSAT's insistence on their use in OSCAR SKN has held down participation. Similar considerations have led ARRL to broaden its annual HF event to include all forms of CW, even computer-generated. The idea is to encourage everyone to enjoy CW operation, no matter how they choose to do it. We agree 100%. So, in with the new: AMSAT CW Activity Day. As with the old SKN, it will be a fun event, not a contest, and will run for 24 hours on January 1, 2017 (UTC). All forms of CW are welcome. Since it is not a contest, there is no required exchange. A QSO is a QSO. Working the same station on more than one satellite is permitted. Instead of submitting Best Fist nominations, all participants are asked to post their results, including "Soapbox" comments, to AMSAT-BB. Please include the satellites you used, and the number of CW QSOs you had on each. While it is not necessary to post your full log, you may do so if you wish. CU on CW! [ANS thanks Ray Soifer, W2RS, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chinese Space Station Visible Two weeks ago, on Sept. 15th, China launched a new space station to Earth orbit: Tiangong-2. The 10-meter long spacecraft is only a fraction the size of the ISS, but there is room inside for two tiakonauts (Chinese astronauts) and plenty of science experiments. And in dark skies, it can be seen with the naked eye. On Sept. 20th, Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Ontario, Canada, video-recorded the Tiangong-2 passing by the bright star Zeta Ophiuchi: "At the time the space station was passing the star, its magnitude was near +5," estimates Fetter."It got into the 4th magnitude range just before it disappeared into Earth's shadow. So it is a naked-eye object, albeit barely." Tiangong-2 is the second of three prototype space stations China plans to launch as the country builds toward a Mir-class outpost in the next decade. Tiangong-2's predecessor, Tiangong-1, is still in orbit and expected to burn up in Earth's atmosphere sometime in 2017. Next month, China will launch a crew of two to inhabit the new space station for approximately 30 days. While on board, they will test Tiangong-2's life support system, and possibly conduct experiments in brain-machine interfacing, atomic clock navigation, and quantum communications. Ready to see for yourself? Tiangong-2 flyby predictions are available from Heavens Above. "Use the Satellite Database and search for object '41765' labeled 'OBJECT A,'" advises Fetter. "That's how to find it." [ANS thanks Spaceweather.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Measuring Sky Angles With Your Hand Have you ever worked portable and wondered just how close you were holding your antenna in reference to the necessary altitude and azimuth to be on target with your satellite? You can use your hands to measure degrees of the sky. There is a method common in astronomy for measuring sky angles. Here’s how they describe it on One Minute Astronomer: "Your hands and fingers are a remarkably accurate (and convenient) measuring tool. When you hold your hand at arm’s length, you can estimate angles like this: Stretch your thumb and little finger as far from each other as you can. The span from tip to tip is about 25 degrees Do the same with your index finger and little finger. The span is 15 degrees Clench your fist at arms length, and hold it with the back of your hand facing you. The width is 10 degrees Hold your three middle fingers together; they span about 5 degrees The width of your little finger at arm’s length is 1 degree." http://oneminuteastronomer.com/860/measuring-sky/ See also http://makezine.com/2016/09/16/measuring-tip-ruler/ [ANS thanks oneminuteastronomer.com and make zone.com for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Falcon 9 Static Fire Anomaly Update Three weeks ago, SpaceX experienced an anomaly at our Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This resulted in the loss of one of our Falcon 9 rockets and its payload. The Accident Investigation Team (AIT), composed of SpaceX, the FAA, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and industry experts, are currently scouring through approximately 3,000 channels of engineering data along with video, audio and imagery. The timeline of the event is extremely short – from first signs of an anomaly to loss of data is about 93 milliseconds or less than 1/10th of a second. The majority of debris from the incident has been recovered, photographed, labeled and catalogued, and is now in a hangar for inspection and use during the investigation. At this stage of the investigation, preliminary review of the data and debris suggests that a large breach in the cryogenic helium system of the second stage liquid oxygen tank took place. All plausible causes are being tracked in an extensive fault tree and carefully investigated. Through the fault tree and data review process, we have exonerated any connection with last year’s CRS-7 mishap. The teams have continued inspections of LC-40 and the surrounding facilities. While substantial areas of the pad systems were affected, the Falcon Support Building adjacent to the pad was unaffected, and per standard procedure was unoccupied at the time of the anomaly. The new liquid oxygen farm – e.g. the tanks and plumbing that hold our super-chilled liquid oxygen – was unaffected and remains in good working order. The RP-1 (kerosene) fuel farm was also largely unaffected. The pad’s control systems are also in relatively good condition. SpaceX’s other facilities, from the Payload Processing Facility at the Cape, to the pad and hangar at LC-39A, are located several miles from LC-40 and were unaffected as well. Work continues at Pad 39A in preparation for bringing it online in November. The teams have been in contact with Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center partners and neighbors and have found no evidence of debris leaving the immediate area of LC-40. At SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, manufacturing and production is continuing in a methodical manner, with teams continuing to build engines, tanks, and other systems as they are exonerated from the investigation. SpaceX will work to resume our manifest as quickly as responsible once the cause of the anomaly has been identified by the Accident Investigation Team. Pending the results of the investigation, return to flight is anticipated as early as the November timeframe. [ANS thanks SpaceX for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Bruce Paige, KK5DO, reported that Randy, WI7P (ex N7SFI) has been uploading many of his old logs to LoTW. As a result, if you are a LoTW user you might find credit for many of his grid operations. Randy was one of the first ones to work satellites from a grid other than his home grid with more than 100 grids. One time he was maritime mobile, kayaking on a river. He also operated from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Park City Utah. + Damon, WA4FHN, and the Starcommgroup satellite operators club congratulate Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer, NP4JV for earning the Got Grids Award #17. Please go to http://www.starcommgroup.org for more about the Starcommgroup's free awards to satellite operators + The KO4BB manual repository includes a fairly large list of downloadable test equipment and ham radio manuals. See: http://www.ko4bb.com/getsimple/index.php?id=manuals + Ckayton Coleman, W5PFG, will operate from the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (NPOTA HP49) on Monday, September 26 in grid FN42. All times given are in UTC SO-50 20:36 - 20:48 XW-2F 21:46 - 21:53 XW-2C 21:53 - 21:59 SO-50 22:19 - 22:28 (possibly) /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-262 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 18 Sep '16

18 Sep '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-262 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: * RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Prepped/Packed for Shock Test * IMPORTANT notice for AMSAT Symposium Cruise Attendees * KX9X Plans for NPOTA Satellite Operation * University Students Shown Amateur Radio * Plan Ahead for New Years AMSAT CW Activity Day on the Satellites * 2016 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Results * US ARISS Contacts -Call for Proposals Remains Open through Nov 1 * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-262.01 ANS-262 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 262.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. September 18, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-262.01 RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Prepped/Packed for Shock Test AMSAT VP of Engineering, Jerry Buxton N0JY, has posted a video of the final day of RadFxSat live testing, where the satellite gets one more time in the sun and on the air for data on power and temperatures. In the video Jerry secures the solar panel covers, does a preflight initialization, and packes it up to send off to Tyvak in California for shock testing, which occurs September 22-30. after the shock test the satellite will come back to Fox Labs for post-shock testing to make sure nothing broke. Next she will be taken to Orlando for vibe and bakeout October 10-14. That will be the finish, and RadFxSat will then wait in Fox Labs for delivery/integration in January 2017 with a March 16, 2017 launch date. Watch the 38 minute video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=vm-i_TvdOyU [ANS thanks Jerry N0JY for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT notice for AMSAT Symposium Cruise Attendees PAYMENT DUE If you are attending the 2016 AMSAT Symposium Carnival cruise, your final payment is likely due. The majority of our accounts were due September 12. If your scheduled payment method fails, Carnival will attempt to contact you by phone or email. Please take a moment to ensure your final payment has been made. CARNIVAL ACCOUNT If you have not registered on the Carnival website to supply your guest information, you should consider doing so by going to the link below and choosing "Create Account." https://www.carnival.com/BookedGuest/guestmanagement/mycarnival/logon Signing up on their website allows you to pre-enter required boarding information, schedule shore excursions for Cozumel, and set payment method for onboard purchases. Non-USA passengers, this is the best method to enter all your passport details. Please reply directly to me off-BB if you have any questions. I am inundated with email at the moment so it may be 24-48 hours before I reply. [ANS thanks Clayton W5PFG for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- KX9X Plans for NPOTA Satellite Operation Sean Kutzko, KX9X, says he will be hitting the road 9/24-9/28 to put several NPOTA units in New York's Hudson Valley on the air. Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY and Sean will activate Martin van Buren (NS50), Thomas Cole (AA23), the FDR home (NS36), Eleanor Roosevelt (NS14) and Vanderbilt Mansion (NS74) on HF SSB/CW plus the following satellites: SO-50, FO-29, XW-2A/2C/2F, and will even try AO-7 and AO-73. They won't know specific operating schedules until the night before; follow KX9X on Twitter for real-time info during these NPOTA activations. They will sign and log as KX9X/2 and W1BXY. Satellite gear will be two 817s, preamps, and an Arrow. Activations will be daytime-only. Sean likes hanging out below the center of the passband on the analog sats. [ANS thanks Sean Kutzdo, KX9X, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- University Students Shown Amateur Radio AMSAT-India Regional Coordinator Rajesh Vagadia VU2EXP reports on the ‘Ham Radio – Practical Insight’ session given to 150 students at Parul University. Wonderful hands on session on ‘Ham Radio – Practical Insight’ was conducted at prestigious Parul University – Baroda (Gujarat, India) on September 8, 2016. Around 150 Engineering (EC) student & faculties participated in the program & gain knowledge on the subject. In-depth Presentation on Ham Radio, Interesting Ham Radio Events, Video Documentary & SSTV Live demo was carried out by Rajesh Vagadia VU2EXP. Students were excited to see line by line SSTV transmission on the projected screen. To learn with fun, students were allowed to make collective noise during transmission to observe their effect in the SSTV reception!!! Number of technical & general queries satisfied in Q&A session. Sunny VU2PMU Shared his Ham Experience & Sardool VU2OPX Selected few student with small Quiz. VHF Demo (Modulation test) was nicely carried out by GIAR team member Ankit VU3NMQ, Sardool VU2OPX, Sunny VU2PMU & myself. Student & faculties learnt the potential of Ham Radio hobby & enjoyed the event at the fullest. I thank my fellow hams for their kind support and also thankful to Prof. Jay Patel & Prof. Niraj Tever from Parul University to nicely coordinate the event. Wish this Ham event act as small SPARK (ignition) & in future some of the student may fly high in World of Amateur Radio! AMSAT-India http://amsatindia.org/ [ANS thanks Rajesh P. Vagadia VUEXP via AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Plan Ahead for New Years AMSAT CW Activity Day on the Satellites Thanks to all who participated in AMSAT's Straight Key Night 2016, held in memory of Ben Stevenson, W2BXA. For 25 years, AMSAT has sponsored SKN on OSCAR, and it's been my pleasure to conduct this event. While Morse as a license qualification has gone the way of the spark gap, I am pleased to see that amateur CW activity is as popular as ever. Straight keys and "bugs", however, have found a niche primarily with the boat anchor crowd, and AMSAT's insistence on their use in OSCAR SKN has held down participation. Similar considerations have led ARRL to broaden its annual HF event to include all forms of CW, even computer-generated. The idea is to encourage everyone to enjoy CW operation, no matter how they choose to do it. We agree 100%. So, in with the new: AMSAT CW Activity Day. As with the old SKN, it will be a fun event, not a contest, and will run for 24 hours on January 1, 2017 (UTC). All forms of CW are welcome. Since it is not a contest, there is no required exchange. A QSO is a QSO. Working the same station on more than one satellite is permitted. Instead of submitting Best Fist nominations, all participants are asked to post their results, including "Soapbox" comments, to AMSAT- BB. Please include the satellites you used, and the number of CW QSOs you had on each. While it is not necessary to post your full log, you may do so if you wish. CU on CW! [ANS thanks Ray Soifer, W2RS, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Results As a result of the 2016 Board of Directors Election, Tom Clark, K3IO; Mark Hammond, N8MH; and Bruce Paige, KK5DO; will serve on the board for two years. The First Alternate is Paul Stoetzer, N8HM and the Second Alternate is Clayton Coleman, W5PFG. Both will serve for a term of one year. The results of the voting with 697 ballots cast are as follows: Tom Clark, K3IO..................547 Mark Hammond, N8MH...............504 Bruce Paige, KK5DO...............396 Paul Stoetzer, N8HM..............362 Clayton Coleman, W5PFG...........200 Submitted by: Martha Saragovitz, Manager Paul Stoetzer, Secretary [ANS thanks Martha Saragovitz, and Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- US ARISS Contacts -Call for Proposals Remains Open through Nov 1 Message to US Educators Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals Proposal Window September 1 - November 1, 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 July 1, 2017 and December 31, 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 November 1, 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 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 dates and times of the radio contact. 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 and CASIS (Center for the Advancement of Science in Space). 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 at arrl dot org. 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 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. Also, join us on Facebook: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) / Follow us on Twitter: ARISS_status [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between C.E.PR. Almadén, Jaén, Spain and Astronaut Kate Rubins KG5FYJ using Callsign OR4ISS. The contact began Thu 2016-09-15 08:14:19 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via EA7URJ. ARISS Mentor was Francesco IKØWGF. School Information: Primary Education State School. This school year (2013/2014) there are 420 students from 6 to 12 years old. C.E.PR. Almadén is a Multilingual School with Français as L2 and English as L3. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + NPOTA Activation Video Posted John Brier KG4AKV announced that he has posted a video of his SO-50 satellite activation from August 29th 2016 at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. The NPS unit is NM29 and the grid square is FM26. The video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/C0qLC03jDTA [ANS thanks John KG4AKV for the above information] + September issues of SatMagazine and MilSatMagazine are available for download. http://www.satmagazine.com/ http://www.milsatmagazine.com/ [ANS thanks Satnews for the above information] + Measuring Sky Angles With Your Hand Have you ever worked portable and wondered just how close you were holding your antenna in reference to the necessary altitude and azimuth to be on target with your satellite? You can use your hands to measure degrees of the sky. There is a method common in astronomy for measuring sky angles. Here’s how they describe it on One Minute Astronomer: "Your hands and fingers are a remarkably accurate (and convenient) measuring tool. When you hold your hand at arm’s length, you can estimate angles like this: Stretch your thumb and little finger as far from each other as you can. The span from tip to tip is about 25 degrees. Do the same with your index finger and little finger. The span is 15 degrees. Clench your fist at arms length, and hold it with the back of your hand facing you. The width is 10 degrees. Hold your three middle fingers together; they span about 5 degrees The width of your little finger at arm’s length is 1 degree." http://oneminuteastronomer.com/860/measuring-sky/ See also http://makezine.com/2016/09/16/measuring-tip-ruler/ [ANS thanks oneminuteastronomer.com and make zone.com for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive 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 aa8em at amsat dot org

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ANS-260 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - 2016 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Results
by JoAnne Maenpaa 16 Sep '16

16 Sep '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-260 In this edition: * 2016 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Results SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-260.01 ANS-260 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 260.01 >From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. September 16, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-260.01 2016 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Results As a result of the 2016 Board of Directors Election, Tom Clark, K3IO; Mark Hammond, N8MH; and Bruce Paige, KK5DO; will serve on the board for two years. The First Alternate is Paul Stoetzer, N8HM and the Second Alternate is Clayton Coleman, W5PFG. Both will serve for a term of one year. The results of the voting with 697 ballots cast are as follows: Tom Clark, K3IO..................547 Mark Hammond, N8MH...............504 Bruce Paige, KK5DO...............396 Paul Stoetzer, N8HM..............362 Clayton Coleman, W5PFG...........200 Submitted by: Martha Saragovitz, Manager Paul Stoetzer, Secretary [ANS thanks Martha Saragovitz, and Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information] /EX

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ANS-255 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 11 Sep '16

11 Sep '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-255 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 onhttp://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: * RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date is now scheduled for March 16, 2017 * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th * AMSAT Awards Update * “Frequency Crunch” is ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Sunday Seminar Topic * 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder * 5 Teams Share First Round of NASA Cube Quest Challenge Prizes * 5 GHz to 10 GHz Lunar Transponder Mission * Pratham: IITB Student Satellite * Inspiring the next STEM generation * ARISS to Host On-line Information Sessions - School Contacts * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-255.01 ANS-255 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 255.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE September 11, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-255.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date is now scheduled for March 16, 2017 The RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date has been moved, and is now scheduled for March 16, 2017. RadFxSat will ride as one of the ELaNa XIV secondary payloads aboard the NASA JPSS-1 launch on a ULA Delta II rocket. The launch will be at Vandenberg AFB, California. It is one of only two remaining Delta II planned to be launched. The RadFxSat mission is a partnership with Vanderbilt Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE) that will study space radiation effects on commercial off the shelf memory. The experiments are carried aboard the AMSAT Fox-1B CubeSat and experiment data will be carried in the subaudible telemetry stream of the Fox-1B FM repeater along with the CubeSat telemetry data. The telemetry can be decoded and displayed with the AMSAT FoxTelem software. [ANS thanks Jerry Buxton, N0JY AMSAT Vice President, Engineering for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th Ballots have been mailed to AMSAT-NA members in good standing, and must be returned to the AMSAT-NA office by September 15, 2016 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America were sent by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT-NA office. Your completed ballot should be sent as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail or other expedited means. This year there are five candidates: Tom Clark, K3IO Clayton Coleman, W5PFG Mark Hammond, N8MH Bruce Paige, KK5DO Paul Stoetzer, N8HM The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as voting Board Members with two year terms. The two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will be non-voting Alternate Board Members with terms of one year. Please vote for no more than three candidates. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board. Election of Board members is both an obligation as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT-NA. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Awards Update Congrats to all who have earned an AMSAT Award since the last posting. AMSAT Satellite Communicators Award for making their first satellite QSO Peter Laws, N5UWY Jose de Jesus Moura Costa, PS8E Mac Cody, AE5PH Bernard Van Haecke, KI6TSF Burns Fisher, W2BFJ ------ AMSAT Communications Achievement Award Robert Beatty, WB4SON #569 ------ AMSAT Sexagesimal Award Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer, NP4JV #173 ------ AMSAT Century Club Award Kevin Manzer, N4UFO #47 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award Yanko Yankov, NX9G #87 1000+ ------ To see all the awards visithttp://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- “Frequency Crunch” is ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Sunday Seminar Topic “Spectrum (It’s the frequency crunch for real)” will be the Sunday Seminar topic at the ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) September 16-18 in St Petersburg, Florida. Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, and Bob McGwier, N4HY, will moderate the tutorial. “The Amateur Radio spectrum above 450 MHz is facing serious threats. The demand for useful spectrum is large and growing,” an abstract for the presentation asserts. “We will explain why this spectrum is in demand and what you need to know and do in order to defend it.” The presentation will offer a practical understanding of digital communication, software-defined radio, codecs, protocols, and cognitive radio. Thompson heads the AMSAT Ground Terminal Team, a component of the so-called “five and dime (5 GHz and 10 GHz) Phase 4B geosynchronous satellite project. McGwier is chief scientist at the Hume Center for National Security and Technology at Virginia Tech. The Saturday night banquet speaker will be ARRL Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price, N4QX. His topic will be “New Frontiers in Wireless: Challenges to and Opportunities for Amateur Radio.” http://www.arrl.org/news/frequency-crunch-is-arrl-tapr-digital-communicatio… conference-sunday-seminar-topic [ANS thanks TAPR and the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder - Booking your Carnival Cruise does not register you for the AMSAT Symposium. There is a charge for each Symposium attendee of $40. This fee applies to those who will attend the technical presentations only and includes a copy of the printed Proceedings. Additional guests are entitled to attend all other events. The registration form is available from the AMSAT office or store website. Online Symposium registration: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=130 - Ground transportation options have been added to the FAQ page on the AMSAT Symposium web page. Carnival offers round-trip transportation from HOU airport to the cruise terminal at approximately $74 per person, IAH airport $94 per person. If you are traveling to the Board of Directors meeting, you may still utilize the Carnival transportation option for your return to the airport from the cruise terminal. However, you will need to obtain other transportation between the airport and the Galveston DoubleTree hotel. Cruise information may be found at: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=3667 [ANS thanks 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Committee for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Teams Share First Round of NASA Cube Quest Challenge Prizes Five teams, ranging from university students to a group of engineers dispersed across the country, received $20,000 each from NASA in the first milestone of a competition to develop deep space CubeSat technologies. The teams, announced by NASA at a Sept. 9 briefing, had the highest scores in the first of four “ground tournaments” that make up the initial phase of the agency’s $5 million Cube Quest Challenge. That tournament, held in early August, featured 13 teams who presented their initial spacecraft designs. “Cube Quest is an opportunity for non-government CubeSat developers and builders to compete in lunar orbit and deep space for accomplishments in communications, navigation and longevity,” said Jim Cockrell of NASA’s Ames Research Center. Cockrell is manager of the competition, part of the agency’s Centennial Challenges prize program. - See more at: http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat- prizes/#sthash.qbwJKlXB.dpuf The ground tournaments are optional elements of the overall competition, intended to guide teams through the development of their spacecraft as they mature from initial concepts to flight hardware. Participating teams are scored on how well they meet the requirements of each tournament, and the three with the highest cumulative scores will win flights of their spacecraft as secondary payloads on the first Space Launch System mission, Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), in 2018. The first ground tournament did not involve any hardware, and Cockrell likened it to a mission concept review that takes place early in the development of a typical NASA mission. Judges assessed the capabilities of each proposed mission and compliance with mission rules and SLS safety requirements. “It was the first opportunity for teams to present their concepts for how they intend to win the Cube Quest Challenge,” he said. “Ground Tournament 1 demonstrates that teams are on a good trajectory for launch on EM-1.” Some of the winning teams are linked to universities that have experience with CubeSats. A space systems design class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started work on the KitCube spacecraft this spring, said Kerri Cahoy, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics there. KitCube is designed to go into lunar orbit and demonstrate a laser communications system. Another team, Cislunar Explorers, is composed mostly of students at Cornell University. “The work represents the culmination of lots of Ph.D.-level research and some undergraduate research from the last five or six years at the university,” said Mason Peck, a Cornell engineering professor who served as NASA chief technologist from 2011 to 2013. Peck said their spacecraft will demonstrate several key technologies, including a propulsion system that uses solar power to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen propellants. “It’s a pathfinder for the sustainable exploration and settlement of the solar system,” he said. Other winning teams have less traditional backgrounds. “There’s 12 of us across the United States” working on Team Miles, said team leader Wes Faler. Many of them are located in Tampa, Florida, including Faler, but others are based in California, New York and South Carolina. Faler said the team takes its name from a line in a Robert Frost poem: “And miles to go before I sleep.” After going into orbit around the Moon, he said, the spacecraft will perform an extended mission, traveling towards Mars to test autonomous navigation technology. Ragnarok Industries of Wilmington, Delaware, was established by a group of former engineering interns at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Their satellite, Heimdallr, is intended to test advanced propulsion and communications technologies for missions beyond Earth orbit, said company co- founder Luigi Balarinni. Novel Engineering of Cocoa Beach, Florida, is working with several other local companies, including Craig Technologies and Harris Corp., the latter providing a deployable mesh antenna for its CubeSat, named Space Pig. The name, team members said, came from elementary school students during an outreach event. The ultimate goal of the competition is to fly CubeSats into lunar orbit or deep space. A total of $3 million is offered in prizes for the “Lunar Derby” part of the competition, for both being able to enter lunar orbit and to demonstrate communications capabilities and longevity. An additional $1.5 million is for a “Deep Space Derby” to achieve communications and longevity goals. NASA’s Cockrell said the next ground tournament is scheduled for early 2016. Teams can participate in that round, which he compared to a preliminary design review, regardless of their performance, or even participation, in the August tournament. Teams that do not participate in the ground tournaments, or who do not finish in the top three in total points, can still pursue the deep space and lunar prizes by arranging their own launches. The competition ends, and any prizes awarded, one year after the EM-1 launch - See more at: http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat- prizes/#sthash.qbwJKlXB.dpuf AMSAT-NA is partnered with the Ragnarok Industries team. Heimdallr satellite plans to test advanced propulsion and communications technologies for missions beyond Earth. AMSAT radio will be aboard. The AMSAT Groundstation initiative will give amateur radio operators to uplink and downlink to the lunar satellite. http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat-prizes/ [ANS thankswww.spacenews.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 GHz to 10 GHz Lunar Transponder Mission AMSAT-NA plans 5 GHz to 10 GHz transponders on a spacecraft expected to launch in September 2018 into a Lunar orbit. Heimdallr is a 3 axis stabilized 6U CubeSat with a mass of approximately 8 kg. It will have a Cold Gas Thruster for inertia dump and a star tracker for navigation. Deployable, gimbled solar panels will produce up to 100 watts of DC power, electric propulsion will be used to achieve lunar orbit. There will be a combination of omni and directional patch antennas on one side of spacecraft. The first part of mission is to provide Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C) to obtain lunar orbit. The second part is to perform the data downlink experiment while the final part is to provide a two way regenerative repeater and analog repeater in lunar orbit for lifetime of satellite. Proposing these downlinks: • Omni transponder: 10.451 GHz +/- 0.5 MHz • Directional transponder: 10.4575 GHz. +/- 3.5 MHz • Analog transponder: 10.4665 GHz. +/- 2.0 MHz For the first part of the mission (TT&C) using 300 bps BPSK 1/2 rate viterbi Ranging 1.5 Mbps BPSK DSSS. For the second part of mission 4.5 Mbps QPSK ½ rate DVB-S2. For the final part of mission 25 kbps BPSK 1/5 rate DVB-S2. Proposing these Uplinks • Omni transponder: 5.651 GHz +/- 0.5 MHz • Directional transponder: 5.6575 GHz. +/- 3.5 MHz • Analog transponder: 5.665 GHz. +/- 2 MHz A link budget is available at https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3u-mSOWBMISYnZyZGJpeThKeU0&usp=sha… It is anticipated that a 1 or 2 metre dish will be required using the AMSAT designed ground station equipment. Source IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Status pages http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pratham: IITB Student Satellite The satellite Pratham, built by students at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, is expected to launch on the Indian PSLV-C35 mission currently planned for September 26, 2016. Pratham, a 300x300x300mm satellite with a mass of 10 kg, aims to measure total electron count in a 800 km altitude Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). Aayush Yadav of the Pratham team writes: We, students of IIT Bombay, are glad to inform you that our project, Pratham, is ready and expected to launch with PSLV-C35 in the last week of September. We would be really happy if you all joined us in receiving our satellite’s beacon, details given below: Beacon: Mode: CW wpm: 35 words Frequency: 145.980 MHz (The CW beacon will be on through out the orbit and can be received from anywhere.) Downlink: Mode: FSK Baudrate: 1200 bps Frequency: 437.455 MHz (To be switched on over France and India only) We will update the information as soon as TLE’s will be available. Further information at http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/pratham/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/iitb.student.satellite/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and Team Pratham for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Inspiring the next STEM generation The UK Space Agency’s Astronaut Flight Education Program Support Manager Susan Buckle will be giving a presentation at the RSGB Convention on Saturday, October 8. Along with Ciaran Morgan M0XTD, she will talk about the ten UK ARISS amateur radio school contacts with astronaut Tim Peake GB1SS during his Principia mission on the International Space Station. These contacts have inspired thousands of young people and introduced them to amateur radio in a new and exciting way. The full schedule and booking information for the convention are available at http://rsgb.org/convention Twitter hashtag #RSGBconv2016 An RSGB video celebrates these historic school contacts and the range of linked activities the schools have enjoyed. Beginning with the exhilaration of the launch, it follows the competition for schools to host the ARISS contacts, and showcases the variety of science, technology, engineering, maths (STEM) and arts activities that helped pupils to understand more about space and amateur radio. The contacts themselves, often led by newly-licensed pupils, were the successful culmination of many months of work and anticipation. ARISS Principia https://principia.ariss.org/ AMSAT-UK Article https://amsat-uk.org/2016/09/10/inspiring-the-next-stem-generation/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS to Host On-line Information Sessions - School Contacts To help organizations learn about ARISS radio contacts and the proposal process, ARISS offers one-hour online information sessions; all questions are welcomed. Attending an online session is not required but strongly encouraged. Informational sessions will be offered Sept. 20, 2016, at 4 p.m. EDT and Sept. 28, 2016, at 7 p.m. EDT. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, visit: http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. ARISS Contact Application Window Open Until November 1 ARISS-US is now accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations (working individually or together) to host an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, radio contact with an orbiting space station crew member between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2017. Proposals are due Nov. 1, 2016. ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of parti- cipants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Students can learn about satellite communications, wireless technology, science research conducted on the space station, what it is like to work in space, radio science, and any related STEM subject. Students learn to use amateur radio to talk directly to an astronaut and ask their STEM-related questions. ARISS will help educational organizations locate amateur radio groups who can assist with equipment for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students. Exact dates for the 10-minute radio contact are determined by crew scheduling and space station orbits. ARISS-US is offered through a partnership between NASA; the American Radio Relay League, or ARRL; and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, or AMSAT. ARISS was created and is managed by an international working group. Please email questions about this opportunity to ariss(a)arrl.org. [ANS thanks NASA Education Express Message -- Sept. 8, 2016 for the above 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, 10-11 September 2016 Boxboro Hamfest in Boxborough, MA (ARRL New England Division Convention) *Friday, 23 September 2016 – presentation at Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club in Pasadena CA *Friday and Saturday, 21-22 October 2016 – CopaFest 2016, south of Maricopa AZ *Saturday, 12 November 2016 – Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Marana AZ *Saturday, 3 December 2016 – Superstition Superfest in Mesa AZ *Saturday, 14 January 2017 – Thunderbird Hamfest 2017 in Phoenix AZ *Saturday, 4 February 2017 – Palm Springs Hamfest in Palm Springs CA *Friday-Sunday, 10-12 February 2017 Orlando HamCation in Orlando, FL *Friday and Saturday, 17-18 February 2017 – Yuma Hamfest in Yuma AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts * Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence KS, direct via KCØNFL The ISS callsign was NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Takuya Onishi KF5LKS Contact was Successful: Sat 2016-09-10 17:03:42 UTC 13 Questions Asked/Answered 300 People at the library, 91 watched the livestream online The event was covered by local Channel 6 News, KUJH (KU's tv channel), Girl Scouts (for their blog), and The Lawrence Journal World. * Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Astoria OR, was direct via KF7TCG now telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign was NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact was Successful: Sat 2016-09-10 17:03:19 UTC via W6SRJ 17 of 20 questions Asked/Answered. Approximately 50 in audience. Upcoming Contacts * C.E.PR. Almadén, Jaén, Spain, direct via EA7URJ or TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-09-15 08:14:19 UTC Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, Dave, AA4KN, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over K6R Coundtdown On September 16th, Wyatt, AC0RA, and myself will be getting on the boat in Ventura, CA with our destination set on CM93. We've been training all summer, finalizing equipment, setting skeds, and generally getting all the loose ends tied up, and we look to be ready to go. We have posted our Final pass schedule on the K6R QRZ page at https://www.qrz.com/lookup/K6R - so feel free to find a pass that is to your liking. We have tried hard to include everyone in our distance range on at least 1 or 2 passes. Of course all passes are dependent on weather, schedule, and other factors - and there's a very good chance we'll show up on passes that AREN'T on our list as well.. find a window, and see if we're around. We're also happy to announce that Jimmy, KK6FAH will be serving as our pilot relay station for the expedition. He's a fellow AMSAT operator, and has a QTH right in Ventura, and we should be in local repeater range of each other while we're on the Island. We have agreed to meet up each evening and report our logs to him, and he will then pass our report on to the BB. Please do not email him with questions about busted calls or the like, he's simply going to be passing on our reports. He's also been awesome in helping us with some local arrangements, and we appreciate his assistance with this project greatly. I'd also like to make a brief request for folks to use some good situational awareness while we're out there. We know this is a rare grid and there's tons of interest, but remember that the birds and pass time are a scarce resource. We're hoping with lots of scheduled passes there should be more than enough air time to get everyone worked that wants it, but use some common sense. If you have linear capability, find us on one of those birds, and leave SO-50 for the FM only operators. If you're on the West coast and can work us on a higher pass where the east coast doesn't have a footprint, consider delaying to give them a chance. If you can handle taking a night off from using SO-50 as your ragchew repeater in the sky, that'd be great too... and please try to keep the dupes to a minimum - you never know when someone is just sliding into the footprint and only has 30 seconds to make that precious QSO. Thanks in advance. Finally, we're planning to do a very informal round table on 20 meters Saturday night at 8:00 PDT. Clayton, W5PFG has agreed to find us a frequency (probably the upper portion of 20m) and send out a tweet on where we will be. We'd love to have you stop by on HF and chat about Satellite stuff, the expedition, or "Am I in the log?" that night. It's expedition go time. Hope to catch everyone from CM93! [ANS thanks Dave, KG5CCI 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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ANS-255 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 11 Sep '16

11 Sep '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-255 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: * RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date is now scheduled for March 16, 2017 * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th * AMSAT Awards Update * “Frequency Crunch” is ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Sunday Seminar Topic * 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder * 5 Teams Share First Round of NASA Cube Quest Challenge Prizes * 5 GHz to 10 GHz Lunar Transponder Mission * Pratham: IITB Student Satellite * Inspiring the next STEM generation * ARISS to Host On-line Information Sessions - School Contacts * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-255.01 ANS-255 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 255.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE September 11, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-255.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date is now scheduled for March 16, 2017 The RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date has been moved, and is now scheduled for March 16, 2017. RadFxSat will ride as one of the ELaNa XIV secondary payloads aboard the NASA JPSS-1 launch on a ULA Delta II rocket. The launch will be at Vandenberg AFB, California. It is one of only two remaining Delta II planned to be launched. The RadFxSat mission is a partnership with Vanderbilt Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE) that will study space radiation effects on commercial off the shelf memory. The experiments are carried aboard the AMSAT Fox-1B CubeSat and experiment data will be carried in the subaudible telemetry stream of the Fox-1B FM repeater along with the CubeSat telemetry data. The telemetry can be decoded and displayed with the AMSAT FoxTelem software. [ANS thanks Jerry Buxton, N0JY AMSAT Vice President, Engineering for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th Ballots have been mailed to AMSAT-NA members in good standing, and must be returned to the AMSAT-NA office by September 15, 2016 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America were sent by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT-NA office. Your completed ballot should be sent as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail or other expedited means. This year there are five candidates: Tom Clark, K3IO Clayton Coleman, W5PFG Mark Hammond, N8MH Bruce Paige, KK5DO Paul Stoetzer, N8HM The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as voting Board Members with two year terms. The two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will be non-voting Alternate Board Members with terms of one year. Please vote for no more than three candidates. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board. Election of Board members is both an obligation as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT-NA. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Awards Update Congrats to all who have earned an AMSAT Award since the last posting. AMSAT Satellite Communicators Award for making their first satellite QSO Peter Laws, N5UWY Jose de Jesus Moura Costa, PS8E Mac Cody, AE5PH Bernard Van Haecke, KI6TSF Burns Fisher, W2BFJ ------ AMSAT Communications Achievement Award Robert Beatty, WB4SON #569 ------ AMSAT Sexagesimal Award Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer, NP4JV #173 ------ AMSAT Century Club Award Kevin Manzer, N4UFO #47 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award Yanko Yankov, NX9G #87 1000+ ------ To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- “Frequency Crunch” is ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Sunday Seminar Topic “Spectrum (It’s the frequency crunch for real)” will be the Sunday Seminar topic at the ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) September 16-18 in St Petersburg, Florida. Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, and Bob McGwier, N4HY, will moderate the tutorial. “The Amateur Radio spectrum above 450 MHz is facing serious threats. The demand for useful spectrum is large and growing,” an abstract for the presentation asserts. “We will explain why this spectrum is in demand and what you need to know and do in order to defend it.” The presentation will offer a practical understanding of digital communication, software-defined radio, codecs, protocols, and cognitive radio. Thompson heads the AMSAT Ground Terminal Team, a component of the so-called “five and dime (5 GHz and 10 GHz) Phase 4B geosynchronous satellite project. McGwier is chief scientist at the Hume Center for National Security and Technology at Virginia Tech. The Saturday night banquet speaker will be ARRL Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price, N4QX. His topic will be “New Frontiers in Wireless: Challenges to and Opportunities for Amateur Radio.” http://www.arrl.org/news/frequency-crunch-is-arrl-tapr-digital-communicatio… conference-sunday-seminar-topic [ANS thanks TAPR and the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder - Booking your Carnival Cruise does not register you for the AMSAT Symposium. There is a charge for each Symposium attendee of $40. This fee applies to those who will attend the technical presentations only and includes a copy of the printed Proceedings. Additional guests are entitled to attend all other events. The registration form is available from the AMSAT office or store website. Online Symposium registration: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=130 - Ground transportation options have been added to the FAQ page on the AMSAT Symposium web page. Carnival offers round-trip transportation from HOU airport to the cruise terminal at approximately $74 per person, IAH airport $94 per person. If you are traveling to the Board of Directors meeting, you may still utilize the Carnival transportation option for your return to the airport from the cruise terminal. However, you will need to obtain other transportation between the airport and the Galveston DoubleTree hotel. Cruise information may be found at: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=3667 [ANS thanks 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Committee for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Teams Share First Round of NASA Cube Quest Challenge Prizes Five teams, ranging from university students to a group of engineers dispersed across the country, received $20,000 each from NASA in the first milestone of a competition to develop deep space CubeSat technologies. The teams, announced by NASA at a Sept. 9 briefing, had the highest scores in the first of four “ground tournaments” that make up the initial phase of the agency’s $5 million Cube Quest Challenge. That tournament, held in early August, featured 13 teams who presented their initial spacecraft designs. “Cube Quest is an opportunity for non-government CubeSat developers and builders to compete in lunar orbit and deep space for accomplishments in communications, navigation and longevity,” said Jim Cockrell of NASA’s Ames Research Center. Cockrell is manager of the competition, part of the agency’s Centennial Challenges prize program. - See more at: http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat- prizes/#sthash.qbwJKlXB.dpuf The ground tournaments are optional elements of the overall competition, intended to guide teams through the development of their spacecraft as they mature from initial concepts to flight hardware. Participating teams are scored on how well they meet the requirements of each tournament, and the three with the highest cumulative scores will win flights of their spacecraft as secondary payloads on the first Space Launch System mission, Exploration Mission 1 (EM- 1), in 2018. The first ground tournament did not involve any hardware, and Cockrell likened it to a mission concept review that takes place early in the development of a typical NASA mission. Judges assessed the capabilities of each proposed mission and compliance with mission rules and SLS safety requirements. “It was the first opportunity for teams to present their concepts for how they intend to win the Cube Quest Challenge,” he said. “Ground Tournament 1 demonstrates that teams are on a good trajectory for launch on EM-1.” Some of the winning teams are linked to universities that have experience with CubeSats. A space systems design class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started work on the KitCube spacecraft this spring, said Kerri Cahoy, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics there. KitCube is designed to go into lunar orbit and demonstrate a laser communications system. Another team, Cislunar Explorers, is composed mostly of students at Cornell University. “The work represents the culmination of lots of Ph.D.-level research and some undergraduate research from the last five or six years at the university,” said Mason Peck, a Cornell engineering professor who served as NASA chief technologist from 2011 to 2013. Peck said their spacecraft will demonstrate several key technologies, including a propulsion system that uses solar power to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen propellants. “It’s a pathfinder for the sustainable exploration and settlement of the solar system,” he said. Other winning teams have less traditional backgrounds. “There’s 12 of us across the United States” working on Team Miles, said team leader Wes Faler. Many of them are located in Tampa, Florida, including Faler, but others are based in California, New York and South Carolina. Faler said the team takes its name from a line in a Robert Frost poem: “And miles to go before I sleep.” After going into orbit around the Moon, he said, the spacecraft will perform an extended mission, traveling towards Mars to test autonomous navigation technology. Ragnarok Industries of Wilmington, Delaware, was established by a group of former engineering interns at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Their satellite, Heimdallr, is intended to test advanced propulsion and communications technologies for missions beyond Earth orbit, said company co- founder Luigi Balarinni. Novel Engineering of Cocoa Beach, Florida, is working with several other local companies, including Craig Technologies and Harris Corp., the latter providing a deployable mesh antenna for its CubeSat, named Space Pig. The name, team members said, came from elementary school students during an outreach event. The ultimate goal of the competition is to fly CubeSats into lunar orbit or deep space. A total of $3 million is offered in prizes for the “Lunar Derby” part of the competition, for both being able to enter lunar orbit and to demonstrate communications capabilities and longevity. An additional $1.5 million is for a “Deep Space Derby” to achieve communications and longevity goals. NASA’s Cockrell said the next ground tournament is scheduled for early 2016. Teams can participate in that round, which he compared to a preliminary design review, regardless of their performance, or even participation, in the August tournament. Teams that do not participate in the ground tournaments, or who do not finish in the top three in total points, can still pursue the deep space and lunar prizes by arranging their own launches. The competition ends, and any prizes awarded, one year after the EM-1 launch - See more at: http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat- prizes/#sthash.qbwJKlXB.dpuf AMSAT-NA is partnered with the Ragnarok Industries team. Heimdallr satellite plans to test advanced propulsion and communications technologies for missions beyond Earth. AMSAT radio will be aboard. The AMSAT Groundstation initiative will give amateur radio operators to uplink and downlink to the lunar satellite. http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat-prizes/ [ANS thanks www.spacenews.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 GHz to 10 GHz Lunar Transponder Mission AMSAT-NA plans 5 GHz to 10 GHz transponders on a spacecraft expected to launch in September 2018 into a Lunar orbit. Heimdallr is a 3 axis stabilized 6U CubeSat with a mass of approximately 8 kg. It will have a Cold Gas Thruster for inertia dump and a star tracker for navigation. Deployable, gimbled solar panels will produce up to 100 watts of DC power, electric propulsion will be used to achieve lunar orbit. There will be a combination of omni and directional patch antennas on one side of spacecraft. The first part of mission is to provide Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C) to obtain lunar orbit. The second part is to perform the data downlink experiment while the final part is to provide a two way regenerative repeater and analog repeater in lunar orbit for lifetime of satellite. Proposing these downlinks: • Omni transponder: 10.451 GHz +/- 0.5 MHz • Directional transponder: 10.4575 GHz. +/- 3.5 MHz • Analog transponder: 10.4665 GHz. +/- 2.0 MHz For the first part of the mission (TT&C) using 300 bps BPSK 1/2 rate viterbi Ranging 1.5 Mbps BPSK DSSS. For the second part of mission 4.5 Mbps QPSK ½ rate DVB-S2. For the final part of mission 25 kbps BPSK 1/5 rate DVB-S2. Proposing these Uplinks • Omni transponder: 5.651 GHz +/- 0.5 MHz • Directional transponder: 5.6575 GHz. +/- 3.5 MHz • Analog transponder: 5.665 GHz. +/- 2 MHz A link budget is available at https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3u-mSOWBMISYnZyZGJpeThKeU0&usp=sha… It is anticipated that a 1 or 2 metre dish will be required using the AMSAT designed ground station equipment. Source IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Status pages http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pratham: IITB Student Satellite The satellite Pratham, built by students at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, is expected to launch on the Indian PSLV-C35 mission currently planned for September 26, 2016. Pratham, a 300x300x300mm satellite with a mass of 10 kg, aims to measure total electron count in a 800 km altitude Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). Aayush Yadav of the Pratham team writes: We, students of IIT Bombay, are glad to inform you that our project, Pratham, is ready and expected to launch with PSLV-C35 in the last week of September. We would be really happy if you all joined us in receiving our satellite’s beacon, details given below: Beacon: Mode: CW wpm: 35 words Frequency: 145.980 MHz (The CW beacon will be on through out the orbit and can be received from anywhere.) Downlink: Mode: FSK Baudrate: 1200 bps Frequency: 437.455 MHz (To be switched on over France and India only) We will update the information as soon as TLE’s will be available. Further information at http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/pratham/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/iitb.student.satellite/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and Team Pratham for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Inspiring the next STEM generation The UK Space Agency’s Astronaut Flight Education Program Support Manager Susan Buckle will be giving a presentation at the RSGB Convention on Saturday, October 8. Along with Ciaran Morgan M0XTD, she will talk about the ten UK ARISS amateur radio school contacts with astronaut Tim Peake GB1SS during his Principia mission on the International Space Station. These contacts have inspired thousands of young people and introduced them to amateur radio in a new and exciting way. The full schedule and booking information for the convention are available at http://rsgb.org/convention Twitter hashtag #RSGBconv2016 An RSGB video celebrates these historic school contacts and the range of linked activities the schools have enjoyed. Beginning with the exhilaration of the launch, it follows the competition for schools to host the ARISS contacts, and showcases the variety of science, technology, engineering, maths (STEM) and arts activities that helped pupils to understand more about space and amateur radio. The contacts themselves, often led by newly-licensed pupils, were the successful culmination of many months of work and anticipation. ARISS Principia https://principia.ariss.org/ AMSAT-UK Article https://amsat-uk.org/2016/09/10/inspiring-the-next-stem-generation/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS to Host On-line Information Sessions - School Contacts To help organizations learn about ARISS radio contacts and the proposal process, ARISS offers one-hour online information sessions; all questions are welcomed. Attending an online session is not required but strongly encouraged. Informational sessions will be offered Sept. 20, 2016, at 4 p.m. EDT and Sept. 28, 2016, at 7 p.m. EDT. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, visit: http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. ARISS Contact Application Window Open Until November 1 ARISS-US is now accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations (working individually or together) to host an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, radio contact with an orbiting space station crew member between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2017. Proposals are due Nov. 1, 2016. ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of parti- cipants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Students can learn about satellite communications, wireless technology, science research conducted on the space station, what it is like to work in space, radio science, and any related STEM subject. Students learn to use amateur radio to talk directly to an astronaut and ask their STEM-related questions. ARISS will help educational organizations locate amateur radio groups who can assist with equipment for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students. Exact dates for the 10-minute radio contact are determined by crew scheduling and space station orbits. ARISS-US is offered through a partnership between NASA; the American Radio Relay League, or ARRL; and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, or AMSAT. ARISS was created and is managed by an international working group. Please email questions about this opportunity to ariss(a)arrl.org. [ANS thanks NASA Education Express Message -- Sept. 8, 2016 for the above 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, 10-11 September 2016 Boxboro Hamfest in Boxborough, MA (ARRL New England Division Convention) *Friday, 23 September 2016 – presentation at Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club in Pasadena CA *Friday and Saturday, 21-22 October 2016 – CopaFest 2016, south of Maricopa AZ *Saturday, 12 November 2016 – Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Marana AZ *Saturday, 3 December 2016 – Superstition Superfest in Mesa AZ *Saturday, 14 January 2017 – Thunderbird Hamfest 2017 in Phoenix AZ *Saturday, 4 February 2017 – Palm Springs Hamfest in Palm Springs CA *Friday-Sunday, 10-12 February 2017 Orlando HamCation in Orlando, FL *Friday and Saturday, 17-18 February 2017 – Yuma Hamfest in Yuma AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts * Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence KS, direct via KCØNFL The ISS callsign was NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Takuya Onishi KF5LKS Contact was Successful: Sat 2016-09-10 17:03:42 UTC 13 Questions Asked/Answered 300 People at the library, 91 watched the livestream online The event was covered by local Channel 6 News, KUJH (KU's tv channel), Girl Scouts (for their blog), and The Lawrence Journal World. * Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Astoria OR, was direct via KF7TCG now telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign was NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact was Successful: Sat 2016-09-10 17:03:19 UTC via W6SRJ 17 of 20 questions Asked/Answered. Approximately 50 in audience. Upcoming Contacts * C.E.PR. Almadén, Jaén, Spain, direct via EA7URJ or TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-09-15 08:14:19 UTC Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, Dave, AA4KN, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over K6R Coundtdown On September 16th, Wyatt, AC0RA, and myself will be getting on the boat in Ventura, CA with our destination set on CM93. We've been training all summer, finalizing equipment, setting skeds, and generally getting all the loose ends tied up, and we look to be ready to go. We have posted our Final pass schedule on the K6R QRZ page at https://www.qrz.com/lookup/K6R - so feel free to find a pass that is to your liking. We have tried hard to include everyone in our distance range on at least 1 or 2 passes. Of course all passes are dependent on weather, schedule, and other factors - and there's a very good chance we'll show up on passes that AREN'T on our list as well.. find a window, and see if we're around. We're also happy to announce that Jimmy, KK6FAH will be serving as our pilot relay station for the expedition. He's a fellow AMSAT operator, and has a QTH right in Ventura, and we should be in local repeater range of each other while we're on the Island. We have agreed to meet up each evening and report our logs to him, and he will then pass our report on to the BB. Please do not email him with questions about busted calls or the like, he's simply going to be passing on our reports. He's also been awesome in helping us with some local arrangements, and we appreciate his assistance with this project greatly. I'd also like to make a brief request for folks to use some good situational awareness while we're out there. We know this is a rare grid and there's tons of interest, but remember that the birds and pass time are a scarce resource. We're hoping with lots of scheduled passes there should be more than enough air time to get everyone worked that wants it, but use some common sense. If you have linear capability, find us on one of those birds, and leave SO-50 for the FM only operators. If you're on the West coast and can work us on a higher pass where the east coast doesn't have a footprint, consider delaying to give them a chance. If you can handle taking a night off from using SO-50 as your ragchew repeater in the sky, that'd be great too... and please try to keep the dupes to a minimum - you never know when someone is just sliding into the footprint and only has 30 seconds to make that precious QSO. Thanks in advance. Finally, we're planning to do a very informal round table on 20 meters Saturday night at 8:00 PDT. Clayton, W5PFG has agreed to find us a frequency (probably the upper portion of 20m) and send out a tweet on where we will be. We'd love to have you stop by on HF and chat about Satellite stuff, the expedition, or "Am I in the log?" that night. It's expedition go time. Hope to catch everyone from CM93! [ANS thanks Dave, KG5CCI 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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ANS-248 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 04 Sep '16

04 Sep '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-248 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: * Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D Schedule Under Review * ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Presentations * AMSAT Area Coordinators List On-Line * Aves Island update * Canadian Satellite Grid Expedition * Multiple Satellite Grid Activations SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-248.01 ANS-248 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 248.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. September 4, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-248.01 Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D Schedule Under Review As a consequence of the anomaly during the static fire test of the SpaceX Falcon 9 on September 1, 2016, the planned integration of Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D on the Spaceflight SHERPA has been postponed. AMSAT will provide updates regarding the schedule for Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D activities when further information is available. [ANS thanks Jerry, N0JY, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Presentations The ARRL/TAPR DCC (Digital Communications Conference) will be held in St. Petersburg, FL September 16 - 18, 2016. Saturday Night Banquet Speaker will be Brennan Price, N4QX, ARRL CTO (Chief Technology Officer) speaking on the topic "New Frontiers in Wireless: Challenges to and Opportunities for Amateur Radio" Sunday Seminar will be conducted by Michelle Thompson, W5NYV with Bob McGwier, N4HY, Chief Scientist, Hume Center for National Security and Technology as a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as Aerospace and Ocean Engineering. Sunday's Seminar topic will be, "Spectrum (It's the frequency crunch for real)" The DCC Technical Forum Schedule is being finalized, however a couple times slots may be available. If you would like to present a Technical Topic at the DCC, but haven't submitted a technical paper in advance please email the TAPR Office at: taproffice(a)tapr.org with the topic of your presentation. More information is available at http://www.tapr.org/dcc [ANS thanks TAPR and ARRL for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Area Coordinators List On-Line Are you an AMSAT Area Coordinator? Are you looking for an AMSAT Area Coordinator? Would you like to become an AMSAT Area Coordinator? If you answered yes any of these questions, then we are ready to help you. I have just placed (with the list maintained by Patrick, WD9EWK) the current list of AMSAT Area Coordinators on the amsat.org webpage. You can peruse it at your leisure and if you find someone close to you that you would like to get some help from, you can drop that Area Coordinator an email at his callsign @ amsat.org If you see a need for a correction or addition, please drop an email to Patrick, WD9EWK, at his amsat.org email address. Oh, where can you actually find the list? http://www.amsat.org then click on AMSAT in the menu bar and you will see Area Coordinators. [ANS thanks AMSAT Director of Field Operations Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, and Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Aves Island update Steve, W4DTA/YV5DTA, sent out the following 'Official Press-Release' on August 24th: The Amateur Radio Association of Venezuela, Sectional "Santiago de Leon de Caracas" regrets to inform the entire amateur radio community of Venezuela and the world, that the Bolivarian Armada of Venezuela has notified us that for reasons outside of the DXpedition team control that the expedition to Aves Island to be held in commemoration of Navy Day 2016, by the end of this August and early September has been put on hold until further notice. Then later in the day Steve sent out: "YX0V is very thankful for all of the donations, emails, and calls received regarding the operation. They are still working hard, and the team is ready to go when the Navy says go. At the moment weather is a big factor at the moment with two tropical storms near YV0. [ANS thanks Steve, W4DTA/YV5DTA and Southgate ARN for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Canadian Satellite Grid Expedition GRID EXPEDITION TO EO91 (Moosonee, ON). Ken, VE3HLS, announced a Grid EX- pedition to Moosonee, ON, Canada, which is in EO91. He will be arriving early afternoon on Friday, September 23rd, and leaving late afternoon Monday, September 26th. That gives him four days to put EO91 on the air via the Satellite. Moosonee is a Cree village located on the Moose River, which empties into James Bay, about 15 km downstream. By land, Moosonee is only accessible by train; The Polar Bear Express that runs from Cochrane, ON. It's also accessible by air at much greater expense. He will be driving to Cochrane and taking a few days to get there which will enable him to activate other grids along the way, such as FN06, FN07, FN08, EN98 and EN99. Look for updates on his Twitter page at: https://twitter.com/@VE3HLS [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1280 for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Multiple Satellite Grid Activations Between 5 September and 11 September Bob Liddy, K8BL, travel from Ohio north to Sault St. Marie and make a loop through the following Grids: EN76/86/87/88/98/99/89/79/78/77 Operation will be on FO29, SO50 and AO7. Bob reports that he may check out a couple XW's before he leaves to see if he can work them as well. On linear satellites Bob can usually be found about 15 KHz up from center. [ANS thanks Bob, K8BL, 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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