ANS January 2019

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ANS-013 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 13 Jan '19

13 Jan '19

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-013 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 50th Anniversary Awards Program * Fox-1 CubeSat Model Kits Available * CubeSat Airborne Science Payload Standard * UWE-4 CubeSat frequency change request approved * HamSCI 2019 Workshop Set for March in Cleveland, Call for Papers Issued * Nominations Solicited for Six ARRL Awards * AMSAT Argentina Special Event * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-013.01 ANS-013 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 013.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. January 13, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-013.01 AMSAT 50th Anniversary Awards Program The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (as AMSAT is officially known) was formed March 3, 1969 as a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered in the District of Columbia. Since its founding, AMSAT has designed, constructed, and, with the added assistance of international government and commercial agencies, successfully launched, 20 Amateur Radio satellites into Earth orbit. To help celebrate 50 years of Keeping Amateur Radio in Space, AMSAT is proud to announce the AMSAT 50th Anniversary Awards Program. Throughout 2019, your satellite and HF QSOs can help you achieve one of these special awards: + 50th Anniversary AMSAT OSCAR Satellite Communications Achievement Award + 50th Anniversary AMSAT Satellite Friends of 50 Award + AMSAT on HF 50th Anniversary Award 50th Anniversary AMSAT OSCAR Satellite Communications Achievement Award (Limited Edition) Unlike the AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award, the 50th Anniversary AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award will be issued on one of the original goldenrod paper stock certificates and signed by AMSAT's founding President, Perry Klein, K3TJE (now W3PK). With only 20 original certificates available, this award will certainly become a collector's item. The first 20 applicants to successfully submit 20 confirmed, qualifying contacts on any satellite will receive this award. A qualifying contact is defined as the establishment of two-way communication on any amateur radio satellite, with another station in a U.S. state, Canadian call area, or DXCC entity, no two of which may be the same. + All contacts must be made between March 03, 2019 00:00 UTC and December 31, 2019 23:59 UTC. + A U.S. state shall mean any state of the United States and the District of Columbia. + The 14 Canadian call areas are VE1 - Nova Scotia, VE2 - Quebec, VE3 - Ontario, VE4 - Manitoba, VE5 - Saskatchewan, VE6 - Alberta, VE7 - British Columbia, VE8 - Northwest Territories, VE9 - New Brunswick, VO1 - Newfoundland, VO2 - Labrador, VY0 - Nunavut, VY1 - Yukon, VY2 - Prince Edward Island. + Only one qualifying contact is allowed for each U.S. state, Canadian call area, and DXCC entity. + Qualifying contacts may not be counted for multiple types of entities. As an example, a QSO with Alaska counts as an additional state or DXCC entity, not both. + Contacts must be made from same location, or from locations, no two of which are more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) apart. + Previous recipients of the AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award, may apply for the 50th Anniversary AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award. The cost for this award is $25, plus postage. Certificates will be mailed upon receipt of payment. Certificates will be sequentially numbered. To apply for an 50th Anniversary AMSAT OSCAR Satellite Communications Achievement Award, you must email the AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards [kk5do (at) amsat (dot) org]. This email must include: + The name of the award you are applying for as the subject line. + Your name as you wish is to appear on your issued certificate + Your AMSAT member number. If you are not an AMSAT member, then state so. + Attachment(s) providing proof of your qualifying contacts. Acceptable proof of each qualifying contacts is limited to scanned copies of a QSL card or a screen capture/printout of your LoTW confirmation. Acceptable email file attachments include .jpg and .png. You may also paste the images in a Word or Adobe PDF document. After your email application has been accepted and approved, you will receive a reply email instructing you how to make your payment on the AMSAT Online Store. Your certificate will then be sent to you, using the shipping address you used with your online payment. 50th Anniversary AMSAT Satellite Friends of 50 Award To achieve this award, you must work 50 amateur radio operators on any satellite (limit of 1 contact per day) during 2019. There is no requirement for operating at the same location for all contacts, as long as your home call sign is used somewhere in the operating call sign (e.g. KK5DO/MM, KK5DO/VE5, etc.). The cost for this award is $15, plus postage. Certificates will be mailed upon receipt of payment. There will be no sequence number on the certificate. To apply for this award, visit the AMSAT 50th Anniversary Award section in the AMSAT Online Store and select the 50th Anniversary AMSAT Satellite Friends of 50 Award. In the comment section, enter or copy and paste the required log information, which must include: (1) Date, (2) UTC time, (3) Satellite name, and (4) Station worked. EXAMPLE: 20190115 1835 AO-91 VE3ABC Once you are satisfied with your entry, select PURCHASE and complete your payment method. AMSAT on HF 50th Anniversary Award To achieve this award, you must work at least one AMSAT Member on any HF band, in any mode. In addition, there are additional level of this award, based on the number of AMSAT Members you contact on the HF bands: + One AMSAT member contacted earns the basic OSCAR-1 award + Seven AMSAT members contacted earns the AO-7 endorsement + Twenty-Nine AMSAT members contacted earns the FO-29 endorsement + Fifty AMSAT members contacted earns the SO-50 endorsement + Ninety-Two AMSAT members contacted earns the AO-92 endorsement + Two Hundred AMSAT members contacted earns the ISS endorsement AMSAT member members are encouraged to call "CQ AMSAT 50" on any HF band/mode. The minimum exchange is your call, signal report, and your membership number. Life members use LM and your number. Cost is $15, plus postage. Certificates will be mailed in early 2020. There will be no sequence number on the certificate. To apply for this award, visit the AMSAT 50th Anniversary Award section in the AMSAT Online Store and select the 50th Anniversary AMSAT Satellite Friends of 50 Award. In the comment section, enter or copy and paste the required log information, which must include: (1) Date, (2) UTC time, (3) Band, (4) Mode, (5) Station Worked, and (6) their AMSAT number. EXAMPLE: 20190115 1835 20 CW W1ABC 1234 Once you are satisfied with your entry, select PURCHASE and complete your payment method. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT-NA VP of User Services for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox-1 CubeSat Model Kits Available Through the dedicated work of John Kludt, K4SQC, and Stefan Wagener, VE4NSA, AMSAT can again offer a 1:1 scale cardboard model of the Fox-1 CubeSat. It is life size, and based on the latest Fox-1 engineering drawings for highest fidelity in design and appearance. The model is printed in color on heavy stock paper, includes all components, and the instructions are carefully prepared to allow for easy assembly requiring scissors, glue etc. Depending on experience, assembly will take approximately 10+ hours. The complete model will be a perfect addition to any satellite operator's shack, and a chance to show visitors what is being done by AMSAT today. All proceeds will go to supporting AMSAT's satellite projects. Price is $40 + shipping. https://www.amsat.org/product/fox-1-cubesat-model/ [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- CubeSat Airborne Science Payload Standard As part of a new initiative, the Cal Poly CubeSat Lab is working with NASA Ames Research Center to prototype a standardized mounting system for testing CubeSat-based systems on aircraft (incl. UAVs) and balloons. We are seeking collaborators interested in airborne testing payloads, components, or complete systems, that could provide use- cases and assist in defining interface requirements. This Project has the potential to allow for expanded opportunities for payload development and testing. We would like your input as we design and develop this system and have put together a google form with a ten short questions that would help us derive our system requirements in the coming weeks. For more information visit: https://tinyurl.com/ANS013-AirborneScience [ANS thanks Cal Poly CubeSat Lab via Dave Pignatelli for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- UWE-4 CubeSat frequency change request approved After two weeks in orbit, UWE-4 is in very good shape. The batteries are fully charged, the temperatures of the batteries, the outside panels and the MCU are all lying in the expected range. It has been observed that the battery temperatures are slightly rising around 8:45 am, when the downlink of this measurement took place. After the early orbit phase, we are looking forward to some interesting experiments with the attitude determination sensors and the propulsion system. Unfortunately, our uplink success rate is very poor, which currently prevents these experiments. In the precursor mission UWE-3, it was found that the reason for this is very likely a substantial noise floor at the used frequency range. For this reason, we filed a request for the change of our radio frequency to 435.600 MHz with IARU, which has already been approved. January 10, we will started the procedure to change the frequency of UWE-4. So if you want to track UWE-4, please adjust your center frequency accordingly. We already started the procedure to change the frequency on UWE-4, so during the next days it may happen that you can also still receive a signal on our old frequency. Additionally, we have been assigned NORAD ID 43880 in the meantime. A tool in order to upload the received UWE-4 telemetry directly into our groundstation database is a work in progress and will be shared with you as soon as we have tested it thoroughly. Until then, we would be very grateful, if you'd forward your UWE-4 telemetry files to uwe4(a)informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de. [ANS thanks the The UWE-4 Team via Trevor M5AKA for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- HamSCI 2019 Workshop Set for March in Cleveland, Call for Papers Issued The 2019 HamSCI Workshop will take place March 22 - 23 at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio, in association with the CWRU Amateur Radio Club (W8EDU). Registration is now open, and papers are invited. "We are especially looking for speakers with presentations showing analysis of ionospheric observations, ideas and proposals for the design of the Personal Space Weather Station and instrumentation for the 2024 eclipse," HamSCI's Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, said. "We will also accept other presentations related to Amateur Radio and science." If you would like to present, email your abstract to hamsci(a)hamsci.org by February 10, 2019. The theme for this year's conference will be "Ionospheric Effects and Sensing," including the use of Amateur Radio techniques to characterize and study ionospheric phenomena such as traveling ionospheric disturbances, sporadic E, response to solar flares, geomagnetic storms, the 2024 total solar eclipse, and other space weather events. Discussion will include continued development of the HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station and integration of Amateur Radio into the collegiate curriculum. Featured speakers will include well-known Amateur Radio author Ward Silver, N0AX, propagation specialist Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, and Larisa Goncharenko, who will talk on Space Science for Ham Radio Operators. The workshop is hosted by CWRU in collaboration with New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). [ANS thanks ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nominations Solicited for Six ARRL Awards The ARRL invites nominations for awards that recognize educational and technological pursuits in Amateur Radio. Nominations are also open for ARRL's premier award to honor a young licensee - the Hiram Percy Maxim Award. The Hiram Percy Maxim Award recognizes a radio amateur and ARRL member under age 21 whose accomplishments and contributions are of the most exemplary nature within the framework of Amateur Radio activities. Nominations for this award need to be made through your ARRL Section Manager, who will then forward the nomination to ARRL Headquarters by March 31, 2019. The ARRL Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award honors an ARRL volunteer Amateur Radio instructor or an ARRL professional classroom teacher who uses creative instructional approaches and reflects the highest values of the Amateur Radio community. The award highlights quality of - and commitment to - licensing instruction. Nominations are due by March 15, 2019. The ARRL Microwave Development Award pays tribute to a radio amateur or group of radio amateurs who contribute to the development of the Amateur Radio microwave bands. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2019. The ARRL Technical Service Award recognizes a radio amateur or group of radio amateurs who provide Amateur Radio technical assistance or training to others. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2019. The ARRL Technical Innovation Award is granted to a radio amateur or group of radio amateurs who develop and apply new technical ideas or techniques in Amateur Radio. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2019. The Knight Distinguished Service Award was established to recognize exceptionally notable contributions by a Section Manager to the health and vitality of ARRL. The nomination deadline is April 30, 2019. The ARRL Board of Directors selects recipients for these awards. Winners are typically announced following the Board's July meeting. More information about these awards is on the ARRL website, or contact Steve Ewald, WV1X, telephone (860) 594-0265, at ARRL Headquarters. [ANS thanks ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Argentina Special Event During 'the weekend of the lussat', from Saturday-19 to Sunday-January 20, 2019 (2 days), Amsat-Lu, several radio clubs and collaborators will deliver to a contact commemorative contact The 29th anniversary of the lussat-1, 1St Argentine satellite. It will operate in 80/40/6 m / 2 M / 23 cm in FM, SSB, CW, j3e, psk31, ft-8, packet, Sstv-R36 and via active amateur satellites. It will be called 'Lux Collaborating Station of amsat Argentina, awarded qsl commemorative for the 29th anniversary of the lussat'. Celebrating His stay in space our lussat continues to broadcast after 29 years a strong pressed carrier, recibible in 437.125 Khz. + /- Doppler. See schedules of steps at http://amsat.org.ar/pass?satx=LUSAT [ANS thanks Ricardo LU4ARU for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations Super Road Trip (Wyoming to Tennessee to Florida to Wyoming) - January 9, 2019 until he gets back home Starting Jan. 9th, RJ, WY7AA, will be traveling from Wyoming to Tennessee to Florida, to New York and back to Wyoming, staying approximately 10 days in each place and activating grids whenever he can. First stop Tennessee - EM86, and will try to rove to EM85, EL87, and EL96. Next on to Florida - EL98, and will try to rove to EL88, EL89, and EL99. And then on to New York - FN02, and try to rove to FN01, FN03, FN11, FN12, and FN13 Traveling between each place, RJ will try to stop and work as he can, but putting down miles will take priority most often. In addition, RJ will be trying to operate mobile from time to time. FM birds for sure, but will be trying to learn linears while on the trip. Specific pass announcements will be posted to his Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/WY7AA) and to the AMSAT-bb reflector. Oregon (DN04) - January 11, 2019 Casey, KI7UNJ, will make a quick trip to DN04 on January 11th. Passes will be FM only: 17:36z AO-92; 18:34z AO-91; 19:09z AO-92; 20:09 AO-91; and 20:24z SO-50. Keep an eye on Casey's Twitter feed for further announcements https://twitter.com/KI7UNJ Central California (CM95, CM96, DM05, DM06) - January 12, 2019 David, AD7DB, will be in the area of Kettleman City CA near a convergence of four grids, operating on FM satellites. Grids (maybe gridlines) will depend on the satellite passes. Operation expected from 1700 UTC through 2300 UTC. Updates will be on Twitter as the time approaches: https://twitter.com/ad7db Quartzfest Arizona (DM23) - January 19-27, 2019 John, N7JY, will be operating FM satellites on a holiday schedule. He may also visit some adjoining grids. There will likely be other hams operating from the event, located a few miles south of Quartzsite AZ. QSL via LOTW, or you can send your card with SASE Las Vegas NV and Northwest AZ (DM25, DM26, DM36) - January 20-22, 2019 David, AD7DB, will be in Las Vegas at DM25/26 line, operating on FM satellites on a holiday schedule. In addition, weather permitting, sometime on Monday 01/21/19 he will make a side trip to Beaver Dam AZ to activate from DM36aw. Updates will be on Twitter as the time approaches: https://twitter.com/ad7db Labrador (GO11) - January 20-22, 2019 VE3FU, VO1HP, and VE9CB will be participating in the CQ160 CW Contest from the Point Amour Lighthouse in Labrador (GO11), which will be held 2200Z January 25 - 2200Z January 27, 2019. This is important, because, if time permits they will be active on AO-85, AO- 91, and AO-92 passes before the contest. Call signs are expected to be VO2AC and VO2AAA. Note: this is just preliminary information. Keep your eye on https://twitter.com/chrisve3fu and https://www.qrz.com/db/vo2ac for possible updates. Nevada (DM15, DM16, DM17, DM18, DM25, DM26, DM27, DM28, DM37, DM36) - February 8-11, 2019 Casey KI7UNJ and Jonathan KI5BEX are planning a joint roving trip to Nevada, February 8-11, 2019. Planned activations include the DM15/16/25/26 grid corner Friday morning, the DM16/26 gridline Friday afternoon, DM17/18 gridline Saturday morning, DM27/28 gridline Saturday evening, DM27/37 gridline Sunday morning, and DM36/37 gridline Sunday evening. This will be FM only. All contacts uploaded to LoTW upon return. Check out @KI7UNJ Twitter feed for specific passes https://twitter.com/KI7UNJ and follow them on aprs.fi KI7UNJ-7. Turks and Caicos Islands (FL31) - February 28 - March 9, 2019 Adrian, AA5UK, will be heading to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands from Feb 28th through March 9th, 2019. He will be operating holiday style on HF and Satellites as VP5/AA5UK from grid FL31UU14. Focus will be on the linear satellites, with some FM activity depending on pile-up civility. Hope to work some European stations as location favors the East. Pass announcements will be made via Twitter: https://twitter.com/AA5UK and periodically via amsat-bb. Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org Updated January 9, 2019 See https://www.amsat.org/satellite-info/upcoming-satellite-operations/ [ANS thanks Robert KE4AL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + 2019-01-08 15:28 UTC between Astronaut David St-Jacques KG5FYI using ISS callsign NA1SS and Pembroke Junior Senior High School, Corfu, NY, USA. Contact was telebridge via LU8YY. ARISS Mentor was Steve W2AKK. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule There are no contacts scheduled for the upcoming week. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Shorts From All Over + SatNOGS Dashboard The SatNOGS Dashboard project makes crowd-sourced dashboards which visualize data that has been collected and decoded through the Sat- NOGS Network and SatNOGS DB. Links to production dashboards already created can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/SatNogs-Telemetry SatNOGS is using InfluxDB and Grafana for their telemetry dashboards. InfluxDB is a time-series database designed to be efficient for time-series data like the telemetry collected in SatNOGS. Additional documentation is provided on the SatNOGS Wiki pages: https://wiki.satnogs.org/Telemetry_Dashboards [ANS thanks LibreSpace Community/SatNOGS] + Satellite DXPedition News for AMSAT Philippe, EA4NF will be active from MONACO as 3A/EA4NF during February 15-18,2019 on FM and SSB satellites. QSL via LoTW [ANS thanks Philippe EA4NF for the above information.] + All About Ham Satellites Feature at Hackaday Al Williams has put together togetherbab series on Hackaday All About Ham Satellites. Visit: https://hackaday.com/2019/01/07/all-about-ham-satellites/ [ANS thanks Hackaday.com for the above information] + SmallSat Symposium 2019 Highlights SmallSat Symposium 2019 promises something for everyone, including 19 Sessions, 3 Keynotes, 3 Technology Briefs and many networking opportunities. For details visit https://mailchi.mp/satnews/smallsat19_1-200613?e=e3b56a3ebc [ANS thanks Simon Payne for the above information] + US Islands Awards Program Now Accepting Sat QSOs Sean Kutzo KX9X recently tweeted that "...the Us Islands portable #hamradio awards program has modified their rules to allow satellite contacts, effective January 1, 2019! More units to activate on satellite. Check out http://usislands.org for details!" [ANS thanks Sean KX9X for the above information.] + PicSat Cubesat Mission The PicSat team has made available to all a paper about their cubesat and the mission. Access the full paper here: https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.02677 (PicSat via Twitter) [ANS thanks PicSat via Twitter 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-006 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne K9JKM 06 Jan '19

06 Jan '19

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-006 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. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * Recurring Donations Feature Added to AMSAT.org * D-STAR ONE Launched, Telemetry Received * Ham Talk Live Podcast Featuring W6RO Satellite Operation * PW-Sat2 Deorbit Sail Deployment - On-Board Camera Footage * JAMSAT NEXUS V/U Mode-J CubeSat Scheduled to Launch January 17 * Australian National Scout Jamboree - AJ2019 * DL50AMSAT Callsign IG HamSpirit Satellite Weekend January 18-20 * VUCC Awards-Endorsements for December 2018 * AMSAT South Africa Dual-Band VHF/UHF Yagi * Upcoming Satellite Operations * AMSAT at Thunderbird Hamfest in Glendale AZ, 12 January 2019 * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-006.01 ANS-006 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 006.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE January 6, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-006.01 Recurring Donations Feature Added to AMSAT.org Would you like to donate to AMSAT and/or ARISS but can only afford a little at a time? Even small amounts help, especially as they add up over time! You can now use AMSAT’s recurring donations on the new donation portal at https://www.amsat.org/donations/ This is a great way for everyone to donate $5-10 a month over time to make a significant contribution. Thank you for helping keep amateur radio in space. [ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- D-STAR ONE Launched, Telemetry Received German Orbital Systems reports a successful telemetry downlink has been received. Their web page http://www.d-star.one/ reports D-Star ONE Sparrow and D-Star ONE iSat were successfully launched on Dec- ember 27 as part of an ECM smallsat cluster on the Soyuz-2/Fregat from Russia's Vostochny launch site. Additional details can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-006-DSTAR-ONE During the first orbits, beacons were received in the US, Germany, Czech Republic and Belarus, confirming the successful separations of the satellites on their target orbit 585 km, 97.73 deg, SSO. D-Star ONE Sparrow and D-Star ONE iSat are a pair of 3U cubesats which are equipped with four identical radio modules with D-Star capabilities, all being operated in a half-duplex mode. At press time DSTAR One Sparrow was planned to be used for amateur radio. DK3WN received the first telemetry on December 29, 2018 with more signals received by Scott, K4KDR and Vladimir, EU1SAT. Check the German Orbital Systems web page for LEOP status and satellite availability for contacts. D-Star ONE Sparrow operates as a half duplex repeater: Callsign: DP1GOS Uplink: 437.325 MHz Downlink: 435.525 MHz RF-Power: 800-1200 mW Telemetry: 435.700 MHz 4k8 GMSK Mobitex (CMX990 Mobitex Format) The telemetry format is documented at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-006-DSTAR-ONE-Telemetry A telemetry decoder is available at: http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?page_id=29535 Technical details for radio amateurs is posted at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-006-DSTAR-ONE-Amateur A D-Star voice message beacon transmits once a minute. All mod- ules are operated in a power save mode. This means that they are in idle for 40 seconds and then in receive mode for 20 seconds. Once a signal has been received, the modules switch to receive mode for five minutes. So it might be necessary to "ping" the satellite a couple of times until an answer is received. Object #43879 continues to be a likely fit for tracking at present. [ANS thanks German Orbital Systems for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ham Talk Live Podcast Featuring W6RO Satellite Operation If you missed the January 3 Ham Talk Live show featuring Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, Endaf Buckley, N6UTC, and David Akins, N6HHR, discussing amateur radio and satellite operation on the RMS Queen Mary you can play back a recording of this episode at: https://www.spreaker.com/show/ham-talk-live then select Episode 147 - Aboard the Queen Mary, W6RO. Patrick and Endaf recently made a trip to the ship to do satel- lite operations, so they will report on that special event. David will fill us in on the history of the ship's radio room and the routine amateur radio operations from W6RO. Ham Talk Live is also available as a podcast on nearly all podcast sites: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, SoundCloud, and iHeart Podcasts; and it's also available on YouTube. [ANS thanks Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, and Ham Talk Live for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- PW-Sat2 Deorbit Sail Deployment - On-Board Camera Footage PW-Sat2, the second Polish student satellite, also launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 SSO-A flight with AMSAT Fox-1Cliff, is a student project with the goal to test a new deorbit sail. The sail was deployed on December 29, 2018. On-Board camera footage of the event can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fbMzI9w4MM Amateur radio operators are invited to take part in this mission. Dashboard software to receive, decode and upload PW-Sat2 frames to the PW-Sat2 cloud is available on their website: https://radio.pw-sat.pl/ The team has posted additional information at: https://github.com/PW-Sat2/HAMRadio/wiki PW-Sat2 transmits on 435.275 MHz using 1k2 and 9k6 BPSK AX25. [ANS thanks the PW-Sat2 team for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ For a limited time, new and renewing AMSAT members will receive a free digital copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Join or renew your AMSAT membership today at https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-membership/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ JAMSAT NEXUS V/U Mode-J CubeSat Scheduled to Launch January 17 The Japan AMSAT Association (JAMSAT) and students at the Nippon University are jointly developing a CubeSat called NEXUS which will have a 145 to 435 MHz (Mode-J) transponder and a 38 kbps data downlink. Nippon University students have previously developed the SEEDS and SPROUT satellites. NEXUS is an acronym of “Next Education X (cross) Unique Satellite”, it will be 1U CubeSat with a mass of between 1 and 1.5 kg. The NEXUS cubesat will: + Provide amateur radio communications via the 145/435 MHz transponder and SSTV + Download pictures from the 640×480 pixel camera + Operate the data downlink at 38400 bps QPSK + Compare the performance of the data downlink when using AFSK, GMSK and QPSK modes NEXUS will be launched from the JAXA Uchinoura Space Center located in Kagoshima Prefecture on January 17, 2019 (JST) aboard an Epsilon rocket together with OrigamiSat-1 and AOBA-Velox-IV into a 500 km sun sync- hronous orbit. Linear transponder ------------------ Uplink: 145.900-145.930 MHz (CW/LSB) Downlink: 435.880-435.910 MHz (CW/USB) CW/Data: 435.900 MHz & 437.075 MHz Callsign: JS1YAV Separation from the rocket is planned for T + 4100 seconds after launch at which time NEXUS will be powered on. CW telemetry infor- mation will commence transmission 16 minutes, 40 seconds following power up. The NEXUS team has posted a PDF document in English describing the planned initial operations, telemetry format, and preliminary TLEs at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-006-Nexus-Initial-Ops NEXUS website in Google English http://tinyurl.com/NEXUS-Satellite NEXUS Blog http://tinyurl.com/NEXUS-Sat-Blog JAMSAT in Google English http://tinyurl.com/JAMSAT Read the AMSAT-UK posting at: https://amsat-uk.org/2014/08/24/nexus-cubesat-mode-j-transponder/ [ANS thanks JAMSAT and Nippon University for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian National Scout Jamboree - AJ2019 Between January 4-14, 2019, 8400 Scouts from every Australian state plus representatives from 18 nations will converge in Tailem Bend in South Australia to participate in the 25th Australian Scout Jamboree - AJ2019. Their special event station will be active using VI25AJ. The special event station is expecting to showcase Amateur Radio to approximately 2000 scouts over the duration of the Jamboree. They will be active on the satellites as well as HF bands (SSB and digital modes), IRLP and EchoLink. They are looking for amateurs to give them a call during the Jamboree to help give the scouts an amazing experience - and perhaps take up the hobby on their return home. Full schedule, modes and planned frequencies will be posted at: https://www.qrz.com/db/vi25aj [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information.] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT and ARISS are currently supporting a FundRazr campaign to raise $150,000 for critical radio infrastructure upgrades on ISS. The upgrades are necessary to enable students to continue to talk to astronauts in space via Amateur Radio. We have reached a great milestone with $16,795 raised or about 10% towards our goal. This would not have been possible without your outstanding generosity!! For more information and to DONATE TODAY visit: https://fundrazr.com/arissnextgen?ref=ab_e7Htwa_ab_47IcJ9 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ DL50AMSAT Callsign IG HamSpirit Satellite Weekend January 18-20 The IG HamSpirit Satellite Weekend January 18-20 will feature the new AMSAT-DL callsign DL50AMSAT on the air from Saxony on the Czech border. Also planned are antenna construction and testing projects and testing satellite tracking programs on a variety of operating systems. IG HamSpirit hosts several radio events during the year with this event dedicated to amateur satellite operating. AMSAT-DL says you can track the event on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #satelliteweekend [ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- VUCC Awards-Endorsements for December 2018 Ron, W5RKN has provided the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period December 1, 2018 through January 1, 2019. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! CALL 01Dec 01Jan KO4MA 1627 1656 WC7V 1159 1160 W5RKN 634 660 WD9EWK 513 525 NS3L 350 375 PV8DX 313 360 AE5B 300 342 N3GS 300 332 K8BL 252 257 PT9BM 176 203 AD0HJ 175 200 KK4YEL 102 200 N7AGF 175 200 K9UO 150 175 AD0DX 101 167 W4AQT 125 153 PU8RFL 134 146 PS8MT 130 145 PU8MRS 100 127 LW2DAF 110 115 WD9EWK(DM23) New 104 F6GLJ New 103 WI4T New 101 AI9IN New 100 If you find errors or omissions please contact Ron off-list at <W5RKN>@<W5RKN>.com and he'll revise the announcement. This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for December 1, 2018 and January 1, 2019. It's a visual comparison so omissions are pos- sible. Apologies if your call was not mentioned. Thanks to all those who are roving to grids that are rarely on the birds. They are doing most of the work! [ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT South Africa Dual-Band VHF/UHF Yagi News from South Africa announces AMSAT SA is offering a dual-band VHF/UHF antenna. AMSAT SA is indebted to Dr Gary Immelman ZS6YI who has donated 200 units with all proceeds going to the AMSAT SA Kletskous and AfriCUBE projects. The antenna has two elements on 145 MHz and 3 elements on 435 MHz. The Yagi has a unique element called a 'Open Sleeve' which is a director very close to the driven element. The driven element is sized for 2M. When operating on 70cm the 'Open Sleeve' acts as part of the driven element on 70cm (Third harmonic of 2M). The original concept was developed in 1946 by Dr J T Bolljahn of the Stanford Research institute but was not introduced into amateur radio until the 1950s. The AMSAT SA version is based on a design by DK7ZB with modifications by WB5CXC. The first South African version was a collaboration between Guy Eales, ZS6GUY and Dr Gary Immelman, ZS6YI. It was developed for YOTA 2018 where young people successfully used the antenna oper- ating satellites using hand-held transceivers. Although currently only available in South Africa, interested ama- teur radio operators can access detailed specifications and photos at: http://www.amsatsa.org.za/DualbandYagi.htm [ANS thanks AMSAT SA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations + Central California (CM95, CM96, DM05, DM06, DM07, DM08, DM17, DM18) January 5-6, 2019 - Ron, AD0DX will be roving in Central California. He plans to activate the DM06/DM16 grid line Saturday morning, the DM 07/DM08/DM17/DM18 grid corner Saturday afternoon, and the CM95/CM96/DM05/DM06 grid corner on Sunday. Keep an eye on the @ad0dx Twitter feed for more updates https://twitter.com/ad0dx + Super Road Trip (Wyoming to Tennessee to Florida to Wyoming) January 9, 2019 until he gets back home - Starting Jan. 9, RJ, WY7AA, will be travelling from Wyoming to Tennessee to Florida, to New York and back to Wyoming, staying approximately 10 days in each place and activating grids whenever he can. - First stop Tennessee – EM86, and will try roving to EM85, EL87, EL96. - Next on to Florida – EL98, and will try roving to EL88, EL89, EL99. - Next on to New York – FN02, and try try roving to FN01, FN03, FN11, FN12, FN13 Travelling between each place, RJ will try to stop and work as he can, but putting down miles will take priority most often. In addition, RJ will be trying to operate mobile from time to time. FM birds for sure, but will be trying to learn linears while on the trip. Specific pass announcements will be posted to his Twitter feed: (https://twitter.com/WY7AA) and to the AMSAT-bb reflector. + Central California (CM95, CM96, DM05, DM06) – January 12, 2019 David, AD7DB, will be in the area of Kettleman City CA near a convergence of four grids, operating on FM satellites. Grids (maybe gridlines) will depend on the satellite passes. Operation expected from 1700 UTC through 2300 UTC. Updates will be on Twitter as the time approaches: https://twitter.com/ad7db + Quartzfest Arizona (DM23) – January 19-27, 2019 John, N7JY, will be operating FM satellites on a holiday schedule. He may also visit some adjoining grids. There will likely be other hams operating from the event, located a few miles south of Quartzsite AZ. QSL via LOTW, or you can send your card with SASE. + Las Vegas NV and Northwest AZ (DM25, DM26, DM36) – January 20-22, 2019 David, AD7DB, will be in Las Vegas at DM25/26 line, operating on FM satellites on a holiday schedule. In addition, weather permitting, sometime on Monday 01/21/19 he will make a side trip to Beaver Dam AZ to activate from DM36aw. Updates will be on Twitter as the time approaches: https://twitter.com/ad7db + Nevada (DM15, DM16, DM17, DM18, DM25, DM26, DM27, DM28, DM37, DM36) February 8-11, 2019 - Casey KI7UNJ and Jonathan KI5BEX are planning a joint roving trip to Nevada. Planned activations include the DM15/16/25/26 grid corner Friday morning, the DM16/26 gridline Friday afternoon, DM17/18 gridline Saturday morning, DM27/28 gridline Saturday evening, DM27/37 gridline Sunday morning, and DM36/37 gridline Sunday evening. This will be FM only. All contacts uploaded to LoTW upon return. Check out @KI7UNJ Twitter feed for specific passes https://twitter.com/KI7UNJ and follow them on aprs.fi KI7UNJ-7. + Turks and Caicos Islands (FL31) – February 28 – March 9, 2019 Adrian, AA5UK, will be heading to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands from Feb 28th through March 9th, 2019. He will be operating holiday style on HF and Satellites as VP5/AA5UK from grid FL31UU14. Focus will be on the linear satellites, with some FM act- ivity depending on pile-up civility. Hope to work some European stations as location favors the East. Pass announcements will be made via Twitter: https://twitter.com/AA5UK and periodically via amsat-bb. Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 2019 is AMSAT's 50th Anniversary! Watch this space for announcements of special events coming in 2019 Get ready to help celebrate with us at the Hamvention Symposium 2019 promises to be a special event Stand by for 50th anniversary operating events and awards +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT at Thunderbird Hamfest in Glendale AZ, 12 January 2019 Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK will have an AMSAT booth at the Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club's Thunderbird Hamfest 2019 on Saturday, 12 Jan- uary 2019. The hamfest will be at a new site, at the Glendale Nazarene Church on the corner of 59th Avenue and Cactus Road in Glendale, Ari- zona. More information about the hamfest is available at: http://www.w7tbc.org/content.php?348-hamfest During the hamfest, Patrick will have demonstrations of satellite operating. If you hear WD9EWK on any passes, please call and be a part of the demonstrations. The hamfest is located in grid DM33, Maricopa County. All QSOs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World after the hamfest. If you would like to receive a QSL card for working WD9EWK during the hamfest, please e-mail Patrick directly with the QSO details. If you are in his log, he will send you a QSL card. Patrick will post updates from the hamfest on his @WD9EWK Twitter account. If you do not use Twitter, you can still see these updates in a web browser at: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK [ANS thanks Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + DK3WN reports that the 145.825 MHz APRS digipeater on NO-84 (PSAT) has been re-enabled and is available for operations. The digipeater is turned off for a recharging period when telemetry shows battery voltage is low. http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=92041 + AO-73 (FUNcube-1) is now back to "Educational" mode after the holiday period (Transponder ON when in eclipse, with low power telemetry; High power telemetry when illuminated in sunlight.) Please keep tracking and sending in telemetry as the FUNcube team tries to better understand the spin effects over the next few months of full orbit sun. (AMSAT-UK) + AMSAT and radio amateurs extend best wishes and thank you to Alain, IZ6BYY and Claudio, IK1SLD for 17 years of service to the amateur space community on their ISSFanClub.com web site. ISSFanClub.com closed down on January 1, 2019. Alain wrote, "I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Thank you for your visits and your attention". + A new ISS fan presence has been started at http://issfanclub.eu/ Blog entries from January 3 and 4 are posted. Many of the pages are under construction in the new format. + CQ-DATV Magazine for January 2019 is available for download at: https://cq-datv.mobi/67.php Among the several features the article "Arduino SimpleSat Rotor Controller" by Tom Doyle, W9KE may be of particular interest to AMSAT satellite stations. Tom's controller uses the Yaesu GS232 command set to control a Yaesu G5500 AzEl rotor. The controller was designed to be compatible with the SatPC32 tracking program and should work with any tracking program that supports the Yaesu GS232 format. (CQ-DATV Magazine via e-mail) + The Nashua Area Radio Society, N1FD has written a blog about their work in supporting Hudson Memorial School (HMS) in their bid to secure and hold an ISS Crew Contact. https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/01/iss-crew-contact-journey/ + An NPR radio news feature discusses, "What's Next For Tiny Satellites?". about NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab's Marco cubesats that accompanied the InSight lander mission to Mars. JPL says their next cubesat mission will be a solar sail flight to a near Earth asteroid. Read and listen at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-006-NPR-CubeSat-News + Good coverage for amateur radio and amateur satellites appeared in the Shropshire Star newspaper's ooverage of the Wellington Young- sters on the Air event, that saw young people talking to others from across the world, all under expert supervision. It was one of the events organised by Telford and District Amateur Radio Society to help attract younger people to the world of 'ham' radio. Read the article at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-006-UK-YOTA (AMSAT-UK) + Bookings for the AMSAT SA Space Symposium are now open. The Symposium will be held on Saturday, March 16, 2019 at the Accolade Conference Centre in Midrand, South Africa. The rate will be R400 per person for AMSAT SA and SARL members and R600 for non-members. There is an early bird rate of R350 for AMSATSA and SARL Members, if booked and paid for by February 28, 2019. Accommodation is also available at the hotel at R855 plus VAT. More details on www.amsatsa.org.za + A calendar of upcoming astronomical events, launches, and space- craft operations available as Google or iOS calendars: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-006-NYTimes-Astro-Calendar + Greg, W4GHW, program coordinator for the Coastal Plains ARC, sent a request for a presentation on any amateur satellites at their club. They meet in Tifton, Georgia on the second Saturday of each month. If you can help please e-mail Greg at w4ghw(a)arrl.net + A paper is available for downloading which may be of interest regard- ing telemetry: "Easy-to-Build Satellite Beacon Receiver for Propa- gation Experimentation at Millimeter Bands" can be accessed at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-006-Millimeter-Telemetry + There are some amateur radio connections with the New Horizons probe which had a successful flyby of Ultima Thule on January 1. Lee, KT4TZ worked on the launch in 2006. Dan, N8FGV works on the New Horizons team now. [ANS thanks everyone for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73 and remember to behave and to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm at amsat dot org

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by JoAnne K9JKM 06 Jan '19

06 Jan '19

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ANS January 2019