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ANS-180 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Mark Johns, K0JM 28 Jun '20

28 Jun '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-180 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, 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 commun- icating 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(a)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: * AMSAT Symposium Proceedings Now Available to AMSAT Members * Ham Talk Live Episode on Satellite Etiquette * ASEE Presentation on CubeSatSim * CAS-6 Becomes TO-108, Added to AMSAT TLE Distribution * AMSAT Announces Candidates for 2020 Board of Directors Election * ARISS Volunteer VK5ZAI Named Member of the Order of Australia * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-180.01 ANS-180 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 180.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020 June 28 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-180.01 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT Symposium Proceedings Now Available to AMSAT Members All editions of the AMSAT Symposium Proceedings dating back to 1986 are now available as a benefit of AMSAT membership via the Member Resources section of our new membership portal at launch.amsat.org. If you're a current member and have not yet logged on to the portal, please do so to ensure that your information is accurate in the database and check out the online resources we have made available to all members, including Proceedings, all issues of The AMSAT Journal dating back to 2014, and a printable frequency chart listing currently available amateur satellites. If you're not a current member, now is a great time to sign up. Visit https://launch.amsat.org/ today! (ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President for the above information) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ham Talk Live Episode on Satellite Etiquette Popular internet podcast "Ham Talk Live!" this past week featured an episode on Satellite Etiquette. The podcast, which uses the format of a radio call-in show, streams live on Thursdays at 9 p.m. Eastern Time (0100z in the current Daylight Time regimine), can be replayed on You- Tube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF1FnCczwUikw1aKsTqMR9g as Episode 218. Podcast host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, conducted interviews with Kevin Zari, KK4YEL and Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Services about basic satellite operating etiquette as well as how to conduct satellite operations special event stations, such as roamers and during events such as Field Day. [ANS thanks @HamTalkLive on Twitter for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ CAS-6 Becomes TO-108, Added to AMSAT TLE Distribution The CAS-6 (TQ-1) microsatellite was launched December 20, 2019 on a CZ-4B launch vehicle from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China. CAS-6 (TQ-1) was developed by the Chinese Amateur Satellite Group (CAMSAT) and in cooperation with China’s commercial satellite manufac- turer. CAMSAT completed the design and manufacture of the amateur radio payload, and manages the on-orbit operation of the payload. The satel- lite carries CW and digital telemetry beacons and a linear transponder. The deployment of the amateur antennas was delayed due technical and COVID-19 issues, but was completed on June 20, 2020. Currently the beacons are carriers only, and the transponder operates with about 2 seconds on and 5 seconds off. At the request of CAMSAT and the CAS-6 team, AMSAT hereby designates CAS-6 (TQ-1) as TQ-OSCAR 108 (TO-108). We congratulate the owners and operators of TO-108, thank them for their contribution to the amateur satellite community, and wish them continued success on this and fu- ture projects. Frequencies for the intended radio amatuer mission are: • CW Telemetry Beacon: 145.910 MHz • AX.25 4.8kbps GMSK Telemetry: 145.890 MHz • U/V Linear Transponder Downlink: 145.925 MHz, 20 kHz bandwidth • U/V Linear Transponder Uplink: 435.280 MHz, Inverted Operator reports indicate that the transponder is active only for brief intervals of about 2 seconds, spaced approximately seconds apart. With patience, and quick transmissions, QSOs have been completed. CAS-6 (NORAD Cat ID 44881) has been added to the AMSAT distributions of Two Line Element (TLE) sets beginning from June 25, 2020. Watch for possible future changes to the satellite name in future TLEs. [ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT VP Operations & OSCAR Number Administrator; Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager; and Alan Kung, BA1DU, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEE Presentation on CubeSatSim At this week's American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) virtual national conference, AMSAT's VP of Educational Relations, Alan Johns- ton, Ph.D., KU2Y, presented a paper on the use of the AMSAT CubeSatSim in the classroom. His paper "The CubeSat Mini Project: Experiences with an Introductory Freshman Electrical and Computer Engineering Course" described the use of the CubeSatSim in the spring of 2019 at Villanova University. In addition to building CubeSatSims, the students also built tape mea- sure Yagi-Uda antennas, tracked amateur radio satellites, and listened to morse code telemetry using SDRs. The CubeSatSim is a low cost sat- ellite emulator that runs on solar panels and batteries, transmits UHF radio telemetry, has a 3D printed frame, and can be extended by addi- tional sensors and modules. It can be built for about $200. Details about the design and use of the simulator are in a series of articles in the AMSAT Journal. More information on the AMSAT CubeSatSim is available at https://cubesatsim.org or by contacting Alan at ku2y at amsat dot org or on Twitter @alanbjohnston. [ANS thanks Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT VP Educational Relations for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Announces Candidates for 2020 Board of Directors Election The nomination period for this year's AMSAT Board of Directors election ended June 15. The following candidates have been found to have their membership in good standing and their nomination credentials in order: Howard DeFelice, AB2S Mark Hammond, N8MH Jeff Johns, WE4B Robert McGwier, N4HY Bruce Paige, KK5DO Paul Stoetzer, N8HM This year, AMSAT will be electing three voting members of the Board of Directors. These will go to the three candidates receiving the highest number of votes. In addition, there will be two alternates chosen, based on the next highest number of votes received. Further details regarding the mechanics of the election will appear in ANS in the near future. Ballots will be mailed to the AMSAT membership by July 15th based on a membership list that will be generated as early as July 1. Members are encouraged to use the AMSAT Membership Portal at launch.amsat.org to verify that their membership is in good standing and their mailing address is correct. [ANS thanks Brennan Price, N4QX, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition? Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store! 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ARISS Volunteer VK5ZAI Named Member of the Order of Australia Veteran Amateur Radio on the International Radio Station (ARISS) volun- teer Tony Hutchison, VK5ZAI, has been honored as a Member of the Order of Australia in Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday Honours List. Hutchison was recognized “For significant service to amateur radio, particularly to satellite and space communication.” The Australian Government’s Depart- ment of the Prime Minister and Cabinet noted that Hutchison is one of 10 official ARISS telebridge stations to the International Space Sta- tion, as well as a HamTV ground station. Hutchison’s station has served as the ham radio contact point for ISS crew members to speak with schools and groups on Earth via ham radio, when a contact location is not within the footprint of an ISS pass. The students connect via a teleconference line from their school to the telebridge station, and then with the astronaut using ham radio. Hutchison provided communication support for contacts with Australian astronaut Andy Thomas, VK5JAT/VK5MIR, during Thomas’s tour on the Rus- sian Mir space station, and he enabled the first school contact with Mir in 1993. As part of ARISS, he helped 65 schools prepare for ARISS contacts and used his telebridge station for 58 ARISS contacts through- out the world. He is a member of AMSAT-VK. “Tony’s been an ARISS mentor for years, and was lead of Australia’s mentors,” ARISS-International Secretary Rosalie White, K1STO, said. “He enjoyed talking to the Mir crews long before.” White said that Hutchison, who is in his early 80s, remains involved in the ARISS pro- gram. Licensed in 1960, Hutchison became interested in satellite com- munication in 1965 with OSCAR-3. “Although I received the honour, I would like to share it with all team members I work with,” Hutchison said. “If it wasn’t for the work that all the ARISS-International volunteers do, this award would never have been given.” An investiture ceremony is tentatively set for this fall. [ANS thanks ARRL for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS NEWS Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide. [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team men- tors for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations Upcoming Roves: Quick Hits: CM86, 6/26. W6KSR: Will be on a few passes on Friday from CM86, EM19, 6/27 & 6/28 KE9AJ : Will be at the farm with FM and Linear gear. FM25 and Maybe FM26, @KM4LAO Now though 6/28. Ruth will be at the beach, no schedule yet! EM58/EM59, 6/29 @KX9X will be heading out to the grid line between 14:00 and 22:00. Watch his twitter feed for updates. <- Updated EM57 & EM67 (Saturday 7/11 & 7/12) N4DCW <-Change of grids! FN45 & FN46, VE2FUA, 7/12 & 7/13: Chris is heading out to a little known state (to rovers at least) called Maine. Might want to get him while he is there. Major Roves: @WY7AA is heading out again!!! Starting July 13th DN63 (Some Day passes) DN64 fir a few days of fly fishing then DN55 – DN68, and getting home on July 31st…. DL88: Ron (@AD0DX) and Doug (@N6UA) are making another run at the elu- sive DL88 in Big Bend National Park, TX. As we know they tried this grid back in March, and due to the mud couldn’t get to the grid, so never ones to quit, off they go again. Today the tentative date is Monday July 6th, 2020. They will be using the K5Z call sign. More in- formation is available at the K5Z QRZ Page. Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com [ANS thanks Paul Overnfor, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meet- ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been cancelled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. Current schedule: * Shelby NC Hamfest (Contact N4HF for info or if you want to help.) Phil Jenkins, N4HF, is planning to present a forum – and set-up/man an info table – at the Shelby NC Hamfest Friday/Saturday Sept 4 & 5. (the ‘fest runs Sept 4-6, but he’ll probably only be there Friday and Saturday). Demos possible if additional volunteers step up. A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download from: https://bit.ly/2ygVFmV This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded into a tri-fold handout. To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration, please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Rohit Bokade, VU3OIR, has started a petition requesting a change to the Amateur Radio license in India to permit all grades of license to use the amateur radio satellites. In India, holders of the Restricted grade of license (VU3 prefix) are not permitted to use amateur radio satellites or communicate with the International Space Station. (ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information) + NASA's Perseverance rover is getting ready to launch to Mars in July, and it'll carry some very special messages with it. We already knew about the 11 million names and the statement "explore as one" writ- ten in Morse code. NASA revealed last week it'll also take a tribute to health care workers all the way to the red planet. The Persever- ance team installed a small aluminum plate showing Earth on top of a serpent-wrapped rod, a nod to the ancient Rod of Asclepius symbol for medicine. NASA said the plaque commemorates the impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic and pays tribute to the perseverance of health care work- ers around the world. (ANS thanks cnet.com for the above information) + NASA has agreed to allow its astronauts to fly on reused Crew Dragon spaceships and Falcon 9 boosters beginning as soon as SpaceX’s third launch of a crew to the International Space Station, a mission expec- ted to launch next year. The space agency has modified its contract with SpaceX to permit reuse of spacecraft and rocket hardware. NASA had not previously approved the use of previously-flown spacecraft and rockets on missions carrying the agency’s astronauts into orbit. NASA said the contract modification allows for the extension of the Crew Dragon’s Demo-2 test flight — which launched May 30 with astro- nauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, KE5GGX — from two weeks to up to 119 days. (ANS thanks SpaceflightNOW for the above information) + NASA announced this week that it will rename its Washington headquar- ters after its first black female engineer, Mary Jackson, whose story was told in the hit film "Hidden Figures." Jackson was a research mathematician who was later promoted to become the agency's first black female engineer. The move by NASA comes as weeks of protests in the United States have sparked a national reckoning about systemic racism and racial inequality. (ANS thanks Space Daily for the above information) + Congratulations to Drew Blasbrenner, KO4MA, who has been awarded the first AMSAT issued GridMaster Award (#11)! The GridMaster award is available to all amateurs worldwide who submit proof with confirma- tion of contacts with each of the 488 maidenhead grids located within the contiguous United States of America. Contacts must be confirmed in writing, preferably in the form of QSL cards or via Logbook of the World (LoTW). This award was first introduced by Star Comm Group in 2014. AMSAT thanks Damon Runion, WA4HFN, and Rick Tillman, WA4NVM, for not only sponsoring this award since its inception, but, also, entrusting AMSAT with the honor of carrying on this important award for the benefit of the entire AMSAT community. (ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director, Contests & Awards, for the above infor- mation) + The San Diego Microwave Group will hold a Zoom meeting this Monday, June 29 at 7 p.m. U.S. Pacific Time (0200 UTC on June 30) with a pre- sentation by Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, concerning challenges of plac- ing an amateur microwave payload in space. Microwave on the ISS was raised as a possibility this past week from the ARISS/AREx hardware summit meetings. The San Diego Microwave Group meeting is a regular technical roundtable on amateur microwave activities, questions, op- erations, and experiments. Join Zoom Meeting ID: 819 2711 2936 using Password: 487697. (ANS thanks AMSAT Board Member Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, for the above information). + Congrats to Joe Werth, KE9AJ, and Burt Demarcq, FG8OJ, for setting a new distance record on XW-2B on June 20. This was also the longest QSO recorded on any of the XW-2 series of satellites. FG8OJ located at FK96ig17, to KE9AJ at DM79IQ47 is 4,978 km. (ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, AMSAT Executive Vice-President, 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 help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Mark D. Johns, K0JM k0jm at amsat dot org

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ANS-173 AMSAT New Service Weekly Bulletin
by KI7UNJ Tucker 21 Jun '20

21 Jun '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-173 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, 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 commun- icating 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: * AMSAT Announces Candidates for 2020 Board of Directors Election * AMSAT Announces GridMaster Award * CAS-6 Online * Amicalsat - Aurora Pictures * Raspberry Pi FUNcube Satellite Telemetry Decoder Now Available * ORI Announces ARRL Foundation Grant Award * ORI Announces YASME Foundation Grant Award * 38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Moving to Virtual Event * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-173.01 ANS-173 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 173.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE June 21, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-173.01 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT Announces Candidates for 2020 Board of Directors Election The nomination period for this year's AMSAT Board of Directors election ended June 15. The following candidates have been found to have their membership in good standing and their nomination credentials in order: Howard DeFelice, AB2S Mark Hammond, N8MH Jeff Johns, WE4B Robert McGwier, N4HY Bruce Paige, KK5DO Paul Stoetzer, N8HM This year, AMSAT will be electing three voting members of the Board of Directors. These will go to the three candidates receiving the highest number of votes. In addition, there will be two alternates chosen, based on the next highest number of votes received. Further details regarding the mechanics of the election will appear in ANS in the near future. Ballots will be mailed to the AMSAT membership by July 15th based on a membership list that will be generated as early as July 1. Members are encouraged to use the AMSAT Membership Portal at launch.amsat.org to verify that their membership is in good standing and their mailing address is correct. [ANS thanks Brennan Price, N4QX, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Announces GridMaster Award Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director and Contest and Awards Manager, announced AMSAT is now the official sponsor of the GridMaster Award, effective June 15, 2020. This award was first introduced in 2014 by the Star Comm Group. AMSAT thanks Damon Runion, WA4HFN, and Rick Tillman, WA4NVM, for not only developing and sponsoring this award since its inception, but, also, entrusting AMSAT with the honor of carrying on this important award for the benefit of the entire AMSAT community. The GridMaster Award is available to all amateurs worldwide who submit proof with written confirmation of contacts with each of the 488 maidenhead grids located within the 48 contiguous United States of America. Two-way communication must be established via amateur satellite with each grid. There is no minimum signal report required. Contacts must be made from the same location, or from locations no two of which are more than 200 kilometers apart. The applicant’s attestation in the award application serves as affirmation of abidance to the distance rule. There are no endorsements and no recognized tiers of progression; however, amateur operators may apply for and be granted multiple GridMaster awards, when operating from separate and unique 200-kilometer circles. A numbered and dated certificate will be awarded to each person who qualifies for the award at no cost. In addition, awardees may purchase an engraved plaque to commemorate their achievement. Since its introduction, ten amateur satellite operators have claimed the title of Grid Master: 01 John Papay, K8YSE 02 Doug Papay, KD8CAO 03 Rick Tillman, WA4NVM 04 Glenn Miller, AA5PK 05 Clayton Coleman, W5PFG 06 Alvaro De Leon R., XE2AT 07 Fernando Ramirez, NP4JV 08 Ron Oldham, N8RO 09 Randy Kohlwey, WI7P 10 Frank Westphal, K6FW So, who will be awarded AMSAT's GridMaster Certificate No. 11? Are you up for the challenge? Please visit amsat.org/gridmaster/ for further details. [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- CAS-6 Online The CAS-6 V/UHF antenna has been deployed today. Due to some OBC failures, CW beacon and GMSK telemetry are not working properly. At present, only the carriers are transmitted on the two frequencies, the linear transponder has been put into operation. We will then try to diagnose and then determine whether the CW and telemetry data stream transmission can be recovered. CW Telemetry Beacon: 145.910MHz AX.25 4.8kbps GMSK Telemetry: 145.890MHz U/V Linear Transponder Downlink: 145.925MHz, 20kHz bandwidth, Inverted U/V Linear Transponder Uplink: 435.280MHz TLE: CAS-6(2019-093C) 1 44881U 19093C 20170.81187924 -.00001118 00000-0 -13581-3 0 9991 2 44881 97.9575 246.8556 0015830 36.2280 323.9959 14.81412013 26893 [ANS thanks Alan Kung, BA1DU for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT's GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for deployable solar panels, propulsion, and attitude control. Come along for the ride. The journey will be worth it! https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Amicalsat - Aurora Pictures The Vega rocket (VV16) was scheduled to launch from Kourou on 19 June 2020 01:51:10 GMT with 53 satellites on board. Due to wind conditions this launch has been delayed until at least 21 June. One of the satellites that will be leaving is the Amicalsat satellite built by the CSUG (Centre Spatial Universitaire Grenoblois). The measurements made by the satellite will be available to all. They will allow radio amateurs to use them for propagation predictions. The project's website (in English) has just been put online: http://amicalsat.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/. The Amsat-Francophone supported this project: http://site.amsat-f.org/amicalsat/ Software (Linux & Windows) is provided for decoding the telemetry and sending it to the database (SatNogs). The user manual is available (in English) https://tinyurl.com/Amicalsat-User-Manual *Beacon* *Frequency* *Modes* *Callsign* UHF 436.1 MHz AFSK 1200 RS17S S band 2,415.3 MHz GFSK 1000 kb/s http://amsat-f.org/AMSATLIST/SatellitePage/UK/0Amicalsat.html Reports are welcome. Thank you for your help. [ANS thanks Christophe Mercier, AMSAT-F Chairman for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Raspberry Pi FUNcube Satellite Telemetry Decoder Now Available The FUNcube Team has announced the availability of FUNcube CubeSat sat- ellite telemetry decoder software for the popular Raspberry Pi computer board. The original FUNcube telemetry decoder and Dashboard was designed to run on Windows devices and the FUNcube team did publish the telemetry format in accordance with the Amateur Satellite Service traditions and requirements. The Team had planned to opensource the Telemetry Decoder and provide an implementation on Linux, but several new missions after the original FUNcube-1 delayed their plans somewhat. Late 2019, the Team had the opportunity to develop a low power/low im- pact ground station, based on Docker containers, for use at the Neu- mayer III Antarctic base at DP0GVN. This led us to evolve the code such that it would run on a Raspberry Pi. The Linux implementation is suitable for use on Raspberry Pi versions from 2B+ to 4 and with a FUNcube dongle (Pro or Pro+). The software will tune a dongle to search for and track all three FUNcube compatible spacecraft currently operational. The Telemetry Decoder is configured with five active decoders operating concurrently so it can deal with situations where more than one of the spacecraft are overhead at the same time. The decoder and warehouse uploader run as a Docker container for con- venience shell scripts have been provided to launch the container in one of two modes: • “Interactive Mode” is when the Telemetry Decoder operates in the fore- ground , when FUNcube compatible telemetry is received, the correspond- ing hex data is displayed on the terminal screen. • “Background Mode” allows the telemetry decoder to run as a Docker image in the background where it operates much like any other back- ground service on Linux. This mode allows for the automatic restarting of the telemetry decoder after a shutdown or reboot of the Raspberry Pi, therefore making it suitable for a remote deployment situation. *Both modes, when connected to the internet, will upload the received data to the FUNcube Data Warehouse and the totals displayed on the Ranking Page in the normal manner. *Uploading to the warehouse requires online registration with the FUN- cube Data Warehouse. All the code for the telemetry decoder, and the scripts to build the Docker images, are now published online under a GPL Open Source License at the FUNcube-Dev GitHub account https://github.com/funcube-dev Alternatively, it possible to buy a pre-formatted microSD card for the Pi from the AMSAT-UK shop at https://shop.amsat-uk.org/ Full instructions PDF can be downloaded from https://tinyurl.com/RPi-FUNcube-Decoder FUNcube Data Warehouse http://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/missions [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ORI Announces ARRL Foundation Grant Award ORI, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to open source research and development in amateur radio, has been awarded a $3,000 grant from the ARRL Foundation. This grant, the maximum amount, will be immediately applied to Phase 1 of the Digital Multiplex Transponder research and development program. This grant allows hardware prototypes for broad- band microwave digital payloads to proceed much more quickly. Established in 1973 by the American Radio Relay League, Inc. (ARRL) as an independent and separate 501(c)(3) organization, the ARRL Foundation administers programs to support the Amateur Radio community. Funded entirely by the generous contributions of radio amateurs and friends, ARRL Foundation administers programs for Amateur Radio award scholarships for higher education, award grants for Amateur Radio projects, and award special Amateur Radio program grants for The Victor C. Clark Youth Incentive Program and The Jesse A. Bieberman Meritorious Membership Program. [ANS thanks Michelle Thompson, W5NVY, CEO and Director, ORI for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ORI Announces YASME Foundation Grant Award ORI, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to open source research and development in amateur radio, has been awarded a $30,000 grant from the Yasme Foundation. This grant completes the Phase 1 fundraising campaign and allows ORI’s communications prototype work for geosynchronous and interplanetary amateur radio satellites to proceed. The Yasme Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation organized to support scientific and educational projects related to amateur radio, including DXing (long distance communication) and the introduction and promotion of amateur radio in developing countries. Yasme supports various projects relating to amateur radio, with an emphasis on developing amateur radio in emerging countries and encouraging youth participation in amateur radio. The Yasme Foundation makes supporting grants to individuals and organizations providing or creating useful services for the amateur radio community. Regardless of originality or novelty, Yasme supports these programs in order to further the development of amateur radio around the world. [ANS thanks Michelle Thompson, W5NVY, CEO and Director, ORI for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Moving to Virtual Event The 38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting in-person event scheduled to be held in Bloomington, Minnesota has been canceled. The event will be shifted to a virtual, online platform. This comes after a decision made between AMSAT's Senior Leadership and Board of Directors in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While AMSAT recognizes the national challenges related to recent events in Minneapolis, they have no bearing on the Symposium decision whatsoever. We anticipate holding the 2021 Annual Space Symposium at the previously announced 2020 venue. The in-person event was scheduled to occur Friday, October 16 through Sunday, October 18. As the 2020 virtual event plans are developed, they will be announced via the usual AMSAT channels. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations + Quick Hits DN65/66 (Sunday 6/22/2020) N7EGY + Major Roves: DL88: Ron (@AD0DX) and Doug (@N6UA) are making another run at the elusive DL88 in Big Bend National Park, TX. As we know they tried this grid back in March, and due to the mud couldn't get to the grid, so never ones to quit, off they go again. Today the tentative date is Monday July 6, 2020. They will be using the K5Z call sign. More information is available at the K5Z QRZ Page. https://www.amsat.org/satellite-info/upcoming-satellite-operations/ Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org [ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ARISS News ARISS lets students worldwide experience the excitement of talking directly with crew members of the International Space Station, inspir- ing them to pursue interests in careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and engaging them with radio science technology through amateur radio. No upcoming events reported The ARISS team continues to test and firm up a plan to transform ARISS contacts and how ARISS interacts with youth and education institutions. ARISS will provide distance learning with every student and staff mem- ber in their own homes (even quarantined). [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been canceled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. *No events currently scheduled A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download from: https://bit.ly/2ygVFmV This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded into a tri-fold handout. To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration, please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Diwata-2 (PO-101) has been active daily to provide emergency access during the COVID-19 pandemic. Check https://twitter.com/Diwata2PH for the daily activation schedule [ANS thanks DIWATA-2 Ground Team for the above information] + The following satellite has decayed from orbit and has been removed From this week's AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution: 1KUNS-PF - NORAD Cat ID 43466 (Decayed from orbit June 11, 2020 per Space-Track). + A new organization, the National Radio Society of Ireland (NRSI) has has been newly founded this year, 2020. Membership is open to all amateur radio operators and shortwave listeners who are either full- time residents or who have, in the past, spent a minimum of two months in Ireland as a visitor. NRSI became member association of the European Radio Amateurs' Organization (EURAO) on June 11. For details, see https://www.nrsi.ie [ANS thanks EURAO 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 help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ ki7unj at amsat dot org

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ANS-162 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - 38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Moving to Virtual Event
by Paul Stoetzer 10 Jun '20

10 Jun '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-162 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: * 38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Moving to Virtual Event SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-162.01 ANS-162 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 162.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE June 10, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-162.01 38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Moving to Virtual Event The 38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting in- person event scheduled to be held in Bloomington, Minnesota has been canceled. The event will be shifted to a virtual, online platform. This comes after a decision made between AMSAT's Senior Leadership and Board of Directors in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While AMSAT recognizes the national challenges related to recent events in Minneapolis, they have no bearing on the Symposium decision whatsoever. We anticipate holding 2021's Annual Space Symposium at the previously announced 2020 venue. The in-person event was scheduled to occur Friday, October 16th - Sunday, October 18th. As the 2020 virtual event plans are developed, they will be announced via the usual AMSAT channels. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office 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. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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ANS-159 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Paul Stoetzer 07 Jun '20

07 Jun '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-159 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, 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 commun- icating 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: * Newly Revised 2020 Digital Edition of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available * Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Team in the United States Creates a New Organization: ARISS-USA * AMSAT President's Statement on Creation of ARISS-USA * Back Issues of The AMSAT Journal Available to AMSAT Members * AO-73 Now in Full-Time Transponder Mode * VUCC Awards-Endorsements for June 2020 * KG5FYJ Assigned to Upcoming ISS Mission * A New Way to Obtain GP Data (aka TLEs) * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Satellite Shorts from All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-159.01 ANS-159 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 159.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE June 7, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-159.01 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Newly Revised 2020 Digital Edition of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available The 2020 edition of AMSAT's "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" is now available on the AMSAT store. A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite operation. This definitive reference is written for the new satellite operator, but includes discussions for the experienced operator who wishes to review the features of amateur satellite communications. The new operator will be introduced to the basic concepts and terminology unique to this mode. Additionally, there are many practical tips and tricks to ensure making contacts, and to sound like an experienced satellite operator in the process. The book is presented in DRM-free PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite. Joining the cover art for the first time this year is a depiction of the next generation of AMSAT satellites - AMSAT's GOLF series of 3U CubeSats. The digital download is available for $15 at https://tinyurl.com/2020GettingStarted [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Team in the United States Creates a New Organization: ARISS-USA In late May, the USA team of the ARISS International working group became an incorporated non-profit entity in the state of Maryland, officially becoming ARISS-USA. This move allows ARISS-USA to work as an independent organization, soliciting grants and donations. They will continue promoting amateur radio and STEAM—science, technology, engineering, arts, and math within educational organizations and inspire, engage and educate our next generation of space enthusiasts. ARISS-USA will maintain its collaborative work with ARISS International as well as with US sponsors, partners, and interest groups. The main goal of ARISS-USA remains as connecting educational groups with opportunities to interact with astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). ARISS-USA will expand its human spaceflight opportunities with the space agencies, beyond low Earth orbit, starting with lunar opportunities including the Lunar Gateway. ARISS-USA will continue to review and accept proposals for ISS contacts and expand its other educational opportunities to increase interest in space sciences and radio communications. Becoming an independent organization has been discussed for quite some time. ARISS-USA lead Frank Bauer, KA3HDO said “The scope and reach of what ARISS accomplishes each year has grown significantly since its humble beginnings in 1996. Our working group status made it cumbersome to establish partnerships, sign agreements and solicit grants. These can only be done as an established organization.” Bauer further elaborated, “The ARISS-USA team remains deeply indebted to our working group partners—ARRL and AMSAT, who enabled the birth of ARISS—and our steadfast sponsors, NASA Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) and the ISS National Lab (INL).” ARISS-USA aims to keep earning high regards from all these partners and sponsors. While ARISS-USA is now an incorporated non-profit entity, we are in the process of applying for tax exemption as a Section 501(c)(3) charitable, scientific or educational organization. Until that status is approved by the USA Internal Revenue Service, donations made directly to ARISS-USA will not be tax deductible for taxpayers in the USA. Those wanting to make a tax deductible donation for the benefit of ARISS-USA can, in the meantime, continue to make donations to ARISS sponsor AMSAT-NA through the ARISS website at: www.ariss.org. As ARISS-USA begins a new era as a human spaceflight amateur radio organization, it acknowledges those who were so instrumental in the formation of human spaceflight amateur radio. These include Vic Clark, W4KFC and Dave Sumner, K1ZZ from the ARRL; Bill Tynan, W3XO and Tom Clark, W3IO from AMSAT; Roy Neal, K6DUE a major guide for SAREX and ARISS; and NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, W5LFL. Also remembered is Pam Mountjoy, NASA education, who had the vision to develop the ARISS working group as a single amateur radio focus into the space agencies. All of these giants’ shoulders are what ARISS-USA rests upon. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT President's Statement on Creation of ARISS-USA Announced June 5, 2020, ARISS-USA has been formed as a non-profit corporation to operate independently of The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT). Since the formation of Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) in the mid-1990s, AMSAT has been a consistent supplier of technical expertise, funding, and operational logistics. AMSAT will work with ARISS-USA to ensure a smooth transition for operations and funding. Over the years, as the scope and activity of ARISS grew, AMSAT continued its financial backing in times of need, providing hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund projects and operations. Many of AMSAT’s members are an integral part of the ARISS team. The human spaceflight element of AMSAT’s vision has been realized through these contributions. I offer my best wishes to ARISS-USA for a successful future. 73, Clayton W5PFG AMSAT President [ANS thanks Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, AMSAT President, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Back Issues of The AMSAT Journal Available to AMSAT Members All issues of The AMSAT Journal dating back to 2014 are now available to AMSAT members on AMSAT's new membership portal. The 1969-2013 archive will be added at a later date. Stay tuned for additional member benefits coming soon. If you're a current AMSAT member, get logged on today. If you are not yet a member, consider joining today. https://launch.amsat.org/ [ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President, and Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Services for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT's GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for deployable solar panels, propulsion, and attitude control. Come along for the ride. The journey will be worth it! https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AO-73 Now in Full-Time Transponder Mode After some eight months in continuous sunlight, AO-73 (FUNcube-1) has now started to see some eclipses during each orbit. The telemetry received has shown that the spacecraft continued to function perfectly during this period and the on board temperatures did not reach excessively high levels. After this became clear, our next concern was the battery. Having been kept fully charged for this period, would it actually hold a charge and do its job when in eclipse? After three weeks of increasing eclipse periods we can now see that indeed the Li battery appears to be ok and the bus voltage has not yet dropped below 8.1 volts. So today we have changed the operating mode from high power telemetry educational mode to continuous amateur mode with the transponder ON. The telemetry continues to be available, albeit at low power. We will, of course, continue to carefully monitor the data but are planning to leave the spacecraft in this mode for at least the next week. Please enjoy using it! [ANS thanks Graham Shirville, G3VZV, of the FUNcube Team, and AMSAT-UK for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ VUCC Awards-Endorsements for June 2020 Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period May 1, 2020 through June 1, 2020. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! CALL May June W5CBF 564 657 K9UO 565 575 KI7UNJ New 510 WA9JBQ 250 275 W4DTA 240 261 W4ZXT 202 252 KE0WPA 152 200 W5CBF(EM21) 179 184 DL4ZAB 172 178 KE4BKL 101 125 N4BAF 100 118 AA0CW New 105 N5EKO New 102 W8EH New 101 W8EH New 100 KN4GQB New 100 KX9X New 100 W9TTY New 100 If you find errors or omissions. please contact me off-list at <mycall>@<mycall>.com and I'll revise the announcement. This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for the two months. It's a visual comparison so omissions are possible. 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] -------------------------------------------------------------------- KG5FYJ Assigned to Upcoming ISS Mission NASA has assigned astronaut Kate Rubins, KG5FYJ, to a six-month mis- sion to the International Space Station as a flight engineer and member of the Expedition 63/64 crew. Rubins, along with cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, are scheduled to launch Oct. 14 on the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakh- stan. Among some of the hundreds of experiments ongoing during her mission, Rubins will conduct research using the Cold Atom Lab to study the use of laser-cooled atoms for future quantum sensors, and will work on a cardiovascular experiment that builds on an investigation she completed during her previous mission. NASA selected Rubins as an astronaut in 2009, she was licensed as a Technician class amateur in 2015, and she completed her first space- flight in 2016 as an Expedition 48/49 crew member. She launched July 6, 2016, and spent 115 days in space, during which she conducted two space- walks totaling 12 hours and 46 minutes before her return to Earth Oct. 29, 2016. During her stay on the space station, Rubins helped advance i mportant science and research and became the first person to sequence DNA in space. Born in Farmington, Connecticut, and raised in Napa, California, Rubins received a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology from the University of California, San Diego, in 1999 and a doctorate in cancer biology in 2005 from Stanford University School of Medicine’s Depart- ment of Biochemistry and Department of Microbiology and Immunology in Palo Alto, California. Before joining NASA, Rubins worked as a fellow/ principal investigator at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Re- search in Cambridge and headed 14 researchers studying viral diseases that primarily affect Central and West Africa. [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ A New Way to Obtain GP Data (aka TLEs) The US government has provided GP or general perturbations orbital data to the rest of the world since the 1970s. These data are produced by fitting observations from the US Space Surveillance Network (SSN) to produce Brouwer mean elements using the SGP4 or Simplified General Perturbations 4 orbit propagator. Many of you are familiar with this data in the form of TLEs or Two- Line Element Sets. TLEs were designed to provide the minimum data necessary to propagate the orbit of a resident space object (RSO) at a time when both bandwidth for transmission or digital storage were extremely limited. In fact, at the time, transmission might be via fax, hard copy (postal delivery), or even read over the phone and storage was handled using punch cards or magnetic tape. While this format has served us well for many decades, it has not been without its share of problems. For example, the choice of a two-digit year caused many problems approaching Y2K—problems that were side- stepped by redefining what those two digits represented—but that Y2K problem persists fully 20 years into the 21st century. And now we are approaching another milestone where we will no longer be able to catalog all the objects we track within the 5-digit catalog number limitation of the TLE format. One of the key drivers forcing us to consider tracking more than 100,000 objects is the activation of the Space Fence on Kwajalein Atoll. The Space Fence reached initial operational capability (IOC) on 2020 Mar 27 and is expected to track far more than the ~26,000 objects currently tracked by the SSN—perhaps by as much as an order of magnitude. And we are expecting to see public availability of data from the Space Fence starting some time this summer (2020). The 18th Space Control Squadron (18 SPCS) has already transitioned internally to using 9- digit catalog numbers in support of these changes and we expect 18 SPCS to release data from the Space Fence using 9-digit catalog numbers. For the complete article, please see: https://celestrak.com/NORAD/documentation/gp-data-formats.php [ANS thanks Dr. T.S. Kelso of CelsTrak for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been canceled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. The following events scheduled to have an AMSAT presence have been CANCELED: June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Com, Plano, TX [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Services, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations Quick Hits: EN55: @KC9KKA Currently planning the somewhat elusive EN67 on June 12 for a couple passes and some POTA. EM98, EM98 and EM97: @NoTEL_0738, I will be in West Virginia from June 10-13. I will be in EM88/98 and possibly EM97. FM sats only. I will probably activate a couple different grids going to WV on June 9 and returning home on June 14 (no set plans). W6KSR (@W6KSR) He’s goin’ fishin’ end of this week in DM06. Be up there June 4th through 7th, working Panther Martin lures and FM satellites exclusively. CN81: Friday 6/5. @WB7VUF will be on AO91 and AO92 from 18:07 to 19:48 and may try SO50 FN54 and Maybe the FN44/54 line: KQ2RP/1 from June 6th to the 12th, Holiday style, listen for him on the FM birds. Hey you guys from the EU: @N4DCW be in EM56 June 5-7 with a semi- decent N-E horizon from his sister-in-law’s house. He will be on RS-44 and AO-7 looking for y’all. Major Roves: AD0DX is heading out again! Check out his QRZ page for details! Friday, June 12th: DM77, DM76 and DM75 Saturday, June 13th: DM65, DM75 Sunday, June 14th: DM66,DM67,DM76 and DM77 Corner DN98, 97, 96 & EN08,07,06,17,18,27 and 28: @AD0HJ North Dakota Mega Rove Part II: Another trip out to North Dakota between June 10th and June 14th to rove the grids I missed there (blue grids) two weeks ago. Look for a simplified pass schedule to be posted early next week. Ron (@AD0DX) and Doug (@N6UA) are making another run at the elusive DL88 in Big Bend National Park, TX. As we know they tried this grid back in March, and due to the mud couldn’t get to the grid, so never ones to quit, off they go again. Today the tentative date is Monday, July 6th, 2020. They will be using the K5Z call sign. More information is available at the K5Z QRZ Page. Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com [ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + FoxTelem / Fox-in-a-Box Tips: 1) Use a short USB extension cord to physically isolate your SDR dongle from the computer/Pi. There will be less mechanical stress, and a better electrical connection, which will give fewer errors. 2) If you use an RTL-SDR dongle (not really supported, but mostly works), don't turn on DUV and High Speed at the same time. You will get an error when the decoder starts. Note especially if you have it set up to start when the satellite comes over the horizon. [ANS thanks Chris Thompson, G0KLA/AC2CZ, AMSAT FoxTelem Developer, and Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, AMSAT Flight Software, for this information] + The Harbin Institute of Technology released a short cartoon video entitled "Longjiang-2: Journey to the Moon" about LO-94, the world's smallest spacecraft which entered lunar orbit independently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGi1aACPA4A&feature=youtu.be [ANS thanks the Harbin Institute of Technology for this information] + Kylee Shirbroun, KE0WPA, posted a short portion of the science fair video she made about amateur radio satellites. It can be found at https://twitter.com/kylee_ke0wpa/status/1267867729320534016 [ANS thanks Kylee Shirbroun, KE0WPA, for this information] + Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL, maintains a Doppler.sqf file for using active amateur satellites in SatPC32. It can be found at: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/Doppler.sqf + The AMSAT Folding at home team continues to climb the rankings. Now in the top 1,200 of all teams at the time of this writing, the team has grown to 44 members with 77 active CPUs within the past 50 days and includes ten members in the top 100,000 of all users. Alex Free, N7AGF, is our top contributor with over 92,000,000 points credited to AMSAT's team. For more information about the Folding at home project and how you can contribute to scientific research, including the fight against COVID-19, see https://foldingathome.org/. AMSAT's team number is 69710: https://stats.foldingathome.org/team/69710 --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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 help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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ANS-153 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - Newly Revised 2020 Digital Edition of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available
by Paul Stoetzer 01 Jun '20

01 Jun '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-153 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: * Newly Revised 2020 Digital Edition of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-153.01 ANS-153 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 153.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE June 1, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-153.01 Newly Revised 2020 Digital Edition of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available The 2020 edition of AMSAT's "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" is now available on the AMSAT store. A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite infor- mation, and is the premier primer of satellite operation. This definitive reference is written for the new satellite operator, but includes discussions for the experienced operator who wishes to review the features of amateur satellite communications. The new operator will be introduced to the basic concepts and terminology unique to this mode. Additionally, there are many practical tips and tricks to ensure making contacts, and to sound like an experienced satellite operator in the process. The book is presented in DRM-free PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite. Joining the cover art for the first time this year is a depiction of the next generation of AMSAT satellites - AMSAT's GOLF series of 3U CubeSats. The digital download is available for $15 at https://tinyurl.com/2020GettingStarted [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office 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. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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ANS-152 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Mark Johns, K0JM 31 May '20

31 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-152 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, 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 commun- icating 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(a)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: * Temporary Rule Waivers Announced for 2020 ARRL Field Day * IARU-R2 Workshop Videos Available * Digital Mode Experiments Conducted on Linear Satellites * SpaceX Launches Successfully Toward ISS * Moonbounce Contact via FT8 Could be a First * Mid-Altitude Balloon Race Planned for June 1 * ARISS News * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-152.01 ANS-152 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 152.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020 May 31 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-152.01 Temporary Rule Waivers Announced for 2020 ARRL/AMSAT Field Days ARRL Programs and Services Committee (PSC) has adopted two temporary rule waivers for the 2020 ARRL Field Day to adjust for Covid-19 re- strictions. An AMSAT parallel event is held at the same time, and the rules for that have been adjusted, as well. ARRL Field Day is one of the biggest events on the amateur radio cal- endar, with over 36,000 participants in 2019, including entries from 3,113 radio clubs and emergency operations centers. In most years, Field Day is also the largest annual demonstration of ham radio, be- cause many radio clubs organize their participation in public places such as parks and schools. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many radio clubs have made decisions to cancel their group participation in ARRL Field Day this year due to public health recommendations and/or requirements, or to significantly modify their participation for safe social distancing practices. The temporary rule waivers allow greater flexibility in recognizing the value of individual and club participation regardless of entry class. The waivers may be found at: https://bit.ly/3de5AJt The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own ver- sion of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held con- currently with the ARRL event. The rules for the AMSAT Field Day may be found at: https://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020fd.pdf This will mean that there will be another group of certificates for AMSAT Field Day: The top three stations operating from home with com- mercial power. The problem is with those operating from home attaching their scores to a club. Because AMSAT only allows one satellite station to be oper- ating at a time, if you are going to attach your satellite contact to a club, only ONE home station can attach per club. This will keep the playing field rather equal as there are areas where there is only one satellite op around and other areas where there are dozens of satellite ops. It would be unfair for an area with a dozen satellite ops to pool all their home contacts towards one club. Even if satellite operators took turns operating in shifts, it would make it very difficult to score entries correctly. That is why AMSAT has chosen to allow only one satellite home station could be attached to a single club. CLUB NAME MUST BE IDENTIFIED IN THE ENTRY. There will also be no duplicate certificates. If you are attaching your score to a club, then it goes towards club rankings and not home rankings. Nothing needs to be changed on the submission form. If you are operating 1D and the name of your attached club is included, the club score will be calculated appropriately. This is new and uncharted waters and hope everyone enjoys AMSAT Field Day. A much larger number of entries is anticipated with this change, so patience is appreciated. (ANS thanks ARRL and Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awardsfor the above information) +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ IARU-R2 Workshop Videos Available IARU Region 2 (IARU-R2) is hosting workshops covering different facets of amateur radio. Last Wednesday (27 May) was the "Satellite Communica- tions 101" workshop. Due to technical glitches, this workshop was not available in real time, but the video of Wednesday's presentation is now available on YouTube. The direct link to the video of last Wednes- day's workshop is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f61uwo5Qy6A One week earlier, on 20 May, Matias LU9CBL and Guillermo OA4/XQ3SA hosted the Spanish-language version of this workshop, titled "Comunicaciones por Satelite 101". The video of their presentation is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69D1dJEfGDc IARU-R2 plans more workshops covering other topics, in English and Spanish. Information on upcoming workshops is available at: https://www.iaru-r2.org/en/news-and-events/workshops/ Videos of past workshops are available from the IARU-R2 Workshops channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnG2Srz0bsKmTbF2r3YNneQ [ANS thanks Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift? AMSAT t-shirts are currently 40% off with promo code BESTDADGIFTS. Other items are 15% off. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Digital Mode Experiments Conducted on Linear Satellites [EDITOR'S NOTE: Be aware that the experiments described below utilize very narrow AFSK modulation with fairly advanced computer control for Doppler correction and frequency stabilization. They do NOT involve use of narrowband FM signals such as those used for terrestrial APRS or dedicated APRS satellites. So please, NEVER transmit FM on the uplink to a linear satellite. ALSO, in should be emphasized that power levels must be kept very low, as all the WSJT modes are 100% duty cycle.] Recently a group of regular satellite-using amateurs conducted experi- ments with FT-8 and FT-4 on a variety of linear satellites. Alan (WA6DNR), Carlos (W7QL), Dave (W0DHB) and Ron (W5RKN) were involved and made many satisfactory QSOs. The primary results and observations from these tests are: • Digital modes can successfully be employed on the linear birds while not interfering with concurrent users by operating close to the bottom end of the passband, using the lowest power practicable and using very narrow signals. • We avoided the satellites known to be power-sensitive, FO-29 and AO-7. Testing was conducted with CAS-4A, CAS-4B, RS-44, XW-2A, XW-2B, XW-2C and XW-2F. • FT-4 was the most robust signal format, compared to FT-8. Other of Joe Taylor’s digital signal modes should be investigated. • The rate of change of Doppler just before and after TCA is high on the lower-orbit satellites and must have compensation. 200 Milli- second Doppler updates allowed 100% copy of FT-4 transmissions throughout several passes of different linear satellites. This can be accomplished in SatPC32 by setting the “SSB/CW Interval” in the CAT menu to zero and checking the 5X box. Note that this setting is not retained when SatPC32 is shut down. • Very little power is needed for QSOs throughout the duration of the pass, from AOS to LOS. W7QL set IC-9700 power to “zero” (roughly 500 milli-Watts, with over 3 dB cable/connector loss to a Leo-Pack anten- na pair) and copied every packet on several satellites. • FT-4 is very tolerant of voice signals which might drop on top of an ongoing FT-4 QSO. However, an FT-4 signal dropping in the middle of an SSB QSO would be quite annoying to the SSB operators. • According to Joe Taylor, the occupied bandwidth of an FT-4 signal is 90 Hz. So theoretically over 200 such signals could be present on a 20 KHz channel. Obviously that will not, and should not happen. But a dozen closely spaced FT-4 QSOs at the bottom of the band, each run- ning very low power should hardly be noticeable to current voice and CW traffic. We invite other Satellite operators to join us in this expanded utili- zation of the linear satellite resources available to us. We recommend using FT-4 AT VERY LOW POWER, in the bottom few KHz of the downlink frequency range, with appropriate Doppler compensation, as described above. We hope to have a digital QSO with you sometime soon on the linear birds. [ANS thanks Carlos Cardon, W7QL, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- SpaceX Launches Successfully Toward ISS NASA astronauts Bob Behnken, KE5GGX, and Doug Hurley boarded a Crew Dragon spacecraft on top of a Falcon 9 rocket once again on Saturday, May 30. At 19:22 UTC they were successfully launched on their way to the International Space Station. This was the first launch of astro- nauts from U.S. territory since the final Space Shuttle flight in 2011 and the first launch of humans by a private contractor, SpaceX. The first attempt for the launch, on Wednesday, May 27, scrubbed due to stormy weather near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew Dra- gon spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the ISS about 19 hours after liftoff. [ANS thanks Spaceflight Now for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition? Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store! 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Moonbounce Contact via FT8 Could be a First FT8 codeveloper Joe Taylor, K1JT, has reported what is possibly the first FT8 contact via moonbouce (Earth-Moon-Earth or EME) on May 21 be- tween Paul Andrews, W2HRO, in New York, and Peter Gouweleeuw, PA2V, in Netherlands. The contact was made possible using the currently avail- able beta-release candidate of WSJT-X, version 2.2-rc1. "Why might you want to use FT8 instead of 'Old Reliable JT65' for EME QSOs?" Taylor asked in a subsequent Moon-Net post. "FT8 is about 4 dB less sensitive than JT65, but with 15-second T/R [transmit/receive] sequences it's four times faster, and it doesn't use Deep Search," he said, answering his own question. The FT8 protocol included in the beta version of WSJT-X has an optional user setting to work around the 2.5-second path delay. "For terrestrial use, the FT8 decoder searches over the range -2.5 to +2.4 seconds for clock offset DT between transmitting and receiving stations," Taylor explained. "DT" represents the difference between the transmission time and actual time. "When 'Decode after EME delay' is checked on the WSJT-X 'Settings' screen, the accessible DT range becomes -0.5 to +4.4 seconds. Just right for EME." As Taylor explained in his post, FT8 uses 8-GFSK modulation with tones separated by 6.25 Hz. At the time of the contact, the expected Doppler spread on the W2HRO - PA2V EME path was 8 Hz, which would cause some additional loss in sensitivity. Despite the path losses, however, copy between W2HRO and PA2V was "solid in both directions," Taylor said. Taylor said that when he was active in EME contests on 144 MHz, he was always frustrated that, even with reasonably strong signals, the max- imum JT65 contact rate is about 12 per hour. "With FT8, you can do 40 per hour, as long as workable stations are available," he said. As for using FT8 for EME contacts on 1296 MHz, Taylor said it "might sometimes work, but Doppler spread will probably make standard FT8 a problem." Given sufficient interest, however, he said the WSJT-X devel- opment team could design an FT8B or FT8C with wider tone spacing. He encouraged the use of FT8 for moonbounce on 144, 432, and 1296 MHz and asked users to report their results to the development team. "A 'slow FT8' mode is indeed a sensitivity winner on suitable propaga- tion paths," he said in a later Moon-Net post. "We are busy implement- ing such a mode, but with particular emphasis on its use on the LF and MF bands." Taylor said FT8 has the operational advantage of putting all users in one (or a few) narrow spectral slices on each band. "So, it's easy to find QSO partners without skeds or chat rooms," he said. "Everything is done over the air, with no 'side channels' needed." Taylor also remarked in response to posts from those who, like him, "love CW." "I agree it's a thrill to hear your own lunar echo, and to make CW EME QSOs," he said. "Sometimes I pine for the bygone world of commercial sailing ships, which happen to be very much a part of my family's his- tory," Taylor concluded. "But I know that technologies evolve, and the world does not stand still." [ANS thanks ARRL News for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Mid-Altitude Balloon Race Planned for June 1 Three Space Station Explorer teams will participate in anexciting dis- tance learning—social distanced balloon race to beheld during the Pan- demic. ARISS educator, Joanne Michaelis, KM6BWB, is a science coach at the Wiseburn Unified School District in Los Angeles, California where she leads her students in several balloon launch attempts from the Los Angeles area each year. With this year different because of the pan- demic, Joanne wanted to “shake things up a bit” and give students world-wide, a unique distance learning treat while keeping all safe during the pandemic. So Joanne challenged Ted Tagami, KK6UUQ, from Magnitude.io to a mid-altitude cross-continent balloon race and Ted accepted the challenge! Ted plans to launch his balloon from Oakland, California. ISS Above in- ventor, Liam Kennedy, KN6EQU, from Pasadena, California, got “wind” of the idea and he asked to participate, too. All three organizations: ARISS, Magnitude.io and ISS Above are ISS National Lab Space Station Explorer (SSE) partners that work to inspire, engage, and educate stu- dents in Science Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) topics and to pursue STEAM careers. The three SSE teams plan tolaunch their balloons simultaneously on June 1. The winner will be the first one to cross the“Finish Line”—the Eastern Time zone. Launch time is planned for 15:00 UTC (11:00 EDT, 10:00 CDT, 9:00 MDT, or 8:00 PDT. A live video feed of the launch is planned to start approximately 5 minutes prior to the event. Once the balloons are airborne, students can track each balloon’s loca- tion, altitude, and temperature via amateur radio APRS (Automatic Pac- ket Reporting System) which is fed automatically to the aprs.fi web site. Educators and parents around the globe can excite at-home youth withthis initiative. Students can tally and track the states each bal- loon travels through and plot altitude versus temperature, etc. Also, by researching weather patterns, students can make assumptions from their own data. This could include speed variations due to weather. They also can predict each balloon’s flight path and when they might cross the finish line! For more information on theballoon launch, lesson plans, and the live- stream video link (when thelivestream URL is available), please go to: https://www.ariss.org/mid-altitude-balloon-race.html Enjoy the Race! May the best ballooner win!! [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team men- tors for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide. ARISS is very aware of the impact that COVID-19 is having on schools and the public in general. As such, we may have last minute cancella- tions or postponements of school contacts. As always, ARISS will try to provide everyone with near-real-time updates at the ARISS webpage: https://www.ariss.org/ [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team men- tors for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations W8LR: (@W8LR) May 30 and May 31 he will attempt to activate a dual grids contact. The grid line will be EM79/EM89. Hey you guys from the EU: @N4DCW will be in EM56 June 5-7 with a semi- decent N-E horizon from his sister-in-law’s house. He will be on RS-44 and AO-7 looking for y’all. AD0DX: (@AD0DX) DM77 and maybe DM76 on Saturday May 30. An interesting email from ND9M/KH2: I’m finishing up my current tour on a U.S. merchant marine ship cur- rently anchored at Guam. I’ve been QRV from the anchorage which is at Apra Harbor. We’ll be taking a one-night run on June 2-3 to give the engines a chance to stretch their muscles. I expect to be QRV on sever- al passes on the evening of June 2 when we should be in QK13 for a few hours. Once we return to “the hook,” I’ll start packing up for my trip back to the States that weekend and should be doing some roving in the eastern states (MD, PA, VA, MD) once I get my body re-adjusted to the the 14-hour time change. Major Roves: Ron (@AD0DX) and Doug (@N6UA) are making another run at the elusive DL88 in Big Bend National Park, TX. As we know they tried this grid back in March, and due to the mud couldn’t get to the grid, so never ones to quit, off they go again. Today the tentative date is Sunday May 31, 2020. They will be using the K5Z call sign. More information is available at the K5Z QRZ Page. FP, ST. PIERRE & MIQUELON (Rescheduled). Eric, KV1J, will once again be operating from the Island of Miquelon (NA-032, DIFO FP-002 WLOTA 1417, Grid GN17) as FP/KV1J between September 22nd and October 6th. This oper- ation was originally scheduled for July, but was postponed due to trav- el restrictions. It will be Eric’s 14th trip to the island. Activity will be on 160-10 meters, including 60m , using CW, SSB, RTTY, FT8/FT4 (but primarily SSB, RTTY and FT8/FT4) and the SSB/FM satellites. He will generally be on the highest frequency band that is open (favoring 60/12/10/6m). He will be active in the CQWW DX RTTY Contest (September 26-27). ADDED NOTE: Eric will usually try to be on as many Satellite passes as he can when the WX is good, generally favoring the XW-2x, AO-7, RS-44, CA-4x, and possibly the FM birds. Weekends may be limited since he will be concentrating on the low(er) bands and contests. QSL via KV1J, direct or by the Bureau. Also eQSL and LoTW. For more details and updates, check out his Web page at: http://www.kv1j.com/fp/July20.html Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com [ANS thanks Paul Overnfor, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meet- ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been cancelled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. Current schedule: No scheduled events The following events scheduled to have an AMSAT presence have been CANCELED: June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Com, Plano, TX A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download from: https://bit.ly/2ygVFmV This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded into a tri-fold handout. To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration, please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + @Virgin_Orbit tweeted on May 25 that its initial test flight of the LauncherOne rocket was "a major step forward," even though the craft did not achieve orbit as intended. In a follow-up tweet the next day, Virgin added "We said the main product of this flight would be data, and wow, did we get a lot of it! After diving into our early anal- yses, we wanted to share more about the flight — including both the many things that went well and what we know about the areas where we’ll need to improve." (ANS thanks @Virgin_Orbit on Twitter for the above information) + Planning to build some space hardware in your basement during your Covid-19 quaranteen? Better get your handbook! A newly revised ver- sion of the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook can be downloaded at: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/nasa-systems-engineering-handbook (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information) + Russia plans to build a new space station because the current Inter- national Space Station will last only another decade at most, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in an interview pub- lished on Monday. "It's still unclear whether it (the new station) will be international or national," Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said in comments to the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. (ANS thanks n2yo.com for the above information) + Michael Wyrick, N3UC, has announced that AO-27 is now running on a schedule that places the FM repeater on for 8 minutes per orbit: 4 minutes ascending pass and 4 minutes descending pass. (ANS thanks Stephen DeVience, N8URE, 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 help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Mark D. Johns, K0JM k0jm at amsat dot org

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ANS-145 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by KI7UNJ Tucker 24 May '20

24 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-145 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, 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 commun- icating 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(a)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: * AMSAT Announces 2020 Field Day Rules * AMSAT Awards Update * AO-27 Returns from the Dead * Updated GOLF Project Information Available * Changing HuskySat-1 Keps Name in FoxTelem * Hack-a-Sat Team Boasts Exceptional Participation * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.01 ANS-145 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020-May-24 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.01 AMSAT Announces 2020 Field Day Rules It’s that time of year again; summer and Field Day! Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day as a “picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!” The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own version of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held concurrently with the ARRL event. For 2020, the event takes place during a 27-hour period from 1800 UTC on Saturday June 27, 2020 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 28, 2020. Those who set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 27 can operate only 24 hours. AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards Bruce Paige, KK5DO, has an- nounced the rules for the 2020 event. Paige notes that "AMSAT has followed the ARRL when it comes to the date, times and most rules with regard to Field Day. [ARRL has made some modifications due to COVID-19]. With that in mind, AMSAT is going to have to adapt as well." Paige further elaborates, "What we will do for AMSAT Field Day is con- centrate on rovers and operating from home." In line with this new concentration, the awards issued this year will be modified. The top three club stations will receive certificates as will the top three stations overall (instead of the top three home operators on emergency power). AMSAT will also award certificates to the top three roving stations. The 2020 rules can be found at https://www.amsat.org/field-day/. [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT Awards Update This is my first update on the awards for 2020. They used to slowly trickle in. However, over the last two months, there have been a lot of submissions. AMSAT Satellite Communicators Award for making their first satellite QSO Frank Karnauskas, N1UW Hiroto Miura, JI8UCI Jason Davis, N8PDX Andrew Stamp, N2YQO Cameron Zotter, K4DCA Angus Alexander, KJ7KOJ Gustavo Schwartz, PR8KW Richard Cutrer, KF5TQT Kurt Melden, K1SEA William McDermott, KM6MCH Robert Smith, KO4CCD Bernd Scholer, DL6IAN ------ AMSAT Communications Achievement Award Russel Kinner, WA8ZID #624 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #625 EM30 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #626 EM21 Stephan Greene, KS1G #627 ------ AMSAT Sexagesimal Satellite Communications Achievement Award Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #185 EM30 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #186 EM21 Stephan Greene, KS1G #187 ------ AMSAT Century Club Award Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #55 EM30 ------ AMSAT South Africa Satellite Communications Achievement Award Russel Kinner, WA8ZID #US225 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #US226 EM30 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #US227 EM21 Wade Stuart, N0TEL #US228 Stephan Greene, KS1G #US229 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award (1,000-4,000) John Stone, KC9VGG #98 Christy Hunter, KB6LTY, #99 (4,000) Mitchell Ahrenstorff, AD0HJ #100 (2,000) Dave Chasey, N9FN #101 Paul Overn, KE0PBR #102 (3,000) Robert Sours, K9UO #103 (2,000) Kell Bodholt, KI7UXT #104 (2,000) Wade Stuart, N0TEL #105 (2,000) Michael Frazier, KJ5Z #106 Nicholas Mahr, KE8AKW #107 Jerod Speck, W4ZXT #108 Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ #109 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award (5,000) Adrian Liggins, VA3NNA #35 Christy Hunter, KB6LTY #37 ------ AMSAT Rover Award Rover Call #051 PR8KW #052 LW2DAF #053 N0TEL To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org and click on Services then Awards. [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift? AMSAT t-shirts are currently 40% off with promo code BESTDADGIFTS. Other items are 15% off. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AO-27 Returns from the Dead A number of amateurs have reported that the FM repeater of AO-27 has been active for brief intervals in recent weeks. When commanded on by control operators, the transponder is active for about two minutes be- fore reverting to telemetry transmissions only. Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, remarks that AO-27 wasn't originally intended to be an FM satellite. It lacks the audio filtering normally seen with a n FM receiver, since its uplink receiver was going to be used for data. With the lack of audio filtering on the uplink receiver, AO-27 was used for tests with D-Star radios. The Wayback Machine has captures of the former ao27.org web site, de- tailing how those tests were done. Two radios were used for those D- Star QSOs, one for uplink and the other for downlink). Many are hopeful that control stations will eventually be able to re- cover the satellite sufficiently to provide more regular operation. In the meantime, if you hear the satellite active, make your contacts quickly! [ANS thanks Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK, AMSAT Board Member, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Updated GOLF Project Information Available The AMSAT website has posted updated information on the next series of satellites, intended to succeed the current Fox satellites. AMSAT is developing a satellite program that should see amateur transponders in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and eventually High Earth Orbit (HEO) GOLF is an acronym for "Greater Orbit, Larger Footprint" The goal of the GOLF program is to work by steps through a series of increasingly capable spacecraft to learn skills and systems for which we do not yet have any low-risk experience. Among these are active at- titude control, deployable/steerable solar panels, radiation tolerance for Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) components in higher orbits, and propulsion. The first step is to be one or more Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites similar to the existing AO-91 and AO-92, but with technologies needed for higher orbits. With proven technologies, an interim high LEO or Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite would follow on. The eventual goal is a High Earth Orbit (HEO) similar to AO-10, AO-13, and AO-40, but at a currently affordable cost combined with signifi- cantly enhanced capabilities which in turn will allow the use of much less complex ground stations. Read the AMSAT GOLF article at: https://bit.ly/2WPV9WN [ANS thanks @amsat and Southgate ARC for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Changing HuskySat-1 Keps Name in FoxTelem Instructions for updating FoxTelem (including Fox-in-a-box) so that HuskySat-1 keps are now downloaded as HO-107. Go to the Spacecraft menu and select Husky (or something else if you have changed the name). In the upper left is a section that says "Name (for Keps)" and the box to the right should say "HuskySat-1". Just change that to HO-107. Done. Note that HuskySat-1 is no longer in the downloaded keps, so the one you have will get older and more out-of-date until you change the name. Don't forget you will need to do something similar with MacDoppler or SatPC32 or any other tracking program you have. [ANS thanks Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hack-a-Sat Team Boasts Exceptional Participation The Vaporsec "Capture The Flag" (CTF) team, specifically open to ama- teur radio operators, has seen the largest turnout for a CTF competi- tion in team history, for this satellite-themed event. We have over 20 signed up for the qualifications event this coming weekend. We believe that based on the diversity, quality, and positive can-do spirit, that we have a chance at being competitive and moving on to the final round in late summer. We had a successful team organizational meeting last night are are looking forward to a Friday 5pm Pacific start time. I'm looking forward to being able to share how amateur radio operators and practical exper- ience carried the day! The point of the competition seems to be the Air Force wanting to see that the current level of competence is out there with respect to sat- ellite operations and security. Hints have included backgrounders on ADAC, Satellite IoT platform security, protocols, ground control, and more. Rules and link to the Hack-a-Sat website are at: https://www.hackasat.com/ Something that we noticed is that an unsolved challenge in last week- end's DEFCON CTF qualifier round was from the same team that is put- ting on Hack-a-Sat CTF. So! If you are wondering what kind of challenges are posed to partici- pants in a CTF, here is that satellite-themed challenge. We expect this sort of thing to be the starting point for an entire weekend of satel- lite reverse engineering, puzzle solving, and rogue-craft-wrangling. There are two files related to the challenge. The challenge text and the two files can be found at: https://bit.ly/2yrFlQM See you on the other side of the CTF! We will have a write-up of the event and share any and everything we learn along the way. [ANS thanks Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, AMSAT Board Member, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations WY7AA is still in planning stages but on Monday the 26, DN82/DN72 and maybe later DN73/DN74, please watch his twitter page @WY7AA for more details. Mitch, AD0HJ, has decided to "go check on the tree" in North Dakota. He will be finishing his circuit as this issue is published, but he may still be available on 5/24 UTC in EN06/16 Details on his Twitter page, @ad0hj Ron, AD0DX, and Doug, N6UA, are making another run at the elusive DL88 in Big Bend National Park, Texas. They tried this grid back in March, and due to the mud couldn’t get to the grid, so never ones to quit, off they go again. The tentative date is Sunday May 31, 2020. They will be using the K5Z call sign. More information is available at the K5Z QRZ Page. Please submit any additions or corrections to ke0pbr (at) gmail.com [ANS thanks Paul Overnfor, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition? Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store! 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ARISS News Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide. ARISS is very aware of the impact that COVID-19 is having on schools and the public in general. As such, we may have last minute cancella- tions or postponements of school contacts. As always, ARISS will try to provide everyone with near-real-time updates at the ARISS webpage: https://www.ariss.org/ [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team men- tors for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meet- ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been cancelled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. Current schedule: No scheduled events The following events scheduled to have an AMSAT presence have been CANCELED: June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Com, Plano, TX A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download from: https://bit.ly/2ygVFmV This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded into a tri-fold handout. To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration, please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Radio amateur and Executive Chairman of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, Sir Martin Sweeting, G3YJO, has recorded a series of home vid- eos from Coronavirus lockdown to record answers to the questions he is most frequently asked. In a recent episode he talks about his in- spiration for pioneering the original SmallSats revolution and re- veals two of his favourite SSTL missions. Watch Sir Martin Sweeting, G3YJO – Early Years & Favourite Missions at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV9gQmfmvME (ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT VP-Operations, and Doug Shook's page, www.kc4mcq.us, for the above information) + Thailand's regulator the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has issued a special callsign to The Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST), founded under the royal patronage of the King of Thailand. The call is E2STAYHOME. RAST will be operating us- ing this callsign on all bands and in all modes, including on NB mode for Es'hail 2 QO-100 geostationary satellite. (ANS thanks Tanan Rangseeprom, HS1JAN, for the above information) + NASA astronauts Robert Behnken Douglas Hurley arrived at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, May 20, 2020, ahead of SpaceX's Demo-2 mission. This will be the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. Behnken and Hurley are sched- uled to launch at 4:33 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 27, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA is inviting the public to help celebrate a historic milestone by participating in NASA’s virtual launch experience at: https://www.nasa.gov/beourguest (ANS thanks spaceref.com for the above information) + According to a new release of Union of Concerned Scientists' opera- tional satellite database, AMSAT-OSCAR 7 remains the oldest opera- ting satellite in Earth orbit. The next oldest operating satellite is NASA's TDRS-3, launched 14 years after AO-7 in 1988. Details at: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/satellite-database + All issues of The AMSAT Journal from 2017 to the present are now available for AMSAT members on our new membership portal. More years coming soon. Get logged on today! https://launch.amsat.org/The_AMSAT_Journal + Virgin Orbit has announced that the window for its Launch Demo, the first orbital test flight with LauncherOne, opens this weekend on May 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (1700 to 2100z). A backup window for launch is on May 25 during the same time frame. (ANS thanks Twitter account @Virgin_Orbit for the above information) + Another record-shattering QSO was made via RS-44 last night! @KI7UNJ in Oregon worked EB1AO in Spain - a distance of 8,314 km. Both sta- tions had negative elevation! Satellite distance records are main- tained at: https://www.amsat.org/satellite-distance-records/ (ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive VP, 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 help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ ki7unj at amsat dot org

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ANS-135 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - HuskySat-1 Designated HuskySat-OSCAR 107 (HO-107)
by Paul Stoetzer 14 May '20

14 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-135 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: * HuskySat-1 Designated HuskySat-OSCAR 107 (HO-107) SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135 ANS-135 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE May 14, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-135.01 HuskySat-1 Designated HuskySat-OSCAR 107 (HO-107) On November 2, 2019, the HuskySat-1 cubesat launched on the Cygnus NG- 12 mission from Wallops Island, Virginia, USA. The satellite was con- structed by the Husky Satellite Lab at the University of Washington, and utilizes an AMSAT-constructed radio system for primary communica- tions. Deployed from the Cygnus vehicle on January 31, 2020 after de- parting the ISS, HuskySat-1 began a 3-month educational mission. Upon completion of that mission, the satellite began operation of a V/u linear transponder in amateur service. At the request of the Husky Satellite Lab and AMSAT teams, AMSAT here- by designates HuskySat-1 as HuskySat-OSCAR 107 (HO-107). We congratu- late the Husky Satellite Lab, thank them for their contribution to the amateur satellite community, and wish them continued success on this and future projects. 73, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator [ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT Vice President - Operations 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. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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ANS-131b Special Bulletin: HuskySat-1 Transponder is Open
by Mark D. Johns 10 May '20

10 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-131b The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, 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 commun- icating 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(a)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: * Huskysat-1 Transponder is Open SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-131.02 ANS-131b AMSAT News Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 131.02 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020-May-10 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-131.02 Huskysat-1 Transponder is Open After a week of testing, the transponder on HuskySat-1 is enabled and open for use and testing. It’s fairly sensitive, and 5-10 watts is plenty most of the time. There are some fades due to satellite orien- tation, and some passes are definitely better than others. The opera- tions and engineering teams are also watching a few anomalies. Please keep an eye on the beacon during transponder ops, for those with spec- trum scopes. Strong signals may impact the beacon strength. HuskySat-1 is the Husky Satellite Lab at University of Washington’s first cubesat, and the first mission with AMSAT’s linear transponder module (LTM-1), a V/u transponder and integrated telemetry beacon and command receiver. UW recently completed their Part 5 operations and have graciously let AMSAT’s Part 97 transponder operations commence. This transponder module is available for use in educational cubesat missions willing to enable the transponder for worldwide use. Contact myself or VP Engineering Jerry Buxton for additional details. Reports and observations are welcome to the amsat-bb mailing list. Congratulations to Husky Satellite Lab, and to the entire AMSAT Engineering team for keeping amateur radio in space. Thanks to Dr. Mark Hammond, N8MH for commissioning and operations support. 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT VP Operations HuskySat-1 V/u inverting transponder, 145.910 to 145.940 uplink, 435.810 to 435.840 downlink, telemetry beacon 1200 baud BPSK at 435.800 --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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 help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Mark D. Johns, K0JM k0jm at amsat dot org

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ANS-131 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Mark D. Johns 10 May '20

10 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-131 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, 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 commun- icating 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(a)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: * 2019 Back Issues of The AMSAT Journal on launch.amsat.org * Call for Nominations - 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors Election * New Chinese Amateur Satellites Expected to Launch in September * Cubesat Developers Workshop Presentations Available * Visual Observations Of RS-44 Underway * Hack-a-Sat Call for Participation * NASA TV To Air Cygnus Departure From Space Station * Online Amateur Radio Satellite Talk on Zoom * Satellite Distance Records Set * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-131.01 ANS-131 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 131.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020-May-10 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-131.01 2019 Back Issues of The AMSAT Journal on launch.amsat.org AMSAT's new online member portal, launch.amsat.org, is up and running. All AMSAT members must log in and update their contact information to ensure continued, uniterrupted service. Full instructions for getting logged in are in the March/April issue of The AMSAT Journal, avail- able for free download on amsat.org and launch.amsat.org. There is also separate instructions on each site. Those interested in joining AMSAT can create an account, using the Join link on launch.amsat.org IMPORTANT UPDATE: AMSAT's Member Portal not only puts you in charge of your member account but gives you exclusive access to member-only content. Want to read back issues of The AMSAT Journal, in full color? We just posted all 2019 issues, plus the first two issues of 2020. We will continue to work on uploading prior years, so check back often. Log in today! (ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-Member Services for the above information) +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Call for Nominations - 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors Election AMSAT solicits nominations for the 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors election, to be held in the third quarter of the year. The seats of the following three incumbent Directors expire in 2020 and will be filled by this year's election: Tom Clark, K3IO; Mark Hammond, N8MH; and Bruce Paige, KK5DO. Further, up to two Alternate Directors may be elected for one-year terms. A valid nomination for Director must be written and requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT member. Written nominations, with the nominee’s name, call sign, and contact information, as well as the nominators' names, call signs, and contact information, should be sent to the AMSAT Secretary: Brennan Price, N4QX 300 Locust St SE, Unit E Vienna VA 22180-4869 brennanprice at verizon.net A copy should be sent to AMSAT Manager, Martha Saragovitz, at martha at amsat.org. The AMSAT bylaws require that the nomination be written and in the form specified by the Secretary. In light of the ongoing pandemic and the resulting closure of the physical office, the Secretary has elected to accept written nomination materials in electronic form, including e-mail or electronic image of a paper document. Fax trans- missions cannot be accepted due to the closure of the office. No matter what means are used, petitions MUST be received by the Secretary no later than June 15th. The Secretary will verify the qual- ifications of candidates and nominating members or Member Societies as petitions are received, and will notify candidates whether their nom- inations are in order by the end of June. [ANS thanks Brennan Price, N4QX, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Chinese Amateur Satellites Expected to Launch in September Two new Chinese amateur radio satellites are now expected to launch on September 15, 2020. The first of these satellites, CAS-7A, is a 27 kg microsat (750 mm x 650 mm x 260 mm) with three-axis stabilization and several transponders. The transponders include a 15m to 10m linear transponder (H/t), a 15m to 70cm linear transponder (H/u), and a 2m to 70cm linear transponder(V/u). The satellite also includes a 2m to 70cm (V/u) FM transponder. Several beacons and data downlinks are also feat- ured, CW beacons on 10m and 70cm, 4.8k or 9.6k GMSK telemetry on 70cm, and a 1 Mbps GMSK image data downlink on 3cm for the on board camera. IARU coordinated frequencies for the uplinks and downlinks are listed below. This launch is also expected to carry CAS-7C, a 2U CubeSat with a V/u linear transponder and a CW beacon. Frequencies for CAS-7C have not been coordinated by the IARU at the time of this writing. CAS-7C will also deploy a 1 mm diameter 1080 meter long carbon fiber rope. CAS-7A and CAS-7C will launch from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center into a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 98 degrees. Frequencies: CAS-7A H/t Linear Transponder Uplink - 21.245MHz through 21.275 MHz Downlink - 29.435MHz through 29.465 MHz CW Beacon 29.425 MHz CAS-7A H/u Linear Transponder Uplink - 21.3125 MHz through 21.3275 MHz Downlink - 435.3575 MHz through 435.3725 MHz CW Beacon 435.430MHz CAS-7A V/u Linear Transponder Uplink - 145.865 MHz through 145.895 MHz Downlink - 435.385 MHz through 435.415 MHz CW Beacon 435.430MHz CAS-7A V/u FM Transponder Uplink 145.950 MHz Downlink 435.455 MHz 4.8k / 9.6k GMSK telemetry downlink - 435.480 MHz 1 Mbps GMSK image data downlink - 10460.00 MHz [ANS thanks the IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Cubesat Developers Workshop Presentations Available Although we are not able to come together in San Luis Obispo for the CubeSat Developers Workshop today, we are excited to share some of the presentations that would have taken place with you online. Find the slide decks for these presentations on our archive <http://mstl.atl.calpoly.edu/~workshop/archive/> as well as videos on our YouTube channel <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCENz0fNHsDR8Kz3jM6C_VWw/featured>. You will also be able to find all of our previous Workshop presentations in NASA's Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) <https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute>. We are excited to have our archives integrated into S3VI and hope you can use this tool to further your research and involvement with CubeSat. If you were selected to present your abstract at this year's Workshop and would still like your presentation to be included in our archive, email us at cubesat-workshop(a)calpoly.edu <mailto:[email protected]>. We also want to share some of our CDW Zoom backgrounds with you. Feel free to download and use them in your next meeting! We look forward to welcoming you all back to San Luis Obispo from *April 27-29, 2021* for the next CubeSat Developers Workshop. We will continue to announce new deadlines and registration information via email and on our website <https://www.cubesat.org/workshop-information> as we continue to plan for 2021. Be sure to join the CubeSat Workshop mailing list <http://www.cubesat.org/mailinglist/> for future announcements. We hope you continue working together (from home) to advance CubeSats [ANS thanks JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Visual Observations Of RS-44 Underway Visual observations of the payload and attached Briz-KM rocket body made whilst the object has been flying over the UK at night, indica- ted a rotation period of 19 seconds. Optically with binoculars, it appeared between magnitude +5 to invisible in hazy moonlit skies, on near zenithal transits. No flashes nor glints were observed, which could indicate the stack is in a slow roll along the longitudinal axis, rather than a tumbling motion. On a radio aspect, it would appear the beacon signals are stronger as the payload approaches, declining thereafter upon passing TCA. Assuming RS-44 is mounted to the front and that some aerials have deployed, then this would account for the phenomenon, as receding away from the station would have the aerials blocked by the Briz rocket body - however, I have not seen any information released as to the physical condition of RS-44. It would be useful for the transmit- ters to remain on, to monitor over the long term if the nutation rate slows over time. The CW beacon was timed at 20 seconds between trans- mission, which fits with the optical work, but this may well just be coincidental as to how the beacon is programmed. Later radio monitoring indicates the beacon repetition is 15-16 sec- onds on the callsign being transmitted. Whether this ties in with hopefully future optical work to see if the spin rate has slowed to the same, or we have a differential - we wait and see! [ANS thanks Max White, M0VNG, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hack-a-Sat Call for Participation I've put out the call for participation for the Hack-a-Sat competition in the past, and would like to bring you all up to date on the devel- opments and opportunities that have developed since. The website is here: https://www.hackasat.com/ Hack-a-Sat is an activity that was scheduled to happen at the in-per- son DEFCON event. As of today, yes, it's true. DEFCON has been cancelled. Those of you that have volunteered at Ham Radio Village in the past are familiar with the event. For those of you that are not, it's a long-running hacking and cybersecurity event that has enthusiastical- ly adopted everything RF and amateur radio. The United States Air Force, in conjunction with the Defense Digital Service, organized this year’s Space Security Challenge, called Hack- A-Sat. This challenge asks hackers from around the world to focus their skills and creativity on solving cybersecurity challenges on space systems. This competition is going to be held! It's now a vir- tual event. Security in the amateur radio sense of the word is fundamentally dif- ferent from commercial and military applications. We have an advan- tage here, mainly due to the enormous leverage we have due to our con- text being completely different from what the Air Force and commercial interests assume. This is, essentially, a diversity advantage. If you want to participate on an experienced Capture The Flag (CTF) team, then I am here to extend an invitation. Anyone that reads through the rules and can afford to spend some time during the event is invited to apply to join Vaporsec. This is a team that has a major- ity of information security professionals. There are some satellite industry people, some amateur involvement, and I'd like to make sure that anyone interested in competing from AMSAT-BB gets a chance to join a competitive team. The benefits to amateur radio are primarily technical, with policy and security a close second. The Air Force has some agendas here in terms of improving satellite security. Exposure to the challenges alone is a an excellent opportunity to learn more about modern satellite technol- ogy...and what a significant player in space wants to find out more about. Don't assume that that the challenges in the competition are going to be "too hard." What is trivial for one viewpoint is unsolv- able for another. I'll be writing about the event and what we learned when it is over, so this sort of knowledge will not be secret. However, there is no replacement for participation, and you could very well have the prac- tical knowledge, gained from operating real satellites, that wins the competition. As you can see from the website, there is some real money involved and opportunities for technical writing. Let me know at w5nyv(a)arrl.net if you would like to talk more about joining a CTF team for this really neat and unique event. Know someone that you think should participate? Please forward to them. [ANS thanks Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, AMSAT Board Member for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA TV To Air Cygnus Departure From Space Station Nearly three months after delivering several tons of supplies and sci- entific experiments to the International Space Station, Northrup Grum- man’s unpiloted Cygnus cargo craft is scheduled to depart the Inter- national Space Station on Monday, May 11. Live coverage of the spacecraft’s release will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website beginning at 11:45 a.m. EDT, with release scheduled for noon. Dubbed the “SS Robert H. Lawrence,” Cygnus arrived at the station on February 18. Within 24 hours of its release, Cygnus will begin its secondary mission, hosting the Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment – IV (Saffire-IV), which provides an environment to safely study fire in microgravity. It also will deploy a series of payloads. Northrop Grum- man flight controllers in Dulles, Virginia, will initiate Cygnus’ de- orbit to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere Monday, May 25. More information on Cygnus’ mission and the International Space Sta- tion can be found at: http://www.nasa.gov/station [ANS thanks Southgate ARC for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Online Amateur Radio Satellite Talk on Zoom Robin Moseley, G1MHU, will give a talk on Zoom titled “Introduction to amateur satellites, meteor scatter, EME and ISS” on Wednesday, May 13, at 1830z The presentation is being organised by the Denby Dales Amateur Radio Society and being on Zoom it’ll be viewable on any Tablet or Smartphone with the Zoom App or from a Windows PC or Laptop. The Zoom meeting ID is 278 609 9353 https://zoom.us/j/2786099353 [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Distance Records Set Satellite operators are rapidly pushing towards the 7,942 km theoret- ical maximum range on RS-44. The 7,859 km record held by KI7UNJ and JA0CAW was eclipsed on 06-May-2020 at 19:00 UTC with a QSO between EA4CYQ and UA0STM, a distance of 7,894 km. On 09-May-2020, this record fell again when W5CBF in Louisiana, USA worked LA7XK in Norway, a distance of 7,916 km. Another claimed DX record was also claimed on May 6. This time it was on PO-101 (Diwata2PH). EA4SG reports working R9LR at 23:03 UTC. The distance between the two stations is 5,128 km. Distance records for all satellites are maintained at: https://www.amsat.org/satellite-distance-records/ Please email n8hm [at] amsat.org if you wish to claim a new record, longer distance QSO not yet documented, or records for any other sat- ellite/transponder not yet listed. Please note that if a satellite carries multiple transponders or supports multiple frequency bands, records on each transponder/band may be claimed, such as Mode A and B on AO-7 or Mode U/S, L/S, U/K, etc, on AO-40. This includes the ISS and records may be claimed for the packet digipeater and crossband re- peater, but does not include different operating modes on the same transponder (such as CW or SSB on AO-7 Mode B). [ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive VP, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations Mitch, AD0HJ, has decided to "go check on the tree" in North Dakota. He has also said he will be activating a bunch of grids: 5/20 UTC DN96/97 5/21 UTC DN78/88 5/22 UTC DN76/77 5/23 UTC DN86/87 5/24 UTC EN06/16 Details on his Twitter page, @ad0hj Ron, AD0DX, and Doug, N6UA, are making another run at the elusive DL88 in Big Bend National Park, Texas. They tried this grid back in March, and due to the mud couldn’t get to the grid, so never ones to quit, off they go again. The tentative date is Sunday May 31, 2020. They will be using the K5Z call sign. More information is available at the K5Z QRZ Page. Please submit any additions or corrections to ke0pbr (at) gmail.com [ANS thanks Paul Overnfor, KE0PBR, the *NEW* AMSAT rover page manager(!) for the above information. Welcome aboard, Paul.] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition? Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store! 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ARISS News Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide. Airdrie Space Science Club, Airdrie, AB, Canada, Multi-point tele- bridge via ZS6JON. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS and the scheduled astronaut is Chris Cassidy, KF5KDR. The contact is go for Friday 2020-05-15 15:10:28 UTC with 55 degrees over South Africa. ARISS is very aware of the impact that COVID-19 is having on schools and the public in general. As such, we may have last minute cancella- tions or postponements of school contacts. As always, ARISS will try to provide everyone with near-real-time updates at the ARISS webpage: https://www.ariss.org/ [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team men- tors for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meet- ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been cancelled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. Current schedule: No scheduled events The following events scheduled to have an AMSAT presence have been CANCELED: May 8-9, 2020 Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ May 15-17, Hamvention, Xenia, OH June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Com, Plano, TX A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download from: https://bit.ly/2ygVFmV This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded into a tri-fold handout. To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration, please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Virgin Orbit tweets that it is celebrating a big win this week after the successful completion of a wet dress rehearsal with LauncherOne just in time for #NationalSpaceDay! Wet dress rehearsals with all commodities loaded is one of the last major events before launch. (ANS thanks @Virgin_Orbit for the above information) + A new version of the North American Overlay Mapper program: v4.0.0.0 has been released for Windows 7 and 10, with many new features. The 'NAOMI' program can import ADIF logs, Cabrillo logs, and a variety of lists, and then georeference them from the latest FCC and ISED databases, and then plot North American QSOs, Grid Locators, and Counties, onto 47 maps at 1:2,000,000 scale, 2 North American over- view maps at 1:20,000,000 scale, a zoomable Online Map with a choice of map-providers, a full-screen World Map, and a Great Circle Map with a choice of 16 different backgrounds. You can edit logs, check for errors, parse for counties, export data in different formats, search and browse the databases, overlay a variety of lists, export the maps for use in other applications, or to share online. NAOMI is available at: https://www.mapability.com/ei8ic/naomi/index.php (ANS thanks Southgate ARC for the above information) + NASA will pay a staggering $146 million for each SLS rocket engine, with 4 needed per SLS flight. These Space Shuttle main engines were intended to be reused, but SLS will throw them away. Other things you could buy for $146 million: two basic Atlas V rocket launches, three Falcon 9 launches, or a fully expendable Falcon Heavy launch, with 2/3 the lift capacity at 1/20th the cost. (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information) + A study has found that all 1,078 commercially-launched smallsats in the last five years experienced delays, with a median delay of 128 days. The largest delay categories: 11% of delays were administra- tive, 13% were ISS manifest changes (for ISS-deployed sats), 20% were due to delays in launch vehicle development, and 40% were due to primary payload delays affecting their rideshares. Full report at https://bit.ly/3fuw1Mz (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information) + A satellite built by Air Force Academy cadets will launch into space May 16 aboard the X-37B, Orbital Test Vehicle sponsored by the De- partment of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and built by Boeing. This is the first time a satellite built and designed by ca- dets will catch a ride into space aboard the X-37B. FalconSAT-8 will carry five experimental payloads, and members of the Cadet Space Operations Squadron will operate it. There was no mention of amateur radio connected with this satellite, nor has there been a request for IARU frequency coordination in the amateur radio satellite ser- vice, although previous FalconSats have had amateur radio payloads. (ANS thanks U.S. Air Force Academy for the above information) + When a new crew member arrives on the International Space Sta- tion, the population of humans living in space changes, of course. But so, too, does the population of microbes. As we have all learned in this time of Covid-19, countless types of microorganisms inhabit our bodies, inside and out, and when an astronaut arrives on the station, they bring their specific collection of microbial "hitch- hikers" with them. A new study shows that the microorganisms living on surfaces inside the space station so closely resembled those on an astronaut's skin that scientists could tell when this new crew member arrived and departed, just by looking at the microbes left behind. Many of the microorganisms living in and around us are harm- less or even essential for good health, but some can cause disease or damage structures in built environments. https://bit.ly/3dlEobi (ANS thanks spacedaily.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 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Mark D. Johns, K0JM k0jm at amsat dot org

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