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

16 Sep '16

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

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

11 Sep '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-255 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed onhttp://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date is now scheduled for March 16, 2017 * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th * AMSAT Awards Update * “Frequency Crunch” is ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Sunday Seminar Topic * 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder * 5 Teams Share First Round of NASA Cube Quest Challenge Prizes * 5 GHz to 10 GHz Lunar Transponder Mission * Pratham: IITB Student Satellite * Inspiring the next STEM generation * ARISS to Host On-line Information Sessions - School Contacts * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-255.01 ANS-255 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 255.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE September 11, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-255.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date is now scheduled for March 16, 2017 The RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date has been moved, and is now scheduled for March 16, 2017. RadFxSat will ride as one of the ELaNa XIV secondary payloads aboard the NASA JPSS-1 launch on a ULA Delta II rocket. The launch will be at Vandenberg AFB, California. It is one of only two remaining Delta II planned to be launched. The RadFxSat mission is a partnership with Vanderbilt Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE) that will study space radiation effects on commercial off the shelf memory. The experiments are carried aboard the AMSAT Fox-1B CubeSat and experiment data will be carried in the subaudible telemetry stream of the Fox-1B FM repeater along with the CubeSat telemetry data. The telemetry can be decoded and displayed with the AMSAT FoxTelem software. [ANS thanks Jerry Buxton, N0JY AMSAT Vice President, Engineering for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th Ballots have been mailed to AMSAT-NA members in good standing, and must be returned to the AMSAT-NA office by September 15, 2016 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America were sent by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT-NA office. Your completed ballot should be sent as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail or other expedited means. This year there are five candidates: Tom Clark, K3IO Clayton Coleman, W5PFG Mark Hammond, N8MH Bruce Paige, KK5DO Paul Stoetzer, N8HM The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as voting Board Members with two year terms. The two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will be non-voting Alternate Board Members with terms of one year. Please vote for no more than three candidates. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board. Election of Board members is both an obligation as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT-NA. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Awards Update Congrats to all who have earned an AMSAT Award since the last posting. AMSAT Satellite Communicators Award for making their first satellite QSO Peter Laws, N5UWY Jose de Jesus Moura Costa, PS8E Mac Cody, AE5PH Bernard Van Haecke, KI6TSF Burns Fisher, W2BFJ ------ AMSAT Communications Achievement Award Robert Beatty, WB4SON #569 ------ AMSAT Sexagesimal Award Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer, NP4JV #173 ------ AMSAT Century Club Award Kevin Manzer, N4UFO #47 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award Yanko Yankov, NX9G #87 1000+ ------ To see all the awards visithttp://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- “Frequency Crunch” is ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Sunday Seminar Topic “Spectrum (It’s the frequency crunch for real)” will be the Sunday Seminar topic at the ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) September 16-18 in St Petersburg, Florida. Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, and Bob McGwier, N4HY, will moderate the tutorial. “The Amateur Radio spectrum above 450 MHz is facing serious threats. The demand for useful spectrum is large and growing,” an abstract for the presentation asserts. “We will explain why this spectrum is in demand and what you need to know and do in order to defend it.” The presentation will offer a practical understanding of digital communication, software-defined radio, codecs, protocols, and cognitive radio. Thompson heads the AMSAT Ground Terminal Team, a component of the so-called “five and dime (5 GHz and 10 GHz) Phase 4B geosynchronous satellite project. McGwier is chief scientist at the Hume Center for National Security and Technology at Virginia Tech. The Saturday night banquet speaker will be ARRL Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price, N4QX. His topic will be “New Frontiers in Wireless: Challenges to and Opportunities for Amateur Radio.” http://www.arrl.org/news/frequency-crunch-is-arrl-tapr-digital-communicatio… conference-sunday-seminar-topic [ANS thanks TAPR and the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder - Booking your Carnival Cruise does not register you for the AMSAT Symposium. There is a charge for each Symposium attendee of $40. This fee applies to those who will attend the technical presentations only and includes a copy of the printed Proceedings. Additional guests are entitled to attend all other events. The registration form is available from the AMSAT office or store website. Online Symposium registration: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=130 - Ground transportation options have been added to the FAQ page on the AMSAT Symposium web page. Carnival offers round-trip transportation from HOU airport to the cruise terminal at approximately $74 per person, IAH airport $94 per person. If you are traveling to the Board of Directors meeting, you may still utilize the Carnival transportation option for your return to the airport from the cruise terminal. However, you will need to obtain other transportation between the airport and the Galveston DoubleTree hotel. Cruise information may be found at: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=3667 [ANS thanks 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Committee for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Teams Share First Round of NASA Cube Quest Challenge Prizes Five teams, ranging from university students to a group of engineers dispersed across the country, received $20,000 each from NASA in the first milestone of a competition to develop deep space CubeSat technologies. The teams, announced by NASA at a Sept. 9 briefing, had the highest scores in the first of four “ground tournaments” that make up the initial phase of the agency’s $5 million Cube Quest Challenge. That tournament, held in early August, featured 13 teams who presented their initial spacecraft designs. “Cube Quest is an opportunity for non-government CubeSat developers and builders to compete in lunar orbit and deep space for accomplishments in communications, navigation and longevity,” said Jim Cockrell of NASA’s Ames Research Center. Cockrell is manager of the competition, part of the agency’s Centennial Challenges prize program. - See more at: http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat- prizes/#sthash.qbwJKlXB.dpuf The ground tournaments are optional elements of the overall competition, intended to guide teams through the development of their spacecraft as they mature from initial concepts to flight hardware. Participating teams are scored on how well they meet the requirements of each tournament, and the three with the highest cumulative scores will win flights of their spacecraft as secondary payloads on the first Space Launch System mission, Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), in 2018. The first ground tournament did not involve any hardware, and Cockrell likened it to a mission concept review that takes place early in the development of a typical NASA mission. Judges assessed the capabilities of each proposed mission and compliance with mission rules and SLS safety requirements. “It was the first opportunity for teams to present their concepts for how they intend to win the Cube Quest Challenge,” he said. “Ground Tournament 1 demonstrates that teams are on a good trajectory for launch on EM-1.” Some of the winning teams are linked to universities that have experience with CubeSats. A space systems design class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started work on the KitCube spacecraft this spring, said Kerri Cahoy, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics there. KitCube is designed to go into lunar orbit and demonstrate a laser communications system. Another team, Cislunar Explorers, is composed mostly of students at Cornell University. “The work represents the culmination of lots of Ph.D.-level research and some undergraduate research from the last five or six years at the university,” said Mason Peck, a Cornell engineering professor who served as NASA chief technologist from 2011 to 2013. Peck said their spacecraft will demonstrate several key technologies, including a propulsion system that uses solar power to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen propellants. “It’s a pathfinder for the sustainable exploration and settlement of the solar system,” he said. Other winning teams have less traditional backgrounds. “There’s 12 of us across the United States” working on Team Miles, said team leader Wes Faler. Many of them are located in Tampa, Florida, including Faler, but others are based in California, New York and South Carolina. Faler said the team takes its name from a line in a Robert Frost poem: “And miles to go before I sleep.” After going into orbit around the Moon, he said, the spacecraft will perform an extended mission, traveling towards Mars to test autonomous navigation technology. Ragnarok Industries of Wilmington, Delaware, was established by a group of former engineering interns at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Their satellite, Heimdallr, is intended to test advanced propulsion and communications technologies for missions beyond Earth orbit, said company co- founder Luigi Balarinni. Novel Engineering of Cocoa Beach, Florida, is working with several other local companies, including Craig Technologies and Harris Corp., the latter providing a deployable mesh antenna for its CubeSat, named Space Pig. The name, team members said, came from elementary school students during an outreach event. The ultimate goal of the competition is to fly CubeSats into lunar orbit or deep space. A total of $3 million is offered in prizes for the “Lunar Derby” part of the competition, for both being able to enter lunar orbit and to demonstrate communications capabilities and longevity. An additional $1.5 million is for a “Deep Space Derby” to achieve communications and longevity goals. NASA’s Cockrell said the next ground tournament is scheduled for early 2016. Teams can participate in that round, which he compared to a preliminary design review, regardless of their performance, or even participation, in the August tournament. Teams that do not participate in the ground tournaments, or who do not finish in the top three in total points, can still pursue the deep space and lunar prizes by arranging their own launches. The competition ends, and any prizes awarded, one year after the EM-1 launch - See more at: http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat- prizes/#sthash.qbwJKlXB.dpuf AMSAT-NA is partnered with the Ragnarok Industries team. Heimdallr satellite plans to test advanced propulsion and communications technologies for missions beyond Earth. AMSAT radio will be aboard. The AMSAT Groundstation initiative will give amateur radio operators to uplink and downlink to the lunar satellite. http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat-prizes/ [ANS thankswww.spacenews.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 GHz to 10 GHz Lunar Transponder Mission AMSAT-NA plans 5 GHz to 10 GHz transponders on a spacecraft expected to launch in September 2018 into a Lunar orbit. Heimdallr is a 3 axis stabilized 6U CubeSat with a mass of approximately 8 kg. It will have a Cold Gas Thruster for inertia dump and a star tracker for navigation. Deployable, gimbled solar panels will produce up to 100 watts of DC power, electric propulsion will be used to achieve lunar orbit. There will be a combination of omni and directional patch antennas on one side of spacecraft. The first part of mission is to provide Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C) to obtain lunar orbit. The second part is to perform the data downlink experiment while the final part is to provide a two way regenerative repeater and analog repeater in lunar orbit for lifetime of satellite. Proposing these downlinks: • Omni transponder: 10.451 GHz +/- 0.5 MHz • Directional transponder: 10.4575 GHz. +/- 3.5 MHz • Analog transponder: 10.4665 GHz. +/- 2.0 MHz For the first part of the mission (TT&C) using 300 bps BPSK 1/2 rate viterbi Ranging 1.5 Mbps BPSK DSSS. For the second part of mission 4.5 Mbps QPSK ½ rate DVB-S2. For the final part of mission 25 kbps BPSK 1/5 rate DVB-S2. Proposing these Uplinks • Omni transponder: 5.651 GHz +/- 0.5 MHz • Directional transponder: 5.6575 GHz. +/- 3.5 MHz • Analog transponder: 5.665 GHz. +/- 2 MHz A link budget is available at https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3u-mSOWBMISYnZyZGJpeThKeU0&usp=sha… It is anticipated that a 1 or 2 metre dish will be required using the AMSAT designed ground station equipment. Source IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Status pages http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pratham: IITB Student Satellite The satellite Pratham, built by students at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, is expected to launch on the Indian PSLV-C35 mission currently planned for September 26, 2016. Pratham, a 300x300x300mm satellite with a mass of 10 kg, aims to measure total electron count in a 800 km altitude Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). Aayush Yadav of the Pratham team writes: We, students of IIT Bombay, are glad to inform you that our project, Pratham, is ready and expected to launch with PSLV-C35 in the last week of September. We would be really happy if you all joined us in receiving our satellite’s beacon, details given below: Beacon: Mode: CW wpm: 35 words Frequency: 145.980 MHz (The CW beacon will be on through out the orbit and can be received from anywhere.) Downlink: Mode: FSK Baudrate: 1200 bps Frequency: 437.455 MHz (To be switched on over France and India only) We will update the information as soon as TLE’s will be available. Further information at http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/pratham/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/iitb.student.satellite/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and Team Pratham for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Inspiring the next STEM generation The UK Space Agency’s Astronaut Flight Education Program Support Manager Susan Buckle will be giving a presentation at the RSGB Convention on Saturday, October 8. Along with Ciaran Morgan M0XTD, she will talk about the ten UK ARISS amateur radio school contacts with astronaut Tim Peake GB1SS during his Principia mission on the International Space Station. These contacts have inspired thousands of young people and introduced them to amateur radio in a new and exciting way. The full schedule and booking information for the convention are available at http://rsgb.org/convention Twitter hashtag #RSGBconv2016 An RSGB video celebrates these historic school contacts and the range of linked activities the schools have enjoyed. Beginning with the exhilaration of the launch, it follows the competition for schools to host the ARISS contacts, and showcases the variety of science, technology, engineering, maths (STEM) and arts activities that helped pupils to understand more about space and amateur radio. The contacts themselves, often led by newly-licensed pupils, were the successful culmination of many months of work and anticipation. ARISS Principia https://principia.ariss.org/ AMSAT-UK Article https://amsat-uk.org/2016/09/10/inspiring-the-next-stem-generation/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS to Host On-line Information Sessions - School Contacts To help organizations learn about ARISS radio contacts and the proposal process, ARISS offers one-hour online information sessions; all questions are welcomed. Attending an online session is not required but strongly encouraged. Informational sessions will be offered Sept. 20, 2016, at 4 p.m. EDT and Sept. 28, 2016, at 7 p.m. EDT. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, visit: http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. ARISS Contact Application Window Open Until November 1 ARISS-US is now accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations (working individually or together) to host an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, radio contact with an orbiting space station crew member between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2017. Proposals are due Nov. 1, 2016. ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of parti- cipants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Students can learn about satellite communications, wireless technology, science research conducted on the space station, what it is like to work in space, radio science, and any related STEM subject. Students learn to use amateur radio to talk directly to an astronaut and ask their STEM-related questions. ARISS will help educational organizations locate amateur radio groups who can assist with equipment for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students. Exact dates for the 10-minute radio contact are determined by crew scheduling and space station orbits. ARISS-US is offered through a partnership between NASA; the American Radio Relay League, or ARRL; and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, or AMSAT. ARISS was created and is managed by an international working group. Please email questions about this opportunity to ariss(a)arrl.org. [ANS thanks NASA Education Express Message -- Sept. 8, 2016 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). *Saturday and Sunday, 10-11 September 2016 Boxboro Hamfest in Boxborough, MA (ARRL New England Division Convention) *Friday, 23 September 2016 – presentation at Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club in Pasadena CA *Friday and Saturday, 21-22 October 2016 – CopaFest 2016, south of Maricopa AZ *Saturday, 12 November 2016 – Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Marana AZ *Saturday, 3 December 2016 – Superstition Superfest in Mesa AZ *Saturday, 14 January 2017 – Thunderbird Hamfest 2017 in Phoenix AZ *Saturday, 4 February 2017 – Palm Springs Hamfest in Palm Springs CA *Friday-Sunday, 10-12 February 2017 Orlando HamCation in Orlando, FL *Friday and Saturday, 17-18 February 2017 – Yuma Hamfest in Yuma AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts * Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence KS, direct via KCØNFL The ISS callsign was NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Takuya Onishi KF5LKS Contact was Successful: Sat 2016-09-10 17:03:42 UTC 13 Questions Asked/Answered 300 People at the library, 91 watched the livestream online The event was covered by local Channel 6 News, KUJH (KU's tv channel), Girl Scouts (for their blog), and The Lawrence Journal World. * Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Astoria OR, was direct via KF7TCG now telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign was NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact was Successful: Sat 2016-09-10 17:03:19 UTC via W6SRJ 17 of 20 questions Asked/Answered. Approximately 50 in audience. Upcoming Contacts * C.E.PR. Almadén, Jaén, Spain, direct via EA7URJ or TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-09-15 08:14:19 UTC Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, Dave, AA4KN, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over K6R Coundtdown On September 16th, Wyatt, AC0RA, and myself will be getting on the boat in Ventura, CA with our destination set on CM93. We've been training all summer, finalizing equipment, setting skeds, and generally getting all the loose ends tied up, and we look to be ready to go. We have posted our Final pass schedule on the K6R QRZ page at https://www.qrz.com/lookup/K6R - so feel free to find a pass that is to your liking. We have tried hard to include everyone in our distance range on at least 1 or 2 passes. Of course all passes are dependent on weather, schedule, and other factors - and there's a very good chance we'll show up on passes that AREN'T on our list as well.. find a window, and see if we're around. We're also happy to announce that Jimmy, KK6FAH will be serving as our pilot relay station for the expedition. He's a fellow AMSAT operator, and has a QTH right in Ventura, and we should be in local repeater range of each other while we're on the Island. We have agreed to meet up each evening and report our logs to him, and he will then pass our report on to the BB. Please do not email him with questions about busted calls or the like, he's simply going to be passing on our reports. He's also been awesome in helping us with some local arrangements, and we appreciate his assistance with this project greatly. I'd also like to make a brief request for folks to use some good situational awareness while we're out there. We know this is a rare grid and there's tons of interest, but remember that the birds and pass time are a scarce resource. We're hoping with lots of scheduled passes there should be more than enough air time to get everyone worked that wants it, but use some common sense. If you have linear capability, find us on one of those birds, and leave SO-50 for the FM only operators. If you're on the West coast and can work us on a higher pass where the east coast doesn't have a footprint, consider delaying to give them a chance. If you can handle taking a night off from using SO-50 as your ragchew repeater in the sky, that'd be great too... and please try to keep the dupes to a minimum - you never know when someone is just sliding into the footprint and only has 30 seconds to make that precious QSO. Thanks in advance. Finally, we're planning to do a very informal round table on 20 meters Saturday night at 8:00 PDT. Clayton, W5PFG has agreed to find us a frequency (probably the upper portion of 20m) and send out a tweet on where we will be. We'd love to have you stop by on HF and chat about Satellite stuff, the expedition, or "Am I in the log?" that night. It's expedition go time. Hope to catch everyone from CM93! [ANS thanks Dave, KG5CCI for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org

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ANS-255 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 10 Sep '16

10 Sep '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-255 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date is now scheduled for March 16, 2017 * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th * AMSAT Awards Update * “Frequency Crunch” is ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Sunday Seminar Topic * 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder * 5 Teams Share First Round of NASA Cube Quest Challenge Prizes * 5 GHz to 10 GHz Lunar Transponder Mission * Pratham: IITB Student Satellite * Inspiring the next STEM generation * ARISS to Host On-line Information Sessions - School Contacts * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-255.01 ANS-255 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 255.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE September 11, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-255.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date is now scheduled for March 16, 2017 The RadFxSat (Fox-1B) launch date has been moved, and is now scheduled for March 16, 2017. RadFxSat will ride as one of the ELaNa XIV secondary payloads aboard the NASA JPSS-1 launch on a ULA Delta II rocket. The launch will be at Vandenberg AFB, California. It is one of only two remaining Delta II planned to be launched. The RadFxSat mission is a partnership with Vanderbilt Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE) that will study space radiation effects on commercial off the shelf memory. The experiments are carried aboard the AMSAT Fox-1B CubeSat and experiment data will be carried in the subaudible telemetry stream of the Fox-1B FM repeater along with the CubeSat telemetry data. The telemetry can be decoded and displayed with the AMSAT FoxTelem software. [ANS thanks Jerry Buxton, N0JY AMSAT Vice President, Engineering for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th Ballots have been mailed to AMSAT-NA members in good standing, and must be returned to the AMSAT-NA office by September 15, 2016 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America were sent by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT-NA office. Your completed ballot should be sent as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail or other expedited means. This year there are five candidates: Tom Clark, K3IO Clayton Coleman, W5PFG Mark Hammond, N8MH Bruce Paige, KK5DO Paul Stoetzer, N8HM The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as voting Board Members with two year terms. The two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will be non-voting Alternate Board Members with terms of one year. Please vote for no more than three candidates. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board. Election of Board members is both an obligation as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT-NA. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Awards Update Congrats to all who have earned an AMSAT Award since the last posting. AMSAT Satellite Communicators Award for making their first satellite QSO Peter Laws, N5UWY Jose de Jesus Moura Costa, PS8E Mac Cody, AE5PH Bernard Van Haecke, KI6TSF Burns Fisher, W2BFJ ------ AMSAT Communications Achievement Award Robert Beatty, WB4SON #569 ------ AMSAT Sexagesimal Award Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer, NP4JV #173 ------ AMSAT Century Club Award Kevin Manzer, N4UFO #47 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award Yanko Yankov, NX9G #87 1000+ ------ To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- “Frequency Crunch” is ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Sunday Seminar Topic “Spectrum (It’s the frequency crunch for real)” will be the Sunday Seminar topic at the ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) September 16-18 in St Petersburg, Florida. Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, and Bob McGwier, N4HY, will moderate the tutorial. “The Amateur Radio spectrum above 450 MHz is facing serious threats. The demand for useful spectrum is large and growing,” an abstract for the presentation asserts. “We will explain why this spectrum is in demand and what you need to know and do in order to defend it.” The presentation will offer a practical understanding of digital communication, software-defined radio, codecs, protocols, and cognitive radio. Thompson heads the AMSAT Ground Terminal Team, a component of the so-called “five and dime (5 GHz and 10 GHz) Phase 4B geosynchronous satellite project. McGwier is chief scientist at the Hume Center for National Security and Technology at Virginia Tech. The Saturday night banquet speaker will be ARRL Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price, N4QX. His topic will be “New Frontiers in Wireless: Challenges to and Opportunities for Amateur Radio.” http://www.arrl.org/news/frequency-crunch-is-arrl-tapr-digital-communicatio… conference-sunday-seminar-topic [ANS thanks TAPR and the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder - Booking your Carnival Cruise does not register you for the AMSAT Symposium. There is a charge for each Symposium attendee of $40. This fee applies to those who will attend the technical presentations only and includes a copy of the printed Proceedings. Additional guests are entitled to attend all other events. The registration form is available from the AMSAT office or store website. Online Symposium registration: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=130 - Ground transportation options have been added to the FAQ page on the AMSAT Symposium web page. Carnival offers round-trip transportation from HOU airport to the cruise terminal at approximately $74 per person, IAH airport $94 per person. If you are traveling to the Board of Directors meeting, you may still utilize the Carnival transportation option for your return to the airport from the cruise terminal. However, you will need to obtain other transportation between the airport and the Galveston DoubleTree hotel. Cruise information may be found at: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=3667 [ANS thanks 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Committee for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Teams Share First Round of NASA Cube Quest Challenge Prizes Five teams, ranging from university students to a group of engineers dispersed across the country, received $20,000 each from NASA in the first milestone of a competition to develop deep space CubeSat technologies. The teams, announced by NASA at a Sept. 9 briefing, had the highest scores in the first of four “ground tournaments” that make up the initial phase of the agency’s $5 million Cube Quest Challenge. That tournament, held in early August, featured 13 teams who presented their initial spacecraft designs. “Cube Quest is an opportunity for non-government CubeSat developers and builders to compete in lunar orbit and deep space for accomplishments in communications, navigation and longevity,” said Jim Cockrell of NASA’s Ames Research Center. Cockrell is manager of the competition, part of the agency’s Centennial Challenges prize program. - See more at: http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat- prizes/#sthash.qbwJKlXB.dpuf The ground tournaments are optional elements of the overall competition, intended to guide teams through the development of their spacecraft as they mature from initial concepts to flight hardware. Participating teams are scored on how well they meet the requirements of each tournament, and the three with the highest cumulative scores will win flights of their spacecraft as secondary payloads on the first Space Launch System mission, Exploration Mission 1 (EM- 1), in 2018. The first ground tournament did not involve any hardware, and Cockrell likened it to a mission concept review that takes place early in the development of a typical NASA mission. Judges assessed the capabilities of each proposed mission and compliance with mission rules and SLS safety requirements. “It was the first opportunity for teams to present their concepts for how they intend to win the Cube Quest Challenge,” he said. “Ground Tournament 1 demonstrates that teams are on a good trajectory for launch on EM-1.” Some of the winning teams are linked to universities that have experience with CubeSats. A space systems design class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started work on the KitCube spacecraft this spring, said Kerri Cahoy, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics there. KitCube is designed to go into lunar orbit and demonstrate a laser communications system. Another team, Cislunar Explorers, is composed mostly of students at Cornell University. “The work represents the culmination of lots of Ph.D.-level research and some undergraduate research from the last five or six years at the university,” said Mason Peck, a Cornell engineering professor who served as NASA chief technologist from 2011 to 2013. Peck said their spacecraft will demonstrate several key technologies, including a propulsion system that uses solar power to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen propellants. “It’s a pathfinder for the sustainable exploration and settlement of the solar system,” he said. Other winning teams have less traditional backgrounds. “There’s 12 of us across the United States” working on Team Miles, said team leader Wes Faler. Many of them are located in Tampa, Florida, including Faler, but others are based in California, New York and South Carolina. Faler said the team takes its name from a line in a Robert Frost poem: “And miles to go before I sleep.” After going into orbit around the Moon, he said, the spacecraft will perform an extended mission, traveling towards Mars to test autonomous navigation technology. Ragnarok Industries of Wilmington, Delaware, was established by a group of former engineering interns at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Their satellite, Heimdallr, is intended to test advanced propulsion and communications technologies for missions beyond Earth orbit, said company co- founder Luigi Balarinni. Novel Engineering of Cocoa Beach, Florida, is working with several other local companies, including Craig Technologies and Harris Corp., the latter providing a deployable mesh antenna for its CubeSat, named Space Pig. The name, team members said, came from elementary school students during an outreach event. The ultimate goal of the competition is to fly CubeSats into lunar orbit or deep space. A total of $3 million is offered in prizes for the “Lunar Derby” part of the competition, for both being able to enter lunar orbit and to demonstrate communications capabilities and longevity. An additional $1.5 million is for a “Deep Space Derby” to achieve communications and longevity goals. NASA’s Cockrell said the next ground tournament is scheduled for early 2016. Teams can participate in that round, which he compared to a preliminary design review, regardless of their performance, or even participation, in the August tournament. Teams that do not participate in the ground tournaments, or who do not finish in the top three in total points, can still pursue the deep space and lunar prizes by arranging their own launches. The competition ends, and any prizes awarded, one year after the EM-1 launch - See more at: http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat- prizes/#sthash.qbwJKlXB.dpuf AMSAT-NA is partnered with the Ragnarok Industries team. Heimdallr satellite plans to test advanced propulsion and communications technologies for missions beyond Earth. AMSAT radio will be aboard. The AMSAT Groundstation initiative will give amateur radio operators to uplink and downlink to the lunar satellite. http://spacenews.com/5-teams-share-first-round-of-nasa-cubesat-prizes/ [ANS thanks www.spacenews.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 GHz to 10 GHz Lunar Transponder Mission AMSAT-NA plans 5 GHz to 10 GHz transponders on a spacecraft expected to launch in September 2018 into a Lunar orbit. Heimdallr is a 3 axis stabilized 6U CubeSat with a mass of approximately 8 kg. It will have a Cold Gas Thruster for inertia dump and a star tracker for navigation. Deployable, gimbled solar panels will produce up to 100 watts of DC power, electric propulsion will be used to achieve lunar orbit. There will be a combination of omni and directional patch antennas on one side of spacecraft. The first part of mission is to provide Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C) to obtain lunar orbit. The second part is to perform the data downlink experiment while the final part is to provide a two way regenerative repeater and analog repeater in lunar orbit for lifetime of satellite. Proposing these downlinks: • Omni transponder: 10.451 GHz +/- 0.5 MHz • Directional transponder: 10.4575 GHz. +/- 3.5 MHz • Analog transponder: 10.4665 GHz. +/- 2.0 MHz For the first part of the mission (TT&C) using 300 bps BPSK 1/2 rate viterbi Ranging 1.5 Mbps BPSK DSSS. For the second part of mission 4.5 Mbps QPSK ½ rate DVB-S2. For the final part of mission 25 kbps BPSK 1/5 rate DVB-S2. Proposing these Uplinks • Omni transponder: 5.651 GHz +/- 0.5 MHz • Directional transponder: 5.6575 GHz. +/- 3.5 MHz • Analog transponder: 5.665 GHz. +/- 2 MHz A link budget is available at https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3u-mSOWBMISYnZyZGJpeThKeU0&usp=sha… It is anticipated that a 1 or 2 metre dish will be required using the AMSAT designed ground station equipment. Source IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Status pages http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pratham: IITB Student Satellite The satellite Pratham, built by students at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, is expected to launch on the Indian PSLV-C35 mission currently planned for September 26, 2016. Pratham, a 300x300x300mm satellite with a mass of 10 kg, aims to measure total electron count in a 800 km altitude Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). Aayush Yadav of the Pratham team writes: We, students of IIT Bombay, are glad to inform you that our project, Pratham, is ready and expected to launch with PSLV-C35 in the last week of September. We would be really happy if you all joined us in receiving our satellite’s beacon, details given below: Beacon: Mode: CW wpm: 35 words Frequency: 145.980 MHz (The CW beacon will be on through out the orbit and can be received from anywhere.) Downlink: Mode: FSK Baudrate: 1200 bps Frequency: 437.455 MHz (To be switched on over France and India only) We will update the information as soon as TLE’s will be available. Further information at http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/pratham/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/iitb.student.satellite/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and Team Pratham for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Inspiring the next STEM generation The UK Space Agency’s Astronaut Flight Education Program Support Manager Susan Buckle will be giving a presentation at the RSGB Convention on Saturday, October 8. Along with Ciaran Morgan M0XTD, she will talk about the ten UK ARISS amateur radio school contacts with astronaut Tim Peake GB1SS during his Principia mission on the International Space Station. These contacts have inspired thousands of young people and introduced them to amateur radio in a new and exciting way. The full schedule and booking information for the convention are available at http://rsgb.org/convention Twitter hashtag #RSGBconv2016 An RSGB video celebrates these historic school contacts and the range of linked activities the schools have enjoyed. Beginning with the exhilaration of the launch, it follows the competition for schools to host the ARISS contacts, and showcases the variety of science, technology, engineering, maths (STEM) and arts activities that helped pupils to understand more about space and amateur radio. The contacts themselves, often led by newly-licensed pupils, were the successful culmination of many months of work and anticipation. ARISS Principia https://principia.ariss.org/ AMSAT-UK Article https://amsat-uk.org/2016/09/10/inspiring-the-next-stem-generation/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS to Host On-line Information Sessions - School Contacts To help organizations learn about ARISS radio contacts and the proposal process, ARISS offers one-hour online information sessions; all questions are welcomed. Attending an online session is not required but strongly encouraged. Informational sessions will be offered Sept. 20, 2016, at 4 p.m. EDT and Sept. 28, 2016, at 7 p.m. EDT. Advance registration is necessary. Email ARISS (ariss(a)arrl.org) to sign up for an information session. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, visit: http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. ARISS Contact Application Window Open Until November 1 ARISS-US is now accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations (working individually or together) to host an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, radio contact with an orbiting space station crew member between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2017. Proposals are due Nov. 1, 2016. ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of parti- cipants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Students can learn about satellite communications, wireless technology, science research conducted on the space station, what it is like to work in space, radio science, and any related STEM subject. Students learn to use amateur radio to talk directly to an astronaut and ask their STEM-related questions. ARISS will help educational organizations locate amateur radio groups who can assist with equipment for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students. Exact dates for the 10-minute radio contact are determined by crew scheduling and space station orbits. ARISS-US is offered through a partnership between NASA; the American Radio Relay League, or ARRL; and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, or AMSAT. ARISS was created and is managed by an international working group. Please email questions about this opportunity to ariss(a)arrl.org. [ANS thanks NASA Education Express Message -- Sept. 8, 2016 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). *Saturday and Sunday, 10-11 September 2016 Boxboro Hamfest in Boxborough, MA (ARRL New England Division Convention) *Friday, 23 September 2016 – presentation at Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club in Pasadena CA *Friday and Saturday, 21-22 October 2016 – CopaFest 2016, south of Maricopa AZ *Saturday, 12 November 2016 – Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Marana AZ *Saturday, 3 December 2016 – Superstition Superfest in Mesa AZ *Saturday, 14 January 2017 – Thunderbird Hamfest 2017 in Phoenix AZ *Saturday, 4 February 2017 – Palm Springs Hamfest in Palm Springs CA *Friday-Sunday, 10-12 February 2017 Orlando HamCation in Orlando, FL *Friday and Saturday, 17-18 February 2017 – Yuma Hamfest in Yuma AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts * Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence KS, direct via KCØNFL The ISS callsign was NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Takuya Onishi KF5LKS Contact was Successful: Sat 2016-09-10 17:03:42 UTC 13 Questions Asked/Answered 300 People at the library, 91 watched the livestream online The event was covered by local Channel 6 News, KUJH (KU's tv channel), Girl Scouts (for their blog), and The Lawrence Journal World. * Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Astoria OR, was direct via KF7TCG now telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign was NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact was Successful: Sat 2016-09-10 17:03:19 UTC via W6SRJ 17 of 20 questions Asked/Answered. Approximately 50 in audience. Upcoming Contacts * C.E.PR. Almadén, Jaén, Spain, direct via EA7URJ or TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-09-15 08:14:19 UTC Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, Dave, AA4KN, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over K6R Coundtdown On September 16th, Wyatt, AC0RA, and myself will be getting on the boat in Ventura, CA with our destination set on CM93. We've been training all summer, finalizing equipment, setting skeds, and generally getting all the loose ends tied up, and we look to be ready to go. We have posted our Final pass schedule on the K6R QRZ page at https://www.qrz.com/lookup/K6R - so feel free to find a pass that is to your liking. We have tried hard to include everyone in our distance range on at least 1 or 2 passes. Of course all passes are dependent on weather, schedule, and other factors - and there's a very good chance we'll show up on passes that AREN'T on our list as well.. find a window, and see if we're around. We're also happy to announce that Jimmy, KK6FAH will be serving as our pilot relay station for the expedition. He's a fellow AMSAT operator, and has a QTH right in Ventura, and we should be in local repeater range of each other while we're on the Island. We have agreed to meet up each evening and report our logs to him, and he will then pass our report on to the BB. Please do not email him with questions about busted calls or the like, he's simply going to be passing on our reports. He's also been awesome in helping us with some local arrangements, and we appreciate his assistance with this project greatly. I'd also like to make a brief request for folks to use some good situational awareness while we're out there. We know this is a rare grid and there's tons of interest, but remember that the birds and pass time are a scarce resource. We're hoping with lots of scheduled passes there should be more than enough air time to get everyone worked that wants it, but use some common sense. If you have linear capability, find us on one of those birds, and leave SO-50 for the FM only operators. If you're on the West coast and can work us on a higher pass where the east coast doesn't have a footprint, consider delaying to give them a chance. If you can handle taking a night off from using SO-50 as your ragchew repeater in the sky, that'd be great too... and please try to keep the dupes to a minimum - you never know when someone is just sliding into the footprint and only has 30 seconds to make that precious QSO. Thanks in advance. Finally, we're planning to do a very informal round table on 20 meters Saturday night at 8:00 PDT. Clayton, W5PFG has agreed to find us a frequency (probably the upper portion of 20m) and send out a tweet on where we will be. We'd love to have you stop by on HF and chat about Satellite stuff, the expedition, or "Am I in the log?" that night. It's expedition go time. Hope to catch everyone from CM93! [ANS thanks Dave, KG5CCI for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org

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ANS-248 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 04 Sep '16

04 Sep '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-248 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D Schedule Under Review * ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Presentations * AMSAT Area Coordinators List On-Line * Aves Island update * Canadian Satellite Grid Expedition * Multiple Satellite Grid Activations SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-248.01 ANS-248 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 248.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. September 4, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-248.01 Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D Schedule Under Review As a consequence of the anomaly during the static fire test of the SpaceX Falcon 9 on September 1, 2016, the planned integration of Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D on the Spaceflight SHERPA has been postponed. AMSAT will provide updates regarding the schedule for Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D activities when further information is available. [ANS thanks Jerry, N0JY, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Presentations The ARRL/TAPR DCC (Digital Communications Conference) will be held in St. Petersburg, FL September 16 - 18, 2016. Saturday Night Banquet Speaker will be Brennan Price, N4QX, ARRL CTO (Chief Technology Officer) speaking on the topic "New Frontiers in Wireless: Challenges to and Opportunities for Amateur Radio" Sunday Seminar will be conducted by Michelle Thompson, W5NYV with Bob McGwier, N4HY, Chief Scientist, Hume Center for National Security and Technology as a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as Aerospace and Ocean Engineering. Sunday's Seminar topic will be, "Spectrum (It's the frequency crunch for real)" The DCC Technical Forum Schedule is being finalized, however a couple times slots may be available. If you would like to present a Technical Topic at the DCC, but haven't submitted a technical paper in advance please email the TAPR Office at: taproffice(a)tapr.org with the topic of your presentation. More information is available at http://www.tapr.org/dcc [ANS thanks TAPR and ARRL for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Area Coordinators List On-Line Are you an AMSAT Area Coordinator? Are you looking for an AMSAT Area Coordinator? Would you like to become an AMSAT Area Coordinator? If you answered yes any of these questions, then we are ready to help you. I have just placed (with the list maintained by Patrick, WD9EWK) the current list of AMSAT Area Coordinators on the amsat.org webpage. You can peruse it at your leisure and if you find someone close to you that you would like to get some help from, you can drop that Area Coordinator an email at his callsign @ amsat.org If you see a need for a correction or addition, please drop an email to Patrick, WD9EWK, at his amsat.org email address. Oh, where can you actually find the list? http://www.amsat.org then click on AMSAT in the menu bar and you will see Area Coordinators. [ANS thanks AMSAT Director of Field Operations Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, and Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Aves Island update Steve, W4DTA/YV5DTA, sent out the following 'Official Press-Release' on August 24th: The Amateur Radio Association of Venezuela, Sectional "Santiago de Leon de Caracas" regrets to inform the entire amateur radio community of Venezuela and the world, that the Bolivarian Armada of Venezuela has notified us that for reasons outside of the DXpedition team control that the expedition to Aves Island to be held in commemoration of Navy Day 2016, by the end of this August and early September has been put on hold until further notice. Then later in the day Steve sent out: "YX0V is very thankful for all of the donations, emails, and calls received regarding the operation. They are still working hard, and the team is ready to go when the Navy says go. At the moment weather is a big factor at the moment with two tropical storms near YV0. [ANS thanks Steve, W4DTA/YV5DTA and Southgate ARN for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Canadian Satellite Grid Expedition GRID EXPEDITION TO EO91 (Moosonee, ON). Ken, VE3HLS, announced a Grid EX- pedition to Moosonee, ON, Canada, which is in EO91. He will be arriving early afternoon on Friday, September 23rd, and leaving late afternoon Monday, September 26th. That gives him four days to put EO91 on the air via the Satellite. Moosonee is a Cree village located on the Moose River, which empties into James Bay, about 15 km downstream. By land, Moosonee is only accessible by train; The Polar Bear Express that runs from Cochrane, ON. It's also accessible by air at much greater expense. He will be driving to Cochrane and taking a few days to get there which will enable him to activate other grids along the way, such as FN06, FN07, FN08, EN98 and EN99. Look for updates on his Twitter page at: https://twitter.com/@VE3HLS [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1280 for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Multiple Satellite Grid Activations Between 5 September and 11 September Bob Liddy, K8BL, travel from Ohio north to Sault St. Marie and make a loop through the following Grids: EN76/86/87/88/98/99/89/79/78/77 Operation will be on FO29, SO50 and AO7. Bob reports that he may check out a couple XW's before he leaves to see if he can work them as well. On linear satellites Bob can usually be found about 15 KHz up from center. [ANS thanks Bob, K8BL, for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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ANS-241 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 28 Aug '16

28 Aug '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-241 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * US ARISS Contacts -Call for Proposals- Runs September 1 - November 1 * Amateur Satellite Educational Videos * Expanding SatNOGS for Satellite Command and Control * The AMSAT Office will be closed through Wednesday, Sept 7th * Aves Island DXpedition to Include Satellite Operations * AMSAT Phase 4 Ground weekly report for 26 August 2016 * 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder - Continued * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-241.01 ANS-241 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 241.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. August 28, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-241.01 US ARISS Contacts -Call for Proposals- Runs September 1 - November 1 Message to US Educators Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals Proposal Window September 1 - November 1, 2016 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between July 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The deadline to submit a proposal is November 1, 2016. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. The Opportunity Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session. An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in dates and times of the radio contact. Amateur Radio organizations around the world, NASA, and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing the equipment and operational support to enable direct communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world via Amateur Radio. In the US, the program is managed by AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) and ARRL (American Radio Relay League) in partnership with NASA and CASIS (Center for the Advancement of Science in Space). More Information Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. Please direct any questions to ariss at arrl dot org. About ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. Also, join us on Facebook: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) / Follow us on Twitter: ARISS_status [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Amateur Satellite Educational Videos David Casler KE0OG has released a couple of videos which aim to explain amateur radio satellites They form part of his collection of training videos for the Amateur Radio Technician, General, and Extra exams. This video introduces the orbital mechanics part of amateur satellites, including the concept of orbits, eccentricity, Keplerian elements, and definitions of key terms. These videos are updated for the 11th edition of the "ARRL Extra Class License Manual for Ham Radio." Watch Amateur Extra Lesson 2.3, Part 1, Amateur Satellites https://youtu.be/Ku9rf9Lwld4 The second half of the video discusses polarization, Faraday rotation, repeaters, transponders, and band and mode designations. Note one error in which I refer to the X band as in the 10 MHz region when it should be 10 GHz. Watch Amateur Extra Section 2.3 Part 2, Amateur Satellites https://youtu.be/ebUeCKjAPFY These videos are updated for the 11th edition of the "ARRL Extra Class License Manual for Ham Radio." David thanks you for watching his videos! His channel, "Ham Radio Answers," is available to help anyone become an active, on-the-air amateur radio operator! David concludes, "I am unique in that I provide the only set of YouTube training videos that accompany the ARRL license manuals, section for section. I try hard to answer every Ask Dave question individually if I can." https://www.youtube.com/user/davecasler [ANS thanks Southgate ARN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Expanding SatNOGS for Satellite Command and Control Although quite some time has passed since their last update, the SatNOGS team and the community has been busy working on it’s software and hardware components, allowing modular setups. A large amount of focus has been with the SatNOGS client software, allowing the user to not only use RTL-SDR based dongles but a far greater variety of SDR solutions using GnuRadio. In conjunction with that, SatNOGS client is able to use Amateur Radios that are supported by hamlib (we’ve already tested on Yaesu and Kenwood radios). Such functionality paired with our new ground station hardware design, and further tests on after market designs such us Yaesu Az/El rotator, would allow the SatNOGS network to not only receive but transmit data via the network to satellites. For a few months now Libre Space Foundation, the organization that assists the development and operation of the SatNOGS networks, has been working together with the University of Patras on developing and manufacturing the first satellite with most of it’s components based upon open hardware and using free software, UPSat, https://upsat.gr/ An open hardware and software satellite, especially one built by Libre Space Foundation would have a great chance for the SatNOGS network to implement command and control features on it’s SatNOGS client, allowing a fully open Low Earth Orbiting satellite communication stack from earth to orbit and back. Communications with the satellite are implemented through ECSS Standard Commands as described in ECSS-E-70-41A standard (CCSDS). You can checkout the code of the client on GitHub https://github.com/satnogs/satnogs-client/tree/dev and the ecss services implemented on the satellite at https://github.com/librespacefoundation/ecss_services There has been a lot of effort to make sure that all the needed functionality on the SatNOGS client has been implemented, while in parallel maintaining modularity and extensibility for future satellites and other protocols. Do you have a satellite in the works and want to use SatNOGS client as command and control? Let us know and we will be happy to work with you expanding our client! https://satnogs.org/2016/08/cnc-librecubesat/ [ANS thanks SatNOGS and Daniel Cussen, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- The AMSAT Office will be closed through Wednesday, Sept 7th Martha announce via the AMSAT-BB that The AMSAT Office will be closed through Wednesday, Sept 7th. She requests "Please do not leave messages as I will not be able to answer them." The office will reopen Thursday September 8. [ANS thanks Martha for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Aves Island DXpedition to Include Satellite Operations Steve, W4DTA/YV5DTA, announced that his group (ARV, Asociacion de Radioaficonados de Venezuela) back in Venezuela got an invitation by the Navy to activate YV0 (Currently the #18 most wanted in the world). A team of 14 operators will depart on August 27th and operate as YX0V for 7-10 days. The team is planning to be active between August 28th and September 5th. Activity will be on all bands (HF/VHF) and modes (CW, SSB, the Digital modes, FM and Satellites). Steve, W4DTA, will be the QSL Manager for the operation. The Caribbean location and flat island terrain should provide excellent footprints across North and South America. Steve, W4DTA/YV5DTA, sent out the following update on August 20th: Hello all.. YX0V team both in YV and here in the USA have been working almost non top! A big FEDEX package was send to Caracas today with shirts, basic supplies and a new antenna analyzer, hopefully it will arrive in time. The team is now working on a contingency plan for power. At the moment there is only one power plant working in YV0, so there are periods of black outs mostly during the night. The team is purchasing a new generator capable of running a few stations, so there might be times that not all stations will be on the air. A operating plan should be available to me very soon. The good news Hams around the world have step up with donations, and that is helping defray some of the cost. More to come, but if you have any questions that you will like me to ask the team, please feel free to email me or call me. 73.... Steve, W4DTA For more details and updates on the YX0V DXpedition, see the following URLs: YX0V Web site: http://yx0v.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/yx0v2016 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/yx0v2016 ADDED NOTES: Tom, W5KUB, hosted an Amateur Radio Roundtable on August 16th, which contains a converstaion with W4DTA/YV5DTA about the upcoming YX0V operation. The video can be viewed on YouTube.com: https://youtu.be/CSTYx2pvBW4?t=1757 Also, watch short videos on YouTube.com at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjGsEFKXVwk&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uV89vEuwRM [ANS thanks Steve, W4DTA/YV5DTA and Southgate ARN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Phase 4 Ground weekly report for 26 August 2016 Some of you may know Mr. Brain ?G4GUO. He's been working on DVB-S2 BCH decode and has it correcting errors (big YAY here, this stuff is hard. But his last name is Brain, so there's that.) He's given us the thumbs up to use it on Phase 4. he is planning on using NVIDIA CUDA to do the LDPC decoder because he doesn't think a general CPU will hack it. There's other really good news on the "new hardware that will make our radio easier to build but will take hard work to get fully functional" front. Two types of hardware we can't talk about just yet because the details aren't yet public, but there is a third. (And actually, a fourth, counting the fact that in two days we can buy an SR Systems DVB Modulator because the company will be coming back from their month-long vacation.) That Snapdragon certificate course that I (foolishly, because Time) signed up for at UCSD? The capstone project is coming right up, and I'm going to see how much we can get out of the quad core processor and onboard DSP in efforts to do some type of Phase 4 Ground radio (or radio peripheral) on Android on a DragonBoard 410c. This would be as the final project in the certificate program, so it's worth the time, it's just kind of feeling like school. Slack is really enjoyable to use and useful for having more personal and flexible virtual meetings than email. Slack is not a replacement for the email list, but I'm going to go ahead and invite everyone that has subscribed to the mailing list, to our Phase 4 Ground Slack. (why add Slack? Because it's searchable, integrated with Github and *many* other services and sites, and easy to organize for technical discussions and work.) I believe Jerry (our AMSAT Vice President of Engineering) has filled out the paperwork to get us a free upgrade to the pro version of Slack. This gives us all the useful functions of Slack. We can live with the "free" version, but the upgrade is a big benefit of all those volunteer hours that we logged during the last seven months. Another big deal is that we need computers to volunteer for our two node-locked licenses from Xilinx that allow us to target ALL the chips out there, even the ones in the bigger USRPs. We have a brand new laptop here in San Diego and are trying to figure out Windows or Linux for Vivado. We need a second site that can support FPGA/HDL design. Jerry Buxton nominated Bill Reed in Texas. *Are there any other individuals that want to provide remote development with this license opportunity?* Otherwise, we go with San Diego and Texas. If not, then we put the two that we have so far "on the air". I have about 8 people on the list right now that want to do more FPGA/RFNoC learning, so let's start getting some traction here with the license, logging in, tutorials, take-this-job descriptions, etc. Bob N4HY is giving the Sunday tutorial at TAPR DCC and I agreed to help him. We're going to talk about DARPA Spectrum Collaboration Challenge, why amateur spectrum is under pressure, and what amateurs need to do about it. My proposed title was "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." But Bob countered with "Spectrum Crunch is real. Amateur radio needs to take action." I think mine's funnier but Steve Bible will probably go with Bob's. Anyway, if you're at DCC, please let Mike Sprenger W4UOO know - he's helping coordinate all of us Phase 4 people while we're there so that we can find each other and talk up a storm. Thank you Mike! Please give feedback if you have it. It makes a big difference. I know I told some of you I read minds, but that might have been a small exaggeration. -Michelle W5NYV [ANS thanks Michelle W5NYV via the AMSAT-BB for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder - Continued ** Booking your Carnival Cruise does not register you for the AMSAT Symposium ** There is a charge for each Symposium attendee of $40. This fee applies to those who will attend the technical presentations only and includes a copy of the printed Proceedings. Additional guests are entitled to attend all other events. The registration form is available from the AMSAT office or store website. Online Symposium registration: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=130 ** Ground transportation options have been added to the FAQ page on the AMSAT Symposium web page** Carnival offers round-trip. Transportation from HOU airport to the cruise terminal at approximately $74 per person, IAH airport $94 per person. If you are traveling to the Board of Directors meeting, you may still utilize the Carnival transportation option for your return to the airport from the cruise terminal. However, you will need to obtain other transportation between the airport and the Galveston DoubleTree hotel. Cruise information may be found at: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=3667 [ANS thanks 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Committee for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th Ballots have been mailed to AMSAT-NA members in good standing, and must be returned to the AMSAT-NA office by September 15, 2016 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America were sent by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT-NA office. Your completed ballot should be sent as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail or other expedited means. This year there are five candidates: Tom Clark, K3IO Clayton Coleman, W5PFG Mark Hammond, N8MH Bruce Paige, KK5DO Paul Stoetzer, N8HM The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as voting Board Members with two year terms. The two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will be non-voting Alternate Board Members with terms of one year. Please vote for no more than three candidates. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board. Election of Board members is both an obligation as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT-NA. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis IN, USA and Astronaut Kate Rubins KG5FYJ using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2016-08-23 15:09 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via N9DR. ARISS Mentor was Charlie AJ9N. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule + Lewis and Clark National Historic Park, Astoria, OR, direct via KF7TCG. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS. The scheduled astronaut is Takuya Onishi KF5LKS Contact is a go for: Sat 2016-09-03 18:21:03 UTC School Information: Thomas Jefferson was a scientist and a pioneer in many fields of study including biology, geography, meteorology, and ethnology. Since at least 1793 he had been planning for an exploration of the largest remaining unexplored land on earth: the American West. This resulted in the four pages of detailed instructions that he gave to Meriwether Lewis during their 1801-03 planning for the voyage of the Corps of Discovery. The resulting 1804-06 U.S. Army expedition to explore along the Missouri and Columbia Rivers was led by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The 33 diverse members of the Corps spent the winter of 1805-06 at a campsite they built just a few miles from the mouth of the Columbia River and named after the local Clatsop Indians. At Fort Clatsop, the captains planned for the return journey to the United States and worked on writing scientific descriptions of the plants and animals they'd encountered that were new to science (a total of 178 species of plants and 122 animals by the end of the trip). Like President Thomas Jefferson and Captain Meriwether Lewis, today's astronauts have a curiosity for exploring beyond known frontiers. Some local students who have participated in various education programs at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park and live in surrounding Clatsop County have been learning about the International Space Station (ISS) and are hoping to have a brief radio conversation with an ISS astronaut. All of these students live in Clatsop County and are familiar with the park through field trips, park summer camps, family visits, or education programs with rangers visiting their classrooms. The park connected with these students through four relationships: 1. The Northwest Regional Educational Service District and the Astoria School District offer a migrant summer school to serve students who have moved within the last three years for their parent's work. Several of these students participated in summer camps that the park offered and they were excited about the opportunity to learn about the International Space Station and talk with an astronaut. 2. Three small local Girl Scout Troops (#10025, #10026, #10086) were interested in this opportunity as they have been focusing on the three keys to Girl Scouting which are Discovering, Connecting, and Taking Action. The girls and their leaders were happy to incorporate this ARISS opportunity into their projects. 3. The Fort Clatsop District of Boy Scouts includes local troop #509 and #542. Since Scouting is about character development and having confidence in yourself to Be Prepared, the ARISS program is a good challenge for these youngsters. Their district is named in honor of the 1805-06 winter encampment of the 33 people of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 4. Three of the youth recruited for this special program are children or grandchildren of Lewis and Clark National Historical Park rangers and were excited to learn that an astronaut radio conversation would be happening in their park. Students & Anticipated Questions: 1. Alejandra (12): To prepare for his journey, Captain Meriwether Lewis was tutored by experts in medicine, navigation, astronomy, mathematics, botany, and paleontology. What was the hardest part of your training? 2. Kevin (13): The Corps of Discovery enjoyed fiddle music, do you listen to music in space? If so, what kind? 3. Katie (11): How different does your body feel in microgravity and how long does it take to adjust after arrival in the space station? 4. Liam (8): Lewis and Clark failed to find a Northwest Passage. Have any of your experiments failed or not gone like you wanted? 5. Nahomy (Naomi) (10): While wintering at Fort Clatsop, the Corps of Discovery made buckskin clothes as their uniforms wore out. How many outfits of clothing do you have with you, and what kind of material are they made from? 6. Dashel (7): Why do you like communicating with kids? 7. Kelsey (11): Meriwether Lewis treasured an ermine scarf he received from a Shoshone chief. Do you have a souvenir from space? If so, what is it? 8. Sophie (8): Do you create art from the views from the space station? 9. Derek (8): When is your next spacewalk? What is your favorite thing when you are outside the space station? 10. Crystal (12): Lewis brought his dog Seaman with him on the expedition. Are there any research animals on the space station now? If so, what are they? 11. Xochitl (Sochi) (13): Although most members of the Corps of Discovery were single, York and John Shields had families at home. Do you miss your family, and how do you communicate with them? 12. Frances (8): Do you guys keep journal like Lewis and Clark did? 13. Rylee (7): If a microorganism changed genetically on the International Space Station would it be considered a space alien? 14. Logan (6): Were you in a scouting program as a child? If so, did it affect your desire to work in space? 15. Linnea (8): Lewis and Clark played backgammon. What games do you play? 16. Josie (8): When Sacagawea became sick, Lewis treated her. If you get hurt or sick, who treats you? 17. Rosalinda (9): What are your space suits made of, and can they catch on fire? 18. Belinda (9): How do you protect your eyes when the space station is facing the sun? 19. Elias (13): Are you doing any experiments with animals adapting to microgravity? 20. Samantha (10): What does a shooting star or a meteor shower look like from space? [ANS thanks ARISS via Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + International EME Conference Presentation Videos Videos of the presentations given at the 17th International EME conference, held in Venice August 19-21, 2016 are now available. They include talks by Sam G4DDK @DXING, Dave G4HUP, Charlie G3WDG, Alex ZS6EME and Joe Taylor K1JT. Watch the videos on the YouTube channel of Giulio Pico IW3HVB at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFct56EA6F9lkqMBmydh5hw EME 2016 The schedule of the EME presentations is posted at: http://www.eme2016.org/index.php/25-2/ [ANS thanks 17th International EME Conference and IW3HVB for the above information] + SPACE EXPLORATION EDUCATORS CONFERENCE (SEEC) February 9-11, 2017 at Space Center Houston 1601 NASA Pkwy, Houston, TX 77058 Experience three days of complete immersion into the out-of-this world adventure of space exploration! This conference is for grades kindergarten to 12th – and not just for science teachers! Space Center Houston strives to use space to teach across the curriculum. The activities presented can be used for science, language arts, mathematics, history, and more. Attend sessions hosted by the actual scientists and engineers working on exciting endeavors like the International Space Station and explorations of Mars and the planets beyond. Hear from the astronauts leading the charge in exploration! Come learn about the bold vision to send humans back to the Moon and off to Mars! Attend sessions presented by educators and receive ready to implement classroom ideas and experience minds-on, hands-on fun. Network with fellow educators, take back a multitude of cross-curriculum ideas and activities and earn 24 hours of continuing professional education credit. For more information or to register, visit : http://spacecenterSEEC.org, email seec at spacecenter dot org or call (281)244-2149. [ANS thanks NEON - NASA Educators Online Network] + There has been a date change for the satellite presention to the Victor Valley (CA) ARC. The presentation will take place Tuesday, OCTOBER 11, 2016, 7:00 PM at the Sitting Bull Academy Library, 19445 Sitting Bull Road, Apple Valley. CA. [ANS thanks Clint K6LCS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, EMike McCardel, AA8EM) aa8em at amsat dot org

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ANS-234 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 21 Aug '16

21 Aug '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-234 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Call for 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Papers * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th * Happy 20th Birthday to FO-29! * 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder * Amateur Radio BIRDS CubeSat Constellation * RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) Launch Scheduled for December 2017 * Graham Shirville G3VZV to be next BATC President * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-234.01 ANS-234 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 234.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE August 21, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-234.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Papers The 2016 AMSAT-NA Annual Meeting and Space Symposium will be held on the weekend of November 10- 14, 2016. Proposals for papers, symposium presentations, and poster presentations are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite community. We request a tentative title of your presentation as soon as possible, but no later than September 15th. The final copy must be submitted by October 15th for inclusion in the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan Schultz at n8fgv(a)amsat.org The 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting will be held aboard the cruise ship Carnival Liberty departing from the port of Galveston,Texas on November 10, 2016 and returning to port on November 14, 2016. [ANS thanks 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Committee for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots Due by September 15th Ballots have been mailed to AMSAT-NA members in good standing, and must be returned to the AMSAT-NA office by September 15, 2016 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America were sent by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT-NA office. Your completed ballot should be sent as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail or other expedited means. This year there are five candidates: Tom Clark, K3IO Clayton Coleman, W5PFG Mark Hammond, N8MH Bruce Paige, KK5DO Paul Stoetzer, N8HM The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as voting Board Members with two year terms. The two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will be non-voting Alternate Board Members with terms of one year. Please vote for no more than three candidates. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board. Election of Board members is both an obligation as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT-NA. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Happy 20th Birthday to FO-29! Happy 20th Birthday to Fuji-OSCAR 29! FO-29, known as JAS-2 (Japan Amateur Satellite #2) prior to launch, was built by the Japan Amateur Radio League and launched on August 17, 1996 from Tanegashima Space Center on an H-II launch vehicle into a 1,323 km x 800 km orbit with an inclination of 98.5 degrees. In addition to a 100 kHz wide analog Mode V/u (JA) transponder, the satellite also includes a packet BBS and digitalker. While the packet BBS and digitalker are non-functional, the analog transponder continues to provide excellent service to the present day. With an apogee of 1,323 km, FO-29 provides satellite operators with excellent DX opportunities every few months when the passes over a certain area are at or near apogee. Intercontinental QSOs are regularly reported, including between Japan and Alaska as well as North America and Europe. Although the theoretical maximum range at apogee is 7,502 km, the excellent sensitivity of the transponder as well as it’s strong and solid 1 watt downlink signal allows that distance to be stretched when the conditions are suitable. The longest distance QSO made via FO-29’s analog transponder occurred on August 27, 2015 with an unscheduled 7,599.959 km contact between KG5CCI in Arkansas and F4CQA in France. The sensitivity of the transponder and Mode V/U configuration also allow for the effective use of minimal equipment. QSOs have been reported using a single Yaesu FT-817 transceiver and the stock rubber duck antenna. Taking advantage of the large footprint and ease of use, the K1N DXpedition to Navassa Island made a total of 29 QSOs during two passes of FO-29 on February 12, 2015 using a single Yaesu FT-817 along with an Arrow antenna, activating that extremely rare DX entity on satellite for the first time since 1978. To this day, FO-29 remains the most widely used linear transponder satellite and an ideal satellite for beginners looking to become active on the linear transponder satellites to try first. The FO-29 control station maintains a blog (in Japanese) at http://blog.goo.ne.jp/fo-29 The JARL also offers an award for confirmed QSOs with ten different stations via FO-29. http://www.amsat.org/?p=5417 [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA and Paul, N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration Reminder - Booking your Carnival Cruise does not register you for the AMSAT Symposium. There is a charge for each Symposium attendee of $40. This fee applies to those who will attend the technical presentations only and includes a copy of the printed Proceedings. Additional guests are entitled to attend all other events. The registration form is available from the AMSAT office or store website. Online Symposium registration: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=130 - Ground transportation options have been added to the FAQ page on the AMSAT Symposium web page. Carnival offers round-trip transportation from HOU airport to the cruise terminal at approximately $74 per person, IAH airport $94 per person. If you are traveling to the Board of Directors meeting, you may still utilize the Carnival transportation option for your return to the airport from the cruise terminal. However, you will need to obtain other transportation between the airport and the Galveston DoubleTree hotel. Cruise information may be found at: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=3667 [ANS thanks 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium Committee for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Amateur Radio BIRDS CubeSat Constellation The BIRDS constellation, planned to deploy from the ISS in 2017, will consist of four 1U CubeSats (BIRD-B, BIRD-J, BIRD-G and BIRD-M). They are made of the exactly same design including the radio frequencies to be used and will be deployed together. The main mission of the constellation is to do experiments on radio communication with a CubeSat constellation via a network of UHF/VHF amateur radio ground stations all over the world. The challenge is to distinguish each satellite from the four satellites transmitting with the same frequency, hand over operation of a satellite from one ground station to another and assemble the satellite data, such as housekeeping telemetry, music and the Earth images, obtained at different ground stations. Amateur radio enthusiasts are asked to join the network to assist in the data downlink and reconstruction of the patchy satellite data into one meaningful data. Orbit information and operational plan of each satellite will be made available to the amateur radio community in the world. Software to decode the satellite data will be also made available. The respective amateur ground stations that can successfully decode the telemetry data, music and the Earth images, shall receive a QSL card from the BIRDS team. The data reconstructed by the effort of the amateur ground station network will be made public to share the sense of satisfaction and achievement. A particularly interesting mission of BIRDS project is the SNG mission that exchanges music via a digi-singer. It is an outreach-oriented mission. First, music in MIDI format is uploaded from ground. Then the MIDI file is processed on-board using a vocal synthesizer. Finally, the processed music is sent back to Earth using UHF antenna as voice FM data. During organized events on space utilization with schools or general public, music could be heard using a common hand-held receiver and hand-made Yagi antenna positioned to track the satellite at each given pass over the region. This has a tremendous effect on awareness of radio communication among school children and general public, especially in the countries participating in the BIRDS project, Japan, Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria and Bangladesh. Proposing to use CW, 1k2 AFSK FM, audio FM and 9k6 GMSK downlinks. Planning a JAXA sponsored deployment from the ISS during 2017. BIRDS project information: http://birds.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/ http://birds.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/amateur.html http://birds.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/newsletter.html https://www.facebook.com/Joint-Global-Multi-Nation-Birds-BIRDS-project- 171403156542445/ Download the Paper – IAA-CU-15-01-16 Five-nations CubeSat constellation; An inexpensive test case for learning and capacity building https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289868265_IAA-CU-15-01-16_Five- nations_CubeSat_constellation_An_inexpensive_test_case_for_learning_and_capaci- _ty_building The IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination pages are hosted by AMSAT-UK at http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) Launch Scheduled for December 2017 AMSAT has been informed that the launch for the NASA Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) XX mission carrying RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) has been scheduled for December 2017. In addition to RadFxSat-2, the ELaNa XX mission will carry 12 CubeSats constructed both by NASA and several universities around the United States. The mission will be launched by Virgin Galactic on their LauncherOne air launch to orbit system from Mojave, CA RadFxSat-2, like RadFxSat (Fox-1B), is a partnership opportunity between the Vanderbilt University Institute for Space and Defense Electronics and AMSAT and will carry a similar radiation effects experiment, studying new FinFET technology. RadFxSat-2 will be the fifth Fox-1 satellite built by AMSAT. Fox-1A, now AMSAT- OSCAR 85 (AO-85), was launched on October 8, 2015 and is fully operational, providing science data from it's onboard experiments and FM transponder service for the amateur radio community. Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D are scheduled for launch this fall and RadFxSat is scheduled to launch in early 2017. The RadFxSat-2 spacecraft bus will be built on the Fox-1 series but will feature a linear transponder “upgrade” to replace the standard FM transponder in Fox-1A through D. In addition, the uplink and downlink bands will be reversed from the previous Fox satellites in a Mode V/u (J) configuration using a 2 meter uplink and 70 cm downlink. The downlink will feature a 1200 bps BPSK telemetry channel to carry the Vanderbilt science data in addition to a 30 kHz wide transponder for amateur radio use. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA and Paul, N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Graham Shirville G3VZV to be next BATC President The British Amateur Television Club (BATC) has announced that Graham Shirville, G3VZV, has been chosen to be the organization's next President. He first joined BATC in the early 1970’s, where he supported the development of the network of ATV repeaters in the UK for many years. More recently he has been closely involved with the development of the HamTV system on the ISS and with the schools contacts with Tim Peake during his Principia Mission. Graham has also been a driving force behind AMSAT-UK’s FUNcube satellite projects and was briefly shown working on the FUNcube-1 satellite in the RSGB Youth video Amateur Radio – a 21st Century Hobby. He provided the deployment mechanism for the Slow Scan Television (SSTV) satellite ARISSat-1/KEDR which was released from the International Space Station by cosmonauts Sergei Volkov RU3DIS and Alexander Samokutyaev. British Amateur Television Club http://www.batc.org.uk/ https://amsat-uk.org/2016/08/19/graham-shirville-g3vzv-batc-president/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). *Saturday, 3 September 2016 - Shelby Hamfest in Shelby, NC (ARRL North Carolina State Convention) - AMSAT Forum Only *Saturday and Sunday, 10-11 September 2016 Boxboro Hamfest in Boxborough, MA (ARRL New England Division Convention) *Friday, 23 September 2016 – presentation at Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club in Pasadena CA *Friday and Saturday, 21-22 October 2016 – CopaFest 2016, south of Maricopa AZ *Saturday, 12 November 2016 – Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Marana AZ *Saturday, 3 December 2016 – Superstition Superfest in Mesa AZ *Saturday, 14 January 2017 – Thunderbird Hamfest 2017 in Phoenix AZ *Saturday, 4 February 2017 – Palm Springs Hamfest in Palm Springs CA *Friday-Sunday, 10-12 February 2017 Orlando HamCation in Orlando, FL *Friday and Saturday, 17-18 February 2017 – Yuma Hamfest in Yuma AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts * Daisen Elementary School, Saihaku-gun, Japan, direct via 8J4DISS The ISS callsign was scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Takuya Onishi KF5LKS Contact was successful: Sat 2016-08-20 08:50:19 UTC 42 deg Signal was very clear and strong. 13 students prepared 26 questions. They got 15 answers. News papers : 4 TV : 5 Audience: 210 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHcoPW5Ex-I Oyama Elementary School is near the Oyama National Park in Tottori Prefecture. It is a small elementary school with a population of 76. This school contact will involve 13 students in the sixth grade (ages 11 and 12), who will interview astronaut Onishi. * Kopernik Observatory & Science Center, Vestal NY, direct via K2ZRO The ISS callsign was scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut was Jeff Williams KD5TVQ Contact was successful: Thu 2016-08-18 16:24:42 UTC 29 deg * A telebridge contact via IS1SLD with students attending Space Camp at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville AL, USA, was successful Thu 2016-08-11 14:48:24 UTC 83 deg. * A direct contact via OK2KET with the OK2KJT Radioclub, Valasska Polanka, Czech Republic, was successful Wed 2016-08-10 18:56:17 UTC 90 deg. Upcoming Contacts * The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis IN, direct via N9DR The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact is a go for: Tue 2016-08-23 15:09:15 UTC 42 deg Founded in 1925, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis creates immersive, interdisciplinary experiences that promote inquiry-based family learning across the arts, sciences, and humanities. The museum is a 473,000 square foot, five-level facility that houses 11 permanent exhibit galleries, two traveling exhibit spaces, a children’s theater, a planetarium, a public library, a preschool, and a collection of more than 115,000 artifacts and objects. Most recently, the Children’s Museum opened Beyond Spaceship Earth, and immersive exhibit focused on human space travel. Beyond Spaceship Earth features three components: a recreation of portions of the inside of the International Space Station (ISS); a one-of-a-kind, immersive space object experience called the Schaefer Planetarium & Space Object Theater; and an Astronaut Wall of Fame, which will pay tribute to more than 30 astronauts with ties to Indiana. Hosting more than one million visitors each year, the museum has received numerous accolades, including being named one of the top 3 science centers in the country by Family Fun magazine. The museum has been ranked as the number one children’s museum by Forbes.com. Through a variety of free and discounted admission programs for under-served populations, as well as its community outreach efforts targeting local neighborhood residents and urban public schools, the Museum ensures that its visitor population is diverse. Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, Dave, AA4KN, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend - Satellite operation On the AMSAT-BB, Ken, GW1FKY reports: With reference to the question about satellite operation for this years "International Lighthouse /Lightship " events ( ILL ) dates Saturday 20 th and Sunday 21st august 2016. Over here in Wales ( United Kingdom ) the " Barry Amateur Radio Society " will be operating from a twin pair of lighthouses located at "NASH POINT" situated on the coast of the Bristol Channel - South Wales. We will be limited to operation during approx. 0700 -1600 hrs GMT only I regret to say. " In addition to operating on the HF and VHF bands I also plan to set up my portable satellite equipment for operation and contacts during suitable passes" Callsign /Lighthouse and details as follows GC6BRC - Lighthouse ( High ) Ref: UK0071: GC4BRS - Lighthouse ( Low ) Ref: UK0072 Locator Ref: IO81FJ QSL Manager : MW0DHF (Philip King) Weather is not looking to good - hopefully it will not deter our plans for operation. [ANS thanks Ken, GW1FKY and AMSAT-UK for the above information] YX0V DXpedition to Aves Island to Include Satellite Operations The YX0V DXpedition to Aves Island, scheduled for August 31, 2016 – September 10, 2016, will include satellite operations. Aves Island, a dependency of Venezuela located west of Dominica and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean Sea (grid FK85eq), is currently the 17th most wanted DXCC entity on the Club Log DXCC Most-Wanted List and was last on the air in 2007. It was active on satellite during the YV0D expedition in 2004, but only three QSOs were made before the DXpedition was cut short due to rain. Satellite plans are yet to be finalized. YX0V information can be found on their website at http://yx0v.com/, on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yx0v2016, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/yx0v2016/ [ANS thanks Paul, N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org

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ANS-227 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 14 Aug '16

14 Aug '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-227 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Special Callsigns From Brazil During Olympic Games * Satellite DX News * Receive Pictures from Space – ISS SSTV August 15-16 * July/August AMSAT Journal in the Mail * AMSAT-SA Partnership Announced to Develop QB50 nSight-1 Groundstation * P4A Es'hailSat Geostationary Satellite Launch Re-Scheduled SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-227.01 ANS-227 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 227.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. August 14, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-227.01 Special Callsigns From Brazil During Olympic Games Members of the Liga de Amadores Brasileiros de Radio Emissao (LABRE) will be active with the special call ZV2016RIO from Rio de Janeiro between Aug. 5 and 21. QRV on 160-2m (except 30m) on CW, SSB, FM, PSK, and D-Star, as well as via satellites. QSL via PY1AA. Henrique/PP5NY operates with the call PX2016RIO in the context of the Olympic Games on HF (CW only). QSL via PP5NY (d/B), LoTW. The following special event calls will also be active while the Games run: ZV8R, ZV8I, ZV8O, ZV8D, ZV8E, ZV8J, ZV8A, and ZV8WN. QSOs count towards the award RIO 2016. QSL via bureau, ClubLog. See: http://www.labre-rr.org/olimpiadasrio2016.html [ANS thanks DXNL 2000 - August 3, 2016 DX Newsletter which is a free and weekly service of DARC Committee "DX and HF contesting". It is noted that this 2000th issue of the DX Newsletter reflects continuous coverage over 62 years. Congratulations, thank you, and 73] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite DX News CY9C ST. PAUL ISLAND DXPEDITION (Update, dated August 2nd). Randy, N0TG, reports on the upcoming CY9C operation for August 19-29th [edited]: The CY9C DXpedition team is very busy with last minute details and packing. All equipment will begin the journey to our take off point in Nova Scotia, August 13-14th. We plan to be partially on the air on 19th August and fully operational 20th August. The home page of our website has a link for those who desire to check the log. Log data will be posted LIVE. We will be using ClubLog and OQRS. Direct QSL via WA4DAN. Activating 60m for the first time from St. Paul is exciting for the team. And, while conditions will be a challenge for 160m, the team is energized to give it a serious effort. Also, be assured we will pay attention to the long and/or difficult propagation paths on all bands when conditions are workable. We look forward to working not only the more common bands CW/SSB/RTTY, but also 6m, 2m EME and Satellite. We appreciate the donations and support by many. Even now in these last days, support is most helpful and appreciated. Our sincere thanks to all interested and following this DXpedition. We look forward to working you. Thank you. The WEB site: http://www.CY9DXpedition.com (Update, dated August 2nd). Randy, N0TG, reports: First cargo ship- ment packed and ready to go. Shipment from NY to northern tip of Nova Scotia is scheduled for Aug 11th. Next shipment will be from Ohio/Indiana and will ship August 13th. Destination is the take off-point - Dingwall, Nova Scotia. Team members will arrive in Dingwall between August 14-17th. Early arrivals will begin preparation for final transport to the island. SATELLITE GRIDS ROAD TRIP. Ron, N8RO, reports that he "will start a road trip on Thursday, August 11th. The trip will head north to OK, KS, NE, SD, ND and SK. We will then head west on the Trans Canadian Highway to AB & BC. From BC we will go to WA, MT, WY, CO and then work our way home to TX on Friday, August 26th. While the trip is primarily a vacation, I will attempt to make satellite contacts, hopefully one or two a day, on XW-2C, AO-85, SO-50 and FO-29 along the way. Possible grid activations include: EM03/04, EN00/01, EN04/05, DN88/89, DO50/60, DO11/21, CO90, CN99, CN78/88, CN97/96, DN36/37, DN75/76, DN71 and DM95. I hope to contact many of you during this trip." [ANS thanks the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1277 for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Receive Pictures from Space – ISS SSTV August 15-16 The ARRL reports Slow-scan television (SSTV) transmissions will be made from the International Space Station (ISS) on August 15-16, 2016. The MAI-75 Experiment will transmit SSTV images on 145.800 MHz FM over the course of a few orbits as the space station passes over Moscow. Operators in Europe and South America will have the best chances to receive images. Operators along the US East Coast may have one chance on August 16. Thanks to Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, ISS Ham Project Coordinator [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- July/August AMSAT Journal in the Mail The July/August 2016 issue of The AMSAT Journal has gone to press and should be arriving in member's mailboxes soon. In this issue: * Apogee View by Barry Baines, WD4ASW * Engineering Update by Jerry Buxton, N0JY * Member Footprints by Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer, NP4JV * AMSAT Field Day Results by Bruce Paige, KK5DO * Digital Microwave Communications in Amateur Radio Satellites by Michelle Thompson, W5NYV and Robert McGwier, N4HY * QRV from PJ2 by Michael Lipp, HB9WDF * Protecting Satellites and Ground Stations from EMP and CME by Joe Kornowski, KB6IGK * Aboard the Queen Mary, W6RO, on AO-7 by Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK * Big Science / Amateur Budget by Eric Nichols, KL7AJ * Goodbye to a Good Man and Former AMSAT President by Robert McGwier, N4HY [ANS thanks Paul, N8HM, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-SA Partnership Announced to Develop QB50 nSight-1 Groundstation SCS Space (a subsidiary of the privately owned South African SCS Aerospace group) partnered with AMSAT SA to assist with internationally distributed ground station facilities for their up and coming QB50 satellite, "nSight-1". The use of multiple ground stations will multiply the downloaded science and imagery (32 m resolution) data generated by the satellite. QB50 is a constellation of 50 CubeSats that will be launched into a low earth orbit to study the earth's lower thermosphere. QB50 will provide multi-point, in-situ measurements. Each satellite will carry one of three science sensors that will generate data that must be downloaded to the ground daily. This is a unique opportunity for Radio Amateurs in South Africa to participate in an interesting satellite project. To participate please send details of your station, such as transceiver and antennas available as well as your location to saamsat(a)intekom.co.za. The next step will be to participate in a briefing session that will be conducted on Skype in two weeks' time. More details on www.amsatsa.org.za. ----- AMSAT-SA SDR Development Conversation The next AMSAT SDR Conversation takes place on Wednesday 24 August. The second AMSAT SDR Conversation was held last Wednesday when a basic mind-map to develop a SDR transponder was proposed and discussed. During the next two weeks, the participants will populate the mind-map, which will be discussed at the next SDR Conversation on Wednesday 24 August. For more information and how to take part in the conversation, visit www.amsatsa.org.za. [ANS thanks the South African Radio League News for Sunday 14 August 2016 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- P4A Es'hailSat Geostationary Satellite Launch Re-Scheduled AMSAT Deutschland reported that the P-4A transponder on the Es'hail-2 is re-scheduled for launch in Q3 2017. Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, wrote, "We have been informed by Es'hailSat Qatar Satellite company, that the launch of Es'hail-2 with the first P4-A geostationary amateur radio transponder is shifted to Q3/2017." [ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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ANS-220 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 07 Aug '16

07 Aug '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-220 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG Awarded Louis Varney Cup * Amateur Radio Presentations at EMF 2016 Guildford * AMSAT-UK Space Colloquium Videos Now Available * Dayton Hamvention Moving to Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia * LoTW adds UKube-1 Support * Skyler Fennell, KD0WHB, is 2016 Young Ham of the Year * NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative Opens Space to Educators, Nonprofits * Sign Up for New NASA Education 'Science WOW!' Weekly Email Newsletter * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots in the Mail * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-220.01 ANS-220 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 220.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. August 7, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-220.01 Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG Awarded Louis Varney Cup On July 31 at the AMSAT-UK International Space colloquium in Guildford the RSGB Board Chair Steve Hartley G0FUW presented the RSGB Louis Varney Cup for Advances in Space Communications to Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG. The award was in recognition of Wouter’s outstanding technical contributions to several amateur satellites and associated outreach. The presentation can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/8GpewVRTKXQ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Amateur Radio Presentations at EMF 2016 Guildford Many radio amateurs are giving presentations at the Electromagnetic Field EMF 2016 event taking place near Guildford August 5-7 and two special event stations will be operating from the site. It is hoped the presentations may be streamed live on the web. The event is aimed at makers, scientists, engineers and radio enthusiasts. Most radio amateurs will be in two villages on the site, HABville and the Amateur Radio Village. The London Hackspace Amateur Radio Club are planning to erect at least one of their Clark masts in the amateur radio village. London Hackspace will be showcasing Amateur Radio on bands from 3.5 MHz (80m) to 430 MHz (70cm) and maybe higher using the call sign GB4EMF. RSGB Youth Committee member Rebecca M6BUB will be at the GB8EMF station which will be using three ICOM transceivers, two IC-706MKIIG and an IC-746. At 1559 GMT (4:59pm BST) on Saturday, August 6 the International Space Station (ISS) astronaut Kate Rubins KG5FYJ should be receivable at the event on a handheld radio tuned to 145.800 MHz FM. Full details at http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2016/july/ariss-event- 0608.htm The amateur radio satellite talks being given over the weekend are: • A hacker’s guide to satellites — Dave Rowntree 2E0DRV (drummer in rock-band Blur) • Receiving live video from the Space Station — Daniel Cussen EI9FHB HamTV • The story behind $50SAT, a new approach to Amateur satellite design which became the world’s smallest operational satellite, built for £125 in a garden shed — Stuart Robinson GW7HPW Other presentations by radio amateurs include: • 100 years of Shannon — the man, his work and his legacy — Matthew Ireland MW0MIE • Asynchronous or Analogue Methods for Computation — Matthew Ireland MW0MIE • Connecting computers together over 1,000s miles without using the Internet — GB8EMF Amateur Radio Station • Hacking Robot Dinosaurs — Dr Lucy Rogers M6CME (Judge on BBC Robot Wars) • My Ubertooth Year — Michael Ossmann AD0NR developer of HackRF One SDR • Numbers Stations: Cold War, short waves — Henry Cooke • Rebooting a Hobby: How Modern Digital Comms are Reviving Amateur Radio — Ryan Sayre M0RYS Electromagnetic Field EMF 2016 https://twitter.com/emfcamp https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule https://www.emfcamp.org/line-up/2016 EMF HABville https://wiki.emfcamp.org/wiki/Village:HABville EMF Amateur Radio Village https://wiki.emfcamp.org/wiki/Village:Amateur_Radio London Hackspace ARC https://twitter.com/m0hsl https://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Group:Amateur_Radio Previous EMF events have generated BBC News coverage https://amsat-uk.org/2014/09/02/bbc-reports-emf-2014/ What is Amateur Radio? http://www.essexham.co.uk/what-is-amateur-radio Find a short Amateur Radio training course near you at https://thersgb.org/services/coursefinder/ The book Getting Started with Amateur Satellites 2016 is available from the AMSAT-UK online shop http://tinyurl.com/ANS220-GettingStartedUK [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-UK Space Colloquium Videos Now Available Thanks to the hard work of British Amateur Television Club (BATC) and AMSAT-UK volunteers the videos of the presentations given to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium held in Guildford on July 30- 31, 2016 are now available on YouTube. During the Colloquium AMSAT-UK operated a satellite ground station using the call sign G0AUK. Contacts were made via the SO-50, AO-85 and FO-29 satellites. The ground station used the Kenwood TS-2000X transceiver that was successfully used for all the UK school contacts with astronaut Tim Peake GB1SS during his Principia mission on the International Space Station. The TS-2000X was kindly loaned by Martin Lynch & Sons Ltd and Kenwood Communications UK. The 2016 Colloquium presentations along with those from previous years can be found on the AMSAT-UK YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/AMSATUK/playlists The videos of the presentations can either be watched online or downloaded to your PC using readily available free YouTube download software for showing at club meetings. AMSAT-UK publish a quarterly newsletter OSCAR News, a sample issue can be downloaded here. Electronic (PDF) membership is £15 a year – https://amsat-uk.org/new-members/join-now/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dayton Hamvention Moving to Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia Hamvention® announced today that it will be moving to the Greene County Fairgrounds and Event Center in Xenia, Ohio, after 52 years at Hara Arena. That’s about 16 miles east of Dayton center off US Route 35 (see map). Hara Arena announced last week that it would be closing, and Hamvention indicated that it soon would be announcing its back-up plan for a new venue in the Dayton area. “We appreciate and value all the time and effort of the many partners, in particular the Greene County Agricultural Society, the Greene County Board of Commissioners and the Greene County Convention & Visitors Bureau has put into helping Hamvention find the right venue to continue our long history here in the Miami Valley,” Hamvention General Chair Ron Cramer, KD8ENJ, said. “We look forward to a long and mutually prosperous relationship.” Last week, after Hara Arena announced it would close, Cramer had said, “We have spent many hours over the last few years evaluating possible locations and have found one in the area we believe will be a great new home! We all believe this new venue will be a spectacular place to hold our beloved event. Please rest assured we will have the event on the same weekend and, since it will be in the region, the current accommodations and outside events already planned for Hamvention 2017 should not be affected.” Hamvention chief spokesman and board member Mike Kalter, W8CI, told ARRL today that announcement of the new venue came a bit sooner than he’d anticipated last week. He pointed out that the event annually attracts in excess of 25,000 visitors from every US state and some 60 countries around the world. “The key thing is that we plan to have a 5-star event,” he said of Hamvention 2017. “We’ll put a lot of time and energy into it.” The move to Xenia could prove to be a huge financial bonanza for the city and Greene County. Hamvention typically has meant millions of dollars to the Dayton/Montgomery County area, and some of that benefit now could migrate eastward down US 35. Kalter conceded that the new venue in Greene County is a slightly longer drive from Dayton City Center -- where some Hamvention-related events traditionally occur -- than it was to Hara Arena, but he believes it will be worth the trip. “Montgomery County didn’t have anything for us,” he said. “We looked exhaustively. We’ve known this is what we’d do for about a month — if Hara Arena would no longer be available.” And the flea market at the new site? “Our plan is to have a much better flea market,” Kalter said. “We have two or three different options, but we think people are really going to like it.” He said the entire fairgrounds facility was rebuilt several years ago after it was destroyed by a tornado, so the buildings are newer than Hara, which was built in the 1950s. He said there will be opportunities to bring in campers — with 30 A service, water, and sewer available. Kalter believes the change in venue in and of itself will be a big incentive for a lot of people who may be just thinking about attending Hamvention 2017 right now. “We expect next year to be a big year,” he said. “We expect a lot of people to come to see what it’s like.” [ANS thanks ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- LoTW adds UKube-1 Support The ARRL has informed Paul, N8HM that TQSL configuration file version 9.3 will be released shortly adding support for UKube-1 in LoTW. Please note that due to character limitations, the satellite name for LoTW will be "UKUBE1" Clayton W5PFG followed up saying "Simply launching the TQSL application should inform you that a new configuration file is available. I've updated my log and uploaded all of my UKube-1 contacts with the new SAT_NAME parameter UKUBE1." [ANS thanks the ARRL, Paul N8HM, and Clayton W5PFG for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Skyler Fennell, KD0WHB, is 2016 Young Ham of the Year Skyler Fennell KD0WHB, of Denver, CO, has been selected as the 2016 Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Young Ham of the Year by the Amateur Radio Newsline. Skyler's interest in satellite communications resulted in a revival of Colorado Amateur Satellite Net where he became a net control operator and created a website for the net: https://amsatnet.info/ Skyler, 17, is the son of Karl and Carol Fennell, and recently graduated with honors from Denver School of the Arts. Skyler was first licensed in July 2013 as a Technician and upgraded to General by September 2013. He took and passed his Extra class license exam in January 2014. Skyler's interest in basic electronics was sparked when he was in the fourth grade and continued into middle school and high school. Among his early building projects were a laser spirograph, audio amplifiers, and high voltage transformer drivers. A high school friend, Jordan Walters, KD0MLV, introduced Skyler to amateur radio when he was a freshman in high school , explaining how radio transmissions could bounce off layers of the atmosphere. That led Skyler to engage in a six-month period of study, testing and operating that resulted in his path to Extra. Skyler has extensive experience in designing and working on repeater systems and introduced an AllStar Link system for one of the Rocky Mountain Radio League's repeaters. He began working with the AB0BX STEM School Amateur Radio Club in nearby Littleton, CO and got involved in the group's Edge of Space Sciences missions (balloon launches with amateur equipment). He became project manager for its 440Mhz repeater and helped put together an AllStar and EchoLink repeater for students, serving as a mentor for construction of the project. Skyler started the Denver School of the Arts amateur radio club in August 2015 and was trustee of the club call - KE0FXH. Skyler has chronicled several of his amateur radio and technical achievements on his YouTube channel - "Skyler F." He was also involved in proposing and assisting in the construction of a VHF/UHF repeater at a remote base site on Blue Mountain in the Denver area and added an AllStar link to the system. This past May, Skyler spoke at the Youth Forum at the Dayton Hamvention on the topic: "Homebrewing on a Budget." He also addressed the Quarter Century Wireless Association forum in Dayton about how his technical interests will help him further his educational and career goals. Skyler is an Eagle Scout, a rank he achieved at the age of 13. He also combined his interest in cycling and amateur radio, assembling a bicycling mobile set-up with VHF and UHF radios. He is also an accomplished pianist and earned the first-place trophy in the recent U.S. International Duo Piano competition in Colorado Springs this past February after performing a Poulenic piano sonata for four hands, two pianos. Skyler will be recognized during the Huntsville Hamfest on Aug. 20 in the Von Braun Civic Center, Huntsville, AL. The Young Ham of the Year award was inaugurated by William Pasternak, WA6ITF, in 1986. Upon his passing in 2015, Bill's name was added to the award as a memorial to his commitment to recognizing the accomplishments of young people to the amateur radio service. In addition to Amateur Radio Newsline, CQ Magazine and Yaesu USA are primary sponsors, along with Heil Sound Ltd. and Radiowavz Antenna Company. Skyler will be receiving a gift of amateur radio gear from Yaesu and a complimentary week at Space Camp, Huntsville, provided by CQ. [ANS thanks Amateur Radio Newsline and CQ Communications, Inc. for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative Opens Space to Educators, Nonprofits Accredited education institutions, nonprofit organizations and NASA centers can join the adventure and challenges of space while helping the agency achieve its exploration goals through the next round of the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI). Applicants must submit proposals by 4:30 p.m. EST, Nov. 22. The CSLI provides CubeSat developers with a low-cost pathway to space to conduct research that advances NASA's strategic goals in the areas of science, exploration, technology development, education and operations. The initiative provides students, teachers and faculty with the chance to get hands-on flight hardware development experience designing, building and operating these small research satellites. NASA will make selections by Feb. 17, 2017, but selection does not guarantee a launch opportunity. Selected experiments will be considered as auxiliary payloads on agency launches or for deployment from the International Space Station beginning in 2017 through 2020. If chosen, U.S. nonpro?t and accredited educational organizations are entirely responsible for funding the development of the small satellites. To date, NASA has selected 119 CubeSat missions, 46 of which have been launched into space. NASA has offered a launch opportunity to 95 percent of those selected through previous announcements, with 29 scheduled for launch within the next 12 months. The selected CubeSats represent participants from 32 states, demonstrating the significant progress NASA has made on a remarkable goal established during the 2015 White House Maker Faire, to launch a small satellite from at least one participant in every state during the next five years. For this round of the initiative, NASA is particularly interested in participation from organizations in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 18 states not previously selected. These states are: Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming. CubeSats are in a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. Base CubeSat dimensions are about 4-by-4-by-4 inches (10-by-10-by-11 centimeters), which equals one Cube, or 1U. CubeSats supported by this launch effort include volumes of 1U, 2U, 3U and 6U. CubeSats of 1U, 2U and 3U size typically have a mass of about three pounds (1.33 kilograms) per 1U Cube. A 6U CubeSat typically has a mass of about 26.5 pounds (12 to 14 kilograms). The CubeSat's final mass depends on the selected deployment method. Small satellites, including CubeSats, play a valuable role in the agency’s exploration, science, technology and educational investigations. These miniature satellites provide a low-cost platform for NASA science missions, including planetary exploration, Earth observation, and fundamental Earth and space science. They are a cornerstone in the development of cutting-edge NASA technologies like laser communications, satellite-to-satellite communications and autonomous movement. NASA also is using small satellites to demonstrate and validate the vehicles, systems and protections humans need to live and work in space and on other worlds. They are an inexpensive means to engage students in all phases of satellite development, operation and exploitation through real-world, hands-on research and development experience on NASA-funded rideshare launch opportunities. For additional information about NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiative To explore images from our previous launches, follow us on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/145538433@N02/ Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nasa_cubesat/ [ANS thanks NASA News Release for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign Up for New NASA Education 'Science WOW!' Weekly Email Newsletter Are you a science educator or interested in science education? Sign up for the NASA Education "Science WOW!" mailing list. Receive an email with NASA's latest science education offerings delivered "Weekly on Wednesdays." Science starts with a question, and so does "Science WOW!" Each week's message kicks off with a science question and a link to where you can find the answer. "Science WOW!" also highlights an awesome science education tool each week. These featured resources will include NASA apps, interactive games, 3-D printing templates and more! Plus, "Science WOW!" delivers -- right to your inbox -- the latest science education opportunities offered by NASA. It's a simple way to keep up with the latest professional development webinars, student contests, workshops, lectures and other activities. The first "Science WOW!" message is scheduled to be sent on Aug. 10, 2016. To register your email address and be added to the list, visit https://www.nasa.gov/education/sciencewow/. [ANS thanks NASA Education Express Message -- Aug. 4, 2016 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Ballots in the Mail Ballots have been mailed to AMSAT-NA members in good standing, and must be returned to the AMSAT-NA office by September 15, 2016 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America were sent by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT-NA office. Your completed ballot should be sent as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail or other expedited means. This year there are five candidates: Tom Clark, K3IO Clayton Coleman, W5PFG Mark Hammond, N8MH Bruce Paige, KK5DO Paul Stoetzer, N8HM The three candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as voting Board Members with two year terms. The two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will be non- voting Alternate Board Members with terms of one year. Please vote for no more than three candidates. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board. Election of Board members is both an obligation as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT-NA. [ANS thanks AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between Sacred Heart Primary School, New Taipei City, Taiwan and Astronaut Takuya Onishi KF5LKS using Callsign OR4ISS. The contact began Tue 2016-08-02 08:36:03 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via BNØSH. ARISS Mentor was Satoshi 7M3TJZ. + A Successful contact was made between Space Jam 10, Rantoul IL, USA and Astronaut Kate Rubins KG5FYJ using Callsign OR4ISS. The contact began Sat 2016-08-06 15:59:03 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Telebridged via IK1SLD. ARISS Mentor was Charlie AJ9N. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2016-08-04 06:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: OK2KJT Radioclub, Valasska Polanka, Czech Republic, direct via OK2KET The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Takuya Onishi KF5LKS Contact is a go for: Wed 2016-08-10 18:56:17 U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville AL, telebridge via VK4KHZ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Contact is a go for: Thu 2016-08-11 15:25:44 U.S. Space & Rocket Center Information: Since 1982, Space Camp® at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama has been inspiring people of all ages about space science, space flight, and space exploration. Among the 750,000 Space Camp graduates worldwide are five astronaut alumnae, including Dr. Kate Rubins, slated to launch on expedition 48/49 to the ISS this summer. Her presence on the space station provides an incredible opportunity for young people currently attending Space Camp to be able to talk to someone who was once in their shoes who went on to become an astronaut. It is also very likely that international students will be taking part in Space Camp during the link. These students will have a unique opportunity while visiting the United States to take part in an active exchange with the largest multi- national laboratory on-or off-the planet! In addition to Space Camp trainees, museum guests will have the opportunity to take part in the activity. As the original NASA visitor center, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center has been telling NASA's story since 1970. And with over 650,000 visitors annually, the Space and Rocket Center is Alabama's top tourism attraction. And depending on when the event falls in the summer, the USSRC may also bring in educators attending Space Academy for Educators, an immersive professional development program conducted throughout the summer months annually. In short, the USSRC hope to maximize both camp and museum guest participation to promote the scientific activities taking place on the ISS, as well as highlight the technology that allows such an exchange to take place. Expected Questions: 1. What was your favorite subject in school? 2. What was your toughest subject in school? 3. Who were your heroes growing up? 4. What is something you learned at Space Camp you are using in space? 5. What advice would you give a student who wants to become an astronaut? 6. What advice would you give to someone at Space Camp this week? 7. Were you afraid when your rocket launched? 8. What was the hardest thing in astronaut training? 9. How often do you talk to your family? 10. Do you speak Russian with the Russian cosmonauts? 11. What does it smell like on the ISS? 12. What is the coolest thing that you have seen in space? 13. What is your favorite food to eat in space? 14. What medical research are you working on while you're on the Space Station? 15. What other cool research projects are you helping with? 16. As a researcher, do you think NASA's biological space research will one day lead to a cure for diseases like HIV or cancer? 17. Do you work with research projects from other countries? 18. What do you think is the biggest effect on an astronaut's body from long-term spaceflight? 19. How will research on the Space Station help us get ready to go to Mars? ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. Listen for the ISS on the downlink of 145.8Ø MHz. Exp. 47 on orbit Jeff Williams KD5TVQ Oleg Skripochka RN3FU Aleksey Ovchinin Exp. 48 on orbit Anatoly Ivanishin Kate Rubins KG5FYJ Takuya Onishi KF5LKS The next ARISS Application Window will begin September 1, 2016 and run through November 1, 2016. Be alert for the official announcement which will be released the second half of August. The announcement will include links to the updated Application Guide as well as the application form and other information pertinent to the application process. Look for the announcement here in the AMSAT News Service Bulletin, via the AMSAT-BB, via the ARRL and several other news venues. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + ISS R&D Presentations ISS Contact and Booth Photos If you weren't able to attend the ISS Research & Development Conference last month, or watch the live webcast, use this link to access all the videos, presentations and photos: http://www.issconference.org/resources.php [ANS thanks the American Astronautical Society and the ISS R&D Confrence for the above information] + Want to learn more about Rocket and Space Technology? Visit Robert A. Braeunig's Rocket and Space technology site at http://www.braeunig.us/space/index_top.htm [ANS thanks C. Robert Welti, PhD. for the above information] + SUPPORT AMSAT-NA AMSAT Store http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ JOIN AMSAT http://store.amsat.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=32 AMSAT's President's Club Donation http://store.amsat.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=34 Make a General Donation http://store.amsat.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=35 Support the FOX Satellites http://tinyurl.com/ANS220-SupportFox Support ARISS http://tinyurl.com/ANS220-SupportARISS --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, EMike McCardel, AA8EM aa8em at amsat dot org

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ANS-213 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 31 Jul '16

31 Jul '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-213 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * ARISS International Face-to-face Meeting Announced for 2016 * RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Nearing Completion * AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium 2016 July 29-31 * Dayton Hamvention® 2017 Venue Announcement * Good-Bye, Hara Arena! Hamvention to Relocate in 2017! * UK Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI/GB1SS, Heads Ham Contingent to 10 Downing Street * South African SDR Transponder Working Group * Past AMSAT President Doug Loughmiller, W5BL, SK * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-213.01 ANS-213 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 213.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE July 31, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-213.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS International Face-to-face Meeting Announced for 2016 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) International Face-to-face Meeting for 2016 will take place in the Houston, Texas area, hosted by ARISS-US team members who will welcome the worldwide ARISS team. The dates are November 15 – 18, 2016. Meeting attendees can go on a special tour Monday afternoon, November 14 at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). ARISS-International Face-to-face Meetings are always open to the public from around the world as observers, and there is no registration fee. The meeting immediately follows the 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium to accommodate symposium attendees who can extend their stay. Meeting dates selected coincide with ARISS’s 20th anniversary and the team will be celebrating its 20 successful years. In November 1996, the first international ARISS meeting took place at NASA Johnson Space Center, as well. Many ARISS international team members plan to participate in this year’s meeting. The ARISS-International Face-to-face Meeting agenda is being worked and will center around ARISS’s hardware development project and future initiatives, sustaining the ARISS program through strategic partnerships and fundraising, and making a quantum improvement in educational outcomes. Other topics and discussions will be on: · how the full ARISS worldwide team can leverage the major outcomes achieved by the ARISS United Kingdom team members during Astronaut Tim Peake’s mission, · educating the team on expectations of ARISS’s two new benefactors: NASA Space Communications and Navigation and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space · celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of ARISS, and · additional topics critical to the future of ARISS. The ARISS team welcomes all people from around the globe to the ARISS-International Face-to-face Meeting as observers. ARISS hopes attendees new to ARISS will decide to begin volunteering after learning about the many things the ARISS team does. Those interested in coming to the meeting during any part of November 15 - 18 can e-mail Rosalie White (k1sto(a)arrl.org) or Frank Bauer (ka3hdo(a)verizon.net). Information will then be forwarded about the hotel that will offer a special rate . About ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, go to: www.ariss.org www.amsat.org www.arrl.org Also, join us on Facebook: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Follow us on Twitter: ARISS_status [ANS thanks ARISS and the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Nearing Completion RadFxSat flight unit has been assembled and is going through various stages of testing before it is put through environmental (shock, vibe, bakeout) testing in August for completion in early September. Launch is scheduled for January 20, 2017. In a recent test stop in Fox Labs for a few days, most of the testing was streamed live on YouTube to give enthusiasts an opportunity to “look over the shoulder” of VPE Jerry Buxton, N0JY as he conducted tests on the flight unit along with other Fox Engineering Team members on GoToMeeting. If you missed the live video, you can view the archives at http://www.youtube.com/c/n0jy/live RadFxSat is expected to be back in Fox Labs around August 11 for another round of tests and it is planned to have live streaming during those tests as well. http://www.amsat.org/?p=5379 [ANS thanks Jerry, N0JY, AMSAT Vice President of Engineering for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium 2016 July 29-31 The 2016 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium is taking place at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, over the weekend of July 29-31. The event is open to all. The presentations will be streamed at https://beta.batc.tv/live/amsatuk A full program of presentations, covering all aspects of the amateur satellite world, has been developed for the Saturday and Sunday and a “Beginners Session” was scheduled for the Friday afternoon. AMSAT Vice President of Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA was scheduled to give an update on the AMSAT-NA Fox Satellites on Saturday. Download the PDF Schedule https://ukamsat.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/schedule-2016-amsat-uk- colloquium-issue-h.pdf Sessions will include updates on the many new satellites that are expected to be launched over the next few months. This includes Eshail-2 which will carry the first ever geostationary amateur radio transponder and provide more than 8 MHz of new intercontinental spectrum – it will provide coverage to five continents. Additionally we will have a session on how to develop software receivers using GNU radio, reviews of the Tim Peake GB1SS ARISS contacts and the STEM results achieved, information about a new 76 GHz satellite project, a review of how to operate “in the field” and lots more. [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dayton Hamvention® 2017 Venue Announcement The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) regrets to inform our many vendors, visitors and stakeholders that, unfortunately, HARA has announced the closing of their facility. We have begun execution of our contingency plan to move Hamvention® 2017 to a new home. DARA and Hamvention® have enjoyed many successful years working together with HARA Arena and we wish the Wampler family the best. DARA and Hamvention® have been working on a contingency plan in the event HARA would become unavailable. We have spent many hours over the last few years evaluating possible locations and have found one in the area we believe will be a great new home! Due to logistics and timing issues, we will make a formal announcement introducing our new partner. This information will be coming soon. We all believe this new venue will be a spectacular place to hold our beloved event. Please rest assured we will have the event on the same weekend and, since it will be in the region, the current accommodations and outside events already planned for Hamvention® 2017 should not be affected. http://hamvention.org/dayton-hamvention-2017-venue-announcement/ [ANS thanks DARA, Ron Cramer, KD8ENJ, and the Hamvention Staff for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Good-Bye, Hara Arena! Hamvention to Relocate in 2017! Hamvention® has announced that Hara Arena, the home of Hamvention since 1964, is closing, but Hamvention will continue. Hamvention 2016, the event’s 65th running, was also the last held in the six-building Hara complex. Hamvention 2017 will be held at a new, yet-to-be-disclosed location in the Dayton area. “The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) regrets to inform our many vendors, visitors and stakeholders that, unfortunately, Hara has announced the closing of their facility,” a news release from Hamvention General Chair Ron Cramer, KD8ENJ, said today (July 29). “We have begun execution of our contingency plan to move Hamvention® 2017 to a new home. DARA and Hamvention have enjoyed many successful years working together with Hara Arena and we wish the Wampler family the best.” The news has struck the Amateur Radio community like a lightning bolt — albeit tempered only by DARA’s assurances that Hamvention will not be going away as well. “We are painfully aware of the loss this announcement will generate, which is why we have fought so long and hard to prevent it,” Hara Arena Marketing Director Karen Wampler said in a news release. According to Cramer, DARA and Hamvention have been working on a contingency plan in the event that the deteriorating Hara Arena ever should become unavailable. “We have spent many hours over the last few years evaluating possible locations and have found one in the area we believe will be a great new home!” The announcement said that DARA and Hamvention expect to make a formal announcement soon “introducing our new partner.” “We all believe this new venue will be a spectacular place to hold our beloved event,” Cramer said. “Please rest assured we will have the event on the same weekend and, since it will be in the region, the current accommodations and outside events already planned for Hamvention 2017 should not be affected.” “We look forward to your continued support as we move to a new future with The Dayton Hamvention.” A hockey team’s cancellation of its upcoming season earlier this month had raised questions about the future availability of Hara Arena for Hamvention®. Hara Arena has been facing long-standing financial problems — including unpaid property taxes. Renovations promised for the 2016 Hamvention never materialized. Hamvention attracted more than 25,000 visitors this spring and is worth millions of dollars to the Dayton area economy. The Wampler family has owned and operated Hara Arena since its humble origins in the 1950s, when Wampler Ballarena — then a dance hall and now an exhibit hall familiar to Hamvention visitors — was built in what had been a family- owned orchard. http://www.arrl.org/news/good-bye-hara-arena-hamvention-to-relocate-in-2017 [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- UK Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI/GB1SS, Heads Ham Contingent to 10 Downing Street UK Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI/GB1SS -- just back from a duty tour on the International Space Station -- headed a contingent of radio amateurs and youngsters invited to visit the new Prime Minister Theresa May at 10 Downing Street earlier this month. The July 18 reception at the PM's residence celebrated the success of Peake's "Principia Mission" and his time in space. Sandringham School student Jessica Leigh, M6LPJ, and her head teacher Alan Gray, G4DJX, were among those also on hand, along with students from the Principia Mission schools. Jessica, then a brand-new ham, was the first student in the UK to speak with Peake during an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) ham radio contact with the ISS. Peake inaugurated the use of the ISS Ham TV system when he spoke on January 8 with Jessica and other students at Sandringham School in Hertfordshire, England. Also attending the reception at 10 Downing Street were Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, and the UK's first astronaut, Helen Sharman, GB1MIR, who traveled to the Russian Mir space station in 1991. Cristoforetti was among those responsible for configuring the Ham TV digital Amateur Radio TV (DATV) system on the space station. Peake dedicated part of his 6 months in space to educational activities for youngsters on Earth. He described his Principia Mission as the largest and most ambitious educational outreach program of any European space mission. It was supported by ARISS, the UK Space Agency, the ESA, and others on a long list of educational institutions and organizations. The July 29-31 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium in Guildford will feature presentations about Peake's Principia Mission, and Sandringham School students will talk about their ARISS experience. [ANS thanks ARISS and the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- South African SDR Transponder Working Group During the first AMSAT SA SDR conversation, who met on Wednesday 27 July 2016, the participants discussed various aspects of changing transponders on future satellite missions to Software Defined Radio. The first step in the process is to develop a roadmap. The first roadmap proposals will be discussed at the group's next Skype conversation on Wednesday 10 August. The group is also working on setting up an information sharing platform. Visit www.amsatsa.org.za for more information on how to become a member of AMSAT SA and to join the SDR conversation. [ANS thanks the South African Radio League News for Sunday, 31 July 2016 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Past AMSAT President Doug Loughmiller, W5BL, SK Past AMSAT President and AMSAT Journal Editor Doug Loughmiller, W5BL, of McKinney, Texas, died on July 22. An ARRL Life Member, he was 60 and had been suffering from cancer. “This is very sad news,” said Al Ward, W5LUA. “He will be missed greatly.” Loughmiller was probably best known in recent years as a high-altitude Amateur Radio ballooning enthusiast, and he evangelized on that topic at the ARRL Centennial Convention in 2014 as well as at Dayton Hamvention®. He was the co- moderator of the BalloonSat Forum at Hamvention, and the co-founder of ARBONET (Amateur Radio Balloon over North East Texas) — described as “a poor man’s space program.” He also held a pilot’s license and was interested in motor sports, fishing, and scuba diving. He also was an active Amateur Radio instructor, and he was the recipient of the 2008 Herb S. Brier Award bestowed by the ARRL to recognize a volunteer Amateur Radio instructor. Loughmiller grew up in Indiana and, after graduating from high school there, he attended Paris Junior College in Texas. His first career was as a baker, but from there he jumped to a job in the Satellite Communications Department at the University of Surrey, in England, as a payload supervisor. Subsequently he pursued a successful career in the electronics component industry, working for Arrow Electronics, Future Electronics/FAI, and RAM Electronic Sales. Loughmiller ran for elective office in the ARRL West Gulf Division and in the North Texas Section. He was a member of the Denton County Amateur Radio Association and the Red River Valley Amateur Radio Club, where he served as president in the 1980s. A service was helded in Paris, Texas, on July 27, with many AMSAT, ARRL, and amateur radio friends in attendance. http://www.arrl.org/news/past-amsat-president-doug-loughmiller-w5bl-sk [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Events Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country. Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations). *Saturday, 6 August 2016 – Austin Summerfest in Austin TX *Saturday, 13 August 2016 – KL7KC Hamfest in Fairbanks AK *Saturday, 20 August 2016 – Spark in the Park in Wyoming MI *Saturday, 3 September 2016 - Shelby Hamfest in Shelby, NC (ARRL North Carolina State Convention) - AMSAT Forum Only *Saturday and Sunday, 10-11 September 2016 Boxboro Hamfest in Boxborough, MA (ARRL New England Division Convention) *Friday, 23 September 2016 – presentation at Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club in Pasadena CA *Friday and Saturday, 21-22 October 2016 – CopaFest 2016, south of Maricopa AZ *Saturday, 12 November 2016 – Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Marana AZ *Saturday, 3 December 2016 – Superstition Superfest in Mesa AZ *Saturday, 14 January 2017 – Thunderbird Hamfest 2017 in Phoenix AZ *Saturday, 4 February 2017 – Palm Springs Hamfest in Palm Springs CA *Friday-Sunday, 10-12 February 2017 Orlando HamCation in Orlando, FL *Friday and Saturday, 17-18 February 2017 – Yuma Hamfest in Yuma AZ [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Successful Contacts * A telebridge contact via W6SRJ with students attending the ESA Space Camp 2016 in Lenk, Switzerland, was successful Mon 2016-07-25 . * A telebridge contact via W6SRJ with students at United Space School hosted by the Foundation for International Space Education (FISE), in Seabrook TX, USA was successful Tue 2016-07-19. * A telebridge via VK4KHZ with students at the YOTA Camp 2016 IARU-R1 in Salzburg, Austria,was successful Mon 2016-07-18. * A telebridge via W6SRJ contact with students participating in Frontiers of Flight Museum's “Moon Day 2016”, Dallas TX, USA was successful Sat 2016-07-16. * A telebridge contact via W6SRJ with students from a consortium of schools attending the ISS R&D Conference, San Diego, CA, USA as part of STEM Day was successful Thu 2016-07-14. . Upcoming Contacts * A direct contact via BNØSH with students at Sacred Heart Primary School, New Taipei City, Taiwan, R.O.C, is scheduled for Tue 2016-08-02 08:36:03 UTC. The scheduled astronaut is Takuya Onishi, KF5LKS. The Sacred Heart Primary School in Taiwan was founded in 1965 and is part of the world family of Sacred Heart Schools which can be found on five continents. Its philosophy of education is rooted in the development of the whole person. This founding vision was that of a great educator- Madeleine Sophie Barat - who lived at the time of the French Revolution. In her day, as in ours, the social fabric was disintegrating. Her response was to try to rebuild and transform society through an education based on solid intellectual training and spiritual values leading to the development of the whole person. Sacred Heart Education People in East Asia are, to a large extent, shaped by Confucianism, whose tradition stresses respect for teachers and family. Our teachers are provided with regular in service training to enable them to meet the unique challenges of personal and social responsibility, posed by the influence of modern technology and the Western stress on individualism, which are rapidly changing our world. At the same time, they learn to nurture a global awareness and concern in their students. Sacred Heart School strives to give students a well-rounded education, based on the conviction that each person has talents and capacities which can contribute to the betterment of society. We believe that school is the place for students to both acquire a love of learning and experience hope, joy and fullness of life. We are convinced that true human development is based on faith in God's love for each person.Youngsters of various religious beliefs are welcome. Faith is integrated with life and students are offered an education which teaches personal values and emphasizes mutual respect among all people. At the same time, a deep appreciation for intellectual values is cultivated, allowing students to be knowledgeable, questioning, and reflective. Our students are taught to be persons capable of being both independent and able to work with others; of having a compassionate heart ? especially for the marginalized of society and of experiencing joy in service and in living for others. Creativity is encouraged in the teaching of all subjects so that the students can develop their own vision and learn to live with commitments. Profile At present the school has 781 students from 7 to 12 years of age. The campus is ideally situated in the suburbs, at the foot of the Goddess of Mercy Mountain, with the Tamsui River in the foreground. School buildings are surrounded by spacious gardens with abundant flowers, birds and trees. We believe that both dedicated educators and a healthy environment are essential to quality education which will influence the students for life. * A telebridge contact via IK1SLD with Scouts participating in Space Jam 10, in Rantoul IL, USA, is scheduled for Sat 2016-08-06 15:59:03 UTC. The scheduled astronaut is Kate Rubins, KG5FYJ. Greetings from the participants and volunteers of Space Jam 10 in Rantoul, Illinois. Though primarily a weekend Scouting and STEM education event, we are open to all interested youth. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from 27 states have come together in an educational and fun format to learn life skills that will prepare them for the increasingly complex future. We are adding Art to STEM this year making STEAM. While it is well known that Scouting teaches pioneering skills like camping and wilderness survival, the new pioneers and wilderness are in outer space and we are working hard at 44 technology oriented Merit Badges and activities, plus some fun things like the Duct Tape Merit Badge. Talking to the astronauts on the ISS is an unforgettable part of the experience at Space Jam and that's next on our list. We will not know for many years whether one of these youths becomes an astronaut themselves but it is certain that they are all part of tomorrow's leaders. Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. [ANS thanks ARISS, Dave, AA4KN, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over Fripp Island Activation EM92 On the AMSAT-BB, Nick, KE8AKW reports: On around July 30th to around August 6th we are going to be working the satellites from Fripp Island, South Carolina, EM92 and also will be activating IOTA NA-110 (Fripp Island) on HF 40-10 meters using a FT-857D and either a Buddipole or End fed dipole. As for our satellite work we are working all available satellites SSB/FM, the gear consists of a Arrow antenna and a IC-821. Note that we will be working the satellites and HF casually but will try to get it on air as much as possible. The operators will be either me or my Dad N8XQM behind the mic. Will try to post updates here either on the AMSAT-BB or my Twitter on how the operations are going. Fripp Island is a small island near the border of Georgia close to Savanna, it is a gated community noted for its nice vacation spot. Hope to hear you from Fripp Island. [ANS thanks Nick, KE8AKW for the above information] Chinese Rocket Burns Up Over North America The body of China's experimental Long March 7 rocket re-entered Earth's atmosphere on Wednesday night, July 27th, around 9:38 p.m. Pacific Time, creating a bright fireball over the western USA. The glowing trail was spotted in Utah, Nevada and much of California. The re-entry signaled the Long March 7's return from one month in space. It began its mission on June 25, 2016, in a night launch from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island off China's southern coast. The flight tested new technologies essential to China's developing space program. The Long March 7 is expected to play a key role in the construction of a Chinese space station planned for the decades ahead. Videos of the can be viewed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=E1JRauKggsc [ANS thanks SpaceWeather.com for the above information] National Parks on The Air - Satellite Activation - Blue Ridge Parkway Video John Brier, KG4AKV, has post a video on YouTube of his recent NPOTA Activity. https://youtu.be/EyXZ59-t8BQ John reports this was filmed on Sunday July 17th, 2016 on the Craggy Overlook Trail on the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. I think this video is pretty fun! This was my first National Parks on The Air (NPOTA) activation and it couldn't have been more exciting and beautiful. I made ten contacts, which is the minimum required to get credit for an NPOTA activation, and half of those contacts were from a short pileup immediately after I put my call out on the bird, SO-50. This pass is from Sunday July 17th 2016 but I technically did my first activation the day before at the same place, and I even made 14 contacts on that near overhead pass, but I had more video sources (four) from Sunday than Saturday, and I also operated better, with more efficiency and with less screwups (though not none), than the Sunday activation. Saturday felt very hectic as I struggled to operate well while also tracking the relatively faster moving satellite overhead. If I make a video of that pass I'm sure it won't seem that bad to others but that's just how it felt. I probably will make a video of that pass too but I definitely also want to make more opportunities for me to experience pileups like this. That's why it was so exciting. As I said at the end of the video there are three national parks on the Outer Banks of North Carolina: Cape Lookout, Cape Hatteras and the Wright Brothers National Memorial. I'm sure those would be great places to get some cool video, though I'm not sure if I'll be able to use my DSLR out in that harsh environment! They'll also just be fun to visit. I'm thinking of trying HF operation too as I bet I could get a pileup there too. Maybe I'll get a Buddipole. That would be a cool addition to my operating because over the last year I've done almost exclusively satellite communications. It would be another opportunity for a different kind of video too. Stations contacted: 01) K8II 02) NP4JV 03) W7JSD 04) N6UA 05) KC3FHV 06) NX9B 07) W5CBF 08) KD8ATF 09) KD8VRX 10) K8YSE Please Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpaceComms1?sub_confirmation=1 Links to videos featured at the end: TOMSK Bandit ISS Repeater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svnB7h_k7_M My First Perfect ISS SSTV Image: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7to9uX1sWC4 Equipment I use for ISS Reception: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3JwOwjYIkM ISS Reception (Kopernik Observatory): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGFEanljOG8 [ANS thanks John Brier, KG4AKV for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org

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ANS-206 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 24 Jul '16

24 Jul '16

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-206 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * AMSAT-UK Colloquium 29-31 July * AMSAT-NA 2016 Symposium at Sea * IARU President's Award to Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV * 70cm Satellite WebSDR Operational in the Netherlands * LibreCube CubeSat Open Standard Draft Open for Review and Comment * Satellite Operations From the Grand Canyon National Park * Radio Amateurs Invited to 10 Downing Street SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-206.01 ANS-185 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. July 24, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.01 AMSAT-UK Colloquium 29-31 July This year’s Colloquium is less than a week away. The event, taking place as usual at the Holiday Inn in Guildford, will be held over the weekend of the 29/31st July. A full programme of presentations, covering all aspects of the amateur satellite world, has been developed for the Saturday and Sunday and a “Beginners Session” is scheduled for the Friday afternoon. As well as the presentations during the day, Libby Jackson, from the UK Space Agency, with whom the ARISS UK team worked closely during the Tim Peake mission, will be speaking during the Gala Dinner on the Saturday evening. Other highlights will include visits to the SSTL facilities (Friday evening and Saturday morning) and the opportunity to see the special ground station equipment that was used for all the ARISS contacts. This will be available for use for contacts during passes of all the available satellite transponders. Visitors can either turn up on the day, book day passes on the website. The URL for the AMSAT-UK shop to book day passes is http://shop.amsat-uk.org. Day passes cost £10 per day (incl tea/coffee, etc) , please pay at the AMSAT-UK shop (not hotel reception). If you wish to attend the Gala dinner on Saturday, please book at least 7 days in advance, either with the hotel (by booking dinner, bed, and breakfast), or at the AMSAT-UK shop. As well at the AMSAT-UK shop, there will be a number of specialist suppliers present, and we are hoping that the RSGB bookshop will also be present Members and non-members will be made very welcome and booking info can be found here https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/ The Colloquium team are looking forward to meeting many old friends and making many new acquaintances during the event. [ANS thanks Jim, G3WGM, Hon Sec AMSAT-UK, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-NA 2016 Symposium at Sea Get ready to set sail for the 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting – at sea! With only a few months between now and our sailing date of November 10, cabins are starting to fill up quickly. If you have not made reservations, please consider doing so to ensure your cabin preference may be accommodated. While our AMSAT group reservation has a negotiated rate for category 4B inside cabins, many group members have opted to reserve ocean view and balcony cabins. IMPORTANT NOTES: - Booking your Carnival Cruise does not register you for the AMSAT Symposium. There is a charge for each Symposium attendee of $40. This fee applies to those who will attend the technical presentations only and includes a copy of the printed Proceedings. Additional guests are entitled to attend all other events. The registration form is available from the AMSAT office or store website. - The AMSAT 2016 Space Symposium Cruise flyer included in the 2016 Board of Directors ballot mailing lists an incorrect group booking code. The correct AMSAT group code is 8Z0FR5. - Ground transportation options have been added to the FAQ page on the AMSAT Symposium web page. Carnival offers round-trip transportation from HOU airport to the cruise terminal at approximately $74 per person, IAH airport $94 per person. CONTACT INFORMATION AND LINKS: - Symposium registration: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=130 - Cruise registration: 1-800-438-6744 extension number 70005. Our group name is AMSAT and the group code is 8Z0FR5. Outside of the USA, the number to call is +1 305-599-2600 extension number 70005 (not available on weekends.) DATES AND LOCATION: - 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium and General Meeting November 10-14 aboard the Carnival Liberty departing from Galveston, Texas. - 2016 AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting November 9-10 at the DoubleTree Galveston Beach Hotel, Galveston, Texas. [ANS thanks Clayton, W5PFG, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- IARU President's Award to Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV On Thursday 21 July, Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, was informed by the IARU Secretariat that the IARU President's Award has been awarded to him for his many years of service to the IARU and the contributions he has made to the IARU especially in the area of satellite frequency coordination. The award will be presented to Hans during an upcoming League function. Congratulations Hans. [ANS thanks the South African Radio League News for July 23, 2016 for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- 70cm Satellite WebSDR Operational in the Netherlands Fontys University Eindhoven, Netherlands, has opened their PI5FTS WebSDR to the amateur radio community. This site will receive the 70cm amateur satellite band: http://vhf.pi5fts.nl/ You need both Java and JavaScript enabled for this page to work properly. If you don't hear anything, probably Java is disabled or its version is too old (i.e., pre-1.4.2). A web chat feature for the SDR users is also included on the site. It is operated by Harry and Martin, e-mail pa3dsc-at-veron.nl. [ANS thanks the Fontys University Eindhoven for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- LibreCube CubeSat Open Standard Draft Open for Review and Comment The LibreCube standard project is engaged in the endeavor to write on a handbook that surveys openly available space standards (mostly ECSS and CCSDS) for potential application in CubeSat missions. In a message posted to the cubesat.org list, Artur Scholz announced that the draft of this handbook is now ready for review. It mainly consists of two parts: 1. Processes (i.e. Management, Quality, and Engineering) 2. Systems(i.e. the Space System, composed of Space Segment and Ground Segment). The reasoning for standardizing Processes is to improve quality and reliability, and to allow for cross support in testing. The benefit of standardizing Systems is improved reliability, collaboration, and cross support during development and operations. The table of contents is here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_-jwG2gLchfa19KeHBsc1B6cWM End of the year this handbook will be published as freely available open book. Before that, it would be extremely useful to get extensive feedback and review of the draft. If you would be willing to contribute as a reviewer and receive the draft, please provide the editor, Artur Scholz (artur.scholz(a)librecube.net) the following details of you: - full name - email - short background about yourself and experience with CubeSats/SmallSats Your feedback on the draft will be duly acknowledge in the final book! [ANS thanks Artur Scholz and the LibreCube Project for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Operations From the Grand Canyon National Park Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK, reported that the ARRL just released the July issue of their National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) newsletter for National Park Service staff and volunteers. On the last page of this month's newsletter is a short mention of one way to deal with an "uncooperative ionosphere" - work satellites. It shows Fernando Ramirez, NP4JV, working a satellite from the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona. These newsletters are at: http://www.arrl.org/npota-for-nps and the July issue is available at: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/NPOTA-News/NPOTA-July2016.pdf Fernando commented, "It was a nice surprise to find our picture on this month's ARRL National Park on the Air newsletter! I am humbled by the mention. "I'm also happy to see that some of our trips and portable operations are helping to promote AMSAT and their goal of 'advancing the state of the art in space science, space education, and space technology.'" Fernando frequently posts reports of his satellite operating activities via Twitter where his ID is @NP4JV. You may also visit: http://twitter.com/NP4JV to see his activities, including the photo that got his name in the news. Sean Kutzko, KX9X, at the ARRL wrote via the AMSAT-BB, "It was an easy choice; that photo is amazing!" Congratulations, Fernando! [ANS thanks Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK, Fernando Ramirez, NP4JV, and Sean Kutzko, KX9X, at the ARRL for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Radio Amateurs Invited to 10 Downing Street Radio amateurs were invited to a reception at the UK Prime Minister’s residence to celebrate the successful mission of UK astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI / GB1SS. Sandringham school student Jessica Leigh M6LPJ and her head teacher Alan Gray G4DJX attended the event with Tim Peake GB1SS. Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZ0UDF and the UK’s first astronaut Helen Sharman GB1MIR also attended. Jessica was the first UK school student to establish amateur radio communications with Tim Peake during his six month mission on the International Space Station. The contact took place on January 8, 2016 and was featured on national TV and in the press. Year 10 pupil Jessica M6LPJ, along with two other students Polly M6POG and Emma M6GJQ, passed her amateur radio Foundation exam just before Christmas 2015 after training with the Verulam Amateur Radio Club. Sandringham school caters for 1300 students aged 11-19 with 100 teachers including specialist teachers of computing science and three female physics teachers all of whom have a specialist interest in space and astronomy. In addition, the head teacher Alan Gray G4DJX is a very active radio amateur who was extremely supportive of the ISS contact. Sandringham School presentation by ML&S https://amsat-uk.org/2016/01/28/sandringham-school-presentation/ Video of Tim Peake amateur radio contact with Sandringham School https://amsat-uk.org/2016/01/09/video-tim-peake-sandringham/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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