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ANS-137 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Joseph Spier 17 May '15

17 May '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-137 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-1 Development, Launch, and Frequency Coordination Status at Dayton * AMSAT FieldOps Team Fox-1 Operating Guide is Available * US Naval Academy CubeSat Launch to Include Next APRS Satellite * Iowa CubeSat students get ham radio licenses * Extreme DX satellite contact between UK and Texas * International Space Station Partners Adjust Spacecraft Schedule * AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-137.01 ANS-137 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 137.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE May 17, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-137.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox-1 Development, Launch, and Frequency Coordination Status at Dayton AMSAT Dayton Hamvention Annoucements (Saved) During the AMSAT Forum at the Dayton Hamvention, AMSAT Vice President Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, and AMSAT Vice President – Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, provided more information about the Fox-1 satellites under development. Buxton, N0JY, says Fox-1A has passed all environmental testing and is integrated into the P-POD deployment canister. "The 'remove before flight pin' has been pulled, the doors closed on the P-POD, and everything is aboard the shipping container now en route to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for launch", said Buxton. Previously Buxton had announced plans to incorporate an L band receiver in Fox- 1C and Fox-1D. The addition will allow ground commanded selection of the U/v (normal Fox-1 bands) or the new L/v 1.2 GHz (23 cm) mode. Both bands will operate as FM single channel. http://www.amsat.org/?p=4000 During the satellite operations segment of the AMSAT Forum Glasbrenner provided the details of the uplink and downlink frequencies for the Fox-1 FM cubesat fleet. Fox-1 Frequencies Uplink FM (67 Hz tone) Downlink FM Fox-1A 435.180 MHz 145.980 MHz RadFxSat/Fox-1B* 435.250 MHz 145.960 MHz Fox-1C* 435.300 MHz 145.920 MHz 1267.300 MHz ** 145.920 MHz Fox-1D* 435.350 MHz 145.880 MHz 1267.350 MHz ** 145.880 MHz * Pending IARU Coordination, If needed, changes will be announced ** U/v and L/v operations switchable by command station, not operational simultaneously According to Buxton, the team is planning to have an affordable L band uplink ground station available to amateurs by the time Fox-1C is on orbit. + Fox-1A will launch on a NASA ELaNa flight scheduled during the third quarter, 2015 from Vandenberg AFB. Fox-1A is a passenger aboard this launch driven by the schedule of the primary payload. When updates are available they will be announced via the ANS and in the AMSAT Journal. + Fox-1B will fly with the Vanderbilt University radiation experiments expected in 2016. + Fox-1C will launch on Spaceflight’s maiden mission of the SHERPA multi-cubesat deployer on a SpaceX Falcon 9 flight planned for late 2015. + Fox-1D is a flight spare for Fox-1C. If not needed as a spare it will fly with the University of Iowa HERCI radiation mapping experiment. + Fox-1E “Evolution” will carry a Mode J linear transponder. The transponder is planned to be 30 kHz wide and will also have a 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon. Launch opportunities are being developed, to be announced at a later date. AMSAT has an immediate need to raise funds to cover both the launch contract and additional materials for construction and testing for Fox-1C. Please help us to continue to keep amateur radio in space. Donations may be made via the: + Paypal and credit card payment on the AMSAT website at http://www.amsat.org + Donation link in the AMSAT store: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ + Call the AMSAT office at (888) 322-6728 [ANS thanks the AMSAT Engineering and AMSAT Operations Teams for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT FieldOps Team Fox-1 Operating Guide is Available AMSAT's Director of Field Operations, Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, invites you to view and download the "Fox-1 Operating Guide" which was released at the 2015 Dayton Hamvention. This color PDF file is designed to print double-sided. Two different resolution versions are available: + Low resolution PDF suitable for on-screen display (~400 KB size) + High resolution, press quality PDF for hard-copy printing (~2 MB size) To access these files visit the AMSAT web and follow the path: http://www.amsat.org --> Satellite Info --> Station and Operating Hints. The direct link is http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2144 where you'll find the link to the Guide. [ANS thanks the AMSAT FieldOps Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- US Naval Academy CubeSat Launch to Include Next APRS Satellite Sometime on or about May 20, the next US Naval Academy satellites and Brno University PSK31 transponders head into space from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas 5 launcher and into an approximately 50° orbit. The launch will include the Psat APRS satellite — a pair of identical 1.5 U cubesats (A and B) — as well as the BRICsat and USS Langley (Unix Space Server Langley) nanosatellites. “Psat is a Naval Academy student satellite project named in honor of one of our graduates, Bradford Parkinson, of GPS fame, which contains an APRS transponder for relaying remote telemetry, sensor, and user data from remote users and Amateur Radio environmental experiments or other data sources back to Amateur Radio experimenters via a global network of Internet-linked ground stations,” explained APRS developer Bob Bruninga, WB4APR. In addition to the data transponder, a secondary Brno University transponder will support multi- user PSK31 text messaging. The APRS downlink will be 145.825 MHz (1200 baud AX.25 APRS). “We welcome radio amateurs worldwide to tune into the downlinks and either IGate packets into the global APRS-IS system or to e-mail me,” Bruninga said. “After launch, the next several orbits will be over USA and Europe.” Bruninga said PSAT, including the PSK31 transponder, would not be available for use until all on-orbit checks are complete, a process he said could take “many, many days.” He also requested reports on any PSK31 (FM) heard on 435.350 MHz (the PSK31 uplink is 28.120 MHz). The PSK31 multi-user FDMA transponder experiment on Psat and BRICsat is similar to the one on RAFT and PCSAT2. It will allow messaging among up to 30 modest ground stations simultaneously, Bruninga said. Psat is one of five APRS-networked Amateur Radio satellites that will be in orbit during 2015, and all will appear on the live APRS downlink page. The others include PCsat-1, in orbit since 2001, QIKcom-1, set to launch in September, QIKcom-2, set to launch in December, and the ARISS packet radio system on board the International Space Station since 2007. BRICsat will carry a PSK31 transponder with a 28.120 MHz uplink (2.5 kHz bandwidth) and a UHF FM downlink on 435.350 MHz. Gunter’s Space Page describes USS Langley as “a proof-of-concept mission for providing global Internet access via a nanosatellite constellation.” The satellite will act as a web server and router in space, using Internet Protocol and Linux. Downlinks 437.475 MHz (9600 baud AX.25 packet telemetry) with uplink at 145.825 MHz. The IARU coordination page said that while 28.120 MHz is not in the band plan as a satellite frequency, “the panel considered the motivation for this frequency as to give lower class license holders in the US the opportunity to participate in the project.” Bruninga said satellite experiments such as Psat “serve our educational and outreach goals for student projects encouraging young people to be interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.” He said he hopes other schools will build either additional 145.825 MHz relay satellites or experimental sensors. “We hope that Psat will be the ‘egg’ in this chicken-egg conundrum,” he added. [ANS thanks ARRL Letter for 5/14/2015 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa CubeSat students get ham radio licenses The University of Iowa reports its students will conduct a Van Allen radiation belt experiment with the AMSAT Fox CubeSat Thanks to a proposal by the UI Department of Physics and Astronomy, a group of senior electrical and computer engineering students will reenact James Van Allen’s original experiment — this time with updated technology. Group members Kevin Klosterman KD9CPF, Bryan Senchuk KD9CPD, Tyler Dunkel KE0CHR, and Patrick Maloney KD9CPD took on the task as a part of their senior design project for the College of Engineering. The group is trying to figure out how much energy is emanating from the Van Allen belts at a specific altitude. To measure that, they’ve built a radiation sensor attached to a circuit board that will launch into space on a small satellite. There, the radiation sensor will detect energetic particles from the Van Allen belts. The satellite will sit in a low-Earth orbit and circle the globe every 90 minutes, some data will be transmitted in real time, but all of it is stored for later transmission. “I feel like we’ve learned something new every day,” Klosterman says. Not only did the students have to come up with a design concept, write the code to run the device, and build the circuit board by hand, they also had to learn and become licensed ham radio operators as well. The satellite that the students are using to launch into space is part of the CubeSat program — an initiative supported by NASA to help give students more hands-on experience with space research — and is being constructed by AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, whose mission is to foster amateur radio participation in space technology. The data from a full day of operating the experiment will be transmitted from the satellite as it makes a single pass over the CubeSat tracking station on top of Van Allen Hall. The final result will be a full mapping of the radiation levels at a low Earth orbit. It is hoped the Fox CubeSat with an FM voice transponder will be launched later this year. Read the full story at http://now.uiowa.edu/2015/05/seniors-reenact-van-allen-radiation-belt- experiments Each year 100’s of students are introduced to amateur radio through University CubeSat satellite programs with many going on to get their amateur license. AMSAT Fox http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=1113 [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA and University of Iowa for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Extreme DX satellite contact between UK and Texas On April 27, 2015 at 1901 GMT, Cuban radio amateur Hector Martinez W5CBF/CO6CBF achieved a 7537.8 km DX contact with UK amateur Peter Atkins G4DOL via FO-29. Hector reported, "I am pleased to report that Peter G4DOL and I had another extreme QSO on FO- 29. It is my furthest contact on the birds! Back on October 2013, Peter and I had a very nice contact between EL92sd, Cienfuegos, Cuba and IO80so, Weymouth area, UK. It was a 7286 km contact and probably the first contact between UK and Cuba on FO-29! Peter and I desired to try again on FO-29, this time between EM21hs, Texas, US and his habitual spot in IO80so. We were able to complete a very nice CW contact on the 92319 orbit of FO-29. Peter had just 0.1 degree as maxim elevation while I had 0.8 during the 80 seconds mutual window. As before, Peter did all the hard work by driving until his habitual spot at a cliff-top and setting up his “portable satellite station” (19 elements Yagi for 435 MHz and 10 elements Yagi for 145 MHz both with horizontal polarization). FO- 29 was sounding really good on these orbits. It was a solid 559 satellite contact, we were very impressed. We made the calculations using our 10 digit grid squares at http://no.nonsense.ee/qth/map.html The distance between the stations was 7537.799 km (4683.77 mi). To my knowledge, the longest distance achieved on FO-29 until now had been 7,533.685 km between Frank, K4FEG and Erich, DK1TB http://www.qrz.com/db/k4feg UPDATE 2015-05-08: K4KEG has now revised his distance to 7,538.685 km. This puts his contact with DK1TB just ahead of that of W5CBF and G4DOL. It appears that an even longer distance is achievable. It has been reported that FO-29 has a “theoretical maximum range” of 7502 km, but I guess that at least 7600km is doable. We will try to break our own record! This contact was possible thanks to the great feature implemented on SatPC32 V12.8b. There is an option of seeing the frequency you are at the satellite receiver at any time during a pass. It allows the operators to tune the right frequencies and attempt a contact without having to search for each other. Thanks very much to Peter for his persistence, effort and all the fun!" 2013 FO-29 satellite contact between Cuba and the UK http://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/20/fo-29-satellite-contact-between-cuba-and-the… FO-29 information http://amsat-uk.org/satellites/two-way-comms-satellites/fuji-oscar-29-jas-2/ [ANS thanks Hector, W5CBF/CO6CBF and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- International Space Station Partners Adjust Spacecraft Schedule NASA and its international partners agreed Tuesday to set a new schedule for spacecraft traffic to and from the International Space Station. The partner agencies agreed to adjust the schedule after hearing the Russian Federal Space Agency's (Roscosmos) preliminary findings on the recent loss of the Progress 59 cargo craft. The exact dates have not yet been established, but will be announced in the coming weeks. Roscosmos expects to provide an update about the Progress 59 investigation on Friday, May 22. The return to Earth for NASA's Terry Virts, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov now is targeted for early June. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka will remain aboard the station to begin Expedition 44. The next Russian cargo craft, Progress 60, will launch in early July to deliver several tons of food, fuel and supplies. The space station has sufficient supplies to support crews until the fall of 2015. The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 44’s Kjell Lindgren of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will launch in late July from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The date of SpaceX’s seventh resupply flight under its commercial resupply services contract with NASA still is under review but remains targeted for no earlier than June 19. The mission will deliver to station additional supplies and research that improve life on Earth and drive progress toward future space exploration. It also will deliver the first of two international docking adapters, which will enable future commercial crew vehicles to dock to the orbiting laboratory. Additional 2015 space station-related launch dates also are under review. NASA will continue to update the launch schedule online at: http://www.nasa.gov/launchschedule For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station [ANS thanks NASA 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). *Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 15-17 2015, Dayton Hamvention in Dayton OH (Hara Arena) *Thursday, 21 May 2015 – International Microwave Symposium 2015 in Phoenix AZ *Saturday, 6 June 2015 – White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low AZ *Friday and Saturday, 12-13 June 2015 – HAM-COM in Irving TX (west of Dallas) *Thursday, 9 July 2015 – presentation for the Escondido Amateur Radio Society in Escondido CA *Friday and Saturday, 7-8 August 2015 – Austin Summerfest in Austin TX *Saturday and Sunday, 22-23 August 2015 – Boxboro Hamfest and ARRL New England Convention in Boxborough MA *Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16-18 2015, AMSAT Symposium in Dayton OH (Dayton Crown Plaza) [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Upcoming ARISS Contacts It is unlikely that there will be any contacts with the Columbus module station until after a crew change, which will probably occur in late June or July. Watch http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled. **************************************************************************** Latest ARISS News * Gagarin from Outer Space: A contact was successful Thu 2015-05-07 at 08:30 UTC with Ryazan State Radio Technical University, Ryazan, Russia, direct via RK3SWB. The ISS callsign was RSØISS, and the astronaut was Mikhail Korniyenko, RN3BF. * A contact was successful Sat 2015-05-09 08:20 UTC between Kursk, Russia, WWII veterans, direct via TBD. The ISS callsign was RSØISS, and the astronaut was Gennady Padalka, RN3DT. * Contacts on Sat 2015-05-09 09:52:06 UTC 27 deg with Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale “Enrico Fermi,” Lucca, Italy, direct via IQ5LU, and with Studi di Firenze – Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, direct via IQ5PO, were both successful. The ISS callsign was IRØISS, and the astronaut was Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF, who answered 22 questions. There were several hundred in attendance at both locations, along with newspaper and TV media. The event was streamed live on the Web. State Technical Industrial Institute is named for Enrico Fermi and is located in Lucca, Northern Tuscany. Five year courses are offered in Mechanics, Electrotechnics, Electronics, Information, and Communication Tecnology with several laboratories. There are about 700 students, aged 15 through 19. The school had an Amateur Radio Club with the callsign IK5YOI (license expired). [ANS thanks ARISS, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over * Reminder: Cambi-Hams DXpedition to Mull Island is Active May 15-21 The Cambi-Hams group is going to activate Mull, Inner Hebrides (IOSA NH15, SCOTIA CN10, WW Loc. IO76EJ) from May 15 to 21. They plan to be active on 80- 10m on SSB, CW, RTTY, and PSK; also on 6m, 4m, and 2m, and on satellites: AO-7 (Mode B), FO-29, SO-50, and AO-73. The group also hopes for short trips to Iona (EU-008) and Treshnish Island (EU-108), see their website for updates on that. QSL via ClubLog OQRS or via bureau. http://dx.camb-hams.com/ Watch AMSAT's Upcoming Satellite Operations page for late breaking news about DX and grid operations: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=3921 [ANS thanks the DXNL Newsletter 1936 for May 13, 2015 for the above information] First all CW 73 on 73 Award Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, reports, "Congratulations to Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU, for working 73 different stations on AO-73 since September 1, 2014. Notably, he is the first to work all 73 different stations using CW." For more information on the award see http://amsat-uk.org/funcube/73-on-73-award/ AO-73 was launched on November 21, 2013 and is the first spacecraft to have a primary mission of educational outreach to schools and the smallest ever satellite to carry a linear (SSB/CW) transponder for radio amateurs. [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] New NASA Deputy Administrator is a Radio Ham Prof. Dava Newman KB1HIK was sworn in as NASA Deputy Administrator on May 15 from her MIT office. Her appointment had been confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 27. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (formerly KE4IQB) said, “I am delighted with the Senate confirmation of Dr. Dava Newman to be the deputy administrator of NASA. The strong bipartisan support Dr. Newman received in the Senate is a reflection of her well-earned reputation and renown as a global leader in science and technology research and policy.” Newman is a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and of engineering systems. On the MIT faculty since 1993, she directs the Institute’s Technology and Policy Program and MIT Portugal Program, and is co-director of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Man Vehicle Laboratory. She is a Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology faculty member, and a Margaret McVicar Faculty Fellow. Her research has included modeling human performance in low and micro-gravity conditions, examining the dynamics and control of astronaut motion, and the development of assisted walking devices for the physically handicapped. Perhaps her most prominent project has been development of the BioSuit, a skintight spacesuit that would give astronauts unprecedented comfort and freedom in exploration of planetary surfaces and extra-vehicular activity. After accepting the confirmation, Newman said, “It’s an enormous honor to serve at NASA in times when our country is extending humanity’s reach into space while strengthening American leadership here on Earth. I’m profoundly grateful to President Obama, the United States Senate, and Administrator Bolden — along with everyone at MIT. I can’t wait to come aboard.” http://amsat-uk.org/2015/05/16/new-nasa-deputy-administrator-is-a-radio-ham/ [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, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org -- -73 k6wao Joe Spier k6wao(a)amsat.net

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ANS-135 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - Fox-1 News From Dayton
by JoAnne Maenpaa 15 May '15

15 May '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-135 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Fox-1 News From Dayton * AMSAT FieldOps Team Fox-1 Operating Guide is Available SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.01 ANS-135 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. May 15, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-135.01 Fox-1 News From Dayton During the Dayton Hamvention, AMSAT Vice President Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, and AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, provided more information about the Fox-1 satellites under development. Buxton, N0JY, says Fox-1A has passed all environmental testing and is integrated into the P-POD deployment canister. "The 'remove before flight pin' has been pulled, the doors closed on the P-POD, and everything is aboard the shipping container now en route to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for launch", said Buxton. Previously Buxton had announced plans to incorporate an L band receiver in Fox-1C and Fox-1D. The addition will allow ground commanded selection of the U/v (normal Fox-1 bands) or the new L/v 1.2 GHz (23 cm) mode. Both bands will operate as FM single channel. (See: http://www.amsat.org/?p=4000) During the satellite operations segment of the AMSAT Forum Glasbrenner provided the details of the uplink and downlink frequencies for the Fox-1 FM cubesat fleet. Fox-1 Frequencies Uplink FM (67 Hz tone) Downlink FM Fox-1A 435.180 MHz 145.980 MHz RadFxSat/Fox-1B* 435.250 MHz 145.960 MHz Fox-1C* 435.300 MHz 145.920 MHz 1267.300 MHz ** 145.920 MHz Fox-1D* 435.350 MHz 145.880 MHz 1267.350 MHz ** 145.880 MHz * Pending IARU Coordination, If needed, changes will be announced ** U/v and L/v operations switchable by command station, not operational simultaneously According to Buxton, the team is planning to have an affordable L band uplink ground station available to amateurs by the time Fox-1C is on orbit. + Fox-1A will launch on a NASA ELaNa flight scheduled during the third quarter, 2015 from Vandenberg AFB. Fox-1A is a passenger aboard this launch driven by the schedule of the primary payload. When updates are available with firm dates they will be announced via the ANS bulletins and in the AMSAT Journal. + Fox-1B will fly with the Vanderbilt University radiation experiments expected in 2016. + Fox-1C will launch on Spaceflight's maiden mission of the SHERPA multi-cubesat deployer on a SpaceX Falcon 9 flight planned for late 2015. + Fox-1D is a flight spare for Fox-1C. If not needed as a spare it will fly with the University of Iowa HERCI radiation mapping experiment. + Fox-1E "Evolution" will carry a Mode J linear transponder. The transponder is planned to be 30 kHz wide and will also have a 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon. Launch opportunities are being developed, to be announced at a later date. AMSAT has an immediate need to raise funds to cover both the launch contract and additional materials for construction and testing for Fox-1C. Please help us to continue to keep amateur radio in space. Donations may be made via the: + Paypal and credit card payment on the AMSAT website at http://www.amsat.org + Donation link in the AMSAT store: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ + Call the AMSAT office at (888) 322-6728 [ANS thanks the AMSAT Engineering and AMSAT Operations Teams for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT FieldOps Team Fox-1 Operating Guide is Available AMSAT's Director of Field Operations, Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, invites you to view and download the "Fox-1 Operating Guide" which was released at the 2015 Dayton Hamvention. This color PDF file is designed to print double-sided. Two different resolution versions are available: + Low resolution PDF suitable for on-screen display (~400 KB size) + High resolution, press quality PDF for hard-copy printing (~2 MB size) To access these files visit the AMSAT web and follow the path: http://www.amsat.org --> Satellite Info --> Station and Operating Hints. The direct link is http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2144 where you'll find the link to the Guide. [ANS thanks the AMSAT FieldOps Team for the above information] /EX

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ANS-130 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 10 May '15

10 May '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-130 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: * Deadline for 2015 TAPR/AMSAT Banquet ticket is Tuesday, May 12th at 1800 EDT * AMSAT at Dayton Hamvention 2015 * Work Fox-1A at Dayton * Top 10 Reasons to Come to Dayton * 7th European CubeSat Symposium * ISS Ham Video transmitter now transmitting * NASA Hosts Media Call on Draft Solicitation for New Class of Launch Services SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-130.01 ANS-130 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 130.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. May 10, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-130.01 Deadline for 2015 TAPR/AMSAT Banquet ticket is Tuesday, May 12th at 1800 EDT The speaker at the 2015 TAPR/AMSAT Banquet will be Michael Ossmann, AD0NR, on "Adventures of a Hacker Turned Ham." Tickets ($35 each) MUST be purchased online in advance at the AMSAT Store no later than 1800 EDT (2300 UTC) Tuesday, May 12th. Tickets will not be sold at the Hamvention or at the door. Tickets purchased online may be collected at the AMSAT booth (433-435, 444-446). More information may be found at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=190. [ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at Dayton Hamvention 2015 The AMSAT theme for this year is "Year of The Fox", as we expect to launch both Fox-1A and Fox-1C in 2015 and we're announcing the plans for Fox-1D and Fox-1E. The AMSAT booth is in the same location inside the Ball Arena as last year, in booths 433-435 and 444-446. The Tracking Software Demos (433) and Engineering & Education (434-435) are across the aisle from the Beginner's Corner (444) and Membership, Books & Shirts (445-446). The closest entrance to the AMSAT booth is the Ball Arena entrance (Door 1) at the southeast corner of the building. The satellite QSO demonstrations will be outside across from the entrance to the Ball Arena. AMSAT Forum ----------- The AMSAT forum will be Saturday morning from 11:15 a.m. through 1:30 p.m. in Forum Room 5, close to the AMSAT booth. See the commercial vendor layout map in the Hamvention program or the Hamvention website for the location of Forum Room 5 (same as the last few years). The following speakers will be presenting at the AMSAT Forum: + Moderator: Alan Biddle, WA4SCA + "AMSAT Status Report." Barry Baines, WD4ASW, AMSAT-NA President, will highlight recent activities within AMSAT and discuss some of the challenges, accomplishments, and exciting projects of the organization. + "ARISS Report 2015" Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Spaceflight, will discuss ARISS development & operations on the International Space Station. + "AMSAT-NA Fox Satellite Program." Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT-NA Engineering Vice President, will discuss the upcoming launches of four Fox spacecraft and exciting new engineering developments. + "AMSAT Satellite Operations." Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT-NA Operations Vice President, will discuss current satellites, as well as those planned for launch in the next year. + "AMSAT's Skunk Works." Tom Clark, K3IO, AMSAT-NA President Emeritus, will discuss some innovative R&D items for future spacecraft. + "Amateur Satellites, Education, and You!" EMike McCardel, KC8YLD, AMSAT-NA Educational Relations Vice President, will discuss the resources and equipment which supports the educational goals of AMSAT-NA. On-the-air Satellite Demonstrations ----------------------------------- Keith Pugh, W5IU and other volunteers will be conducting satellite demonstrations during the Hamvention. They will be demonstrating satellite operation using a manual station to work all the currently available FM satellites and SSB satellites. Hamvention has provided us a nice fenced area right outside the Ball Arena entrance in which to do our satellite demonstrations. A schedule of satellite passes for the Hamvention will be available in the Beginner's Corner and in the demonstration area. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Dayton Hamvention Posse for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Work Fox-1A at Dayton Bring your HT to Dayton Hamvention, you can work each other on the Fox-1 engineering unit repeater at the AMSAT Engineering Booth! Uplink: 435.180 MHz FM, CTCSS 67.0 Hz Downlink: 145.980 MHz FM ± Doppler (which should be minimal) [ANS thanks Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT VP Engineering, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Top 10 Reasons to Come to Dayton 10. Rub shoulders with 25,000 of your best friends at the largest hamfest in the United States, including nearly all of the AMSAT Directors and senior officers. 9. Find out how to organize a contact with the astronauts on the International Space Station for your local school or youth group from our Education and ARISS experts. 8. Pickup the latest AMSAT golf shirts, T-shirts, and hats. Get your copy of the updated "Amateur Satellite Frequency Guide" (laminated frequency chart) and Gould Smith's just revised "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" (book). We'll also have assembled wide-band preamps that are great for portable operation. 7. See the latest equipment from Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood, Flex, Alinco, M2, Arrow, and many other manufacturers of amateur radio equipment and accessories. Take advantage of discounted pricing you won't find anywhere else. 6. See demonstrations of SatPC32 and MacDoppler satellite tracking software, and get your operational questions answered. Meet Don Agro, author of MacDoppler (Friday & Saturday, 2-3 p.m.). See a demonstration of the LVB Tracker, a computer interface to the Yaesu azimuth-elevation rotors. Talk with Mike Young, who has built more LVB Trackers than anyone else. Assembled LVB Trackers will be available. 5. Hear the latest on the *five* Fox satellites, the geosynchronous rideshare opportunity, the International Space Station, other current and future satellites, Education news, and an AMSAT update at the AMSAT Forum Saturday, from 11:15 to 1:30. 4. Get one-on-one guidance on setting up your satellite station and making contacts at our "Beginner's Corner". Witness live demonstrations of contacts through satellites AO-7, FO-29, SO-50, AO-73, and the Fox-1C engineering model using handheld antennas. 3. Bring your dual-band HT and listen (on 2m FM) to the Fox-1A engineering model, and transmit through the model on 70cm. Meet and interact with some of the Engineering Team members working on the Fox-1 satellites. 2. Get satellite station and operating tips from some of the best satellite operators in the country, including John Papay K8YSE (1,405 grids confirmed), Doug Papay KD8CAO (1,045 grids), Drew Glasbrenner KO4MA (1,036 grids), Paul Stoetzer (444 grids), and Keith Pugh W5IU (ARISS Mentor). 1. Receive special premiums when you join or renew your AMSAT membership at Dayton, including an updated "Amateur Satellite Frequency Guide" (laminated frequency chart), an AMSAT pen/stylus, and special pricing on the SatPC32 satellite tracking software. [ANS thanks Steve, N9IP, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th European CubeSat Symposium 7th European CubeSat Symposium that will take place at Liège (Belgium) on 9-11 September 2015. The Symposium is co-organized by the von Karman Institute and the University of Liege (Space Structures and Systems Laboratory). As in the previous years, the Symposium is open to all CubeSat community around the World. For more information and deadlines, please visit the symposium website www.cubesatsymposium.eu Please remember to submit your abstract before the 15th June 2015. If you are a student, please apply for the sponsorship before that date. The Symposium will be followed by a short course in astrodynamics organized by the University of Liège (more information at this link). [ANS thanks Dr. Masutti for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISS Ham Video transmitter now transmitting Friday May 1st, 2015 the Ham Video transmitter on board the Columbus module of the International Space Station was powered on and started transmitting in "Blank Transmission" (BT) mode. In this mode, the transmitter is operated without camera. The digital TV signal is fully formatted, but the content of the video is black and the content of the audio is at zero level. From a technical perspective, the BT signal is all that is needed for testing and fine tuning ground stations. The European network of chained ground stations is presently nearly complete. Six ground stations span the continent in "X" formation. For each ascending pass over Europe, four stations provide about ten minutes of solid copy and the same is true for descending passes: - Ascending passes: Lisbon (Portugal ==> Poitiers (France) ==> Casale Monferrato (North Italy ==> Kolo (Poland) - Descending passes : Cork (Ireland) ==> Poitiers (France) ==> Casale Monferrato (North Italy ==> Matera (South Italy. The chained ground stations are streaming the digital video to the BATC server (British Amateur Television Club). BATC set up a multiviewer page, accessible at: http://www.batc.tv/iss/ The page shows all six streams from the chained ground stations. Each view can be maximized to full screen and the audio of each stream can be set to level or muted. Presently, active stations stream technical data provided by the software developed by Jean Pierre Courjaud F6DZP. Several data are most interesting to observe: - the "constellations", which visualize the QPSK (quaternary PSK) modulated signal - the digital Signal/Noise ratio = MER (dB) (Modulation Error Ratio) - the control LEDs that change from red to green on decoding the digital signal. The Ham Video transmitter frequency is 2395MHz and the symbol rate is 2.0Ms/sec. More information is available at: http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus.htm The Ham Video transmitter will stay on as long as on board operations permit. When the ground stations will be operating reliably, the Ham Video transmitter will be used to enhance ARISS school contacts. Uplink will remain VHF audio only. This operational mode is dubbed ARISS Ham TV. [ANS thanks Gaston, ON4WF, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA Hosts Media Call on Draft Solicitation for New Class of Launch Services NASA's Launch Services Program has issued a draft Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS), which would be commercial launch services for small satellites and experiments on science missions using a smaller than currently available class of rockets. NASA Logo NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, May 11 to discuss this strategic initiative, the RFP and the expectation for this class of launch services. At present, launch opportunities for small satellites -- often called CubeSats or nanosatellites -- and small science missions are mostly limited to ride-share type arrangements, flying only when space is available on NASA and other launches. The Launch Services Program seeks to develop alternatives to this approach and help foster other launch services dedicated to transporting smaller payloads into orbit. The services acquired through such a contract will constitute the smallest class of launch services used by NASA. Participants in the media briefing are: Mark Wiese, chief, Flight Projects Branch, Launch Services Program Business Office, NASA's Kennedy Space Center Garrett Skrobot, mission manager, Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa), Launch Services Program, NASA's Kennedy Space Center This solicitation, and resulting contract or contracts, is intended to demonstrate a dedicated launch capability for smaller payloads that NASA anticipates it will require on a recurring basis for future science and CubeSat missions. CubeSats already are used in markets, such as imagery collection and analysis. In the future, CubeSat capabilities will include abilities, such as ship and aircraft tracking, improved weather prediction, and broader Internet coverage. NASA intends to award one or more firm fixed-price VCLS contracts to accommodate 132 pounds (60 kilograms) of CubeSats a single launch or two launches carrying 66 pounds (30 kilograms) each. The launch provider will determine the launch location and date, but the launch must occur by April 15, 2018. To listen to the media teleconference, call 321-867-1220, 321-867-1240 or 321-867-1260 or listen online at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio Media may participate in the briefing by calling the Kennedy Space Center news center at 321-867-2468 within 15 minutes prior to the start of Monday's teleconference to obtain a passcode for voice access. The draft RFP is open for written questions and comments from industry entities until Wednesday, May 20. The final RFP, if issued, is anticipated to be released in June. The draft RFP may be accessed at: http://go.nasa.gov/1KMTeDR For more information about NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiative.html NASA's Launch Services Program is focused on assuring the availability of long- term launch services for NASA while also promoting the continued evolution of the U.S. commercial space launch market. The capability anticipated to meet the requirement for a smaller launch vehicle represents an emerging category of launch services. For more information about NASA's Launch Services Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/index.html [ANS thanks NASA 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-123 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 03 May '15

03 May '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-123 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: * Announcing EO-79 transponder testing for one full orbit - May 4 * EO-79 / QB50p1 First Transponder Test Success * 2015 AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Notice * "Where Over the World Is Astronaut Scott Kelly?" Geography From Space Trivia Contest * Delfi-C3 has been in orbit 7 years * $50SAT/MO-76/Eagle-2 Update * 2015 ARRL/TAPR DCC (Digital Communications Conference) Announced * AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention - Fourth call for volunteers * AMSAT Plans Dayton Rollout for 2015 "Getting Started" Satellite Book * AMSAT FieldOps Team SO-50 Operating Guide is Available * AMSAT-SM donates $1600 USD for the FOX satellite project * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-123 ANS-123 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 123 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. May 3, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-123 Announcing EO-79 transponder testing for one full orbit - May 4 Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG from AMSAT-NL reported via the AMSAT-BB that on Monday May, there is a fairly high chance that the AMSAT-NL transponder will be tested for one full orbit. Details will be made available on short notice, but the target time for an activation starts at approximately 08:30 UTC and may last until about 10:10 UTC. The aim of the test is to characterize the power budget on board EO- 79. Usage of the transponder is being encourage. Please also report the QSOs and signal reports to pa3weg at amsat.org [ANS thanks Wouter Wouter PA3WEG for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- EO-79 / QB50p1 First Transponder Test Success AMSAT-NL is delighted to announce that an initial series of tests of the FUNcube transponder payload aboard the QB50p1 CubeSat have been successfully completed. QB50p1 is one of two QB50 precursor spacecraft that were launched from Yasny in Russia in June 2014. The primary science payloads are still being extensively tested but it has now been possible to undertake a short test of the transponder payload as well. The transponder is intended as a long term secondary mission following the initial technology demonstration and de-risking phase. After spending ten months in space, the transponder was commanded on for short periods during each of the three morning passes over Europe on Monday 27th April 2015. A number of FUNcube team members in the Netherlands and in the UK were standing by to run through a predefined test plan. The transponder has a similar performance to that of FUNcube-1 but the passband is nominally 5 kHz wider by design. It is not yet known when this transponder may be available for regular usage but AMSAT-NL is delighted to be able to report that the hardware is functioning and is very grateful to the QB50 project, the Von Karman Institute and ISIS B.V. for their ongoing support. More information about the QB50 project can be found at https://www.qb50.eu/ AMSAT-NL: http://amsat-nl.org AMSAT-UK: http://amsat-uk.org [ANS Thanks Graham G3VZV for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Notice It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming AMSAT-NA Board of Directors election. Four director's terms expire this year: Barry Baines, WD4ASW, Alan Biddle, WA4SCA, Mark Hammond, N8MH, and Jerry Buxton, N0JY. In addition, up to two Alternates may be elected for one year terms. A valid nomination requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT-NA member for Director. Written nominations, consisting of the nominee's name and call, and the nominating individual's names, calls and individual signatures should be mailed to: AMSAT-NA, 10605 Concord St, #304 Kensington, MD 20895-2526. In addition to traditional submissions of written nominations, which is the preferred method, the intent to nominate someone may be made by electronic means. These include e-mail, Fax, or electronic image of a petition. Electronic petitions should be sent to MARTHA at AMSAT.ORG or Faxed to (301) 822- 4371. No matter what means is used, petitions MUST arrive no later than June 15th at the AMSAT-NA office. If the nomination is a traditional written nomination, no other action is required. If it is other than this, i.e. electronic, a verifying traditional written petition MUST be received at the AMSAT-NA office at the above address within 7 days following the close of nominations on June 15th. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXISTING AMSAT-NA BYLAWS. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Where Over the World Is Astronaut Scott Kelly?" Geography From Space Trivia Contest During his year-long stay on the International Space Station, astronaut Scott Kelly wants to test your knowledge of the world through a geography trivia game on Twitter. Traveling more than 220 miles above Earth, and at 17,500 miles per hour, he circumnavigates the globe more than a dozen times a day. This gives Kelly the opportunity to see and photograph various geographical locations on Earth. In fact, part of his job while in space is to capture images of Earth for scientific observations. Follow @StationCDRKelly on Twitter and each Wednesday, Kelly will tweet a picture and ask the public to identify the place depicted in the photo. The first person to identify the place correctly will win an autographed copy of the picture. Kelly plans to continue posting weekly contest photos until he returns from the space station in March 2016. For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/ANS123-ScottKelly. To learn more about the One-Year Mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/content/one-year-crew. [ANS thanks the NASA Education Express Message for April 30, 2015 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Delfi-C3 has been in orbit 7 years As of April 28, Delfi-C3 has been in orbit 7 years. Wouter Weggelaarb, PA3WEG, reports, "When we designed Delfi-C3, no- one would have dreamed it would last this long. "The satellite still remains healthy and strong. We are delighted to still get the support of the ham radio community and in all those years there have been very few days where no telemetry was decoded and submitted. Thank you very much to those still decoding and sending in telemetry and also to those still signing up for new accounts. "Delfi-C3 has been praised numerous times as the ideal example of a cooperation of radio amateurs and an university and the team is very proud of that. Together we have demonstrated the first successful Distributed Ground Station Network (DGSN) built around radio amateurs. We as a community can be very proud of this achievement! Without your continued support, this would not have been possible." Wouer goes on to report that they may need to re-locate their data collection server. When this happens he will report appropriate updates to the AMSAT-BB. [ANS Thanks Wouter PA3WEG for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- $50SAT/MO-76/Eagle-2 Update The following status of $50sat/MO-76, one of the first Pocketqubes, was recently posted by Michael Kirkhart,KD8QBA on the 50dollarsat Yahoo group. Here is an excerpt: "17 Months in Space, Still Working, and How Long Will a $10 Camera Battery last "Tuesday, April 21, 2015 marked the 17 month anniversary of the launch of $50SAT/MO-76/Eagle-2, and believe or not, it is still operating. Unfortunately, the battery capacity has degraded to the point where the satellite spends a significant amount of time with the battery voltage below the 3300 mV minimum required for enabling the transmitter. As a result, those of us who live in the northern hemisphere no longer hear any transmissions during the evening passes, and for now, rarely hear any during the daytime passes as well. The last telemetry packet I captured here in EN82 land was April 21, and the last one which was error-free on April 10. Fortunately, I have been able hear it operate over Anton's (ZR6AIC) WebSDR station in South Africa during the evening passes (which occur between 4:00 and 6:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time), and occasionally am able to capture error-free telemetry packets. The last one available is from April 24 at 21:25 UTC. "This situation was fully expected; when looking at the battery voltage chart (which, along with all the other telemetry, is available from our Dropbox at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l3919wtfiywk2gf/AABRl4iM5BFqVAcLQGSmdsVga/ Telemetryanalysis/Current-Telemetry) the readings took a large drop sometime after February 12. Given this was a $10 camera battery that had gone through over 6,000 orbits, each with temperature swings of -30 degrees C to +30 degrees C, it is surprising it has lasted this long! At this point, it is starting to behave more like a large capacitor than a battery. "As we get closer to summer here in the northern hemisphere (and after this winter, it cannot come soon enough), $50SAT/MO-76/Eagle-2 will spend more time in the sun before it makes each pass; this means it will be warm enough to enable solar power sooner in the pass, and makes it more likely it we will be able to hear it transmit before it disappears over the southern horizon. Those of you who live in the southern hemisphere, however, should still be able to hear it during both daytime and evening passes. If you could, we would certainly appreciate any telemetry you could gather and post. "The orbit continues to decay at an average rate of about 1.5 km/week; apogee is just below 570 km at 569.8 km, and perigee is at 538.2 km. Someday, I will attempt to determine when it might actually de-orbit. If any of you have access to STK or some other fancy software which might be able to do a de-orbit prediction, please feel free to run a simulation and let us all know. Some basic parameters you might need are as follows: TLEs as of 2015-04-24, 23:53:15 UTC: EAGLE 2 1 39436U 13066W 15114.82864817 .00033340 00000-0 23789-2 0 9991 2 39436 97.7463 190.7550 0022811 281.2509 78.6152 15.04244039 77466 Using these, the following can be computed: Semi-major axis = 5743.7488705249 km Apogee = 569.7766621696 km Perigee = 538.1516552847 Average cross-sectional area = 0.014252 m^2 Mass = 210 g Area/mass ratio = 0.06787 m^2/kg In the meantime, I will continue to update the Dropbox with any new telemetry gathered. Please keep it coming, even if it has errors or is incomplete. At this point, we are happy to simply know that it is still operating." [ANS Thanks Howie DeFelice AB2S and Michael Kirkhart, KD8QBA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 ARRL/TAPR DCC (Digital Communications Conference) Announced The 2015 DCC will be in Chicago on October 9 - 11 in the northwest suburb of Arlington Heights not far from O'Hare airport.The DCC has two full days of Technical presentations on Friday & Saturday and on Sunday morning a deep dive into a technical subject. On Saturday there is a full day of concurrent Introductory sessions. Be sure to register for the DCC and reserve your hotel room early. DCC information is available at: http://www.tapr.org/dccLook forward to your participation in the DCC. TAPR at Dayton Hamvention TAPR will have booths, forums and a joint banquet with AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention. Details about TAPR activities at the Hamvention are available at: http://www.tapr.org/dayton [ANS thanks Mark WB9QXB for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention - Fourth call for volunteers The Dayton Hamvention is less than three weeks away! Last year, we had 52 people assist with the AMSAT booth at Dayton. We've had a good response so far to our call for volunteers, but we could really use another 10-15 people. The interaction with AMSAT members, satellite operators, designers, and builders makes the whole experience a lot of fun. Meet or renew acquaintances, exchange operating tips, and find out what antennas, software and equipment other AMSAT members use. We currently expect all of the AMSAT senior officers and 5 of the 7 board members to be there too. The 2015 Hamvention is May 15-17. Would you consider helping AMSAT at Dayton this year? If you're an experienced operator, great! We can use you and your experience. If you've never operated a satellite before, but want to learn more, that's OK. We can use your help too. Whether you're available for only a couple of hours or if you can spend the entire weekend with us, your help would be greatly appreciated. Please send an e-mail to Steve, n9ip(a)amsat.org if you can help. Thank you! [ANS thanks Steve N9IP for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Plans Dayton Rollout for 2015 "Getting Started" Satellite Book Gould Smith's book, "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites", is being updated to tell you all about how you can get ready to operate through the Fox-1 satellites launching later this year. Additional chapters in the book tell you about tracking software, orbital mechanics, antennas, radios, Doppler tuning, and operating techniques. Chapters are also being added to tell you about the new satellites soon becoming available for amateur radio. Going beyond brief descriptions in hamfest flyers, this book will provide a complete reference for new satellite users to assemble a basic station and to make your first satellite contacts. Also this book you will teach you how to incrementally upgrade your initial FM satellite station, time and budget permitting, to include automated tracking as well as operating through the CW/SSB linear passband satellites. A companion Fox-1A reference sheet is also being planned for release at Dayton. This will be made available for AMSAT's FieldOps team for distribution at hamfests and satellite operating demonstrations. Watch for the 2015 "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites" book and reference sheet at the AMSAT booth at the Dayton Hamvention. The book will also be available in the AMSAT Store shortly after Dayton: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT FieldOps Team SO-50 Operating Guide is Available AMSAT's Director of Field Operations, Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK says the FieldOps team is working to make how-to-operate-satellites information readily available on the web. Based on a hamfest handout designed and written by Patrick, "Getting Started with the FM Satellites", is available for download. Patrick shows the basic equipment and techniques to learn successful operating on the satellites. This guide also gives specific information on how to operate via SO-50, the only currently available FM satellite at the moment. Patrick's guide is posted at: http://www.amsat.org --> Satellite Info --> Station and Operating Hints. The direct link is http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2144 where you'll find the link "Operating FM Satellites" (and a link to the Spanish version also). [ANS thanks the AMSAT FieldOps Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-SM donates $1600 USD for the FOX satellite project "AMSAT-SM believe that FOX project is very important to continue to develop amateur radio on board satellites. We therefore hope that our contribution can help the FOX satellites up in space." AMSAT-SM in Sweden has aprox 150 members. Membership is currently free and registration is done online at our website: www.amsat.se [ANS thanks Lars Thunberg SM0TGU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful double contact was made with schools in South Africa and in Italy. Participants at Sol Plaatje Primary School, Mahikeng, South Africa and Scuola Secondaria di 1 Grado, Caprino Bergamasco, Italy queried Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF who was using the Callsign IRØISS. The contact began 2015-05-02 14:34:27 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridged via IK1SLD. ARISS Mentor was IZ2GOJ. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Ryazan, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is a go for Thu 2015-05-07 08:30 UTC The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Mikhail Korniyenko RN3BF Kursk, Russia, WWII veterans, direct via TBD Contact is a go for Sat 2015-05-09 08:20 UTC The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Gennady Padalka RN3DT >From 2015-05-11 to 2015-06-14, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. So any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Grid Master Award # 3 Congratulations to WA4NVM Rick for working and confirming all 488 US grids GRID MASTER AWARD #3 4-26-2015 + 5 in EM55 Award Congratulations to WF7L Jeff for 5 in EM55 award # 58 [ANS Thanks Damon WA4HFN for the above --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX AMSAT User Services and the Editors of the AMSAT New Service pass on our condolences to ANS Weekly Co-Editor Joe Spier K6WAO and his family on the death of Joe's mother this week. In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, EMike McCardel, KC8YLD kc8yld at amsat dot org

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ANS-116.02 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 26 Apr '15

26 Apr '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-116.02 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-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit * Nayif-1 CubeSat mission will have FUNcube transponder * Central States VHF Society Annual Conference, July 23 - 26 * Current and Upcoming Satellite Operations * AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention - Third call for volunteers * Design The Next AMSAT Satellite! - Submission Deadline May 30 * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-116.02 ANS-116.02 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 116.02 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. April 26, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-116.02 AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit AMSAT is excited to announce that we have accepted an opportunity to participate in a potential rideshare as a hosted payload on a geostationary satellite planned for launch in 2017. An amateur radio payload, operating in the Amateur Satellite Service, will fly on a spacecraft which Millennium Space Systems (MSS) of El Segundo, CA is contracted to design, launch, and operate for the US government based on their Aquila M8 Series Satellite Structure. A meeting to discuss this potential rideshare took place on April 13 at Millennium Space Systems that included Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY; Franklin Antonio, N6NKF, co-founder of Qualcomm; Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT Vice President of Engineering and member of the board for AMSAT- NA; Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO, Director and President Emeritus of AMSAT-NA; Phil Karn,KA9Q; and Michelle Thompson, W5NYV. Hosting the meeting for MSS were Stan Dubyn as founder and chairman of MSS, Vince Deno as president of MSS, Jeff Ward, K8KA, of MSS as VP for Product Development, formerly with SSTL and University of Surrey Space Center, and Ryan Lawrence of MSS as Project Manager on the spacecraft mission. Attending by telephone were Dr. Jonathan Black, Associate Research Director of Hume Center for Aerospace Systems and Associate Professor of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering and Dr. Michael Parker, KT7D, founder of RINCON Research Corp. Following the meeting, Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY, Director of Research at the Hume Center for National Security and Technology of Virginia Tech, and former director and former VP Engineering of AMSAT, described this as an opportunity to go forward with "AMSAT-Eagle" which, in the 2006-2008 timeframe, evolved into a microwave payload to be flown to geostationary orbit as a hosted payload. It would have provided digital communications to small terminals on the ground and a linear bent pipe transponder had it flown. This failed to go forward in part due to lack of an affordable flight opportunity. McGwier outlined the next steps toward developing this mission: 1) To organize an effort at Virginia Tech to make a firm proposal to MSS and its US government sponsor, and organize an effort to raise sufficient funds to pay for development of the mission. 2) Enable Dr. Jonathan Black to lead the construction project at Virginia Tech in the Space@VT Center. Sonya Rowe, KK4NLO, Project Manager at the Hume Center will be the project manager. 3) Work for development of a low-cost microwave ground station for amateur radio still needs to be determined. 4) Dr. Michael Parker, KT7D, will solicit the cooperation of the Rincon Research Corp. for development of the software radio technology for this payload. The AMSAT Board of Directors has accepted the invitation to participate in this potential rideshare payload opportunity. AMSAT expects to be involved in the development of the ground station and the payload RF development, and will serve as the amateur radio (hosted) payload operator once the satellite has been launched. McGwier summarized, "The launch is currently scheduled for 2017 and the payload must be delivered for testing and integration by Spring of 2016. It is an ambitious schedule and all involved will have to gain and maintain a serious level of commitment to that which they agree to undertake." AMSAT President, Barry Baines, WD4ASW, said, "The AMSAT leadership is excited to fly a Phase-IV geostationary amateur satellite payload. This is an evolving development as we collaborate with the VT Hume Center with a project that provides technical challenges to create a new amateur radio capability in space that will provide a variety of benefits not only for amateurs but also for emergency communications and STEM educational outreach." The transponder is expected to support a wide range of voice, digital, and experimental advanced communications technologies. A decision is expected soon specifying the microwave uplink and downlink bands. Additional information on the Aquila M8 Series Satellite can be viewed on-line: http://www.millennium-space.com/ http://www.millennium-space.com/platforms#aquila AMSAT has posted a photo of the GEO opportunity team with the Millennium Aquila satellite at: http://www.amsat.org. [ANS thanks Bob McGwier, N4HY and AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nayif-1 CubeSat mission will have FUNcube transponder AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL are delighted to announce that a FUNcube communications package has been selected as a major payload for the Nayif-1 CubeSat mission. This mission is intended to provide Emirati students with a tool to design and test systems in space. It is being developed by the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) in partnership with American University of Sharjah (AUS). It is expected that this payload will provide a large amount of valuable environmental data from space together with a new, enhanced, UHF to VHF linear transponder. The AMSAT team will be working closely with the Emirati students, in collaboration with support partner, ISIS - Innovative Solutions In Space B.V. from the Netherlands, to develop this new system in time for the launch which is scheduled to take place towards the end of 2015. This exciting news was announced on April 25, 2015 during the Dutch "Interessedag Amateursatellieten" or "Satellite Interest Day" event in Apeldoorn. More information, with details of frequencies and planned operating schedules, will be made available as soon as possible. [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Central States VHF Society Annual Conference, July 23 - 26 The Central States VHF Society Annual Conference for 2015 is being held in the Denver Colorado Metro area between Thursday July 23rd and Sunday July 26th. The local sponsor this year is Rocky Mountain Ham Radio. The convention site is the Denver Marriott Westminster; the venue is available for booking at the Society special conference rate of $109 per night. Please plan on booking your vacation around the conference as the special room rate is available from Monday July 20th through Wednesday July 29th. The conference will feature the traditional activities, Banquet, Luncheons and hospitality suites, technical programs, noise figure measurement, antenna range, Rover vehicle show and tell. Speaker for the Saturday evening banquet is Rick Roderick K5UR First Vice President of ARRL and an avid VHFer. There are a wide variety of activities available along the Front Range of Colorado and there will be an offering of a choice of side trips designed to entertain the entire family. Operating opportunities under consideration include operating from the Rocky Mountain Ham Radio remote base station in Pueblo, microwave operating from local mountain tops and the chance to score a microwave VUCC in a weekend! Just bring your own equipment! There will be introductory programs geared to newcomers to weak signal operation on the VHF+ bands that will be promoted locally and designed to encourage younger hams to get involved in DX'ing and contesting. Conference registration, as well as a link to the conference venue for bookings, is now available at http://2015.csvhfs.org/ Please visit the site if you need any other additional information [ANS thanks Doug K2AD for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Current and Upcoming Satellite Operations The following information is from the AMSAT "Upcoming Satellite Operations" page that is maintained by Paul Stoetzer N8HM. The following information was last updated April 25, 2015. The most current information can be viewed anytime by visiting http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=3921 Maritime Mobile - Captain Yuri Bodrov, UT1FG/MM, is heading north from the Panama Canal through the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean en route to the Port of Sept-Îles in Quebec aboard the M/V Greenwing. He is active on all satellites as well as six meters and HF from open water grids. Track his progress on MarineTraffic. Note that Yuri operates half duplex, so do not attempt to call while he is talking. Arkansas (EM23/EM33) - Dave Swanson, KG5CCI, will be active on two passes of FO-29 (2038Z and 2222Z) and one pass of AO-7 (2059Z) from the EM22/EM23 line just north of Texarkana, AR on April 25, 2015. Cuba (FL11) - Pavel, CO7WT, is active on SO-50 from FL11 in eastern Cuba, mostly on evening passes during the week, and all day on weekends. Norway (KQ50) - Erling, LA4FPA, will be active from Vardø, Norway (KQ50ni) with an FT-847 and an Arrow Antenna April 25 - April 30, 2015. Florida / Dry Tortugas Islands (EL84) - Mike, WA0SPG, will be active on FO-29 and SO-50 as WA0SPG/4 from the Dry Tortugas (EL84) May 4 - May 6, 2015. QSL via home call. He will also be active on HF. See the March 2, 2015 edition of the OPDX Bulletin for more details (Thanks to John, K8YSE via the AMSAT-BB for this information). Scotland (IO76) - The Camb Hams will be active on all satellites from the Isle of Mull as GS3PYE/P May 15 - May 21, 2015. For more information, see http://dx.camb-hams.com/ Cayman Islands (EK99) - Bill, NZ5N, will be active from the Cayman Islands as ZF2EM on SO-50 May 20 - May 25, 2015. This is primarily an EME DXpedition and they will only be on SO-50 passes when the moon is not up. Guernsey (IN89) - Peter Goodhall, 2E0SQL, will be active from Guernsey (IN89) as 2U0SQL/P July 22 - July 28, 2015. He will likely be using an FT-817 as the uplink transmitter and a FUNcube Dongle with a laptop as the downlink receiver with an Arrow Antenna. Operation may be sporadic and/or by sked only as the primary purpose of the trip is for the IOTA contest. Please submit any additions or corrections to n8hm at arrl.net Satellite Schedule Notes AO-73 (FUNcube-1) - Currently in full time transponder mode until the evening of April 26, 2015 (UK time). AO-7 - Currently operating in Mode B while in sunlight. As of April 5, 2015, the satellite appears to be losing power upon entering eclipse several times per day and, by design, resets into Mode B when it powers up. Since it is entering eclipse several times per day, the 24 hour timer that switches the satellite into Mode A is reset and never has the opportunity to switch the satellite to Mode A. Note that in the past, the satellite has unexpectedly switched modes. This has often been observed to coincide with the presence of extremely strong signals in the passband. Pleae limit your uplink power to no more than 100 watts ERP. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention - Third call for volunteers The Dayton Hamvention is less than four weeks away! Last year, we had 52 people assist with the AMSAT booth at Dayton. We've had a good response so far to our call for volunteers, but we could really use another 10-15 people. The interaction with AMSAT members, satellite operators, designers, and builders makes the whole experience a lot of fun. Meet or renew acquaintances, exchange operating tips, and find out what antennas, software and equipment other AMSAT members use. We currently expect all of the AMSAT senior officers and 5 of the 7 board members to be there too. The 2015 Hamvention is May 15-17. Would you consider helping AMSAT at Dayton this year? If you're an experienced operator, great! We can use you and your experience. If you've never operated a satellite before, but want to learn more, that's OK. We can use your help too. Whether you're available for only a couple of hours or if you can spend the entire weekend with us, your help would be greatly appreciated. Please send an e-mail to Steve, n9ip(a)amsat.org if you can help. Thank you! [ANS thanks Steve, N9IP, Dayton Team Leader, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Design The Next AMSAT Satellite! - Submission Deadline May 30 At the 2014 AMSAT Space Symposium AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton announced the plan for the next generation of AMSAT satellites. "The door is open for everyone, to submit their ideas. AMSAT Engineering has a long term strategy and this is the first step." The Engineering long term strategy includes the following goals * Advancement of amateur radio satellite technical and communications skills * Enhance international goodwill * Grow and sustain a skilled pool of amateur radio satellite engineers * Establish and maintain partnerships with educational institutions * Develop a means to use hardware common to all opportunities With respect to the last goal Jerry said "Within the bounds of the type of satellite it takes to achieve any of the various orbit opportunities, let's consider in those plans the possibility of developing a platform that can suit any and all orbits. Perhaps a modular CubeSat, using a common bus as we did in Fox-1, which gives great flexibility in building and flying different sizes and configurations of CubeSats with simple common-design hardware changes." Submissions should be thorough and contain the following information. The purpose of the proposal is not just in suggesting an idea; being an all-volunteer team AMSAT needs your help in carrying out the idea. Design Implementation - CubeSat platform Estimated timeline Cost - volunteer resources, commercial (COTS) units Launch - how does it get to orbit Strategy - how it fits into AMSAT's Engineering long term strategy As mentioned above the idea should be based on the CubeSat platform. This is the standard through which we will look for launches in the foreseeable future. In considering your proposal, Jerry encourages you to contact him, (n0jy(a)amsat.org using Subject: Design the Next AMSAT Satelleite), for more details on the criteria. A guidebook to the criteria is now available for download at http://tinyurl.com/ANS032-SatelliteGuide. In particular, if you plan to include a university as a partner to provide experiments or other support and you are not representing that university, please contact Jerry for assistance in working with our existing partners or establishing a new partnership. "Being amateur radio operators, it is easy for us to fall into a particular trap because of our history of communicating with other amateurs throughout the world" says Jerry. "Specifically, most people who are not already involved in the world of satellite technology are unaware of or simply overlook the provisions of the current ITAR and soon to be EAR export rules particularly with regard to deemed exports which requires governmental permission to discuss satellite projects with foreign nationals." While all amateurs are invited to submit ideas, U.S. amateurs must take particular care of they choose to become involved in a collaboration which includes individuals from other countries. It is permissible to receive ideas and proposals from outside the U.S., but it is not permitted for U.S. Persons to export or share design ideas with other countries unless they have taken the proper steps to insure compliance with ITAR and deemed export rules. Additionally, those wishing to work on proposals should use care in presenting themselves in their contacts. While the goal is for AMSAT to build and launch the satellite, it is not an AMSAT project until it is accepted by the AMSAT Board of Directors. It is acceptable to represent yourself as members of a project team that plans to submit a proposal to AMSAT for a future satellite project, as the AMSAT name is well known. "It is not our intention that ideas be submitted to AMSAT-NA which would be more appropriately handled by an AMSAT organization in a country where AMSAT is established. AMSAT-NA is seeking ideas from amateurs in North America and will certainly consider ideas from amateurs in countries which do not have an established AMSAT organization or relationships with an existing AMSAT organization." The deadline for submissions is May 30, 2015. After the submission date the ideas will be screened for completeness and then reviewed by a board consisting of the AMSAT Engineering Team, AMSAT Senior Officer and Board of Directors representatives, and aerospace industry members. The review board may modify or consolidate ideas and will consider which meet the criteria to become a project based on feasibility, cost, and the ability to bring value to the amateur satellite community. The review process is expected to be completed in September 2015. For those ideas selected to become a project which satisfy the requirements for an ELaNa launch, the idea authors will be asked to work with the AMSAT Engineering Team on an ELaNa proposal. The Engineering Team will then work on the details of execution for the selected project(s) and present a proposal to the AMSAT Board of Directors in October 2015 for final approval to begin work. Once approved, any ELaNa proposals will be submitted in November 2015 and the project(s) will move forward. Now is the time for YOU to begin working on the next AMSAT satellite! [ANS thanks AMSAT Engineering for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between East Coast Chapter Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., Youth In Aviation Program (ECCTAI YIAP) and Oxon Hill High School, Oxon Hill, Maryland, USA and Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF using Callsign NAISS. The contact began 2015-04- 24 16:41:27 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was direct via K6DUE. ARISS Mentor was KA3HDO. Contact Audience was about 180-190 VIPs included two documented original Tuskegee Airmen and one WWII Navy Veteran. Over a dozen from the East Coast Chapter Tuskegee Airmen organization attended and wore Red Jackets commemorating the Tuskegee Airmen. The school live-streamed the event on their school newspaper website, and recorded 100+ views the day of the event. Indirect participants is confirmed and expected to increase when more are confirmed. The contact was streamed into all the Price Georges County, Maryland Schools. News organizations: WUSA9 (TV), WRC News4 (TV), Andrews Gazette(Newspaper), CTV Prince George's County News (TV-Local Cable), Prince George's County Public Schools Communication Office. 12 questions were asked and 11 were answered. The last question was barely discernable in the static. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Double School Contact Sol Plaatje Primary School, Mahikeng, South Africa. and South Africa, and Scuola Secondaria di I Grado, Caprino Bergamasco, Italy The contact will be a telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF Contact is a go for: Sat 2015-05-02 14:34:27 UTC School Information Scuola Secondaria di I Grado: Caprino Bergamasco and its school are located atop of hills in between Bergamo and Lecco region. The school facility, recently built, serve the small community of 3000 people, it has pupils from age 3 to 14. Students from 11 to 14 have been involved in the ARISS activity, belonging to classes 1E, 2E, 2F and 3E. Sol Plaatje Primary School: It is a co-ed school having Gr.0-Gr.7. There are 1216 learners in the school, planet Earth and beyond is part of the curriculum and as a school they try to develop the learner's knowledge about space bodies and inculcate a love for the subject within the learners. Sol Plaatje Primary School participated on at the 2014 SAASTA Astronomy Quiz with a team - made by Ebenitha Esterhuizen, Kgotlholela Seagisa, Oratile Selatlhedi and Orefile Morule, prepared by the teacher Ms Micalla Lucas - and resulted the best among more than 1.700 schools. Upcoming Russian Contacts Ryazan, Russia, direct via TBD Contact is a go for Thu 2015-05-07 08:30 UTC The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Mikhail Korniyenko RN3BF Kursk, Russia, WWII veterans, direct via TBD Contact is a go for Sat 2015-05-09 08:20 UTC The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Gennady Padalka RN3DT >From 2015-05-11 to 2015-06-14, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. So any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] ARISS passes along our condolences to the families of recent silent keys: Max IW1CNF who helped with many of the ARISS Italian telebridge contacts. Clive G3CWV who was very active in AMSAT [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Videos of the presentations from The 2015 CubeSat Workshop held April 1 at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are now available on YouTube. http://tinyurl.com/ANS116-CubesatVideos The presentation schedule and slide PDF's are at http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/events/cubesat2015.html [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] + March/April AMSAT Journal - in the Mail Members began receiving their AMSAT Journals in the mail this week. Keep an eye out for yours. Membership in AMSAT is required to receive the Journal. Annual membership is $44.00, Join today! http://tinyurl.com/ANS116-JoinAMSAT --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, EMike McCardel, KC8YLD kc8yld at amsat dot org

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ANS Special Bulletin ANS-116.01 AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit
by JoAnne Maenpaa 25 Apr '15

25 Apr '15

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-116.01 ANS-116 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 116.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE Month Day, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-116.01 AMSAT-NA Opportunity for Rideshare to Geostationary Orbit AMSAT is excited to announce that we have accepted an opportunity to participate in a potential rideshare as a hosted payload on a geostationary satellite planned for launch in 2017. An amateur radio payload, operating in the Amateur Satellite Service, will fly on a spacecraft which Millennium Space Systems (MSS) of El Segundo, CA is contracted to design, launch, and operate for the US government based on their Aquila M8 Series Satellite Structure. A meeting to discuss this potential rideshare took place on April 13 at Millennium Space Systems that included Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY; Franklin Antonio, N6NKF, co-founder of Qualcomm; Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT Vice President of Engineering and member of the board for AMSAT-NA; Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO, Director and President Emeritus of AMSAT-NA; Phil Karn, KA9Q; and Michelle Thompson, W5NYV. Hosting the meeting for MSS were Stan Dubyn as founder and chairman of MSS, Vince Deno as president of MSS, Jeff Ward, K8KA, of MSS as VP for Product Development, formerly with SSTL and University of Surrey Space Center, and Ryan Lawrence of MSS as Project Manager on the spacecraft mission. Attending by telephone were Dr. Jonathan Black, Associate Research Director of Hume Center for Aerospace Systems and Associate Professor of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering and Dr. Michael Parker, KT7D, founder of RINCON Research Corp. Following the meeting, Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY, Director of Research at the Hume Center for National Security and Technology of Virginia Tech, and former director and former VP Engineering of AMSAT, described this as an opportunity to go forward with "AMSAT-Eagle" which, in the 2006-2008 timeframe, evolved into a microwave payload to be flown to geostationary orbit as a hosted payload. It would have provided digital communications to small terminals on the ground and a linear bent pipe transponder had it flown. This failed to go forward in part due to lack of an affordable flight opportunity. McGwier outlined the next steps toward developing this mission: 1) To organize an effort at Virginia Tech to make a firm proposal to MSS and its US government sponsor, and organize an effort to raise sufficient funds to pay for development of the mission. 2) Enable Dr. Jonathan Black to lead the construction project at Virginia Tech in the Space@VT Center. Sonya Rowe, KK4NLO, Project Manager at the Hume Center will be the project manager. 3) Work for development of a low-cost microwave ground station for amateur radio still needs to be determined. 4) Dr. Michael Parker, KT7D, will solicit the cooperation of the Rincon Research Corp. for development of the software radio technology for this payload. The AMSAT Board of Directors has accepted the invitation to participate in this potential rideshare payload opportunity. AMSAT expects to be involved in the development of the ground station and the payload RF development, and will serve as the amateur radio (hosted) payload operator once the satellite has been launched. McGwier summarized, "The launch is currently scheduled for 2017 and the payload must be delivered for testing and integration by Spring of 2016. It is an ambitious schedule and all involved will have to gain and maintain a serious level of commitment to that which they agree to undertake." AMSAT President, Barry Baines, WD4ASW, said, "The AMSAT leadership is excited to fly a Phase-IV geostationary amateur satellite payload. This is an evolving development as we collaborate with the VT Hume Center with a project that provides technical challenges to create a new amateur radio capability in space that will provide a variety of benefits not only for amateurs but also for emergency communications and STEM educational outreach." The transponder is expected to support a wide range of voice, digital, and experimental advanced communications technologies. A decision is expected soon specifying the microwave uplink and downlink bands. Additional information on the Aquila M8 Series Satellite can be viewed on-line: http://www.millennium-space.com/ http://www.millennium-space.com/platforms#aquila AMSAT has posted a photo of the GEO opportunity team with the Millennium Aquila satellite at: http://www.amsat.org. [ANS thanks Bob McGwier, N4HY and AMSAT-NA for the above information] /EX

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ANS-109 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 19 Apr '15

19 Apr '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-109 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-1C and Fox-1D Include L-Band Uplink; Fox-1E Linear Transponder Announced * Immediate Volunteer Opening at AMSAT: Cubesat Thermal Engineering * AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention -- Second call for volunteers * "GB4MBC" - Special Event Station - Cancelled * Clive Wallis – G3CWV – SK * Cayman Island on Satellites May 20-25 * NASA Cube Quest Challenge SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-109.01 ANS-109 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 109.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. April 19, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-109.01 Fox-1C and Fox-1D Include L-Band Uplink; Fox-1E Linear Transponder Announced AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, announced plans to incorporate an L band receiver in Fox-1C and Fox-1D. The addition will allow ground commanded selection of the U/v (normal Fox-1 bands) or the new L/v 1.2 GHz (23 cm) mode. Both bands will operate as FM single channel. Rather than adding a complete new receiver, the L band "Project Downshifter" will convert the received L band signal down to the Fox-1 uplink frequency and feed it to the regular UHF receiver on the Fox-1 satellite. The design will not require an additional antenna on the satellite because the existing UHF antenna will work for L band receive as well. In concert with the development of the satellite segment, a new group of volunteers is working on a companion uplink station to convert UHF to the L band uplink frequencies: + Bruce Herrick, WW1M + Dan Hubert, VE9DAN + Elizabeth Schenk, KC1AXX + Dave Smith, W6TE + Alfred Watts, AF5VH The team is planning to have an affordable L band uplink ground station available to amateurs by the time Fox-1C is on orbit. In further news, Jerry announced the plan to construct a Fox-1E "Evolution" variation of the Fox-1 series which will carry a Mode J linear transponder. The transponder is planned to be 30 kHz wide and will also include a 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon. The purpose of the project is to test a design for a linear transponder that could be made available to CubeSat builders as a secondary, or even primary radio payload thus bringing more opportunities for amateur radio in space as well as offering AMSAT's proven communications skills as a telemetry option. AMSAT has been approached for a launch opportunity for Fox-1E in 2016, but launch details can not be shared at this time. Jerry concluded, "It is important that we find additional resources to help the Fox-1 Team with these new endeavors. We are looking for volunteers who have solid RF building and testing experience to work on both the downshifter and the transponder prototyping and construction." If you would like to help and be a part of the success of Fox-1C/D and Fox-1E, please contact Jerry through the AMSAT Engineering volunteer form page on-line at: http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=1121. [ANS thanks AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Immediate Volunteer Opening at AMSAT: Cubesat Thermal Engineering AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, says he has an immediate need for a volunteer who is experienced in thermal engineering. Opportunities include upcoming AMSAT CubeSats up to 6U in LEO and HEO, and larger spacecraft up to 150 kg. Jerry says Sinda, Thermica, and Patran software experience would be helpful. If you would like to help and be a part of the success of Fox-1C/D and Fox-1E, please contact Jerry through the AMSAT Engineering volunteer form page on-line at: http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=1121. [ANS thanks AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention -- Second call for volunteers The Dayton Hamvention is less than five weeks away! It is time to be creating your shopping list and making your travel plans. If you can stay for more than a day and you want to stay at the AMSAT hotel, contact Martha ASAP. Last year, we had 52 people assist with the AMSAT booth at Dayton. We've had a good response so far to our call for volunteers, but we could really use another 10-15 people. The interaction with AMSAT members, satellite operators, designers, and builders makes the whole experience a lot of fun. Meet or renew acquaintances, exchange operating tips, and find out what antennas, software and equipment other AMSAT members use. We currently expect all of the AMSAT senior officers and 5 of the 7 board members to be there too. The 2015 Hamvention is May 15-17. Would you consider helping AMSAT at Dayton this year? If you're an experienced operator, great! We can use you and your experience. If you've never operated a satellite before, but want to learn more, that's OK. We can use your help too. Whether you're available for only a couple of hours or if you can spend the entire weekend with us, your help would be greatly appreciated. Please send an e-mail to Steve, n9ip(a)amsat.org if you can help. Thank you! [ANS thanks Steve, N9IP, Dayton Team Leader, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- "GB4MBC" - Special Event Station - Cancelled With respect to the planned activation of the Special Event Station - "GB4MBC" on HF and satellite during 24th -27th April 2015 -Location: " Flatholm Island" EU124. Due to circumstances beyond our control ,"Barry Amateur Radio Society" South Wales, regrets that the visit and activation has been cancelled. An attempt for contacts from our mainland station with its Marconi special call GB0MDI -Locator IO81JJ [ANS thanks Ken, GW1FKY, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Clive Wallis – G3CWV – SK From Jim Heck, G3WGM, Hon Sec AMSAT-UK It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that I have just learnt of the passing of our dear friend Clive Wallis, G3CWV on 27th March 2015. Clive has been a very staunch supporter of AMSAT from the very early days. Many will recall his intense interest and loyalty in following UOSAT-2/UO-11. He maintained a very comprehensive web site with details of the spacecraft’s activities. He wrote many articles for Oscar News about his activities. He attended many AMSAT-UK Colloquia. For 17 years between 1996 and 2013 Clive produced monthly reports on OSCAR-11 (UoSAT-2). The report archive is at http://www.g3cwv.co.uk/newsarch.htm Clive’s OSCAR-11 page http://www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm In 1993 Clive Wallis G3CWV took over distribution of satellite related BBC software http://amsat-uk.org/2011/12/11/bbc-micro-and-amsat-uk-software-library/ He was awarded the Louis Varney cup for 2015 by the RSGB, and although he knew of the award before his passing, the formal presentation is not until 25 April. His funeral is to be held on Tue 22 April 2015 at 3.00pm at Christchurch, Bedford Road, Hitchin, Herts, UK. I am sure that his family would appreciate the presence of any AMSAT members who are able to be there. We send our condolences to his widow, Janet. RIP, Clive. 73s Jim Heck G3WGM Hon Sec AMSAT-UK [ANS thanks Jim Heck, G3WGM, Hon Sec AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Cayman Island on Satellites May 20-25 ZF2, CAYMAN ISLANDS. Operators Pete/N8PR and Bill/NZ5N will be active as ZF2EM from the Cayman Islands between May 20-25th. Main activity will be focused on 2 meter EME, but with some HF SSB and maybe JT65HF. They will also have 2m/440 and an Elk antenna for some possible FM satellite QSOs if the passes are at times when the moon is not up. QSL via N8PR. [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1210 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA Cube Quest Challenge The Cube Quest Challenge, sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Centennial Challenge Program, offers a total of $5 million to teams that meet the challenge objectives of designing, building and delivering flight- qualified, small satellites capable of advanced operations near and beyond the moon. 1) You are cordially invited to subscribe to the official, new, Cube Quest Challenge mailing list! The Cube Quest mailing list will: * Broadcast official announcements regarding the Challenge * Enable list members to post messages, share ideas, collaborate, and offer Challenge-related services * Be monitored by Cube Quest to approve list members and keep posts on-topic To subscribe, visit: https://lists.nasa.gov/mailman/listinfo/cube-quest-challenge and follow the instructions. 2) Revised Operations and Rules and other documents have recently been posted to the Cube Quest web pages. To keep up-to-date, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cubequest/details/ and keep your eyes on the News and Updates announcements. (News and Updates will also be posted to the Cube Quest mailing list.) 3) Cube Quest judges Dr. David Klumpar and Bruce Yost will be attending the April 22-24 CubeSat Developers Workshop at Cal Poly, so be sure to say "hi". 4) Less than 108 days before the first Cube Quest Ground Tournament! There's still time to register your team. Download the official Operations and Rules document, then visit the http://www.nasa.gov/cubequest/details/ "how to enter" link to register your team. [ANS thanks Jim Cockrell 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-102 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne Maenpaa 12 Apr '15

12 Apr '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-102 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. [Ed. note - Apologies for the delay in the distribution of the ANS bulletins this week. Our regular editor is dealing with a family emergency.] In this edition: * TAPR/AMSAT Dinner Featured Speaker at Dayton * AMSAT Hotel Room Reservations for Dayton Hamvention * AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention -- Call for volunteers * AMSAT Awards Update * Updates to Format in AMSAT Weekly Keplerian Elements Distribution * AMSAT on Newsline Video Update SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-102.01 ANS-095 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 095.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE April 12, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-102.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- TAPR/AMSAT Dinner Featured Speaker at Dayton The ninth annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet will be held on Friday night, May 15, at 1830 EDT. This dinner is always a highlight of the AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corp.) and TAPR (Tucson Amateur Packet Radio) activities during the Dayton Hamvention. This year's speaker will be Michael Ossmann, AD0NR, "Adventures of a Hacker Turned Ham". Michael Ossmann, AD0NR, grew up as a computer nerd embracing the hacker ethos. Eventually Michael became very interested in the security of wireless systems such as remote keyless entry, garage door openers, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. He designed Ubertooth One, a Bluetooth sniffer that was successfully funded on Kickstarter. Not one to rest, Michael later designed and successfully funded HackRF One, an open source SDR platform that attracted the attention of the amateur radio community. Michael will talk about his unique perspective on the community as an outsider looking in, why he resisted getting a license for years, and why he finally decided to join. Michael will also share his thoughts on what it means to be a hacker, what it means to be a ham, and what amateur radio may look like in the decades to come. Tickets ($35 each) must be purchased online in advance on the AMSAT website at www.amsat.org through the AMSAT Store tab. Tickets will not be sold at the Hamvention or at the door. Tickets purchased online may be collected at the AMSAT booth (433-435, 444-446). The Banquet will take place at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center, 4572 Presidential Way, Kettering, OH 45429 (just south of Dayton). The cash bar will open at 1830 EDT, with the dinner commencing around 1900 EDT. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Hamvention Posse for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Hotel Room Reservations for Dayton Hamvention Once again, this year, as in previous years AMSAT has reserved a block of rooms for the Dayton Hamvention at the Country Inn & Suites in Fairborn, Ohio. The cost is $109 per night. The cutoff date for reservations is April 12. First priority will be given to AMSAT members assisting with the booth operations, satellite operating demonstrations, and the AMSAT Forum presentations. Call Martha at the AMSAT office at 301-822-4376 to give her your arrival/departure dates and your credit card information. [ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention -- Call for volunteers Last year, we had 52 people assist with the AMSAT booth at the Dayton. It was the efforts of those volunteers that made the 2014 Dayton Hamvention a success for AMSAT. The interaction with AMSAT members, satellite operators, designers, and builders makes the whole experience a lot of fun. The 2015 Hamvention is May 15-17. Would you consider helping AMSAT at Dayton this year? Whether you're available for only a couple of hours or if you can spend the entire weekend with us, your help would be greatly appreciated. Please send an e-mail to Steve, n9ip at amsat.org if you can help. [ANS thanks AMSAT's Hamvention Chairman Steve Belter, N9IP for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Awards Update Here are the awards that have been submitted thus far in 2015. Here are our latest inductions into some of the AMSAT awards community. The following have entered into the Satellite Communicators Club for making their first satellite QSO. Nicolas Romero, KG5BON Steve Kristoff, AI9IN Hope Lea, KM4IPF Faith Hannah Lea, WA4BBC Zechariah Lea, WX4TVJ 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] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Updates to Format in AMSAT Weekly Keplerian Elements Distribution The AMSAT verbose format will no longer be distributed by AMSAT email. This is the element set that looks like the following: Satellite: AO-07 Catalog number: 07530 Epoch time: 15021.49149419 Element set: 174 Inclination: 101.5028 deg RA of node: 001.3581 deg Eccentricity: 0.0011670 Arg of perigee: 228.2064 deg Mean anomaly: 245.5090 deg Mean motion: 12.53610988 rev/day Decay rate: -1.6e-07 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 83887 Checksum: 279 Please note that the following NASA 2-line (TLE) format will continue to be sent. The NASA 2-line TLE) format looks like this: AO-07 1 07530U 74089B 15021.49149419 -.00000016 00000-0 17235-3 0 1747 2 07530 101.5028 001.3581 0011670 228.2064 245.5090 12.53610988838873 On January 22, 2015 I requested comments on discontinuing the AMSAT verbose format and the comments that I have received to date indicate that very few people would be affected by this change. The AMSAT verbose format has out lived its usefulness. Those that are affected by this change are considering work-arounds to allow them to use the NASA 2-line (TLE) format. Note that most satellite tracking programs readily accept the NASA 2-line (TLE) format if the correct upload options are chosen. The NASA 2-line elements will continue being sent each week as they are now. In effect, the weekly email that you now receive will consist only of one email entitled orbYYDDD.2l.amsat (for example). The YY in the email title is the year (15 for 2015) and DDD is the Julian day of the year (022 for January 22nd). The email entitled orbYYDDD.amsat (for example) will NOT be sent. One more time, the weekly NASA 2-line element (NASA TLE) format email will continue to be sent each week as usual. Joe Fitzgerald notes that another source of current Keplerian 2-line data (TLE) is now available. The following URL has current data for the AMSAT satellite list including the ISS and is updated at least daily using the latest ISS elements from Johnson Spaceflight Center. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasabare.txt New satellites are added as soon as possible - so there is no need to wait for the Thursday bulletin if you need an update right now. [ANS thank Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Keeper of the Keps, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT on Newsline Video Update AMSAT gets a nice mention in the Amateur Radio Newsline video report this week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HXBAsjdt0bA At about the 3 minute point Newsline reports on our ANS bulletin about the new 2015 updated "Getting Started" book will be released at Dayton. [ANS thanks the Amateur Radio Newsline 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, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm(a)amsat.org

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ANS-095 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 05 Apr '15

05 Apr '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-095 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 Plans Dayton Rollout for 2015 "Getting Started" Satellite Book * TAPR/AMSAT Joint Hamvention Banquet Will be on May 15 * March/April Edition of the AMSAT Journal Sent to Printers * LibreCube Open Source CubeSat Projects * AMSAT-SM Announces Committee for 2015-2016 * ISS Slow Scan TV Expected Weekend of April 11 * GRACE mission P-PODs including Fox-1A were integrated in the NPSCuL * Wisconsin Balloon Launch Includes 2M Voice Beacon * Student Spaceflight Experiments Program -- Mission 9 to the International Space Station * 21st Century Teacher Academy * US ARISS School Proposal Window Closes in 10 Days * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-095.01 ANS-095 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 095.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE April 5, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-095.01 AMSAT Plans Dayton Rollout for 2015 "Getting Started" Satellite Book Gould Smith's book, "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites", is being updated to tell you all about how you can get ready to operate through the Fox-1 satellites launching later this year. Additional chapters in the book tell you about tracking software, orbital mechanics, antennas, radios, Doppler tuning, and operating techniques. Chapters are also being added to tell you about the new satellites soon becoming available for amateur radio. Going beyond brief descriptions in hamfest flyers, this book will provide a complete reference for new satellite users to assemble a basic station and to make your first satellite contacts. Also this book you will teach you how to incrementally upgrade your initial FM satellite station, time and budget permitting, to include automated tracking as well as operating through the CW/SSB linear passband satellites. A companion Fox-1A reference sheet is also being planned for release at Dayton. This will be made available for AMSAT's FieldOps team for distribution at hamfests and satellite operating demonstrations. Watch for the 2015 "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites" book and reference sheet at the AMSAT booth at the Dayton Hamvention. The book will also be available in the AMSAT Store shortly after Dayton: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- TAPR/AMSAT Joint Hamvention Banquet Will be on May 15 Join us at the Dayton Hamvention this year for the TAPR/AMSAT Banquet on Friday evening, May 15. Doors open at 1830 for a cash bar, with buffet dinner served at 1900. Reservations must be made in advance in the AMSAT Store: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=88 with the cost of $35 per person. Tickets will not be sold at Dayton. Tickets purchased online may be picked up at the AMSAT booth (433- 435, 444-446). Orders must be placed by 1800 EDT, Tuesday, May 12th. No exceptions. Come hungry and loosen your belt a notch. The dinner menu includes: + Choice of entree: o Prime Rib of Beef o Chicken Piccata with Lemon Caper Sauce o Medallions of Grilled Pork Tenderloin + Fresh Mashed Potatoes + Wild Rice Pilaf with Pecans and Apricots + Fresh Garden Tossed Salad + Rolls + Assorted Cakes and Cheesecakes + Coffee and Ice Tea + There will be a cash bar serving beer, wine, and mixed drinks. Watch for the upcoming announcement of this year's after dinner speaker. The dinner will be held at: Jefferson Room The Kohler Presidential Banquet Center 4548 Presidential Way Kettering, OH 45429 [ANS thanks the AMSAT Dayton Hamvention Posse for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- March/April Edition of the AMSAT Journal Sent to Printers March/April edition of the AMSAT Journal was sent to the printers March 31. Editor JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM, Would like to thank Bernhard, VA6BMJ; Douglas, KA2UPW/5; James, K3JPH; and Joe, KB6IGK, for their help on getting this issue ready. Contents include + AMSAT Announcements - Board of Directors Nominations Notice + Apogee View Barry Baines, WD4ASW + Amateur Satellites at Anchorage Engineer's Week Craig Bledsoe. KL4E + Pairing SDR dongles with smaller Windows 8.1 tablets Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK + The Gizmo Revisited Art Payne VE3NGF + AMSAT Field Day + The Satellite Attitude Manipulating System (SAMS) Prototype Mark Spencer WA8SME + AMSAT Nets Keith Pugh W5IU + IARU: 29 MHz Uplinks Ray Soifer W2RS + AMSAT Engineering Update Jerry Buxton NØJY + ARISS SSTV Results + AMSAT at the HamCation + AMSAT and University of Iowa Partner on Scientific Payload for Fox-1D + Orbital Debrief for March/April 2015 Paul Stoetzer N8HM + Minutes of the 2014 AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Meeting [ANS thanks JoAnne K9JKM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- LibreCube Open Source CubeSat Projects Those of you interested in open source may want to have a look at www.librecube.net where you will find a number of common CubeSat products available for you. You may freely modify, produce, improve, and share them. Please read the included license files for details. They are hosted by LibreCube, a non-profit initiative that has the objective to promote open source CubeSat design and foster collaboration among the CubeSat community. Your Feedback is most welcome. [ANS thanks LibreCube and the CubeSat mailing list for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-SM Announces Committee for 2015-2016 AMSAT-SM Committee for 2015-2016 has been announced Chairman Hakan - SM7WSJ Secretary Lars - SM0TGU Treasurer Kim - SM1TDX. At the moment AMSAT-SM has 148 members but only a few are active via satellite. But, we are still alive and we are very active with news on our website and Twitter. AMSAT-SM is the Swedish section of AMSAT with aprox 150 members (2015). One of our objectives is to inform Swedish hams about the fun with amateur satellites! Not many SM hams are active via satellite at the moment. With the help from our swedish webpage and HF-net we hope that more swedish hams should be using amateur satellites. The AMSAT-SM annual meeting is held every spring. We run a HF-net on 80 meters every Sunday with lots of news about satellites and space. AMSAT-SM website http://www.amsat.se/ English language website http://www.amsat.se/english-info/ AMSAT-SM is using the Internet homepage for members information and news. You can find articles, news, links and lots of more information about satellites. The large main page is only in Swedish because there are allready a lot of good sites about amateur satellites in english. We provide the following information: FAQ and technical page New amateur satellites update Latest telemetry from several microsats A news service on the homepage called e-Journal Active on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. See links on right frame on webpage. AMSAT-SM has a mailing list (just like the AMSAT-BB list) that was started in 1998. Most of the mail are in swedish, but you are welcome to subscribe. Send an e-mail to: amsat-sm-subscribe(a)yahoogroups.co.uk Contact: You can reach AMSAT-SM at: AMSAT-SM c/o Lars Thunberg Revirvägen 17 192 73 Sollentuna Sweden E-mail: info at amsat.se English website http://www.amsat.se/english-info/ [ANS thanks Lars Thunberg SM0TGU and AMSAT-SM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISS Slow Scan TV Expected Weekend of April 11 In commemoration of the 54th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin which took place on April 12, 1961, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) announced that SSTV activity will take place from the ISS. As with similar to events this past winter the images can be captured on 145.800 MHz FM using SSTV mode PD180. Those capturing images are encouraged to upload them to http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/submit.php Uploaded images may be viewed at http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/ Please be advised that situational demands on crew time could result in postponement or cancellation of any ARISS activity. Please pay attention to the possibility of any change in scheduling. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- GRACE mission P-PODs including Fox-1A were integrated in the NPSCuL UPDATE - The P-PODs were delivered to Naval Postgraduate School this week and have been integrated in the NPSCuL. The video linked below was provided to all of the GRACE mission CubeSat teams by Justin Foley of Cal Poly. Justin says "A few years back we put together a video that outlines the process we go through to get CubeSats on the Atlas V. This video follows the payload we put on NROL-36, aka OUTSat, which launched from VAFB and carried 11 cubes. The process is very similar to what your satellites are going through now." https://youtu.be/6OMT493w29M Photos of the P-POD integration in the Cal Poly clean room, which is where this video begins the story, can be viewed at http://www.amsat.org/. The last two CubeSats were integrated in their P-POD March 26. All of the P-PODs then head up to the Naval Postgraduate School next week for integration in the NPSCuL and acceptance testing, and then be sent on to Vandenberg (cue video) - [ANS Thanks to Justin D. Foley for the YouTube video link and AMSAT for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Wisconsin Balloon Launch Includes 2M Voice Beacon Wisconsin HAB is doing our second launch, which is participating as part of the Global Balloon Space Challenge. Date: 4/18/2015 Time: 8:00 AM CDT Setup, 9:00 AM CDT Launch If you want to see it in person, EVERYONE is welcome to stop out and watch. It's at a park so there's lots of room. Join us! Highland Village Park, located at 755 N Park St, Highland, WI 53543 (about 1 hour West of Madison, WI) If you can't make it in-person, watch it LIVE on YouTube. That's right, we will be streaming LIVE on YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvs2jdcJdek If you're into amateur radio, you can monitor our chase & tracking at FM38 http://www.fm38.org/tiki-index.php. Additionally, we will be transmitting a voice beacon on 146.430 MHz and using Simplex @ 146.550 Mhz during the recovery effort. If you are a visual person and want to follow the balloon via Google Maps, you can visit http://aprs.fi/. Additionally, we will be updating Facebook and tweeting @WisconsinHAB https://twitter.com/WisconsinHAB/ [ANS thanks Wisconsin High Altitude Ballooning and the Balloon_Sked at yahoogroups.com mailing list for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Student Spaceflight Experiments Program -- Mission 9 to the International Space Station The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, in partnership with NanoRacks LLC, announce an authentic science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, opportunity for school districts across the U.S. and space station partner nations. The newest flight opportunity, Mission 9 to the International Space Station, or ISS, gives students across a community the ability to design and propose real experiments to fly in low-Earth orbit on the ISS. This opportunity is part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, or SSEP. Each participating community will receive a real microgravity research minilaboratory capable of supporting a single microgravity experiment and all launch services to fly the minilab to the space station in spring 2016 and return it to Earth. An experiment design competition in each community -- engaging typically 300+ students -- allows student teams to design and propose real experiments vying for their community's reserved minilab. Content resources for teachers and students support foundational instruction on science in microgravity and experimental design. Additional SSEP programming leverages the experiment design competition to engage the community, embracing a learning community model for STEM education. This competition is open to students in grades 5-12 and college. Informal education groups and organizations are also encouraged to participate. Interested communities must inquire about the program no later than April 30, 2015. The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education is available to help interested communities in the U.S. secure the needed funding. To learn more about this opportunity, visit the SSEP Mission 9 to International Space Station National Announcement of Opportunity at http://tinyurl.com/ANS095-New-Flight-Opp. SSEP is enabled through a strategic partnership with NanoRacks LLC working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a national laboratory. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (http://www.iss-casis.org/) is a national partner on SSEP. To view a list of all SSEP national partners, visit http://ssep.ncesse.org/national-partners/. If you have any questions about this opportunity, please email SSEP National Program Director Jeff Goldstein at jeffgoldstein(a)ncesse.org. [ANS thanks NASA Education Express Message -- April 2, 2015 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 21st Century Teacher Academy The 21st Century Teacher Academy, or 21CTA, is a unique educator professional development workshop opportunity for K-12 educators. The workshop is designed to immerse teachers in the best practices and methodologies to develope and implement real-world, project based learning, or PBL, curriculum using NASA's missions. 21CTA is sponsored by the Office of Education and Public Outreach at NASA's Ames Research Center, and funded by NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. 21CTA is a two-week workshop held July 8-22, 2015. The workshop will be led by content experts, PBL experts, technical subject matter experts and a master teacher. The workshop will take place at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. Attendees will receive a $4,500 stipend. Teacher teams are highly encouraged! Applications are due April 30, 2015. Interested K-12 educators should apply through NASA's One-Stop Shopping Initiative website at http://go.nasa.gov/1ECJ0kz. If you have questions about the 21st Century Teacher Academy, please email ARC-TeacherAcademy(a)mail.nasa.gov. [ANS thanks NASA Education Express Message -- April 2, 2015 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- US ARISS School Proposal Window Closes in 10 Days ARISS is now accepting proposals for U.S. schools wishing to schedule contacts between their students and the International Space Station for the next cycle. Details on submitting proposals can be found below in the attached ARRL News Release. Message to US Educators Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals Proposal Window February 15 - April 15, 2015 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between *January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2016*. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The deadline to submit a proposal is April 15, 2015. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. The Opportunity Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students and educators to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session. An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in contact dates and times. Amateur Radio organizations around the world, NASA, and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing the equipment and operational support to enable direct communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world via Amateur Radio. In the US, the program is managed by AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) and ARRL (American Radio Relay League) in partnership with NASA. More Information Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. Please direct any questions to ariss at arrl.org. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between CEPES, Jodoigne, Belgium and Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF using NA1SS The contact began 04-01 09:20 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridged via K6DUE. ARISS Mentor was ON4WF. + A Successful contact was made between Mimar Sinan Özel Okullari, Istanbul, Turkey and Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF using NA1SS The contact began 04-01 09:20 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridged via K6DUE. ARISS Mentor was ON4WF. >From 2015-05-11 to 2015-06-14, there will be no US Operational Segment (USOS) hams on board ISS. So any schools contacts during this period will be conducted by the ARISS Russia team. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over Links to ISS and SSTV Related Links as Reported by AMSAT-UK.ORG ISS Fan Club - Tracking / Predictions http://www.issfanclub.com/ Free MMSSTV Slow Scan TV software http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php iOS SSTV App https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sstv/id387910013 For more on Slow Scan Television SSTV, see this article SSTV - The Basics http://www.essexham.co.uk/sstv-the-basics How to be successful with the ISS Slow Scan Television (SSTV) imaging system http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/howtoisssstv.html IZ8BLY Vox Recoder, enables you to record the signals from the ISS on 145.800 MHz while you're away at work http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/VoxRecorder/ ARISS Slow Scan TV (SSTV) Blog and Gallery http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.co.uk/ Information on the MAI-75 SSTV experiment http://www.energia.ru/eng/iss/researches/education-26.html Video showing reception of SSTV using the FUNcube Dongle Pro SDR and SDR-RADIO going into Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) then to MMSSTV software https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6MOrX9iZCk ISS SSTV received online with SUWS WebSDR http://amsat-uk.org/2014/09/06/iss-sstv-on-suws-websdr/ [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, EMike McCardel, KC8YLD kc8yld at amsat dot org

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ANS-088 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 29 Mar '15

29 Mar '15

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-088 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 FieldOps Team SO-50 Operating Guide is Available * AMSAT Hotel Room Reservations for Dayton Hamvention * AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention -- Call for volunteers * ARISS School Proposal Window, for US, Remains Open Through April 15 * Tim Peake and ARISS - GB1SS Listening and Standing By * Mark T. Vande Hei, KG5GNP, New Astronaut Ham * Satellite operation from Isle of Mull * Vote to Name the Next United Launch Alliance Rocket SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-088.01 ANS-088 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 088.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. March 29, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-088.01 AMSAT FieldOps Team SO-50 Operating Guide is Available AMSAT's Director of Field Operations, Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK says the FieldOps team is working to make how-to-operate-satellites information readily available on the web. Based on a hamfest handout designed and written by Patrick, "Getting Started with the FM Satellites", is available for download. Patrick shows the basic equipment and techniques to learn successful operating on the satellites. This guide also gives specific information on how to operate via SO-50, the only currently available FM satellite at the moment. Patrick's guide is posted at: http://www.amsat.org --> Satellite Info --> Station and Operating Hints. The direct link is http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2144 where you'll find the link "Operating FM Satellites" (and a link to the Spanish version also). [ANS thanks the AMSAT FieldOps Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Hotel Room Reservations for Dayton Hamvention Once again, this year, as in previous years AMSAT has reserved a block of rooms for the Dayton Hamvention at the Country Inn & Suites in Fairborn, Ohio. The cost is $109 per night. The cutoff date for reservations is April 12. First priority will be given to AMSAT members assisting with the booth operations, satellite operating demonstrations, and the AMSAT Forum presentations. Call Martha at the AMSAT office at 301-822-4376 to give her your arrival/departure dates and your credit card information. [ANS thanks Martha at the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at the Dayton Hamvention -- Call for volunteers Last year, we had 52 people assist with the AMSAT booth at the Dayton. It was the efforts of those volunteers that made the 2014 Dayton Hamvention a success for AMSAT. The interaction with AMSAT members, satellite operators, designers, and builders makes the whole experience a lot of fun. The 2015 Hamvention is May 15-17. Would you consider helping AMSAT at Dayton this year? Whether you're available for only a couple of hours or if you can spend the entire weekend with us, your help would be greatly appreciated. Please send an e-mail to Steve, n9ip at amsat.org if you can help. [ANS thanks AMSAT's Hamvention Chairman Steve Belter, N9IP for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS School Proposal Window, for US, Remains Open Through April 15 ARISS is now accepting proposals for U.S. schools wishing to schedule contacts between their students and the International Space Station for the next cycle. Details on submitting proposals can be found below in the attached ARRL News Release. Message to US Educators Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals Proposal Window February 15 - April 15, 2015 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between *January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2016*. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The deadline to submit a proposal is April 15, 2015. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. The Opportunity Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students and educators to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session. An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in contact dates and times. Amateur Radio organizations around the world, NASA, and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing the equipment and operational support to enable direct communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world via Amateur Radio. In the US, the program is managed by AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) and ARRL (American Radio Relay League) in partnership with NASA. More Information Interested parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org and www.arrl.org/ARISS. For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Sessions go to www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact. Please direct any questions to ariss at arrl dot org. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim Peake and ARISS - GB1SS Listening and Standing By The UK Space Agency has launched a new programme, targeted at students, for the Tim Peake “Principia” mission to the ISS later this year. This is the result of nearly a nearly a years’ worth of effort, working with the UKSA to find a way to bring space to the students and enthuse the next generation of scientists, engineers technicians and mathematicians. The programme is a joint effort between ARISS, UKSA, RSGB, ESERO in the UK and ESA to raise awareness in Space, Amateur Radio and STEM subjects in general. The basis behind the programme is that schools/educational establishments offer a two day Space STEM event where space can be explored within the confines of the UK National Curriculum. Schools/establishments that are successful in applying for such a two day event will then also take part in an ARISS scheduled contact with Tim on the ISS as he orbits above the UK. Many different aspects of Amateur Radio are being promoted from amateur radio in general to the amateur satellite service, data from orbiting spacecraft (FUNcube and with luck the first of the Fox satellites) to the latest equipment on the ISS, the HAMVideo system assuming all goes to plan with the upcoming testing. ARISS UK mentors will assist the schools, provide all the necessary RF equipment and will, with our colleagues in the BATC, live web stream the contacts. We are also promoting this as an opportunity for a suitably licensed student to be in charge of the transmitter for the actual contact itself and to host the call to the ISS. Our national society, the Radio Society of Great Britain, will be working with the selected schools and interested students to ensure that the students that wish to obtain their own license can do so. Tim will be making use of the GB1SS call sign that has been granted by Ofcom, the spectrum regulator in the UK. Tim Peake recently also recorded a short video and you can see this at http://www.amsat-uk.org/ along with the contents of the UKSA press release. Tim is extremely enthusiastic and is looking forward to using the amateur radio equipment whilst he is on orbit. The Tim Peake ESERO resource page is at http://www.esero.org.uk/timpeake The announcements with the guide, application form, press releases and a downloadable copy of the video are at http://tinyurl.com/ariss-timpeake The RSGB announcement is at http://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/headlines/2015/03/20/g3rjv-wins- prestigious-technical-award/ [ANS thanks Ciaran, M0XTD, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark T. Vande Hei, KG5GNP, New Astronaut Ham Mark T. Vande Hei attended license classes on March 11 and 12 and passed the Technician exam on March 13. His callsign, KG5GNP, appeared in the FCC database on March 24. Vande Hei was selected in June 2009 as a member of the 20th NASA astronaut class. He completed astronaut candidate training in June 2011 and is now qualified for future flight assignment. From June 2012 to May 2013, he served as the Astronaut Office's Director of Operations in Russia. He currently works in the Astronaut Office's CAPCOM Branch. He reported to the Johnson Space Center in July 2006 to serve as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) in the Mission Control Center, Houston. He served as an International Space Station CAPCOM for Expeditions 15 to 20 and STS-122, 123, 124, 126 and 127. Vande Hei was a member of the 18th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) expedition that spent nine days living and conducting research 62 feet below the surface in Florida International University's Aquarius Reef Base undersea research habitat off the coast of Key Largo, Fla. They investigated tools, techniques and technologies that will benefit spacefarers aboard future International Space Station and long-duration exploration missions. "NEEMO 18 was a fantastic opportunity for me to participate in the development of technologies and techniques for future exploration," said Vande Hei. "That by itself would have been plenty, but on top of that I got to experience life in an environment that most of us don't get to experience as well as enjoy the company of some fantastic teammates, both on the crew and in the ground control and support team." [ANS thanks Kenneth N5VHO , ARISS and NASA for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite operation from Isle of Mull Ten members of the Camb-Hams are returning to Grasspoint IO76EJ on Mull (IOTA EU-008) from May 15-21, 2015 as GS3PYE/P. They will be QRV with multiple stations on HF on 3.5-28MHz SSB, CW, RTTY and PSK with dipoles and verticals and up to 400W if necessary. VHF activity will be on 50MHz, 70MHz and 144MHz, all bands QRO with sizeable antennas. VHF will be mainly QRV using JT6m or ISCAT on 50MHz, FSK441 on 70MHz and FSK441 and JT65b (for EME) on 144MHz, but SSB and CW is also possible, especially in any sporadic E propagation openings. Other modes by agreement. Satellite operations on 2m & 70cm will use an Icom IC-910 and X-Quad antennas mounted on a fully automatic AZ/EL tracking system. If internet connectivity allows, the VHF operators will monitor ON4KST Chat for terrestrial activity and N0UK JT65 chat for EME. You can submit your VHF sked requests online here: http://tiny.cc/gs3pyesked The team will be QRV in the 80m CW CC event on the 21st and in the 144MHz contest on the 16th and 17th. They may do very short side trips to Iona and the Treshnish Islands and will announce these nearer the time on the website. Please QSL only via OQRS on ClubLog for direct or bureau cards. Do not send any cards direct or via the bureau. For the latest info see http://dx.camb-hams.com/ http://twitter.com/g3pye http://facebook.com/CambHams http://youtube.com/CambHams [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Vote to Name the Next United Launch Alliance Rocket United Launch Alliance (ULA), is asking America to help name its next rocket, calling on citizens to play a role in the future of space launch by voting for the name of the new rocket that will be responsible for the majority of the nation's future space launches. For the next two weeks, the public can vote for its favorite rocket name - Eagle, Freedom, GalaxyOne, Vulcan or Zeus - with the results being announced on April 13 along with the design and components of ULA's innovative, next- generation rocket. The top three names were selected from more than 400 names submitted by ULA's 3,400 employees and space enthusiasts earlier this year. ULA employees - rocket scientists, engineers and patriots - will design and build this rocket with the first flight expected in 2019. In order to vote for America's next rocket, voters can visit the website from March 23 to April 6: http://bit.ly/rocketvote. Voters can also text 22333 to submit a vote for their favorite name. The following key can be used to text a vote: . ULA1 for "Eagle" . ULA2 for "Freedom" . ULA3 for "GalaxyOne" . ULA4 for "Vulcan" . ULA5 for "Zeus" (Text and data rates may apply.) [ANS thanks the United Launch Alliance 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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