- ANS - mailman.amsat.org

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

01 Jun '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-153 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * Newly Revised 2020 Digital Edition of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-153.01 ANS-153 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 153.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE June 1, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-153.01 Newly Revised 2020 Digital Edition of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available The 2020 edition of AMSAT's "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" is now available on the AMSAT store. A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite infor- mation, and is the premier primer of satellite operation. This definitive reference is written for the new satellite operator, but includes discussions for the experienced operator who wishes to review the features of amateur satellite communications. The new operator will be introduced to the basic concepts and terminology unique to this mode. Additionally, there are many practical tips and tricks to ensure making contacts, and to sound like an experienced satellite operator in the process. The book is presented in DRM-free PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite. Joining the cover art for the first time this year is a depiction of the next generation of AMSAT satellites - AMSAT's GOLF series of 3U CubeSats. The digital download is available for $15 at https://tinyurl.com/2020GettingStarted [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

1 0

ANS-152 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Mark Johns, K0JM 30 May '20

30 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-152 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and commun- icating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor(a)amsat.org You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * Temporary Rule Waivers Announced for 2020 ARRL Field Day * IARU-R2 Workshop Videos Available * Digital Mode Experiments Conducted on Linear Satellites * SpaceX Launches Successfully Toward ISS * Moonbounce Contact via FT8 Could be a First * Mid-Altitude Balloon Race Planned for June 1 * ARISS News * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-152.01 ANS-152 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 152.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020 May 31 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-152.01 Temporary Rule Waivers Announced for 2020 ARRL/AMSAT Field Days ARRL Programs and Services Committee (PSC) has adopted two temporary rule waivers for the 2020 ARRL Field Day to adjust for Covid-19 re- strictions. An AMSAT parallel event is held at the same time, and the rules for that have been adjusted, as well. ARRL Field Day is one of the biggest events on the amateur radio cal- endar, with over 36,000 participants in 2019, including entries from 3,113 radio clubs and emergency operations centers. In most years, Field Day is also the largest annual demonstration of ham radio, be- cause many radio clubs organize their participation in public places such as parks and schools. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many radio clubs have made decisions to cancel their group participation in ARRL Field Day this year due to public health recommendations and/or requirements, or to significantly modify their participation for safe social distancing practices. The temporary rule waivers allow greater flexibility in recognizing the value of individual and club participation regardless of entry class. The waivers may be found at: https://bit.ly/3de5AJt The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own ver- sion of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held con- currently with the ARRL event. The rules for the AMSAT Field Day may be found at: https://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020fd.pdf This will mean that there will be another group of certificates for AMSAT Field Day: The top three stations operating from home with com- mercial power. The problem is with those operating from home attaching their scores to a club. Because AMSAT only allows one satellite station to be oper- ating at a time, if you are going to attach your satellite contact to a club, only ONE home station can attach per club. This will keep the playing field rather equal as there are areas where there is only one satellite op around and other areas where there are dozens of satellite ops. It would be unfair for an area with a dozen satellite ops to pool all their home contacts towards one club. Even if satellite operators took turns operating in shifts, it would make it very difficult to score entries correctly. That is why AMSAT has chosen to allow only one satellite home station could be attached to a single club. CLUB NAME MUST BE IDENTIFIED IN THE ENTRY. There will also be no duplicate certificates. If you are attaching your score to a club, then it goes towards club rankings and not home rankings. Nothing needs to be changed on the submission form. If you are operating 1D and the name of your attached club is included, the club score will be calculated appropriately. This is new and uncharted waters and hope everyone enjoys AMSAT Field Day. A much larger number of entries is anticipated with this change, so patience is appreciated. (ANS thanks ARRL and Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awardsfor the above information) +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ IARU-R2 Workshop Videos Available IARU Region 2 (IARU-R2) is hosting workshops covering different facets of amateur radio. Last Wednesday (27 May) was the "Satellite Communica- tions 101" workshop. Due to technical glitches, this workshop was not available in real time, but the video of Wednesday's presentation is now available on YouTube. The direct link to the video of last Wednes- day's workshop is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f61uwo5Qy6A One week earlier, on 20 May, Matias LU9CBL and Guillermo OA4/XQ3SA hosted the Spanish-language version of this workshop, titled "Comunicaciones por Satelite 101". The video of their presentation is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69D1dJEfGDc IARU-R2 plans more workshops covering other topics, in English and Spanish. Information on upcoming workshops is available at: https://www.iaru-r2.org/en/news-and-events/workshops/ Videos of past workshops are available from the IARU-R2 Workshops channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnG2Srz0bsKmTbF2r3YNneQ [ANS thanks Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift? AMSAT t-shirts are currently 40% off with promo code BESTDADGIFTS. Other items are 15% off. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Digital Mode Experiments Conducted on Linear Satellites [EDITOR'S NOTE: Be aware that the experiments described below utilize very narrow AFSK modulation with fairly advanced computer control for Doppler correction and frequency stabilization. They do NOT involve use of narrowband FM signals such as those used for terrestrial APRS or dedicated APRS satellites. So please, NEVER transmit FM on the uplink to a linear satellite. ALSO, in should be emphasized that power levels must be kept very low, as all the WSJT modes are 100% duty cycle.] Recently a group of regular satellite-using amateurs conducted experi- ments with FT-8 and FT-4 on a variety of linear satellites. Alan (WA6DNR), Carlos (W7QL), Dave (W0DHB) and Ron (W5RKN) were involved and made many satisfactory QSOs. The primary results and observations from these tests are: • Digital modes can successfully be employed on the linear birds while not interfering with concurrent users by operating close to the bottom end of the passband, using the lowest power practicable and using very narrow signals. • We avoided the satellites known to be power-sensitive, FO-29 and AO-7. Testing was conducted with CAS-4A, CAS-4B, RS-44, XW-2A, XW-2B, XW-2C and XW-2F. • FT-4 was the most robust signal format, compared to FT-8. Other of Joe Taylor’s digital signal modes should be investigated. • The rate of change of Doppler just before and after TCA is high on the lower-orbit satellites and must have compensation. 200 Milli- second Doppler updates allowed 100% copy of FT-4 transmissions throughout several passes of different linear satellites. This can be accomplished in SatPC32 by setting the “SSB/CW Interval” in the CAT menu to zero and checking the 5X box. Note that this setting is not retained when SatPC32 is shut down. • Very little power is needed for QSOs throughout the duration of the pass, from AOS to LOS. W7QL set IC-9700 power to “zero” (roughly 500 milli-Watts, with over 3 dB cable/connector loss to a Leo-Pack anten- na pair) and copied every packet on several satellites. • FT-4 is very tolerant of voice signals which might drop on top of an ongoing FT-4 QSO. However, an FT-4 signal dropping in the middle of an SSB QSO would be quite annoying to the SSB operators. • According to Joe Taylor, the occupied bandwidth of an FT-4 signal is 90 Hz. So theoretically over 200 such signals could be present on a 20 KHz channel. Obviously that will not, and should not happen. But a dozen closely spaced FT-4 QSOs at the bottom of the band, each run- ning very low power should hardly be noticeable to current voice and CW traffic. We invite other Satellite operators to join us in this expanded utili- zation of the linear satellite resources available to us. We recommend using FT-4 AT VERY LOW POWER, in the bottom few KHz of the downlink frequency range, with appropriate Doppler compensation, as described above. We hope to have a digital QSO with you sometime soon on the linear birds. [ANS thanks Carlos Cardon, W7QL, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- SpaceX Launches Successfully Toward ISS NASA astronauts Bob Behnken, KE5GGX, and Doug Hurley boarded a Crew Dragon spacecraft on top of a Falcon 9 rocket once again on Saturday, May 30. At 19:22 UTC they were successfully launched on their way to the International Space Station. This was the first launch of astro- nauts from U.S. territory since the final Space Shuttle flight in 2011 and the first launch of humans by a private contractor, SpaceX. The first attempt for the launch, on Wednesday, May 27, scrubbed due to stormy weather near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew Dra- gon spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the ISS about 19 hours after liftoff. [ANS thanks Spaceflight Now for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition? Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store! 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Moonbounce Contact via FT8 Could be a First FT8 codeveloper Joe Taylor, K1JT, has reported what is possibly the first FT8 contact via moonbouce (Earth-Moon-Earth or EME) on May 21 be- tween Paul Andrews, W2HRO, in New York, and Peter Gouweleeuw, PA2V, in Netherlands. The contact was made possible using the currently avail- able beta-release candidate of WSJT-X, version 2.2-rc1. "Why might you want to use FT8 instead of 'Old Reliable JT65' for EME QSOs?" Taylor asked in a subsequent Moon-Net post. "FT8 is about 4 dB less sensitive than JT65, but with 15-second T/R [transmit/receive] sequences it's four times faster, and it doesn't use Deep Search," he said, answering his own question. The FT8 protocol included in the beta version of WSJT-X has an optional user setting to work around the 2.5-second path delay. "For terrestrial use, the FT8 decoder searches over the range -2.5 to +2.4 seconds for clock offset DT between transmitting and receiving stations," Taylor explained. "DT" represents the difference between the transmission time and actual time. "When 'Decode after EME delay' is checked on the WSJT-X 'Settings' screen, the accessible DT range becomes -0.5 to +4.4 seconds. Just right for EME." As Taylor explained in his post, FT8 uses 8-GFSK modulation with tones separated by 6.25 Hz. At the time of the contact, the expected Doppler spread on the W2HRO - PA2V EME path was 8 Hz, which would cause some additional loss in sensitivity. Despite the path losses, however, copy between W2HRO and PA2V was "solid in both directions," Taylor said. Taylor said that when he was active in EME contests on 144 MHz, he was always frustrated that, even with reasonably strong signals, the max- imum JT65 contact rate is about 12 per hour. "With FT8, you can do 40 per hour, as long as workable stations are available," he said. As for using FT8 for EME contacts on 1296 MHz, Taylor said it "might sometimes work, but Doppler spread will probably make standard FT8 a problem." Given sufficient interest, however, he said the WSJT-X devel- opment team could design an FT8B or FT8C with wider tone spacing. He encouraged the use of FT8 for moonbounce on 144, 432, and 1296 MHz and asked users to report their results to the development team. "A 'slow FT8' mode is indeed a sensitivity winner on suitable propaga- tion paths," he said in a later Moon-Net post. "We are busy implement- ing such a mode, but with particular emphasis on its use on the LF and MF bands." Taylor said FT8 has the operational advantage of putting all users in one (or a few) narrow spectral slices on each band. "So, it's easy to find QSO partners without skeds or chat rooms," he said. "Everything is done over the air, with no 'side channels' needed." Taylor also remarked in response to posts from those who, like him, "love CW." "I agree it's a thrill to hear your own lunar echo, and to make CW EME QSOs," he said. "Sometimes I pine for the bygone world of commercial sailing ships, which happen to be very much a part of my family's his- tory," Taylor concluded. "But I know that technologies evolve, and the world does not stand still." [ANS thanks ARRL News for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Mid-Altitude Balloon Race Planned for June 1 Three Space Station Explorer teams will participate in anexciting dis- tance learning—social distanced balloon race to beheld during the Pan- demic. ARISS educator, Joanne Michaelis, KM6BWB, is a science coach at the Wiseburn Unified School District in Los Angeles, California where she leads her students in several balloon launch attempts from the Los Angeles area each year. With this year different because of the pan- demic, Joanne wanted to “shake things up a bit” and give students world-wide, a unique distance learning treat while keeping all safe during the pandemic. So Joanne challenged Ted Tagami, KK6UUQ, from Magnitude.io to a mid-altitude cross-continent balloon race and Ted accepted the challenge! Ted plans to launch his balloon from Oakland, California. ISS Above in- ventor, Liam Kennedy, KN6EQU, from Pasadena, California, got “wind” of the idea and he asked to participate, too. All three organizations: ARISS, Magnitude.io and ISS Above are ISS National Lab Space Station Explorer (SSE) partners that work to inspire, engage, and educate stu- dents in Science Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) topics and to pursue STEAM careers. The three SSE teams plan tolaunch their balloons simultaneously on June 1. The winner will be the first one to cross the“Finish Line”—the Eastern Time zone. Launch time is planned for 15:00 UTC (11:00 EDT, 10:00 CDT, 9:00 MDT, or 8:00 PDT. A live video feed of the launch is planned to start approximately 5 minutes prior to the event. Once the balloons are airborne, students can track each balloon’s loca- tion, altitude, and temperature via amateur radio APRS (Automatic Pac- ket Reporting System) which is fed automatically to the aprs.fi web site. Educators and parents around the globe can excite at-home youth withthis initiative. Students can tally and track the states each bal- loon travels through and plot altitude versus temperature, etc. Also, by researching weather patterns, students can make assumptions from their own data. This could include speed variations due to weather. They also can predict each balloon’s flight path and when they might cross the finish line! For more information on theballoon launch, lesson plans, and the live- stream video link (when thelivestream URL is available), please go to: https://www.ariss.org/mid-altitude-balloon-race.html Enjoy the Race! May the best ballooner win!! [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team men- tors for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide. ARISS is very aware of the impact that COVID-19 is having on schools and the public in general. As such, we may have last minute cancella- tions or postponements of school contacts. As always, ARISS will try to provide everyone with near-real-time updates at the ARISS webpage: https://www.ariss.org/ [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team men- tors for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations W8LR: (@W8LR) May 30 and May 31 he will attempt to activate a dual grids contact. The grid line will be EM79/EM89. Hey you guys from the EU: @N4DCW will be in EM56 June 5-7 with a semi- decent N-E horizon from his sister-in-law’s house. He will be on RS-44 and AO-7 looking for y’all. AD0DX: (@AD0DX) DM77 and maybe DM76 on Saturday May 30. An interesting email from ND9M/KH2: I’m finishing up my current tour on a U.S. merchant marine ship cur- rently anchored at Guam. I’ve been QRV from the anchorage which is at Apra Harbor. We’ll be taking a one-night run on June 2-3 to give the engines a chance to stretch their muscles. I expect to be QRV on sever- al passes on the evening of June 2 when we should be in QK13 for a few hours. Once we return to “the hook,” I’ll start packing up for my trip back to the States that weekend and should be doing some roving in the eastern states (MD, PA, VA, MD) once I get my body re-adjusted to the the 14-hour time change. Major Roves: Ron (@AD0DX) and Doug (@N6UA) are making another run at the elusive DL88 in Big Bend National Park, TX. As we know they tried this grid back in March, and due to the mud couldn’t get to the grid, so never ones to quit, off they go again. Today the tentative date is Sunday May 31, 2020. They will be using the K5Z call sign. More information is available at the K5Z QRZ Page. FP, ST. PIERRE & MIQUELON (Rescheduled). Eric, KV1J, will once again be operating from the Island of Miquelon (NA-032, DIFO FP-002 WLOTA 1417, Grid GN17) as FP/KV1J between September 22nd and October 6th. This oper- ation was originally scheduled for July, but was postponed due to trav- el restrictions. It will be Eric’s 14th trip to the island. Activity will be on 160-10 meters, including 60m , using CW, SSB, RTTY, FT8/FT4 (but primarily SSB, RTTY and FT8/FT4) and the SSB/FM satellites. He will generally be on the highest frequency band that is open (favoring 60/12/10/6m). He will be active in the CQWW DX RTTY Contest (September 26-27). ADDED NOTE: Eric will usually try to be on as many Satellite passes as he can when the WX is good, generally favoring the XW-2x, AO-7, RS-44, CA-4x, and possibly the FM birds. Weekends may be limited since he will be concentrating on the low(er) bands and contests. QSL via KV1J, direct or by the Bureau. Also eQSL and LoTW. For more details and updates, check out his Web page at: http://www.kv1j.com/fp/July20.html Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com [ANS thanks Paul Overnfor, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meet- ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been cancelled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. Current schedule: No scheduled events The following events scheduled to have an AMSAT presence have been CANCELED: June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Com, Plano, TX A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download from: https://bit.ly/2ygVFmV This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded into a tri-fold handout. To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration, please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + @Virgin_Orbit tweeted on May 25 that its initial test flight of the LauncherOne rocket was "a major step forward," even though the craft did not achieve orbit as intended. In a follow-up tweet the next day, Virgin added "We said the main product of this flight would be data, and wow, did we get a lot of it! After diving into our early anal- yses, we wanted to share more about the flight — including both the many things that went well and what we know about the areas where we’ll need to improve." (ANS thanks @Virgin_Orbit on Twitter for the above information) + Planning to build some space hardware in your basement during your Covid-19 quaranteen? Better get your handbook! A newly revised ver- sion of the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook can be downloaded at: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/nasa-systems-engineering-handbook (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information) + Russia plans to build a new space station because the current Inter- national Space Station will last only another decade at most, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in an interview pub- lished on Monday. "It's still unclear whether it (the new station) will be international or national," Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said in comments to the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. (ANS thanks n2yo.com for the above information) + Michael Wyrick, N3UC, has announced that AO-27 is now running on a schedule that places the FM repeater on for 8 minutes per orbit: 4 minutes ascending pass and 4 minutes descending pass. (ANS thanks Stephen DeVience, N8URE, for the above information) --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Mark D. Johns, K0JM k0jm at amsat dot org

1 0

ANS-145 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by KI7UNJ Tucker 23 May '20

23 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-145 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and commun- icating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor(a)amsat.org You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * AMSAT Announces 2020 Field Day Rules * AMSAT Awards Update * AO-27 Returns from the Dead * Updated GOLF Project Information Available * Changing HuskySat-1 Keps Name in FoxTelem * Hack-a-Sat Team Boasts Exceptional Participation * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-145.01 ANS-145 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 145.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020-May-24 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-145.01 AMSAT Announces 2020 Field Day Rules It’s that time of year again; summer and Field Day! Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day as a “picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!” The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own version of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held concurrently with the ARRL event. For 2020, the event takes place during a 27-hour period from 1800 UTC on Saturday June 27, 2020 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 28, 2020. Those who set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 27 can operate only 24 hours. AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards Bruce Paige, KK5DO, has an- nounced the rules for the 2020 event. Paige notes that "AMSAT has followed the ARRL when it comes to the date, times and most rules with regard to Field Day. [ARRL has made some modifications due to COVID-19]. With that in mind, AMSAT is going to have to adapt as well." Paige further elaborates, "What we will do for AMSAT Field Day is con- centrate on rovers and operating from home." In line with this new concentration, the awards issued this year will be modified. The top three club stations will receive certificates as will the top three stations overall (instead of the top three home operators on emergency power). AMSAT will also award certificates to the top three roving stations. The 2020 rules can be found at https://www.amsat.org/field-day/. [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT Awards Update This is my first update on the awards for 2020. They used to slowly trickle in. However, over the last two months, there have been a lot of submissions. AMSAT Satellite Communicators Award for making their first satellite QSO Frank Karnauskas, N1UW Hiroto Miura, JI8UCI Jason Davis, N8PDX Andrew Stamp, N2YQO Cameron Zotter, K4DCA Angus Alexander, KJ7KOJ Gustavo Schwartz, PR8KW Richard Cutrer, KF5TQT Kurt Melden, K1SEA William McDermott, KM6MCH Robert Smith, KO4CCD Bernd Scholer, DL6IAN ------ AMSAT Communications Achievement Award Russel Kinner, WA8ZID #624 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #625 EM30 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #626 EM21 Stephan Greene, KS1G #627 ------ AMSAT Sexagesimal Satellite Communications Achievement Award Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #185 EM30 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #186 EM21 Stephan Greene, KS1G #187 ------ AMSAT Century Club Award Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #55 EM30 ------ AMSAT South Africa Satellite Communications Achievement Award Russel Kinner, WA8ZID #US225 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #US226 EM30 Hector Luis Martinez Sis, W5CBF #US227 EM21 Wade Stuart, N0TEL #US228 Stephan Greene, KS1G #US229 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award (1,000-4,000) John Stone, KC9VGG #98 Christy Hunter, KB6LTY, #99 (4,000) Mitchell Ahrenstorff, AD0HJ #100 (2,000) Dave Chasey, N9FN #101 Paul Overn, KE0PBR #102 (3,000) Robert Sours, K9UO #103 (2,000) Kell Bodholt, KI7UXT #104 (2,000) Wade Stuart, N0TEL #105 (2,000) Michael Frazier, KJ5Z #106 Nicholas Mahr, KE8AKW #107 Jerod Speck, W4ZXT #108 Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ #109 ------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award (5,000) Adrian Liggins, VA3NNA #35 Christy Hunter, KB6LTY #37 ------ AMSAT Rover Award Rover Call #051 PR8KW #052 LW2DAF #053 N0TEL To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org and click on Services then Awards. [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift? AMSAT t-shirts are currently 40% off with promo code BESTDADGIFTS. Other items are 15% off. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AO-27 Returns from the Dead A number of amateurs have reported that the FM repeater of AO-27 has been active for brief intervals in recent weeks. When commanded on by control operators, the transponder is active for about two minutes be- fore reverting to telemetry transmissions only. Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, remarks that AO-27 wasn't originally intended to be an FM satellite. It lacks the audio filtering normally seen with a n FM receiver, since its uplink receiver was going to be used for data. With the lack of audio filtering on the uplink receiver, AO-27 was used for tests with D-Star radios. The Wayback Machine has captures of the former ao27.org web site, de- tailing how those tests were done. Two radios were used for those D- Star QSOs, one for uplink and the other for downlink). Many are hopeful that control stations will eventually be able to re- cover the satellite sufficiently to provide more regular operation. In the meantime, if you hear the satellite active, make your contacts quickly! [ANS thanks Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK, AMSAT Board Member, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Updated GOLF Project Information Available The AMSAT website has posted updated information on the next series of satellites, intended to succeed the current Fox satellites. AMSAT is developing a satellite program that should see amateur transponders in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and eventually High Earth Orbit (HEO) GOLF is an acronym for "Greater Orbit, Larger Footprint" The goal of the GOLF program is to work by steps through a series of increasingly capable spacecraft to learn skills and systems for which we do not yet have any low-risk experience. Among these are active at- titude control, deployable/steerable solar panels, radiation tolerance for Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) components in higher orbits, and propulsion. The first step is to be one or more Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites similar to the existing AO-91 and AO-92, but with technologies needed for higher orbits. With proven technologies, an interim high LEO or Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite would follow on. The eventual goal is a High Earth Orbit (HEO) similar to AO-10, AO-13, and AO-40, but at a currently affordable cost combined with signifi- cantly enhanced capabilities which in turn will allow the use of much less complex ground stations. Read the AMSAT GOLF article at: https://bit.ly/2WPV9WN [ANS thanks @amsat and Southgate ARC for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Changing HuskySat-1 Keps Name in FoxTelem Instructions for updating FoxTelem (including Fox-in-a-box) so that HuskySat-1 keps are now downloaded as HO-107. Go to the Spacecraft menu and select Husky (or something else if you have changed the name). In the upper left is a section that says "Name (for Keps)" and the box to the right should say "HuskySat-1". Just change that to HO-107. Done. Note that HuskySat-1 is no longer in the downloaded keps, so the one you have will get older and more out-of-date until you change the name. Don't forget you will need to do something similar with MacDoppler or SatPC32 or any other tracking program you have. [ANS thanks Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hack-a-Sat Team Boasts Exceptional Participation The Vaporsec "Capture The Flag" (CTF) team, specifically open to ama- teur radio operators, has seen the largest turnout for a CTF competi- tion in team history, for this satellite-themed event. We have over 20 signed up for the qualifications event this coming weekend. We believe that based on the diversity, quality, and positive can-do spirit, that we have a chance at being competitive and moving on to the final round in late summer. We had a successful team organizational meeting last night are are looking forward to a Friday 5pm Pacific start time. I'm looking forward to being able to share how amateur radio operators and practical exper- ience carried the day! The point of the competition seems to be the Air Force wanting to see that the current level of competence is out there with respect to sat- ellite operations and security. Hints have included backgrounders on ADAC, Satellite IoT platform security, protocols, ground control, and more. Rules and link to the Hack-a-Sat website are at: https://www.hackasat.com/ Something that we noticed is that an unsolved challenge in last week- end's DEFCON CTF qualifier round was from the same team that is put- ting on Hack-a-Sat CTF. So! If you are wondering what kind of challenges are posed to partici- pants in a CTF, here is that satellite-themed challenge. We expect this sort of thing to be the starting point for an entire weekend of satel- lite reverse engineering, puzzle solving, and rogue-craft-wrangling. There are two files related to the challenge. The challenge text and the two files can be found at: https://bit.ly/2yrFlQM See you on the other side of the CTF! We will have a write-up of the event and share any and everything we learn along the way. [ANS thanks Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, AMSAT Board Member, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations WY7AA is still in planning stages but on Monday the 26, DN82/DN72 and maybe later DN73/DN74, please watch his twitter page @WY7AA for more details. Mitch, AD0HJ, has decided to "go check on the tree" in North Dakota. He will be finishing his circuit as this issue is published, but he may still be available on 5/24 UTC in EN06/16 Details on his Twitter page, @ad0hj Ron, AD0DX, and Doug, N6UA, are making another run at the elusive DL88 in Big Bend National Park, Texas. They tried this grid back in March, and due to the mud couldn’t get to the grid, so never ones to quit, off they go again. The tentative date is Sunday May 31, 2020. They will be using the K5Z call sign. More information is available at the K5Z QRZ Page. Please submit any additions or corrections to ke0pbr (at) gmail.com [ANS thanks Paul Overnfor, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition? Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store! 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ARISS News Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide. ARISS is very aware of the impact that COVID-19 is having on schools and the public in general. As such, we may have last minute cancella- tions or postponements of school contacts. As always, ARISS will try to provide everyone with near-real-time updates at the ARISS webpage: https://www.ariss.org/ [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team men- tors for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meet- ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been cancelled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. Current schedule: No scheduled events The following events scheduled to have an AMSAT presence have been CANCELED: June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Com, Plano, TX A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download from: https://bit.ly/2ygVFmV This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded into a tri-fold handout. To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration, please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Radio amateur and Executive Chairman of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, Sir Martin Sweeting, G3YJO, has recorded a series of home vid- eos from Coronavirus lockdown to record answers to the questions he is most frequently asked. In a recent episode he talks about his in- spiration for pioneering the original SmallSats revolution and re- veals two of his favourite SSTL missions. Watch Sir Martin Sweeting, G3YJO – Early Years & Favourite Missions at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV9gQmfmvME (ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT VP-Operations, and Doug Shook's page, www.kc4mcq.us, for the above information) + Thailand's regulator the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has issued a special callsign to The Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST), founded under the royal patronage of the King of Thailand. The call is E2STAYHOME. RAST will be operating us- ing this callsign on all bands and in all modes, including on NB mode for Es'hail 2 QO-100 geostationary satellite. (ANS thanks Tanan Rangseeprom, HS1JAN, for the above information) + NASA astronauts Robert Behnken Douglas Hurley arrived at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, May 20, 2020, ahead of SpaceX's Demo-2 mission. This will be the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. Behnken and Hurley are sched- uled to launch at 4:33 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 27, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA is inviting the public to help celebrate a historic milestone by participating in NASA’s virtual launch experience at: https://www.nasa.gov/beourguest (ANS thanks spaceref.com for the above information) + According to a new release of Union of Concerned Scientists' opera- tional satellite database, AMSAT-OSCAR 7 remains the oldest opera- ting satellite in Earth orbit. The next oldest operating satellite is NASA's TDRS-3, launched 14 years after AO-7 in 1988. Details at: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/satellite-database + All issues of The AMSAT Journal from 2017 to the present are now available for AMSAT members on our new membership portal. More years coming soon. Get logged on today! https://launch.amsat.org/The_AMSAT_Journal + Virgin Orbit has announced that the window for its Launch Demo, the first orbital test flight with LauncherOne, opens this weekend on May 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (1700 to 2100z). A backup window for launch is on May 25 during the same time frame. (ANS thanks Twitter account @Virgin_Orbit for the above information) + Another record-shattering QSO was made via RS-44 last night! @KI7UNJ in Oregon worked EB1AO in Spain - a distance of 8,314 km. Both sta- tions had negative elevation! Satellite distance records are main- tained at: https://www.amsat.org/satellite-distance-records/ (ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive VP, for the above information) --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ ki7unj at amsat dot org

1 0

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

14 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-135 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * HuskySat-1 Designated HuskySat-OSCAR 107 (HO-107) SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135 ANS-135 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE May 14, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-135.01 HuskySat-1 Designated HuskySat-OSCAR 107 (HO-107) On November 2, 2019, the HuskySat-1 cubesat launched on the Cygnus NG- 12 mission from Wallops Island, Virginia, USA. The satellite was con- structed by the Husky Satellite Lab at the University of Washington, and utilizes an AMSAT-constructed radio system for primary communica- tions. Deployed from the Cygnus vehicle on January 31, 2020 after de- parting the ISS, HuskySat-1 began a 3-month educational mission. Upon completion of that mission, the satellite began operation of a V/u linear transponder in amateur service. At the request of the Husky Satellite Lab and AMSAT teams, AMSAT here- by designates HuskySat-1 as HuskySat-OSCAR 107 (HO-107). We congratu- late the Husky Satellite Lab, thank them for their contribution to the amateur satellite community, and wish them continued success on this and future projects. 73, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator [ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT Vice President - Operations for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

1 0

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

10 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-131b The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and commun- icating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor(a)amsat.org You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * Huskysat-1 Transponder is Open SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-131.02 ANS-131b AMSAT News Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 131.02 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020-May-10 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-131.02 Huskysat-1 Transponder is Open After a week of testing, the transponder on HuskySat-1 is enabled and open for use and testing. It’s fairly sensitive, and 5-10 watts is plenty most of the time. There are some fades due to satellite orien- tation, and some passes are definitely better than others. The opera- tions and engineering teams are also watching a few anomalies. Please keep an eye on the beacon during transponder ops, for those with spec- trum scopes. Strong signals may impact the beacon strength. HuskySat-1 is the Husky Satellite Lab at University of Washington’s first cubesat, and the first mission with AMSAT’s linear transponder module (LTM-1), a V/u transponder and integrated telemetry beacon and command receiver. UW recently completed their Part 5 operations and have graciously let AMSAT’s Part 97 transponder operations commence. This transponder module is available for use in educational cubesat missions willing to enable the transponder for worldwide use. Contact myself or VP Engineering Jerry Buxton for additional details. Reports and observations are welcome to the amsat-bb mailing list. Congratulations to Husky Satellite Lab, and to the entire AMSAT Engineering team for keeping amateur radio in space. Thanks to Dr. Mark Hammond, N8MH for commissioning and operations support. 73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT VP Operations HuskySat-1 V/u inverting transponder, 145.910 to 145.940 uplink, 435.810 to 435.840 downlink, telemetry beacon 1200 baud BPSK at 435.800 --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Mark D. Johns, K0JM k0jm at amsat dot org

1 0

ANS-131 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Mark D. Johns 09 May '20

09 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-131 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and commun- icating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor(a)amsat.org You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * 2019 Back Issues of The AMSAT Journal on launch.amsat.org * Call for Nominations - 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors Election * New Chinese Amateur Satellites Expected to Launch in September * Cubesat Developers Workshop Presentations Available * Visual Observations Of RS-44 Underway * Hack-a-Sat Call for Participation * NASA TV To Air Cygnus Departure From Space Station * Online Amateur Radio Satellite Talk on Zoom * Satellite Distance Records Set * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-131.01 ANS-131 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 131.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020-May-10 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-131.01 2019 Back Issues of The AMSAT Journal on launch.amsat.org AMSAT's new online member portal, launch.amsat.org, is up and running. All AMSAT members must log in and update their contact information to ensure continued, uniterrupted service. Full instructions for getting logged in are in the March/April issue of The AMSAT Journal, avail- able for free download on amsat.org and launch.amsat.org. There is also separate instructions on each site. Those interested in joining AMSAT can create an account, using the Join link on launch.amsat.org IMPORTANT UPDATE: AMSAT's Member Portal not only puts you in charge of your member account but gives you exclusive access to member-only content. Want to read back issues of The AMSAT Journal, in full color? We just posted all 2019 issues, plus the first two issues of 2020. We will continue to work on uploading prior years, so check back often. Log in today! (ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-Member Services for the above information) +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Call for Nominations - 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors Election AMSAT solicits nominations for the 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors election, to be held in the third quarter of the year. The seats of the following three incumbent Directors expire in 2020 and will be filled by this year's election: Tom Clark, K3IO; Mark Hammond, N8MH; and Bruce Paige, KK5DO. Further, up to two Alternate Directors may be elected for one-year terms. A valid nomination for Director must be written and requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT member. Written nominations, with the nominee’s name, call sign, and contact information, as well as the nominators' names, call signs, and contact information, should be sent to the AMSAT Secretary: Brennan Price, N4QX 300 Locust St SE, Unit E Vienna VA 22180-4869 brennanprice at verizon.net A copy should be sent to AMSAT Manager, Martha Saragovitz, at martha at amsat.org. The AMSAT bylaws require that the nomination be written and in the form specified by the Secretary. In light of the ongoing pandemic and the resulting closure of the physical office, the Secretary has elected to accept written nomination materials in electronic form, including e-mail or electronic image of a paper document. Fax trans- missions cannot be accepted due to the closure of the office. No matter what means are used, petitions MUST be received by the Secretary no later than June 15th. The Secretary will verify the qual- ifications of candidates and nominating members or Member Societies as petitions are received, and will notify candidates whether their nom- inations are in order by the end of June. [ANS thanks Brennan Price, N4QX, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Chinese Amateur Satellites Expected to Launch in September Two new Chinese amateur radio satellites are now expected to launch on September 15, 2020. The first of these satellites, CAS-7A, is a 27 kg microsat (750 mm x 650 mm x 260 mm) with three-axis stabilization and several transponders. The transponders include a 15m to 10m linear transponder (H/t), a 15m to 70cm linear transponder (H/u), and a 2m to 70cm linear transponder(V/u). The satellite also includes a 2m to 70cm (V/u) FM transponder. Several beacons and data downlinks are also feat- ured, CW beacons on 10m and 70cm, 4.8k or 9.6k GMSK telemetry on 70cm, and a 1 Mbps GMSK image data downlink on 3cm for the on board camera. IARU coordinated frequencies for the uplinks and downlinks are listed below. This launch is also expected to carry CAS-7C, a 2U CubeSat with a V/u linear transponder and a CW beacon. Frequencies for CAS-7C have not been coordinated by the IARU at the time of this writing. CAS-7C will also deploy a 1 mm diameter 1080 meter long carbon fiber rope. CAS-7A and CAS-7C will launch from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center into a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 98 degrees. Frequencies: CAS-7A H/t Linear Transponder Uplink - 21.245MHz through 21.275 MHz Downlink - 29.435MHz through 29.465 MHz CW Beacon 29.425 MHz CAS-7A H/u Linear Transponder Uplink - 21.3125 MHz through 21.3275 MHz Downlink - 435.3575 MHz through 435.3725 MHz CW Beacon 435.430MHz CAS-7A V/u Linear Transponder Uplink - 145.865 MHz through 145.895 MHz Downlink - 435.385 MHz through 435.415 MHz CW Beacon 435.430MHz CAS-7A V/u FM Transponder Uplink 145.950 MHz Downlink 435.455 MHz 4.8k / 9.6k GMSK telemetry downlink - 435.480 MHz 1 Mbps GMSK image data downlink - 10460.00 MHz [ANS thanks the IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Cubesat Developers Workshop Presentations Available Although we are not able to come together in San Luis Obispo for the CubeSat Developers Workshop today, we are excited to share some of the presentations that would have taken place with you online. Find the slide decks for these presentations on our archive <http://mstl.atl.calpoly.edu/~workshop/archive/> as well as videos on our YouTube channel <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCENz0fNHsDR8Kz3jM6C_VWw/featured>. You will also be able to find all of our previous Workshop presentations in NASA's Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) <https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute>. We are excited to have our archives integrated into S3VI and hope you can use this tool to further your research and involvement with CubeSat. If you were selected to present your abstract at this year's Workshop and would still like your presentation to be included in our archive, email us at cubesat-workshop(a)calpoly.edu <mailto:[email protected]>. We also want to share some of our CDW Zoom backgrounds with you. Feel free to download and use them in your next meeting! We look forward to welcoming you all back to San Luis Obispo from *April 27-29, 2021* for the next CubeSat Developers Workshop. We will continue to announce new deadlines and registration information via email and on our website <https://www.cubesat.org/workshop-information> as we continue to plan for 2021. Be sure to join the CubeSat Workshop mailing list <http://www.cubesat.org/mailinglist/> for future announcements. We hope you continue working together (from home) to advance CubeSats [ANS thanks JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Visual Observations Of RS-44 Underway Visual observations of the payload and attached Briz-KM rocket body made whilst the object has been flying over the UK at night, indica- ted a rotation period of 19 seconds. Optically with binoculars, it appeared between magnitude +5 to invisible in hazy moonlit skies, on near zenithal transits. No flashes nor glints were observed, which could indicate the stack is in a slow roll along the longitudinal axis, rather than a tumbling motion. On a radio aspect, it would appear the beacon signals are stronger as the payload approaches, declining thereafter upon passing TCA. Assuming RS-44 is mounted to the front and that some aerials have deployed, then this would account for the phenomenon, as receding away from the station would have the aerials blocked by the Briz rocket body - however, I have not seen any information released as to the physical condition of RS-44. It would be useful for the transmit- ters to remain on, to monitor over the long term if the nutation rate slows over time. The CW beacon was timed at 20 seconds between trans- mission, which fits with the optical work, but this may well just be coincidental as to how the beacon is programmed. Later radio monitoring indicates the beacon repetition is 15-16 sec- onds on the callsign being transmitted. Whether this ties in with hopefully future optical work to see if the spin rate has slowed to the same, or we have a differential - we wait and see! [ANS thanks Max White, M0VNG, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hack-a-Sat Call for Participation I've put out the call for participation for the Hack-a-Sat competition in the past, and would like to bring you all up to date on the devel- opments and opportunities that have developed since. The website is here: https://www.hackasat.com/ Hack-a-Sat is an activity that was scheduled to happen at the in-per- son DEFCON event. As of today, yes, it's true. DEFCON has been cancelled. Those of you that have volunteered at Ham Radio Village in the past are familiar with the event. For those of you that are not, it's a long-running hacking and cybersecurity event that has enthusiastical- ly adopted everything RF and amateur radio. The United States Air Force, in conjunction with the Defense Digital Service, organized this year’s Space Security Challenge, called Hack- A-Sat. This challenge asks hackers from around the world to focus their skills and creativity on solving cybersecurity challenges on space systems. This competition is going to be held! It's now a vir- tual event. Security in the amateur radio sense of the word is fundamentally dif- ferent from commercial and military applications. We have an advan- tage here, mainly due to the enormous leverage we have due to our con- text being completely different from what the Air Force and commercial interests assume. This is, essentially, a diversity advantage. If you want to participate on an experienced Capture The Flag (CTF) team, then I am here to extend an invitation. Anyone that reads through the rules and can afford to spend some time during the event is invited to apply to join Vaporsec. This is a team that has a major- ity of information security professionals. There are some satellite industry people, some amateur involvement, and I'd like to make sure that anyone interested in competing from AMSAT-BB gets a chance to join a competitive team. The benefits to amateur radio are primarily technical, with policy and security a close second. The Air Force has some agendas here in terms of improving satellite security. Exposure to the challenges alone is a an excellent opportunity to learn more about modern satellite technol- ogy...and what a significant player in space wants to find out more about. Don't assume that that the challenges in the competition are going to be "too hard." What is trivial for one viewpoint is unsolv- able for another. I'll be writing about the event and what we learned when it is over, so this sort of knowledge will not be secret. However, there is no replacement for participation, and you could very well have the prac- tical knowledge, gained from operating real satellites, that wins the competition. As you can see from the website, there is some real money involved and opportunities for technical writing. Let me know at w5nyv(a)arrl.net if you would like to talk more about joining a CTF team for this really neat and unique event. Know someone that you think should participate? Please forward to them. [ANS thanks Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, AMSAT Board Member for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA TV To Air Cygnus Departure From Space Station Nearly three months after delivering several tons of supplies and sci- entific experiments to the International Space Station, Northrup Grum- man’s unpiloted Cygnus cargo craft is scheduled to depart the Inter- national Space Station on Monday, May 11. Live coverage of the spacecraft’s release will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website beginning at 11:45 a.m. EDT, with release scheduled for noon. Dubbed the “SS Robert H. Lawrence,” Cygnus arrived at the station on February 18. Within 24 hours of its release, Cygnus will begin its secondary mission, hosting the Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment – IV (Saffire-IV), which provides an environment to safely study fire in microgravity. It also will deploy a series of payloads. Northrop Grum- man flight controllers in Dulles, Virginia, will initiate Cygnus’ de- orbit to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere Monday, May 25. More information on Cygnus’ mission and the International Space Sta- tion can be found at: http://www.nasa.gov/station [ANS thanks Southgate ARC for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Online Amateur Radio Satellite Talk on Zoom Robin Moseley, G1MHU, will give a talk on Zoom titled “Introduction to amateur satellites, meteor scatter, EME and ISS” on Wednesday, May 13, at 1830z The presentation is being organised by the Denby Dales Amateur Radio Society and being on Zoom it’ll be viewable on any Tablet or Smartphone with the Zoom App or from a Windows PC or Laptop. The Zoom meeting ID is 278 609 9353 https://zoom.us/j/2786099353 [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Distance Records Set Satellite operators are rapidly pushing towards the 7,942 km theoret- ical maximum range on RS-44. The 7,859 km record held by KI7UNJ and JA0CAW was eclipsed on 06-May-2020 at 19:00 UTC with a QSO between EA4CYQ and UA0STM, a distance of 7,894 km. On 09-May-2020, this record fell again when W5CBF in Louisiana, USA worked LA7XK in Norway, a distance of 7,916 km. Another claimed DX record was also claimed on May 6. This time it was on PO-101 (Diwata2PH). EA4SG reports working R9LR at 23:03 UTC. The distance between the two stations is 5,128 km. Distance records for all satellites are maintained at: https://www.amsat.org/satellite-distance-records/ Please email n8hm [at] amsat.org if you wish to claim a new record, longer distance QSO not yet documented, or records for any other sat- ellite/transponder not yet listed. Please note that if a satellite carries multiple transponders or supports multiple frequency bands, records on each transponder/band may be claimed, such as Mode A and B on AO-7 or Mode U/S, L/S, U/K, etc, on AO-40. This includes the ISS and records may be claimed for the packet digipeater and crossband re- peater, but does not include different operating modes on the same transponder (such as CW or SSB on AO-7 Mode B). [ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive VP, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations Mitch, AD0HJ, has decided to "go check on the tree" in North Dakota. He has also said he will be activating a bunch of grids: 5/20 UTC DN96/97 5/21 UTC DN78/88 5/22 UTC DN76/77 5/23 UTC DN86/87 5/24 UTC EN06/16 Details on his Twitter page, @ad0hj Ron, AD0DX, and Doug, N6UA, are making another run at the elusive DL88 in Big Bend National Park, Texas. They tried this grid back in March, and due to the mud couldn’t get to the grid, so never ones to quit, off they go again. The tentative date is Sunday May 31, 2020. They will be using the K5Z call sign. More information is available at the K5Z QRZ Page. Please submit any additions or corrections to ke0pbr (at) gmail.com [ANS thanks Paul Overnfor, KE0PBR, the *NEW* AMSAT rover page manager(!) for the above information. Welcome aboard, Paul.] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition? Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store! 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ARISS News Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide. Airdrie Space Science Club, Airdrie, AB, Canada, Multi-point tele- bridge via ZS6JON. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS and the scheduled astronaut is Chris Cassidy, KF5KDR. The contact is go for Friday 2020-05-15 15:10:28 UTC with 55 degrees over South Africa. ARISS is very aware of the impact that COVID-19 is having on schools and the public in general. As such, we may have last minute cancella- tions or postponements of school contacts. As always, ARISS will try to provide everyone with near-real-time updates at the ARISS webpage: https://www.ariss.org/ [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team men- tors for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meet- ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been cancelled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. Current schedule: No scheduled events The following events scheduled to have an AMSAT presence have been CANCELED: May 8-9, 2020 Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ May 15-17, Hamvention, Xenia, OH June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Com, Plano, TX A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download from: https://bit.ly/2ygVFmV This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded into a tri-fold handout. To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration, please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Virgin Orbit tweets that it is celebrating a big win this week after the successful completion of a wet dress rehearsal with LauncherOne just in time for #NationalSpaceDay! Wet dress rehearsals with all commodities loaded is one of the last major events before launch. (ANS thanks @Virgin_Orbit for the above information) + A new version of the North American Overlay Mapper program: v4.0.0.0 has been released for Windows 7 and 10, with many new features. The 'NAOMI' program can import ADIF logs, Cabrillo logs, and a variety of lists, and then georeference them from the latest FCC and ISED databases, and then plot North American QSOs, Grid Locators, and Counties, onto 47 maps at 1:2,000,000 scale, 2 North American over- view maps at 1:20,000,000 scale, a zoomable Online Map with a choice of map-providers, a full-screen World Map, and a Great Circle Map with a choice of 16 different backgrounds. You can edit logs, check for errors, parse for counties, export data in different formats, search and browse the databases, overlay a variety of lists, export the maps for use in other applications, or to share online. NAOMI is available at: https://www.mapability.com/ei8ic/naomi/index.php (ANS thanks Southgate ARC for the above information) + NASA will pay a staggering $146 million for each SLS rocket engine, with 4 needed per SLS flight. These Space Shuttle main engines were intended to be reused, but SLS will throw them away. Other things you could buy for $146 million: two basic Atlas V rocket launches, three Falcon 9 launches, or a fully expendable Falcon Heavy launch, with 2/3 the lift capacity at 1/20th the cost. (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information) + A study has found that all 1,078 commercially-launched smallsats in the last five years experienced delays, with a median delay of 128 days. The largest delay categories: 11% of delays were administra- tive, 13% were ISS manifest changes (for ISS-deployed sats), 20% were due to delays in launch vehicle development, and 40% were due to primary payload delays affecting their rideshares. Full report at https://bit.ly/3fuw1Mz (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information) + A satellite built by Air Force Academy cadets will launch into space May 16 aboard the X-37B, Orbital Test Vehicle sponsored by the De- partment of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and built by Boeing. This is the first time a satellite built and designed by ca- dets will catch a ride into space aboard the X-37B. FalconSAT-8 will carry five experimental payloads, and members of the Cadet Space Operations Squadron will operate it. There was no mention of amateur radio connected with this satellite, nor has there been a request for IARU frequency coordination in the amateur radio satellite ser- vice, although previous FalconSats have had amateur radio payloads. (ANS thanks U.S. Air Force Academy for the above information) + When a new crew member arrives on the International Space Sta- tion, the population of humans living in space changes, of course. But so, too, does the population of microbes. As we have all learned in this time of Covid-19, countless types of microorganisms inhabit our bodies, inside and out, and when an astronaut arrives on the station, they bring their specific collection of microbial "hitch- hikers" with them. A new study shows that the microorganisms living on surfaces inside the space station so closely resembled those on an astronaut's skin that scientists could tell when this new crew member arrived and departed, just by looking at the microbes left behind. Many of the microorganisms living in and around us are harm- less or even essential for good health, but some can cause disease or damage structures in built environments. https://bit.ly/3dlEobi (ANS thanks spacedaily.com for the above information) --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Mark D. Johns, K0JM k0jm at amsat dot org

1 0

ANS-124 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Paul Stoetzer 02 May '20

02 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-124 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and commun- icating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * New AMSAT Membership Portal Launched, March/April 2020 Edition of The AMSAT Journal Now Available * AMSAT President Hails Launch of Wild Apricot Membership Portal * Call for Nominations - 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors Election * RS-44 Transponder Now Active * Virginia Tech Camera on AO-92 Takes Stunning Photos, Additional Passes Planned Tuesday, May 5th * Redesigned AMSAT CubeSat Simulator Launched * Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for April 30, 2020 * FCC Adopts Updated Orbital Debris Mitigation Rules * VUCC Awards-Endorsements for April 2020 * Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge Virtual Hackathon, May 30-31 * On-Line Student STEM: TI Codes Contest 2020 * First Guatemalan Satellite Deployed from the ISS * Former AMSAT Area Coordinator, Prominent DXer Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ, SK * During the COVID-19 Pandemic, ARISS to Begin Experimental Demonstra- tions of School Contacts using a Multipoint Telebridge Amateur Radio Approach * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Satellite Shorts from All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-124.01 ANS-124 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 124.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE May 3, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-124.01 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ New AMSAT Membership Portal Launched, March/April 2020 Edition of The AMSAT Journal Now Available Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of the AMSAT office, the March/April 2020 edition of The AMSAT Journal will not be printed and mailed to members. Instead, a full-color PDF is being made available on the AMSAT website. The issue can be downloaded below: https://tinyurl.com/ANS-MarAprJournal This issue includes detailed information about AMSAT's new online membership portal, now active at https://launch.amsat.org. AMSAT members are encouraged to review this article, which includes detailed instructions on accessing your membership account. Stay tuned for more features, including members-only content coming soon. Articles in the March/April 2020 edition of The AMSAT Journal: * Apogee View - Clayton Coleman, W5PFG * Engineering Update - Jerry Buxton, N0JY * Treasurer's Report - Robert Bankston, KE4AL * AMSAT's New Member and Event Portal - Robert Bankston, KE4AL * amsatLink — Proposed Wireless Communications Network - Robert Bankston, KE4AL * Educational Relations Update - Alan Johnston, KU2Y * A New Design for the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator - Alan Johnston, KU2Y; Jim McLaughlin, KI6ZUM; David White, WD6DRI; Pat Kilroy, N8PK * For Beginners — Amateur Radio Satellite Primer IV - Keith Baker, KB1SF/VA3KSF * PSAT 1U — A Low-Cost, EasyBuild 1U CubeSat - George Downey, Robert Bruninga, WB4APR * Gridmaster Heat Map - Paul Overn, KE0PBR [ANS thanks the AMSAT office for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT President Hails Launch of Wild Apricot Membership Portal Friday, May 1, 2020 brings a significant change to AMSAT's member experience. The launch of our Wild Apricot-based member portal on this date retires the dBase database system launched in the early 1980s by then-President Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO (then W3IWI) and is the result of a process authorized by the Board of Directors in 2016. Members now have control over the own profiles. Member communications will be handled via email, resulting in significant cost reduction. Wild Apricot will not only serve AMSAT as our member management plat- form. Other capabilities will be released in the future such as event management, communications, and access to member-only content. Stay tuned for new capabilities being launched over the coming months. As this is a totally new system for AMSAT, we may face challenges ahead. I ask for your patience as the User Services team works through these challenges to provide our members the best user experience poss- ible. Ultimately, Wild Apricot is the right solution moving AMSAT for- ward both technologically and operationally. This effort would not have been possible without the hard work and leadership of Robert Bankston, KE4AL, in his position as Vice Pres- ident of User Services at AMSAT. Significant hours were put into this project. I applaud and congratulate Robert for a successful launch. 73, Clayton W5PFG AMSAT President [ANS thanks Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, AMSAT President, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for Nominations - 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors Election AMSAT solicits nominations for the 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors election, to be held in the third quarter of the year. The seats of the following three incumbent Directors expire in 2020 and will be filled by this year's election: Tom Clark, K3IO; Mark Hammond, N8MH; and Bruce Paige, KK5DO. Further, up to two Alternate Directors may be elected for one-year terms. A valid nomination for Director must be written and requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT member. Written nominations, with the nominee’s name, call sign, and contact information, as well as the nominators' names, call signs, and contact information, should be sent to the AMSAT Secretary: Brennan Price, N4QX 300 Locust St SE, Unit E Vienna VA 22180-4869 brennanprice(a)verizon.net A copy should be sent to AMSAT Manager, Martha Saragovitz, at martha(a)amsat.org. The AMSAT bylaws require that the nomination be written and in the form specified by the Secretary. In light of the ongoing pandemic and the resulting closure of the physical office, the Secretary has elected to accept written nomination materials in electronic form, including e-mail or electronic image of a paper document. Fax trans- missions cannot be accepted due to the closure of the office. No matter what means are used, petitions MUST be received by the Secretary no later than June 15th. The Secretary will verify the qual- ifications of candidates and nominating members or Member Societies as petitions are received, and will notify candidates whether their nom- inations are in order by the end of June. [ANS thanks Brennan Price, N4QX, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- RS-44 Transponder Now Active The amateur satellite world was surprised to wake up to the news on April 30th that a new transponder was activated for testing and open for use by amateurs worldwide Constructed by specialists at Information Satellite Systems and Students at Siberian State Aerospace University, DOSAAF-85 was launched on a Rockot/Breeze-KM launch vehicle from Plesetsk Cosmo- drome on December 26, 2019. The satellite apparently failed to separate from the upper stage of the launch vehicle and remains attached. The satellite’s name commemorates the 85th anniversary of the Voluntary Society for the Assistance to the Army, Aviation, and Navy (DOSAAF), the organization responsible for the military training of Soviet youth. Designated RS-44, or Radio Sputnik 44, the satellite carries a 60 kHz wide V/u linear transponder and a CW beacon. With an orbit of 1511 km x 1175 km and an inclination of 82.5 degrees, this is the highest orbiting functioning amateur satellite available worldwide. Due to the 1511 km apogee, regular DX contacts should be easy to make. The first claimed DX record came from Joe Werth, KE9AJ, and Jérôme LeCuyer, F4DXV, who reported a 6,993 km trans-Atlantic QSO between EN50gn09 in Illinois and JN04iu40 in France. This was quickly eclipsed less than 24 hours later when Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ, and Tetsurou Satou, JA0CAW, reported the first trans-Pacific QSO between CN93jw (Oregon, USA) and PM97nw (Niigata, Japan), a distance of 7,859 km. The theoretical max- imum range for QSOs via RS-44 is 7,942 km. The NORAD ID is 44909, object 2019-096E. Initial reports from the first days of operation suggest that the transponder is very sensitive and easily workable with low power and handheld antennas, however significant periodic fading is reported, likely due to the fact that the satellite remains attached to the upper stage of the launch vehicle and is unable to deploy its gravity gradient boom to stablize itself. The satellite is planned to remain continuously available for testing purposes until May 11th at which time a decision on further operations will be made. The Keplerian elements for RS-44 have been added to the AMSAT and CelesTrak distributions, as well as several popular tracking apps. The ARRL has released version 11.10 of the TQSL configuration file to add support for RS-44 to LoTW. RS-44 – V/u Inverting Analog SSB/CW Uplink (LSB) 145.935 MHz through 145.995 MHz Downlink (USB) 435.610 MHz through 435.670 MHz CW Beacon 435.605 MHz [ANS thanks Dmitry Pashkov, R4UAB, Igor Blinov, RW3XL, Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, the ARRL, and others for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Virginia Tech Camera on AO-92 Takes Stunning Photos, Additional Passes Planned Tuesday, May 5th The Virginia Tech camera on board AO-92 was activated on two passes over North America on Tuesday, April 28th. Several great photos were taken, captured by amateur stations running FoxTelem, and uploaded to the AMSAT Central Scrutinizer. All of the photos taken by AO-92 can be viewed on the AMSAT website at the link below. The Virginia Tech camera will be activated again on Tuesday, May 5th during morning passes over the United States. The camera remains active for 45 minutes after being enabled by a ground station. Stations in the United States, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central, and South America are encouraged to set their stations up to receive and upload high speed telemetry in FoxTelem. FoxTelem downloads and instructions can be found at https://www.g0kla.com/foxtelem/index.php AO-92 Camera Image Archive: https://www.amsat.org/tlm/showImages.php?id=4 [ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT Vice President - Operations for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Redesigned AMSAT CubeSat Simulator Launched A new design for the CubeSatSim, the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator is now available on GitHub (http://cubesatsim.org/code). The CubeSatSim is a Raspberry Pi Zero W-based functional model of a “1U” CubeSat nano- satellite for demonstrations and educational outreach. It has a 3D- printed frame structure and is designed to act, as reasonably as poss- ible, as one flying in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The simulator runs on rechargeable battery power and solar panels and transmits its authentic voltage, current, and temperature telemetry on the UHF Amateur Radio band. The CubeSatSim has been presented at the AMSAT Space Symposium the past two years and at Hamvention last year. The new design was developed to reduce the cost to build and to im- prove functionality. Jim McLaughlin, KI6ZUM, and David White, WD6DRI, are prominent STEM advocates and school mentors in the San Diego area. They offered to help redesign the hardware and collaborated with Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT VP Educational Relations, and Pat Kilroy, N8PK, over the past nine months. The resulting design has reduced the cost to build in half (from around $400 to around $200) and added a new Fox-1 emulation mode. In addition to the AFSK (Audio Frequency Shift Keying) and 1200 bps APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) telemetry in AO-7 format of the original design, the new version supports DUV (Data Under Voice) FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) 200 bps telemetry com- patible with Fox-1A through Fox-1D and BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying) 1200 bps telemetry compatible with HuskySat-1 and the upcoming Fox-1E. Chris Thompson, G0KLA/AC2CZ, the author of AMSAT’s FoxTelem satellite telemetry software, has put out a testing version 1.09 of the software that supports the CubeSatSim. Instructions on how to download and con- figure this test version are on the GitHub Wiki. http://cubesatsim.org/wiki Also new to the CubeSatSim is a STEM Payload board with a STM32F103C8T6 “Blue Pill” Arduino compatible microcontroller. The board also has a built-in BME-280 Temperature Humidity Barometric Pressure Sensor and an MPU-6050 (GY-521) 3-Axis Accelerometer and Gyro. Also new is a tape measure dipole or monopole or SMA antenna, an integrated Band Pass filter, and a sturdy new 3D printed frame and more powerful solar panels. A new Twitter account @CubeSatSim has also been launched. Follow to get the latest updates on the CubeSatSim including videos and photos. Links to all CubeSatSim resources are at CubeSatSim.org. More details on the redesigned CubeSatSim can be found in the March/ April 2020 edition of The AMSAT Journal, available at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-MarAprJournal The CubeSatSim team wishes to thank the AMSAT board, President, and all AMSAT members for their ongoing support of this educational project. [ANS thanks Dr. Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT Vice President - Educational Relations for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for April 30, 2020 The following satellites have decayed from orbit and have been removed from this week's AMSAT TLE Distribution: ALMASAT-1 - NORAD Cat ID 38078 (Decayed from orbit April 25, 2020). nSIGHT1 - NORAD Cat ID 42726 (Decayed from orbit April 25, 2020). The following satellite has been activated and added to this week's AMSAT TLE Distribution: RS-44 - NORAD Cat ID 44909. Per Nico Janssen, PA0DLO concerning RS-44: "The new amateur payload DOSAAF 85 (RS-44) appears to work very well. Doppler measurements confirm that it is indeed object 44909, 2019-096E. The satellite identifies itself as "RS44" (i.e. Radio Sputnik 44) on its CW beacon on 435.6043 kHz. The passband is about 63 kHz wide. It may also have a downlink between 2400 and 2485 MHz. The frequencies of RS44/DOSAAF 85 have not been IARU coordinated. The satellite is in an elliptical orbit with a perigee of 1175 km, an apogee of 1511 km and an inclination of 82.5 degrees. The payload is apparently attached to the Breeze-KM upper stage of a Rokot launch vehicle that launched three Gonets satellites on December 26, 2019. It was originally expected to launch in 2015. It is based on the Yubileiniy platform." [ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ FCC Adopts Updated Orbital Debris Mitigation Rules On April 23rd, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Report and Order (R&O) and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) updating rules on orbital debris mitigation for the first time since 2004. The newly adopted regulations increase the disclosure re- quirements for pre-space notifications submitted for amateur space stations. In the draft version of the R&O, released in early April, the FCC had included the adoption of additional requirements regarding indemni- fication and maneuverability. AMSAT, ARRL, university researchers, and satellite industry groups opposed certain aspects of these rules. In response, the Commission moved those provisions to a FNPRM for further comment. In addition to maneuverability and indemnification requirements for amateur space stations, the Commission also seeks comment on a disposal bond requirement for certain spacecraft. AMSAT is evaluating the FNPRM and will file comments expressing our views of the proposed regula- tions. The adopted R&O / FNPRM can be found at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-54A1.pdf [ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- VUCC Awards-Endorsements for April 2020 Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period April 1, 2020 through May 1, 2020. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! CALL Apr May KO4MA 1750 1753 K7TAB 531 600 AE5B 442 450 ND0C 301 346 N4DCW 201 300 KC9UQR 252 275 WA9JBQ 225 250 W4DTA 217 240 WI6K New 200 S57NML 126 179 DL4ZAB 150 172 KS1G 134 170 YO2CMI 100 168 KE0WPA 108 152 ZS5LEE New 105 VE3CGA New 100 If you find errors or omissions. please contact me off-list at <mycall>@<mycall>.com and I'll revise the announcement. This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for the two months. It's a visual comparison so omissions are possible. Apologies if your call was not mentioned. Thanks to all those who are roving to grids that are rarely on the birds. They are doing most of the work! [ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge Virtual Hackathon, May 30-31 NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Explora- tion Agency) are inviting coders, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, artists, and technologists to partici- pate in a virtual hackathon May 30-31 dedicated to putting open data to work in developing solutions to issues related to the COVID-19 pan- demic. During the global Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge, participants from a- round the world will create virtual teams that - during a 48-hour per- iod - will use Earth observation data to propose solutions to COVID- 19-related challenges ranging from studying the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and its spread to the impact the disease is having on the Earth system. Registration for this challenge opens in mid-May. "There's a tremendous need for our collective ingenuity right now," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mis- sion Directorate. "I can?t imagine a more worthy focus than COVID-19 on which to direct the energy and enthusiasm from around the world with the Space Apps Challenge that always generates such amazing solutions." The unique capabilities of NASA and its partner space agencies in the areas of science and technology enable them to lend a hand during this global crisis. Since the start of the global outbreak, Earth science specialists from each agency have been exploring ways to use unique Earth observation data to aid understanding of the interplay of the Earth system -- on global to local scales -- with aspects of the COVID- 19 outbreak, including, potentially, our ability to combat it. The hackathon will also examine the human and economic response to the vi- rus. ESA will contribute data from the Sentinel missions (Sentinel-1, Sent- inel-2 and Sentinel-5P) in the context of the European Copernicus pro- gram, led by the European Commission, along with data from Third Party contributing Missions, with a focus on assessing the impact on climate change and greenhouse gases, as well as impacts on the economic sector. ESA also is contributing Earth observation experts for the selection of the competition winners and the artificial-intelligence-powered EuroDataCube. "EuroDatacube will enable the best ideas to be scaled up to a global level," said Josef Aschbacher, director of Earth Observation Programm- es at ESA. "The pandemic crisis has a worldwide impact, therefore in- ternational cooperation and sharing of data and expertise with partners like NASA and JAXA seems the most suitable approach." JAXA is making Earth observing data available from its satellite mis- sions, including ALOS-2, GOSAT, GOSAT-2, GCOM-C, GCOM-W, and GPM/DPR. "JAXA welcomes the opportunity to be part of the hackathon," said JAXA Vice President Terada Koji. "I believe the trilateral cooperation among ESA, NASA and JAXA is important to demonstrate how Earth observation can support global efforts in combating this unprecedented challenge." Space Apps is an international hackathon that takes place in cities around the world. Since 2012, teams have engaged with NASA's free and open data to address real-world problems on Earth and in space. The COVID-19 Challenge will be the program's first global virtual hacka- thon. Space Apps 2019 included more than 29,000 participants at 225 events in 71 countries, developing more than 2,000 hackathon solutions over the course of one weekend. Space Apps is a NASA-led initiative organized in collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton, Mindgrub, and SecondMuse. The next annual Space Apps Challenge is scheduled for October 2-4. For more information about NASA Space Apps Challenges, visit: https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/ [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- On-Line Student STEM: TI Codes Contest 2020 Texas Instruments and NASA have announced the "TI Codes Contest 2020". This STEM activity invites student teams to connect and learn together remotely to let their imaginations reach new heights by solving this unique challenge during the 20th anniversary of humans on the Inter- national Space Station (ISS): Propose a way to automate or optimize a process or product for living and working on the ISS. Then use coding and Texas Instru- ments (TI) technology to design and build a model of the solution. Stage 1: Pitch your idea - is running now. Teams connect virtually with up to five students, ages 13–19, plus an adult sponsor. (A spon- sor can be a teacher, parent or other adult who can mentor students remotely.) Then, determine which process or product your team wants to automate or optimize that would help the International Space Station. The deadline for submissions: May 21, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. Central time. Access full contest rules, prize lists, NASA STEM resources, and enter your team at: https://education.ti.com/en/promotion/codescontest [ANS thanks Texas Instruments and NASA for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- First Guatemalan Satellite Deployed from the ISS Guatemala’s first satellite, a small CubeSat called QUETZAL-1, was de- ployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. Its primary mission is to test a sensor for remote data acquisition for natural resource management, which could be used to monitor water qual- ity in inland water bodies. QUETZAL-1 LogoThe satellite is part of the Japanese Kibo cubesat pro- gram, a product of the cooperation between, among others, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), and more institutions. The operational frequencies were chosen through cooperation from Guatemalan radio amateurs and the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). Downlink 4800 bps GMSK on 437.200 MHz. The Quetzal-1 project team director is Guatemalan engineer José Bagur, TG8JAV, a graduate from mechatronics engineering at Universidad Del Valle. Source: IARU Region 2 https://iaru-r2.org/ IARU Quetzal-1 http://amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=653 Quetzal-1 Telemetry info https://uvg.edu.gt/cubesat-en/ Quetzal-1 Telemetry decoder http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?page_id=75524 Follow Quetzal-1 on Twitter https://twitter.com/quetzal1_uvg [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Former AMSAT Area Coordinator, Prominent DXer Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ, SK Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ, became a silent key on Wednesday, April 29th at his home in the U. S. Virgin Islands. A prominent contester and DXer, Herb served as an AMSAT Area Coordinator in the Caribbean in the 1970s and 1980s. Activating Anguilla as VP2EFZ, he gave Pat Gowen, G3IOR, the last country he needed on OSCAR 7 to complete the first DXCC via satellite. [ANS thanks The Daily DX, QRZ.com, and former AMSAT Vice President - Operations Rich Zwirko, K1HTV, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- During the COVID-19 Pandemic, ARISS to Begin Experimental Demonstra- tions of School Contacts using a Multipoint Telebridge Amateur Radio Approach Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is pleased to announce the first use of a concept called Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio, allowing school contacts for Stay-At-Home students and simultaneous reception by families, school faculty and the public. During the last several weeks, efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus have resulted in massive school closures worldwide. In addition, the Stay-At-Home policies invoked by authorities, initially shut down opportunities for ARISS school contacts for the near future. To circumvent these challenges and keep students and the public safe, ARISS is introducing the Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio concept. First operation of this experimental system occurred during a contact with a group of Northern Virginia Students located in Woodbridge, VA on Thursday, April 30 at 13:35 UTC (9:35EDT). During this event, an ARISS telebridge radio ground station linked to the astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS)ham radio station and each Stay-At-Home student and their teacher was individually linked to the telebridge station. Under the teacher’s direction, each student, from their home, takes a turna sking their question of the astronaut. Quoting ARISS Chair Frank Bauer, “This approach is a huge pivot for ARISS, but we feel it is a great strategic move for ARISS. In these times of isolation due to the virus, these ARISS connections provide a fantastic psychological boost to students, families, educators and the public. And they continue our long-standing efforts to inspire, engage and educate students in STEAM subjects and encourage them to pursue STEAM careers.” An archive of the April 30th contact can be viewed at https://youtu.be/Cu8I9ose4Vo. About ARISS: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corp- oration (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology,engineering, and mathematics (STEAM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org [ANS thanks Dave Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS PR, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been canceled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. Current schedule: June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Com, Plano, TX The following events scheduled to have an AMSAT presence have been CANCELED: May 8-9, 2020, Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ May 15-17, Hamvention, Xenia, OH [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Services, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations AD0DX has announced a tentative activation of DL88 in Big Bend Nat- ional Park for Sunday, May 31st. At this time, the park remains closed but the team hopes it will reopen soon. Doug Tabor, N6UA, will join him for this activation. Details about the plans can be found on the K5Z QRZ.com page: https://www.qrz.com/db/K5Z [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Services, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + The May 2020 issue of Aerospace America, the monthly magazine of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) features an article entitled "Cosmic GPS" describing the emerging use of GPS on spacecraft flying beyond the GPS constellation altitude and, eventually, to the moon. Above-constellation use of GPS was first demonstrated on AMSAT-OSCAR 40. AMSAT Vice President - Human Space- flight Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, is extensively quoted in this article. Read it at https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/features/cosmic-gps/ + AMSAT's Zazzle store has added a few new products, including a water bottle, car flag, and fanny pack. A wide variety of other products are also available, including the popular new OSCAR t-shirt. Check out the store at https://www.zazzle.com/store/amsat_gear. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes to AMSAT to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space. + Scientists from NASA, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Lunar Planetary Institute have created a detailed new map of the lunar surface in stunning color. Called the Unified Geological Map of the Moon, it marries decades of surveys of the moon’s surface going as far back as Armstrong and Aldrin’s Apollo mission, with more re- cent data from NASA and JAXA. It doesn’t just look pretty — the map will greatly help NASA and other organizations plan future landing sites optimized for scientific missions. NASA's Artemis project could take humans to the moon as early as 2024. AMSAT, along with ARISS, partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar or- bit as part of an Artemis precursor initiative. The digital map is available for the public at: https://on.doi.gov/2YnZGAO + Scott Chapman, K4KDR, is featured in Scott Manley's new video about the Iranian Noor satellite. https://youtu.be/SPTz7Ig9RQE + As another part of the RSGB "Get on the air to care" campaign, the May edition of RadCom is being made available to radio amateurs around the world to read online as a sample edition. A number of IARU national societies have taken a similar step and the RSGB is happy to join those societies in supporting the worldwide amateur radio community during these difficult times: https://www.rsgb.org/sampleradcom + In a Public Notice released on April 30th, the FCC confirmed that amateur license examinations may be conducted remotely. The full Public Notice can be found at the link below: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-20-467A1.pdf + The AMSAT Folding@home team continues to climb the rankings. Now in the top 2,500 of all teams at the time of this writing, the team has grown to 37 members with 70 active CPUs within the past 50 days and includes five members in the top 100,000 of all users. Alex Free, N7AGF, is our top contributor with over 21,000,000 points credited to AMSAT's team. For more information about the Folding@home project and how you can contribute to scientific research, including the fight against COVID-19, see https://foldingathome.org/. AMSAT's team number is 69710: https://stats.foldingathome.org/team/69710 + In advance of their move to a new headquarters location, the FCC has updated their offical seal. The new seal includes a satellite and ground station, reflecting the increasing importance of space communications. https://twitter.com/FCC/status/1255882365936775171 --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

1 0

ANS-122 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - New AMSAT Membership Portal Launched, March/April 2020 Edition of The AMSAT Journal Now Available
by Paul Stoetzer 01 May '20

01 May '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-122 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * New AMSAT Membership Portal Launched, March/April 2020 Edition of The AMSAT Journal Now Available SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-122 ANS-122 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 122.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE May 1, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-122.01 New AMSAT Membership Portal Launched, March/April 2020 Edition of The AMSAT Journal Now Available Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of the AMSAT office, the March/April 2020 edition of The AMSAT Journal will not be printed and mailed to members. Instead, a full-color PDF is being made available on the AMSAT website. The issue can be downloaded below: https://tinyurl.com/ANS-MarAprJournal This issue includes detailed information about AMSAT's new online membership portal, now active at https://launch.amsat.org. AMSAT members are encouraged to review this article, which includes detailed instructions on accessing your membership account. Stay tuned for more features, including members-only content coming soon. Articles in the March/April 2020 edition of The AMSAT Journal: * Apogee View - Clayton Coleman, W5PFG * Engineering Update - Jerry Buxton, N0JY * Treasurer's Report - Robert Bankston, KE4AL * AMSAT's New Member and Event Portal - Robert Bankston, KE4AL * amsatLink — Proposed Wireless Communications Network - Robert Bankston, KE4AL * Educational Relations Update - Alan Johnston, KU2Y * A New Design for the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator - Alan Johnston, KU2Y; Jim McLaughlin, KI6ZUM; David White, WD6DRI; Pat Kilroy, N8PK * For Beginners — Amateur Radio Satellite Primer IV - Keith Baker, KB1SF/VA3KSF * PSAT 1U — A Low-Cost, EasyBuild 1U CubeSat - George Downey, Robert Bruninga, WB4APR * Gridmaster Heat Map - Paul Overn, KE0PBR [ANS thanks the AMSAT office for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

1 0

ANS-117 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by KI7UNJ Tucker 25 Apr '20

25 Apr '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-117 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and commun- icating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * March/April 2020 Edition of Apogee View Posted * Long-Lost U.S. Military Satellite Found By Amateur Radio Operator * Let's Take Some Pictures * Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution * The W4AMI Award and How to Obtain One * New OSCAR T-Shirt Available from AMSAT Zazzle Store * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-117.01 ANS-117 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 117.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020 April 26 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-117.01 March/April 2020 Edition of Apogee View Posted The March/April 2020 edition of Apogee View, a comprehensive update on AMSAT's activities from AMSAT President Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, has been posted to the AMSAT website. https://www.amsat.org/apogeeview/ [ANS thanks AMSAT the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Long-Lost U.S. Military Satellite Found By Amateur Radio Operator Scott Tilley, VE7TIL, has made the news once again for tracking down yet another "zombie" satellite. Scott was the subject of a report broadcast on National Public Radio on Friday, April 24. This time, he managed to identify signals from LES-5, an experimental military UHF communications satellite built by the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory and launched in 1967. Even though the satellite was supposed to shut down in 1972, it's still go- ing. As long as the solar panels are in the sun, the satellite's radio continues to operate. In 2018, Tilly found a signal from a NASA probe called IMAGE that the space agency had lost track of in 2005. With Tilley's help, NASA was able to reestablish contact. He has rediscovered several other long- forgotten birds, including Transit 5B-5, a nuclear-powered U.S. Navy navigation satellite launched in 1965. Scott announced his findings on LES-5 through his Twitter account, @coastal8049, on March 24. The full NPR story may be found at: https://n.pr/2x64aAZ. [ANS thanks NPR.org for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice. For details, please visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Let's Take Some Pictures The command team has had a few requests for camera mode on AO-92 over the last few weeks, and it’s been a while, so let’s take some pictures next week. Next Tuesday morning, April 28th, we’ll attempt to command the camera on at approximately 1440Z and 1612Z. We’ll also try the 1750Z pass. If we can’t command on the 1750Z pass, we’ll find a suitable pass later in the week for the west coast. Take a look at https://www.amsat.org/foxtelem-software-for-windows-mac-linux/ for a guide on how to set up FoxTelem, and https://www.amsat.org/tlm/showImages.php?id=4 for near-live images as we go. Remember, the more stations submitting telemetry during the event, the better the chance of complete images! [ANS thanks Andrew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT VP Operations, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution Last week's AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletin (ANS-110.01) contained a news item entitled "Receiving SMOG-P and ATL-1 Nano Satellites With an RTL-SDR" from Zoltan Doczi, HA7DCD. Please note that on December 19, 2019 AMSAT designated SMOG-P as Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105) and ATL-1 as Magyar-OSCAR 106 (MO-106). In the AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution, the TLEs for these two Hungarian satellites are shown as follows: MO-105 is NORAD Cat ID 44832 (SMOG-P) MO-106 is NORAD Cat ID 44830 (ATL-1) [ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- The W4AMI Award and How to Obtain One Just a little history, Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI, was a very prolific operator and in his honor this certificate was created and the first certificate was issued to him on June 27, 1994. He has since become an SK and his local club has taken over his call sign. The award was originally the W4AMI Satellite Operator Achievement Award. The local club asked me not to use their call sign for the award. I changed the award to The Robert W. Barbee, Jr. W4AMI Satellite Operator Achievement Award. And here we are today, finally having issued over 100 certificates and over 30 of the 5,000 certificates. This award is for making 1,000 contacts with any station any time. You can say hello to your friend on every satellite on every pass every day and count those contacts. That being said, any contact you log counts. The award has endorsements for making 1,000 more contacts up to 4,000. Another 1,000 contacts will earn a special W4AMI 5,000 certificate. To submit for the award, please email me an extract from your log either in Microsoft Excel XLS(X) format or ADI(F) format. Either will work just fine. Then wait for me to get back to you notifying you to go online and make your payment. I need nothing from LoTW, confirmed contacts are not an issue, this award is for simply making a contact. https://www.amsat.org/amsat-robert-w-barbee-jr-w4ami-award/ [ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ New OSCAR T-Shirt Available from AMSAT Zazzle Store Thanks to an post on Twitter from Michael Styne, K2MTS, AMSAT is pleased to offer a new t-shirt on the AMSAT Zazzle Store. This t- shirt design is available in variants suitable for printing on either dark or lightly colored shirts. The shirt features a representation of AMSAT-OSCAR 7 in orbit with the tagline "OSCAR - Adventure and Excitement in Space Age Communication" This image was used in advertisements for the 1978 ARRL book "Getting to Know OSCAR." The ARRL has granted AMSAT permission to republish this classic image as a t-shirt. Get yours today! 25% of the purchase price goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://www.zazzle.com/oscar_t_shirt_dark-235643945481104970 https://www.zazzle.com/oscar_t_shirt_light-235449229998854129 [ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive VP, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations ZW8, BRAZIL (Special Event). Operators Freddy/PY3YD, Joselito/PS8BR, Fernando/PS8CW, Raimundo/PS8DX, Jose/PS8ET, Milton/PS8HF, Nelson/PS8NF, Pirajah/PS8RF, Dalton/PS8TV and Andre/PT9AL are using the special event callsign ZW8THANKS as a tribute to health care professionals fighting COVID-19. Activity will be on all bands and modes including the satel- lites. QSL via direct, eQSL or LoTW. (ANS thanks the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1461 for the above information) Due to COVID-19, there are no other announced satellite operations at this moment. Any roving activity of which AMSAT becomes aware will be posted at: https://www.amsat.org/satellite-info/upcoming-satellite-operations/ Until then, stay safe and keep making contacts from home. Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ARISS News ARISS lets students worldwide experience the excitement of talking directly with crew members of the International Space Station, inspir- ing them to pursue interests in careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and engaging them with radio science technology through amateur radio. Northern Virginia Schools Group, Woodbridge VA, Multi-point telebridge contact via AB1OC is scheduled for Thursday, April 30. The ISS call- sign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS, and the scheduled astronaut is Chris Cassidy, KF5KDR. The contact is go for 13:35:00 UTC at a max- imum elevation of 62 degrees. Stations in the eastern U.S. should be able to listen in on this contact on 145.80 MHz FM. A multi-point tele- bridge contact means that each student will be on the telebridge from their own home. The ARISS team continues to test and firm up a plan to transform ARISS contacts and how ARISS interacts with youth and education institutions. ARISS will provide distance learning with every student and staff mem- ber in their own homes (even quarantined). [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events Want to see AMSAT in action or learn more about amateur radio in space? AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meet- ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been canceled or postponed. While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed. We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon. Current schedule: June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Com, Plano, TX September 26, 2020 Arrowhead Radio Amateurs Club Hamfest, Superior, WI The following events scheduled to have an AMSAT presence have been CANCELED: May 2, 2020, Cochise Amateur Radio Association Hamfest, Sierra Vista, AZ May 8-9, 2020 Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ May 15-17, Hamvention, Xenia, OH A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download from: https://bit.ly/2ygVFmV This color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded into a tri-fold handout. To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or demonstration, please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot) org. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Diwata-2 (PO-101) has been active daily to provide emergency access during Covid-19 pandemic. Check https://twitter.com/Diwata2PH For Daily activation schedule (ANS thanks DIWATA-2 Ground Team for the above information) + On this 50th anniversary of the flight of Apollo 13, the BBC has pro- duced a documentary video series, "13 Minutes to the Moon," along with associated web resources and podcasts. The documentary can be accessed worldwide at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2 (ANS thanks Peter Green, G0ABI, for the above information) + Happy 30th anniversary, Hubble! The Hubble Space Telescope was laun- ched into LEO on April 24th, 1990 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery STS-31 launch video). Featuring a 2.4 m mirror and optics that are smooth to 10 nanometers (but were in the wrong shape until corrected by the first of five servicing missions in 1993), Hubble takes images of the Universe with never-before-seen quality. The telescope may work into the 2040s, hopefully being joined by its more-advanced sib- ling, the JWST, next year. Take a moment to browse some of Hubble’s most stunning snapshots of the Universe at: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/ (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information) + Astronauts onboard the International Space Station have gotten a first good look at the controversial Starlink satellites. On April 13th, they photographed a train of 16 Starlinks cutting through Southern Lights over the Antarctic. Learn more about their unique photo + corresponding ground-based sightings on Spaceweather.com (ANS thanks Southgate ARC for the above information) + SpaceX launched 60 more spacecraft Wednesday to join the Starlink fleet. The successful launch Wednesday marked the 84th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket since June 2010. That makes SpaceX’s Falcon 9 the most-flown orbital-class U.S. launcher currently in operation, ex- ceeding the 83 missions performed by the Atlas 5 rocket built by rival United Launch Alliance. With Wednesday’s launch, SpaceX has delivered 422 Starlink satellites to space. The company is seeking regulatory approval to fly 4,400 of the satellites in the project's first phase. SpaceX’s next Starlink launch after Wednesday could happen as soon as early May on another Falcon 9 rocket mission. That will be followed by SpaceX’s first launch with astronauts on-board — scheduled for May 27 — to begin a test flight of the company’s Crew Dragon spaceship to the International Space Station. (ANS thanks spaceflightnow.com for the above information) + A series of unusually severe spring storms parading across the south- eastern USA had residents taking shelter this week from hail and tor- nadoes. High above the maelstrom, sprites were dancing. Sprites are a form of electricity in powerful storm clouds. While regular light- ning lances down, sprites leap up. They can reach all the way to the edge of space 90 km or more above Earth’s surface. (ANS thanks Southgate ARC and spaceweatherarchive.com for the above information) --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ ki7unj at amsat dot org

1 0

ANS-089 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Mark D. Johns 28 Mar '20

28 Mar '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-089 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and commun- icating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * Sean Kutzko, KX9X, Appointed AMSAT Volunteer Coordinator * AMSAT Office Closed Until Further Notice * First Satellite Contact to be Noted in May QST * Amateur Radio Satellite Spreads Fight Coronavirus Message * Ham Talk Live! Interviews Frank Bauer, KA3HDO * ISS Crew Transition Affected by CoViD-19 * Upcoming ARISS Contacts * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-089.01 ANS-089 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 089.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020 Mar 29 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-089.01 Sean Kutzko, KX9X, Appointed AMSAT Volunteer Coordinator AMSAT President Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, has announced the appointment of Sean Kutzko, KX9X, as Volunteer Coordinator. First licensed in 1982 as KA9NGH, Kutzko served as both ARRL Contest Branch Manager (2007-2013) and ARRL Media and Public Relations Mana- ger (2013-2017). He was the creator and co-administrator of the ARRL National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) program in 2016. An active HF and VHF contester, DXer and backpack QRP enthusiast, Kutzko started work- ing satellites in 2011 and has transmitted from over fifty different grid squares. He has written instructional materials on satellite op- erating for the AMSAT website, QST, and blogs regularly on satellite topics for the DX Engineering blog "On All Bands." "It's an honor to be able to volunteer for AMSAT," Kutzko said. "When [new AMSAT president] Clayton [Coleman, W5PFG] asked if I would help coordinate a team of volunteers, I jumped at the opportunity. AMSAT is a great organization and helping find good volunteers who are willing to help all areas of AMSAT's growth and development is the least I could do for the organization that has given me a lot of enjoyment and technical skill." Outside of Amateur Radio, Kutzko is a freelance PR/communications consultant and voiceover artist, as well as a baker of artisan breads, pizza and pastries. He also plays drums in a classic rock/country band, Silverweed. He lives in Urbana, Illinois. [ANS thanks AMSAT President Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, for the above in- formation] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Office Closed Until Further Notice Due to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's order closing all non-essential businesses in the State of Maryland in response to the COVID-19 pan- demic, the AMSAT office is closed until further notice, effective to- day at 5:00pm EDT. While the office is closed, AMSAT will continue to accept new and renewal memberships. However, membership packets will not be mailed until the office reopens. T-shirts, hats, and other items stocked in the office will also not be available until the office reopens. Dig- ital downloadable content, including SatPC32 and MacDoppler will re- main available from the AMSAT store. Antenna, name badge, and awards orders will be forwarded for processing. The March/April issue of The AMSAT Journal will be produced on time. However, it may only be possible to publish it in digital format. Stay tuned for further updates. Any questions about memberships, orders, or office operations can be sent to info at amsat.org. Please note that no mail or phone service will be available until the office reopens. Vendors billing AMSAT for goods or services may email the above address to arrange payment. [ANS thanks the AMSAT office for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ First Satellite Contact to be Noted in May QST Those who are ARRL members may be interested in the Technical Corres- pondence article in the forthcoming May 2020 QST, entitled "The 60th Anniversary of the First Satellite Contact." The contact to which it refers took place on February 6, 1960, six months before NASA's Project Echo, between W2RS and K3JTE (now W3PK), making use of a propagation mode first reported by W8JK (SK), which he called "the satellite ionization phenomenon." The May 2020 QST article describes what we did and what has been learn- ed since then about the ionosphere and how W8JK's mechanism works. For further reading about the contact, see the article in Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, September 1961. For more about the satellite ionization phenomenon, see the chapter by W8JK in S.F. Singer, ed., Interactions of Space Vehicles With an Ionized Atmosphere, Pergamon Press, 1965. The May issue of QST is expected to be published in mid-April. [ANS thanks Ray Soifer, W2RS, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Amateur Radio Satellite Spreads Fight Coronavirus Message Indonesia’s national amateur radio society ORARI reports the ham radio satellite LAPAN-A2 (IO-86) is being used to send a Fight Coronavirus message using APRS. A translation of the ORARI post says: The satellite spreads the text message “Stay Healthy, Stay at Home #LawanCorona”. This was conveyed by Researcher of the Center for Satellite Technology, Sonny Dwi Harsono when contacted, Friday, March 20, 2020. Sonny explained, this action was a form of support for government pol- icies on social distancing. The policy encourages all of us to reduce activities outside the home and interactions with others. “So this mes- sage was sent by the LAPAN A2 satellite via the APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) beacon which was transmitted throughout Indonesia. APRS is a text based communication system for short messages such as SMS on mobile phones. But this APRS message can only be received through HT (Handie Talkie) which has the recipient of the APRS mess- age,” he said. Sonny explained, messages that have been disseminated can be received by anyone by setting the HT radio frequency to 145.825 MHz. To date corona’s message has been received by dozens of members of the Indo- nesian Radio Amateur Organization (ORARI) spread throughout Indonesia. The dissemination of the message was carried out starting March 20. For the time being the message dissemination was carried out on the APRS mission only. But it will try to spread the message one time at a LAPAN-A2 / LAPAN-ORARI track every 100 minutes. “Later if possible, we try to distribute 24 hours nonstop every 100 minutes under certain con- ditions. Currently we are discussing the technicalities. The messages from the government can also be disseminated via the LAPAN-A2 satel- lite," he concluded. Source ORARI https://tinyurl.com/IndonesiaORARI Follow LAPAN-A2 https://twitter.com/lapansat [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows, and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Ham Talk Live! Interviews Frank Bauer, KA3HDO Ham Talk Live! host Neal Rapp, WB9VPG recently interviewed Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, for an informative look at recent events in the ARISS program. Bauer, who is AMSAT Vice President, Human Spaceflight and ARISS Inter- national Chair was interviewed on Thursday, March 26, 2020. In the interview Bauer covers ARISS' four-year effort to update the ISS Amateur Radio station with its next generation radio system, the Interoperable Radio System (IORS). The IORS consists of a specially modified JVC-Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver and the AMSAT-NA developed multi-voltage power supply. The complete interview can be heard at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-089-Bauer [ANS thanks Neil Rapp, WB9VPG for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISS Crew Transition Affected by CoViD-19 The International Space Station Expedition 62 crew, consisting of NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Meir, Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan, KI5AAA, and Commander Oleg Skripochka, RA0LDJ, are readying their Soyuz MS-15 crew ship for departure on April 17. Meanwhile, the crew that will re- place them is nearing its launch scheduled for April 9 aboard the Soyuz MS-16 crew ship. NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, KF5KDR, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner arrived this week at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for final training. The Expedition 63 trio is due to live aboard the station for 195 days with Cassidy as commander. (ANS thanks spaceref.com for the above information) NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy’s family will be watching remotely from halfway around the world when he blasts off April 9 from Kazakhstan to begin a six-month expedition on the International Space Station. That’s because travel restrictions and stringent social distancing guidelines instituted to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic will limit the ability for family members to travel to the Baikonur Cosmo- drome for the launch. Launch day at Baikonur is usually a festive af- fair. “But it’ll be completely quiet,” Cassidy said in a satellite in- terview from Star City, Russia. “There won’t be anybody there." (ANS thanks spaceflightnow.com for the above information) NASA already has a long-held strategy in place for preventing astro- nauts from carrying any nasty bugs with them to space. All astronauts going to orbit must go through a two-week period of quarantine called “health stabilization,” according to NASA. That way, the agency can make sure the crew is not incubating any illnesses before launch. How- ever, NASA said it “will continue to evaluate and augment this plan, in coordination with its international and commercial partners” if needed. In the meantime, Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, has de- cided to shut down all media activity surrounding the Soyuz launch, barring journalists from covering the mission in person. Russia will still live stream the launch, and NASA typically airs all of its crew- ed launches on its own online TV channel. The return of the Expedition 62 crew in mid-April would typically in- volve large numbers of recovery personnel. SpaceX will be ready to send its first crew of NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard its Crew Dragon capsule sometime in May. NASA has not provided any details if those operations would change in light of the pandemic. (ANS thanks theverge.com for the above information) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS Contacts Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide. Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia, direct via RKØJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Skripochka Possible contact on Tuesday 2020-03-31 08:50 UTC ARISS is very aware of the impact that COVID-19 is having on schools and the public in general. As such, we may have last minute cancella- tions or postponements of school contacts. As always, ARISS will try to provide everyone with near-real-time updates at the ARISS webpage: https://www.ariss.org/ The contact scheduled for Wednesday 2020-03-25 with SPDW Voortrekker Movement, Oranjeville, South Africa, direct via ZS9SPD was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns. [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team men- tors for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit. Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations River Bend Wireless Rove (EN22, EN33, EN34, EN42, EN43, EN44) April 2-4, 2020 Mitch Ahrenstorff, AD0HJ, is looking to add six more grids to his ro- ver basket just before the April 4 AMSAT presentation/demonstration at the River Bend Wireless and Mechanical Society in Faribault, Minn. Mitch will be activating the EN43/EN44 grid line on April 2nd, the EN32/EN42 grid line on April 3rd, and the EN33/EN34 grid line on April 4th, 2020. Watch Mitch’s Twitter feed as the dates approach for a de- tailed schedule. https://twitter.com/AD0HJ >From the Mountains to the Bay (CM88,89,98,99 DM09,19,29 DN00,01,02,10,11,20,21) April 12-21, 2020 R.J. Bragg, WY7AA, is hitting the asphalt again, roving from Wyoming to Vacaville, Calif. He’s attending a class from April 15-19, so most of the roving will be outside of this time. Grids to be covered in- clude: CM88,89,98,99 DM09,19,29 DN00,01,02,10,11,20,21. Specific pass details will be posted on WY7AA QRZ page and Twitter (https://twitter.com/WY7AA) as the trip approaches. Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Nothing to do while quarantined by Covid-19? How about making a paper model of the satellite, DIWATA-1, the first satellite designed and built in the Philippines: https://tinyurl.com/ujukexd (ANS thanks JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM, for the above information) + There has been lengthy discussion this week on the AMSAT email bul- letin board, amsat-bb, about inconsiderate operators on FM satel- lites. A document by Sean Kutzko, KX9X, published back in 2017, is still an excellent guide to best practices on these birds. See it at https://tinyurl.com/ybw5e2ng (ANS thanks Mark Johns, K0JM, for the above information) + The coronavirus has had effects on many space activities this week: Virgin Orbit is reassessing schedules, Blue Origin in hard-hit Seat- tle is mostly working online, Arianespace suspended launches from French Guiana and Russia recalled and quarantined its personnel, ESA mission control is working from home, and some spaceports are closed worldwide. (ANS thanks orbitalindex.com for the above information) + One thing astronauts have to be good at: living in confined spaces for long periods of time. Find yourself in a similar scenario? NASA astronaut Anne McClain recently posted a lengthy Twitter thread with pro-tips for getting through your time at home. It begins at: https://tinyurl.com/tqh3hke (ANS thanks orbitalindex.com for the above information) + At least on the ISS astronauts don't have the added task of caring for and educating kids. If your current confinement capsul is equip- ped with youngsters in grades K-4, there are resources for you at: https://www.nasa.gov/stem-at-home-for-students-k-4.html (ANS thanks NASA for the above information) + The Folding@home project is a distributed computing project that is currently running calculations to analyze protein structures on the COVID-19 project. Donate your spare computer time to help this project and consider joining AMSAT's team (#67910). More information at https://foldingathome.org/covid19/. AMSAT's team standings can be found at https://stats.foldingathome.org/team/69710 --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, K0JM at amsat dot org

1 0