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ANS-036 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, Elected AMSAT President
by Paul Stoetzer 05 Feb '20

05 Feb '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-036 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: * Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, Elected AMSAT President SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-036 ANS-036 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 036.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE February 5, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-036.01 Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, Elected AMSAT President At a special meeting held via teleconference, the AMSAT Board of Directors elected Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, President. Coleman previous- ly served as a member of the Board of Directors from 2017-2019 and also served as AMSAT's Secretary during this time. He has also volun- teered in several other capacities for AMSAT, including chairing the 2016 AMSAT Space Symposium held aboard the cruise ship Carnival Liberty. Coleman’s first introduction to amateur radio in space was with SAREX and Mir. An interest in setting up an AX.25 BBS and nodes led to him trying out the Mir Personal Message System (PMS) and digipeater to make contacts in the early 1990s. It wasn’t until a visit from a friend in 2011 that Coleman was bitten by the OSCAR bug and began his AMSAT journey chasing operating awards. Having held other leadership roles in his community, nonprofits, and critical infrastructure, Coleman’s desire is working with constituents to improve organizational processes and align them with strategic goals. Professionally, Coleman works in the industrial process con- trol sector as both a consultant and business development manager. He resides in the North Texas area with his spouse and two children. AMSAT members will have the opportunity to meet Coleman at the Orlando HamCation on Saturday, February 8th. He will hold a meet and greet at the AMSAT booth from 9:30am-10:30am and 2:00pm-3:00pm. He will also make remarks at the AMSAT Forum, which will be held at 12:30pm Satur- day in Room CS III at the Lakeside Pavilion. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Board of Directors and AMSAT President Clayton Coleman, W5PFG for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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ANS-033 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Paul Stoetzer 01 Feb '20

01 Feb '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-033 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information 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://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 dot org. In this edition: * HuskySat-1 Deployed, Telemetry Beacon Active * Free Digital Copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Now Available for New or Renewing Members * Joe Spier, K6WAO, Resigns as AMSAT President * Melissa Pore To Be Honored at Hamcation February 2020 * W1ANT Pro Satellite Tracker Announced * AMSAT Argentina Drifting APRS Buoy on 145.825 MHz * VUCC Awards-Endorsements for February 2020 * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Upcoming AMSAT Events * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts from All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-033.01 ANS-033 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 033.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. February 2, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-033.01 HuskySat-1 Deployed, Telemetry Beacon Active The University of Washington's HuskySat-1 CubeSat was deployed from the Cygnus NG-12 spacecraft on Friday, January 31 at approximately 2230 UTC. HuskySat-1's 1,200 bps BPSK beacon is active on 435.800 MHz and is decodable with the latest release of AMSAT's FoxTelem software. HuskySat-1 will be made available for Amateur Radio use following its primary mission to test a pulsed plasma thruster and experimental K band (24 GHz) communications system. HuskySat-1 features a 30 kHz wide 145 to 435 MHz linear transponder for SSB/CW: HuskySat-1 - Uplink: 145.910 - 145.940 MHz LSB/CW - Downlink: 435.840 - 435.810 MHz USB/CW (inverting) - Telemetry: 435.800 MHz 1K2 bps BPSK 24049.00 MHz (U of Washington experimental downlink) The TLE as of January 31, 2020 at 2339Z are: HuskySat-1 1 99934U 1001D 20031.87746807 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 13 2 99934 51.5569 307.6644 0013532 287.5589 72.3913 15.32433103 16 The latest version of FoxTelem software to decode the 1200 bps BPSK beacon is available at: https://www.amsat.org/tlm The Fox-In-A-Box FoxTelem software has been updated for HuskySat-1 Operation at it's download website: http://burnsfisher.com/AMSAT/FoxInABox [ANS thanks Jerry Buxton, NØJY AMSAT Vice President - Engineering for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Free Digital Copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Now Available for New or Renewing Members While the HuskySat-1 completes it's scientific mission, check out the best resource for learning how to work through linear transponder satellites (and other types of amateur satellites). For a limited time, AMSAT is making the "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites" book available as a download with any paid new or renewal membership purchased via the AMSAT Store. This offer is only available with purchases completed online, and for only a limited time. A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite operation. The book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite. Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store at https://www.amsat.org/shop/ and selecting any membership option. While there, check out AMSAT's other items, including the M2 LEOpack antenna system, Arrow antennas, AMSAT shirts, and other swag. Be sure to view your cart before going to checkout. If you add a membership and then go directly to checkout, you'll never see an option to add your free gift. If you have trouble selecting your free gift, please see this YouTube video to see the steps necessary. https://youtu.be/oRqk5Am-UzE [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Spier, K6WAO, Resigns as AMSAT President Joe Spier, K6WAO, has tendered his resignation as AMSAT President, citing personal reasons. Spier had served as AMSAT's President since October 2017. Prior to his tenure as President, Spier served as AMSAT's Executive Vice President and Vice President - Educational Relations. He also served as an AMSAT News Service Editor and as a member of the ARISS Education Team. Under the AMSAT bylaws, Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, assumes the office of President until the next meeting of the Board of Directors. Stoetzer said "I want to thank Joe for his many years of service to AMSAT in a variety of roles. I especially want to recognize his efforts to mark AMSAT's 50th Anniversary with special events at the Dayton Hamvention and AMSAT Symposium. His leadership in bringing together a variety of figures from the history of amateur radio in space in Arlington, VA this past fall helped to make the Symposium a very special event." [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Melissa Pore To Be Honored at HamCation February 2020 Melissa Pore, an ARISS-US Education Committee member, recently earned Orlando HamCation's 2020 Carole Perry Educator of the Year award. She will be feted at their February convention; the award recognizes teachers making outstanding educational contributions. Melissa is an engineering and computer science teacher at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA. She led weeks of STEM and radio activities leading up to the school’s 2018 ARISS contact. She heads the school’s engineering and ham radio clubs. At her previous school, she worked with the STMSAT-1 CubeSat project, the first satellite built by elementary school students. She helped staff an ARISS exhibit at the 2019 Space Explorers Education Conference in Houston and will present a workshop there in 2020. At the 2019 Space Port Area Conference for Educators, she received a plaque from the ISS National Lab SSE program citing her “service, commitment, and desire to push the boundaries of STEM Education.” She brings her students to staff some of ARISS's outreach exhibits, such as a 2019 one at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- W1ANT Pro Satellite Tracker Announced Heimir, W1ANT announces that the Pro version has no ads and adds some features. Most notably the ability to group the satellites. The groups can then be enabled and only satellites from enabled groups will show up in the satellite overview. Other features include: - Get a list of Amateur Radio satellites visible from your current location in the next 24 hours. - Get an overview over their paths from acquisition to loss of signal (AOS to LOS). - Only passes above the minimum elevation are shown on the list. - Select one of them and get information on their on-board radios. - Select one of their radios and be able to point your phone directly at it so you can easily operate it. - Extra information, i.e. the actual frequencies to use for uplink and downlink is also presented taken the Doppler effect into account. Get full information on the app at the Google Play Store. [ANS thanks Heimir Thor Sverrisson, W1ANT for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Argentina Drifting APRS Buoy on 145.825 MHz On Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 1400 GMT AMSAT Argentina deployed a drifting buoy on South Atlantic Seas that aims to transmit APRS on the satellite packet frequency of 145.825 MHz. WSPR will also be transmitted. AMSAT Argentina reports the APRS beacon, callsign LU7AA-11, will initially be on Argentina's APRS frequency of 144.930 MHz but will change frequency to 145.825 MHz so that it can be digipeated by the amateur packet radio satellites. The WSPR beacon will run 900 mW on 14095.6 kHz with the call sign LU7AA. Release will be 100 km offshore Mar del Plata coast, seeking east aiming currents/winds. The objective is to track sea currents tracking and HF/VHF/SAT QRPp propagation tests. AMSAT Argentina, LU7AA, will appreciate WSPR stations receiving/reporting 20M. Further information and pictures at http://amsat.org.ar?f=buoy [ANS thanks AMSAT Argentina 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/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ VUCC Awards-Endorsements for February 2020 Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period January 1, 2020 through February 1, 2020. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! KO4MA 1701 1750 WA5KBH 744 759 KE4AL 602 625 WD9EWK (DM43) 597 600 K0FFY 260 576 N1AIA 257 494 G0ABI 320 453 AB5SS 306 411 AD0HJ 375 405 AC9E 353 401 W5TD 392 396 K5IX 350 375 MI6GTY 354 360 W7JSD 336 355 PS8ET 326 350 ND0C 250 301 KJ4EU 206 261 KC9UQR 196 240 W4DTA 180 217 N9FN 194 207 N0RSR 154 200 VE1VOX 155 157 PU4JOE 101 150 WA9JBQ 125 150 K5ZM 101 135 S57NML 100 126 KN6DBC New 125 AB4GE 100 122 XQ3SA New 114 KE0WPA New 108 RA3S New 107 EA2AA New 101 W4ZXT New 100 WR0H 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.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations Shorts - Feb 15 CN78 ADODX FM and Linear (@ad0dx) - Mar 14-15 DN26/36 KC7JPC Linears (and possibly FM) + SnowBirdRove (EL79) – February 1-29, 2020 Joe, KE9AJ, will cross the border into Florida, seeking climatical asylum in EL79 for the entire month of February. Since he will be there for an extended period, with both FM and linear gear, keep an eye on Joe’s Twitter feed for specific pass announcements: https://twitter.com/KE9AJ. There is a possibility that Joe may have to make a pit stop in EM54 and EM53 on his way down South on February 1. Monitor Twitter for updates. + Antigua (FK97) February 2 – 9, 2020 Mel, W8MV, will be in Antigua 2-9 February. Mel is waiting for his operating license. Will update as soon as it arrives. FM only. QSL via LOTW. + Key West and Boca Grande Key (EL94, EL84+) February 9-11,2020 Clayton, W5PFG, will be in Key West, Florida (EL94) February 9 through the 11, 2020. Monday, February 10, 13:15-17:30 UTC, Clayton will operate FM & SSB satellites from EL84xm, Boca Grande Key. Listen for W5PFG near these dates for additional Florida grids such as EL79, EL89, EL99, EL86, EL96, & EL95. Keep an eye on Clayton’s Twitter feed for further announcements https://twitter.com/w5pfg + Isla Perez, Mexico (EL52, EL50, EL51) February 11 – 17, 2020 Members of Radio Club Puebla DX will be active as 6F3A from Isla Perez, Mexico, between February 11-17. The operators mentioned are Patricia/XE1SPM (Team Leader), Ismael/XE1AY, Rey/XE1SRD and Ricardo/XE1SY. Activity will be on 80/40/20/17/15/12/10/6 meters, and include the ARRL DX CW Contest (February 15-16). QSL via XE1SY. Ismael, XE1AY, reports that he doing CW and the satellites, and will also TX from EL50 and XE1AY/mm from EL51. + Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020 Ron AD0DX, Doug N6UA, and Josh W3ARD will operate from Big Bend National Park to put grid DL88 on the air. Details will be added here, as they come available, but you are more than welcome to keep an eye on their individual Twitter feeds: https://twitter.com/ad0dx, https://twitter.com/dtabor, and https://twitter.com/W3ARDstroke5 [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL for the above information.] + DX Satellite Operations on QO-100 Matteo, IZ4YGS will be QRV as 9G5GS from Sanzule, Ghana from February 1 - 26. He plans some activity on Satellite QO-100. QSL direct to home call. Special event station II3BIA will be QRV from February 1 - 29 during the Biathlon World Championships 2020 being held in Antholz. Activity includes possible activity on Satellite QO-100. QSL via IN3ZWF. [ANS thanks ARRL DX News for the above information.] + FJ, ST. BARTHEMELY. Operators Pat/N2IEN, Lee/WW2DX, Rock/WW1X and Ray/W2RE will be active as FJ/N2IEN, FJ/WW2DX, FJ/WW1X and FJ/W2RE respectively from St. Barthemely (NA-146) between February 15-22. Activity will be holiday style on various HF (160-6m)/VHF/UHF bands using CW, SSB, RTTY and satellites. QSL via their home call signs. [ANS thanks the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin for the above information.] + ZS95SARL celebrates the 95th anniversary of the South African Radio League, founded in May 1925 as South African Radio Relay League(renamed after WW II). QRV during the whole year on HF, VHF, UHF and via satellites. QSL via bureau. [ANS thanks the DARC DX Newsletter for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming AMSAT Events AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through Amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events. Current schedule: - February 7-9, 2020, Hamcation, Orlando, FL - February 14-15, 2020, Yuma Hamfest and ARRL Southwest Division Convention, Yuma, AZ - February 15, 2020, Cabin Fever Reliever Hamfest, Saint Cloud, MN - March 6, 2020, Irving Hamfest, Irving, TX - March 14-15, 2020, Science City on University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ - March 21, 2020, Midwinter Madness Hamfest, Buffalo, MN - March 21, 2020, Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest, Scottsdale, AZ - March 28, 2020, Tucson Spring Hamfest, Tucson, AZ - March 29, 2020, Vienna Wireless Winterfest, Annandale, VA - 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 - June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Con, Plano, TX +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT's GOLF-TEE satellite recently reached a major milestone when prototype boards transmitted telemetry for the first time. Help support AMSAT's path back to HEO by donating today! https://www.amsat.org/donations/amsat-golf-program-donations/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ARISS News + Upcoming School Contacts Possible Russian supported contact with Ecuador, via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Skripochka Contact possibly is go for Friday, February 7, 2020 UTC. + ARISS congratulations Satoshi 7M3TJZ who has now mentored 138 schools. + The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts from All Over + AMSAT-Spain Readies Two Satellites The Hades and EASAT-2 PocketQubes from AMSAT-Spain will carry VHF/UHF linear transponders and analog and digital two-way communications capability, including store-and-forward. Launch is planned for late 2020. More information is available at https://amsat-ea.org [ANS thanks AMSAT-EA for the above information.] + Training course: Product Assurance in ESA projects for SMEs On March, 31 to April 1, 2020 the European Space Agency invites participants interested in either Hardware or Software Product Assurance (PA) to join its specialists for a two-day training session at ESA/ESTEC (Noordwijk, The Netherlands). The course aims at providing SME participants with an overview of the PA tasks to be performed throughout a project. While a generic overview of Product Assurance tasks is provided to all participants on day 1, day 2 treats Hardware and Software PA aspects in more detail. Participants choose either the Hardware PA or Software PA module, depending on their needs and interests. More information and registration is available at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-033-ESA-PA [ANS thanks the ESA for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 additional 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 student rate for a maximum of six post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Frank Karnauskas, N1UW n1uw at amsat dot org

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ANS-031.02 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - Free Digital Copy of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available for New or Renewing Members
by Paul Stoetzer 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-031.02 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. 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: * Free Digital Copy of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available for New or Renewing Members SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-031.02 ANS-031.02 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 031.02 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE January 31, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-031.02 Free Digital Copy of “Getting Started with Amateur Satellites” Now Available for New or Renewing Members The University of Washington's HuskySat-1 CubeSat is scheduled to be deployed from the Cygnus NG-12 spacecraft at 22:30 UTC today. HuskySat-1 carries an AMSAT VHF/UHF linear transponder that will be made available for amateur use following its primary mission to test a pulsed plasma thruster and experimental K band (24 GHz) communications system. While the satellite completes it's scientific mission, check out the best resource for learning how to work through linear transponder sat- ellites (and other types of amateur satellites). For a limited time, AMSAT is making the “Getting Started With Amateur Satellites” book available as a download with any paid new or renewal membership purchased via the AMSAT Store. This offer is only available with purchases completed online, and for only a limited time. A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite operation. The book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite. Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store at https://www.amsat.org/shop/ and selecting any membership option. While there, check out AMSAT’s other items, including the M2 LEOpack antenna system, Arrow antennas, AMSAT shirts, and other swag. Be sure to view your cart before going to checkout. If you add a membership and then go directly to checkout, you’ll never see an option to add your free gift. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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ANS-031 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - Joe Spier, K6WAO, Resigns as AMSAT President
by Paul Stoetzer 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-031 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: * Joe Spier, K6WAO, Resigns as AMSAT President SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-031.01 ANS-031 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 031.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE January 31, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-031.01 Joe Spier, K6WAO, Resigns as AMSAT President Joe Spier, K6WAO, has tendered his resignation as AMSAT President, citing personal reasons. Spier had served as AMSAT's President since October 2017. Prior to his tenure as President, Spier served as AMSAT's Executive Vice President and Vice President - Educational Relations. He also served as an AMSAT News Service Editor and as a member of the ARISS Education Team. Under the AMSAT bylaws, Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, assumes the office of President until the next meeting of the Board of Directors. Stoetzer said "I want to thank Joe for his many years of service to AMSAT in a variety of roles. I especially want to recognize his efforts to mark AMSAT's 50th Anniversary with special events at the Dayton Hamvention and AMSAT Symposium. His leadership in bringing together a variety of figures from the history of amateur radio in space in Arlington, VA this past fall helped to make the Symposium a very special event." [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletin ANS-019, January 19, 2019
by Frank Karnauskas 18 Jan '20

18 Jan '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-019 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information 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://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 dot org. In this edition: * GOLF-TEE Reaches Major Milestones * ARISS Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals February 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020 * Satellite Status and Tracking API's Added to AMSAT Website * Qarman Beacon Telemetry Information Released * China Telecoms Regulator Proposing to Delete Some Current Amateur Allocations * Memorial Service for Brian Kantor, WB6CYT * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts from All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-019.01 ANS-019 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 019.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. January 19, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-019.01 GOLF-TEE Reaches Major Milestone A group of GOLF-TEE (Greater Orbit Larger Footprint - Technology Evaluation Environment) satellite prototype boards transmitted telemetry for the first time on Tuesday, January 14, 2020. The boards are laid out on a bench as a "flat-sat" with interconnecting wires, bench power supplies, and a dummy load on the transmitter. The interconnected boards include: - An early RT-IHU (Radiation Tolerant Internal Housekeeping Unit (i.e. computer) prototype, - A CIU (Control Interface Unit) prototype, and - A set of spare boards from HuskySat-1 that act as prototypes for the LIHU (Legacy IHU) and legacy VHF/UHF RF components. Now that the development team has reached this point, it has RF to use as a basis for developing a GOLF-TEE decoder for FoxTelem, the ground telemetry receiver software. Thousands of hours of work by many AMSAT volunteers have gone into the hardware and software that got GOLF-TEE this far, with much work yet to be done before flight units are ready. GOLF-TEE is designed as a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) testbed for technologies necessary for a successful CubeSat mission to a wide variety of orbits, including MEO(Medium Earth Orbit) and HEO (High Earth Orbit). To help support the GOLF program, please consider volunteering or donating today. https://www.amsat.org/volunteer-for-amsat/ https://www.amsat.org/donations/amsat-golf-program-donations/ [ANS thanks Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, AMSAT Flight Software, and the entire GOLF team for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals February 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS is happy to announce a proposal window which will open February 1, 2020 for contacts that would be held between January 2021 and June 2021. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The proposal window for contacts between January 2021. and June 2021 will open on February 1, 2020 and close on March 31. 2020. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.ariss.org. Two ARISS Introductory Webinar sessions will be held on two different date and times. The first is at January 23 at 2100 ET and the second is at January 27 at 1800 ET. The same material will be covered during both sessions, so choose the session that best fits your schedule. The Eventbrite link to sign up is https://ariss-proposal-webinar-spring-2020.eventbrite.com The Opportunity Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session. An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in dates and times of the radio contact. Amateur Radio organizations around the world with the support of NASA and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe present educational organizations with this opportunity. The ham radio organizations' volunteer efforts provide the equipment and operational support to enable communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world using Amateur Radio. For More Information For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Webinars, go to www.ariss.org. Please direct any questions to ariss.us.education(a)gmail.com . [ANS thanks ARISS 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/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Satellite Status and Tracking API's Added to AMSAT Website Thanks to an initiative by Heimir, W1ANT, AMSAT added Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to the AMSAT web site to make it easy for developers to write apps for mobile devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). For example, the satellite status page www.amsat.org/status does not work well on small screens. By accessing the status data directly developers can easily present the data in a way appropriate for their screens. These APIs also make it easy for IoT homebrewers to do things like build next pass reminder gizmos so they can beep out notices in CW. The developers have set a goal of February 15, 2020 to finalize the APIs, and consider them operational on March 1, 2020. Developers are encouraged to send suggestions or questions to www.amsat.org/webmaster-contact/ For details of API use visit www.amsat.org/status/api/ and www.amsat.org/track/api/ [ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Qarman Beacon Telemetry Information Released QARMAN, a nano-satellite designed and built at VKI, was launched to the International Space Station on December 5, 2019. Deployed is expected to take place in the week of February 12, 2020. QARMAN (Qubesat for Aerothermodynamic Research and Measurements on AblatioN) is the world's first CubeSat designed to survive atmospheric re-entry. Work on it started in 2013 at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI). The aim of the QARMAN mission is to demonstrate the usability of a CubeSat platform as an atmospheric entry vehicle. Spacecraft descending towards a planet with an atmosphere experience very harsh environment including extreme temperatures (several thousand degrees). Information about Qarman's 437.350 MHz 9600 bps GMSK AX.25 beacon has now been released by the team. Download the Qarman Beacon Definition QARMAN_BCNdef_v1.1 at https://ukamsat.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/qarman_bcndef_v1.1.pdf Download the Beacon Decoder spreadsheet QARMAN_BCNdecoder at https://ukamsat.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/qarman_bcndecoder.xlsx Reports can be sent to operations(a)qarman.eu [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information.] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ The digital download version of the 2019 edition of Getting Started with Amateur Satellites is now available as a DRM-free PDF from the AMSAT Store. Get yours today! https://tinyurl.com/ANS-237-Getting-Started +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ China Telecoms Regulator Proposing to Delete Some Current Amateur Allocations China's telecommunications regulator has proposed amending the Measures for the Administration of Amateur Radio Stations, and some amateur bands are in danger of being eliminated. Lide Zhang, BI8CKU, told ARRL that the proposal would prohibit amateur operation on the 2200-meter band as well as on 146 - 148 MHz, 1260 - 1300 MHz, 3400 - 3500 MHz, 5650 - 5725 MHz, and all bands above 10 GHz. Radio communications engineer and Chinese Amateur Satellite Group (CAMSAT) CEO Alan Kung, BA1DU, told ARRL that government efforts to eliminate some amateur bands are nothing new, but proposals that have been aired for a while now are on the regulatory agency's schedule. Kung said he does not anticipate that all of the bands proposed will be taken away, but he conceded that the climate will "undoubtedly" become increasingly more dangerous for China's amateur radio community. "The attempt to crowd out the amateur radio bands has a long history throughout the world," he said, "but it may never have become so urgent for the amateur radio community as it is today. We all understand that radio spectrum resources have become a bottleneck for further development." He said today's radio communication industry "is working hard to share spectrum resources." Kung characterized spectrum as "the soil on which amateur radio depends." [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Memorial Service for Brian Kantor, WB6CYT Phil Karn, KA9Q shares the following announcement: "As you know, Brian Kantor, WB6CYT passed away suddenly on November 21, 2019. We will hold a memorial service for Brian on Saturday, Feb 1 2020 at 1:30 PM in La Jolla, CA (part of San Diego). Please see this link for details: https://tinyurl.com/ANS-019-Kantor-Memorial "Please bring any photos, mementos and (above all) stories and anecdotes about Brian to share. Brian wasn't exactly a highly formal person who stood on ceremony, so we'll keep this informal. If you have a story to tell, it's up to you whether you stand up and relate it to the whole group or just a few others at a time. There will be plenty of time for both. "Everyone who knew Brian is welcome. His friendships spanned at least three distinct social circles, and I know he'd be very happy to see everyone meet and enjoy everyone else's company. Even if he'd be a little embarrassed that we were doing it in his honor. "Free snacks and refreshments will be provided, so please RSVP through the evite link so we can tell the hotel how much to make available. If you have special dietary needs, please say so; the hotel has a menu we can choose from. "Please forward this email to anyone you think might be interested. Hope to see you on the 1st." [ANS thanks Phil Karn, KA9Q 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 New Orleans, LA (EL49, EL58, EM59, EM40, EM50, EM60) January 14 - February 1, 2020 Adam, KC3OBS, will be roving EM40, EM50, EL49, EL59, January 14 - Feb 1. In between, Adam will be EL58, January 18 or 19 depending on weather, and in EM60 January 29. Adam will announce passes and updates on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparky_husky Labrador (GO11 +) January 19-27, 2019 Chris VE3FU, Dave VE9CB, and Frank VO1HP will be active as VO2AC in the 2020 CQ160 CW contest, January 24-26, from Point Armour Lighthouse, in Labrador. If time permits before the contest, they may be active on FM satellites from GO11 as VO2AC or VO2AAA. Depending on weather and timing of passes, you might catch them on FM satellites as they make their way from FO93 to GO-11, passing through FO92, GO02, GO13, GO12, and GO22 along the way, but no promises. They will also make the reverse trek on January 27. Montserrat (FK86) January 26 - February 2, 2020 Mel, W8MV, will be in Montserrat 26 January until 2 February, operating under the call sign VP2MCV on FM Sats. QSL via LOTW. Antigua (FK97) February 2 - 9, 2020 Mel, W8MV, will be in Antigua 2-9 February. Mel is waiting for his operating license. Will update as soon as it arrives. FM only. QSL via LOTW Isla Perez, Mexico (EL52, EL50, EL51) February 11 - 17, 2020 Members of Radio Club Puebla DX will be active as 6F3A from Isla Perez, Mexico, between February 11-17. The operators mentioned are Patricia/XE1SPM (Team Leader), Ismael/XE1AY, Rey/XE1SRD and Ricardo/XE1SY. Activity will be on 80/40/20/17/15/12/10/6 meters, and include the ARRL DX CW Contest (February 15-16). QSL via XE1SY. Ismael, XE1AY, reports that he doing CW and the satellites, and will also TX from EL50 and XE1AY/mm from EL51. Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020 Ron AD0DX, Doug N6UA, and Josh W3ARD will operate from Big Bend National Park to put grid DL88 on the air. Details will be added here, as they come available, but you are more than welcome to keep an eye on their individual Twitter feeds: https://twitter.com/ad0dx, https://twitter.com/dtabor, and https://twitter.com/W3ARDstroke5 [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News (Editor's Note: See school contact opportunity story above.) + Upcoming Contacts Morita Junior High School, Fukui, Japan, direct via 8J9MO The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano KF5KDP Contact is go for: Wed 2020-01-22 08:00:46 UTC 27 deg Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, Canada, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano KF5KDP Contact is go for: Wed 2020-01-22 17:21:36 UTC 32 deg [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N 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 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Shorts from All Over + ARISS-US Educators Review Processes for US Proposal Window A team of educators who are members of the ARISS-US Education Committee is finalizing the last few processes related to the late 2019 ARISS-US Proposal Window. The team had ranked the education proposals and then sent a list to the ARISS-US leaders of the top schools and education groups recommended for hosting an ARISS contact. A news release is in draft stage. The organizations selected will be in the queue for scheduled ARISS contacts during the second half of 2020. A new ARISS-US Proposal Window will open soon and details on this will be forthcoming. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information.] + WIA 2020 Annual Conference Presentations The Wireless Institute of Australia Annual Conference will be held in Hobart, Tasmania May 8-10 2020 and registrations are open. On the Saturday afternoon a wide range of presentations are organized to showcase the conference theme which is the "Antarctic Gateway". Following lunch there will be two presentation streams which can be categorized as the "Antarctic" stream and the "Radio" stream. Complete information can be viewed at: https://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2020/20200111-3/index.php [ANS thanks the Wireless Institute of Australia for the above information.] + AMSAT Argentina Celebrates LO-19 30th Anniversary On Feb-22-1990 LUSAT/LO-19 was launched along with AO-16, DO-17, WO-18, UO-14 & UO-15. It was the first Argentina Satellite, and one of first to use PACSAT protocol. LUSAT is still calling home with its carrier at +/-437.125. Members of AMSAT Argentina (LU7AA) celebrate the 30th anniversary of the LUSAT (LO-19) satellite between Jan. 18 and 26 on HF on SSB, FT8, CW. An award is available as well. QSL via LU7AA (d), eQSL. Find complete information at: http://lu4aao.org/lu7aa/cert_30_aniv_lusat_2020.htm and http://amsat.org.ar/certlusat30.htm [ANS thanks the DARC DX Newsletter and AMSAT-LU for the above information.] + AMSAT-SA Announces A New Date Fre Their Space Symposium The annual AMSAT SA Space symposium date has changed to Saturday, 11 July 2020. While the call for papers is ongoing till the end of February, AMSAT SA is pleased to announce that Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, of AMSAT NA will delivery two papers at the symposium: Fox-in-a-box: Fox telemetry reception using an inexpensive Raspberry Pi and a J-pole antenna including a discussion on the optimal positioning for a J-pole antenna for satellite reception and an overview of what is in orbit currently and expected in the near future and their features. Prospective authors are invited to propose other papers by submitting a brief synopsis to admin(a)amsatsa.org.za before 28 February 2020. + Cardiff Microwave Roundtable Saturday, March 7, 2020 The Cardiff University ARS will host a meeting of the UK Microwave Group on Saturday March 7, 2020 at our campus in Cardiff. This one day event is a mix of talks, measurements, and socializing about activities in the GHz frequencies. GNU Radio Workshop On the following day, Sunday March 8, there will be a hands on Introduction to GNU Radio and Software Defined Radio. More info coming soon, please send an email to officers(a)cardiffars.org.uk if you are interested. [ANS thanks the UK Microwave Group for the above information.] + Lockheed Martin Launches First Smart Satellite Enabling Space Mesh Networking Recently, Lockheed Martin launched the Pony Express 1 mission as a hosted payload on Tyvak-0129, a next-generation Tyvak 6U spacecraft. Pony Express 1, an example of rapid prototyping, was developed, built and integrated in nine months. Some of the key technologies being flight-tested include: - Software validates advanced adaptive mesh communications between satellites, shared processing capabilities, and can take advantage, of sensors aboard other smart satellites, - A software-defined radio that allows for high-bandwidth hosting of multiple RF applications, store-and-forward RF collection, data compression, digital signal processing and waveform transmission, - 3D-printed wideband antenna housing. Read the full story at http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=55121 [ANS thanks Spaceref.com for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 additional 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 student rate for a maximum of six post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Frank Karnauskas, N1UW n1uw at amsat dot org Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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ANS-019 Draft_200118_2329
by Frank Karnauskas 18 Jan '20

18 Jan '20

This is what will fly at 0000 unless anyone has any final corrections or additions. Mostly the same but some style changes in the API article and reformatting some lines with extra spaces. 73 F AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-019 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information 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://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 dot org. In this edition: * GOLF-TEE Reaches Major Milestones * ARISS Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals February 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020 * Satellite Status and Tracking API's Added to AMSAT Website * Qarman Beacon Telemetry Information Released * China Telecoms Regulator Proposing to Delete Some Current Amateur Allocations * Memorial Service for Brian Kantor, WB6CYT * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts from All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-019.01 ANS-019 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 019.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. January 19, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-019.01 GOLF-TEE Reaches Major Milestone A group of GOLF-TEE (Greater Orbit Larger Footprint - Technology Evaluation Environment) satellite prototype boards transmitted telemetry for the first time on Tuesday, January 14, 2020. The boards are laid out on a bench as a "flat-sat" with interconnecting wires, bench power supplies, and a dummy load on the transmitter. The interconnected boards include: - An early RT-IHU (Radiation Tolerant Internal Housekeeping Unit (i.e. computer) prototype, - A CIU (Control Interface Unit) prototype, and - A set of spare boards from HuskySat-1 that act as prototypes for the LIHU (Legacy IHU) and legacy VHF/UHF RF components. Now that the development team has reached this point, it has RF to use as a basis for developing a GOLF-TEE decoder for FoxTelem, the ground telemetry receiver software. Thousands of hours of work by many AMSAT volunteers have gone into the hardware and software that got GOLF-TEE this far, with much work yet to be done before flight units are ready. GOLF-TEE is designed as a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) testbed for technologies necessary for a successful CubeSat mission to a wide variety of orbits, including MEO(Medium Earth Orbit) and HEO (High Earth Orbit). To help support the GOLF program, please consider volunteering or donating today. https://www.amsat.org/volunteer-for-amsat/ https://www.amsat.org/donations/amsat-golf-program-donations/ [ANS thanks Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, AMSAT Flight Software, and the entire GOLF team for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS Contact Opportunity Call for Proposals February 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020 The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS. ARISS is happy to announce a proposal window which will open February 1, 2020 for contacts that would be held between January 2021 and June 2021. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. The proposal window for contacts between January 2021. and June 2021 will open on February 1, 2020 and close on March 31. 2020. Proposal information and documents can be found at www.ariss.org. Two ARISS Introductory Webinar sessions will be held on two different date and times. The first is at January 23 at 2100 ET and the second is at January 27 at 1800 ET. The same material will be covered during both sessions, so choose the session that best fits your schedule. The Eventbrite link to sign up is https://ariss-proposal-webinar-spring-2020.eventbrite.com The Opportunity Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session. An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in dates and times of the radio contact. Amateur Radio organizations around the world with the support of NASA and space agencies in Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe present educational organizations with this opportunity. The ham radio organizations' volunteer efforts provide the equipment and operational support to enable communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world using Amateur Radio. For More Information For proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines and proposal form, and dates and times of Information Webinars, go to www.ariss.org. Please direct any questions to ariss.us.education(a)gmail.com . [ANS thanks ARISS 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/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Satellite Status and Tracking API's Added to AMSAT Website Thanks to an initiative by Heimir, W1ANT, AMSAT added Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to the AMSAT web site to make it easy for developers to write apps for mobile devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). For example, the satellite status page www.amsat.org/status does not work well on small screens. By accessing the status data directly developers can easily present the data in a way appropriate for their screens. These APIs also make it easy for IoT homebrewers to do things like build next pass reminder gizmos so they can beep out notices in CW. The developers have set a goal of February 15, 2020 to finalize the APIs, and consider them operational on March 1, 2020. Developers are encouraged to send suggestions or questions to www.amsat.org/webmaster-contact/ For details of API use visit www.amsat.org/status/api/ and www.amsat.org/track/api/ [ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Qarman Beacon Telemetry Information Released QARMAN, a nano-satellite designed and built at VKI, was launched to the International Space Station on December 5, 2019. Deployed is expected to take place in the week of February 12, 2020. QARMAN (Qubesat for Aerothermodynamic Research and Measurements on AblatioN) is the world's first CubeSat designed to survive atmospheric re-entry. Work on it started in 2013 at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI). The aim of the QARMAN mission is to demonstrate the usability of a CubeSat platform as an atmospheric entry vehicle. Spacecraft descending towards a planet with an atmosphere experience very harsh environment including extreme temperatures (several thousand degrees). Information about Qarman's 437.350 MHz 9600 bps GMSK AX.25 beacon has now been released by the team. Download the Qarman Beacon Definition QARMAN_BCNdef_v1.1 at https://ukamsat.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/qarman_bcndef_v1.1.pdf Download the Beacon Decoder spreadsheet QARMAN_BCNdecoder at https://ukamsat.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/qarman_bcndecoder.xlsx Reports can be sent to operations(a)qarman.eu [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information.] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ The digital download version of the 2019 edition of Getting Started with Amateur Satellites is now available as a DRM-free PDF from the AMSAT Store. Get yours today! https://tinyurl.com/ANS-237-Getting-Started +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ China Telecoms Regulator Proposing to Delete Some Current Amateur Allocations China's telecommunications regulator has proposed amending the Measures for the Administration of Amateur Radio Stations, and some amateur bands are in danger of being eliminated. Lide Zhang, BI8CKU, told ARRL that the proposal would prohibit amateur operation on the 2200-meter band as well as on 146 - 148 MHz, 1260 - 1300 MHz, 3400 - 3500 MHz, 5650 - 5725 MHz, and all bands above 10 GHz. Radio communications engineer and Chinese Amateur Satellite Group (CAMSAT) CEO Alan Kung, BA1DU, told ARRL that government efforts to eliminate some amateur bands are nothing new, but proposals that have been aired for a while now are on the regulatory agency's schedule. Kung said he does not anticipate that all of the bands proposed will be taken away, but he conceded that the climate will "undoubtedly" become increasingly more dangerous for China's amateur radio community. "The attempt to crowd out the amateur radio bands has a long history throughout the world," he said, "but it may never have become so urgent for the amateur radio community as it is today. We all understand that radio spectrum resources have become a bottleneck for further development." He said today's radio communication industry "is working hard to share spectrum resources." Kung characterized spectrum as "the soil on which amateur radio depends." [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Memorial Service for Brian Kantor, WB6CYT Phil Karn, KA9Q shares the following announcement: "As you know, Brian Kantor, WB6CYT passed away suddenly on November 21, 2019. We will hold a memorial service for Brian on Saturday, Feb 1 2020 at 1:30 PM in La Jolla, CA (part of San Diego). Please see this link for details: https://tinyurl.com/ANS-019-Kantor-Memorial "Please bring any photos, mementos and (above all) stories and anecdotes about Brian to share. Brian wasn't exactly a highly formal person who stood on ceremony, so we'll keep this informal. If you have a story to tell, it's up to you whether you stand up and relate it to the whole group or just a few others at a time. There will be plenty of time for both. "Everyone who knew Brian is welcome. His friendships spanned at least three distinct social circles, and I know he'd be very happy to see everyone meet and enjoy everyone else's company. Even if he'd be a little embarrassed that we were doing it in his honor. "Free snacks and refreshments will be provided, so please RSVP through the evite link so we can tell the hotel how much to make available. If you have special dietary needs, please say so; the hotel has a menu we can choose from. "Please forward this email to anyone you think might be interested. Hope to see you on the 1st." [ANS thanks Phil Karn, KA9Q 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 New Orleans, LA (EL49, EL58, EM59, EM40, EM50, EM60) January 14 - February 1, 2020 Adam, KC3OBS, will be roving EM40, EM50, EL49, EL59, January 14 - Feb 1. In between, Adam will be EL58, January 18 or 19 depending on weather, and in EM60 January 29. Adam will announce passes and updates on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparky_husky Labrador (GO11 +) January 19-27, 2019 Chris VE3FU, Dave VE9CB, and Frank VO1HP will be active as VO2AC in the 2020 CQ160 CW contest, January 24-26, from Point Armour Lighthouse, in Labrador. If time permits before the contest, they may be active on FM satellites from GO11 as VO2AC or VO2AAA. Depending on weather and timing of passes, you might catch them on FM satellites as they make their way from FO93 to GO-11, passing through FO92, GO02, GO13, GO12, and GO22 along the way, but no promises. They will also make the reverse trek on January 27. Montserrat (FK86) January 26 - February 2, 2020 Mel, W8MV, will be in Montserrat 26 January until 2 February, operating under the call sign VP2MCV on FM Sats. QSL via LOTW. Antigua (FK97) February 2 - 9, 2020 Mel, W8MV, will be in Antigua 2-9 February. Mel is waiting for his operating license. Will update as soon as it arrives. FM only. QSL via LOTW Isla Perez, Mexico (EL52, EL50, EL51) February 11 - 17, 2020 Members of Radio Club Puebla DX will be active as 6F3A from Isla Perez, Mexico, between February 11-17. The operators mentioned are Patricia/XE1SPM (Team Leader), Ismael/XE1AY, Rey/XE1SRD and Ricardo/XE1SY. Activity will be on 80/40/20/17/15/12/10/6 meters, and include the ARRL DX CW Contest (February 15-16). QSL via XE1SY. Ismael, XE1AY, reports that he doing CW and the satellites, and will also TX from EL50 and XE1AY/mm from EL51. Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020 Ron AD0DX, Doug N6UA, and Josh W3ARD will operate from Big Bend National Park to put grid DL88 on the air. Details will be added here, as they come available, but you are more than welcome to keep an eye on their individual Twitter feeds: https://twitter.com/ad0dx, https://twitter.com/dtabor, and https://twitter.com/W3ARDstroke5 [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News (Editor's Note: See school contact opportunity story above.) + Upcoming Contacts Morita Junior High School, Fukui, Japan, direct via 8J9MO The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano KF5KDP Contact is go for: Wed 2020-01-22 08:00:46 UTC 27 deg Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, Canada, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano KF5KDP Contact is go for: Wed 2020-01-22 17:21:36 UTC 32 deg [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N 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 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Shorts from All Over + ARISS-US Educators Review Processes for US Proposal Window A team of educators who are members of the ARISS-US Education Committee is finalizing the last few processes related to the late 2019 ARISS-US Proposal Window. The team had ranked the education proposals and then sent a list to the ARISS-US leaders of the top schools and education groups recommended for hosting an ARISS contact. A news release is in draft stage. The organizations selected will be in the queue for scheduled ARISS contacts during the second half of 2020. A new ARISS-US Proposal Window will open soon and details on this will be forthcoming. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information.] + WIA 2020 Annual Conference Presentations The Wireless Institute of Australia Annual Conference will be held in Hobart, Tasmania May 8-10 2020 and registrations are open. On the Saturday afternoon a wide range of presentations are organized to showcase the conference theme which is the "Antarctic Gateway". Following lunch there will be two presentation streams which can be categorized as the "Antarctic" stream and the "Radio" stream. Complete information can be viewed at: https://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2020/20200111-3/index.php [ANS thanks the Wireless Institute of Australia for the above information.] + AMSAT Argentina Celebrates LO-19 30th Anniversary On Feb-22-1990 LUSAT/LO-19 was launched along with AO-16, DO-17, WO-18, UO-14 & UO-15. It was the first Argentina Satellite, and one of first to use PACSAT protocol. LUSAT is still calling home with its carrier at +/-437.125. Members of AMSAT Argentina (LU7AA) celebrate the 30th anniversary of the LUSAT (LO-19) satellite between Jan. 18 and 26 on HF on SSB, FT8, CW. An award is available as well. QSL via LU7AA (d), eQSL. Find complete information at: http://lu4aao.org/lu7aa/cert_30_aniv_lusat_2020.htm and http://amsat.org.ar/certlusat30.htm [ANS thanks the DARC DX Newsletter and AMSAT-LU for the above information.] + AMSAT-SA Announces A New Date Fre Their Space Symposium The annual AMSAT SA Space symposium date has changed to Saturday, 11 July 2020. While the call for papers is ongoing till the end of February, AMSAT SA is pleased to announce that Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, of AMSAT NA will delivery two papers at the symposium: Fox-in-a-box: Fox telemetry reception using an inexpensive Raspberry Pi and a J-pole antenna including a discussion on the optimal positioning for a J-pole antenna for satellite reception and an overview of what is in orbit currently and expected in the near future and their features. Prospective authors are invited to propose other papers by submitting a brief synopsis to admin(a)amsatsa.org.za before 28 February 2020. + Cardiff Microwave Roundtable Saturday, March 7, 2020 The Cardiff University ARS will host a meeting of the UK Microwave Group on Saturday March 7, 2020 at our campus in Cardiff. This one day event is a mix of talks, measurements, and socializing about activities in the GHz frequencies. GNU Radio Workshop On the following day, Sunday March 8, there will be a hands on Introduction to GNU Radio and Software Defined Radio. More info coming soon, please send an email to officers(a)cardiffars.org.uk if you are interested. [ANS thanks the UK Microwave Group for the above information.] + Lockheed Martin Launches First Smart Satellite Enabling Space Mesh Networking Recently, Lockheed Martin launched the Pony Express 1 mission as a hosted payload on Tyvak-0129, a next-generation Tyvak 6U spacecraft. Pony Express 1, an example of rapid prototyping, was developed, built and integrated in nine months. Some of the key technologies being flight-tested include: - Software validates advanced adaptive mesh communications between satellites, shared processing capabilities, and can take advantage, of sensors aboard other smart satellites, - A software-defined radio that allows for high-bandwidth hosting of multiple RF applications, store-and-forward RF collection, data compression, digital signal processing and waveform transmission, - 3D-printed wideband antenna housing. Read the full story at http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=55121 [ANS thanks Spaceref.com for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 additional 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 student rate for a maximum of six post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Frank Karnauskas, N1UW n1uw at amsat dot org Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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ANS-012 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for January 12
by JoAnne K9JKM 11 Jan '20

11 Jan '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-012 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: * Virgin Orbit Plans Flight Test of LauncherOne Rocket in February * AMSAT Awards Update * AMSAT at Cowtown Hamfest - Ft. Worth - January 17-18 * JARL Announces FO-29 Activation Schedule * CAMSAT Says CAS-6 Activation for Amateur Use has been Delayed * Telemetry Dashboard Available for SMOG-P and ATL PocketQubes * MIT Radio Society W1MX January Lecture Series on “Everything Radio” * AMSAT-DL Announces a New QO-100 DownConverter V3d * AMSAT South Africa Space Symposium 2020 First Call for Papers * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-012.01 ANS-012 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 012.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE January 12, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-012.01 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ If you missed the live HamTalkLive podcast featuring Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive VP on January 9 you can listen on demand any- time at hamtalklive.com; or a podcast version on nearly all podcast sites a few minutes after the live show is over including Apple Pod- casts, Stitcher, Google Play, SoundCloud, and iHeart Podcasts; and it's also available on YouTube. A replay is also broadcast on WTWW 5085 AM on Saturday nights at approximately 6:30 pm Eastern. Look for Episode 195 - AMSAT 50th Anniversary Recap 09 Jan +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Virgin Orbit Plans Flight Test of LauncherOne Rocket in February Virgin Orbit, AMSAT's launch for RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E, has announced they expect to have their first test launch of LauncherOne, their airborne-launched rocket, sometime in the second half of February. The LauncherOne rocket is carried on the VO 747 Cosmic Girl aircraft. If this first test flight is successful RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E is planned for launch on the second flight of LauncherOne during 1Q 2020 on the ELaNa XX mission. RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E ----------------- Uplink: 145.860 MHz - 145.890 MHz LSB/CW Downlink: 435.790 MHz - 435.760 MHz USB/CW (inverting) Telemetry: 435.750 MHz 1K2 bps BPSK Investigate the excitement at: https://virginorbit.com/ - and - https://twitter.com/Virgin_Orbit/status/1214605925228482560 [ANS thanks Virgin Orbit for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Awards Update Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, reported, "Now that 2019 is behind us, I thought I would catch up with the awards issued the last half of the year." AMSAT Satellite Communicators Award for making their first satellite QSO + Daniel Rahn, K8EC + Bernd Peters, KB7AK + Shane Hale, KE5HSS + Benny Chandra, YD0SPU + Martin Lipert, OK1UM + Helene Charbonneau, VE2AQM + Spiro Andy Loizos, VE2LZS + Stelios Alex Loizos, VA2LZS + Souly Loizos, VE2FFS + Adam Warrix, KD9NRT + Steffen Gross, DM3CW ---------- AMSAT Communications Achievement Award + Jonathan Zylstra, KL2DN #620 + Robert Bankston, KE4AL #621 + Sloan Davis, KN4GQB #622 + Walter Mercado Vazquez, KP4T #623 ---------- AMSAT Sexagesimal Satellite Communications Achievement Award + Robert Bankston, KE4AL #184 ---------- AMSAT Century Club Award + Robert Bankston, KE4AL #54 ---------- AMSAT South Africa Satellite Communications Achievement Award + Jonathan Zylstra, KL2DN #US222 + Robert Bankston, KE4AL #US223 + Sloan Davis, KN4GQB #US224 ---------- AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award (1,000-4,000) + Ron Parsons, W5RKN upgrade to 4000 ---------- AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award 5,000 + Adrian Liggins, VA3NNA #35 + Ron Parsons, W5RKN #36 ---------- AMSAT Rover Award + #043 N7EGY + #044 CU2ZG + #045 K9EI + #046 KR5Z + #047 N4DCW + #048 KC9VGG + #049 W3ZM/9 (OP KC9VGG) + #050 W5PFG ---------- The next batch of AMSAT 50th Anniversary Satellite Friends of 50 awards are hot off the presses. Congratulations to: + BH4IWK + F4HVO + K0CFI + KC9VGG + VE2FFS + WP4T Visit https://www.amsat.org/amsat-50th-anniversary-awards-program/ 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] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at Cowtown Hamfest - Ft. Worth - January 17-18 AMSAT will be represented at the 2020 Cowtown Hamfest in Fort Worth, TX on January 17 and 18 with a table, demos and presentations. If you live in the North Texas area, this is a great event, well attended and lots of vendors. Please put it on your calendar. Info posted at http://www.cowtownhamfest.com/ AMSAT Ambassador Tom Schuessler, N5HYP, says he has openings to staff the table, do the demos and assist with the presentations. The Cowtown amateur Radio Club was a home for our dearly beloved and SK, Keith Pugh, W5IU. The organizers offered AMSAT a no charge table space in the market area so a big thank you to them is in order. Tom hopes you can plan to be a part of this fine event. If you can assist in any way for AMSAT, please drop Tom an email at: N5HYP(a)arrl.net Keep an eye on https://www.amsat.org/other-events/ for updates on coming AMSAT events. [ANS thanks AMSAT Ambassador Tom Schuessler, N5HYP, 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/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ JARL Announces FO-29 Activation Schedule Due to battery problems FO-29 has been largely inactive - usually activated over Japan while in range of the command station. Akira Kaneko, JA1OGZ, FO-29 Command Station has posted an activation schedule for additional access: FO-29 Transponder Active (UTC) ------------------------------ 1/12 05:05- 17:00 1/13 04:10- 05:55 1/18 04:50- 06:35 1/19 03:55- 05:40 1/26 04:30- 06:15 2/1 06:00- 2/2 06:50- 2/8 04:50-15:00 2/9 03:55-15:50 2/11 03:50-05:35 2/23 03:20-05:05 2/24 04:10-5:55-14:20 3/1 04:00-05:40-15:55 3/2 04:45-14:55 FO-29 ----- Uplink: 145.900 - 146.000 MHz LSB/CW Downlink: 435.900 - 435.800 MHz USB/CW (inverting) Beacon: 435.795 MHz [ANS thanks Akira Kaneko, JA1OGZ, FO-29 Command Station for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- CAMSAT Says CAS-6 Activation for Amateur Use has been Delayed 01/07/2020 - via ARRL Chinese Amateur Satellite Group (CAMSAT) CEO Alan Kung, BA1DU, tells ARRL that some problems with the precise attitude determination of the newly launched CAS-6 amateur radio satellite have delayed deploy- ment of the antennas. The satellite was to have been put into service within 3 days. “If the V/UHF antennas are deployed now, additional torque may affect determination of the satellite attitude,” Kung said. “Engineers need to modify and upload the software, which will take some time.” He said that taking into consideration the upcoming long Chinese New Year holiday, the test work is planned to be completed sometime in late February or early March. At that time, VHF/UHF antennas will be deployed, and the amateur radio payload will be available for use. Kung points out that the satellite’s CW beacon has been turned on, although the antenna has not yet been deployed. “If you have a ‘big ear,’ you may be able to receive weak signal leaked from an undeploy- ed antenna on 145.910 MHz,” he said. “A polyimide cover on the anten- na chassis can help to leak some RF signal.” CAS-6 launched successfully on December 20, piggybacked on a TIANQIN-1 technology test satellite. The microsatellite will be known as CAS-6/TIANQIN-1, and the call sign is BJ1SO. The primary launch pay- load was the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite, CBERS-4A. CAS-6 is in a sun-synchronous orbit with an apogee of 390 miles. It carries a U/V linear transponder, with a downlink of 145.925, 20 kHz passband (inverted) and an uplink of 435.28 MHz. The CW telemetry beacon is on 145.910 MHz, while 4k9 baud GMSK telemetry will be trans- mitted on 145.890 MHz. [ANS thanks CAMSAT and the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Telemetry Dashboard Available for SMOG-P and ATL PocketQubes The SMOG-P and ATL PocketQube team at the Budapest University of Tech- nology and Economics has released additional information about their satellites recently launched by RocketLab from New Zealand. SMOG-P digital downlink: 437.150 MHz ATL digital downlink: 437.175 MHz More information on both satellites is posted at: http://gnd.bme.hu SMOG-P (MO-105) is a 1p PocketQube (5x5x5 cm, 250 grams), a fully re- dundant tiny satellite with an actual scientific payload: a flying spectrum analyzer. It measures the scattered RF energy over the UHF band (specifically, in the digital terrestrial TV band) that can be detected in space. ATL-1 (MO-106) is a larger 2p PocketQube featuring the same spectrum analyzer experiment. Both satellites transmit almost identical telemetry data. In addition to basic CW telemetry carrying callsign, battery voltage and tempera- ture, there is digital telemetry with variable data rate and coding scheme. Most frequently, modulation is 1250 or 5000 bps GMSK. The data is encoded either by the well-known "AO-40" FEC, or a shorter, pro- prietary variant of it, but they can also use a more powerful, state- of-art repeat-accumulate (RA) coding scheme. Some practical information about receiving the telemetry: A GUI telemetry receiver is available for Windows and Linux (soon for OS X as well), and a command line receiver can also be used (Linux only). Both can be downloaded from: https://gnd.bme.hu:8080/index The programs are able to submit the received packets to the central telemetry data base. This requires a quick registration, the login credentials can be used with either of the decoders. There are some issues with the GUI software that hopefully will be resolved within a few days. These decoders assume either a USB receiver connected through the sound card or an rtl-sdr receiver. Thanks to Daniel Estevez, EA4GPZ, a high quality, full decoder and packet uploader is also available for GNU Radio 3.8 within the out- of-tree module gr-satellites. For uploading to the received packets, it uses the same login as the "official" programs do: https://github.com/daniestevez/gr-satellites/tree/maint-3.8 This decoder can unleash the full potential of the RA FEC. You'll need to put an FM demodulator in front of the flowgraph. The team is looking forward to seeing many submissions on the "Leader- board" from around the world: https://gnd.bme.hu:8080/leaderboard Having many receiving stations around the globe could greatly improve the global picture the spectrum analyzer payload can offer. [ANS thanks the PocketQube team at the Budapest University of Tech- nology and Economics for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- MIT Radio Society W1MX January Lecture Series on “Everything Radio” The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radio Society (W1MX) and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science are hosting a lecture series in January that may answer some of your questions about such topics as radar techniques, interferometry, imaging, and radio astronomy, to antenna design and modern chip- scale RF devices. No prior experience with radio is necessary, and all are welcome. All lectures will take place in the Green Building — MIT’s tallest academic building. Sessions will be live streamed and archived for later viewing. The lectures have already kicked off on January 10 with “The Next Generation of Weather Radar.” Other topics include “Lightning Interferometry” (January 13); “Radio Noises from the Sky” (January 15); “EDGES: Measuring the Early Universe” (January 22); “Antennas” (January 24), and “Chip-Scale THz Circuits and Sensors” (January 29). Lectures begin at 5 PM ET and conclude at 7 PM. MIT has posted details at: http://w1mx.mit.edu/iap/2020/ [ANS thanks the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-DL Announces a New QO-100 DownConverter V3d The first version of the AMSAT-DL down converter was built in early 2019, enabling many stations to become active on QO-100 for the first time. Since then, a lot of operating experience and new insights have been gained, which have flowed into the new board V3d. The AMSAT-DL DownConverter V3d is a completely new development. It offers important functions for all QO-100 stations, no matter if you work with VHF/UHF, HF transceiver, or an SDR. This new board can be used as a central frequency converter assembly for your QO-100 sta- tion providing stable clocks for all components meaning that addi- tional external GPS modules are not required. The specification for the AMSAT-DL DownConverter V3d includes: + Centralized clock generation with GPS or OCXO + Reference clock for the PLL in the LNB + Reference clock for a transmit mixer + Reference clock for an SDR + Short-circuit proof LNB phantom power + Connection for a dual LNB (for simultaneous NB and WB reception) + Downward mixing of the NB transponder into an amateur band (UHF/VHF or HF) + OLED display for displaying the operating status and the station coordinates The full specification and list of features is posted at: https://amsat-dl.org/der-neue-amsat-dl-qo-100-downconverter-v3d and you can order your unit at: https://shop.amsat-dl.org/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ The digital download version of the 2019 edition of Getting Started with Amateur Satellites is now available as a DRM-free PDF from the AMSAT Store. Get yours today! https://tinyurl.com/ANS-237-Getting-Started +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT South Africa Space Symposium 2020 First Call for Papers Papers are invited for presentation at the conference and publi- cation on the web. Please send your synopsis by 28 February 2020 in a word document of no more than 300 words to: admin(a)amsatsa.org.za. Please tell us if you will be available to present your paper at the conference ... speakers attend free. The Symposium date is July 18, 2020 at the Premier Hotel Midrand. The theme this year is "Amateur Radio in Space – exploring VHF, UHF and Microwaves". Watch http://www.amsatsa.org.za/ for the latest information. [ANS thanks AMSAT SA 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 ARISS Contact Schedule Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: + Sayama Mizutomi Community Center, Sayama, Japan, direct via 8J1SS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano KF5KDP Contact is go: Mon 2020-01-13 11:58:07 [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, and David Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS opera- tion team members, 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 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations Satellite Shorts + January 17-19 EM17 KN6DBC AO-91 & AO-92 night passes (@KN6DBC) New Orleans, LA (EL49, EL58, EM59, EM40, EM50, EM60) January 14 – February 1, 2020. Adam, KC3OBS, will be roving EM40, EM50, EL49, EL59, January 14th – Feb 1. In between, Adam will be EL58, January 18th or 19th depending on weather, and in EM60 January 29. Adam will announce passes and updates on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparky_husky Lucas Gusher Special Event (EM20) January 11-12, 2020 The Beaumont Amateur Radio Club will be operating using the call- sign K5S on various HF bands including as many CAS-4A, CAS-4B, AO-91, AO-92 passes that we can. SO-50 and XW-2A also possible. More information about K5S can be found on qrz.com. Labrador (GO11 +) January 19-27, 2020 Chris VE3FU, Dave VE9CB, and Frank VO1HP will be active as VO2AC in the 2020 CQ160 CW contest, January 24-26, from Point Armour Lighthouse, in Labrador. If time permits before the contest, they may be active on FM satellites from GO11 as VO2AC or VO2AAA. Depending on weather and timing of passes, you might catch them on FM satellites as they make their way from FO93 to GO-11, passing through FO92, GO02, GO13, GO12, and GO22 along the way, but no promises. They will also make the reverse trek on January 27. Brennan Price, M/N4QX, will be active from grid square IO91 *as work permits* January 20-24. QSL *exclusively* via Logbook of the World. Montserrat, January 26 to February 2 Mel, W8MV, will be working the FM satellites using the callsign VP2MCV. He will then be operating from Antigua from February 2 to February 9. Mel is still waiting for the license so it is not yet known what the callsign will be from Antigua. QSL via LoTW. Isla Perez, Mexico - EL52dj February 11-17 Members of Radio Club Puebla DX will be active as 6F3A from Isla Perez (grid EL52dj), Mexico, between February 11-17. The operators mentioned are Patricia/XE1SPM (Team Leader), Ismael/XE1AY, Rey/ XE1SRD and Ricardo/XE1SY. Activity will be on 80/40/20/17/15/12/ 10/6 meters, and include the ARRL DX CW Contest (February 15-16). QSL via XE1SY. ADDED NOTE: Ismael, XE1AY, reports that he doing CW and the satellites, and will also TX from EL50 and XE1AY/mm from EL51. (Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1446) Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020 Ron AD0DX, Doug N6UA, and Josh W3ARD will operate from Big Bend National Park to put grid DL88 on the air. Details will be added here, as they come available, but you are more than welcome to keep an eye on their individual Twitter feeds: https://twitter.com/ad0dx, https://twitter.com/dtabor, and https://twitter.com/W3ARDstroke5 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 + Need help getting your Icom IC-9700 working with SatPC32? Check out this guide written by Stefan Wagener, VE4SW posted on at: http://www.amsat.org --> Satellite Info --> Station and Operating Hints --> "The new Icom IC-9700 is a great satellite radio ..." document is at the bottom of the page. The direct URL to the PDF document is: https://tinyurl.com/ANS-012-IC9700-SatPC32 + NASA's Texas Space Grant Consortium announced the summer program for STEM Educators (grades 5-12), LiftOff 2020: Moon to Mars, a weeklong professional development training for teachers, June 21-26, 2020. The application deadline is March 2, 2020. Workshops include learning experiences by incorporating a space science theme support- ed by NASA missions. Teacher participants are provided with infor- mation and experiences through speakers, hands-on activities and field investigations that promote space science and enrichment activities for themselves and others. Visit the program website at: http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/liftoff/ + A new distance record has been set on the PO-101 (Diwata2H) FM transponder. F4DXV worked R9LR on 08-Jan-2020 at 22:57 UTC for a distance of 4,542 km. More posted at: https://twitter.com/PRStoetzer/status/1215441267976523777 https://www.amsat.org/satellite-distance-records/ + The AMSAT-DL radome to house their QO-100 antenna made it to Ant- arctica and is installed on top of Neumayer-Station III. Further work will be needed to be install it permanently. The station is also waiting for the AMSAT-UK FUNcube relay to arrive, pending wea- ther conditions for flying there. See the photo posted by HB9HCF: https://twitter.com/pa3weg/status/1215642731336404995 + A tweet from @AlbaOrbital reports that AMSAT Spain is signed up to fly on Alba Cluster 3. The Spanish satellite is a 1.5p PocketQube called Hades which is a satellite for amateur communications imple- menting a Bent-Pipe type repeater and with Store & Forward capabil- ities. See: https://twitter.com/AlbaOrbital/status/1214932730045194240 + AMSAT-EA (Vocalía de Satellites de URE) has registered with IARU and the Spanish administration their GÉNESIS-L and GÉNESIS-N sat- ellites for launch in mid-2020. An introduction to the project: https://www.ure.es/satelites-genesis-de-amsat-ea/ - and - https://twitter.com/ure_es/status/1214911584927133701 http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=698 http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=699 + A 3-axis rotor based on the Celestron NexStar telescope mount with hamlib and rotctl drivers is demonstrated at: https://youtu.be/Avp1ROEkgeA -and- https://youtu.be/BDTjnJm41mc + Stuart Thomas, KB1HQS, author of the ARRL book, "Portable Operating for Amateur Radio", describes construction of a Hiking Pole Yagi Antenna for Extreme Environments" on his web page: https://kb1hqs.com/2019/12/26/ultralight-hiking-pole-yagi-antenna/ + Amateur radio talks featured at the popular DEF CON 27 event in Las Vegas during August 8-11, 2019. Watch Mark KR6ZY - Hunting tape measure yagis and offset attenuators - DEF CON 27 Ham Radio Village: https://youtu.be/KGQDQZT9lRQ - and - feast on the videos of hundreds of additional DEF CON talks posted at: https://www.youtube.com/user/DEFCONConference/videos (via Southgate) + In April 2020, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will celebrate 30 years since its launch. ESA/Hubble has produced a commemorative calendar of the telescope’s Hidden Gems that is now available for everyone to use and enjoy. See: https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic2001/ + Opensource.com has published 12 open source resources for kids and young adults to learn from open source technology: https://opensource.com/article/19/12/kids-students-education + Did you ever dream of being a NASA astronaut? This spring, NASA once again will be accepting applications for New Astronauts! Stay tuned to http://nasa.gov/astronauts for upcoming information on how you can explore places like the Moon and Mars. + The Signal Path presents, "Tutorial on Theory, Characterization & Measurement Techniques of Phase Noise" in a video posted at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOHjFtw0sgo&feature=youtu.be + If phase noise doesn't keep you up at night you've probably found yourself wondering why do mirrors flip left & right but not up and down? A video giving you the answer that this has to do with specu- lar reflection, mirrors being like windows into another world like alternate universes, just with in and out flipped! There's your answer! Have a good night after you watch at: https://youtu.be/1t4dOPxKgrY --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73 and remember to behave and to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm at amsat dot org

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ANS-005 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Mark D. Johns 04 Jan '20

04 Jan '20

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-005 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and commun- icating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * AMSAT Member KC9ZJX Receives 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Award * Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 2, 2020 * Space Fence nearing operational acceptance by U.S. Air Force * VUCC Awards-Endorsements for January 2020 * Winter Field Day to Include Limited Satellite Operations * Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-005.01 ANS-005 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 005.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE 2020 Jan 05 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-005.01 AMSAT Member KC9ZJX Receives 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Award Congratulations to AMSAT member Dhruv Rebba, KC9ZJX, winner of the Bloomington and Normal (Illinois) Human Relations Commissions 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. award. The commission chooses people who re- flect the ideology of the late Dr. King. Rebba is a sophomore at Normal Community High School. He is a volun- teer and/or member of YMCA/YWCA, Illinois 4-H, Multicultural Leader- ship Program (MCLP), National Computer Science Honor Society, and First Robotics. He is also Amateur Radio Newsline's 2019 Young Ham Of The Year. Rebba gave the youth presentation at AMSAT 36th Annual Symposium Huntsville, Alabama in 2018 where is also received AMSAT's Presidential Award. The announcement is posted on-line at: https://www.wglt.org/post/bloomington-normal-mlk-awards-announced [ANS thanks WGLT.org, NPR Radio from Illinois State University, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 2, 2020 Correction to the addition of FloripaSat 1 to last week's TLE distri- bution: FloripaSat 1 is NORAD CAT ID 44885. Also the first part of the TLE distribution was left off the orb19360.2l.amsat file sent last week. The second file sent orb19361.2l.amsat contained the full list of satellites. We are still awaiting the identification of CAS-6. Or... Use the keps for FloripaSat 1 (NORAD CAT ID 44885) for CAS-6 per suggestion of Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P. This, of course, assumes that CAS-6 is in fact transmitting??? [ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Space Fence nearing operational acceptance by U.S. Air Force According to NASA’s most recent Orbital Debris Quarterly News, NASA calculates about 17.6 million pounds of objects are in earth orbit. That number will only grow as more commercial space projects launch massive constellations with thousands of smallsats, presenting a huge problem for both U.S. government and commercial organizations. That’s where the U.S. Air Force’s Space Fence will play a crucial role. Using advanced solid-state S-band radar technology, the Space Fence radar located on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, it will play a critical role in the everyday lives of Americans who are becoming more dependent on space-based technologies for everything from weather forecasting, banking, global communications to GPS navigation. Today, these critical services are being threatened by hundreds of thousands of objects and space debris orbiting the Earth. Frequent col- lisions and deterioration of assets, such as defunct satellites and rocket boosters, have increased the amount of space debris and raised the risk of future collisions in space. The Air Force Space Surveillance Network currently tracks about 25,000 objects. When Space Fence comes online, the catalog will experience significant growth and when fully operational, Space Fence will be the world’s largest and most advanced radar system, providing unprecedented space situational awareness. Beyond cataloging objects, Space Fence will detect closely-spaced ob- jects, breakups, maneuvers, launches and conjunction assessments from LEO through GEO. Space Fence is currently in a trial period and expected to become fully operational in 2020. [ANS thanks Milsat Magazine for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ VUCC Awards-Endorsements for January 2020 Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period December 3, 2019 through January 1, 2020. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! DEC JAN AA5PK 1064 1074 AA8CH 620 641 N3GS 601 624 WD9EWK(DM43)585 597 NS3L 526 551 W5CBF 179 533 K9UO 500 528 AA9LC 416 514 W7QL 451 478 PS8ET 303 326 G0ABI 306 320 WB7VUF 206 319 AA4QE 204 305 KC9VGG 200 228 KC9UQR 172 196 N9FN 103 194 W4AQT 153 179 W5CBF(EM21) New 179 W0NBC 152 176 KJ4M 102 170 W9VNE New 169 VE1VOX 126 155 W4DFU 116 151 AI9IN 125 150 WD9EWK(DM41)127 148 WD9EWK(DM23)104 137 N7AME 127 128 WA9JBQ 104 125 VU2LBW 100 114 KC8AMH New 101 N3CAL New 100 YO2CMI New 100 If you find errors or omissions, please contact W5RKN at w5krn.com. This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for the two months. It's a visual comparison so omissions are possible. Apolo- gies if your call was not mentioned. Thanks to all those who are rov- ing to grids that are rarely on the birds. They are doing most of the work! [ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Winter Field Day to Include Limited Satellite Operations Winter Field Day runs for 24 hours during the last full weekend in Jan- uary each year from 1900 UTC (2pm EST) Saturday to 1900 UTC (2pm EST) Sunday. For 2020 the dates are January 25th and 26th. Station set-up may commence no earlier than 1900 UTC (2pm EST) on the Friday before. Station setup may consume no more than 12 hours total. All Amateur bands, HF, VHF, & UHF except 12, 17, 30 and 60 meters. Any mode that can faithfully transmit the exchange intact without a conver- sion table... CW, SSB, AM, FM, DStar, C4FM, DMR, Packet, PSK, SSTV, RTTY, Olivia, Satellite, etc... (note FT8 is excluded). Satellite contacts do not count as a new mode/band multiplier. Satel- lite contacts are limited to ONE ONLY per entry so as to not tie up satellite frequencies with stations calling CQ WFD. Three operating categories are available: Indoor: Operation from inside a remote, insulated, heated, and weather- protected structure where an Amateur station is normally not available. Outdoor: Operation from a location partly or fully exposed to the ele- ments and at least 30 feet away from your normal station location and not using any part of a previously erected antenna system or station. Home: Operation from inside a home or inside another structure attach- ed to a home that could or would be the usual location of an Amateur station. For additional information, see: https://www.winterfieldday.com/ [ANS thanks the Winter Field Day Association 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 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. Current schedule: January 6, 2020 West Valley Amateur Radio Club, Sun City, AZ January 11, 2020 Thunderbird ARC Hamfest, Glendale, AZ January 17-18, 2020 Cowtown Hamfest, Fort Worth, TX February 7-9, 2020 Hamcation, Orlando, FL March 6, 2020 Irving Hamfest, Irving, TX May 15-17, 2020 Hamvention, Xenia, OH June 12-13, 2020 Ham-Con, Plano, TX A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for download at: https://tinyurl.com/yx7lc7m8 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. For additional information on the AMSAT Ambassador Program, see: https://www.amsat.org/ambassador/ [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, Director, AMSAT Ambassadors for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations Due to weather concerns, the W5M/MM satellite expedition to EL58 is being postponed to Sunday Jan 5th. For updates, follow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ad0dx Lucas Gusher Special Event (EM20) January 11-12, 2020 The Beaumont Amateur Radio Club will be operating using the call- sign K5S on various HF bands including as many CAS-4A, CAS-4B, AO-91, AO-92 passes that we can. SO-50 and XW-2A also possible. More information about K5S can be found on qrz.com. Labrador (GO11 +) January 19-27, 2020 Chris VE3FU, Dave VE9CB, and Frank VO1HP will be active as VO2AC in the 2020 CQ160 CW contest, January 24-26, from Point Armour Lighthouse, in Labrador. If time permits before the contest, they may be active on FM satellites from GO11 as VO2AC or VO2AAA. Depending on weather and timing of passes, you might catch them on FM satellites as they make their way from FO93 to GO-11, passing through FO92, GO02, GO13, GO12, and GO22 along the way, but no promises. They will also make the reverse trek on January 27. Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020 Ron AD0DX, Doug N6UA, and Josh W3ARD will operate from Big Bend National Park to put grid DL88 on the air. Details will be added here, as they come available, but you are more than welcome to keep an eye on their individual Twitter feeds: https://twitter.com/ad0dx, https://twitter.com/dtabor, and https://twitter.com/W3ARDstroke5 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/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Satellite Shorts From All Over + TAPR PSR Digital Journal Winter 2020 Edition Available at: http://tapr.org/psr/psr143.pdf (ANS thanks TAPR for the above information) + The January/February 2020 SARC Communicator newsletter is available at: http://bit.ly/SARC20JanFeb This edition has 75 pages of projects, news, views, and reviews from the SW corner of Canada. Find out about the northernmost amateur radio station: "VY0ERC: What is life like at the farthest north Amateur Radio Club in Canada?" starting on page 14. (ANS thanks Surrey Amateur Radio Communications for the above info) + A CBC Hamilton news feature on John David, VA3JHD, and his work with the Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio Systems (CFARS), briefly mentions amateur satellites. See the article at: https://tinyurl.com/rmbpfxa (ANS thanks CBC Hamilton for the above information) + Work is going "smoothly" on the Chandrayaan-3 mission to put a rover probe on the moon's surface, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K. Sivan told a press conference. India is seeking to become only the fourth nation after Russia, the United States and China to put a mission on the moon's surface and boost its credentials as a low-cost space power. The country's Chandrayaan-2 module crashed on the moon's surface in September. (ANS thanks spacedaily.com for the above information) + China has just released the first batch of #ChangE4 science data! The first ever mission to land on the the far side of the Moon. This is actually a really cool and user friendly website. To access in En- glish visit: http://moon.bao.ac.cn/index_en.jsp + E-members of AMSAT-UK can now download the December 2019 edition of OSCAR News, issue 228. For details, see: https://amsat-uk.org/2019/12/31/december-2019-oscar-news/ Also, a video on a recent moonbounce and satellite expedition to Botswana may be found on the AMSAT-UK website: https://amsat-uk.org/2019/12/27/a21eme-moonbounce-qo100/ (ANS thank AMSAT-UK and Trevor Essex, M5AKA, for the above informa- tion) + Congratulations to Chris Taron, NK1K, on the achievement of DXCC via LEO satellite! This is a remarkable achievement matched by few. (ANS thanks Twitter @NK1K for the above information) + Congratulations to WA7FWF on uploading 1 million Fox Telemetry frames to the server. For more information on capturing telemetry from the Fox satellites, see: https://www.amsat.org/foxtelem-software-for-windows-mac-linux/ (ANS thanks Mark Hammond, N8MH, AMSAT Board Member, 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, K0JM at amsat dot org

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ANS-363 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Paul Stoetzer 28 Dec '19

28 Dec '19

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-363 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: * First Element of ARISS Next Generation Radio System Readied for Launch on SpaceX CRS-20 * ARISS SSTV Event Planned for December 28 - January 1 * Reminder: AMSAT CW Day on January 1 * Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for December 26 * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-363.01 ANS-363 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 363.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE December 29, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-363.01 First Element of ARISS Next Generation Radio System Readied for Launch on SpaceX CRS-20 During this Holiday Season, when the spirit of giving and receiving gifts reigns high, ARISS received a special gift and delivered a phenomenal gift to the international community. This occurred on Thursday December 19, 2019. Our international gift to all—students, STEM education, the public and the amateur radio community—was the historic transfer of the first Interoperable Radio System (IORS) flight unit, serial number 1001, to NASA Johnson Space Center for launch on SpaceX CRS-20. The special gift received by ARISS was the approval from NASA Safety to launch the IORS on SpaceX CRS-20 and stow the radio system on the International Space Station. December 19, 2019 was truly a banner day for ARISS! The IORS is a foundational element of the ARISS next generation radio system and is an incredible engineering achievement by the ARISS hardware team. This first element delivery will support easier radio mode transitions and enable new, exciting capabilities for hams, students and the general public. The IORS will include a higher power radio, an enhanced voice repeater, updated digital packet radio (APRS) capabilities and slow scan television (SSTV) capabilities for both the US and Russian segments. The IORS consists of a special, modified JVCKenwood TM-D710GA transceiver, an AMSAT-developed multi voltage power supply and interconnecting cables. This first flight IORS will be installed in the ISS Columbus module. A second flight unit is expected to be launched sometime in 2020 for installation in the Russian Service module. A total of 4 flight units and 10 total units will be built by the ARISS hardware team to support on-board flight operations, training, operations planning and hardware testing. Future upgrades and enhancements to the next generation system are in various stages of design & development. These include a repaired Ham Video system (currently planned for launch in mid-to-late 2020), L-band (uplink) repeater, ground command operations capability, LimeSDR signal reception, a microwave “Ham Communicator” and Lunar Gateway prototype experiment. While yesterday was truly an historic milestone, it should be noted that there is still much “heavy lifting” work to be done to prepare the IORS for Operations on ISS. ARISS has 92 engineering requirements and our operations Phase III safety review to complete. The space agencies take a position of “Trust but Verify.” Thus, these engineering and safety “verifications” all need to be closed out before the IORS can be unstowed and turned on. This will be the ARISS hardware team’s focus over the next few months. Also, please remember that ARISS is almost entirely run by volunteers. So donations to the ARISS program for next generation hardware devel- opments, operations, education and administrative functions are always welcome. Please go to https://www.ariss.org/donate.html if you want to contribute to our efforts! In closing, ARISS would like to thank the outstanding contributions of the IORS hardware development team on an incredible radio system. ARISS would like to thank our sponsors and donors for helping us realize the IORS hardware systems. On behalf of the ARISS team, we would like to wish you all a joyful and prosperous Holiday Season — Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!! Ad Astra! To the Stars! 73, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO ARISS International Chair AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs [ANS thanks Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT Vice President - Human Space- flight and ARISS International Chair 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 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ARISS SSTV Event Planned for December 28 - January 1 ARISS is planning an SSTV event featuring commemorative images. This event is currently scheduled to begin on December 28, 2019 at 11:00 UTC and ends at 18:20 UTC on January 1, 2020. Please make note that sometimes changes may occur in the crew work schedule that could affect our SSTV transmission dates and times, so frequently check our ARISS Facebook and Twitter accounts shown below for any updates before and throughout the event. Transmissions will be sent at 145.800 MHz FM in the SSTV mode PD-120. Once received, images can be posted and viewed by the public at http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php and you can receive a special SSTV ARISS Award for posting your image. See https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/sstv/ for details. Also for simplicity, we have added a new information tab for SSTV events, under the General Contacts pulldown menu at www.ariss.org . [ANS thanks Dave Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS Public Relations for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Reminder: AMSAT CW Day on January 1 You are cordially invited to take part in AMSAT CW Activity Day 2020 sponsored by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the world. The 2020 event will be held in memory of Larry Brown, W7LB, and Keith Pugh, W5IU. Among their many contributions to AMSAT, they were the AMSAT 20-meter net for many years. Participation is easy. Just operate CW through any Amateur Radio satellite on 1 January 2020. Use of straight keys or bugs is encouraged but not required. If you use AO-7, please observe the QRP rules currently in effect for that 45-year-old satellite. May it be with us for many years to come! [ANS thanks Raphael Soifer, W2RS, AMSAT Senior Advisor for the above information.] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ The digital download version of the 2019 edition of Getting Started with Amateur Satellites is now available as a DRM-free PDF from the AMSAT Store. Get yours today! https://tinyurl.com/ANS-237-Getting-Started +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for December 26 This week's AMSAT TLE distribution reflects the following two satellite name changes per ANS Bulletin 356.01 dated December 22, 2019: SMOG-P (Cat. ID 44832) is now MO-105 (Magyar-OSCAR 105) and ATL-1 (Cat. ID 44830) is now MO-106 (Magyar-OSCAR 106). (Per Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator) The following Amateur Radio satellite has been added to this week's TLE distribution: FloripaSat 1 - NORAD CAT ID 44830 (Taiyuan Space Center launch, 12/20/2019). (Thanks to Nico Janseen, PA0DLO, for satellite identification.) CAS-6 was launched as a piggyback satellite on TIANQIN-1 on December 20, 2019 via a CZ-4B launch vehicle from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Still awaiting a satellite signal, thus the CAT ID has not been positively identified as yet. More later. [ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager 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/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Donate to AMSAT Tax-Free From Your IRA Are you over 70-1/2 years of age and need to meet your IRA's Required Minimum Distribution for 2019? Consider making a donation to AMSAT! Under the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, individuals over 70-1/2 years of age may make direct transfers of up to $100,000 per year from a traditional IRA to an eligible charity without increasing their taxable income. Consult your tax advisor or accountant to make certain you are eligible. AMSAT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational and scientific organization whose purpose is to design, construct, launch, and operate satellites in space and to provide the support needed to encourage amateurs to utilize these resources. AMSAT's federal tax ID is 52-0888529. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations Satellite Shorts: Dec 27-30 EM90 N4DCW – vacation style (Twitter: @MWimages) Dec 27-30 EL86 K4WPX FM Dec 30 EM94 (overnight) – vacation style (Twitter: @MWimages) Dec 30-Jan 01 EL87/88 K4WPX FM Jan 02 EM58/68 WB9VPG Midday passes on AO-91/92 Wyoming (DN71,DN72,DN81,DN82) December 31, 2019 Doug, N6UA, and RJ, WY7AA are teaming up with special guest operator Ron, AD0DX, to activate the DN71, DN72, DN81, DN82 grid corner on December 31st. Plan is to be there for the morning FM passes and stay until they get bored. FM and SSB. Mississippi River Delta (EL58) January 4, 2019. Ron AD0DX, Brian KG5GJT, and Robert KE4AL will operate as W5M/mm from the mouth of the Mississippi River (EL58) on January 4th. This will be a 6-hour activation from approximately 1430z to 2030z, on FM and linear satellites. Further information will be posted as it comes available. Labrador (GO11 +) January 19-27, 2019 Chris VE3FU, Dave VE9CB, and Frank VO1HP will be active as VO2AC in the 2020 CQ160 CW contest, January 24-26, from Point Armour Lighthouse, in Labrador. If time permits before the contest, they may be active on FM satellites from GO11 as VO2AC or VO2AAA. Depending on weather and timing of passes, you might catch them on FM satellites as they make their way from FO93 to GO-11, passing through FO92, GO02, GO13, GO12, and GO22 along the way, but no promises. They will also make the reverse trek on January 27. Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020 Ron AD0DX, Doug N6UA, and Josh W3ARD will operate from Big Bend National Park to put grid DL88 on the air. Details will be added here as they come available, but you are more than welcome to keep an eye on their individual Twitter feeds: https://twitter.com/ad0dx, https://twitter.com/dtabor, and https://twitter.com/W3ARDstroke5 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/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Satellite Shorts From All Over + www.zarya.info (@Zarya_Info) reports that on Dec 18 at ~01:00 UTC, the Meteor M2-2 meteorological satellite collided with an item of space debris and entered a tumble. This event reduced orbit SMA by 1 km and height from 813 x 815 km to 811 x 814 km. The satellite is now stabilized and communicating. Damage is being assessed. + Mike Thomas, KB8BMY, has made a video for those of you wanting to take the next step to Linear Ham Radio Satellites. He shows how he put his station together: My Linear Satellite Setup / KB8BMY / How to Set Up a Portable Linear Station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrQ14Cs9ia4&feature=youtu.be + Satellite antennas don't need to be very high, but tower safety is always a good topic for amateurs: https://zerofalls.org/ + Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1445 listed these two satellite activations: 7X, ALGERIA. Members of the "Association des Radio Amateurs Tunisiens" (ARAT) are traveling to Algeria to conduct a joint Low Bands DX- pedition with five members of the "Amateurs Radio Algeriens" (ARA) between December 28th and January 2nd (2020). The team is led by Afif/ 7X2RO and Ash/3V8SS/KF5EYY, and will also includes Ahmed/3V1B/KG5OUE (22 years), Marwa/3V8CB (24 years, YL), Mohamed/7X3TL (27 years), Mohamed/7X5FG, Redha/7X5QB and Abdelghani/7X2TT/M0NPT. The operators will be focusing on working as many stations as possible on 160 and 80 meters as well as the other HF bands and Satellites. Modes will be CW/ SSB/FT8. QSL via 7X2RO and LoTW. There will be ClubLog Live Streaming. For more details on how to help and/or LF skeds, E-mail Ash at: ash.kf5eyy at gmail.com Your financial support will be used to cover youngsters' costs. VO2, CANADA (Zone 2). Operators Chris/VE3FU (VO2AC), Frank/VO1HP and Dave/VE9CB (VO2AAA) will be active as VO2AC during the 2020 CQWW 160M CW Contest (January 24-26th) from the Point Amour Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada, on the south coast of the rare Labrador (LB) multiplier. Point Amour is located in the southeast part of CQ Zone 2, and has a salt water path from NE clockwise through SW. The team will be putting in a serious Multi-Op/High-Power effort as VO2AC. Expect some pre contest activity as VO2AC, VO1HP/VO2 and VO2AAA on 160m as they get their wire vertical array and beverage working; they will especially be looking for JA/Asia on CW and FT8. If time permits, they may also be active before the contest on 80m, 60m, 40m and the FM satellites (AO-85, AO-91 and AO-92) from Grid GO11. --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio In Space, This week's ANS Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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ANS-353 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin - SMOG-P and ATL-1 Designated Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105) and Magyar- OSCAR 106 (MO-106)
by Paul Stoetzer 19 Dec '19

19 Dec '19

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL BULLETIN ANS-353 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: * SMOG-P and ATL-1 Designated Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105) and Magyar- OSCAR 106 (MO-106) SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-353.01 ANS-353 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Bulletin 353.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE December 19, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-353.01 SMOG-P and ATL-1 Designated Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105) and Magyar- OSCAR 106 (MO-106) On December 6, 2019, the Technical University of Budapest SMOG-P and ATL-1 PocketQubes were launched on an Electron launch vehicle from the Mahia Launch Complex in New Zealand. SMOG-P and ATL-1 were developed as part of the university curriculum and operated in cooperation with the HA5MRC Technical University amateur radio club. The satellites carry spectrum monitoring payloads and are currently active. At the request of the Technical University of Budapest, AMSAT hereby designates SMOG-P as Magyar-OSCAR 105 (MO-105), and ATL-1 as Magyar- OSCAR 106 (MO-106). We congratulate the owners and operators, thank them for their contribution to the amateur satellite community, and wish them a long mission and continued success on this and future projects. 73, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator [ANS thanks AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, for the above information.] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. 73 and Remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space, This week's ANS Contributing Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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