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ANS-061 ANS Special Bulletin GOLF-TEE and GOLF-1 Selected for NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative
by Lee McLamb 03 Mar '18

03 Mar '18

AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-061.01 ANS-061 GOLF-TEE and GOLF-1 Selected for NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative AMSAT News Service Bulletin 061.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE MAARCH 2, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-061.01 On March 2, 2018, NASA announced the ninth round of selections for the CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI). The first two AMSAT GOLF CubeSats, GOLF-TEE and GOLF-1, were among the 21 missions recommended for selection. AMSAT must negotiate and execute a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NASA for each project to finalize selection. NASA anticipates a sufficient number of launch opportunities but does not guarantee that all recommended payloads will be launched. GOLF-TEE (Technology Evaluation Environment) will serve as a rapidly deployable Low Earth Orbit (LEO) testbed for technologies necessary for a successful CubeSat mission to a wide variety of orbits. AMSAT Vice-President Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, said “The GOLF-TEE project tees off the next phase of our CubeSat program. GOLF-TEE provides AMSAT hardware and knowledge for Attitude Determination and Control (ADAC) capability and the opportunity to develop a 3U spaceframe with deployable solar panels that can be used in LEO or HEO missions, two of the major systems required in future GOLF and HEO missions.” Ragnarok Industries developed the attitude control system for the Lunar Heimdallr 6U CubeSat, a NASA Cube Quest Challenge finalist. GOLF-TEE provides the opportunity for rapid deployment and on orbit testing of the AMSAT’s Advanced Satellite Communications and Exploration of New Technology (ASCENT) program’s technology, including radiation tolerant transponder and Integrated Housekeeping Unit (IHU) technologies that will lead the way for low cost commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems that can function in the MEO and HEO radiation environments. GOLF-TEE will also carry a Fox-1E design V/u linear transponder and RadFx (Radiation Effects) experiment for Vanderbilt University. GOLF-TEE and the GOLF program will provide for the development of “Five and Dime” Field-Programmable Gate Array Software Defined Radio (FPGA SDR) transponders for use on a variety of missions and orbits. The target date for launch of GOLF-TEE is 4Q 2019. GOLF-1 will serve as a follow-on mission, also to LEO. Launch is targeted for 2020-2021. GOLF-1 will require a de-orbiting plan that is in compliance with NASA's NPR 8715.6 NASA Procedural Requirements for Limiting Orbital Debris in order to be manifested on a launch, due to the high altitude AMSAT has requested. Please consider a donation to the AMSAT GOLF program for development, construction, and testing of the GOLF-TEE and GOLF-1 CubeSats. Donate at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id= STK27W4G9RMLC. Checks may be mailed to AMSAT, 10605 Concord St. #304, Kensington, MD 20895-2526. [ANS thanks Paul, N8HM, for the above information] /EX

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ANS-056 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne K9JKM 25 Feb '18

25 Feb '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-056 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: * AO-92 Operating Schedule Posted for Week of 25 Feb to 3 Mar 2018 * PicSat Status - Commissioning Continues, FM Transponder Test Success * Falconsat-3 Software Reload * Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for 2-22-2018 * Why is there so much TLE confusion when new Cubesats are launched? * JAMSAT Symposium 2018 at Miraikan in Tokyo March 10 - 11 * AA5UK Announces March 1 Cayman Island Satellite Activation * CabreuvaDX Team Announces ZV1C Activation on Satellite March 17-18 * ESTCube-2 Applies for IARU Frequency Coordination * Shanghai Tech University Proposing Amateur Radio Digipeater Microsat * Canadian University Design Challenge for “Selfie-Sat” * 15th Annual CubeSat Developers Workshop at Cal Poly April 30 * First Citizen Science Workshop Measuring Effects of the Solar Eclipse * Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor * Bittern DX Educational Outreach Project in the UK * Microwave Compendium "Backscatter" available as free PDF * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-056.01 ANS-056 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 056.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE February 25, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-056.01 AO-92 Operating Schedule Posted for Week of 25 Feb to 3 Mar 2018 Drew, KO4MA, AMSAT VP Operations updated the AO-92 Operating Schedule page for the coming week: https://www.amsat.org/satellite-schedules/ AO-92 operations are scheduled among the U/v FM repeater, L-Band Downshifter, Virginia Tech Camera, and the University of Iowa’s High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument (HERCI). Please keep the uplink clear during passes with scheduled mode changes. For the week of 25 Feb to 3 Mar 2018, the following mode changes are scheduled: + Approximately 1420UTC 25Feb we will enable the L band uplink for ~24 hours + Approximately 1515UTC 27Feb we will enable high speed data in order to download from the HERCI experiment for 40 minutes + Approximately 1545UTC 2Mar we will enable high speed data in order to download from the VT camera for 40 minutes in support of a demonstration at a Virginia high school + All other times the U/v repeater will be open continuously. [ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA, AMSAT VP Operations for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- PicSat Status - Commissioning Continues, FM Transponder Test Success PicSat was successfully launched on 12 January 2018 on the PSLV-C40 mission. It is orbiting Earth at 505km altitude on a Sun synchronous orbit. PicSat, a 3U CubeSat, was developed in a record time of 3 years by a small team of astrophysicists lead by Sylvestre Lacour (CNRS) at the LESIA laboratory / Paris Observatory / PSL in France. The main goal is to observe the southern hemisphere star Beta Pictoris continuously in order to capture any transit phenomena related to its planet that has been predicted to pass in front of the star by the summer of 2018. The commissioning phase is making good progress and the PicSat team is learning how to operate the satellite. The main next step is to fully take control of the attitude and point in the desired direction. Thanks to the involvement and efforts of Sylvain Azarian (F4GKR) and the IARU, PicSat uses amateur bands to communicate: Uplink: 145.910 MHz FM (when transponder is enabled) Downlink: 435.525 MHz FM voice, see web for data format When not in science mode, PicSat has a transponder that will be made available for the amateur community: the timings will be announced. A first transponder surprise test was done on 15 February from the Paris Observatory ground station in Meudon, France: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQd0WEcoFgE&t=18s) It was received by amateurs in Europe https://twitter.com/supertrack_it/status/964267817095835648 During past weekend (17-18 February) the PicSat team had programmed downloads of House Keeping data from the payload over targeted areas across the planet. Many amateurs received and send the data to the PicSat data base. This has allowed for the first time to create a 24h monitoring of the temperature sensor readings, which are helpful diagnostics for the team showing the importance of this community effort: https://twitter.com/IamPicSat/status/965982775718436864 Radio amateurs can register on the PicSat website to become involved and upload their data to the PicSat data base, where it will be visible for anyone to see and serve the PicSat team. This will be even more important once observations of Beta Pictoris will start and a large stream of photometric data will be produced to monitor the brightness of the star and create the real time light curve. The PicSat team is most grateful for all the positive collaboration, feedback and help to date and looks forward to continue and strengthen this connection. Please see https://picsat.obspm.fr/ for all details. [ANS thanks Maaten Roos and the PicSat Team at the Paris Observatory for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Falconsat-3 Software Reload AMSAT Vice-President Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA reported that Falconsat-3 has had a software crash after ~850 days uptime. The Operations Team will need to reload the softeare. Drew mentioned, "Even though you might hear telemetry, the BBS and digipeater will be off until we are complete. Please attempt no transmissions until AMSAT's Operations Team releases Falconsat-3 back to general use. Your cooperation is appreciated. [ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for 2-22-2018 Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, noted that 18th Space Control Squadron has swapped the satellite names associated with object 41845 (was CAS-2T) and another object 41847. Therefore CAS-2T is now object 41847. Nico's detailed doppler measurements confirm that CAS-2T is in fact object 41847. (Note: the payloads CAS-2T and KS-1Q still remain attached to the CZ 11 fourth stage.) Thanks Nico, good catch! The PICSAT team and Albert Van Duersen indicate that a better set of TLEs for PICSAT is now object 43132. Nico Janssen has also noted that the best TLE set for PICSAT has been unstable since November 14th of last year. Nico says that now object 43132 and even object 43133 are better matches for PICSAT than object 43131. Therefore, we will use object 43132 for PICSAT for now. The problem is the closeness of objects 43131, 43132 and 43133. Nico says he will continue to monitor these objects as they slowly separate over time. More later. [ANS thanks AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, Ray Hoad, WA5QGD for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Why is there so much TLE confusion when new Cubesats are launched? AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, Ray Hoad, WA5QGD provided some answers to frequently asked questions regarding every time a CubeSat gets launched, there is some confusion on what TLEs should be used. This is the result of the process of launching a new amateur CubeSat with other CubeSats, often several dozen at a time. We then start the process of determining which object in a “flock” of CubeSats is associated with a particular spacecraft. Pre-launch TLEs, that is calculation based on the expected orbit, are usually supplied by the launch provider. Pre-launch TLEs are used until post-launch TLEs (for the group of objects that your satellite is in) are released from the US Department of Defense Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) based on observations made with cameras and radars. There is a a 5 to 10 day period of tracking a group of CubeSats until they separate enough to isolate the one of interest. By observing the Doppler shift on transmissions from a particular satellite against the calculated Doppler shift from all candi- date object TLEs, we can positively associate an object with a particular satellite. In the case of AMSAT satellites, we then advise JSpOC which object number is “ours”. Finally, an individual satellite and its associated TLEs are determined and we settle down to an single, accurate, reliable set of TLEs … and all the other “best guesses” go away, although they may be still floating around on the Internet. But, there are so many variables – did you launch on time, did you get released on time, has the group your CubeSat is in separated enough to identify your satellite, etc. that the process that can be both confusing and annoying at the same time. AMSAT strives to minimize confusion when distributing TLEs. Dummy object numbers are used for pre-launch TLEs since final object numbers cannot be assigned yet. Immediately post launch we may post candidate objects with generic names like “OBJECT C”. Finally, when positive association between an object number and a spacecraft is made, we will use the common name of the satellite. We always recommend using TLEs from the Keps mail- ing list or the current bulletin or bare elements from the AMSAT web site. Join the AMSAT Keps Mailing list: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/keps AMSAT Current Keps bulletin: https://www.amsat.org/tle/current/nasa.all AMSAT current bare elements: https://www.amsat.org/tle/current/nasabare.txt [ANS thanks AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, Ray Hoad, WA5QGD for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- JAMSAT Symposium 2018 at Miraikan in Tokyo March 10 - 11 JAMSAT President Mikio Mouri, JA3GEP announced that the JAMSAT Annual General Meeting and Symposium will be held in Tokyo March 10- 11. (Note: all times are noted in Japan Standard Time JST) Annual General Meeting: March 10 (Sat) 11:00~12:30 Symposium 2018 Day 1: March 10 (Sat) 13:25~18:00 Day 2: March 11 (Sun) 9:30~13:00 Dinner: March 10 (Sat) 18:00 Miraikan - The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation 2-3-6 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan / Tel: +81-3-3570-9151 (main) http://www.miraikan.jst.go.jp/en/aboutus/ Contact JA3GEP - ja3gep at jamsat dot or dot jp to register Check JAMSAT's web page for the latest information: https://www.jamsat.or.jp/?p=659 March 10 Saturday Time (JST) 13:25 - 13:30 Greetings Mikio Mouri, JA3GEP 13:30 - 14:10 Receiving Satellite Signals in Amateur Radio Bands Naomi Kurahara, JE6EXN 14:10 - 15:10 NEXUS Progress(1) Kiyoshi Yamaguchi Nihon University MEXUS Progress(2) Hozumi Ueda, JA0FKM 15:10 - 15:20 Coffee Break 15:20 - 16:00 Receiving Signal from OMOTENSHI Moon Probe Wataru Torii JAXA Radio Amateur Club 16:00 ~ 16:40 Introduction to Ryman Sat Project Takafumi Shimamura JI1SYC 16:40 - 17:10 Es'hail-2 (P4-A) and other news from AMSAT-DL (Skype) Peter Guelzow, DB2OS 17:10 - 18:00 Group Photo 18:00 - 20:00 Dinner at the Canteen Restaurant March 11 Sunday 09:30 - 10:20 AMSAT-NA's FOX-1 and GOLF Program (Skype) Paul Stoetzer, N8HM 10:20 - 10:30 Coffee Break 10:30 - 11:10 ISS HamTV receiving Project at Wakaytama University Katsumi Morita, JA3RVS 11:10 - 11:50 New Generation SDR Satellite ground station with 5,000JPY Noritsuna Imamura, JI1SZP 11:50 - 12:00 Coffee Break 12:00 - 12:40 Enjoy Satellite Communication with Dipole Antennna! Eiji Nakamura, JA1CPA 12:40 - Other Topics [ANS thanks JAMSAT President Mikio Mouri, JA3GEP for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AA5UK Announces March 1 Cayman Island Satellite Activation ZF2, CAYMAN ISLAND (Satellites, Grids, HF). Adrian, AA5UK, will once again be operating as ZF2AE from Grand Cayman (between March 1-4th) and ZF2AE/ZF8 from Little Cayman (between March 5-10). Activity will be holiday style (usually) on 40-10 meters using a IC- 7300 and vertical antenna. Operations will be focused on the Digital modes (FT8, RTTY, PSK and other digital modes upon request)with possibly some SSB, and the satellites using 2x FT-817s and Arrow Antenna for satellite. Most of his activity will be in the afternoons and evenings. For the latest operational updates, watch his Twitter links <@AA5UK and @ZF2AE>. QSL direct to AA5UK with a SAE/SASE, LoTW or eQSL. [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1351 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- CabreuvaDX Team Announces ZV1C Activation on Satellite March 17-18 Members of the CabreuvaDX Team will be active as ZV1C from Cedro Island between March 17-18th. Activity will be on 80/ 40/20/15/10 meters using CW, SSB and FT8. There will also be activity on 2 meters satellite. QSL via PU2VCP. For more details, see ZV1C on QRZ.com. [ANS thanks the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1349 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ESTCube-2 Applies for IARU Frequency Coordination The IARU Coordination Requests page shows that the Institute of Physics at the University of Tartu in Estonia is planning a 3U cubesat named ESTCube-2 is a 3U Cubesat. The primary transceiver proposes to use the 70 cm amateur radio band for uplink and downlink purposes: + Beacon reporting satellite status once per minute in AX.25 data packet format with 9600 baud data-rate FSK/GFSK modulated signal with experimental changing frequency up-to 38600 baud using 2GFSK (or 4GFSK for testing) modulation schemes. + Digital file and/or analog NBFM signal including low resolution image thumbnail images will be transmitted. + The digipeater mode will be used to allow amateur radio operates to use the satellite for two-way digital communication. 9600 bps GFSK AX.25 data uplink will be in 2m amateur band and transmission of digipeated packet in 70 cm radio amateur band. + A Doppler ranging experiment will be used to determine satellite distance to Earth in order to improve accuracy of satellite orbit determination. 2m amateur band as uplink and 70 cm amateur band as downlink is used for Doppler ranging method. + High-speed communications system data downlink in the 5 GHz amateur radio band, where possible data will be satellite status packets, experiment data and full resolution images from Earth observation camera. Data will be downlinked starting with BPSK modulated 9600 bps data-rate up-to 32APSK modulated 25 Mbps data-rate signal. + An on-board corner reflector is planned for possible optical ranging. More info here https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-TI7NbeuNSuUjcwSUhBTEg5UGc/view No launch opportunity has been identified but planning a 2019 deployment into a SSO. [ANS thanks the the Institute of Physics at the University of Tartu and the IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Shanghai Tech University Proposing Amateur Radio Digipeater Microsat The Amateur Radio Interest Group of Shanghai Tech University has submitted a frequency coordination request to the IARU for a microsat 50k kg, 25 x 25 50 cms with deployable solar panels including an amateur radio mission. + An amateur radio digipeater payload available for all radio amateurs. Digipeater uplink on 2m amateur band and down link on 70cm amateur band using 4k8 FSK. + TT&C uplink on 2m amateur band and down link on 70cm amateur band for amateur payload using 4k8 FSK. + A non-amateur experimental mission will use a laser link and S-band data links in the Spacecraft Operation Service. Planning a launch from Jiuquan Space Center on June 30, 2018 into a 700km SSO. [ANS thanks the Amateur Radio Interest Group of Shanghai Tech University and the IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Canadian University Design Challenge for “Selfie-Sat” On February 19, 2018 the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge announced a competition for a 3U Cubesat “Selfie-Sat” to be designed and built by Canadian university students. A snapshot of the Selfie-Sat mission: 1) amateur radio stations contact the university-built cubesat and send a command for it to take a photo from space. The photo is then down-linked to the station, along with photos and stories from Canada. 2) The Selfie-Sat mission will be designed so that amateur radio operators will be able to contact it as it passes overhead. During the contact, the radio operator will be able to send a command for the satellite to take a “Space-Selfie” photo over the region. 3) The photo will be immediately transmitted to the ground, along with Canadian stories for students of all ages, as well as other scenic photos and descriptions of Canada. “We envision radio amateur operators setting up their equipment at science centres or even schools,” said Larry Reeves, Canadian Satel- lite Design Challenge Management Society President, “and having a public or school event for the pass. We believe this mission will have outstanding educational benefits for students, and for promoting Canadian science, technology, and culture.” Competition details are posted at: http://www.csdcms.ca/ [ANS thanks the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge Management Society for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 15th Annual CubeSat Developers Workshop at Cal Poly April 30 The CubeSat Developers Workshop at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo will be held April 30 to May 2, 2018. Registration is now open and can be completed at: http://www.cubesat.org/workshop-information A schedule of presentations can also be found on this link. Early Bird Registration Ends on March 30, 2018 and regular registration begins. Online Registration closes April 27, 2018. Those who wish to purchase passes after this date must buy them at the door. [ANS thanks the CubeSat Developers Workshop for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- First Citizen Science Workshop Measuring Effects of the Solar Eclipse This past August, the United States was witness to one of the most beautiful and significant astronomical events in human history – a total solar eclipse that travelled across the country from Oregon to South Carolina. In addition to its visual beauty, this eclipse also had profound effects on the ionosphere, an electrically charged portion of the upper atmosphere that affects radio communications and navigation systems. These ionospheric effects piqued the interest of scientists and amateur radio operators across the country. They conducted one of the largest citizen science experiments in space science, an international ham radio operating event specifically for studying the eclipse. Many of these scientists and hams will be gathering for the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI, http://hamsci.org) workshop. The event will be held at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, NJ this Friday and Saturday (February 23-24, 2018) to share their observations and findings. The program begins each day at 9AM at the Campus Center. Presentations by scientists and ham radio operators from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haystack Observatory will highlight the program. All interested are welcome to attend the workshop. For more information and registration, please visit http://hamsci.org/hamsci2018. This HamSCI 2018 workshop is organized by Dr. Nathaniel Frissell and is hosted by the New Jersey Institute of Technology Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research. Originally posted at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-056-Southgate-NJIT (Southgatearc.org) [ANS thanks Southgate for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor If you're open to volunteering to help AMSAT this is your chance! We have openings for a few volunteers willing to help as an AMSAT News Service editor. Our editors work on a rotating schedule with each taking turns as the current week's news editor. Using input received from members, the amateur radio community, officers, plus our other editors your job is to assemble the AMSAT News Service bulletin for your week. (Template is provided to help you format the message.) If you can help contact our Senior News Service Editor, Lee McLamb, KT4TZ via his e-mail: kt4tz(a)amsat.org (Ed. note: the need for at least one, hopefully many volunteer editors, is immediate. K9JKM will be retiring at the end of March with extensive travel plans, often out of reach of the internet.) [ANS thanks the AMSAT News Service for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bittern DX Educational Outreach Project in the UK AMSAT-UK shared a link from an article posted on England's North Norfolk news reporting on the success of Bittern DX’s educational outreach project with the Girl Guides. http://tinyurl.com/ANS-056-GirlGuides Eight members of a north Norfolk-based amateur radio group have been teaching girl guides how to contact colleagues around the world as part of Thinking on The Air Day. The team from Bittern DX’s educational outreach project made the journey to the village hall in Saham Toney, near Swaffham, to speak to about 60 rainbows, brownies, guides and their adult leaders. Thinking on the Air Day is an opportunity for the members of girlguiding from the youngest rainbow to the oldest trefoil guild member to talk to other members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts via amateur radio. On this day each year members remember the founders of the movement and take part in various activities to think about their sisters throughout the world. The girl guides were given the chance to find a transmitter 50 yards away, shown how the Morse code works, and they all keyed their name correctly, earning a certificate. They were then allowed to talk on air to each other using handsets before being introduced to VHF working with each participant correctly conducting a meaningful conservation with a club member outside on a handheld. One brownie had a short conversation with an amateur in Germany. Next they were shown the principles and techniques behind satellite working with three conversations conducted. Peter Stainton, publicity officer for the Bittern DX, said: “Club members found it very rewarding to see the young people take part in our hobby. “One brownie said it had blown her mind away to see what we could do. But as a counterbalance, when being told how we could talk around the world and beyond, one commented ‘I just use Skype’.” The group’s outreach project is aimed at bringing an amateur radio experience to the general public and was given a boost last year with a grant of almost £10,000 from the National Lottery’s Awards for All fund for new club equipment. The group also received money from the Radio Society of Great Britain Legacy Fund (RSGB) to help buy a trailer and new generator. For more information visit www.bittern-dxers.org.uk/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and North Norfolk News for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Microwave Compendium "Backscatter" available as free PDF Backscatter is a compendium of the best technical articles that have been in Scatterpoint, the UK Microwave Group newsletter (and its predecessor) over the period 1999 to 2006 The original publication in 2008 was an A5 size book of 445 pages and is an excellent reference with many articles on all aspects of microwaves. Download from http://www.microwavers.org/?backscatter.htm Membership of UKuG is free to those under 21. Details of UKuG membership can be found at: http://www.microwavers.org/ [ANS thanks Southgate ARC News for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Bruce Paige, KK5DO, Director of AMSAT Awards congratulates Soren, AK4WQ, for earning AMSAT Rover Award #012. See: https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover-award/ + NASA TV plans coverage of the ISS Expedition 54 return to Earth: Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2 p.m. EST: Expedition 54 crew farewell and hatch closure. NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos bid farewell to the International Space Station crew and close the hatch of their Soyuz spacecraft in preparation for undocking. Tuesday, Feb. 27, 5:30 p.m. EST: Expedition 54 Soyuz undocking. Tuesday, Feb. 27, 8 p.m. EST: Expedition 54 Soyuz deorbit burn and landing in Kazakhstan. Landing is scheduled at 9:31 p.m EST. + At 5:02 p.m. EST, March 1, a two-hour launch window will open, during which GOES-S will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. Launch coverage will begin at 4:30 p.m EST all on NASA TV. + Photos needed for 2018 edition of AMSAT Getting Started With Amateur Satellites. Steve Belter, N9IP, recently tweeted that the editors of the 2018 edition of "AMSAT Getting Started With Amateur Satellites" are looking for action photos of people in the act of operating the satellites. Submissions with credits should be emailed to Steve n9ip at amsat dot org. + Satellite presentation in Surrey BC - The Surrey (BC) Amateur Radio Club announces that there will be will be an amateur radio satellite presentation during their March 14, 2018 meeting. All are welcome to attend. The meeting will be held at the Emergency Management Center BC South West PREOC, 14292 Green Timbers Way, Surrey BC, at 7:00 PM. For more information visit their Web site at: http://ve7sar.net/index.html The City of Surrey has posted the news on their events page: https://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/26128.aspx [ANS thanks Surrey ARC for the above information] + A blog discussing frequently asked questions about visual and radio satellite tracking resources can be read at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-056-SatTrackerFAQ + In order to understand many of the subtleties regarding launch vehicle design it is useful to understand many of the terms used in the engineering analysis and evaluation of these systems. Follow ths link to read about a few of the most important definitions. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Launch_Vehicle_Lingo_999.html + Scott Tilley made headlines after finding a NASA satellite that had been lost for over a decade. The IMAGE satellite, which was meant to study the magnetosphere, was launched in 2000, and lost contact with Earth back in 2005. Tilley, who uses radio equipment to track objects whose orbits are undis- closed, rediscovered it on January 20. Ever since the first satellites were launched, amateur astronomers have played a vital role in keeping tabs on them. In fact, when the Soviet satellite Sputnik I took the United States by surprise in October of 1957, legions of practiced volunteers were ready to track it, armed only with enthusiasm, low-power telescopes, and a good sense of timing. These volunteers were part of Operation Moonwatch, a massive citizen science project. Find more at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-056-MoonwatchHistory (www.atlasobscura.com) --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm at amsat dot org

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ANS-049 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 18 Feb '18

18 Feb '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-049 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Upcoming AO-92 Operations Schedule * SatPC32 12.8d is released * ARRL 2018 Teacher Institute to Include Amateur Satellites, Telemetry * Kettering University Student Brings Ham Radio Hobby, Expertise to Campus * AMSAT Argentina Balloon Flight Completes 2nd Trip Around the World * AMSAT Phase 4 Ground Station Update: FPGA, RFNoC, SDSoC * AA5UK Announces March 1 Cayman Island Satellite Activation * Phase 4 Ground Weekly Report! * Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-049.01 ANS-049 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 049.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. February 18, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-049.01 Upcoming AO-92 Operations Schedule AO-92 operations are scheduled among the U/v FM repeater, L-Band Downshifter, Virginia Tech Camera, and the University of Iowa's High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument (HERCI). For the week of 18 - 24 Feb 2018, the following mode changes are scheduled: Approximately 0200UTC 18Feb we will enable the L band uplink for ~24 hours Approximately 0255UTC 20Feb we will enable high speed data in order to download from the HERCI experiment for 40 minutes Approximately 1540UTC 21Feb we will enable high speed data in order to download from the VT camera for 40 minutes Approximately 0215UTC 22Feb we will enable high speed data in order to download from the HERCI experiment for 40 minutes All other times the U/v repeater will be open continuously. [ANS thanks Drew KO4MA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- SatPC32 12.8d is released The English version of SatPC32 12.8d is now available for download on the author's web page. http://www.dk1tb.de/downloadeng.htm Here's What's New in the 12.8d version: 1. The CAT commands of the IC-9100 have been extended again. The program now also controls the DV mode (DV for 'Digital Voice') of the radio. The operating mode must be entered as DV in the file Doppler.SQF. With the FT-817 the program now additionally supports the CWR mode. 2. All SatPC32 programs now process significantly larger Keplerian element source files. Especially because of the numerous new Cubesats, the number of data sets contained in the source files has increased significantly. For example the file Cubesat.txt currently contains data for nearly 400 satellites. The previous version of the SatPC32 programs could only read up to 320 data sets (only SatPC32 itself up to 500). All SatPC32 programs have been expanded to handle sets of up to 1500 satellites. 3. In all programs (SatPC32, SatPC32ISS, Wisat32, WinAOS and WinListen), the list of satellites contained in the source file ('Available' list in menu Satellites) is now displayed in alphabetical order to facilitate locating individual satellites. 4. The program SatPC32ISS now also allows the creation of up to 12 satellite groups. The new Cubesats have also increased the number of 'in-band' satellites. Originally, in-band operation in amateur radio was only available at the ISS. 5. In order to accelerate a change between the individual satellite groups, the 'Groups' window can now be called up by clicking on vacant areas of the main window, except in the Satellite menu. Such free positions are located on the right and left of the frequency window. Editing the groups (create or delete a group, add or remove satellites) can only be done in the Satellites menu. 6. In the Satellites menu the data sets of the satellites contained in the active source file can now be displayed. When called, the data set of the currently selected satellite is displayed. The feature helps you to immediately know the identifier of the satellite. This allows you to add an entry to the file 'AmsatNames.txt' (menu '?' 'Auxiliary files'), so that the satellite can be displayed in the entire program with its AMSAT name or with a user defined name. 7. The program has improved control of the sub-audible tone required by some satellites. For many years SO-50 was the only such satellite. Switching sub tone was no issue. Now we have several (AO-85, AO-91, AO-92) The program can now automatically switch the sub tone on/off when switching between PL tone satellites and others, changing between u/v and v/u satellites, changing the group, closing the program etc. 8. In addition, numerous minor changes and error corrections have been made some people have complained about the difficulty of manually adding a new satellite and its corresponding tuning information. The Programs menu can now launch the W9KE DopplerSqfEditor to aid this process. Please read the instructions before installing or updating the program. You probably want to run the DataBackup program before updating an existing version. Existing registration codes work with the new version. Thanks to Erich Eichmann DK1TB for donating this software to AMSAT. Sale of registration codes and CDs is a major fund raiser for AMSAT. And thanks to Erich for providing user support on amsat-bb and updating the program for 20 years. No other satellite tracking program provides such comprehensive radio Doppler tuning. [ANS thanks Wayne W9AE for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL 2018 Teacher Institute to Include Amateur Satellites, Telemetry As part of its educational outreach through the Education & Technology Program (ETP), ARRL will offer three sessions of the Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology this July. The week-long workshops will be held at ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, and in Dayton, Ohio — hosted by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA). The Teachers Institute (TI) is an expenses-paid, professional development seminar that provides teachers at all grade levels with tools and strategies to introduce basic electronics, radio science, space technology, and satellite communication, as well as weather science, introduction to micro-controllers, and basic robotics in their classrooms. The Teachers Institute curriculum is designed for motivated teachers and other school staff who want to learn more about wireless technology and bring that knowledge to their students. The goal of the TI program is to equip educators with necessary foundational knowledge and — through hands-on learning — generate the inspiration for teachers to continue exploring wireless technology and adapt what they learn to their classroom curricula. Interested educators can apply online. The $100 enrollment fee is refunded for applicants who are not selected. A qualified applicant must be an active teacher at an elementary, middle, high school, or community college/university, or in a leadership or enrichment instruction role in an after-school program. Session Location Dates Instructor TI – 2 Newington, CT July 9 – July 12 Matt Severin N8MS TI – 1 Dayton, OH July 16 – July 20 Larry Kendall K6NDL TI – 1 Newington, CT July 23 – July 27 Tommy Gober N5DUX Topics covered in the TI-1 “Introduction to Wireless Technology” workshop include basic electronics, radio science, microcontroller programming, and basic robotics. Among other activities, participants will learn how to solder and practice by building a small project. They’ll also learn basic circuit concepts and learn how to use basic test equipment. In addition, TI-1 attendees will learn about Amateur Radio, take part in a hidden transmitter hunt, see demonstrations of Amateur Radio satellite communication, and build and program their own simple robots. The TI-2 “Remote Sensing and Data Gathering” workshop will concentrate on analog-to-digital conversion and data sampling. Participants will receive telemetry from Amateur Radio satellites and apply it to math and science topics. TI-2 participants will also construct a marine research buoy equipped with environmental sensors, build a microcontroller to sample the data, configure it for Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) transmission, and receive and upload data to a spreadsheet for analysis. Holding an Amateur Radio license is not required for the “Introduction to Wireless Technology” workshop (TI-1), but one is required by those planning to attend the advanced “Remote Sensing and Data Gathering” workshop (TI-2), and applicants to the advanced workshop must have completed TI-1. The grant to attend a TI covers transportation, hotel, and a modest per diem allowance to cover meals, instructional resources, and a resource library of relevant ARRL publications. Graduate credit is available through Fresno Pacific University, which may be applied to satisfy professional growth requirements to maintain teaching credentials. The class is self-contained, and participants are expected to be able to complete all requirements during the class time. Graduate credit forms may be requested at the end of the Teachers Institute. For more information, contact Ally Riedel ariedel at arrl.org at ARRL Headquarters. [ANS thanks ARRL Headquarters for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kettering University Student Brings Ham Radio Hobby, Expertise to Campus Ruth Willet ‘21 has always been fascinated with Morse code, especially when researching World War II. That fascination grew into a hobby, and she soon found herself engrained in the amateur radio - more commonly known as ham radio - community. Willet, who is double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Physics, first got licensed in June 2015 as a ham radio operator because of her interest in Morse code. She soon upgraded her license in order to explore more aspects of the hobby. Other hams know Willet as KM4LAO (Kilo Mike Four Lima Alpha Oscar), the call letters of her government-issued ham radio license. “It’s such a special hobby because there’s so many people that want to get to know you and want to help you learn and grow. It really has enabled me to mature into who I am today. I have gained incredible friends from across the globe,” said Willet, a Georgia native. “This hobby supplements very well what I’m doing at Kettering because it has application in a lot of different subjects. I love seeing the practical application of electronics, solar weather and the way radio signals propagate around the globe. I am thrilled by the fact that I can talk to someone who’s driving down the interstate 10 miles away, bounce signals off of satellites to have conversations hundreds of miles away, or talk around the world to someone in Africa. It’s fascinating. You really learn a lot.” Willet had to pass an exam given by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in order to receive her call sign and be allowed to operate on the air. The three levels of Amateur radio licenses from entry-level to most advanced are Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. Willet upgraded to the Amateur Extra level license before she graduated from high school. Willet can use a hand-held radio to talk with someone across town, or she can use a more robust radio that enables her to talk around the world by reflecting her transmitted signal off the ionosphere. There are fast-paced competitive events she participates in where she is supposed to talk to as many people as possible within 24 hours. She can operate in multiple ways, including Morse code, voice communication or digital (which is similar to texting through ham radio). “The fun thing is that’s only the start. Amateur radio satellites are orbiting the earth. You can bounce off the satellites and talk to people halfway around the world,” Willet said. “We can also use our skills to assist in emergency situations. For example, when Hurricane Irma recently hit in Puerto Rico, amateur radio operators were some of the only people who could communicate from the island to the outside world.” In 2016, Willet also participated in National Parks on the Air, a worldwide event organized by the American Radio Relay League. Since 2016 was the centennial of the National Park Service (NPS), hams wanted to help celebrate history by getting people to national parks, seashores, monuments, and more. Ham radio operators went out and set up portable radio stations, got on the air, and helped other hams around the world conduct “virtual visits” to parks across the country. When Willet came to Kettering University, she knew she wanted to continue her ham radio activities. Kettering was appealing to her for the small classes and the close-knit campus feel, on top of the co-op experience. “After coming for the LITE (Lives Improved Through Engineering) summer program and seeing how personal everybody was at Kettering I just really felt like it was a great fit. And I can’t turn down the co-op experience,” Willet said. “I was first interested in Mechanical Engineering because my grandfather had a book about basic machines and how they work. I was fascinated with levers to complicated gears. Then senior year of high school I took Physics and I loved it. Being able to see the effects of basic physics on daily life was very interesting to me. I’m learning as much as I can at school and exploring opportunities both inside and outside the classroom so that I can make the most of my time here.” She has found that the skills she learns in classes go hand in hand with her amateur radio hobby. Willet plans to start up an Amateur Radio Club on campus in the spring 2018 term to get more students interested. “It’s a stress relief for me. I really enjoy sharing this hobby with other students,” she said. “I would encourage people to consider exploring amateur radio because it’s a hobby that allows you to explore anything from technical electronics to international friendships. Amateur radio is open to anyone. It will help develop your professional and personal skills, participate in and learn from fascinating activities, and connect with an incredible community.” [ANS thanks Sarah Schuch and Kettering University for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Argentina Balloon Flight Completes 2nd Trip Around the World AMSAT Argentina reports that their earth circling El PicoGlobo WSPR beacon balloon has now completed its 2nd lap around the world. After its 2nd crossing of the Pacific Ocean the balloon flew over Patagonia, then headed north at 12,000 meters altitude to Buenos Aires during the night of February 11. On February 12 it flew over Uruguay then turned east out over the Atlantic Ocean to begin its 3rd circle of the Earth. PicoGlobo transmits a WSPR beacon on 14.0956 MHz. Flight progress can be followed at: http://lu7aa.org.ar/wspr.asp https://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FLU1ESY-3&timerange=604800&tail=604800 [ANS thanks AMSAT Argentina for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Phase 4 Ground Station Update: FPGA, RFNoC, SDSoC Michelle, W5NYV says the latest Phase 4 Ground Station Report is available for viewing at: https://youtu.be/moKFVagY_Ro This week you'll see a video demo of the Voltera V-one system available for circuit printing, solder paste and reflow to enable prototype development. Work has been progressing on the FPGA or field programmable gate array which is at the heart of many modern software defined radios. Having powerful reconfigurable digital logic realizes a lot of the promise of SDRs. Balancing the workload between the general purpose processor and the FPGA is a big challenge. The RFNoC, or Radio Frequency Network on a Chip from Ettus Research for the 300 series USRPs before. RFNoC lets you place blocks that run on the FPGA in GNU Radio as if they were being run by the host computer. This lets you use the FPGA to full advantage within GNU Radio Companion. A comparison is made with the SDSoC, the Software Defined System on a Chip ,a tool from Xilinx. The team is looking for your help! If you can help ease the process of learning this environment, please let Michelle know: W5nyv(a)amsat.org [ANS thanks Michelle, W5NYV and the AMSAT Phase 4 Ground Station team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AA5UK Announces March 1 Cayman Island Satellite Activation ZF2, CAYMAN ISLAND (Satellites, Grids, HF). Adrian, AA5UK, will once again be operating as ZF2AE from Grand Cayman (between March 1-4th) and ZF2AE/ZF8 from Little Cayman (between March 5-10). Activity will be holiday style (usually) on 40-10 meters using a IC- 7300 and vertical antenna. Operations will be focused on the Digital modes (FT8, RTTY, PSK and other digital modes upon request)with possibly some SSB, and the satellites using 2x FT-817s and Arrow Antenna for satellite. Most of his activity will be in the afternoons and evenings. For the latest operational updates, watch his Twitter links <@AA5UK and @ ZF2AE>. QSL direct to AA5UK with a SAE/SASE, LoTW or eQSL. [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1351 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Phase 4 Ground Weekly Report! Voltera Circuit printer for prototyping is up and running the Hello World circuit. Video of this report at https://youtu.be/rdjKZCc9g74 There will be plenty more reports and feedback about the badge design over coming week as the JoCo Cruise embarks. Several of our team members are on the cruise and we can't wait to hear all about it. Everything that we've learned on this effort will be applied to the Hamvention badge, and to the Phase 4 Ground radios. We have some Software Defined System on a Chip progress. We have received our Xilinx specific JTAG Cable. Here it is! Charles Brain has been battling Petalinux and linux builds for his environment. Plenty of learning going on there. Some of us have received additional hardware from LimeSDR and there is more on the way. We have received very positive news from from Critical, the makers of Snickerdoodle, that official board definition files are in progress and will be available very soon. This means that those of us that are ordinary tool users, and not necessarily advanced tool makers, will be able to experiment and make progress with the Snickerdoodle, Xilinx Vivado, and the Xilinx SDK, more easily. SDSoC allows you to take functions written in C and C++, evaluate whether they would be better run on either the general purpose processor or the FPGA, and then assign them to the proper hardware. The 5GHz RF team is learning a lot about the impact of connectors on performance, and are evaluating some higher quality solutions. Several sets of team members are working on transverter designs. This is a very active and interesting area of investigation. There's a large number of tradeoffs and design patterns involved. We have a 10GHz specific effort, a high-performance multi band effort, the 5GHz RF team previously featured, and more. If you are interested in RF designs, then we are here to help. Ed Friesma at UNLV is taking on more of the correlator design. Our next report will be all about the progress on the DVB-S2 correlator, the GNU Radio block, what we can leverage from the GPU implementation, and next steps. On the 28th of February, we will have two guest speakers at our regular ASCENT conference call. Nate and Neal from Ettus Research will be addressing questions about the Careful COTS design of a USRP 300 series board for use in space. Having a powerful SDR at the heart of an amateur radio payload would put us in excellent position to deploy any modulation scheme we want. The Careful COTS version of a USRP is why Phase 4 Space was founded, and we've had a very good week in terms of outreach and evangelism. There's good news in an update to the Phase 4B mission on the Wide Field Of View satellite, with a launch scheduled for 2020. You can read about it in the article linked in the notes, from this past June. Our job on Phase 4 Ground is to make sure that you have a radio that can use this or any other payload that uses the Five and Dime air interface. And of course we want to fill up terrestrial microwave with the same fun and easy to use broadband digital microwave signals. If you're interested in learning more, then get in touch. http://www.losangeles.af.mil/…/final-rfp-released-for-laun…/ Plenty going on and lots of fun to be had. We will have a booth at Dayton as soon as possible, and we will be asking for time to talk at the Hamvention SDR forum about the Careful COTS effort, open source successes, and the impact of SDR advances on licensed and unlicensed services. After Hamvention is DEFCON. And we might have something up our sleeves this year. I'm working very hard on setting up a workshop and hackfest at GNU Radio Conference 2018, which will be held September 17-21 in Henderson, Nevada. This hackfest will focus on developing GNU Radio receiver blocks for DVB-S2 and S2X. If you are on the team or a supporter or find yourself interested in all of this, then please consider coming to the conference and participating in this effort. Tickets will be available very soon. It's a volunteer run event made possible by people just like you. And, there's an open space initiative from Lockheed Martin that we need to take a serious look at, and some new products on the market that might make our GSE and DVB-S2X manufactured solutions a bit easier. Howie DeFelice is on that trail and will report back. See you next week! [ANS thanks Michelle W5NYV for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor If you're open to volunteering to help AMSAT this is your chance! We have openings for a few volunteers willing to help as an AMSAT News Service editor. Our editors work on a rotating schedule with each taking turns as the current week's news editor. Using input received from members, the amateur radio community, officers, plus our other editors your job is to assemble the AMSAT News Service bulletin for your week. (Template is provided to help you format the message.) If you can help contact our Senior News Service Editor, Lee McLamb, KT4TZ via his e-mail: kt4tz at amsat.org (Ed. note: the need for at least one, hopefully many volunteer editors, is immediate. K9JKM will be retiring at the end of March with extensive travel plans, often out of reach of the internet.) [ANS thanks the AMSAT News Service for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between Naka Junior High School, Kakamigahara City, Japan and Astronaut Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2018-01-22 10:23 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Direct via 8J25D. ARISS Mentor was Satoshi 7M3TJZ. + A Successful contact was made between The English School, Nicosia, Cyprus and Astronaut Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2018-01-24 10:35 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Telebridge via W6SRJ. ARISS Mentor was Armand SP3QFE. + A Successful contact was made between Central Magnet Math & Science ES/Batesville School District, Batesville, AR and Astronaut Joe Acaba KE5DAR using Callsign OR4ISS. The contact began 2018-01-31 16:42 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Telebridged via IK1SLD. ARISS Mentors was Keith W5IU. + A Successful contact was made between Moore Square AIG/GT Magnet School, Raleigh, NC and Astronaut Scott Tingle KG5NZA using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2018-02-05 18:32 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Direct via KG4AKV ARISS Mentors were Steve W1HQL and Ryan W4NTR. + A Successful contact was made between Vilniaus Jono Basanaviciaus Gymnasium together with Vilniaus Jono Basanaviciaus Progymnasium, Vilnius, Lithuania and Astronaut Joe Acaba KE5DAR using Callsign OR4ISS. The contact began 2018-02-14 12:37 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Direct via LY1BWB ARISS Mentor was Eskil SM5SRR. + A Successful contact was made between Los Angeles Academy Middle School, Los Angeles, CA and Astronaut Joe Acaba KE5DAR using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2018-02-15 17:45 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Direct via W6RVD ARISS Mentor was Charlie AJ9N. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule "Galaxy - Children and Youth Center for Space Education", Kaluga, Russia, direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Alexander Misurkin Contact is a go for 2018-02-18 10:45 UTC Agrupamento de Escolas do Fundão, Fundão, Portugal, direct via CS5DBB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Scott Tingle KG5NZA Contact is a go for: Wed 2018-02-21 09:38:11 UTC 33 deg Museum of Science & Technology - Danforth Middle School, Syracuse, NY, direct via K2MST The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP Contact is a go for: Fri 2018-02-23 14:08:52 UTC 28 deg School in Kursk, Russia, direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is TBD Contact is a go for Sat 2018-02-24 08:45 UTC Watch for possible time update [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + European FOSDEM Talks Playlist The Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting (FOSDEM) is a two-day event organized by volunteers to promote the widespread use of Free and Open Source software. A playlist of the talks is posted at: https://tinyurl.com/ANS49-FOSDEM [ANS thanks FOSDEM for the above information] + Congratulations to Mikey White, K7ULS for completing his Worked All States - Satellite on February 13. Mikey says state #50 was Rhode Island. Bob Mattaliano, N6RFM provided the connection at the Rhode Island end. Mikey posted a video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaMBERls6Ww&feature=youtu.be [ANS thanks Mike K7ULS via AMSAT North America Facebook] + Photos needed for 2018 edition of AMSAT Getting Started With Amateur Satellites. Steve Belter, N9IP, recently tweeted that the editors of the 2018 edition of "AMSAT Getting Started With Amateur Satellites" are looking for action photos of people in the act of operating the satellites. Submissions with credits should be emailed to Steve n9ip at amsat dot org. [ANS thanks Steve N9IP for the above information] + The AMSAT Office will be closed on Monday, February 19th in observance of Presidents' Day. [ANS thanks Martha for the above information.] + On February 16 Jeff, WB8RJY worked Jose, EB1AO in Spain via AO91. The satellite was at 0.8 degrees for Jose and at 0.6 degrees for Jeff for this QSO. Jeff commented, "Thats stretching the old string pretty tight! Once again, amazing bird!" (via Twitter) [ANS thanks Jeff WB8RJY for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, EMike McCardel, AA8EM aa8em at amsat dot org

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ANS-042 AMSAT Weekly News Bulletins
by Chris Bradley 12 Feb '18

12 Feb '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-042.01 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Satellite/AMSAT Presentation for Pasadena Radio Club * Wind satellite survives vacuum * All-in-one Service for Space Station * Sally Ride EarthKAM Space Camp's 60th Mission is open for registration * Estimated March 2018 Launch Date for Es'hail 2 Satellite * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042.01 ANS-042.01 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. November 5, 2017 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042.01 Satellite/AMSAT presentation for the Pasadena Radio Club on Tuesday, 23 January 2018. (part 1 of 3, links for parts 2 and 3 on the top/right of the page) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En-fFpxg1kM&feature=youtu.be An updated version of the slideshow projected on the screen is available for download. Go to http://dropbox.wd9ewk.net/ and find it in the folder "WA0POD". [ANS would like to thank Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Wind satellite survives vacuum ESA's Aeolus satellite has been particularly tricky to build. One of the main stumbling blocks has been getting its lasers to work in a vacuum, but recent tests on the satellite show that the vacuum or temperature of space won't get in the way of Aeolus measuring Earth's winds. [ANS would like to thank the European Space Agency for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- All-in-one Service for the Space Station Quick access to space, high-speed data feed and a unique vantage point are the selling points of a new commercial venture on the International Space Station. Its name is Bartolomeo, and its versatile design allows for many mission types at competitive prices from next year. [ANS would like to thank the European Space Agency for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sally Ride EarthKAM Space Camp's 60th Mission is open for registration. This be will EarthKAM's 60th week-long mission and the first of 2018! Mission 60 runs February 20 through February 26. Mission sign up is available and orbits will be published by Thursday, February 15. Educators can sign up and get their class involved up to the day of the orbit. Requested images should be available within 24 hours of the orbit. If you are looking for a project to do with the images, look at our activities page for some great ideas that incorporate the images. For more information on how to make an image request take a look at our User Guide. www.earthKAM.org [ANS would like to thank E.Mike Cardel, AMSAT ANS Rotating Editor for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Estimated March 2018 Launch Date for Es'hail 2 Satellite The SatBeams website says they have a estimated launch date of 28-Mar-2018 for the Es'hail 2 satellite carrying the world's first geostationary amateur radio service in S-band/X-band ranges via its AMSAT-DL hosted payload. Launch site: Cape Canaveral Launch vehicle: Falcon 9 v1.2 Commercial payloads on Es'hail 2 include 24 Ku-band and 11-Ka-band transponders to provide direct broadcasting services throughout the Middle East and North Africa as well as government communication services. Posted at: https://www.satbeams.com/satellites?id=2683 [ANS thanks SatBeams.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Vilniaus Jono Basanaviciaus Gymnasium together with Vilniaus Jono Basanaviciaus Progymnasium, Vilnius, Lithuania, direct via LY1BWB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Scott Tingle KG5NZA (***) Contact is a go for: Mon 2018- 02-12 12:45:49 UTC 46 deg (***) Los Angeles Academy Middle School, Los Angeles, CA, direct via W6RVD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Scott Tingle KG5NZA (***) Contact is a go for: Fri 2018- 02-16 16:53:20 UTC 34 deg (***) University of the Philippines Integrated School, Quezon City, Philippines, direct via DX1ISS (***) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP (***) Contact is a go for: Sat 2018-02-17 10:23:00 UTC 70 deg (***) ********************************************************************* ********* ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. Listen for the ISS on the downlink of 145.8Ã˜ MHz. ********************************************************************* ********** All ARISS contacts are made via the Kenwood radio unless otherwise noted. ********************************************************************* ********** Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. ********************************************************************* ******* Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke(a)sbcglobal.net ********************************************************************* ******* ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Francesco IKÃ˜WGF with 132 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 128 Gaston ON4WF with 123 Sergey RV3DR with 100 ********************************************************************* ******* The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8601 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2018-02-06 05:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1206. (***) Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1155. (***) Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 47. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++ The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++ QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPÃ˜ISS, IRÃ˜ISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSÃ˜ISS ********************************************************************* ******* The successful school list has been updated as of 2018-02-06 05:00 UTC. (***) http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_corr ection .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 ********************************************************************* ******* Exp. 53 on orbit Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP Alexander Misurkin Joe Acaba KE5DAR Exp. 54 on orbit Scott Tingle KG5NZA Norishige Kanai Alexander Skvortsov ********************************************************************* ******* [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Object 43199 has apparently been identified as Shaonian Xing (Youth Sat) + A video from the RSGB 2017 Convention + LibreSpaceFoundation Talk Object 43199 has apparently been identified as Shaonian Xing (Youth Sat). So the unknown satellite that identifies itself as MXSAT-1 is actually the student satellite Shaonian Xing. It also means this satellite does not transmit on its coordinated frequencies. Let's wait and see if its FM repeater will be activated and on which frequencies it will operate. http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=547 [ANS would like to thank Nico, PA0DLO for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- A video from the RSGB 2017 Convention, "Amateur deep space reception", by Paul Marsh, M0EYT can found at: http://rsgb.org/main/publications-archives/video/rsgb-convention- lectures/rsgb-2017-convention-lectures/ Paul Marsh, M0EYT gives an introduction into deep space mega-DX, the equipment needed and the techniques used to identify extremely weak signals coming from man-made space probes in various parts of our solar system. X-Band (8.4GHz) is the primary band of discussion but Paul also talks briefly about S and Ka reception equipment and antennas. You can receive signals from spacecraft in excess of 1 billion Km with a modest size dish in your garden. If you have an interest in EME or microwave weak signal reception, Amateur DSR can help you push the limits of what is possible with home-built equipment. [ANS would like to thank JoAnne, K9JKM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- LibreSpaceFoundation Talk Watch the LibreSpaceFoundation FOSDEM talk on UPSat_gr the 1st open source hardware and software satellite https://youtu.be/D8QtZ9IRLto [ANS would like to thank JoAnne, K9JKM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Chris Bradley, AA5EM aa5em 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-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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ANS-035 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 04 Feb '18

04 Feb '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-035 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * AO-92 to Initiate Operational Scheduling * Soyuz Rocket Launches 11 Satellites Including D-Star One Phoenix * Upcoming ARISS contact with Moore Square AIG/GT Magnet School, Raleigh, NC * VUCC Awards-Endorsements for January 2018 * AMSATDroidFree Source Code Released on GitHub SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-035.01 ANS-035 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 035.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE FEBRUARY 4, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-035.01 AO-92 to Initiate Operational Scheduling Since its commissioning the AO-92 U/v FM repeater has been open continuously. Beginning the first full week of February operations will be scheduled among the U/v FM repeater, L-Band Downshifter, Virginia Tech Camera, and the University of Iowa’s High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument (HERCI). For the week of 4-10 Feb 2018, the following mode changes are scheduled: Approximately 1510 UTC 4 Feb the L band uplink will be activated for approximately 24 hours. Approximately 0250 UTC 6 Feb the high speed data will be activated for 40 minutes to enable data download from the HERCI experiment. Approximately 1520 UTC 8 Feb the high speed data will be activated for 40 minutes to enable data download from the HERCI experiment. The U/v repeater will be open continuously at all other times outside those listed above. [ANS thank Drew, KO4MA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Soyuz Rocket Launches 11 Satellites Including D-Star One Phoenix A Soyuz rocket crowned by a Fregat upper stage carrying 11 Russian, German and U.S. satellites into orbit lifted off Thursday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East, the first flight from the country’s newest spaceport since a failure in November. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off at 0207:18 GMT Thursday (9:07:18 p.m. EST Wednesday) from Vostochny, a cosmodrome carved from the forests of Russia’s Amur region near the country’s border with China. A CubeSat with an amateur radio relay payload named D-Star One Phoenix, developed by German Orbital Systems in Berlin in cooperation with the Czech company iSky Technology, was also launched Thursday. It replaces the D-Star One nanosatellite lost on the last launch from Vostochny on Nov. 28. Downlink frequencies are 435.700 MHz for telemetry and 435.525 MHz for D-Star. The uplink for D-STAR will be 437.325 MHz. [ANS thanks SpaceFlightNow and IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS contact with Moore Square AIG/GT Magnet School, Raleigh, NC An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Moore Square AIG/GT Magnet School, Raleigh, NC on 05 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:32 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and KG4AKV. The contact should be audible over the U.S. state of North Carolina and portions of the eastern U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Students have also participated in a mock astronaut training session at Marbles Kids Museum after viewing the Hubble 3D IMAX movie. Students conducted research and composed questions based on the research they conducted. The school voted on the best 20 questions. John Brier, KG4AKV, and Jim Scarborough, KE4ROH, have worked closely by providing our students with background information and serving as guest speakers and facilitators for the event. Joshua Tate, KF4EAG, and Mark Hammond, N8MH, have also been integral to helping our school with the contact. Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status [ANS thanks David, AA4KN, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- VUCC Awards-Endorsements for January 2018 Here are the changed endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period January 1, 2018 through January 31, 2018. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! CALL 1Jan18 1Feb18 N8RO 1020 1030 N8HM 1005 1025 WN9Q 416 710 K5ND 439 502 WD9EWK 384 400 N9EAT 336 410 NS3L 251 275 KE4AL 177 252 VE7CEW 200 251 PT9BM 126 151 PS8ET 101 127 WB7VUF 107 (NEW VUCC) AA8CH 104 (NEW VUCC) AL6D/W4 101 (NEW VUCC) N3GS 101 (NEW VUCC) NK1N 101 (NEW VUCC) KE8FZT 100 (NEW VUCC) W5PFG (DM95) 100 (NEW VUCC) W5PFG (EM12) 100 (NEW VUCC) This is my first month creating this list. 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 January 1, 2018. and February 1, 2018. 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, W5RKN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSATDroidFree Source Code Released on GitHub Dave Johnson, G4DPZ, author of the AMSATDroidFree app, has made the source code to AMSATDroidFree available on a public repository on GitHub for those of you who like to tinker: https://github.com/g4dpz/AmsatDroidFree Dave thanks all the people who have given him suggestions and have downloaded it over the years and are still using the application. [ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KT4TZ kt4tz at amsat dot org

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ANS-028 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne K9JKM 28 Jan '18

28 Jan '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-028 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: * AO-92 Commissioned, Open for Amateur Use * AMSAT Membership Deal and Getting Started * FoxTelem Version 1.06 Software Released * GOLF-TEE $15,000 Matching Funds President’s Challenge * AMSAT Rover Award Up and Running - Already Up to #7 Awarded * D-Star ONE v.1.1 Phoenix Satellite Planned for Launch February 1 * AO-91 QSO Two YLs Meet on the Air * Two More US Schools/Groups Move Into Phase 2 of ARISS Selections * ARISS APRS Packet Currently Non-Operational * ARISS School Contact First for Cyprus * PicSat Requests Amateur Radio Assistance to Capture/Upload Telemetry * AO-73 Operating Schedule Changes Announced * Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor * AMSAT Argentina LU1ESY-3 WSPR Balloon Flight Heading Out of Africa * OR4ESA Redu Ground Station Belgium on the Air Until February 6 * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-028.01 ANS-028 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 028.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE January 28, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-028.01 AO-92 Commissioned, Open for Amateur Use On the 03:25 UTC pass on January 26, 2018, AMSAT Vice President – Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, announced that AO-92 had been commissioned and formally turned the satellite over to AMSAT Operations. AMSAT Vice President – Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, then declared that AO-92 was now open for amateur use. Initially, the U/v FM transponder will be open continuously for a period of one week. After the first week, operations will be scheduled between the U/v FM transponder, L-Band Downshifter, Virginia Tech Camera, and the University of Iowa’s High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument (HERCI). Schedule updates will appear in the AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins and will also be posted to the AMSAT-BB, AMSAT’s Twitter account (@AMSAT), the AMSAT North America Facebook group, and the AMSAT website at https://www.amsat.org/satellite-schedules/ AO-92 was launched on the PSLV-C40 mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India on January 12, 2018. For the past two weeks, the AMSAT Engineering and Operations teams have been testing the various modes and experiments on board. Testing has shown that both the U/v FM transponder and L-Band Downshifter work very well. The Virginia Tech camera has returned stunning photos and data from HERCI has been successfully downlinked. AMSAT thanks the 178 stations worldwide that have used FoxTelem to collect telemetry and experiment data from AO-92 during the commissioning process. The collection of this data is crucial to the missions of AMSAT’s Fox-1 satellites. Please continue to collect data from AO-85, AO-91, and AO-92. RADIO PROGRAMMING CHART Fox-1D Doppler Shift Correction Memory 1 (AOS) - TX 435.340 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz Memory 2 (Rise) - TX 435.345 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz Memory 3 (TCA) - TX 435.350 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz Memory 4 (Descend) - TX 435.355 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz Memory 5 (LOS) - TX 435.360 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz The L-band experiment will use 1267.350 MHz uplink with 145.880 MHz downlink. UHF and L-band uplink operation are set by the command stations; the operating schedule will be posted. [ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President Engineering, Jerry Buxton, NØJY, AMSAT Vice President Operatings Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, and AMSAT Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Membership Deal and Getting Started AMSAT membership supports the organization and construction of new satellites. Right now, we are offering a free PDF copy of our Getting Started with Amateur Satellites with every new on-line membership. This is -the- primer for getting on the sats, and is updated every year. See https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-membership/ AMSAT also sells both the popular Arrow Antenna satellite models and the M2 LEOpack antennas. Sales also benefit AMSAT projects. https://www.amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ [ANS thanks AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- FoxTelem Version 1.06 Software Released Chris, G0KLA, has released version 1.06 of FoxTelem on January 27. This release addresses several defects and instabilities in FoxTelem version 1.05 and earlier. It also introduces a new Earth Plot that allows any telemetry value to be plotted as a heat map against a map of the earth. For more details about the Earth Plot and some example plots, you can read a quick tutorial posted at: http://www.g0kla.com/workbench/2018-01-26.php As always, let Chris know if you see any issues or log them on github at https://github.com/ac2cz/FoxTelem/issues KEY CHANGES ~~~~~~~~~~~ * EARTH PLOTS allow you to plot any telemetry value as a heat map on a map of the earth * Allow graphs and telemetry results to be searched with UTC dates and for ranges of uptime/dates * Allow stepping through the telemetry with up/down arrows * Prevent hang when decoder starts if FCD returns an error * Fixed bug where TLEs were not updated in the name is changed in the spacecraft settings window * Fixed crashes introduced in 1.05 release * Display all HERCI High Speed payloads when Raw Byte Payloads shown * Fix bug where missing TLE disables spacecraft from being tracked at all * Fixes bug where DDE connection to SatPC32 fails with European decimal point format * Add MPPT calibration values for Fox-1D * Improved the RF signal measurements * Improved the Find Signal algorithm * Space graph labels more evenly * Put the spacecraft tabs in FoxId order And many other bug fixes. Full list of changes here: https://github.com/ac2cz/FoxTelem/milestone/3?closed=1 [ANS thanks FoxTelem author Chris, G0KLA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- GOLF-TEE $15,000 Matching Funds President’s Challenge In October 2017 AMSAT announced the GOLF (Greater Orbit, Larger Foot- print) program. The first project of the GOLF program is a technology demonstrator named GOLF-TEE (Technology Evaluation Environment). The design is a 3U CubeSat with deployable solar panels, ADAC (attitude determination and control), Software Defined Radio (SDR) Transponder, and a Vanderbilt University Low Energy Proton (LEP) experiment. Now is the time to begin work on the GOLF-TEE Project. At the end of 2017, AMSAT has generous offers from two AMSAT Past Presidents for matching funds up to $15,000 for those that contribute to the GOLF-TEE campaign at: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=STK27W… (Shortened URL without linewrap: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-028-PayPal-GOLF-Donation ) between now and Feb- ruary 15th. Make your donation twice as valuable by taking advantage of this opportunity and contributing, and help AMSAT fund the launch of the next series of satellites of the GOLF program. There are also donate buttons for GOLF-TEE on the AMSAT website. Planning is for a launch in 2019. Donations of $100 and $1,000 or more will be eligible for a special AMSAT GOLF premium. (Both premiums are currently being designed, so please be patient awaiting delivery.) AMSAT is a 501-(c)-(3) not-for-profit educational and scientific organization of amateur radio operators 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. Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to AMSAT to help under- write the development and launch expenses of our GOLF satellite program. Donors wishing to provide additional matching funds please contact Joe Spier, K6WAO at k6wao(a)amsat.org. (ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information) --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Rover Award Up and Running - Already Up to #7 Awarded On January 1, 2018, Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards announced the Rover Award. This award is granted to stations who achieve a combined 25 points using any combination of the defined criteria posted at: https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover-award/ Bruce says the AMSAT Rover Award is up to #7 - Congrats to Jose, N7AGF, Rover Award #007. Points can be earned for each grid square activated outside of your home grid square using the FM, linear, and digital satellites. While FM contacts count for 1 point each multiplier points are available for contacts via the linear and digital satellites. Additional points are available for photographs, publicity, social media promotion, and AMSAT Journal articles. The options are numerous so please refer to the Rover Award Website for all of the details. Keep on roving! [ANS thanks AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- D-Star ONE v.1.1 Phoenix Satellite Planned for Launch February 1 German Orbital Systems GmbH (GOS) and iSky Technology s.r.o. (iSky) have announced a revival of the D-Star ONE satellite project to replace their satellite lost as a result of a failed launch of the Roscosmos Meteor-M No.2-1 meteorological mission on November 28, 2017. GOS and iSky said their teams were actively working together during the Christmas and New Year holidays, and are now happy to announce that they we have completed the assembly and final checks of a replacement satellite named D-Star ONE v.1.1 Phoenix satellite. The project is Phoenix as symbol of the rebirth and revival of the project. The launch of D-Star ONE v.1.1 Phoenix plans to launch on a Soyuz-2/Fregat rocket for the launch from the Vostochny launch site on February 1, 2018. D-Star repeater & beacon frequencies: Uplink: 437.325MHz Downlink: 435.525MHz RF-Power: 800mW Additional information will be posted at: http://www.d-star.one/ -and- http://www.orbitalsystems.de/d-star-one-second-birth/?lang=en Spaceflightinsider.com published an article about successful final testing on D-Star ONE: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-316-Spaceflightinsider www.spaceflightinsider.com) [ANS thanks the D-Star ONE Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-91 QSO Two YLs Meet on the Air Jeff Johns, WE4B, tweeted about the satellite contact via AO-91 his daughter Marissa, W4AQT, completed with Alyssa and her dad Charlie Azofeifa, TI2CDA. Jeff said Alyssa had seen Marissa's QRZ page and it turns out they are both Harry Potter, Pete the Cat and Minecraft fans and she wanted to get Marissa's QSL card. Charlie and I looked for favorable passes and decided the 18:16z pass of AO-91 on 1/20/2018 would be our first attempt to have the girls make contact. Marissa and dad Jeff went outside with radios and our Arrow antenna and waited for AO-91 to crest the horizon. As soon as they could hear the bird, W4AQT started calling TI2CDA. After a few calls, there was Alyssa with Charlie serving as the control op. The girls had a very sweet, quick QSO. Jeff wrote, "Ham radio is supposed to be about learning and progressing the radio art but it's also about forming friendships, even if they are long distance friendships. I have no doubt that this will not be the last time that Marissa and Alyssa have a QSO and I am confident that Alyssa will soon get her own license as Marissa is almost ready to take her General exam. I was fortunate that my daughter became inter- ested in amateur radio when she would go outside with me and listen to me talking to other hams with my Arrow antenna pointed at the sky. Now that she's licensed, it's allowed us to have some great father and daughter time together, as well as, providing her some excellent STEM education." Jeff's post on the QRZ.com satellite forum and photos can be seen at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-028-AO91-YL-QSO [ANS thanks Jeff Johns, WE4B for the above information and congratulates Marissa, W4AQT on her satellite QSO] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Two More US Schools/Groups Move Into Phase 2 of ARISS Selections January 13, 2018 — The ARISS-US team (Amateur Radio on the Inte national Space Station) is pleased to announce that two more US schools or organizations have had their ARISS proposals selected for advancement to the next stage of planning for amateur radio contacts in 2018. These schools will take advantage of new scheduling opportunities to speak with International Space Station (ISS) crew members using the ARISS equipment. The selected schools submitted proposals before the proposal window closed last November and join the 13 schools and groups chosen a few weeks ago. The two extra scheduling opportunities are special events thanks to ARISS’s two major sponsors, the NASA Space Communications and Navigation group and the Center for the Advance- ment of Science in Space. The events that the schools’ students will travel to are aerospace conferences where their ARISS radio contacts will be a highlight open to conference attendees. The schools and venues are: + Quest for Space/Quest Institute for Quality Education in San Jose, California, whose ARISS contact will be featured at the ISS R&D Conference, July 23-26 in San Francisco, California + Burns Science & Technical Charter School in Oak Hill, Florida, whose ARISS contact will be featured at the S.P.A.C.E. Conference, July 11-13 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. ARISS’s primary goal is to engage young people in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities, and to involve them in activi- ties related to space exploration, amateur radio, communications, and areas of associated study and career possibilities. ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a coop- erative venture of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States, and other international space agencies and international amateur radio organizations around the world. The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers from amateur radio clubs and coordination from the ARISS team, the ISS crew members speak directly with large group audiences in a variety of public forums such as school assemblies, science centers and museums, Scout camporees, jamborees and space camps, where students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technol- ogies and Amateur Radio. Find more information at www.ariss.org, www.amsat.organd www.arrl.org. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS APRS Packet Currently Non-Operational ARISS NEWS RELEASE no. 18-02 January 26, 2018 David Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS PR An unidentified anomaly involving the radio serving the ARISS APRS Packet System on board the ISS has led to the system not functioning. A similar problem has occurred on other occasions and solutions that resolved the problem proved to be only temporary fixes. The system may return to service as it has in the past or it may have finally failed completely. ARISS sees the delivery of the interoperable radio system as the true solution to securing our ARISS packet operation. Current target period for delivery and installation of the replacement system is Fall 2018. In the meantime, ARISS continues to investigate the problem and seek opportunities to resolve the issue. The ARISS team knows many amateur radio operators really enjoy using the ARISS APRS packet system, and thanks everyone for understanding the issues involved with not having it available. [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS School Contact First for Cyprus For the first time, students in Cyprus spoke live with an astronaut on the International Space Station orbiting the Earth on January 24. A video of this historic event can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/RJvDskycyj4?t=52m The English School has established significant partnerships with the Cyprus Amateur Radio Society and the Kition Planetarium & Observatory who have been assisting throughout the long preparation period, while Cyta, PM-ICT Solutions with Polycom and Delta Electronics will offer their specialised technical assistance. Also, Alpha Cyprus is the media sponsor for the event. The English School thanks them all on behalf of the student “adventurers” who are thrilled by this great opportunity! [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- PicSat Requests Amateur Radio Assistance to Capture/Upload Telemetry Cubesat PicSat was launched on the same PSLV-C40 flight from India that delivered AO-92 to orbit. PicSat is a nano-satellite aimed at observing the transit of the young exoplanet Beta Pictoris b in front of its bright and equally young star Beta Pictoris, and at demonstrating an innovative technological concept to use optical fibres for astronomical observations from Space. The cubesat contains an embedded FM transponder. It will be avail- able when possible during the mission. Frequency information: Uplink FM 145.910 MHz 1750 Hz tone when in amateur mode Downlink FM 435.525 MHz 9k6 BPSK AX25 Data and FM voice when in amateur mode (Despite the documentation, PicSat beacons so far have been 1k2 BPSK.) There is a 1k2 BPSK software modem in: http://uz7.ho.ua/modem_beta/other-versions.zip A report posted by K4KDR advises to receive using upper sideband with the audio output centered on the middle of the passband. A description of the telemetry and related information are available on https://picsat.obspm.fr/data/telemetries?locale=en. This week the PicSat team requested amateur radio assistance to capture and upload telemetry packets from the satellite. Beacons received from all over the world are especially useful to monitor the status of satellite along its orbit (and not just when it is above our own station). Science data are obviously useful for the science mission. And all other packets, even when they do not look like much, can be of great importance! For example, we often receive satellite acknowledgements to our commands from ground station in France or Europe which are listening at the same time as us. It may look useless, but it is not. We regularly miss those packets our- selves, so it is good to have other people receiving them and sending them to us. There are three ways to send your data. The options for your upload will become available on your profile tab after registration at their website: https://picsat.obspm.fr/connexion?locale=en. Full details of the packet uploading procedure are posted at: https://picsat.obspm.fr/contributing/send-packets?locale=en + Fast upload beacon: mainly intended as a way to directly upload a beacon by copy/paste when you receive, and to get an immediate overview of the satellite status. When you are a new user, this is also the only way you can upload a packet. Upload one beacon successfully, and you will have access to the other methods! This page accepts a hexadecimal string, like "0123456789ABCDEF" in which whitespaces and upper/lower case are ignored ("01 23 45 67 89 ab cd ef", or even something like "0 1 234 56789 aBc dEf" will be accepted). The hexadecimal string must represent the AX.25 packet (without flags), possibly KISS encapsulated (starting with "C0 00" and ending with "C0") + Upload data: this can be used to upload files containing multiple packets at once. The files are stored on our servers, and processed daily. + SiDS requests: This will be implemented in the near future. PicSat shares a similar orbit with AO-91 since they were both deployed at approximately the same time. PicSat has been included in the 2 line Keplerian Elements distributions. On-line orbit predications for PicSat can be found at: https://picsat.obspm.fr/operations/orbital-map?locale=en. PicSat news and information is presented in their on-line video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BadAt92qHdU [ANS thanks the PicSat Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-73 Operating Schedule Changes Announced The FUNcube Operations Team says that AO73 will shortly be entering full sun light. Already the eclipse periods are only 11/12 minutes every orbit.Current predictions indicate that full sun will commence on February 6 and last through until March 14. The FUNcube autonomous, on-board, scheduling system is based upons witching modes when entering and leaving eclipses, was not designed for this situation. The scheduling system will therefore not be suit able for operations over the next few months. In line with the recently published plan, AO73 was switched to continuous amateur mode earlier commencing Thursday morning and will stay in this mode until Sunday night or Monday morning. We expect that this schedule will continue until mid April. The next full sun periods are then expected to return again in late August. Further info is available at https://funcube.org.uk/news/ [ANS thanks Graham G3VZV and the FUNcube Operations Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor If you're open to volunteering to help AMSAT this is your chance! We have openings for a few volunteers willing to help as an AMSAT News Service editor. Our editors work on a rotating schedule with each taking turns as the current week's news editor. Using input received from members, the amateur radio community, officers, plus our other editors your job is to assemble the AMSAT News Service bulletin for your week. (Template is provided to help you format the message.) If you can help contact our Senior News Service Editor, Lee McLamb, KT4TZ via his e-mail: kt4tz(a)amsat.org (Ed. note: the need for at least one, hopefully many volunteer editors, is immediate. K9JKM will be retiring at the end of March with extensive travel plans, often out of reach of the internet.) [ANS thanks the AMSAT News Service for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Argentina LU1ESY-3 WSPR Balloon Flight Heading Out of Africa AMSAT-LU (Argentina) advises that as part of LUSAT's 28th aniversary celebrations, Ignacio, LU1ESY, launched a PicoBalloon on January 19 from Villa Gessell, Argentina. Floating at 12 KM height, it crossed the South Atlantic Ocean, left South Africa, and last reports show it some 500 km SSE from Madagascar, hopefully heading to Australia and New Zealand. It is transmitting as LU1ESY-3 on 14075.6 KHz WSPR, 25 mW, 25 gram payload using a WB8ELK tracker. As of January 27, LU7AA reports that the balloon has completed one orbit around the world. The APRS track can be followed on aprs.fi: https://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FLU1ESY-3&timerange=604800&tail=604800 and also at http://lu7aa.org/wspr.asp Pictures on http://amsat.org.ar/globo09.htm and http://amsat.org.ar Thanks to hams in Antartica, South Africa and Namibia for their WSPR captures & upload to http://wsprnet.org . [ANS thanks AMSAT Argentina for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- OR4ESA Redu Ground Station Belgium on the Air Until February 6 Javier Roldan, EA1HEO, will be activating OR4ESA from the ESA Redu Ground Station in Belgium from the 16th of January until the 6th of February 2018. He is taking advantage of a visit to the site during refurbishment of the 15m dish S-Band antenna. OR4ESA is the temporary special callsign for the activation at the European Space Agency (ESA) - Redu Site and Satellite Tracking Station in Redu, Belgium. (Grid locator: JO20na) Javier will try to be on the air daily (Monday to Friday) in the evening after work approximately 18:00 - 21:00 UTC both in SSB and in digital modes. Digital modes will be mainly PSK31 and RTTY as QRP. The contacts are valid for the ESA Amateur Radio Award (2 points per first QSO per mode and band). All the QSOs will be uploaded to LoTW, eQSL, Clublog, HRDLog and QRZ.com. He prefers electronic QSLs as they are faster, cheaper, easier to archive and they are more friendly to the environment. Paper QSLs should be sent via bureau or direct to DL0ESA. Please include SASE and $1 USD Europe, $2 USD outside Europe. Paper QSLs will only be sent in reply to the ones received. All details of the activation can be found in www.qrz.com/db/OR4ESA [ANS thanks Javier Roldan, EA1HEO and OR4ESA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ESA Announces Winners Cubesat to the Moon Competition The European Space Agency has announced two cubesat project teams as winners of a competition to send cubesats to the moon. + The Lunar Meteoroid Impact Orbiter, or Lumio for short, would circle over the far side of the Moon to detect bright impact flashes during the lunar night, mapping meteoroid bombardments as they occur. + The other, the Lunar Volatile and Mineralogy Mapping Orbiter, or VMMO, would focus on a permanently shadowed crater near the lunar south pole, searching out deposits of water ice and other volatiles of interest to future colonists, while also measuring lunar radiation. The impact-tracking Lumio is a single 12-unit CubeSat, conceived by a consortium including Politecnico di Milano; TU Delft, EPFL, S[&]T Norway, Leonardo-Finnmeccanica and the University of Arizona. VMMO, developed by MPB Communications Inc, Surrey Space Centre, Univer- sity of Winnipeg and Lens R&D, also adopts a 12-unit CubeSat design. Its miniaturised laser would probe its primary target of Shackleton Crater, adjacent to the South Pole, for measuring the abundance of water ice. The region inside the crater is in permanent darkness, allowing water molecules to condense and freeze there in the very cold conditions. No amateur radio content has been announced for these missions. The ESA said the idea behind our lunar CubeSat competition was challenging - up until now CubeSats have operated solely within Earth orbit. However, opportunities should open up to piggyback to the Moon in the coming decade, with circumlunar flights of the NASA-ESA Orion spacecraft and planned commercial flights. The ESA announcement can be accessed on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-028-ESA-CubesatMoon (www.esa.int) [ANS thanks the European Space Agency for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + On Jan. 31, the Super Blue Blood Moon Eclipse will be visible before sunrise in North America, Alaska and Hawaii. http://tinyurl.com/ANS-028-LunarEclipse (space.com) + Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, posted the January 19 video Phase 4 Ground Weekly Status report at: Part 1 - https://youtu.be/eD5P4tHIb9w Part 2 - https://youtu.be/gY0IQsppSI4 Her reports cover the IEEE Radio and Wireless Week, held in Anaheim, California from 14 - 17 January 2017. RWW is an annual technical conference from IEEE, and is sponsored primarily by Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. It consists of five different co-located topical conferences. One of those conferences was the Topical Work- shop on The Internet of Space or TWIoS, with two sessions. There was also a CubeSat workshop! + The Humanity Star was carried to orbit on-board the Rocket Lab launch from New Zealand. Their website advises, "Visible from space with the naked eye, the Humanity Star is a highly reflective satellite that blinks brightly across the night sky to create a shared experience for everyone on the planet. Created by Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck, the Humanity Star is a geodesic sphere made from carbon fibre with 65 highly reflective panels. It spins rapidly, reflecting the sun’s rays back to Earth, creating a flashing light that can be seen against a backdrop of stars." More information and a tracking map (showing when it is visible and when it is in eclipse) is posted on the project's website: http://www.thehumanitystar.com/ + Watch this video as KD2AVU worked KC8QDQ in EM89 on FO29. He doesn't have elevation rotor so best chance for him to work the bird is when it's on the low angle. Antenna: 2m beam (TX) homebrew DK7ZB 5 element 70cm beam (RX) stacked homebrew 10 element. Transceiver: Yaesu FT-847 TX power: 25W. Both antennas are in the attic! Watch on-line at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifpZMkACNNw + A frequently asked question during these good times of new satellite launches involves how to update the Keplerian Elements as orbits are identified or new satellites are launched. AMSAT-UK has a nice resource, "Adding new satellites to #SatPC32, Gpredict and Nova", see: https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/23/adding-new-satellites-to-satpc32/ + On January 18, Thursday night at 9 pm Eastern time, Jerry Buxton, N0JY the vice president for engineering at AMSAT was interview on the HamTalkLive webcast to talk about the process of building amateur radio satellites, and the latest on the newest bird, Fox-1D. You can listen on demand 24/7/365.25 at: https://www.spreaker.com/show/ham-talk-live - select episode #98. + Enjoy the satellite presentation by Doug Tabor, N6UA, during his talk at the 2018 Winter Hamfest hosted by Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJoh7g8BWok&feature=youtu.be + Are any of you interested in pursuing a PhD-degree, within space radio systems (software defined radio) or integrated operations involving small satellites and other autonomous vehicles? We are seeking two new PhD-candidates to join our small satellite team, at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. Full text and how to apply: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-028-UnivNorwaySmallSat More information about our team and on-going missions can be found here: https://www.ntnu.edu/ie/smallsat (via cubesat e-mail list) + Rocket Lab conducted its second Electron launch on January 21 placing three cubesats into orbit. The launch occurred from the remote Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Mission control is located in Auckland, New Zealand. On board was a Planetlab cubesat named Dove Pioneer which will conduct Earth resource imaging and two Lemur-2 cubesats for Spire which will be used for weather and ship tracking. Full report and video posted at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-028-RocketLabsLaunch + NASA released this new video on January 11, 2018, which was created by astronomers and visualization specialists from its Universe of Learning program. These experts have combined visible and infrared images from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes to create a three-dimensional, fly-through view of the Orion Nebula, a fuzzy patch in your sky tonight, really a place where new stars are forming: http://earthsky.org/space/video-visualization-3d-orion-nebula-nasa --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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 Happy New Year, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm at amsat dot org

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ANS-021 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 21 Jan '18

21 Jan '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-021 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Dr. Junior Torres de Castro, PY2BJO SK * AMSAT Membership Deal and Getting Started * Upcoming club satellite presentations (and hopefully demos...) * Zhou Enlai Student Satellite to Launch * AO-92 camera results * N8RO Logs 488th US Grid - Earns Grid Master Award #8 * Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for 1-16-2018 * Fox-1 MPPT Developers Interviewed on HamRadio360 Podcast * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-021.01 ANS-021 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 021.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. January 21, 2017 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-021.01 Dr. Junior Torres de Castro, PY2BJO SK It is with great sadness that the Directors and Officers of AMSAT- North America announce the passing of Dr. Junior Torres de Castro, PY2BJO. According to his son, Allan Kardec, Junior passed away on January 17, 2018 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A very active radio amateur, Junior was a great collaborator of LABRE (The League of Brazilian Amateur Radio Transmitters) serving for a time as its President. He was also a founder of BRAMSAT, the Brazilian AMSAT group as well as an active member of the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors during the early 1990s. But, perhaps what Junior will be best remembered for among the rest of the world's amateurs was his work with AMSAT-NA in helping to build (and financially underwrite) Brazil's very first amateur radio satellite. Called "DOVE short for "Digital Orbiting Voice Encoder", the satellite was successfully launched on January 22, 1990 on an Ariane 4 rocket from the European Space Agency's Kourou Space Center in French Guiana. Besides the main payload, that launch also included three other AMSAT MicroSats along with two larger UOSats. Surrey Satellite Technology in England built the two larger satellites. Junior's vision for his DOVE satellite was to provide a strong 2m, audio FM downlink signal ("This is DOVE in Space") that could be easily received by educational institutions around the world. Downlink telemetry was via 1200 Baud AFSK, AX.25 packet radio, a data format that was easily decoded with receivers and TNCs that were very popular among radio amateurs at the time. When told of Junior's passing, Jan King, W3GEY, a founding AMSAT Director and AMSAT's Vice President of Engineering during the MicroSat project said that, "I'm very sorry to hear about Junior. He certainly made the 4 MicroSat mission happen. He was a very important part of AMSAT and a fond memory for me." Likewise, Former AMSAT-NA BOD member Bob McGwier, N4HY, noted that, "This is a sad day. Junior was a great guy, full of life, and he loved AMSAT. It was a pleasure for me to help build his MicroSat for him. When I became an AMSAT employee for getting these spacecraft done, Junior paid the bills." Another MicroSat Project team member, Jim White, WD0E, noted that, "This is indeed sad news. It was a pleasure to work with him on DOVE. He was a very warm and generous person and not only conceived of and funded DOVE, but also a receiver for the 60-foot radio dish that the Table Mountain the Deep Space Exploration Society was refurbishing. He was always tinkering and building things at his house near Sao Paulo. He even dreamed of building a round swimming pool that, when drained, would double as a radio astronomy dish! During the time his DOVE satellite was sending "This is DOVE in space" audio from orbit we received nearly 200 SWL cards from around the world, all of which we shared with him. Needless to say, he was absolutely delighted." At ANS deadline, funeral arrangements for Junior were still pending. But word was received that his funeral and interment was to be in at the Gethsemane Cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil. [ANS thanks Keith KB1SF/VA3KSF for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Membership Deal and Getting Started Just a few reminders for all the new folks joining us: AMSAT membership supports the organization and construction of new satellites. Right now, we are offering a free PDF copy of our Getting Started with Amateur Satellites with every new on-line membership. This is -the- primer for getting on the sats, and is updated every year. See https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-membership/ AMSAT also sells both the popular Arrow Antenna satellite models and the M2 LEOpack antennas. Sales also benefit AMSAT projects. https://www.amsat.org/product-category/hardware/ [ANS thanks AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming club satellite presentations (and hopefully demos...) Philip N4HF announces a couple of presentations he'll be doing. 1) Blue Ridge ARC (Henderson County NC), Tuesday March 6, 7pm. http://radioclub.org/ (this club has also started streaming club meetings via TeamViewer; the demo, if it happens, will be outside though) 2) Haywood County ARC (NC), Thursday April 12, 7 pm. http://kw4p.org/ (Meeting place is incorrect on the website, but hopefully that will be updated in the next few days) Philip states he will be at one hamfest under the AMSAT banner, and possibly two, in the next couple of months. He will be announcing those when the info is finalized. [ANS thanks Philip N4HF for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Zhou Enlai Student Satellite to Launch The 2U CubeSat Zhou Enlai, developed with primary and middle school students, is expected to launch on Friday, January 19, 2018 The satellite is named after the first Premier of the PRC. Zhou Enlai held office from October 1949 until January 1976. A report on Xinhua Net says: The satellite was sent from its production base in Huai'an Youth Comprehensive Development Base in east China's Jiangsu Province to Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province Monday, where a CZ-11 solid fuel rocket is scheduled to put it into orbit Friday. Twenty teenagers who participated in the development project accompanied the transport group to the launch center and will witness the lift-off. Zhang Xiang, chief designer of the satellite, said that the nano- satellite, weighing 2 kilograms, is set to run in sun-synchronous orbit. Equipped with a HD optical camera, it can capture space photos with the highest resolution among those shot by other Chinese satellites for scientific education purpose. Zhang said that the students had taken their spare time to join the development and groundbased simulation performance of the satellite, and had learnt to assemble and practice voice data transfer and telecommunication applications. "A scientific satellite like this is like a teacher in space, carrying cameras or spectroscopes to study the upper atmosphere or to shoot space pictures of the stars. Students can grasp the mystery of the universe through the messages transmitted by the teacher," said Zhang, a professor with Nanjing University of Science and Engineering. Read the full story at http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-01/17/c_136902466.htm The IARU satellite pages list a 2U CubeSat called HA-1 with FM transponder and SSTV developed by the Teenagers Amateur Radio Center of Activity in Huai'an. Zhou Enlai may well be the new name for this satellite. http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=589 [ANS thanks Southgate ARN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AO-92 camera results For those that have not been following AMSAT on Twitter or Facebook, we have done a few camera runs with AO-92 with very good results. A pass this morning yielded 4 good images, two of which I have located their position on the ground. The images can be seen at: http://www.amsat.org/tlm/fox1d/images/index1.html Some side by side comparisons with Google Earth and NOAA images can be found at: https://twitter.com/AMSAT/status/953294176933896195 and https://twitter.com/AMSAT/status/953304248162406401 . Congratulations again to Virginia Tech, and thanks for providing the camera experiments for AO-92 and Fox-1Cliff! [ANS thanks Drew KO4MA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- N8RO Logs 488th US Grid - Earns Grid Master Award #8 Congratulations to Ron Oldham, N8RO, to log his last grid needed to have worked via satellite all 488 grids in the Lower 48 United States. Ron's message on the amsat-bb reads, "On Sunday [January 14] I was able to log the last grid I needed to complete the 488 US grids. I would like to publicly thank Doug, N6UA, for going out of his way to help me get DN23 in my log. Without the efforts of many portable satellite operators like Doug it would not be possible to achieve this accomplishment. Many thanks to all of the operators that helped me throughout the years." Ron also noted the Top 10 portable satellite operators who's efforts have provided opportunities for contacts including: ND9M - 332 K8YSE - 273 AC0RA - 234 W5PFG - 205 WC7V - 126 WD9EWK - 117 KA6SIP - 108 NJ7H - 89 A5CK - 710 KB5WIA - 610 KB0RZD - 6 On January 17 Damon, WA4HFN announced, "Congrats to Ron,N8RO for earning Grid Master Award #8". The Grid Master Award is given for confirmed satellite contacts with all 488 U.S. Grids." These awards are available at no cost but Damon requests that you make a donation to AMSAT-NA. For more information visit the web site: http://www.squirtthebirds.com [ANS thanks Ron, N8RO via the amsat-bb, and Damon, WA4HFN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for 1-16-2018 Here is the current tracking status for AO-92 and PICSAT. Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, by detailed doppler measurements has confirmed the identity of the AO-92 and PICSAT from the 1-12-2018 0358 GMT India PSLV-C40 launch. They have been added to the AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution: PICSAT - NORAD CAT ID 43131 AO-92 - NORAD CAT ID 43137 The following objects have been dropped from the AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution: OBJECT A - NORAD CAT ID 43111 OBJECT B - NORAD CAT ID 43112 OBJECT C - NORAD CAT ID 43113 OBJECT D - NORAD CAT ID 43114 OBJECT E - NORAD CAT ID 43115 OBJECT F - NORAD CAT ID 43116 OBJECT T - NORAD CAT ID 43128 OBJECT U - NORAD CAT ID 43129 99934 - NORAD CAT ID 99934 Please modify your tracking program as required. To receive AMSAT's Keplerian Element updates directly to your e-mail box subscribe at: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/keps [ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox-1 MPPT Developers Interviewed on HamRadio360 Podcast Cale, K4CDN, interviewed the Salmi brothers, Brent, KB1LQD, and Bryce, KB1LQC, on the HamRadio360 podcast. Brent and Bryce are the developers of the Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) used in the Fox-1B, Fox-1Cliff, and Fox-1D cubesats. The MPPT is the controlling interface between the solar panel with the electrical system of the Fox-1 satellites in such a way that the conditions for maximum power are always met when needed. Cale, Brent and Bryce also discuss their Open Source Digital Radio company, Faraday RF. Listen to the HamRadio360 podcast at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-HamRadio360-Podcast [ANS thanks Cale, K4CDN, and HamRadio360 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between Higher National School of Computer Science and Systems Analysis (ENSIAS), Rabat, Morocco and Astronaut Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2018-01-03 13:52 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridge via VK5ZAI]. ARISS Mentor was Eskil SM5SRR. + A Successful contact was made between Prva srednja informaticka škola, Zagreb, Croatia] and Astronaut Scott Tingle KG5NZA using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2018-01-18 08:46 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was telebridge via VK6MJ. ARISS Mentor was Marco 9A8MM. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2018-01-20 01:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Naka Junior High School, Kakamigahara City, Japan, direct via 8J25D The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP Contact is a go for: Mon 2018-01-22 10:23:21 UTC Contact is direct with 8J25D and should be audible over Japan and adjacent areas. The English School, Nicosia, Cyprus, telebridge via W6SRJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP Contact is a go for: Wed 2018-01-24 10:35:45 UTC [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + MONTSERRAT, VP2M. Daniel, KD9HNL is QRV as VP2MDH until January 29. Activity is on various FM satellites. QSL via LoTW. [ANS thanks ARRL DX news for the above information] + AMSAT-NA President Joe Spier K6WAO Interviewed in February QST Read Steve Ford's WB8IMY interview of AMSAT-NA President Joe Spier K6WAO in Frebrauary's QST. The interview which, appears on page 69 of the issue, covers Joe's amateur radiocCareer, his vision for the future of AMSAT-NA and amateur satelites in general, challenges on the horizon, prospect of HEOs and geostationary amateur satellites. [ANS thanks QST for the above information] + More background on the satellites aboard the PSLV-C40 flight: https://amsat-uk.org/2018/01/13/ham-radio-cubesat-launch-success/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] + NASA Social Media event https://www.nasa.gov/social/state-of-nasa-social-2018 [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] + Jerry Buxton N0JY VP Enginneering On HamTalkLive On January 18, Thursday night at 9 pm Eastern time, Jerry Buxton, N0JY the vice president for engineering at AMSAT was interview on the HamTalkLive webcast to talk about the process of building amateur radio satellites, and the latest on the newest bird, Fox 1D which just arrived in space last week! If you miss the show live, you can listen on demand 24/7/365.25 at: https://www.spreaker.com/show/ham-talk-live - select episode #98. or https://tinyurl.com/ANS021-HamTalkLive [ANS thanks HamTalkLive.com for the above information]) --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, EMike McCardel, AA8EM aa8em at amsat dot org

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ANS-014 AMSAT Weekly News Service Bulletins
by Chris Bradley 14 Jan '18

14 Jan '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-014.01 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * Z-Sat Frequency Coordination Submitted to IARU * Handy Fox 1D Links * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2018-01-12 * Nova Maker Faire * AMSAT North America has issued a statement formally designating Fox-1D as AO-92 * AMSAT Office Closed Monday January 15 * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-014.01 ANS-014.01 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 309.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. November 5, 2017 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-014.01 Z-Sat Frequency Coordination Submitted to IARU AMSAT-UK reported that the IARU has received a frequency coordination request from the Komaki Amateur Radio SATCOM Club in Japan for Z-Sat 50kg microsat with two missions: (1) Mission: BBS service Exchanging messages between amateurs all over the world in amateur service. Any amateur can use the space station like a BBS by uploading and downloading messages. The specific steps includes: An amateur radio station transmits messages to the space station for indiv- idual/public and these messages are stored in the space station. Another amateur radio station transmits a specific message to the space station and the space station transmits a reply message whether any message to him exists or not. If exists, the amateur radio station can receive the message by transmitting a specific message to the space station. Frequency band: - UPLINK : 435-438 MHz DOWNLINK : 145-146 MHz (Note: The usage of the BBS is shown in the following URL. same as ChubuSat-2 except frequencies https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya- u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html (2) Mission: The Earth observation Imaging particular site with the infrared camera. Frequency band: - UPLINK : S-band - DOWNLINK : S-band No launch defined but planning a sun synchronous LEO. http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=580 [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Handy Fox 1D Links Fox-1D Launch Live Blog https://www.amsat.org/fox-1d-launch-live-blog/ Fox Telemetry Leaderboard (With links to FoxTelem) http://www.amsat.org/tlm/ AMSAT Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page (Report Fox-1D reception here) http://amsat.org/status/ Getting Ready for Fox-1D PDF https://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Getting- Ready-for-Fox-1D.pdf Updates will be found on AMSAT's Twitter account (@AMSAT). Note that you do not need to be a Twitter user to view AMSAT's tweets. https://twitter.com/AMSAT The latest Keps can be found in AMSAT's Keps distribution. Any tracking software using the AMSAT Keps distribution should identify new object "99934" after refreshing your Keps. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasabare.txt [ANS would like to thank Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2018-01-12 Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Prva srednja informaticka škola, Zagreb, Croatia, telebridge via VK6MJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Scott Tingle KG5NZA Contact is a go for: Thu 2018-01-18 08:46:52 UTC 34 deg ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts. ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance. Feel free to send your reports to aj9n(a)amsat.org or aj9n(a)aol.com. Listen for the ISS on the downlink of 145.8Ø MHz. All ARISS contacts are made via the Kenwood radio unless otherwise noted. Several of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS website and not being able to get in. That has now been changed to http://www.ariss.org/ Note that there are links to other ARISS websites from this site. Looking for something new to do? How about receiving DATV from the ISS? If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for complete details. Look for the buttons indicating Ham Video. http://www.ariss-eu.org/ If you need some assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be able to provide some insight. Contact Kerry at kbanke(a)sbcglobal.net ARISS congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored over 100 schools: Francesco IKØWGF with 132 Satoshi 7M3TJZ with 127 Gaston ON4WF with 123 Sergey RV3DR with 100 The webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy. Out of date webpages were removed and new ones have been added. If there are additional ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me know. Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time. All dates and times listed follow International Standard ISO 8601 date and time format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2018-01-12 00:00 UTC. (***) Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1201. Each school counts as 1 event. Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1150. Each contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot. Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 47. A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the file. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed. The following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact: Arkansas, Delaware, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, and the Virgin Islands. QSL information may be found at: http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html ISS callsigns: DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS The successful school list has been updated as of 2018-01-04 09:00 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_cor rection .rtf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf Check out the Zoho reports of the ARISS contacts https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415 Exp. 53 on orbit Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP Alexander Misurkin Joe Acaba KE5DAR Exp. 54 on orbit Scott Tingle KG5NZA Norishige Kanai Alexander Skvortsov [ANS would like to thank Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nova Maker Faire is coming up March 18th. This year, the venue will be the GMU campus. Attendance last year was over 4000. Last year's AMSAT presence at the faire was a big hit. I hope you guys can exhibit again. The organizers would like a placeholder application filled in by Jan 14. Let me know if you need help with registering. https://nova.makerfaire.com/cfm/ [ANS would like to thank AMSAT.org Office (Martha) for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fox-1D was successfully launched at 03:59 UTC on the PSLV-C40 mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. UA9UIZ received and uploaded the first telemetry to AMSAT servers at 05:28 UTC. Initial telemetry values appear nominal. The first set of post-launch Keplerian elements are reproduced below: Fox-1D 1 99934U 1801D 18012.18036412 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 15 2 99934 97.6514 74.0671 0008545 308.1824 275.3575 15.22876478 16 [ANS would like to thank Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT North America has issued a statement formally designating Fox-1D as AO-92: Fox-1D, a 1U CubeSat, is the third of AMSAT's five Fox-1 CubeSats to reach orbit, being preceded by AO-85 (Fox-1A) and AO-91 (RadFxSat/ Fox-1B). Fox-1D carries the Fox-1 U/v FM transponder, with an uplink of 435.350 MHz (67.0 Hz CTCSS) and a downlink of 145.880 MHz. In addi- tion, Fox-1D carries several university experiments, including a MEMS gyro from Pennsylvania State University-Erie, a camera from Virginia Tech, and the University of Iowa's HERCI (High Energy Radiation Cube- Sat Instrument) radiation mapping experiment. Fox-1D also carries the AMSAT L-Band Downshifter experiment which enables the FM trans- ponder to be switched to utilize an uplink of 1267.350 MHz (67.0 Hz CTCSS). Fox-1D was sent aloft as a secondary payload on the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s PSLV-XL rocket as part of the PSLV-C40 mission. Fox-1D was one of thirty-one satellites successfully deploy- ed on this launch. Since Fox-1D has met all of the qualifications necessary to receive an OSCAR number, I, by the authority vested in me by the AMSAT President, do hereby confer on this satellite the designation AMSAT-OSCAR 92 or AO-92. I join amateur radio operators in the U.S. and around the world in wishing AO-92 a long and successful life in both its amateur and scientific missions. I, along with the rest of the amateur community, congratulate all of the volunteers who worked so diligently to construct, test and prepare for launch the newest amateur radio satellite. William A. (Bill) Tynan, W3XO AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Administrator [ANS would like to thank JoAnne, K9JKM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Office Closed Monday January 15 The AMSAT Office will be closed on Monday, January 15th in observance of Martin Luther King Jr Day. [ANS would like to thank AMSAT.ORG (Martha) for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + ARRL is picking up on Fox-1D news. http://www.arrl.org/news/view/fox-1d-satellite-set-to-launch-this- week-china-to-launch-five-new-cubesats [ANS Joanne K9JKM, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- + AMSAT's next Fox-1 satellite, Fox-1D, is scheduled for launch on January 12, 2018 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. Fox-1D will launch as part of the PSLV-C40 mission on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle with Cartosat, an imaging satellite for the Indian government, and 30 other payloads." [ANS Jerry Buxton, N0JY for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- + KK5DO reports we just issued Rover Award #005 to KG5GJT. Congrats and keep on roving. Find details of the AMSAT Rover Award at: https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover-award/ [ANS Joanne K9JKM, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Chris Bradley, AA5EM aa5em 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-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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ANS-007 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne K9JKM 07 Jan '18

07 Jan '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-007 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: * GOLF-TEE $15,000 Matching Funds President’s Challenge * Launch Watch - India's ISRO PSLV-C40 Mission With Fox-1D Aboard * Your Telemetry Data is Needed to Assist With Fox-1D Commissioning * French PicSat With V/U FM Transponder Also Aboard PSLV-C40 Launch * AMSAT Announces the Rover Award * AMSAT Second Annual CW Activity Day Wrap Up * AMSAT-UK Reporting on a Chinese Launch With Five 6U Cubesats * Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor * AMSAT South Africa and SARL Hosting January 20 SDR Workshop * New Grid Master Awarded * NASA on the Air Events to Highlight Key Space Milestones * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-007.01 ANS-007 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 007.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE January 7, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-007.01 GOLF-TEE $15,000 Matching Funds President’s Challenge In October 2017 AMSAT announced the GOLF (Greater Orbit, Larger Foot- print) program. The first project of the GOLF program is a technology demonstrator named GOLF-TEE (Technology Evaluation Environment). The design is a 3U CubeSat with deployable solar panels, ADAC (attitude determination and control), Software Defined Radio (SDR) Transponder, and a Vanderbilt University Low Energy Proton (LEP) experiment. Now is the time to begin work on the GOLF-TEE Project. At the end of 2017, AMSAT has generous offers from two AMSAT Past Presidents for matching funds up to $15,000 for those that contribute to the GOLF-TEE campaign at: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=STK27W… (Shortened URL without linewrap: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-007-PayPal-GOLF-Donation ) between now and Feb- ruary 15th. Make your donation twice as valuable by taking advantage of this opportunity and contributing, and help AMSAT fund the launch of the next series of satellites of the GOLF program. There are also donate buttons for GOLF-TEE on the AMSAT website. Planning is for a launch in 2019. Donations of $100 and $1,000 or more will be eligible for a special AMSAT GOLF premium. (Both premiums are currently being designed, so please be patient awaiting delivery.) AMSAT is a 501-(c)-(3) not-for-profit educational and scientific organization of amateur radio operators 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. Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to AMSAT to help under- write the development and launch expenses of our GOLF satellite program. Donors wishing to provide additional matching funds please contact Joe Spier, K6WAO at k6wao(a)amsat.org. (ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Launch Watch - India's ISRO PSLV-C40 Mission With Fox-1D Aboard The PSLV-C40 flight from India has been rescheduled from December 30 to January 10 seems to have settled on a firmer schedule. According to the Launch Schedule posted by SpaceflightNow.com current planning indicates (at ANS press time): January, 11/12, 2018 PSLV • Cartosat 2F & NovaSAR-S Launch time: 0358 GMT on 12th (10:58 p.m. EST on 11th) Launch site: Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/ India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, flying on the PSLV-C40 mission, will launch India’s Cartosat 2ER high-resolution Earth observation satellite and the NovaSAR-S radar remote sensing satellite for Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. of the United Kingdom. A collection of approximately 30 smaller secondary payloads from Indian and inter- national companies and institutions will also be on the launch. AMSAT Fox-1D will be aboard this flight. Additional information can be followed for launch updates at: https://spaceflight101.com/events/pslv-c40-cartosat-2er/ http://tinyurl.com/ANS-007-SpaceFlight-PSLVC40 http://tinyurl.com/ANS-007-SpaceDaily-PSLV [ANS thanks SpaceFlightNow.com for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Telemetry Data is Needed to Assist With Fox-1D Commissioning AMSAT will release Keplerian elements for Fox-1D as soon as the data becomes available via the AMSAT Web Site. Participation in telemetry collection by as many stations in as many parts of the world as possible is essential as AMSAT Engineering looks for successful startup and indications of the general health and function of the satellite as it begins to acclimate to space. If you are capturing telemetry with FoxTelem please be sure that "Upload to Server" is checked in your settings, and that your "Ground Station Params" are filled in as well. You can help AMSAT and everyone waiting to get on the air with Fox-1D tremendously by capturing the telemetry. If AMSAT Engineering is seeing nominal values from the telemetry you gather, the satellite will be commanded from Beacon Mode to Safe Mode on the first good pass over the United States. In Safe Mode, the satellite transmits a full two frames of telemetry (one Current frame followed by, and alternating each ID cycle, a High or a Low frame). Veronica now has time to make the whole ID announcement in Safe Mode. The on-orbit checkout procedure for Fox-1D is similar to Fox-1A/AO-85 and RadFxSat. It could be completed in as little as a few days if users cooperate. It is very important, and good amateur operating practice, to refrain from using the transponder uplink so the on-orbit tests can be performed, including when the satellite is switched into Transponder Mode for testing. AMSAT will make it broadly known when the tests are complete and the transponder is available for all to use. If you hear someone on the transponder, please do not assume that it is open for general use - check AMSAT's website, Facebook, and Twitter before transmitting to be sure you do not interfere with testing. AMSAT asks all satellite operators to contribute just a little bit of your time by gathering telemetry, not using the transponder uplink, to help complete the last few days of getting RadFxSat operating for the amateur radio community. Lots of hams put thousands of volunteer hours of their time into making RadFxSat happen. Just like any ham radio project you might undertake, AMSAT builds satellites. AMSAT volunteers do it because they like to, and when they are done, AMSAT freely shares their project with hams everywhere as is the spirit of amateur radio. Thank you very much and see you on the bird! In addition to the Fox-1 U/v FM transponder, Fox-1D contains a number of exciting experiments, including a camera built by stu- dents at Virginia Tech, the University of Iowa's HERCI (High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument), and AMSAT's L-Band Downshifter which will give amateur radio operators an opportunity to experiment with a different uplink band. Stay tuned for more information about the launch and early operations of the satellite. RADIO PROGRAMMING CHART Fox-1D Doppler Shift Correction Memory 1 (AOS) - TX 435.340 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz Memory 2 (Rise) - TX 435.345 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz Memory 3 (TCA) - TX 435.350 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz Memory 4 (Descend) - TX 435.355 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz Memory 5 (LOS) - TX 435.360 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz The L-band experiment will use 1267.350 MHz uplink with 145.880 MHz downlink. Frequencies are subject to change post-launch. [ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President Engineering, Jerry Buxton, NØJY, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- French PicSat With V/U FM Transponder Also Aboard PSLV-C40 Launch Cubesat PicSat is currently in India waiting for launch in January. PicSat is a nano-satellite aimed at observing the transit of the young exoplanet Beta Pictoris b in front of its bright and equally young star Beta Pictoris, and at demonstrating an innovative tech- nological concept to use optical fibres for astronomical observa- tions from Space. The cubesat contains an embedded FM transponder. It will be avail- able when possible during the mission. Description of telemetry and related information are available on https://picsat.obspm.fr/data/telemetries?locale=en. Frequency information: Uplink FM 145.910 MHz Downlink FM 435.525 MHz Short videos on project is available on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbVE3QEJO74NbJ-tHtThHpg The project team has set up a dedicated web site with lot of information including for hamradio: https://picsat.obspm.fr/ [ANS thanks Christophe Mercier, AMSAT-F President for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Announces the Rover Award On January 1, 2018, Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards announced the Rover Award. This award is granted to stations who achieve a combined 25 points using any combination of the defined criteria posted at: https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover-award/ Points can be earned for each grid square activated outside of your home grid square using the FM, linear, and digital satellites. While FM contacts count for 1 point each multiplier points are available for contacts via the linear and digital satellites. Additional points are available for photographs, publicity, social media promotion, and AMSAT Journal articles. The options are numerous so please refer to the Rover Award Website for all of the details. Bruce is also asking for your help to design a certificate that helps show what a rover is. He would like some photos of a rover station, rover antennas, anything that would be really neat on the certificate. Now that everyone knows what the award is and has had a bit of time to look it over, we need your help. I would like to design a certificate that helps show what a rover is. Therefore, I would like some photos of a rover station, rover antennas, anything that would be really neat on the certificate. (the photos cannot show anyone's callsign, cannot show anyone in the picture that makes them identifiable.) Send your photos to bruce via kk5do(a)amsat.org Bruce will take submissions for until January 19. After this date he will post the pictures on the AMSAT website for members to choose the two, three, or four pictures and after the two weeks, we will place the pix on the AMSAT website and let the AMSAT members choose the two, three or four pictures that they think reflect the best of roving. [ANS thanks AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Second Annual CW Activity Day Wrap Up Ray, W2RS, wrote, "Many thanks to all who participated in AMSAT's second annual CW Activity Day on OSCAR, held in memory of Pat Gowen, G3IOR. We didn't ask for logs to be submitted, so we obviously have no figures, but activity seemed up significantly from last year. I worked two all-time new stations (new for me, that is) on FO-29, as well as some old friends. CU on CW in 2018, and of course in AMSAT's third annual CW Activity Day, same time next year." [ANS thanks Ray, W2RS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-UK Reporting on a Chinese Launch With Five 6U Cubesats A launch from China's Jiuquan Space Center on a CZ-11 on January 17 will fly Hunan Amateur Radio Society's constellation of five similar 6U CubeSat spacecraft intended to: 1.Carry out synchronous ionospheric transmission detection experiments based on multi-satellite and multi-band with the same GPS time base. 2.Carry out amateur HF/VHF/UHF re-transmitting experiments in any narrow-band mode. 3.Carry out communications experiments between inter-satellite amateur loads, LIFI high-speed digital downlink and CW lamp signal communication experiments. 4. Planned downlinks on 437.5 MHz using 9k6 GMSK and on 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz using 5Mbps OFDM. The IARU says these frequencies have been coordinated: Cubesat Uplink/Downlink ------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- TY2 435.350 MHz / 2403.000 MHz / 5833.000 MHz down / 5653.000 MHz up TY3 435.875 MHz / 2406.000 MHz / 5836.000 MHz down / 5656.000 MHz up TY4 435.925 MHz / 2409.000 MHz / 5839.000 MHz down / 5659.000 MHz up TY5 436.025 MHz / 2412.000 MHz / 5842.000 MHz down / 5665.000 MHz up TY6 436.100 MHz / 2415.000 MHz / 5845.000 MHz down / 5667.000 MHz up Additional information can be found at: http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=556 https://www.chinaspaceflight.com/satellite/Changsha-Tianyi/TY-2-3-4-5.html [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the IARU for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor If you're open to volunteering to help AMSAT this is your chance! We have openings for a few volunteers willing to help as an AMSAT News Service editor. Our editors work on a rotating schedule with each taking turns as the current week's news editor. Using input received from members, the amateur radio community, officers, plus our other editors your job is to assemble the AMSAT News Service bulletin for your week. (Template is provided to help you format the message.) If you can help contact our Senior News Service Editor, Lee McLamb, KT4TZ via his e-mail: kt4tz(a)amsat.org [ANS thanks the AMSAT News Service for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT South Africa and SARL Hosting January 20 SDR Workshop SARL and AMSAT SA will be holding another SDR workshop at the National Amateur Radio Centre from 09:00 - 13:00 CAT on Saturday 20 January 2018. The objective of the workshop is to review the application of SDR dongles and the various software packages made available at pre- vious workshops. Anton Janovsky ZR6AIC will be on hand to assist with any technical difficulties. There will be a discussion of the HF Noise monitoring system and the setting up of a server to store the data. AMSAT SA will present a brief update on Kletskous. The cost of the workshop is R50 for SARL and AMSAT SA members and R100 for non-members. Light refreshments will be served. For details and registration visit www.amsatsa.org.za [ANS thanks SARL weekly news in English 2018-1-6 for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Grid Master Awarded Rick, WA4NVM and Damon, WA4HFN have teamed up to promote the use of amateur satellites and support AMSAT North America with a series of awards for satellite operators. On January 1 Damon announced, "Congrats to Fernando, NP4JV for earning Grid Master Award #7". The Grid Master Award is given for confirmed satellite contacts with all 488 U.S. Grids. Previous Grid Master award winners include: #1 John K8YSE 5/16/2014 #2 Doug KD8CAO 12/15/2014 #3 Rick WA4NVM 4/26/2015 #4 Glenn AA5PK 8/22/2017 #5 Clayton W5PFG 9/14/2017 #6 Al XE2AT 11/03/2017 In addition to the Grid Master award Rick and Damon also sponsor these satellite operating awards: + Got Grids Award - for 1 satellite contact in each of the 10 maiden head grids blocks in the US + 5 in EM55 Award - for 5 satellite contacts with operators in EM55 + These awards are available at no cost but Rick and Damon request you make a donation to AMSAT-NA. For more information visit their web site: http://www.squirtthebirds.com [ANS thanks Damon, WA4HFN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA on the Air Events to Highlight Key Space Milestones by Bob Granath - Dec. 1, 2017 NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida http://tinyurl.com/ANS-344-NASAEvent NASA is known for communicating with astronauts on missions to space, but regular citizens can radio NASA centers across the country. From the end of this year through the next, NASA will mark several key milestones. Amateur radio clubs at agency centers across the nation plan to celebrate these occasions with several "NASA on the Air" events. "We enjoy sharing NASA's story as part of the fun of making contact with fellow ham radio operators across the nation and around the world," said Kevin Zari, who is activities officer for the Amateur Radio Club at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "We occasionally communicate with people who think that because we're not flying the space shuttle anymore, NASA has almost gone out of business. We tell them about activities such as the Inter- national Space Station and the Space Launch System, and they appreciate the update." Amateur, or ham, radio operators use a frequency spectrum for communicating noncommercial and private messages. One of the most important uses of ham radio operations is providing emer- gency messaging following disasters, such as the recent Hurricane Maria that destroyed most avenues of communication in Puerto Rico. "The amateur radio clubs at NASA centers are made up of civil servants, contractors and tenants who participate on their own time," said Zari, who has been at Kennedy since 1990 and is chief technology officer in the Mission and Support Office of Exploration Research and Technology Programs. "We all have a common goal to show our support for NASA and highlight some of the agency's amazing accomplishments." Zari added that he hopes, if time permits, International Space Station astronauts can participate using ham radio equipment aboard the orbit- ing laboratory 225 miles above the Earth, made possible by the Amateur Radio on International Space Station (ARISS) Program. Amateur radio has even been part of NASA space flights since Shuttle Amateur Radio operations started in 1983. The plan is to talk about these anniversaries and their place in the history of NASA, explains Rob Suggs, who is the secretary of the amateur radio club at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "We also want people to know what we are doing now and what's coming up in the near future," he said. "This includes the Commercial Crew Program, as well as plans to send astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit with the Space Launch System and Orion." "We plan to publicize the "NASA on the Air" events in amateur radio magazines, on our Facebook site and web page," said Suggs who has worked for NASA since 1994 and is the Space Environments Team lead at Marshall. Zari added that they plan to use the hashtag #NOTA when announcing events on Twitter (@NASAradioClubs). While NASA amateur radio stations are commemorating historic mile- stones, Zari explains they also are making it into a contest. "Ham radio enthusiasts usually exchange QSL cards," he said. "When you make contact with someone, you exchange a postcard noting the contact was made. For this yearlong event, some clubs at NASA centers are offering commemorative QSL cards and a special certi- ficate indicating how many centers a participant contacted on various frequency bands." QSL cards serve as written confirmation of communication between amateur radio stations. QSL derived its name from the Q, or question, code message: "QSL?" It simply means, "Do you confirm receipt of my transmission?" According to Suggs, points will be awarded to each center's amateur radio club based on the number of contacts made during the yearlong event. Participants can enhance their award by using one of the existing capabilities of amateur radio on the space station such as packet (digital operations) or listening in to an astronaut giving answers to school children during one of the scheduled school contacts. No special activity is planned from the station and only one activity from the space station is needed to qualify. "We plan to have a web-based system for participants to check their points total and download a printable certificate at the end of the event," he said. "Points will be awarded for each center's contacts." Learn more about the "NASA on the Air" events at: http://nasaontheair.wordpress.com 'NASA on the Air' Events - Milestones coming up between Dec. 11, 2017 and Dec. 27, 2018, will include: + 45th anniversary of Apollo 17, Dec. 12-19, 1972 + 60th anniversary of the establishment of NASA, Oct. 1, 1958 + 20th anniversary of the launch of the first U.S. element of the International Space Station during STS-88, commanded by Kennedy's Director Bob Cabana, Dec. 4-16, 1998 + 50th anniversary of Apollo 8, the flight of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders to orbit the Moon, Dec. 21-27, 1968 [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + AMSAT's Michelle Thompson, W5NYV was interviewed on the January 1 podcast of Ham Radio Workbench to discuss the AMSAT Phase 4B pro- gram and her role in leading the Ground Station team. Listen to the podcast at: http://hamradio360.com/index.php/podcast-player/ (Michelle's interview starts at approximately 1:00:00 point - you can enjoy the entire 2 hour podcast or fast forward to the interview). + Felix, EA4GQS says the January 2018 AMSAR-EA newsletter is available for download from: https://t.co/uJ3O4mNWsB + Alex, OZ9AEC, reports that Gpredict 2.2 has been released. https://community.libre.space/t/gpredict-2-2-released/1577 to read about the latest improvements and find links to source code and instruction manuals. + The Jet Propulsion Lab has published an educational project which may be of interest to hams also pursuing amateur astronomy. Have you ever wondered when the next full moon will be? How about the first quarter moon? Now you can have all the dates and times for all the moon phases for the year at your fingertips by building your own Moon Phases Calendar and Calculator: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-007-NASA-MoonPhases + A 9-ton Chinese space lab will fall out of the sky soon — and if you predict exactly when, you can win some swag. The Aerospace Corp.'s Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS) is sponsoring a guessing game about the death day of China's uncrewed Tiangong-1 spacecraft, which is currently forecast to plunge uncontrolled into Earth's atmosphere in mid-March, plus or minus two weeks. If you pick the correct day — or if you're closer than anyone else — you'll win some Aerospace Corp. booty. To play, go to the CORDS site in the article posted at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-007-ChickenLittleContest + The UK's Goonhilly radio telescope will be featured on a Great British Railway Journeys program on BBC2. Brian, G4NNS operating his station to "talk to the moon" and hear his echos coming back will be shown on Friday, January 12, 2018 at 1830 UTC. The pro- gramming schedule is posted at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xgqxy/broadcasts/upcoming --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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 Happy New Year, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm at amsat dot org

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ANS-365 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by JoAnne K9JKM 31 Dec '17

31 Dec '17

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-365 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: * GOLF-TEE $15,000 Matching Funds President’s Challenge * New Year's Weekend - AMSAT CW Activity Day 2018 In Memory Of G3IOR * New Year's Weekend - AO73 / FUNcube-1 Happy Holiday Mode * New Year's Weekend - AMSAT Office Closed For Holiday * KB1LQC's Faraday RF Blog Describes the Development of the AO-91 MPPT * Fernando, NP4JV Completes Satellite Contact With All 488 CONUS Grids * KA9Q AMSAT Archive Updated With Phase 3-B/Oscar-10 Documents * Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor * The ARRL International Grid Chase Includes Satellite Contacts * NASA/JPL is Testing Combined Deployable Solar Cell & Antenna Panel * Philippines’ Diwata-2 Microsat to Include Amateur Radio Transponder * IARU Coordination Completed for DreamSat for ISS Deployment in 2019 * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-365.01 ANS-365 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 344.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE December 31, 2017 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-365.01 GOLF-TEE $15,000 Matching Funds President’s Challenge In October 2017 AMSAT announced the GOLF (Greater Orbit, Larger Foot- print) program. The first project of the GOLF program is a technology demonstrator named GOLF-TEE (Technology Evaluation Environment). The design is a 3U CubeSat with deployable solar panels, ADAC (attitude determination and control), Software Defined Radio (SDR) Transponder, and a Vanderbilt University Low Energy Proton (LEP) experiment. Now is the time to begin work on the GOLF-TEE Project. At the end of 2017, AMSAT has generous offers from two AMSAT Past Presidents for matching funds up to $15,000 for those that contribute to the GOLF-TEE campaign at: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=STK27W… (Shortened URL without linewrap: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-365-PayPal-GOLF-Donation ) between now and Feb- ruary 15th. Make your donation twice as valuable by taking advantage of this opportunity and contributing, and help AMSAT fund the launch of the next series of satellites of the GOLF program. There are also donate buttons for GOLF-TEE on the AMSAT website. Planning is for a launch in 2019. Donations of $100 and $1,000 or more will be eligible for a special AMSAT GOLF premium. (Both premiums are currently being designed, so please be patient awaiting delivery.) AMSAT is a 501-(c)-(3) not-for-profit educational and scientific organization of amateur radio operators 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. Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to AMSAT to help under- write the development and launch expenses of our GOLF satellite program. Donors wishing to provide additional matching funds please contact Joe Spier, K6WAO at k6wao(a)amsat.org. (ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information) --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Year's Weekend - AMSAT CW Activity Day 2018 In Memory Of G3IOR You are cordially invited to participate in AMSAT's second annual CW Activity Day. It will be held from 0001 to 2400 UTC on January 1, 2018. This year's event is dedicated to the memory of Pat Gowen, G3IOR. The rules are very simple: there aren't any. Just operate CW through any amateur radio satellite. Straight keys and "bugs" are encouraged, but not required. The important thing is to get on the air and have fun. [ANS thanks Ray W2RS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Year's Weekend - AO73 / FUNcube-1 Happy Holiday Mode AO73/FUNcube-1 is now operating in full time transponder mode and will continue in this mode until the evening of Wednesday 3rd January 2018. Please enjoy the transponder during this happy holiday period! Season's greetings from the whole FUNcube team. [ANS thanks Graham, G3VZV for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Year's Weekend - AMSAT Office Closed For Holiday The AMSAT Office is closed from Friday, Dec 22 - Friday, Jan 5th. Please check the website (amsat.org) for information. HAPPY HOLIDAYS and a VERY HAPPY HEALTHY NEW YEAR. [ANS thanks Martha for the above information --------------------------------------------------------------------- KB1LQC's Faraday RF Blog Describes the Development of the AO-91 MPPT Bryce Salmi, KB1LQC, writes about the development and successful launch and deployment of the Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) designed by himself and Brent Salmi, KB1LQD. The design started as a senior design project at the Rochester Institute of Techno- logy. Bryce wrote, "The story of the Fox-1 MPPT is a great example of how amateur radio is what you want it to be. The MPPT symbolizes the vast nature of amateur radio which spans far beyond just com- municating over the airwaves." Continuing, "The Maximum Power Point Tracker has no radio inside of it yet it is profoundly amateur radio. It’s sole purpose is to enable scientific and ham radio payloads on-board the spacecraft. Amateur radio is about learning, having fun, and applying techno- logy to accomplish great things. Let’s explore this side of the hobby!" Follow the rest of the blog, the MPPT, with photos and videos at: https://faradayrf.com/ham-radio-is-about-more-than-radios-amsat/ [ANS thanks Bryce Salmi, KB1LQC for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Fernando, NP4JV Completes Satellite Contact With All 488 CONUS Grids Congratulations are due to Fernando, NP4JV, for completing satellite contacts with all 488 Maidenhead grids in the contin- ental United States. His December 28, 2017 contact with Ken, VE3HLS in grid FN65 on XW-2B completed Fernando's quest. Ken was mobile on his trip to to New Brunswick. The satellite was at 2º elevation when the contact was completed. Fernando wrote on amsat-bb, "I would like to publicly express my gratitude to Ken for going out of his way to help bring down the "white whale", and last grid needed in the 488 CONUS." Continuing, "I want to also thank all the satellite operators that made this possible. All credit goes to them! Extra thanks to all those who travelled and helped with multiple grid squares. This has been a fun and exciting 2 years and 3 months of opera- ting Ham Radio Satellites." Fernando compiled a list of the stations contacted which can found on the archived copy of his original posting: http://www.amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2017-December/066053.html [ANS thanks and congratulates Fernando, NP4JV for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- KA9Q AMSAT Archive Updated With Phase 3-B/Oscar-10 Documents Phil Karn, KA9Q, wrote on amsat-bb that he has been scanning and categorizing his stacks of paper files. He's been working on old AMSAT documents from the early 1980s. Phil says, "I have a good pile of stuff on Phase 3-B/Oscar-10 that might be of interest to the old-timers among you (and maybe of archeological interest to others)". He will be placing these documents in raw form on his personal website. There's no index or HTML framing at the moment, but hopefully the file names are at least slightly descriptive. Phil advises to watch: http://www.ka9q.net/amsat/Oscar-10 Phil's AMSAT Newsletter archives can be accessed on his website: http://www.ka9q.net/newsletters.html [ANS thanks Phil Karn, KA9Q for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Volunteer Opportunity - Openings for News Service Rotating Editor If you're open to volunteering to help AMSAT this is your chance! We have openings for a few volunteers willing to help as an AMSAT News Service editor. Our editors work on a rotating schedule with each taking turns as the current week's news editor. Using input received from members, the amateur radio community, officers, plus our other editors your job is to assemble the AMSAT News Service bulletin for your week. (Template is provided to help you format the message.) If you can help contact our Senior News Service Editor, Lee McLamb, KT4TZ via his e-mail: kt4tz(a)amsat.org [ANS thanks the AMSAT News Service for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- The ARRL International Grid Chase Includes Satellite Contacts Beginning at 0000 UTC on January 1, 2018, the ARRL International Grid Chase kicks off. The objective is simple: Work stations in as many grid squares as possible and upload your log data to ARRL's Logbook of The World. Visit the ARRL Grid Chase web page at: http://www.arrl.org/international-grid-chase-2018 (If you are not currently registered with Logbook of The World, this is a good reason to get started. Go to https://lotw.arrl.org/lotw-help/getting-started/. Registration and uploading are free.) Every new grid square contact confirmed through Logbook of The World counts toward your monthly total, which begins when you ring in the New Year. Just turn on your radio and start calling "CQ Grid Chase," or listen for others doing the same. Make the contact, enter it into your log, and you're on to your next QSO. At the end of each month, your totals on the Grid Chase leader board will reset to zero. Fear not, though. The online scoring system will maintain your monthly totals for a grand total at the end of the year, when an annual summary will be released and awards given to top finishers in various categories. The ARRL International Grid Chase is open to all amateurs, regard- less of location or license class. Any operating mode is eligible as well as every band, except 60 meters. You'll find the complete rules at www.arrl.org/aigc2018. Any contact can count for your Chase score; it doesn't have to involve an exchange of grid squares. As long as other operators participate with Logbook of The World, you'll get the credit automatically when they upload their logs. This means that contest contacts will count, as will contacts with special-event stations, or any other on-air activity. As long as stations upload their logs to Logbook of The World, you're good. Satellite contacts count. Contacts made through earthbound repeaters do not count for the Grid Chase, but repeaters in outer space are the exception. This includes all low-orbiting satellites that support CW, SSB, and even FM contacts. [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- NASA/JPL is Testing Combined Deployable Solar Cell & Antenna Panel After cargo ship Cygnus OA-8E (SS Gene Cernan) was unberthed from the Unity module of the ISS on December 5 it continued in orbit to release cubesats and perform additional testing. On December 6 Cygnus raised its orbit from 402 x 407 km to 447 x 456 km. It then deployed 14 cube- sats on December 6 and 7. Cygnus was deorbited on December 18, with entry over the South Pacific. One of the cubesats deployed from Cygnus was the NASA/JPL Integrated Solar Array and Reflectarray Antenna (ISARA) mission to demonstrate a reflectarray antenna that increases downlink data rates for CubeSats from the existing baseline rate of 9.6 kilobits per second (kbps) to more than 100 megabits per second (Mbps). The reflectarray antenna consists of three panels, electrically tied together through hinges, which have an array of printed circuit board patches on them. The size of the patches are adjusted so that the phase of the reflected feed illumination collimates the radiation in much the same way a parabolic dish reflector would. Unlike a parabolic dish, however, the reflectarray panels are flat, which enables them to be folded down against the CubeSat. On the opposite side of the printed reflectarray antenna, solar cells have been added. Additional information and illustration can be found on the web: Jet Propulsion Labs ISARA page: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cubesat/missions/isara.php NASA ISARA page: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-365-NASA-ISARA-Project NASA ISARA PDF data sheet http://tinyurl.com/ANS-365-ISARA-PDF [ANS thanks Jonathan's Space Report No. 743, NASA, and Jet Propulsion Labs for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Philippines’ Diwata-2 Microsat to Include Amateur Radio Transponder The IARU frequency coordination pages show that the Diwata-2 team have applied for amateur radio frequency coordination: http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=593 Diwata-2 is the Philippines’ second microsatellite designed and developed by Filipino scientists and engineers under the PHL-Microsat Program. They describe their program at: http://phl-microsat.upd.edu.ph/diwata2 Diwata-2 is a 50x50x50 cm microsatellite with estimated mass of 50kg. It features two deployable systems - solar array panels and amateur radio antennas. Diwata-2 will carry optical payloads that will support the following objectives: + Determining the extent of damages from disasters + Monitoring natural and cultural heritage sites + Monitoring changes in vegetation + Observing cloud patterns and weather disturbances These paylaods will use non-amateur S and X Band frequencies. In addition to these optical payloads, Diwata-2 will also carry an amateur radio unit. This payload is intended to pro- mote awareness and interest in amateur radios and satellite technology in the country. It is also intends to provide an alternative means of communication at times of disasters and emergencies. Diwata-2 is proposing a U/V FM transponder with APRS and CW beacon. Planning a launch from Tanegashima, Japan into a 613km polar orbit in Q2 2018. [ANS thanks the IARU and the PHL-Microsat Program for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- IARU Coordination Completed for DreamSat for ISS Deployment in 2019 The Dream Satellite Project plans to develop and deploy a 1U cube- sat from the ISS in 2019. The structure and bus system of this sat- ellite consists of the OPUSAT-Kit, which is developed based on Osaka Prefecture University’s OPUSAT CubeSat, manufactured by NISSIN Co., Ltd. The Dream Satellite Project will develop the mission system: + Provide amateur radio mailbox service + Provide QSL service + Store and forward message operations A downlink at 145.860 MHz and UHF uplink have been coordinated. DreamSat has not yet announced their UHF uplink frequency. Data formats include CW, AFSK 1k2 packet and GMSK 9k6 packet. The DreamSat webpage: http://faspia.or.jp/ Planned for deployment from the ISS during Q1 2019. The IARU coordination information can be viewed at: http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=590 [ANS thanks the IARU and Katsuya Shibata, JJ1GPJ for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Bryce, KB1LQC, at faradayrf.com and AMSAT volunteer designer has a new entry in his blog https://faradayrf.com/antenna-every-pot/ Bryce discusses the effects of ITAR over the years and shows a really neat segment from a 1996 show which aired on the Discovery network about the construction of antennas for AO-40. This is quite a find ... you're going to like this one folks ... + The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has published a document on Agenda Items of Interest to the Science Services at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2019. The docu- ment addresses potential threats to the Radio Astronomy Service and Earth Exploration-Satellite Service. (A word search of the document does not reveal specific menition of amateur radio or amateur satel- lite.) Among the many frequency ranges mentioned are 45 MHz, 24 GHz, 47 GHz. Download document as "Guest" at: https://www.nap.edu/download/24899 (via W4ART and Southgate) + Pierros Papadeas, SV1QVE gave this presentation on December 29 about the LibreSpace_Fnd UPSat Open Source satellite to the Chaos Communication Congress in Leipzig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boZRB4Qpg9s Nikos Roussos gives an overview of the LibreSpace_Fnd SatNOGS project, a network of satellite ground station around the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiMXW6URg0U + How Many New Year’s Eves Will NOAA’s Satellites Celebrate? http://tinyurl.com/ANS-365-NOAA-NewYear + An ARISS School Contact with the Higher National School of Computer Science and Systems Analysis (ENSIAS), Rabat, Morocco, Wed 2018-01-03 13:52:42 is planned to be streamed on-line at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVrHxxZ5pCvF-6I2O1-wgqQ/live + Peter Parker, VK3YE, has published two excellent introductions to amateur satellites videos. Peter describes his two-part video demonstration as, "A new amateur satellite has just gone up and it's super easy to work. You just need a pair of handhelds on 2m & 70cm FM. Watch these videos to find out how to make contacts through AO91 with equipment you probably already have." Part 1 - https://youtu.be/astteV2umOg Part 2 - https://youtu.be/XNB7Nc4HFYs + 6O6O from Somalia - Operators Ken, LA7GIA and Adrian, KO8SCA will be active as 6O6O from Somalia between January 3-16th, 2018. This will be an HF DXpedition but they invite amateur radio operators worldwide to participate in a humanitarian portion of their trip. Both Ken and Adrian will pay for all the DXpedition expenses. All money raised during the DXpedition will go to the not-for-profit Doctors Without Borders. They have also set up a dedicated PayPal address for these donations 6o6o(a)la7gia.com. Closing date for donations is February 1st, 2018, when donations will be wire transferred to Doctors Without Borders. + Visit https://www.smallsat.org/ to find information on the 2018 SmallSat Conference August 4-9, 2018 at Utah State University. The theme this year is "Delivering Mission Success". + Terry, ZL2BAC, posted plans and photos of his 3 element 2M yagi antenna he made from old TV antenna parts in his junk box. Terry wrote, "It seems to work well on AO-91. If anyone is interested, see the details at:" http://tinyurl.com/ANS-365-ZL2BAC-Antenna + The AMSAT Station and Operating Hints page has been updated. 1) The Fox Operating Guide has been updated for 2018. This is in color, designed to print two-sided. A low-resolution PDF for e-mailing or screen viewing; and, a high-resolution PDF is available for high quality printing. 2) A copy of the I8CVS Antenna Polarization Switching article from the AMSAT Journal was added after many expressed interest in obtaining a copy. See: https://www.amsat.org/station-and-operating-hints/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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 Happy New Year, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm at amsat dot org

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