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ANS-161 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 09 Jun '18

09 Jun '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-161 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. ******************************************************************** * * * Deadline For AMSAT Board of Directors Nominations is June 15 * * See More Information Below * * * ******************************************************************** In this edition: * AMSAT-NA Facebook Group moves to New Group Page * Deadline For AMSAT Board of Directors Nominations is June 15 * New Items in AMSAT Store * First Amateur Radio Transmissions from Lunar Orbit and Subsequent Test Plan * US Schools/Groups Move Into Phase 2 of ARISS Selections * Call for Volunteers, ANS Seeks Rotating Editors * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-161.01 ANS-161 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 161.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. June 10, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-161.01 AMSAT Facebook Group Moves to New Facebook Group Page The AMSAT-NA group that has existed for over a decade, no longer serves as the official Facebook group of AMSAT. Please join us at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/752128438309103/ Shortly, the AMSAT logo and name will be removed from this group's pages in accordance with Facebook's Intellectual Property Policy. AMSAT officers and board members no longer hold any role on that particular group and Facebook's policy is, the creator of the group, owns that group's resources. For the most current information and discussion about AMSAT's activities, please join us on our new group. This new group has been placed under corporate ownership under legal advice and to insure the latest information and discussion from AMSAT. [ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Deadline For AMSAT Board of Directors Nominations is June 15 It's time to submit nominations for the upcoming AMSAT-NA Board of Directors election. Three directors' terms expire this year: Tom Clark, K3IO, Mark Hammond, N8MH, and Bruce Paige, KK5DO. In addition, up to two Alternates may be elected for one-year terms. A valid nomination requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT-NA member for Director. Written nominations, consisting of the nominee's name and call, and the nominating individual's names, calls and individual signatures should be mailed to: AMSAT-NA, 10605 Concord St, #304 Kensington, MD 20895-2526. In addition to traditional submissions of written nominations, which is the preferred method, the intent to nominate someone may be made by electronic means. These include e-mail, fax, or electronic image of a petition. Electronic petitions should be sent to martha(a)amsat.org or faxed to (301)822-4371. No matter what means is used, petitions MUST arrive no later than June 15th at the AMSAT-NA office. If the nomination is a traditional written nomination, no other action is required. If it is other than this, i.e. electronic, a verifying traditional written petition MUST be received at the AMSAT-NA office at the above address within 7 days following the close of nominations on June 15th. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXISTING AMSAT-NA BYLAWS. (Editor's Note: Nominating and electing your Board of Directors is your most important benefit of being an AMSAT member.) [ANS thanks AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Items in AMSAT Store The AMSAT Store has three new items. New for 2018 is the AMSAT Hat. Now available in sizes Small (which fits small/medium sized heads) and Large (which fits large/xlarge size heads). We also have the new for 2018 T-Shirts in multiple sizes and the 2018 Golf Shirt in multiple sizes. Only small amount of each has been inventoried, as such the AMSAT office is still unpacking boxes. As soon as an accurate count for each size and item is acquired, an appropriate update to the site will be made. (Editor's Note: Also available is the 2018 "Getting Started" Guide) [ANS thanks Bruce KK5DO for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- First Amateur Radio Transmissions from Lunar Orbit and Subsequent Test Plan On 2 Jun and 3 Jun we had 2 successfully tests on the UHF downlink of DSLWP-B after lunar orbit insertion. BY2HIT and PI9CAM team successfully decoded 39 GMSK packets from the satellite. SP5ULN and M0IEB also detected signals from the satellite with much smaller antenna, but the decode was not fully successful. Two weeks ago, when the satellites were launched on 20 May, UHF signals from both satellites was received by PY2SDR, CD3NDC, PY4ZBZ and N6RFM. The subsequent tests are planned from 4 Jun 22:00 UTC to 5 Jun 00:00 UTC, and from 5 Jun 08:00 UTC to 5 Jun 10:00 UTC. The mode is 250 bps GMSK for both 435.4 MHz and 436.4 MHz. Tracking file updates can be found on: https://github.com/bg2bhc/dslwp_dev or http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/tle/program_tracking_dslwp-b.txt [ANS thanks Wei BG2BHC for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- US Schools/Groups Move Into Phase 2 of ARISS Selections June 08, 2018 - The ARISS-US Team (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) is pleased to announce schools or organizations submitting proposals have been selected to advance to the next stage of planning to host amateur radio contacts from January to June 2019. The contacts will be with International Space Station (ISS) crew members using the ARISS equipment on the ISS. A review team of teachers from the ARISS-US Education Committee selected proposals after the recent proposal window closed. The groups will go forward to Phase 2, developing an amateur radio equipment plan to host a scheduled ARISS contact. ARISS's primary goal is to engage people in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities, and involve them in pursuits related to space exploration, amateur radio, communications, and associated areas of study and career options. Cord Davidson, KD5J, at Central Magnet Middle School in Batesville, AR, exclaimed after a recent ARISS contact, "ARISS shows how amateur radio is the most unique hobby there is, and from the educator's perspective, what a great way to encourage STEM topics!" ARISS anticipates that NASA will be able to provide scheduling opportunities for these US host organizations. The candidates must now complete an equipment plan that demonstrates their ability to execute the ham radio contact. Once their equipment plan is approved by the ARISS technical team, the final selected schools / organizations will be scheduled as their availability and flexibility match up with the scheduling opportunities. The schools and organizations are: Faith Christian Academy, Orlando, FL Hidden Oaks Middle School, Prior Lake, MN Huntington High School, Huntington, TX Moriah Central School, Port Henry, NY NIH-National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Children's Inn, Bethesda, MD Park Co. Public Library with Boys & Girls Club of the High Rockies, Fairplay, CO Pembroke Junior Senior High School, Corfu, NY ABOUT ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and 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 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 technologies and amateur radio. This is an excellent opportunity to become involeved while directly supporting the AMSAT mission on a regular basis. Find more information at www.ariss.org, and also www.amsat.organd www.arrl.org [ANS thanks ARISS and Dave for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for Volunteers, ANS Seeks Rotating Editors The AMSAT News Service (ANS) is seeking volunteers to serve as rotating editors for its weekly newsletter. Editors work on a rotating schedule, each taking a different turn editing a specific week's newsletter as scheduled by the ANS Editor in Chief. Editors support each other by seeking and reporting to the Editor of the week, information and resources of interest to the AMSAT community. The number of newsletters assigned will be dependent upon the number of available editors at any given time. The average editor can expect to spend, on average, 4-5 hours for each newsletter, dependent on available material. Prospective editors are required to be AMSAT members in good standing and have a genuine interest in satellite operation and an understanding of AMSAT's mission. Former editing experience is a plus but not required. If interested, please submit an inquiry, including your contact information to ans-editor(a)amsat.com. [ANS thanks the ANS editors for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Recent Successful Contacts: + 2018-05-15 08:22 UTC between Scott Tingle KG5NZA (Exp 54), using ISS callsign NA1SS, and University of the Philippines Integrated School, Quezon City, Philippines. Contact was telebridge via W6SRJ. ARISS Mentor was Satoshi 7M3TJZ. + 2018-05-22 08:53 UTC between Scott Tingle KG5NZA (Exp 54), using ISS callsign NA1SS and Viktor Rydberg Gymnasium, Stockholm, Sweden. Contact was telebridge via K6DUE. ARISS Mentor was Eskil SM5SRR. + 2018-05-23 11:06 UTC between Ricky Arnold KE5DAU (Exp 55), using ISS callsign NA1SS ands Janusz Kusocinski Primary School No. 71, Poznan, Poland. Contact was telebridge via W6SRJ Contact was live Streamed via https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/live/ ARISS Mentor was Armand SP3QFE. + 2018-05-31 16:58 UTC Ricky Arnold KE5DAU (Exp 55), using ISS callsign NA1SS and Sterrenschool De Globetrotter, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Contact was telebridge via VK4KHZ. ARISS Mentor was Bertus PE1KEH Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule There are no contacts scheduled for the coming week. The following astronauts are currently on board the ISS: Ricky Arnold KE5DAU Serena Aunon-Chancellor KG5TMT Alexander Gerst KF5ONO [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + May/June 2018 Apogee View Posted The May/June 2018 edition of Apogee View, an update on AMSAT's activities from AMSAT President Joe Spier, K6WAO, has been posted to the AMSAT website: https://www.amsat.org/apogeeview/ [ANS thanks N8HM for the above information] + Astronaut Drew Morgan who will be joining Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP and Alexander Skvortsov on the ISS during Expedition 60 has acquired his Technician Class license and has been assigned callsign KI5AAA. http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=4049809 [ANS thanks Kenneth N5VHO 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-154 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Chris Bradley (AA0CB) 03 Jun '18

03 Jun '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-154 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: * Help Requested to Monitor for Signals From Chinese Lunar Sats * Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution * Digital Communications Conference (DCC) Call for Papers * Invitation to the 2018 NASA AAQ Workshop - September 7, 2018 * China Microsatellite Symposium 2018 * ARLP022 Propagation de K7RA * ARRL VUCC Satellite Awards and Endorsements * Upcoming Binaryspace HAB Launch * Satellite Shorts SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-154.01 ANS-154 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 154.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE JUNE 03, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-154.01 Help Requested to Monitor for Signals From Chinese Lunar Sats After their launch on 2018-05-20 at 21:28 UTC, LJ 1 and LJ 2 were maneuvered onto a track to the Moon. Several amateurs received telemetry from the satellites. But now LJ 1 appears to encounter problems. Quoting Wei BG2BHC: "Can you help to find amateurs in the US to help to monitor DSLWP-A on 435.425 and 436.425 now? We lost the contact of satellite A on S band after an orbit adjustment. We just tried to switch on UHF, but we don't know if it works or not. If operating, 435.425 MHz should be 500bps GMSK and JT4 alternately. 436.425 MHz should be 250 bps GMSK. Both transmit once in 5 minutes. LONGJIANG 1 - NORAD CAT ID 43471 LONGJIANG 2 - NORAD CAT ID 43472 [Nico, PA0DLO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that three cubesat carrying Amateur Radio payloads were deployed from the ISS on May 11 at around 1030 UTC. See AMSAT News Service bulletin ANS-133 for details. The following cubesats have been added to this week's AMSAT-NA TLE distribution and are designated by Space-Track as follows: 1KUNS-PF (Kenya)- NORAD CAT ID 43466 (a 3U cubesat with a 1200 bps or 9600 bps telemetry beacon at 437.300 MHz) UBAKUSAT (Turkey)- NORAD CAT ID 43467 (a 3U cubesat with a CW beacon at 437.225 MHz, a telemetry beacon at 435.325 MHZ, and a linear transponder with a 435.200 - 435.250 MHz downlink / 145.940 - 145.990 MHz uplink) Irazu (Costa Rica) - NORAD CAT ID 43468 (a 1U cubesat with a 9600 bps telemetry beacon at 436.500 MHz) Nico Janssen (PA0DLO) reminds us that it is still too early to tell if the above CAT ID's are correct for each object. There may be changes. [ANS thanks Ray, WA5QGD, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Digital Communications Conference (DCC) Call for Papers Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) and publication in the Conference Proceedings. Annual conference proceedings are published by the ARRL. Presentation at the conference is not required for publication. Submission of papers are due by July 31st, 2018 and should be submitted to Maty Weinberg, ARRL 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 or via the Internet to maty at arrl.org The ARRL and TAPR DCC is an international forum for radio amateurs to meet, publish their work, and present new ideas and techniques. This year, the DCC is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 14- 16. Presenters and attendees will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about recent hardware and software advances, theories, experimental results, and practical applications. Topics include, but are not limited to: • Software Defined Radio (SDR) • Digital voice (D-Star, P25, WinDRM, FDMDV, DRMDV, G4GUO) • Digital satellite communications • Global position system • Precise Timing • Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) • Short messaging (a mode of APRS) • Digital Signal Processing (DSP) • HF digital modes • Internet interoperability with Amateur Radio networks • Spread spectrum • IEEE 802.11 and other Part 15 license-exempt systems adaptable for A mateur Radio • Using TCP/IP networking over Amateur Radio • Mesh and peer to peer wireless networking • Emergency and Homeland Defense backup digital communications in Amateur Radio • Updates on AX.25 and other wireless networking protocols • Topics that advanced the Amateur Radio art Go to https://tinyurl.com/y7wgm6vh to view the guidelines for paper submissions [ANS thanks the TAPR PSR for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Invitation to the 2018 NASA AAQ Workshop - September 7, 2018 You are invited to participate in the 2018 NASA Academy of Aerospace Quality {AAQ) Workshop. This event will take place at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio on Friday, September 7 from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. The event targets academics (faculty, researchers, students) involved with space related activities such as cube sat, small sat, high altitude balloon, rocket and more. It is also designed for those wishing to be involved with NASA space related projects. The event will feature speakers and a poster session. Travel stipends from NASA are available to attendees on a limited basis and will favor those giving a presentation or poster. There is no registration charge for attending the event but registration in advance is required. Please register at the link below by July 31. http://spider2.eng.auburn.edu/AAQ/registration.html The NASA Academy of Aerospace Quality is an open access virtual academy of educational modules, lessons learned, standards, case studies and more related to quality assurance for space related projects, especially those from academic based teams. The website is: http://aaq.auburn.edu Links to the agenda and materials from previous NASA AAQ Workshops can be found at the link below: http://aaq.eng.auburn.edu/events [ANS thanks Alice Smith and Jeff Smith for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- China Microsatellite Symposium 2018 The China Microsatellite Symposium(CMS2018), (www.microsatsymp.com) will be held at Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an China on 18th - 20th November 2018. The symposium includes keynote presentations and several sessions which will focus on the design experience, scientific missions, launch opportunities and all new technologies about microsatellites. In addition, another import session, International CubeSat and Mission Contest will be held on 20th November 2018, after which a free launch opportunity of 3U CubeSat or 1U payload capacity will be awarded to the winner of the first prize. Participants can get information and submit the works through the official website of our contest: www.cubesatcontest.org. The submission deadlines for the abstract of CMS2018 and work of CubeSat contest are both August 31, 2018. You could submit abstract and get information on the website www.microsatsymp.com Along with the symposium, there will also be a related exhibition, during which you can find the updated progress of CubeSat, launchers and other related technology. For exhibitors, you could also get information about booth on the website. The event is supported by China National Space Administration, International Astronautical Federation, Chinese Society of Astronautics and Chinese Institute of Command and Control. If you have any questions, please contact service at microsatsymp.com. [ANS thanks Ray Nugent for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARLP022 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP22 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 22 ARLP022 >From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA June 1, 2018 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP022 ARLP022 Propagation de K7RA On May 30 at 0005 UTC the Australian Space Forecast Centre issued a warning: "On 1 June geomagnetic activity is expected to increase to Active and Minor Storm levels due to arrival of the co-rotating interaction region and high-speed solar wind streams associated with the recurrent trans-equatorial coronal hole." On May 31 http://www.spaceweather.com issued this Solar Wind Alert: "NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of minor G1-class geomagnetic storms on June 1st, increasing to 65% on June 2nd, when a stream of high-speed solar wind is expected to reach Earth. The last time this gaseous stream lashed our planet's magnetic field, almost a month ago, it sparked bright ribbons of purple light (a.k.a. 'STEVE') seen from multiple US states. Visit today's edition of http://www.spaceweather.com for more information." The Sun remained active over the past reporting week. Average daily solar flux rose from 70.1 to 74.9, and average daily sunspot number rose from 7.7 to 26.3. During the previous week in which the average daily sunspot number was 7.7, the first four days had no sunspots. New sunspot regions appeared on May 21, 23 and 24. Predicted solar flux is 77 on June 1-3, 76, 74 and 72 on June 4-6, 70 on June 7-8, 71 on June 9, 72 on June 10-14, 70 on June 15-17, 72 on June 18-23, 73 on June 24, 72 on June 25-30, 70 on July 1-6, 72 on July 7-11, 70 on July 12-14 and 72 on July 15. Predicted planetary A index is 25 on June 1-2, 15, 12 and 8 on June 3-5, 5 on June 6-12, 8 on June 13, 5 on June 14-18, 8 on June 19, 5 on June 20-23, 8 on June 24-25, 5 on June 26-27, then 15, 28, 15, 12, 10 and 8 on June 28 through July 3, then 5 on July 4-9, 8 on July 10, and 5 on July 11-15. 2018 ARRL Field Day is June 23-24. Assuming the predicted numbers above, conditions should be good for Field Day. We want to see low geomagnetic activity, and planetary A index at 5 and 8 on Saturday and Sunday are good indicators. During this period of low solar activity solar flux at 72 and 73 is also good. Ted Leaf, K6HI of Kona, Hawaii reports that he is still in operation through the local volcanic activity, and asks, "Are there beacons for the lower frequencies, especially now with the lower solar flux?" I found this Wikipedia resource for HF beacons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_propagation_beacon Of course, there are lower frequency HF resources on http://www.wsprnet.org, but this is a bit different than showing what you can tune in and hear without using a special weak signal mode. Any readers have suggestions for lower frequency HF beacons? Note that Ted has a comment on page 56 of the June 2018 QST regarding preamps and attenuator effects on receiver noise. >From last week: https://bit.ly/2LG8MAp F.K. Janda, OK1HH brings us this geomagnetic activity forecast for the period June 1-26, 2018. "Geomagnetic field will be: Quiet on June 11-12, 16-17, 20-23 Quiet to unsettled on June 10, 18, 24-25 Quiet to active on June 8-9 Unsettled to active on June 3-4, 7, 13-15, 19 Active to disturbed on June 1-2, (5-7, 26) "Solar wind will intensify on June 1-3, (4-8, 13-15), 16-17, (18-19, 22-24) "Remark: - Parenthesis means lower probability of activity enhancement. - Forecasts remain less reliable." >From Dr. Tamitha Skov, the Space Weather Woman: "What's Old is New Again "Dear Tad, "I am still smiling at the huge response I got to a post I put up on Twitter this week. A newbie to our Space Weather community dared to talk about amateur radio as if it were an outdated hobby-- whoops, bad idea. I gently educated him. In doing so, I roused many radio amateurs and emergency communicators, who added their own comments and talked about their own personal experiences in the field. It was very gratifying. What I hadn't expected, however, was the strong interest in the concept that amateur radio will be critical to establishing over-the-horizon radio communications on planets like Mars in the near future. "This idea brings me back to how we managed to communicate over long distances many decades before we had satellites, internet or cellular networks. In terms of wireless communications on Earth, we were very much in the same place back in the early 1900s that we find ourselves in now when we think about colonizing Mars. Yet few people realize that despite all our advanced technology, we can't bring a cell phone to Mars. We will need to fall back on our 'old ways' of doing things when it comes to communicating on other planets. Isn't it funny how 'old' things become 'new' again? "Speaking of, this week brings us a new chance for a decent solar storm. Strangely though, the source of this storm is an old coronal hole that gave us a moderate level solar storm about a month ago. This old hole has survived its backside passage on the Sun and has now returned, with the new promise of bringing aurora views down to mid-latitudes again. Isn't it funny, what was old has become new again, in more ways than one! "Cheers, Tamitha" Dr. Skov's latest video report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwvKyY26lB0 If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at, k7ra(a)arrl.net . For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service web page at, http://arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals. For an explanation of numbers used in this bulletin, see http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation. More good information and tutorials on propagation are at http://k9la.us/. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at http://arrl.org/propagation. Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of ARRL bulletins are at http://arrl.org/bulletins. Sunspot numbers for May 24 through 30, 2018 were 39, 32, 26, 27, 20, 22, and 18, with a mean of 26.3. 10.7 cm flux was 73.7, 75.7, 72.9, 74.6, 76.9, 74.9, and 75.3, with a mean of 74.9. Estimated planetary A indices were 4, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, and 4, with a mean of 3.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 5, 4, 5, 5, 4, 5, and 5, with a mean of 4.7. [ANS thanks ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL VUCC Satellite Awards and Endorsements Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period May 1, 2018 through Jun 1, 2018. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! CALL 01 May 2018 01 Jun 2018 KO4MA 1598 1627 KD8CAO 1240 1253 N8HM 1025 1054 N8RO 1040 1051 K4FEG 877 901 K6FW 703 743 N9IP 589 609 N6UK 551 568 K5ND 502 526 WD9EWK 430 441 KE4AL 317 379 NS3L 300 325 VE7CEW 292 304 AA9LC New 299 AA8CH 218 256 G0ABI 124 200 N3GS 130 198 AA4FL 164 181 KE8FZT 100 175 XE1SEW New 130 WU2M New 105 KB2YSI New 101 PU8MRS New 100 If you find errors or omissions. please contact me off-list at <mycall>@<mycall>.com and I'll revise the announcement. [ANS thanks Ron, W5RKN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Binaryspace HAB Launch Binaryspace is doing another High-Altitude Balloon Launch from about 07:00 CAT on 9 June from the Leeukop Farm Airfield in Deneysville in the Free State. Everybody is invited to join us for the day to launch and chase the balloon. We are estimating a 3-hour mission from launch to recovery. The Sasolburg Amateur Radio Club (ZS4SRK) will join us with the tracking and recovery of the payload. Flexible Use of Airspace has been approved and depending on weather or technical difficulties, the launch and/or the payload contents can change at any time. We have some new equipment to test on Mission - Binary 03. A SSTV Camera Transmitter (400 - 500 mW) will take a photo and transmit it every 5 minutes. The call sign is ZR6MUG and will transmit on 144.500 FM, Martin 1 Mode and you will need MMSSTV to decode. A Telemetry Transmitter (400 - 500 mW) will transmit telemetry data every 30 seconds under the call sign ZR6TG on 144.600 FM and you can use FLdigi to decode. And an APRS Transmitter (300 mW) will transmit position and altitude every minute on 144.800 MHz under the call ZR6TG-11. We will also have a Go-pro camera and a Science Lab (Raspberry pi based with lots of sensors) in the payload. The payload is estimated to be around 900 g and we are using a 1 000 g white balloon. There are several prizes and awards available. The first person to recover the payload will get a prize and footage of the payload coming down will receive a prize. Special awards will be given to everyone who captures the SSTV images and RTTY telemetry. Please e- mail the decoded information, time of transmission (bonus if you can provide a recorded sound clip), your location and the equipment used totvdbon(a)gmail.com. [ANS thanks SARL weekly news in English 2018-6-2 for the above information] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts (Venice, LA, USA) Wyatt Dirks, AC0RA, and Clayton Coleman, W5PFG's plan to activate maidenhead gridsquare EL58hx was rescheduled due to unsafe weather conditions. The new dates for the expedition are June 7-9, 2018. Please send your Hamvention photos that you would like to share with others in our amateur radio community to journal(a)amsat.org. (thanks to Joe, KB6IGK for the request) --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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, AA0CB aa0cb at amsat dot org

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ANS-147 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 26 May '18

26 May '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-147 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: * Help Requested to Monitor for Signals From Chinese Lunar Sats * Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution * Digital Communications Conference (DCC) Call for Papers * Invitation to the 2018 NASA AAQ Workshop - September 7, 2018 * China Microsatellite Symposium 2018 * 25 Year Archive of Keplerian Elements Now on AMSAT Web Site * Satellite Shorts SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-147.01 ANS-147 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 147.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE May 27, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-147.01 Help Requested to Monitor for Signals From Chinese Lunar Sats After their launch on 2018-05-20 at 21:28 UTC, LJ 1 and LJ 2 were maneuvered onto a track to the Moon. Several amateurs received telemetry from the satellites. But now LJ 1 appears to encounter problems. Quoting Wei BG2BHC: "Can you help to find amateurs in the US to help to monitor DSLWP-A on 435.425 and 436.425 now? We lost the contact of satellite A on S band after an orbit adjustment. We just tried to switch on UHF, but we don't know if it works or not. If operating, 435.425 MHz should be 500bps GMSK and JT4 alternately. 436.425 MHz should be 250 bps GMSK. Both transmit once in 5 minutes. LONGJIANG 1 - NORAD CAT ID 43471 LONGJIANG 2 - NORAD CAT ID 43472 [Nico, PA0DLO, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that three cubesat carrying Amateur Radio payloads were deployed from the ISS on May 11 at around 1030 UTC. See AMSAT News Service bulletin ANS-133 for details. The following cubesats have been added to this week's AMSAT-NA TLE distribution and are designated by Space-Track as follows: 1KUNS-PF (Kenya)- NORAD CAT ID 43466 (a 3U cubesat with a 1200 bps or 9600 bps telemetry beacon at 437.300 MHz) UBAKUSAT (Turkey)- NORAD CAT ID 43467 (a 3U cubesat with a CW beacon at 437.225 MHz, a telemetry beacon at 435.325 MHZ, and a linear transponder with a 435.200 - 435.250 MHz downlink / 145.940 - 145.990 MHz uplink) Irazu (Costa Rica) - NORAD CAT ID 43468 (a 1U cubesat with a 9600 bps telemetry beacon at 436.500 MHz) Nico Janssen (PA0DLO) reminds us that it is still too early to tell if the above CAT ID's are correct for each object. There may be changes. [ANS thanks Ray, WA5QGD, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Digital Communications Conference (DCC) Call for Papers Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) and publication in the Conference Proceedings. Annual conference proceedings are published by the ARRL. Presentation at the conference is not required for publication. Submission of papers are due by July 31st, 2018 and should be submitted to Maty Weinberg, ARRL 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 or via the Internet to maty(a)arrl.org The ARRL and TAPR DCC is an international forum for radio amateurs to meet, publish their work, and present new ideas and techniques. This year, the DCC is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 14- 16. Presenters and attendees will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about recent hardware and software advances, theories, experimental results, and practical applications. Topics include, but are not limited to: • Software Defined Radio (SDR) • Digital voice (D-Star, P25, WinDRM, FDMDV, DRMDV, G4GUO) • Digital satellite communications • Global position system • Precise Timing • Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) • Short messaging (a mode of APRS) • Digital Signal Processing (DSP) • HF digital modes • Internet interoperability with Amateur Radio networks • Spread spectrum • IEEE 802.11 and other Part 15 license-exempt systems adaptable for A mateur Radio • Using TCP/IP networking over Amateur Radio • Mesh and peer to peer wireless networking • Emergency and Homeland Defense backup digital communications in Amateur Radio • Updates on AX.25 and other wireless networking protocols • Topics that advanced the Amateur Radio art Go to https://tinyurl.com/y7wgm6vh to view the guidelines for paper submissions [ANS thanks the TAPR PSR for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Invitation to the 2018 NASA AAQ Workshop - September 7, 2018 You are invited to participate in the 2018 NASA Academy of Aerospace Quality {AAQ) Workshop. This event will take place at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio on Friday, September 7 from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. The event targets academics (faculty, researchers, students) involved with space related activities such as cube sat, small sat, high altitude balloon, rocket and more. It is also designed for those wishing to be involved with NASA space related projects. The event will feature speakers and a poster session. Travel stipends from NASA are available to attendees on a limited basis and will favor those giving a presentation or poster. There is no registration charge for attending the event but registration in advance is required. Please register at the link below by July 31. http://spider2.eng.auburn.edu/AAQ/registration.html The NASA Academy of Aerospace Quality is an open access virtual academy of educational modules, lessons learned, standards, case studies and more related to quality assurance for space related projects, especially those from academic based teams. The website is: http://aaq.auburn.edu Links to the agenda and materials from previous NASA AAQ Workshops can be found at the link below: http://aaq.eng.auburn.edu/events [ANS thanks Alice Smith and Jeff Smith for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- China Microsatellite Symposium 2018 The China Microsatellite Symposium(CMS2018), (www.microsatsymp.com) will be held at Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an China on 18th – 20th November 2018. The symposium includes keynote presentations and several sessions which will focus on the design experience, scientific missions, launch opportunities and all new technologies about microsatellites. In addition, another import session, International CubeSat and Mission Contest will be held on 20th November 2018, after which a free launch opportunity of 3U CubeSat or 1U payload capacity will be awarded to the winner of the first prize. Participants can get information and submit the works through the official website of our contest: www.cubesatcontest.org. The submission deadlines for the abstract of CMS2018 and work of CubeSat contest are both August 31, 2018. You could submit abstract and get information on the website www.microsatsymp.com Along with the symposium, there will also be a related exhibition, during which you can find the updated progress of CubeSat, launchers and other related technology. For exhibitors, you could also get information about booth on the website. The event is supported by China National Space Administration, International Astronautical Federation, Chinese Society of Astronautics and Chinese Institute of Command and Control. If you have any questions, please contact service(a)microsatsymp.com. [ANS thanks Ray Nugent for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Year Archive of Keplerian Elements Now on AMSAT Web Site AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager Ray Hoad, WA5QGD has made his archive of orbital elements for active amateur satellites back to October 1993. Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P has posted this on the AMSAT web site at: http://www.amsat.org/tle/historical/ Joe commented, "Thanks for all those bulletins, Ray. That represents a lot of work over 25 years!" [ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD and Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts (Venice, LA, USA) Wyatt Dirks, AC0RA, and Clayton Coleman, W5PFG’s plan to activate maidenhead gridsquare EL58hx on Memorial Day weekend, 2018, is rescheduled due to unsafe weather conditions. The National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center confirms 70% potential for a tropical depression to form in the next five days with potential to move into the Gulf of Mexico this weekend. Rainfall predicted to hit the Louisiana coast combined with additional moisture from the potential depression would inhibit safe access to the operating location. The new dates for the expedition are June 7-9, 2018. AMSAT Vice President Engineering, Jerry Buxton, N0JY has made his Engineering presentation at the 2018 Dayton Hamvention AMSAT forum available on-line: http://amsat.us/?p=189 There is a PDF version for viewing, and the original pptx version. You may reuse the information in this presentation in its entirety as a presentation, or by the use excerpts from this presentation to enhance your own pre- sentation, so long as you do not alter the original wording when making your own slides. (via @N0JY on Twitter) Members of the Radio Club Croatian Flora Fauna will be active as 9A90P from Vela Palagruza Island (CI-084, LH 0057) between June 16-23rd. Operators mentioned are Marijan/9A1MB, Radovan/ 9A2SC, Zeljko/9A3DF, Branko/9A3ST, Kiko/9A4WY, Vito/9A5VS, Neven/9A5YY and Emir/9A6AA. Activity will be on 80-6 meters near the IOTA frequencies using CW, SSB, the Digital modes and the satellites. QSL 9A90P via 9A2MF. ADDED NOTE. Look for some operators to possibly operate (using their own callsign) from neighboring islands: Mala Palagruza (EU-090, CI-461) and Galijula Island (EU-090, CI-462). (thanks to Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1365) --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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-140 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Peter Laws 19 May '18

19 May '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-140 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor(a)amsat.org. ***************************************************************************************** * AMSAT @ HAMVENTION May 18-20 - Booth (1007-1010 & 1107-1110) * ***************************************************************************************** In this edition: * AMSAT Activities at Hamvention 2018 * Ready for Phase 5? * CAMSAT amateur radio transponder satellites to launch this year * Call for Nominations - AMSAT Board of Directors * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-140.01 ANS-140 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 140.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. May 20, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-140.01 --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Activities at Hamvention 2018 At deadline, Hamvention 2018 was nearly over. If you are attending, and have somehow put it off, the AMSAT booth (1007-1010 & 1107-1110) will be open until noon local time on Sunday. Well-dressed satellite operators can still pick up the latest AMSAT fashions for 2018 as well as other AM-swag. The 2018 update of Gould Smith’s book, Getting Started With Amateur Satellites will be available as well. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Work the AMSAT Hamvention Demo Station! Hamvention 2018 is almost over, but there is still time to work W3ZM/8, the AMSAT Club Station. Listen for the station on passes from 1200-1600 UTC Sunday, May 21st. Hamvention is located in the six character gridsquare EM89aq and if you are attending, the demo station is outside Building 1. As a reward for working the AMSAT demo station, individuals working us will receive a digital certificate upon request. Please email n8hm(a)amsat.org with your QSO details to receive a certificate. [ANS thanks Paul N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ready for Phase 5? Phase 3 was the term coined for AMSAT's first high-earth orbit satellites back in the late 1970s[1], Phases 1 and 2 being the prior "bleepsats" and early transponder based LEO satellites (the very successful AO-6, AO-7, and AO-8 among them). Later, Phase 4 was coined to indicate satellites in geosynchronous orbits and Phase 5 to denote missions that would leave Earth's orbit. While AMSAT-NA doesn't currently have any Phase 5 missions planned, industrious students at China's Harbin Institute of Technology not only have a Lunar mission planned, but it is expected to launch on May 20 at 21:30 UTC! Ambitious is a good description of the mission: not one, but two 47-kg microsats are expected to end up in an "HLO" -- a highly elliptical Lunar orbit -- and will be carrying amateur radio payloads. For more details and links to further information including a Linux-based "live CD" for using these satellites, see AMSAT-UK's news article here: https://amsat-uk.org/2018/05/19/dslwp-satellites-lunar-orbit/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] [1] - AMSAT Newsletter, Vol VII, #2, June 1975, p3 - see http://www.ka9q.net/AMSAT-Newsletter-1975.pdf --------------------------------------------------------------------- CAMSAT amateur radio transponder satellites to launch this year CAMSAT has released details of three new amateur radio satellites, CAS-5A, CAS-5B and CAS-6, that are hoped to launch in September 2018. Two of the satellites CAS-5A and CAS-6 will carry transponders. CAS-5A a 6U CubeSat which will include the following capabilities: • HF/HF – H/T Mode Linear Transponder • HF/UHF – H/U Mode Linear Transponder • HF – CW Telemetry Beacon • VHF/UHF – V/U Mode Linear Transponder • VHF/UHF – V/U Mode FM Transponder • UHF – CW Telemetry Beacon • UHF – AX.25 4.8k/9.6k Baud GMSK Telemetry. The transponders will have 30-kHz bandwidths except the H/U unit which will be 15 kHz wide. Planning a launch in September 2018 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center into a 539 × 533 km, 97.5 degree orbit. Details: http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=619 CAS-5B, a femto-satellite architecture (90 x 80 x 50 mm, 500 g mass) with a proposed UHF CW beacon and to be deployed from CAS-5A when in space. Details: http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=620 CAS-6 a 50 kg micro satellite (490 x 499 x 430 mm). It will include: • VHF CW Telemetry Beacon • U/V Mode 20 kHz Linear Transponder • AX.25 4.8k baud GMSK telemetry downlink • Deployable Antennas • Solar Panels, Lithium ion battery and power controller • Integrated Housekeeping Unit • Three-axis stabilization system • Atmospheric Wind detector • S-band TT&C system (non-amateur radio band) • X-band Data link system (non-amateur radio band) Planning a sea launch from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in September 2018 into a 579 x 579 km, 45 degree orbit. Details: http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=622 [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for Nominations - AMSAT Board of Directors It's time to submit nominations for the upcoming AMSAT-NA Board of Directors election. Three directors' terms expire this year: those of Tom Clark, K3IO; Mark Hammond, N8MH; and Bruce Paige, KK5DO. In addition, up to two Alternates may be elected for one-year terms. A valid nomination requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT-NA member for Director. Written nominations, consisting of the nominee's name and call, and the nominating individuals' names, calls and individual signatures should be mailed to: AMSAT-NA 10605 CONCORD ST STE 304 KENSINGTON MD 20895-2526 In addition to traditional submissions of written nominations, which is the preferred method, the intent to nominate someone may be made by electronic means. These include e-mail, fax, or electronic image of a petition. Electronic petitions should be sent to martha(a)amsat.org or faxed to +1-301-822-4371. No matter what means is used, petitions MUST arrive at the AMSAT-NA office no later than June 15th. If the nomination is a traditional written nomination, no other action is required. If electronic means are used, a verifying traditional written petition MUST be received at the AMSAT-NA office within 7 days following the close of nominations on June 15th. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXISTING AMSAT-NA BYLAWS. [ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Hamvention and ARISS Work Together The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station team (ARISS) is happy to announce that Hamvention and ARISS are working together again this year. Hamvention's 2018 theme is, "Amateur Radio ... Serving the Community." ARISS serves communities by inspiring great numbers of youth to explore STEM and Amateur Radio. ARISS is kicking off its 2018 fund-raising campaign at Hamvention to raise money for the expensive space-rated parts needed to finish building the required multiple units of the custom-built Multi-Voltage Power Supply, and to help defray some costs of continuing ARISS operations. The power supply is part of the next-gen ARISS Interoperable Radio System to replace the intermittent, aging ISS amateur radio station. ARISS Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said, "Having Hamvention partner with ARISS really puts our 2018 funding campaign into gear." Hamvention's support began with a post on the convention's front web page. The posting discussed teaming up with ARISS, and announcing a special ARISS prize drawing at the convention, and the need for hams to contribute to ARISS right now by going to http://www.ariss.org/donate.html, to https://fundrazr.com/arissnextgen, or stopping at the ARISS Hamvention booth on Sunday morning. The double boost to ARISS by Hamvention is the featuring of the ARISS Challenge Coin at a special drawing just minutes before the convention's big prize drawings on the final day. Thousands of people will hear about the ARISS Challenge Coin and how ARISS inspires students to engage in STEM studies and radio technology. 2018 Hamvention Prize Committee Chairman Bill Serra, N8NRT, wrote, "We are happy to be able to make the ARISS Challenge Coin a very special part of Sunday's prize awards." ARISS donated two of its handsome coins positioned side by side in a beautiful display, showing off each of the coin's sides. This ARISS Challenge Coin is the premium received by donors who give $100 or more to ARISS. The ARISS team will welcome convention goers at the ARISS booth in Building 1 through the weekend to donate and see a mock-up of the Multi-Voltage Power Supply that ARISS will launch in the future. A raffle is being held at the booth to win a coin - the owner of the ticket pulled does not have to be present to win. For those unable to make the trip to Xenia, readers can donate any amount by going to http://www.ariss.org/donate.html ARISS thanked everyone on the Hamvention staff whose personal efforts are aiding ARISS in its fund-raising and publicity goals. Rosalie White, K1STO, ARISS-US Delegate for ARRL, added: "We are so pleased and proud to know that Hamvention believes in the ARISS team and its goals of piquing the interest of young people and communities in a quite unique 'wow way' for STEM and Amateur Radio." About ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org. To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status [ANS thanks ARISS & David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + The AMSAT-NA Office will be closed through Monday, May 21st. The office will reopen on Tuesday, May 22nd + AMSAT HQ, @amsat, tweeted some images of the latest "Am-swag" at https://twitter.com/AMSAT/status/997443139760771073 + Jeff, KE9V, @ke9v, tweeted some images of AMSAT activities at Hamvention here: https://twitter.com/ke9v/status/997528369087631360 + Burt, FJ8OJ, @fj8oj, has a list of upcoming satellite operations here: https://sat.fg8oj.com/calendar.php (his website has other information of interest to AMSAT members as well) + SpaceDaily.com published an article on May 15 which gives nice mention to AMSAT, RadFxSat/Fox-1B: "What Happens After Launch: Two NASA Educational CubeSats" - http://tinyurl.com/AMSAT-RadFX-Fox1B [ANS thanks SpaceDaily.com for this item] + Get on the Satellites for Field Day! Field Day is right around the corner! Posted on the AMSAT website with the ARRL’s permission is an article entitled “Get on the Satellites for ARRL Field Day” written by Sean Kutzko, KX9X, and published in the June 2018 issue of QST. Read it at https://www.amsat.org/get-on-the-satellites-for-field-day/. As a reminder, AMSAT runs a Field Day event concurrently with ARRL Field Day. For more information, please see https://www.amsat.org/field-day/. [ANS thanks Paul N8HM for the above information.] + EL58: Wyatt, AC0RA, and Clayton, W5PFG, will be activating EL58 on Satellite (FM and linear as W5PFG) between 0000 UTC May 26 and 1700 UTC May 27. In addition to satellite, the team will be active on 6-m SSB and digital modes (FT8, MSK144) with a 5-el Yagi at 10 m height and with 1 kW of power (as AC0RA). Because they will operate from the land portion of the grid, QSOs will count for Louisiana (WAS), Plaquemines Parish (for County Hunters), and IOTA NA-168. Skeds for QSOs >6000 km from the grid are available by contacting w5pfg(a)arrl.org. [ANS thanks Wyatt, AC0RA, & Clayton, W5PFG for the above information.] + EL60: 6E5RM/XF3 Cozumel Island Special Event. Members of the Radioclub Cancun will be active as 6E5RM/XR3 celebrating the 2018 Rally Maya Mexico on May 23rd and 24th. In addition to 6 m and HF operations, satellite operations are planned. Cozumel Island is IOTA NA-090. QSL via XE3N. [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin & dxnews.com for this 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 additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Peter Laws, N5UWY n5uwy(a)amsat.org

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ANS-133 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 12 May '18

12 May '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-133 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. ******************************************************************** * DON'T FORGET THAT IT IS MOTHER'S DAY * * AMSAT at HAMVENTION May 18-20 booth (1007-1010 & 1107-1110) * * AMSAT ForumSaturday, May 19 in Forum room 4 at 2:45-3:45 PM * ******************************************************************** In this edition: * Dr. Alan B. Johnston (PhD), KU2Y, Named AMSAT Vice-President, Educational Relations * Jerry Buxton, NØJY CubeSat Presentation at Princeton Orbital Initiative * ARISS HamVideo Currently Not Transmitting * AMSAT at Hamvention 2018 -- 3rd and Final Call for Volunteers * Work the AMSAT Hamvention Demo Station! * Video Streaming of RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) Flight Model Testing * AMSAT Activities at Hamvention 2018 * Tips For Prompt Message Posting To The AMSAT-BB * Three CubeSats with Amateur Radio Payloads Deployed from ISS * Satellite-Image_26113 Re-recovered... Call for amateur help! * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-133.01 ANS-133 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 133.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. May 13, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-133.01 Dr. Alan B. Johnston (PhD), KU2Y, Named AMSAT Vice-President, Educational Relations AMSAT President, Joe Spier, K6WAO has announced the appointment of Alan Johnston, KU2Y as AMSAT Vice President-Educational Relations. Joe noted, "The subject of educational outreach is critical for the mission of AMSAT. AMSAT continues creating structure for fulfilling our mission component regarding education with projects such as the CubeSat Simulator, ARISS, and outreach to primary, middle, high school, and university programs. Alan has agreed to help AMSAT establish and coordinate an education initiative program and serve as AMSAT’s senior point of contact with outside organizations regarding educational outreach." Given the increasing importance of fulfilling education goals as justification for launch opportunities, this is an important subject for AMSAT. Alan is aptly suited for this position as he is currently an instructor at Rowan University in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, and has previously taught at Seattle University, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Washington University in St Louis. Alan is interested in using amateur radio satellites to teach various engineering and scientific topics and understands the teacher perspective as well. He holds an Amateur Extra license and is also a published author. [ANS Thanks Joe, K6WAO for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Jerry Buxton, NØJY CubeSat Presentation at Princeton Orbital Initiative The Princeton Orbital Initiative, a student organization at Princeton University, has invited Jerry Buxton, NØJY, AMSAT Vice President of Engineering, to share his experience with CubeSat development and AMSAT's proven technology combining scientific telemetry with on-orbit CubeSat voice operations, further expanding AMSAT's educational outreach. Dan Marlow, K2QM, a faculty advisor to the Princeton Orbital Initiative (POI) says the group plans to build and fly a 3U CubeSat with a goal to submit the project to the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative in November of this year. Marlow's invitation includes meetings with Andrew Redd, the lead for the POI initiative and an additional session with the graduate student chief designer of the thruster that the Princeton Plasma Lab is planning. Marlow said the visit would also provide an opportunity to explore possible mutual interest in partnering along the lines of some of the recent Fox missions. Buxton will give a presentation followed by a Q&A session, and have informal sessions with the students. The students have begun mechanical design of their 3U CubeSat and are looking to AMSAT for advice and guidance for their electronic and communications systems. Buxton commented, "Many institutions have been calling us for input on building CubeSats and to explore partnerships, and I think that this opportunity from an Ivy League University reflects the high level of standing and reputation AMSAT has established in the satellite industry ... with a specialty in amateur radio satellites of course." AMSAT North America pioneered satellite operations in space and con- tinues that tradition now based based on reliable CubeSat operations with amateur radio transponders, hosting scientific experimental missions sharing the amateur radio payload, successful multiple CubeSat deployment, and orbital deployment from the International Space Station. AMSAT was an early participant with the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative in the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program and con- tinues to have our launches selected based on our prior success and exciting future technological, scientific and educational opportunities. [ANS thanks Jerry Buxton, NØJY, AMSAT Vice President of Engineering for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS HamVideo Currently Not Transmitting In the official ARISS News Release No.18-06 dated May 10, 2018, ARISS PR Editor David Jordan, AA4KN, reports that the ARISS HamVideo is not currently transmitting The HamVideo digital Amateur Television (DATV) transmitter aboard the International Space Station (ISS) Columbus module recently ceased transmitting. The unit's indicators show it is functioning but its signal cannot be detected on the ground. The ARISS team's efforts to get the transmitter working again have been unsuccessful, thus far. A series of steps are currently being undertaken to try to diagnose the problem. However, if an actual failure occurred, only a ground- based evaluation will fully diagnose the problem. The ARISS International team is working diligently to bring HamVideo back to full operation as soon as practical. We have started coordination with our space agency partners and with our sponsors to expeditiously troubleshoot the issue on-board and, if necessary, troubleshoot and repair the device on the ground. The HamVideo DATV transmitter has become a very valuable educational asset that astronauts enjoy employing as part of the ARISS connection. Astronauts Tim Peake, KG5BVI; Paolo Nespoli, IZ0JPA; and Thomas Pesquet, FX0ISS, regularly utilized HamTV to inspire students and educators during ARISS contacts scheduled as part of these astronauts' ISS missions. Australian and European HamTV ground stations have been operational for receiving and distributing DATV signals from the ISS, and in the US, HamTV stations are under development. Several hams in Japan have set up ground stations that have received HamVideo. As more information becomes available on the HamVideo status and on any potential repair plans, we will keep you informed through future news releases and via messages on the ARISS web site www.ariss.org. [ANS thanks David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT at Hamvention 2018 -- 3rd and Final Call for Volunteers Hamvention 2018 in Xenia, Ohio is next week, May 18-20! If you’ve been waiting to volunteer until you’d firmed up your plans, we need to hear from you ASAP! If you're an experienced satellite operator, we can use you and your experience. If you've never operated a satellite before, we can use your help too. Whether you're available for only a couple of hours or if you can spend the entire weekend with us, your help would be greatly appreciated. Please send an e-mail to Phil, w1eme(a)amsat.org if you can help. Thank you! [Information provided by Phil Smith, W1EME Hamvention 2018 Team Leader] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Work the AMSAT Hamvention Demo Station! As previously announced, AMSAT will have it's traditional presence at Hamvention this year, including a satellite demo station. The demostation will operate under the AMSAT club callsign W3ZM/8. We intend to be on most passes of voice satellites between 12:00 UTC and 20:30 UTC on Friday, May 19th and Saturday, May 20th and between 12:00 UTC and 16:00 UTC on Sunday, May 21st. Hamvention is located in the six digit gridsquare EM89aq. As a reward for working the AMSAT demo station, individuals working us will receive a digital certificate upon request. Please email n8hm(a)amsat.org with your QSO details to receive a certificate. If you are attending Hamvention, please stop by the demo station outside Building 1! [ANS thanks Paul N8HM for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Video Streaming of RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) Flight Model Testing AMSAT Vice President Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, has been streaming live videos of testing of the flight model of RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) from Fox Labs in Granbury, TX. You can view archived videos at: https://www.twitch.tv/n0jy/videos/all. The first two are also posted at: https://tinyurl.com/ANS133-RadFxModelTest Follow @N0JY on Twitter for future live streams of RadFxSat-2 flight model testing. RadFxSat-2 is scheduled to launch later this year on the ELaNa XX mission aboard Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne air-launch-to-orbit system. The satellite carries a 30 kHz wide V/u linear transponder and radiation experiments for Vanderbilt University's Institute for Space and Defense Electronics. [ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer N8HM, and Jerry Buxton, N0JY for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Activities at Hamvention 2018 The 2018 Hamvention will be held on May 18-20, 2018 at Greene County Fairground and Expo Center in Xenia Ohio. AMSAT is planning for an exciting event. May 17 – Booth setup on Thursday. May 18, 19, 20 – AMSAT in full operation at Hamvention May 20 – Booth teardown on Sunday AMSAT Booth Stop by the AMSAT booth (1007-1010 & 1107-1110) Friday 9am-6pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 9am-1pm to meet board members, officers, and active satellite operators. You’ll be able to ask questions and see demonstrations of AMSAT’s current and upcoming technologies. Well dressed satellite operators will look forward to picking up the latest AMSAT “swag” and fashions for 2018. Gould Smith’s book, Getting Started With Amateur Satellites, has been updated for 2018 and will be on sale during the Hamvention. AMSAT Forum The AMSAT Forum at Hamvention 2018 will be held on Saturday, May 19 in Forum room 4 at 2:45-3:45 PM. Amateur Satellite Demonstrations Amateur Satellite operation demonstrations will be held every day outside the main Maxim Hall (Building 1 or E1) entrance. AMSAT will be be demonstrating actual contacts with the operational amateur satellites. We especially invite youth to make a contact via an amateur satellite. All are invited to observe, participate and ask questions. Satellite pass times will be posted at the AMSAT booth and in the demo area. Annual AMSAT “Dinner at Tickets” Party The annual AMSAT “Dinner at Tickets” party will be held Thursday at 1800 EDT at Tickets Pub & Eatery at 7 W. Main St, Fairborn, OH. Feast on a great selection of Greek and American food and great company! No program or speaker, just good conversation. Food can be ordered from the menu, drinks (beer, wine, sodas and iced tea) are available at the bar. Leave room for dessert, there’s an in-house ice cream shop! Come as you are. Bring some friends and have a great time the night before Hamvention. AMSAT/TAPR Banquet The twelfth annual AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be held at the Kohler Presidential Center on Friday at 1830 EDT. This dinner is always a highlight of the AMSAT and TAPR activities during the Dayton Hamvention. We are pleased to announce that Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK will be our speaker. Jeri will present her innovative ideas and adventures in Amateur Radio. Banquet tickets are no longer available There will be no tickets to pick up at the AMSAT booth. Tickets purchased on-line will be maintained on a list with check-in at the door of the banquet center. AMSAT Announces Hamvention Forum Speaker Line Up The AMSAT Forum at Hamvention 2018 will be held on Saturday, May 19 in Forum room 4 at 2:45-3:45 PM. The speaker and topic line up includes: Moderator: Keith Baker, KB1SF / VA3KSF “AMSAT Status Report” by Joseph Spier, K6WAO, AMSAT-NA President, who will highlight recent activities within AMSAT and discuss some of our challenges, accomplishments, projects, and any late breaking news. “AMSAT Engineering Program” by Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Engineering, will talk about the Fox-1 and Golf (Greater Orbit Larger Footprint) Projects. “ARISS Report 2018” by Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Spaceflight will discus ARISS’ “Next Generation ARISS Radio System” on the International Space Station. AMSAT/TAPR Banquet Speaker – Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK The twelfth annual joint AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be held on Friday, May 18 at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center, 4572 Presidential Way, Kettering, OH 45429 (just south of Dayton). Doors open at 6:30 PM for a cash bar with the buffet dinner served at 7:00 PM. Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK, will present on her innovative ideas and adventures in Amateur Radio. Jeri is an American entrepreneur, self- taught engineer, and an autodidact computer chip designer and inventor. She gained notoriety in 2004 for creating a complete Commodore 64 system on a chip housed within a joystick, called C64 Direct-to-TV. That “computer in a joystick” could run 30 video games from the early 1980’s, and at peak, sold over 70,000 units in a single day via the QVC shopping channel. Ellsworth co-founded CastAR (formerly Technical Illusions) in 2013 and stayed with the company until its closure on June 26, 2017. In 2016, she passed all three amateur radio exams, earned her Amateur Extra license, and received the AI6TK callsign. This has now launched new adventures into Amateur Radio. She has been featured in January 2017 QST and in YouTube videos from Quartzfest earlier this year. Jeri has been given a free hand to speak on whatever topic she wishes (as long as it’s amateur radio, somewhat). [ANS thanks The AMSAT Office for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tips For Prompt Message Posting To The AMSAT-BB Recently, there have been several posts, including some time sensitive roving information, which have been held for moderator release because they were sent by list members from accounts other than the one used to register with the list. While the moderators are happy to release these messages, it can result in significant delay. Since there are many new members here, below is a guide which was published two years ago. Tips for prompt message posting. People sometimes post time-sensitive messages to AMSAT-BB. Examples are last minute grid activities, unexpected satellite mode changes, requests for critically important telemetry, etc. These normally go through promptly, but occasionally get held for two basic reasons: While AMSAT-BB is an open list, that means it is open for membership, not posting. In order to post to the list, it normally must be from the same account you originally registered. For instance, if you registered from your home account, and post from your office account, it will normally be held for release by a moderator. Likewise, some people have all their email forwarded to a single account from which they reply. We can create a filter to pass the second address, but that is not automatically done on the first instance, and does require moderator action. AMSAT-BB receives many pieces of spam for each legitimate message. As part of the filtering process, emails larger than 50 kB are blocked. This usually happens to legitimate email when someone attempts to attach a large file, or does not trim an extended series of exchanges. Also, there is a limit to the number of addresses before an email is held as potential spam. I have seen legitimate email sent to 30+ addresses. We have a team of volunteer moderators, but they are not available 24/7. The result is that a message sent in the evening or on a holiday, US time, may well be held for several hours before being released. So, if it absolutely, positively needs to be distributed promptly: 1. Post from the same account you registered, or one which from past experience you know has been flagged as acceptable. 2. Do not use attachments. (Pictures and other files should be included by a link.) They will be blocked to the list, and if the total size of the message plus attachments exceeds 50 kB, the mail will be held. 3. Send it to AMSAT-BB and a few other addresses at most. If you must send to a large distribution list, send to them, and another copy to AMSAT-BB. (A trick which seems to work well is to place most of the addresses in the BCC rather than CC line.) 4. Consider also posting to the AMSAT Twitter and Facebook accounts. There is overlap in membership, though at present it is far from 100%. 5. Do not send large commercial press releases, or things which look like them. They will be caught by heuristic spam filters. A simple posting of an event or activity will normally go through. Note that there are existing exemptions for official channels such as ANS, ARISS, other AMSAT organizations, etc. 6. All new accounts are automatically flagged for moderation. This flag will normally be cleared on the first or second posting, but do allow for and expect an initial delay if you establish a dedicated account for your satellite organization. 7. Remember that this is a text-only list. Posting using HTML formatting will have unpredictable results, and may trigger the 50 kB hold for what appears to be a short message. [ANS thanks Alan WA4SCA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISS Orbit Reboost Saturday May 12 The International Space Station was scheduled to raise its orbit this weekend (Saturday, May 12) to prepare for the departure of three Expedition 55 crew members and the arrival of a new Russian cargo craft. The docked Russian Progress 69 resupply ship will fire its engines Saturday at 6:07 p.m. EDT for two minutes and 52 seconds slightly boosting the orbital lab’s altitude. This orbital reboost sets up the proper phasing trajectory for the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft when it undocks June 3. The Soyuz will carry Commander Anton Shkaplerov and Flight Engineers Scott Tingle and Norishige Kanai back to Earth after six-and-a-half month mission in space. The reboost will also enable a two-orbit launch to docking opportunity for Russia’s next resupply ship the Progress 70 in July. [Ed note: Stations who have not refreshed their Keplerian Elements will discover that the ISS is arriving slightly later than predicted.] https://tinyurl.com/ANS133-ISS-Boost [ANS thanks NASA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Three CubeSats with Amateur Radio Payloads Deployed from ISS The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that three CubeSats carrying Amateur Radio payloads, including one with a V/U linear transponder, were deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on May 11 at around 1030 UTC. Irazu (Costa Rica) and 1KUNS-PF (Kenya) carry beacon/telemetry in the 70-centimeter Amateur Radio band, while UBAKUSAT (Turkey) carries an Amateur Radio linear transponder for SSB and CW, in addition to CW and telemetry beacons. Irazu is a 1U CubeSat developed by students at the Costa Rica Institute of Technology, with a telemetry beacon at 436.500 MHz. 1KUNS-PF is a 3U CubeSat developed by students at the University of Nairobi, with a telemetry beacon (9.6 kbps) at 437.300 MHz. UBAKUSAT, a 3U CubeSat developed by students at the Istanbul Technical University, has a CW beacon at 437.225 MHz, and a telemetry beacon at 437.325 MHz. The linear transponder downlink is 435.200 - 435.250 MHz; the uplink is 145.940 - 145.990 MHz. [ANS thanks ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite-Image_26113 Re-recovered... Call for amateur help! Earlier this week Scott Tilley again recovered IMAGE on S-band. The spacecraft started a series of eclipses and the first one appeared to cause IMAGE to reboot and start transmitting again. After the initial recovery in January of this year IMAGE faded away in late February. NASA is now trying to reestablish control of the spacecraft and has been actively attempting with some success to have the spacecraft accept commands over the last couple of days. A number of phenomenon have been observed that has challenged the ground controllers to understand what is going on with the spacecraft and they have asked for amateurs to contribute s-band signal data particularly as the spacecraft passes through eclipse. If you have access to equipment and are suitably located to contribute observations please contact me for more information and support in sharing your observations with NASA. NASA kindly supplied the following table for stations planning to monitor IMAGE during eclipses. Those studying the TLE for IMAGE will note eclipses primarily happen in the southern hemisphere and have limited visibility to northern hemisphere locations. It's not impossible for northern stations but not 'convenient'. https://tinyurl.com/ANS133-ImageRecovery For those needing general information about the mission to plan their efforts: Track: 26113 IMAGE, see Spacetrack... Frequency: 2272.5MHz +/- Doppler If possible, record amplitude, frequency and timestamp to a machine readable file and send to me with any information that may be needed to interpret your data. Please include lat/long and altitude of observing station and provide general details of the station. I.e. GPS time and frequency disciplined etc, antenna etc. If all you can do is record a plot that's fine too! Stations collecting real data or needing more help can email me directly and I will forward to NASA: sthed475 (at) telus (dot) net IMAGE thanks you. For more information on IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration) visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAGE [ANS thanks Scott Tilley and Seesat-l for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News The following ARISS contacts have been successful: 2018-04-17 16:44 UTC Astronaut Scott Tingle KG5NZA using ISS callsign NA1SS with Salado Intermediate School, Salado, TX, USA, direct via K5LBJ. ARISS Mentor was Gene K5YFL. 2018-04-18 15:57 UTC Astronaut Ricky Arnold KE5DAU using ISS callsign NA1SS with Central Islip Union Free School District, Central Islip, NY, USA, direct via KD2IFR. ARISS Mentors were Gordon KD8COJ and Backup John K4SQC. 2018-04-19 12:05 UTC Astronaut Ricky Arnold KE5DAU using, ISS callsign NA1SS with King's High School, Warwick, UK, direct via GB4KHS, ARISS Mentor was Ciaran MØXTD. 2018-04-24 11:05 UTC Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov using ISS callsign RSØISS with About Gagarin From The Space. Implementation Of The Session Of Radio-Love Communication With Participants Of "Artek" Change, near Black Sea, Russia, direct via RM6KD. Mentor was Sergey RV3DR. 2018-04-26 12:30 UTC Astronaut Ricky Arnold KE5DAU using ISS callsign OR4ISS with Zespól Szkoly Podstawowej i Publicznego Gimnazjum w Buczku, Buczek, Poland; I Liceum Ogólnoksztalcace im. Tadeusza Kosciuszki w Lasku, Lask, Poland; and Zespól Szkól Ponadgimnazjalnych w Zelowie, Zelów, Poland, direct via SP7KYL. ARISS Mentor was Armand SP3QFE. 2018-05-03 15:47 UTC Astronaut Scott Tingle KG5NZA using ISS callsign NA1SS with Mill Springs Academy, Alpharetta, GA, USA, direct via WA4MSA. ARISS Mentor was John K4SQC. 2018-05-03 17:22 UTC Astronaut Scott Tingle KG5NZA using ISS callsign NA1SS with Students for the Exploration & Development of Space, College Station, TX, USA, direct via W5QZ. ARISS Mentor was Keith W5IU. 2018-05-07 13:54:10 UTC Astronaut Ricky Arnold KE5DAU using ISS callsign NA1SS with Mooreland Heights Elementary, Knoxville, TN, USA, direct via WA4SXM. ARISS Mentor was Dave AA4KN. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at University of the Philippines Integrated School, Quezon City, Philippines on 15 May. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 08:22 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time.The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and W6SRJ. The contact should be audible over the west coast of the U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. The UP Integrated School (est. 1976) is the laboratory school of the UP College of Education. It offers an integrated curriculum from Kindergarten to Grade 12. It is one of the country's pioneer integrated schools and has been offering an integrated curriculum from Kindergarten to Grade 10 since its inception until the mandatory implementation of the Department of Education's K-12 program in 2012. The UPIS is the product of the merging of three schools whose functions it inherited. These are the UP High School (est. 1916), the UP Elementary School (est. 1936), and the UP Preparatory High School (est. 1954). Age of students is 14 and 15. Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. What are the challenges that astronauts face while working inside the international space station? How are these issues addressed? 2. What can you give as an advice or words of inspiration to young aspiring Filipinos dreaming of becoming involved in NASA's (or International) space programs? 3. The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone (typhoon, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions) countries in the world. What researches does the ISS have to help these countries (or the Philippines, in particular) minimize risks related to such disasters? 4. Which of the recent breakthroughs/discoveries in your research in the ISS is your team's favorite and why? 5. Given the latest discoveries/experiments your team has done in the ISS, which field in science and technology do you think has the most promising advancement in the upcoming years? 6. How can the youth have a more active participation in space programs? (Skills training, seminars, etc.) 7. How long does it take to get use to the weightlessness in space? 8. What did you do before you became an astronaut? 9. Compared to Earth-based monitoring programs, how does the ISS facilities and equipment help in monitoring environmental disasters? 10. What can the Philippines do if it wants to participate in international space programs? PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES: 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 ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Get on the Satellites for Field Day! Field Day is right around the corner! Posted on the AMSAT website with the ARRL’s permission is an article entitled “Get on the Satellites for ARRL Field Day” written by Sean Kutzko, KX9X, and published in the June 2018 issue of QST. Read it at https://www.amsat.org/get-on-the-satellites-for-field-day/. As a reminder, AMSAT runs a Field Day event concurrently with ARRL Field Day. For more information, please see https://www.amsat.org/field-day/. [ANS thanks Paul N8HM for the above information.] + 6Y5IDX log I, Marty N9EAT, have been working with Chris, VO1IDX/6Y5IDX to get his logs sorted out. However, some passes may have been lost due to phone issues during rainstorms while he was in Jamaica. The following are in the log at this time, and we plan to upload May 11: YS1MS(x2), TI2CDA, TI4DJ, FG8OJ, WP4PRD, N1RCN (x2), KE4AL, K9EO, N1COR, HP2VX, NA2AA(x2), N9EAT, AK4WQ, AA5PK, N8HM, N8RO, K4FEG, KD8ATF, KG4AKV, KB1PVH, NK1K. If you worked them, and have a recording available to prove it, forward them to either me or Chris VO1IDX. His email is good on QRZ. Additionally, forward any lotw issues to either of use. Paper QSL cards are via direct to VO1IDX. [ANS thanks Marty N9EAT for the above information.] + 6E5RM/XF3 Cozumel Island Special Event Includes Satellite Operation Members of the Radioclub Cancun will be active as 6E5RM between May 23rd and June 1st. Activity is to celebrate the 2018 Rally Maya Mexico. However, on May 23rd and 24th, they will be active as 6E5RM/XF3 from Cozumel Island. Operations are expected to be on 80-6 meters using SSB, RTTY, FT8 and the satellites. They will be on the air as much time as possible for the Rally activities. [ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1363] + ARISS Story Line Featured in Book Emily Calandrelli KD8PKR recently released her third short novel for kids, "Take Me to Your Leader". In it, her main character, Ada Lace uses amateur radio around her hometown. She also uses radio to contact an astronaut on the ISS. I believe it is Sandy Magnus in her story. Even though the contact does not follow the ARISS protocol, she talks about the ARISS program in one of the appendices at the back of the book. If you (or your schools) are ever looking for a good short book to explain a little about radio contacts, this would be a good choice. [ANS thanks Brian VE6JBJ 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-126 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Chris Bradley (AA0CB) 06 May '18

06 May '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-126 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: * The end of daytime HF * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2018-05-04 * EL58hx Grid Expedition - 25-27 May * UK Unicorn-2a PocketQube + HuskySat-1 transponder frequencies * VUCC Awards-Endorsements for April 2018 * Introducing the Satellite FAQ and How-To wiki * 2018 AMSAT Space Symposium, Nov 2-4, in Huntsville, Alabama * ARRL Executive Committee Discussion of Small Satellite NPRM SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-126.01 ANS-126 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 126.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE May 6, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-126.01 The end of daytime HF The National Electric Code now requires electronics on every module of a solar array communicating via signalling on the DC power lines to assure EACH pair of panels can shut down independently. This is to make all possible faults never allow more than 80 volts anywhere in the system. This is effective 1 Jan 2019 This is the nail in the coffin of simple DC series string arrays which are the quietest systems and almost demands microinverters or optimizers on every panel. Refer to the QST article a few years ago about how disastrous optimizers are to RFI and HF operations with modules all over the roof.. Here is the Solar news: https://solarbuildermag.com/bos/nec-2017-module-level-solar-system- shutdown/ Also, what is going to happen to an array that has signaling all over it in the near field of HF? Although you can avoid it by going solar before then, you may have problems when your neighbors go later. I hate to be an alarmist but we all know what happens when ham radio and commercial systems are incompatible and even though Ham radio might be in the right, we are only 1 in 600 and no one is going to side with us. We took on broadband over power and squelched that dumb idea, but now this has the potential for equal demise of Ham radio. It should be fixable, but we also know that there is high competition in the solar market and the modules that are made the cheapest will be popular and will likely not be adequately filtered. Sorry for posting to the AMSAT-bb but it is the only HAM email reflector I subscribe to. If nothing else, we need to find out what systems are terrible emitters and nip them in the bud. Maybe all it takes is driving by solar systems you see and turing on your AM radio on a weak signal channel and seeing if the background noise peaks near that home. But also it has individual peaks, so it might also be nice to tune around too find the max and then check the range. I find the noise can go hundreds of feet along the power lines.... You cant miss em... just sounds like a 60 Hz buzz on all the harmonics of the inverter switching frequency. [ANS thanks Bob, WB4APR for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule 2018-05-04 07:30 UTC Mill Springs Academy, Alpharetta, GA, direct via WA4MSA The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Scott Tingle KG5NZA Contact was successful for: Thu 2018-05-03 15:47:30 UTC 25 deg (***) Students for the Exploration & Development of Space, College Station, TX, direct via W5QZ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Scott Tingle KG5NZA Contact was successful for: Thu 2018-05-03 17:22:31 UTC 47 deg (***) Mooreland Heights Elementary, Knoxville, TN, direct via WA4SXM/N4CFB The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Ricky Arnold KE5DAU Contact is a go for: Mon 2018-05-07 13:54:10 UTC 23 deg [ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- EL58hx Grid Expedition - 25-27 May The activation of maidenhead grid square EL58hx by W5PFG & AC0RA is just three weeks away. Even if you are not a grid or awards chaser, we would love to work you during this expedition via satellite. There are no permanent residents of this grid square, as the majority of it is open water in the Gulf of Mexico. What little land in EL58 is sandbar at mouth of the Mississippi River and accessible only by boat. See here: http://qthlocator.free.fr/index.php?locator=el58hx During the entire expedition, we will be land-based in the grid, meaning this activation will count as Louisiana, Plaquemines Parish (County), USA. It counts as Islands on the Air IOTA NA-168, Burwood Island. If you participate in the 2018 ARRL International Grid Chase, this might be your only opportunity to work EL58. Operating activity is estimated to begin around 23:00 UTC on 25 May. There are some variability in our arrival time and it will take us some time to prepare the site for operation. We will likely conclude operations around 15:00 UTC on 27 May. There are a total of 110 satellite passes predicted, 42 being FM. While we won't work every one of those, we should be on the ones that fall into good times and the best footprints over population centers. The list below are satellites we plan to utilize: FM: SO-50, AO-85, AO-91, AO-92 SSB: AO-7, FO-29, AO-73, XW-2A, XW-2B, XW-2C, XW-2F, CAS-4B Skeds are available for DX and stations greater than 6000 kms distance from EL58hx. Sked via direct email only to w5pfg at arrl dot net. Even if you worked the previous EL58 trip (K5L/mm), we'd love to work you again. This expedition we will use callsign W5PFG on satellites and AC0RA on 6m. We are hoping to work and confirm as many grid squares as possible, so if you want to work us from a nearby grid line to your home QTH, it is appreciated! AC0RA is responsible for the 6m side of our activation. You may hear either of us on 20m and 40m. Any one who works us is encourage to spot us. I may activate other grids in route to EL58, especially Friday morning the 25th. I'll try to announce those via Twitter @w5pfg but it may be on short notice. [ANS thanks Clayton, W5PFG, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- UK Unicorn-2a PocketQube + HuskySat-1 transponder frequencies UK Unicorn-2a PocketQube Satellite https://amsat-uk.org/2018/05/01/unicorn-2a-pocketqube-satellite/ Amateur radio regulatory changes in Eire https://amsat-uk.org/2018/05/01/amateur-radio-regulatory-changes-in- eire/ HuskySat-1 Linear Transponder frequencies have been coordinated by IARU. As well as the V/U transponder for SSB/CW the satellite also has a downlink on 24 GHz http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=604 King's High School ARISS contact on BBC TV https://amsat-uk.org/2018/04/19/kings-high-school-ariss-contact-bbc/ Emily Calandrelli's new book aimed at young people - Ada Lace, Take Me to Your Leader - features amateur radio and space communication. Sean Kutzko KX9X was an advisor for the book http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2018/may/ada-lace-book-features-ham- radio.htm AMSAT-EA May issue of English language newsletter now available https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/10352773/AMSAT-EA- Newsletter_05-2018.pdf AMSAT-UK http://amsat-uk.org/ Twitter https://twitter.com/AmsatUK Facebook https://facebook.com/AmsatUK YouTube https://youtube.com/AmsatUK [ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- VUCC Awards-Endorsements for April 2018 Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period April 1, 2018 through May 1, 2018. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! There were two calls which decreased by one this month. I have reported these to ARRL. These are not listed below. ARRL corrected some similar errors last month. CALL 1 Apr 1 May 2018 N8RO 1030 1040 NP4JV 699 730 N4UFO 724 725 W5RKN 575 606 NJ4Y 549 580 WD9EWK 425 430 N0JE 248 400 NS3L 275 300 VE7CEW 251 292 AA8CH 175 218 PT9BM 172 176 K5IX 125 175 N7AGF 126 152 KE8FZT 100 151 AL6D 112 150 NA2AA 127 128 N1PEB New 125 G0ABI 122 124 PU8RFL 101 120 NX2X New 119 AE5B New 100 If you find errors or omissions. please contact me off-list at <mycall>@<mycall>.com and I'll revise the announcement. This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for April 1, 2018. and May 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] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Introducing the Satellite FAQ and How-To wiki http://sats.wikidot.com/ The main content so far: = What apps can I use to track satellites? = * http://sats.wikidot.com/what-apps-can-i-use-to-track-satellites * A table of Android/iOS mobile apps with supported/not supported checkmarks for various features. I don't have iOS so I had to put question marks on a lot of features for those apps. * If you know the status of the features let me know off list, or I can add you to the wiki so you can edit it yourself. = How do you know when the ISS is transmitting SSTV? = * http://sats.wikidot.com/how-do-you-know-when-the-iss-is- transmitting-sstv * Includes instructions on how to setup email notifications on the RSS feed of ariss-sstv.blogspot.com website using blogtrottr so you can be emailed when new events are announced. = How do you add 2 meter only digipeaters to SatPC32 = * http://sats.wikidot.com/how-do-you-add-add-2-meter-only- digipeaters-to-satpc32 * I just added this based on an email from 2 hours ago = How to create multiple profiles in GoSatWatch = * http://sats.wikidot.com/gosatwatch:multiple-profiles * You can create the equivalent of profiles in the GoSatWatch by cloning an element set then selecting only those satellites of interest. * Brad WF7T created this tutorial Brad, WF7T and I started this wiki.The purpose is to document answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) across the various forums like amsat-bb, the AMSAT-NA Facebook group, twitter, QRZ.com forums, etc. How-Tos are also acceptable. The goal is not to be a comprehensive source of amateur satellite information (especially not lists of all the sats, as that info is on many other sources), just to supplement what is already out there and provide a place to collect commonly requested information. More information on the intention/philosophy of the wiki can be found here: http://sats.wikidot.com/about If you want to add stuff or edit the wiki, please create an account on wikidot and let me or Brad know your username/email address and we can add you. On the To-Do list [1] I have a goal to make a new page with a list of full duplex HTs. I know a list of these HTs already is on the web but I don't believe it's updated. I also know Patrick, WD9EWK has a lot of detailed info on various Chinese radios. All of this could be summarized and updated as new HTs come out. If you want to start it "that would be great." ;-) 1) http://sats.wikidot.com/talk:start [ANS thanks John Brier, KG4AKV, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018 AMSAT Space Symposium, Nov 2-4, in Huntsville, Alabama AMSAT announces that the 2018 36th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and General Meeting will be held on Friday through Sunday, Nov. 2, 3, & 4, 2018 in Huntsville, Alabama. Location will be at the US Space and Rocket Center, One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, Alabama (https://www.rocketcenter.com/). Hotel accommodations will be next door at the Marriott at the Space & Rocket Center, 5 Tranquility Base, Huntsville, Alabama USA. The 2018 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting features: * Space Symposium with Amateur Satellite Presentations * Operating Techniques, News, & Plans from the Amateur Satellite World * Board of Directors Meeting open to AMSAT members (The AMSAT BOD will meet at the Marriott at the US Space and Rocket Center) * Opportunities to Meet Board Members and Officers * AMSAT Annual General Membership Meeting * Auction, Annual Banquet, Keynote Speaker and Door Prizes !! Our Keynote Speaker this year will be announced at a later date. Additional information about the 2018 AMSAT Symposium will be posted on the AMSAT web site, www.amsat.org The Marriott at the US Space and Rocket Center is located at 5 Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL, 35805. Hotel Reservations for the Symposium may be made by individual attendees directly with Marriott reservations at 1-(800) 228-9290 or (256) 830-2222, please mention the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), Reference Number M-BIHHXTA. [ANS thanks 2018 AMSAT Symposium Committee, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Executive Committee Discussion of Small Satellite NPRM The ARRL Executive Committee meeting on April 21 in Windsor, Connecticut, discussed the FCC's recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the deployment of "small satellites" by colleges, universities, and commercial entities using experi- mental licenses on Amateur Radio spectrum. The Committee was told that the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has changed its previous policy regarding the coordination of small satellites (CubeSats), and that FCC policy is overly restrictive in some respects and insufficiently protective against commercial exploitation of amateur spectrum in other respects. AMSAT has requested ARRL's input. The Committee agreed that ARRL's comments should reflect their support for World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 Resolution 659 and IARU policies. In addition, ARRL (a) will support and encourage college and university Amateur Radio experiments where the sponsor of the experiment is an amateur licensee and all operation is in amateur spectrum, and (b) will discourage commercial or Part 5 experimental operations using Amateur Radio spectrum. ******* Editor's note ******* The ARRL plans to file a comment on the FCC's Part 25 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). AMSAT may file comments as well, though the focus of those comments will be about any potential inference to the Part 97, Amateur Radio Service. AMSAT and the ARRL have been in contact discussing this Part 25 NPRM. Until this NPRM has been published in the Federal Register, the comment period has not opened. Once published, the comment period will be open for 45 days. [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + http://www.satmagazine.com/ .... May SatMagazine available for reading on-line or download. Seems to have mostly a commercial satellite focus this month. --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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 aa0cb at amsat dot org

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ANS-119 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Lee McLamb 28 Apr '18

28 Apr '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-119 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it. Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org. In this edition: * AMSAT at the Hamvention -- 2nd Call for volunteers * Digital Communications Conference (DCC) Call for Papers * King’s High School ARISS contact on BBC TV * AMSAT-UK Call for Speakers for Colloquium 2018 * Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2018-04-27 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-119.01 ANS-119 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 119.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE April 29, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-119.01 AMSAT at the Hamvention -- 2nd Call for volunteers The Hamvention is three weeks away! It is time to be creating your shopping list and making your travel plans. Last year, we had 30 people assist with the AMSAT booth at the Hamvention. We've had a good response so far to our first call for volunteers, but we could really use another 10-15 people. The 2018 Hamvention is May 18-20 in Xenia, Ohio. Would you consider helping AMSAT at the Hamvention this year? The interaction with AMSAT members, satellite operators, designers, and builders makes the whole experience a lot of fun. Meet or renew acquaintances, exchange operating tips, and find out what antennas, software and equipment other AMSAT members use. We currently expect all of the AMSAT senior officers and board members to be there too. If you're an experienced operator, great! We can use you and your experience. If you've never operated a satellite before, but want to learn more, that's OK. We can use your help too. Whether you're available for only a couple of hours or if you can spend the entire weekend with us, your help would be greatly appreciated. Please send an e-mail to Phil, w1eme(a)amsat.org if you can help. Thank you! [ANS thanks AMSAT's Hamvention 2018 Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Digital Communications Conference (DCC) Call for Papers Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) and publication in the Conference Proceedings. Annual conference proceedings are published by the ARRL. Presentation at the conference is not required for publication. Submission of papers are due by July 31st, 2018 and should be submitted to Maty Weinberg, ARRL 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 or via the Internet to maty(a)arrl.org The ARRL and TAPR DCC is an international forum for radio amateurs to meet, publish their work, and present new ideas and techniques. This year, the DCC is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 14- 16. Presenters and attendees will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about recent hardware and software advances, theories, experimental results, and practical applications. Topics include, but are not limited to: • Software Defined Radio (SDR) • Digital voice (D-Star, P25, WinDRM, FDMDV, DRMDV, G4GUO) • Digital satellite communications • Global position system • Precise Timing • Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) • Short messaging (a mode of APRS) • Digital Signal Processing (DSP) • HF digital modes • Internet interoperability with Amateur Radio networks • Spread spectrum • IEEE 802.11 and other Part 15 license-exempt systems adaptable for Amateur Radio • Using TCP/IP networking over Amateur Radio • Mesh and peer to peer wireless networking • Emergency and Homeland Defense backup digital communications in Amateur Radio • Updates on AX.25 and other wireless networking protocols • Topics that advanced the Amateur Radio art Go to https://tinyurl.com/y7wgm6vh to view the guidelines for paper submissions [ANS thanks the TAPR PSR for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- King’s High School ARISS contact on BBC TV On April 19 student Eleanor Griffin led the live question and answer session between King’s High School and Warwick Preparatory School (GB4KHS) and astronaut Ricky Arnold KE5DAU on the International Space Station (NA1SS). King’s High School strongly encourage their girls to develop their interests both inside and outside the classroom. This culture of empowerment led one of their girls, Eleanor Griffin, to apply to ARISS Europe (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) for a highly prestigious link-up to the International Space Station. When Eleanor Griffin was selected to hold a space conversation with an astronaut, she was inspired to set up the Warwick Mars Project, for students across the Warwick Independent Schools Foundation, to further interest in Space Science. Eleanor says: “The moon landings belong to the generation of our grandparents, and the International Space Station to our parents. What will happen in our generation? Will Mankind travel to another planet?” After the ISS contact when asked what this incredible experience had taught her Eleanor replied “Just do it! No one is going to stop you, if you just go and pursue your dreams, you really can do anything.” Watch the BBC TV news item broadcast on Midlands Today @bbcmtd. Fast forward to 18:45 into the recording at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09z9tw6/midlands-today-evening- news-19042018 In this video the students present their work and activities that lead up the contact, followed at 12:11 by a presentation by ARISS Operations UK team lead Ciaran Morgan M0XTD with the ISS contact commencing at 31:32 into the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpVc1ikj4pE Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) http://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html https://twitter.com/ARISS_status King’s High School Warwick https://twitter.com/KHSWarwick [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-UK Call for Speakers for Colloquium 2018 This is a call for speakers for the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium 2018 which, will be held this year on 13-14 October, in conjunction with the RSGB Convention at Kents Hill Park Conference Centre, Milton Keynes, MK7 6BZ, United Kingdom . AMSAT-UK invites speakers, to cover topics about Amateur satellites, CubeSats, Nanosats, space and associated activities, for this event. They are also invited to submit papers for subsequent publishing on the AMSAT-UK web site or in Oscar News. We appreciate that it is not always possible to give a firm indication of attendance at this stage but expressions of interest would be appreciated. Submissions should be sent via e-mail to: dave(a)g4dpz.me.uk AMSAT-UK also invite anyone with requests for Program Topics to submit them as soon as possible to G4DPZ. Invitations for any papers on specific subjects will be included in the future call. Likewise if anyone knows of a good speaker, please send contact and other information to G4DPZ. [ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2018-04-27 Mill Springs Academy, Alpharetta, GA, direct via WA4MSA The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Scott Tingle KG5NZA Contact is a go for: Thu 2018-05-03 15:47:30 UTC 25 deg Students for the Exploration & Development of Space, College Station, TX, direct via W5QZ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Scott Tingle KG5NZA Contact is a go for: Thu 2018-05-03 17:22:31 UTC 47 deg [ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, 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-105 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by E.Mike McCardel 14 Apr '18

14 Apr '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-105 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: * Martlesham Microwave Roundtable on BATC Video Stream (April 15) * Satellite tracking software for Mac * Delft University of Technology Delfi-PQ PocketQube Receives IARU Coordination * What is a Lilac Doing in Space? * AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2018 Call for Speakers * Intercosmos - 40th year of international human flights - SSTV Award * AMSAT Plans Hamvention Rollout for 2018 "Getting Started" Satellite Book * AMSAT Rover Award Certificate * MiniTiouner-Express Receiver Assembly for ISS HamTV 2.395 GHz Downlink * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-105.01 ANS-105 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 105.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. April 15, 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-105.01 Here is a news item which is more timely released sooner than the weekend news cycle ... some of their topics and techniques seem applicable to future satellites ... microwave construction, SDR, GNUradio ... AMSAT-UK relayed that the UKGHZ Martlesham Microwave Roundtable Sunday [April 15] talks will be streamed live on BATCOnline: https://beta.batc.org.uk/live/mmrt The Sunday programe will streamed live. The times are apparently British Summer Time which I believe is UTC+1 this time of year. Their programe includes: 09:00 Doors Open 09:50 Welcome and Opening 10:00 UK Microwave Group AGM, Trophy Presentations 10:45 Refreshments & Judging of the Construction Contest 11:00 An introduction to SDRs and GNU Radio - Heather Lomond M0HMO 11:45 Aircraft Scatter using Airscout - John Quarmby G3XDY 12:30 Lunch Break 13:30 ATV on 5.6, 10 and 24GHz - Dave Crump G8GKQ 14:15 The Wednesday Digifest - John Worsnop G4BAO 15:00 Refreshments 15:15 UKuG Contest Forum - John Quarmby G3XDY 16:00 Close [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite tracking software for Mac Dog Park Software is pleased to announce that MacDoppler Version 2.28 has been released. What's New in this release ? * TS-790A/E driver rewritten (TU IU1KBH). * Added Country names to 2D map. * Added Natural Earth III maps. * Added 2D/3D map snap shots. * VFO steppers improved. (manual page 11) * Delete Mode or Satellite from Modes editor. * 2D Track List check box persistence fixed. * 2D Draw performance improved. MacDoppler is used around the world by Amateur Radio operators, satellite spotters, educators and commercial customers from CBS News to the International Space Station Amateur Radio Hardware Management program, Delta Telemetry Tracking and Control at Integrated Defence Systems, Florida State University and the CalPoly CubeSat Project. MacDoppler will provide any level of station automation you need from assisted Doppler Tuning and Antenna Pointing right on up to fully automated Satellite Gateway operation. MacDoppler features: * Full 2D and 3D OpenGL projection model of earth. * Track List sorted in real-time order of next pass. * Full predictive dead spot crossing so that a pass is never interrupted by the beam heading passing a dead spot. * Speech advisory of next satellite Rise and Maximum Elevation. * Horizon Window shows elevation of upcoming passes on a time line. * Tuning Dial Tracking allows you to tune the downlink from your radio's front panel while MacDoppler automatically adjusts the uplink. MacDoppler must be registered for some features to work and to work beyond the 15 minute time limit. This is a free upgrade for all MacDoppler Registered users and can be downloaded from: http://dogparksoftware.com/MacDoppler.html [ANS thanks Dog Park Software via Southgate ARN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Delft University of Technology Delfi-PQ PocketQube Receives IARU Coordination Delfi-PQ is an educational PocketQube mission designed by the MSc and BSc students at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The design of this spacecraft has been carried out as part of their curricula to acquire experience on the field. Students are involved on all the mission phases and they will also participate in operations. The second goal of this mission is technology demonstration, being this spacecraft one of the smallest ever launched belonging to the PocketQube class with a size of 50x50x192 mm. It contains all the required systems to operate in space. It is one of the first PocketQubes to be launched and it is the cornerstone for a series of PocketQubes from TU Delft with the aim to iteratively advance the platform to enable ambitious scientific objectives with networks of PocketQubes in the future. Delfi-PQ mainly focusses to demonstrate a reliable core system (comprising a power system, a communication system, an attitude control system and an on-board computer). Furthermore, it will host a few small-scale experiments which can be used for technology research. These experiments are related to future propulsion, more advanced attitude control, navigation, thermal analysis and control. The orbital life time of Delfi-PQ is currently foreseen to be very short (only up to 150 days due to the low orbit of deployment). This will ensure the spacecraft cannot contribute to the space debris problem and also it will occupy its assigned frequency band for a very short time, preventing spectrum pollution. The demonstration of the core spacecraft and its experiments is expected to take all the mission time, till deployment. The communi- cation system, in particular, will be tested and the support of amateurs will also be important. AX.25 will be used worldwide to deliver telemetry. The protocol was selected due to the widespread community around the world that make already use of such a standard. A mode using advanced communication protocol, using forward error correction, will be tested upon command (and so receivable over Europe). This new protocol is decoded by the provided decoding software. The decoding software will enable radio amateurs to help estimating the performance of the receiver in different conditions with statistics transmitted back to a central server In order to provide a return favor to the radio amateur community for the use of the frequency bands, this mission will publish all the instructions for satellite reception and telemetry decoding. A decoding application will also be provided to radio-amateurs around the world before launch to allow easy decoding with standard hardware. This application will also be used to submit the received frames to a central repository. The contribution from radio amateurs in receiving the data will greatly enhance the mission. To make it more exciting to participating radio amateurs, several challenges will be organized. Examples of challenges are thereception of the first and the last frame. In particular, the first received frame will be important for the team to assess the status of health of the spacecraft. The submitter will receive a prize for it. Since the satellite will be deployed to only 350 km and the foreseen operational lifetime is equal to the orbital life time, it will be very interesting to monitor its deorbiting process. Next to this, the number of received frames and the global distribution will also lead to the definition of several challenges. All challenges will have some small prize and achievement certificate associated with it. A UHF downlink on 436.650 MHz has been coordinated by the IARU. The transmission protocol will be GMSK at up to 19k2 bps. Planned for a launch on a Vector rocket from Kodiak Alaska in August 2018 with other PocketQubes. More information available on: http://delfispace.nl The IARU coordination announcement can be accessed at: http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=605 [ANS thanks the IARU and AMSAT-UK for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- What is a Lilac Doing in Space? Student Built LilacSat-1's Success with an Amateur Radio Mission LilacSat-1 accomplished, according to the reports from the students at the Harbin Institute of Technology. The student built LilacSat-1 carries an amateur radio 145/436 MHz FM to Codec2-BPSK digital voice transponder, APRS Digipeater and camera. The satellite was developed at the Harbin Institute of Technology and is part of the QB50 mission which aims to study the lower thermosphere. It was deployed from the International Space Station at 0835 GMT on Thursday, May 25, 2017. Shortly after deployment LilacSat-1 took a picture of the solar panels on the ISS. The image was downloaded by the students on 436.510 MHz +/- 10 kHz Doppler Shift using 9600 bps BPSK. The FM to Codec2-BPSK transponder was activated late afternoon GMT on Thursday, May 25: FM Uplink 145.985 MHz with 67 Hz CTCSS (PL Tone) Codec2 9600 bps BPSK Downlink 436.510 MHz The first contact using the Codec2 transponder took place on May 31 between Mike Rupprecht DK3WN and John Grant GI7UGV http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=79889 LilacSat-1 radio information is at https://tinyurl.com/ANS105-LilacSatRadioInfo Adam Whitney K0FFY has documented how to receive the LilacSat-1 Codec2 Digital Voice transponder using the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ SDR http://adamwhitney.net/working-lilacsat-1/ M6SIG live CD for LilacSat 1 and 2 http://chertseyradioclThe main payload is an ion and neutral particle mass spectrometer (INMS) developed by the University of London (UCL) to measure the mass and distribution of charged and neutral atoms. LilacSat-1 signal received by JA0CAW In preparation for the deployment HIT students installed new VHF and UHF antennas for the ground station. Harbin Institute of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT http://www.by2hit.net/ http://weibo.com/by2hit/ http://www.qsl.net/by2hit/ https://www.qrz.com/db/BY2HIT LilacSat-1 page (use Google translator) http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/?page_id=143 QB50 LilacSat-1 information https://upload.qb50.eu/detail/CN02/ IARU information http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=343 Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs) 'Keps' for new satellites launched in past 30 days https://tinyurl.com/ANS105-LiliacSatTLE Lilacsat 1 and 2 decoder now available on Experimental Raspberry Pi (3) image with GNU radio / gr-lilacsat https://tinyurl.com/ANS105-LiliacSatDecoder LilacSat-1 Codec2 downlink by Daniel Estévez EA4GPZ / M0HXM http://destevez.net/2016/10/lilacsat-1-codec-2-downlink/ Updated LilacSat-1 Live CD from M6SIG latest link at https://tinyurl.com/ANS105-LilacSatLiveCD [ANS thanks Jill Durfee and Satnews for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2018 Call for Speakers This is a call for speakers for the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium 2018 which, will be held this year on 13-14 October, in conjunction with the RSGB Convention at Kents Hill Park Conference Centre, Milton Keynes, MK7 6BZ, United Kingdom . AMSAT-UK invites speakers, to cover topics about Amateur satellites, CubeSats, Nanosats, space and associated activities, for this event. They are also invited to submit papers for subsequent publishing on the AMSAT-UK web site or in Oscar News. We appreciate that it is not always possible to give a firm indication of attendance at this stage but expressions of interest would be appreciated. Submissions should be sent via e-mail to: dave(a)g4dpz.me.uk AMSAT-UK also invite anyone with requests for Program Topics to submit them as soon as possible to G4DPZ. Invitations for any papers on specific subjects will be included in the future call. Likewise if anyone knows of a good speaker, please send contact and other information to G4DPZ. [ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Intercosmos - 40th year of international human flights - SSTV Award Please act now as the deadline is May 15th, 2018. SSTV from the International Space Station was active April 11-14 worldwide as part of Cosmonautics Day, which takes place on April 12. Images were related to the Interkosmos project (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interkosmos). This activity covered most of the world during the operational period. The images were be transmitted on 145.800 MHz and the mode was PD120. A special Award has been made available to those posting reception reports. To obtain the Award one should receive and decode at least one picture during the activity period. The quality of the received image does not have to be perfect, but good enough to identify the picture. Partial images are acceptable. The award is in electronic format (JPG). It will be sent by e-mail. The criteria as follows must be met to obtain the Award: Load your decoded images on the page: www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php Fill in the application form on https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/sstv/ Please act now as the deadline is May 15th, 2018. Details and a list of ARISS SSTV Award winning stations are available at: https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/sstv/ [ANS thanks Armand, SP3QFE, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Plans Hamvention Rollout for 2018 "Getting Started" Satellite Book Gould Smith's book, "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites", is being updated to tell you all about how you can get ready to operate through the Fox-1 satellites launching later this year. Additional chapters in the book tell you about tracking software, orbital mechanics, antennas, radios, Doppler tuning, and operating techniques. Chapters are also being added to tell you about the new satellites (and there are many)soon becoming available for amateur radio. Going beyond brief descriptions in hamfest flyers, this book will provide a complete reference for new satellite users to assemble a basic station and to make your first satellite contacts. Also this book you will teach you how to incrementally upgrade your initial FM satellite station, time and budget permitting, to include automated tracking as well as operating through the CW/SSB linear passband satellites. A companion Fox Operating Guide reference sheet is ready for release at Hamvention 2018. This will be made available for the AMSAT Ambassadors (formerly FieldOps) team for distribution at hamfests and satellite operating demonstrations. Watch for the 2018 "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites" book and reference sheet at the AMSAT booth at the Hamvention. The book will also be available in the AMSAT Store shortly after Hamvention: https://www.amsat.org/shop/ [ANS thanks AMSAT's 2018 Hamvention Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Rover Award Certificate It has been awhile, the voting was in and the certificate has been created. For those that have earned the award, the certificates will be going out to the address in your AMSAT online store order soon. If you would like to see what the certificate looks like, it is on the AMSAT Rover Award web page. https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover Thanks to everyone that submitted a picture to use on the award. [ANS thanks Bruce KK5DO for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- MiniTiouner-Express Receiver Assembly for ISS HamTV 2.395 GHz Downlink A receiver suitable for the ARISS/HamTV 2.395 GHz DVB-S downlink from the ISS is now available for purchase. The MiniTiouner-Express receiver/tuner/analyzer assembly is a completely assembled and tested unit contained in a small aluminum enclosure about the size of a 2 stack deck of cards. The DATV-Express group created the design, construction and sale of the Minitiouner-Express receiver. It is used with the free soft- ware by Jean Pierre Courjaud F6DZP. The unit connects between an antenna(s) and a PC computer USB2 or USB3 port using the Windows 7, 8 or 10 operating system. It receives DVB-S/S2 144MHz to 2420MHz digital television signals for symbol rates between 100K and 10M symbols/sec when used with the F6DZP MiniTioune software. In operation, the computer monitor displays the received video and graphic landing dot constellation to show the incoming signal level, quality, FEC, MER and setup information. The MiniTiouner-Express Receiver/Analyzer unit can be ordered from the http://www.datv-express.com/ website. You need to first logon to the website (or first register if you are a new user). Use the PURCHASE A PRODUCT tab to order the product via PayPal. The price for the MiniTiouner-Express unit is US$75 + shipping Shipping for USA is US$7.00 Shipping to the European Union is US$24.00 including the VAT Shipping anywhere international is US$35.00 Although initial stock has been depleted more units are on the way. The MiniTiouner-Express User Guide (draft13) can be downloaded from http://www.datv-express.com/CustomPage/Downloads Information about the ARISS HamTV project can be found at: http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus/ham-video The HamTV downlink from the ISS has recently only been active for selected school contacts. HamTV often transmits a "blank signal" useful for receiver and antenna testing when not in use for school contacts. [ANS thanks Daniel Cussen, EI9FHB via the HamTV(a)yahoogroups.ca list for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + A Successful contact was made between Pinson Valley HS, Pinson, AL, USA and Astronaut Ricky Arnold KE5DAU using Callsign NA1SS. The contact began 2018-04-10 18:02 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Direct via KN4BBD ARISS Mentor was John K4SQC. + A Successful contact was made between About Gagarin from space Session of radio amateur communication with Vologda branch of PJSC "Rostelecom ", Vologda, Russia and Cosmoonaut Oleg Artemyev using Callsign RS0ISS. The contact began 2018-04-10 13:37 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Direct via RN1QC, ARISS Mentor was Sergey RV3DR. + A Successful contact was made between Freeport Public Schools, Freeport, NY, USA and Astronaut Scott Tingle KG5NZA using Callsign OR4ISS. The contact began 2018-03-27 17:41 UTC and lasted about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Telebridge via IK1SLD. ARISS Mentor was Steve W2AKK. Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Additional information can be found at http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/ Salado Intermediate School, Salado, TX, direct via K5LBJ The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Scott Tingle KG5NZA Contact is a go for: Tue 2018-04-17 16:44:23 UTC 24 deg Central Islip Union Free School District, Central Islip, NY, direct via KD2IFR The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Ricky Arnold KE5DAU Contact is a go for: Wed 2018-04-18 15:57:46 UTC 28 deg The school will be hosting an ARISS contact on Wednesday April 18 at 15:57:46 UTC. The video stream of the contact will be available online. King's High School, Warwick, UK, direct via GB4KHS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Ricky Arnold KE5DAU Contact is a go for: Thu 2018-04-19 12:05:19 UTC 72 deg Russian school TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Alexander Skvortsov Contact is a go for Tue 2018-04-24 11:05 UTC The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Alexander Skvortsov Contact is a go for 2018-04-25 08:35 UTC [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + Video playlist for PocketQube 2018 Workshop at TU Delft https://tinyurl.com/ANS105-PocketQube [AMSAT-UK and AlbaOrbital via Twitter] + 7X3WPL Sahara DX Club 7X3WPL is now QRV permanently from Sahara DX Club in Laghouat. They are using a Kenwood TS-2000, G5500 rotor and Wimo X-Quad for 2m and 70cm. (via Abdel M0NPT /7X2TT on amsat-bb) [ANS thanks Sahara DX Club for above information] + The March/April 2018 edition of Apogee View, an update on AMSAT's activities from AMSAT President Joe Spier, K6WAO, has been posted to the AMSAT website. https://www.amsat.org/apogeeview/ [ANS thanks Paul N8HM for the above information.] + NASA e-Book Free Download The flight directors in charge of the teams that oversee its systems have written a 400-page book that offers an inside look at the time and energy the flight control team at the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston devote to the development, planning and integration of a mission. "The International Space Station: Operating an Outpost in the New Frontier", is now available to download for free at https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/index.html. Additional details are available at: https://preview.tinyurl.com/ANS105-BookDetails --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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-105 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
by Chris Bradley (AA0CB) 08 Apr '18

08 Apr '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-105.01 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: * Russian SSTV Event to Celebrate Cosmonautics Day * AMSAT/TAPR Banquet Speaker - Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK * VUCC Awards-Endorsements for March 2018 * Balloons launched BLT-49.1 still afloat and heading for Florida * Upcoming ARISS contact with Pinson Valley HS, Pinson, AL * Major Rove Announcement * JSpOC Approves AMSAT for Re-distribution of Keplerian Elements * ARRL and CQ Magazine Announce Launch of CQ’s WAZ Award Support on ARRL's Logbook of the World * Call for Papers and Presentations - Central States VHF Society, Inc. Conference * AMSAT Announces Hamvention Forum Speaker Line Up * AMSAT Activities for Hamvention 2018 Russian SSTV Event to Celebrate Cosmonautics Day ARISS Russia is planning a special Slow Scan Television (SSTV) event from the International Space Station in celebration of Cosmonautics Day. The transmissions are to begin on April 11 at 11:30 UTC and run through April 14 ending at 18:20 UTC. Supporting this event is a computer on the ISS Russian Segment, which stores images that are then transmitted to Earth using amateur radio, specifically the onboard Kenwood TM-D710E transceiver. Transmitted images will be from the Interkosmos project period of the Soviet space program (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interkosmos). Images received can be posted and viewed at http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php .The transmissions which were coordinated with the ARISS scheduling team, will be broadcast at 145.800 MHz using the PD-120 SSTV mode. Please note that the event is dependent on other activities, schedules and crew responsibilities on the ISS and are subject to change at any time. Please check for news and the most current information on the AMSAT.org and ARISS.org websites, the AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org, the ARISS facebook at Amateur Radio On The International Space Station (ARISS) and ARISS twitter @ARISS_status. About ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org. Also join us on Facebook: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Follow us on Twitter: ARISS_status [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information} -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT/TAPR Banquet Speaker - Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK The twelfth annual joint AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be held on Friday, May 18 at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center, 4572 Presidential Way, Kettering, OH 45429 (just south of Dayton). Doors open at 6:30 PM for a cash bar with the buffet dinner served at 7:00 PM. Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK, will present on her innovative ideas and adventures in Amateur Radio. Jeri is an American entrepreneur, self-taught engineer, and an autodidact computer chip designer and inventor. She gained notoriety in 2004 for creating a complete Commodore 64 system on a chip housed within a joystick, called C64 Direct-to-TV. That "computer in a joystick" could run 30 video games from the early 1980's, and at peak, sold over 70,000 units in a single day via the QVC shopping channel. Ellsworth co-founded CastAR (formerly Technical Illusions) in 2013 and stayed with the company until its closure on June 26, 2017. In 2016, she passed all three amateur radio exams, earned her Amateur Extra license, and received the AI6TK callsign. This has now launched new adventures into Amateur Radio. She has been featured in January 2017 QST and in YouTube videos from Quartzfest earlier this year. Jeri has been given a free hand to speak on whatever topic she wishes (as long as it's amateur radio, somewhat). [ANS thanks AMSAT's Havention 2018 Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- VUCC Awards-Endorsements for March 2018 Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period March 1, 2018 through March 31, 2018. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! There were several calls which decreased by one this month. These are not listed below. CALL 1Mar18 1Apr18 KK5DO 780 781 WA5KBH 659 728 N4UFO 715 724 N9IP 574 589 W5RKN 554 575 N9EAT 410 428 WD9EWK 400 425 KE4AL 252 317 K7TAB 274 306 W7QL 275 300 AA8CH 104 175 PT2AP 102 172 PS8ET 127 157 N3GS 101 130 N7AGF 101 126 G0ABI 116 122 AL6D 112 (NEW VUCC) W1AT 102 (NEW VUCC) 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 March 1, 2018. and April 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 for Ron Parsons for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Balloons launched March 17 - BLT-49.1 still afloat and heading for Florida Ballons were launched 17 March from the Houston Hamfest, we had a great balloon launch talk byAndy MacAllister, W5ACM, followed by two successful balloon launches. The first launch at 9:05am was BLT-49.2 and was a 300g 'popper' latex balloon carrying a digital Fireball smart beacon sending the temperature in CW on 14.318 MHz & 28.322 MHz. We copied the weak CW beacon until 11:45am and believe it burst at well over 110,000 feet based on the time aloft and temperatures we were receiving. Very successful flight! The second launch of BLT-49.1 occurred about 9:06am and was a 'floater' balloon (1m Qualatex Mylar) carrying a PecanPico 5 APRS tracker. It rose very slowly into the sky, escorted by several drones videoing the event, headed north then shot off to the east passing over Houston, Beaumont and New Orleans. After avoiding a few thunderstorms along the way, it is currently just below Panama City, FL at ~30,000 feet heading for Orlando & KSC! It can be tracked on aprs.fi or tracker.habhub.org (see links below). After crossing Florida, we're hoping to hear from it again on the other side of the Atlantic https://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=11&call=a%2FAB5SS-11 https://tracker.habhub.org/#!mt=roadmap&mz=6&qm=1_day&mc=29.97358,- 84.9113&f =AB5SS-11 [ANS thanks John, AB5SS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS contact with Pinson Valley HS, Pinson, AL An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Pinson Valley HS, Pinson, AL on Apr. 10. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:02 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and KN4BBD. The contact should be audible over the state of Alabama and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Pinson Valley High School is located in Central Alabama near the city of Birmingham and is one of 57 schools in the Jefferson County School system. We are a very diverse school with approximately 1100 students in grades 9-12. At PVHS students have many options for academic programs and extracurricular involvement. We have opportunities for students to take Advanced Placement or Dual Enrollment classes, a growing career technical education academy, and a very popular fine arts academy. We hope that our participation in the ARISS contact will build an increased interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) course pathways. There are many sport teams for both male and female athletes. On December 8, 2017 our football team won the Alabama 6A State Championship, a first for our school. Our motto is "At Pinson Valley High School we promote achievement, respect, and success." Go Indians! Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. By having zero gravity, what type of exercises you have to do to keep your body from losing mass? 2. What prompted your interest or love of space? 3. Psychologically, what is the most challenging aspect of being in space? 4. What type of research are you currently conducting on the ISS? 5. When you receive food supplies in space can you make special request for certain foods? 6. What can a high school student do now to prepare for a potential career in aerospace? 7. How much education and training does an astronaut typically have? 8. Theoretically could NASA power future rockets/spaceships via nuclear fusion, similar to the sun? 9. What is the scariest part of space travel; the launch, living on the ISS, or re-entry? 10. What happens if someone was to have a heart attack, get sick, or have another medical emergency in space? 11. What is a typical day aboard the ISS like? 12. Since the ISS hosts astronauts from different countries, what language is spoken aboard the ISS? 13. Besides your family, what do you miss most about life on earth? 14. What fuels the ISS? 15. What kind of medical testing does an astronaut have to go through to be physically and mentally ready for duty? 16. Can you easily communicate with your family members while you are aboard the ISS? 17. What are some hazards in space? 18. Have any organisms been born or conceived in space? 19. What happens if a fire occurs on the ISS? 20. Since you cannot really take a good shower in space, is the ISS smelly? [ANS thanks AMSAT EDU News for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Major Rove Announcement Announcing a major rove for satellite operators; the Springtime Rove to The Great White North! Doug Tabor, N6UA and Ken Alexander, VE3HLS will be teaming up to travel north to the James Bay area of Quebec to activate as many FO grids as are accessible by road, in the time we have. Our plan is to leave Toronto on May 5th, entering FO the next day, and spending 7 to 8 days activating rare grids. This area is extremely remote. The James Bay Road is the main corridor through the area and was built by Quebec Hydro to support construction of a province-wide network of hydroelectric projects. It's 610 km long. There are gas stations at each end and another somewhere in the middle. Likewise, the Route du Nord is a 406 km gravel road with no services. There is no cellphone service once you leave Matagami, QC, the southern terminus of the James Bay Road. We will only have internet access when we get to a town. The road will take us through, and give us access to FO01/02/03/10/11/12/13/20/21/22/23. With so many satellites currently available, having two operators will insure that everyone will have a chance to work one of us. If two satellites are in view at the same time, we'll be on both of them! We will also allocate ourselves so as to be present on as many FM satellites as are available to us. Our plans aren't complete yet. We may activate other grids, or be forced to rein in our expectations depending on available time and the conditions we encounter. We will provide updates in the coming weeks. [ANS thanks Ken, VE3HL & SDoug, N6UA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- JSpOC Approves AMSAT for Re-distribution of Keplerian Elements AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, says, "I am pleased to announce that AMSAT's request to re-distribute JSpOC Keplerian elements from SpaceTrack has been approved for the period April 1, 2018 to April 1, 2019. Our USSTRATCOM ODR (Orbital Data Request) to distribute the AMSAT-NA TLEs was approved on March 27, 2018." Thanks to JSpOC, Perry Klein, W3PK and Paul Williamson, KB5MU for their help in this process. We are "good to go" for another year. On another note, sadly, the PICSAT team has announced today that PICSAT is no longer operational. But, Ray will continue to carry PICSAT TLEs for now.(Remember AO-07?) [ANS thanks AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL and CQ Magazine Announce Launch of CQ’s WAZ Award Support on ARRL's Logbook of the World Newington, CT and Hicksville, NY – April 2, 2018 Officials from CQ magazine and ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio®, are excited to announce the launch of support for CQ magazine’s Worked All Zones (WAZ) award program on ARRL’s Logbook of the World (LoTW) system, effective Monday, April 2, at 10:00 a.m. EDT (14:00 UTC). The goal of the project was to create the proper technical support system to enable amateur radio operators to submit LoTW confirmations for WAZ credit and that has been accomplished, say CQ and ARRL officials. “We are very pleased that participants in CQ's WAZ award program will now be able to use their LoTW confirmations for award credit,” said CQ Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU. “CQ WPX Award participants have found it very helpful and we are sure it will be equally helpful for those pursuing WAZ and its many variations.” ARRL First Vice President Greg Widin, K0GW, concurred. “Users of LoTW have been telling us for some time that they would like to use QSLs from LoTW to apply for the WAZ award. They will now be able to select confirmations to be used for WAZ credit.” Beta testing for bringing CQ magazine's WAZ award program into ARRL’s LoTW system had been underway since mid-December. Any problems in the implementation discovered by testers were corrected by the technical support team. Also, the documentation has been improved by feedback from the testers. At the same time, each LoTW user was given an additional WAZ account. Standard LoTW credit fees and separate CQ award fees will apply. Logbook of the World is ARRL's electronic confirmation system for amateur radio contacts. It provides a confirmation when both stations in a contact submit their logs to the system and a match between the logs is confirmed. LoTW has supported the CQ WPX Award program since 2012. CQ Communications, Inc. is publisher of CQ Amateur Radio magazine and is the world's largest independent publisher of amateur radio magazines, books and videos. Worked All Zones is the second-oldest active award program in amateur radio, behind only the International Amateur Radio Union's Worked All Continents award. ARRL The national association for Amateur Radio®, represents the interests of Amateur (or “ham”) Radio operators across the country. Founded in 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim as The American Radio Relay League, ARRL has a proud history of achievement as the standard- bearer in amateur affairs. Now in its second century, the organization remains focused on “advancing the art, science, and enjoyment of Amateur Radio.” [ANS thanks CQ Communications, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for Papers and Presentations - Central States VHF Society, Inc. Conference The Central States VHF Society, Inc. is soliciting both authors for the "Proceedings of the Central States VHF Society" and presenters for the technical sessions at its 2018 Conference to be held in Wichita, KS July 26-29, 2018. Further information for both authors and presenters may be found on the 2018 Conference website <www.2018.CSVHFS.org under "Guidance Documents." Topics for both papers and presentations include all topics related to weak-signal VHF and above amateur radio activities, including: * Antennas: including Modeling, Design, Arrays, and Control * Test Equipment: including Homebrew, Commercial, and Measurement Techniques & Tips * Construction of equipment: such as Transmitters, Receivers, and Transverters * Operating: including Contesting, Roving, and DXpeditions * RF power amps: including Single and Multi-band Vacuum Tube, Solid-state, and TWTAs * Propagation: including Ducting, Sporadic E, Tropospheric, Meteor Scatter, etc. * Pre-amplifiers (low noise) * Digital Modes : such as WSJT, JT65, FT8, JT6M, ISCAT, etc. * Regulatory topics * Moon Bounce (EME) * Software-defined Radio (SDR) * Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Topics such as FM, repeaters, packet radio, etc., are generally considered outside of the scope of papers being sought. However, there are always exceptions. Please contact either Kent Britain, WA5VJB (wa5vjb (at) wa5vjb.com) or Donn Baker, WA2VOI (wa2voi (at) mninter.net) if you have any questions about the suitability of a particular topic. For presenters, we would appreciate a brief abstract of your presentation topic on or before Tuesday, May 15th to help us with the program schedule. The final presentation materials (i.e., PowerPoint, etc. files) are due at the Conference on Friday morning (July 27th). However, for supporting material (NOT the presentation itself) to be published in the Proceedings, it must be received by Tuesday, May 15th. For papers to be published in the Proceedings, final copies must be received by Tuesday, May 15th. Note that you do not have to attend the Conference nor present your paper to have it published in the Proceedings. [ANS thanks Donn, WA2VOI for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Announces Hamvention Forum Speaker Line Up The AMSAT Forum at Hamvention 2018 will be held on Saturday, May 19 in Forum room 4 at 2:45-3:45 PM. The speaker and topic line up includes: + Moderator: Keith Baker, KB1SF / VA3KSF + "AMSAT Status Report" by Joseph Spier, K6WAO, AMSAT-NA President, who will highlight recent activities within AMSAT and discuss some of our challenges, accomplishments, projects, and any late breaking news. + "AMSAT Engineering Program" by Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Engineering, will talk about the Fox-1 and Golf (Greater Orbit Larger Footprint) Projects. + "ARISS Report 2018" by Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Spaceflight will discus ARISS' "Next Generation ARISS Radio System" on the International Space Station. [ANS thanks Forum Moderator Keith baker, Keith Baker, KB1SF/VA3KSF for the above information] ------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Activities for Hamvention 2018 AMSAT Booth ----------- Stop by the AMSAT booth (1007-1010 & 1107-1110) Friday 9am-6pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 9am-1pm to meet board members, officers, and active satellite operators. You'll be able to ask questions and see demonstrations of AMSAT's current and upcoming technologies. Well dressed satellite operators will look forward to picking up the latest AMSAT "swag" and fashions for 2018. Gould Smith's book, "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites", has been updated for 2018 and will be on sale during the Hamvention. AMSAT Forum ----------- The AMSAT Forum at Hamvention 2018 will be held on Saturday, May 19 in Forum room 4 at 2:45-3:45 PM. Amateur Satellite Demonstrations -------------------------------- Amateur Satellite operation demonstrations will be held every day outside the main Maxim Hall (Building 1 or E1) entrance. AMSAT will be be demonstrating actual contacts with the operational amateur satellites. We especially invite youth to make a contact via an amateur satellite. All are invited to observe, participate and ask questions. Satellite pass times will be posted at the AMSAT booth and in the demo area. Annual AMSAT "Dinner at Tickets" Party -------------------------------------- The annual AMSAT "Dinner at Tickets" party will be held Thursday at 1800 EDT at Tickets Pub & Eatery at 7 W. Main St, Fairborn, OH. Feast on a great selection of Greek and American food and great company! No program or speaker, just good conversation. Food can be ordered from the menu, drinks (beer, wine, sodas and iced tea) are available at the bar. Leave room for dessert, there's an in-house ice cream shop! Come as you are. Bring some friends and have a great time the night before Hamvention. AMSAT/TAPR Banquet ------------------ The twelfth annual AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be held at the Kohler Presidential Center on Friday at 1830 EDT. This dinner is always a highlight of the AMSAT and TAPR activities during the Dayton Hamven- tion. We are pleased to announce that Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK will be our speaker. Jeri will present her innovative ideas and adventures in Amateur Radio. Banquet seating is limited to the number of meals reserved with the Kohler caterers based on the number of tickets sold by the deadline. Tickets ($37 each) may be purchased from the AMSAT store: https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-at-hamvention/ The banquet ticket purchase deadline is Tuesday, May 15. Banquet tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be sold at the AMSAT booth. There will be no tickets to pick up at the AMSAT booth. Tickets purchased on-line will be maintained on a list with check-in at the door of the banquet center. [ANS thanks AMSAT's Havention 2018 Team for the above information] ------------------------------------------------------------------- SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042.01 ANS-105.01 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 105.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. April 8. 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-105.01 Satellite Shorts From All Over + Karhu Koti has created a mutual window calculator for satellites between two locations. See: https://www.karhukoti.com/webtracker + An interesting twitter post about the 'live' on-line tracking sites interesting:https://twitter.com/Marco_Langbroek/status/980549243701268 482 + Not your typical space junk article. It leads with the release of 100+ sats by the same Indian rocket that launched AO- 92.https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-need-satellitesa-speeding-mass-of- space-junk-puts-them-at-risk-1505226427 + Here's something to think about. L band is a lot of fun. We do get 24 hours once a week (not complaining). With several ISS passes every day. It is a good reflector. Plus we can use CW, SSB, many digi modes. Just google it. + Next Rocket Lab launch window is starting 20th April 00:30 UTC for 4 hours. This window repeats for the following 14 days. See: http://rocketlabusa.com/news/updates/rocket-lab-to-launch-first- commercial-mission-this-month/ It will be probably be watchable live from their web site. 73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC + AMSAT's plans for Hamvention 2018 for the dates May 17-20 have been posted: https://www.amsat.org/other-events/amsat-activities-at-hamvention- 2018/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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, AA0CB aa0cb 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-105 AMSAT NEWS SERVICE WEEKLY BULLETINS
by Chris Bradley 08 Apr '18

08 Apr '18

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-105.01 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: * Russian SSTV Event to Celebrate Cosmonautics Day * AMSAT/TAPR Banquet Speaker - Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK * VUCC Awards-Endorsements for March 2018 * Balloons launched BLT-49.1 still afloat and heading for Florida * Upcoming ARISS contact with Pinson Valley HS, Pinson, AL * Major Rove Announcement * JSpOC Approves AMSAT for Re-distribution of Keplerian Elements * ARRL and CQ Magazine Announce Launch of CQ’s WAZ Award Support on ARRL's Logbook of the World * Call for Papers and Presentations - Central States VHF Society, Inc. Conference * AMSAT Announces Hamvention Forum Speaker Line Up * AMSAT Activities for Hamvention 2018 Russian SSTV Event to Celebrate Cosmonautics Day ARISS Russia is planning a special Slow Scan Television (SSTV) event from the International Space Station in celebration of Cosmonautics Day. The transmissions are to begin on April 11 at 11:30 UTC and run through April 14 ending at 18:20 UTC. Supporting this event is a computer on the ISS Russian Segment, which stores images that are then transmitted to Earth using amateur radio, specifically the onboard Kenwood TM-D710E transceiver. Transmitted images will be from the Interkosmos project period of the Soviet space program (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interkosmos). Images received can be posted and viewed at http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php .The transmissions which were coordinated with the ARISS scheduling team, will be broadcast at 145.800 MHz using the PD-120 SSTV mode. Please note that the event is dependent on other activities, schedules and crew responsibilities on the ISS and are subject to change at any time. Please check for news and the most current information on the AMSAT.org and ARISS.org websites, the AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org, the ARISS facebook at Amateur Radio On The International Space Station (ARISS) and ARISS twitter @ARISS_status. About ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org. Also join us on Facebook: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Follow us on Twitter: ARISS_status [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information} -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT/TAPR Banquet Speaker - Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK The twelfth annual joint AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be held on Friday, May 18 at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center, 4572 Presidential Way, Kettering, OH 45429 (just south of Dayton). Doors open at 6:30 PM for a cash bar with the buffet dinner served at 7:00 PM. Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK, will present on her innovative ideas and adventures in Amateur Radio. Jeri is an American entrepreneur, self-taught engineer, and an autodidact computer chip designer and inventor. She gained notoriety in 2004 for creating a complete Commodore 64 system on a chip housed within a joystick, called C64 Direct-to-TV. That "computer in a joystick" could run 30 video games from the early 1980's, and at peak, sold over 70,000 units in a single day via the QVC shopping channel. Ellsworth co-founded CastAR (formerly Technical Illusions) in 2013 and stayed with the company until its closure on June 26, 2017. In 2016, she passed all three amateur radio exams, earned her Amateur Extra license, and received the AI6TK callsign. This has now launched new adventures into Amateur Radio. She has been featured in January 2017 QST and in YouTube videos from Quartzfest earlier this year. Jeri has been given a free hand to speak on whatever topic she wishes (as long as it's amateur radio, somewhat). [ANS thanks AMSAT's Havention 2018 Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- VUCC Awards-Endorsements for March 2018 Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period March 1, 2018 through March 31, 2018. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! There were several calls which decreased by one this month. These are not listed below. CALL 1Mar18 1Apr18 KK5DO 780 781 WA5KBH 659 728 N4UFO 715 724 N9IP 574 589 W5RKN 554 575 N9EAT 410 428 WD9EWK 400 425 KE4AL 252 317 K7TAB 274 306 W7QL 275 300 AA8CH 104 175 PT2AP 102 172 PS8ET 127 157 N3GS 101 130 N7AGF 101 126 G0ABI 116 122 AL6D 112 (NEW VUCC) W1AT 102 (NEW VUCC) 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 March 1, 2018. and April 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 for Ron Parsons for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Balloons launched March 17 - BLT-49.1 still afloat and heading for Florida Ballons were launched 17 March from the Houston Hamfest, we had a great balloon launch talk byAndy MacAllister, W5ACM, followed by two successful balloon launches. The first launch at 9:05am was BLT-49.2 and was a 300g 'popper' latex balloon carrying a digital Fireball smart beacon sending the temperature in CW on 14.318 MHz & 28.322 MHz. We copied the weak CW beacon until 11:45am and believe it burst at well over 110,000 feet based on the time aloft and temperatures we were receiving. Very successful flight! The second launch of BLT-49.1 occurred about 9:06am and was a 'floater' balloon (1m Qualatex Mylar) carrying a PecanPico 5 APRS tracker. It rose very slowly into the sky, escorted by several drones videoing the event, headed north then shot off to the east passing over Houston, Beaumont and New Orleans. After avoiding a few thunderstorms along the way, it is currently just below Panama City, FL at ~30,000 feet heading for Orlando & KSC! It can be tracked on aprs.fi or tracker.habhub.org (see links below). After crossing Florida, we're hoping to hear from it again on the other side of the Atlantic https://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=11&call=a%2FAB5SS-11 https://tracker.habhub.org/#!mt=roadmap&mz=6&qm=1_day&mc=29.97358,- 84.9113&f =AB5SS-11 [ANS thanks John, AB5SS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming ARISS contact with Pinson Valley HS, Pinson, AL An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Pinson Valley HS, Pinson, AL on Apr. 10. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:02 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and KN4BBD. The contact should be audible over the state of Alabama and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English. Pinson Valley High School is located in Central Alabama near the city of Birmingham and is one of 57 schools in the Jefferson County School system. We are a very diverse school with approximately 1100 students in grades 9-12. At PVHS students have many options for academic programs and extracurricular involvement. We have opportunities for students to take Advanced Placement or Dual Enrollment classes, a growing career technical education academy, and a very popular fine arts academy. We hope that our participation in the ARISS contact will build an increased interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) course pathways. There are many sport teams for both male and female athletes. On December 8, 2017 our football team won the Alabama 6A State Championship, a first for our school. Our motto is "At Pinson Valley High School we promote achievement, respect, and success." Go Indians! Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. By having zero gravity, what type of exercises you have to do to keep your body from losing mass? 2. What prompted your interest or love of space? 3. Psychologically, what is the most challenging aspect of being in space? 4. What type of research are you currently conducting on the ISS? 5. When you receive food supplies in space can you make special request for certain foods? 6. What can a high school student do now to prepare for a potential career in aerospace? 7. How much education and training does an astronaut typically have? 8. Theoretically could NASA power future rockets/spaceships via nuclear fusion, similar to the sun? 9. What is the scariest part of space travel; the launch, living on the ISS, or re-entry? 10. What happens if someone was to have a heart attack, get sick, or have another medical emergency in space? 11. What is a typical day aboard the ISS like? 12. Since the ISS hosts astronauts from different countries, what language is spoken aboard the ISS? 13. Besides your family, what do you miss most about life on earth? 14. What fuels the ISS? 15. What kind of medical testing does an astronaut have to go through to be physically and mentally ready for duty? 16. Can you easily communicate with your family members while you are aboard the ISS? 17. What are some hazards in space? 18. Have any organisms been born or conceived in space? 19. What happens if a fire occurs on the ISS? 20. Since you cannot really take a good shower in space, is the ISS smelly? [ANS thanks AMSAT EDU News for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Major Rove Announcement Announcing a major rove for satellite operators; the Springtime Rove to The Great White North! Doug Tabor, N6UA and Ken Alexander, VE3HLS will be teaming up to travel north to the James Bay area of Quebec to activate as many FO grids as are accessible by road, in the time we have. Our plan is to leave Toronto on May 5th, entering FO the next day, and spending 7 to 8 days activating rare grids. This area is extremely remote. The James Bay Road is the main corridor through the area and was built by Quebec Hydro to support construction of a province-wide network of hydroelectric projects. It's 610 km long. There are gas stations at each end and another somewhere in the middle. Likewise, the Route du Nord is a 406 km gravel road with no services. There is no cellphone service once you leave Matagami, QC, the southern terminus of the James Bay Road. We will only have internet access when we get to a town. The road will take us through, and give us access to FO01/02/03/10/11/12/13/20/21/22/23. With so many satellites currently available, having two operators will insure that everyone will have a chance to work one of us. If two satellites are in view at the same time, we'll be on both of them! We will also allocate ourselves so as to be present on as many FM satellites as are available to us. Our plans aren't complete yet. We may activate other grids, or be forced to rein in our expectations depending on available time and the conditions we encounter. We will provide updates in the coming weeks. [ANS thanks Ken, VE3HL & SDoug, N6UA for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- JSpOC Approves AMSAT for Re-distribution of Keplerian Elements AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, says, "I am pleased to announce that AMSAT's request to re-distribute JSpOC Keplerian elements from SpaceTrack has been approved for the period April 1, 2018 to April 1, 2019. Our USSTRATCOM ODR (Orbital Data Request) to distribute the AMSAT-NA TLEs was approved on March 27, 2018." Thanks to JSpOC, Perry Klein, W3PK and Paul Williamson, KB5MU for their help in this process. We are "good to go" for another year. On another note, sadly, the PICSAT team has announced today that PICSAT is no longer operational. But, Ray will continue to carry PICSAT TLEs for now.(Remember AO-07?) [ANS thanks AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL and CQ Magazine Announce Launch of CQ’s WAZ Award Support on ARRL's Logbook of the World Newington, CT and Hicksville, NY – April 2, 2018 Officials from CQ magazine and ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio®, are excited to announce the launch of support for CQ magazine’s Worked All Zones (WAZ) award program on ARRL’s Logbook of the World (LoTW) system, effective Monday, April 2, at 10:00 a.m. EDT (14:00 UTC). The goal of the project was to create the proper technical support system to enable amateur radio operators to submit LoTW confirmations for WAZ credit and that has been accomplished, say CQ and ARRL officials. “We are very pleased that participants in CQ's WAZ award program will now be able to use their LoTW confirmations for award credit,” said CQ Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU. “CQ WPX Award participants have found it very helpful and we are sure it will be equally helpful for those pursuing WAZ and its many variations.” ARRL First Vice President Greg Widin, K0GW, concurred. “Users of LoTW have been telling us for some time that they would like to use QSLs from LoTW to apply for the WAZ award. They will now be able to select confirmations to be used for WAZ credit.” Beta testing for bringing CQ magazine's WAZ award program into ARRL’s LoTW system had been underway since mid-December. Any problems in the implementation discovered by testers were corrected by the technical support team. Also, the documentation has been improved by feedback from the testers. At the same time, each LoTW user was given an additional WAZ account. Standard LoTW credit fees and separate CQ award fees will apply. Logbook of the World is ARRL's electronic confirmation system for amateur radio contacts. It provides a confirmation when both stations in a contact submit their logs to the system and a match between the logs is confirmed. LoTW has supported the CQ WPX Award program since 2012. CQ Communications, Inc. is publisher of CQ Amateur Radio magazine and is the world's largest independent publisher of amateur radio magazines, books and videos. Worked All Zones is the second-oldest active award program in amateur radio, behind only the International Amateur Radio Union's Worked All Continents award. ARRL The national association for Amateur Radio®, represents the interests of Amateur (or “ham”) Radio operators across the country. Founded in 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim as The American Radio Relay League, ARRL has a proud history of achievement as the standard- bearer in amateur affairs. Now in its second century, the organization remains focused on “advancing the art, science, and enjoyment of Amateur Radio.” [ANS thanks CQ Communications, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for Papers and Presentations - Central States VHF Society, Inc. Conference The Central States VHF Society, Inc. is soliciting both authors for the "Proceedings of the Central States VHF Society" and presenters for the technical sessions at its 2018 Conference to be held in Wichita, KS July 26-29, 2018. Further information for both authors and presenters may be found on the 2018 Conference website <www.2018.CSVHFS.org under "Guidance Documents." Topics for both papers and presentations include all topics related to weak-signal VHF and above amateur radio activities, including: * Antennas: including Modeling, Design, Arrays, and Control * Test Equipment: including Homebrew, Commercial, and Measurement Techniques & Tips * Construction of equipment: such as Transmitters, Receivers, and Transverters * Operating: including Contesting, Roving, and DXpeditions * RF power amps: including Single and Multi-band Vacuum Tube, Solid-state, and TWTAs * Propagation: including Ducting, Sporadic E, Tropospheric, Meteor Scatter, etc. * Pre-amplifiers (low noise) * Digital Modes : such as WSJT, JT65, FT8, JT6M, ISCAT, etc. * Regulatory topics * Moon Bounce (EME) * Software-defined Radio (SDR) * Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Topics such as FM, repeaters, packet radio, etc., are generally considered outside of the scope of papers being sought. However, there are always exceptions. Please contact either Kent Britain, WA5VJB (wa5vjb (at) wa5vjb.com) or Donn Baker, WA2VOI (wa2voi (at) mninter.net) if you have any questions about the suitability of a particular topic. For presenters, we would appreciate a brief abstract of your presentation topic on or before Tuesday, May 15th to help us with the program schedule. The final presentation materials (i.e., PowerPoint, etc. files) are due at the Conference on Friday morning (July 27th). However, for supporting material (NOT the presentation itself) to be published in the Proceedings, it must be received by Tuesday, May 15th. For papers to be published in the Proceedings, final copies must be received by Tuesday, May 15th. Note that you do not have to attend the Conference nor present your paper to have it published in the Proceedings. [ANS thanks Donn, WA2VOI for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Announces Hamvention Forum Speaker Line Up The AMSAT Forum at Hamvention 2018 will be held on Saturday, May 19 in Forum room 4 at 2:45-3:45 PM. The speaker and topic line up includes: + Moderator: Keith Baker, KB1SF / VA3KSF + "AMSAT Status Report" by Joseph Spier, K6WAO, AMSAT-NA President, who will highlight recent activities within AMSAT and discuss some of our challenges, accomplishments, projects, and any late breaking news. + "AMSAT Engineering Program" by Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Engineering, will talk about the Fox-1 and Golf (Greater Orbit Larger Footprint) Projects. + "ARISS Report 2018" by Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Spaceflight will discus ARISS' "Next Generation ARISS Radio System" on the International Space Station. [ANS thanks Forum Moderator Keith baker, Keith Baker, KB1SF/VA3KSF for the above information] ------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Activities for Hamvention 2018 AMSAT Booth ----------- Stop by the AMSAT booth (1007-1010 & 1107-1110) Friday 9am-6pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 9am-1pm to meet board members, officers, and active satellite operators. You'll be able to ask questions and see demonstrations of AMSAT's current and upcoming technologies. Well dressed satellite operators will look forward to picking up the latest AMSAT "swag" and fashions for 2018. Gould Smith's book, "Getting Started With Amateur Satellites", has been updated for 2018 and will be on sale during the Hamvention. AMSAT Forum ----------- The AMSAT Forum at Hamvention 2018 will be held on Saturday, May 19 in Forum room 4 at 2:45-3:45 PM. Amateur Satellite Demonstrations -------------------------------- Amateur Satellite operation demonstrations will be held every day outside the main Maxim Hall (Building 1 or E1) entrance. AMSAT will be be demonstrating actual contacts with the operational amateur satellites. We especially invite youth to make a contact via an amateur satellite. All are invited to observe, participate and ask questions. Satellite pass times will be posted at the AMSAT booth and in the demo area. Annual AMSAT "Dinner at Tickets" Party -------------------------------------- The annual AMSAT "Dinner at Tickets" party will be held Thursday at 1800 EDT at Tickets Pub & Eatery at 7 W. Main St, Fairborn, OH. Feast on a great selection of Greek and American food and great company! No program or speaker, just good conversation. Food can be ordered from the menu, drinks (beer, wine, sodas and iced tea) are available at the bar. Leave room for dessert, there's an in-house ice cream shop! Come as you are. Bring some friends and have a great time the night before Hamvention. AMSAT/TAPR Banquet ------------------ The twelfth annual AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be held at the Kohler Presidential Center on Friday at 1830 EDT. This dinner is always a highlight of the AMSAT and TAPR activities during the Dayton Hamven- tion. We are pleased to announce that Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK will be our speaker. Jeri will present her innovative ideas and adventures in Amateur Radio. Banquet seating is limited to the number of meals reserved with the Kohler caterers based on the number of tickets sold by the deadline. Tickets ($37 each) may be purchased from the AMSAT store: https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-at-hamvention/ The banquet ticket purchase deadline is Tuesday, May 15. Banquet tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be sold at the AMSAT booth. There will be no tickets to pick up at the AMSAT booth. Tickets purchased on-line will be maintained on a list with check-in at the door of the banquet center. [ANS thanks AMSAT's Havention 2018 Team for the above information] ------------------------------------------------------------------- SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042.01 ANS-105.01 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 105.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. April 8. 2018 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-105.01 Satellite Shorts From All Over + Karhu Koti has created a mutual window calculator for satellites between two locations. See: https://www.karhukoti.com/webtracker + An interesting twitter post about the 'live' on-line tracking sites interesting:https://twitter.com/Marco_Langbroek/status/980549243701268 482 + Not your typical space junk article. It leads with the release of 100+ sats by the same Indian rocket that launched AO- 92.https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-need-satellitesa-speeding-mass-of- space-junk-puts-them-at-risk-1505226427 + Here's something to think about. L band is a lot of fun. We do get 24 hours once a week (not complaining). With several ISS passes every day. It is a good reflector. Plus we can use CW, SSB, many digi modes. Just google it. + Next Rocket Lab launch window is starting 20th April 00:30 UTC for 4 hours. This window repeats for the following 14 days. See: http://rocketlabusa.com/news/updates/rocket-lab-to-launch-first- commercial-mission-this-month/ It will be probably be watchable live from their web site. 73, Terry Osborne ZL2BAC + AMSAT's plans for Hamvention 2018 for the dates May 17-20 have been posted: https://www.amsat.org/other-events/amsat-activities-at-hamvention- 2018/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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, AA0CB aa0cb 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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