AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-361
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat.org.
In this edition:
* Fox-1Cliff and -1D Matching Contribution Offer * AMSAT SKN on OSCAR 2016 This Week * ARISS Celebrates 15 Years of School Contact * AMSAT Awards * EO-79 Transponder Activation * NASA Commercial Crew Program 2016 Children's Artwork Calendar
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.01 ANS-340 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. December 27, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.01
Fox-1Cliff and -1D Matching Contribution Offer
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to AMSAT members and satellite enthusiasts everywhere!
In this season of giving, we’ve had a generous offer for matching funds up to $1,000 for those that contribute to the Fox-1Cliff and -1D crowdsourcing campaign at https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/6pz92/ab/561Zd between now and December 31st. Make your donation twice as valuable by taking advantage of this opportunity and contributing before the end of the year, and help AMSAT fund the launch of the next two satellites in the Fox-1 series.
Slated for launch in 2016 on the inaugural Spaceflight SHERPA mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, Fox-1Cliff and -1D carry university experiments from Pennsylvania State-Erie, Vanderbilt, University of Iowa, cameras provided by Virginia Tech, as well as amateur radio voice repeaters capable of U/V or L/V operation.
Donations of $100 or more are eligible for a special AMSAT Fox challenge coin, and $1,000 or more qualifies for a plaque with an actual solar panel cover from Fox-1Cliff or -1D. (We’ve nearly exhausted our coin supply and are waiting on resupply from the mint. Plaques will be distributed sometime after spacecraft integration. Please be patient for delivery of either premium.)
AMSAT is a 501-(c)-(3) not-for-profit educational and scientific organization of amateur radio operators whose purpose is to design, construct, launch, and operate satellites in space and to provide the support needed to encourage amateurs to utilize these resources. Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to AMSAT to help underwrite the development and launch expenses of our Fox satellite program.
Donors wishing to provide additional matching funds please contact Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA at [email protected].
[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA, for the above information]
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AMSAT SKN on OSCAR 2016 This Week
You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2016, sponsored by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the world.
Operate CW through any amateur satellite from 0001 through 2400 UTC on 1 January 2016, using a manual, non-electronic key. Note that bugs are now allowed, as they are in similar ARRL and SKCC events.
There is no need to send in a log, but please nominate someone you worked for Best Fist. Your nominee need not have the best fist of those you heard, just of those you worked. Send your nomination to [email protected].. A list of those nominated will be published in early February.
This year’s event is being held in memory of Ben Stevenson, W2BXA (1914-2011). Licensed since 1929, Ben was one of the world’s top DXers on both HF and satellites. He led the DXCC Honor Roll for many years, and among his many awards were Satellite DXCC No. 1 and post-war Worked All Zones No. 1. Founding president of the North Jersey DX Association, Ben shared his knowledge and enthusiasm with one and all.
[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS, for the above information]
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ARISS Celebrates 15 Years of School Contacts
15 years ago today, on December 21, 2000, students at Burbank School in Burbank Illinois, U.S.A. lined us and readied themselves for a very historic event---the first school contact with the crew on the International Space Station. ARISS mentor and radio operator Charlie Sufana, AJ9N and his team of volunteers had aptly prepared the students, teachers and the public in attendance for their historic contact. As AOS approached, Charlie began calling NA1SS. Soon, Expedition 1 Commander Bill "Shep" Shepherd, KD5CDL answered back and the students immediately began asking Shep their questions. The rest is history.
Burbank school teacher, Rita Wright, who later became KC9CDL, continues to be active in ARISS as a volunteer. Rita's 2004 AMSAT Symposium paper, "Remember, We're Pioneers!" chronicles the Burbank school's journey to the first ARISS contact and beyond. You are invited to download the paper at https://www.dropbox.com/s/q8cmd0eu9y0imsz/REMEMBER--Burbank%20School.pdf?dl=...
With this historic event in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our volunteers from the ARISS operations team for their outstanding, long term support to ARISS. These folks---our mentors, telebridge operators and operations leaders---are the foundation of ARISS. They have made nearly 1000 ARISS contacts successful since Burbank, 15 years ago. Without them, the goals of ARISS: inspiration, exploration, education and experimentation, could not be achieved. Their guidance, mentoring and presentations, before, during and after the contact were crucial in achieving these goals. Thank you all!!
As the ARISS team prepares for 2016, with many schools in the queue, prepared, ready and waiting for their upcoming contacts, ARISS is gearing up for another historic event---our 1000th school contact. Wow! 1000 ARISS contacts!! To celebrate this historic event, I would ask those that know of an ARISS student that has graduated and is now in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) field to please have them share their story with us. Please pass this along to others and have them send their stories to me at ka3hdo at verizon.net or to our web master at ariss at arrl.org.
We would like to compile these for our space agency customers and to share the stories with the amateur radio community.
[ANS thanks Frank, KA3HDO, for the above information]
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AMSAT Awards
Here are our newest award recipients and end of the year finale. Happy Holidays and Good DX to all
AMSAT Satellite Communicators Award Adrian Liggins, VA3NNA John Pate, W1XQ Mission Bay ARC, KM3RKI Jim Leahy, N0VVV
------ AMSAT Communication Achievement Award
Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer, NP4JV #568
------ AMSAT Sexagesimal Award
Clayton Coleman, W5PFG #172
------ AMSAT Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award Frank Westphal, K6FW #84 1,000 contacts John Papay, K8YSE/7 #85 1,000 contacts
------ AMSAT South Africa Communication Achievement Award Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer, NP4JV #US196
To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html
Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards
[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information]
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EO-79 Transponder Activation
On December 21, 2015 at 1038 UT, the EO-79 transponder was turned on for a prolonged period.
The FUNcube transponder subsystem on QB50p1 (EO-79) had been provided by AMSAT- UK and AMSAT-NL and is a similar subsystem as on FUNcube-1, but without the telemetry downlink circuitry.
The current software running on EO-79 does experience occasional reboots. When these reboots happen, the transponder is automatically turned off and will have to be turned back on by a command station. The FUNcube team has selected a few command stations to do so, but be advised the transponder may be off.
TLEs: AMSAT keps name: EO-79 Celestrak keps Name: QB50P1 Celestrak file: cubesat.txt NORAD # 40025 COSPAR designator 2014-033-R
Frequencies: *Uplink:* 435.035-435.065 MHz LSB [See note below] *Downlink:* 145.935-145.965 MHz USB
EO-79 has been set to only beacon the normal AX.25 beacon every 30 seconds instead of 10 seconds. The beacon frequency is 145.815 MHz and consists of AX.25 frames on BPSK. More details about the downlink can be found on the ISIS Ham Radio page at http://isispace.nl/HAM/qb50p.html
We kindly request you to share your experiences with the AMSAT Bulletin Board so everyone can benefit from operating tips and tricks, as well as being up-to-date on the status.
We would also welcome any observation related to the transponder behaviour when the AX.25 beacon comes on.
Just like FUNcube-1, the crystal oscillator circuits exhibit drift with temperature. This means manual tuning will probably work best.
Mike Seguin N1JEZ notes: I found my downlink after setting my uplink +12 kHz from published spec
SatPC32 tracking software Doppler SQF information used by Peter VK4NBL: EO-79,145950,435063,USB,LSB,REV,0,0 EO-79,145814.8,435070,CW,TELEMETRY,0,0
Lastly, the commanding team will not be available over Christmas, so the current activations are planned from today until Thursday 24th and from Monday 28th until Thursday 31st
[ANS thanks Wouter, PA3WEG, and AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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NASA Commercial Crew Program 2016 Children's Artwork Calendar
Some of the best works of art come from children who are only limited by their imaginations, like the more than 150 young explorers from across the country who submitted artwork depicting human spaceflight as they see it. Sixteen masterpieces were chosen to be included in the NASA Commercial Crew Program 2016 Children's Artwork Calendar, which is now available for download in PDF format, at http://go.nasa.gov/1NVTww4. We offer a huge "thank you!" to all the explorers, ranging in age from four to 12, who submitted their work and hope that everyone will enjoy and use this calendar next year.
[ANS thanks the NASA Commercial Crew Program for the above information]
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In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi- tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information.
73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org