AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-143
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:
* Island on the Air Satellite Activation - Isle of Arran * FoxTelem Release 1.04: New Graphs, Better Performance, and Upcoming Launches * Upcoming ARISS Contact with Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center * CubeSats with Amateur Radio payloads deploy from ISS * ULA Cubesat Launch Application Deadline Approaching
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-143.01 ANS-143 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 143.01 From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD. May 22, 2016 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-143.01
Island on the Air Satellite Activation - Isle of Arran
EU-123. Members of the Camb-Hams will be active as GS3PYE/P from the Isle of Arran on the west part of the island near Balliekine (IO75HO) between May 22-29th. Activity will be on the HF bands, 6/4/2m, and the satellites. The location on the island favors the South/West/North as there's a hill to the east, but hopefully that will not limit them.
Peter, 2E0SQL, reports: "We'll be taking along an ICOM IC-910, Wimo X-Quads, Preamps and Yaesu G-5500 rotator all controlled by our favorite bit of software SatPC32 for backup. I'll have my FT-817 and Arrow, but this kit hasn't let us down yet for the last few trips."
They plan to operate on all satellites both FM/SSB/CW, if you want a CW QSO you'll need to contact them as Peter will need to find a suitable CW operator. Peter will try to post regular updates on Twitter either using his own account @2e0sql or the groups account @g3pye and also posting updates on their Web site at: http://dx.camb-hams.com
[ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1266 for the above information]
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FoxTelem Release 1.04: New Graphs, Better Performance, and Upcoming Launches
From FoxTelem developer Chris Thompson, G0KLA / AC2CZ:
This is a quick note to say that FoxTelem Version 1.04 is being released. There is a lot in this version so I have written some blog posts to summarize new features. See below.
You can download FoxTelem for your platform from one of these links: http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/windows/foxtelem_1.04f_windows.zip http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/linux/foxtelem_1.04f_linux.tar.gz http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/mac/FoxTelem_1.04f_mac.zip
Broadly speaking the changes fit into the following categories:
1. Full support for Fox-1Cliff, Fox-1D and RadFXSat including better High Speed decoding and a better find signal algorithm.
2. Additional analytical capabilities so you can plot one telemetry variable against another. I hope this will inspire more people to analyze the telemetry from the spacecraft and post comments on what they see. I have put some of my own thoughts online here: http://www.g0kla.com/workbench/2016-05-07.php
3. Enhanced tools to analyze your ground station with SkyPlots for satellite measurements like Signal to Noise ratio and graphs for pass measurements. Skyplots in particular need a bit of explanation, so I have written more details here: http://www.g0kla.com/foxtelem/skyplot.php
You can read a full list of the changes here on github: https://github.com/ac2cz/FoxTelem/issues?q= is%3Aissue+milestone%3A%22Release+1.04%22+is%3Aclosed
[ANS thanks Chris G0KLA/AC2CZ for the above information]
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Upcoming ARISS Contact with Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center
An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center, Garden City, New York on 23 May. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 12:57 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 state of California 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.
The Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center, located in Garden City, New York, opened in 2002. The mission of the museum is to inspire students with the spirit of discovery through the exploration of air and space technologies, and to encourage them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and math. The museum is home to the Westbury Magnet Academy at the Cradle of Aviation, the first magnet school to open on Long Island. The Museum and Academy offer two summer STEM enrichment programs for students entering the seventh and ninth grades. The ARISS event will be an invaluable tool to supplement classroom instruction and research.
[ANS thanks Dave, AA4KN, for the above information]
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CubeSats with Amateur Radio payloads deploy from ISS
Monday, May 16, 2016 saw the deployment of five CubeSats carrying amateur radio payloads.
UK astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI / GB1SS deployed the first two satellites MinXSS-1 and CADRE from the Japanese ISS Kibo module at 1005 UT. The Slow Scan Television (SSTV) satellite STMSat-1, built by Elementary students at Saint Thomas More Cathedral School (STM), was deployed along with the pair of NODES CubeSats built by students at Santa Clara University at 1440 UT.
STM is thought to be the first Elementary school to build their own satellite, even Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and First Grade students were involved in the project. It is designed to transmit a Robot36 SSTV signal.
IARU Coordinated Frequencies: http://amsat.org.uk/iaru • STMSat-1 437.800 MHz FM SSTV Robot36 UPDATE May 18: STMSat-1 Twitter feed suggests listening 437.000 MHz FM • MinXSS-1 437.345 MHz 9600 bps FSK • CADRE 437.485 MHz 9600 bps FSK and 3.404 GHz • NODES 437.100 MHz 1200 bps AX.25 and 2401.2-2431.2 MHz 115.2 kbps spread spectrum FSK
STMSat-1 https://twitter.com/STMSAT11 https://www.facebook.com/stmsat1/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/491135804399695/ http://www.stmsat-1.org/
MinXSS CubeSat http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/minxss/
CADRE CubeSat http://exploration.engin.umich.edu/blog/?page_id=961
NODES mission dashboard http://nodes.engr.scu.edu/
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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ULA Cubesat Launch Application Deadline Approaching
If you are a U.S. College or University, please don't forget to submit an application for a FREE LAUNCH opportunity to the ULA CubeSat Launch Program! Applications are due no later than June 1st, 2016 by 5pm PST, which is only a week and a half away. Information about how to apply can be found at http://www.ulalaunch.com/cubesats.aspx
[ANS thanks the Ryan Nugent for the above information]
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73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org