AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-168
ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS 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.
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In this edition: * Field Day '07 * Update on Phase 3E * Eagle Project Manager Receives ARRL Technical Achievement Award * Satellite Shorts From All Over * BOD Nominations '07 * President's Field Day Message & Thoughts
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-168.01 Field Day '07
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 168.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 17, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-168.01
This weekend, 23rd and 24th, will be Field Day. Here is a copy of KK5DO's weekly ARRL report for AMSAT-
Field Day is right around the corner and things have changed as far as available satellites. We learned last month that FO-29 had gone silent. This was one of the work horses for field day.
GO-32 went down on May 6 for approximately 10 days to upgrade the onboard software. It should be back in service by field day and will most likely carry many digital messages.
AO-7 will now become one of the more heavily used satellites for field day this year. The trick is you do not know if it will come up in mode A or mode B. You must monitor both at AOS and determine which mode it is in and then jump in and make your contacts.
Next we have AO-27 and AO-51. These are FM satellites so you can only make one contact on AO-27, a single transponder. AO-51 will have both of its transponders on and allow you to make one contact on each transponder.
Then there is VO-52. Not as easy as the FM satellites or the mode B satellites but still, a lot of fun and another source for many contacts.
[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-162.02 Update on Phase 3E
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 168.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 17, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-168.02
I've seen many requests for info on Phase 3E. The following link is to an english translation of the latest information on Phase 3E. It includes a timeline graph that points to a launch opportunity in November of 2008. (Excited?)
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amsat-dl.org %2F%2Findex.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D139%26Itemid%3D97 &langpair=de%7Cen&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools*
[ANS thanks Peter Guelzow, ,for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-168.03 Eagle Project Manager Receives ARRL Technical Achievement Award
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 168.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 17, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-168.03
The June 11th ARRL Atlantic Division News announced the Atlantic Division Technical Achievement Award is awarded to Jim Sanford, WB4GCS.
Jim was first licensed in the sixth grade and was a 1976 graduate of the US Naval Academy. While active in the Navy, he was active with Navy MARS stations both on ships and on shore.
Jim was nominated for his involvement with the AMSAT program. He is currently serving as the Project Manager for the AMSAT OSCAR Eagle project. This project is the next generation high earth orbit satellite under construction now by AMSAT North America. Eagle will provide many services and reliable communications on bands not previously available and will build upon technology developed by AMSAT-NA for use in P3E. Eagle is currently in development stage although the major components are finished (and installed on P3E) and other components such as the software defined transponder have been demonstrated.
[ANS thanks Tom, K3IO and the ARRL for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-168.04 Satellite Shorts From All Over
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 168.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 17, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-168.04
+ Radio amateurs interested in the microwave bands may find the uWSDR (Microwave SDR) project interesting. The project's goal is to provide a transceiever operating on the 144, 422, 1268, 2400 MHz bands, etc., covering the whole of each band - i.e. 1240-1300 MHz. Full duplex cross-band products such as L/S are planned specifically for satellite use. More details are on the uWSDR website: http://uwsdr.berlios.de (via Grant, G8UBN for the uWSDR team).
+ The Florida AMSAT net is looking for satellite operators who are willing to be a guest speaker on their Thursday night net. The repeater network covers half the state of Florida if you are within radio range. An echolink connection is available for all others. Please contact Drew, KO4MA via [email protected] if you are interested.
+ An article on P3E appeared in a South African journal called EngineerIT. It is available on-line at: http://www.eepublishers.co.za/images/upload/Radio%20Amateurs%20Mars.pdf.
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-168.05 BOD Nominations '07
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 168.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. June 18, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-168.05
Nominations for the 2007 AMSAT Board of Directors have closed. The list of qualified candidates is:
Barry Baines WD4ASW Drew Glasbrenner KO4MA Rick Hambly W2GPS Lee McLamb KU4OS Gunther Meisse W8GSM
The terms of four directors are up this year. Directors serve a two year term. Ballots and biographical information submitted by each candidate will be in the mail to current AMSAT members by July 15th and completed ballots must be received at the AMSAT office in Silver Spring no later than the close of business on September 15th. Terms of the new directors start upon certification of the election.
Barry Baines, WD4ASW Corporate Secretary
[ANS thanks Barry, WD4ASW, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-168.06 President's Field Day Message and Thoughts
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 168.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. June 17, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-168.06
To all AMSAT members and satellite enthusiasts,
Field Day is only a week away! Are you prepared? Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day as an emergency preparedness exercise during the fourth weekend of June. AMSAT promotes its own version of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held concurrently with the ARRL event. See the AMSAT Web site's Quick Reference "Field Day Competition" for details.
You may be wondering what you need to make a contact on one of the "easy" FM satellites. The simplest equipment to have would be an HT (either a dual band HT or separate 70cm and 2m HTs) and a small beam antenna like the home brew antennas described in recent AMSAT Journals or the commercial Arrow antenna.
These antennas come with a single feed for each band. If you are going to use a dual band HT, you have to build or buy a duplexer. Be sure you have the correct connectors. One model of the Arrow antenna comes with a built in duplexer in the handle but the maximum power rating is only about 10 watts.
Five to ten watts of power should be plenty for the FM satellites. Because of the large number of stations trying to get in all at once many of you will find your best chance for a successful contact is using a horizon shot or operating when you first get acquisition of the satellite (AOS) or when you are near loss of acquisition (LOS). Increasing your power above a standard mobile rig of 25 to 50 watts is strongly discouraged. FCC rules require the use of the least amount of power necessary to make the contact.
Make your contact and step aside. This year the rules state only one satellite contact per FM transponder. Note that there may be two transponders in operation on AO-51 during field day.
If you can, I recommend that you try to use the linear transponder satellites like AO-7 where you can make as many contacts as you like. It takes more skill and different equipment but this can be great fun and you will learn new techniques.
If you need help you can post a message to the AMSAT e-mail bulletin board (amsat-bb) or contact your regional Field Operations representative listed on the AMSAT Web site.
Enjoy field day.
Rick W2GPS AMSAT President
[ANS thanks Rick, W2GPS, 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 additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.
73, This week's ANS Editor, Dee Interdonato, NB2F nb2f at amsat dot org