AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-339
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.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
In this edition: * ARISSat Status * UO-11 Report * STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT ON OSCAR 2011 * Satellite Shorts * ARISS Status - 29 November 2010
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-339.01 ARISSat Status
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 339.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 3rd, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-339.01
ARISSat and the backup unit are in Germany, they are schedulted for delivery to Moscow on Saturday. We will know Tuesday if there were any problems getting them through customs. Lou McFadin, W5DID and Mark Steiner, K3MS will be heading to Moscow on the 10th of December to assist with integration and testing of the Kursk experiment and battery. The schedule still has ARISSat going to the ISS via a Progress vehicle in late January 2011 and release from the ISS in late February 2011.
[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-332.02 UO-11 Report
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 332.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 5th, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-332.02
This report covers the period from 29 October to 30 November 2010. During this time the satellite has been heard from 30 October to 09 November and 19 to 29 November . At the time of writing it is is expected to switch-on 10 December.
Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames.
The satellite is now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery.
The on-board clock is now very stable. It gained eight seconds during November. This is comparable with its accuracy when the satellite was fully operational, when it gained approximately one minute per year. However, there is still an accumulated loss of 309 days, which has occurred during eclipses of the last few years.
Operation during eclipses and stability of the on-board clock suggest that some part of the system may have recently failed 'open circuit' thus reducing the overall power drain of the system, and allowing more power to be available during eclipses. When analogue telemetry was last transmitted, an unexplained current drain was observed. This fault may have cleared.
The Beacon frequencies are -
VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry
UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF
S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF
Reception reports have been received from Gene WA4UKX, Horatio CX8AF, David G8OQW and Michael M0MPM/PA3BHE . Many thanks for those and to everyone who posted reports on the satellite status website.
At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports by e-mail. However, could you continue to enter reports on the general satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest. The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php
OSCAR-11 transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. The satellite has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending "di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah" sent over a period of five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency and should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband.
Please note that you need a clean noise-free signal to decode the signals, and your receiver must be set to NBFM mode, for a decoder to work.
If you need to know what OSCAR-11 sounds like, there is an audio clip on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk/ which may be useful for identification and as a test signal for decoding.
The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, but is now incrementing accurately to within a few seconds per month. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode.
The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed.
The watchdog timer operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations have shown this to be 20.7 days, ie. 10.35 days ON followed by 10.35 days OFF.
Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to hear. The last telemetry received from the satellite is available for download. The website contains an archive of news & telemetry data which is updated from time to time. It also contains details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk .
73 Clive G3CWV
[ANS thanks Clive, G3CWV for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-339.03 STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT ON OSCAR 2011
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 339.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 5th, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-339.03
STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT ON OSCAR 2011
You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2011, conducted by AMSAT for radio amateurs throughout the world.
This year's event is dedicated to the memory of Dick Peacock, W2GFF, who died in 2010 aged 91. Dick was an active satellite operator in the 1970s and 1980s, mostly on CW and usually with a straight key. He was also active on 50 MHz and the HF bands, and could always be counted on for a kind word and a friendly QSO.
There are no rules, no scoring and no logs required. Just operate CW on any OSCAR satellite, using a straight hand key, from 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC on 1 January 2011, working as many SKN stations as you can..
In keeping with the friendly nature of this event, each participant is asked to nominate one of the operators worked for "Best Fist." It is not necessary that your nominee have the best fist of anyone you heard, just of those you worked. Please send your nomination to W2RS via email at [email protected], Those nominated will be recognized in an ANS bulletin to be published in early February, and in The AMSAT Journal.
[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-339.04 Satellite Shorts From All Over
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 339.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 5th, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-339.04 Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Look for Drew, KO4MA operating on the satellites from the area around NASA Stennis and Slidell, Louisiana. This is a work trip so operating time will be limited to free time in the evenings. Drew said he favors transponder satellite operating over FM so look for him on SSB 20 KHz or more above the center of the pass- band. He will return QSL 100% with SASE. He will be enroute to Stennis from Tampa on December 6.
+ The Zooniverse started the Zooniverse Advent Calendar, similar to the one-a-day-chocolate-treat calendars we all love, but this calendar includes a surprise each day such as special images, downloads and even a couple of very big pieces of space news: http://www.zooniverse.org/advent
The Boston Globe's Big Picture has their third annual Advent Calendar of Hubble Pictures: http://tinyurl.com/232ssyj
If you'd like to send an e-card specifically to the astronauts on board the International Space Station, NASA has a website just for you: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/postcard/
You can send Chandra X-Ray Observatory E-Cards with a holiday theme from: http://tinyurl.com/27lf8s2
The Space Science Institute invites you to investigate their selection of e-cards at: http://www.spaceweathercenter.org/ecard/01/gallery.php
If you love Hubble, and want to send space-themed holiday cards the folks from the Hubble Space Telescope have a great collection of beautiful cards you can download, and send. The cards are des- igned to be printed out at photo stores or online photo labs, though you can also use a home printer. See: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/holiday/
+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom Net is Thursday December 9 at 8PM EST (UTC - 5) on the 146.970 MHz Mt. Beacon ARC Repeater. The Echolink node N2EYH-L will also be carrying the net. More information is on-line at: http://www.hvsatcom.org or E-Mail [email protected]
The date for next year's Mt. Beacon ARC "Beaconfeste" is Sunday April 10, 2011 at Tymor Park in Central Dutchess County, NY. More information is available on-line at: http://www.wr2abb.org/home/ (Stu, WA2BSS)
+ NASA Television will provide live coverage of the prelaunch news conference for the COTS 1 Falcon 9 launch Monday, Decemeber 6, at 1:30 p.m. The first SpaceX Falcon 9 demonstration launch for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program is targeted for liftoff on Tuesday, Dec. 7. Liftoff will occur from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window extends from 9:03 a.m. to 12:22 p.m. EST. If necessary, launch opportunities also are available on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 with the same window. (SpaceDaily.com)
+ Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV reminds users that the SO67 sched- ule is posted at http://www.amsatsa.org.za . It changes weekly with the Americas the first week of the month, Europe the second week, Middle East/India the third week and Australia and Japan fourth week. Special requests with time in UTC should be sent to: [email protected]
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-339.05 ARISS Status - 29 November 2010
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 339.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 5th, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-339.05
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report November 29, 2010
1. Italian Students Question Astronaut via ARISS
On Wednesday, November 24, on-orbit astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with students attending the Istituto Leopardi - Liceo classico e scientifico in Lecco, Lecco, Italy. The activity was the high point of the school's curriculum which included astronautics, astronomy, radio and English. Approximately 200 students, teachers and guests were present for the event and listened as Wheelock answered 13 questions posed by the youth. Video streamed on the Web received over 100 connections. ESA covered the contact in an article posted to its Web site. See: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSPVFMTGG_Italy_0.html
2. Video of Wheelock Working Ground Stations
Doug Wheelock had a video made while on-orbit in which he gives a tour of the ISS as well as of the amateur radio station. He demonstrates what it is like for an astronaut to handle general contacts with multiple ground stations calling at the same time. AMSAT included this news in its November 28 ANS report: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2010/000464.html
The video has been posted to YouTube. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h73EYcyszf8
[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]
/EX
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73, This week's ANS Editor, Dee Interdonato, NB2F nb2f at amsat dot org