AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-159
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:
* Last Week to Submit AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations * AMSAT Field Day Reminder - June 28-29 * ISEE-3 Spacecraft Reboot Project Update
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-159.01 ANS-159 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 159.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. June 8, 2014 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-159.01
Last Week to Submit AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations
It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. A nomination requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT-NA member for Director. Three terms expire normally this year. In addition, a forth Director will be elected for one year to fill the remainder of an unexpired term. Up to two Alternates may be elected for one year terms.
In addition to traditional submissions of written nominations, which remains unchanged and is the preferred method, nominations may be made by electronic means. These include e-mail, FAX, or electronic image of a petition. Electronic petitions should be sent to [email protected] or faxed to (301) 822-4371. Written nominations, consisting of names, calls and individual signatures should be mailed to: AMSAT-NA 10605 Concord St, #304 Kensington, MD 20895.
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.
Please note the new mailing and FAX instructions.
[ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, AMSAT Corporate Secretary, for the above information]
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AMSAT Field Day Reminder - June 28-29
It's that time of year again: Summer and Field Day!
Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day as a "picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!". The event takes place during a 24-hour period on the fourth weekend of June. For 2014 the event takes place during a 27-hour period from 1800 UTC on Saturday June 28, 2014 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 29, 2014. Those who set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 29 can operate only 24 hours. The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own version of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, held concurrently with the ARRL event.
If you are considering ONLY the FM voice satellite SaudiSat-Oscar-50 for your AMSAT Field Day focus . don't . unless you are simply hoping to make one contact for the ARRL rules bonus points. The congestion on FM LEO satellites was so intense in prior years that we must continue to limit their use to one-QSO-per-FM-satellite. This includes the International Space Station. You will be allowed one QSO if the ISS is operating Voice. You will also be allowed one digital QSO with the ISS or any other digital, non-store-and-forward, packet satellite (if operational).
A lot of good contacts can be made on the linear transponder satellites including AO-73, VO-52, FO-29, and AO-7. During Field Day the transponders come alive like 20 meters on a weekend. The transponders on these satellites will support multiple simultaneous SSB or CW contacts.
The AMSAT Field Day 2014 event is open to all Amateur Radio operators. Amateurs are to use the exchange as specified in ARRL rules for Field Day. The AMSAT competition is to encourage the use of all amateur satellites, both analog and digital.
For the complete listing of the AMSAT Field Day Rules please refer to the AMSAT web: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=216
[ANS thanks AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the above information]
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ISEE-3 Spacecraft Reboot Project Update
Dennis Wingo KD4ETA has released an update on the attempts by volunteers, including radio amateurs, to gain control of the NASA ISEE-3 spacecraft.
The International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE-3), a spacecraft that was launched in 1978 to study Earth?s magnetosphere and repurposed in 1983 to study two comets. Renamed the International Cometary Explorer (ICE), it has been in a heliocentric orbit since then, traveling just slightly faster than Earth. It's finally catching up to us from behind, and will be closest to Earth in August, 2014.
In his report Dennis says that the spacecraft was successfully commanded into engineering telemetry mode and he mentions the work of radio amateurs Achim Vollhardt DH2VA (AMSAT-DL Bochum) and Phil Karn KA9Q.
[Achim Vollhardt DH2VA and Mario Lorenz DL5MLO plan to attend the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium in Guildford July 26-27 to give a presentation of their work. The event is open to all]
Regarding the possibility of Lunar impact Dennis says ?If we can maneuver the spacecraft by June 17th we get the very small delta V number for the maneuver above. However, this starts to climb rapidly as the spacecraft gets closer to the moon. Also we cannot at this time rule out a lunar impact. It is imperative that we get a ranging pass as soon as possible. We also need time to not only evaluate the health of the spacecraft, but to test the systems, the catalyst bed heaters for the propulsion system, the valve heaters, analyze the rest of the propulsion, power, and attitude control system as rapidly as possible. This will be a lot of commanding so we have to move into high gear next week. This is a very fluid situation and we have made amazing progress, thanks to the support of those who believed in us in our crowd funding and the support of our NASA sponsors at NASA Ames and NASA headquarters. More to come soon!!?
Read the report at http://spacecollege.org/isee3/isee-3-reboot-project-update-bullseye-and-more...
Watch ISEE-3 Reboot Project ? Recovering a 30 year old space probe
ISEE-3 / ICE Telecommunications Summary http://mdkenny.customer.netspace.net.au/ISEE-3.pdf
Dennis Wingo KD4ETA blog http://denniswingo.wordpress.com/
Can radio amateurs command the ISEE-3 / ICE spacecraft ? http://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/19/can-radio-amateurs-command-the-isee-3-ice-spa...
Radio amateurs receive NASA ISEE-3 / ICE Spacecraft http://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/09/radio-amateurs-receive-nasa-isee-3ice-spacecr...
Radio hams help attempts to command NASA spacecraft http://amsat-uk.org/2014/05/21/radio-hams-help-attempts-to-command-nasa-spac...
ISEE-3/ICE on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ISEE3returns
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK 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