AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-203

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:

ans-editor@amsat.org

In this edition: * Nagesh Upadhyaya, VU2NUD, SK * Satellite Demo Leads to Successful First QSOs * AMSAT Field Day 2007 Statistics * OSCAR-11 REPORT - 16 July 2007 * ARISS Status - 25 June 2007

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-203.01 Nagesh Upadhyaya, VU2NUD, SK

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 203.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 22, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-203.01

The following was received from K.V.Prasad,VU2RRG/ROC, National coordinator, AMSAT-IN.

It is with profound grief and sorrow that we express the accidental demise of our most revered ham technologist shri Nagesh Upadhyaya,VU2NUD. He is a noble soul who remains in our ham technologists minds and hearts. His dedication and valour will forever inspire the young ham technologists and future generations of scientists towards higher glory.

A devoted and dedicated scientific officer/ham technologist from AMSAT-IN left for heavenly abode. Its pride to the National International fraternity of AMSAT ham technologists/scientists to have such a dynamic star. May God (the most beneficient & the merciful in the world) bless his noble soul.

[ANS thanks K.V.Prasad,VU2RRG, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-203.02 Satellite Demo Leads to Successful First QSOs

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 203.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 22, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-203.02

Since March, Patrick, WD9EWK/VA7EWK has been conducting a series of satellite operating demonstrations at the Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club. W7TBC in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona.

At the club's June meeting, kits for a WA5VJB "Cheap Yagi" for the FM satellites were distributed consisting of 2 elements on 2m, 5 elements on 70cm, plus the 2m/70cm "duplexer" or band splitter. Other Thunderbird club members were ready to try FM satellite operation via AO-51 with the telescoping whip on their HT.

Two Thunderbird club members made their first satellite contacts under Patrick's mentoring. He reported, "Jeff W0NWA worked Bernardo 6I2HWB in southern Baja California (DL44), and Bob K7UNL worked me followed by Jeff, K7WIN in southeastern Arizona." Patrick made a total of 8 contacts on that pass. Other club members were able to hear AO-51 for the first time.

Patrick summarized, "The weather was still 105F/41C outside with a bit of humidity. We had a great time, and for a couple of the club members they now have satellite contacts for their logs. We may do another of these hands-on demonstrations in a few months, when it is not so hot outside."

Thank you to Patrick, and congratulations are in order for the Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club!

[ANS thanks Patrick, WD9EWK/VA7EWK for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-203.03 AMSAT Field Day 2007 Statistics

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 203.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 22, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-203.03

Bruce Page, KK5DO reports that he has finished entering AMSAT Field Day reports into his computer.

Statistics for AMSAT Field Day 2007: 13 entries 5 satellites operated 207 total qso's scored 2 stations operating commercial power 11 stations operating emergency power 1 emergency station was operating battery 2 stations operating from home 11 stations operating from the field The least reported score was 3 QSOs

QSOs per satellite: AO-27 8 SO-50 11 AO-51 14 (includes both l/u and v/u) AO-07 69 phone AO-07 21 cw VO-52 30 phone VO-52 4 cw

Look for the complete article with pictures and comments in the upcoming issue of the AMSAT journal.

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-203.04 OSCAR-11 REPORT - 16 July 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 203.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 22, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-203.04

I have now updated the telemetry archive on my website to include all the telemetry received in 2007. The news archive has also been updated. The URL is www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew

During the period 15 June to 15 July 2007, no signals have been received from the satellite's 145.826 MHz. beacon. I have not received any reception reports.

The satellite is currently subject to solar eclipses, which will continue until 20 August. The duration of the eclipses is now decreasing and will reach a time of 10 minutes, around 10 August. At that level the satellite may be able to sustain continuous operation, however it is not possible to predict when the satellite will switch ON. If there was failed attempt to switch ON just before 10 August, then it could be the end of August before the satellite resumed continuous transmissions.

The battery can no longer power the satellite during the eclipse season. When the battery voltage decreases to a preset level, the watchdog timer resets, and the beacon is turned off for approximately 21 days. When the satellite restarts, eclipses could cause the beacon to switch OFF, after a short time, probably less than one orbit. This short transmission could occur any where over the world, and could be repeated at 20.7 day intervals.

Owing to the lack of accurate timings, it is impossible to predict when and where the satellite will be heard during these short transmission periods. It is just possible that someone tuning around 145.826 MHz. may hear the satellite, by chance.

The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF

Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. The current monthly bulletin contains further details of the satellite's status. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to hear. The website contains an archive of news & telemetry data. 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.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/

If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT135.CWV, to prevent duplication.

73 Clive G3CWV xxxxx@amsat.org (please replace xxxxx by g3cwv)

[ANS thanks Clive, G3CWV, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-203.05 ARISS Status - 16 July 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 203.05

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

July 22, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-203.05

1. ARISS Contact with Canadian High School Students

Manitoba high school students attending the Manitoba Space Adventure Camp held at the Canadian Air Force 17 Wing in Winnipeg spoke to Clay Anderson, KD5PLA, on Thursday, July 12. During the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact, Anderson answered 18 questions posed to him by twelve students, while other camp attendees and the media looked on. The event received excellent television coverage by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Canadian television (CTV). Four repeater nodes were among the 18 connections made to EchoLink by ham operators in Germany, India, Canada, USA, Japan, and the UK.

The CBC news article can be viewed at this link: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/07/12/space-talk.html#skip300x2...

The Winnipeg Sun article may be found here: http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Manitoba/2007/07/13/4335853-sun.html

Another cnews story has also been posted: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2007/07/12/4334628-cp.html

2. Upcoming School Contacts

The Challenger Learning Center of Lucas County, in Oregon, Ohio has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, July 25 at 11:38 UTC. The center has a science lab that is used for the summer camp programs, and schools from northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan participate in the programs which reach approximately 3000 students each year.

3. ARISS TIM Held

A productive Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) was held the week of July 9 -13 in Houston. Discussions included the ARISS radio systems, SuitSat-2 and education.

[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, 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, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org