AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-228

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

********************************************************************** * 2009 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting October 9-11 * * Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Baltimore Washington Airport * * Details - http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2009/index.php * **********************************************************************

In this edition:

* Final Call For Papers AMSAT 2009 Space Symposium * New Satellite Location Maps Available * AO-51 Mode Change This Weekend * South Africa's SumbandilaSat Launch Scheduled For September 15 * AMSAT Awards * SimSat-4 Amateur Radio High Altitude Ballon Flight Announcement * Satellite Shorts From All Over * Invitation to Join Nova East Star Party ARISS Video Link * Mars Orbit Getting Busier

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.01 Final Call For Papers AMSAT 2009 Space Symposium

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 228.01

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

August 16, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.01

Symposium Proceedings Editor Daniel Schultz, N8GFV this week issued the final call for papers for the 2009 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium to be held October 9 - 11 at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Baltimore Washington Airport.

Proposals for papers, symposium presentations and poster pre- sentations are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite community. Since the subject of launch opportunities is driving most of what AMSAT can do in the near future, papers on possible cooperative projects with other space organizations would also be relevant. You might also consider doing a tutorial session on some technical subject that you are an expert on for the education of the rest of us.

Daniel requests a tentative title of your presentation as soon as possible, with final copy submitted by September 1, 2009 for inclusion in the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan Schultz, N8FGV, at n8fgv@amsat.org.

[ANS thanks Daniel Schultz, N8FGV for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.02 New Satellite Location Maps Available

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 228.02

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

August 16, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.02

A map showing the current satellite location for most of the amateur satellites are now available on the AMSAT web site.

From the AMSAT front page, use the left hand side navigation,

go to the 'Satellite Information' navigation box, then select 'Satellite Status'. You may also go directly there using this URL: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php

Next click on an underlined satellite name in the left hand column. This will display a satellite summary, scroll to the bottom of the page and there will be a map showing the current location of that satellite and the illuminated and dark portions of the earth.

This feature can be used for a quick check of the satellite's location or to verify that your tracking program was setup cor- rectly. Thanks to Rick, W2GPS and Chip, N2YO for providing this useful feature.

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.03 AO-51 Mode Change This Weekend

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 228.03

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

August 16, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.03

On Sunday night Eastern Daylight Time (UTC - 4), around 0000Z Aug 17 UTC AO-51 will switch to V/S FM repeater mode using the 145.880 MHz uplink and 2401.200 MHz downlink.

The AO-51 spin rate has slowed to over 7 minutes per revolution. Eighteen months ago this was about 2.5 RPM. So, either you should experience less to no fading during the pass or longer fades depend- ing upon the satellite's orientation to your QTH. The AO-51 modes team welcomes your observations, especially those providing actual measured data.

Ground controllers probably will turn the L-Band digital uplink off, to get the best power allocation to both transmitters. You will still be able to receive the telemetry on 435.150 MHz.

[ANS thanks AO-51 Operations Team for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.04 South Africa's SumbandilaSat Launch Scheduled For September 15

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 228.04

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

August 16, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.04

The South African Amateur Radio Satellite Association (SA AMSAT) reports that South Africa's second Amateur Radio satellite Sum- bandilaSat is due to launch on September 15

AMSAT-SA reported that the satellite is already in Baikonur for system integration and from where it will be launched on its journey around the earth on a Soyuz rocket.

The Amateur Radio payload comprises a V/U FM voice transponder with an uplink in the 2 meter band and a downlink in the 70cm band. It has a parrot repeater (voice digipeater) and a voice beacon.

The Amateur Radio Payload will be operating in conjunction with the University of Stellenbosch Software Defined Receiver project as it will share the VHF receiver and UHF transmitter used by the SDR pro- ject.

The SA AMSAT payload has been assigned the callsign ZS0SUM. Control of the satellite's function from the ground will be accomplished by transmitting CTCSS tones which will be announced. One tone will will command the satellite in the transponder mode; another CTCSS tone will command the satellite into the parrot repeater mode; and if no tones are received for a period of time the satellite will activate its voice beacon.

Frequencies of operation for the FM voice Transponder and Parrot are: Uplink 145.880 MHz Downlink 435.350 MHz

Additional information can be found at these links. A paper presented by a Stellenbosch student on the SA satellite: http://dataweek.co.za/article.aspx?pklArticleId=4118&pklCategoryId=42

University of Stellenbosch http://www.sun.ac.za/

University of KwaZulu-Natal http://www.ukzn.ac.za/

SunSpace http://www.sunspace.co.za/

Southern African Amateur Radio Satellite Association (SA AMSAT) http://www.amsatsa.org.za/

[ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA, The SouthGate Web site, and SA-AMSAT for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.05 AMSAT Awards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 228.05

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

August 16, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.05

AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO congrat- ulates the following Amateur Radio operators who have earned these awards.

AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award: Rizkallah Azrak OD5RI #503 Dave Glow AA1VX #504 Evangelos Kafetzopoulos SV1EEK #505

The following have earned the AMSAT Sexagesimal Award. David Bird KC7USS #150

The following have earned the South Africa Communications Achievement Award. Evangelos Kafetzopoulos SV1EEK #US137

The following have earned the W4AMI Achievement Award (for 1000 contacts) Dimtrios Pallis SW1JGW #54 George Carr WA5KBH #55 Evangelos Kafetzopoulos SV1EEK #56

To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.06 SimSat-4 Amateur Radio High Altitude Ballon Flight Announcement

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 228.06

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

August 16, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.06

The SimSat-4 high-altitude balloon flight experiment has been scheduled for Saturday morning, September 19, 2009.

SimSat-4 Principal Investigator, Pat Kilroy, N8PK has posted the latest information on the web at: http://simsat.net then click SimSat-4. Pat invites you to check this link on a regular basis for updates and late breaking news about SimSat-4.

Pat says he needs more volunteers to help execute a successful flight. He is looking for:

1. Net Control Station for the (A) HF or (B) VHF net. You are also invited to create your own net on a repeater more local to you and your club.

2. Amateur Radio stations to copy and save telemetry during the mission from the comfort of your own home/shack.

3. Invite a student (young or old) to participate with you. Show 'em how to listen. That's all.

4. Download and install a CW code reader on your PC. Play with it and let us know how well it works.

5. There are many other fun tasksand you can see the list on the SimSat-4 announcement page. http://simsat.net and then click SimSat-4.

[ANS thanks SimSat-4 Principal Investigator, Pat Kilroy, N8PK for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.07 Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 228.07

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

August 16, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.07

+ Congratulations to Patrick, WD9EWK on his Worked All States award. Patrick completed WAS completely via the FM LEO satellites.

+ Short Notice! Mark WA8SME plans to activate the rare grid DM19 (smack in the middle of Nevada) on August 17 during the 2130Z AO27 pass (approximate). He will operate using an HT and Arrow antenna.

+ Software enhancement allows you to fly through the 10,000 galaxies of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image at: http://tinyurl.com/n3fhjg Try the full screen option in the bottom toolbar for the best experience. (UniverseToday.com)

+ Congratulations to Doug, KD8CAO and Jim, W8MRR on their successful Amateur Satellite demonstration via AO-51 on 8/11/09 at the Holland Area Radio Club in Michigan. Jim said, "Everything went right, the weather was perfect, the satellite and our equipment performed flawlessly, and a huge crowd of hams were there for our monthly meeting." Doug and Jim also included a Power Point presentation.

+ AMSAT-UK's FUNcube satellite project is featured on the front cover of the August 12-18 edition of Electronics Weekly magazine. You can read the digital version of Electronics Weekly magazine online in PDF format at: http://cde.cerosmedia.com/1D4a803d8814a11352.cde

+ Roland PY4ZBZ has posted an audio recording from his AO-7 SSB QSO with Andre, ZS2BK covering a of distance of 6890 km. The recording is at: http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/satelite/ZS2BK_AO7.wav Photos of his 2 element Yagi on VHF and 6 el on UHF are on-line at: http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/satelite.htm#owa6

+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom Group net is Thursday August 20 at 8PM EDT (UTC-4), on the 146.97 Repeater and Echolink node: N2EYH-L (via WA2BSS)

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.08 Invitation to Join Nova East Star Party ARISS Video Link

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 228.08

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

August 16, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.08

On Saturday, August 22, 2009 participants at the Nova East Star Party (Smileys Provincail Park, Brooklyn, Nova Scotia Canada) will have the opportunity to speak with Canadian Astronaut and Expedition 20/21 Flight Engineer Dr. Robert (Bob) Thirsk, VA3CSA, on board the International Space Station.

With the help of the Province of Nova Scotia's Emergency Management Office and Bell Aliant a LIVE satellite uplink will be used to pro- vide a 1 hour webcast of the event.

Starting at shortly after 12:00 UTC the webcast will include amateur radio and astronomical topics. The webcast will conclude with the actual contact which begins with AOS at 12:54:08 UTC.

Please join us for this very special educational outreach event at http://exclusive.bellaliant.net/spacestation.

[ANS thanks the ARISS Mentor for Nova East Star Party 2009, Wayne Harasimovitch, VE1WPH for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.09 Mars Orbit Getting Busier

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 228.09

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

August 16, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-228.09

MarsDaily.com reports that NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is in safe mode, a precautionary standby status, and in communications with Earth after unexpectedly switching to its backup computer on Thursday, August 6.

Engineers are working to determine the cause of the spontaneous swap from the orbiter's "A" side computer and subsystems to the redundant "B" side.

They have successfully increased the communication rate from the orbiter, but some engineering data about what was occurring just before the side swap may never be available. The team expects it will be at least several days until normal science operations resume.

After the challenging mission to moon, ISRO has begun preparations for sending an Indian spacecraft to Mars within the next six years. Mission studies have been completed and collection of scientific pro- posals has begun. India is examining launch opportunities between 2013 and 2015.

MarsDaily.com also reported this week that China's first satellite to probe Mars has been transported to Russia for a launch later this year.

Yinghuo-1, the 110-kilogramme (242-pound) Chinese satellite, is scheduled to be launched along with Russia's "Phobos Explorer" aboard a Zenit rocket in October after final testing, the Beijing News said.

After entering Mars' orbit -- 10 to 11 months later -- the orbiter will probe the Martian space environment, with a special focus on what happened to the water that appears to have once been abundant on the planet's surface.

[ANS thanks MarsDaily.com and SpaceDaily.com 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 additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. And with that please keep in mind the camel who journeyed a thousand miles across the desert to reach the oasis palm, and yet he could not get a date.

73, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM K9JKM at amsat dot org