AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-213

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:

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************************************** * Please return the AMSAT BOD Ballots* * by September 15th, 2010 * **************************************

In this edition: * Reminder: Symposium Call For Papers Deadline is Coming * UK Space Agency to launch CubeSat * Satellite Shorts * Balloon Launch Project * Astronauts Complete Simulation Contacts * ARISS Status - July 26, 2010

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-213.01 Reminder: Symposium Call For Papers Deadline is Coming

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 213.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 1,, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-213.01

It's already August 1 and the September 1 deadline of the call for papers for the 2010 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting is approaching faster than ever! The abstracts and some completed papers have arrived - thank you. For everyone else - we need to get busier!

The abstract for your paper does not require any special format. Simply send an e-mail to the Proceedings Editor, K9JKM with the basic information: Author Name, Callsign, and a few sentences that describe your proposed topic. I'll be looking forward to receiving your abstracts in my in-box at [email protected].

The Symposium Committee invites proposals for:

+ Papers for publication in the Proceedings

+ Symposium Presentations

+ Poster Presentations

+ Equipment and Operating Demonstrations

These can be on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite community. We request a tentative title of your presentation as soon as possible, with final copy submitted by September 1, 2010 for inclusion in the printed proceedings.

To help you prepare your paper the Symposium Committee has posted an author's guide on the AMSAT.org web page: http://tinyurl.com/2djjnmx

The 2010 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting will be held October 8 - 10 at the Chicago/Elk Grove Holiday Inn which is near O'Hare Airport.

[ANS thanks the 2010 Symposium Committee for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-213.02 UK Space Agency to launch CubeSat

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 213.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 1, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-213.02

UK Space Agency to launch CubeSat The UK Space Agency has announced a one-year pilot programme to design and launch a CubeSat and is running a competition for ideas for payloads.

This miniature, cube-shaped satellite will allow the UK to test new space technologies and carry out new space research 'cheaply' and quickly.

The pilot programme, named UKube 1, will use a spacecraft platform that is currently under development by the company Clyde Space Ltd and will involve a competition amongst companies and academic groups to come up with the most innovative ideas for payloads. The winning payloads will be launched on the satellite in mid 2011.

Companies and academics who are interested in designing a payload can contact the UK Space Agency for more information.

There is another CubeSat under construction in the UK called FUNcube.

It is being built by AMSAT-UK and the hardware will be shown at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium in Guildford July 31 - Aug 1.

This event is being streamed live to the web at http://www.batc.tv/ (click on Live Events)

UK Space Agency Announcement http://www.ukspaceagency.bis.gov.uk/19128.aspx

AMSAT-UK FUNcube http://www.funcube.org.uk/

[ANS thanks Southgate News for the above information.]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-213.03 Satellite Shorts

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 213.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 1, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-213.03

+ Clint, K6LCS and Gordon West, WB6NOA will be giving a public AMSAT demonstration and presentation from the award-winning amateur radio booth at the Orange County Fairgrounds on August 5, 2010 at 5:45PM PDT.

+ The Scouting SpaceJam-4 Weekend will be on August 6-8, 2010 at the Chanute Air Museum in Rantoul IL (between Chicago and Champaign, IL). Amateur radio features include an APRS balloon launch transmitting on 144.39 MHz every minute under the call sign, W9YJ-11 and an ARISS contact with the scouts. The ISS-direct-to WB9SA contact is sched- uled for a 36 degree elevation pass on Sat 2010-08-07 15:07:14 UTC. More information about SpaceJam-4 can be found at: http://www.spacejamboree.com

+ Stu, WA2BSS reminds interested amateur satellite operators that the the dates for the next two Hudson Valley Satcom nets are Aug. 5 & 19. The 2 M repeater used is:146.970 MHz (2M Pl. 100) Time: 8PM EDT, or 2400 UTC. The EchoLink node is N2EYH-L. More info: www.hvsatcom.org.

+ Bruce, VE9QRP is asking for input from amateur satellite operators. He is designing a microcontroller system for doppler tuning portable radios. He is looking for information regarding which HTs or mobile radios are CAT-controllable. He is testing this concept with an TH-D7A and reports it works well. Bruce's e-mail is ve9qrp_at_gmail.com. His web page is at: http://ve9qrp.blogspot.com. He demonstrates his project in a video at: http://www.youtube.com/user/VE9QRP.

+ While this video link is more related to new technology than the Amateur satellite program many radio amateurs will find learning about D-STAR technology interesting at: http://tinyurl.com/25moy7d (via SouthGateARC)

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-213.04 Balloon Launch Project

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 213.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 1, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-213.04

In association with Tom Webb, WA9AFM/5, President, Oklahoma City Autopatch Association, the North Texas Balloon Project would like to dedicate their Launch No. 18 to the memory of fellow ham, John Mark "Rob" Robbins.

Just two weeks ago, John Robbins, NO5X, became a Silent Key. John was a founding member of the Near Space Exploration Group in the OKC/Tulsa area. We conducted several balloon launches from OKC until John's health prevented his participation and leadership. It was John's goal to do a record setting flight for an amateur radio balloon. He came very close, but never succeeded.

The John Mark Robbins Memorial Flight will be launched by the North Texas Balloon Project (NTEXBP) at about 8:30 am CDT on August 7, 2010 from the municipal airport in Hillsboro, Texas, just south of Fort Worth and Dallas. The public is invited to come out to the Hillsboro Municipal Airport, located at Exit 3 on Interstate Highway 35W, to watch the launch. The back up launch date is August 14, 2010.

Three payload packages containing sensors and amateur radios will be carried to nearly 100,000 feet in about 90 minutes by a helium balloon and return via parachute in about 50 minutes. Mobile recovery teams will use position reports from the onboard GPS and APRS transmitter on 144.390 MHz and radio direction finding techniques to recover the payloads.

A cross band repeater will be activated soon after launch. Uplink is 4 45.800 MHz and downlink is 147.560 MHz. At the peak altitude ham radio operators from Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Kansas can contact each other using the cross band repeater.

The third payload of the flight is a ten meter beacon operating on a frequency of 28.274 MHz. The antenna is a home brew loop and the transmitter will be running approximately 1 watt. This beacon may be heard world wide if the band is open. Please report reception and we will happily QSL the event. Email [email protected] or [email protected]

Pre-launch activities will begin about 7:00 am CDT with the HF Launch Net on 7260 +/- 5 KHz, LSB beginning around 8:00 am CDT. Follow us on HF radio or on Twitter@NTEXBP . Saturday's launch will show on APRS as W5SJZ-11.

[ANS thanks Keith, W5IU, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-213.05 Astronauts Complete Simulation Contacts

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 213.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 1, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-213.05

Astronauts successfully complete amateur radio simulation contacts.

Astronauts Ron Garan, KF5GPO, and Mike Fossum, KF5AQG, each successfully completed a simulated Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with the Challenger Learning Center of Indianapolis on Thursday, July 22. Hopefully they will become as active as the present ISS crew And carry out some casual contacts with others throughout The World.

Garan and Fossum answered 14 and 22 questions respectively during their contacts.

These training sessions were terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS equivalent equipment.

[ANS thanks Southgate for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-213.06 ARISS Status - July 26, 2010

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 213.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 1, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-213.06

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report July 26, 2010

1. Upcoming School Contact

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was completed with the 2010 National Boy Scout Jamboree in Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia on Saturday, July 31 at 18:21 UTC. The jamboree is being planned for about 43,000 Scouts and leaders in 825 troops, plus some 5,000 staff members for support, program and headquarters services. The K2BSA Amateur Radio Demonstration Area is a hot spot of activity throughout the Jamboree. At past Jamborees, thousands of Scouts toured K2BSA. More than 300 earned their Radio Merit Badges and more than 100 new Technician licenses were earned. The club supporting this event is the K2BSA Amateur Radio Association.

2. ARISS Contact with International Space University Students

On Wednesday, July 21, International Space University in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, France, participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station ( ARISS) contact with Shannon Walker, KD5DXB on the ISS. Twelve questions were

answered and regional television covered the event. In preparation for their contact, students studied the basics of satellite communications and learned about human spaceflight and space exploration.

3. ARRL Covers 2010 National Scout Jamboree

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) posted a story on its web page covering the upcoming 2010 National Boy Scout Jamboree during which an ARISS contact was planned. The article was also included in the ARRL Letter.

See: http://www.arrl.org/news/connect-with-the-national-scout-jamboree-via-amateu r-radio

4. ARISS-Brazil Web Page Updated

ARISS-Brazil has updated its Web page. The site has a new URL: http://www.qsl.net/py1kcf/

5. Astronaut T. J. Creamer Participates in ISS Ham Debrief

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) debrief session was held with Expedition 22/23 astronaut T. J. Creamer, KC5WKI on Monday, July 19. The feedback received will help ARISS with its program operations.

6. ARISS International Team Meeting Held

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) International Team teleconference was held on Tuesday, July 20. Discussions included a status on the Columbus Module radio equipment as well as an update on ARISSat-1. The minutes have been posted. See: https://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel2010-07-20.htm

[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, Dee Interdonato, NB2F nb2f amsat dot org