AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-035

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: * AMSAT-DC SPACE SEMINAR 2007 * ARISS Weekly Report * Space Shorts From All Over * Upcoming ARISS Contacts

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-035.01 AMSAT-DC MEETING AND SPACE SEMINAR 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 035.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. Febrary 4, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-035.01

Excitement is brewing for the next annual local AMSAT meeting and space seminar to be held in the Maryland-DC area on Saturday, March 24, 2007. You are invited!

There will be talks, demos, tutorials and plenty of socializing on amateur satellites, ground station set up, and high-altitude balloon experiments in the greater mid-Atlantic USA area.

AMSAT members, students, educators & the public are all invited. No tickets, no RSVP is needed. Come as you are, but bring a friend and pass the word!

The event will be held in the Pioneer Hall at the Historical Electronics Museum (HEM) at 1745 West Nursery Road, Linthicum, Maryland (ZIP 21090) near BWI airport. Starting time is 11 A.M. local for the day long event.

Directions to HEM are at the museum web site: http://www.hem-usa.org/

TALK-IN will be on 146.760 MHz with a 107.2 Hz tone in the two hours prior to the start time.

Your host is AMSAT Area Coordinator Pat Kilroy, N8PK, n8pk@amsat.org, and others.

Speaker slots are open. More demos are solicited. Coordination help is sought in advance and also on the day of the meeting. AMSAT members please contact the host.

This event is sponsored by the local volunteer AMSAT members. All presenters are volunteers. A pass-the-hat offering will be taken for donations to help offset the meeting room cost, refreshments and associated items.

For any late breaking updates go to

http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/fieldops/events.php

You won't want to miss this one!

Additional information is available at www.ao27.org

[ANS thanks Pat Kilroy, N8PK, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-035.02 ARISS Weekly Status Report January 29, 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 035.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. Febrary 4, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-035.02

1.Canadian School Contact Successful

Students from Ecole elementaire publique Le Prelude experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, January 4. The event was held at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. Sunita Williams, KD5PLB, greeted the students in both English and French and answered 21 questions put to her by twelve K-6 graders. An audience of 175 was present for the contact, including two elected members of Federal Parliament, one City Councilor, the School Board Chair, and the president of Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC). Among the media attending were four major French and English television stations. Audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW conference room servers; seventeen connections were made from 6 countries.

2.Winnebago Reservation School Contact Successful

On Thursday, January 25, students at the Winnebago Public School spoke with Sunita Williams, KD5PLB, via Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). Nineteen students were each able to ask one question. An audience of approximately 500 students, teachers and parents listened over the PA system. Television station Channel 9, from Sioux City, IA and the Sioux City Journal covered the event, interviewing at least 9 students. The school posted information about the ARISS activities on its website.

See http://winnebago.esu1.org.

For the Sioux City Journal article,

see: http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/video/video_vid_player.php?v=20070125_winneb...

Winnebago is a rural, Title 1 school with 86% of the school population coming from economically disadvantaged families.

3. ARISS New York Contact to be Rescheduled

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with East Aurora Middle School in New York, originally slated for Thursday, February 1, has been cancelled due to scheduling issues. The event will be rescheduled in the near future.

4.ARRL Article Covers ISS Crew

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran an article on ISS Hams and upcoming spacewalks.

See: http://www.arrl.org/?artid=7145

5.Boulder Hill Elementary Prepares for ARISS Contact

Boulder Hill Elementary School in Montgomery, Illinois has been preparing for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. The school has a radio club made up of 30 members from the fourth and fifth grades; two-thirds of the members are girls. The Fathers Club and PTA are preparing for the contact, making a stage curtain, and trying to obtain space food and astronaut costumes for the teachers. They also plan to invite an astronaut to visit the school. Display cases have been set up publicizing the event, providing information on the International Space Station, space, solar energy, (complete with solar panels), and satellite models and rockets. A documentary is in the works, which will cover all activities related to the contact. An Illinois state representative and state senator have been invited to attend the event, tentatively planned for the spring.

6. ARRL Article on Students SuitSat-2 Work

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran a web story on the college students who are participating in the SuitSat-2 software defined radio hardware testing and development.

See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/01/24/101/?nc=1

The two Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) members, who taught this software defined radio class at The College of New Jersey, have received an invitation from the Engineering department head to repeat the course in the fall.

[ANS thanks Pat Carol Jackson, KB3LKI, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-035.03 Space Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 035.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. February 4, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-035.03

+ On February 3, 2007 Craig, KL4E conducted a live amateur radio communications exhibition for the PQ-13 pilots and support per- sonnel of the 491st Aviation Regiment, ASDF, at Camp Carroll on Fort Richardson, Alaska. For the satellite portion of the demonstration, Craig operated on AO-51 and SO-50.

+ Taking advantage of good operating conditions aboard the recently recovered AO-27 satellite its controllers have shifted the bird's schedule to begin 7 minutes earlier than usual and have extended the transmitter's on-time to 8 minutes. This will allow operators to contact the satellite DXpeditions currently active aboard cruise ships in the Carribean. See http://www.ao27.org.

+ Here's a chance to do some space browsing in the shack while waiting for the next satellite pass. http://sky-map.org/ features an interactive sky map with point-and-click accessibility. You can simply point your mouse at any sky object and a small pop-up appears displaying the name and a brief description of that object. By clicking on the object you instantly have access to detailed information about this star.

+ Sources at SpaceDaily.com reported this week the International Space Station will likely remain operational until 2025 according to the head of the Russian spacecraft manufacturer Energia. Nikolai Sevastyanov said Tuesday, "By 2009-2015, Russia will be the only country able to deliver crews to the station. No one is going to sink or drop the ISS, as all countries realize that the station is becoming a full-scale industrial facility in space. Although it is scheduled for decommissioning in 2015, its operational life could be prolonged until 2025. Energia has proposed making the station permanent. If we terminate its existence, it would be hard for man- kind to implement such a project anew."

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-035.04 Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2007-02-02

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 035.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. February 4, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-035.04

Quick list of scheduled contacts and events:

Total number of ARISS school contacts is 267.

QSL information may be found at:

http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/arissfaq.html http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#QSL%27s

ISS callsigns: DP0ISS, NA1SS, RS0ISS

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The schedule page has been updated as of 2007-02-02 23:00 UTC. Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live.

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt

The successful school list has been updated as of 2007-01-26 04:00 UTC

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf

Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction...

Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf

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There has been a rumor that the ISS was having direct contacts on the 40 meter band. There is no HF radio equipment on board and available yet. The HF antenna is mounted. Sometimes WA3NAN will retransmit shuttle audio.

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Expedition 14 on orbit: Michael Lopez-Alegria KE5GTK Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT

Expedition 14/15 on orbit: Sunita Williams, KD5PLB

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[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N 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, Dave Johnson g4dpz at amsat dot org