AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-098

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 Eagle Satellite Team Commences UHF Receiver Build * AMSAT Activities at Dayton * Amateur Satellite Beginners Article * Satellite Shorts From All Over * ARISS Status Report for the Week of April 2, 2007

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-098.01 AMSAT Eagle Satellite Team Commences UHF Receiver Build

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 098.01

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

April 8, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-098.01

Jim Sanford, WB4GCS, Eagle Project Manager has authorized expenditure of funds for purchase of components and construction of four proto- types of the Eagle UHF receiver designed by John Stephenson, KD6OZH.

The boards will be distributed as follows: + One to Juan Rivera, WA6HTP, for acceptance testing followed by limited vacuum and thermal testing. + One to be demonstrated at Dayton. + One to the SDX folks for their development. + One to be put through the ATP either by Jim, or wherever anyone else wants to evaluate. This will then become available as needed for demonstrations or SDX development.

Events leading to this decision: + Design by John and Peer review. + Development of ATP by Juan and peer review. + Assembly of a procurement, construction, and test team of Project Oscar members under Juan's leadership. + PCBoard layout by John. Peer review of schematic to board correl- ation in progress. + Development of costed Bill of Materials (BOM) by the Project Oscar team. This was a LOT of work, and actually resulted in some tweaks to the design and component selection. + Peer review of the BOM in progress.

To get an idea of the thoroughness that each module for the satellite will undergo, look at Juan's action list on Eaglepedia: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/eagle/EaglePedia/index.php/Image:70cmRX_Actio n_Items.pdf

[ANS thanks Jim, WB4GCS, Eagle Project Manager, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-098.02 AMSAT Activities at Dayton

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 098.02

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

April 8, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-098.02

AMSAT will have many activities for the Amateur Satellite enthusiast during the 2007 Dayton Hamvention. We invite you to join us at all of the events. See the AMSAT web site for additional information and directions: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/hamvention/Dayton2007.php

Thursday 17 May 2007 1830-2200 EDT Pizza and Suds Party at Marion's Piazza

Friday 18 May 2007 0900-1800 EDT AMSAT Booth opens, Eagle area with operating components and outdoor Satellite Operating Demonstrations

1115-1400 EDT AMSAT Forum in Room 1 1700-1745 EDT IMAX movie "Space Station" special showing at the Air Force Museum 1800-2200 EDT AMSAT/TAPR Banquet at the Air Force Museum (order tickets from the AMSAT web site)

Saturday 19 May 2007 0800-1700 EDT AMSAT Booth opens, Eagle area with operating components and outdoor Satellite Operating Demonstrations

Sunday 20 May 2007 0800-1300 EDT AMSAT Booth opens, Eagle area with operating components and outdoor Satellite Operating Demonstrations

Those wishing to help at the AMSAT booth during Hamvention please send Gould, WA4SXM an email (wa4sxm@amsat.org) stating your availablity. We need volunteers for 2 hour shifts Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Also looking for volunteers to setup the booth Thursday afternoon and take down the booth Sunday afternoon.

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-098.03 Amateur Satellite Beginners Article

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 098.03

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

April 8, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-098.03

The March 2007 issue of the RSGB magazine RadCom features a superb article entitled "Getting Started on Amateur Radio Satellites" by John Heath G7HIA. It is an excellent introduction to the exciting world of Amateur Satellite Communications.

The Radio Society of Great Britain and the author have generously agreed to allow AMSAT-UK to put the PDF of the article on the web and it can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/

Click on "How Do I Start" on the left hand side of the home page then click on "Getting Started on Amateur Satellites (RSGB article)"

Note the article is Copyright 2007 Radio Society of Great Britain. For personal use only - no copying, reprinting or distribution without written permission from the RSGB http://www.RSGB.org/

[ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-098.04 Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 098.04

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

April 8, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-098.04

Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT-NA Orbital Data Manager reported this week, "I am pleased to announce that AMSAT's request to re-distribute AFSPC Keplerian elements from Space-Track has been approved for another year. Our USSTRATCOM Form 1 request to distribute the Keps was approved as of April 5, 2007. Thanks to Mayor Matchett and his group. We are 'good to go' for another year."

Clive, G3CWV, said, "OSCAR-11 switched ON early 01 April, as expected. Good steady signals on the 145.826 MHz downlink. This is the last ten day operational period before eclipses start on 20 April. The eclipses continue until 23 August. If the satellite behaves as it did last year, it is unlikely to be heard for any length of time, during the eclipse period."

A press release by Charles Simonyi, KE7KDP, the next ISS Space Tourist scheduled for launch on April 7 reported, "In further support of the ARISS program, Dr. Simonyi additionally will perform maintenance on various pieces of ham radio equipment on the ISS. This work will include testing one radio set to isolate an antenna problem with the equipment and reprogramming the default settings on a second unit to correct a configuration problem." (via G0SFJ) The configuration problem is thought to be "one that can be reloaded from a computer via a serial port on the front of the radio, without disassembling anything. All that is needed is the computer, crew training, and scheduled crew time to do it. (via W8AAS)

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-098.05 ARISS Status Report for the Week of April 2, 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 098.05

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

April 8, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-098.05

1. ISB School Contact Successful

On Tuesday, March 27, students attending the International School of Brussels (ISB) in Belgium participated in an ARISS contact via the telebridge station NN1SS in Greenbelt. An audience of 200 students, parents and teachers watched as sixteen students posed one question each to Sunita Williams, KD5PLB. ARISS delegate Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, gave a presentation on amateur radio and the ISS to the students who showed much enthusiasm. At least two of the children asked numerous questions on how to become an amateur radio operator. ISB audio as well as pictures are available on: http://www.ariss-eu.org/2007_03_27.htm

An ARISS contact was completed with St. Michael's Primary School in Daceyville, New South Wales, Australia on Monday, April 2. Approximately 180 children in grades K-6 are enrolled at St. Michael's. National television and newspaper coverage is expected.

Glenden State School in Glenden, Queensland, Australia completed an ARISS contact on Wednesday, April 4, 2007. The school will incorporate the contact into the science, social studies, art and math curricula for students in Preschool - Grade12. All students will contribute to a space museum by designing space art, posters and travel brochures. They may also design a space station and robotics for a space vehicle or write letters to NASA concerning careers available in the space industry. Parents and the community will be invited to Space Week to observe the products of these activities. Nights of star gazing and poetry contests will also be held.

2. Upcoming School Contacts

Salt Creek Primary School in Salt Creek, Australia has been approved for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday, April 12 via the telebridge station W6SRJ in California, USA. Salt Creek is a small rural school with an enrollment of twenty students located 80 km north of Kingston in South Australia. The school serves the sheep and cattle farmers in the area. Audio from this contact will be fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW (277 208) servers, as well as into the IRLP Discovery Reflector 9010.

3. Astronaut Training Status On Tuesday, March 27, Paolo Nespoli received the basic ISS Ham school contact training in preparation for anticipated school contacts to be conducted while he is visiting the ISS during the STS-120 (10A) mission. He was familiarized with both the Ericsson system located in the FGB and the Kenwood system located in the Service Module. Nespoli will be operating under his Italian amateur radio call IZ0JPA.

4. McArthur to Attend ARRL Expo 2007

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran a web story covering Bill McArthur's attendance at the ARRL Expo at the Dayton Hamvention 2007 which will be held May 18-20. See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/03/27/100/?nc=1

[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, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM K9JKM at amsat dot org