AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-049

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 Meeting and Space Seminar Coming March 24 * AMSAT Awards * TAPR Announces Production Of HPSDR Janus and Ozy Boards * Satellite Shorts From All Over * ARISS Status Report for the Week of February 12, 2007

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-049.01 AMSAT-DC Meeting and Space Seminar Coming March 24

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 049.01

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

February 18, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-049.01

Are you near Washington, D.C. or know someone who is? Then YOU ARE HEREBY INVITED to the next AMSAT-DC Meeting and Space Seminar. The day-long event will be held on Saturday, March 24 near BWI airport.

Get the meeting announcement at http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/fieldops/eventDetail.php?eID=259 and share it with others.

In building our agenda, we are lining up one or two presentations from local folks who are building a CubeSat of all things! We'll take a close look at the brand new AMSAT lab on our eastern shore. Get news on a new S-Band beacon. Lots more will be offered too.

Please forward this event announcement to one who might like to know about it. Take it to a club meeting. Announce it on a net. Gosh, tell a high school or college student -- and an instructor too. All are invited.

[ANS thanks Pat, N8PK, AMSAT-DC Co-host for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-049.02 AMSAT Awards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 049.02

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

February 18, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-049.02

Bruce, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards says, "Here are the Awards this week."

We would like to welcome the following to the satellite community. They have made their first satellite contact and are now members of the AMSAT Satellite Communicators Club. Bob Huson WA7HYD Paulo Pinto CT1ETE Fernando Martins CT2ISG

AMSAT Sexagesimal Award Carlos Roy i Garcia EB3FYM (Award #143)

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-049.03 TAPR Announces Production Of HPSDR Janus and Ozy Boards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 049.03

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

February 18, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-049.03

Here is a ground floor opportunity for amateur radio operators interested in experimenting with Software Define Radio. This week TAPR announced production plans of the High Performance Software Defined Radio (HPSDR) Janus and Ozy boards.

According to the HPSDR organization, the Janus module is a very high performance, dual, full duplex, A/D and D/A converter board. This is planned as a cost effective approach to develop a board which approaches the performance of professional high end sound cards. Paired with the Ozy board and with proper software, it can act like a very high performance sound card external to the PC.

The OZY module is an FPGA based interface controller card that pro- vides the input and output connections to the real world. OZY also provides a high speed USB 2.0 interface to the controlling PC.

Interested radio amateurs should visit Dale's, WA8SRA HAMSDR website http://www.hamsdr.com/. You will need to register for full access on the site. If you are already a member and have previously expressed interest in these projects, log in and re-enter your quantities of each board.

If you are new to HPSDR and Dale's Website, please join for instant access by providing the information requested.

What is HPSDR? see - http://hpsdr.org/ What is an Ozy? see - http://hpsdr.org/ozy.html What is a Janus? see - http://hpsdr.org/janus.html

There are many other HPSDR projects in design and testing; most will require the Janus and Ozy boards.

[ANS thanks HPSDR.org for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-049.04 Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 049.04

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

February 18, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-049.04

+ Clive G3CWV reported that during the period 23 January to 14 February OSCAR 11 was heard with good steady signals. To investigate the on-board clock's hour problem Clive would welcome some telemetry from differents parts of the world, at times when the orbits do not pass over the UK. Please e-mail to him at <callsign>@amsat.org. The VHF beacon is on 145.826 MHz with AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry. For additional information about OSCAR 11 see: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/

+ There are several new pieces of software that are being uploaded and tested this week on AO-51. Additionally the S band transmitter will be on for an as of yet undetermined number of daylight passes over the Air Force Academy ground station in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

+ The US Air Force plans to launch Falconsat-3 in late February. FS-3 will carry an amateur payload along with its primary science mission. More details on the upgrades and Falconsat-3 will be made available soon.

+ If you're looking for Delaware on the satellites look for Steve, W3HF on the FM satellites 24 February 2007, during the local afternoon and early evening.

+ Some satellite operators may be able to copy EME signals from the Japanese Big Dish Project. JAMSAT is participating with several other organizations in setting up a 32m-Dish EME station in Ibaragi, Japan. They plan to be active on 144MHz, 432MHz, 1296MHz and 5.6GHz from 23 Feb to 24 March at possible windows. Full information is available at: http://8n1eme.jp/modules/news/ and the planned EME operating schedule can be seen at http://8n1eme.jp/SKD-EME-8N1EME-060215-1EN.pdf.

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-049.05 ARISS Status Report for the Week of February 12, 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 049.05

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.

February 18, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-049.05

1. School Contacts

Hanazono Elementary School in Akashi-city, Japan, had an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Monday, February 12.

The Vasant Valley School in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, India has been approved for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, February 24 via the telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii. This school is a Sunita Williams, KD5PLB, crew pick.

2. Crew Training

Astronaut Clay Anderson and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin recently parti- cipated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact simulation to prepare for school contacts while onboard the ISS. Yurchikhin will fly in March as part of Expedition 15, and Anderson is expected to launch in June.

[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@amsat.org