AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-284

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 Election of new Officers at the Symposium * SpaceX Announces Conference * AO-51 configuration to support Scouting JOTA * US Senate Bill Introduced * AO-51 Configured for JOTA * ARISS Status - October 4, 2009

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-284.01 AMSAT Election of Officers

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 284.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 11 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-284.01

At the Baltimore Symposium the initial actions of the newly elected BOD is to elect new officers. The seats were filled as follows:

President Barry Baines, WD4ASW VP of Engineering Tony Monteiro, AA2TX VP of Operations Drew Glassbrenner, KO4MA VP of User Services Gould Smith, WA4SXM Secretary Alan Biddle, WA4SCA Treasurer Gunther Meisse, W8GSM Manager Martha

Congratulations to the newly elected officers.

Also, a fine time was had by all that attended the Baltimore AMSAT Symposium. Many excellent presentations were given during the event. At the annual meeting, the newly elected officers were introduced and new priorities were introduced. AMSAT will offer a DVD of the presentations. The Banquet had a great guest speaker, Mr. Collins from the Air and Space museum. Plan to attend next years meeting.

(ANS thanks Martha for the above information]

/EX SB Sat @ $ans-284.02 SpaceX announces Conference

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 284.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 11, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-284.02

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has announced a second user conference for its commercial product DragonLab™, a free-flying, reusable spacecraft capable of hosting pressurized and unpressurized payloads to and from orbit. The event will focus on the needs of European users and take place on October 29th, 2009, in Haarlem, Netherlands.

DragonLab provides a platform for in-space experimentation, including recovery of pressurized and some unpressurized payloads, as well as deployment of small spacecraft. As a complete system, DragonLab provides a highly capable spacecraft platform that includes propulsion, power, thermal control, environmental control, avionics, communications, thermal protection, flight software, guidance, navigation and control, entry, descent and landing, and recovery.

The user conference is an opportunity for potential customers to explore DragonLab's capabilities, as well as present customer-specific interests and requirements. The agenda includes an overview of the Dragon spacecraft, concept of operations, payload accommodations and cost parameters.

DragonLab is an alternate configuration of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft which, along with the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, has been contracted by NASA to provide cargo resupply services to the International Space Station as early as 2010.

To express interest in attending the user conference, visit DragonLabUserConference.com.

Space is limited and all participants must receive confirmation from SpaceX in order to attend this workshop. For more information or questions regarding the user conference, please email DragonLab@spacex.com.

[ANS thanks Lee for the above information]

/EX

SB Sat @ amsat $ans284.03 US Senate Bill Introduced

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 284.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 11, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-284.03

RADIO LAW: SENATE BILL INTRODUCED TO STUDY HAM RADIO EMCOMM

A companion bill to the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Enhancement Act of 2009 was introduced in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, October 6 by Connecticut Democrat Joe Lieberman and Maine Republican Susan Collins.

Titled Senate Bill 1755, it carries the same name as the House measure introduced this past April by Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee. The bill, if passed, would direct the Department of Homeland Security to undertake a study on emergency communications with an emphasis on the role that ham radio operators play.

S 1755 points out that "There is a strong Federal interest in the effective performance of Amateur Radio Service stations, and that performance must be given support at all levels of government; and protection against unreasonable regulation and impediments to the provision of the valuable communications provided by such stations.

Introduction of S 1755 is the result of many months of groundwork laid by the American Radio Relay League and appears to be directly based on the basis and purpose of the service. This as outlined in Section 97.1 of the FCC rules. (ARRL)

[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-284.04 AO-51 Configured for JOTA

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 284.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 11, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-284.04

AO-51 configuration to support Scouting JOTA

AMSAT-NA is supporting the 52nd Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) Scouting event by dedicating AO-51 operation to the event.

For October 17th and 18th, the AO-51 QRP repeater will be allocated for JOTA use. All users are requested to give way to JOTA stations or QSOs with JOTA stations.

The frequencies used for this weekend will be 145.880 FM uplink, and 435.150 FM downlink, no PL tone required. The mode change should occur at ~00:00 UTC on the 17th (Friday evening in the US) and run for approximately 48 hours.

AMSAT wishes the Scouts good luck operating via the AO-51 satellite for the event.

Reports of your JOTA operations should be sent to the AMSAT-BB or directly to ko4ma@amsat.org.

Photo files up to 5 Mb total are also welcome for possible inclusion in an upcoming AMSAT Journal article.

73, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-NA VP Operations

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

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-284.05 ARISS Report for Oct 4,2009

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 284.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 4, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-284.045

1. Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Sint-Michielscollege Brasschaat vzw (SMCB) in Brasschaat, Belgium on Wednesday, October 7 at 10:20 UTC. Visits to space and science museums are among the science activities planned for the children. Guest speakers will include a representative from Verhaert Space Systems and Dirk Frimout, Belgium’s first astronaut.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled with the National Planetarium in Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia on Thursday, October 8 at 09:34 UTC. The contact will occur as part of the National Space Challenge, a program that was created in an effort to instill the talents and desire towards the understanding of space in primary school aged children. Sixteen schools will participate.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Belmont Elementary School in Langley, British Columbia, Canada on Friday, October 9 at 20:20 UTC. Students are working on projects with a “Mission Control” theme and the Langley Amateur Radio Association (L.A.R.A.) is working with the school to organize this event.

2. Thirsk Participates in ARISS Contact with R.T. Alderman Students

Astronaut Bob Thirsk, VA3CSA participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with students attending R. T. Alderman School in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on Monday, September 28. An audience of 615 people gathered, watched and listened as Thirsk answered 15 questions posed to him by the students. Media coverage was provided by a local television station. After the contact, Thirsk changed the ISS radio beacon text to read, “Hello to RT Alderman School!”

3. De Winne Speaks with Lisbon, Portugal Students via ARISS

On Thursday, October 1 an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between the Ciência Viva Museum in Lisbon, Portugal and Frank De Winne, ON1DWN onboard the ISS. Ground station ON4ISS in Belgium provide the telebridge connection. An audience of 300 people gathered and watched as twenty-three questions were asked and answered. The ARISS contact at Ciencia Viva was a major event during the nationwide celebrated Space Week. The participating students have been working on space projects for two years and they were highly motivated to do this science-related activity.

4. ARISS Contact with University of Liege

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact took place on Friday, October 2 between the University of Liege in Belgium and on-orbit astronaut Frank De Winne, ON1DWN via telebridge station ON4ISS in Belgium. Eighteen questions were answered before losing contact with the ISS. The University of Liege offers the only aerospace engineering education program in the French part of Belgium. In the context of the OUFTI-1 project (www.oufti.ulg.ac.be) that aims at building a CubeSat featuring the amateur radio D-STAR technology, an amateur radio club was formed at the university.

5. Nicole Stott Participates in ARISS Contact with Italian Students

On Friday, October 2, students attending Scuola Secondaria 1° Grado “Alighieri – Trevigi” in Casale Monferrato, Prov. Alessandria, Italy participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. The youth asked Nicole Stott, KE5GJN 21 questions as an audience of 200 students, parents and teachers looked on. Local media provided news coverage. The event was streamed live on the internet and the audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW servers. The contact motivated the youth to study Science, History, Geography, Information Technology and English.

6. ARISS Contact with Boy Scouts of Canada

On Saturday, October 3, Scouts of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. Three hundred scouts and parents were present as Robert Thirsk VA3CSA answered questions about life and work in space. Thirsk turned over a few questions to Mr. Guy Laliberte, Circ De Soleil president and spaceflight participant. Audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW servers. The ARISS contact was held in conjunction with the Scout Science Badge Award system.

7. ARISS News on Amateur Radio Newsline

On October 2, Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1677 reported on Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) astronaut licensing. To view “Ham Radio in Space: New Ham Astronaut is KF5DBF,” see: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News-A/news.txt

/EX

73, This week's ANS Editor, Dee Interdonato, NB2F nb2f at amsat dot org

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