AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-227

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: * 2010 AMSAT Space Symposium Reminders * ISS cooling system problem disrupts ARISS operations * HO-68 Operating Schedule 15-22 August 2010 * ARRL Files Petition to Deny 433-445 MHz ReconRobotics Applications * NASA Announces CubeSat Launch Initiative * Satellite Shorts From All Over * For Hams Who Like Science: Einstein@Home

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-227.01 2010 AMSAT Space Symposium Reminders

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 227.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 15, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-227.01

The September 1 deadline of the call for papers for the 2010 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting is rapidly approaching! So far the Proceedings crew has received two abstracts for papers - thank you!

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 k9jkm@comcast.net.

You can now register on-line at the AMSAT store for the 2010 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting: http://www.amsat-na.com/store/SymposiumReg.php

The 2010 Symposium Committee is looking forward to welcoming you to Chicago in October! As the latest information becomes available you can find it on the AMSAT Symposium pages: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2010/index.php

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

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-227.02 ISS cooling system problem disrupts ARISS operations

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 227.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 15, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-227.02

On Saturday, July 31, 2010, The ISS suffered a cooling system failure. Repair work planning for two spacewalks has been underway throughout the week to fix the problem. As a result, ARISS operations which include both voice and packet have been given a low priority until the problem is resolved. Attempts will be made to carry out scheduled ARISS contacts, but with the understanding that they may be aborted at the last minute.

[ANS thanks David, AA4KN, for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-227.03 HO-68 Operating Schedule 15-22 August 2010

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 227.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 15, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-227.03

The following operating schedule for HO-68 (XW-1) was provided by Alan Kung, BA1DU, HO-68 Project Manager. Dates and times shown are UTC.

15 Aug 2010 ================================ 16:35...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India, Africa, Middle East, Europe,NA 17:20...Turn Off

18:25...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,Middle East,NA 19:10...Turn Off

19:50...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,Middle East,NA 20:35...Turn Off

16 Aug 2010 ================================ 00:15...Turn On--FM/PACSAT South America,NA,North Asia 01:00...Turn Off

02:11...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 02:27...Turn Off

16:20...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 17:05...Turn Off

22:10...Turn On--FM/PACSAT NA,North Asia,East Asia, Oceania 22:55...Turn Off

17 Aug 2010 ================================ 00:00...Turn On--FM/PACSAT South America,NA,North Asia 00:45...Turn Off

10:10...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Oceania,Asia,Europe 10:55...Turn Off

16:00...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India,Middle East,Europe,NA 16:45...Turn Off

17:50...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 18:35...Turn Off

21:50...Turn On--FM/PACSAT NA,North Asia,East Asia, Oceania 22:35...Turn Off

18 Aug 2010 ================================= 09:55...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Oceania,East Asia,North Asia,Europe 10:40...Turn Off

16:00...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 16:45...Turn Off

21:35...Turn On--FM/PACSAT NA,North Asia,East Asia,Oceania 22:20...Turn Off

19 Aug 2010 ================================= 01:42...Turn On--FM/PACSAT South Asia,Oceania 02:00...Turn Off

06:40...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Middle East,India,Africa 07:25...Turn Off

09:35...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Oceania,Asia,Europe,NA 10:20...Turn Off

12:15...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Europe,NA,South America 13:00...Turn Off

17:15...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,India,Middle East,Europe,NA 18:00...Turn Off

18:45...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 19:30...Turn Off

21:20...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Oceania,Asia,Europe,NA 22:05...Turn Off

20 Aug 2010 ================================ 09:20...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Oceania,Asia,Europe,NA 10:05...Turn Off

12:00...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Europe,NA,South America 12:45...Turn Off

17:00...Turn On--FM/PACSAT India,Africa,Europe,NA 17:45...Turn Off

22:50...Turn On--FM/PACSAT South America,Africa,NA, Europe,North Asia,East Asia 23:35...Turn Off

21 Aug 2010 ================================ 00:40...Turn On--FM/PACSAT South America,NA,North Asia 01:25...Turn Off

02:30...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 02:45...Turn Off

10:50...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Oceania,Asia,Europe,NA 11:35...Turn Off

13:25...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Europe,NA,South America 14:10...Turn Off

16:45...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Africa,Europe,NA 17:30...Turn Off

22:35...Turn On--FM/PACSAT South America,NA,North Asia 23:20...Turn Off

22 Aug 2010 ================================ 00:20...Turn On--FM/PACSAT NA,North Asia,East Asia, South Asia,Oceania 01:05...Turn Off

02:21...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,East Asia,South Asia 02:37...Turn Off

05:50...Turn On--FM/PACSAT North Asia,Europe,Africa 06:35...Turn Off

13:10...Turn On--FM/PACSAT Europe,NA,South America 13:55...Turn Off

[ANS thanks Alan, BA1DU, for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-227.04 ARRL Files Petition to Deny 433-445 MHz ReconRobotics Applications

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 227.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 15, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-227.04

The ARRL Letter this week reported that on August 4, 2010, the ARRL filed a Petition to Deny Applications with the FCC to deny 68 pending Public Safety Pool license applications associated with the Recon- Robotics Video and Audio Surveillance System.

Each license application is accompanied by a waiver request to permit operation of the devices in the 433-445 MHz band. The applications were coordinated by APCO International Inc Licensing Services -- the frequency coordinator for the public safety land mobile radio services -- and would allow the use of the Recon Scout product currently being marketed by ReconRobotics pursuant to an FCC waiver. Read more here: http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-files-petition-with-fcc-to-deny- applications-with-reconrobotics.

[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-227.05 NASA Announces CubeSat Launch Initiative

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 227.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 15, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-227.05

NASA said at the end of July that the space agency anticipates launch opportunities for a limited number of CubeSats may be available on launches currently planned for 2011 and 2012. These launch opportunities would constitute a pilot project intended to demonstrate viable launch opportunities for CubeSat payloads as auxiliary payloads on planned missions. The full announcement is published on-line at:

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/430539main_CubeSat_Launch_Initiative_ Announcement_7_30_2010.pdf

An earlier NASA announcement did not solicit enough proposals to fill the launch opportunities. NASA noted that, "If there is adequate res- ponse from the CubeSat projects, the initiative could be continued on future flight opportunities.

Successful CubeSat proposal teams will be required to enter in a collaborative Agreement to support the pilot project. NASA will pro- vide integration and other services as necessary to complete the launch activity. Participation in the pilot program will be contingent upon selection by NASA and negotiation of an appropriate Agreement between NASA and the collaborator. Collaborators may be required to provide partial reimbursement of the launch and integration costs of up to $30,000 per 1U Cube associated with their participation in the pilot project.

Investigations supported by CubeSat payloads proposed for the pilot project must address an aspect of science, exploration, technology development, education, or operations encompassed by NASA's strategic goals and outcomes as identified in the NASA Strategic Plan and/or Education Strategic Coordination Framework.

Selection is anticipated by January 31, 2011. Consult the NASA docu- ment at the URL above for all project proposal requirements.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-227.06 Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 227.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 15, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-227.06

+ Congratulations are in order to George, WA5KBH for being awarded his Worked All States - Satellite #319. George got his 50th state when he worked Adrian, AA5UK/KH6, during his April trip to Hawaii. George has also been awarded his VUCC Satellite award for 350 grids.

+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom Net will meet on the air and on Echolink on August 19, at 8PM EDT (2400 UTC). If you are within range of the Mt. Beacon ARC repeater the net will be on 146.970. The Echolink node is N2EYH-L. More info; http://www.hvsatcom.org. (via Stu, WA2BSS)

+ The British Amateur Television Club (BATC) have produced a short video showing the people and equipment in the web streaming of the AMSAT-UK Colloquium, see: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2010/behind_the_scenes.htm (via Trevor, M5AKA)

+ Drew, KO4MA has posted a short video with my phone illustrating the differences in received performance when your portable FM satellite antenna can be twisted to track downlink polarity. This was recorded at the tail end of an AO-51 pass, with the satellite below 10 degrees. The downlink is received with the UHF half of an Arrow, 10 feet of high quality coax, and a Yaesu FT-817. Watch the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTqjQ9xIQQE

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-227.07 For Hams Who Like Science: Einstein@Home

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 227.07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. August 15, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-227.07

SpaceDaily.com this week published a story about three citizen scientists, an American couple and a German, have discovered a new radio pulsar hidden in data gathered by the Arecibo Observa- tory. This is the first deep-space discovery by Einstein@Home, which uses donated time from the home and office computers of 250,000 volunteers from 192 different countries. Einstein@Home is based on SETI@Home, a similar program looking for signs of extraterrestrial life in data from the radio telescope at Are- cibo Observatory.

Einstein@Home describes their project on their home page: http://www.einsteinathome.org. "Einstein suggested that we live in a universe full of gravitational waves. He proposed that explod- ing stars, colliding black holes and other violent events create waves that alter space and time. We have not detected these waves yet because it requires tools sensitive enough to measure very small effects. It's like trying to detect a change in the distance from the earth to the sun equal to the width of an atom. Technology has caught up with Einstein's prediction. We now have detectors sensitive enough to see these waves."

Einstein@Home uses private computers to process data. Private computer owners can download software onto their computers that receives data from a central server. The computers process the data when they are not being used for other things, like email or word processing. Then, the computers send the processed data back to the server and can get more to analyze. The site explains Einstein@Home doesn't affect how computers perform and you can stop it any time.

Imagine finding a new pulsar, such as this week's PSR J2007+2722 dis- covery, a neutron star rotating 41 times per second located in the Milky Way, approximately 17,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Vulpecula ... while waiting for the next satellite pass or for 10 meters to open.

The full story at SpaceDaily.com can be found on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/29ggsb8

[ANS thanks Einstein@Home and SpaceDaily.com for the above information]

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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, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org