Date: February 11th 2007

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-042

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-NA and AMSAT-UK Donation to P3E
SKN Best Fist Nominations Announcement
New Item at the AMSAT On-line Store
AMSAT Awards
OSCAR-1 Pioneer Harley Gabrielson, K6DS Silent Key
Pehuensat-1 Designated OSCAR-63 (PO-63)
First Call For Speakers for AMSAT-UK Colloquium
Space Shorts From All Over
First Call For Papers For The Annual SA AMSAT Space Conference
ARISS Status Report for the Week of February 5, 2007

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042 01 AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-UK Donation to P3E

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042 01

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 11, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042 01

Earlier this week AMSAT-NA announced its agreement with AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-DL to donate a total of 40,000 Euros to AMSAT-DL for the purpose of funding the continued operation of the "Zentrales Entwicklungslabor for Electronik", (Central Development Lab for Electronics, aka "The ZEL") where its current major project is the construction of the Phase 3E satellite (P3E)

P3E is considered vital to the amateur radio space community for a variety of reasons Currently there is no high orbit satellite carrying analogue transponders allowing DX multiple simultaneous contacts The proposed orbit of P3E will cause it to be visible from amateur radio stations on earth for several hours at a time, allowing increased periods of operation and experimentation

The P3E satellite will also provide the testbed for several other experiments which will test techniques needed for the proposed flight of an amateur radio spacecraft to Mars (Phase 5A), for example, a low power beacon simulating the weak signals that it will send from the Phase 5A satellite (P5A) on its journey to Mars This will allow radio amateurs to test their stations in readiness for P5A

The optimal years for launching a Mars bound spacecraft are 2009 or 2011 so it is important that P3E is launched as soon as possible This is currently planned to be at the end of 2008 Suitable launch opportuni- ties for P3E and P5A are being investigated

To read the full story please go to http://www amsat org

[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA, AMSAT-UK, and AMSAT-DL for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042 02 SKN Best Fist Nominations Announcement

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042 02

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 11, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042 02

Ray, W2RS has received the votes for Best Fist and compiled the results from the OSCAR Straight Key Night activity Ray says, "Many thanks to all who participated in AMSAT's 2007 Straight Key Night on OSCAR, held in memory of Cliff Buttschardt, K7RR "

The following each received at least one Best Fist nomination from some- one they worked:

Lee Herterich, K1VZI Keith O'Brien, N4ZQ John Lee, K6YK Mike Herr, WA6ARA Al Ozias, N7EQF Mike Fullmer, KZ7O Mark Spencer, WA8SME Frank Wiesenmeyer, K9CIS Ron McCulley, K0RJS

Congratulations!

[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042 03 New Item at the AMSAT On-line Store

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042 03

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 11, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042 03

Bruce, KK5DO wearing his AMSAT Store Manager hat says, "There is a new addition to the AMSAT Online store for 2007 There are also many cool things with the AMSAT logo that can be purchased while online from the AMSAT Online store "

AMSAT is proud to offer this quality white polo shirt made of 100% combed cotton by Outer Banks for 2007 The shirt is short sleeve and has a collar and three buttons A pocket is on the left Appearing directly above the pocket is the AMSAT logo and name in red and Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation in blue

This shirt comes in medium, large, extra large, 2X,and 3X Quantities are limited

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042 04 AMSAT Awards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042 04

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 11, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042 04

Bruce, KK5DO wearing his AMSAT Director Contests and Awards hat writes, "Here are the first awards for 2007 Happy satelliting and many more hours of FB operation to everyone "

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 Steven Raas, N2JDQ

AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award Juergen Pape, DF7WN #443 Jordi Tarrida Subirana, EB3JT, #444

AMSAT Sexagesimal Award Jordi Tarrida Subirana, #142

South Africa Satellite Communications Achievement Award Juergen Pape, DF7WN, #US103 Jordi Tarrida Subirana, EB3JT, #US104

The Robert W Barbee, Jr W4AMI Satellite Operator Achievement Award 1000 contacts, Wilse Morgan, WX7P, #46

To see all the awards visit http://www amsat org or http://www amsatnet com

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information] /EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042 05 OSCAR-1 Pioneer Harley Gabrielson, K6DS Silent Key

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042 05

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 11, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042 05

AMSAT received the news this week that Harley Gabrielson, K6DS passed away Sunday, January 14 He was 83

After serving in WWII at Los Alamos on the Atomic Bomb Project, he worked for the Philco Corp as an electrical engineer

Harley was very active in Amateur Radio He was licensed in 1939 and was an Elmer to many Hams over the years He played a key role in the Oscar Satellite program, and was responsible for the keyer in Oscar I

He was a key participant setting up and running the Volunteer Exam- ination Coordinator program in the San Diego area for many years He was an active participant in ARES and EMS and also the San Diego Microwave Group and its predecessor in the earlier years

Harley will really be missed

[ANS thanks Duane Naugle, KO6BT for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042 06 Pehuensat-1 Designated OSCAR-63 (PO-63)

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042 06

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 11, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042 06

Bill Tynan, W3XO, AMSAT OSCAR coordinator announced this week, "By the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA President, I am pleased to issue an OSCAR number for the amateur radio satellite, Pehuensat-1

I have been informed by IARU authorities that Pehuensat-1 complies with all of the requirements needed for issuance of an OSCAR number Therefore, in accordance with your request, Pehuensat-1 will hence- forth be know as Pehuensat-OSCAR-63, or PO-63

AMSAT-NA is pleased to welcome Pehuensat OSCAR- 63 into the family of amateur Radio satellites We are hopeful that it will fulfill its intended mission of furthering education and increasing interest in the Amateur Radio space program and we congratulate AMSAT Argentina for building, testing and launching this new Amateur Radio satellite "

[ANS thanks Bill, W3XO for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042 07 First Call For Speakers for AMSAT-UK Colloquium

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042 07

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 11, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042 07

Dave, G4DPZ relayed AMSAT-UK's first call for speakers for the 22nd AMSAT-UK Colloquium which will be held at Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey, U K , from Friday 20 July to Sunday 22 July 2007

AMSAT-UK invite speakers, about amateur radio space and associated activities, for this event They are also invited to submit papers for the "Proceedings" document which will be published at the same time but printed papers are not mandatory We normally prefer authors to present talks themselves rather than having someone else give them in the authors' absence We also welcome "unpresented" papers for the Proceedings document

Offers of talks should be submitted as soon as possible; the final date for full documents to be received is mid-June 2007 in order that the "Proceedings" document be available to participants

Submissions should be sent ONLY to G4DPZ, via the following routes: e-mail: dave at g4dpz me uk Terrestrial mail: QTHR www qrz com

AMSAT-UK also invites anyone with requests for Program Topics to submit them as soon as possible to G4DPZ Invitations for any papers on specific subjects will be included in the future call Likewise if anyone knows of a good speaker, please send contact and other information to G4DPZ

Additionally, AMSAT-UK will be running sessions specifically for beginners to amateur satellite operating on the Friday and Saturday afternoons

Details of the colloquium can be found at: http://www uk amsat org

[ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042 08 Space Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042 08

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 11, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042 08

Echo Command Station, Mike, KE4AZN reported on progress on changes and upgrading on AO-51 Mike says, "I loaded a new housekeeping task, written by WD0E, and began to test the added functions It also includes some new safety features to protect the satellite " The AO-51 Operations Team warns when they some of these features it will cause the transmitters to shut off automatically Control stations will turn them back on during the next available pass For the time being the PBBS will remain down to users Please do not attempt to access the PBBS The FM repeater will remain ON for users
The Packet-to-Voice mode aboard the RAFT satellite has been enabled Any station may TURN ON voice mode over his country with a single CONNECT RAFT packet The voice synthesizer will remain on for 90 seconds Once the VOICE synthesizer is on, then anyone can send a UI APRS formatted MESSAGE to the callsign of "TALK" and RAFT will speak it if it can decode it

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042 09 First Call For Papers For The Annual SA AMSAT Space Conference

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042 09

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 11, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042 09

The Southern Africa Amateur Radio Satellite Association will be holding its annual space communications conference in Gauteng on Saturday 23 June 2007 The theme of the conference is Ã‚Â“Space: New FrontiersÃ‚Â” The theme relates to South AfricaÃ‚Â’s latest satellite project Ã‚Â“SumbandilaSat which is planned for launch in June and carries Amateur Radio Equipment The Amateur Radio payload was designed and built by radio amateurs and incorporated into the satellite by the University of Stellenbosch

This is the first call for papers to be considered for presen- tation at the conference Papers should be of a technical or operational nature and cover any of the following subjects:

satellite communication
weak signal communication
orbital mechanics
related software applications, and exploration of space such as SETI
Other related subjects will be considered

The Deadlines are as follows:

Submission of synopsis 17 March 2007 Authors will be notified of acceptance of paper 25 April 2007 Final paper and PowerPoint presentation 1 June 2007

Mail the synopsis in word format to sa amsat@intekom co za For more information about the conference visit: http://www amsatsa org za

[ANS thanks Hans and AMSAT-SA for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-042 10 ARISS Status Report for the Week of February 5, 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 042 10

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 11, 2007 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-042 10

Teacher Sends Thanks for ARISS Experience

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team received a thank you note from the coordinating teacher at Romeo Elementary School for its January contact She gave special thanks to ARISS mentor, Gene Chapline, who prepared the school for the event The teacher remarked, Ã‚Â“What child will become a physicist, what child will walk on Mars, what child will work with communications all because of something very, very special that happened at Romeo Elementary School on January 17, 2007 Thank you Ã‚Â”

ARISS International Team Meeting Held

The monthly ARISS International Team teleconference was held on Tuesday, January 30 Topics of discussion included the status of on orbit hardware, SuitSat-2, and the Columbus Module antennas Minutes have been posted to the ARISS website: http://www rac ca/ariss/arisstel2007-01-30 htm

Minutes Posted from ARISS San Francisco Meeting

Minutes from the ARISS International face to face meeting held in San Francisco in October, 2006 have been posted to the ARISS website: http://www rac ca/ariss/2006%20San%20Francisco%20ARISS-I%20Minutes doc

[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

Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA http://amsat org/mailman/listinfo/ans

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