Date: May 19th 2008

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-138

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 Introduces Team Namaste at Dayton Hamvention
AMSAT Designates Delfi-C3 as DO-64
AMSAT at Dayton - First Report
AO-16 Operations Update
Second Call For Speakers at AMSAT-UK Colloquium
Satellite Shorts From All Over
ARISS Status Report for the Week of May 12, 2008

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138 01 AMSAT Introduces Team Namaste at Dayton Hamvention

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138 01

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD May 18, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-138 01

Team Namaste, a new AMSAT engineering team, was introduced at the Dayton Hamvention held over May 16-18 AMSAT's Eagle and the Intelsat Phase IV ride-share project will include the Advanced Communications Package (ACP) supporting digital communications with a 5 6 GHz uplink and 3 4 GHz downlink

Team Namaste includes the ACP Ground Segment led by Michelle, W5NYV and the ACP Satellite Segment led by Matt, N2MJI

Michelle described the ground segment, "Namaste is the effort to develop a microwave band, digital signal capable earth station attainable by the average ham so users can immediately take advantage of the audio, digital messaging, and video services our new new sat- ellites will provide "

Two key user audiences are the target of the Namaste earth station Michelle describes the user base, "First we want to excite amateur radio operators who want to have fun using microwave bands to talk through a satellite employing digital communications techniques Second, we want to serve emergency communications operators who need a reliable, infrastructure-independent system in order to get their work done "

The Ground Segment and Satellite Segment Teams are developing an RF link budget and system configuration which a reasonably priced ama- teur radio transceiver can attain No commercial amateur radio gear exists for the GHz-frequency range and digital communication link for the new mode on AMSAT high orbit satellites

Antenna configuration and available power are limited on the satellite platform depending upon solar cells and batteries Given the modern reality of CC&R's and antenna restrictions in many communities the baseline antenna at the amateur station is currently specified as a half-meter dish This is the same type and size of dish many homes use for satellite television such as DirecTV

Planning for the ACP includes 20 watts RF power with 18dB antenna gain at the spacecraft The ground segment rule of thumb at present esti- mates 10 watts of transmitter power with the half-meter dish is needed Further radio link budget and RF exposure safety issues are also being investigated

AMSAT welcomes Team Namaste, leading the way to an exciting future of Amateur Radio in Space Questions and comments can be sent via e-mail to namaste-dev@amsat org Team Namaste has a web page at: http://www amsat org/namaste

[ANS thanks Michelle, W5NYV for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138 02 AMSAT Designates Delfi-C3 as DO-64

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138 02

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD May 18, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-138 02

Bill Tynan, W3XO issued the following statement on behalf of the AMSAT Board of Directors 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, Delfi C-3

As attested to in a communication to the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors dated 8 May, 2008, from Wolter Jan Ubbels, the spacecraft's Project Manager; Delfi C-3 was successfully launched 28 April, 2008 from India aboard a Polar launch vehicle Mr Ubbels also states that the satellite was successfully commissioned and is currently transmitting telemetry on the 2 meter amateur band In addition to its 2 meter downlink, Delfi C-3 has an uplink on the 70 cm band

According to Mr Ubbels, this newest amateur satellite was developed by a team of some 60 students and facility members in the fields of Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science from various polytechnic schools in The Netherlands Further, he states that Delfi C-3 carries 2 experiments, one involving thin film solar cells developed by Dutch Space and the other, an Autonomous Wire- less Sun Sensor from the Dutch Government Research Institute (TNO)

Mr Ubbels' letter says that Delfi C-3 has been duly coordinated through the Region 1 IARU representative, Mr Graham Shirville, G3VZV, and that the satellite meets all of the criteria necessary to be issued an OSCAR number

In response to the information provided by Mr Ubbels, I hereby issue the designation Delfi-C3 OSCAR-64 or Dutch OSCAR-64 The shortened ver- sion of either of these two designation would, of course, be, DO-64

AMSAT-NA is pleased to welcome DO-64 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 We congratulate all of those responsible for designing, building, testing and launching this new Amateur Radio satellite and look forward to its long and productive life

73, William A (Bill) Tynan, W3XO

[ANS thanks Bill, W3XO for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138 03 AMSAT at Dayton - First Report

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138 03

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD May 18, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-138 03

The AMSAT booth at the Dayton Hamvention included the first stages of the full-scale engineering unit of the Eagle satellite structure This consists of the inner 4 honeycomb panels where electronics are mounted, along with four channels and two electronics boxes The half- scale model of Eagle was also on display After the Hamvention the Eagle engineering unit will return to the AMSAT Maryland Lab for further development, integration, and testing

Radio amateurs were able to get a taste of satellite operations at the live satellite demos Using the callsign W5IU the demo team was on-the-air via AO-7, AO-16, AO-27, AO-51, and VO-52 on Friday, Sat- urday, and Sunday

Tom Clark, K3IO gave a presentation discussing the highlights of AMSAT's technical achievement and plans at the ARRL TTF Forum The AMSAT forum provided updates on Eagle and Intelsat More information will be coming in future weeks via ANS and the AMSAT Journal

AMSAT Engineering representatives were on hand to show off and discuss project status for the ACP, Eagle, Phase IV, P3E, SuitSat-2, and dig- ital encoding

The combined AMSAT/TAPR Banquet was one of the more popular events of the weekend Pictures and more stories to follow when they are ready

The Spring 2008 issue of CQ-VHF magazine, planned to be available at the Hamvention, featured AMSAT in three articles Lou W5DID & JoAnne K9JKM had an article covering SuitSat-2 Bob KF4KSS & JC W3JCT had an article about AMSAT's new lab, and Keith W5IU wrote a column of amateur radio in space history and AMSAT's history

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138 04 AO-16 Operations Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138 04

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD May 18, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-138 04

The AO-16 satellite has undergone a few periods of turning off with subsequent restarts ensuring operation for varying periods of time

Mark, N8MH, Control Operator turned AO-16 ON in voice mode to suppot a Scouting Special Events Station The output power was reduced slight- ly in an attempt to conserve power in the event that batteries or the solar cells were having problems

George, KA3HSW, operating from the Scouting Event wrote, "Many thanks to Mark for making AO-16 available during the K9BSA Scout-O-Rama demonstration yesterday, and MANY, MANY thanks for "advertising" that our station was there on the 1950Z pass we worked quite a number of stations, thanks in large part to Mark's announcement on the bird "

In response to observing stations around the world reporting AO-16 was turned off again Mark provided the latest information, "AO-16 continues to exhibit difficulty in keeping the transmitter turned ON The last few days I have turned it ON as my schedule permits, only to see it turn itself OFF after a short time (sometimes minutes, other times a few hours) So, it hasn't been turned ON much over the last several days It is looking less likely to be a power budget issue, and more likely that there is something going on with the hardware in the spacecraft; but this is still speculation Time will tell I wish the news was better!"

If you hear AO-16 in voice mode, free to use it If you hear it "hummmming" in digital mode, please do not transmit to the satellite

AO-16 Uplink: 145 920 MHz FM AO-16 Downlink: 437 0260 MHz DSB (LSB and USB)

[ANS thanks Mark, N8MH for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138 05 Second Call For Speakers at AMSAT-UK Colloquium

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138 05

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD May 18, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-138 05

This is the second call for speakers for the 22nd Amsat-UK Colloquium
which will be held at Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey, U K , from Friday 25th July to Sunday 27th July 2008

Details of this and previous events can be found at: http://www uk amsat org

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 late-June 2008 in order that the "Proceedings" document be available to participants

Submissions should be sent ONLY to G4DPZ, via the following routes:

Internet e-mail: dave @ g4dpz dot me dot uk

SnailMail: QTHR from http://www qrz com

AMSAT-UK also invite 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

[ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138 06 Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138 06

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD May 18, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-138 06

Yuta Araki, JQ1YGV at Nihon University says an updated version of the SEEDS cubesat telemetry analysis software is available from http://cubesat aero cst nihon-u ac jp/english/download_e html This will be Ver 2 0 2 of Downlink Code for Distribution
Spaceweather com's simple Satellite Tracker has gone global The tool now works not only for US and Canadian readers, but also for sky watchers in countries around the world This development comes as the International Space Station is making bright and frequent nightly apparitions over Europe, Africa, the Middle East, parts of Asia and Australia If you live in those areas, give it a try: http://spaceweather com/flybys [via SpaceWeather com]
Art Feller, W4ART has posted photos from AMSAT/ARISS participation at Space Day at the National Air and Space Museum to: http://picasaweb google com/oojimoe/2008SpaceDayNASM

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138 07 ARISS Status Report for the Week of May 12, 2008

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138 07

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD May 18, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-138 07

Upcoming School Contact

Delta Researchers Schools 2008, Space Expo in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, has been scheduled for an ARISS contact via tele- bridge station WH6PN in Hawaii The contact will take place on Friday, May 23 at 15:01 UTC Twelve Dutch primary schools which participate in the Delta-project will be represented at Space Expo The project is a cooperation of the Dutch ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA The schools participating in the project use the themes of space and space exploration to teach science and technology Three chil- dren (ages 7 - 12) from each school will be present

Armada Area Schools - ARISS Contact Postponed

The ARISS contact which was scheduled with Armada area schools in Michigan on May 9 was postponed due to crew scheduling issues It will be rescheduled in the fall In place of the May 9 contact, the Teaching From Space Office at Johnson Space Center arranged a tele- conference between the Armada students and astronaut Bill McArthur in Houston Texas Bill spent several minutes talking about the Inter- national Space Station and answered in detail 15 student questions There were approximately 550 participants present at the school The Teaching From Space Office also sent an educational resource package to the school which included seeds that were flown in space The Armada schools are looking forward to a direct ARISS contact in the fall

ARISS Founder Ron Parise Passes on

Astronaut Ron Parise, WA4SIR, passed away on Friday, May 9 Ron was a key player in the development of the ARISS program and a strong supporter of educational outreach activities He spoke with hundreds of hams on the ground during his Shuttle flights STS-35 and STS-67 and was the first to operate packet radio in orbit He was instrumental in developing both the ISS Ham radio systems currently onboard the ISS and the telebridge station concept with the specific purpose of encour- aging students to pursue studies in technical fields

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) published this story: http://www arrl org/news/stories/2008/05/10/10092/?nc=1

ARISS Member Interviewed on Australian TV

ARISS member Tony Hutchison, VK5ZAI, was interviewed and appeared on the Australian Channel 7 Today Tonight Show He described his work with the educational ARISS program The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) posted the news clip with permission from Channel 7 See: http://www wia org au/discover/videoaudio/video/documents/Low_VK5ZAI_Today_T onight_320X240X256 wmv

NASA Tool Aids Amateur Radio Operators

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran an article covering NASA's new 4D Ionosphere tool The tool can aid amateur radio operators in radio communications To view the story, go to: http://www arrl org/news/stories/2008/05/07/10081/?nc=1

NASA's article has been posted to: http://science nasa gov/headlines/y2008/30apr_4dionosphere htm?list212589

Wings over the Rockies Amateur Radio Event

On Friday, May 23, Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver, Colorado will open a new exhibit, "Colorado's Astronauts: in their own words " It will also host ceremonies for the presenta- tion of NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award honoring one of Colo- rado's astronauts, Jack Swigert NASA officials will present the award to Jack Swigert's sister, Virginia Swigert Guests include James A Lovell, Fred Haise, Ken Mattingly as well as other astronauts and Colorado Governor Bill Ritter To celebrate the event, an amateur radio special event station K0WAR, will operate on 14250 or 7250 kHz from 09:00 to 21:00 local Denver time (May 23, 15:00 UTC to May 24, 03:00 UTC) An 8-1/2 x 11 QSL certificate will be distributed to confirmed contacts providing an SASE For more information on the event, see: http://www wingsmuseum org/index php

ARISS Presentation at Dayton Hamvention

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the Radio Amateur Sat- ellite Corporation (AMSAT) both supported exhibit booths the Dayton Hamvention ARISS Australian telebridge operator Tony Hutchison, VK5ZAI, gave a presentation on "A Ham Radio Operator's View of ARISS" at the AMSAT forum covering new ARISS initiatives and a status report on SuitSat-2 The Dayton Hamvention is an internationally attended amateur radio convention that draws crowds of 25,000 annually For more information on Dayton Hamvention 2008, go to: http://www hamvention org/hv2008/forums/forumlist htm

[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

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/[list]/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/list/[list]

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at: