Date: October 4th 2009

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-277

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

2009 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting October 9-11 *
Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Baltimore Washington Airport *
Details - http://www amsat org/amsat-new/symposium/2009/index php *

In this edition: * AMSAT Symposium is quickly approaching * California Satellite Demo/Presentation Schedule * AO-51 configuration to support Scouting JOTA * European Space Weather Week 16-20 November * FM sats from Antartica for VK and ZL * Satellite Shorts From All Over * ARISS Status - 28 September 2009

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-277 01 AMSAT Symposium is quickly approaching

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 277 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD October 4, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-277 01

This is a reminder that the AMSAT Symposium is quickly approaching It takes place next weekend (9-11 OCT) at the BWI Sheraton and you're invited!

This Symposium marks the 40th Anniversary of AMSAT and we'll be celebrating this significant milestone along with looking forward to the next 40 years AMSAT members who are registered for the Symposium are invited to a 'birthday party' for AMSAT Friday evening (including a birthday cake) In addition, Symposium attendees will also receive a 40th Anniversary History of AMSAT written/edited by Bill Tynan, W3XO in their registration packets Many of us don't know the 'story of AMSAT', and thanks to the work of Bill Tynan, Dick Daniels, Keith Baker and others, we've focused this year on telling AMSAT's story through their articles in the AMSAT Journal Bill's new book provides significantly more detail as well as brings the reader right up to the current year It makes for fun reading and gives recognition to the significant achievements over the past 40 years!

This year's "AMSAT Proceedings" has a wide assortment of papers and this year's presentations will be both interesting and informative Dan Schultz, N8FGV is finalizing the "Proceedings" as this is written and attendees will be in position to hear the presentations, discuss the papers with the authors, and gain some insight into the future direction of AMSAT's satellite program

The Saturday evening Banquet will feature Martin Collins, a curator at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum The title of his talk is "Making the Space Age: The First Fifty Years"

A reminder that that the AMSAT BOD meeting takes place Thursday, 8 OCT and Friday morning, 9 OCT This is an open meeting, though the BOD does go into closed session briefly on Friday morning In addition the AMSAT Annual Meeting takes place Saturday afternoon 1530-1700 EDT We expect to have the Annual Meeting 'online' via Echolink I anticipate that both the Symposium and the Annual Meeting will be an opportunity to highlight some of the significant accomplishments that have taken place over the last 12 months plus give some perspective on the future direction of AMSAT

Please consider joining us to celebrate a significant milestone for AMSAT and build the foundation for the next 40 years! You may register online at the AMSAT Store: http://www amsat-na com/store2/SymposiumReg2009 php

73, Barry A Baines, WD4ASW President-AMSAT

[ANS thanks Barry, WD4ASW, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-277 02 California Satellite Demo/Presentation Schedule

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 277 02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD October 4, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-277 02

Clint Bradford, K6LCS, will be making presentations and demonstrations on amateur satellites at the following meetings around California:

October 2 - Long Beach ARC* October 5 - WARA (Fullerton) meeting* October 8 - EchoLink via Ã‚Â“SCARSÃ‚Â” Node 96140 5:30PM PDT October 15 - West Coast ARC (Huntington Beach)* October 17 - Victor Valley ARCÃ‚Â’s JOTA* November 5 - Crest REACT (Corona)* November 8 - QWCA Chapter 7 (Norwalk)

The (*) asterisks indicate tentative workable passes for either before or during the presentations!

[ANS thanks Clint, K6LCS, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-277 03 AO-51 configuration to support Scouting JOTA

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 277 03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD October 4, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-277 03

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 Ed, N8BBQ, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-277 04 European Space Weather Week 16-20 November

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 277 04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD October 4, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-277 04

The sixth European Space Weather Week will take place in Brugge, Belgium, from Monday 16th November to Friday 20th November 2009

The ESWW meetings aim to bring together diverse communities working on all elements of space weather with a strong focus on user involvement This yearÃ‚Â’s meeting will discuss recent advances in both scientific and applications based domains and how these advances relate to user needs

This year the space weather tutorial and one of the plenary sessions will focus on issues relating to space weather effects on communications With this in mind, the programme committee has made a special arrangement for radio hams who would like to attend the meeting

Radio amateurs with a license to operate are also welcome to the conference and will get a discount Radio Amateurs are requested to send a copy of their license to esa conference bureau@esa int within one week after registration Registration as a Radio Amateur includes access to scientific sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday and tutorial only The reduced fee is 50 Ã‚Â€ Attendance to the reception and conference dinner is not included The deadline for online registration for hams is October 19

For more info see: http://sidc oma be/esww6

[ANS Neil, PA9N, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-277 05 FM sats from Antarctica for VK and ZL

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 277 05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD October 4, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-277 05

Bill Erhardt, K7MT, will be deploying back to McMurdo Station Antarctica Nov 15, 2009 - Feb 20, 2010 Bill reports that he will be active from KC4USV Sundays 0000 GMT on SSB He has also received requests from Europe to come in early around 1800 GMT on Saturdays so they can work Antarctica Equipment will include a rigblaster for PSK-31 on 14 070 and CW on 14 043 if time permits Bill is also taking an Arrow II antenna/Kenwood TH-7 to work the FM satellites to VK and ZL land Finally, if Bill can get it operational, APRS VHF to HF with a Kam Plus VK6CO will help with HF 30 meters with their HF APRS parameters You just might see Bill driving out on the Ross Ice Sea as K7MT-7 in Ivan the Terra Bus Pictures and information will be available on Bill's home web page at:

http://www mt net/~k7mt

QSL is via K1IED Larry who has done a terrific job with the QSL cards from Excel spread sheets sent to him weekly from McMurdo

ANS thanks Andrew, VK4TEC, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-277 06 Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 277 06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD October 4, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-277 06

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has made available a free astronomy site that allows you to zoom in on galactic images right from your personal computer Check out the GigaGalaxy Zoom site: http://www gigagalaxyzoom org/W html - the zoomable images are tagged in the red boxed areas of the main image
Lance Collister, W7GJ released a new version of GJTRACKER (v2 0 3) at http://bigskyspaces com/w7gj/GJTRACKER zip If you have already installed GJTRACKER on your computer, all you need is to replace the application file http://www bigskyspaces com/w7gj/GJTRACKER exe
NASA TV http://www nasa gov/multimedia/nasatv/index html will carry the video of the LCROSS mission as it flies through the plume of lunar debris when the upper stage of a Centaur rocket will purpose- fully crash into the crater Cabeus near the south pole of the moon Coverage begins at 1030 UTC on October 9 Mission information is available at: http://lcross arc nasa gov/observation/amateur htm
Video replay of the Soyuz launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome: http://www universetoday com/2009/09/30/soyuz-launch-video/
The October 1 ARISS School Contact with Ciencia Viva Museum in Lisbon, Portugal was a success A video is at : http://www cvtv pt/imagens/index asp?id_tag=15&id_video=408
Here's a correction in regards to last week's report about George attaining 225 grids on his VUCC George's correct callsign is WA5KBH

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-277 07 ARISS Statuts - 28 September 2009

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 277 07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD October 4, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-277 07

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, BelgiumÃ‚Â’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 will complete projects with a Ã‚Â“Mission ControlÃ‚Â” theme and the Langley Amateur Radio Association (L A R A ) will work with the school to organize this event

ARISS Contact Between De Winne and Vrij Technisch Instituut Sint-Lucas

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact took place on Tuesday, September 22 Students from Vrij Technisch Instituut Sint-Lucas in Oudenaarde, Oost Ã‚Â– Vlaanderen, Belgium posed 20 questions to Frank De Winne, ON1DWN An audience of 300 students and teachers were present as well as television, radio and newspaper reporters The antennas used for the contact as well as a UPS device were constructed by the students

Barratt and HMS Beagle Project Connect via ARISS

On Tuesday, September 22, the HMS Beagle Project in Parati, Brazil participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact via ground station K6DUE in Maryland Approximately sixty students were present and watched as classmates asked ten questions of Mike Barratt, KD5MIJ The project (which aims to rebuild the ship that carried Darwin around the world) and NASA have signed an International Space Act Agreement, with Barratt as the initiator and main connection on the NASA side of the project The project will unite ISS astronaut photography with ocean surface water and other biological and physical samples taken by the crew of the new Beagle

ARISS Contact with Cedarview Middle School

Students attending Cedarview Middle School in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday, September 24 Astronaut Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA answered 20 questions put to him by the students The school principal commented on the contact, Ã‚Â“I have never seen this kind of quiet on students at a school wide event before Ã‚Â” CTV Ottawa and other local media provided news coverage

Garfield Elementary, WHEELS and ARISS Team up to Talk about Space

Garfield Elementary School students in Boise, Idaho participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday, September 24 via telebridge station W6SRJ in California Students visited the NASA Exploration Experience traveling exhibit on display at the Idaho Historical Museum to learn about space exploration and its benefits Students were able to ask 6 questions of Astronaut Mike Barratt, KD5MIJ during the 9 minute pass The event was well attended by youth, teachers and parents Students were also observing the contact at the W6SRJ ground station - two were students from Santa Rosa Junior College and another student was visiting from a local K-12 school Media coverage included three television stations and the audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW servers

Thirsk Speaks with Japanese Students via ARISS Contact

On Saturday, September 27, students from Houya Elementary School in Nishitokyo, Japan participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact Astronaut Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA answered 15 questions posed by the students An audience of approximately 250 was present for the contact News coverage was provided by two magazines and an FM radio station

ISS SSTV Active

Gennady Padalka, RN3DT activated the MAI-75 experiment onboard the ISS on Thursday and Friday, September 24 and 25 from approximately 1000-1600 UTC Slow Scan Television (SSTV) images of Earth were downlinked to ground stations, including one at the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI)

Astronaut Training Status

Astronaut Tracy Caldwell, KF5DBF was given an overview session on the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program this past week Caldwell is scheduled to fly with Expedition 23 in April 2010

AMSAT Symposium, ARISS Ops Meeting

The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) Symposium will be held on Friday, October 9 through Sunday, October 11 at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Baltimore Washington Airport in Maryland Several ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) and ARISSat-1 presentations will be given and a demo of ARISSat-1 is planned To view a list of these presentations, go to: http://www amsat org/amsat-new/symposium/2009/Presentations php

The ARISS Operations team will hold a meeting after the symposium on Sunday, October 11

[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, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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