[ans] ANS-337 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

From: "[RADIOCOMM LIST]" <list.admin@aus-city.com>

Date: December 1st 2012

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-337

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: * November/December 2012 AMSAT Journal Preview * Transatlantic Attempt To Be Made by The South Texas Balloon Launch Team * AMSAT-UK 10m Satellite Receiver * Ellen Ochoa, KB5TZZ, Named 11th Director of Johnson Space Center * 5-Minute Author Guide for the AMSAT Journal * von Karman Institute lectures on CubeSat Technology and Applications * 2013 Southeastern VHF Society Conference April 19 & 20, 2013 * Hudson Valley Satcom Nets for December * Italian Students Host ARISS Contact

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-337 01 ANS-337 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 316 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD December 2, 2012 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-337 01

November/December 2012 AMSAT Journal Preview

The November/December 2012 AMSAT Journal was sent to our print shop this week Look for it in your mailbox soon

Here is a preview of what you will find inside:

AMSAT Announcements
Apogee View by Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Inexpensive Broadband Preamp for Satellite Work by Mark Spencer, WA8SME, with sidebar by Mark Hammond, N8MH
Oscar Zero News by Bob DeVarney, W1ICW
Visiting Australia and Working Satellites by Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK
AMSAT's 43 Years in Space by Bill Tynan, W3XO
Three Basic Joys of a QSO by George Carr, WA5KBH
AMSAT-UK Deliver Three FUNcube Boards by Trevor, M5AKA, AMSAT-UK
ARISS Contact at PACIFICON by E Michael McCardel, KC8YLD
AMSAT 2012 Field Day Results by Bruce Paige, KK5DO
Meet One of Our New Satellite Operators by Allen Mattis, N5AFV

Planning for the NEXT issue of the AMSAT Journal is always in pro- gress Keep those files and photos coming to journal@amsat org

[ANS thanks the Journal Editors, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM; Bernhard Jatzeck, VA6BMJ; Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW; and Michael Sedlak, K4ERA for the above information]

Transatlantic Attempt To Be Made by The South Texas Balloon Launch Team

The South Texas Balloon Launch Team has joined the N0D End of the World Special Event and will launch a high altitude "floater" balloon on December 15th with hopes of reaching Europe before the End of the World Beacons and APRS on the balloon will use the N0D call sign The balloon launch team will release specific information about their Frequencies next week

[ANS thanks Allen, N5AFV, for the above information]

AMSAT-UK 10m Satellite Receiver

In 2007/8 AMSAT-UK put considerable work into a proposal to the European Space Agency (ESA) to place an Amateur Radio payload on the mass dummy on the maiden flight of the VEGA launcher

Known as iSTAR (Integrated Suite for Teaching and Amateur Radio) it was planned to use the 29, 145, 435, 2400 and 5830 MHz Amateur-satellite Service allocations A flatsat version of the satellite was developed that incorporated transponders for 435/145 and 29/145 MHz Unfortunately despite the excellent work of those involved ESA did not go ahead with project

As part of this work David Bowman, G0MRF, developed a 29 45 MHz satellite receiver for use in a 29/145 MHz transponder

The concept of the board was that it should provide a 10 7 MHz output which could be used in a conventional linear transponder In addition a product detector demodulator could recover audio from many stations transmitting PSK signals (PSK31 or 63 or similar modes) on the uplink Having decoded the signals to audio, this signal could be modulated as FM on a VHF or UHF transmitter This would provide the capability for many different simultaneous QSOs on a single FM downlink

Prototyping the receiver provided valuable hands on experience at 29 45 MHz Should an opportunity to fly something like this arise in the future, the knowledge gained from this circuit would allow AMSAT-UK to quickly produce flight hardware

Details of the G0MRF 29 45 MHz Receiver Project can be found at http://www uk amsat org/?page_id=11615

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]

Ellen Ochoa, KB5TZZ, Named 11th Director of Johnson Space Center

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, ex-KE4IQB, has named NASA Astro- naut Ellen Ochoa, KB5TZZ, as the next Director of the Lyndon B Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas She will take over from Michael L Coats when he retires at the end of the year

Ochoa -- who was the first Hispanic woman to go into space -- has served as JSC Deputy Director since September 2007 She has served as Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations at JSC in December 2002 and Director of Flight Crew Operations in September 2006 She will be JSC's 11th Director, its first Hispanic Director and its second female Director

Ochoa first ventured into space in 1993 on a nine-day mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery on STS-56 She made three more trips into space: STS-66 in 1994, STS-96 in 1999, and STS-110 in 2002, logging a total of 978 hours in space Prior to her astronaut career, Ochoa was a research engineer and inventor, with three patents for optical systems She earned a bachelor's degree in physics from San Diego State University and a master's degree and doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University She managed the Intelligent Systems Technology Branch at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, before being selected as an astronaut in 1990

ARRL posted this story on-line at: http://tinyurl com/Ochoa-News

[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information]

5-Minute Author Guide for the AMSAT Journal

It's easier to write for The AMSAT Journal than you might think While a well-written submission is easier for our editors to deal with, your work doesn't have to be perfect Write your article as best you can and our editors will work with you to get your item in print Pick a topic that you're passionate about and just start writing! The AMSAT Journal welcomes your articles

We look for technical articles related to satellite operations: + Antenna systems + Methods of data communications + Software applications + New satellites + Satellite tracking or other technical satellite projects

We also look for news about satellite-oriented operating events: + Field Day + SKN + Special event stations working the satellites + ARISS + Satellite operating awards + International satellite operations and projects and + Satellite DX/Dxpedition operations + Anything of general interest or fun to hams operating on the Amateur Radio satellites or ISS welcome

Our editors work primarily in the usual Microsoft Word and text edi- tors we are capable of reading other word processing formats as well RTF and OpenOffice formats work well too Our editors will send you a proofreading copy to make sure no special characters were changed or dropped

Please do not attempt to format the document to look like The AMSAT Journal pages Our page formatting software will do that automatically Just write the text entirely across the page in single-space format Our typesetting software can even put an e-mail text message into magazine format - we're quite flexible!
Please do not embed images, graphics or illustrations within the text file itself - send text and graphics as separate files We can use your graphics in as high-resolution as possible in the usual JPG, TIF, PNG formats Including your captions in a separ- ate text file is quite helpful
Along with captions for each of your pictures or illustrations reference them be made in your text at the appropriate point That way the editor knows which image is being referred to

Once you have written your article you can e-mail your manuscript to journal@amsat org as file attachments

[ANS thanks the Journal Editors for the above information]

von Karman Institute lectures on CubeSat Technology and Applications

CubeSat Technology and Applications that will be held at von Karman Institute (VKI) (Brussels, Belgium) on 29 Jan 1 Feb 2013 Thanks to sponsors, the lectures will be provided at greatly reduced prices, down to 250 Euros for students instead of an original price of 1100 Euros

There will be close to 20 lectures given by the worldwide experts of the field Each lecture will be 45 minutes with additional 15 minutes of Q&A sessions at the end There will be ample time to talk to lecturers in person during lunch and coffee breaks and a reception The detailed programme is in the attached flyer Feel free to pass this announcement to your network of friends and colleagues

The fee includes attendance to lecture, lecture notes, all lunches and coffee breaks and the reception The participation is limited to 100 persons Please register at https://www vki ac be/index php?option=com_mad4joomla&jid=1&Itemid=356

VKI is the lead institute of a Consortium of 15 European, American and Asian institutes that is now in the process of realizing the first ever CubeSat network in orbit This is the QB50 Project which involves 40 double CubeSats carrying sensors for in-situ measurements in the largely unexplored lower thermosphere and the F layer of the ionosphere and 10 double and triple CubeSats for demonstration of newly developed science instruments and innovative technologies QB50 is a fully funded EU Project with participation from 50 universities in 39 countries QB50 will be launched in 2015 into a nearly circular orbit at 320-350 km altitude

[ANS thanks Cem Asma form the above information]

2013 Southeastern VHF Society Conference April 19 & 20, 2013

The 2013 Southeastern VHF Society conference, sponsored by the Florida Weak Signal Society, will be held April 19 & 20, 2013 at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, 1550 N Atlantic Ave, Cocoa Beach, FL

There will be a full slate of events including, a surplus tour, antenna range, noise figure testing, Friday luncheon with WB4SLM and Friday night flea market

There will be vendor displays and technical presentations both days The Saturday night banquet will have awards for the best paper and the best presentation, the K4UHF and Runkle honors and presentation of the Fall Sprint winners

For attendees, there will be a shack photo contest to be judged by the XYLs Prizes for the best and worst

See the SVHFS web site http://www svhfs org or contact Chuck Hoover, 1945 E Phillips Ct Merritt Island, FL 32952 321-453-1193 or email k0vxmfl@gmail com for vendor or other requests

[ANS thanks Chuck Hoover, K0VXM, Conference Chairman, for the above information]

Hudson Valley Satcom Nets for December

The next Hudson Valley Satcom net dates are Thursday, December 6 and Thursday, December 20 at 8 PM EST (UTC-5) on the 146 97 MHz MBARC Re- peater (PL 100) An echolink connection is available on the N2EYH-L node More information at: http://www hvsatcom org

[ANS thanks Stu, WA2BSS for the above information]

Italian Students Host ARISS Contact

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between Kevin Ford, KF5GPP and students attending Liceo scientifico Giacinto De Sivo Fondazione Villaggio dei Ragazzi in Maddaloni, Italy on Tuesday, November 20 via telebridge station IK1SLD in Italy Over 300 students listened as the ISS astronaut fielded 15 questions posed by the youth Ford requested a switch to the backup channel half way through the contact due to some interference, but the contact continued on nominally after the switch The event was webcast by AMSAT Italia and received good media coverage The contact was integrated into lessons covering the developments in astronomy from a scientific, philosophical and literary point of view

[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 addi- tional benefits Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office

Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information

73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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