AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-284 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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

The news feed on http://www amsat org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat org

In this edition:

• Fox-1A Launched at 0549 PDT on October 8, 2015
• AMSAT-NA VP-Engineering on NASA TV
• AMSAT's Fox-1A Receives AO-85 Designation
• Fox-1A Launch Commemorative Issue of the AMSAT Journal - Free Download
• Lapan ORARI (LAPAN-A2) Receives OSCAR Number IO-86
• ISS CubeSats Deployed Monday, October 5
• LQSat Launched on Monday, October 5
• AMSAT at Pacificon 2015
• AO-85 (Fox-1A) FM Voice Transponder Activated
• AO-85 Update
• New OSCAR Status Page
• AMSAT Events
• ARISS News
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-284 01 ANS-284 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 284 01

From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD DATE October 11, 2015 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-284 01

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Fox-1A Launched at 0549 PDT on October 8, 2015

Launch and Deployment was Successful!

PE0SAT, ON4HF, and R2ANF heard signals on the first pass!

Video of liftoff https://www youtube com/watch?v=drTsIV7nR3w&feature=youtu be

Keplerian elements: GRACE2 1 99992U 15281 53437500 00015007 00000-0 15580-2 0 00009 2 99992 064 7657 291 6734 0216442 282 3705 182 7702 14 73904028000019

AMSAT’s Fox-1A launched as part of the GRACE (Government Rideshare Advanced Concepts Experiment) auxillary payload on the NROL-55 mission October 8, 2015 from Vandenburg AFB on an Atlas V vehicle The launch occurred at 5:49 AM PDT, with the NASA TV webcast starting at 5:29 AM PDT NRO has released this factsheet about the mission: http://www amsat org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/GRACE_CubeSat_ FactSheet pdf

General information on Fox-1A is available in the downloadable http://www amsat org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FoxOperatingGuide_ May2015_Hi pdf

FoxTelem software for decoding and submitting telemetry has been made available for download at http://www amsat org/?page_id=4532

Keplerian Elements: We will provide the Keplerian elements (aka Keps or TLEs) to enable you to track Fox-1a as soon after launch as we get them (and are cleared to release them) The information will be placed on http://www amsat org/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasabare txt

INITIAL COMMISSIONING PERIOD: Initially the transponder will not be on and will not respond to uplinks Please do not attempt to uplink while we check out the satellite and commission it We will publicize when we have opened the transponder to general use You should expect the checkout phase to last for a minimum of several days and possibly for several weeks

What To Listen For: During the initial checkout period and when the satellite is in range, every two minutes you will generally hear about 5 seconds of data followed by a few seconds of a voice ID (and possibly a second data packet) You may occasionally hear ‘data’ mode which Chris, G0KLA, has famously described as sounding like an old-fashioned telephone modem If you should happen to hear what appear to be QSOs, please resist the temptation to join in before the commissioning period is over

Please Send Telemetry Reports and Data: We would love to have you collect and upload as much data as you can, and to give any other kind of report on the amsat-bb mailing list (which some of the Fox team will monitor) You can also report hearing or not hearing it on http://www amsat org/status/

You can upload data using the FoxTelem telemetry program that we recently released (Check the “upload to server” box in the properties/preference page) More data will help us do the checkout faster! Remember if you hear the “telephone modem” sound, you must switch FoxTelem to high-speed mode manually Similarly FoxTelem must be in low-speed mode at other times

We are planning a special award to the person who submits the first data from the satellite (by which we mean the earliest downlinked mission elapsed time), so get your rigs ready!

As part of the preparations for the launch and activation of this new satellite, AMSAT is making our “Getting Started With The Amateur Satellites” book available for a limited time as a download with any paid new or renewal membership purchased via the AMSAT Store This offer is only available with purchases completed online, and for only a limited time A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite operation The 132 page book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite

Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store and selecting any membership option While there, check out our other items, including the M2 LEOpack antenna system, AMSAT shirts, hats, and other swag Thank you, and see you soon on Fox-1A!

[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information]

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AMSAT-NA VP-Engineering on NASA TV

Radio amateurs Jerry Buxton, N0JY and Courtney Duncan, N5BF were on the panel at a NASA prelaunch briefing on Wednesday, October 7

Participants in the news briefing discussed several of the specific CubeSats aboard the National Reconnaissance Office’s NRO-L55 mission Four of the CubeSats are NASA-sponsored and nine are NRO-sponsored, one of which was developed with NASA funding The mission is scheduled to launch Oct 8 from California’s Vandenburg Air Force Base

The panel comprised: • Richard Welle, director, Microsatellite Systems department at The Aerospace Corporation • Tim Olson, principal investigator for BisonSat, Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Montana • Morgan Johnson, team lead for the ARC CubeSat, University of Alaska, Fairbanks • Jerry Buxton, N0JY Vice President, Engineering, for AMSAT Fox-1 • Courtney Duncan, N5BF, principal investigator for LMRST-Sat, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

Video https://www youtube com/watch?t=1&v=b6duPV3BwcY

Jerry described the Fox-1A mission and science, and answered questions

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]

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AO-85 OSCAR Number Assigned for Fox-1A

William (Bill) Tynan, W3XO, AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Administrator has issued the following release:

I have been informed of the successful launch today, October 8, 2015 of the AMSAT-NA-built Fox-1A CubeSat I am also informed that the satellite has been heard by several amateurs in various countries

This successful launch comes after years of diligent and dedicated work on the part of AMSAT-NA volunteers including Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, who became a silent key in March, 2014 It was Tony who spearheaded and guided the work on all AMSAT-NA CubeSats until his untimely passing Thus, it is only fitting that this spacecraft be dedicated to his memory

Following Tony’s death, the work of completing and preparing for launch fell to Jerry Buxton, N0JY, who took over Tony’s post of AMSAT-NA’s Vice President for Engineering and saw to Fox-1A’s successful completion and its preparation for launch

All of those who had a part in designing, constructing and testing Fox-1A and its various subsystems are to be congratulated for jobs well done

Since Fox-1A was properly coordinated through IARU as an Amateur Radio satellite, has been successfully launched and its signals have been received; I, under the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA President, do hereby issue to Fox-1A the designation AMSAT-OSCAR-85, or AO-85

May AO-85 serve the radio amateurs of world for many years to come

[ANS thanks Bill, W3XO, and AMSAT-NA for the above information]

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Fox-1A Launch Commemorative Issue of the AMSAT Journal - Free Download

Congratulations to AMSAT's Fox-1A team on their successful launch, orbital deployment, and activation of the Fox-1A satellite (Now to be known as AO-85 )

AMSAT has produced a free, commemorative issue of the AMSAT Journal highlighting the Fox-1A launch success This full color PDF issue can be downloaded from our current top news story, "Fox-1A launch 5:49 AM PDT on October 8, 2015" at http://www amsat org A direct link to this news item is http://www amsat org/?p=4591

If you aren't already a member of AMSAT this issue of our magazine will give you an inside look at the best ham radio club in the world You'll read and see the dedicated efforts of the Fox-1A team that got us to October 8 Please consider joining AMSAT to support our series of launches coming in 2016 and beyond

[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information]

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Lapan ORARI (LAPAN-A2) Receives OSCAR Number IO-86

William (Bill) Tynan, W3XO, AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Administrator has issued the following release:

AMSAT-NA has received information from YE0EEE of the successful launch, September 28, 2015 of an Indonesian Amateur Radio satellite, Lapan ORARI (LAPAN-A2)

According to the information I have, this satellite meets all of the requirements to receive an OSCAR number, including IARU coordination Accordingly, by the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA President, I hereby confer on this spacecraft the designation Indonesia OSCAR- 86 or IO-86

Dirgan, YE0EEE, and all who had a part in the design, construction, test and launch of IO-86 are to be congratulated May this Amateur Radio spacecraft have a long and useful life serving the amateurs of the world

The following response was received from Dirgantara, YE0EEE from AMSAT-ID: Many thanks for good news I, the AMSAT-ID Team, and LAPAN are all very happy about the new Oscar number By today, I will have informed all the ORARI members

Link to AMSAT-UK article on LAPAN-A2 launch http://amsat-uk org/2015/09/28/lapan-a2-fm-and-aprs-satellite-launched/

[ANS thanks Bill, W3XO, and AMSAT-NA for the above information]

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ISS CubeSats Deployed Monday, October 5

Two Danish CubeSats carrying amateur radio payloads were successfully deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, October 5 at 1405 UT Originally launched to the ISS on August 19, 2015, the two CubeSats, AAUSat-5 and GomX-3, were deployed from the ISS Japanese Kibo module airlock using the Kibo robotic arm

After deployment the CubeSats stated transmitting signals to Earth that can be picked up by anyone with common amateur radio equipment The frequencies to listen on are: • AAUSat-5 – 437 425 MHz with 30 WPM CW beacon every 3 minutes and 9600 bps GMSK packet every 30 seconds • GomX-3 – 437 250 MHz with 1200-9600 bps GMSK data using CSP protocol

AAUsat-5 is a 1-Unit CubeSat built by students at Aalborg University The primary mission is to test an improved receiver for detecting Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals emitted by ships Down on the ground, these signals are short-range, operating mainly on a ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship basis, leaving large spans of the world’s oceans uncovered But signals also travel up to orbital altitude, opening up the prospect of worldwide monitoring

GomX-3 is a 3-Unit CubeSat which aims to demonstrate new radio technology A reconfigurable software-defined radio receiver will intercept L-band spot beams from telecom satellites in geostationary orbit, to provide independent measurements of their signal strength and quality This receiver can also be re-purposed to receive any other L-band signal, such as navigation satellite signals or radar beams

A receiver will pick up Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) signals automatically broadcast by civilian aircraft, to build up an overview of regional air traffic Additionally there is a high data rate X-band transmitter developed by Syrlinks The CNES X-band ground station in Kourou, South America, will be used to demonstrate the link

The GomX-3 amateur radio payload uses a NanoCom AX100 UHF transceiver and ANT430 antenna

Mineo Wakita JE9PEL in Japan reported receiving the GomX-3 beacon in Japan from 1505-1510 UT on October 5 and Luciano Fabricio PY5LF reported hearing GomX-3 in Brazil at 1605 UT Jan van Gills PE0SAT in the Netherlands received AAUSat-5 at 1800 UT

The two spacecraft may have a lifetime of around 7 months before they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere

GomX-3 telemetry beacon https://www dropbox com/s/x4mipoz9gmqhlib/GOMX3_Beacon pdf

AAUSat-5 telemetry beacon http://www space aau dk/aausat5/index php?n=Main HamInfo

ESA article CubeSats set for Monday Release (with video) http://www esa int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/ESA_CubeSats_set forMonday_release

ESA invites radio amateurs to listen for AAUSat-5 CubeSat http://amsat-uk org/2015/09/24/esa-listen-for-aausat-5/

[ANS thanks ESA and AMSAT-UK for the above information]

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LQSat Launched Monday, October 5

LQSat was launched into a 656 km sun synchronous orbit at 0413 UT on Wednesday, October 7 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in Inner Mongolia on a Chang Zheng 2D (CZ-2D) rocket

The satellite was developed by researchers and students at the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) and carries an amateur radio payload

LQSat is technology demonstrator measuring 40x40x60 cm with a mass of 50 kg and carries a 2 m resolution camera as the main payload

The IARU coordinated downlink frequencies are • 437 650 MHz at 0 5 watts (27 dBm) with either 25 WPM CW or 4800 bps MSK CSP packet data • 2404 MHz at 1 watt (30 dBm) using 1 Mbps QPSK

Launch report http://www nasaspaceflight com/2015/10/china-launches-jilin-1-mission-long- march-2d/

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]

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AMSAT at Pacificon 2015

AMSAT will participate at Pacificon on October 17, 2015 in San Ramon, California The ARRL Pacific Division's Conference, Pacificon 2015 will be held in the Marriott, 2600 Bishop Drive in San Ramon The host for Pacificon is the Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club (MDARC)

Alan, WA6DNR will be representing AMSAT with a table and Michael, WA6ARA will be giving a forum presentation titled, “Satellites - Amateur Radio's Future ” Micheal's forum presentation will be at 1100 PDT, October 17 in the San Ramon Marriott's Pleasanton Room Say Hi Hi to both!

If you're on the west coast and cannot make it to Dayton for the AMSAT Space Symposium, Pacificon is always a fun alternative with swap meet, forums, dinner, events, and Gordo West

Further details on Pacificon are at: https://sites google com/a/mdarc org/pacificon2015/home

[ANS thanks Alan Bowker, WA6DNR for the above information]

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AO-85 (Fox-1A) FM Voice Transponder Activated

The 435 to 145 MHz FM voice transponder on AO-85 was activated during Friday, October 9 allowing many contacts to be made Among those active on the satellite was 9-year-old Hope KM4IPF Hope is the daughter of Michelle N8ZQZ and James WX4TV, other radio amateurs in the family are Hope’s elder sister Faith WA4BBC and brother Zechariah, WX4TVJ Her younger sister is studying for her license

In this video Hope KM4IPF describes her first AO-85 (Fox-1A) contact https://vimeo com/141916942

Fox-1A Real-time track and Orbital Predictions (click on Draw Footprint to show coverage area) http://www n2yo com/?s=40967

Read the Fox Operating Guide to find out how to set up your handheld radio to work the satellite http://www amsat org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FoxOperatingGuide_ May2015_Hi pdf

Note: If your rig has selectable FM filters use the wider filter for 5 kHz deviation 25 kHz channel spacing

See http://amsat-uk org/2015/10/09/fox-1a-fm-transponder-activated/

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]

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AO-85 Update

AO-85 is still being tested Please note that while AO-85 is in Transponder Mode right now, we have not officially commissioned her and testing is still underway Part of the testing involves observations in Transponder and Data Modes We may switch out of Transponder Mode at any time without notice, until we are done testing

If AO-85 is in Safe Mode or Data Mode when it passes and you were expecting Transponder Mode, don't be surprised or angry!

[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President for Engineering Jerry, N0JY for the above information]

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New OSCAR Status Page

Thanks to the efforts of Joe KM1P and Pete 2E0SQL, and with the permission of David, KD5QGR, we have set up a copy of the OSCAR satellite status page at http://www amsat org/status

This page will be maintained by multiple volunteers, including myself, and we will be able to add and delete satellites as required, as well as keep information links current It will take a few days to populate the database, but please begin using this page as soon as possible In the near future the old page will point to this one for a while, until people get used to the new address

There are still some satellites to add and delete, so this will be a work in progress for a bit First and foremost we will delete the reentered sats, and add Fox-1A for next Thursday!

[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA for the above information]

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AMSAT Events

Information about AMSAT activities at other important events around the country Examples of these events are radio club meetings where AMSAT Area Coordinators give presentations, demonstrations of working amateur satellites, and hamfests with an AMSAT presence (a table with AMSAT literature and merchandise, sometimes also with presentations, forums, and/or demonstrations)

*Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16-18 2015, AMSAT Symposium in Dayton OH (Dayton Crown Plaza)

*Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16-18 2015, ARRL Pacific Division Convention (Pacificon), San Ramon, California

*Saturday, 7 November 2015 – Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Marana AZ

*Saturday and Sunday, 7-8 November 2015 – Stone Mountain Hamfest and ARRL Georgia Section Convention in Lawrenceville GA

*Monday, 16 November 2015 – Tri-City Amateur Radio Association meeting in Goodyear AZ

*Saturday, 5 December 2015 – Superstition Superfest 2015 in Mesa AZ

[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information]

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ARISS News

Successful Contacts

October 6, 2015

• A telebridge contact via LU1CGB with students at Corpus Christi Catholic School, Chambersburg, PA, USA was successful Tue 2015-10-06 16:29:32 UTC 33 deg Students received answers to 18 questions from astronaut Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS

Listen to a recording of the contact: http://www ariss org/news html

School Information Corpus Christi Catholic School is a K - 8 Roman Catholic Elementary School, located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania With an enrollment of 215 students and 17 full-time and 3 part-time faculty members, Corpus Christi School is committed to the pursuit of excellence in Catholic education The school strives to be on the cutting edge of technology with Smartboards in every classroom, two computer labs, iPads, and Chromebooks Students in the primary grades participate in weekly swim lessons at the local YMCA Intermediate grades place a strong emphasis on STEM related concepts and careers Grades four through eight have background knowledge of NASA starting with Gemini and continuing onto Mars In 2013, three teachers were selected to be on the Reduced Gravity Flight through NASA Explorer Schools This experience increased the entire students’ awareness of space flight and experiments being conducted in microgravity on the International Space Station Middle school students are able to expand their curriculum by traveling to major cities such as Pittsburgh, Washington DC, and Williamsburg, VA Scores on standardized tests are above the national average School pride runs deep with the students, faculty, staff and parents

• A direct contact via 9M2RPN with students at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Tun Dr Ismail (1), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was successful Fri 2015-10-09 08:00:04 UTC 47 deg The scheduled astronaut was Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS

Video Link of Contact https://www youtube com/watch?v=VCMo_BkXOaI

School Information Our first ARISS contact was made in 2007 when, Malaysia's first Astronaut Shiekh Muzapher went on board the ISS We made 5 direct contacts when, some 80 school children talked to him and asked questions Since then it has become a highly sought after yearly event which is tied up with the Prime Minister's Space Challenge Trophy This year we will be making our 8th yearly contact Since the schools do not have ground stations, they make use of Satellite Ground Station at the National Planetarium established in 1995 under the call sign of 9M2RPN The schools are the nurseries to produce future astronauts and space scientists The forthcoming contact in October 2015 provides the hands on experience and the seeding operation for tomorrow's space scientists

Upcoming Contacts

• A telebridge contact via IK1SLD with students at Bay View Elementary School in Burlington, Washington, USA is scheduled for Wed 2015-10-14 19:41:44 UTC 59 deg

School Information Bay View School in Burlington, Washington has been serving kindergarten through eighth grade students in the Burlington-Edison School District for 22 years Named after the small community of Bayview, which was later incorporated by the town of Burlington, it serves mainly in-district neighborhood students This year 562 students are enrolled The town of Burlington is 66 miles north of Seattle, Washington Located at the intersection of two major highways, Burlington serves as a retail and commercial hub for the region Industry is mainly agricultural, retail, and commercial

Over the past three years, Bay View has committed to becoming a school of inquiry Through inquiry and collaboration, Bay View’s purpose is to nurture compassionate, creative, knowledgeable growth-minded world citizens, who pursue dreams and positively impact the future Bay View continually inquires to understand one essential question What do we need to understand, commit to and implement to prepare students to be career, college, and/or world ready for the 21st century? This journey has led them to begin creating concept-based units of inquiry at each grade level Multi-disciplinary and intra-disciplinary units support school-wide connections through inquiry The opportunity to ask questions of astronauts on the ISS was pursued as an experience that could spark students’ interest in space, engineering, technology, mathematics, and support a school-wide inquiry

Watch http://www ariss org/upcoming-contacts html for information about upcoming contacts as they are scheduled

[ANS thanks ARISS, and Charlie, AJ9N for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT Highlighted in This Week at NASA

Fox, amateur radio, and AMSAT are briefing featured this week in the short weekly news update “This Week at NASA ”

See: https://youtu be/tWOiU2oJMSA

[ANS thanks Frank, KA3HDO for the above information]

Magazine Archive

Free (hams like free!) access to electronics and radio magazines from the past Something to read while waiting for that next AO-85 pass See http://americanradiohistory com/ Hover mouse over Broadcast & Consumer for a menu Hover mouse over Consumer Electronics then Popular Electronics & Similar

The old issues download as PDF files Gotta try it on my tablet to see if it works in the little room down the hall

[ANS thanks JoAnne, K9JKM for the above information]

AMSAT Symposium / VUCC/WAS QSL Card Checking

Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards reports that if you have any cards you would like checked for VUCC/WAS, I will be at the Symposium I will give preference to satellite contacts first before I check other bands/modes If you are going to have cards checked, I prefer the list be in Grid Square order using an Excel spreadsheet or Word doc with the second column being the call sign worked Place all your cards in the same grid square order as the list with any cards that contain multiple grids at the end of the stack If you have lists (from Yuri, etc), I can go through them as well

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information]

NASA to Announce Selections for Small Satellite Launch Contract

October 07, 2015 MEDIA ADVISORY M15-150 NASA to Announce Selections for Small Satellite Launch ContractNASA will host a news conference at 1 p m EDT on Wednesday, Oct 14, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to announce the outcome of the Venture Class Launch Service (VCLS) competition The news conference will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website The participants are: • Garrett Skrobot, Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission lead for the Launch Services Program (LSP) at Kennedy • Eric Ianson, associate director of NASA’s Earth Sciences Division in the Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington • Mark Wiese, flight projects office chief, NASA Launch Services Program, Kennedy Space Center • Representatives from the selected launch service providers

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]

See you in Dayton! - Joe, K6WAO

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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 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, Joe Spier, K6WAO k6wao at amsat dot org

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