AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-288
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:
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-288 01 ANS-288 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 288 01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD DATE October 15, 2017 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-288 01
2017 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting is Coming Soon!
The 2017 AMSAT-NA Space Symposium and Annual Meeting, October 27-29, at the Silver Legacy Resort Hotel, Reno, NV
Please note that you CANNOT register for the AMSAT Banquet Dinner at the door You MUST preregister at the AMSAT store by Friday, October 20, 2017
The last day to register online at the Silver Legacy with the guaranteed rate closed on Friday, October 13, 2017
The last day to reserve a seat at the Area Coordinators Breakfast is Wednesday, October 25, 2017
If you miss the Registration Deadline, you may still show up at the door and pay $55 There will be no late orders for the Banquet or Breakfast as this has to do with the rooms and tables necessary
You can register for the 2017 Space Symposium, the Saturday Evening Banquet, the Sunday Morning Area Coordinators breakfast, the Sunday afternoon tour to Virginia City, and the Monday tour to Lake Tahoe in the AMSAT store: https://www amsat org/shop/
Symposium Registration (including a copy of the Proceedings) + Starting September 15 -- $50 + At the door -- $55
The Schedule for the 2017 AMSAT-NA Space Symposium and Annual Meeting, October 27-29, 2017 at the Silver Legacy Resort Hotel, Reno, NV
Check the Symposium Web Page for updates and new information as it becomes available: https://www amsat org/symposium-schedule/
The 2017 AMSAT Space Symposium will be held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Oct 27-29 in Reno There will be two tours of the sights around Reno offered after the Symposium ends on Sunday morning
A description of the tours has been posted at https://www amsat org/symposium-tours/
Complete tour information is available by paging through each tour description and a link to purchase the tour through the AMSAT Store is provided below the description You may also purchase all Symposium events at the AMSAT Store https://www amsat org/product-category/amsat-symposium/
[ANS thanks the 2017 AMSAT-NA Symposium Committee for the above information]
NASA JPSS-1 and ELaNa XIV/RadFxSat/Fox-1B Launch Briefings and Events
AMSAT RadFxSat/Fox-1B will be launched as a passenger on NASA's ELaNa XIV mission The primary payload for this flight is the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), the first in a new series of four highly advanced NOAA polar-orbiting satellites, which will help increase weather forecast accuracy from three to seven days out
JPSS-1 and ELaNa XIV (including RadFxSat/Fox-1B) is scheduled to launch on Friday, Nov 10, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California Liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 2 is targeted for 1:47 a m PT (4:47 a m ET, 9:47 am UTC) at the opening of a 65-second launch window Launch coverage will begin on NASA Television and the agency’s website at 1:15 a m PT
Visit the NASA JPSS-1 Briefings and Events page for a full description of the JPSS-1 mission and a timeline of press and launch events: https://www nasa gov/press-release/jpss-1-briefings-and-events
The ELaNa missions generally get discussed on the L-2 Day Prelaunch News Conference and Science Briefing followed by CubeSat owner inter- views
As AMSAT approaches the launch of RadFxSat/Fox-1B, Jerry Buxton, NØJY, Vice-President Engineering, compiled a playlist of the streaming and recorded videos he made as we went through the final testing and qual- ification of the flight model: http://tinyurl com/ANS-288-Fox1B-YouTube
On a related topic the next AMSAT-NA CubeSat of the Fox Team is Fox-1Cliff Here are links to videos showing Fox-1Cliff's "ride": http://tinyurl com/ANS-288-Spaceflight-Video-1 http://tinyurl com/ANS-288-Spaceflight-Video-2
[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President Engineering, Jerry Buxton, NØJY, for the above information]
Scientific American Magazine Interviews KD2BHC
Scientific American magazine interviews radio amateur Zac Manchester, KD2BHC in the article Breakthrough Sends Smallest-Ever Satellites into Orbit
On June 23, 2017 six tiny satellites were sent into low-Earth orbit as secondary payloads on the Venta and Max Valier satelites that were launched on the Indian PSLV-C38 rocket These six satellites are comparatively dainty, but punch far above their weight Called “Sprites,” each is a 4-gram flake of circuit-board just 3 5 centimeters on a side, packing solar panels, computers, sensors and communications equipment into an area equal to a U S postage stamp
One Sprite apiece is attached to the outside of each mothership — the Latvian Venta satellite and the Italian Max Valier satellite, the latter of which also holds four additional Sprites awaiting deployment into space as wholly independent spacecraft Radio telemetry from minu- scule magnetometers and gyroscopes on the deployed Sprites would then be used to track the spacecraft as they shift, spin and tumble, to better understand their orbital dynamics
Signals on 437 325 MHz from at least one of the exterior-mounted Sprites have been received in California and New York
Read the Scientific American article at http://tinyurl com/ANS-288-ScientificAmerican AMSAT-UK covers the interview at https://amsat-uk org/2017/07/26/sprite-satellites-deployed/
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
FalconSAT-3 Operating Guides Posted
As previously announced in the ANS-267 bulletins the Air Force Academy satellite FalconSAT-3 is now open for amateur radio use as a digital store-and-forward system
FalconSAT-3's payload includes a packet bulletin board system plus digipeating is enabled for live QSOs (unattended digipeating operations is not authorized at this time)
Uplink: 145 840 MHz FM 9600 baud Downlink: 435 103 MHz FM 9600 baud - 1 watt
Current Keplerian elements can be found in the set distributed by AMSAT More information can be found at: https://www amsat org/falconsat-3/
Tony, K2MO reported that the current UZ7HO soundmodem with the Wisp setup seems to be working with FalconSAT-3 This configur- ation consists of the full-duplex version of Soundmodem and HW-VSP-3 The software can be downloaded from these links:
HW VSP-3: http://www hw-group com/products/hw_vsp/index_en html UZ7HO HS Soundmodem v0 19: http://uz7 ho ua/packetradio htm Wisp for Windows: https://www amsat org/falconsat-3/
Tony put together a quick start guide video for those interested in running Wisp with VSP and a soundcard modem The video is intended to be a self-explanatory demonstration to get started with FalconSAT-3: https://www youtube com/watch?v=1ahlA-bRb5A
Watch for updates posted on amsat-bb as Tony continues his exper- imentation and refinement of techniques and technology to operate on FalconSAT-3
[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice President Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA for the FalconSAT-3 information and Tony, K2MO for the software description]
WSJT-X FT8 QSO Confirmed Between W2JAZ and W5RKN on FO-29
Ron, W5RKN and Rick, W2JAZ described their experiments in using the new, shortened TX/RX sequences, weak signal protocol, FT8, to deter- mine if this mode could be used on satellites FT8 is operationally similar to the older protocols but four times faster (15-second T/R sequences) and less sensitive by a few dB
Ron posited it might work near AOS or LOS where the Doppler correct- ions are small Ron's configuration was made up of a Flex-6500 with two DEMI transverters running SmartSDR, SatPC32, FlexSATPC, and WSJT-X Rick’s is a Flex-5000 with U/V module, running PowerSDR, SatPC32, FlexSATPC, and WSJT-X
Ron described the test, "After a couple runs on AO-7 without success, we tried again tonight on the 0220Z (14 Oct) pass of FO-29 I started out at my AOS calling CQ W5RKN EM10 After several transmissions without success, the reply W5RKN W2JAZ FN29 popped up on the screen Then followed the usual signal report, RRR and 73 transmissions "
Rick and Ron are interested in hearing about other’s experiences with WSJT-X contacts
[ANS thanks Ron, W5RKN for the above information]
Announcing the 2017-18 European Astro Pi Challenge
Astro Pi is back! Today we’re excited to announce the 2017-18 European Astro Pi challenge in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) We are searching for the next generation of space scientists
Astro Pi is an annual science and coding challenge where student- written code is run on the International Space Station under the oversight of an ESA astronaut It is open to students from all 22 ESA member countries, including — for the first time — asso- ciate members Canada and Slovenia
Watch the announcement video at: https://youtu be/yjll_4JY98g
This year’s challenge includes a brand-new non-competitive mission, in which participants are guaranteed to have their code run on the ISS for 30 seconds!
MISSION ZERO
For teachers and students who are keen to take part but who don’t have the capacity to carry out an in-depth project, we wanted to provide an accessible activity that teams can complete in just one session
So we came up with Mission Zero for young people no older than 14 To complete it, form a team of two to four people and use our step- by-step guide to help you write a simple Python program that shows your personal message and the ambient temperature on the Astro Pi If you adhere to a few rules, your code is guaranteed to run in space for 30 seconds, and you’ll receive a certificate showing the exact time period during which your code has run in space No special hardware is needed for this mission, since everything is done in a web browser Mission Zero is open until 26 November 2017!
MISSION SPACE LAB
Students aged up to 19 can take part in Mission Space Lab Form a team of two to six people, and work like real space scientists to design your own experiment Receive free kit to work with, and write the Python code to carry out your experiment
There are two themes for Mission Space Lab teams to choose from for their projects:
The Astro Pi kit, delivered to Space Lab teams by ESA If you achieve flight status, your code will be uploaded to the ISS and run for three hours (two orbits) All the data that your code records in space will be downloaded and returned to you for analysis Then submit a short report on your findings to be in with a chance to win exclusive, money-can’t-buy prizes! You can also submit your project for a Bronze CREST Award
Mission Space Lab registration is open until 29 October 2017, and accepted teams will continue to spring 2018
To find out more and get started visit the Astro-Pi web page: https://www raspberrypi org/blog/announcing-2017-18-astro-pi/
[ANS thanks raspberrypi org for the above information]
U K OFCOM Satellite Regulation Workshop
For satellite builders in the U K OFCOM is running a workshop on Satellite Regulation on Friday 3rd November in conjunction with the UK Space Agency
The workshop is a one day introduction to the regulations you need to know about to get your satellite project off the ground Which regulations apply to satellites and why? Who regulates what? How to engage with regulators and how they can help you plus step-by-step guidance on what to do when
Topics covered: + Spectrum licensing for satellite earth stations + Making a satellite filing to get your satellite’s spectrum use internationally recognised + Licensing your satellite under the Outer Space Act
OFCOM would be very keen to encourage universities either teaching satellite regulation as part of their courses or building cubesats within their research teams to participate in this session The event is free to attend and will be held at OFCOM’s offices in London and there will also be time for one-to-one meetings
An informational flyer can be downloaded here: http://tinyurl com/ANS-288-Ofcom-meeting Email satellite event@ofcom org uk to register your interest
[ANS thanks the U K CubeSat Forum and U K OFCOM for the above information]
Send Your Name to Mars - Earn NASA 'Frequent Flier' Points
NASA is offering the public an opportunity to send your name to Mars on a chip aboard the InSight Mars landing mission currently scheduled for 2018
To submit your name and sign up visit: https://mars nasa gov/participate/send-your-name/insight/ Last Day to Submit: November 1, 2017 (11:59 p m ET)
Launch May 2018 Landing November 2018
A related story on Marsdaily com describes the frequent flier program plus more information about the InSight mission: http://tinyurl com/ANS-288-MarsDaily
When it lands on Mars in November of 2018, NASA's InSight lander will be carrying several science instruments - along with hundreds of thousands of names from members of the public
This fly-your-name opportunity comes with "frequent flier" points reflecting an individual's personal participation in NASA's exploration of Mars These points span multiple missions and multiple decades Participants who sent their names on the previous InSight opportunity in 2015 can download a "boarding pass" and see their "frequent flier" miles
As part of this frequent flier program, a chip carrying the names of 1 38 million people also flew aboard the first flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft in 2014 NASA is building Orion to carry astronauts to deep space destinations that will enable future missions to Mars
After InSight, the next opportunity to earn frequent flier points will be NASA's Exploration Mission-1, the first flight bringing together the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to travel thousands of miles beyond the Moon in preparation for human missions to Mars and beyond
[ANS thanks NASA InSight and Marsdaily com for the above information]
Satellite DX Updates
5K0, SAN ANDRES ISLAND (Update)
Members of the Grupo Yaguarete DX, who
postponed their DXpedition (which was scheduled between October and
November) to Sint Martin due to the extreme damage by hurricane Irma,
have now re-scheduled to be active as 5K0T from San Andres Island (NA-033)
between November 12-26th
Operators mentioned are Joe/LU1FM (Team Leader),
Dan/LU9FHF, Andy/LU2JCW, Wally/LU3FMD, Fer/LU6FOV and Bob/KK6EK
Activity
will be on 160-10 meters, using CW, SSB, Digital modes (PSK31 and FT8)
and the Satellites
They plan to have 3 HF stations and one satellite
station on the air
Complete list of equipment is available on QRZ
com
QSL via LU1FM
The 5K0T DXpedition will be officially supported by the
Cordell Expedition's DXA3 logging system
HC8, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS (Update) An Argentinian group will be active as HC8LU from San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos Islands between November 29th and December 8th Operators mentioned are Alejandro/LU8YD, Alejandro/ LU9VEA, Mario/LU7VB and Patricio/LU3YK Pilot stations are Sergio/LU7YS and Javier/LU5FF Activity will be on 160-10 meters using mainly SSB and the Digital modes (WSPR, JT65, FT8, PSK31) There will also operations on the satellites (LEO, FM and SSB) Their stations: 2x IC-7000 and home-made 5 elements VHF and 7 elements UHF antennas QSL via IK2DUW Visit their Blog page for updates, at: https://hc8lu blogspot com ar Any donations are greatly appreciated Paypal accounts: lu8ydnenquen@hotmail com hc8lu 2017@gmail com
PJ4, BONAIRE (Satellite Op) David, NA2AA, will be operating as PJ4/NA2AA from Bonaire between October 22nd and November 3rd It is believed this is the first satellite operation from Bonaire since it became a new DXCC country on 10/10/2010 The operation will be from PJ4G, Radio Mountain Bonaire, located in grid FK52tf He will be very active with emphasis on the linear satellites FO-29 and the XW-2 s QSL to PJ4/NA2AA via LoTW
[ANS thanks Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No 1333 for the above information]
Satellite News From South Africa
AMSATSA On-Target for October 21 BACAR Test Flight
AMSATSA continued work this past week with integration of the various modules including the on-board computer and the transponder being integrated into the space frame No solar panels will be flown as a precautionary measure as solar panels are expensive and could be severely damaged on the landing Kletskous will be powered by a battery for this test flight
Uplink: 435 145 MHz NBFM Downlink: 145 870 MHz NBFM Maximum uplink power is 5 watt EIRP DO NOT USE HIGHER POWER
The BACAR balloon flight with the Kletskous transponder is scheduled to be launched on 21 October 2017 at 09:00 from an airfield near Secunda
Kletskous is a crowd funded project Please become part of the project by donating to the Kletskous fund Details and regular updates can be found on www amsatsa org za All donors are acknowledged on the website
Another interesting payload on BACAR is a XinaBox (pronounce X-in-a-box) satellite XinaBox is a rapid IoT and electronics development solution, without the requirement of soldering, wiring or other hardware knowledge just coding! Ben Dixon, one of the developers of the XINABOX system hails from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and joined MEDO Space to assist with their STEM programme This led to the development of XinaBox Ben and his team have been flying projects on party balloons reaching somewhere around 8000 metres but on 21 October 2017 they will take their project to near space with BACAR 5 arranged by the Secunda Amateur Radio Club
The core of the satellite is the CR03 Lora Radio operating on 915 MHz It is also equipped with a CPU to handle all the communication and runs the flight software The module is based around the RFM96W chip trans- ceiver featuring the LoRa TM providing ultra-long range spread spectrum communication The CR03 is connected with a PB04, a smart battery solu- tion which will also measure the battery voltage and current A number of other sensors will be included in the array The SWO-1, which is based on the BME28, measures temperature, humidity and pressure Other sensors measure UVA, UVB and acceleration On the ground the XinaBox team will be using a CW01 module, a Wi-Fi processor which will be handling all the data and write the information to a kibana server
SDR Workshop in Cape Town
AMSAT SA will be holding a SDR workshop in Cape Town at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Bellville campus on Saturday 4 Nov- ember 2017 Booking for this event has opened For details and a book- ing form visit www amsatsa org za The programme features a description of the software employed together with a walk through of the installa- tion process on a PC or a laptop Applications, such as general signal reception and the download and display of weather satellite data on the PC will be discussed
A VHF dongle and a memory stick with software can be ordered on the book- ing form All orders will only be available at the workshop and no deliv- ery by post is available The closing date for bookings and payment is 27 October 2017
The SDR workshop in Johannesburg will be held on 18 November at the National Amateur Radio Centre Full details will be available during next week Both workshops are presented by AMSAT SA in cooperation with the South African Radio League Members of both organisation will enjoy member discounts
[ANS thanks the SARL weekly news in English 2017-10-7 for the above information]
HamVideo Active for ARISS Italian School Contacts on October 21
Daniel Cussen, EI9FHB says the HamVideo aboard the ISS is planned to be active for these school contacts on October 20:
“A Gramsci-N Pende”, Noicattaro, Italy and Istituto Comprensivo “Tauro – Viterbo”, Castellana Grotte (Ba), Italy direct via IZ7RTN The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact is a go for: Sat 2017-10-21 14:23:14 UTC 86 deg
Istituto Scolastico Comprensivo “Nardi”, Porto San Giorgio, Italy and I C Michelangelo Buonarroti, Marina di Carrara, Italy direct via I6KZR and IQ5VR The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA Contact is a go for: Sat 2017-10-21 09:31:20 UTC 41 deg
Note there may be other 'surprise' HAMTV events from time to time, during other ARISS school contacts The radio in use for ARISS school contacts is on a case by case basis, and if the handheld radio is used, then HAMTV may be used with little warning There was an extra HAMTV event with the ARISS meeting in Rome this past week
HamVideo operational status aboard the ISS can be found at: http://www amsat-on be/hamtv-summary/
Ham Video downlink frequencies: + 2369 MHz + 2395 MHz + 2422 MHz + 2437 MHz DVB-S modulation; Symbol rates: 1 3 Ms/s and 2 0 Ms/s FEC : 1/2; NTSC format (SIF: 352×240 or D1:720×480)
[ANS thanks Daniel Cussen, EI9FHB and ARISS for the above information]
Satellite Shorts From All Over
Reminder - November 15 deadline! The Amateur Radio on the Inter- national Space Station (ARISS) program is seeking proposals from U S schools, museums, science centers and community youth organ- izations to host radio contacts with an orbiting crew member aboard the International Space Station (ISS) between July 1 and December 31, 2018 See ARISS website for additional details on expectations, proposal guidelines, and the proposal form: http://www ariss org/hosting-an-ariss-contact-in-the-us html
Sally Ride EarthKAM @ Space Camp's 59th Mission is open for registration This be will EarthKAM's 59th week-long mission and the fourth of 2017! Mission 59 runs October 31 through November 4 Mission sign up is available and orbits will be published by Thursday, October 26 Educators can sign up and get their class involved up to the day of the orbit Requested images should be available within 24 hours of the orbit If you are looking for a project to do with the images, look at our activities page for some great ideas that incorporate the images See: https://www earthkam org/ and the EarthKAM user Guide: https://www earthkam org/files/pdf/ISS_EarthKAM_User_Guide pdf
AMSAT-UK tweeted that the RSGB video interviews of participants in the YOTA 2017 event show how amateur satellite communications feature in The Future of Amateur Radio: https://www youtube com/watch?v=FNKNcaNpG1I
ARISS International is holding their Face to Face Meeting at the ESA Centre for Earth Observation or ESRIN in Frascati, a small town 20 km south of Rome (via ARISS Facebook group)
Congratulations to Bob Liddy, K8BL for achieving VUCC Satellite as a roving station Bob wrote on amsat-bb, "After 6+ years of casual Roving, I finally made it to VUCC-R Satellite! My friend John, K8YSE, who got me started on this, was the QSO that put me at grid #100 when he called me on SO50 yesterday at the EN72/73 line Thanks to John and everyone else that put me in their log on SATs to reach this goal More to come since my joy is to give 'new ones' to fellow SAT Ops"
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter – with support from NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) and the Lunar and Planetary Institute – are sponsoring an International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) on October 28, 2017 Go to the InOMN website to find information about how to host, register, and evaluate your InOMN event, look for an InOMN event near you, and share pictures and high- lights from InOMN: https://www lpi usra edu/observe_the_moon_night/
Congratulations to Mac Cody, AE5PH on his successful satellite presentation and live operating demo at the Richardson Wireless Klub on October 9 He had at least forty attendees and about half of them stayed for the live demo Stations contacted included Fernando NP4JV, Glenn AA5PK, Jim K5ND, Bert XE1HG, Christy KB6LTY, Edward KK9EJ, Matthew KG5HVL, John K8YSE, Jerry N0JY, and Virgilio HP2VX Working EN60 also netted a new grid
AMSAT-UK says recordings of all talks from the 2017 Colloquium, October 14-15 will be posted on the AMSAT-UK YouTube Channel after the event at: https://www youtube com/user/AMSATUK
The DXWatch Blog posted an article, "Satellites: A New Horizon for DXpeditions" at: https://dxwatch com/blog/satellites-new-horizon-dxpeditions
The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 VHF-UHF-μW Newsletter is available for free download The newsletter covers the recommend- ations affecting the VHF and higher bands from the IARU-R1 General Conference in Landshut The VHF-UHF-μW Newsletter 74 is at: http://www iaru-r1 org/imag…/…/newsletters/Newsletter_74 pdf Previous editions are at: http://www iaru-r1 org/index php/vhfuhsshf/newsletters
The Ham Talk Live! show which is streamed on Thursday night at 9 pm Eastern is also available for download as a podcast This week Ham Talk Live interviewed Ken Goodwin, K5RG about the 50th Anniversary of the NASA Johnson Space Center Amateur Radio Club W5RRR and their Special Event station You can listen on demand 24/7/365 25 at www hamtalklive com; or a podcast version is on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, SoundCloud, and iHeart Podcasts; and it's also available on YouTube
/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 And, with that consider the tale of the scarecrow who got promoted because he was outstanding in his field
73, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm at amsat dot org
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA http://www amsat org/mailman/listinfo/ans
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