[ans] ANS-124 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-124
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, 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 commun- icating 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
You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www amsat org/mailman/listinfo/ans
In this edition:
- New AMSAT Membership Portal Launched, March/April 2020 Edition of The AMSAT Journal Now Available
- AMSAT President Hails Launch of Wild Apricot Membership Portal
- Call for Nominations - 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors Election
- RS-44 Transponder Now Active
- Virginia Tech Camera on AO-92 Takes Stunning Photos, Additional Passes Planned Tuesday, May 5th
- Redesigned AMSAT CubeSat Simulator Launched
- Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for April 30, 2020
- FCC Adopts Updated Orbital Debris Mitigation Rules
- VUCC Awards-Endorsements for April 2020
- Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge Virtual Hackathon, May 30-31
- On-Line Student STEM: TI Codes Contest 2020
- First Guatemalan Satellite Deployed from the ISS
- Former AMSAT Area Coordinator, Prominent DXer Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ, SK
- During the COVID-19 Pandemic, ARISS to Begin Experimental Demonstra- tions of School Contacts using a Multipoint Telebridge Amateur Radio Approach
- Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
- Upcoming Satellite Operations
- Satellite Shorts from All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-124 01 ANS-124 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 124 01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD DATE May 3, 2020 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-124 01
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMSAT office
is closed until further notice
For details, please visit
https://www amsat org/amsat-office-closed-until-further-notice/
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New AMSAT Membership Portal Launched, March/April 2020 Edition of The AMSAT Journal Now Available
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of the AMSAT office, the March/April 2020 edition of The AMSAT Journal will not be printed and mailed to members Instead, a full-color PDF is being made available on the AMSAT website The issue can be downloaded below:
https://tinyurl com/ANS-MarAprJournal
This issue includes detailed information about AMSAT's new online membership portal, now active at https://launch amsat org AMSAT members are encouraged to review this article, which includes detailed instructions on accessing your membership account Stay tuned for more features, including members-only content coming soon
Articles in the March/April 2020 edition of The AMSAT Journal:
- Apogee View - Clayton Coleman, W5PFG
- Engineering Update - Jerry Buxton, N0JY
- Treasurer's Report - Robert Bankston, KE4AL
- AMSAT's New Member and Event Portal - Robert Bankston, KE4AL
- amsatLink — Proposed Wireless Communications Network - Robert Bankston, KE4AL
- Educational Relations Update - Alan Johnston, KU2Y
- A New Design for the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator - Alan Johnston, KU2Y; Jim McLaughlin, KI6ZUM; David White, WD6DRI; Pat Kilroy, N8PK
- For Beginners — Amateur Radio Satellite Primer IV - Keith Baker, KB1SF/VA3KSF
- PSAT 1U — A Low-Cost, EasyBuild 1U CubeSat - George Downey, Robert Bruninga, WB4APR
- Gridmaster Heat Map - Paul Overn, KE0PBR
[ANS thanks the AMSAT office for the above information]
AMSAT President Hails Launch of Wild Apricot Membership Portal
Friday, May 1, 2020 brings a significant change to AMSAT's member experience The launch of our Wild Apricot-based member portal on this date retires the dBase database system launched in the early 1980s by then-President Dr Tom Clark, K3IO (then W3IWI) and is the result of a process authorized by the Board of Directors in 2016 Members now have control over the own profiles Member communications will be handled via email, resulting in significant cost reduction
Wild Apricot will not only serve AMSAT as our member management plat- form Other capabilities will be released in the future such as event management, communications, and access to member-only content Stay tuned for new capabilities being launched over the coming months
As this is a totally new system for AMSAT, we may face challenges ahead I ask for your patience as the User Services team works through these challenges to provide our members the best user experience poss- ible Ultimately, Wild Apricot is the right solution moving AMSAT for- ward both technologically and operationally
This effort would not have been possible without the hard work and leadership of Robert Bankston, KE4AL, in his position as Vice Pres- ident of User Services at AMSAT Significant hours were put into this project I applaud and congratulate Robert for a successful launch
73,
Clayton W5PFG AMSAT President
[ANS thanks Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, AMSAT President, for the above
information]
Call for Nominations - 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors Election
AMSAT solicits nominations for the 2020 AMSAT Board of Directors election, to be held in the third quarter of the year The seats of the following three incumbent Directors expire in 2020 and will be filled by this year's election: Tom Clark, K3IO; Mark Hammond, N8MH; and Bruce Paige, KK5DO Further, up to two Alternate Directors may be elected for one-year terms
A valid nomination for Director must be written and requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT member Written nominations, with the nominee’s name, call sign, and contact information, as well as the nominators' names, call signs, and contact information, should be sent to the AMSAT Secretary:
Brennan Price, N4QX 300 Locust St SE, Unit E Vienna VA 22180-4869 brennanprice@verizon net
A copy should be sent to AMSAT Manager, Martha Saragovitz, at martha@amsat org
The AMSAT bylaws require that the nomination be written and in the form specified by the Secretary In light of the ongoing pandemic and the resulting closure of the physical office, the Secretary has elected to accept written nomination materials in electronic form, including e-mail or electronic image of a paper document Fax trans- missions cannot be accepted due to the closure of the office
No matter what means are used, petitions MUST be received by the Secretary no later than June 15th The Secretary will verify the qual- ifications of candidates and nominating members or Member Societies as petitions are received, and will notify candidates whether their nom- inations are in order by the end of June
[ANS thanks Brennan Price, N4QX, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information]
RS-44 Transponder Now Active
The amateur satellite world was surprised to wake up to the news on April 30th that a new transponder was activated for testing and open for use by amateurs worldwide
Constructed by specialists at Information Satellite Systems and Students at Siberian State Aerospace University, DOSAAF-85 was launched on a Rockot/Breeze-KM launch vehicle from Plesetsk Cosmo- drome on December 26, 2019 The satellite apparently failed to separate from the upper stage of the launch vehicle and remains attached The satellite’s name commemorates the 85th anniversary of the Voluntary Society for the Assistance to the Army, Aviation, and Navy (DOSAAF), the organization responsible for the military training of Soviet youth
Designated RS-44, or Radio Sputnik 44, the satellite carries a 60 kHz wide V/u linear transponder and a CW beacon With an orbit of 1511 km x 1175 km and an inclination of 82 5 degrees, this is the highest orbiting functioning amateur satellite available worldwide Due to the 1511 km apogee, regular DX contacts should be easy to make The first claimed DX record came from Joe Werth, KE9AJ, and Jérôme LeCuyer, F4DXV, who reported a 6,993 km trans-Atlantic QSO between EN50gn09 in Illinois and JN04iu40 in France This was quickly eclipsed less than 24 hours later when Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ, and Tetsurou Satou, JA0CAW, reported the first trans-Pacific QSO between CN93jw (Oregon, USA) and PM97nw (Niigata, Japan), a distance of 7,859 km The theoretical max- imum range for QSOs via RS-44 is 7,942 km
The NORAD ID is 44909, object 2019-096E
Initial reports from the first days of operation suggest that the transponder is very sensitive and easily workable with low power and handheld antennas, however significant periodic fading is reported, likely due to the fact that the satellite remains attached to the upper stage of the launch vehicle and is unable to deploy its gravity gradient boom to stablize itself
The satellite is planned to remain continuously available for testing purposes until May 11th at which time a decision on further operations will be made
The Keplerian elements for RS-44 have been added to the AMSAT and CelesTrak distributions, as well as several popular tracking apps The ARRL has released version 11 10 of the TQSL configuration file to add support for RS-44 to LoTW
RS-44 – V/u Inverting Analog SSB/CW Uplink (LSB) 145 935 MHz through 145 995 MHz Downlink (USB) 435 610 MHz through 435 670 MHz CW Beacon 435 605 MHz
[ANS thanks Dmitry Pashkov, R4UAB, Igor Blinov, RW3XL, Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, the ARRL, and others for the above information]
Virginia Tech Camera on AO-92 Takes Stunning Photos, Additional Passes Planned Tuesday, May 5th
The Virginia Tech camera on board AO-92 was activated on two passes over North America on Tuesday, April 28th Several great photos were taken, captured by amateur stations running FoxTelem, and uploaded to the AMSAT Central Scrutinizer All of the photos taken by AO-92 can be viewed on the AMSAT website at the link below
The Virginia Tech camera will be activated again on Tuesday, May 5th during morning passes over the United States The camera remains active for 45 minutes after being enabled by a ground station
Stations in the United States, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central, and South America are encouraged to set their stations up to receive and upload high speed telemetry in FoxTelem FoxTelem downloads and instructions can be found at https://www g0kla com/foxtelem/index php
AO-92 Camera Image Archive:
https://www amsat org/tlm/showImages php?id=4
[ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT Vice President - Operations for the above information]
Redesigned AMSAT CubeSat Simulator Launched
A new design for the CubeSatSim, the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator is now available on GitHub (http://cubesatsim org/code) The CubeSatSim is a Raspberry Pi Zero W-based functional model of a “1U” CubeSat nano- satellite for demonstrations and educational outreach It has a 3D- printed frame structure and is designed to act, as reasonably as poss- ible, as one flying in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) The simulator runs on rechargeable battery power and solar panels and transmits its authentic voltage, current, and temperature telemetry on the UHF Amateur Radio band The CubeSatSim has been presented at the AMSAT Space Symposium the past two years and at Hamvention last year
The new design was developed to reduce the cost to build and to im- prove functionality Jim McLaughlin, KI6ZUM, and David White, WD6DRI, are prominent STEM advocates and school mentors in the San Diego area They offered to help redesign the hardware and collaborated with Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT VP Educational Relations, and Pat Kilroy, N8PK, over the past nine months The resulting design has reduced the cost to build in half (from around $400 to around $200) and added a new Fox-1 emulation mode In addition to the AFSK (Audio Frequency Shift Keying) and 1200 bps APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) telemetry in AO-7 format of the original design, the new version supports DUV (Data Under Voice) FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) 200 bps telemetry com- patible with Fox-1A through Fox-1D and BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying) 1200 bps telemetry compatible with HuskySat-1 and the upcoming Fox-1E Chris Thompson, G0KLA/AC2CZ, the author of AMSAT’s FoxTelem satellite telemetry software, has put out a testing version 1 09 of the software that supports the CubeSatSim Instructions on how to download and con- figure this test version are on the GitHub Wiki
http://cubesatsim org/wiki
Also new to the CubeSatSim is a STEM Payload board with a STM32F103C8T6 “Blue Pill” Arduino compatible microcontroller The board also has a built-in BME-280 Temperature Humidity Barometric Pressure Sensor and an MPU-6050 (GY-521) 3-Axis Accelerometer and Gyro Also new is a tape measure dipole or monopole or SMA antenna, an integrated Band Pass filter, and a sturdy new 3D printed frame and more powerful solar panels
A new Twitter account @CubeSatSim has also been launched Follow to get the latest updates on the CubeSatSim including videos and photos Links to all CubeSatSim resources are at CubeSatSim org
More details on the redesigned CubeSatSim can be found in the March/ April 2020 edition of The AMSAT Journal, available at https://tinyurl com/ANS-MarAprJournal
The CubeSatSim team wishes to thank the AMSAT board, President, and all AMSAT members for their ongoing support of this educational project
[ANS thanks Dr Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT Vice President - Educational Relations for the above information]
Changes to AMSAT TLE Distribution for April 30, 2020
The following satellites have decayed from orbit and have been removed from this week's AMSAT TLE Distribution:
ALMASAT-1 - NORAD Cat ID 38078 (Decayed from orbit April 25, 2020) nSIGHT1 - NORAD Cat ID 42726 (Decayed from orbit April 25, 2020)
The following satellite has been activated and added to this week's AMSAT TLE Distribution:
RS-44 - NORAD Cat ID 44909
Per Nico Janssen, PA0DLO concerning RS-44:
"The new amateur payload DOSAAF 85 (RS-44) appears to work very well Doppler measurements confirm that it is indeed object 44909, 2019-096E The satellite identifies itself as "RS44" (i e Radio Sputnik 44) on its CW beacon on 435 6043 kHz The passband is about 63 kHz wide It may also have a downlink between 2400 and 2485 MHz The frequencies of RS44/DOSAAF 85 have not been IARU coordinated The satellite is in an elliptical orbit with a perigee of 1175 km, an apogee of 1511 km and an inclination of 82 5 degrees
The payload is apparently attached to the Breeze-KM upper stage of a Rokot launch vehicle that launched three Gonets satellites on December 26, 2019 It was originally expected to launch in 2015 It is based on the Yubileiniy platform "
[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]
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Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront
25% of the purchase price of each product goes
towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
https://www
zazzle
com/amsat_gear
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FCC Adopts Updated Orbital Debris Mitigation Rules
On April 23rd, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Report and Order (R&O) and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) updating rules on orbital debris mitigation for the first time since 2004 The newly adopted regulations increase the disclosure re- quirements for pre-space notifications submitted for amateur space stations
In the draft version of the R&O, released in early April, the FCC had included the adoption of additional requirements regarding indemni- fication and maneuverability AMSAT, ARRL, university researchers, and satellite industry groups opposed certain aspects of these rules In response, the Commission moved those provisions to a FNPRM for further comment
In addition to maneuverability and indemnification requirements for amateur space stations, the Commission also seeks comment on a disposal bond requirement for certain spacecraft AMSAT is evaluating the FNPRM and will file comments expressing our views of the proposed regula- tions
The adopted R&O / FNPRM can be found at https://docs fcc gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-54A1 pdf
[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President, for the above information]
VUCC Awards-Endorsements for April 2020
Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period April 1, 2020 through May 1, 2020
Congratulations to all those who made the list this month!
CALL Apr May
KO4MA 1750 1753 K7TAB 531 600 AE5B 442 450 ND0C 301 346 N4DCW 201 300 KC9UQR 252 275 WA9JBQ 225 250 W4DTA 217 240 WI6K New 200 S57NML 126 179 DL4ZAB 150 172 KS1G 134 170 YO2CMI 100 168 KE0WPA 108 152 ZS5LEE New 105 VE3CGA New 100
If you find errors or omissions
please contact me off-list at
[ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN, for the above information]
Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge Virtual Hackathon, May 30-31
NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Explora- tion Agency) are inviting coders, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, artists, and technologists to partici- pate in a virtual hackathon May 30-31 dedicated to putting open data to work in developing solutions to issues related to the COVID-19 pan- demic
During the global Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge, participants from a- round the world will create virtual teams that - during a 48-hour per- iod - will use Earth observation data to propose solutions to COVID- 19-related challenges ranging from studying the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and its spread to the impact the disease is having on the Earth system Registration for this challenge opens in mid-May
"There's a tremendous need for our collective ingenuity right now," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mis- sion Directorate "I can?t imagine a more worthy focus than COVID-19 on which to direct the energy and enthusiasm from around the world with the Space Apps Challenge that always generates such amazing solutions "
The unique capabilities of NASA and its partner space agencies in the areas of science and technology enable them to lend a hand during this global crisis Since the start of the global outbreak, Earth science specialists from each agency have been exploring ways to use unique Earth observation data to aid understanding of the interplay of the Earth system -- on global to local scales -- with aspects of the COVID- 19 outbreak, including, potentially, our ability to combat it The hackathon will also examine the human and economic response to the vi- rus
ESA will contribute data from the Sentinel missions (Sentinel-1, Sent- inel-2 and Sentinel-5P) in the context of the European Copernicus pro- gram, led by the European Commission, along with data from Third Party contributing Missions, with a focus on assessing the impact on climate change and greenhouse gases, as well as impacts on the economic sector ESA also is contributing Earth observation experts for the selection of the competition winners and the artificial-intelligence-powered EuroDataCube
"EuroDatacube will enable the best ideas to be scaled up to a global level," said Josef Aschbacher, director of Earth Observation Programm- es at ESA "The pandemic crisis has a worldwide impact, therefore in- ternational cooperation and sharing of data and expertise with partners like NASA and JAXA seems the most suitable approach "
JAXA is making Earth observing data available from its satellite mis- sions, including ALOS-2, GOSAT, GOSAT-2, GCOM-C, GCOM-W, and GPM/DPR
"JAXA welcomes the opportunity to be part of the hackathon," said JAXA Vice President Terada Koji "I believe the trilateral cooperation among ESA, NASA and JAXA is important to demonstrate how Earth observation can support global efforts in combating this unprecedented challenge "
Space Apps is an international hackathon that takes place in cities around the world Since 2012, teams have engaged with NASA's free and open data to address real-world problems on Earth and in space The COVID-19 Challenge will be the program's first global virtual hacka- thon Space Apps 2019 included more than 29,000 participants at 225 events in 71 countries, developing more than 2,000 hackathon solutions over the course of one weekend
Space Apps is a NASA-led initiative organized in collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton, Mindgrub, and SecondMuse The next annual Space Apps Challenge is scheduled for October 2-4
For more information about NASA Space Apps Challenges, visit: https://www spaceappschallenge org/
[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]
On-Line Student STEM: TI Codes Contest 2020
Texas Instruments and NASA have announced the "TI Codes Contest 2020" This STEM activity invites student teams to connect and learn together remotely to let their imaginations reach new heights by solving this unique challenge during the 20th anniversary of humans on the Inter- national Space Station (ISS):
Propose a way to automate or optimize a process or product for
living and working on the ISS
Then use coding and Texas Instru-
ments (TI) technology to design and build a model of the solution
Stage 1: Pitch your idea - is running now Teams connect virtually with up to five students, ages 13–19, plus an adult sponsor (A spon- sor can be a teacher, parent or other adult who can mentor students remotely ) Then, determine which process or product your team wants to automate or optimize that would help the International Space Station The deadline for submissions: May 21, 2020, at 11:59 p m Central time
Access full contest rules, prize lists, NASA STEM resources, and enter your team at: https://education ti com/en/promotion/codescontest
[ANS thanks Texas Instruments and NASA for the above information]
First Guatemalan Satellite Deployed from the ISS
Guatemala’s first satellite, a small CubeSat called QUETZAL-1, was de- ployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Its primary mission is to test a sensor for remote data acquisition for natural resource management, which could be used to monitor water qual- ity in inland water bodies
QUETZAL-1 LogoThe satellite is part of the Japanese Kibo cubesat pro- gram, a product of the cooperation between, among others, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), and more institutions The operational frequencies were chosen through cooperation from Guatemalan radio amateurs and the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)
Downlink 4800 bps GMSK on 437 200 MHz
The Quetzal-1 project team director is Guatemalan engineer José Bagur, TG8JAV, a graduate from mechatronics engineering at Universidad Del Valle
Source: IARU Region 2 https://iaru-r2 org/
IARU Quetzal-1 http://amsatuk me uk/iaru/finished_detail php?serialnum=653
Quetzal-1 Telemetry info https://uvg edu gt/cubesat-en/
Quetzal-1 Telemetry decoder http://www dk3wn info/p/?page_id=75524
Follow Quetzal-1 on Twitter https://twitter com/quetzal1_uvg
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
Former AMSAT Area Coordinator, Prominent DXer Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ, SK
Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ, became a silent key on Wednesday, April 29th at his home in the U S Virgin Islands A prominent contester and DXer, Herb served as an AMSAT Area Coordinator in the Caribbean in the 1970s and 1980s Activating Anguilla as VP2EFZ, he gave Pat Gowen, G3IOR, the last country he needed on OSCAR 7 to complete the first DXCC via satellite
[ANS thanks The Daily DX, QRZ com, and former AMSAT Vice President - Operations Rich Zwirko, K1HTV, for the above information]
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, ARISS to Begin Experimental Demonstra- tions of School Contacts using a Multipoint Telebridge Amateur Radio Approach
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is pleased to announce the first use of a concept called Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio, allowing school contacts for Stay-At-Home students and simultaneous reception by families, school faculty and the public
During the last several weeks, efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus have resulted in massive school closures worldwide In addition, the Stay-At-Home policies invoked by authorities, initially shut down opportunities for ARISS school contacts for the near future
To circumvent these challenges and keep students and the public safe, ARISS is introducing the Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio concept First operation of this experimental system occurred during a contact with a group of Northern Virginia Students located in Woodbridge, VA on Thursday, April 30 at 13:35 UTC (9:35EDT) During this event, an ARISS telebridge radio ground station linked to the astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS)ham radio station and each Stay-At-Home student and their teacher was individually linked to the telebridge station Under the teacher’s direction, each student, from their home, takes a turna sking their question of the astronaut
Quoting ARISS Chair Frank Bauer, “This approach is a huge pivot for ARISS, but we feel it is a great strategic move for ARISS In these times of isolation due to the virus, these ARISS connections provide a fantastic psychological boost to students, families, educators and the public And they continue our long-standing efforts to inspire, engage and educate students in STEAM subjects and encourage them to pursue STEAM careers ”
An archive of the April 30th contact can be viewed at https://youtu be/Cu8I9ose4Vo
About ARISS:
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS) In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corp- oration (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology,engineering, and mathematics (STEAM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio For more information, see www ariss org
[ANS thanks Dave Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS PR, for the above information]
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Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows,
and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store
When you purchase through
AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
https://amsat
org/product-category/hardware/
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Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events
Due to COVID-19, many hamfest and events around the United States have been canceled or postponed While we make every effort to ensure the information contained below is correct, there may be some that we missed
We wish all of you safekeeping and hope to be at a hamfest near you soon
Current schedule:
June 12-13, 2020, Ham-Com, Plano, TX
The following events scheduled to have an AMSAT presence have been CANCELED:
May 8-9, 2020, Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ May 15-17, Hamvention, Xenia, OH
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Services, for the above information]
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AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit
Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www amsat org/donate/
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Upcoming Satellite Operations
AD0DX has announced a tentative activation of DL88 in Big Bend Nat- ional Park for Sunday, May 31st At this time, the park remains closed but the team hopes it will reopen soon Doug Tabor, N6UA, will join him for this activation Details about the plans can be found on the K5Z QRZ com page: https://www qrz com/db/K5Z
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT Vice President - User Services, for the above information]
Satellite Shorts From All Over
The May 2020 issue of Aerospace America, the monthly magazine of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) features an article entitled "Cosmic GPS" describing the emerging use of GPS on spacecraft flying beyond the GPS constellation altitude and, eventually, to the moon Above-constellation use of GPS was first demonstrated on AMSAT-OSCAR 40 AMSAT Vice President - Human Space- flight Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, is extensively quoted in this article Read it at https://aerospaceamerica aiaa org/features/cosmic-gps/
AMSAT's Zazzle store has added a few new products, including a water bottle, car flag, and fanny pack A wide variety of other products are also available, including the popular new OSCAR t-shirt Check out the store at https://www zazzle com/store/amsat_gear 25% of the purchase price of each product goes to AMSAT to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space
Scientists from NASA, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Lunar Planetary Institute have created a detailed new map of the lunar surface in stunning color Called the Unified Geological Map of the Moon, it marries decades of surveys of the moon’s surface going as far back as Armstrong and Aldrin’s Apollo mission, with more re- cent data from NASA and JAXA It doesn’t just look pretty — the map will greatly help NASA and other organizations plan future landing sites optimized for scientific missions NASA's Artemis project could take humans to the moon as early as 2024 AMSAT, along with ARISS, partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar or- bit as part of an Artemis precursor initiative The digital map is available for the public at: https://on doi gov/2YnZGAO
Scott Chapman, K4KDR, is featured in Scott Manley's new video about the Iranian Noor satellite https://youtu be/SPTz7Ig9RQE
As another part of the RSGB "Get on the air to care" campaign, the May edition of RadCom is being made available to radio amateurs around the world to read online as a sample edition A number of IARU national societies have taken a similar step and the RSGB is happy to join those societies in supporting the worldwide amateur radio community during these difficult times: https://www rsgb org/sampleradcom
In a Public Notice released on April 30th, the FCC confirmed that amateur license examinations may be conducted remotely The full Public Notice can be found at the link below: https://docs fcc gov/public/attachments/DA-20-467A1 pdf
The AMSAT Folding@home team continues to climb the rankings Now in the top 2,500 of all teams at the time of this writing, the team has grown to 37 members with 70 active CPUs within the past 50 days and includes five members in the top 100,000 of all users Alex Free, N7AGF, is our top contributor with over 21,000,000 points credited to AMSAT's team For more information about the Folding@home project and how you can contribute to scientific research, including the fight against COVID-19, see https://foldingathome org/ AMSAT's team number is 69710: https://stats foldingathome org/team/69710
In advance of their move to a new headquarters location, the FCC has updated their offical seal The new seal includes a satellite and ground station, reflecting the increasing importance of space communications https://twitter com/FCC/status/1255882365936775171
/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 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space,
This week's ANS Editor,
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA https://www amsat org/mailman/listinfo/ans
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