AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-190

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:

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In this edition: * AO-51 July Schedule * Industry Software Donatations to AMSAT * New AO-51 Operations Committee Members * ARISS Status - 03 July 2006

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-190 01 AO-51 July Schedule

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 190 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 9, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-190 01

Tenative and subject to change:

July 1 to July 31

FM Repeater Downlink 435 300 mHz FM Uplink 145 920 mHz FM with 67 hz Tone

Digital / PBBS Downlink 435 150 mHz FM 9k6 Digital Uplink 145 860 mHz FM 9k6 Digital PBBS Active Telemetry Downlink and Digipeater Active (No Unattended Digipeater Ops Please)

Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, explains that the current schedule for July indicates AO-51 will be in the normal voice and digital configuration for the entire month This schedule is, as stated, tentative and subject to change Due to real world obligations, the command opportunities this month were limited and uncertain and it was decided that the best solution would be to provide a solid schedule that would always provide the standard V/U voice repeater on the 435 300 If the chance presents itself, we may experiment with a few new combinations on the 435 150 downlink, using a L band digital or voice uplink These experimental modes will be announced via the web page as well as amsat-bb in advance of any mode changes L uplinks and S downlinks have been heavily requested the last 2 months, and the Operations Committe has taken notice and will include these modes in future schedules

The digipeater is now on again and will remain on as long as it does not interfere with the PBBS users While the Operations Committee assesses how this impacts the PBBS users, it is requested that there be no unattended digipeater operations Be aware that AO-51, unlike previous PACSATS, only has one uplink frequency for the PBBS, and runs about 0 3 watts on the digital transmitter during the longer eclipse season (which is now) Also, the earlier releases of TLMEcho do not display the digi status correctly

The Operations Committee would appreciate feedback on how well it works A lack of feedback will probably be viewed as a lack of interest, so everyone is encouraged to report their success or failure

Please remember to submit your mode requests and special events well in advance of your event to ao51-modes@amsat org for consideration

[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-190 02 Industry Software Donatations to AMSAT

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 190 02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 9, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-190 02

Bob McGwier, N4HY, AMSAT Vice President Engineering, reports that AMSAT has recently been very successful in acquiring donations which will greatly benefit the Eagle Team in their design and analysis tasks Bob said, "I wanted to bring to the attention of the Board and our members some of our AMSAT President's recent activities "

Rick Hambly, W2GPS, AMSAT President has been primarily responsible for getting us university/educational status with several organizations including a donation from Texas Instruments of their Code Composer Studio Platinum Edition software valued at $10,785 USD and Cadence Design Systems' OrCAD(R) PCB Designer with PSpice and PSpice(R) Advanced Analysis valued at $185,915 USD

Other significant donations are also being developed and hopefully can be announced shortly

Bob continued, "We owe Rick a thank you for his leadership on this Every time I have asked him to try, he has, and on all attempts he has HIT A HOME RUN"

Rick concluded, "AMSAT is very appreciative of the donations we're receiving from such major players in the industry With these donations and the continuing financial support of our members the momentum within the Eagle Project is growing every day "

[ANS thanks Bob, N4HY and Rick, W2GPS for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-190 03 New AO-51 Operations Committee Members

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 190 03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 9, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-190 03

Drew Glassbrenner, KO4MA, recently announced several new members have joined the AO-51 Operations Committee Drew said, "I would like to thank the following new members for volunteering to help with the committee:

WD9EWK/VA7EWK Patrick Stoddard N8MH Mark Hammond OZ1MY Ib Christoffersen VK5HI Colin Hurst"

These volunteers will be joining existing committee members Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, and Mike Kingery, KE4AZN

Drew added, "Personally I'd like to thank Roy Welch, W0SL, and Clare Fowler, VE3NPC, for their service with the committee over the past many months "

Drew continued, "Some of the goals I have set out for the committee and hope to accomplish are; acknowledging every email sent to the ao51-modes address, having a completed schedule posted 2 weeks before the beginning of the month, improved support of large special events such as JOTA and Kids Day, and better publication of AO-51 related information via the amsat-bb, webpage, and AMSAT Journal "

Suggestions and offers of help are always welcome via the ao51-modes@amsat org address

[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-190 04 ARISS Status - 03 July 2006

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 190 04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 9, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-190 04

1. ARISS-Kuwait Contact Successful

The first ARISS contact with children in Kuwait took place on Wednesday, June 28 Eleven students at the Kuwait Scientific Center in Salmiyah spoke to Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, via the telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii Twenty-two questions were asked as an audience of approximately forty people gathered to witness the contact The event received extensive media coverage which included the following: Al-Hadaf, Al-Yaqaza and Al-Nahdha (Weekly Arabic magazines), The Daily Star (Daily Arabic Magazine), Al-Qabas and Al-Rai Al-Am (Local daily newspapers), Arab Times and Kuwait Times (local daily English newspapers), Layalina (Arabic bi-monthly magazine), Kuwait National Television for an evening program, Kuwait National TV Children's Program, KUNA (Kuwait News Agency) and Kuwait Science Club Media To view KUNA's news coverage on the event, see:

http://www kuna net kw/home/Story aspx?Language=en&DSNO=881386 English version no pictures http://www kuna net kw/home/Story aspx?Language=ar&DSNO=881359 Arabic version with pictures

The audio from this contact was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW (277 208) servers and received 15 connections, of which 2 were repeaters, from 7 countries IRLP Discovery Reflector 9010 had 3 connections from Canada The audio was also webcast by Verizon Conferencing and through the Scientific Center Kuwait

1. ARISS International Team Meeting Held

The monthly ARISS International Team meeting was held on June 27 Topics of discussion included the ARISS International face to face meeting to be held in San Francisco in October, school contacts with ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, DF4TR, and the work toward an amateur radio license for Japanese space visitor, Dice-K Enomoto, scheduled to fly this fall Minutes will be posted to the ARISS website in the near future

1. AMSAT and ARISS-International Meetings, October 2006

The AMSAT-NA Annual Meeting and Space Symposium and the ARISS International Meeting will be held October 5 - 10, 2006 in San Francisco Online registration in now available See: http://www amsat org/amsat-new/symposium/

[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information]

/EX

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office

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