Date: August 6th 2006

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-218

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: * Clifford C Buttschardt K7RR Silent Key * AMSAT demos at Santa Barbara Hamfest * Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, Honored by NASA * AMSAT Awards * ARISS Status - 31 July 2006

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-218 01 Clifford C Buttschardt K7RR Silent Key

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 218 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD August 6, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-218 01

Cliff Buttschardt, K7RR (formerly W6HDO) became a silent key July 30, 2006 at 9:47 PM PDT He was a lifetime member of both AMSAT and the ARRL, and an original member of Project OSCAR He died quietly in his home in Morro Bay after battling inoperable cancer of the esophagus for many months

Cliff was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, NY and later lived in Garden City on Long Island Cliff finished school in San Jose and went on to graduate from San Jose State with a degree in electrical engineering After graduation Cliff joined the Navy where he worked as a radioman He later worked at Raytheon in Santa Barbara and SRI International in Palo Alto

While at SRI he became a member of the original Project OSCAR Radio club and supported the construction of OSCAR-I Over his lifetime Cliff supported many of the amateur satellites that were launched from Vandenberg AFB In 2001 Cliff while teaching at Cuesta College in San Luis Obisop, Cliff, along with Ed English W6WYQ, began work on the CubeSat project Cliff then moved over to California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) where he and Ed continued to mentor students who were just starting up the initial CubeSat designs

In March of 2006 the Project OSCAR Board of Directors voted unanimously to award Cliff its highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, for his contributions to amateur satellites, amateur radio and the CubeSat program The award was presented during the CubeSat Launch Party at Cal Poly on 26 July 2006, and to Cliff personally at his home on the same day

Cliff is survived by his wife Mabs, who was with Cliff when he passed on It is requested that in lieu of flowers, a contribution to AMSAT be made in Cliff's name

[Note - a more complete story and photos will be available in the upcoming edition of the AMSAT Journal ]

[ANS thanks Emily, N1DID, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-218 02 AMSAT demos at Santa Barbara Hamfest

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 218 02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD August 6, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-218 02

AMSAT member Clint Bradford, K6LCS will be demonstrating how easy it is to work amateur satellites at the upcoming Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club Family Reunion Hamfest on Sunday, August 13

"I have AMSAT brochures from Martha, some handouts from the ARRL's Rosalie White on the ARISS program, and several pre-programmed HTs for attendees to use It looks like AO-51 and SO-50 will be able to be accessed during a half-hour period in the morning," reports Clint

The annual event is being held at the Elk's Lodge at 150 N Kellogg, Goleta CA 93117 on Sunday, August 13th starting at 8:30 AM Event details - and Clint's "Work AO-51 with your HT!" tutorial - are posted at the group's Web site: http://www sbarc org/annual/hamfest/index html

[ANS thanks Clint, K6LCS, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-218 03 Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, Honored by NASA

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 218 03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD August 6, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-218 03

NASA has honored ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, with its prestigious "Silver Snoopy" Award Ransom was tapped to receive the award for his role in helping International Space Station Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, complete and confirm Worked All States (WAS) and Worked All Continents (WAC), including Antarctica, from NA1SS, as well as logging some 130 DXCC entities McArthur's duty tour ended in April

"I am honored to have received the award and honored again by Bill McArthur's thoughtfulness at selecting such an Amateur Radio-appropriate Silver Snoopy," Ransom told ARRL He explained that every Silver Snoopy has flown on a space mission "The one that was awarded to me was flown on STS-58, which was Bill's first shuttle flight " The STS-58 mission, he said, not only was a SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment) flight but McArthur's introduction to Amateur Radio from space SAREX was the predecessor to the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program

In his role as ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer, Ransom helps ARISS arrange opportunities for students to speak via Amateur Radio with the space station crew at NA1SS He also coordinates with the ISS crew on the configuration and operation of the two ham radio stations aboard the space station

At some point during Expedition 12, Ransom realized that McArthur had already logged 25 states, and he figured, "Why stop there?" Pretty soon, he was lining up contacts for McArthur in the other 25

"It was an, 'I know a friend who knows a friend who knows a friend' sort of thing," Ransom explained "There are a lot of folks eager to talk to an astronaut "

"Different crews do different things as pastimes," Ransom said "Bill enjoyed talking on the radio It gave him someone else to talk to besides CAPCOM, the voice of mission control "

By the end of the mission, McArthur not only became the first astronaut to earn WAS from space but put lots of DX -- routine and exotic -- in the NA1SS log on both VHF and UHF Overall, he made more than 1800 contacts during his approximately six months in space He also established a new ARISS milestone by completing 37 school group contacts

"None of that would have been possible without the work Kenneth did," McArthur said "He alerted radio operators in some pretty obscure places -- places that rarely have contact with the space program "

To show his gratitude, McArthur recently presented Ransom with the Silver Snoopy Award -- a silver lapel pin featuring the famous "Peanuts" comic strip character Snoopy in a spacesuit NASA's Astronaut Office presents the award to those who have significantly enhanced the space agency's goals for human exploration and development of space Fewer than one percent of the space program's workforce receives it annually

McArthur is still working to confirm DXCC from space So far, he has approximately one-third of the necessary contacts confirmed

[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-218 04 AMSAT Awards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 218 04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD August 6, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-218 04

This week, congratulations go out to all of the following

We would like to welcome the following to the satellite community They have made their first satellite contact and are now members of the AMSAT Satellite Communicators Club

Christophe Candebat, FM1OJ Simon Boehme, KC8ZYD (who happens to be 14 and made his first satellite contact on field day)

AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award Andre Theelen, PH7AT #431 Joseph Jaffer, N3PKC #432 Robert Wyckoff, KB3MBO #433 Roger Banks, KE5AQD #434

W4AMI Communications Achievement Award Andre Theelen, PH7AT #45

South Africa Satellite Communications Achievement Award Andre Theelen, PH7AT #US96

To see all the awards visit http://www amsat org or http://www amsatnet com

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-218 05 ARISS Status - 31 July 2006

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 218 05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD August 6, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-218 05

Children's Club Speaks to ISS

On Saturday, 29 July 2006, the Children's Club Camp held in Patras, Greece experienced an ARISS contact with ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, DF4TR, via the telebridge station, WH6PN, in Hawaii The Greek Minister of Education asked the first two questions, followed by two questions posed by students ESA employees' children attended the camp held at the Porto Rio Hotel, with July 29 designated as Space Day An audience of 200 was present for the event Echolink was used for the contact, receiving 31 connections from 11 countries, including 6 repeaters

Upcoming School Contacts

Teven-Tintenbar Public School is located in a rural-residential area 12 km from the coastal town of Ballina in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, Australia Approximately 180 students, grades kindergarten through grade 6, are enrolled at the school Teven-Tintenbar has been approved for a contact on Friday, 11 August 2006 at 07:32 UTC

SSTV Testing

Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, ran a few Slow Scan Television (SSTV) tests over the weekend Images were picked up by stations in Russia and Brazil Articles may be found on the AMSAT and ARRL websites, www amsat org and www arrl org

ARISS International Team Meeting

The monthly ARISS International Team teleconference was held on Tuesday, 25 July 2006 Topics of discussion included Japanese space visitor, Dice-K Enomoto, school contacts planned for Thomas Reiter, and the ARISS International Face to Face meeting planned for October

Chuck Brady, N4BQW, SK

Retired space shuttle astronaut Chuck Brady, N4BQW, one of the first astronauts involved with the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) program, passed away July 23 ARRL ran an article, "Dr Charles E 'Chuck' Brady Jr, N4BQW, SK " See: http://www arrl org/news/stories/2006/07/27/1/?nc=1

[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

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