Date: September 24th 2006

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-267

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: ans-editor@amsat org

AMSAT 2006 Space Symposium

Online registration and hotel reservation for the 2006 AMSAT Space Symposium has been posted to the AMSAT website, and information about the Symposium has been expanded The 2006 AMSAT Space Symposium will be held October 6, 7 and 8 at the Crowne Plaza in Foster City, California in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area

Please visit http://www amsat org/amsat-new/symposium for additional information and an index to the expanded Symposium web pages

In this edition:

HITSAT - New Amateur Radio Cubesat in Orbit
AMSAT President's Club News
AMSAT-UK Chief Discusses PoSAT End-of-Life Issues
Microwave Update Conference 2006
ARISS Operations Update
SSETI GTO Satellite Project Report
AO-51 QRP Repeater to be Activated for JOTA
2006 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration
Hawaii Activation on FM Satellites

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-267 01 HITSAT - New Amateur Radio Cubesat in Orbit

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 267 01

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD September 24, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-267 01

HITSAT, a new amateur radio cubesat, was successfully launched from Japan on September 22 HITSAT was developed by the Hokkaido Cubsat Development Ham club at the Hokkaido Institute of Technology under the guidance of Assistant Professor Mitsuhashi Ryuichi It rode to orbit as a secondary payload aboard a Japanese Space Agency launch of the Japanese Solar-B mission

Satellite Call Sign JR8YJT CW telemetry down-link 437 275MHz 1200 baud FM packet down-link 437 425MHz

HITSAT transmits its CW telemetry data every 40 seconds Refer to http://www hit ac jp/~satori/gs/e/hitsatgs html for a detailed des- cription of the telemetry format

After launch reception reports began to arrive from amateur radio operators around the world Pass predictions using the keplerian elements from Space-Track org have been narrowed down to Object A or Object D, with Object D seeming to be the more accurate at press time

An excellent resource for HITSAT and other CubeSat information can be found at: http://showcase netins net/web/wallio/CubeSat htm

[ANS thanks the HITSAT team and observant amateur radio operators around the world for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-267 02 AMSAT President's Club News

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 267 02

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD September 24, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-267 02

Past President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, has been continuing his support of AMSAT by leading the organizational efforts for the President's Club Robin has requested that President's Club members send him their email addresses so that he can better keep in touch with them

In response, Robin received the following from President's Club member Jim Jerzycke, KQ6EA, who recently upgraded to "silver" level of member- ship Jim writes, "I upgraded to "silver" this year It's my way of paying back AMSAT for not only the enjoyment I get from this aspect of Amateur Radio, but also the knowledge I gained which helped my career immensely " Jim explains, "I never would have been employed by DirecTV, and now Sea Launch, without the practical knowledge of satellite opera- tions I gained by being an AMSAT member "

Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT project funds, are also eligible to receive additional benefits You too can join the President's Club either through the website at http://www amsat org/amsat-new/membership/presclub php or by calling Martha at the AMSAT office, 1-888-322-6728

[ANS thanks Robin, VE3FRH, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-267 03 AMSAT-UK Chief Discusses PoSAT End-of-Life Issues

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 267 03

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD September 24, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-267 03

Following the recent kind agreement of ConsÃƒÂ³rcio SAT, the owners of PoSAT (PO28 or 1993-061D) which was launched on the Ariane V59 from Kourou on the 26th September 1993, work has been progressing at SSTL and the Surrey Space Centre to switch transponder frequencies to the amateur satellite service to serve as a voice FM transponder for use by all radio amateurs worldwide

Unfortunately, recent investigations now indicate that the PoSAT on- board NiCd batteries are showing the effects of 12 years in orbit and the approximately 100,000 charge /discharge cycles to which they have subjected and are no longer holding sufficient charge to operate the downlinks This may mean that, sadly after all, it will not be possible for the satellite to be made available for amateur use

We fully understand the benefits that PO28 would offer radio amateurs and work is continuing at Surrey to see if there is any way to revive this 'old lady' AMSAT-UK will provide updates when further informa- tion becomes available

Martin Sweeting G3YJO http://www uk amsat org

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-267 04 Microwave Update Conference 2006

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 267 04

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD September 24, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-267 04

Gerd, WB8IFM from Dayton, Ohio writes, "There is only a little over a month left to the national Microwave Update Conference 2006 For the first time this yearly conference will be held* in Dayton,Ohio on the 19th to the 22nd of October

Presentations are on Friday and Saturday (Oct 20 & 21) with a fleamarket which will be held on Friday night A banquet on is scheduled for Saturday night with awards and drawings for prizes There will be a spouse program also

This is an excellent opportunity to learn about ham activity on the micro- waves, loosely described from about 400 Mhz to light! We hope to attract many hams within driving distance of Dayton

You have to the end of September to get the earlybird registration fee of $40 After October 1st the registration fee will go up by $5 If you pay at the door the cost will be $50 This fee includes a volume of the proceed- ings which has the presented papers plus others that are not being present- ed! AMSAT will be represented by Freddy, ON6UG

For registration info and a more detailed plan go to: http://www microwaveupdate org

[ANS thanks Gerd, WB8IFM for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-267 05 ARISS Operations Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 267 05

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD September 24, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-267 05

Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO ARISS Project Engineer reminds ISS radio fans to, "Please note, the amateur equipment on the ISS has not been functioning in the automatic modes properly and may be silent more than usual Information about the next scheduled ARISS contact can be found at http://www rac ca/ariss/upcoming htm#NextContact

Random ISS voice activity expected the week of September 21-28 Space Station visitor Ansari has announced that she may be active on the Amateur Radio station on ISS She is planning on a few pre-scheduled school links and some random contacts

[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-267 06 SSETI GTO Satellite Project Report

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 267 06

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD September 24, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-267 06

This week Graham G3VZV reported that the SSETI GTO satellite project is still on track for a launch from Kourou in Nov 2008 with the planned AMSAT-UK U/S linear transponder is on the manifest

This transponder is expected to support the following features: + Approximate 50kHz bandwidth + 10 watts of RF output + Selectable DSP/SDX and analogue signal paths + 400bps beacon

The satellite may not have good, long term, attitude control therefore the antennas are being designed to work well even if the satellite is tumbling Although the link budget is not as good as AO40 was nor as P3E will be, circular polarisation of ground segment antennas will be needed

Before we operate the system as an amateur transponder, it will be used as the initial main communications package for the reception of telecommands to, and for the transmission of telemetry and mission data from, the satellite - so it is quite important for the whole project

The Preliminary Design Review will be completed during next month and an engineering model of the satellite should be under construction early next year Hopefully this process will be visible using the same webcam system as we were able to engineer during the SSETI Express construction

The website at http://www sseti net/ has lots of info about the SSETI program Click on "missions" and ESEO for more details about their plans for their GTO satellite

A full report on the SSETI Express launch last year, the SSETI ESEO project with the DSP transponder, and their SSETI ESMO (moon orbiter!) project will be provided at the upcoming AMSAT-NA Symposium

[ANS thanks Graham, G3VZV for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-267 07 AO-51 QRP Repeater to be Activated for JOTA

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 267 07

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD September 24, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-267 07

The AO-51 Operations Group announced plans for AMSAT's support of the Jamboree on the Air event (JOTA) on the weekend of October 21st and 22nd AO-51 will run in dual repeater mode with the 435 150 QRP repeater reserved for JOTA contacts on the weekend Please yield the 435 150 repeater to JOTA contacts, especially between two JOTA stations The normal AO-51 QRP rules apply: 10 watts to omni or handheld antennas only

Visit the AO-51 schedule at: http://www amsat org/amsat-new/echo/ControlTeam php

[ANS thanks the AO-51 Operations Group for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-267 08 2006 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 267 08

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD September 24, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-267 08

The 2006 AMSAT Space Symposium will be held October 6, 7 and 8 at the Crowne Plaza in Foster City, California in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area

There is still plenty of time to sign up for the 2006 AMSAT Space Symposium! Please note that registrations received after September 24 will cost $55

Hotel registrations have filled the initial block of rooms at the Crowne Plaza Hotel that were set aside for Symposium attendees The Symposium Committee worked with the hotel management and they are now happy to report that additional rooms have been added to the AMSAT block

A glitch in the hotel's reservation system causes an occasional error when trying to book rooms at the special AMSAT rate If you try to book your room through the central Crowne Plaza reservation system (toll free number) they may tell you the dates are unavailable If this happens call the hotel directly (information on AMSAT web) and be sure to mention the AMS group code

If you still have problems please send Emily Clarke (n1did@amsat org) an email with your arrival and departure dates and she will arrange to speak with the hotel manager directly

One thing that isn't available through the website is that we can upgrade to the Executive rooms The rate for executive rooms increases from $109 per night to $129 per night Call the hotel directly to take advantage of this offer

Information about the Spouse Tours and Activities can be found online See: http://www amsat org/amsat-new/symposium/2006GroupTours php

Please visit http://www amsat org/amsat-new/symposium for additional information and an index to the expanded Symposium web pages

[ANS thanks the 2006 Symposium Committee for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-267 09 Hawaii Activation on FM Satellites

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 267 09

From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD September 24, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-267 09

Ron, W6ZQ, and Rick, WH6FC will be active on SO-50 and AO-51 for the next week or two from Hawaii They are on the big island now Ron will be going to Maui next week for a week or two Good hunting! Check those westerly passes!

[ANS thanks John, K6YK 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, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM K9JKM at amsat dot org

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

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