AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-216

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* 2008 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting October 24-26 in Atlanta, Georgia *

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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

In this edition: * Falcon-1 Launches from Kwajalein with Three Satellites * Delfi-C3 / DO-64 Status Update * FO-29 Analog Transponder Observations * AMSAT-UK Colloquium Presentations Online * AMSAT-NA Space Symposium Second Call for Papers * AMSAT Awards * ARISS Status - 28 July 2008

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216 01 Falcon-1 Launches from Kwajalein with Three Satellites

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 216 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD Augugst 3, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-216 01

SpaceX's Falcon-1 rocket lifted off from the Kwajalein atoll on 03 August 2008 at 0334 UTC On board was the Trailblazer satellite for the Jumpstart Program of the United States Department of Defense’s Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS) Also on board where two triple-cubesats from NASA which have beacons in the amateur 70cm band Unfortunately, an anomaly occured approximately 2 minutes 20 seconds into the flight

[ANS thanks SpaceX for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216 02 Delfi-C3 / DO-64 Status Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 216 02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD Augugst 3, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-216 02

Wouter Jan Ubbels, PE4WJ, provided the following status update of the Delfi-C3 / DO-64 satellite on behalf of the Delfi-C3 team

1. We have concluded the first three months of science mission with great success A big word of thanks to all amateur radio operators around the world for collecting and forwarding telemetry, sending reception reports and observations, and thanks for all the tremendous support we have received As of today, we have collected 396564 AX 25 frames through the worldwide network a truly amazing number Thank you all so much

2. Delfi-C3 has been switched to permanent transponder mode during the 10:00 UTC pass on July 29th over the Delfi-C3 ground station in The Netherlands This means that the spacecraft now boots in transponder mode as soon as the spacecraft exits eclipse This was verified by a successful OBC database dump shortly after that

3. We plan to switch the satellite back into either basic or science mode, approx once every 2 weeks for short times during passes over our ground station for housekeeping purposes During these passes either the 145 870 MHz or 145 930 MHz downlink will be on transmitting 1200 baud BPSK, and the transponder will then be off We would like to encourage everyone to forward telemetry using RASCAL in the usual way during these passes Longer periods of BPSK telemetry will be announced on the AMSAT-BB

4. Reports have indicated a slight frequency offset of the transponder, i e an uplink of 435 556MHz corresponds to 145 900MHz in the downlink passband This was actually known before launch, and is caused by a slight frequency offset in one of the spacecraft's local oscillators The video on YouTube is a video from the first transponder contact using our "flatsat" transponder prototype in early 2007, which is not the same as the flight model However, the flatsat prototype also showed a slight frequency offset, as G0MRF pointed out

5. The transponder mode beacon is at 145 870MHz, approximately 10dB below PEP, transmitting a CW beacon message, followed by a commemorative Sputnik message consisting of 6 dits Actually, the CW beacon is transmitted using Double Sideband, there are two CW carriers 1200Hz apart (Guess where that number comes from hi:)

6. Reports on the transponder's operation are more than welcome, either on the AMSAT-BB (which is read by us on a daily basis) or directly to info at delfic3 nl

Having said all this, the team is happy to open the transponder for use, and wishes you good DX Enjoy!

73 on behalf of the Delfi-C3 team, Wouter Jan Ubbels PE4WJ

[ANS thanks Wouter, PE4WJ, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216 03 FO-29 Analog Transponder Observations

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 216 03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD Augugst 3, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-216 03

Domenico, I8CVS, provided the following observation of FO-29's analog transponder:

Following suggestions of my friend Mak, SV1BSX, I tried FO-29 the night of 27 July during the South bound orbit 58978 AOS for me in JN70ES was at 00:06 UTC and FO-29 was in sun light

I was alone into the passband and my return signal was very strong above my noise floor with appoximately only 10 watt on a 13 dBi crossed yagi RHCP / LHCP (about 200 watt EIRP)

The SSB return was very clean and without FMing with the usual need to switch RHCP to LHCP time to time to get the best signal strength

At 00:15 UTC FO-29 started to experience the eclipse as per InstanTrack but no sign of reduction of my return signal or FMing was noted

From 00:15 to 00:21 until my LOS the satellite was over Africa and well in full eclipse for about 6 minutes but my own return signal was still clear ad strong without any sign of FMing It seems that the battery is working and as far I know the satellite performance seems to be nominal

The CW beacon was ON all the time

The transponder is very sensitive so please refrain from using high power because 200 watt EIRP is more than enough

I thank very much Mak, SV1BSX, for sending to me the results of his experience the previous day which confirm the results that I got Both confirm that FO-29 seems to be alive and well

We don't know what JARL did to resurrect this beautiful satellite but while she will last we have another real CW and SSB satellite to work

Congratulations to JARL

[ANS thanks Domenico, I8CVS, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216 04 AMSAT-UK Colloquium Presentations Online

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 216 04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD Augugst 3, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-216 04

Presentations from the AMSAT-UK Colloquium have been added to the to the AMSAT-UK website as slide shows There are a couple that have been held back at the request of their presenters

Currently there are 15 online at:

     http://www
uk
amsat
org/content/view/664/235/

You will find some of the 2007 presentations there as well

[ANS thanks John for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216 05 AMSAT-NA Space Symposium Second Call for Papers

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 216 05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD Augugst 3, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-216 05

This is the second call for papers for the 2008 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting to be held October 24-26, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia

Proposals for papers, symposium presentations, and poster presentations are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite program An emphasis for this year is an educational outreach to middle and high school students Another topic if interest is using amateur satellite tracking systems to monitor deep space network objects

In particular, papers on the following topics are solicited: • Students & Education • ARISS • AO-51 • P3E • Eagle • Deep Space Network monitoring • Any additional satellite-related topics

We request a one-page abstract as soon as possible Camera ready copy on paper or in electronic form will be due by September 1, 2008 for inclusion in the printed symposium proceedings Papers received after this date may not be included in the printed proceedings

Abstracts and papers should be sent to n8fgv@amsat org

[ANS thanks Dan, N8FGV, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216 06 AMSAT Awards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 216 06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD Augugst 3, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-216 06

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

Bart Tichelaar, KE5GUR Supun Perera, VE4WSP

The following has earned the AMSAT South Africa Communications Achievement Award

Rob Rousseau, KI4BKE #US122

The following has earned the AMSAT Sexagesimal Award for 60 contacts

Doug Papay, KD8CAO #146

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-216 07 ARISS Status - 28 July 2008

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 216 07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD August 3, 2008 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-216 07

1. European Space Camp 2008 Contact Successful

On Thursday, July 24, youth attending the European Space Camp 2008 in Zanka, Hungary participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact Astronaut Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ, answered the six questions asked of him as 120 students looked on The audio from this event was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) conference room server and received 8 connections from 7 countries including Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium and the U S It was also fed into the EchoLink JK1ZRW (277 208) server The audio file may be found on the ARISS-Europe Web site Go to: http://www ariss-eu org/Zanka_2008_07_24 mp3

1. ARRL QST Articles on ARISS Activities

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) published two items covering Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) related news in its August issue of QST

A column called "Hams Head into Space" (page 55) included amateur radio activities that Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ, plans to take part in and also activities in which Garrett Reisman, KE5HAE, participated

The column "75, 50 and 25 Years Ago" on page 102 showed the QST August 1983 cover with astronaut Owen Garriott, W5LFL's picture operating the radios from space for the very first space amateur radio contacts ever

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

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