AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-193

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: * SuitSat-2 Integration Progress in Phoenix * AO-51 Apollo 11 40th Anniversary Special Event * Arizona and Utah Satellite Activity * Satellite and HT Presentations at Big Bear Amateur Radio Club * Final Reminder for AMSAT Field Day Logs * Castor and Pollox Posed to Launch with STS-127 * ARISS Status - 06 July 2009

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193 01 SuitSat-2 Integration Progress in Phoenix

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 12, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-193 01

SuitSat-2 System Engineer, Gould WA4SXM kept the satellite community updated on the system integration meeting taking place in Phoenix this weekend Reporting via twitter (http://twitter com/GGouldSmith) Gould said progress was occurring on several fronts

The command receiver boards were assembled and ready for testing The command receiver and receiver boards were integrated for the first time this weekend The team was able to report that the receiver is now providing good input to the SDX transponder and as a result the transponder became operational and produced a signal on the output with the CW, FM and BPSK signals The transmitter was drawing 330mA and produced +25dBm output in the test configuration

System engineering progress was also report on additional issues: + SPI communications between the IHU and SDX were debugged + battery charging circuit undergoing testing + Spaceframe issues have started to be addressed to replace the missing suit

[ANS thanks JoAnne, K9JKM, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193 02 AO-51 Apollo 11 40th Anniversary Special Event

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193 02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 12, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-193 02

AMSAT-NA will mark the 40th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing with a special event on AO-51 AO-51 will transmit a special message commemorating the event during evening passes on Monday, July 20 and into early July 21 UTC The message will be transmitted on the 435 300 MHz FM downlink A special AO-51 SWL QSL will be available to ground stations who copy the downlink Please watch ANS and the amsat-bb mailing list for further information as the date approaches

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

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193 03 Arizona and Utah Satellite Activity

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193 03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 12, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-193 03

Patrick Stoddard, WD8EWK, will be at the ARRL Arizona State Convention and Hamfest in Williams, Arizona, on 17-18 July 2009 - a Friday and Saturday He will have an AMSAT table in the main hall, and will give a satellite-related presentation at 1100 local time on 17 July During these two days, WD9EWK will be on FM satellites and also VO-52 for demonstrations (hamfest site is in grid DM35vg) More information on the hamfest is available at:

http://www arca-az org/arca/main/convention asp

After the hamfest, Patrick reports that he will hit the road for a few days Similar to what he did last year after the Williams hamfest, except this year he will venture further north into Utah Patrick will make a loop through that state, then head back toward Arizona so he is home by the evening of 22 July The route through Utah yet has not been finalized yet

[ANS thanks Patrick, WD9EWK, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193 04 Satellite and HT Presentations at Big Bear Amateur Radio Club

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193 04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 12, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-193 04

Clint Bradford, K6LCS, will be presenting a two-part session later this month in Big Bear, CA: "How to Work Amateur Satellites with Your HT" PLUS a session on "Get to Know Yout Yaesu FT-60R" handheld transceiver

You are invited!

Saturday, July 25, 2009 - Big Bear Amateur Radio Club Big Bear Lake Fire Station - 41090 Big Bear Blvd 92315

Getting to Know Your Yaesu FT-60R (5:30 pm)

How to Work Amateur Satellites with Your Handheld Radio (6:30 pm)

If you’ve been thinking of purchasing a new dual-band handheld – or want to add to your collection – Special pricing has been arranged on the Yaesu FT-60R (and all Yaesu accessories purchased at the same time) with Ham Radio Outlet in Anaheim until July 25! For your special pricing, you must mention “K6LCS’ Big Bear Deal" when you speak directly with HRO’s Janet at 714-533-7373

RSVP before July 20 – or for inquiries: 909-241-7666 or clint@clintbradford com

A four-page satellite tutorial is also available: http://www k6lcs com

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

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193 05 Final Reminder for AMSAT Field Day Logs

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193 05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 12, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-193 05

If you participated in AMSAT Field Day and would like your efforts to count towards AMSAT Field Day, you have until Monday, July 13, 2009 at 11:59PM CDT to submit your entries They can be emailed to me at kk5do@arrl net or kk5do@amsat org

I will send you a confirmation email when I receive your entry (might take a day depending on my work schedule) Photos and neat descriptions of your field day antics and events are welcome

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

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193 06 Castor and Pollox Posed to Launch with STS-127

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193 06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 12, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-193 06

Castor and Pollox, two satellites in the Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE) program are ready to fly with the launch of STS-127 from Kennedy Space Center The ANDE mission consists of two spherical spacecraft fitted with retro-reflectors for satellite laser ranging (SLR) The constant and well-determined cross section and surface properties of the ANDE spacecraft provide an ideal set of objects for monitoring atmospheric drag and the calibration of space surveillance network (SSN) assets both radar and optical

Castor Castor is a 19 inch diameter aluminum sphere with a mass of 63 kg It is as near perfect sphere as possible given the constraints of cost and manufacturability The sphere is split in half with e delrin disc The hemispheres are also the satellite antenna For power, the satellite has 112 19AH lithium primary cells This provides about 7000 watt-hours of power which has to last for the one year mission

The satellite has several different types of sensors There are two main sensors, a Neutral particle wind and temperature spectrometer and an ion mass spectrometer

A group of college students designed and built a MEMS sensor payload to test some commercial gyroscopes and a magnetometer There are also six light sensors and six temperature sensors mounted in the satellite hemispheres

Pollox The Pollux satellite was originally to be a passive satellite with retroreflectors for laser ranging It has been turned into a high school student project involving several schools in the Fairfax County, Virginia area

The satellite is powered by twenty-eight 19AH Lithium-ion cells configured to provide 14 volts The battery configuration uses the spare ANDE satellite hardware

The electronics is based on cubesat hardware developed at the Naval Research Laboratory and Stensat Group LLC

The communications board contains the transmitter and receiver The transmitter operates at 2 meters and can put out up to 1 watt of signal Power level is adjustable The transmitter can operate at 1200 baud AFSK and 9600 baud FSK The transmitter uses the AX 25 protocol An experimental FX 25 protocol will be tested that adds forward error correction capability to the AX 25 protocol and still allows typical TNCs to decode the packets

Both satellites will transmit on 145 825 MHz Additional details about the telemetry format, as well as the FX 25 and GMSK experiments can be found at https://goby nrl navy mil/ANDE/Main html

[ANS thanks Ivan, KD4HBO, for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193 07 ARISS Status - 06 July 2009

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193 07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD July 12, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-193 07

1. Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Euro Space Center, Air and Space Day in Belgium on Sunday, July 12 at 14:08 UTC via telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii

1. Inukjuak Space Camp Participates in ARISS Contact

On Wednesday, July 1, Inukjuak Space Camp in Kuujjuaq Quebec, Canada participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact via telebridge station W6SRJ in California The event took place on Canada Day with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA Thirsk answered 20 questions put to him by the students Makivik Corporation, a non-profit organization that promotes economic growth of Inuit businesses, sponsored the event

1. ARISS Contact with New York Scouts

On Friday, July 3, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held with Baiting Hollow Scout Camp (BHSC) in Calverton, New York The contact was made possible through telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii Ten scouts asked 18 questions of JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA The event was held as part of the camp’s theme for 2009, “Final Frontier,” and a variety of other activities have been planned throughout the summer dealing with aspects of manned space flight

1. Astronaut Training Status

On Thursday, July 2, four licensed astronauts took part in Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) simulated contacts Satoshi Furukawa, KE5DAW and Timothy J Creamer, KC5WKI had contacts with Ottawa area students in Canada Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC and Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP participated in contacts with students visiting the Challenger Learning Center in Indianapolis, Indiana These training sessions are terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS equivalent equipment

[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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