Date: August 31st 2009

Subject: ANS-242 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-242

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


  • 2009 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting October 9-11 *
  • Four Points Sheraton Hotel at the Baltimore Washington Airport *
  • Guest Banquet Speaker Dr Martin Collins *
  • Details - http://www amsat org/amsat-new/symposium/2009/index php *

In this edition: * Satellite Notes * AMSAT Space Symposium Registration * News From the Tokyo Ham Fair * ARISS Status - 24 August 2009

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-242 01 Satellite Notes

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 242 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD August 30, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-242 01

Help Needed For AMSAT Publications

AMSAT-NA currently has two positions that need a volunteer to jump in and assist with our publishing efforts

The AMSAT Journal needs a person who can provide translation from German to English AMSAT-DL has published several significant updates about P3-E which can be shared with the english-speaking operators Conversely, translation from English to German would enable sharing of articles both ways

Next, the weekly AMSAT News Service ANS Bulletins has an opening (or 2) for an editor to take on news gathering and reporting work This is a rotating position shared with 3 existing editors so your ANS duty would occur approximately once every 4 weeks per the schedule

If you can help please contact AMSAT VP User Services, Gould Smith WA4SXM (wa4sxm@amsat org) and let him know which position you are interested in helping with

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM for the above information]


AO-51 Mode Change to V/U and L/U Repeaters This Week

AMSAT VP Operations, Drew KO4MA reported that AO-51 Control Station has turned on the SQRX receiver and the 1268 700 uplink to allow users to access the satellite according to the following schedule:

August 31 - September 5:

FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145 920 MHz FM Downlink: 435 300 MHz FM

FM Repeater, L/U Uplink: 1268 700 MHz FM Downlink: 435 150 MHz FM

Ground controllers reported they lowered the power on the 435 300 transmitter to compensate for the extra power the receiver uses Currently 435 150 is at 400mw, and 435 300 is at 700mw Together the transmitters are drawing 1 06 amps continuously

Please remember to send those your AO-51 operating mode suggestions to the ao51-modes@amsat org e-mail address Keep an eye on the AO-51 webpage at http://www amsat org/amsat-new/echo/CTNews php, ANS news bulletins, posts to AMSAT-BB, and AMSAT on Twitter for updates and information

[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA for the above information]


Satellite Tracker For Your iPhone

OK folks, we could pretty much guess these applications would arrive sooner or later Well its sooner now For who are interested to have a free satellite tracker application in your iPhone here are two for you to test out:

These can be downloaded from the AppStore via these links:

Space Station Lite (ISSLite) FREE http://itunes apple com/WebObjects/MZStore woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=305522724& mt=8

Satellite Tracker - FREE http://itunes apple com/WebObjects/MZStore woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=306260378& mt=8

[ANS thanks Fabiano Moser CR7/PY5RX for the above information]


FO-29 Satellite Recovery Progress Report

Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL reported that FO-29's ground control stations have been working on recovering this satellite after an outage re- ported by users earlier this week As of August 28 the control station has succeeded in transmitting commands to the satellite and received good response

At present FO-29 is available only when it is over Japan so that the control station can command the satellite, retrieve telemetry data, and analyze the results The receiver aboard FO-29 is used for both command and transponder operations When too many stations attempt to uplink they interfere with ground controllers efforts to command the satellite FO-29 controllers will advise when the satellite becomes available for general amateur radio use After this please do not attempt to uplink to FO-29 if you cannot copy its CW beacon

The fo29cwts exe telemetry decoding program was updated to Ver 2 4 this week CW telemetry copy/pasted into the decoder is displayed graphically Refer to the following pages to download the software:

http://www ne jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/90828f29 jpg http://www ne jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/fo29cwts zip

[ANS thanks Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL for the above information]

[ANS thanks all for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-242 02 AMSAT Space Symposium Registration

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 242 02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD August 30, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-242 02

You can now register online for the 2009 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting This year we are celebrating our 40th anniversary so please come and visit with old friends, listen to interesting presentations and enjoy our guest speaker, Dr Martin Collins Dr Collins who works at the the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum will talk on "Making the Space Age: The First Fifty Years" Online registration will disappear on October 5th so do not wait too long!

Don't forget your BOD Ballots-Due by Sept 15th !

[ANS thanks Martha for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-242 03 News From the Tokyo Ham Fair

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 242 03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD August 30, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-242 03

Hello (J)AMSATs,

Today was the last day of Tokyo Ham Fair, which was another great day like it was yesterday I was at the JAMSAT booth where I showed my small transponder design to the HAM people, which gave a lot off interest from all kinds of people Possibilities for future satellite have been created and people have been made interrested in doing satellite  communication

I had also the opertunity to meet a lot of people using the VO-52 satellite, on which is my transponder It is a great joy to see the satellite activities here on the other side of the globe (seen from my home in The Netherlands) I noticed that a lot of CW is used here Some people are doing city junting, which means they have their car build like a satellite station (incl rotor and elevation) and hop between satellite passes from one city to another, and try to make QSOs from as many cities as possible The car stations are real nice contructions, and of great ham spirit Very nice to see

There was also a list with number of contacts made for each satellite pass by one ham The highest number was on VO-52 with 42 QSO's for one pass (over Japan), 36 in CW and 6 in SSB Its really amazing, and it must have been done with very high time efficiency, and a very fast CW wrist hihi

It was a great time at the JAMSAT booth, and we had a nice after party with lot of JAMSAT members, and with delicious Japanese food My thanks for the great hospitality from the JAMSAT people, and thanks for the nice talks we had about satellites

73 de JA/PE1RAH William Leijenaar in Tokyo (till 28 August)

[ANS thanks William Leijenaar, JA/PE1RAH, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-242 04 ARISS Status - 24 August 2009

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 242 04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD August 30, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-242 04

  1. Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been made with Tenison Woods College in Mount Gambier, South Australia The contact was scheduled for Monday, August 24 at 07:19 UTC via telebridge station W6DUE in Maryland The contact has been integrated into the curriculum’s astronomy and physics units through participation in hands-on activities

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been accomplished with Volkssterrenwacht Urania in Hove, Antwerp, Belgium on Monday, August 24 at 11:30 UTC via t elebridge station VK4KHZ in Australia Urania is a public observatory that raises public awareness of astronomy, meteorology and astronautics A range of activities and services are available: lessons for beginners and the experienced, guided tours of the observatory, an extended d ocumentation center, various publications, stargazing evenings, conferences, Urania Mobile (Flanders' first mobile observatory) and the astroshop This "Space Talk" will boost activities at the start of the new season

2 Timothy Kopra Participates in ARISS Contact with KIPP:3D Academy

On Thursday, August 20, the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP:3D) Academy in Houston, Texas participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with Timothy Kopra, KE5UDN via telebridge station W6SRJ in California
All 18 prepared questions were answered with time for an additional two The audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW conference room servers

  1. ARISS Contact Held with Peruvian University

On Thursday, August 20, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held between Gennady Padalka, RN3DT on the ISS and participants in the international forum to discuss small satellite development and launch projects, held at the Peruvian National University of Lima in Lima, Peru Participants were delegates from different South American countries and technical university representatives from foreign countries Among the participants was the Kursk State Technical University delegate, Valery Pikkiev, who developed a space experiment for SuitSat-2 (ARISSat-1)

  1. Successful ARISS Contact with Scouts of Maur

The international year of astronomy inspired a few scout guides from Maur near Zürich, Switzerland, to create a special scout event, the Astrocamp 2009, where participants learn about astronomy and space technology, communication technologies, journalism and public relations One of the activities scheduled for the event was an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact between the Girl and Boy Scouts of Maur “Pfadimuur,” and Frank De Winne, ON1DWN on the ISS The contact took place on Saturday, August 22 Twelve questions were answered as an audience of approximately 100 listened Scouts, mass-media representatives, parents and interested parties were present
Television channel TELETOP, radio stations DRS-3, DRS-1 Regional, Radio Energy, Radio 24, Radio Zürichsee and the newspaper Sonntagsblick covered the event The audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW conference room servers

5 Thirsk Participates in ARISS Contact with Nova East Star Party

On Saturday, August 22, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact took place between the Nova East Star Party, sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Halifax Center in Nova Scotia, Canada and Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA, on the ISS Four hundred people witnessed the contact as Thirsk answered the 18 questions posed to him
Bell Aliant was present to record the event The Nova East Star Party is Atlantic Canada’s oldest and largest Star Party which draws both professional as well as amateur astronomers from the Atlantic Provinces, Quebec, Eastern Ontario and the New England States The focus of the event is public outreach and education Through daytime seminars and workshops and evening observing sessions, the public is introduced to the wonders of the night sky

  1. ARISS International Team Meeting Held

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) teleconference was held on Wednesday, August 19 SuitSat-2 ( now ARISSat-1) was among the topics discussed The minutes have been posted to the ARISS Web site See: http://www rac ca/ariss/arisstel2009-08-19 htm

  1. Make Magazine Posts SuitSat Article

Make Magazine published an article on Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) project, SuitSat-2 (now ARISSat-1) To view the story, go to: http://blog makezine com/archive/2009/08/suitsat_hacking_for_outer_space htm l

[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, Dee Interdonato, NB2F nb2f at amsat dot org


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



The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/[list]/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:[list_owner_email]>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

[physical_address]=

Forward to a Friend
 
  • This mailing list is a public mailing list - anyone may join or leave, at any time.
  • This mailing list is announce-only.

Radio Comm Report list. Deals with all modes of communications in the 150 KHz to 1300 MHz, including solar and atmospheric conditions.

Privacy Policy:

Private List