Date: December 6th 2010

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-339

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: * ARISSat Status * UO-11 Report * STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT ON OSCAR 2011 * Satellite Shorts * ARISS Status - 29 November 2010

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-339 01 ARISSat Status

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 339 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD December 3rd, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-339 01

ARISSat and the backup unit are in Germany, they are schedulted for delivery to Moscow on Saturday We will know Tuesday if there were any problems getting them through customs Lou McFadin, W5DID and Mark Steiner, K3MS will be heading to Moscow on the 10th of December to assist with integration and testing of the Kursk experiment and battery
The schedule still has ARISSat going to the ISS via a Progress vehicle in late January 2011 and release from the ISS in late February 2011

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-332 02 UO-11 Report

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 332 02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD December 5th, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-332 02

This report covers the period from 29 October to 30 November 2010 During this time the satellite has been heard from 30 October to 09 November and 19 to 29 November At the time of writing it is is expected to switch-on 10 December

Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames

The satellite is now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery

The on-board clock is now very stable It gained eight seconds during November This is comparable with its accuracy when the satellite was fully operational, when it gained approximately one minute per year However, there is still an accumulated loss of 309 days, which has occurred during eclipses of the last few years

Operation during eclipses and stability of the on-board clock suggest that some part of the system may have recently failed 'open circuit' thus reducing the overall power drain of the system, and allowing more power to be available during eclipses When analogue telemetry was last transmitted, an unexplained current drain was observed This fault may have cleared

The Beacon frequencies are -

VHF 145 826 MHz AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry

UHF 435 025 MHz OFF

S-band 2401 5 MHz OFF

Reception reports have been received from Gene WA4UKX, Horatio CX8AF, David G8OQW and Michael M0MPM/PA3BHE Many thanks for those and to everyone who posted reports on the satellite status website

At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports by e-mail However, could you continue to enter reports on the general satellite status website This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest The URL is http://oscar dcarr org/index php

OSCAR-11 transmits on 145 826 MHz , set receiver to NBFM The satellite has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending "di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah" sent over a period of five seconds If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency and should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband

Please note that you need a clean noise-free signal to decode the signals, and your receiver must be set to NBFM mode, for a decoder to work

If you need to know what OSCAR-11 sounds like, there is an audio clip on my website www g3cwv co uk/ which may be useful for identification and as a test signal for decoding

The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed The status channels 60 to 67 are still working The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, but is now incrementing accurately to within a few seconds per month The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates The time display has switched into 12 hour mode Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode

The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed

The watchdog timer operates on a 20 day cycle The ON/OFF times have tended to be very consistent The average of many observations have shown this to be 20 7 days, ie 10 35 days ON followed by 10 35 days OFF

Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website If you need to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to hear The last telemetry received from the satellite is available for download The website contains an archive of news & telemetry data which is updated from time to time It also contains details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture There is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry The URL is www g3cwv co uk

73 Clive G3CWV

[ANS thanks Clive, G3CWV for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-339 03 STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT ON OSCAR 2011

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 339 03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD December 5th, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-339 03

STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT ON OSCAR 2011

You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2011, conducted by AMSAT for radio amateurs throughout the world

This year's event is dedicated to the memory of Dick Peacock, W2GFF, who died in 2010 aged 91 Dick was an active satellite operator in the 1970s and 1980s, mostly on CW and usually with a straight key He was also active on 50 MHz and the HF bands, and could always be counted on for a kind word and a friendly QSO

There are no rules, no scoring and no logs required Just operate CW on any OSCAR satellite, using a straight hand key, from 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC on 1 January 2011, working as many SKN stations as you can

In keeping with the friendly nature of this event, each participant is asked to nominate one of the operators worked for "Best Fist " It is not necessary that your nominee have the best fist of anyone you heard, just of those you worked Please send your nomination to W2RS via email at w2rs@amsat org, Those nominated will be recognized in an ANS bulletin to be published in early February, and in The AMSAT Journal

[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-339 04 Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 339 04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD December 5th, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-339 04 Satellite Shorts From All Over

Look for Drew, KO4MA operating on the satellites from the area around NASA Stennis and Slidell, Louisiana This is a work trip so operating time will be limited to free time in the evenings Drew said he favors transponder satellite operating over FM so look for him on SSB 20 KHz or more above the center of the pass- band He will return QSL 100% with SASE He will be enroute to Stennis from Tampa on December 6
The Zooniverse started the Zooniverse Advent Calendar, similar to the one-a-day-chocolate-treat calendars we all love, but this calendar includes a surprise each day such as special images, downloads and even a couple of very big pieces of space news: http://www zooniverse org/advent

The Boston Globe's Big Picture has their third annual Advent Calendar of Hubble Pictures: http://tinyurl com/232ssyj

If you'd like to send an e-card specifically to the astronauts on board the International Space Station, NASA has a website just for you: http://www nasa gov/externalflash/postcard/

You can send Chandra X-Ray Observatory E-Cards with a holiday theme from: http://tinyurl com/27lf8s2

The Space Science Institute invites you to investigate their selection of e-cards at: http://www spaceweathercenter org/ecard/01/gallery php

If you love Hubble, and want to send space-themed holiday cards the folks from the Hubble Space Telescope have a great collection of beautiful cards you can download, and send The cards are des- igned to be printed out at photo stores or online photo labs, though you can also use a home printer See: http://hubblesite org/gallery/holiday/
The next Hudson Valley Satcom Net is Thursday December 9 at 8PM EST (UTC - 5) on the 146 970 MHz Mt Beacon ARC Repeater The Echolink node N2EYH-L will also be carrying the net More information is on-line at: http://www hvsatcom org or E-Mail wa2aqh@amsat org

The date for next year's Mt Beacon ARC "Beaconfeste" is Sunday April 10, 2011 at Tymor Park in Central Dutchess County, NY More information is available on-line at: http://www wr2abb org/home/ (Stu, WA2BSS)
NASA Television will provide live coverage of the prelaunch news conference for the COTS 1 Falcon 9 launch Monday, Decemeber 6, at 1:30 p m The first SpaceX Falcon 9 demonstration launch for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program is targeted for liftoff on Tuesday, Dec 7 Liftoff will occur from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida The launch window extends from 9:03 a m to 12:22 p m EST If necessary, launch opportunities also are available on Dec 8 and Dec 9 with the same window (SpaceDaily com)
Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV reminds users that the SO67 sched- ule is posted at http://www amsatsa org za It changes weekly with the Americas the first week of the month, Europe the second week, Middle East/India the third week and Australia and Japan fourth week Special requests with time in UTC should be sent to: saamsat@intekom co za

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-339 05 ARISS Status - 29 November 2010

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 339 05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD December 5th, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-339 05

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report November 29, 2010

Italian Students Question Astronaut via ARISS

On Wednesday, November 24, on-orbit astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with students attending the Istituto Leopardi - Liceo classico e scientifico in Lecco, Lecco, Italy The activity was the high point of the school's curriculum which included astronautics, astronomy, radio and English Approximately 200 students, teachers and guests were present for the event and listened as Wheelock answered 13 questions posed by the youth Video streamed on the Web received over 100 connections ESA covered the contact in an article posted to its Web site See: http://www esa int/esaCP/SEMSPVFMTGG_Italy_0 html

Video of Wheelock Working Ground Stations

Doug Wheelock had a video made while on-orbit in which he gives a tour of the ISS as well as of the amateur radio station He demonstrates what it is like for an astronaut to handle general contacts with multiple ground stations calling at the same time AMSAT included this news in its November 28 ANS report: http://amsat org/pipermail/ans/2010/000464 html

The video has been posted to YouTube See: http://www youtube com/watch?v=h73EYcyszf8

[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

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