AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-009

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: * OSCAR SKN Best Fist Nominations Are Due * AO-51 Power Management Update * SO-67 Repeater to Resume Operations * ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf-V Update * Satellite Meeting in South Africa * OSCAR-11 REPORT 31 December 2010 * Satellite Presentation at Murray State University, KY * ARISS School Contacts Resume for 2011 * AMSAT-UK's John Heaton, G1YYH Silent Key * Vietnam CubeSat to Launch in 2011

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-009 01 OSCAR SKN Best Fist Nominations Are Due

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 009 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD January 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-009 01

Ray, W2RS thanks all who participated in AMSAT's Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2011 Please remember to nominate someone you worked for 'Best Fist ' Your nominee need not have the best fist of those you heard, just of those you worked Nominations should be sent to w2rs@amsat org A list of those nominated will be published in ANS in early February, and in a forthcoming issue of The AMSAT Journal

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

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-009 02 AO-51 Power Management Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 009 02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD January 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-009 02

Mark Hammond, N8MH notes that AO-51's power management feature has been operational now that this satellite is entering eclipses and its batteries cannot maintain full power when the solar panels are not being illuminated

Mark noted, "The good news is that eclipses are pretty short right now and are occurring at early local time in the Northern Hemisphere So many aren't even awake yet Looking longer term--by early March 2011 we will have a period of full sun again, that lasts a couple of months Then we are back into eclipses for a long, long--and we'll have ecli- pses that will get up to 30 minutes in length! If that's over your QTH, that means you can't work AO-51 potentially for a whole pass Final operating details remain to be determined to see exactly what the orbit and eclipses will look like at that time "

Mark has posted a file at: http://tinyurl com/2358a3x (amsat org) captured during the January 4 solar eclipse You can see the normal eclipses of AO-51 every 100 mins (just over 14 times each day) Now, look right in the middle--see what is a double dip? That a normal eclipse AND an extra one from the partial solar eclipse

The AO-51 Command Team requests that users continue to post their observations of AO-51's operating condition on the Live OSCAR Satel- lite Status Page: http://oscar dcarr org/index php

Keep up to date with the latest Command Team and Operations Group AO-51 News at: http://www amsat org/amsat-new/echo/CTNews php

[ANS thanks Mark, N8MH, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-009 03 SO-67 Repeater to Resume Operations

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 009 03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD January 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-009 03

With the troublesome controller reprogrammed it is hoped that Sumbandila will resume its repeater schedule next week

Four passes over South Africa during the evening of 8 January will be scheduled as a test Please report your observations at David Carr's live OSCAR status page: http://oscar dcarr org/

The weekly schedule will be published at http://amsatsa org za/ once full operations resume

[ANS thanks Johann, ZR1CBC, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-009 04 ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf-V Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 009 04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD January 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-009 04

The ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf-V team has faced a number of challenges since the two amateur radio experiments were crated and shipped to NASA Johnson Center in early October

However, Gould Smith, AMSAT's ARISSat-1 project manager recently told ANS that, "We are very pleased to report that the flight unit and backup arrived in Moscow on December 8th, 2010 and were delivered to RSC-Energia in Moscow on December 29th, 2010 We now understand that the Russian team is working on testing and integrating the Kursk Experiment and Silver-Zinc battery into the flight unit during their Russian Orthodox Christmas holidays " Gould went on to note that the flight unit is still scheduled to fly to the Baikonur Cosmodrome on January 11th, 2011 where it will be attached to Progress vehicle 41P The Progress vehicle is scheduled to launch up to the ISS at the end of January

Once ARISSat-1 is on board the ISS, crew members will re-attach the handles, install the battery, replace the dummy loads with the real antennas and perform a quick power-on test The Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) to deploy the satellite is still scheduled for the end of February 2011

Needless to say, the ARISSat-1 team is excited about all the effort being made by RSC-Energia to complete integration, and remains cautiously optimistic that all will continue to go according to schedule

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

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-009 05 Satellite Meeting in South Africa

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 009 05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD January 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-009 05

Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNS, will be anchoring a meeting on satellites on Saturday 15 January beginning at 10AM at South Africa's National Amateur Radio Centre

Learn more about operating amateur radio satellites, how to build a simple satellite antenna, how to track and all the ins and outs of this fascinating part of Amateur Radio

Find out how you can get involved in the SA AMSAT CubeSat project

The NARC is situated at Sender Technology Park, Octave Road, Radiokop, Roodepoort

[ANS thanks the SouthGateARC News Site for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-009 06 OSCAR-11 REPORT 31 December 2010

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 009 06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD January 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-009 06

At the present time OSCAR-11 (AKA UO-11 or UoSAT-2) is now in a very stable and predictable mode of operation Between the period of November 30 to December 31, 2010 the satellite has been heard from December 10-20 and again is on since December 31 It is ex- pected to switch-off on January 10, 2011 under control of its inter- nal timer

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 seven seconds during December

The VHF beacon frequency is 145 826 MHz AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry

Reception reports have been received from Horatio CX8AF, John KB2HSH, Francisco PY9FP and Mike DK3WN Many thanks for those and to everyone who posted reports on the satellite status website

If you hear UO-11 please post the information on the Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page: http://oscar dcarr org/index php Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest

At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way Clive, G3CWV no longer needs direct reports or files by e-mail Visit Clive's UO-11 web page http://www g3cwv co uk/oscar11 htm for links to a full UO-11 status report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and a file of the last telemetry received The website also contains an archive of news & telemetry data which is updated from time to time, and details about using a sound card or hardware demodulators for data capture There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry

[ANS thanks Clive, G3CWV, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-009 07 Satellite Presentation at Murray State University, KY

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 009 07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD January 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-009 07

AMSAT area coordinator Clint Bradford, K6LCS, will be presenting his "Working Amateur Satellites With Your HT" session at the February 1, 2011 meeting of the Murray State University Amateur Radio Club ALL are welcome to attend

"MSUARC has been serving their region for fifty years," writes Clint "I am really looking forward to meeting the group!"

(Wait a sec - isn't Clint in California? What is he doing in Kentucky? Too many frequent flier miles?)

Clint's out in Southern California - but has prepared a custom slide show for MSUARC, which will be displayed as Skype handles the session's audio "I'd much rather be there in person - but this arrangement has worked quite successfully in the past We'll have a great time!"

Clint has full information on his web page: http://www work-sat com

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

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-009 08 ARISS School Contacts Resume for 2011

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 009 08 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD January 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-009 08

ARISS Operations Team Mentor Charlie Sufana, AJ9N noted that the school contact schedule is being resumed following the recent crew change on board the International Space Station The Expedition 26 crew current on orbit includes Dmitry Kondratyev, Catherine G Coleman, KC5ZTH and Paolo Nespoli, IZØJPA

The first school contact occurred on Saturday, January 8 with the Uni- versità degli studi di Bari "Cittadella Mediterranea della Scienza", Bari, Ba, Italy, direct via IZ7EVR

Additional school contacts continue with this planned schedule:

Wednesday January 12 08:08:20 UTC Tsutsujigaoka Minami Elementary School in Akishima City (Tokyo), Japan, direct via 8J1TME

Wednesday January 12 10:54:52 UTC Istituto Comprensivo Marco Polo-Viani Scuola Secondaria 1° Grado, Viareggio, Lucca, Italy, and Istituto Suore Mantellate, Viareggio, Lucca, Italy direct via IZ5PVC Simulcast on: http://www versiliawebtv it/streaming/reteversilia html

Saturday January 15 09:02:16 UTC Istituto Comprensivo Via Toscana 2 Civitavecchia, Roma, Italy, direct via IKØWGF Simulcast on: http://www livestream com/AMSAT_Italia

The Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 565

ARISS has posted a frequency chart for packet, voice, and cross band repeater modes showing Doppler correction at: http://www amsat org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_ correction rtf (careful with the line wrap)

Finally, astronauts Michael Fossum, KF5AQG, and Satoshi Furukawa, KE5DAW, are scheduled for ARISS prebrief sessions this month Both are scheduled to fly with Expedition 28 in June 2011

[ANS thanks ARISS Mentor Charlie, AJ9N, and Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-009 09 AMSAT-UK's John Heaton, G1YYH Silent Key

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 009 09 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD January 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-009 09

AMSAT-UK Hon Sec Jim G3WGM wrote, "It is with a heavy heart that I have to report the death of AMSAT-UK committee member John Heaton, G1YYH He died in hospital in Manchester UK on Christmas Eve, having been admitted two weeks earlier He had not been well for several months prior to his death "

"John was the AMSAT-UK Webmaster for many years, and a regular attender at the annual AMSAT-UK Colloquium He always gave his time and consid- erable expertise very generously He will be terribly missed by his friends and colleagues He was a real gentleman "

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and Jim, G3WGM, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-009 10 Vietnam CubeSat to Launch in 2011

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 009 10 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD January 9, 2011 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-009 10

Satellite news carried on the SouthGateARC news site reported that a Vietnamese Amateur Radio CubeSat, F-1, is slated for launch towards the end of next year

The F-1 CubeSat will carry 2 independent transceivers (Yaesu VX-3R & MHX L400) using amateur radio 145 and 437MHz bands The transmission speed will be 1200bps and higher using FM AFSK & GMSK modulation, AX 25, KISS protocol It will carry a low resolution C328 camera with 640x480 resolution

The IARU satellite frequency coordination committee have agreed a down- link frequency of 437 485MHz and it is hoped to launch in the 4th quarter of 2011

Vietnam F-1 CubeSat on Facebook http://www facebook com/group php?gid=116436068290

F-1 on IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination pages http://www amsatuk me uk/iaru/ finished_detail php?serialnum=150

[ANS thanks the SouthGateARC News site 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, wishing everyone a happy new year, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os 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:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/RADIOCOMM_LIST/example/example com/

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]=