[ans] ANS-034 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

From: "[RADIOCOMM LIST]" <list.admin@aus-city.com>

Date: February 2nd 2013

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-034

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:

January/February 2013 AMSAT Journal at the Print Shop Now
Fox-1 Main Computer Engineering Prototype Comes Alive
AMSAT Website Recovery Update
Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2013
ESA Call for Proposals: FLY YOUR SATELLITE!
CQ Magazine Newsroom Space News
Eastern VHF-UHF-Microwave Conference April 26-27-28
Central States VHF Conference - July 25-28

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-034 01 ANS-034 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 034 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD February 3, 2013 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-034 01

January/February 2013 AMSAT Journal at the Print Shop Now

The January/February 2013 issue of the AMSAT Journal was sent to the print shop this week Look for your issue in your mailbox soon

In this issue you will find:

AMSAT Announcements with the SKN on OSCAR Results
Apogee View by Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Kline School "Out of This World Experience" Raises $6500 for AMSAT Fox
Minimalist Antenna Performance Analysis Using the ISS Downlink by Mark Spencer, WA8SME
Simple Roof Rafter Template by John M Franke, WA4WDL
Eyeball QSO With UT1FG/MM
October 2012 QST FT-817 SatCat Interface Available From ARRL
Be Aware of Your Surroundings by George Carr, WA5KBH
AMSAT Awards
OSCAR Zero News by Bob DeVarney, W1ICW
AMSAT-DC Workshop on Portable Satellite Ground Stations by Pat Kilroy, N8PK
Report From the 2012 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting
Special Symposium Visitor Hector Martinez, CO6CBF
AMSAT Thanks Our Prize Donors
2012 AMSAT Awards Citations

Thanks for all the help from our Journal Editorial Team: Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW/5; Mike Sedlak, K4ERA; Bernhard Jatzeck, VA6BMJ; Bill Hook, W3QBC, and Martha at the AMSAT Office

The AMSAT Journal is pleased to publish your articles and photos of satellite operations and all aspects of amateur radio in space Send your ideas and questions to journal@amsat org

[ANS thanks AMSAT Journal Editor JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM for the above information]

Fox-1 Main Computer Engineering Prototype Comes Alive

The Fox-1 development team is pleased to report that the first engineering model of the satellite's Integrated Housekeeping Unit (IHU) has been built Bdale Garbee, KB0G, performed the assembly work, and he was able to load and run the operating system on first power up on January 24, 2013

Meanwhile, the software team is hard at work getting drivers and features ready to fully test the hardware They have committed to a March delivery of software for IHU testing

[ANS thanks the Fox-1 Engineering Team for the above information]

AMSAT Website Recovery Update

As previously reported, the www amsat org web site was attacked and the contents of the supporting database stolen The motivation of the attacker is not clear, but the breach could have allowed posting arbitrary content on the site or other mischief Out of an abundance of caution, the database was shut down, disabling the main page as well as some other site features

In response to the incident, nascent plans for a web site replacement were implemented A Wordpress content management system was put in place with links to the portions of the site that do not rely on the compromised database Wordpress was selected since its developers share AMSAT's open source ideals, and it is well known for easy editing and content creation without the need for programming skills

Much work remains to be done to fully restore content, as well as properly archive historical information Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, is coordinating the web site rebuilding effort, and seeks volunteers to help create new content, salvage old content and replace features such as satellite tracking, status

Familiarity with word processing is all that is needed for a volunteer to become immediately productive in this effort Please contact Joe at jfitzgerald at alum dot wpi dot edu

[ANS thanks Joe, KM1P, for the above information]

Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2013

Since 1971, ARRL has held an informal "Straight Key Night" (SKN) on the HF bands every January 1st (UTC) In 1973, the weekly 75-meter AMSAT net happened to fall on New Year's Eve (January 1, 1974 UTC), and a few of us on the net said "Why don't we go on the satellite - there was only one in those days, AO-6 - with our straight keys?" SKN on OSCAR was born

It became an annual AMSAT-sponsored event in 1992, and we began ask- ing participants to nominate someone they worked for Best Fist The first winner was Vic Politi, W1NU, who also holds Satellite DXCC Num- ber 3

Since then, OSCAR SKN activity has generally fluctuated with satel- lite activity in general It's been down a bit the last couple of years since the loss of AO-51, but an enthusiastic group of CW oper- ators, and friends, look forward to SKN every year and wouldn't miss it SKN on OSCAR 2013 was held in memory of one of those, John Thomp- son, W1BIH/PJ9JT, who passed away in 2012

The following participants each received at least one Best Fist nom- ination: AA5PK, JM1LRA, JO3MQY, JR0EFE, K9QHO, N5AFV, WA6ARA, WA6KBH, and WA7QXU

If you haven't yet tried SKN on OSCAR, a fun experience awaits See you next year!

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

ESA Call for Proposals: FLY YOUR SATELLITE!

Fly Your Satellite! is an exciting new initiative from the European Space Agency (ESA) Education and Knowledge Management Office It is focused on CubeSat projects run by university students and builds on the successful CubeSats for the Vega Maiden Flight pilot programme, which culminated in 2012 with the launch of seven university student-built CubeSats on board the Vega Maiden Flight

In the future, this new initiative is intended to cover the complete development process of a satellite from concept to launch However, the 2013 edition will be dedicated to teams whose satellite is already at an advanced stage of development and able to complete the Flight Model assembly by June 2013 One, two or three-unit CubeSats are eligible

The opportunity will be open to European university teams from ESA Member States or Cooperating States:

ESA Member States Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
ESA cooperating States Canada, Estonia, Hungary, and Slovenia
The deadline for submitting proposals is 01 March 2013

Further information on the ESA website at http://www esa int/Education/Call_for_Proposals_Fly_Your_Satellite

CQ Magazine Newsroom Space News

This week the CQ Magazine Newsroom (http://cqnewsroom blogspot com/) published AMSAT and amateur radio in space news articles covering:

AMSAT Website Hacked, Taken Offline
AMSAT Receives Matching Fund Challenge for Fox Contributions
Visual CW Plans Thwarted by Moon
Morse Code from the Sky
Space Station Calling
Huge Audience for ARISS Contact

[ANS thanks CQ Magazine for the above information]

Eastern VHF-UHF-Microwave Conference April 26-27-28

Registration is now open for the 39th Annual Eastern VHF-UHF-Micro- wave Conference April 26-27-28 at the Baymont Suites in Manchester, CT (near Hartford, CT) To register and to find more information go to: http://www newsvhf com/vhfconf html

Some features of the Conference include:

Talks and presentations
Vendors
Flea markets and Auction
Test lab by Greg Bonaguide of Rohde & Schwarz
Banquet

Registration is $25 by April 10, $30 after April 10 and at the door

"Newcomers" Special Registration for those who've NOT been to any VHF+ Conference before and not ever been a member of NEWS or Pack- rats or any Weak Signal Group may register by Email or Snail Mail for $10 by April 10 and $15 after April 10 and at the door Mail to: Steve Simons, W1SMS, PO Box 8066, New Fairfield, CT, 06812

Saturday Night Dinner Banquet $28 -- must register for banquet before April 17

Sponsored by: North East Weak Signal Group (NEWS) Questions? Contact K1MAP, WZ1V, W1GHZ, or N1JFU or Email Mark, K1MAP: map1@mapinternet com

[ANS thanks the North East Weak Signal Group for the above information]

Central States VHF Conference - July 25-28

The 2013 Central States VHF Conference will be held July 25-28 near Chicago in Elk Grove Village, IL at the Elk Grove Holiday Inn, 1000 Busse Road

Conference registration will open in February The hotel has begun accepting reservations under the group code "VHF" on their website To access the special rate please click on group code on the left side of the page and enter "VHF" at: http://www holidayinn com/hotels/us/en/elk-grove-village/chieg/hotelde tail

Conference features include:

Talks and Presentations
Antenna Test Range
Rover Row
Banquet keynote speaker is Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, CEO of the American Radio Relay League

[ANS thanks the Central States VHF Society 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 addi- tional benefits Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office

Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu- dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership information

73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org

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

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