AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-174

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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

The news feed on http://www amsat org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor at amsat org

In this edition:

• 2013 Candidates for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors
• Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, Named AMSAT’s Director of Field Operations
• May/June AMSAT Journal in the Mail
• Merritt Island High School StangSat CubeSat First Flight
• Google Project Loon - 2400 / 5800 MHz

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-174 01 ANS-174 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 174 01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD June 23, 2013 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-174 01

2013 Candidates for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors

This year there are eight candidates running for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors The four candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as voting Board Members with two year terms The two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will be non-voting Alternate Board Members with terms of one year Please vote for no more than four candidates

Ballots will be mailed to members in good standing by July 15th, and must be returned to the AMSAT-NA office no later than the close of business on September 15th, 2013 If you have not received your ballot by August 1st, please contact the AMSAT Office Ballots sent to members outside North America are automatically sent via air mail It is suggested that they be returned the same way

AMSAT-NA Board candidates in alphabetical order by last name:

Barry Baines, WD4ASW Alan Biddle, WA4SCA Steve Coy, K8UD Frank Griffin, K4FEG Mark Hammond, N8MH Brian Klofas, KF6ZEO JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM Tony Monteiro, AA2TX

[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]

Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, Named AMSAT’s Director of Field Operations

AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW has announced the appointment of Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK as AMSAT’s new Director of Field Operations In his new capacity, Patrick is responsible for managing AMSAT’s corps of Area Coordinators (AC) who represent AMSAT in their local areas Area Coordinators serve as the “Ambassadors of AMSAT” which includes such activities as manning an AMSAT booth at hamfests, giving local/regional club presentations on AMSAT and satellite operations, and serving as “Elmers” to those looking for information about operating through satellites ACs are also known to establish local nets and assist with Field Day satellite activities

“Patrick is well qualified to lead AMSAT’s field organization having served as an Area Coordinator and representing AMSAT at many hamfests as well as giving club presentations,” notes Barry “His willingness to give satellite demonstrations at numerous hamfests has given many people their first experience in working the satellites He understands what is required to help build AMSAT awareness within the local amateur community “ Organizationally, Patrick will report to AMSAT VP-User Services Gould Smith, WA4SXM He will also work closely with AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW as Patrick begins the process of reviving the Field Ops organization At one time, over 100 AMSAT members were listed as Area Coordinators in the US and Canada However, the passing of Dee Interdonato, NB2F in 2012 has meant that the field organization has not received the attention that it deserves The loss of the AMSAT website in January 2013 also resulted in the loss of the “Field Operations Support System” (FOSS) which played a critical role in managing the field organization This capability will hopefully be restored in the near future on AMSAT’s revived website A key benefit of FOSS is the ability to share presentation materials and other documents for use by Area Coordinators as well as serving as a mechanism for individuals to reach out to Area Coordinators “I look forward to reviving the Field Organization and re-establishing a line of communication with those who want to represent AMSAT at the local level,” said Patrick “I will be reaching out to those that have assisted us in the past to ascertain their current level of interest in helping AMSAT as well as encouraging others to join our team ”

[ANS thanks AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW, for the above information]

May/June AMSAT Journal in the Mail

The May/June 2013 AMSAT Journal has been mailed Look for your issue to arrive soon!

With fifteen articles and columns in this edition, here is a sample of what you will find:

• AMSAT Announcements
• Apogee View by Barry Baines, WD4ASW
• Amateur Radio in Space Triggers Young Visitor by Maurice-André Vigneault, VE3VIG
• AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes by Alan Biddle, Corporate Secretary, WA4SCA
• AMSAT Field Day by Bruce Paige, KK5DO
• Working Earth-Moon-Earth with MAP65 and the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ by David A Palmer, KB5WIA
• AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations
• Interlock Timer Circuit Protects Your Preamps by Ronald G Parsons, W5RKN
• AMSAT Fox-2 MPPT Collaboration with EE Students at R I T
• AMSAT-NA 2013 Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Announcement
• Oscar Zero News by Bob DeVarney, W1ICW
• Cheap and Easy 2 2 to 2 3 GHz Bandpass Filter by John M Franke, WA4WDL
• April/May Cubesat Launches Summary
• NASA Announces AMSAT Fox-1 Launch Date
• AMSAT Shows Fox-1 at Dayton Hamvention

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

Merritt Island High School StangSat CubeSat First Flight

The StangSat CubeSat designed and built by students at the Merritt Island High School in Brevard County, Florida made its first flight on June 15 in the Mojave Desert in California The rocket was a Prospector-18D reusable liquid fueled rocket by Garvey Spacecraft Corporation

The purpose of this demonstration mission was to study the launch environment from liftoff to landing For this mission as well as a future orbital mission StangSat will fly with the California Poly- technic State University CP9 CubeSat StangSat carries two acceler- ometers to measure the amount of vibration in the Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD case that holds the cubesats during launch and then deploys them StangSat streams the vibration data in real time to the CP9 CubeSat using Wi-Fi CP9's radio transmits the vibra- tion data to earth stations

An additional goal of this demonstration flight was to demonstrate that wireless transmissions inside the P-POD are not going to harm the launch

NASA posted a video of the June 15 launch at: http://www youtube com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FQb7RiVDxcM

A NASA press release of the flight is at: http://www nasa gov/mission_pages/smallsats/elana/cubesatlaunchpreview html

A related article is also posted on SpaceRef com at: http://spaceref com/nasa-hack-space/cubesat-demo-flight-tests-technolo gies html

[ANS thanks SpaceRef com and NASA for the above information]

Google Project Loon - 2400 / 5800 MHz

Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by Google with the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas using High-Altitude Balloons (HAB) placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 20 km to create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds

The solar powered balloons are expected to stay aloft for over 100 days at a time and support not only air-to-ground Internet communications but also balloon-to-balloon communications enabling the signal to be relayed, if required, by several balloons to a ground-based station connected to an ISP, then onto the global Internet

Google plans to sending up 300 balloons transmitting on 2400 MHz and 5800 MHz around the world at the southern fortieth parallel that would provide coverage to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina The company hopes to eventually have thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20 km

The first 30 balloons are being launched from New Zealand see http://www nzherald co nz/nz/news/article cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10890750

Among those involved in the project is Erin King AK4JG, a student at MIT She was winner of the 2012 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award See a video of her earlier balloon project while still at high school and a video of her presentation ‘Launching Radios and Other Cool Stuff into the Stratosphere’ at http://amsat-uk org/2012/07/03/arnewsline-ham-of-the-year-erin-king-ak4jg/

Google Project Loon http://www google com/loon/

[ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA, 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