[ans] ANS-006 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-006
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
You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www amsat org/mailman/listinfo/ans
In this edition:
- Recurring Donations Feature Added to AMSAT org
- D-STAR ONE Launched, Telemetry Received
- Ham Talk Live Podcast Featuring W6RO Satellite Operation
- PW-Sat2 Deorbit Sail Deployment - On-Board Camera Footage
- JAMSAT NEXUS V/U Mode-J CubeSat Scheduled to Launch January 17
- Australian National Scout Jamboree - AJ2019
- DL50AMSAT Callsign IG HamSpirit Satellite Weekend January 18-20
- VUCC Awards-Endorsements for December 2018
- AMSAT South Africa Dual-Band VHF/UHF Yagi
- Upcoming Satellite Operations
- AMSAT at Thunderbird Hamfest in Glendale AZ, 12 January 2019
- Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-006 01 ANS-006 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 006 01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD DATE January 6, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-006 01
Recurring Donations Feature Added to AMSAT org
Would you like to donate to AMSAT and/or ARISS but can only afford a little at a time? Even small amounts help, especially as they add up over time! You can now use AMSAT’s recurring donations on the new donation portal at https://www amsat org/donations/
This is a great way for everyone to donate $5-10 a month over time to make a significant contribution
Thank you for helping keep amateur radio in space
[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information]
D-STAR ONE Launched, Telemetry Received
German Orbital Systems reports a successful telemetry downlink has been received Their web page http://www d-star one/ reports D-Star ONE Sparrow and D-Star ONE iSat were successfully launched on Dec- ember 27 as part of an ECM smallsat cluster on the Soyuz-2/Fregat from Russia's Vostochny launch site Additional details can be found at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-006-DSTAR-ONE
During the first orbits, beacons were received in the US, Germany, Czech Republic and Belarus, confirming the successful separations of the satellites on their target orbit 585 km, 97 73 deg, SSO
D-Star ONE Sparrow and D-Star ONE iSat are a pair of 3U cubesats which are equipped with four identical radio modules with D-Star capabilities, all being operated in a half-duplex mode At press time DSTAR One Sparrow was planned to be used for amateur radio
DK3WN received the first telemetry on December 29, 2018 with more signals received by Scott, K4KDR and Vladimir, EU1SAT Check the German Orbital Systems web page for LEOP status and satellite availability for contacts
D-Star ONE Sparrow operates as a half duplex repeater: Callsign: DP1GOS Uplink: 437 325 MHz Downlink: 435 525 MHz RF-Power: 800-1200 mW Telemetry: 435 700 MHz 4k8 GMSK Mobitex (CMX990 Mobitex Format)
The telemetry format is documented at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-006-DSTAR-ONE-Telemetry A telemetry decoder is available at: http://www dk3wn info/p/?page_id=29535
Technical details for radio amateurs is posted at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-006-DSTAR-ONE-Amateur
A D-Star voice message beacon transmits once a minute All mod- ules are operated in a power save mode This means that they are in idle for 40 seconds and then in receive mode for 20 seconds Once a signal has been received, the modules switch to receive mode for five minutes So it might be necessary to "ping" the satellite a couple of times until an answer is received Object
43879 continues to be a likely fit for tracking at present
[ANS thanks German Orbital Systems for the above information]
Ham Talk Live Podcast Featuring W6RO Satellite Operation
If you missed the January 3 Ham Talk Live show featuring Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, Endaf Buckley, N6UTC, and David Akins, N6HHR, discussing amateur radio and satellite operation on the RMS Queen Mary you can play back a recording of this episode at: https://www spreaker com/show/ham-talk-live then select Episode 147 - Aboard the Queen Mary, W6RO
Patrick and Endaf recently made a trip to the ship to do satel- lite operations, so they will report on that special event David will fill us in on the history of the ship's radio room and the routine amateur radio operations from W6RO
Ham Talk Live is also available as a podcast on nearly all podcast sites: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, SoundCloud, and iHeart Podcasts; and it's also available on YouTube
[ANS thanks Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, and Ham Talk Live for the above information]
PW-Sat2 Deorbit Sail Deployment - On-Board Camera Footage
PW-Sat2, the second Polish student satellite, also launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 SSO-A flight with AMSAT Fox-1Cliff, is a student project with the goal to test a new deorbit sail The sail was deployed on December 29, 2018 On-Board camera footage of the event can be viewed at: https://www youtube com/watch?v=9fbMzI9w4MM
Amateur radio operators are invited to take part in this mission Dashboard software to receive, decode and upload PW-Sat2 frames to the PW-Sat2 cloud is available on their website: https://radio pw-sat pl/
The team has posted additional information at: https://github com/PW-Sat2/HAMRadio/wiki
PW-Sat2 transmits on 435 275 MHz using 1k2 and 9k6 BPSK AX25
[ANS thanks the PW-Sat2 team for the above information]
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ For a limited time, new and renewing AMSAT members will receive a free digital copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Join or renew your AMSAT membership today at https://www amsat org/product-category/amsat-membership/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
JAMSAT NEXUS V/U Mode-J CubeSat Scheduled to Launch January 17
The Japan AMSAT Association (JAMSAT) and students at the Nippon University are jointly developing a CubeSat called NEXUS which will have a 145 to 435 MHz (Mode-J) transponder and a 38 kbps data downlink
Nippon University students have previously developed the SEEDS and SPROUT satellites NEXUS is an acronym of “Next Education X (cross) Unique Satellite”, it will be 1U CubeSat with a mass of between 1 and 1 5 kg
The NEXUS cubesat will: + Provide amateur radio communications via the 145/435 MHz transponder and SSTV + Download pictures from the 640×480 pixel camera + Operate the data downlink at 38400 bps QPSK + Compare the performance of the data downlink when using AFSK, GMSK and QPSK modes
NEXUS will be launched from the JAXA Uchinoura Space Center located in Kagoshima Prefecture on January 17, 2019 (JST) aboard an Epsilon rocket together with OrigamiSat-1 and AOBA-Velox-IV into a 500 km sun sync- hronous orbit
Linear transponder
Uplink: 145 900-145 930 MHz (CW/LSB) Downlink: 435 880-435 910 MHz (CW/USB) CW/Data: 435 900 MHz & 437 075 MHz Callsign: JS1YAV
Separation from the rocket is planned for T + 4100 seconds after launch at which time NEXUS will be powered on CW telemetry infor- mation will commence transmission 16 minutes, 40 seconds following power up
The NEXUS team has posted a PDF document in English describing the planned initial operations, telemetry format, and preliminary TLEs at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-006-Nexus-Initial-Ops
NEXUS website in Google English http://tinyurl com/NEXUS-Satellite
NEXUS Blog http://tinyurl com/NEXUS-Sat-Blog
JAMSAT in Google English http://tinyurl com/JAMSAT
Read the AMSAT-UK posting at: https://amsat-uk org/2014/08/24/nexus-cubesat-mode-j-transponder/
[ANS thanks JAMSAT and Nippon University for the above information ]
Australian National Scout Jamboree - AJ2019
Between January 4-14, 2019, 8400 Scouts from every Australian state plus representatives from 18 nations will converge in Tailem Bend in South Australia to participate in the 25th Australian Scout Jamboree - AJ2019 Their special event station will be active using VI25AJ
The special event station is expecting to showcase Amateur Radio to approximately 2000 scouts over the duration of the Jamboree
They will be active on the satellites as well as HF bands (SSB and digital modes), IRLP and EchoLink
They are looking for amateurs to give them a call during the Jamboree to help give the scouts an amazing experience - and perhaps take up the hobby on their return home
Full schedule, modes and planned frequencies will be posted at: https://www qrz com/db/vi25aj
[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information ]
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AMSAT and ARISS are currently supporting a FundRazr campaign to raise $150,000 for critical radio infrastructure upgrades on ISS The upgrades are necessary to enable students to continue to talk to astronauts in space via Amateur Radio We have reached a great milestone with $16,795 raised or about 10% towards our goal This would not have been possible without your outstanding generosity!!
For more information and to DONATE TODAY visit:
https://fundrazr com/arissnextgen?ref=ab_e7Htwa_ab_47IcJ9
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DL50AMSAT Callsign IG HamSpirit Satellite Weekend January 18-20
The IG HamSpirit Satellite Weekend January 18-20 will feature the new AMSAT-DL callsign DL50AMSAT on the air from Saxony on the Czech border Also planned are antenna construction and testing projects and testing satellite tracking programs on a variety of operating systems
IG HamSpirit hosts several radio events during the year with this event dedicated to amateur satellite operating AMSAT-DL says you can track the event on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag
satelliteweekend
[ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information]
VUCC Awards-Endorsements for December 2018
Ron, W5RKN has provided the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period December 1, 2018 through January 1, 2019 Congratulations to all those who made the list this month!
CALL 01Dec 01Jan
KO4MA 1627 1656 WC7V 1159 1160 W5RKN 634 660 WD9EWK 513 525 NS3L 350 375 PV8DX 313 360 AE5B 300 342 N3GS 300 332 K8BL 252 257 PT9BM 176 203 AD0HJ 175 200 KK4YEL 102 200 N7AGF 175 200 K9UO 150 175 AD0DX 101 167 W4AQT 125 153 PU8RFL 134 146 PS8MT 130 145 PU8MRS 100 127 LW2DAF 110 115 WD9EWK(DM23) New 104 F6GLJ New 103 WI4T New 101 AI9IN New 100
If you find errors or omissions please contact Ron off-list at
Thanks to all those who are roving to grids that are rarely on the birds They are doing most of the work!
[ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN for the above information]
AMSAT South Africa Dual-Band VHF/UHF Yagi
News from South Africa announces AMSAT SA is offering a dual-band VHF/UHF antenna AMSAT SA is indebted to Dr Gary Immelman ZS6YI who has donated 200 units with all proceeds going to the AMSAT SA Kletskous and AfriCUBE projects
The antenna has two elements on 145 MHz and 3 elements on 435 MHz The Yagi has a unique element called a 'Open Sleeve' which is a director very close to the driven element The driven element is sized for 2M When operating on 70cm the 'Open Sleeve' acts as part of the driven element on 70cm (Third harmonic of 2M)
The original concept was developed in 1946 by Dr J T Bolljahn of the Stanford Research institute but was not introduced into amateur radio until the 1950s The AMSAT SA version is based on a design by DK7ZB with modifications by WB5CXC
The first South African version was a collaboration between Guy Eales, ZS6GUY and Dr Gary Immelman, ZS6YI It was developed for YOTA 2018 where young people successfully used the antenna oper- ating satellites using hand-held transceivers
Although currently only available in South Africa, interested ama- teur radio operators can access detailed specifications and photos at: http://www amsatsa org za/DualbandYagi htm
[ANS thanks AMSAT SA for the above information]
Upcoming Satellite Operations
Central California (CM95, CM96, DM05, DM06, DM07, DM08, DM17, DM18) January 5-6, 2019 - Ron, AD0DX will be roving in Central California He plans to activate the DM06/DM16 grid line Saturday morning, the DM 07/DM08/DM17/DM18 grid corner Saturday afternoon, and the CM95/CM96/DM05/DM06 grid corner on Sunday Keep an eye on the @ad0dx Twitter feed for more updates https://twitter com/ad0dx
Super Road Trip (Wyoming to Tennessee to Florida to Wyoming) January 9, 2019 until he gets back home - Starting Jan 9, RJ, WY7AA, will be travelling from Wyoming to Tennessee to Florida, to New York and back to Wyoming, staying approximately 10 days in each place and activating grids whenever he can - First stop Tennessee – EM86, and will try roving to EM85, EL87, EL96 - Next on to Florida – EL98, and will try roving to EL88, EL89, EL99 - Next on to New York – FN02, and try try roving to FN01, FN03, FN11, FN12, FN13 Travelling between each place, RJ will try to stop and work as he can, but putting down miles will take priority most often In addition, RJ will be trying to operate mobile from time to time FM birds for sure, but will be trying to learn linears while on the trip Specific pass announcements will be posted to his Twitter feed: (https://twitter com/WY7AA) and to the AMSAT-bb reflector
Central California (CM95, CM96, DM05, DM06) – January 12, 2019 David, AD7DB, will be in the area of Kettleman City CA near a convergence of four grids, operating on FM satellites Grids (maybe gridlines) will depend on the satellite passes Operation expected from 1700 UTC through 2300 UTC Updates will be on Twitter as the time approaches: https://twitter com/ad7db
Quartzfest Arizona (DM23) – January 19-27, 2019 John, N7JY, will be operating FM satellites on a holiday schedule He may also visit some adjoining grids There will likely be other hams operating from the event, located a few miles south of Quartzsite AZ QSL via LOTW, or you can send your card with SASE
Las Vegas NV and Northwest AZ (DM25, DM26, DM36) – January 20-22, 2019 David, AD7DB, will be in Las Vegas at DM25/26 line, operating on FM satellites on a holiday schedule In addition, weather permitting, sometime on Monday 01/21/19 he will make a side trip to Beaver Dam AZ to activate from DM36aw Updates will be on Twitter as the time approaches: https://twitter com/ad7db
Nevada (DM15, DM16, DM17, DM18, DM25, DM26, DM27, DM28, DM37, DM36) February 8-11, 2019 - Casey KI7UNJ and Jonathan KI5BEX are planning a joint roving trip to Nevada Planned activations include the DM15/16/25/26 grid corner Friday morning, the DM16/26 gridline Friday afternoon, DM17/18 gridline Saturday morning, DM27/28 gridline Saturday evening, DM27/37 gridline Sunday morning, and DM36/37 gridline Sunday evening This will be FM only All contacts uploaded to LoTW upon return Check out @KI7UNJ Twitter feed for specific passes https://twitter com/KI7UNJ and follow them on aprs fi KI7UNJ-7
Turks and Caicos Islands (FL31) – February 28 – March 9, 2019 Adrian, AA5UK, will be heading to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands from Feb 28th through March 9th, 2019 He will be operating holiday style on HF and Satellites as VP5/AA5UK from grid FL31UU14 Focus will be on the linear satellites, with some FM act- ivity depending on pile-up civility Hope to work some European stations as location favors the East Pass announcements will be made via Twitter: https://twitter com/AA5UK and periodically via amsat-bb
Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat org
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL for the above information]
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 2019 is AMSAT's 50th Anniversary! Watch this space for announcements of special events coming in 2019 Get ready to help celebrate with us at the Hamvention Symposium 2019 promises to be a special event Stand by for 50th anniversary operating events and awards +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
AMSAT at Thunderbird Hamfest in Glendale AZ, 12 January 2019
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK will have an AMSAT booth at the Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club's Thunderbird Hamfest 2019 on Saturday, 12 Jan- uary 2019 The hamfest will be at a new site, at the Glendale Nazarene Church on the corner of 59th Avenue and Cactus Road in Glendale, Ari- zona More information about the hamfest is available at:
http://www w7tbc org/content php?348-hamfest
During the hamfest, Patrick will have demonstrations of satellite operating If you hear WD9EWK on any passes, please call and be a part of the demonstrations The hamfest is located in grid DM33, Maricopa County
All QSOs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World after the hamfest If you would like to receive a QSL card for working WD9EWK during the hamfest, please e-mail Patrick directly with the QSO details If you are in his log, he will send you a QSL card
Patrick will post updates from the hamfest on his @WD9EWK Twitter account If you do not use Twitter, you can still see these updates in a web browser at: http://twitter com/WD9EWK
[ANS thanks Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK for the above information]
Satellite Shorts From All Over
DK3WN reports that the 145 825 MHz APRS digipeater on NO-84 (PSAT) has been re-enabled and is available for operations The digipeater is turned off for a recharging period when telemetry shows battery voltage is low http://www dk3wn info/p/?p=92041
AO-73 (FUNcube-1) is now back to "Educational" mode after the holiday period (Transponder ON when in eclipse, with low power telemetry; High power telemetry when illuminated in sunlight ) Please keep tracking and sending in telemetry as the FUNcube team tries to better understand the spin effects over the next few months of full orbit sun (AMSAT-UK)
AMSAT and radio amateurs extend best wishes and thank you to Alain, IZ6BYY and Claudio, IK1SLD for 17 years of service to the amateur space community on their ISSFanClub com web site ISSFanClub com closed down on January 1, 2019 Alain wrote, "I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did Thank you for your visits and your attention"
A new ISS fan presence has been started at http://issfanclub eu/ Blog entries from January 3 and 4 are posted Many of the pages are under construction in the new format
CQ-DATV Magazine for January 2019 is available for download at: https://cq-datv mobi/67 php
Among the several features the article "Arduino SimpleSat Rotor Controller" by Tom Doyle, W9KE may be of particular interest to AMSAT satellite stations Tom's controller uses the Yaesu GS232 command set to control a Yaesu G5500 AzEl rotor The controller was designed to be compatible with the SatPC32 tracking program and should work with any tracking program that supports the Yaesu GS232 format (CQ-DATV Magazine via e-mail)
The Nashua Area Radio Society, N1FD has written a blog about their work in supporting Hudson Memorial School (HMS) in their bid to secure and hold an ISS Crew Contact https://www n1fd org/2019/01/01/iss-crew-contact-journey/
An NPR radio news feature discusses, "What's Next For Tiny Satellites?" about NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab's Marco cubesats that accompanied the InSight lander mission to Mars JPL says their next cubesat mission will be a solar sail flight to a near Earth asteroid Read and listen at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-006-NPR-CubeSat-News
Good coverage for amateur radio and amateur satellites appeared in the Shropshire Star newspaper's ooverage of the Wellington Young- sters on the Air event, that saw young people talking to others from across the world, all under expert supervision It was one of the events organised by Telford and District Amateur Radio Society to help attract younger people to the world of 'ham' radio Read the article at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-006-UK-YOTA (AMSAT-UK)
Bookings for the AMSAT SA Space Symposium are now open The Symposium will be held on Saturday, March 16, 2019 at the Accolade Conference Centre in Midrand, South Africa The rate will be R400 per person for AMSAT SA and SARL members and R600 for non-members There is an early bird rate of R350 for AMSATSA and SARL Members, if booked and paid for by February 28, 2019 Accommodation is also available at the hotel at R855 plus VAT More details on www amsatsa org za
A calendar of upcoming astronomical events, launches, and space- craft operations available as Google or iOS calendars: http://tinyurl com/ANS-006-NYTimes-Astro-Calendar
Greg, W4GHW, program coordinator for the Coastal Plains ARC, sent a request for a presentation on any amateur satellites at their club They meet in Tifton, Georgia on the second Saturday of each month If you can help please e-mail Greg at w4ghw@arrl net
A paper is available for downloading which may be of interest regard- ing telemetry: "Easy-to-Build Satellite Beacon Receiver for Propa- gation Experimentation at Millimeter Bands" can be accessed at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-006-Millimeter-Telemetry
There are some amateur radio connections with the New Horizons probe which had a successful flyby of Ultima Thule on January 1 Lee, KT4TZ worked on the launch in 2006 Dan, N8FGV works on the New Horizons team now
[ANS thanks everyone 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 and remember to behave and to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
k9jkm at amsat dot org
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA http://www amsat org/mailman/listinfo/ans
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