AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-061

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:

• Call for Volunteers - AMSAT at Dayton Hamvention
• JAMSAT Announces 2019 Symposium, March 16-17
• SatNOGS Client and gr-satnogs Updates
• ARISS News -- Reports Requested
• "Off to the Motherland" Rove
• Activating Northern Maine Grids - March 2-3
• Summer Internship Positions Open in the SpaceSTEM Program
• Virginia Cubesat Constellation Moves Forward
• New ‘NASA Science Live’ Program Premiers This Week
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-061 01 ANS-061 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 061 01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD March 2, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-061 01

Call for Volunteers - AMSAT at Dayton Hamvention

The 2019 Hamvention will be held on May 17-19 2019 at Greene County Fairground and Expo Center in Xenia Ohio If you're available we can also use your help for setup operations on May 16

Planning is under way for AMSAT's participation We are looking for volunteers in the following areas:

• Volunteer Assistant
• Sales Assistant
• Outdoor Demo Assistant
• Facilities and Setup Assistant

Interested Hams should contact Team Leader Phil Smith via email at w1eme at amsat org for information

[ANS Thanks W1EME for the above information]

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JAMSAT Announces 2019 Symposium to be Held March 16-17

The 2019 JAMSAT Symposium will be held on March 16-17 at the Hotel Binario Saga Arashiyama in Kyoto, Japan JAMSAT invites anyone inter- ested in the satellite communication to participate in the symposium and social gathering

The Symposium will offer a lot of content about the NEXUS satellite jointly developed with Nihon University The entire program has been posted at: https://tinyurl com/y6n7pcf9

Activities planned for Saturday, March 16 and Sunday, March 17: Saturday: 12:30 - 13:15 General Assembly for JAMSAT members only 13:30 - 18:30 Symposium Activities 18:00 - Banquet and Reception

Sunday: 08:45 - 13:15 Symposium Activities 14:15 - 16:45 GNU Radio Exercise (advance registration required)

Participation in the Symposium is free The cost of the banquet and reception is 5000 yen with a registration deadline of March 2 The contact for more information is jh3bum@gmail com

[ANS thanks JAMSAT for the above information]

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SatNOGS Client and gr-satnogs Updates

SatNOGs has announced new releases for satnogs-client 3 and gr-satnogs 4 for Raspbery Pi 3 and Debian operating systems

Notable changes on satnogs-client: * Support demodulator for Reaktor Hello World 2 satellite * Sent observation frequency in metadata * Add option for manual power level range in waterfall (there is an issue with this one, there will be an update in satnogs-client- ansible 2 later that will fix this )

Notable changes on gr-satnogs: * Golay (24, 12) decoder * Demodulating flowgraph for the Reacktor Hello World Satellite * Fix of the baud rate issue in BPSK gr-script

For installation or upgrade information, see the wiki at: https://tinyurl com/yytxwge5

[ANS thanks https://satnogs org/news/ for the above information]

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Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) News

Reports requested: An ARISS contact with Huntington High School, Huntington, TX, direct via KI5AJL on Monday 2019-02-25 at 19:39 UTC was unsuccessful ARISS is attempting to determine what happened and welcomes SWL reports

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Ceip Nuestra Señora Del Carmen, Torre De La Reina, Spain on 05 Mar The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 09:50 UTC The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds The contact will be direct between OR4ISS and EG7NSC The contact should be audible over Spain and adjacent areas Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145 80 MHz downlink The con- tact is expected to be conducted in English

ARISS is always glad to receive listener reports for the above contacts Listen for the ISS on the downlink of 145 80 MHz ARISS thanks everyone in advance for their assistance Please send your reports to aj9n@amsat org or aj9n@aol com

ARISS Contact Application window for the United States open in the spring of 2019 See the ARISS webpage at http://www ariss org/ for details ARISS would be particularly interested in applications from the following US states and entities that have never had an ARISS contact: South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mari- anas Islands, and the Virgin Islands

[ANS thanks AJ9N and AA4KN for the above information]

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"Off to the Motherland" Rove

Gabe Zeifman, AL6D/VE6NJH wrote to AMSAT-BB on February 23: "I am on the first of four flights now on the way for another one of my signature trips This voyage will take me to Poland (Feb 24-28), Lithuania(Feb 28-Mar 4), Kaliningrad (Mar 4-7), Saint Petersburg (Mar 7-11), Åland Islands (Mar 11-13), and Helsinki (Mar 13-14) I think the most desired entities are going to be UA2 and OH0 (unfortunately OH0 is gonna be quick, get in in the evening and leave in a morning, so two nights and one full day) I’m hoping to make US contacts from every entity and will try to hit as many grids as feasible (I’ll have a car in Vilnius and Kaliningrad), but good transatlantic locations will take precedence over grids Don’t expect me on every pass, I’m traveling with family and we’ll be doing touristy stuff, but I’ll make my best effort to be on the great AO-7 and FO-29 passes across the ocean, updates will be on Twitter @AL6D_Alaska I’m operating ninja portable like the good ole days, QRP with two FT-817NDs and an arrow, hopefully that doesn’t attract too much negative attention from customs in Russia "

[ANS thanks AL6D for the above information]

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Activating Northern Maine Grids - March 2-3

Clayton, W5PFG writes, "Between ~03:00 UTC March 2 thru ~17:00 UTC March 3, I will operate satellites /TM (Tobaggan Mobile) thru grids FN54, FN55, FN56, FN57, FN66, and FN67 I plan to activate the FN54/55, FN56/66, and FN57/67 grid lines I've used on previous Maine expedi- tions This will be a fast-paced trip and I don't anticipate working every bird or every pass I will stop to sleep, drink, and eat Weather will be a huge factor Like many of my activations, it's recommended you monitor my @w5pfg Twitter feed for the latest information "

[ANS thanks W5PFG for the above information]

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Summer Internship Positions Open in the SpaceSTEM Program

ESTCube is calling all space enthusiasts! The SpaceTEM application period for internships in Estonian and Latvian space technology entities for the summer of 2019 has begun!

Challenge yourself and enjoy this summer by being a part of an amazing space adventure - SpaceTEM '19!

SpaceTEM is a new EstLat project which aims to initiate the development of NewSpace industry in Estonia and Latvia through a series of mutual activities If you are interested in space technologies, innovation, and entrepreneurship, this intern- ship is a great opportunity for you! There are over 50 topics to choose from - from building 3D printers to developing soft- ware for ESTCube-2 More information can be found at this link: http://tinyurl com/ANS-062-SpaceSTEM

To apply, fill in the internship form and send your CV and moti- vational letter (for additional bonus points you can also add a link to any project you have been a part of so far) to: spacetem_internship@venta lv

The application deadline is March 31, 2019 Chosen interns will be announced from the middle of April until the beginning of May, 2019

[ANS thanks ESTCube for the above information]

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Virginia CubeSat Constellation Moves Forward

A project built by a team of University of Virginia engineering students took step toward outer space this week when they and student colleagues from Old Dominion University and Virginia Tech delivered three CubeSats to NanoRacks, an aerospace company in Houston

NanoRocks will integrate the CubeSats into a deployer aboard a rocket set for launch next month to the International Space Station

The satellites are part of the Virginia CubeSat Constellation mission, a collaborative project of the Virginia Space Grant Consortium and its four member universities (which also includes Hampton University) The three nano-satellites, each carrying a UHF packet repeater for amateur use, were developed by engineering students to obtain measurements of the properties of the Earth’s atmosphere to quantify atmospheric den- sity Full article available at: https://tinyurl com/y3u7skkl

[ANS thanks news virginia edu for the above information]

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SpaceCube near the end, request to receive the last telemetry

Jean Guérard, from the Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (France), ONERA, asks all those who have the opportunity to record the latest SpaceCube telemetry frames

Launched in May 2017, SpaceCube is expected to disintegrate sometime around March 1, 2019

The frequency is 436,880 MHz, AFSK modulation 1k2, AX25 mode

Note: The frames are not decodable, it is therefore requested to re- cord the audio signal of the satellite and to send it to Jean Guérard ( jean guerard@saf-astronomie fr )

For large files, you can use the service: https://www grosfichiers com/fr/

[ANS thanks Christophe Mercier for the above information]

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New ‘NASA Science Live’ Program Premiers This Week

NASA invites you to take a behind-the-scenes look at how the agency explores Earth and outer space with a new monthly television series that premiers this week

The inaugural episode of “NASA Science Live” will air at 3 p m EST Wednesday, Feb 27, on NASA Television, the agency’s website, Facebook Watch, YouTube, and Ustream Viewers will be able to submit questions on social media using the hashtag #askNASA or by leaving a comment in the chat section on Facebook

From remote locations on Earth to the depths of outer space, join the conversation live each month to interact with NASA experts and watch as they reveal the mysteries of our solar system and beyond

“I am personally very excited about how this new show will highlight the interconnected nature of science from across the agency,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate “The series will find new ways to talk about science from various disciplines, missions and centers to show how each works together in order to achieve our exploration goals ”

This first episode - entitled “To the Moon, and Beyond” - will explore the how science conducted on the lunar surface in the past informs current missions studying the Moon and future plans to send science, robots and humans to our nearest celestial neighbor

For more information about the show, visit: https://go nasa gov/NASAScienceLive

[ANS thanks NASA HQ News for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts From All Over

• RTL-SDR com tells of a new SDR radio PodCast that calls itself "Signals Everywhere" Episode 1 was just released More information at: https://tinyurl com/y5khc5hl (via RTL-SDR com)

• A recent ARISS contact between the International Space Station and Faith Christian Academy middle school in Orlando, Florida received good press coverage from WUSF public radio in Tampa See the story at https://tinyurl com/y4b2p4ro (via http://wusfnews wusf usf edu)

• SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is scheduled for a test flight to the International Space Station on Saturday, March 2 Liftoff of the human-rated capsule — flying without astronauts this time — is scheduled for 2:49 a m EST (07:49Z) Assuming an on-time launch and docking this weekend, the spacecraft will depart the space station March 8 and return to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Atlan- tic Ocean More details at https://tinyurl com/y4o2n5u9 (via spaceflightnow com)

• Scott, K4KDR, reports that The JY1SAT (JO-97) satellite started transmitting digital media files on 145 840 USB Decoding is accom- plished with the “Funcube” type dashboard which can be downloaded at: https://tinyurl com/y5uutqct (via K4KDR)

• The TAPR PSR Digital Journal, Winter 2019 Edition is now available online at: https://www tapr org/psr/psr140 pdf (via tapr org on facebook)

• The Central States VHF Society offers a Reverse VUCC for rovers Only a few have actually applied for the award on satellite See: https://www csvhfs org/index php/awards-and-programs/reverse-vucc (via Martin A Schuette on AMSAT-BB)

• AMSAT-DL has agreed to a proposal by the British Amateur Television Club (BATC) for the use of the bottom 100 kHz of the wideband trans- ponder on QO-100 (10491 – 10491 1 MHz) for ATV co-ordination pur- poses Details at: https://tinyurl com/y6tzwsuz (via AMSAT-UK)

• Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, writes: "One of the really cool things about receiving an AMSAT award in the mail is the certificate inside However, what is even cooler is the envelope Yes, the envelope My wife has purchased stamps for years and years I use those stamps on the envelopes I mail None of those little white labels from the post office Is it time for you to apply for an AMSAT award or to add to your stamp collection?" (via KK5DO) [See https://www amsat org/awards-2/ ]

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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 help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor,

K0JM at amsat dot org

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