AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-153
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
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In this edition:
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-153 01 ANS-153 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 153 01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD DATE June 2, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-153 01
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Support AMSAT when you make purchases from Amazon! So far, AMSAT has received $3,913 29 from AmazonSmile Search for "Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation" https://smile amazon com/ref=smi_ext_twt_dshb_smi
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Dollar-for-Dollar Match on your ARISS Donation Thru June 17, 2019
During the ARISS Forum at the Hamvention, it was announced, that between now and June 17, that an anonymous donor will equally match one dollar for each dollar donated up to $10,000
Here is an excellent opportunity to get the most from your donations to the ARISS FundRazr The FundRazr Project was initiated to raise $150,000 towards the ARISS Radio Upgrade on ISS To date 90 contributors have donated $24,840 to the campaign, about 17% of the goal $10,000 of your dollars, donated now, will raise that total to $44,840, including the matching funds It would be great if we could actually achieve one-third of our goal ($50,000) by mid-June Please donate today at https://fundrazr com/arissnextgen?ref=ab_6ruVeeeNzOa6ruVeeeNzOa
[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]
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AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur radio package, including two-way communication capability, to be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www amsat org/donate/
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Call for Nominations - AMSAT Board of Directors
It's time to submit nominations for the upcoming AMSAT Board of Directors election Four directors' terms expire this year: those of Jerry Buxton, N0JY; Clayton Coleman, W5PFG; Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA; and Paul Stoetzer, N8HM In addition, up to two Alternates may be elected for one-year terms
A valid nomination requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT member for Director Written nominations, consisting of the nominee's name and call, and the nominating individuals' names, calls and individual signatures should be mailed to:
AMSAT 10605 CONCORD ST STE 304 KENSINGTON MD 20895-2526
In addition to traditional submissions of written nominations, which is the preferred method, the intent to nominate someone may be made by electronic means These include e-mail, fax, or electronic image of a petition Electronic petitions should be sent to martha at amsat org or faxed to +1-301-822-4371
No matter what means is used, petitions MUST arrive at the AMSAT office no later than June 15th If the nomination is a traditional written nomination, no other action is required If electronic means are used, a verifying traditional written petition MUST be received at the AMSAT office within 7 days following the close of nominations on June 15th
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION ARE NOT VALID UNDER THE EXISTING AMSAT BYLAWS
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]
AMSAT Field Day on the Satellites
The weekend of June 22-23, 2019 is Field Day! Each year the Ameri- can Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes our own version of Field Day focused on operation via the amateur satellites, held concurrently with the ARRL event
The AMSAT Field Day 2019 event is open to all Amateur Radio opera- tors Amateurs are to use the exchange as specified in ARRL rules for Field Day The AMSAT competition is to encourage the use of all amateur satellites, both analog and digital
The congestion on FM LEO satellites is always so intense that we must continue to limit their use to one-QSO-per-FM-satellite This includes the International Space Station You will be allowed one QSO if the ISS is operating Voice
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Information for the operational satellites can be found in the tables posted on-line on the AMSAT web:
FM Satellite Frequencies https://www amsat org/fm-satellite-frequency-summary/
Linear satellite Frequencies https://www amsat org/linear-satellite-frequency-summary/
Up-to-date satellite status reports are posted by users at: https://www amsat org/status/
AO-92 may be in L/v for the first part of the event, depending on command station availability Keep an eye on @AMSAT on Twitter for expected L/v mode change times
An article by Sean Kutzko, KX9X, “Get on the Satellites for ARRL Field Day”, published in the June 2018 issue of QST is reprinted with the ARRL’s permission can be accessed at: https://www amsat org/get-on-the-satellites-for-field-day
The full set of rules (including downloadable documents) are posted at: https://www amsat org/field-day/
[ANS thanks AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO, for the above information]
Lightsail-2 Scheduled for Launch June 22 - Beacon on 437 025 MHz
LightSail is a citizen-funded project from The Planetary Society This cubesat will be propelled solely by sunlight, to Earth orbit LightSail 2 is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy on June 22, 2019, and we will attempt the first, controlled solar sail flight in Earth orbit
LightSail 2 will ride to space aboard the Department of Defense Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission which will send 24 spacecraft to 3 different orbits LightSail 2 itself will be enclosed within Prox-1, a Georgia Tech-designed spacecraft originally built to demon- strate close-encounter operations with other spacecraft Prox-1 will deploy LightSail 2 seven days after launch
After a few days of health and status checks, LightSail 2's four dual-sided solar panels will swing open Roughly a day later, four metallic booms will unfurl four triangular Mylar sails from storage The sails, which have a combined area of 32 square meters [344 square feet], will turn towards the sun for half of each orbit, giving the spacecraft a tiny push no stronger than the weight of a paperclip For about a month after sail deployment, this continual thrust should raise LightSail 2's orbit by a measurable amount
LightSail 2 will fly in a 24-degree inclination, 720 km, circular orbit At latitudes of 42 degrees north it will reach a maximum elevation of 10 degrees above the horizon
Lightsail-2 has been issued an experimental radio license WM9XPA and transmit on 437 025 MHz A morse beacon will transmit the callsign every 45 seconds A packet beacon will transmit AX 25, FSK 9K6 bps data Beacon information is available at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-153-Lightsail-Morse-Beacon Documentation of the downlink telemetry data structure is posted at: http://tinyurl com/ANS-153-Lightsail-Telemetry
[ANS thanks the Planetary Society for the above information]
AMSAT-EA FossaSat-1 Receives IARU Coordination
The IARU reported that AMSAT-EA FossaSat-1 satellite has received a downlink coordination to operate on 436 700 MHz with LoRa 125kHz, Chirp Spread Spectrum Modulation, 180 bps, 100mW; and, FSK RTTY 45 baud ITA2, 100mW 183hz Shift
The planned mission objectives for the 5x5x5cm 250gram satellite are:
General development of miniaturized and inexpensive satellite systems for space applications using off the shelf components
Testing a new solar panel mechanism, making this satellite the smallest to have deployable solar arrays These solar arrays will additionally increase the radar reflectivity significantly to that of a standard cubesat
The promotion & involvement of students in aerospace development on an international level, giving them the opportunity to test their hardware and software experiments on the satellite AMSAT-EA will be hosting STEM workshops & competitions for secondary stu- dents to participate in, a full section of the satellite is dedi- cated to these experiments for educational research
The main mission of the satellite is the testing of a new experi- mental RF chirp modulation called LoRa, this new modulation hugely increases the link budget, reduces the power consumed and reduces the cost of receivers
Students & Amateurs will be able to receive telemetry from the satel- lite with inexpensive hardware, expanding & promoting the amateur satellite community among youth
Uplink challenges will also be carried out with rewards for amateurs AMSAT-EA will provide decoding software for SDR use in order to allow anyone to decode LoRa using common existing hardware & host software for users to submit telemetry data, making all data public and reward- ing users with certificates & awards
The IARU coordination announcement can be accessed at: http://www amsatuk me uk/iaru/finished_detail php?serialnum=652
[ANS thanks AMSAT-EA and the IARU for the above information]
QO-100 meets HAM RADIO 2019 in Friedrichshafen
Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, President of AMSAT-DL invites everyone to meet members of the QARS, AMSAT-DL and also QO-100 users, face-to-face at the HAM RADIO 2019 exhibition from June 21-23 June in Friedrichshafen
A special event station DL50AMSAT will be operating live from the AMSAT-DL booth, DATV (DVB-S2) transmissions are also planned
There will be several lectures around Qatar-OSCAR 10 and you can meet the P4-A team at the QARS and AMSAT-DL stands, which are located next to each other
We also welcome members of the BATC team at our booth
For more information visit: https://amsat-dl org/en/ham-radio-2019-qo-100-meeting/
[ANS thanks Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, President of AMSAT-DL for the above information]
ARISS SSTV Planned Over Russia for Moscow Aviation Institute
A Russian MAI-SSTV event is planned for Wednesday, June 5 from 12:00-16:00 UTC and June 6 from 11:30-15:30 UTC Transmissions are expected to be at 145 800 MHz in SSTV mode PD120 Based on the times received, SSTV signals are not expected over N America
This event uses a computer in the ISS Russian Segment, which stores images that are then transmitted to Earth using the ARISS Amateur Radio station located in the Service Module which employs the Kenwood TM-D710E transceiver
Amateur radio operators and other radio enthusiasts are invited to post the images they receive at http://www spaceflightsoftware com/ARISS_SSTV/index php
Please note that the event is dependent on other activities, schedules and crew responsibilities on the ISS and is subject to change at any time
Online WebSDR receivers can be used to receive signals from the International Space Station at SUWS WebSDR located Farnham near London http://farnham-sdr com/ and R4UAB WebSDR located European Russia http://websdr r4uab ru/
For updates check Twitter at https://twitter com/ARISS_status/status/1131945966297182210?s=03
[ANS thanks ARISS and AMSAT-UK for the above information ]
Upcoming Satellite Operations
See https://www amsat org/satellite-info/upcoming-satellite-operations/ for latest information
Pre-Hot Rod Power Tour Rove (Wyoming to Tennessee) – June 2-7, 2019 On June 2nd, RJ, WY7AA and the Elco will head South to start roving on the DM77/78 gridline, heading east working gridlines and corners along the way all the way to EM87/88 hopefully RJ will try to be on as many FM passes as possible, with a few linears as time allows Follow RJ on APRS fi as WY7AA-9, as he will not have Twtter access along the road Checkout WY7AA’s QRZ page for specific plans he will post before he leaves, and @dtabor (N6UA) will help by posting on Twitter if he has any updates from the road
EM57/EM67 Line – June 4, 2019 Michael, N4DCW, will be at the EM57/67 line on June 4, 2019 He’ll post satellite passes a week before on twitter and the -bb, but will plan for the AO-9x and SO-50 midday passes FM only The day of, Michael will post updates via his twitter feed: https://twitter com/MWimages
Hot Rod Power Tour Rove (North Carolina to Ohio) – June 8-14, 2019 From June 8th to 14th, WY7AA will be traveling with several thous- and other Hot Rods along a winding route from NC to OH RJ will mostly be activating in the evenings on FM passes including grids EM95, FM06, EM86, EM78, EM69, EN71, and EN81 Checkout the event route: http://tinyurl com/ANS-153-HotRods And if anyone is anywhere close to the route, come out and see the spectacle and let RJ know on Twitter if you are coming out Follow RJ on APRS fi as WY7AA-9
Casey, KI7UNJ, will be hitting a few grids on his way home Look for DN13/DN14 line on June 14th, DN21/DN22 line June 15th, DN22 June 17, and DN23 June 18th FM only Pass times expected between 1700-200 0UTC Specific passes to be posted on Casey’s Twitter feed: https://twitter com/KI7UNJ
Post Hot Rod Power Tour Rove (New York to Wyoming) – June 15-27, 2019 Following the Hot Rod Power Tour, I will be heading to FN02 for a few days and plan to work FN01/11 gridline around June 17-18 Details to follow I will be heading as far east as FN32 and then eventually working my way back to DN71 Specifically looking for EN01/02 along the way Details will be posted to Twitter and my QRZ page as the trip plans unfold Follow him on APRS fi as WY7AA-9, as he will not have Twitter access along the road
Casey, KI7UNJ, will be wandering around Eastern Oregon and decided to do a little grid activating Look for Casey on FM passes in DN04 mid-Friday, June 28th, in DN15 Friday night to Saturday evening, and DN05 Sunday morning Specific passes to be posted on Casey’s Twitter feed https://twitter com/KI7UNJ
Iceland (HP95 IP15 IP25 IP03 HP03) – July 13-19, 2019 Adam, K0FFY, is taking his family (and his radios) to Iceland Tenta- tive schedule is HP95 July 13, IP13 and IP15 July 14-15, IP25 July 16, IP03 or HP93 July 17-18, and HP94 July 19 There’s a lot to see, so passes will be best effort and announced on Twitter shortly prior https://twitter com/K0FFY_Radio
Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat org
[ANS Thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, for the above information]
Send Your Name (and callsign) to Mars NASA Press Release May 21, 2019
NASA is giving the public an opportunity to send their names — etched on microchips — to the Red Planet with NASA's Mars 2020 rover, which represents the initial leg of humanity’s first round trip to another planet The rover is scheduled to launch as early as July 2020, with the spacecraft expected to touch down on Mars in February 2021
The opportunity to send your name to Mars comes with a souvenir board- ing pass and "frequent flyer" points From now until Sept 30, you can add your name to the list and obtain a souvenir boarding pass to Mars here: https://go nasa gov/Mars2020Pass
The Microdevices Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, will use an electron beam to etch the submit- ted names onto a silicon chip with lines of text smaller than one- thousandth the width of a human hair (75 nanometers) At that size, more than a million names can be inscribed on a single dime-size microchip The chip (or chips) will ride on the rover under a glass cover
For more information on Mars 2020, visit: https://www nasa gov/mars2020 For more about NASA's Moon to Mars plans, visit: https://www nasa gov/topics/moon-to-mars
[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]
RS-10 Downlink Provides Unique Troubleshooting Solution
Terry Osborne, ZL2BAC, recalls a troubleshooting solution utilizing the downlink from the RS-10 satellite as he was resolving an HF noise problem in the radio system of New Zealand's Maritime Radio Network (http://tinyurl com/ANS-153-NZ-Maritime-Radio)
The New Zealand network consists of a chain of VHF base stations, an HF Transmitter site and an HF Receiving site These are all linked back to an Operations Centre in Lower Hutt (near Wellington)
During commissioning, Terry was visiting the Operations Centre where the operators mentioned that the HF receivers were very noisy This didn't sound right since the receiving site had been chosen because it was in a remote area well away from any man made noise
Terry said, "To check how well the receivers were working I gave the operators the frequency and a week of pass times for RS-10 This was on a Friday On Saturday I turned on my receiver at home on RS-10 My receiver was a TenTec Argonaut 505 with DGFet preamp and a half wave dipole at about 10 feet RS-10's downlink boomed in at about 5x7 The Maritime operators heard nothing on their receivers I fed the audio down the phone line to convince them it was working "
The four HF receivers are fed from a Multicoupler that has a "Low Noise" amplifier feeding a splitter On the following Monday, the technicians from the maintenance base visited the site and at AOS of RS-10, turned off the power supply to the multicoupler The Oper- ations Centre reported down went the HF noise and up came the signal from RS-10
Terry reported on the solution, "There were many options for the 'Low Noise' amplifier in the multicoupler ranging from a 2dB noise figure 10 dB gain version up to a 30dB gain 15dB noise figure version Upon removing the lid from the multicoupler it revealed that the 30dB gain 15dB noise figure version had been supplied rather than the 2dB noise figure 10dB gainversion specified It turned out that the manufacturers of the Multicoupler hadn't actually made one with a 2dB NF/10dB Gain amp before and had just supplied their standard version Putting in the right amplifier solved the problem "
In closing, Terry wrote, "Satellite operators who have worked with preamps will recognise this problem "
[ANS sends an 'Ahoy' with a tip of the sailing hat and thanks Terry Osborne, ZL2BAC for the above information]
Satellite Shorts From All Over
Virgin Orbit has posted updated information about the LauncherOne initial flight which is AMSAT's RadFxSat-2 (Fox-1E) ride to orbit: http://tinyurl com/ANS-153-Fox1E-VirginOrbital This cubesat will feature a V/u inverting analog SSB/CW transponder and a digital beacon: Uplink: 145 890 - 145 860 MHz LSB Downlink: 435 760 - 435 790 MHz USB Beacon: 435 750 MHz 1200 baud BPSK
AMSAT is pleased to offer a set of Titleist Pro V1x golf balls One bears the GOLF-TEE logo, one the GOLF-1 logo and one the AMSAT 50th Anniversary logo There are also a set of the same 3 golf balls with the logos that have also been signed by 3 of the AMSAT presi- dents Keith Baker, KB1SF, has signed the GOLF-TEE ball, Barry Baines, WD4ASW, has signed the GOLF-1 ball and Joe Spier, K6WAO, has signed the AMSAT 50th Anniversary ball The set of 3 balls is $50 plus shipping The set of 3 balls with the 3 AMSAT President signatures is $100 plus shipping Take care of your Father's Day shopping on-line at: https://www amsat org/product/2019-fundraising-golf-balls-set-of-3
The ARISS team has posted an album of photos in memory of Keith Pugh, W5IU - SK at http://tinyurl com/ANS-153-ARISS-W5IU-Album (facebook) Keith was an active AMSAT and ARISS volunteer He pas- sed away on May 24 A memorial service for Keith Pugh, W5IU, will be held at 2 p m on Thursday, June 6, in the Sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church with a reception following 1000 Penn St, Fort Worth, TX 76102 https://fpcfw org/su-event/431761720/memorial-service-keith-pugh/ Obituary for Keith: https://www swaimfuneralhome com/obituary/keith-pugh
The Tico Times in Costa Rica featured an article about the ARISS contact with the Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC), Los Suenos, Costa Rica on May 27 http://tinyurl com/ANS-153-ARISS-CostaRica
AMSAT-DL AMSAT Deutschland released a video of theQatar-OSCAR 100 (P4-A/ Es'hail-2) launch with a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida: https://youtu be/8uQqZBIUfHY
NASA TV will provide live coverage as a SpaceX Dragon cargo space- craft is set to return to Earth from the International Space Station Monday, June 3 NASA Television and the agency’s website will pro- vide live coverage of the craft’s release beginning at 11:45 a m EDT (UTC - 4) Around noon, flight controllers at mission control in Houston will deliver remote commands to the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to detached Dragon from the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module https://www nasa gov/multimedia/nasatv/index html#public
The Science Museum's YouTube channel has a video of the first astronaut from the UK, Helen Sharman GB1MIR, who used amateur radio to talk to students in schools across the UK In May 1991, Helen Sharman became the first Briton in space The Soyuz TM-12 mission, which included Soviet cosmonauts Anatoly Artsebarsky, U7MIR and Sergei Krikalev U5MIR, launched on May 18, 1991 and lasted eight days, most of that time spent at the Mir space sta- tion Watch the video at: https://youtu be/x0-nMl0jf5E
The European Space Agency's Astro Pi Challenge which allows students to design an experiment, write the code, and then have it run by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, enjoyed a student's success recently when one of the Astro Pi units running a Raspberry Pi 1 B+ and a Raspberry Pi Camera Module captured the approach of a Soyuz spacecraft arriving at the ISS Check out the photos and learn more at: https://www raspberrypi org/blog/raspberry-pi-captures-soyuz-in-space/
Sean Kutzko, KX9X, has written a contribution to DX Engineering’s blog “On All Bands ” In this article, he writes about the basics of VHF propagation, to help you stay active during the solar mini- mum: http://tinyurl com/ANS-153-KX9X-VHF -and- a newly released blog entry covers the basics of satellite operation: http://tinyurl com/ANS-153-KX9X-Satellite
Dhruv Rebba, KC9ZJX, Radio Club of America Young Achiever Award, Dave Kalter Youth DX Adventure participant, recipient of an AMSAT Presidential Award is interviewed in a webcast ‘Sankalp’ from NewView Studios: https://youtu be/TUce-WyZPdc The Sankalp program showcases and inspires youth in the community
The Cal Poly CubeSat Team is requesting input to fill out their survey where they are gathering information about the connectors, electrical interfaces, and communication protocols currently in use by CubeSat and payload developers The feedback will be used to help design the XCube platform, which will create opportunities for CubeSats to fly on NASA’s high altitude aircraft for testing and calibration purposes Access the survey at: https://forms gle/TKxTgcZKVmfNv8F17
Edmund Spicer, M0MNG, made a video about his visit to Hamvention 2019 The AMSAT satellite demonstration station operated by Paul, N8HM and Matt, NJ4Y is shown: https://youtu be/nnbQbJnkxs0?t=861
The May 2019 issue of SatMagazine is available at: http://www satmagazine com/
The June 2019 issue of CQ-DATV magazine is available at: https://cq-datv mobi/72 php
[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 https://www amsat org/mailman/listinfo/ans
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