AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-342

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor- mation service of AMSAT, 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 commun- icating 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:

• AMSAT Member Melissa Pore, KM4CZN, Named 2020 Carole Perry Educator of the Year
• AMSAT Vice President - Educational Relations Alan Johnston, KU2Y, Participates in Hackaday Hack Chat
• AMSAT to Join ARRL in Opposition to FCC Proposal to Eliminate 3 3 - 3 5 GHz Amateur Allocation
• Chris Taron, NK1K, Completes Satellite DXCC via LEO Satellites
• Duchifat3 with V/u FM Transponder to Launch December 11
• Donate to AMSAT Tax-Free From Your IRA
• AZTECHSAT-1 Cubesat to Transmit Emergency Traffic using WINLINK
• AMSAT-SA to Shift Main Focus to AfriCUBE, a Digital SDR CubeSat
• LSF Heads Back to Orbit with the Qubik Mission
• VUCC Awards And Endorsements for November 2019
• Upcoming ARISS Activities
• Upcoming Satellite Operations
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-342 01 ANS-342 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 342 01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD DATE 2019-Dec-08 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-342 01

AMSAT Member Melissa Pore, KM4CZN, Named 2020 Carole Perry Educator of the Year

The Orlando HamCation has announced that AMSAT member Melissa Pore, KM4CZN, is the 2020 receipient of the Carole Perry Educator of the Year Award This award is bestowed upon an individual who has made an outstanding contribution educating and advancing youth in Amateur Radio It was first awarded in 2018 to its namesake, Carole Perry, WB2MGP, in honor of her work as an educator teaching students about ham radio

Melissa has been an educational professional for over 20 years and currently teaches at Bishop Denis J O'Connell High School Along with teaching engineering and computer scienve, she is also involved in the school's amateur radio and engineering clubs Her students held demon- strations at the Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center's Innovation Day Some of her other educational endeavors include working on the first satellite to be launched and built by an elementary school and co-facilitating a workshop at Space Port Area Conference for Educators 2019

Melissa has a Technician Class radio license and is a member of AMSAT, NASA Goddard Amateur Radio Club and ARRL She is involved in ARISS as an Ambassador on the US Education Team She will be presenting an ARISS Workshop at the Space Exploration Educators Conference 2020

AMSAT congratulations Melissa on this well-deserved honor!

[ANS thanks the Orlando HamCation for the above information]

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AMSAT Vice President - Educational Relations Alan Johnston, KU2Y, Participates in Hackaday Hack Chat

AMSAT Vice President - Educational Relations Alan Johnston, KU2Y, participated in a Hackaday Hack Chat on December 4, 2019 Built for about $300 using mostly off-the-shelf and 3D-printed parts, the simulator lets satellite builders work the bugs out of their designs before committing them to the Final Frontier

Logs from the chat are available at: https://hackaday io/event/168230-amsat-cubesat-simulator-hack-chat

More information about the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator project can be found at http://cubesatsim com/

Dr Johnston also recently presented at the Radio Club of America's Technical Symposium His presentation, entitled "Designing the AMSAT CubeSat Simulator: A Functional Satellite Model for the Classroom" is available at: https://tinyurl com/ANS-342-KU2Y

[ANS thanks Hackaday and Alan Johnston, KU2Y, for the above information]

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AMSAT to Join ARRL in Opposition to FCC Proposal to Eliminate 3 3 - 3 5 GHz Amateur Allocation

At its December 12th open meeting, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to adopt a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes to remove the amateur allocation at 3 3 - 3 5 GHz, including the amateur satellite service allocation at 3 4 - 3 401 GHz

The ARRL plans to file comments opposing the deletion of the amateur allocation AMSAT also plans to file comments in opposition to this proposal and we are coordinating our efforts with the ARRL

More information on the FCC proposal can be found on the ARRL's website at https://tinyurl com/ANS-342-ARRL

[ANS thanks AMSAT Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, and the ARRL for the above information]

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       The digital download version of the 2019 edition of
  Getting Started with Amateur Satellites is now available as a
     DRM-free PDF from the AMSAT Store
  Get yours today!
        https://tinyurl
com/ANS-237-Getting-Started

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Chris Taron, NK1K, Completes Satellite DXCC via LEO Satellites

Chris Taron, NK1K, recently completed his satellite DXCC award with all QSOs made using LEO satellites His 100th DXCC entity worked came courtesy of Phillipe Chateau, EA4NF, who was operating as EA9/EA4NF in Melilla, on November 19th Chris posted a recording of his QSO via AO-7 at https://chirb it/90xpzx The LoTW confirmation a few days later left him at 99 DXCCs confirmed A QSL card received from VP2V/ DL7VTX on December 5th put him over the top with 100 DXCC entities confirmed

AMSAT congratulates Chris on his great achievement!

[ANS thanks Chris Taron, NK1K, for the above information]

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Duchifat3 with V/u FM Transponder to Launch December 11

Duchifat3, carrying a V/u FM transponder, will launch on the PSLV-C48 mission, currently scheduled for launch at 09:55 UTC on December 11, 2019 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR in India The planned orbit is 576 km circular with an inclination of 37 degrees

Duchifat3 was built by high school students supported by Herzliya Science Center in Israel and carries an on-board camera for earth imaging The V/u FM transponder has an uplink of 145 970 MHz and a downlink of 436 400 MHz

Telemetry will be transmitted using 9k6 BPSK with AX 25

http://www amsatuk me uk/iaru/finished_detail php?serialnum=586

[ANS thanks the IARU for the above information]

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 Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows,
and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store
 When you purchase through
       AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
              Keeping Amateur Radio in Space

    https://amsat
org/product-category/hardware/

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Donate to AMSAT Tax-Free From Your IRA

Are you over 70-1/2 years of age and need to meet your IRA's Required Minimum Distribution for 2019? Consider making a donation to AMSAT!

Under the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, individuals over 70-1/2 years of age may make direct transfers of up to $100,000 per year from a traditional IRA to an eligible charity without increasing their taxable income Consult your tax advisor or accountant to make certain you are eligible

AMSAT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational and scientific organization whose purpose is to design, construct, launch, and operate satellites in space and to provide the support needed to encourage amateurs to utilize these resources AMSAT's federal tax ID is 52-0888529

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AZTECHSAT-1 Cubesat to Transmit Emergency Traffic using WINLINK

The AZTECHSAT-1 Cubesat travels to the space station on the 19th SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-19) contract mission for NASA integrated within a NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) and launches from the JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) The J-SSOD is handled by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) outside the space station

AZTECHSAT-1 has received IARU coordination for a downlink frequency of 437 300 MHz using 9k6 GMSK or FSK The cubesat will also carry a Global- star radio

The cubesat will listen for emergency messages in the 439 MHz frequency range and then retransmit these messages for amateur radio operators to copy on the 437 300 MHz downlink using the WinLink protocol

AZTECHSAT-1 will create a Saturation Map of 435-438 MHz by listening for the whole orbit and returning captured data to the ground station using the 437 300 MHz amateur radio downlink plus a 1600 MHz Globalstar link

The emergency messages received via globalstar to the AZTECHSAT-1 ground station will be shared on the project's website A certificate will be available for amateur stations receiving the emergency message(s) submitted via their website and confirmed by the AZTECHSAT-1 team

Full details are posted on the AZTECHSAT-1 web: https://upaep mx//aztechsat http://www amsatuk me uk/iaru/finished_detail php?serialnum=661

[ANS thanks the IARU and the AZTECHSAT-1 at Universidad Popular Autonoma del Estado de Puebla]

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AMSAT-SA to Shift Main Focus to AfriCUBE, a Digital SDR CubeSat

The AMSAT-SA CubeSat development team has shifted their CubeSat devel- opment focus from an analogue transponder to a digital SDR based unit The development of the AfriCUBE digital SDR transponder under the leadership of Anton Janovsky, ZR6AIC has reached an advanced stage and will soon be ready to undergo its first field trials

The team is not abandoning the development of the KLETSKous analogue transponder, which performed well during the BACAR 7 flight on 12 October 2019 Leon Lessing, ZS6LMG has taken the development to this point but unfortunately, due to personal commitments, cannot continue to work on Kletskous "I would like to thank Leon for his support and wish him well in his future endeavours," Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP, AMSAT -SA CubeSat project leader said

During the BACAR flight test it showed that some further development is needed to improve the transponder's receiver sensitivity "Here is a great opportunity for young enthusiastic engineers in the amateur radio community to take on the challenge I invite interested persons with RF experience to contact me and become part of the team While there is no financial reward, the experience and achieving something great that will fly in space outweighs this many times It will certainly look good on anyone's CV", Hannes said

The EPS (electronic power system), space frame and stabilisation system are complete The development of the solar panel and antenna deployment systems are making good progress Frik Wolf, ZS6FZ said he will be ready by mid-January 2020 for project review and field testing

Currently work on a new onboard control system has been paused while Fritz Sutherland, ZS6FSJ is working with Anton Janovsky to get AfricaCUBE ready for on-the-air trials

Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL will continue work on the documentation crucial to secure a launch opportunity and Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV will work on frequency allocations and explore launch oppor- tunities and the marketing of the project

AMSAT-SA is continuing its dialogue with SANSA and its contractor to place a transponder on EOSAT-1, a planned high performance earth-observation satellite designed to produce data for a broad range of earth observation applications The development of AfriCUBE will enhance this opportunity

JOIN THE AMSAT SA CUBESAT TEAM

AMSAT SA invites radio amateurs with RF, electronic and software experience to join the Satellite Development team and contribute to technology and human capital development in South Africa The team meets every alternate Monday on a Skype conference and quarterly face- to-face Send your contact details and your main interest in the CubeSat project to admin@amsatsa org za Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP or another team member will contact you

[ANS thanks AMSAT-SA and the South African Radio League for the above information]

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LSF Heads Back to Orbit with the Qubik Mission

Libre Space Foundation is proud to announce that it is currently dev- eloping and integrating 2 pocketqube satellites (QUBIK-1 & QUBIK-2) and supplying a pocketqube deployer (PICOBUS) to be flown as part of the DREAM payloads program on the inaugural Firefly Alpha launch from Firefly Aerospace

The project consists of two 50x50x50mm Pocketcubes each of approx 250g The project mission is for the satellites to conduct a series of telecommunications related experiments, while at the same time, ground station analysis of the received signals will try to exploit doppler variations in order to perform orbit determination and satel- lite identification from radio amateur stations around the world The telecommunication experiments will use several different modulation, coding and framing schemes, with the intention to provide insights about their performance at nano-pico-satellite missions In addition the frame itself will be organized in such a way so spacecraft identi- fication can be performed as early as possible from the PHY (using orthogonal or PN sequences) Proposing UHF downlinks using either GFSK, GMSK or BPKS at 9k6 or 19k2 bps with QPSK at bit rates of 19k2 or 38k4 bps Planning a Firefly launch from Vandenberg in March 2020 into a circular 300km 97 degree orbit together with GENESIS-N, GENESIS-L, FOSSASAT-1B and FOSSASAT-2 More info at https://libre space

Frequency coordination is pending with the IARU: http://www amsatuk me uk/iaru/formal_detail php?serialnum=703

[ANS thanks LibreSpace for the above information]

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VUCC Awards And Endorsements for November 2019

Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period November 1, 2019 through December 1, 2019

Congratulations to all those who made the list this month!

CALL 01Oct 01Nov KO4MA 1694 1701 WA5KBH 738 744 W5RKN 694 702 N3GS 597 601 VE7CEW 478 501 KK4YEL 400 413 AD0HJ 353 375 N7EGY 300 351 W5CBF New 179 N0RSR New 154 N0RC 100 104 EA8CXN New 101 VE2NGO New 100 VU2LBW New 100

If you find errors or omissions please contact me off-list at w5rkn at w5rkn dot com and I'll revise the announcement This list was developed by comparing the ARRL pdf listings for the two months It's a visual comparison so omissions are possible Apologies if your call was not mentioned 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]

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ARISS Activities

About Gagarin From Space Conducting an amateur radio session with students of "Amur State University Blagoveshchensk", Blagoveshchensk, Russia, direct via RКØJ (*) The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Oleg Skripochka Contact is go for Thu 2019-12-05 08:52 UTC

Council Rock High School South, Holland, PA, direct via KC3NGG The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan KI5AAA Contact was successful: Thu 2019-12-05 17:56:31 UTC 71 deg (*)

B Pascal Institute - Public School, Rome, Italy, direct via IKØMGA and Istituto Comprensivo Lipari “S Lucia”, Lipari, Italy, direct via ID9GKS The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be IRØISS The scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano KF5KDP Contact is go for: Sat 2019-12-07 11:44:00 UTC 45 deg

Greenwood Primary School, Greenwood, Western Australia, Australia, telebridge via IK1SLD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan KI5AAA Contact is go for: Tue 2019-12-10 10:55:14 UTC 53 deg

City of Kursk, Russia and City of Ufa, Russia, direct via TBD The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS The scheduled astronaut is Alexander Skvortsov Contact is go for: Tue 2019-12-11 10:10 UTC

Woodridge Middle School, High Ridge, MO, direct via NØKBA The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano KF5KDP Contact is go for: Thu 2019-12-12 15:29:16 UTC 29 deg

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, and David Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS opera- tion team members, for the above information]

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       Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront

      25% of the purchase price of each product goes
        towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
          https://www
zazzle
com/amsat_gear

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Upcoming Satellite Operations

Satellite Shorts: Dec 12th ND0C EM09 – 1647z on AO-91 & 1708z on AO-92 Dec 12th ND0C EN00 – 1821z on AO-91 & 1843z on AO-92

South Florida (EL95, EL96) December 11-15, 2019 James, K4WPX, will be in EL96/95 December 11th-15th, vacation style, mostly evening passes, FM only James will be staying in EM96 but ~1 mile from the EM95 line, so he can skip over there for some passes, too Pass announcements via Twitter: https://twitter com/k4wpx

Hawaii (BK19, BK28, BK29, BL20) December 21-28, 2019 Alex, N7AGF, is heading back to Hawaii over Christmas This will be a holiday-style activation, with special empahasis on the grid that got away - BK28 Keep an eye on Alex's Twitter feed for further announce- ments: https://twitter com/N7AGF

Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020 Ron AD0DX, Doug N6UA, and Josh W3ARD will operate from Big Bend National Park to put grid DL88 on the air Details will be added here as they come available, but you are more than welcome to keep an eye on their individual Twitter feeds: https://twitter com/ad0dx, https://twitter com/dtabor, and https://twitter com/W3ARDstroke5

Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat org

[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP - User Services, 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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Satellite Shorts From All Over

• Albert “Al” Noe (81), KL7NO, from Fairbanks Alaska, passed away Monday evening, November 25, 21 months after being diagnosed with stage 4 Pancreatic cancer Al was an avid 6 meter operator just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska in grid BP54 He was still active on 6 meters up until the very end For over 40 years Al provided EME, AMSAT, and many other contacts on 6, 2, 1 25 meters, 70 & 23 centi- meters from his Alaska QTH just outside of Fairbanks Blanchard Family Funeral Home in Fairbanks will be handling Al’s services and an obituary will be published at a later date https://www blanchardfamilyfuneralhome com/ (Via the Central States VHF Society)

+John Toscano, W0JT, passed away Wednesday, November 27, in San Antonio He fought a long battle against many health problems during the last several years Since moving to Texas, he had almost com- pleted his dream station (6-m through 10 GHz) at a great location (20 dB hilltop) and participated in both AMSAT and RMG club activities Previously, while in Minnesota, he was a very active NLRS member on the VHF/UHF/SHF bands with fixed, rover and portable stations As a retired pharmacist and U of MN assistant professor, John will be remembered for his programming contributions with his 10 GHz contest logging/scoring program and his on-line contest activity spreadsheets He also had many interests in astronomy and astrophysics (Via the Central States VHF Society)

• From Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1442: FP, ST PIERRE & MIQUELON (Early Announcement) Eric, KV1J, will once again be operating from the Island of Miquelon (NA-032, DIFO FP-002 WLOTA 1417, Grid GN17) as FP/KV1J between June 30th and July 14th, 2020 This is his 14th trip to the island Activity will be on 160-10 meters (no 60m - not authorized) using CW, SSB, RTTY, FT8/FT4 (but primarily SSB, RTTY and FT8/FT4) and the satellites He will generally be on the highest frequency band that is open (favoring 12/10m) He will be active in the IARU HF World Championship (July 11-12th) ADDED NOTE: Eric will usually try to be on as many Satellite passes as he can when the WX is good, generally favoring the FO-29, XW-2x, AO-7, and possibly the FM birds Weekends may be limited since he will be concentrating on the low(er) bands and contests QSL via KV1J, direct or by the Bureau Also eQSL and LoTW For more details and updates, check out his Web page at: http://www kv1j com/fp/July20 html

+Issue 78 of CQ DATV is now available at https://cq-datv mobi/78 php

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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,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org

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