AMSAT NEWS SERVICE<br /><br />ANS-088<br /><br />ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North<br />America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on<br />the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who<br />share an active interest in designing, building, launching and<br />communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.<br /><br />Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:<br />ans-editor@amsat.org<br /><br /><br />In this edition:<br />* 2004 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting - Call for papers<br />* PCSat2 passes final test before launch<br />* Boston area AMSAT Net<br />* AMSAT award recipients<br />* AMSAT activities in Kansas<br />* ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2004-03-23<br />* K6DUE Memorial ARISS event QSL card update<br />* This Week's News in Brief<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-088.01<br />2004 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting - Call for papers<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 088.01 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. March 28, 2004<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-088.01<br /><br />This is the first call for papers for the 2004 AMSAT Space Symposium and<br />Annual Meeting to be held October 8-10 in Arlington, Virginia. This<br />symposium will be held in conjunction with the ARISS International Meeting<br />that is planned for October 10-13.<br /><br />Proposals for papers, symposium presentations, and poster presentations are<br />invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite program. An<br />emphasis for this year is AMSAT's educational outreach activities, including<br />our educational outreach efforts with universities and the International<br />Space Station. In particular, papers on the following topics are solicited:<br />Students & Education, ARISS, Echo, Eagle and other satellite-related topics.<br /><br />We request a one-page abstract by June 1, 2004. Camera ready copy on paper<br />or in electronic form will be due by August 1, 2004 for inclusion in the<br />printed symposium proceedings.<br /><br />Abstracts and papers should be sent to:<br />Daniel Schultz N8FGV<br />14612 Dowling Drive<br />Burtonsville, MD 20866<br /><br />or by e-mail to: n8fgv@amsat.org<br /><br />[ANS thanks Dan, N8FGV for the above information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-088.02<br />PCSat2 passes final test before launch<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 088.02 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. March 28, 2004<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-088.02<br /><br />PCSAT2 this weekend passed final Outgassing Tests<br />for Space Station and Space Shuttle and is ready<br />for launch on the first shuttle return to flight (next year).<br /><br />These outgassing specs are some of the most<br />stringent in the space program. Interestingly, all<br />of our parts were off-the-shelf Kantronics TNC's<br />and Hamtronics TX/RX including original plastic<br />parts.<br /><br />The rate achieved on the TQCM test was 5*E-13<br />grams per second. The test chamber itself was<br />able to get down to 2*E-14.<br /><br />Additional information about the PCSat2 mission<br />is available at:<br />http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/pcsat2.html<br /><br />[ANS thanks Bob, WB4APR for the above information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-088.03<br />Boston area AMSAT Net<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 088.03 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. March 28, 2004<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-088.03<br /><br />The AMSAT Net in the Boston area has been on the amateur<br />2m band weekly on Thursdays at 8:30 - 9:30 p.m. since<br />March 14, 1996 on the Waltham Repeater 146.640- and<br />has crossed one milestone, it turned 8 years old on March 14<br />with the next net milestone, number 400 coming up on April 29th<br />2004.<br /><br />Thanks to all who have checked in over the years and to<br />George W1ME for encouraging me to get started in<br />the first place!<br /><br />Net control, Ernie MacLauchlan, K1ELA, will be sending out<br />certificates to all stations that checked in on April 29, 2004 net #400.<br /><br />Some net trivia as of March 18, 2004<br />Total Check-ins 6283<br />Nets 394<br />Average per net 17<br />Individual People 716<br /><br />[ANS thanks Ernie, K1ELA for the above information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-088.04<br />AMSAT award recipients<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 088.04 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. March 28, 2004<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-088.04<br /><br />Congratulations go out to those that have recently made their very first<br />satellite QSO. May they have many more years of fun on the satellites.<br /><br />Roger Stout, N4RWS<br />Maciej Jakimiec, SP2SGF<br />Tim Hayes, N0MAP<br />Robert Fairfield, K7RQN<br /><br /><br />Congratulations to all of the following for earning their Oscar Satellite<br />Communications Achievement Award.<br /><br />#393 KE8FK Edward Lock 28-Jan-2004<br />#394 VE2DWE Luc Leblanc 20-Mar-2004<br /><br /><br />Congratulations also go out to the following for earning their South Africa<br />Communications Achievement Award.<br /><br />#US80 KA4KYI Ron Nutter 3-Mar-04<br /><br /><br />Congratulations go out to the following for earning their W4AMI Award.<br />#38 N7EQF Albert Ozias 6 Feb 04 1,000; 2,000; 3,000 and 4,000 Level<br />#36 W0EEC Emily Clarke 3 Mar 04 3,000 and 4,000 Level<br />#17 N7EQF Albert Ozias 6 Feb 04 5,000 Level<br />#18 W0EEC Emily Clarke 4 Mar 04 5,000 Level<br /><br /><br />Finally, congratulations to the following for earning their AMSAT Oscar<br />Sexagesimal Award.<br /><br />#133 W0EEC Emily Clarke 8-Jan-04<br />#134 K9PO Scott Migaldi 17-Feb-04<br /><br />To see all the awards and a list of those earning the awards, visit<br />http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html<br /><br />[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-088.05<br />AMSAT activities in Kansas<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 088.05 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. March 28, 2004<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-088.05<br /><br />On Tuesday March 2nd 2004 Greg Wycoff, N0ZHE of Conway Springs, Ks.,<br />traveled to Augusta, Ks. to put on a PowerPoint presentation on satellite<br />operations to the Flinthills Amateur Radio Club. Traveling with Greg was<br />John Wycoff, KA0OXY and Bill Briles, W0OQC.<br /><br />Danny Craft, KC0NXF the activities chairman for the Flinthills amateur radio<br />club invited Greg to give the presentation.<br /><br />The presentation lasted about 45min. covering a range of topics including<br />how simple it could be to get started operating through a satellite.<br />The presentation started out with a video of John, KA0OXY working<br />UO-14, and the title above the video read "Amateur radio's best kept<br />secret".<br /><br />The trip to Augusta, Ks. was a 120 mile round trip for Greg, he points out<br />this is one of the ways that we all can help in getting new/old hams into<br />the hobby, all we have to do is get them hooked, the other way is to do a<br />live demo of a satellite contact. Just remember that you don't always have<br />to have a large crowd to be affective in getting others started.<br /><br />CCARC Vhf AMSAT Satellite net:<br />http://www.havilandtelco.com/~gregwycoff/chat.htm<br /><br />email: n0zhe@amsat.org<br />also email me at: GREGWYCOFF@havilandtelco.com<br /><br />[ANS thanks Greg, N0ZHE for the above information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-088.06<br />ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2004-03-23<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 088.06 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. March 28, 2004<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-088.06<br /><br />The ARISS (a joint effort of AMSAT, the ARRL, NASA, the ARISS international<br />partners including Canada, Russia, the European Partners, and Japan)<br />operations team wishes to announce the following very tentative schedule for<br />ARISS school contacts. This schedule is very fluid and may change at the<br />last minute.<br /><br />Remember that amateur radio use on the ISS is considered secondary. Please<br />check the various AMSAT and ARISS webpages for the latest announcements.<br />Also, please check MSNBC.com for possible live retransmissions<br />(http://www.msnbc.com/m/lv/default.asp). Listen for the ISS on the downlink<br />of 145.80 MHz.<br /><br />There are several ARISS web sites:<br /><br />English: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/<br />French: http://c.avmdti.free.fr/ariss/index.htm<br />ARISS Europe: http://www.ariss-eu.org/<br />ARISS Japan: http://www.jarl.or.jp/ariss/<br /><br />Expedition 8 crew:<br />Mike Foale KB5UAC<br />Alexsandr Kaleri U8MIR<br /><br />Expedition 9 crew:<br />E. Michael Fincke KE5AIT<br />Gennady I. Padalka RN3DT<br /><br />Saint Mard, France, direct via F5CAR<br />Contact is a go for 2004-04-01 18:27 UTC<br /><br />Saltoschool Hanevoet, Eindhoven,NL-5655 CP, direct via PI4EHV<br />DELTA mission with André Kuipers<br />TBD 2004-04-24<br /><br />ESA-ESTEC, Noordwijk, NL-2201, direct via PI9ESA<br />DELTA mission with André Kuipers<br />TBD 2004-04-25<br /><br />[ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N for the above information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-088.07<br />K6DUE Memorial ARISS event QSL card update<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 088.07 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. March 28, 2004<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-088.07<br /><br />Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, who is ARISS International Chairman says<br />in order to save postage costs, the process being used for the special<br />event certificates is this. The various regions such as Europe, Canada,<br />USA, Russia and Japan are collecting the QSLs and generating compiled lists<br />of names and callsigns. These lists are then used to print the certificates<br />and return them to the regions for direct distribution. Bauer asks that<br />everyone be patient, indicating that it will be well worth the wait.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Newsline for the above information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-088.08<br />This Week's News in Brief<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 088.08 From AMSAT HQ<br />SILVER SPRING, MD. March 28, 2004<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-088.08<br /><br />** In what NASA says is a first for aviation an unmanned X-43A hypersonic<br />research aircraft was dropped from a modified B-52 aircraft before rocketing<br />away and firing up its revolutionary scramjet engine. The experimental X-43<br />pilotless plane broke the world speed record for an atmospheric engine,<br />briefly flying at 7,700 kilometers (4,780 miles) per hour -- seven times the<br />speed of sound, NASA said. --SpaceDaily<br /><br />** aeroTelesis, Inc., recently conducted a live demonstration for a major<br />satellite conglomerate where through the use of its proprietary USM<br />technology achieved success in the data transmission of six Megabits per<br />second (Mbps) through a single 3 kHz (3 dB Band Width)<br />channel. --SpaceDaily<br /><br />** A Chinese restaurant in New Jersey is facing a $10,000 fine from the FCC<br />for operating transmitting equipment on 2 meters without a license. The case<br />involves a Westville, NJ restaurant which apparently had been using a<br />so-called "long-range cordless telephone" to communicate with its delivery<br />vehicle. The FCC says the telephone in question--said to have been obtained<br />outside the US and not FCC certificated--operated within the 2-meter<br />satellite subband at 145.8376 MHz. --ARRL<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the<br />President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to<br />AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits.<br />Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.<br /><br />AMSAT has developed an on-line volunteer survey, designed to<br />identify the interests and skills of those who may be available to directly<br />help in efforts to develop the amateur satellite program. The survey is<br />designed to be completed and returned on-line, and takes only a few minutes<br />to fill out. To request the survey, simply send an e-mail request<br />to:volunteer at AMSAT.org<br /><br />73,<br />This weeks ANS Editor,<br />Lee McLamb, KU4OS, ku4os at AMSAT.org