AMSAT NEWS SERVICE<br /><br />ANS-051<br /><br />ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North<br />America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the<br />activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share<br />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 /><br />ans-editor@amsat.org<br /><br />In this edition:<br />* Orbital Data Redistribution Update<br />* 2005 Combined Federal Campaign Application<br />* ARISS School Contact Schedule<br />* NPS RadioFest 2005<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-051.01<br />Orbital Data Redistribution Update<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 051.01<br />>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.<br />February 20, 2005<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-051.01<br /><br />During the past week the NASA Orbital Information Group (OIG) system<br />from which our KEP data comes, was rebooted and the system became<br />inoperable. The good news is that as of 16 February they were able to<br />recover some functionality. Daily updates of the KEPs are now possible,<br />which is sufficient for our needs. For the time being we are OK.<br /><br />In the bigger picture, Air Force Space Command is still in the process<br />and working hard to put their redistribution process in place.<br />Permission to redistribute the data has been formally requested but at<br />this time it is still not known that process will be.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Ray, WA5QGD for the above information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-051.02<br />2005 Combined Federal Campaign Application<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 051.02<br />>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.<br />February 20, 2005<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS<br />BID: $ANS-051.02<br /><br />Gunther Meisse, W8GSM, AMSAT treasurer, announced the receipt of the<br />acceptance acknowledgement of AMSAT's formal application for the<br />inclusion of AMSAT in the 2005 CFC (Combined Federal Campaign) which<br />takes place in the fall each year. If granted, we will be available for<br />annual charitable gifts by Federal Employees. This CFC program is much<br />like the United Way in the non-government community. We met with the CFC<br />officials in Washington in December and look forward to our inclusion in<br />this wonderful national campaign. About 1600 nationally recognized<br />groups compete annually for the support of government employees. Many<br />space scientists and federal employees interested in the space and<br />educational activities of AMSAT have expressed an interest in our<br />participation in the CFC program. We'll keep you posted on our status.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Gunther, W8GSM for the above information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-051.03<br />ARISS School Contact Schedule<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 051.03<br />>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.<br />February 20, 2005<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS <br />BID: $ANS-051.03<br /><br />Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2005-02-15 17:00 UTC <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) operations <br />team wishes to announce the following very tentative schedule for ARISS school <br />contacts. This schedule is very fluid and may change at the last minute. <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 /><br />The ARISS contacts can be heard by listening for the ISS on the downlink of <br />145.80 MHz as well as checking MSNBC.com for possible live retransmissions <br />http://www.msnbc.com/m/lv/default.asp <br /><br />The crossband repeater has been active at times.<br />The frequencies are uplink of 437.80 MHz and downlink of 145.80 MHz.<br /><br />For information about educational materials available from ISS partner space <br />Agencies, please refer to links on the ARISS Frequently Asked Questions page.<br /><br />There are several ARISS web sites:<br /><br />English: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/ <br /><br />French: http://c.avmdti.free.fr/ariss/index.htm <br /><br />ARISS Europe: http://www.ariss-eu.org/ <br /><br />ARISS Japan: http://www.jarl.or.jp/ariss/ <br /> <br />The expedition 10 crew on board the ISS is:<br />Leroy Chiao KE5BRW<br />Salizhan Sharipov<br /><br />To let you in on how tough it is to schedule contacts, here are some of the <br />constraints the ARISS mentors must work under: <br />Each Increment is 26 weeks in length. <br /><br />For the next increment (10) we may not schedule:<br />1. Anything the first 3 weeks.<br />2. During EVA weeks (2 EVAs are scheduled for Increment 10; 2004-12-28 (did not <br />occur) and 2005-02-21)<br />3. at least 2 weeks prior to the Increment change. <br />4. no contacts during meal and exercise periods.<br />5. no contacts during post-sleep and pre sleep (before 0800 UTC and after 1930 <br />UTC)<br />6. contacts on the day of Progress docking or undocking are circumspect. Five of<br />these events are planned for this increment.<br /><br />ISS frequencies:<br />Remember that the ISS radios are not able to correct for Doppler as the <br />frequencies are channelized. So it is up to the ground station to do the <br />Doppler correction. For 2 meters, the Doppler is about +3kHz at the beginning <br />and goes to about -3kHz at the end. For 70 cm, the Doppler is about +10kHz at <br />the beginning and goes to about -10kHz at the end. The 70cm Doppler is roughly <br />3 times the 2m Doppler. Many of the tracking programs have the ability to <br />calculate the Doppler.<br /><br /><br />Rockland District High School, Rockland, ME, direct via W1PBR<br />Contact was successful Mon 2005-02-14 15:06 UTC <br />Congratulations Rockland and Leroy!<br /><br />St. John's School, Houston, Texas via W5RRR<br />Contact is a go for Wed 2005-02-23 14:35 UTC<br /><br />The following contacts are planned but the specific dates have not yet been<br />announced:<br /><br />Bentley School, Oakland, California, telebridge via TBD<br /><br />Rains High School, Texas direct via KD5OMH.<br /><br />St Martins Lutheran School, Mt Gambier, Australia, telebridge via VK5ZAI <br /><br />S.C.O.P.E. Science & Technology Center, Texas direct via W5LRU or KB5YAM.<br /><br />Maple Avenue Elementary, Goffstown, NH, direct via KB1GDA<br /><br />Ft. Ross, Cazadero, CA, direct via WA6M.<br /><br />Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, Colorado, direct via N0VSE<br /><br /><br />Currently the ARISS operations team has a list of 60 schools that we <br />hope will be able to have a contact during 2005. As the schedule becomes more <br />solidified, we will be letting everyone know. Current plans call for an <br />average of one scheduled school contact per week.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N for the above information]<br /><br />/EX<br /><br /><br />SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-051.04<br />NPS RadioFest 2005<br /><br />AMSAT News Service Bulletin 051.04<br />>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.<br />February 20, 2005<br />To All RADIO AMATEURS <br />BID: $ANS-051.04<br /><br />The Naval Postgraduate School Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring RadioFest<br />2005. This event will be held 26 February, 0700-1400 local time. The<br />event will be held in Seaside, CA at the General Stillwell Community<br />Center, Ord Military Community (old Fort Ord) located at 4260 Gigling<br />Road.<br /><br />Presentations on ARISS, AO-51 and Eagle are planned during the<br />RadioFest.<br /><br />[ANS thanks Emily, W0EEC for the above information]<br /><br />/EX