AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-355
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.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/672282580106/list.admin/aus-city.com/ 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.
In this edition:
* Worked All USA Grids Via Satellite - #488 for Doug Papay, KD8CAO
* Opportunities to Help at AMSAT User Services
* 73 on 73 Award #4 - EA5TT
* Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, Reflects on Her First ARISS Contact
* ARISS News
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-355.01
ANS-355 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 355.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE December 21, 2014
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-355.01
Worked All USA Grids Via Satellite - #488 for Doug Papay, KD8CAO
Congratulations to Doug Papay, KD8CAO for working grid #488 of the
488 USA grids. Doug worked N2COP/p, in FM13, for his final grid. The
contact was via SO-50 and was logged on 15/Dec/2014 @ 1252Z.
For his efforts he has been granted GRID MASTER award # 2.
In a recent AMSAT-BB email exchange with Damon Runion WA4HFN, Doug
said of his accomplishment, "...it certainly would not have been
possible without the help of the many individuals that went to extra
effort to activate so many rare grids. These include those who
recently helped put the last 30 or so girds in the log: my father
K8YSE, Tom KA6SIP, Denny WB8K, Bill N2COP, Ron N8RO, Craig KL4E, Ed
WA7ETH, Steven KF7SLV, Wyatt AC0RA, and Clayton W5PFG. Special
recognition goes to my father K8YSE, Jim ND9M, Patrick WD9EWK, and
Ted AA5CK for having been major contributors over the years to this
accomplishment. I'm sure there are may more that I have not
mentioned, and so I'm thankful for every effort, every contact is
appreciated!
"I also want to thank Rick WA4NVM for the heads-up via text from my
father K8YSE about FM13 on Sunday morning--while I missed Bill N2COP
that day, this head's-up gave the motivation to be at the radio on
Monday morning, and sure enough Bill was there and the contact was
logged. Without these guys watching out for me I would have missed
the grid yet again. (Thanks Rick!)."
The Star Comm Group sponsors the Grid Master Award. To qualify for
this award you must make a satellite contact with all 488 grids in
the U.S. and get confirmation. Send your information to Ricky, WA4NVM
or Damon, WA4HFN. All Star Comm Group awards are free, they only ask
that you make a donation to AMSAT NA.
Grid Master Award #1 was awarded to Doug's father, John Papay, K8YSE.
More information on the Grid Master and other Star Comm Group awards
can be found at:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/967894188479/list.admin/aus-city.com/[ANS thanks the Star Comm Group and Doug KD8CAO for the above
information]
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Opportunities to Help at AMSAT User Services
AMSAT's User Services Department is recruiting for several volunteer
positions to augment our dedicated and elite staff! The User Services
Department provides support in several areas including:
+ AMSAT News Service
+ The AMSAT Journal magazine
+ AMSAT's web presence at
www.amsat.orgThe AMSAT News Service
-----------------------
We need two or more volunteers to step forward who can dedicate time
on a rotating shift of news editors. The AMSAT News Service (ANS)
sends out a weekly news bulletin of everything of interest to amateur
radio in space.
The entire ANS crew (currently 3 editors) helps round up the news
and each ANS editor takes a week as editor to compile the week's ANS
bulletins. We'll get you into the bulletin rotation and you'll take
your turn as the ANS editor this week.
The AMSAT Journal Magazine
--------------------------
We need two or more volunteers who can help compile one of AMSAT's
key membership benefits ... The AMSAT Journal Magazine. An assistant
editor is needed to help our existing team of editors (currently 3)
to locate articles and establish contact with potential authors. All
you need is an eye for articles of interest to amateur radio in
space. You'll compile input from AMSAT HQ, volunteer authors, and
amateur radio news sources into articles for publication in our bi-
monthly magazine.
We also need one volunteer who is capable of assuming the position
of editor-in-chief of the AMSAT Journal. You'll help develop article
sources and using AMSAT provided software and templates compile the
32-page magazine for six issues per year. Our publishing system is
the Adobe InDesign CS6 package. This can be learned quickly by any
computer literate ham. InDesign is MS-Word on steroids.
AMSAT's Web Presence
--------------------
Help is needed on the front to locate and publish up to date content
for the AMSAT web. We publish late breaking news of amateur radio in
space. We also publish reference information to help operate on the
satellites ...
software, radios, antennas, operating techniques. Web content
containing late-breaking operating news and reliable operator tips
currently has several gaps needing to be filled. Our WordPress
environment makes the web display easy but you'll be spending your
volunteer time on the content. This is a job for 5 or more volunteers
and needs to be filled immediately!
AMSAT also is looking for a webmaster who will assume responsibility
for the display of all content in a WordPress environment. The basic
framework is in place but can definitely stand to be fine tuned and
made into a world class display of amateur radio in space. For most
hams on-line
www.amsat.org is our "front door" and we are looking for
the most capable help on this important user interface!
Our team is the "voice of AMSAT". News, operator tips, and
membership benefits are important products for AMSAT User Services.
For questions or to volunteer please contact AMSAT's Vice President
of User Services, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM at k9jkm@amsat.org
[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice President of User Services, JoAnne Maenpaa,
K9JKM for the above information]
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73 on 73 Award #4 - EA5TT
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, who is sponsoring the award for contacts made
via the AO-73 (FUNcube-1) amateur radio satellite, recently
recognized Manuel D. Ruiz Carrasco, EA5TT, for becoming the fourth
recipient of the 73 on 73 Award. He submitted a list of 73 stations
worked via AO-73 between September 1, 2014 and December 8, 2014.
The award aims to promote activity on AO-73. The requirements are
straight-forward:
1. Work 73 unique stations on AO-73.
2. Contacts must be made on or after September 1, 2014.
3. There are no geographic restrictions on your operating location.
There will be no cost for this award (donations to AMSAT-UK and
AMSAT-NA's Fox program are encouraged though).
No QSL cards are required. When you complete the requirements, email
your log extract including the callsign of each station worked, time
GMT, and date to n8hm@arrl.net as well as the address where you'd
like the award certificate sent.
Congratulations Manuel!
[ANS thanks Paul N8HM for the above information]]
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Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, Reflects on Her First ARISS Contact
In her blog shared 16 Dec 2014, Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF,
reflects on her first ever ARISS school contact with twenty students
from Elena di Savoia in Bari and "Alessandro Volta" in Bitonto. In
her comments she thanks the "army of volunteers in many countires"
who make the contacts possible and how impressed she was with the
quality of all the questions that "showed a great interest and
knowledge in science and technology..."
"Yesterday I had my first HAM radio contact with school pupils. A
big hello to the students of the schools 'Elena di Savoia' in Bari
and 'Alessandro Volta' in Bitonto! It was fun talking to you and
thanks for the great questions!
Amateur radio contacts between astronauts and school kids have a
long tradition on ISS, thanks to a little army of volunteers in many
countries who work with the local schools not only on the day of
contact, but also in the weeks and months leading up to the event:
they teach students about radio technology and about space, to get
them ready and hopefully excited about the event.
From my side, I only needed to be ready on the proper channel at the
proper time: it is very important, because we need direct line-of-
sight with the amateur radio station on the ground and the pass is
only about ten minutes long. A couple of minutes before the expected
acquisition-of-signal time, I started making calls to check if
someone was already picking me up. Eventually I picked up a call from
the ground station and sure enough, we started our conversation. I
heard them loud and clear, which positively surprised me: somehow I
expected signal quality not to be as good. I hope they had the same
quality on the other side.
On such contacts, there's no time for small talk and formalities: in
less than ten minutes, we had to make sure that the 20 students who
were lined up to ask their question got their chance. So here I was,
ready to go. And here came the first question - are you ready? Here's
it is:
'It is known that people become taller when they are in space. What
happens to bio-molecules? Is there any alteration in the tertiary
structure of proteins?'
I almost fell off my chair... well, if I had had a chair. (Wonder what
a good equivalent of this expression would be in weightlessness... any
suggestions?)
Where are the good old question about space food and the space
toilet? Jokes apart, I was really impressed with all the questions:
they showed a great interest and knowledge in science and technology
and gave me great hope for our future generations of scientists and
engineers. Keep up the great work, girls and boys!"
Cristoforetti's adventures in space can be followed at
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/714473598646/list.admin/aus-city.com/[ANS thanks Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF for the above information]
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ARISS News
+ A Successful contact was made between ELENA DI SAVOIA, BARI AND
ALESSANDRO VOLTA, BITONTO, Italy and Astronaut Samantha
Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF using callsign IR0ISS. The contact began
Monday 15 December 2014 at 1518 UTC and lasted about nine and a half
minutes. Contact was direct via IZ7EVR.
ARISS Mentor was IKØWGF.
The Alessandro Volta school teaches communications, social-history,
mathematics, science and technology in different contexts: life,
study, job. In addition it fosters useful competence, allowing
students to access continuous innovations through 3 specializations:
Mechanics and Mechatronics, IT and Telecommunications, Electronics
and Electro-technics.
ARISS mentor Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF proposed to Radio Contact
Coordinator Mr. Michele Mallardi IZ7EVR to set up a direct contact,
with the support by IK1SLD back-up ground station, and this was
accepted. The event took place in Elena di Savoia school, where an
audience of more than 200 students, visitors (including some Italian
Air Force officers) and Media (2 TV, 2 newspapers) participated at
contact site, and about 200 at both schools. Total of more than 400
people.
Before the contact, Mrs. Rosa Tagliamonte by ASI (Italian Space
Agency) presented the Cristoforetti mission and the Italian
contribution to the International Space Station. Mr. Michele Mallardi
IZ7EVR presented ARISS and explained how a contact with the ISS is
performed via Ham Radio.
Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule
Yekaterinburg, Russia, direct via TBD
Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS
Contact is a go for Sun 2014-12-21 11:55 UTC (primary) or Sun 2014-
12-21 13:00 UTC (backup)
Kursk, Russia, direct via TBD
Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS
Contact is a go for Thu 2014-12-24 TBD UTC
Kursk, Russia, direct via TBD
Contact is presently scheduled to be with RSØISS
Contact is a go for Fri 2014-12-25 TBD UTC
[ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above
information]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Revised Tracking Utilites for DESAPTCH and Shin-en2
The spacecrafts, DESAPTCH and Shin-en2 are still alive.
Masahiro Sanada JI1IZR has recently revised the predict tracking
utilites for the extension of the data range.
The new versions can be obtained from:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/435790974638/list.admin/aus-city.com/ [ANS thanks Masahiro,JI1IZR for the above information]
+ Radio ham helps ESA with tracking widget
Thanks to radio amateur Chip Sufitchi N2YO the European Space
Agency's new satellite tracking widgets are live
The tracking widgets are fed with the latest orbital tracks for ESA
missions, or missions with significant ESA participation. The
default track shows the ISS.
Track ESA missions
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/087894945190/list.admin/aus-city.com/ ESA tracking widgets are powered by
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/832018850138/list.admin/aus-city.com/ [ANS thanks Southgate ARN for the above information]
+ In Liue of the recent SSTV transmissions from the International
Space Station, everyone is reminded that information is available by
visiting the ARISS SSTV Blogspot.
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/948662864742/list.admin/aus-city.com/ Also, the full set of archived SSTV images are located at:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/876822176047/list.admin/aus-city.com/ Those that receive images can upload to the above link. The best of
the best uploads may make it to the blog.
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