AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-017
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/634782988606/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:
* ARRL President Bestows President’s Award on AMSAT’s Tom Clark, K3IO
* Joseph Spier, K6WAO, Appointed VP-Educational Relations
* 25 Year AMSAT Office Volunteer Bob Carpenter, W3OTC, SK
* Nepal students to speak to Tim Peake
* ESA Online Astronaut Selection Tes
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-017.01
ANS-017 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 017.01
From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD.
January 17, 2016
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-017.01
ARRL President Bestows President’s Award on AMSAT’s Tom Clark, K3IO
The ARRL has honored veteran AMSAT personality and Amateur Radio digital
pioneer
Tom Clark, K3IO (ex-W3IWI), with its President’s Award. ARRL President Kay
Craigie, N3KN, presented the award plaque to Clark at a January 10
meeting of
the Potomac Valley Radio Club in Blacksburg, Virginia. The plaque, which
bears a
likeness of ARRL Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim, W1AW, recognizes Clark’s
60 years
of advancing Amateur Radio technology.
Former AMSAT President and current AMSAT Director Bob McGwier, N4HY, stated
directly. “There would be no AMSAT to inspire all of this work without Tom
Clark,” he said, noting that the organization was in serious trouble
after the
Phase 3A satellite launch failure.
“Tom took over as president of AMSAT, and he saved the organization and
inspired
all of us to look to the future and aim for the stars,” McGwier said.
“All that
has followed, including PACSAT and microsats, CubeSats, AO-13, all the way
through AO-85, are a direct result of Tom Clark saving AMSAT and
providing it
leadership as president from 1980 to 1987 and continuous leadership on
the Board
of Directors of AMSAT from 1976 until today.”
McGwier said it was Clark who convinced him in 1985 that the future lay in
digital signal processing — DSP. “We started the TAPR/AMSAT DSP project,
and it
was announced in 1987,” he said. “We showed in our efforts that small
stations
with small antennas could bounce signals off the moon, and, using the
power of
DSP, we could see the signals in our computer displays.”
McGwier said this led to the SDX, the Software Defined Transponder,
included in
ARISSat and in AMSAT’s Phase 3E. McGwier said Clark was an early
supporter of
women in science, too.
“Tom is now and always will be a leader, mentor — the chief scientist
for all of
Amateur Radio,” he said.
Clark is an adviser to Virginia Tech as adjunct professor of aerospace
and ocean
engineering and of electrical and computer Engineering. McGwier said
Clark will
play a crucial role in the Phase 4B geosynchronous satellite opportunity
on the
USAF Wide Field of View spacecraft, in which Virginia Tech is a partner.
[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information]
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Joseph Spier, K6WAO, Appointed VP-Educational Relations
AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW has accepted the resignation of
E. Michael "EMike" McCardel, AA8EM, as VP-Educational Relations and
appointed Joseph Spier, K6WAO, as his replacement.
E. Michael McCardel, AA8EM, of Howard, OH was first appointed as an
Associate Director for Educational Outreach under former VP
Educational Relations Mark Hammond, N8MH, in 2011 and succeeded Mark
as VP Educational Relations in September 2013. Among EMike's biggest
successes were establishing a solid relation with ARRL's Education
Division and working closely with ARISS as a member of its Executive
Team. He was instrumental with keeping ARISS going and restructuring
the ARISS program after funding was cut for Teaching From Space
(TFS). At the time TFS was the primary NASA partner and education
liaison for ARISS. TFS lead the school proposal and selection process
in the USA. That process is now lead by ARRL and AMSAT. AMSAT VP
Human Spaceflight Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, notes, "EMike has been
invaluable to ARISS and I will miss his support. He and I worked
behind the scenes to rescue ARISS through our discussions at the ISS
Conference in 2014. And his rapport with ARRL is
outstanding…something I will miss dearly. I thank EMike for making
that all happen for ARISS."
EMike also worked at establishing relations with various colleges
and universities. He pushed to make aware the importance of AMSAT as
an educational organization by emphasizing how education is part of
AMSAT's earliest Mission Statements and Objectives and reminding us
of all the educational programs and outreaches AMSAT has engaged in
during its history.
AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW notes, "EMike made a positive
difference and helped set the course in a number of areas involving
Educational Outreach, ARISS, and the overall direction of AMSAT.
While I regret losing your considerable enthusiasm and talents, I
understand the need to 'recalibrate' your priorities."
EMike will complete his duties on January 31, citing time and
commitments outside of AMSAT as his reason for stepping down. EMike
will continue serving AMSAT as one of the rotating editors for the
AMSAT News Service (ANS).
With EMike's resignation, the appointment of Joseph Spier, K6WAO of
Weimar, CA, as the new VP-Educational Relations is also announced. Joe
came on board with the Educational Relation's team in 2011 serving as
Associate Director then Director for Educational Outreach.
EMike noted, "Joe and I started with Educational Relations at the
same time and we have always had a great personal and working
relationship. Joe is extremely enthusiastic and someone who thinks
outside the box. Many have pointed out those similarities between us.
However, Joe will bring a different dimension to the position because
of his background in engineering. I support Joe as he takes over and
am excited to see what new and exciting things are in store for AMSAT
Education under his direction."
“I’m very pleased that Joe has agreed to become our next VP-Educational
Relations”, notes AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW. “Joe is passionate
about integrating amateur radio into educational opportunities at all
educational levels. His engineering background will help in interacting with
university engineering departments encouraging a greater focus on
educational
impacts of amateur spacecraft, developing new ways of bringing science
to the
class room. He recognizes the importance of ARISS in reaching out to
students
based upon his personal involvement in managing an ARISS contact as part
of the
2012 Pacificon Convention. His interaction with young people at the 2014
ARRL
Centennial Convention where he encouraged their curiosity about AMSAT’s
cubesat
design by their holding the engineering mockup while visiting the AMSAT
booth
created many positive impressions for both the students and their
parents. I
look forward to working with Joe to further enhance our ability to touch
students through amateur radio satellites and develop new ways to
incorporate
education into AMSAT’s mission.”
E. Michael McCardel, AA8EM, former KC8YLD
V.P. for Educational Relations, AMSAT-NA
[ANS thanks EMike, AA8EM, for the above information]
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25 Year AMSAT Office Volunteer Bob Carpenter, W3OTC, SK
Bob Carpenter, W3OTC died on January 8th. Since 1991 Bob had volunteered
at the AMSAT Office on a weekly basis. He was our computer specialist and
handled the donations for AMSAT.
A memorial service will be held on January 23rd at 7:00PM a the Guild
Memorial Chapel, Asbury Methodist Village, 211 Russell Ave, Gaithersburg MD.
[ANS thanks Martha for the above information]
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Nepal students to speak to Tim Peake
UK astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI will be using amateur radio to talk to
students at
Brihaspati Vidhyasadan School (BVS) in Nepal on Wednesday, January 20.
The Himalayan Times reports this is the first link up between a school
in Nepal
and the International Space Station (ISS). It will be a Telebridge
contact via
Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI in Australia and is scheduled for Wednesday,
January 20 at
08:37:04 UT. The ISS should be in range of the Telebridge station for
about 8
minutes.
BVS is organizing an Exhibition during the week of the contact from January
19-23. Experts as well as knowledgeable students will be at hand to
respond to
queries of visiting students who will be able to get acquainted with amateur
radio during the exhibition.
The Nepal Amateur Radio Operators’ Society is one of the organizations
supporting the exhibition.
Brihaspati Vidyasadan is a 32 year old High school, located in
Kathmandu, Nepal.
Brihaspati runs classes from nursery to 100 at secondary level and the 10+2
program in Science and Management at the higher secondary Level. Besides
these
Brihaspati also runs Diploma in Hospitality Managemant and Tourism in
affiliation with Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality (CTH), UK.
Brihaspati is known for its academic excellence. To date Brihaspati has
produced
over 2000 SLC graduates and over 600 +2 graduates who have achieved
excellent
academic achievements. Brihaspati has also been awarded the “Best School in
Nepal” in 2055BS.
Brihaspati is also known for its co-curricular and extra-curricular
activities
including sports, debates and concerts. Over the years the school has
achieved
Inter-school successes in football (soccer), cricket and basketball at
national
levels. School has also successes in inter-school competitions like debate,
elocution and concerts.
For its academic, co-curricular and extra-curricular achievements
Brihaspati has
been placed among the Class A schools of Nepal by the Ministry of Education,
Government of Nepal.
Brihaspati staff and students have been known for their innovation in
education.
The school is reputed to be the first school in Nepal to introduce computer
education. Brihaspati houses clubs like Lokopakar, which is a student
club that
looks into Humanitarian aid. Brihaspati students recently started gThink
Inkh, an activity designed using the principles of Extreme Design from
Stanford
for instilling critical thinking and problem solving skills in students.
This
program has gained attention of a lot of people in the academia at a
very rapid
pace.
Brihaspati is located in a 25 acre land space at the heart of Kathmandu
within
the Balmandir compound. It has academic facility that is of very high
standards. It houses the Free and Open Source Research Lab and Ham (amateur
radio) facility that students and staff have access to.
Recently during the earthquake of Nepal, one of the buildings of
Brihaspati was
used by ham radio operators from Nepal and India to coordinate search and
reconciliation of families where over 500 families were reunited with their
loved ones.
Read The Himalayan Times story at
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/172413360487/list.admin/aus-city.com/intl-space-station/
Brihaspati Vidhyasadan School
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/398496381738/list.admin/aus-city.com/http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/763295214859/list.admin/aus-city.com/ARISS
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/569330552680/list.admin/aus-city.com/[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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ESA Online Astronaut Selection Test
The European Space Agency is offering a trial version of a test
developed for
future astronauts for you to try at home – and by taking part you will
help us
select a new generation of astronauts.
Read the ESA press release at:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/771853496054/list.admin/aus-city.com/ut_skills_and_help_ESA
Access the astronaut selection test at:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/793205613932/list.admin/aus-city.com/[ANS thanks the European Space Agency for the above information]
/EX
