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[jamsat-news:598] * SpaceNews 28-Jul-97 *

SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0728
* SpaceNews 28-Jul-97 *


BID: $SPC0728


			       =========
			       SpaceNews
			       =========


			  MONDAY JULY 28, 1997


SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA.  It
is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use.


* MIR NEWS *
============
Francisco Costa, CT1EAT, downloaded the following message from Mike Foale
on the Mir space station:

  Stat   : PR
  Posted : 07/21/97 10:13
  To     : ALL
  From   : R0MIR
  @ BBS  :
  BID    :
  Subject: status

  I am having frequent power problems with tnc, and loosing all msgs.  
  Sorry. No supply store is near at hand.  I would do anything for a 9pin 
  9pin serial adapter.  Getting ready for next crew, August 7th. Mike. 
  kb5uac.

Claudio Ariotti, IK1SLD, downloaded the following message from Mike Foale
via the Mir Personal Message System:

  Stat   : PR   
  Posted : 07/25/97 09:53
  To     : ALL    
  From   : R0MIR  
  @ BBS  :        
  BID    : 
  Subject: Mir status

  Lost power to tnc again - lost all messages.   Possibly will get new
  tnc, with memory protection, in August, with next crew.  We are doing 
  experiments, especially Vassily and Sasha, even though they now have
  very little time leiroda and Krisctal still without power, but a little
  drier now, though still dark.  I planted the first ever space produced
  seeds, two days ago, in Greenhouse.  No sprouts yet.
  Mike. kb5uac.

Other messages captured by Claudio may be found at the following URL:

	http://www.geocities.com/~ik1sld/mirmsg_frame.htm

In other news, a serious problem with de-sensing of the 2-meter receiver
exists on the Mir space station, and this has caused frustration on the
part of the cosmonauts, groundstations, and the MIREX team.  Mir is using
multiple commercial VHF channels to send voice and data down to earth
based tracking stations around the world.  One of the commercial VHF
transmitters operating on 143 MHz is de-sensing the 2-meter Amateur
Radio Station.  Because of the de-sensing problem, the 2-meter station
is OFF the air or unable to copy groundstation signals most of the time.

The MIREX team has constructed a special filter for the 2-meter Mir radio
station to help eliminate the desensing problem.  However, because of higher
priorities on onboard the Mir complex at the present time, the MIREX team
has not been able to acquire all of the required permissions to deliver
the filter to the cosmonauts on Mir.  MIREX is still actively working on
the situation.  Pat Kilroy, WD8LAQ, reports that an effort is underway
to send the filter with the Mir24/NASA5 crew.  This task is being led
by Will Marchant, Dave Larsen, and Miles Mann.

The following is a copy of a memo from Mir to the MIREX team regarding
the recent Amateur Radio problems on the Mir space station:

  An unidentified US ham recently interrupted a conversation between a
  Mir crew member and another ham on the ground.  The unidentified station
  said, "Why don't you get your radios fixed?"  The station never identified.
  This station also went on to say, "Who wants to talk to you anyway?".

  The Mir crew member passed the following text message on to MIREX:

  I realize this fellow's [behavior] is not representative of most hams,
  but it makes me think that US hams in general just don't understand the
  limitations [we have] without a filter for VHF.  (We also don't have a
  store at hand to take our radios to..)  Could you put out on the various
  ham nets in the US, an explanation as to why I can't hear hams on VHF,
  most often.  I try not to let things like this bother me, but they do,
  as I don't want to be offending anybody.

The actions of the unidentified ham are unforgivable.  It is interference
like this that has caused the Mir crews to shutdown the Amateur Radio
Experiment for months at a time.  The MIREX team would like to remind people
that if they not like the way the station on Mir is running, do NOT complain
to the Mir crews.  They are much too busy.  Complaints and recommendations
should insteadbe forwarded to MIREX President Dr. Dave Larsen [N6CO] or Miles
Mann Director of Educational resources [WF1F].  And please DO NOT bother the
crews.  Everyone is doing the best with the limit resources available.

One of the options to get around the de-sensing problem is to temporarily
move Mir Amateur radio operations to 70 cm.  However, this would open up
a whole new set of problems.  Most 70 cm transceivers cannot work Mir for
the following reasons:

1.  Most transceivers sold in the USA do not transmit in the satellite
    subband between 435.000 MHz and 438.000 MHz.  
2.  Most transceivers cannot make the channel steps smaller than 5 kHz.
    A 1 kHz channel step works best when compensating with Doppler shift.
3.  The Doppler shift on 70cm during a 10 minutes pass is +/- 10 kHz.
    This means groundstations need to adjust their transmitters and receivers
    in opposite directions at the same time, and the adjustments need to be
    made every 10 to 30 seconds for the duration for the pass.  This is much
    too complicated for beginners.
4.  MIREX has always felt that 2-meter 1200 baud simplex packet operations
    are the best for all that are new to satellite operations and is the
    most cost effective. 

Note 1: Any comments about the 145.800/200 frequency should be directed to 
SAFEX.

Note 2: The reason Mir is sometimes heard on 145.985 MHz simplex is because
the crew is using the 2-meter station as a backup source of family message 
traffic.  The sysops N6CO and WF1F are uploading family message traffic daily.
When Mir is in range of Europe, the crews (if they are not busy) will switch 
back to 800/200.

Remember the name of the 2-meter project on Mir is called the PMS Personal 
Message System.  It is not a Public Bulletin Board System.

MIREX President Dave N6CO
doc@volcano.net

Miles Mann
mann@pictel.com


* RS-12 NEWS *
==============
Doug Brandon, N6RT, reports that DX on RS-12 from southern California
(Orange county area) has been very good.  In the past few weeks Doug has
worked XE2HWB, YS1RRD, VE6DXX, TI5RLI, VE6JAZ, and KL7AH.

Stations he's heard, but wasn't able to contact include HR2A, XE3HN and
UA9CLB!


* STS-85 NEWS *
===============
Ken Ernandes, N2WWD, reports that STS-85 pre-launch orbital data is now
available on the AMSAT Web page.  The nominal OMS-2 Keplerian Elements and
time-independent State Vector are posted on the Shuttle Orbital Data page:

        http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sarex/orbit.html

As with all Space Shuttle missions, this page will be updated several times
daily during the mission with actual orbital data.  

A complete mission orbit profile and corresponding time-independent nominal
State Vectors are posted on the State Vector Tutorial page:

        http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sarex/vectors.html

Any questions or comments regarding this data should be sent to Ken
Ernandes, N2WWD at: n2wwd@amsat.org


* FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED *
===========================
Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John,
KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below:
 
WWW       : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/
PACKET    : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA
INTERNET  : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net
SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19


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