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[jamsat-news:795] ANS 081
ANS 081
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-081.01
PHASE 3-D FINAL INTEGRATION CONTINUES
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 081.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-081.01
AMSAT teams from a number of countries recently converged on the Phase 3-D
Integration Lab in Orlando, Florida to install the remaining electronic and
communications modules into the new Phase 3-D International Satellite, and
make it 'flight ready' for launch.
In a joint statement issued just prior to their departure from Orlando on
March 18th, Dr. Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, AMSAT-DL President and Phase 3-D
Project Leader, and Bill Tynan, W3XO, AMSAT-NA President, outlined recent
progress made on the satellite. "We are most happy to be here and to again
participate with our international partners in the final integration of
Phase 3-D," said Karl. "The cooperation with the American integration team
in Orlando remains excellent." Karl went on to note that, "I am happy to
say that after successfully recovering from the setbacks caused by the
major structural reworks of last summer and fall, the spacecraft is now
once again rapidly nearing flight readiness." Karl also expressed his
gratitude to Stan Wood, WA4NFY, AMSAT-NA's VP Engineering, Lou McFadin,
W5DID, P3-D Integration Laboratory Manager, and the other members of the
Orlando Lab team including Dick Jansson, WD4FAB, Rick Leon, KA1RHL and Bob
Davis, KF4KSS, for their hard work in preparing the satellite for the final
integration phase.
Soon after his arrival, Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, AMSAT-DL's Digital
Integration Manager, performed a number of checks and measurements on the
spacecraft's Internal Housekeeping Unit (IHU). The IHU is the spacecraft's
main computer. Following this extensive checkout, Peter then successfully
accomplished a major integration milestone by sending and receiving
commands from the spacecraft via radio uplink. This was a critical task
that had to be accomplished before each of the individual flight electronic
modules could be commanded on and tested for flight readiness. Dr. Stacey
Mills, W4SM, P3-D's North American Command Station, was also present in
Orlando to assist the integration team by putting the finishing touches on
software to format and decode the telemetry stream from the satellite.
Needless to say, there were big smiles all around when, once again, P3-D
team members heard the familiar "growl" of 400 baud PSK telemetry coming
from the new "bird".
In addition to his duties as AMSAT-DL's Vice President, Werner Haas, DJ5KQ,
is responsible for coordinating the entire communications suite for Phase
3-D. While in Orlando, Werner performed yet another bench test on each of
the flight electronic modules just prior to their re-installation into the
satellite. Then, Werner directed other members of the communications team
including Freddy de Guchteneire, ON6UG, and Dr. Matjaz Vidmar, S53MV, in
successfully powering up each of the onboard flight electronic modules.
Michael Fletcher, OH2AUE, and Harri Leskinen, OH2JMS, were also on hand in
Orlando during this time to re-install the 10 GHz transmitter hardware. In
addition, Stefaan Burger, ON4FG, assisted the communications team by
connecting and powering up the 24 GHz transmitter. It performed "as
advertised", delivering its designed 1 watt output into its 26db gain
feed-horn antenna.
The RUDAK team was well represented in Orlando by Peter Guelzow, DB2OS,
Bdale Garbee, N3EUA, Jim White, WD0E, Chuck Green, N0ADI, and Harold Price,
NK6K. They gave the RUDAK digital experiment module a thorough checkout
and declared it 'electrically flight ready'. Bdale also performed a
complete check of the JAMSAT SCOPE camera. In addition, Gerd Schrick,
WB8IFM, was on hand in Orlando to help the P3-D team put the final touches
on the satellite's all-important Earth and Sun sensors. These instruments
will help ground controllers determine Phase 3-D's physical orientation in
orbit for tracking and motor burn considerations.
Meanwhile, Konrad Mueller, DG7FDQ, AMSAT-DL's Structural Specialist, and
his team consisting of Horst Wagner, DB2ZB, and the P3-D Lab's Bob Davis,
were busy preparing the second Specific Bearing Structure (SBS) for flight.
The SBS is the large cylindrical structure that will ultimately carry the
Phase 3-D spacecraft to orbit. In addition, Phase 3-D's Documentation
Manager, AMSAT-DL's Wilfred Gladish, was also present in Orlando to insure
that all the spacecraft's documentation, including each of the spacecraft's
drawings and photos, match the 'as built' spacecraft.
Despite the very good progress made in this most recent integration effort,
a definitive launch opportunity for Phase 3-D remains unsure. However,
negotiations with the European Space Agency for a ride to orbit are
continuing in
earnest, and all remain optimistic that Phase 3-D will be successfully
launched...hopefully sometime this year.
[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA VP Keith Baker, KB1SF, for the information that went
into this bulletin.]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-081.02
PHASE 3-D CALLSIGN TO FLY AWARD
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 081.02 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-081.02
Ron Broadbent, G3AAJ, AMSAT-International board member, told ANS recently
the 'Callsign to Fly Award' for Phase 3-D is still open for more donations
from around the world in any currency.
Those individuals that contribute a minimum of $288.00 (US) will receive a
personal engraved plaque and have their name and callsign engraved on a
plate fixed to the spacecraft. A photograph will also be sent to each
contributor.
Information on the 'Callsign to Fly Award' can be obtained from G3AAJ using
his e-mail address;
g3aaj@amsat.org
Details of the program are also available on two active amateur digital
satellites, KO-23 and KO-25. AMSAT-NA members can also contact AMSAT-NA
headquarters during normal business hours. Information may also be mailed
to G3AAJ at the following address;
Ron Broadbent, G3AAJ
AMSAT-UK Callsign to Fly Fund
40 Downs View Small Dole
Henfield, West Sussex
BN5 9YB United Kingdom
[ANS thanks Ron Broadbent, G3AAJ, for this information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-081.03
APRS/MIR PACKET TEST FINAL RESULTS
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 081.03 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-081.03
Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, reported to ANS on the final results of the special
MIREX/APRS test conducted using the packet system on the MIR space station.
The test was to show possible methods for improving the visibility of
MIREX communications to students and schools around the world. According to
WB4APR, this first test was limited to North America only because it had
the largest numbers of existing APRS ground stations ready to test in
sufficient numbers to fully load the system.
To make MIR appear to move on all ground station maps, three special
tracking-uplink stations beaconed the moving position of MIR via the MIR
digipeater. One from California using the callsign MIR-6, one in Michigan
using MIR-8 as its callsign, and one in Maryland using MIR-3. West coast
stations typically saw the moving MIR-6, mid-west stations typically saw
the incoming MIR-6 icon change to MIR-8, and east coast stations saw the
moving icon on their maps become MIR-3.
To inject the downlink from the space station onto the Internet, a few of
the normal APRS I-Gate stations tuned their radios from the normal APRS
frequency to the MIR downlink frequency. To provide a unique display of the
APRS/MIR packets alone, a special Web page was designated. Bob reports that
during the day of the event there were over 11,000 hits on the server
system representing a
peak load of 150 simultaneous users.
Bob further tells ANS the test was completely successful in meeting all of
the original objectives. The short notice and early morning hours of the
delayed test orbits helped to reduce the number of participants to a
nominal 100 stations. WB4APR thinks this number is representative of the
nominal number of schools that could be authorized to simultaneously
participate in future such MIR experiments. "The test demonstrated the
value of using a 'UI frame one-to-all packet protocol' to improve the
delivery of information to all ground stations," said Bob, adding, "the
test further demonstrated the value of a few special MIREX ground stations
to uplink the moving MIR position reports and to relay real-time MIREX
bulletins and announcements that can be received by all stations in the
footprint, including receive-only school stations."
WB4APR concluded his report by saying that all of the APRS stations wished
to thank the MIREX team, and the normal MIR PMS users who graciously stood
by during the test, for the opportunity to conduct this important experi
ment.
[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, for this information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-081.04
FUTURE SATELLITE WEB SITE
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 081.04 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-081.04
As anyone who 'surfs the web' would know, there are many dedicated amateur
radio web sites that show DX totals for stations on the HF bands, however,
there are few (if any) such sites for satellite operators. If Matt, WV1K,
has his way, that is all about to change. WV1K is in the process of putting
together a web site that will show grids, states and countries, both worked
and confirmed,
for satellite operators who provide Matt the necessary information.
Matt invites any interested stations to submit this information to him
using his e-mail address;
mjc2@capecod.net
WV1K asks stations to include name and call sign along with grid, state and
country totals.
[ANS thanks Matt Cassarino, WV1K, for this information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-081.05
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 081.05 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-081.05
MIR/SAFEX
SAFEX II 70 cm Repeater
Uplink 435.750 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 141.3 Hz
Downlink 437.950 MHz FM
Not operational at this time.
SAFEX II 70 cm QSO Mode
Uplink 435.725 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 151.4 Hz
Downlink 437.925 MHz FM
Operational. The SAFEX II installation has been utilized
recently in QSO Mode.
PMS
Uplink/Downlink 145.985 MHz FM 1200 Baud AFSK
Operational. The new modem is a Kantronics KPC-9612 Plus, Revision 8.1.
Please note the command set for this TNC is different than the previous MIR
TNC. MIREX suggests a copy of the KPC-9612 manual may help in
understanding the changes.
The Progress 38 cargo rocket has delivered the new MIREX-DCI antenna filter
to the space station. This filter will be used to prevent interference to
the 2-meter
PMS station from nearby commercial transmitters aboard MIR. The filter is a
custom designed antenna cavity which will block the offending interference
with
a combination of pass band and notch filters. The filter is tentatively
planned for
installation in the April/May time frame.
MIREX has created an Internet Web page containing information regarding
MIR and the various ham radio experiments taking place from the space
station. Please check out the pages for pending and proposed projects.
URLs are:
http://www.ik1sld.org/mirex.htm
http://www.geocities.com/~ik1sld/mirex.htm
[ANS thanks the MIREX team for this information]
RS-12
Uplink 145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink 29.410 to 29.450 MHz CW/SSB
Operational, mode KA. The 15m ROBOT is operational.
RS-12 has been seeing recent heavy activity and good DX possibilities.
RS-15
Uplink 145.858 to 145.898 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink 29.354 to 29.394 MHz CW/SSB
Operational. CW appears to be the most successful mode on RS-15.
RS-16
Beacons (only) are operational. IW9ELR reports the 29 MHz beacon was
not operational during a recent pass, the 435 MHz beacon was very strong.
Transponder information on RS-16.
Uplink = 145.915 - 145.948 MHz
Downlink = 29.415 - 29.448 MHz
Beacons = 29.408 and 29.451 MHz
Pwr 29 MHz Down = 1.2W /4W
Beacon 1 = 435.504 MHz
Beacon 2 = 435.548 MHz
Pwr 435 MHz Beacons = 1.6W
[ANS thanks Rosario Orlando, IW9ELR, for information in this report]
AO-10
Uplink 435.030 to 435.180 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 145.975 to 145.825 MHz CW/USB
Operational. Despite brief moments of deep QSB, AO-10's downlink
signals have been excellent (even at apogee), with heavy stateside
and DX activity. Now is the time to be active on this bird. Jon, N0JK,
reports GD0TEP has been active on CW usually starting around 2030 to
0015 UTC. Dan, NN0DJ, reports working VK4AFL, ZL2BLC, JA5LG,
UA3PAB, OE3JIS and F6EMC recently.
AO-10's apogee has continued to move into the northern hemisphere.
Apogee will continue to rise higher to the north for the rest of 1998,
peaking in December.
W4SM has updated his AO-10 web page, use the following URL:
http://www.cstone.net/~w4sm/AO-10.html
[ANS thanks Stacey Mills, W4SM, Jon Jones, N0JK, and Dan James,
NN0DJ for this update]
AO-27
Uplink 145.850 MHz FM
Downlink 436.792 MHz FM
Operational. Widely used especially during weekend passes.
[ANS thanks Michael Wyrick, N4USI, AO-27 Control-op for this update]
FO-20
Uplink 145.900 to 146.00 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 435.80 to 435.90 MHz CW/USB
Operational. FO-20 in mode JA continuously.
Rosario, IW9ELR, reports strong signals recently from FO-20, and
lots of activity on the satellite.
[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, and Rosario Orlando,
IW9ELR, for this report]
FO-29
Voice/CW Mode JA
Uplink 145.900 to 146.00 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 435.80 to 435.90 MHz CW/USB
Operational.
Digital Mode JD
Uplink 145.850 145.870 145.910 MHz FM
Downlink 435.910 MHz FM 9600 baud BPSK
Not operational.
Kazu, JJ1WTK, reports FO-29 was switched into mode JA on the 0800 UTC,
16 March pass. Mode JA will continue until 23 March, when a new operation
schedule will be announced.
[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for this report]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-081.06
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 081.06 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 22,1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-081.06
KO-23
Uplink 145.900 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK
Downlink 435.175 MHz FM
Semi-operational. Jim, AA7KC, reports KO-23 is not operating properly. The
RF downlink signal is present but little or no data is being downloaded.
This condition has been observed when the satellite spends little or no
time eclipsed and thermal heating becomes excessive. This condition has
happened a number of times in the past. Ultimately, the satellite has
returned to normal operation when it cools in the earth shadow.
Stacey, W4SM, also reported KO-23 downlink distortion, with efficiencies
dropping from a nominal 95+% to +/-10%. The last period of orbital
darkness/cooling ended on March 17th at 0736 UTC. Periods of orbital
darkness won't begin again until April 1st.
Richard Limebear, G3RWL, reports KO-23's orbital cycle has the spacecraft
going through a period when it sees no eclipses. In turn, this means the
spacecraft temperature rises and that rise brings on a fault which causes
the deviation to also rise. During this time receive data throughput tends
to zero.
[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, Stacey Mills, W4SM, and Richard
Limebear, G3RWL, for this report]
KO-25
Uplink 145.980 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK
Downlink 436.50 MHz FM
Operational. Jim, AA7KC, reports KO-25 operating normally.
[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, for this report]
OSCAR-11
Downlink 145.825 MHz FM, 1200 Baud PSK
Beacon 2401.500 MHz
Operational. The telemetry is nominal. Reception
reports of the 2 meter beacon or 2401 MHz
should be sent to g3cwv@amsat.org
[ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for this information]
AMSAT-OSCAR-16 (PACSAT)
Uplink 145.90 145.92 145.94 145.86 MHz FM 1200 bps Manchester FSK
Downlink 437.0513 MHz SSB, 1200 bps RC-BPSK 1200 Baud PSK
Beacon 2401.1428 MHz
Operating normally. The telemetry is nominal. The S band transmitter is
off.
Time is Fri Mar 20 22:05:15 1998 uptime is 1279/16:34:32
Bat 1 V 1.278 V Bat 2 V 1.262 V
Bat 3 V 1.262 V Bat 4 V 1.260 V
Bat 5 V 1.250 V Bat 6 V 1.270 V
Bat 7 V 1.244 V Bat 8 V 1.279 V
+5V Bus 4.812 V +8.5V Bus 7.819 V
+10V Bus 10.200 V
Total Array C= 0.000 Bat Ch Cur=-0.527 Ifb= 0.271 I+10V= 0.279
TX:010B BCR:1E PWRC:59E BT: A WC:25 EDAC:3C
General information and telemetry WOD files can find it in:
http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/wod.htm
[ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report]
DO-17 (DOVE)
Downlink 145.825 MHz FM 1200 Baud AFSK
Beacon 2401.220 MHz
Currently non-operational. DO-17 appears to have experienced a problem.
The 145.825 MHz downlink is off the air. Jim, WD0E, reports
he will attempt to correct the situation as time permits.
[ANS thanks Jim White, WD0E, for this update]
WEBERSAT (WO-18)
Downlink 437.104 MHz SSB 1200 Baud PSK AX.25
Currently non-operational. WO-18 is in MBL mode after a software
crash. Attempts are being made to find and correct the cause
of the suspected seasonal crashes.
[ANS thanks the WO-18 Command Team for this news]
LUSAT-OSCAR-19
Uplink 145.84 145.86 145.88 145.90 MHz FM 1200 bps Manchester FSK
Downlink 437.125 MHz SSB 1200 bps RC-BPSK
Operating normally. The telemetry is nominal.
Time is Fri Mar 20 23:04:18 1998 uptime is 1004/08:59:08
Bat 1 V 1.297 V Bat 2 V 1.286 V
Bat 3 V 1.302 V Bat 4 V 1.296 V
Bat 5 V 1.294 V Bat 6 V 1.284 V
Bat 7 V 1.303 V Bat 8 V 1.274 V
+5V Bus 4.812 V +8.5V Bus 7.822 V
+10V Bus 10.275 V
Total Array C= 0.008 Bat Ch Cur=-0.252 Ifb= 0.144 I+10V= 0.114
TX:016 BCR:7B PWRC:36E BT:3C WC: 0
General information and telemetry samples can be found at:
http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/lo19.htm
[ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report]
UO-22
Uplink 145.900 or 145.975 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK
Downlink 435.120 MHz FM
Operational. Chris, G7UPN reports UO-22 is operating normally.
[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, Operations Manager
of UO-22, for this report]
IO-26 (ITAMSAT)
Uplink 145.875 145.900 145.925 145.950 MHz FM 1200 Baud PSK
Downlink 435.822 MHz SSB
Operational. On 16 March, ITAMSAT Command Stations IK2XRO and
IW2EGC, successfully switched the satellite to active status from the safe
MBL mode it had been in. The command stations also reloaded the high level
IHT97 code. The spacecraft is now sending the full set of 64 telemetry
channels and collecting Whole Orbit Data survey information. After a full
check is completed, the digipeater will be turned on and the file system
code reloading process will begin.
Alberto, I2KBD, reports the satellite appears to be in a healthy state,
with all the
subsystems working nominally.
Telemetry is downloaded on 435.822 MHz at 1200 baud PSK.
[ANS thanks Alberto Zagni, I2KBD, ITAMSAT Mission Director for this
information]
Please send any amateur satellite news or repots to
ans-editor@amsat.org or to ANS Editor Dan James, NN0DJ,
at nn0dj@amsat.org.
/EX
Daniel (Dan) James
AMSAT News Service Bulletin Editor
Amateur callsign: NN0DJ
Grid Square EN-28iv
Warroad, Minnesota U.S.A.
e-mail: nn0dj@amsat.org