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[jamsat-news:827] * SpaceNews 18-May-98 *
SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0518
* SpaceNews 18-May-98 *
BID: $SPC0518
=========
SpaceNews
=========
MONDAY MAY 18, 1998
SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It
is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use.
* LMCC DEMANDS 70-CM BAND FOR COMMERCIAL USE *
==============================================
The Land Mobile Communications Council has issued a demand to the FCC that
it immediately reallocate of most of the 70 centimeter Amateur band over
to private mobile operations with private land mobile designated as the
primary user.
Technically the document is nothing more than a formal rule making request
to the FCC that has been designated RM 9267. In reality it is more a demand
by the LMCC for the FCC to immediately reallocate 420 to 430 MHz and 440 to
450 MHz away from the federal government and over to the Private Mobile Radio
Service on a primary basis. The Land Mobile Communications Council is also
asking for new allocations at 1390 to 1400 MHz, 1427-1432 MHz, and 1670 to
1675 MHz. It is also demanding a walloping 85 MHz at 960 to 1215 MHz and
it wants all of this turned over to the Private Mobile Radio Service no
later than 2010.
But LMCC is not willing to wait until 2010 to take over the 70 centimeter
band even though this is the second most popular of the Amateur radio
services' VHF and UHF allocations. Amateur Radio is a secondary user of
420 to 450 MHz. There are thousands of FM repeaters operating from 440 to
450 MHz and a variety of modes on the air every day in the 420 to 430 MHz
segment. While the Land Mobile Communications Council petition indicates
that it is willing to permit Amateur Radio to retain some sort of secondary
status, this would be only on a non-interfereing basis with the new commercial
interests.
Experts say that the best way to kill RM 9267 is though a massive letter
writing campaign to the FCC. A campaign that outlines the specific use of
the band by Amateur Radio Interests -- informational filings that detail how
every hertz of 420 to 430 and 440 to 450 MHz is utilized on a day to day
basis by hams.
The commentary cutoff date on RM 9267 is June 1st. This leaves precious
little time for radio amateurs around the nation to react. Those responding
must be certain to reference RM 9267 at the top of their letter. Send
comments to the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, Washington DC,
20554.
[Info via Newsline 1082 released 1998-May-08 from Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF]
* OSCAR-11 NEWS *
=================
During the period 1998-Apr-16 to 1998-May-15, good signals have been
received from UoSAT-OSCAR-11 via the 145.826 MHz beacon. It has been
an uneventful period.
Telemetry has shown that the battery voltage has tended to rather low,
mostly around 13.5 volts, with values between 13.3 and 14.0 volts recorded.
No explanations of the changed power supply currents (as reported last
month) have been received, therefore these values will now be regarded
as nominal.
The internal temperatures have remained fairly constant at around 5C and
3C for battery and telemetry electronics respectively.
A single WOD survey of channels 1, 2, 3, 61 (magnetometers) dated
1998-Mar-19 has been transmitted by the satellite. A quick plot of this
WOD showed reasonable agreement with the theoretical field and nominal
attitude. Anyone using this survey should note the unusual starting
time of 16:00:05 UTC.
Three reports of the OSCAR-11 Mode-S beacon have been received from
Fernando CX6DD, Gary N4OLN, and Steve HB9FMX/G4KAM. Of special interest
is the equipment used by CX6DD. This a modified MMDS commercial TV antenna,
model 130194, made by California Amplifier Inc. The device which is known
as an LNBY, consists of a 23 element antenna, 60 cm long, where each element
is a 4.5 cm disc, and an integrated down converter which forms the remainder
of the antenna. There is sufficient space inside the unit to allow a cheap
surplus HC-6 crystal to be used instead of the original HC-49 type. A
8.8125 MHz crystal would give an IF in the 145 MHz band. An ICOM 821H and
FODTRACK software completed the system. The audio file that Fernando sent
showed excellent reception. The price of the antenna (in Uruguay) was
US $190. Further details can be found on the California Amplifier web
site http://www.calamp.com/ (Use the search facility to find 130194).
The operating schedule is unchanged.
ASCII status (210 seconds)
ASCII bulletin (60 seconds)
BINARY SEU (30 seconds)
ASCII TLM (90 seconds)
ASCII WOD (120 seconds)
ASCII bulletin (60 seconds)
BINARY ENG (30 seconds)
The ASCII bulletin is currently a static message, detailing modes and
frequencies of all the amateur radio satellites.
There are additional status blocks after each bulletin is transmitted,
and between ASCII TLM and WOD.
The Mode-S beacon is ON transmitting an unmodulated carrier, but telemetry
indicates that it has partially failed, and delivering half power. This
beacon is a useful test source for those testing Mode-S converters, prior
to the launch of P3-D. It is considerably weaker than DOVE-OSCAR-17, which
should be used for initial testing. Any reports of reception of the 2401 MHz
beacon would be most welcome, and should be directed to Clive Wallis at:
g3cwv@amsat.org.
The 435.025 MHz beacon is normally OFF. However it can sometimes be heard
when the satellite is being commanded by ground control, ie. within range
of Guildford, UK. When the 435 MHz beacon is transmitting, the 145 MHz
beacon is normally OFF. The data transmitted is mainly binary.
In response to many requests for information about methods of decoding
OSCAR-11 signals, Clive Wallis has added a package of hardware information
to his OSCAR-11 web site.
Another recent addition is a new page for miscellaneous topics such as
tracking, eclipses, and orbital decay. The first addition to this new page
is a package for evaluating satellite eclipses, as described in OSCAR News
April 1998, page 29. The other item in this new page is a program OZFORM.BAS
for generating a table of Keplerian elements from the NASA 2-line format.
The format of the output is similar to that published in every issue of
OSCAR News.
The web site also contains some software for capturing data and decoding
ASCII telemetry and WOD. There is an archive of raw data (mainly WOD) for
analysis, which is continually being expanded as new data is captured.
Also included are some audio files, including 10-second examples of each
type of data transmitted by OSCAR-11. There are also examples of Mode-S
reception. All the audio files are zipped so that they can be played
off-line. These should help listeners identify the various types of
data, and give an indication of the signal quality required for
successful decoding.
Clive's OSCAR-11 Web Site may be accessed by connecting to the following URL:
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/
[Info via Clive Wallis, G3CWV (g3cwv@amsat.org)]
* FUJI-OSCAR-29 NEWS *
======================
On 1998-May-14, the FO-29 command station released a new announcement
indicating that software reloading was in progress, adn had reached the
40 percent completion point. A new announcement is expected to be released
on 1998-May-29.
[Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK]
* 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, KITSAT-OSCAR-25
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