[jamsat-news:910] ANS 228

[Dan James <nn0dj@means.net>]

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE	
ANS 228	

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.01
FUTURE SPACE STATION RESIDENT JOINS ASSEMBLY CREW

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16,1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-228.01

Veteran cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who will be one of the first full-time 
residents on board the International Space Station, will join the crew of 
STS-88, the first American assembly mission. Krikalev will join Commander 
Robert Cabana, Pilot Rick Sturckow, Mission Specialists Nancy Currie, Jerry 
Ross and Jim Newman when the Space Shuttle Endeavor launches this December. 
The seven-day mission will be highlighted by the mating of the United 
States built 'Unity' module to the Russian built 'Zarya' control module, 
which will already be in orbit. Zarya, which was built for NASA by Boeing 
and the Krunichev Enterprise, is scheduled for launch on a Russian Space 
Agency Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome this November.

"Sergei's experience with both the U.S. and Russian programs and his 
familiarity with the Shuttle make him a valuable addition to this crew," 
said David Leestma, director of Flight Crew Operations at NASA's Johnson 
Space Center.

A cosmonaut since 1985, Krikalev has accumulated more than one year and 
three months in space as a member of two Mir space station crews. He has 
also flown on board the Shuttle once before, as a member of the STS-60 crew 
in February 1994. During that nine-day mission, Krikalev operated the 
Shuttle's robot arm and supported a wide variety of science experiments.

[ANS thanks NASA for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.02
AMATEUR RADIO ON THE ISS

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.02 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16,1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-228.02

Amateur Radio delegates representing seven of the eight countries involved 
in Amateur Radio aboard the International Space Station (ARISS) met in 
England in late July to continue plans to establish the first permanent 
Amateur Radio presence in space. The session, chaired by Space Amateur 
Radio EXperiment (SAREX) Working Group Chairman Roy Neal, K6DUE was held 
July 29-31 in conjunction with the AMSAT-UK 1998 Colloquium, held at the 
University of Surrey.

On hand or patched in via a teleconferencing hookup were 16 representatives 
from the United States, Japan, Italy, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom 
and Russia. The representative from France was unable to attend because of 
a prior commitment.

ARRL Educational Activities Department Manager Rosalie White, WA1STO and 
AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Space Flight Programs Frank Bauer, 
KA3HDO, served as the US delegate for the ARISS meeting. Participants to 
the sessions included AMSAT-NA President Bill Tynan, W3XO; Space Shuttle 
Payload Specialist Ron Parise, WA4SIR; and RSGB President Ian Kyle, GI8AYZ. 
IARU satellite frequency coordinators from Regions 1 and 3 also were on 
hand.

ARISS delegates formed two permanent working groups. The ARISS Hardware 
Group, chaired by Lou McFadin, W5DID, is charged with designing and 
building space station equipment. The ARISS Administrative Group is charged 
with setting up ground rules for operation, finding financing, and handling 
all other administrative details.

AMSAT-NA ARISS Delegate Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said ham radio will be part of 
the ISS right from the start of construction. "What we're going to do is 
develop this in stages," he said. The first flight of hardware aboard 
STS-88 (at the end of this year) will include a 2-meter hand-held and 
packet TNC capability provided by the US team that will be coupled with an 
antenna system that will be a cooperative effort of the Italian and Russian 
teams.

The ISS service module, due to be launched next summer, is the section of 
the ISS in which astronauts and cosmonauts will live during construction. 
The interim station for the first ISS crew at that point would add (a US 
supplied) 70-cm capability, a German-designed "digitalker," and eventually 
a transportable station that could include SSTV and full-duplex VHF/UHF. 
The first crews to actually live aboard the ISS will graduate to 
mobile-type transceivers.

Bauer says the final ISS equipment complement is still in the conceptual 
stages but likely would include all-mode capability from 10 meters up 
through 13-cm. He was quite excited about the teamwork exhibited by the 
international partners, stating that "as an international team, we were 
able to quickly put together an interim station -- leveraging developments 
already in progress by Will Marchant, KC6ROL and Lou McFadin, W5DID in the 
US, Thomas Kieselbach, DL2MDE in Germany and Sergei Samburov, RV3DR in 
Russia."

Surrey ARISS delegates also discussed time-sharing and scheduling of the 
ham stations, crew training, educational opportunities, fund-raising, call 
signs, and frequencies. Details on these issues remain to be decided.

Neal credited SAREX Working Group Principal Investigator Matt Bordelon, 
KC5BTL, for "a superb job of lining up the NASA/ISS officials and channels 
for what's about to happen." A key player on the ARISS team, Bordelon is 
scheduled to travel to Russia soon to work out details of the station 
installation aboard the ISS service module with Serge Samburov, RV3DR, the 
Russian delegate.

Neal said he was gratified to see the plans coming together to put Amateur 
Radio aboard the ISS. "These meetings have gotten the worldwide Amateur 
Radio family on track," he said. "Amateur Radio is now getting ready to fly 
onboard!"

White said the most significant aspect of the session came on the afternoon 
of the second day, was when countries stepped forward to accept 
responsibility for various aspects of each Amateur Radio station. "For 
instance, for the interim Amateur Radio station, the US took responsibility 
for the packet module, adapter module, radio, and associated cables," she 
said. White said Germany agreed to build the digitalker and to work with 
Russia to develop the antenna feed-through system. Italy will design and 
fabricate the antennas, and Russia will install the RF cables and antennas. 

For the transportable setup, the US will handle the equipment integration 
and the NASA-required Safety Data Package, while Germany will design and 
build the system itself.

"The ARISS project will truly be an international project," said White. "It 
will be well worth our years of work, because each delegate believes ARISS 
is a wonderful resource for the Amateur Radio service and a great 
educational tool for our world's youth."

[ANS thanks Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Space 
Flight Programs for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.03
WSWSS CALL FOR PAPERS

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.03 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16,1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-228.03

The 50 MHz and Up Group of Northern California and the Western States Weak 
Signal Society will be holding their annual VHF Plus Conference on October 
3, 1998 at the Sunnyvale Hilton in Sunnyvale, California.

The groups have informed ANS that this conference will have two 
presentation paths -- one is for general interest and the other for 
technical specialties.

Conference planners are seeking papers or presentations of general VHF 
and/or higher band interest, or detailed technical content to be presented 
at the event. Many AMSAT members are active VHF/UHF operators.

If interested in taking part, AMSAT members should submit a paragraph 
outlining content to:

Jim Moss  N9JIM
862 Somerset Drive
Sunnyvale, CA  94087

(Or by e-mail to):

n9jim@aol.com

[ANS thanks the WSWSS and Newsline for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.03
MEXICO AND RUSSIA TO SELL RADIO SPECTRUM

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.03 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16,1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-228.03

On the international scene, ANS has learned that both Russia and Mexico are 
planning to auction off radio spectrum to the highest bidder, following the 
lead of the United States.

The Russian government has decided to charge mobile communication companies 
for the use of radio spectrum as a way to generate some cash for its 
strapped economy. Two recently released governmental decrees listed the 
communications services for which providers will have to pay for use of 
radio frequencies.  The decrees also set rules for holding auctions to 
determine who gets the licenses for cellular telephone systems in Russia.

Under the decrees, 80% of money earned from the sale of spectrum would be 
used to support the Ministry of Defense and the Russian Space Agency.

The Russian government also indicated that it plans to sell off part of its 
reserved spectrum for licensed civilian operations. It also said it will 
review current usage of all other spectrum used for any purpose with an eye 
at generating even more revenue. This might even include some of the bands 
now used by Russian hams.

Mexico is also contemplating the reallocation of spectrum adjacent to the 2 
meter on 70-centimeter ham bands and then selling the spectrum the highest 
bidders. It is unknown at this time how such actions would affect Amateur 
Radio satellite operations.

According to Bob Gonsett's CGC Communicator, Mexico will be auctioning 
148-174 MHz and 450-470 MHz, along with other key frequency bands sometime 
before the end of 1998. The CGC report says it appears as if Mexico is also 
contemplating to auction off the 440 to 450 MHz Amateur Radio band and the 
frequency spectrum from 485 to 495 MHz. The latter spectrum overlays TV 
Channels 16, 17 and 18.

More information on can be found at the following Mexican government web 
site:

http://www.cft.gov.mx      (look under SEBASTAS for Bulletin 37).

The web site has English and Spanish versions available.

[ANS thanks the CGC Communicator and Newsline for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.05
ANS IN BRIEF

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.05 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-228.05

ANS news in brief this week includes the following:

** The 24th annual Eastern States VHF and UHF Conference takes place August 
21st through the 23rd at the Harley Hotel in Enfield, Connecticut. More 
information is available at:
http://uhavax.hartford.edu/~newsvhf --ANS

** Members of the Vermont AMSAT crew were active from the BARC Hamfest in 
Charlotte over the weekend using the LEO birds. If you worked W3ZM/1 and 
desire a QSL card, please send your request
to N1JEZ via his callbook address. --AMSAT BB

** Twenty-five women and men will make up the astronaut candidate class of 
1998, scheduled to arrive at the Johnson Space Center in mid-August to 
begin one year of training and evaluation. This year's class consists of 
eight pilots and 17 mission specialist candidates, including Barbara 
Morgan, who was named as an Educator Mission Specialist in January. A 
complete list of the candidates and their biographical data can be found on 
the Internet at the following URL: 
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1998/98-097a.txt. --NASA

** More astro-hams: According to the latest count, the number of astronauts 
with ham tickets now stands at 86. Among the latest licensees are Kalpana 
Chawla, KD5ESI, Stephen Frick, KD5DZC, Stephanie Wilson, KD5DZE and Timothy 
Creamer, KC5WKI. --ARRL Letter

** A team of veteran astronauts will begin training to install new 
instruments and upgrade systems to enhance the scientific capabilities of 
the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Many of the crewmembers will be 
recognizable to amateurs. They include Steven Smith, Michael Foale, 
European Space Agency astronaut Claude Nicollier and John Grunsfeld. They 
will conduct a record six space walks during the STS-104 mission, scheduled 
for launch in May 2000. --NASA

** Paul, KB5MU tells ANS that amateurs can now check to see if a particular 
amateur has an AMSAT-NA e-mail alias (such as nn0dj@amsat.org). This 
service is available live on the AMSAT-NA web site. Just go to 
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/toys/alias-lookup.html and type in the callsign. 
This feature will return a 'yes' or 'no' answer.  It will not tell you what 
the subscriber's real email address is, to protect privacy. --KB5MU

** Having succeeded in receiving a response from the SOHO spacecraft, 
controllers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have continued to receive 
information from the spacecraft concerning its on-board status.
Recovery will be a slow and careful operation," said ESA's Head of Science 
Projects, John Credland. "The main thing is that the spacecraft is now 
responding to us and we will take one step at a time to bring the
spacecraft into a more favorable attitude before assessing any damage which 
may have been caused by its six-week unforeseen hibernation." --ESA

** The Missions Operation Director at the Johnson Space Center has named 
four new flight directors for future assignments at the Mission Control 
Center. The four new flight directors, all former flight controllers, are 
Kelly Beck, LeRoy Cain, John Curry and Richard LaBrode. --NASA

** On the international scene, a ham radio operator is the new Prime 
Minister of Japan.  Keizo Obuchi, JI1KIT was elected Prime Minister of 
Japan in a special parliamentary session on July 30th. Obuchi, a member of 
the Japan Amateur Radio League, is a very good friend of JARL president 
Shozo Hara, JA1AN.
--JARL, Newsline

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.06
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.06 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-228.06

MIR/SAFEX
SAFEX II 70 cm Repeater
Uplink 435.750 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 141.3 Hz	
Downlink 437.950 MHz FM 	
Semi-operational.

Mike, N1JEZ reports the Mir/SAFEX repeater has been active recently. It 
appears that the repeater is not available on every orbit, but is being 
switched on and off at random. ANS does not have a schedule of when it will 
be available for amateur use. N1JEZ has a 'how to operate' article from the 
AMSAT Journal. For an e-mail copy, send a request to N1JEZ at 
Mike73@aol.com.

SAFEX II 70 cm QSO Mode
Uplink 435.725 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 151.4 Hz	
Downlink 437.925 MHz FM	
Semi-operational.

PMS
Uplink/Downlink 145.985 MHz FM  1200 Baud AFSK 	
Operational.

The current operations crew onboard Mir are Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai 
Budarin. They speak and read Russian only. Any messages addressed as 
personal to R0MIR will not be understood unless it is in Russian. MIREX is 
again allowing R0MIR-1 for store-and-forward message traffic.

WA6LIE reminds all stations that in order to send Personal Mail to other 
stations you must address it to a valid callsign. Any personal mail 
addressed to a non-amateur callsign can not be read by anyone and is a 
waste of TNC memory. WA6LIE asks all stations to please read your TNC 
manual on how to address messages.

The PBBS is running a Kantronics KPC-9612 + V.8.1 TNC. The commands are 
similar to most PBBS and BBS systems.

MIREX has announced an on going APRS School Days Test. MIREX is allowing 
schools to use APRS for position and status reports via R0MIR. Non-school 
stations are asked to refrain from using APRS type transmissions or beacons 
via R0MIR.

[ANS thanks Scott Avery, WA6LIE, and the MIREX team for Mir status 
information]

RS-12
Uplink 145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB Uplink   21.210  to  21.250 MHz 
CW/SSB	
Downlink   29.410  to  29.450 MHz  CW/SSB Downlink 145.910 to 145.950 MHz 
 CW/SSB	
Beacon 29.408 MHz	
Robot   Uplink 21.129 MHz  Downlink 29.454 MHz	
Operational, mode KA.

RS-12 continues to be the most popular of the current RS 'easy sat' series.

RS-15
Uplink 145.858 to 145.898 MHz CW/SSB	
Downlink 29.354 to 29.394 MHz CW/SSB 	
Semi-operational.

The RS-15 TLM beacon has apparently started working again, although
intermittently.

RS-16
The 435 MHz beacon (only) is operational. Attempts to command the Mode A 
transponder on have been unsuccessful.

AO-10
Uplink 435.030 to 435.180 MHz CW/LSB	
Downlink 145.975 to 145.825 MHz CW/USB	
Semi-operational.

Stacey Mills, W4SM reports another sleep phase appears to be underway.
"I suspect that the rotational speed is so slow as to be incapable of 
holding
a stable attitude heading. Hence, we may be entering a time of chaotic
useful periods and sleep periods which cannot be predicted."

W4SM has more information about the satellite at the following URL:

http://www.cstone.net/~w4sm/AO-10.html

[ANS thanks Stacey Mills, W4SM for his AO-10 status information and web 
site]

AO-27
Uplink 145.850 MHz FM	
Downlink 436.792 MHz FM	
Operational.

AO-27 TEPR States are currently:
    4  = 36 = 18 Minutes
    5  = 72 = 36 Minutes

This means AO-27's transmitter turns on 18 minutes after entering the Sun 
and stays on for 18 minutes. AO-27's transmitter is turned off at all other 
times during the orbit. N4USI reminds stations that this happens on every 
orbit, approximately 14.2 times a day. The current TEPR settings will cause 
the satellite to be on during the daytime at northern latitudes.

[ANS thanks Michael Wyrick, N4USI, AO-27 Control-op for this update]

JAS-1  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.

[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK for the FO-20 reports]

JAS-2  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, the satellite is in JA (voice) mode.

Kazu, JJ1WTK, tells ANS that OBC bit error investigation continues. The 
JARL command recently issued two statements:

1) FO-29 will be stay still in mode JA because the frequency investigation 
of the OBC bit errors. The command team would like reports from radio 
amateurs who can receive the value of TLM channel 5. The information is the 
fifth item after HI HI on CW. The normal value of channel 5 is '00'.

Reports should be sent to lab@jarl.or.jp

2) FO-29 will be in 'full illumination' (always illuminated from the Sun)
starting this week. The operation mode may be changed in part due to 
anticipated temperature rise of the satellite. A new statement regarding 
the satellite will be released from the JARL shortly.

[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for this report]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-228.07
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 228.07 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 16, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-228.07

KO-23
Uplink 145.900 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK	
Downlink 435.175 MHz FM	
Operational. The telemetry is nominal.

[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC for this report]

KO-25
Uplink 145.980 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK	
Downlink 436.50 MHz FM	
Operational. The telemetry is nominal.

[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC for this report]

UO-22
Uplink 145.900 or 145.975 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK	
Downlink 435.120 MHz FM	
Operational.

More information on the satellite is available at the following URL:

http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/EE/CSER/UOSAT/

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, Operations Manager of UO-22 for 
this report]

OSCAR-11
Downlink 145.825 MHz FM, 1200 Baud AFSK	
Beacon 2401.500 MHz	
Operational.

In response to many requests for information about methods of decoding 
OSCAR-11 signals, a package of hardware information has been added to the 
satellite web site. The site also contains some software for capturing 
data, decoding ASCII telemetry and WOD information.
The URL is  http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/

Beacon reception reports should be sent to:  g3cwv@amsat.org.

[ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for this information]

PACSAT  AO-16
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 AO-16 command team has authorized an APRS experiment on AO-16 to 
explore the use of the 1200-baud PACSAT for APRS position/status reporting. 
The test periods will run each Tuesday from 0000 to 2359 UTC.

The telemetry is nominal.

General information and telemetry WOD files can be found at:

http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/wod.htm

[ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report]

DOVE  DO-17
Downlink 145.825 MHz FM   1200 Baud AFSK	
Beacon 2401.220 MHz	
Currently non-operational.

The 145.825 MHz and 2401.220 MHz downlinks are off the air. No
additional information is available at this time.

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. No additional information is 
available at this time.

LUSAT  LO-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 	
Currently non-operational, unknown status.

Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU reports LUSAT/Oscar 19 apparently has stopped
transmitting. Ground control station LU8DYF is attempting to regain 
control.
No additional information is available at this time.

[ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report]

ITAMSAT  IO-26
Uplink 145.875  145.900  145.925  145.950 MHz  FM 1200 Baud PSK	
Downlink 435.822 MHz SSB	
Semi-operational.

Telemetry is reported as being downloaded on 435.822 MHz at 1200 baud PSK. 
No additional information is available at this time.

TMSAT-1  TO-31
Downlink 436.923 MHz  	

The TMSAT-1 micro-satellite was successfully launched from the Russian 
Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 10, 1998. The satellite is still undergoing 
initial loading of flight software. The satellite is expected to be 
available for general amateur use shortly.

Stations that can capture telemetry from the satellite are asked to
send a report to;

C.Jackson@ee.surrey.ac.uk

A brief overview of the TMSAT satellite and commissioning plan is available 
at the following URL:

http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/EE/CSER/UOSAT/amateur/tmsat/tmsat_commissioni  
ng_plan.html.

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO, for this report]

TechSat-1B  GO-32
Downlink   435.325    435.225 MHz 	
HDLC telemetry framed so a TNC in KISS mode will decode it 	

The TechSat-1B micro-satellite was successfully launched from the Russian 
Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 10, 1998 The satellite is still undergoing 
initial loading of flight software. The satellite is expected to be 
available for general amateur use shortly.

The satellite does not have a continuos beacon, but does transmit a 
9600-baud burst every 30 seconds (for about 3 seconds in length), currently 
on 435.225 MHz.

The TechSat team has also constructed a home page about TechSat.  To view 
the site, point your web browser to:

http://techsat.internet-zahav.net/

[ANS thanks Shlomo Menuhin, 4X1AS for this information]


--ANS END---


Please send any amateur satellite news or reports 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 EN28iv	
Warroad, Minnesota U.S.A.	
e-mail:  nn0dj@amsat.org	

Michelle Ervin	
AMSAT News Service Assistant Bulletin Editor	
Amateur callsign: KA9FUL	
Grid Square EM89du	
Springfield, Ohio U.S.A.	
e-mail: ka9ful@amsat.org	

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