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[jamsat-news:1199] * SpaceNews 03-Jan-00 *


SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0103
* SpaceNews 03-Jan-00 *

BID: $SPC0103


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


		 	MONDAY JANUARY 3, 2000



* NEW MILLENNIUM?  GUESS AGAIN! *
=================================
The US Naval Observatory reports on its Web page that despite all the
hype made by the media as well as many political and religious leaders,
we have NOT entered a new decade/century/millennium with the ushering in
of the year 2000!  To the contrary, the end of the second millennium and
the beginning of the third will be reached on January 1, 2001.  This date
is based on the now globally recognized (but apparently not globally
understood) Gregorian calendar, the initial epoch of which was established
by the sixth-century scholar Dionysius Exiguus, who was compiling a table
of dates of Easter.  Rather than starting with the year zero, years in
this calendar begin with the date January 1, 1 AD (Anno Domini, the
year of Our Lord).  Consequently, while 2000 may be considered a
Millennium Year, the next millennium does not begin officially
until January 1, 2001 AD.

Additional information (for those still not convined) is available from
the Royal Greenwich Observatory at:

	http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/leaflets/new_mill.html


* LUSAT NEWS *
===============
LUSAT-OSCAR-19 is now operating with its raised-cosine PSK transmitter
on 437.125 MHz, and the normal PSK transmitter at 437.150 MHz and the
CW transmitter OFF.

The CW transmitter and normal PSK transmitter is expected to be activiated
occassionally until further notice.  The BBS is also expected to running
again soon.

[Info via Gustavo, LW2DTZ]


* SUNSAT UPDATE *
=================
The SUNSAT team has upgraded the diary software running on-board the
SUNSAT satellite.  The new software seems to have improved the reliability
of the diary and the operating schedule.  The team has also uploaded the
parrot repeater software.  Early tests were satisfactory.  It is expected
that towards the end of January, the Parrot Repeater will become functional.

Packet radio operation is still some 3 months or so away.

Here is the schedule for the next few weeks as supplied by Henry
Chamberlain ZS1AAZ

Times are UTC
1 January 2000

00:24 to 00:38		New Zealand and Australia
08:06 to 08:20		Southern Africa
08:28 to 08:42		Europe
15:04 to 15:18		USA and Canada

2 January 2000

01:00 to 01:14		Japan
09:05 to 09:19		Southern Africa
14:06 to 14:20		South America
16:02 to 16:16		USA/Canada

8 January 2000		Start of the Cape to Rio Yacht Race

00:05 to 00:19		New Zealand and Australia
08:25 to 08:39		Southern Africa
08:46 to 09:00		Europe
13:28 to 13:42		South America

9 January 2000

01:18 to 01:32		Japan
07:45 to 07:59		Southern Africa and Rio race
08:06 to 08:20		Europe
16:20 to 16:34		USA/Canada

The Cape to Rio Yacht Race starts on 8 January.  One of the SUNSAT
students is onboard one of the vessels.  Henry is planning to provide
some additional passes for the participants of the race.  More
information will be released ASAP.

[Info via Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS5AKV]


* OSCAR-22 NEWS *
=================
Chris Jackson, G7UPN reports that the uplink receivers on UO-22 have
been malfunctioning for a few days surrounding the new year.  The problem
required a software reload to rectify which was scheduled for soon after
the new year.  Chris also added that this problem could not be blamed on
the "millenium bug".

[Info via Chris Jackson, G7UPN]


* OSCAR-11 NEWS *
=================
Clive Wallis reports that the UoSAT-OSCAR-11 satellite survived the
Y2K change-over and is working well, in spite of a few minor problems
with the date.

Users of OSCAR-11 will know that the date in the ASCII telemetry frames
has been advanced by two days for a number of years now, and that the
displayed time has been slowly drifting over the years.  Clive has 
therefore been looking at the dates and times on UO-11 during the
year 2000 change-over period with interest.

On 30 December the date in the ASCII TLM switched over to 00 correctly.

On January 01 the year in the ASCII status block was still 99, although
the rest of the date was displayed correctly.  The day of the week was
also correct.  The binary ENG & SEU frames also show the year as 99.

The time in the ASCII TLM frames is now approx 13.5 minutes ahead of 
UTC.  The time in the ASCII status frames and binary SEU frames is 
approximately three minutes ahead of UTC.  Chris Jackson, the UoS ground 
controller, reports that the time is derived from a hardware clock 
set up when the satellite was built and cannot be adjusted.  The 
time errors won't have any effect on the functioning of the satellite.

[Info via Clive Wallis, G3CWV]


* BEST FIST NOMINATIONS DUE *
=============================
Now that the Y2K edition of Straight Key Night on OSCAR is history, all
participants are encouraged to nominate the operator with the best fist
among those they worked.  Please send your nomination to W2RS via
e-mail (w2rs@amsat.org), packet radio (W2RS @ WA2SNA.NJ.USA.NA or
W2RS @ GB7HSN.#32.GBR.EU, whichever is closer to you) or "snail mail"
at W2RS's Callbook address.  "Best Fist" nominees will be featured in
an AMSAT News Service bulletin in early February, and in the next
available issue of The AMSAT Journal.

[Info via Ray Soifer, W2RS]


* THANKS! *
===========
Thanks to all who recently sent messages of appreciation and holiday
greetings to SpaceNews, especially:

		9H1IF	9M2SS	ON4WA	K6OYY	DG7SGQ

All the best wishes to everyone for a healthy and happy holiday season
and the best of and health and opportunities in the last year of the
millennium!


* 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/
MAIL:       John A. Magliacane, KD2BD
            Department of Engineering and Technology
            Brookdale Community College
            765 Newman Springs Road
            Lincroft, New Jersey 07738
	    U.S.A.
PACKET:     KD2BD @ N2TDU.NJ.USA.NA
INTERNET:   kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net
SATELLITE:  AMSAT-OSCAR-16, KITSAT-OSCAR-25


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/EX

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