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[jamsat-news:1248] ANS 086


AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS 086

ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North
America, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the
activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an
active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating
through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

AMSAT-NA is pleased to announce that recent and future development
in Amateur Radio satellites will be presented in Portland, Maine
- October 27-29, 2000 - at the 18th Space Symposium and
AMSAT-NA Annual Meeting. The 2000 Symposium Chairman
is George Caswell Sr., W1ME.

More information is available at:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/symposium

(or from)  w1me@amsat.org

Information on AMSAT-NA is available at the following URL:

http://www.amsat.org

(or from)

AMSAT-NA
850 Sligo Avenue, Suite 600
Silver Spring, Maryland
                          20910-4703

Voice:  301-589-6062
FAX: 301-608-3410

Currently, AMSAT-NA supports the following (free) mailing lists:

* AMSAT News Service (ANS)
* General satellite discussion (AMSAT-BB)
* Orbit data (KEPS)
* Manned space missions (SAREX)
* District of Columbia area (AMSAT-DC)
* New England area (AMSAT-NE)
* AMSAT Educational Liaison mailing list (AMSAT-EDU)

To subscribe, or for more list information, visit the following URL:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/listserv/menu.html

This edition of ANS is dedicated to the memory of three amateurs;
Douglas Terman, N1KQI, Richard Kowitz, W8RCM, and Joe Walsh,
KB2LHI.

Terman, a best-selling author, died December 28, 1999. He was 66. An
Air Force veteran who worked in intelligence and flew jet interceptors,
Terman took up writing after moving to Vermont in the 1970s. His novels
include First Strike and Free Flight, both best sellers. He also wrote a
children's book, 'By Balloon to the Sahara'.

Kowitz was a well-known W8-land amateur and DXCC Honor Roll
member. He died January 6th at 79 after a battle with cancer. Kowitz
confirmed more than 335 DXCC entities. He was first licensed in 1937
and was known as an antenna specialist as well as a VE and mentor.
He was an ARRL member for 47 years.

Walsh, of Parsippany, New Jersey, died February 28th. He was 59 and
a retired officer with the Morris County Sheriff's Office. Walsh (not to be
confused with rock singer Joe Walsh, WB6ACU) was renowned as 'the
world's fastest shooter' and was listed in the Guiness Book of World
Records.

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.01
ARIANE-5 LAUNCH SUCCESSFUL

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-078601

An Arianespace Ariane-5 launch vehicle recently completed a
successful launch from the Kourou, French Guiana complex, located
off the northern shoulder of South America. The success of this launch
is very important to the eventual Ariane-5 ride that Phase 3-D will
undergo.

The Ariane-5 rocket is the centerpiece of Europe's commercial launch
effort and is the second successful mission for the powerful rocket. In
addition, this is the third successful launch of this year for Arianespace.
Two Ariane-4 rockets were launched in January and February. Four
additional Ariane-5 launches are scheduled for this year, with the next
Ariane-5 launch scheduled for May 23, 2000.

The recent launch placed two commercial satellites into orbit exactly
34 minutes after liftoff. The total payload was about five tons. A 2.7-ton
satellite owned by WorldSpace Corporation will transmit digital radio
programs and an Indian Space Research Organization satellite will
be used in a telecommunications role.

The Ariane-5 rocket is almost double the weight and power of the very
successful Ariane-4 rocket. The Ariane-5 launch vehicle will eventually
be able to carry space exploration modules and will also serve the
International Space Station.

[ANS thanks Florida Today and Arianespace for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.02
RETURN TO MIR ON SCHEDULE

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.02 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-086.02

Several news agencies (including Reuters) are reporting that all systems
are go for cosmonauts to return to the abandoned Mir space station.
Bolstered by deep pride in its long history of space exploration, Russia
will launch a new crew on April 4th to the orbiting Mir station, which had
previously been slated to see retirement by crashing into the
atmosphere at about the same time.

"There will be a lot of work to do when they get there but until then all we
have had to do is to turn on the computer and we've done that,'' said
Viktor Blagov, Mir's deputy flight director. Yuri Grigoriyev, deputy head
designer at the Energiya space corporation that owns Mir, said the latest
crew will be aboard the station for about 45 days, but that the journey
could be extended by a month or so.

Acting President Vladimir Putin has backed Mir's revival, but space
officials say it remains unclear whether space will remain a priority for
this new administration. "We have not had a single government that did
not promise its support,'' said Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for the
Russian Aviation and Space Agency, "but our budget is still not enough
and financial questions remain.''

It is hoped that the Amateur Radio equipment aboard Mir is still
functional -- and will be activated during this mission.

Stay tuned to ANS for further details.

[ANS thanks Reuters and Florida Today for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.03
AMATEUR SATELLITE GUIDE UPDATE UNDERWAY

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.03 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-086.03

ANS principal satellite investigator Mike Seguin, N1JEZ, is in the
process of updating 'The Amateur Satellite Resource Guide'. The
guide (available from AMSAT-NA) has proven to be a valuable resource
for satellite operators, both old and new alike. Several satellite operators
have mentioned to ANS how helpful the publication is -- including Beau,
N1MJD, who told ANS that "the Amateur Satellite Resource Guide is a
must have tool for the birds."

The guide (along with several other satellite publications) will be
featured at the AMSAT-NA booth during the upcoming Dayton Hamfest.

Mike is interested in hearing from anyone who has found any additional
source of satellite information that has proven to be helpful to them in
any way. Mike reports that "these resources can be almost anything,
such as books, periodicals, e-mail, FTP sites, web resources,
newsgroups and on-line sources and links to both HF and VHF nets".

Mike tells ANS that if "a satellite operator has a favorite, I'd want to be
sure I've included it in the Resource Guide."

N1JEZ can be reached at the following e-mail address:

n1jez@amsat.org

[ANS thanks ANS principal satellite investigator Mike Seguin, N1JEZ
for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.04
ANS IN BRIEF

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.04 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-086.04

ANS news in brief this week includes the following:

** The first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid has been renamed to honor
geologist Eugene M. Shoemaker. The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous
(NEAR) spacecraft, which has been circling the asteroid 433 Eros since
February 14th, will now be known as NEAR Shoemaker. The official
announcement was made on March 14th at the Lunar and Planetary
Science Conference in Houston. -S&T

** NASA managers announced recently that the Compton Gamma Ray
Observatory will be de-orbited on June 3rd. At a press conference in
Washington, D.C., NASA explained that the mission was nominally for
5 years, but it has provided valuable data for nearly 9 years. However,
mission guidelines dictated that should one of the spacecraft's three
gyroscopes fail, the mission would be terminated and CGRO would be
de-orbited. These conditions have recently happened -NASA

** ANS mistakenly reported last week that at the upcoming AMSAT-UK
Colloquium unpresented papers would be presented at the Colloquium
in the original author's absence. This is not correct. The Colloquium will
accept unpresented papers but they will not be presented. Unpresented
papers will (however) be included in the Proceedings document. ANS is
sorry for any confusion this may have caused. -NN0DJ

** The Space Shuttle Atlantis has started the roll out to Kennedy Space
Center's Launch Pad 39A. The 3-mile trip from the Vehicle Assembly
Building will mark a major milestone in the final preparations for launch
of the next Shuttle mission, STS-101, currently targeted for a date
no-earlier-than April 17, 2000. -NASA

** Our skies could soon be home to special airships able to provide local
and regional telecommunication services, Earth observation services,
along with atmospheric and astronomical observations. The European
Space Agency, together with DaimlerChrysler Aerospace of Germany,
Lindstrand Balloons Ltd. of the United Kingdom and the Technical
University of Delft in the Netherlands, have completed a first assessment
of a concept for High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE) aerostatic craft.
Positioned in the stratosphere in a region of space where no aircraft or
satellites fly and with an operational lifetime ranging from months to
years, this may be an interesting opportunity for Amateur Radio
transponders (says NN0DJ)! -ESA

** Kimio, JA9BOH, is now on his way back to Japan and has supplied
both pictures of his 8J1 QTH along with tapes of EME signals heard or
worked as 8J1RL. In addition, the AO-10 antennas and operating shack
is featured. Mike, VK2FLR, has placed this information on the web at the
following URL: http://www.minecost.com/hamstuff/8j1rl/8j1rl.htm.
-Mike, VK2FLR

** Near Space Balloon Group's Orion capsule (N3KKM-11) launched
recently from Edgerton, Kansas reached a maximum altitude of over
98,000 feet. The payload was found later in a clearing 153 miles from
the launch point and about 1 mile in from the nearest road. The onboard
simplex voice repeater was used from North Texas, Arkansas,
Oklahoma, Illionis, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. -Bill, N3KKM

** Some doorstep astronomy from ANS: Have you been watching the
Big Dipper yet this spring? Look for it high in the northeast during most
evenings; it's standing upright on its bent handle. Its top two stars, the
Pointers, point lower left toward Polaris, the rather dim North Star. -S&T

--ANS BULLETIN END---

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.05
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PART 1

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.05 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-086.05

RADIO SPORT   RS-13
Uplink   21.260 to 21.300 MHz CW/SSB
Uplink   145.960 to 146.000 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink  29.460 to 29.500 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink  145.960 to 146.000 MHz CW/SSB
Beacon   29.458 MHz
Robot Uplink  145.840 MHz
Robot Downlink  29.504 MHz
Operational, in mode-KA with a 10-meter downlink
and a 15-meter and 2-meter uplink.

AC5DK's RS-12/13 Satellite Operators Page:

http://www.qsl.net/ac5dk/rs1213/rs1213.html

RADIO SPORT   RS-15
Uplink  145.858 to 145.898 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink   29.354 to  29.394 MHz CW/SSB
Beacon              29.352 MHz (intermittent)
SSB meeting frequency 29.380 MHz (unofficial)
Semi-operational, mode-A, using a 2-meter uplink and a
10-meter downlink.

Mike, N1JEZ, reports RS-15 is currently operating with an active
beacon, but it's an unmodulated carrier on for 5 seconds then
off for 2 seconds, continually repeating the cycle. The transponder is
only active when the beacon is on! Despite this Mike reports downlink
signals were S-3 to S-5.

Dave, WB6LLO, has operating information for both RS-15 and RS-13
on his web site. In addition to satellite data, antenna information for
mode-A operation is also featured. The WB6LLO web site URL is:

http://home.san.rr.com/doguimont/uploads

OSCAR 10   AO-10
Uplink  435.030 to 435.180 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 145.975 to 145.825 MHz CW/USB
Beacon  145.810 MHz (unmodulated carrier)
Semi-operational, mode-B. AO-10 has been locked into a 70-cm uplink
and a 2-meter downlink for several years.

DX continues to be worked (and heard) on AO-10.

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]

AMRAD   AO-27
Uplink  145.850 MHz FM
Downlink 436.795 MHz FM
Operational, mode J.

Tony, W7EWC, tells ANS he plans to be active on AO-27 from the
Bahamas as W7EWC/C6A during the entire month of March.

An AO-27 question-and-answer page is available on the AMSAT-NA
web site. Ray, W2RS, recently updated the information.

The URL is:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/intro/ao27faq.html

AO-27 uses a method called Timed Eclipse Power Regulation (TEPR)
to regulate the on-board batteries. In simple terms, TEPR times how
long the satellite has been in an eclipse (or in the sun) and decides
what subsystems to turn on or off. The AO-27 pages on the AMSAT-NA
web site include an explanation of AO-27 operations (at):

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/n7hpr/ao27.html

Chuck, KM4NZ, recently reset the TEPR states on AO-27
(on 03/19/2000). TEPR 4 is 28 - TEPR 5 is 64

[ANS thanks Chuck Wyrick, KM4NZ, and Michael Wyrick, N4USI, for
AO-27 information]

UO-14
Uplink  145.975 MHz FM
Downlink 435.070 MHz FM
Operational, mode J.

Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO reported on the AMSAT bulletin board
that UO-14 --launched in January 1990-- spent its first 18 months in
orbit operating as an Amateur Radio store-and-forward satellite. It was
then switched for use by Volunteers in Technical Assistance, who used it
for medical messaging into Africa. "Since the computer which is used for
store-and-forward communications is no longer able to perform that task,
UO-14 is no longer usable in this mode," reported G7UPN. "It is, however,
possible to use the satellite as a single-channel FM voice repeater, and I
have configured the satellite to do this."

Tim, KG8OC, has updated the Michigan AMSAT Information Site
with UO-14 information, point your web browser to the following URL:

http://www.qsl.net/kg8oc

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO, for UO-14 information]

SUNSAT   SO-35
Operational. SunSat has been in mode-B (FM) using an uplink
of 436.291 MHz (+/- doppler) and a 145.825 MHz downlink.

SunSat was launched February 23, 1999 aboard a Delta II rocket from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, recently celebrating its first
year in orbit.

The SunSat package includes 1200 and 9600 baud digital
store-and-forward capability and a voice 'parrot' repeater system
that will be used primarily for educational demonstrations.
The satellite has two VHF and two UHF transmit-receive systems.

Due to an improvement in its power budget, SunSat's Mode B repeater
will now also be enabled on most weekday evenings (except Monday).
A schedule of the active passes can be found at:

http://sunsat.ee.sun.ac.za/ham1.htm

GPS data is currently collected on Mondays. It takes as much as
twelve hours to fully recover the state of charge after these
experiments.

For more information on SunSat, visit the following URL:

http://sunsat.ee.sun.ac.za

A summary of the active modes and frequency allocations
for SunSat is available at the following URL:

http://esl.ee.sun.ac.za/~lochner/sunsat/modes.html

[ANS thanks Garth Milne ZR1AFH, for this information]

JAS-1b   FO-20
Uplink  145.900 to 146.000 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 435.800 to 435.900 MHz CW/USB
Operational. FO-20 is in mode JA continuously.

JAS-1b (FO-20) was launched in February 1990 and continues
to function quite well.

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

JAS-2   FO-29
Voice/CW Mode JA
Uplink  145.900 to 146.000 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 435.800 to 435.900 MHz CW/USB
Operational, rotated with digital mode and digi-talker.

JAS-2 was successfully launched on August 17, 1996, by an H-II
launch vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center. Mineo,
JE9PEL, recently downloaded FO-29 telemetry and reported the
results on the AMSAT-BB.

Digital Mode JD
Uplink  145.850  145.870  145.910 MHz FM
Downlink 435.910 MHz FM 9600 baud BPSK
Digitalker 435.910 MHz
Operational, rotated with analog mode and digi-talker.

Mike, KF4FDJ, has put together a very informative document on FO-29,
addressing analog, digital and digi-talker modes. To obtain a copy
e-mail Mike at:          kf4fdj@amsat.org

Kazu, JJ1WTK, reports the FO-29 operational schedule
(announced by the JARL) is as follows:

March 25-April 2nd - JA

Mineo, JE9PEL, has updated his FO-29 satellite telemetry analysis
program. The software will automatically analyze all digital
telemetry from the satellite such as current, voltage and temperature.

The JE9PEL FO-29/software update is available at:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/

[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for the FO-29 status reports]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.06
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PART 2

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.06 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-086.06

KITSAT   KO-23
Uplink  145.900 MHz FM 9600 baud FSK
Downlink 435.175 MHz FM
Operational.

AA7KC reports KO-23 was non-operational for a brief period.
Jim says KO-23 left the air with the last data received on 3/23/00.
Mike, N1JEZ, reports that KO-23 was back in action at 11:20 UTC
on  03/27/00.

KyungHee Kim, HL0ENJ, reports (from the KO-23 control team)
that part of the problem with non-operation has been the power
budget aboard the satellite.

[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, and KyungHee Kim, HL0ENJ,
for KO-23 status information]

KITSAT   KO-25
Uplink  145.980 MHz FM 9600 baud FSK
Downlink 436.500 MHz FM
Operational.

Jim, AA7KC, reports KO-25 is operational "and receiving a good amount
of traffic with a high downlink efficiency."

[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, for KO-25 status information]

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

Chris Jackson, G7UPN, reports to ANS that UO-22 has now entered full
sunlight and the temperatures have increased considerably. Controllers
have turned the satellite upside down to point the critical systems to cold
space. This has reduced the temperature on various systems (such as
the batteries) by between 5 and 10 degrees. The unfortunate by-product
of this is that the downlink is now quite weak.

The satellite will remain in full sunlight until late March, when
controllers
will turn it back 'over' again. According to G7UPN "over the next few
years this situation will become worse as the no-eclipse periods
become longer."

Only the 145.900 MHz receiver is usable for communications at the
moment.

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

http://www.sstl.co.uk/

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, for UO-22
status information]

OSCAR-11
Downlink  145.825 MHz FM, 1200 baud AFSK
Mode-S Beacon 2401.500 MHz
Operational.

OSCAR-11 celebrated its sixteenth birthday on March 1, 2000.

During the period of 15-February to 16-March - good signals have
been received from the 145 MHz beacon. Battery voltage during daylight
passes has been unchanged. The average DC value observed was
13.8 volts, with a range of 13.4 to 14.1 volts. The internal satellite
temperatures have decreased by one degree Celsius. They are now
3.8C and 2.2C for battery and telemetry electronics respectively. A
single WOD survey of channels 10, 20, 30 and 40 has been transmitted.

The operating schedule is as follows:

        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 active amateur radio satellites.

More information on OSCAR-11 is available at the following URL:

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/

[ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for OSCAR-11 status information]

LUSAT   LO-19
Uplink 145.84 145.86 145.88 145.90 MHz FM
               using 1200 baud Manchester FSK
CW downlink  437.125 MHz
Digital downlink  437.150 MHz SSB RC-BPSK 1200 baud PSK
Currently semi-operational. The CW beacon is sending eight telemetry
channels and one status channel. Currently, no BBS service is available.
The digipeater is active.

Mineo, JE9PEL, has recorded LO-19 CW and PSK telemetry and
placed the information on his Internet homepage site at:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/

General information and telemetry samples can be found at:

http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu/lo19.htm

[ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for LO-19 status information]

PACSAT   AO-16
Uplink  145.90 145.92 145.94 145.86 MHz FM
                         using 1200 baud Manchester FSK
Downlink 437.025 MHz SSB RC-BPSK 1200 baud PSK
Mode-S Beacon 2401.1428 MHz
Semi-operational.

Russ, WJ9F, reports ground stations are currently running memory
Test software on the satellite. In addition to the memory testing, the
spacecraft spin rate around the vertical (Z) axis has created a less than
ideal condition for battery charging.

The S-band transmitter is currently off.

Kazu, JJ1WTK, reports the AO-16 signal is weaker than before but
perfectly decodable. The JJ1WTK spin rate measurement is also
on going. The current spin rate is about 18 revolutions per minute.

General information and telemetry WOD files can be found at:

http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu

A complete collection of WOD graphics corresponding to the
year of 1998 can be found at:

http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu/wod1998.zip

[ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for AO-16 status information]

TMSAT-1   TO-31
Uplink  145.925 MHz  9600 baud FSK
Downlink 436.925 MHz  9600 baud FSK
Operational.

ProcMail V2.00G has been released by G7UPN. This software permits
the processing of image files from TO-31. It has been posted to the
AMSAT-NA FTP site at the following URL:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/software/win32/wisp

Many of the high-resolution color images transmitted by TMSAT are
compressed using a UoSAT compression format. This format is
supported by the VK5HI CCD display program.

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, for TO-31 status
information]

UoSAT-12   UO-36
Uplink  145.960 MHz  9600 baud FSK
Downlink 437.025 MHz   437.400 MHz

UoSAT-12 was successfully launched on April 21, 1999 from the
Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome. UO-36 carries a number of imaging
payloads, digital store-and-forward communications and mode L/S
transponders.

The BBS is open, although uploading may be disabled at times.

UO-36 ground control finished Merlion operations recently with limited
coverage over the U.S., Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The
operations generated a carrier at about 1-watt of power on 2401 MHz.

The VK5HI viewer shareware is available on the AMSAT-NA
web site at the following URL:

ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/software/win32/display/ccddsp97-119.zip

Further information on UO-36 is available from: http://www.sstl.co.uk/

[ANS thanks Chris G7UPN/ZL2TPO, and the University of Surrey for
this information]

ITAMSAT   IO-26
Uplink  145.875 145.900 145.925 145.950 MHz FM 1200 baud
Downlink 435.822 MHz SSB
Semi-operational, the digipeater function is on.

IO-26 was launched on the September 26, 1993.

Alberto, I2KBD, reports IO-26 has been opened to APRS use.

[ANS thanks ITAMSAT Project Manager Alberto E. Zagni, I2KBD, for this
information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-086.07
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PART 3

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 086.07 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 26, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-086.07

THE FOLLOWING ARE IN ORBIT BUT ARE
NON-OPERATIONAL AT THIS TIME:

RADIO SPORT   RS-12
Uplink   21.210 to 21.250 MHz CW/SSB
Uplink   145.910 to 145.950 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
Robot Downlink  29.454 MHz
Non-operational. No operation in 2000 has been observed.

TECHSAT-1B   GO-32
Downlink  435.225 MHz using HDLC telemetry

Efforts were reported to be underway to bring GO-32 on line,
however no additional information has been received by ANS
(the last report was dated November 1999).

The TechSat-1B micro-satellite was successfully launched from the
Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 10, 1998.

Last reported, the satellite does not have a continuos beacon, but does
transmit a 9600-baud burst every 30 seconds (for a continuous 3
seconds in length), on 435.225 MHz.

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

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

PANSAT   PO-34
Uplink/downlink frequencies have never been released.
The satellite is not currently available for general uplink transmissions.

PanSat, developed by the Naval Postgraduate School, was launched
from the shuttle Discovery (during STS-95) on October 29, 1998.
At the time of launch, PanSat spread-spectrum digital transponders
were promised to be available to Amateur Radio operators along with
software to utilize this technology. To date, this has not happened.

For more information, visit the official PanSat web site at:

http://www.sp.nps.navy.mil/pansat/

PanSat was the featured cover article on the July/August 1999 issue
of the AMSAT-NA Journal (written by KD6DRA and N7HPR).

[ANS thanks Dan Sakoda, KD6DRA, for this information]

MIR SPACE STATION
Ham radio activity aboard the Mir space station came to a close on
August 28, 1999 as the crew returned to Earth, leaving the station
unmanned. Mir is in a stable orbit with only essential systems running.
All Amateur Radio activities have ceased.

Current Amateur Radio equipment aboard Mir includes:

MIR SAFEX II 70-cm Repeater
Uplink  435.750 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 141.3 Hz
Downlink 437.950 MHz FM
Not operational. No operation in 1999 or 2000 has been observed.

MIR SAFEX II 70-cm QSO Mode
Uplink  435.725 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 151.4 Hz
Downlink 437.925 MHz FM
Not operational. No operation in 1999 or 2000 has been observed.

MIR PERSONAL MESSAGE SYSTEM (PMS)
Uplink/Downlink 145.985 MHz FM 1200 baud AFSK
Not operational.

DOVE   DO-17
Downlink 145.825 MHz FM 1200 baud AFSK
2401.220 MHz
Non-operational.

DOVE stopped transmitting in March 1998. The 145.825 MHz and
2401.220 MHz downlinks are off the air and the satellite has not
responded to ground station control. No additional information is
available at this time.

WEBERSAT   WO-18
Downlink 437.104 MHz SSB 1200 baud PSK AX.25
Non-operational.

WO-18 is reported to be in MBL mode after a software crash.
No additional information is available at this time.

SEDSAT-1   SO-33
Downlink 437.910 MHz FM 9600 baud FSK
The satellite is not currently available for uplink transmissions and
image and transponder recovery efforts have been unsuccessful.

SedSat-1, signifying Students for the Exploration and Development of
Space Satellite number one, was successfully launched and placed in
orbit on Saturday, October 24, 1998.

SedSat-1 has downlinked months worth of telemetry data on the
performance of its electrical power system parameters. The Nickel
Metal Hydride batteries on the spacecraft were experimental and
experienced some abuse due to a power negative situation. This
information has provided NASA with useful information. With the
exception of the imaging system and the use of the transponders,
SedSat-1 has been judged a success.

For more information on SedSat-1 visit the satellite web site at the
following URL:

http://www.seds.org/sedsat

No additional information is available at this time.

/EX

--ANS END---

ANS would like to thank Mike Seguin, N1JEZ, ANS principal satellite
investigator, for helping provide current satellite information.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to
ans-editor@amsat.org

Daniel  (Dan) James
AMSAT News Service Bulletin Editor
AMSAT-NA Vice President/Public Affairs
Amateur callsign: NN0DJ
Grid Square EN28iv
Warroad, Minnesota U.S.A.
E-mail:  nn0dj@amsat.org


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