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[jamsat-news:1869] ANS-327 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins
- Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 08:26:23 -0500
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-327
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.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor@amsat.org
In this edition:
* AO-40 Status Update
* AO-40 Birthday Bash log reminder
* ARISS Status 18 November 2003
* FCC expands C-Band Part 15 allocation
* Operating AO-40 mobile
* This Week's News in Brief
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-327.01
AO-40 Status Update
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 327.01 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-327.01
As of 18 Nov 2003 AO-40 has almost reached ALON=45 deg. Shortly the Command
Team will begin to raise ALAT to just above 20 degs. This will take
approximately a week to 10 days. When they are confident that ALAT exceeds
20 degs, the passbands will be shut off. During this time only the beacon
will be on and AO-40 will begin drifting toward ALON ~315 degs. The drift
process with the passbands off will take approximately 4 weeks. The length
of time that it will take to drift with the passbands off will be little
more specific after the final spin rate is known.
M QST AMSAT OSCAR-40 2003 Nov 18
ALON ~ 40, ALAT rising to 20 degs. When ALAT >= 20 degs
[~7 days], passbands will be shut off for ~ 4 weeks.
The AO-40 team would like your telemetry files!
Please "zip" compress your daily telemetry files and e-mail to:
ao40-archive@amsat.org
This is a good opportunity to sincerely thank everyone who does uplink to
the Goddard server. This is MUCH appreciated by the AO-40 command
team. Thank you!
[ANS thanks Stacey, W4SM, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-327.02
AO-40 Birthday Bash log reminder
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 327.02 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-327.02
The AO-40 Birthday Bash has ended (November 17, 2003 0000z) for this year.
Those of you that participated, I hope you had fun. Those that did not
participate, there is always next year.
If you would like to submit your log, you may do so via email to
kk5do@amsat.org
Complete rules are available at http://www.amsat.org or
http://www.amsatnet.com
[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-327.03
ARISS Status 18 November 2003
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 327.03 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-327.03
* Upcoming Schools
An ARISS contact has been scheduled with Renmark Primary School in Renmark,
South Australia. The contact will take place on Tuesday, November 25.
* TIM in Moscow
A contingent of U.S. ARISS team members recently attended the Technical
Interchange Meeting which was held in Moscow (November 10 -20). Equipment is
being tested at the KIS facility at Energia.
* U.S. Astronaut to get Ham Radio License
ARISS team members are working with astronaut Mike Fincke (Lieutenant
Colonel, USAF), who is scheduled to be a crew member of Expedition 11, to
enable him to get his Ham radio license. Nick Lance at NASA JSC will provide
the training.
* ARISS International Team Teleconference
The ARISS International Team held a teleconference on Tuesday November 4,
2003. Agenda items discussed included the next two face to face meetings.
The first is to be held at ESA ESTEC, Netherlands from March 25 - 28, 2004.
The second meeting will be held in the Washington, D.C. area in October,
2004, following the AMSAT- NA's annual meeting which will also be held in
the D.C. area. Joint activities are being planned. Also discussed was the
KIS certification testing in Energia, RSC and the upcoming Moscow trip.
* Phase 2 Hardware Shipped to Moscow
Two Yaesu FT-100 radios and tuners are being shipped from California to
Moscow. Shipment may take 2 - 4 weeks. Certification testing will take place
in Energia, Russian Space Center.
* Website Project to Enable Students to Speak with ESA Astronaut by Radio
Dutch ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers is scheduled to serve as flight engineer
on the next Soyuz flight to the ISS. ESA has organized a Dutch website
project which will allow students to talk to Kuiper by radio while on board
the ISS.
[ANS thanks Carol Jackson and Charlie Sufana for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-327.04
FCC expands C-Band Part 15 allocation
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 327.04 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-327.04
The FCC has amended its Part 15 rules to make another 255 MHz of spectrum
available in the 5.470-5.725 GHz band for unlicensed National Information
Infrastructure (U-NII) devices, including Radio Local Area Network (RLAN)
devices. In its Report and Order (R&O) in ET Docket 03-122 released November
18, the FCC said it was taking the action to alleviate crowding in existing
allocations and to align U-NII bands in the US with bands elsewhere in the
world. The FCC turned down an ARRL request to keep U-NII devices out of the
5.650 to 5.670 GHz segment to avoid interference with the Amateur Satellite
Service. Amateur Radio has a secondary allocation from 5.650 to 5.925 GHz.
"We are not persuaded that we should either add or modify our proposed rules
as requested by ARRL," the FCC said, adding that its dynamic frequency
selection (DFS) and transmitter power control (TPC) requirements "will in
fact protect amateur operations," although they're not specifically designed
to do so.
[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-327.05
Operating AO-40 mobile
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 327.05 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. November 23, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-327.05
Pedro, EB4DKA, recently announced success in completing his first AO-40 QSO
while operating mobile. Pedro says, "On 15 November 2003 I worked AO-40
while mobile when the bird was 32,000 km from me and with 7.5squint from
IM78."
For his uplink Pedro was using a Kenwood TM-455 with a comet SBB-5 dual band
mobile antenna fixed on the roof of the car. The downlink part of the
station was a Kenwood TH-F7E HT with a pair of earbuds + Wimo PA-13R-20 Flat
Panel Antenna (33cm x 33cm) with a DB6NT converter.
Describing the operation, Pedro says, "The car was stopped in the side of
the road and I was seated in my car with the flat antenna behind the window
(the antenna is smaller than the window) and the signals were very strong. I
tried to uplink to the satellite and I could hear my own downlink strong."
Pedro says, "I have worked only one station because when I started my mobile
operation the bird was near to MA 230, and I had only a few minutes." He
also adds, "I 'll try to work mobile via AO-40 more times because I travel a
lot"
[ANS thanks Pedro, EB4DKA, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-327.06
This Week's News in Brief
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 327.06
From AMSAT HQSILVER SPRING, MD.
November 23, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-327.06
** US Federal government entities have been authorized to purchase and
operate radios certified by the FCC in the Family Radio Service. This,
according to the May 2003 Manual of Regulations and Procedures for Federal
Radio Frequency Management. The manual says that pursuant to Part 95
Subpart B of the FCC Rules and Regulations, government users will be
accorded the same privileges as non-federal users. Also, since FRS users
must
share each channel and no user is assured protection from interference
caused
by another authorized user, federal entities may not purchase and operate
F-R-S radios for planned communications operations that safeguard human life
or property. --Newsline
** The President of Columbiad Launch Services Inc. ,
Mr. Richard Graf, announced today Columbiad's has begun accepting requests
to launch Scientific and Memorial flights into space from their new,
advanced
technology, ballistic launch system. Columbiad Launch Services Inc. is a
dynamic new commercial space launch company dedicated to providing
affordable access to space for everyone. Columbiad is currently developing a
fully portable Industrial Sounding System (ISS) which uses advanced
ballistic propulsion technology to propel a variety of low cost launch
vehicles into space for scientific research and memorial space
lights. --SpaceDaily
** The spate of solar storms to hit Earth in recent
days may be caused by the sun's iron-rich interior, says a UMR researcher
who theorizes that the sun's core is made of iron rather than hydrogen.Dr.
Oliver Manuel, a professor of nuclear chemistry, believes that iron, not
hydrogen, is the sun's most abundant element. In a paper accepted for
publication in the Journal of Fusion Energy, Manuel asserts that the
"standard solar model" -- which assumes that the sun's core is made of
hydrogen -- has led to misunderstandings of how such solar flares occur, as
well as inaccurate views on the nature of global climate
change. --SpaceDaily
/EX
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT-NA
offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club,
as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive
additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT-NA
Office.
AMSAT-NA has developed an on-line volunteer survey, designed to
identify the interests and skills of those who may be available to directly
help in efforts to develop the amateur satellite program. The survey is
designed to be completed and returned on-line, and takes only a few minutes
to fill out. To request the survey, simply send an e-mail request
to:volunteer at amsat.org
73,\
This weeks ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS, ku4os at amsat.org
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