[jamsat-news:1998] ANS-051 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE

ANS-051

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:
* Orbital Data Redistribution Update
* 2005 Combined Federal Campaign Application
* ARISS School Contact Schedule
* NPS RadioFest 2005



SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-051.01
Orbital Data Redistribution Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 051.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 20, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-051.01

During the past week the NASA Orbital Information Group (OIG) system
from which our KEP data comes, was rebooted and the system became
inoperable. The good news is that as of 16 February they were able to
recover some functionality.  Daily updates of the KEPs are now possible,
which is sufficient for our needs.  For the time being we are OK.

In the bigger picture, Air Force Space Command is still in the process
and working hard to put their redistribution process in place.
Permission to redistribute the data has been formally requested but at
this time it is still not known that process will be.

[ANS thanks Ray, WA5QGD for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-051.02
2005 Combined Federal Campaign Application

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 051.02
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 20, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-051.02

Gunther Meisse, W8GSM, AMSAT treasurer, announced the receipt of the
acceptance acknowledgement of AMSAT's formal application for the
inclusion of AMSAT in the 2005 CFC (Combined Federal Campaign) which
takes place in the fall each year. If granted, we will be available for
annual charitable gifts by Federal Employees. This CFC program is much
like the United Way in the non-government community. We met with the CFC
officials in Washington in December and look forward to our inclusion in
this wonderful national campaign. About 1600 nationally recognized
groups compete annually for the support of government employees. Many
space scientists and federal employees interested in the space and
educational activities of AMSAT have expressed an interest in our
participation in the CFC program. We'll keep you posted on our status.

[ANS thanks Gunther, W8GSM for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-051.03
ARISS School Contact Schedule

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 051.03
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 20, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS 
BID: $ANS-051.03

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2005-02-15 17:00 UTC 

The ARISS (a joint effort of AMSAT, the ARRL, NASA, the ARISS international 
partners including Canada, Russia, the European Partners, and Japan) operations 
team wishes to announce the following very tentative schedule for ARISS school 
contacts.  This schedule is very fluid and may change at the last minute.  
Remember that amateur radio use on the ISS is considered secondary.  Please 
check the various AMSAT and ARISS webpages for the latest announcements.  

The ARISS contacts can be heard by listening for the ISS on the downlink of 
145.80 MHz as well as checking MSNBC.com for possible live retransmissions 
http://www.msnbc.com/m/lv/default.asp  

The crossband repeater has been active at times.
The frequencies are uplink of 437.80 MHz and downlink of 145.80 MHz.

For information about educational materials available from ISS partner space 
Agencies, please refer to links on the ARISS Frequently Asked Questions page.

There are several ARISS web sites:

English:  http://www.rac.ca/ariss/  

French:  http://c.avmdti.free.fr/ariss/index.htm  

ARISS Europe:  http://www.ariss-eu.org/  

ARISS Japan:  http://www.jarl.or.jp/ariss/  
 
The expedition 10 crew on board the ISS is:
Leroy Chiao KE5BRW
Salizhan Sharipov

To let you in on how tough it is to schedule contacts, here are some of the 
constraints the ARISS mentors must work under: 
Each Increment is 26 weeks in length. 

For the next increment (10) we may not schedule:
1. Anything the first 3 weeks.
2. During EVA weeks (2 EVAs are scheduled for Increment 10; 2004-12-28 (did not 
occur) and 2005-02-21)
3. at least 2 weeks prior to the Increment change. 
4. no contacts during meal and exercise periods.
5. no contacts during post-sleep and pre sleep (before 0800 UTC and after 1930 
UTC)
6. contacts on the day of Progress docking or undocking are circumspect. Five of
these events are planned for this increment.

ISS frequencies:
Remember that the ISS radios are not able to correct for Doppler as the 
frequencies are channelized. So it is up to the ground station to do the 
Doppler correction. For 2 meters, the Doppler is about +3kHz at the beginning 
and goes to about -3kHz at the end. For 70 cm, the Doppler is about +10kHz at 
the beginning and goes to about -10kHz at the end. The 70cm Doppler is roughly 
3 times the 2m Doppler. Many of the tracking programs have the ability to 
calculate the Doppler.


Rockland District High School, Rockland, ME, direct via W1PBR
Contact was successful Mon 2005-02-14 15:06 UTC 
Congratulations Rockland and Leroy!

St. John's School, Houston, Texas via W5RRR
Contact is a go for Wed 2005-02-23 14:35 UTC

The following contacts are planned but the specific dates have not yet been
announced:

Bentley School, Oakland, California, telebridge via TBD

Rains High School, Texas direct via KD5OMH.

St Martins Lutheran School, Mt Gambier, Australia, telebridge via VK5ZAI 

S.C.O.P.E. Science & Technology Center, Texas direct via W5LRU or KB5YAM.

Maple Avenue Elementary, Goffstown, NH, direct via KB1GDA

Ft. Ross, Cazadero, CA, direct via WA6M.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, Colorado, direct via N0VSE


Currently the ARISS operations team has a list of 60 schools that we 
hope will be able to have a contact during 2005.   As the schedule becomes more 
solidified, we will be letting everyone know.  Current plans call for an 
average of one scheduled school contact per week.

[ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-051.04
NPS RadioFest 2005

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 051.04
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 20, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS 
BID: $ANS-051.04

The Naval Postgraduate School Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring RadioFest
2005.  This event will be held 26 February, 0700-1400 local time.  The
event will be held in Seaside, CA at the General Stillwell Community
Center, Ord Military Community (old Fort Ord) located at 4260 Gigling
Road.

Presentations on ARISS, AO-51 and Eagle are planned during the
RadioFest.

[ANS thanks Emily, W0EEC for the above information]

/EX

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT 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 Office.

-- 
73,
This weeks ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org
----
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