[jamsat-news:2032] ANS-114 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

ANS-114

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:
* AMSAT's External Relations Team Update
* Tony England, W0ORE visits with AMSAT
* FM OPS on Linear Transponder
* ARISS Status - 18 April 2005
* May AO-51 Operating Schedule

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-114.01
AMSAT's External Relations Team Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 114.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 24, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-114.01

AMSAT's External Relations Team handles AMSAT interactions with outside
groups such as government agencies, educational groups as well as other
amateur radio and AMSAT groups around the World.  This Team has been
busy preparing for several upcoming events.

Work is continuing in support of the petition for reconsideration AMSAT
filed regarding orbital debris.  Refining our positions as well as
resolving some highly divergent model predictions are some of the issues
being worked.  No time line for action has been set by the FCC yet,
however AMSAT must be ready to respond promptly when asked.

Preparations are also underway for several upcoming conferences.  The
Small Payload Ridesharing Conference will be held in Denver this year.
The focus of this conference is developing increased launch
opportunities for small satellites and secondary payloads.  Another
upcoming event is the combined Cubesat workshop and Small Satellite
Conference in August.  This year AMSAT will have a table in the
exhibitor area at the conference.  Planning for materials, demos and
volunteers is now underway.

A final area that will be getting additional attention in upcoming
months is developing an "educational program" for AMSAT.  Several ideas
have been proposed.  Exactly how this will develop will depend greatly
on the passions brought to the program by those who volunteer.  Anyone
interested in helping in this area is encouraged to contact Lee McLamb,
KU4OS, at ku4os@amsat.org

Lee McLamb, KU4OS
AMSAT Executive VP

[ANS thanks Lee, KU4OS for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-114.02
Tony England, W0ORE visits with AMSAT

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 114.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 22, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-114.02


Meet Astronaut Tony England, W0ORE during Hamvention 2005

Friday May 20, 11:00 AM - noon, AMSAT booth
Friday May 20, 7:30 to 9:30 PM, AMSAT Banquet at the Amber Rose Restaurant

Here is your chance to meet Dr. Tony England, the second astronaut to use
ham radio in space!
Come by the AMSAT booth Friday morning for a terrestrial encounter.

In 1985, Tony first went into space onboard the space shuttle Challenger.
During his eight-day mission, he was a NASA Mission Specialist, responsible
for conducting many of the experiments in the onboard laboratory. The
mission included a ham radio payload called SAREX, the Shuttle Amateur Radio
Experiment.

AMSAT President Rick Hambly, W2GPS will also be available at the AMSAT booth
during Tony's Friday 11:00 am - noon visit.

[ANS thanks Gould Smith, WA4SXM for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-114.03
FM OPS on Linear Transponder

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 114.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 24, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-114.03

FM operation on a linear transponder not good practice


The possibility of FM operation through the linear transponders on board
the soon-to-be-launched VUSAT was announced recently by AMSAT-India. The
Advisory Panel to the IARU Satellite Advisor, Hans van de Groenendaal,
ZS6AKV, considered this during its regular Echolink consultative meeting
last weekend.  The group pointed out that FM is an inefficient use of
spectrum and power and recommended strongly that FM should not be used
on linear transponders. In many countries with large amateur
communities, FM on a linear transponder is a totally unacceptable mode
of operation and discouraged at all times.

The IARU Satellite Advisor and the Panel have suggested to AMSAT India
not to publish FM as a user option for the linear transponder, and to
discourage the use of FM through these transponders, especially in
countries with large amateur populations.

The IARU Satellite Advisor and his panel meet on Echolink on a regular
basis to review requests for frequency coordination. The main objective
is to advise satellite builders on spectrum use in order to achieve
harmonious use of the limited spectrum and to avoid or minimize
interference.

Ÿe have carefully chosen our meeting time to enable team members in the
US, Europe and Australia to talk to each other at a reasonable time of
the day ZS6AKV said. It is quite a challenge, when it is midday in the
USA it is late evening in Europe and Africa and very early the next
morning in Australia.

Over the past few years the team has developed a number of guideline
papers for satellite builders and operators. For more information visit
www.iaru.org/satellite


[ANS thanks Hans, ZS6AKV for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-114.04
ARISS Status - 18 April 2005

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 114.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 18, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-114.04

ARISS Status
April 18, 2005


1.	New Hampshire School Contact Successful

On Wednesday, April 13, Maple Avenue Elementary School, in Goffstown,
New Hampshire, had a successful contact with Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW.
Students asked twenty questions in front of an audience of two hundred
students, teachers, parents, and six local dignitaries. Three newspapers
and a television documentary producer were in attendance to cover the event.
Echolink was also used for this contact. The audio transmission from a
webcast was fed into the AMSAT and EDU_NET servers. Twenty-one
connections were made, and stations from the U.K., U.S.A., Australia,
Holland, Slovakia, and Switzerland listened in.
	
2.	California School Contact Successful

Fort Ross Elementary School is a small school with an enrollment of 50
students, located in Cazadero, California, a remote area ninety miles
north of San Francisco. On Friday, April 15, the children experienced a
successful contact with the ISS. The students were able to ask Leroy
Chiao, KE5BRW, 15 questions before the space station went over the
horizon.  Approximately 85 people attended the event including a
reporter from the local weekly north coast newspaper, the Independent
Coast Observer.

3.	Upcoming School Contacts

Schulhaus Feld 1 in Richterswil, Switzerland is slated for a contact
with Leroy Chiao on Tuesday, April 19, at 07:36 UTC. (Note the change in
date and time.)
		
	Two ARISS contacts have been scheduled with ESA Italian astronaut
Roberto 	Vittori, as follows:

	Istituto Tecnico Industriale Liceo scientifico Tecnologico Ũ.
Marconiin 	Civitavecchia, Italy and Ist.Tecn.Comm.Einaudi-Mattei &
Ist.Statale Istr. Sup. 	Malignani  In in Palmanova, Italy will share a
contact with the ISS, as they are 	linked via Skype (internet
telephony).  The students from each institute will take 	turns asking
questions. The event is scheduled for April 18 at 08:45 UTC.

	The European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), is slated for a
contact via 	telebridge station NN1SS on April 20 at 12:39 UTC.


4.	ARRL Article on Flory Contact

On April 8, Flory Academy, a NASA Explorer School, spoke to the ISS via
amateur radio. ARRL covered the contact in an article entitled, Å´chool
Community Cooperation, Student Activities Enhance Space QSO Experience.See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/04/13/2/?nc=1

5.	ARRL Article on New Crew Aboard the ISS

On April 15, the ARRL ran a web story on the new crew aboard the ISS.
ŵhree radio amateurs on their way to International Space Station,may
be found at:
	http://www.arrl.org/

6.	ARISS School Receives Award

Sonoran Sky Elementary School, KA7SKY, received a Satellite
Communicators Club Award from AMSAT NA.  The school had an ARISS contact
with Expedition 8ÃÔ Mike Foale, KB5UAC, on April 5, 2004.
Congratulations Sonoran Sky!


[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-114.05
May AO-51 Operating Schedule

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 114.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 24, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-114.05

1 May to 3 May
FM Repeater, V/U
Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone
Downlink 435.300 mhz FM
9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS (Pacsat Broadcast Protocol BBS)
Uplink: 145.860 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital
Downlink: 435.150 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital

4 May (rescheduled from April)
FM Repeater, L/U
Uplink: 1268.700 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone
Downlink 435.300 mhz FM

5 May to 10 May
FM Repeater, V/U
Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone
Downlink 435.300 mhz FM
9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS (Pacsat Broadcast Protocol BBS)
Uplink: 145.860 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital
Downlink: 435.150 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital

11 May
Voice relay, V SSB/U FM
Uplink: 145.880 mhz USB
Downlink 435.300 mhz FM

12 May to 17 May
FM Repeater, V/U, High Power Mode
Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone
Downlink 435.300 mhz FM

18 May
PSK31/narrowband data modes, V SSB/U FM
Uplink: 145.860 mhz USB
Downlink 435.300 mhz FM

19 May  to 24 May (in support of Dayton demos)
FM Repeater, V/S
Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, No PL Tone
Downlink 2401.200 mhz FM

25 May
38k4 Digital Downlink, V/U, PBP BBS (Pacsat Broadcast Protocol BBS)
Uplink: 145.860 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital
Downlink: 435.150 mhz FM, 38k4 PBP Digital

26 May to 31 May
FM Repeater, V/U
Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone
Downlink 435.300 mhz FM
9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS (Pacsat Broadcast Protocol BBS)
Uplink: 145.860 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital
Downlink: 435.150 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital
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.

[ANS Thanks AO-51 Operating Committee for this information]

/EX

73,
This weeks ANS Editor,
Dee Interdonato, NB2F
nb2f at amsat dot org
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