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[jamsat-news:2058] ANS-170 AMSAT News Service Bulletins


AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-170

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:

* IARU Speadsheets on Small Satellites Available
* Send Your Name to Pluto!
* AO-51 Configuration
* AMSAT Journal Article Timing
* ISS Crew could be on the air for Field Day.
* SSETI Announcement
* Small Payload Conference

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.01
IARU Speadsheets on Small Satellites Available
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.01


One of the biggest challenges any satellite communications engineer has is to develop a link budget that shows what might work and what wont! At the STEC 2005 Conference held in Aarlborg in April, and previously reported on ANS, Jan King briefly showed his suite of graphic spreadsheets which help satisfy this need.

It is fully annotated with guidance notes and includes graphical
representations of orbit data, antenna radiation patterns etc.

As an added benefit he has also produced an on-board power budget
spreadsheet and one covering the mass budget.

All of these are now available for download from the link at
http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru

It is anticipated that a short presentation of these exciting tools
will be given during the AMSAT-UK Colloquium which will be taking place
at the University of Surrey between July 29-31st
http://www.uk.amsat.org/Colloquium/


cheers


Graham


[ANS thanks David Johnson, G4DPZ, for the above information]


/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.02 Send Your Name to Pluto!

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.02

Join the New Horizons team as we unlock the secrets of Pluto, Charon
and the Kuiper Belt - sign up to send your name on the New Horizons
spacecraft! Names entered on the mission Web site will be recorded onto
a special compact disc, which the team plans to mount on the spacecraft
before its journey. After signing up you can print a personalized
participation certificate.

Visit here for the sign-up form:

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ecard/sendName_ecard_content.html

--
73 de JoAnne WB9JEJ

[ANS thanks Joanne, WB9JEJ, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.03 AO-51 Configuration

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.03


From the Satellite Software Development Team:


Due to restrictions in the Satellite, there can be no digi functionality
on Echo at this time.

Explanation:
Random noise from a receiver that is fed through the demodulator and
into the SCC (a sort of smart UART) will cause interrupts to be sent to
the CPU. With Echo having 4 or 5 open receivers the number of interrupts
was enough to cause the CPU difficulties in getting normal processing
done in a timely fashion.  Basically, the CPU was locked up trying to
handle the interrupts. Echo is operating its SCC ports in a mode that
will only pass AX.25 packets beginning with a certain character, which
is called 'block' mode.  This configuration solved the interrupt
problem.  For Echo, with the call sign being "PACB or PECHO", only
packets beginning with the character 'P' can get through the SCC and
generate a CPU interrupt.

A digi packet has the call sign of the destination station first,
followed by the satellite (relay) call sign, and then the originator
call sign. Therefore, the digi packet will not get through the SCC
unless the destination station call sign begins with the letter 'P'.

A great deal of effort was put into solving this problem.  This solution
is the only one at the present time that has worked well enough to
implement in the Satellite.

[ANS thanks Mike, KE4AZN for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.04 AMSAT Journal Article Timing

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.04

Everyone,

Once again I must notify you that the May-June issue of the Journal will
be late. I still am having some problems with the timing of article
submissions. Here is the schedule that I want to adhere to:

Odd numbered months of the year - All articles submitted to me no later
than mid-week 3 of the month.

Even numbered months of the year - Completed issue PageMaker files
submitted to the printer during week 1

(January = month 1, February = month 2 and so on)

Once the Journal is in the hands of the printer my job is done for that
issue unless the printer has questions of some kind or if he can't read
a file I've sent or something. From that point it's their job to print
it and get it out to you as soon as possible.

Unfortunately due to a lot of reasons (all of which are good) articles
have not been arriving according to this schedule. This puts the Journal
into your hands late. I sincerely apologize for this.

I want you to understand that I take the Journal very seriously and am
trying to do the best job my amateurish hands can do. So please bear
with me and I will continue to work hard to get the Journal out on time.
I spend a great deal of time on the Journal putting it together and I'm
trying daily to make it better. I also have a more-than-full-time job to
hold down.

Potential authors - Please send me your contributions. I anxiously await
them!

73,

Ed Long
WA4SWJ
Editor, The AMSAT Journal

[ANS thanks Ed Long, WA4SWJ, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.05 ISS crew could be on the air for Field Day. AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.05

ISS crew could be on the air for Field Day.

International Space Station crew members John Phillips, KE5DRY, and
Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, may be on the air for ARRL Field Day, June
25-26. ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, at
Johnson Space Center, has reviewed potential ISS pass times, and he
says a few are favorable for US stations--although some will occur
during the very early morning hours. Phillips and Krikalev will use
the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) radio
gear aboard the spacecraft.

''Hams on the ISS will try to be on for ARRL Field Day,'' Ransom said.
''The crew can make contacts anytime during the 1800 UTC June 25 to
1800 UTC June 26 period as time permits. Most activity will be over
North and South America, but stations worldwide should be
listening.''

Ransom says the pass times are only recommendations, and there is no
guarantee that either Phillips or Krikalev will actually be on the
air during any of them. Passes marked by asterisks (*) are
recommended as desirable ones for voice contacts with Amateur Radio
stations on the ground.

    Saturday, June 25
    1826-1834          Hawaii
    1852-1902          Southern Chile  Argentina

    Sunday, June 26
    0743-0804          Canada and NW US
    0847-0901          Central and eastern Australia
    0919-0938          Southern Canada and NE US
    1020-1035          Western Australia
    *1053-1115         Alaska, SW Canada and eastern US*
    *1110-1130         Caribbean, NE South America*
    1211-1223          Eastern Japan
    *1226-1248         Alaska, Western US*
    *1246-1306         Central South America*
    1346-1359          Western Japan
    1428-1442          Central Argentina
    1606-1617          Southern Chile and Argentina
    *1715-1725         Hawaii*

Phillips will operate as NA1SS and handing out ''1 Alfa ISS'' for a
report. If Expedition 11 Commander Krikalev gets on the air too,
he'll identify as RS0ISS and give the same exchange. In the past,
crew members have operated from both the Phase 1 and Phase 2 ARISS
stations using 2 meters and 70 cm.

The standard ISS voice frequencies for contacts in ITU Region 2 are
144.49 MHz up and 145.80 MHz down, FM.

If the astronauts can't get on the air to make voice QSOs, the
RS0ISS packet station should be on and available for ground stations
to work each other via the packet digipeater using ''ARISS'' as the
alias for the call sign in UNPROTO mode. Frequencies are 145.99 MHz
up and 145.80 MHz down.

ARRL Contest Branch Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, notes that ISS
voice or direct packet contacts with the ISS do not count for bonus
satellite contact points because the ISS is not an ''Amateur Radio
satellite'' as event rules specify. Packet contacts relayed via the
ISS are valid.

''The ISS contacts do not count for satellite credit, since they are
point-to-point, whereas the traditional satellite QSO is a relayed
Earth-satellite-Earth two-way contact,'' he explained. Field Day has
no specific rules relating to ARISS operation because there's no
guarantee that the crew will be able to get on the air for the
annual exercise.

During Field Day 2004, astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, operated NA1SS
on 2 meters, while Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka, RN3DT,
was on the air from RS0ISS on 70 cm. Between them, they racked up
more than five dozen QSOs.

[ANS thanks ARRL HQ for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.06 SSETI Announcement

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.06

The preliminary pre-launch keps for the Cosmos launch scheduled for
August 25th have been announced.

This launch includes the SSETI Express spacecraft that will be carrying
an amateur U/S FM transponder.

SSETI1
1 33001U 05066C   05237.44790000 -.00000001  00000-0  10000-4 0    16
2 33001  98.1900 134.5000 0000001   0.0000   0.0000 14.60830000 00013

These are only provisional and maybe refined nearer the launch date!

This satellite is sponsored by the Education Office of the European
Space Agency and is the first in a series of student built satellite
projects that are underway. Their next project "ESEO" is scheduled for
2007/8 launch into a GTO orbit.

For the SSETI Express programme ESA are very keen to have as many
amateurs contributing received downlinked telemetry on 437MHz and 2.4GHz
to a central database. They recognise that our "worldwide" network is a
unique facility that is not otherwise available to them

A new website giving full details of the telemetry, how to decode it and
how to forward it to the SSETI database is being currently being
developed and initial information should be made available within the
next four weeks.

In the meantime we can further report that the launch  is expected to be
broadcast live on this "free to air" satellite downlink.

Astra 1 G at 19.2 degrees east:

Transponder:                1.108
Reception frequency:        12551.50 MHz
Polarization:               Vertical
Symbolrate:                 22Msymb/s
FEC:                        5/6
TS_ID:                      1108
ON_ID:                      1
Service Name:               ESA
Service provider:           ASTRA
Service_ID:                 12140
TXT:                        none

As this only covers Europe we are also hoping to be able to stream the
sound and video over the internet - more news will follow on this nearer
the time.

best wishes

Graham

[ANS thanks Graham Shirville for the above information]

/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-170.07
Small Payload Conference

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 170.07
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 19, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-170.07

Small Payload Rideshare Conference


As part of the on-going effort to develop points of contact and relationships within the space industry, AMSAT Executive Vice President, Lee McLamb, KU4OS, attended the Small Payload Rideshare Conference sponsored by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the USAF Space and Missile Systems Center/Space Test Program Office (SMC/STP), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Goddard Spaceflight Center (NASA/GSFC). This annual conference is designed to address the issues related to access to space for small payloads, their potential benefits, and the key technologies for achieving affordable access to space. This year's conference was held 6-7 June 2005 in Denver, Colorado.

"This continues to be a very informative conference", reports Lee. He
continued, "We are learning where there may be opportunities for
mutually beneficial partnerships and how to better coordinate with with
them".

Included in the conference were presentations on new small launch
vehicles as well as several presentations on secondary payload adapters
being developed for US launch vehicles. Lee said, "It will take work,
but I see real potential for partnerships that will benefit the Eagle
Project."

[ANS thanks Lee McLamb, KU4OS, for the above information]

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Dee Interdonato, NB2F
NB2F at amsat dot org
----
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