[jamsat-news:2242] ANS-218 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-218

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:
* Clifford C. Buttschardt K7RR Silent Key
* AMSAT demos at Santa Barbara Hamfest
* Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, Honored by NASA
* AMSAT Awards
* ARISS Status - 31 July 2006


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-218.01
Clifford C. Buttschardt K7RR Silent Key

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 218.01
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 6, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-218.01

Cliff Buttschardt, K7RR (formerly W6HDO) became a silent key July 30,
2006 at 9:47 PM PDT. He was a lifetime member of both AMSAT and the
ARRL, and an original member of Project OSCAR. He died quietly in his
home in Morro Bay after battling inoperable cancer of the esophagus for
many months.

Cliff was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, NY and later lived in Garden City on
Long Island. Cliff finished school in San Jose and went on to graduate
from San Jose State with a degree in electrical engineering.  After
graduation Cliff joined the Navy where he worked as a radioman. He later
worked at Raytheon in Santa Barbara and SRI International in Palo Alto.

While at SRI he became a member of the original Project OSCAR Radio club
and supported the construction of OSCAR-I.  Over his lifetime Cliff
supported many of the amateur satellites that were launched from
Vandenberg AFB.  In 2001 Cliff while teaching at Cuesta College in San
Luis Obisop, Cliff, along with Ed English W6WYQ, began work on the
CubeSat project. Cliff then moved over to California Polytechnic State
University (Cal Poly) where he and Ed continued to mentor students who
were just starting up the initial CubeSat designs.

In March of 2006 the Project OSCAR Board of Directors voted unanimously
to award Cliff its highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, for
his contributions to amateur satellites, amateur radio and the CubeSat
program. The award was presented during the CubeSat Launch Party at Cal
Poly on 26 July 2006, and to Cliff personally at his home on the same
day.

Cliff is survived by his wife Mabs, who was with Cliff when he passed
on. It is requested that in lieu of flowers, a contribution to AMSAT be
made in Cliff's name.

[Note - a more complete story and photos will be available in the
upcoming edition of the AMSAT Journal.]

[ANS thanks Emily, N1DID, for the above information]

/EX 


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-218.02
AMSAT demos at Santa Barbara Hamfest

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 218.02
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 6, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-218.02

AMSAT member Clint Bradford, K6LCS will be demonstrating how easy it is
to work amateur satellites at the upcoming Santa Barbara Amateur Radio
Club Family Reunion Hamfest on Sunday, August 13.

"I have AMSAT brochures from Martha, some handouts from the ARRL's
Rosalie White on the ARISS program,  and several pre-programmed HTs for
attendees to use. It looks like AO-51 and SO-50 will be able to be
accessed during a half-hour period in the morning," reports Clint.

The annual event is being held at the Elk's Lodge at 150 N. Kellogg,
Goleta CA 93117 on Sunday, August 13th starting at 8:30 AM. Event
details - and Clint's "Work AO-51 with your HT!" tutorial - are posted
at the group's Web site: http://www.sbarc.org/annual/hamfest/index.html
 
[ANS thanks Clint, K6LCS, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-218.03
Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, Honored by NASA

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 218.03
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 6, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-218.03

NASA has honored ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO,
with its prestigious "Silver Snoopy" Award. Ransom was tapped to receive
the award for his role in helping International Space Station Expedition
12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, complete and confirm Worked All
States (WAS) and Worked All Continents (WAC), including Antarctica, from
NA1SS, as well as logging some 130 DXCC entities. McArthur's duty tour
ended in April.

"I am honored to have received the award and honored again by Bill
McArthur's thoughtfulness at selecting such an Amateur Radio-appropriate
Silver Snoopy," Ransom told ARRL. He explained that every Silver Snoopy
has flown on a space mission. "The one that was awarded to me was flown
on STS-58, which was Bill's first shuttle flight." The STS-58 mission,
he said, not only was a SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment) flight
but McArthur's introduction to Amateur Radio from space. SAREX was the
predecessor to the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS) program.

In his role as ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer, Ransom helps ARISS
arrange opportunities for students to speak via Amateur Radio with the
space station crew at NA1SS. He also coordinates with the ISS crew on
the configuration and operation of the two ham radio stations aboard the
space station.

At some point during Expedition 12, Ransom realized that McArthur had
already logged 25 states, and he figured, "Why stop there?" Pretty soon,
he was lining up contacts for McArthur in the other 25.

"It was an, 'I know a friend who knows a friend who knows a friend' sort
of thing," Ransom explained. "There are a lot of folks eager to talk to
an astronaut." 

"Different crews do different things as pastimes," Ransom said. "Bill
enjoyed talking on the radio. It gave him someone else to talk to
besides CAPCOM, the voice of mission control."

By the end of the mission, McArthur not only became the first astronaut
to earn WAS from space but put lots of DX -- routine and exotic -- in
the NA1SS log on both VHF and UHF. Overall, he made more than 1800
contacts during his approximately six months in space. He also
established a new ARISS milestone by completing 37 school group
contacts. 

"None of that would have been possible without the work Kenneth did,"
McArthur said. "He alerted radio operators in some pretty obscure places
-- places that rarely have contact with the space program."

To show his gratitude, McArthur recently presented Ransom with the
Silver Snoopy Award -- a silver lapel pin featuring the famous "Peanuts"
comic strip character Snoopy in a spacesuit. NASA's Astronaut Office
presents the award to those who have significantly enhanced the space
agency's goals for human exploration and development of space. Fewer
than one percent of the space program's workforce receives it annually. 

McArthur is still working to confirm DXCC from space. So far, he has
approximately one-third of the necessary contacts confirmed.

[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-218.04
AMSAT Awards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 218.04
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 6, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-218.04

This week, congratulations go out to all of the following.

We would like to welcome the following to the satellite community. They
have made their first satellite contact and are now members of the AMSAT
Satellite Communicators Club.

  Christophe Candebat, FM1OJ
  Simon Boehme, KC8ZYD 
    (who happens to be 14 and made his first satellite contact on field
     day)


AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award
  Andre Theelen, PH7AT #431
  Joseph Jaffer, N3PKC #432
  Robert Wyckoff, KB3MBO #433
  Roger Banks, KE5AQD #434

W4AMI Communications Achievement Award
  Andre Theelen, PH7AT #45

South Africa Satellite Communications Achievement Award
  Andre Theelen, PH7AT #US96


To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or
http://www.amsatnet.com

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-218.05
ARISS Status - 31 July 2006

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 218.05
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
August 6, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-218.05

1.  Children's Club Speaks to ISS

On Saturday, 29 July 2006, the Children's Club Camp held in Patras,
Greece experienced an ARISS contact with ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter,
DF4TR, via the telebridge station, WH6PN, in Hawaii. The Greek Minister
of Education asked the first two questions, followed by two questions
posed by students. ESA employees' children attended the camp held at the
Porto Rio Hotel, with July 29 designated as Space Day. An audience of
200 was present for the event. Echolink was used for the contact,
receiving 31 connections from 11 countries, including 6 repeaters. 


2.  Upcoming School Contacts

Teven-Tintenbar Public School is located in a rural-residential area 12
km from the coastal town of Ballina in the Northern Rivers region of
NSW, Australia. Approximately 180 students, grades kindergarten through
grade 6, are enrolled at the school. Teven-Tintenbar has been approved
for a contact on Friday, 11 August 2006 at 07:32 UTC.


3.  SSTV Testing

Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, ran a few Slow Scan Television (SSTV) tests
over the weekend. Images were picked up by stations in Russia and
Brazil. Articles may be found on the AMSAT and ARRL websites,
www.amsat.org and www.arrl.org


4.  ARISS International Team Meeting

The monthly ARISS International Team teleconference was held on Tuesday,
25 July 2006. Topics of discussion included Japanese space visitor,
Dice-K Enomoto, school contacts planned for Thomas Reiter, and the ARISS
International Face to Face meeting planned for October. 


5.  Chuck Brady, N4BQW, SK

Retired space shuttle astronaut Chuck Brady, N4BQW, one of the first
astronauts involved with the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX)
program, passed away July 23.  ARRL ran an article, "Dr Charles E.
'Chuck' Brady Jr, N4BQW, SK."  See:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/07/27/1/?nc=1

[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI 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 week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org
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