[jamsat-news:2691] ANS-193 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-193

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:
* SuitSat-2 Integration Progress in Phoenix
* AO-51 Apollo 11 40th Anniversary Special Event
* Arizona and Utah Satellite Activity
* Satellite and HT Presentations at Big Bear Amateur Radio Club
* Final Reminder for AMSAT Field Day Logs
* Castor and Pollox Posed to Launch with STS-127
* ARISS Status - 06 July 2009


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193.01
SuitSat-2 Integration Progress in Phoenix

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193.01
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 12, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-193.01

SuitSat-2 System Engineer, Gould WA4SXM kept the satellite community
updated on the system integration meeting taking place in Phoenix
this weekend. Reporting via twitter (http://twitter.com/GGouldSmith)
Gould said progress was occurring on several fronts.

The command receiver boards were assembled and ready for testing. The
command receiver and receiver boards were integrated for the first
time this weekend. The team was able to report that the receiver is
now providing good input to the SDX transponder and as a result the
transponder became operational and produced a signal on the output
with the CW, FM and BPSK signals. The transmitter was drawing 330mA
and produced +25dBm output in the test configuration.

System engineering progress was also report on additional issues:
+ SPI communications between the IHU and SDX were debugged
+ battery charging circuit undergoing testing
+ Spaceframe issues have started to be addressed to replace the
   missing suit.

[ANS thanks JoAnne, K9JKM, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193.02
AO-51 Apollo 11 40th Anniversary Special Event

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193.02
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 12, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-193.02

AMSAT-NA will mark the 40th anniversary of the 
first manned lunar landing with a
special event on AO-51. AO-51 will transmit a special message commemorating the
event during evening passes on Monday, July 20 and into early July 21 UTC. The
message will be transmitted on the 435.300 MHz FM downlink. A special AO-51 SWL
QSL will be available to ground stations who copy 
the downlink. Please watch ANS
and the amsat-bb mailing list for further information as the date approaches.

[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193.03
Arizona and Utah Satellite Activity

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193.03
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 12, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-193.03

Patrick Stoddard, WD8EWK, will be at the ARRL Arizona State Convention and
Hamfest in Williams, Arizona, on 17-18 July 2009 - a Friday and Saturday.
He will have an AMSAT table in the main hall, and will give a
satellite-related presentation at 1100 local time on 17 July.
During these two days, WD9EWK will be on FM satellites and also
VO-52 for demonstrations (hamfest site is in grid DM35vg).  More
information on the hamfest is available at:

http://www.arca-az.org/arca/main/convention.asp

After the hamfest, Patrick reports that he  will hit the road for a few days.
Similar to what he did last year after the 
Williams hamfest, except this year he
will venture further north into Utah.  Patrick 
will make a loop through that state,
then head back toward Arizona so he is home by the evening of 22 July.  The
route through Utah yet has not been finalized yet.

[ANS thanks Patrick, WD9EWK, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193.04
Satellite and HT Presentations at Big Bear Amateur Radio Club

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193.04
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 12, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-193.04

Clint Bradford, K6LCS, will be presenting a 
two-part session later this month in
Big Bear, CA: "How to Work Amateur Satellites with Your HT" PLUS a session on
"Get to Know Yout Yaesu FT-60R" handheld transceiver.

You are invited!

Saturday, July 25, 2009 - Big Bear Amateur Radio Club
Big Bear Lake Fire Station - 41090 Big Bear Blvd  92315

Getting to Know Your Yaesu FT-60R (5:30 pm)

How to Work Amateur Satellites with Your Handheld Radio (6:30 pm)

If you’ve been thinking of purchasing a new dual-band handheld – or want to add
to your collection – Special pricing has been arranged on the Yaesu FT-60R (and
all Yaesu accessories purchased at the same time) with Ham Radio Outlet in
Anaheim until July 25! For your special pricing, 
you must mention “K6LCS’ Big Bear
Deal" when you speak directly with HRO’s Janet at 714-533-7373.

RSVP before July 20 – or for inquiries:
909-241-7666 or clint@clintbradford.com

A four-page satellite tutorial is also available: http://www.k6lcs.com

[ANS thanks Clint, K6LCS, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193.05
Final Reminder for AMSAT Field Day Logs

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193.05
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 12, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-193.05

If you participated in AMSAT Field Day and would like your efforts to
count towards AMSAT Field Day, you have until Monday, July 13, 2009 at
11:59PM CDT to submit your entries. They can be emailed to me at
kk5do@arrl.net or kk5do@amsat.org

I will send you a confirmation email when I 
receive your entry (might take a day
depending on my work schedule). Photos and neat descriptions of your field day
antics and events are
welcome.

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

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193.06
Castor and Pollox Posed to Launch with STS-127

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193.06
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 12, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-193.06

Castor and Pollox, two satellites in the Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment
(ANDE) program are ready to fly with the launch of STS-127 from Kennedy Space
Center.  The ANDE mission consists of two spherical spacecraft fitted with
retro-reflectors for satellite laser ranging (SLR). The constant and
well-determined cross section and surface properties of the ANDE spacecraft
provide an ideal set of objects for monitoring atmospheric drag and the
calibration of space surveillance network (SSN) assets both radar and optical.

Castor
Castor is a 19 inch diameter aluminum sphere with 
a mass of 63 kg. It is as near
perfect sphere as possible given the constraints of cost and manufacturability.
The sphere is split in half with e delrin disc. The hemispheres are also the
satellite antenna. For power, the satellite has 112 19AH lithium primary cells.
This provides about 7000 watt-hours of power which has to last for the one year
mission.

The satellite has several different types of sensors. There are two main
sensors, a Neutral particle wind and temperature spectrometer and an ion mass
spectrometer.

A group of college students designed and built a MEMS sensor payload to test
some commercial gyroscopes and a magnetometer. There are also six light sensors
and six temperature sensors mounted in the satellite hemispheres.

Pollox
The Pollux satellite was originally to be a passive satellite with
retroreflectors for laser ranging. It has been 
turned into a high school student
project involving several schools in the Fairfax County, Virginia area.

The satellite is powered by twenty-eight 19AH Lithium-ion cells configured to
provide 14 volts. The battery configuration uses the spare ANDE satellite
hardware.

The electronics is based on cubesat hardware developed at the Naval Research
Laboratory and Stensat Group LLC.

The communications board contains the transmitter and receiver. The transmitter
operates at 2 meters and can put out up to 1 watt of signal. Power level is
adjustable. The transmitter can operate at 1200 
baud AFSK and 9600 baud FSK. The
transmitter uses the AX.25 protocol. An experimental FX.25 protocol will be
tested that adds forward error correction capability to the AX.25 protocol and
still allows typical TNCs to decode the packets.

Both satellites will transmit on 145.825 MHz.  Additional details about the
telemetry format, as well as the FX.25 and GMSK experiments can be found at
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE/Main.html

[ANS thanks Ivan, KD4HBO, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-193.07
ARISS Status - 06 July 2009

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 193.07
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 12, 2009
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-193.07

1. Upcoming School Contacts

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been
scheduled for Euro Space Center, Air and Space 
Day in Belgium on Sunday, July 12
at 14:08 UTC via telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii.


2. Inukjuak Space Camp Participates in ARISS Contact

On Wednesday, July 1, Inukjuak Space Camp in Kuujjuaq Quebec, Canada
participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
contact via telebridge station W6SRJ in California. The event took place on
Canada Day with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA. Thirsk
answered 20 questions put to him by the students. Makivik Corporation, a
non-profit organization that promotes economic growth of Inuit businesses,
sponsored the event.


3. ARISS Contact with New York Scouts

On Friday, July 3, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
contact was held with Baiting Hollow Scout Camp (BHSC) in Calverton, New York.
The contact was made possible through telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii. Ten
scouts asked 18 questions of JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA.  The event
was held as part of the camp’s theme for 2009, “Final Frontier,” and a variety
of other activities have been planned throughout 
the summer dealing with aspects
of manned space flight.


4. Astronaut Training Status

On Thursday, July 2, four licensed astronauts took part in Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) simulated 
contacts. Satoshi Furukawa, KE5DAW
and Timothy J. Creamer, KC5WKI had contacts with 
Ottawa area students in Canada.
Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC and Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP participated in contacts with
students visiting the Challenger Learning Center 
in Indianapolis, Indiana. These
training sessions are terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS
equivalent equipment.

[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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