[jamsat-news:2772] ANS-017 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-017

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:
* JARL Publishes FO-29 Return-to-Operations Schedule
* HO-68 Schedule 17-24 Jan 2010
* AO-51 Satellite Grid DXpedition Starts 21 January
* AO-51 Returned to Normal Attitude
* OSCAR-11 Report 14 January 2010
* New Release of Delfi-C3 RASCAL Telemetry Software is Available
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
* ARISS Status - 11 January 2010



SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-017.01
JARL Publishes FO-29 Return-to-Operations Schedule

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 017.01
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 17, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-017.01

Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL reported this week that FO-29 ground controllers
at JARL plan to open the satellite for amateur radio use. FO-29 may
not remain operational after eclipses due to power budget issues but
operations are planned according to the following schedule when the
satellite will be turned on:

Jan.  UTC
  16   21:00-
  22   22:33-
  24   10:35-
  29   21:25-
  31   09:30-

Feb.  UTC
   5   22:00-
   7   10:00-
  11   11:40-
  12   20:53-
  14   10:40-

Depending on the power budget JARL may need to selectively cancel
operations. Operators are reminded to please use as low power as
necessary on the uplink to complete their communications.

[ANS thanks Mineo, JE9PEL for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-017.02
HO-68 Schedule 17-24 Jan 2010

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 017.02
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 17, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-017.02

17 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
16:15...Turn On
India,Middle East Asia, Europe, NA
17:00...Turn Off

17 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
23:25...Turn On
South Africa,South America,Europe,
NA,North Pole,North Asia
00:10...Turn Off

18 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
10:10...Turn On
Australia,South Pole, New Zealand, East Asia,
North Asia,Europe,North Pole,NA
10:55...Turn Off

18 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
12:20...Turn On
Australia,South Asia,East Asia,North Asia
12:35...Turn Off

18 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
19:25...Turn On
South Africa,Europe,NA,North Pole,North Asia
20:10...Turn Off

18 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
23:15...Turn On
South America,NA,Europe,North Asia
24:00...Turn Off

19 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
11:40...Turn On
South Pole, Australia,New Zealand,South Asia
11:56...Turn Off

19 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
13:51...Turn On
Australia,South Asia,East Asia, North Asia
14:07...Turn Off

19 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
19:10...Turn On
Africa,NA,North Asia
19:55...Turn Off

19 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
22:55...Turn On
South America,North Africa,NA,North
Pole,North Asia
23:40...Turn Off

20 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
11:25...Turn On
South Pole,Australia, New Zealand,East Asia
11:48...Turn Off

20 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
13:34...Turn On
Australia,South Asia,Est Asia,
13:50...Turn Off

20 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
15:55...Turn On
East Africa,Middle East Asia,Europe,NA
16:20...Turn Off

20 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
17:10...Turn On
Europe,NA,North Pole,North Asia,East Asia
17:55...Turn Off

21 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
11:05...Turn On
South Pole,Australia, New Zealand
11:27...Turn Off

21 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
13:14...Turn On
South Asia,East Asia,North Asia
13:29...Turn Off

21 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
18:45...Turn On
South Africa,Europe,NA,North Pole,North Asia
19:30...Turn Off

22 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
00:10...Turn On
South America,NA,North Pole,
North Asia,East Asia
00:55...Turn Off

22 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
10:50...Turn On
Oceania,South Asia,East Asia,
North Asia,Europe,NA
11:35...Turn Off

22 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
13:30...Turn On
Oceania,South Asia,Middle Asia,
Europe,North Pole
14:15...Turn Off

22 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
16:40...Turn On
Africa,Middle East Asia,Europe,
NA,North Pole,North Asia
17:25...Turn Off

23 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
01:30...Turn On
North Africa,Europe,North Pole,NA,North Asia,
East Asia
02:15...Turn Off

23 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
02:23...Turn On
North Asia, East Asia,South Asia,Oceania
02:39...Turn Off

23 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
03:20...Turn On
South America,NA,North Asia,North Pole
03:09...Turn Off

23 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
23:35...Turn On
South America,NA,Europe,North Pole,
North Asia,East Asia
00:20...Turn Off

24 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
00:30...Turn On
South Asia,Australia,New Zealand
00:50...Turn Off

24 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
01:10...Turn On
South America,NA,North Asia,North Pole
01:55...Turn Off

24 Jan. 2010
HO-68 FM and Digital Transponder
03:51...Turn On
North Asia,East Asia,South Asia
04:06...Turn Off

[ANS thanks Alan, BA1DU, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-017.03
AO-51 Satellite Grid DXpedition Starts 21 January

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 017.03
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 17, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-017.03

Jim, ND9M/VQ9JC, plans to activate 85 grids in 8 states on AO-51
between January 21st and February 10th. Jim and his wife will be
driving to the Denver area (DN70) where his step-son lives and
Cheyenne (DN71) where his brother lives. The trip will start from
Panama City, Florida, on/or around January 21st, from where they
head to Memphis, TN. Jim may possibly activate some grids. From
Memphis they will head westbound through OK, then into KS and NE
before hitting CO. Their around trip will take them through Big
Bend National Park and Texas (hitting every grid in TX) and the
Gulf Coast into Louisiana.

[ANS thanks KB8NW, OPDX Bulletin, and MakeMoreMilesOnVHF Newsletter
  For the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-017.04
AO-51 Returned to Normal Attitude

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 017.04
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 17, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-017.04

On 9 January the magnet on AO-51 was repolarized to again favor the
northern hemisphere. There may be some rapid fading as the nutation
dampers do their job over the next few weeks. The command team
appreciates all the reports and observations during this experiment.

73, Drew KO4MA
AMSAT-NA VP Operations

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

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-017.05
OSCAR-11 Report 14 January 2010

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 017.05
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 17, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-017.05

This report covers the period from 30 November 2009 to 14 January 2010.
During this time the satellite was heard briefly on 10 & 11 December and
then from 31 December until 10 January. Good signals were received, and
decoded. Sometimes signals have been very strong, although frequent changes
in polarisation have been observed.  The satellite was not heard
during solar eclipses, which now occur during the afternoon and evening
passes over the UK.

The last two 'off' periods have lasted 14 and 19 days respectively,
suggesting that the watchdog timer has been reset. However, the last
transmission period lasted for the full ten days, so it is possible that
transmissions may resume after ten days of silence, ie. around 20 January.
However, please note that the satellite's behaviour is now very
unpredictable, and until a pattern of operation is established, it is
impossible to predict what will happen next, with any certainty.

The telemetry is unchanged from the 2008 downloads.  The on-board clock
is now 252 days slow. When last received in 2008 it was 83 days slow.
The increasing error suggests that the clock may be stopping, when the
satellite is in eclipse. During the last transmission period the date
failed to increment on one occasion, from 29 to 30 May.


                          -------------

                  RECEPTION REPORTS REQUESTED!

Please send reception reports to xxxxx@amsat.org (replace xxxxx by
g3cwv) or post to amsat-bb.  If you have a file, please discuss it with me,
before sending it!

You may also like to add your reception report to the live satellite status
page, on the website set up by David KD5QGR and Bob WB4APR.  The URL is
http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php

The satellite transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. OSCAR-11
has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow Morse code, sending
"di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah" sent over five seconds. If you are
receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You
should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency, should be
able to hear the characteristic Morse code like' sound usually on at least
two of the sidebands.

Please note that you need a clean noise free signal to decode the
signals.  There is an audio clip on my website
www.g3cwv.co,uk  which may be useful for identification
and as test signal for decoding.

                         -------------

Reception reports have been received from Peter ZL3TC, Mike DK3WN, Jon
2M0IBO and Detlef DJ3AK. Many thanks for those.

The Beacon frequencies are -

VHF 145.826 MHz.  AFSK FM  ASCII Telemetry

UHF 435.025 MHz.  OFF

S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF

The satellite is now subject to eclipses during every orbit.  Long term
predictions indicate that eclipses will occur until 2019, when there will
be some eclipse free periods until 2023.  However these very long term
predictions should be regarded with caution, as large tracking errors can
accumulate over long periods of time.

When analogue telemetry was last received in March 2005, it showed that
one of the solar arrays had failed, and there was a large unexplained
current drain on the main 14 volt bus. After 25 years in orbit the battery
has undergone over 100,000 partial charge/discharge cycles, and
observations suggest that it cannot power the satellite during eclipses
lasting more than about ten minutes, or sometimes even during periods of
poor solar attitude.

Study of the satellite's behaviour prior to 2008 suggested that its
battery would not sustain operation during solar eclipses, and the watchdog
timer would switch the satellite OFF after less than an orbit.  Eclipses
are now occur during every orbit and will continue for many years. In
practice this meant that OSCAR-11 would only be heard occasionally by
stations monitoring the frequency while listening for other satellites.

The satellite unexpectedly started sustained transmissions during
November 2009, suggesting that there may have been a failure causing
reduced drain on the power supplies or a change in the watchdog timer
characteristics.

The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry
channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to
67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated
error, although over short periods timekeeping is accurate to a few seconds
per month.  The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the
month may show an error of +40 days for some dates.  The time display has
switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator,
since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode.

The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched
OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity
boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed.

The watchdog timer now operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have
tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations show this to
be 20.7 days, ie. 10.3 days ON followed by 10.4 days OFF. However, poor
solar attitude may result may result in a low 14 volt line supply, which
may cause the beacon to switch OFF prematurely, and reset the watchdog
timer cycle. When this occurs, the beacon is OFF for 20.7 days.

Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. If you need
to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for
you to hear. The last telemetry received from the satellite is available
for download. The website contains an archive of news & telemetry data. It
also contains details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for
data capture.  There is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII
telemetry.  The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk Please note that my old website
www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew is no longer being updated, athough it may
still be available.

If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please
use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT146.CWV, to prevent duplication.

73 Clive G3CWV   xxxxx@amsat.org (please replace xxxxx by g3cwv)

[ANS thanks Clive, G3CWV, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-017.06
New Release of Delfi-C3 RASCAL Telemetry Software is Available

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 017.06
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 17, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-017.06

According to a report received from Wouter Weggelaar, PA3WEG the
Delfi-C3 team has released an updated version of the RASCAL software
for the reception of Delfi-C3 (DO-64) telemetry. A copy is available
on-line at: http://www.delfic3.nl/rascal If you already have RASCAL
installed, you can use the upgrade package which leaves all your set-
tings intact.

Improvements:
+ Current & voltage of reference diodes added. This is a measure for
   the solar intensity received on the solar panels. These diode outputs
   correlate with the output of the TFSC measurements, and can be found
   in the IV-curves window (Options -> Show IV Curves)

+ AWSS data presence indicators added. These indicators light up green
   if data from the sun sensors (AWSS) is received, and in which quadrant
   there is data. The AWSS data presence indicators can be found in the
   lower right corner of the RASCAL main screen.

The team reports Delfi-C3 is still in good health and performing fine
in science mode. Approximately 121.5 MB of telemetry data from 335
registered users and guest accounts has been received.

Delfi-C3 has been on orbit for 622 days and her second birthday is
coming up on April 28th. There are no signs of considerable degradation
in science mode, so everything is still healthy.

[ANS thanks Wouter, PA3WEG, for the above information]


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-017.07
Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 017.07
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 17, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-017.07

+ On January 14 Bob, W7LRD, reported copying RN1NW via AO-7 just about
   at his LOS. The distance between the stations is 7686Km. A two-way
   contact was not completed at this time.

+ George, KA3HSW, says a new version of the schedule lister is now avail-
   able to download. This version corrects the issue of stale data files
   being downloaded from an old URL.  It also increases the refresh rate
   to every 5 seconds, instead of 10 seconds. The software can be found
   at: http://sites.google.com/site/ao27satellitescheduler

+ AMSAT area coordinator Clint Bradford, K6LCS, will be presenting his
   "Working Amateur Satellites With Your HT" multimedia session at the
   January 20, 2010 meeting of the Fullerton (California) Radio Club. All
   are welcome to attend. Before the meeting at 5:15PM PST Clint will
   demonstrate an AO-51 pass at the Ruby's Diner, 1301 S. Harbor Blvd.
   in Fullerton. The presentation begins at 7:00PM PST at the FRC Club
   meeting at the Fullerton Senior Center, 340 West Commonwealth Avenue,
   in Fullerton.

+ Henk, PA3GUO, reports hearing the ANDE-2 satellites again: Castor
   (KD4HDO-1) transmits every 30 seconds an APRS telemetry beacon at
   ~145.827 MHz at ~28 and ~58 seconds of each minute.

+ The Southeastern VHF Society invites interested amateurs to check out
   the plans for the 14th Annual Southeastern VHF Society Conference April
   23rd and 24th, 2010 at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky.
   See http://www.svhfs.org for more information.

+ The ARRL DX News ARLD002 reported special event station LM50NRK is
   operational during 2010 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of
   television in Norway. Activity is on the HF bands, including some
   satellite activity. QSL via LA4FPA.

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX



SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-017.08
ARISS Status - 11 January 2010

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 017.08
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 17, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-017.08

1. ARISS Featured at Marconi Commemoration Event

On Thursday, January 7, students attending the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
Marconi Commemoration Event in Rome, Italy participated in an Amateur Radio on
the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with on-orbit astronaut Jeffrey
Williams, KD5TVQ. The contact was facilitated by telebridge station W6SRJ in
California. An audience of 200 watched as eleven questions were asked and
answered. After the contact, Princess Elettra Marconi, daughter of Guglielmo
Marconi and Mr. Dieter Isakeit of ESA ESRIN (European Space Research Institute)
Corporate Communication Office & Communication and Knowledge Department, sent
greetings to the ISS crew. Presentations were 
given by ARISS mentor Francesco De
Paolis as well as Mr. Augusto Cramarossa, Italian Space Agency,  Head of
Strategy, National and International, Mr. Massimo Pucini, Deputy Mayor of
Moteporzio Catone town and Mrs. Marina Ruggeri, Director Department of
Electronics Engineering – University “Tor Vergata.”


2. ISS Ham Debrief Held

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) debrief session was
held with Expedition 20/21 crew members Nicole Stott, KE5GJN and Robert Thirsk,
VA3CSA on Tuesday, January 5.  The feedback 
provided by the astronauts will help
ARISS update program procedures.

[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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