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[jamsat-news:2959] ANS-135 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins


AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-135

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:

* Ready, Set, GO! AMSAT is Ready for Dayton Hamvention
* AMSAT at Smithsonian Space Day 2011
* Second Call for Speakers for AMSAT UK Colloquium 2011
* 2011 AMSAT Field Day Competition
* ISRO Request For VO-52 HAMSAT User Feedback and Comments
* ARISSat-1 Update
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
* New High For Space Tourism: Lunar Tour


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.01
Ready, Set, GO! AMSAT is Ready for Dayton Hamvention

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.01

The 2011 Dayton Hamvention will be held this year from May 20-22, 
2011 and AMSAT will be there. The AMSAT theme for 2011 is "Providing 
Education Through Amateur Satellites". We will have multiple exhibits 
of the new AMSAT satellites on display.

You'll find AMSAT at the same spot (Booths 444-449) in the Ball Arena, 
right across from the ARRL area and just inside the door from the Sat-
ellite Demonstration area. Plan to visit all of the AMSAT activities!

AMSAT has planned a number of great activities during the Hamvention. 
Here is a sample of the events and activities planned for the entire 
weekend. Links to all of these activities can be found on the AMSAT
web page: http://www.amsat.org.

This list has been updated since last week's bulletin!

+ Meet astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC Friday 1:30-2:30, Saturday, 
  3:00-4:00 at the AMSAT booth.

+ ARISSat-1 operational prototype will be on display. 
  o Tune your HT to 145.950 MHz to hear a preview of the FM downlink.
  o Watch the demonstration of the ARISSatTLM software receive and 
    display the CW beacon and BPSK telemetry using G6LVB's FUNcube 
    Dongle.

+ Howard Long, G6LVB will be at the AMSAT booth periodically to talk 
  about his FUNcube Dongle (FCD) project. This small (1" x 3") USB 
  software defined radio will receive from 64 - 1700 MHz.

+ CAMSAT delegates will be at AMSAT booth. The CAMSAT delegation con-
  sists of Alan, BA1DU; Ken, BH4REQ; Jin, BA4TA; and Michael, BD5RV/4.

+ The ARRL Expo, next door to AMSAT, will have the backup OSCAR-1
  satellite on display, resurrected by W1AW Station Manager Joe 
  Carcia, and ARRL Lab Test Engineer Bob Allison, WB1GCM. The CW 
  transmitter is tuned to 145.080 MHz. It will transmit at Part 15 
  levels with only 10 microwatts of power across a 50 ohm dummy load. 
  A satellite transceiver will be positioned next to the unit that 
  will be used to receive the CW signal. You will hear it transmit 
  "HI HI," just as it did 50 years ago.

+ The fifth annual AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be Friday night May 20.
  Just a reminder that the cutoff date for the AMSAT-TAPR dinner at
  Dayton is Monday May 16th. You can register at the AMSAT Store web-
  site: http://www.amsat-na.com/store/item.php?id=100158  We will NOT 
  be selling tickets at the booth. Our new Banquet speaker will be 
  Bob Bruninga, WB4APR speaking on "Power from Space and in your 
  Shack". David Rowe, VK5DGR is unable to attend. Read about Bob's 
  presentation on the AMSAT at Dayton webpages at: 
  http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/hamvention/2011/Banquet.php
    
+ AMSAT Thursday Night Get-together at Tickets Pub & Eatery.

+ Dave Jordan, AA4KN will speak about ARISS at the Teachers Forum 
  at 1000 on Friday in Room 3. The title of his talk "Space Communi-
  cations from the Classroom-ARISS and AMSAT". Dave will describe
  as how to apply for an ARISS contact at your school and find out 
  how amateur radio satellites can be accessed and used for class-
  room projects."
    
+ The AMSAT Forum will be on Saturday May 21 1115-1330 in Forum Room 
  5 on Saturday. Moderated by Alan Biddle, WA4SCA you will have a 
  chance to hear and see the latest news of amateur radio in space.

  o AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW will present an AMSAT 
    Status Report
  o Alan Kung, BA1DU, CEO of AMSAT-China, will discuss the activities 
    of AMSAT-China.
  o Project Manager for ARISSat-1, Gould Smith, WA4SXM, will talk about 
    its operation aboard the ISS, and the planned deployment and opera-
    tions this summer.
  o Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, will discuss the design and status of 
    Project-FOX.
  o Alex Harvilchuck, N3NP, will present NextGen CubeSat 
    Program Update.

+ NASA Astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC is scheduled to speak from 
  1315-1415 on Saturday in Forum Room 3. Doug is attending Hamvention 
  as guest of ARRL and AMSAT. According to the Forum listing, "Doug 
  will share his experiences about space flight and using Amateur 
  Radio in space."

+ Lou McFadin, W5DID is scheduled to speak at the "Introduction to 
  Digital-ATV" Forum, scheduled on Saturday from 1530-1700 in Forum 
  Room 2. The title of his talk is "DATV Space Station Project".
    
+ Satellite demonstrations will take place outside the Ball Arena 
  entrance Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
    
Be sure and come by the booth and renew your membership and receive 
an AMSAT multiblade screwdriver as a premium!

The AMSAT leadership team will be at Hamvention and invite you to 
take advantage of this opportunity to interact with both board mem-
bers and senior officers. If you have issues or concerns that you 
wish to express here is your chance to do so.

[ANS thanks AMSAT HQ for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.02
AMSAT at Smithsonian Space Day 2011

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.02
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.02

Dave Taylor, W8AAS reported a very successful AMSAT presence at Space
Day 2011 held at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on the 
Mall in Washington DC on May 7. According to the ARISS status report,
the average crowd in the Museum on this Saturday in May is about 
30,000.

Featured displays included prototype picosats, cubesats, space hard-
ware including laser reflectors for the kids to try out. A crowd of 
250 people watched the ARISS contact as six youngsters asked questions. 
Each one had three questions to ask and we got through all of them with 
time to thank Cady Coleman, KC5ZTH, give her a round of applause, and 
hear her response. Mark Steiner, K3MS handled the ARISS uplink/downlink 
from NASA Goddard amateur radio station K6DUE.

Prior to the contact, former Payload Specialist Greg Linteris spoke to  
the crowd. Greg had trained with Cady for one of his flights. He was  
also on one of the last SAREX missions (STS-94).

This year a group from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and 
Technology brought a working prototype of their Cubesat. They demon-
strated with the prototype how one can uplink a text message and their 
Cubesat converts the text message to speech and transmits the speech on 
the downlink. They are manifested on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch for early 
next year. Orbital Sciences has been providing them with assistance for 
the project.

At Space Day a new version of the AMSAT-OSCAR slide show was run. A link
to a PDF version of the slide show has been added to the AMSAT web page.
(see http://www.amsat.org).

Thanks to all who helped out:
Dave Taylor, W8AAS
Perry Klein, W3PK
Dick Daniels, W4PUJ
Mark Kanawati, N4TPY
Samudra Haque, N3RDX
Don Sylvain, WA3WOD from the Smithsonian Amateur Radio Club NN3SI
Mark Steiner, K3MS from NASA Goddard K6DUE
Bob McCown, N3IYI from NASA Goddard K6DUE

Photos will be published in the AMSAT Journal.

[ANS thanks Perry Klein, W3PK and Dave Taylor W8AAS for the above
 information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.03
Second Call for Speakers for AMSAT UK Colloquium 2011

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.03
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.03

This is the second call for speakers for the AMSAT-UK Colloquium 
2011 which will be held at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, UK (same 
venue as in 2010) from *Sat 30 Jul to Sun 31 July 2011*

AMSAT-UK invite speakers, about amateur radio, space and associated
activities, for this event.

Offers of talks should be sent *ONLY* to G4DPZ, via the following 
routes:

e-mail: david.johnson AT blackpepper.co.uk

SnailMail: QTHR from http://www.QRZ.com

Likewise if anyone knows of a good speaker, please send contact and 
other information to G4DPZ.

[ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.04
2011 AMSAT Field Day Competition

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.04
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.04

AMSAT Director of Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO says, "It's that time 
of year again: Summer and Field Day!"  

Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field 
Day as an emergency preparedness exercise. The event takes place 
during a 24-hour period on the fourth weekend of June.  For 2011 
the event takes place during a 27-hour period from 1800 UTC on 
Saturday June 25, 2011 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 26, 2011. 
Those who set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 25 can operate only 
24 hours. 

The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own 
version of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, 
held concurrently with the ARRL event.

Bruce advises, "If you are considering ONLY the FM voice satellites 
like AMSAT-OSCAR 16, AMRAD-OSCAR-27, SaudiSat-Oscar-50, or AMSAT-
OSCAR-51 for your AMSAT Field Day focus. Don't, unless you are simply 
hoping to make one contact for the ARRL rules bonus points."

The congestion on FM LEO satellites was so intense in prior years 
that we must continue to limit their use to one-QSO-per-FM-satel-
lite. This includes the International Space Station. You will be 
allowed one QSO if the ISS is operating Voice. You will also be 
allowed one digital QSO with the ISS or any other digital, non-
store-and-forward, packet satellite (if operational).

Please refer to these links for the full document of the AMSAT Field
Day rules:
http://www.amsat.org/ (link on AMSAT.org front page to PDF file)
And, an alternative site is:
http://www.amsatnet.com/2011fd.doc (MS-Word Doc File)
http://www.amsatnet.com/2011fd.pdf (PDF File)

These documents also cover the message exchange format, scoring
requirements, reporting requirements, station classes, etc.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Director of Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the
 above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.05
ISRO Request For VO-52 HAMSAT User Feedback and Comments

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.05
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.05

The VO-52 HAMSAT community has received a request from the Indian 
Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in Bangalore for user reports
on the satellite's performance. Shri. T. Parimalarangan, HAMSAT 
Operations Director, ISRO Tracking, Ranging and Command Centre 
(ISTRAC) asks that feedback be sent via e-mail directly to him at:
tprangan@istrac.org. Mani, VU2WMY, Secretary & Station-In-Charge
at the Upagrah Amateur Radio Club VU2URC at the ISRO Satellite Centre
requests a copy to be sent to him at: wmy@isac.gov.in.

ISTRAC/ISRO is interested in gathering VO-52 data with responses
to these questions:

1. Qualitative/quantitative performance report. (Signal strength
   telemetry observations, availability). 

2. Observation on the quality of services from the launch to
   present (trend of the onboard behaviour as seen from the 
   ground).

3. Comparison with other amateur radio satellites. 

4. Positive/negative aspects of HAMSAT. 

The data will be used to generate a HAMSAT Performance Report on
the 6th anniversary since launch. ISRO values direct feedback from
the user community. 

[ANS thanks Mani, VU2WMY for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.06
ARISSat-1 Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.06
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.06

The ARISSat-1 satellite was intended to be activated in April as 
part of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's famous flight. 
However, no ground stations reported hearing the satellite. To 
follow up, the ARISSat-1 team had a teleconference with represent-
atives of RSC-Energia (Russia) and NASA to request a clarification 
of the events and discuss what happened.

According to RSC-Energia, the battery in ARISSat-1 was only charged 
once on the ground and was then used for a variety of tests and dur-
ing the February activation event. It was not recharged prior to the 
April Yuri Gagarin activity since it can only be charged a limited 
number of times on the ISS.

The cosmonauts reported that they activated the satellite and con-
firmed that they heard the signal on the ham radio equipment on board 
the ISS. Since the battery was nearly depleted of its original charge, 
they switched the satellite off after six hours of operation in order 
to prevent over-discharging the battery. The battery was then removed 
from the satellite and stored separately as per their normal battery 
handling procedures. For more information on this battery, please see 
the JAN/FEB 2011 AMSAT Journal.

RSC-Energia reported that their plan is to recharge the battery about 
three weeks prior to the EVA deployment. This will give the cosmonauts 
time to reinstall the battery and test the satellite to make sure it is 
working properly. The EVA deployment is planned for late July of this 
year.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President of Engineering, Tony Monteiro, AA2TX
 for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.07
Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.07
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.07

+ Congratulations to Paolo Nespoli IZŲJPA! Paolo now has the 
  record for the number of contacts during a single flight at
  42. He is part of Expedition 26/27).

+ AMSAT-UK is now active on Twitter as @AMSAT_UK. Keep up to 
  date with all the AMSAT-UK news and updates.

+ MILESTONE! On Saturday May 7, Bob Herrell, AJ5C, acheived his 
  5,000th amateur radio satellite contact when he worked Kerry,
  WC7V on the FO-29 satellite using SSB. Bob posted a video at:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt6gM7K7Kv0. The Southgate ARC
  news site also carried the story:
  http://www.southgatearc.org/news/may2011/5000_sat_qsos.htm
  Bob, congratulations on a remarkable acheivement.

+ SA AMSAT said that its Space Symposium 2011 will go full steam 
  ahead on Saturday 21 May. The auditorium at Radiokop will be the 
  venue and the SARL National Amateur Radio Centre being used for 
  refreshment breaks and lunch. The new arrangement has substantially 
  reduced the registration fee to R75 for SARL and SA AMSAT members 
  if booked before 15 May 2011. Students and scholars will enter 
  free if a student card or scholar ID is submitted at the time of 
  Registration. The conference will be opened by the CEO of the South 
  African National Space Agency, Sandile Malinga. John Willescroft, 
  ZS6EF, will demonstrate the development of a totally new concept 
  which allows a solar panel to be released from SAiSAT once in 
  Space. For full details, registration forms and programme, visit:
  http://www.amsatsa.org.za

+ Spaceflightnow.com has posted a movie capturing the Atlas 5 rocket's 
  launch over the weekend that successfully deployed the first in a 
  new generation of missile warning satellites for the U.S. military.
  Watch on-line at: http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av022/video.html

+ OY, FAROE ISLANDS. Operators Hans/PA0VHA, Steef/PA2A and Wim/PA2AM 
  will be active as OY/homecall from Skaelingur, Streymoy Island, in 
  the Faroes (EU-018), between May 22nd and June 3rd. Activity will 
  be on all bands using CW and RTTY. Also, look for activity on 6 and 
  4 meters, and PA2AM will also be on AO-51 satellite. Streymoy Island 
  has a population of 11 and some sheep! QSL via their home callsigns. 
  ADDED NOTE: This team also plans activity from Market Reef later this 
  year. (Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin)

+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom Nets "HV Satcom" Net ia scheduled for
  May 26, at 8PM EDT (UTC-4) on the 146.970 MHz repeater, (Pl 100),
  and also on Echolink node N2EYH-L. More info: http://www.hvsatcom.org
  (Stu, WA2BSS)

+ Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 30th Annual 
  ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September 
  16-18, 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland. These papers will also be pub-
  lished in the Conference Proceedings (you do NOT need to attend the 
  conference to have your paper included in the Proceedings). The sub-
  mission deadline is July 31, 2011. Please send papers to:
  Maty Weinberg, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111 or you can make 
  your submission via e-mail to: maty@arrl.org. 

+ Squrl may be a useful tool for storing your on-line videos. Its pri-
  mary function is to help visitors collect interesting videos online 
  for later "consumption". First-time visitors will need to complete a 
  short registration, and they can get started saving videos from a 
  range of sources. Visitors can also organize playlists, and then 
  email them to friends and colleagues. This version is compatible 
  with all operating systems. See: http://www.squrl.com/

+ AMSAT's Keeper of the Keps, Ray Hoad, WA5QGD says he has updated 
  the name designation in the AMSAT KEPs for FAST1 as FO-69 and FAST2 
  as FO-70. This matches the OSCAR desginators assigned to these 
  satellites earlier this year.

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.08
New High For Space Tourism: Lunar Tour

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.08
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.08

This week MoonDaily.com posted a story, "Space Adventures proposes 
modified Soyuz TMA for Lunar tourists" which follows below:

U.S. Space Adventures, the only company currently offering tourist 
orbital spaceflights, has offered to equip the Russian Soyuz TMA 
spaceship with additional living space for eight-day commercial 
flights around the moon, the company said late on Thursday.

The firm announced on April 28 that it would offer moon orbit tourist 
trips, albeit with a price tag of around $150 million per seat.

"After consultation with Rocket Space Corporation Energia (the Soyuz 
TMA design authority), modifications to the Soyuz TMA configuration 
have been agreed upon. The most important is the addition of a sec-
ond habitation module to the Soyuz TMA lunar complex," Space Adven-
tures said.

A moon tour mission would include separate launches of a Soyuz and 
the upper stage, their docking in a low Earth orbit, a flight to 
the moon with the upper stage engine, the separation of Soyuz from 
the upper stage rocket, an orbit around the moon, return to Earth 
and landing.

Space Adventures is currently selecting candidates for the next 
space tour together with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The company quoted Vice Chairman Richard Garriott as saying it 
had sold one of the two seats for the flight and anticipated that 
the launch would occur in 2015.

The CEO of Russia's Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training 
Center Sergei Krikalyov has said the center was ready to train a 
professional cosmonaut and a space tourist for the future flight.

This story is on the MoonDaily.com web site, see: 
http://tinyurl.com/3zn8xhl

[ANS thanks MoonDaily.com 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. And with that,
please keep in mind the ham who was a physics professor. His lectures
could be quite animated and exciting. He would jump off of the desk
or fling frisbees to illustrate his point. One day in class he was 
spinning on an office chair holding weights in each hand when he lost 
his balance and tumbled into the first row. He apologized to his class 
for going off on a tangent.

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
K9JKM at amsat dot org


_______________________________________________
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http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans