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[jamsat-news:3087] ANS-176 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-176
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:
* Reminder to Submit Your AMSAT Field Day Satellite Summary Sheet
* Video Posted From ARISS Contact with 8N3KN in Japan
* Celebrating 10th Anniversary of OSCAR 7's Return To Life
* AO-7 DX Opportunities
* ARISS Contact Planned as NASA Hosts Future Female Explorers
* Winner of HORYU-2 Receiving Competition
* ARISS Status - 21 May 2012
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-176.01
ANS-176 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 176.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 24, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-176.01
Reminder to Submit Your AMSAT Field Day Satellite Summary Sheet
By the time you are reading this bulletin the 2012 Field Day may be
already complete for you. The AMSAT Field Day Rules document (avail-
able in PDF and MS-Word format) are linked on the front page of the
home page at http://www.amsat.org.
The Field Day Rules document contains the Satellite Summary Sheet
for submitting your entry. This sheet should be used for submission
of the AMSAT Field Day competition and be received by AMSAT Director
of Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO (email or postal mail) by 11:59 P.M.
CDT, Monday, July 09, 2012. The preferred method for submitting your
log is via e-mail to kk5do@amsat.org or kk5do@arrl.net.
You may also use the postal service but give plenty of time for
your results to arrive by the submission date. Add photographs or
other interesting information that can be used in an article for
the Journal.
You will receive an email back (within one or two days) from Bruce
when he receives your email submission. If you do not receive a con-
firmation message, then he has not received your submission. Try
sending it again or send it to the other email address.
If mailing your submission, the address is:
Bruce Paige, KK5DO
Director of Awards and Contests
PO Box 310
Alief, TX 77411-0310.
Certificates will be awarded to the first-place emergency power/port-
able station at the AMSAT General Meeting and Space Symposium in the
fall of 2012. Certificates will also be awarded to the second and
third place portable/emergency operation in addition to the first-
place home station running on emergency power. A station submitting
high, award-winning scores will be requested to send in dupe sheets
for analog contacts and message listings for digital downloads.
[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the above information]
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Video Posted From ARISS Contact with 8N3KN in Japan
On Wednesday, June 6, students attending Kawachinagano Eastside
Junior High school, Osaka prefecture, Japantook part in an Ama-
teur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact
with André Kuipers, PI9ISS on ISS.
At the beginning of the contact the school was experiencing a power
blackout, but recovered in time so that all children were able to
ask their questions. The event supplemented lessons about space and
the ISS.
Video of this contact is now available on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzrEDpqcct4&feature=player_embedded
[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]
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Celebrating 10th Anniversary of OSCAR 7's Return To Life
An article posted on the AMSAT-UK web this week reminds us of the
10th anniversary of the auspicious discovery by Pat Gowen, G3IOR
on June 21, 2002 when he first noticed a beacon sending slow 8-10
wpm CW on 145.973.8 MHz. It sounded like old OSCAR satellite tele-
metry, it had the familiar HI HI followed by a string of numbers
in groups of three. After monitoring by many radio amateurs it turn-
ed out to be OSCAR-7, and it seemed to have come back from the dead.
Pat posted a message on the amsat-bb bulletin board, "I have just
come across something most remarkable this Friday 21st June evening
.. It sounded VERY familiar ... Could any veteran keen observers
(who might look for it) ..." Pat's original message announcing his
discovery can still be read in the amsat-bb archives, see:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/200206/msg00525.html
It is believed that in 1981 the batteries failed short-circuit, how-
ever, in 2002 they became open-circuit enabling the satellite to
run again from the solar panels. Since that day OSCAR 7 has been
operational when in sunlight and provided radio amateurs with many
long distance (DX) SSB/CW contacts.
Remember when working OSCAR 7 use the least uplink power possible
to minimize your downlink power usage, and maximize the number of
simultaneous contacts supported in the passband.
A BBC News report Radio ham finds lost satellite about the reception
of OSCAR 7 by Dave Rowan G4CUO can be seen at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2149381.stm
A collection of photos by Dick Daniels W4PUJ taken during the con-
struction, test and launch of the AMSAT-OSCAR 7 spacecraft in 1973
and 1974 can be viewed at:
http://n4hy.smugmug.com/AMSAT/AMSAT-Oscar-7
Be sure to view the full AMSAT-UK article containing photos and add-
itional links on-line at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/8524
The satellite alternates between Mode A and B with random changes
between modes when AO-7 powers up re-entering the sunlit portion of
its orbit. Monitor the Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page on-line at
http://oscar.dcarr.org/ for postings of latest operating mode.
Uplink: 145.850 to 145.950 MHz CW/USB Mode A
432.125 to 432.175 MHz CW/LSB Mode B
Downlink: 29.400 to 29.500 MHz CW/USB Mode A (1W PEP)
145.975 to 145.925 MHz CW/USB Mode B (8W PEP)
145.975 to 145.925 MHz CW/USB Mode C (2W PEP)
Beacons: 29.502 MHz CW
145.972 MHz CW
435.100 MHz CW
2304.100 MHz CW
Official Webpage:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/sat_summary/ao7.php
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NA for the above information]
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AO-7 DX Opportunities
Paul Robinson, 2E1EUB will be operating mobile 2M1EUB as he tours
around Scotland between June 26 through approximately July 9. He
plans operations from grid squares IO77, IO87, and IO86 with addi-
tional coverage if time permits. He will be active from any spots
along the road that he can access the satellites. Activity will be
on 160 and 80 meters, 2 meters SSB and on satellites including AO-7.
Satellite AO-7. Check out QRZ.com under 2M1EUB for more info.
Bill Dzurilla, NZ5N is now active as OM3BD from Slovakia, grid loca-
tor JN88mf this summer and is active on AO-7. Any North American
stations in range are invited to email Bill for skeds:
billdz.geo@yahoo.com
Bill wrote, "It seems that the orbits have somehow shifted and my
windows to North America are a bit longer this year, and from my
hill I can hear the bird to -2 degrees."
[ANS thanks Paul Robinson 2E1EUB/2M1EUB and Bill Dzurilla, NZ5N/OM3BD
for the above information]
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ARISS Contact Planned as NASA Hosts Future Female Explorers
A press release from NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC notes that
this week eighty-four female high school students from 29 states
will plan a simulated mission to Mars and experience life as an
engineer or scientist when NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston
hosts two events focused on science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) in June and July.
The Women in STEM High School Aerospace Scholars project, or WISH,
is sponsoring two six-day summer camps for rising high school sen-
iors. The young women will work in teams with female NASA mentors
to develop mission plans for launching to Mars, living and working
there, and integrating the many components necessary for a successful
planetary mission. They will work within the confines of a fictitious
budget and build several small mockups of vehicles to demonstrate a
successful launch and landing of the Mars spacecraft.
"WISH gives some of our brightest future innovators a chance to ex-
perience some of the exciting challenges that NASA engineers and sci-
entists face on a daily basis," said Johnson Deputy Director and
four-time space shuttle astronaut Ellen Ochoa. "It shows the young
women that there are a variety of opportunities for them in technical
fields."
Young women participating June 24-29 will hear a first-hand account
of life in space from NASA astronaut Shannon Walker. Participants
July 8-13 will have a chance to speak with a current space station
astronaut via ham radio as part of the Amateur Radio on the Interna-
tional Space Station program, a NASA educational initiative that fac-
ilitates direct links between students and astronauts.
The young women were selected based on completion of interactive, on-
line lessons focused on space exploration and mapped to national edu-
cation standards, academic merits and geographic diversity. The WISH
program encourages young women to pursue science, technology, engin-
eering and mathematics degrees and exposes them to the real-world
applications of STEM careers at NASA. This program is in its second
year. It began as a NASA accompaniment to the White House Council on
Women and Girls.
The NASA Press release can be viewed on-line at:
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/jun/HQ_12-209_WISH.html
[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]
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Winner of HORYU-2 Receiving Competition
Built by students at the Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT) the
amateur radio satellite HORYU-2 was launched on May 17 at 1639 UT.
Radio amateurs from around the world sent in telemetry and the win-
ner with the most points has been announced as Yoshitomo Iji JA6PL.
The top three places were:
1st place: JA6PL (91 points)
2nd place: ZL2BX (36 points)
3rd place: JF1EUY (35 points)
The satellite’s callsign is JG6YBW and the CW telemetry beacon fre-
quency is 437.375 MHz (+/- Doppler shift).
The free KIT HORYU-2 telemetry software can be downloaded from
http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/Documents/information_launch_english.html
KIT HORYU Blog in Google English http://tinyurl.com/HORYU-Blog
Japanese HORYU website in Google English:
http://tinyurl.com/HoryuSatellite
English language version of HORYU website:
http://kitsat.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/index_e_new.html
Further information on HORYU-2 is at:
http://www.uk.amsat.org/7404
HORYU-2 online WebSDR receiver http://sdr.opt.ro:8901/
KIT HORYU-2 Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/277436165678985/
HORYU-2 CW Telemetry Decoder by DK3WN
http://tinyurl.com/SatSoftwareDK3WN/
[ANS thanks the HORYU-2 Team and AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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ARISS Status - 18 June 2012
1. Successful ARISS Contacts Held
ESA-ESTEC arranged for an ARISS contact that was
held on Tuesday, June 12 at the
Ruimtevaart Museum in Lelystad, the Netherlands with students that had taken
part in André Kuipers’ Mission: Spaceship Earth competition. Through this
program, Kuipers gave assignments to Dutch school children and the winners of
the competition were invited to the event. Kuipers chatted with students and
answered their questions about space. ARISS delegate Bertus Hüsken, PE1KEH
attended the event and presented ARISS activities to the audience. Telebridge
station W6SRJ in California handled the radio connection. To view video of the
event, see:
http://www.ruimteschipaarde.nl/ruimtelog/Winnaars-Missie-2-leggen-radiocontact-
met-Andr-Kuipers/186
Students from St. Anne’s Primary School in Strathfield South, NSW, Australia
spoke with Joe Acaba, KE5DAR on the ISS through an Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) contact on
Wednesday, June 13 via telebridge
station LU8YY in Argentina. Approximately 150 people attended the event. The
contact was integrated into the space curriculum across all grades and was held
along with the school’s science fair.
2. Astronaut Training Status
Barry Wilmore took part in an ARISS introductory class on Monday, June 11.
Wilmore is slated to fly with Expedition 41 in September 2014.
[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 addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans