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[jamsat-news:3126] ANS-337 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins


AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-337

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:
* November/December 2012 AMSAT Journal Preview
* Transatlantic Attempt To Be Made by The South Texas Balloon Launch Team
* AMSAT-UK 10m Satellite Receiver
* Ellen Ochoa, KB5TZZ, Named 11th Director of Johnson Space Center
* 5-Minute Author Guide for the AMSAT Journal
* von Karman Institute lectures on CubeSat Technology and Applications
* 2013 Southeastern VHF Society Conference April 19 & 20, 2013
* Hudson Valley Satcom Nets for December
* Italian Students Host ARISS Contact


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-337.01 ANS-337 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 316.01
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 2, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-337.01


November/December 2012 AMSAT Journal Preview


The November/December 2012 AMSAT Journal was sent to our print shop
this week. Look for it in your mailbox soon.

Here is a preview of what you will find inside:

+ AMSAT Announcements
+ Apogee View by Barry Baines, WD4ASW
+ Inexpensive Broadband Preamp for Satellite Work
  by Mark Spencer, WA8SME, with sidebar by Mark Hammond, N8MH
+ Oscar Zero News by Bob DeVarney, W1ICW
+ Visiting Australia and Working Satellites by Patrick
  Stoddard, WD9EWK
+ AMSAT's 43 Years in Space by Bill Tynan, W3XO
+ Three Basic Joys of a QSO by George Carr, WA5KBH
+ AMSAT-UK Deliver Three FUNcube Boards by Trevor, M5AKA, AMSAT-UK
+ ARISS Contact at PACIFICON by E. Michael McCardel, KC8YLD
+ AMSAT 2012 Field Day Results by Bruce Paige, KK5DO
+ Meet One of Our New Satellite Operators by Allen Mattis, N5AFV

Planning for the NEXT issue of the AMSAT Journal is always in pro-
gress. Keep those files and photos coming to journal@amsat.org.

[ANS thanks the Journal Editors, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM; Bernhard
 Jatzeck, VA6BMJ; Douglas Quagliana, KA2UPW; and Michael Sedlak,
 K4ERA for the above information]


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Transatlantic Attempt To Be Made by The South Texas Balloon Launch Team


The South Texas Balloon Launch Team has joined the N0D End of the
World Special Event and will launch a high altitude "floater" balloon
on December 15th with hopes of reaching Europe before the End of the
World. Beacons and APRS on the balloon will use the N0D call sign.
The balloon launch team will release specific information about their
Frequencies next week.

[ANS thanks Allen, N5AFV, for the above information]

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AMSAT-UK 10m Satellite Receiver


In 2007/8 AMSAT-UK put considerable work into a proposal to the European Space
Agency (ESA) to place an Amateur Radio payload on the mass dummy on the maiden
flight of the VEGA launcher.

Known as iSTAR (Integrated Suite for Teaching and Amateur Radio) it was planned
to use the 29, 145, 435, 2400 and 5830 MHz Amateur-satellite Service
allocations.  A “flatsat” version of the satellite was developed that
incorporated transponders for 435/145 and 29/145 MHz. Unfortunately despite the
excellent work of those involved ESA did not go ahead with project.

As part of this work David Bowman, G0MRF, developed a 29.45 MHz satellite
receiver for use in a 29/145 MHz transponder.

The concept of the board was that it should provide a 10.7 MHz output which
could be used in a conventional linear transponder. In addition a ‘product
detector’ demodulator could recover audio from many stations transmitting PSK
signals (PSK31 or 63 or similar modes) on the uplink. Having decoded the signals
to audio, this signal could be modulated as FM on a VHF or UHF transmitter. This
would provide the capability for many different simultaneous QSOs on a single FM
downlink.


Prototyping the receiver provided valuable hands on experience at 29.45 MHz.
Should an opportunity to fly something like this arise in the future, the
knowledge gained from this circuit would allow AMSAT-UK to quickly produce
flight hardware.

Details of the G0MRF 29.45 MHz Receiver Project can be found at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?page_id=11615

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]


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Ellen Ochoa, KB5TZZ, Named 11th Director of Johnson Space Center


NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, ex-KE4IQB, has named NASA Astro-
naut Ellen Ochoa, KB5TZZ, as the next Director of the Lyndon B.
Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. She will take over
from Michael L. Coats when he retires at the end of the year.

Ochoa -- who was the first Hispanic woman to go into space -- has
served as JSC Deputy Director since September 2007. She has served
as Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations at JSC in December 2002
and Director of Flight Crew Operations in September 2006. She will
be JSC's 11th Director, its first Hispanic Director and its second
female Director.

Ochoa first ventured into space in 1993 on a nine-day mission aboard
the space shuttle Discovery on STS-56. She made three more trips into
space: STS-66 in 1994, STS-96 in 1999, and STS-110 in 2002, logging
a total of 978 hours in space. Prior to her astronaut career, Ochoa
was a research engineer and inventor, with three patents for optical
systems. She earned a bachelor's degree in physics from San Diego
State University and a master's degree and doctorate in electrical
engineering from Stanford University. She managed the Intelligent
Systems Technology Branch at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett
Field, California, before being selected as an astronaut in 1990.

ARRL posted this story on-line at: http://tinyurl.com/Ochoa-News

[ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information]


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5-Minute Author Guide for the AMSAT Journal


It's easier to write for The AMSAT Journal than you might think.
While a well-written submission is easier for our editors to deal
with, your work doesn't have to be perfect. Write your article as
best you can and our editors will work with you to get your item
in print. Pick a topic that you're passionate about and just start
writing! The AMSAT Journal welcomes your articles.

We look for technical articles related to satellite operations:
+ Antenna systems
+ Methods of data communications
+ Software applications
+ New satellites
+ Satellite tracking or other technical satellite projects

We also look for news about satellite-oriented operating events:
+ Field Day
+ SKN
+ Special event stations working the satellites
+ ARISS
+ Satellite operating awards
+ International satellite operations and projects and
+ Satellite DX/Dxpedition operations
+ Anything of general interest or fun to hams operating on the
  Amateur Radio satellites or ISS welcome

Our editors work primarily in the usual Microsoft Word and text edi-
tors we are capable of reading other word processing formats as well.
RTF and OpenOffice formats work well too. Our editors will send you
a proofreading copy to make sure no special characters were changed
or dropped.

+ Please do not attempt to format the document to look like The
  AMSAT Journal pages. Our page formatting software will do that
  automatically. Just write the text entirely across the page in
  single-space format. Our typesetting software can even put an
  e-mail text message into magazine format - we're quite flexible!

+ Please do not embed images, graphics or illustrations within the
  text file itself - send text and graphics as separate files. We
  can use your graphics in as high-resolution as possible in the
  usual JPG, TIF, PNG formats. Including your captions in a separ-
  ate text file is quite helpful.

+ Along with captions for each of your pictures or illustrations
  reference them be made in your text at the appropriate point.
  That way the editor knows which image is being referred to.

Once you have written your article you can e-mail your manuscript
to journal@amsat.org as file attachments.

[ANS thanks the Journal Editors for the above information]


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von Karman Institute lectures on CubeSat Technology and Applications

CubeSat Technology and Applications that will be held at von Karman Institute
(VKI) (Brussels, Belgium) on 29 Jan – 1 Feb 2013. Thanks to sponsors, the
lectures will be provided at greatly reduced prices, down to 250 Euros for
students instead of an original price of 1100 Euros.

There will be close to 20 lectures given by the worldwide experts of the field.
Each lecture will be 45 minutes with additional 15 minutes of Q&A sessions at
the end. There will be ample time to talk to lecturers in person during lunch
and coffee breaks and a reception. The detailed programme is in the attached
flyer. Feel free to pass this announcement to your network of friends and
colleagues.

The fee includes attendance to lecture, lecture notes, all lunches and coffee
breaks and the reception. The participation is limited to 100 persons. Please
register at
https://www.vki.ac.be/index.php?option=com_mad4joomla&jid=1&Itemid=356

VKI is the lead institute of a Consortium of 15 European, American and Asian
institutes that is now in the process of realizing the first ever CubeSat
network in orbit. This is the QB50 Project which involves 40 double CubeSats
carrying sensors for in-situ measurements in the largely unexplored lower
thermosphere and the F layer of the ionosphere and 10 double and triple CubeSats
for demonstration of newly developed science instruments and innovative
technologies. QB50 is a fully funded EU Project with participation from 50
universities in 39 countries. QB50 will be launched in 2015 into a nearly
circular orbit at 320-350 km altitude.



[ANS thanks Cem Asma form the above information]



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2013 Southeastern VHF Society Conference April 19 & 20, 2013


The 2013 Southeastern VHF Society conference, sponsored by the
Florida Weak Signal Society, will be held April 19 & 20, 2013 at
the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, 1550 N. Atlantic Ave, Cocoa
Beach, FL.

There will be a full slate of events including, a surplus tour, antenna
range, noise figure testing, Friday luncheon with WB4SLM and Friday
night flea market.

There will be vendor displays and technical presentations both days.
The Saturday night banquet will have awards for the best paper and
the best presentation, the K4UHF and Runkle honors and presentation
of the Fall Sprint winners.

For attendees, there will be a shack photo contest to be judged by
the XYLs. Prizes for the best and worst.

See the SVHFS web site http://www.svhfs.org or contact Chuck Hoover,
1945 E Phillips Ct. Merritt Island, FL 32952 321-453-1193 or email
k0vxmfl@gmail.com for vendor or other requests.

[ANS thanks Chuck Hoover, K0VXM, Conference Chairman, for the above
 information]


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Hudson Valley Satcom Nets for December


The next Hudson Valley Satcom net dates are Thursday, December 6 and
Thursday, December 20 at 8 PM EST (UTC-5) on the 146.97 MHz MBARC Re-
peater (PL 100). An echolink connection is available on the N2EYH-L
node. More information at: http://www.hvsatcom.org.

[ANS thanks Stu, WA2BSS for the above information]


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Italian Students Host ARISS Contact


An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held
between Kevin Ford, KF5GPP and students attending Liceo scientifico Giacinto De
Sivo – Fondazione Villaggio dei Ragazzi in Maddaloni, Italy on Tuesday, November
20 via telebridge station IK1SLD in Italy. Over 300 students listened as the ISS
astronaut fielded 15 questions posed by the youth. Ford requested a switch to
the backup channel half way through the contact due to some interference, but
the contact continued on nominally after the switch. The event was webcast by
AMSAT Italia and received good media coverage. The contact was integrated into
lessons covering the developments in astronomy from a scientific, philosophical
and literary point of view.



[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