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[jamsat-news:643] ANS-257 WEEKLY BULLETINS
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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-257.01
SPECIAL EVENT STATION
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 257.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, SEPTEMBER 14,1997
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-257.01
The Virginia Air & Space Center, (VASC is located in Hampton, VA, USA),
Amateur Radio Group, Inc., will operate KE4ZXW as a Special Events
Station on September 27-28, 1997. The VASC Amateur Radio Group is
celebrating two years of uninterrupted 9600 baud automatic satellite
operation at the VASC Amateur radio exhibit. The Special Event Station
will operate via KO-23 or KO-25, on both days, from 0000 to 2200 UTC.
We will also operate HF from 1500 to 2200 UTC on 7.625 MHz at the top of
the hour, and 14.265 MHz at thirty minutes past each hour. An
Anniversary QSL card will be issued to those sending a QSL and a SASE
to: Ed Brummer, W4RTZ, 108 Oyster Cove Road, Yorktown, VA 23692. (USA).
[ANS thanks Wally Carter, K4OGT , KE4ZXW Control Operator
for this report.]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-257.02
NORTH TEXAS BALLOON PROJECT
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 257.02 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, SEPTEMBER 14,1997
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-257.02
The North Texas Balloon Project successfully launched its second high
altitude balloon mission of 1997 on September 6th at 1539 UTC from Clifton
Municipal Airport. Estimated burst altitude was 92,000 ft and the flight
duration was just over two hours. Once again, HF net coverage was provided
by Keith Pugh - W5IU.
There were a significant number of experiments on NTBP#8 and almost
everything worked as expected. The crossband repeater, digipeater, and
parrot repeater all worked flawlessly throughout the flight. The 35 mm still
camera appears to have functioned well and we expect to have some great
photos in about a week. The GPS had some problems acquiring satellites in
the beginning, but appears to have performed better as the flight
progressed. It appears that the Tripmate GPS receiver does indeed have an
altitude limitation, however it resumed good position reporting during the
descent. The new 1.2 GHz FM ATV transmitter worked very well and they were
extremely impressed with the video quality. Unfortunately, the ATV antenna
departed its payload shortly after descent began due to excessive
aerodynamic forces.
The payload was recovered about 10 minutes after landing and all DFing
teams were at the landing site within 30 minutes of landing. Some of the
DFing teams used GPS downlink information for the APRSA4 and Street Atlas
USA software combination, and it worked extremely well. Other DFing teams
used simple yagis or doppler units. The recovery team performed very well
considering that the payload traveled nearly twice the distance (30.5
miles) as the predicted 17.8 miles. Some units even beat the chase plane to
the scene! The payload landed approximately 7 miles south-southwest of
Hico, TX. Good job Recovery Team.
At the conclusion of NTBP#8, Doug Howard, KG5OA, stepped down as project
coordinator in order to devote more time to his family. The project will
continue on as it always has since it has always been a large team effort
anyway.
To keep up to date on the latest NTBP activities, check the following URL
periodically:
http://procorp.com/procorp/ntbp/index.htm
[ANS thanks Doug Howard, KG5OA, for this information.]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-257.03
GPS EXPERIMENT PLANNED
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 257.03 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, SEPTEMBER 14,1997
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-257.03
Cadets and Faculty of the United States Air Force Academy,
in cooperation with University of Colorado-Colorado Springs
have designed a small space payload that will be launched
on an Atlas rocket the last week in October.
This mission, named Falcon Gold, will be responsible for
sampling the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal from behind
the GPS constellation and downlinking spectrum samples to
ground stations for post processing.
Due to its short 3-week life, and their limited number of ground
stations, they are looking for volunteers around the world to collect
telemetry and mission data from the satellite during its 3 week
life and forward electronic copies to the Air Force Academy
for post processing.
The satellite will broadcast on 400.175 MHz, accessible from
many scanners and Amateur Radio equipment. Modulation will
be the same 9600 bps, AX.25 standard used in the Amateur Radio
community. More information can be found at URL
http://www.pcisys.net/~mork/ or contacting morkbj.dfc@usafa.af.mil.
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-257.04
STS-86 KEPS
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 257.04 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, SEPTEMBER 14,1997
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-257.04
Below is the nominal State Vector and Keplerian Elements for
STS-86. The vector data comes from NASA; the Keplerian Elements
were computed from the vector. This is not a SAREX mission.
This file may be read by VEC2TLE version 9648 to update your
Keplerian Elements text file.
Vector format = 10117
Satellite Name: STS-86
Catalog Number: 99986
Epoch MET: 0.02975694400
0/00:42:51.000 MET
EFG E: 7313782.00000000 ft
F: 20453348.3999999 ft
G: -2777407.6000000 ft
Edot: -14256.741571000 ft/s
Fdot: 2435.99972699995 ft/s
Gdot: -19604.660624000 ft/s
ndot/2 (drag): 0.00055707642 rev/day^2
nddt/6: 1.29288E-08 rev/day^3
Bstar: 9.63231E-05 1/Earth Radii
Elset #: 1
Rev @ Epoch: 1.52584013430
Scheduled Launch: 26-SEP-97 / 02:34:06 UTC
Note that "99986" is only a temporary Catalog Number. Once STS-86
is launched, a permanent Catalog Number and International Designator
will be assigned.
The following Keplerian elements were computed by VEC2TLE from this
vector, using a 1.0 drag multiplier:
STS-86
1 99986U 97269.13677083 .00055708 12929-7 96323-4 0 15
2 99986 51.6599 298.7248 0033349 356.0335 193.2612 16.00410322 19
Satellite: STS-86
Catalog number: 99986
Epoch time: 97269.13677083
Element set: 1
Inclination: 51.6599 deg
RA of node: 298.7248 deg
Eccentricity: 0.0033349
Arg of perigee: 356.0335 deg
Mean anomaly: 193.2612 deg
Mean motion: 16.00410322 rev/day
Decay rate: 5.57076e-04 rev/day^2
Epoch rev: 1
Checksum: 328
VEC2TLE may be downloaded from:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sarex/orbit.html
[ANS thanks Ken Ernandes, N2WWD, for this data.]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-257.05
BIT AND PIECES
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 257.045 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, SEPTEMBER 14,1997
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-257.05
The AMSAT-NA office will be closed the week of September 15th.
Daisy and Martha will be on vacation!!
ANGOLA, D2. Look for CT4KO to be QRV as D2AI starting September 15.
He will be active on 80 to 10 meters, including 24 and 18 meters,
using SSB and RTTY. Some RS-12 satellite activity is expected. He
will try to schedule some activity on 6 meters. QSL via CT1EGH.
[ANS thanks the ARRL for this DX information.]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-257.06
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 257.06 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, SEPTEMBER 14,1997
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-257.06
MIR:
MIREX will be running the test from September 6, until September 28 1997
world wide. After the completion of the test, they will switch the MIR PMS
frequency back to the current 2-meter frequency on September 29th.
See ANS Bulletin ANS-250.02 for more information. Test frequency is
437.650 MHz.
BJ Arts, WT0N reports that he had a very nice horizon to horizon chat with
Mike Foale, KB5UAC., during the 1615 UTC pass of MIR on September 8th.
Total time of the QSO was approx. 13 minutes. BJ said every time he has
talks to the MIR space station his hands get wet, it reminds him of his
first QSO, and this time it was no different. Mike and WT0N chatted about
his EVA and about Minnesota. KB5UAC said when he gets down from MIR he
wants to go somewhere warm and vacation. Mike had commented that the 70 cm
frequency was working much better than the 2 meter frequency. Both voice
and packet are doing well on the test 70 cm frequency. WT0N said he owes a
debt of thanks to KB0VBZ for his post on how to program memories to better
keep up with the vast doppler shift on 70 cm. The rig BJ used was an
FT-736 R, running 5 watts into an 18 element M2 antenna. The
tracking software during the pass was InstandTrack, running on a 286. In
the 286 WT0N has a Kansas City tracker/tuner that runs both his FT-736 and
FT-5400b AZ/EL rotor.
As Mike and WT0N chatted, Mike compared his EVA to
deep sea diving. It is very dark in space he said, but he stated he also had
a great view of the stars. He mentioned to that the spacesuit was
comfortable. Mike thanked the hams who provide the MIR space station with
news via packet. Also, some hams have been sending jpg files that he
enjoys looking at. Mike suggested to keep the size of the jpg files to 10 K
bits or less.
SAFEX, MIR 70 cm Repeater
(Uplink 435.750 MHz FM, Downlink 437.950 MHz FM,
Subaudible tone 141.3 Hz)
Not operational at this time.
RS-10
(Uplink 145.865-145.905 MHz CW/SSB, Downlink 29.36-29.4 MHz CW/SSB)
RS-10 Still silent.
RS-12
(Uplink 21.21-21.25 MHz CW/SSB, Downlink 29.41-29.45 MHz or
145.91-145.95 MHz CW/SSB)
Operational.
RS-12 continues to provide good signals to North America, in spite
of the increased daytime activity on 15 m. Ops are encouraged to
listen to 15 m before they transmit, however. There may be a simplex
QSO in progress on the frequency you have chosen."
[ANS thanks Dick Montgomery, N3DV, for this update.]
RS-15
(Uplink 145.858-145.898 MHz CW/SSB, Downlink 29.354-29.394 MHz CW/SSB)
Operational.
(Hint: If SSB doesn't work for you, try CW. CW is very easy
to hear on the downlink!)
RS-16
IW9ELR, heard the 435.504 MHz beacon-telemetry of
RS16.
Transponder information on RS-16.
Uplink = 145.915 - 145.948 MHz
Downlink = 29.415 - 29.448 MHz
Beacons = 29.408 , 29.451 MHz
Pwr 29 MHz Down = 1.2 W /4 W
Beacon 1 = 435.504 MHz
Beacon 2 = 435.548 MHz
Pwr 435 MHz Beacons = 1.6 W
FO-20
(Uplink 145.9-146.0 MHz CW/LSB, Downlink 435.8-435.9
MHz CW/USB)
Operational. FO-20 in mode JA continuously.
[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for this report.]
KO-23
(Uplink 145.85, 145.9 MHz FM, Downlink 435.175 MHz FM,
9600 Baud FSK.)
KO-23 operating normally.
KO-25
(Uplink 145.980 MHz FM, Downlink 436.5 MHz FM,
9600 Baud FSK.)
KO-25 operating normally.
[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, for his reports on
KO-25 and KO-23.]
AO-27
(Uplink 145.85 MHz FM, Downlink:
436.792 MHz FM (As of April 1, 1997)
Operating normally.
This information can be found at www.umbra.com
AO-27 TEPR (Timed Eclipse Power Regulation) States are as follows
As of July 6, 1997
TEPR STATE Time TX Status
----------------------------------------
1 n/a OFF
2 n/a OFF
3 --- OFF
4 21 OFF
5 17 ON at Med Power
6 --- OFF
The TEPR States are defined as follows:
Tepr 1, Started when the satellite Enters the Eclipse
Tepr 2, Started at (tepr 1 time) after the satellite enters the eclipse
Tepr 3, Started at (tepr 1 time) + (tepr 2 time).
Tepr 4, Started when the satellite enters the Sun
Tepr 5, Started at (tepr 4 time) after the satellite enters the Sun
Tepr 6, Started at (tepr 4) + (tepr 5).
It should noted that TEPR states 1,2 and 3 happen during the Night Time
passes and TEPR states 4,5 and 6 happen during the Day time passes.
These occur during EVERY pass, not just over the U.S.A.
The times assigned to the TEPR states are chosen for the health of the
satellite over operation convenience. Therefore, during parts of the
year the satellite will turn on late or turn off early as seen by ground
stations.
Users are asked not to transmit on 145.85 MHz if they do not hear the
satellite's downlink so as to avoid possible interference to other
satellite uplinks and downlinks on adjacent frequencies.
[ANS thanks Michael Wyrick, N4USI, AO-27 Control-op, for this update.]
FO-29
Voice/CW Mode JA
(Uplink 145.9-146.0 MHz CW/LSB, Downlink 435.8-435.9 MHz CW/USB)
Digital Mode JD
(Uplink 145.85, 145.87, 145.910 MHz FM, Downlink 435.910 MHz FM 9600
baud BPSK)
Operational.
The latest FO-29 Schedule.
Sept 12 (Fri) 00:13z JD1200
Sept 19 (Fri) 00:51z JD9600
Sept 26 (Fri) 08:09z JA
[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for this report.]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-257.07
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 257.07 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, SEPTEMBER 14,1997
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-257.07
AO-10
(Uplink 435.030-435.18 MHz CW/LSB, Downlink 145.975-145.825 MHz
CW/USB)
Operational.
Nice signals, good activity even on week days. Many EU and W/VE
heard/worked here in Europe. Worked TR8CA (Alain in Libreville/Gabon)
last Friday (in CW), he seems to be on the bird quite often, obviously
during the end of the passes for Europe.
[ANS thanks Oliver Welp, DL9QJ/ N3NSF, for this report.]
OSCAR-11
(Downlink 145.825 MHz. FM, 1200 Baud PSK. Beacon 2401.500 MHz..)
Operating normally. OSCAR-11 REPORT 14 September 1997
During the period 19 August to 13 September excellent signals have
once again been received from the 145.826 MHz. beacon. Telemetry
nominal. The battery voltage has been maintained in the range
13.9 to 14.4 volts. The internal temperatures are slowly increasing
from the minimum values observed at the end of June (battery -0.4C,
telemetry electronics -1.6 C). The battery temperature is now 8.4C,
and telemetry electronics 6.8C. The increased temperature is due to
a reduction in solar eclipse times, which is expected to continue
into October.
The WOD survey of channels 10, 20, 30, 40 (+Y, -X, +X array currents,
array voltage) dated 25 June was transmitted until the end of August.
The timing of this WOD coincided with the maximum eclipse times. This
WOD is now available from my web site (details below). At the end of
August a further survey of the same channels was taken, dated 26
August. This was quickly followed by channels 21, 31, 41, 51
(equipment currents) dated 30 August, and then by channels 10, 20,30,
40, dated 03 September, which are now being transmitted.
A single AMSAT-UK bulletin dated 21 June, by Richard G3RWL has been
transmitted. This featured Sputnik-1 40th anniversary, MIR
frequencies, and RS-10 news, and the Keplerian elements for OSCAR-11.
Considerable interest is now being shown in the mode-S beacon, as
operators prepare for Phase-3D. Reports indicate that it is a very
weak signal, and therefore ideal for testing converters, once they
have been set up using the much stronger signal from DOVE. Reports
have indicated that the signal from OSCAR-11 is around 24 dB below
that of DOVE. There are however considerable variations in the
comparisons which vary between -15 dB and -36 dB! Before the beacon
partially failed the signal was measured at -3 dB below DOVE.
Hans, HB9AQZ, reports hearing the beacon using a 26 turn helix, mounted
in the shack, and pointing through a double glass window. Ib OZ1MY
in Copenhagen heard the beacon with two 16 turn helixes, feeding an
SSB down converter and pre-amp (combined noise figure 1.5 dB). Trevor,
VK4AFL, reports S3 signals with a 60 cm dish, two turn helix feed,
D.E.M converter and pre-amp. Victor, OE1VKW, reports S3-4 signals using
a 67 element antenna, horizontal polarization, and UEK-2000 SAT. On
the same equipment DOVE was received at S7-8. Thanks for all the
reports.
The operating schedule is unchanged.
ASCII status (210 seconds)
ASCII bulletin (60 seconds)
BINARY SEU (30 seconds)
ASCII TLM (90 seconds)
ASCII WOD (120 seconds)
ASCII bulletin (60 seconds)
BINARY ENG (30 seconds)
There are also additional status blocks after each bulletin is
transmitted, and between ASCII TLM and WOD.
The mode-S beacon is ON, transmitting an unmodulated carrier, but
telemetry indicates that it has partially failed, and delivering half
power. Any reports of reception on 2401 MHz. would be most welcome.
Please e-mail g3cwv@amsat.org.
The 435.025 MHz. beacon is normally OFF. However it can sometimes be
heard when the satellite is being commanded by ground control, ie.
within range of Guildford, UK. When the 435 beacon is transmitting,
the 145 beacon is normally OFF. The data transmitted is mainly
binary.
OSCAR-11 users are welcome to visit my web site. It contains some
software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry and WOD.
There is an archive of raw data (mainly WOD) for analysis, which is
continually being expanded, as new data is captured. The URL is -
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/
[ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for this information.]
AMSAT-OSCAR-16 (PACSAT)
(Uplink 145.9, 145.92, 145.94, 145.86 MHz FM, 1200 bps Manchester FSK
Downlink 437.0513 MHz SSB, 1200 bps RC-BPSK 1200 Baud PSK.
Beacon 2401.1428 MHz.)
Operating normally.
Below is a data sample of the birds temperatures.
uptime is 1091/06:49:36. Time is Sat Sep 13 12:16:16 1997
Bat 1 Temp 1.814 D Bat 2 Temp 1.814 D
Baseplt Temp 2.419 D RC PSK BP Temp 2.419 D
RC PSK HPA Tmp 1.814 D +Y Array Temp -5.448 D
PSK TX HPA Tmp 1.209 D +Z Array Temp 16.336 D
+X (RX) Temp 5.444 D RX Temp -6.053 D
RC PSK TX Out 0.518 W
Total Array C= 0.203 Bat Ch Cur= 0.005 Ifb= 0.061 I+10V= 0.221
TX:010B BCR:84 PWRC:59E BT:3C WC:25 EDAC:E9
Graphic information about WOD/Telemetry values can be found at:
http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/wod.htm
[ANS thanks Miguel A. Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report.]
DO-17(DOVE)
( Downlink 145.825 MHz FM, 1200 Baud AFSK.
Beacon 2401.220 MHz.)
No report available.
WEBERSAT (WO-18)
(Downlink 437.104 MHz SSB, 1200 Baud PSK AX.25.)
No report available.
LUSAT-OSCAR-19
(Uplink 1200 bps Manchester FSK Uplinks:
145.84, 145.86, 145.88, 145.9 MHz FM, Downlink 437.125 MHz SSB,
1200 bps RC-BPSK.)
Operating normally.
.Below is a data sample of the birds temperatures.
Uptime is 815/22:15:51. Time is Sat Sep 13 12:21:01 1997
Bat 1 Temp 0.131 D Bat 2 Temp 0.131 D
Baseplt Temp 0.131 D RC PSK BP Temp 3.496 D
RC PSK HPA Tmp 4.057 D +Y Array Temp -4.357 D
PSK TX HPA Tmp 2.374 D +Z Array Temp -1.552 D
+X (RX) Temp -0.991 D RX Temp -1.552 D
RC PSK TX Out 0.881 W
Total Array C= 0.156 Bat Ch Cur=-0.021 Ifb= 0.062 I+10V= 0.165
TX:019 BCR:7F PWRC:36E BT:3C WC: 0
Remember to add 6,83 minutes to
the clock of the satellite> Graphic and general
information about Telemetry values can be found at:
http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/lo19.htm
[ANS thanks Miguel A. Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report.]
UO-22:
(Uplink: 145.9 or 145.975 MHz FM. Downlink 435.120 MHz FM
9600 Baud FSK.)
UO-22 is operating normally.
Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO, has reloaded the Store and Forward
communications task on the UO-22 On-Board Computer. This task includes
incremental checksums which should make uploading slightly faster.
In the old task, once an upload was complete, the spacecraft had to
perform the checksum on the complete file. Depending on the file
length, this could take quite a long time. With the new task, the
checksum is computed on the fly - while the data is actually being
uploaded. Thus there is no need to recompute it at the end of the
transfer and this checksum delay is then removed.
However, all files that were started before Chris Jackson, G7UPN /
ZL2TPO, loaded the task around 1000 UTC on the 19th will receive a corrupt
body checksum error when the upload is completed. If the file is uploaded
again, it should be accepted. If trying to upload a large file that was
started before the above time, then start again.
If anyone gets persistent body checksum errors while uploading files to
UO-22 would they please let Chris Jackson know as soon as possible
[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO,
Groundstation and Operations Manager, for this report.]
IO-26 ( ITAMSAT)
Uplink 145.875, 145.9, 145.925, 145.95 MHz FM, Downlink 435.822 MHz SSB,
1200 Baud PSK.)
The satellite is in good shape.
[ANS thanks Daniele Piercarlo, IK2XRO, ITMSAT Command Station for this
report.]
[Please send your Satellite or News reports to ANS Editor B.J. Arts,
WT0N, via e-mail, at bjarts@the-bridge.net or to wt0n@amsat.org]
/EX
BJ Arts
Amateur callsign: WT0N
ARMY MARS callsign: AAR5EL
Grid Square EN-37mk
Hibbing, Minnesota. U.S.A.
e-mail bjarts@the-bridge.net or wt0n@amsat.org
Amsat News Service Bulletin Editor