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[jamsat-news:855] ANS 186


AMSAT NEWS SERVICE	
ANS 186	

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-186.01
FIELD DAY '98 A SUCCESS

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 186.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 05, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-186.01

The recent ARRL Field Day provided many amateurs with their first satellite 
contacts. Both experienced satellite operators and newcomers alike 
populated all of the North American satellite passes during the League 
event held last weekend.

Kevin, AC5DK reported RS-12 was very busy with activity. Greg, N0ZHE 
endured hot and windy conditions at his Field Day site in Kansas while 
working stations on several satellites, including AO-10.

"AO-10 was great," reported Andy, W5ACM. "The satellite worked amazingly 
well. FO-20 and FO-29 provided many contacts and AO-27 was very 
entertaining."  John, N2HMM agreed, adding, "Field Day was great this year, 
I was especially surprised in RS-15, its downlink was much stronger than 
usual."

Bidding "aloha" during FD '98 was Ted, NH6YK, operating as AH6PB on the 
north shore of Oahu, about 100 meters from the ocean. Bruce, N3LSY reports 
he managed to make a number of contacts on AO-10 despite misgivings about 
the condition and distance of the satellite. He reports being "very 
surprised" about how well the satellite worked during the event.

ANS reminds stations to send any AMSAT Field Day results, photos, and a 
short write-up to Andy, W5ACM, using his e-mail address:

w5acm@amsat.org

Andy will assemble the results in an article for the Sep/Oct issue of The 
AMSAT-NA Journal.

[AMSAT-NA thanks all stations that were active on the satellites during 
Field Day]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-186.02
AMSAT-UK COLLOQUIUM SCHEDULE

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 186.02 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 05, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-186.02

The AMSAT-UK 13th Annual Colloquium at the University of Surrey will soon 
be underway. Richard Limebear, G3RWL tells ANS the program has now been 
formalized for the July 31st to August 2nd event.

Scheduled highlights for the first day include the official opening remarks 
by Martin Sweeting, G3YJO, Professor of Satellite Engineering and Chairman 
of AMSAT-UK.  AMSAT-NA's President, Bill Tynan, W3XO will discuss 'What's 
Next in Amateur Radio Satellites', followed by 'Future SAREX Plans' with 
Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Vice President/Manned Space Program. 
'Satellites in Education, The Riverside Applied Learning Center Young 
Astronauts Fair' will be presented by Keith Pugh, W5IU, AMSAT-NA 
VP/Operations.

G3RWL will get things underway on Saturday, August 1st with morning 
remarks, followed with the opening address by Ian Kyle, GI8AYZ, RSGB 
President. The morning lecture is by US astronaut Don Thomas, KC5FVF.

Phase 3D subjects will begin Session 2.  Ron Broadbent, G3AAJ, Peter 
Guelzow, DB2OS, Werner Hass, DJ5KQ, Freddy de Guchteneire, ON6UG and Matjaz 
Vidmar, S53MV will discuss the current status of the satellite and the P3D  
project. This will be an important session in lieu of the recent 
announcement of the P3D launch delay.

On Sunday, August 2nd, Ray Soifer W2RS, AMSAT-NA VP/International Affairs 
will chair the 'IARU International Forum'. This will be followed by the 
'International Space Station Forum' presented by KA3HDO. Arizona State 
University will be represented by Assi Friedman, KK7KX, who will present an 
overview of the ASUSat-1 amateur radio satellite.

This bulletin lists only a few of the many presentations and sessions that 
will be held. For a complete listing of the AMSAT-UK 13th Annual Colloquium 
schedule, point your web browser to:

www.uk.amsat.org

[ANS thanks Richard Limebear, G3RWL for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-186.03
MIR RETIREMENT

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 186.03 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 05, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-186.03

Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Vice President for Manned Space Programs told 
ANS that the Russian Space Agency has formally announced they plan to 
retire the Mir space station next June, six months earlier than expected. 
The decision is in recognition of the government's financial woes, 
according to Russian space officials.

The decision to bring forward Mir's demise from December 1999 was made at a 
meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, Space Agency Director 
Yuri Koptev and Yury Semyonov, head of the Energiya Rocket Corporation, 
which owns Mir.

Boris Ostroumov, the Russian Space Agency's deputy director said safety was 
also a factor in the early end to Mir. "The station's guarantee was for 
three years and it has flown more than 12 years with many repairs and 
breakdowns -- and something worse than a breakdown could happen -- so we 
must think of safety above all,'' he said.

Russian officials said a French and Slovak would be among the last 
cosmonauts currently scheduled to visit Mir on short missions.

[ANS thanks Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT VP for Manned Space Programs and the 
Reuters News Service for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-186.04
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 186.04 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 05, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-186.04

It's time again to mark your calendar for the upcoming 17th Annual ARRL and 
TAPR Digital Communications Conference, to be held September 25 to 27, 1998 
at the Holiday Inn Rolling Meadows, Chicago, Illinois. The location is just 
minutes from O'Hare Airport. This is the third year in which the ARRL 
Digital Communications Conference and TAPR Annual General Meeting are being 
joined into one event.

The Conference is an international forum for radio amateurs in digital 
communications, networking and related technologies, to meet, publish their 
work and present new ideas and techniques for discussion.

Scheduled seminars will explore the digital world including the RUDAK 
digital communications system scheduled to fly on Phase 3D. Lyle Johnson, 
WA7GXD will discuss RUDAK features, systems design, integration, and 
planned experiments. The goal of the presentation is to zero in on the 
communications capabilities of RUDAK, the performance to be expected from 
the PSK system and the limitations and capacities of the DSP modems. Lyle 
will also explain user requirements for receiving and transmitting to RUDAK 
and how amateurs can prepare to make ground operations a reality once the 
satellite is in operation.  Information on how to submit a proposal for 
experimental time on RUDAK will also be presented.

Anyone interested in digital communications is invited to submit a paper 
for publication in the Conference Proceedings. Presentation at the 
conference is not required for publication. The primary purpose of the 
conference is to communicate ideas and techniques regarding digital 
communications. Papers written in an informal style are welcome, as well as 
those written to academic standards. Papers are due by August 15, 1998, and 
should be submitted to:

ARRL
Attn: Maty Weinberg
225 Main Street
Newington, Connecticut  06111

or via e-mail to lweinberg@arrl.org

The 1998 ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference will be co-hosted 
by the Chicago Amateur Packet Radio Association and by the Packet Radio 
User Group of Japan. Full information on the conference, registration, 
paper submission guidelines and hotel information can be obtained by 
pointing your browser to:

http://www.tapr.org

[ANS thanks TAPR and the ARRL for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-186.05
FCC PROPOSES 5.9 GHZ ALLOCATION

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 186.05 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 05, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-186.05

The FCC recently proposed allocating 5.850 to 5.925 GHz for use by 
intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Possible ITS applications include 
automated roadside safety inspection, incident management operations, 
traffic control, and en-route driver information systems.

The Amateur Service has a secondary allocation at 5.650 to 5.925 GHz with 
government radar systems and non-government fixed satellite service 
uplinks. Under the proposal, dedicated short-range communications highway 
safety systems would share the band as co-primary users.

ITS America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting ITS, has been 
working with the ARRL and others to develop a sharing plan. The League has 
said it is prepared to work with ITS entities to resolve spectrum-sharing 
issues. The FCC said interference problems that might crop up could be 
resolved by changing the frequency of the amateur operation, by power 
reduction, or by using directional antennas.

The FCC is seeking comments on the need for nationwide operational 
standards and channelization, and on the potential for operations to share 
with other services.  Comments on ET Docket 98-95 is due 75 days after 
publication in the Federal Register. The complete NPRM is available on the 
FCC Web site at the following URL:

http://www.fcc.gov

[ANS thanks the ARRL for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-186.06
ANS IN BRIEF

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 186.06 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 05, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-186.06

ANS news in brief this week includes the following:

** The Phase 3D Integration Lab web site featured four great photos this 
past week. Minding the Store, Arc Jet Gas Heater, 10 Gig Transmitter and 
Bottoms Up were the pictures posted during the week of June 29th.
To view the site and see the photographs of P3D, point your browser to
http://www.magicnet.net/~phase3d/. --NN0DJ

** AMSAT-SM is looking into building its very own satellite. In the April 
issue of AMSAT-SM Info, several preliminary design features were discussed. 
The satellite must be easy to use, of Microsat design, two analog NBFM 
channels, a parrot with 10 seconds of memory and a SSTV downlink with 
high-resolution camera. This is preliminary design data and may change as 
the project progresses. AMSAT-SM has a web site at 
http://www.users.wineasy.se/amsat (in Swedish only -- an English version is 
under construction).
--Houston AMSAT Net, SM0OFV, KK5DO

** MIREX has announced an on-going APRS School Days Test. MIREX is allowing 
schools to use APRS for position and status reports via R0MIR. Non-school 
stations are asked to refrain from using APRS type transmissions or beacons 
via R0MIR. MIREX reports this test is to encourage school participation in 
learning more about space and Amateur Radio. The test will continue through 
the last days of operation before Mir re-enters the earth's atmosphere some 
time in 1999. --WA6LIE

** Due to recent changes in the use of the Mir PMS, WB4APR has modified his 
Mir 'LIVE' web page to capture the PMS messages and MAIL. So now stations 
can see who has traffic on Mir. The last 8 Mir pass files (as monitored in 
Maryland) are always available on http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/mir  
ex.html.
--WB4APR

** Delivery of the first element of the ISS Amateur Radio Station is 
expected about 6 months from now. This element is scheduled to include 
contributions from Germany, Russia and the US.  First crew operations are 
about one year away. The SAREX reflector will have more details shortly; 
including information from the ARISS meeting in Surrey, England planned for 
the end of this month. --KA3HDO

** European and American tracking sites have lost touch with a $1 billion 
satellite that had provided significant new details about the sun. The 
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite dropped off the airwaves 
recently when its control jets were fired, and officials have had no 
contact with it since. --Morrock News Service

** A NASA technology developed to help astronomers probe the depths of the 
universe is at work today helping municipalities and private businesses 
track the movements of vehicles in large fleet operations. Researchers at 
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, first developed the 
technology -- a software program -- to handle the flow of enormous amounts 
of information.  The system is now being used to monitor many types of 
vehicle fleet operations including delivery vans, armored cars and taxis. 
--NASA

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-186.07
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 186.07 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 05, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-186.07

MIR/SAFEX
SAFEX II 70 cm Repeater
Uplink 435.750 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 141.3 Hz	
Downlink 437.950 MHz FM 	
Semi-operational.

SAFEX II 70 cm QSO Mode
Uplink 435.725 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 151.4 Hz	
Downlink 437.925 MHz FM	
Semi-operational.

PMS
Uplink/Downlink 145.985 MHz FM  1200 Baud AFSK 	
Operational.

The current crew onboard Mir are Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin. They 
speak and read Russian only. Any messages addressed as personal to R0MIR 
will not be understood unless it is in Russian. MIREX is again allowing 
R0MIR-1 for store-and-forward message traffic.

The PBBS is running a Kantronics KPC-9612 + V.8.1 TNC. The commands are 
similar to most PBBS and BBS systems.

[ANS thanks Scott Avery, WA6LIE, and the MIREX team for Mir status 
information]

RS-12
Uplink 145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB Uplink 21.210 to 21.250 MHz CW/SSB	
Downlink 29.410 to 29.450 MHz CW/SSB	
Operational, mode KA.

RS-15
Uplink 145.858 to 145.898 MHz CW/SSB	
Downlink 29.354 to 29.394 MHz CW/SSB 	
Semi-operational.

RS-15 has apparently lost its TLM beacon.

RS-16
The 435 MHz beacon (only) is operational. Attempts to command the Mode A 
transponder on have been unsuccessful.

AO-10
Uplink 435.030 to 435.180 MHz CW/LSB	
Downlink 145.975 to 145.825 MHz CW/USB	
Operational.

This 15-year-old satellite continues to perform very well. Mike, N1JEZ 
reports
a recent contact with Sergei, RZ4HWF.

Stacey Mills, W4SM, has more information about the satellite at the 
following URL:

http://www.cstone.net/~w4sm/AO-10.html

[ANS thanks Stacey Mills, W4SM for his AO-10 status information and web 
site]

AO-27
Uplink 145.850 MHz FM	
Downlink 436.792 MHz FM	
Operational.

AO-27 TEPR States are currently:
    4  = 36 = 18 Minutes
    5  = 72 = 36 Minutes

This means AO-27's transmitter turns on 18 minutes after entering the Sun 
and stays on for 18 minutes. AO-27's transmitter is turned off at all other 
times during the orbit. N4USI reminds stations that this happens on every 
orbit, approximately 14.2 times a day. The current TEPR settings will cause 
the satellite to be on during the daytime at northern latitudes.

[ANS thanks Michael Wyrick, N4USI, AO-27 Control-op for this update]

FO-20
Uplink 145.900 to 146.00 MHz CW/LSB	
Downlink 435.80 to 435.90 MHz CW/USB	
Operational.      FO-20 in mode JA continuously.

[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK for his FO-20 status reports]

FO-29
Voice/CW Mode JA	
Uplink 145.900 to 146.00 MHz CW/LSB	
Downlink 435.80 to 435.90 MHz CW/USB	
Operational.

Digital Mode JD	
Uplink 145.850   145.870  145.910 MHz FM	
Downlink 435.910 MHz FM 9600 baud BPSK	
Not operational, the satellite is in JA (voice) mode.

Kazu, JJ1WTK, tells ANS that OBC bit errors were again detected and the 
on-board computer reset. Investigation of bit error frequency continues.

The FO-29 command station is now asking for reports from radio amateurs who 
can confirm the value of channel 2A, the 5th item transmitted in CW after 
'HI HI'. The normal value of channel 2A is '00'. Reports will be 
appreciated (in e-mail) addressed to:

lab@jarl.or.jp.

[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for this report]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-186.08
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 186.08 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 05, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-186.08

KO-23
Uplink 145.900 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK	
Downlink 435.175 MHz FM	
Operational. The telemetry is nominal.

[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC for this report]

KO-25
Uplink 145.980 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK	
Downlink 436.50 MHz FM	
Operational. The telemetry is nominal.

[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC for this report]

UO-22
Uplink 145.900 or 145.975 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK	
Downlink 435.120 MHz FM	
Operational.

More information on the satellite is available at the following URL:

http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/EE/CSER/UOSAT/

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, Operations Manager of UO-22 for 
this report]

OSCAR-11
Downlink 145.825 MHz FM, 1200 Baud PSK	
Beacon 2401.500 MHz	
Operational.

Beacon reception reports should be sent to:  g3cwv@amsat.org.

In response to many requests for information about methods of decoding 
OSCAR-11 signals, a package of hardware information has been added to the 
satellite web site. The site also contains some software for capturing 
data, decoding ASCII telemetry and WOD information.
The URL is  http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/

[ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for this information]

AMSAT-OSCAR-16 (PACSAT)
Uplink 145.90 145.92 145.94 145.86 MHz FM 1200 bps Manchester FSK	
Downlink 437.0513 MHz SSB, 1200 bps  RC-BPSK 1200 Baud PSK	
Beacon 2401.1428 MHz	
Operating normally.

The AO-16 command team has authorized an APRS experiment on
AO-16 to explore the use of the 1200-baud PACSAT for APRS position/status 
reporting. The test periods will run each Tuesday from 0000 to 2359 UTC.

The telemetry is nominal.

Time is Fri Jul 03 22:28:01 1998 uptime is 1384/16:55:14
+X (RX) Temp   -12.104 D / RX Temp         -0.607 D	
Bat 1 Temp          1.209 D  /Bat 2 Temp       1.209 D  	
Baseplt Temp    -0.002 D / RC PSK BP Temp  -6.053 D	
RC PSK HPA Tmp  -5.448 D / +Y Array Temp  -26.021 D	
PSK TX HPA Tmp  -6.658 D / +Z Array Temp  -19.365 D	
RC PSK TX Out    0.298 W	
Total Array C= 0.306 Bat Ch Cur= 0.063 Ifb= 0.008 I+10V= 0.259
TX:0109 BCR:77 PWRC:59E BT: A WC:25 EDAC: D

General information and telemetry WOD files can be found at:

http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/wod.htm

[ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report]

DO-17 (DOVE)
Downlink 145.825 MHz FM   1200 Baud AFSK	
Beacon 2401.220 MHz	
Currently non-operational.

The 145.825 MHz and 2401.220 MHz downlinks are off the air. No
additional information is available at this time.

WEBERSAT (WO-18)
Downlink 437.104 MHz SSB  1200 Baud PSK AX.25	
Currently non-operational.

WO-18 is in MBL mode after a software crash. No additional information is 
available at this time.

LUSAT-OSCAR-19
Uplink 145.84  145.86  145.88  145.90 MHz FM  1200 bps Manchester FSK	
Downlink 437.125 MHz SSB  1200 bps RC-BPSK 	
Operating normally. The telemetry is nominal.

Time is Fri Jul 03 23:01:43 1998 uptime is 1109/08:56:33
+X (RX) Temp   -12.209 D  //RX Temp         -2.113 D	
Bat 1 Temp         -0.991 D  //Bat 2 Temp      -0.991 D  	
Baseplt Temp       -0.991 D  //RC PSK BP Temp  -6.039 D  	
RC PSK HPA Tmp   -7.161 D  //+Y Array Temp  -20.623 D  	
PSK TX HPA Tmp    -6.600 D  //+Z Array Temp  -17.818 D	
RC PSK TX Out    0.495 W	
Total Array C= 0.011 Bat Ch Cur=-0.242 Ifb= 0.164 I+10V= 0.088
TX:016 BCR:1E PWRC:36E BT:3C WC: 0

General information and telemetry samples can be found at:

http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/lo19.htm

[ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report]

IO-26 (ITAMSAT)
Uplink 145.875  145.900  145.925  145.950 MHz  FM 1200 Baud PSK	
Downlink 435.822 MHz SSB	
Semi-operational.

Telemetry is reported as being downloaded on 435.822 MHz at 1200 baud PSK. 
No additional information is available at this time.

--ANS END---

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to
ans-editor@amsat.org,         (or to)
ANS Editor, Dan James, NN0DJ, at nn0dj@amsat.org.

/EX

Daniel  (Dan) James	
AMSAT News Service Bulletin Editor	
Amateur callsign: NN0DJ	
Grid Square EN28iv	
Warroad, Minnesota U.S.A.	
e-mail:  nn0dj@amsat.org	

Michelle Ervin	
AMSAT News Service Assistant Bulletin Editor	
Amateur callsign: KA9FUL	
Grid Square EM89du	
Springfield, Ohio U.S.A.	
e-mail: ka9ful@amsat.org	

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