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[jamsat-news:1216] ANS 030


AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS 030

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.

Information on AMSAT-NA is available at the following URL:
http://www.amsat.org

(or)

AMSAT-NA
850 Sligo Avenue, Suite 600
Silver Spring, Maryland
                          20910-4703

Voice: 	301-589-6062
FAX:	301-608-3410

Currently, AMSAT-NA supports the following free mailing lists:

* AMSAT News Service (ANS)
* General satellite discussion (AMSAT-BB)
* Orbit data (KEPS)
* Manned space missions (SAREX)
* District of Columbia area (AMSAT-DC)
* New England (AMSAT-NE)
* AMSAT Educational Liaison mailing list (AMSAT-EDU)

To subscribe, or for more list information, visit the following URL:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/listserv/menu.html

This edition of ANS is dedicated to the memory of former ANS Bulletin
Editor 'BJ' Arts, WT0N.

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-030.01
PHASE 3D AT LAUNCH SITE

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 030.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JANUARY 30, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-030.01

On January 17th, AMSAT's Phase 3D satellite started on a journey that
brought it one step closer to an eventual launch. This maiden journey
started at the Orlando, Florida AMSAT Integration Facility --and after a
stop in Paris, France-- ended safely in Kourou, French Guyana at the
Arianespace launch facility.

The satellite is now safely located in the clean room of the Ariane 5 Final
Assembly Building. All systems are turned off and the flight batteries
are in an uncharged state. Phase 3D will remain in storage until a
specific flight assignment is announced by Arianespace. Once a date
is known AMSAT personnel will begin final payload processing,
including the installation of the solar panels and main engine, charging
P3D's batteries and final weighing and fueling. Currently, no AMSAT
personnel are in Kourou.

The trip to French Guyana was an interesting one. Phase 3-D's heat
pipes are filled with ammonia and a special one-time waiver was needed
from the U.S. Department of Transportation. This permit allowed the
satellite to be initially transported aboard an Air France 767 passenger
aircraft.

Photographs of Phase 3-D's loading and departure from the Florida Lab
can be found at the following URL:

http://www.magicnet.net/

A launch contract accepting Phase 3D as a payload for the first suitable
Ariane 5 launch vehicle was signed last October. Phase 3D is expected
to be among the first secondary payloads to hitchhike aboard an
Ariane 5 rocket.

Stay tuned to ANS for more information.

[ANS thanks the ARRL and AMSAT-DL for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-030.02
JAWSAT LAUNCH SUCCESSFUL

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 030.02 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JANUARY 30, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-030.02

An Air Force Minotaur rocket successful lifted off last Wednesday from
Vandenberg Air Force Base with a number of satellites onboard. The
January 26th launch from the California Commercial Spaceport included
several Amateur Radio packages. Deployable payloads were the
Joint Air Force-Weber State University Satellite (JAWSAT), Stanford
University's Orbiting Picosat Automatic Launcher (OPAL), Arizona State
University's ASUSat-1 and the Air Force Research Lab's Optical
Calibration Sphere. The primary payload was the US Air Force
Academy's FalconSat.

"It was a spectacular sight, since the sky was clear and the visibility
almost unlimited," said Eric Lemmon, WB6FLY. "I was able to view the
first two burns without binoculars, and it was an impressive sight!

JAWSAT served as a bus for several deployable payloads and the
Plasma Experiment Satellite Test experiment -- called PEST. The
telemetry stream from JAWSAT, including data from the PEST project,
will be transmitted on Amateur Radio frequencies. Ham operators have
been invited to contribute to the program by recording the downlinked
data.

OPAL appears healthy with a strong downlink. The AMSAT-BB has
been full of reports of strong signals received from OPAL, including
reports from KF4FDJ, G3RWL, F6AGR, K5OE, JE9PEL, N4QWF,
NP2L, BV1AF and KE9NA. Bob, WB4APR, even copied OPAL
when he was mobile!

OPAL is due to 'eject' StenSat into space this weekend.

The tiny, eight-ounce StenSat is strictly a ham satellite. It was developed
by a group of amateur enthusiasts in the Washington, DC, area as part of
Stanford University's OPAL project. StenSat will operate as a
single-channel Mode-J FM voice repeater.

ASUSat-1 also contains amateur packet hardware and a 2-meter/70-cm
FM voice repeater. Initial reports indicated that ASUSat-1 was healthy,
however this may not be the case. Assi Friedman, KK7KX / 4X1KX,
the ASUSat-1 Project Leader, reports separation telemetry is now
suggesting that a critical failure of the solar array may be preventing
the batteries from charging. The last reception report of ASUSat-1 was
received 14 hours into launch. The ASUSat-1 team fears the satellite
has been lost, but the team will continue to try and establish contact in
hopes the satellite will wake up.

Stay tuned to the AMSAT-BB for the latest developments concerning this
launch - and to future ANS bulletin sets.

On behalf of the worldwide satellite community, ANS congratulates all
the satellite and launch teams associated with this outstanding
achievement.

[ANS thanks the ARRL and the JAWSAT team for this information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-030.03
ANS IN BRIEF

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 030.03 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JANUARY 30, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-030.03

ANS news in brief this week includes the following:

** Ham Radio Outlet's Anaheim, California, store was destroyed by fire
recently. The fire apparently first broke out in a dental office at the south
end of the strip mall that housed the HRO store. After spreading into an
attic area, the flames raged through the rest of the business center,
engulfing the HRO store, the dental office, and two other businesses.
-ARRL Letter

** NASA may have to crash an orbiting telescope into an empty stretch
of the Pacific Ocean this spring to avoid the risk of the 17-ton instrument
falling randomly to Earth. In space since 1991, the $600-million Compton
Gamma Ray Observatory poses no immediate danger as it studies
supernovae, black holes and other objects from an orbit 317 miles above
Earth. Officials are studying whether if it's safe to keep flying or if the
telescope should be brought down March 14th southeast of Hawaii. A
decision is expected in mid-February. -Florida Today

** Jim Haynie, W5JBP, of Dallas, Texas, will be the next president of the
ARRL. The ARRL Board of Directors elected Haynie January 21st shortly
after convening in Memphis, Tennessee. He will succeed Rod Stafford,
W6ROD, to become the League's 13th president. -ARRL Letter

** An Ariane 42L blasted into orbit recently carrying a Hughes 601 GEO
satellite for PanAmSat equipped with 24 C and 24 Ku band transponders.
With the first successful launch of the year now behind it Arianespace is
looking forward to a busy year. Currently Arianespace has up to nine
Ariane 4 and five Ariane 5 launches planned for 2000. -SpaceDaily

** Since being launched in May 1999 the SETI@home project has
become an enormously popular distributed computing project. Currently
more than 1.6 million participants have allow their personal computers
to churn through observations from the Arecibo radio telescope looking
for signals from an extraterrestrial source. To date all those computers
have performed 166,000 years of processing. -S&T

** NASA may send a shuttle to the International Space Station in April
instead of waiting for Russia to launch the outpost's next segment first,
officials said Thursday. A crew on shuttle Atlantis would fly the proposed
mission, which calls for routine maintenance to prepare the station for the
next addition - the much-delayed Russian Service Module. -Florida Today

** Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory are working on a new
mini-battery for wireless devices. The fuel cell, which uses methanol as
the power source, reportedly will last 10 times longer than batteries used
today. Consumers will have to wait for at least three years to see them in
stores. The battery will be packaged in a see-through tube, so users can
check their battery supply at any given time. The cost of the methanol
batteries should be in line with current power supplies. -ARRL Letter

** Some doorstep astronomy from ANS: Sparkling low in the southeast
these evenings is Sirius, the Dog Star, the brightest true star in the sky.
Jupiter high in the southwest is brighter, but it's a planet! To the
upper right of Sirius is the constellation Orion. A similar distance
to Sirius's upper left is Procyon, the Little Dog Star. -S&T

--ANS BULLETIN END---

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-030.04
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PART 1

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 030.04 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JANUARY 30, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-030.04

RADIO SPORT   RS-12
Uplink		  21.210 to  21.250 MHz CW/SSB
Uplink          	145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink	  29.410 to  29.450 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink        	145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB
Beacon  	  29.408 MHz
Robot Uplink       21.129 MHz
Robot Downlink   29.454 MHz
Semi-operational, beacon only.

RADIO SPORT   RS-13
Uplink     	  21.260 to  21.300 MHz CW/SSB
Uplink          	145.960 to 146.000 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink          	  29.460 to  29.500 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink        	145.960 to 146.000 MHz CW/SSB
Beacon           	  29.458 MHz
Robot Uplink     145.840 MHz
Robot Downlink   29.504 MHz
Operational, in mode-KA with a 10-meter downlink
and a 15-meter and 2-meter uplink.

Kevin, AC5DK, reports that "activity has been picking up quite a
bit" on RS-13. AC5DK tells ANS that "on several evening passes
I have heard Canadian stations early and Mexican stations late
in the same pass. Quite a few new stations have gotten on as well
as several stations not heard in a year or more. Now is a good time
to get on during the evening passes."

AC5DK's RS-12/13 Satellite Operators Page:

http://www.qsl.net/ac5dk/rs1213/rs1213.html

RADIO SPORT   RS-15
Uplink		145.858 to 145.898 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink	  29.354 to  29.394 MHz CW/SSB
Beacon           	  29.352 MHz (intermittent)
SSB meeting frequency 29.380 MHz (unofficial)
Semi-operational, mode-A, using a 2-meter uplink and a
10-meter downlink.

Dave, WB6LLO, has operating information for both RS-15 and RS-13
on his web site. In addition to satellite data, antenna information for
mode-A operation is also featured. The WB6LLO web site URL is:

http://home.san.rr.com/doguimont/uploads

OSCAR 10   AO-10
Uplink		435.030 to 435.180 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink  	145.975 to 145.825 MHz CW/USB
Beacon    	145.810 MHz (unmodulated carrier)
Semi-operational, mode-B. AO-10 has been locked into a 70-cm uplink
and a 2-meter downlink for several years.

DX continues to be worked (and heard) on AO-10. Kimio, 8J1RL, will be
active on AO-10 from Antarctica through February 5th.

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]

AMRAD   AO-27
Uplink    	145.850 MHz FM
Downlink  	436.795 MHz FM
Operational, mode J.

Steve, K5PK, operated portable KP2 from St. Croix, Jerry, K5OE, reports
Steve had good signals. K5OE also worked Mal, NP2L, in nearby
St. Johns. XE2YVW will be operating from grid DK99.

Ray, W2RS, reports an AO-27 question-and-answer page has been
established on the AMSAT-NA web site. The URL is:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/intro/ao27faq.html

AO-27 uses a method called Timed Eclipse Power Regulation (TEPR)
to regulate the on-board batteries. In simple terms, TEPR times how
long the satellite has been in an eclipse (or in the sun) and decides
what subsystems to turn on or off. The AO-27 pages on the AMSAT-NA
web site include an explanation of AO-27 operations (at):

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/n7hpr/ao27.html

Chuck, KM4NZ, reset the TEPR states on AO-27 (on 12/14/99).

TEPR 4 is 12	TEPR 5 is 48

[ANS thanks Chuck Wyrick, KM4NZ, and Michael Wyrick, N4USI, for
AO-27 information]

SUNSAT   SO-35
Operational. SunSat has been in mode-B using an uplink
of 436.291 MHz (+/- doppler) and a 145.825 MHz downlink.

SunSat was launched February 23, 1999 aboard a Delta II rocket from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. SunSat stands for
Stellenbosch University Satellite and takes it name from the South
African university whose students constructed the payload.

The SunSat package includes 1200 and 9600 baud digital
store-and-forward capability and a voice 'parrot' repeater system
that will be used primarily for educational demonstrations.
The satellite has two VHF and two UHF transmit-receive systems.

The SunSat command team recently upgraded the diary software.
The team has also uploaded the parrot repeater software and early
tests were satisfactory. The parrot repeater should be functional
near the end of January. According to the team packet radio
operation is still some 3 months away.

For more information on SunSat, visit the following URL:

http://sunsat.ee.sun.ac.za

[ANS thanks Garth Milne ZR1AFH, for this information]

JAS-1b   FO-20
Uplink   	145.900 to 146.000 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 	435.800 to 435.900 MHz CW/USB
Operational. FO-20 is in mode JA continuously.

JAS-1b (FO-20) was launched in February 1990 and continues
to function quite well.

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

JAS-2   FO-29
Voice/CW Mode JA
Uplink   	145.900 to 146.000 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 	435.800 to 435.900 MHz CW/USB
Operational, rotated with digital mode and digi-talker.

JAS-2 was successfully launched on August 17, 1996, by an H-II launch
vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center.

Digital Mode JD
Uplink     	145.850  145.870  145.910 MHz FM
Downlink   	435.910 MHz FM 9600 baud BPSK
Digitalker 	435.910 MHz
Operational, rotated with analog mode and digi-talker.

Mike, KF4FDJ, has put together a very informative document on FO-29,
addressing analog, digital and digi-talker modes. To obtain a copy
e-mail Mike at:          kf4fdj@amsat.org

Kazu, JJ1WTK, reports the FO-29 operational schedule
(announced by the JARL) is as follows:

through January 31st     		JA
February 1 - 6th 		JD1200 mailbox
February 7 -21st		JA
February 22 - 27th		JD1200 mailbox
February 28 - March 5th		JA

Mineo, JE9PEL, has updated his FO-29 satellite telemetry analysis
program. The software will automatically analyze all digital
telemetry from the satellite such as current, voltage and temperature.

The JE9PEL FO-29/software update is available at:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/

[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for the FO-29 status reports]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-030.05
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PART 2

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 030.05 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JANUARY 30, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-030.05

KITSAT   KO-23
Uplink   	145.900 MHz FM 9600 baud FSK
Downlink 	435.175 MHz FM
Operational.

W0SL, K4OGT and 9M2SS all report problems with KO-23 reception.
Jim, AA7KC, tells ANS that KO-23 is operational but downlink
efficiencies are widely variable with an average 50% efficiency.
KyungHee Kim, HL0ENJ, reports from the KO-23 control team that
part of the problem is due the current power budget aboard the
satellite.

Stay tuned to ANS for more information.

[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, and KyungHee Kim, HL0ENJ,
for KO-23 status information]

KITSAT   KO-25
Uplink		145.980 MHz FM 9600 baud FSK
Downlink 	436.500 MHz FM
Operational.

Jim, AA7KC, reports KO-25 is operational with good data throughput.

[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, for KO-25 status information]

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

Chris Jackson, G7UPN, reports to ANS that UO-22 has now entered full
sunlight and the temperatures have increased considerably. Controllers
have turned the satellite upside down to point the critical systems to cold
space. This has reduced the temperature on various systems (such as
the batteries) by between 5 and 10 degrees. The unfortunate by-product
of this is that the downlink is now quite weak.

The satellite will remain in full sunlight until late March, when controllers
will turn it back 'over' again. According to G7UPN "over the next few
years this situation will become worse as the no eclipse periods become
longer."

Only the 145.900 MHz receiver is usable for communications at the
moment.

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

http://www.sstl.co.uk/

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, for UO-22
status information]

OSCAR-11
Downlink  	    145.825 MHz FM, 1200 baud AFSK
Mode-S Beacon  2401.500 MHz
Operational.

The operating schedule is as follows:

        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)

The ASCII bulletin is currently a static message, detailing modes and
frequencies of all active amateur radio satellites.

More information on OSCAR-11 is available at the following URL:

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/

[ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for OSCAR-11 status information]

LUSAT   LO-19
Uplink 	  145.84 145.86 145.88 145.90 MHz FM
               using 1200 baud Manchester FSK
Downlink 437.125 MHz SSB RC-BPSK 1200 baud PSK
Currently semi-operational. No BBS service. The digipeater is active.

Mineo, JE9PEL, recently recorded LO-19 CW and PSK telemetry and
placed the information on his Internet homepage site at:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/

Telemetry is as follows:

Time is Fri Jan 28 21:39:50 2000 uptime is 546/07:56:33
+10V Bus        10.770 V
+X (RX) Temp    -3.235 D  RX Temp          7.422 D
Bat 1 V          1.351 V  Bat 2 V          1.353 V
Bat 3 V          1.364 V  Bat 4 V          1.356 V
Bat 5 V          1.368 V  Bat 6 V          1.365 V
Bat 7 V          1.352 V  Bat 8 V          1.334 V
+5V Bus          4.812 V  +8.5V Bus        7.822 V
+10V Bus        10.875 V  RC PSK TX Out    0.674 W
RC PSK BP Temp   6.861 D  RC PSK HPA Tmp   5.179 D
+Y Array Temp  -12.770 D  PSK TX HPA Tmp   5.179 D
+Z Array Temp   -9.966 D
Total Array C= 0.008 Bat Ch Cur=-0.289 Ifb= 0.119 I+10V= 0.177
TX:017 BCR:1E PWRC:62D BT:3C WC: 0

General information and telemetry samples can be found at:

http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu/lo19.htm

[ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for LO-19 status information]

PACSAT   AO-16
Uplink     145.90 145.92 145.94 145.86 MHz FM
               using 1200 baud Manchester FSK
Downlink 437.0513 MHz SSB RC-BPSK 1200 baud PSK
Mode-S Beacon   2401.1428 MHz
Semi-operational.

Russ Platt, WJ9F, of the AO-16 Command Team tells ANS the
437.025 MHz transmitter has been turned off and the S-band
transmitter is now on. The satellite is back in a PHT (PACSAT
Housekeeping Task) mode. This task manages the battery charging
during sunlit periods and manages the decay during eclipse periods. It
also includes safeguards to protect the batteries. WJ9F will be running
Whole Orbit Data surveys to watch the batteries during the S-band only
operation. Russ is also reloading the software to bring the file server
back on line.

Stay tuned to ANS for further updates.

Telemetry is as follows:

Time is Fri Jan 28 21:30:36 2000 uptime is 007/06:00:12
+10V Bus        10.500 V
Bat 1 V          1.294 V  Bat 2 V          1.290 V
Bat 3 V          1.274 V  Bat 4 V          1.280 V
Bat 5 V          1.250 V  Bat 6 V          1.281 V
Bat 7 V          1.272 V  Bat 8 V          1.292 V
PSK TX RF Out    1.655 W
Total Array C= 0.000 Bat Ch Cur=-0.398 Ifb= 0.158 I+10V= 0.255
TX:1009 BCR:1E PWRC:58B BT:3C WC:CC EDAC:35

General information and telemetry WOD files can be found at:

http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu

A complete collection of WOD graphics corresponding to the
year of 1998 can be found at:

http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu/wod1998.zip

[ANS thanks Miguel Menendez, EA1BCU, for AO-16 status information]

TMSAT-1   TO-31
Uplink   	145.925 MHz  9600 baud FSK
Downlink 	436.925 MHz  9600 baud FSK
Operational.

ProcMail V2.00G has been released by G7UPN. This software permits
the processing of image files from TO-31. It has been posted to the
AMSAT-NA FTP site at the following URL:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/software/win32/wisp

Many of the high-resolution color images transmitted by TMSAT are
compressed using a UoSAT compression format. This format is
supported by the VK5HI CCD display program.

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, for TO-31 status
information]

UoSAT-12   UO-36
Downlink	437.025 MHz
             	437.400 MHz

UoSAT-12 was successfully launched on April 21, 1999 from the
Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome. UO-36 carries a number of imaging
payloads, digital store-and-forward communications and mode L/S
transponders.

The satellite is not currently available for general uplink transmissions.

S-band high speed downlink commissioning continues at rates
between 128kb/s and 1Mb/s. The S-band downlink frequency has
not been announced.

UO-36 has been transmitting 9600-baud FSK telemetry framed in a
VLSI format using a downlink frequency of 437.400 MHz. Chris,
G7UPN, reports UO-36 is also (at times) testing on 437.025 MHz at a
baud rate of 38,400 (38k4). Currently, this downlink is switched on over
Europe. Due to the limited power on UO-36, it is not possible to have
this downlink on permanently over all areas.

Presently the BBS is still closed.

The VK5HI viewer shareware is available on the AMSAT-NA
web site at the following URL:

ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/software/win32/display/ccddsp97-119.zip

Further information on UO-36 is available from: http://www.sstl.co.uk/

[ANS thanks Chris G7UPN/ZL2TPO, and the University of Surrey for
this information]

ITAMSAT   IO-26
Uplink   	145.875 145.900 145.925 145.950 MHz FM 1200 baud
Downlink 	435.822 MHz SSB
Semi-operational, digipeater function is 'on'.

IO-26 was launched on the September 26, 1993.

Alberto, I2KBD, reports IO-26 has been opened to APRS use.

[ANS thanks ITAMSAT Project Manager Alberto E. Zagni, I2KBD, for this
information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-030.06
WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PART 3

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 030.06 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, JANUARY 30, 2000
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-030.06

THE FOLLOWING ARE IN ORBIT BUT ARE
NON-OPERATIONAL AT THIS TIME:

TECHSAT-1B   GO-32
Downlink 	435.225 MHz using HDLC telemetry
Updated status. Shlomo, 4X1AS, tells ANS that efforts are underway
to bring GO-32 on line. According to Dr. Fred Ortenberg of the Asher
Space Research Institute in Haifa, "the TechSat control team is about to
finish its Amateur Radio BBS package tests. The next stage is to add
beacon messages about the satellite's housekeeping status." 

Stay tuned to ANS for further information.

The TechSat-1B micro-satellite was successfully launched from the
Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 10, 1998.

Last reported, the satellite does not have a continuos beacon, but does
transmit a 9600-baud burst every 30 seconds (for a continuous 3
seconds in length), on 435.225 MHz.

The TechSat team has constructed a home page about TechSat.
To view the site, point your web browser to:

http://techsat.internet-zahav.net/

PANSAT   PO-34
Uplink/downlink frequencies have not been established.
The satellite is not currently available for general uplink transmissions.

PanSat, developed by the Naval Postgraduate School, was launched
from the shuttle Discovery during STS-95. PanSat spread-spectrum
digital transponders will be available to amateur radio operators in the
near future along with software to utilize this technology.

Dan Sakoda, KD6DRA, PanSat Project Manager recommends
'The ARRL Spread Spectrum Sourcebook' as a good place to start in
understanding the spread-spectrum scheme.

For more information, visit the official PanSat web site at:

http://www.sp.nps.navy.mil/pansat/

PanSat is the featured cover article in the July/August 1999 issue of the
AMSAT-NA Journal (written by KD6DRA and N7HPR).

[ANS thanks Dan Sakoda, KD6DRA, for this information]

MIR SPACE STATION
Ham radio activity aboard the Mir space station came to a close on
August 28, 1999 as the crew returned to Earth, leaving the station
unmanned. Mir is in a stable orbit with only essential systems running.
All Amateur Radio activities have ceased.

Stay tuned to ANS for further developments.

Current Amateur Radio equipment aboard Mir includes:

MIR SAFEX II 70-cm Repeater
Uplink		435.750 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 141.3 Hz
Downlink  	437.950 MHz FM
Not operational. No operation in 1999 or 2000 has been observed.

MIR SAFEX II 70-cm QSO Mode
Uplink    	435.725 MHz FM w/subaudible tone 151.4 Hz
Downlink  	437.925 MHz FM
Not operational. No operation in 1999 or 2000 has been observed.

MIR PERSONAL MESSAGE SYSTEM (PMS)
Uplink/Downlink 145.985 MHz FM 1200 baud AFSK
Not operational.

DOVE   DO-17
Downlink       145.825 MHz FM 1200 baud AFSK
  	       2401.220 MHz
Non-operational.

DOVE stopped transmitting in March 1998. The 145.825 MHz and
2401.220 MHz downlinks are off the air and the satellite has not
responded to ground station control. No additional information is
available at this time.

WEBERSAT   WO-18
Downlink 	437.104 MHz SSB 1200 baud PSK AX.25
Non-operational.

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

SEDSAT-1   SO-33
Downlink 	437.910 MHz FM 9600 baud FSK
The satellite is not currently available for uplink transmissions and
recovery efforts have been unsuccessful.

Mineo, JE9PEL, reports he has again received minimal telemetry
from the satellite, the most recent dated December 9th.

SedSat-1, signifying Students for the Exploration and Development of
Space Satellite number one, was successfully launched and placed in
orbit on Saturday, October 24, 1998.

For more information on SedSat-1 visit the satellite web site at the
following URL:

http://www.seds.org/sedsat

No additional information is available at this time.

/EX

--ANS END---

ANS would like to thank Mike Seguin, N1JEZ, ANS principal satellite
investigator, for helping provide current satellite information.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to
ans-editor@amsat.org

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

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