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[jamsat-news:1260] * SpaceNews 10-Apr-00 *


SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0410
* SpaceNews 10-Apr-00 *

BID: $SPC0410


			       =========
			       SpaceNews
			       =========


		 	 MONDAY APRIL 10, 2000



* MIR NEWS *
============
Soyuz PM-30 was launched on 04-Apr-2000 with the Mir space station as
its destination.  The Soyuz craft carrying Cosmonauts Sergei Zaletin and
Alexander Kaleri arrived on Mir on 06-Apr-2000.  The Cosmonauts are expected
to remain on-board Mir for 70 days, although the mission may be extended
several more months beyond that.

By Saturday 08-Apr-2000, Shlomo Goldstein, 4X4LF, in Israel was copying
Mir downlinks on 143.625 MHz.  On 11-Apr-2000, Bob, EA1TH reported copying
the Mir downlink from Northern Spain.

It appears, however, that many of the previously active Mir VHF relay
stations that utilized the 143.625 MHz downlink are no longer in operation.
As a result, activity on 143.625 MHz at least at the present time is not
as high as it has been during past missions.

By 14-Apr-2000, the 2-meter Amateur Radio station on Mir had been activated,
and several FM voice contacts between Mir and Amateur Radio operators
living in Australia and New Zealand had taken place on 145.985 MHz.
Mir was using a callsign of U8MIR.

Miles Mann, WF1F, reported that the Mir crew normally sleeps between
19:00 UTC and 04:00 UTC, and their normal working day is between
approximately 04:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC.  Amateur Radio activity is
most likely to occur during meal times and after their normal working
hours.  Meal time is as follows:

Wakeup		04:00 UTC
Breakfast	04:30 UTC
Lunch		09:00 UTC
Dinner		15:00 UTC
Bedtime		19:00 UTC


* FM SATELLITE STATUS *
=======================
Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, has provided the following summary of currently
active Amateur satellites carrying FM downlink transmitters.  The following
spacecraft can be heard fairly easily using an FM transceiver and a mobile
vertical whip antenna:

SAT   DOWNLNK UPLINK  S MODE                 COMMENTS
====  ======= ======= = ==================== ================================
MIR   145.985 145.985 9+FM voice to/fm crew  Activity over Australia reported
UO14  435.070 145.975 5 FM Voice repeater    Lots of fun
AO27  436.795 145.850 3 FM Voice repeater    Days only but fun
SO35  145.825 436.290 8 FM Voice repeater    On scheduled passes only
UO22  435.120 145.900 3 9600 baud FSK packet On
KO23  435.170 145.900 4 9600 baud FSK packet Occasionally off the air
KO25  436.500 145.980 3 9600 baud FSK packet On
TO31  436.925 145.925 5 9600 baud FSK packet On

In addition, the UoSAT-OSCAR-11 satellite may be heard daily on
145.825 MHz transmitting telemetry and ASCII news bulletins at 1200 bps
using an AFSK format.

Between the hours of about 6 AM to noon and 6 PM to midnight local Sun
time, there is usually one of these birds in view for a few minutes to keep
you entertained while traveling.  UHF requires +/- 5 or 10 KHz Doppler
tuning.  The "S" column is a subjective signal strength assessment.  A
20" vertical whip in the center of your car roof will give you success
as shown below.  This acts as a 3/4 wave on UHF giving almost 8 dBi above 
30 degrees over a good groundplane.         
                                                SIG RECEIVE RANGE
                                                === ==================
As a rough approximation consider this table     9  Horizon to Horizon
that Bob has subjectively determined after       8  5  deg and above
3 months of daily monitoring.  Home stations     7  10 deg and above
with 50' of RG-8 should subtract about 3 from    6  15 deg and above
the signals and 5/8 or dual band, or "gain"      5  20 deg and above
antennas should also subtract about 2.           4  25 deg and above
                                                 3  30 deg and above
The PACSATs do not currently digipeat UI         2  3 ele beam required
packets, but you can still see status and        1  6 ele beam required
telemetry and the USER lists on your Kenwood
data transceivers or any receiver with 9600 baud TNC.  For more information
on mobile satellite operations, see

	http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/astars.html

[Info via Bob, WB4APR]


* FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED *
===========================
Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor
(John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below:
 
WWW:        http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/
MAIL:       John A. Magliacane, KD2BD
            Department of Engineering and Technology
            Brookdale Community College
            765 Newman Springs Road
            Lincroft, New Jersey 07738
	    U.S.A.
PACKET:     KD2BD @ N2TDU.NJ.USA.NA
INTERNET:   kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net
SATELLITE:  AMSAT-OSCAR-16, KITSAT-OSCAR-25


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/EX

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