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[jamsat-news:1277] * SpaceNews 29-May-00 *


SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0529
* SpaceNews 29-May-00 *

BID: $SPC0529


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


		 	  MONDAY MAY 29, 2000


* ARISS UPDATE *
================
According to the ARRL and AMSAT-NA's Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, a new chapter
in the history of Amateur Radio will begin later this year when amateur
radio equipment is installed aboard the International Space Station for
the first time.

KA3HDO reports that three major events must happen before the first
amateur radio contact is made from the ISS, however.

First, the Russian-built Zvezda Service Module is scheduled for launch
this summer, providing the living quarters for the first ISS crew.  Then,
the initial amateur station hardware will be sent to the ISS aboard shuttle
mission STS-106 in August.  Finally, the initial crew of US astronaut
Bill Shepard, KD5GSL, and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR,
(along with cosmonaut Yuri Gaidzenko) will be launched in October from
Russia aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for what's expected to be a
long-duration mission.

Amateur Radio will be available to the first crewmembers once the
equipment has been installed temporarily aboard the Zarya Functional
Cargo Block module.  Earlier plans had called for the initial station
gear, primarily VHF and UHF hand-held transceivers, to be put aboard
the Service Module.  Launch delays forced the change, however.  The
amateur gear likely will be transferred to the Service Module next
year.

The initial station will use existing antennas on the Functional Cargo
Block.  The system is being adapted to support Amateur Radio operation
on 2-meters but not on 70-cm.

A Russian station license and call sign, RZ3DZR, has been granted for
the ISS ham station.  Long-term plans call for obtaining an international
call sign for the ISS station to recognize the cooperative nature of the
ARISS project.  With assistance from the International Amateur Radio Union,
efforts are under way to request a specific ISS call sign block from the
ITU.  ARISS team members also continue to pursue licenses in their
respective countries.  A German call sign, DL0ISS, has been issued,
and a US call sign has been applied for.

[Info via the AMSAT-NA News Service]


* KITSAT-OSCAR-23 NEWS *
========================
The KITSAT-OSCAR-23 control station reports that the satellite is currently
passing through a maximum eclipse period, and this combined with poor battery
performance is causing poor and unpredictable operation of the satellite.
Poor performance is expected to continue through June 11.

[Info via HL0ENJ]


* FM SATELLITE STATUS *
=======================
Here is a beginner's one line summary of currently active FM birds that
you can receive on your Mobile FM rig and mobile vertical whip antenna.  
Two new items of significance:

 1) SUNSAT now operates APRS digipeating on all non-voice sked passes!
 2) Kenwood announced an upgrade to THD7 HT to rec/display 9600 baud
    APRS.  Thus it can monitor these satellite downlinks in your hand.

SAT   DOWNLNK UPLINK  S MODE               COMMENTS
----  ------- ------- - ---------------    ----------------------------
MIR   145.985 145.985 9+FM crew voice      Voice and SSTV activity reported
UO11  145.825         4 FM Bell-202 ASCII  Telemetry and news bulletins
UO14  435.070 145.975 5 FM Voice rptr      lots of fun every pass
AO27  436.795 145.850 3 FM Voice rptr      days only but fun
SO35  145.825 436.290 8 FM Voice rptr      on scheduled passes only
SO35  145.825 436.290 8 9600 bd FSK digi   ON for APRS on non-voice passes
UO22  435.120 145.900 3 9600 bd FSK BBS    ON
KO23  435.170 145.900 4 9600 bd FSK BBS    ON but with probs in eclipse
KO25  436.500 145.980 3 9600 bd FSK BBS    ON
TO31  436.925 145.925 5 9600 bd FSK Images ON

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
which was subjectively determined after 3        8  5  deg and above
months  of daily monitoring.  Home stations      7  10 deg and above
with 50' of RG 8  should subtract abt 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 radios or any radio with 9600 baud TNC.  For more info on mobile
satellite operations see http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/astars.html

[Info via Bob Bruninga, WB4APR]


* RS-15 NEWS *
==============
Tony, AB2CJ reports hearing surprisingly strong downlink signals from the
RS-15 satellite late last week.  The downlink peaked at S-8 signal levels, 
and was still at S-3 out to 4100 km with the usual fading.  The telemetry
beacon was also active.

Tony used a 4 element Yagi for the downlink, and also checked the signal
on a dipole antenna.  He found the dipole to be just a few S-units behind
the yagi.  His uplink power was 35 watts to a 22 element M^2 yagi antenna. 

Tony cautions that RS-15 doesn't always perform this well, and CW is
still the mode of choice on this satellite.  


* 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


      <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>>
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/EX

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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- John A. Magliacane, KD2BD -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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