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[jamsat-news:1353] * SpaceNews 23-Oct-00 *
SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1023
* SpaceNews 23-Oct-00 *
BID: $SPC1023
=========
SpaceNews
=========
MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2000
* SATELLITE DEMO PLANNED *
==========================
On Monday, Oct 23rd, John Santillo, N2HMM, will be demonstrating satellite
communications to the 5th and 6th grade students of Lounsberry Hollow Middle
School. The school is located in Sussex County New Jersey, grid square
FN21rf.
Plans call for operating on:
AO-27 ~9:01AM AOS EDT
UO-14 ~10:23AM AOS EDT *
AO-27 ~10:39AM AOS EDT *
FO-20 ~11:48AM AOS EDT
UO-14 ~12:02PM AOS EDT *
The AOS times above are for the schools QTH. Passes with the " * " are
favorable passes for the school. The other passes are questionable due
to hills just to the east.
John did a satellite demonstration like this last year and it was a
tremendous success. A few hundred students and almost the entire school
staff witnessed the demo. Stations from Maine to Florida and as far
West as Utah were successfully contacted.
Questions should be dircted to John via e-mail at: n2hmm@warwick.net
[Info via John Santillo, N2HMM]
* AMSAT WEB SEARCH FACILITY *
=============================
Have you ever wanted to find something you *know* is on the website but
just couldn't hit it? Frustrating. Well, fret no more.
AMSAT-UK has announced an AMSAT website search facility which will help
you find that elusive, but vital, piece of info on (currently) either the
AMSAT-UK or the AMSAT-NA websites.
Our search software (HT/Dig) isn't perfect yet (e.g. it can't find exact
phrases because it uses "fuzzy" logic) but we hope it will be a useful
tool for all of the web-based satellite users. More information about
the searcher can be found in the help files.
The searcher can be found at http://www.uk.amsat.org/search/.
[Info via Richard W L Limebear, G3RWL (g3rwl@amsat.org)]
* OSCAR-11 REPORT *
===================
During the period 16 September to 17 October 2000, excellent signals
have been received from OSCAR-11's 145.826 MHz NBFM beacon. The satellite
is currently experiencing favourable solar conditions and this should
continue until the end of the year.
Ground control operations on 05-October reset the magnetorquer counters,
and the spin period has now started to slowly return to it's nominal
value, after drifting to -227 seconds.
The battery voltage observed during daylight passes has continued to
increase. The average value observed was 14.0, with a range of 13.9
to 14.1 volts.
The internal temperatures have increased by a further 2.7C during
the month. They are now 5.8C and 4.2C for battery and telemetry
electronics respectively. This rise in temperature is expected to
continue as the solar eclipse times become shorter.
The single WOD survey of channels 10, 20, 30, 40 (+Y, -X, +X solar
array currents, array voltage), dated 06-January has now been
replaced by a new survey of channels 1, 2, 3, 61 (X, Z, Y
magnetometers & status) dated 06-October-2000.
The Mode-S beacon has recently been heard by Victor OE1VKW. Signals
were heard at three degrees of elevation, and at higher elevations were
up to 10 dB above the noise. Victor uses a 1.2m dish with RHCP helix.
Receiver is an ICOM IC-970D with UX-98 module for 2.4 - 2.45 GHz and
a DX2320/1 broad band pre-amp. Victor is concerned about the
temperature stability of mast-head down converters, and is
experimenting with all the equipment located inside his shack.
OSCAR-11's 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)
The ASCII bulletin is currently a static message, detailing modes and
frequencies of all the amateur radio satellites.
There are 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. This beacon is a useful test source for those testing Mode-S
converters, prior to the launch of P3-D. However, the signals are very
weak, and there is a lot of Doppler shift. Users should also note that
the polarization of OSCAR-11 is LHC. Even if you can't hear OSCAR-11,
your equipment may still be OK for P3-D. Any reports of reception of
OSCAR-11 on 2401 MHz would be most welcome, and should be directed to
Clive Wallis via e-mail at: g3cwv@amsat.org.
OSCAR-11's 435.025 MHz UHF 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 UHF beacon is
transmitting, the VHF beacon is normally OFF. The data transmitted
is mainly binary.
Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting a web site dedicated
to this satellite. The site contains details of hardware required and
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. Also included are
some audio files, examples of each type of data transmitted by OSCAR-11,
each one plays for about ten seconds. There are also examples of
Mode-S reception. All the audio files are zipped, so that they can
be played off-line. These should help listeners identify the various
types of data, and give an indication of the signal quality required
for successful decoding.
The URL is:
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/
[Info via Clive Wallis, G3CWV (g3cwv@amsat.org)]
* 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 @ WB2COP.NJ.USA.NA
INTERNET: kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net
SATELLITE: KITSAT-OSCAR-25
<<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>>
<<=- Serving the planet (and beyond) since 1987 -=>>
/EX
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- John A. Magliacane, KD2BD -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Internet : kd2bd@amsat.org | Voice : +1.732.224.2948
Satellite : KITSAT-OSCAR-25 | Morse : -.- -.. ..--- -... -..
Packet : KD2BD @ WB2COP.NJ.USA.NA | WWW : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/
Video : 426.250 MHz/439.250 MHz | FAX : +1.732.224.2772
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