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[jamsat-news:1865] ANS-306 AMSAT Weekly Bulletin


AMSAT NEWS SERVICE

ANS-306

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.

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


In this edition:
*  AMSAT-NA President's Letter October 2003
*  AMSAT-UK Colloquium dates announced
*  CubeSate XI-IV takes pictures of the Earth
*  ARISS Status  28 October 2003
*  AMRAD balloon launch
*  AO-40 Status Update
*  This Week's News in Brief


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-306.01
AMSAT-NA President's Letter October 2003

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 306.01 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  November 2, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-306.01

My apologies for writing this so late in the month, but I wanted to include
some information from the AMSAT Annual Meeting, Board of Directors Meetings,
and Space Symposium that took place in Toronto October 17 through October
20.  My other excuse is that with three computer crashes I am now typing it
for the forth time!

When the AGM etc. is held it is natural for those who worked to put it on to
feel  apprehensive until the reviews start coming in.  Well I am pleased to
tell you that we had a great time and I must thank the Toronto Airport
Marriott Hotel together with  Barry Delong  VA3BJD, and the crew of Hams who
worked hard to put the show on.  I was able to sit in on all the
presentations at the Space Symposium and found them to be both stimulating
and inventive.  A copy of the majority of the papers can be obtained from
the AMSAT office, just ask Martha. The cost is $20+ mailing and worth every
penny.  If AMSAT were an profit making organization we would be charging at
least $400 US to attend such a symposium due to the quality of the papers
and the work in putting the organization together.  What a bargain for $30!
Next year we will visit Washington DC, the original home of AMSAT, on our
35th Birthday and I look forward to being there with you.

Our recent membership competition ended up in a tie, both people having  10
new AMSAT members. the two winners were Steve Diggs and Drew Glasbrenner.
With only one prize, the toss of a coin settled the matter and Steve won the
VX7R which was kindly donated by Standard Vertex/Yaesu. However, Drew did
not go away empty handed as he was awarded 3 years membership in AMSAT.
My congratulations go to both Steve and Drew, and to the many others who
brought in a total of 64 new members to our organization.

During the meetings in Toronto, I announced the start of the "ECHO Launch
Fund Campaign" .  ECHO will be launched around the end of March 2004
(scheduled March 31) and the total launch cost will be $110,000 US.  We have
to raise that amount before we can think of any further activity on EAGLE or
other satellites.  Every member of AMSAT-NA will be receiving a letter from
me in the next few weeks requesting participation in the Launch campaign.
With AO-27 and UO-14 no longer in service, ECHO will be fulfilling that
operation as a Low Earth Satellite.  In addition there are a number of other
things that ECHO can do, and we will be developing a schedule of initial
operations for ECHO in November.  Remember there are three transmitters on
ECHO and we have the opportunity to possibly run two of them at any one
time.  I look forward to trying to work ECHO with my Handheld and a whip
antenna - it should be possible under the right conditions, perhaps even
with a rubber duck!

One request from me, for your benefit lets encourage the use and exchange of
AMSAT membership numbers in satellite communications, this will, I hope get
more people to join AMSAT  and  thus produce more revenue for more
satellites.

One final thought , the "new"  Board of Directors met in Toronto (for
details see minutes)  and the three new member of the Board were present. I
was delighted to see the skills that they brought to the board and I am sure
that Rick Hambly W2GPS,  Gunther Miesse W8GSM and Lou McFadin W5DID will
serve you well over their Term(s) on the Board.  The Board did re-elect me
as President, however this will be my last term as your President  after
serving in this role for four years and previously as Executive
Vice-President for two more years I feel that next October will be the right
time to retire, and let others with new ideas take over the leadership of
the organization.

73
Robin Haighton VE3FRH
President AMSAT

[ANS thanks Robin, VE3FRH,  for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-306.02
AMSAT-UK Colloquium dates announced

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 306.02 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  November 2, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-306.02

The 2004 Amsat-UK Colloquium will take place from Friday 30 July to Sunday
01 August 2004. This is one week later that some might have expected in
order to avoid a clash with other popular events (Farnborough and Central
States).

Calls for papers etc will issue in due course.

[ANS thanks Richard, G3RWL, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-306.03
CubeSate XI-IV takes pictures of the Earth

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 306.03 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  November 2, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-306.03

Two CubeSats XI-IV and CUTE-I were launched 30 Jun 2003, 14:15:26 UTC+2, by
Japanese Universities,

'XI-IV'  : Tokyo University
'CUTE-I' : Tokyo of Institute of Technology University

Earth images from XI-IV's image decoder have been posted to the following
URL.
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/cubsat-2.htm

XI-IV can be heard on the frequencies and modes below.

Sat.         Downlink   Beacon     Mode
XI-IV     436.8475   1200bd    CW
XI-IV     437.490     1200bd    FM Packet AX.25

[ANS thanks Mineo, JE9PEL, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-306.04
ARISS Status  28 October 2003

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 306.04 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  November 2, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-306.04

*  Ourense, Spain School Contact Successful

The Ourense, Spain school contact on October 23 was very successful. A group
of 75 children and 25 parents gathered at Ceip Seixalbo school as ESA
astronaut Pedro Duque answered sixteen questions in Spanish using the ARISS
radio system. All nationwide radio, TV broadcasters, and newspapers were
present.


*  ARRL Article on New Ham Crew

ARRL posted an October 17 Web story entitled "New Two-Ham ISS Crew Set to
Head into Space." See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/10/17/2/?nc=1


*  ARISS Chairman Frank Bauer Presents Paper at AMSAT Space Symposium

AMSAT-NA's Annual Meeting and Space Symposium was held on October 18-19,
2003 in Toronto, Canada. ARISS International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO,
presented a paper describing the capabilities of the new Phase 2 hardware.
For more information go to:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/Presentations/AMSAT03.pdf

and

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/10/22/2/?nc=1


*  ARRL Article on Five Hams in Space

ARRL ran an October 21 Web story entitled "Five Hams Now Aboard
International Space Station" about the three ham radio operator-astronauts
that arrived at
the ISS over the weekend to join the Expedition 7 crew. See:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/10/21/100/?nc=1


*  ARRL Celebrates Anniversaries of Ham Radio in Space

Rosalie White wrote an article commemorating the 20th anniversary of Amateur
Radio in space (on Spacelab-1) and the 15th anniversary of Amateur Radio on
Mir which was published in the November issue of ARRL's monthly journal,
QST.


*  Recent ARISS School contacts

Ceip Seixalbo school  Ourense,  Spain
2003-10-23 13:32 UTC direct via ED1ISS with Pedro Duque ED4ISS
The local AR club EA1URO has dedicated a website to the ARISS contact with
Ourense:  http://www.radioaficionados.info/duque.html

Verbum Casa das Palabras  Vigo Spain
2003-10-26 12:07 UTC with Pedro Duque ED4ISSMore information is available on
the ARISS-Europe website for the Pedro Duque contacts:
http://www.ariss-eu.org/

[ANS thanks Carol Jackson and  Charlie Sufana for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-306.05
AMRAD balloon launch

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 306.05 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  November 2, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-306.05

AMRAD's balloon was launched last Friday, 24th October, around 5:30pm GMT.

The payload consisted on a Video Camera, ATV 1260MHz, GPS receiver, APRS
tracking device transmitting on VHF 145.850MHz.  Four balloons pulled it up,
and a parachute went together. A picture at our web site listed below shows
the setup.  It has inside the payload, a plastic wrapped paper with ID,
contacts and emails.

The balloon was tracked for more than 10h with the precious help of CT1FAK,
and other colleagues, using their powerful receiving stations, equipped with
the latest radio technology.

The last received packet from the balloon, at CT1FAK's station, has the
timestamp of +-3:30am GMT 25th October.  We lost contact with the balloon
after that.

We received logs from our friends in the Northwest Spain, Galiza, with
timestamps of 7:49am Zulu same day.  They had the last contact with the
running balloon.

The balloon climbed up to 27xxx feet only. Bad weather and heavy clouds
didn't allow it to rise higher.

According to wind charts, forecasts and local Meteo office, we had East
winds that would push the balloon into middle Atlantic Ocean, and later
north.

The balloon is already electrically "dead".  Hence our contact to the
countries around the Atlantic Ocean.  As the payload is pulled by four
balloons, we presume it is still floating around somewhere, if it hadn't
burst because  of the heavy cloud ceiling, that didn't allow it any higher.

We would like to take the opportunity to ask for help in recovering the
payload (and some advise).  If by any chance the balloon falls in your
country, is picked up in the ocean by boats/fishermen, or picked at the sea
shore.

On behalf of AMRAD's board and associates, we thank you  all. For reading,
for spreading the news to your associates and colleagues and for, who knows,
catching the payload  :)

AMRAD web site

http://www.amrad.pt/lancamento_cinelsat2.php

AMSAT-CT web site

http://www.amrad.pt/amsatct.php

[ANS thanks CT2GPW for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-306.06
AO-40 Status Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 306.06 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  November 2, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-306.06

AO-40 continues to move in ALON, keeping ahead of the sun.  As of 31 Oct
2003, AO-40's attitude was ALON/ALAT ~ 30 / 0.  ALON will slowly be
advancing to 45 deg.

The passband schedule has been modified slightly and the K-band window has
been discontinued.

N  QST AMSAT AO-40          SCHEDULE                 2003-10-31
                MA      002   080   230   244   002
                ---------7-----1-----5-----0-----7
                S2/K-Tx  |  S  |  S  |  S  |  S  |
                MB       |  *  |  *  |  *  |  *  |
                RUDAK    |     |     |     |     |
                V/U-Rx   |  U  |  U  |  U  |  V  |
                Uplink   |     | UL1 |     |     |


Stacey Mills, W4SM, provided the following update regarding AO-40's
telemetry beacon.  Stacey says, "FEC is turned on as for as many orbits as
possible, working around the need for pictures and other command functions.
FEC mode requires loading the IHU-2 each orbit and this is not always
possible; however most orbits have FEC active. The FEC routine has been
modified to allow the option of cycling between normal mode telemetry
including message blocks and event blocks, and FEC mode telemetry (A-blocks
only). With this option, the normal mode is currently active from 0 to 16
minutes of the hour, and the FEC mode is active for the remainder of the
hour. This allows time for users to read the message blocks and for event
blocks to be collected. During transition between these two modes, up to 1
minute of beacon "idling" (hex50) may be heard before the new mode starts."

          The AO-40 team would like your telemetry files!
Please "zip" compress your daily telemetry files and e-mail to:
                       ao40-archive@amsat.org


[ANS thanks Stacey, W4SM, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-306.07
This Week's News in Brief

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 306.07 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  November 2, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-306.07

**   The ARRL put officials in Manassas, Virginia, on notice that the League
will act on behalf of its members to ensure full compliance with FCC
regulations when the city's Broadband over Power Line (BPL) system starts up
in a few months. The League was responding to media reports that Manassas--a
Washington, DC, suburb--has approved plans for a citywide BPL rollout.
Manassas City Council reportedly voted unanimously October 16 to grant a
10-year franchise to Prospect Street Broadband to expand a BPL field trial
and offer high-speed Internet service to the entire community over municipal
power lines.  --ARRL

**   Two Japanese satellites have been in trouble following geomagnetic
storms triggered by recent solar flares, one of them the largest in three
decades, the Japanese space agency said Thursday.  ADEOS-2, one of the
world's biggest earth observation satellites, has lost contact with the
earth since last Saturday due to a possible glitch in its electrical system,
a spokesman for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.  The
communications satellite Kodama has stopped relaying data after its sensor
developed trouble early Wednesday after the massive flare, Junichi Moriuma
added.  --SpaceDaily

**   The Voyager journey of discovery continues. After traveling through
space for more than 26 years, voyager 1 is approaching a new milestone. On
November 5, 2003, the spacecraft will be 90 astronomical units (AU) from the
Sun. 90 AU is the equivalent of about 8.4 billion miles or 13.5 billion
kilometers.  Recent observations indicate that Voyager 1 is in a region
unlike any encounter in its 26 years of exploration. These observations and
what they may infer about the approach to the termination shock will be the
subject of a NASA Space Science Update (SSU) on November 5, 2003. The SSU
will be carried live on NASA Select beginning at 1:00 PM EST.  --SpaceDaily

**   Penn State engineers have developed innovative design methods for a new
class of antennas composed of an array of fractal-shaped tiles that offer
anywhere from a 4:1 to 8:1 improvement in bandwidth compared to their
conventional counterparts.  The new broadband antennas are composed of
irregular but self-similar, repeated fractal-shaped unit tiles or
"fractiles" which cover an entire plane without any gaps or overlaps.  While
fractal concepts have been used previously in antenna design, Werner and his
research team are the first to introduce a design approach for broadband
phased array antenna systems that combines aspects of tiling theory with
fractal geometry.  --SpaceDaily

/EX

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT-NA offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors
to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits.
Application forms are available from the AMSAT-NA Office.

AMSAT-NA has developed an on-line volunteer survey, designed
to identify the interests and skills of those who may be available to
directly help in efforts to develop the amateur satellite program. The
survey is designed to be completed and returned on-line, and takes
only a few minutes to fill out. To request the survey, simply send an
e-mail request to:
volunteer at amsat.org

73,
This weeks ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS, ku4os at amsat.org


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