[jamsat-news:2170] ANS-064 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-064

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 BoD Nominations Due June 12, 2006
* Request for AMSAT Journal Articles
* SuitSat Visual Sighting Reported
* SuitSat in the Classroom
* ARISS Status February 27, 2006
* Aurora Surprise

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.01
AMSAT-NA BoD Nominations Due June 12, 2006

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.01

NOTICE

AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due No Later than June 12, 2006

It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the AMSAT-NA 
Board of Directors.  A nomination requires either one Member Society or five 
current individual members to nominate an AMSAT member for the position.  A 
Director serves for a period of two years.  Three Directors' terms expire 
this year:  Tom Clark, K3IO, Lou McFadin, W5DID and Paul Shuch, N6TX. 
Nominations MUST be in writing and mailed to:

AMSAT
850 Sligo Ave #600
Silver Spring MD 20901

[ANS thanks Martha, AMSAT Manager for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.02
Request for AMSAT Journal Articles

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.02

Ed Long, WA4SWJ, AMSAT Journal Editor, passed along the following:

"Hi Everyone...

Just a note to let all you authors know that I am looking for articles for 
the March/April 2006 issue of The AMSAT Journal. I am trying to get the 
Journal released earlier in the two-month normal cycle but I've been delayed 
by late submissions in some cases. I surely appreciate all the work that 
goes into article development but I could use it a little sooner so I'll be 
able to get the Journal out sooner. So, fire up those keyboards and get some 
bytes onto that virtual piece of paper on your screens! As usual the best 
way to submit them to me (especially with high resolution graphics or 
pictures) is to "journal at amsat dot org" (you know what that means). I 
would love to have your submissions by March 10th or so. That's only a 
couple of weeks away.

Thanks and please let me know if I can help or if you need information from 
me.

The January/February 2006 issue has been at the printer for 2 to 3 weeks now 
so you should have it soon. I haven't seen my paper copy yet although I get 
to see final version in electronic format before anyone. One of the benefits 
of being the Journal Editor."

[ANS thanks Ed Long, WA4SWJ, Editor, The AMSAT Journal for the above 
information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.03
SuitSat Visual Sighting Reported

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.03

In response to an AMSAT request for reports of any visual observations of 
SuitSat, Steve Meuse of Londonderry, New Hampshire reported a visual 
sighting during a February 28th pass. Steve has written the details of the 
sighting on his astronomy blog. See: http://tinyurl.com/qlanx

[ANS thanks Steve Meuse for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.04
SuitSat in the Classroom

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.04

Bruce Robertson, VE9QRP, taught three classes on SuitSat in the science 
program of his local Middle School in New Brunswick, Canada and filed this 
report:

"I thought I'd provide a brief report, partly to seed ideas for future 
educational opportunities, partly as a note of thanks to the team that put 
SuitSat together and collected its data.

This proved a very engaging topic, one to which the grade 6 and 7 students 
warmed quite quickly. The idea of 'reusing' out-of-date equipment in this 
manner, the 'secret words' and multilingual nature of the message, and 
finally the very haunting image of 'Mr. Smith' tumbling through space all 
served to capture young imaginations.

My presentation comprised a modified version of Gould's ppt presentation and 
an audio disk with A.J.'s Greatest Hits. I began talking about ISS and 
communications from there to earth via ham radio. I played a part of the 
recording of Maryam 9K2MD talking to U5MIR. Her enthusiasm is quite evident, 
and it draws the girls into the topic a bit. It also is a good introduction 
to the idea of callsigns and phonetic alphabets.

After introducing the idea of SS, we watched the video of the launch. We 
calculated how much weaker the signal turned out to be than expected, and we 
listened to the audio. I gave them each a worksheet which helped guide them. 
Recordings with telemetry had headings for 'Temperature', for instance. Then 
they gathered in lab groups and tried to fill in material. I allowed 
representatives from the groups to gather around the CD player to eek out 
another word or two.

We ended the hour with a discussion about what went wrong. Does your car 
stereo stop working at 13 degrees C? If the batteries on a suit are rated at 
28V, how does the voltage seem? Finally, by listening to the fading and 
comparing the video of the suit tumbling, many got the sense that the fading 
was due to the suit masking the antenna. All three classes wish to recommend 
to the designers of future SuitSats that they install a second antenna, some 
thought at right angles to the first, others thought out the feet of the 
suit!"

Bruce wrapped up his report by saying "The important thing for us to 
recognize is that this was an opportunity that was grasped very well. We 
should be proud not only of the people who put the thing together with very 
little time, but of those who made a success of it through their technical 
skills and their considerable cooperation."

[ANS thanks Bruce, VE9QRP for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.05
ARISS Status February 27, 2006

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.05

1. Itaki Elementary School Contact Successful

Students from Itaki Elementary School Fathers' Club in Hiroshima, Japan 
spoke with Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, on Monday, February 20. Thirteen children 
asked 19 questions of McArthur as an audience of 90 looked on.  Media 
coverage included 2 newspapers and 5 television stations. Audio and video 
are available on the following web site: 
http://www.ariss.jp/higashihiroshima.html.en

The audio from this contact was available on the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW 
conference room servers. EchoLink had 16 connections from 6 countries: 
Japan, UK, USA, Thailand, Russia, and Holland.

2. Upcoming School Contact

Evangelisches Gymnasium Lippstadt in Lippstadt, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany 
has been approved for a contact with the ISS.  It will take place on 
Wednesday, March 8 at 14:56 UTC.

3. Girl Guides Listen to Engineering Day Contact

The audio from the Discover Engineering Family Day contact was fed through 
IRLP to which the Node 2050 Halifax connected. Six Girl Guides, their 
parents and leaders who were taking part in "Girl Guides on the Air" 
activities at this club station were treated to this ARISS event.

4. ARRL Article on Pine Ridge, Cosmos Centre Contacts

ARRL ran an article on the Pine Ridge NES and Cosmos Centre Charleville 
contacts entitled, "No Lollies on Space Station, Commander Tells Youngsters 
in Space QSO."  See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/23/3/?nc=1

5. ARRL Articles on SuitSat

ARRL posted two web stories covering SuitSat's end.  To view, "SuitSat-1 
Apparently SK; Nothing Heard for Several Days," see: 
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/22/100/?nc=1

"ARISS Makes It Official: 'Tremendously Successful' SuitSat-1 is SK" may be 
found at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/24/1/?nc=1

6. SuitSat Continues to Receive Media Coverage

The ARISS team supplied photos and data to Popular Science, Japanese CQ, and 
Design Electronic Magazines, as all of these publications plan to run 
articles on SuitSat-1.  ABC News also interviewed ARISS Chairman Frank Bauer 
and will include a segment on SuitSat in their news broadcast in the near 
future.

7. Astronaut Training Status

A second class in Amateur Radio license training was held on Friday, 
February 24. Astronauts Jim Dutton, Shane Kimbrough, and Tom Marshburn 
attended. Astronauts Chris Cassidy, Randy Bresnik and Bobby Satcher will be 
scheduled for their second session at a later date.

8. ARISS Contact Cards

After receiving the new ARISS QSL cards (postcards used to confirm general 
contacts), ARRL Headquarters' staff has now fulfilled the backlog of 100 
cards.  They have currently collected 43 cards toward Bill's Worked All 
States award.

[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.06
Aurora Surprise

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.06

Sunspots have been scarce lately, but that doesn't mean solar activity is 
nil. A solar wind gust hit Earth's magnetic field on February 19th, sparking 
auroras of exceptional beauty over far-North America. Visit SpaceWeather.com 
to view pictures of the storm taken from Earth and Earth-orbit.

[ANS thanks SpaceWeather.com for the above information]

/EX

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT 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 Office.

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Al Marote, WA1LBG
AMSAT LM-1957
wa1lbg at amsat dot org
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