[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][JAMSAT Home]
[jamsat-news:2289] ANS-330 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-330
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:
* Unique Donation Opportunity Through The Pension Protection Act
* AMSAT at the Tampa Hamfest
* OSCAR-11 Report ²0 November 2006
* ARISS Status - 20 November 2006
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-330.01
Unique Donation Opportunity Through The Pension Protection Act
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 330.01
Ærom AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 26, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-330.01
Recent legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Bush can help
AMSAT raise the funds needed to build Eagle. The law, called the Pension
Protection Act (PPA), includes
a provision enabling AMSAT to raise substantially more money than might have
been previously possible. Èowever, time is short to take full advantage of
this unique opportunity.
Serious construction work must be funded this year to have Eagle ready to
orbit by the target of 2009.
Basically, here's the story on how the new law can help Eagle fly!
The PPA provides that U.S. taxpayers with IRAs who have reached the age of
70-1/2, may contribute to qualified charities, part or all (up to $100,000
per year or $200,000 for married couples filing jointly), of the money they
must annually withdraw from their IRAs.
Thus, many AMSAT members and other supporters of the amateur radio space
program have a marvelous opportunity to keep the Eagle project on track.
If you must withdraw a certain amount from your IRA each year, there is a big
advantage to making such withdrawals as direct contributions to AMSAT rather
than merely receiving the distributions and then contributing in the usual
manner. Under PPA, the amount you contribute directly is NOT counted as
income and thus may put you into a lower tax bracket. It may also reduce ôhe
percentage of your Social Security income subject to taxation.
Key provisions of the new legislation to keep in mind:
1. Donors must hold either a conventional or Roth IRA.
2. Donors must be at least 70-1/2 years of age.
3. Contributions must be made directly from the IRA to the charitable
organization not to a donor- advised fund, private foundation, gift annuity
or trust.
4. Donations may be made this year and next only, and must be made by December
31, 2006 and December 31, 2007.
5. The maximum amount a contributor may donate each year is $100,000.
6. Direct contributions to qualified charities from IRAs, in accordance with
the PPA provisions, are NOT counted as taxable income.
If you are 70-1/2 or older and have an IRA, you are in a position to take
advantage of this potential windfall for the Eagle project. AMSAT urges you
to first check with your tax advisor for specifics regarding your individual
situation, then ask your IRA custodian to transfer to AMSAT part or all of
what you are required to withdraw. Be sure to have this transfer completed
before December 31st.
Let's all of us do our part to get Eagle into orbit.
* Have your IRA custodian call the AMSAT office to get information on how to
transfer your contribution. The number 301-589-6062. Office hours are 10 AM
to 6 PM EST.
[ANS thanks BIll, W3XO, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-330.02
AMSAT at the Tampa Hamfest
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 330.02
Ærom AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 26, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-330.02
The Tampa Bay Hamfest, which will be held this year over the weekend of 2-3
December, is the largest amateur radio trade show on Ælorida's west coast.
AMSAT will be well represented at the hamfest with a booth, live satellite
demonstrations and an expanded forum session.
The hamfest will be held at the Manatee Civic Center in Palmetto, which in
located in the south Tampa Bay Area - about halfway between downtown St.
Petersburg and downtown Sarasota.
Additional hamfest info is available at http://www.fgcarc.org/
[ANS thanks Lee, KU4OS, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-330.03
OSCAR-11 Report ²0 November 2006
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 330.03
Ærom AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 26, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-330.03
During the period 30 October to 20 November, the satellite was heard from 07
to 17 November. Good signals steady signals have beeen heard on all passes,
and excellent copy of telemetry obtained.
The date/time stamp has been of interest. Óince the satellite was heard on 18
October the on-board clock has maintained accurate time, to within two
seconds over a period of 30 days. This compares with the average gain of five
seconds per month, recorded when the satellite was fully operational.
The date counter appears to be incrementing correctly, but the day of the
month is not reset to one, at the end of each month, and is not incrementing
the month counter correctly. During the OFF period the month counter changed
from '0=' to '10'. On 17 November the date was shown as 51 October. However,
the day of the week counter appears to be incrementing
correctly.
If the satellite watchdog timer continues to operate normally, the beacon
should switch ON around 29 November. If the satellite is not heard around
this time, it may be worth listening around 09 December.
I am indebted to Peter ZL3TC, for his reports, which helped me determine when
the satellite last switched ON. Many thanks.
The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry
channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67
were still working. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control
system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by
the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is
free to spin at any speed. When telemetry was last received it showed that one
of the solar arrays had failed, and there was a large unexplained current
drain on the main 14 volt bus. After 22 years in orbit the battery has
undergone around 100,000 partial charge/discharge cycles, and observations
suggest that it cannot power the satellite during eclipses, or
sometimes during periods of poor solar attitude.
The watchdog timer now operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have
tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations show this to
be 20.7 days, ie. 10.3 days ON followed by 10.4 days OFF. However, poor solar
attitude may result may result in a low 14 volt line supply, which may cause
the beacon to switch OFF prematurely, and reset the watchdog timer cycle.
When this occurs, the beacon is OFF for 20.7 days.
The Beacon frequencies are -
VHF 145.826 MHz. ÁFSK FM ÁSCII Telemetry
UHF 435.025 MHz. ÏFF
S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF
Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. If you need to
know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to
hear. The website contains an archive of news & telemetry data. It also
contains details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data
capture. Ôhere is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII
telemetry. Ôhe URL is www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/
If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the
bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT127.CWV, to prevent duplication.
73 Clive G3CWV xxxxx@amsat.org (please replace xxxxx by g3cwv)
[ANS thanks Clive, G3CWV, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-330.04
ARISS Status - 20 November 2006
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 330.04
Ærom AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 26, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-330.04
Astronaut Training Status
ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio
training session on Monday, November 20. Fugelsang will fly on the Shuttle
STS-116 mission scheduled to launch on December 7, and plans to participate
in an ARISS contact during his flight.
[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI 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,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans