[jamsat-news:2837] Re: ANS-171 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-171

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.
This is your chance to join in the ranks of AMSAT.  There is still an 
opening or two for someone to step in and assist with the ANS editing 
process.  If you are interested, please drop a line to Gould Smith,
WA4SXM@amsat.org.  There are many other volunteer slots and you can 
find them in the advertisement in the AMSAT Journal.  It takes many 
helpful hands to keep our group well oiled. (ed.)


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


In this edition:

* Last Call For Speakers
* BOD Nominations Announced
* AO-51 Field Day Schedule
* Lunar Lander Cubesat Poposed
* 1675-1710 MHz Weather Satellite Band Under Study for Re-Allocation
* Name That Satellite
* Hudson Valley, NY SatCom Net on Thursday
* ARISS Status


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-171.01
Last Call For Speakers

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 171.01
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 20, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-171.01


Hi All,

This is the final call for speakers for the AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2010 
which will be held at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, UK (same venue as 
in 2009) on *Sat 31st Jul and Sun 1st Aug 2010*, with a beginners session 
on the afternoon of Friday 30th.

AMSAT-UK invite speakers, about amateur radio, space and associated 
activities to this event, details of which, can be found at:

http://www.uk.amsat.org/content/view/32/42/

As this is a late call, the submission of a paper is not required 
but any PowerPoint or similar material can be made available online, 
afterterwards.

Submissions should be sent *ONLY* to G4DPZ, via the following routes:

e-mail: david.johnson AT blackpepper.co.uk

SnailMail: QTHR from www.QRZ.com

Likewise if anyone knows of a good speaker, please send contact and 
other information to G4DPZ.

73

Dave
G4DPZ

[ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-171.02
BOD Nominations Announced

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 171.02
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 20, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-171.02

It is my pleasure to announce that the following have been 
nominated to serve on the AMSAT Board of Directors for 
two year terms:

Tom Clark, K3IO
Lou McFadin, W5DID
Tony Monteiro, AA2TX
Gould Smith, WA4SXM

Candidates will be afforded the opportunity to have statements 
of their qualifications and positions circulated to the membership.  
In accordance with the bylaws of the Radio Amateur Satellite 
Corporation, the ballots will be mailed no later than July 15th, 
and must be returned no later than September 15h to be counted.  

Since there are four candidates for three seats, the three 
candidates having the greatest number of votes will be elected 
to full terms.  The forth candidate will serve as an alternate 
until the next annual election.


Alan Biddle
WA4SCA
AMSAT Corporate Secretary

[ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-171.03
AO-51 Field Day Schedule

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 171.03
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 20, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-171.03

AO-51 Operations Team Announces Field Day Schedule

It's that time of year again; summer and Field Day! Each year the 
American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day as an emergency 
preparedness exercise. The event takes place during a 24-hour period 
on the fourth weekend of June.

For 2010 the event takes place during a 27-hour period from 1800 UTC 
on Saturday June 26, 2010 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 27, 2010. 
Those who set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 26 can operate only 24 
hours. The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its 
own version of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites, 
held concurrently with the ARRL event.

AMSAT-NA VP Operations, Drew KO4MA says the AO-51 Command Team and 
Operations Group has announced the AO-51 configuration for Field 
Day:

June 21 10:40Z - June 24 09:35Z FM Repeater, V/S to allow testing 
                 of V/S station equipment prior to Field Day:
Uplink: 145.880 Mhz FM
Downlink: 2401.200 Mhz FM

June 24 09:35Z - June 27 06:40Z FM Repeater, V/U
Please observe the 1 QSO per repeater Field Day rule
Uplink: 145.920 Mhz FM, PL 67Hz
Downlink: 435.300 Mhz FM

June 27 06:40 - June 27 22:00Z FM Repeater, V/S
Please observe the 1 QSO per repeater Field Day rule
Uplink: 145.880 Mhz FM
Downlink: 2401.200 Mhz FM

AMSAT Field Day rules and scoring instructions are available on-line at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/awards/amsatfd.php
Read the latest AO-51 Command Team and Operations Group News on-line at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/CTNews.php

[ANS thanks the AO-51 Operations Team for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-171.04
Lunar Lander Cubesat Proposed

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 171.04
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 20, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-171.04

Lunar Lander CubeSat Proposed

In a story first reported in the European EE Times, Vermont Technical 
College, Norwich University, St. Michael's College, and the University 
of Vermont are working together to land a CubeSat on the moon.
(EE Times http://tinyurl.com/22vuz7q)

The team is currently working on initial designs for the spacecraft, 
with the aim of achieving further NASA funding in June 2011. Primary 
funding for this effort is being provided by the Vermont Space Grant 
Consortium under NASA grant.

In the current phase of the program The Vermont CubeSat project, led 
by Professor Carl Brandon of Vermont Technical College aims to launch 
by 2015. It is developing the first CubeSat that can be launched from 
a geostationary orbit to successfully land on the moon. The CubeSat 
electronics are based on a Texas Instruments (TI) MSP430 processor and 
the software will control navigation, communications, scientific ins-
truments, camera and the CubeSat's propulsion system.

SPARK, a new high level programming language and toolset designed to 
support the development of mission critical software will be used for
the moonbound cubesat. SPARK was adopted for the CubeSat project be-
cause of Vermont Technical College's experience in using SPARK and the 
related Ada programming language in developing mission critical control 
systems for a project to create Arctic sea ice monitoring buoys. Both 
the CubeSat and buoy systems face similar challenges in terms of coping 
with inhospitable conditions and the impossibility of fixing any soft-
ware bugs when deployed.

The proposed lunar lander will be a single unit CubeSat (10*10*10 cm) 
with four mini-thrusters on the bottom to maximize control and manoeu-
vrability. Two potential options for propulsion are being examined - a 
bi-propellant booster or a Xenon powered ion drive booster. The Xenon 
thruster can also be used for a triple CubeSat that would go to and 
orbit the moon.

[ANS thanks EE Times and the SouthGate ARC News for the above
 information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-171.05
1675-1710 MHz Weather Satellite Band Under Study for Re-Allocation

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 171.05
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 20, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-171.05


1675-1710 MHz Weather Satellite Band Under Study for Re-Allocation

The ARRL has picked up on a news item in regards to the National 
Broadband Plan (NBP) recommending that the FCC should make 500 MHz 
of spectrum available for broadband use within the next 10 years, 
including 300 MHz between 225 MHz-3.7 GHz for mobile use in the
next five years. One of the first slices of spectrum being eyeballed
includes the 1675-1710 MHz band utilized by weather satellites.

The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) has engaged in 
discussions with the National Telecommunications and Information Ad-
ministration's (NTIA) Office of Spectrum Management to begin examining 
various frequency bands that may be suitable for mobile broadband use. 

NTIA has preliminarily identified the 1675-1710 MHz band for such use 
and is examining the impact on its incumbent federal users of the 
weather satellite products. The FCC issued a Public Notice (ET Docket 
No 10-123) on June 4, 2010, seeking information to help better compre-
hend the current use of the 1675-1710 MHz band by non-federal entities 
and better understand its potential utility for broadband. 

The full story can be found on the ARRL web site:
http://tinyurl.com/29zv8a6

[ANS thanks the ARRL Letter for June 17, 2010, Editor: S. Khrystyne 
 Keane, K1SFA for the above information]

/EX

-----

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-171.06
Name That Satellite

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 171.06
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 20, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-171.06

Name that satellite

SA-AMSAT is inviting radio amateurs to propose a name for its CubeSat 
project which was announced at the recently held Space Symposium. The 
project name should be a single word in any of South Africa's official 
languages and reflect the spirit of the project.

A good example is the name given to the around-the-world-balloon project 
which is called "lalela", the Zulu word for "listen".

The winning entry will receive a satellite handbook.
Entries should be sent by e-mail to saamsat@intekom.co.za.
SA-AMSAT's web page is at: http://www.amsatsa.org.za/

The closing date is 15 July.

[ANS thanks SA-AMSAT, SARL, and SouthGate for the above information]

/EX



SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-171.07
Hudson Valley, NY SatCom Net on Thursday

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 171.07
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 20, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-171.07


Hudson Valley SatCom, NY Net on Thursday

The next "HV Satcom" group net is Thursday June 24
8PM (EDT) (Or 2400 UTC), with an echolink Node of
N2EYH-L, & the repeater used is "146.970 (Pl 100;
600 down), & for more info: www.hvsatcom.org
                                          73,.Stu (WA2BSS)
                                          (Director;Mt. Beacon ARC)

[ANS thanks Stu, WA2BSS, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-171.08
ARISS Report

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 171.08
>From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 14, 2010
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-171.08

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report
June 14, 2010

1.	Upcoming School Contact

Asahi Manabiya, located in Owariasahi, Aichi, Japan, has been scheduled 
for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact 
on Wednesday, June 23 at 12:48 UTC. Asahi Manabiya is a volunteer club 
with approximately 50 members. It hopes to pique children's interest in 
natural science including electrical and electronic phenomena through 
this ARISS activity.  

2.	Astronaut Caldwell-Dyson Speaks with ISIS Andrea Ponti via ARISS

On Monday, June 7, students from ISIS Andrea Ponti in Gallarate, Varese, 
Italy, linked up with on-orbit astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, KF5DBF via 
an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact.  An 
audience of more than 250 students, teachers and visitors, located in 
several classrooms and connected by multimedia screens, were present for 
the contact. ARISS mentor Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF introduced the event 
and ARISS activities with a presentation via phone line. The event was 
distributed via webcast and was covered by the local media and newspapers. 
This contact was the final event of several cross-curricular activities 
involving different school subjects including Science, History, Geography, 
Math, Information Technology and English. 

3.	ARISS News on Amateur Radio Newsline

On June 11, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1713 included a short story
titled, 
"Radio from Space:  Astroham Congratulates WIA on its 100th Anniversary."  
The article is about Tracy Caldwell-Dyson's ARISS contact during the WIA's 
anniversary dinner in which she sent greetings and talked about the
advancements 
in communications over the years. A link to the audio is provided.  
To view the article, see: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt

4.	Astronaut Training Status

Astronaut Tom Marshburn, KE5HOC is scheduled to receive ARISS basic 
operations training on July 12. 

[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,
Dee Interdonato, NB2F
nb2f at amsat dot org



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