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[jamsat-news:3041] ANS-008 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins


AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-008

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:

* ARISSat-1/KEDR Goes Silent
* FUNcube - Launch Details and Time Frame Finalized
* DNEPR Launch Includes Triton-1 and Triton-2 Amateur Satellites
* FUNcube Dongle Presentation Video
* SKN on OSCAR 2012 Best Fist Nominations Due
* Ham Radio Builder List Begins
* Creation of AMSAT-Francophone
* Budapest University Masat-1 Telemetry Decoder Software Released
* NASA Summer Internships for Students
* Satellite Shorts From All Over


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-008.01
ANS-001 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 008.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 8, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-008.01


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ARISSat-1/KEDR Goes Silent

Reception reports indicate that ARISSat-1/KEDR has stopped trans-
mitting on Wednesday, January 4, 2012. The last full telemetry 
captured and reported to the ARISSatTLM web site at 06:02:14 UTC 
on January 4 were received from ground stations as the satellite 
passed over Japan.

See: http://www.arissattlm.org/live (full telemetry display)
See: http://www.arissattlm.org/mobile (condensed telemetry)

Telemetry reports showed that the temperature aboard ARISSat-1/KEDR 
had been rising as atmospheric drag began to affect the satellite.
Final temperatures received via ARISSatTLM reported this data:

IHU           75 ° C / 167.0 ° F
PSU           76 ° C / 168.8 ° F
RF            88 ° C / 190.4 ° F
Control Panel 61 ° C / 141.8 ° F
Experiment    64 ° C / 147.2 ° F

Tracking data from Space Command gave a Predicted Decay Time 0700 GMT 
+/- 3 Hours on January 4. Telemetry report narrows the impact time 
window to about 4 hours. The predicted decay location is 12.7° S, 
354.3° E, an open part of the South Atlantic, well west of Angola. 
Send reports to the amsat-bb If you heard the satellite, even briefly, 
after 0600 UTC. This will help confirm the actual impact point.

Stations receiving telemetry from ARISSat-1 at any time over the 
last few months, please forward all of your .CSV telemetry files 
to telemetry AT arissattlm.org.

Konstantin, RN3ZF sent a reception report of his copy of the 0842 UTC 
pass that, "the telemetry was absent, voice messages were not legible, 
very silent and interrupted. Most likely, I saw last minutes in the 
life of the satellite."

Dee, NB2F reported, "Nothing heard from ARISSat-1/KEDR on any fre-
quency during the first USA pass at 16:00 UTC, January 4."

ARISSat-1/KEDR was deployed from the International Space Station on
August 3, 2011 during during EVA-29 on by Cosmonaut/Flight Engineers 
Sergei Volkov and Alexander Samokutyaev.

The satellite carried a student experiment from Kursk State University
in Russia which measured atmospheric density. Students from around the
world provided the voices for the FM voice announcements.

The amateur radio payload aboard ARISSat-1/KEDR achieved many "firsts"
for amateur radio in space:

+ First flight test of AMSAT Software Defined Transponder which trans-
  mitted simultaneous:
 
  - FM voice downlink cycling between student messages, spoken
    telemetry and SSTV from cameras on the spaceframe.

  - 16KHz bandwith linear transponder, 

  - CW beacon with telemetry and callsigns of radio amateurs noting
    their significant contributions to amateur radio in space.

  - Robust, forward error corrected 1K rate BPSK downlink with sat-
    ellite telemetry and Kursk experiment telemetry.

+ Development and release of the ARISSatTLM software for PC and Mac
  platforms enabled amateur stations worldwide with reliable reception
  of the BPSK telemetry, CW telemetry, display on the station's com-
  puter, and automatic upload of received data via the internet to the
  ARISSat engineering team.

+ A new Integrated Housekeeping Unit was developed and successfully
  flown.

+ A new Power Management System was developed and successfully
  flown.

AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW noted, ARISSat-1/KEDR marked a 
new type of satellite which has captured the attention of the national 
space agencies around the world for the unique educational opportunity 
we have been able to design, launch, and operate. By designing an edu-
cational mission aligned with NASA's Science, Technology, Engineering, 
and Mathematics goals amateur radio operators around the world have 
been able enjoy a new satellite in orbit."

ARISSat-1/KEDR Project Manager, Gould Smith, WA4SXM said, "Dozens of 
amateur radio volunteers, AMSAT, ARRL, NASA, and Energia teamed up for 
this successful mission to bring you the most unique and innovative 
amateur radio satellite mission. Congratulations to all who made 
ARISSat-1 successful!"

The Official ARISSat-1/KEDR web page: http://www.arissat1.org/
See DK3WN SatBlog for last signal report received by Tetsu san, 
JA0CAW in Japan:  http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=25125

[ANS thanks the ARISSat-1/KEDR Team for the above information]


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FUNcube - Launch Details and Time Frame Finalized

An agreement has now been reached with ISIS Launch Services BV, who 
are based in Delft in the Netherlands, for them to provide a launch 
of the FUNcube-1 CubeSat.

It is anticipated that FUNcube-1, which has been created by a team 
of volunteer radio amateurs and other specialists over the past two 
years, will be launched with a number of other spacecraft from a 
DNEPR rocket sometime in the third quarter of 2012. The flight is 
planned to take place from the Yasny launch facility which is in 
southern Russia near to the Kazakhstan border. The spacecraft needs 
to be completed by the end of July 2012, ready for shipping from 
the Netherlands to Russia.

The orbit is still to be defined precisely but it is expected to be 
nearly circular and approximately sun synchronous. This will ensure 
that the spacecraft has the necessary solar illumination and that 
it will appear at regular times for educational outreach activities 
at schools and colleges.

The FUNcube-1 spacecraft will transmit signals that can be easily 
received directly by schools and colleges for educational outreach 
purposes. This telemetry will give details of the spacecraft's health
- battery voltages and temperatures and from this it will be possible 
to determine its spin rate and attitude by plotting simple graphs. 
Additionally, experimental data and messages can be displayed in an 
attractive format and provide stimulation and encouragement for stu-
dents to become interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and 
Mathematics (STEM) subjects in a unique way.

The target audience for this project is students at both primary and 
secondary levels and a simple and cheap "ground station" - actually 
it looks just like a USB dongle, for schools to use, has already been 
developed.

In addition to providing educational outreach for schools and colleges 
around the world, the spacecraft will also provide a U/V linear trans-
ponder for radio amateurs during local "night", at weekends and during 
holiday periods.

The IARU amateur satellite frequency coordination panel has announced 
new frequencies for the FUNcube-1 satellite to take into account other 
payloads on the same launch. The new frequencies are:

  FUNcube-1 New Frequencies
-------------------------------
Uplink   435.080 - 435.060 MHz
Downlink 145.960 - 145.980 MHz
Beacon   145.955 MHz CW and BPSK.

The production and testing of the spacecraft itself has already been 
funded via a legacy and other sources. It will however really help 
the project if radio amateurs and other interested supporters could 
contribute something towards the cost of the actual launch itself. 
With this in mind a special donation scheme has been setup using the 
Virgin Giving charity donation website.

All donations received from UK tax payers can be "Gift Aided" which 
will add 20% to the value of your donation.

More information about this exciting project will be made available 
over the coming months at the FUNcube website.

Journalist David Meyer interviewed Jim Heck G3WGM for his article on 
FUNcube-1. Read the article at: http://tinyurl.com/7nr9sec
(www.zdnet.co.uk)

FUNcube Giving: http://tinyurl.com/funcubegiving/

FUNcube: http://www.funcube.org.uk/

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the FUNcube Team for the above information]


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DNEPR Launch Includes Triton-1 and Triton-2 Amateur Satellites

AMSAT-UK reported this week that the same DNEPR launch in the third 
quarter of 2012 carrying FUNcube-1 will also have additional amateur
satellite payloads aboard.

Triton-1
--------
Comprising of a 3U CubeSat, the Triton-1 mission is a radio science 
mission which aims to test an experimental advanced AIS (Automatic 
Identification System) receiver.

Telemetry decoding software will be made available which will allow 
radio amateur operators to listen to periodic downlink broadcasts 
containing housekeeping telemetry, payload telemetry as well as re-
ceived AIS messages. Telemetry downlinks will be 9k6 RC-BPSK on VHF 
(145MHz). 

The satellite also includes two similar secondary amateur radio pay-
loads, being two single channel mode U/V (435-145MHz) FM to DSB 
transponders.

After the Triton-1 three month science mission is complete plans are
to have the satellite continue in the Amateur Satellite Service for 
as long as possible.

The following downlink frequencies have been coordinated for Triton-1:
 
Main Downlink   145.815 MHz 
Backup Downlink 145.860 MHz
Uplink frequencies will be announced by the project team once the
satellite becomes available for amateur operations.

Triton-2
--------
Comprising of a 3U CubeSat, the Triton-2 mission is a radio science 
mission which aims to test an experimental advanced AIS (Automatic 
Identification System) receiver. 

Telemetry decoding software will be made available which will allow 
radio amateur operators to listen to periodic downlink broadcasts 
containing housekeeping telemetry, payload telemetry as well as re-
ceived AIS messages. Telemetry downlinks will be 9k6 RC-BPSK on VHF 
(145MHz) and 38k4 RC-BPSK on S Band (2400MHz). 

After the Triton-2 three month science mission is complete plans are
to have the satellite continue in the Amateur Satellite Service for 
as long as possible. The satellite includes two secondary amateur 
radio payloads: 

+ A single channel mode U/V (435-145 MHz)  FM to DSB transponder.
+ A single channel mode U/S (435-2400 MHz) FM to FM  transponder.

Downlink frequency details will be published shortly. Uplink fre-
quencies will be announced by the project team once the satellite 
becomes available for amateur operations. Power budget permitting, 
both payloads may be switched on at the same time.

In addition to Funcube, Triton-1, and Triton-2 this DNEPR rocket will
launch UKube-1, Delfi n3Xt (also carrying a linear amateur U/V linear
transponder), Trio-Cinema 1 & 2 and other spacecraft using frequencies 
in the amateur satellite service.

AMSAT-UK published the story at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/3434

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]


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FUNcube Dongle Presentation Video

The AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle is a VHF/UHF (64-1700 MHz) Software Def-
ined Radio (SDR) on a USB Dongle. Howard Long G6VLB traveled from 
London to the 2011 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) 
in Baltimore to address the group on this project. He details the 
trials and tribulations behind designing and manufacturing what 
turned out to be an extremely popular product.

The primary aim of the FUNcube Dongle is to interest young students 
in science, satellites and radio. The FUNcube itself is a satellite 
that will be launched specifically to be monitored by all those 
dongles that have been sold.

Watch 2011 DCC – FUNcube Dongle:
http://www.uk.amsat.org/2012/01/02/funcube-dongle-presentation-video/

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]


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SKN on OSCAR 2012 Best Fist Nominations Due

Many thanks to all who participated in AMSAT's Straight Key Night on 
OSCAR 2012. If you have not already done so, please take a moment to 
nominate someone you worked for Best Fist. Remember, your nominee 
need not have the best fist of those you heard, only of those you 
worked. Send your nomination to w2rs@amsat.org.

This year's event is dedicated to the memory of Don Brown, W1JSM, who 
passed away in 2011, aged 90. Don was a longtime, enthusiastic VHF/UHF 
and satellite operator, and one of our most frequent Best Fist winners.

Those nominated will be recognized in an ANS bulletin in early Feb-
ruary, and in The AMSAT Journal.

[ANS thanks Ray Soifer, W2RS for the above information]


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Ham Radio Builder List Begins

If you are currently a ham radio builder, or interested in becoming 
one, the Hamradio-builder mailing list has been created with you in
mind.

Diane Bruce, VA3DB says of the list, "A recent look at some old 73 
Magazines brought to mind the simple projects this magazine produced. 
So my thought was to do something similar, but meant for the web in-
stead of dead tree. I am not talking a full fledged magazine, but a 
website where we can put simple beginner type articles, with copious 
photos and good instructions. We hope it will become a bit like Maker
Magazine but for the radio amateur."

A few of us have written and edited amateur radio articles. She is 
proposing for the moment that we clean up or write a few articles  
suitable for beginners to start the content for this community.

List members have already proposed topics on homebrew test equipment,
and antennas. Amateur satellite operators have skill and many ideas,
construction projects, and techniques to get beginners on-the-air at 
VHF, UHF, and microwave frequencies.

The project is just getting started. If you are interested in joining
this community you can sign up for the list at:
http://diana.db.net/mailman/listinfo/hamradio-builder

[ANS thanks Diane Bruce, VA3DB for the above information]


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Creation of AMSAT-Francophone

A new amateur radio satellite organization, AMSAT-Francophone, was 
formed in December, 2011.

Following the disappearance of AMSAT-France a few months ago, some of 
the members who originally created AMSAT-France 16 years ago, thought 
it was still necessary to have a structure for the French amateur 
space activities and have created AMSAT-Francophone.

Among its aims are:

+ Development of amateur satellites, technology and systems useful 
  for the construction and / or use of amateur satellites

+ Participation in national and international collaborations on 
  non-commercial projects in space,

The AMSAT-Francophone website in Google English is at: 
http://tinyurl.com/AMSAT-Francophone  - or in French -
at: http://www.amsat-f.org/ 

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]


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Budapest University Masat-1 Telemetry Decoder Software Released

Dr. Bandi Gschwindt HA5WH, Project Director of the Masat-1 CubeSat, 
the first Hungarian satellite, built in Hungary by students at the 
Budapest University of Technology and Economics, reports that their 
satellite is expected to be launched on the Vega maiden flight in 
early February.  Masat-1's website is at: 
http://cubesat.bme.hu/?lang=en   
 
They are looking for hams to help with the reception of telemetry 
data on 437.345 MHz at 625/1250 bps baud rate GFSK, especially in 
the first two weeks after launch. Call sign is HA5MASAT. The ama-
teur radio webpage is at: 
http://cubesat.bme.hu/radioamatoroknek/?lang=en 
You can register on that page. Telemetry decoder software can be 
downloaded at http://cubesat.bme.hu/kliens_szoftver/?lang=en 
 
Planned orbit will be  300/1500 km, inclination 70deg. and launch 
will be by ESA from Kourou.

[ANS thanks Dr. Bandi Gschwindt, HA5WH and Perry Klein, W3PK for
 the above information]


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NASA Summer Internships for Students

NASA is accepting applications for summer internship positions among
several NASA Centers around the country. Applications for summer in-
ternships will be accepted until 2/1/2012.

Students can view opportunities and apply for them all in one place. 
To start, the prospective student should go to: 
http://intern.nasa.gov/ then Student Opportunities tab then select
Internships which will bring you to the OSSI:SOLAR page describing
the program.

Using the Search Tab on the OSSI:SOLAR page selecting Goddard in
Maryland, Internship, Summer 2012, Engineering - Electrical Eng., 
or Engineering - Computer Eng., and a keyword search using "PICetSat"
reveals an opportunity titled "PICetSat Module Development." which
will develop a high-altitude balloon experiment module and related 
ground station components. This internship is open for Junior, Sen-
ior, and Masters level students. A description of this particular
internship opportunity can be found at: 
http://simsat.net/Internship-PICetSatModuleDevelopment-PKilroy.pdf 
as sponsored by Pat Kilroy, N8PK, an AMSAT member and engineer at 
NASA in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The application process must be completed at the NASA intern web 
site. Students do not specify a specific internship program when 
they submit an application. The NASA Education community will de-
termine which internship programs you are eligible for according 
to the information you provide in your application.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]


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Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ ARISS volunteer Dave Jordan, AA4KN will give a presentation on the 
  ARISS program during the Kings Point Amateur Radio Club (KPARC) 
  monthly meeting on January 9 at 2 pm ET. The club is located in 
  Sun City Center, Florida.

+ AMSAT area coordinator Clint Bradford, K6LCS, will be presenting 
  his 'Working Amateur Satellites With Your HT' session at the Gwin-
  nett Amateur Radio Society's TechFest 2012 on January 14, 2012. 
  ALL are welcome to attend!

  Saturday, January 14, 2012 - 11AM EST
  Gwinnett Medical Resource Center
  655 Duluth Highway (GA120)
  Lawrenceville GA  30046
  Event Web site: http://tinyurl.com/GARS-2012
  Attendees should download Clint's four-page tutorial and radio 
  programming data from: http://www.work-sat.com

+ The AO-27 web page is back: http://www.ao27.org/AO27/index.shtml

+ Links to an entire series of videos, "When We Left Earth" posted by 
  Space Documentaries, covering most of the NASA missions begins at 
  this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu6UrXEhbzY&feature=related

+ All 20 videos from the 3-day TAPR Digital Communications Conference 
  in September 2011, held in Baltimore have been posted on-line. They 
  are all on the web, full length, and in high definition! All are 
  available to watch at http://www.ARVN.TV and at YouTube:
  http://www.youtube.com/TAPRDigitalVideo 
  The videos are free to watch, but they were not free to make. ARVN 
  is asking viewers to make a contribution, anything from $1.50 up
  (details on their web page).

+ The Gridmapper feature on QRZ.com allows you to see the grid square 
  on a Google map of the station you are looking up. A six character 
  square is outlined. (John, K8YSE)

+ The January issue of Sat Magazine includes Cubesat coverage about
  RAIKO, FITSAT-1, WE WISH, PRIME, the Vega CubeSats, QB50 and the 
  AMSAT-India 435/145MHz Linear Transponder. Download your copy of 
  Sat Magazine at http://www.satmagazine.com/2012/SM_Jan_2012.pdf 
  (Trevor M5AKA)

  
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/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. And with that,
please keep in mind you can remember the value of Pi (3.1415926) by 
counting each word's letters in "May I have a large container of 
coffee?" The billionth digit of Pi is 9 but we don't have a sentence
that long.


73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
K9JKM at amsat dot org


_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans