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[jamsat-news:3156] ANS-090 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins


AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-090

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor-
mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite 
Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space 
including 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.

The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur 
Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

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

In this edition:

* Schedule of AMSAT Activities at Dayton Hamvention
* AMSAT/TAPR Banquet Speaker: Bruce Perens, K6BP
* AMSAT Store Now Selling Tickets for AMSAT/TAPR Friday Night Banquet
* "Dayton Only" Special Deals at the AMSAT Store
* Google Earth Satellite Tracker Software Rollout for Demo and Testing
* AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2013 Announced for July 19-21
* South Africa AMSAT Space Symposium to Feature Interesting Topics
* VO-52 HAMSAT Transponder User Feedback Requested
* Cubesat Launches Planned for April
* ARISS School Contacts This Week
* Satellite Shorts From All Over


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-090.01
ANS-090 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 090.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 31, 2013
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-090.01

*****************************************************************
* Volunteers are needed to help at the AMSAT booth at Dayton.   *
* Steve Belter N9IP, is looking for volunteers to help man the  *
* AMSAT booth during the 2013 Hamvention. If you are willing    *
* to help at the Hamvention, please send an e-mail by April 30  *
* to Steve Belter, n9ip@amsat.org.                              *
*                                                               *
* Monitor the 'AMSAT at Dayton Hamvention 2013' link on the new *
* AMSAT Web Site http://www.amsat.org for the latest AMSAT at   *
* Dayton news and developments                                  *
*****************************************************************


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Schedule of AMSAT Activities at Dayton Hamvention

AMSAT Hamvention activities and displays are planned to take place 
at the new booth location (444-446 and 433-435) in the Ball Arena, 
and outside in the Satellite Demonstration Area just outside the 
Ball Arena entrance.

2013 theme for AMSAT at Dayton is "AMSAT - A View to the Future."

Here are the daily AMSAT activities for on-site and off-site events 
at the 2013 Hamvention!

Thursday 16 May 2013
--------------------
+ 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM 
  AMSAT Booth Setup at Ball Arena (contact Steve Belter, N9IP, 
  n9ip at amsat.org if you can help during this time).

+ 6:30 PM - 10:00 PM
  The third Annual AMSAT "Dinner at Tickets" party will be held at 
  Tickets Pub & Eatery in Fairborn, OH. Check out the 'AMSAT at Day-
  ton Hamvention 2013' link to the page 'AMSAT Dayton Social Events'
  on the new Web Site: http://www.amsat.org.

Friday 17 May 2013
------------------
+ 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM at the AMSAT Booth
  AMSAT Booth open for membership renewals, books, new items and 
  information. 

+ 6:30 PM - 10:30 PM AMSAT/TAPR Banquet at Dayton 2013
  AMSAT/TAPR Banquet on Friday night, May 18 is one of the main AMSAT 
  activities during the 2013 Hamvention at Dayton. See the bulletin
  below for details!

Saturday 18 May 2013
--------------------
+ 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM at the AMSAT Booth
  AMSAT Booth open for membership renewals, books, new items and 
  information. 

+ 11:15 AM - 1:30 PM The AMSAT Forum
  Get the latest information about what is going on with AMSAT and 
  its projects. The AMSAT Forum will be held in Forum Room 5. See
  the bulletin below for details!

Sunday 19 May 2013
------------------
+ 9:00 AM - 1:00PM at the AMSAT Booth
  AMSAT Booth open for membership renewals, books, new items and 
  information. 

+ 1:00PM - 3:00PM at the AMSAT Booth
  Take down and storage of the AMSAT Booth. (contact Steve Belter, 
  N9IP, n9ip at amsat.org if you can help during this time).

Demos Daily on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for All Available Passes
--------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSAT is encouraging everyone attending the 2013 Dayton Hamvention
to come by the Satellite Demonstration Area just outside of the Ball
Area entrance and make a contact using the amateur satellites. There
will be AMSAT volunteers to explain how to make the contacts and dur-
ing actual satellite passes will complete as many actual contacts as 
possible. Satellite pass times will be posted in the satellite demon-
stration area and at the AMSAT booth.

[ANS thanks AMSAT's 2013 Dayton Committee for the above information]


---------------------------------------------------------------------


AMSAT/TAPR Banquet Speaker: Bruce Perens, K6BP

The seventh annual AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be held on Friday even-
ing, May 17. This dinner will be one of the highlights of the AMSAT 
activities during the 2013 Hamvention at Dayton.

This year's speaker will be Bruce Perens, K6BP, with a humorous his-
tory of technology evangelism:  "The Evangelist's Dilemma: Driving 
New Ideas With Nothing But Words." As you can imagine, when you're 
promoting new ideas, there are things that inevitably go wrong. Bruce 
will pull examples from his history with Open Source, No-Code, Soft-
ware Freedom, Codec2, and Open Hardware, and he'll introduce a few 
of the new battle grounds.

[ANS thanks AMSAT's 2013 Dayton Committee for the above information]


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AMSAT Store Now Selling Tickets for AMSAT/TAPR Friday Night Banquet

Tickets for the dinner are $30 each, and must be purchased from the 
AMSAT Store at http://store.amsat.org/catalog/ by Tuesday, May 14.

The dinner will be held at:

The Kohler Presidential Banquet Center
4548 Presidential Way
Kettering, OH 45429

Doors open at 1830 for a cash bar with buffet dinner served at 1915. 

Seating is limited to the number of meals we reserve with the Kohler
caterers, based on the number of tickets sold by the deadline. Tick-
ets will not be sold at Dayton, but tickets purchased online may be 
collected at the AMSAT booth (444-446 and 433-435).

Join us for a fun evening with good food, great company, and an
outstanding speaker.

[ANS thanks AMSAT's 2013 Dayton Committee for the above information]


---------------------------------------------------------------------


"Dayton Only" Special Deals at the AMSAT Store

As usual, during the Hamvention AMSAT will have a number of special 
items and packages available at the booth. These will range from new 
design shirts and hats, to tracking hardware and software, to Elk 
antennas. 

Many of the shirts and trinkets are only available at Dayton. When 
they are gone, they are gone! Be sure to stop by the booth early 
while we have a full range of sizes.  

Here are some of the bargains announced for Dayton Hamvention 2013:

+ SATPC32 - $40 (normally $45 for members)
+ AMSAT TOTE BAG - $5.00 (Free for new and renewing members and for
  those who buy a LVB Tracker Box.)
+ AMSAT LICENSE PLATE HOLDER - $5.00 (Free for new and renewing 
  members)

These items are only available at Dayton:
+ LVB TRACKER BOX - $200
+ ELK ANTENNA - $125

The full shopping list, including publications, software, hardware, 
apparel, and sustaining memberships are posted on the AMSAT On-Line
Store at: http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=296

Please do not contact the AMSAT office requesting Dayton-only spe-
cials. Our regular offerings remain available at the AMSAT Store:
http://store.amsat.org/catalog/

[ANS thanks Alan Biddle, WA4SCA for the above information]


---------------------------------------------------------------------


Google Earth Satellite Tracker Software Rollout for Demo and Testing

Joseph Armbruster, KJ4JIO has rolled out his software project for
testing by interested amateur satellite operators. His Python-based
Google Earth Satellite Tracker adds satellite tracking to the Google
Earth map features.

This is an on-going development project which, at present, requires
you to have Python 2.7, and supporting environment installed on your 
computer. Full details of the installation steps are documented on
Joe's Google Earth Satellite Tracker project page:
https://code.google.com/p/ge-satellite-tracker/

Example screen shots along with an ongoing blog of the project's
development is posted at:
http://libjoe.blogspot.com/2013/03/google-earth-satellite-tracker.html

[ANS thanks Joseph Armbruster, KJ4JIO for the above information]


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AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2013 Announced for July 19-21

The AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium 2013 will be held on
July 19-21, 2013 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, United
Kingdom. In conjunction with the event a Hands-on CubeSat Workshop 
will take place at the nearby University of Surrey on Friday, 
July 19. Colloquium program information, travel information and
hotel booking information is posted at:

http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2013/

The Colloquium attracts an international audience from across Europe 
as well as North America and the Middle East. Attendees range from 
the builders of the CubeSats and Nanosats, those who communicate 
through them and beginners who wish to find out more about this 
fascinating branch of the hobby.

Call For Papers and Speakers
----------------------------
AMSAT-UK invites speakers, to cover topics about micro-satellites, 
CubeSats, Nanosats, space and associated activities, for this event.

They are also invited to submit papers for subsequent publishing on 
the AMSAT-UK web site. We normally prefer authors to present talks 
themselves rather than having someone else give them in the authors’ 
absence. We also welcome “unpresented” papers for the web site.

We appreciate that it is not always possible to give a firm indica-
tion of attendance at this stage but expressions of interest would 
be appreciated.

Submissions should be sent *ONLY* to G4DPZ, via the following routes:
e-mail: dave at g4dpz dot me dot uk
Postal address at http://www.qrz.com/db/G4DPZ

AMSAT-UK also invite anyone with requests for Program Topics to sub-
mit them as soon as possible to G4DPZ. 

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]


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South Africa AMSAT Space Symposium to Feature Interesting Topics

The South Africa AMSAT Space Symposium will be held at the Innovation
Hub in Pretoria on Saturday, May 18, 2013. Some of the topics on the 
agenda include:

+ A full report on the SA AMSAT KLETSkous cubesat
+ How DynaCube will, after launch, study the particle radiation in 
  the South Atlantic 
+ Building a 14 MHz receiver to measure signal properties of the 
  ZACUBE 1 
+ Innovative Solutions in Space by ISIS

The full program and registration forms will be available soon at:
http://www.amsatsa.org.za/.

[ANS thanks SA AMSAT and SARL News 3/30/2013 for the above infor-
 mation]


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VO-52 HAMSAT Transponder User Feedback Requested

Mani, VU2WMY, Secretary & Station-In-Charge of the Upagrah Amateur 
Radio Club VU2URC at India's ISRO Satellite Centre, has issued a
request for user feedback from amateur satellite operators using
the VO-52 HAMSAT transponder.

Mani wrote, "We are in need of the latest user feed backs and re-
ports on the performance of the current transponder on-board VO-52 
[Hamsat] for routine official documentation purposes.

"Hence, We request VO-52 users to kindly send in their latest re-
ports and valuable feed backs, so as to enable us to complete the 
procedures at the earliest."

Reports should be sent via e-mail to Mani at: wmy@isac.gov.in
He also requests you  to copy your report to tprangan@istrac.org

[ANS thanks Mani, VU2WMY for the above information]


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Cubesat Launches Planned for April

April 19 BAIKONUR Soyuz-2-1b
----------------------------

A Soyuz-2-1b from the Baikonur launch facility, in Kazakhstan on
April 19, 2013 will include three cubesat missions:


Satellite    Downlink          Mode
----------   ---------------   ------------------
OSSI-1       145.980/437.525   CW/1200bps
SOMP         437.485           1200, 9600bps BPSK
BEESAT-2/3   435.950           4800bps GMSK
Bion-M1      Biological research satellites
AIST         Measurement of the Earth's geomagnetic field
Dove-2       Commercial technology demonstration mission


OSSI-1
------
145.980 MHz CW, 437.525 MHz 1k2

OSSI-1, the Open Source Satellite Initiative satellite is a cubesat
developed by Hojun Song DS1SBO. In addition to the radio beacons
OSSI-1 also carries a 44 watt LED optical beacon to flash Morse Code
messages to observers on Earth.

The development of the satellite has been documented on the Open
Source Satellite Initiative Blog http://opensat.cc/blog/ and the
Wiki http://opensat.cc/wiki/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUOL0zSY6cg

SOMP
----
Downlink on 437.485 MHz including CW, 1k2 and 9k6 BPSK, AX25 FSK, 
and AO40 standard 400bit/s BPSK

The Student Oxygen Measurement Project (SOMP) is a cubesat devel-
oped by students of the Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, 
organized in the Students’ Research Group for Spacecraft Engineer-
ing in Dresden (STARD). SOMP will be a standard sized single CubeSat 
with one payload side and five sides with two solar cells each. 

http://phpweb.tu-dresden.de/stard/SOMP/?lang=en
http://tinyurl.com/SOMP-AMSAT-UK-Posting

BEESAT-2/3 (Berlin Experimental and Educational Satellite)
435.950 MHz, 4k8 GMSK (both satellites)

BEESAT-2 is a cubesat-sized vehicle carries a technology experiment
using gyros and sensors for precise orientation.

BEESat-3 is another cubesat-sized vehicle that will test high-speed
data links (up to 1MB/s). 

http://www.raumfahrttechnik.tu-berlin.de/beesat/

The above cubesat missions and the scientific/commercial missions 
are also documented on Mineo Wakita's (JE9PEL) web page at: 
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/ossisomp.htm


April 20 KOUROU Vega Launch
---------------------------
Estonia’s first CubeSat ESTCube-1, amateur radio callsign ES5E/S, 
is planning to launch from Kourou in the Caribbean at 02:06:31 UT, 
April 20, 2013 on an ESA VEGA rocket.

Built by students at the University of Tartu ESTCube-1 the main 
mission of the satellite is to test electric solar wind sail tech-
nology, a novel space propulsion technology that could revolution-
alize transportation within the solar system. It will deploy a 10 
meter conductive electrodynamic tether and the force interacting 
with the tether will be measured.

The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel have pub-
lished these frequencies for ESTCube-1:

+ 437.250 MHz – CW beacon, callsign ES5E/S
+ 437.505 MHz – 9600 bps AX.25 telemetry, callsign ES5E-11

More information and a video has been posted at:
http://amsat-uk.org/?p=14774


April 25 on CZ-2D from China's Jiuquan Space Center
---------------------------------------------------
TAMSAT reports the TURKSAT-3USAT, the first communication nanosatel-
lite mission of ITU, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
is expected to launch in the May 2013 timeframe aboard China's Chang 
Zheng-2D rocket. Also aboard this launch will be Ecuador's NEE 01 
Pegaso 1U cubesat.

TURKSAT-3USAT is a three unit CubeSat developed to provide SSB/CW 
communications in a 680 km Low Earth Orbit. It will fly a V/U linear 
transponder developed by TAMSAT, the Turkish Amateur Satellite Tech-
nologies Organisation.

+ Uplink center frequency    145.965 MHz 
  (145.940-145.990 MHz bandwidth)
  Receive sensitivity -120 dBm

+ Downlink center frequency 435.225 MHz
  (435.200-435.250 MHz bandwidth)
  Output power 30 dBm (1W)

+ CW beacon on 437.225 MHz

Additional information can be accessed on-line at:
http://www.tamsat.org.tr/tr/turksat-3usat-is-almost-ready/
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=12670

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL for the above infor-
 mation]


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ARISS School Contacts This Week

Katy, Texas
-----------
An International Space Station school contact was held with partici-
pants at Thornton Middle School, Katy, TX on March 25. The contact 
was direct between NA1SS and KF5NZD.

Thornton Middle School students, due to their economic backgrounds, 
have limited opportunities for enrichment activities beyond those 
that can be implemented in the classroom. Many of its students and 
families believe that opportunities in high paying STEM careers are 
beyond the reach of Thornton students, and that, "other kids have 
all the luck." This ARISS contact helped dispel these perceptions 
and will demonstrate to the students and families that Thornton stu-
dents are capable of complex problem solving, and that they are cap-
able of learning "Rocket Science" material. 

Quebec, Canada
--------------
An International Space Station school contact was held with partici-
pants at Des Cardinaux School, Sainte-Rose, Laval, Quebec, Canada on 
March 26. The contact was a telebridge between NA1SS and K6DUE. 

This school is located in the Sainte-Rose, Laval. The school is a 
French primary school which includes preschool students in the sec-
ond year of the third cycle. It has approximately 580 students. The
students spoke with Col. Chris Hadfield, Canada's first commander of
the ISS.

Planned Contacts Next Week
--------------------------
+ Stratford Academy, Macon, GA, telebridge via W6SRJ on April 3 at
  12:47 UTC.

+ 820 Chris Hadfield Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron, Milton, 
  Ontario, Canada, telebridge via LU8YY on April 6 at 20:25 UTC.

ARISS is requesting listener reports for these contacts. Due to 
issues with the Kenwood radio that are not fully understood at 
present, the Ericsson radio is going to be used for this contact. 
ARISS thanks  everyone in advance for their assistance.

The total number of ARISS ISS to earth school events now is at 805.

[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]


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Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ Look for Paul, 2E1EUB operating portable/mobile on all satellites 
  from Scotland as 2M1EUB/P starting on April 4 for 7 days. Paul has 
  posted additional information on his callsign lookup page at: 
  http://www.qrz.com/ for the callsign 2M1EUB.

+ Special Event in Mexico - FMRE, with the help of Grupo DXXE, will 
  activate a unique prefix for the first time: 4 A 8 DMR (DMR = Día 
  Mundial del Radioaficionado). This station will be active from 
  April 18 to 21, 2013 on all bands from 6 meters to 160 in all 
  modes including EME and amateur radio satellites from different 
  Grid Locators throughout Mexico. (WIANEWS - March 31 2013)  
  
+ Bob, W7LRD (grid CN87) reported a successful contact with Boris,
  UA0QJ (grid PP42) via FO-29 on March 26. The range between the 
  two stations is 6268 km. Both stations were stretching the foot-
  print with low elevations at both ends of the contact.
 
+ Watch a video of WD9EWK working FO-29 from the Scottsdale, Arizona
  Hamfest on Saturday, March 9. 2013. Patrick used two FT-817ND rigs,
  one for the uplink transmitter, the second to receive the downlink
  on a handheld ELK 2M/70cm antenna. The video is posted at:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0ZhR7Doby0E

+ The TAPR Forum at the Hamvention plans to have a presentation by
  Chris Testa, KD2BMH, on his handheld Software Defined Radio (SDR) 
  transceiver. His low powered 144 and 440-MHz radio operates in a 
  variety of digital modes, as well as AM, FM, and SSB. For a pre-
  view of the topic see: http://tinyurl.com/KD2BMH-SDR-Handheld
  The TAPR Forum will be on Friday from 9:15-11:00 AM in Room 1.
  (TAPR PSR #121 WINTER 2013)

+ James W. Cutler, KF6RFX, Assistant Professor, Department of Aero-
  space Engineering at the University of Michigan (developers of 
  the successful RAX cubesat mission) invite amateur satellite oper-
  ators to participate in the Ground Station Survey. The engineering
  team is collecting information on global ground station availabil-
  ity to improve satellite communication capabilities. Their goal 
  is to survey existing and under utilized ground antennas to im-
  prove satellite communication opportunities. To participate go
  to: http://gs.engin.umich.edu/gs_survey/

+ NASA posted a video about the CubeSat Launch Initiative which pro-
  vides new opportunities for Science, Technology, Engineering and 
  Mathematics by helping people design, launch and collect data: 
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=q38k0RRmOKk

+ The CQ Magazine Newsroom at http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/ has
  posted several news items of amateur radio in space:
  o AMSAT Preparing for Two Launch Opportunities
  o Smartphone-based Ham Satellite Now in Orbit
  o Hams Take Part in ISS "Dead Zone" Experiment
  o AMSAT Website Hacked, Taken Offline
  o AMSAT Receives Matching Fund Challenge for Fox Contributions
  o 6-Meter Beacon from Antarctica? (also plans for satellite ops)

+ In the April, 2013 QST "World Above 50MHz" column (page 94) Roger,
  VE1SKY says he uses his VHF and UHF gear on AO-7, FO-29, and VO-52
  while waiting for the next band opening. Roger is quoted, "This is
  a good way to make use of your gear and a challenging activity in 
  its own right." [Ed. note] - This could work the other way around:
  ... while you are waiting for the next satellite pass use your VHF 
  and UHF station to check if the bands are open ... further use of 
  your gear as well.

+ Enjoy shopping in the ham radio shops in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan
  in this video by Marcin Kielce, SQ7BCE. Although the commentary 
  is in Polish it none-the-less provides a good idea of the range 
  of equipment available and the prices in Japan. To convert the 
  prices shown to UK Pounds Sterling divide by 142 or to get the US 
  dollar price divide by 94. Watch it on Southgate at:
  http://tinyurl.com/Southgate-Tokyo-Shopping.

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
 

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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 addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT 
Office.

Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership 
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students 
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. 
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership 
information. And with that please keep in mind that the best number 
is 73. Why? 73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror (37) is the 12th 
and its mirror (21) is the product of multiplying, 7 and 3. ... In 
binary, 73 is a palindrome, 1001001 which backwards is 1001001. In 
Morse Code it is also a palindrome --...  ...--


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