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[jamsat-news:3178] ANS-174 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-174
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:
* 2013 Candidates for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors
* Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, Named AMSAT’s Director of Field Operations
* May/June AMSAT Journal in the Mail
* Merritt Island High School StangSat CubeSat First Flight
* Google Project Loon - 2400 / 5800 MHz
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-174.01
ANS-174 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 174.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 23, 2013
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-174.01
2013 Candidates for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors
This year there are eight candidates running for the AMSAT-NA Board of
Directors. The four candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be
seated as voting Board Members with two year terms. The two candidates
receiving the next highest number of votes will be non-voting Alternate Board
Members with terms of one year. Please vote for no more than four candidates.
Ballots will be mailed to members in good standing by July 15th, and must be
returned to the AMSAT-NA office no later than the
close of business on September
15th, 2013. If you have not received your ballot by August 1st, please contact
the AMSAT Office. Ballots sent to members outside North America are
automatically sent via air mail. It is suggested
that they be returned the same
way.
AMSAT-NA Board candidates in alphabetical order by last name:
Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Alan Biddle, WA4SCA
Steve Coy, K8UD
Frank Griffin, K4FEG
Mark Hammond, N8MH
Brian Klofas, KF6ZEO
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
Tony Monteiro, AA2TX
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Office for the above information]
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Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, Named AMSAT’s Director of Field Operations
AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW has announced the appointment of Patrick
Stoddard, WD9EWK as AMSAT’s new Director of Field Operations. In his new
capacity, Patrick is responsible for managing
AMSAT’s corps of Area Coordinators
(AC) who represent AMSAT in their local areas. Area Coordinators serve as the
“Ambassadors of AMSAT” which includes such activities as manning an AMSAT booth
at hamfests, giving local/regional club presentations on AMSAT and satellite
operations, and serving as “Elmers” to those looking for information about
operating through satellites. ACs are also known to establish local nets and
assist with Field Day satellite activities.
“Patrick is well qualified to lead AMSAT’s field organization having served as
an Area Coordinator and representing AMSAT at many hamfests as well as giving
club presentations,” notes Barry. “His willingness to give satellite
demonstrations at numerous hamfests has given
many people their first experience
in working the satellites. He understands what
is required to help build AMSAT
awareness within the local amateur community.
“
Organizationally, Patrick will report to AMSAT VP-User Services Gould Smith,
WA4SXM. He will also work closely with AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW as
Patrick begins the process of reviving the Field
Ops organization. At one time,
over 100 AMSAT members were listed as Area Coordinators in the US and Canada.
However, the passing of Dee Interdonato, NB2F in 2012 has meant that the field
organization has not received the attention that it deserves. The loss of the
AMSAT website in January 2013 also resulted in
the loss of the “Field Operations
Support System” (FOSS) which played a critical role in managing the field
organization. This capability will hopefully be restored in the near future on
AMSAT’s revived website. A key benefit of FOSS is the ability to share
presentation materials and other documents for use by Area Coordinators as well
as serving as a mechanism for individuals to reach out to Area Coordinators.
“I look forward to reviving the Field
Organization and re-establishing a line of
communication with those who want to represent AMSAT at the local level,” said
Patrick. “I will be reaching out to those that have assisted us in the past to
ascertain their current level of interest in helping AMSAT as well as
encouraging others to join our team.”
[ANS thanks AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW, for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
May/June AMSAT Journal in the Mail
The May/June 2013 AMSAT Journal has been mailed. Look for your issue to arrive
soon!
With fifteen articles and columns in this edition, here is a sample of what you
will find:
* AMSAT Announcements
* Apogee View by Barry Baines, WD4ASW
* Amateur Radio in Space Triggers Young Visitor
by Maurice-André Vigneault, VE3VIG
* AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes by Alan Biddle, Corporate
Secretary, WA4SCA
* AMSAT Field Day by Bruce Paige, KK5DO
* Working Earth-Moon-Earth with MAP65 and the FUNcube Dongle Pro+
by David A. Palmer, KB5WIA
* AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations
* Interlock Timer Circuit Protects Your Preamps by Ronald G. Parsons, W5RKN
* AMSAT Fox-2 MPPT Collaboration with EE Students at R.I.T
* AMSAT-NA 2013 Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Announcement
* Oscar Zero News by Bob DeVarney, W1ICW
* Cheap and Easy 2.2 to 2.3 GHz Bandpass Filter by John M. Franke, WA4WDL
* April/May Cubesat Launches Summary
* NASA Announces AMSAT Fox-1 Launch Date
* AMSAT Shows Fox-1 at Dayton Hamvention
[ANS thanks JoAnne, K9JKM, for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Merritt Island High School StangSat CubeSat First Flight
The StangSat CubeSat designed and built by students at the Merritt
Island High School in Brevard County, Florida made its first flight
on June 15 in the Mojave Desert in California. The rocket was a
Prospector-18D reusable liquid fueled rocket by Garvey Spacecraft
Corporation.
The purpose of this demonstration mission was to study the launch
environment from liftoff to landing. For this mission as well as a
future orbital mission StangSat will fly with the California Poly-
technic State University CP9 CubeSat. StangSat carries two acceler-
ometers to measure the amount of vibration in the Poly Picosatellite
Orbital Deployer, or P-POD case that holds the cubesats during launch
and then deploys them. StangSat streams the vibration data in real
time to the CP9 CubeSat using Wi-Fi. CP9's radio transmits the vibra-
tion data to earth stations.
An additional goal of this demonstration flight was to demonstrate
that wireless transmissions inside the P-POD are not going to harm
the launch.
NASA posted a video of the June 15 launch at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FQb7RiVDxcM
A NASA press release of the flight is at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/elana/cubesatlaunchpreview
.html
A related article is also posted on SpaceRef.com at:
http://spaceref.com/nasa-hack-space/cubesat-demo-flight-tests-technolo
gies.html
[ANS thanks SpaceRef.com and NASA for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Google Project Loon - 2400 / 5800 MHz
Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by Google
with the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas using
High-Altitude Balloons (HAB) placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about
20 km to create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds.
The solar powered balloons are expected to stay aloft for over 100 days at a
time and support not only air-to-ground Internet communications but also
balloon-to-balloon communications enabling the signal to be relayed, if
required, by several balloons to a ground-based station connected to an ISP,
then onto the global Internet.
Google plans to sending up 300 balloons transmitting on 2400 MHz and 5800 MHz
around the world at the southern fortieth parallel that would provide coverage
to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina.
The company hopes to eventually
have thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20 km.
The first 30 balloons are being launched from New Zealand see
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10890750
Among those involved in the project is Erin King AK4JG, a student at MIT. She
was winner of the 2012 Amateur Radio Newsline
Young Ham of the Year Award. See a
video of her earlier balloon project while still at high school and a video of
her presentation ‘Launching Radios and Other Cool Stuff into the Stratosphere’
at http://amsat-uk.org/2012/07/03/arnewsline-ham-of-the-year-erin-king-ak4jg/
Google Project Loon http://www.google.com/loon/
[ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA, 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 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.
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