[jamsat-news:3409] [ans] ANS-008 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

2017年 1月 8日 (日) 12:58:43 JST

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-008

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:

* The Hidden World of Space Junk
* AMSAT at the Cowtown Hamfest
* Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-Jan-05
* Tips for Posting to AMSAT-BB

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-008.01
ANS-008 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 008.01
  From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE January 8, 2017
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-008.01

The Hidden World of Space Junk

Adrift is a short documentary that explores the hidden world of space 
junk. The
film reveals an issue that is troubling and beautiful, dangerous and
fascinating.

It begins with the tale of astronaut Piers Sellers, who dropped his 
spatula in
space in 2006, which became the most deadly kitchen instrument soon after,
traveling at 27,000 km/h.

The film then journeys across the remote deserts of Chile with 
astronomers of
Collowara Observatory, into the skies, where threats to the 
International Space
Station take place, and through to Thailand, where a man watches space 
debris
burn. The film includes a narration by Vanguard, the oldest piece of 
space junk,
voiced by Sally Potter (Dir Orlando).

As featured on BBC Arts Online
bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3sjd1wnYD47WLzhT9dV02YH/lost-in-space-turning-
cosmic-junk-into-art

[ANS thanks Stephen, G7VFY, and Southgate ARN for the above information]

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AMSAT at the Cowtown Hamfest

Keith Pugh, W5IU, reports that there will be an AMSAT Forum, a Booth, and
Demonstrations at the Cowtown Hamfest, 20-21 January 2017.  The Hamfest 
takes
place in Forrest Hills, TX.  A suburb of Fort Worth, TX.

[ANS thanks Keith, W5IU, for the above information]

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2017-Jan-05

Quick list of scheduled contacts and  events:

World Genesis  Foundation (WGF), Goodyear AZ, direct via W6FOG
The ISS callsign is  presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled astronaut is Shane Kimbrough  KE5HOD
Contact is a go for: Wed 2017-01-11 16:10:15 UTC 46  deg

Collège Saint-Guibert, Gembloux, Belgium and Euro Space Center, Transinne,
Belgium; Combined telebridge via K6DUE
The ISS callsign is  presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet  KG5FYG
Contact is a go for Thu 2017-01-12 13:46:51 UTC 36  deg

[ANS thanks Charlie, AJ9N, for the above information]

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Tips for Posting to AMSAT-BB

People sometimes post time-sensitive messages to AMSAT-BB. Examples are last
minute grid activities, unexpected satellite mode changes, requests for
critically important telemetry, etc. These normally go through promptly, but
occasionally get held for two primary reasons:

While AMSAT-BB is an open list, that means it is open for membership, not
posting. In order to post to the list, it normally must be from the same 
account
you originally registered. For instance, if you registered from your home
account, and post from your office account, it will normally be held for 
release
by a moderator. Likewise, some people have all their email forwarded to 
a single
account from which they reply. We can create a filter to pass the second
address, but that is not automatically done on the first instance, and does
require moderator action.

AMSAT-BB receives many pieces of spam for each legitimate message. As 
part of
the filtering process, emails larger than 50 kB are blocked. This usually
happens to legitimate email when someone attempts to attach a large 
file. Also,
there is a limit to the number of addresses before an email is held as
potential spam. I have seen legitimate email sent to 30+ addresses.

We have a team of volunteer moderators, but they are not available 24/7. The
result is that a message sent in the evening or on a holiday, US time, 
may well
be held for several hours before being released. So, if it absolutely,
positively needs to be distributed promptly:

1. Post from the same account you registered, or one which from past 
experience
you know has been flagged as acceptable.

2. Do not use attachments. (Pictures and other files should be included by a
link.) They will be blocked to the list, and if the total size of the 
message
plus attachments exceeds 50 kB, the mail will be held.

3. Send it to AMSAT-BB and a few other addresses at most. If you must 
send to a
large distribution list, send to them, and another copy to AMSAT-BB. (A 
trick
which seems to work well is to place most of the addresses in the BCC rather
than CC line.)

4. Consider also posting to the AMSAT Twitter and Facebook accounts. 
There is
overlap in membership, though at present it is far from 100%.

5. Do not send large commercial press releases, or things which look 
like them.
They will be caught by heuristic spam filters. A simple posting of an 
event or
activity will normally go through. Note that there are existing 
exemptions for
official channels such as ANS, ARISS, other AMSAT organizations, etc.

6. New accounts are automatically flagged for moderation. This flag will
normally be cleared on the first or second posting, but do allow for and 
expect
an initial delay if you establish a dedicated account for your satellite
organization.

[ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, 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

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