From ans ＠ amsat.org Sun Feb 3 09:00:13 2019 From: ans ＠ amsat.org (Paul Stoetzer via ANS) Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2019 16:00:13 -0800 Subject: [jamsat-news:3589] [ans] ANS-034 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins Message-ID: AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-034 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information 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://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 dot org. In this edition: * AMSAT Announces 50th Anniversary Space Symposium in Washington, DC * Es'hail-2/P4A Designated Qatar-OSCAR 100 (QO-100) * NEXUS Designated as Fuji-OSCAR 99 (FO-99) * OrigamiSat-1 Granted FO-98 OSCAR Number * Frank Bauer KA3HDO Appears on Ham Talk Live * The ARISS Team Thanks You for Your Tremendous Support in 2018! * ARRL Board Creates Permanent ARISS Committee * European Astro Pi Challenge 2018/19: Mission Zero * 2019 HamSCI Workshop Call for Papers and Speakers * AMSAT-DL Website Now Multilingual * Changes to the AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 31, 2019 * How to Support AMSAT * Upcoming Satellite Operations * Satellite Shorts from All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-034.01 ANS-034 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 034.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. February 3, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-364.01 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT relies on your donations to Keep Amateur Radio in Space Please consider a one-time or recurring donation today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT Announces 50th Anniversary Space Symposium in Washington, DC The 2019 AMSAT 50th Anniversary Symposium will be held at The Hilton Arlington in Arlington, VA, in the Washington, DC Metro Area on October 18, 19. and 20, 2019. The Hilton Arlington is located in the heart of the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington, VA. Connected to the Ballston Metro Station, the hotel offers easy and effortless access to Washington, DC’s top tourist destinations like the National Mall, Smithsonian museums and historic monuments. The hotel is six miles from Reagan National Airport and the National Mall. The AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting will be held at the hotel on October 16th and 17th. Tours of the Washington DC / Baltimore area will be held Sunday and Monday, October 20th and 21st. The banquet speakers will celebrate AMSAT long history, so please plan on attending the 50th Anniversary Symposium, you will be glad you did. Keep checking ANS and the AMSAT Website for further updates and information, including hotel reservation details. [ANS thanks the 2019 AMSAT Symposium Committee for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Es'hail-2/P4A Designated Qatar-OSCAR 100 (QO-100) On November 15, 2018, Es’hail-2/P4A was launched on a Falcon 9 launch vehicle from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. Es’hail-2/P4A was developed jointly by QARS (Qatar Amateur Radio Society) and Es’hailSat (the Qatar Satellite Company), with AMSAT-DL as the technical lead, and is the first geostationary amateur radio payload. The satellite has reached its final position at 25.9 °E, and the narrow and wideband transponders were successfully tested on December 23rd. The transponders are expected to be opened for general use in February 2019. At the request of AMSAT Deutschland e.V., QARS, and Es’hailSat, AMSAT hereby designates Es’hail-2/P4A as Qatar-OSCAR 100 (QO-100). May the 100th OSCAR satellite be the guide star to future amateur radio satellites and payloads to geostationary orbit and beyond. [ANS thanks AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- NEXUS Designated as Fuji-OSCAR 99 On January 18, 2019, NEXUS was launched on an Epsilon launch vehicle from the JAXA Uchinoura Space Center in Japan. NEXUS (NExt generation X Unique Satellite) is a satellite developed jointly by Nihon University College of Science and Technology and the Japan Amateur Satellite Association (JAMSAT). NEXUS demonstrates several new amateur satellite communication technologies, and includes a mode V/u linear transponder. Telemetry has been received and decoded around the world since the launch, and the transponder was successfully tested on January 26th. More information may be found at http://sat.aero.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp/nexus/E0_Top.html At the request of the Nihon University College of Science and Technology and JAMSAT, AMSAT hereby designates NEXUS as Fuji-OSCAR 99 (FO-99). We congratulate the owners and operators of FO-99, thank them for their contribution to the amateur satellite community, and wish them continued success on this and future projects. [ANS thanks AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- OrigamiSat-1 Granted FO-98 OSCAR Number On January 18, 2019, OrigamiSat-1 was launched on an Epsilon launch vehicle from the JAXA Uchinoura Space Center in Japan. The first satellite of the ORIGAMI (ORganizatIon of research Group on Advanced deployable Membrane structures for Innovative space science) Project of the Tokyo Institute ofTechnology, OrigamiSat-1 includes a deploy- able membrane structure experiment, as well as a 5.8GHz high speed downlink experiment. Telemetry has been received and decoded around the world since the launch. More information may be found at http://www.origami.titech.ac.jp/ At the request of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, AMSAT hereby designates OrigamiSat-1 as Fuji-OSCAR 98 (FO-98). We congratulate the owners and operators of FO-98, thank them for their contribution to the amateur satellite community, and wish them continued success on this and future projects. [ANS thanks AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 2019 marks AMSAT’s 50th Anniversary of Keeping Amateur Radio in Space. To help celebrate, we are sponsoring the AMSAT 50th Anniversary Awards Program. Full details are available at https://www.amsat.org/amsat-50th-anniversary-awards-program/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Frank Bauer KA3HDO Appears on Ham Talk Live AMSAT Vice President for Human Spaceflight Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, the international chairman of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program, appeared on the 1/31/19 edition of Ham Talk Live and discussed the latest on the equipment, SSTV, and plans for the future. Plus, you can learn all about Space Bees! A podcast of the episode is available at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-034-ARISS [ANS thanks Ham Talk Live for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- The ARISS Team Thanks You for Your Tremendous Support in 2018! As the ARISS team reviews 2018 successes, it is time to say thank you to our very dedicated supporters. To begin expressing thanks appropriately, ARISS commends 2018 donors who contributed $1,000 or more. The extreme confidence in ARISS by these generous individuals, organizations, and corporations propels ARISS's successes in using Amateur Radio for a thrilling conversation with an orbiting ISS astronaut to introduce youth, educators, and others to science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, space, radio technology and Amateur Radio. They are: Tom Clark, K3IO Dayton Amateur Radio Association John Dean, K0JDD Frank Donovan, W3LPL HamJam, sponsored by North Fulton Amateur Radio League Irving Amateur Radio Club JVC KENWOOD Corporation Joe Lynch, N6CL & Carol Lynch, W6CL MFJ: Martin Jue, K5FLU & Betty Jue Levi Maaia, K6LCM & Daniela Maaia, W6DRM Ren Roderick, K7JB Robert Sherwood, NC0B William Tynan, W3XO (now SK) Yasme Foundation Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Each of these donors is an ARISS honorary team member; we are gratified for their robust backing of ARISS. ARISS wouldn't exist at all without its major sponsors. We cannot extol enough, the continuing and vital support of: NASA Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) We fervently applaud them all. NASA, AMSAT, and ARRL have backed ARISS since 1996 during its infancy when the team first developed ideas for the program! ARISS also pays tribute to the many other donors who firmly stood with ARISS's goals in 2018. Even more important, many of these donors faithfully contribute their dollars year after year. Every donor's support is critical to launching the new ARISS hardware in 2019. The new radio system will improve ARISS educational activities, the packet and SSTV capabilities, and will include other exciting communications features, such as a voice repeater. The new system will ensure that ARISS communications will continue seamlessly for the weekly school and youth group radio contacts with astronauts on the Space Station. ARISS has a ways to go to reach our dollar goal before launches of new equipment can occur, and there is not a lot of time left. 2018 ARISS donors stated that they hoped their generosity would encourage others to become ARISS backers. You can join in the funding challenge by contacting Frank Bauer, ka3hdo ＠ gmail.com or Rosalie White, k1sto ＠ arrl.org. We hope to hear from you! Contributions can be given directly at http://www.ariss.org/donate.html ARISS saw a very positive 2018. We hope for an even more stupendous 2019 thanks to generous donors like you. Thank you for your support! [ANS thanks Dave Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS PR, for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Board Creates Permanent ARISS Committee The ARRL Board of Directors convened for its annual meeting on January 18 - 19 in Windsor, Connecticut. Among other items, the Board created a permanent Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Committee "to develop an interactive relationship" with ARISS, which sponsors voice contacts between ISS crew members and school groups and gatherings on Earth, "bringing together STEM program objectives and local Amateur Radio groups." The Board motion said ARISS "has demonstrated very positive public relations benefits to the ARRL, and that it's ARRL's best interests to support ARISS." [ANS thanks the ARRL Letter for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- European Astro Pi Challenge 2018/19: Mission Zero Mission Zero offers students and young people the chance to have their computer programs run in space on the ISS! Teams write a simple program to display a message to the astronauts onboard. You don't need special equipment or coding skills, and all participants that follow the rules are guaranteed to have their programs run in space. You will also receive a special certificate showing where exactly the ISS was when your program ran! The deadline to submit entries for the Astro Pi Mission Zero challenge is 20 March, 2019. More information at: https://astro-pi.org/missions/ [ANS thanks Raspberry Pi Weekly for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2019 HamSCI Workshop Call for Papers and Speakers The 2019 HamSCI Workshop has issued a second call for papers and speakers. The event is set for March 22 - 23 at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio. Registration remains open. All interested individuals are welcome to attend the event, held in association with the CWRU Amateur Radio Club (W8EDU). HamSCI's Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, is especially interested in signing up additional speakers. "We are especially looking for speakers with presentations showing analysis of ionospheric observations, ideas and proposals for the design of the Personal Space Weather Station and instrumentation for the 2024 eclipse," Frissell said. "We will also accept other presentations related to Amateur Radio and science." Speakers already on the roster include ARRL Contributing Editor Ward Silver, N0AX; propagation expert Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, and MIT Haystack Observatory's Larisa Goncharenko. Email presentation abstracts to hamsci ＠ hamsci.org by February 15. [ANS thanks HamSCI for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT-DL Website Now Multilingual For some weeks now we have been looking for different ways to make our website available in several languages. We consider the multi- lingualism of our website to be very important, on the other hand the manual effort is very high. In addition, one is torn back and forth in which language one should write the articles. On the one hand, we have a German-language membership booklet, but on the other hand we also have international members and an international audience. After all, we transmit world- wide via OSCAR satellites. We've tried and experimented a lot, including some fun things with automatic translators. Everyone has certainly experienced it for themselves, many free translators find it so difficult to translate technical articles in particular that one very often hardly understands the context after the translation. The way out was then finally a translation service with costs, among other things on the basis of artificial intelligence. His translations are so good that everyone should understand everything in the chosen language. We still have some difficulties with some pages, which we had already kept bilingual by hand when creating them. Unfortunately, our new automatic translator still has a few problems with that. Little by little we now have to change all pages to the "mother tongue". Unfortunately, all automatic translators only support one configure d native language for the entire website. But even this problem is only a matter of time and with all future articles, hopefully the good translation will exist immediately. https://amsat-dl.org/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ For a limited time, new and renewing AMSAT members will receive a free digital copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Join or renew your AMSAT membership today at https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-membership/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes to the AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 31, 2019 The following amateur satellites have been added to this week's TLE distribution: ISAT is CAT ID 43879. (per Space-Track) UWE-4 is CAT ID 43880. (per Space-Track) Sparrow is CAT ID 43881. (per Space-Track) NEXUS is now designated Fuji-OSCAR 99 (FO-99) per Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, as of January 30, 2019. Object 43937 is shown as NEXUS in this week's AMSAT-NA TLE distribution, but it should be FO-99. I covered up my note to make that change this week, so I will correct that next week. [ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT and ARISS are currently supporting a FundRazr campaign to raise $150,000 for critical radio infrastructure upgrades on ISS. The upgrades are necessary to enable students to continue to talk to astronauts in space via Amateur Radio. We have reached a great milestone with $16,895 raised or about 11% towards our goal. This would not have been possible without your outstanding generosity!! For more information and to DONATE TODAY visit: https://fundrazr.com/arissnextgen?ref=ab_e7Htwa_ab_47IcJ9 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- How to Support AMSAT AMSAT relies on the support of our members and the amateur radio community to Keep Amateur Radio in Space. How can you help? *Join AMSAT Both you and AMSAT will benefit when you join. You get the AMSAT Journal bimonthly and support from AMSAT Ambassadors. Member dues and donations provide AMSAT’s primary support. Join today at https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-membership/ *Become a Life Member Becoming a Life Member has never been easier. Now you can become a Life Member with 12 monthly payments of $74 through our online store. See https://www.amsat.org/product/lifetime-membership/ for details. *Donate to AMSAT Make a one time or recurring donation to AMSAT today. Even as little as one dollar a month can make a difference! Donate today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/ *Purchase AMSAT gear on our Zazzle storefront. AMSAT receives 25% of the price of each sale on AMSAT logo merchandise from our Zazzle storefront located at https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear *Volunteer for AMSAT AMSAT relies on volunteers for nearly all of our activities. If you have an idea for how to help, please let us know, Details on volunteering can be found at https://www.amsat.org/volunteer-for-amsat/ [ANS thanks AMSAT Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, for the above information.] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations + Super Road Trip (Wyoming to Tennessee to Florida to Wyoming) ? January 9, 2019 until he gets back home Starting Jan. 9th, RJ, WY7AA, will be traveling from Wyoming to Tennessee to Florida, to New York and back to Wyoming, staying approximately 10 days in each place and activating grids whenever he can. First stop Tennessee ? EM86, and will try to rove to EM85, EM87, and EM96. Next on to Florida ? EL98, and will try to rove to EL88, EL89, and EL99. And then on to New York ? FN02, and try to rove to FN01, FN03, FN11, FN12, and FN13 Traveling between each place, RJ will try to stop and work as he can, but putting down miles will take priority most often. In addition, RJ will be trying to operate mobile from time to time. FM birds for sure, but will be trying to learn linears while on the trip. Specific pass announcements will be posted to his Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/WY7AA) and to the AMSAT-bb reflector. +St Kitts & Nevis (FK87) ? January 24 through February 6, 2019 Mel, W8MV will be in St. Kitts (FK87) from January 24th to February 6th. FM satellites only SO-50, AO-91 and 92 as V4/W8MV. Watch Mel’s Twitter feed, https://twitter.com/MelW8MV,for possible announcements. +Organ Pipe Cactus Nat’l Monument (DM31) ? February 2, 2019 Patrick, WD9EWK, will make a drive out to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and the rarely-heard grid DM31, February 2nd. He hopes to be out there by 1600 UTC, staying until sunset ? approx- imately 0100 UTC. Patrick may try to park on the DM31/DM32 grid boundary for some passes, but more than likely he will be somewhere near the national monument’s visitor center ? a few miles north of the USA/Mexico border along Arizona route 85. This area is in the northeast corner of grid DM31, Pima County. Patrick will work FM and SSB satellite passes that fall within that timeframe, along with some FalconSat-3 passes. Being near the international border, coverage by the mobile phone and terrestrial APRS networks gets spotty. he hopes to be able to send updates from DM31 using his @WD9EWK Twitter account ? visible in a web browser at: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK +Eureka Nunavut (ER60, EQ79) ? February 3, to March 29, 2019 Eureka ARC, VY0ERC, will be QRV from Eureka, NU (NA-008), February 3 until March 29, 2019. Time and weather permitting, they expect to be on the FM satellites from ER60 and EQ79. Announcements will be posted on Twitter at https://twitter.com/vy0erc. +Nevada (DM15, DM16, DM17, DM18, DM25, DM26, DM27, DM28, DM37, DM36) ? February 8-11, 2019 Casey KI7UNJ and Jonathan KI5BEX are planning a joint roving trip to Nevada, February 8-11, 2019. Planned activations include the DM15/16/25/26 grid corner Friday morning, the DM16/26 gridline Friday afternoon, DM17/18 gridline Saturday morning, DM27/28 gridline Saturday evening, DM27/37 gridline Sunday morning, and DM36/37 gridline Sunday evening. This will be FM only. All contacts uploaded to LoTW upon return. Check out @KI7UNJ Twitter feed for specific passes https://twitter.com/KI7UNJ and follow them on aprs.fi KI7UNJ-7 +Southwest, TX (DM80, DM70, DM71, DL79, DL89) ? February 10-14, 2019 Clayton, W5PFG will be operating satellites daily in vacation-mode from grid DM80. As an added bonus, Clayton will operate a few passes from grids DM71, DL79, and DL89. Those specific passes will be advertised on Twitter @w5pfg. Remember, you don’t need to be a Twitter user to see his feed. Just visit http://www.twitter.com/w5pfg +3A, MONACO (JN33) ? February 15-18, 2019 Philippe, EA4NF, will be active as 3A/EA4NF from Monaco, between February 15-18th. Priority will be given to FM and SSB Satellites to get confirmed as much as possible this rare DXCC country to the amateur radio satellite community. HF activity will be on 20 meters SSB, but on the QRP mode (5w). QSL via LoTW. +Yuma Hamfest (DM22) ? February 15-16, 2019 Patrick, WD9EWK, will have an AMSAT booth at the Yuma Hamfest in southwestern Arizona on Friday and Saturday, 15-16 February 2019. This year’s hamfest also serves as the 2019 ARRL Southwestern Division Convention. The hamfest will be at the Yuma County Fairgrounds, along 32nd Street between Pacific Avenue and Avenue 3E, and south of I-8 exit 3, in Yuma. The fairgrounds is across the street from Yuma International Airport and Marine Corps Air Station. More information about the hamfest is available from: http://www.yumahamfest.org/ During the hamfest, Patrick will have demonstrations of satellite operating from outside the main hall on the fairgrounds. If you hear WD9EWK on passes during those two days, please feel free to call and be a part of the demonstrations. Patrick may not be able to work every possible pass from the hamfest, but hopes to work a variety of passes in FM, SSB, and even packet. The hamfest site is in grid DM22. Contacts made with WD9EWK will be uploaded to Logbook of the World, and QSL cards for contacts made with WD9EWK will be available on request after the hamfest (please e-mail me directly with the QSO details). During the hamfest, he will use his @WD9EWK Twitter account to post updates from the hamfest. If you do not use Twitter, you can still see these updates in a web browser at: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK +Imperial Valley (DM12, DM22) ? February 17, 2019 After the end of the upcoming Yuma Hamfest, Patrick, WD9EWK, plans to make a drive west to the DM12/DM22 grid boundary along I-8 near the west end of California’s Imperial Valley on Sunday, 17 February 2019. He hopes to work passes for a few hours out there, with much cooler weather than what he experienced last July when he was previously out there. ? The DM12/DM22 grid boundary, at the town of Ocotillo, is in Imperial County. Patrick will use his @WD9EWK Twitter account to send updates. Even without a Twitter account, these updates will be visible in a web browser at: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK His travel out to the DM12/DM22 line should be visible on APRS as WD9EWK-9: http://aprs.fi/WD9EWK-9 +Isla del Culebra, Puerto Rico (FK78) ? February 22-24, 2019 Radio Opordores del Este, KP3RE, is preparing for their Culebra IOTA (NA-249) Expedition 2019. Satellite operations are planned for AO-91, AO-92, SO-50, and IO-86. +Turks and Caicos Islands (FL31) ? February 28 ? March 9, 2019 Adrian, AA5UK, will be heading to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands from Feb 28th through March 9th, 2019. He will be operating holiday style on HF and Satellites as VP5/AA5UK from grid FL31UU14. Focus will be on the linear satellites, with some FM activity depending on pile-up civility. Hope to work some European stations as location favors the East. Pass announcements will be made via Twitter: https://twitter.com/AA5UK and periodically via amsat-bb. [ANS Thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, for the above information] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts from All Over + JO-97 out of Safe Mode On January 29th, JO-97 (JY1SAT) was taken out of safe mode. Since launch on December 3rd, the team has been troubleshooting a data collection issue on board. Downlinking of SSDV images and U/v linear transponder operations are expected to begin in the near future. The team has established a Twitter account for updates. https://twitter.com/Jy1Sat (@Jy1Sat on Twitter) + D-STAR ONE iSat Active We have D-Star in orbit! #43879, ISAT from @GermanOrbital D-Star repeater now active - very short snippet RX over U.S. East Coast 1608utc; decode on IQ replay. If you have D-Star radio, give it a try 437.325 up / 435.525 down. Audio at https://www.qsl.net/k/k4kdr//files/2019-01-31--dstar-isat.mp3 (Scott Chapman, K4KDR, on Twitter) https://twitter.com/scott23192/ + Upcoming ISS SSTV Event Teased What are you doing Feb 8-10? Stay tuned for a #NASAonTheAir related event. It will occur too late to count for points, since the #NoTA event is over, but sometimes you have to have a Plan B - or Plan C - or Plan SSTV https://twitter.com/NASARadioClubs (@NASARadioClubs on Twitter) + @NASARadioClubs tweeted the NASA On The Air certificates are now available for download at https://nota.ka0s.net/ If you participated type in your callsign and click where indicated. The database has been finalized and certificates are now avail- able! To retrieve your certificate, use the score lookup then click the link at the top of your scorecard! https://twitter.com/NASARadioClubs (@NASARadioClubs on Twitter) + Listen for Missing India Student Satellite KALAMSAT-V2 India's student satellite KALAMSAT-V2 was launched January 24. It is understood to carry a 0.5 watt transmitter on 436.500 MHz AFSK but no reports of signal have yet been seen. Track at https://www.n2yo.com/?s=43948&live=1&df=1 (AMSAT-UK via Twitter) + PicSat Documentary Fundraising Campaign Underway I might never talk again, but my team has one more thing to share: the documentary film telling the story of how I was designed, built, launched and operated with the amazing support from radio amateurs worldwide. @ref_info @Obs_Paris @IARU_R1 @astroIAP @ERC_Research Support the documentary at https://igg.me/at/picsatdocumentary (https://twitter.com/IamPicSat/status/1089546562999648256/photo/1) + AMSAT Sweden is trying to get their government to increase their current 100 mW power limit on S-Band to something useful for Es'Hail uplink. https://www.amsat.se/2019/01/27/p4-a-uplink-fran-sverige/ The English translation is at the bottom of the page (via AMSAT Sweden) + Amateur radio operator Paul Andrews W2HRO describes his path to the moon using EME moon bounce https://tinyurl.com/ANS-034-W2HRO (via W2ZQ.com) + From DX Newsletter 2130 (Jan 30, 2019) TI, Costa Rica: Mike/W1USN and Bob/AA1M plan to operate from Atenas between Feb. 2 and 13 signing their homecalls/TI5. QRV on HF on CW, SSB, and digital modes, and maybe also via FM satellites. QSL via h/c (d/B), LoTW. (https://tinyurl.com/ANS-034-DXNL) + Daniel Estévez, EA4GPZ is on the Spanish Antarctic Base Gabriel de Castilla (locator FC97pa) until 6 or 7 Feb. He only has an FM HT, but he can work FM satellites. He wrote he had half a QSO with a LU6 station on AO-92. He's available for skeds from stations in the footprint. https://twitter.com/ea4gpz (@ea4gpz on Twitter) + On February 1st, AMSAT Italia announced their Governing Council for 2019-2021 President: Emanuele D'Andria, I0ELE Vice President: Claudio Ariotti, IK1SLD Secretary: Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF Adviser: Gianpietro Ferrario, IZ2GOJ Adviser: Fabrizio Carrai, IU5GEZ https://www.facebook.com/amsatitalia/ (AMSAT Italia on Facebook) --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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. 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 student rate for a maximum of six post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Paul Stoetzer, N8HM n8hm at amsat dot org _______________________________________________ Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans From ans ＠ amsat.org Wed Feb 6 23:20:01 2019 From: ans ＠ amsat.org (JoAnne K9JKM via ANS) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2019 08:20:01 -0600 Subject: [jamsat-news:3590] [ans] ANS-037 Special Bulletin - Reminder ARISS/NOTA Slow Scan TV Event February 8 - 10 Message-ID: <55d4080f-f24f-184f-0d15-3303d6d0caa9@comcast.net> AMSAT NEWS SERVICE Special Bulletin - ARISS/NOTA Slow Scan TV Event February 8-10 ANS-037 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. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * REMINDER - ARISS/NOTA Slow Scan TV Event February 8 - 10 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-037.01 ANS-037 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin 037.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE February 6, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-037.01 REMINDER - ARISS/NOTA Slow Scan TV Event February 8 - 10 ARISS is running another of their popular Slow Scan Television (SSTV) experiment events. Transmissions began Friday, Feb. 8 at 14:00 UTC and are planned to run through Sunday, February 10 at 18:30 UTC. SSTV operations is a process by which images are sent from the Inter- national Space Station (ISS) via ham radio and received by ham opera- tors, shortwave listeners and other radio enthusiasts on Earth, simi- lar to pictures shared on cell phones using twitter or instagram. SSTV images are being transmitted from the ISS at the frequency of 145.800 MHz using the PD120 SSTV mode. These can be received using ham radio equipment as simple as a 2 meter handheld radio or a common shortwave or scanner receiver the covers the 2 meter ham band. After connecting the audio output of the radio receiver to the audio input of a computer running free software such as MMSSTV, the SSTV images can be displayed. Transmissions consist of eight NASA On The Air (NOTA) images and an additional, four ARISS commemorative images will also be included. See: https://nasaontheair.wordpress.com/ Once received, Images can be posted and viewed by the public at http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php You can receive a special SSTV ARISS Award for posting your image. See details at https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/sstv/ Please note that the event is dependent on other activities, sched- ules and crew responsibilities on the ISS and are subject to change at any time. Please check for news and the most current information on the AMSAT.org and ARISS.org websites, the AMSAT-BB ＠ amsat.org, the ARISS facebook at Amateur Radio On The International Space Station (ARISS) and ARISS twitter @ARISS_status. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ??? AMSAT and ARISS are currently supporting a FundRazr campaign ??? to raise $150,000 for critical radio infrastructure upgrades ??? on ISS. The upgrades are necessary to enable students to ??? continue to talk to astronauts in space via Amateur Radio. ???? We have reached a great milestone with $16,895 raised ??? or about 11% towards our goal. This would not have been ???????? possible without your outstanding generosity!! ????????? For more information and to DONATE TODAY visit: ???? https://fundrazr.com/arissnextgen?ref=ab_e7Htwa_ab_47IcJ9 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ [ANS thanks ARISS and NASA on the Air for the above information] _______________________________________________ Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans From ans ＠ amsat.org Sun Feb 10 09:32:50 2019 From: ans ＠ amsat.org (JoAnne K9JKM via ANS) Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2019 18:32:50 -0600 Subject: [jamsat-news:3591] [ans] ANS-041 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins Message-ID: AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-041 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. You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans In this edition: * AO-85 Turned Off Due to Return of Eclipses and Poor Battery Condition * Es'hail-2 / QO-100 Teleport Inauguration Day - February 14 * New Telemetry Decoder for FalconSat-3 * AMSAT VP Educational Relations Leads Villanova University CubeSat Club * US Schools/Groups Move Into Phase 2 of ARISS Selections * Application Window Opens for European ARISS School Contacts * REMINDER - ARISS/NOTA Slow Scan TV Event Runs Until February 10 * ISS Packet Operations Resume on 145.825 MHz * Ham Talk Live Podcast ARISS Update With Frank Bauer, KA3HDO * KG4AKV's SpaceComms YouTube Channel - Building a Groundstation * FUNcube Dashboard Summary Update * VUCC Awards-Endorsements for January 2019 * Upcoming Satellite Operations * AMSAT-Francophone Satellite Design and Operation Survey * Early Bird Registration Opens for Cal Poly Cubesat Training * Satellite Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-041.01 ANS-041 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 041.01 From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. DATE February 10, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-041.01 AO-85 Turned Off Due to Return of Eclipses and Poor Battery Condition At 1114 UTC February 6, 2019, AO-85 was commanded OFF until further notice, due to return of eclipses and poor battery condition as noted by Mark Hammond, N8MH, control operator. Beginning in December, 2018 AO-85 had issues with the batteries dropping precariously low during eclipse. The Engineering and the Operations Teams think it's likely the batteries suffered degrada- tion due to heat during previous periods of no eclipses. This made it difficult to keep the satellite available for use with- out further endangering the batteries. On December 19 the nominally 3.6v battery pack was down to 2.8v at the end of the eclipse which is dangerously low. In an effort to extend the usable life of the satellite, both the IHU and the transmitter were turned off at this time which ceased all transmissions, including the beacons every two minutes in both sunlit and eclipsed parts of the orbit. AO-85 was turned back on during the next period of no eclipse, full sun illumination which began on January 24, 2019. The repeater was enabled for regular use. AO-85 occasionally reset due to low volt- age on it's batteries and operated in SAFE MODE. February 4 marked the end of the recent full illumination period with periodic eclipses. The battery condition began to deteriorate again. The satellite health will be tracked with periodic telemetry transmissions when commanded by a control operator. The next full illumination periods without eclipses for AO-85 will be June 7-19, 2019 and the next in early September, 2019. During this time it is important to leave AO-85 tracked in your FoxTelem setups, in order for us to gather telemetry and keep tabs on the situation. If you do happen to hear a Veronica beacon, or either the normal repeater or the COR/no telemetry repeater, please let the amsat-bb list know, or send an email to ko4ma ＠ amsat.org The Data-Under-Voice (DUV) telemetry is decoded and uploaded to the Fox Data Warehouse with the Fox Telem software available on the AMSAT web: http://www.amsat.org/tlm/leaderboard.php?id=0&db=FOXDB Stations not equipped to receive and decode the telemetry can monitor the latest reports at: http://www.amsat.org/tlm/health.php?id=1&port= We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we try to make the most of the situation. Please consider supporting the AMSAT GOLF project with your membership, and one-time or recurring donations at https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-membership/ or https://www.amsat.org/donate/ [ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT VP Operations, and Mark ?Hammond, N8MH, AO-85 control operator for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Es'hail-2 / QO-100 Teleport Inauguration Day - February 14 Following the successful launch of Es'hail-2, the new Es'hailSat teleport will be inaugurated on February 14, 2019. This will also be the occasion to officially put the two amateur radio transponders of Qatar OSCAR-100, the first geostationary P4-A satellite from Qatar, into operation. The opening ceremony will be held by His Excellency Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, former Deputy Prime Minister of Qatar. A71AU is also the chairman of the Qatar Amateur Radio Society (QARS) and initiator of the first Qatari amateur radio satellite. A team of the P4-A team of AMSAT-DL, consisting of the chairman Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, Achim Vollhardt, DH2VA and Thomas Kleffel, DG5NGI, is on its way to Qatar to set up and commission the P4-A ground segment at the ground station of Es'hailSat. In addition to LEILA and the DVB-S2 DATV system, this also includes a club station for SSB radio operation under the callsign A71A. A backup station is installed at QARS in Doha. The ground station of the AMSAT-DL at the observatory Bochum is also ready for reception and transmission. Later, radio operation via Qatar-OSCAR 100 will also be carried out here under the callsign DL50AMSAT. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ???? During commissioning, AMSAT-DL expressly requests that you ???? refrain from any transmission attempts! Only after the offi- ???? cial release ceremony on 14 February will the transponders ???? be released for general radio operation by radio amateurs ???? worldwide. AMSAT-DL appeals to patience and to the Ham Spirit: ???? any disruptions during commissioning and on the opening day ???? could result in further postponements of the official release ???? of the transponders by QARS! +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ The SCC in Qatar, as well as Bochum in Germany, are carrying out tests to measure both transponders and to calibrate the ground systems. Please also note the beacons sent in the NB transponder. On opening day a video of Es'hail-2 will be broadcast in an endless loop in DVB-S2 format on the DATV beacon of the WB Transponder. Furthermore, as defined in the Operating Guidelines for the NB trans- ponder and WB transponder, please observe the band boundaries of the NB transponder as defined by the upper and lower beacon! A later adaptation and possible extension upward may be considered after commissioning is completed. Access the full article with photos on the AMSAT-DL website: https://amsat-dl.org/en/eshail-2-qo-100-teleport-inauguration Stations finding themselves out of the footprint of QO-100 or those who have not had the opportunity to acquire 10 GHz down- link receiving capability can join in the action using on-line WebSDR resources: + In co-operation with AMSAT Deutschland, the British Amateur ? Television Club will be operating a WebSDR for the narrowband ? segment, and a Spectrum Viewer for the wideband (DATV) segment. ? The Goonhilly Earth Station is supporting the project, providing ? hosting for the Ground Station facility at their world-famous ? site in Cornwall, UK:? https://eshail.batc.org.uk/ + The IS0GRB Es'Hail2 (QO-100) SAT 26E WebSDR receiver, located ? in Dolianova, South Sardinia island, Italy, JM49OJ, operated ? by Roberto, IS0GRB, using a 100cm parabolic dish can be ? accessed at: http://websdr.is0grb.it:8901/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Telemetry Decoder for FalconSat-3 Chris Thompson, G0KLA/AC2CZ, who is the author of AMSAT's FoxTelem software, has written software for a new Ground station for FalconSat-3. Thompson wrote, "If you had an initial go with WISP without success or if you have never tried to decode FalconSat-3, now is a good time to try." The new FalconSat-3 ground station software requires much less setup than WISP and does not require a hardware TNC since this will work with a soundcard TNC. Or, if you didn't try to listen to FalconSat-3 because you don't have a station that can transmit commands to the spacecraft, then read on. We still need your help to decode telemetry. Thompson continues, "In particular we would like to encourage people to download the Telemetry and forward it to an AMSAT telemetry server. Currently more telemetry is generated than we can download with AMSAT Operations ground stations. Receive only stations can contribute to that as well as stations equipped to transmit to FalconSat-3 and request files." You can see telemetry uploaded so far here: http://tlm.amsatfox.org/tlm/FalconSat-3 There are details about the spacecraft, how to install the software and how it works in the manual available if you download the software and is also posted online at: http://www.g0kla.com/pacsat/pacsat_ground_manual.pdf You can download the software at www.g0kla.com/pacsat/index.php. Chris has written some blog posts and thoughts about the software for? anyone interested which are linked from the download page. In conclusion, Thompson noted, "I would call this a beta release. If you have suggestions or bug fixes please log them online at: https://github.com/ac2cz/Falcon/issues or send an e-mail to: chrisethompson ＠ gmail.com The software is open source. All the details are here: https://github.com/ac2cz/Falcon/ The telemetry processing and display leverages common code from FoxTelem in a library here: https://github.com/ac2cz/libTelem/ [ANS thanks Chris Thompson, G0KLA/AC2CZ for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT VP Educational Relations Leads Villanova University CubeSat Club Villanova University's College of Engineering has formed a new student organization has formed this year ? the CubeSat Club. Dr. Alan Johnston, KU2Y, associate teaching professor of Elec- trical and Computer Engineering, is the faculty advisor working alongside the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), a not- for-profit group that has been building and launching ham radio satellites for fifty years. Dr. Johnston volunteers with AMSAT as the Vice President for Educational Relations. The CubeSat Club is aimed at introducing students to CubeSats and satellite tech- nology. Some of the club’s projects include: + Building a hand-held satellite antenna out of common materials ? (wood and a tape measure) and tracking and receiving real satel- ? lite signals. + Setting up a satellite ground station as part of an automated ? open source world-wide network known as SatNOGs. + Building a CubeSat Simulator, a low-cost satellite emulator ? based around a Raspberry Pi computer, a 3D printed frame, that ? runs on real solar panels and batteries. The simulator is an ? educational tool for learning about and demonstrating the basic ? functions of a CubeSat. Short-term, the club is working to support CubeSat-related under- graduate projects at Villanova and build a working-knowledge of the field. For example, the club is supporting the development of a CubeSat mini-project for the ECE-1205 ECE Freshman Projects course later this spring. Club members are planning to do a Cube- Sat related Capstone Design Project as well. A long-term goal is to participate in an actual CubeSat mission to space, perhaps in partnership with another university or organ- ization. Access the full article on the villanova.edu website at: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-041-Villanova-CubeSat-Club [ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ????????? For a limited time, new and renewing AMSAT members ???????????????? will receive a free digital copy of ?????????????? "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" ???????????? Join or renew your AMSAT membership today at ??????? https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-membership/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ US Schools/Groups Move Into Phase 2 of ARISS Selections February 5, 2019 - The ARISS-US Team (Amateur Radio on the Inter- national Space Station) is pleased to announce schools or organi- zations submitting proposals have been selected to advance to the next stage of planning to host amateur radio contacts from July to December 2019. The contacts will be with International Space Station (ISS) crew members using the ARISS equipment on the ISS. A review team of teachers from the ARISS-US Education Committee selected proposals after the recent proposal window closed. The groups will go forward to Phase 2, developing an amateur radio equipment plan to host a scheduled ARISS contact. ARISS's primary goal is to engage people in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities, and involve them in pur- suits related to space exploration, amateur radio, communications, and associated areas of study and career options. After a recent ARISS contact, Joanne Michael, KM6BWB, at Meadows Elementary School in Manhattan Beach, CA, stated, "ARISS is such an incredible opportunity for students to gain a once-in-a-lifetime experience and real-world skills that they can use the rest of their lives. What a wonderful program!" ARISS anticipates that NASA will be able to provide scheduling opportunities for these US host organizations. The candidates must now complete an equipment plan that demonstrates their abil- ity to execute the ham radio contact. Once their equipment plan is approved by the ARISS technical team, the final selected schools/organizations will be scheduled as their availability and flexibility match up with the scheduling opportunities. The schools and organizations are: + 24th World Scout Jamboree?????????????????? West Virginia + Council Rock High School??????????????????? South Holland, PA + Galileo STEM Academy??????????????????????? Eagle, ID + Golden Oak Montessori?????????????????????? Castro Valley, CA + Lakeside Elementary School????????????????? West Point, UT + Loudoun County Space Dreamers?????????????? Ashburn, VA + Pearsall High School Air Force Jr. ROTC???? Pearsall, TX + Santa Barbara Public Library??????????????? Santa Barbara, CA + Sonoma County Library?????????????????????? Rohnert Park, CA + Traverse Area District Library????????????? Traverse City, MI + University of Colorado Amateur Radio Club?? Boulder, CO + Woodridge Middle School???????????????????? High Ridge, MO + Young Scientists Program at USC???????????? Los Angeles, CA About ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a coop- erative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see: www.ariss.org. Also join us on Facebook:? Amateur Radio on the International ?????????????????????????? Space Station (ARISS) Follow us on Twitter:????? ARISS_status [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Application Window Opens for European ARISS School Contacts http://www.ariss-eu.org/school-contacts Europe, Africa and the Middle East ---------------------------------- ARISS Contact Applications for Europe, Africa and the Middle East are being accepted between February 1 to March 29, 2019. Schools and Youth organizations, interested in setting up an ARISS radio contact with an astronaut onboard the International Space Station, are invited to submit an Application and an educational project. The school selection will take place in May 2019. The space con- versation will tentatively be scheduled in the period extending from January to June 2020. The Application is to be addressed by email to: school.selection.manager ＠ ariss-eu.org ARISS Contact Applications (United States) ------------------------------------------ The ARISS-US program’s education proposal window open Oct. 1 to Nov. 30, 2018 has now closed.? The next window should go open in the spring of 2019. Canada, Central and South America, Asia and Australia and Russia ---------------------------------------------------------------- Organizations outside the United States can apply for an ARISS contact by filling out an application and following the instruct- ions which can be accessed at: http://www.ariss.org/submit-a-contact-proposal.html [ANS thanks ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- REMINDER - ARISS/NOTA Slow Scan TV Event Runs Until February 10 ARISS is running another of their popular Slow Scan Television (SSTV) experiment events. Transmissions which began on Friday, February 8 initially experienced technical difficulties. The ISS crew identified a problem and fixed it. As of Saturday, February 9 stations around the world were reporting good signals from the ISS. Transmission of eight NASA On The Air (NOTA) and four ARISS commemorative SSTV images are planned to run through Sunday, February 10 at 18:30 UTC. Once received, Images can be posted and viewed by the public at http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php You can receive a special SSTV ARISS Award for posting your image. See details at https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/sstv/ [ANS thanks ARISS and NASA on the Air for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISS Packet Operations Resume on 145.825 MHz ARISS reports that the replacement packet module was installed by the ISS crew during their off duty time last weekend. APRS and UI message digipeating have been reported on the usual 145.825 MHz frequency. The packet log and user activity map can be found at: http://www.ariss.net/ AMSAT and ARISS are currently supporting a FundRazr campaign to raise $150,000 for critical radio infrastructure upgrades on ISS. The upgrades are necessary to enable students to con- tinue to talk to astronauts in space via Amateur Radio. We have reached a great milestone with $16,795 raised or about 10% towards our goal. This would not have been possible with- out your outstanding generosity!! For more information and to DONATE TODAY visit: https://fundrazr.com/arissnextgen?ref=ab_e7Htwa_ab_47IcJ9 [ANS thanks Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, and ARISS for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ham Talk Live Podcast ARISS Update With Frank Bauer, KA3HDO If you missed the January 31 Ham Talk Live show featuring Frank SBauer, KA3HDO, discussing the latest news of ARISS operations on the ISS you can play back a recording of this episode at: https://www.spreaker.com/show/ham-talk-live then select Episode 151 - ARISS Update With Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. Neil and Frank talked about the latest news on the equipment, SSTV, and plans for the future. Plus, you can learn all about Space Bees! Ham Talk Live is also available as a podcast on nearly all podcast sites: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, SoundCloud, and iHeart Podcasts; and it's also available on YouTube. [ANS thanks Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, and Ham Talk Live for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- KG4AKV's SpaceComms YouTube Channel - Building a Groundstation John Brier, KG4AKV, has updated his SpaceComms YouTube channel with three videos showing how he built his amateur satellite ground station at his QTH. The videos, originally presented as a livestream, take viewers through his process to build a satellite ground station with a Yaesu G-5500 az/el rotor, M2 LEO pack antenna, and an Icom IC-910H transceiver. + Video 1 - Satellite ground station build - background! ? https://youtu.be/9Hz4bWVByDw + Video 2 - Satellite ground station build - buying stuff and more! ? https://youtu.be/9zTnsQgFMIU + Video 3 - Satellite ground station build - surveying ro install ? https://youtu.be/4pp5WZRNb8Y You can subscribe to the John's SpaceComms YouTube channel to receive notices when new videos are posted: https://www.youtube.com/SpaceComms1?sub_confirmation=1 [ANS thanks John Brier, KG4AKV, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- FUNcube Dashboard Summary Update Each satellite carrying a FUNcube payload has a dedicated dashboard and the FUNcube team has updated the one page summary of those dash- boards, their current version number and a dedicated download link. See: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-041-FUNcubeSummaryPDF Also included are the recommended warehouse settings for each satel- lite as well as the “FUNcube Dongle Centre Frequency”. Note that the frequency quoted is 20kHz offset from the published telemetry downlink to allow for the zero hertz spike and close in phase noise that is inherent on SDRs. Currently, to view the telemetry for a particular satellite, it is necessary to run the dashboard for that satellite. Any telemetry for one of the other FUNcube satellites can be captured and forwarded to the central data warehouse. For this reason, some users tend to run all dashboards simultaneously using the same FUNcube Dongle. Users should remember the that dashboard that was started last, is the one that will control the frequency settings applied to the FUNcube Dongle. All the dashboards are under continual development and a further plan- ned development is to create a single dashboard that will service all FUNcube Telemetry payloads simultaneously. Keep a look out for further news on this unified dashboard in 2019. Dave Johnson, G4DPZ, added, "If you have lost you authorisation code for the dashboards, we now have a page on which you can request the code to be sent to your registered email address: http://data.badgersoft.com/recover-authcode [ANS thanks Ciaran Morgan, M0XTD, and Dave Johnson G4DPZ for the above ?information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- VUCC Awards-Endorsements for January 2019 Ron, W5RKN has provided the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period January 1, 2019 through February 1, 2019. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month! CALL??? 01 Jan?? 01 Feb ------? ------?? ------ WC7V??? 1160???? 1199 N4UFO??? 725????? 729 AA8CH??? 406????? 451 W7QL???? 350????? 401 VE7CEW?? 356????? 386 N3GS???? 332????? 370 K5IX???? 227????? 250 K9UO???? 175????? 202 PU8RFL?? 146????? 151 PS8MT??? 145????? 150 PU8RJI?? 101????? 115 PT2AZ??? New????? 103 W6AAE??? New????? 102 If you find errors or omissions please contact Ron off-list at W5RKN>@W5RKN>.com and he'll revise the announcement. This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for these two months. It's a visual comparison so omissions are possible. Apologies if your call was not mentioned. Thanks to all those who are roving to grids that are rarely on the birds. They are doing most of the work! [ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ????????? Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. ????????? 25% of the purchase price of each product goes ??????????? towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space ????????????? https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Upcoming Satellite Operations + Super Road Trip (Wyoming to Tennessee to Florida to Wyoming) ? January 9, 2019 until he gets back home - Starting Jan. 9, RJ, WY7AA, ? will be travelling from Wyoming to Tennessee to Florida, to New York ? and back to Wyoming, staying approximately 10 days in each place and ? activating grids whenever he can. ? - First stop Tennessee ? EM86, and will try roving to EM85, EL87, EL96. ? - Next on to Florida ? EL98, and will try roving to EL88, EL89, EL99. ? - Next on to New York ? FN02, and try try roving to FN01, FN03, FN11, ??? FN12, FN13 ? Travelling between each place, RJ will try to stop and work as he can, ? but putting down miles will take priority most often. In addition, RJ ? will be trying to operate mobile from time to time. FM birds for sure, ? but will be trying to learn linears while on the trip. Specific pass ? announcements will be posted to his Twitter feed: ? (https://twitter.com/WY7AA) and to the AMSAT-bb reflector. + Eureka Nunavut (ER60, EQ79) ? February 3, to March 29, 2019 ? Eureka ARC, VY0ERC, will be QRV from Eureka, NU (NA-008), February 3 ? until March 29, 2019. Time and weather permitting, they expect to be ? initially on the FM satellites from ER60 and EQ79. AMSAT donated a ? Yaesu FT-847 to the club station at VY0ERC. We appreciate this dona- ? tion very much! It will be used for satellite communications including ? SSB and FM this spring.? Announcements will be posted on Twitter at ? https://twitter.com/vy0erc. + Nevada (DM15, DM16, DM17, DM18, DM25, DM26, DM27, DM28, DM37, DM36) ? February 8-11, 2019 - Casey KI7UNJ and Jonathan KI5BEX are planning ? a joint roving trip to Nevada. Planned activations include the ? DM15/16/25/26 grid corner Friday morning, the DM16/26 gridline Friday ? afternoon, DM17/18 gridline Saturday morning, DM27/28 gridline Saturday ? evening, DM27/37 gridline Sunday morning, and DM36/37 gridline Sunday ? evening. This will be FM only. All contacts uploaded to LoTW upon ? return. Check out @KI7UNJ Twitter feed for specific passes ? https://twitter.com/KI7UNJ and follow them on aprs.fi KI7UNJ-7. + Southwest, TX (DM80, DM70, DM71, DL79, DL89) ? February 10-14, 2019 ? Clayton, W5PFG will be operating satellites daily in vacation-mode ? from grid DM80. As an added bonus, Clayton will operate a few passes ? from grids DM71, DL79, and DL89. Those specific passes will be adver- ? tised on Twitter @w5pfg. Remember, you don’t need to be a Twitter ? user to see his feed. Just visit http://www.twitter.com/w5pfg to see ? my Tweets. + 3A, MONACO (JN33) ? February 15-18, 2019 ? Philippe, EA4NF, will be active as 3A/EA4NF from Monaco, between ? February 15-18th. Priority will be given to FM and SSB Satellites to ? get confirmed as much as possible this rare DXCC country to the ama- ? teur radio satellite community. HF activity will be on 20 meters SSB, ? but on the QRP mode (5w). QSL via LoTW. + Yuma Hamfest (DM22) ? February 15-16, 2019 ? Patrick, WD9EWK, will have an AMSAT booth at the Yuma Hamfest in ? southwestern Arizona on Friday and Saturday, 15-16 February 2019. This ? year’s hamfest also serves as the 2019 ARRL Southwestern Division Con- ? vention. The hamfest will be at the Yuma County Fairgrounds, along 32nd ? Street between Pacific Avenue and Avenue 3E, and south of I-8 exit 3, ? in Yuma. The fairgrounds is across the street from Yuma International ? Airport and Marine Corps Air Station. More information about the ham- ? fest is available from: http://www.yumahamfest.org/ ? During the hamfest, Patrick will have demonstrations of satellite oper- ? ating from outside the main hall on the fairgrounds. If you hear WD9EWK ? on passes during those two days, please feel free to call and be a part ? of the demonstrations. Patrick may not be able to work every possible ? pass from the hamfest, but hopes to work a variety of passes in FM, SSB, ? and even packet. The hamfest site is in grid DM22. Contacts made with ? WD9EWK will be uploaded to Logbook of the World, and QSL cards for con- ? tacts made with WD9EWK will be available on request after the hamfest ? (please e-mail me directly with the QSO details). ? During the hamfest, he will use his @WD9EWK Twitter account to post ? updates from the hamfest. If you do not use Twitter, you can still ? see these updates in a web browser at: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK + Imperial Valley (DM12, DM22) ? February 17, 2019 ? After the end of the upcoming Yuma Hamfest, Patrick, WD9EWK, plans to ? make a drive west to the DM12/DM22 grid boundary along I-8 near the ? west end of California’s Imperial Valley on Sunday, 17 February 2019. ? He hopes to work passes for a few hours out there, with much cooler ? weather than what he experienced last July when he was previously out ? there. The DM12/DM22 grid boundary, at the town of Ocotillo, is in ? Imperial County. ? Patrick will use his @WD9EWK Twitter account to send updates. Even ? without a Twitter account, these updates will be visible in a web ? browser at: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK? His travel out to the DM12/DM22 ? line should be visible on APRS as WD9EWK-9: http://aprs.fi/WD9EWK-9 + Isla del Culebra, Puerto Rico (FK78) ? February 22-24, 2019 ? Radio Opordores del Este, KP3RE, is preparing for their Culebra IOTA ? (NA-249) Expedition 2019.? Satellite operations are planned for AO-91, ? AO-92, SO-50, and IO-86. + Turks and Caicos Islands (FL31) ? February 28 ? March 9, 2019 ? Adrian, AA5UK, will be heading to Providenciales in the Turks and ? Caicos Islands from Feb 28th through March 9th, 2019. He will be ? operating holiday style on HF and Satellites as VP5/AA5UK from grid ? FL31UU14. Focus will be on the linear satellites, with some FM act- ? ivity depending on pile-up civility. Hope to work some European ? stations as location favors the East. Pass announcements will be ? made via Twitter: https://twitter.com/AA5UK and periodically via ? amsat-bb. Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ???????????????? 2019 is AMSAT's 50th Anniversary! ??? Watch this space for announcements of special events coming in 2019 ?????????? Get ready to help celebrate with us at the Hamvention ????????????? Symposium 2019 promises to be a special event ???????? Stand by for 50th anniversary operating events and awards +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT-Francophone Satellite Design and Operation Survey AMSAT-F has launched an on-line survey to ask how current satellite users operate and what would they expect from satellite designers. Christophe Mercier, AMSAT-F President, wrote, "Satellite/nanosatellite project managers often wish to use amateur radio frequencies for educa- tional and outreach purposes. The amateur radio community thus offers them a tremendous potential for monitoring their fragile conception. They often ask what kind of amateur radio experience would be interest- ing on board a cubesat or what services they could provide with their communications systems. The answer can be simple: a transponder, but these designers would like to bring novelty and innovation." Access the AMSAT-F survey at: https://framaforms.org/amsat-francophone-survey-1548716436 The results will be presented at the second AMSAT-F meeting, Rencontre spatiale radioamateur on 9 and 10 March 2019 in Nanterre, France. See: http://tinyurl.com/ANS-041-AMSAT-F-Meeting The AMSAT-F web site can be accessed at: http://site.amsat-f.org/ (Google translate may be helpful) [ANS thanks Christophe Mercier, AMSAT-F President for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Early Bird Registration Opens for Cal Poly Cubesat Training Early Bird Registration for the Cal Poly CubeSat Training Course is open now through February 28th. If you are interested in learn- ing more about CubeSat development, mission success, and connect- ing with experienced individuals, this training is for you! For more information visit: http://www.cubesat.org/cal-poly-cubesat-training-course-2019 Early Bird Registration for the 2019 CubeSat Developers Workshop is also open. You can save on registration now through March 29th. For more information visit: http://www.cubesat.org/workshop-information/ If you are still interested in being an exhibitor or sponsor there is still time to register. Exhibit space is filling up, so if you are looking to exhibit at this year's Workshop we recommend registering soon! If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at cubesat-workshop ＠ calpoly.edu. Remember to join the CubeSat Workshop mailing list to stay up to date on important dates, deadlines, and announcements: http://www.cubesat.org/mailinglist/ [ANS thanks The CubeSat Workshop Team for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite Shorts From All Over + NS3L in FN20hq completed a FM satellite contact with F4DXV in JN05ha ? via AO-91 on February 4 at 1428Z. The distance was 5,982.672km. NS3L ? wrote, "OK, Not a record for the books, but one of the best for me ? ever on a FM satellite. 1.2 degree contact on AO-91" (NS3L via Twitter) + K7TAB in DM16 completed a contact with MI6GTY in IO64 via AO-7 on ? February 8. The distance between the two stations was 7965.692 km ? or 4949.65 miles. (MI6GTY via Twitter) + On February 9 N1CMD reported transatlantic QSOs via AO-91 with ? EA4CYQ, EB1AO, G0ABI, CU3EQ. ? + Congratulations to José de Jesus, PS8ET for earning his WAB Sat - Work- ? ed All Brazil Satellite (26 states + Federal District confirmed via ? satellite.) (PS8ET via Twitter) + ORARI - Organisasi Amatir Radio Indonesia (Indonesia Amateur Radio ? Organization) is celebrating the 5th Anniversary of ORARI Lokal ? Jakarta Selatan. A video by Hasil Rekaman, "SSTV via Satellite IO-86 ? for Junior Amateur" oleh ORARI LOKAL JAKARTA SELATAN 2019 yang direkam ? dari Ground Station (GS) OM Mubin-YB3MBN/1 AMSAT-ID is posted at: ? http://tinyurl.com/ANS-041-IO86-SSTV (Hint: hold your phone running ? your favorite SSTV app to your computer speakers and copy the images ? at home.) + A useful feature on the IARU website is the Link Budget Calculator ? page found at: http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/spreadsheet.htm + Read an article about the development and launch of Japan's NEXUS ? satellite published in the The Asahi Shimbun newspaper: ? http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201902070003.html + The 2019 ARRL-TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) will ? be held Friday through Sunday. September 20 ? 22, at the Marriott ? Detroit Metro Airport Hotel in Romulus, Michigan. Further details ? are pending. (vis ARRL) ? + The SatMatch site at http://satmatch.com performs calculations of ? satellite passes between observers based on their grid square. It ? also displays the distance between observers in km on the overlap- ? ping pass pages. + An ISO image for 'My Linux Live' for RAs v0.0.0-20190207 is ? available for downloading at: https://nofile.io/f/mTwaUXD9YKO. ? It now includes support DSLWP-B, LO-90 & LilacSat-2 with off- ? line RX and more! Note that LO-90 is expected to decay by April 6, ? 2019 per DK3WN (http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?page_id=43437), so don't ? wait to try out this interesting satellite! (Via @m6sig on Twitter) + Bookings for the AMSAT SA Space Symposium are now open. The Sympos- ? ium will be held on Saturday, March 16, 2019 at the Accolade Con- ? ference Centre in Midrand, South Africa. The rate will be R400 per ? person for AMSAT SA and SARL members and R600 for non-members. There ? is an early bird rate of R350 for AMSATSA and SARL Members, if booked ? and paid for by February 28, 2019. Accommodation is also available ? at the hotel at R855 plus VAT. More details on www.amsatsa.org.za + CQ-DATV Magazine reports they now have a cumulative index of all ? articles and authors that have been published in CQ-DATV since ? issue 1 in all the usual formats. The index will be updated as each ? new issue is published. The cumulative index can be accessed at: ? https://cq-datv.mobi/indexit.php + Radio Amateurs of Canada is pleased to announce its support of the ? Canadian National Parks on the Air (CNPOTA) event which will be ? held from January 1 to December 31, 2019. All Radio Amateurs world- ? wide will have an opportunity to operate portably from any of ? Canada's 48 National Parks and 171 National Historic Sites (these ? are ‘activators’). Amateurs around the world will be able to chase ? these adventurous operators in an effort to confirm the most QSOs ? (these are ‘chasers’). Activity for activators and chasers will be ? tracked on a dedicated website and real-time leader board and other ? statistics will be available throughout the year. Activators and ? chasers will be able to compete for and collect online awards and ? certificates created specifically for the event. Come join the ? fun and plan to visit one of Canada’s beautiful Parks and Historic ? sites next year! For more information about the event please visit ? the Canadian National Parks on the Air website at: https://cnpota.ca/ + The French National Aerospace Research Centre (ONERA) is requesting ? assistance from the amateur satellite community to capture the last ? telemetry frames from X-Cubesat launched in May 2017 by the polytech- ? nic school in Palaiseau, France is expected to decay around Monday, ? 04/02/2019. The frequency is 437.020 MHz, AFSK 1k2, AX25. The pub- ? lished TLE have been noted to be rapidly changing due to the deter- ? iorating orbit. Please, send information directly to Jean Guérard, ? at ONER) jean.guerard ＠ saf-astronomie.fr ? (Received via Jean-Pierre F5YG) + The Hubble Space Telescope has taken the sharpest image of the ? Andromeda Galaxy to date. Use your mouse wheel to zoom into the ? galaxy on-line at: ? https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1502a/zoomable/ + Mission complete - NASA says MarCO cubesats go silent. Before the ? pair of briefcase-sized spacecraft known collectively as MarCO ? launched last year, their success was measured by survival: If ? they were able to operate in deep space at all, they would be ? pushing the limits of experimental technology. Now well past Mars, ? the daring twins seem to have reached their limit. It's been over ? a month since engineers have heard from MarCO, which followed NASA's ? InSight to the Red Planet. At this time, the mission team considers ? it unlikely they'll be heard from again. Read the full article at: ? http://tinyurl.com/ANS-041-MarsDaily-MarCO (via MarsDaily) [ANS thanks everyone 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 and remember to behave and to help keep amateur radio in space, This week's ANS Editor, JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM k9jkm at amsat dot org _______________________________________________ Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans From ans ＠ amsat.org Sun Feb 17 10:52:35 2019 From: ans ＠ amsat.org (E.Mike McCardel via ANS) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2019 20:52:35 -0500 Subject: [jamsat-news:3592] [ans] ANS-048 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins Message-ID: AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-048 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: * QO-100 released by QARS * ARRL Adds JO-97, FO-99, QO-100 to LoTW Configuration File * New Distance Record on AO-91 * Call for Papers - Digital Communications Conference * KickSat 2 Is Alive And Kicking * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Shorts From All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-048.01 ANS-048 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 048.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. February 17, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-048.01 QO-100 released by QARS Following the successful launch of Es'hail-2, the new Es'hailSat teleport was inaugurated on February 14, 2019. Prior to its official inauguration and opening the QO-100 NB Tran- sponder was opened for experimental use on February 12. The Qatar Amateur Radio Society (QARS) invited radio amateurs worldwide to make good use of the NB transponder and make contacts with each other. In parallel to the experimental operation, Es'hailSat, QARS and AMSAT-DL monitored transponder performance and optimized trans- ponder parameters. Access the full article with photos on the AMSAT-DL website: https://amsat-dl.org/en/eshail-2-qo-100-teleport-inauguration Stations finding themselves out of the footprint of QO-100 or those who have not had the opportunity to acquire 10 GHz down- link receiving capability can join in the action using on-line WebSDR resources: + In co-operation with AMSAT Deutschland, the British Amateur Television Club will be operating a WebSDR for the narrowband segment, and a Spectrum Viewer for the wideband (DATV) segment. The Goonhilly Earth Station is supporting the project, providing hosting for the Ground Station facility at their world-famous site in Cornwall, UK: https://eshail.batc.org.uk/ + The IS0GRB Es'Hail2 (QO-100) SAT 26E WebSDR receiver, located in Dolianova, South Sardinia island, Italy, JM49OJ, operated by Roberto, IS0GRB, using a 100cm parabolic dish can be accessed at: http://websdr.is0grb.it:8901/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Adds JO-97, FO-99, QO-100 to LoTW Configuration File On February 14, 2019, the ARRL released version 11.7 of the Logbook of the World configuration file adding the ability to confirm QSOs made through JO-97, FO-99, and QO-100 via LoTW. LoTW users should receive a prompt to update their configuration file when opening recent versions of TQSL. The file can also be downloaded at https://lotw.arrl.org/lotwuser/config.tq6 [ANS thanks ARRL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Distance Record on AO-91 PR8KW GI77 - Gustavo ?Tks @eb1ao for new record on AO91 2019-02-13 14:23z 6133km. PR8KW GI77um73sc <> EB1AO IN52pf89tw. 73 de PR8KW GI77um [ANS thanks PR8KW via Twitter for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ For a limited time, new and renewing AMSAT members will receive a free digital copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Join or renew your AMSAT membership today at https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-membership/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for Papers - Digital Communications Conference Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC), to be held September 20-22 at the Marriott Detroit Metro Airport Hotel. Papers will also be published in the Conference Proceedings. Authors do not need to attend the conference to have their papers included in the Proceedings. The submission deadline is August 5, 2019. Submit papers to via e-mail to maty ＠ arrl.org, or via post to Maty Weinberg, KB1EIB, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. Papers will be published exactly as submitted, and authors will retain all rights. [ANS thanks Steve Ford, WB8IMY, for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- KickSat 2 Is Alive And Kicking The first couple of days after KickSat 2 was deployed from Cygnus NG 10 no downlink signals were received from the satellite. But today I received several short and weak transmissions from KickSat 2. So it appears to be alive and transmitting short telemetry bursts on 437.5077 MHz. KickSat 2, object 44046, is to deploy up to 104 small Sprite satellites into its low orbit. All these Sprites will then transmit on 437.240 MHz with 10 mW and are expected to reenter within weeks. [ANS thanks Nico PA0DLO via Amsat-bb for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations Eureka Nunavut (ER60, EQ79) ? February 3, to March 29, 2019 Eureka ARC, VY0ERC, will be QRV from Eureka, NU (NA-008), February 3 until March 29, 2019. Time and weather permitting, they expect to be on the FM satellites from ER60 and EQ79. Announcements will be posted on Twitter at https://twitter.com/vy0erc. 3A, MONACO (JN33) ? February 15-18, 2019 Philippe, EA4NF, will be active as 3A/EA4NF from Monaco, between February 15-18th. Priority will be given to FM and SSB Satellites to get confirmed as much as possible this rare DXCC country to the amateur radio satellite community. HF activity will be on 20 meters SSB, but on the QRP mode (5w). QSL via LoTW. Yuma Hamfest (DM22) ? February 15-16, 2019 Patrick, WD9EWK, will have an AMSAT booth at the Yuma Hamfest in southwestern Arizona on Friday and Saturday, 15-16 February 2019. This year’s hamfest also serves as the 2019 ARRL Southwestern Division Convention. The hamfest will be at the Yuma County Fairgrounds, along 32nd Street between Pacific Avenue and Avenue 3E, and south of I-8 exit 3, in Yuma. The fairgrounds is across the street from Yuma International Airport and Marine Corps Air Station. More information about the hamfest is available from: http://www.yumahamfest.org/ During the hamfest, Patrick will have demonstrations of satellite operating from outside the main hall on the fairgrounds. If you hear WD9EWK on passes during those two days, please feel free to call and be a part of the demonstrations. Patrick may not be able to work every possible pass from the hamfest, but hopes to work a variety of passes in FM, SSB, and even packet. The hamfest site is in grid DM22. Contacts made with WD9EWK will be uploaded to Logbook of the World, and QSL cards for contacts made with WD9EWK will be available on request after the hamfest (please e-mail me directly with the QSO details). During the hamfest, he will use his @WD9EWK Twitter account to post updates from the hamfest. If you do not use Twitter, you can still see these updates in a web browser at: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK Imperial Valley (DM12, DM22) ? February 17, 2019 After the end of the upcoming Yuma Hamfest, Patrick, WD9EWK, plans to make a drive west to the DM12/DM22 grid boundary along I-8 near the west end of California’s Imperial Valley on Sunday, 17 February 2019. He hopes to work passes for a few hours out there, with much cooler weather than what he experienced last July when he was previously out there. ?? The DM12/DM22 grid boundary, at the town of Ocotillo, is in Imperial County. Patrick will use his @WD9EWK Twitter account to send updates. Even without a Twitter account, these updates will be visible in a web browser at: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK His travel out to the DM12/DM22 line should be visible on APRS as WD9EWK-9: http://aprs.fi/WD9EWK-9 Isla del Culebra, Puerto Rico (FK78) ? February 22-24, 2019 Radio Opordores del Este, KP3RE, is preparing for their Culebra IOTA (NA-249) Expedition 2019. Satellite operations are planned for AO- 91, AO-92, SO-50, and IO-86. Turks and Caicos Islands (FL31) ? February 28 ? March 9, 2019 Adrian, AA5UK, will be heading to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands from Feb 28th through March 9th, 2019. He will be operating holiday style on HF and Satellites as VP5/AA5UK from grid FL31UU14. Focus will be on the linear satellites, with some FM activity depending on pile-up civility. Hope to work some European stations as location favors the East. Pass announcements will be made via Twitter: https://twitter.com/AA5UK and periodically via amsat-bb. Please submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org Updated February 15, 2019 For most recent updates visit: https://www.amsat.org/satellite-info/upcoming-satellite-operations/ [ANS thanks Robert KE4AL for the above information] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News + 2019-02-13 20:10 UTC between David St-Jacques KG5FYI using ISS callsign NA1SS and College Park School, Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada Contact was direct via VA5ISS. ARISS Mentor was Brian VE6JBJ. + 2019-02-14 14:30 UTC between David St-Jacques KG5FYI using ISS callsign NA1SS and Faith Christian Academy, Orlando, FL, USA. Contact was direct via W9DWJ. ARISS Mentor was Dave AA4KN. Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule There are no scheduled contacts this week. [ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN for the above information] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT and ARISS are currently supporting a FundRazr campaign to raise $150,000 for critical radio infrastructure upgrades on ISS. The upgrades are necessary to enable students to continue to talk to astronauts in space via Amateur Radio. We have reached a great milestone with $16,895 raised or about 11% towards our goal. This would not have been possible without your outstanding generosity!! Donations have recently stalled. We ask that you help us get back on track by donating today? For more information and to DONATE TODAY visit: https://fundrazr.com/arissnextgen?ref=ab_e7Htwa_ab_47IcJ9 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 2019 is AMSAT's 50th Anniversary! Watch this space for announcements of special events coming in 2019 Get ready to help celebrate with us at the Hamvention Symposium 2019 promises to be a special event Stand by for 50th anniversary operating events and awards +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Shorts From All Over + Videos from the 2018 TAPR Digital Communications Conference are available at: http://tinyurl.com/TAPR-2018-DCC-Videos [ANS thanks TAPR for the above information] + Information for a Raspberry Pi - based SSTV receiver can be found at: https://github.com/davidhoness/sstv_decoder/blob/master/README.md [ANS thanks JoAnne K9JKM for providing the above information] + Humorous Anecdote John, C6ATS, reports that while working an SO-50 pass from his boat in FL22 on February 12th, a wind gust caused his Elk antenna to fall off its handle and blow overboard. Luckily, it was still attached to the coax and he was able to haul it back on board and work a few more stations before LOS. [ANS thanks @ItinerantHam via Twitter for the above information] + Congratulations to Dhruv Rebba, KC9ZJX. who was the Keynote Speaker at the 'Students Involved with Technology(SIT) Conference-2019' on February 9th at Heartland Community College. His inspirational speech was addressed to the SIT Conference, 'For Students By Students', which was filled with workshops to showcase technology, tools and skills. Dhruv organized an ARISS contact with his school last year and he was a speaker at the AMSAT Space Symposium in Huntsville, AL in October, 2018. [ANS thanks Hari Rebba via AMSAT facebook + Read this and past releases of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins at: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- /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, EMike McCardel, AA8EM aa8em at amsat dot org _______________________________________________ Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans From JBH02173 ＠ nifty.com Mon Feb 18 18:38:44 2019 From: JBH02173 ＠ nifty.com (Mikio_Mouri) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2019 18:38:44 +0900 Subject: [jamsat-news:3593] =?utf-8?b?SkFNU0FUX05ld3NsZXR0ZXIgTm8yOTIg55m66YCB44Gu44GU5qGI?= =?utf-8?b?5YaF?= In-Reply-To: <9e04ae0e-b0d6-5b0d-4353-324f0f3717e7@nifty.com> References: <1835319848.411751524483798137.jbh02173@nifty.com> <9e04ae0e-b0d6-5b0d-4353-324f0f3717e7@nifty.com> Message-ID: JAMSAT会員のみなさまへ 会誌JAMSAT Newsletter 292号は配送手配中で、近日中にお手元に届くかと 存じます。 今号は、総会告示・議案説明とともに、前半にOrigamiSat-1/FO-98、 NEXUS/FO-99、Phase-4A/QO-100の誕生を、一部カラーページも含め 特集しています。 会員の方には、総会・シンポジウムへの出欠はがきが同封されています。 欠席の際の委任状、シンポジウム・懇親会・GNU-Radio実習　への参加有無 チェックの項目がありますので、届きましたら、至急返信をお願いします。 京都 ホテルビナリオ嵯峨嵐山 にて3月16日(土)に開催される総会の開始時刻は 12時30分、続けてシンポジウムは13時30分開始、翌17日(日は）は8時45分 開始です。豊富な内容を詰め込むため、早めのスタートですので、ご注意ください。 以下に主な内容を紹介します。 目次 ・FO-99/QO-100打上/JAMSAT総会シンポ案内 ・総会告示・シンポジウム2019案内と仮プログラム ・NEXUS/FO-99打上げと衛星テレメトリー概要 ・ﾊﾟﾌﾞﾘｯｸﾋﾞｭｰｲﾝｸﾞ/jamsat-bb/落成検査合格 ・ｹｰﾌﾟｶﾅﾍﾞﾗﾙEs’hail2の打上げと地上局準備 ・QO-100トランスポンダーWB/NBバンドプラン ・北海道無線セミナー報告11/4 ・ふくい宇宙博出展報告 12/8-9 ・大阪高槻ミーティング12/8 ・東京秋葉原ミーティング12/15 ・年間JAMSAT/AMSAT関連催し物開催予定 ・最近のJARL/AMSAT関連会誌紹介 ・2019年を迎えて　理事・監事新年の挨拶 ・LVB Tracker コントローラ製作 アップデート ・第6回理事監事通常選挙結果報告 ・理事・監事選挙に際しての所信表明 ・2018年活動報告・会計決算・会計監査報告 ・2019年度事業計画と活動予算案 ・いま使える低軌道衛星 送信受信周波数一覧 ・理事会から 総44ページの中間に 4ページのカラーページを挟んでいます。 衛星通信に興味をお持ちで、もしJAMSAT会員でない方は、ぜひ入会を 検討下さい。 https://www.jamsat.or.jp/?page_id=9 ご感想・ご意見をお寄せ下さい。よろしくお願いします。 JA3GEP　毛利幹生　Newsletter編集担当 From ans ＠ amsat.org Sun Feb 24 09:14:53 2019 From: ans ＠ amsat.org (Frank Karnauskas via ANS) Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2019 17:14:53 -0700 Subject: [jamsat-news:3594] [ans] ANS-055 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletin Message-ID: <000f01d4cbd5$f79b2700$e6d17500$@gokarns.com> AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-055 The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information 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://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 dot org. In this edition: * 50th Anniversary AMSAT OSCAR Satellite Communications Achievement Award (Limited Edition) Starts March 3rd * FalconSAT-3 Digipeater Waiting for Your APRS Packets * Qatar OSCAR-100 Web Receiver Now Live * AMSAT Journal January/February 2019 Is on Its Way * KickSat-2 is Alive and Being Tracked (Updated 2/19/2019) * Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Communications Training Course * IARU Region 1 Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) Announced * This Month in AMSAT History * AMSAT-SA Space Symposium March 16, 2019 * HamSCI Workshop Receives National Science Foundation Grant * Upcoming Satellite Operations * ARISS News * Satellite Shorts from All Over SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-055.01 ANS-055 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 055.01 >From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD. February 24, 2019 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-055.01 50th Anniversary AMSAT OSCAR Satellite Communications Achievement Award (Limited Edition) Starts March 3rd Get those uplinks ready! Much like the regular AMSAT OSCAR Satellite Communications Achievement Award, the 50th Anniversary Limited Edition is unique in that the award certificates will be printed on one of the original goldenrod paper stock certificates and signed by AMSAT?s founding President, Perry Klein, K3JTE (now W3PK). With only 20 original certificates available, this award will certainly become a collector?s item. The first 20 applicants to successfully submit 20 confirmed, qualifying contacts on any satellite will receive this award. A qualifying contact is defined as the establishment of two-way communication on any amateur radio satellite, with another station in a U.S. state, Canadian call area, or DXCC entity, no two of which may be the same. - All contacts must be made between March 03, 2019 00:00 UTC and December 31, 2019 23:59 UTC. - A U.S. state shall mean any state of the United States and the District of Columbia. - The 14 Canadian call areas are VE1 ? Nova Scotia, VE2 ? Quebec, VE3 ? Ontario, VE4 ? Manitoba, VE5 ? Saskatchewan, VE6 ? Alberta, VE7 ? British Columbia, VE8 ? Northwest Territories, VE9 ? New Brunswick, VO1 ? Newfoundland, VO2 ? Labrador, VY0 ? Nunavut, VY1 ? Yukon, VY2 ? Prince Edward Island. - Only one qualifying contact is allowed for each U.S. state, Canadian call area, and DXCC entity. - Qualifying contacts may not be counted for multiple types of entities. As an example, a QSO with Alaska counts as an additional state or DXCC entity, not both. - Contacts must be made from same location, or from locations, no two of which are more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) apart. - Previous recipients of the AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award, may apply for the 50th Anniversary AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award. The complete rules and instructions for applying for this and all 50th Anniversary Awards can be found at: https://www.amsat.org/amsat-50th-anniversary-awards-program/ [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL for the above information.] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ For a limited time, new and renewing AMSAT members will receive a free digital copy of "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" Join or renew your AMSAT membership today at https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-membership/ +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ FalconSAT-3 Digipeater Waiting for Your APRS Packets While NO-84 is in a poor sun angle and the ISS digipeater proves to be a challenge these days, APRS fans might be longing for something to do. Fear not! Bob Bruninga, WB4APR reminds us that FalconSAT-3 is available to us 5 times a day. (Or, more like 5 times a night for US operators right now.) Bob writes: "For APRS folks just sitting in their mobile with nothing to do, you can work FalconSAT-3 from any APRS mobile Although passes now are from about midnight to 6 AM EST, that pattern moves earlier about 36 minutes a day. "Unlike the NO-84 and ISS digipeaters that operate on a single 2 meter frequency, FalconSAT-3 uses an uplink of 145.840 MHz and a downlink of 435.103 MHz. The uplink doesn?t change, but the downlink frequency needs to be adjusted downward throughout a pass. Tune 435.110 MHz at start of pass, then clicking down steps of 5 KHz towards the middle of the pass and then ending at 435.095 by the end ten minutes later. If you are just going to monitor overnight, set to 435.103 for the early middle of the pass and check your LIST in the morning. "The FalconSAT digipeater operates APRS at 9600 baud and works fine from a 50W APRS mobile with mobile antenna. Just turn on your rig, set the internal TNC to 9600 baud and monitor the downlink. You should see packets from PFS3-1 (the APRS broadcast call sign) and other stations. "Uplink takes a few more settings. Using a Kenwood TM-D710: - Set your path to go via PFS3-1. - Set the TNC to TX A and RX B. - Set the uplink on band A to 145.84. (No need to adjust for Doppler). - Set the beacon to once a minute. - Turn off decay and proportional pathing. "You will NOT see your own digipeats. Although the satellite and D710 are operating full duplex, the D710 TNC is not. By the time the TNC TX/RX turns around, you will already have missed it. So don't keep transmitting until you see your packet. You won't see it. But, when you do see someone else's APRS packet, by all means send them a message. If he ACKS, then success! "You don't even need a computer to predict FalconSAT-3's passes. Once you hear a pass, then just remember that passes are 36 minutes earlier each day and the next pass is always 98 minutes later unless that was the last pass of the day." For more detailed information on programming various radios for working FalconSAT-3, see Patrick, WD9EWK's AMSAT Journal article at: https://tinyurl.com/ans-055-falconsat-3. [ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Qatar OSCAR-100 Web Receiver Now Live The BATC and AMSAT-UK 10 GHz Narrowband WebSDR and Wideband Spectrum Viewer for the amateur radio transponders on the Es?hail-2 / QO-100 geostationary satellite are now available online. The geostationary satellite Es?hail-2 carrying amateur radio transponders launched from Kennedy Space Center at 20:46 GMT on Thursday, November 15, 2018 and is now in a geostationary orbit at 25.9° East. The transponders should link radio amateurs across a third of the globe from Brazil to Thailand. Following commissioning of the satellite on February 12, 2019 the Qatar Amateur Radio Society (QARS) invited radio amateurs worldwide to use the Es?hail-2 / QO-100 narrowband transponder. In co-operation with AMSAT-UK, the British Amateur Television Club will be operating a 10 GHz WebSDR for the narrowband segment, and a Spectrum Viewer for the wideband (DATV) segment. Goonhilly Earth Station is supporting the project, providing hosting for the Ground Station facility at their world-famous site in Cornwall, UK. You can listen to the WebSDR's at: https://eshail.batc.org.uk/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- AMSAT Journal January/February 2019 Is on Its Way The current issue (Volume 42, Number 1) of The AMSAT Journal is on its way to AMSAT members' mailboxes. This issue's cover features a well-illustrated story of the AMSAT operation on the Queen Mary by Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK. Other interesting articles in this edition include: - In his Apogee View column President Joe Spier, K6WAO hints at a 1969 themed "OSCAR Park" display AMSAT's Golden Jubilee booth at Dayton Hamvention. - Educational Relations Update by Alan B. Johnston, KU2Y - New AMSAT CubeSat Simulator: Part 2, Classroom Activities by Alan B. Johnston, KU2Y and Pat Kilroy, N8PK - AMSAT 50th Anniversary Awards Program - Fox-in-a-Box: An Easily Deployed Satellite Telemetry Receiver by Burns Fisher, WB1FJ and Chris Thompson, G0KLA - Grid Squares and Dough Squares: A Mississippi/Louisiana Rove by Robert Bankston, KE4AL and Brian Karcher, KG5GJT - L-band Uplink Amplifier by Ed Krome, K9EK - Arduino Based Amateur Satellite Antenna Tracker - ABBASAT by Don Corrington, AK2S - Digital Voice on Amateur Satellites: Experiences with LilacSat-OSCAR 90 by Paul Stoetzer, N8HM - Member Footprints: Share Your Experiences as an AMSAT Member Remember, if you're not an AMSAT member, you're not getting The AMSAT Journal and you're NOT getting all the news! [ANS thanks AMSAT Journal Editor-in-Chief Joe Kornowski, KB6IGK for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- KickSat-2 is Alive and Being Tracked (Updated 2/19/2019) For the first couple of days after the 3U KickSat-2 was deployed from Cygnus NG-10 last November, nothing was heard from the satellite. But in a February 16 post to AMSAT-BB, Nico Janssen, PA0DLO, reported receiving several short and weak transmissions from KickSat 2 ? short telemetry bursts on 437.5077 MHz. Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University Zac Manchester, KD2BHC, is the principal investigator for the KickSat project, which NASA adopted as an official mission. ?Yes, KickSat-2 is alive,? Manchester told ARRL. ?We have been tracking it since Thursday, [February 14,] and have been able to decode at least some packets. The signal is weak and we think the antenna did not properly deploy on the CubeSat.? KickSat-2 is scheduled to deploy up to 104 tiny Sprite satellites into low Earth orbit. The Sprites then would transmit on 437.240 MHz at 10 mW, communicating with each other via a mesh network and with command stations on Earth. The Sprites, which are less than 2 square inches, are expected to reenter Earth?s atmosphere within weeks. Manchester did not indicate if attempts would be made to deploy the Sprites. NASA calls KickSat-2 a technology demonstration mission that?s designed to demonstrate the deployment and operation of prototype Sprite ?ChipSats,? also known as ?femtosatellites.? The FCC recently imposed a $900,000 penalty on a commercial concern, Swarm Technologies, for launching similar tiny satellites after the FCC had denied permission. ?These spacecraft are therefore below the size threshold at which detection by the Space Surveillance Network can be considered routine,? the FCC told Swarm Technologies. Manchester had been trying without success to convince the FCC to allow him to deploy the Sprites from KickSat-2, but, apparently gun shy after the Swarm action, the agency denied permission at the last moment. Once NASA adopted KickSat-2 as its own mission, however, the regulatory body shifted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and the launch went forward. In the Swarm Technologies proceeding, the FCC has argued that satellites smaller than 10 centimeters on any side were too small, although the agency has been accused of inconsistency in its approach to licensing small satellites. KickSat-2?s Sprites are 3.5 centimeters on the side and just 0.2 centimeters thick. Manchester?s 2014 KickSat was unable to deploy its Sprites before deorbiting. The FCC issued an Enforcement Advisory last April to remind satellite operators that they must obtain FCC authorization for space station and Earth station operations. The advisory cautioned satellite operators and launch companies against proceeding with launch arrangements following a license denial or prior to receiving an FCC authorization. Manchester is reported to be developing a plan to deploy a group of small satellites to survey the sky in the LF radio range, something that cannot be done from the ground owing to the ionosphere. [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Communications Training Course The European Space Agency's Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Communications Training Course was created to get students thinking like spacecraft operators. 30 university students from 12 different ESA Member States have successfully completed the latest Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Communications Training Course. Running from 5 ? 8 February 2019, and hosted at ESA Academy?s Training and Learning Facility, ESEC-Galaxia in Belgium, the course was delivered by a senior ESA engineer. This course was the fourth edition of ESA Academy?s Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Communications Training Course. The tried-and-tested aim remained: acquaint students with the fundamental concepts of spacecraft telecommunications. The ?Ladybird approach? was used throughout, meaning that lectures avoided excessive mathematical and analytical detail, and were furnished with a wealth of real-l life examples supplemented with easy to understand diagrams. A secondary course aim was to ?fill the gap? between spacecraft operators and telecommunications designers. Traditionally, designers cannot think ?as operators?, and this course offered participants an opportunity to use the ?spacecraft operator point of view? when designing a ground station or a telecommunications subsystem of a spacecraft. Throughout the course students were introduced to various spacecraft telecommunications topics, including: - Signal modulation and demodulation - Channel coding - Communication protocols - Transmission - Link budget for signal reception, and - Ground stations. ESA?s Training and Learning Program is offering several other training session opportunities in the coming months. They will cover different fields of ESA expertise, such as Space Debris, Standardization, Product Assurance, Space Law, and Gravity-Related Research. For more information on the program visit: https://tinyurl.com/ans-055-eas-ladybird [ANS thanks the European Space Agency for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- IARU Region 1 Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) Announced The Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) program is an IARU Region 1 initiative aimed at engaging youngsters in amateur radio, as well as supporting amateurs under the age of 26. The YOTA program is jointly led by Lisa, PA2LS and Tommy, ON2TD, and organizes a number of projects, including YOTA Month, the IARU Youth Contesting Program, and the YOTA summer event?which is held in a different IARU Region 1 country each year. For further information about YOTA, visit: https://www.ham-yota.com. The 2019 Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) summer camp will be held in Bulgaria, close to the capital city of Sofia. The Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs (BFRA) will be hosting the event, which will take place from 11-17 August 2019. This is a chance in a lifetime for young RSGB Members to represent their country and national society. Find out more at: https://rsgb.org/main/about-us/yota/yota-2019/ [ANS thanks the RSGB for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- This Month in AMSAT History While starting our Golden Jubilee, it's fun to take a look back at what has happened over the past fifty years. Here's a peek at some news items from the archives of "The "AMSAT Journal", aka "Amateur Satellite Report" aka "AMSAT Newsletter" as it has been named over the years. Unfortunately our archives are not complete so we sometimes had to pull some snippets from adjacent issues. 2009 President Barry Baines, WD4ASW announces an Engineering Task Force to evaluate satellite proposals and to help AMSAT prioritize how it uses its engineering resources. AMSAT-NA faces a critical crossroad in its support of international development of amateur satellites because of various export control rules, primarily ITAR. Without an acceptable handle on ITAR issues, AMSAT-NA may be forced to go it alone developing satellites. Several existing and potential future options for launching Phase 3 satellites are explored. The constantly evolving business environment for launching secondary payloads is discussed. To be successful AMSAT and its volunteers must adapt to how satellite projects are supported and managed. 1999 President Keith Baker, KB1SF discusses finding a safe and affordable launch for Phase 3D. In addition to Phase 3D there are a number of new satellites on the drawing boards. Many satellites are underused now. Make a New Year's resolution to try different satellites and different modes. As we approach the year 2000, Roy D. Welch, W0SL reviews items we need to check out in our computers and software to be sure that date and time sensitive software will function after January 1st. Concern is expressed over the large number of nanosats (the size of basketballs) that are being launched with high risk of leaving space debris. Also worrisome is the considerable number of university people who plan on using Amateur Radio frequencies thinking they are free for use by just anyone. 1987 The long rumored launch of RS-9 and RS-10 is expected in January 1987. RS-5 and RS-7 have survived the long eclipse period but have sustained further battery damage. AMSAT President Emeritus Tom Clark, W3IWI received a high honor from NASA for this work in the field of Very Long Baseline Interferometry. AO-10 is again providing excellent communications despite fundamental IHU memory problems. Users are advised to enjoy A)-10 while they can. March 1974 March celebrates AMSAT's 5th anniversary with membership topping 1,100 dues paying members in 52 countries. President Perry Klein, K3JTE reports Oscar B is about two months behind schedule. The launch of Oscar 7 has been rescheduled to July 1974. Jan King, W3GEY proposes an analog telemetry system for future satellites to obtain data on functions that vary rapidly with time. With a year of operating time under their belts, users are beginning to understand the idiosyncrasies of Oscar 6, such as why it is on when it should be off. The latest edition of the Radio Amateur Callbook now includes a directory of Oscar 6 users. [ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information.] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Purchase AMSAT Gear on our Zazzle storefront. 25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT-SA Space Symposium March 16, 2019 Es?hailsat has been one of the major discussions on the agenda of the AMSAT Space Symposiums over the past two years with Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP providing details of how to set up an inexpensive ground station. The subject will again be on the agenda on 16 March 2019 when Hannes will show the final version of his ground station and make some QSOs during a live demonstration. For this alone do not miss the 2019 Space Symposium to be held on March 16, 2019 in Midrand. There are many other interesting presentations and demonstrations on the agenda. It is an event not to be missed. For details and a registration form visit: www.amsatsa.org.za. AMSAT SA is also proud to announce that AMSAT SA Space Symposium 2019 is being validated by the SAIEE, as per ECSA Policy, under validation no. SAIEE- 2479-V Es?hailsat is the first geostationary satellite to cover Africa, Europe and the Middle East providing DX opportunities 24 hours per day. The transponder was built by AMSAT DL in Germany and is being managed by the Qatar Amateur Radio Society [ANS thanks Southgate Amateur Radio News for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- HamSCI Workshop Receives National Science Foundation Grant The HamSCI Workshop March 22 ? 23 at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio, has received a supporting grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Organized and administered by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), the conference is hosted by the CWRU Amateur Radio Club (W8EDU). Registration remains open, and papers and presentations are invited. ?We are especially looking for speakers with presentations showing analysis of ionospheric observations, ideas and proposals for the design of the Personal Space Weather Station and instrumentation for the 2024 eclipse,? HamSCI?s Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, said. Other presentations related to Amateur Radio and science also are welcome. Email abstracts to hamsci ＠ hamsci.org. The theme for this year?s conference will be ?Ionospheric Effects and Sensing,? including the use of Amateur Radio techniques to characterize and study ionospheric phenomena. Discussion will include continued development of the HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station and integration of Amateur Radio into the collegiate curriculum. Featured speakers will include well-known Amateur Radio author Ward Silver, N0AX, propagation specialist Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, and Larisa Goncharenko, who will talk on Space Science for Ham Radio Operators. The NSF conference grant from the Geosciences Directorate will facilitate conference activities and associated logistics. [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Satellite Operations * Eureka Nunavut (ER60, EQ79) ? February 3, - March 29, 2019 Eureka ARC, VY0ERC, will be QRV from Eureka, NU (NA-008), February 3 until March 29, 2019. Time and weather permitting, they expect to be on the FM satellites from ER60 and EQ79. Announcements will be posted on Twitter at https://twitter.com/vy0erc. * Turks and Caicos Islands (FL31) ? February 28 - March 9, 2019 Adrian, AA5UK, will be heading to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands from Feb 28th through March 9th, 2019. He will be operating holiday style on HF and Satellites as VP5/AA5UK from grid FL31UU14. Focus will be on the linear satellites, with some FM activity depending on pile-up civility. Hope to work some European stations as location favors the East. Pass announcements will be made via Twitter: https://twitter.com/AA5UK and periodically via amsat-bb. [ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL for the above information.] * Russia and Eastern Europe - February 24 - March 14, 2019 Gabe Harambe, AL6D/VE6NJH is on the first of four flights for another of his signature trips. This voyage stakes him to Poland (Feb 24-28), Lithuania (Feb 28-Mar 4), Kaliningrad (Mar 4-7), Saint Petersburg (Mar 7-11), Åland Islands (Mar 11-13), and Helsinki (Mar 13-14). Gabe thinks the most desired entities are going to be UA2 and OH0. Unfortunately OH0 is gonna be quick, arriving in the evening and leaving in the morning for two nights and one full day). He hopes to make US contacts from every entity and will try to hit as many grids as feasible He will have a car in Vilnius and Kaliningrad, but good transatlantic locations will take precedence over grids. Don't expect Gabe on every pass. "I'm traveling with family and we'll be doing touristy stuff, but I'll make my best effort to be on the great AO-7 and FO-29 passes across the ocean. I'm operating ninja portable like the good ole days, QRP with two FT-817NDs and an arrow, hopefully that doesn't attract too much negative attention from customs in Russia." Updates will be on Twitter @AL6D_Alaska. [ANS thanks Gabe Zeifman, AL6D/VE6NJH/Harambe1 for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARISS News Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of February 19, 2019, 21:30 UTC: - Huntington High School, Huntington, TX, direct via KI5AJL The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS The scheduled astronaut is TBD Contact is go for Monday February 25, 2019, 19:39:52 UTC 25 degs. [ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above information.] +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ AMSAT and ARISS are currently supporting a FundRazr campaign to raise $150,000 for critical radio infrastructure upgrades on ISS. The upgrades are necessary to enable students to continue to talk to astronauts in space via Amateur Radio. For more information and to DONATE TODAY visit: https://fundrazr.com/arissnextgen?ref=ab_e7Htwa_ab_47IcJ9 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Satellite Shorts from All Over * First AMSAT Rover Award for 2019 Congratulation to Casey, KI7UNJ, for earning the first AMSAT Rover Award for 2019. Number 041.Keep on Rov'in! [ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, AMSAT Director of Awards for the above information.] * Build your own Space Weather dashboard Jan van den Berg, PA2P wrote an article on how to build your own Space Weather Dashboard with NOAA data. The article is about how to design your own gauges and charts with Space Weather data from NOAA for your own website, instead of using the existing dashboards. Jan's article can be viewed at: http://www.pa2p.nl/noaa [ANS thanks Southgate Amateur Radio News for the above information.] * ESA Introduces Interactive Nanosatellite Simulator Through an innovative combination of a plug-and-play test platform and software, the UK Harwell-based SME is slashing the time it takes for space missions to be designed and qualified for launch. Their online ?beeApp? software helps define a full space mission from the ground up, including selection of launchers, ground stations and satellite size. Based on those parameters, it runs simulations on the orbits, amount of power received by the satellite from the sun, and when it can communicate with the ground. This data is then used to create the optimal mission profile. Once that has been decided, their ?beeKit? hardware emulates the size, on-board computer and electrical interfaces of a real satellite, to facilitate the design and testing of the actual payloads. When linked, these two tools can simulate the mission in space, and how the payload will perform. More information of the program is available at: https://tinyurl.com/ans-055-esa-beekit [ANS thanks the European Space Agency for the above information.] * SSO-A Solar Sails Deployed - May be Visible to the Naked Eye The solar sails on the SSO-A mission "Free Flyer" deployers, launched December 3, 2018, are believed to have deployed and may now be quite bright to the naked eye. The systems were standalone isolated systems with no communications so there is no telemetry confirmation. Drag parameters from the TLEs are indicative of a successful deployment, but far from definitive. The University of Surrey team is waiting for them to become optically visible in northern latitudes in the next couple of weeks. Based on the experience with our InflateSail mission, they expect these objects to be quite bright to the naked eye if the sails have deployed successfully. InflateSail was 10m2 and (initially) transparent with a +4.2 mag, whereas these sails are 16m2 and metalized so could well flare brightly. Any observations made by the community of either of these objects would be greatly appreciated and they should make for interesting targets. View the complete story at: https://amsat-uk.org/2019/02/14/sso-a-solar-sails-deployed/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information.] * CubeSat Developers Workshop: April 23-25 Adds New Workshops The CubeSat Developers Workshop to be held at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has announced the following additional conferences and workshops: - CubeSat Training Course: April 26-27 - CubeSat Astronomy Workshop: April 26-27 - LunarCubes Workshop: April 26 - Interplanetary Small Satellite Conference (ISSC): April 29-30 For more information on these additional workshops and to register, visit: http://www.cubesat.org/workshop-information/#conferences-link [ANS thanks CubeSat for the above information.] * ISS and Amateur Radio as Art The impressive artwork ?Ten Minute Transmission?, featuring a Kenwood TS-2000 transceiver and the International Space Station, is on display at the Tate Gallery in London. "Ten Minute Transmission" is a sculpture modeled after the International Space Station. Made of wire and attached to a TS-2000 this sculpture receives radio signals from the airwaves and transmits them into the gallery space. See the sculpture at: https://tinyurl.com/ans-055-sculpture [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information.] * Kyutech is World's No. 1 for University Small Satellite Launches A space industry report states that Kyutech is the world No. 1 academic operator of small satellites. Bryce Space and Technology is a company based in northern Virginia in the United States and is partially funded by NASA it produces reports about the space industry. It has just released "Smallsats by the Numbers 2018" and in this report it is stated that Kyutech has launched the highest number of small satellites among all "academic operators" of the world, followed by Nanyang Technical University, Singapore; San Jose State University, USA; and Tsinghua University, China. Kyutech deployed 5 satellites into orbit in 2018, and 4 will be launched in 2019. Therefore, by the end of 2019, it is expected that the small satellite launch tally for Kyutech will reach 18. [ANS thanks Kyutech Institute of Technology for the above information.] * Longer-Lasting Propulsion System Designed for CubeSats According to Purdue scientists, chemical thrusters used in current Cubesats can become irreversibly damaged through repeated use, ultimately giving out before the CubeSat's planned lifespan is over. Utilizing a technique known as Low Energy Surface Flashover (LESF), it creates plasma which is electromagnetically accelerated down a narrow channel. As the plasma leaves that channel, thrust is produced. The whole process uses relatively little energy, with each thrust pulse lasting less than 100 to 200 nanoseconds (a nanosecond is one billionth of a second). Because the pulses are so short, there is very little cumulative damage to the system. In lab tests, one of the LESF setups was still operational after more than 1.5 million pulses. More information is available at: https://newatlas.com/cubesat-lesf-propulsion/58365/ [ANS thanks New Atlas for the above information.] * Laser ?License Plate? Could Improve Identification of Cubesats A technology using a tiny laser tracker could help resolve one of the major challenges involved with the launching of cubesats: identifying individual satellites after their deployment. The solution developed at Los Alamos is called the Extremely Low Resource Optical Identifier (ELROI). ?A simple blinking light can be seen from orbit if it?s the right kind of light and it blinks in the right way and then looked at it with the right kind of detector. A laser transmits brief pulses of light that encodes the identification code, but keeps the system?s average power at the milliwatt level. That signal can be detected on the ground with a 35-centimeter telescope equipped with a narrow spectral filter to block light at all frequencies other than that the laser transmits it. More information is available at: https://tinyurl.com/ans-055-license-plate [ANS thanks SpaceNews for the above information.] -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 student rate for a maximum of six post-secondary years in this status. Contact Martha at the AMSAT office for additional student membership information. 73, This week's ANS Editor, Frank Karnauskas, N1UW n1uw at amsat dot org Sent via AMSAT-BB ＠ amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT member: Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans