The Latest News from AMSAT, as of 28 June, 2009 - 1414 UTC
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| NASA Breaking News |
NASA Updates Shuttle Prelaunch Events and Countdown DetailsNews conferences, events and operating hours for the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., have been updated for the launch of space shuttle Endeavour. 07/01/09 |
NASA Astronaut Starts Agency's First Bilingual TwitterNASA astronaut Jose Hernandez, set to fly aboard space shuttle Discovery in August, is providing insights about his training on Twitter in both English and Spanish. It will be the agency's first bilingual Twitter. 07/01/09 |
NASA's Fermi Telescope Probes Dozens of PulsarsWith NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, astronomers now are getting their best look at those whirling stellar cinders known as pulsars. 07/01/09 |
NASA's LRO Spacecraft Sends First Lunar Images to EarthNASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has transmitted its first images since reaching lunar orbit June 23. 07/01/09 |
Astronauta de Nasa Comienza el Primer Twitter Biling?e de la Agencia EspacialEl astronauta de NASA Jos? Hern?ndez, quien volar? a bordo del Transbordador Espacial Discovery en Agosto, nos permitir? ver los detalles de su entrenamiento por medio de un "Twitter" en Ingles y en Espa?ol 06/29/09 |
Space Station Appearing Nationwide Over July 4 WeekendAs America celebrates its 233rd birthday this holiday weekend, there will be an extra light in the sky along with the fireworks. 06/29/09 |
NASA TV to Broadcast Space Station Crew's Move of Return CraftThree members of the International Space Station crew will board a Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station and move it to a different docking port on Thursday, July 2. The journey will be broadcast live on NASA Television. 06/28/09 |
NASA, Japan Release Most Complete Topographic Map of EarthNASA and Japan released a new digital topographic map of Earth Monday that covers more of our planet than ever before. 06/28/09 |
NASA Holds Test to Verify Endeavour Tank RepairsNASA will conduct a tanking test at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, July 1, to ensure repairs to space shuttle Endeavour's external fuel tank were successful. 01/29/09 |
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| ARISS Reaches 443 School Contacts
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A major milestone for the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station or ARISS school project. This as the total number of ARISS contacts between the astronaut hams on board the orbiting outpost and school rooms here on Earth has now reached 443.
An average of 20 students are able to ask questions of an on-orbit crew during a normal ARISS contact. That totals out to well over 8000 school kids world-wide who have gotten a chance to vicariously visit the International Space Station via ham radio since the classroom contact program began.
As space experimentation has progressed so has amateur radio's part in it. Today, the ARISS school contact program is an important part of this ongoing work by ham radio volunteers world-wide. Hams working with astronauts and cosmonauts to bring the science of spaceflight a little closer to kids here on Earth.
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| Alaskan Satellite Ops Planned
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Dan Littel, AJ9K has advised that he will be on vacation in Alaska between July 1 - 11, and will try to be active during a few passes during his stay. Dan will be using my 5w VX-5R HT and AL800 whip on AO27, SO50 and AO51, if in mode J. Here is Dan's expected schedule:
2 July Grid BP51 Anchorage
3-4 July Grid AO63 Dutch Harbor, Aleutian Islands
5-8 July Grid BP64 Fairbanks
9-11 July Grid BP42 Denali NP
Dan may also be able to fit in a few more grids while in transit. Dan also noted that, "since this is a vacation, and I will have minimal control over my schedule (that's my family's job, and I'm only a minority voting member...). I hope to be as active as practical".
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| Original American Colonies Will Be Active on Satellite
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During the period from July 1 through July 5 at least nine of the Original 13 American Colonies will be active on the amateur satellites as part of a special event organized by Ken, KU2US, in New York. Here is the Web site announcing the event, and the certificate available: http://home.comcast.net/~dzabawa/ThirteenColonies.htm
You'll also find updates on Ken's QRZ.com page look up KU2US.
As of Wednesday, 24 June, there are commitments from stations in nine of the original 13 colonies, and they will be using the call signs for each that are listed on the special events page. Tim, N3TL provided the following example, "I'll be operating as K2G daily during the special event. I intend to work at least one pass of every satellite as K2G, every day."
Listed alphabetically by Colony, here are the stations that have confirmed to date. The calls they will use are in parentheses:
Georgia Tim, N3TL (K2G)
Massachusetts Dave, KB1PVH (K2H)
New Hampshire Rik, N1XED (K2K)
New Jersey Marc, W4MPS (K2I)
New York Peter, WB2OQQ (K2A)
North Carolina Jim, ND9M (K2J)
Rhode Island Fletch, N1RCN (K2C)
South Carolina Art, K4YYL (K2L)
Virginia Steve, NL7VX (K2B)
As of the 24th, there are four of the original 13 colonies NOT scheduled to be active on the satellites:
Connecticut
Delaware
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Can anyone help with any of them?
The process is simple:- Please email n3tl@bellsouth.net to let him know of your interest.
- You can work as many or as few satellite passes as you like during the special event. It's supposed to be fun, not work!
- After the event, email your log(s) to KU2US, who will handle the certificates.
Tim will provide more information after hearing from anyone who wants to activate one of the four remaining colonies.
Everyone is welcome and encouraged to work one or more of us on passes from July 1 through July 5. You only need to work one station to get the certificate, but the more the merrier!
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| Call for Papers--2009 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference
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Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 28th Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September 25-27,2009 in Chicago, Illinois. These papers will also be published in the Conference Proceedings (you do NOT need to attend the conference to have your paper included in the Proceedings). The submission deadline is July 31, 2009. Please send papers to:
Maty Weinberg
ARRL
225 Main St
Newington, CT 06111
or you can make your submission via e-mail to: maty@arrl.org. Papers will be published exactly as submitted and authors will retain all rights.
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| AMSAT Awards
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We would like to welcome the following to the Satellite Communicators Club for making their first satellite contact.
Nick Kucij, KB1RVT
Dave Glow, AA1VX
The following have earned the South Africa AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award.
Peter Carr, WW3O #US133
Chris Lemon, KB9CL #US134
Thomas Lepley, KX3TL #US135
George Carr, WA5KBH #US136
The following have earned the AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement Award.
Ham Operator, Your Call #500
Who will receive #500? Stay tuned, possibly coming in a week, two weeks, could be soon. If you have not sent in for your award yet, don't miss out on this opportunity.
To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org.
Bruce Paige, KK5DO
AMSAT Director Contests and Awards
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| ARISS Status - 22 June 2009
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Upcoming School Contacts
Inukjuak Space Camp in Kuujjuaq Quebec, Canada has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on July 2 at 17:58 UTC, assisted by telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii. Makivik Corporation, a non-profit organization that promotes economic growth of Inuit businesses, is supporting the event. Students from grades 1-6 have been involved in a space club to learn about space, the International Space Station and amateur radio protocol. Audio from this contact will be fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101377) and JK1ZRW (277208) servers.
ARISS International Meeting Held
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) International Face to Face Meeting was held on Thursday and Friday, June 18 -19 at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. Team members gave reports on their respective regions as well as status updates on the program's committees including education, publicity, operations and hardware.
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