[amsat-bb] SuitSat may be Visible, look for it

[MM <ka1rrw@xxxxxxxxx>]

ISS Amateur Radio Status: February 2, 2006

Topics:

SuitSat may be Visible

By Miles Mann WF1F,

MAREX-MG News   www.marexmg.org
Manned Amateur Radio Experiment

New time for SuitSat launch, Feb 3, 2006 at 22:20 UTC

SuitSat may be Visible:
This week ISS will be passing over North America in
the early AM hours.  This will make for great early
morning Visibility pass off ISS.  When the conditions
are good, it is easy to see ISS with just your Eyes.

If you want to know if SuitSat will be visible, try
checking the NASA web page link below.  They have a
100+ cities listed where you can check to see when ISS
is visible near your city.  If you have good  eyes you
may even be able to see SuitSat flowing right behind
ISS.  SuitSat is only 6 feet long, however if you are
luck you may see a dim object trailing behind ISS. 
Good luck.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/index.cgi

Here is a listing for the city of Boston Mass

SATELLITE LOCAL DURATION MAX ELEV APPROACH DEPARTURE 

DATE/TIME (MIN) (DEG) (DEG-DIR) (DEG-DIR) 
     
ISS Sat Feb 04/05:39 AM 	2 17 17 above NNW 10 above
NNE 
ISS Sun Feb 05/06:02 AM 	3 13 10 above NW 10 above NNE

ISS Mon Feb 06/04:54 AM	 < 1 11 11 above NNE 10 above
NNE 
ISS Tue Feb 07/05:17 AM 	1 13 13 above N 10 above NNE


Latest pictures of SuitSat being assembled on ISS

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-12/ndxpage17.html


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-12/ndxpage16.html


ALL NOTE !!
Since we have just determined that the batteries in
SuitSast may last only a few days, suggest prepare now
to receive the 1st transmissions so as not to miss out
on this Historical event !!!

What is SuitSat:
In short, the crew will toss an Old spacesuit out the
airlock and let fly away as its own satellite.  The
Space Station crew have attached an Amateur Radio
beacon transmitter to the spacesuit.  The SuitSat
project as it is called will broadcast telemetry and
voice messages to earth for as long as the batteries
last.  Anyone with a simple FM receiver or
police scanner should be able to  hear the signals
from SuitSat as it orbits around the earth 15 times a
day.

SuitSat Details:
For more specific details on the SuitSat project,
please review the AMSAT and related links below.

If you  would like to help ARISS track the performance
of suit sat, then you can go to the special suitsat
web page and log your signal reports.
http://www.suitsat.org/

Additional information on SuitSat at the AMSAT web
pages.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/articles/SuitSat/

ARISS SuitSat Details
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/articles/BauerSuitsat/index.php

ARISS video on SuitSat September 2005
mms://media.wmfd.com/amsat/SuitSat.wmv

http://www.rac.ca/ariss/Suitsat%20Rev%20D.pdf


Orbit Pass Times for Suit Sat (Boston, Houston and San
Francisco)
I have enclosed some approximate orbit pass times for
the cities listed for 4th.  For more accurate tracking
try locating a software tracking program or just use
the NASA web page and track the International Space
Station.

Assuming Suit sat is activated at 22:20 UTC on 
February 3rd 2006, It will be heard first in Europe
and Asia.  North America will be in range the next day
on February 4th.

San Francisco
To convert PST to UTC add 8 hours
 Feb 4
 0226-0234 PST	10:26-10:34 UTC
 0400-0408 PST	1200-1208 UTC
 0537-0545 PST 	1337-01345 UTC
 0714-0720 PST	1514-1520 UTC  
 0849-0857 PST	1649-1657 UTC
 1024-1032 PST	1824-1832 UTC
 1201-1207 PST	2001-2007 UTC

Houston
To convert from CST to UTC add 7 hours
Feb 4
0153-0201 CST	08:53-08:01 UTC
0329-0337 CST	10:29-10:37 UTC
0821-0825 CST	1521-1525 CST
0955-1003 CST	1655-1703 CST
1131-1139 CST	1831-1839 CST

Boston
Feb 4
02:25-02:33 EST	7:25-7:33  UTC
03:59-04:09	EST	08:59-09:09 UTC
05:35-05:44 EST 	10:35-10:44 UTC
07:10-07:20	EST	12:10-12:20 UTC
08:45-08:55	EST	13:45-13:55 UTC
10:21-10:30 EST	15:21-15:30 UTC

Kep tracking Data
ISS
1 25544U 98067A   06025.48155427  .00009929  00000-0 
71711-4 0  2161
2 25544 051.6441 201.3171 0009794 193.1268 262.2975
15.74216841410677


SuitSat project Duration:
The Reason it is important for people to get ready to
Monitor the SuitSat project is because this is a short
duration experiment.  This is the first version of
this type of project, and it will be running on
Batteries only. The current expected life of the
SuitSat project is approximately 2 to 6 days.  If you
delay in setting up your station you may miss out on
this educational Experiment.

Voice Telemetry:
The SuitSat project will be transmitting on 145.990
MHz FM  and will 
consist of:
Voice Telemetry, giving Mission Time, Suit Temperature
and Battery
Voltage
Voice Greeting messages in multiple languages
One SSTV image
The whole process will repeat every 9 minutes until
the batteries
discharge.
It is recommended that you have an audio recorder
handy to record the
telemetry information.  The ARISS team may be
collecting some of the
data from individuals to help monitor the status of
the project.

Schools and Science:
School systems with existing out side VHF antennas or
the ability to set
up a temporary out side receive antenna are welcome to
listen in and
collect telemetry data.  The students will enjoy
listing to the voice
telemetry and tracking the position of the unique
satellite.  They may
even hear one of the ISS crew talking to amateur radio
stations on
145.800 MHz FM.

SuitSat Transmitter:
The SuitSat transmitter is a small hand held radio,
similar to a WalkiTalki.  The Kenwood TH-K2 will
transmit a 500 milli-watts FM signal from SuitSat. The
current frequency for SuitSat is 145.990 FM Downlink
only (There is no uplink for this satellite).  With a
simple out side antenna and a simple VHF receiver or
police scanner, you should be able to hear SuitSat
when the satellite passes over your state. 

ARISS is also planning on using the Kenwood D700
Transceiver on ISS to Rebroadcast the SuitSat signal
on 437.800 MHz FM.  This will allow you to hear
SuitSat while ISS is in range of your station.

If you have already have been successful in working
the Packet station or talked to the ISS crew on
2-meter voice, than you already have most of what you
need. 

SSTV (Slow Scan TV ):
SSTV is a way Amateur Radio stations send JPG still
images around the world.  We use an audio format we
call SSTV.  The SuitSat project will transmit
Telemetry, Pre-Recorded Voice messages and one SSTV
image.  The whole process will repeat approximately
every 9 minutes. (Robot 36 format).

What's left is to connect your computer to the speaker
of your radio and some SSTV decoding software, such as
ChromaPix http://www.barberdsp.com/
or similar software. Here are just two of the many
Share-Ware SSTV applications on the
market.  There may be many more.

W95SSTV by Silicon Pixels
http://www.barberdsp.com/w95sstv/w95dload.htm

MMSSTV
http://mmhamsoft.ham-radio.ch/

There are also many High quality pay software
applications that offer many more features, such as
multiple windows that allow you to simultaneously
receive an image while preparing your next image that
you want to transmit.

CPIX
http://www.barberdsp.com/

What is Slow Scan TV?
On this web page you will find many links to help you
learn more about
Slow Scan TV
http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/sstvlinkpage.html

Tips on how to use ISS, SSTV, Packet and Voice
http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/howtouseiss.html

Location of Hardware on ISS
This link will show you images of some of the amateur
radio hardware
already installed on ISS 
http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/radiohardware.html

Marexmg Web page
http://www.marexmg.org


73 Miles WF1F MAREX-MG

Until we meet again
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