Satgen80 Schools in Space By GM4IHJ 8th October 90 As reported in Uosat3 bulletins , an Austrian Cosmonaut will be taking the equipment for AREM Amateur Radio Experiment in Mir, up to the Russian Space Station in January 91. This very welcome addition to the Space Education facilities already provided by DOVE Oscar 17, will feature both synthesized voice transmissions and ordinary 2m FM AX.25 1200 bps packet radio. An external aerial will be fitted to Mir, so the signals should be strong. Voice transmissions will be made in Russian, German and English. The packet signal will be receivable simply by retuning your existing terrestrial packet 2m FM receiver or Dove station. Putting this package in Mir will result in a facility which is rather different from that provided by Dove, because the orbits of the two space craft are quite different. Dove is in a Polar Sun Synchronous ( approx same time every day ), orbit, passing UK 10 times at 100 minute intervals between 0820 and 0100 utc approx daily. Mir by contrast comes past UK 6 times each day , with these passes being about 96 minutes apart and spread over a period of about 8 hours. For the remaining 16 hours of the day Mir does not come near UK. In addition with Mir at a height of 340 kms approx ( as opposed to Dove's 800 kms ), its times in range are shorter , and they do not occur regularly at the same time each day. Over a period of 60 days the Mir orbit window time slips 24 hours. So if Mir orbits on are between 2300 and 0700 on 1st Jan 91, they will be 1900 to 0300 on 10th, 1500 to 2300 on 20th , 1100 to 1900 on 30th Jan 91. A situation which will require careful planning of ground station activity and, worse still results in Mir being useful during school hours, only for 20 consecutive days every 2 months. None the less this Mir facility will be just the thing for satellite beginers and for experimenters of all age groups. In particular the very large Mir station is a very big visual target. After local sunset , Mir at 340 kms altitude can be brightly sunlit and makes a superb naked eye object as it glides silently across the UK evening sky from west to east. So it is possible to think of several combined visual and radio experiments which are possible in these circumstances ,were you can actually see Mir go into Earth eclipse whilst over UK. In addition to these new features, newcomers to Mir should note that Mir already transmits an FM voice signal on 143.625 MHz and excellent data signals on 166.13 and microwave. So there is already plenty to hear. Extra. As yet there have been no reports of voice sythesizer activity from Dove. 73 de John GM4IHJ @ GB7MAC