SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0919 * SpaceNews 19-Sep-94 * BID: $SPC0919 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 1994 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution. * SAREX SCHOOL CONTACT * ======================== Sal, N9NJF had the pleasure of making a scheduled SAREX contact with Dick, KB5SIW during mission STS-64 on 11-Sep-94 at 23:48 to 23:56 UTC from the Crystal Lake South Elementary School, Crystal Lake, Illinois. Ed Picha, N9EP reports that the contact went well and solid signals were aquired about 20 seconds after computer-predicted AOS. Six children were chosen to ask questions, and each got to ask 2 questions. The ground station equipment used to make the contact included a Yaesu FT-736R with Mirage 150 W amp into a KLM-14CX antenna with Landwher preamp mounted on the antenna. A backup configuration consisted of a Motorola SPECTRA, 110 W out to a 5/8 wave vertical antenna at 30 feet. The antenna was computer controlled with INSTANT TRACK and KC TRACKER. Doppler compensation was accomplished by programming a number of memories in the FT-736 with the appropriate doppler corrected transmit and receive frequencies and switching these memories each minute of the pass. Ed is currently working on some software to perform doppler compensation "automagically" for the FT-736 transceiver, and expects to have it completed shortly. Ed found that LHCP was superior to RHCP for most of the pass. Some times the difference in received signal strength was as much as 4 S units, even though the antenna in the Shuttle is linearly polarized. Ed also reports the SAREX contact was a great experience and it was truly rewarding to see the school kids bouncing off the walls when the contact was over. They were REALLY excited! [Info via Ed Picha, N9EP] * AMSAT-OSCAR-16 NEWS * ======================= At 0300 UTC on 12-Sep-94, the AO-16 Command Team began to reload the of the Ramdisk and File Server software on AMSAT-OSCAR-16 after running without a reload for over 700 days. This "Preventive Maintenance" is warranted by the accumulation of uncorrectable SEU's (Single Event Upsets) in the file control structures stored on the ram disk. During the past year, four uncorrectable SEU's have been recorded in the directory, root directory and FAT (File Allocation Table) entries of the error logs. In the past, a crash of the file server software was attributed to these types of errors. Reloading and running the ram disk software reformats the ram disk thereby cleaning out all the bad SEU's. Fortunately these uncorrectable errors have not occurred in the EDAC memory where the actual spacecraft operational software is run. This allows the command team to unload and reload a task or tasks with the shortest amount of file server downtime. The digipeater will be off during this reload and all stations are requested not to uplink to the satellite during this time. Thanks in advance for your cooperation. [Info via Russ Platt, WJ9F, of the AO-16 Command Team] * LUSAT-OSCAR-19 NEWS * ======================= After a three month period, the file server on the LUSAT-OSCAR-19 satellite is back in operation. The file server had been out of service since the spacecraft's on-board computer crashed last May for unknown reasons while it was over the South Atlantic Anomaly. An LUSAT command station completed the OBC software reload on Sunday 11-Sep-94 and brought the file server back on line. [Info via Gustavo, LW2DTZ of AMSAT LU] * FUJI-OSCAR-20 NEWS * ====================== The FO-20 command team mentioned that digital mode operation of the bird will be continued for a while because mode switching between digital mode and analog mode may cause a problem with the onboard command system. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK qga02014@niftyserve.or.jp] * ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 NEWS * ========================= After 40 days of idle time, the ITAMSAT spacecraft was switched on by ground command and a full spacecraft checkout was performed by the control team. IO-26 was found to be in excellent shape with the battery fully charged and all critical parameters in a nominal state. Several pieces of test software were loaded and executed without any problem. The reason for the delay in bringing IO-26 back on the air was due to the heavy workload of the control team. Alberto, I2KBD spent some time in Chile helping the CESAR team, and lightning destroyed the main command station. The reload of the IHT code with improved capabilities is scheduled by the end of September to celebrate IO-26's first year in orbit. Until that occurs, expect a few more weeks of idle time. [Info via Alberto, I2KBD, ITAMSAT Mission Director] * MIR EVA COVERAGE * ==================== John, G7MIZ, in England reports watching live pictures of the latest extravehicular activity outside the Russian space station Mir on the morning of 13-Sep-94 at 0630 UTC on the COSMOS 2054 satellite, 10,820 MHz, loacted at 15 degrees west longitude. Other noted frequencies were 10,925 MHz, and 11,385 MHz. Peak signal times were 0600 and 1800 UTC. [Info via John, G7MIZ @ GB7OAR.GBR.EU] * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all those who sent messages of appreciation to SpaceNews, especially: IK1SLD XE1RK KC2EQ N2AAM N2CBO N2JOC N4WAK AB5IQ K8EF LU8DYF KF9WW N9EF John Darden Dan Carlisle ...and those I got to speak to on the "Spectrum" radio show last week. The producers reported the telephones never stopped ringing during the broadcast! * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Mail to SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the following paths: FAX : 1-908-747-7107 PACKET : KD2BD @ N2KZH.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@ka2qhd.de.com -or- kd2bd@amsat.org SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19 MAIL : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Advanced Technology Center Brookdale Community College Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX