SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-203.01 ERRORS IN BIOGRAPHIES HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 203.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JULY 22, 1995 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-203.01 ERRORS APPEARING IN BIOGRAPHIES ACCOMPANYING BALLOTS Two errors, appearing in the biographical statements which accompany the ballots for AMSAT-NA Board of Directors, have been called to the attention of AMSAT Headquarters. 1. In the biography submitted by Bob Myers W1XT; the period of his employment at ARRL Headquarters was stated as 1968 to 1970. It was 1968 to 1979, twelve years not two years as would be inferred from the statement as it appeared. 2. In the biography submitted by Bill Tynan W3XO; the sentence reading "One vehicle for this has been the Apogee View column which HAS appeared in every issue of the AMSAT Journal since I became President." was printed as "One vehicle for this has been the Apogee View column which AS appeared in every issue of the AMSAT Journal since I became President." Both of these errors were completely inadvertent and AMSAT regrets any confusion they might have caused. All AMSAT-NA members are encouraged to review the statements submitted by the candidates and return their marked-up ballots in time to arrive at AMSAT Headquarters by September 15th. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-203.02 IMPORTANT WISP UPDATES HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 203.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JULY 22, 1995 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-203.02 Important Updates To The WISP Users Thanks to the efforts of VE1HD, W0SL was able to reproduce the occurrence of a "pesky ATAN2 Domain" error software problem in the WISP program. W0SL has uploaded gsc091g.zip to the AMSAT ftp site and placed it in the /amsat/software /windows/wisp directory. It should correct the "ATAN2 Domain" and Schedule error messages. Read the gsc091g.txt file for update information. W0SL will upload the GSC091G.zip file to KO-23 and make it available there also. In other WISP news, W0SL has uploaded WISP file gsc091f.zip to ftp.amsat.org and placed it in the /amsat/software/windows/wisp directory. It is a replacement for the current GSC.EXE file. W0SL will also upload it to KO-23. GSC091f.zip has new map features. WISP users can click on the map button in the GSC window, then select Tracking from the map menu bar. They will then notice a new Options item in the drop down menu and be able to select whether or not they wish to see a ground track on the map. They will also be able to select whether or not they wish to see the words "Eclipsed" and "Visible" on the map. These options can be selected for Normal and/or Fast speed for the satellite being tracked. any combination of these options for can be selected for both Normal and Fast speed. Those that experienced the schedule not updating in the previous version, should let W0SL know if they still have this happen in this version. Additionally, for those who have asked if MSPE can be "run minimized", there is a box in the Satellite Setup for each satellite that can be checked to activate this feature. [The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank Roy Welch (W0SL) for the information in this bulletin item. Those wishing to discuss these WISP program features further with W0SL may reach him on UO-22, KO-23, KO-25 or via INTERNET at w0sl@amsat.org] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-203.03 WEEKLY OSCAR STATUS REPORTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 203.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JULY 22, 1995 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-203.03 Weekly OSCAR Status Reports: 22-JUL-95 AO-13: Current Transponder Operating Schedule: L QST *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1995 May 22 - Jul 31 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 70 | Omnis : MA 230 to MA 25 Mode-BS : MA 70 to MA 110 | Mode-S : MA 110 to MA 112 |<- S beacon only Mode-S : MA 112 to MA 135 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-S : MA 135 to MA 140 |<- S beacon only Mode-BS : MA 140 to MA 180 | Alon/Alat 180/0 Mode-B : MA 180 to MA 256 | Move to attitude 225/0, Jul 31 Note: The Mode-B beacon is ON during the Mode-S transponder operations only. Please do NOT uplink to the B transponder during Mode S only, as it inter- feres with Mode-S operations. [G3RUH/DB2OS/VK5AGR] AO-10: AO-10 continues to function well with multiple European and Russian stations heard and contacted during the 7/10-7/17 time interval. The satel- lite functions best when closer to earth due to the poor gain of its omni antennas. Particularly good signals are heard on the second half of the orbit when the satellite approaches earth in the range of 25,000 km or less. The spin related QSB remains most noticable on the first half of the orbit and seems slightly but noticably reduced with left hand polarization. Occasionally, split polarization (up left, down right or reverse) gives greatly decreased QSB. Given the several months of great operation, AO-10 seems about due for another "sleep" phase due to poor solar cell illumination. [WB4QKT] AO-13: AO-13 continues to function well and North American activity is considerably less than during the winter months. Russian and eastern Eur- opean, as well as Japanese stations were easily worked in the last week, often with "no waiting". Perigee passes over North America have provided excellent although relatively brief opportunities for QSO's during times when the apogee portion of the orbit is less visible. Mode-S continues to function very well when the offpoint angles are <10 deg. Occasional QSO's have been distorted by activation of the "hard limiting" gain control due to over-powered uplink signals, usually on CW. The amount of uplink power required to work CW on Mode-S is truly miniscule, often <5 watts with typical 435 MHz "satellite beams." The gain control is particularly sensitive to "full on" CW signals. SSB signals often require only slightly more power than CW. WB4QKT had multiple good QSO's last week running only about 15-20 watts with a long coax run. [WB4QKT] The AMSAT NEWS Service (ANS) NEEDS YOUR HELP! The ANS looking for volun- teers to contribute weekly OSCAR status reports. If you have a favorite OSCAR which you work on a regular basis and would like to contribute to this weekly bulletin, please send your observations to WD0HHU at his CompuServe address of 70524,2272, on INTERNET at wd0hhu@amsat.org, or to his local packet BBS in the Denver, CO area, WD0HHU @ N0QCU. Also, if you find that the current set of orbital elements are not generating the correct AOS/LOS times at your QTH, PLEASE INCLUDE THAT INFORMATION AS WELL. The information you provide will be of value to all OSCAR enthusiasts. /EX