SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0227 * SpaceNews 27-Feb-95 * BID: $SPC0227 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY FEBRUARY 27, 1995 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited free distribution. * SAREX TO FLY ON STS-67! * =========================== The next Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) mission, STS-67, is ready for flight. The mission, scheduled for launch on Thursday March 2 1995 at 06:37 UTC will carry six licensed hams on a 16 day mission to observe the stars in the ultraviolet spectrum of light. Avid AMSAT supporter and active ham radio operator Ron Parise, WA4SIR, will fly on his second mission as part of the STS-67 crew. 26 school groups will participate in SAREX with pre-scheduled direct and telebridge contacts. These include 23 in the US, and one each in India, South Africa and Australia. Amateur Radio Operators on STS-67 include Stephen S. Oswald, KB5YSR, Commander, William G. Gregory, KC5MGA, Pilot, Tamara (Tammy) E. Jernigan, KC5MGF, Payload Commander, Wendy B. Lawrence, KC5KII, Mission Specialist, Ronald A. Parise, WA4SIR, Payload Specialist, and Samuel T. Durrance, N3TQA, Payload Specialist. SAREX activities will include FM voice and packet radio contacts. The callsigns KB5YSR, KC5MGA, KC5MGF, KC5KII, WA4SIR and N3TQA will be used to make voice contacts with ground stations, while the callsign W5RRR-1 will be used for making packet radio contacts. All SAREX operations will operate using separate transmit and receive frequencies. DO NOT TRANSMIT ON THE SAREX DOWNLINK FREQUENCY!! The frequencies of SAREX operation are as follows: Voice Freqs: Downlink: 145.55 MHz (Worldwide) Uplinks: 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97, 144.99 MHz (Except Europe) 144.70, 144.75, 144.80 MHz (Europe only) Note: The crew will not favor any specific uplink frequency, so your ability to work the crew will be the "luck of the draw". Packet Freqs: Downlink: 145.55 MHz Uplink: 144.49 MHz Send reports and QSLs to ARRL EAD, STS-67 QSL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111, USA. Include the following information in your QSL or report: STS-67, date, time in UTC, frequency and mode (FM voice or packet). In addition, you must also include a SASE using a large, business-sized envelope if you wish to receive a card. The Edison Radio Amateurs Association in Detroit/Edison MI has generously volunteered to distribute the QSL cards for this mission. [Info via Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO of the SAREX Working Group] * STS-67 PRE-LAUNCH KEPS * ========================== STS-67 1 99967U 95061.32643015 .00011689 00000-0 86071-4 0 43 2 99967 28.4675 88.9985 0004519 287.7960 72.2100 15.71297841 28 Satellite: STS-67 Catalog number: 99967 Epoch time: 95061.32643015 = (02 MAR 95 07:50:03.56 UTC) Element set: 004 Inclination: 28.4675 deg RA of node: 88.9985 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-67 Eccentricity: .0004519 Prelaunch element set JSC-004 Arg of perigee: 287.7960 deg Launch: 02 MAR 95 06:37 UTC Mean anomaly: 72.2100 deg Mean motion: 15.71297841 rev/day Gil Carman Decay rate: 1.1689e-04 rev/day^2 NASA Johnson Space Center Epoch rev: 2 Checksum: 331 The deorbit burn will be Friday, March 17, at 19:09 UTC on orbit 245. [Info via Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO of the SAREX Working Group] * JSC BBS INFORMATION * ======================= The Johnson Space Center Amateur Radio Club computer BBS can be reached at (713) 244-5625 (N-8-1, up to 14,400 baud). The BBS carries the latest keplerian element set for the Space Shuttle missions (the STS-67 Prelaunch element set is on the BBS now). During the Space Shuttle missions, the latest element set is placed on the BBS. Our element sets are derived either at Goddard Space Flight Center (by Ron Parise/WA4SIR) or at Johnson Space Center (by Gil Carman/WA5NOM). The current element set is always on the 'welcome' screen, so have your file capure on or use your screen capture to grab it. Also, Gil keeps the latest set of TLE.TXT (two-line element sets for various satellites) on the BBS. There are other files available for downloading, but are limited to Space Shuttle or SAREX information. No uploading is available on the BBS. 73 and good luck, Dale Martin, KG5U Houston, Texas * RHODE ISLAND OPERATION PLANNED * ================================== David Reinhart, WA6ILT, will do a portable Mode A satellite operation from Rhode Island on May 14, 1995. The rain date is May 21. This operation is intended to help Mode A satellite operators fulfill the requirements for WAS. David recently took an informal survey over the Internet of the "most needed" states for satellite WAS. The top contenders were Deleware and Rhode Island. David chose Rhode Island because it is closer to his Massachusetts QTH and because a couple of Maryland hams indicated interest in doing a Deleware operation. Diamond State Park, in the extreme Northeast corner of Rhode Island, is the most probable location for this operation. The approximate Lat/Lon coordinates are: 42.0 N and 71.5 West. These should be close enough to for calculation of mutually observable passes. Operation will begin with the first RS-10 or RS-15 pass after 1100 UTC. If the the two satellites make overlapping passes, priority will be given to RS-15 *if* RS-15 is back to normal operation. The primary mode will be CW, especially for RS-15. QSL cards should be sent to: David Reinhart, WA6ILT 85 Lake St. Shrewsbury, MA 01545 Comments and questions should be addressed to: WA6ILT@K1UGM.#EMA.MA.NA -or- wa6ilt@amsat.org [Info via David Reinhart, WA6ILT] * NEW AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE * ================================== This new schedule became effective at MA 250 on 19-Feb-95, and will remain effective through 22-May-95: Mode-B MA 000-190 Mode-BS MA 190-218 Mode-S MA 218-220 <-S Beacon, all transponders OFF Mode-S MA 220-230 <-S transponder only, B transponder is OFF Mode-B MA 230-256 Omnis MA 250-140 The ALon/Alat will reach 230/0 at 18:40 UTC Feb 19. The move on May 22 will be to ALon/Alat 180/0 Note: The mode B beacon is ON during Mode S transponder only. Please do NOT uplink to the B transponder during Mode S only, as it interferes with mode S. [Info via Bill, N7RYW] * R1FJL NEWS * ============== Karsten, DL3HRT, reports that R1FJL in Franz Joseph Land has appeared several times on RS-12. He has been making CW contacts through the bird but seems to be having some receive problems on his side. [Info via Karsten Hansky, DL3HRT] * SpaceNews FTP INFORMATION * ============================= Some work is being done on pilot.njin.net at Rutgers University in New Jersey. This system carries an archive of recent SpaceNews issues, the Spanish version of SpaceNews, along with satellite and space-related software, images, and information files. As a result of the work being done on the system, pilot.njin.net is not accepting anonymous FTP logins. Work on the system is expected to be completed in a week or so. * 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 @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org -or- magliaco@pilot.njin.net 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