SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-195.01 AMSAT HF Nets NEED NCSs HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 195.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 13, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-195.01 With the Summer travel season upon us, the weekly AMSAT HF Nets are in need of some alternate (and primary) net control stations. Immediate needs exist for the Mid-America 75 Meter Net. Lesser needs exist for the other sections of the 75 Meter Net and for the 20 Meter Net. Since W0CY became a Silent Key last February, the 75 Meter Mid-America Net has been without a primary NCS. Various people have been filling in since February, but they have not been ideally located or equipped for the job. The current secondary NCS for this net, W5IU, will be on travel for the nights of July 23, 30, and Aug 3. This would be a good time to break in a new NCS. Other helpers, such as W3XO, will be around to help. This net meets at 2100 CDT, Tuesday evenings on 3840 KHz. An ideal NCS would be located in KS, OK, MO, NE, or CO, and would be capable of at least 500 watts PEP on 3840. The NCS should be familiar with current events on the satellites and connected to Internet (amsat.org) for receipt of bulletin information, Keps, etc. The Sunday afternoon 20 Meter International Net could also use some depth. Current NCSs are W5IU and W8GQW with support from KB7UZ, WA0GGE, and others. Both W5IU and W8GQW will be "out of pocket" on July 28 , Aug 4, and Aug 11. KK5DO and WB5UUK have volunteered to "fill in the gap" but again, additional depth would be appreciated. This net starts with a "pre-net warm-up" at 1800 UTC on 14.282 MHz followed with bulletin sessions at 1900 and 1930 UTC. Geographic location is not as important for this net, but the NCS should be able to generate a respectable signal on 20 meters to hold the frequency. If you can help with any of this activity, please contact Keith Pugh, W5IU, AMSAT-NA VP of Operations, at 817-292-5633, or w5iu@amsat.org before July 17. [ANS thanks Keith Pugh, W5IU, AMSAT-NA VP of Operations for this bulletin.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-195.02 HORKHEIMER PRIZE AWARDED DJ4ZC HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 195.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 13, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-195.02 The prestigious Horkheimer Prize has been awarded this year to AMSAT-DL President Dr. Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, at the Ham Radio convention at Friedrichshafen, Germany. The prize is awarded to members of an IARU amateur radio society by the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC) for "merits of amateur radio, its further development and the targets of DARC". It is named after Rudolf Horkheimer, one of the first radio amateurs in Germany. Dr. Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, has been honored for his outstanding achievement in the technical fields of the amateur radio service for decades. AMSAT-NA President Bill Tynan W3XO was gratified to hear of the award being presented to Dr. Meinzer and has sent him a congratulatory message. [ANS thanks Norbert Notthff, DF5DP, DARC Satellite Coordinator for this news.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-195.03 NEW LINUX PROGRAMS WRITTEN HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 195.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 13, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-195.03 OE1KIB has written two small programs for Linux: phase3 ... reads the 512+2-byte blocks from the G3RUH modem, performs a CRC check, and writes the blocks (without CRC) to stdout. Phase3c .. reads the binary blocks from stdin and writes them to stdout in a human-readable format. Eventually there will be a "phase3d" program similar to "phase3c"....You can download the development tree (including ELF binaries and Makefile) from: http://asterix.nt.tuwien.ac.at/~oe1kib/Satellite.html. [ANS thanks Klaus Kudielka, OE1KIB, for his contribution to the satellite program.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-195.04 NEW APRtrak6 VERSION OUT HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 195.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 13, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-195.04 The latest version of APRtrak6 is posted for ftp from tapr.org. You will find it in the tapr/SIG/aprssig/files/upload area. It brings aprtrak up to about the equivalent of aprs76e which many of us are using already on this mission.. A few of you volunteered to beta test it, so that is the purpose of posting it. If it looks good, it will posted on the AMSAT site... [ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, for this software update.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-195.05 DOVE SOFTWARE UPDATE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 195.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 13, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-195.05 The afternoon of (7/7/96 20:15U) new software was installed into operation in DOVE (DO-17). It is sending a few channels of ASCII telemetry every few seconds. DOVE was last on the air with it's full complement of software briefly during Christmas of 1995. Attempts to update that software in January '96 were unsuccessful. Numerous attempts since then to load the normal operational software have also failed. Various programs have been loaded that performed tests on hardware components we suspected could be the problem, but all tests were negative. Our attention turned a few months ago to creating totally new software that would at least get the 2 meter transmitter on the air, provide some data usable for educational purposes and perhaps allow more complete hardware testing. The DOVE team also wanted to assure they could keep the s-band beacon on. The software just loaded and run is a step toward those goals. DOVE is presently transmitting about 4 watts AFSK on 145.825 MHz. Data format is an MBL (Microsat Boot Loader) header followed by 7 channels of ASCII telemetry in the form cc:nn where cc is the channel number and nn is the raw value. Both are in hex. Note that these data have not been verified for accuracy. S-band should be on although this has not been verified. Further modifications to the software and other tests will likely result in down link data format and content changes at any time. Positive reports of s-band reception would be appreciated, to wd0e@amsat.org. The current software was written by Bob Diersing, N5AHD. [ANS thanks Jim White, WD0E, for this bulletin on DOVE.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-195.06 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 195.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 13, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-195.06 MIR The SAFEX II equipment onboard MIR's PRIRODA module has been powered on since today morning. Currently it operates in the QSO mode connected to the digital speech recorder. You can listen to a short message recorded from the cosmonauts on 437.925 MHz. Note, you can only LISTEN to the repeater / automated message. The other modes have firstly to be tested in the next weeks. We are very interested on reports concerning SAFEX signals. Please send your comments to DL3LUM (joerg.hahn@dlr.de). The message can be received with a simple 70 cm handy (as performed by DL3LUM today. We plan to work in this mode until late Monday. RS-12: Operating normally. RS-10: Operating normally. AO-27: Operating normally. AO-10: Operating normally. OSCAR-11: Is now transmitting. Telemetry nominal. WOD dated 26 June chans 1,2,3,61 magnetometers. New bulletin (No 71) dated 22nd June, about Ariane 5, and IO-26. AO-13: .Oscar-13 experiences total solar eclipses by the Earth from 1996 Jul 08 [Mon.] until 1996 Jul 27 [Sat]. The maximum duration is 2 hours 2 mins on Jul 19. The transponders are OFF from MA 20-120 during this period. Since the squint angle is poor at this time, with the lo-gain omni-directional antennas in use, users will not be seriously inconvenienced. *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1996 Jun27 - Sep 02 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 140 | Mode-BS : MA 140 to MA 240 | Mode-B : MA 240 to MA 256 | Alon/Alat "220/0" Omnis : MA 250 to MA 140 | Move to attitude 180/0, Sep 02-??? Please note that the higher powered engineering beacon 145.985 MHz is currently ON for two periods: MA 0-40 and MA 160-170. Eventually, this will be turned on full time for the duration of AO-13's functional existence. The drag effects at perigee are causing the ALAT to rise slightly each orbit. The initial orientation for this period will more accurately be ALON/ALAT 220/-10 with ALAT progressively rising during this time period. At the end of this two month session, perigee height will be 170 km and re-entry (drag) effects will be even more noticeable. For a limited time after Sep 02, it MAY BE POSSIBLE to move AO-13 back to the 180/0 orientation. However, maintaining this orientation will become increasingly difficult. If this move takes place, the following schedule will be placed in effect. By October but perhaps earlier, it will become necessary to move AO-13 to ALON/ALAT 90/0 to provide limited protection of the omni antenna from perigee heating and to reduce the drag associated deflection of the ALAT. >From this point until the demise of the electronics AO-13 will be Mode-B only, full-time omni antenna, much as with AO-10. The next few months will be an interesting time, and the command team welcomes suggestions to make use of this unique opportunity to observe an amateur spacecraft as it approaches re-entry. Full details of re-entry, around 1996 Dec 05-19, can be found in: Up-to-date information about AO-13 operations is available on the AO-13 general (GB) and engineering (EB) beacons. The GB (145.812 MHz), when active, transmits bulletins and telemetry at 400 bps PSK, alternating with CW at 0 & 30 minutes past the hour, and RTTY at 15 & 45 minutes past the hour. The EB (145.985 MHz), when active, transmits exclusively at 400 bps PSK. The current EB schedule is listed above. It may also be intermittently activated by command stations at other times to facilitate command functions. Eventually, the EB will be activated full time for the remainder of AO-13's functional life. These bulletins are also posted to Internet, ANS, Packet, PacSats etc., and many international newsletters. Internet users wanting the latest AO-13 information should always check: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/ http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ Telemetry is archived at: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/satinfo/ao13/telemetry/ The active command stations are listed below, and constructive feedback about operations is always welcome. Peter DB2OS Graham VK5AGR Ian ZL1AOX James G3RUH Stacey WB4QKT They may be reached via Internet (callsign@amsat.org) and KO-23. Please remember to state a return address clearly. WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18: (WO-18) has experienced many software crashes recently. Efforts are underway by the command team to identify the cause, and make the appropriate corrections. Controllers all hope that WO-18 will be operational again very soon sending telemetry, photos, weekly whole orbit data (WOD), and light spectra of the Sun or Earth. ITAMSAT-OSCAR-26 returned to the air on 01-Jun-96. The satellite was copied on Friday 07-Jun-96 at KD2BD in New Jersey transmitting telemetry, WOD, LSTAT, BCRXMT, TIME, and STATUS frames. In addition, the satellite was sending the following text message: IY2SAT-1>AMSAT : ** 5th June 1996 ** IHT 3.1 is running. Digipeater is ON. WOD is underway. 73 de ITAMSAT Command team. The satellite was using its 435.820 MHz downlink transmitter, and digipeating was possible via ITMSAT-1 using any one of its four uplink frequencies (145.875 MHz, 145.900 MHz, 145.925 MHz, or 145.950 MHz). KO-23: Is inoperative. No data is being received on the afternoon pass on this date. I could hear carrier suppression and good signal strength was indicated on the 0420 UTC July 14, 1996 pass, at my Mesa AZ QTH. KO-25: Operating normally with good signal strength and receiver sensitivity. I am currently running >90% efficiency on this satellite. [Please send your Satellite reports to bjarts@uslink.net or to wt0n@amsat.org] /EX