SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-237.01 JAS-2 IS OFFICIALLY NAMED FUJI-OSCAR 29 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 237.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 24, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-237.01 In answer to an E-Mail note from Bill Tynan W3XO President of AMSAT-NA to Fujio Yamashita JS1UKR Director of the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) Technical Laboratory, congratulating JARL on the launch of JAS-2 and asking if they wish to designate it with an OSCAR number, Yamashita San responded that he had communicated with the President of JARL, Shozo Hara JA1AN. Yamashita San said that Hara San and JARL does wish to have JAS-2 designation as Fuji OSCAR 29, or FO-29 for short, and that a formal letter will be sent stating that wish shortly. This is in line with previous Japanese amateur satellites FO-12 launched in 1986 and FO-20 launched in 1990 and still operating. W3XO has informed ANS that, in the light of this information, it is appropriate to refer to the new amateur satellite as Fuji-OSCAR-29, or simply as FO-29. [ANS thanks Bill Tynan , W3XO, President AMSAT-NA for this information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-237.02 UNAMSAT-B UPDATE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 237.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 24, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-237.02 David Liberman XE1TU reports that UNAMSAT-B has passed its vibration tests. The launch team are now packing to travel to Plesetsk. They will probably not be in Internet communication from that location, so David says that the next word will probably from UNAMSAT-B in space sometime between September 3rd to 5th. [ANS thanks David Liberman, XE1TU of the UNAMSAT team for this bulletin.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-237.03 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1. HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 237.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 24, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-237.03 FO-29 (Fuji OSCAR 29) FORMERLY JAS-2 Operation of this new Japanese amateur satellite appears normal. Initial operation is progressing, to build up whole system in every pass. Please wait for half a month until JD transponder will be ready. CW telemetry beacon heard at many locations. The mail box is now experimentally opened for public use. Please keep on collecting telemetry frames and send them to; jamsat-bb@iijnet.or.jp The satellite was operational on mode JA on the evening of 8/20/96, reports Jerry Smyth, N8ULU. After seeing the message about JAS-2 being open for use in what ever mode it was set to, Jerry said that he tried mode JA and worked several stations around 0127UTC on 8/20. He reported that signals were good with typical LEO fades from time to time. According to WB6LLO, the JAS-2 (FO-29) mailbox has the following available commands: B : List file headers addressed to ALL F : List file headers from latest F : List file headers since posted day H : Show help message K : Kill a file number8J1JCS>KD6OZH M : List file headers addressed to current user Q : Disconnect(quit) JAS-2 mailbox R+ : Read a file number< U : List current user(s) Y : More display W : Write a file Y : More display MIR: The SAFEX II equipment onboard MIR's PRIRODA module has been powered on. RS-12: Operating normally. RS-10: Operating normally. DO-17 (DOVE): Dean Shutt, AL7CR, monitored a pass of DO-17 in Anchorage, AK (7/22/96, 20:50Z). He reports the S band beacon is operational. KO-23: Operating normally KO-25: Operating normally. AO-27: Operating normally. AO-10: As of 0215 UTC and early in the orbit of AO-10 with a range of only about 8,000 km, the beacon tone on AO-10 could be heard. No activity was heard across the passband.. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-237.04 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2. HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 237.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 24, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-237.04 OSCAR-11: During the last month OSCAR-11 has continued to provide good signals on 145.826 MHz. There have been a few shut downs, due to the watchdog timer, which has then been reset by ground control. Telemetry nominal, internal temperatures have increased by about six degrees C during the last month, as the solar eclipses are reducing in duration. The satellite is expected to be in full sunlight from around the beginning of September until Spring next year. WOD channels 1,2,3,61 (magnetometers) dated 6-July were transmitted from July 7 to August 8. Analysis of the WOD shows that the magnetometers give a good correlation with the earth's magnetic field, and a reasonable attitude for the satellite. The UOS ground station have now received two reports of recent reception of this beacon. So it looks as if this beacon is still alive. Further reports of reception of this beacon over the last two or three years, are welcomed by Clive Wallis, G3CWV who is trying to correlate reception reports with the reversal of the satellite's attitude some time ago, and with the more recent apparent partial failure of this beacon. Please send any reports to the address below. OSCAR-11 can be heard on 145.825 MHz. Modulation is 1200 baud AFSK, with tones of 1200/2400 Hz. There have been many designs for suitable decoders, but perhaps the simplest way is to use an old telephone modem, using Bell 202, or V23 tones. It is essential to invert the modem's output signal, before feeding it into the computer. It is also possible to use a BAYCOM type modem, which does not require any output inversion. Just connect its output to RXD instead of CTS. Another way is to use a HAMCOM interface instead of a modem. A program called EM1200M2.COM (which is part of EMBAYCOM) emulates a MODEM on port 2. Port 1 is used for the terminal display program. Unfortunately this method uses two COM ports. For ASCII, the serial port should be set to 1200,e,7,1. WOD channels 37, 38, 57, 58 (equipment temperatures) dated 9-August are now being transmitted. This WOD shows temperature changes of about one degree C as the satellite enters the earth's shadow. AMSAT bulletins by Richard G3RWL have been uploaded each week. The current bulletin is No 079, AMSAT-UK Colloquium Report Part 3. The current operating schedule is - ASCII status (210 seconds) ASCII bulletin (60 seconds) BINARY SEU (30 seconds) ASCII TLM (90 seconds) ASCII WOD (120 seconds) ASCII bulletin (60 seconds) BINARY ENG (30 seconds) There are also additional status blocks after each bulletin is transmitted. It is possible that the long period of ASCII status blocks may be replaced by binary TLM and WOD. [ ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for this update on OSCAR-11.] IO-26 ( ITAMSAT): ITAMSAT, now, is in a good shape. Telemetry is every 60 seconds and the digipeater is OFF. The actual beacon is: ** 15th August 1996 ** Digipeater is OFF. Command station IK2XRO-IW2EGC in Buenos Aires. Thanks to LU8DYF-LUSAT Command team. 73 de ITAMSAT Command team. AO-13: Stacey E. Mills listened to AO-10 a few nights ago when it was not too far out in the orbit. The continuous beacon tone was audible and there was one QSO going on. The, downlink was variably strong with deep fades that lasted for quite a while. Mills did not have time to do a calculation, but this would seem to fit with a very slow spin rate, of 1-2 RPM or so. He also had no problem uplinking a CW signal with a strong downlink, but he didn't pursue it further at the time. WO-18 (WEBERSAT-OSCAR-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. [Please send your Satellite reports to bjarts@uslink.net or to wt0n@amsat.org] /EX