SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-307.01 TIME CHANGE HINT FOR SAT. TRACKING PROGRAMS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 307.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 01 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-307.01 With the change in local time in several places due to daylight savings, remember that even though your computer's time has been changed, there is still a need to change the settings in some programs. For example, most satellite tracking programs have a selection for daylight savings and if this is not "fixed" the program be way off in its satellite position predictions. [ANS thanks Phil, AC6LS , for this bulletin.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-307.02 AMSAT-NA OFFICE CLOSED DURING SPACE SYMPOSIUM HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 307.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 01 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-307.02 A reminder that the AMSAT office will be closed from NOV 4 - Nov 13. So that the mailbox does not overflow, please hold off sending Martha Saragovitz e-mail at the AMSAT-NA office until she returns from TUCSON and the AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting. [ANS thanks Martha Saragovitz for all her hard work and this reminder.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-307.03 P3D AWARENESS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 307.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 01 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-307.03 The members of the Phase 3-D International Satellite Integration Team now building the satellite in Orlando, Florida are interested in expanding awareness and interest in P3-D prior to launch. While they don't always have time to read news group postings, they will try to respond to Email sent to the Lab at their e-mail address shown below. Also, Lab visitors are always welcome whenever the Lab is open. Lab Hours are usually 9-6 M-F and 11-5 on Saturday. Saturday is often an organized volunteer day with tasks for all skill levels to perform, so plan your visit for a Saturday if you want to actually lend a hand on the project. The Lab is located 2-3 miles south of the Bee Line Toll road off Tradeport Road which runs along the western perimeter of Orlando International Airport. The Lab is on Lindy Circle, the first left turn *after* passing the airport fuel storage facility. The P3-D Lab is in the Free Trade Zone Building which will be on the immediate left once making the turn onto Lindy Circle. For the next few months, visitors can expect to see the actual Phase 3-D spacecraft in its clean room facility, along with the full-size functional antenna mockup, payload modules under test and development, the P3D spin balance test fixture and, of course, the (usually) happy smiling P3-D Lab staff! If you'd like to pay them visit, its probably also a good idea to call ahead just to be sure there will be someone in the Lab when you would like to stop by. Their telephone number is also shown below. Send questions to: Rick Leon KA1RHL@amsat.org Phase 3D Spacecraft Integration Facility p3dlab@magicnet.net (407) 859-2344 4101 Lindy Circle, Orlando FL 32827 [ANS thanks Scott Leaf, VE7VDX, for this information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-307.04 AO-13 DECAY KEPS DATABASE HINT HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 307.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 01 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-307.04 Here is a table to aid in using James Miller's AO-13 decay keps database. For each orbit number the table shows the epoch of that element set. Just pick an element set with an epoch near to the date you wish to work. The table runs up to Nov. 15th . . Orbit Epoch Date utc AO13-6425 96306.24054203 01Nov 05:46 AO13-6426 96306.70157378 16:50 AO13-6427 96307.14241494 02Nov 03:25 AO13-6428 96307.58275872 13:59 AO13-6429 96308.04236869 03Nov 01:01 AO13-6430 96308.48182911 11:34 AO13-6431 96308.92076538 22:06 AO13-6432 96309.35917921 04Nov 08:37 AO13-6433 96309.81680898 19:36 AO13-6434 96310.25426002 05Nov 06:06 AO13-6435 96310.69117654 16:35 AO13-6436 96311.14713356 06Nov 03:32 AO13-6437 96311.58310808 14:00 AO13-6438 96312.01856918 07Nov 00:27 AO13-6439 96312.45352856 10:53 AO13-6440 96312.90740959 21:47 AO13-6441 96313.34145061 08Nov 08:12 AO13-6442 96313.77498880 18:36 AO13-6443 96314.20802937 09Nov 05:00 AO13-6444 96314.64056207 15:22 AO13-6445 96315.09185843 10Nov 02:12 AO13-6446 96315.52342101 12:33 AO13-6447 96315.95443323 22:54 AO13-6448 96316.38487234 11Nov 09:14 AO13-6449 96316.81469615 19:33 AO13-6450 96317.24385018 12Nov 05:51 AO13-6451 96317.69127677 16:35 AO13-6452 96318.11891864 13Nov 02:51 AO13-6453 96318.54567862 13:06 AO13-6454 96318.97144759 23:19 AO13-6455 96319.39608588 14Nov 09:30 AO13-6456 96319.81942614 19:40 AO13-6457 96320.24126515 15Nov 05:47 AO13-6458 96320.66142293 15:52 [ANS thanks Ron Long , W8GUS, for this great hint.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-307.05 JEWELRY CONTEST ADD ON!!! HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 307.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 01 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-307.05 The junk box tipped over, and revealed more material for the 4th annual AMSAT jewelry contest. A pair of earrings made from the same "petals" as the flower brooch will be presented along with the brooch. And the winner gets the choice of pierced or clip-on style! If you don't know what this is all about, take a look at: ftp://users.aol.com/dguimont/broochx.zip Time is running out for those that will not be attending the AMSAT convention in Tucson so get your guesses in to: wb6llo@amsat.org or lbguimont@aol.com "Snail mail" is OK, but it must reach them by 5 November 1996! [ANS thanks Dave Guimont, WB6LLO, for all his hard work and information on the contest.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-307.06 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1. HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 307.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 01, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-307.06 FO-29 (Fuji OSCAR 29) Operating normally in analog mode. Many QSOs .are heard on this bird. MIR: Reported to have changed frequencies lately. Stay tuned to ANS for final details as soon as they are firm. Also SAFEX, the 70cm repeater on MIR has been off for the past few days. RS-12: Operating normally. With strong downlink signals reported both on 2 and 10 meters. RS-10: Operating normally. Very busy and lots of QSO's heard over north America. RS-15 Operating normally. Some activity heard on the bird over the past week. Hint: If SSB doesn't work for you, try CW. CW is very easy to hear on the downlink. KO-23: Operating normally. KO-25: Operating normally. [ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, for his reports on KO-23 and 25.} AO-27: Seems to be coming on about half way through its passes over North America. The bird is also off during night time hours over North America. [ANS thanks Scott Smith, VE6ITV, for this report.] AO-10: Operating normally. Very little activity heard. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-307.07 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2. HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 307.07 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, NOVEMBER 01, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-307.07 FO-20 Strong downlink signal and very busy with activity. OSCAR-11: During the last month (18 September to 16 October) good, steady signals have been received from OSCAR-11 on 145.826 MHz. The cure for the shut-down problem has been successful, and no shut-downs have been observed [ANS thanks Richard, G3RWL, for this information.] IO-26 ( ITAMSAT): Received from the IO-26 command team: IY2SAT-1>AMSAT : *** 26th September 1996 *** ITAMSAT is three year old! New ROBOT code is under development. Digipeater is OFF 73 de ITAMSAT Command team [ANS thanks Alberto, I2KBD, ITAMSAT Mission Manager for this update.] DO-17(DOVE) N5HAD and WD0E are continuing to develop, load, and run software in DOVE to troubleshoot the apparent hardware problem. The s-band transmitter was off briefly a couple of weeks ago but is back on now. They will attempt to keep it on as much as possible as a signal source for equipment testing. The analog data being sent from DOVE right now is mostly inaccurate. In the data below the only value that may be correct is the baseplate temperature which usually runs between -5 and +5 C. The focus of the current test software is diagnosis of what appears to be a hardware problem in the satellite that prevents them from running the normal software. They are continuing work on that effort. [ANS thanks Jim White, WD0E, for this information.] AO-13: James Miller G3RUH reports that the AO-13 re-entry keps file on the AMSAT ftp site has been updated. In addition, a number of reports have been received about the good conditions on AO-13 over the past few days. Many are taking advantage of possibly the final period of good conditions on this old friend. The bird has good downlink signals over North America and some activity can be heard. No change to the bird's blon/blat will take place. WO-18 (WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18): WeberSat has been reloaded with new software in an attempt to correct "the crashes of the past". Testing of the new software will continue for a while, followed by the resumption of broadcast images and spectra. The satellite is currently sending: Time is --- Oct 30 10:26:15 1996 WEBER-1*>TLM: 00:75 01:8C 02:50 03:96 04:75 05:A8 06:2E 07:9D 08:29 09:55 0A:A8 0B:B0 0C:CE 0D:BF 0E:07 0F:75 10:B4 11:91 12:07 13:C4 14:AA 15:A8 16:8B 17:7B 18:7F 19:86 1A:7D 1B:83 1C:7E 1D:86 1E:DF 1F:62 20:9D WEBER-1*>TLM: 21:7F 22:68 23:2B 24:2D 25:42 26:52 27:01 28:2B 29:02 2A:00 2B:26 2C:01 2D:75 2E:6C 2F:A6 30:A6 31:A3 32:37 33:5F 34:AA 35:AA 36:A8 37:AD 38:D6 39:DF 3A:55 3B:55 3C:ED 3D:FF 3E:4A 3F:D7 40:A8 41:A5 42:D6 telemetry, 16 - Battery #1 Voltage 17 - Battery #2 Voltage 18 - Battery #3 Voltage 1B - Battery #6 Voltage 1E - Solar Array Voltage 21 - 10 Volt Bus Whole Orbit Data (WOD), CAST: Collecting and simultaneously sending battery whole-orbit-data New telemetry/housekeeping suite active. and text status messages. The command team is encouraged by recent successes, and feel progress has been made toward WeberSat's return. [ANS thanks Tommy Davis for this report.] [Please send your Satellite reports to bjarts@uslink.net or to wt0n@amsat.org] /EX