SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-364.01 SPACE STATION MIR UPDATE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 364.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, DECEMBER 29, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-364.01 Manned space flight programs exist on US space shuttles and Russia's Mir Space Station. Both are rapidly evolving toward a common goal -- the International Space Station (ISS), which will be a permanent presence in orbit for at least 8 participating nations. At the NASA Johnson Space Center, recently, Amateur Radio representatives from these 8 nations formed an organization (ARISS -- Amateur Radio International Space Station) and are asking their countries' IARU and AMSAT organizations to approve a basic agreement to build and operate an ISS Amateur Radio station. Amateur Radio flies onboard space shuttles and Mir. ARRL, AMSAT and NASA designated SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment) to handle Amateur Radio affairs for the US. The Russian program, MAREX (Mir Amateur Radio EXperiment), is headed by Sergei Samburov, Chief of Cosmonaut Amateur Radio Department, RSC Energia. A German organization, SAFEX, provides MAREX with equipment and technical assistance. The Russian-based MAREX formed the group, Mir International Amateur Radio EXperiment (MIREX), as an international point of contact to handle Mir school QSOs and experiments. Miles Mann, WF1F, Director of Educational Service for MIREX, says: "Applications for US school Mir QSOs are approved by MIREX, based on specific guidelines, before going to Samburov and SAFEX. The Mir crews have busy work schedules, but our guidelines allow us to arrange, months in advance, school QSOs during crew "Off Hours." The Cosmonaut Amateur Radio Department gives final approval for all QSOs and reserves the right to cancel at any time. Mir's daily experiments always have first priority over QSOs. Because Mir crews now include a US astronaut, SAREX and MIREX have begun to work together. In the near future, they hope to schedule 4 - 6 school QSOs for Mir, per month. Currently the SAREX program has about 80 schools on its waiting list. To get a Mir school QSO application, send an SASE to ARRL, 225 Main, Newington CT 06111." International Third Party Traffic Recently, in the US, only licensed Amateur Radio operators could talk to astronaut John Blaha, KC5TZQ, onboard Mir, a Russian ship of registry. The FCC has now granted a request for US-licensed control operators (who must be present during the QSO) to allow unlicensed students or friends to talk to Blaha. The grant does not cover other Mir crew members where standard Third Party Traffic rules apply. Random Mir Voice QSOs Mir crews make random voice QSOs during Off Hours. Do not ask them to schedule QSOs, as they do not have the long-term calendar. The 2-meter Mir frequencies changed from 145.550 simplex to: * packet -- 145.800 simplex * voice -- 145.200 downlink and 145.800 uplink. The change was prompted by a recommendation from IARU Region #1 (Europe). It is understood that these frequencies do not match the band plans for Region 2 (North & South America) and Region 3 (Asia & Pacific). Please do not ask the crew about it, as they don't set policy on frequencies. The future of Amateur Radio in space is on the International Space Station and with the hams who want to participate in the space station's activities. The future of our world's young people will be effected by hams' cooperative efforts for the ISS, today. [ANS thanks Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, for the SAREX Working Group and the MIREX Team, for this news.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-364.02 HISTORY MADE ON MIR HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 364.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, DECEMBER 29, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-364.02 History is made as astronaut John Blaha initiates third party school group contacts The recent approval by the FCC which allows astronaut John Blaha, KC5TZQ to conduct third party contacts from the MIR Space Station has cleared the way for school group educational contacts from MIR. Over the past year, the Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX) team has been working closely with the MIR International Radio EXperiment (MIREX) team in the United States, the Space Amateur Funk EXperiment (SAFEX) team in Germany and the MIR Amateur Radio EXperiment (MAREX) team in Russia to allow non-licensed school students in the US to talk to the astronauts on MIR. The first school group contact conducted with Mr. Blaha was on Friday December 27th with the Silver Lakes Middle School students in North Lauderdale, Florida. Seventeen students got to talk to John Blaha. Half way through the contact, the MIR Commander, Valery Korzun, extended his greetings to the students. At the end, the students wished John a happy new year. Kai Siwiak, KE4PT, and Bruce Burke, WB4YUC, the school group contact coordinators for the Motorola ARC stated that the contact signal strength was outstanding throughout the pass. The Granby High School and Mary Calcutt Elementary School Contact also went very well on December 28th. Twelve questions were answered. The contact was held at the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, VA. John Blaha attended both these schools and during the contact, he told the students he had some Granby/Calcutt memorabilia on board MIR that he expects to return to the schools. Six more schools have been scheduled for contacts before the end of John's mission in mid-January. Schools wishing to arrange contacts with astronauts on the Shuttle or on MIR should submit a SAREX application to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Educational Activities Department (EAD.) The EAD can be reached by email at ead@arrl.org or more information about the MIREX and SAREX programs is available at http://www.arrl.org. [ANS thanks Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, for the SAREX Working Group and the MIREX Team, for this news.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-364.03 SKN SECOND NOTICE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 364.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, DECEMBER 29, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-364.03 Amateurs are most cordially invited to join in the 25th annual Straight Key Night on OSCAR, sponsored by AMSAT-NA for Amateur Radio satellite enthusiasts worldwide. Activity has been growing each year. It's entirely unofficial: no rules, no scoring and no need to send in a log. Just call CQ SKN in the CW passband segment of any OSCAR satellite, or answer a CQ SKN call from another station, from 0000 to 2359 UTC on January 1, 1997. OSCAR Zero (EME) contacts count too. Of course, all SKN operating must be done with a straight hand key. Please nominate someone you work for recognition as having the "best fist." To send in a nomination, address it via packet radio to W2RS @ WA2SNA.NJ.USA.NA or to W2RS @ GB7HSN.#32.GBR.EU (whichever is closest to you), via the Internet to