SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.01 KB5HBR TO BE ACTIVE ON MIR HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 138.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MAY 18, 1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-138.01 Ham-astronaut Mike Foale, KB5UAC, took off on the space shuttle Atlantis Thursday, May 15, to swap places with colleague Jerry Linenger, KB5HBR, aboard the Russian Mir space station. Foale was one of several hams aboard Atlantis for the STS-84 mission, the sixth docking with Mir. He is scheduled to remain aboard Mir until September. Other hams on the STS-84 crew include Commander Charles Precourt, KB5YSQ, and Mission Specialists Edward Lu, KC5WKJ, Carlos Noriega, KC5WKK, and Jean-Francois Clervoy, KC5WKG. The Atlantis is carrying badly needed replacement equipment for the Mir space station, including a new oxygen-generation unit. During the STS-84 pre-flight press conference, Foale talked about ham radio and his stay aboard Mir. Foale said he took his ham radio exam in preparation for the STS-56 shuttle mission. ''My commander then (Ken Cameron, KB5AWP) was a pretty serious radio ham, and he encouraged the whole crew to do it,'' Foale said. ''Since then, I've enjoyed taking part in those activities, and I do look forward very much to using the ham radio on the Mir throughout my stay there to talk to anybody who can speak to me in either English, American, or Russian.'' Foale said he's open to talk about anything and with anybody. ''I really enjoy having slightly longer contacts than just the brief collections of QSOs we do on shuttle. As a long-duration crew member, I'm hoping that (hams) will allow me to talk longer with them, so I can have some contact with them and their countries and understand the people's conditions where they live as I fly over them.'' NASA says its Shuttle Web will provide continuous audio and video coverage of the STS-84 shuttle-Mir mission in a second test of the latest technology for streaming video over the Internet. Links to the video stream are available on the NASA Shuttle Web, http://shuttle.nasa.gov. [ANS thanks the ARRL for this report.] /EX /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.02 PRE-WRC-97 TALKS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 138.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MAY 18, 1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-138.02 The ITU Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM) for WRC 97 has just concluded two weeks of deliberations in Geneva, Switzerland. The work of CPM has resulted in the preparation of a 250+ page book of combined technical output from the various ITU study groups as well as the concerns of the member states. Issues of special interest to radio amateurs that were taken up in preparation for WRC 97 included the possibility of additional frequency allocations to the Mobile Satellite Service operating below 1 GHz--familiar to hams as ''the little LEO issue.'' No specific frequencies have been identified in the CPM report for reallocation. Although the report does address a number of sharing possibilities, it makes no mention of sharing with the Amateur Service. In addition, a new concept of ''broad allocations'' was introduced. If adopted, this concept would result in individual nations being able to identify and allocate frequencies from a broad pool of service allocations. This concept, being quite new and unstudied, only resulted in a call for future studies by the ITU. However, it will be watched closely by radio amateurs as it might have the potential of representing a threat to our bands. It is likely that any such studies will be prolonged over a multi-year period. Of course, the work of WRC 97 will be guided by specific proposals submitted by individual nations. At present, countries have not yet finalized nor submitted their proposals. Until they do, the amateur community will not be able to accurately assess the threats to our bands for this conference. Unfortunately, the Little LEOs are not the only new service searching for spectrum. One newcomer is the Earth Exploration Satellite Service's use of synthetic aperture radar (EESS active) for a system of spaceborne sensors designed to collect information about environmental issues and other similar data. A variety of frequencies is being sought, possibly including 430 to 440 MHz. The amateur and amateur satellite service status in this band is somewhat complex, varying by ITU Region and even by individual country. So far, studies of sharing possibilities between the amateur and EESS (active) have not shown them to be compatible because of the interference level experienced when the two classes of stations are within line of sight. There is also a type of EESS (active) which would make use of 1215 to 1300 MHz which is of concern to amateurs. Studies here show compatibility with some types of services but still represent a potential source of interference to amateur operations. Over the next 90 days, the various member countries of ITU interested in seeking specific allocations for these services at WRC 97 will be making proposals for the work of the conference. The ARRL--as the spokesman for Amateur Radio in the US--is actively participating in the work of the relevant ITU bodies on these matters along with the IARU. [ANS thanks the ARRL for this report.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.03 FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 138.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MAY 18, 1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-138.03 The 12th AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held at Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey, U.K., from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th July 1997. This year's event will comprise three days of technical and operational matters only; there will be NO "political" subjects. Amsat-UK invite authors to submit papers, about amateur radio space and associated activities, for this event and for the "Proceedings" document which will be published at the same time. We normally prefer authors to present the papers themselves rather than having someone else read them in the authors' absence, but we also welcome "unpresented" papers for the document. Abstracts of Papers should be submitted as soon as possible; the final date for full documents is 15 June 1997 in order that the "Proceedings" document be available to participants. Submissions should be sent *ONLY* to G3RWL, via the following routes: Internet e-mail: g3rwl@amsat.org Packet Radio: G3RWL @ GB7HSN.#32.GBR.EU Satellite: AO16/19/22/23/25 Terrestrial mail: R W L Limebear G3RWL 60 Willow Road Enfield EN1 3NQ United Kingdom. Information about the Colloquium is available on the World Wide Web pages at the University of Surrey on: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/CSER/UOSAT/amateur/colloq97.html NOTE. SEND ALL OTHER INQUIRIES ABOUT COLLOQUIUM-97 TO THE AMSAT-UK OFFICE: AMSAT-UK LONDON E12 5EQ [ANS thanks R W L Limebear, G3RWL, for this news.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.04 ROCKOON LAUNCHES SUCCESSFULLY HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 138.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MAY 18, 1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-138.04 The HALO team met at the launch site in Hampstead, NC in the wee hours of Sunday morning, May 11th. It was very cold (frost collected on the equipment) with absolutely no wind. Perfect conditions for a balloon flight! As the rocket crew tested out the payload and command electronics and fueled the rocket with nitrous oxide, the balloon crew unfurled the delicate plastic envelope on the protective ground tarp, attached the Kjome launcher and started the inflation process. As the sun poked up above the horizon, and with just 30 minutes to go before our FAA launch window closed, we ran across 2 nearly empty tanks of helium. Concerned that we would not have enough helium in the balloon to lift the rocket payload, we searched Hampstead and nearby Topsail Beach for helium (not an easy task early on Saturday morning). It turned out the local Food Lion store had two tanks they used for party balloons and sold them to us. This saved the day and allowed us to achieve final flight lift. The rocket crew lifted the payload and stretched the lines tight, the fill tube on the balloon was tied off and the call to the FAA went out for imminent lift off. With just 5 minutes to go before the deadline, we released the balloon at 6:59 am EDT and the rockoon headed up smoothly into the still morning sky on its way to the stratosphere. Spectacular color video of the balloon and the side of the rocket launch tube could be seen in the command tent. The rocket video was viewable on another monitor, but little could be seen due to the protective plastic wrap around the gondola. The GPS telemetry downlinked via packet radio in APRS format started to get weak after the rockoon exceeded 23,000 feet. The signal faded completely into the noise and we unable to record any more usable position and altitude reports from that point onward. We think that the internal antenna for the packet transmitter put most of the radio signal up and down, but very little signal made it towards the horizon as the payload headed out nearly 120 miles out over the Atlantic. At 8:21 am, we calculated the estimated altitude of the rockoon based on the ascent rate to be around 60,000 feet. Bill Brown said, "Since we are now above 49,000 feet, the barometric rocket safety switches are now armed and the rocket can be fired at anytime." Of course, we were hoping to reach at least 100,000 feet before firing off the rocket. Just 30 seconds later, Brow happened to be looking at the video of the balloon envelope and thought that the balloon looked pretty full. Just then, one of the seams tore wide open, dumped out all of the helium and the balloon just folded up into a long streamer of plastic! As the rocket and gondola dropped rapidly, Brown shouted out to Ed KE4ROC, "Fire that rocket NOW!". We had just over a minute to issue the fire command before the safety switch disarmed the rocket at 49,000 feet. Ed keyed down the 2 meter transmitter and anxiously entered the firing code via touchtones. Nothing happened...He tried another time...nothing... and then a third (we had only seconds left before the safeties cut in). All of a sudden there was a bright flash and a cloud of smoke and the rocket leaped out of the gondola and off towards space. Bits of plastic tape and the plastic covering shredded off and fluttered past the camera view as the gondola continued its rapid descent. Miraculously, the camera had survived the rocket exhaust blast and continued to work flawlessly until the gondola splashed into the Atlantic Ocean. They were treated to flashes of video from the rocket for about 30 seconds showing tantalizing views of the curve of the Earth. Since the rocket was spinning around, the ATV signal fluttered in and out and made it difficult to lock onto a good picture. After that, the video signal ceased and the rocket parachuted down into the Atlantic. We estimate our peak altitude at 38 nautical miles. Both the gondola and the rocket splashed down about 120 miles east of the launchsite and 50 miles from the nearest land. Since the GPS signals were unavailable, we were unable to direct the chase boat to an accurate splashdown location. The rocket and gondola were very small straws in an extremely large haystack and as a result, the chase boat did not recover the payloads. [ANS thanks Bill Brown, WB8ELK), for this information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.05 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 138.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MAY 18, 1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-138.05 MIR: (New frequencies implemented 1 January 1997: Uplink 145.2 MHz FM Downlink 145.8 MHz FM) Note, the above split is used for both packet and voice operation. ANS has received information that states that all amateur activity from MIR has been suspended until further notice. SAFEX, MIR 70cm Repeater (Uplink 435.750 MHz FM, Downlink 437.950 MHz FM, Subaudible tone 141.3 Hz) ANS has received information that states that all amateur activity from MIR has been suspended until further notice. RS-10 (Uplink 145.865-145.905 MHz CW/SSB, Downlink 29.36-29.4 MHz CW/SSB) RS-10 is operational. RS-12 (Uplink 21.21-21.25 MHz CW/SSB, Downlink 29.41-29.45 MHz or 145.91-145.95 Mhz CW/SSB) Signals on RS-12 in North America during May and June (almost exclusively daylight passes) are weakened by increased ionospheric activity which is keeping 15m active during the daylight hours. This makes it especially important for the 'old timers' to warn the newcomers on RS-12 to set their uplink frequency and leave it alone to prevent sweeping across the 15m band and QRM-ing the terrestrial QSOs in progress [ANS thanks Dick Montgomery, N3DV, for this update.] RS-15 (Uplink 145.858-145.898 MHz CW/SSB, Downlink 29.354-29.394 MHz CW/SSB) Be aware that RS-15 has battery charging problems. When the satellite is in the dark it has low output power.. [ANS thanks Geoff Perry for this report.] (Hint: If SSB doesn't work for you, try CW. CW is very easy to hear on the downlink!) RS-16 RS-16's 70 cm, 435.504 Mhz beacon on RS-16 operational. RS16 had no beacons active on 10 meters ,2 meters . [ANS thanks Kip Pettersson, SM1TDX, for this report.] FO-20 (Uplink 145.9-146.0 MHz CW/LSB, Downlink 435.8-435.9 MHz CW/USB) Operating normally. Strong downlink signal. KO-23 (Uplink 145.85, 145.9 MHz FM, Downlink 435.175 MHz FM, 9600 Baud FSK.) KO-23 operating normally. KO-25 (Uplink 145.980 MHz FM, Downlink 436.5 MHz FM, 9600 Baud FSK.) KO-25 operating normally. [ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, for his reports on KO-25 and KO-23.] AO-27 (Uplink 145.85 MHz FM, Downlink: 436.792 MHz FM (As of April 1, 1997) Operating normally. The satellite continuous working excellently over. Current AO-27 schedule information can be found at www.umbra.com Tepr 4 = 32 counts 16 Minutes Tepr 5 = 66 counts 18 Minutes AO-27 Will turn on Every pass 16 Minutes after entering the sun and will stay on for 18 minutes. This corrects the early shut off that has been going on for the passed few weeks. Northern Stations will see the satellite turn on after AOS for the next week or so. This is due to the TEPR states being calculated for a while from now instead of Today. So the schedule will be drifting into a better state. This gives us a longing time before the schedule gets out of whack. Thanks goes out to the Alternate Control Station KM4NZ/N1XAU for the use of their station via the Internet for Controlling the satellite. With new software that lets me control the satellite at remote sights, He hopes to be able to keep the TEPR Schedule more up to date. [ANS thanks Michael Wyrick, N4USI, AO-27 Control-op, and Miguel A. Menendez, EA1BCU, for this update.] FO-29 Voice/CW (Uplink 145.9-146.0 MHz CW/LSB, Downlink 435.8-435.9 MHz CW/USB) Digital (Uplink 145.85, 145.87, 145.910 MHz FM, Downlink 435.910 MHz FM 9600 baud BPSK) The latest FO-29 Schedule can be found at. http://www.kt.rim.or.jp/~jr1nvu/eindex.html 1997 May 16(Fri) 01:35z JA 23(Fri) 00:29z JD 1200bps PSK MailBox 30(Fri) 01:07z JD 9600bps FSK MailBox June 6(Fri) 08:25z JA 13(Fri) 00:39z JD 1200bps PSK MailBox 20(Fri) 09:41z JD 9600bps FSK MailBox 27(Fri) 00:11z JA July 4(Fri) 09:13z JD Digi-talker 8(Fri) 09:06z JA [ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for this report.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.06 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 2 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 138.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, MAY 18, 1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-138.06 AO-10 (Uplink 435.030-435.18 MHz CW/LSB, Downlink 145.975-145.825 MHz CW/USB) AO-10 has been FM'ing and downlink signals have been very weak. Stacey Mills, W4SM, reports that the chances of damaging AO-10 by uplinking during "FM'ing" are probably remote. The caution mainly stems from a theoretical consideration. AO-10's latching relays are set to the omni antenna and the transponder is on in Mode-B configuration. This all turns out to be perfect since we can't control the attitude, etc. Each time there's a power spike the chance exists that the IHU could have a "seizure" and blurt out a pulse to switch the antennas to higain, switch the transponder off or whatever. Of course these spikes occur every time we come out of eclipse, but the idea is to do what we can to minimize the number of power spikes. Occasionally spikes have "activated" the IHU in the past and caused the beacon to send out nonsensical data rather than the current constant carrier for short periods of time. ..and it isn't clear when AO-10 switched to the omni antenna, [ANS thanks Stacey Mills, W4SM, for this report.] OSCAR-11 (Downlink 145.825 MHz. FM, 1200 Baud PSK. Beacon 2401.500 MHz..) Operating normally. During the period 16-April to 14-May reliable signals have been received from the 145.826 MHz. beacon. The UHF beacon on 435.025 was also heard on Wednesday April 30 at 15:40 UTC, when the satellite was being commanded by ground control. Binary WOD continued after the satellite had been switched back to 145 MHz. Telemetry nominal. The battery voltage has recently improved to around 13.9 volts, and the internal temperatures have continued to fall, due to solar eclipses. The battery temperature is now 4 degrees C, or 18 degree below the full sunlight condition. Three AMSAT bulletins by Richard G3RWL have been uploaded. Topics have included the UNAMSAT failure, RS-16 news, shuttle and MIR news. Bulletins always include current Keplerian elements for OSCAR-11, and often for satellites featured in the bulletin. The operating schedule is unchanged. 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) [ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for this information.] AMSAT-OSCAR-16 (PACSAT) (Uplink 145.9, 145.92, 145.94, 145.86 MHz FM, Downlink 437.0513 MHz SSB, 1200 Baud PSK. Beacon 2401.1428 Mhz.) Russ Platt WJ9F, AO-16 Command Team , reports the digipeater on AO-16 has been on for the last couple of months. In regards to the 2.4 GHz transmitter, it does continue to work although WJ9F has not been leaving it on for an entire orbit due to its high current load on the 10 v bus. The battery charging scheme on the micros is managed during sunlight by adjusting the RCPSK transmitter power up or down to charge and not overcharge the batteries since we have no way to turn the solar cells off. The S-band transmitter does not have the ability to vary its output so it is a high current draw throughout the orbit. In the past during Experimenters Days when we have turned on the S-Band transmitter I had to scale back the output of the RCPSK transmitter to levels that were difficult to receive and even with these low levels the onboard software will still turn off the S-band TX if the Battery voltage drops too low, which it did.. [ANS thanks Russ Platt WJ9F, AO-16 Command Team for this report.] Graphic information about WOD/Telemetry values can be found at: http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/ao16.htm [ANS thanks Miguel A. Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report.] DO-17(DOVE) ( Downlink 145.825 MHz FM, 1200 Baud AFSK. Beacon 2401.220 MHz.) .[ANS thanks Jim white, WD0E, DO-17 Command Team, for this news.] WEBERSAT (WO-18) (Downlink 437.104 MHz SSB, 1200 Baud PSK AX.25.) Webersat (WO-18) is currently in MBL mode after a system crash. The satellite appears to be in good condition broadcasting MBL telemetry. [ANS thanks Tommy Davis, IK3WVJ, for this report.] LUSAT-OSCAR-19 (Uplink 1200 bps Manchester FSK Uplinks: 145.84, 145.86, 145.88, 145.9 MHz FM, Downlink 437.1528 MHz SSB, 1200 bps RC-BPSK.) Graphic and general information about Telemetry values can be found at: http://www.arrakis.es/~ea1bcu/lo19.htm [ANS thanks Miguel A. Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report.] IO-26 ( ITAMSAT) (Uplink 145.875, 145.9, 145.925, 145.95MHz FM, Downlink 435.822 MHz SSB, 1200 Baud PSK.) IO-26 controllers report that the spacecraft is now in IHT mode. The new ROBOT software is under currently undergoing tests. The beacon reports that the digipeater is OFF and that the ROBOT is undergoing tests. Controllers ask that groundstations please do not transmit on any of the satellite's uplink frequencies for the time being. [ANS thanks Daniele Piercarlo, IK2XRO, ITMSAT Command Station for this report.] [Please send your Satellite or News reports to ANS Editor B.J. Arts, WT0N, via e-mail, at bjarts@the-bridge.net or to wt0n@amsat.org] /EX