SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0831 * SpaceNews 31-Aug-98 * BID: $SPC0831 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY AUGUST 31, 1998 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * AMSAT-BDA WEB SITE DOWN * =========================== Paul Willmott, VP9MU, reports that due to changes in company policy, Paul's employer will no longer be hosting the AMSAT-BDA web site. This means that The Station Program can no longer be downloaded from this site. Paul is exploring alternative hosts, and hopefully will be up in some form soon. He realizes that this is a real problem for those wanting to get the latest version of the program, but the situation is not under his control. [Info via Paul Willmott, VP9MU AMSAT-BDA] * RS-12 NEWS * ============== Tom Hart, AD1B, uses the RS-12 satellite on a very regular basis and recently found a change in its transponder operation. After returning from vacation, he noticed that his 2 meter uplink signal could not be heard through the satellite, yet other stations were using the satellite, indicating that the 15 meter uplink was operating. The next thing he checked was to see if the 2 meter downlink was back on, and yes, it was. In recent months, the satellite has changed: 1997-Sep-25: From Mode KT to A (from 15 meter up and 10 / 2 meter down to 2 meter up and 10 meter down) 1998-Jan-13: From Mode A to KA (from 15 or 2 meter up and 10 meter down) 1998-Aug-26: (approximately) From KA to KT (back to 15 meter up and 2 / 10 meters down The Mode A operation was apparently in response to the loss of RS-10. The switch to mode KA was probably due to the response from HF operators who could not get on VHF. Tom does not know the reason for change back to KT, and reports that the 2 meter receiver has had a couple of problems recently, and feels that perhaps it has failed to some extent. [Info via Tom Hart, AD1B] * STS-95 NEWS * =============== STS-95 is scheduled for launch on 1998-Oct-29 at 19:00 UTC. The following Keplerian elements for STS-95 were computed from an OMS-2 state vector and VEC2TLE based on the nominal launch time and a 0.1 drag multiplier: STS-95 1 99995U 98302.82291667 .00000061 00000-0 45454-5 0 12 2 99995 28.4670 153.2178 0002911 321.6309 284.6806 15.01992711 15 Satellite: STS-95 Catalog number: 99995 Epoch time: 98302.82291667 Element set: 1 Inclination: 28.4670 deg RA of node: 153.2178 deg Eccentricity: 0.0002911 Arg of perigee: 321.6309 deg Mean anomaly: 284.6806 deg Mean motion: 15.01992711 rev/day Decay rate: 6.11220e-07 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 1 Checksum: 304 [Info via Ken Ernandes, N2WWD] * OSCAR-29 NEWS * ================= The FO-29 command station released the following FO-29 status announcement. 1) The present JA mode operation of the bird will continue for a while to investigate frequency of bit errors in the on-board-computer. Reports from radio amateurs who noticed that the value of CW TLM channnel 2A changed '00' would be appreciated. The position of channel 2A is the fifth item after 'HI HI' in CW telemetry. The normal value is '00'. Reports should be sent to lab@jarl.or.jp. 2) FO-29 has entered a period of "full illumination" (always illuminated by the Sun). This period will extend through the end of December. Next announcement might be released on Sept. 4th. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * RS-12 NEWS CORRECTION * ========================= Seli Oskarsson, TF3AO, reports that a news item in an earlier issue of SpaceNews indicating that TF3TK was active on RS-12 was probably an error. He reports that Fred, TF3FK is, in fact active on satellites, and believes he is the only station in Iceland active on the satellites at this time. * NASA FIRE UPDATE * ==================== Reports received from Ozzie, N4SCY, Pat, WD8LAQ, and Dan, N8FGV, indicate that the Associated Press article regarding the recent fire at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center that was printed in last week's issue of SpaceNews was not very accurate. In fact, no Hubble hardware was damaged in the fire. * AO-16 S-BAND NEWS * ===================== Jim White, WD0E, reports that AO-16 is not presently transmitting on S-Band. Groundstations requiring a weak S-Band signal should fro UoSAT-OSCAR-11's S-Band beacon. Jim states that if the AO-16's S-Band transmitter is turned on, the power level on 70 cm must be turned down to below 1W (day) and even less during eclipse. That downlink power level makes operations quite difficult for many stations, especially those using limited or omni antennas. Particularly with the APRS testing going on right now, spacecraft controllers do not want to reduce the effectiveness of AO-16's UHF downlink. * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all who recently sent messages of appreciation to SpaceNews, especially: VK1KEP * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below: WWW : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/ PACKET : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19, KITSAT-OSCAR-25 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> <<=- Serving the planet for over 10 years -=>> /EX