SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-181.01 OSCAR 7 HEARD AROUND THE WORLD AMSAT News Service Bulletin 181.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. JUNE 30, 2002 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-181.01 As reported last week in ANS-174, Oscar 7 seems to have made a comeback! It was first heard by Pat Gowan G3IOR. Pat copied and downloaded CW telemetry. This information was confirmed by several AMSAT members as coming from OSCAR-7. This satellite was launched on November 15 1974, giving it a life of 27 and one half years. The receive frequency was 145.9738. Many new amateur operators, including some who were not even born when Oscar 7 was launched reported working the satellite for the first time this past week. Reception reports have been received from around the world. Approximately 100 AO-7 related messages per day have been logged on the AMSAT-BB discussion list during the past week. Also, members of the original Oscar 7 project team are delighted to see their satellite return to life. Dave, W6OAL commented in an e-mail to AMSAT, "It gives me chills as I was a launch crew member on that project. Between AO-6 and AO-7 I made some 25,000 contacts all over the world - even one using both birds. After the launch of AO-7 we watched the contrail that formed a perfect "7" in the sky then a few of us rushed over to the Vandenberg ham station where I'd previously set up a 70 cm station and listened to the beacon on its Orbit #1. What a neat thing to happen! I'm sure Jan King and Dr. Perry Klein will be thrilled. 'It ain't even over till it's over!'" Jan King, W3GEY, the AO-7 Project Manager confirmed this, "I'm blown away. So, this old war horse of a spacecraft seems to have come back from the dead if only for a few moments." Oscar 7 seems to be running on power from its solar panels. The on-board batteries failed two decades ago. One likely scenario is that a short-circuit in the batteries opened, allowing enough power to operate the spacecraft while it is in sunlight. The satellite shuts down when it is in the eclipse portion of its orbit. When once again exposed to sunlight it comes back to life randomly sel- ecting its mode of operation. Amateur operators have been monitor- ing the beacons at 29.502, 145.975, and 435.1 MHz to determine its operating mode: Mode A (2 meters up/10 meters down) or Mode B (70 cm up/2 meters down). Amateurs from around the world have been reporting successful contacts through Oscar 7. The on-line keplerian element sites have begun to include data for AO-7 again. For those without tracking software http://www.heavens-above.com provides the times of the AO-7 passes for the user's specified location in its list of amateur satellites. Because the power budget is limited to what is provided by the solar panels the transmit power from AO-7 is extremely low - in the range of one watt. Users have been reporting the best success when they operate with low power on the uplink frequencies. Too strong of an uplink signal (greater than 10 watts) seems to cause distortion, instability, and FMing for the remaining users. The AMSAT News Service will continue to provide updates as events warrant. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-181.02 AMSAT-NA PRESIDENT'S MODE B MESSAGE AMSAT News Service Bulletin 181.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. JUNE 30, 2002 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-181.02 To All AMSAT Members, With the sudden emergence of AO-7 there are several requests on AMSAT-BB for a mode B satellite. One of my jobs as President is to listen to you, the members and supporters of AMSAT-NA, and I know that it is you who pay AMSAT's expenses and bills. Therefore your requests are uppermost in our thoughts when we design and build satellites. Since we first started talking about "Eagle" we have always emphasised that Eagle will have Mode B in addition to its other capabilities. The date of Eagle's launch has yet to be settled, - that is dependent on several things but chiefly how fast the contributions to the project are made. At this time it is impossible to change Oscar-Echo to mode B, due to the many technical and financial factors, and any attempt to do so would cost a great deal of time and money which would result in the probable loss of a favorable launch. In addition it would have been very difficult and expensive to design "Echo" as anything but the FM/data bird that it is. This is because it is based on an existing design with which SpaceQuest has considerable experience. It is because of this that we were able to negotiate the deal we have with this company. Yes, your Board of Directors and Officers do listen! and we try to provide the best satellite services we can with the limited support available, but we also need your continuing support and assistance if we are to continue to provide satellites to the Amateur Radio Community. 73 Robin Haighton VE3FRH President AMSAT-NA /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-181.03 RUDAK TEST RESULTS ARE ENCOURAGING AMSAT News Service Bulletin 181.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. JUNE 30, 2002 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-181.03 On the morning of 6/27/2002 we did some additional testing on communications hardware in RUDAK-A. The DSP board was turned on for the first time in several months and 'sleep' code was loaded into each of the DSP modulators and demodulators. This code essen- tially 'idles' the processors to reduce power consumption. Then code that generates a carrier at the IF frequency of 11 KHz was loaded into each modulator in turn. Each one produced a nice clear carrier at the appropriate level on 2401.640. The processes of loading and executing the sleep code and the test carrier code was exercised several times and worked without fail. Additionally the 153k6 modulator on RUDAK-A was turned on briefly and it's output could be heard on the downlink. The whole orbit data (WOD) collection function was also tested along with the CAN/LAN temp- erature nodes that gather 14 temperatures from around the satellite. Both worked properly and will be exercised further in the next few days. Over the next few weeks, until sun angle changes necessitate turning RUDAK off for a while, we plan to further work with the DSP equipment and possible the 153k6 modulator as well as gather some WOD of the RUDAK telemetry as well as the CAN/LAN temperatures. [ANS thanks Jim White WD0E for the above information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-181.04 NOMINATIONS FOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS (Repeat Item) AMSAT News Service Bulletin 181.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. JUNE 30, 2002 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-181.04 The following people have been nominated to fill three seats on the AMSAT Board of Directors: Keith Baker, KB1SF Tom Clark, W3IWI Steve Diggs, W4EPI Rick Hambly, W2GPS Bruce Paige, KK5DO Ballots should be in the mail by July 14th. Martha Saragovitz Corporate Secretary /EX SB SAT @AMSAT $ANS-181.05 SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS (REPEAT ITEM) AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 181.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. JUNE 30, 2002 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-181.05 ANS has announced the 20th Space Symposium and AMSAT-NA annual meeting, scheduled for November 7-11. 2002 in Fort Worth, Texas. The event will chronicle recent and future Amateur Radio satellite technology developments, including an electronic Surplus Stores tour on November 7th; a Field Operations breakfast and a tour of the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company on November 10th; and the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Meeting on November 10th and 11th. This is the second "Call for Papers" to be Presented during the 2002 Symposium. Papers may be presented by the author during the Symposium, or simply offered for inclusion in the Symposium Proceedings publication. The subject matter should be of general interest to Amateur Radio Operators involved in satellite communications. Suggested topics include; operating techniques, antenna design and construction, spacecraft design and construction, current mission status, proposed satellite missions, telemetry acquisition and relay, satellite micro- wave projects, etc. A brief abstract of the proposed paper (in outline format) should be submitted as soon as possible. The final date for abstracts is July 8th, 2002. Copy ready papers must be received no later than August 26th 2002. Electronic submittal is preferred. The format must be either MS word compatible or in plain text. Please e-mail your electronic submittals to: Doug Howard at: Note: Corrected e-mail address! [ANS thanks Keith Pugh, W5IU, the 2002 event chairman] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-181.06 AMATEUR RADIO KEY TO ROCKET PROJECT AMSAT News Service Bulletin 181.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. JUNE 30, 2002 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-181.06 If all goes as planned, a group of Amateur Radio operators and amateur rocket enthusiasts is poised to make aerospace history this summer by putting the first amateur rocket into space. The Civilian Space Xploration Team (CSXT) is hoping the suborbital vehicle will carry its Amateur Radio payloads to an altitude of more than 60 nautical miles. "Amateur Radio is central to the whole flight," said Eric Knight, KB1EHE, of Unionville, Connecticut--one of the hams involved. He explained that the rocket's Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS), amateur TV and packet telemetry gear will enable the team to document its success. More information on the rocket project is on Knight's "Spaceshot 2001/Spaceshot 2002" Web site http://www.remarkable.com/rocket . -- [ANS thanks ARRL Letter, Vol. 21, No. 25 for the above information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-181.07 ARRL TO OFFER SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS COURSE AMSAT News Service Bulletin 181.07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. JUNE 30, 2002 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-181.07 The ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Program has announced its newest on-line course-Satellite Communications (EC-007). Registration for the new course opens Monday, June 24. This is the sixth course in a growing list of continuing educa- tion offerings from ARRL. QST Editor and satellite enthusiast Steve Ford, WB8IMY, devel- oped the curriculum. The course contains material from Ford's articles, as well as new material. Resources were also provided by AMSAT-NA. Ford has written many QST articles on amateur sat- ellites and is the author of ARRL's HF Digital Handbook. "Steve's extensive knowledge of satellites as well as other digital communications has proven invaluable. This is his second course for C-CE," said ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Program Coordinator Dan Miller, K3UFG. The ARRL Satellite Course is intended for amateurs who have never operated satellites before. The course opens with a review of amateur satellite history. Students will move on to a study of satellite tracking, orbiting relay stations, FM repeater satellites and the International Space Station. It continues with lessons and exercises on FM satellites, the Fuji Sats, AMSAT-OSCAR 40 setup and operation. The final lessons cover store-and-forward digital satellites, APRS and future satellites. Registration for the first on-line class opened Monday, June 24, at 4 PM EDT. There's a 50-seat class limit for July classes. As with most of the other ARRL on-line classes, students will have up to eight weeks to complete the course. Tuition for Satellite Communications (EC-007) is $65 for ARRL members and $95 for nonmembers. More course information is available at the C-CE Course Listing Page: . Details about the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Program are on the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Web page . [ANS thanks the ARRL for the above information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-181.08 NASA NEWS RELEASES AND MISSION STATUS REPORTS AMSAT News Service Bulletin 181.08 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. JUNE 30, 2002 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-181.08 All NASA HSF News Releases and Mission Status Reports are available online at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/ Information on the crew's activities aboard the space station, future launch dates, as well as station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, is available on the Internet at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov Details on station science operations can be found on an Internet site administered by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., at http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov NASA Johnson Space Center Mission Status Reports and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to majordomo@listserver.jsc.nasa.gov In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes). This will add the e-mail address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list. The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription. Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail. To unsubscribe from this list: send the line " unsubscribe hsfnews " in the body of a message (without the quotes) to majordomo@listserver.jsc.nasa.gov [ANS thanks Al KD4SFF and Robin VE3FRH for the above information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-181.09 AMSAT-NA ON-LINE AND TOLL FREE TELEPHONE SERVICE (Repeat Item) AMSAT News Service Bulletin 181.09 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. JUNE 30, 2002 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-181.09 Members Applaud New AMSAT-NA On-line And "Toll Free" Telephone Services In an earlier ANS bulletin, Keith Baker, KB1SF, AMSAT-NA's Executive Vice President announced that the AMSAT-NA Web site (www.amsat.org) was being set up to accept requests for AMSAT's publications, as well as hardware and software items on-line via a secure credit card link. In addition, a new toll-free number at AMSAT-NA Headquarters in Maryland was launched to help make telephone requests for these items easier. "The initial feedback from our members has been overwhelmingly positive," Keith said. "They really like being able to request items "on-line" or over the telephone toll-free." "Requests for our latest offerings (including a newly designed AMSAT T-shirt and patch) are particularly popular," he said. Those interested in using the new on-line service can do so simply by clicking on the various "AMSAT Catalog" links at the bottom of the main www.amsat.org Web page and then following the prompts and appropriate links from there. The final "checkout" page uses full 128 bit security encryption and accepts both VISA and Master Card credit cards. Anyone who still wants to request items "the old fashioned way" (via telephone or by mail) can continue to do so. If they are calling from the Continental USA, however, they can now take advantage of the new "toll free" ordering number at AMSAT Headquarters. The new number is: 1-888-"FB-AMSAT" (1-888-322-6728). Routine informational calls or calls from outside the Continental USA can continue to use the AMSAT office telephone number +1-301-589-6062 Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM, Eastern USA time. Requests can always be placed by mail at: AMSAT, 850 Sligo Avenue, Suite 600, Silver Spring, MD, 20910-4703 USA. [ANS thanks Keith KB1SF for the above information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-181.10 NEWS IN BRIEF FOR THIS WEEK AMSAT News Service Bulletin 181.10 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. JUNE 30, 2002 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-181.10 ** Most comets disintegrate after their first few passages through the inner solar system, say scientists at Southwest Research Institute. A new study has revealed that 99 percent of the objects from the cloud of comets at the edge of the solar system, known as the Oort cloud, break apart sometime after they enter the inner solar system. --SpaceDaily These findings appear in the current issue of the journal Science. ** Geologists at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum have discovered a large former lake in the highlands of Mars that would cover an area the size of Texas and New Mexico combined, and which overflowed to carve one of that planet's largest valleys. --SpaceDaily ** Steve Fosset's balloon flight can be followed at: http://www.spiritoffreedom.com/ --Tony VK5ZAI ** A Titan 2 rocket has launched NOAA-M, the latest US weather satellite, into a polar orbit. Both the rocket and satellite were built by Lockheed Martin companies. NOAA-M is the third Polar Operational Environmental Satellite spacecraft launched. After an on-orbit veri- fication period that lasts 45 days, NASA will turn operational control of the satellites over to NOAA. --SpaceDaily ** NASA's newest Earth Observing System satellite, Aqua, is successfully providing data and engineering images. After more than six weeks on-orbit, the spacecraft and its six instruments are almost midway through their checkout period and are performing extremely well. --SpaceDaily ** US supermodel Cindy Crawford said on a visit to the Russian capital on Thursday that she would consider becoming a space tourist, if she can fit it in her busy schedule. Crawford said, "I wonder how long the trip is. If they can get me there and back in a week, then I'd do it." A spokesman for the Russian space agency, said: "Cindy Crawford in space would be brilliant." --SpaceDaily ** The launch of NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft is scheduled for Monday, July 1. Liftoff will occur aboard a Delta II launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. CONTOUR is our first detailed look into the nucleus of a comet. The spacecraft will fly as close as 62 miles (100 kilometers) from at least two comets, taking the sharpest pictures yet of the nucleus while analyzing the gas and dust that surround these rocky, icy building blocks of the solar system. --NASA ** Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope have found that an aging star is spewing narrow, rotating streams of water molecules into space, like a jerking garden hose that has escaped its owner's grasp. The discovery may help resolve a longstanding mystery about how the stunningly beautiful objects called planetary nebulae are formed. --NRAO ** NASA managers temporarily suspended launch preparations for Space Shuttle Columbia until they have a better understanding of several small cracks found in metal liners used to direct the flow inside main propulsion-system propellant lines on other orbiters in the fleet. Columbia's launch on STS-107, previously planned for July 19, will be delayed a few weeks to allow inspections as part of an intensive analysis that is under way. --NASA ** A good explanation of why the moon appears so big when it rises is provided at: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/24jun_moonillusion.htm?list683223 (Watch the line wrap on this one.) --NASA ** Toronto - Jun 25, 2002 - Researchers at University of Toronto have discovered a new technique to form tiny perfect crystals that have high optical quality, a finding that could usher in a new era of ultra-fast computing and communication using photons instead of electrons. --SpaceDaily [ANS thanks Dan NN0DJ for the above digest information.] ** The AMSAT Office was closed from Monday, June 24th - Friday, June 28th. I should be back in the office on Monday, July 1. 73- Martha ** 2002 AMSAT Field Day Competition rules and Field Day Score Reporting Forms are presented in detail by Bruce Paige KK5DO, Vice President User Services on the AMSAT Web page: www.amsat.org/amsat/activities/amsatfd.html [ANS Thanks AMSAT-NA and Bruce Paige KK5DO for this information.] With the change in Editors, ANS has made some changes in format. ANS has split the News section from the Satellite Report, for a trial period. Please send your thoughts on this to VE3FRH@amsat.org. Both Sections will be available to all subscribers of ANS. Mike Seguin N1JEZ the Principal satellite Investigator, will continue to supply the satellite information section and all information should be sent directly to N1JEZ@amsat.org. ANS is looking for two more co-editors to take turns in the development of ANS, If you are interested please send an e-mail to VE3FRH@amsat.org [ANS thanks Robin Haighton VE3FRH for the above information] /EX