AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-138 ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites. In this edition: * AO-40 Update * AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2003 * AMSAT Awards * VP2E Satellite DXexpedition * This Week's News in Brief SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.01 AO-40 Update AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138.01 From AMSAT HQ Silver Spring, MD. May 18, 2003 To All Radio Amateurs BID: $ANS-138.01 Active magnetorquing of AO-40 to hold ALON relatively steady and begin to lower ALAT has begun. On 18 May 2003 ALON/ALAT was approximately 329/7. A better determination will be possible now the ALAT has dropped below 15 degs. and the earth enters the camera field of view. Hopefully passbands will be on soon during the first half of the orbit, if all goes well. The A-blk "message of the day" section now includes height, Lon/Lat of the subsatellite point, and ALON/ALAT. All of these values are generated by the IHU-1 software based on its orbital and magnetorquing calculations. ALON/ALAT is also updated from the ground when a new magnetorquing command is issued. [ANS thanks Stacey, W4SM, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.02 AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2003 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138.02 From AMSAT HQ Silver Spring, MD. May 18, 2003 To All Radio Amateurs BID: $ANS-138.02 AMSAT-UK's 18th Colloquium will be held at Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey, U.K., from Friday 25 July to Sunday 27 July 2003. This year, because speakers are sometimes hard to find, we have relaxed the requirement for a printed paper to accompany the talk; it is not mandatory. Other differences this year are: o Talks will start after lunch on Friday but other facilities/tours will be available all day. o We will run the Beginners' session both on Friday AND Saturday (afternoons). o The "Bring & Buy" and after-dinner speaking will be repeated, there will be no "junk sale". Contacts: Speakers - G3RWL Publicity - G3VZV Proceedings - G4DPZ Everything else - G3WGM Colloquium information is on the Amsat-UK web pages at: 73 Richard G3RWL Colloquium Programme organizer [ANS thanks Richard Limebear, G3RWL for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.03 AMSAT Awards AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138.03 From AMSAT HQ Silver Spring, MD. May 18, 2003 To All Radio Amateurs BID: $ANS-138.03 Congrats go out to following for earning their Oscar Satellite Communications Achievement Award. Joel Black, W4JBB #376 10-May-2003 James Hall, WB4YDL #377 14-May-2003 Also congrats to the following for making their first satellite QSO and earning their Satellite Communicators Club Award Emily Clarke, W0EEC 10-May-2003 Angel Santano, WP3GW 10-May-2003 Joel Black, W4JBB 10-May-2003 Leon Bishop, N5PU 14-May-2003 James Hall, WB4YDL 14-May-2003 Congrats to Joel Black, W4JBB, he has earned the South Africa AMSAT Satellite Communication Achievement Award # US76. If you would like to earn an AMSAT award, visit http://www.amsatnet.com/awards.html for a complete list of all the awards. [ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.04 VP2E Satellite DXexpedition AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138.04 From AMSAT HQ Silver Spring, MD. May 18, 2003 To All Radio Amateurs BID: $ANS-138.04 From May 19th to May 30th, and then again possibly 2 weeks later, Drew, KO4MA, will be in Anguilla for work. He will at the least have an arrow and HT to make QSOs on UO-14, and SO-50 or AO-27 if they are on or still on by the time they get to 18 degrees latitude. A reciprocal license application has been submitted, but since it must be picked up in person, and this is a work trip, the exact date that operations can start as well as the callsign is unknown at this time. Drew says, "I would like to do AO-40 too, but my luggage allowance is VERY restricted due to work stuff. With the close range and attitude, I may be able to use the UHF half of the arrow and a helix/preamp combo, or line an umbrella with foil when I get there and try that. If it looks like I can fit the gear, and it will work, I'll take the radios to do AO-40 (Yaesu FT-790/817 combo). If I do make AO-40, it will be only in the earliest AM hours before work. I will endeavor to assemble this setup this week and test it before I go." There is also a chance of an evening pass or 2 from nearby Saint Martin/Maarten (PJ7/FS). QSL direct only, with an SASE, or SAE and green stamp/euro, to my QRZ.com address. [ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-138.05 This Week's New in Brief AMSAT News Service Bulletin 138.05 From AMSAT HQ Silver Spring, MD. May 18, 2003 To All Radio Amateurs BID: $ANS-138.05 ** The FCC has asked the assistance of the ARRL' s Amateur Auxiliary as part of a clean-up of illegal users of the 10 meter band. In a memorandum issued on April 28th, FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, asks the Auxiliary's help for the next 6 months in identifying any unlicensed operation using the 10 meter Amateur spectrum. -- Newsline ** The FCC has also launched an inquiry into the use of existing power lines to send and receive broadband data by carrier current as some old timers might call it. The question of radio frequency interference to authorized spectrum users including Amateur Radio will be an important consideration as these systems are looked at by the FCC.. --Newsline ** An Atlas V rocket placed the Hellas-Sat satellite into orbit Tuesday evening, 13 May 2003. This was the second launch in the Atlas V series, Lockheed Martin's powerful current-generation vehicle. The Atlas V rocket placed the satellite into a nearly perfect transfer orbit: apogee of 85,458 km (target was 85,554 km), perigee of 312. 2 km (target was 312 km), and an inclination right on target at 17.06 degrees. --SpaceDaily ** The second developmental test flight of India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV, was successfully carried out 8 May 2003 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. --SpaceDaily ** IBM today announced it created the world's smallest solid-state light emitter. This research breakthrough - the first, electrically-controlled, single-molecule light emitter - demonstrates the rapidly improving understanding of molecular devices. --SpaceDaily /EX