AMSAT News Service

April 23, 2000

NASA began the countdown for launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis (on mission STS-101) last Friday, April 21st, at the T-43 hour mark. This flight marks the third Shuttle flight to the International Space Station. The ship is set to fly at 4:15 p.m. April 24th from Kennedy Space Center. No amateur radio operation is scheduled during this flight.

Once in space, the shuttle is to dock at the International Space Station so the crew can drop off supplies, make repairs and carry out a spacewalk to prepare the outpost for future modules.

At ANS broadcast time the countdown was proceeding smoothly toward Monday afternoon's launch of Atlantis. Air Force meteorologists are calling for good weather on Monday, with only a 30% chance of unacceptable weather conditions. Good weather is also forecast for the abort landing sites.

[ANS thanks NASA and Florida Today for this information]

ANS in Brief

ANS news in brief this week includes the following:

Directors of the SETI Institute and radio astronomers from the University of California have unveiled the beginnings of what should become one of the world's most powerful radio telescopes. The Rapid Prototyping Array (RPA) will serve as a testbed for design of the revolutionary One-Hectare Telescope. The prototype will blaze the technological trail for linking hundreds or perhaps thousands of small radio dishes. The final array will be knitted together to create a unified instrument that can observe dozens of different celestial objects simultaneously.
-S&T

Western Europe's 129th Ariane rocket recently put into orbit a communications satellite for U.S. operator PanAmSat after a textbook launch from equatorial French Guiana. Twenty-one minutes after launch, space officials said the Galaxy IVR satellite separated from the rocket. The satellite will provide television, Internet and data transmission services throughout the U.S. and parts of the Caribbean.
-Florida Today/ANS

The Hubble Space Telescope marks its 10th year in orbit on Monday. Launched into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990, astronauts released the telescope on the following day.
-Florida Today

A Hollywood movie featuring amateur radio is due out soon. Called 'Frequency' - ham clubs all over the country are going to set up portable stations at local theatres to promote our hobby. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to show our stuff. HF, VHF, Satellites, ATV, SSTV, Packet, APRS... what a field day! "See ya in the parking lot."
-Bob, WB4APR

Some doorstep astronomy from ANS: If you live at a mid-northern latitude face west after dark this week and look very high. Two stars will be there, Pollux and Castor, lined up nearly horizontally. Pollux is the slightly brighter one, on the left. They appear separated by about three finger-widths at arm's length. Pollux and Castor form the heads of the Gemini constellation twins, which are made of fainter stars; the twins are currently standing upright. To the lower left of Pollux and Castor is brighter Procyon. Look even farther to their lower right for bright Capella.
-S&T

Weekly Satellite Report

Mir . RS-12 . RS-13 . RS-15 . AO-10 . AO-27 . UO-14 . FO-20 . FO-29 . KO-23 . KO-25 . UO-11 . AO-16 . DO-17 . WO-18 . LO-19 . UO-22 . IO-26 . TO-31 . GO-32 . SO-33 . PO-34 . SO-35 . UO-36

Mir Space Station

AMSAT's Bruce Paige, KK5DO, reported that two cosmonauts -- Sergei Zalyotin and Alexandr Kaleri -- have arrived on the Russian Mir space station. Several news agencies (including CNN) also reported the April 4th launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and the successful docking with Mir.

Ham radio activity aboard the Mir space station is apparently back on line -- currently in limited fashion.

Mike, WB8ERJ, reports receiving an SSTV picture recently from the Mir. It can be viewed at: http://www.qsl.net/wb8erj/mir-pix2.htm. Allen, N2YAC, also reported Mir SSTV signals (as did VK5ZAI and WAØZBL). Doug, VK3TRD, reports a QSO with Mir recently on 145.985 MHz.

Stay tuned to ANS for further details.

RS-13

Uplink 21.260 to 21.300 MHz CW/SSB
Uplink 145.960 to 146.000 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink 29.460 to 29.500 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink 145.960 to 146.000 MHz CW/SSB
Beacon 29.504 MHz
Robot Uplink 21.140 MHz, Downlink 29.458 MHz

Operational, in mode-KA with a 10-meter downlink and a 15-meter and 2-meter uplink.

Ron, KA2HZO, reports that he and KB3CWS had a successful two way slowscan contact via RS-13 (Robot 36) recently. Ron has also been experimenting with the Scottie 1 SSTV mode.

More information about RS-12 and RS-13 can be found on AC5DK's RS-12/13 Satellite Operators Page: http://www.qsl.net/ac5dk/rs1213/rs1213.html

RS-15

Uplink 145.858 to 145.898 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink 29.354 to 29.394 MHz CW/SSB
Beacon 29.352 MHz (intermittent)
SSB meeting frequency 29.380 MHz (unofficial)
Semi-operational, Mode A (2m uplink, 10m downlink)

Dave, WB6LLO, has operating information for both RS-15 and RS-13 on his personal web site. In addition to satellite data, antenna information for mode A operation is also featured. The WB6LLO web site URL is http://home.san.rr.com/doguimont/uploads

AO-10

Uplink 435.030 to 435.180 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 145.975 to 145.825 MHz CW/USB
Beacon 145.810 MHz (unmodulated carrier)
Semi-operational.

DX continues to be worked (and heard) on AO-10. John, K6YK, reports PP8EB, FY1DW and LU4HE have been active from South America. WP4LBK and NP2L were heard from the Caribbean. John also reports that many European stations have been active.

Stacey Mills, W4SM, has more information about the satellite at http://www.cstone.net/~w4sm/AO-10.html

[ANS thanks Stacey Mills, W4SM, for his AO-10 status information and web site]

AO-27

Uplink 145.850 MHz FM
Downlink 436.792 MHz FM
Operational.

An AO-27 question-and-answer page is available on the AMSAT-NA web site. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/intro/ao27faq.html

AO-27 uses a method called Timed Eclipse Power Regulation (TEPR) to regulate the on-board batteries. In simple terms, TEPR times how long the satellite has been in the eclipse (or in the sun) and decides what subsystems to turn on or off. The AO-27 pages on the AMSAT-NA web site include an explanation of AO-27 operations at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/n7hpr/ao27.html

Chuck, KM4NZ, recently reset the TEPR states on AO-27 (on March 19).

TEPR 4 is 28 TEPR 5 is 64

[ANS thanks Chuck Wyrick, KM4NZ, and Michael Wyrick, N4USI, for AO-27 information]

UO-14

Uplink 145.975 MHz FM
Downlink 435.070 MHz FM
Operational.

UO-14 was launched in January 1990.

Tim, KG8OC, has updated the Michigan AMSAT Information Site with UO-14 information, see http://www.qsl.net/kg8oc

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN / ZL2TPO, for UO-14 information]

SunSat SO-35

Uplink 436.291 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 145.825 MHz CW/LSB
Operational.

SunSat was launched February 23, 1999 aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, recently celebrating its first year in orbit.

The SunSat package includes 1200 and 9600 baud digital store-and-forward capability and a voice 'parrot' repeater system that will be used primarily for educational demonstrations. The satellite has two VHF and two UHF transmit-receive systems.

Due to an improvement in its power budget, SunSat's Mode B repeater will now also be enabled on most weekday evenings (except Monday). A schedule of the active passes can be found at http://sunsat.ee.sun.ac.za/ham1.htm

GPS data is currently collected on Mondays. It takes as much as twelve hours to fully recover the state of charge after these experiments.

For more information on SunSat, visit http://sunsat.ee.sun.ac.za

A summary of the active modes and frequency allocations for SunSat is available at http://esl.ee.sun.ac.za/~lochner/sunsat/modes.html

[ANS thanks Garth Milne ZR1AFH, for this information]

JAS-1b FO-20

Uplink 145.900 to 146.000 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 435.800 to 435.900 MHz CW/USB
Operational.

FO-20 is in mode JA continuously.

JAS-1b (FO-20) was launched in February 1990. Tony, AB2CJ, reports a QSO with Mark, KB3CWS, using the Hellshcreiber mode (via FO-20). Tony says "the print was 100%." Ron, KA2HZO, also reports working KB3CWS for his first Hellshcreiber contact.

OZ1MY reports that FO-20's beacon recently has a smaller signal then he normally sees. AMSAT-UK net regulars G8ATE and G7RVM both report very weak beacon signals or even no beacon heard during recent passes.

[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK for the FO-20 status reports]

JAS-2 FO-29

Voice/CW Mode JA: Uplink 145.900 to 146.000 MHz CW/LSB
Downlink 435.800 to 435.900 MHz CW/USB
Operational, rotated with digital mode and digi-talker.
Digital Mode JD: Uplink 145.850, 145.870, 145.910 MHz FM
Downlink 435.910 MHz FM 9600 baud BPSK
Operational, rotated with analog mode and digi-talker.

JAS-2 was successfully launched on August 17, 1996, by an H-II launch vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center.

Mike, KF4FDJ, has put together a very informative document on FO-29, addressing analog, digital and digi-talker modes. To obtain a copy e-mail Mike at kf4fdj@amsat.org

Kazu, JJ1WTK, reports the FO-29 operational schedule (announced by the JARL) is as follows:

April 21 - May 7

Mineo, JE9PEL, has updated his FO-29 satellite telemetry analysis program. The software will automatically analyze all digital telemetry from the satellite such as current, voltage and temperature. The JE9PEL FO-29/software update is available at http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/

[ANS thanks Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK, for the FO-29 status reports]

KO-25

Uplink 145.980 MHz FM
Downlink 436.500 MHz FM, 9600 Baud FSK
Operational.

Jim, AA7KC, reports KO-25 is operational with high downlink efficiency. AA7KC reports that digital traffic is low to moderate.

[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, for KO-25 status information]

UO-22

Uplink 145.900 or 145.975 MHz FM
Downlink 435.120 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK
Operational

Chris Jackson, G7UPN, reports to ANS that UO-22 continues in full sunlight and the temperatures have increased considerably. Controllers have turned the satellite upside down to point the critical systems to cold space. This has reduced the temperature on various systems (such as the batteries) by between 5 and 10 degrees. The unfortunate by-product of this is that the downlink is now quite weak.

Only the 145.900 MHz receiver is usable for communications at the moment.

More information on the satellite is available at http://www.sstl.co.uk

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO for UO-22 status information]

OSCAR-11

Downlink 145.825 MHz FM, 1200 baud PSK
Beacon 2401.500 MHz
Operational.

OSCAR-11 celebrated its sixteenth birthday on March 1, 2000.

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)

The ASCII bulletin is currently a static message, detailing modes and frequencies of all the amateur radio satellites.

Users should note that the date in the hardware generated ASCII telemetry is now advanced by 3 days and the other dates (which are generated by software) are advanced by 1 day. Ground control may be able to correct the software generated dates, but not the hardware generated date.

More information on OSCAR-11 is available at http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/

[ANS thanks Clive Wallis, G3CWV, for OSCAR-11 status information]

LUSAT-OSCAR-19

Uplink 145.840, 145.860, 145.880, 145.900 MHz 1200 bps Manchester FSK
Downlink 437.125 MHz SSB, 1200 bps RC-BPSK
Currently semi-operational.

The CW beacon is sending eight telemetry channels and one status channel. Currently, no BBS service is available. The digipeater is active.

Mineo, JE9PEL, has recorded LO-19 CW and PSK telemetry and placed the information on his Internet homepage site at http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/

General information and telemetry samples can be found at http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu/lo19.htm

[ANS thanks Miguel A. Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report.]

AMSAT-OSCAR-16 (PACSAT)

Uplink 145.900, 145.920, 145.940, 145.860 MHz FM, 1200 bps Manchester FSK
Downlink 437.0513 MHz SSB, 1200 bps RC-BPSK 1200 Baud PSK
Beacon 2401.1428 MHz.
Semi-operational.

Russ, WJ9F, reports ground stations are currently running memory test software on the satellite. In addition to the memory testing, the spacecraft spin rate around the vertical (Z) axis has created a less than ideal condition for battery charging. The spin rate evaluation confirms a spin rate of 1 revolution every 18 minutes. Power output is low due to this spin rate.

Normally, the S-band transmitter is off. Recently, WJ9F reported the S-Band transmitter (2401.143 MHz) was recently powered on for a short time. A Whole Orbit Data survey was conducted during this operation. Nando, CX6DD, reports good signals from the S-band downlink of AO-16. He also reports his modem "had a hard time tuning the receiver due to the tremendous doppler!"

A new WOD collection of current graphics (dated 02/26/2000) can be found at http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu

[ANS thanks Miguel A. Menendez, EA1BCU, for this report.]

TMSAT-1 TO-31

Uplink 145.925 MHz 9600 baud FSK
Downlink 436.925 MHz 9600 baud FSK
Operational.

ProcMail V2.00G has been released by G7UPN. This software permits the processing of image files from TO-31. It has been posted to the AMSAT-NA FTP site at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/software/win32/wisp

Many of the high-resolution color images transmitted by TMSAT are compressed using a UoSAT compression format. This format is supported by the VK5HI CCD display program.

[ANS thanks Chris Jackson, G7UPN/ZL2TPO, for this report]

UoSAT-12 UO-36

Uplink 145.960 MHz, 9600 baud FSK
Downlink 437.025, 437.400 MHz, 9600 baud FSK

UoSAT-12 was successfully launched on April 21, 1999 from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome. UO-36 carries a number of imaging payloads, digital store-and-forward communications and mode L/S transponders.

The BBS is open, although uploading (and the downlink) may be disabled at times.

The VK5HI TMSAT viewer shareware is available on the AMSAT-NA web site at ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/software/win32/display/ccddsp97-119.zip

Further information on UO-36 is available from: http://www.sstl.co.uk/

[ANS thanks Chris G7UPN/ZL2TPO, and the University of Surrey, for this information]

ITAMSAT IO-26

Uplink 145.875, 145.900, 145.925, 145.950 MHz FM
Downlink 435.822 MHz SSB, 1200 Baud PSK
Semi-operational.

Digipeater function is on.

IO-26 was launched on September 26, 1993.

Alberto, I2KBD, reports IO-26 has been opened to APRS use.

[ANS thanks ITAMSAT Project Manager Alberto E. Zagni, I2KBD, for this information]

The following satellites are in orbit but are non-operational at this time:

KITSAT KO-23

Uplink 145.850, 145.900 MHz FM
Downlink 435.175 MHz FM, 9600 Baud FSK
Non-operational.

Jim, AA7KC, reports KO-23 is (again) non-operational. The downlink transmitter is off, with the last received data received on 4/13/2000 at 04:10 UTC. KyungHee Kim, HL0ENJ, reports (from the KO-23 control team) that part of the problem with recent non-operation has been the power budget aboard the satellite.

[ANS thanks Jim Weisenberger, AA7KC, and KyungHee Kim, HL0ENJ, for KO-23 status information]

RS-12

Uplink 145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB
Uplink 21.210 to 21.250 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink 29.410 to 29.450 MHz CW/SSB
Downlink 145.910 to 145.950 MHz CW/SSB
Beacon 29.408 MHz
Robot Uplink 21.129 MHz, Downlink 29.454 MHz

Non-operational. No operation in 2000 has been observed.

TechSat-1B GO-32

Downlink 435.225 MHz, HDLC telemetry

Efforts were reported to be underway to bring GO-32 on line, however no additional information has been received by ANS (the last report was dated November 1999).

The TechSat-1B micro-satellite was successfully launched from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 10, 1998.

Last reported, the satellite does not have a continuous beacon, but does transmit a 9600-baud burst every 30 seconds (for a continuous 3 seconds in length), currently on 435.225 MHz.

The TechSat team has constructed a home page about TechSat: http://techsat.internet-zahav.net/

PANSAT PO-34

Uplink/downlink frequencies have never been released.
The satellite is not currently available for uplink transmissions.

PanSat, developed by the Naval Postgraduate School, was launched from the shuttle Discovery (during STS-95) on October 29, 1998. At the time of launch, PanSat spread-spectrum digital transponders were promised to be available to amateur radio operators along with software to utilize this technology. To date, this has not happened.

For more information, visit the official PANSAT web site at:

http://www.sp.nps.navy.mil/pansat/

PanSat was the featured cover article in the July/August 1999 issue of the AMSAT-NA Journal (written by KD6DRA and N7HPR).

[ANS thanks Dan Sakoda, KD6DRA, for this information]

DO-17 (DOVE)

Downlink 145.825 MHz FM, 1200 Baud AFSK
Beacon 2401.220 MHz
Non-operational.

DOVE stopped transmitting in March 1998. The 145.825 MHz and 2401.220 MHz downlinks are off the air and the satellite has not responded to ground station control. No additional information is available at this time.

WEBERSAT (WO-18)

Downlink 437.104 MHz SSB, 1200 Baud PSK AX.25
Non-operational.

WO-18 is reported to be in MBL mode after a software crash.

No additional information is available at this time.

SEDSAT SO-33

Downlink 437.910 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK
The satellite is not currently available for uplink transmissions and image and transponder recovery efforts have been unsuccessful.

SEDSAT-1, signifying Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Satellite number one, was successfully launched and placed in orbit on Saturday, October 24, 1998.

SedSat-1 has downlinked months worth of telemetry data on the performance of its electrical power system parameters. The Nickel Metal Hydride batteries on the spacecraft were experimental and experienced some abuse due to a power negative situation. This information has provided NASA with useful information. With the exception of the imaging system and the use of the transponders, SedSat-1 has been judged a success.

For more information on SedSat-1 visit the satellite web site at http://www.seds.org/sedsat

No additional information is available at this time.

ANS would like to thank Mike Seguin, N1JEZ, ANS principal satellite investigator, for helping provide current satellite information for ANS.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to the ANS Editors at ans-editor@amsat.org, or to ANS Editor Dan James, NN0DJ, at nn0dj@amsat.org.

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This week's AMSAT News Service bulletins were edited by AMSAT News Service Editor Dan James, NN0DJ.