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Hello All,
Time seems to go very quickly and before I realize what is happening it is time for another newsletter. As you are aware, AMSAT-NA tries to hold its Annual meeting and Space Symposium in a different part of the continent each year. This allows a number of people to attend when it is in their local area, particularly those who cannot travel any distance. This year we will be returning to Toronto, Canada and it is some six years ago that we were there.
Toronto is easy driving from many of the US North Central States with expressways leading almost to the hotel door. A web site is being set up and will be fully accessible from the AMSAT web page. We are now looking for volunteers to hold the 2004 meeting and it would be great to have that settled before this years meeting in order to give the 2005 organizers a "look" at our format. Please send your offers to me at VE3FRH@amsat.org preferably to arrive before our next Board of Directors meeting which will be held in Silver Spring, Maryland on March 1st 2003. As I have asked a number of officers to be present at this BoD meeting space will be very limited. The meeting will be open to members however, there may be certain topics at which only the elected and specific appointed officers may be present. If you would like to attend, please let me know in advance, and any remaining space will be allocated on a first request basis.
This board meeting will look at the allocation of our funds for building satellites, and at all of our financial matters. I am pleased to announce that the "President's Club" is attracting donors. However the reduction in economic activity in the USA is being reflected in the total number who are donating. Although he does not know it (yet) Richard Haxton KC3AN is our 100th President's Club Core Donor. Richard is a Life Member of AMSAT so it is not possible to extend his membership, I will have to think of another way to reward him. Meanwhile "Congratulations to Richard". Now ... who will be the 200th new Core Donor and the recipient of a one year membership?
For your information there are currently 18 Gold Donors, 12 Silver Donors, 18 Bronze Donors and 100 Core Donors. Although this is quite a substantial number we do need to have an average income per member of about $100 and we are still quite a long way from that goal - can you help?
Now for the good news!. It seems that Echo will probably be launched sometime in a window starting in September 2003 and lasting through December 2003. More on this as we approach the launch.
73
Robin Haighton VE3FRH
President AMSAT-NA
[ANS thanks Robin Haighton VE3FRH for the above information]
The ARISS (a joint effort of AMSAT, the ARRL, NASA, the ARISS international partners including Canada, Russia, the European Partners, and Japan) operations team wishes to announce the following very tentative schedule for ARISS school contacts. This schedule is very fluid and may change at the last minute. Remember that amateur radio use on the ISS is considered secondary. Please check the various AMSAT and ARISS webpages for the latest announcements. Changes from the last announcement are noted with (***). Also, please check MSNBC.com for possible live retransmissions (http://www.msnbc.com/m/lv/default.asp). Listen for the ISS on the downlink of 145.80 MHz.
For information about educational materials available from ISS partner space agencies, please refer to links on the ARISS Frequently Asked Questions page.
If you are interested in supporting an ARISS contact, then you must fill in an application. The ARISS operations mentor team will not accept a direct request to support an ARISS contact.
You should also note that many schools think that they can request a specific date and time. It does not work that way. Once an application has been accepted, the ARISS mentors will work with the school to determine a mutually agreeable date.
Websites that may be of interest include:
http://www.arrl.org/sarex
http://www.arrl.org/ariss
http://www.amsat.org
http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov
http://spacelink.nasa.gov/index.html
http://ehb2.gsfc.nasa.gov/edcats/educator_guide/
Your completely filled out application should be returned to the nearest coordinating ARISS region if your specific region is not listed. E-mail is the preferred method of submitting an application.
Here are the email addresses:
ARISS-Canada and all other countries not covered: ve2ka@rac.ca
(Daniel Lamoureux VE2KA)
ARISS-Europe: jh.hahn@gmx.net (J. Hahn, DL3LUM / PA1MUC)
ARISS-Japan and all Region 3 countries: iaru-r3@jarl.or.jp
(Keigo Komuro JA1KAB)
ARISS-Russia: n2ww@attbi.com (Valerie Agabekov N2WW/UA6HZ)
ARISS-USA: ARISS@arrl.org (The American Radio Relay League)
ISS Expedition 6 crew:
Kenneth Bowersox KD5JBP
Nikolai Budarin RV3FB
Donald Pettit KD5MDT
Field School Park Ridge, Illinois
Contact is 2003-01-23 14:37 UTC, telebridge via ZS6BTD
Contact failed and is being rescheduled. (***)
Proposed questions for Field School are:
Hochwald-Gymnasium, Wadern, Germany, Direct via DN1TA
TBD 2003-02
Cowichan Secondary School, Duncan, BC, Canada, Direct via VE7POH
TBD 2003-02
Oregon State University
TBD 2003-02-21
ISIS Malignani, Cervignano del Friuli, Italy
TBD
Hirano Elementary School, Kobe, Japan direct via 8N3HES
TBD
Lounsberry Hollow Middle School, New Jersey
TBD
Porin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu, Pori Senior High school, Finland
TBD
Krueger School of Applied Technology, San Antonio, Texas
TBD
Saint Ursula's College, Toowoomba, Australia
TBD
The latest ARISS announcement and successful school list in now available on the ARISS web site. Several ways to get there.
http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov
click on English (sorry I don't know French)
you are now at http://www.rac.ca/ariss/
click on News
Currently the ARISS operations team has a list of over 60 schools that we hope will be able to have a contact during 2003. As the schedule becomes more solidified, we will be letting everyone know. Current plans call for an average of one scheduled school contact per week.
73,
Charlie Sufana AJ9N
One of the ARISS operation team mentors
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana AJ9N for the above information]
ANS welcomes the opportunity to publish your good news of success in working a new satellite, new DX, new mode, etc. We also print reports about what space related activities your local satellite groups and ham clubs are doing. Send your operating reports to JoAnne (wb9jej@amsat.org) and they will be printed here.
Domenico I8CVS reported a succesful K-band (24 GHz) QSO was made on AO40 orbit #1020 on January 20 with Amato I6PNN. A few minutes later Domenico made another contact on 24 GHz with IT9UJY.
Amato was uplinking in L band and he was receiving simultaneously on the S and K bands. He also succeeded in retransmitting the SSB signals received on K band from i8CVS and iT9UJY via the S band downlink. His 24 GHz station consists of a 60 cm dish and a circularly polarized feed with a homebrew low noise preamplifier and converter all connected with wave guide.
[ANS congratulates F6IXI and YB0KTQ. Thanks to KK5DO, I8CVS, I6PNN, IT9UJY, JH1AOY, OH2AUE, JA1ATI, JI5MFZ, JA1AUH, K0BLT, and K0KN for this week's operating update.]
The AO-40 QSO Party is this weekend, 24-27 Jan UTC, He wonders what ideas people might have to make the event successful and minimize disruption to those who are on the satellite but not participating in the QSO party. He starts with three suggestions.
[ANS thanks Lee-KU4OS for the above information]
He is an avid CW operator and in his opinion, there is not nearly enough CW activity on AO-40. Perhaps the CW addicts can operate BELOW the MB and not create "QRM" for those who will be operating fone above the MB.
His hope is that by some stroke of luck, a new one for his satellite DXCC shows up and it will be the frosting on the cake!!
[ANS thanks Frank, K0BLT for the above information]
Science Minister Lord Sainsbury unveiled this week the British Government's plans for the UK space industry for the next three years. "The draft strategy is focused much more than before on the use of space systems throughout the economy. This will require the space community to work even more closely with commercial companies," said Lord Sainsbury.
"Increasingly, space is opening up new commercial opportunities in areas
such as telecommunications and global positioning systems and a key objective of
the draft strategy is to provide a framework which will enable UK companies
to take advantage of these opportunities," he added.
--Space Daily
Australian antennas of NASA's Deep Space Network used for communicating with spacecraft are back in normal operation after a close call with wildfires that destroyed hundreds of homes and took four lives in the Canberra area. Brush fires surrounded the network's Canberra complex on Saturday. Workers used hoses to dowse spot fires on the site Saturday and were still extinguishing flare-ups Monday.
The Canberra dish antennas were inactive for about three and one-half hours
Saturday so workers could concentrate on the fire. During that period, the
complex had been scheduled to be in communication with five spacecraft on
interplanetary missions or in Earth orbit, but none of the missed transmissions was critical or irreplaceable, said Joseph Wackley, Deep Space
Network operations manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif.
--Space Daily
Mars Rovers launch in May, June.
CAPE CANAVERAL -- The science team for the Mars Exploration Rovers, set to launch from here in May and June, approved two recommended landing sites this week.
Gusev Crater and an area called Terra Meridiani were deemed the top two places for accomplishing the mission's scientific goals after a series of open meetings, the last of which occurred two weeks ago. Scientists hope the sites hold clues to Mars' water mystery.
"If you think about the landing site selection on Mars, it's really the first time that science is really being used to direct landing site selection," said Matt Golombek, the landing site scientist for the Mars Exploration Program.
Those picks still have to pass several more rounds of scrutiny. A panel of experts will review the sites and make its recommendation to NASA headquarters in March. Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for space science, will make the final call in April.
NASA stands a mere four months away from launching the next pair of Mars
rovers.
-- Kelly Young, FLORIDA TODAY
[ANS thanks the respective authors for the above information]
Link to the weekly report on satellite ...
All Satellites
ISS. RS-12. RS-13. RS-15. RS-20. AO-7. AO-10. UO-11. UO-14. AO-16. LO-19. FO-20. UO-22. KO-23. KO-25. IO-26. AO-27. FO-29. GO-32. SO-33. PO-34. UO-36. AO-40. SO-41. SO-42. NO-44. NO-45. MO-46. AO-49. SO-50
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to the ANS Editors at ans-editor@amsat.org
This week's AMSAT News Service bulletins were edited by AMSAT News Service Editor Dave Johnson, G4DPZ, g4dpz@amsat.org.
