The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including 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.

The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: [email protected]

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

In this edition:

* AMSAT Announces Candidates for 2021 Board of Directors Election
* 39th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Announced
* MIR-SAT1 Released into Orbit from the ISS on June 22, 2021
* MIR-SAT1 Platinum Award Winners
* ARRL Field Day: Active satellites listing
* FO-29 Operation Schedule for July 2021 (UTC)
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for June 24, 2021
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

ANS-178 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 178.01
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002

DATE 2021 June 27

AMSAT Announces Candidates for 2021 Board of Directors Election

The nomination period for the 2021 Board of Directors Election ended on June 15, 2021. The following candidates have been duly nominated:

Joseph Armbruster, KJ4JIO
Robert Bankston, KE4AL
Jerry Buxton, N0JY
Zach Metzinger, N0ZGO

To comply with AMSAT’s Bylaws, an election will be held via AMSAT’s Wild Apricot membership system. Instructions for voting will be emailed by July 15, 2021 to all members who are in good standing as of July 1, 2021.

As four seats on the Board of Directors are up for election this year, all four candidates will be seated on the Board when the voting period concludes on September 15, 2021.

To ensure that they receive their voting instructions, members should make sure their current email address is up to date in AMSAT’s records. Members should log into the AMSAT Membership Portal at https://launch.amsat.org/ and check their account for their current email address. If a member has moved or changed their email address, they are encouraged to update their contact information at this time.

(Note: If they have not already done so, members can instantly create their membership account at that same page so they can inspect their record. A membership account is not the same as an AMSAT Store account.)

[ANS thanks Jeff Davis, KE9V, AMSAT Secretary for the above information]

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39th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Announced

AMSAT is pleased to announce that the 39th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting will be held in late October at the Crowne Plaza Suites: MSP Airport – Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.

The Crowne Plaza Suites is conveniently located adjacent to the American Blvd station on the Metro Blue Line, providing easy access to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, downtown Minneapolis, and the Mall of America.

The AMSAT Board of Directors will meet prior to the Symposium.
Further details, including final dates, hotel reservation details, tours, and other events will be shared in the coming months.

[ANS thanks the 2021 Symposium Committee for the above information]

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MIR-SAT1 Released Into Orbit from the ISS on June 22, 2021

From Jean Marc Momple, 3B8DU: “Deployment of MIR-SAT1 into orbit from the ISS on June 22, 2021 at 10:55 UTC was broadcast live on JAXA Youtube channel starting at 10:35 UTC (14:35hrs local time). URL:

A video clip is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqXMy3NDZn0

Awards are offered by the Mauritius Amateur Society (MARS) see URL: https://mars3b8.wordpress.com/news/ good luck and good hunt.

Daniel Estévez, EA4GPZ, adds: For those interested in decoding this satellite, I have put up a short video in collaboration with UNOOSA showing how to use gr-satellites and GQRX to decode MIR-SAT1:
https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/access2space4all/index.html
https://spacemauritius.com/

Chris Thompson G0KLA/AC2CZ adds: “I have released an updated version of the Pacsat Ground station which now does a better job displaying the decoded beacons from Mir-Sat-1. It also fixes several small bugs in the conversions and in decodes. This also fixes a bug that impacts FalconSat-3 file downloads in some cases.

Download it from here: https://www.g0kla.com/pacsat/index.php
Let me know any issues or problems you see. Please continue to download telemetry for Mir-Sat-1 during their commissioning period. All telemetry is sent to SatNogs assuming you check “Send Server Telemetry” on the File.

You can see that your Mir-Sat-1 telemetry was uploaded here: https://dashboard.satnogs.org/d/TaZh29gnz/mir-sat1?orgId=1&refresh=30s

A post launch comment by Jean Marc: “We got a superb media coverage in 3B8 and FR on TV about MIR-SAT1 promoting amateur radio role and contribution to the project. I confirm that MIR-SAT1 is alive and TLM has been received by many stations, the firsts being by US stations, I also decoded well the TLM with Chris PsatGroundstation V0.41b which was successfully uploaded to Satnogs.

I wish to thanks all who sent me personal messages or through Twitter that they received the first MIR-SAT1 signals, it was a great joy to have confirmation that the birds was alive.

I also wish to thanks many HAMs to have supported the project from its initial stage, just to name a few which have been instrumental to make it happen, namely Chris Thompson, AC2CZ, Daniel Estevez, EA4GPZ, Graham Shirville, G3VZV, Hans Blondel-Timmerman, PB2T, Pierros Papadeas, SV1QVE, and Patrick Dohmen, DL4PD, of Satnogs, but also many others worldwide and 3B8 peers who contributed in one way or another to make it happen.

I confirm that for the moment MIR-SAT1 is on TLM mode only and will keep all posted about progress.
As a personal note, today is a great day for me, just a childhood dream becoming true inspired by Neil Armstrong little step and well before obtaining my HAM license at the age of 16 and making my firsts satellite QSO on AO-07/AO—08 in 1980, thus enjoying the champagne right now writing. He adds:
“1) Thanks to all to who captured the signals of MIR-SAT1 and uploaded data to Satnogs DB, this is really useful to the MIR-SAT1 team.
2) 10 successful participants for the Platinum Award have been selected for having successfully uploaded at least a valid frame to Satnogs DB and applied for same, certificates will be issued and announcement of the winners will be published soon.
3) However, many have uploaded data to Satnogs but have not applied for the Award, they can still do so for the Gold certificate and their past upload data still valid, it a first come first serve game.
4) The telemetry frequency which was 4 minutes actually made it harder to decode particularly on low elevation, it is just a coincidence that it was set to 50 seconds for testing purposes when the Gold Award opens today (Platinum closed today).
5) The satellite is in good health and commissioning tests are being performed presently by the MIR-SAT1 team.
6) Digipeater and image broadcast activation date not yet decided as 5) above must be completed successfully and also having some more data about power available for same.
Will keep you informed”

ANS thanks Jean Marc Momple, 3B8DU, Daniel Estévez, EA4GPZ, and Chris Thompson G0KLA/AC2CZ for the above information]

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Join the 2021 President’s Club!
Score your 2″ 4-Color Accent Commemorative Coin.
This gold finished coin comes with
Full Color Certificate and Embroidered “Remove Before Flight” Key Tag
Donate today at
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/

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MIR-SAT1 Platinum Award Winners

Winners of MIR-SAT1 Awards are:

S59ZM
PY4ZBZ
K4OZS
N6RFM
G8AFC
DK3WN
N8MH
JA0CAW
PU7ORD
3B8GL

Congratulations to them.

Their certificate has been sent by MARS a few minutes ago.

To note that the award criteria is based on following: First that one received telemetry of MIR-SAT1 and second the participation form on the MARS WEB has been submitted.

There are a few who successfully received MIR-SAT1 telemetry (even before the winners above) and uploaded same to Satnogs but have not submitted the participation form. They are still eligible for the Gold Award if they request same by filing their application on URL: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdCAAKTMtTmARDwrjIE_Coai1WR9b2zUFjBPFbOghMe63gqdg/viewform

Good luck for the Gold Award.

ANS thanks Jean Marc Momple, 3B8DU, for the above information]

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AMSAT’s GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all
begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for deployable solar
panels, propulsion, and attitude control. Come along for the ride. The
journey will be worth it!

https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF

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ARRL Field Day: Active Satellites Listing

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, has posted a list of the satellites likely to be active on Field Day at: https://www.amsat.org/satellites-likely-to-be-active-on-field-day-2021/

ARRL Field Day stations are reminded that only one satellite contact is admissable for the satellite “bonus” of 100 points. To assist as many stations as possible in their effort to make a contact, please make just a single contact and go to other modes. Please remember that satellites AO-7 and AO-91 HAVE POWER LIMITATIONS and should be accessed with care. Please note the limitations in the posted page and use those as operation guidelines.

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, adds: “APRS operators, please note any errors on the operational status of APRS satellites as shown on this page: http://aprs.org/sats.html
I just updated it, so it will be a good resource for APRS satellites for Field Day”

[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, AMSAT Executive Vice President, N8HM, and Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, for the above information]

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FO-29 operation schedule for July 2021 (UTC)

Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU has posted the July operational schedule for FO-29 on the JARL website:

July
3rd 00:06- 10:20-
4th 00:55- 13:00-
10th 00:41- 10:57- 23:46-
11th 11:48- 13:32-
17th 01:15- 13:17-
18th 00:20- 12:23-
24th 00:05- 10:20- 23:12-
25th 12:58-
31st 00:39- 10:50- 23:44-
Aug.
1st 11:48-
Source: https://www.jarl.org/Japanese/3_Fuji/fuji3-202106.htm

[ANS thanks Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU, for the above information]

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Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows,
and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through
AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/

---

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for June 24, 2021

The following satellite was deployed from ISS on 6-14-2021 and has been added to this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution:

MIR-SAT1 (Mauritian Infra-Red Satellite 1) was launched from the Japanese ISS Kibo module at 10:55 UTC on 6-22-2021. The NORAD Cat ID has not yet been determined. However, SatNOGS generated keps can be found on the Libre Space Community web site at: https://bit.ly/3vWRqF6

TLE (KEPS) have been updated and are available on the AMSAT website at: https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

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Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff
from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes
towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear

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ARISS NEWS: Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of June 27, 2021

No new sessions have been announced for the coming week. However the session for Ecole publique de Bellême in Bellême, Pôle scolaire Igé/Le Gué de la Chaine in Belforêt en Perche, and Ecole de Nocé in Perche en Nocé, was rescheduled for June 26, 2021 at 11:25 am CEST (Bellême, France) (9:25 am UTC, 5:25 am EDT, 4:25 am CDT, 3:25 am MDT, 2:25 am PDT).

Three schools in France will participate in this ARISS contact: Ecole de Nocé, Pôle scolaire Igé/Le Gué de la Chaine and Ecole publique de Bellême. These are rural schools about 90 miles west of Paris and will involve about 360 students, age 6 – 15 years old. The schools have partnered with the amateur radio club (callsign F4KLQ) in preparation for this contact. Student-members of the ham club receive training from the adult members who have knowledge in the fields of radio, aeronautical, and the space sciences. Ham radio workshops include the topics: Orne Sky Sat, the Yaourtocom 2000, SSTV, Morse code, radio communication, and radio directional finding.

[ANS thanks Dave Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS PR for the above information]

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AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur
radio package, including two-way communication capability, to
be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit.

Support AMSAT’s projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/

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Upcoming Satellite Operations

Quick Hits:

WY7AA: I will be in FN02 starting 6/6 for a few weeks. Operating Sats. holiday style. If you need FN01, FN02, FN03, FN12 please let me know and we can try to set something up. FN01,03, and 12 will likely each be one day roves. FM and SSB

EA4M: : Hi guys later in June I’ll be in IN73 on holidays, probably for a week or so, I will try some birds stay tuned on tweeter for schedules.

ND0C and KE0WPA: In June @kylee_ke0wpa and I, along with our resident photojournalist (Mom/Amy), will be taking a family excursion to the southwest and working some sats as time permits. Here are the less commonly worked grids from which we plan to operate. We will hit other grids too. DN63 7/2, DN64 7/2 & 7/3

WA5RR: I’m looking at doing a rove in DL98 with an overnight stay in Eagle Pass, TX around the last week in June. Details to follow.

VP2V/K3TRM: I will be operating from Tortola, BVI as VP2V/K3TRM on July 4-17, 2021. Activity will be on 40-6M SSB & digital, and satellite.

N5LEX: CN98 last week of June.

DM62: K5TA, I’m tentatively planning for DM62 ~9-July, when there are are several good passes mid-day, making it a doable day-trip for me….

EN57/67: @SeanKutzko KX9X and @Nancy_N9NCY will celebrate Sean’s birthday in the Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula July 15-19. Look for them on FM and SSB satellites, with the possibility of some Parks On The Air activity as well.

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager for the above information]

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Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

Satellites on Field Day: Seth Kutzko, KX9X, made an outstanding presentation to the RATPAC group on Satellites and Field Day. The session was held on Thursday May 27 during a weekly RATPAC meeting. Seth presented more than just a “how to”, his tips and tricks were very valuable for new entrants and his cautions were particularly well taken. This presentation is a must for any Field Day group that is contemplating chasing the 100-point bonus. Dan Marler, K7REX has made the presentation, documents, and the video available:

To View Video: https://vimeo.com/556034517
To Download Video: https://vimeo.com/user107547861/download/556034517/954b837d38
To Retrieve Documents: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cktvhfz1lhvv8hr/AADzoAi0HiGccLLG6IdnY24Aa?dl=0Radio

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford K6CLS is planning the following presentations:
Conejo Valley (CA) – October 21
Think a 90-minute lively, informative, and fun “How to Work the Easy Satellites” Zoom presentation would be appropriate for your convention or club? Always includes are overviews of the ARRL, AMSAT, and ARISS … and pre-presentation questions are solicited and welcome. Send Clint an email or call!
Clint Bradford K6LCS, http://www.work-sat.com. Tel:909-999-SATS (7287)

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT Events page manager, AMSAT Italia, Dan Marler, K7REX RATPAC Leader and ARRL Idaho Section Manager, and Clint Bradford, K6CLS AMSAT Ambassador for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ A number of questions have been asked about the operation status of Falconsat-3. Mark Hammond N8MH reports: “I suspect that FS-3 has just “crashed” and needs some attention. Usually that involves getting it back to a primitive level of operation and testing, and then reloading all of the spacecraft’s software. So, it’ll take some time. But I really do think we can recover it. Last reload was over 3.5 years ago! It takes a lot of preparation and sometimes multiple attempts to get all software loaded and running. Keep the hope :). Probably a couple weeks. [ANS thanks Mark Hammond, N8MH, AMSAT Director and Command Station for the above information]

+ Tiangong has a crew, and China has a vision. Shenzhou-12 launched three Chinese astronauts on a Long March-2F from the Gobi Desert and ferried them to Tiangong (here’s a video of the docking). This means there are now two long-duration crewed habitats in Earth orbit for the first time since the 1970s when Skylab and Salyut stations both hosted humans on-orbit (Mir’s last crew departed just a few months before Expedition-1 arrived at the ISS). The three astronauts are slated to stay in the new station’s Tianhe core module for up to three months, breaking China’s 30-day record set during their last crewed spaceflight five years ago. [ANS thanks the Orbital Index for the above information]

+ A history of US research, development, and production of solar photovoltaic cells, which was driven by space applications early on. “In 1958, the U.S. Navy bolted solar panels to Vanguard 1, the second American satellite in space.” A commentary: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/06/why-the-us-doesnt-really-make-solar-panels-anymore-industrial-policy/619213/ [ANS thanks the Orbital Index for the above information]

+ CubeSat developments: Some interesting work in the CubeSat arena is documented at several links. Here are some discussions of:
Deployable mirrors: https://bit.ly/2TZNrdT
Wooden satellite construction: http://n.pr/2T3UqCd
Flexible tapemeasure antennas: https://bit.ly/3wSSmvH
[ANS thanks the Orbital Index for the above information]

+ A reminder for ARRL/AMSAT Field Day: JAMSAT has posted the FO-99 operating schedule for June at https://www.jamsat.or.jp/?p=1438 (ANS thanks JAMSAT for the above information)

+ Congratulations to Christy Hunter, KB6LTY, on working and confirming her 488th grid square in the continental United States. Christy worked John Brier, KG4AKV, operating portable in FM25 for the last grid she needed on June 11th. Christy is the 31st recipient of AMSAT’s GridMaster Award. More details about the GridMaster Award can be found at https://www.amsat.org/gridmaster/ [Thanks to Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards]

+ Congratulations to Jim Clary, ND9M. Jim is the 57th recipient of the AMSAT Rover Award. Jim applied for and received this award after working from numerous wet grids during his recent journey on the USNS Sgt. William R. Button through the Panama Canal to Saipan. More details about the AMSAT Rover Award can be found at https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover-award/ [Thanks to Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards]

+ A new distance record has been claimed on TO-108. F4DXV completed a QSO with A65GC on 18-Jun-2021 at 08:55 UTC, covering a distance of 5,298.6 km. Also, a new distance record has also been claimed on the ISS crossband repeater. G0ABI worked VE1PK on 29-May-2020. This transatlantic QSO covered a distance of 4,403 km. All claimed satellite distance records can be found at https://amsat.org/satellite-distance-records/ [Thanks to Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President]

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/EX

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President’s Club. Members of the President’s Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Store.

Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional student membership information.

73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space,
This week’s ANS Editor, Jack Spitznagel, KD4IZ
kd4iz at frawg dot org

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in space including 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.

The news feed on http://amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to ans-editor at amsat dot org.

In this edition:

• AMSAT Announces Candidates for 2021 Board of Directors Election
• ARISS Slow Scan Television Event set for June 21-26, 2021
• PSAT2 Improved Coverage Is Here (Updated)
• MIR-SAT1 Schedule for Deployment from the ISS
• The IARU Participating in the CEPT Working Groups
• Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
• Upcoming Satellite Operations
• ARISS News
• Satellite Shorts from All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-171.01
ANS-171 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 171.01
From AMSAT HQ PO Box 27, Washington, DC 20044-0027
June 20, 2021
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-171.01

AMSAT Announces Candidates for 2021 Board of Directors Election

The nomination period for the 2021 Board of Directors Election ended on June 15, 2021. The following candidates have been duly nominated:

Joseph Armbruster, KJ4JIO
Robert Bankston, KE4AL
Jerry Buxton, N0JY
Zach Metzinger, N0ZGO

To comply with AMSAT’s Bylaws, an election will be held via AMSAT’s Wild Apricot membership system. Instructions for voting will be emailed by July 15, 2021 to all members who are in good standing as of July 1, 2021.

As four seats on the Board of Directors are up for election this year, all four candidates will be seated on the Board when the voting period concludes on September 15, 2021.

To ensure that they receive their voting instructions, members should make sure their current email address is up to date in AMSAT’s records. Members should log into the AMSAT Membership Portal at https://launch.amsat.org/ and check their account for their current email address. If a member has moved or changed their email address, they are encouraged to update their contact information at this time. (Note: If they have not already done so, members can instantly create their membership account at that same page so they can inspect their record. A membership account is not the same as an AMSAT Store account.)

[ANS thanks Jeff Davis, KE9V, AMSAT Secretary for the above information]

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ARISS Slow Scan Television Event set for June 21-26, 2021

ARISS reports there will be an “Amateur Radio on Shuttle, MIR and ISS” Slow Scan TV (SSTV) event from June 21-26, 2021. Transmissions from the International Space Station will be on 145.800 MHz FM using the PD120 format.

The ARISS team will be transmitting SSTV images continuously from June 21 until June 26. The images will be related to some of the Amateur Radio activities that have occurred on the Space Shuttle, MIR space station and the International Space Station.

The scheduled start and stop times are:

Monday, June 21 – Setup is scheduled to begin at 09:40 UTC (transmissions should start a little later).

Saturday, June 26 – Transmissions are scheduled to end by 18:30 UTC.

The signal should be receivable on a handheld with a 1/4 wave whip. If your rig has selectable FM filters try the wider filter for 25 kHz channel spacing.

Those that recently missed the opportunity during the limited period of MAI transmissions should have numerous chances over the six day period to capture many, if not all 12, of the images.

Check the ARISS SSTV blog for the latest information at http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/.

Pass predictions for the ISS pass times are available at https://www.amsat.org/track/.

Useful SSTV info and links https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/iss-sstv/

[ANS thanks AMSAT UK for the above information.]

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Join the 2021 President’s Club!
Score your 2″ 4-Color Accent Commemorative Coin with Polished Gold Finish,
Full Color Certificate and Embroidered “Remove Before Flight” Key Tag
By donating today at
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
You won’t want to miss it!

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PSAT2 Improved Coverage Is Here (Updated)

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR reports, WPSAT2 (NO-104) has been in a great operating period from June 10-22, 2021 in the northern hemisphere due to its highly elliptical orbit. Passes have been in the evening but moving earlier each day. Conversely, for the two weeks following, it will be low on the horizon for northern hemisphere mid-latitudes stations and favor the southern hemisphere.

“Normally its low inclination orbit (28 degrees) favors lower latitude locations. But the elliptical orbit assures that there are times, two weeks out of every month, when the elevation angle rises as much as 20 degrees to bring higher latitude stations into the footprint.

“PSAT2 has been enabled for APRS on 145.825 and it should be 4 times stronger (+6 dB) than PSAT. PSAT2 requires your radio to be in narrow band mode.

“Also it has the APRS-to-Voice enabled for your enjoyment. See http://aprs.org/psat2.html for how to use the A2V feature.

“Also enabled is the PSAT (NO84) digipeating. And its HF to UHF transponder is always on for PSK31. See http://aprs.org/psat.html for further information.

[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR for the above information]

---

Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows,
and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through
AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/

---

MIR-SAT1 Scheduled for Deployment from the ISS

Jean Marc Momple, 3B8DU reports it now official that MIR-SAT1, the first Mauritius Amateur Radio 3B8 satellite, will be deployed from the ISS on June 22, 2021 at 10:55 UTC. The deployment will be made using the robotic arm on the Japanese Experiment Module nicknamed Kibo.

MIR-SAT1 is a 1U CubeSat mission with the following objectives:

1. Verify the performance of the on-board subsystems by receiving telemetry from the satellite and establish communication to and from the satellite (command and control).
2. Collect images of Mauritius and the Mauritian EEZ for capacity, building, experiment and research.
3. Experimental communication with other islands via the satellite (for scientific and/or emergency purposes), through a Radio Amateur digipeater payload.
4. V/U 9600bps GMSK digipeater may be open for Radio Amateur communication worldwide when the satellite not used for all above.

Further details can be found at https://spacemauritius.com.

Experimental decoders are already available:

+ AMSAT Pacsat Ground Station Software by Chris Thompson, G0KLA/AC2CZ is a decoder for the PacSat protocol, designed for FalconSat-3 now with support for Mir-Sat1. More information and the download is available at: https://www.g0kla.com/pacsat/index.php.

+ GR-Satellites by Daniel Estévez, EA4GPZ is a collection of GNU Radio decoders. More information and the download is available at:
https://github.com/daniestevez/gr-satellites/blob/master/python/telemetry/mirsat1.py.

These decoder will be used by local schools and Universities to capture the signals from the bird and hopefully create inspiration for our 3B8 youngsters to space science and STEM per AMSAT Ambassador program goals.

Jean Marc remarks, “It is so great to have the support of above experts. I wish to put on record my appreciation for the all the advice they provided to the 3B8 team and their fully unconditional support in the Ham spirit of brotherhood. ‘Grand merci Chris et Dani.’ Without you we ham’s will not have a clue about what is the status of the bird.”

In addition, the Mauritius Amateur Radio Society (MARS) is creating special awards open to all participating Hams/SWL’s worldwide. These awards will be issued to those decoding MIR-SAT1 telemetry and forwarding same to SatNOGS.

– A Platinum award will be issued to the first 10 ground station applying for MIR-SAT1 Award after having forwarded the telemetry to SatNOGS.
– A Gold award will be issued to the next 20 ground station applying for MIR-SAT1 Award after having forwarded the telemetry to SatNOGS.
– A Silver award will be issued to the next 30 ground station applying for MIR-SAT1 Award after having forwarded the telemetry to SatNOGS.
– A Bronze award will be issued to the next 50 ground station applying for MIR-SAT1 Award after having forwarded the telemetry to SatNOGS.

Complete information on the awards program can be found at https://mars3b8.wordpress.com/2021/06/19/mir-sat1-special-award/.

[ANS thanks Jean Marc Momple, 3B8DU for the above information.]

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AMSAT’s GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all
begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for deployable solar
panels, propulsion, and attitude control, now manifested for launch on
NASA’s ELaNa 46 mission. Come along for the ride. The journey will be
worth it!

https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF

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The IARU Participating in the CEPT Working Groups

IARU volunteers have been participating in the CEPT FM and SE Working Groups looking after the Amateur Radio and Amateur Satellite Service interests. CEPT WG-SE #88 took place during April and WG-FM #99 took place at the end of May.

The report from the IARU Region 1 site says:

WG-FM’s project teams tackle a wide range of civil spectrum applications and are developing important regulatory deliverables relating to wireless power transfer and the 23cm band RNSS coexistence topic amongst other things. Work on both these topics is ongoing.

The CEPT Radio Amateur Forum Group (RAFG) is hosted by WG-FM and is chaired by the IARU for the time being. Its main task is maintenance of the CEPT Recommendations TR61-01 and TR61-02. A proposal to merge the activities of the RAFG into project team FM58 (Maritime) has been made but the final decision has been held over until the next WG-FM meeting. The RAFG was tasked at this meeting with a new work item to consider the feasibility of developing an electronic database of CEPT wide amateur licensing documentation. This was supported by six administrations.
https://cept.org/ecc/groups/ecc/wg-fm/fm-radio-amateur-fg/client/introduction/

In WG-SE technical spectrum sharing studies are taking place covering;

• Wireless power transfer including consideration of electric vehicle charging (WPT- EV).
• UWB radiodetermination in 116 – 250 GHz.
• Vehicular radar systems in 77 – 81 GHz.
• Security Scanners in the range 60 – 90 GHz.
• 23cm band RNSS coexistence (related to the WRC item and reported in detail elsewhere)
https://www.iaru.org/spectrum/iaru-and-itu/wrc-23/agenda-item-9-1-topic-b/

Amateur service frequency bands are within the scope of all these studies and fall under the remit of the IARU R1 SRLC
https://www.iaru-r1.org/about-us/committees-and-working-groups/srlc/

A summary report of the WG-SE meeting is at
https://www.iaru-r1.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CEPT-WGSE88-April-2021-report.pdf

The WG-FM meeting is at
https://www.iaru-r1.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/WGFM-99-May2021-Report.pdf

Working Group FM Meeting 99 documents
https://cept.org/ecc/groups/ecc/wg-fm/client/meeting-documents/?flid=28918

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information.]

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Upcoming Satellite Operations

EM72, June 21-25, 2021
N4DCW be there all week. Operating vacation style, but DM him if you need a sked. He’ll have a decent Eastern horizon for those on the other side of the Atlantic.

IN73, Later June
EA4M will be in IN73 on holidays, probably for a week or so. He will try some birds. Check Twitter for schedules.

DL98, Last week in June
WA5RR is looking at doing a rove in DL98 with an overnight stay in Eagle Pass, TX. Details to follow.

CN98, Last week of June
N5LEX

DN63, July 2, 2021; DN64, July 3, 2021
ND0C and KE0WPA along with their resident photojournalist (Mom/Amy) will be taking a family excursion to the southwest and working some sats as time permits. Among the less commonly worked grids from which they plan to operate are DN63 7/2, DN64 7/2 & 7/3. Check @kylee_ke0wpa for info.

Tortola, BVI, July 4-17, 2021
VP2V/K3TRM will be operating from Tortola, BVI on 40-6M SSB & digital, and satellite.

DM62, ~July 9, 2021
K5TA is tentatively planning when there are several good passes mid-day, making it a doable day-trip for him.

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR for the above information.]

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Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff
from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes
towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear

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ARISS News

+ Completed Contacts

Gagarin From Space. Performing a radio amateur session with school children in the city of Great Ustyug, Velikiy Ustyug, Russia, direct via UB1QBM.
The ISS callsign was RSØISS.
The downlink frequency was 145.800 MHz.
The astronaut was Oleg Novitskiy
Contact was successful on Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 09:15 UTC.

Collège Albert Camus, La Norville, France and Université Paris-Saclay, Saint-Aubin, France multi-point telebridge via ON4ISS.
The ISS callsign was FXØISS.
The downlink frequency was 145.800 MHz.
The astronaut was Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG.
Contact was successful on Thursday, June 17, 2021 at 11:40:45 UTC.

+ Upcoming Contacts

Ecole publique de Bellême, Bellême, France, Pôle scolaire Igé/Le Gué de la Chaine, Belforêt en Perche, France, and Ecole de Nocé, Perche en Nocé, France, multi-point telebridge via ON4ISS.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be FXØISS.
The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to be 437.525 MHz.
The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG.
Contact is go for: Friday, June 25, 2021 at 08:34:42 UTC.

A multi-point telebridge contact means that each student will be on the telebridge from their own home.

+ Current Status of ISS Stations

IORS (Kenwood TM-D710GA) – STATUS – ACTIVE. supporting cross band repeater operation (145.990 up [67 Hz tone] /437.800 down MHz). Next mode change to packet operations targeting after Field Day. Supporting USOS scheduled voice contacts, packet and voice repeater ops.

Service Module radios:
Kenwood TM-D710E – STATUS – Radio usually off.
Supporting ROS scheduled voice contacts and SSTV.

Watch for possible operation mode change sometime after ARRL Field Day. Exact date and time TBD.
The latest information on the operation mode can be found at:
https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above information.]

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Satellite Shorts from All Over

+ AMSAT Receives $403 from AmazonSmile

AMSAT has received its quarterly notification from AmazonSmile that it has made a charitable donation to the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, in the amount of $403.32 as a result of qualifying purchases made by its members who have selected AMSAT.

Thanks to AMSAT shoppers at smile.amazon.com, their everyday purchases have generated $7,097.98 in donations to the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation so far.

[ANS thanks AmazonSmile for the above information.]

+ Where are the Women in STEM?

Do you have a young lady in the family who is looking for ways to get involved in the world of science? When it comes to science influencers, Emily Calandrelli is a household name for a new generation of space enthusiasts. If you have kids, you may know her from “Emily’s Wonder Lab” on Netflix, which brought DIY science experiments into viewers’ homes during the pandemic lockdown. She’s also the long-running host of “Xploration Outer Space,” and a speaker and the author of the Ada Lace children’s book series. While Emily’s communication style is fun and accessible, she has a rigorous science and engineering background underpinning her work, with two master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Check out Emily’s website, The Space Gal at http://www.thespacegal.com/women-in-stem for ideas on how to engage your youngster in the adventures of space.

[ANS thanks Via Satellite for the above information.]

+ Fly the SpaceX ISS Docking Simulator!

“Now arriving at docking port #1…” Think you have “all the right stuff”? The SpaceX ISS Docking Simulator lets you try your hand at safely docking your Dragon space capsule to the ISS. In fact, they say it is the exact same interface that astronauts use on the job. Be sure to check the instructions tab for a quick overview of how the controls work. It’s fun! Try your hand at it at https://iss-sim.spacex.com/.

[ANS thanks SPACEX for the above information.]

+ Chinese Astronauts Enter Tiangong Space Station for First Time

Three Chinese astronauts floated into the country’s new Tiangong space station Thursday, becoming the first people to board China’s outpost in orbit after a successful launch from a military base in the Gobi Desert to start a three-month mission. The three astronauts will spend the next three months testing systems on-board the station, three times longer than any previous Chinese human spaceflight mission. In total, China has now launched 12 astronauts into orbit on seven crewed Shenzhou missions since 2003.

Read the complete story at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-171-Tiangong.

[ANS thanks Spaceflight Now for the above information.]

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Not an AMSAT member? Join now at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President’s Club. Members of the President’s Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. President’s Club donations may be made at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-PresClub.

Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half-time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of six post-secondary years in this status. Contact info at the amsat dot org for additional student membership information.

73,
This week’s ANS Editor,
Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
n1uw at amsat dot org