SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-253.01 AO-16 FILE SERVER S/W RELOAD HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 253.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD SEPTEMBER 10, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-253.01 AO-16 Command Team To Reload File Server At 03:00 UTC 12-SEP-1994 the AO-16 Command Team will begin a reload of the Ramdisk and File Server software. This "Preventive Maintenance" is war- ranted by the accumulation of uncorrectable SEU's (Single Event Upsets) in the file control structures stored on the ram disk. During the past year four uncorrectable SEU's have been recorded in the directory, root directory and FAT (File Allocation Table) entries of the error logs. In the past, a crash of the file server software was attributed to these types of errors. Reloading and running the ram disk software will reformat the ram disk thereby cleaning out all the bad SEU's. Fortunately, these uncorrectable errors are not occurring in the Error Detection And Correction (EDAC) memory where the actual spacecraft operational software is run. This allows the command team to unload and reload a task or tasks with the shortest amount of file server downtime. The digipeater will be off during this re- load and all stations are requested not to uplink to the satellite during this time. The AO-16 Command Team would like to thank all AO-16 users in advance for your cooperation during this critical software reloading process. [The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank Russ Platt (WJ9F) for this bulletin item.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-246.02 AO-10 STATUS REPORT HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 253.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD SEPTEMBER 10, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-253.02 AO-10 Condition Several satellite operators have asked recently about the condition of AMSAT-OSCAR-10 (AO-10). Jim Kelly (KK3K) provides the information that he heard a strong telemetry beacon Tuesday morning 6-SEP-94 at about 12:00 UTC. It was at about 145.980 MHz and FMing. Jim notes that AO-10 was in the window at the time. He tried transmitting to it and was able to hear himself through the bird, but the downlink signal was extremely weak and FMing was quite noticeable. As a result, Jim discontinued using it immediately. It should be noted that AO-10's Engineering Beacon is on a nominal freq- uency of 145.987 MHz. AMSAT-NA advises anyone hearing AO-10 exhibiting this FMing characteristic, to refrain from using it, as Jim did. This is a measure to conserve the satellite's power system. AO-10 may be old and ailing but it's still usable at times. Let's keep it going as long as we can. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-253.03 FINAL NOTICE FOR AMSAT-NA SYMPOSIUM HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 253.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD SEPTEMBER 10, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-253.03 Last Chance to Pre-register for the 1994 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium Martha Saragovitz (NOCALL) at AMSAT Headquarters reminds us that time is running short to pre-register for the AMSAT-NA Annual Meeting and Space symposium to be held in Orlando, Florida October 7,8 and 9. To meet the deadline, pre-registrations must be received at the AMSAT office by September 15th. Registrations can be FAXed to: (301) 608-3410. Anyone needing further information may call the AMSAT office at: (301) 589-6062. A registration form is page 14 of the July/August 1994 issue of The AMSAT Journal. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-253.04 WEEKLY OSCAR STATUS REPORTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 253.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD SEPTEMBER 10, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-253.04 Weekly OSCAR Status Reports: 10-SEP-94 AO-13: Current Transponder Operating Schedule: M QST *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1994 Jul 11 - Sep 12 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 90 | Omnis : MA 230 to MA 30 Mode-BS : MA 90 to MA 120 | Mode-S : MA 120 to MA 122 |<- S beacon only Mode-S : MA 122 to MA 145 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-S : MA 145 to MA 150 |<- S beacon only Mode-BS : MA 150 to MA 180 | Blon/Blat 180/0 Mode-B : MA 180 to MA 256 | Move to attitude 230/0, Sep 12 ========================================================================== N QST *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1994 Sep 12 - Dec 19 Mode-B : MA 30 to MA 150 |<- OFF Oct 22 - Nov 07 for eclipses Mode-B : MA 150 to MA 190 | max duration 2h 12m Mode-BS : MA 190 to MA 218 | Mode-S : MA 218 to MA 220 |<- S beacon only Mode-S : MA 220 to MA 230 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-B : MA 230 to MA 30 | Alon/Alat 230/0 Omnis : MA 250 to MA 140 | Move to attitude 180/0, Dec 19 The battery charge state is of paramount importance during the eclipse seasons. As always the command team may have to have to make temporary changes to the published schedule. In that case we will try to minimize the inconvenience, setting Mode-B OFF from MA 230-256 in the first instance. ========================================================================== [G3RUH/DB2OS/VK5AGR] FO-20: The long awaited software reloading of FO-20 has completed success- fully completed on a pass at about 18:00 UTC on 06-SEP-94 and FO-20 was commanded into its digital mode of operation (Mode-JD). For a while, Mode-JD operation will be continued. However, the FO-20 ground station is concerned that the system may crash when mailbox is activated. The controllers have have noticed some failures of onboard command system during the reloading process. Telemetry reports will be very much apprec- iated if you capture it just before the any crashes. Send your telemetry to Kazu Sakamoto (JJ1WTK) at his INTERNET address of qga02014@niftyserve.or.jp. But in a further status report, KD2BD reports that FO-20 mailbox came back to life over the Labor Day weekend. KD2BD notes that the satellite was sending it's usual ASCII telemetry in AX.25, BPSK, 1200 bps format, and the mailbox was in operation with several active messages. [JJ1WTK & KD2BD] AO-27: AO-27 has an Uplink frequency of 145.85 MHz FM and Downlink freq- ency of 436.80 MHz FM. N9AVG reminds everyone that like AO-21, AO-27 operates as part-time repeater. [N9AVG] IO-26: ITAMSAT Status as of 9-SEP-94: After 40 days of stand-by, ITAMSAT was switched on by ground command and a full spacecraft checkout was performed by the control team. IO-26 was in excellent shape, the battery fully charged and the critical parameters in nominal status. A couple of test software were loaded and executed without any problem. The reason for the long silence is due to the heavy workload of the control team (I2KBD also spent some time in Chile to help the CESAR team) and a lightning that destroyed the main command station. The reload of the Integrated House- keeping Task (IHT) code with improved capabilities is scheduled to be completed by the end of September to celebrate the first year in orbit of IO-26, so expect a couple more weeks of discontinued use. Best regards, Alberto (I2KBD) ITAMSAT Mission Director. [I2KBD] KO-25: WH6I reports that KO-25 has still been operational this entire week as far as he can tell. [WH6I] KO-23: WH6I reports that KO-23 is up and running. He wonders if there is a flaw in the directory as he seem to be having a lot of trouble clearing fills for the directory. [WH6I] AO-16: AO-16 is up and running without any problems. [WH6I] The AMSAT NEWS Service (ANS) is looking for volunteers to contribute weekly OSCAR status reports. If you have a favorite OSCAR which you work on a regular basis and would like to contribute to this bulletin, please send your observations to WD0HHU at his CompuServe address of 70524,2272, on INTERNET at wd0hhu@amsat.org, or to his local packet BBS in the Denver, CO area, WD0HHU @ N0QCU. Also, if you find that the current set of orbital elements are not generating the correct AOS/LOS times at your QTH, PLEASE INCLUDE THAT INFORMATION AS WELL. The information you provide will be of value to all OSCAR enthusiasts. /EX