SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-028.01 MICROSATS TURN 5 YEARS OLD! HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 028.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JANUARY 28, 1995 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-028.01 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE MICROSATS! This past week, 22-JAN-95 at 01:35:31 UTC, marked the fifth year of service for the four MICROSATs that were designated as AMSAT-OSCAR-16 (AO-16), DOVE-OSCAR-17 (DO-17), WEBERSAT-OSCAR-18 (WO-18) and LUSAT-OSCAR-19 (LO-19). To the many AMSAT volunteers, launching these four 10 kg satellites was the culmination of three years of very hard work and many sacrifices for them and their families. These satellites represented a new generation of OSCARs that suprised even veteran aerospace experts who couldn't beleive that satellites built by "radio amateurs" would survive even one year. In the five years since their launch, each of the MICROSATs has performed extrem- ely well. There have been problems -- on-board computer software glitches, and a few minor hardware failures -- but on the whole, each of the MICROSATs has performed their "designed" missions quite well. Also, the MICROSATs have provided AMSAT designers valuable information that will help them in the fabrication of the new PHASE 3D satellite. Today, AO-16 and LO-19 perform "yeoman's" service in message traffic handling. Although they use 1200 baud PSK which is considered "slow" in comparision to their "cousins" from the UoSat series which use 9600 baud, eg., KO-23 and KO-25, these MICROSATs provide an easy way for beginners to get started in the world of digital communications. WO-18 has provided many excellent photos of the earth during its tenure in space. Its existence has sparked a whole new generation of OSCAR enthusiasts at Weber State University (WSU) which today are playing a critical role in the design and construction of the PHASE 3D satellite. DO-17, has been providing an easy signal to copy on packet. Today, DOVE's speech synthesizer can be heard saying "Hi, This is Dove in space." This short little message has been heard by thousands of amateurs and school children all over the world. DO-17 has still has not achieved its total objective of voice messages but a team of dedicated AMSAT members continues to work to make it possible for DOVE to speak its messages of "peace" composed by school children. AMSAT-NA thanks the many volunteers that helped build the MICROSATs and those that keep the MICROSATs working each day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICROSATs! /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-028.02 POTENTIAL AMATEUR RADIO OPS ON STS-63 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 028.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JANUARY 28, 1995 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-028.02 Potential Amateur Radio Operations on Next Space Shuttle Mission The next Space Shuttle Mission, STS-63, is scheduled to be launched on February 2, 1995 at 05:50:44 UTC on an 8 day flight. The primary goal of this mission is to rendezvous to within a few hundred feet of the Russian Space Station MIR as a precursor to Shuttle/MIR docking missions which will be carried out on two flights later this year. STS-63 will carry amateur radio operators Mike Foale, KB5UAC, Janice Voss, KC5BTK and Vladimir Titov, U1MIR. On-board the shuttle is a special radio and payload bay mounted antenna which will be used to establish communications between the Shuttle and MIR space station. This radio can be used for 2 meter FM voice amateur operations. Permission has been granted to allow amateur communications on this mission, if time permits. While it appears somewhat remote, the SAREX Working Group would like to inform the amateur community that the STS-63 crew might be on some of the SAREX frequencies for 2-way voice communications and potentially for radio/antenna link margin verification tests during this flight. If initiated, amateur operations would not start until the MIR rendezvous is completed on day 4. If the STS-63 crew is heard on the standard 145.55 MHz downlink frequency, hams on the ground are encouraged to initiate a QSO on one of the following uplink frequencies: 144.93, 144.95, 144.97 or 144.99 (Worldwide except Europe) or 144.80 (Europe only). Since the orbit trajectory of the Shuttle will closely match that of MIR on day 4, a MIR Orbital Element Set should be used by those who wish to listen for potential amateur radio operations on STS-63. [The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank Frank Bauer (KA3HDO) of the SAREX Working Group for this bulletin item.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-028.03 AMSAT OPS NET SCHEDULE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 028.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JANUARY 28, 1995 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-028.03 AMSAT Operations Net Schedule To take full advantage of the upcoming "good" phase on AO-13, the following AMSAT Operations Net Schedule will be in place. The primary downlink frequency for all Ops. Nets will be 145.950 MHz. In case a QSO is in progress on that frequency at net time, 145.955 MHz will be used as an alternate. Net control for all of these nets will be Keith (W5IU); however, anyone is welcome to serve as an alternate. Reports on all phases of OSCAR operations are welcome. Guest speakers on special topics will be scheduled as availability permits. Day Date Time Coverage ________________________________________________________ Sun 05-FEB-95 02:00 NA, JA, NZ, EAus Sat 11-FEB-95 18:00 NA, SA, WEu, Af Sat 18-FEB-95 22:00 NA, SA Note: All times are in UTC; therefore, Sun. dates are actually Sat. evening in USA. Times do not conflict with ZRO Tests. Thanks - Keith, W5IU, AMSAT VP of Operations /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-028.04 WEEKLY OSCAR STATUS REPORTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 028.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JANUARY 28, 1995 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-028.04 Weekly OSCAR Status Reports: 28-JAN-95 AO-13: Current Transponder Operating Schedule: The Mode Schedule from 19-DEC-94 until 20-FEB-95 will be: Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 100 |Omnis : MA 230 to MA 25 Mode-BS : MA 100 to MA 130 | Mode-S : MA 130 to MA 132 |<- S beacon only Mode-S : MA 132 to MA 155 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-S : MA 155 to MA 160 |<- S beacon only Mode-BS : MA 160 to MA 180 | Blon/Blat 180/0 Mode-B : MA 180 to MA 256 | Move to attitude 230/0, Feb 20 [G3RUH/DB2OS/VK5AGR] AO-13: N2HMM reports this past week that AO-13 Mode B has been functioning very well. The signals are excellent and there is a lot of activity. Min- imal uplink signals are yielding good downlink signals. Mode S again has fair signals and light activity. There is one observation N2HMM would like to make about Mode S. The more activity on Mode S the weaker the downlink signals become. Therefore, one should wait until there is light transponder activity to obtain fair downlink signals. Also, the R.J. Myers dish has grid spacing of 7/8 of an inch, which from his research, it should be 1/2 inch. This reduces the efficiency of the dish making it, the opinion of N2HMM, marginal at best when used with the SSB Electronics Mode S Downconverter. The majority of Mode S operators use this system configuration when oper- ating Mode S. [N2HMM] AO-10: N2HMM reports that AO-10 has been quiet. No signals heard at all. FO-20: N2HMM reports that FO-20 is in Analog Mode J until further notice. This bird is under utilized! Activity has been light while signals are good. People should give this one a try. [N2HMM] IO-26: After two months of unattended operation under the current Integrated Housekeeping Task (IHT) software version 2.0, IO-26 is sending telemetry and Whole Orbit Dumps (WOD) indicating that it is in good health. Signals are reported to be strong and easy to decode. I2KBD has passed to the ground controllers the final version of the IHT software (version 3.0) with auto scheduling capabilities, that will enable auto shut-off of the trasmitter during scheduled time, to save battery and allow higher power operations when the BBS is running. Upload of the new IHT was expected to start last week, followed by WOD dumps to evaluate the power saving. If all goes fine, BBS operations is expected by the first ten days of February. [I2KBD] The AMSAT NEWS Service (ANS) NEEDS YOUR HELP! The ANS looking for volun- teers 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 weekly 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