SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1127 * SpaceNews 27-Nov-95 * BID: $SPC1127 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY NOVEMBER 27, 1995 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited free distribution. * MIR NEWS * ============ Dr. Dave Larsen, N6JLH, recently received the following packet radio message from Thomas Dieter on the Mir space station: Stat : PR Posted : 11/22/95 15:03 To : N6JLH From : R0MIR @ BBS : BID : Subject: from Thomas Mir-Station, 22.11.95 Hello Dave, The time with Ken and his crew was really great! It is one of these phantastic experiences: you are in orbit, and just like that, some friends drop in for a couple of days. These days were of course great times together. A pity, that they could only stay for three days. Well, thanks again for relaying the data. Greetings, to all 73, Thomas. Pat Kilroy, WD8LAQ reports that George, N7NSI donated the manual for his TM-733A transceiver to the Cosmonauts on the Mir space station. George says that there is no rush to return the manual. Matt, KC5BTL donated a manual for the ICOM rig on Mir. The manuals were successfully delivered to Mir by the recent STS-74 Space Shuttle crew. This delivery should help the Mir crew configure their new Amateur radio equipment on the Mir space station. * SOUND FILES AVAILABLE * ========================= For those who enjoy playing audio files your computers, Keith Stein has made the following .WAV files available on the ftp.drig.com FTP site in the pub directory: air1.zip Recording of a emergency landing by military aircraft (callsign Track 32) at Andrews AFB, Maryland (11/20/95). File Size: 267k mir1.zip Recording of a German cosmonaut Thomas Reiter aboard Mir space station (10/29/95). File Size: 794k. meteor.zip Recording of WESR radio's "LIVE COVERAGE" of Conestoga/Meteor launch at Wallops Island, Virginia (10/23/95). File Size: 214k. You will need to unzip these files and play them through a .WAV sound player. [Info via Keith Stein] * MIR REFRESHER COURSE * ======================== Ever tried to contact the Cosmonauts on the Mir space station? In this issue of SpaceNews, G. Miles Mann presents some useful hints and friendly advice to those who would like to improve their communications success with the Mir spacestation. Mir Refresher Course - Part 1 of 3: Working the Soviet space station Mir on packet is easier than you may think. I have been able to connect to the Mir Packet BBS on a regular basis with a very modest 2 meter base station and from my car packet station, but you must be very careful not to cause interference (QRM) to other amateurs who are either connected, or attempting to establish a connection with the Mir space station. The Russian space station is in orbit approximately 200 miles above the earth. The inclination of the orbit is 51 degrees. This means that Mir flies over Amateur stations North and South of the equator up to 51 degrees latitude. Stations from the USA and southern Canada should have no problems hearing Mir during a good orbit. The space station typically comes in range 6-8 times per day for up to 10 minutes per pass. A good computer satellite tracking or orbital prediction program fed with accurate Keplerian orbital data elements for Mir should be used for best communication results. The Space Station Mir is running an ICOM-228A with voice and packet communications on 145.550 MHz simplex. Power output is 5 or 25 watts with a dual band dipole mounted outside the space station. By comparison, the NASA Space Shuttle uses 5 watts with a dipole mounted to the inside of a thick radiation resistant window. On most of the passes, the Mir BBS will be connected to a ground station. If you try to connect to the Mir BBS, you will get the message "R0MIR-1 Busy". If this happens, STOP calling the Mir BBS until you see the message "- Logged off" going to the station who is currently connected to Mir's BBS. Remember, ONLY ONE STATION CAN CONNECT TO THE MIR BBS AT A TIME! If you try to connect to the Mir BBS while it is busy, the following will result: 1. You will cause interference to the station who is connected to Mir. 2. It will take longer for the station who is connected to the Mir BBS to finish and log off. 3. Your interference will prevent the connected station from properly disconnecting before Mir goes out of his range. If you do cause interference, you will have to wait for the Mir BBS packet station's connection timer to "time out", and this may take over 7 minutes (a typical Mir pass lasts a maximum of 10 minutes). Then, if you're lucky, the Mir BBS packet station may still be in range after the "time out". Next week we will discuss the proper procedure for successfully connecting to the Mir packet radio BBS. [Info via WF1F] * UoSAT MODEL ON DISPLAY * ========================== Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd is pleased to announce it's participation in the latest exhibition at the Science Museum based in Kensington, London. A full size model of the FASAT-ALFA satellite is on display as part of the "Future Innovations" program. This will be of particular interest to radio amateurs as it shows the UoSAT bus system used on UoSAT-5 and KITSAT, both of which support amateur radio communications. It will be an ideal opportunity to see how small these satellites really are and is the perfect excuse to have a look at the Space Gallery at the Museum. The model shows the satellite in the process of deploying the gravity gradient boom and the various cameras and sensors are clearly visible. FASAT carries two CCD cameras to capture images of the "ozone hole", in addition it carries four radiometers to measure the ozone density at different altitudes. Two further CCD cameras capture wide and narrow angle images of the Earth in the near infra red region. These images are used to monitor desertification, flooding, land use and pollution. The exhibition will be opened on 22 November during the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Awards for 1995 presented by His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The exhibit will be on show until May 1996. Further details of opening hours etc. are available from the Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7. [Info via Keith Clark, G6RTJ] * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all who sent news items and messages of appreciation to SpaceNews especially: G3AAJ KF4AFE DF5DP F6HCC JR8XPV G0HZX * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below: FAX : 1-908-747-7107 FTP : pilot.njin.net cd to /pub/SpaceNews WWW : http://www.njin.net:80/~magliaco/ PACKET : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@pilot.njin.net SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19 MAIL : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Advanced Technology Center Brookdale Community College Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX